Descent into Darkness (Crystal Sphere Book 1)

by Ingrid Fry

  ‘Right back at you, luv.’

  The pool attendant finished bandaging Ashley and helped him to his feet. Ashley examined his shoulder. ‘Thanks, mate. As good as new.’

  ‘I don’t think you are,’ I said.

  Ashley grinned. ‘Nothing that a good breakfast won’t fix.’[28]

  Chapter 29: Dromeus

  ‘We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.’ — Plato

  After a quick clean up and change of clothes, we headed off for breakfast. It amazed me we even wanted to eat after the emotional and physical trauma of the morning, but our energy reserves were so depleted, we were ready to do some serious damage to the breakfast buffet.

  We sat at the table and surveyed the food laden plates before us.

  Jason examined my choice. ‘Bacon, eggs, hash brown, fried tomatoes and toast. You are so predictable.’

  I crunched away on my hash brown. ‘You should be grateful I am, given everything else isn’t.’

  ‘Too true.’

  ‘As I’ve said before, all this action makes me appreciate my food.’

  Ashley laughed. ‘Jeez, Mags, I hadn’t ever noticed you not appreciating your food.’

  ‘Oh, ha, ha.’ I wrinkled my nose at him. ‘You know what else I appreciate more than anything?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Looking across the table and seeing you two here, with me, alive.’ Tears pricked in my eyes.

  ‘Ditto,’ they said.

  ‘At one stage, I seriously thought there would be zero musketeers.’

  Jason’s mouth was in stern mode. ‘I need to have a word with you later, about a couple of things.’

  ‘Ooh, sounds ominous.’

  ‘What things?’ Ashley was always the sticky beak. ‘Come on, spill the beans. Don’t mind me.’ He flashed me a cheeky grin.

  God, it was good to see his smile again.

  ‘Ash, let me fill you in with what happened from our end,’ Jason said, ‘and then you can enlighten us about what happened to you.’

  I stood. ‘I’m going to get coffee,’ I said. ‘Want some?’

  I received two nods in the affirmative and made a beeline for the barista.

  I returned with a tray carrying two flat whites and one very hot, very strong, long black.

  ‘Did you get it very hot?’

  ‘Yes. As if I didn’t know by now.’

  ‘Miss Maggie, I can’t believe what you did,’ Ashley said. His arms were crossed and his expression was serious as he glared at me from under his eyebrows.

  ‘Why do I get the feeling I’m in trouble? You only call me Miss Maggie when I’ve done something wrong, according to your weird standards anyway.’

  ‘Suicide?’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘That’s what Jason told me. You stopped swimming, gave up, chucked in the towel, let it take you. That would be classed as suicide, even by my weird standards, Miss Maggie.’

  I didn’t like how he described my actions, and I was upset to think Jason perceived it that way.

  What a pair of scumbags to lay this on me after all we’d been through. I couldn’t believe it. I wished I was back in the morgue where I could tuck myself away in a locker, shut the door and never come out, except maybe for someone decent who had at least half a brain.

  Various responses came to mind, and even though the words burned on my lips, I zipped my mouth rather than say something I’d regret.

  I collected my coffee and breakfast with as much poise as I could muster. ‘I won’t even dignify that with a response. Excuse me.’ I stomped around the corner to the next alcove. No one, but no one, was going to spoil my breakfast after everything I’d been through.

  And yes, it was now ‘I’d been through’, not ‘we’d’ been through’. I was seriously over the whole ‘we’ thing; it was all too hard, too weird and too complicated. Give me the simple ‘I’ life. Enough already. If anyone came and interrupted my breakfast I’d stab them with my fork.

  Suicide? Really? Huh. Maybe on some level it was. I guess technically it could be viewed as suicide, but for me it was a sacrifice, motivated by love. An action taken to save the guys. I guess self-sacrifice was suicide because you would have intentionally caused your own death to preserve the life of another.

  My head started to hurt—this subject was way too heavy for breakfast time—but thinking about their point of view dispersed my outrage. I filed the thoughts away in a box labeled Self Sacrifice/Suicide.

  Feeling happier, I focused on another important thing; my piece of bacon.

  ‘Is this seat taken?’ a man asked politely.

  I gave him the once over for any visible signs of tattoos but couldn’t see any. ‘No, be my guest.’ I pushed out a chair with my foot. I’d always wanted to do that. I felt like the female equivalent of Ashley.

  The universe had intervened—the chap arrived a split second before Jason and Ashley. Now they couldn’t give me a hard time, and I could finish my breakfast in peace, and maybe, have a decent conversation in the process. The fellow seemed likeable and pleasing to the eye to boot. I surreptitiously checked him out. Jason and Ashley hung about wondering what to do.

  The chap would have to have been nearly six-foot-tall, lanky, not much meat on his bones, short blond hair brushed back off his face. He was a cross between Tom Cruise and Richard Gere. Nice. His clothes were a kind of understated urban cool, good skin, brown eyes and a big smile. All up, pretty darn good company for breakfast.

  ‘I’m Maggie. And you are?’

  ‘Dromeus.’ He extended his hand. ‘People call me Drom for short.’

  I shook his hand; his grip was warm and firm. There was an immediate sense of connection and it made me jump. It was as if I knew him from another life. His energy washed over every cell in my body.

  He checked me out and said, ‘It looks like you live on the edge.’

  ‘What do you mean by that?’ I said, thinking maybe he meant I looked like crap.

  ‘You’ve got blood on your neck, a scratch and puncture mark, your hands are grazed, nails torn, your demeanor appears soft but you’ve got wildness written all over you.’

  Yep, I looked like crap. I felt my face turn red.

  ‘Say what you think, why don’t you? You’re very observant.’

  ‘I know.’

  Oh hell, I had another Ashley on my hands—uber confident.

  ‘I’ve cultivated my powers of observation and I’m incredibly intuitive,’ he said by way of explanation. ‘I didn’t mean to embarrass you, sorry. Sometimes I don’t realise I’ve said things out loud.’

  ‘That’s okay. It happens to me too.’

  He focused on his iPhone and his thumb flicked quickly and incessantly through pages. He seemed to have forgotten about me. This dude’s behaviour was definitely eccentric. He looked up and caught me staring.

  ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to stare. Are you actually reading?’

  ‘I speed read. First book today, nearly finished. I usually go through a couple a day.’

  Jesus, Drom was my kind of guy.

  ‘Two books a day, that’s incredible, even for speed reading. How do you find the time?’

  ‘I read everywhere and I don’t sleep much. It’s a waste of time. I practise polyphasic sleep techniques.’

  ‘Polyphasic?’

  ‘I sleep three hours in the early morning and then three twenty minutes naps during the day. That’s it.’

  ‘What do you do with your extra time, besides read?’

  ‘I’m a traceur.’

  Crikey, this guy had me fascinated. In the space of sixty seconds he’d already introduced me to two things I hadn’t heard of.

  ‘Traceur?’ I hoped I wasn’t starting to sound like an echo machine.

  ‘Like parkour.’

  ‘Parkour?’ I said, despite myself.

  ‘Have you heard of free running?’

  ‘Yes!’ Thank G
od I didn’t have to do the echo thing again. ‘It’s where people run up walls and flip and spin over obstacles?’

  ‘Parkour and free running are similar, except parkour doesn’t involve all the flips and spins; it’s about moving through your environment simply and efficiently. It makes you see your world in a whole new way. It comes in handy when trying to escape from the zombie apocalypse.’ He flashed me a grin.

  Crikey, for a minute I’d thought he might be serious.

  I smiled back and rubbed the needle mark with my finger. ‘Sounds like I need to get me some parkour training.’

  He seemed to want to talk and I was curious, so I said, ‘What do you do to earn a living when you’re not being a traceur?’

  ‘A bit of this and that.’

  Oh, he seriously could be Ashley’s brother.

  ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to be nosey.’

  ‘I’m unorthodox when it comes to work. I play the stock market and do well at it. I prospect for gold; I’m a barista, bar tender, graphic designer, masseur, personal trainer, and I make and sell orgonite. Because I don’t sleep much, I fill my time learning everything I can, hence I can turn my hand to most things.’

  He’d lost me after the word orgonite. Or was it barista—no, masseur. No, really, it was orgonite. Who the hell did I have here who made and sold orgonite? I’d made a piece of orgonite myself once, out of fibreglass resin, metal shavings and some quartz crystal. It was excellent for clearing out negative energy in your body and from the environment. Maybe he wasn’t kidding about the zombie apocalypse after all.

  ‘Why do you deal with orgonite?’

  ‘You know what it is?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Then you know why.’

  I hadn’t thought about using orgonite in our battle against the Dark Force. It was pooh-poohed by the scientific community, but folks in touch with the spiritual realms swore by its ability to transmute negative energy in the environment and in our bodies. Could it help me get rid of the residue in my body? It was easy to make.

  ‘Penny for your thoughts, Maggie.’

  I jumped. ‘How do you know my name?’

  ‘Ah, you told me.’

  ‘Oh, oh, sorry! Yes, of course, I uh, people ...’

  ‘It’s complicated?’

  ‘That’s probably an understatement. What brings you here, by the way?’

  ‘I’m here for a reason.’

  ‘Which would be?’

  ‘I don’t know yet.’

  ‘When will you know?’

  ‘When you tell me.’

  It appeared the cryptic conversation could go all day, but it seemed the ball was now in my court.

  ‘To help me eliminate the Dark Force?’

  ‘I’m at your disposal.’

  Hmm. I liked the sound of that. But could I trust him? I didn’t know him from a bar of soap. Maybe he was working for the enemy, a dark spy trying to infiltrate our ranks. It wasn’t a silly idea and I knew that’s what the guys would say, for sure.

  ‘Of course, you don’t trust me. You don’t know me. Your friends over there wouldn’t trust me either.’ He nodded his head in their direction. ‘And that’s fine, I totally understand. Here’s my card. Call me, or think of me, if and when the time is right.’

  I took his card, which simply had his name, Dromeus, and a mobile phone number.

  How much did he charge for his Dark Force elimination services? What did he do exactly?

  ‘By the way, I don’t charge for Dark Force related services. I consider it voluntary work.’

  ‘Are you telepathic?’

  Drom met my eyes and I knew the answer.

  He stood and took my hand. ‘It’s been a pleasure.’

  His energy poured into me. It was pure, almost angelic in nature, and I found it mesmerising. ‘By the way, what book are you reading?’ I asked.

  ‘David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants, by Malcolm Gladwell.’

  I laughed. ‘Perfect!’

  ‘Oh, and Maggie,’ he said, still holding my hand, his soft eyes looking straight into my soul, ‘it’s the ultimate sacrifice, and they know it.’

  My arm was alive with goose bumps.

  He raised an eyebrow. ‘Maybe it will be Four Musketeers?’

  Oh Jesus.[29]

  Chapter 30: Plan of Attack

  After Drom left, Jason and Ashley waited a respectable time, say five seconds, before coming over to my table.

  I knew I had the upper hand.

  ‘Ashley, would you mind getting me another cup of coffee?’

  ‘Sure, no worries,’ he said, heading off to the barista.

  ‘Jason, would you mind getting me a croissant?’

  ‘Sure, chocolate or plain?’

  ‘Plain is fine, perhaps some butter and jam?’

  They dutifully carried out their orders and my heart burst with love for them both, despite their annoying tendencies.

  Their task fulfilled, they pulled up chairs and joined me. I was laying bets as to what the first question would be.

  ‘Who the hell was that guy?’ they asked simultaneously.

  Bingo.

  ‘Drom.’

  Ashley looked extremely pissed off. ‘Drom? What sort of a name is that? You shouldn’t be talking to strange guys; it’s too frigging dangerous.’

  Jason took heed of the look on my face and glared at Ashley. ‘I want to say sorry about what Ashley said before. It was totally out of order.’

  Ashley glared back at Jason. ‘What do you mean, what I said? You’re the one who said it. I was repeating the message.’

  ‘You said ...’

  I raised my hand to quiet them.

  ‘No more. Please. No more glaring, no more of this … this stuff. We love each other; that’s all that matters. We have had to, and will have to, deal with so much. We need to be gentle with each other. The three of us have such a strong bond; we love each other more than life. We know we would sacrifice ourselves for each other. This bickering has to stop, so please, enough already.’

  Jason nodded. ‘Yes, I’m sorry. Of course.’

  ‘Sure, luv. Can I say one thing?’

  I nodded.

  ‘Thank you. With all my heart, thank you.’

  ‘Ditto,’ Jason said. He held my face and kissed me.

  I took a sip of my coffee. Ashley was staring at me, elbows on the table, wrists crossed, chin resting on fists linked together by a pinkie swear.

  Say no more.

  * * * * *

  Back in the hotel room, we set about packing and cleaning up the mess we’d made. I was tidying the bedroom when Ashley came in and closed the door. ‘Maggie, got a minute?’

  ‘Sure, what’s wrong?’ I joined him by the door.

  ‘I need to talk to you. I know you said you didn’t want to, but things are unsaid, and they have to be said.’

  ‘Okay, fire away.’

  ‘I wanted to thank you for saving my life, and for wanting to sacrifice your life for me, for us. I was angry when Jason told me what you’d done, thinking how I ... we nearly lost you.’

  ‘Thanks, but Jason saved you. He’s the hero. I only mucked things up.’

  ‘You didn’t muck things up, you were concerned about the other guy, and that’s what makes you light. That’s what will win us the war. Both of you saved my life. But it was this,’ he said, linking into a pinky swear, ‘the energy you saved, breathed back into me. That’s what restored me. I was gone, but you brought me back.’

  ‘I’m glad you made it.’

  ‘If I didn’t make it, I would have come back as a ghost and haunted you forever,’ he said, flashing me his trademark grin.

  ‘So, you understand where I was coming from?’ I asked.

  ‘Of course. I would have done exactly the same, and I’m sorry for what I said. I was angry at the thought of you throwing your life away because of me. Can you forgive me?’

  ‘I already have.’

  ‘I
shouldn’t do this.’ He leant forward and kissed me. One hand moved around my waist to hold me up, anticipating knee problems. Breaking his kiss, he groaned and whispered in my ear—which did set off my knees—‘Thank you, oh God, I just w—’

  The door jarred behind us. Jason was trying to come in, pushing against the door. Ashley kissed me again.

  ‘Jesus!’ I pulled away and ran to the bathroom. That bathroom.

  Bang! The bedroom door flew open. ‘What’s going on? You guys had me worried. Where’s Maggie?’

  ‘In the bathroom.’

  Jason came to the bathroom door. ‘Everything all right?’

  ‘All good.’

  ‘Can I come in?’

  ‘Yes.’

  When Jason opened the door, I was brushing my hair, looking in the mirror where I last saw Dylan’s face.

  ‘Are you coping in here?’

  ‘Yes, surprisingly. It seems telling you about Dylan actually helped, as painful as it was to share.’

  ‘Sorry about what happened before, the whole suicide thing. It’s my fault. I was angry because you broke your promise. You promised you’d never leave, remember? In the hospital?’

  I nodded.

  He gripped my arms. ‘I’d rather be dragged into the damn vortex with you, than be left here without you. What we have is precious, it’s deep and profound. We have to protect it. We have to fight for each other, defend what we have. Do you understand?’

  I nodded.

  ‘Promise if we go, we’ll go together?’

  ‘Promise,’ I said, not entirely sure it was a promise I could keep. ‘Thank you for saving me, Jace. I put everyone at risk and you saved Ashley too, despite everything. You were amazing,’ I said, gazing up into his eyes.

  ‘Risk or no risk, it doesn’t matter, because you care about people. That’s a good thing. I love you for it, Maggie.’ He put an arm around my shoulders and chuckled to himself. ‘And, I will never, ever, forget the image of you, naked at the end of a pole, tied in orange bungee.’

  I laughed. ‘I won’t forget the look on your face either. I love you, mister superhero. You were relentless.’

  Jason indicated with his head towards the bedroom. ‘I couldn’t stand to lose him, even though he’s a serious pain in the arse at times.’