Yes, it was definitely time to leave.
Julie looked into the creature’s shining face. He nodded and they began to rise.
“Come on, sweetheart. Don’t you quit on me!” the paramedic muttered in concentration. Julie looked back at him. He sounded so worried … but the being was waiting, so she turned to follow.
Chapter 2
They were in a tunnel.
The sides of the tunnel raced past, but Julie barely noticed.
She was too mesmerized by the light at the end — a light that grew brighter every moment. It was the same light that radiated from the being who was escorting her.
But it was much more intense.
It contained every color in the rainbow and then some. Yet at the same time, it was absolutely … pure. That was the word that kept coming to her mind. There was no other way to describe the light. It was simply … pure.
As it struck her face and skin she could feel that purity embracing her, washing over her, seeping inside her. Never in her life had she felt so loved, so cherished. And the closer she drew to the light, the more deeply she felt that love.
Suddenly the walls to the tunnel fell away, and she was surrounded by even more light. Julie had heard stories of people dying, of them going through a tunnel and meeting a light. Like everyone else, she figured the light had to be God. But she didn’t see him. Instead, she saw a city.
This was no ordinary city. It spread below them for miles.
And in place of concrete and steel were crystal and gems. Glowing crystals and gems. The buildings, the streets, the bridges …
everything glowed with the same light she was feeling.
It wasn’t long before she saw the source of the light.
They were approaching a large, grassy knoll, and just on the other side, behind the rise, the light blazed the brightest. Julie couldn’t explain it, but as they drew closer, her eyes began to fill with tears. Not tears of sadness; tears of joy. She knew that the light behind the knoll held the comfort to every sorrow and heartache she’d ever felt. She knew it was the answer to all of her pain and emptiness. She knew that in the presence of that light she would never be lonely again.
She also knew that it wasn’t just light, but a person.
**********
The paramedic was working silently, determination on his face.
He plunged the needle of a syringe into a bottle and drew in a clear liquid. He reached for the Y connection of the IV tubing that led to Julie’s arm and inserted the needle. He injected the drug quickly and steadily.
Pitching the syringe into a bag, he expertly slid his fingers down Julie’s jawline to her throat and checked her pulse.
There was none.
**********
Julie knew that whoever was on the other side of that knoll was the source of all the light, all the power. And all the love. She wanted to be with this person; she
had
to be with him. It was the most important thing in the world.
She started for the knoll, but to her surprise, her guide stopped her. She looked at him, puzzled. His face still radiated the same strength and kindness, but it was clear he did not want her to approach the knoll.
Julie tried again.
Again, he prevented her.
Her anxiety rose. They were passing the knoll. They were passing the very thing she wanted, the only thing she ever needed.
She tried again, with the same results. Her companion held her back. Fear took hold. Her stomach knotted. And the farther away they traveled from the knoll, the bigger the knot grew. She felt sick — like she was going to throw up. And still they continued moving.
Now different tears burned her eyes as loss and sadness swept over her. Her throat tightened with an unbearable ache of loneli-ness, and then, when the pain was the greatest, she saw it.
A park.
Directly below them.
But it really wasn’t a park; it was more like a garden. A lush, manicured garden. Incredibly beautiful trees towered on every side, shimmering with such vivid color that they made the trees back home seem like shadows. The same was true of the stream that wandered through the garden. Its water was more
real
somehow than any she had ever seen. She thought it looked like sparkling diamonds as it splashed and swirled.
Julie noticed they were slowing down and dropping gently into the garden. She could see human forms of light standing on the lawn, gazing up at her. They waved, and suddenly she recognized faces: her Aunt Marcy, who had passed away when she was eight; a deceased cousin she had never met but whose picture hung in the hallway of her house; Grandma and Grandpa — looking exactly as they had when they were alive, only a lot stronger and happier.
As her feet touched the lawn she was surrounded by these loved ones and many others. Everybody was excited to see her; everybody wanted to hug her.
“Grandma!” Julie embraced her fiercely. “Is this heaven? Am I in heaven?”
The woman continued smiling, but there was no missing the concern around her eyes. She didn’t speak, yet Julie could hear her voice.
“You don’t belong here, honey. Not yet.”
“But, Grandma …”
“It’s for your own good,” Grandpa interrupted. “You’re not ready, sweetheart. There’s something you must do first. A decision you must make.”
“But — ”
“In good time,” Grandma gave her a warm smile. “In good time.”
**********
The paramedic snapped on a small machine that quickly hummed to life. He grabbed two metal paddles, then squirted gel from a squeeze bottle onto their flat surfaces. Though his actions were precise and steady, his heart pounded.
“Here we go, sweetheart,” he said grimly. He placed the paddles on Julie’s chest, then depressed a small switch on one paddle.
Julie’s body arched as the electricity surged through it, then slumped back down onto the stretcher.
**********
Suddenly Julie felt a tug. Hard and forceful. Suddenly she was being pulled away — and her dream began to feel more like a nightmare.
She cried out in alarm. “Grandma?”
“It’s all right, dear. You must return. You must make your decision.”
She was plucked up into the air, flying backward, away from the group, away from the park.
“Grandma! Grandpa!”
But they quickly shrank in size as she flew away. Soon she couldn’t see them at all. She was flying faster than ever before.
The city blurred as she streaked past. Desperately, she searched for the knoll, the light, but it was nowhere to be seen. She looked for her guide, but he had disappeared. She tried to scream, but she was traveling too fast. Any sound she made was sucked out of her mouth by the roaring wind.
The tunnel closed back around her.
“No.” She squeezed out a gasp. “Please …” Its sides raced past her at terrifying speed.
“No …”
Now she was back over the ambulance, being sucked toward it with tremendous force. She covered her face as she approached the roof, but she felt no impact.
For a split second she saw the paramedic. Then her lifeless body.
Then there was nothing.
**********
“We got her back!” the paramedic yelled to his partner. He took a deep breath and wiped the sweat from face. It had been close …
too close. He had almost lost her. But he had finally succeeded in starting her heart.
**********
Becka also dreamed.
She dreamed of the gray car racing over the top of the hill.
She dreamed of crying out a warning. And she dreamed of being too late.
It had been twenty-four hours since the accident. The group had followed the ambulance to the hospital and waited all morning and late into the afternoon. But since Julie remained in intensive care and since only her immediate family could visit, there wasn’t much they could do.
The police came and asked a lot of questions. Philip and Ryan were able to identify the car as a gray Escort, but no one got the license number, and oddly enough no one could remember what the driver looked like.
By early evening, Julie’s dad had convinced them to go home and get some sleep. He promised he’d call if there was any news.
So finally, reluctantly, the group broke up and headed home for some much needed rest. Between the accident and the showdown at the mansion, it had been a long two days.
But rest didn’t come easily for Becka. Once in bed, she kept tossing and turning. She kept reliving the accident, over and over, in her dreams. Was it her fault? Was there something supernatural she had overlooked in the mansion? Something that came out and attacked Julie on the street? Why hadn’t the car slowed?
Why hadn’t anyone noticed the driver? The questions rolled and tumbled inside her mind.
Each time she dreamed of the accident, she tried to warn Julie, but each time she was too late. She hated it, but there was no way she could help in the dream, and there was no way she could stop the dreaming. Why did it keep returning? Was it guilt? Or was there something she was supposed to see?
By 3:00 a.m. her covers were twisted into a knot, her T-shirt was soaked with sweat — and still she dreamed.
Again the gray car crested the hill. Again in stop-frame slow motion, Becka cried out. Again Julie flew over the hood. But this time as Julie turned her head to see Becka, something changed.
It was no longer Julie.
It was Krissi!
Becka gasped. Now it was the group’s sweet, super-friendly airhead who looked at Becka in pain and confusion.
The dream shifted and started again. This time Becka was standing in the middle of the road. This time
she
was struck by the car and sent flying over the hood toward the windshield.
Another shift. Krissi was on the road. Krissi was hit. But before the cycle completed, there was another shift. Instead of Krissi flying, it was Becka again. And instead of ending, the dream continued as Becka sailed toward the windshield. She turned to see Julie and Krissi standing off to the side, watching. She looked back to the windshield. It was directly in front of her. She tried to cover her face, but there was no time. Then, a split second before hitting the glass, Becka saw the driver. Stunned disbelief coursed through her. The face looking back at her was … her own.
She hit the windshield hard, felt the pain of impact, felt the glass shattering and wrapping itself around her head. And then she bolted awake.
Her heart pounded wildly as she sat trying to catch her breath.
She reached for the nightstand light and snapped it on. This was no ordinary dream. She and Scott had both had dreams like this before. Something was going on. Something much deeper and more frightening than what appeared on the surface. And by the looks of things, Julie wasn’t the only one in danger … so was Krissi. So was Becka. She glanced at her radio clock.
3:14.
She would not be going back to sleep.
**********
Krissi hated Monday. First there was the usual problem of concentrating on her studies. On good days, this was tough enough.
Now, with one of her friends lying in the hospital, it was impossible. To top it off, it was the day of nominations, when each class nominated candidates for next year’s student-body offi-cers. Each class had to cram together into a single room and choose their vote.
Since the seniors weren’t going to be around next year (well, most of them anyway), they got to go home early. That meant the juniors had the library; the sophomores, the gymnasium; and the freshmen, the cafeteria. When Krissi arrived at the library, it was hot and stuffy with standing room only. She couldn’t do anything about the heat and stuffiness, but she knew how to get a seat. In a matter of seconds, she had managed to smile and flirt some guy into offering up one of the prized chairs. She thanked him graciously and took it.
Krissi really wasn’t a user. She just figured it was okay to take advantage of the gifts she had. It wasn’t her fault that those gifts happened to be a perfect body, perfect long, dark hair, and a perfect smile … not to mention killer eyelashes. They were her pride and joy.
Krissi sat down and did her best to pay attention to the end-less stream of “I nominate so-and-so” and “I second such-and-such.” She hated politics almost as much as she hated school.
Soon she was reaching down into her bag and pulling out a novel — the type with the handsome hunk in the torn shirt drooling over some babe with even less clothing. But after ten minutes, she closed the book with a sigh and turned back to her handbag for another distraction.
When she and her friends had been at the Hawthorne mansion, a very strange thing had happened: Krissi’s hand had written a message all by itself. Back then, losing control like that had been pretty scary, and she had pleaded for it to stop. But lately, over the past day or so, the idea had started to intrigue her. In fact, she actually had begun experimenting to see if she could duplicate the experience.
So far the only words she’d written were “Check him out” and “What a fox,” which she suspected came more from watching some college guys working out on the beach than from any supernatural inspiration.
Still, it was worth another try …
She took out a pen and a spiral tablet, and began doodling.
Nothing fancy. Her artistic skills were even less developed than her mental ones.
She glanced at her watch. Would this period ever end? She leaned her head on her free hand and closed her eyes. Somewhere in the background, she could hear Becka’s unsteady voice nominating Julie for something.
Good ol’ Rebecca, a friend to the end.
Krissi thought it was kind of weird that she and Becka hung out together. But Becka had been Julie’s friend, and what was good enough for Julie was good enough for Krissi.
Still, she and Becka couldn’t be more opposite if they tried.
Where Krissi knew every beauty trick in the book, Becka didn’t even seem to know there was a book. Where Krissi enjoyed being the center of attention, Becka did her best to blend into the wallpaper.
Even so, Krissi liked Becka’s sincerity. During all the time they’d spent together, Becka had never made a wisecrack about Krissi’s intelligence. She liked that. Oh, sure, Krissi pretended to laugh when everyone teased her about her smarts, but deep inside it hurt. She appreciated never feeling that hurt around Becka. Oh, and there was one other thing Krissi liked: Becka’s