Chapter 7
Jacko fell asleep on the rug in front of the fire. He only woke because he heard a rustling coming from outside. He sat up slowly and whispered, “Hey Dog, how long have I been asleep?”
“Hours and hours,” Dog sounded scared.
“What’s wrong, Dog?”
“I’ve been trying to wake you for a while,” Dog barked lowly. “I wondered if you would ever wake up. I just have this awful feeling inside me, hooo” poor Dog cried.
“I have a strange feeling, too. Althenio and Manlo have been gone too long. I keep thinking I should do something, but Althenio says I act hastily. I don’t want to disappoint him, but it’s dark and cold, which is not like his part of heaven.”
He looked up at the window again. “Let’s go upstairs,” he said.
They slowly, quietly walked up the dark stairwell. Upon reaching the top, they saw the endless hall of doors was no longer there. Instead, there was a short landing and three doors.
Dog continued to hooo and make gruff noises. “Be quiet,” Jacko said. “If you’re scared, then go back downstairs.”
“I’d rather die than be left alone, right now.”
“Can you sense if anyone is in these rooms?”
Dog walked up to each door and sniffed at the space toward the floor.
“No one’s here.”
Just in case Dog couldn’t smell them because of their rock-like skin, Jacko knocked on each door before opening them. Inside, they found dreary, plain rooms.
“Woof! Woof!” barked Dog.
“What’s wrong, Dog?”
“Someone’s out there.”
“How do you know?”
“’Cause I’m a dog, arf.”
Jacko walked to the window in the room to his right; Dog followed, closely, behind. He was right, there was someone out there, but he couldn’t see too clearly through the midnight blue sky.
Suddenly, it occurred to Jacko that the landscape had changed. In Althenio’s world, there weren’t any trees, yet a few hundred yards away stood some tall leafless ones.
Jacko walked to the room on the opposite side of the land; Dog followed. There were trees there too. It looked like they encircled the house. Dog peered out of the window and woofed, again.
Looking out across the dark, starless sky Jacko saw a crisp blue horizon. Immediately, goose pimples rose up in his hairline, and covered his arms. Jacko was really afraid. He turned around and ran downstairs.
“Come on, Dog.”
Jacko tried to sound calm for Dog’s sake, but, in the gods part of heaven, the horizon was always red, no matter what.
Downstairs, Jacko peered through the window, looking at the trees in the distance.
How did they do it? Was Althenio a traitor?
“Do you see, or smell, anything out there, Dog?”
“No, not from this far, but I hear something,” he whined.
“Where?”
“Beyond those trees,” Dog pointed at a spot amidst the first row of black trees, a few hundred feet away.
Jacko squinted intensely, wishing that he could see what was beyond the trees.
Suddenly, Jacko was there, floating in the blackened limbs. “Oh no! I astral projected!” He shouted in surprise. Damn, he thought. If there were demons, then he didn’t want to be, anywhere, near them.
He stopped suddenly because he heard a fuzzy noise. A weird, grading, electronic sound came from some shrubs to his left. Jacko knew the sound was demons speaking to each other.
Quickly, he turned and ran toward trees in the opposite direction, but he tripped over a vine that snapped. All went quiet, and then he several of them emerge and head in his direction.
He got up, ran up to a large tree, and wished himself back into the house.
Jacko opened his eyes. He was lying on the floor boards, and Dog was severely licking his face. “Dog, I’m fine. Stop!”
“What happened, Jacko?”
“I accidentally astral projected. If I ever do that again, talk to me, don’t lick my face, ugh.” Jacko’s face was covered in thick, glandular, dog slime. He sat up and wiped his face on the hem of the curtain.
Jacko stood up and peered through window. Demons were walking toward the house.
“WOOF WOOF WOOF-WOOF.”
“Shut it, dog!”
“Oh my god! What do we do?”
“I’m gonna get us out of here.”
Jacko walked back to the hearth rug in front of the fireplace and tried to calm himself. He realized that the room no longer looked the same as Althenio’s house; the fire was out and the walls were ashy. The walls were no longer logs of wood, but gray brick. He looked at the chair and saw that it was gray and dusty.
“Somehow, I think they put a spell on us, and then transported us,” said Jacko.
“What? Woof.”
“Nevermind,” said Jacko and he rested his hands on Dog’s paws.
Dog howled, “Aaaa oooo… They’re coming! They’re coming!” and he walked fast in circles on the carpet, his tail tucked between his legs.
Jacko had left the curtains wide open and could see the outline of their black flesh and their eyes like rubies shine. Jacko’s skin puckered from head to toe.
“They know we’re trying to leave, aaaaooo,” cried Dog.
“Shush!” said Jacko. “You’re breaking my concentration! Come here, sit!”
Dog tried to remain calm as he sat on the rug in front of Jacko.
Jacko focused on him and Dog back at home in New Hampshire. At first, it didn’t work because Dog kept shaking violently and crooning, “Quit it! You’re distracting me and I haven’t quite mastered this talent.”
“Mmmmm… Hurry,” he whined.
He closed his eyes tight, and focused. They resonated between the red sky world and the front room of Manlo’s home. Just as one of the demons busted through the front door, Jacko and Dog opened their eyes to Manlo’s empty house in Concord. He breathed relief as Dog barked and jumped on his lap to lick at his face. He hugged Dog and they lay on the floor for a moment.
“Why is it so quiet, Dog?”
“WOOF.”
“Oh, right. You can’t talk here.”
Jacko and Dog ran through the house, calling out names. No one answered. Strangely, it looked like no one had been there in days. There were no dishes drying on the rack, no lingering scent of food - as with that many people in a house, someone was always cooking or eating. Jacko wandered upstairs and found that all was still, then, back down in the garden, he noticed the plants looked a little dry.
Dog barked loud and tucked at Jacko’s shirt. He ran down the stairs and into the backyard. Jacko followed him to the kennel.
All the dogs went wild, barking and screeching, yelping and jumping over each other. “What’s wrong, Dog?”
Dog beckoned to the gate. Jacko opened it and followed him to the water and food troughs – they were empty and dried.
Quickly, Jacko grabbed the water hose from the garden and filled the water trough. He ran to the dog pantry, back to the kennel, and filled the other trough with food. Dog turned and ran up to Jacko, stood up on his hind legs, and pounced him with his front paws.
“It’s okay, boy. You can stay and eat with them. I’ve gotta find someone to watch them.”
“Woof!”
“Don’t worry, I won’t forget you!” He turned to head back to the house when he turned around and said, “Can you ask them how long they’ve been without food and water?”
Dog nodded, turned, and barked; the dogs barked back. Dog trotted to the fence and, using his paw, he drew three circles in the dirt.
“What? I don’t get it,” he walked over to the fence and knelt.
Then Dog howled and howled.
“Oh no,
” said Jacko with comprehension. “Three moons? Three days?”
“ARF! WOOF!”
“Awful. Poor dogs,” he stood up and exited the pen, Dog followed.
“Stay and eat, if you want. I’m gonna find someone to take care of the dogs. Don’t worry, I promise I won’t leave without you.”
“Woof!” Dog turned around and ran back to the freshly filled water trough.
“Dog!”
Dog turned around and Jacko said, “Try to find out why they left, okay?”
“Woof!”
Jacko felt extremely guilty. There had been three moons since they had seen his siblings. Once more, Jacko was afraid because he knew there was a possibility the demons had got them, too.
Back inside the house, Jacko went to the kitchen and began making sandwiches for their trip back to heaven. He was going to find out what happened to everyone, and he didn’t care what heavenly laws he broke. If they don’t help him, he’d use his conjuring skill to bring them back.
After a few dozen sandwiches, a few bottles of water, and a few cans of dog food, Jacko had his bike packed and loaded up. Although he knew he could conjure certain things without getting into trouble with the elders, he still packed his tarp, sleeping bag, and water resistant matches, just in case.
Jacko went to the fridge and looked at all the emergency numbers taped to the door. Four phone calls later, Jacko found someone to make sure the dogs were fed. He walked out to the pen and called Dog who leapt over the fence and ran to Jacko, “Don’t jump over the fence, Dog; don’t give the other dogs ideas!” Dog barked his assent.
He taped a note to the door, for the friend coming to feed the dogs. They walked, with the bike, into the garage, so they could leave without being seen. Dog sat in the side car, and Jacko on the seat.
After a few moments of trying to send them back to Althenio’s house, Dog barked. “Quit it,” Jacko said. “I know it’s taking a while, but I’m trying to use my power without closing my eyes.” With eyes opened, he tried and tried to project them, but nothing happened. His mind simply wouldn’t focus because he was distracted with worry about his siblings and leaving the dogs. What if they died at the hands of the demons? What if no one came to feed the dogs, and they died?
“Ah! Crap,” Jacko rested his head on the handle bars. Jacko inwardly beat himself up. What if a moment came when they needed to escape? This was inexcusable, he needed to discipline himself!
An hour had passed. Dog was snoring in the sidecar, and Jacko stood, staring at the wall. Finally, he had a cursing fit! “Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn it!” He banged his fist on the handle bars and the garage walls turned blue. “I almost did it,” he said. He focused hard on the blue walls, and they waivered, for moments between both worlds, and finally settled right in front of Althenio’s house.
Dog sat up. “Nice job,” he said.
“Thanks.”
He got off the bike, and Dog, out of the side car. Jacko opened the front door and entered the house. Upon seeing that it was empty, his spirits sunk low. He settled in the big chair and rested his chin in his hands.
“Well, Dog.”
“Yeah.”
“What do we do now?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you sense anything?”
“Not a thing.”
“Has anyone been here?”
“I can’t sense your brothers and sisters, if that’s what you mean.”
“Did you ask the dogs why my brothers and sisters weren’t home?”
“Yes, but they didn’t have any answers.”
“This is all very strange. I don’t know what to do now. Where do I go from here? How do I reach another god?”
“You pray.”
“Yeah. You’re right. But who do I pray to?”
“Woof.”
Jacko sat in the chair in front of the eternal fire and closed his eyes. He tried to talk to someone, anyone, out there in the world of gods. Heaven! He called. Heaven! He asked! Nothing came to him.
What if he tried to telepathically call Sissy? For half an hour, he tried and when he couldn’t project into her thoughts, he tried to reach Anle. Nothing happened, except that he was left feeling tired and anxious.
“Don’t give up, Jacko,” said Dog with confidence. “Remember, you’ve never used your power to defy someone else, or their will. They’ve been abducted and guarded, magically, that is gonna take strength to overcome.”
“How do you know that, Dog?” asked Jacko who was, once more, surprised by Dog’s intelligence.
“I don’t know,” he wrinkled his brow.
“You are the smartest dog ever.”
“No. You’ve just never talked with a dog before. We’re all fairly intelligent creatures; we’re just different. Although, there are some real stupid dogs too, don’t get me wrong.”
“Ha,” he began to laugh but then Jacko shot up in his chair, “what was that?” he said breathlessly with fright.
“AAAA OOOOOOO!!!” Dog jumped.
All of a sudden, Bouncy, Grill, and Machine appeared in the room. Jacko jumped out of his chair in shock. At first, he didn’t believe that he was seeing them.
“Jacko?” asked Bouncy.
“Yeah! What the heck are you guys doing here?”
“We’re looking for you and dad, stupid,” said Grill
“Why aren’t you home?” asked Jacko.
“A round of demons came by the house the second evening after you and Dad left,” said Machine.
“Why didn’t you take the potion and come find us?”
“Because, genius, we weren’t going to let them kidnap our family without knowing where they’d take them! We stayed and fought them off until they had us all rounded up. Too bad there wasn’t enough potion in the vial, or else we’d have rescued everyone,” said Machine.
“Did they hurt you guys?”
“No, they didn’t hurt us; everyone is fine. They just crammed us, boys, into a dingy cell, the girls into another,” replied Machine.
“Sissy?”
“They took her separate, but we’re pretty sure she’s okay.”
“Pretty sure!?!” Jacko ran his hands through his hair, “Was Manlo or Althenio there by any chance?”
Grill responded, “No, we,” and then he paused as they all glared at Jacko. “Did you just ask me if we saw Manlo and Althenio?”
“Yeah,” said Jacko. “Last I saw Manlo was before Althenio and I went to the Fountain of Youth. We came back, I took a nap, and that was the last I saw of either of them.”
“We didn’t see them,” said Grill. “They blindfolded us so we couldn’t see anything.”
“OH MY GOD!” said Machine who punched Grill hard in the shoulder.
“Ah, what, jerk?”
“Remember, as we were being taken to our cells, two demons walked by with sacks on their shoulders?”
“So?”
“So, remember there were feet hanging out of the bags?”
“Oh yeah, there were feet hanging out!” said Grill. “They put those sacks in the room next to us. We heard them talking from time to time too!”
“How much you wanna bet that one of those sacks had our dad in it?” asked Bouncy
“Did you see where they put the girls?” asked Jacko.
“No, they locked us in our cells first, but I’d bet they were stashed closed to us.”
“This sucks, dude! We were supposed to take that potion and find our dad so we could rescue our sisters, but now we are so screwed!” whined Bouncy.
“Do you remember where you were? Or what the place looked like from the outside?” asked Jacko.
“No, but it was probably a castle, judging by the stone walls. We studied demons with dad, and they often like to live like it’s the Middle Ages. Unfortunately, we don’t have much to go on because, when we used the potion, it was from inside the cell – the potion projected us here, right here,” said Machine.
/> “Great! We are gonna just sit here while our family is killed off,” Bouncy blurted emotionally.
“Will you shut up Bouncy! We are not going to just sit here,” Jacko said with determination.
“What should we do?” asked Machine.
“I can try and use my conjuring power to project us there. Well, maybe I can. But if you haven’t seen the place, and you can’t even draw me a picture, then we have no choice but to go to their side of heaven and find them on foot, maybe even take a demon hostage.”
“That is a ridiculous idea! How are we to contain one of those ugly beings? They are, on average, 50 times stronger than the strongest men!” blurted Bouncy.
“Why don’t you just try communicating with them telepathically?” asked Grill.
“I tried that and it didn’t work. I’ve been sitting here for hours, focusing. I think the demons magically blocked them from me.”
“I can find them,” said Dog.
“Did your dog just say something?” asked Machine with a freaked look on his face.
“Oh, yeah, Dog can talk up here, and he’s pretty smart too. Remember? I told you this the other night.”
“Oh yeah,” said Machine.
“I can find them, Jacko!” said Dog excitedly!
“What do you mean? How can you find them?”
“I think I could sense them in the red lands. When we were there, in the house, I remember I felt soooo cold. But, somewhere in the midst of the cold, I could feel warmth,” Dog breathed heavily.
Jack said nothing as he contemplated Dog’s words. Then, he said, “Dog’s got a good point. We could follow him to the source of goodness, in the red lands. When we get there, we can beg who, whatever, is there for help.”
They thought about it a moment but looked doubtful. Jacko knew they wanted to head straight to the castle and rescue their family.
“We may need help. I’ve tried calling and asking heaven, but nothing comes. Maybe this is how we find someone to listen to us. I know you think we should just storm the castle, but it’s possible we may not be able to fight them off. Remember, I’m knew to this, and I’m not as strong as you lot,” said Jacko.
Dog sat breathing hard.
“I don’t get it,” said Machine.
“Dog’s senses are stronger up here. I mean a lot stronger. All we have to do is give him a chance,” Jacko reiterated.
“Yeah, but why can’t he just sniff them out, if his senses are stronger. Look, I have Manlo’s wallet, here,” Bouncy pulled out a faded, thick, brown leather wallet.
“Manlo doesn’t have a scent. I cannot track him!”
“His skin is like porcelain,” said Jacko.
“His skin is hardening, like the gods,” Machine concurred.
They sat in silence, a moment.
Wanting to get going, Jacko shot up and shouted, “Great! Let’s go.”
“Are you sure you can take us all there at once?” asked Machine. “If you do that, you’ll be exhausted. You may not be able to help us fight, if we need to.”
“I can do it! I just need you to be patient; it might take a little while.”
“Well, then. Let’s do it. What do you need?” asked Bouncy.
“I need a mental picture of where they kept you. At least, I can try to get us as close to there as possible.”
“Well, it was a gray castle with a..,” said Bouncy.
“No, stupid!” retorted Machine, “draw him a picture. Deeerrr!”
Machine made a pad of paper and pencils appear. Together, they drew him a picture of the inside of the cell, in which they were held. “I need quiet to concentrate.”
They sat in a circle in front of the fire; Dog laid his horse sized head in Jacko’s lap. He focused for almost an hour, but he just couldn’t see the place in his mind. For a moment, he thought he felt himself waiver, but then his body grounded itself back onto the floor. Then, once again, Jacko lost his temper as he did on Earth. He stood, paced and cursed when, right in the middle of insane rage, the walls of the house turned red.
Jacko stopped mid rant and looked around him. They stood on a prairie of blackened moss that stretched for miles.
He hadn’t brought them to the cell in the castle, as was planned.
“Damn it!” cried Grill.
“I’m sorry guys.”
“I knew we should’ve drawn him a better picture,” said Machine.
“Look, guys, at least we made it; I didn’t think I’d be able to bring us at all. Besides what if I put us in someone else’s cell? At least, now, we can follow dog instead of planning an escape.”
They nodded in assent.
“Right, well,” thought Grill, “I think we need to figure out a way to get to the castle. Dog’s plan is great, but are you sure we can afford to waste time? Perhaps we need to sit in a circle again, so you can concentrate. We could be anywhere right now; trying to walk somewhere is to risk running into one of those burnt black creatures, which would be suicide. What if we accidentally meet one, a demon? What will we do then?” ranted Bouncy.
“Guys,” said Dog, which made everyone jump a mile. “I can feel a great deal of good and warmth coming from that direction.”
Dog motioned to an enormous peak in the distance.
“You feel good? That’s great, but we’re not feeling so good, we’re in hell-heaven,” said Grill sarcastically.
“Shut up! Don’t talk to my dog that way!”
“No, ARF! I feel the essence of people or gods, from our side, coming from that direction!”
“You sense goodness?” Jacko began to understand.
“Ah haaa,” Dog said throatily.
“Huh? I don’t get it,” said Bouncy.
“He feels a source of good here in heaven-hell. Like he said, his senses are way stronger up here,” said Grill.
“Okay, so we follow Dog. There can’t be much good in this place, so it must be them, or someone who can tell us what to do. I know it feels like wasting time, but what are gonna do? Sit here for hours and hope I get us to the right place?” and Jacko and Dog started walking.
Bouncy, Grill, and Machine followed without another word.
Bat Babies