I pinch my eyes closed and breathe in deeply. I turn around, eyes still closed, and lean against the door. I slowly open them and see my father lying on a gurney, covered up to his neck with a white, stiff sheet. My eyes move down to where the sheet rests on his chest. I can’t breathe until I see that he can. The sheet rises and falls slowly and I exhale a wavering breath.
His face is so stoic, yet peaceful; like a statue. I don’t realize that I have moved closer to him, but I am standing by his side now, studying his regal features. My mind wanders to Nate. I look around the spacious, white room. He isn’t here. He must be in another room.
Ezra clearing his throat pulls my attention back to him I squat down next to the bed and I touch his shoulder to let him know I am here.
“Hey you.”
He blinks his eyes open and turns his head, wincing a little. I suck in a hissing breath, “Be careful there, old man.”
His face softens, closes his eyes and raises his eye brows in Ezra fashion. “Old man, huh? What’s your excuse?”
The Ezra humor cannot be held down.
He coughs a little and clears his throat again. I squeeze his shoulder. “Rest, alright?”
He nods, opens his eyes and says. “It is happening.” He looks at me. “We are evolving, adapting, and surviving.”
His honey brown eyes wait for my response, my reaction. I nod slowly. “Yes, for now.”
His eyes come to life suddenly and intensify. “Spoken like a guardian.”
I scoff, trying to make light of his compliment, “Spoken like an Ezra clone.”
Ezra looks away and up at the ceiling, groans and sighs audibly. It makes me smile.
He looks back at me, serious now. “No. You are more, Jesca.”
My smile fades away as I think of Nate, holding me, healing me beyond the veil.
“If I was more, I wouldn’t have needed saving beyond the veil. I could have sealed it.”
Ezra closed his eyes, feeling the weight of what I was really saying. “We may be evolving and adapting, but we are not invincible. None of us are. We all need saving every once and a while, love.”
I hear the rattle of the door knob and stand quickly, just as Monica appears in the doorway. She eyes my clenching fists and puts her hands up in the air, making it obvious she isn’t going to stick me. “No syringe, promise.”
She closes the door behind her and steps into the room only a few steps, arms crossed in front of her chest and cautiously approaching. “He is right. We all need saving sometimes, even the strongest of us.”
She looks down at Ezra, then back at me, continuing her approach across the room. I walk around to the other side of Ezra’s bed, forming a solid distance between Monica and I. Monica continues, “If Xander hadn’t responded as quickly to the modified Copula, he wouldn’t have been able to save Ezra.”
Xander saved my father? I look down at Ezra for validation. Ezra clears his throat, “My body was rejecting the Copula. We think it was because I was wounded beyond the veil, but aren’t sure. Xander gave me his energy freely.”
I think of the energy Nate shared with me beyond the veil and the energy Xander, Nate, and I shared here when we arrived back on Earth. Xander made it. Did Nate use all of his energy?
I pinch my eyes closed and wring my hands together. “I can’t feel him. Why do I not feel our connection?”
I open my eyes and the tears fall as I look down at Ezra first, then to Monica. “Did Nate die trying to save us when we got back? Is that why I can’t feel his presence?”
Ezra’s eyes stay steady on mine. “Nate is alive, You and Nate, Nate and Xander...you are no longer bound by a manufactured link. No one is. ”
What? I stare at him for a minute. How is that possible? After everything that Nate, Xander, and I have been through together, using our links to save one another, rescue one another, now it is just gone? Why?
Monica cuts in, “We knew there would be a chance that the link would not transfer simply because of the modifications we had to make to the Copula. Six months ago, the environment changed drastically. Levels of helium shot through the roof and other element levels increased comparably. We were scrambling here and back in the US to get the modifications complete and out to all of the guardians and the expanding fellowship. With us being the enemy now, the resistance, coding links between guardians was not a modification we had the luxury, or time, of working on. We still don’t. We are a fellowship working together, but the evolution has changed us, it is now each man for his self when it comes to survival.”
We are a team, but we are alone in this. I think of Angela. “Is that why Angela died? Because no one could link with her to save her? She died alone.”
Monica says defensively, “She walked into a swarm of Sondians with explosives attached to her body! She did not look to be saved, Jesca. She did it to save us!”
I choke back the cry within me, the cry I want to release for Angela’s selfless bravery.
Ezra says, “The link, it was just a fabricated bond, Jes.”
I look at Ezra, he closes his brown eyes briefly, then reopens them. “When the spirit, the soul within you bonds with another, that connection can never be broken, in life or death. Angela was not alone.”
His expression, his words, are brimming with the insinuation of the bond my mother Anna and he shared. The kinship Xander and Nate have developed. My bond with each of them and how it will change. How I will need to make a choice between the two of them.
I cover my face with my hands and rub my eyes, not wanting to cross that bridge until I have to. Change the subject, Jes. “Where is Sam?”
Monica, “Yes, he has undergone re-implantation. He is in and out of consciousness. Corinna is guarding him like a lioness, worried that one of us will kill him the first chance we get.”
Monica grits her teeth. Ezra breaks in, “He is not the man he was before ascending the veil, Monica.”
The next question is one I am careful with, “What about Anna?”
Ezra slowly shakes his head from side to side, his lower lip quivering. “I can’t feel her near.”
She had to have gotten out. “Well if Michael did, then she did!” I walk the length of the room, thinking. “How many days have we been back?”
Monica responds, “Twenty-four hours, why?”
I turn and walk back. “He is going to Georgia. In the other universe, I had a premonition. I saw the Etowah Mounds and three stars above the highest mound off in the horizon; Orion’s belt. Michael saw it too. That is where he is going.”
Hearing the door knob turn, I pivot around. Sebastian slips in and closes the door behind him quickly. He looks up at me briefly, then down at Ezra. He doesn’t speak, he just walks quietly over to Ezra and rests his hand on his shoulder. Ezra places his hand on top of Sebastian’s and squeezes.
Sebastian says, “You’re a sight for sore eyes.”
Ezra replied, “As are you, old friend.”
Sebastian looks at me suddenly as I watch their interaction. “Jesca, truth lies in the illusions. What I saw over there, beyond the veil, it was truth. Truth that is resurfacing because it is the only way to save what is left of our world, our humanity.”
His words release a deluge of reflections. The conversation beyond the veil; our ancestry, our roots in Georgia, the Etowah mound and link with Orion’s Belt. Sebastian calling Michael Sanderson’s father, a murderer.
Ezra interrupts my reasoning, “Sebastian, what’s going on?” Ezra looks shocked, something I’m not accustomed to seeing. How could he not know? Unless Sebastian withheld the truth about my lineage.
My eyes meet Sebastian’s. “Wait, you never told Ezra? Why wouldn’t you tell him?”
For years, Sebastian had Ezra guarding and protecting those mounds without telling him the deeper reasons. That the mound held the possible salvation of our world.
Ezra hisses between his teeth, “Tell me what?”
Eyes focused on me, Sebastian shakes his head slowly fr
om side to side. “I never told any of them.”
My mind begins slipping away.
Sebastian replies, “It was for their own protection.”
Slipping further.
Sebastian continues, “I didn’t expect Michael to make it back. I thought this battle between our fellowships would end beyond the veil with his death. This battle between our lineages would have been over.”
Slipping into detachment.
Sebastian went on, “Now, the legacy our fellowships has been masking must become transparent to save us all.”
The departure of my emotions.
Sebastian explains, “In order to save us, we must transcend the legacy.”
I’ve heard of disassociation before, removal of oneself from a situation or series of events for self-preservation; to avoid the trauma.
Ezra throws the sheet from his body and bolts upright. Sebastian and Monica jump back from Ezra, but I remain unmoved. I watch Ezra advance, “Damn it Sebastian, tell me what is going on!”
It must be the tangibility, the palpability of my legacy, manifesting, rooting, festering deeper in me that has dislodged the emotion to fear, to feel anything right now. I look at Ezra, standing before Sebastian yelling so hard that his face is turning purple. The words he is shouting no longer have meaning, just the movement of his mouth. Sebastian’s eyes are down cast as he takes each verbal blow. Monica has angled herself between the two of them, hand on Ezra’s chest, just in case his swelling temper gets the best of him.
I mutter, “We need to go.”
Each of them looks at me, but Monica is the one that speaks, “We need to leave in the dead of night. It is our only shot of being camouflaged.”
Ezra staggers back from Sebastian and Monica, sitting back on the bed. Monica, steps in front of him and guides him to lie down on the bed. She runs her hand over his forehead; the gesture is intimate in a way. “You are still fatigued. Rest, we will need you strong when we move.”
Ezra closes his eyes and nods, succumbing to her suggestion. I swallow hard, slight jealousy of Monica’s and my father’s interaction. He belongs to Anna, my mother. I interrupt the moment between them. “Tonight. It has to be tonight. Michael is already headed for Georgia.” I move around the bed to leave.
Monica calls to me, “Where are you...”
Without breaking my stride, I answer her as I twist the knob on the door. “I need to see it for it to be real.”
As I pull the door open, I am met by two striking blue-green eyes. I pull the door shut behind me and just stare at him, stunned to see him in front of me when just moments ago I thought he had died. Nate is leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. His voice is deep, but gentle, “Hi there.”
My intention was to respond back, but before I realize it, I am colliding with him, arms wrapped around his shoulders and burying my face in his neck; eucalyptus and mint. His arms close around me, like a cocoon, and the familiar warmth within that Nate has always been able to conjure within me is evoked. I feel, even with the link gone, I still feel. The realization of losing Nate hits me and is greater than I ever expected. I stifle a cry and bury my face deeper in the crevice between his chin and shoulder. I feel his mouth rest on the side of my head and he delicately hushes me, while running his hand down the back of my head. My words are choppy and muffled, but I don’t care, “I thought you died.”
I feel Nate shake his head slightly and whisper, “No, not without a fight.”
The clearing of a throat from behind us startles me. I angle my head to see Xander standing, stoically, in the shadows watching us. Feeling the weight of Xander’s intrusion on Nate’s and my private moment, I pull away from him and create distance between the three of us. It is a standoff of sorts. Both Nate and Xander are looking at me, studying me.
“Are you trying to read me?” I scoff, “Won’t work. With the link gone...”
Nate pipes in, “It doesn’t change everything.”
I look at Xander to see if he shares the same sentiment. Grinding his jaw he says, “He’s right. Even though our link is gone, I still care about his sorry ass.”
Nate cocks his head in Xander’s direction. “Thanks, Xander.”
Xander cocks his head back, “Anytime.” Xander steps toward me. “And you! It doesn’t change the fact that we care about you.”
Chest getting extremely tight right about now.
Nate responds, “Bottom line, Jes, the link was just a temporary bond. The bond we share now will never be broken.”
Xander adds, “No matter what choices are made.”
His words make me focus on him. Those hazel orbs already seem so sad and I haven’t made a choice yet. Choices. The ever looming choice between Xander and Nate, two men that I love, both the same and differently. Nate, so sure that our bond, his and Xander’s, mine to each of them, will never be broken. When I make a choice, something within each of us will break, I know it. I can’t have that privilege right now. The world is dying, our race is dying. I will not choose between them, that is my choice. In that moment I promise myself that I will not widen the gap of our singularity by choosing.
“I choose to not choose.”
Both of them look at me like I have lost my mind.
I cross my arms over my chest as I dig for firmer ground in my decision. I nod, showing my solidarity, raise my chin to appear firmer behind my choice. “That is my decision.”
Xander crosses his arms over his chest, working his jaw over time. Nate leans back against the wall, head resting against it, and looks up at the ceiling. Silence lingers among us for a few moments, the sound of the fluorescent lights flickering above the only audible noise; no thoughts or wanderings being exchanged between us. Singularity.
“We leave for Georgia tonight. I’m going to pack.” I turn on my heels and swiftly walk down the hall. I wait until I pass through the double doors of the next wing, to release the air in my lungs and tears in my eyes. I walk fast and hard, no knowing my destination, repeating to myself, “It is the right thing to do. It is best for all of us. It is the right thing to do. It is best for all of us.”
Chapter 29
Ezra
Monica hands me a glass of water. “Drink. Don’t need you getting dehydrated.”
I ignore her commanding tone and take the glass, still absorbed by what I have been kept in the dark about. I prop myself up on my elbow and drink, eyes trained on Sebastian. “What truths don’t I know, Sebastian?”
Sebastian pulls a vacant chair over to sit. “Our lineage in Georgia. Our legacy there is deeper than what I led you and the others to believe when we were protecting the Etowah Mound site.”
He has known the whole time.
Sebastian stares off. “The mounds, they had always fascinated me. I visited them briefly as a child, but it was the dreams, premonitions, that kept me marveling over them. Dreams of living among the mounds long ago in ancient times.” He blinks, snapping out of his hypnotic reflection of the dreams. “While attending university, my late night studies would land me in the library much of the time. It would start with the intended coursework, but I would drift and become charged with the research of the mounds. Night after night, I would collect pages and pages of notes from book after book. The ancient mound builder’s living patterns in the Georgia area. Names of tribes. The librarian liked me and even divulged some of the rarer books regarding the local tribes. Then, one night a name stood out among the data. One possessing the last name Onoch. That was the proof I needed to link the ancient Indian mound builders and my bloodline. I started digging up the Onoch genealogy in local records. Living relatives on the Onoch side of the family were dwindling and I would have asked my mother and father about our family, but they had their hands full with my sister’s crippling headaches and sleep afflictions.”
Sebastian looks at me questioningly, making sure I knew what he was referring to. I knew that he was referring to the trademark affliction that Sebastian, Anna, and Jesca all possessed;
sleep paralysis and the premonitions. The genealogy and the documentation lined up, but I needed the confirmation that my conclusions were absolute. That the Onoch bloodline mingled with the very Indian mound builders’ blood that once occupied the Etowah Mounds. An expert. I asked around campus and the name that kept surfacing in regards to knowledge with my professors and fellow classmates was Jaegar Sanderson, professor of Ancient Indian History and Culture.”
Monica mumbles, “Sanderson. Michael...”
Sebastian nods. “Yes, Michael Sanderson’s father.”
Sebastian scratches his forehead, eyes downcast shifting left to right. “I met him, showed him everything I found, how I thought my family was linked to the mounds. I even divulged the premonitions I have had since I was a small child. He made it so easy to talk to him, because he was intriguing. His knowledge of the mounds, the rituals and ceremonies performed among the tribes honoring the cosmos was just as captivating and a little uncharacteristic for a history professor. That was my first concern. The second was when he made the comment that he knew the bloodline of the ancient mound builders would surface again when the world was approaching an evolution.”
I swallow hard. “Your bloodline resurfacing was a prophecy of this.”
Sebastian nods quickly. “Yes.”
“Why your bloodline? You said that Jeager spoke of rituals and ceremonies performed by your ancestors honoring the cosmos.”
Sebastian eyes are steady on me now. “Jaeger said the rituals were done to link beings that were once here, but had transcended our world.”
“You mean other humans?”
Sebastian tilts his head. “And others. He said that the ancient Indians thought they could seek protection during times of war from “these gods” above. The protection would come in the form of abilities, gifts, to act as guardians, and when the time came, to protect our world during an apocalyptic evolution. As the ancient Indian blood thinned, mingling with the growing Anglo-Saxon population, the ideology of the ancient Indian mound builders transformed to one of survival among the growing population.”
Ascending the Veil Page 19
