The Watchers (17 page)

Mia awoke not knowin
g
where she was until seconds passed and she remembered she was lying on a bed of pink and white coral. That was a first! She recalled the moment when she arrived in the chamber only a few hours before when she had placed her body upon a slab laden with fine coral protruding like a bed of nails. When she'd lain down it had softened beneath her and adapted to her shape like a memory foam mattress. The principle was the same as an executive toy when a hand or a face could be imprinted in the pins. Unlike nails, the coral was soft and warm, heating her body like an electric blanket.

She sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed and as she pulled on her jeans, she looked across the room at Keri, still asleep in the cot opposite hers. She looked peaceful and happy, a far cry from how she’d looked last night.

Varquis had told Keri they needed her help. She was as surprised as anyone could be, having no inkling that she was there for any specific purpose. She’d always assumed she’d simply been caught up as an innocent bystander in the events that had led them to Caer Sidi. When Varquis told her he needed her help, her eyes had widened in panic and fear. “But, why me?” she cried. “I am nobody. How can I be any use to you? I have no power.”

As Mia comforted her, she asked Varquis why they were there. She was referring to herself, Tom and Jesus.

“You were instrumental in guiding her here. She would not have come alone. And you are all Kudos. You are special to us.”

Tom interjected. “Me too?”

Mia scowled at him as she held Keri’s hand beneath the table. She knew Tom was seeking Varquis’ reassurance after Jesus had challenged his Kudos status. Idiot!

“Of course, Stoney,” Varquis said. “Without you, they would not have found the entrance. You have great vision and insight.”

Mia and Jesus looked at Tom as if they were seeing him for the first time. Mia also wondered, momentarily, if the Watchers had gotten Tom mixed up with someone else.

“And me?” Jesus’ voice was like a whisper, afraid of what their answer would be.

“You will know soon why we have brought you here.” Varquis then turned to Mia. “Without you, Lakey, none of you would be here. You have relentlessly sought us. You have connected with us through your will and your mind and your purity.”

Mia felt her throat constrict. All the waiting. All that time at Stonehenge when she thought they weren’t listening…

Varquis and Uriel stood up. “We will explain everything after you have rested. You must go now.”

The Watchers had led them from the room, back through the main entrance and down the winding pathways once more. When they’d stopped outside two dwellings, set side-by-side, an Angel ushered Tom and Jesus into the first chamber, and then Mia and Keri into the second. Inside, it had appeared as if they were standing inside a lobby made of rock with nothing there, no lights, no beds…nothing.

“You must rest now,” the Angel had said, and then he retired.

“There must be something beyond the wall.” It had occurred to Mia that it must have been the same principle as the other entrances, so she walked towards the rear wall with her hands outstretched. She stood with her back against the rock and turned her head sideways to find layers, like the other entrances. But there was nothing. Then she turned her head the other way and saw a stairway leading downwards at the side of the cave. “Come on, Keri,” she whispered as they walked hand in hand down the stairs.

They entered a windowless room with subdued atmospheric lighting as if it was lit by an array of burning candles. Two coral beds were built into the sides of the room, where the walls above were decorated with patterned clay tiles; each wall displaying its own mural. The tiles were of random shapes and sizes, pieced together in symmetrical form and in mounting layers. Each hand-painted tile was painted with part of a picture, so that when they were joined together, they formed a dazzling three-dimensional image of life on earth.

The one above Mia’s cot was a picture of a forest and above Keri’s, a mountain landscape. Both of the pictures complimented each other by the use of the same colours and strokes of the brush, so that when she stood in the middle of them, the two images embraced her, making her feel as if she was in the forest, bordered by the mountains.

The far wall beyond the two beds was a wall of amber under a canopy of stone. It looked as if it was backlit, but of course, it couldn't have been, not there. The soft yellow-amber simply glowed, making the cave soft and serene. It was a room meant for sleep, Mia decided. Nothing more was required of it.

Now, just a few hours later, Mia had arisen from the coral feeling refreshed and ready to explore more of the Watcher’s world. “Good morning, Keri.”

Keri was pulling on her shoes. “What do you suppose we do now?”

"Go find the others, I suppose." Mia took one last look around the amber cave and then she went to the stairwell at the side of the room. "Come on."

“Wait!” Keri was still sitting at the side of the coral cot. “What?”

“What do you suppose they want me for, Mia? You know them better than I. What would they want with someone like me?”

Mia shrugged. “Who knows, Keri, but I guess we’re just about to find out.”

Tom and Jesus sa
t
on a row of boulders on the beach, watching a turtle stroll out of the ocean. It was the most pleasant of images, not one they were in a habit of seeing every day. It was slowly making its way along the sand with its strong shoulders pushing its legs beneath the home it carried on its back. It was enormous and it surely weighed a tonne. Mia's dog was growling and dancing in puppy playfulness on the sand and the water's edge.

“There is no night here,” Jesus murmured as he stared transfixed at the revolving ball of fire that was the Watcher’s life force. “Which is strange, seeing as the Watchers only go up…” he raised his eyes upwards, to indicate their world above them, “…at night.”

“What’s your take on all of this, Tom?”

“Beats me, dude.” Tom was still watching the turtle. “I don’t know where to begin with the questions I want to ask. I mean, what’s it all about, you know what I’m saying? What the hell is it all about?” Tom reiterated. “Oh, excuse me!”

“Excuse you for what?”

“For saying the ‘h’ word.”

“Why?”

“Uh, you know, with your name an’ all.”

Jesus chuckled. “What? You think I’m the son of God?”

“Uhm, well…stranger things have happened.”

“You’re crazy, you know that? If you saw what I used to get up to in my youth...It would make your hair curl!”

Tom pushed a lock of curled hair from his brow. “Hey, have you got a cell phone?”

“No. I’ve had no need of one, nor the desire. Why do you ask? Thinking of making a call?” Jesus laughed.

Tom patted his jacket pocket. “No, I’ve lost mine, that’s all.”

“Hey, you two.” It was Mia.

Charlie barked and went running across the sand towards her, jumping into her arms to lick her face. “Hello, boy, hello baby,” she cooed and chuckled at his antics.

Tom watched her walk towards them as Keri trailed behind. Mia looked stunning. She was a natural beauty and this morning she had never looked lovelier. She had a glow to her skin that made her look…well, perfect.

“Hey,” he said.

“We’ve been looking for you. Did you have breakfast?”

“Don’t you mean did we have nourishment?” He was feeling a little tetchy. He didn’t know why.

She frowned back at him. “Okay, then. Did you have nourishment?”

“We did,” Jesus answered. “Bread and fruit and some sort of fish.”

“Smoked herring,” she said. “They have them hanging in a cave just behind the palace. And they are smoked naturally from a vent underground. I’ve seen them,” she said. “They look like bats hanging from the roof of a cave.”

“Is that right?” Tom snapped.

Mia kicked some sand towards him. “What’s wrong with you, grumpy?”

“Nothing, hun’, nothing at all. Hey, have you two girls still got your cells?”

“He means our mobile phones,” Mia said to Keri.

Keri shook her head. “I think I’ve lost mine.”

“Me too!” Mia patted the pockets of her jeans.

"The air-spirits took them," Jesus said. "When I was left on the ledge and they took you down, I saw objects fall from your pockets. They must have been your phones." Jesus chuckled. "Still, no need of them here."

“Well they haven’t taken my camera,” Tom patted the bag on his back. “Do you think they’d mind…?”

“Ask them, Stoney. You crazy American boy,” Mia snapped.

“You may take pictures.” It was Uriel. He was walking towards them followed by six other Watchers.

“Why do you move in groups of seven?” Jesus asked as they got closer. “Does it have anything to do with the book of revelations?” When the others looked at him for clarity, he said. “In the bible, in the last book called revelations, the number seven is prominently featured. It is said, seven is the number of completeness, of perfection, and the divine ordering of worldly affairs.”

Uriel stood on the sand as the other Angels spaced themselves out so that they were all standing in a circle. “Ah, yes, seven spirits before God’s throne standing for the infinite perfection of the Holy Spirit; seven churches which represent the entirety of the church of all ages; seven seals written on the scroll, the title deed of earth, and seven trumpets contained within the seventh seal, symbolic of the entirety of the judgments of God intended to break the power of evil.”

“Exactly,” Jesus responded, but he couldn’t have put it so precisely.

“Only God can give you the answer to that. Seven is indeed sacred to us. In practical terms, we are strong, but we are stronger in numbers. And we are brothers. Each of us live for the other. Our bond is indestructible.”

“What if you die?” Mia looked to the others for approval. Tom scowled at her.

“Then we all die.”

“How old are you?”

"It is difficult to say. We hold no regard for time. Perhaps in your time-zone, we could live for two or three hundred years."

“Wow!” Tom sang. “So…about some photographs. You’re going to let me photograph you?”

“No, not us. But you may take pictures of our land. Not inside the dwellings or on the other side, but…”

“The other side?” Mia interrupted. The group looked at each other with awe on their faces.

“Yes. That is where we will take you now. To see the rest of our world.”

Jay could smell coffee brewing
.
He pulled his tired body up against the cushions on the sofa and reached over the back to open the drapes, just a little. The morning sun shot through the gap and blinded him. He let go and rubbed his eyes until normal vision returned to the darkness of Maggie’s apartment.

The night before, the two of them had drunk a whole bottle of whisky and at midnight, when Jay finally passed out on the couch, Maggie had thrown a blanket over his prostrate form and left him there. Now, his head was throbbing and aching and he needed a darn good dose of Aspirin.

He put his feet on the floor and found his shoes, tied the laces, not too tight, and shuffled to the bathroom to swill his face. He remembered using the john last night and seeing Maggie’s artificial limb propped up in the corner. It was a strange looking contraption, covered in a skin-coloured footless stocking with her sandal -still in situ-covering the plastic foot. Now, as he used a towel to dry his hands he noticed Maggie’s leg had gone.

He found her on the terrace outside. He could see she had a marvellous view of the Glastonbury Tor from her apartment. The Tor was eerie looking at that early hour, as the lower half of the hill was shrouded in a morning mist, while the top above the fog looked like the swell of a woman’s breast; the tower a nipple pointing up to the sky. He chuckled to himself as he ran his fingers through his unkempt hair. “You’re up, are you?” Maggie said.

“Got anything for a headache?” She tossed him a small white bottle. It rattled when he caught it and he wondered if there would be enough inside to deal with that particular hangover. “Thanks.”

“How’d you sleep?” She was sipping tea from a china cup and saucer.

“Like a baby.”

“Oh, yes, and how about that?” she guffawed, “You were crying like one last night.”

“What? You’re crazy.” A mug of black coffee was waiting for him in front of the empty seat. He threw two pills into his mouth and chewed them before he swallowed. He washed them down with lukewarm coffee and grimaced as the taste rocked the inside of his mouth.

“Crying like a baby you were. ‘Oh, Fran’,” she mimicked, “Where are you…I miss you, blah, blah, blah.”

Jay shook his head in shame. Yes, he recollected something like that, but as long as he kept denying it, maybe she’d forget the whole thing. “You are crazy,” he repeated. He looked at the strange drawing on the whitewashed wall next to Maggie’s chair. It looked like a child’s drawing of a train with match-stick people standing on it. “What is that?”

She looked affectionately at the image. “That’s the Hopi prophecy.” She looked in his eyes for a glimmer of recognition. “You have heard of the Hopi of Arizona? It’s your country isn’t it?”

“Of cour..!”

She closed her eyes and opened them again. "The Hopi live near Oraibi, Arizona. They are wonderful people. I've been there, you know! There is a rock that symbolises many Hopi prophecies, but this drawing is the most well-known." She threw him a patronising glance as she ran her finger along the line which appeared to be the undercarriage of the train. "That's the life path."

She touched a figure on the left, of a stick man with a skull-shaped head. “He is called the Great Spirit, but my interpretation is that he represents the Watchers.” She smiled as she ran the tip of her finger over its head. “According to the Hopi, the bow in his left hand represents his instructions to lay down weapons.” She nodded and raised her brow in an all-knowing way. “The vertical line to the right of the Great Spirit is a time scale in thousands of years. And the point at which the Great Spirit touches the line is the time of his return.” The figure was touching the line halfway along.

All of it meant nothing to Jay, but he was interested in her interpretation of the diagram, even though it looked like a baby could have drawn it. “Who are those little guys?” Three were standing above the train.

“They represent past, present and future,” she said. “And the line they’re standing on is the path of technology.”

She ran her finger over two circles. “These two circles are the first and second world wars and this…” she indicated the heavy vertical line. “This is decision time. And that’s now, basically!”

“Here we go!” Jay chuckled. “You’re going to start laying ‘the-end-is-nigh-crap on me again. Right?”

She ignored him. “The short line there…is the last chance for people to turn back to nature before the upper road disintegrates and dissipates.” Maggie smiled and winked. Jay wondered if she annoyed everyone she met, or if it was just him. “The small circle above the Path of Life, after the last chance, is the Great Purification, after which corn will grow in abundance again when the Great Spirit returns.” Maggie took a deep breath. “I believe that represents the end of our world as we know it…the Apocalypse.”

"Maggie, honey. You're wasting your time on an old dog like me. I don't believe in all this stuff. How could this ancient civilisation know these things? It's just not plausible, you know? In my world, you're either alive or dead, with nothing in-between."

“Why doesn’t that surprise me coming from you?” Maggie brushed her hands together to remove the dust from the wall. “You’ve got a lot to learn, American boy.” She stood up. “Right! What time do you want to get going?”

Jay sipped his tepid black coffee from a chipped mug with ‘Greenpeace 79’ written on the side. “Get going? Where?”

“Ha, you don’t remember do you?”

“Indulge me.” Jay pulled his cell from his pocket. He turned it on. There were still no messages from the kid. Where the hell was he?

“We’re going to search for the entrance to the otherworld.”

Jay put the phone back into his pocket. “Sure we are.”

“Now, you listen to me, American boy. I’m in no mood for your negativity this morning. It took me half of last night to convince you to do this. I’m not going to repeat myself all over again.”

Jay vaguely recalled Maggie talking about the entrance to the otherworld and a place called Caer Sidi. Much to his amusement, she had delved into her crystal ball. He remembered laughing so much that she had hit him on the shoulder with her stick.

He’d sobered up when she told him Fran had encountered something painful when she was there in Glastonbury. “She got attacked by someone she trusted and now she is in another place, licking her wounds.”

“Maggie, I know you mean well,” Jay said now, as he placed his mug down upon the table, “But as I said before, I don’t believe…”

"Well, you'd better start believing it, Mister American private investigator because tomorrow morning at 4.45am is the summer solstice and it's going to be the only opportunity you'll have to get into the otherworld. If we don't find a way in, that girl will be lost to you forever, do you hear me? Forever!"

Jay figured he didn’t have much to lose by going along with Maggie’s crazy delving. If it kept her happy…However, he would continue texting Fran. “Okay, Maggie. Anything to keep the peace! So where do we start?”

She turned her gaze towards the view of the Tor, and to the tower sitting above it. “You got a laptop?”

“Of course.”

“Right. I’ll come back to your hotel with you and I’ll show you where we need to begin.”

“Sure. I mean, how could we unravel ancient mysteries without a laptop? What’re you gonna do, email a Hopi?”

Maggie rose from her seat and picked up her empty cup. As she walked towards the entrance of her apartment she turned about. “They’re not on-line,” she said.