Poseidia (20 page)

After she entered and turned her back, I dropped the towel to the ground
, quickly stepped in, and sank into the mud. The heat shocked me, but I adjusted after a few minutes. She was right—it did feel great. My sore muscles melted, and all stress left my body—the week of activity had taken its toll.

We soaked in the mud undisturbed for about ten minutes. Several people entered the room and joined us, while a few went to the hot springs. I averted my eyes, trying to
avoid looking at them.

A couple sitting on the edge of one of the hot spring pools started kissing, and I
blushed, turning my head when I realized the man was Eric, Roman’s apprentice. Lily tapped me on the shoulder and motioned her head in the direction of the couple. Now they were making love, completely lost in each other.

Embarrassed and shocked at the vividly open display of affection
, I tried not to watch—I didn’t enjoy being a voyeur. Especially when it was someone I knew.
And found appealing.

“Can you feel their energy?” Lily asked. “They’re giving off loads of it. If you close your eyes and try to sense them, you can feel it. Try. Remember what I taught you in meditation about energy and boundaries. Now is a good time to practice, since it’s so intense. It’s much easier to discern.”

“What?” I whispered, even though no one would be able to hear us over the gurgle of the hot pools.
Is she crazy? That’s too weird.

But
once the suggestion had been planted, I couldn’t stop my curiosity. As much as I wanted to, being in the same room made their passionate energy inescapable. Not to mention, I found Eric attractive enough to have flirted with him every time he stood in for Roman.

An overwhelming
, heady rush of emotion blanketed me. It reminded me of the night in the Social Center with Roman when everyone was kissing on the dance floor. My eyes grew heavy and I closed them.

“Can we go?” I asked,
growing dizzy.

“Relax and open your mind,”
Lily instructed.

Unable to
resist the onslaught, my head rolled back onto the edge of the mud pool. The heaviness soon changed to something else entirely; every hair on my body stood at attention.

The sensation of pleasure coursed through
me in undulating waves.
Is this what they’re feeling?
My breathing became shallow and fast.

A buildup of tension gathered in my pelvis,
and then the energy released and dissipated. I opened my eyes, coming back to the present moment.

When Lily opened her eyes, I whispered, “What the hell was that?”

“That’s a sharing of their energy. It’s a taste of how the Connective feels. If you didn’t have the sensory dampener on, you would have had a much more powerful experience.”

“That’s powerful enough. I feel
disoriented and sick. Can I go back to my quarters? I think I need to lie down.”
Not to mention I’m beyond embarrassed.

As I got out of the mud bath, I staggered and fell grabb
ing for my towel. Lily helped me walk to the changing room, clean off, and get my clothes back on—I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

Back in my quarters, I laid down on the bed, my stomach cramping.
“What’s wrong with me?”

“You took on some negative energy. You’ll have to learn to control it. You’ll need more practice maintaining boundaries, and
how not go too far out with your energy. You’re much more sensitive than I thought,” she explained, smoothing my hair down.

“I don
’t understand anything you said.”

“This is the sort of practic
e you’ll learn about in your more advanced training. I’ll let you get some rest. We have two hours before the integration, so you’ll need to see a healer. It will help to rid you of the dark energy you absorbed.”

After she left,
I napped briefly, remembering the couple making love out in the open
. Why are they all so uninhibited? Is it a Mer thing?

A beep at the
door woke me, and Lily came in. “Are you ready? The healer is waiting.”

“Oh, I don’t know
if that’s necessary. I slept and feel better. It was only a weird experience.”

Lily
insisted and I eventually relented. We returned to the Healing Center and entered a small room. A man with long silver hair and a muscular build came in. He didn’t speak as I did, only as they did in the Connective, so Lily translated.

“He wants you to undress and lay down on the table. Here, yo
u can cover with these sheets.”

At least she is catching on to my need for modesty.

“He wants you to relax,” she continued.

“Ok
ay.” I closed my eyes and did some visualization techniques. As I concentrated on my breathing, my body eased.

His presence was gentle. With my sensory dampener still on, he touched me, starting with my feet. I opened my eyes and tried to peek when
I saw a glowing light come out of his hands.
What is he doing?

E
lectrical impulses coursed through my body, but not in a sensual way. As I relaxed, a state of euphoria fell into place, and I lost sense of time.

Covering every inch of my body, heat emanated and
pulsed where his hands met my skin.

When he finished, he left quietly,
and I floated back to reality.

Lily waited outside the room for me, with a bag in hand. “Do you feel better?”

I nodded, looking around at the eerily quiet Healing Center. “Where is everyone?”

“They’re preparing,” she
answered.

“Everyone? Why?”
I followed her into another patient room and sat down on the bed.

“After we integrate you here, we’ll take you to the
temple for the ceremony. Everyone in the city will be there,” she replied as she opened the bag she carried and handed me a white dress.

“You mean a party?”

“Similar,” she deduced.

“How many people are we talking about here? I’m not good with crowds,” I
complained.

“About nine hundred
.”

“Nine hundred people coming to a ceremony for me?”
I hated crowds.

“You’ll be fine. Don’t be embarrassed
—be proud. It’s an honor, and we’ll honor you.” Pointing to the dress I held, she said, “This is what you’ll wear for the integration and ceremony.”

I
held it up and shook out a long, bright sheer white dress. It had openings on the sides, and a long V-neck down the front and back.

“It’s too revealing,” I
objected.

“We want your
electroreceptors to be exposed for the ceremony.”

“Well, in this it’s not only my receptors that
’ll be exposed.” I slipped the gown over my head and it fell almost to the floor. The dress barely covered up the front and back of my body, with the neckline almost reaching my belly button. Around my waist, I cinched a gold braided belt. “I might as well be naked.”

“You can be if you want to,
” Lily said.

“I was joking. Well, what next?” I wanted to get it over with—I hated anticipation of any kind. My tummy filled with butterflies.
Breathe in and out.
Be brave
…

I can’t. I’m terrified.

“If you’re ready, lay down, and I’ll get Lucas.”

Lucas and several assistants walked in, pushing a device on wheels. It
resembled one of those defibrillator machines they shocked you with in hospitals when your heart stopped.
Oh, crap.
There were green, red, and yellow wires with clips. He parked it next to the bed.

Secretly,
I was disappointed Roman wasn’t here—I’d hoped he would come, to be there for me. The silent treatment drove me crazy. I regretted being such a harsh bitch to him.

While
I guessed I had overestimated our connection, a pang resounded in my heart at his absence, needing his moral support. I did some deep breathing exercises attempting to quiet my mind and nerves. Closing my eyes, I slowed my breathing and said, “Whenever you’re ready, I am.”

Lucas hooked some of the wires to the end of my sensory dampener on the back of ea
ch of my hands. “Relax, it should not hurt, and we will be done quickly,” he assured. “Here we go.”

A
n electric shock went through my body at high voltage and my eyes rolled back into my head. My body went into a complete seizure, and thrashed out of control.

Chapter 2
0

“T
urn her down, turn her down,” Lily screamed through the haze.

My body seized on the table.
Terrified, I was aware of the muscle spasms, but helpless to break their vice grip on my body.

Am I dying again
?

T
he seizure stopped, and I laid there, staring out into space with my eyes wide open, time frozen.

A
foggy, white light blanketed everything in the room as a transparent woman stepped out of the haze. Unsure of what was going on, I didn’t know if I was even alive.

“Hello Anna
, I am one of your Guardians. I can walk between our worlds. I am taking this opportunity to speak with you on behalf of the elders. We have caused this discomfort, please forgive us.”

I couldn’t speak
as I stared through her. Translucent, she had long black hair, silver eyes, and wore the same kind of clothing as the people here in Poseidia.

Is she a ghost?

“Come with me, I want to take you somewhere that we can speak more clearly.” Her voice echoed in my head, but her lips didn’t move.

I placed my hand in hers and sat up. Only, my body didn’t sit up—I had placed my ethereal hand in hers, not my physical one.
As I looked down, my body was frozen in time—eyes wide open in shock. Absent now of any fear, I realized I was having an out-of-body experience. An enormous sense of peace and love filled my soul. I could trust her.

I regained my voice and
asked, “Am I dead?”

“No, I assure you, you are very much alive. You are safe.”

“Who… are you? Where do you want to take me?” I experienced no real physical sensations, only an intensity of positive emotions—a complete void of any negative.

“I want to take you to a place called
No Time—it exists between dimensions. We can speak there, while time stands still here. Come, it is harmless,” she assured as she pulled on my hand.

I didn’t feel her touching me, but my ethereal body responded with movement.

As I stood to walk, the room we were in transformed. A long hallway with all white walls, ceilings, and floors appeared while the Healing Center room faded. Numerous doors lined the walls on both sides.

A bright white light shone through the walls as if they weren’t solid, similar to the walls in my room when the lights were on, but far more intense. It blinded me and I had to shield my eyes.
Waves of unconditional love pulsated from the light. I felt safe and at home.

With my hand still in hers, she led me
into a room. Lacking the sensation of walking, I realized I floated behind her.

“We can speak here. Take a seat
.” Her lips moved now, her voice no longer only in my head. A sound soft, familiar, and a tickle at the back of my mind. Another strong sense of déjà vu overcame me—as if I’d known her forever.

I gripped the top of the chair to keep from falling.
As I reached out for support, I became more physically grounded—the warmth of the floor awakening under my bare feet.

“Who are you?” Any time I spoke, it was if an echo resonated through the hallways, and in my head.
Slowly, I lowered myself into the chair across from her.

“I am your Guardian. My name is
Sarah.”

Again, her voice scratched at my brain as I s
earched my memories for her.

S
arah continued, “I am an original ancestor of Atlantis. When Atlantis fell, some people escaped to other lands, and some chose to become Mer with the help of a genetic engineer. Others, like me, walked into another dimension. Where we live, Atlantis is still above water and is as it was over ten thousand years ago. In your world, Poseidia is all that remains of ancient Atlantis.” She reached across the table for my hand.

Atlantis?
“I don’t understand.”
Other dimension?

“You will in t
ime. Your King Mestor will help,” she assured.

I
allowed her to hold my hand briefly and in the split second, a deep stirring, similar to a repressed memory pushed to the surface.

“The k
ing? He knows about this place?” I fumbled with my hands, holding them together so she couldn’t touch me again, disliking the confusing feelings.

“He’ll be joining us soon in our dimension. We took this opportunity to speak with you, to give you a message
: You were, in a past life, an original Atlantean, my sister, and dearest friend,” she confessed as a tear trailed down her cheek.

Why is she sad?
“What past life? What… is that?”
My sister?
I pressed back in the chair, trying to pull my energy away from her. But when I met her eyes, I knew she spoke truth. Feeling a strong connection to her, part of me wanted to believe what she said.

“Then, your n
ame was Hesperis. You were our queen, wife of King Atlas. You died when… a strong tidal wave hit you. The first of many to come, destroying Atlantis, our home.”

“I died?”
In disbelief, I grew uncomfortable and my skin crawled, not wanting to hear about another death. Remembering my tumble from the cruise ship caused enough anxiety.

“You did
not want to leave, even though I begged. You died in my arms moments before I walked into this dimension. You were trying to save a young boy who was lost.”

“I don’t remember any of this.”
Fear slithered into my heart.

“You
are not meant to. If people remembered their past lives, they would also remember their past deaths. It can be traumatic. Once you reach full integration, the memories of your ancestors, and your past lives, will be available to you.”

“I don’t want to know.”

“It matters not. It will be.” Her eyebrows rose over her silver eyes and she placed her hands on the table face down, so sure of herself.

Confused,
I put my head in my hands, covering my eyes.
Am I dreaming?

“This new life has been given to you as a gift
—you are here to help your people once again. The world is changing, and you will play a part. The veil between our worlds is thinning and one day they will merge in order to save what remains of yours. A great plague is coming that will infect all of land’s humankind. It will be only the beginning of many changes to come. Save as many as you can. Help them transform their hearts, minds, and bodies. Once we merge, the new Atlantis will be born. I must go—I cannot maintain the connection much longer.” Sarah stood and turned to walk away.

“How?” I
jumped up knocking the chair over.

“You
will know when the time comes. Prepare for it.” Sarah was fading—I could barely see her now. “We will be with you for guidance. Summon me whenever you need me. You will instinctively know how. My time has run out—find me in dormiveglia. I must go.” She disappeared, leaving me alone in the room.

“Wait, come back. I don’t understand. When? What do I do? How do I prepare?” I asked
the empty room. As I walked out into the hallway, it faded to black.
Dormiveglia? What’s that?

M
y body jerked up off the table.

“She’s back,” Lily
chimed, relieved.

I blinked my eyes, trying to focus
as the excruciating pain of the electric shock coursed through my body.

“What happened?” I managed to squeak out
, shaking and gasping.

“You went into seizures when we turned up your sensory dampener. We had to turn it
back down,” she informed as she hovered over me, checking my pulse and feeling my forehead.

“Where’s
Sarah?” I asked, my voice an unrecognizable croak.

“Who?” Lily and Lucas asked in unison.

“The woman I spoke to, Sarah. Where’d she go?”

Lily and Lucas looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders.

Disoriented, I tried to sit up on the table, but couldn’t. My eyes darted around the room, trying to make sense of what happened. I opened and closed my hands and wiggled my feet, renewing sensation in my extremities. Finally, I managed to halfway prop myself up on my elbows. “I think you can turn it back up now.”

“I don’t believe we should
.” Lily took my hand while pressing on my shoulder, indicating I should lie back down.

“It’s ok
ay. Sarah said they caused the seizure so they… she could talk to me.” I coughed; my mouth cottony dry. With a few deep breaths, I settled my nerves, now weighed down by my physical body.

“This
Sarah, who is she?” Lily asked.

“She said she is an ancestor, an original
… Atlantean who walked into another dimension.”
And my sister?
I blinked my eyes repeatedly. My heart still raced as I tried to wrap my mind around what happened. Disbelief grew the more the minutes ticked by.
Atlantean? Pfft. I’m sure it was a hallucination.

“An ancestor visited you?” Lucas asked
excitedly. His eyes twinkled with a hint of joy.

“I guess,” I said. “Try it again.”
Eager to get it over with, somehow, I knew this time I wouldn’t go into a seizure.

“What did she say to you?” Lucas asked.

“I didn’t understand the message.” Blushing, truth was, I’d feel completely silly reiterating what she said. I thought it would sound egotistical. Besides, I wanted to forget the huge ramifications and simply get this integration over with.

Lucas glanced at Lily, and she
nodded her head in understanding. “Try it, but be cautious. If she starts seizing again, we’ll turn it down again.”

They agreed and
slowly restarted the process. This time, only a mild shock went through my body. It grew in intensity until it fizzled out into the background.

Voices swirled all around me.
Feeling as if I had the worst vertigo in my life, I tried to sit up unsuccessfully. Colors hovered in the air everywhere I looked. The electroreceptors all over my body hummed, full of energy, coursing up my body in waves.

“I know I’m hallucinating now,” I
marveled.

“Why, what do you see? Is it an ancestor again?” Lucas asked
, animatedly.

“No
, I see colors everywhere around you and Lily. It’s disorienting.”

“
As part of the integration, you will see, hear, and feel in more than three dimensions. This is how you will experience the world from now on. We will teach you how to orient yourself and control it. You should be able to turn it off and on at will.”

“Great, more training.”

“Please, get her some water,” Lucas ordered one of the assistants. To me he said, “Rest, the ceremony will be in a few hours. Take a nap—you’ll feel better when you wake.” Lucas then left after scanning me.

One of the assistants
returned with water and I gulped it down.

Lily sat down on the side of the bed and held my hand. “I thought you were dying. I didn’t know what to do.”
Motherly, she kissed my hand, and brushed back my hair.

“I love you, Lily. You’re
the mother figure I needed but didn’t realize was missing from my life.”
Did I say that? Did I mean it? Yeah, I think I did
. I’d grown to love it here, too.

“Well, sleep, my daughter. I’ll sit
here with you while you rest.”

The integration, and all the training leading up to it, had exhausted me. My head pounded and I closed my eyes to ease the ache.
I drifted off for a short while. Slowly I awoke—I’d been asleep long enough to feel refreshed, and more adjusted to my new perceptions. Lily remained in a chair at the end of the bed with her eyes closed.

“Lily?” I whispered, not
wanting to wake her if she slept.

She opened one eye, “Yes? I’m only meditating. Do you feel better?”

“I do. How long was I out?”

“Only about thirty minutes—not long.
It’s good to reset your system. If you feel well enough, we’ll head to the ceremonial room.” Lily stood and placed her hand in mine.

“I guess we should get it over with
.”

“Where we’re going is all the way across the city. We’ll have to take a portal to get there or you’ll collapse from exhaustion before we make it.” Lily led me to a d
oorway in the same room as the healing tanks. She touched a portal key on her ear the way Roman had and the same black swirling tar appeared.

W
e stepped through, and out into a small gazebo-type structure, which housed five similar doorways.

“What is this?” I asked.

“A central portal location for this side of the city. There is a similar structure behind the Training Center, for residents coming from this side.” She led me toward the temple, where the ceremony would take place.