Enlightenment (Children of Ankh series Book 2)

by Kim Cormack

  “Do you want a redo now? One where you don’t look like an idiot?” Lexy teased as she glanced back at Zach.

  Zach put his hand in first and then edged his body through the hazy, see through wall. They all walked through the stone, following him into the large open room on the other side. In this room, there were four tombs much larger than any they’d seen before. Each one could easily fit three or four people side by side.

  Kayn stated the obvious, “Obviously, these tombs are for more than one person.”

  Orin began to explain, “These tombs are the original offerings from Azariah. There are four giant tombs at each crypt, hidden well over a thousand years ago, for travel to the in-between and they’re only accessible by the hand of an Ankh. These tombs can never be moved and can never be used anywhere but right here.”

  Jenna began to speak, “The training you’re about to have is important. This is your opportunity to redo your original Sweet Sleep. Call it a quiz for the final exam.”

  Each of them knew what happened on the day they were murdered and bargained away their mortality.

  “I’m guessing this isn’t optional?” Zach muttered under his breath.

  Orin didn’t bother with a response as he placed his hand on a tomb and it opened. They were all going in the same tomb…How was that going to work? The trio of would be immortals looked at each other one last time before taking the bull by the horns and climbing into the large open tomb together. Without a word, they laid in silence as the lid closed ominously above them. Kayn wanted to keep her eyes open as the last seconds of the real world disappeared. The rose quartz walls began humming to life. She could see tiny handprints engraved on the lid of the tomb. She counted eight of them before the inside of the tomb began to flash with light so blindingly bright that she had to squeeze her eyes closed to stand it. She braced herself for the stomach churning feeling of being launched at light speed. She did this each time but it always seemed to happen a second before she felt prepared. How could you ever feel prepared? She felt the tomb launch into the air. It lurched, twisted and turned until she felt like she couldn’t take the motion for one more second. Usually there were squeals of laughter and excitement at this point but a redo of their Sweet Sleep was an experience none of them wanted. It was then that the trio began their rapid descent into the in-between. There was the familiar scenery of the incoming desert and then everything went black.

  What in the hell? “Hello? Did we stall or something?” Kayn whispered into the darkness. Maybe they were back in the tomb? As she raised her hands to feel for the lid and the smooth rose quartz sides, her whole body did a cart wheel. She was weightlessly suspended in midair. What was this? The tomb was gone but she wasn’t falling. She tried to move again and her whole body began to spin. She couldn’t stop. She could not see a thing in the complete absence of light. Where in the hell was she? What in the hell was this? She wanted to call out into the darkness for Zach and Melody but knew she shouldn’t. Calling out into the darkness was almost always a bad idea. Could there be something more terrifying than her fear of being left alone? Were the others in this place with her? It felt like they might be. She was tempted to bite her hand and turn on a light so she could see where they were. The sensation of floating on invisible water was a unique one. It was like a calm silence that was absent of any form of control. There was nothing to see and nothing to hear but there was sensation. She was hovering close to patches of icy air while moving very slowly. First only a leg would feel icy and then only her face. A chill crept across the surface of her skin. She was not alone. She had the sense that others floated in the darkness with her. A light turned on in the distance; it was either Zach or Melody. In the span of nothingness between them, there were hundreds of hovering sinister entities. One of them was a mere foot from her. The form turned to gaze into her eyes with nothing but deep soulless empty sockets where life should have been. She started to panic. Her heart began to palpitate. She had been set adrift in the unknown. It was a terrifying place. The breath that escaped in short gasps from her lips pirouetted in the dark nothingness as a fog in front of her face. In her desperation, her mind cried, put out the light! Cover the light! Tortured depraved faces with hollow eyes were everywhere. Was this hell? She shouldn’t be here. She shouldn’t be seeing this place. She screamed in her mind at the clan member also drifting in the dark sea of ominous souls. Put out the light! Please! She didn’t want to see this. She suspected her eyes were not ever meant to see this place and she squeezed them shut while trying to calm herself down. Breathe in… Breathe out, her mind recited as she placed her hand over her symbol to conceal her own mark of Ankh, afraid that it would go off in response to the panic she felt. Terrified it would illuminate the darkness and show her wicked things mortal eyes were never meant to see. Kayn began to spin in the direction of the hand she’d clutched and she squeezed her eyes shut. She heard a sick hollow gasping sound and realized it was the sounds she’d made during her own brutal death. They began echoing through her mind, taunting her…Torturing her soul. She heard a child’s voice call out to Melody in the darkness in a pitch reserved for agony and terror. The child sobbed out Melody’s name again. Kayn’s heart fought the urge to swim through the sea of floating dead towards the source even though the child had called for Melody. What was this place? There was the sound of crackling flames. She inhaled the unforgettable fragrance of burning flesh. She heard the rhythmic cracking sounds of twigs and the repetitive soft thud of her bare feet. She could smell the sour scent of his skin. The familiar scent of cedar, the cool whistle of an after downpour breeze through the woods.

  She understood that it was time to take her heart somewhere else. She tried to think of happy things. She envisioned Kevin as a child and the sound of his laughter freed her mind from the dark place it was trapped in. She travelled back in time to a beautiful memory. She was crouched in Grandma Winnie’s overgrown lawn. Kevin was squatting in the grass beside her. They were plucking dandelions out at the root, making wishes and blowing them into the wind with puffed out cherub cheeks. After a while, they changed the game. They ran around the yard, spinning and waving the flowers in the warm summer breeze. The dandelion seeds looked like miniature celestial beings in parachutes as they floated across the sky. Kayn’s father had struggled to rid their yard of dandelions. He would lose his mind every time they picked one and blew the seeds around the yard but Kevin’s grandmother didn't mind. At Kayn’s house dandelions were only weeds and the wishes only caused more work. At Kevin’s grandmother’s house, they were magic and capable of reaching the heavens above. Kevin’s grandmother was relaxing on the stoop and laughing as they experienced the playfulness of childhood unencumbered by ridiculous grown-up rules.

  The Sweet Sleep Redo’s

  The four of them stood in silence for a moment knowing the horrors the newest of the Ankh were about to endure. Grey and Lexy had been there not long ago in the grand scheme of things.

  Grey said, “Orin, maybe you shouldn’t watch this. You’ll see everything that happened to her and hear every thought she had while it was happening.”

  “It’s not optional,” Orin answered.

  Lexy touched the tomb and it orbed twice. Melody was first to find her way out of the darkness and back into her worst nightmare. In front of the tombs there was a pool of water from a natural underground spring. They all submerged their hands in the liquid to create an emotional and physical link between them. Jenna knelt before the pool and moved her hand across the water’s surface. They would all be there within her being, reliving Melody’s Sweet Sleep with her.

  Melody’s Sweet Sleep

  Melody winced as she yanked the car’s back door open. Her stomach had been hurting all day and she’d been plagued with this weird nervous energy. She chucked her school bag on the floor in front of her little brother’s car seat and avoided his swinging legs. She bent over and kissed her baby brother’s pursed lips and his face illuminated with joy. She lovingly gree
ted the toddler, “How’s my sweet baby Stevie today?” Her other brother was ten-years-old and seated in the backseat beside him. Both boys were adorable with ash blonde hair and deeply set dimples. Melody smiled as she asked, “Did you have a good day at school Kevin?”

  Obviously attempting to push her buttons, Kevin scowled at her and rudely answered, “You’d know how my day was if you ever came home after school.”

  They had the token sibling love-hate relationship but she really wasn’t in the mood for his crap today. Her stomach cramped again. Little Stevie was laughing and wildly swinging his legs, kicking the back of her seat, trying keep her attention focused on him.

  Her mother complained, “Must you always slam the door?”

  “Sorry.” Melody apologized as she met her mother’s frustrated gaze. Even when she was angry her mother was stunning, with her vibrant auburn hair and wide gentle smile, framed by deeply carved dimples in her cheeks. She was a beautiful woman with the softest green eyes, so gentle that her soul looked almost breakable; you just wanted to give her a hug and protect her. Melody looked almost identical to her mother except for her chestnut brown hair was shoulder length with a natural, whimsical wave which she always wore tucked behind her ears.

  It was pouring rain, when her mother announced that her father was going to be late tonight. She succumbed to the chanting chorus of ice cream coming from the back seat and they made a unanimous decision to stop at the diner on the way home where they each ordered giant ice cream sundaes, even little Stevie; who had it literally everywhere by the time they were done. Melody smiled as her brother Kevin entertained the table with his outrageous sense of humor. She took a moment to appreciate her mother’s easy laughter and calm demeanor even during Stevie’s full face painting episode. Her mother, all smiles, chose that moment to tell her that they had another baby on the way and that she was well over four months along. It was a happy surprise.

  “Can you feel the baby move yet? Melody enquired as she ate another mouthful of ice cream.

  Her mother replied,” Yes… I can.”

  Melody asked, “Can I feel the baby?”

  “You can give it a try.” Her mother replied sweetly.

  It was fluttering around as Melody laid her hand on her mother’s slightly rounded stomach. It was truly miraculous. She didn’t want to take her hand away but she did.

  As they stood up to leave, her mother leaned over and whispered a secret in her ear, “It’s a girl.”

  She watched her mom walk away from the table to pay for the sundaes. Once again, she felt a strange wave of apprehension ripple through her. Melody clutched her stomach and grimaced. She was a little bit worried but her little brother started to squeal and he winged his empty sundae cup on the floor. Melody crouched down with a napkin to clean it up and mumbled, “Seriously Stevie?” She heard her mother rustling around above her at the table.

  Her mom said, “Thank you honey.”

  Melody grinned as she rose to her feet and replied, “No problem.” As she followed her family out to the vehicle, her little brother’s footsteps were humming in her ears. She shook her head. I must be over tired? Maybe I’m coming down with something? She was grinning in the car as they drove home thinking about how much she’d always wanted a little sister, while staring out the window watching the trees whirl by. She had to turn away. She was feeling a little dizzy. Motion sickness had never been her friend. The car swerved on the road. Startled, she laughed, “Mom, what the hell?” She glanced at her mother. She’d passed out in the driver’s seat! Melody panicked and with no time to think, she took off her seatbelt while attempting to reach for the steering wheel. The car swerved in one direction and then in another. It happened so quickly. It lurched into a shallow ditch, leaving the rear of the car exposed to oncoming traffic. Melody felt an instantaneous explosion of pain as her body flew through the windshield. She toppled limply down a steep embankment coming to rest in some high grass. Stunned, she tried to comprehend the severity of her situation. What had just happened? That didn’t just happen. This wasn’t real. She lay bleeding in the foliage by the side of the road, taking small labored breaths, unable to move. Did that just happen? She could hear her baby brother’s desperate, haunting cries, “Mommy! Melody!” They crackled through the eerie silence in the frigid night air. She began to fight her way back to reality. Smoke was billowing above the car. She lay there twitching, completely incapacitated. Her wrist was in her line of vision; a bone had pierced through her skin. She felt the hot, sticky sensation of her blood as it left her body pooling beneath her. Her head lay twisted sideways and she could see the car through the curtain of blood. She attempted to blink it out her eyes. Melody could see her little brother’s face. He was sobbing with his hand against the window, imploring her to help him. He seemed to be staring right at her. She tried to move but her lack of pain let her know that she was in shock. No matter how hard she struggled, she couldn’t move. A voice inside of her mind kept whispering, go to sleep Melody. It’s time to go to sleep. Her little brother’s cries kept her eyes straining to stay open. She had to stay with him until she was sure he was safe. She couldn’t allow her eyes to close. She couldn’t succumb to the voice in her mind. Not until she knew somebody was there to help him. Melody focused on his tiny outstretched palm on the window. She could remember what it felt like to hold it and how the feeling of her baby brother’s hand in hers made her heart surge with love. She felt no pain. She was only thinking about him. Melody began to silently pray as a big rig turned the corner and ran directly into the back of the vehicle. She lay there in horror as her little brother’s cries were silenced by the sound of crushing metal. What was left of the vehicle made a high-pitched scraping sound as it tumbled down the road as a sandwiched pile of rubble. There was a moment of complete quiet before an echoing explosion, followed by the crackling of fire but there was no screaming, not a single cry for they’d all been crushed on impact. Melody began to scream from within her broken being. She screamed over and over until she finally succumbed to her mind’s chanting, go to sleep, just shut your eyes… Go to sleep Melody. A final thought trickled through her broken mind riding on the last current of life as she bled out into the frigid unforgiving earth, if they are gone, please let me die. The heartbreaking vision ended and faded to black.

  She was so cold. Where was she? Her eyes opened and the foggy images came into focus; leaves were all around her. Where am I? She could hear the steady humming of passing cars. She sat up and as she took in her surroundings, she realized that the sounds of the vehicles were coming from above her, up the grassy hill. She looked at her hands and touched her face, confused as to how she’d come to be lying in the grass down a ravine. Morning dew was still glimmering in small droplets on the tips of the tall grass that surrounded her. It was strangely magical; it looked like daylight stars in a sky of lush green foliage. Her hands were smudged with mud, as were her clothes but she felt alright. Melody racked her brain trying to remember what she was doing by the side of the road. She began to get flickers of memory; the ice cream, the baby sister and her little brother’s hand pressed against the glass on car window. But nothing solid was coming to her, had she gotten lost? Had she been kidnapped or attacked on her way home walking from somewhere? She wiped the dirt off her hands onto her clothes. She felt a little woozy as she tried to stand up but quickly found her balance. She stood there at the bottom of the hill in moist thigh deep grass thinking, what happened? As she tried to remember again she was met with a piercing headache that throbbed and pulsated beneath her scalp. Her mind seemed to be saying, just leave it alone; you don’t want to know.

  She climbed up the side of the hill on all fours holding on to the long thick strands of grass as though she were a wild animal of some sort, with an unexplainable feeling of strength rippling beneath the surface of her skin. When she reached the top, she rose to a standing position by the side of the road with her feet half on gravel, half on cement and noticed she was missing
a shoe. That’s weird, why would I only have one shoe on? Thoughts raced through her mind, there was something she needed to remember. She had a flash of memory…There were diamonds in sand. She was standing barefoot in the sand with her toes in the warm luxurious silky grains. As she recalled brilliant light and a beautiful woman, she felt more than a little bit delusional. She must have hit her head?

  She could see teddy bears and a shrine around a tree by the side of the road and she slowly walked towards it feeling like it mattered to her in some way. She felt a sense of foreboding as she approached the shrine. Pictures of her family were on the tree, surrounded by flowers and toys. A cheerleading picture of her was also on the tree, as well as a picture of her on her horse. Did I die? she thought, still unable to remember anything solid. Melody stared at the pictures of her in confusion and picked up a bouquet of flowers from someone named Michael and read it…Great loss of Melody and her family…My condolences…. Was she a ghost? Had they all died in a car accident? That’s why people made these shrines by the side of the road. She dropped to her knees in front of the makeshift shrine, looking like an angel kneeling at the bottom of a perfect ray of light that shone through the dense forest as though it had extended from heaven to guide her way home. Why was she still here? A car pulled over but she didn’t hear it because she was trying to process everything.

  Her father spoke her name in disbelief, “Melody?”

  What? She turned around and her heart leapt as she looked up at him. Maybe angels came to guide you to heaven in the form of someone you love.

  Her father shook his head in disbelief as he took a step closer. His voice cracked with emotion as he gasped, “Is that really you?”