No sooner had I come to this conclusion than I felt a light, pleasant vibration near my throat, a vibration that grew in intensity as I stood, mesmerized, by the pool. My swaying had turned into a back and forth rocking motion that was in perfect sync with the breeze and the wind chimes, a movement of which I was aware but of which I was not in control. As my rocking increased, the vibration at the top of my chest became stronger, now joined by a gentle warmth that emanated from the very same spot as the vibration. The pool called out to me, called for me to jump into it while the vibrating warmth at my neck evolved into a gentle tugging, prodding me to take the leap into those dark depths. It would be so easy to fall into the pool now; even the sound upon the wind seemed agree, to murmur in accord how very, very easy it would be for me to submit, to let go, to permit the swaying take over and allow the gentle tugging to pull me into the swirling depths of that black water.
“Ashley!” I heard Ben cry out from far away. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him rush to me. Then I felt him grab me as he dragged me from the edge of the reflecting pool.
“What’s the matter?” I asked, startled at being pulled from my trance.
Fear was in his eyes as he looked at me. “I thought you were going to fall in!” he said.
“I suppose I got caught up in meditating,” I said, now fully awake. I looked around at my surroundings as Ben explained that I had not been standing near the stone benches, where he had left me. Apparently, without realizing, I had made my way up to the very edge of the reflecting pool, and my toes were hanging over the side.
“I never should have let you stand so near,” Ben said, visibly upset, as if the unthinkable had almost become real. “I got so caught up in my own meditation that I became negligent. I’m sorry, I am so, so sorry.”
“That’s okay, it’s no big deal,” I said to solace him, still not comprehending the cause for his alarm.
“No, it is a big deal,” he said, shaking, taking my hand to lead me even further from the edge. It was only now that he began to calm down. “It’s a very big deal. That’s not water in that pool.”
“Oh, I thought it looked strange. What is it?”
“I don’t really know. None of us does. But it certainly isn’t water and it is very, very dangerous. Watch this.”
He went over to a nearby tree and plucked off a long, thin, low-hanging branch. He then walked back to the reflecting pool and stuck the leafy end into the liquid. I heard a sizzle and when he pulled out the branch, everything that had made contact with the liquid was gone, leaving in its stead a dripping, dissolving stump that was growing ever shorter by the second. He then threw the remainder away into the pool where it was immediately consumed. The only evidence remaining that it had ever existed at all was a bubbling upon the surface and a small plume of smoke and soon, even that was gone.
“It’s as caustic as sulfuric acid. Arrosha arises untouched from this pool during our outdoor rituals as a display of her power. The lily pads floating in the liquid are the only other things that can survive in there and I have no idea how they do it,” he continued. “If you would have fallen in, that branch would have been you. Ashley, when did you wander so close to the edge? I didn’t see you do it. And why?”
“I don’t know, Ben.” I said, wondering why I had been so drawn to this pool, so willing to fall into it. I couldn’t understand why something so deadly had seemed so alluring. “I got hypnotized, I guess. The pool was calling out to me.”
“This area puts us into meditative states, so I can understand being mesmerized,” Ben said. “But that you wanted to jump into that pool really scares me. I would have been more careful in watching you, but nothing like that’s ever happened before. Never. If anything, there’s always been a repelling force during our meditations to protect us from just that. This bothers me, Ashley, this really bothers me. It sends chills up my spine to think of what almost happened to you. I’ll definitely have to talk this over with Arrosha when I see her. For now, though, maybe it’s better that we walk back to the house. I think that maybe you’ve had enough for one day. I know I have.”
“Sure,” I answered, because I could see that Ben was still shaken and I thought that heading back would help him. By all logic, this near brush with death should have terrified me, but I remained uncharacteristically relaxed and unafraid.
“That sounds fine to me, Ben.” I said, hoping my acquiescence would help to calm him down. “Besides, it’ll give you more time to give me that explanation you’ve been promising me. I’ve been waiting for it, you know.”
“Yes, yes, that’s a good idea,” he said, trying to act nonchalant, although the smile upon his still-worried face was forced. “We’ll go back to the porch and sit down there. Then I’ll tell you everything I’ve been promising to explain. You deserve to know our full story.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Ben and I stepped off the platform and down onto the pathway, following it without stopping until we reached the mansion. We walked up the steps leading back onto the verandah, where I plopped down upon the porch swing closest to the door from which we had exited and yawned broadly.
“Getting tired?” Ben asked. We hadn’t spoken since the incident at the reflecting pool but the stress in his voice suggested that he was still quite unnerved by it.
“A little, maybe,” I said nonchalantly. “I think I might turn in sooner than I planned.”
As I slouched back into the swing, however, I realized that I wasn’t really tired, just incredibly relaxed from my meditations at the reflecting pool. Why hadn’t that near catastrophe hadn’t rattled me in the slightest, despite Ben’s dissolving branch demonstration? Where was the adrenaline rush that such a close call demanded? By all rights, I should be wired right now or at least more perturbed from almost falling into that vat of lethal liquid. I had no business being this calm. Denial. That was it. I was probably in denial. Oh, well, whatever the reason, at least my uncharacteristic serenity was helping smooth over Ben’s ruffled nerves.
“I hope you’re up to staying up and chatting a while. I’d like to discuss a few things with you and then later tell you more about us and who we are,” he said, beginning to wind down. “I think it might help you in your decision to stay.”
“Oh, yeah, I’m fine. There’s no way I’m skipping out on the stories you promised me.”
“Great, but before we get started, I could really use a glass of water right about now. How about you? It’ll perk us both up.”
“Sure.”
He walked over to a small table that sat next to a ceramic fountain of a bearded man within the center of a sun-ray pattern. Picking up a couple of glasses from the table, he held them under the water that poured continuously from the mouth of the fierce face.
“About tomorrow, you wanted to spend the afternoon swimming, right?” he asked as the glasses filled.
“It would be awfully nice.”
“Right now, I don’t see that being a problem, but Arrosha might want to hold your transformation ceremony tomorrow, in which case we’ll have to postpone all other plans.”
“Transformation. There you go again. What does that mean, Ben?”
“I’ll explain it to you in a minute. Usually, the ceremony is held the day after someone’s arrival here, but Arrosha hasn’t told me yet when yours will be. I’m sure she tell me when I see her first thing in the morning, though. In case we have the day free, let’s go ahead and make our plans, because can always cancel them if we have to.
Glasses now full, he walked over to the swing and handed me mine.
“Thanks,” I said, taking it. While I sipped at the ambrosial water, Ben finished his immediately.
“Want another one?” he asked.
“No, thanks, still working on this one.”
Ben went back and poured himself a refill. Then returning from the fountain, he joined me at the other end of the swing, taking another long draft from his glass before settling it into the cup holder in the armr
est. He stretched, sat back and relaxed. “Ah, that’s much, much better. Tell you what, on the way out to the pool area tomorrow morning, I want to show you where a few of the water fountains are, since I kept forgetting today. Most of them are either disguised or hidden and not nearly as obvious as this fine fellow here. Since you’ve already taken essence, it’ll be easy for you to see their ‘on’ switches. Why don’t you bring a water bottle with you in case you want to sunbathe and don’t feel like disturbing your tan by getting up?”
“I don’t tan, unfortunately. I just burn. I think I was born with a melanin deficiency. Irish skin, you know.”
“Ah, but that was before you took essence. You can tan nicely now and not age a whit.”
“Now, that’s good to know. I always did want a tan. But what water bottle?”
“The ones I haven’t shown you yet,” he smiled, relaxed at last after my near-escape at the reflecting pool. “Sorry, I forgot. It’s not a part of my usual duties, either. You know those cabinets in your bedroom closet?”
“The ones that are built in?”
“Yeah. There’s a bunch of empty bottles in there. Just pull one out if you want to take it with you to the pool. We can fill it at one of the fountains.
“Those bottles come in pretty handy when we’re sunbathing or playing sports. Their main purpose, though, is to take with us when we travel, since we don’t drink outside beverages. In case you forget when we go into New Orleans, there’s also a bunch of pre-filled bottles at Arrosha’s townhouse; just make sure you don’t drink the water from the townhouse faucets because that’s just city water.”
“I’ll remember that.”
“Well, all in all, Ashley, I feel like we’ve both had a pretty productive day. So, do you feel like you’re getting your bearings around here?”
“Pretty much. I’m a lot more oriented than I was yesterday.”
“Great,” Ben continued, “After I point out a few more of the water fountains, I’ll need to tend to Geoffrey. If you want to explore anything else further but don’t want to go by yourself, just grab Illea or any of the others. They’ll be more than happy to help. I know that Illea really wants to be friends with you and it goes without saying that Robert would be absolutely thrilled if you asked him.”
“Alright,” I replied, becoming aware once again of Ben’s importance as my security blanket in this strange estate. It was so odd how incredibly comfortable I felt whenever he was around and how apprehensive I was without him. I definitely needed to establish a comfort zone that did not rely on hanging onto Ben’s coattails, so striking out on my own tomorrow afternoon and bonding with some of the others might prove to be wise.
“How long do think that you’re going to be out of touch after tomorrow afternoon?” I asked. The question sounded more desperate than I’d intended.
“That depends on Arrosha. I’m always on-call for her and for official business. But for all of the regular stuff, let’s just say that I plan to keep a low profile for a few days, at least. I’m starting to miss Geoff and need to spend some quality time with him. And I know that he definitely needs me to provide enough tender loving care to smooth over those hurt little feelings of his. Hopefully that’ll be enough to cure his latest bout of petulance.
“By the way, Ashley, since I know you’re probably going to be spending the afternoon in the pool area, I just want to give you a head’s up that Geoffrey and I will probably be taking a dip tomorrow ourselves. Not to worry, though, I’ll be sure to keep him out of your hair until he’s managed to work himself back into a good mood. Wherever you are, we’ll just go to another area of the water park and you won’t even have to know that he’s there, okay?”
“That’s fine,” I answered. I wasn’t looking forward to seeing Geoffrey again, but as long as I didn’t have to do anything more than wave or say hi, I didn’t mind.
That being said, we relaxed quietly for a while, just swinging back and forth, enjoying the mild temperature of this beautiful day as the soft breeze blew gently over us, caressing skin and hair. I continued to sip at my water glass, feeling all residual tension slip away as it was replaced by the calm, upbeat energy to which I’d already become quite accustomed. In the silence that surrounded us, the only chink in my tranquility continued to be the nagging in the back of my mind as it pecked away in search of lost memory. Now far less intense than it had been earlier, it was currently proving to be more annoying than disturbing. Although the largest section of my consciousness remained hopeful that the recollections would finally break through, I had to admit that there was another part of me that wished everything unpleasant would just vanish forever. I wondered why the magic water wasn’t washing away all of my uneasiness like it had before. For some reason, it seemed a little less effective than it had been just this morning. Was my body already starting to build up a tolerance to the precious liquid? What a pity, I thought, for I really missed the carefree feeling it originally brought with it. Oh, well. Maybe it wasn’t a tolerance. Maybe I just didn’t need it as much now as I did earlier. Determined not to let such a tiny imperfection ruin everything else that was so pleasant about this day, I decided to tuck back all of my concerns for now and enjoy the rest of this delightful afternoon as it very slowly slipped toward evening.
From our perch at the swing, Ben and I watched from a distance as the others passed in and out of our sight, the grace of their voices and laughter sounding so like the peal of little chimes. It was a perfect moment and from all that Ben had told me, I knew that such perfect moments were never rare in this land in which the uncontrollable was so very well controlled. All things here were impeccable and would continue always to be, wouldn’t they? Even the leisurely pace at which these flawless people lived their pampered lives created the illusion of a world long gone by, a world which, for the most part, had ever only existed for the very rich and even for them, rarely in reality for any length of time. This setting was the happily-ever-after section of a modern fairy tale, wasn’t it, one to which I had actually been invited. My general memories kicked into my barely existent personal memories just enough for me to realize that things like this didn’t happen to me. As far as the world was concerned, I knew somehow that I was just another face in the crowd, yet one more person with a losing lottery ticket. Why was this being offered to me? And why now? What had I ever done to deserve this invitation to become one of the beautiful people and to live a lifestyle that was far too good ever to be true? I looked around me, soaking up the delight that that greeted all of my senses from every side. This world was truly magical, wasn’t it? I had finally won the jackpot and the longer I was here, the more I saw, the more I wanted to keep my winnings. Within this moment in time, everything was perfect. At least, it would be if only the pestering grating of recollection would stop trying to scratch its way to the surface.
I sucked down the rest of the water in my glass and it helped a little but not enough; so I got up from the swing, refilled both my glass and Ben’s, and returned to my spot where I drank most of it. Still, the grating did not stop. I couldn’t understand it; if my memories wanted to come back so bad, why didn’t they just reappear without all of this damnable discomfort? If only they would materialize without the effort of all of this annoying fanfare, I would have more than welcomed them back because they would make my decision so easy. If I knew what my life in the outside was like, I would be able to tie up all of the loose ends in a neat little package with a bow, for I could then understand exactly what needed to be taken care of in order to make a move of this magnitude successful. If I could get to that point, I knew I would want to continue here, to become ensconced in this marvelous, magical, mystical world where I could live in true luxury, beauty and peace. But despite the water and despite all of my pretty hopes, the scraping of memory against mind still would not stop.
“So tell me, Ashley, how do you like it here so far?” Ben asked casually.
“It’s like paradise, isn’t it?” I replied, glad to
be taken away from my thoughts, for I sensed they’d been on the verge of taking an unhappy turn. “So incredibly beautiful.”
“Have you given any more thought about staying with us?”
“I’m seriously considering it,” I answered. “I’ve always dreamed of living in a place like this. I least I must have, because who hasn’t, right?”
“So you’re starting to get used to our lifestyle?”
“It’s not hard to get used to,” I laughed. “It’s both magnificent and so peaceful here. Tell me, Ben, is it always this tranquil?”
“It is if you want it to be. If you ever do get bored, there are always excursions into the city, pending Arrosha’s permission, of course, and team sports right here at the mansion. A lot of the guys here are into racing. Motorcycles, cars, jet skis, that sort of thing.”
“Ah, so it isn’t always this tranquil. It does get noisy from time to time.”
The Nightmare Game Page 37