A familiar oval, semi-deep pool gathered between the ancient rocks, creating a tub. His strange dreams now had a place of origin. The Twilight Zone theme song played, like a scratchy record, in his mind.
Nodin extended Maya over the edge and dropped her with a slight splash.
Jarred from his sci-fi zone, Terran had only one thought—get her out of the water. “What are you doing?” What kind of mental patient dropped a dying girl into a pool of water? “Are you trying to kill her? She’s unconscious. She’ll drown.” Terran shoved Nodin out of the way and jumped over the pool’s side. He lifted her and placed his ear over her left breast.
Her heart’s faint vibration answered.
“Terran, you must release her. She has a symbiotic relationship with water. It is the only sustenance she requires to live.”
“We all need water to live. Don’t expect me to stand here and let her drown in it.” He brushed Maya’s wet hair from her face. If he got any angrier his jaw would crack. Ice flowed through his veins from fear, anger, disdain, disbelief. This wild range of emotions had him gripping Maya tighter. “This has gone far enough. I don’t know what kind of tricks you’re up to, but I’m done. I want out of here. You all can live in this Frodo-fantasy world on your own. I don’t do these role-playing games.”
Nodin gripped the sleeve of Terran’s soaked shirt. “Listen.” Wise blue eyes stared into his, and Terran heard Nodin’s voice inside his head. “She will die if you do not let her drink from this pool. The time has come for you to accept that she is more than your understanding will allow. We need you, but I will not burden you with my concerns now. When Maya has healed, we will have much to discuss, Earthman.”
Terran kept her frail body, balanced in his arms, above the pool’s surface. “First off, stay out of my head. Second, you expect me to leave her in this tub where she can’t breathe and the water will magically heal her? You and Mama Tall Tree have lost your minds. I do not accept this. No matter how many voices I hear in my head, I still believe Maya belongs in a hospital with doctors and medicine. Look at her, she’s dying of some wasting disease.” He glanced at the hand still tight on his shirt. “Let go of me.”
Nodin tightened his grip. “Tolstoy says, ‘Science is meaningless because it gives no answer to our question, the only question important for us: ‘What shall we do and how shall we be?’” What shall you do and who will you be, Terran?”
“Science is not meaningless—every word that comes out of your mouth, however, is senseless. The only important question here is how can you let her die?” His shouted response boomed through the cave. Could he compromise his entire belief system and let her float in this icy pool?
“Terran, you must compromise.” Nodin gripped the side of the pool and met his gaze. “This moment couldn’t be any more real. You know what you should do and how the water will affect her. Release your disbelief. I need to regain my strength on the surface. I will return shortly with food and drink. Please, release her into the water. Do not remove her until I return. Let her heal.” Nodin stepped back and stood in the dim ray shining down from the top of the cave and once again disappeared.
Neat trick.
Terran refused to believe Nodin’s magical vanishing act could be anything but that, a trick.
His only companions were the faint light from a full moon, which cast a shadowy beam into the cave, and a hollow water-girl whose life seemed perched on the edge of those shadows. The cave’s environment reminded him of a PBS special he’d watched on a Sacred Cenote in Chichén Itzá. What type of sacrifices had dropped from the well above? Gold? Jade? Virgins?
No matter, now he needed to make a sacrifice. Nodin wanted Maya placed in her tub to drown then that’s where he’d put her. Maybe some show of compliance would have them surrendering their ridiculous roles.
His gaze scanned over her half-comatose body, still so weak and frail. The overwhelming sense of compassion remaining for her irritated him. Even half-dead, she still made him feel more alive than he ever had, but at what cost? She’d never been honest about anything. Though, she’d had plenty of opportunities to explain her lifestyle.
What is wrong with her body? Why did I dream of this pool? What am I meant to do now?
He stood with the wet bundle in his arms until a faint voice—Maya’s voice—reverberated in his head. “Release me.”
“What?” He lowered his ear to her lips, but he felt only a slight puff of her breath against his skin. He shivered, surely on the verge of hypothermia in this ice-cold water. How long could he stand here holding her above the water? If he let her go would she really heal? His sense of right and wrong clashed heavily in his mind. He readjusted her in his arms.
Her hand escaped his grasp and fell into the water. She moaned and arched away from his body. “Please.”
Fine. Unbelievable, but apparently what she wanted.
He placed a hard goodbye kiss against Maya’s head and released her into the “sacred well.”
# # #
Five hours! Five hours had passed. Luckily his waterproof watch still worked, or unluckily, since he was still stuck in this deserted well able to watch the passage of time.
Terran paced back and forth in front of Maya’s pool, like a guard on duty over an alien species. Every half-hour, he vaulted into the water and tested her pulse, amazed her heart still pumped in her watery grave. His body started to resemble hers, although he looked more like a hairy prune. Half-frozen, he sank to the ground and wrapped both arms around his knees in an attempt to retain body heat. The effects of no caffeine or food turned his already sour state into an acid rage.
Watching a flaming bolt shoot down from the cave opening, he worried his anger had presented in a disembodied form. A man emerged from the flames, steam billowing off his naked body. A flash of recollection crossed Terran’s mind from the night he and Maya took their drive out to the lake.
What is his name? Hadn’t he been naked the last time, as well? The details were vague. Immunity had set in from the constant state of undress these people seemed to have no trouble exhibiting.
Fireman produced a silver backpack from over his shoulder and pulled out a pair of jeans, which he tugged on. He dug into the pack and produced a pair of black sweatpants and a sweatshirt then tossed them at Terran’s feet. “Sweats are easier than trying to guess your size. I’m Flint.”
Terran raised a single brow.
Flint just shrugged and tapped his temple then handed over a Coke bottle and a paper-wrapped breakfast sandwich.
Terran placed the food on the floor and shrugged into the sweatshirt, taking a moment to appreciate the soft cotton before sliding on the pants.
Fireman walked to the pool and peered over the edge. “She’s looking better.”
“Where the hell is Nodin? She’s been sitting in that water for hours. I want answers, or I’m taking her out.” He grabbed the soda bottle off the ground. “Imagine that, it’s hot.” He closed his eyes and prayed for calm. “Not only that, you expect me to sit here and believe she’s not dying in there, but healing. I don’t appreciate having to baby-sit a corpse.” Terran hurled the bottle against the cave wall.
The soda crashed and sprayed before fizzing to a stop on the rocks beneath.
“Still, such a child,” Flint reflected, as the bottle rocked on the floor and poured out its carbonated contents.
“If she dies, I don’t care what kind of symbiotic relationship you or Nodin have with her, or whatever the hell you flaming fucks believe. I will take you down.”
“Flaming fucks?” A burst of laughter followed. “Surely, you can do better than that.”
Terran dove at Flint’s legs, which knocked him back but not down. A barrage of intense heat struck where he held Flint. Terran tried to push past the burn, but the heat was too intense. His arm hairs curled and the air filled with a nasty burnt hair smell.
A firewall flickered between them, so he backed off, more than pissed at these games.
“Drop the magic tricks, Flint. Let’s see who’d win then.” Feet braced apart, Terran stared down Flint, daring him to step forward. A flare within the flames stretched out, and stopped an inch from his nose. Unaffected, Terran remained still.
A funnel of fire swirled around him. Terran took a moment to enjoy the heat against his half-frozen body. As quickly as it had formed, the flaming vortex dropped and created a fire circle on the stone floor. Terran picked up his sandwich and pointed a finger at Flint. “You’re crazy.”
“Insanity runs in this family, brother.” Flint laughed and plopped down within the flaming ring, making himself at home. “Actually, I did go through a few years of insanity after I first turned. I’d been working on the Hypatian Codex, at the Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma, Russia, translating from the sixth century Greek manuscript of John Malalas. I’d become entranced with learning all I could of Svarog, the Slavic god of celestial fire and blacksmithing. Little did I know I would soon follow in his footsteps. I imagine I’ve had various sparks of insanity since my transformation. Something pleasant for you to look forward to, insanity can run hand-in-hand with being peri-mortal. I wonder how you’ll handle it, Earthman.”
This Earthman moniker started to grate. “Interesting bio. Did you come up with that all by yourself? How about using your memory recall to focus on the fact that I’m still human?” Terran rubbed his palms together over the fire. “Turn up the flames on your little campfire. I’m already at stage one hypothermia in this death dungeon I’ve been dropped into by your buddy and Mother Nature.”
A little bonfire formed between them, while the outer circle sputtered out. Terran rubbed his nose, trying to ignite circulation into the icy tip.
Flint stood and again made his way to Maya’s pool. He stuck a hand inside the water and steam wafted off the surface. “Maya’s not a corpse. The water will heal her. Water is who she is, as I am fire and Nodin is air. You, my mad scientist, will be Earth. We are the Elementals. You’ve been allowed a glimpse into our world prior to your transformation. Count yourself blessed. Nodin and Maya were offered no warning or prior understanding.”
“Elementals? Right, like some kind of superhero team?” Terran mindlessly chewed his sandwich, wishing he hadn’t wasted his carbonated caffeine in a burst of rage.
“I’ve claimed many titles throughout my vast lifetime, so call me what you will. But accept this, the water and your presence will heal Maya. Mother believes your destined relationship will fill in the emptiness she needs to resurface. Quint almost destroyed her. I find I do not wish for her to die. She exudes a liveliness, a cleansing spirit I am drawn to. Mother has instructed that you remain here. I will return to sit with you, but for now, I must go and gather my strength.”
The inevitability of Terran’s circumstances began to clarify. “I don’t really care what you wish or what Mother has instructed. I want out. And believe me when I say, Maya dying due to your mystical-powers nonsense will not go unanswered by every law enforcement agency I can convince to believe me.” Terran stopped eating, concerned about the presence of mind-altering drugs in his sandwich.
“Earthman,” Flint scoffed, “if I wanted to make you believe something, I’d compel your mind. I don’t need to drug you.”
“What do you want from me?” Terran crumpled the sandwich wrapper in his hand. “Who are you?”
“I am a part of you. Can’t you feel our bond, brother?” Flint tapped Terran’s stomach with a fist. “I am your core. I live in your belly. I form the fire, you now feel. It courses through your blood as anger, as denial. But the flame exists, you will see. We will work together, fight together. We’re all a part of you. Maya needs your strength. Do not doubt you will deliver her from this abyss.”
“Right, I forgot, my super hero name is Abyss-Deliverer.” Terran pinched the bridge of his nose. This tale just got taller. “Everything’s much clearer now. I’ll just use my Earthman powers and cover her in dirt. Is that how it works?”
Flint laughed and slapped him on the back. “You are quite funny. Each gift works differently. I have been reduced to embers many times, only to spark again. I am a Phoenix, rising from the ashes.” When Flint raised his arms at his sides, fire spread out like wings under his arms before fading to smoke. He pointed a finger at Terran. “And you will be a pig, Earthman, wallowing in mud. That is how it works.”
Flint was still chuckling as he stood in the bright morning ray shooting down from the well. “I will return. My volcanic sustenance, Kīlauea, awaits.”
Chapter 27
Morning passed and an afternoon sunbeam lit the cave with a single circular ray. Terran peered over the rocky tub’s rim. Maya’s hair was no longer in tufts. Voluminous golden waves now floated around her face and shoulders.
Her eyes opened.
Terran stumbled and grasped the rocky edge for balance.
Water bubbles floated to the surface due to her wide smile.
“Not funny.” He rubbed his chest where his heartbeat kicked against his chest.
Her enticing curves were back in full glory. Her slim arms lifted out of the pool.
He hooked his hands under her arms and pulled her up.
“Move back, please.” Standing in the pool, she shook the water from her hair and upper body, like a wet cocker spaniel fresh from its bath. Again, she reached for him.
He hefted her semi-dry form out of the pool then carried her to the only level spot in the rocky cave and placed her on the ground.
Maya shot him a quick glance then crossed both arms over her chest. “So you’re here.”
“Yeah, been here for a while now.” He averted his gaze from her perfectly toned body—perfectly healthy body. How could she entice him when every molecule in his body warned against her allure?
“I see,” Maya responded.
Her gaze remained intent on his, as if…Damn it. “If you are doing that mind-reading trick, I’d caution against it. You might not like the thoughts in my head. I don’t want anything upsetting you and forcing me to stay longer to ‘heal’ you.” Heal her—as if that whole scheme hadn’t been some farce. What was the truth? He couldn’t deny the proof of her restored body.
“Of course.” Her hand shook as she brushed a strand of hair from her face.
He removed his sweatshirt and passed it over. “Your role-playing partners are really good at their game.”
She held his shirt frozen in mid-air. “But Terran, surely you understand that you did heal me. I was—”
“No.” He raised a hand, palm out. “I don’t want to hear the ridiculous tale from you, too. If you choose to live this kind of lifestyle, that is fine, I don’t judge. But I’ve never been much of an actor. I can’t fake how I feel, Maya, so drop the pretense.”
She pulled the sweatshirt over her head, where it settled at mid-thigh. She padded closer and with an unsteady hand reached up to touch his face.
He jerked away. “Don’t.”
Tears glimmered, but she kept her gaze locked with his. “Terran, please, I know there are many things I did not tell you but you said… that night, you said…that—”
“Maya, the time for you to answer questions has passed, all right?” He pinched the bridge of his nose. Maybe if he pinched hard enough, he could hold back the pain of betrayal throbbing behind his temples. Maybe he could forget that this woman had ruptured his heart. “I don’t want any part of this. I’m sorry to upset you. I realize you are ill, so let’s bypass this discussion and concentrate on getting out of here so we can get on with our lives.”
He couldn’t do this. He had to leave this cave, this woman. His imagination stirred with thoughts that didn’t compute. He’d never truly known who she was. Even now with her body laid bare before him, nothing made sense. How had she regained her health so quickly? From a deflated piece of rubber to a full-blown rosy, pink balloon that had a silky string wrapped around his finger. How could that thread still exist? He refused to accept its pull. He’d break it. Cut it off.
/> But reality blurred—a shining braid crisscrossed with blues, browns, and greens glimmered in a strand between them. Taunting his mind with an unrealistic vision. Pushing him to the edge of sanity. The silky string tugged against his heart, to forgive her, to believe in the purity of what they’d shared.
He shook his head and closed his eyes. When, he opened them again, the thread had vanished and along with it any thought of remaining by her side. He had to escape this nonsensical prison. He was hallucinating for shit’s sake.
“Maya, please, just get me out of this cave. I hope you’ll continue to get better, but your recovery will be without me.”
Chapter 28
Defiant. Distant. Lost. He’d shied away from her touch.
Maya did as he wished and stayed out of his mind. Peering inside would most likely cut deeper than any black blade Quint possessed. The dark matter deluge had mostly washed away, but the wounds Terran inflicted would ice over and never fully melt. This rejection on top of her physical pain wasn’t fair. A scream stopped at the top of her throat. Her hands clenched with the need to rip out her hair, destroy everything and all. A raw desire to fling herself in Terran’s arms and beg him to take her, to understand, to love her, snaked through her body, hissing, and striking against her brain. He wasn’t the only one who begged for escape.
Why? Why heal her only to deliver more pain?
She forced her emotions behind a wall, slammed it shut, boarded it, and locked it down. Knowing all along this was her true fate, she had to let him go.
Drawing a deep breath, she turned to face him, her stoic mask firmly in place.
He stood in the light shining down from the hole in the well. Dust particles swirled around his body, free to float and drift before gently falling to earth. Her heart was no longer welcome to circle and spin in the comfort of Terran’s sphere. Her reality had slammed into his consciousness and crashed into oblivion.
She raised a hand to touch him, but drew back, knowing he would not welcome her comfort. “When Nodin returns, you may go. I would deliver you, but I cannot leave as yet. I need to drink from this well Mother has prepared a little while longer.” She turned away and stared at her reflection in the pool, before running her hand across the warbled image. “Terran, please know that I am truly sorry for the trouble I have caused you. I tried to remain in the background, but circumstances forced us together. If your wish is for our friendship to end then I understand.”
Water's Threshold Page 17
