The Rare Pearl (Broken Water Series Book 1)

by Jennifer W Smith

4

  The Other Realm 1989

  Harmony had the sensation like she was a leaf tossed on a blustery New England day. She was completely engulfed, a pulling sensation reaching every part of her body, her clothing, her hair, her skin. When she opened her mouth to take a breath it was filled with ice-cold seawater. Her eyes flew open and her sleepiness immediately dissolved.

  I’m underwater!

  Terror gripped her. She flailed, coughing and sputtering as she broke the surface, her eyes stinging from the saltwater. In near darkness, her senses confirmed she was in the ocean. She instinctively treaded water, her teeth chattering nonstop. Pure adrenaline forced her to swim toward shore, toward the lights. All the while the question begged over and over … How did I get here?

  She struggled not to panic as she pushed on, her pent-up screams escaping as moans. Thoughts of drowning in the deep abyss beneath her were forced behind a closed door in her mind. Drowning, the fate of her family—she wouldn’t allow it to happen to her.

  By the time she reached the rocky beach her arms were heavy with exhaustion, her lungs burned, and there was a cramp in her side. Slimy, slippery rocks of all sizes filled the sand and the seaweed tangled around her legs. Once her feet were on solid ground, away from the tidal pools, she huffed catching her breath.

  “Where the hell am I!” she howled.

  She scanned her surroundings. A steep, grassy hill filled with dense brush lay before her. She’d have to climb it to get a better view.

  The relentless waves rushed toward her, grasping at her heels. She staggered a few steps, not allowing the water to touch her again. An involuntary convulsion gripped her and the air in her lungs pulsed out. The moon wasn’t full but provided her with enough light to see the inky ocean. She sobbed with relief that she survived the torturous swim. She blinked back tears determined to climb the hill. On all fours, clawing the ground and grasping shrubbery branches she clambered through the rough brush, finally reaching an area where the landscape changed to a tended lawn.

  She inspected her dirty hands and stinging limbs, covered with angry scratches. Mud and grass stuck to her drenched clothes. Glancing at the sea, she paused, recognizing this familiar curve of land. “Huh? This is Little Harbor.” She spent hours at the Wentworth admiring this view and knew it like the back of her hand.

  How did I get here…at night…in the ocean? Last she remembered she was in the study—with those smoking herbs. When no answer came to mind, she continued toward what should be the Wentworth, at the top of the crest.

  Once I get to the road I’ll follow it to the next house and get some help. She didn’t think she could make the trek to her house on the other side of the island. When Harmony reached the top of the hill she stared in disbelief. A structure stood resembling the Wentworth, but not as it last appeared to her, dilapidated and abandoned. It appeared fully restored but with altered architecture. The three mansard towers flared out as in Japanese design. Harmony rubbed her eyes, not believing what she saw. Not only did it appear altered, warm lights glowed from within. Wentworth-by-the-Sea, the hotel she was trying to save, stood restored.

  How can this be? This must be a dream.

  “Wake up!” She hissed the words aloud. This is crazy! She moved toward the building, glancing at the arched lettering on the portico: Wentworth-by-the-Sea.

  No, wait. That’s not what it says.

  She refocused. Wellness-by-the-Sea. Why does “Wellness” replace “Wentworth”?

  She passed into the lobby. There were no carved panels, no gilded mirrors, patterned carpet, wallpaper, not even the News Nook, the Wentworth’s in-house post office; nothing familiar could be found.

  A young woman entered the lobby, “Oh hello. Welcome to Wellness-by-the-Sea. How can I help you?”

  “W-w-w...Where am I?” Harmony vibrated. “W-w-w…what is this place?”

  “Wellness-by-the-Sea,” the girl repeated. She swept her gaze past Harmony’s muddy clothing to the pool of water on the slate tiles. She reached beyond the counter for a towel and offered it to Harmony.

  “Thank you.” Harmony rubbed down her face and hair and then wrapped it around her shoulders.

  “You are welcome in our sanctuary. I will give you a room so you can clean up and change out of your wet clothes. This way,” she gently coaxed. “It is okay. We are here at the Wellness to help.”

  Harmony followed her. At this point she felt frozen and her brain was about to shut down. This girl seems harmless enough and I’m probably dreaming anyway.

  They mounted steps, circling to the second floor, and advanced to the end of the hall. The girl stopped and Harmony knew the room within was ocean facing; she knew every room by heart after her illegal explorations. Once inside, the girl waved her hand over a sun symbol on the wall. The lights overhead softly illuminated the sparsely furnished space. One corner had a platform bed and the other had two pairs of fabric chairs circling a small table.

  “You can change into something dry. All the rooms are stocked with tunics for our guests.” Lynn slid open a shoji screen and collected folded clothes from the shelf behind it. She added a pair of soft slippers to her pile, all the while casting nervous glances over her shoulder.

  “Thank you.” Harmony took them from the girl who also wore a tunic. “So, what’s your name?”

  “Oh, forgive me. My name is Lynn.”

  “Lynn, I’m Harmony Parker.”

  “Harmony,” Lynn whispered. “Harmony is… musical.” Lynn’s eyes widened. “You don’t sing, do you? Singing is prohibited.”

  “I sing a little.” Prohibited? Maybe this is a silent kind of sanctuary, like for meditation?

  “Where did you travel from?” Lynn sounded suspicious.

  “Um, I’m from this area.”

  “I have never seen you before. And everyone is given aquatic names to honor our god…although some have abandoned that practice. Lynn means cascade.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m not exactly from this area.”

  Panicked, Lynn pointed to the washroom. “You should find everything you need in there. I will return with hot tea.” Lynn hastened from the room.

  Harmony wanted to stop her and demand she answer questions, but at this point she needed to get out of her wet, filthy clothes so she wouldn’t catch a chill.

  In the washroom, she opened the shower faucet and exhaled with relief at the hot temperature. She gently soaped the scratches caked with blood and dirt and wearily worked the shampoo through her tangled hair until it rinsed clean and smooth, flowing to her waist. After drying, she slipped the tunic over her head. The remarkably soft garment fit relatively well. The moccasin-style slippers also provided a good fit.

  I’m in a strange place, wearing strange clothing.

  Harmony pinched herself for the fifth time. If this isn’t a dream, then what? Did I go back in time? Harmony noted the automatic lights and running hot water. Maybe I’m in the future…or maybe the stress of cleaning out my dead grandparents’ home of forty-four years has finally gotten to me. I’ve gone crazy.

  5

  A knock sounded at the door and Harmony rushed to answer it. Restored by the hot shower and dry clothes, awareness eased back into her cranium and she was ready to ask questions.

  “I’ve asked the elders to speak with you. I hope you don’t mind.” Lynn entered holding a tea set.

  Two noble figures entered.

  “Hello, I am Morie, the caretaker of the Wellness-by-the-Sea, and this is our Linker, Calder.” The willowy woman stood poised and gestured to the man beside her. “We are both members of the council. May we speak with you?”

  “Yes. My name is Harmony Parker and I have a lot of questions to ask you.” Harmony considered their titles as she offered them a seat.

  After Lynn set down the tea tray, Morie dismissed her. She gave Harmony a lingering gaze before leaving.

  “Thank you for giving me a room and everything. I’m afraid I can’t pay until I can retrieve some money from home—t
hat is, once I figure out exactly where I am.” Harmony lowered herself into a chair, amazed she still had manners when all she wanted to do was shout out her question: Elders of the council, what is happening to me?

  The woman waved in response to Harmony’s concern. “Payment is not necessary. This is a temple, built to honor the water god. In this sanctuary, we house those who seek knowledge, healing, birthing and their final send off. Calder assists through spiritual guidance and uses healing energy and herbal medicine as needed.”

  Harmony blinked as episodes of The Twilight Zone flashed before her.

  She accepted a tea cup from Calder and gingerly sipped the scalding liquid. The man’s round face sported bushy, old-man eyebrows, his white hair combed back to rest at his collar. He exchanged a glance with Morie, nodding for her to continue.

  “Harmony, there are two realms of Earth. You have left the human realm and crossed in to our realm, the world of the Aquapopulo, the water people.”

  “Another realm!” Harmony’s voice broke. The Twilight Zone theme song played in her head. “Sorry, I don’t understand. How do you know this?”

  “Well your appearance is that of a human,” Morie rushed. “Also, Lynn told us you wandered into our temple, wet and confused. Can you tell us what you remember?”

  Harmony’s gnashing assault on her bottom lip subsided and she blinked, focusing on a space somewhere between them. She recounted her tale, her voice high and hollow. “…and then I woke up out there,” Harmony pointed toward the window, “under the water.”

  “It is okay. You are safe now.” Calder soothed. “Those were not tea leaves you found, but they were responsible for bringing you here.” His kind eyes were thoughtful, “Please allow me to take a moment and say it is an honor to meet you, Harmony Parker.”

  “Um, thanks. So what are they?”

  He continued, “The herbs are effective and specially blended for one purpose. They allow a select few of us, called Linkers, like myself, to pass through to your world and return to ours. The portal lies just off the coast of this island in a slice of broken water.”

  “For generations the Linkers have gone into your realm to gain knowledge—linking your realm to ours,” Morie explained. “They lived anonymously among your people. Our libraries are filled with the life and times of the human race.”

  “But why me? What are the odds?” That stupid old building! A sudden rush of regret and frustration flushed to her core. I shouldn’t have been in there. If I’d just obeyed the law and not trespassed, I never would have found that cursed satchel.

  “Harmony,” Calder recaptured her attention. “You have a powerful connection to this sacred place.”

  “Wentworth-by-the-Sea, this building’s name in my world, is very important to me. It’s abandoned and I’ve been fighting to have it preserved. And I have to admit, it’s always haunted me.” Despite her uneasiness, she sensed Calder understood where she came from, both literally and emotionally.

  “This island is sacred,” Morie said. “We worship our water god, Suijin. I believe your Japanese culture recognizes him among others. Water is everything to us.”

  As nice as the lady seemed, Harmony pegged her for a religious fanatic, although she certainly didn’t get that impression from Calder. Harmony hadn’t heard of Suijin. And Japan was on the other side of the world, a world she was no longer in. Things are getting stranger by the minute. She glanced again at Calder; there was something familiar about him.

  Calder pressed his fingers steeple-like exposing delicate webbing between them. “The realms are similar in space and time, but you’ve crossed into another dimension.”

  Though overwhelmed, Harmony was intrigued. “How are you different than humans?”

  He asked, “Do you know the theory of human evolution?”

  Harmony wondered where this was going. “You mean, like, at some point our ape-like ancestors descended from the trees and moved into the African savannah to undergo the evolutionary changes that separate us from the apes?”

  Calder grinned. “Yes, impressive. Now, what do you know of aquatic ape theory?”

  Harmony shrugged. “Never heard of it.”

  He pressed his lips together seeming to expect as much. “Our dimensions started out the same. As you said, the ancestors of Homo sapiens descended from the trees. However, some of your anthropologists believe there was a time when the early apes lived along the water’s edge, spending the majority of time wading and living off what was available from the sea. These scientists theorize that is how evolution happened. This is known as the aquatic ape theory.”

  She pondered the idea of an alternative evolution theory, and since she’d been transported to another realm, she guessed anything could be possible.

  Calder continued, “The aquatic ape theorists agree with the balance of evolution theory, that your early ancestors moved into the African savannah four million years ago, but only after undergoing a great deal of evolution during the aquatic phase.”

  “What about bones and fossils? Don’t scientists have proof of evolution?”

  “There is a time period between four and eight million years ago when scientists have no fossils. Why?” Calder’s thick eyebrows lifted. “Because the skeletons are under the water and archaeologists dig on dry land.” He pursed his lips before adding, “Your modern-day Africa was covered by more water then and had cooler temperatures.”

  Fascinated by the story, she failed to see the connection. “Humans evolved in water instead of on the savannah. Okay, but why are you telling me this?”

  “Ah. Well, first off,” Calder readjusted his posture, “it is not a hypothesis—it is indeed a fact. This is where our races split—yours became humans and ours the Aquapopulo. After being in a similar environment as yours four million years ago we stayed in the sea for several more million years. As Earth’s atmosphere changed over time, our ancestors migrated away from the African coast and we voyaged by sea to North America. Our ancestors came ashore here on this very island of New Castle.”

  “Whoa, that’s crazy.”

  “We have only one race, but others migrated inland. And we do not inhabit this entire planet. The sea and waterways are still the core of our existence.”

  Morie gushed, “Our connection to water is strong. It nourishes us with its food, cleanses our bodies from the Earth’s dust, and receives our dead to be transformed again into the circle of life.”

  “Sea people…” Harmony skeptically said aloud, “… like mermaids?”

  Calder frowned, knowing tales of such creatures in Harmony’s realm. “Our ancestors did not have fish tails. Remember, the early apes entered the water for survival. Aquapopulo have a thicker layer of fat, adapting us to cold water. We don’t get extremely cold, but tropical, humid temperatures bother us, so we remain in the agreeable temperatures of the northern climates.”

  He raised his hands to display his webbed fingers, and Morie did the same. “You may have noticed this. Or that our pale eyes refract light differently. We need oxygen to breathe, but we have the ability to hold our breath for long periods of time. Some special people, known as Divers, can hold their breath for up to twenty minutes underwater—quite a feat. I can only hold mine for eight minutes.” His face crinkled as his smile reached his eyes. But it faded as he continued. “Since this is the home of the great transformation from sea people to land dwellers, we have deemed it sacred.”

  Harmony rubbed her temples.

  “Our clan always had a temple in honor of Suijin. This newer building was built from drawings brought back from your realm not so long ago,” Morie said.

  Calder sighed. “If your people tear down the building it will disrupt our spiritual energy. The negative aura on your land has already started to make shifts in this realm.”

  Morie added, “Balance is shifting. For several years, the harvests have been poor, babies are not conceived, and violent storms destroyed homes along the coast. People have stopped worshipping him. Our go
d is angry. As a result, Suijin is unleashing his Kami, water spirits, to steal our people and return their souls to the oceans.”

  Hearing about these people’s struggle touched Harmony and she wanted to help, especially if her realm was the cause. “You need to send me back. I will do anything I can to stop the demolition.”

  She watched them exchange a look, and then felt a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach. “Can you send me back?”

  Calder’s lips pressed grimly, but he nodded optimistically. “Linkers have used the herbs for thousands of years. But I think this is enough information for tonight. Get some rest. We will talk tomorrow.”

  They left.

  Extremely fatigued and burdened by her uncertain fate, her last thought as her head hit the pillow was how no one would miss her. Samantha returned to filming overseas. Harmony had no family, no job, and school wouldn’t begin again for a while. It seemed loneliness followed her into this realm.

  ***

  The next morning Lynn meekly entered Morie’s private chamber.

  Morie spoke calmly, but her words were filled with insinuation. “Good morning, Lynn, I trust you were discreet after your encounter with our guest last night.”

  Harmony seemed unusual, so Lynn couldn’t help wondering if maybe she’d been sent by their god—a siren, able to leave the water and walk on land! Everyone feared the sirens—they were killers. She regarded Morie sheepishly, knowing the staff buzzed with excitement after she told everyone about the stranger. Fear prompted her to ask, “Is…is that girl…is she a siren?”

  “A siren! Where ever did you get that idea? Never mind. No, Harmony is not a siren. She is human.”

  Lynn stared at the mistress of Wellness. “I met a real human! Oh, thank goodness she is not a siren!” She held a slim hand over her pounding heart. “But a human! Wow, I can’t believe it!”

  “Yes, and it’s best if we keep this quiet.”

  Lynn smirked. Anyone who saw her would know she wasn’t of the Aquapopulean race. This was even more fascinating than her being a siren!