The Glass Wall (Return of the Ancients Book 1)

by Madison Adler

  Tigger whimpered and thumped his tail at me mournfully.

  “How did you get caught up in this, you crazy dog?” I asked, but I fell silent upon closer inspection. This was no accident. I stared at the twine on his paws and muzzle. Each binding terminated with an elaborate bow.

  Gasping, I rose to my feet and eyed the pigeon. “You’re not a normal bird!” I whispered. I’d been lulled into thinking our neighbors and Jareth might not mean any harm, but how did I know that? This dinner certainly had proven they were aliens. I couldn’t help but think I should start talking to the police. Or Homeland Security.

  Fishing in Betty’s desk for a pair of scissors, I freed Tigger and headed toward the family room just in time to meet everyone coming out. Rafael was supporting Harmony, as she stumbled, giggling and hiccupping.

  “It was such a lovely dinner,” Zelphie was saying to Betty. “I can’t thank you enough for inviting us.”

  “Thank you so much for coming!” Betty replied, eyeing Harmony with a worried expression. “Are you sure she’s ok?”

  “She is just drunk.” Marquis snapped.

  Ellison came to stand next to me and murmured incredulously, “Yeah … on water … and it only took about two minutes. You missed quite the scene!”

  I watched them go, Rafael sent me an elegant wave as Jareth scowled, but I walked away from them both. Grabbing my mother’s hand, I pulled her into my bedroom. I didn’t want to think of aliens or weird dinner parties or pigeons that tied up bloodhounds. I just wanted my mother to hug me. Only, she didn’t. She sat on my bed for an hour, talking about all the cities we might move to until Neelu came to pick her up. And then she was gone.

  It was Betty who came to my room, sat next to me, and gave me a big hug.

  Chapter Eighteen - The Tulpa

  I didn’t have a chance to talk to Al before I left for work the next morning. Samantha kept me washing dishes all day. It gave me a chance to think anyway. I knew Al and his buddy Jack were suspicious of our neighbors now, but they easily might just try to handle it by buying some new goofy contraption off of the internet.

  I couldn’t really call the police. I mean, if I called them and said that aliens lived across the street and I had a red fluorescent light bulb to prove it, I would probably soon find myself locked up in an institution like my mother.

  One of Samantha’s employees called in sick, and I stayed for a couple of extra hours to cover her shift. By the time I got home, it was almost dark. A note on the counter said that Al was working late and that Betty and Grace had popped out to take advantage of Black Friday sales.

  The house was quiet, except for the sounds of Tigger snoring in the kitchen. I made myself a cheese sandwich and sat at the table, lost in thought.

  I had been depressed all day, and I still hadn’t decided what I was going to do about our neighbors. This really was a matter for the proper authorities. I knew that a mere high school student shouldn’t be the one to handle a genuine situation of first contact with an alien species. But the problem would be in finding someone to take me seriously.

  I noticed it was getting very dark inside and got up to turn the lights on when I heard the sound of voices outside. Cautiously, I crept to the kitchen window and squinted out into the gloom.

  Marquis was searching through the trunk of his car, tossing items out onto the driveway as he spoke to someone. He was obviously looking for the red tube.

  Rafael’s car was nowhere to be seen.

  As I watched, a tall, familiar, dark-haired figure stepped around to join Marquis. It was Jareth. He didn’t participate in the search. Instead, he slouched against the back of the car, folded his arms, and began to speak.

  Marquis was still throwing stuff out of his trunk. Their voices began to rise, and from their body language, it appeared they were frustrated.

  Very slowly, I inched the window open and strained forward. I could almost make out the words.

  I was getting a little frustrated myself when I remembered Al’s portable bionic ear in the spy drawer. Hurriedly, I tiptoed across the kitchen, found it, and crept back. Jamming the earphones over my ears, I carefully pointed the little radar dish out of the window and toward Marquis and Jareth.

  To my astonishment, I could hear their voices clearly.

  “—fast turning into shambles!” Jareth was complaining. “He should be sent back to Avalon! I don’t care if he is your son or not, Marquis. He has begun to read the past Threads of Fate with his mirror. I didn’t even know that could be done, and if you don’t stop him, he could very easily track his way back to you!”

  “It isn’t that simple, Jareth!” Marquis slammed his fist down on the car. “The Inner Circle must act prudently. We cannot reveal ourselves, not yet. As an initiate, you should at least know that much! Outside the Circle, I have little power over our Queen. As Rafael’s counterpart, you must find a way to control him yourself!”

  “He is uncontrollable!” Jareth countered indignantly. “His fate line grows darker each day he walks this path. And now he’s breaking tradition!”

  Marquis straightened slowly and folded his arms. “Odd that you should complain of that … when you have scarce followed tradition yourself.”

  “I am Dark. It’s expected of me!” Jareth retorted. “You know better than I that change is never anticipated in a Light!”

  “Remember this, Jareth!” Marquis drew himself up to his full height, which was still remarkably shorter than Jareth’s. “Rafael is my son and you’re merely an Initiate! You are treading a dangerous path in your criticisms of him!”

  “Then watch your plans unravel!” Jareth huffed with a shrug. “You should have listened earlier and never have allowed him to come here. Now we sail an uncharted course, one that grows more treacherous by the day.”

  “If you were half the Fate Tracker he is, we wouldn’t be in this predicament!” Marquis almost shouted. “You’ve been here several years! I couldn’t stop the Queen from sending him! Rafael found her in three months, and he should never have found her at all. You were supposed to remove her from the equation as ordered. You have made more than one serious blunder these past few months!”

  At that, Jareth slammed his fist on the car.

  “I didn’t mind Jung! She was a mere human!” Marquis said as he grabbed an armful of items off the ground and shoved them back into the trunk. “But your bodyguard was one of our own. You still haven’t explained his death to my satisfaction.”

  At the mention of Jung’s name, I shivered uncontrollably. So Jareth had been involved! And what had Marquis meant about removing her from the equation? Remove whom? Surely, they didn’t mean me? My heart was racing and it was hard to breathe.

  The fight seemed to have left Jareth. His arms slackened and he bowed his head.

  “Now, it will be harder.” Marquis grated. “You must find a way, and quickly. Rafael is making unholy progress with her.” He pointed to their house.

  “I fail to see what can be done at this point—” Jareth began.

  “If she lives then I can’t control what happens!” Marquis snapped. “Take care of it. I made you what you are, and I can unmake you just as easily.”

  Jareth kept his head bowed, but even from across the street I could see the tension in his body. Finally, he said, “I can’t see the wisdom in this path.”

  “Who are you to question me?” Marquis hissed. “It is not your place to question. It is your place to follow orders!”

  Jareth didn’t reply. He remained as he was, head bowed, and then he disappeared.

  I watched with growing fear as Marquis paced around his car, striking it violently at times. I’d been very foolish to steal the red tube. Now that Marquis was obviously looking for it, maybe he’d discover that I had taken it. I would end up dead like Jung. After what I had just heard, I had no doubt that at least one of them, if not both, were killers.

  Finally, Marquis got into his car and drove away.

  I huddled in the darkness.
I still didn’t know how I was going to make the police believe me, but I had to try for sure now. If Melody was trapped in the house and Marquis wanted her dead, then someone needed to tell the police. Even though we had all seen Melody’s obituary last week—it had been posted on the community board at school as she’d been a school benefactor—I couldn’t ignore the evidence that the elderly lady was still alive and in great danger.

  I had to think of a plan. I sat up, twisting my lips in thought. Maybe the police would listen if I could just show that she was still alive and that her death had been faked. Maybe they would take me more seriously about the rest of it. It just might work. However, I had to verify that Melody really was alive first.

  I peeked out of the kitchen window. No cars were in the driveway and the house was dark. It seemed as if no one was home. I knew they could appear whenever they wanted, but now looked as good a time as any to poke around.

  Taking a couple forks out of the silverware drawer, I slipped outside and casually walked across the street and up to their front porch. I figured if Ajax started barking and they were home, I could use the pretense of asking how Harmony was doing, or if they had liked Thanksgiving.

  I waited on the porch for a few minutes, looking over my shoulder and peering through the window a couple of times. The house definitely seemed deserted. The living room was empty and there was no sign of the wheelchair. I tried to turn the doorknob, just for grins, but found it locked. Ajax hadn’t appeared, but then, I never knew what to expect from that dog. He could just be waiting for the perfect opportunity to scare me again.

  I decided to check out the backyard.

  For the benefit of anyone who might be watching, I acted as if I had business being there and strolled around the side of the house and toward the back. There was a large privacy fence and a gate. I tried the latch. To my surprise, it swung open. Without hesitation, I strode through and clicked the gate shut.

  The backyard was dark and empty. I could barely make out a lawn with bushes around the perimeter. A chilling gust of wind rustled the trees behind the fence. It was definitely dark and mysterious.

  I shivered.

  What would I do if I ran into Marquis? I clutched the forks in my pocket tighter. I had almost decided to return home when I saw a beam of light arc across the backyard.

  I froze.

  After a minute, another arc of light passed through. It seemed to be coming from the back of the house, as if someone were shining a beam from a large flashlight from one side of the yard to the other.

  I inched along the side of the house and peered through some rhododendrons and into the back porch. The porch was bare, but I could easily see through the sliding glass door into the kitchen.

  I caught my breath.

  Two forms hovered over a figure slouched in a wheelchair. The light came from something resembling a large solar panel propped up behind them. It flashed at intervals and when the next beam of light came, I could clearly see Rafael and Zelphie holding glowing sticks over the huddled occupant in the wheelchair.

  I knew it must be Melody, but I had to be sure. Though my heart was pounding so loudly I thought it might explode, I forced myself to wait.

  After a few minutes, they moved to the side just as another beam swept through the yard.

  I almost screamed.

  It was indeed Melody, but not the same woman that I had seen before. I only recognized half of her face, the part creased with the withered skin of an old woman.

  The other half of her face was now young with skin tight and smooth.

  It was as if someone had drawn a line straight down the middle of her nose and had merged the faces of a young and old woman together. Rafael and Zelphie moved in front of her again, and I bolted.

  Zipping across the street, I burst through the door, locked it behind me, and tossed the forks from my pocket in the general direction of the kitchen as I fled to my room.

  It took me quite a few minutes to calm down and think straight. When my thoughts were somewhat coherent, I realized that I now had my proof. The police would take one look at Melody and summon every governmental agency, scientist, and paranormal expert in the world.

  First, I needed to gather my evidence: my science notebook, the mirror, and the red tube. I’d show them to the police after they saw Melody. It wouldn’t make sense to do it before.

  I searched in my closet for my sweatshirt. Plunging my hand into the pocket, I grabbed the mirror. As I did so, the scrap of paper with Jareth’s phone number fluttered to the floor. I snorted and stomped on it. He would be the last person I would ever call. He’d lied to me about Jung.

  After grabbing my science notebook from my backpack, I flopped on my belly to fish for the red tube under my bed and pulled it out.

  It seemed unusually light this time. I squinted at it closer and then drew back in surprise as something moved inside the red glow. My heart stopped. Red and grey tendrils were coming out of the top of the tube. Whatever it was, it was alive, and as its tendrils stretched in my direction, I discovered in horror that I couldn’t let go of the tube.

  I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came from my lips.

  With terror gripping every inch of me, I watched more red and gray feelers stream out of the tube. A shape was beginning to form, hovering in front of my face. It looked like some kind of semi-transparent sea anemone with tentacles radiating in all directions.

  A couple of tentacles extended toward my face, and I tried to jump backwards, but I found my movements lethargic. It was starting to feel like a dream, and I was dimly aware of collapsing onto the floor, still clutching the tube.

  The tendril creature, or whatever it was, was almost completely out of the tube now and hovering over my head. As my cheek smashed against the carpet, I saw Rafael’s mirror, face down, in front of my nose, along with Jareth’s phone number resting on top of it.

  Virtually paralyzed, I watched the tendrils inch toward my eyes, nose, and ears. I had never experienced such terror, but the moment the tendrils touched my flesh, I found the terror replaced with sensations of pure rage and fear. I became those emotions as they consumed my very soul.

  Deep inside and from very far away, a tiny part of me knew the thing in the tube was changing me into itself. It was consuming my energy, growing stronger and bigger, converting me into what it was: rage and fear.

  It was almost impossible to think, let alone direct my body to do anything, but I knew if I didn’t do something I would be dead in minutes. I could still see Rafael’s mirror and Jareth’s phone number just inches from my face.

  Moments ago, I had been ready to turn them all into the police, but now I knew they were my only hope. Recalling that Harmony had used the mirror to summon Rafael at school, I hoped it would do the same for me.

  It seemed to take years before my fingers finally touched the mirror. Summoning my last shred of strength, I flipped it over and as I did so, Jareth’s phone number floated in front of my face, but I couldn’t see the numbers and didn’t trust him, anyway. Looking into the mirror, I frantically hoped that it would be enough to call Rafael to help me.

  It was.

  Both Rafael and Jareth appeared in my bedroom at once. Somehow, they must have sensed my desperation, because they both arrived in fighting stance, one arm raised while the other hand held the small metallic pen-like object.

  They took one look at the grayish-red sea anemone creature hovering over me and gasped in unison.

  “What is that thing doing here?” Jareth inhaled, repulsed.

  Dropping to his knees by my side, Rafael wrenched the tube from my frozen fingers in a single, swift motion, but the thing was already free. “It’s too late. It’s feeding off her energy!” he gasped in stunned disbelief.

  “But how could it be here?” Jareth hadn’t moved. He was still staring, dumbfounded.

  After a hurried inspection, Rafael’s gray eyes darkened and his voice was grim. “She does not have long. This can’t be right!
This can’t be the end for her. Her fate line is far too strong and powerful to end here!”

  That seemed to jolt Jareth out of his stupor. Joining Rafael to kneel by my side, he touched my cheek lightly and said, “But the strong line is Blue! We can’t take the chance, Rafael. It’s better to end it here than to risk such disaster!”

  I knew that he meant to let me die. I wanted to scream and cry, but I couldn’t move. I wanted to yell no, that it was not better to have me end here! Why was he assuming that if I lived it would be a disaster?

  Drawing me up gently, Rafael clasped me close and focused his piercing gaze on my forehead. “No! I will not let her die. Death is not the correct fate line for her at this point!”

  Jareth’s mouth drew in a thin, straight line. Adopting a fierce expression, he shook his head, insisting, “There is nothing you can do. That Tulpa has almost converted her. She has only minutes left.”

  Rafael passed his hand over my face, still staring at my forehead and then he arrived at a decision. Taking a deep breath, he met Jareth’s gaze boldly. “There is one way to save her.”

  “How? It is …” Jareth’s face darkened as understanding dawned. “No! I can’t allow it, Rafael. If you take her to Avalon, they will only kill her. They’ll never let you take her back here, and they’ll never let a human stay there. You know that! It would only be one dangerous step away from breaking the Glass Wall!”

  “Then that’s a chance that I will take!” Rafael swore passionately. “I’ll remind them of what we once were and make them understand. I won’t allow them to take her life!”

  Jareth choked. “You can’t risk all of humanity for her!”

  “You see her fate line as well as I do!” Rafael’s voice rose sharply. “It is so strong, it may be more important than the Glass Wall itself!”

  Jareth tried to pry Rafael’s hands away from me. “This is your moment, Rafael! This must be why you are Blue. Let her go. Let her die. It is her destiny!”

  Clenching his jaw, Rafael’s hypnotic gaze trapped mine. I wanted to shout at him, to tell him that I was scared and that I didn’t want to die, but my lips were no longer mine to control. I had almost become the twin emotions of anger and fear. The thing was moments away from converting my soul completely.