Chapter 54: Descent into Darkness.

Submitted by PeteMork on Mon, 12/24/2012 - 04:52

Oskar stood there motionless, arms at his sides, unable to fully grasp what he had just seen. Hannah, sobbing quietly to herself, took Oskar’s hand in hers and squeezed it tightly. They watched Sava fly rapidly back and forth across the bay no more than three feet above the water, frantically searching for any sign of life… or death.

Suddenly, Oskar dropped to his knees, hands over his ears, trying in vain to mute the primordial scream of despair, rage, and hopelessness that assaulted his senses and rebounded back and forth inside his skull. The pain was unbearable! He rolled over in the grass, felt the wind brush his hair back, and as fast as it began, it ended. And Eli was gone. Not out of sight—he could see her rapidly gaining altitude over the far hills—but gone; no longer there. Only her clothes remained, scattered across the grassy hill.

“What’s happened to Eli, Oskar?! What’s wrong with her? She was in such terrible pain, but now I can’t see her any more. Where’s she going?”

"Tell Papa and Jack, Hannah! And Mom! Especially Mom.” He stripped off his shirt and unfurled his wings. “I’m going after her.” He leaped into the air. Eli! Where are you going?

There was no response. There was nothing left of her in his mind; none of her softness and love; none of her at all. And as fast as he was flying, he realized quickly that she was still outdistancing him somehow, and by a huge margin. He’d never catch her, and because he couldn’t feel her, he was going to lose her.

Please, Eli! Wait for me! Talk to me! But it was no use. After a half-hour, he couldn’t see her at all, and if he didn’t catch her soon, he’d have to turn back. It had been two days since he’d had Ejuice. He’d never make it to the mainland and back. And he couldn’t remember the last time Eli had had some. Would she even be able to make it there at all? The island was a black speck on the ocean behind him now, and he could just make out the dark contours of the mainland over 30 miles away.

Oskar! Come back! You’ll never catch her now! And you’ll not make it back if you go any further.

He could tell by her tone that she wasn’t guessing; she was dead certain. He wasn’t about to argue with her. Reluctantly, he turned and headed home.

Your mom and dad are on their way home, Oskar. They’ll be here in less than an hour. I’m sure Eli’s just upset about Jeff. She’ll be home soon; I just know it!

Oskar wasn’t so sure. He’d never seen her act that way before, and over the last couple of weeks she hadn’t been herself anyway. She had even implied that she wasn’t sure she wanted to get any older. Something was going on. Damn it! I should have talked to her about it. I knew something was wrong, but I just figured she’d work through it herself. This is all my fault!

Oskar, just come back! She’ll come home soon, and then we can all talk to her about it. We’ll work it out; we always do. We’re soulmates, remember?

Oskar smiled in spite of himself. Okay, Hannah. Maybe you’re right.

He circled over the phoenix, dropped down in front of her and took her in his arms. “Oh, Oskar! I was so afraid I was going to lose you both, and after what happened to Jeff…”

“Is…is he…”

“Sava found him a few minutes ago, Oskar.” Her eyes filled with tears. He’s…gone!” They stood there holding each other, sharing in each other’s pain in the moonshadow of the wings of the phoenix, until Jack gently called them home. They rode silently down the hill, leaving Eli’s bicycle leaning forlornly against the pedestal. Oskar hoped against hope that she’d return for it and everything would once again be good. Already, his heart ached for her.

§

There was silence around the dining room table once Sava and Elaine had returned from their search, broken only by Hannah’s soft sobbing. “Jeff was so nice, Mr. Dawson. He was going to fly us to London in the new plane, and surprise us with Mom and Dad’s decision to keep the house.” She put her head on Oskar’s shoulders. “He really liked us, and we never even knew!” she cried even harder.

“He did, Hannah. He liked us all, but especially you children. And no one was more surprised and puzzled by that than he was.”

“Can you see anything of Eli, Hannah? Anything at all?” Elaine asked.

“No, Mrs. Dawson. And she could be anywhere! Anywhere at all! She could be hurt…or worse!” Oskar put his arms around her and they cried on each other’s shoulders.

“She’s quite resourceful, Hannah. Remember, she survived alone for over 200 years on her own. We’re just going to have to wait until she decides to come back.” Elaine said, softly. “Meantime, I think we should all try to get some sleep. Sava is going to keep looking for her until tomorrow morning.”

“Mom? Can Hannah…I mean…”

Elaine looked at Liva, questioningly. Livia nodded.

“Yes, Oskar. If she wants to, she can stay with you tonight.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Sandstrøm,” Oskar whispered. He stood, took her by the hand, and they went slowly up the stairs together.

They sat for a while on Eli’s window seat, staring across the harbor toward Arrowhead island, trying to imagine where Eli might be, and whether she was cold and alone, and whether or not she was safe. Finally, they climbed into her bed, and held each other tight.

“Maybe when we’re touching, she can see us, Oskar.” She said softly. “You know, like I can see you two when you’re touching?”

He smiled at her. “I hope so, Hannah. In fact, I’ll bet she can!” He squeezed her even tighter, and finally after what seemed like hours, fell asleep and dreamed that Eli was at that very moment, speeding down the hill for home on her bicycle, sorry she had worried them all so.

§

Three more days passed with no sign of her. They searched the newspapers and called hospitals but there was nothing, probably because their search was further hampered by the huge scandal that had rocked the western world. The newspapers were full of nothing but stories of the mysterious video tapes that had suddenly appeared simultaneously at all the major world newspapers, the United Nations, and the major Western governments, clearly implicating the BbC in the Kennedy assassination. The FBI had already picked up the shooter from the grassy knoll, who had folded under questioning and confirmed much of what was on the tapes. Several key members of the BbC were already under arrest and others were being sought, with the full cooperation of Interpol and ostensibly, the modern, but now fractured, leadership of the BbC.

“Sava is bringing in copies of all the small, area newspapers, Elaine. We might have better luck with those, since they’re more likely to be covering local stories of interest.”

“Good idea, Rich. Have we heard anything from the BbC yet?”

“They initially denied any involvement, but when Jonathan threatened to make public the minutes of a more recent meeting—one in which their plans to gain complete control of the newly-formed World Trade Organization were first laid out—they assured him the matter would be taken care of. Within the next week, I understand, although Jonathan didn’t elaborate on what ‘taken care of’ actually meant. And I’m not sure I want to know.”

“But why, Rich? After the failed bomb attempt on the island and our threats to expose them, why would they take the chance? Remember, they fell all over themselves trying to convince us that Adrian was acting on his own, which of course we never would have believed if Oskar hadn’t already verified it when he read Adrian’s thoughts. If nothing else, it proved that they thought we meant business.”

“I think we bruised a lot of egos, and in an organization made up of current and retired independent world leaders who are used to getting their own way, there were bound to be a few willing to take another chance. And it might even have worked if we had all been aboard, as per the flight plan.”

Oskar and Hannah suddenly burst into the kitchen. “Mom! Eli was here last night! She took her locket!”

“Slow down, Oskar! How do you know she took it last night?”

“Because Hannah and I looked at it last night before we went to bed, Dad. We were talking about when they first met.”

“That means Eli can still fly, Elaine. But that’s impossible. She has no access to Ejuice. How could she…” his voice trailed off.

“No! Eli would never…” Hannah put her hand over her mouth.

“No. Of course she wouldn’t. But what would she do?” Elaine was worried now.

“Elaine, you probably understand that side of her better than any of us. What would she be capable of doing?”

“I honestly don’t know, Rich. I know she was ashamed when she discovered that she still liked the taste of blood, but if she were desperate to get back, she might…go there again.”

“How could you even think such a thing, Mom?!” Eli would never, ever hurt anyone!” he stormed out of the room.

“I’m sorry, Rich. I shouldn’t have…”

“You didn’t! Oskar made that leap himself. The truth is, if Eli were herself, all she’d have to do is talk to Oskar or Hannah. She could even make a phone call. No, she’s going through something very personal right now. Hannah? Did you hear anything when you were on the ridge when the plane…”

She nodded, remembering that moment vividly. “It was awful, Dr. Dawson! One second she was so very very sad; the next she was in a fury. Then she screamed, ‘It’s because I should be dead!’ Then her eyes got golden, she got this terrible look on her face and she was gone! Really gone!”

Elaine looked at Rich, “After everything she’s been through, why now? What’s different about this time?”

“I don’t know, Elaine. Even since she found Oskar, her life hasn’t been without trouble, as you so eloquently pointed out earlier. It makes no sense that Jeff’s death would push her over the edge.”

“But no one nice has died because of Eli, Mrs. Dawson. No one she cared about. Jeff was the first.” Hannah looked toward the stairs anxiously. “I’d like to go talk to Oskar now. Would that be okay?”

“Of course, Hannah. Go ahead.” Elaine watched her scurry up the stairs. “She’s right, you know. No innocents have died because of her since you all came to England.”

But so many died in her past, Elaine. Why didn’t any of them affect her like this?”

“Perhaps because she growing up now, Rich. And putting her past behind her is becoming more difficult. And this! This is the first time one of us has died, in her opinion, because of her curse.”

“It all sounds reasonable, but Eli is so strong. I just can’t imagine…”

“Remember when she was afraid of losing her abilities? She was 12 then, and it was still an incredibly difficult decision for her to make. She almost lost it then. She actually threw me out of her room after I had the procedure first, remember?”

He smiled at her. “How could I ever forget? I don’t think Eli had any idea the effect that had on you.”

“And she never will, Richard. What good would that do?” All she could think about was how lost and alone her little Butterfly must be right now. Her eyes flooded with tears.

Richard took her in his arms and pressed his cheek against hers.

§

“Oskar?” Hannah knocked lightly on Eli’s door.

“Come in, Hannah.” Oskar was lying on Eli’s bed, hands behind his head.

“You know your mom didn’t mean to say that Eli might have hurt someone, don’t you?”

“I know, Hannah. I’m sorry. It’s just that…” And he knew. He knew it was because, for a brief instant, he had thought it. He remembered vividly that dark morning in Karlstad soon after they arrived when Eli had come home upset, because she had killed and fed on a young, blond boy, and how they had decided together that it would never happen again. And then they had found her ‘Papa.’ But still, it had happened. And he had never forgotten it. And Eli had had nightmares about it.

“We both know she could never do it again,” she lay down next to him and took his hand. “We have to find her, Oskar! How can we find her?”

“I don’t know, Hannah! When you look for her, what do you see?”

“Nothing, Oskar. There’s nothing! And I know it’s not that she’s too far away. She was here last night and I didn’t see her!”

“It can’t be ‘nothing,’ Hannah. You told me you could hear … other voices in the background. You know, the voices of other vampires?”

“Yes, of course, but no Eli…” she sat bolt upright in bed. “That’s it! If Eli’s not herself, she must be someone else! I mean…”

“I know what you meant, Hannah. Do you think she’s…one of them now?” What a stupid thing to say! She could never be one of them! He shook his head vigorously, trying to get the thought out of his mind.

“No, Oskar. But maybe she sounds like them right now.” She concentrated hard, trying to differentiate between the dark pin pricks she always felt in the background when she reached out. She scanned them all carefully, but one in particular—one that seemed to be in an inordinate amount of pain—caught her attention. She carefully moved the others into the background and focused on the one. And she sensed her sadness and her remorse, but Hannah had seen many like her before. This one was also in love. It was Eli. She was sure of it.

“Where, Hannah?! Where is she?” Oskar grabbed her arm.

“She’s nearby Oskar. Look!”

Oskar was disoriented at first. There was darkness all around him, but then, he saw the bones. Hundreds of them. And he knew. “She’s in the cave, Hannah! She’s in our cave!” He reached out to her, but Hannah stopped him.

“Don’t Oskar,” she hissed. “She’ll see you and she’ll leave! Don’t talk to her!” She caught a brief glimpse of Eli’s head jerking up as Oskar’s thoughts surrounded her, and her sudden flight toward the cave entrance. She breathed a sigh of relief as that future dissolved away, and Eli moved steadily further back in the cave.

“What should I do, Hannah?” But he didn’t wait for an answer. He grabbed his backpack, rushed across the hall to his room and, after downing one himself, tossed in several bottles of Ejuice from his refrigerator. “Promise you won’t tell Mom and Dad, Hannah. I have to do this myself. It’s the only way!”

Hannah nodded. “I know, Oskar. Only you can do this.” She watched silently as he grabbed items off his shelf and a blanket off his bed, then rushed back into Eli’s room, pulled some clothes out of her closet and stuffed them into his backpack.

He put his fingers to his lips, “I’ll take my bike, Hannah. I’ll go into the cave and bring her out. One way or another!” He slipped quietly out the door and was gone.

Hannah waited for a few minutes until Oskar was safely away, then hurried down the stairs to the kitchen. “Mr. and Mrs. Dawson, I have something important to tell you. Sava and Jack are already on their way over.” The few possible futures she could see for Eli refused to congeal into certainties, but this decision on her part definitely eliminated one of the more frightening ones.

§

Oskar stood next to the cave paintings, letting his eyes get accustomed to the darkness. In spite of his enhanced sense of smell and hearing, he got nothing. Eli was clearly not moving. Which meant she might already be aware of his presence, since her ears were at least as good as his own. He slipped out of his shoes, adjusted his backpack, and headed down the gentle slope into the darkness, surprised that he could see so much better than the first time they were here. This time, he could clearly see the cave open out and the floor drop away into the pit. He stood there for a moment, poised on the edge, plotting out his course down the rock-strewn slope, looking for stable rocks and outcroppings. He was determined to make as little noise as possible, but he also knew he needed to be prepared for her flight, because he couldn’t let her get past him. He had the distinct feeling he might never see her again if she did, especially since Hannah’s view of her future had been confused and uncertain.

With all that weighing on his mind, he carefully picked his way down the side of the cave until he was standing safely on the lower floor, well clear of the debris field and the bones. He could still smell the stale remnants of Eli’s blood, but avoided looking too closely at the pile of bones. There were things he just didn’t want to think about right now. The cave walls narrowed quickly to the north into a small, almost invisible inverted v-shaped crack in the center of the back wall. He hurried across the uneven stone floor, knowing that once he reached the smaller passageway, there would be no way she could maneuver her way past him. He’d be able to reason with her – or he could just grab her. He smiled at the thought in spite of himself.

The temperature dropped perceptibly the further into the cave he went. The floor was rock-strewn and uneven in some places, but strangely smooth, almost as though it had been worked by some ancient stone cutter, in others. The crack, straight as an arrow, although much smaller by now, was obviously a continuation of the original one that had formed the cave countless centuries ago, when the solid rock had been ripped asunder, he imagined, by some cataclysmic event. Solely because it was straight, he could still see quite clearly in the diffused light.

After he had traveled about 100 yards down the corridor, he could hear water running somewhere behind the cave wall, just before the walls beaded up with moisture and the dusty cave floor became damp. He could feel the vibration of it through his bare feet, and imagined a raging underground river rushing by mere inches away, straining to break through the wall and pour out the mouth of the cave in a giant, majestic arc into the sea.

Although he knew she was here, he still breathed a sigh of relief when he recognized her footprints as they disappeared into the darkness ahead of him, concrete evidence that she had come this way – apparently in no hurry, he thought to himself. He remembered the joy he had felt the first time he had found her footprints in the soft soil near the cemetery outbuilding that night so long ago, when he and Papa had saved her from a fate worse than death and opened a whole new can of worms with Den Andra. She was so unbelievably strong then; so protective of them both. He was sure there was nothing she wouldn’t do to keep them safe. So. What had changed? Why had she left them all so suddenly this time?

Another 20 yards on, he carefully stepped across a small stream, deep but narrow, that disappeared into a diagonal crack in the wall on the right as quickly as it had appeared on left. The water was crystal clear and smelled pleasantly clean and fresh, accompanied as it was by the smell of the emerald-green grass of the island hills in the gentle breeze that followed it on its dark journey into the depths of the island. Her footprints milled about aimlessly at this point. However, he could see that she had stepped back and forth across the stream several times. He could just make out the spots on the damp cave wall where she had placed her hands, one on either side of the crack, and imagined her leaning forward and sniffing the air just as he had done. Just knowing she had been standing on this very spot mere minutes ago, excited him. He was more determined than ever that this was all going to end soon.

He followed her fading footprints around a gentle bend in the passageway, a spot that marked the end of the crack and the beginning of a chaotically fractured and even smaller, uneven corridor to the left, and stopped short. The short passage widened rapidly into a vaulted room, then ended abruptly against a vertical wall of black rock that spanned the entire chamber. It was now so dark that, even with his eyes, it was difficult to see but there was no mistaking the pale white form huddled against the stark blackness of that wall; it was Eli. And she was sound asleep, sitting upright, knees tucked against her chest, cheek resting on her knees and arms wrapped around them. Her dirty, disheveled black hair hung in tangles across her face. She looks so cold! He fought the urge to wrap her up in his blanket and take her in his arms. He had no idea how she would react to him even being there. He couldn’t take any chances.

He carefully took off his backpack and moved as close to her as he dared. He knew from years of experience that Eli either slept lightly, or she slept like the dead; there seemed to be no in-between for her. He sat down in front of her, crossed his legs and waited.

It was then he realized her mouth was covered with blood.