Descent into Darkness (Crystal Sphere Book 1)

by Ingrid Fry

  My arms were straight at my sides. The radiant heat was at maximum degrees. If I reached out with my little finger, it would help me judge the distance. I made a poor imitation of Mister Spock’s Vulcan salute and stretched out my pinky finger. A thousand volts of electricity coursed through my body as another pinky finger brushed across the top of mine and hooked around it.

  Christ! I’ve got her little finger. Holy hell, my body’s on fire. I’m never letting you go. One finger! One fucking finger can do this?

  I gasped from the energy of the touch. Two little fingers gripped tight in the most erotic pinkie swear ever to take place in the history of the universe.[26]

  Chapter 27: The Three Musketeers

  I could see a hint of daylight coming through a crack in the blinds, glowing with tinges of pink and orange. With a final squeeze, Ashley unhooked my little finger.

  ‘I’m going to the gym for a workout and swim,’ he whispered.

  ‘Want me to come?’ Jason mumbled.

  ‘Nah, I’m good. You stay here with Maggie. I won’t be long.’

  ‘No worries, mate. Don’t forget to take a gun.’

  ‘Got it already.’ He displayed the pistol. ‘Never left my hand all night.’

  Crikey! In one hand, he’d had his finger wrapped around the trigger of a gun, and with the other hand, he’d had a finger wrapped around mine. Lucky he knew his left from his right. One wrong squeeze and we could’ve been history.

  As I lay there, my level of sexual tension had moved into the red zone. Alarm bells were sounding. Every nerve ending tingled. I needed to go to the gym too, otherwise I’d explode. Jason caressed my body and I jumped violently, feeling a rush of energy discharge.

  ‘Wow, you’re sensitive.’ He nuzzled my ear.

  Every sound, every touch was heightened, magnified. I moaned with the unbearable intensity of it. He lay on his side next to me and kissed my eyelids, my nose, my lips. He whispered into my ear and squeezed my breasts, tugging at my nipples. My body contracted involuntarily and I cried out with delight.

  ‘My God, you’re on fire.’ Jason gave a sharp intake of breath as he slid his hand between my legs. He moved on top of me, held my face, kissed me. ‘I want you now.’

  I couldn’t do it. It was wrong. The feeling wasn’t for Jason. It was for Ashley. It would be like cheating. It was cheating. I’d cheated with Ashley in a pinky swear, and this buildup of sexual energy was for him, not Jason. It wasn’t Jason’s to take, but what should I do?

  My mind spun out of control. I was a basket case. This was nuts. Ashley said people got too hung up on monogamy, but monogamy was peaceful, tender, respectful, dutiful, caring—boring sometimes, sure—but not crazy making like this.

  ‘Where’ve you gone? You’ve zoned out on me.’

  ‘Sorry.’ I kissed him gently. ‘I don’t feel so good. I need a shower.’

  ‘Is it something I did?’ His expression was worried.

  ‘No, not at all. I’m out of sorts. I’ve lost my sorts. A shower will help. And breakfast. I’m fine to use the bathroom.’

  ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea given what happened in there. I’ll take you to the health club, and I’ll have one as well.’

  ‘Thanks. I’m sorry.’

  ‘I’m sorry too. I wish I could take you away; we need time to reconnect. We need to get “us” back.’

  ‘That would be lovely. We need to, don’t we?’

  ‘Sure do,’ he said.

  ‘But, Jason, we can’t. We’ve got to devise a plan to tackle this nightmare.’

  He sighed, and his eyes seemed to droop. His mouth was tight and turned down, his gaze unfocused. ‘Yup.’

  I’d never seen him look so sad.

  * * * * *

  We made our way to the health club. It was early and there was hardly anyone around.

  Through the glass doors of the gym, I saw Ashley running on a treadmill. The speed was dialed to max, and he moved like a machine, focused straight ahead, as though chasing some distant prey. His legs pounded the belt and his arms swung like pendulums as he thundered relentlessly on. His body dripped and glistened with sweat.

  ‘Crikey, look at him go,’ Jason said. ‘He’s running like his life depends on it.’

  We entered and headed towards the showers, not wanting to interrupt, but he slowed his speed to a walk and acknowledged us with a wave.

  ‘Is that a gun in your pocket or are you pleased to see me?’ Jason asked him.

  ‘It’s gun, mate.’

  And so it was—the outline obvious through his shorts.

  ‘Be careful it doesn’t go off in there,’ I said.

  He laughed. ‘Which apparatus are you talking about?’

  I’d walked right into that one. I felt myself blush. Jason rolled his eyes.

  Ashley brushed back the hair from his face. ‘You guys going to work out?’

  ‘Just shower and a big breakfast,’ Jason said. ‘Come on, Maggie, I’m going to stand guard.’

  ‘You go first, you’re faster than me.’

  ‘Okay, wait here. I’ll be out in a tick.’ He headed off to the men’s change rooms.

  Ashley stopped the treadmill. ‘It was one hell of a night.’ He stepped off, picked up a towel and wiped the treadmill thoroughly. His muscles flexed and gleamed while he worked.

  ‘It sure was.’

  He took another towel and wiped the sweat from his face and body, looking at me all the while.

  I jumped as he gently touched my face. ‘I’ve never felt anything like last night. It was a powerful thing. What’s happened to us? I can’t get it out of my body. I’m still on fire.’

  ‘Me too.’

  ‘You and Jason, you would’ve—’

  ‘No.’

  ‘You’re kidding?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Why the hell not? I would’ve.’

  ‘Maybe so, but for me, it would have been like cheating on you.’

  ‘How do you figure that?’

  ‘The feeling, the energy is for you. It was from you, caused by you and me. It didn’t seem right to release it using Jason. It’s complicated, and it’s doing my head in. So, I have our energy and I’ll hold it, store it and treasure it. It will strengthen me. I know how energy works and there are consequences to its misuse. I know you think I’m weird. You wouldn’t understand.’

  His eyes glistened. ‘I do understand, totally. That, sweetheart, is the nicest thing you could ever say to me. And do. Really, not do, if you get my drift. It’s a gift. You’re so lovely. Weird, but lovely.’ He flashed me a grin, then extended his little finger and joined it with mine.

  Jason appeared. ‘Shower time. What’s with the pinky swear?’

  ‘Two musketeers,’ Ashley said, ‘just waiting for you.’

  As Jason added his little finger to the collection, he started, oh, so slightly. His mouth tightened, and a fleeting expression flickered across his face. His brow furrowed and eyes narrowed slightly.

  It was an expression I couldn’t put my finger on. Did he know?

  ‘The Three Musketeers!’ he said.[27]

  Chapter 28: The Swimming Pool

  ‘Where, except in uncreated light, can the darkness be drowned?’ — C.S. Lewis

  I tried to scream.

  I tried again, but my lungs were full of water.

  Jason was on guard outside the cubicle and I was drowning in the shower.

  My lungs were filled with fire, burning, tearing to shreds. I couldn’t breathe. The tiles were cold on my back as I slid to the floor. A blessed calm descended on my oxygen starved brain. I left my body and hovered above Jason.

  Jason saw my feet and legs on the floor under the gap of the cubicle door. ‘Christ!’ He pushed the door. ‘Damn your security paranoia! It’s fucking locked!’ He gripped the top of the door, opened it with a swift kick, and grabbed my shoulders and shook me. ‘Maggie! Can you hear me?’ He felt for a pulse on my neck and listened for breathing. He raked his hair—so
mething he did during brain overload—and said, ‘I’m so sorry, Maggie,’ and slapped me hard across the face.

  ‘Aggghh!’ I gasped as I crashed back into my body.

  ‘Mags, I’m so—’

  ‘It’s Ashley,’ I screamed. ‘He’s drowning. Go! Go now!’

  Jason didn’t stop to ask how, why or where. He leapt to his feet and ran five steps, before coming back to throw a robe around me and drag me with him.

  We raced through the gym and slammed through the double doors to the swimming pool, shattering the glass in the small windows. Two bodies floated face down in the blood streaked water of the pool.

  Where was the pool guy when we needed him? Probably dead.

  Jason took a run and shot into the pool, a perfect forward pike which brought him right next to Ashley.

  He held Ashley’s bicep, flipped him over and swam him back to the side of the pool.

  I stood on the edge, ready to help. ‘What about the other guy?’

  ‘Leave him!’ Jason said.

  ‘We can’t leave him! He could be the pool guy for all we know.’ I jumped into the water and swam towards the body.

  ‘Maggie! For Christ’s sake, get out of the pool!’ Jason shouted, as he struggled to lift Ashley from the water.

  I reached the body and it imploded into a patch of inky black sludge, glistening like an oil slick on the water. Thin black tendrils stretched out from the black sludge, circling out and around, then folding back in, as it started to spin.

  ‘Guess that’s not the pool guy, or maybe it was,’ I muttered, frantically trying to swim away. I didn’t even get my basic Australian swimming certificate, so ‘trying’ to swim away was the optimal word. I could get by in a normal pool, but this was like swimming against jets in a spa pool. I wasn’t getting anywhere.

  The water gurgled as it flowed into a slow-moving whirlpool. The vortex was getting stronger, judging by the assorted towels and floatation devices making their own way to the edge of the pool. If I didn’t pull my finger out, I’d be sucked in along with them.

  Jason hauled Ashley’s limp, bleeding body from the water and checked his pulse and breathing. There obviously wasn’t any, as he started compressing Ashley’s sternum, both hands on his chest, arms straight, pumping vigorously. He counted, ‘One, two, three, four ...’

  It was at count twenty I realised I was in deep shit.

  Jason could only save one person at a time. The strength of the whirlpool was such that if he came to rescue me we would both die, and then so would Ashley. There would be zero musketeers.

  ‘Twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven ...’ Jason suddenly realised I was no closer to the edge. ‘Christ! You’re still in there!’ His face filled with horror at the dawning realisation of our predicament. ‘Thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three ...’ He pushed Ashley onto his side and I knew he was coming for me.

  My plan was two musketeers, not zero, so I lifted my arms in the air and shouted, ‘I love you!’ and stopped swimming.

  The current snatched me in its arms and spun me around in a dance of death. It was like a ride at Wet ‘n’ Wild, but with this outcome, you’d seriously want your money back. The towels and floatation devices had already exited this universe, and the heavier weight items, like chairs and lounges were screeching their way across the tiles towards the pool.

  Where would I end up? Would I be so much dust, or transmogrify into another universe? Given the nature of this entity, I didn’t hold out much hope it would be a high frequency, positive energy environment. It would probably be a dead orgone energy universe, and trust me, that wouldn’t be a pleasant place to hang out. Unless of course you were a demon, or some other badass entity.

  I was a kind person; maybe my energy would make some small contribution to neutralising this bastard. I’d really miss my two musketeers and Boo.

  The merry-go-round vortex was crazy fast, making me giddy and sick. A pole came straight for my head.

  ‘Grab the pole! Grab it, Maggie!’ Jason stood at the edge of the pool holding out a pole. I reached and missed, tried again, missed, tried again. The whirlpool held me trapped, spinning round at speed. Each pass brought me closer to the centre of the vortex. The deafening noise shattered my ears, pieces of furniture sailed past, the room around me blurred to obscurity. Jason appeared and disappeared as he stood reaching out to me. I was so dizzy I could barely see. Tenth time around, my hand connected to something. Gripping it tightly, I prayed it wasn’t a chair heading into the vortex. I was dragged sideways through the whirlpool, and the spinning stopped as Jason grabbed my arm and hauled me out of the water.

  ‘Get back in the shower room and stay there.’ He pushed me towards the door and ran back to Ashley who’d been sucked to the edge of the pool and was now teetering on the brink of it.

  He dragged Ashley underneath the stainless-steel pool ladder and squatted on top of him. Jason tucked his own legs under the steel supports and recommenced CPR. He obviously thought he couldn’t lose another second, so wedged himself in, right at the edge of the pool.

  The water was roaring, spinning and churning into the vortex. It was like watching a gigantic bathtub empty out. Stuff was flying everywhere. A chair narrowly missed Jason’s head. He was still counting.

  I couldn’t stand there not helping, so I collected some thick rubber exercise tubing from the gym and tied it around my waist, securing it with the clips. I found a long metal pole with a hook at each end and secured one end to a railing outside the door. Inching to the end of the pole, I hooked myself onto it.

  This brought me right next to Jason, who looked up at me in horror.

  I’m not sure if it was the sight of a naked woman wrapped in orange bungee flapping at the end of a long pole that upset him, or the fact I’d interrupted his counting.

  He just shook his head and kept desperately pumping. Ashley’s face was pale and unresponsive. I reached out to Ashley with my mind.

  ‘Jason, let me! I know CPR. You need a break,’ I shouted over the roaring of the whirlpool. He nodded and grabbed the pole with one hand and my bungee cords with the other, as I pumped steadily and determinedly on Ashley’s chest.

  The room sounded like the inside of a hurricane, so it was impossible to check for breathing. I couldn’t feel a pulse. I started again, one hand over the other, pumping his chest for all I was worth. The noise and the chaos receded in my mind, until it was only Ashley and me.

  ‘Come back, you bastard.’

  Come back! Come back! Come back!

  I pumped out the rhythm on his chest, screaming out in my mind for him.

  But it was no good. He was dead, gone.

  I cried and bent over his lifeless face, pinched his nostrils closed and placed my mouth over his. My tears splashed onto his cheeks.

  His lips were dry and his mouth cold. I breathed into his lungs and watched his chest rise and fall. Drawing on the energy we’d created, the energy I’d earlier stored for him, for us, I breathed it back into him.

  ‘I love you,’ I whispered, as Jason pulled me away. There was a loud thunk as the black hole slammed shut. The swimming pool was empty and the surrounds were bare. The room was quiet.

  Jason dragged Ashley’s bleeding body out from between the pool steps and started CPR again. He stopped to check Ashley’s pulse and breathing. I knew by the look on Jason’s face there was nothing. Jason put his mouth over Ashley’s and breathed into him. Ashley’s chest rose and fell. His body convulsed violently. A flood of water abruptly gushed from his mouth.

  Jason quickly rolled him onto his side as the torrent continued, pooling around Ashley’s body.

  Ashley coughed, spluttered and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He glared at Jason and said, ‘Crikey, I know you love me mate, but Jesus!’

  Footsteps sounded out behind us as a pool attendant rushed in. He stood, hands on head, trying to fathom why someone was administering CPR to a half-drowned person next to an empty swimming pool.

&
nbsp; Ashley dragged himself on all fours and vomited a flood of water. And then another. He paused for a while, head down, face dripping, before turning and sitting on the floor. He pushed wet hair off his face and glanced up at us. His body was streaked with blood, and he had flecks of foam around his mouth. He looked like a train wreck.

  ‘Thank you,’ he croaked. ‘I owe you big time.’

  ‘You’re bleeding.’ I searched around for something to use to stem the blood flowing from a gash on his upper arm.

  Ashley appraised my stark-naked body adorned with orange bungees. ‘What on earth? Cover up, for God’s sake.’

  The pool attendant raced away and came back with robes, towels and a first aid kit. ‘Excuse me, Miss,’ he said, holding out a robe and looking the other way.

  ‘I’ll do it.’ Jason took the robe and draped it around me before moving us to one side for some privacy and to remove the bungee cords. He stared into my eyes wanting to say something, then simply gave a half smile and tied my robe.

  The pool guy tended to Ashley’s wounds, and my heart lifted as colour returned to Ashley’s face.

  ‘We need to get you to the hospital straight away,’ I said.

  ‘I’m fine.’

  ‘No, you don’t understand. You’re at risk of secondary drowning. You could still die. It happens all the time. You might seem fine but you can die soon after from leftover water and chemicals in your lungs. You could also have neurological damage.’

  ‘I’m fine. You worry too much.’

  ‘She worries because her best friend’s son died from secondary drowning,’ Jason said.

  Ashley raised his chin in defiance. ‘I’m sorry. But I feel fine and I’m not going to hospital. End of story.’

  ‘You are a stupid, stubborn, silly man, Ashley Beringer. I’ll be keeping an eagle eye on you then.’