Drowned History

by Rebecca Lovell

  “I need to see him,” Alice said as they started rolling her gurney down the hallway. “Don’t put me to sleep yet, I have to see him. Please.”

  “You can’t---” The doctor started to protest but something stopped him. He looked at her stomach, then nodded. “All right,” he relented. “Intensive care isn’t far. He should be here any minute.”

  The nurse ran as fast as she could up the stairs, amazed that her hat was staying on and even more amazed that this was the sort of thing she was worried about at a time like this. The woman downstairs was dying and she was worried about her uniform. It occurred to her that she didn’t even know the woman’s name and she tried to remember what she looked like.

  “Dr. Bennett?” She burst through the doors leading to the intensive care unit and scanned the room. “I need Dr. Bennett right away!” The man she was looking for turned to look at her, a stern look on his face.

  “Nurse Bailey, this is no place to be shouting,” he snapped. She shook her head and pointed to the door, panting. “What is so important that you have to run in here shouting like a lunatic?”

  “We need you downstairs,” she said. “There’s a woman down in the emergency room and she’s been shot. I think she’s dying and she’s asking for you.”

  “For me?” George frowned. He couldn’t think of any woman who would ask for him specifically unless it was Sylvia. Or Alice. “What does she look like?” He dropped the chart he was carrying onto the nurse’s station desk and followed the still-flustered nurse to the stairwell.

  “She’s got dark brown hair, and I think her eyes are brown too. Maybe my height, and she was wearing this really pretty necklace with a black stone---”

  George didn’t wait to hear more. He ran ahead of the nurse, taking the stairs two at a time until he reached the ground floor and the emergency department. He only had to ask once about the gunshot victim and ran to the treatment area where he found her on a gurney whose white sheets were as soaked with blood as the dress she was wearing.

  “Alice!” He ran to her side and cold fear gripped him when he saw that her eyes were closed. As soon as she heard his voice, they opened and she smiled.

  “George,” she breathed. “Thank goodness.”

  “What happened to you?” The blood all seemed to be coming from her stomach and the dream he’d had in the lake came back to him with sickening clarity. “Never mind, it doesn’t matter. We’ll get you put back together.” Alice’s face was an unhealthy shade of gray and one of her hands moved on the gurney as if she was searching for something. He realized she was reaching for him and took her hand.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I just wanted to see you one last time.” Watching the effort it was taking for her to talk was physically painful for him and he shook his head.

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” he said. How is she still alive? If they brought her from her office, she should have been dead halfway here. “You made it this far, you’ll be fine.” It was a lie, of course, and she seemed to know it. George brushed a lock of hair away from her sweaty forehead.

  “I love you,” she whispered. “I always have.” Her hand twitched in his and he squeezed hard enough he was certain he had to be cutting off her circulation. Alice didn’t seem to notice. “I wanted so much to see you.”

  “I wanted to see you too,” he said, and tears welled up in her eyes. “We never did have that dinner, after all. We can go if you’re still interested.”

  “Yes, that would be lovely.” Her voice was so soft that he had to read her lips to understand what she was saying, and he lifted her hand to his lips.

  “We’re going to get you taken care of,” George said. “You just have to stay strong. That’s never been a problem for you, though.” Still smiling faintly, Alice opened her mouth to speak but instead of a reply, she closed her eyes. A tear ran down her cheek and her hand went limp in his. “Alice!” She wasn’t moving and he pressed his fingers to the side of her throat, hoping to feel the pulse that had saved her in the cavern.

  It was there. It was sluggish and weak but it was there, and George looked around at the doctors and nurses who had been staring at him.

  “What are you waiting for? Get her into surgery!” He turned to one of the doctors. “Get an intravenous line in her immediately and start fluids. I want her and a major surgical pack in the operating room in five minutes.” The young doctor who had first brought Alice in ran to do as he asked and the orderly started wheeling her toward the operating room. Not wanting to let her out of his sight, George walked alongside her until he had to go the opposite direction to scrub in, then ran the rest of the way to change his clothes.

  No matter what it took, he wasn’t going to let her down again.

  Twenty-Nine

  Alice was floating.

  It was silent in the cavern with the exception of the singing voices she had heard in the temple. There was no running water this time, no dripping. Just those thousand voices singing so softly they could have been her imagination. She was naked this time, her body floating on the surface of the lake with only her face and breasts above the water. The blue lotuses were rooted in her hair this time and as she moved, so did they.

  Come to me, the familiar voice said, and Alice’s eyes opened. As she did, the water claimed her and she was sinking. It got darker as she went, the light in the cavern growing dimmer until it was just a soft glow on the surface and Alice was sitting on the floor of the lake. She filled her lungs with water when she drew breath but it didn’t hurt. It was as natural as breathing air and she looked up.

  “Am I dead?”

  “You may not die,” the voice said. “Your lover has great skill.” The water swirled and Alice stood up as a woman came toward her. She knew somehow that she was meant to meet her in the middle and went forward to do so. They stood face to face for the first time in the lake and Kali smiled at her. “It is good to finally meet you.”

  “Yes,” Alice said, her eyes devouring the goddess. Her skin was black as night, her lips and eyes a deep ruby red, and the pearl-white fangs between her lips were just like the ones that had been on her statue. This time, however, her eyes were not as fierce and she didn’t have the same hungry grin. There was something about her features that was familiar and Alice stared at her as intently as she dared, trying to figure out what it was. “You’re the one that’s been calling me.”

  “I have indeed. I want to thank you for what you did in my temple. Forgive me for everything I have put you through,” she said, bowing her head just a bit. “The ones who built my temple centuries ago never dreamed that anyone would be able to get to my trishula. I saw, and I needed you to find it so that you could seal it away. There was always a chance you would have chosen to take it with you instead. You made the choice. You protected your friends and may have very well saved existence. That is why I did all of this.”

  “All of this?” Alice looked around, then down at her abdomen. There was a small, dark hole in her stomach, just above her navel. Just as when she breathed in the water, it didn’t hurt. “You did this? I was shot because of you?”

  “I knew you would not look for him without a reason,” Kali said. “Just as I knew he would not look for you. You humans can be quite stubborn sometimes. I wanted to present you with another choice so I sent a messenger to bring you back together.”

  “A messenger? You call having someone shoot me a message?” Alice shook her head incredulously. “I would have preferred a telegram.”

  “I have given you the gift of time,” Kali said. “How you use it now is up to you.” She looked up at the surface of the lake where Alice could see a shadow moving back and forth. “Come.” Kali took her hand and they rose together just far enough so that Alice could see that it was George, standing on the shore. He seemed to be looking for something and Kali smiled. “Now he knows that he needs you, and you him.”

  “He does?”

  “That way lies pain,” Kali said, motioning to the surface. “R
emain here with me and you shall live forever in perfect bliss as my thanks. Return to your lover and the future will be uncertain but holds the potential for happiness as you have never known. But it is your choice, and the time to make it is now.” She held out another hand to Alice, and the familiarity of her features became clear as Alice looked into her own face. Kali’s face was impassive, neither encouraging or warning her this time. Above the water, George looked down and saw her. His hand plunged into the lake and she could see him shouting as he held it out to her. Without hesitating, Alice took his hand and let him pull her out of the lake a second time.

  They woke up together this time, hands clasped tightly, and the pain Kali had spoken of was instantaneous. It took Alice’s breath away and George sat up beside her. He had been sitting next to her bed with his head laying on the mattress. Alice could tell he was stiff.

  “There you are,” he said with a smile. “I thought for a moment I was going to lose you.” Alice shook her head and sat up in spite of the pain from her midsection. George stood up and adjusted her bed so she was able to sit more comfortably, then took her hand again as if he was afraid to let it go.

  “You won’t lose me,” she replied, her eyes prickling with tears. “I can’t seem to die with you around.”

  “Thank heavens for that.” He laced his fingers through hers. “The cab driver waited around to see if you were going to be all right,” he said. “He told my nurse that someone shot you in the middle of town.”

  “It was a message,” Alice said with a sigh. She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. I’m incredibly grateful for him. I never would have made it without his help.” It suddenly occurred to her that she didn’t know who Kali had meant was the messenger, the gunman or the cab driver, and she wasn’t surprised to find that she didn’t really care. “Is this really all right? What about your wife?”

  “My ex-wife? I don’t understand,” George said, frowning. “Why would you say that?”

  “That day at the university you were going to lunch together,” Alice said. “After everything that happened in India, I thought maybe you and she---”

  “Sylvia had been holding on to our divorce papers for me,” he said. “Her lawyer dropped them off at the university and she got busy and lost them. She found them and knew I was meeting Nadir, so I thought I’d get them from her while I was there. It was her idea to go to lunch.” He smiled. “It was also her idea to divorce me. I’ll thank you not to do the same.”

  “What?” Alice looked at him, confused. “What are you talking about?” In reply, George took a small red box out of the pocket of his white coat and offered it to her. “What’s this?”

  “I bought this when we were in Surat,” he said. “I never had the chance to give it to Alice Poole but I hope very much that Alice Graesser will accept it.”

  With shaking hands, Alice opened the box. Inside was a ring nestled into a bed of velvet, its large square diamond set into white gold. Two smaller triangle-shaped stones were on either side of it and elegant scrollwork surrounded them and ran the length of the band. It was the most beautiful ring she had ever seen and she looked up at George with surprise.

  “This is for me?”

  “If you’ll have me.” Equally surprising was the look of uncertainty on George’s face and Alice reached out to hug him as tightly as her bandages would allow. “Careful now,” he said, a smile in his voice. “You don’t want to open your wound.”

  “Yes,” Alice said into his ear. “A thousand times, yes.” George let go of her just enough so that he could kiss her and she held the box tightly in her hand as if it might disappear if she didn’t. “I’m sorry for everything. I wanted to tell you everything but I was afraid you would hate me for not telling the truth. I never, ever meant to hurt you.”

  “I’m the one who should be apologizing,” George said, pulling her to him. “I regretted it from the moment I got on the plane without you and you were all I could think about when I got back. I wanted to see you but I couldn’t get over my pride long enough to come do it.”

  “It doesn’t matter anymore,” Alice said, resting her head on his chest. “The goddess gave me a choice and I chose you. I’m never letting you go again.” George’s arms tightened around her and she tightened her fingers in the lapels of his white coat. She looked up at him with a smile. “It looks good on you.” George let go of her and took the box from her hand. He opened it and took out the ring, then slid the ring on her finger.

  “And this looks good on you.” He kissed her again and Alice welcomed it. When he pulled away, he took her face in his hands. “I love you, Alice. More than anyone I’ve ever known.”

  “I love you too. Always and forever.”

  “There’s something I wanted to ask you,” George said, letting go of her so he could take off his glasses and brush at his eyes. “What was it you saw when you touched the trishula?”

  “I saw the destruction of the world,” Alice said. “Just like the carvings on the wall said. The trishula controls time, you see. The three prongs are the past, present, and future. We all dreamed of the past so vividly because for a moment she was pulling us through time. And you were right, she was using me to bring her power to the surface world so we could find our way down to the trishula. If the Nazis were to get it and find out how to use it, they could change history to suit them and give them unlimited power. If that happened, the balance would be thrown off. It would start a cascade that we would all be caught in, and the universe would be torn into pieces.”

  “Thank God you saw it,” George said. “If you hadn’t, and we took it out of the temple, we might not even have known what we were doing. Nadir was right, you saved us all.”

  “Remind me to thank him for all of this,” Alice said sarcastically. Then she looked down at the empty box in her hand, smiled, and reached up to touch George’s face. “Yes, I’ll have to thank him.”

  “As will I.” He kissed Alice again and she felt as if someone was nodding in approval as she kissed him back. She knew that this time she made the right choice and even without eternal life, everything would be all right as long as they were together. Even the goddess would be able to agree with that.

  Deep underground, the lotuses shifted in a wind that didn’t exist and the white temple slept at last.

  About the Author

  Rebecca Lovell was born and raised in Texas, and has loved learning about the history of Fort Worth since her first visit to the Stockyards. Historical fiction is her first love, and she enjoys researching and studying new eras as well as writing contemporary romance. She’s always coming up with new ideas and occasionally manages to settle down and write one. When she’s not writing, Rebecca enjoys watching horror movies and crocheting.

  Though she has traveled the country extensively, Rebecca currently lives in Fort Worth with her high school sweetheart and a number of vocal and pushy cats.

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