“Like I said …” Nathan folded his arms across his chest. “We will soon learn who the fool is.”
“I see.” Mictar set the mirror on the floor and backed away, matching Nathan's distance from its edge. “Let the battle begin.”
As Mictar glared at him, Nathan tried to hide a nervous swallow. He had no idea what the mirror would do, so he really wasn't bluffing at all. He just trusted that the plan came to his mind because of Scarlet, so maybe she had something up her sleeve. Then again, maybe not. She was dead and gone. His idea might be nothing but vain hope in a phantom. Still, no matter what the mirror did, at least his mom and the others were getting more time to escape. He cleared his throat and tried to summon an icy stare. “What are the rules?”
“Very simple. I believe the mirror is a window that is energized by spiritual power, and the catalyst is music. The dark energy I can create will make the mirror into a portal through which I can reach and gather all the life energy I want. I will feed on hundreds of eyes and build the Lucifer machine without the need of transforming the supplicants' energy or even traveling to your worlds. It is now clear to me that the power called Quattro was actually Scarlet using her sorcery through that dimensional corridor.” He pointed at the mirror. “The danger is that if Scarlet's spirit still resides within, and I cannot reach her body, her power would likely kill me. But if I shattered the mirror, I would destroy her soul and lose a powerful device for my future plans.
“Now, the choice is up to you. If you pick it up, my people will attack you. If Scarlet is in the mirror, she will come to your defense, and you can easily defeat them and escape. If she is not there, my people will kill you. On the other hand, if you leave the mirror with me, I will let you walk out of here to join your friends. If Scarlet is not within, I will kill hundreds, perhaps thousands of people with it. If she is, then she will destroy me, my brother will help you heal the wounds, and all your problems will be over.”
Nathan stared at the mirror. What should he do? Scarlet was within him now, wasn't she? So if he took the mirror, the stalkers would kill him, and if he left it behind, Mictar would use it to murder countless people. So there really wasn't any choice. He would just have to trust Scarlet. “Let me get this straight. You're saying I can do whatever I want with the mirror, right?”
“Correct. Make your choice now. I don't have time for dawdling.”
Nathan walked straight to the mirror, picked it up, and charged toward Mictar. He reared back and swung it at the stalker's face as hard as he could. The edge caught Mictar square in the cheek, cut through his nose, and came out the other side. With a return swing, Nathan bashed Mictar in the head with the flat of the mirror, smashing the glass into hundreds of sparkling shards.
He kicked some of the shards at Mictar. “How's that for a battle of wits?”
Bleeding profusely, Mictar toppled over and landed face first on the floor. Instantly, the ear-crushing sound of sonic paralyzers filled the air.
Nathan cringed. He had to fight the ear-splitting pain, but how? Could Scarlet help him?
A stream of words ran through his mind, song lyrics. Then a shout punctuated the final line. Run! Nathan tensed his muscles and sprinted toward the line of stalkers. He sang the lyrics, but Scarlet's voice burst from his throat.
Begone you stalkers of the night!
And flee the wrath that gives you flight.
The white-haired soldiers scattered, some dropping their rods as they dashed into the mist. Nathan zoomed out the exit door, cut through the cloudbank, and burst into the open on the glassy walkway between rising columns of mist.
Puffing as he ran, he smiled. Even without the mirror in his grasp, Scarlet had again been his supplicant.
Well ahead, something came into sight, four human shapes, fuzzy in the vapor-rich air. One carried a load, obviously Cerulean with Abodah draped over his arms. Soon, Kelly's frame came into view, staring at a watch on her wrist.
“I'm late,” he said, breathing heavily as he came to a stop. “I'm sorry.”
She took his hand. “I'm just glad you made it.” A sad smile emerged as she added, “My beloved.”
He gazed at their hands. She held only the ends of his fingers, keeping her grip away from the worst part of his wounds. Now it seemed as if he could read her mind. The touch communicated more than a mere welcome; she was sad about Scarlet's death, too. The “beloved” comment wasn't a romantic overture at all; Kelly was telling him that she would be his supplicant if she were able. She would do whatever it took to save his life, even at the cost of her own.
“Did you give him the mirror?” his mother asked.
He tried to smile, but the effort was just too much. “I gave it to him. I don't think he'll be bothering us anytime soon.”
The expressions on his mother's and Kelly's faces told him that they understood well enough.
Cerulean shifted Abodah higher. “What do we do with our friend?”
“Is she dead?” Nathan asked.
The blue-eyed supplicant nodded sadly. “A traitor to her people, yet a savior for worlds she has never seen.”
“I will take her,” a new voice said.
Nathan spun toward the sound. It came from behind the misty wall in the direction opposite the stalkers' chamber. A tall white-haired man strode out from the cloud — Patar, his face grimmer than usual. As he approached, he extended his arms, making a cradle. “I can see my brother's handiwork,” he said, his eyes fiery red. “Yet it seems that you have escaped his wrath.”
As Cerulean passed Abodah's body to Patar, a dozen conflicting thoughts rushed through Nathan's brain—anger, sadness, revenge, bitterness, sympathy— all pushing through to be spoken, but, although this was the same man who insisted that he kill Scarlet, he couldn't bear to say anything harsh. As the scent of roses again invigorated his mind, he nodded at Patar. “You have lost a mate. I have lost a beloved friend. I pray that their sacrifices will never be forgotten by the worlds they died to rescue.”
“Well spoken, son of Solomon.” A hint of wetness glinted in Patar's eyes. “You likely have little time to spare. Since the portal window is not set to a specific destination, you will need to be anointed. Then, you must go at once.”
Cerulean leaned over the edge of the walkway on the opposite side of the portal chasm and scooped mist into his cupped hands. He straightened and extended his arms toward Nathan. “This will mark you for travel to Earth Blue,” Cerulean said.
Nathan dipped his finger into the mist and dabbed his forehead with the wetness. When everyone had been anointed, he grasped his mother's hand, then Kelly's, ignoring the pain. Turning back to Patar, he said, “Will I see you again?”
“It depends. You have seen for yourself the results of my counsel. You know what I expect you to do.”
Nathan looked at the two remaining supplicants. Amber, every bit as lovely and mysterious as Scarlet, caught his gaze. She folded her hands in front of her waist and gave him a smile that could melt the coldest heart. Cerulean's sapphire eyes sparkled. Somehow they revealed his spirit— as deep as Sarah's Womb, as honest as Scarlet's songs, and as selfless as Abodah's life-giving sacrifice.
Turning back to Patar, Nathan gave him a nod. “Yeah. I know what you expect. But I'm going to do everything I can to find another way.”
“Then you will likely see me again, son of Solomon.” Without another word, Patar turned and walked away in the direction he had come.
As the tall stalker blended into the mist, a gentle pull turned Nathan toward his mother. She raised his hand to her lips. Then, with a gentle kiss, she bathed his knuckles with her warm, moist breath. “There is a new song in your heart, my son. I'm looking forward to seeing it lived out in our next journey.”
Holding a crippled violin and a bow with several hairs flying loose, she gazed at him, her raven locks a frizzy mop, her skin pale and smudged, and her eyes sparkling with love. She no longer looked like the greatest violinist in the world. For now, the virtuoso perfo
rmer had left the stage, and his loving mother had joined him in the audience.
He shifted his gaze to Kelly. With blood staining most of the front of her sweatshirt, obscuring the fierce cardinal logo across her chest, she was the image of the ultimate sacrificial lamb, and at the same time, a lion with a ferocious bite. Yet she was even more than that. In the beauty of undying, unquestioned love, she was like Scarlet in so many ways. Even better.
Now trembling, he edged toward the precipice, still holding his mother's and Kelly's hands. “Let's go.”
The trio leaped into the void. As Nathan looked back, Cerulean and Amber followed. Darkness swallowed his vision, but soon a blue path formed, a ribbon of light that guided their fall. The light split into hundreds of colors and painted a familiar scene, his bedroom on Earth Blue, still strewn with mattress padding and pieces of the broken desk. His mother and Kelly materialized at his side, then Cerulean and Amber.
Cerulean's body carried a thin, blue aura, as though he were coated with phosphorescent paint. Amber's complexion, however, seemed normal for a fair-skinned blonde, though her hair and eyes glowed as if bathed in golden sunlight.
The matrix of mirrors still covered the wall, reflecting everyone in the room. Kelly shuffled toward it. Her injured shoulder drooped as she blinked at the images of three weary interdimensional travelers and two radiant supplicants. “What now?” she asked.
Nathan looked at Amber. “How do we get to the Earth Yellow dreamlands?”
The petite girl glided forward. Her smooth steps carried her body like a princess, though her simple garments labeled her a pauper. “First we must get to the people for whom I supplicate. Then we will have to locate a portal viewer there, one that belongs to the Earth Yellow realm.”
“A portal viewer?” Kelly repeated.
Amber touched one of the mirror squares on the wall. “The device you call a Quattro mirror. When we obtain it, I will tell you what we must do, but we will have to find the gifted one born on Earth Yellow. The one for whom I supplicate is accustomed to exploring dreams, so she is ready and able to help us.”
“Do you mean Francesca?” Nathan asked.
Amber glided back to him, smiling as she caressed his mother's cheek. “Yes, my beloved Francesca, the Earth Yellow counterpart of this beautiful lady, is the gifted one.”
Nathan smiled. “We spent quite a bit of time with her, Mom. I didn't know you had so much spunk when you were younger.”
“Spunk?” She laughed. “Maybe I've grown old too fast. I think I need to show my son a little more of my old self.” She delivered a mock punch to his cheek. “If it's spunk you want, it's spunk you'll get, especially since we might have to move heaven and two or three earths to find my husband.”
Nathan winked and pulled out Nathan Blue's cell phone. “We'd better get going.”
“Calling Daryl?” Kelly asked.
“If she's still there.” He read the display. The phone had service, but just barely. With Earth Blue in chaos, they were lucky to get anything, and with Earth Red getting set free from interfinity's grasp, who could tell if they'd ever be able to find a portal that led home? Maybe Daryl would know what had happened while they were gone.
He pushed a speed dial and waited. After two rings a stressed-out voice answered. “Nathan! Where have you been? Do you have any idea what's been going on here?”
“Uh … not really. But we managed to save the world.”
“Not this one, honey. It's snowing in the Congo, a hurricane struck Antarctica, and the Mississippi River is jammed with ice from Minneapolis to New Orleans. We might be getting Earth Yellow's weather, but we're getting it in all the wrong places. And Tony says Earth Yellow is in chaos, too. He —”
“Tell me later. Listen, are you still in touch with Earth Red?”
Daryl groaned. “That's another problem. We have radio telescope contact, but no visual. The frequency has been changing, but it was slow enough for Dr. Gordon and me to keep up with it. Everything's peachy now on Earth Red, but I think we're drifting apart.”
“Is it still possible to get home? Earth Yellow is our first stop, but we have to be sure we can make the jump when we get done.”
Daryl's voice crackled. The connection was fading. “Maybe, but we might need to click Dorothy's ruby slippers together to make it work. Dr. Gordon and I will experiment. We'll try to come up with something by the time you get here.”
“Well, you don't have to worry about Mictar for a while. Scarlet and I kicked his tail back in the misty world, so the local brain trust should have clear sailing. At least you can be glad of that.”
“Glad? Great! Just what I need, Pollyanna, high on testosterone. If you could beam up Mr. Spock instead, I'd appreciate it.”
Nathan grinned. “We don't need a Vulcan to solve the problem. If anyone can figure it out, you can.”
“Thanks, Captain Kirk. Don't forget your buddies back home.”
“You should hear from us soon. Everything happens so fast on Earth Yellow, maybe it'll only be a few minutes for you.”
Nathan slapped the phone closed and looked at his traveling companions. Light from the window shrouded all four in the failing glow of sunset. His mother sat on the mattress with Kelly, stretching back her sweatshirt and peeling away her blood-soaked bandage. The violin and bow lay near their feet, another casualty of their many skirmishes. Cerulean and Amber whispered to one another, their eyes shining brighter than ever before.
Kelly looked up at Nathan, smiling through her wincing face. With her hair in disarray, a gash still marking her brow, and blood splattered from her chin down to her hands, she was a mess … a beautiful mess.
Nathan's lips trembled, but he managed to return her smile.
As he stooped to pick up the violin, the scent of roses again washed over his senses. He leaned close to Kelly, close enough to hear her pain-filled, shallow breaths, and whisper-sang Scarlet's prophetic good-bye.
A day will come when love mature
Will take the hand of one made pure
In everlasting song and dance,
A knight, a lady, sweet romance.
When he finished the song, he touched her bloodstained cheek, still whispering. “How long can your lonely heart wait?”
Kelly laid her hand over his, tears sparkling in her glazed eyes. “As long as it takes, Nathan Shepherd. As long as it takes.”
Read chapter 1 of Nightmare's Edge,
Book 3 in the
Echoes from the Edge series.
1
WAKING UP THE DEAD
Nathan ducked under a low-hanging branch and pushed a dangling python out of the way with his bandaged hand. The snake hissed, startling him for a moment. With its beady eyes and flicking tongue, it seemed so real, as did everything else in this dim jungle.
Yet, Cerulean, the blue-haired, blue-skinned, blue-every-thing young man who marched ahead on the narrow path, paid no attention. After all, if this place was a realm of dreams, even the forest was imaginary. Still, with the thick green foliage of overarching trees darkening their steps in deep shadows, and high humidity dampening Nathan's armpits, every detail painted a three-dimensional portrait that felt as real as it looked.
He pulled off his sweatshirt and tied the sleeves around his waist, looking from side to side. With just a slender candle in Cerulean's grip lighting their way, how could two awake people know how to find another one of their kind in this dark land, especially since the images conjured by frightened sleepers seemed as real as their own skin and clothing?
Nathan wiped his brow and hurried to catch up with Cerulean, Earth Blue's supplicant from the misty world. Keeping his eyes focused straight ahead and the white candle out in front, Cerulean stayed quiet. Nothing seemed to faze him. Earlier, he had ignored the twelve talking chipmunks dressed in purple tuxedos. Nathan thought they had been funny at first, chattering about their political ambitions and the proper way to shave an elephant, but when a six-foot-tall electric razor buzzed into the for
est, Nathan dove out of the way. The razor flew past, chasing a three-headed elephant into the forest. Cerulean merely helped him back to his feet and pressed on.
“So,” Nathan said as they marched past an old man wrapped in golden chains floundering in a quicksand bog, “this dream world really isn't all that dangerous once you get used to it. Why did you insist on just the two of us going? What's the risk?”
Cerulean didn't even blink. “Not everything is a dream. Jack is here somewhere, is he not?”
“True. But what other real things could enter this world? No one else knows how to get here in real life. Even you had to get Kelly to go to sleep to create a portal.”
“When there are no wounds in the cosmic fabric, the dream world can be penetrated only by a supplicant or through a person's sleeping mind. With interfinity at hand, however, and many holes throughout the cross-dimensional plane, I suspect that passages abound.”
“How can you tell the difference?” Nathan asked. “I mean, if that poor guy in the quicksand was real, shouldn't we try to rescue him?”
Cerulean smiled, finally breaking his stoic countenance. “As the elephant has taught you, dreams are as real as you allow them to be. Once you train your mind, you will see through them. The imagined elements in the dreamscape are transparent, and whatever is left is reality.” He nodded at the path. “Come. Kelly's dream has now formed in her mind. Since she sleeps at the edge of a cosmic wound, that will be the best place to look for Jack.”
Nathan followed Cerulean's lively pace. “Whose dream are we in now?” Nathan asked.
“A mixture of several.” As Cerulean passed by a leafy vine that hung from a branch, he gave it a shove, making it swing. “This jungle is a dream setting for all souls who feel lost. They struggle through vines, snakes, quicksand, and many other obstacles of their own making, thus illustrating their lives of desperation. I thought perhaps it would make sense to search here while we waited for Kelly to dream. Even though he is blind, Jack might have found his way here.”