Seventh Dimension - The King - Book 2, A Young Adult Fantasy (11 page)

I nodded.

She motioned
for me to come closer.

“You will be
pleased to know that Nathan came down and met the young lady. You
had Nathan so well prepared, you would have been proud of him. He
acted very mature.”

That was a relief. “What’s happening now?”

“Shale went up to her room to rest a while. She
seemed very tired and wanted a few moments to catch her
breath.”

I nodded. “So everything seems to be going
well?”

“Seems to be,” Mari said. “Are you taking care of
that rabbit of hers?”

“The rabbit
wanted to be with Baruch, so I left them together. I hope that’s
acceptable.”

Mari pointed at
the door to step back outside. She closed the door behind us.
“Scylla requested that they have a private dinner tonight, just for
the family.”

I didn’t see anything wrong with that. Nathan had
met her and I could understand Scylla’s desire for privacy, though
if Brutus had been here, he would have wanted everyone to eat
together.

Mari whispered. “I wanted you to know. I’ll keep an
eye on Nathan—let you know if I need you.”

“Thanks, Mari.” I glanced around the back portico,
the cave, and the pasture in the distance. “Have you seen
Judd?”

“I saw him leaving with his donkey a little bit
ago.”

“Do you know where they were going?”

Mari shook her head. “I didn’t think much of
it.”

I was probably
making much ado about nothing. I turned to leave. Much-Afraid was
lying in the portico snoozing. I said as an afterthought, “The dog
hasn’t left this porch since Shale arrived.”

“Do you think she knows Shale from somewhere?” Mari
asked.

I frowned. “How
could she?”

“Well, I don’t know. The dog used to live here at
the farm.”

I shrugged.
“When Shale wakes up, we’ll find out more.” I laughed. “Maybe Judd
ran away.”

I awoke early
the next morning. Sleep eluded me most of the night and now I had a
sleep-deprived hangover. I shook it off and climbed the outdoor
steps to the flat roof, pausing on the second floor. Was Shale up
yet?

I continued to
the final rise to enjoy the start of a new day. I chuckled. I
needed to be honest—I wanted to satisfy my own
curiosity.

I could see the pasture, the cave entrance, and the
road bordering the property. Then I saw Shale. What was she doing
up so early?

The young girl
was traipsing along the well-trodden path to the well. Had Scylla
already assigned her chores? What a compassionate stepmother. I
hoped Shale would meet her father before Scylla drove her
away.

My eyes
followed the trail. A figure caught my attention. Who would be at
the well this early? That had to be Judd. His donkey was with him.
I couldn’t mistake the brute for any other.

After
disappearing most of yesterday, he had decided to show up at the
well to meet Shale—the women’s favorite hangout. Did he know she
would be coming? Did Scylla clue him in? My thoughts vexed
me.

I shrugged.
Could I read Judd’s mind? Sometimes it happened when I wasn’t
trying. Urgency to follow Shale made me panic. I ran down the
stairs and hurried up the trail. Suddenly Assassin bolted past me.
Fear chilled me to the bones. Judd wouldn’t hurt Shale, would
he?

I reached the
top of the hill and saw Shale’s back. A scowl covered Judd’s face
and an empty bucket lay on the ground. Water saturated the wet soil
and dripped from Judd’s cloak.

Shale pointed her finger, saying in an accusing
voice, “You’re a liar.”

Judd smirked. “You’ve come back.”

He glared at me. I crept up behind Shale.

Shale’s voice quivered. “What are you talking
about?”

She backed into me as Judd approached. She turned,
surprised but relieved. “Daniel.”

“What’s going on?” I asked.

Judd mumbled a few unintelligible words and took off
after his donkey.

Shale’s eyes questioned me. “Where did you come
from?”

“I don’t know
you well enough to explain.”

Shale twitched. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

I watched Judd
disappear in the distance. I glanced at the overturned bucket and
avoided Shale’s question. “What did he do to you?”

She turned away. “I don’t want to talk about it, but
thanks for coming.”

I filled the bucket and we headed back to the house
in silence. When we arrived, I waited to see if she wanted to talk,
but she didn’t.

I’d learn to
read her mind. Some people were more extroverted than others. I
sensed Shale was an introvert.

I set the heavy
bucket down. “After you eat breakfast, come find me in the cave if
you want to talk about it.”

Shale nodded. I
left her standing in the portico hoping she would come. In my new
reality, I had met a girl to whom I was very attracted.

I strolled out
to the pasture. When I tried to open the gate, however, I couldn’t
lift the handle. It was jammed. I jiggled it several times and
finally the latch gave way. The door squeaked as I pushed it open,
as if it hadn’t been opened in years. I didn’t remember an issue
with the gate.

When I looked ahead, the field was bathed in morning
sunlight. A dozen or more sheep grazed on the hill.

Behind them, at
the top of the crest, I saw a dark figure. I walked in that
direction to get a better look. When I approached, I saw the old
woman. She was dressed in the same attire, walking on the ridge in
bare feet, chanting unintelligible words and throwing flowers over
the hill.

She stopped her strange activity when she saw me.
She pulled out a flower from the bouquet and thrust it at me. “The
corpse flower,” she said.

I took the
miniature flower without thinking and breathed in the scent. The
flower smelled like rotting flesh. My eyes burned. I threw the
flower on the ground.

“You are still looking,” she said.

“The flower
smells like a decomposing body.”

She didn’t say anything but continued walking. I
trailed behind her. I wanted to remove my contacts and rub my eyes,
but I’d have to wait. I couldn’t risk losing them in the field. I
blinked several times but the burning continued.

She tried to
hand me another flower, but I shook my head.

The woman smiled. Some people shouldn’t smile.

“You found me again,” she said

“Why are you following me?” I asked.

“This is where
I live,” the old woman said, “in the spiritual realm.” She flicked
another flower on the ground. “Do you know where you
are?”

I did not trust this old woman. “No, I don’t,” I
replied. “Tell me.”

“You are in a different reality.”

Like that meant something to me. “What different
reality?”

“It’s a spiritual reality,” she said. “I’m a
ventriloquist.”

What did that make me?

She continued.
“My boss rules over all the kingdoms of the earth.” The old woman
threw another flower on the ground and continued to chant in a
singsong voice.

“Why don’t you speak in a language I know?”

“I am. You can hear me.”

This woman was
crazy. Who was her boss? “I believe in the God of Abraham. He rules
over all the earth.”

When she heard me, fire filled the old woman’s
eyes.

She scoffed. “So you believe in God, do you?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t act
like it,” she chided me. She did a twirling dance holding the
flowers. Then she stopped and faced me.

“What has your
belief in God gotten you? A missing father, a dead mentor, a dead
sister—”

I interrupted her. “What do you mean, a dead sister?
And how do you know about my father and mentor? Is Martha
injured?”

The old woman
said, “Watch.” She threw another flower over the ledge. The plant
magically rooted and shot up from the ground. The leaves opened and
a helix appeared. Mother and Martha were asleep. Only a few minutes
had passed while I had spent five months in first century
Palestine.

“Your mother and sister are sleeping,” she said.

I was relieved,
but her comment bothered me. I didn’t know what she
meant.

“You want to get back home?”

Now I wasn’t
sure. A young woman had entered my world. I hesitated. “Who are
you?”

“I have magic.” She threw the last flower over the
hill. “But I can’t violate your free will.”

“Why do you talk so cryptically?”

“I’m very patient,” the old woman said, “for those I
want.” She laughed. Her decaying teeth seemed worse than
before.

“If you have so much power, you should do something
about your appearance.”

“If I were
beautiful, you would want something different.” She quit smiling.
“I know you better than you know yourself.”

She turned her back to me, chanting again as she
walked away.

I followed her. “Tell me who you are,”

She stopped and
faced me. “I told you, I’m a ventriloquist. Life is about choices,
and I’m giving you a very desirable choice.”

I grew impatient. “Tell me who you really are.”

“Your benefactor.” She kept walking.

I gave up. My eyes were killing me. Maybe she was
the witch of Endor. I didn’t want her as my benefactor. I vowed to
stay away from her and not talk to her again.

I hurried back
to the cave. I’d spent too much time talking to the strange woman
and needed to wash my eyes.

When I opened
the door, Shale was waiting for me with Cherios in her arms.
Much-Afraid stood wagging her tail beside the last stall. I picked
up a cloth and wiped off my hands. I wanted to wash my eyes, but I
was worried about the contacts. I didn’t want to do it in front of
Shale.

Her stoic mannerisms from earlier gave way to a
warmth I didn’t know she had. She walked over to the bench, sat at
the table, and smiled.

I joined her on the other side. “So how was
breakfast?”

“Fine,” Shale
said. The smile left her face as fleetingly as it had appeared.
“I’m not happy Judd put Baruch in the small stall in the back.
That’s not Baruch’s old stall. Can’t you put him up here where he
belongs?”

For all the things she could be upset about, I
couldn’t believe she was making a fuss over the donkey’s stall.

“Does it
matter? They are all about the same.” I could think of reasons to
argue with Judd but worrying about the stall seemed
irrelevant.

Shale wanted no part of my ambivalence. “Aren’t you
in charge here?”

“Well, I
suppose, but Judd knows how to provide for the animals. He’s been
doing it a lot longer than I have. That was the stall the animal
chose anyway.”

Shale was
rigid. “Why are you siding with him? Why can’t we move him to this
stall?” She pointed to the one near us.

“It’s not as if
he’s being abused.”

Shale scrunched
her nose. “I don’t like that Baruch is in the back, but if that’s
the way you feel, fine.” She crossed her arms defiantly.

What a fiery
young woman. She must have gotten that from her mother. Shale’s
father never got upset about anything.

I tried to calm
her. “We can move him.”

My eyes burned
so much I had to rub them. I really needed to take out the
contacts.

Shale studied
my face. “Is something in your eye?”

“No, it’s not
that.” Why had I taken that flower from the
ventriloquist?

I leaned over
and one of my contacts fell on the table. I scooped it up hoping
Shale hadn’t seen it. Not that she would know what it was, but she
was too observant.

“What was that?” Shale asked.

“Nothing.”

“Is that a contact lens?”

“What?”

“The thing in your hand,” she said impatiently.

“No,” I lied.

A look of disbelief crossed her face. She leaned
forward. Her face looked blurry and I didn’t like being
interrogated.

“Where do you
come from?” she demanded.

Too many
questions crossed my mind. Could Shale be from the future? Maybe
she didn’t belong here either. I was afraid to say anything that
might scare her. I didn’t need a fourteen-year-old girl fainting.
What would I think in 2015 if a man told me he was from my future?
If she were from first century Palestine, she would probably be
terrified of me.

“How perceptive you are,” I replied.

Shale rolled her eyes.

“How do you know what this is?”

The young girl stood and spread out her palms. “Come
on, you’re the one with the contact lens, not me.”

I tried again. “Tell me about your family.”

Shale exploded.
“Are you kidding?” She plopped down in the chair, shaking her head.
“Men,” I heard her say under her breath.

I leaned on the
table and rubbed my eyes, but that only made them burn more. Then I
stood and paced. If she got this upset about little things, what
would she think if I told her the truth?

I tried to make
sense of it. How would she know about contact lenses if she were
from around here? She might know if she were from somewhere else. I
stared at her. When were contact lenses invented?