Shared Skies

by Josephine O Brien

  What on Earth has this got to do with anything? Gaiah looked at Kaley to see if she was in on some joke but her grandmother had no humour in her eyes as she looked steadily back at Gaiah. Alasdair was still talking, “Scientists on Earth have been talking about parallel universes for decades.”

  His hand sketched shapes in the air. “Universes that occupy the same space but in different dimensions; unknown dimensions.”

  Gaiah frowned. What the hell’s he talking about? Where’s he going with this?

  “They are working to prove the existence of at least one parallel universe. There are, in fact, three.” Alasdair spoke in a calm, matter-of-fact voice, but his eyes kept finding Gaiah’s in the rear view mirror. Kaley gently squeezed Gaiah’s hand.

  “That’s where we come in, that’s where we are from. One of those worlds is called Gaiana,” she said softly, “The other is Or'ka. Together, with this world, they're called the Trinity.”

  Gaiana? Gaiah? Okay, if this weren’t so freaky, at least it would be some explanation for my name!

  There was a pause as if they expected a response. Gaiah said nothing. What the hell do they expect me to say? This is ridiculous. It’s just plain madness. No-one’s from another dimension, least of all me. They’ve got to be joking.

  She didn't know quite what she had been expecting–some family emergency that lasted for ten years in a remote part of the world and abject apologies perhaps. Something. Anything. But not this unintelligible waffle. She dropped Kaley's hand, sat back and folded her arms. Oh God, they’re completely crazy. What am I going to do?

  She slid her hand around the door handle. We’re not going that fast, what’s the worst that could happen if I jumped out? The roar of a haulage truck and its blur of gaudy colours as it thundered past made her release her hold, shocked at what she’d been contemplating. She rubbed at the goose bumps puckering the skin on her arms.

  Alasdair was still talking. Gaiah’s stomach churned and her head swam with the effort of trying to fathom what on Earth was going on. She registered what he was saying and it was just too much. She interrupted, her voice scathing, “Oh, please! This is mad. Are you trying to tell me we’re aliens or something? You've both been very nice to me and everything and I don’t want to be mean but this sounds like madness! And to be honest…Or’kans? Come on, we’ve all seen Lord of the Rings.”

  Kaley smiled, and Alasdair said, “Yes, that was amusing, but of course, Tolkien was a poet, philosopher and above all, an expert in the field of mythology. In fact he’s quoted as saying that ‘mythology is a divine echo of fundamental truths.’ He was absolutely right. So making Orcs as his evil beings was merely a reflection of how close he was to the truth, as Or’kans have had a malevolent influence on Earth for millennia.”

  Tears blurred her vision. Okay, now this is freaky. What’s going on? What are they doing? “I don’t understand. What is the point of all this?” Her voice was tight with disappointment and anger. “It’s not funny.”

  Kaley’s hand took Gaiah’s again. “No, Darling, it’s not. Look at me, Gaiah, look right at me.”

  Gaiah turned her head and met her grandmother’s eyes. Kaley spoke softly and slowly. “You are from Gaiana, the third world of the Trinity. It’s not funny, but it is true.”

  Gaiah couldn’t doubt the sincerity and honesty in her grandmother’s face. She inhaled deeply to calm her growing panic. “Are you really trying to tell me that we’re…aliens?” She hesitated over such a ridiculous question.

  “Nothing so X-Files!” answered Alasdair and he continued, “We are beings of energy and form–when we shift Earthways we become a more solid form of ourselves, it’s not sustainable for long without great effort. Earth is our lodestone-”

  “Our what?

  “Lodestone, it means something with a very strong magnetic connection that attracts things to it. This magnetic connection between our worlds is what Earth people see and they call it aurora borealis and aurora australis.”

  “I remember watching those lights.”

  “Yes.” Kaley took over, in a smooth, lecturing voice, a slight smile on her face. “You saw those lights often during your time in Scotland. Caused by magnetic energy and sun's radiation. Amazing isn't it? You know, these lights have been part of our shared history since the worlds began. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle called them ‘holes in the sky’. The Cree Indians called them the Dance of the Spirit, partly, I assume because they saw some of us shifting Earthways through them.”

  This is lunacy. Gaiah looked at Kaley through narrowed eyes. Yet she queried, “Shift Earthways?”

  “Yes, our magnetic force interacts with that of Earth, allowing us to shift Earthways.”

  Gaiah just nodded. Kaley leaned forward and gently rested the palm of her hand on Gaiah’s cheek. “I know,” she said softly, "It all sounds insane, but it’s the truth. Feel it in your heart, Gaiah. Rely on your Gaianan instinct, we all do. It has always led us to the truth. Your rational Earth brain is fighting it, but see how you feel.”

  Gaiah sat in silence, there was really nothing she could say. Crazily, Kaley was right. Gaiah viscerally felt the truth of what they had been saying and it was shocking and scary. It would explain so much. This is a surreal, ridiculous conversation to be having, but yet…I knew it. I am not normal. I don’t fit in properly–I never did. “So, really, are you saying I'm different to everyone else too?” Gaiah couldn't help a slightly hopeful tone.

  “Well, different to everyone on Earth, yes.” Kaley confirmed. Alasdair continued. “Humans have been aware of us in a vague sort of way for millennia. Ghosts, spirits, things appearing out of thin air, glimpses of people who aren't there, a sighting of someone whose last image was painted 100 years ago–us, Gaiah, all us. Sometimes, our Earthways form isn't strong enough or we have stayed too long and our energy to keep our physicality intact is depleted, we waver between worlds. This world’s history is full of such stories. Also, as you can now understand, sometimes a Gaianan falls in love with an Earth person as happened with your parents.”

  Gaiah strained forward against her seat belt. “My parents?”

  Kaley pulled her her own belt loose, so she could twist further around in her seat. Shadows of a never ending pain were clear on her face.“Yes, your mother, our darling daughter, a full Gaianan, fell in love with Andrew Hansfort, an Earthman. They became a melded couple. Melding are unions destined by the Trinity. They are a rare and special bonding, their love is beyond the bounds of either world."

  There was silence in the car. Gaiah tried to come to grips with this extraordinary portrayal of her parents. Love beyond worlds? Melded couples? She rolled down the window to allow some cool air rush in around her face and try to clear her head. An image of her father’s heartbroken face filled her head, and she turned back to Kaley, stabbing the air with her finger. “Dad never told me any of this, and if it were true, he-”

  Kaley shook her head. “He never knew.”

  “Why didn’t you tell him, make him see…”

  “Earth people can’t travel between our worlds, they don’t know they exist. All he knew was that somehow, love had taken over his life and that was enough.” Alasdair glanced back at them. “Meldings are beyond our power and rarely happen. When they do occur, the Gaianan world respects and supports it with all its resources. Because if a child does result, and if the child favours its Gaianan heritage–which is even rarer, this child is of immense importance and significance to us all.”

  Looking out the window at the passing traffic, Gaiah’s mind went on screen saver. They were now on the anonymous-looking A9 to Inverness. She barely noticed the splashes of yellow and purple wild flowers growing through the brush at the back of the grass-lined verge. Wide open acres, cultivated with tall ranks of pylons and telegraph poles, whizzed by as she tried to process this.

  “Earth too, has taken notice of these meldings, without realizing it,” continued Kaley. “They have written them into their histories, their
literature and their legends. Every Earth child knows of Romeo and Juliet, Guinevere and Lancelot, Helen and Paris, Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal.”

  Gaiah just knew her face looked as blank as her mind felt. Alasdair clarified. “Of Taj Mahal fame. One of the greatest Indian love stories?”

  “Oh, yes, of course, I’ve heard of that, just never known their names.” Gaiah could hardly believe she was making rational responses to any of this madness.

  “All of these, unfortunately, as with your parents, have something in common-a death.” Kaley paused. She closed her eyes and her voice grew soft. “Even with the support of our whole community, a Gaianan cannot live for years on Earth without fatally damaging their energy-producing capabilities. Our whole world tried to help, but we only number hundreds of thousands as opposed to the Earth’s millions, and the Or’kans are even less, they’re counted in thousands.”

  Kaley stopped speaking. Alasdair, took one hand off the steering wheel, stretched his arm back behind the passenger seat, Kaley’s hand met his and his knuckles whitened with a tight squeeze. Kaley took another deep breath and continued,

  “Your parents enhanced each other’s gifts to an extraordinary degree. Your dad, already a great artist became phenomenal when he melded with Nia and she became one of our best healers of all time.”

  “My mum was a doctor?” interrupted Gaiah.

  Alasdair released Kaley's hand and glanced back at Gaiah. “Not in the sense you mean it. Our healers try to heal the damage done to Earth by the Or’kans. She was already good at her job but after meeting Andrew, she could sense the damage even as it was being done. But, their true success and what has made even our loss bearable–has been you, Gaiah.” Alasdair’s voice broke and there was silence in the car.

  Gaiah’s brain was whirling. “But why did she have to die? Why couldn’t you save her somehow, make her go back to Gaiana?”

  “Melded lovers just can’t bear to be parted and every minute is precious. When you were born, their happiness was boundless. It was worth everything to her, to stay with you both.”

  Gaiah's eyes filled at the thought of her young parents feeling they had the world in their hands. Not knowing how soon their globe was about to shatter.

  “You see, Gaiah, Gaianan lives have different measurements; if she had returned to Gaiana and spent enough time to recover, she would have returned to an Earth where her husband was long gone.”

  Gaiah's hand flew to her mouth. Alasdair took over, meeting Gaiah's horrified eyes in the rear view mirror.

  “I’m sure you have heard tales of Rip Van Winkle or Tir na n’Og, the Land of Youth? People coming back unchanged after centuries? These stories abound in Earth’s literature because they are true.”

  This was a step too far. Gaiah hunched back over folded arms and stared out the window.

  Chapter Five

  Despite her desire to disbelieve everything, Gaiah was reviewing all that her grandparents had said. She jumped as a thought hit her. “Gaianan time is different to Earth time?”

  “Yes, Gaiah, I'm afraid it is.” Kaley sounded as if she knew what was coming.

  “So...ten years for me, looking for you both, lonely and missing you and worried...was what for you?”

  Alasdair slowed the car and glanced back at Kaley.

  “About four months in Gaianan time,” he said slowly.

  Gaiah's voice rose an octave.“Dear God! Four months! You've barely had time to miss me, while I was crying myself to sleep for years on end. How could you do it to me? How could you be so cruel?”

  “Gaiah!” Alasdair's voice wasn't quite so soft. “We told you it nearly broke our hearts to stay away and don't forget, for us, it's only four months since our daughter died.”

  Gaiah slumped back, her mind spinning. She spoke quietly, “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to–”

  Kaley cut across her. “Of course, sweetheart, don't worry. How could you know or understand any of this? We know how weird all of this is for you.”

  They continued in silence. Gaiah was grateful that Alasdair and Kaley seemed to have realized she needed a bit of mental space. Kaley still held Gaiah’s hand, but she stared down at it, gently rubbing her thumb across it from time to time saying nothing.

  Eventually Gaiah sighed. “I’m so tired of traveling. This road seems endless. Why can’t we just do something, if we're so special? Oh, I don’t know, like, just suddenly ‘be’ there or jump dimensions or anything?”

  Alasdair smiled. “It’s not Star Wars, Gaiah. We are real, bound by real physics and the rules of matter and mass as they apply in each dimension.” He paused and looked at a large and complicated watch on his wrist. “Anyway, being real we need a break, need to find a bathroom, and stretch our legs. Next petrol station we’re filling up on coffee and pastries.”

  Soon they were all walking around the forecourt of a country garage. A sense of un-reality hit her as she breathed in the cool, gusting, Scottish air, laden with rain and the scent of trees. How can any of this be true? What am I doing here? I’m in the middle of nowhere. I’m miles from home, miles from Dad. Panic started. First in her stomach, coffee and pastry threatened to return and her mouth filled with saliva. Her palms became damp. Two warm arms wrapped around her and pulled her tight.

  Alasdair's voice came from above her head. “Gaiah, darling, you are safe. Don't worry, you are with us, where you belong.”

  She stiffened in his embrace, but the warmth and strength of his hug, the love in his voice banished her panic. This was real, her grandfather was solid, Kaley standing next to him, was real. Gaiah hugged her grandfather back. “I know.” She stepped back and smiled at them both. For the first time in ten years she could smile at her grandparents. The thought made her light up inside and her smile became a full-grown grin. Kaley and Alasdair matched her grin as they headed back to the car.

  The wind snatched long tendrils of her hair, whipping them across her face, every time she tried to pull it back, more escaped.

  Kaley caught it and smoothed it down gently. “Troublesome, isn’t it? But it’s always a wonderful occasion when a young Gaianan girl’s hair grows to its adult length. Within a year from that date, their abilities begin to appear and they start training. I can’t tell you how sorry I am that I wasn’t there when it happened to you.”

  “Oh, God, I wish you had been, it was awful. I was so scared. It’s hard to believe it should have been a happy occasion.” Gaiah took a deep, self-pity banishing breath.

  “Here,” said Kaley, “this is what we use at home.” She handed Gaiah what looked like two small, normal hair bands but made of a shimmery, soft, elastic material. They were both connected by two long thin silver ribbons. She showed Gaiah how to unhook one elastic, gather her hair into a pony tail and secure it in the elastic with the ribbons attached.

  Kaley then plaited Gaiah’s hair, bringing the silver threads around and through each turn. As she worked at the long hair, Kaley explained that all Gaianan women, when they reached maturity had hair down to, or just below their waists. That was the way it was and no amount of shaving or chopping could change it for longer than a few hours.

  Gaiah sighed as she nodded. This part at least was easy to believe. Kaley pulled the finished plait around over Gaiah’s shoulder for her to inspect. The ribbons seemed to spread and hold the hair. At the end of the plait, Kaley used the second bobble and reattached the ribbons. Now Gaiah’s hair was firmly in place and the ribbons shimmered and glowed through her hair.

  “Wow. That’s fantastic, it looks so…so…”

  “Medieval?” suggested Kaley. “I did mention Guinevere; she started quite a fashion.”

  Gaiah shook her head. “This is all crazy. Very crazy.”

  Before they got into the car, Kaley put her arms around Gaiah. “Look, I know this all seems way too much for you now, you need time for it to sink in, to understand what it is really like. So no more serious talking till we get home, there’s so much more and not all as pleasant.” Th
is time Kaley sat into the front passenger seat.

  A black motor bike drove past slowly and Gaiah could swear emerald eyes looked at her through the visor of the helmet. Her skin prickled with unease, but given everything she'd been listening to, unease was to be expected.

  As they sped through darkening countryside they chatted easily, about whether the final Harry Potter movies did justice to the books. Gaiah thought they had captured the spirit perfectly, Kaley thought they had left out too much and Alasdair said he refused to watch movies of books that he loved.

  Kaley and Alasdair reminisced about the picnic they had all gone on when Gaiah was four or five. Kaley smiled back at Gaiah. “You planned a secret treat for us all.” Alasdair chuckled. “Unfortunately, for once, you managed to keep a secret.”

  “Oh no, what did I do?”

  “Five enormous slices of ice cream, wrapped in serviettes and hidden in your bag. Which you tried to produce two hours later. That's what.”

  Alasdair's description of Gaiah’s face as she discovered the treat gone and her bag soggy with melted ice-cream reduced them all to helpless laughter and Gaiah felt as if she remembered it herself. By now, dusk was claiming the day and Gaiah watched Inverness, which they had just skirted, being marked by ribbons of light.

  “Nearly home.” Alasdair sounded happy. “We must pick up some groceries first.”

  They drove through the new developments of red brick houses, past dozens of identical white houses with neat gardens. A few twists and turns off Leachkin road and they were heading into highland country at the far side of Craigphadraig woods. A small country shop at the side of the road had a display of potatoes and cabbages outside.

  “Oh, this will do fine, let’s call into Mrs. McKintyre,” Alasdair said as he pulled off the road. They strolled into the tiny shop, and were warmly greeted by a small round woman with grey hair. She filled their order, collecting and packing, eggs, fresh bread, vegetables and fruit. All the time, she was shouting to some unseen person in the back.