“We need to move forward, yes?” insisted Wan-li, but lowly, so as not to wake Livvy.
“Friends,” said Alvina quietly but firmly, looking directly at Wan-li. “I think Ursula is right. We need to check out the middleworld before we do anything else.”
Wan-li crossed her arms in front of herself. All eyes were on her, as she looked around the circle. Then she grimaced.
“Yes,” she finally conceded. “Then let us do it quickly.”
“Fine,” said Ursula.
“Anybody need a break?” asked Alvina.
They all shook their heads.
“Are you going to go over without Livvy?” asked SK.
As a group they turned to look at her.
“Yes,” they whispered in unison.
“Lightning may be her spirit helper,” said Wan-li. “But she is too young to have enough stamina. In time, that will change, yes?”
“We’ve seen the underworld now,” Alvina said to him. “And we know what to watch out for.” She looked at Sunny and gave a little smile. “Well, most of us know.”
“I know what to listen for,” protested Sunny, though she smiled. “I’m ready when you are.”
Ursula went back to the mats and sat down on hers. Wan-li followed. Carmen looked worried, thought SK, but then again she always looked worried. She and Alvina went to their mats, followed by Sunny. Without another word they lay down, put on their goggles and were gone.
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
RELIEVED THAT LIVVY wasn’t with them, SK went to the kitchen and found the remains of the Kung Pao beef. Outside, the faintest light was starting to glow in the east and one of the candles was guttering out. Although she was only asleep, Livvy lay as motionless as the other shamans.
Neither Bruno nor Wan-li’s guards had so much as knocked. They were used to the shaman schedule, or lack of one. They must be hungry, he thought, although he knew he couldn’t leave. As usual, he found himself staring at Livvy. He put the carton of food down, not hungry for a change.
While she slept, her face was even more beautiful. He couldn’t see the dark circles that always seemed to be there lately. He watched her diaphragm rise and fall. Coming closer, he looked for her jugular and saw it pulsing steadily. He glanced around the circle to make sure everyone was all right.
They had put a lot of pressure on Livvy. He looked down at her face, which seemed so young. He frowned a little. She was young.
Wan-li was probably right about the ziggurat, he thought. If none of them had ever seen it, then it was a good bet it wasn’t there. Perhaps one of the reasons Wan-li was going along with their search was to give Livvy a chance to rest. Their transition to the upperworld, if they got to that point, was going to depend on her.
As he turned away, he heard someone stirring behind him. It was Sunny. He walked around the outside of the circle and looked down at her. She was wincing. As he bent over, Alvina started to move her hands.
Maybe they’re done, he thought.
Ursula was also coming back, her breath rising and falling at a faster rate.
But as he waited, none of them woke up.
Finally, Wan-li stirred and reached up to her goggles. As she took them off, he could see that she was covered in sweat. She glanced around at the group.
“Come on,” she urged them. “Come on.”
Alvina and Ursula seemed to come through at the same moment, both of them breathing hard.
“What happened?” said SK.
At the sound of the voices, Livvy woke up. As she sat up, she realized that everybody else was on their mat.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Tiamat,” said Alvina, breathlessly.
Suddenly, Carmen sat up with her goggles still on but the limit of the wires made them pop off and land on the floor.
“Tiamat?” asked Livvy, alarmed, looking around.
“In the middleworld,” said Wan-li.
“Sunny?” said Carmen.
The group looked over at Carmen and then at Sunny.
“Sunny?” said Wan-li, standing up.
A hand flew to her mouth.
“Oh my gods.”
As SK stood, he saw what Wan-li was seeing. A dark black burn had appeared on Sunny’s leotard and it was spreading. Rapidly. He ran for the kitchen.
Carmen shrieked.
He threw open the cabinet and grabbed the first thing he could find, a frying pan. He filled it with water and rushed back. Everybody was standing now and Livvy was ripping Sunny’s goggles off. As SK dumped the water on Sunny, it turned to steam, forcing everyone to back away. He went back for more water but not before he saw that Sunny’s eyes were open and rolled back.
“Sunny!” screamed Alvina.
When SK turned back around, Sunny was convulsing and a fire was erupting from her middle. The front door burst open and Wan-li’s guards ran into the room as the fire roared and the flames approached the ceiling. The heat was like a shock wave forcing everyone back, while they tried to shield their faces.
A fire alarm went off in the hallway. SK grabbed Livvy and pushed her toward the door. The guards had grabbed Wan-li and were pulling her through into the hallway as Bruno came crashing toward them. Everyone pressed up against the walls as he barreled past. In moments, he was out and he and Ursula were helping Carmen and Alvina.
Doors in the hallway started to open as the fire alarm blared.
“Fire!” someone screamed.
Light and smoke were coming out of Livvy’s apartment as everybody ran for the stairs. Several of the apartment dwellers had gone back for shoes and wallets but not a change of clothes. They scurried by in their pajamas, robes, and slippers. By the time they got to the stairwell, it was packed but they finally reached the bottom and threw the door open, spilling into the lobby.
SK was in front of Livvy now and he felt her hands on his shoulders, her fingers digging in as the crowd surge carried them forward. If he stumbled, he’d be trampled. He was already close to being crushed but Livvy hung on. He couldn’t see where they were headed but soon they were outside the building and then on the sidewalk.
A siren was coming down the street and people were yelling and pointing. As he turned to Livvy, she grabbed her chest. He looked in the crowd and caught a glimpse of Bruno nearly carrying Ursula to the curb. She was also grabbing her chest and gasping. Suddenly, firemen were running past them into the building. In the chaos, no one realized that five shamans were feeling the death of the sixth.
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
“SHE JUST BURST into flames,” said SK, for probably the fifth time. “I was standing there watching.”
“No cigarettes, no freebasing, no alcohol,” said the policeman with the clipboard.
The firemen had nearly finished repacking the hose, which they had never needed to use. A fire extinguisher was all that had been needed. In fact, the landlord had put out the fire.
“She just burst into flames,” said the policeman.
“Yes, she just burst into flames.”
Bruno had pulled Ursula’s car to the corner and she and Carmen waited inside. Wan-li’s people had done the same thing and she and Alvina were sitting in her car. The police and an investigator from the fire department were questioning all of them in turn.
Livvy was leaning against the low cinder block wall of the wrought iron fence, talking to the fire department investigator.
SK had originally thought about lying about what had happened. Saying that it was the candles or lighter fluid or something. But why? Why lie? The fire department would probably be able to tell exactly what had happened. There’d be no trace of combustibles except for the candles.
A paramedic truck pulled up and double-parked next to the one that had already been there for about an hour. Everybody in the building had been given a chance to be treated for smoke inhalation or bruises or cuts from the rush to escape. The paramedics were almost finished.
Two men, a fireman and a paramedic, came down the
front steps of the building with a stretcher. A small lump was strapped down under a plastic white covering. The metal gurney snapped down to the ground and they rolled it the rest of the way to the ambulance.
Then SK saw Joel get out of the truck that had just parked. Joel ran over to Livvy, wrapping her up in a hug that nearly toppled her. SK felt his jaw clenching.
“Is that right?” said the policeman, loudly.
SK turned back to him.
“Is what right?”
“Nobody else there saw the beginning of the fire.”
“That’s right.”
Now Livvy was crying. Oh no, he thought. Don’t cry Livvy, please. She had buried her face in her hands and seemed to be sobbing. Joel was hugging her again.
“And she just burst into flames?”
SK turned back to the policeman.
“Yes, she burst into big orange flames!” he yelled. “How many times do you want me to say it? She burned up! All right? She spontaneously combusted! There was no lighter fluid. There was no match. There was no cigarette. She burned from the inside out!”
“Okay, okay,” said the policeman.
It was mid-morning now and the sidewalk crowds had dispersed. The fire truck gave a short but loud pulse of its siren to clear a way through the morning rush hour as it pulled away from the curb. SK looked around and realized that all of the residents had gone back inside after the fire department had given the all clear.
“Are we done?”
The policeman looked at the form he’d been filling out, flipping the pages up and down.
SK looked over to the cars with the shamans. He could see there were discussions going on inside and that they were getting out and starting to head back to the building.
“You’ve got my number,” said SK, not waiting for an answer.
As the group approached he looked over at Livvy, who had noticed that everybody was heading back to the building.
As they passed her, she and Joel followed them. They all slowly trudged up the stairs without saying a word. In the hallway, they could see that the door to the apartment was open. A couple of the neighbors were looking inside. As they approached the neighbors stood back, staring at the strange group.
The landlord was standing in the living room, staring at the black scorch mark on the floor. The room and even the hallway had the stench of burned human flesh. It was sickening.
“You’re going to pay for this,” yelled the landlord when he saw Livvy. “Look at this.”
As they moved into the room and surrounded the spot where they had all been laying a few hours ago, they couldn’t help but look.
Sunny’s mat had crumpled up into half its size and was charred black in the middle. The ends at the head and feet were untouched, except from the smoke that stained them. The carpet was scorched but it hadn’t caught fire. A small black circle of soot, about three feet in diameter, seemed to be painted on the floor.
“And what the hell is this?” said the landlord, pointing to the spray painted walls. “What in the hell do you–”
“Get out,” said Wan-li, in that tone that said she was used to being obeyed.
The landlord stopped and turned around.
“Are you talking to me?” he asked.
Bruno came into the room just then, along with one of Wan-li’s guards.
“Get out,” Wan-li said, again.
“I own this building–”
“Yes, I do not care if you own the city block,” said Wan-li.
She stood back, as did the others, to make way for him to exit. The only one who didn’t move was Bruno. He was standing next to the door, motioning with one hand toward it. Ursula crossed her arms over her chest. The group was silent and all eyes stared at the landlord.
“I’ll have to inspect this,” he said, but his feet seemed to be moving him forward. “I’m going to have to replace the carpet…”
Bruno followed him out and closed the door after him.
Carmen covered her nose and mouth with her hands but it didn’t help. SK circled around the outside of the mats, goggles, and wires. Sunny’s goggles were still lying on the floor.
“Good God,” said Joel, as he stared at the charred spot.
“What happened?” asked SK.
Each of the shamans had subconsciously moved back to their positions, standing next to their mats.
“We were in the middleworld,” shrugged Ursula. “All together.”
“I was the last one through,” said Alvina.
“We just got there,” said Carmen.
“Our spirit helpers were not even there yet,” said Wan-li.
“And all of a sudden, the ground started to quake,” said Ursula. “The trees were all shaking.”
“Tiamat had been waiting,” said Wan-li. They all looked at her. “Somehow, she had been able to move from the underworld to the middleworld and when we got there, she was waiting. Otherwise, we would have heard her approach, yes?”
“We would have felt her approach,” confirmed Alvina.
“There was very little warning,” said Ursula, nodding.
“Sorry, I don’t think Sunny understood,” said Carmen. “She kept looking around. I saw you yell,” she said, turning to Wan-li, “but I couldn’t hear what you were saying. Sorry.”
“I told her to get out,” said Wan-li quietly.
They all stared down at Sunny’s mat.
“But what happened to Sunny?” whispered Livvy, Joel standing by her side, holding her shoulders. “Why didn’t she get out?”
“I don’t know,” said Ursula and Alvina at the same time.
Wan-li shook her head.
SK squatted down near Sunny’s white goggles and picked them up, turned them over slowly and then set them back down, not expecting to see anything. As he stood up, he could sense that the dynamic in the room had changed.
“Well, Ursula has seen enough.”
She bent over and picked up her goggles. The wires that led to the central box stretched taut.
“Where are the scissors?”
“What do you mean?” said Livvy, stepping forward as Joel let go.
“Ursula is taking her goggles with her.”
“You’re giving up?” said Livvy, alarmed.
“Giving up?” replied Ursula with disdain. “Giving up?” She looked pointedly down at the burnt circle on the floor. “Do you want to be the next one?”
Carmen also picked up her goggles.
“Sorry,” she said.
“But–”
“Tiamat is waiting for us, dear, right in the middleworld,” said Alvina.
“All the more reason we need to do something,” pleaded Livvy.
She turned to Wan-li.
“Wan-li?”
Wan-li looked around at the others.
“We’ve never even seen what we can do together. We haven’t even given it a chance,” said Livvy.
Wan-li grimaced but finally shook her head.
“It’s fine for you,” Livvy said, hotly. “You can go back to your business.”
She looked at Ursula.
“You can just keep selling herbs and potions.”
Joel put a hand on her arm from behind.
“Livvy, don’t,” he said.
This is shaman business, thought SK, don’t try to get involved. He nearly took a step toward him but then didn’t have to as Livvy shook his hand off.
“But you know,” Livvy gestured around the circle. “You know that sometimes the multiverse is the only way to help people. You know it!”
They were silent.
“I know it,” she insisted. “I know the difference it can make. Are you just going to give up on that?”
“Give up,” said Ursula. “It’s not about giving up. It’s about staying alive. What great good comes from dying?”
“But–”
“Enough!” said Ursula.
She turned around and headed toward the door.
“Don’t you want your g
oggles?” asked Alvina.
“No,” said Ursula and then she was gone.
“Well, I guess if you’re never going to use them again, you don’t need them,” said Alvina, shrugging. She looked down at hers. “Even so, dear, I’d like to take mine.”
“Me too,” said Carmen. She looked at Livvy. “Sorry.”
Slowly, Livvy went over to the kitchen table and picked up a pair of wire cutters.
“They won’t work without some rewiring,” she said.
“That’s all right, dear,” said Alvina. “Just cut them loose.”
Livvy cut the wires for Alvina and Carmen’s goggles. She looked at Wan-li, who nodded. Reluctantly, she cut those as well.
“Please,” she said, as they headed to the front door with their goggles. “Please don’t do this. I know we can figure something out. We have to.”
“Livvy, let them go,” said Joel.
Butt out and shut up, thought SK.
“You don’t understand,” Livvy said to Joel.
She followed the shamans into the hall and seemed about to say something but saw their retreating backs and couldn’t. Instead she came back into the front room, her shoulders sagging.
“It’s for the best,” said Joel.
SK clenched his jaw. Livvy stared down at the floor, shaking her head, and then looked up at SK.
“I know we can figure something out,” she said.
“We might,” he said. “But not today and not here.”
As SK looked around, it occurred to him that the front room looked exactly like what it was–a war zone. The emergency crews had left disposables lying everywhere, the stench of death hung in the room, the broken stuff from the day before was pushed up against the wall and the red Bible verses seemed to have grown darker.
The mish-mash of clipped wires, goggles, and the central box lay in the middle of the floor like a broken machine. Nobody had taken their mats. They reeked. In fact, he reeked.
“Come on, Livvy,” said SK. “We need to get out of here.”
She looked shell shocked.
“Let’s go,” he said.
“Livvy, are you going to be all right?” asked Joel, as he stepped between Livvy and SK.
Shaman, Healer, Heretic (Olivia Lawson Techno-Shaman) Page 23
