Descent into Darkness (Crystal Sphere Book 1)

by Ingrid Fry

  ‘Aren’t we all?’

  Jason nodded.

  * * * * *

  Ashley was on the phone as we came back into the lounge. ‘Sure, thanks Mel, I’ll let you know.’ He hung up. ‘That was Mel on reception. She called to say the hotel has offered us an additional night, complimentary, with dinner and drinks on the house, plus a spa treatment of our choice. What do you reckon?’

  ‘Why would they do that?’ I said.

  ‘Not sure. I think Mel had something to do with it. Probably hates to see me leave.’

  I rolled my eyes.

  ‘Dead set? That’s fantastic!’ Jason said.

  ‘So, what do you guys want to do?’ Ashley asked.

  ‘I think Maggie wants to go home and check on Boo.’

  I nodded in agreement.

  ‘If Boo was all right, would you stay?’

  ‘I guess so.’ I did like the sound of the spa treatment and welcomed another excuse not to go home to the mess.

  Ashley turned to Jason. ‘What if I order a couple of wagyu beef steaks from the hotel, drive back to your place, check on Boo, give her a big feed of gourmet meat and then come back. We can go home tomorrow. Would you rest easy and enjoy yourself then?’

  ‘Good idea, Jason said, ‘but I should go, and you should rest up here.’ He nodded at Ashley’s arm, which was bleeding through the bandages a little.

  ‘Ashley, you’re bleeding!’ I carefully unwrapped the bandage and removed it to reveal an angry looking welt running across his upper bicep. ‘This needs to be redressed. It looks nasty. What happened anyway? We never got to debrief.’

  ‘Gunshot. Dodged a bullet, but it clipped me. It’ll be fine, don’t fuss.’

  ‘No, don’t fob me off. What happened exactly?’

  ‘I was about to dive into the pool when my spidey sense kicked in. Luckily, I moved in the right direction and the bullet missed. The guy was behind me, so I stepped back and kicked his legs out from under him. He hit the concrete and dropped the gun. The dude grabbed my legs and was trying to get the gun, so I whacked him and he fell into the pool dragging me with him. I think I cracked my head on the side going in. That’s the last I remember until I woke with Jason kissing me.’ He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and grimaced at Jason. ‘Wished we’d managed to save the gun; it had a silencer an’ all.’

  ‘Bugger,’ I said.

  ‘Shame,’ Jason agreed. ‘So, it appears the roach entity is not only out to get Maggie, but those associated with her as well.’

  ‘Seems like it,’ Ashley said. ‘There are people out there who don’t like me, but not enough to want to kill me.’

  Jason clutched his phone so hard the casing creaked. His face was drawn and tight. ‘What’s our plan? We have to prepare a strategy. How the hell do we tackle this? We’re being hunted, fighting off one thing after another, trying to survive. We can’t go on like this. We’re on the back foot all of the time—we’ve got to turn things around.’

  Ashley could see Jason was anxious and frustrated. ‘Yeah, Jace, go easy. We’re doing the best we can. Do you think I like being on the run? But we’re just finding out what we’re dealing with, and we ain’t got much to go on. You have to know the enemy to be able to defeat it, and we’re not there yet. We’ve got no intel. It’s early days.’

  ‘Early days? At this rate, we’ll all be dead.’

  ‘Jason! Don’t talk like that.’

  ‘Well, you’re the psychic. Come on give us something, Maggie. I can’t keep going like this, lurching from one catastrophe to another, always looking over my shoulder. Step up and give me something useful for once.’

  The tone and the force of his words shocked me. Jason had sunk into a pit of negativity. It wasn’t like him. Is that how he thought of me—useless?

  Ashley slammed his fist on the table. ‘Hey! You’re out of line, mate.’

  Don’t cry. Don’t cry. I started to count the coloured metal leaves on a nearby artwork. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven … I was useless. I should’ve known what to do. I should’ve had more insight. I should’ve been better … eight, nine, ten … I should have left. It was all my fault. I should’ve been smarter. I should’ve been stronger. Eleven, twelve, thirteen—leaf number thirteen had words on it—“Live every moment, Laugh every day, Love beyond words.”

  I started, the words awakening me from the spiral of negativity. Jason and Ashley were staring at me.

  Jason looked crestfallen. ‘We were in its grip, weren’t we?’

  I nodded.

  ‘Fuck,’ Ashley whispered.

  ‘I didn’t mean what I said, Maggie. I’m sorry.’

  ‘One thing we can do is keep bringing our awareness back to the present moment. Endeavour not to let ourselves get lost in thought. That’s how it attacks and undermines us. It’s subtle and deadly. We can only take things moment by moment and believe the answers will come. We have to trust in not knowing. It’s hard not to have a plan, but there is one for us, we just don’t know the details. We have to let go of trying to be in control. I know you, Jason. You want strategy, action steps, outcomes, guarantees and a resolution with no loose ends. Life doesn’t work that way, particularly now. We do have a plan. We have to go with the flow. The flow is the plan, Jason. Trust it.’

  Jason took my hand. ‘I trust you, Maggie. You’re right.’

  Ashley added his hand to ours. ‘Go with the flow—that’s the plan. Suits me.’

  ‘We need to ring Inspector Johnston back!’ I said, suddenly recalling the voice message Jason received yesterday.

  ‘Hell, I forgot.’

  ‘Why don’t you ring now? Then you or Ashley can go home to check on Boo. When you get back we can have a massage and then spend the rest of the evening relaxing and opening ourselves to any insights on how to deal with this.’

  ‘I’ll get on the blower now.’

  ‘I’ll organise the steaks,’ Ashley said.

  ‘I’ll arrange the spa treatment.’ I looked forward to having a relaxing and uneventful day for once.

  ‘What’s that for?’ Jason said.

  I’d unconsciously crossed my fingers.[30]

  Chapter 31: Truth & Desperation

  “It matters not how fast light may travel, darkness shall always be there awaiting its arrival.” — Mark W. Boyer

  Detective Inspector Johnston wanted to see us immediately. He was currently working at city headquarters so suggested we meet him there. The three of us headed off together. It was only a ten-minute walk from the hotel, and we conferred about the details of our hospital story.

  ‘Are we sticking with the affair story?’ Ashley asked.

  ‘Can’t think of anything else which would make sense,’ Jason said. ‘There shouldn’t be any evidence at the hospital, other than footage of us going to the basement and back. I wonder why he really wants to see us?’

  ‘They have a missing person. Mick the morgue guy, so they’d want to interview everyone in the vicinity at the time, and we’d be on the CCTV,’ Ashley said.

  ‘Yeah, of course.’

  ‘It would be weird if we arrived together,’ Ashley said. ‘I should rock up separately. I mean, if I’ve supposedly been screwing your girl, we wouldn’t still be best buddies, would we?’

  ‘‘Kin Oath,’ Jason said. ‘We’ll go first. I did say to the Inspector I sent you a text.’

  ‘I’ll split and go for a wander, then lob in. There’s a twenty-four-hour clinic around the corner. I’ll get ‘em to fix my dressing.’

  ‘We’ll meet you back at the hotel for lunch,’ Jason said.

  Ashley gave us the thumbs up and headed off.

  At police HQ, Detective Inspector Johnston showed Jason into an interview room. I was asked to wait outside.

  I couldn’t wait to get it over with. I sat on a plastic chair and listened to the water cooler motor humming nearby. The linoleum floors reminded me of the hospital. Why did all institutions look the same? Maybe there was some institutional
master planner out there who churned out these hideous designs. If you got well in a hospital, it was nothing to do with the healing ambience of the environment or the food, that was for sure.

  A young constable approached. ‘Maggie, would you like a coffee while you wait?’

  I jumped visibly, as I seemed to do these days, on hearing my name.

  ‘What sort of coffee?’ I asked, expecting it to come from a mega jumbo sized can of International Roast.

  ‘Nespresso.’

  ‘Excellent, thank you. Do you recycle the pods?’

  ‘Of course. What blend would you like, and do you take milk?’

  ‘Roma and milk please, only half a cup. Thanks so much.’

  ‘No worries, I’ll do my best.’

  While I waited, I stared at the brown stained, watermarked ceiling panels, and then at the poor sunlight starved plant languishing on the small table next to me. How was Jason going? Was there a good cop and a bad cop giving him the once over? Were they blowing smoke in his face? Not with the OH&S regulations these days.

  The young constable returned and handed me the coffee. ‘Here you go.’ I glimpsed the black spider legs of a tattoo peeking out from under his cuff.

  He handed me a bag. ‘Here’s a Krispy Crème doughnut as well.’

  ‘Th…thanks,’ I stammered, feeling the blood drain from my face.

  ‘Do you feel sick? You look pale.’

  ‘Nun, no. That’s how I am,’ I mumbled, as a surge of adrenaline coursed through my body. Scanning the environment for weapons, I fixed my eye on a pointy umbrella resting against the wall.

  ‘I’ll leave you to it then,’ he said, walking away.

  I exhaled. I’d been holding my breath. My body felt weak and limp.

  I tipped the coffee into the plant. Would it wilt and turn to dust? Nothing happened. I threw the doughnut in the bin opposite me. Bingo! Direct hit. My aim was improving.

  The second hand on the clock opposite ticked over the seconds. The tick, tick, tick got louder as any minute I expected the constable to come back and offer me a Taser instead of a coffee.

  Finally, the door opened and I jumped. Jason appeared, looking as sombre as I must’ve looked pale.

  ‘Maggie, can you come in now?’ Inspector Johnston said. I wanted to say no, but figured it was a statement not a question.

  ‘You look pale,’ he said to me. ‘Would you like me to organise a coffee for you?’

  ‘No!’ I said much too loudly. ‘I mean, sorry, no, but thank you so much for asking.’

  Jason gave me a look.

  The interview room was as inspiring as the space outside, and it smelt stale, like polyester and old socks. I imagined how I must look sitting directly under the fluorescent lights, a vision of paleness.

  ‘I need you to account for your movements while you were at St. Joseph’s Hospital.’

  I giggled at the thought of having to account for my bowel movements.

  ‘Something funny?’

  ‘Sorry, no. I giggle when I’m nervous.’

  ‘No need to be. Tell me where you went while you were at the hospital, and if you noticed anything untoward.’

  I told him as simply and clearly as I could my whereabouts on the day.

  ‘Why did you go to Level B5?’

  ‘I was stretching my legs, having a look around.’

  ‘Is that so? And did you see anyone or notice anything at all when you were there?’

  I sat silent as the reality of what I was doing hit me. I was going to lie to an officer of the law. I stressed when I received a speeding fine, so this was going against my law-abiding nature. What if I told him the truth? But I couldn’t. We had to stick to the story, he wouldn’t believe me if I told the truth anyway. I’d be locked in an institution far worse than this one.

  ‘Maggie?’

  I looked down at my hands.

  ‘You need to tell me the truth.’

  I took a deep breath. ‘I went to level B5 because I’m having, I mean was having, an affair with Ashley Beringer. We met there to talk about things. That’s all. I didn’t see anyone else. The place was creepy and deserted.’

  ‘And then?’

  ‘Jason found us there together; he’d suspected something and came looking for me. They argued, pushed each other around; it became intensely heated. I managed to calm them down, call a truce, and we left.’

  ‘And then?’

  ‘We talked in the café. I got upset and left the table. Ashley ran after me and tried to convince me to go back to Jason.’

  ‘That’s confirmed in the CCTV footage we have. I’d like to show it to you.’ He turned a laptop around to face me.

  I nodded mutely, feeling whatever blood I had left in my face rapidly leave.

  He pressed play and there, depicted in fifty grainy shades of grey, was Ashley and I locked in a passionate kiss. Entrance Jason, the fall, the table smash, the save and the exit. I tried to look on the positive side: it would’ve made a fabulous movie scene.

  ‘Any comments?’

  ‘Only two. We’ll pay for the table and did Jason see this?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Yup, that was it. The three-letter word I was dreading.

  There was a knock at the door and the young constable poked his head in. My heart rate ramped up to high.

  ‘Ashley Beringer is here for you, sir.’

  ‘Thanks, I’ll be right out. Oh, and don’t bring Mr. Beringer here. Hold him in a spare room until I’m ready.’

  ‘Yes, Sir.’ The constable looked directly at me before closing the door.

  ‘Thanks for doing that,’ I said.

  ‘Don’t want any fisticuffs on my watch. How are things travelling now, with Jason?’

  ‘Now? I’m not sure,’ I said truthfully.

  ‘And Ashley?’

  ‘Not sure what’s going to happen there either.’

  ‘And to confirm, you didn’t see or hear anything else while you were on level B5?’

  ‘Not a thing.’

  If there was a hidden camera under the table, they’d see my fingers were crossed.

  ‘I’ll need to speak with you again, but that’s it for now,’ he said, opening the door.

  Jason sat outside, his face set to grim and serious mode. His hawk eyes latched onto mine and narrowed to maximum laser beam intensity. The side of his mouth twitched and he ran both hands through his hair.

  Jesus. All signs pointed to another interrogation with a capital ‘I’. Inspector Johnston’s interrogation would be a cakewalk compared to what I’d be in for. Would Jason request the use of a room and some thumbscrews, or even better, some Pentothal?

  ‘Let’s go!’ Jason said. He took my arm and marched me along the hallway.

  ‘Hey, stop that!’ I yanked free.

  We made our way through the corridors of police HQ in silence.

  I hated this. Just hated it. It’d only been a kiss! My head whirled sensing Jason’s maelstrom mind. I couldn’t get anything concrete, only an oppressive wall of negative energy that overwhelmed me. S.O.S. I wanted to run away, to get a ticket to anywhere and leave everything behind. Go away, Jason. Go away, Ashley. Boo. Roaches. Dark Force. Everything. Everyone. They could all fuck off. Breathe Maggie. Breathe. Think of ... dolphins. Stuff dolphins. I wanted to run.

  So I did. I ran. I took off as fast as my legs could carry me. I ran through corridors so fast that doors and faces blurred into one. I ran through city streets, pushing through people. I ran, and I ran, and I ran, and I ran some more, until my lungs felt like they were exploding, until I fell, smashed, crashed, blasted into a lake, in beautiful gardens, somewhere.

  I floated face down staring at weeds and fish lit by sunlight and sky. A paddle of a duck’s leg, the golden flick of a fin, rhubarb red water lily stems, a snow-white bud reaching for the sky. I wanted to rid myself of the physical body, to be absorbed by the beauty of the world, transformed into energy, because that’s where I belonged. Not here. Not now. Not me. Ta
ke me home. Please.

  And so I died. I let myself go.

  Huh. It was true. It wasn’t sacrifice: it was suicide. I’d been fooling everyone else into thinking I was a hero.

  My lungs burned as they filled with water. No worries, I’d experienced that before. The voices in my head whispered … don’t resist Maggie, don’t fight for life. Life’s too hard, too wrong, too bad, too complicated. Give it up. Let go. Die already.

  But what about the people who loved and counted on me? I’d devastate them, now and forever. What legacy would I leave? It was easy to die, much harder to live, to face what I needed to face, to do what I needed to do. My heart had to be burned in the fires of this world before I could feel peace in the next.

  Yes. Yes. What had I done? Too late. It was too late.

  The world slammed back into me as I vomited lake water and weed.

  I clutched at mud and grass. I smelt mud and grass. I tried to focus but couldn’t see.

  A face, no ... only eyes, kaleidoscope eyes bringing me back, eyes like swirling rainbows, galaxies, starlight and raindrops, no, soft brown eyes bringing me back. Hands touching my head. Caressing golden energy. Radiance infusing me with love, returning me, cleansing me, linking me to my source.

  Click.

  Reconnection.

  Divine bliss and restoration.

  The face came into focus.

  ‘Dromeus?’

  ‘Yes. Feeling better?’

  ‘Much. You saved me. You fixed me. How did you find me?’

  ‘It wasn’t hard; your energy spike was like an atom bomb. You can run. I thought I’d lost you.’

  ‘I can run?’

  ‘Super fast.’

  ‘Wow. I always came last in school races.’

  ‘Not anymore. Let me help you.’

  He held my hand and I floated to my feet. I felt light and alive.

  ‘What did you do to me, other than save my life?’

  ‘Helped you reconnect to your source. Your link was damaged by the Dark Force, nearly gone. That’s why you felt like you did.’

  ‘Yes ... yes, it seems obvious now. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t realised what was happening.’