Chapter Sixteen
BLACK GRADUALLY CHANGED TO GRAY, and Sparrow was in front of her again. Jade reached out and caught its hands.
“Sparrow! What happened?” She looked around. They were surrounded by swirling fog. “Wh..where in the name of Earth are we?” she stammered out.
Sparrow, still on its knees, clutched at her hands as if grabbing for a life-line. Its rapid color changes started slowing down. It slowly rose to its feet. It looked at her, stunned.
“Jadewyn, I did not know you would be drawn here! I am sorry and I am ashamed,” it said, closing its eyes and dropping its head.
“What happened, Sparrow?” she asked again, “and where is “here”?
Sparrow’s color changes stopped. It lifted its head, eyes sorrowful.
“We are in” - it flashed a deep shade of green and sang a phrase Jade didn’t catch. Seeing the confusion on Jade’s face, it realized it had spoken in its own language. It searched for the translation. “We are in “Between”. It is a place that is used for astral travel.”
“Astral travel?!” she cried, aghast, “How did we get here? How did I get here?” she sputtered. “Humans don’t do astral travel! I was just sitting in the canteen. Then I saw you…” she trailed off. Her eyes widened as she remembered the spine-chilling wail Sparrow had made of her name.
She stared up at it unaware her mouth was open.
It bowed its head in shame again. “It is my fault that you are here, Jadewyn. In my eagerness to contact my home planet, without realizing, I began to slip into Between. Tally and Dotshea tried to prevent it from happening but were unable to. I was already too far in. I lost my tether and could not get back.” It sighed.
“I am not an astral projector. Projectors can see the way back. I cannot get back without someone to show me the way. When I saw you, I should not have called your name.” It briefly squeezed its eyes shut. “I did not know why I could see you and did not know you could also see me. It only drew you to me, and now…”
It began to change colors again. “You are trapped here with me.”
It was still clutching Jade’s hands and she could feel its distress. Oddly, she could also feel its humiliation and sorrow at pulling her here.
She was dismayed at its anguish. She knew it wouldn’t have deliberately done this. She looked up into its eyes and said, “Please, Sparrow, don’t be upset. This is an accident. I know you didn’t mean to bring me here,” and she reached up and hugged the tall being tightly around its waist.
Sparrow had not often been hugged by a Human, though Jade had done so when she was a small child. For some reason, adult Humans, or even predult ones, didn’t usually go around hugging Elvwists. And here she was, the one who felt like its child and whom it had endangered, trying to comfort it.
With an effort, it calmed itself. It felt obligated to at least try to remain calm and behave as an adult should. It bowed down until it was at her eye level.
“Jadewyn, I thank you for your comfort.” it said solemnly. “You are truly a remarkable being. I only wish I could get you safely home.”
Jade reached out and lightly touched its face. She managed a tiny smile.
Then, being Jade, curiosity took over. It occurred to her to wonder why she could touch it. Weren’t they incorporeal? How were they even seeing each other? Her mind stuttered. She quickly decided these were questions for later - after they’d gotten out of this place.
She looked around again. The fog had stopped swirling so much, and begun to thin out some. It reminded her a little of her dream the night before when she was dancing with Kendis in the mist. Except this was not as colorful. And Kendis wasn’t here.
She was disconcerted to see shapes within the thinning fog. Shadows that moved.
“Sparrow,” she said, softly, “Is there anyone - or anything - else in here with us?”
Startled, Sparrow stood and looked around. It didn’t see anything except the fog. Then it looked back at her. “What do you see?” it asked.
“I can see moving shadows,” she said. “and if this fog gets any thinner, I’ll be able to see whatever it is.”
Fear -and hope - arose in Sparrow. If she could see the shadows maybe she could see…
“Can you see anything else, perhaps lines of light?”
“Well, yeah, now that you mention it, if I look real hard. They’re sort of faint and wiggly, though. What are they?”
Sparrow felt a chill go up its spine. “Give me your hand,” it said. “Do not let go or we may lose each other. I think you may be able to get us out of here. Tell me exactly what you see,” it said. It fervently hoped it was right.
Jade did even better, she used her projecting talent to show Sparrow what she was seeing.
Sparrow flashed silver and musically exclaimed something in its language and said “Jadewyn, you are an astral projector! It is no wonder you saw me and were drawn to me.” It pointed to the lines which were becoming brighter and steadier. “Those are guide lines. Tethers that stretch from here back to our world.”
It had her turn the image slowly while it watched.
“There!” it said sharply. “That is the one we want. Quickly, reach out and grasp it firmly.” It noticed the shadows she was seeing coming closer. It didn't want to frighten her but knew they needed to move fast. It was surprised the shadows had found them so speedily.
It thought they must be deeper within Between than it had imagined.
Jade saw the shadows coming closer and felt a chill begin to creep into her. She could feel a sense of urgency in Sparrow so she reached out and grabbed the light line it had indicated, and suddenly, she was moving swiftly, towed along by the tether. She clutched it tightly in her right hand and held on for dear life to Sparrow’s right hand with her left.
The line stretched off into the distance, shining brightly, and she could see the fog ahead thinning out more and more, becoming less misty. Gradually, it grew brighter and she could see a glowing white circle in the distance.
sent Sparrow tersely.
She clutched Sparrow’s hand even tighter. She thought of her father and how they had lost him all those years ago. She wasn’t about to let it go. Sparrow was coming back with her if she had to tie them both to that line! She was not going to lose another loved one!
Then she did exactly what it told her not to do: she looked back - and almost lost her grip on the tether.
Behind them bearing down, was something straight out of a nightmare. It looked like nothing she’d ever seen or heard of before. Black was only a poor approximation in describing it’s color. It was a darkness that seemed to suck all the light out of the surrounding mists, a desolate black monstrosity without wings that still was, somehow, flapping it’s way after them.
It didn’t seem to have eyes, yet Jade could tell that it saw them. It had no definitive shape, it was just a huge, amorphous ball of ugly shadow with ragged pieces continuously breaking off and reattaching themselves to it. She could see even darker areas within its obscene body opening and closing like disgusting, ravenous mouths.
It was hell-bent on draining their essences, their souls. Jade didn’t know how she knew that but she knew it without a doubt.
She screamed and tightened her grip on the tether. She started trying to drag them farther along the length of the line but had no luck with that since she couldn’t let Sparrow go and use both hands.
She looked back, trying to see if the line went anywhere near Sparrow’s reach. It did.
was its despairing answer.
She felt Sparrow trying to wriggle its hand from hers but she had a death grip on it, and it couldn’t get loose. How was she able to pull Sparrow like this and not feel its weight? It dawned on her that in this Between place, either weight didn’t matter or she was just as strong as Sparrow. It occurred to Sparrow at the same time.
She pulled her arm forward and Sparrow came with it.
Sparro
w reached for her hand that was holding the tether. Following along, it felt for the tether and grabbed it with its free hand.
Jade made sure it had a good grip first, then turned its hand loose.
It grabbed on for a two handed grip. She grasped the tether with both hands and their speed increased.
She looked back again. They were leaving the shadow-thing behind. She breathed an internal sigh of relief.
They sped forward, the tether pulling them along through the mists. Jade looked toward the white circle. It looked closer.
asked Jade,
answered Sparrow,
They traveled on for a few minutes.
Sparrow hesitated then said,
Jade ached for it. She could tell how awful it felt.
She sent it a mental smile.
She was getting cold though. Her hands felt numb.
How the hell can an incorporeal body get cold? she wondered. She asked Sparrow. She felt Sparrow tense up.
Jade was starting to feel lethargic but managed to haul herself along until she felt Sparrow. When she touched it, Sparrow dropped one hand from the tether and gathered her in as closely as it could with the other. It wrapped its arm around her securely, tucking her up under itself, trying to warm her.
It looked behind them and in the distance could see the shadow still trying to catch up to them. The thing appeared to be gaining some now that it only had one hand on the tether.
Sparrow turned away and looked ahead to the entrance circle. It prayed to the gods of the universe they would reach the entrance before the shadow reached them. It could feel the monster speeding up, trying it’s best to overtake them.
Jade said. came a cry from Maggie. There were horrified cries from all over.
This came from Morgan.
Jade projected a map for him, pinpointing their location in the woods.
The predators were coming, and moving a lot faster than Jade had thought they could. They weren’t gaining yet, but she saw they’d be on them before the rescuers could reach them from the camp five miles away. And Kendis wasn’t going to be able to run fast enough while carrying her and neither could Alex while carrying Ro. And none of the others could run as fast as Kendis or Alex, let alone do so while the guys tried to carry the girls.
Jade heard a scream and saw Loretta, barefoot, had fallen and gone sprawling. Reece, who had been running ahead of her, stopped and went back to help her up.
She saw Dots top the hill with Tally close on her heels. Hester and Louis were still running hand in hand, Louis trying to lift Hester off the rocks as much possible.
“Kendis, put me down!” she shouted.
Kendis answered in mind-speak, saving his breath for running.
Kendis kept going until they got to the trees, then he stopped and set Jade on her feet, steadying her. He wasn’t out of breath yet, but continued in mind-speak.
He watched the others come running up.
“Why are we stopping?” panted Reece, already out of breath. “Those…things are still coming!”
Louis plopped down on the ground, pulling Hester with him, and hurriedly started removing his walking boots.
Jade saw her feet were already horribly bruised from running on the stones though Louis had managed to help her avoid the really sharp ones. Louis snatched his socks off and grabbed Hester’s feet onto his lap, and started putting his socks and boots on her over her protests. He vigorously shook his head at her. He was desperate to protect her as much as possible, and this was the only way he could think to do so right now. The boots were too big but he pulled the fasteners tight to hold them on her feet.
“Maybe they don’t like trees?” puffed out Loretta, as she came to a limping stop beside Reece and leaned on him. One of her feet was bleeding badly from hitting a very sharp rock. “Maybe we can climb and get away that way!”
Jade could see the tears of pain rolling down her face, ruining her make-up.
“No, they clim’ too,” said Ro as she slid from Alex’s shoulder. “We never gonna make it ta camp this way, we have ta thinka some ways ta slow ‘em down!”
Tally and Dots had caught up and passed them, running ahead. They stopped and came back.
sent Tally, anxiously.
“I know, Tally. We can’t run as fast as you and Dots. I want you two to run ahead as fast as you can. I’ve sent a warning to the camp and rescue is on the way. You can get to them before we can.”
Both Dots and Tally started to protest. They wanted to stay with their friends.
“No, please go! I couldn’t stand it if something happened to you! We…we’ll slow them down.” Jade elicited their promise that they would go and not stop.
“Don’t look back!” she called as they took off towards the camp.
she sent privately to him.
There were tears in his mental replay to her:
Kendis looked around the area they had stopped in, taking in the sparse quana trees, the grass underfoot. There were lots of small stones and a few larger rocks lying around, and a number of fallen dead trees. He stared at the dead trees and got an idea.
“Maybe I can throw something at them. Look, there’re a lot of fallen trees here, maybe that’ll slow them down.
“Yes!” exclaimed Jade. Kendis could move a lot of weight with his telekinesis. Then she looked toward where the things were landing on the beach. The first of them hadn’t reached the hill yet, but it wouldn’t be long. They were big!
“But I don’t think that’ll stop them for long.”
“How about if we set the dead wood afire?” asked Alex.
“That might hold them off longer.” Kendis looked around the group. “Does anyone have a torch, or matches?”
Louis climbed to his feet, arm around Hester. “I’m a firestarter, it’s one of my esas. I can set fire to practically anything.” He remembered how his esa manifested when he was thirteen and he’d accidentally set fire to his mother’s favorite garden sculpture. It was made of concrete and he was supposed to be applying a mold remover to it. His parent’s had immediately sent him to the nearest Elvwist enclave to learn how to control his ability.
Jade could have hugged him. “All right!”
They heard a scraping noise and smelled almonds and looked towards the beach. The first of the creatures were topping the hill. They would be there soon.
Kendis ran to the nearest fallen tree. It was huge but when he touched it, the tree lifted right up off the ground.
He yelled at Louis, “As soon as I throw it, light it up!” He lobbed the tree towards the oncoming creature and it burst into flames, landing on the stony ground outside the woods. He ran to another downed tree and repeated the process, with Louis providing the fire.
“Louis, try setting one of them on fire!” he yelled as he lifted another tree.
Louis set the tree afire, then aimed at one of the sluggoids beyond. They saw the surface of the leading monster seem to briefly boil, emitting a tendril of steam and a stronger odor of almonds. It slowed and they saw it shuddering in place. Then they watched in horror as it repaired itself - and kept coming.
“Won’t burn!” shouted Louis.
Did that mean they’d roll right over the burning trees? They would find out shortly. They didn’t have anything else to fight with.
The oncoming creatures hadn’t reached the fire yet, and Kendis kept throwing the burning trees until there was a semi-circle of them in front of the woods.
He ran out of dead trees to throw and the group ran farther into the woods, trying to reach the open area on the other side. They saw the sluggoids reach the burning logs and slow down and stop. They stood swaying, seeming to look at the fire.
Relieved, the group ran on, reaching the edge of the woods on the other side. There was a large grassy expanse, then there was more stony ground almost all the way to the camp.
They started out as fast as they could. Kendis ran beside Jade
; he would pick her up when they reached rocky ground. Alex was already running with Ro over his shoulder. They were hoping the fire would hold the sluggoids off, giving them and the rescue vehicles time to reach each other.
Reece, with Loretta by the arm, trying to help her along, was in the rear. He looked back and yelled, “They’re splitting up! They’re coming around the fires!”
They stopped. They were still in the grassy area and Alex knew they would never make it. He set Ro down, thinking as fast as he could through a horrified brain. He could see two rescue vehicles rolling towards them; they only had to hold out a few more minutes. He turned back to the woods. The creatures were avoiding the burning trees: they may not burn but at least they didn’t like fire.
“Reece!” he yelled, “Help me get sticks for torches!” and he grabbed up several dead branches from the area. “Louis, a little fire here!” he shouted.
Louis looked back, saw what Alex was doing and turned and set fire to a branch on the ground. Alex grabbed it up and used it to light the one that Reece picked up.
Jade saw what they were doing and snatched up a branch to light, too. Soon, they all had lit branches in their hands.
The slug-like creatures seemed to be speeding up: there would be no way to outrun them at all.
Kendis wished desperately that he didn’t have to touch things to move them. He could gather up a lot of dead branches at once - if he just didn’t have to touch them first.
He looked at a pile of them and they stirred. He concentrated and they started rising from the ground. He didn’t have time to marvel at this; he just started spreading them in a big circle around the group.
“Louis! Light’em up!” he yelled.
The stack started bursting into flames and they huddled in the middle of the flames, waiting. The rescue vehicles were closer, but so were the creatures.
Jade didn’t think about what she was doing, she just did it. Louis, eyes bugging out, watched her go.
She lifted up and looked towards the ocean. The entire beach was covered with the awful creatures and more were coming in out of the water, too many to count.
Horrified, she sent the image to the rescuers, and said,
sent Morgan, regretting they had no faster vehicles in camp.
She saw the vehicles continuing forward and something flew from one, coming towards them. After a moment she realized it was Eagle.
She watched it come with astonishment: she hadn’t known it was possible to fly that fast. She didn’t know what one flying Elvwist could do to help but it was beautiful to watch.
It flew swiftly ahead of the vehicles and hovered before her within moments.
it sent.
cried Jade.
Eagle looked at her for a moment. It didn’t want to leave the other Humans behind either, but its main objective was to secure the safety of Jade. It could see she wasn’t going to leave without them, though. It would’ve had to take her by force and it couldn’t do that, so it made a calculated decision. It knew what she was capable of even if she didn’t.
she objected as they started their descent.
Then she thought: Sheesh, that so sounded like a whine! I shouldn’t expect it to do something I’m not willing to at least try. What do I have to lose by trying?
She landed back in the circle of fire, Eagle landing beside her.
“Hey, everybody! Eagle will fly some of you to the vehicles!” she yelled.
They gawked at them.
Louis didn’t even think about it; he pushed Hester to it, and Eagle bent down and picked her up.
“I can carry four of you,” it said and picked up Loretta as Reece pushed her into its arms.
Alex picked up Ro and handed her to Eagle, and as he stepped back, it grabbed up Louis.
“No!” Louis yelled. “Take one of the others!”
“Go, Louis I’ll get them!” yelled Jade. She didn’t know if she could but she knew they would die if she didn’t. That was not an option.
Eagle held them clinging to its long arms and lifted off, sending to Jade, and it headed for the rescue vehicles. It hoped it had not miscalculated her abilities. She should be able to carry at least one of her friends. It would try to make it back in time for the others.
Jade could hear Louis still protesting as Eagle flew away. She knew she wasn’t leaving without Kendis or Alex. Reece would just have to wait and take his chances. She said, “Kendis, pick me up.” The monsters started coming out the woods, heading for their circle of fire.
“Hurry! They’re coming!”
Kendis didn’t question, he just picked her up and set her on his shoulders, holding on to her firmly. When he touched her, she felt a completeness, as if she and Kendis were intermingled, as if their beings had combined to become …something different. She felt as if she could lift the world.
Kendis felt the change, too; within himself and in her. Together, they were stronger and they knew they could do this.
She felt their combined power and said a fervent prayer of thanks to the gods of the universe. She rose into the air. Kendis didn't feel like a weight at all. They didn't have time to think about the implications.
“Grab on to Kendis, Alex!” Jade screamed.
The leading slug-thing had reached the circle, which was starting to die down, and stopped. Others were coming, and as soon as the fire died, they’d be on them.
Alex wrapped his arms around Kendis’ waist, and held on tightly. He was amazed she was holding them all up but he held on.
Jade was about to follow Eagle when she looked down at Reece’s upturned face: he was terrified. She couldn’t leave him. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she left him to those…things. With the fire dying down, she didn’t think anyone would make it back in time to save him.
Kendis sent grudgingly. He didn’t like Reece but saw her point. Besides, Reece had shown he wasn’t all selfish. He had tried to help Loretta and made sure Eagle took her rather than himself. There was still hope for him.
He felt another shift inside and said,
She reached down, grabbed Reece by his arm and lifted. He came up off the ground kicking and yelling.
She almost dropped him and screamed, “Stop moving before you fall!” She went up as high as she could and flew, clumsily, towards the vehicles, which stopped when Morgan saw them flying in. She wasn’t as fast as Eagle, but she was faster than the slugs, and if nothing else, could stay above them.
At first, she wasn’t having trouble supporting their weight but had to work to guide them towards their goal. Then, she felt the first hint of weariness.
It was Sparrow. She saw it jump from one of the vehicles and run toward her.
She started down, telling Alex to prepare to jump. She saw Sparrow’s outstretched arms.
He turned loose and Sparrow caught him, turned around and started running back. She saw Eagle had landed beside one of the vehicles. It had dropped the people and lifted off, coming back towards her.
She sent:
it replied. It was amazed she had managed to carry all three of the men. It knew there had to be something else involved here but it would ask questions later, when they were out of danger. It could see the monsters coming. They had slithered around the fire and were trying their best to catch their prey.
She breathed a sigh of relief. She was beginning to tire further and didn’t know how much longer she could do this. She felt the weariness in Kendis also and knew they needed to land fast. She continued downwards towards the vehicles.
Kendis felt beat and could feel her fatigue.
He sent to Eagle:
Reece was hanging on to Jade’s arm for dear life, eyes squeezed tightly shut.
Eagle maneuvered itself beside them and reached for Reece, who had a death grip on Jade’s arm.
Reece opened his eyes and saw Eagle. Trembling, he began prying himself loose, and Eagle grabbed him as he started t
o fall. It descended holding Reece in its arms.
Jade followed it down, and Kendis bent his knees as they landed near a vehicle.
They both collapsed to the ground, Jade landing on Kendis.
He immediately struggled up, bringing her with him.
“Jade! That was fantastic!” He held her in his arms, his heart thudding in his chest.
“Hey! Get in, those things are coming!” yelled Morgan from the nearer vehicle. Maggie had come with him and was staring with relief at Jade and Kendis.
Kendis picked Jade up and stuffed her in, falling in behind her.
“Mom, you shouldn’t be out here,” mumbled Jade drowsily, “too dangerous.”
Maggie looked at her youngest child and shook her head. She reached back and squeezed her hand as the vehicle lurched into movement.
“I love you too, Sweetie. Get some rest.”
Eagle and Sparrow had to ride in the vehicle with them as it was the only one that would hold them, being an Elvwist model. Everyone else except Reece had piled into the other one, and it was already headed back to the camp.
Morgan swung around and took off after it.
Jade raised a very weary head and looked back the way they had come. She could see the creatures still coming though they were falling behind as the vehicle sped up.
Eagle and Sparrow were seated facing in that direction and were looking at the oncoming monsters in puzzlement.
“Thank you, Jade,” said Reece, shakily, as he slumped down into the seat beside her. “Thank you too, Kendis. Without you both, I’d be slug food by now.” He was sweating buckets, his whole body shaking.
Reece was a precog - as he had newly discovered - and what he didn’t say was, he’d Seen himself become slug food in one of the three visions he’d had while they’d been surrounded by their little circle of fire. With each strand having an equal probability of occurring. He silently thanked all the gods of the universe that Jade was who she was.
It was the first time he’d seen his own death and he hoped that if he ever saw it again, it would be much less violent. Something on the order of dying peacefully in his sleep - of extreme old age.
Jade turned to him and patted his arm, smiling tiredly. Kendis looked over at him, and reminded himself that he had tried to help someone else but he thought: Guy is still an asshole, though.
Jade turned around and leaned into Kendis, shivering from delayed reaction. She felt a kiss on her forehead and looked up into his eyes.
Gods! she thought. How I do love him! This was becoming almost a mantra for her.
Kendis smiled and pulled her closer, and she knew that thought had leaked. Before she had the chance to wonder if anyone else had heard, she heard a mental chuckle from Maggie, and Tally, in the other vehicle, sent his own chuckle, and said:
She decided she didn’t care about the leak this time. She fell asleep staring into Kendis’ equally as sleepy eyes.
Reece heard her and grieved for what he had lost, for what he had lost for himself. He almost wished they had left him for the slugs.
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