Authors: P R Mason
He considered me for a few moments before nodding. “I suppose I can handle a few teenagers. All right.” He turned, shrugged and headed into the house. “Come in.”
I expected to see dusty books and papers and certainly the halls and rooms confirmed my expectations. Through the arched entry into the parlor, I saw the sofas and chairs were covered with books as well. A variety of antiquarian weapons were mounted on the walls. Just on my quick scan I noted a battle-axe, metal spiked mace, longbow, musket and lance. But what surprised me most was the array of sophisticated computer equipment lining one entire wall of what would have been the dining room in a normal house.
No dogs attacked us which was explained when Anderson switched off a CD player and the barking stopped.
“Mr. Anderson, what—” I began.
“Call me Zen.” He led us into the parlor and pushing books from the sofa. “It’s a nickname from my days in special forces,” he said. “It was supposed to be ironic.”
Ah that explained a lot.
“I take it you kids were in the tunnel when a vortex opened?” Zen asked
“Rom, Senji and I.” I replied.
“And two monsters came out?”
“Yes.”
“And what else?” Zen asked me.
“I’m not sure what you want me to say?”
“Say nothing,” Rom said. “Let us leave this place.”
“No,” I insisted. “We need him.”
“He can tell us nothing.” Rom's face was set in angry lines.
“I can tell you what you won’t say.” Zen stared into my eyes. “Those two monsters came out after two of your friends went in.”
"How did you know—" Senji started before I elbowed him in the gut.
Zen smirked and added, “I also know how you can find those lost friends.”
“It’s called a psychomanteum,” Zen said as he led us up the stairs of his home.
We entered a room illuminated only by the light from the hall. What was probably meant to be a bedroom contained no furniture except for a giant wooden easel at its center and a table along one wall. Three candles topped the table. Mounted on the easel was a frame covered by a drape. The room’s walls had been painted black and the two windows obliterated by heavy, dark shades.
“The basis for the psychomanteum dates back to ancient Greece.” Zen lit the candles. “The Greeks had the practice of gazing into a still pool of water for the purpose of producing visions, communicating with the spirits, and seeing into other dimensions.” He crossed to the door and closed it, leaving the room lighted by only three small flames.
“But how will this help us contact Franky and Juliette?” I asked.
“I think your lost friends and their life forces are somehow entangled with the monsters who came through the vortex. I’ve seen this kind of thing before but could never prove it." Zen added.
"I don't understand," I said.
"Trying to understand earned me a dishonorable discharge from the military. Those sons-o–bitches!" Zen shouted to the ceiling. "They just couldn't get past their narrow little tiny minds. I could—"
“You were saying about our friends?” I asked trying to bring him back to the topic.
“Oh yes. Five years ago, I saw a thing appear as if out of thin air and take the place of…a person.”
When he said the word “person” it was as if he had planned to say something else. Perhaps someone’s name?
“She vanished without a trace,” he continued. "About a year ago, after further investigation and study, I concluded this person had been forced into inter-dimensional travel."
“Inter-dimensional travel? That’s whacko,” Chase said.
“And what we’ve seen so far isn’t?” Senji drawled.
It was whacko, but hadn’t Mr. Hutson theorized something similar?
“I didn’t exactly see anything,” Chase commented. “I have to take Senji's word since Petra and I weren’t there when they disappeared.”
“You also have Rom and Kizzy’s word,” Senji pointed out.
“I don’t know Rom. And Kizzy is cr—” He was probably about to pronounce me crazy. Petra shot Chase a stink eye glare and applied a twisting pinch to his side. “Credible. Kizzy is credible,” he finished.
Petra smiled at him and then popped a kiss on his cheek.
“Which one of you opened the vortex?” Zen moved to the easel.
“That’s a stupid question. None of us would open a vortex,” Senji said.
“Not deliberately, maybe. But one of you did open it,” Zen observed.
“It was me,” I admitted. “I don’t know how I did it but somehow I did.”
“There are people, not many but some, who have the power to open doorways into other dimensions. And if you can open a vortex you may have the power to see into that dimension with the psychomanteum.” Zen pointed to the draped frame.
“The absurdity of you astounds me,” Rom said to Zen. Rom took me by the arm. “Let us depart.”
“No." I shook him off. "If there's a chance of finding out what happened to Juliette and Franky, or of contacting them, then I have to try.”
Rom grunted and stomped off to the corner where he took up a position leaning against the wall with arms crossed over his chest.
“Let us see this thing you call a psychomanteum,” Rom demanded.
Zen walked to the easel. He lifted the draping with a flourish.
“It’s just a mirror,” Chase said.
Rom barked a laugh. “Has this contrivance ever produced a vision for you?”
“No," Zen admitted. "But it should."
“Theory only,” Rom scoffed.
“Everyone against the wall and out of the mirror’s reflective area.” Zen directed. “Except you, Kizzy. Come forward.”
When I hesitated, Petra touched my arm. “You don’t have to do it.”
“Yes, I do,” I said, offering her a wan smile. “It’s okay.”
I inched forward to a point about three feet from the mirror.
Zen took me by the shoulders and pushed me up to within a foot away.
“Now, stare into the glass and concentrate on your desire to communicate with Juliette and Franky,” he whispered into my ear. "If my information is right, they’re not able to open the contact to you but they’ll be able to speak to you once you've opened the lines of communication." Zen stepped away.
Conscious only of the flickering light of the candle in the darkness and the blackness of the mirror, for long minutes I chanted within my mind: Juliette, Franky, Juliette, Franky. Please. I’m so sorry. Where are you?
“It’s not working,” Chase said.
“Why isn’t it working?” Petra asked.
“Isn’t there anything else we can do?” Senji practically shouted.
“Yes.” Zen opened the door to the room. “You can get out since you are incapable of being quiet. Wait outside.”
Complaining, but clearly happy to be out of there, Chase, Petra and Senji filed into the hall. Rom didn’t budge.
“Do not think you will force me to abandon Kizzy,” he said in an almost growl.
Zen threw up his hands, grimaced and shut the door plunging the room into the candlelit darkness again.
Turning my attention back to the mirror, I concentrated on my memory of the whirlpool of the vortex. Minutes later there was still no result. I decided to make my mind blank and thought only of my breathing, as I did when I meditated. Long breath in. Long breath out. Long breath in…After my mind quieted, I allowed the images of Juliette and Franky into my thoughts.
A wisp of fog appeared in the inky blackness of the mirror. The fog expanded until it filled the entire area within the frame. After a few seconds, the fog separated and began to seep away, but it didn't leave in its place a black reflection. Instead, I saw an ornate room, lavishly furnished with an enormous crystal chandelier at its center, oriental rugs, columns with gilded capitals, and cream-colored settee sofas. A room fit for a palace.
But it wasn’t the room but its inhabitants that riveted my attention. Juliette sat on one settee. She no longer wore the cheerleader's uniform she’d disappeared in. Instead, she was dressed in a pearl encrusted emerald green ball gown right out of the late 1800s. But the luxury of the garb and the furnishings was in stark contrast to the misery in her expression.
Franky moved into view, sat down beside Juliette and took her hand. He’d also changed and wore an elegant, if old-fashioned, tuxedo. Always a pale redhead, my friend now appeared almost translucent with his freckles showing as dark brown splotches against white skin.
A man I didn’t recognize strolled over to stand behind the sofa. The slender man, elegantly handsome with sandy brown hair and a thin moustache, also wore a tuxedo. His skin was unnaturally porcelain. The man had dark circles under his eyes and black tinged lips.
He reached out a pale hand with graceful long fingers—tipped with sharp pointed claw-like nails—and stroked Juliette’s hair.
A loud gasp escaped me. The man started as if he'd heard me. His head jerked up to stare in my direction and I automatically stepped back.
“Who was that?” the man said with a clipped, very posh, British accent. “Who is there?” He walked toward me and I took a step back. Would he be able to step through the mirror? I’d seen more bizarre happenings in the past three days.
Finally, I realized he was gazing into a mirror on his side.
“It’s me,” I said, stepping forward.
“Do not have discourse with him,” Rom ordered behind me.
“Shut up, Rom,” Zen snapped. “Do you want to get them back or not, Kizzy?”
“Kizzy?” The man in the mirror smiled knowingly “Juliette and Franky have mentioned you.” He pushed a hand through his well-groomed hair. “And I believe our soothsayer has foretold a prophecy concerning you."
"A prophecy?" I asked. "What kind of prophecy?"
"The soothsayer said 'A key will come, as surely as the ticking of the clock. But a key that is stolen shall never open the lock.'”
"That makes no sense," I mumbled.
The man moved closer and grinned revealing two sharp incisors.
Vampire! This time I held back my gasp.
“You know my name.” I tried to keep my voice calm. “May I know yours?”
The man bowed. “I am known as His Royal Highness, The Prince Leopold. You may address me as your Highness.”
“All right, your Highness,” I said. “How did Juliette and Franky come to be with you?”
The prince laughed. “You would know better than I how they crossed from your world to mine. But once in my realm, my subjects naturally brought them to the royal court for an audience with their prince. When I saw how special these visitors were, I knew they must stay here with me.” He glided back to the sofa and leaned over the back to place one arm around Juliette and the other around Franky. “And I was right to keep them here. We are all having a splendid time, are we not?”
Franky nodded miserably and Juliette choked out a wavery “yes”.
“We have tasted such delicacies of food and drink,” the prince said.