by Tina Engel
I didn’t know how long I had been in the shower, I kept reliving the dream over and over, trying to make sense of it. I knew then, the dream was my home and it was my future, or could be, I hoped.
The door opening brought me back to the bathroom and shower, as a voice said, “Emilee, are you okay?” It was Angelina’s voice, soft and eager.
I shut off the water and grabbing a towel, wrapped it around myself as I opened the curtain to see her standing there. Her smile was full of love, as I told her I was fine and would be out in a bit. I told her I had a dream and needed to share it with everyone, especially Douglas, and wanted her to collect everyone in the mess hall.
She gave me a questioning look and I knew she was unsure about leaving me. I chuckled and told her to leave Brett in the room. He would make sure I behaved. Of course she also knew my heart, my feelings for Brett and the need to be alone with him. That concerned her too, a bit, she is my mother after all.
Angelina’s quick response to that was, “Is it safe to leave the two of you alone?”, as she lifted her eyebrows, tilted her head slightly and smiled. She nodded then in agreement and turned, leaving the bathroom and closing the door.
I spread my wings out fully, waving them in the air to shake off the excess water before letting them shrink back into my back. I dressed quickly, feeling Brett’s anxiousness and as I entered my room, his look of relief quickly turned to desire. I felt it too, such a need, but it was different than before. I felt such a hunger deep down, it scared me.
Brett suggested we head to the mess hall then, not waiting around, and I knew he felt it too, and he knew we shouldn’t be alone together.
I went up to him and took his hands in mine. I wanted to be alone with him, it had been too long since we were together, enjoying each other’s company, but this feeling was so different and I wanted the old feelings back.
“This is the way it is and must be for now, Princess.” Brett said, with sadness.
He called me Princess, not Emilee? I thought, and in my mind, he was there, and said, “Emilee, it has to be this way for now. I am no longer stronger than you. I can’t stop you. You must stay in control, be strong. It isn’t time.”
I looked into his eyes, they were green with need but I felt fear in his body as I held his hands. Brett bent down and placed a soft kiss on my lips, our thoughts linked and he thought, “Fear will not stop me from letting you…” And the door opened.
Brett and I both turned towards the door, letting go of each other’s hands, and the strange connection that I felt was gone. It was our touch, which was different now, but why?
It was Adam, at the door, and his look was that of relief, as he said, “Well just in the nick of time, I guess. Everyone is in the mess hall waiting for you both. We are just hours from our destination, near Proteus’s city.” And he stepped aside from the door, extending his hand in the direction of the hallway, insinuating we leave the room.
I left, with Brett following and Adam in the rear, closing the door as he left. We headed down the hall, up the stairs and into the mess hall, but as we passed crewmen, they looked at me queerly, as if they were slightly afraid.
Chapter 8
Fear creates anger,
Anger clouds the mind.
We must stay focused
To fix the damage that we create
Or that others created.
Believe in those around you,
Forgive if you must to continue
Forward.
We entered the mess hall and it was Jordan who came to me, and his look of relief concerned me. He hugged me tightly, a bit too tight, I thought, and as he released me, he had a look of embarrassment on his face.
Jordan took my hand and led me over to a table where Douglas was sitting and I sat down across from him. Brett started to sit next to me but Douglas stopped him, suggesting he sit next to him, with a look of caution.
It was Angelina who sat down next to me and took my hand in hers, holding it softly. I looked up at her smiling face but could see that she was feeling unsure about something.
I looked to Douglas then, feeling angry again and said rather rudely, “What in the hell is going on? You all look like you are just waiting for me to turn into a monster and devour you.”
This caused some chuckling and Trevor said, “Don’t be silly Princess Emilee, not all monsters are evil.”
Everyone in the room had a look of horror, and Adam, who standing next to Trevor, smacked him on the back in a supposedly comical gesture and commented, that he didn’t mean it that way.
When Trevor realized that what he had said, didn’t come out the way he had meant it to, he said, “What? It’s the truth, but Princess, I didn’t mean to say you are a monster, or will be soon.”
Adam gave Trevor a look of displeasure and I started to laugh. Everyone was on pins and needles, so to speak, and I found it so entertaining, they were all a bit intimidated by me. Little old me, and my laughter calmed everyone a bit.
I looked to Douglas then and asked more seriously, “Douglas, what is going on? Where are Lily and Eagle, and who is this person that Lily was talking about?” I had more to ask, but Douglas put up a hand to stop me and with a stern expression asked everyone to sit down.
“Princess, things have moved faster than they were supposed to. We are trying to slow it down but we had to find the fey on the ship that is working for…” Douglas stopped then for a few seconds, looking around the room and then back to me.
“Who?” I asked, frustrated.
“Princess, the creature who came up from the deepest part of these seas, was sent not to bring you to him, but to put the venom in you, to stop you from needing Rose’s blood. It sped up your transformation, changing what your body needs, to reach your full potential. This was supposed to happen, but just not yet.
“He is in a panic, thinking that maybe we are too late to change things, fix things and stop the greyness from spreading.” Douglas said.
“I saw the greyness.” I said.
Douglas, with a curious look on his face, asked me, “What do you mean?”
I then told them all about my dream, the place that I have gone to, since this journey began. I told them about the castle, which was never there before, and about the greyness that swept over the castle and us, Brett, myself and Katie.
When I said the name Katie, I looked at Brett and he knew who I was talking about but said nothing. He was there, with me, feeling my fear, helping me to continue.
Douglas asked, “Katie?”
I replied, “My daughter…and Brett’s.”
Douglas’s eyes widened just a bit, this was something unknown to him and that caused a panic in me. Douglas had seemed to know so much of what was going on in this crazy journey.
“What else was in your dream, or better yet, who?” Douglas asked with a bit of anxiety in his tone.
“Rose and Lily were in the tree and they were swallowed up by the greyness, and Eagle was eaten by the dragon, a kite that turned into a real dragon, and Kimberlite…” I stopped then and felt where my necklace usually hung, but it was around Rose’s neck now.
With confusion in my voice, I looked firmly into Douglas’s eyes and said, “Kimberlite was there, standing in front of the castle. His look was strange and he had a slight glow around him. The greyness engulfed him, too.”
“Kimberlite?” I whispered.
It was quiet for a moment and then Brett broke the silence by saying gruffly but with questioning in his voice, “Kimberlite is on our side, has been all along! He has been my friend for ages!”
Douglas, turned and put a hand on Brett’s shoulder but Brett jerked away and stood. “NO!” He yelled, “Kimberlite is not working for him!”
“Maybe he was trapped.” I said, as I looked at Brett, but he wouldn’t look at me.
I continued then, questioning with a tremble in my voice, “Where is Lily and who is this fey that you are all afraid of? Is it Proteus? Where is this place I keep seeing
and what is the greyness?”
A voice came from the doorway, “So many questions Princess, but are you really ready to hear the answers?” Lily, it was Lily, with Eagle standing behind her.
I got up and rushed to her, throwing my arms around her and hugging her as if she was a long lost friend. Lily wrapped her arms around me also and hugged me kindly, and as she gently pushed me away, she kissed my cheek.
“Okay Princess, you are messing up my fur.” She said, as she fussed a bit, smoothing it down.
She took my hand then and led me back to the table where she insisted I sit, and she took the seat next to Douglas, where Brett had been sitting. Brett went over to a window and sat down on a small table.
No one spoke, the silence was excruciating. I could see in everyone’s faces, as I looked around the room, that they all were feeling the same as I, except for Douglas. He seemed to know so much more than everyone else.
I looked back at Lily, and saw she had that strange glow around her again, and I could see that the cat fey she portrayed, was just that, a disguise. She was something else, someone else, but what? Who?
Lily looked at me and smiled, that smile that a cat would do, when they knew they were caught doing something that they shouldn’t be doing, but did it anyway.
I looked around the room at everyone, wondering if they saw this too, but no one seemed disturbed or questioned anything, just waited for answers.
When I looked back at Lily, it was Lily, the cat fey that I knew, (or did I know her at all?) Lily said then, “So, tell me about this last dream. I walked in at the end, Brett all up in arms about Kimberlite?”
I looked at Brett and he had a strange perplexed look, and as I tried to read his thoughts, I was blocked, he was stopping me from being one with him.
I looked at him with shock and dismay and then I was angry. Fine, I thought, be that way. And I turned away.
I told Lily from start to finish all about the dream and when I was done, no one spoke but Lily got up and paced the floor for a bit.
She came back to the table, sat down and began, “The greyness are all the dark fey spirits, joined together, trying to spread confusion, fear, jealousy, sadness and evil throughout Earth. He has been gathering them over time, patiently creating his own dark army.”
When Lily paused, Brett spoke, feeling my lack of understanding of the grey spirits. “Remember Emilee when we got off the fishing boat in New York, you saw the wisps of color, a rainbow of sorts? I told you what all the colors meant, they all had different personalities.
“I told you about the grey wisps, dark fey who visit the realm of Nirvana and the white wisps who are the ancient fey who keep the peace there. Humans see the colors as a rainbow, the greyness are the clouds before a storm and the white spirits are the white clouds in the blue sky that try to push the greyones away, when they get too disorderly.
When the white spirits of the ancient ones and the greys collide, that causes the great storms in the humans’ world. It is all about balance. The grey spirits are tolerated, as long as balance is maintained.”
I looked back at Lily and asked, “Who is he, the one gathering the grey spirits, or wisps? Is it Proteus?
“No child.” Lily said.
Child? I thought. She has never called me that before. But someone did, a long time ago. Before I could question this, Lily continued.
“Don’t interrupt, please, Princess, I will tell you what you need to know before you go down to Proteus’s city of Bermuda.” Lily said, with a bit of frustration in her voice. “We don’t have much time, we must close the door quickly.”
I looked at her and felt anger. She was treating me like a child, and after all that I had been through, with all the secrets and danger that these fey, all of them, had put me in, now to be treated like a mere child, to be put in my place, so to speak. I had had enough, and started to rise as I felt my body tingle all over again, as if the ants just under my skin were on the move.
Douglas, reached out and took my hands quietly, and asked me to sit back down. I saw that my hands where white and assumed my entire body was again so I took a deep breath, and looked over at Brett.
Brett was deep in thought, looking out the window and I slowly took my hands from Douglas, released my wings from my back, needing to ease my anger and tension, and walked over to him.
I reached up and touched Brett’s face. He was so deep in thought, he didn’t even know I had come over to him. As my hand touched his skin, he jerked just a bit, and then looking at me, our eyes connected, and he let me in.
We would be going down there together, he knew this, and he was anxious to get going, but also anxious for this to be over, not just going down to Bermuda, but this entire journey.
Was he wanting to get rid of me? I wondered.
When Brett realized what I was thinking, he took my hands in his and reassured me that he didn’t want it to ever end. (Of course, this was in my thoughts, not spoken out loud for all to hear.)
When he touched me though, that feeling of need, longing and hunger was there, just under my skin, and Brett’s eyes had the green of hunger, look. We both let go of each other, knowing now wasn’t the time.
“Princess”, Lily said, “please come back and sit, there is much to tell you, before you both go down to the city. We don’t have much time. I don’t believe that Proteus is aware of our arrival yet, and I would really like it if you got down there and did what you must, before he realizes that you are there.
I looked at Brett, he nodded for me to go sit and he walked back to the table with me. He touched my shoulder lightly and said, “Listen to her, and hear what she says.”
Brett walked back over to the window and sat down on the small table next to the window. I folded my wings into my back, as I sat back down, and Lily continued.
“You have so many questions, but let me tell you what you need to know first, then if I haven’t answered all of your questions and I think it important for you to know, I will tell you.”
“But you’re just a cat?” I questioned. “Why are you telling me this, and not Douglas?”
Lily smiled, and looking at Douglas, he smiled too as if they had been friends for a very long time, or maybe more than friends.
“Emilee, as you know, there are many dimensions that share the humans’ Earth. Terrafirma is just one of them, and all from Terrafirma can get to Earth just by thinking it. The worlds, Earth and Terrafirma, are so closely linked that there are no doors that keep them apart. It is the young minds of humans that keep them out of Terrafirma.
“Nirvana is the dimension, which fey from Terrafirma go to when they need to rest and rebuild their inner peace, but it is also the place they go when it is time to leave their fey bodies for good. You have been told this?”
I nodded my head and responded, “Yes.”
“The grey colors that are seen in Nirvana are the fey who caused trouble in their fey lives. I don’t like to use the word evil, because fey are usually not bad, they do what they must to survive and follow the few rules set down by the elders. Some are predators and some are prey. That is the way of life everywhere, but there are rules.
“The grey spirits are not allowed to live in Nirvana when they leave their fey bodies, for they have broken too many rules. There is another place they go, to roam for all eternity, unless they are able to mend their negative ways before their bodies die.”
“You mean evil ways!” I said, with a bit of hostility in my voice.
Lily smiled and tilted her head slightly, as if to agree without saying it. She continued, “These fey, while still alive, can go to Nirvana as they want, like the rest of us, but their essence is dark so they have a grey hue to their bodies. They are tolerated as I said, because we hope they will change their ways.
“They are now getting unruly and we are, from time to time, finding a grey spirit, one who died as you say, and has been found hiding in Nirvana and stirring up trouble, and gathering the grey fey and taking them t
o him.
“It is all about balance, Princess, we need the grey along with all the other colors to survive. We must stop him from taking any more fey, though. He is the one causing the split between the dark fey and light, it is not the land fey versus the water fey, as some think.
“The Dark One does feel that the humans are a plague on this world, which we share with so many others, in dimensions you know nothing about yet.” Lily shuddered just slightly when she said, “Dark One”.
I think I was the only one who saw this and it disturbed me. I kept quiet though, Lily was sharing what I needed to know and I didn’t want to upset her and have her stop.
“The storms in the humans’ world,” I said and paused, “that’s him, wanting to destroy all humans?”
Lily smiled a grave smile, and said, “I’m afraid so.” and then continued. “When the humans’ Earth started to show signs of viciousness, we, the fey of Terrafirma became concerned. Yes, humans are a very young race, and must find their way through the dark times, as well as the light, but this was different. The darkness became more evil, more and more humans began to show signs of darkness; anger, hatred, greed, jealousy and selfishness, not seen before where light couldn’t bring them back.
“We have been trying for centuries now, to stop it, put light in the way of darkness, give some humans the knowledge and goodness, to fight this disease of cruelty, but we are losing this battle. If he can get enough grey spirits, dark fey, to follow him, they will be able to destroy the humans’ earth, and Terrafirma will be destroyed too. Only evil and darkness will thrive.”
“Who is he, the Dark One that you all keep talking about? I’ve been led to believe all along that no one knew who he was, but you know, don’t you?” I asked with frustration. “If it isn’t Stephan, then is it the creature that I saw in my dream?”