The nursing center room was comfortable, but not at Stanford Hospital as I’d expected. When we’d arrived in the city, Orielle had taken us to Stanhope Extended Care Hospital instead.
“I thought he was at Stanford,” I said, accusation in my voice as I opened the car door.
“They moved him to long-term care. He is stable, and they can do no more to help him at the main hospital. Until there is a change in his condition, all they can do is provide nursing care.”
She got out, locked the car, and started toward the entrance. I followed, taking only a moment or two to look at the modern, pleasant-looking building with ornate-patterned stones running across the top. Evergreen bushes lined the front of the building, breaking only for the entrance. In front of the shrubs, a pair of six-foot round fountains spouted water, and two well-established trees on each side gave a cool, inviting look to the place.
Inside, the reception area greeted visitors with plants, flowers, and a pleasant young man, who was helpful in pointing us to the wing to find Gavin’s room. We followed the light-gray-colored walls down the hallway and into this room where I now stood, feeling uncomfortable, and stared at my friend. I’d never seen Gavin when he wasn’t full of energy and spirit, and even though I’d seen him briefly after the accident, it hadn’t been the same as looking at this dynamic man lying in a coma with none of the usual energy about him.
I turned my gaze away, taking in the details of the private room. A comfortable-looking small sofa for visitors sat in front of the far wall. A decent-sized window opened onto a view of the front right fountain. Nice enough scene if he had been aware of his surroundings.
Orielle sat in a chair next to the bed, holding Gavin’s hand and talking to him, her calm, accented voice telling him what we had been doing and planned to do. Feeling like I was eavesdropping, I went into the hallway, walking toward the end where a vending machine offered drinks and snacks.
My thoughts scattered, wondering what I thought I would accomplish by coming here today. I’d thought I needed to see him, but to what end? He wouldn’t even know I was here, let alone respond to me. Was he alive or just a functioning body with his consciousness permanently asleep? What had that blast from Belphegor done to him?
I swallowed hard. Was this an outcome we all faced if we failed? Could I end up the same way, lost in limbo between Earth and transitioning to the next level? I shuddered at the thought. Better to die and move on to the next phase than to linger in between.
Which took my thoughts to Janna, who still flitted around on the interim level somewhere. She needed to move to the next plane and whatever waited there. The danger was too high. The yiaiwa had killed her to use against me. I was positive of it.
I bought a soda and an energy bar. We’d come straight to the center without stopping for lunch, so this would hold me until after our visit was done. As I made a slow stroll back toward Gavin’s door, I saw Orielle exit and look down the hall. She motioned me toward the room. I picked up my pace a bit, even though I felt nervous.
“Talk to him,” she said in a low voice that almost hissed. “Maybe your voice will help.”
“I don’t know what to say,” I stammered.
“Anything. Doctors say that even though he may be comatose, he can hear us talking. He may be registering what is being said. It cannot hurt to try. Tell him what you are doing, what has happened. He may need to know you are well.” Her voice had an urgent tone to it as if I might actually make a difference.
Noticing the drink in my hand, she asked, “Where did you get that?”
I pointed to the end of the hallway. “Vending machine is down there.”
She glanced down, then her eyes darted back to mine. “Talk to him, Gillian. Please.”
As she stepped past me, I opened the door and went inside, my thoughts scrambling. What should I tell him?
Sitting in the chair Orielle had vacated, I forced myself to look at Gavin. The nurse had shaved his face that morning, but a slight bit of stubble showed along his jawline. He looked like he was sleeping, except for all the tubes and the lack of energy that usually emanated from him. And my knowledge of what had happened. My heart had stuttered when I’d seen him buried under that pile of dirt and rocks after Belphegor had blasted both of us from the cave. I’d been lucky that I’d been thrown far enough away from the cave-in.
Cautiously, I reached for his hand with my left one and wrapped my fingers around it, feeling the warmth in his skin. He didn’t feel dead, and I could detect the light pulse of his blood flowing through his body. Life, but not life.
I wet my lips and began to speak. “Hi, Gavin. It’s Gillian. I’m here with you. I’m all right, in case you have been worried about me. I miss you, especially your input to our problem and your teasing. Orielle and I really need your help, prof. We’re floundering around like misguided guppies trying to solve our problem.”
I paused, swallowing the emotions that threatened to come out in a gulp of a sob. “We’re planning an attack on the interim level against that dark gate. Our team has been growing...” I went on to tell him about the recruitment and the success with pulling almost a dozen others across to help fight it.
Tears trickled down my face as I finished up, squeezing his hand as I said, “Gavin, please come back to us. You’re strong. Whatever Belphegor is doing to hold you, fight against it. I— We really need your help and guidance. I have never been so scared in my life.”
As I made this last little confession, I thought, for just a moment, that I felt a finger twitch against my hand in reaction. Probably not, I told myself, but a small flame flickered in my heart with the hope that he had heard everything.
I released his hand, wiped my eyes with a tissue, and leaned over to plant a kiss on his forehead. Still warm skin, thank goodness.
I left the room to find Orielle seated a few doors down in a little visitor’s alcove with four armchairs and a coffee table stacked with several issues of various magazines. She sipped her soda and stared at her phone, reading a message. After a moment, she looked up at me.
“Ready to go?” she asked.
I nodded. Four hours over and another four hours back to Reno. A long trip for the short visit we’d just had, but important, Orielle had said. We needed to keep encouraging him.
She had more faith than I did.
“Lunch first?” I asked as we started back to the car.
She nodded. “I know a great place near here.”
I FOCUSED ON LUCCA’S medal again, picturing his face and willing him to join me in the interim cemetery. Ringed by the rest of the team, save Orielle, I let the others look around the immediate area while I attempted to pull Lucca across. At first, I thought it wasn’t going to work, but then he stood a few feet from me, his head still bent and staring at the simulation of his token in his hand.
“You made it, Lucca,” I said, then shouted to the others. “Okay, we’re all here. Welcome to the ethereal cemetery. We have one more team member, who is not with us today, but she will be joining next time. Let’s start out with a little tour of the area. Follow me.” Orielle had opted out of the excursion this time.
Moving to the front of the group, I started toward the silver path that was shining in the mid-morning light and the rest fell into step, in clusters, behind me. Lucca pulled up to almost even with me. Like the others, his head was pivoting from side to side as they took in the total look of the garden-like setting.
“It is beautiful here. Serene-looking,” Lucca said.
“Today. We’re lucky it isn’t one of the darker days I’ve encountered.” I looked to the right where dark, ominous clouds gathered over the sinister side of the barrier. We’d go there after we saw the pleasant part. No sense in frightening them off immediately.
As we drew nearer to the gate, the light on this side seemed more golden and clear as if it was fed by the tunnel light.
Hamish, our man from Scotland, marched along the edge of the path, not far back from Lucca. Wi
th his red beard and ruddy looks, I couldn’t put an age to him, but I suspected he was in his early forties, and I guessed he’d been in the military. He hadn’t said much when I’d first tested him, but he seemed intent on stopping the yiaiwa now that he knew what they were. His gray eyes took in everything as he walked, and I suspected he was making mental notes. Good man.
Likewise, I figured Lucca cataloged everything as we walked. Not a man to miss details, not if he was an agent for Rome. As I’d already seen, you could easily miss his deadly side if you judged him on his bright smile and good nature.
I glanced behind me to make sure I wasn’t losing anyone and spotted Parnika, our girl from India—the one who’d spotted a yiaiwa around her town’s temple. She appeared shy, but I noted that she was smart, and she had a particular ability with chants that might be useful. Shorter than me, she was slim and delicate-looking and wore a casual-looking dress, the only one of the women in one.
The rest of us wore practical jeans or slacks, even Cara, my middle-aged English contact that I hadn’t been too sure about. When we’d talked about possible talent, she mentioned that her voice seemed to annoy the “shadowed blighters,” as she’d put it, whenever they came around, and they would leave. I didn’t know if it would be useful, but anything that might repel a yiaiwa was worth having. Astrid lingered back alongside Cara, chatting as we made our way.
Sandy had connected with Jade as soon as she’d arrived and the two of them walked with Bob. Yoshi and Elly strolled behind them, each taking in the view as well, and I saw Elly point to the clouds on the left. While most of them hadn’t seen the dark section, Elly knew what was there and was probably giving Yoshi an earful. That left Dierck, a German recruit, Cowboy, and Victor from Hungary following up at the end. I wasn’t sure about Dierck, but he’d transitioned without effort while Victor, a teenager and just barely legal, seemed nervous and uncertain. He’d scarcely managed the astral shift when I’d tested with him.
That was the team. Add in Orielle and Nygard, and we numbered sixteen. Not nearly enough to take on even a small platoon of yiaiwas, so I hoped we all had some kind of special juju to throw against them.
I came to the curve in the path that turned us toward the gate and picked up the pace a bit. I didn’t want to linger here any longer than I needed to and I still had to make a somewhat public call to Zoe at the gate. Just a minute or so later, we paralleled the wall leading to the gleaming marble gate.
Golden bars blocked the entrance as it remained sealed, but through the bars, the light tunnel remained as intense as ever, a glowing circle with an unfathomable depth that would take the soul to the next plane. Somewhere, through that tunnel, I would try to reach Zoe’s mind...or whatever a soul had.
I turned to tell my group that we’d arrived and watched Lucca walk past me. He stopped right in front of the gate, his face filled with wonder and joy, then he made the sign of the cross over his chest, bowed his head, and dropped to his knees. I could see his lips moving, in prayer, I presumed, but I couldn’t hear anything he said.
As I turned my attention back to the group, I saw that four others had also kneeled, heads bowed against the divinity of the gate and the light tunnel. Astrid appeared entranced by the beauty and purity of the light, while Parnika seemed to be chanting something under her breath. The others just gazed at it with glazed eyes as if stunned.
The chant reminded me that I’d failed to tell them all to use a protection prayer when traveling. I’d said one that I’d asked to encompass the whole team, but each should cast one for themselves.
I turned and walked to the gate, close enough to put my face almost to its bars, and shouted, “Zoe Sarkis! I need to talk to you. Please come to the cemetery.” I could feel the eyes of the others turning toward me, surprised by the disturbance in what they might consider a sacred place. Uncowed, I took a deep breath and repeated my message, then turned to the group.
I shrugged my shoulders, then walked back through them to head back the other way as soon as they were through gawking. Lucca was the last to rise, again crossing himself before turning to come back toward us.
“Okay. That’s the bright and beautiful side of this cemetery. Normally, that gate is open to the soul that needs to cross, but it has been locked for now. I believe it is for security. Now, we’re going to backtrack and turn to the left where those dark clouds are threatening, which is where the dark side shows up.” I paused for a breath and to give any, who hadn’t already noticed, time to observe the very black-looking clouds.
“Before we start that way, I didn’t mention that each of you should say a protection prayer or chant before you do any astral travel and use the strongest one you know before we head over to the barrier. If you don’t have one, my friend, Astrid, will teach you one right now.”
I motioned to Astrid, who moved up to stand next to me, then turned to the team. “Who does not know a protection invocation?” she asked.
About half the team raised their hands. She quickly herded them away from the rest to run through the prayer with them. The remainder drifted apart a bit and began saying their own prayer. I noticed both Yoshi and Parnika seemed to have a ritual to their prayer as they each sought a private area near the hedges. Whatever worked.
I closed my eyes and added a codicil to my prayer asking Zoe to please come to me either here or at my home and give me the promised key to sealing the portal. If I couldn’t reach her any other way, I’d take a dream visit.
When I opened my eyes, I nearly jumped out of my skin. Oh, wait, I was out of my skin. Janna stood in front of me, smiling brightly and waving her hand in front of my face.
“Hello, hunny,” she crooned, then giggled. “Did I startle you?”
“Janna... You’re still here,” I sighed. I had hoped her failure to appear the past two times I’d been here was because she’d gone through the gate. I should have known better.
“I haven’t been here the whole time, but I went to see my folks. Unfortunately, see them was all I could do. They’re so sad. Did you talk to them for me, Gilly?” Her mouth drooped down into a sad face.
“No, I haven’t been to see them,” I confessed. “Your parents need a little time before I try to tell them I’ve seen their daughter in spirit form.”
“Oh.” She gave me her stern look and said, “But you will tell them, right?”
“Yes, I will tell them. But, honestly, Janna, this is not a safe place.”
She gazed at me and pointedly turned her head to look at the small group of visitors. “And it is for them?”
“No, but they’re here to help me fight the yiaiwa. Believe me, I wish I didn’t have to bring them here, but I can’t fight them alone.”
“Then let me help, too.”
“Janna, what can you do? Do you have any kind of skill to use against them?”
Her expression turned sheepish, and she said, in a low voice, “I do have one talent I discovered...”
“What?” I was intrigued.
“This!” She tossed her hands in the air releasing a burst of rainbow colors that flared out into the sky about fifteen feet. Almost immediately, I detected the scent of cotton candy wafting through the air.
“A splash of rainbows?” I asked incredulously. “How is that going to help us?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know, but it’s what I can do. Maybe they don’t like bright colors, or I can signal people. It must have some use, don’t you think?”
I shook my head. Only Janna would have such a sweet gift. “Maybe. If I tell you no, you’ll only come anyway, won’t you?”
“Of course. I want to help stop this before those monsters kill anyone else.”
“Guess I’m stuck with you then.” I would have hugged her if we could actually touch, but I made a hugging gesture to her, and she returned it. It felt oddly warming.
Lucca came up to me, a big smile on his face. “I see we have a newcomer. I am Lucca.”
“This is Janna,” I said. “She’s a spi
rit now, but she was my closest friend.”
“Ah, condolences to you both. So sad to be separated, but also is it not a joy to know life continues after?”
“It’s certainly been a revelation,” I mumbled while Janna appeared charmed by the Italian’s accent.
Everyone else began to pull back into the group as Astrid returned to my side.
“We’re as protected as we’re going to be,” she said. “Let’s get going.”
I addressed the team, saying, “Okay, everyone. We’re going to the dark side now. Stay close together and follow my instructions. We’re not here to take on any of the creatures today, but for you to see the challenge and to learn what our combined talents can do.” I heard a few mumbled responses as I turned back to the path and set a steady pace back to the fork to the left.
Shortly, we came to the split and made the turn heading up the long rise to the top of the hill above the mausoleum. As we climbed, I questioned my judgment in bringing my team, untried and untested, to the brink of enemy territory. They were ordinary people, just as I was a little over a year earlier, without the kind of training needed to take on supernatural monsters. Was I making a huge mistake?
“Trust yourself,” Astrid advised in a low voice as she moved closer to me. Could she read my doubt that easily?
I shot a look at her and murmured, “But am I right? Will this work?”
“That is to be seen. We won’t know until we try. Have faith.”
Faith...that was a tall order for me. I cast my eyes back over my shoulder to see that everyone was keeping up, a bit strung out, but still all with us. Janna had attached herself to Sandy and Jade and chatted with them as if they were old friends. I smirked at that. Trust Janna to socialize.
We reached the top of the hill with Astrid, Lucca, and myself in the vanguard. My footsteps faltered and stopped as I took in the scene ahead of me. My companions halted along with me, looks of shock and dismay on their faces.
A Song of Redemption Page 28