“Wow,” she gasped, finally sitting up.
She looked back at the fountain in time to see the inverted spout of the funnel collapsing. That had to be the roughest landing she’d ever had but there was no time to worry about it.
She stood and moved next to the nearest building. Unlike the middleworld, the underworld was buzzing. Spirits of all types were moving around the main plaza, crossing back and forth, heading off into the streets that radiated from the fountain like spokes. Some of them seemed to be in a rush, running by her on the sidewalk.
Livvy looked up to the sky and watched the drift of the clouds. Their direction would be her direction, the way she would go to find Anita. They drifted off somewhere behind her. She checked right and left before she stepped out, then headed left along the sidewalk to the nearest street. As she turned the corner and followed the clouds, she passed people and animals and insects that looked as genuine as anything in the real world but which she knew were spirits, their only existence here, in the multiverse.
A deer strode by in the street to her right, stepping over a turtle. A panther passed her on the left, trotting, its powerful shoulders rolling back and forth as it loped along. A man in a turban and loincloth passed her going in the opposite direction on the sidewalk. She had never run across her own ancestors here, but she had probably seen someone from every country or culture at this point. For their part, they never seemed to take much notice of her, nor did any of the spirit helpers around her. It wasn’t that they didn’t see each other the way that shamans never saw one another in the multiverse, the ancestors and spirits simply weren’t interested.
At the next corner, she checked the clouds again and they had changed direction, so she made a left to follow them and entered a less busy street.
“Where are you Anita?” she said to herself.
An eagle screeched overhead. Livvy glanced upward just in time to see it diving at her. Too stunned to move at first, she doubled over at the last instant and felt one of its talons grab the back of her jacket. A furious flapping of wings sent her hair flying in every direction. As she raised her arms to cover her head, she ducked down and spun around, trying to dislodge it. The eagle tugged and shrieked, but as her adrenaline kicked in so did the speed of her whirling. Finally, the pull on her jacket released and she heard and felt the beating wings recede. Still crouching low, arms covering her head, she chanced a look upward.
The eagle was gone. Livvy emerged from her crouch and searched the sky, turning in a complete circle, but there was no sign of it. She glanced at the buildings on either side, three stories most of them, squat brick offices. It hadn’t perched on any of them.
Slowly, she lowered her arms and brushed the hair back out of her face. What in the multiverse had that been about? She had never been attacked, if that’s what had happened, by a spirit helper.
As she glanced up and down the street again, she noticed it was now empty. Back at the last corner she could still see traffic crossing but there was nobody on her street. She edged closer to the building and checked the sky again–still no eagle. Maybe it had scattered the other spirits that had been on the street, scared them off with its bizarre behavior.
She pushed away from the building.
“Get in, get done, and get out,” she said, reminding herself of the motto. Don’t linger. You delay, you stay.
The clouds had slowed but were still leading down the empty street. She headed in that direction again but, wary of being too exposed on the sidewalk, she stayed close to the buildings and picked up the pace. She checked in both directions before crossing at the next corner, more out of habit than worried about spirit traffic. The spirit traffic was gone. Same as the middleworld had been, this part of the underworld was unnaturally quiet.
The clouds stopped moving. Like a movie that had been stopped mid-frame, they hung frozen in the air. She stopped and looked at the building in front of her. There were sliding casement windows on every level, probably an old office building. None of the windows looked any different than any of the others. All of them were shut.
“Of course,” she muttered.
Sometimes there was an obvious clue, especially in a soul loss case–red curtains blowing in an open window, dark footprints on the sidewalk, music playing from a certain direction. The soul wanted to be found and could even wander around the plaza asking for help. But not in this case.
Livvy went up the steps to the front door of the building and was surprised to find that it was locked. Doors were almost never locked in the underworld. She tugged at it with both hands, but it wouldn’t budge. Again, that was unusual. Her strength as a shaman often translated directly into strength in the multiverse. The fact that she couldn’t open the door meant it was locked tight, possibly by another shaman. She stood back from it and kicked. It didn’t open but there was a cracking sound. She kicked it again. The cracking sound grew louder. She kicked and kicked and kicked, putting all her weight behind her foot, kicking so hard that her foot started to hurt. She switched feet. The door was starting to move. She kicked it again and it opened about a quarter of an inch, something still holding it closed. With one final push, she backed up and ran at the door, raising her foot at the last second. A loud snap was accompanied by the door flying open as pieces of wood from the doorframe splintered in every direction.
The door ricocheted off the wall, still on its hinges, and bounced back. She caught it with both hands, pushing it away as she entered, breathing hard from all the effort. Once inside the doorway, she stopped to get her bearings.
The deserted lobby had a reception counter opposite the front door and an elevator to the left of the counter. A small couch, coffee table, and low chairs were grouped to the right. A door that led to a stairwell with an exit sign above it was on the other side of the elevator. Between the elevator and stairs was a building directory.
She shoved the door against the wall and jammed pieces of the door frame debris under it with her foot to keep it from closing. The light that fell on the floor through the broken door was the only light in the room. She crossed over to the directory.
The white plastic lettering tucked into the ridged black felt showed that it was a financial building, with accountants and auditors and advisers of various types. At the bottom of the list, there were red letters.
“Anita,” she said, as she placed her fingers on the glass over the name. Room 349.
Suddenly, the elevator dinged loudly. Livvy jumped back. There was nothing inherently wrong about elevators working in the underworld, but one that started without any reason, in a locked building that appeared to be deserted–it disturbed her. Something was wrong.
As the doors slowly opened, she tensed and moved off to the side, peering back around to see what might be inside, but it was empty. She looked into every corner of it, up and down, right and left, but there was nothing there–only the open doors, waiting.
“Yeah right,” she said. “I don’t think so.”
Again, the feeling that this was taking too long nagged at her. She crossed quickly over to the stairwell and pushed the door open. Only green emergency lights for the exit signs on the second and third floors illuminated the dark space. She let the door close behind her and bounded up the steps, two at a time. In moments, she had exited the stairwell on the third floor.
As she jogged past the room numbers down to 349, she called, “Anita? Anita, are you here?”
She stopped in front of 349 and tried the knob. It was locked. She knocked.
“Anita, are you in there? Dolores sent me.”
She pounded on the door with her fist.
“Anita, if you can hear me, make a sound,” she yelled. “I’m here to help you. Your sister sent me.”
There was a muffled scraping from inside the room.
“Anita, can you unlock the door?”
There was only silence.
“Anita!”
Still no answer.
Livvy backed up again
st the opposite wall in the hallway, took a short running launch, and gave the door a wicked kick, right next to the doorknob. It immediately popped open, but the front room was empty, except for a thick layer of dust on the wood floor.
“Anita?” called Livvy, swiveling her head to scan the room. “Anita, make a sound. Dolores sent me to help you!”
A scratching sound came from behind a door to her left. Livvy flew over to it and yanked it open. It was a small closet but it was empty.
No, not empty. Something moved on the floor. Livvy strained her eyes and stood aside so the light from the window could help. A small crab cowered in the corner.
“Anita?”
The eyes wriggled and it waved its small claws.
“Oh no,” Livvy whispered.
Not just soul loss, this was soul transformation. No wonder SK had called her and no wonder the other shaman hadn’t been successful.
“All right. First, let’s get you out of here.”
Livvy reached down and scooped up the tiny crab.
In the real world, Anita’s chest rose suddenly, as she inhaled. But nothing else moved, including her eyelids.
“Did you see that?” exclaimed Dolores. “Did you see it?”
“She took a deep breath,” said the teenager at the door.
There was a commotion in the hallway.
“Is that a good sign?” Dolores asked SK.
SK looked over at Livvy’s motionless body. Sweat was starting to break out on her forehead and small wisps of white hair were clinging to it.
He looked at Anita and saw that her breathing had subsided again but was a fraction less shallow.
“Yes, it’s a good sign,” he ventured.
His eyes darted around the baseboard of the room as he took stock of all the electrical outlets, at least the ones he could see. A single lamp was plugged in, though not on. That was lucky, he thought.
He returned his gaze to Livvy, who was still lying quietly, her breathing slow and steady. Even in the dim light, her white hair nearly glowed, reflecting light onto the gentle curves of her face and neck.
“Anita took a breath,” gushed the teenager, as she turned and clutched the hand of the woman behind her. “It looks good.”
“Will it be over soon?” asked Dolores.
One way or another, thought SK.
“It’s hard to tell,” he said, but he watched closely as Livvy’s jugular jumped to life.
Come on, Livvy, he thought. You can do this.
In the underworld, Livvy had already exited onto the street, holding the little crab to her chest in both hands. But as she turned toward the corner of the block, something sharp and heavy hit the top of her head, knocking it forward. She felt the great whoosh of flapping wings and the scrape of talon on skull as she ducked and flailed with one arm. The eagle screeched in anger as it launched to the sky, having missed its opportunity to take out her eyes. Even as she felt the blood oozing into her hair, it came back for a second attack. Again, she ducked down and it missed, but she fumbled and then dropped the little crab. As Livvy grabbed empty air, Anita landed on the pavement and skittered into the gutter, headed directly into a drain hole.
The eagle screeched again as it saw its prize. It had never cared about Livvy. Anita was the goal. The eagle swooped down and landed on the ground next to the crab. As the eagle stepped forward and opened its beak, Livvy dove at them, launching herself through the air, arms stretched out in front. Despite landing hard, she closed her hand around Anita just before she tipped into the drain, and just before the bird’s beak bit down on her fingers. Pain radiated up her arm as a scream erupted from her throat, but there was no way she was going to let go.
Lying on her side, she thrust her other arm to the sky, stretching out her fingers.
“Wind,” she ground out through clenched teeth.
Without hesitation, the eagle released her hand and cocked its head to look at the sky. As Livvy stood, she clutched both hands over the crab again. An enormous wind came down the street, blowing anything that wasn’t rooted to the ground along with it. As Livvy ran in the direction of the plaza, the wind at her back, papers and leaves flew past her and the eagle tumbled along the ground in the distance in front of her, unable to spread its wings or take flight.
She sprinted around the corner, the wind changing direction to follow her, and saw the plaza and fountain ahead. The crowd of spirits around her struggled against the wind as they watched her flash by. As they turned to see her, she ignored them, focusing on the fountain, not daring to look back. She heard the eagle scream behind her as she dove head first into the fountain, cradling the crab under her arm, as though she were diving for a touchdown. The water began to whirl one moment, and in the next she had broken the surface of the black lake.
Livvy felt the little crab wriggling between her hands as her feet found the bottom and she headed for the shore.
“I’ve got you. Hold on,” she said.
Tired, breathing hard, and moving lethargically out of the water, Livvy dropped to her knees on the wet gravel and released the crab.
As she watched, it scampered away from the lake and then turned and came back and then retreated again, almost doing circles.
“Yeah, I know, you’re anxious to get back,” Livvy breathed and stood up. “But you’re not going back like that.”
She walked a short distance away from the lake and stopped. This was the moment she knew had been coming ever since she’d seen that Anita had been transformed into a crab. It had been the work of a shaman, no doubt. As she felt the gash on the top of her head, she knew it had been the work of a shaman whose spirit helper was the eagle. It had been a powerful practitioner to have created such a radical transformation of Anita’s spirit and then hidden her in a locked and abandoned building in the underworld.
But a transformation was no match for Livvy’s gift, as both she and SK knew. He was the only one to whom she had told her secret. And she knew that he must have meant for her to use her power now, despite knowing what he knew. She shivered but it wasn’t from the cold of the lake. Only once had she called down lightning without controlling it tightly. She had never let that happen again.
She looked down at Anita, who had stopped running in circles. An image of her children, the two little girls crying, flashed into Livvy’s mind. She imagined their smiles and happy tears, reunited with their mother. It had only been Anita’s enormous will to live–probably for those kids–that had kept her holding on in the underworld.
Livvy looked up to the sky. The dark clouds were already swirling above her.
“Anita,” she said squatting down. “I’ve got to transform your soul.”
The crab danced but didn’t move away. The breeze was starting to pick up.
“I need you to stay absolutely still. It’s really important. Terribly important.”
Livvy realized her hands were trembling and clamped them together in front of her to quiet them.
“I need you not to move, no matter what you see. Can you do that?”
In answer, Anita stopped moving.
Livvy paused, thinking about the room in the real world, wishing now she’d had SK clear it and unplug everything. Too late now though. She’d have to work extra hard to stay in control.
“Okay,” said Livvy, standing up. “I’ll see you on the flip side.”
Livvy widened her stance and dug her feet into the soil. As she looked up, she shut her eyes and reached her hand up to the sky. She thought of Anita, her children, and their strong bond.
Don’t miss, she thought. Focus.
Don’t let it get away.
Slowly and very carefully, she extended her fingers.
“Lightning,” she whispered and snapped her eyes open.
A white bolt of electricity snaked from the center of the whirling clouds and sliced through the sky at blinding speed. Its searing heat flashed over Livvy’s face as her vision went painfully white. She heard it strike the ground with an e
xplosion that was deafening. It had found its target.
CHAPTER FIVE
IN THE REAL world, Anita inhaled sharply as Dolores gasped. The lights in the room flickered and small sparks danced in the holes of the electrical outlets. Someone at the doorway screamed as the lights died. In a moment, the lights were on again and Anita was coughing.
She sputtered at first and then brought a shaking hand up to cover her mouth.
“Anita!” screamed Dolores, stepping over Livvy to get next to the bed. “Oh thank God, Anita!”
The crowd from the door surged in and lined the other side of the bed, three deep, jockeying for a good view. Anita slowly opened her eyes as the intent faces watched.
Still lying on the floor, Livvy started to reach up a hand to remove her goggles but felt someone pushing it back down.
“Here, let me do that,” she heard SK say.
As he lifted the goggles off her face, she blinked a few times and then quickly turned her head to look up at Anita, who was looking at the crowd.
“What is everybody doing here?” Anita asked weakly.
Dolores threw her arms around Anita’s neck and sobbed.
Livvy propped herself up on one arm and leaned over to put space between her and Dolores’ feet.
“I’ve got a bottle of water in my bag,” she said hoarsely to SK.
“I’ve already got it,” he said, holding it out to her.
She slowly sat up, took a long drink and wiped sweat from her face.
“How you doing?” he asked, keeping a hand on her shoulder.
“I’ll be fine,” she said, although she didn’t feel that way. The latent body heat and dehydration that came from working in the multiverse were hitting full force. She knew it would pass but that didn’t make it any better.
She looked back over to the bed where everybody was crying now and trying to hug Anita. They had started to spill further into the room and SK helped Livvy move out of the way and sit in the chair that Dolores had been using.
Shaman, Healer, Heretic (Olivia Lawson Techno-Shaman) Page 3