by J M Hart
Sophia stumbled into the room holding her ears, protecting herself from the sound of the she-devil’s high-pitched scream. Casey’s skin crawled. Sophia could see and feel what he saw, and the malevolent spirit saw her too. It hissed in her direction. Sophia expelled a bolt of golden energy that mushroomed, flared and forged a violent shock wave, throwing the she-devil off guard. Its entourage stepped back, confused.
“Cowards,” it hissed at its companions.
The she-devil drew all the energy in the room into herself and pushed it back at Sophia’s. To Casey it all appeared to happen in slow motion. Its putrid smell, the screaming, its stretched mouth was closing. It thrust its claws forward and Sophia was lifted off her feet high into the air and slammed into the bookshelves. With its hand still extended towards her, as if to hold her back, it sucked Alex’s spirit from his body, ingesting him. Sophia struggled against its force, rising up, and her necklace fell outside her shirt, catching the light: a blue laser beam magnificently struck the entity in its chest. It vanished from the room, taking Alex’s spirit with it, leaving his little lifeless body behind. Casey, out of breath, helped Sophia to her feet. Daniel held Molly close to his chest.
Callie lowered Alex to the floor. Daniel checked his airways and felt for a pulse before commencing CPR. His face was beaded with sweat but he kept massaging Alex’s chest for at least twenty minutes. He stopped and checked again for a pulse.
Kevin was crying, pleading with them to let him help, but his entreaties went unheard.
Daniel, emotionally and physically exhausted, stopped CPR. Callie got down on her knees and cradled Alex in her arms and cried out in pain. Casey didn’t know what to do. He sent a bolt of energy at Alex’s chest. His body jolted, but his tiny heart did not beat again.
Sophia leant into Casey and said, “We have to go. Tell Jade to get Kevin and Tim and meet us upstairs. I’ll get Shaun.”
Everyone was heading upstairs, giving Callie and Daniel privacy in their grief. Sophia whispered in Jade’s ear to get Kevin and come upstairs.
Kevin lovingly held Molly. Casey’s heart was aching for him. He knew what it was like to lose someone you loved. Daniel pried Alex from Callie’s arms and lifted him up. He clutched him tight and buried his head in his chest and sobbed, walking listlessly into their bedroom.
Callie stroked Molly’s cheek. “I’m afraid she’ll fall asleep,” she said to Amy through tears.
“If you like I can sit with her awhile,” Amy said.
“No.” Callie took Molly from Kevin’s arms and hugged them both tight. She let go of Kevin and followed Daniel into their room.
Casey went up to Kevin and watched as his parents closed the door behind them. “Come on.”
Sophia was holding onto his elbow. “Father.” He had stopped praying and the crackling fire seemed intrusive and unwelcoming.
He pushed down on his knee to rise.
Sophia softly said, “We have to go.”
He turned around and looked at her. He didn’t want to leave, he wanted to pray and comfort the family.
“Come up to Casey’s room when you’re ready.”
*
Casey saw the door handle turn. Father McDonald was breathing heavily. He saw Shaun slip his knife into his pocket. Casey busied himself packing his haversack and pretended he didn’t see him, or Father McDonald come in to the room. Kevin was putting on boots and turned towards the door. They must have looked strange to Father McDonald, dressed in the middle of the night, ready to leave after what had just happened. They stopped when Father McDonald stepped into the room and cleared his throat.
Shaun was the first to speak. “Why is he here?”
“Why are any of us here?” Father McDonald said. “What’s going on, Sophia?”
Sophia walked towards him and said, “We know how to get there.”
“Now is not the time, whether you know how to get to Israel or not,” Father McDonald said.
“Father, you have been with me from the beginning, and I can’t do this now without you.”
“He’s right, I’m not going,” Kevin said.
“We need to go now,” Sophia said.
“Why now?” Kevin yelled. “My brother just died in his sleep for Christ’s sake!” His faced screwed up with grief. The tears tumbled from the side of his eyes and he swallowed back the sobs. “Don’t you care?”
“We have to go now, because of Alex,” Sophia said. “The curtain between the two worlds is so thin we are losing our hold on this world. We will disappear and become the dead.”
Very softly, Jade rubbed Kevin’s back and Tim rested his hand on his shoulder. Kevin looked flustered; he pushed his hair back and wiped his face with his forearm. Casey continued to pack.
Father McDonald looked confused, puzzled. “You can’t leave your families in their time of need.”
Casey finished packing and watched Jade softly talking to Kevin. Whatever she said, it worked. Kevin brushed his hair out of his eyes as a ball of green energy expanded from his chest, pushing his shoulders back. Kevin stood tall, drew in a deep breath, widened his arms and exploded into life. Casey watched speechless as the room hummed and the floor vibrated under their feet. It sounded like a hole was ripping through the fabric of the universe.
“In God’s name, what is that?” Father McDonald said.
A doorway began to open. The space before Kevin began to ripple. The atoms in the air ignited with light, creating a hole, separating time and space. The bay window could hardly be seen behind the transparent wall of light.
“Let’s go, then!” Kevin said and ran into the wall. Tim, Jade and Shaun followed behind.
Casey threw his bag over his shoulder. “We have to go, Father,” he said and gently held his elbow.
The priest walked up to the wall and touched it, quickly pulling away. “God help us.”
“Have faith, Father. See the continuity,” Casey said, guiding him forward.
Father McDonald stepped into the liquid light. He turned and looked back and Casey saw a rainbow bending around Father McDonald as if he were traveling at great speeds, then he disappeared from Casey’s sight.
As Casey began to step into the liquid light, he heard the bedroom door open and saw Daniel walk in. It must have been a shock for Daniel to see half of Casey’s body, then to see him completely disappear into the rippling mirage. Casey could feel hands reaching for him, pulling him into the parallel world.
They stood in silence. Father McDonald appeared to be enthralled by the luminous surroundings: an enchanted forest, everything pulsing with life. Casey couldn’t help but watch Father McDonald gaze with awe into a clearing towards a garden and a sparkling pond. Scholars from different denominations were huddled together as if studying the secrets of heaven. A rabbi nodded towards Father McDonald, and a monk inclined his head before turning back to the other spiritual scholars.
“Are we in the Garden of Eden?” Father McDonald asked.
“I don’t think so,” Casey said. “I don’t know where we are. We could be?”
“I feel no pain.” Father McDonald flexed his hands, bent his knees. “My arthritis, it’s gone!” He smiled widely, breathed deeply, drinking in the healing energy of the world. “It’s a miracle, a place of miracles. We must be in heaven.”
“We should call this place Athanasia,” Jade said.
“What does that mean?” Casey asked.
“Timelessness. Everlasting life,” Father McDonald said.
“Which way?” Shaun turned and faced Kevin.
Kevin looked around and saw the deer that had led him to Jade standing behind Shaun off in the distance. He stepped towards it and it disappeared.
“What?” Shaun turned, and looked behind him. It reappeared, standing with one foot forward. Shaun took a step, and the deer took a step.
Isn’t she a beautiful translucent white? Kevin said in his mind.
Get out of my head, retard, Shaun thought, freaking out.
Sorry, I can’
t. It goes with the territory. They looked at each other with thoughts flying.
That’s so weird, Shaun said, I feel like I’m buzzing.
“The deer’s here for you, Shaun,” Sophia said out loud.
“Me, why me?”
“You’re the key to finding the Emerald Tablet. The deer came to me in the mountains,” Sophia said.
“And when Jade needed help, the deer came to me,” Kevin said.
“The deer is a symbol of my great-grandmother’s spiritual path,” Jade explained. “It represents mercy, certainty, and gentleness. My great-grandmother used to tell me the story about the deer. Sadly, today the deer is culled to prevent further damage to the environment; the skins are salvaged. To honor the deer’s spirit Great Turtle made medicine drums with the skin and one day we made a drum together. On the pulse of the drum, she travelled through the sacred world to find and heal a person’s ailments. She told me the deer can hear Great Spirit calling from the heights of Sacred Mountain. Great Turtle said the deer walked lovingly into the mist as a horrible demon blocked its way, trying to prevent it from connecting with Great Spirit; it told the deer to flee, that Great Spirit didn’t want to be disturbed. But the deer felt no fear and graciously sought permission to pass, announcing its intention to journey to see Great Spirit. The deer was filled with love, gentleness and compassion for the monster that knew nothing other than to be a demon. The demon was curious how the deer lacked fear, trying and trying to frighten the deer, but could not. The deer’s love pierced the demon’s ugly heart, breaking the shell of its armor, and its heart thawed; evil shriveled up, turning into a pebble that lay in the dust at its feet. The beast stepped aside. The pathway was now clear for the deer to proceed up Sacred Mountain to Great Spirit.”
The deer in front of Shaun turned and started to walk further into the forest. The foliage parted, creating a pathway as it walked. Shaun, enthralled, followed, and his companions followed him.
They walked deeper and deeper into the wondrous forest. In the aromatic air flew rainbow-colored birds with long tail feathers, and butterflies danced over the ferns. A variety of colorful fluorescent plants parted for them to pass. The light above beamed through the luscious canopy. We’re no longer under Earth’s yellow sun, and here the sky is an endless electric blue, Shaun thought. My father was right. The rich brown soil turned magenta as he walked, changing color with his personal heat signature. Petite yellow and blue, and some purple-winged, insects zipped in every direction.
“The Seal of Solomon!” Jade said excitedly. “That’s it. That’s the picture I’ve painted and have seen in my dreams for as long as I can remember. A green gate and a golden star; it’s the Seal of Solomon. How could I not have seen it before?” The image flashed into everyone’s minds.
“What does it mean?” Casey asked.
“We are bound to come across it. It is a key,” she said.
A wall shimmered, just yards away, ahead of them and the deer walked straight into it, Shaun following, and one by one they all passed from the safety of the parallel world, the world of Athanasia, and into solid darkness.
Shaun dug in his pocket and pulled out his mini-torch and the small blue LED light. The atmosphere was suddenly hot and humid, the air thick and muggy. He heard Jade coughing. Beetles the size of a fist were scattered over the walls behind her. He decided not to tell her and tried ignoring the snakes that were slithering into the cracks in the walls. Shaun cast the light at the ground. They were standing on a dirt floor and there were iron rings bolted to the walls, chains hung loosely from them.
“This looks like a dungeon,” Tim said. “Where the hell are we?”
“I don’t know. Shh, someone’s coming,” Shaun said. They pressed themselves against the wall. There was nowhere for them to hide.
“Down here,” whispered Father McDonald.
He looks pretty chuffed, Shaun thought. The old guy was holding up a heavy metal grille covering a hole, big enough for them to fit through. He had a grin across his faced that openly displayed his amazement.
“A gift from Athanasia,” he said, jumping in, making a soft splash below. Father McDonald poked his head out of the hole. Sophia sat on the edge and jumped after him. Jade, not needing it, instinctively checked her pocket for her asthma puffer before following her. When they were all together, Shaun pulled the grating across, just as someone flicked on the lights.
Shaun heard a scuffle and a woman’s moan, then a blow to a body and a thud to the ground. He twisted his head to see between the metal grates. He was just in time to see a leg and a boot lift up and pull back, swinging forward to kick the woman in the back. Shaun flinched, imagining her pain. It reminded him of his own actions, and the pain he must have caused others. He felt ashamed; a karmic mirror was being held up. I’m looking at myself. The woman curled and pressed herself against the wall protecting her head.
A deep voice, in heavily accented English, rumbled through the dungeon, saying, “You Americans are all the same.” There was a third man standing on the stairs, his head hidden in shadows. His clothes were clean and stylish. He didn’t walk down the final two stairs.
The voice was hauntingly familiar. “You have her blood. When you give us the formula, we will let you die quickly. You have wasted a whole year. If my family dies, your family dies!” He started to walk away, and then spun around, his fists clenched by his sides. “We found the woman, she is dead. Your serum is gone. My men saw her plane fall from the sky. You are stalling. No more. Tonight. It must be tonight. You give me the formula tonight, or tomorrow you die. No more games!”
He mumbled to the two guards in what Shaun thought could be Russian. Before the thug left, he turned back towards the woman and spat at her. Shaun recognized the men as the same guys who had arrived at the farmhouse, and had chased Kevin and Tim at the river. He was sure of it. Shaun signaled to Kevin to look and stepped aside. Shocked, Kevin held his breath, his eyebrows raised and his mouth open, confirmation to Shaun that Kevin recognized them too.
Kevin mouthed. But how? He stepped aside, letting Shaun back in. Kevin whispered into Tim’s ear, “It’s the guys from the house.”
The guards picked up the woman by the legs and arms like a lamb to the slaughter, and carried her down one of the many tunnels and out of sight. A loud metal door banged closed and echoed back to them. Keys jiggled, a click: the door was locked. Father McDonald had quietly moved through the water towards the next grate to see. The men suddenly stopped and looked in their direction. Shaun put a finger to his mouth and Father McDonald stopped. The men’s elongated shadows disappeared with a flick of the industrial light switch. The dungeon was in darkness. The keys clanged again as the outer door was locked.
Jade whispered, “This tunnel system, canals from early irrigation, probably runs under the ancient buildings of the city. But what’s a Russian doing in the Middle East?”
“What’s anybody doing in the Middle East? Oil, probably,” Shaun said. “I think I’ve met that man before.”
*
“What the …” Daniel ran across the bedroom and reached for Casey as he disappeared. Daniel was shocked, gingerly reaching his hand into the flickering light. It was a pleasant sensation, firing his neurons and stimulating his body. Daniel was spellbound. He could hardly see the far wall and boarded window. Kevin, where are you, where have you gone? Daniel thought and took a few steps backwards. He rocked on his heels and, then, like a long-jump athlete, sprinted into the membrane, jumping clear of the room and reality. He felt like an excited ten-year-old boy at a fairground, but also nervous like a weary old soul. Take me to Kevin, take me to Kevin. Where are you, son? Daniel saw within his mind’s eye an image of Kevin surrounded by darkness and he could feel the pull of Kevin’s energy. Daniel tumbled out of the comfort of the wall of light into the same darkness he had seen Kevin in. He felt cold and shivered. It was musty and he could taste dirt and sand in the air. He looked back in the direction of where he began, but there was no bedro
om, no shimmering wall. He knew he was not in the house.
“Kevin,” he whispered. “Kevin.” A little louder. “Casey? Kevin? Shaun?” Shining up between his legs into his face was a blue laser beam. Blinded, he stepped back, covering his eyes. He could hear the sound of scraping metal. He backed up a little further and hit a wall. He put his hands out behind him and something crawled over them. He pulled his hands away and lost his balance, falling against the wall. Crunching the crawling things against his back. He jumped away from the wall, vigorously shaking his shoulders and arms, making sure nothing was crawling over him.
“Dad,” Kevin cautiously whispered. “Dad, is that you?”
Shaun moved the torchlight up to the ceiling.
A woman’s voice echoed in the dungeon. “Hello? Hello?” The silence made it sound as if she was shouting.
Shaun and Kevin climbed out of the sewer.
“Kevin,” Daniel said. “Where are we?”
“Shh, if she hears us, maybe they can too,” Shaun said. “We have to go.”
“Who is she?” Daniel asked. “Where are we? What’s going on?” “Hello?
Help me — they’ll kill me — don’t leave me here.”
“We have to go,” Shaun said and headed back to the tunnel. Kevin grabbed his arm and stopped him from moving.
“We can’t leave her,” Kevin said. “I don’t know what’s going on, but we can’t leave her crying for help.”
Daniel could hear a commotion: Casey and Sophia were preventing Jade from climbing out of the sewer tunnel.
