Copula Chronicles: The Complete Collection: Origin, Descend, Ascend, Legacy

by Venessa Kimball

  Everything blurs and I feel like I am melting into the ground below me.

  Monica’s yell echoes, like it is in a faraway tunnel, “Get them all sedated. We need to re-implant now!”

  No, I have too many questions. I try to stay alert mentally, grasping for anything concrete I can hang onto.

  The arms that lift me up before I hit the ground are solid and secure. Those arms give my body permission to surrender to the anesthetic coursing through me and pulling me under.

  CHAPTER 27: UNBOUND

  Jesca

  I’m standing in the dark woods on the river’s edge, the river I saw beyond the veil.

  Georgia.

  Anna’s voice whispers, “Follow where it leads.”

  Did she make it out? Did she find her way out of the veil and back to her realm––heaven?

  The wind whips my hair and I feel her presence all around me. I turn to find her, but all I see is rustling leaves glossed by the bright moonlight.

  My call out is muffled and slurred, “Mom.”

  I turn and look up, eyes drawn to the light radiating from the sky.

  In the glow of the moons, the profiles of three visible mounds are vivid and statuesque.

  The Etowah Mounds.

  Impossible to miss, three distinct stars above the mounds draw my attention. Without an attempt, a thought comes to me, “Orion’s Belt bears salvation.”

  Suddenly, someone strong grabs hold of me from behind and pulls me back, coming flush against a hard chest. The familiar voice of Michael hisses in my ear, “You will not be saved.”

  I grab hold of the arm he had pressed against my throat and try to push against him with no success. Throwing my head back, I make contact with his face and his hands release me. I turn quickly ready to continue my attack, but he’s gone.

  I hear whispers around me, slipping through the trees, being carried on the wind. Slow and quiet at first. As they get louder, I focus on their possessors. The vision around me fades into darkness, leaving me with the voices; Monica’s is the most prominent.

  The moment I open my eyes, they are drawn to the small lamp next to where I lay. The color of the lamp is the deepest scarlet I have ever seen. As I focus closer, I see the sateen fabric is seeded with an intensely contrasting black thread. Some of the thread is bubbling, while other parts are smooth and straight lined. The slightest sound on the floorboard tickles my earlobe and I turn toward the owner in a flash; Sebastian. Neither of us says anything. I can see that he is watching my reaction to what I am experiencing—the first events after my implantation, the adaptations necessary to survive in our changed world.

  On one side of him stands Monica. On the other, Jake and Siobhan. I figure my first words would sound soft and my voice would crack, but it couldn’t be clearer than a bell. “How long were we—”

  Before I finish, Jake interrupts, finishing my question, “Gone? A year.”

  A year. I stare beyond him, thinking of what implications an evolution could have on a world in that amount of time. The chaos, the causalities, the wars, the adaptations that I have missed. It is too much to wrap my mind around and my mind automatically blocks the possibilities from the sheer overload; survival instinct, I suppose. I hear a tap, tap, tapping that pulls my eyes back toward the side table. A tiny blue rectangular world with a series of tunnels. The ant farm. I hone in on the one explorer, the small ant tapping its appendage on the wall of its small world; the veil between our world and theirs. This one explorer could be either the savior or the enemy in their little world.

  Beyond the veil, Michael Sanderson was alive. Now he knows what I know and he is here! I have never felt a surge of energy stir within me so quickly. My body responds to it with full force, shooting into an upright sitting position in no time flat. I look from one pair of raised eyebrows to another as I ask, “Did Michael come through with us?”

  Monica clears her throat and crosses her arms. “Michael tore through the unit. That is what alerted us to your return.”

  I shake my head, knowing that with him on the loose, time is not a commodity. As I push the sheets off my body, Siobhan and Monica close in on me, like a brigade. I pause and eye them with an “I wouldn’t mess with me right now if I were you” look.

  Monica insists, “We know we have no time. There are some things we need to discuss first.”

  Jake comes around to stand next to Siobhan and Sebastian comes closer flanking me. Here comes that feeling again, lightning striking. I feel my heart sink, knowing that is has to do with someone close to me. I close my eyes and ask flatly, “Where is Ezra?”

  No one speaks.

  I open my eyes and look at each of them with no visible answer on their faces. I try to read them.

  Nothing.

  With their mental blocks up, I scoot to climb down from the table to seek answers, but the four of them move with me and Sebastian rests his hand on my shoulder. “Jesca, just sit down and let us explain.”

  His somber, antagonizing voice makes me want to scream. I pull my arm from him and back away from them to gain some space. “No! Where is he? Where are Nate and Xander?”

  I look at Sebastian. “Where is Sam?”

  Nick and Elicia come into the room. Elicia rushes across the room and hugs me. “I’m sorry about the sedative, Jes, but we had to move quick.”

  She pulls back and holds my head in her hands. “How do you feel?”

  I shake my head slowly. They should have been gone. They were supposed to go to Georgia with the others. “Why are you still here?”

  Elicia scoffs and looks back at Nick, hovering over her. Nick shoves his hands in his pockets and Elicia turns back, studying my face. “Nick wouldn’t leave and I wouldn’t either.”

  Nick chimes in, “We are a team. I wasn’t about to leave you, Nate, Ezra, and Xander.”

  For the first time ever, Nick’s features aren’t jovial and carefree. They are harder, anguished. “Jes, it’s Angela ... She’s gone.”

  “Yeah, she went with the others, right?” That has to be what he meant, right?

  Nick’s voice is barely audible and spent from distress. “No. There was an attack on the facility; Sondians. She died two months ago.”

  I can’t wrap my head around it. I look down at Elicia, needing to know from my best friend that this is not true. Elicia bites her lower lip and nods quickly and whispers, “It’s true, Jes.”

  Monica’s movement out of the corner of my eye catches my attention. She is reaching into her pocket. I may not be able to listen in on her mind, but I know for damn sure it is a syringe. I grit my teeth and warn her, “Don’t even think about sticking me again.”

  As I look at her hard, her eyes are vulnerable, sad, and filled with worry. Her reaction to me makes my once ominous voice teeter and crack, “I’m not losing it, Monica.”

  I look from one guardian to the other and all I see is each of them breaking before my eyes. I hold back my tears, look at Sebastian, and ask as flatly as I can, “Ezra, Nate, and Xander, where are they?”

  Sebastian looks at Jake, who is moving in closer to me now. I have to try to connect with them. I look down and focus on the ground and open my mind to them. “Nate!”

  “Xander!”

  “Ezra!”

  As soon as I release my thought, it evaporates with no reception. No link. No bond, Nothing.

  I look up at Monica and make a move toward her. “What did you do?”

  Elicia backs away with Nick as Jake moves in, blocking my advances. “Jesca, that’s enough!”

  Sebastian’s stern voice pipes in, “She did what any of us would have done. We were dying! She implanted us with the modified Copula to save us, Jesca! The chance of survival, adaptation, she couldn’t control all the variables of the implantation.”

  Did they die? Is that why they aren’t telling me wha
t is going on? I bend over, ready to throw up. I gag, but nothing comes up. My gag quickly turns into an audible quivering inhale and sob. Monica comes closer to me, her hand back in her pocket. No! It’s not possible. They are strong. If I can adapt and survive, they can too! Ezra is the strongest man I know! Nate and Xander too! I see their faces in my mind and shake my head knowing that they aren’t gone. They can’t be! Recklessly, I rush Jake, knocking him off balance, then shove Monica out of the way, catching her off guard.

  Sebastian yells after me as I break away from the room, but I don’t hear his words. I can only think of getting to them; Ezra, Nate, Xander. I dash from one corridor to another along the hall. None of them give as I jiggle the handles.

  The clamoring of feet on tile makes me move faster and I yell out as I move faster from door to door, not wanting to risk them stopping me, “I’m not running away! I just need to find them!” I turn and move more quickly. “Ezra, Nate, Xander!”

  I round the corner with Monica, Jake, Siobhan and Sebastian flanking me. Jake reaches out and grabs hold of my arm. Expecting it, I pull away from his grasp and stumble backward. I gain control of my footing, but run right into a notable mass, stopping me in my tracks; Xander. I grab hold of his dark, gray Henley, wringing it between my fists, not wanting the others to pull me from him. Breathlessly, I whisper, “Oh my God, you are alive.”

  Xander looks up at the others behind me, then back down at me with concern written all over his face. He pulls me into his chest. Even though the questionability of his reaction is stirring in my mind, I just want to feel that he is here, with me and that they aren’t going to take me away from him, so I surrender to his warm embrace.

  I whisper, “Where is Ezra and Nate? No one will tell me.”

  For the first time since we met, Xander’s vibrant green eyes have become pale, a dim hazel. He looks down the hall, then back at me, the rims of his eyes giving away his emotions. My strength deceives me when my voice gives around my words, “Are they dead?”

  Xander shifts his body, making me aware of the door he is blocking. The door he just exited from. Ezra or Nate, one or both of them have to be in there.

  I try to pull away from him, but his grip holds me in place. He looks over me toward Monica and shakes his head. “You didn’t tell her yet?”

  His words, solidifying that I needed into that room, trigger me into action. I take my anger, my sorrow, and focus on the door just beyond Xander. Everything in the observable space around me, the walls, the hallway, the doors, Xander, begin to blur and fragment into a heavy, thick dust. In a split second, the dust is clearing, defragmenting, and I am standing in the room facing the door. The doorknob turns, but I am on it quicker, locking it and keeping them out. If they really want in, they could jump and astral project too. I wait to see if any of them do, but they don’t. They must realize that it is too late to try to stop me now. I look at the door for a minute, wondering what I will see when I enter.

  I pinch my eyes closed and breathe in deeply. I turn around, eyes still closed, and lean against the door. I slowly open them and see my father lying on a gurney, covered up to his neck with a white, stiff sheet. My eyes move down to where the sheet rests on his chest. I can’t breathe until I see that he can. The sheet rises and falls slowly and I exhale a wavering breath.

  His face is so stoic, yet peaceful, like a statue. I don’t realize that I have moved closer to him, but I am standing by his side now, studying his regal features. My mind wanders to Nate. I look around the spacious, white room. He isn’t here. He must be in another room.

  Ezra clearing his throat pulls my attention back to him. I squat down next to the bed and I touch his shoulder to let him know I am here.

  “Hey, you.”

  He blinks his eyes open and turns his head, wincing a little. I suck in a hissing breath. “Be careful there, old man.”

  His face softens as he closes his eyes and raises his eyebrows in Ezra fashion. “Old man, huh? What’s your excuse?”

  The Ezra humor cannot be held down.

  He coughs a little and clears his throat again. I squeeze his shoulder. “Rest, all right?”

  He nods, opens his eyes, and says, “It’s happening.” He looks at me. “We are evolving, adapting, and surviving.”

  His honey-brown eyes wait for my response, my reaction. I nod slowly. “Yes, for now.”

  His eyes come to life suddenly and intensify. “Spoken like a guardian.”

  I scoff, trying to make light of his compliment, “Spoken like an Ezra clone.”

  Ezra looks away and up at the ceiling, groans and sighs audibly. It makes me smile.

  He looks back at me, serious now. “No. You are more, Jesca.”

  My smile fades away as I think of Nate, holding me, healing me beyond the veil.

  “If I was more, I wouldn’t have needed saving beyond the veil. I could have sealed it.”

  Ezra closed his eyes, feeling the weight of what I was really saying. “We may be evolving and adapting, but we are not invincible. None of us are. We all need saving every once and a while, love.”

  I hear the rattle of the doorknob and stand quickly, just as Monica appears in the doorway. She eyes my clenching fists and puts her hands up in the air, making it obvious she isn’t going to stick me. “No syringe, promise.”

  She closes the door behind her and steps into the room only a few steps, arms crossed in front of her chest and cautiously approaching. “He is right. We all need saving sometimes, even the strongest of us.”

  She looks down at Ezra, then back at me, continuing her approach across the room. I walk around to the other side of Ezra’s bed, forming a solid distance between Monica and me. Monica continues, “If Xander hadn’t responded as quickly to the modified Copula, he wouldn’t have been able to save Ezra.”

  Xander saved my father? I look down at Ezra for validation. Ezra clears his throat. “My body was rejecting the Copula. We think it was because I was wounded beyond the veil, but aren’t sure. Xander gave me his energy freely.”

  I think of the energy Nate shared with me beyond the veil and the energy Xander, Nate, and I shared here when we arrived back on Earth. Xander made it. Did Nate use all of his energy?

  I pinch my eyes closed and wring my hands together. “I can’t feel him. Why do I not feel our connection?”

  I open my eyes and the tears fall as I look down at Ezra first, then to Monica. “Did Nate die trying to save us when we got back? Is that why I can’t feel his presence?”

  Ezra’s eyes stay steady on mine. “Nate is alive. You and Nate, Nate and Xander. You are no longer bound by a manufactured link. No one is.”

  What? I stare at him for a minute. How is that possible? After everything that Nate, Xander and I have been through together, using our links to save one another, rescue one another, now it is just gone? Why?

  Monica cuts in, “We knew there would be a chance that the link would not transfer simply because of the modifications we had to make to the Copula. Six months ago, the environment changed drastically. Levels of helium shot through the roof and other element levels increased comparably. We were scrambling here and back in the US to get the modifications complete and out to all of the guardians and the expanding fellowship. With us being the enemy now, the resistance, coding links between guardians was not a modification we had the luxury, or time, of working on. We still don’t. We are a fellowship working together, but the evolution has changed our physiology making the need for transformation imperative. Every human is for himself or herself when it comes to survival now.”

  We are a team, but we are alone in this. I think of Angela. “Is that why Angela died? Because no one could link with her to save her? She died alone.”

  Monica says defensively, “She walked into a swarm of Sondians with explosives attached to her body! She did not look to be saved, Jesca. She did it to save us!”


  I choke back the cry within me, the cry I want to release for Angela’s selfless bravery.

  Ezra says, “The link, it was just a fabricated bond, Jes.”

  I look at Ezra; he closes his brown eyes briefly, and then reopens them. “When the spirit, the soul within you bonds with another, that connection can never be broken, in life or death. Angela was not alone.”

  His expressions, his words, are brimming with the insinuation of the bond my mother Anna and he shared. The kinship Xander and Nate have developed. My bond with each of them and how it will change. How I will need to make a choice between the two of them.

  I cover my face with my hands and rub my eyes, not wanting to cross that bridge until I have to. Changing the subject, I ask, “Where is Sam?”

  Monica says, “He has undergone re-implantation. He is in and out of consciousness. Corinna is guarding him like a lioness, worried that one of us will kill him the first chance we get.”

  Monica grits her teeth. Ezra breaks in, “He is not the man he was before ascending the veil, Monica.”

  The next question is one I am careful with. “What about Anna?”

  Ezra slowly shakes his head from side to side, his lower lip quivering. “I can’t feel her near.”

  She had to have gotten out. “Well, if Michael did, then she did!” I walk the length of the room, thinking. “How many days have we been back?”

  Monica responds, “Twenty-four hours, why?”

  I turn and walk back. “He is going to Georgia. In the other universe, I had a premonition. I saw the Etowah Mounds and three stars above the highest mound off in the horizon; Orion’s Belt. Michael saw it too. That is where he is going.”

  Hearing the doorknob turn, I pivot around. Sebastian slips in and closes the door behind him quickly. He looks up at me briefly, then down at Ezra. He doesn’t speak; he just walks quietly over to Ezra and rests his hand on his shoulder. Ezra places his hand on top of Sebastian’s and squeezes.

  Sebastian says, “You’re a sight for sore eyes.”

  Ezra replied, “As are you, old friend.”