Memory's Door (A Well Spring Novel) (27 page)

Go in and find out.

His soul, Lord? Without permission?

This time it is permitted. You will understand why.

If Reece could see his own face, he would guess it was pale.

“I believe the Spirit is telling us to go in.”

“What?” The sound of Brandon smacking the sides of the chair he sat in echoed in the room. “Maybe you are. Not me.”

“I will enter with you.” The professor’s voice sounded scared.

“As will I.” Dana’s voice was stronger. “I’m sensing we are to go in as well.”

“Did I miss something?” Brandon said.

“Apparently so.” Reece heard laughter in Dana’s voice.

“Fine,” Brandon said. “Let’s go on this crazy plane ride once again. It’s the only way to die.”

THIRTY-SEVEN

R
EECE SPUN HIS WALKING STICK AROUND HIS HAND LIKE
it was a sword as the four of them walked to the fire pit in his backyard. Dana caught the hint of a smile on his face. Of course there would be. She watched him as the others built a fire. Inside spiritual realms, Reece felt alive. Valuable. It was a place where he could see in all applications of the word.

After flames blazed from the pit, Reece pointed his stick at the fire. “Are you all ready to find out who we’re dealing with? Find out what side of the battle their loyalties lie on?”

“I’m in,” Brandon answered.

After Marcus and she said the same, Reece extended his arms. “Grab hands.”

Dana slipped her damp hand into Reece’s on her right and Brandon’s on her left. She didn’t exactly feel nervous—they’d done enough soul travel over the past year to make her almost comfortable with it—but still, this felt different. All the souls they’d gone into were known entities—good or evil. Tristan and his friends? They didn’t know. And the fact the Spirit had stayed silent on which camp the strangers fell into made this excursion full of apprehension.

“You all right, Dana?” Brandon squeezed her hand.

“Fine.”

“Then why is your hand sweating?”

“Because we have no idea what we’re getting into.”

“Do we ever?”

“We usually know what kind of a soul we’re going into.”

“But not always.”

She dropped the conversation and tried to relax.

“You don’t have to go, Dana,” Reece said.

“I’m ready.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes.”

Reece bowed his head. “Get a picture of Tristan in your mind. Let your spirit fly, let the Spirit take you. Here we go.”

Dana closed her eyes and let the sensation of falling in upon herself sweep through her. Her mind grew smaller and her spirit welled up from inside and filled her consciousness. The touch of Brandon’s and Reece’s hands grew lighter and stronger at the same time and the physical world faded and they were soaring. They would land any moment.

But the landing didn’t come.

Going through any soul gate had never taken this long. Seconds turned into minutes and then Dana did something she’d never done when going through a gate, maybe because there had never been the time. Maybe because she’d never thought of it before. She opened her eyes.

Where were they? Stars rushed by her as they streaked through the heavens. Planets appeared, then vanished behind them. Galaxies rushed by her. It seemed they traveled far faster than the speed of light.

She squeezed Brandon’s hand, then turned to look at him. No one was beside her. Dana spun to locate Reece, but although she still felt his hand, she saw nothing but the stars rushing by her. She looked down expecting to see her body, but nothing was there either. A particle of thought said this should bother her, but it didn’t. She blinked again but didn’t know if she’d done so in her mind or in reality. She laughed. How could she blink when she had no eyes to blink with?

They slowed and she found herself looking back on a massive collection of brilliant star clusters. Impossible. But she knew what it was. She’d seen something just like it in eastern Washington last summer on a moonless night. The cluster was made up of hundreds of galaxies, all of which contained billions of stars.

“Do you see this?” In her mind she pointed to the vast collection of light in front of them.

Both Brandon and Reece squeezed her hands. Had they heard her? She laughed. Of course they had—Marcus too. She stared at the galaxies, beyond awe, knowing God held the star systems in the palm of his hand. A moment later the stars vanished and solid ground formed under her feet.

“Wow, what a rush!” Brandon laughed and patted his body. “Nice to be back in my body.”

Marcus shook his head. “You aren’t in your body. You think you are, but you are not, as it is not possible. You’re projecting a mental impression that your spirit has graciously translated into a physical image. Quite effectively if you’ve forgotten the accuracy of my statement.”

“I know, I’m just saying it was weird coming through whatever kind of gate that was and not having any sense of form while we did it.”

Dana looked into Reece’s blue eyes. “Have you—?”

“No, I’ve never experienced anything even close to that.”

“What was it?”

“A gift.” Reece looked at each of them. “I believe we’ve just seen a glimpse of the heavens, and in our glorified bodies we’ll take journeys like that with high frequency.”

They stood on top of a tall hill covered by a thick blanket of heather. A soft wind brought a hint of lilacs and there was a touch of moisture in the wind that soothed her face. In the distance to their right were green cliffs thousands of feet high, reminiscent of Hawaii, with waterfalls dividing the mountains in sporadic sections. To their left was an arid plain spotted with massive red-rock
bridges and formations that made Sedona look like a one-sixteenth scale model by comparison.

And in front of them, stretched out across a green field dotted with small patches of the most exquisite trees Dana had ever seen, were rows of doors, thousands of rows, millions maybe. Door frames of gold and silver, ones that looked like they were carved from marble, others carved from concrete, others from stone. Thick wood frames and frames made of thin branches no thicker than a cattail. All different. All captivating in their beauty.

As she stared at them, Dana realized they were more than door frames and doors. They were gates. Could these be . . . ? Some gates appeared to be made of glass and some of ice and even some of swirling clouds.

Directly in front of them, a long, winding set of stairs led to a flat area about halfway down the hill that supported a wide platform made of dark wood. A group of figures—too far away to make out if they were men or women—moved across the large dais, stopping in front of each other for a few seconds, then moving on to descend the stairs on either side of the platform to the field of gates below.

The sensation of peace that surrounded them was so strong, Dana felt like she could taste it. A tang of honey and raspberry and smoky cheddar cheese all blended together.

She caught Brandon licking his lips. “You taste it too?”

“It’s unreal.” He grinned at her, then turned to Reece. “Quite a soul this Tristan Barrow has.”

Dana sniffed out a laugh. “I’m thinking we made a wrong turn and probably didn’t end up in Tristan’s soul.”

“Lucky guess,” Brandon said.

“I think we need little confirmation we are not in Tristan’s soul,” Marcus said. “But that does solicit the question of where we have ended our journey.”

“I have a very good idea.” Reece smiled.

“So do I,” Dana said.

“Come then, let’s find out if we’re right.”

THIRTY-EIGHT

D
ANA WATCHED
R
EECE STRIDE DOWN THE SMOOTH STEPS
of the stairway, his shoulders back, a song on his lips. As they grew closer to the platform of people, a few of them raised their heads and smiled. When they reached it, a man who looked to be in his seventies strolled over to them. His hair was thin and almost silver, but his eyes were young. “Enter in, with freedom, with joy.”

Reece bowed his head. “It is our honor to be here.”

“No, the honor is mine.” He motioned toward the other men and women passing them on the dais. “The honor is ours.”

“Can you tell us where we are?”

The man’s eyes sparkled. “You’ve always gone right through the gates, haven’t you? Never stopped to examine what it was you were passing through.”

“I didn’t know it was possible,” Reece said.

“Now you do.” The man smiled and turned to Dana. “You see what they are, yes? That they are not simply door frames and doors?”

“They’re the gates into people’s souls.”

“Yes.”

She gazed over the field. “And do you know who all of the gates belong to?”

“Yes, every one. All six billion of them.”

“What?” Brandon stepped closer to the man. “Six billion?”

“How can the number be any other than the one just stated?” Marcus pushed up his glasses. “A gate for every soul on earth.”

Reece put his hands on his hips and stared at the field. “Can you show us a specific gate? Take us to it?”

“Of course. You are welcome here and anywhere within the fields. And while you are here, you will have safe passage. I can take you to any gate you like.”

Brandon tapped the tips of his fingers together. “Not to be skeptical, but with the spacing you have with the gates we can see, means with six billion gates this field has to be—help me, Prof, with a rough guess—five thousand square miles?”

Marcus blinked and looked up and to his right. “My estimation would be closer to eight thousand one hundred and thirty-five square miles.”

The man smiled at Marcus, then turned toward Reece, a questioning look in his eyes.

“We were attempting to enter the soul of a man named Tristan Barrow.”

“Ah yes, Tristan.” The man nodded. “I see.”

“You know of him?”

“Of course. And I’m guessing if you met him, you’ve met his friends Jotham and Orson as well.”

“Some of us have, yes.” Reece shifted his weight. “Can you take us to Tristan’s gate?”

“No, I cannot. There is none here for him. Nor for Jotham nor Orson in case you care to know.”

Brandon jammed his finger into his ear and wiggled it. “Uh, the hearing must be going. Thought you said you’d take us to anyone’s gate we wanted to get to.”

“Tristan and his friends have no gate here in the field.”

“They don’t have a soul?”

A thin smile formed on the man’s face as he glanced at Reece, then back to Brandon. “Not in the same sense you do.”

Brandon spun to Reece. “Do you know what he’s succeeding at not explaining very well?”

“Yes.” Reece smiled. “I think it’s obvious and the answer I’ve expected for a while now.”

“Are you going to share the secret with the rest of us?” Brandon said.

“Why didn’t we see it?” Marcus laughed. “The dilemma has been solved.”

“I was hoping for an answer that was a bit more expansive,” Brandon said. “Come on, Prof, want to enlighten your fellow Warrior?”

Marcus stepped up next to Brandon and rested his hands on the wooden railing of the platform overlooking the field. “Tristan is an angel, as are Jotham and Orson. The Spirit has sent them to fight for us and with us, which I suspect they’ve already been doing for a lengthy amount of time.”

“Oh, wow.” Brandon twisted to face Dana. “Did you know this?”

“I figured it out, yes. But not until we reached the platform.”

Brandon spun on his heel and nodded with his arms raised to shoulder height. “So I’m the only stupid one here?”

Laughter broke out and even their host joined them.

“Marcus Amber is right. Tristan, Jotham, and Orson have been warring for you and will continue to do so.”

For the next few minutes the men discussed the implications of that, but the conversation faded from Dana as she stared at the field. If she kept her eyes fixed on a certain area, her eyes acted like a telescope and gates that at first were far too distant to see grew close as if she stood right in front of them.

“Will you tell me what has captured your attention so completely?” The elderly man stepped next to her.

“I see a gate of magnificent splendor.” She pointed.

“The one on the bank of a small stream next to the poppies. Right where the brook curves to the north.”

“Yes, how did you know?” Dana smiled.

“This is a different realm than the one you live in.”

Of course. Maybe here there were no secrets. Nothing hidden that wouldn’t be known.

“Do you like that gate?”

“It’s captivating.” What looked like diamonds formed a border just inside the frame of the door, and inside that was another border made of rubies and sapphires. As she focused she could see the frame itself was made of a dark wood with splashes of lighter wood that spoke of strength and power.

“Yes, it is.”

Its exquisiteness filled Dana, but along with the splendor came pain. A sense of loss rose up in her and soon overwhelmed the beauty.

“I don’t understand.” She looked into the man’s eyes for the answer.

They were full of sorrow and a heaviness so great she was tempted to turn and run away. The sadness seemed to seep into her spirit and the weight of it threatened to crush her.

“Watch the gate, daughter.” The man’s tone grew somber. He braced himself on the railing as tears fell from his eyes and dropped onto his hands. “Watch the gate, Dana.”

She turned and stared at the gate. It seemed to grow in stature—the jewels reflecting the sun like a kaleidoscope of light—but then shrank a moment later to half its former size. At the base of the gate a thick purple vine grew and entwined the gate as it snaked up the sides and over the top. The creeper’s thorns grew deep into the wood and in seconds the gate vanished beneath the thickening vine.

Then the vine and gate exploded together and turned the jewels into a million shards of light that fell onto the grass like November rain. The remains of the jewels along with the twisting vines and what remained of the wood grew darker, then black, then seeped into the soil and vanished, leaving a charred gouge of soil where the gate had stood.

The grass grew over the scar in the ground and filled it with its
emerald carpet, and if Dana hadn’t seen it, she could not have been convinced a gate had ever stood there.