‘I didn’t mean for that to
happen,’ said Haven, ‘it was an accident.’ The creature Gilster was
holding began to cringe and whimper, not knowing if he was to be
next. Gilster tightened his grip.
‘Can you read any of his
thoughts?’ he asked Haven.
Haven stared intently at the
creature for a few minutes.
‘No, he’s blocking me now he
knows I’m a telepath.’
‘Are you willing to tell us why
you are here,’ said Gilster to the frightened man in his grip.
‘No . . . I can’t, Rast won’t
just kill me, he’ll torture me first. I can tell you nothing.’
Gilster looked across at Haven who shrugged his shoulders.
‘I can’t leave him alive, it’s
just too dangerous, if he tells others about us – ’ he left the
sentence unfinished.
‘I know,’ said Haven, ‘we will
have to . . .’ he couldn’t bring himself to say the words. ‘I don’t
like what this is turning us into but it must be done.’
Gilster began to sing softly,
but unlike the beautiful ethereal songs he usually sang, this one
sounded discordant and harsh to Haven’s ears, like music being
played off key or rusty hinges shrieking in protest, making Haven
feel distinctly uneasy. The man’s eyes suddenly widened in surprise
and he clutched at his chest. His breath came in rapid pants for a
few seconds and then his head fell forward on his chest. He was
dead.
Haven was shocked. ‘I didn’t
know you could do that.’
‘Neither did I,’ said Gilster,
as he placed the limp body on the floor, ‘although I have heard
whispers of it before.’
‘For your sake I hope you don’t
have to do that again, even though I’m glad to know you can do it,
it’s a very effective weapon.’
Gilster shrugged. ‘If it keeps
us alive, I’ll do it again. So what do we do with the bodies,’ he
said changing the subject, ‘someone may come looking for these two,
we don’t want to leave any evidence lying around.’
‘It might be an idea to search
them, they may have information about who they’re working for or
what they know . . . and then we bury them,’ said Haven
matter-of-factly.
Squatting down on his haunches,
he began rummaging through the man’s jacket pockets, the stench
coming from the body was putrid and Haven held his breath as long
as he could. In one pocket he found a small piece of paper.
‘This looks like it might be
something,’ he said holding up the scrunched ball. Before he could
say anything else, both the creatures started to smoulder. ‘Ugh,’
said Haven falling backwards onto his hands. Using his feet he
pushed himself away as fast as possible. Both creatures slowly
began to disappear until nothing remained but a black smudge on the
kitchen floor.
‘What just happened?’ asked
Gilster, staring at the spot where the creatures had vanished.
‘I don’t know and I don’t
care,’ said Haven, ‘at least we don’t have to worry about disposing
of the bodies.’ Just then Shibby limped in.
‘Thanks for the warning,’ said
Gilster, ‘you probably saved our lives.’
‘Meowww,’ said Shibby, both men
laughed.
Max and Daria had spent the
last few hours happily wandering around the shopping mall,
chatting, laughing and getting to know one another. Max decided she
liked this woman from another world, and it seemed the feeling was
mutual. They were having a great time deciding what clothes to buy
for Haven and Gilster, and then trying to imagine what they would
look like wearing them. It was good to have a break and put to the
back of their minds (even if only for a short time) the uncertain
future that awaited them.
When the shopping was finally
completed they headed off for some lunch and a well earned rest.
Shopping bags hanging from their arms, Max took Daria to her
favourite little coffee shop. It was across the road from the beach
and if you sat outside you could hear the surf pounding. Daria had
never been to the coast in her own world and found the constant
sound of the waves breaking, very soothing.
They sat down and Max read and
explained the menu for Daria who eventually decided on a sandwich,
Max had a BLT and ordered lattes for both of them. While they
waited for their order to arrive, they sat and talked about what
they should do next.
‘I have no idea how we’re going
to find this temple,’ said Max, ‘Janus never gave me any directions
at all, not even a tiny clue as to where we might find it.’
Daria leaned back in her chair
and crossed her arms.
‘Your guess is as good as mine,
at least in my world Haven could hear your thoughts which made it
easier for us to find the portal.’ At the mention of Haven’s name
Max blushed and looked down at the table top, not wanting to make
eye contact with Daria, ‘I think we need to talk about this Haven
thing,’ said Daria smiling.
‘Wwhat Haven thing?’ stuttered
Max, ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’
‘Oh, I think you do . . .
anyway, I’m happy for you both, it’s about time he found someone,
he’s been by himself for too long.’
‘I don’t understand,’ said Max,
‘for some reason I thought you and he. . . .’
‘Stop,’ said Daria holding up
her hand and laughing, ‘you didn’t think Haven and I.....?’
‘I did but . . . well I’m glad
you aren’t a couple, but I think we should take things slowly we’ve
only just met.’
‘No,’ said Daria, ‘who knows
how long any of us may have, you move as quickly as you can, don’t
waste one second of your time with him.’
They carried on talking for an
hour or so before deciding to go home and show their new purchases
to Haven and Gilster. On the drive back Daria had a laugh at some
of the things they had bought, but Max assured her that was what
men were wearing in her world.
‘I wonder what the fashion will
be in the next world,’ said Max, thinking of the weirdest outfit
she could, ‘hopefully we won’t stand out too much . . . if we find
it that is.’
‘That’s odd,’ said Daria,
tilting her head slightly, ‘I just had a vision of Gilster in my
mind.’
‘Nothing serious I hope,’ said
Max, speeding up slightly.
‘I don’t think so,’ replied
Daria, ‘no doubt we’ll find out when we get home, if it was bad I
should have picked that up.’
Max and Daria arrived back at
the house, parked the car in the driveway, removed the bags of new
clothing from the back-seat and walked in the front-door still
chatting and laughing together. Both men were in the kitchen,
talking quietly, their faces grim, when the two women entered.
‘What’s wrong?’ asked Daria,
looking at Haven’s worried face, ‘and don’t lie to me, I may not be
a telepath, but I know something has happened, I had a vision of
Gilster before.’ It was Gilster who answered.
‘We had a . . . couple of
visitors while you were away,’ he said.
‘WHAT . . . they came back,’
Daria was worried, ‘I can’t believe it, I was so sure they wouldn’t
return . . . are you both all right? What happened?’
‘We’re fine,’ said Gilster,
‘don’t panic, but you know what this means, we have to leave now,
we won’t be able to come back to the house again.’ The three
friends looked at Max, wondering how she would react, having to
leave her home for good.
‘It’s ok,’ sighed Max, as she
placed the shopping bags on the small kitchen table, ‘I understand,
I’ve been expecting it, it’s just happened a little quicker than I
thought. We can leave now if you like, I’ve already packed a bag
and we have the clothes we bought today if we need them. We can go
and stay at a hotel until we’re ready to look for the temple. But
Shibby must come with us,’ she added hurriedly, ‘I won’t go without
him.’ The two men smiled.
‘That won’t be a problem,’ said
Gilster smiling, ‘he’s very welcome, in fact he may have saved our
lives.’
Max looked stunned. ‘What . . .
how?’
‘Not now,’ said Haven, ‘we’ll
talk about it later, let’s just get going and get out of this place
before someone else comes looking.’
Twenty minutes later the car
was packed and they were ready to leave, Max had phoned a resort
about thirty miles away and made a reservation. Shibby was all
tucked up in his cat carrier ready for the ride, he had improved
greatly since Max had been doing reiki on him, even she was amazed
at how quickly he had improved. Daria said the energy had probably
been more concentrated due to the close proximity of all the energy
workers.
‘Before we leave,’ said Haven,
‘we have some—possibly--good news. We found some information which
the followers of Anubis had hidden on them, Gilster has it now;
hopefully, it may be the clue we need to help us find the temple,
that’s all I’m going to say because we need to get a move on, but I
thought it would be nice to have some good news.’
‘Thanks,’ said Max laughing,
‘but I wish you hadn’t said anything, now it’s going to drive me
crazy thinking about it until you tell me what it is.’
They all piled into Max’s
little car and headed for the resort. Shibby was sitting on Daria’s
knees in his carrier, looking out of the window, he seemed excited
about the journey and was purring loudly. Max didn’t look back once
at the house that had been her childhood home; she was moving on, a
new chapter of her life was unfolding with her new friends and one
old one, Shibby. Max was happy Shibby was coming, she needed him to
ground her and prove that what was happening was not just a weird
dream.
As she was driving she began to
think about everything that had happened in such a short period of
time. ‘I wouldn’t believe any of this if someone told me it had
happened to them,’ she thought, ‘it’s the most amazing thing and
there are even more strange things to come.’ She looked up at her
rear vision mirror, straight into the ice-blue eyes of Haven. ‘I
need to speak to you later, alone, if that’s ok.’ She felt rather
silly thinking it instead of saying it, but she was positive Haven
would hear her thoughts. His eyes widened and then he nodded
slightly, no one had noticed but Max. ‘He heard me,’ she thought
happily.
They arrived at the resort
about six o’clock in the evening, unloaded the car and snuck Shibby
into the unit hidden under a blanket. Pets were not allowed.
‘Shall we order in?’ said Max,
picking up a wad of local takeaway menus kindly provided by the
resort.
‘What a wonderful world you
live in Max,’ said Haven, ‘you don’t even have to cook if you don’t
want to.’
‘Yes,’ said Gilster, ‘I think
we should order in, then we can show you the information we found
on our “visitors” and you can decide if it’s pertinent.’
After reading through the menus
for a few minutes, they decided on a couple of pizzas and some
Italian. Max went across the road to the local hotel and bought a
couple of bottles of wine and a six pack of beer. ‘Hopefully that
will be enough,’ she thought, smiling. Her new friends had
certainly taken to the food and drink in her world, especially the
drink. Haven’s favourite turned out to be beer, but the discerning
tastes of Daria and Gilster leaned more towards wine, especially
red.
The food arrived and everyone
sat around the dining table, helping themselves. Shibby was eating
from his cat bowl, Max had packed it because she wanted him to have
something that was his own, something familiar. Poor Shibby, he’d
lost his brother, his home and had been badly injured and on top of
all that, now he was being taken somewhere he had never been before
and it had all happened in such a short period of time. ‘A little
like me,’ thought Max. ‘We’re both tough though, we can handle it,
as long as we’re together.’
A gentle tickle in her mind
startled her, it was Haven. ‘I’m not listening to you,’ he said, ‘I
just wanted to know if now was a good time?’
‘A good time for what?’ said
Max out loud, not thinking. Haven cringed.
‘Huh, what are you talking
about?’ said Daria taking a bite of her pizza.
‘Sorry, that was meant for
Haven,’ said Max sheepishly, ‘and it was meant to be a thought, not
come out loud like that, I can’t seem to get the hang of talking to
someone with my mind.’
‘Oh, you two are starting to
become painful,’ said Daria with mock annoyance.
‘Yes, I agree,’ said Gilster,
‘will you just go off somewhere and leave us in peace.’
Haven grinned, ‘how about it?’
he asked, holding out a hand to Max. Without saying a word, Max
stood and took his outstretched hand, it was warm and strong.
Leaving the room together they walked down the hallway and entered
Haven’s room.
‘Finally,’ said Gilster to
Daria; they both laughed as they chinked their wine glasses
together.
Hours later Daria and Gilster
were still trying to work out what the piece of paper found in the
Anubian’s pocket might be.
‘I have no idea what all these
squiggles mean,’ said Daria, exasperated, ‘maybe we should have got
Max to have a look at them before she left.’
Gilster looked over at her, his
eyebrows raised. ‘REALLY?’ he said, ‘you really think she would
have been able to concentrate with Haven sitting there staring at
her, tickling her mind in that way he does, no, this was the better
option and I think, when they eventually get back to us they will
be able to concentrate much better on the task at hand.’
‘You’re probably right,’ said
Daria .
‘Probably? I know I’m right,
you’ll see.’ The wine eventually ran out and Daria and Gilster were
feeling relaxed and sleepy, something they had not felt for awhile;
they decided to go to bed and talk about the clues again in the
morning, when, hopefully all four of them would have clear
heads.
Max awoke to the morning sun
streaming through the half open curtains; a streak of light
slashing across the end of the bed. She was lying with her head on
Haven’s chest listening to his heart beat, her hand resting lightly
on his stomach; she felt . . . contented. The night had been
wonderful, they’d talked for hours, getting to know one another and
eventually, they had fallen asleep in each other’s arms. She felt a
warm glow inside, she still couldn’t believe she was with this
strange man from another world. Haven stirred; opening his eyes and
stretched like a cat, a very large cat; he saw Max looking at him
and smiled wickedly.