Nightmare's Edge

  With only the slightest of glows still radiating from the dream, she was barely visible as she wiggled her fingers across imaginary piano keys. “It moved by very quickly, but I recognized what Kelly played in her dream. I know what you fear.”

  Nathan’s heart thumped faster again. “Are you saying I’m scared to talk to her?”

  A knowing smile stretched her lips. “She’s dying for you to talk to her, Nathan. Begging. Praying. Pleading. But she won’t ask you herself. You have to be the one to reach out to her.”

  “She keeps saying she’ll wait for me, as long as it takes. I thought maybe she wanted, you know, to be my girlfriend or something.” He pointed at himself. “I mean, I’m only sixteen. I don’t want to go there yet.”

  “I don’t think she wants to go there yet, either. I’m not sure she ever wants to go there. She’s not hoping to marry you someday.”

  “So what does she want? Just for me to talk to her?”

  She nodded. “That’s all. Love that doesn’t demand something in return. No one has ever loved her that way before, and she sees it in you. She doesn’t want a boyfriend. She just wants to know that her past is erased in your mind.”

  “But I thought I was supposed to tell her about my faith in God. Her song made it sound like she already believes. Maybe I don’t need to say anything.”

  She took his hand and massaged his thumb. “She’s trying her hardest to believe, but she won’t truly understand forgiveness until you show it to her. She can’t believe God would really forgive her for what she’s done.”

  “But what did she do? I mean . . .” He hesitated, wondering if he should go on. “Do you even know?”

  “Yes, Nathan. She told me.” Three deep lines creased her brow. “It was hard to understand everything, because she was crying so much, but she told me.”

  “So, what did she . . .” Nathan hesitated again. Did he really want to ask what she had done? Did he really want to know? After a second or two, he took in a deep breath and said, “Was it really all that terrible?”

  Her voice cracked. “Yes. Yes, Nathan. It was.”

  Nathan swallowed. Tears welled and trickled down his cheeks. “So what do I do?”

  As she folded his hand into hers, her voice spiked with passion. “Forgive her, Nathan. Forgive her with all your heart. She’s already heard about faith from a hundred TV sermons, but she has never seen the real, vibrant, down-to-earth forgiving heart of Jesus lived out in reality, certainly not in her father or in her mother.” Now weeping, she lifted his hand and laid it on his chest. “She needs to know that this brave-hearted young knight will treat her like the fair maiden she so longs to be, no matter what she’s done to soil that label.” She loosened his bandage and unwound it until his bloody wound lay exposed. “She has crucified herself a thousand times for her sins. It’s time for you to put an end to her suffering.”

  Nathan stared at his hand, barely visible in the waning light. A tear fell from his mother’s eye and landed on his palm. As it trickled into the wound, the salt stung, but he didn’t flinch. Somehow the pain felt right.

  He rolled his hand into a fist, letting the pain increase. It was about time he took the brunt of the pain. So far, Kelly had risked her life time and again for his sake, and all he had given her in return was halfhearted acceptance. She longed to be loved by someone she perceived to be pure, but he had put up a barrier — a brick wall that said purity, once lost, could never be regained. But it was just a smoke screen, a smoke screen to hide his fear.

  He rose and groped for his mother’s hand, now invisible in the darkness. “We have to go.”

  She grabbed his wrist and let him pull her up. “Where?”

  “Anywhere but here. We can’t keep waiting for Cerulean. If I’m going to take a bullet for Kelly, I have to find her first. This time, I’m not going to let her down.”

  A new voice made them both turn. “Man, Nathan, that was beautiful.”

  He squinted in the darkness. “Daryl? Is that you?”

  A beam of light flashed on, illuminating Daryl Red’s face.

  “Present and accounted for. I got here just in time. That cool shoot-em-up dream was ending.”

  “Is that a flashlight in your hand?”

  “Of course. I’m scared stiff of the dark, remember?” She guided the beam toward a canvas bag draped over her shoulder. “And I have fresh Energizer bunnies in there along with three candles and matches, so we’re good to go.”

  “Did you get the card?”

  “Yeppers. Yeppers.” She put it in his hand. “And something else.”

  The sound of paper wrinkling rose from somewhere underneath the flashlight’s beam. “Remember that report folder you picked up in the conference room back what seems like a thousand years ago?”

  “Yeah. I never got to look at it.”

  “Gordon Red did.” Daryl handed him a piece of paper, now unfolded. “Actually, he was supposed to be at the meeting but had to skip it because he was chasing hot-rod Nathan down the highway. So he read through the report, and apparently someone put a new page in there he didn’t know about, but it was just a bunch of numbers. He went through all the offices and dug up the other copies, and one had remnants of a torn-out page exactly where this page was, but there weren’t any other pages missing.”

  “So the report I picked up and one other report had this page.” He guided Daryl’s flashlight toward the wrinkled paper. Several lines of neatly handwritten numbers covered the top half. “Think it’s a code?”

  Daryl shrugged. “What else could it be?”

  “Did Gordon Red try to decipher it?”

  “Yep, but it’s a brain-buster. He didn’t have time to send it to any cryptology experts.”

  Nathan’s mother peered at the numbers. “So were there two conspirators on Interfinity’s board of directors?”

  “Probably,” Nathan said. “This thing goes a lot deeper than I ever thought. I got a good look at the shotgun guy in your dream. He’s the same one who tried to kill Clara and Kelly and me. I guess he’s been hunting ‘gifted ones’ for a long time.”

  His mother shook her head. “I didn’t keep track of him. He was in jail during my CSO career, but after I started traveling with your father, I never heard about him again.”

  “So he got out.” Nathan lifted the plastic card into the light. “But he’s definitely dead now.”

  “But which one is dead?” Daryl asked. “Bearded Guy Red or Bearded Guy Blue?”

  “I’m not sure.” Nathan shrugged. “I can’t keep everything straight in my mind.”

  “Yeah. You need a scorecard to keep up with all the players.”

  Nathan’s mother ran her finger along the card’s numbers. “And did he work for Mictar?”

  Nathan shook his head. “He wanted me to destroy the mirrors so Mictar couldn’t use them. For some reason, he was trying to kill Francesca Yellow before Nathan Yellow was born. I’m guessing that we gifted ones somehow energize the mirrors, and this guy and whoever he works with wanted to stop us to keep interfinity from coming. He just played along with Mictar to get to us.”

  “Well,” Daryl said, “while you two gifted gabbers try to figure it all out, I have something else to show you from my goody bag.” She lifted an iPod into the beam. “Of course I’ll return it to Dr. Simon when I’m finished, but I figured we could put it to better use while he’s playing with his hologram.”

  “That’s great!” Nathan took the iPod and showed it to his mother. “This has all the musical pieces that set the mirror up for transport. With this and your violin we can . . .” He let his words drift away.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “We don’t have a mirror.”

  “Au contraire, mon ami. ami.” Daryl slid a mirror square up from her bag, then lowered it again. “While Tony was unloading the mirrors to hide them, I grabbed a couple out of the stack. I gave one to Francesca Yellow and kept one for us. I was thinking maybe we could use it to cont
act Amber, and maybe Francesca could, you know, do the supplicating thing with Amber. And I also brought the Earth Blue one in the photo album. Obviously someone we won’t mention, but his initials are NS, left it behind.”

  Nathan clapped her on the back. “Great thinking, Daryl!” “Like I said, you need a clear thinker.” She tapped her head with a finger. “I’m all brains and no brawn, so I’d better put what I’ve got to work.” She pinched his shirt and drew him closer. “Francesca said to tell you she’s praying you’ll find your father soon. I mean, she was really insistent.”

  “Thanks,” Nathan said. “Me, too.” He pulled the Earth Yellow mirror from the bag and looked at its reflective surface. “Since Amber’s not my supplicant, I wonder how I can use this to call her.”

  Daryl shrugged. “Music? A flash of light? Dance a jig? The rules of this game aren’t exactly the easiest to follow.”

  Nathan allowed a weak smile to break through. “I can’t keep up either, but I hope I don’t have to dance. Mom made me take lessons, but I never liked it.”

  “So what do we do?” his mother asked. “Go back to the observatory and jump into the yellow section of the hologram?”

  “Can’t,” Daryl said. “El Gordo ranted about entering some kind of eclipse phase that would make creating the hologram impossible for the next few hours, so I hopped in just before it happened.”

  Nathan held the iPod near the flashlight beam and dialed through the selections. “Let’s see if there are any dream-jumping options.”

  “If you mean from one dream world to another, don’t waste your time. Simon and Simon said they have no clue what music will open dream portals. But I brought it anyway, ’cause I figured we might need it if we make it back to the real world.”

  “If we make it?” Nathan looked at Daryl’s mirthful, yet frightened eyes. She was searching for a confidence boost. “We are going to make it,” he said firmly. “I don’t know how yet, but we’re going to find my father and Kelly, and we’re going to save the world.”

  “Hey, that works for me, but tell it to interfinity. Dr. Gordon’s radio telescopes can track the meshing of the three worlds, and it’s getting real bad again. He showed me a map and a computer projection of how long it will take before everything collapses.” She held up a pair of fingers. “Two days, Nathan. Unless we can stop the bleeding, that’s all we have.”

  12

  WITH IN SARAH’S WOMB

  “Two Earth Yellow days?” Nathan asked.

  Daryl nodded. “At least that’s what the computer says.”

  “Then we’d better figure out how to use the mirror to get to Earth Yellow. Finding my father is still priority one.”

  Nathan’s mother pressed the violin under her chin. “I’ll try ‘Foundation’s Key.’ That seems to unlock a lot of puzzles. At least it might let us see something we need to know.”

  He pointed the mirror at his mother. “Do you remember all of it?”

  “I played it about fifty times back on Earth Blue. I’d better know it.” After quickly tuning the violin again, she began playing.

  Nathan shifted his body, using one hand to point the mirror at himself, Daryl, and his mother. In the flashlight’s narrow beam, only his mother’s face and hands showed in the mirror’s image. Her left hand, still wrapped in a strip of Nathan’s sweatshirt, trembled.

  The reflection darkened for a moment before glowing with a soft yellow light. Amber’s face appeared against a background of darkness. Deep lines ran across her forehead as she spoke in a whisper. “I am nearby. Come to the dark wall. Find a wound and rip it open. I cannot locate one from the inside.”

  She looked from side to side as if watching for approaching danger. Her voice lowered even further. “I have seen Mictar lurking, so we must be quiet. I will tell you much more when you let me out. But, whatever you do, do not point the light at the mirror. If you transport to this place, we will lose our opportunity to create a path between the Earth Blue and Earth Yellow dream worlds.”

  Daryl flicked off the light and handed it to Nathan. “Okay. It’s dark now. Better talk me through this.”

  “It’s okay. We can still use the light. We’ll just hide the mirror for a while.” Nathan looked again at the supplicant. “Amber, we’re going to put the mirror in Daryl’s bag while we look for the barrier. We’ll be with you soon.”

  After securing the mirror, Nathan guessed where the barrier ought to be, aimed the flashlight, and pushed the switch. Like a wide laser, the beam shot through the darkness and cast a circle on a wall of blackness.

  “Coolness,” Daryl whispered. “Clear sailing.”

  Nathan waved the beam from side to side. “As long as we don’t walk near any of those hungry trees. Cerulean told me they’re fixtures in the dream world, one of the few realities we have to deal with.”

  “And a dangerous one,” his mother added. “One of them tried to grab us.”

  Daryl covered her head with an arm. “Got it. Avoid carnivorous trees.”

  “Okay,” Nathan whispered. “Stay close.” Setting out at a slow pace, he followed the beam’s path, keeping his arms tucked against his body. He tried to imagine the trees in the cemetery. But which ones were part of the dream, and which ones were still there, ready to grab lost wanderers with their powerful wooden hands? Every few seconds, he made a quick global scan with the light, but nothing came into view.

  When they reached the wall, Nathan reached out and touched it with a finger. As expected, it felt tough and hard, like a rubber tire. “Pull Amber out of the bag and keep her up to date. Just don’t point her this way.”

  “Will do, Captain.” She withdrew the mirror from the bag and, keeping the mirror’s back toward the barrier, spoke in a barely audible whisper. “Hey, Amber. We’re at the wall looking for a flaw. Update in a minute.”

  Guiding the beam slowly from left to right, Nathan and his mother studied the smooth black surface. “See anything?” he asked.

  His mother leaned close and squinted. “Only tiny cracks.”

  “Let’s try this.” He dug his nails into one of the longer cracks, but it wouldn’t expand, not even a millimeter. Stepping back, he studied the wall. The cosmic wounds had apparently weakened the structure, so what would weaken it further? What special powers allowed a supplicant and a vision stalker to break through?

  As he thought, the image of Scarlet came to mind. Surely his supplicant could have pierced the wall —but how? With every second her lovely face hovered in his mind’s eye, the fragrance of roses strengthened in his nostrils, and a bittersweet film grew on his tongue. A jumble of words flew around in his mind, like pinballs in an over-juiced arcade machine. Finally, when the sensation became overwhelming, he took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “A song. We need a song.”

  His mother showed him the violin. “What do you want me to play?”

  “ ‘Foundation’s Key.’ I’ll sing the lyrics.”

  “It has lyrics?”

  “Not yet, but it will soon.”

  She lifted the bow to the strings. “I’ll start whenever you do.”

  “Okay.” He concentrated on the flying words. Some seemed brighter than others, almost on fire with red light. Maybe if he sang them out from brightest to dimmest, the phrases would make some sense. He took another deep breath and began.

  A wall divides and sets apart

  Our bodies, minds, and souls;

  It stymies all embracing arms,

  Exacting heartache tolls.

  The walls we build are merely smoke,

  Forgiveness trapped inside;

  Release the love, the spirit’s wind,

  And sweep away your pride.

  One breath for me, your supplicant,

  One breath for hearts in need;

  One breath for you, beloved son,

  In threes we gladly bleed.

  Nathan sang out the last words in a long, labored breath. His mother lowered the bow and massaged his shoulder. “Scarlet?” >she
asked.

  He nodded but said nothing.

  “I thought so. Your voice seemed touched by heaven.”

  “So, Elvis,” Daryl said, “did your song open a hole?”

  “It’s not the song; it’s the breath.” Nathan gave his mother the flashlight, then set his mouth over the crack and blew. Wind poured out, growing hotter and hotter, almost scalding his lips. As the fragrance-saturated air met the wall, the cracks seemed to glow cherry red.

  Daryl lifted the mirror and talked into it. “Hey, Amber. Stand by. I think we’re about to break through.”

  “Shine a light through the breach,” Amber said. “I will look for it.”

  Nathan took in another breath and blew again. The fissure widened, making a slight crackling noise, like dry leaves burning.

  His mother aimed the flashlight at the rift. “Keep it up, son.

  Maybe the third one will make it weak enough to tear.”

  Feeling dizzy now, Nathan inhaled as deeply as he could and pushed the air out slowly, pursing his lips to focus the flow on the growing crack. Now hotter than ever, the flow dried out the inside of his mouth and stung the tender skin.

  With a final push, he emptied his lungs and staggered back.

  Daryl caught him and propped him up, laughing. “The big bad wolf’s hyperventilating!”

  Nathan shook the mental cobwebs away and lunged back to the wall. Using both hands, he thrust his fingers into the glowing crack. The touch burned his raw skin, but he just gritted his teeth and pushed deeper.

  As if groaning in pain, the wall creaked and popped. The breach widened to three or four inches and deepened to almost a foot. Soon, a cooling wind rushed by Nathan’s hands and into the inner core. With his mouth still in pain, he rasped, “I think we broke through.”

  His mother pointed the flashlight beam into the hole. “Keep pulling. Maybe Amber can work from that side.”

  “I’ll help!” Daryl set her bag and the mirror down and pulled one side while Nathan pulled the other. As the hole widened, rushing air whistled past.

  After a few seconds, a small voice broke through, strained, as if battling the wind. “Nathan? It’s Amber. Can you hear me?”