Nightmare’s Edge (23 page)
Daryl folded the sheet of paper. “No obvious pattern. I’m stumped.”
“We’ll just have to wait, I guess.” Nathan took the page and the card and pushed them into his back pocket. “Right now we need to find Kelly.”
“Look,” Francesca said, tilting her head upward.
Dim light filtered in from above, illuminating the area. Tombstones materialized in a weed-infested lawn, and a crescent moon appeared in the purple sky.
“Is Felicity dreaming again?” Nathan asked. “Cemeteries seem to be her trademark.”
A new voice floated in from the darkness. “Someone say my name?” Feminine and frail, the voice was beautifully familiar.
“Kelly-kins!” Daryl shouted.
Kelly stepped into the glow of four uplifted candles, squinting at the light. “I guess it’s about time I showed up, isn’t it?”
With her arms spread wide, Daryl lunged ahead and embraced her. “You’re a sight for sore eyes.”
Kelly patted Daryl’s back and smiled, but she looked worn out. “Yeah. You, too.”
Nathan squirmed. It would feel so good to leap ahead and hug Kelly, but maybe she wasn’t real, and he would be fooled yet again. He held up his candle and looked at her through its flame. She looked solid, but it was still too early to tell for sure. “Where’s your candle?”
She nodded toward the barrier. “I lost it in there when I stretched that stupid hole open. Good thing the vine was there, or I never would’ve found a way out.”
Nathan stared at her weary face and frame. She looked so sad, so lost.
Taking in a deep breath, she smiled and extended her arms. “Nathan?”
He gulped. The sight of Kelly’s open arms made his heart ache. But if he gave in to his impulses and embraced another dream image, especially this one, he’d lose his mind completely. Trembling, he turned to the others. “Amber? Is she real?”
Extending her candle, Amber walked up to Kelly and looked her in the eye. “Too early to be certain. I see a spark of life, but she could be a figment of her own dream. Also, with this dreamscape, whoever Felicity really is might well be dreaming that she is now Kelly.”
“Why?” Nathan asked. “Because she knows I’m looking for Kelly?”
Amber gave him a sad sort of smile. “Discerning the reason for dreams is something I learned to leave to the prophets.”
“What are you talking about?” Kelly cried, spreading out her arms. “Look at me! Of course I’m real!”
“Every dreamer thinks she’s awake, Kelly-kins.” Daryl pulled away and nudged Nathan. “We need some kind of test to prove it. If this is Kelly’s dream, we would need a question only the awake Kelly would know.”
“What?” Kelly crossed her arms tightly. “How could you possibly ask me something my sleeping self wouldn’t know?”
“What difference does it make?” Francesca asked. “If we take her with us, and she’s not real, she’ll just vanish, right?”
“And then we’ll have to come back and hunt for Kelly again. We can’t waste time.” Nathan looked around at each face. With furrowed brows and narrowed eyes, everyone seemed stumped, even his father. How could they come up with a question that would work? The sleeping Kelly would know everything, except . . . He snapped his fingers. “I’ve got it.”
Kelly tapped her foot, her arms still crossed. Although she sniffed back a sob, she seemed to be getting angrier by the minute. “Go ahead,” she grumbled. “Ask me your question.”
Nathan pointed at the vine’s exit point. “If you really opened that hole, then you might have seen something I left on the inside wall.”
Kelly held up her hand. A heart-shaped bloodstain covered her palm. “It was still wet.” She crossed her arms again. “I was hoping it was for me.”
His heart ready to explode, Nathan rushed to her and wrapped her in his arms, careful to keep the candle flame away from her clothes. She, however, kept her arms locked tightly against her chest. “I’m sorry, Kelly, but if you only knew. I’ve been fooled by so many dreams. I even saw you playing piano, and I wanted to hug you, but I knew it was a dream that time, because these pixie things were flying all around.”
Her arms loosened, but her voice sounded aloof. “They looked like my mother.”
“They did, and her dress was kind of . . . well . . .”
One hand slid around his back. “That was my dress, the one I told you about. I wore it too many times.”
“That’s history. You burned it. It’s gone forever.”
“What else did you see?” she asked.
“I saw you play the piano, and . . . I heard your song.”
Now both arms slid around his torso. “All of it?”
Nathan took a deep breath. Her embrace felt warm and wonderful, but this couldn’t go on. He pulled back and held her hand. “Look, we’ll have to talk about your song later. We have three worlds to save.”
Closing her eyes tightly, she nodded. Her voice cracked, almost squeaking. “Whatever you say, Nathan.”
After a few seconds of silence, Daryl clapped her hands. “So, now that we’re deep in the heart of Awkward City, let’s figure out how to escape.”
Nathan swallowed the most painful lump in history. He needed to talk it out with Kelly, but there wasn’t enough time. “So, Dad, you have a plan?”
“We have two choices. Either get to the top of Sarah’s Womb and play the violin strings, or get to the GPS coordinates on each Earth and play the music that will heal the wounds from there.”
“What music? ‘Foundation’s Key’?”
“Exactly. I’m glad you figured that out.”
Nathan gave him a doubtful look. “And coordinate them from three places at once? How can we do that? We’re running out of time.”
“You’re right. We should go with the Sarah option.”
Daryl shivered. “With all those stalkers around? I kicked a few of their butts into the hole, but it won’t be easy to sneak up on them again.”
A new voice broke in. “Are you forgetting the third option?”
Nathan clenched his fist. He didn’t have to look for the source. It was definitely Patar.
The tall, gaunt man walked into view and stepped close to Nathan, towering over him. “Must I remind you again?”
Solomon stepped between them and shoved Patar backwards. “Have you been telling my son to kill the supplicants? Didn’t I tell you that wasn’t an option?”
Patar scowled and pointed at Nathan. “Your own wife lives because your son killed Scarlet and cast her into the womb. He slowed interfinity’s progress, thereby giving billions of souls another chance. Has he not told you of his heroic deed?”
Solomon’s eyes shifted toward Nathan, but only for a split second. “I will tell you again, we will save the worlds with the musical harmony that God has ordered in the cosmos, the breath of God as my wife calls it, not by shedding innocent blood.”
A thin smile spread across Patar’s face. “Sometimes, Solomon Shepherd, the willing sacrifice of an innocent lamb is the only way to save the world. The true breath of God has already proven that.”
“I can’t argue with that.” Solomon took in a slow breath, then let it out, shaking his head. “You heard our plans. If you have something to add, then let’s hear it. Otherwise, I think you should just move along.”
“Since Mictar is busying himself with trying to find this girl,” Patar said, nodding toward Kelly, “I can provide a safe path to the great violin, but only if she stays away. Mictar has tasted her life force, and now that she has escaped from the Womb, he will track her down.”
Solomon looked at Kelly, then at Nathan. The perplexity in his face spoke volumes.
“You and Mom should go,” Nathan said. “Daryl and Kelly and I will figure out the GPS coordinates and get that started. If you can buy us some time by playing the violin, maybe we can get it done.”
“I will take you three back to the observatory,” Amber added. “From there you can transport to any real world. Once you locate the proper foundation point, perhaps my beloved will play at the Earth Yellow site.”
Solomon looked at his wife. “Do you think we can play it?” She nodded. “We really need a bow, but pizzicato will have to do.”
“Maybe it’ll be enough to give Nathan time.” Solomon stuffed his hands into his pockets, turning his head slowly and pausing as he looked at each of his fellow dream-world travelers. “Okay. We’ll go.”
“Remember,” Patar said, pointing at Kelly, “do not doubt my prophecy. Mictar is a dream stalker. If you sleep, you open a door by which he may find you.”
Nathan clenched his fist again. He wanted to say, “And he’ll be sorry,” but he just couldn’t spit it out. Finally, he heaved a sigh and said, “We’ll try to be ready for him.”
“So be it.” Patar leaned close to Amber as if to whisper, but his voice stayed loud enough for everyone to hear. “I will show the observatory personnel how to open their mirror to my world, and when I go, I likely will not see you again until this crisis is over, and perhaps not even then.”
She nodded. “I understand.” A hint of a tear welled in her eye. “I am ready to give my life if need be, but I prefer to stay and help my beloved.”
“Of course you do. We shall see what transpires.”
Amber’s chin quivered. “I had no opportunity to say goodbye to Abodah. I am very sorry for your loss.”
“I am grateful for your compassion,” Patar said, patting her shoulder. “Her sacrifice will not go unnoticed by the one who watches every fallen sparrow.”
Amber turned and abruptly strode into the darkness, lifting her candle once again. “Come,” she called. “Our entry point into the observatory is this way.”
“Wait just a second!” Nathan called. “I have to say goodbye.”
Amber waited, firming her lips as if holding back her emotions.
While still holding a candle, Nathan hugged his mother.
“This time,” he whispered, “I’m going to roll away that stone.
Nothing will stop the flow.”
She shook as she returned the embrace. “I have seen your gift from afar. I hope I get to see it played out, face-to-face.”
“Someday, even if it’s in heaven, you will.” Nathan pulled back and strode into his father’s waiting arms. “Dad,” Nathan said, gripping his father’s wrist. “I . . .” He bit his lip hard. There was no way he could say what was on his mind without losing control, so he just blurted it out. “I love you, Dad. I’m so proud to be your son. Thank you for teaching me courage and — ” He glanced at Kelly but couldn’t keep his gaze on her for more than a split second. “And love. I think I know what I have to do to complete your training.” He nodded at his mother. “Mom can fill you in.”
With that, he turned and caught up with Amber, looking back to make sure Daryl and Kelly followed. “So how do we get out?” he asked.
“As you might have guessed, we will also get out through a dream.” After a minute or so, she stopped and looked around.
“Yes, this is the place.”
When Kelly and Daryl joined them, Amber pulled the mirror from Daryl’s bag and laid her palm on the surface.
Within seconds, her soft glow strengthened into a brilliant aura.
“Francesca, my beloved, are you watching?”
A face appeared under Amber’s hand. She slid fingers away, revealing a bleary-eyed Francesca Yellow. “I’m here. Do you need me to do something?”
Amber’s aura dimmed to normal. “Are you still in the observatory?”
“Yes. Solomon and Tony set up a cot and a mirror stand in one of the offices.”
“Can you go to sleep?” Amber asked. “I need to follow your dream path as a way of escape from here.”
“Sure. Nathan’s napping, so I was about to join him.”
“Put the mirror somewhere that will allow me to see you while you sleep.”
The four gathered around to watch the scene in the mirror. The heels of Francesca’s hands pressed against the sides of their view, then her face bobbed up and down for a moment as she walked the mirror square to another location. Soon, the image settled. A baby, wrapped in a blanket, slept on the floor next to a low cot. Francesca, wearing loose gray sweats, slid into a sleeping bag that lay on the cot. “Can you see me all right?”
“Quite well,” Amber said.
“It’s kind of hard to go to sleep on demand, but I’ll do my best.”
“Just close your eyes. I will sing a lullaby. It will calm your mind.”
When Francesca’s eyes fluttered closed, Amber began a song in a lovely alto, her voice silky and pure.
A gentle wind, a tumbling brook,
A kiss good night, a well-read book,
The blessings of love coming down from above
Are found in simple places,
In places of the heart.
A crackling log, the smell of life,
A candle’s flame, a loving wife.
The finest treasures are never measured
By monetary rules,
The treasures of the heart.
After a few seconds, the mirror emitted an aura of its own, a yellow glow that surrounded the square. It grew at a rapid rate, enveloping Amber and then the others. Soon, it took over the environment, illuminating the expanse with a fuzzy yellow that quickly morphed into lights on a ceiling, walls and hangings on the sides, and a carpeted floor beneath their feet.
Immediately in front of Amber, Francesca slept on a cot with the edge of her sleeping bag tucked under her chin. Next to her on the floor, little Nathan lay curled in his blanket.
Nathan looked at the mirror. Their surroundings had become an exact copy of Francesca’s office area. She was dreaming about the room she was sleeping in.
Amber handed Kelly her candle, then, still holding the mirror, she sat on the cot and rubbed Francesca’s back. “Can you hear me, my beloved?”
Francesca squirmed and let out a “Hmmm,” while in the mirror, she stayed still and quiet.
“Arise, my love.” Amber prodded her shoulder. “We must join you in the waking world.”
Francesca sat up and blinked. Then, as if counting, she nodded at each person in turn before breaking into a wide smile. “You found Kelly!”
“We did, and Solomon, too, but he and his Francesca have embarked on a different journey.” Amber rose from the cot. “Now, wrap your mind around us and awaken. Although you are very weary, you must arouse yourself and take us out of this world of dreams.”
While Francesca slid out of the sleeping bag, Nathan kept an eye on the mirror. A shadow crossed the sleeping woman’s form, growing bigger and darker. “What’s that?” Nathan whispered to Kelly.
