by Carmen Caine
We weren’t going to be able to run fast enough to escape it. I didn’t see the point of trying anymore. In fact, none of us did.
Rafael sank to one knee as Jareth crawled over to us and wheezed, “Game over.”
I just squeezed his hand as hard as I could. He did the same.
I looked into Rafael’s gray eyes, letting my eyes speak the volumes of love I had for him before we all turned to watch the tidal wave rumbling towards us.
It was then that we heard him.
Ajax. Ajax barking.
The sound propelled all of us to our feet. We whirled around, looking in all directions, and then I felt it. Some strong invisible force tugging at me. Covering my mouth and nose with my sweatshirt in order to breathe, I grabbed Rafael and Jareth’s hands and let the invisible force guide me.
The force grew stronger with every step, rushing us along as the ground beneath us trembled from the sheer weight of the approaching wave of debris. I didn’t want to get separated from Jareth and Rafael, I held onto them as tightly as I could as the force grew so strong I feared we might be ripped apart.
Ajax’s barking was getting louder.
The ground beneath us was splitting open from the immense force of the arriving tidal wave.
And then I saw it, and there was no mistaking what it was.
It was Al’s Tulpa, a pristine creation of white and blue light in the shape of a multi-faceted star, a thing of beauty and incredible power, yet soft, protective, and inviting. It was a Tulpa of unconditional love. The love of a parent for a child.
TopHat was right. It really was all about love. All of it. Love really was the strongest power of all, even spanning dimensions to protect us.
Al’s Tulpa was pulling us home, and somehow, Ajax was barking through it.
I could only laugh. I’d arrived in the Second Dimension through a Tulpa. And somehow, in his garage with tinfoil-wrapped Snapple bottles and his ghost-hunting equipment, Al had rigged his Tulpa to carry us home.
I felt the ground beneath my feet fall away. I couldn’t hold onto Rafael and Jareth anymore, the current was just too strong, but I knew it didn’t matter. We were safe. I just closed my eyes and let it all go. Opening my arms, I just laughed and let myself enjoy the ride.
I’d expected the return journey to be similar to my last Tulpa-jumping experience, but it wasn’t. This one was like weightlessly floating softly on a cloud.
Ajax’s barking got louder and louder as I drifted down like a feather.
Gravity returned all at once, and I landed facedown on Rafael’s chest. He grunted a little from the sudden impact. I could feel the cold concrete of the garage beneath my feet and the smell of Al’s truck oil.
I was home.
“We made it back,” Rafael murmured into my hair as he lay beside me.
I burrowed my face into his chest and smiled. I felt so good I didn’t want to move.
Ajax’s barking turned into happy yips and then his nose sniffed me carefully as if to be sure I was unharmed.
Laughing, I rolled over and hugged him as he thrust his wet nose directly into my face and graced me with a big doggie kiss full on the lips. His Twinkie-sized tail wiggled so furiously that his entire hindquarters wagged.
“I love you, too,” I whispered into his long, pointed ears.
And then Rafael was reaching down, pulling me to my feet.
Jareth stood a few feet away, shaking his head in disbelief. “You did it, Sydney,” he said softly.
“We all did,” I choked, recalling what TopHat had said. “We all made the right choice.”
We stood there awhile, the three of us, in complete shock and then I heard Al’s voice.
“Bingo!” he boomed. “It worked!”
He was just a few feet away, tall and bald in his army fatigues with his brows furrowed into a trench. I didn’t hesitate. I launched myself at him, unashamedly letting my tears spill down my cheeks. He looked tired and haggard and with stubble on his chin, but he was beaming with paternal pride as he swept me into the biggest bear hug I’d ever received in my life.
I hugged him back as hard as I could. I was going to let myself feel from now on. Starting with Al.
“I love you, Al,” I said, laughing and crying at the same time.
“I love you, too, kiddo,” he replied, crying, too.
The door leading to the kitchen opened and Betty stood there with Grace and Ellison peering over her shoulder. With distracted smiles, they took in the mess.
And then Betty addressed Al with an uncharacteristic sternness. “These explosions are going to have to stop, honey!”
I looked around the garage again, seeing it through her eyes this time.
The garage was in a complete shambles. Bottles of aluminum-foil-wrapped Snapple were strewn everywhere. PVC piping and copper wires hung from the ceiling. Rafael, Jareth, and I were completely covered in white dust. Several inches of it blanketed the floor as well.
And then I noticed a towering, middle-aged man with a full sandy gray-streaked beard and ponytail standing behind Al. He wore metal-rimmed glasses and a bright red Hawaiian shirt under a faded Harley-Davidson jacket. Even though I’d never seen him before, I knew instantly who he was.
Jack.
“I’ll get this cleaned right up, Betty,” Al was saying. He tried to look appropriately apologetic, but he was also rubbing his hands together in glee with a big grin on his face. He was beaming, and he looked anything but sorry.
Betty frowned, and I think she was going to say something, but Al was saved by the oven timer going off in the kitchen.
“The cookies are done,” Betty said then, her frown already disappearing. “The lot of you can’t have any until this … this contraption is safely tossed into the recycle bin.” She pointed to the Snapple bottles lining the walls and waved her hand at the rest of the garage.
Jack stepped up behind Al and bowed. “We’ll take it down right now, little lady,” he promised, obviously trying to ease the situation. His voice was unusually high and soft-spoken for such a big man.
Betty smiled and with a sigh, shooed Grace and Ellison back into the kitchen. Before the door closed, they both popped their heads into the garage and winked at me. I didn’t really know what they meant by it, but I didn’t care. I just winked back.
As soon as they’d gone, Al laughed and slapped his thigh. “It worked, Jack! It brought our kids home! We did it. Those tri-axis meters of yours combined with that Tesla Coil did the job.”
“Yes, we did it, Al,” Jack agreed with a grin, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Using that EMF meter to transmit Ajax was a great idea, too. I’m going to have to try that with my ghost-hunting.”
Fae were popping into existence all around us, and the garage became a hive of activity.
Jack didn’t seem surprised at the Fae arrivals. I took that to mean that he’d already been introduced. He stood by the card table in the corner, carrying on an animated conversation about infrared illuminators, full spectrum cameras, and electromagnetic hotspots with a couple of Fae Protectors. They were clearly interested in his collection of tin cans rigged to a shortwave radio, Al’s Snapple bottles, and my Christmas EMF meter. There wasn’t a Fae light crystal in sight.
I looked at the PVC piping duct-taped to the bottles, amazed that Al and Jack’s invention had projected Ajax’s bark to guide us home and suck us back from the Second Dimension.
Rafael moved behind me, and I glanced back to see a serious expression in his tired, gray eyes.
“What is it?” I asked, reaching up to brush the white dust out of his hair.
The corner of his lip lifted in a rueful smile. “Al’s brilliant. He really did build an inter-dimensional portal in his garage,” he said it loud enough that Al heard.
Al tipped his hat and shot him a quick smile. “I’m just glad you kids are safe,” he said. “It don’t matter who built it.”
Hearing Al say don’t made me realize then that I was real
ly home.
“It’s … really over, isn’t it?” I choked a little, looking up at Rafael.
He just locked his arms around my waist and pulled me into a close embrace, dust and all. “It depends on what you’re speaking about, my little pixie,” he said softly.
There was just enough of a suggestive touch in his tone that I felt myself momentarily grow shy before a flash of concern flooded through me. “You aren’t leaving, are you? You can’t!”
His laugh calmed me at once. “I’m afraid your fate is tied to mine,” he answered. “Though you may have to visit Avalon from time to time.”
We were interrupted by several ceiling tiles crashing to the floor. Al and Brock laughed an apology for startling us before returning to their task of pulling the remaining copper wires from the ceiling. As Jareth guzzled an untampered bottle of Snapple, more Fae arrived to help clean up.
It was then I spied Harmony, standing a few feet away with her blue eyes averted, clearly not wanting to interrupt my intimate moment with Rafael. It made me blush a little as I realized that I’d just been standing there hugging him in front of everyone.
Catching my eyes on her, she quickly looked up and joined us. And after a quick round of hugs, she thrust a bottle of Snapple into my hands. My mouth was dry. I just took it and drank as she popped the top off another and, adding a packet of Equal, gave it to Rafael.
“Heaven’s Bells! We were so worried,” she said then, watching us drink. “We couldn’t reach you. We thought it was the end.”
“It almost was,” Rafael said, shaking his head.
“How long were we gone?” I asked between swallows.
“Almost two weeks,” she answered.
I blinked in surprise. Time clearly ran on a different cadence here than in the Second Dimension.
“What happened?” she asked.
“A lot,” I said. I knew I’d tell them all about it soon, but I couldn’t talk about it much now. It was still a bit overwhelming.
Rafael squeezed my hand. He clearly understood. “In time,” he told her.
Brock and Al walked past us then, hefting large plastic garbage bags over their shoulders, and I saw that the garage was already clean. The Fae had made short work of it. I was suspicious that they’d cheated by shifting half of it away to some other location, but as long as Betty didn’t catch them, it didn’t matter.
“You look terrible, Sydney,” Jareth said, sauntering back to join us with a sliver of a grin.
He looked pretty exhausted himself. In fact, we all did.
“Why don’t you kids go get cleaned up and rest up a bit,” Al suggested, wiping his palms together briskly. “From what Jareth’s told us, we’re not in danger anymore. Time to relax and celebrate. We can learn the details later.”
“Yeah, I guess it’s really over,” I agreed, feeling suddenly drained.
As Rafael guided me towards the kitchen, Jareth fell into step beside us.
“You really did it, Sydney,” he said with a bit of a crooked grin. He reached over and gave me a fierce, one-armed hug.
I hugged him back. “We all did,” I had to say.
“True, of course,” he said, returning to his old obnoxious self. “You couldn’t have done it without me. That much is obvious.”
I just rolled my eyes at him. I knew he was all show. He had a huge soft streak running through him.
“So what now?” I asked, pausing before entering the house. “Are we really just … going to go back to our lives? That’s really it? It’s all over?” I was suddenly worried again that they would disappear off into the sunset and break my heart.
“Only if you were that lucky,” Jareth said with a sarcastic lift of his lip. “I’m going to be stuck here. Someone has to make sure Rafael doesn’t get sloppy and reveal too much.”
“You err,” Rafael responded, but with a gleam of humor in his gray eyes. “It is I who must watch over you. You’re improving, but you have very far to go. I can only hope that one day you’ll rise to meet my standards.”
“Well, I suppose I can stand your presence a bit more now. Now that I’ve corrupted you with sarcasm, you’re tolerable,” Jareth quipped sarcastically. “Barely.”
I smiled at them both. “You know, you guys don’t fool me anymore. You love each other.”
They both arched their brows in exactly the same way.
I just laughed and pushing the door open, stepped into the kitchen and into the welcoming fragrance of homemade chocolate chip cookies.
Exhaustion overtook me after that. I remember sitting at the table—dust and all— and swiping a couple of warm, gooey cookies from the plate, but I don’t remember actually eating them.
The next thing I knew, I woke up in my bed in my own room with the morning sun streaming through the window and Ajax blanketed over my legs. It took me a few minutes to recall the events of the past few days, and I just lay there for a bit, thinking about it all.
As the smell of Al’s coffee wafted into the room, I finally sat up and swung my legs out of bed. I stood there a moment, looking down at Ajax stretched out contentedly on my bed in the ultimate picture of comfort.
“Still trying to sleep, eh?” I teased him, jiggling him a little with my foot. “You’re only conscious for what, three hours a day? How can you possibly be tired?”
He just opened one eye a fraction before revealing a tooth of displeasure.
I laughed and fondly scratched his tummy.
Turning around, my eyes went immediately to Jerry’s empty cage. My heart tugged. I was going to miss him. And it was still hard to believe he was really the new Tree of life, but the fact that I was still covered in white dust stood as a testament that the events I’d experienced hadn’t been merely a dream.
Gathering an armful of clean clothing, I quickly showered, changed, and headed towards the kitchen.
I met Betty and Grace putting on their jackets by the front door.
“Good morning, honey,” Betty greeted me warmly. “We have to hurry. We’re a bit late for Grace’s lacrosse warm-ups.”
“Yeah, you’re coming to the game at two o’clock sharp, right?” Grace asked, picking up her equipment and slinging her lacrosse stick over her shoulder. “Ellison said he’d give you a ride to work afterwards. He’s working the same shift as you.”
I nodded, assuming the Brock-version of me had agreed to all of the plans. I wasn’t going to miss that. It was going to be nice to start living my own life again.
“And I’m not invited?” Jareth’s voice suddenly asked.
We jumped a little, surprised to see him coming in from the kitchen. He was wearing his full rocker’s regalia, and judging from his sarcastic expression, he was refreshed and in a good mood.
“I didn’t see you come in,” Betty said with a smile.
“Oh, please come!” Grace giggled at the same time.
Suddenly, Rafael was there, promising on our behalf, “We’ll see you there, Grace.”
As Grace skipped after Betty towards the truck, I just hung in the doorway for a bit, watching them with a goofy grin on my face and thinking it was nice to be part of their lives once more.
Finally, I closed the door and faced Rafael.
He looked drool-worthy in his long gray trench coat and designer-ripped jeans. I particularly liked his eyeliner-rimmed eyes. Oozing charisma with his white shirt unbuttoned at the collar, he made me feel a little plain in my sweatshirt and faded jeans. But I couldn’t be distracted with such thoughts for long, not when such a fine specimen of male beauty stood before me.
Jareth snorted and rolled his eyes, reminding me that he could still read my thoughts and, blushing a little, I pushed past him into the kitchen.
Jack and Al sat at the table in army fatigues as they ate waffles and drank their coffee. As we entered, they waved for us to join them.
It was a long, interesting conversation. Each of us discussed our Blue Threads, and when it was my turn, I shared most of what had happened but not q
uite all of the details. While I did tell them that Jerry’s seed had waited to open until I understood the value for self-love, I didn’t share my inner torture over it all. I guess I didn’t really have to. I could see that they all understood.
Afterwards, we spoke for a time about the Tulpas, the new tree, and the fact that the Lizard People were truly imprisoned once again, after all these years. And that it was all, finally, truly over. It took us some time to really grapple with that fact. Or as much as we could. I knew it was going to take much more time to really settle back down to normal.
As early afternoon approached, Jack stood up, announcing he had to leave.
I hugged and thanked him for the last time. Jareth and Rafael both gave him Fae protection runes. He smiled and peered at them through his glasses as if he’d like to take them apart to see how they worked, and I have no doubt that he was going to, the first chance he got.
After the last round of hugs and claps on the back, Jack left, zooming away in one of those curtained Volkswagen vans that I half-expected Scooby Doo to pop out of.
As we returned to the kitchen, I eyed my watch and said, “We should be heading for Grace’s game soon.”
Rafael looked down at me with a smile in his eyes. “Soon,” he agreed. “But first, Jareth and I have something for Al.”
Al looked surprised at that. “Now, what have you boys cooked up?” he asked with a chuckle.
Jareth and Rafael exchanged a glance and then with a wave of a long, elegant finger, Rafael shifted a large cardboard box onto the center of the kitchen floor.
With a graceful bow, he said, “This is someone who is as eager to meet you as you will be to meet him.”
Jareth just laughed.
Al and I both frowned in curiosity, and I moved closer to peer over Al’s shoulder as he opened the box. He caught his breath in surprise, and the line between his brows disappeared in an instant.
It was a red brindle bloodhound puppy and the spitting image of Tigger.
“Aw, no way!” he said in a voice choked with emotion. His bright blue eyes filled with tears as he lifted the yawning tubby ball of fluff out of the box.
“This is Tigger’s great-great-great-great-great grandson,” Rafael explained quietly.
