Triune

by Willow Polson

  Could be Lompoc...

  They drifted a bit lower, passing over the patchwork of croplands below, then over the low coastal hills, approaching the wide dunes near the sea. They were still a few thousand feet up, but close enough to appreciate the details, even as fast as they were going.

  Are we on the map yet? asked Mike, pulling up even with his older brother. Barrett fumbled with the map, which wasn’t cooperating in the wind.

  I don’t think...

  Suddenly the unmistakable rush and explosion of a rocket-propelled grenade shattered the quiet just below them. The rapid snap of gunfire followed, the brothers looking around in alarm.

  “What the hell’s...” Barrett started moving higher, unsure how close the apparent battle was, and how much of the sound was being carried up on air currents. Brian started to follow, then the both of the realized that Mike wasn’t moving.

  The middle Mason brother was frozen, hanging motionless in the air, eyes unfocused slightly. Barrett was beside him in an instant, still trying to figure out why and how they’d somehow stumbled into a war, and what was suddenly going on with his brother.

  “Mike... MIKE...”

  For a moment his vision cleared and he looked at his brothers, but then grabbed them and teleported them back over the hills they’d just crossed. He dropped down to the ground with them, into the oak trees and brush, the landing hurried and clumsy.

  “Dude, what are you...” Brian’s words were cut off as he landed on his back, the wind knocked out of him.

  MICHAEL. MASON.

  At his older brother’s stern, commanding use of his full name right in his head, he snapped out of it a bit, but was still vigilant and protective, eyes darting back and forth. Brian coughed a few times and was able to get his diaphragm working again, taking a deep breath at last.

  “What the hell was all that about?” Brian said, giving him a light shove.

  “I... the...”

  Barrett gently held his middle brother, making sure not to startle him in any way.

  “War’s over. You’re home”

  Brian’s eyes widened, understanding at last. Mike looked down and nodded.

  “I’m sorry.” His voice was soft but held emotion, anger and disappointment at himself, mainly.

  “Had we known...” Brian looked at his photocopied map, which didn’t show anything north of Santa Clarita and Ventura. “Had we known, we wouldn’t have gone over... where was that, anyway?”

  “Um, Vandenberg, probably?” Mike sat in the tall grass with them, in the peace of the trees, a few little songbirds flitting by. “Now that I think about it. I mean... really think, with a clear head...”

  “Okay, that’s enough. You couldn’t help it.” Barrett stood up, reaching down a hand to help them up.

  “Wow. I had no idea I had it.”

  “Had what?” Brian still wasn’t sure what they were talking about, but thought he might know. He wanted Mike to say it so they were all on the same page, however.

  “PTSD. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.” He sighed and rubbed his face, ignoring the tickle of a bug going up his shirt.

  His brothers nodded, Brian looking up at the sky. The breeze from the sea a few miles away was pleasant and almost seemed to call to them.

  “Over the ocean, then,” said Brian, smiling a little.

  “Ocean and then swing east around the point. Maybe we’ll see the Channel Islands,” Barrett said with an encouraging tone.

  Mike managed a little smile and put his wings away in order to get the backpack off and rummage around for a candy bar. The cooler temperatures up high had kept everything perfect, the sodas just right and the chocolate unmelted.

  “I’d like that.” He used the opportunity to take off his shirt, getting rid of the bug at the same time. He tucked it into his belt for the time being, enjoying the breeze on his bare skin. “Thanks, you guys.”

  They all moved as one into a close embrace, feeling things settle. Now that they were aware of it, they could help Mike avoid trigger situations in the future. The closeness of their bodies, the sound of their breathing, the feel of their hearts beating as one erased the fear, the stress. They balanced each other, energies blending and forming one gentle sensation of unity. Together, they could face anything.

  After a brief break for some sodas and chips, with Brian’s help Mike got the pack on again. He opted for a protein bar to finish things off and figured it would be easier to eat while flying than a bag of chips. Empties put away, protein bar in hand, they pushed off gently as one, as if at some unspoken agreement just below conscious thought.

  They glided out over the water quietly, not speaking, not needing to speak. They knew where they were going, even if they weren’t sure what awaited them. As long as they were together, it would all work out fine.

  Soon enough, surprisingly so, the hazy skyline of downtown Los Angeles appeared in the distance. Instinctively, his brothers looked at Barrett for guidance. He was simply looking ahead, feeling out where they should go, using intuition more than sight. Eventually they landed atop a tall skyscraper, a black, reflective bank building that looked down onto a mix of new and old, including a small plaza with a colorful, sculptural fountain.

  Brian looked at the map out of curiosity, but it wasn’t detailed enough to give exact locations, just black ink X’s or the occasional annotated circle. One such circle was right around the area they were currently sitting in, Mike’s legs hanging over the edge of the building as usual. Barrett’s brows were knitted slightly, and he was looking down into the buildings, feeling out where they should go.

  “It says ‘Possible Satanic temple,’” Brian said, showing his brothers the handwritten note accompanying the circle around downtown.

  “That sounds promising,” grumbled Mike. He was looking around at the view and down at the nearby freeway, feeling more like he was on death row than on an adventure. Barrett just grunted, still half in thought. His gaze kept being drawn toward one particular unusual rooftop. Eventually the others spotted it, curious.

  “What is that?” asked Brian, putting the map back into the pack Mike still had on.

  “Dunno,” muttered Barrett, “But I think that’s it.”

  They looked at him, his gaze still focused on the unusual pyramid-shaped rooftop, each triangular surface graced by colorful tile sun designs.

  “It really does look like some kind of temple,” said Brian, turning his attention back to the building. “What the heck do you think it is? I mean, it’s so weird to see a building like that in the middle of downtown LA.”

  “Let’s find out.” Barrett drifted down to the sidewalk, put his wings away and made himself visible, like any ordinary man. His brothers followed his lead, the three of them showing up in the shadows discreetly. Mike put his shirt back on, then cinched up the straps on the backpack.

  “I’m gonna say 1920s maybe?” Brian squinted up at the architecture and art motifs, being familiar with some styles due to his work. He’d seen plenty of 1920s stained glass, that era having seen a surge in the art form due to the craftsman movement.

  Barrett was quiet, and simply walked around the building trying to find the entrance. They stopped up short when they saw the inscription over the front door.

  “Los Angeles Public Library? You’ve got to be kidding me.” Barrett blinked at the words as if he were somehow reading them wrong.

  “It’s like a temple of knowledge.” Brian’s eyes widened as a realization hit him. “You guys... the void... it’s everything and nothing, right? All the knowledge in the world is supposed to be in the big nothing. It’s a total conundrum. An oxymoron, kind of. But this makes sense!”

  Barrett nodded slowly, mostly understanding. “My gut says it’s in here. Where we need to go. The portal.”

  “I know. And what better place than the seat of all knowledge? Or at least what they have in this building,” he added with a little crooked grin.

  “It sure looks like it was designed to b
e something... extraordinary,” said Mike quietly, finally speaking.

  Once inside, they began to explore the building. It didn’t take long to find more unusual sculptures and artwork, including a nine-foot-wide chandelier depicting the earth and the zodiac in glass and bronze, two sphinxes, and a curious marble sculpture in an alcove of a woman covered with symbolism holding an open book.

  “In the beginning was the word,” recited Barrett, easily reading the ancient Greek. “Man, this languages thing is handy. Uh... ‘Knowledge extends horizons,’” he read off, the next inscription in Latin, each line a different language. “’Nobility carries obligations,’ ‘Wisdom is in the truth,’ and... ‘Beauty in truth, truth beauty.’”

  “Well that’s neat, but...” muttered Mike, still feeling uneasy.

  Barrett nodded. “Don’t know how much to read into any of this stuff. How much of it is somebody having a field day with 1920s spiritualism, and how much is intentional? Did the people who built this know it was going to be a portal?”

  “What I want to know is how to get up into that top part,” said Brian, squinting at the ceiling. They took a detour to the reference desk, where they discovered quite a buzz of excitement at some news that had just come through.

  “They got him! The bomber!” The reference librarian was turning to everyone in the area and trying to flag them down with the colorful display of her phone so they could share her excitement.

  “The who...?” Mike asked, confused. He and his brothers had been so busy that they’d forgotten all about the bombing of the flight he’d been on. The woman looked at Mike as if he’d lost his mind.

  “The Southwest Inside Job Bomber? You know? They just found him, in China of all places! Weird, huh?”

  The Masons looked at each other in surprise. It had been announced within a few days of the incident that the bombing had been pulled off by a flight attendant and his buddy, the former never having been caught, the latter having died in the crash. He was the one Mike had seen trigger the explosion.

  “China?” exclaimed Brian. “We could have...”

  Mike elbowed him. No, we couldn’t. We were kind of busy.

  Brian quieted as he realized he probably shouldn’t have just blurted out his thoughts on the matter, and set back to the task at hand. Barrett was already nudging the woman’s attention back onto himself.

  “I need to know something,” he said in a tone that was both pleasant and slightly commanding. He’d gotten much better at using his “nudging” ability, and had nearly perfected it. “The peak of the building, under the tile roof. Is there any way to access that?”

  “Oh... kind of? The public can’t go up there, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “Yeah, I was curious if there were any tours or anything. Oh well. Thanks anyway.”

  Cool as a cucumber, Barrett smiled pleasantly and simply walked away to examine one of the stone sphinxes, hands in his pockets. His brothers followed, Mike looking up at the ceiling again.

  So now what? asked Brian, sighing.

  So we find a way up, Mike said with a little smirk, already making a few plans.

  I’m still pretty entertained that the place you’re supposed to go to get information wouldn’t answer my question, said Barrett.

  Good thing we’ve got a workaround. Mike led them calmly into the men’s room, where they turned invisible and intangible, not bothering to bring their wings out since there wasn’t any flying required.

  Man, I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to people not seeing us. Brian rubbed his shoulders, looking around at all the people oblivious to their existence, a little creeped out.

  Through trial and error, they discovered the way in, but had something of a surprise waiting for them. When they tried to phase through into the room, they bumped into the little door as if ordinary men. Brian blinked several times, rubbing his nose. Mike frowned at it.

  “Well great. That kinda...” He turned tangible and tried the door, finding it quite locked.

  “Allow me.” Barrett reached inside the lock mechanism and twisted his hand. With a sharp snapping sound that echoed a little too much, it broke into several pieces, the door now opening easily.

  Mike blinked in surprise. “Where did you learn how to...”

  He smirked at him a little. “Been practicing the Intangible Grab for a couple weeks now.”

  “Nice.”

  They waited for a few minutes to see if anybody would come investigate the noise, then decided it was safe. Mike entered, but was quickly disappointed. It was just a pyramid-shaped room with plaster walls, the mechanism for lowering the bronze chandelier and a few other items housed there. Or so it seemed at first.

  “Whoa. That’s weird.” Brian and Barrett were looking around as if seeing something new and bizarre, causing Mike to look around, but he saw nothing unusual.

  “What?”

  “The light? Don’t you see it?”

  Mike blinked at them, then shook his head.

  “It is pretty weird,” said Barrett. “You really don’t see that?”

  “No, I just said I didn’t. Wait, maybe it’s because...” Mike turned intangible as well, but nothing changed, leaving them all scratching their heads. He was beginning to suspect there must be some reason he was singled out, brow creasing.

  “No, there’s no way you’d be left behind or anything like that,” said Barrett, picking up on his brother’s unspoken thoughts. “It’s something else. For one thing, as weird as the lighting is in here, I can’t tell where the door is.”

  “It’s right here,” said Brian, going back through the way they’d come to demonstrate.

  Barrett blinked at him, then laughed. “No, I mean the portal. I can feel that it’s right here, or should be, but I can’t tell where exactly. Something’s not right.”

  They started to examine the walls, thinking that some kind of door would open up if they touched the right spot, or that perhaps something had been covered up over the years since the structure had been built, either accidentally or on purpose.

  Mike stepped out to examine the outer wall, but, seeing nothing, went back in to look around some more. This time, however, he stopped up short, eyes widening.

  “Whoa.”

  The light in the room, formerly from just a few small vent windows in the walls, seemed to suddenly come from everywhere and nowhere at once, a slightly disorienting mix of illumination and darkness.

  “Do you see it now?” Barrett stopped his search efforts and moved over to his brother, making sure he was all right.

  “Yeah, I...” Mike looked around, trying to figure out what he was seeing, exactly. Looking around, however, didn’t seem to help anything. “What just happened?”

  “You just walked through the door,” said Brian with a shrug.

  “I walked through before, but it wasn’t...” Mike cocked his head, thinking. What was different? He stepped back out, retracing his steps, even going solid. When he stepped back into the room, it appeared as it did before – ordinary. But when he tried changing between ethereal and solid, nothing happened.

  “Maybe... what if it’s how you enter the room?” suggested Brian. still over by the door. He went out, became tangible, and went through the door.

  “Well?” asked Mike, scrubbing at his short hair in bewilderment and frustration. It was Brian’s turn to blink at the room.

  “This wasn’t... oh man.”

  Barrett nodded. “I bet that’s it. The state you’re in when you enter the room matters. Remember how we couldn’t just phase through the door? There’s something funny about this place. And I know it’s the portal. So what if there’s another way in that we need to find, and be in the right state when we go through?”

  “Right. That seems right,” said Mike. “And this door isn’t it, because we’ve all been in and out of it, and all we get is the trippy light thing, and that’s only when we’re all ghosty-like.”

  “Well, what about...” Brian stepped back
out, brought out his wings, and stepped through the cramped little doorway. The darkness seemed darker, and a little weird feeling crept up the back of his neck, but the room remained essentially the same as when they were intangible. He looked at them and shook his head.

  “Gotta be another way...” Barrett tapped on his lips, pacing and thinking, Mike sitting on the floor and taking off his pack. Brian dug around for some potato chips but found they were partially crushed. With a shrug, he opened them anyway, enjoying the salty, crispy crumbs.

  “Okay, look,” said Mike, pulling up his SEAL situation-solving skills. “If it’s not in here, and it’s not this door over here,” he said, hiking his thumb at it, “then it has to be outside of this room.”

  “Gotta get in to get out,” murmured Barrett, reciting some lyrics from an old Genesis song. “But the opposite. Gotta go out to get in.” He looked up and met their eyes, then brought his wings out and tested the ceiling, slipping through it easily. Looking down, he could see that he’d emerged right through the center of one of the sun mosaics on the roof. He went back in the same way to tell his brothers about this, but all he encountered was darkness. They were gone.

  GUYS? he called out in a slight panic.

  What? Are you okay? came Mike’s reply. Brian hurriedly shoved the chip bag back in the pack and zipped it up, ready to go. Mike threw it over his shoulder and stood up so quickly he saw stars for a moment.

  I’m fine, but... I think I found the way in. Because the room’s just black now and you’re not in it.

  His brothers looked around. You’re not here... sent Brian, still a little confused.

  I know, I’m... look, just do what I did, okay? Go out where I did and then come back in through the sun mosaic. I think this portal thing is like a parallel dimension or something. Because I’m in the room. But... kind of not.

  Okay, hold on. Brian helped Mike quickly get the backpack on, and the two of them pushed off together, slipping through the ceiling as their brother had done. With only a little hesitant look into each others’ eyes, they dove back in through the mosaic, nearly crashing into their older brother.