Nightmare's Edge

“Since I’ve been here,” Solomon continued, “I have been able to tell how people are reacting to the cosmic wounds by how nightmarish their dreams are. I get the impression that perceptions on Earth Yellow are much better now.”

  Nathan dodged a small boy and then another who chased after the first. “They are better. Your counterpart invented a way for people to dream peacefully.”

  “Is that so?” Solomon rubbed his chin stubble. “I hope that was the right decision. Sometimes it’s better to face reality, even if it’s frightening. I know how hard it can be, but if people would learn to overcome their fears, they would be able to move mountains.”

  “Can’t argue with that,” Nathan said. “It’s worked for me.” As soon as the words spilled from his lips, he lowered his head. Sure, he had faced many fears, but he hadn’t faced them all. With a silent sigh, he looked at his wounded hand. It was a good time to change the subject.

  “Hold up a minute.” Nathan reached into his pocket and withdrew the card and the report page. “Check these out. I took the card from a guy who tried to kill me. He had connections with a group that wanted to protect the Quattro secrets.

  The paper was in an Interfinity Labs report I picked up in their conference room.”

  Solomon took the paper and tried to focus on it in the bright sunshine. “It’s hard to read.”

  “I see the vine,” Amber said.

  The wind kicked up. Clouds rolled in and blocked the sun, sending baseball-sized raindrops splattering to the grass. One hit Nathan’s head and splashed all around. It felt cold and wet, but it didn’t soak in. Somehow his clothes stayed completely dry.

  The people scattered, vanishing as they ran. The breeze swirled into a cyclone that wrapped around Felicity and began pulling her body. “Help me, Nathan! I don’t want to go back to my nightmare!”

  Nathan held on with his pain-wrenched hand. “Felicity! Keep listening and sniffing. I want to find you in your nightmare, but I need more clues.”

  With a sudden gust, Felicity jerked out of his grip. Her body spinning wildly, she plunged into a grave and disappeared. A small tombstone, etched with letters too small to read, crumbled and melted away in the torrential downpour.

  The cyclone slurped the rain and clouds and everything else in sight. Then, like a high-speed corkscrew, it drilled into the ground and vanished.

  Silence fell and with it a cold chill. Nathan shivered. That girl needed help, but how could he find her in a completely dark, infinitely deep place?

  Amber lifted her candle, revealing a nearby tree. “The barrier is very close, only a few paces away.”

  Solomon drew close to Amber’s candle. “Let me read this before we go on.” As his eyes darted back and forth, he nodded. “Hmm. I know about these people. They call themselves Sarah’s Covenant, a cult of sorts. They’re the ones who infiltrated Interfinity’s technology, inciting Dr. Gordon to get in touch with Dr. Simon and me. While Simon worked with Gordon to install security features, he became engrossed in the communications with the other worlds, while I used the mirror technology and a bit of undercover work to track down the cult. I snooped around their headquarters and found a transport room that sent me to a world inhabited by white-haired men and women who made up the worst choir any world has ever known.”

  Nathan laughed. “You’re not kidding. I’ve heard them.”

  “Well, you’ll have to tell me about that experience. In any case, while I was there, I met Patar, one of the white-haired men, a vision stalker, as he called himself. He was quite sober, and truly frustrating, but he also seemed very wise. After telling me about Mictar’s plot to steal a Quattro mirror and to kill all the gifted ones, he explained the cosmic environment — the three Earths, the dream worlds, and Sarah’s Womb — and allowed me to speak to the supplicants. Cerulean, since he watched over Nathan Blue, alerted me to the deaths of Solomon and Francesca Blue. Scarlet thought that Francesca and I should switch places with them in order to put Mictar off our trail.”

  “So that’s why so many of them called me ‘Son of Solomon.’ They already knew you.”

  “It’s also why Dr. Gordon and company decided to label the three Earths by their colors. I suggested it, though I didn’t tell him all the reasons. I wasn’t sure whom to trust, so Dr. Simon and I arranged our deaths. You were supposed to come with us, but it didn’t work out the way we had hoped, so your mother and I hid my camera and her violin in the trunk in order to give you clues to what happened to us. We knew between you and Clara, you’d eventually figure it all out.”

  “But it was Kelly who helped the most. She has a gift, too.

  She can get messages from musical notes.”

  “Yes,” Francesca said. “Scarlet told us God would lead you to an interpreter. And now, it seems, we must ask him to lead us to her again.”

  “So” — Nathan nodded at the page — “do you know what it means?”

  Solomon pointed at the numbers and letters. “These represent GPS coordinates that give the locations of the latest foundation points of Sarah’s Womb in the real worlds. The cult members guard those spots, because they are the most vulnerable places in the cosmos. If Mictar found them, he could place a stalker at each location, and if they sang their foul songs, with the weaknesses already in place, they could rip the cosmic fabric to shreds.”

  “Then why print them on a piece of paper that someone like me can pick up?” Nathan asked. “That’s not secure.”

  “It’s secure enough. First, you would have to know you’re looking for GPS coordinates. Second, they only represent the coordinates. They’re musical codes, and only an interpreter can decode the music.” He pointed at the first line. “Each symbol is a musical note, zero through eleven in a middle C chromatic circle. It’s base twelve, so A represents the number ten, and B represents the number eleven. As you can see, there are three lines, one for each Earth.”

  “Can I take a look?” Daryl asked.

  Solomon handed her the sheet. “Sure.”

  While Daryl studied the numbers, Nathan looked at his father. “Do you know where those places are?”

  “I had a few ideas and visited some possible sites. I even conducted experiments, asking your mother to play her violin at those spots. But if we were off even by a fraction of a minute on those coordinates . . .” He shrugged. “A miss is as good as a mile.”

  “That makes sense, but how can so few notes do the job?” Nathan asked. “I mean, how does the interpreter figure out that they’re coordinate numbers instead of a message in words?”

  “That’s where the other codes come in.” He took the card from him and ran a finger along the embossed symbols on the front. “It’s a setup string of notes. An interpreter listens to this and it shifts her brain to a kind of numerical listening mode. This code never changes, but the cosmic shifts can cause Sarah’s Womb’s location to shift with reference to our worlds, so the cult updates their members with the new coordinates. That’s why the updated numbers were in that report.”

  “It’s been a while since I picked it up. Maybe the numbers have changed again.”

  “It’s possible, but this is all we have to work with.” Solomon squinted at the card. “Strange, though. There’s room for another line of code, but it’s blank. I’m not sure what to make of that.”

  Daryl folded the sheet of paper. “No obvious pattern. I’m stumped.”

  “We’ll just have to wait, I guess.” Nathan took the page and the card and pushed them into his back pocket. “Right now we need to find Kelly.”

  “Look,” Francesca said, tilting her head upward.

  Dim light filtered in from above, illuminating the area. Tombstones materialized in a weed-infested lawn, and a crescent moon appeared in the purple sky.

  “Is Felicity dreaming again?” Nathan asked. “Cemeteries seem to be her trademark.”

  A new voice floated in from the darkness. “Someone say my name?” Feminine and frail, the voice was beautifully familiar.

  “
Kelly-kins!” Daryl shouted.

  Kelly stepped into the glow of four uplifted candles, squinting at the light. “I guess it’s about time I showed up, isn’t it?”

  With her arms spread wide, Daryl lunged ahead and embraced her. “You’re a sight for sore eyes.”

  Kelly patted Daryl’s back and smiled, but she looked worn out. “Yeah. You, too.”

  Nathan squirmed. It would feel so good to leap ahead and hug Kelly, but maybe she wasn’t real, and he would be fooled yet again. He held up his candle and looked at her through its flame. She looked solid, but it was still too early to tell for sure. “Where’s your candle?”

  She nodded toward the barrier. “I lost it in there when I stretched that stupid hole open. Good thing the vine was there, or I never would’ve found a way out.”

  Nathan stared at her weary face and frame. She looked so sad, so lost.

  Taking in a deep breath, she smiled and extended her arms. “Nathan?”

  He gulped. The sight of Kelly’s open arms made his heart ache. But if he gave in to his impulses and embraced another dream image, especially this one, he’d lose his mind completely. Trembling, he turned to the others. “Amber? Is she real?”

  Extending her candle, Amber walked up to Kelly and looked her in the eye. “Too early to be certain. I see a spark of life, but she could be a figment of her own dream. Also, with this dreamscape, whoever Felicity really is might well be dreaming that she is now Kelly.”

  “Why?” Nathan asked. “Because she knows I’m looking for Kelly?”

  Amber gave him a sad sort of smile. “Discerning the reason for dreams is something I learned to leave to the prophets.”

  “What are you talking about?” Kelly cried, spreading out her arms. “Look at me! Of course I’m real!”

  “Every dreamer thinks she’s awake, Kelly-kins.” Daryl pulled away and nudged Nathan. “We need some kind of test to prove it. If this is Kelly’s dream, we would need a question only the awake Kelly would know.”

  “What?” Kelly crossed her arms tightly. “How could you possibly ask me something my sleeping self wouldn’t know?”

  “What difference does it make?” Francesca asked. “If we take her with us, and she’s not real, she’ll just vanish, right?”

  “And then we’ll have to come back and hunt for Kelly again. We can’t waste time.” Nathan looked around at each face. With furrowed brows and narrowed eyes, everyone seemed stumped, even his father. How could they come up with a question that would work? The sleeping Kelly would know everything, except . . . He snapped his fingers. “I’ve got it.”

  Kelly tapped her foot, her arms still crossed. Although she sniffed back a sob, she seemed to be getting angrier by the minute. “Go ahead,” she grumbled. “Ask me your question.”

  Nathan pointed at the vine’s exit point. “If you really opened that hole, then you might have seen something I left on the inside wall.”

  Kelly held up her hand. A heart-shaped bloodstain covered her palm. “It was still wet.” She crossed her arms again. “I was hoping it was for me.”

  His heart ready to explode, Nathan rushed to her and wrapped her in his arms, careful to keep the candle flame away from her clothes. She, however, kept her arms locked tightly against her chest. “I’m sorry, Kelly, but if you only knew. I’ve been fooled by so many dreams. I even saw you playing piano, and I wanted to hug you, but I knew it was a dream that time, because these pixie things were flying all around.”

  Her arms loosened, but her voice sounded aloof. “They looked like my mother.”

  “They did, and her dress was kind of . . . well . . .”

  One hand slid around his back. “That was my dress, the one I told you about. I wore it too many times.”

  “That’s history. You burned it. It’s gone forever.”

  “What else did you see?” she asked.

  “I saw you play the piano, and . . . I heard your song.”

  Now both arms slid around his torso. “All of it?”

  Nathan took a deep breath. Her embrace felt warm and wonderful, but this couldn’t go on. He pulled back and held her hand. “Look, we’ll have to talk about your song later. We have three worlds to save.”

  Closing her eyes tightly, she nodded. Her voice cracked, almost squeaking. “Whatever you say, Nathan.”

  After a few seconds of silence, Daryl clapped her hands. “So, now that we’re deep in the heart of Awkward City, let’s figure out how to escape.”

  14

  MICTAR RETURNS

  Nathan swallowed the most painful lump in history. He needed to talk it out with Kelly, but there wasn’t enough time. “So, Dad, you have a plan?”

  “We have two choices. Either get to the top of Sarah’s Womb and play the violin strings, or get to the GPS coordinates on each Earth and play the music that will heal the wounds from there.”

  “What music? ‘Foundation’s Key’?”

  “Exactly. I’m glad you figured that out.”

  Nathan gave him a doubtful look. “And coordinate them from three places at once? How can we do that? We’re running out of time.”

  “You’re right. We should go with the Sarah option.”

  Daryl shivered. “With all those stalkers around? I kicked a few of their butts into the hole, but it won’t be easy to sneak up on them again.”

  A new voice broke in. “Are you forgetting the third option?”

  Nathan clenched his fist. He didn’t have to look for the source. It was definitely Patar.

  The tall, gaunt man walked into view and stepped close to Nathan, towering over him. “Must I remind you again?”

  Solomon stepped between them and shoved Patar backwards. “Have you been telling my son to kill the supplicants? Didn’t I tell you that wasn’t an option?”

  Patar scowled and pointed at Nathan. “Your own wife lives because your son killed Scarlet and cast her into the womb. He slowed interfinity’s progress, thereby giving billions of souls another chance. Has he not told you of his heroic deed?”

  Solomon’s eyes shifted toward Nathan, but only for a split second. “I will tell you again, we will save the worlds with the musical harmony that God has ordered in the cosmos, the breath of God as my wife calls it, not by shedding innocent blood.”

  A thin smile spread across Patar’s face. “Sometimes, Solomon Shepherd, the willing sacrifice of an innocent lamb is the only way to save the world. The true breath of God has already proven that.”

  “I can’t argue with that.” Solomon took in a slow breath, then let it out, shaking his head. “You heard our plans. If you have something to add, then let’s hear it. Otherwise, I think you should just move along.”

  “Since Mictar is busying himself with trying to find this girl,” Patar said, nodding toward Kelly, “I can provide a safe path to the great violin, but only if she stays away. Mictar has tasted her life force, and now that she has escaped from the Womb, he will track her down.”

  Solomon looked at Kelly, then at Nathan. The perplexity in his face spoke volumes.

  “You and Mom should go,” Nathan said. “Daryl and Kelly and I will figure out the GPS coordinates and get that started. If you can buy us some time by playing the violin, maybe we can get it done.”

  “I will take you three back to the observatory,” Amber added. “From there you can transport to any real world. Once you locate the proper foundation point, perhaps my beloved will play at the Earth Yellow site.”

  Solomon looked at his wife. “Do you think we can play it?” She nodded. “We really need a bow, but pizzicato will have to do.”

  “Maybe it’ll be enough to give Nathan time.” Solomon stuffed his hands into his pockets, turning his head slowly and pausing as he looked at each of his fellow dream-world travelers. “Okay. We’ll go.”

  “Remember,” Patar said, pointing at Kelly, “do not doubt my prophecy. Mictar is a dream stalker. If you sleep, you open a door by which he may find you.”

  Nathan clenched his fis
t again. He wanted to say, “And he’ll be sorry,” but he just couldn’t spit it out. Finally, he heaved a sigh and said, “We’ll try to be ready for him.”

  “So be it.” Patar leaned close to Amber as if to whisper, but his voice stayed loud enough for everyone to hear. “I will show the observatory personnel how to open their mirror to my world, and when I go, I likely will not see you again until this crisis is over, and perhaps not even then.”

  She nodded. “I understand.” A hint of a tear welled in her eye. “I am ready to give my life if need be, but I prefer to stay and help my beloved.”

  “Of course you do. We shall see what transpires.”

  Amber’s chin quivered. “I had no opportunity to say goodbye to Abodah. I am very sorry for your loss.”

  “I am grateful for your compassion,” Patar said, patting her shoulder. “Her sacrifice will not go unnoticed by the one who watches every fallen sparrow.”

  Amber turned and abruptly strode into the darkness, lifting her candle once again. “Come,” she called. “Our entry point into the observatory is this way.”

  “Wait just a second!” Nathan called. “I have to say goodbye.”

  Amber waited, firming her lips as if holding back her emotions.

  While still holding a candle, Nathan hugged his mother.

  “This time,” he whispered, “I’m going to roll away that stone.

  Nothing will stop the flow.”

  She shook as she returned the embrace. “I have seen your gift from afar. I hope I get to see it played out, face-to-face.”

  “Someday, even if it’s in heaven, you will.” Nathan pulled back and strode into his father’s waiting arms. “Dad,” Nathan said, gripping his father’s wrist. “I . . .” He bit his lip hard. There was no way he could say what was on his mind without losing control, so he just blurted it out. “I love you, Dad. I’m so proud to be your son. Thank you for teaching me courage and — ” He glanced at Kelly but couldn’t keep his gaze on her for more than a split second. “And love. I think I know what I have to do to complete your training.” He nodded at his mother. “Mom can fill you in.”