Merlin took the glasses. “Obviously Tamiel wanted to make sure you brought them in here.” He dropped the glasses to the icy floor and stomped on them with a boot.
The glasses flashed with light. Hairy spiders with glowing legs skittered out in all directions. The size of tarantulas, they melted furrows in the ice as they hurried toward the stalagmites.
“Kill them!” Merlin shouted as he chased one of the spiders. “Follow their paths!”
Sir Barlow hurried after a spider. Lauren dropped to her knees and traced one of the furrows toward a stalagmite, but the path stopped abruptly. She called out, “The path ended!”
“As did this one.” Sir Barlow snorted. “I should have smashed them in the other realm.”
Lauren climbed to her feet. “It’s not your fault, Sir Barlow. I was the one who should’ve—”
“Look!” Sir Barlow pointed at the glasses. Another spider squeezed out of the broken frame and expanded like a balloon. With a body the size of a soccer ball and legs that covered a span of five feet, it scrambled away. Sir Barlow leaped after it, but he slid across the ice and smacked his knee against a stalagmite. Standing on one foot, he stared into the darkness. “There is no catching it now.”
Merlin shook his head sadly. “The spiders appear to have heat-generation ability that they can turn on and off. We will have to stay close to the reservoir and watch for them.” He reached into a cloak pocket and withdrew a red egg-shaped orb. “Follow me, and I will tell you more about this place.” He turned and walked away. “And bring the yoke.”
Lauren picked up the yoke and walked side by side with Sir Barlow. Grief weighed down her mind. Why hadn’t she thought about the glasses? After Tamiel’s deception became clear, she should have gone over everything he did. Forgetting the glasses was stupid.
“I know what you’re thinking, Miss,” Sir Barlow said. “Remember what you promised about kicking yourself.”
“Keep reminding me. I have an active kicking foot.”
When Merlin stopped, he sat on a flat rock and balanced the red orb on his knee. “We are in sight of the reservoir, which I will describe soon, but first I want to tell you about this ovulum. It is a viewing port to Earth and Second Eden. If you look closely, you will see Sapphira. She has just returned to Earth from a portal jump to Second Eden, and a medic is tending to her wound.”
Lauren peered into the ovulum. Deep inside, a rectangle showed Sapphira as she lay on a field of grass, her eyes open. A man knelt next to her with a needle and thread in hand. She seemed alert and in relatively little pain.
“And on this side …” Merlin turned the ovulum over. “You will see your twin brother and Listener in Second Eden. They seem to be quite safe.”
Lauren looked into the egg again. Matt and Listener bent over a disk of some sort, pushing Zohar across a gray sheet of ice. Listener’s hand touched Matt’s arm at times as they shifted direction. They seemed friendly … quite friendly.
“Interesting,” Sir Barlow said as he peered alongside Lauren. “Perhaps Listener has changed her mind.”
“About what?” Lauren asked.
“She once announced her readiness to accept a suitor, but after Valiant died, she altered her stand. Her affection toward Matt makes me wonder if she has altered it again.”
“Why would Valiant’s death make a difference?”
“I suspect that her role as default leader of Second Eden gave her a low view of the remaining males there. None of them stepped up, you might say. She told me, ‘I will not be led around on a donkey by a man whose strengths are limited to the pulling of a rope.’” He gestured with his hands. “You see, in Second Eden a suitor leads—”
“I figured that out.” Lauren gazed at Listener’s face—steady, certain, unflinching. “She seems … intense.”
“On the exterior, yes, but her heart is as soft and tender as they come. Trust me on that.”
“I have no reason not to trust you.” Lauren eyed the gray ice. “I saw that storm while I was there. What caused it? That device Semiramis planted?”
“Correct,” Merlin said. “The storm created great havoc, but since my view into that world is small, I cannot determine all the damage it has done.”
“Where are Matt and Listener going?”
“It is difficult to hear their conversation in full, but I gather that they hope to go to the birthing garden to save the plant-enclosed infants from the ice.”
Lauren leaned over and tried to view the opposite side of the ovulum. “Can we see what happens to Sapphira?”
“Her journey could entrance us for hours, but we have our own business to attend to.” Merlin set the ovulum in Sir Barlow’s hands. “While we talk and watch for the spiders, we will trust our good knight to monitor the events and raise an alarm if something significant occurs.”
“I will be glad to.” Sir Barlow lifted the ovulum close to his face. “I performed a similar duty when Lauren’s father carried a belt camera through the circles of seven.” He turned the egg over and looked at the other side. “Though keeping track of two worlds at once is likely to make me dizzy.”
“You will adjust.” Merlin rose from the rock and let out a shrill whistle. A horde of glowbats launched from the ceiling, flew to a point about twenty paces away, and fluttered in a circle over a span of ice about a hundred feet wide. “That is the life reservoir. Come, I will explain while I show it to you.”
Merlin set his hand under Lauren’s elbow and guided her to his right. When they arrived at the reservoir’s edge, he pushed the bottom end of his staff into the ice. Light rose from the entry point and followed the staff upward to the top. Pale yellow radiance poured from a gem wedged in the three-pronged end.
He pulled the staff out and sighed. “Many streams of life energy have recently entered, but it is not yet filled. According to those who sent me here, the reservoir should not be opened until it is full, which is why the spiders could cause a great deal of trouble. Since they are able to generate heat, perhaps they were sent here to melt the ice and release the energy prematurely. I assume they will stay in hiding and crawl closer when they suspect that we are not watching, so we must remain vigilant. I assume we can crush the little spiders, but I am not sure about the largest one.”
“I’ll be watching.” Lauren leaned closer to the staff and examined the marble-sized gem at the top. “Is that a candlestone?”
“It is.”
“Then why don’t I feel—”
“Weak?” Merlin brushed the bottom end of his staff against his cloak. “One of many mysteries to explain.” He set the forked end in her palm. “Your passage into this realm stripped away many of your powers—your super hearing, your mind reading, and your new ability to create fire. But it also removed your draconic weakness, so you are able to coexist with this dragons’ bane.”
Lauren absorbed the words, but too many thoughts raced around. Catching them one at a time would have to do. “What is needed to fill the reservoir?”
“The sacred pool contains energy that fuels resurrection power.” Merlin set the butt end of the staff on the ground and propped himself against it. “About two thousand years ago the reservoir was filled to overflowing by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and that energy provided spiritual resurrection for all of his followers in that time and in the future. It was pumped out and distributed to every point in the world, and it remains available to this day. Now the reservoir contains energy from other sacrificial sources—your mother, your father, Makaidos, and others. One by one, their sacrificial energy poured into the reservoir where it is being saved for physical resurrections and restorations.”
Lauren looked at the frozen pool. “When I was in Abaddon’s Lair, Abaddon was complaining about everyone associated with my mother getting resurrected, but I never heard a reason for it happening.”
“Ah, yes, that mystery is great. You see, your mother is a key figure in God’s redemptive plans. She is not as ex
alted as the Son of God by any means, but she has played a critical role.” Merlin held Lauren’s elbow again. “Let me explain by illustration. Step carefully now.” They slid together out over the ice. A few crackling noises rose from the surface, but it seemed strong enough. When they reached the center of the glowbats’ orbit, he touched the ice with his staff. “Look down and tell me what you see.”
Lauren peered through the ice. Vapors swirled like windblown fog. At the front of each stream, a face faded in and out of view. “I see foggy streams with faces.”
“Where are they going?”
“Nowhere. They’re just kind of blowing in circles.”
“And they will continue to do so until you release the energy. What you cannot perceive is that their rate of movement is slowly decelerating. You see, this energy needs to be stirred up on occasion or else it will stagnate and become useless. Its power comes from its living flow. A sacrifice adds more energy, and a resurrection draws energy out again.
“As you might know, an inflow combined with an outlet keeps a pool from stagnating. Your mother’s death created a huge influx of energy, and her resurrection drained some of it, because every resurrection requires sacrificial energy from this pool. The same kind of influx and outflow occurred with the deaths and resurrections of your father, your grandmother, Makaidos, and a few others. God chose people who have been influenced by your mother because of the tremendous amount of sacrificial love that flows within them.”
“So,” Lauren said, “to summarize, deaths and resurrections kept the energy active.”
“Exactly. After the resurrection of Christ and before your mother’s death, Abaddon had no need to stir the soup, if you will, because he was not storing sacrificial energy at the time. Then several years before your mother was born, due to the approaching end of the age, the command came from on high to begin the collection. Quite a number of martyrs died after her death, thereby sustaining the filling of the pool.”
“So my mother was the first stirring spoon, the first resurrection since it started filling.”
“And several followed, as I mentioned.” Merlin led her back toward the edge of the reservoir. “And since the enemy has been seeking a way to destroy this energy source, I was assigned to seal it with ice and protect it from intruders, which have now invaded the realm. Yet, their efforts will be for naught when the reservoir fills and you deliver its energy for the purpose for which God designed it.”
When they reached the edge, Lauren spread out her hands. “How do I do that? Thaw the ice? I can’t create fire here.”
Merlin cocked his head. “Have you not unraveled that mystery? Your presence indicates that you properly solved the riddles.”
“I kind of stumbled into everything. I’m here, but that’s about all I know.”
He stroked his beard. “That is unfortunate.”
“You mean you don’t know what I’m supposed to do?”
“I am merely the guardian of this realm. I was told that someone would come to release the reservoir’s energy, but I was not told the method. I assumed that you would know.”
Lauren winced. “I’m sorry. I don’t.”
Merlin set a hand on her shoulder. “Quickly, then. Add to your earlier tales and tell me everything else you have seen. We will try to solve the puzzle together.”
“Okay.” For the next few minutes, Lauren told more about the events in the other two portals. As she described the stagnant pool, the weak trees, and the voices, Merlin asked several questions about the details—the odors, the exact words the voices uttered, and consistency of the sludge that polluted the pool, but he didn’t bother to give reasons for his questions. When she told of the second realm, he asked only whether or not all three pools were similar, and he seemed unsurprised that they appeared to be identical in shape and size.
When she finished, she let out a sigh. “And you already know the story about Tamiel posing as Micaela.”
Merlin propped his chin with his hand. “Did Tamiel personally kill your friend?”
Lauren nodded. “With a car bomb. He looked exactly like her, but if I had just asked him questions only Micaela would know how to answer, I would have figured it out.”
“Allay your concern about that. You had no reason to be suspicious. In these realms of the dead and new life, it is quite reasonable to accept the idea that Micaela was resurrected.” Merlin’s eyes flickered with anger. “Tamiel is crafty beyond what most can imagine. He is able to impersonate anyone he has killed, and that skill has far-reaching potential for deceit. Long ago, he impersonated Seraphina in order to deceive Joran. It seems that he is up to his old tricks.”
“Okay. That makes me feel a little better.”
“Back to the pools.” Merlin tapped his staff on the ice. “One is of water, one is of blood, and one is of spiritual energy. The first one was corrupted, which confused and poisoned people, but now you have cleansed it. You also cleansed the second one when the life-giving water mixed with the blood, which swept up the bones and released more energy. The third one—”
“Merlin!” Sir Barlow called, walking toward them with the ovulum. “I hereby raise an alarm.”
CHAPTER 17
THE BIRTHING GARDEN
Matt and Listener pushed Zohar’s sled past the final hut in Founder’s Village and let him slide down a gentle slope. Matt straightened and blew warm breath on his cold hands. As numbness melted into tingles, pain throbbed in his fingertips.
Listener stretched her back. “Almost there. We can do it.”
“Yep. We’ll make it.” Matt inhaled a cleansing breath. Although the precipitation had stopped, cold wind blew foul-smelling air. A pale sun shone through thin haze, a welcome change from the cloudy skies.
Listener shivered. “Let’s get going again. Pushing keeps me warm.”
“Agreed. Except for my hands.” Matt walked with her down the slope. Since she left her coat behind, she had only a close-fitting, long-sleeved tunic over loose trousers, as well as boots. Earlier, she expressed relief that her sensitive hearing had returned, though a background hum continued, like a bow constantly running across the strings of a double bass.
After another minute of pushing the sled, they stopped in front of the portal window leading to the tree room, a few paces from the birthing garden. Matt glanced through the window. The tree of life burned on, blocking a view of the portal leading to Jade’s sanctum, but there was no time to search, at least not now.
Listener crouched and set a finger on the ice. “The edge of the garden should be about here.”
Matt crouched with her. After breaking the crust with a fist, he dug down through ashy slush and tossed handfuls to the side. “I noticed three plants before the storm started.” Vapor blew out with his words. “We’d better find them all.”
“Three sounds right. I’m not sure how spread out they were.”
“One was near this spot. The other two were farther out. I don’t recall the exact locations.”
Starting at the point where Matt was digging, Listener kicked through the ice and drew a line. “I’m marking the garden borders the best I can remember. I might have to dig down a bit to be sure. I just have to be careful to avoid Emerald’s grave. She was Valiant’s Eve, and he buried her here. I suppose he hoped she would resurrect.”
Zohar climbed slowly to his feet. “I will begin the melting process as soon as the boundaries become clear.”
“How are you feeling?” Matt asked. “Any dizziness?”
“Not much. The medicine is helping.”
“Good to hear.” Matt continued digging until he reached solid ground, then began clearing a space. A footprint appeared on the dark lava soil, the toes outlined clearly, though now white instead of red. He brushed away more ice and found another print, also white and clearly defined. Somehow the ice had altered the color.
“Lauren,” he whispered into the air. “Where are you now?”
“
What?” Listener looked back and touched her ear. “I heard you say something, Matt, but that hum is still in the way.”
“Just mentioning Lauren, wondering where she is.” He straightened and looked again at the portal window. “While you two are getting ready, I’ll check real quick to see if I can find her and Sir Barlow.”
“Sure. It’ll be a couple of minutes.” Listener continued kicking through the ice. “Give a shout if you need help.”
“Will do.” Matt stepped down into the tree room, skirted the tree, and looked through the portal on the opposite wall. Inside the sanctum, the central column pulsed, now with white light instead of red. A white beam struck the surrounding wall on the right, and another radiated toward him. Why another color change from red to white? Might this portal be passable now?
He touched the plane with a fingertip. It jolted his hand, making him jerk back. He stifled a yelp and sucked on the burned tip. No. Still the same. Yet, the absence of Lauren and Sir Barlow could mean that they had entered the portal to the right. They were probably safe and still on the move.
Matt pivoted, strode around the tree, and stopped at the Second Eden portal. Listener was rounding the final corner as she continued plowing a line through the ice. The footprints he had uncovered were visible a few feet beyond the window. He lifted his own foot and pictured Lauren taking those fateful steps onto the lava field. What had possessed her to walk on scalding ground? Love? Definitely. A death wish? Maybe. That girl would give her life for someone else in a heartbeat.
He heaved a sigh. She already had given her life. She was dead, a ghost on a mission. A tear welled in his eye. He quickly brushed it away. Strong. He had to stay strong for Listener and the Second Edeners. His own journey had to continue without hesitation. He leaped back into Second Eden and hurried to Zohar’s side. “Are you ready?”
Zohar nodded, a hand extended. A ball of fire swirled in his palm and filled it from edge to edge. “I have been testing my power. I think I will have no trouble as long as I can hold out physically.”