Keeping his head low, he nodded. “I guess I can do that.”
Kelly barged in and leaned back on the door, slamming it shut. “Whew! That was close!”
“That’s exactly what I said.” Nathan laid a palm on his abdomen. “But I didn’t know I liked Wal-Mart fruit drinks.”
Kelly flashed an injured expression. “I had to get him out of here, didn’t I?”
“I guess so.” Nathan turned to the computer screen but kept his eye on her. “But you didn’t have to lie.”
She set her hands on her hips and scowled. “Get real, Nathan. Don’t tell me you never lie.”
Clara forked her fingers at them. “Both of you hush! This is no time for a spitting match.” She handed the stack of photos to Kelly. “If you two can’t work together, we’ll never figure this out.”
Kelly’s frown lifted, but only a fraction. “If he keeps looking down on me, we can’t work together.”
Clara pointed a finger that almost touched Kelly’s nose. “Listen, little lady; condescension isn’t a one-way street. Maybe you both need to come down off your high horses and trust each other.” She jerked open the door and stalked away.
As soon as Clara’s heavy footsteps faded, Kelly crossed her arms and glared at the mirror, her socked foot tapping the carpet. With her back turned, Nathan couldn’t see her face directly but the mirror clearly reflected every drooping line from her forehead to her lips.
His heart sank. Maybe he had judged her too harshly. She was really the first girl he knew outside his parents’ circle of friends, and Dad had often whispered subtle warnings about the allure of pretty females who didn’t adhere to his family’s beliefs, that they would be willing to deceive to get what they wanted.
Like wispy phantoms from the past, his father’s words filtered into his mind. “The key is to discern between the truly deceptive girl and one who is simply unaware of the dangers of spinning webs of lies. The former knows full well what she is doing and seeks to fill her treasure chest with whatever jewels you possess, while the latter needs you to give your pearls of wisdom to her freely so that she may learn the surpassing joy of the children of light, those who love and honor the truth. The secret is to plumb the depths of her soul. Question her heart. It won’t take long to learn if light dwells within or if darkness alone colors her soul.”
Nathan took a deep breath and spoke as gently as he could. “Are you mad at me or your father?”
“Both.” Her foot’s rhythm quickened. “He’s a clueless buffoon. What’s your excuse?”
He gritted his teeth. A dozen witty comebacks flew through his mind, like, I guess it runs in the family, and I hear buffoonery is genetic, but any crass statement would probably make her head explode.
He gazed at her reflection again. She seemed so hurt, so sad and vulnerable. How could he possibly inflict another emotional wound? In the midst of the turmoil within her tragically fractured family, she had probably suffered from her father’s nonverbal cues, unintentional signals that she was unable to live up to the vision of the son he had always wanted. Her mother had abandoned her, tossing her away with a casually blown kiss. Now Kelly trudged along the only path she knew, one of compromised values and disloyal loved ones. She was a lost angel searching for home.
Finally, he just sighed and strode up behind her, looking at the mirror over her shoulder, close enough to hear her stifled sobs, yet not quite close enough to feel any warmth.
Pulling her lips in, Kelly swung her head to the side, avoiding Nathan’s stare. Her foot continued its frantic tapping.
As he studied their reflections, a strange sensation poured over his body, a tingle that radiated across his skin. In his reflected image, an almost imperceptible light coated his face, microscopic particles that attached to his skin. Then, although he didn’t move a muscle, his reflected head shifted, leaving the aura of light behind. Somehow the boy in the mirror had detached and moved on his own, first laying his hands on the shoulders of Kelly’s reflection, then turning her around. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings,” his mirror image said. “You’re my sister now, and I’ll do anything to make sure you’re my friend, too.”
The real Kelly focused on the mirror again, trembling. Her reflection wrapped her arms around Nathan’s reflection and laid her head on his chest.
“I’m sorry for being such a jerk,” her reflection said. “We just need to get to know each other better.”
As the two reflections embraced, Kelly slowly turned and faced Nathan. “Is…” She swallowed hard. “Is that what you’re thinking?”
Nathan licked his lips. “Yeah. I think it is.”
She slid her arms around his waist and laid her head against his chest. “Then say it.”
Her trembling arms sent shivers up his back. He reached around to return the embrace but kept his touch gentle. Clearing his throat, he whispered into her ear. “You’re my sister now, and I’ll do anything to make sure you’re my friend, too.”
“And I’m sorry for being such a jerk.” She looked up at him. “We really do need to get to know each other better.”
He patted her lightly on the back. “Like Clara said, we need to trust each other.”
“Do you trust me?” she asked, her teary eyes sparkling.
Giving her a light clasp on the shoulder, he nodded. “Yes, I trust you.”
She pulled away and lowered her head, silent for a few seconds before whispering, “I hope you’ll keep trusting me, no matter what.”
Nathan glanced at the mirror. It had returned to normal, including Kelly’s sad profile as she kept her eyes averted. What could she have meant? Did she have some dark secret that would challenge his trust? Swallowing back a surge of compassion, he reached for her hand and interlocked their thumbs. “Trust is a two-way street. As long as we trust each other, we’ll be fine.”
She lifted her head and tightened her grip on his hand, a hint of a smile brightening her face. “I can live with that.”
He nodded at the mirror. “I think my reflection has been quite the troublemaker, hasn’t it?”
She turned toward it and leaned her head against his shoulder. “I’d say it’s more like a truth serum. I feel like it kind of probes your brain.”
“I know what you mean. It’s embarrassing when my thoughts are on a theatre screen.”
Her face brightened. “Whatta ya know? Nathan’s a movie star!” Laughing, she let go of his hand and headed for the door. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
“Where you going?”
“To record the game, like I promised, but if anything happens on The Nathan Show, I want to hear all about it.”
5
PIERCING THE VEIL
Nathan awoke to the sound of chirping birds. With the morning sun filtering through the drapes, the room carried an eerie dimness. The mirror reflected the gloom accurately, including his bare feet protruding from the disheveled bedcovers, proof of the fitful night he had suffered—dreams of walking through remnants of shattered violins, every fragment covered with blood, a trail that led to the twin coffins he had seen back in Chicago. In the dream, however, each coffin held only a human-sized black stone with strange symbols etched in white on its surface.
“Rosetta!” Nathan sat upright in bed. That was the key to the password! Throwing off the bedspread, he scrambled out from under the sheets and plopped down in his desk chair. After punching the laptop’s power button, he turned on the lamp and the digital clock’s FM radio. As the classical station played a Tchaikovsky piano concerto, he squirmed in his seat, waiting for the boot-up process to finish. Now he could start reading his father’s emails and look for clues. He had been so tired last night, he couldn’t remember the password.
A light tap sounded on the door. “Nathan? Are you up?”
He smiled. It was Kelly’s voice. He glanced down at his clothes. Gym shorts and T-shirt. That would do. “Sure. Come on in.”
The door pushed open, and Kelly walked in. Wearing a pi
nk knee-length nightshirt that said, Sanity Is Overrated, and combing through her tangled hair with her fingers, she shuffled her purple bunny slippers across the carpet and peered at the computer.
Nathan grinned at her. “You look…uh…relaxed.”
“I hardly slept a wink.” She poked his forearm. “But I’m your sister now, so you’d better get used to my casual look.”
“I didn’t sleep much, either.” He checked the digital clock on his desk. 8:15. “What time is your church service?”
“Church? Uh…we haven’t been…I mean…”
He waved his hand at her. “Don’t worry about it. When Clara wakes up, we’ll figure out where to go.” He opened the Internet browser and brought up his father’s email provider. “I should have thought of this password last night.” As he typed in “Rosetta Speaks,” he recit each letter out loud.
Kelly bent over behind him and rested her chin on his shoulder. “Rosetta? Like the Rosetta Stone?”
“Yep.” He scanned the long list of folders. “Dad wasn’t much for email organization. Looks like I’ve got over five hundred to go through.”
Kelly muttered a curse word, then quickly covered her lips. “Sorry. Too many hours around Dad’s basketball team.”
Nathan suppressed a grimace. Another apology for cursing. That’s what people always did around his father, too. He resurrected his smile. “Do you actually play basketball with the guys, or just watch?”
“Dad makes me play.” She thumped her chest with her fist and deepened her voice. “To toughen me up.”
“I guess it works. You’re pretty tough.”
“Hey!” Kelly punched him sharply on the arm. “Aren’t I feminine enough for you?”
Nathan rubbed the sore spot. “Punching me isn’t exactly the best way to prove it.”
“Oh really?” She leaned close and nuzzled his ear, whispering, “Is this better?”
As heat rushed into his cheeks, he leaned away from her touch. “Uh…well…I don’t think we should…”
She flicked his head with her finger. “I was just kidding. Get a grip.”
Nathan shook off an attack of goose bumps. Her breathy tickle didn’t feel like she was kidding. Maybe she had no clue what that kind of touch did to a guy. Sure, he was old-fashioned, but he wasn’t a corpse.
He set his hands back on the keyboard. “Let’s just concentrate on the emails.”
“Sure.” She perched over his shoulder again, this time not so close. “Look at all those with ‘Rosetta’ in the title. It must be important.”
“Probably. I even had a dream about it. That’s how I remembered the password.” He pulled a tablet from the desk drawer and scribbled a picture as he described his dream. “The stone was split in half, and the pieces were lying in two coffins. There was a trail of bloody violins leading up to them.”
“Bloody violins?” Kelly shuddered. “That’s creepy.”
He set the pad down and spelled out “Rosetta” in block letters. “I think the dream was sort of like a puzzle. Dad loves…” He paused. That wasn’t right. Not anymore. Pushing down a new surge of sadness, he breathed a sigh. “Dad used to love puzzles.”
Kelly rubbed his back. “Say it however you want. I’ll know what you mean.”
Keeping his focus on the drawing, he nodded. “Thanks.”
She gave him a playful rap on the head with her knuckles. “You know, I don’t think your father put that dream in your head. It was probably just the pizza. You shouldn’t have let my dad talk you into a slice of liver and anchovies.”
He looked up at her silly grin. She was trying to shake him out of his funk. “Actually I kind of liked it.” He thumped his chest, mimicking her earlier move. “I felt like a real man.”
“Oh, no!” Clutching her throat, she stuck out her tongue and staggered with dramatic flair. “I ate an anchovy! I’m growing hair on my chest, and I left the toilet seat up! Don’t ask me to stop for directions; I’m turning into a man!”
As Nathan laughed, he caught a glimpse of Kelly’s comical display in the mirror. The two Kellys seemed to be performing a weird tribal dance, completely out of sync with the classical music playing on the radio. The girl in the mirror turned fuzzy for a moment, then sharpened again, now dressed in loose-fitting khaki pants and a short-sleeved safari shirt. When the real Kelly turned toward the mirror, she released her throat and stared.
Nathan shot up from his chair. He, too, was dressed in khakis in his mirror image. Their reflected surroundings morphed into a dim chamber with a faint glow seeping in through arched windows near the high ceiling. Shards of varnished wood littered the smooth floor, making a trail through a maze of music stands toward two coffins that sat on a long table in the gloomy distance.
“This is my dream!” Nathan took two uneasy steps closer. “It’s the performance hall, the same place my parents were killed, but now the coffins are on stage.”
Kelly sat on the bed, still staring. “The mirror’s reflecting what you’re thinking again. You put us both into your dream.”
He pointed at his image as it crept side by side next to hers. “Where did I come up with the safari outfits? I’ve never owned anything like that.”
“I have. My dad wanted to take me hunting, so—” She stopped abruptly. “That’s exactly how those baggy old pants fit me. How could you know?”
In the image, a man in a navy blue blazer rose from behind the coffins. “How did you cross the barrier?” he asked.
The real Nathan stepped closer to the mirror and whispered, “I can hear him.”
“Same here.” Kelly, shivering hard, pressed close to his side. “Your imagination is going nuts!”
“He’s one of Mictar’s men. I think his name’s Dr. Gordon.”
The Nathan in the mirror halted. “I crossed the same way as before. I had a dream, it showed up in the mirror, then music, a flash of light, and zap, I’m here. Why?”
“You’re not carrying it,” Dr. Gordon said. “How could you transport without it?”
“I have my ways.”
Dr. Gordon walked to the front of the coffins, a pronounced limp in his gait. “I asked you to bring it. I wanted to teach you how it works.”
Nathan retreated a step. “It’s too dangerous. I’m having it locked up forever.”
“How will you return to Blue?”
“You seem to know how. I’ll just follow you.”
Dr. Gordon eyed Nathan suspiciously. “Very well. Come over here. I’ll show you why I called you.”
“You have their bodies?” Glancing all around, the Nathan in the mirror skulked forward, Kelly’s reflection at his heels. He peered into one of the coffins. Clutching the side with tight fingers, he growled at Dr. Gordon. “How did they get here?”
“I suppose Mictar thought Earth Yellow would be a safe place to hide them.”
His jaw shaking, Nathan reached into the coffin and lifted a feminine hand. “How did you find them?”
Suddenly a tall, dark figure in the mirror grabbed Nathan from behind, covering his eyes with his thin hand. As the boy struggled, the real Nathan clenched his fist. “Mictar!”
Kelly yelled at the mirror. “Don’t just stand there, Kelly! Help him!”
In the mirror, Kelly leaped onto Mictar from behind and gouged his face with her fingernails. As Nathan’s double slumped to the stage floor, Mictar reached around and tore Kelly from his back. Now with an aura of light surrounding him, he covered her eyes with his hand. Sparks flew from beneath his palm. She stiffened, and her mouth dropped open, but only a timid squeak came out. A few seconds later, she, too, collapsed.
Straightening his pulsating body, Mictar heaved in a deep breath and looked up toward the ceiling. “Ah! The ecstasy of youthful vigor!”
Dr. Gordon hobbled forward and frisked Nathan’s clothes. “He didn’t bring it!” He jumped over to Kelly and searched her body, running his hands along every curve.
The real Kelly shivered again. “I think I’m going to
be sick!”
Gordon grabbed a shock of Nathan’s hair and jerked his head high enough to speak to him face-to-face. As the wounded boy’s features stretched out, his eyelids opened. Empty eye sockets encircled by black sooty scorch marks were all that remained.
A purplish vein on the side of Gordon’s forehead pulsed. “I’ll find it eventually. With you and your daddy dead, that doesn’t leave very many who could be hiding it.” He dropped Nathan, letting his face thump hard against the floor.
Gordon moved back to Kelly and pushed open one of her eyelids, revealing a gaping hole. He looked up at Mictar. “A thorough excision, as usual.”
“To get to the reservoirs,” Mictar replied, “one must open the spillways.”
Leaving the bodies on the stage, Gordon and Mictar slowly descended the stairs to the audience level, passing so close to the front of the mirror, every facial detail clarified. Mictar touched a scratch wound on his cheek. As if responding to his touch, the scratch faded and vanished.
A fresh cut also marred Gordon’s face. Nathan leaned closer to get a good view. It looked like he had been in a fight.
“We have to get to the girl’s house, “Gordon said as he limped along. “The burglar is due to arrive in the morning. My leg should be okay by then. “As the two men headed for the exit door, Dr. Gordon’s voice faded. “That old fiddler didn’t do too much damage.”
The sound of a car motor shook Nathan’s attention away from the mirror. He peeked outside and saw the blue Mustang pulling into the driveway with the gray-bearded man behind the wheel. He stepped out of the car, holding a gun at his side.
“We’ve got big trouble.”
Kelly spun toward the door. “I’ll wake my dad!”
“No time!” Nathan grabbed her wrist. “Is there a place to hide?”
The front door banged open.
“Daddy!” Kelly screamed. “Daddy! Help!”
The gunman burst into the room. As he aimed his pistol at Nathan, he pushed the door closed with his foot. “The locals aren’t exactly tight–lipped around here.”