The collectives' reassurances did little to alleviate Elexa's doubts. She felt as if they were walking into a trap as they neared the moat surrounding the tower. Then why am I going along with this? she pondered. Because she had to. As skeptical about their situation as she was, she knew that the only way forward, the only resolution to be found, would be in the tower. For better or worse, she would have to enter the tower to find out if her suspicions were valid.
She wondered if Deanna and Richard were harboring the same suspicions that she was. With the exception of that first telepathic message to Richard when the collective had revealed their true nature, they had all been receiving the same telepathic messages. Surely, they were able to sense that something wasn't quite right.
A massive stone bridge rose from the moat as they approached. They waited momentarily for the moat's water to pour from the bridge before crossing.
The tower's mirrored exterior became visible as they neared the end of the bridge. The sun was just beginning to peak up over the eastern horizon, its first rays catching the tower's reflective surface and casting off the dark facade of the surrounding city. Contrary to its earlier appearance, it was actually quite beautiful, and that made it all the more decadent in Elexa's eyes.
A light became visible at the base of the tower. Elexa assumed it to be a window or an entrance. Whichever the case, it would be the only window or entrance that she could see from her limited vantage point.
They were led toward the light, and as she neared it, Elexa could see that the light wasn't pouring through what she could now plainly see was the entrance. The light was the entrance itself. It was essentially a wall of light that one of the collective members stepped through without hesitation.
Elexa, Deanna and Richard stopped at the wall of light.
You didn't come all this way to stop now.
Elexa smiled sheepishly, not entirely sure which being to address directly. “No, I suppose we didn't,” she said, her eyes fixed on the luminous entrance.
She looked at Richard, then Deanna. With a smirk and a shrug, she said, “Follow the leader.”
She looked ahead and did what she never had any doubt she was going to do: She stepped through the entrance.
It wasn't the grandeur of the vast room that blew her away; it was the statue. Everything else around the statue seemed to fall into darkness. Her eyes gravitated toward it. But it wasn't necessarily the splendor of the statue that blew her away, that prevented her from looking away as much as she wanted to. It was what the statue represented...or more accurately, who the statue seemed to represent. She didn't want to believe it. It was just too weird. No, it was beyond weird. It was downright crazy. Perhaps the statue's distance and the dim lighting were playing tricks on her.
She ran for the statue. She thought she may have heard Richard and Deanna yelling for her. It didn't matter. She had to get a closer look at it. She hoped that her eyes were deceiving her, but with each frantic step toward the statue, it became increasingly undeniable that they weren't.
She stopped and gaped up at the statue, her breath coming in short bursts. She heard Richard and Elexa run up beside her, but she didn't look at them. She didn't need to see their reactions. She was pretty sure they were wearing the same bewildered expressions she felt contorting her own face.
“It can't be,” Deanna uttered.
“It is,” Elexa confirmed.
“How?” Deanna queried.
Elexa shook her head slowly, deliberately, her eyes glued to the representation of the young woman who was always at the center of every conundrum they found themselves in. “I have no idea. But it makes some kind of sense, doesn't it?”
“This...makes sense?!” Deanna challenged.
Elexa extended her arms toward the statue and shrugged. “Well...it's Emily.”
“Yeah,” Deanna replied softly. “I see your point.”
“Actually,” Richard chimed in, “beyond your very fair point that it's Emily, all of this, the statue included, is beginning to make perfect sense.”
“Oh, please tell us you have a theory, papa,” Deanna pleaded.
“I have a theory.”
“Yay!” Deanna exclaimed. “He has a theory. I feel so much better. Let's hear it!”
“I'm not sure I understand the sarcasm,” Richard protested. “My theory is sound, but this is neither the place nor the time to discuss it.”
Impressive, isn't it?
They turned to find one of the collective members lurking behind them.
“Very,” Elexa muttered. “And I'm sure in good time, you'll explain it all to us.”
In time, it will all make sense to you. Will you come with us, please? The lone collective member gestured toward the nearest of several white tubes stretching from floor to ceiling that Elexa assumed were elevators. There's someone who wants to meet you.
Emily's eyes darted about the room. The other members of the collective had vanished. “What happened to your friends?”
They had other matters to attend to. They were only needed to escort you to the Kingdom.
The trio walked toward the elevator with the collective member in tow.
“Going up?” Deanna quipped.
Elexa shrugged. “That would be up to our hosts.”
She looked over her shoulder and gave the collective member a faint smile.
The door slid open, and the trio stepped in, followed closely by the collective member.
“Do you have a name?” Richard asked as the collective member ran its hand over a touchscreen panel. The door slid shut.
Members of our collective do not have names. We exist as one unit. Your friend George has been referring to individual members of the collective as “One.” You may refer to me as “One” if you wish.
“Okay...One,” Richard said as the elevator ascended.
Elexa said, “One, I can't help but notice that the elevator only has one destination. That's a bit unusual for a tower of this height.”
“Yeah, One,” Deanna said. “What's with that?”
The Kingdom is an ancient structure. The elevator was put in fairly recently to accommodate those with access to the highest level. Of course, only a select few have access to the highest level. Those select few have neither the need nor the desire to access any level between the top and bottom. The other levels of the Kingdom can only be reached by staircase.
“What's on the other levels?” Elexa queried.
Every level but the highest level is a service level. The function of every level but the highest level is to service the needs and desires of those on the highest level.
Elexa, Deanna and Richard exchanged puzzled glances as the elevator door opened to reveal a long, luminous, white corridor.
Elexa kept her eyes fixed on the large white door looming at the end of the corridor as she marched―or was marched; she wasn't quite sure which―down the corridor.
The corridor ended, and without a moment's hesitation, their escort ran its hand over the touchscreen panel next to the door. The door slid open to unveil a lavish, sprawling room. There were two men sitting opposite one another on a couple of couches in the center of the room.
“George!” Richard exclaimed as the two men stood and faced them.
Elexa didn't recognize the second man. She regarded him for a moment before watching Richard and George embrace one another. She bathed in their enthusiasm for one another, in the way they held each other in their arms, in their eyes.
She didn't have to imagine that kind of love. She had experienced it over a thousand years ago, and she was just beginning to experience it again with the woman standing next to her. After losing her husband to the Great Migration, she had resigned herself to the belief that she would never find love again. After all, there were only a handful of humans to choose from, and three of those humans―four, if she counted Emily―were taken.
She peeled her eyes away from the happy-to-be-reunited couple to look at the first human outside of h
er little family she'd seen in quite some time. He was watching Richard and George, wearing a smile as warm and enthusiastic as the one she was wearing. Her smile quickly faded as she furrowed her brow and studied the strange but familiar man. She was pretty sure she'd never met him before. Why did he seem so familiar?
As if feeling her gaze, the man looked at her. “You're wondering where you've seen me before.”
Elexa nodded and smiled sheepishly. “Yes.”
“Look familiar, do I?”
Elexa could only laugh. The man was charming; she would give him that.
“Are you gonna tell us who you are?” Deanna chimed in.
The man shifted his gaze to Deanna, and all of the goodwill was washed away from his expression. He glared at Deanna for a moment before turning his gaze back to Elexa, the goodwill expression returning.
He extended his hand to Elexa. “I'm Sebastian Díaz.”
She reluctantly took his hand amid her profound confusion. Díaz. Now she knew why he looked so familiar. But he couldn't be.
“You're not...”
“I am. Now, you know why I look so familiar. I'm Emily's father.”
She held his hand loosely, the hand-shake non-committal. “That's impossible. Emily's father is dead.”
The man chuckled as he released Elexa's hand. “If I had a dime for every time I heard that.”
She looked over at Richard and George. Richard's expression told her that he was as shocked and confused as she was.
“We've been through all of this,” George offered. “I'm still trying to figure it out.”
She glanced at the man who called himself Sebastian. “Well, maybe we should all have a seat and figure it out together.”
“Splendid idea!” Sebastian exclaimed, gesturing toward the sofas.
“How did you get here?” Elexa asked as she approached George.
“It's a long story,” he said as she hugged him. “Maybe I'll get to tell it to you someday.”
She felt his body shaking. Something was wrong. She pulled back, keeping her hands on his shoulders, and looked into his eyes. “What's wrong?” she whispered.
“Nothing,” he whispered in return. His terror-stricken eyes looked past her. “Why don't we all have a seat and talk about this?”
Elexa reluctantly sat, her own body beginning to shake. She watched as Richard and Sebastian took their seats. George and Deanna remained standing―facing one another.
Glaring at one another.
Elexa looked from Deanna to George and back to Deanna. There was a look in Deanna's eyes that she hadn't seen before.
We have to consider the possibility that that's not Deanna, Richard's words rang through her head.
She looked to Richard. His terror-stricken eyes met hers. His mouth opened, but nothing escaped it. Something bad was about to happen, and they both knew it.
“What is happening here?” Elexa pleaded, her voice trembling. “Deanna?”
Deanna didn't respond. Her eyes were locked on George. It was some kind of stand-off, the nature of which she couldn't begin to fathom.
“George?!” Richard barked. “What the hell is going on?!” He began to rise, but George held out a hand to stop him. “Have a seat, Richard!” George demanded without looking at him. “If there was ever a time to trust me, it's now!”
Richard did as he was told.
“What's the problem, George?” Deanna challenged.
“It's a bit complicated.”
“I'll bet.”
Their eyes were locked into one another's. There was defiance in Deanna's eyes, trepidation in George's.
Sebastian said, “If you're going to do it, now would be the time.” His tone and demeanor were casual, as if this were a day at the park.
“What the hell are you talking about?!” Elexa begged. “Do what?!”
“George, what are you doing?!” Richard pleaded, his voice filled with alarm. He raised a hand. “What is that?!”
Elexa looked at George. His left arm was cocked. Her view was blocked by George's position, but he appeared to be pulling something from the left side of his waistband. He moved slowly, as if debating whether or not to go through with whatever it was he was about to do.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Deanna move. She looked at Deanna to see her holding a dagger. She looked back at George to see him holding a similar dagger. It was indeed a stand-off.
Before she had a chance to get to her feet, the daggers were raised. Before she had a chance to put her arms between them in a futile attempt to stop the madness, the daggers were swooping down. But only one found flesh. The tip of that dagger found the area between the right shoulder and collarbone of the woman she had fallen in love with.
Elexa heard a scream a second before she realized it was her own.
Chapter 40
It shouldn't be bleeding, was the first thought that ran through George's mind before something or someone slammed into the left side of his body. It should be morphing into a cloud of black smoke, was the second thought that ran through his mind as the room turned sideways and the right side of his body hit the floor, knocking the wind out of him.
He struggled to catch his breath as the blood began to pool around his face. He was pinned to the floor, making it slightly more difficult to catch his breath, but it was starting to come back to him. His gasps were increasingly longer. The air was starting to make its way to his lungs.
Now, he had to deal with what he had just done.
“What did you do?!” a female voice screamed. It sounded like Elexa. It had to be Elexa. The only other female in the room was lying inches from his face with a dagger sticking out of her upper chest and blood pooling around her shoulder and his face.
Elexa's question was a good one. What the hell had he done? He had done what he had been told to do, but the result was not what he was told it was going to be. He had been duped, and the extreme horror of what he had just done was beginning to sink in. He should have known better than to take the word of a man who had been dead for over a thousand years. For that matter, he should have known better than to take the word of an alien species that communicated telepathically and hung around with a man who had been dead for over a thousand years.
A pair of hands that could only have been Elexa's reached for the dagger in Deanna's shoulder.
“No!” Richard cried from his position on top of George. “She'll bleed more than she already is! We need to keep the dagger in place!”
“Should we move her?!” Elexa asked, the panic evident in her tone.
“No,” Richard responded authoritatively. This was a medical matter, and they were on his turf. “We keep her right where she is.” He shifted his body to a kneeling position, one knee on George's back. “We move him!”
In one swift motion, Richard grabbed George by the back collar of his shirt, stood, and yanked him to his feet. The first face George saw was Elexa's. She was eyeing him with a mixture of bewilderment and rage.
“Why?” she was barely able to mutter.
George looked at Sebastian standing directly behind Elexa. “You lied to me.”
Sebastian's eyes were dead. He stepped past Elexa, George and Richard to a second pair of doors. “Bring him this way,” he said as he opened the doors.
Richard pushed him toward the doors. George could have fought Richard. He was every bit as strong as his husband. But there would be no point in fighting―not with Richard anyway. He wouldn't mind getting his hands on Sebastian.
Sebastian directed Richard to the first door on the right. Richard pushed George into the sparsely furnished room and let him go. George whirled around to face Sebastian. He wanted answers.
“What the hell happened out there?!” Richard demanded. His tone was soft but stern.
“Let's ask him,” George said, his eyes locked on Sebastian as he closed the door behind him.
“Ask him what? He didn't stab Deanna.”
George pointed at Sebastian. “Didn't you
hear what he said before it happened? He said―”
“'If you're going to do it, now would be the time,'” Richard interjected, quoting Sebastian. He turned a suspicious eye toward Sebastian.
Sebastian smiled and threw his hands up. “Guilty as charged,” he said, stepping away from the closed door.
George took a step toward him. He had never been a violent man, but at that moment, he wanted to tear him apart.
“What do you mean 'guilty as charged'?” Richard asked. “Did you have something to do with this?”
“Of course I had something to do with this. We all had something to do with this.” He locked eyes with Richard. “You, George, Deanna and, of course, Emily. We all had a part to play in this exercise.”
“This exercise!” George exclaimed. “Our friend is out there bleeding to death, and you call what happened an exercise?!”
“Speaking of which,” Sebastian said to Richard, “you should get back to her. You are a medical doctor, after all. I'll stay here with George, keep him company.”
Richard glanced at George. George gave him a nod. “She needs you. Go.”
Richard turned and left the room.
“It's just the two of us,” Sebastian said as he closed the door behind Richard. “Mano a mano.”
“Explain,” George muttered. He was doing everything in his power to prevent himself from lashing out at the man standing before him. If any part of him was aware of the possibility that his anger was misdirected, that he was passing the entirety of the blame for his own actions onto Sebastian, he was suppressing it for the time being.
“Where would you like me to start?”
“Let's start with who or what you are.”
“That's easy. I'm a human being, and my name is Sebastian Díaz.”
“The truth.”
“That is the truth. It may be hard for you to accept, but as I've already explained, I exist in the only way I can possibly exist.”
“And how is that?”
Sebastian smiled broadly, confidently. “In the head of Emily Díaz.”
George turned his head slightly but kept his skeptical gaze trained on Sebastian. “You exist in Emily's head as what? A memory?”
The Perfect Moment in Peril Page 26
