by Jacob Whaler
When Jessica bursts out of the hatch at the top into the bright sunlight, it’s like emerging from a subterranean cave into a new world.
“Welcome to Lougheed Island.” Eva opens her arms with palms out. “Home.”
It takes a long time for Jessica’s eyes to adjust to the light. As she opens them, she understands why it’s so bright. For miles in every direction, there’s nothing but snow mixed with rock. A low ridge of brown rises about ten kilometers away, like the backbone of a great monster submerged in ice. Jessica turns to see the ocean behind them. No sea ice floats in the gray water. The crew of the ship, seven people besides Eva and Jessica, stand on the shore.
All of them are dressed in the same furs.
“Let’s go.” The captain of the ship waves his arms and shouts up at Eva and Jessica, still standing on the top of the black sub. “It’s a long walk to the village. If we don’t start now, we’ll never make it by nightfall.”
Eva turns to Jessica. “That gives us a little less than two hours. Days are pretty short up here.”
They descend a steel ladder running from the top of the ship to a small raft in the water. Jessica is starving, but she doesn’t say anything.
As soon as they get to shore, the group walks in single file across the snow to the low rocky ridge Jessica had seen. Three in front, then Eva and Jessica, and four behind.
Jessica is surprised at the lightness of the coat and leggings. Remembering snowshoeing outings with her family in the mountains near her home, she expects to break a sweat and alternate between being too hot or too cold. But the loose clothing creates a layer of warm air that envelops her body, and she isn’t chilled or sweaty as they move over the rough terrain.
After two hours of walking uphill, the ship is a tiny black dot behind them. When they reach the rocky ridge, it turns into a line of towering basalt blocks, broad at the base and narrow at the top. They pass through a small opening and pause on the other side.
The sun is a half orange on the far horizon.
“Welcome to Iglarpok.” Eva looks at a collection of wooden houses a half mile away in the bottom of a low depression in the landscape. Arranged roughly in two rows, each one resembles the tip of a huge kayak sticking out of the snow, with steep sides coming to a point on top, painted blue, red or green.
The closest one has a large antenna tower jutting out of the snow next to it.
“What does the name of the town mean?” Jessica stares at the village. No people or dogs stir in the twilight below, but thin threads of white smoke drift up from two or three of the houses, evidence of habitation.
Eva giggles. “It means laughing.” She reaches in the pocket of her parka and takes out a six inch piece of jerky. Snapping it in half, she hands one piece to Jessica and starts chewing on the other.
After a five-minute rest, the captain stands. “Let’s go.”
The group rises without complaint and follows him down the gentle slope. Off on the horizon, the last sliver of the sun slips below, leaving a pale glow that lingers as the sky turns dark.
Halfway to the village, off to their right, a chorus of howls rises in the air, carried on the wind.
The captain glances back at Eva. “Nanuk,” he says. Everyone starts walking faster.
Jessica taps on Eva’s back. “A pack of wolves?”
Eva shakes her head. “The village dogs are sounding the alarm. A polar bear is headed this way.”
For the first time since their escape from the freedom camp, Eva’s voice carries fear. Jessica glances in the direction of the howling sounds. A lumbering shape appears from behind a low rise, its form silhouetted against the fading light of the sunset.
It begins charging them from the opposite side of the village.
“Run!” the captain yells. The entire line of walkers breaks into a sprint for the nearest house, two hundred meters ahead.
It’s only a question of who will get there first, the bear or the people.
Eva rests a hand on Jessica’s shoulder. “Get your gun ready.”
Reaching a mitten up, Jessica pulls the rifle from her back, swinging it in front. For an instant, she’s off balance, and the toe of her boot catches on a piece of ice. She stumbles. A large man running behind her crashes into her back, and they both fall hard to ground. Their combined weight centers on her leg as the barrel of the gun slips beneath.
A bone snaps above her knee, sending a surge of pain up her thigh and into her lower spine. Blackness and nausea engulf her.
When she opens her eyes, she is lying on the ground, cradled in Eva’s arms. The other seven travelers encircle them. Dogs are barking out of control.
A sound like the roar of an elephant rises above the chaos.
In the dim light, Jessica sees the polar bear ten meters away standing on its hind legs, twice as tall as the tallest man in the group. A triangular head perched atop its long muscular neck leers at them. It throws its jaws back, bares its teeth and pierces the night air with another explosion of sound.
“It’s trying to scare away the dogs.” Eva holds Jessica closer. “Getting ready to charge again.”
When it comes down on all fours, its head drops and its ears lay back against its skull. A low rumble comes from its throat.
One of the men raises Jessica’s rifle to his shoulder and points at the bear. He stares through the sights, a finger poised over the trigger.
A door on the nearest house flies open. A bent-over woman dressed in black fur steps out. Jessica catches a glimpse of her face, wrinkled and small, like an old dried prune, her lips imploding into a tiny mouth. She holds an ancient musket in her hand.
The captain turns to the man with the rifle. “Now.”
“No!” the old woman yells. “There will be no killing of the nanuk tonight!”
The captain bellows. “Get back inside, you old kapvic.”
But it’s too late. The bear turns and charges the old woman.
She takes one step toward it and brings the stock of the musket against her shoulder. Fire, sparks and smoke explode out of its tip, throwing her back against the door.
The bear stops three meters from the woman, turns and disappears into the darkness. A pack of barking dogs chase after it.
The old woman drops the musket to the ground. “Now get inside the house before you all turn into nareaksak.” She glares at the captain. “Of all people, you should know better than to travel at night through the nanuk’s territory. I thought I taught you better when you were a nothing more than a tiny nutaralak.”
The captain bows his head as the old woman walks past him to Eva, using the musket as a cane. Without a word, the old woman grabs Jessica’s hood and stares into her face.
“What have they done to you, my little Kabluunak?”
Jessica stares back. “My leg.” She puts her hand on her right thigh.
“Let me see.” The woman lays Jessica out on the snow and passes her hand slowly over the thigh, shaking her head. She glances up at the others in the group who look. “What are you maiksuk looking at? Get inside, like I told you, before the big nanuk remembers how hungry he was and comes back to snack on your cowardly bones. I will take care of this little one.” She turns back to Jessica with a gentle smile.
“It’s broken, isn’t it?” Jessica says.
The old woman nods. “You love him, do you not?”
Jessica looks to Eva for help. “Who?”
Eva just shrugs her shoulders.
“The Kangelrarpok.”
“The One Who Leads,” Eva says.
Jessica looks back at the old woman. “Yes. With all my heart.”
“It is in your eyes. Now close them and think of him.” The old woman pulls a roll of leather from her pocket and stuffs it between Jessica’s teeth. She runs her fingers back and forth over the thigh, mumbling something with her lips. Slowly, she increases the pressure until she’s pushing with both hands on Jessica’s leg.
For an instant, intense pain radiates out fro
m the spot where the bone snapped. Then warmth.
“Done.” The old woman flashes a toothless smile. Wrinkles spread across her face. “Come inside. You must eat and be strong. For him.” She walks to the front door of her house, leaving Jessica and Eva alone.
Staring at her leg, Jessica presses her fingers above her knee where the bone was broken, afraid of what she will find. To her amazement, the pain is gone.
“See if you can stand.” Eva reaches down for Jessica’s hand.
Jessica takes the hand, standing up on her other leg. Gently, she weights her injured leg.
“How is it?” Eva says.
“Incredible. Completely healed.”
CHAPTER 57
Matt looks at his blue skin.
Words and images float through his mind like random pieces of a puzzle.
In his mind’s eye, he sees a blonde-haired woman with blue eyes in a colorful kimono. Her skin has an unusual golden luster.
Jhata.
Another image. An old man stands over him. A bubble of blue energy envelops Matt, separating him from the man. A glass sphere lies near Matt’s feet. He tries to move it, but it won’t budge. He breathes in, but there’s no air. No oxygen. The man laughs, taunting him.
Ryzaard.
Across a green field, near the trunk of an ancient cedar tree, a lone woman stands. She cradles a long silver tube in her arms, balancing the end against her shoulder. She takes aim and fires.
Jessica.
The freedom camp outside Vancouver, full of people.
Must help them. Save them.
Men in combat gear pouring out of an insect-like attack ship. Laser cannons flash. Hundreds die. Soldiers move forward, searching, killing.
Where’s Jessica? Promised not to leave. Have to get back.
Sparks shoot out of Ryzaard’s Stones. Unbearable pain.
The blue bubble disappears. Air rushes in. He craves it, thirsts for it, his chest heaving. He looks up into Jhata’s eyes.
A flash of light, and then darkness.
He floats in a thick liquid. It fills his mouth but has no taste. He chokes and pulls it into his lungs. Jhata talks to him, her voice growing fainter and fainter, moving farther and farther away.
You will forget who you are. What you are. It will all be stripped away, layer by layer, as long as the drug courses through your veins.
Jessica’s eyes close, her arms around a small child, as he sprints away to the green field.
Never leave her again.
Hideous demons dance past him ready to pounce. One rushes forward, slamming into his body.
It’s absorbed through the skin.
The rest of the beasts lunge at him, ripping, tearing, feeding.
Use your armor. It will protect you from the poison. Press on your chest. Right here.
He pounds his fists against the side of the sphere.
A shift in his mind.
The images fade away like a receding tide. Confusion and chaos gives way to order. And peace.
Matt looks at his hands as they pound against the glass. Something is good about them. Something he hasn’t felt in a long time. His eyes drop to the fingers of his right hand.
He’s gripping a Stone.
CHAPTER 58
Without a word, Jhata grabs Yarah’s hand, and they vanish, reappearing in the great room in front of the two spherical tanks.
A still body drifts gently inside each one.
“Why did we come here?” Yarah pulls on Jhata’s hand. “I want to go back to the chocolate factory.”
Jhata lets go and walks to the tank on the right. “Wait just a minute. I need to take a closer look.” She stares at the vague figure of Matt floating in the thick solution, his eyes closed. At first, she can’t put her finger on it, but something is different. She strains to see if he holds an object in his hand, but can’t tell. Opening her mind, she reaches out to his.
Who are you?
It should have been like shouting into an empty well, with no response except for the echo of her own thoughts.
Then it comes to her in a flash of understanding.
Matt is covered in blue. Somehow, he has activated his skin armor. The drugs are no longer being absorbed through the skin.
He’s remembering who he is. His mind and memories are flooding back.
Before she can react, his eyes flip open.
You know who I am.
An arc of purple lightning shoots out of the Stone in Matt’s right hand. In a shower of sparks, the glass sphere bursts open in two neat halves, like an Easter egg falling apart. The fluid inside explodes out, great gobs of gelatinous goop covering the walls, floor and everything else within a few meters.
Including Jhata.
Coughing violently, Matt stands alone on the pedestal where the sphere had balanced and ejects streams of liquid from his lungs through his mouth.
Jhata stumbles back, her fairy godmother dress soaked and sticky, covered in the semi-liquid. For an instant, the drugs pass through her perfect skin into her bloodstream and course through her veins.
Memories begin to slip from her brain.
Gathering all her strength and focus, she closes her eyes and goes inward, pushing back the onslaught of forgetfulness, neutralizing the poison. The billowing dress disappears from her body, replaced by a tight black kimono with a large spider embroidered in multi-colored crystal on the back and front.
She is herself again.
It all takes less than five seconds, but in that span of time the distraction forces her to let down her mental guard, dropping the impenetrable barriers that protect her from Yarah’s constant scrutiny.
And Yarah gets through.
The little girl sees Matt. Her eyes are wide with confusion as she backs away from Jhata.
“Don’t leave me, child.” Jhata’s eyes focus on Matt with his blue skin.
He steps from the pedestal onto the wet floor, liquid still draining from his face and body.
“Thanks for the armor.” Matt moves to the right, closer to the other tank, never taking his eyes off Jhata.
She stands erect and still only a few meters away, lustrous skin, blonde hair and piercing blue eyes.
“I should have killed you when I had the chance.” Jhata reaches to her belt and removes a Stone with each hand.
Matt brings his Stone up to the middle of his chest. “You should have done a lot of things when you had the chance.” He turns and glances at the inside of the tank next to him. The fuzzy form of a slender young man drifts in its interior.
“Who do you have in there?”
“It’s Leo.” Yarah takes her Stone out of her pocket and grips it tightly, moving in a long arc past Jhata, slowly making her way closer to Matt. “He got sick, so she put him in there. She said it would make him better.”
Matt glances at Yarah to his left. “I’m sure she said a lot of things to you. All lies.”
“Remember what I said about the jaguars?” Jhata relaxes her face into a smile. “All of that is true. Everything I’ve shown you is real. You and I are different from the others. We’re different from Matt and Leo and Jessica. We don’t need them. We can work together, mother and child. Forever happy. Forever strong. Isn’t that what you want?”
“But I saw inside you.” A pained look crosses Yarah’s face. Tears stream down her cheeks. “You kill people. You burn their worlds. You’re not really a fairy godmother, are you? You don’t really love me, do you?”
Jhata turns to Yarah, reaching out her hand. “Please understand, child. Everything you saw was necessary. All of those people stood in my way. They were evil. They wanted to stop me, deny me my rights, take away my power.” She turns and looks behind her. “Like Matt and Leo. They don’t understand how special we are, how special you are.”
“Don’t listen to her, Yarah.” Matt puts his hand on the smooth glass of the other sphere without taking his eyes off Jhata. “Jhata is selfish and evil. She tricked you. She doesn’t want you to kno
w who she really is.”
Jhata smiles warmly at the child. “Matt doesn’t want you to be happy. He thinks he knows what is right, but he’s wrong. He wants to hold you back. He wants to tell you what to do. He won’t let you do what you want. He won’t let you use the full power of your Stone.”
As Jhata speaks, Yarah’s gaze drifts over to Matt.
Jhata senses Matt reaching out to Yarah, opening his mind to her.
Images from Matt flood into Jhata’s mind.
Yarah is dressed in dirty rags back in the favela outside of Rio de Janeiro. A man, Yarah’s father, tries to take her and hurt her. Matt scares him away, protecting Yarah, holding his hand out to her. She comes close. He wraps his arms around her. His tenderness and affection for her overflow.
Words flow out from Matt’s mind.
Love is real. Trust it. Embrace it. Let it fill your heart, envelop your mind. Real love doesn’t hurt people.
The emotion emanating from Matt is like a magnet. Jhata senses the emptiness within herself. Yarah is pulled away by Matt’s love, feeding on it, taking it in.
Matt is using his love as a weapon.
Jhata raises her arms. “Listen to me, child. There is no such thing as love. It’s a lie. A way to control you. A way to make you give up your power. Don’t trust it. Don’t let Matt trick you.”
As Jhata monitors Matt’s thoughts, he forms an image of a Woman with overpowering affection. Jhata immediately recognizes her as one of the Allehonen. Oneness and love radiate from the Woman and well up inside Matt’s mind like a bubbling spring of clear water, filling and expanding inside him.
In desperation, Jhata tries to stop it, but she can’t. All she can do is hover in his mind, sensing what he senses.
A palpable warmth washes through Matt. He sees the faces of people in his life, starting with Jessica, his mother and father. Yarah and Leo. Past classmates and friends. Little John. Jake the blind man, killed by Ryzaard, like his father.
The images flow without end.
Jhata tries to leave Matt’s mind, to escape the unending love that courses through him. But it exercises a pull upon her, holding her in its grip.