by Karl Morgan
Carl rolled his eyes. “Okay, that didn’t happen, and now you’re still sitting in that helicopter and not in Antarctica. Go with that if you want, but I have more important things to do than chat with you.” He turned and began walking away.
“Don’t you turn your back on me!” Winston shouted. “I’m taking you back to the queen! Come back here.” When the boy had disappeared into the blowing snow, Winston turned to follow his team, who were already fifty yards away.
Carl continued for some time. Just ahead, the land appeared to change into rolling hills covered with crops. He stopped where the snowy side ended and marveled at the world only inches ahead of him. He turned back to see new snow falling and the winds swirling around. He turned and stepped onto the gravel roadway. Glancing back, the snowy world had vanished and been replaced by the fertile hills of northern Bulgaria. He sighed, looked down, said a silent prayer, and then continued forward.
After another hour, he arrived at the crest of a hill. The Danube River flowed through the wide valley below. Its banks backed up into more farmland. In the distance, he could see the demon queen’s castle. “Well, I guess this is it. Let’s see how much time I can save.” He began to walk downhill. At the bottom of the hill, the road he was on intersected another that moved parallel to the river. A hundred yards to his left, a cart pulled by two oxen and filled will bundles of hay moved in his direction. Carl laughed when he realized that Death was driving the cart. There was a large boulder at one corner of the intersection. He sat on it and waited for the cart to arrive.
The cart pulled up alongside the boulder and stopped. Death waved a bony hand. “How are you today, Carl?”
“I’m okay. How about you, Mort?”
Death pulled up his sleeves and examined his arms. “I think I’m wasting away to skin and bones. Well, bones mainly.” Carl laughed. “What are you doing here so soon?”
“I’m too early? I thought I could get more time for Aida and Joshua if I am here.”
“Why do you think Sylvia sent Winston to collect you?”
“Mort, they’re going to bring all the students here to be her slaves, right? I’m just one of them, aren’t I?”
Death shook his head slowly. “Carl, get on the back of the cart and I’ll drive us to my place nearby. We can have a nice dinner together, and we will all see what happens tomorrow. There is another friend on the cart who can better explain such things to you.”
Carl walked to the back of the cart and was surprised to see Headmaster Dorchester sitting there. Carl climbed on board, and the cart moved forward again. “Headmaster, this is quite a surprise. What happened at the school?”
“Let’s not dwell on such trivialities, Carl. There are more important things that concern us.”
Carl nodded. “Yeah, the end of the universe.”
“For one, yes. At this point, I am most concerned about your relationship with the demon queen. How long has she been infatuated with you?”
“She is? Headmaster, I don’t think that’s true.”
Dorchester laughed and slapped Carl’s knee. “Of course it’s true. Virtually every action she’s taken has been focused on you.”
“Headmaster, isn’t that because I’m the Invisible Hand, and she’s worried I can stop her?”
“Carl, the universe may end soon. Please just call me Alex. If this ends well, and we all return to the Thorndike Institution, that title may be warranted again.”
“Thank you. Alex.”
“To be honest, I think the girl wants you to stop her. She wants you to rescue her from herself to prove your affection. She wanted the same from her father, but was clearly rebuffed.”
“I am not in love with Sylvia, Alex,” Carl stated firmly.
Dorchester shook his head. “I did not say that. She is a little girl whose affection for her father was ignored. That caused those feelings to turn into anger and temper tantrums. Then along comes Carl Prescott, the Hand of God, and only other person able to control her emotions and recognize her right to be loved and accepted.” He put his hand on Carl’s shoulder. “She is counting on you to sacrifice everything to save her life.”
Carl held his head in his hands and groaned audibly.
“Her biggest mistake was joining with the Conway girl. You obviously knew she was infatuated with you as well.”
Carl sat back up and scratched his head. “Yea, I never figured that out either. I never showed any interest in her.”
Dorchester stretched his back. “Of course you’re aware of the Incubus and Succubus talents.”
“Barbie’s talent was very powerful. I remember how she used that on Headmaster Greenleaf to retrieve the Devil’s Heart.”
“Yes, that is true. However, I can tell you that your Incubus ability is many times stronger than hers.” Carl looked surprised. “Of course, you remember the incident at the school with the skunks. Well, all three of you had talents, but did not recognize them. Because you never intentionally tried to use the Incubus talent, you did not know you had it.”
“Is that the reason that Grace and Aida fell in love with me?”
Dorchester shook his head. “I doubt it. Those talents can engender feelings of desire and lust, but love is a different matter. However, when Sylvia bonded with Barbara, her affection for you intensified. I imagine that you are all she thinks about anymore. That is highly dangerous, you know.”
“Alex, are you asking me to break up with Aida and date Sylvia?”
Dorchester laughed. “No, that would be a grievous error, Carl. Sylvia does not want a boyfriend. She demands salvation.”
“And how do I do that?”
Dorchester shrugged. “I don’t know. Between now and then, I hope you can figure that out.”
The cart stopped, and the three went inside Death’s bungalow for dinner.
Chapter 17
Carl woke at sunrise. He got out of bed and walked to the small window on the front wall of Death’s bungalow. The main road they had traveled on the cart was crowded with wagons and other carts. Thousands of people walked alongside their wagons as they headed toward the queen’s castle. All the people wore rough, medieval-style work clothes. Most of the men carried spears or other crude weapons. He shook his head, headed out of the room, and then downstairs. Death came out of the kitchen with two steaming mugs of coffee. “Good morning, Mort.”
“I’m not sure it’s a good morning, but thank you. Grab yourself a mug and join us on the front porch.” Death walked to the front door, set one mug on the floor, opened the door, picked up the other mug, and stepped outside. The door closed behind him.
Carl went into the kitchen, prepared his coffee, and then headed out front to join the others. Dorchester and Death were sitting on the two rocking chairs, so Carl sat on the small rattan couch. “Morning, Alex.”
Dorchester stared at the crowd moving by. “This is worse than I could have imagined, Carl. Look for yourself.”
Carl turned his attention to the crowd and noticed most were students and faculty from the Thorndike Institution. Professors Thorndike and Donnelly stopped at the crossroad leading to the bungalow. Dorchester waved them over, and they headed up the small rise toward the porch. Carl stood to allow the two men to sit. “How are you two?”
Thorndike sat with a grunt. “We’ve been walking for hours, Carl. That’s how we are.”
Donnelly sat next to Thorndike. “This is quite a spectacle, Carl Prescott. It grows more obvious by the moment that this audience is here to witness what you will do.”
“What will you do?” Dorchester asked.
Carl shook his head. “I’m not sure.”
Death nodded. “At the appropriate time, you will know. That is always the way it is with sacrifice. In the moment of most critical need, you will attain a mental clarity most will never reach. The choice will be obvious however dire the consequences may be.”
A squad of swordsmen turned off the path toward the bungalow. One of the shouted, “You all need to co
me with us. You can rest later.”
Death stood, walked off the porch, and began to approach the soldiers. He removed his robe and dropped it to the ground. The soldiers gawked at the moving skeleton. “You boys need to go play somewhere else. These adults are having a conversation.”
The soldiers began to argue among themselves as they considered their options. Death burst into flames. Black smoke rose from the fire into the air. “Okay, I told you nicely, now get out of here!” The soldiers hurried away and rejoined the mob moving toward the castle. The flames disappeared, Death donned his robe, and headed back onto the porch. “Some people just don’t listen very well.”
The front door on the bungalow opened, and all turned to see who was there. The demon queen stepped onto the porch. She was dressed in red. Her dress was low cut in front and had a long slit up one thigh. She wore red stiletto heels. A gold crown adorned with emeralds sat on her head, and she wore the Devil’s Heart around her neck. “Hello boys. Thanks for coming to my little party.” She waved at Death. “Uncle Mort, that burning skeleton thing was awesome.” Death shrugged his shoulders. She walked over to Carl. “Ready to go?”
“No, not yet.”
“I’m not sure you can refuse me. I will kill everyone here if you defy me.”
Carl took her hands in his, and she flinched in surprise. “I’m not defying you, Sylvia, but what’s the rush? I mean, if you’re going to destroy the universe, we might as well enjoy ourselves until then, right?”
She pulled her hands away and trembled. “Delaying the inevitable won’t do you any good, Carl.”
He looked down and sighed. “I just thought we could go on a date or something. You know, really have some fun before, you know, the end.”
She put her finger under his chin and raised his head. “You’re playing games with me, aren’t you?”
He smiled. “You like games, don’t you?”
She held Carl’s hands. “Don’t worry, boys. We won’t be long.” Carl and Sylvia disappeared.
Death shook his head. “I hope this works.”
Carl and Sylvia stood on a crowded corner in the middle of Tokyo. Now she wore a tight black dress. The crown was gone. She pulled him along as they moved closer to the walls of a nearby building. When they were away from the waves of passersby, she leaned over and whispered, “We have a problem, Carl.”
“What problem is that?”
She smirked. “I look like your mother, or at least older sister.” She moved her hands up and down his body without touching him. “That’s better.”
Carl was surprised to be looking down at Sylvia. He was a few inches taller than her now. He also wore a tuxedo with a red tie and cummerbund. “What did you do?”
She pulled him along the sidewalk until they reached a glass wall. He looked at his reflection. “Did you make me get older?”
“It’s not permanent. You said you wanted to take me on a date, and I’m not going to fancy places with a teenager. Now, we both look like adults.” She led him away.
They walked into a small restaurant and sat at the sushi bar. Sylvia ordered while Carl looked around at the other guests. He noticed most of the men were staring at Sylvia and the women at him. He blushed and looked at the fish inside the glass case in front of him. Soon, plates of food were served along with hot tea. Carl began telling her jokes. Before long, all the people in the restaurant were part of their celebration. Sake and other drinks flowed.
Sylvia offered her sake to Carl who shook his head. She leaned over, kissed his cheek, and said, “Darling, if I destroy the universe, no one will ever know.” The party became more raucous and soon, everyone was singing and toasting each other.
Carl awoke with a pounding headache. He was in bed with the sheets pulled up to his neck. He glanced under the covers and noticed he was nude. Over the throbbing of his head, he could hear the shower running and Sylvia singing. He pulled on his clothes quickly and walked over to the bathroom door, which was not closed. “Sylvia, we need to talk.”
“Come in and talk then,” she called out.
Carl walked in and sat on the toilet. “Sylvia, what happened last night?”
She stuck out her head. “You look awful, Carl. There are some aspirin in the cabinet. You don’t remember anything?”
“I remember the restaurant and all the sake I drank. That’s about it.”
She pulled her head back into the shower. “There’s nothing else to tell, actually. When the party broke up, you were barely awake, so I brought you here to the hotel to sleep it off.”
He sighed deeply. “Sylvia, I was naked in bed. Did we do anything I should know about?”
She turned off the water and pulled a towel from the rack. “Well, we both wanted to, but I know you’re only a boy. Then you passed out, and I didn’t want you to sleep in the tux.”
“You could have just changed the tux into pajamas, you know?”
She pulled the shower curtain aside and stepped out with the towel wrapped around her body. She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him. She winked. “Now where would be the fun in that?” She patted him on the cheek and walked out of the room laughing.
“Where are we anyway?”
“Paris. It’ll be getting dark soon, and we have lots more to see and do, darling.”
Carl shook his head, closed the door, and prepared for the next part of his adventure.
An hour later, they sat at a sidewalk café not far from Notre Dame Cathedral. Carl wore slacks and a blazer. Once again, he appeared to be in his mid-twenties. Sylvia smiled at him from across the table. “I know why you’re doing all of this, Carl.”
“Why is that?”
“You want me to change my mind about ending the universe.”
Carl shrugged. “And what’s so bad about that?”
Sylvia ran her foot up his leg. “Nothing really, but it won’t work.”
The server arrived with a split of champagne. He opened it, and poured into her glass. He looked at Carl who shook his head. Then he walked away. Two more servers approached the table. One opened a bottle of sparkling water and poured for Carl. The other set down two salads and a basket of bread.
Carl picked up his glass. “To us, Sylvia.”
She tapped her flute to his glass. “To us, darling. You know, you’re quite the character when you want to be. You’re pushing pretty hard.”
Carl set his glass down and put his hand over hers. “I think you like it, though. Am I right?”
She blushed and pulled her hand away. “I’m the spawn of Satan, not you. Frankly, I’m surprised. What about your girlfriend, old what’s her name?”
Carl sat back and smiled. “Well, if you destroy the universe, I guess she’ll never know.”
Sylvia laughed out loud. “Honey, you may be the Hand of God, but you’re also a relentless flirt.” After a few seconds, she added, “And yes, I do like it.”
Carl ate a bite of salad as he considered the woman across the table. He took a drink of water. “Sweetheart, you keep calling me darling or honey. Tell me what you really think about me.”
Sylvia blushed and looked down at her food. She took a bite of salad and tried hard to ignore Carl’s foot working its way up her calf. “That’s enough of this game.” Carl removed his foot and leaned forward. “You already know how I feel and what I want from you, Carl. I freaking told you, but apparently you were too stupid to be listening to me. You are such a, such a child.” She tossed some currency on the table, stood up, and walked away.
Carl hurried to catch up. “Sylvia, please don’t walk away like this.”
She ignored him.
He ran ahead, turned, and stopped in front of her. “Can we please talk about this? I am very sorry if I hurt you.”
“You did hurt me.” She groaned. “I know what I am and how I can be. Let me take you somewhere important to me. I’ve never taken anyone else there.” She extended her hands, which Carl took.
They stood on a beach where gentle waves
rolled up toward their feet. Both wore shorts and pullover shirts. Sylvia led Carl off the beach toward a small house that sat behind a picket fence. They went up onto the porch and stopped. Sylvia stared at the door. “This was a bad idea. I don’t think I’m ready for this.”
“We don’t have to stay,” Carl replied. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
She turned, put her arms around him, and hugged him tightly. “Now, that’s the Carl that I know. Don’t ever change, okay?” He nodded. She released him and walked over to the rail at the edge of the porch. “This place reminds you of something, doesn’t it?”
He joined her at the railing and looked around the area. “This is a lot like my secret place.”
She nodded. “I figure when we were on the Rope Bridge, you must have seen this place in my memories.” She put her hand on his upper arm. “And that’s why your island is similar to mine.” She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “You put a piece of me into your place, just like I did.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You will. I’m okay now, and I really want you to come inside.” She walked over to the door, took a deep breath, pushed the door open, and stepped inside.
Carl walked inside and gasped. The main room was identical to his island home, even down to the placement of identical furniture and the doilies on the back of the couch. “This is amazing.” He put his arm around her shoulders. “We must have an amazing connection.”
She sighed, walked over to a closed door, and turned to face him. After a few deep breaths, she said, “My bedroom is behind this door. Whenever I’m feeling the most vulnerable, I come here to cry myself to sleep.” She turned and ran her hand over the door. “If you come inside, you’ll know everything. I’m terrified that you will be shocked, horrified, or hate me forever.”
“I don’t have to go in there. This is your choice.”
She turned back to him and wiped tears from her face. “Is it?” She turned to the door and pushed the door slightly ajar. “I think you deserve to know everything about me, Carl Sandberg Prescott.” She sighed, pushed open the door, and stepped inside.