by Tara Lutz
“What did I do to make you hate me so much?” Jessie could feel her remaining hope wash away, with the stream of water rushing around her feet. If Dex was coming, he should have been here by now.
“You really haven’t figured it out, yet? It was supposed to be me! I was one of the original five, picked to protect the gateway. It should have been me, learning all the powers. Instead it is Dex; manipulating it to his own advantage, travelling back and forth between realms, while clueless voyagers repeatedly live their lives, never being able to change who they are.”
Lightening flashed and illuminated Rebecca’s face, contorted with anger. Careful to keep a safe distance from the rock, Jessie instinctively backed away.
“And then you came along,” Rebecca continued, not noticing Jessie’s movement. “You were Dex’s soulmate. The voyagers overruled my protectors and decided you should be the last part of the five. You took it all away from me and you were clueless; always blinking your wide blue eyes up at him like a lost puppy. It made me sick. Well, it ends today. The path Dex created to hide you from the voyagers, will now hide you from him. Forever.”
Rebecca snapped her head back to Jessie and gave her a sinister grin. “Where do you think you’re going? Move back over there,” she pointed the gun towards the gateway. The humming almost deafening Jessie, the closer she got to it.
Over Rebecca’s shoulder, there was movement. At first, she thought it was the wind and rain assaulting the trees, but the blurriness the storm’s wrath created cleared, and there he was. Dex. She kept her face neutral and Rebecca talking.
“But, that’s all we want. We just want to live, like the majority of the voyagers have lived, for centuries. If Dex has been manipulating the gateway, by creating one of his own, than close it! Just let us all leave, together. You’ll be free to choose your own path, instead of the one that’s always chasing me and Dex.”
Jessie didn’t even know what she was saying. She was babbling, trying to give Dex time to get to Rebecca, without being discovered.
Twenty feet to Dex’s left, through the trees, Jessie saw Gerald. They were almost there. The sky lit up again and Jessie wasn’t fast enough, to move her eyes back to Rebecca, before the brightness hit her face.
Jessie ducked as she flew at her, the gun knocking against her shoulder and dislodging from Rebecca’s grip. They both struggled, to gain their footing, in the sucking mud. Wet curls slapped against her eyes and she flung her head back to remove them from her face. At the same time, with her elbow, she jabbed Rebecca in the stomach. Jessie slipped backwards into a deep puddle and felt her arm being tugged from behind. Dex was advancing towards the fallen Rebecca, a look displayed on his face that Jessie had never seen before and hoped would never see again. He was going to kill her.
“Dex, wait!” Jessie screamed, twisting herself away from Gerald.
She ran to Dex and grabbed him around his waist, her head buried into his wet t-shirt. Without letting him go, she moved around to his front, and brought her hands up to his cheeks, forcing him to look at her. The look of pure hate disintegrated when he recognized Jessie.
“This is what she wants. Don’t let her win,” Jessie whispered, trying to calm him.
Rebecca was frozen in the mud. Gerald retrieved the gun from the water logged earth. His hands were shaking violently as he pointed it at her.
“Are you ok?” Dex asked. He unstuck the hair that was plastered across her cheek and tucked it behind her ears. She tasted mud and the lake when he lowered his head to kiss her. They held each other close, letting the rain wash the dirt from their arms.
“It’s too late, Dex.” Rebecca found her courage, even though they were holding all the cards, and the gun.
“They’re on their way. They might already be here. Did you leave Sammy and the lame Peter back in the cottage, all by their lonesome? Tisk, tisk, Dex. I thought you would’ve gotten smarter with all your travels.”
“SHUT UP, REBECCA!” Gerald screamed. “I am so sick your shit. If I was in my old vessel I would drown you in that puddle.”
Jessie could see in, her mud stained expression, the fear growing in Rebecca and marched towards her.
“No need, Gerald.”
She saw Rebecca taunting her in the store, bossing her around in the diner, masquerading as her friend, and the monster she had always been. Jessie found the strength, she thought had drained from her, and directed it all into the momentum that pushed her fist forward. When it connected with Rebecca’s nose, her hand felt like it hit cement; pain reverberated up her arm, into her shoulder. It felt wonderful.
“Now, that felt good.” She shook out her hand. Dex placed it in his own, and kneaded the feeling back into it.
“You want this to end today, Rebecca?” Dex asked her. Blood was seeping from her nose, mixing with the rain, and staining the front of her pale blue t-shirt. “Get up and go. Go to a realm you have always wanted to go, and forget us.” He was making her an offer she never would have offered Jessie.
“Dex,” Gerald said, “we need to get back to the house and to the passageway before anyone else gets here. If it closes for good, we’re stuck here,” he looked in Rebecca’s direction, “with her.”
Jessie could tell Dex was debating entering the gateway, then and there, but he didn’t want to risk the voyagers tracking them. They would lose the chance to be free of them, for good.
“Move it, Rebecca.” This time it was Gerald waving the gun in the direction of the rock.
Rebecca, laboriously, lifted herself and limbed towards the rock, like a wounded animal. She was about to slip behind the rock and disappear, when a new sound broke through the humming in Jessie’s ears.
“What’s that?” She turned to Dex, and Gerald took his eyes off Rebecca, to glance in the direction of the strange noise. Rebecca took the distraction to bolt in the opposite direction, away from the gateway. Before Jessie knew what was happening, Dex took off after Rebecca and was yelling back over his shoulder, to Gerald.
“They’re here! Take Jessie to the passageway. GO! NOW!” His directions were swallowed up by another round of thunder.
Gerald grabbed Jessie’s hand and dragged her away from Dex. It wasn’t until they were running back through the woods that she heard another noise echoing in her head. It was her own voice, yelling for Dex to come back.
CHAPTER 56
“Jessie? Jessie wake up!”
Sammy sounded like she was yelling at her from the far end of a tunnel. Light flashed beneath her eyelids. Jessie tried to pry them open, but they felt glued shut. When she was finally able to pull them apart, Gerald, Peter and Sammy, were hovering in the space above her. She was about to ask what happened when the dam opened and the events of the day flooded back to her.
“Dex!” She sat up quickly, the sudden rush of blood to her head made her dizzy. “Where’s Dex?”
“He’ll be here. Can you move? We have to go,” Gerald said, his hand on her shoulder.
“I’m not going. You go. I’ll wait for Dex.” She sat up again, slowly, this time, and swung her feet off the cot.
Jessie watched the looks that were exchanged between the three of them. Adam was crouched in the corner, by the exit at the far side of the room, looking guilty.
“What?” She asked. They were insane if they thought she was going anywhere, without Dex, ever again.
Sammy knew they couldn’t win the argument and was the first to give in. “Fine.” She spun around to face Adam, a look of rage on her face. “But you go, first,” she said. “Choose, wisely Adam; you don’t want to end up anywhere near us. I’m letting you off easy, because we already have too much going on, Dex doesn’t need the hassle of dealing with your betrayal.”
Jessie wondered, what the sweet guy she had met two days ago, had done. Dex trusted him, how had he betrayed that? She watched him raise himself slowly, off the concrete floor and open the door across from them. Jessie gasped, slammed her hands over her ears and squeezed her eyes shut.
“Can you hear that?” Gerald asked, wincing with the pain she was feeling. When she opened her eyes, Adam was gone.
“That’s why we have to go, now!” Peter insisted. “The voyagers found us, the single souls discover the gateway, any minute. Either the gateway will be toast, or we will.” His wild eyes found Jessie’s. “Dex knows how to find us. If you jump with Gerald, he’ll get you to him.”
Jessie was so consumed by her fear of leaving Dex, she had forgotten the other people that she would be leaving: her family. She hadn’t gotten a chance to say good bye to them.
“Is there a pen and paper in here? I need to leave a note for my mom.” She scanned the contents of the room, not considering how exactly she could get a message to her family. Sammy screamed when thunder broke the sound barrier of the bunker. The storm had developed into a catastrophic event, Jessie felt as if the earth was about to implode. It was the single souls.
Gerald locked his fingers around her upper arm. “We leave now. Jessie, you have to trust me,” he insisted.
She did trust him, but she was not leaving Dex. She couldn’t risk losing him again, even if it was only for a few minutes. Jessie pushed back from Gerald, kicked her leg out and ran towards the door. If he wasn’t back yet, she was going to go find him. Sammy yelled at her to stop and her hand was on the door when she felt the handle twist. The door opened. Dex was muddy, had a gash across his cheek and was sopping wet, but he was the most amazing sight Jessie had ever laid her eyes on. She threw herself into his arms, knocking him backwards, onto the stairs.
“Jessie,” he murmured into her ear. Tears stung her eyes. “Why are you still here?” He retained his balance for the both of them and marched across the room, waiting for someone to answer his question.
“Ask your girlfriend,” Gerald responded, rubbing his shin, where she had kicked him.
“Seriously, Gerald?” He smiled at Jessie, but the endearment didn’t erase the concern on his face. He reached his arm across her shoulder and squeezed her tightly against him.
“We only have a few minutes to get out of here. Sammy and Peter, you go first. Do you remember which way to go? It’s the left path. Don’t go right, no matter what tries to tempt you.”
Sammy looked to Peter. “We know.” Jessie sensed Sammy was holding back tears that were meant for her.
Jessie let go of Dex’s firm grip and embraced her sister. “I will see you soon, bug.” She kissed her cheek and handed her back to Peter. “Look after her?” She hugged him and quickly stepped away allowing them space to leave.
“Always,” Peter promised. He wrapped his arms around Sammy’s tiny waist and gently prodded her forward into the emptiness. Sammy turned her head to give Jessie one last smile, her green eyes glimmered at her and vanished. Jessie could feel an imaginary knife twist into her stomach.
“You ok?” Dex’s voice put a band aid on the phantom wound.
She nodded her head once. “Did you find Rebecca?” She felt him shudder.
“I got her through the gateway, but I can’t be sure she took my advice and went down the path I suggested. Hopefully, her need for freedom, trumped her need for vengeance.” His eyes held his doubt.
Jessie pushed the thoughts of Rebecca out of her head and resumed her earlier search for a pen and paper. She had no idea how she would explain what she needed her family to know. It was useless, she wouldn’t be able to get it to them. Dex said they would find her and she would see them again. Jessie just needed to believe that.
“Gerald, you’re next,” Dex said. Her brother had been silent since Dex barreled into the bunker. He barely said good bye to Peter and Sammy.
“I’m staying,” he said firmly. “We are supposed to protect the gateway, that’s what I’m going to do.”
“Don’t be crazy! If it closes, how will you find us?” Jessie advanced towards him, but Dex held her back. He knew this was going to happen.
“Let me go, Dex.” His grip loosened and she crossed to her brother. The brother who had never been responsible, but spent years helping his friend search for her. Furiously, she grabbed him and tugged him towards the gapping doorway. He wouldn’t budge.
“Gerald, please, just go. If the gateway closes, at least we will all be together.” She pleaded with him, the tears she held back for Sammy, burst from her eyes.
Gerald smiled, weakly at her, “I’m tired, Jessie.” He gathered her hands in his, and held them against his chest. “Besides, your cat is back in my car and I can’t just abandon that wretched thing.”
Jessie understood what was going on. Duke was still in the cottage. If Dex thought they were all leaving he would have made arrangements for him to be looked after. Her heart, that started to repair itself over the weekend, was in danger of breaking apart.
“But I just found you,” she whispered, and looked down at the ground. Dex pulled her back by the shoulders, at the same time Gerald wiped a tear off her check.
“Don’t be such a downer, Jessie,” he laughed lightly. “The gateway isn’t going to be destroyed. I will find you, again,I promise. If not, at least I know you’re safe with Dex.” He cleared his throat, to push away the sadness he was hiding.
The storm was getting angrier. Jessie knew they didn’t have much time. She folded herself into his arms and let every memory she had of him surge through her mind, securing them in a protected corner.
“See you soon.” Jessie moved to Dex’s side and let him take her hand. “I’m ready.”
They stood in front of the passageway, the one that would take them anywhere.
“Where do you want to go?” He asked.
“Home,” she replied.
Hand in hand, they stepped over the edge. The humming stopped.
Acknowledgments
A super big thanks to my mom, for editing and encouraging me after reading every chapter. And to my dad who let her take on the job of editor even though they were on vacation in Florida. Thanks to all my friends, that listened to me complain about the non-stop editing and revising. I would name you but you all know who you are, and no Jake I don’t mean you. And the biggest thank you to my husband, Jason, who gave me the chance to take a winter off to write. The snow storms didn’t seem so bad watching them from the comfort of our home, with my pug, Pixie, cuddled up by my side.