Soul's Journey

by Joanne Johnson

you won’t find your way back.”

  “I’ve decided to stay, and I’ll take my chances,” I said smiling.

  Derrick smiled back at me, “If that’s your choice, you need to know about the snakes and spiders that bite. They’ll come out as soon as the air cools down, so you’ll need to watch what you sit on.” I watched Ryan look at Derrick, and scrunch up his face. Then Ryan looked at me, nodding his head in agreement.

  “They can be quite deadly and will kill you quickly if you do not know how to counteract the poison,” Derrick continued with a strange look on his face.

  I looked around in some of the nearest trees. Were there poisonous creatures out here at night, or was he trying to trick me into going inside with them? I wished I could read his mind to understand what the look meant. I continued to glance around, looking carefully up into the trees. A large leaf dropped out of the nearest tree, and brushed my shoulder.

  "Oh my gosh", I screamed shaking the bottom of my shirt and jumping up and down slapping parts of my body. It must have looked like I had started a new dance for the look on both of their faces was of pure enjoyment. I ran closer to them needing protection from whatever had landed on me. I didn’t feel any safer. I would have bet they were pulling my leg, but I wasn’t about to chance it.

  Both men looked at each other and grinned as they said, “You had better come along, just to be on the safe side.” I walked further inside the door, and as soon as I was a few feet away from the door, it slammed shut behind us.

  I jumped forward as I heard the crash, and the darkness overwhelmed me. Slowly my eyes began to adjust and I could see the two men in front of me with their Turads in hand. I took mine out of my secret location. My Turad was glowing brightly in my hand, as I chased after the men. When I finally caught up, I squeezed myself between them hoping it would calm my nerves. The rock walls were full of spider webs. We walked along a tunnel. The walls were made of dirt and rock. I shuddered but I felt a spark of relief with the dissimilarities of my cave dream and my current predicament.

  We traveled down a long tunnel, which gradually changed into what felt like a corn maze, twists, turns, and dead ends. We had to turn around and go back to the previous tunnel more than a few times. The light from my Turad caught something wiggling on the roof. I pointed my Turad at the roof to get a better look. Bats! There were hundreds of black, furry beasts clinging to the ceiling. I instantly ducked down and covered my head, with my arms, making a high-pitched squeak.

  Ryan laughed as he stepped in behind me and whispered softly over my shoulder, “They’ll only react to direct bright light. Luckily, this light is not a direct light. To people and animals other than the holder it looks like a faint glow. It won’t bother the bats unless you startle them, and wake them from their sleep with more noise from your mouth.”

  “Now you tell me,” I said. As we headed down the dark tunnel, I could feel the remnants of the spider webs against my face. My breathing was loud and quick. Derrick reached behind him to grab my hand and give it a quick squeeze.

  I could hear him speak under his breath, “Jordan it will be Okay. We’ll get in and out again in no time,” then he let go of my hand.

  The dark tunnel system seemed to stretch on forever. It smelled of old dirt and stale air. After a few more minutes, I could see a light ahead of us and it wasn’t coming from my Turad. Had we finally come to the end? I felt excited and I walked faster. The long tunnel system finally ended in a huge octagon shaped room. The walls were made of dark, hard rock, and the light was coming from a transparent material in the ceiling. I didn’t think it was glass, because there was water - and lots of it - on the top of the transparent material. It looked like I was looking into a fish aquarium at Sea World from underneath.

  In the far corner of the octagon-shaped room was a statue of a man. The man was sitting on a throne, wearing a historic headdress. The statue was made in a beautiful shiny, silver material. Thick gold bracelets and a wide flat necklace adorned the statue’s neck and wrists. It reminded me of the Egyptian program on the discovery channel. The Egyptians that I had seen on T.V, wore similar outfits. The walls were covered with what I thought might be a hieroglyphic script, although this was definitely a first for me. I was glancing around my surroundings when Derrick walked over to stand beside me.

  “Where is the light coming from?” I asked.

  “This cavern was built millions of years ago. They thought the first Atlanteans settled here. The clear ceiling is of unknown origin; it shimmers because we have about thirty feet of ocean above us.”

  Ryan came to stand beside us, Derrick looked at him and nodded his head, and then he walked away. It was the same wordless conversations that I really found quite annoying and rude. I looked at Ryan and said. “Do you know how rude that is? It’s kind of like someone speaking a foreign language in front of you,” I continued.

  “There’s information that can’t be passed on to you, for your own protection,” he replied. “Until you learn to be able to block someone from reading your mind, you won’t be allowed to have any information that might cause our Order trouble.”

  “What Order is that?” I asked.

  “We are part of the Druid-Atlantean order. In different times, we have carried different names. However, it all stems back to the Atlanteans. We are ancestors of the only survivors of Atlantis.”

  “I thought the Atlanteans were a myth.”

  “They were quite real. Our main goal is to help people step into their personal power. I know you are worried because of your dream. They would not bring you this far to abandon you. They’re helping you step into yourself and all the power that comes with it.”

  “Who are they?” I asked surprised.

  “We all have guardian angels that help us on our path to our soul’s highest potential, and happiness. You had to have gone through a period in your life where you felt unhappy, or restless for them to become active.”

  Of course, I thought back to my lunch with my sister. That was the starting point of all this chaos.

  “Who was that?” he asked.

  “Who was what? What are you referring to?” I asked.

  “The woman you were having lunch with. She seems confident and alluring. I would like an opportunity to meet her. I have a feeling I have seen her before,” he smiled.

  “How did you know about her?” I asked.

  “I could see her in your mind when you thought about her,” Ryan smiled. “You did know I could read minds?”

  “Yes, but I thought it was only what was silently spoken. I didn’t think you could see the picture I was thinking about,” I explained. “I don’t think you have ever met her before, unless you needed a lawyer.”

  He smiled “I can see it all. Reading minds is one of my gifts. I know everyone’s secrets. I am sure I had a dream about her before. I’m supposed to meet her. Jordan, I have known from the first moment that we met that you have strong feelings for Derrick. He has always been the uptight one and very much a stickler for all the rules. He has never done anything without staying in full control of himself. It has given me great satisfaction finally to be able to bait and tease him. I’ve never in my life seen him this wound up.”

  “I’ve also seen the dream in your head, and know that you will be separated from us. I believe that is why I’m here. As I recall, Derrick had a vision of it earlier today. He explained that you would be staying here, so he asked me to come along. He is on a time limit with the full moon rising in the next week. He needs to remove the power from the amulet before it has had the opportunity to integrate into Frank’s body at the full moon. It is written in the old texts that if Frank uses the amulet’s powers for a full lunar cycle, not all of the amulets powers can be removed. I want you to be aware that no matter what happens, I will wait outside the pyramid for you. I’d hate for you to have to explain how you came across two international borders with no passport.”

  “So we’re still in our time?” I asked.

 
“To be truthful, you’ve only left your car two days ago; that’s the great thing about time travel. We can pick and choose when and what time we want to return.”

  Derrick made a noise. We both stopped our conversation to look over at him. He again was looking at me with anger. He must have seen us having our personal conversation, and assumed that we were talking more intimately between us. I smiled to myself. He looked very pissed off. I thought I might as well make the most of this advantageous moment. I smiled directly at Ryan then stood on my tiptoes and planted a huge kiss on his cheek as well as an all-encompassing hug. I could feel the tension from Derrick directed my way instantly. As I pulled my body away, I grabbed Ryan’s hand and gave it a couple of loving squeezes, then turned to walk toward Derrick. Ryan was laughing as he spoke.

  “You, my dear are a force to be reckoned with.” We were both standing near Derrick and the annoyance written on his face was quite satisfying to me. He looked at Ryan and me in the most frustrated manner. I knew it was wrong to taunt him, but I couldn’t seem to help myself.

  I finally smiled at him and said, “What’s wrong?”

  “You both know bloody well, what’s wrong?” he replied. “I can’t deal with this right now because we have a job to do.” He made a fist and then punched Ryan in the arm. “We talked about this before. You gave me your word there would be no game playing.” Derrick continued as Ryan laughed.

  “Settle down man, maybe you should clarify that with her. I heard you loud and clear.” Ryan replied pointing a finger my way.

  Feeling rather pleased with myself, I asked, “What are we looking for?”

  “We’re looking for a symbol,” he replied gruffly.

  “What kind of symbol?”

  “I don’t know, but I will know it to see it,” he said.

  “That makes no sense,” I replied.

  “When your energy is activated, you’ll be able to touch any symbol represented here and see the intentions of the carver in your head. So once I find the symbol I will place my hand on it to see if it is the one that I need.”

  “I’ll help you look,” I said.

  I was down on the floor by the throne and felt a raised surface. I brought my Turad closer to see what I had found. The symbol I had felt with my hands was a labyrinth. Whenever I followed the design with my finger, I felt great peace and serenity. I started on the outside of the grid, and followed the path around with my finger, removing years worth of dust in the process. I wondered who might have run their finger over it last.

  I should have been paying more attention to the current situation at hand, and not been lost in my head. My finger slipped off the grid in the middle, and found a small hole in the center. I hadn’t realized the hole was deep until my finger sunk up past the first knuckle. I was startled, as I felt a clamp tighten on my finger. My finger felt stuck. I frantically tried to pull it out. It wouldn’t budge.

  There were many clicking and clanging sounds adding to my obvious panic, I watched the throne move forward. I tried frantically to remove my stuck finger. After all the noise had stopped, the throne revealed a doorway hidden behind it. However, my finger was still stuck fast, causing my anxiety to mount.

  I called out frantically, “Please help me get my finger out of this trap!”

  They both looked at me and then at each other, “You have to remain there until we retrieve the box,” Derrick affirmed.

  There was a keypad on the door similar to one on the front door we entered. Derrick placed his hands on it, and moved his fingers as if he were reading Braille; he then punched in a series of symbols. I watched the large rock door open into more darkness. By this time, I was panicking and I tugged repeatedly at my