Soulmates (17 page)

Manna calmly asked, “Are you finished?”

“There were a few reasons why we couldn’t tell you. One was that we weren’t sure how you humans would react to us. Case in point,” Manna nervously laughed. “Your species can be very impulsive, and at times, irrational and even hostile if you feel that you’re under attack.”

Still visibly upset, Jesse sarcastically remarked, “I thought you were psychic.”

“True, but we aren’t always correct. We knew that humans, by nature are unpredictable. And what if we told you how to get home? You know as well as I do that you would’ve told someone about your experience. We couldn’t risk the information getting into the wrong hands. More people would have been curious, wanting to come here to Porha, and not understanding the dangers that lurk here. We’ve seen enough suffering, enough death. I, for one, couldn’t fathom the thought of the people from your world thinking they found paradise, when in all actuality they would encounter the same demise as we did.”

“She has to go back,” insisted Jesse, pointing at Presley. “It may be too late for me, but it’s not too late for Paulette and Presley.”

“Be aware of the consequence if they do go back. They must never tell anyone of you or Porha. If they do,” Manna looked at Presley with a cold stare and fear in his tone, “more than likely, they will die. And trust me, you don’t want that burden. That guilt. This has ruined all of our lives,” he said sadly.

“The book has many scripted codes for a reason,” Manna said. “You’re right, and you have been able to break a few of them. But, there are many other codes that you are not ready to know yet, if ever. As for Paulette, let’s see just where exactly they took her.” Manna, sitting at his desk, pulled the crystal ball in front of him. As soon as he touched the crystal ball, it seemed to come to life. The colors were intense and vibrant. Presley shielded her eyes from its brightness as Manna closed his. As if the crystal could read his mind, a faint but obvious figure started to appear before them. He opened his eyes and gazed into the smooth shiny ball. Jesse and Presley gathered around the desk to get a better look.

Presley gasped, “Oh, no!” She shuddered as she covered her mouth with her hand, “It’s Paulette."

Through the ball they could see Paulette huddled in a small corner of a dark room shaking. She appeared terrified-her eyes tightly closed. They could also see shadows dancing around her. She rocked back and forth, sobbing uncontrollably in the corner of a dark room.

“We have to go,” Presley pleaded hysterically. “Come on, what are we waiting for? Jesse, let’s go! She’s so scared!” she shouted.

“Shhh,” Manna warned, holding his fingers over his lips. He motioned Presley to come close again. The image turned into an old dark brown mansion. From the back of the mansion they could see people walking around aimlessly. They saw a water mill rotating around, and every time it came up, a black shadow came up with it.

“What is that?” Jesse asked.

“They are the spirits of the porits.”

“I thought that the Manes were the spirits of the porits.”

“They are, but the Manes are the souls that chose to follow Fiend. But these spirits here are the lost souls of the porits. Remember, they signed away their souls to Fiend and now he has complete control over them. After death some of the porits’ souls wouldn’t fully comply with Fiend’s wishes. This is their punishment." Manna covered the crystal ball with a small blue cloth, indicating the sitting had come to an end.

“Listen to me carefully. If you care about Paulette at all, then you must find her. But be careful. Fiend and the Manes will be there. After you find Paulette, go back to the area where Presley first came to this planet. You will find a waterfall and beyond that you will come across a small creek. Step into the creek and you and Paulette will be home once again. When you arrive back, you must come up with a plan to keep this planet a secret. Nobody can know about Jesse or Porha,” he insisted.

Manna turned the pages in The Book of Codes and stopped at a dark, gloomy picture of the decrepit brown mansion. “This is where you’ll find her. This is the Manes’ mansion.” He thumbed back a few pages, “And this is the map to get there from here. You must go now and save Paulette, before it’s too late."

Presley and Jesse quickly looked at the map with Manna.

“I’ll pray for a safe journey,” he said.

“Do you think we will encounter Fiend again?” asked Presley.

“I don’t know. Now he has a bartering chip,” he said. “I think he will be waiting for you at the mansion. I have a feeling that he wants you on his turf.”

Manna walked them to the front door.

“Best of luck to you both,” he said with sadness in his voice. “I’ll be watching you.”

Chapter Twelve

Presley and Jesse left the castle. They followed the map, briskly walking through a tunnel and into an open field. They moved silently, as they each pondered what lurked ahead at the Manes’ mansion. Presley also thought about Jesse’s life, and wondered if he was going to be okay once she was gone.

“So, will you just go back to the town after Paulette and I leave?” she asked. He nodded his head.

“Do I have any other choice?” he asked.

“No, I guess not. I wish there was a way for you to come back with me,” she said softly.

“Me too. But, I don’t know. Even if I could come back, which I can’t, what would I do there? It would be a completely different world than the one I left, you know? It would almost be like living on a different planet. Everything has just changed so much. It's not the same world.”

“Still, what if you could? Just entertain the idea
—
what if?”

“If I could come back and be with you? Well, I wouldn’t ask for anything more. We could have had a great life together, but it’s just not possible.”

“What if we could go back to our previous life?”

“Well, your previous life is my existing life. I would do anything to go back in time. I wish you could remember how great we were.” There was a long pause.

“We had such a great story. You were, and still are, everything to me. When you said that you would marry me it was the happiest day of my life. It was all so perfect,” he reminisced.

“Well, you know what they say?” Presley smiled. “‘It’s better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.’”

Jesse laughed in an effort to hide his pain. He looked down as tears filled his eyes.

“Well, if you believe that
—
then you’ve never lost a love."

≈≈≈≈≈

Porha seemed peaceful and quiet. Purple and blue birds flew overhead. The flowers swayed with the wind and the weather was perfect. They walked for most of the afternoon without incident.

“How much longer until we reach the mansion?” asked Presley.

“It should be right over this hill,” he said. As they reached the top of the hill, the beautiful day suddenly turned grim. The sky grew dark, and they knew that they were in the presence of evil.

The gothic -like mansion was dark and mysterious.

Broad buttresses extended from the stone wall. The mansion had steep gables and oriel windows that protruded from the wall as well.

They cautiously crept up the old, cracked walkway to the entrance. With each step they took, their breathing became loud and heavy with anticipation.

“I’m so scared,” mumbled Presley. Jesse took her hand in attempt to relieve her nervousness.

“I know you are. Just keep thinking that as soon as we save Paulette you can go home,” he said in an encouraging tone.

≈≈≈≈≈

Years before, the old mansion was unwillingly vacated by a family of porits when the Manes forced them out, taking over the space as their own. Large gargoyle statues stood high on the roof. The house was huge with multiple rooms and winding hallways. It seemed that the mansion was never ending.

They noticed a bronze -skinned woman who looked lost, her wide, black eyes wandering. She walked to the front door of the mansion, and then disappeared through the doorway into the house.

“I don’t think she saw us,” Presley said with amazement.

“No, she must be a porit. They won’t harm us. They won’t even know we’re here.”

“You mean a dead porit? None of the porits will know that we’re here?” Presley asked confused.

“No, don’t worry about the porits. They’re harmless. If you’re going to worry, worry about the Manes,” he whispered.

They opened the door to the mansion and slowly walked inside. The bronze -skinned lady was standing by a long beautiful spiral staircase, peering up at it as if she were waiting for someone to come down. Nobody was at the top of the stairs, but still the woman waited, silently.

“Can you hear me?” Presley whispered to the lady.

The lady didn’t move. She stood -staring ahead, just waiting.

“This place just keeps getting stranger and stranger,” Presley said.

“You’ve got that right,” Jesse agreed.

Suddenly, the lady sharply turned her head toward them. Presley gasped. The woman’s eyes were dark as night. Her mouth was gaped open as if she had been frightened. Her haunting eyes focused on Jesse and Presley, as she quickly began to move toward them with her head tilted.

“She sees us, Jesse. What’s she going to do?” Presley moved closer to him. The lady, keeping a steady pace, walked directly through Presley and then down the hallway until she was out of sight.

“Where did she go?” Presley asked nervously.

“It doesn’t matter where she went. We need to find Paulette,” his voice cracked.

“Where do we start?” she asked.

“Let's go upstairs first. If she isn’t up there we can back track down here again,” he said

“Okay,” she said her voice low and quiet.

They went up the long staircase and down a dark hallway. Jesse carefully opened the first door of many. They walked inside a magnificent room. The room had an oversized red velvet couch and dark red chairs surrounding a large table. Shelves displayed hundreds of books, which covered the walls from the ground up.

As they turned to leave, Presley saw a red illuminating light shine from one of the books that rested on a shelf high above her reach. Jesse found a ladder tucked away into the far right corner of the room. He dusted it off and aligned it to the radiant book. Presley climbed the ladder and took the enchanted book down from its shelf. Excited, she opened it to a random page. It was written in an unrecognizable language. Jesse glanced over her shoulder.

“This must be the porits’ language,” he said. Presley stood in silence for a moment realizing that she was holding a book which belonged to another species.

“Put this in your bag,” she told Jesse.

“What? You want to take it?”

“Yeah. I don’t think any of the porits will miss it. They
are
dead.”

As ordered, Jesse put the book in his bag and they went on. They searched all of the upstairs rooms, with the exception of one, and they still hadn’t found Paulette.

“I don’t think that she is up here,” he said.

“We still have one room left,” she said hopefully. “Do you notice how quiet it is here?”

“Yeah, it’s creepy quiet,” he agreed.

They arrived at the remaining door. Jesse cautiously opened it, he slowly peeked his head inside. His eyes darted around to each corner of the massive room.

“Nobody,” he said disappointedly.

The room was completely white with the exception of a lavender canopy that draped above an extravagant bed, which stood directly in the middle of the room. Tiny delicate designs were engraved on the wooden poles that held the deep sheer purple canopy, which elegantly draped to the floor. A fancy white pearl vanity sat adjacent to the bed. Presley sat on the silky cream soft fur stool, which matched the carpet. Presley stared at her reflection in the oval mirror. Small dim lights glowed all around it. Inside the vanity was unusual makeup and large plush brushes.

“I can’t believe this place! Look at this vanity!” she said excitedly. She rummaged through the drawers.