Autumn Mermaid (Mermaid Series Book 4)
Page 14
Pete's breathing was sharply shallow, indicative of either internal bodily injuries or massive brain trauma. Either way, there was no possibility of treating him where they were, especially with night gathering.
Unbuckling her seat belt and stepping from the craft Karen made a quick reconnoiter around the perimeter both the search for signs of Maon and Sileas and to ascertain if setting up a quick campsite might be feasible.
Her dizziness grew worse.
Though she had taken a heavy blow to the head, she suspected what she was experiencing was not related to that. Rather, she was suffering the intermediate effects of Lake Syndrome.
Wondering if her two friends had perhaps fallen from the craft before they crashed, Karen climbed to the top of a nearby boulder to get a better view of her surroundings. She could see no sign of anyone.
If either Maon or Sileas were still alive, they were too far away to help mitigate the deadly effects of the parasites now boiling in her blood. She knew she had only a couple hours before both she and Pete succumbed to a painful and unpleasant death.
"What is that cloud up ahead, darling Karen?"
The first indication of trouble was when Sileas touched Karen's shoulder and pointed out what looked to be a singular storm cloud hovering over old Paris. The City itself no longer existed other than gentle outlines of what must have once been streets and grand boulevards now morphed into a sort of a gigantic spinning wheel. From the air the pathways reminded Karen of the old Nazca lines in South America that she had once seen in photographs from the air.
"I'm not sure what it is, precious Sileas... but it appears to be moving toward us. Can you steer around it, darling Pete?"
"It's just some dust kicked up by the wind, my lovely Karen. It isn’t anything to worry about. I'll skirt around it to the south."
The massive thunderhead seemed to home in on their position even moving of its own accord though Karen told herself it was simply a trick of her eyes... clouds were pushed along by the wind, nothing more.
As Pete maneuvered the craft to the south by subtly guiding the golden globe in front of him in the direction they wished to go, the dust—if it really was dust—seemed to shift its path as well.
"It seems to keep moving toward us, my darling Pete."
"Could it be a flock of birds, my sweet Karen?"
For a moment she told herself that had to be what it was... a vast flock of tiny birds—sparrows, most likely—migrating to the south. That was why the cloud had seemed to shift its course... the birds were simply following whatever leader they had selected to take them to their promised land.
"Those aren’t birds, my precious Pete."
"I'll try to outrun whatever it is, my precious Karen."
The horizon turned into a blur as Pete increased speed but the collection of dust seemed to have anticipated his ploy and moved in a sort of right angle fashion which would allow it to intercept them despite their increased speed.
"It's attacking us, darling Pete... we better turn back."
"I can't turn back... look behind us."
Looking out the side panel she saw the dust had separated into several distinct blobs each of them seemingly intent upon converging on their craft. Every move Pete made to shake them only brought them closer to the darkness.
As the clouds loomed nearer something in the air seemed to change. The cabin became still stuffy as if the air purifier had been compromised somehow though with no moving parts Karen couldn’t understand how or why it happened. She had been instrumental in developing the unit to take advantage of natural air flow patterns rather than using forced air.
"I can't breathe."
When she turned to look at Maon, Karen saw that Sileas had already passed out. She was slumped over her seat with her head on Maon's shoulder. His lips were an unhealthy blue and Karen couldn’t help but be disconcerted at how the gills on the side of his head were fluttering like a fish out of water and in distress.
"We've got to land, darling Pete. The atmosphere purifier has quit working. We're all going to die up here."
No sooner had she spoke than the first tremor hit the vessel causing it to pitch violently to the leeward side. Catching the terrified look on Pete's face did little to instill confidence that he had heard her warning. Instead, he seemed intent on keeping the craft in the air. She pointed out a spot not too far away where they might be able to land safely.
"There... set down over there in that clearing, my precious Pete. Sileas has passed out and Maon is laboring to breathe. I can't seem to catch my breath either."
Finally, Pete seemed to appreciate the gravity of their situation and began to bank the craft toward the opening amid tall poplar trees. His initial hesitation had cost them valuable time, however.
A horrible thought began to form on the periphery of her imagination. Out of the corner of her eye she had watched while—in an effort to revive her—Maon had undone the harness holding both him and Sileas securely in their seats when he realized his wife had passed out. When the craft had lurched to the side after clipping one of the tall poplars she had hit her head and didn’t see what happened but perhaps they had both been ejected.
If the warp field was still engaged—even partially—it meant their bodies would be immediately subjugated to stressors involving not only many multiples of gravity but electromagnetic disruptions both on the macro and micro scale which would break asunder the molecules holding them together. They would dematerialize in this universe only to rematerialize in an alternate albeit a foreign cosmos.
She remembered how Nate had endeavored to teleport single photons through established wormholes across the space-time continuum in an effort to eliminate the need for complex modes of transportation yet ultimately had given up on his experiments when it came to living beings.
"It's the logistics, darling Karen. Reconstituting something as simple as a photon is enormously challenging. A dynamic system like a living being is beyond our technology. Still, when we do make the leap to the stars the ability to teleport matter would be enormously helpful."
She wondered if they had inadvertently stumbled across a method of perfecting Nate's research while simultaneously wondering if Maon and Sileas were still alive or if it would be possible to bring them back to this universe if indeed they'd been teleported to another one.
A shiver ran up her spine. It was already chilly and with night coming on it was bound to become colder by morning. Not that it mattered much. Unless she could find a way to repair the anti-gravity unit and fly them to the nearest colony of Lake people both she and Pete would be dead within hours. Suddenly her dream of sunshine and sea seemed far away and quickly receding into the distance.
"We've finally managed to close up the wormhole we inadvertently opened between our planet and the moon circling a gas giant orbiting Bernard's Star. Ena made one of her off the cuff suggestions and it worked."
Pete had seemed so proud of their accomplishment but Karen worried it meant he and Nate would be planning a trip aboard the new star ship soon. While the wormhole had been fixed in place it was too dangerous to attempt a jump to trans-light speed but now that impediment was out of the way and she knew what was on his mind before he even broached the subject.
Karen didn’t understand the need the men felt to leave the safety of the earth for a planet that might or might not offer sanctuary. At first, she had been enamored with the dream of traveling to another star system but lately the thought only agonized her for she knew she would be left behind... she was only a woman, after all.
It didn’t seem right. All her accomplishments of a thousand years meant nothing at all. She felt like she was still working at the Centers for Disease Control while kowtowing to her old boss Hector Ramirez, spreading her legs for him, and allowing him to use her in every conceivable way both professionally and physically.
She felt sick.
Chapter 31—First Love
"Where could she have gone, precious Lily?"
She assumed Natalia had stepped out into the garden or perhaps had taken a short stroll around the grounds as she sometimes did early in the morning while the dew still adhered to the grasses and shrubberies lending the greenery a luminescence normally only witnessed under a full moon.
"She wouldn’t have gone far, sweet Lauren. She knows and appreciates the danger of that action. Let us search the castle once more."
Lily's eternal optimism sometimes irritated her and now she felt a sharp pang of anger arising at her lover's obvious obtuseness. They'd already looked throughout the castle as well as the outbuildings and even all about the estate. Natalia wasn’t here. If she wasn’t close to the Ladies the girl would sicken quickly and die horribly.
"You do that while I contact Nate. We need his help."
Lauren knew that Lily would never call him but Nate was Natalia's son, after all, and he'd do whatever was in his power to save his mother. The Isle of Skye was no more than a five minute flight from Orchardton Hall now that the new flying crafts had been invented and though she often thought about visiting there more often Lauren had always been too enamored of home to leave.
"Do you have to call him, sweet Lauren?"
She had a swift and sudden urge to go and slap Lily hard though the desire passed away as quickly as it arose. Lauren knew how tempted Lily was whenever Nate was around yet at the same time knowing Natalia could have been carried off by wild animals seemed to warrant extraordinary action.
"Yes, darling Lily... I have to call him. Now go and search the castle one more time. If you take the upstairs I'll make sure to check the ossuary after I contact Nate. It's possible she is down there and we missed her."
She couldn’t lose Natalia now.
Though Lauren had her differences with Lily, Natalia had been with her for a thousand years. The girl was a delight, waking each day with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes and the sparkle of laughter gracing the morning. To think she might never see Natalia again brought a shudder to Lauren's hearts.
Until she met Natalia the world had been a hard and a terrible place in which to live. Darkness permeated the air even in the full of the sun and demons hid in every shadow. Lauren had hated life beneath the Lake with an equal vehemence to life above its surface. The men she met were vagabonds at best and liars too... the women not to be trusted.
She still remembered that day long ago on the shores of Lake Baikal and how she stood at the door of the small stone cabin hesitant to knock lest her worst fears were confirmed and she was totally alone in the world.
Seeing Lily again after believing she had died brought with it an unbelievable exaltation shortly followed by the rapture of seeing Natalia rush into the room. Though the girl clutched a weapon in her hands and aimed it directly at her chest, Lauren couldn’t take her eyes off of her body... the way it glowed with a light all its own.
Up until that moment, she had never believed in love at first sight. It was a myth perpetrated by those less intelligent and unable to see the truth of the world. Love itself was a fairy tale best told to youngsters who had yet to break themselves against the ravages of time.
The adoration of flesh had long lost its appeal for Lauren. She went through the motions knowing to neglect her husband was to risk alienation when she desperately needed acceptance. The world was too big a place to be alone. Though she detested the touch of human beings they were her only link to the living.
When he died she did not mourn. He was but the last in a long line of lovers she had been forced into taking to sustain a life that perhaps was meant to expire long ago. She did not believe in a higher power and yet some things were predestined.
A discord in the music had been playing in her head ever since they discovered Natalia was gone. She had been so careful to craft a life in tempo with the melodies that resonated from deep within her being.
"Who is this incredible being, my darling Lily? Is she always so fierce?"
Natalia's brilliant red hair silhouetted her oval-shaped face in ways that caused Lauren to gasp involuntarily. Though the girl did not have on a stitch of clothing she made no attempt to cover her lusciously voluptuous body almost as if she knew she was being adored.
It had taken all her willpower not to gather the girl up in her arms at that moment to carry her off. She had known humans before, of course, but never one so overtly compelling.
"This is the lovely Natalia, sweet Lauren. She made the trip here with me and protected me from those who would have enslaved me once again. She is a true treasure, is she not?"
Words did not do justice to the girl. Though Lauren had never been covetous of another, something stirred inside of her... a want, a need perhaps, to keep this treasure for her own.
Yet, she had callously sent her off to die.
It wouldn’t have hurt to allow Natalia to stay. There was nothing she wanted to say to Lily that the girl could not also hear. She'd made a lifetime of mistakes but she sensed this one would be her undoing.
When Lauren emerged from the dark depths of Orchardton Hall, Lily had disappeared too. She thought at first that her lover had gone outside to search for Natalia but when she went to the door and shouted no one answered.
Going back inside to the radio, she attempted to raise Nate again but the new communication device wouldn’t function properly. She had always preferred the short wave radio but the last time he was here Nate introduced them to his latest invention.
"We've finally perfected a way to send messages through quantum entanglement."
"But why do we have to use such intricate machines, darling Nate? What about our old radios?"
"Those are beginning to fail, sweet Lauren, and I cannot find any replacement parts. It's been too long. Plus, this new device has several advantages to the old radios. They're easy to operate. I'll show you."
He had been so proud as he pointed out all the features of his new communicator that Lauren hadn’t the hearts to object to them. Now, she wished she would have at least suggested they keep the short waves as emergency back up radios.
Once again she followed all the right steps in energizing the communication device but the familiar crackling of the inner coil did not sound nor did the machine make its customary humming sound.
Night was beginning to swallow the day. The wild things would be coming out to eat. Lauren thought about going out to search for her two lost lovers but in the end she decided to stay put in case they returned of their own accord.
Chapter 32—Hold on Tight
She would have known him anywhere.
Luciana never understood the attraction Kirk held for her. He wasn’t a good looking man though time had a way of soothing the rough edges that adorned his physique. He was good to her, that much was true. Yet when his friend called, she was forgotten.
She had stayed at the Isle of Skye for so long that the old villa began tumbling down around her. That the roof leaked mattered not nor did the troops of wild animals who found their way into the walls. That she stayed there rather than at their home in Toulon was a mystery known only to her.
Sometimes she thought she saw him watching her. Once, he'd been on a mountaintop not so far away that she couldn’t recognize his visage immediately. Another time he was written in the sky an image as large as time. Each time, however, when she rubbed her eyes and looked again, he wasn’t there.
She was glad when everyone else had gone away. Even though they all attempted to sooth her incontinent moods or to lure her away from the Isle of Skye she remained firmly entrenched in her resolution to stay until either time ended or Kirk reappeared.
When the manifestations began in earnest, she thought she might finally be going insane. She had long ago given up such niceties such as bathin
g and dressing. When it stormed she walked naked in the rain and though large predators—lions, tigers, and even wolves—approached her at times perhaps something in her eyes stayed them from drinking her bitter blood and devouring her fetid flesh and crunching her brittle bones.
Her dark and lustrous hair grew long and tangled as her sharp crystal blue eyes hardened around the edges with privation during the passing centuries. It was a curse to live so long. She would rather die an old and broken woman than to go on as the centuries piled upon one another until she stood before a heaping tall stack of time threatening to tumble over upon her.
She longed to forget if only for a second.
"Come away with me, mother. This place isn’t any good for you. The villa reeks of mildew and everything is always so damp. You'll get sick if you stay here much longer."
She loved her daughter dearly but the girl had a life of her own now, a husband she loved and children and grandchildren to teach. Luciana knew Candice loved her. She knew the girl worried about her. Still, her daughter would hopefully never have to deal with the consequences of losing the one person in life who meant the world to her.
Losing all track of time meant she no longer noticed the small changes permeating not only her own being but the village where she lived. The old homes rotted away gradually dissolving back into the soil from which they once sprang. Luciana had ceased to speak except in mumbles and made-up nursery rhymes that at times entered her consciousness to dwell among the other memories.
One dismal autumn afternoon with a hint of rain in the air and the odor of rotting vegetation assailing her nostrils Luciana walked to the top of a nearby hill as was her wont to gaze out over the horizon where the blue of a thousand kilometers of ocean mingled with the gray of the sky until she could scarce tell where one stopped and the other started.