The Whirlwind, page 8
part #3 of Imager Chronicles Series
“Yeah,” she said, sucking her fingers. “But the stupid thing burned me.”
“Burned you?”
“Yeah, it was so hot that it—” Then she spotted it. The dish of water on the dresser was boiling! “Nathan, look! That’s exactly what it did last night! That’s exactly what happened to the water in the canteen last night!”
“I know,” Nathan said as he turned back to the dresser. “It just started. As soon as . . .” He slowed, thinking. “ . . . as soon as you opened the window and brought the Bloodstone into the room.”
Denise frowned and looked at the Bloodstone on the floor. “Maybe it’s trying to tell us something. Maybe—” And then she stopped. The Bloodstone had started to glow again. Not only that . . . but it was starting to melt!
Nathan took a step backward. “This is getting too weird,” he said.
Denise hesitated, then carefully knelt down for a closer look. That’s when she felt the heat.
“Don’t get too close,” Nathan warned.
She nodded but reached out her hand to feel its warmth. And with that warmth came the strangest sensation. It struck her outstretched fingers and moved up her arm and into her body. But it wasn’t just warmth. It was . . . a peace. A peace that began filling her. She inched closer and reached out her other hand.
“What are you doing?” Nathan cried.
“I can’t explain it.” She felt a smile spreading across her face. “Nathan, do you remember the first time we were in Fayrah? Do you remember how they said the Bloodstone symbolized Imager’s love?”
“Yeah, so?”
Her smile broadened and she scooted even closer.
“Denny!”
“Do you remember the power it had to free you from the menagerie—to help us through the Portal?”
“Of course I do, but—”
“I think, I think this stone is more than just a symbol.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I think this Bloodstone is . . . ” She leaned closer to it and giggled.
“What?” Nathan demanded.
“I think this Bloodstone is like a part of Imager.”
“You’re crazy!”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “Come, feel the heat.”
“No way,” he replied. “I’m not getting near it.”
“It’s more than heat, it’s . . . ” By now her smile had broken into a full-fledged grin. “Nathan, there’s a feeling to this heat. The same feeling I had when I was at the Center. Nathan . . . it’s not heat . . . it’s love.”
For a long moment she remained warming her hands . . . and her heart. And the longer she stayed, the more of Imager’s love she absorbed.
An idea began to form. “Nathan, bring over that water from the dresser.”
“No way!” he protested. “You can see how it’s melting the stone already!”
“Bring it closer,” she repeated.
“It could explode, or blow us up, or—”
“I doubt it.” Denise looked up at him, grinning. For some reason he no longer got on her nerves. Now she could see past his selfishness, his stubbornness, and everything else about him that drove her crazy. Now she saw the real Nathan O’Brien. And what she saw, well, strangely enough, what she saw she actually liked.
“Nathan, with all Imager has done for us, do you really think he’d destroy us with his own Bloodstone?”
“How should I know? He’s not exactly easy to figure out.”
“Bring the water here.”
He threw a nervous glance at the boiling liquid letters and words in the dish.
“Nathan . . .”
“I’ll burn my fingers,” he whined.
“Use your shirt—wrap your shirt around it.”
He turned back to the dish. Ever so slowly his expression began to change. Denise couldn’t be certain, but it looked like he was watching the reflection of his brother—his suffering brother, his brother who could only be saved with their help. Or maybe he, too, was feeling the love from the Bloodstone. Whatever the reason, Nathan’s own fear and selfishness seemed to be fading.
“All right . . .,” he finally sighed. He pulled out his shirttail and approached the dresser. “But if we die, you’re going to live to regret it.”
He wrapped the material around the dish and cautiously picked it up. Then he turned and started toward Denise and the Bloodstone. It was only a few steps, but by the time he arrived, the water was boiling so furiously hot that—“Augh!”—the dish fell from his hands, spilling the liquid onto the floor.
Well, not all of it spilled onto the floor. Much of it fell directly onto the Bloodstone. Immediately the liquid letters sizzled and spat. Soon the entire Bloodstone began hissing and bubbling . . . and melting. Within seconds it had dissolved into a boiling, blood-red pool of liquid!
Then the wind started . . .
It began as a faint wisp or two that rose over the pool. Then the wisps came together, swirling and intertwining until they formed a small cone . . . a miniature whirlwind.
Denise watched in amazement as the whirlwind began to grow until it was as tall as she was. As it grew it tugged at her hair, her clothes, papers on the desk, anything in the room that wasn’t nailed down.
“What’s going on?” Nathan shouted over the growing roar.
“I don’t know!” Denise yelled.
And then, barely discernible over the wind, was another sound. The sound of three very familiar friends making a most welcomed entrance.
Beep . . .
Bop . . .
Bleep . . .
burp. . .
Chapter 10
Re-Breathed
“Listro Q!” Nathan shouted as the cool purple dude popped into the room.
“Aristophenix!” Denise shouted as his bearlike companion also appeared. She raced to him and buried her face into his thick fur. “Boy, am I glad to see you!”
Then of course there was Samson, darting over their heads, chattering at his high-pitched speed. Denise tried to jump up and give him a hug, too. But hugging a half dragonfly, half firefly is not the easiest thing to do—especially when you’re standing next to a miniature tornado that happens to be roaring away in your best friend’s bedroom!
Nathan shouted to them over the wind. “Bobok’s taken Joshua!”
“And the Illusionist!” Listro Q shouted back. “In on this, too, is she!”
“You know what’s happening?” Denise yelled.
Aristophenix nodded.
“To the Sea of Justice,
They have lured him away:
Now you must rescue him,
To help brighten his day.”
Denise winced. His poetry got no better with time. “We’re not the ones to rescue Josh!” she shouted. “Only perfect people can enter the Sea of Justice.” Suddenly her face lit up. “Wait a minute! That’s you guys, isn’t it? You’re the perfect ones!”
Samson fired off a short reply.
“Perfect, not are we,” Listro Q translated. “Perfection possible only for Upside Downers.”
“There’s nobody around here like that!” Denise shouted over the wind. “Bud said we’d find perfect people, but we haven’t found a one!”
“Have you looked at yourselves?” Aristophenix yelled.
“What?” both children cried in unison.
Aristophenix tried to explain:
You two, you’re the ones
That’s His plan, don’t you see?
But in order to be perfect,
You must be re-breathed.”
“What do you mean, re-Breathed?” Nathan shouted.
“The only thing perfect
Is Imager and His breath.
You gotta let Him fill you
And put your old breath to death.”
“Whirlwind,” Listro Q shouted as he pointed at the swirling cone of wind. “His Breath, that’s what is this!”
Denise and Nathan stared, more confused than ever.
Nathan ventured a guess. “You mean this wind,” he shouted, “this wind is Imager’s Breath?”
All three creatures nodded.
“What do you mean, ‘Put our old breath to death’?” Denise shouted.
Listro Q explained, “All the wrong ever did you, or ever will do, destroyed, must be it!”
“But . . . ” Denise searched for the words. “How?”
“The Bloodstone,” Listro Q explained. “Absorb your wrong all, will it.”
Both kids turned to the pool of red liquid that had once been the Bloodstone. It lay on the floor, barely affected by the raging Whirlwind above it.
“That?” Denise yelled over the roar. “That little puddle’s going to take away all our wrong?”
“Everything you have done,
Or ever will do.
It’s all gotta go,
So His breath’ll fill you.”
It was Nathan’s turn for skepticism. “How can that little puddle do that?”
Listro Q answered, “The great price long ago paid by Imager.”
“But you have to trust it,” Aristophenix shouted.
“What do you mean, trust?” Nathan yelled.
“You gotta trust in that pool,
You gotta step in there, son.
Breathe in His breath,
So your wrong is undone.”
“You want us to step through that?” Nathan yelled, pointing at the swirling Whirlwind. “And into the pool?”
“Precisely,” Listro Q nodded.
Samson chattered in agreement.
“You’re crazy!” Nathan shouted.
“Perfect, only way become can you,” Listro Q yelled. “So Sea of Justice, destroy you won’t.”
“You’re crazy!” Nathan repeated. “No way! Absolutely not! If you think for one minute that--”
He continued to rant and rave, but Denise barely noticed. Instead, she was once again raising her hands. But this time not to the Bloodstone. This time she was raising them toward the Whirlwind above the stone.
“Denny!” Nathan shouted. “What are you doing?”
“Feel it,” she said, barely turning to him. “It’s the same heat—just like the Bloodstone’s. Nathan, I can feel Imager’s love, I’m sure of it!”
Samson squealed a high-pitched reply.
“And why not?” Listro Q translated. “It’s Imager part of. His Breath, is it.”
Denise stepped closer to the Whirlwind.
“Denny, get away!” Nathan shouted. “Get back!”
But Denise wasn’t listening. Ever so carefully she reached out her hand.
“Denny!”
Then, even more carefully, she stretched out her fingers.
“Denny, stop!”
Their tips touched the swirling wall of wind. She let out a little gasp. But it wasn’t from pain or even surprise. It was from the sudden knowledge that finally, after all these months, she was actually touching Imager. True, it was only his Breath, but some of Imager was better than none of him. “Nathan,” she whispered, “this is . . . incredible.”
Nathan yelled something back, but she paid no attention. She was too busy making up her mind, summoning up her courage. Finally, she was ready. Slowly, inch by cautious inch, she moved forward . . .
“Denny, no!”
. . . until, at last, she entered the raging, blowing Whirlwind.
At first all she felt was warmth--like before, but deeper, cozier, the type you feel snuggled up in a thick quilt around a fireplace on a snowy evening. But the warmth didn’t stop at her skin. It soaked deeper—into her muscles, her bones, into the very center of who she was. It was like a warm hug whose love penetrated her very depths.
She heard Aristophenix shouting, “Step into the pool, Denny! You must step into the pool!”
She looked down and noticed her feet had not yet touched the red liquid. It lay at the base of the cone just ahead of her. Still cautious, she glanced back at Aristophenix and Listro Q. They nodded encouragingly. Then she heard Samson. She didn’t have to understand a word of the little fellow’s chattering to know what he said. The two of them were so much alike. Though they lived several dimensions apart and spoke different languages, she’d always sensed their closeness. She knew Samson wanted the best for her. And she knew that meant stepping into the pool.
Slowly she raised her foot and carefully, ever so carefully, stretched it out until, finally, she stepped into the pool that had once been the Bloodstone.
She was instantly struck by a feeling of lightness. It started in her head—as if a heavy darkness was being drained from it—as if all of the confusion and muddled thinking that had plagued her life was being drained away. She could actually feel the darkness leave, being drawn through her body, and out her feet into the pool. She didn’t know the details, but she did know that the Bloodstone was pulling it out, taking it away.
When she glanced at the room she was astonished at how much clearer everything appeared. More real. It was as if she had been looking through dirty sunglasses her entire life and now, suddenly, they were taken away. Suddenly everything looked bright, sharp, and very, very real.
Next, she felt her neck and shoulders begin to relax. The darkness was being drained from them as well. And, as the darkness was removed, she noticed her fears also disappearing. Fears that she wasn’t loved. Fears that she was never good enough. Fears that she was all alone. They were all being drained, sucked into the pool, disappearing forever.
Suddenly she broke out laughing. This joy, this knowing that she was loved no matter what she was, no matter what she did, it was more than she could handle. She tried to stop but couldn’t. Not that she cared all that much. As a matter of fact, she didn’t have any cares. They were all draining into the pool.
“What’s happening to her?” she heard Nathan cry. “Her body’s getting all clear—what’s happening?”
Now the darkness was draining from her chest and stomach. The darkness felt like many things, but mostly it felt like guilt. Guilt over all the wrong she had done, over all her failures. The heavy, oppressive weight of guilt was simply sliding away, disappearing into the pool. And for the first time in her life, Denise felt like she could breathe. Really breathe. And she wanted to with all of her might.
“Yes!” Aristophenix shouted as if reading her mind. “Breathe in. Breathe in as deep as you can.
“He’s removing your evil,
So you’re clear to receive
All of His fullness,
By being re-Breathed.”
Denise nodded and exhaled, blowing out all of the old air from her lungs. Then she inhaled the wind, taking the deepest breath she had ever breathed—a breath she knew was entirely Imager’s Breath.
“She’s getting solid again!” Nathan cried. “What’s going on?”
Denise looked down at her body. It was true. She seemed to be filling up with something else. Not the darkness, as before, but a sparkling Presence . . . a Presence more real than anything else in the room. She couldn’t explain it, but she was being filled with a different Reality, a Reality more pure and real than anything she had ever seen or felt. A Reality that she knew was Imager Himself.
She looked at Nathan. His mouth hung open in astonishment. He was obviously amazed and perhaps a little jealous. He stepped closer. She could tell he wanted to join her. She could also tell that he was terrified.
“Come on.” She smiled.
He looked through the wind into her eyes. She knew he saw her sincerity. And she knew he saw something else . . . something brand new, something she’d never experienced before. She knew he saw her love for him.
“It’s incredible,” she called. “Better than incredible.”
He continued to stare, seeming to draw courage from her gaze.
She raised her hand, stretching it outside the wall of wind. “Come,” was all she said.
Slowly, he raised his hand to hers until they were touching. He wrapped his fingers around hers. Neither took their eyes from the other.
Denise’s smile grew. “Come,” she whispered. She pulled ever so slightly and he responded by stepping forward. Soon the wind was blowing his hair and brushing against his face. Soon he also was smiling. “That’s only the beginning,” she said. “Come . . . step into this pool.”
Nathan edged further into the wind. As it wrapped around and encompassed him, his smile grew. He looked down at the pool. It was just inches from his feet. He looked back up at Denise. She gave a gentle nod. Finally, he made the decision. He stepped forward and into the Bloodstone pool.
Denise watched in awe as the heavy darkness began draining from him—all of his confusion, all of his fear, all of his guilt. As it drained he, too, started to laugh. So did Denise. She couldn’t help sharing in his joy.
Soon he was as clear as any crystal.
“Now breathe,” she said. “Breathe in with all of your might.”
Nathan nodded. And, as he breathed, he too was filled with Imager’s sparkling Presence, a Presence more solid and pure than any reality.
Denise glanced over at the Fayrahnians. They stood watching in silent reverence.
And then it happened . . . a blinding flash of light.
Denise looked at Nathan and gasped. He was completely transformed. Suddenly he was like the reflection back in the stream at Fayrah—a powerful and majestic warrior clothed in glowing armor.
He looked at her with equal surprise. She glanced down and saw the reason. Now she wore a dazzling wedding gown made of shimmering pearls and light.
“You’re . . . you’re beautiful,” Nathan whispered.
She looked up and saw he was awestruck. But she didn’t blush or feel embarrassed because she knew he was simply telling the truth. She was beautiful.
“What’s going on?” he whispered.
Denise could only guess. She remembered part of a conversation with Listro Q back at the stream. “This must be how Imager sees us,” she said.
Nathan looked down at his new body and armor. He nodded. “And since this is how Imager sees us . . . ”
Denise finished his sentence. “ . . . this is how we are.” She turned to the Fayrahnians for confirmation, but they were too busy dropping to their knees and bowing their heads.
