“Water under the bridge,” said Tristan.
“Yeah, yeah. Bygones and all that. But I still don’t understand what happened to bring about this change in your feelings about me. I mean, we’ve been working together for months now, and I got the impression you’d rather not see me at all.”
“That’s true.”
Wow, I’d thought that, but I also figured it was just me lacking in self-confidence, not how she truly felt.
“Okay, so what changed?”
“I nearly died. I was seeing the white light.” Big droplets of tears had formed in the corners of Greta’s eyes.
I gave her hand a squeeze. “It’s okay.”
“You … you saved my life. I’m just grateful, that’s all.”
“You’re welcome? But this isn’t the first time I saved you. In the Umbra Perdita with those monsters. You’d have been a goner if I hadn’t stepped in.”
“Yeah, but this was different. You … it was like you were a part of me. I felt such love and beauty. It pulled me back.”
“What you felt was the Goddess working through me.”
“Maybe. But it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you saved me. I want to do the same for you.”
I squeezed her hand again in response. I was weak and sick, and we were no closer to saving our people than we’d been before. I needed Greta’s help more than ever.
“Thanks,” I said. “To both of you.”
I looked at each of them. Their auras were once again bright around them. They were entirely Lucent and willing to share some of their energy with me. I could feel a fresh surge of energy flow into me through their hands. They’re pushing some of their Lucent body to me now.
“You’re willing to help me go to the Netherworld, but I can’t promise that I’ll return.”
“You plan on ditching us? Make us fight these shadow dudes by ourselves?” Tristan asked.
“No, that’s not it. I’d never ditch you. I can’t promise ’cause I’m not sure I’ll be able to get back. The Netherworld may not be the same now that Ciardha is on the loose and Brighid isn’t there anymore. I don’t know what I’ll find when I get there, if I can get there.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t go. Not all dreams are meant to be followed,” Greta said.
Maybe not all dreams, but some dreams should be followed. My dreams were often about intuition and premonition, not my conscious mind chasing the shadows of fear and self-doubt like it did so much of the time when I was awake. It’s like in my dreams, the smarter part of me talks and gives me messages. That is, if I listen.
“I hear what you’re saying, but this wasn’t just any dream. It felt like a message. It’s just … I know it’s what I have to do.”
“Then do it,” said Tristan. “Follow your gut.”
“After you build your strength, though. You’re still very weak,” Greta said.
“There’s no time.”
“Better do as Blondie says,” said Tristan. He smiled at me. Tristan’s smile lit up the room.
“I’m not afraid of her,” I said. I am a little.
“No? Well, I am, and I don’t wanna deal with her wrath over it so please, for me, do as she says?”
Greta didn’t let that one by. She released my hand from hers so she could punch Tristan in the arm. He laughed.
“She thinks that hurts.” He winked at me.
“Fine. I’ll wait. Just don’t make me wait too long. I don’t think we have much time before this thing is beyond what even Madame Wong can help us with.”
“Well, then do as I say and rest. Then you won’t have that problem,” Greta said.
Greta and Tristan both stayed at the house with me. Tristan took up position as the sentinel on my couch. He woke with the same indentations in his face from the couch that I’d had for months. Greta slept in my dad’s room just down the hall from me.
I’d protested at first. I’d gotten used to living with just my dad; then I’d adjusted to having the house to myself. But it felt good to have people in the house again. The gentle ribbing between Greta and Tristan felt close to the way Fanny and Jake had always teased each other. And it was nice to have someone take care of me for a while. Greta didn’t have magnificent culinary skills, but she could make water boil, and she didn’t burn toast (at least not too often).
Each day I felt stronger, and after only a week I declared that I was ready to go. But Greta put the kibosh on that. She asked me to kick her, and when I thrust my leg up, she easily upended me, sending me to the floor.
“If you were ready, I wouldn’t have been able to do that.”
It took a full three weeks of resting, eating semi-edible food, and some light training with the L.T. before Greta pronounced me fit for the interdimensional journey.
We discussed where I should be when I tried to open a portal. My first thought was at my house, but Greta didn’t think it was a good idea.
“Ciardha has been here. Twice,” she said. “Who knows, he may leave Umbra Perdita energy behind wherever he goes. It might end up like the cemetery all over again.”
It was a good point. Best not to risk it.
“How about here?” Taisha offered.
“Maybe,” I said. “But it’s not very … It’s not … Ireland.”
“True. But if it’s about the energy, then this place probably has more Lucent energy than just about anywhere within a hundred miles of here,” Taisha said.
She had a good point. The home of the L.T. may have been dark and ugly and smelled like a men’s locker room, but for months it had been filled with the positive energy of Lucent beings. We’d spent a lot of time sparring there, but we’d also meditated and helped each other and laughed. It was filled with positive energy.
“Let’s give it a try,” I said. “It’s no Sacred Well, but Taisha’s right.”
“And we’re all here,” said John. “We can help by sending you positive energy, right?”
“Yes, that’s a good idea, John. If we all meditate at the same time, maybe it will help.”
And that’s what we did. I sat in meditation like I’d done in the cemetery all those months ago, circled by the members of the Tribe. I reached down into the Earth and pulled into me as much of its energy as I could. I reached out into the field around me and felt all of the strands of Lucent Energy that connected each of us to the other. As I deepened my meditation, I began to phase shift, and I could see the filaments of Akasha that connected us like golden spider webs.
I no longer felt the floor beneath me or heard sounds around me. It was as if I floated in the aether. The only sensation I was aware of was the heat of the torc around my arm.
I concentrated on picturing the Netherworld. I could see the silvery-grey mist and Madame Wong’s tree and cottage in my mind’s eye. I remembered Hindergog and his tweed vest and furry hands and Brighid with her many faces. And I prayed, but to whom or what I didn’t know.
In the name of the Goddess and of my ancestor Saorla. For the good of all humankind and of all Lucent beings in the Universe, please guide me to the Netherworld. I need your help, Madame Wong. I need your guidance. Please, Goddess, if you hear me, help me find my way. Madame Wong’s wisdom is our only hope.
I heard a voice in my head. Resonant frequency.
The concept seemed familiar, but I couldn’t recall what it meant.
Match the resonant frequency.
I thought, I don’t know how!
Let go. Be one with the flow of Akasha. Match the frequency of the Netherworld.
I didn’t know if the voice was my own inner knowledge or if Madame Wong had somehow reached out across the dimensions to speak to me. But I tried to do as the voice said. I relaxed further, and I focused on how the Netherworld felt to me more than on how it looked or the beings I met there.
After a while, I became aware of the hairs on my arms standing on end, and a shiver went through me. I heard a low hum that was at once familiar to me. The portal. It was the same low hu
mming we’d heard in Ireland when I’d opened the portal at the Sacred Well.
I slowly eased out of the deep meditation and opened my eyes.
There it was. Just as it had been the first time.
Where there had once been a hard concrete floor covered in thin, dingy industrial carpet, there was a small opening to another dimension from which billowed a silvery-grey mist. It was small, but it was there.
The portal I’d opened in Ireland had been large enough for me to walk through, but this hole between worlds was smaller. I’ll have to crawl.
“She did it!” Ashley said.
“It’s beautiful,” Greta said.
“It’s small,” I said. “I’m not sure how long it’ll hold.”
“Then you better giddy up,” said Tristan.
I got onto all fours and began to crawl to the opening. I looked back over my shoulder at my Tribe – my friends. No, they were more than friends. They had become family to me. Their faces were expectant and hopeful. Don’t let them down.
“Good-bye,” I said. “Stay Lucent.”
Choruses of, “I will,” and, “You too,” rang in my ears. But as I inched closer to the small portal, their voices became like a buzz. Then I could hear only the low, insistent hum of the portal, a sound very much like the buzz of electricity that comes from power lines.
As I inched closer, I felt my entire body become covered in goose flesh. The hair on my head felt like it was standing straight up off of my head.
It was very different than when I’d walked through the portal to the Umbra Perdita. That time, it had felt wrong from the start. But as I crawled into the doorway filled with grey fog, I knew it was right. I was going to the Netherworld not a dark realm. I was going back to Madame Wong and to what I hoped would be the answers I needed to set things right.
I hope she doesn’t still have that damned cane.
PART TWO
21. Into the Mists Again
Emily
I crawled through. One minute I sat in the musty home of our tribe, the next I was in a world of mist and fog. A grey world with no up or down, no beginning or end. A world of pure potential in every direction.
That grey mist felt like home to me. During my last trip to the Netherworld, I’d spent countless human years amongst the dove-colored fog. Even though I’d been away from the Netherworld for more than three Earth years, Madame Wong, Hindergog and the Goddess were all a part of me.
It was exactly the same. Except …
Except that it wasn’t. If felt different. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I knew as soon as I stepped into the Netherworld that something had changed.
I pulled in a huge breath and was relieved that my lungs weren’t assaulted with the harsh air that I’d breathed in the Umbra Perdita. When I’d been in the Netherworld before, the air had felt soft and tasted almost sweet on my tongue. It wasn’t acrid, but it was no longer sweet either. I couldn’t taste anything at all.
I began as I had the first time I’d gone to the Netherworld: one foot in front of the other. Direction and distance unknown. But I’d learned the trick of the Netherworld the first time I was there. It would become whatever I wanted it to be. So I imagined a warm, sunny day and a tree-lined street with flowers and kids playing ball and old folks gardening and sitting on their front porches. I imagined people riding their bikes and driving their cars and living life and being normal. I imagined my world the way it was before Ciardha came to town.
But no street appeared. I didn’t hear kids playing or dogs barking. There was nothing except the grey mist threatening to drown me in its nothingness.
“What’s going on here?” I asked the emptiness.
There was no reply. Not that I’d expected the stillness to answer, but it would have been nice.
“Hindergog?” I yelled. “Madame Wong?”
They didn’t answer me either. I didn’t know what else to do, so I walked. At least I think that I did. With no buildings, trees, or landmarks of any kind to orient myself, I felt my legs move but had no idea if I’d actually gone anywhere.
I continued to call out, and there continued to be no answer. Panic began to set in as I started to wonder if Hindergog and Madame Wong were in the Netherworld. My breaths became shallow, and my heart raced. What if Madame Wong isn’t here? I hadn’t even conceived of that idea before I opened the portal.
I felt a draft of wind blow against my face; then it was gone. I stopped and instinctively pulled my dagger out of its sheath that I wore at my waist. Don’t be silly, I thought. There’s nothing here but fog. Don’t freak yourself out. I put my dagger back in its holder, took up walking to nowhere again, and called out to the nothingness.
I knew that I was alone, yet I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being watched. I kept looking over my shoulder, half-expecting to see someone behind me, their footsteps muffled by the spongy and insubstantial terrain of the Netherworld. But each time I looked, there was nobody there.
Something brushed my leg. But when I looked down, I saw nothing. I was about to pull my dagger again when I was knocked off my feet.
I was on my back, unable to get up because I was pinned to the ground by a terrifying beast. Its teeth were bared, and its large, dark eyes were wild. It had the muzzle of a dog but a snout and ears like a pig. It was covered in dark, brownish-grey, wiry fur. But oddly, though it looked like an animal, it had neither paws nor hooves. Instead, the creature was trying to choke me with fur-covered hands.
It growled and snarled as it opened its jaw and tried to bite at my neck. I could feel its hot breath on my face. I managed to get my knees up, and I pushed with the full strength of my thighs and flung the creature off of me. I bolted upright as fast as I could, planted myself, and pulled my dagger, ready for another attack.
The creature came at me again. It ran on all fours, charging at me like a tiny bull. The dagger felt useless in my hand. With the creature on all fours, it stood only three feet off of the ground. It would be hard to thrust my dagger in its heart or belly when I couldn’t reach that area. The creature grabbed the skin of my leg with its strong jaws and began to gnaw at my flesh. A thousand needles of pain seared in my leg as the creature’s teeth sank into it.
I tried to kick the creature off, but my kicks had no effect. The animal was like a real dog with a bone – my leg bone – and it wasn’t letting go.
The only option I had was to use the dagger. I swung it up then down with all my strength into the creature’s head. As I swung, the beast moved its head, and instead of getting a solid shot in on the thing, I merely grazed its ear. But the nick to its ear was enough to make the animal howl and let go of my leg.
Before it could try to eat me again, I kicked at its head with all I had, and the creature’s head flung backward. It sat down and shook its head as if it were trying to clear its mind. It was an odd reaction by an animal, and for a second, it almost looked more human than beastly. I decided not to wait for it to get its bearings. I swung my dagger up again, and with a clear shot this time, I hoped to hit the thing in the eye.
But before I brought my knife down, someone called out to me.
“No, Miss Emily, don’t!”
The voice was familiar, yet it sounded like it came from far away.
“Madame Wong?”
I looked around but didn’t see Madame Wong or anyone else. Just the foul-smelling beast that was again on all fours, baring its teeth and snarling at me. The thing leapt at me and sunk its teeth into my throat. As we fell to the ground, I swung my dagger, aiming for the soft underbelly.
“Stop!” the woman’s voice screamed. “Don’t kill him.”
“Him? What about me?” I yelled back.
The creature had a firm pressure on my neck, but as I got the second thrust of my dagger into its side, the thing eased up on its grip. I got my arms up onto its chest and pushed the beast off of me. It fell to the side, and before it could right itself, I pinned it down and pulled my dagger up so that I cou
ld get a deep thrust into its chest.
But before I could swing downward, something knocked my dagger from my hand. Before I could look around to see what hit me, I felt something push me hard, and I fell off of the creature. I hit the ground but rolled myself away from the fiend before it could attack me again.
“What the …” I got to my feet and saw nothing but the snarling beast, its mouth dripping with my blood and its matted fur bloody in spots where my dagger had found its target. There was nothing else there. What hit me?
“Who else is here? Show yourself.”
I saw a swirl in the mist, but then nothing.
“Brighid?” I called. But as soon as I said it, I realized it couldn’t possibly be the Goddess. She was still trapped in the Umbra Perdita, thanks to me. That is, if she still existed. I was beginning to doubt that she did. Her light was once so brilliant it could fill the whole sky. But the last time I’d seen her, her light was like a flicker of a single candle flame. What good could she do us when she was only a small candle flickering in the vast darkness of the universe?
“One small spark can burn down entire forest.”
I’d recognize that croaking, ragged voice anywhere.
“Madame Wong?” I squinted into the mist, searching for the small Chinese woman whose body went with the voice.
I thought I saw the mist move again, but I didn’t see Madame Wong. Had I imagined it? Was I dreaming again?
“Madame Wong? If that’s really you, please show yourself to me so I know I’m not going bonkers.”
“Here,” she said.
I did a complete turn but still didn’t see her.
“Come on, don’t mess with me. Please show yourself.”
“Here,” the voice said again. A small, azure orb glimmered in front of my face and practically ran itself into me. It hovered a few inches from my face and twinkled and gently pulsed with energy.
“Madame Wong? Is that you?” I held my hand out, ready to touch the orb that hovered in front of me.
“Of course Madame Wong! You expect Easter bunny?”
Before the blue orb appeared, the snarling creature had been ready to attack me again. But it sat back on its haunches and looked like a dog waiting to get its treat. Its tongue hung out of the side of its mouth as it panted.
The Akasha Chronicles Trilogy Boxed Set: The Complete Emily Adams Series Page 66