“Nope.” He stopped dancing, but his grip around my waist tightened. “I have this feeling.” He paused and put his hand over his chest. “This increasing sensation we should be ready.” He chuckled, startling me. “Though don’t ask me for what. I don’t know.” Lowering his head, my Prince Charming kissed my forehead. “You will be by my side, won’t you?”
“You know I will. Always,” I whispered, closing my eyes and relishing the touch of his warm lips.
“Sing for me?” he asked in a low, husky tone, his warm and fresh breath brushing against my skin. I shivered. “I love it when you sing.”
“I will.” I wanted to do this for him. Give him this gift of music he loved. I wanted him to feel my love for him through my voice, my singing. I inhaled deeply and prepared my throat to voice his favorite song.
“Nadine!” My eyes shot open, and I let out a yelp. A furious Adam stood before me.
Oh no, please, I wanted my vision back. I wanted Victor back. I put my hands over my temples and willed my mind to drift away, to go back to my Prince Charming. I tried to force the vision to take over, but I couldn’t control it.
“What is up with you?” Adam asked.
This wasn’t the first time he’d found me during an episode. He could tell our manager I had spaced out during work hours. If I wasn’t fired today, it would certainly be another day if I continued like this.
“Nothing.” I hid my chemistry book behind me. Yeah, like Adam would care about my studies after seeing me completely out of it. “Did you call me?”
“Yes! These freak shows are getting longer, Nadine. I’ve been calling you for the last ten minutes.”
“Sorry,” I mumbled. He didn’t know why I zoned out, but based on past experiences, he knew it wasn’t something he needed to worry about and call for help since he had seen me like this a hundred times.
I stood and took a deep breath. Love and hate were truly only separated by a thin line. I loved having my visions and spending time with Victor, and I hated I couldn’t control when they happened and the inconvenience they caused me.
“Get back to work before I tell the manager you were hiding.”
Why he didn’t rat me out and laugh while I got fired, I’d never know. Perhaps because he knew, like him, I needed the money.
I left the storage room under his she-is-such-a-freak gaze and went back to waiting tables, planning to study tonight, even if I had to stay awake until morning.
That is, if a vision didn’t rescue me.
3
My eyes didn’t betray me. The most perfect, peaceful sky blanketed the hill that lay under it, and a bluish green ocean rolled in fierce waves. A soft breeze blew, bringing the scents of salt water and sweet flowers, and carrying with it the sound of the water breaking on the rocky shore. It was a perfect, magical, Kodak moment, as the older people used to say, and I didn’t have my camera with me.
Wait. I patted my jeans.
I had nothing with me. A vision? It felt different. Too clear, too bright, too eerie. And where was Victor?
My last vision had been almost two weeks ago, and I already missed him. I couldn’t wait to meet him, to talk to him, to feel his touch and warmth, and to tell him I passed organic chemistry. The spring semester was finally over and now was the time to celebrate. With Victor.
Looking for my Prince Charming, I pivoted, only to see a palace—but not one of stone like those seen in history books. Instead a palace made of crystal loomed before me. Shimmering. Shiny. Radiant. A step away from my feet, a crystal path wound up the mountain, leading to the palace’s entrance.
Perhaps Victor was inside? But why would he be inside a palace? Hmm, perhaps he had already organized a celebration for me for passing the semester.
As I followed the path, I gawked at the palace. Its peculiarity was due in part to the many different structures that composed it: Greek columns, Roman domes, Nordic round towers, Egyptian pylons, English strong walls, Chinese colors, and Islamic ogee arches—all made of shiny crystal.
I reached the front steps and tilted my head, looking to the upmost point. Suddenly I felt small, like an ant on a human’s threshold.
Then I heard voices.
“Hello? Victor?” Was this a ghost-type vision, or one I could interact with? I hoped not a ghost vision. I missed Victor.
Twirling a strand of hair around my finger, I followed the voices through a high, long corridor to another grand archway. There I froze.
Five men and five women stood around a circular reflecting pool, right in front of imposing crystal thrones. The sound of their soft steps was overridden by their firm voices. They appeared to be in their forties, clad in modern suits or gowns, each holding intricate, sparkling crystal staves.
The air around them smelled of flowers. Gardenias. They were planted in several tall, round crystal pots next to the thrones.
The elegant men and women argued and didn’t seem to be aware of my presence. I let out a slow breath and tension eased from my joints.
A ghost-type vision. And one without Victor apparently. How odd. But what did this mean? I tiptoed closer, confident they couldn’t see me. While I was here, I could at least figure out what was going on in the crystal palace.
“The humans are losing their faith,” one of the males said, his voice melodious and stout. His face was rough but incredibly beautiful. His dark eyes looked like deep black flames. The orb topping his stave shone with a daunting black light. “They don’t believe in us anymore.”
“Mitrus is right,” an elegant female spoke. She had black hair that flowed to her knees and skin so pale it was nearly translucent. The color inside the sphere on her stave was purple. “The humans think those Greek or Roman gods are the real ones, when the truth is very different.”
“Not only Greek and Roman gods, Imha,” a man with a goatee and scruffy brown hair added. His white suit was crumpled and his jacket opened. He paraded with a rolling gait, like he rode a horse. A bright red orb topped his stave. “The humans even invented that one almighty god they speak of. The one with a capital G. Soon we’ll be forgotten.”
Who were these people? And where the hell was Victor?
Another man came into view. He was tall with tanned skin, broad shoulders, long golden hair, and light green eyes, like two precious demantoid garnets. He had a fine stubble beard that emphasized his chiseled jaw and squared chin. As the others he looked about forty, but a hot forty, like a famous movie star.
One of his hands was buried inside his pant pocket while the other gripped his white-orb scepter. His gaze focused on the reflecting pool. “I know, Omi,” he said. His voice was strong, sure, and smooth. “I wish we could do more, but we cannot interfere with their lives.”
“Nevertheless, we can prove our existence,” Mitrus said. “Think about it, Levi. We need to do something.”
“We won’t cease to exist, Mitrus.” A graceful woman stood beside Levi, her wavy hair white blond and her eyes clear blue. She held a stave crowned by an orb that emanated baby pink light. “We just need to craft a plan, without exposing ourselves.”
“I agree with Ceris,” Levi said, taking the woman’s hand. “We should start talking about plans to increase our popularity among humans. We need to get them to believe in us again until they realize the gods they have believed in do not exist, those gods were myths based on our true existence.”
Ceris smiled at Levi. “Well said.”
“Are you blind? We have to punish those puny humans!” Mitrus raised his voice. “They deserve to feel the pain they inflict on us for forgetting us! We’re weakening without their belief. We’ll become powerless immortals.”
“A little chaos.” Imha let out a hollow chuckle that sounded heinous, while playing with her hair. “I like that.”
“Yes, chaos,” Omi said. “And death and destruction until the entire world comes to us, on their knees, begging for our mercy.”
Wait, what? They were talking about destroying my world? Could my
world get any worse? I hoped whatever they were and whatever they were saying was a figment of my imagination, or just another hallucination.
“Listen to yourselves!” Levi let go of Ceris’s hand and faced Imha and Mitrus and Omi square on, no fear on his features. “If we scare them, they won’t trust us. We have to help them, bring them joy, show them that every hard time will be compensated.”
“I don’t want their trust,” Mitrus exclaimed, fisting his hands. My stomach clenched. Was it just me, or had the crystal walls shook? “I want their reverence, their obedience.”
“You won’t get those without their trust and respect,” Levi said, his voice low, but embedded with steel.
“Only you care about their respect,” Mitrus shouted.
“Of course I care about their respect.” The muscles on Levi’s neck corded and bunched. “You should too. Every good thing in life comes with respect. Civilization can be organized and just only if people respect each other.”
“I don’t know how you can be in charge,” Mitrus spat between gritted teeth. “You’re weak and pitiful, like the humans.”
“I think it’s time for a change in our leadership,” Imha suggested with a wicked smile. The cruelty of it, added to the ardent shine in her eyes, sent goose bumps over my arms. I embraced myself as if I could protect myself from her.
“You know it’s not that simple,” Levi said, letting his shoulders droop. “Being the leader is not my preferred pastime, but it is one I take seriously. I’m the balance between us. If we change that balance, the whole world will change.”
“Not a bad idea,” Mitrus murmured. With a sudden but subtle movement, he cast a shadowy bolt of energy at Levi. The bolt hit the god in the chest, and Levi fell on the crystal steps.
I gasped. Ceris cried out, and Imha laughed.
Before I could blink, Levi was on his feet again, holding a white bolt in his palms. “We are immortals, Mitrus. We cannot die. Why waste time with foolish fights? It’ll only slow the important decisions.”
“Perhaps we can die,” Mitrus said in a controlled tone. Imha and Omi came to stand beside him. “Perhaps we only need the right weapon.”
Together, one after another, the three of them hurled heavy black bolts toward Levi. I shouted for them to stop, disregarding the fact they couldn’t see or hear me.
My pulse quickened. Damn it, I was in the middle of a fight, and there was nothing I could do about it. There was no way I could interrupt it. Why the hell had I entered this palace in the first place?
Ceris tried to protect Levi, but was flung back several feet. Levi had been disarmed. Each new assault hindered his attempts to stand.
She ran to him, waving her stave, casting what seemed to be a magic wall around Levi, giving him enough time to sit up and take a deep, shuddering breath.
“Come on, love. Respond.” Ceris rested her hand on his shoulder.
He stood. “Stop it, Mitrus. We’re just wasting our stamina. You know these bolts don’t hurt.”
“But they annoy and weaken.” Mitrus took out a black spike from his pocket. The spike had sharp ends, like a stake, and was no more than ten inches long with carvings that shone white.
Levi gaped at Mitrus. “You didn’t.”
“I did.” Mitrus held the spike between his hands and squeezed. As if he summoned power, his palms turned bright red. The ruby glow transferred to the spike, its carvings now shining. Mitrus threw it at Levi.
Levi whipped around and cast a shield before him. He grabbed the spike with his hands before it could hit his body. He turned the spike toward Mitrus, putting it in the center of a huge white bolt, and hurled it at his foe. Mitrus did the same with another stake he had hidden.
At the same time, Levi and Mitrus were pierced by the spikes. Both stood, wavering, staring at each other with fury in their eyes, then their bodies shivered, shimmered, and disappeared.
All the noise and the movement in the room ceased.
For a couple of moments, nobody breathed. The gods seemed petrified.
Levi and Mitrus were gone. Not just dead, but gone. Bodies and staves, just gone.
“I can’t feel them,” Imha whispered, as if she hadn’t trusted they would be able to kill Levi. Though, I was sure, killing Mitrus hadn’t been a part of their plans.
A scream, desperate and piercing, ripped from Ceris’s throat. I flinched and closed my eyes, unable to bear the pain and the wrath carried by her cry.
“Nadine,” someone called me. “Nadine, wake up!”
My eyes fluttered open. Cheryl. My rushing heartbeat waned.
“Hi,” I muttered as I scanned my surroundings. We were in the university bookstore, and I stood before a shelf, a book opened in my hands. It took me a moment to clear my mind. I remembered I had finished my shift at work, and Cheryl had invited me to the bookstore. Then I had spaced out and the insane vision overtook me. Could any of that have been real? I had never seen anyone but Victor in my visions until now.
“Are you okay?” she asked, her silver eyes anxious. “I have been calling you for over fifteen minutes, and you didn’t even blink. You freaked me out. I was about to call 911. What happened?”
“I-I’m not sure,” I said. My head spun.
It had been the longest vision ever. Who were those people? And the crystal palace? It felt so real, so powerful.
“Come on.” Cheryl grabbed my arm and led me toward the coffee shop inside the bookstore. “You should sit down.”
“I’m fine.” I pushed her hands away but didn’t offer any more protest. I needed some time to think about what I saw.
Oh God, was I losing it? Besides visions of Victor, now was I going to see gods and goddess I had never heard of? I sighed and considered telling Cheryl, who sat across from me looking as if she expected me to blurt out some horrible news.
I opened my mouth. Nothing came out.
“You know you can tell me anything, right?” she said, her expression pleading.
I so wanted to talk to her about the visions. I really did. The thought of losing her friendship won over though, and once more I let the opportunity slip away. There was no way she could understand. She’d think I was mental.
I averted my gaze. “I know.”
She patted my hand. “I’m gonna get us some coffee.” She stood and went to the ordering line.
My mind spun through the images of the crystal palace and the impeccably dressed gods. Not that I knew why I had visions about Victor, but why the hell had I seen those gods?
4
I walked out of the university café into the street and took a deep breath. My nose wrinkled from the foul smells flooding over the walls. I tried to ignore the stench. I was too wound up for anything to bring me down. I figured I’d better head home and give myself a break. Maybe I was working too hard. Maybe the visions were from exhaustion, not some psychiatric disorder. Maybe I just needed to sleep the whole weekend.
After ten days of working ten-hour shifts, I was relieved it was Friday and I had the weekend off. To keep my spirits high, I had to block from my mind the knowledge that on Monday the summer semester would start, which meant more studying, more work, and more crazy-hour shifts. But maybe soon I’d be working with something more satisfying than coffee grounds and bagels. Following Cheryl’s advice, I had applied for the Patient Care Technician position. I was told I’d hear from them in a few days. For now, I planned to chill.
I greeted the security guard at the university’s gate with a quick nod and stepped outside the protected area. I always felt safe inside the walls. Besides providing students with an outstanding education, the institution emphasized security, earning the vote of trust of many parents throughout the country and around the globe—including mine.
After the darkness took over, NYU changed too. Before, its campus had been spread through Lower Manhattan. Now, the university was confined to the area around Washington Square Park, the entire site contained within a five-block radius, protected by thick sixte
en-foot walls. Cameras and security guards kept watch. Only Langone Medical Center was outside, but it was also heavily protected and watched. At least my apartment wasn’t far.
When NYU moved to one location and closed itself in, many apartment buildings were built around it, and their owners hoped they would be used by the students who were not able to get a university dorm.
During my first semester at NYU, I was in a dorm inside the walls and that was where I met Raisa, my roommate. Raisa and I decided to move to one of the apartments close to NYU so we could have more privacy and larger rooms. We chose a building with a good security system, only one block from NYU’s south gate.
Even so, I hurried and glanced over my shoulder many times to make sure nobody or no bat followed me.
I stopped at the newsstand on my block, pulled in by the large picture of an exploding volcano. The headline read: Volcano in Mexico deemed dormant erupts and sweeps surrounding cities.
The tragic news didn’t stop there. In Australia, a containment wall ruptured and the massive waves washed away several cities and ended hundreds of lives. Without the full strength of the sun, the agriculture crisis was rapidly scaling up, causing many farmers to become criminals—yesterday the most feared gang robbed five banks in Chicago—and the tri-state area population of giant bats had grown by thirty percent in the last four months.
I shuddered, thinking about the bats. No one knew if they were a new species of bat, or if regular bats evolved and become larger somehow.
“I wonder when we’ll find a good headline.” The owner of the newsstand grabbed a newspaper from the pile.
“Me too,” I whispered. I turned and ran the thirty feet to my building’s door and quickly put my index finger on the biometric lock. A second later, I was inside the foyer, inhaling the fresh lemony scent from recently applied floor wax.
“Good evening, Miss Sterling,” the concierge welcomed from behind his tall desk.
“Hi, John,” I greeted him and entered one of the elevators, noticing his attention had already returned to the screens under his desk, where he monitored our building.
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