Chapter 8
Earthbound
The voyage back to land was uneventful. Maren decided to extend her stay with the Chikaltos, where she could fill the feminine void that was sadly there. Mateo stayed too, mostly for the company and secondarily to prevent the chef from getting rusty.
Over the next two weeks, Jeremy left gifts from Earth at Maren's door―cranberry-orange bread, a portable blue-ray disk player with batteries, movies, an African diamond, Alaskan blueberry jam―all the while hoping to woo Maren into traveling with him. At last, Maren relented. They spent the next few days hammering out a plan to escape their families. Wantoro and Mateo couldn't know that they were going back to Earth or they would protest, and as Jeremy and Maren only intended to go for a day or two, they needed a believable alibi. The problem was, everyone knew Jeremy and Maren's whereabouts at all times. Also, Jeremy's schedule was so booked up with conferences, celebrations, performances, and charity events that he hardly knew which day might be open. Maren suggested they simply go with a partial truth.
"I'll leave my father a note telling him that we decided to go on a mini-vacation for two days. We just wanted some privacy―"
"I like where this is going." Jeremy smirked.
"―and then I'll write that he should expect a call from us the next day. If it's so easy for you to travel back and forth, just return here and give him a call. Tell him we'll be back the following day and apologize for all the secrecy. Keep your tone light."
Maren wrote the letter and packed a small bag. Jeremy brought Maren down to a private garden courtyard on the south side of the castle. The air smelled sweet and the stone masonry looked stunning behind the green vines and budding Cinthion blossoms. Jeremy rifled through his backpack, and pulled out an oxygen mask and tank. Maren took a deep breath.
"We'll just give this a try. If it works, it's the easiest solution. Otherwise, we move on to Plan B."
"And you'll just pull me in and bring me right back out, correct?"
Jeremy smiled. "Yes, and Lyrna's right here." He stuck his hand behind the air and pulled out a fluffy gray and white tail which whipped about irritably.
Maren sighed. "All right. Let's just do this before I change my mind."
Jeremy attached the mask to her face and helped her slip on the backpack which contained the tank. He turned it on and Maren nodded. "Here goes." Jeremy held her hand, slowed his breath, and allowed the vibrations to build to a roar. They entered the Haze.
Maren immediately slumped forward, her body limp and unconscious. Jeremy pressed his ear to the oxygen mask. It was doing its job. He felt Maren's neck; still, her pulse was slowing down. Then he pressed his head against her chest. Her heart beat gave a slight flutter. "Um," Jeremy looked at Lyrna. "Her body's not responding properly."
Lyrna mewed irritably. "No check. Me do." Lyrna floated over to Maren and set her paws on Maren's arm. "Dying."
Jeremy cursed and pulled her straight out of the Haze. His hastiness brought him not to the courtyard, but to a basement. He'd pulled out wrong. "Maren. Maren!" He shook her and she opened her eyes.
Maren looked up at him and massaged her head. "Did it work? I feel a little faint."
Jeremy wanted to embrace her but thought better of it. If she knew how close she came to danger, she wouldn't try his backup plan. Jeremy was determined to bring her to Earth. He hoped her drowsiness would smooth over his lie. "You're fine. Can you excuse me for just one second?"
"Sure." Maren sat up and looked around at the unfamiliar basement. "Wait!"
But Jeremy had already slipped through the air.
"Lyrna!"
"Mew."
"Okay, so you can detect her vital signs, right?"
"Mew."
"Let's try the backup plan. I'm going to need you by my side for this."
"Mew."
"Jeremy," whispered Maren. "Jeremy!" a little louder. The air stunk of mildew and spilled liquor. Maren crawled under a dilapidated card table and listened to the footsteps overhead. A bunch of men were talking in low voices. One let out a callous laugh. They were coming down the stairs.
Jeremy appeared and looked around.
"Jeremy, here!" Maren motioned for him. "Do something! Get me out of here!"
Lyrna leapt to the floor beside Jeremy.
Jeremy looked around at the dank basement. "Sorry about this," he gestured to the unfamiliar scenery. "Quick, Lyrna."
Lyrna ran under the table and placed her paw on Maren's leg.
"Out of one-hundred," said Jeremy.
"Half plus half of half," answered Lyrna, assessing her vitals.
"Um... eighty-five."
Maren gave Jeremy a questioning look, but then his hand was lifting her up and she went unconscious.
In the Haze, Jeremy floated as fast as he could through the purple currents. He passed by a woman with an IV in her arm. "Have you seen my son?" she asked drowsily. Lyrna turned and disappeared and Jeremy saw the Haze twitch. He pushed himself through a dense mass of pink and soon the pink opened up and Lyrna was to his left, already changing directions. She floated upside down and disappeared again. Jeremy did the same, weaving in and out of the dead, until at last Lyrna indicated a spot to leave. "Here."
Jeremy pushed them out and landed on a rock pile beside a swamp. They were on a distant, small planet in the Farmoore Galaxy with a red sky and a mountainous terrain. Jeremy pulled Maren onto the rocks and watched her take her first breath. She opened her eyes and coughed.
"She's disoriented," said Jeremy, and Lyrna set her paw on her lap.
"Half plus third of half."
Jeremy lifted Maren up and pulled the oxygen mask from her backpack. He quickly attached it to her face. "Breathe."
Maren nodded and lay back, resting her head on his lap.
Lyrna hopped up and down. "Soul needs me."
"Be quick."
Lyrna disappeared back into the Haze.
Jeremy swatted some bugs from his face and winced. The atmosphere was comparable to Earth, but with less oxygen. The sun was blazing overhead. Last time he did the trial run, he hadn't realized how hot it was here.
Maren pulled the mask off her face. "Earth?" she managed.
"No, not yet." Jeremy stroked her blonde hair. Beads of sweat were collecting on his forehead and he felt like he might soon need the oxygen mask too. Jeremy heard a roaring sound from somewhere in the sky. That's when he saw it. He looked up. A large ball of blue-red flame was hurling towards them, filling the sky with bright orange ripples.
Maren saw it too and rolled over, tearing the mask off.
"Lyrna!" yelled Jeremy. "Come on, Lyrna, we have to go!" He disappeared for a moment, but quickly reappeared. The fireball was coming closer and looming large.
The mud around the base of the rock bed was beginning to heat up, and little insect-like creatures started to crawl from out of the ground, raising little pink tubes to the blood-red sky.
And then it was too hot, and Jeremy thought he might faint. He pulled Maren through to the Haze. "Lyrna! We need our next point! Lyrna!" Lyrna was nowhere to be found.
Jeremy swam towards a light patch of Haze. Sweat poured off his body but he held tight to Maren, afraid she might slip away from him. He pushed his head partially out of the Haze and into deep space. Jeremy fell back into the Haze, light-headed and in pain. He heard something in his head pop and then everything turned black.
A warbled sound seeped into his brain. "Jer..."
Jeremy's eyelashes fluttered open and he felt fur against his face and a wet nose pressing into his cheek. "Lyrna?"
"You lay." Lyrna peered down at him.
"Maren?"
"You almost crush brain. Pressure change."
"Where's Maren?"
"I'm here, Jeremy." Maren's voice was weak.
Jeremy turned his head towards her. She was lying beside him on a patch of green grass. The air felt cool and there was a slight breeze.
"Earth," whispered Lyrna.
Jeremy moaned. He sat up slowly on his elbows. "Maren, I am so sorry."
"Thanks for the quick, painless journey." Maren frowned and reached out to pet Lyrna who was sitting between them.
"Sorry," said Jeremy as he rubbed his head. He sat up and gazed at the rows of corn. They were on a farm. "Pretty plot of land."
Lyrna crouched low. "Maren go below half."
Jeremy winced and looked at Maren, who was slowly recovering on the grass. "It was selfish of me, I know."
When Maren recovered enough to walk, Lyrna excused herself and went back into the Haze, leaving Jeremy and Maren to their own devices. Together they walked to a road and followed it to a convenience store, where they discovered they were in Mantua, New Jersey.
"Map, please," said Jeremy, waving his hand at the store clerk.
"Jeremy, we don't have any money," whispered Maren.
"I've brought jewels." Jeremy smiled and held up a tiny gem.
The store clerk, a thin, freckled youth with a white apron tied sloppily around his bony hips, nervously inspected the gem and looked behind him for his manager. "Well, we don't usually..."
"Well you should, it'd be smart business."
"I think it's illegal, sir," said the clerk boy, who was growing increasingly nervous.
Maren looked down at her clothes, which were streaked in mud. "Jeremy," she pointed to his clothes.
"Well, how about this?" asked the store clerk, his voice wavering as he helped himself to the give-a-penny, take-a-penny jar. "I'll just... and you can..." He handed a map over to Jeremy with a shaky hand and slid the penny jar to his cash register.
"Okay, thank you," said Maren, dragging Jeremy out of the store. When they got outside, she turned on him. "You've got to have a better plan than that! Jewels? Your plan is to barter with jewels? You look like a junkie who robbed a jewelry store!"
"Relax, Earthlings love me," he said with a grin.
"Well we'd better get somewhere safe and then you need to figure out an alternate route to getting me home."
Jeremy kicked a stone and sighed.
"We'll visit my adoptive family and then leave. It's clear to me now that you've placed blind faith in a blind plan."
Jeremy wagged his finger in her face. "Ah, wrong. I can get back to Watico rather quickly with Lyrna's help. You, on the other hand, have placed blind faith in me."
"Which I won't be doing again," said Maren through gritted teeth.
"And, unfortunately, which you'll have to do again very soon."
Maren glared at him as he brought the small jewel to his lips.
He kissed it and winked at her. "Now let's see if this gem can get us a ride."