Banished To Earth Book Two, Souls Adrift (28)

  Chapter 56

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      That night Pry could not go to sleep. There was simply too much light even though it was noticeably dimmer than the night before. Moreover, there was too much to think about, too much to dread, and ironically too much darkness…

    Her eyes slid down to the dull grey sheets as she remembered Trudy's words. That greyness was the taint of a vengeful spirit. How could she possibly find rest on them. Her ominous words echoed through her mind. Trudy could not wash out the dinginess, the stain, the darkness. However, until this morning she had not noticed how dark they had become. Now, thanks to Trudy, that was all she could think about.  

    Davin was facing the wall. She could not tell if he was asleep. Not wanting to wake him, she slid off the bed much slower than she wanted.

    She had to get out of that bed. She had to get away from Chase Gillette. Sadly that meant getting away from Davin, as well. This she could not do.

    How long would it be before she stared into Davin's eyes and saw Chase or even Stayner staring back at her? She did not know. Could she only hope for an answer, an answer she could live with. Surely she could do more than hope. There was an answer. Was it in this tainted room? No, it was out there...

    Cool fresh air, that’s what she needed. The thick bedroom carpet made it easy to walk over to the balcony making no sound at all.

   Of course, part of her wanted Davin to wake up, take her in his arms and make her feel safe. But tomorrow was going to be a very difficult day. A dangerous day? Likely. He needed rest, a fresh mind and body.  

  

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     Gently grasping the door handles she slowly pushed them down, pulled the doors open and let the cool night breeze billow in. Her nightgown fluttered against her skin, chilling her. Of course, she could have easily tuned out the chill. But she wanted it. It reminded her she was not trapped, and, like the breeze, free to go where she wished. Was it just a nice delusion? She hoped not.

    Stars twinkled against the black canopy. The pungent scent of pine needles tickled her nose, as the peaceful night settled over her mind and body.

   The moon was full. She smiled up at it, then tilted her head. Yes, the moon was full? Wasn’t it full last week and the week before?

    Something was not right. Pry’s eyes darkened, turning deep purple as her hair lifted and swayed as though it was trolling the night for some hidden danger.

   “Davin.” She called out. Her voice pitched high with alarm.

  He rolled over and reached out for her. “Pry.” He called out when his fingers felt only warm empty sheet where her body should be. The cool breeze turned his eyes toward the balcony where he saw her perfect body backlit by the moonlight. He smiled and sprang from bed.

    A moment later he gathered her up from behind and nuzzled her neck.

  “Davin, look.” She pointed at the moon’s azure tinted face. “I am not from Earth, but the moons on Phastanar and Alisar, waned. Earth’s moon does not?”

  “Ah, yeah. It does, at least it’s supposed to. You’re right. Something is way off. And it was staring down on us every night and we just didn’t see it, no. We just didn’t notice it.”

   “Nothing has changed Davin. It has been weeks since the hurricane, and nothing has changed. Come.” She whipped open a portal and jerked him in.

   They stepped out arm’s length from the ditch and blacktop that ran along Trudy’s property line, and inches from the barrier. Cool wet grass licked the soles of their bare feet. Dew was normal, expected. And it rained just a few days ago. Again normal. Expected.

   Her slender right fingertip slid through the barrier. She jerked it back. “Cold and wet.” She whispered to herself. He heard her anyway.

    “Wet?”

   “Yes. It is raining. But not here.”

  

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     He gently pulled her away from the barrier. Pressing his right hand against the dome of distorted air until it pushed through and disappeared.  He snatched it back. It was dripping wet.

   “What is this?”

   “I do not know?”

   “Of course you don’t, sweetie. Wonder if Sava does.”

   “He would not lie.”

   “No, but…, not going there, not yet.”

   “How can the sun rise, clouds move, darken and rain, clear and turn to night again and again, and we not notice it was the same, ghost days on an endless loop.”

  “Not sure, we just looked out, saw what we wanted to see, and didn’t look any deeper. My hand went somewhere. I couldn’t see it. But I didn’t lose it. Crazy. Weird crazy.”

   “We are in a bubble.” Pry pulled away from Davin and traced the tip of her middle finger against the barrier, being careful not to penetrate it. “A slight tingle. It does not hurt.” She pressed her hand through. Davin grunted and stiffened as he watched her test the barrier, relaxed when as before, she easily pulled her hand out, unharmed.

“This, changes everything.” He said, drawing her back. “A curtain of lies,” he murmured. It surrounds us. No way we can walk blind into that.”

   “Maybe we could shift back to the beach house.” She looked up at him then back at the comforting pretense that had fooled them for so many days.”

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  “And if it’s a temporal distortion, a threshold opening to instant death?”

  “Well,” Pry countered, “it did not injure my fingers. Wet and cold are nothing to us.”

   “Yeah, true enough. But if we can’t return?”

  “You know we cannot stay.” She stared down at the sparkling moonlit grass. His shadow was quivering. Chase was shaking the bars of his astral prison.

  “Stroke the barrier.” Her tone was a soft blanket on a cold concrete floor.

 He did. The fingers of his right hand spread half curled against the subtle curtain of energy. Understanding her request, he calmed his mind, quelling all resistance. Ripples formed, tiny vein like rivulets, of energy that gathered color as they congealed and spread beneath his hand turning deep blue with every breath.

    “Look!” Off to his right, about forty  feet, a dark patch of grey was racing across the barrier wall toward them. 

   “Mabel!?” She sighed.

  “I think so. What am I doing? Really, do we really want this?”

  “Do not stop.”

  “Are you sure?”

 “No, but. Do not stop.”

  She glanced at the ground. His shadow, no, Chase Gillettes’ shadow was creeping up his legs with unmistakable intent and terrifying sentience.  

  Davin jerked away. “No Davin, do not break the connection. Do not shatter the matrix. Let them do what they will. They just want each other. Give them that!” His hand flattened spreading his fingers not unlike an antenna array.

  “Them?”

  “Do not be slow.”

  “You’re still not sure. Are you?” She looked up at him but said nothing.

  Faster than creeping sunset shadows, Chase wound his way up Davin’s legs climbing his back and mounted his shoulders. Davin’s knees buckled, as Chase began syphoning off Davin’s mass.

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    Pry gasped and lunged at the specter.  It lashed out, struck her left cheek and knocked her to the ground. “Oh no, Davin. I’m sorry!” She screamed as he passed out and collapsed against the barrier which had solidified beneath his limp body and around his hand.

    Pinned to the barrier, he hung there like an empty coat on a coat rack and apparently, just as lifeless. Silver strands of angry hair whipped up from Pry’s head as Mabel’s dark nebulous form gathered over his hand, a second before Chase’s shadow gloved the helpless limb.

   Mabel was black now, a vertical pit pulsating around it, drawing him in, methodically jerking him up until his feet no longer touched the ground.

    The image of a boa constrictor swallowing a gazelle focused inside Pry’s mind. Her hair whipped out. She jerked away. It would shred Davin to bloody ribbons trying to stave off his attackers. The most she could do was kick against the slick wet grass and keep him out of range of her deadly long hair.  

     Rolling away, she finally managed to spare him a horrible ironic death, only to look up and see his bare feet slowly disappear into Mabel’s hungry blackness. A scream tore through the night as his toes sank from site and the black hole blinked out.

    They were gone, the three of them. Pry leapt to her feet, slipped and fell, scrambled back up, ran to the barrier, flung both hands through and pulled back nothing but cold wet empty hands…