“I don’t find that amusing!” she barked, scowling.
“Yet you have used the same phrase many times to harvest smiles from your friends.”
Ashley pushed her hair out of her eyes and exhaled heavily. This guy had her nailed. It was almost like he had seen her life’s history in a movie. Softening her tone, she traced her finger along the Italian phrase etched in the wall. “Maybe, but you can’t have an infinite in a finite space. It’s impossible.”
“Isn’t the universe infinite?” he asked.
“No. It can’t be. Having something that goes on and on forever just isn’t conceivable.”
“What are the other options? If you could fly to the edge of the universe, would you run into a wall, a two-dimensional barrier with nothing on the other side, not even space? Or does the universe somehow loop back on itself like a strange spiral stairwell?”
Ashley laid a hand on her head. “Stop it! You’re making my head hurt!”
“But the universe must be either infinite or finite, mustn’t it?”
“Yes, of course!”
Dr. Allen slid closer and gently brushed a hand across her hair. “Ashley, not all truths can be conceptually or analytically grasped, but that doesn’t make them impossible, so we must accept some truths by faith. The Infinite One has pierced the veil of the finite and has dwelt among us, and the only way to know him is to merge your intellect with faith as you try to grasp what you cannot understand. Only then can you find true wisdom.”
“How can I do that?” she asked, gazing into his peaceful eyes. “I’m not like some of my friends. They seem to be able to put their brains in the garbage disposal and believe whatever someone tells them, a dream that there’s a super daddy in Heaven who reached down to save us with a sacrifice too good to be true. No one has that much love, so people made up a god who supposedly does. It’s just so irrational.”
“I see.” He looked down for a moment, pursing his lips. “Is that the way you feel about Bonnie Silver? Is her faith irrational?”
Ashley bit her tongue. The very idea that Bonnie’s faith would ever be in question stung her heart. She thought back to when she first met Bonnie. She had admired her glow, her seemingly unquenchable faith that led her to dive into the candlestone prison in search of her mother.
Leaning her head back again, she sighed deeply. She would never forget a note she had found in Bonnie’s journal, a message signed to her.
You may think no one understands you, but God knows everything about you. He knows who you really are.
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
Red will be made white
Darkness shall become light
Faith will be made sight
Squire shall become knight
As the sweet phrases sang in her mind, Ashley shook her head. Bonnie’s irreproachable wisdom had conquered her once again. “No,” Ashley replied. “She’s not irrational. I just don’t understand her.”
Dr. Allen raised a finger. “Exactly. Never dismiss as folly that which you simply do not understand.”
“So what do I do now?” Ashley pointed at the floor. “I mean, right here, right now?”
The kind gentleman smiled and touched her palm. “Remember David and Goliath, and you will do well.” The lantern faded, and Dr. Allen’s voice faded with it. “Combine your intellect with faith, and always follow the light.”
The corridor darkened again to complete blackness. Ashley felt for Dr. Allen but found only the lantern, still warm. She slid it toward her and listened once again to the void.
Clump!
The sound was closer than ever. Ashley squeezed against the wall and froze, holding her breath. She closed her eyes and waited. Sheer terror chilled her heart.
Clump!
Vibrations in the steps buzzed through her body. The giant had to be just a few feet away now.
Clump!
It stopped next to her. A sniffing sound pierced the dark silence, then a deep voice. “Your own stench has betrayed you, but I will let you live if you help me escape this place.”
Ashley swallowed quietly. What should she do? Did he really know where she was in this darkness?
Thin scarlet shafts of light sliced the black void, slowly scanning the stairs. Inch by inch they edged toward her hiding place. She squeezed even closer to the wall, but the infrared eyebeams would be on her in seconds.
She tossed the lantern down the stairwell. It clattered over the steps, its noise diminishing as it rounded the spiral.
The giant lumbered toward the sound. His heavy footsteps masked Ashley’s escape as she snatched up her shoulder bag and scrambled to her feet. Trying to silence her breaths, she stormed up the stairs, but with her body still aching, she wouldn’t last long at this pace.
As she hurried, frantic thoughts raced through her mind. Dr. Allen said to follow the light, but there was no light. He said to have faith, but there was nothing around to believe in, except that murder-minded monster, and she already believed every word he said. But she couldn’t help him escape. Dr. Allen said he would never be allowed to leave.
A jingling sound interrupted her thoughts. She reached into her jacket pocket to silence the coins Dr. Allen had dropped there, and her fingers slid around her photometer. Slowing to a halt, she leaned against the wall, trying not to pant too loudly. Maybe she should wait. If this was really a loop and she kept going, she might run into the giant from behind.
She pulled out the photometer and ran her fingers over the familiar switches. Not all light is visible, she thought, so maybe there is a light to follow after all. Finding the power switch, she turned it on. The LED digits on the tiny display screen flashed to life again. Turning the dial through its spectrum settings, she read the numbers in her mind. Ultraviolet is zero, Infrared is zero. Gamma is zero. What’s this? Visible spectrum is positive now! How can that be? With this illuminance, I should be able to see where I’m going!
Still watching the photometer, she moved up a step. The intensity went up. Another step. Higher intensity. She continued ascending until she reached the sixth step and began leaning toward the seventh. The intensity ebbed. So the sixth step marked the highest reading.
As she listened for the giant, she started down, expecting the intensity to drop, but instead, it began to increase again. Each step down brought a higher number, until she passed where she began and reached the third step below it. Finally, it dropped once more.
She looked up into the darkness, mentally sketching the stairway. Six steps up to the brightest light going upward, but then nine steps down to an even brighter light. It just didn’t make any sense.
Clump!
The giant was pretty far below her, but there wasn’t much time. She ascended again, still watching the meter, and once again, the intensity heightened. Three steps. Still higher. The ninth step, where it was highest during her previous climb, showed still higher, and now … Ashley continued climbing. The intensity rose again. Finally, on the fourteenth step, the intensity dropped. The thirteenth step represented the highest peak yet. Would going down again show another rise?
Clump!
But going down would take her closer to the approaching giant. Still, she had to try. She descended one step. The reading plummeted to almost zero. She jumped back up. The intensity recovered.
This had to be it. This had to be the highest peak. Scanning the area with the photometer, she searched for any hint of a source point, but the apparently invisible light seemed to come from all around. She had followed the light, just like Dr. Allen had said, but what now? The giant would be there in a heartbeat!
The strange sound thumped closer, rounding the spiral steps until the giant had to be only a dozen or so away. Still watching the photometer, Ashley shivered, and with each tremble, the light reading dropped.
> She steeled herself, firming her jaw as she spoke into the darkness. “Halt! Come no closer!”
The thumping stopped. The light reading steadied. Then, a low laugh rumbled from several steps below. “I thought I detected a sweaty female. Your voice resembles Morgan’s, and you smell like Naamah after a night of prowling in the upper lands.”
Ashley gripped the photometer tightly, ready to bash him in the head, though she knew it would be a feeble defense. She felt for the brick in her bag. She didn’t want to lose it, but it might be her only chance. “If you come any closer, I will be forced to use my weapon.” She glanced at the reading. The lumens count almost doubled.
“A woman against a Naphil?” The voice was closer now, maybe five steps away. His eyebeams flicked on, hitting the step just below her. “Even Morgan shuddered as she watched us train for battle. Are you a more powerful sorceress than she?”
“I am not a sorceress. I am the daughter of Thigocia, the warrior queen of all dragons.”
“You do not sound like a dragon, certainly not like the one I met in the mobility room before I began climbing these cursed stairs.”
Ashley forced a steady voice. “That was Roxil, my sister. How did you get past her?”
The awful “clump” sounded again. “I am sure you have heard my staff as I ascended the stairs. I used it against your sister and now rely on it as a walking stick. She was a formidable combatant, especially since I lack a leg, but she is no longer in any condition to fight.” The eyebeams rose a step and scanned up her body slowly. “I see you now, and you are no dragon.”
Ashley gulped. New shivers raced across her skin. She glanced at the photometer again. The reading slowly diminished.
Swallowing hard, she squared her shoulders. “If you think my sister was a fighter, then come to me, and I will show you what battle is all about. All you have is a brutish little staff, and you will be fighting blind. You’ll be worse off than Goliath when he lost his head to a shepherd boy.”
The meter reading soared, the digits changing so rapidly she could barely read them. She set her feet firmly and allowed a smile to break through. “I am standing in the light. That will be enough to defeat the likes of you.”
Suddenly a brilliant flash burst into the stairwell. The Naphil looked up, terror in his eyes as he tumbled back. Ashley jerked her gaze upward. The central stairway support, along with the stairs, collapsed and vanished as a swirling storm of fire plummeted toward her.
Sapphira swirled her hands above her head, once again creating a fiery cyclone. “Okay,” she called, “I need to concentrate on finding Ashley. I pray that Jehovah will guide us to her.”
Karen scooted close to Sapphira on one side, while Walter pushed between Sapphira’s other side and the hole, his foot just inches from the edge. Gabriel stood behind Sapphira and stretched his wings around everyone.
The swirling wall descended its flaming envelope, creating a loud swooshing sound as its orbit accelerated. When the orange tongues swiped against the grass, the ground beneath one of Walter’s feet suddenly crumbled. “Not again!” He flailed his arms, trying to lunge back to the edge.
Gabriel grabbed Walter’s shoulder with his hand. “I’ve got you!”
More earth gave way, and the entire company toppled into the hole. The column of fire came along, surrounding them like a flaming tornado and widening the pit as they fell. Gabriel fought the downward plunge, hanging on to Walter with one hand and Sapphira with the other while beating his wings, but he could only slow their fall. As Karen passed by, Walter grabbed her belt, and they all dropped together. Gabriel finally gave in to the overpowering force and folded in his wings.
Walter looked through the funnel’s downspout several feet below. With flames lighting the way, the hole brightened, still widening, as though the fiery cyclone were drilling a massive quarry, but instead of throwing dirt and rocks upward, the orange tornado disintegrated the debris. Soon, another person came into view, a body spinning in the wind as the cyclone approached it from above. “Someone’s down there!” he called into the swirling heat. “I think we’re gaining on them!”
A few seconds later, the funnel pulled the body into its grasp, slurping it into the swirl. As it floated upward, Walter grabbed the feminine arm with his free hand and turned her face toward him. With wide, terrified eyes, she stared at him.
“It’s Ashley!” Walter hugged her close. “Don’t worry! I’ve got you! We’ll be all right!” He angled his head upward. “Sapphira! What’s going on? Can’t you stop this runaway train?”
With Gabriel hanging on to her jacket collar, Sapphira kept her hands churning. “As long as we’re falling,” she yelled, “I have to keep the flames going. Otherwise, we’ll crash at the bottom of this hole. The portal fire is the only thing keeping us safe.”
“How do you know?” Karen cried out.
“You just have to trust me. I’ve done this before.”
“She’s right,” Gabriel shouted. “This is kids’ stuff compared to what she and I fell through at Dragons’ Rest!”
The fiery cyclone finally touched ground, sweeping away huge boulders and thousands of stones as it polished the floor beneath and created a cushion of air that slowed their plunge. Walter landed first. His feet touched gently as the others floated down next to him. When all were safely standing, Sapphira lowered her arms, and the flames died away.
Walter kept his arm under Ashley’s elbow, helping her stand. As she shivered violently, a shoulder bag slipped down and fell to the floor. He wrapped her up with both arms, hoping to give her warmth. Something was wrong with her. The air was cold, but not that cold. Light from above illuminated her pale face, and when their glances met, she smiled, her teeth chattering. “Hello, Walter. … I hope … I hope I’m not dreaming.”
“You’re not,” he said, grinning, “but logically, if you were dreaming, you shouldn’t trust what I’m saying.”
“Forget logic!” She embraced him tightly. “You’re here, and you’re warm. That’s all I need to know.”
Walter looked up. They stood at the bottom of a deep, massive crater that opened to the drizzling sky. Daylight. Cloud-obscured, to be sure, but it was still daylight. He turned to Sapphira and nodded upward. “Is that the top level of Hades, or are we still in the real world?”
“Hard to say. Since Gabriel is solid, my guess is Hades, but maybe he can fly up there and” Sapphira’s eyes shot wide open. “Roxil!”
Walter spun in the direction of her stare. A huge dragon lay sprawled on the ground about twenty feet away.
Sapphira ran to Roxil and knelt at her side. “Roxil! Can you hear me?”
Flapping his wings, Gabriel glided across the ground, landing near Roxil’s face. He laid a hand gently on her brow. “Her scales are cool. I don’t think that’s a good sign.” He passed his finger in front of Roxil’s snout. “But I feel warm breath. She must be alive.”
Walter, Ashley, and Karen joined them, Ashley still shivering.
“Is it time for another healing?” Walter asked.
“I can try.” Ashley rubbed her hands up and down her arms. “But I feel weak, like everything’s drained out of me. I climbed over a thousand steps and faced the giant that clubbed Roxil. I guess the adrenaline rush wore me out.”
“Let’s give her a few minutes to rest,” Gabriel said. “In the meantime, I’ll see what’s going on up top. It won’t take long to figure out if we’re in Hades or not.”
“I know a faster way.” Ashley tapped her jaw. “Larry, can you hear me?”
A static-filled reply buzzed from Ashley’s mouth. “Your signal is weak, O loquacious leviathan. I am on generator power, so my reception and transmission capabilities are diminished.”
“We must be in the real world.” Ashley’s gaze drifted from Walter to Gabriel to Sapphira. “Larry, any news reports that would indicate very strange phenomena?”
“Strange, indeed! Because of a widespread powe
r outage, my access to the Internet is malfunctioning, but I have been scanning a variety of radio frequencies. It seems that electricity is being drained from several strategic locations, thereby disrupting the power grid. Authorities suspect terrorism, and they are working to pinpoint the drainage spots. Many cities are in a panic with widespread looting and out-of-control fires. A very recent report indicates that unruly hairy men are swarming in the streets and committing acts of unspeakable violence, especially against children. To put it in layman’s terms—all hell has broken loose. This, of course, is exactly what a terrorist would want.”
“It’s not terrorism,” Ashley replied, her shivers returning. “I think you nailed it when you said, ‘All hell has broken loose.’”
“Your words are cryptic. If you know the cause, then perhaps I should notify the authorities. I can send an anonymous shortwave message to”
“No. They can’t help us.” Ashley knelt close to Roxil and caressed her dull tawny scales. “We need a special kind of firepower.”
Thigocia sniffed a footprint in the mud at the edge of a narrow bubbling stream. “It is the same man we spoke with,” she said, lifting her eyes toward Arramos. “Zane’s odor is unmistakable.”
Sitting on his haunches in the surrounding grass, Arramos tapped the end of his tail on the ground. “He is the only wanderer we have found in all these hours. Are you satisfied?”
Thigocia let out a low growl. “For now.”
“Good.” He rose to all fours and unfurled his wings. “We must meet with Roxil as soon as possible. We have a very long journey ahead, and our delay has compromised our schedule. Great haste is now a necessity.”
“Do not worry about me.” Thigocia stretched out her wings, but her span, though wide and impressive for a female, was no match for his. “Fly quickly,” she said. “I will keep up.”
“As you wish.” With a great flap of his wings, Arramos shot into the sky and ascended at a dizzying rate.
Thigocia followed, beating her own wings furiously. After several minutes of exhausting flight, she caught up and flew to the right of and slightly behind Arramos, decelerating to keep to his new, slower pace. With every downbeat of his powerful reddish wings, his profile came into view. He didn’t look back at her, but she detected a cynical smile. Of course he had slowed down to allow her to catch up, but not out of mercy. His was a condescending leniency, not a loving act of grace.