The Black Madonna (The Mystique Trilogy) (36 page)

‘Montauk,’ he guessed. ‘They’ve rebuilt it?’

‘No, you managed to shut down that project for good.’ Denera didn’t sound as impressed as I’d expected.

‘And HAARP?’ Levi prompted.

‘There are now facilities of its kind all over the world.’ Denera delivered the sting. ‘And, thanks to the way you brought Montauk down, all the systems have EM pulse guards, which will detect any oncoming threat, shut down the systems momentarily and reboot a few minutes later when the charge has dissipated.’

‘Bugger,’ muttered Levi.

‘Had you pulled the same stunt in December this year, you might have been able to decommission the entire anti-grid in one strike. But now it’s going be a little harder,’ Zalman added.

‘But Levi’s act prevented Killian and me being pursued in the past!’ I said.

‘And we’d have had the Nefilim breathing down our necks whilst we unlocked the last three Signet stations,’ Polaris added. ‘As it was, our task was incident free.’

‘We’re not saying he did the wrong thing.’ Denera grinned, pleased by how fiercely we defended each other, as siblings should. ‘We’re just informing you of its repercussions. There’s more, but that can all wait as I feel some rest is in order. But first, there’s one last thing I really must show you.’

Denera led us deep into the heart of her station, to the huge round chamber that hosted the Halls of Amenti: six perfectly round portholes, each crafted from a different shade of gold—red, orange, yellow, pink, blue, and the last, a stunning and rare violet. All of the passages were filled with liquid light that reflected the colour of each doorway; it streamed from top to bottom like a waterfall.

We had all visited this chamber before, and walked the halls that led to humanity’s root races past and future, hence we instantly realised there was something spectacularly different about the chamber today. The added attraction lay in, or rather above, the large round pool at its heart. Directly above the horizontal porthole, the ceiling disappeared into the huge funnel of the Arc porthole passage. The beautiful silvery stargate therein was shedding considerably more light than usual onto the indigo liquid-light pool beneath.

The light was so potent in Blue Flame energy that it sent me into seventh heaven. I took a great leap onto the pool and slid gracefully
across its surface to bask in the light. Inside the enormous funnel sat a huge glowing sphere, just beyond its liquid barrier. The sphere was white at its edges, and faded into the beautiful blue-green projected from the Blue Flame at its heart, but deep in its centre lay a much smaller, intense violet flame: the staff of Amenti’s ticket home to Tara.

‘It is the Sphere of Amenti!’ I called back to my teammates who were still catching me up.

‘Wow!’ Dexter slid to a stop beside me and gazed up into the light. ‘Now all we have to do is drop that little baby down into the Earth’s core…and
bam
, a porthole link between Earth’s core in dimension two and Tara’s core in dimension five.’

‘We’ll be back in the Ranna time flow,’ Polaris finished.

We all stared up at the cosmic wonder whose return we had been preparing for for all eternity.

‘Has the planetary consciousness been raised enough to host the sphere?’ Talori asked Denera.

‘Not quite,’ she admitted, trying not to sound discouraging. ‘But at the rate Chris Molier is clearing the dams in the grid, and encouraging people to free their minds from religious barriers to embrace the power of their own positive intent, it won’t be long before the frequency scale finally tips in our favour.’

‘Well, I suppose we should go see if our “little miracle on Earth” needs a hand with anything,’ Arcturus said, and I could tell by his tone that he still didn’t trust Killian.

‘Exactly right,’ Denera said, looking at me.

‘You want me to go to New York? But Tamar will need—’

‘You know him best; he trusts you,’ she appealed gently.

‘I’ll be here for Tamar,’ Arcturus said, although he couldn’t have been keen for me to hook up with Killian again. ‘I’ll let you know the second anything changes.’

‘I’m sending Vespera and Talori with you, as they can aid Chris’s scientists with their research,’ Denera concluded.

Talori and Vespera both nodded, inspired by the thought of going undercover into the field.

‘But rest first,’ Denera insisted. ‘The pleasures of my labyrinth are at your disposal. Refresh yourselves and enjoy.’

The staff gave a cheer, and everyone hugged their significant other. Everyone except Arcturus and me; we stood apart, eyeing each other reservedly.

Polaris noticed our hesitation. ‘Come on, you two, you’re not going to let a wee difference in opinion spoil a perfectly good celebration, are you?’

Arcturus and I each went to speak, then both stopped.

I tried again. ‘I’m not mad, I’m just frustrated.’ I turned on my heel, slid across the pool and jumped onto the chamber floor.

‘That’s what I was going to say.’ My husband came after me and followed me up the six flights of stairs to the security cavern that led to the labyrinth.

Even for someone with superhuman stamina, I was breathing heavily when I got to the top. ‘You’d think that with all the technology at our disposal we could install a goddamn lift!’

‘But the view on the way up wouldn’t be anywhere near as splendid,’ Arcturus said with a lustful grin, and I caught my breath—the moment of our reunion, the moment I’d dreamt of for twenty years, was finally upon me. ‘I miss married life,’ he confessed.

‘Me too.’ I burst into tears, relieved to finally be on the same wavelength, and threw myself into my husband’s arms and kissed him repeatedly.

‘I vote we forget about saving the universe for a bit…’ Arcturus hoisted me up and I wrapped my legs around his hips as he carried me over the extension bridge, ‘…and take advantage of Denera’s hospitality.’

‘I couldn’t agree more.’

I cast off all thought of the outside world to focus on the centre of my universe for a change.

A
SHLEE
G
RANVILLE
-D
EVERE
—SOLARIAN

The staff members were particularly chipper after a rest period in Amenti’s magnificent accommodation, built and designed by our ultra-terrestrial selves to cater for the very few occasions our mortal selves were able to relax and recoup our vitality. Still, after eight hours of surface Earth standard time, play break was over and we all reported for duty.

While Polaris transported Meridan, Talori and Vespera to New York in the
Klieo
, I accompanied Arcturus to the recovery area, where Castor was keeping an eye on Mathu and Kali, in separate rooms for the present.

To our delight, when we entered the observation area between the two recovery rooms, we found Mathu sitting upright on the edge of his bed. Levi was visiting him, having a chat. They were old friends from way back.

‘We did it!’ Mathu was groggy, but his voice was full of relief and excitement. ‘I knew you would find me,’ he looked from Levi to the rest of us, ‘all of you! You have all been my star pupil at one time or another.’

He nodded at Castor with great affection. ‘Arthur, my master shaman, the saviour of the Rod of Power. How are you coping with the consciousness shifts from that time junction we created off Land’s End at the end of your reign?’

‘Dear Myrddin, how I have missed your conversation.’ Castor returned the fond sentiment. ‘I’m doing just fine, thank you.’

‘Aleka.’ Mathu’s sights turned to me; I too had spent a few lifetimes in the company of the master scribe. ‘When you saved the plan with your bravery during the demise of Poseidonis, I was so very proud of you…and look how far you have come!’

I was flattered. Mathu was far more charming than I remembered, but of course he had never fully occupied a human body before and so now he had an emotional side.

‘I could say the same of you, Master Hermes.’

He waved off my adulation and looked to Arcturus. ‘Vishtaspa, my greatest patron,’ he said, and Arcturus smiled. ‘I wrote hymns about you and the Kavi, you know.’

The Kavi were a semi-mythological dynasty of ancient Persia and Central Asia.

‘Yes, Zoroaster, I know and I am very honoured,’ Arcturus replied. Noticing my interest, he added to me in an aside, ‘Persia, sixth century BCE.’

‘Yes, I’ve read the
Gathas
,’ I replied, for the ancient doctrine of Zoroastrianism had formed part of my studies within my lifetime as Ashlee Granville-Devere. ‘You were one of the legendary kings of the Kavi dynasty then?’

‘Indeed, or so the third hall of Amenti revealed to me.’

In the other recovery room, Tamar gave a groan of what sounded like pleasure.

‘Tamar is waking up,’ Castor informed Levi and Mathu through the intercom.

Arcturus was in the lab faster than anyone could deny him access. Mathu followed at a slower pace, staggering into the room with Levi’s aid.

‘Come closer,’ Tamar whispered in a sultry tone, her hands caressing her thighs.

Arcturus and Mathu looked at each other across the bed, neither man sure who had precedence in this instance. Was it her father or her lover-to-be she needed most right now? Arcturus stepped back and motioned for Mathu to take a seat beside his sleeping daughter.

‘Yes,’ Tamar gasped, as if overwhelmed by desire. ‘I am yours.’ Her hands slid over her gown to clutch her breasts.

Arcturus looked alarmed and very uncomfortable.

‘My queen.’ Mathu leaned over to caress Tamar’s cheek and wake her. ‘My love.’

Tamar’s arm came up forcefully and held Mathu at bay. ‘Killian?’ she said.

‘No. It is I, Mathu.’

‘Deceiver!’ Tamar yelled, sitting up, and the force of her anger sent Mathu flying into the far wall. Although she was upright, her eyelids were still closed. ‘Go back to your whores!’

Arcturus stepped in. Sitting down next to her, he gripped her shoulders to attempt to shake her to consciousness. ‘Sweetheart, wake up.’

‘Leave me alone!’ she yelled in his face. ‘I hate you!’

‘Tamar? It’s Daddy, sweetheart.’

‘I don’t want you here!’

Arcturus went flying across the room to join Mathu on the floor. Tamar threw herself backwards and, gripping her head, went into a screaming fit.

Castor sprang from his chair. ‘She’s having a psychotic episode. We’re going to have to sedate her.’ He sought my assistance and I nodded.

We entered the lab stealthily; thankfully our subject appeared too engrossed in her own suffering to notice us. I moved to one side of the bed, ready to restrain her if required, whilst Castor approached from the other side, holding the gun containing the sedative dart.

As soon as Kali felt the metal implement against her skin, her eyes shot open and Castor, too, was sent flying across the room. She looked at me and I shook my head to let her know she’d better not try the same stunt. There was intense hatred in her wild violet eyes, yet I maintained my defiant glare as I willed the sedative gun into my hand.

Fuck you.

I heard her thought and pre-empted her strike with my own will to restrain her.

Her will impacted on me, but I was only cast off balance a second before I was able to impose my will upon her. As my intent was pure and genuine, it won out—Kali was pinned to her bed.

I placed the device against her shoulder.

‘Yes, send me back to him,’ she invited as I squeezed the trigger.

‘To who?’ I asked, too late, for she smiled as the sedative took hold, and then groaned again with pleasure just before she blacked out.

‘Goddamn it,’ said Levi, ‘they really got to her. We should never have let her go her own way.’

I’d forgotten he was in the room. Now that I looked at him closely, I could see that he was traumatised by the change in Kali.

‘We didn’t
let
her go,’ Arcturus argued, picking himself up off the floor. ‘Kali
insisted.
We just shouldn’t have listened.’ I could hear in his voice the tears he was holding back. ‘Is the damage permanent?’ he asked Castor, helping him to his feet, then giving Mathu a hand up too.

‘Even in the most ideal brainwashing conditions, the effects of the process are most often short term,’ Castor was pleased to be able to inform us. ‘The victim’s old identity isn’t eradicated by the process, it’s just in hiding, and once the “new identity” is no longer reinforced, the person’s previous attitudes and beliefs will start to return. We discovered that with Levi.’

‘If the Nefilim have imprinted her psyche with negative beliefs about you two, it might be best if you don’t see her until she’s recovered some of her true self,’ Levi suggested. ‘You’re both negative triggers for her just now,’ he explained further when Tamar’s father and partner objected strongly. ‘Until we can get her to remember otherwise, she’s going to see you as evil, which will retrigger the false memories and perpetuate the problem. We’re going to have to move her to the top-security holding cell for the time being anyway.’

Arcturus winced; he’d spent some time himself in the gold Orme-reinforced cell. ‘Is that really necessary?’

Levi frowned. ‘Considering what you’ve just seen, do you really have to ask?’

Who is the HE she wanted me to send her back to?
I wondered quietly. I placed my fingertips to her neck and extracted the answer.
Killian.
‘I thought so,’ I said aloud.

‘What did you think?’ Arcturus asked.

‘That Ill is fiendishly clever.’

What better way to foil our plan than to set Kali and Mathu against each other and place Killian right in the middle?

‘How long until Tamar starts to remember her old identity?’ I asked Castor.

‘Levi took the better part of a season to recover, and even then he still had flashbacks.’

‘Well,’ I said, taking a deep breath, ‘we still have eight months up our sleeve. Let’s hope it will be enough.’

Mathu was shaking with remorse and anger. ‘Our enemies got to her before I did
again
! I have failed her, over and over.’

‘Rubbish,’ I told him. ‘If you hadn’t defeated Pintar, she wouldn’t be here at all. She will recover, and when she does we will end this war and go home. Understand, Mathu, you have an underdeveloped emotional body and at first it will cause you to doubt yourself.’ I placed a hand on his shoulder. ‘But you must believe in the power of love; it truly will conquer all.’