The Emerald Tablet: Omnibus Edition

by JM HART

  “This room has an en suite and the bed should be big enough for you all,” Amy said, showing Callie the room. “If you’d like a cot, there is one in the basement. The men can bring it up, so just ask.”

  Joe laid the fresh towels and linen on the bed.

  “That won’t be necessary, thank you,” Callie said.

  “The three boys can share with Casey. It’s a massive room and is right above you. Upstairs, next to the main bathroom, is Sophia’s room and Jade can bunk with her. The room is across and down the hall a little from the boys. Father McDonald and Joe are next to Sophia’s room. Sally and her daughter will be further down the hall in the old nursery. Once you’ve freshened up, please join us in the living room for some tea.” Amy left Callie with her little boy and baby. Exhausted, Amy went and sat down in the living room.

  Joe followed her. He was struck by her caring nature; he couldn’t take his eyes off her. She picked up her black book and held it open in her lap and started to read. He wasn’t sure if she knew he was there. He cleared his throat and she closed the book in fright.

  “Oh, sorry Joe, you gave me a fright. I didn’t hear you come in.”

  “Amy, I want to thank you.”

  “For what, Joe? I haven’t done anything that you yourself wouldn’t have done. Why don’t we go and help Terry and you could slice up some of that delicious boiled date cake you made. I think I am going to like this.”

  “What’s that?” Joe asked.

  “Two men in the house who love to cook.”

  *

  It wasn’t long before Kevin, Tim and Jade came downstairs, refreshed and hungry. Casey and Sophia sat alone at the far end of the white kitchen table that seated twelve. Terry was at the kitchen bench wiping the side of a teapot with his tea towel, and Joe was slicing up two cakes.

  Kevin pulled out a white chair and sat opposite Casey and Sophia. Jade decided to sit at the head of the table in between them like an adjudicator.

  “You saw me that day,” Kevin said to Casey.

  “You were the last thing I saw above the surface of the water, when I was pulled under for the last time.”

  “What do you mean, pulled under?” Tim asked.

  “I felt something. The water went murky and I felt as if a claw had wrapped around my leg. It held me and dug its nails into my calf muscle, and my knee was wedged between the rocks. It was pretty mangled when Terry found me. I was lying on a road a mile away from the creek, in the middle of a freak hurricane.”

  “That wasn’t a creek, that was a raging river,” Kevin said.

  “It was a creek earlier that morning, a dried-up creek.”

  “What happened between the time you were being pulled under and when you were found on the road?” Jade asked, resting her chin in her hand, leaning forward as if intrigued with Casey’s story. Kevin couldn’t help smiling as he watched her.

  “I don’t know. Suddenly I was on the road in the middle of a storm spewing up muddy water and hearing a panicked voice telling me it’s going to be all right. That was Terry, and I have been with them ever since.”

  “What about your parents?” Jade asked, sitting back.

  “Dead.” Casey lowered his head and traced the lines on the table before looking back at Jade.

  “You worry about your mom,” Sophia said to Jade as Joe gave her a piece of cake. “Thanks, Joe.”

  “How? How do you know that? You don’t know me.” Jade became defensive.

  “No, I don’t, but it governs your aura. You care for her; you believe Kevin is the key.”

  Feeling the emotions and tension escalating between the two girls, Kevin moved in his seat uncomfortably.

  “We all have something, a gift, and that’s why we are together,” Sophia said.

  “Okay, peeps, cards on the table,” Tim said. “Am I the only non-gifted person here? I suppose that makes me unique — extraordinary, as a matter of fact.”

  Kevin rolled his eyes, smiled and nudged him in the side. “Chill.”

  “Dude, really? My ribs are killing me from the last time you elbowed me,” Tim said. “And let’s not mention the plane crash.”

  “Guys, if you want to hug, go ahead. They are always like this,” Jade said, looking at Joe as he put the cake on the table next to cutlery and plates for everyone.

  Joe smiled at her and said, “I was like that with my brother. I would love to have been free enough to just hug him.” He walked out into the living room.

  “Okay, what do we do? Who goes first?” Kevin could feel a sense of urgency from Casey and Sophia.

  Sophia pulled her chair a little closer to the table, leant forward and said in a soft voice, “We need to return something. I have seen images of caves and statues. But I don’t know what has to be returned. I’m hoping one of you know.”

  They looked at each other: Tim at Kevin and Kevin at Jade, Jade at Casey and Sophia. Casey kept looking at Jade.

  “What, why are you focused on me?” she said.

  “Your energy is connected to whatever it is, and don’t ask me how I know, I just see it around you.”

  “When I touched her …” Kevin ran his fingers through his fringe, pushing back his hair as he moved in his seat, becoming uncomfortable. He worried what he was about to say would be misinterpreted. “What I mean is, when I helped her up, I felt a strong connection, and there was a surge of energy that raced through my body. I felt like it was uniting us. Jade is crucial. Then I find out she knows my mom, and my mom knows her mom, and my mom was the last person to see her mom.”

  “Think about your mom, Jade,” Sophia said and closed her eyes. Sophia’s breathing started to slow.

  Kevin could sense that Jade was scared and she folded her arms across her chest. “I’m waiting for the crystal ball to appear,” she said. “I suppose it’s in the cupboard with the shackles and the sheets for a ghost. This is like a carnival sideshow.” She was trying hard not to burst into nervous laughter. Sophia spoke, sending shivers down Jade’s spine.

  “The Indian knows … your mom’s not dead … Great Turtle said she’s not in the spirit world.”

  “Stop it!” Jade pushed back her chair and stepped away from the table. She looked at Kevin to back her up.

  He could feel her panic. She wanted to believe, but her logic was keeping her suspicious and confused. He gave her the most innocent look of support and kindness. She zeroed in on Tim instead and punched him in the arm.

  “Why me? That’s it!” Tim said. “No more violence! We are up to our necks in this crappy world because of violence; no more. Next person that hits me is going to get …” Tim chewed his lip, looked up for an answer. “I don’t know what, but I’ll come up with something non-violent!”

  Jade went cherry-red. “Sorry, Tim, I just want it to be true.” She started crying and Sophia went to her and hugged her. “I’m sorry.”

  Jade shoved Sophia into a chair and held her down by the shoulders. “Don’t hug me, I don’t know you. I want it to be true, I want it to be true so much, please tell me it’s true.” Jade turned away from the table and leant against the sink.

  “It’s true. I don’t know where she is, but she’s not dead.” Sophia reached for the tea pot.

  Tim picked up the knife and started cutting more cake and passed everyone a second piece. No one spoke. They sipped tea and picked at the cake. Tim was finished within three bites and had a third piece. Kevin watched his friend and could feel his light energy. Tim, unknowingly, had changed the atmosphere, clearing the heaviness that Jade’s emotions created in the room. Kevin gave his mate a half smile and raised his eyebrows.

  “Well, if we don’t know what it is that has to be put back,” Kevin said, “how do we find out?”

  “Someone will know,” Sophia said.

  “But none of us know,” Casey said.

  “Someone knows,” Sophia said again.

  Joe walked into the kitchen and leant over Kevin to cut a piece of cake, excusing himself as he did. “If she s
ays someone will know, you ought to believe her.” Joe scraped a wooden chair over the floor as he pulled it out and sat at the table. “She told me that we would find this place. We were walking underground in the dark, and here we are.” He stuffed the piece of cake into his mouth, pushed back the chair, and walked out.

  “I like that man,” Tim said. “I think we are from the same loaf.”

  “Okay, then,” Casey said, watching Kevin chew his fingernails. “The man’s got a point.”

  Jade pushed off the sink, picked a napkin off the table to wipe her eyes and sat down in her chair, still trying to process the information. She started twisting the napkin. “Is he a Buddhist?” she said softly. “Jewish, Hindu or Kabbalist? The red string? Is it to realign his energy, a symbol of prayer, to bring people together, or is it a sign of protection and goodwill? You have one too, Sophia.”

  “Are you going to keep guessing the answers to your own questions, or would you like me to jump in?” Sophia asked.

  Jade blushed again. “Please, sorry.”

  Sophia twirled her red string and touched her medallion under her shirt and looked thoughtful, before saying, “You should ask Joe. But it does, it does all those things.”

  “Tell them what you know,” Casey said to Sophia.

  Kevin couldn’t take his eyes off Casey. He still couldn’t believe it was actually him — and he was alive. “Where were you when you drowned?”

  “In Utah, USA.”

  “I thought I recognized your accent, but why do you two sound different?” Tim asked, referring to Jade.

  “We are from different parts of the States, approximately two thousand miles apart,” Jade said.

  “How did you get here?” Kevin asked.

  “Amy’s great-aunt left her this place. We came over just before the borders closed and flights were grounded. We have been stuck here ever since.”

  “So how do you know each other?” Kevin said to Casey.

  Sophia and Casey looked at each other and Sophia said, “After I saw him drowning, I kept an eye on him.”

  “How?” Tim asked. “You have an unmistakable Scottish accent.”

  “I can astral travel.”

  “You can what?”

  “Astral travel. I was, am, a disturbed kid. I miss my dead family and wanted to be with them so much I separated my spirit from my body, and astral traveled. I have to be asleep or in a deep meditative state. Is that how you saw Casey in the river?” she asked Kevin.

  “Well, no, I was wide awake when I popped up in the middle of the river.”

  “We’re getting off the subject here,” Casey said. He turned to Sophia and expressed in a hushed tone, “If you think we are supposed to be in this together, you’d better tell them what you know.”

  “Hang on, hang on, everybody,” Tim said. “The question is,” he said, pointing to Kevin and Jade, “where are we now?”

  “What do you mean?” Casey asked.

  Father McDonald walked in from outside. “Sophia, it’s time. You need to inform the adults.”

  Sophia stood up and Father McDonald put his arm around her shoulders, more for her help rather than her comfort. The others without a word got out of their chairs and followed them into the living room.

  “Where are we?” Tim watched them leave. “I asked one question.”

  4

  Windows in time: England

  Shaun opened the door and steam rushed from the en suite.

  “You will pass out in there if you have it too hot,” Callie said.

  “I want Shaun to stay with me,” Alex said with a little boy’s enthusiasm.

  “No, Alex. Shaun will want to go in with the big boys.”

  “I don’t want to go to sleep,” Alex said, jumping up on the bed, then jumping onto Shaun’s back as he passed. Shaun didn’t anticipate the move, and staggered about, then spun around playfully before dropping backwards onto the bed.

  “Body slam,” Alex said.

  Shaun had never had a younger brother and wasn’t sure how to behave. He preferred to scare little kids, so they would stay clear. Alex was persistent and wasn’t easily scared. “I don’t mind,” Shaun said. “I’ll stay with Alex until he goes to sleep.”

  “Yeah, yahoo!” Alex was thrilled and jumped up and down on the bed.

  “Alex, shh, Molly’s asleep. Shaun can only stay if you promise to be quiet and get in bed.” He bounced down onto his butt and scrambled under the blankets.

  “Move over,” Shaun said.

  “Okay,” Callie said. “Shaun, when he’s asleep, come into the living room.”

  “No worries,” Shaun said.

  Shaun made himself comfortable and began to tell Alex a story his mother had once told him about a boy with magical balloons tied to the post of his bed. When night fell and everyone else was asleep, he would untie the balloons and they would take him on a magical journey across the world, returning him before sunrise. Alex fell asleep before the balloon boy’s journey ended and he returned from the heart of Africa. Shaun slid off the bed and quietly left the room, closing the door gently behind him. He quickly stepped across the foyer, avoiding the others, and headed straight upstairs to his room.

  *

  “How did we get here? Your guess is as good as mine,” Daniel said to Terry.

  Daniel placed his cup of tea on the side table as Sophia and the others entered the room. Tired, they plonked themselves on the floor and leant against the furniture.

  “We were going down,” Daniel continued. “The engine was on fire and it stalled. Time seemed to stop: everything went quiet, muffled, the plane levelled. Sound returned and again we were falling, the craft screaming with the acceleration. Callie and Kevin pulled the nose up seconds before we nose-dived into the ground. My question is, how did we survive?”

  “Over the last week we have seen things that are just not of this world, and we have experienced the absolute impossible,” Callie said.

  “Miracles …” Father McDonald cleared his throat. “You’re experiencing miracles. You have been chased by the servants of hell. Your cars collided at the front of the farmhouse you escaped to. Next you’re in a plane running from some men who wanted to kill you. The young man shot in the back while saving Callie was dying in your lap but now is totally healed after you crash-landed thousands miles away. You all walked away from the wreckage, and then you find out your son knows the people whose yard you have just used as a runway. Sounds like you are experiencing miracles on a regular basis, Daniel.”

  Everyone sat in silence as Father McDonald’s words reverberated around the room. Tim peeled his back off the leather lounge, leaning towards the coffee table to pick up a plate and napkin. As quietly as possible he lifted the knife and sliced a piece of cake. The blade hit the plate as it sliced through and Tim winced at the sound. You could hear a pin drop, Sophia thought. She wanted to laugh at Tim with his mouth full of cake and expression of anguish. But instead, to break the silence, she said, “I’ll have a piece of cake, please.” Tim cut a piece and passed it to her. As she leant forward her medallion slipped out from under her shirt. With one hand, she tried to tuck it back in.

  “Miracles,” Tim said, between mouthfuls. “Then we really must have done something right to have been able to redeem three miracles.”

  “That’s a lovely necklace. It looks familiar,” Amy said.

  “Thanks, it’s a family heirloom.”

  “It’s more than that,” Jade said. Her crossed legs unwound as she pushed herself off the floor and casually stepped over the boys’ splayed legs. “It’s a symbol, a very powerful medallion of protection. You okay if I touch it?” Jade asked.

  “Yes, but I’m not taking it off. My great-grandmother gave it to my mother to give to me. It was always handed down to the seventh daughter of the next generation of seven,” Sophia said.

  “Wow, seven sisters,” Tim said, looking at Kath.

  “Shut up, idiot.”

  “Kath, that’s no way to spea
k to your brother,” Sally said.

  “This is serious,” Kath said, “and he keeps cracking jokes.”

  “Just leave your brother alone.”

  “My great-aunt was from a family of seven girls, I think,” Amy said.

  Jade, still holding the twisted napkin, held out her wrist to Sophia. “My great-grandmother gave me this.”

  Sophia tenderly touched the bracelet and instantly felt her internal and external energy centers expanding. She withdrew her fingers, uncertain, as a stream of consciousness tried to communicate with her. Sophia said, “That’s a unique bracelet.”

  Jade reached out and held Sophia’s locket between her fingers, turning it around to see it was double-sided. The curved metal was smooth and warm from Sophia’s skin. “See this,” Jade said, “this symbol is Penelope’s web.” There was an embossed image of a ten-spoke wheel with stars at the end of each spoke. Each star had twenty sharp outward points. “This is a sign of protection. The stars are also known as the Seal of Solomon, which amplifies your locket’s message of protection,” she said. “The lines of the wheel and stars are interlaced by two lines joining at the center of the symbol. The symbol is composed of only two lines. It represents unity, the drawing together of people for the preservation of all. It also reflects numerological mysticism. Seventy-two: the primal magical number can be achieved with sacred geometry.

  “Sophia, on the other side of your locket,” Jade said, turning it over and looking at the symbol’s multiple connecting spheres, “is the flower of life. It holds the secrets of the universe. It’s a symbol that was created from one sphere, the first seed of life. It multiplied, spiraling out until it contained all the sacred patterns and secrets of the universe. The flower of life can be seen throughout history in religious architecture. It’s in the atom, the building blocks of life. It can be found within everything: a piece of fruit, an icicle, a person or an animal. It’s geometry, it’s Platonic solids, it’s everything.”