by Bryan Davis
Now spinning with her, he sank slowly … too slowly. With every revolution, Mictar and Abodah flashed across his vision on one side and Kelly on the other. The two stalkers fought hand to hand, while Kelly dashed toward the hole. When he spun to the other side, a sudden weight thumped against his back, and a slender arm joined his around his mother's shoulders. Soft lips and a whisper tickled his ear. “Not for one minute, Nathan Shepherd, will I let you leave my side.”
The two descended, now much more quickly. The spinning slowed, allowing a view of Mictar and Abodah as they wrestled on the floor. With Mictar no longer playing the violin, the cyclone slowed as well, but the wind from below continued to blast cold air upward through the bluish light.
With Kelly's cheek pressed against his, Nathan couldn't see her eyes to gauge her fear, but, as they descended below the edge of the hole, her shivering arms sent tremors through his body. The edge of the mirror bit into his side, but the pain was worth it. Scarlet had come along for the ride. Yet, the touch seemed cold. Had she used all her energy? Would she be able to help them once they arrived?
The blue glow faded to purple, then to black. After a few more seconds, a faint light emanated from far below, a circle of white that grew rapidly as their rate of descent increased.
Finally, the three domes came into view. A group of stalkers encircling Scarlet's dome continued to sing their horrible verses, apparently not yet noticing the three bodies floating into their domain.
From Nathan's perspective it seemed that Scarlet lay motionless on the floor under the center of her dome. Cerulean looked on, his hands pressed against the wall of his prison. Amber, too, stood near her wall, her eyes fixed on Nathan and company.
The three earths came into view on the matrix of glass squares. Hundreds of channels now etched the regions between the planets, each one with mist of blended colors running through it. The mist collected in a blanket of clouds hovering over the contact points at the surface of the earths.
As they came within twenty feet of the floor, a male voice rose with the upward draft, a lovely tenor, sweet and pure. A soprano blended in, as clear as carillon bells. Cerulean and Amber lifted their heads and sang the most beautiful vowel song Nathan had ever heard, filled with passion, yet flowing with peace.
One of the stalkers pointed at Cerulean and shrieked four loud notes. The others stopped singing, and some hurried to the boy's dome while the others split off toward Amber's. Shouting and arguing, the stalkers seemed unable to decide which supplicant to surround with their dissonant song.
The wind eased, further increasing Nathan's rate of descent. At this speed, he would have to hit feet first and roll, and hope the two supplicants kept the stalkers occupied. He couldn't possibly fight that many, especially if they had those sonic paralyzers.
As they descended toward the door to Sarah's Womb, Nathan slid down his mother's body to make sure his feet would strike the floor first. At the last minute, he swung to the right. His foot landed a few inches away from the glass door, and he lunged with a spin, trying to keep his mother's stiff body from hitting the ground.
Holding his violin and bow aloft, he rolled over Kelly, raising a loud “oof,” and came to a stop on his side. He jumped to his feet, helped Kelly to hers, and straddled his mother as he raised the violin to his chin. Kelly pressed the mirror against her stomach and rolled her free hand into a fist. With new blood streaming down the front of her sweatshirt, she looked like a warrior princess, ready to pounce.
As Nathan played the notes Abodah had whispered, one of the female stalkers turned and shrieked three horrible vowels. Several others spun around. Two of the males withdrew sonic rods and marched toward Nathan and Kelly.
When Nathan played the final note, Scarlet's dome let out a loud hum. The two stalkers halted and exchanged glances, fear widening their eyes. Nathan played the notes at a lower octave. Cerulean's dome hummed a note, one step up from Scarlet's. Then, after Nathan played another seven notes at the next octave down, Amber's dome joined the other two in a harmonic trio of resonating hums. While the nine other stalkers backed toward the side door that led to the glassy walkway, the two holding paralyzers ran to join them.
Scarlet's dome evaporated, leaving only a circular swatch of dirty terrazzo. Nathan gave the violin and bow to Kelly and, picking up his mother, staggered to the circle. Scarlet lay curled in a fetal position, her arms crossed and her body shaking.
After setting his mother down gently, Nathan dropped to his knees beside the quivering supplicant.
“Scarlet?” He laid a hand on her sweat-drenched red hair. “Can you hear me?”
Her eyes fluttered. She turned her head and blinked at Nathan. With barely a whisper, she said, “My beloved?”
Kelly knelt beside Nathan and handed him the mirror, but, with a gentle push, Scarlet brushed it to the side. “There is no need for that,” she said, her voice fragile, yet sweet. “We have seen each other through glass, mirrors, and dreams, but now, at last, face-to-face.” She raised her hand and laid it on his cheek. “And touching you is my dream come true.”
Her fingers, warm and soft, melted his fighting spirit and reached into his heart, wringing it out like an old sponge. Tears crawled down his cheeks. His throat clamped so tight, he could barely squeak. “Are you … going to live?”
Cerulean and Amber lowered themselves to their knees, completing a circle around the fallen supplicant. “It depends,” Scarlet whispered. She unfastened her dress's uppermost button, exposing the top of the void. “Will you take my life and give it to another?”
Nathan glanced at his mother. With her skin pale and slick, she hardly resembled the vibrant woman he once knew, the warm, loving Francesca Shepherd. She lay there cold and stiff, staring upward with unblinking eyes.
Kelly laid her hand on Francesca's chest. “I'm not getting much. Maybe a flutter. I don't think she'll last long.”
Nathan clutched Scarlet's hand. “Isn't there another way? Can't I take your place? I would die for my mother if I could.”
“Not you, my love, for you are not a supplicant. Nor Cerulean, for he can die only for a soul in Earth Blue. And Amber's life is reserved for someone in Earth Yellow. Only I can do this, but you must transfer my life to hers. The power is in your hands.” Scarlet pulled apart her lapels, popping open three buttons. “You know what you have to do.”
Nathan lifted his hand and stared at his wounded palm. Blood still oozed from the lacerations. He shifted his gaze to the heart floating in the midst of the black hole, beating erratically as she labored to breathe. So far, he had touched her only in a dream, a grip on her heart that never happened and a caress of lips that was a mere thought. Now she begged him not only to shatter his ideas of chivalry and self-sacrifice, but also to steal away her life.
He turned toward Kelly. As he gazed into her eyes, he silently begged for help. She would understand his turmoil. Even without a word, she could interpret his cry. He needed her to speak the words that would release him from his dome.
Kelly laid a hand on his cheek. “It's the only way, Nathan. You have to do it. You can't die for your mother yourself.”
As Kelly pulled her hand away, a sob erupted from the pit of Nathan's stomach. Weeping, he reached into Scarlet's body and wrapped his fingers around her heart. She grabbed his wrist and heaved in a breath. Then, letting it out slowly, she smiled and whispered, her voice just a breathy sigh. “I give my life energy to you now, my beloved. Taste the freshness of a life reborn, drink the nectar of love renewed, feel my presence in your soul. Then, when the fullness of my power embraces you, use it to awaken your mother.” She clutched his shirt and pulled him so close, her lips brushed his earlobe. Her voice spiked with urgency. “But don't ever … ever forget me.”
Feeling her heart throbbing in his grasp, Nathan gasped in shallow breaths. “I'll never forget you. Never.”
Scarlet's smile widened. She blinked rapidly. Then, she heaved in another breath and sang in a whisper, each word la
bored and failing.
To give! To give! My spirit cries out.
I have no gift but life.
Into thy hand I pour it out
And finally end my strife.
Her lips trembled. “Now, Nathan. You know what to do.”
He touched his own quivering lips to hers. Her chest expanded once more, and she let out a long sigh. Her hot breath poured in and filtered into his lungs, fresh and soothing. As he lifted away, her head lolled to one side. A weak smile graced her lips, and her eyes closed. Her heart fluttered once, then fell still.
Nathan pulled back his hand, his skin now hot and throbbing. Had he really absorbed her life energy? Trembling, he fastened her lowest button and reached for the next.
“Nathan,” Kelly said. “I'll do that. You have to wake up your mother.”
With tears dripping onto Scarlet's dress, Nathan shook his head. “I have to do it. Don't ask me why. I just have to.” Yet, he knew why. Scarlet had given everything she had, even life itself, for him. He had to be the one to seal her shroud.
As he worked, the aroma of roses freshened his nostrils, and a bittersweet film coated his tongue. A sense of cool wetness slaked his parched throat and eased the constricting muscles.
When he fastened the top button, he shifted on his knees toward his mother. He looked at Cerulean and Amber in turn. “What do I do?”
Amber, her lips straight and somber, grasped his wrist and moved his hand over his mother's mouth. “Lay your anointed palm here and call upon the interpreter to push on her chest three times. Have her say, ‘In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, restore the breath of life and renew the spirit within this fragile shell.’”
Nathan rested the heel of his hand on his mother's chin, laid his hot, bloody palm over her lips, and spread his fingers across her cheeks and nose. He nodded at Kelly. “Go ahead and push.”
Placing the heels of both hands on his mother's sternum, Kelly pressed her weight down. “In the name of the Father …”
Dry air cooled Nathan's palm. Then, as Kelly lifted her weight, suction from his mother's nose and mouth pulled his hand closer. His skin tingled, but nothing more.
Kelly pressed down again. “The Son …”
This time the air blowing out felt drier and colder.
She lifted her weight. Suction again pulled Nathan's hand. This time, stinging pain crawled across his skin and radiated up his arm.
Kelly rose to her feet and pushed down with her full weight. “And the Holy Ghost, restore the breath of life and renew the spirit within this fragile shell.”
Air poured from his mother's mouth, this time blistering cold, but Nathan kept his hand in place. Icy currents injected his bones with numbing pain that shot through his skeleton. His arms and legs stiffened. His knees and elbows locked. His fingers as rigid as icicles, he pressed his hand over her mouth and moaned.
Kelly pulled back. The rush of cold air reversed. Then, like lava rising from a volcano, heat boiled deep within Nathan's chest and spread out into his limbs, loosening his joints. As warmth pushed into his face, the smell of roses again brushed his senses, and bittersweetness coated his tongue.
Nathan licked his lips. Scarlet was ready to sing her final song, a song of new life.
The volcano erupted. A flood of superheated energy surged through his arm and gushed into his hand. Red light flashed from his fingers and coated his mother's face with a scarlet glow. As sheer agony ripped through his brain, Nathan lifted his head and let out a guttural scream, a high piercing note that seemed to shake the floor.
His mother's body jerked. She coughed, then sneezed. As her eyes blinked open, Nathan pulled back his scalded hand, peeling away loose, melted skin that had adhered to her face.
Her brow arched, and her eyes darted all around. “Nathan?” Her voice sounded like a tinkling bell, quiet and clear. “Are we in heaven?”
“Mom!” He threw his arms around her and pulled her against his chest, rocking her back and forth as he cradled her body.
Sobs choked his words. “No … Mom … we're not in heaven. But … but you're alive … That's all that matters.”
She hugged him so tightly, she nearly squeezed his breath away. “Oh, my son, my son! It is paradise to see you again!”
Kelly's voice quaked. “Hello, Mrs. Shepherd. I'm Kelly Clark.”
As Nathan pushed away, his mother smiled. “Yes, Kelly. I met your counterpart on Earth Blue. You … I mean, she … saved my life there.”
“She did? How?”
“I hope to tell you the story later.” She glanced around the room. “I see now that we are in the stalkers' lair. Where are they?”
“Gone,” Nathan said. “At least for now. I think they're afraid of the supplicants.” He rose and reached to help his mother. “Can you stand?”
She gave him a weak nod. “I think so.”
Using his less bloody hand, he hoisted her up, then nodded toward the supplicants. “This is Cerulean and Amber, the supplicants for Earths Blue and Yellow.”
Cerulean bowed, shaking his stark blue hair, while Amber spread out her yellow dress and dipped into a formal curtsy. Cerulean gazed at Nathan's mother with his stunning eyes. “I am not of your world, but I am at your service.”
Amber stepped forward and touched Nathan's hand. “Alas! Your bow hand is in need of repair. You cannot play to open the portals.”
He looked at the torn, melted skin. Puffy redness swelled his fingers. “True. At least for now. But Francesca Shepherd is here. She can take over.” He looped his elbow around his mother's. “Do you know where Dad is? Did he ever come back to that place where I found you?”
She shook her head. “Soon after you and the others fell into the void, the floors all around me became solid. When I tried to search for your father, Mictar found me and put me in his machine. Since he enjoys boasting about his accomplishments, I picked up some clues about the structure of all these realms. We need to get back to the Earth Blue mirrors and look for your father there.”
“I hear something,” Kelly said. “Sounds like the stalkers, but I don't see them anywhere.”
Nathan pulled Cerulean closer. “Are the stalkers scared of you?”
The slightest of grins bent the young man's face. “Of that you can be sure, yet I do not know if Amber and I can repel them all. Scarlet was our leader, and her courage and wisdom exceeded ours.”
“But they probably don't know that,” Nathan said. A deafening crack rifled through the room. He jerked his head toward the source, the Earth Red side of the chamber. Two huge rifts shot out from the surface of the mist-shrouded planet and slowly crawled across the wall toward the other two earths. Glass squares exploded in their paths and rained sparkling shards to the floor. Earth Red itself expanded, pulsing and throbbing as if ready to burst. At the rate the cracks were moving, they would reach the other earths in mere moments.
Kelly whispered, “What does it mean?”
“The end of the worlds.” Nathan looked at Scarlet's motionless body, still lovely, even in death. She had said one obstacle remained in defeating the stalkers, and now that he knew what it was, the very thought of it made him sick to his stomach. “Can you open the door to Sarah's Womb?” he asked Cerulean.
“Yes. What do you plan to do?”
“I can't say it. Just open it, and keep the stalkers at bay.” He stooped and slid his hands under Scarlet. “I'll be back as soon as I can.”
Kelly picked up Nathan's violin and the mirror. “I'm coming with you.”
With a grunt, he rose to his feet, lifting Scarlet's limp body. “Of course you are.”
“And I, as well,” his mother said. “You will need a violinist to open the lower door.”
As he shuffled toward the floor panel, he nodded at them. “Fine, but let's hurry.”
Cerulean ran ahead of him, his slender body seeming to glide as he approached the door. He knelt at the side of the glass panel and sang. Rapid-fire notes burst forth from low to
high on the musical scale as if someone had run a finger along the piano keys. The lights in the panel flashed so quickly, it seemed impossible to match them with the notes. When Cerulean finished, he took a breath and sang a series of seven notes, then repeated them twice to unlock the door.
He looked up at Nathan. “It is open, my friend. Do what you must.”
Nathan looked back at Earth Red. Still throbbing like a heart, more surrounding glass squares popped as its twin jagged tentacles reached toward the other worlds. He set one foot in the viscous liquid and turned to sidestep down the stairs. As he descended, Cerulean and Amber turned their backs and stood hand in hand, guarding the entry. A few white-haired heads appeared in the misty distance, but they ventured no closer.
Without a word, his mother and Kelly followed, his mother now carrying the violin. Soon, he walked in darkness, but having traveled this path a few times, he could easily navigate its rocky floor even without a light. Still, sidestepping with a dead girl's body in his arms made for slow going in this steep stairway. He didn't want to scrape her extremities on the walls. Even in death, every hair on her head seemed sacred.
“Mom,” he called. “We'll be at the next door in a few seconds. Did you get the notes?”
“Yes, Son. A string on your violin is missing, but I can manage with three.”
Nathan slowed his pace. Although the dark corridor revealed nothing, he sensed the door's looming presence. “We're here. Go ahead and play it.”
He felt her body squeeze between him and the wall. Seconds later, seven lovely notes lilted in front of him, then repeated twice to complete the key. As before, a glow appeared around the rectangular doorway and ate away at the edges. Soon, light from the chasm shone into the corridor and washed over the statuesque violinist, still poised in playing position, the very same pose her younger twin had taken not long ago.
