The Akasha Chronicles Trilogy Boxed Set: The Complete Emily Adams Series

by Natalie Wright

  Fanny pushed herself up, rubbed her eyes and laid into Jake. “Leave off, nub. I’m trying to sleep.” But then her eyes caught sight of Liam and she ended her grumpy tirade at Jake. She ran to Liam and hugged him.

  “What? How did you find us?” Jake asked.

  “It’s a long story, but I got lucky I guess. Are you okay?”

  “We’re fine Mr. Adams, really okay,” said Fanny.

  Liam’s eyes roamed the room hoping to see Emily. But she wasn’t there. “Where’s Emily? Still sleeping?”

  Jake and Fanny exchanged guilty, worried looks. A wave of nausea overcame Liam.

  “Emily’s not here?”

  “Nah, she’s not,” Jake said.

  “Well, where is she?”

  The two teens were again silent.

  “Look you two, this isn’t a game. All three of you are in serious trouble. Now tell me where she is!”

  Jake and Fanny again exchanged silent glances, but then Fanny nodded to Jake.

  “Mr. Adams, what we have to tell you … well, it’s going to sound impossible. You probably won’t believe us,” Jake said at last.

  “In the last forty-eight hours my fourteen-year-old daughter assaulted my half-crazed sister and ran away to Ireland. I had to calm down two mothers who are, by the way, close to hysterical, flew from Chicago to Dublin, I haven’t slept in over thirty-six hours and, oh yeah, I ran around Dublin looking for you guys. So try me.”

  “Okay, but we need to go somewhere private. What we have to tell you isn’t for public consumption,” said Fanny.

  Jake and Fanny took Liam to their small room. Fanny plopped stomach down on a bunk while Jake told Liam an incredible story about a visit from an alien creature, a golden arm bracelet and a portal. Jake ended his story, “Then Emily walked into a hole in the ground and disappeared into another dimension.”

  Jake went quiet. He and Fanny stared at Liam with mute expectation. Liam did not speak, but his cheeks flushed red and a large vein in his neck began to bulge.

  Fanny broke the silence. “Well, what do you think?”

  “What do I think? What do I think? I think my daughter’s missing, and you’re telling me this crazy story to stall me instead of telling me the truth. That’s what I think.

  “Why are you two doing this? You think it’s a funny game to play – mess with Liam? Look, I know I haven’t been the father of the year, but this is a cruel joke to play on me. So what I think is that you two better cut out lying and tell me the truth or so help me, I’m turning you over to the police and let you deal with that!”

  Fanny’s eyes filled with tears. Jake too looked like he was on the verge of crying. With tears beginning to spill down her freckled cheeks, Fanny went to Liam, knelt down and took his hand in hers.

  “Look, Mr. Adams, I’d like to tell you that Emily is in the bathroom hiding and that after you leave she’ll come out. I’d like to tell you that we decided to help her run away from you and her aunt. I’d like to tell you just about anything other than what Jake said but the truth is, we don’t have another story. Truth is, this is all we got.”

  Liam pulled his hands from Fanny’s and slammed his fist on the table. “Well you better come up with something soon. I’m beyond losing patience!”

  “What if we can show you proof of our story?” asked Jake.

  “We’ve got proof?” queried Fanny.

  “You have proof of a holographic alien and an alternate dimension?” Liam asked.

  “Well I don’t know if it’s proof exactly, but we’ve got the box that the torc was buried in. It’s still covered in grave soil.”

  Jake dug in his backpack and handed Liam a small metal box. It was caked in dirt, but the engraved tree on the top was visible.

  Liam’s hands shook as he took the box from Jake. He held it and stared at the engraved picture on the top. Tears came to his tired eyes.

  “What’s the matter, Mr. Adams?” asked Fanny.

  “This box – where did you get it? Did you take this from my house?”

  Jake and Fanny exchanged confused looks. Liam could tell from their reaction that they had no idea what he was talking about.

  “I told you, Mr. Adams, the box is the one we found buried in the cemetery at Monasterboice. We can show you the grave too, and you can see that the ground was recently dug up,” said Jake.

  “Yeah, but I’d rather not go back there seein’ as how we’ll probably be arrested for grave robbing if we do,” said Fanny.

  “You’re saying that you found this buried here, in Ireland, in an old grave?”

  “Yeah, that’s what we’re saying,” said Fanny. “Look, I know you’re worried about Emily and wigging out with all this. We are too. But I’m not okay with you calling me a liar or threatening me so you either believe us or you don’t.”

  “Fanny, cut it,” said Jake.

  “No, I won’t cut it,” she replied. “We’ve got serious business to get to and we don’t have time to put up with this so you either believe us or you don’t.”

  “Calm down, Fanny,” Liam said. His voice had become soft and warm. “I’m sorry, to you both. But look at it from my side. I’m a physicist for Christ’s sake. I deal in facts and logic, not magick. None of this makes any sense. You – this whole situation – is asking me to stop listening to reason. You’re asking me to … ”

  “Believe,” said Jake.

  “Yes, well that’s not easy for me. Bridget was the believer.”

  “It’s hard for us to believe too and we’ve been through it all. I still wonder if we actually saw Hindergog or maybe it was a dream that we all had or a hallucination. But then we came here and found things just like he said we would,” said Jake.

  “Yeah and then we saw Emily walk through that portal. We had our doubts that it would open, but she put that torc on and then we were all staticky, and our hair was on end – that was real. It really happened to us. And then we saw the ground open up and the silvery fog came out … ” said Fanny.

  “What are you saying about static and silver fog?”

  “We all knew we were onto something when we got to the well the hawk led us to because we felt our hairs stand on end, you know, like when you rub a balloon on the hairs on your arm? Only it was like that all over our bodies, and we all felt it, right Fan?”

  “True chiz, we all felt it. And there was no storm or lightening or anything.”

  “And you saw a silver fog come out of the portal? What do you mean by silver?”

  “You know, not grey or white – silver,” Jake said. “I know it’s kind of hard to picture, but imagine fog like flowing liquid silver.”

  “And this torc – the arm bracelet she put on. What was it made of?”

  “I’m not sure. It looked gold, but it wasn’t like we did an analysis on it or anything. Why?”

  Liam sat quietly. To Fanny and Jake it almost looked as if he were in a trance. His synapses fired, his mind focused. There was something familiar in their description but Liam was just too tired to place it.

  “I’m not sure yet, but the static and silver fog and the gold bracelet – I think they’re connected and relevant, but I can’t put my finger on it right now. But let me tell you why I got choked up when I saw this box.”

  Liam pulled Bridget’s notebook out of his bag and showed Fanny and Jake the drawing of the tree and torc.

  “This tree looks almost exactly like the one carved on the box,” said Fanny.

  “And that’s the torc. Almost a perfect likeness of it. Where did you get these drawings?” asked Jake.

  “They were Bridget’s,” Liam said. All three fell silent.

  “So you see, there are just too many coincidences. My brain is in a tailspin guys. I’m not sure what to do with it all. My wife drew a picture of a tree before she died over seven years ago. Now you’re showing me the same tree carved on a box buried over a thousand years ago in Ireland, a place she’d never been. And she drew a picture of an odd, twisted bracelet. Now y
ou’re telling me my daughter put a bracelet just like it on her arm right before she walked through a hole in the ground and into another dimension.”

  “Yep, some pretty heavy chiz,” said Fanny.

  “Yes, Fanny, heavy ‘chiz,’ whatever that is.”

  “I know it’s a bit much to take in Mr. Adams, but here’s the thing. We’re up against the clock here. If Hindergog was right – and so far he has been right about all this crazy stuff – this Dughall guy is out there somewhere trying to find a way into the Netherworld too,” said Jake.

  “Yeah, and we don’t know what he’s up to once he gets there, but apparently it’s something really bad ‘cause that Hindergog dude came all the way from another dimension to send Emily on a journey to stop the guy,” said Fanny.

  “So we gotta help her,” said Jake. “We gotta do what we can on this side to figure this out so we can stop this Dughall guy.”

  Liam’s head spun with coincidences and information, clues and ideas. But he was too tired to piece any of it together into a coherent thought.

  “Hey, you look whipped Mr. Adams. Why don’t you get some rest for a few hours? Jake and I will keep working,” said Fanny.

  “You’re right Fanny,” said Liam. “Good kids. Both of you. I want to thank you both for taking care of my Emily for me.”

  “Ah, we didn’t need to take care of her,” said Jake.

  “I don’t mean just on this trip.”

  Fanny took Liam’s hand again and he didn’t withdraw it. Fanny nodded and Jake clapped him on the shoulder. It appeared that they wouldn’t hold the zombie years against him. Liam had come when they needed him the most.

  The newly formed trio shared a common goal: Find Emily. Their destination, as yet unknown.

  27. EMILY’S FIRST MASTER

  “Hindergog, where are we going?”

  “To your first master, of course.”

  He gave answers as though they were perfectly obvious. But every answer he gave made me more lost than I was before.

  “My master? Can’t you tell me anything about him? Even a name?”

  “Oh, I think you will recognize this teacher right away.”

  My heart picked up speed. Someone I recognize. Can it be? Who else would I recognize here? It must be. My mother! My teacher will be my mother!

  “Miss Emily, your master is not human.”

  My heart sank. He really can read my mind, can’t he?

  It’s hard to describe the way time worked in the Netherworld. It’s like I’d walk for what seemed like a long time, but I didn’t feel tired. And as soon as I’d think, ‘I’m tired, I wish I was there,’ I was there.

  That’s how it was at that moment. I thought, ‘I’m ready. I want to meet this teacher, even if it’s not my mom.’

  I no sooner that it when out of the mist appeared a small building. As I got closer, I saw that it was made of wood and it was weathered grey. It had a roof thatched in straw blackened by time. The windows were covered in wood screens with old Chinese carvings, the lacquer aged to an almost blackish-red patina. A path of stone steps led to a carved redwood door. The little house looked like it had come out of the Chinese countryside.

  As we approached the front door, Hindergog stopped. Panic seized me. Is he going to leave me here alone without him?

  “Are you leaving me?” I asked.

  “Yes, dear one, this you must do alone.”

  “But Hindergog, I don’t know what to do. I’m scared and you’re the closest thing to someone I know in this strange place. Please stay with me.”

  He shook his head and his dog lips curled into a small smile. “Dear Emily, you are in capable hands here. Your task is at hand. Learn well, young one.”

  With that, he vanished into the fog and mist.

  Sweat pooled in my palms and I stood as still as a stone in front of the small, cottage door. I felt like an idiot standing there. A voice in my head said, ‘Knock, moron’. I think that was Muriel’s voice.

  But I did as the voice said and I knocked. I rapped softly on the door, but I could barely hear it. The incessant grey fog seemed to suck up sound like a vacuum cleaner. I knocked again but harder.

  No answer. I stood in the unearthly silence of the unearthly place and waited for something to happen.

  Just when I thought that maybe I should leave, the door slowly opened. As the door swung open, I saw a small figure in the shadow of the doorway. A very small figure.

  Although I’d never met her before, I recognized my teacher right away. She looked exactly as I’d pictured her when I listened to Hindergog tell his tale. My teacher was none other than Madame Wong.

  I felt relief that the kindly, wise woman from Hindergog’s story would be my first teacher. My relief was short lived.

  28. MADAME WONG

  “Are you going to stand there or come in?” she asked.

  I told my feet to go in, but they didn’t want to move. With great effort I got my lead feet to walk through yet another door to the unknown.

  I ducked as I walked through her tiny door. The little house was dark inside but clean and sparse. There was a wooden table under one window, large enough for two. Two rickety-looking wood chairs flanked the table. There was a simple hearth with a kettle over the fire. In another corner rested a small bed made of knobby pine with modest, white covers over the mattress. Beside the bed was a diminutive table with a washbowl and pitcher.

  It was like I had stepped back in time. No phones. No television. No electricity. No technology of any kind.

  “Madame Wong? Are you really the Madame Wong that Hindergog told me about? The Madame Wong who taught the girls in the Sacred Grove?”

  “I am.”

  “But how … how can you be here? I thought the portal was closed.”

  “It was.”

  Apparently, not much of a talker.

  “Then how can you be here if you were left behind when the portal closed?”

  “Ah, Madame Wong starting from scratch here.” She shook her head, went to the fire and poured hot water from the kettle into a small, porcelain teapot.

  “Tea, Youngling?”

  “Sure, I guess that would be okay.”

  “You guess, or you know? Tea or no tea. This is not a hard question,” she barked at me.

  “Okay then, tea, yes.”

  Another cup materialized on her table, seemingly plucked out of nowhere. I shouldn’t have been surprised. I had, after all, walked into another dimension. But I had a hard time believing what I’d just seen.

  “How did you do that?”

  “What?”

  “Make that cup appear out of nowhere.”

  “All of here is nowhere. Ask and it is given. So much to learn.” She shook her head again as she poured tea into two, small cups.

  “Sit,” she commanded.

  I did as she said and fast. After Hindergog’s story, I knew that I didn’t want to mess with Madame Wong.

  We drank our tea in silence. Madame Wong watched me over her teacup with dark, brown eyes surrounded by copious wrinkles. She hadn’t answered my question so I pressed her again.

  “You never answered my question. How is it that you are here?”

  Madame Wong put her cup down and squinted her dark eyes at me.

  “You know nothing? Hindergog said that I had my work cut out for me.” She wrapped her knobby fingers around her warm teacup and sipped again.

  I knew she could pull and do me in before I could even scream. But I’d lost my patience. I couldn’t get a straight answer about anything from anybody and I’d had enough.

  “Look, I don’t know anything. A few days ago I was worried about flunking math and dealing with the wrath of Muriel the Mean. Today I’m sitting in another dimension sipping tea with a woman that should have been dead over a thousand years ago. You’re supposed to be the teacher, so teach me at least this one thing. How can you be here?”

  Madame Wong gently put her teacup down on the table, but when she looked u
p at me, her eyes were ablaze. Here it comes! I knew I was going to feel the sting of a slap soon, just like when I mouthed off to Muriel.

  “Because you are Youngling and know nothing, Madame Wong spare you insolence one time. But you not speak to me in that tone again. Madame Wong not Aunt Muriel. If you speak to Madame Wong like that again, Miss Emily will wish for her aunt.”

  I felt my cheeks flush scarlet. My mouth was full of cotton and I couldn’t speak. She was small and had not raised her voice yet instinctively I knew that what she said was true. I nodded my head to show her I understood.

  “Listen well as Madame Wong not explain again. This first lesson, youngling. Most humans see with eyes only. That is great failing of the species.”

  I nodded yes even though I wasn’t sure I knew what she was talking about. I wasn’t about to disagree with her.

  Madame Wong swept her arms out wide. “This place, what humans call the Netherworld, is place of pure potential. If you allow it, Miss Emily learn things that have eluded most humans. Here you see with whole self, not just eyes.”

  I listened as best I could, by my mind was still back at the question of how Madame Wong was in the Netherworld when she should have been shut out when the portal closed. I wasn’t following her, and it must have shown on my face.

  “Oh, Madame Wong in for long life with this one.” She shook her head and drank her tea.

  “The Madame Wong from Hindergog’s tale, her human body is of the earth now. The Madame Wong you see is a merged being.”

  “Merged being? I don’t understand.”

  “Madame Wong, like many curious humans before her, stumbled into this world, like you did, many, many Earth rotations ago. Long before Saorla’s time. Madame Wong met an entity who had left its body behind. They made agreement.”

  “An agreement? What kind of agreement?”

  “Agreement to merge. To become one being. Part of their combined essence was projected into the body Madame Wong carried around with her in your world. Part stayed in this realm. Now, merged life essence all that remain. Body no longer.”

  “So, what you’re saying is that you are not real? Am I imagining you?”