Ascending the Veil

by Venessa Kimball

  The boy’s brown, curly hair hangs just above his brow and he is wearing a white button down shirt. I look around only with my eyes, careful not to scare him. Had anyone else accompanied him here? Surely this child can’t be here alone. The boy studies my small, cautious movements with his startling blue eyes. I turn my head slightly to check for Nate and Sam. I see Nate a few feet away to my left, catching the movement from the corner of my eye, the child steps away from me. I slowly crab crawl toward Nate’s body as he lies face down in the grass, my eyes remain with the small child. As I crawl, I take in my surroundings. It looks like we are in a city park surrounded by large trees and a few sidewalks intersecting each other. It feels familiar to me. Like my campus in Georgia. Logically, this can’t be our world though.

  Losing track of him only for a split second, I turn back to the sole witness of our arrival in this place. He is standing in the same spot, his magnetic eyes fixed on Nate and I. Drawn to his eyes, suddenly the irises darken to match his onyx pupils and the skin on his face pulls back in angles that are inhuman. The grotesque event is like something is trying to break free from the confinement of this vessel. Within seconds, his face snaps back into its original state and his eyes revert back to the same crystalline blue as before.

  This is not a child. The only other time I have seen a being contort its face in such a manner was when I was sifting through the abduction files in Florida. A light goes off in my head. What if these are the beings that took over the abductees Sam was sending to Sonde for implantation?

  I nudge Nate carefully, keeping my eyes on the boy. I try to keep my voice low. “Nate, get up.”

  I scan the eerily, desolate park still keeping the boy in my sight. We need to find shelter before we make contact with anyone else. I shake Nate, but he stirs only a fraction. I hiss at him, “Nate, I need to you to wake up. We have to get out of here!”

  I roll him over onto his back. This gets him to open his eyes, not without squinting into the sunlight. I turn back to take inventory of the boy, but he is gone. I look frantically around us. Crap, this is not good. What if he went to go get others? I look down at Nate and his eyes are drifting closed and he is collapsing back down, head to ground. I pull his body up to a seated position and shake him, “Nate! We’ve gotta move!”

  He shakes his head, like he is trying to shake the drowsy effect of the traverse, but he is struggling to stay alert. Intent on finding safety for us now, I pull him up, wrap his arm around my waist, and start hauling him along. Within seconds he realizes what is going on and he is walking on his own. I’m searching, searching for a place to hide, and get out of sight. All at once, I see a stone bridge and underpass about a hundred feet away. With my arms still cradled around Nate’s staggering body, I pull us quickly in its direction. Getting closer, I notice a wrought iron gate carved into the stone wall of the bridge. In one swift motion, I lean Nate against the stone wall of the bridge, pull the gate open, push him in, and then close the gate behind us.

  Clearing his throat, Nate slowly pushes off the wall to look out the iron gate along side of me. “It looks normal, like our world.”

  It does appear that way, but after seeing that child...

  “It’s not our world at all, Nate.”

  The day seems to go on forever here. With the likelihood of the properties of time in this realm, this universe, being skewed from our own we could have been here for days when it only feels like a matter of hours.

  We were able to reach Jesca and Xander through a dream state. For a brief moment, I worried that Nate’s link to Jesca and Xander would not be strong enough. However, when I felt Xander’s presence in the dream state Nate and I both entered to make contact, I felt a weight lift from my chest. I tried not to eavesdrop on the matters revolving around both of their love for my daughter, but when Xander told Nate how Jesca reacted to him and I being taken into the wormhole, I felt a vacantness in my heart for her. I needed to send her proof that Nate and I were okay. I told Xander to find an ant farm. Xander said now wasn’t the time to be sent on a scavenger hunt for something so mundane. I told him that Jesca would know what it meant and it would comfort her; that it was important. My plea must have been strong enough because he did not argue beyond that. Soon after we ended the dream with Xander, Nate began his telepathic reach for Jesca. Her uniquely potent energy was hard to miss. My heart swelled with pride knowing that she was strong enough to handle things in our absence even if she didn’t realize it herself.

  At dusk, I whisper to Nate, “You ready to move?”

  Nate looks at me, coughs, and says flatly, “We are going to find Sam.”

  I nod at him, confirming his declaration. “Keep your block up.”

  Before I pull the gate open, Nate grabs hold of my arm urgently. “Why? Do you sense something here?”

  I nod slowly, noting his reaction to my request to protect his thoughts. Realizing how he must look, Nate let’s go of my arm quickly. “I think it might be Sam, Ezra. It feels like he is standing right here with us.”

  Nate shakes his head and looks up at the ceiling. “Listen to me. I sound delusional.”

  I close my eyes and focus on the essence I am sensing. I have no doubt that it is in fact Sam. “You aren’t delusional. I can feel him too. It is his life force, being emitted here in this world.”

  I look out into the darkening landscape, trees still and the grass turning from light green to dark shades of moss by the second. Nate is watching me. “What is it Ezra? What you are thinking?”

  My concern for us being in this place and what it could do to us has me grinding my teeth with worry. “This place, Nate.”

  I pause to consider the right words to describe the reason for my caution.

  “If we can sense his energy, then whatever exists here is bound to have sensed ours the moment we arrived. We need to be cautious and aware of everything and anything that may seem out of place. If there are beings here, they will try to manipulate us; take us.”

  Nate clears his throat. “You saw something, didn’t you?”

  “While you were unconscious, I saw a little boy. He looked normal enough until his face...shifted...inhumanly. Then, within seconds it returned back to a normal child’s face.”

  Nate and my silence fill the small enclosure as his mind digests what I have said. He coughs and clears his throat. “That wasn’t a child, was it?”

  I shake my head from side to side. “No, not even close.”

  Chapter 5

  Isabel

  It’s been two days and my sister, Corinna, lies in a state of stillness. No movement or sound, except for the respirator pumping air rhythmically into her body.

  The memory of the moments after returning to the Kyoto facility, keep playing over and over in my head.

  * * *

  Monica yells, “She is waking up. Siobhan, inject her again! We can’t have her losing it and going off on us or risk her hurting herself!”

  Siobhan yells back at her. “Alright! Alright!”

  I watch Siobhan plunge the needle into my sister’s arm. “There! Done!”

  Monica yells, “Jake, Nick, take her to the last room on the right. Go through the double doors. Put her on the table. I’m going to get scrubbed up. We need to do this now! Siobhan, Elisha, help Balthazar and Sebastian take the baby. Use room three on the left.”

  Monica tries to move passed me, but I jump in front of her. “What are you going to do to her?”

  She looks beyond me and flags a few of the Kyoto facility staff. She tells them, “I need you two to assist me on the removal of an implant. I need you to go to room three to implant the infant.”

  Thoughts of my sister’s fate are spinning out of control in my mind when Monica turns around to face me. She grabs hold of me by the shoulders. “We are going to try and save her, Isabel. I need you to stay out of here.”

  When she releases me, I don’t move. I’m stuck in the very place I stand.

  Monica looks over my head. “Luke,
get her out of here!”

  Monica quickly stalks down the hall after Nick and Jake, while Luke takes hold of my arm gently. I take advantage of that and pull away from him, running after Monica. Luke yells, “Isabel, you need to let them work! You will be in the way!”

  Feeling Luke catching up with me, I panic and cry out, “There is no way I am leaving my sister!”

  I push through the double doors into a sterile operating room where Corinna is lying face down on a steel table. Monica yells, “Damn it Luke, get a hold of her!”

  Before he can take hold of me again, I am at Corinna’s side, gripping the table and using it as an anchor. My voice is beast-like, “No, Monica, I’m staying! Deal with it!”

  Monica shakes her head and glares at me while she rearranges her array of operating supplies just as she wants them. Luke lightly touches my back and I stiffen, fearing he will try to pull me away at any moment. His voice is calm and low. “We will stay out of your way while you work, Monica.”

  Surprised, I look up at Luke. His eyes are tender and overflowing with understanding. Accepting, but cautiously, I let Luke lead me to the far corner of the room out of Monica and the staff’s way.

  Two more people in scrubs and masks come in, holding their hands upright. Monica nods at them and stalks toward the door, looking at Luke, “I’m scrubbing in. Don’t let the little red head near the table again.”

  I consider how much I despise Monica right now, but then I contradict myself and sigh shakily feeling she’s shown me mercy when I desperately needed it. Luke leans forward and whispers, “She can be a bitch, but she has a heart. Promise.”

  His smile soothes my nerves slightly for a moment, then is disappears as I watch my sister’s limp body lay so still while the two masked guardians work around her. An IV, then three types of monitoring systems are being attached to her body. The familiar sound of a heart monitor masks the sound of clanking metal as one of the guardians sets in motion the prelude of her fate. Monica comes back into the room and heads straight for the operating table.

  I feel my chest tighten when her gloved hand picks up the scalpel. I remind myself that she is only trying to save Corrina. I hear Luke’s thoughts in my head, “Monica is brilliant, Isabel. She will take care of her.”

  I nod my head, but my heart isn’t in it. I try not to focus on what Monica is preparing to do; cut into my sister’s neck and remove the Sondian Copula that has turned her into something villainous. Knowing that is the device that has warped and enslaved my sister for months makes it a little easier for me to stomach the events unfolding. I look away from the blade in Monica’s hand as it rests on Corinna’s neck and focus on Corinna’s splayed hand on the steel gurney; that is the safest spot for me to look right now.

  I think, “Just make it through this Corinna. I’m here waiting for you.”

  Monica commands one of the other guardians, “I need you to hold open the incision. Jake, pliers.”

  The sound of used equipment hitting a metal bowl makes my stomach tighten and turn. I focus on the steady sound of the heart monitor to distract me. Monica’s voice strains, “Almost got it. Just need to sever the...”

  Suddenly the beat on the heart monitor speeds. Monica is not talking anymore. The guardians assisting across from her speak rapidly in Japanese. One announces in English, “She is bleeding out!”

  No! Please save her! My pulse pounds in my head and my skin crawls from considering the worst thing that could happen after we saved her: her death. Luke’s grip on my arms tighten instinctively as I start to make a move toward Corinna. Still averting my eyes from Corinna’s neck, out of the corner of my eye, I see Monica’s gloved hand drop one, then another round disc-like device into the metal bowl. Seeing my sister’s crimson blood on the Copulas makes me light-headed.

  Monica’s voice is urgent. “Cauterize it, fast! There isn’t much time! We need to implant the new Copula and close her up.”

  The heart monitor is going crazy while Monica and the guardians tightly hover over my sister. Monica’s voice quickens as she works, “Give me the new Copula. No, there! Cauterize it there! Done? Okay, I’m closing her up!”

  I feel one of the guardians looking at me. I’m careful to only look into his eyes avoiding Corinna’s body. He looks from me to Luke, letting his gaze linger with him. He looks back at Monica and says, “Turn her over.”

  Luke whispers, “Come with me, Isabel.”

  Without putting up a fight this time, he turns me around and tucks me under his arm against his chest.

  Nothing good can come from Luke asking me to go with him right now. An involuntary sob escapes my mouth, knowing that something must be really wrong for the guardian to look at me like he did and for Luke to respond to it by pulling me away.

  Suddenly, the rigorous beep of the monitor, becomes a long, solid tone. I try to turn around to see what is happening, but Luke holds me firmly to keep me from looking. Through blurring vision, I look up at Luke as he watches the scene unfolding behind me. The look he has on his face...I use all the power within me to break free from him. I shove Monica out of the way of me getting to my sister. Ignoring the bitter cold of her fingers, I clasp Corinna’s hand in mine; I need to make them warm.

  My eyes wander from our joined fingers up her back to the red mass of hair splayed on the table. I feel Luke’s hands on my shoulders again, more forceful now. “Isabel, let go!”

  I ignore him, entranced by my sister’s soft, peaceful face. I will not let her go! I close my eyes and pull in all the hurt, anger, and sorrow that has built within me. I feel the sheer potency of my energy boiling, ready to burst. I hear Monica at my side now, “Pull her off Luke or I will do it myself. We need to try and save her!”

  Luke growls back at Monica, “That is what she is doing! She has the ability to heal; Lactrosis.”

  I feel his hands loosen their grip, but remain on me. Luke thinks, “I am a healer too. Let me help.”

  His hands become temperate on my arms and I feel the warmth penetrate my skin and flow through me. Luke thinks, “Focus the energy on her, Isabel.”

  I envision her stilled heart and imagine the energy in me as a steady, electrified flow leaving my body and entering hers, straight through her skin and into her chest. The intensity of the fire burning within me liquefies my limps and my eyes grow too heavy to hold open.

  Behind closed eyes I see my sister as a little girl again, holding my hand and smiling at me. She pulls me along and we start to spin around in an open field. She throws her head back and giggles her same little girl giggle that always made me join in on the laughter. Then, I hear my own childish laugh as we spin faster and faster. The world around us is spinning out of control, but my sister remains the constant. “I love you, Corinna.”

  The world around us begins to slow and little Corinna pulls me into her arms. She giggles softly and whispers in her small voice, “I love you, Isabel.”

  My heart swells at the sound of those words and a whimper breaks free from my lips, pulling my focus from the memory of us. The harder I try to refocus on the memory, the further away it fades. No, no, I can’t lose focus! I have to save her! With my eyes still pinched closed, the memory dissolves and I feel the failure of losing my sister hit home. I lay my face on her chest and let my soul break for her, body quaking uncontrollably. Luke’s strong hand caresses my back. He whispers into my hair, “You saved her.”

  I shake my head. “No.”

  What is he saying? I lost her, I didn’t save her! The memory of us faded away! She faded away! I open my eyes and pull my head up, looking into my sister’s face. Motionless and pale she lies beneath me. I look down my hand tightly clasping hers. That is when I hear the constant beep of the heart monitor sputter for two distinct beats. I pull my eyes from our hands and look at her face again, looking for any sign of life. The long beep, sputters again, and then holds a rhythm. My own heart feels like it is going to burst out of my chest as I rise up. The room starts to spin, but Luke is right
behind me keeping me from falling.

  Feeling Monica hovering by mine and Luke’s side, I reluctantly release Corinna’s hand, lean back against Luke’s chest, and watch Monica tend to my sister.

  Chapter 6

  Jesca

  Xander and I walk on either side of Monica down the dimly, lit hall. I am thankful Monica put some space between Xander and I after his jealous rage back in the cafeteria. We walk quickly to the wing of the facility where Corinna and Isabel have been for the past two days. After, Luke and Monica told us about Isabel’s account of Corinna’s surgery, how Isabel saved her with her healing ability, and that she had not come out of a coma yet, I had to see her.

  Luke and Monica were concerned that Isabel may be guarded with her and not be receptive to my presence. I told them if they didn’t show me where they were, I would turn this facility upside down until I found them.

  Monica turns her head toward us while keeping the quick pace toward the metal doors. “Her vitals are solid. We removed the breathing tubes this morning and her brain function is strong. She is still not responsive though.”

  She stops at the doors and turns to face us. “We don’t know what she will be like when she wakes. Isabel is adamant that her sister will be herself. I know her emotions are fragile right now, so I didn’t pose my concerns.”

  “What concerns?”

  Monica crosses her arms over her chest. “We have never experienced a human being surviving after the removal of a Sondian Copula.”

  I’m confused by what she is saying. “Experienced?”

  Xander starts in, “Wait, Sebastian told us before the intersection that the MIT team had acquired a Sondian Copula. Was that you?”

  Monica nods, “Yes, it was me and other Dobrian guardians.”