I mentally backtrack what we have seen since being here. The creek, Noses Creek, the Etowah River. I look at Anna and Nate. “The creek, it runs through Marietta. It is about three miles from Jesca’s old house.”
Anna nods at me, and then looks at Nate. “Have you felt her presence here yet?”
Nate shakes his head. “No, not yet.”
Anna moves toward him. “When you do, she will be confused. Tell her we will meet her at her old house in Georgia.”
Nate nods, understanding that she won’t comprehend it until she sees it.
“I will lead us from here.” As I start to walk, Nate stops us. “Wait.”
He is looking at Anna now. “You said team. Do you know who is coming with Jesca?”
Anna nods, “Sebastian and Xander.”
Sebastian? He shouldn’t be risking himself for me. I can understand Xander, because of the link between he and Nate, but not Sebastian.
Nate’s expression changes, the way he turns his body away from us slowly, the tension weighted in his shoulders, I know it is because of his feelings for Jesca. Nate walks away a few feet, then stops and just stands still. God help them, it isn’t just the link between she and Nate that draws them to each other anymore. Love is there. On the other hand, it isn’t the lack of a link that draws Xander and Jesca to one another either. Once again, love is there. My Jesca will be forced to make a choice very soon and that choice could bring both blessings and tragedies into her life and those around her.
Suddenly, Nate drops to his knees like a sack of potatoes. I rush to him and kneel in front of him. His face is pale and his clear blue green eyes are fixed on something beyond me. I look behind me to see what he sees, but there is nothing there.
I put my hands on his shoulders and squeeze, “Nate, can you hear me?”
He is non-responsive. I call to him again more sternly, “Nate! Hey!”
No response, just a blank look. Anna is standing above Nate and I, scanning the area around us anxiously, “Get him up. Something is watching us again, I can feel it.”
I stand and try to haul him up by the arms, but he won’t budge. I grunt loudly, “I can’t move him.” I scramble back down to my knees and grab each side of his head, try and lock my eyes on his and yell at him, “Nate, I need you to get up!” Nothing. I repeat myself over and over again, hoping that one of my requests will break through the comatose state he is in.
After repeating my chant a handful of times, he blinks rapidly and his dilated pupils meet mine. Nate parts his lips, releases his breathe, and says slowly, “They are here.”
Chapter 16
Nate
Anna nods. “Sebastian and Xander.”
The muscles in my chest tighten when I hear his name; Xander. I can’t help but be jealous knowing that I am here and he is her comfort. I turn away from Anna and Ezra needing some space. I’m not surprised or even upset that he is part of the team coming with Jesca. I guess I wouldn’t want it any other way. I mean, with him here and the link we share, we will both be stronger for Jesca and the team to get us home.
She is going to be so pissed about me falling into that wormhole with Ezra. She’ll probably want to kick my ass. I feel a smile creep onto my face and I close my eyes to picture her face. God, I missed her smile. The last time I smiled with her was on our date that night in Florida. Ezra asked me to distract Jesca while he took care of the Sondian tracker that had been watching us at the bookstore for days. I jumped at the opportunity to take her out and make that night memorable. Her smiling as she sat across from me. When I held her in my arms and we danced. Holding her in my arms felt perfect, like everything was exactly how it should be.
But that night, we also agreed that we needed to try and distance ourselves, curb our physical contact, and that our attraction was all because of our link. I didn’t fully believe that, but I wanted to see if Jesca did and if I was reading too much into what was going on between us. I wanted to know that she felt something more too. I brought it up, hoping that by chance Jesca would shoot it down and tell me that it wasn’t just the link that made us, us. That was stupid of me. She agreed that our link set the attraction in motion and we needed to distance ourselves. What did I do? I agreed with her. Right then, I should have told her that I couldn’t believe that what we felt for each other was being defined by our link.
Slowly I feel a tingling energy start in the tips of my fingers and toes. I open and close my fist to try and shake the tingling numbness. As the numbness creeps up my limbs, I try to turn around and seek Ezra out for help, but the movement doesn’t come, I am numb, paralyzed. My vision begins to blur, like a fuzzy television channel, until I see nothing but darkness. I suck in a deep breath, panicking from the turn of events. I try and speak, but not even a whisper escapes my mouth, just a long breath. A swishing sound coming from every direction draws my attention from the panic I am experiencing. Slowly, the blinding darkness I have been inflicted with is broken with streaks of light increasing to an intense blinding glow.
I am overwhelmed with the presence of Jesca all around me suddenly. Then the outline of Jesca’s face surfaces from within the glow for a brief moment. Just as quickly as it surfaces, it falls back below the glow again. No, wait! I call for her urgently. “Jesca!”
The outline of someone else surfaces now, a man I think. Another surfaces before they both fall below the glow again. Could it be Xander and Sebastian? I concentrate on the glowing wall of light they just disappeared into and walk directly toward it. The glow’s warmth gets stronger as I move closer and closer. I reach out in front of me to feel for the surface of the glow and yank my hand back when it meets a harsh electric current. I remember this feeling now. The same thing happened when I traversed through the wormhole with Ezra and Sam. The energy in there was so strong, it knocked me unconscious. I need to get in there, let them know how to get to us before they arrive. Without wasting another second, I lunge into the field of glowing energy.
Chapter 17
Jesca
Sebastian’s voice is steady and true, “Now.”
When I press the button on my devices, within seconds, I feel the tickling sensation of electric current on the nape of my neck. The tickle becomes a pulsing that marches in time with the pumping of my heart. I must look frightened when my eyes meet Xander’s because he squeezes me tighter and mouths, “It’s okay.”
It feels like my life force is being siphoned out with each pulsing heart beat. Without warning, a burst of hot energy hits me in the face, taking my breath away. When I open my eyes again, I am looking at a rippling pool of energy suspended in mid air about a foot away from Sebastian, Xander, and I. It is about six feet in diameter. The outer edge of the wormhole is barely visible, matching the room we are in. The spiraling ripple of the vortex pulls my gaze into the middle of the wormhole; it’s hypnotizing. I guess I moved closer to the vortex without knowing, because I feel Xander’s hands grip me tighter. I look from Xander to Sebastian, we all nod at one another, then walk toward the vortex.
The first part of my body that comes in contact with the rippling and swirling of the whirling is my forearm. It feels like it is on fire as I am grazed by the force the spiral is exuding. I panic, wondering if the pain will continue as my body passes through. My wonder is short-lived when my body is uprooted from the ground and hauled into the vortex. The pain is quick, replaced by thoughts of holding onto Sebastian and Xander as we are thrown into a tailspin. If we are pulled apart, we may never find each other beyond the veil. I want to speak to Xander and Sebastian, but I can barely catch my breath as I am being pulled and yanked down and around.
My body is dislodging from the arms around me and I open my eyes in sheer panic mode. I can’t see them! I can’t see Xander and Sebastian. A glowing white blinding energy is all I see, even though I feel Xander’s and Sebastian’s death grip now. I close my eyes again and concentrate on reaching Xander and Sebastian psychically. I call to them in my mind. Sebastian is the first to re
spond. “I’m here! Just hold on, the energy is going to get stronger as we pass through the event horizon.”
Xander thinks, “I can’t see either of you!”
Sebastian, “The energy around us is moving so fast, it has temporarily blinded us.”
The spinning, pulling, and yanking is increasing all of a sudden.
I think, “We are moving faster, Sebastian!”
I open my eyes curious to see if the energy surrounding us has changed. Not a good idea; my head begins to move in a whirling motion from the force of the vortex. My head lulls from side to side, and then jars from left to right. The pounding in my head brings a nauseating headache and I know I’m about to go under.
I think, “I feel like I’m going to pass out.”
Sebastian’s thoughts are panicked. “It is the pressure of the black hole bearing down on us. You need to make contact with Nate, let him know we are traversing. Xander hold her tighter. If she passes out, she will let go. We can’t lose her while we are traversing!”
Xander tightens his arms around me and I hear fear in Xander’s thoughts. “I won’t let you go, Jes.”
I pinch my eyes closed and the nausea subsides a little. Think of Nate, think of Nate. My mind flips through a rolodex of Nate images; when we first met in the facility, when he saved me in the pool during training, when I thought he broke our link, when he helped us fight to get Corinna back in Florida, when he held me during and after my nightmares, training with him, kissing him. Finally, my mind holds tight on one image. I am staring into those blue, green eyes as he holds me to him. We are swaying steadily to the sound of the soft music. Incandescent, hanging lights surrounding him, the feel of my hands around his neck and his strong arms around me, feeling like he would never let me go, the scent of eucalyptus and mint; the way Nate smells. It was the night of our date. The image starts to fade and my hands begin to loosen their hold. I try and grip harder, to hold on, stay alert, but I’m slipping away.
A bellowing voice that feels inches from my face pulls me back from losing consciousness. “Jesca!”
“Nate?”
There is no response. No! I have to tell him that we are on our way! I have to find out where they are! Swiftly, Nate’s familiar energy is back with a force that takes my breath. It is so strong, it feels like he could be standing directly in front of me.
“I’m here, Jes!”
I want to open my eyes, see if he is physically here, but I am afraid I will lose my chance to tell him we are here. I think quickly, “Nate, we are traversing. Where are you? We need to know how to find you!”
Nate’s voice exudes so much energy in my mind, it reverberates within my chest. “Home Jesca. When you arrive, go home.”
“Go home? What the hell are you talking about Nate? We’re coming to get you!”
Nate thinks, “No, you don’t understand! When you get here, this place, it will look like home! Marietta!”
Sebastian’s thought come through faintly, “Jesca? Xander, she is slipping!”
Then Xander’s fearful thoughts, “No, no, no. I got her!”
All of a sudden, a wall of intense heat hits me in the chest and burns straight through me; suffocating me, snuffing me out.
Chapter 18
Sebastian
I hear children laughing; Caleb and Balthazar. I want to open my eyes, but they are so heavy.
One of their small voices strikes a memory. “Daddy, come play.”
Caleb calling me to play with him.
“What time is it?” Did I just say that? No, I couldn’t have, but it sounded like something I have said before.
I feel a delicate hand on my chest and a woman’s voice answers just then, “They need you Sebastian.”
Dobria? Oh my God, it’s my wife, Dobria! I force my eyes open wide enough to search for her, but all I see is small slivers of sunlight through a mass of golden leaves. I try to sit up on my elbows, but my head feels so heavy and the pain is so intense, I fall flat to the ground again.
The woman’s voice is barely a whisper on the wind, “Don’t leave them like you left me Sebastian.”
Fear spikes within me as I do my best to lull my head in the direction of the whisper. I expect to see my deceased wife, but all that is there is a concrete sidewalk, vacant except for the few tumbling leaves scrapping the cement. A sharp, dull, pain pumps in time with my pulse in the middle of my forehead forcing me to close my eyes again. When it subsides, I feel stronger, like the effects of the traverse are beginning to wear off. I sit up slowly, trying to keep any spike in pain from returning. I try and concentrate on moving my eyes more so than my aching head, looking for Jesca and Xander.
Her voice comes again, still a faint whisper, “If you had been there, they would not have come for me.”
I clear the thick phlegm that has settled in my throat and find my voice. “Who came for you?”
As I scan beyond the sidewalk and into the open meadow of tall grass, I see her, my Dobria, kneeling with her hands tied behind her back. My eyes dart from the quick rise and fall of her chest, to the long rip in the sleeve of her blue dress. I remember her putting that dress on the last morning I saw her.
I look down, reflecting on the two troopers that came to our home that night. “Mr. Onoch, your wife was found not far from the lake this afternoon...it appears she was taken into the woods...there had been a struggle at the abandon car.”
The sharp clarity of her quickening breathes through the gag in her mouth jar me to look up at her. Her head has risen to meet two dark-suited men with twill hats approaching her. Rich brown ringlets are clinging to her tear-streaked face and the whimper from her concealed mouth tears me apart. I notice the dark metal in one man’s hand. No, I can’t see this! I can’t watch this! I close my eyes and hear Dobria’s faint whisper on the wind that feathers against my face, “You left me and they came. They knew about your family, your legacy. They knew what you had discovered. They had been watching.”
Dobria’s whisper sounds panicked and her breath is coming faster now, “They had been watching, Sebastian. They were coming for you and found me.”
The gunshot’s ring invokes a series of wails from deep within me as I cradle myself with my own arms. I’m so sorry, Dobria. I’m so sorry.
The sound of long grass being crushed under foot getting closer. My sobs cease as the footsteps stop in front of me. I feel the looming weight of a presence bearing down next to me now. I open my eyes and see that I am no longer in a field. I am in a home watching a small boy sitting at a dining room table. A little girl, sister maybe, sits across from him. They are coloring. I move closer to the table cautiously. An unforgettable voice hums in my ear. Michael.
“They can’t hear you. It is a memory Sebastian, my memory.”
The two children continue to color, when a door opens and shuts quickly followed by footsteps. The children drop their crayons and run beyond me. I turn to see them latch onto a dark suited man, just as he removes his twill hat to scoop them both up in his arms. The dark suited man that took her from this earth. This man, this father, killed my wife. Who was he?
The room flashes brightly, and then fades into the scene of a young man and a young Balthazar shaking hands. The dark eyes against the pale skin giveaway the identity of the young man, Michael Sanderson. A young woman appears behind him, catching young Balthazar’s eyes. The woman, I have seen her in the worst of times. The image of my son cradling his dying wife and my grandson, Marcus, in his arms fills my mind. Miriam.
Michael’s whispering voice deepens, “She was a traitor. She threatened my family’s legacy, got in the way. Just as your legacy passes on, so has the one my father has passed on to me. This burden spawned from your curiosity, the Copula, the traversing should have ended with you. Not your wife, not your son, not my sister, Miriam, not my nephew, nor any of the others that will suffer because of your actions. You brought this on all of us. You will be the reason for the end of mankind as we know it. The end of humanity
as it was. There is no turning back now. Under my direction, my lead, our world will become strong again. The weakness humanity has cast on our world will be flushed out. A stronger, superior world will emerge.”
He is insane to believe that without humanity, our world will become superior. Our world will self-destruct.
As quickly as Michael’s heavy presence ascended upon me, it dissolves leaving me with my fear and anguish for those that have suffered and will suffer in the wake of the Onoch legacy.
Chapter 19
Xander
I feel the tickle of her breathe along my neck when I wake; Jesca. I must have caught her fall when we landed. I open my blurry eyes and blink quickly to clear them, get them working again. I am lying flat on my back with Jesca splayed across me, her hair partially covering her face. Moving my hand to brush her hair away takes more energy than I expect; must be side effects of traversing. As soon as I lift my head to get a better look at her, a sharp pain stabs through my eyes and pulses throughout the top of my head. Damn it, this is worse than a hangover.
I lower my head back down carefully and close my eyes. Maybe if I lay here a few minutes, the effects will start to wear off. I lie here listening to the sounds of the trees rustling in the breeze. It is hard to believe that this is a different world, a different universe. The sound of the rustling leaves softens, and then disappears all together. When I realize the silence, I open my eyes very slowly. The trees above me are still, the sky has dimmed to dusk, and Jesca begins to stir.
She groans, I guess feeling the same effects of traversing that I felt. “Ahhh, my head.” She rolls away from my chest and onto her back. Her breathing is heavy and slow.
“It’s the effects of traversing. It will pass. Just lay there for a bit. It took a while for my headache to pass.”
I raise my head slowly, testing my theory. There is a slight ache, but nothing like it was earlier. Wait, how much time passed? First time I woke it was still light out. Now, it is beyond dusk. I slide up slowly on my elbows and take in the surroundings. Lampposts and trees take turns lining a mix-master of sidewalks. I follow one sidewalk with my eyes until it dead ends into an enormous stone building.
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