by JM HART
“I won’t stop praying. I relish the pain,” he said. “This is my gift. We all have a gift. I thought it was to watch over you, but you can look after yourself now. The end of my life is my life’s purpose. Look, look at us — all different with different beliefs. Certainty is the glue. I have been a fool.” He stopped as his neck swelled. He gritted his teeth in pain, coughed dark blood and moaned. The tension around his throat relaxed. Sophia dropped to her knee to get closer to him to hear him speak.
Panting, he said, “See your spiritual self in all things, Sophia. I’m not going to give up, I’m not done yet. I’ll be here for you. End this.”
Afraid her voice would tremble she said nothing and untucked her shirt to wipe the blood from his face and kissed him softly again.
Determined, she rose up and shouted, “Kevin.”
Kevin had gone to Rachel. He was staring at her, watching her blood quickly spreading, soaking into Terry’s sweatshirt, the one Shaun had valiantly given her. Shaun was still on the other side of the deep crevasse, staggering to his feet. He steadied himself, ran down the stairs and on the second-last step, he leapt into the air, swinging his arms and legs and landed inches away from Rachel. Frantically, he tried to stop the bleeding. His hands were covered in her blood; he pressed against her stomach and the blood pooled around his hands. Shaun ripped off his shirt and pressed it down on her stomach to prevent the flow of blood. Tim tore off his hoodie, looped it like a skipping rope and tied it around Rachel’s waist. Together they managed to suppress the bleeding; Rachel was very still. Shaun gave a loud, agonized scream.
Kevin stood motionless, hypnotized by the loss of blood and didn’t hear Sophia. She felt bad, not wishing to be insensitive, but she knew they had to push on and finish what they started. She spoke a little louder to Kevin, then Tim suddenly slapped him hard in the face. Kevin snapped out of his trance. Sophia seized Kevin’s shoulder and sent waves of energy, calming, balancing his emotions, and said in a controlled voice, “Kevin, we have to do what we came here for, or the pain and suffering will never end.”
Tim and Sophia looked intently at Kevin. His eyes were darting left, right, up and down; he was searching his mind for something. Tim slapped him again, this time gently.
“Don’t say it, K. I know what you’re thinking,” Tim said. “Believe in yourself, K, believe in the light. It’s in you, man. You’ve got to trust. I’ve seen you manifest whatever you put your mind to. It’s just like it says on the Emerald Tablet: that which is above is like that which is below. The miracle, I know what it is — manifesting — the ability to create your thoughts and desires in the here and now. You know the saying, be careful of what you wish for because you just might get it. You know this shit, this is in you. It’s all up in here,” Tim said, tapping his temple. “You think and so be it. Sophia’s right. We have to undo what was done. Let’s do Jade’s entropy thingy and create something new from the madness. No space or time. Now.”
“Who are you?” Kevin’s eyebrows knotted together and he inhaled.
Sophia untied the sock from around her head and left Kevin with Tim. Kevin had to take responsibility for his abilities and act on his own. She couldn’t force him into action. She breathed deeply, and could smell the golden fields at home. She wasted no more time. She ran past the boys, tucked in her locket and like a ballerina, leapt high into the air, gliding over the first crevasse to land on the first step. She continued and ran up the stairs to the second tier. With legs fully extended, her toes pointed forward, she leapt directly into the flames, landing at the foot of the next set of stairs, racing up them towards the white ring of flames. She didn’t stop there, or leap over the fire. She ran around it, heading straight for the black hole. Sophia stumbled, fell to her knees. Resisting the pull of the vortex she got to her feet. Balancing on the edge of darkness she looked into the silky black whirlpool. It was silent. Rocks and stones floated in the slipstreams, spiraling anticlockwise, disappearing into its evil eye, into oblivion. Sophia closed her eyes. Her hair violently lashed her cheeks. She ignored the desire to look down, the urge to fall into the vortex. Focus, damn it! Her aura, a rainbow of colors, glittered; she channeled all the energy deep into the Earth, anchoring her to the edge. Slightly wavering, she reached into her shirt for her locket and held it in her palms. She squeezed it in her hand like she had done a million times. This time, the Penelope’s web face disengaged from the rest of the amulet and sat in the palm of her hand. Sophia stretched her arms above her head, and magenta liquid energy poured from the center of the amulet. Twelve channels of curved magenta light emanated from the stars of Solomon like lasers weaving a web, a barricade that held the swirling vortex at bay. Everything behind her went quiet as if they were in the eye of a storm. Sophia looked over her shoulder and could see Casey, Jade, Kevin and Tim. Shaun was pressing down on Rachel’s abdomen. She couldn’t see if Father McDonald had continued to struggle or was dead. She prayed he was alive. The second blue ring of fire extinguished. Casey and Kevin looked as if they had prepared themselves to jump before the blue flames had died; motionless they gazed down into the crevasse’s infinite space.
*
Upon the last tier, the flickering white flames momentarily allowed Jade to catch a glimpse of the statue’s full beauty. “Look at that! It’s amazing,” Jade shouted.
“She is, isn’t she,” Casey replied.
“No. Yes. Not Sophia, the statue. It reminds me of an Egyptian anthropoid coffin,” Jade said, shaking her head in amazement. “They were made of gold and inlaid with semi-precious stones.” Jade stepped backwards, away from the others, giving her room to jump. “What are you two waiting for? Jump!” she yelled at Kevin and Casey.
Jade sprinted past them and jumped, mimicking Sophia’s action without the grace. Arms flailing, she fought her way through the atmosphere, searching for leverage, for that extra inch. Jade started to descend. Oh shit, my angle of velocity is all wrong. She came close, but not close enough; her toes skimmed the lip of the fissure and it gave way. She dug her fingers into the dirt, sliding, searching for purchase. Jade screamed. The sound of the billowing horn above had penetrated the depths of the cave as if it had been in the chamber with them.
Kevin yelled at the top of his lungs. “Hang on, Jade, we’re coming.”
Jade’s fingers had latched onto two protruding stones, her feet frantically searching for anything to take the weight off her arms. She dangled like a rock climber and felt the moisture in the palm of her hands. They’re not going to make it, and I’m not worth them dying for. Jade saw Kevin and Casey clear the edge. Together, they hung over the side and wrapped their strong hands around her wrists and pulled her up to safety.
*
Sophia held her position. The amulet was doing all the work; the laser light web was arching over the abyss like security sensors. It was wavering slightly and she wasn’t sure how long it would hold. They had to hurry. Sophia slowly moved, bent down and placed the amulet between her feet. It shook and vibrated on the spot and started to spin on one of the points. She pushed it back down onto the edge of the pit and it held its ground. She walked backwards, away from the black whirlpool with its swirling demons of death. Sophia turned towards the others and headed to the last barrier of flames behind the four cubed columns, the last ring of fire that surrounded the sleeping statue.
Sophia ran up the twelve steps to where Jade was trying to decipher the symbols on the columns between the dancing flames. Out of breath, she said, “We have to go into it. We have to step into the fire, Jade. You can see the symbols better on the other side. We have to keep moving. I don’t know how much time we have left.”
“We can’t just step into the flames,” Jade said. “That is just not logical. I can see no evidence suggesting we have to walk into a blue-white flame which is, like, at least nine thousand and ten degrees.” Kevin took Jade’s hand and Casey took the other.
“You’re serious. We are really going to do this. Oh, God.”
Sophia took Casey’s hand and said to Jade, “Now you’re getting it. Certainty, we can do this. Let go and it will be okay. Close your eyes.”
Jade closed her eyes and saw Great Turtle beckoning her forward. Jade let go and together they stepped into the flames.
11
Jewels of God.
The absent heat of the blue-white flames returned as soon as they stepped upon the final tier. Casey quickly pulled everyone away from the roasting temperature at their backs. They struggled against a magnetic force emanating from the golden statue of Thoth that was preventing them from moving forward. Casey felt the force was curved, circular to the touch. He ran along the outside looking for a way to get closer, but he could not go beyond the surrounding four columns.
“Look over here.” Jade waved her arms in the air. “The cavity on the chest, it’s the second and third part of the message, Sophia. That statue is the golden rock representing the guardian of the underworld and the empty cavity is at its heart. That must be where the Emerald Tablet belongs. We have to somehow get over there.
These columns must have something to do with the force field. They are common symbols: earth, wind, fire and water,” Jade said. “Give me your water, K,” and she poured it over the pillar that had the sign for water carved into it. Nothing happened.
“The number twelve has come up a lot,” Kevin said. “The maze —”
“The stairs,” said Casey.
“So how can these four columns relate to the number twelve? Besides the obvious divisions,” Kevin said.
“The twelve signs of the zodiac,” Sophia said.
“Who’s a Scorpio?” Jade asked.
“Me,” Casey said.
“Is anyone Taurus?”
“I am,” Kevin replied.
“You’re an Aries?” Jade said, raising her eyebrows at Sophia.
Sophia shrugged her shoulders. “I might be. I was born on the twenty fourth of March. Would that make me an Aries?”
“You have to be. I am an Aquarius,” Jade said.
“Find the column with the element that represents your star sign: Taurus earth, Aquarius wind, Scorpio water, and Aires fire. Go.”
Casey stopped at the column at the bottom of the statue’s carving of squiggled lines that represented water. Sophia was opposite at the head, Kevin was on the east side, and Jade took up her place on the west aspect of the statue.
Kevin grabbed a handful of dirt from the cave floor. Casey was ready with the last drops of his water.
“I don’t have a flame,” Sophia yelled as she tried to get close to the white flames to steal a little of its fire.
“Wait, I think I have a box of matches in my backpack,” Kevin said. He rummaged around before pulling out a box of redheads. Grinning, he ran over to Sophia, then back to his pillar and grabbed another handful of dirt.
Sophia took out a match, and left another one sticking halfway out. She placed the box on top of the column ready to light up the whole pack at once.
“Ready?” Jade yelled. “Everyone on my count: one, two, three, now!”
Casey slowly poured the water over the top of the column, watching Sophia strike her match and drop it in the box, which ignited straight away. The columns began to moan, slowly descending into the ground and a large stone in the wall was slowly pushed out. Water gushed from its opening into the crevasse. The final ring of fire behind them was extinguished by the rising water, but the magnetic force did not wane.
They still couldn’t get any closer to the statue. It continued to repel them.
“Damn it,” Casey said. Jade watched him as he shuffled his feet, changed his stance, stuck his neck out slightly and lowered his head. He concentrated on Kevin’s backpack.
“I can feel that!” Kevin said. “My stomach is doing a backflip.”
Casey guided the breastplate out of the haversack and into the air, levitating it above Kevin’s head. He stabilized the tablet and slowly walked as close as he could to the statue. If we can’t go around or through the force field, maybe Casey can go over it, she thought. He raised it up, up, high in the air and gently brought it down to hover over the chest of Thoth.
“We’re in! Go, Casey.” Jade stood at his side cheering him on as he flipped it in the air, searching for the right angle, trying to place it like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle. It wasn’t locking onto the golden statue.
“What is the rest of the message?” Jade asked.
“No end and no beginning —” Kevin said.
“To face the heavens and the emerald light will glow, the light will be returned,” Jade said.
*
Shaun could not stop the flood of emotions flowing any more than a pebble could hold back the gallons of water flowing in the surrounding crevasse, Rachel thought, feeling Shaun’s despair radiating into the cave around them. Tim stood by Shaun’s side, helpless, unable to help as she slipped in and out of consciousness. Rachel felt sorry for them both: Shaun having to witness her death, and Tim the reluctant spectator to Shaun’s torment. Rachel opened her eyes and tried to speak. Oh, God, that hurts. “You have to …” she said. Blood trickled from the side of her mouth and she tried to wipe it away. She drew two short quick breaths and had a fit of coughing, spraying blood. Her lungs were filling up.
“Oh, dear God, take me, not her,” Shaun said, cradling her head. “Please not now, please, I just found her. Oh God, no, please.”
Rachel’s vision was fractured as she looked up, following Shaun’s gaze, and saw the others passing through the flames and moving towards Thoth.
Shaun looked back at her. She stared into his beautiful eyes. His strong arms held her against his chest. To die in his arms is enough. It would be so easy to just close my eyes and let go. He had come back for me, he had found me.
“Casey …” she said.
The horn above cried out again to the heavens, silencing her words. The beast had pierced her lung and abdomen, the pain not to be endured. She could feel the warmth of the pooling blood as she shivered with the cold, aware her life was slipping away. She was glad she had sacrificed her life to destroy the beast, having fulfilled her purpose. No regrets, she thought. She tilted her head back, reached for Shaun’s face and he moved closer to her lips. She could smell his sweet breath. “Casey …” she whispered again. “Tell Casey to flip it. Writing down, circles up, face to heaven.” Her breathing labored; she waited, still couldn’t catch a breath. She was drowning and couldn’t stop it. “The Emerald Tablet … once it is on the statue … only you can activate it, Shaun, only you.”
“Shh, quiet, save your strength,” Shaun pleaded with her.
“You must … before the final blowing, before the last sound of the horn … lay the stones in first formation: mercy, strength, harmony and …” Before Rachel could finish, she folded within herself and crossed the threshold of her inner door out into the vastness of the universe, free of her body, free of pain.
*
Shaun felt the stones digging into his thigh as he drew in a jagged emotional breath, then thought, Could these be the stones? Rachel filled his senses; she touched his soul and made him know what love was. Her eyes glazed over and closed. “Rachel, no, Rachel, no, you can’t die. I won’t let you die.” He laid her flat on the ground and started compressions.
Shaun wiped the sweat and tears from his eyes on his shoulder. He stopped and quickly fished the leather pouch from his pocket and tossed the stones to Tim, and said, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for what I did to you. Give those to Casey and tell him what she said.” He breathed for Rachel and pressed down on her chest again resuming the compressions.
“She said only you can,” Tim said.
Shaun ignored him, focusing on counting, breathing for Rachel, trying to keep her heart alive. He felt a sudden emptiness and his soul screamed; he believed he would explode into a billion pieces. “Rachel, come back, please God, don’t take her from me. I promise to love her for all eternity. Please God, not Rachel, please!”
>
Shaun was blinded to everything around him and he no longer cared for the world; everything he wanted was slipping through his fingers. He didn’t want to live if Rachel died. Tired, he stopped, pulled her to him and cradled her body. He rocked back and forth, then laid her down, recommencing the compressions and yelled at Tim, “GO!”
*
Tim picked up the pouch and jumped over the crevasses, raced up the steps onto the platform and handed Casey the stones.
“You’re going to need these.”
Sophia took the stones and Jade crowed with excitement and said, “Oh my God, can this get any more complicated? Wow! They are Platonic solids. They have different elements. This one, for instance, represents fire, and has six edges and four faces so it’s a tetrahedron. This one represents earth and is a hexahedron having twelve edges and six faces.”
Tim took it out of her hand. “It’s a cube!”
Jade dismissed him and continued twirling a twelve-edged gemstone that looked like two pyramids joined together and said, “This one is an octahedron; its element is air.” Her finger tingled as she touched the tip of the next one that was blue and its shape resembled a pointy transparent soccer ball. “This one is, I think, an icosahedron, element water, and it has thirty edges and twenty faces. It reminds me of what Rachel said about the one of the circles on the tablet. Chesed, mercy, which is blue and represents air, has the same properties as this solid. Maybe that’s where this gem belongs, in that circle; maybe the stones are formed to connect all the elements. By laying each stone in the right circle, the energy will flow along the pathways.”