The Ethereal Vision

  ***

  Jane kicked the start switch on the cycle and heard the engine roar to life just as one of the men came around the back of the cabin, ten feet behind her mother. She was a farther fifty feet from them across the field, with an open stretch of grass in front of her leading along the back end of the park towards the entrance. Jane locked eyes with him for a second. A surge of defiance went through her as she pulled back the throttle and raced away.

  It was a one-hundred-and-twenty-cc bike that her father had owned years ago. Somehow it still functioned, and Jack had performed the few necessary adjustments to make sure she would be safe on it. She had no helmet, and she knew riding without one was dangerous, but she had practiced enough in the intervening years to know how to ride safely; she had to take the risk.

  She scrambled up the park, her heart racing, her blonde hair trailing behind her, a look of defiance on her face. As she looked at the ground that sped below her, she realised she had never suspected it would come to this. She had watched Jack work on the cycle the night before, thinking he was wasting his energy. How wrong she had been.

  She was seventy feet from the clearing that led to the main road and the beach when she crossed over the gravel road cutting through the centre of the park. The bike crossed a ramp and she managed to stay on it as it bounced down on the earth below. As she levelled the bike and faced the clearing between two brown cabins ahead, she heard the car behind her. She looked back in time to see them ram two plastic containers meant for use as bins. They flew into the air in an explosive fashion. A wave of shock went through her, and her teeth rattled as she turned back around, increasing her acceleration.

  She reached the clearing and pulled a hard right, managing to stay upright on the bike. Seconds later, she made the main entrance and smiled when she saw that Lucas had cut the lock on the main gate; it was now wide open. She flew out through the gate and took another sharp turn, this time to the left. The bike skidded slightly on the loose gravel beneath her. One final turn and she would be on the dirt road to the beach.

  When she made it there, she pulled the throttle as far as it would go. The wind blasted her face as the countryside swept past her in the dim morning light. Her teeth began to chatter in the cold, but she was only barely aware of this. Somewhere, distantly in her mind, in a place she didn’t visit often, she could feel him coming again. She could feel the whisperings of his thoughts murmur gently across hers in that strange, telepathic communication she had never really gotten used to. Still, she found herself incredibly excited that she would see him again.

  She reached the top of the beach and pushed the bike into a stretch of bushes on her right, concealing it as best she could. Then she was running, probably faster than she had ever run in her life. She jumped an eight-foot drop off from the nearest dune and landed on the slanted beach, nearly losing her balance and tumbling, but managing to stay upright. She raced down the dune and out to the shore where the waves were breaking and the sand was harder. She had a good grip there, and she sprinted down the beach, not knowing where she was going but determined to escape at all costs, or hide.

  She ran until she was exhausted and the cold wind burned her lungs. When she couldn’t run anymore, she stopped, waited and breathed. The wind was freezing and the sun was coming up on the horizon. It was a red hemispherical disc, and it cast an unusual luminescent glow on the water. At any other time, it would have been surreal and beautiful. Now it seemed almost ominous. She hoped they would not find her.

  They did.

  A few minutes later she saw the three figures emerge at the top of the dune nearest the edge of the rocks. They saw her in the distance and they ran down the dune in her direction. She was sure she was too tired to run again, but somehow she found the strength. She turned and looked to the right. She was standing next to the highest point in the dunes, and she ran in that direction with her heart racing and her legs hurting, lactic acid filling every muscle in her body.

  She had the impulse to look to her left, and when she did, she saw a thin dark figure in the distance, perhaps three hundred feet away, standing in the line where the water met the sand, looking almost like a mirage. It was him: the man who had so far protected her, but in what seemed like only limited, distant ways.

  Yes, it’s me. Keep running, Jane. They’re not going to stop, so you shouldn’t.

  Yes, but what am I supposed to do?

  There was hesitation.

  I don’t know. But don’t worry. We’ll work through this together, just keep going.

  Okay, she replied. She reached the top of the dune and looked behind her. Lucas was starting up the dune behind her, only fifty feet away. The other two men were not as athletic and had fallen behind. Jane could see the metallic, sophisticated-looking weapon he held in his hand. This gave her the last jolt she needed to turn and run again.

  She ran across the top of the dunes where the grass and dirt was hard, not knowing where her strength came from. She glanced behind and saw him striding towards her. He was built for this, she thought. She was running up the top of one of the tallest dunes when she found herself getting desperate. She reached the top and looked at the vast sea in front of her. She searched for Max and found him quickly, once again in the distance, looking at her. She reached out for him with her thoughts, a faculty she had not been accustomed to using until recently. Now circumstances were pushing her to use these abilities in new and unexpected ways.

  Max, what do I do? Help me!

  You have to fight him, Jane. It’s the only chance you’ve got to get away. Scan the area for something you can use as a weapon.

  She was about to protest, but realised there was no point; she knew what Max had said was true, so she turned to the sand below her and reached out with her thoughts, passing them over the ground as one would run a hand over some intricate pattern. Her mind passed over freezing cold, damp sand and pieces of rock. The taste and smell of sea salt filled her senses as her mind ran over the frigid surface.

  Too small, she thought as her mind grasped at one piece of rock. No good. A chunk of glass came next. No, too dangerous. He was coming up behind her. She could hear his heavy footfalls in the sand coming down like tree trunks. The sound of his ragged breathing rose up in the background. He was only twenty-five feet away now and was starting to slow down. She didn’t need to look around to see him aiming his weapon at her; the image flashed inside her mind.

  She turned and looked in his eyes, her blond hair blowing around her. That surge of anger and defiance returned and showed on her face. He seemed shocked by what he saw. She kept scanning the ground with her mind in the background, desperately looking for something she could use. She was aware somehow of Max watching them intently, a distant third party who seemed to be only a witness at this time.

  “Jane, you’re coming with us whether you want to or not.”

  “Come where? Why? What the hell are you talking about?” she yelled back, stalling him, still scanning the sand below.

  “You have to be contained.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you’ve demonstrated extreme ethereal ability, and you used it to endanger a civilian.”

  “You’re lying,” she said flatly, shifting her position on the sand as she stared into his eyes.

  This seemed to give him pause. His stance grew solid then, and he planted his feet firmly on the ground. He raised the weapon higher, aiming it directly at her torso.

  “Don’t move!” he yelled.

  She glared at him. She needed only a couple more seconds, she thought, to find the right weapon in the sand below. Her heart was beating fast, and all of her psychic sense, which before she had very much blocked out, was coming online. Images and understandings about this man flooded her mind. There were reflected images of things she didn’t want to know about him—things she didn’t want to see. But there was something lurking just beneath the surface, something big.

  She hesitated, still scanning the ground be
low her, because she knew instinctively that this thing near the surface of his mind was important. It was beneath the basic thoughts, hidden, but not well—something he took out and thought about frequently. She had only seconds to look. She couldn’t discern what it was, but she had the vague impression that it was connected to her. A gasp escaped her lips as this realisation came into her mind.

  She pushed the images aside as she found what she was looking for: a dull, hard object just less than two feet long. She knew exactly what it was the second after her mind had discovered it—a brick from one of the houses that had collapsed nearby due to erosion. Her mind tugged on the brick. Gently, she thought, and she felt it respond to her will. Her cells began to light up with that same feeling she had experienced on her doorstep. She pushed herself harder, moving the brick off the sand.

  She turned and jumped the six-foot drop onto the dune below her. She heard him yell, “Damn,” behind her, but she was too focussed on the brick to pay him any further attention.

  Good, Jane, now lift it! she heard Max say clearly.

  She did exactly what Max said. She focussed on the brick as she ran down the dune. The surge of defiance she felt became a beam of power. The block rose in front of her, obliging her mind. Sand fell from it like a waterfall. She ran past the block as it rose upward; she raised her hand, directing it towards Lucas. The block flew through the air, and she heard and felt a dull thud as it hit his shoulder hard. She heard Lucas gasp and collapse on the sand behind her.

  She stopped and felt the power completely drain from her body as she turned around rapidly.

  Did I hurt him…is he okay? she asked, calling out to Max.

  No. You didn’t hurt him, he’s just stunned—a minor injury. He’ll be okay, I promise. KEEP GOING, she heard Max say.

  Her instinct was to check on Lucas, but she unwillingly pulled herself away from the scene and began running again. She reached the shore a moment later. Once there, she ran parallel to the dunes where the thin film of water washed around her feet. The surface was flat, and she had good traction there as she sprinted onward. Max hovered in front of her, floating about ten feet above the water and one hundred feet ahead of her. His image was the only thing that kept her moving, as lactic acid now seemed to send screaming sirens from the muscles in her body, begging her to stop. Her lungs burned with each gasp of cold sea air, and the sound of her deep footfalls on the tough sand echoed dimly back to her.

  She risked one look behind her and saw the two other men attending to Lucas as the dune slipped out of sight around the corner of another embankment. The men were picking him up by his arms. She felt a pang of regret, but it faded quickly as one of the men looked out towards her.

  She turned back around and kept running. A few minutes later, she was out of their sight. She glanced around and saw this. At that point, her mind finally started to relax. The sun, now a glowing orange disc, cast spectral dances over the small, gentle waves. Suddenly it was beautiful to her and no longer foreboding and ominous. The cold January wind blew at her face; it was no longer distracting, but refreshing.

  “Can I slow down yet?”

  Yes, you should. You’re going to need your strength.

  Max was moving towards her across the water with his coat fluttering slightly in the breeze. She slowed to a light jogging pace, but when she found even that too much, she resorted to walking. After a few more minutes, she stopped and leaned over, placing her hands on her knees and gasping for breath. She rubbed her sleeve across her face and saw a pair of feet in front of her. She looked up and saw Max standing a few feet away.

  At first she didn’t know what to say to him. Then she simply said, “Thanks.”

  You don’t have to speak aloud if you don’t wish to. I can hear you telepathically.

  She smiled at him and replied, “Oh yes. Thanks for the reminder.” She laughed at the idea of discussing such a thing so casually, but then the laughter felt like thorns in her throat, and she began to cough.

  He stood in front of her as she held her stomach, breathing deeply. Gradually she began to regain her strength and looked up at him. He smiled at her. He appeared young now—younger than she could remember seeing him before. In the strange, otherworldly garden from the dream of her youth, he had appeared older. Now he seemed to be in his mid to late twenties and he had the twinkle of youth in his eyes.

  Can we move ahead now, Jane? Are you strong enough?

  “Yes,” she said aloud as she began to walk beside him. She looked at him and smiled. “Sorry, I think it’s going to take a while for me to get used to that.”

  “That’s okay. We can talk aloud if you wish. Although it may be better for you to exercise your telepathic ability somewhat. That, and your psychokinetic ability.”

  “Why, you think I’m going to need it?”

  He paused before answering. “Yes, it looks as though you probably will,” he said after a moment during which he looked out at the sea, its waves producing overlapping golden crescent arcs among the wash of white foam.

  “Are things going to get worse than this, Max?”

  He looked down and regarded her with a still expression. Then his gaze drifted slowly to the sand below them. “Yes,” he replied after a moment. They continued walking with the sun casting a long shadow of her figure across the beach to her right. Max did not have a shadow, Jane noticed. It gave the dim morning scene a strange and surreal quality. She was exhausted, and adrenaline still ran through her body, but for the first time in a while she felt alive.

  “Okay. Well, I want to know about that, but where should we go? I don’t think they’re going to wait too long to come looking for me.”

  “No.” He stopped then and Jane stopped alongside him. He looked in front and then to the side, scanning the area. “Is there a place nearby we can go? Somewhere that’s safe?”

  “Yes, I know some places, but they’re all at least three miles away. It will take us an hour to get there.” She looked down then, realising she hadn’t made plans to reconnect with her mother if she managed to avoid being captured.

  “You didn’t tell your mother where to meet you. Is that correct?”

  She looked at him. “We didn’t think about that. We were just rushing to get away.” There was a silence between them as Max seemed to consider this. Jane reached for the small cell phone in her pocket and was about to use it to contact her mother when Max held up his hand.

  “No. No technology, Jane. They’ll be able to track it.”

  Her brow furrowed, though instead of using the phone she held it in her palm and looked at him for guidance.

  “Throw it in the sea,” he said flatly. She did what he asked. “I’ll contact her if necessary.”

  “Okay,” Jane said. “I think if we go about another mile across the beach, we can get onto a road that will take us to the village.”

  “Okay then, let’s go,” he said, and they continued on again.

  Jane had been thinking more and more about Max and his nature, linking him to various things she had read throughout the years. She found it odd and perhaps mildly frustrating that they were still walking. She was half expecting that he would have power over the physical world; that he would be able to do more than just guide her.

  “Max, why are we walking? I mean, you seem perfectly capable of moving through the world as you wish. Why can’t we teleport like that?”

  “Because I am not exactly moving through space. This form you see is not physical in nature. I can’t interact with the physical world like that very much at all.”

  “How come?”

  “Because I’m not mortal. Interacting with the physical world would require abiding by the rules of mortality: the cycle of life and death and all that that entails.”

  She thought about this and found that it made sense to her. “Can you…become human?” she asked. A strange sense of nostalgia filled her mind. “Didn’t you tell me once…in those dreams, about your life as a human?”

&n
bsp; “Yes. I had a human life once. It was wonderful, but also sad.”

  “Why was it sad?’ She saw his face change as he hesitated. There was a brief flicker and new lines seemed to appear. Then they were gone again.

  “It was a long time ago. I’ll tell you some other time,” he said and smiled.

  “Okay,” she said. She found herself suddenly desperate to know what had happened to him and everything else about him: When had he lived? What had his life been like? Who had he loved? She looked up at him and saw him looking towards the sky, smiling.

  “I can feel your questioning mind, Jane,” he said.

  A strange thought crossed her mind and was gone just as quickly as it had arrived: You might never really know much about him.

  Before they continued further, he told her to take a pocket full of sand. Although she found the request odd, she did so. She reached down and picked up a big handful, filling her right pocket with it. Then they walked on in the morning light. It was still freezing cold, but Jane felt exceedingly warm standing next to him.