by Tatiana Vila
“Don't you start again with your questions, human girl,” Andras warned, stopping me in my tracks. “Weren't you in a rush to get your sister back?”
The truth was, since I didn't really believe this wasn't a dream, I found myself wanting to explore more of this world my mind had created. But even if it was a dream, I couldn't refuse the chance to see Buffy and do something for her, even though it wasn't real.
At least, I told myself, my heart and mind will know momentary peace. Once I awake and get back to the real world, I'll leave Comus' house and keep searching for reasonable solutions.
“Let's go,” I told him and Smooch with a short nod.
And on we went through that fantasy forest. Destination: the Garden of Wandering Souls.
I smiled. I really couldn't wait to see what my mind would come up with for this.
CHAPTER 16
“Why is it that you think no one will see me in the garden?” I asked and almost stumbled upon a silver-specked rock, which I'd been told was solidified mercury. Apparently everything in Chimera had mercury. From living organisms to rocks, mercury was present everywhere.
“No one goes into the garden,” Andras said, as he strode through the woods, without turning to look at me.
“Because it's forbidden?” I said, panting.
The bad thing of following a person as tall as Andras was that one step of his translated into two steps for me, which meant double the exertion. I was on the verge of asking, “Are we there yet?” but restrained myself from the childish question.
I didn't know how Smooch could take it with those toothpick-thin legs of his. Habit, I guessed.
“Don't you ever get tired of making questions?” Andras sighed, his patience rubbed thin.
“It's only logical to need these answers. I'm the one who's going in there.” For some reason, I took pleasure in this annoyance I provoked in him.
He paused for a moment and decided to answer. “The garden harbors too much energy. Our bodies can't take it. Going in there would be like…electrocuting ourselves.”
“And you're allowing me to go into that frying pan?” I said, outraged, and doubled my pace to reach his side. “What do you think I am, huh? A sausage waiting to be sizzled?”
He glanced at me with indifference. “Weren't you willing to do anything to save your sister?”
“Not if 'anything' implies me ending like a charred wiener, ready to be placed on a hotdog bun before I actually get to save her!”
“Relax, human girl,” he smiled, as if seeing me angry was something he liked as well. “The deadly overload of energy only applies to the citizens of Chimera, not humans—and if you're going to ask why—which I know you will—it is because you can't be killed by your own energy. Your human body is already used to it. Our bodies however, aren't. Everything that's foreign to a body will kill it if in a sudden excess.”
I wasn't really sure about his certainty of me not ending like a human hot dog, but since this was a dream, dying didn't really matter. Anyway, they said that whenever you get to that crucial point in a dream when you're about to die, you always wake up. So, maybe that was what was going to happen to me. Death or no death, I was going to die in the try, and that lightened my conscious considerably.
“Okay, so…what's the plan?” I said now that a small clearing seemed to be right ahead of us.
“Easy,” Andras said, decreasing his pace as we reached that brightly lit spot. “Smooch and I will distract the guards as you slip inside the garden. It's in front of Intork, the tower—”
“—that serves as the main energy conductor here in chimera, blah…blah…blah…I know the story.” I rolled my eyes at the useless information. My mind already knew this. What was the point of bringing it out in a dream? I guessed my brain lacked creative juice when it came to making conversations in dreams.
“And you know this why?” He stopped before the shadowy edge that surrounded the clearing and turned to look at me.
“Comus, obviously.” I gave him a look.
He cast a sharp glare at Smooch, who lowered his head in shame, and stared back at me. “The tower is made of crystal quartz, which helps to store the energy and conduct it more efficiently throughout veins of quartz that run underground. You'll find in the garden clusters of these crystals jutting everywhere. Make sure not to touch them since that'll alert guardians of a breach.”
“Okay.”
He stretched out his hand to the side, signaling me to go into the clearing.
I took a step forward and my jaw dropped. “Oh, my God,” I said as I stopped in wonder at the sight spreading before me. A small pond of an intense turquoise color sat on one side of the tree line, making it look as it was the eye of a precious gem waiting to be touched. A multi-hued sky, ranging from pink, orange and pale purple, embraced cotton candy clouds on the background. I remembered how I'd wondered why all those rays of light I'd seen seeping through the canopy of leaves back in the woods had had that shade of pink. Now I knew why.
Above the lush mantle of tree tops, a tall crystal tower rose magnificently. Instead of being straight and rectangular, this one had a McDonald's sundae shape—something I didn't say out loud because of the risk of being murdered by such comparison—I didn't want this dream to end yet—which started wide on the base and narrowed at its top with a bright, gleaming point. Waves of muted spectral colors seemed to swirl beneath the crystal structure, like they were dancing a slow, sensual song. Some of them sparkled from time to time, as if they were wired with sizzling energy.
Never in my life had I seen something so beautiful. Not even in movies. I praised my brain inwardly for coming up with such an astounding landscape. Spielberg would be jealous of my creative prowess.
I looked down and spotted several white dandelions on the neon-green grass that seemed to hum with power. I kneeled hesitantly; afraid my legs would turn into French fries, and lowered my gaze to one fuzzy ball. I took in a small breath and blew over its feathery surface. The tiny parachutes didn't lift off and spread like falling snow as I was expecting, but turned into white smoke as my breath brushed them.
“Cool,” I whispered with a smile. My brain definitely kicked ass in special effects.
“Are you finished having fun yet?” Andras said with a smile in his voice. He'd followed me and was standing next to me. I looked up at him and saw, for the first time, an unmasked honest-to-God grin on his stoic face.
“Wow,” I said, rising to my feet. “And here I thought you weren't capable of smiling—especially to a human.” And what a smile that was. I bet angels sang a sighing tune every time he showed his straight, white-as-snow teeth this way. “By the way, you have beautiful teeth,” I told him. Something I would've never done in real life. But dreams were meant to get crazy and do things you would've never done in a million years, so why not being bold and let words flow freely out of my mouth?
He arched his eyebrows. “Beautiful teeth?”
“Yep,” I said, shrinking the distance between us. “White and healthy, beautiful teeth. You know, like the feathers of a peace pigeon or brand new pearls.”
He looked down at me with a small, sexy frown. “I have no idea what you're talking about, human girl,” he said, his voice getting low.
“My name is Dafne,” I said softly, feeling bolder by the minute.”And you know what I'm talking about.”
His chocolate colored gaze lowered to my mouth. I felt my stomach doing a sharp flip flop and my lips parted in invitation. His nostrils flared as he took in a deep breath and locked eyes with mine. I could see a raging battle going on in those pools of rich brown, hesitation and resolve fighting against each other.
He cleared his throat and turned around, taking a few steps away from me. “Are you ready to go into the garden, human girl?” Andras said, a bit tightly, shoving aside whatever that intense moment had meant.
I lifted my eyes to the multi-hued sky at the avoidance of my name. “Yes, I am. Very.”
“Even kn
owing you could die or remain there forever?”
As if a bucket of ice-cold water had been splashed onto my face, I forgot my annoyance. “I knew it!” I snapped my fingers. “You really aren't sure if all that energy won't turn me into human roast.”
“I'm not,” he said honestly, turning to look at me. “It's just an obvious guess, but I could be wrong.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Why are you telling me this? I thought you wanted to get rid of me as fast as possible.”
“Oh, I want you to leave. But letting you go without you knowing that possible outcome would be bad.” He shrugged. “I'm just giving you an opportunity to think it over. We could…hide you for some time.”
Smooch's eyes widened in delight at the possibility of me staying. The small, funny-looking creature liked to be around humans a lot, apparently.
I gave a faint shake of my head. “I'll go,” I told them after a few heartbeats. “I'll take the risk. I can't stand the thought of my sister trapped in there.” Dream or no dream, I would try to save my sister.
“I already told you all those humans aren't in the garden against their will,” Andras said.
“I know you believe that, but my heart tells me otherwise.”
He stared at me, the renewal of something intense taking place in his eyes. It could've been admiration, but I knew how low his esteem for humans was, so no chance there.
After a moment, he lifted his hands in the air, as if giving up. “It's your choice.”
I sighed. “Okay,” I said, rubbing my hands together in anticipation. “Where do I start, then? What's the next step?”
“You walk straight to that line of trees,” he explained, pointing to the not so far green area ahead of us, “And stride through it. Before you go past the edge, wait for about twenty minutes. That'll give us time to get to Intork and distract the two guards.”
“Is the Garden of Wandering Souls past that edge?”
“Yes. That is the lower point of access,” he said, glancing at that green area again. “If you go up, you'll risk being seen. Once in the garden, you'll have to walk down very quickly to get as far away as possible from the tower. But when the night falls, if you haven't found your sister—which is more likely—you can go up and look for her. Since it'll be dark, the guards won't be able to see you,” he said, resting his hands on his hip. “Like I said before, it could take you forever to find her. The garden is really long and vast, and the souls wandering in there even bigger in numbers. You'll have to look for the one that feels warm to touch and call her name.”
“Wait,” I said, pausing to formulate into words an emerging fear. “You mean I won't be able to see her, like her shape or…something visual that will tell me it's her?”
“I never said this quest of yours was easy, human girl,” he said with a look. “Souls don't have physical shape, but they do have colors—colors that match up to the main theme of the dream that soul is having—yellow for friendship, blue for family, purple for nightmares, pink for love, red for”—he cleared his throat soundly—“passion dreams, just to name a few.”
For a second, I imagined myself locked in a “passion dream” with Andras and a blush crept up my cheeks. I rushed to speak before the pink shade in my face deepened further. “So I have to look up for one that feels warm to me and call her name,” I said, making it sound like a question.
He nodded and looked up at the tower. “We better get going. Every minute that passes here in the open is a chance to be discovered.” He glanced at me. “If you follow everything I've said, you shouldn't be having any problem.”
“Aside from maybe being 'electrocuted,' right?” I said, sarcasm lacing my voice.
“Right,” he said softly, laying his eyes on me.
He gave me a long, long stare, as if he was studying every plane of my face, frowning from time to time with traces of recognition. At least, that's what I think I saw lighting up in his eyes.
“What?” I told him with a smile. Was he finally going to make a move and tell me how beautiful and wonderful he thought I was?
“It's just that…” He shook his head, waggling away the thought that'd narrowed his eyes before. “Nothing, I…I was just wondering how you were able to get into Chimera, that's all.” Though his answer sounded sincere, I knew this was half of the truth.
Anyway, what did it matter how I got here? This was a dream, and this beautiful place I'd created as Chimera was nothing but a place in my mind's eye. Thumbs up for crafting all this mercury-and-quartz conducting stuff. Double thumbs up for making the sexy and stoic blond standing at an arm's length away from me.
“We should go,” Andras said and turned to look at Smooch with a wave of his head, motioning Smooch to follow him.
Andras took off, his long legs setting a fast and determined pace, as if each step was loaded with resolution. Smooch, taking the chance of not being seen by Tall and Blond and Sexy, run up to me and wrapped his flabby arms around my hip.
“Good luck, Dafne girl,” Smooch whispered. “I hope see you in human world some time.”
Before I could answer, he sped up to join Andras. Watching Smooch run was weird and kind of creepy. It was like watching a lizard running on water, though a bit slower. I didn't know how those toothpick-thin legs of his could take the bouncing weight of his belly.
“Hey Blondie!” I called to Andras before he would get out of my sight.
He brought his legs to a halt and turned to look at me.
“What? No good bye kiss?” I tilted my head to the side with a small smile. I couldn't let this dream to end without tasting those curvy lips.
The corners of his mouth twitched up slowly into a smile. “I don't kiss humans,” he said. Although his answer wasn't optimistic, the amusement playing in his voice lightened it up greatly, drawing a grin in my face.
“But I'm a special human,” I said. “You hinted at it yourself.”
Smooch's eyes looked like two wide tennis balls, going back and forth between us, expectant and excited at the same time.
Andras released a deep laugh, turning my insides into jelly. I had to find a way to conjure him again in a dream. He gazed at me with bright eyes for a few seconds more and said with an edge of sadness, “Good luck, human girl.”
I let out a big sigh as I watched him leave. That guy was pure, undiluted dynamite.
The Garden of Wandering Souls was everything I'd expected. I stopped by the edge of the tree line and watched, mesmerized, by the sight stretching beyond the breathing, mercury laced trunks. Vapory masses of different colors floated and moved above a field of neon-green grass, widening and elongating like blobs in a lava lamp. Crystal quartz points jutted out from the ground, sometimes in clusters and sometimes in single, six-sided prisms with pyramid-like tips. All of it was a surreal display of colors and materials.
I neared the border and lifted a hand.
It seems Andras forgot to tell me something crucial, I thought as I touched the invisible barrier that separated the garden from the line of clustered trees. Its surface was rubbery and wobbled like jelly when my fingers made contact with it, making the garden look like a giant, multicolored jelly.
How was I going to be able to get past this thing? My watch, which, surprisingly enough, still worked in here, indicated it was close to the twenty-minute mark. Tension started kicking in unrelentingly.
I closed my eyes and took in a large breath. “You can do this,” I said under my breath. “You can do this.”
I pushed my hand into the surface, but like a rubber band, it only sank under the pressure and never penetrated. I grunted in exasperation, stomping my foot. So what now? We never talked about the possibility of me not being able to enter the Garden of Wandering Souls. What a couple of masterminds we were.
I flicked my wrist to check the time. Twenty minutes.
Shoot. I shut my eyes again and concentrated on my breathing, just like Comus had shown me to relax. Once my heartbeats steadied, I opened my eyes and thought
with a loud and clear voice in my head, Let me in. I want to go inside the Garden.
I pushed my hand into the surface once more and, suddenly, I felt how the barrier softened around my skin and, progressively, turned into air and granted me entrance. Wow, I said inwardly. That was kind of easy.
I slipped inside the garden with my chest tightened in fear and opened my eyes. Huh. I wasn't combusting or anything like that. I waited a few more seconds and nothing happened, so I decided to take a few steps into the garden. Andras hadn’t lied when he said this place was vast and long, as in I-couldn't-see-where-the-end-of-the-garden-was long. Until now it looked infinite, which was definitely bad news. Some quartz crystals were taller than me, catching and reflecting light as pristine, magnificent diamonds, and some were really small, no bigger than my foot.
While standing there in awe, an elongated vapory mass of a yellow color reached my side and moved through me. I gasped at the lack of sensation that incited in me. It was as if a cloud had slipped through me instead of a human soul. The echo of Andras words streamed into my mind. You'll have to look for the one that feels warm to touch. The yellow one definitely hadn't been Buffy. It'd whooshed past me like a fresh breeze.
Without further interruptions, I strode down the garden, passing through a concerto of vapory colored blobs—none of them warm—while making sure my hands and feet didn’t touch the crystals. I didn't stop until the tower had shrunk in size and the sky dimmed to grayish hues of purple and pink.
Since combustion or electrocution hadn't presented itself, my immunity to the floating energy was pretty obvious and not a worry anymore. What was indeed a worry, however, was the size of this garden. How was I going to find Buffy in here?
Not wanting to lose any more time, I started the hunt in a whirl of despair that seemed to get worse as time flowed by and the skies darkened to deep gray. Apparently, Chimera didn't know the pitch black nights the human world did. In a way it was similar to our night skies when they were lit by a full moon, only in this case, there was no radiant orb shedding light up there. Chimera didn't have a moon, but it did have stars—stars that glided up and down, and left to right in linear motions, as if they were giant fireflies. The galactic effect had me hypnotized and gaping for a moment, until I remembered what I was doing.