Ascending the Veil

by Venessa Kimball

  Daniel rests his eyes on me now. “And what if that realm has answers of why we have been purposed with this legacy?”

  I close my eyes for a moment to take in the grandness of what is reeling in my mind. How Andromeda could be the metaphoric hell that Ezra contemplated the night he told me what I was; a Dobrian guardian. How a metaphoric heaven may exist somewhere else beyond us and how these two realms are at war for our world and mankind. Suddenly behind my closed eyes I see Nate. The image of him quickly shifts into a feeling; fear and panic. My heart jumps when I inhale and smell him, feel him all around me. Then, his whisper falls on my ear. “Ezra, I can’t breathe! My throat, it is closing!”

  Oh my God!

  My eyes snap open and the room spins out of control; vertigo. I plant both hands on the table in front of me for support and pinch my eyes closed to stop the spinning motion. That’s when I see the image of Nate, holding his throat, gasping. “Xander! He can’t breathe!”

  I hear chairs screeching, feet moving quickly, and Elisha’s voice, “Jesca?”

  Xander’s strong hands are on my shoulders and he is pulling me up from my chair as I grab a fistful of his shirt. His voice is urgent. “Jes, open your eyes! Look at me!”

  I feel Xander grab hold of my face with both of his hands. He yells now, “Jesca, who can’t breathe?”

  I can’t open my eyes. If I do I might lose what I am seeing and feeling, I might lose Nate. I whimper past the fiery burn filling my esophagus. I hear a wheezing sound coming from my throat when I inhale and exhale now. “I can see him…and feel…what he... is feeling… I think he is going...to die! Oh my God… where is Ezra? Why can’t I see Ezra too?”

  I feel the tension in Xander’s hands as he brushes my hair away from my face. His voice strains. “Let me in your head, Jes!”

  I growl between wheezes, “No!... I can’t!...It is too risky!...I can’t lose you too!”

  I think about me getting lost in Corinna’s head and Xander having to come after me. I know he is strong, but this is different. If I let him in, he may start experiencing what I am, and then he would be lost in here with me. I can’t risk him this time.

  Xander grabs hold of my shoulders tightly and growls at me, “Damn it, Jes! Please, I need you to let me in!”

  Sebastian is at my ear urgently pleading with me. “Jesca, let Xander in. You can’t handle saving Nate alone. Your connection with him is vulnerable and you are dying along with him! You need to let him help now!”

  Wheezing and my body trembling, I slowly let my mental wall dissolve to let Xander in. I feel his presence in my head instantly, just as I had when he brought me out of Corinna’s mind.

  With Xander in my head now, I focus on Nate and his surroundings, knowing that Xander will find him faster in my head if I do. Everything appears blurry, accept for a wooded park-like patch in the distance. It only is visible for a moment, then disappears into the fog. Then two silhouettes take shape. They are facing each other and one of the silhouettes’ hands are resting on the other’s shoulders. It has to be Nate and Ezra, I can feel their presence.

  I hear Xander in my head, “Jes, I can see them!”

  As soon as he says those words, the fog lifts around Nate and Ezra and their forms begin to become more vivid. Feeling Xander at my side now, I turn to see him standing next to me. It’s hard to explain, but it feels like the only thing separating Nate and Ezra from Xander and I is a thick fog. It isn’t that simple though, nothing is anymore.

  Suddenly, Nate collapses to the ground. Without a second thought, I lunge forward through the mist landing on my knees next to him. My voice squeaks as I wheeze, “Nate...I’m here... Xander...and I... are here!” Wait, he is not responding to me. Why isn’t he responding to my voice?

  I look at Ezra, kneeling beside Nate now, hand on his back. I squeak urgently, “Ezra...can you...hear me?”

  He doesn’t even flinch. I reach my hand toward Nate to touch him and get his attention, but Xander stops my advance. I turn to him angrily and yank my hand away. He grabs both my hands and forces me to turn to him as he kneels next to me. “They can’t hear us! Reaching out to him is like reaching for thin air, Jes!”

  I snicker and gasp, “Bad choice...of words... Xander.”

  The space between gasps is becoming more spaced out now; I’m getting tired. My eyes start to flutter closed; so hard to keep them open. My heart, the beats are slowing, slowing. Xander leans his forehead against mine. His voice is ragged, “Jes, stay with me. We can do this. We can help them. Concentrate, Jes!”

  Chapter 9

  Nate

  Kneeling before me, Ezra puts his hands on either side of my face and forces me to look directly at him. “Nate, you are not going to die! It is an illusion, a trick, to weaken you!”

  Not able to form any saliva now, I shake my head and hiss through my short, wheezing breathes, “How... can you...be sure?”

  Ezra’s eyes are determined and his voice comforts me. “You don’t know how to trust yourself right now, Nate. Trust me, please.”

  I want to trust him, but my head feels like mush and everything is spinning. I shake my head from side to side, trying to and upset the feeling of passing out. Ezra’s grip becomes desperate. “Nate?”

  That is when I feel her. Oh my God, Jes! I move my hands up Ezra’s forearms and grip them tightly. It is harder to get the words out between my wheezing breaths. “Can...you... feel...her? She... is...here.”

  Ezra doesn’t respond.

  Irritated by his silence, I ask again between wheezing, “Ezra!...Can you...feel her…Jesca?”

  Ezra voice cracks as he whispers, “Oh my God, she is trying to reach us.”

  I hear another voice. Xander?

  He calls, “Nate? Ezra?”

  Before I can tell Ezra I hear Xander’s voice, he whispers, “Xander?”

  Jesca voice, it sounds breathless and weak. “Nate…you need to…let us...help you.”

  The way Ezra grabs hold of my hands forearms, I know he heard Jesca’s powerless plea to help. He pulls me closer to him, eye to eye. “Nate, listen to me! You are not suffocating! It is an illusion. Your thoughts, your fears, they are being used against you. Now, they are being used against Jesca! The beings in this place, they are manipulating you and her through you. You have to believe that this is not really happening. You are not suffocating!”

  My throat constricts as I try and breathe, but my ability to take in air is completely gone now. Panicked, I try sending my thoughts to him. No, this is really happening, Ezra. It’s trying to kill me!

  Instantly Ezra shakes, and then takes hold of my head in his hands as I sway, ready to topple over any second. “Do you trust me, Nate?”

  I do trust him. I nod the best I can before I feel myself falling, bending backwards. Ezra grabs my shirt, yanks me back up, and wraps his arms around me. His grip is my anchor as I feel myself slip away.

  Then, a heat begins to penetrate my back. Ezra’s hands, they are radiating the heat, the energy. Then, the feeling of pure energy coursing through me takes over. He is giving me his life force! With every wave of energy pulsating through me, my esophagus loosens a little more.

  “It is working. I can breathe.”

  Chapter 10

  Jesca

  I feel the tension in my throat give when I see the tension in Nate’s face melt away. I hear him whisper, “It is working. I can breathe.”

  I hear Ezra’s voice, “Jesca? Are you okay?”

  My eyes dart from Nate to him. He is looking into the sky, searching for me. I feel my heart break knowing that he can’t see me, but I can see him. Wiping away the tears that have fallen, my voice quivers, “I can breathe.”

  Xander squeezes my hand to get my attention. “Hey, are you okay?”

  I angle toward him, my eyes meeting his briefly, then closing. “No, but I can breathe.”

  I hear Ezra say, “Good. For...minute...thought...”

  That sounded strange. I open my eyes to see wha
t is happening. Why his voice is choppy, interrupted.

  Nate looks up, like he is searching for me. His mouth is moving, but I can’t hear anything. My heart starts racing instantly and I tighten my grip on Xander’s hand. “Xander, I can’t hear them!”

  Xander voice sounds worried as he hollers for them. “Ezra! Nate!”

  That fog that pulled away to reveal them, is creeping in. In a flash, they are engulfed in the heavy, blinding fog.

  I hear Ezra’s broken thoughts. “Not safe…They know… Need…find Sam…Staying out…sight.”

  Xander’s hand stiffens under my clasping fingers; He heard Ezra too, I know it. Xander bellows, “We are coming!”

  The fog, it is so bright, I have to close my eyes to stop my head from throbbing. The sounds of breathing and others moving around me, catches my attention and I open my eyes slowly. Elisha, Sebastian, Daniel, the cafeteria; we are back. Xander’s hand and mine are still intertwined, me to him. I feel Elisha’s touch as she rubs my back. She carefully wraps both of her arms around me from behind and shakily whispers, “Jes. I’m sorry.”

  I shake my head from side to side, release Xander’s hand, and wipe away the newly fallen tears with the sleeve of my shirt. Elisha instinctively pulls back to give me some space. I try and control my trembling voice as I address the entire team. “They aren’t safe. Something over there is attacking them.”

  Xander adds, “They are being manipulated. Nate thought he was suffocating. Ezra said it was an illusion, but what if it wasn’t? Jesca was feeling what Nate was experiencing. If Ezra didn’t reach him when he did, they both might have died. If they aren’t safe, that means Jes is not safe.”

  Sebastian nods, looks at Daniel and says, “The beings know they are there.”

  Daniel nods, “When they ascended, the veil separating our realms, our universes, they created a ripple that could be felt among the beings there. Something had to have provoked the attack though. Michael Sanderson has his hands on this, I can feel it.”

  A bundle of nerves twists within me. Michael is after Ezra and Nate. Where is Sam in all this? I feel blind to everything that could be putting Ezra and Nate’s lives in danger. I growl between clinched teeth. “I have to go now, Sebastian.”

  Balthazar interrupts, “We have someone in route to help us with the coding. We recovered a hand full of additional transmitting devices in Sam’s safe house. They are similar to the one I used when I traversed to Sonde and discovered what was happening with the fellowship. It may be a long shot, but we are hoping they are calibrated with the coordinates for the wormhole that accessed the black hole that night in the forest. We just need to wait a little longer, Jesca.”

  I cut off Balthazar, “We don’t have time! They don’t have time Balthazar! Something is trying to kill them!”

  Sebastian spoke somberly, “If you go now, it is a leap of faith.”

  “Yes, I know!”

  Balthazar hisses, “We can’t let her do that, Sebastian!”

  Sebastian growls, “If this is Michael’s doing, he and Sam are over there stalking them both right now!”

  Balthazar quiets and looks at me. “You are taking a risk that is putting your own life in danger.”

  I fix my gaze on Balthazar. “For my father and for Nate, it is a risk I am willing to take.” I turn my gaze to Sebastian.

  Sebastian studies me for a moment, and then nods. “Tomorrow. You will go tomorrow with or without the coding device, I promise.”

  * * *

  After the experience with Xander, Nate and Ezra, I felt like crawling out of my skin. When I stalked out of the cafeteria, I told the team I needed to be alone to think. The facility was very different from the one I trained in back in Nevada. The hallways were more narrow and the rooms much smaller.

  I kind of zone out for a bit, roaming the halls, when my attention is drawn to a man’s voice behind a cracked doorway. It is choppy, and sounds like a recorded transmission, like the national weather transmissions. I look down both ends of the hall to make sure no one is approaching. I can sense there is no one in there, so I sneak in and shut the door behind me. The room is dark, except for the glow of two computer screens to my right on one long desk and one computer screen to my left on a desk. A small desk lamp illuminates a stack of papers, a newspaper, and an empty coffee mug. The voice from the television is a newscaster speaking English. They must have some kind of feed rigged from an American channel.

  Wait, the news is still running? What about all the chaos that was erupting days ago? People running in the streets, looting, law enforcement and military taking control of the streets, militant factions beginning to form. After the intersection I thought our world would be a war zone, all lines of communication destroyed by the enemy invaders. I sit down on the chair closest to the screen on the desk as it illuminates with an image of a newscaster.

  “It has been over forty eight hours since citizens all of the world simultaneously witnessed and reported the ominous flash of light and sonic boom. It has been confirmed by scientists that it was in fact the galactic intersection of our galaxy and the Andromeda galaxy. We are just now learning that the team of scientists that initially leaked the reports of the impending collision were in fact incorrect in their assessment of the collected data of what results the intersection would produce. Scientist Collin Sweeney and his colleagues had reported that our world would experience changes of apocalyptic proportions. Scientist Gabriel Griffin, recently introduced by the president of the United States as his right hand man in regards to the assessment of this galactic situation, says that we were misled and that this galactic intersection will not have apocalyptic changes on us or our environment. This is what Gabriel Griffin had to report today.”

  The screenshot switches to a man surrounded by other men and women. “Good afternoon. I am Gabriel Griffin and I am honored to be a part of this coalition of the greatest minds and bravest servants in the world.”

  The newscaster announces each of their names along with their titles. Scientists, investigators with the FBI, doctors, specialists; in all I am counting about twelve or so people standing behind Gabriel. The newscaster quiets as Gabriel answers one of the reporter’s questions.

  “We have determined that this galactic intersection has brought about some environmental changes that can be contained as long as our governments globally work together to maintain order among the population.”

  Griffin points at someone in the sea of reporters beyond the camera. A reporter asks, “Mr. Griffin, you said environmental changes. Do you foresee anything life threatening to the population in the near future?”

  Gabriel responds, “No, not in the foreseen future. The changes in our environment have already taken place. The changes will not bear any more influence on the environment or the population. Alongside the state departments in our country, as well in collaboration with the United Nations committee, we are monitoring any irregularities in the environment and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will continue to report any citizens that show symptoms of illness out of the ordinary or unexplainable casualties.”

  Voices rise beyond the camera as the reporters vie for Gabriel’s attention to answer their question. Gabriel points at another reporter. He listens intently, but the question is inaudible to me. Gabriel looks back at the team.

  One of the women steps forward and approaches the microphone. “We have heard a handful of reports in regards to sightings of beings that are not human.” The woman shakes her head. “As the head of this investigation, my colleagues and I have not found a single one of these sightings producing anything inhuman. I can say the same for other agencies around the world who have been in constant communication. ” The woman looks straight at the camera now, obviously talking directly to the citizens beyond the screen. “I want every citizen to know that we are taking every report and lead in regards to these sightings very seriously. We are working closely with agencies globally to formulate a uniform protocol for every repor
t and we will not leave any stone unturned.” The woman steps back in line with the other members of the team.

  A voice comes from behind me, “They are all Sondians.”

  I turn to see Balthazar standing in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest. He moves from the doorway and further into the room. I look back at the television. The camera has panned to the president as he addresses the reporters.

  “This coalition behind me is united to help maintain order, safety, and peace. My administration and I trust their research, judgment, and recommendations completely. I want to personally thank our military as well as law enforcement here in the U.S as well as the military and law enforcement agencies internationally for establishing curfews in order to alleviate the initial scare and chaos after the intersection. However, many citizens passed due to the initial chaos and we mourn them. Please remember that we are not under any attack and do not need to fear further effects from this event. We need to try and get back to normalcy. That is what our country and the entire world needs right now. Thank you and may God bless us.” The president leaves the podium and the newscaster is back on commenting on the special report.

  “Is this a recording or is this live?”

  Balthazar is standing next to me watching the screen. “It has been looping for the past few hours, but it did happen earlier today. See the date?”

  I nod and notice the date at the bottom of the screen now. Earlier today? What time was it? One thing about being in a facility, you never know what time of day or night it is.

  Balthazar pulls a chair from under the nearby desk with the computer and motions me to sit back down. I slowly lower back down into the chair and moved over next to Balthazar. He pulls up a national news site.

  “How are you able to get internet access?”