Nathan tightened his jaw. They couldn't wait. No matter how terrible it was to lose Daryl, they had to go on. As bile rushed into his throat, he tried to spit out his thoughts. “We have to get back,” he whispered. “There's no telling when more stalkers might show up.”
Francesca laid a hand on his knee. “Give her a minute. She just lost her best friend.”
“She wasn't my friend!” Kelly threw the shirt at Nathan. “That was Daryl Blue!”
Nathan picked up the shirt, sky blue and spattered with Kelly's blood. As he lifted it closer to his eyes, he choked up.
How could that be? When she stood up on that stairwell and tried to pull the rope, she must have been out of her mind with fear. Then she grabbed Kelly's waist, jumped over the pit, and helped pull him to safety. It must have been like a thousand nightmares at once. A tear welled in his eye and spilled down to his cheek. He whispered to himself, “But she did it anyway.”
Kelly continued, spasms rocking her voice. “She knew … the ‘Moonlight Sonata’ … would bring her … to this place. She must have … followed the stalkers … through the door.”
Francesca looked up at Nathan. “Maybe she found out Daryl Red had to leave, so she decided to take her place.”
He nodded, a grim heaviness weighing down his shoulders. He wanted to kick himself in the teeth. For a moment, finding out the victim was Daryl Blue instead of Daryl Red had been a relief. But what kind of idiot would have a thought like that? He had brushed her away because of her phobia, and now she was gone. She had battled her fears, only to fall prey to the very phantom that had stalked her. And was she still falling now? Was this a bottomless chasm that would keep her plunging, trapping her in a nightmare that would never, ever end?
Nathan bit his lip hard. He had been such a jerk! Daryl lost her life saving an insensitive moron.
After taking a deep breath, he shook his head hard. No time for this. Jerk or no jerk, they had to move. He pulled on Kelly's arm. “I'm sorry. We have to go. I don't know why we don't already have a bunch of stalkers screaming their fool heads off from those stairs.”
Kelly didn't resist. She rose and looked up at the stairwell, her eyes red as she wiped tears from her cheeks. “Who goes first?”
Francesca grasped Nathan's forearms and turned his palms up. “You can't pull anyone with these.”
“Loop the rope around my wrists, and you can tie it around your waist. I can walk away from the ledge and haul you up one at a time. While the first one goes up, the other can help me while down here, then the first one can pull from the top to help with the other one.”
Kelly sniffed and wiped her nose. “And then we'll pull you up together.”
After successfully completing their plan, the three tiptoed up the stairs, Nathan in the lead, followed by Kelly, then Francesca, the violin once again in her grasp. When he reached the transparent door, he peered out. With heavy mist still draping the world above, the outer walls of the domes were barely visible, and no one was in sight.
Francesca replayed the key. Nathan climbed the remaining steps, pushing through the glass until he emerged at the surface. While Kelly and Francesca exited, he looked around. Everything seemed exactly the same. Scarlet and her supplicant counterparts slept, still twitching from time to time, while the rest of the world likely slumbered.
Nathan laid a hand on Scarlet's dome. Could the supplicants be keeping the entire population asleep somehow? Should he try to wake her up to ask, or would that ruin everything?
Kelly tugged on his shirt and pointed at the wall. “Check it out.”
He glanced up. Earth Red, now barely visible through the mist, had changed. Fewer orange and purple stains blemished the surface. Many of the cracks between it and Earths Blue and Yellow had thinned out, and only fine streams of mixed colors ran through the channels.
“I guess we did some good,” Francesca said. “But was it worth it?”
“And that choir from hell will just undo what we did.” Nathan stooped and tried to push his fingers under the dome but couldn't find a gap. He heaved an exasperated sigh. It was too risky to wake Scarlet, but how else could they rescue her?
Kelly crouched at his side. “Let's just ask Scarlet what to do … the safe way.”
“The safe way?”
She lay down on the hard floor. “Let's enter the dream world and see if she'll talk to us there.”
He spread out his hands. “Sleep? Here? You gotta be kidding!”
“Aren't you exhausted? You can probably go to sleep if you try.”
“Go ahead, Nathan,” Francesca said. “I'll keep watch. If anything happens, I'll wake you up.”
As he lay next to Kelly, she took his hand. Her grip hurt his wounded palm, but he didn't pull away. “My mind's racing so fast, I don't see how —”
“Shhhh …” Francesca raised the violin. “Just close your eyes and relax.”
Nathan clenched his eyelids shut. As Francesca began playing, he tried to erase his thoughts, but his mind swam through a dizzying swirl of primary colors, oversized violins, and dark chasms. The sight of Daryl's terrified face shattered the swirl and smoldered across his memory like a sizzling hot brand.
Francesca's tune shifted to the first measures of “Brahms' Lullaby,” the same piece his real mother had used to settle his mind on so many nights. She hummed along, adding words to her soothing voice, now deepening into his mother's lovely contralto. “Nathan, my darling, you are brave and worthy. You are a valiant warrior, and you have fought with all your might, but now you need to rest. Shut out the failures, for they are in the past and cannot be changed. Let the worries of the next battle slip away, for it is in the misty future, a time unknown.”
The sound of Kelly's heavy breathing blended in with the lovely tones and his mother's gentle voice.
“Go now to be with Kelly. She waits for you in the land of dreams. She calls for you there, an entreaty from her heart that someday you will answer in the fullness of love. Yet, for now, take her hand and travel to that world. Your wounds will not suffer at her touch, and the journey of rest will make you strong.”
Francesca's voice faded. The swirling colors again appeared in his mind. They slowed and took shape, creating the form of Kelly reaching for him. He extended his hand. She grabbed it and pulled. Letting himself fall toward the colors, he splashed into the painting and felt himself blending in with the artwork in a seated position.
As his eyes adjusted, he scanned the area. Kelly sat next to him, her arms wrapped around her upright knees. Sitting across from them, Scarlet took the same pose, her bare feet touching Nathan's shoes. The mirrored walls of the supplicant's dome reflected their seated forms.
Scarlet smiled. “Welcome, my love. You were wise to visit me in this manner.”
17
A SCARLET DREAM
Nathan glanced at Kelly, then cleared his throat and met Scarlet's wide-eyed gaze. “Are you and the other supplicants keeping the stalkers busy?”
“Yes. Cerulean, Amber, and I have engaged them in a more direct battle than usual. Even though many of them know that they are really asleep, they will not soon back down from the challenges we have delivered. When it comes to dream stalking, they are a proud people.”
Nathan set his finger on the terrazzo floor. “So, if you're in a battle, how are you here?”
“It is part of the strategy. The stalkers lost three of their warriors, so I excused myself to make it a fair fight, a battle of song taking place in another part of this realm. I hoped all along you would join me, so it works out perfectly.” She rose to her knees and, laying her hands on Nathan's shoulders, kissed him on the cheek. “I know what you have done. Repairing the cosmic fabric is a violent affair, and you took great risks. If not for the ongoing battle in the land of dreams, a cadre of stalkers would have awakened to join the three guards, and they would have killed you all.”
She settled back to her seat. “I also know what you have lost. We realize that the suffering of th
e few is often necessary to end the suffering of the many, but that does little to ease your pain. Even as I heard Kelly's cries from the heart of Sarah's Womb, I felt remorse for asking my beloved to rescue me.”
“Your beloved?” Kelly said. “You mean, Nathan?”
“Yes, and even using these words of endearment seems so selfish to me now. He is my beloved, because I have become his supplicant, his prayer mistress, the one who would give her life for him if need be. Yet, you, Kelly Clark, might well see my words as romantic advances, mere flirtations or tokens of superficial lust. If I have caused you any emotional turmoil, I beg your forgiveness. There is no such intention in my mind.”
Lowering her head, Kelly nodded. For a moment, she said nothing, but she finally whispered, “I forgive you.”
Scarlet scooted closer and leaned her head against Kelly's. “Alas! Even my confession has brought you grief. I sit as a prisoner in a crystal, and even in my sleep I have inflicted pain. I have asked for forgiveness, and I have aroused guilt. I am called to be a rescuer, but I have begged for rescue and have thereby heightened my beloved's danger. Instead of seeking deliverance at his peril, I should rather be content to suffer at his hands.”
Nathan glanced at his blood-smeared palms. “Suffer at my hands? Why?” Even as he spoke, the words of Patar drifted back into his mind. To heal the wounds and bring the crisis to an end, return to the misty world and slay the supplicants. Cast their bodies into the widening abyss, and harmony will be restored. Did Scarlet know?
She pulled back from Kelly. “You have healed many wounds today, Nathan, but until the breach is sealed, the stalkers will be able to continue their assault with their machine.” Her countenance turned grim. “I take it that you have not seen Lucifer yet.”
“Mictar said something about it, and so did Cerulean. Is that the name of the machine?”
She nodded. “It transforms energy into a force that degrades the dark matter in the cosmos and tears apart the fabric that separates the dimensions. The stalkers use me and my fellow supplicants to transform our harmonic prayers into dissonance, dark energy that will feed their destructive machine. Yet, how can I cease praying for my beloved just because someone uses my good for his evil purposes?”
“How long has this been going on?” Kelly asked.
“Mictar has been feeding and testing Lucifer for centuries, always looking for a breach in the barrier between this world and the three earths. He finally was able to penetrate a small rift and complete his plan.”
Kelly's face turned pale. “Why hasn't he used the machine already?”
“He needs a catalyst, the purest of energies, the gift of light and life.”
As memories of Mictar's electrified hand returned, Nathan shuddered. “People's eyes?”
“Not the eyes themselves. They are but a spiritual channel to the soul. He absorbs the essence of light and life through the eyes, but the process destroys them. When he returns to this realm, he will feed Lucifer with the stolen energy, but he needs a special catalyst to create the final chain reaction that could very well complete the process we call interfinity.”
“But he had a chance to steal my mother's life essence, and he didn't. He kept her alive to learn the secret of Quattro.”
A loving smile emerged on Scarlet's face. “A demonstration of his one weakness, my darling — hunger for power. He doesn't know that I help you through the mirror. He only knows that it has power that has thwarted his efforts, and he wants it. It hasn't occurred to him that the supplicants would aid people with no thought of reward. He has no concept of a selfless act, so he likely believes the mirror you have been carrying has power in and of itself. Still, I wonder if he yet had a plan for your mother. With his lust for life energy, I cannot understand how he resisted taking such a powerful force as hers.”
“What would happen if he got hold of one of the mirrors?” Kelly asked.
Scarlet's smile wilted. “If he were to handle one of the mirrors a gifted one has used, he would be able to see a supplicant through it and learn the power behind Quattro. If Nathan of Earth Red was the last to use it, the mirror would maintain an energy channel directly to me. Mictar would be able to use his own power to reach into it and kill me. I would not be able to defend myself.”
“If he wanted to kill you,” Nathan said, “why hasn't he done it already? You're just sitting here under this dome. Couldn't he reach you whenever he wanted?”
“If he were to physically attack me, he knows that I would be more than his match. You see, the stalkers did not put me here to keep me from escaping the misty world.” Scarlet gave him a sly wink. “They put me here to protect themselves.”
Nathan raised his eyebrows. “To protect themselves?”
“Yes, my love. Listen and learn.” Scarlet lifted her gaze toward the ceiling and hummed. Then, as her hum grew louder, she formed soft words that blended into her tune as perfectly as a fragrance in a gentle breeze.
To supplicate, meditate, ruminate,
'Tis a cut by knife, a lonely life, filled with strife.
I can never be a mother; I can never be a wife.
I can only be a servant whose heart with love is rife.
But in my supplications, in songs for precious few,
I bare Shekhinah glory, and pass it on to you.
At that point, a sudden radiance flashed. Scarlet's body brightened, the purest white light pouring from her skin, eyes, and hair. As she raised her hands, the light spread throughout the dome and covered Nathan with sparkles that tickled his skin.
Scarlet continued her song, beginning the tune again.
To activate, animate, initiate,
A kingly heir, the faith you wear, a life of prayer,
You must never fear the darkness, you must never breed despair.
You must lift your hand toward heaven and give up all your care.
And in your supplications to the king in whom you trust,
You take this glory in your hands and rise up from the dust.
The radiance began to fade. Scarlet's song reverted to humming with a few soft words sprinkled in.
“Never doubt … Never fear … Never give in … I am always near.”
When the light finally dimmed, Scarlet's lips formed a gentle smile. “The stalkers know that we are more powerful than they, so they used deception to lure us into a trap. The dome contains my energy and prevents me from harming them and them from harming me. But if Mictar learns about the mirror's path to my heart, he can absorb my power and kill me.”
“And feed Lucifer,” Nathan said.
“And that is a purpose we must stop at all costs. As I said before, the suffering of the few is often necessary to stop the suffering of the many, so it would be better for all if you were to kill us and end the madness of the stalkers. Yet, if Mictar is the one who takes my heart, he will gain so much energy, he will likely become so powerful that no one can stop him.”
She unfastened the top button on the front of her dress. “Here. Let me show you.”
“Wait.” Nathan held up his hand. “Don't do that. I don't need to see —”
“See what, Nathan?” She moved her fingers to the second button but left it fastened. “Surely you don't think I am making romantic advances, do you?”
“Uh … well … I'm not sure what I was thinking. It's just that I shouldn't look at—”
“My heart?” Sadness wilted her expression. “Nathan, if you are to defeat the stalkers, you must recognize that you are in a prison of your own making. Just as surely as I sit in a dome of glass, you have constructed walls round about you. You think you are heeding your father's will, yet you are following edicts chiseled in stone rather than the love written on his heart. If you will defeat the stalkers, you must learn this soon, for a time will come when you will face a far more daunting obstacle than your sense of propriety regarding what lies behind my buttons, and you will need my heart to overcome it.” She pulled her lapels apart, popping the buttons loose. Unde
rneath, a void appeared— no skin, bones, or arteries, just a red heart floating in the midst of darkness, throbbing faster every second. “You see, Nathan, there is nothing impure in my actions, for a heart of love is all I really am.”
As if powered by her inner light, a red glow pulsed from her skin with every beat of her heart. “I am called to die, Nathan. I should never have tempted you to think otherwise.”
Nathan could barely breathe. His own heart beat exactly in time with hers, and so hard it seemed to be pushing up into his throat. He glanced at Kelly. She also seemed transfixed by the sight. After forcing in some air, he managed to talk without squeaking. “There has to be a way to save the world and you with it.”
“There is.” She pulled his hand into the void. “Take hold of my heart, Nathan, for it is the only way to absorb the energy you will need.”
Nathan gasped. Again, he could barely breathe. His entire body shaking, he spat out, “You … you mean … grab it?”
She kept a firm grip on his wrist. “Yes, Nathan. Feel the rhythm that drives the music within and fuels the eternal song that lifts psalms for deliverance for your sake and for the sake of those you love.”
As he wrapped his fingers around her heart, hot flashes stormed through his body. Yet, the heat didn't come from within his own body; it streamed directly from hers. While the warm organ throbbed in his grip, music flowed as well. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of songs permeated his mind all at once, arias with words he couldn't understand, yet so lovely they brought tears to his eyes.
One recognizable phrase burned in his mind, “Bound forever, God I feel it, sealed with fire to the one I love. Now even in the darkest of places, I will be ready to hear your call.”
Still keeping her hand on his wrist, she drew to within inches of his face and whispered, “This is only a dream, but you will remember this touch forever. When we finally meet in reality, you will know what to do.” She touched her lips to his, then exhaled her sweet-smelling breath into his lungs.