Escape (14 page)

            Connor rose to his feet, his glare unwavering. Baal waited, but Connor said nothing.

            “Come now, I’m being generous. You should take advantage of it before I lose my patience.”

            Amelia tightened her grip on the box’s handle, her eyes shifted between Connor and Baal. The tension settled in like a dense fog in the glade. The demon henchmen behind them grew restless as they waited for the final signal from their master. She knew once they were given approval, she and Connor would be ripped apart like autumn leaves.

            “Run,” Connor demanded. Amelia hesitated for a fraction of a second before Connor darted towards Baal, tackling him in the blink of an eye.

            Amelia sprinted out of the glade, fully thinking that the demon henchmen would follow her to get the box. But when she glanced over her shoulder, she saw Connor fighting them alone. She could see the splatters of blood flying from the open wounds that he inflicted upon his fellow demons. Cries of agony and roars of anger erupted from the glade as Connor battled on to give her a way of escape.

            She stopped half way between the glade and the break in the trees that led to the beach. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t leave him like this. He would be killed beyond a doubt. Even now she could pick out his screams from the cacophony of groans and growls that came from the clearing. She knew he was losing. There was no way he could win.

            If she went back now to give Baal the box, would it be too late to save him? Was there any way that she could rescue him while still keeping Baal from taking the box? How she wished that she were some mythical being so she could help him. As a human, she was useless and weak. She was no match for them.

            “Give the box to me, girl.”

            Amelia jumped when she heard Baal’s voice just inches from her. She staggered back and hugged the box to her chest, shaking her head. She could see her reflection in his cold eyes.

            Baal sighed. “I’m going to give you one last chance. If you give me the box, I’ll spare his life.” The demon lord stalked forward, his frame slowly building in size as his skin turned into a smoky hue.

            Amelia barely had the strength to back away as he advanced upon her. Faced with this ultimatum, she knew it was either Connor’s life or the safety of her world. Without any time to think, she raised the box up and gathered up all of her strength to smash it against an adjacent tree. She knew if Baal couldn’t have the box, they would both die. She was prepared for it. Unlike the other times when she came a hair’s breadth away from death, this time she was ready and she had no regrets.

            “Give him the box,” a familiar voice echoed in her mind.

            In the glade, Connor collapsed to the ground, struck down by one of the remaining demons. He managed to kill a few, but they were too many for him. His wounds were slow to heal and he was drenched in his own blood, as well as the blood of his enemies. His clothes were torn and tattered, exposing the countless gashes he suffered. Energy waned from him like the receding tides and he couldn’t raise himself back up.

            Connor lifted his eyes to the demon that stood over him. He was smiling down, knowing he would inflict the final blow to kill the traitor. He knew from the moment he tackled Baal that there was no way to win this battle. He would not leave the clearing with his life. He hoped beyond everything that Amelia made it to the beach safely and was home on Earth where she belonged.

            He closed his eyes and envisioned her face, wanting that to be the last thing he saw in this life before it was snuffed out. He waited for the final blow, but it didn’t come.

            “Leave him,” Baal ordered from the edge of the glade.

            Connor turned and saw Baal holding the box in one hand and Amelia by her hair in the other. She struggled vainly against his grip, but he didn’t let go.

            “We have the box. Let him be.” Baal threw Amelia towards Connor’s trembling body and assembled his demons to leave.

            Amelia fled to Connor’s side and assisted him to his unstable feet.

            “What have you done?” he asked in disbelief. How could she sacrifice the fate of her world and her only way home?

            “He gave me a choice. You or the box. I picked you.”

            “You’re a foolish girl.”

            “You can scold me later. Let’s get to the beach.”

            “What?” Connor hobbled along, leaning heavily upon Amelia as one of his bloody arms were draped across her shoulders.

            They shuffled through the forest at a slow pace until Connor’s wounds had time to heal. His strength came back to him and he was soon able to walk without her help, but he was still slightly dazed from the battle.

            They stepped onto the beach and were met by a seemingly endless sea that sparkled in the moonlight. The surface of the bay was like a blanket of shimmering jewels in the night. Their steps were unsteady upon the soft sand as they came closer to where the waves flowed in and out in their timeless rhythm.

            Amelia lowered Connor to his knees and embraced him. Still at a loss for what was going on, he hugged her back.

            “You shouldn’t have done that for me.”

            “I couldn’t let them kill you.”

            “But now Baal can travel to Earth like he used to.”

            Amelia’s lips twitched into a knowing smile and shook her head. “No, he can’t.”

            “What do you mean?”

            She quickly reached into the pocket of his leather jacket that she still wore and pulled out something he hadn’t seen in close to two hundred years. It was Baal’s amulet that he had stolen. Connor snatched it from her hands, turning it over to inspect that it really was the same amulet he had given to Sir Jedalf.

            The amulet was ancient, scuffed by many millennia of abuse with a flawless sapphire, imbedded in a disk of pure gold. Without a doubt, it was the same and he could sense the small seed of power that lay in it, just enough for one more trip.

            “How?” Connor asked, handing it delicately back to her.

            “It’s going to sound crazy, but Sir Jedalf did some kind of mind trick and spoke to me. He told me that he never enchanted the box at all and he slipped the amulet into your jacket pocket for us to use instead because he knew that Baal would come after the box.”

            Connor couldn’t help but laugh at that crazy old goat. “Unbelievable! So what was in the box?”

            Baal and his men were still in the glade and stood around the box, eager to use it so they could inflict havoc upon the mortal world.

            “This is what we’ve been waiting for, boys,” Baal said excitedly. “You know what to do when we get to the other side.”

            He knelt down before the box, unhooked the latch and eased the lid open. His smile turned sour when he found himself looking upon an old typewriter. The keys and metal parts were worn with age, but there was one sheet of paper still gripped by the roller on the top.

            The demons were all confused and stared at the machine, waiting for something to happen. Baal balled his hands into fists and raised them high to smash down upon the typewriter when it magically came to life.

            They froze and leaned in to watch as an invisible hand pressed the keys to spell a message.

            “
Gotcha! – Jedalf
”

            Baal roared with volcanic rage, his full demon form rearing its ugly face. It was more gruesome and distorted than any other, featuring sharp horns that curled out from his head.

            “Find them and kill them!” he demanded of his henchmen. Cowering under their master’s wrath, they hurried off towards the beach where Connor and Amelia had fled.

            Amelia held up the amulet to him. “Do you know how to use it?”

            Connor took it and nodded. “Yeah, I’ve seen Baal use it before.”

            With careful thought, Connor positioned it just right in his hands and held the sapphire pendant up to the light of the full moon.

            Nothing happened.

            “What’s wrong?” she asked.

            Connor shrugged and tried to adjust the angle in which he held the pendant. “I don’t know.”

            “Maybe I need to hold it too?” Amelia suggested.

            He smiled and lowered the amulet so she could reach up and grip one side of it while he held onto the other.

            Just then, they heard Baal’s howl of fury and the fast approaching henchmen.

            They looked to each other. This was their only hope of escape. If this didn’t work, they would be killed without mercy.

            Connor took his free hand and pulled Amelia in for one last passionate kiss as they held the sapphire up to the moonlight. Amelia wrapped her hand around his neck and hung on as she was sent through a whirlwind of ecstasy.

            No matter what happened next, she knew she would treasure this moment for the rest of her life.

            A bright, blinding light shot from the gem and surrounded them, engulfing them and blinding Baal’s men into submission. A resonating melody, like shimmering crystals filled their ears and scents of roses and lavender encircled them.

            Amelia’s body began to feel tingly and light, as if she was just waking up from a lucid dream.

 
          When Amelia opened her eyes, the heavenly lights were gone and she was lying on the plush sand of a beach. She quickly sat up, feeling the blood rush from her head as if she had been upside down too long.

            She recognized this lake as the one just north of Saxondale. She had come here once years ago, but it was still the same. The lake stretched on for half a mile on all sides, surrounded by the forest. Not far from her, she saw the wooden dock extending out from the shore. Out in the middle of the lake was the platform, which swimmers used to dive from. It was just before dawn and the morning sky was alight with an array of pink, yellow and orange hues.

            It was a riot of color that nearly blinded her with its brightness. It seemed like she hadn’t seen the sun in years. Amelia knew she was home on Earth.

            Amelia let out a joyful laugh, digging her fingers into the gritty sand and gazing at the rising sun just beyond the trees. She’d never seen anything more stunning. It was a welcome sight.

            “Connor, isn’t it beautiful? This is the first time you’ve seen the sun in a long time, right?” Amelia asked in a soft whisper, her vocal cords still trying to follow the rest of her body in waking up.

            There was no response. Only the morning calls of the birds and squirrels in the trees filled the air around her.

            “Connor?”

            She turned to where Connor had been sitting when they held up the amulet together, but that place was empty. Amelia’s smile disappeared as her eyes searched along the beach and tree line. He wasn’t there. Panic gripped her heart in a steely vice.

            “Connor! Where are you?” she called out, standing up to project her voice more effectively. Her voice echoed over the water and through the trees. Startled birds soared from their resting place, but she saw no man. There was no one.

            She hollered for him over and over, but there was still no reply. Amelia felt her chest tighten, her nose burn and eyes water as the sobs came forth in torrents.

            “He has to be here,” she cried to herself.

            Sir Jedalf had said if anyone looked in the box with her, they would go to earth as well as her and turn human. But, they didn’t use the box, they only used the amulet. Amelia’s combed through the sands, fervently digging in search of the amulet. If she could find it, maybe she could try and use it to go back and get Connor. The demon henchmen were right on their tails when they used the amulet. If she got back quick enough, maybe she could help him somehow.

            But she found no amulet, she found no Connor and the only thing she succeeded in was weeping loudly. She couldn’t stop crying. She needed Connor, she had to find him.

            She called out for him louder, running up and down the beach, thinking that perhaps he landed somewhere different than she did. But she still found no one except distressed ducks as witnesses to her hysterics.

            The sun broke through the tops of the trees, bathing the lake in its warm rays. She stopped for a moment and let the light caress her face. Tears coursed down her cheeks and her blubbering eased.

            An idea came to mind that disturbed her. What if it all really was a dream? What if Connor was never real? What if the whole adventure, as real as it seemed, was all in her mind.

            But, then how did she get to the lake? She couldn’t have sleepwalked the whole way. Had she been drugged and hallucinated the whole affair? Nothing made sense. Connor had to be real. Their kisses, the way he made her feel, all the passion and heat that surged through her soul, it felt too real to be a dream. The fear, the joy, the love, it had to be real.

            It was then that she noticed she was still wearing Connor’s black leather jacket. She gripped the sleeves with her trembling fingers and buried her nose in its collar. She could still smell him. Connor had to be real. But where was he?

            “Amelia!” someone was calling her name.

            “Amelia! Where are you?” She heard it again.

            Her head popped up, hoping to see Connor burst from the tree line. Instead, all she saw were the dim traces of waving flashlights and silhouettes of strangers approaching the lake’s shore.

            “I’m over here!” she yelled in response. The figures ran towards her onto the beach to reveal themselves as police officers, park rangers and friends of her parents that she recognized from her youth.

            “We’ve been looking all over for you!” called out a familiar voice. Amelia looked past the crowd to see her mother running towards her, arms stretched out to embrace her daughter.

            Amelia had forgotten the ones she had left behind on Earth. Her parents must have been worried when she had gone to wherever she went. She ran and embraced her mother, both crying tears of joy, glad to be reunited.  

            Her father soon joined them, wrapping a warm blanket around his daughter’s shoulders.

            “We got home around midnight and found you were gone,” her mother wept. “The door was unlocked, your car was still in the driveway; we didn’t know where you went.”

            “How long was I gone?” Amelia asked.

            “Nearly three days. Oh, we’re just so glad you’re safe!”

            Amelia had never seen her parents this ridiculously happy in years. They wouldn’t let go of her, even as the police officers and other members of the search party aimlessly stood by watching.

            “Yes, of course I’m safe. Why wouldn’t I be?” Amelia asked as she was squeezed so tight that she could hardly breathe.

            “I got your voicemail about Princeton and when I called your mother,” Amelia’s father said rather remorsefully, “she said she didn’t know anything about it, but she was short with you on the phone. We thought maybe you had done something to yourself.”

            “No, I would never do that…” Amelia knew well that she had considered it, but she wasn’t about to tell her parents that. She looked around at the smiling search party, “But you didn’t have to call Scotland Yard on me!”

            Everyone had a laugh and made their way back to the tree line, talking about all the places they looked before coming to the beach. The only reason they had thought to search this far north of town, they said, was because they had received an anonymous tip that she would be there at dawn.

            “Who was it?” she asked the police detective.

            “I don’t know. The only hint we have was that he was an older gentleman. The gal that answered the phone said he sounded a little eccentric too. Would you know anything about who it might have been?” he asked as he pulled out a pad of paper and pencil to take notes.

            Amelia’s first thought was, of course, that Sir Jedalf might have made the call. But, how could she explain to anyone what had happened. She had no proof of her adventure besides a leather jacket and she was already beginning to doubt herself if it was all true. “I don’t have a clue,” she answered.

            Millions of questions were asked of where she had been and what happened, but she didn’t have a logical answer for them either. If she told them exactly what she thought had happened, her parents would lock her away in the loony bin for sure.

            She pled amnesia, saying that she didn’t remember a thing.

            They took Amelia home to rest and grab a meal while they waited for a police psychologist to come over to evaluate her. Her parents were so attentive now, bringing her all of her favorite snacks, refusing to let her up off the couch to do anything for herself.

            It was a pleasant change, but after a while she begged them to just sit down and talk with her. They became reacquainted as a family, talking about the success at their jobs and they talked about all the thrilling plans for Amelia when she would go to college in the fall. It was only months away and many details needed to be discussed.

            When the psychologist made his final evaluation, he concluded that Amelia must have suffered a rare case of amnesia caused by the emotional stress brought on by her parents’ neglect.

            Amelia, though encouraged by the doctor, did not press charges of abuse against her parents. She knew it wasn’t their fault and after much reflection, she decided that Connor was right. They were just busy making a better life for her. And from that day forth, they vowed to take more time off to spend together as a family.

            When she had a moment alone, Amelia snuck away to the basement. Once more she descended the stairs with her flashlight and searched the dark cellar. What she wanted to find was the hole to Flagler that she had fallen through.

            To her dismay, she only found that the bookcase that was missing before was now restored in perfect condition in the spot where the hole had once been. No other hole could be found, not even a small crack.

            In the last few months of her senior year, she still couldn’t get Connor and Somniatis out of her head. Day and night she thought about that land of eternal night, monsters and fairy creatures. Unlike other vivid dreams she had, she could still remember every detail. Somniatis would not go away. Like a haunting melody, visions of sirens, vampires, ogres and gnomes paraded through her imagination and they would give her no rest.

            She dreamed of Connor every night and even during the day sometimes. Amelia fantasized about his kiss, his embrace. She still had his jacket and treated it like a priceless heirloom. Every night she hung it on her bedpost and every morning she brought it with her to school, despite the hotter weather setting in over Saxondale. Connor’s scent was fading away rapidly with every time she wore it, but the scent still lingered in her mind.

            Everywhere she went, she looked for him, hoping against all odds that he would appear somewhere and prove that she wasn’t insane and that it wasn’t all a dream. But the longer she searched, the more she was beginning to doubt the whole thing. But she could never forget. She wanted to keep his memory and the memory of Somniatis alive.

            After a while, she decided to try and write everything down, but no matter how she described the forest, Flagler or Connor’s serene blue eyes, nothing seemed to suffice her need to get it all out.

            One day during class, the images of the elves plagued her mind so deeply that she couldn’t even focus on the lesson. She flipped to a blank page in her notebook and began to doodle Theoduin, the elf chieftain that tried to kill her.

            As the sketch took form on her paper, every minute detail came to life. His pointed ears, long hair and wooden armor became something tangible that satisfied her need to see it in the physical once more.

            One of her classroom neighbors glanced at her sketch and leaned in closer to get a good look. Amelia, seeing that she had sparked an interest in the star soccer player at her school, angled the paper around for him to see it clearly.

            “Wow!” he exclaimed. “That’s amazing. Where did you learn to draw?”

            Amelia stared down at her sketch and though it wasn’t an exact replica of what she saw in her dream, it was strikingly good for a first draft. “Nowhere. I just started doodling it.”

            “That’s no doodle. That’s work of art. You’re really good. I didn’t know you could draw.”

            And then it occurred to Amelia that drawing may not only be a way of coping with her vivid dream, but a way to gain friends. She may finally have a hobby. The sorrow that lay heavy upon her shoulders lifted a little. If she could draw, she could finally heal her broken heart and maybe move on from Somniatis.

            When it came time to pick her major for Princeton, she took a daring leap and decided to enroll with the Lewis Center for the Arts to study art. Originally, she had planned to go for a degree in business or accounting, something that she could build a career upon. But with each passing day, her sketching became more of a passion than a simple form of therapy.

            Her parents were surprisingly supportive of her decision and they hadn’t even seen any of her work. Amelia had fabricated some drawings of static subjects like a plant or vase to satisfy their curiosity, but there was no way she would show them the sketches of Somniatis. She wasn’t sure she would ever fully disclose that portfolio.

            When she drew things that had nothing to do with that wonderful dream, they were always lacking something. But, when she drew the foggy forest or the lion-man at the antique shop, she drew with a zeal that made the images really jump off the page. When she sketched the dogwood tree in her front yard that she loved so much, it still wasn’t as captivating as the gnome’s tree home in Phantasia.

            Summer came and went quickly as she prepared for her departure for school. Her parents, of course, were going to miss her terribly. New Jersey was a long way away and she wouldn’t see them until the holidays.

            It was a tear-filled goodbye as she drove away in her car, bound for the New England states. It was a long journey and Amelia was once more tortured by her memories, as she was during every other moment of time when she was not distracting herself.

            How she would have wanted Connor to be with her on that drive. She would have shown him all the things he had missed while he was in Somniatis. She would have stopped at every roadside attraction and introduced him to all kinds of new foods and experiences.

            On the way to New Jersey, she saw sign after sign that directed travelers to Pennsylvania. A wave of emotion washed over her when she remembered that Pennsylvania was Connor’s home state. She wondered if his farm was still there from the revolution times or if it had been torn down already.

            Amelia had to remind herself that there was no way that Connor was real. Somniatis was not real and it was all just a dream. Despite the jacket that lay in her passenger seat, she constantly had to force her mind to accept the fact that Connor never existed. She felt like she would go insane sometimes.