Threshold of Destiny (The Mysterium Secret Book 1)

by Linn Chapel

  “Yes, he did.” Wesley’s eyes flared with little sparks of lights.

  “Because of our mixed blood, we have some psychic abilities,” Luke explained. “They’re minor powers, nothing stupendous, but they can be really useful at times. Tressa has the ability to read a person’s intentions. I can fill in missing pieces of information. Peter – well, he doesn’t seem to have any special ability, but he’s the exception in our family.”

  “Please don’t be uncomfortable, Wesley,” Tressa spoke up quietly. “I don’t use my ability very often. It takes time to focus, and it’s a lot harder than it sounds. I can’t read thoughts, either. I can only sense someone’s plans in a general way, and I only search if there’s something dangerous about to happen. I don’t want to pry, you see.”

  Her gaze went to Holt.

  He had been staring down at the flames curling around the logs in the hearth, but now his gaze lifted to Tressa’s face. They exchanged a silent glance. One eyebrow lifted and he gave her a small, relieved nod.

  So, he had been worried that she might read his intentions while he was unaware.

  Wesley leaned even farther forward in his armchair. “But I’m not alarmed! Miss Newman-”

  “Please, call me Tressa.”

  “Tressa, would you read my intentions tonight? I wish more than anything to witness a demonstration!”

  Tressa drew in a swift, surprised breath at his enthusiasm. “Alright, but we’ll have to go outside so that I won’t be distracted by the other intentions in the room.”

  Wesley nodded and rose to his feet. He murmured a few words to Holt before following Tressa to the cottage door.

  Outside, Tressa discovered that focusing her attention was very easy in the deep, nighttime quiet that filled the front garden.

  Finding Wesley’s intentions and reading them was easy, too, for they were perfectly clear. Tressa opened her eyes and was about to give him her findings, but he held up a hand to stop her.

  “Please, come inside,” Wesley insisted, “so that the others may hear your testimony.”

  When they reentered the living room, Tressa cleared her throat, feeling uncomfortable with all eyes upon her.

  “Soon after I focused my thoughts,” she began, “I saw the shape of Wesley’s mind. It looked like a pool of water, about half the width of this room. Then I waited until I could absorb any intentions within it. That’s usually the hardest part. But tonight, I read them without any trouble. Wesley had two intentions, it turned out. One was to find out if I was telling the truth about my ability, and the other was to show us something that he had brought from London.”

  “Marvelous!” cried Wesley.

  “Yes, very accurate, Tressa,” said Holt, his dark eyes gleaming. “Wesley confided those very intentions to me just before he left the room. Were you able to see what it was that he brought?”

  She shook her head. “I can’t visualize objects. I can only sense someone’s intent.”

  “Let me show you, then.” Wesley reached into the canvas bag resting on the floor. He lifted out a large book with a worn, sepia-brown cover, and placed it upon his knees.

  “Ever since I learned about the existence of your Mysterium father, I have found myself wondering if such beings could have lived among mankind before now. Indeed, within this fine volume of ancient Arthurian sources, I have identified several aspects of an early tale of the enchanter Merlin which I believe must be examined more closely. I cannot seem to keep myself from wondering if Merlin was not only a real being, but was in truth a Mysterium.”

  As Wesley had been speaking, he had opened the aged cover. His face was alight and he seemed ready to speculate some more until Holt shifted restlessly nearby. With a wistful sigh, Wesley closed the cover. “Perhaps when there’s more time...”

  Holt spoke up. “Wesley’s not the only one with a question to ask before we speak of our present dangers. Tressa, this morning you confessed to me that you had just come back from a place where you had escaped from a demon. What did you mean by that?”

  Tressa winced as Peter and Luke turned to stare at her with dismay. “I only went there to look for Holt,” she told them with a placating motion of her hand. “I ran into a little trouble, but I got away – with some help.”

  She quickly sketched out the incident, including her rescue by the bright spirit. Peter and Luke were silent when she was done, but their expressions made it clear that they were united in their belief that she had no common sense, not even a smidgen, and never would.

  But of course, Holt and Wesley had not been able to follow her references to the Unseen World. They were both gazing at her, looking baffled. She’d have to make matters clearer for them – as clear as she could in this warm, firelit room, filled as it was with the solid objects and bodies of the Earthly Realm.

  Holt tapped his fingers on the arm of his chair as he waited, staring expectantly at Tressa.

  Twenty-six

  “This other world is the land of spirits,” Tressa began, eyeing Holt as she spoke. “Each and every person who is alive right now has a second body living in the mists of the Unseen World. But most people can’t see this place, or any of the strange trees and rocks that sometimes rise above the vapor.”

  “But this land is visible to you,” stated Wesley.

  “Yes, I can see it, but in a hazy way. A full-blooded Mysterium can see through the vapor more easily and travel faster than I can.”

  “Then the Mysterium and their offspring must be an advanced race, full of wisdom and power,” Wesley murmured in a wondering voice.

  A humorless laugh emerged from Peter. “No, we’re not wiser or more spiritually advanced, if that’s what you mean. We’re in the same boat as everyone else.”

  Tressa said wryly, “Peter’s right. Seeing with our eyes open can be helpful at times, but it doesn’t have anything to do with making us better or wiser people. And it comes with risks, so it’s really part blessing, and part curse. At least, that’s how I always think of it.” She noticed a frown appear on Holt’s face and decided not to elaborate on the curse part. “There aren’t very many of us, either. I’ve never met another half-Mysterium, and as for full-blooded ones, I only know two. There’s our father, and then there’s Brother Brendan, an old friend of the family.”

  “He’s our own Merlin,” joked Peter.

  Wesley’s eyes were unblinking. “I hope to meet them both someday. But tell us more about this land. How does it appear to you?”

  “It’s very misty,” replied Tressa. “The vapor feels cool and damp, but it’s not made of water molecules. It’s some other kind of substance, something that’s more like thoughts. When I want to travel, I look in the direction I’d like to go and I think very hard about moving through the mist. Then the vapor thins, and I’m on my way.”

  “As you travel, are you floating?” asked Wesley.

  “No, I’m walking on firm ground, but it’s hidden under a blanket of mist. In some places, rocks and cliffs show through. They have a silver sheen. I’ve also spotted trees and shrubs with silver-green leaves, and strange flowers, too.”

  “Do you see other people?”

  “Yes, but only when I search for them.”

  “Are they transparent, like ghosts or phantom figures?” Wesley breathed in a lower voice.

  “No, nothing like that!” She laughed. “You’re confusing them with the spiritual bodies of those who have died, which are in another realm that no one living can enter. Only the spirits of the living travel about the Unseen World, and they look a lot like themselves.”

  Luke spoke up, explaining. “The way people talk, you’d think that spirits and bodies are two separate things, but they’re more intertwined than that. When you encounter someone else in the Unseen World – open-eyed – your mind picks up hints and traces of their physical body and then knits all of that together into an image. You can ‘see’ a person that way, without any conscious effort.”

  “When you see one, that is,�
� added Tressa. There was so much space in the other world that far from running into lots of other spiritual bodies, she had always been more in danger of becoming lost.

  “Can you see yourself?” Wesley’s brows quirked together.

  “Oh, yes. I can also see images of things that are close to my Earthly body – my clothes, my keys, any rings or other jewelry. But if I try to touch myself, my hand passes right through.”

  “Astonishing! Can you communicate with others?”

  “Yes, we all have voices, but they sound strange. They have overtones.”

  “How utterly extraordinary!” said Wesley. “It has long been said, of course, that we live in two realms, one of the body and one of the spirit.” He lifted his thin, pale-skinned hands and held them up side-by-side with a gap in between them. “We must be standing astride the realms, with one foot in each world.”

  Luke’s sense of accuracy had apparently been ruffled, for he groaned. “No, Wesley – not two separate worlds with people standing across some empty gap! Let me explain.”

  Peter laughed. “Calm down, Professor. Don’t start any long-winded lectures. It’s easier just to show him.” He reached out and turned over one of Wesley’s hands so that it was facing palm upward. Then he placed Wesley’s other hand neatly on top of it, palm down. “See? No gap. The two worlds fit perfectly, like they’re made for each other.”

  “Which in fact they are,” murmured Luke. “Not bad, Peter. That’s just what I was going to show him, only it would have taken longer.”

  Wesley smiled up at Peter. “You’ve shown me not just one truth, but two.”

  Peter looked down at him quizzically. “What do you mean?”

  “The second truth is that you are not afraid to touch me.”

  Peter shrugged. “I can’t be turned, which you probably know. And I’ve got good instincts about people, human or otherwise.”

  Although Wesley smiled back, he seemed unsettled. Tressa thought there might be something more on his mind, something personal. “Wesley, are you worried about what happened to your spirit when you were turned?”

  His sunken eyes were solemn as he gazed at her. “Yes. I fear that it ceased to exist.”

  “You’re wrong, Wesley. It’s still living in the Unseen World.”

  “But how can you be sure?” he asked. “Have you ever seen a vampire’s spirit, my dear?”

  “No, but Brother Brendan just spotted Holt’s spiritual body a few days ago,” she replied. When Holt shifted suddenly in his chair, she explained, “I asked him to check on you.”

  Holt’s mouth tightened. Dryly, he said, “I can only hope that I was behaving myself with comportment.”

  “You were lying down in the mists, asleep. But I could always find out what your spirit is doing right now,” she suggested sweetly.

  Holt uttered a laugh and shook his head. “Vixen! Now, tell us more about the demon that accosted you.”

  As Tressa gathered her thoughts, the firelight played over the faces surrounding her. Beyond the little group, the room lay deep in shadow.

  “There are other spirits that move through the Unseen World,” she began, “spirits who have no bodies in the Earthly Realm. Some are dark spirits – those are the demons. And some are bright – they’re the illuminati. Angels.”

  Wesley’s brow furrowed and he asked, “Can you see them?”

  “Easily, if the eyes of my other body are open. Most of the time they look like blurs of light or shadow, but they can take on forms, too. The demon that I ran into yesterday was an incisor. It had a kind of arm that was growing very quickly, like a long, black vine. Fortunately for me, there was an illuminatus nearby. It looked just like a white hawk at first, and then it turned into a streak of bright light. The incisor retreated and I was able to reach safety.”

  Holt asked carefully, “What would have happened if the incisor had attacked you?”

  Tressa could still remember the black tendril of the incisor reaching for one of her legs. Involuntarily, her hand brushed over her thigh. “It could have slashed open my spiritual body. A wound like that could take a long time to heal and cause emotional pain, but I’ve never had such a wound, myself. Incisors seem to be very skittish about lights and other protection measures. This one caught me unawares – I ran up too close to it, thinking that I’d found Holt.”

  “You shouldn’t have taken the risk of searching for him, Tressa,” said Peter, “especially if you were rushing.”

  Holt agreed with him, by the serious look in his eyes. “How did you find a place of safety?”

  Tressa described the sanctuary she had seen in the other world, the twin of the more familiar sanctuary centered on Wells Cathedral in the Earthly Realm. Even Peter and Luke were entranced by the picture she painted of the iridescent springs and waterfalls and the resident illuminati which she had spotted nestling in the rocky heights in the form of small white birds.

  When she was done, she murmured, “It must be hard to believe there’s such a place.”

  Holt shook his head. “No, it’s not hard, Tressa.”

  “It seems quite natural,” agreed Wesley. “But the dark and bright spirits – you seem certain that they are aware of you.”

  “Yes, they’re conscious. And they have wills of their own. That’s why it’s so important to watch where you’re going in the mist.”

  Holt’s eyes narrowed, and Tressa knew that he was going to question her further about the dangers. She’d have to change the subject, for any more talk of demons would only stir him up and cause him to make some critical comments about her. Holt already believed her to be bumbling and inept in the Earthly Realm, after all. You make a very poor agent for an undercover organization, he had said. It wouldn’t surprise her if Holt had decided she couldn’t stay out of trouble anywhere, including the Unseen World.

  She was just about to steer the conversation onto another topic when Luke spoke up. “Tressa’s right. And the mists are especially dangerous for anyone with Mysterium blood.”

  Holt’s shoulders stiffened and Tressa longed to nudge her brother – firmly – into silence, but Luke was standing on the other side of the hearth, some distance away from the sofa. She tried to signal him with a shake of her head, but he gave no sign that he had noticed.

  “Having some Mysterium blood is riskier than you can imagine,” Luke went on. “Sure, there’s some psychic ability, and then there’s the relative ease of traveling through the Unseen World. But the more clearly you can see the demons in the mist, the more easily they can see you. That’s when it becomes a liability.”

  “What kind of liability?” Holt’s voice was deceptively mild.

  “Any full-blooded Mysterium has a strange beginning, and that makes every one of them a bit unstable forever after. It’s not a mental or emotional instability, but something deeper. It seems to be more a matter of inhabiting the self, fully and completely. Because of that, a Mysterium is vulnerable to a takeover, and even a half-Mysterium inherits some of this risk.”

  Holt drew in an impatient breath. “How I despise such modern business terms, Luke. Liability and takeover and risk! Just say what you mean in words I can readily understand.”

  “Fair enough, Holt. It means that we’re vulnerable to demonic possession.”

  Only the sound of the fire could be heard after that, softly crackling and popping as it consumed the logs in the hearth.

  “Then none of you can be a stranger to a deep and abiding fear,” Wesley murmured. His old, sunken eyes were filled with sympathy.

  But Holt seemed more angry than sympathetic. “Tressa, you’ve been taking more chances than I realized.”

  She dropped her gaze to the floor, avoiding his eyes. “Sometimes the needs outweigh the risks.”

  Luke rolled on with his lay-it-bare explanation, oblivious to the emotional undercurrents between herself and Holt. “It’s dangerous to travel there open-eyed, but we don’t do it often, and we take certain precautions to protect ourselves,” he s
aid. “For one, we can conjure up lights that keep the shadows at bay. And for another, we can call on the aid of the illuminati. They’re usually around somewhere close by, especially if we’ve made a point of petitioning for a bit of extra protection.”

  Tressa raised her gaze to find that Holt’s eyes were still glinting with disapproval. Obviously, Holt did not share Luke’s confidence.

  Beside him, Wesley was clasping and unclasping his thin hands with curiosity and excitement. “These strange beginnings, Luke, are most intriguing. Please tell me more about the birth of a Mysterium.”

  Luke glanced at the mantle clock. “It’s getting late, but I’ll tell you everything I know. There isn’t much, you see, even though I’ve been trying to dig up more information for years.”

  Tressa welcomed the chance to hear her brother’s account, for although she knew the facts, she had never been able to join them together into a real explanation. Over the years, Luke might have come up with a better picture of things – patchy, no doubt, but firmer than hers.

  “The necessary conditions for the birth of a Mysterium seem to be very rare,” Luke began. “For one thing, a birth can only happen when there’s a full moon. For another, it has to take place along a shoreline, and the tide must have reached its highest peak. And as if that weren’t enough, a heavy thunderstorm must also be brewing on the horizon. It’s a threefold convergence. Under these conditions, it’s possible for a Mysterium to be born by making a sudden passage into existence, without any parents. Right after such a birth, the Mysterium has a mature body, similar to the body of a human of about twenty years of age.”

  “That seems utterly impossible,” said Holt, frowning.

  “It might seem that way,” responded Luke, “but it’s scientifically supported by the experiments of Dr. Hayes. He’s the one who discovered that the cells of a Mysterium are ‘human-seeking’, in biochemical terms. In fact, that’s the very reason why a dose of Mysterium blood causes a vampire to make a transition back to human.”

  Holt shook his head, still unconvinced. “What about the mind? How could it be mature at such a birth? Years, decades even, are needed to learn language, for instance.”