Chapter Fifty-Seven

Altair Ain

To say that All Hell Broke Loose would be an understatement.

The entire kingdom went into Full Panic Mode.

Samantha Carter was whisked away from Russia by Hades and Poseidon to Altair Ain where she gave a very spontaneous report while Hades went off to the Underworld.  “I don’t know what happened.”  She stuttered to the Council who had convened on a moment’s notice.  “There’s no reason to think that they’re dead,” she said trying to be brave and find a bright side, “it’s altogether possible that they were sucked into the vortex and they’re on Sengul with Daniel and the rest of them.”  Sam hadn’t gotten much of a look at the read-outs and machinery before her presence was demanded here but …” There was a massive energy surge of some kind,” she explained, “it happened just before they disappeared.”

Morgan Le Fey like Duncan MacLeod and the others just sat there in shock.  All of the Royal Family was missing or otherwise engaged.  “What is happening here?”

“You know,” David shot and stood up from his place at the Council Table.  “Wolfgar took them.”

Duncan hated the idea and he hoped that no one would voice it but leave it to David to say what needed to be said no matter how ugly it was.  “You can’t prove that.”

“Do I have to?”  He looked around at those gathered.  “If Hades comes back and says they’re not in the Underworld…and we all hope and pray that’s exactly what happens…then we have to at least consider the possibility that bastard snatched them.”

That sounded reasonable enough.  Poseidon stepped forward.  “I’ll go to the islands.  If he’s got them then they’re in Zeus’ Dungeon, there is no place else that can hold them.”

With tacit nods the Council agreed that Poseidon should go and they would await his report. 

“Callie’s all that’s left.”  David said thoughtfully.  “We gotta get her back on Thor’s ship.”

“Or wake her.”  Maeve offered.

“You’re not part of this,” David reminded the petite faery.  “So shut up.”

Morgan and Duncan looked at each other in silent conversation before Morgan spoke.  “However, if we wake her then perhaps Calla can open the pathway and bring…maybe all of them…home.  She is the only one left who is capable of doing this.”

“She has another day to sleep before all of that stuff is out of her head.”

Duncan felt his stomach roll with dread.  “She’d want you to wake her for this.”

“Just one more day.”  Looking around David saw that the others were apt to agree with Morgan and Duncan.  “You don’t know what waking her early might do to her or if she’ll be strong enough to even try opening that thing.”  He warned.  “We wait for Poseidon and Hades to come back and tell us what’s what but I want her off this planet for the night through the next.  I believe I’m in charge where she’s concerned.”  David asserted.  Yes, damn it, Calla would want to be woken up for this and he knew she would be mad but she was sleeping and she could be pissed off when she woke up happy and healthier then when she went to sleep.

Maeve fluttered up on her iridescent wings to be eye-to-eye with David.  “You really think he can’t get to her there?”

“The ship has shields.”

“So what?”

For that, David had no answer.  If Wolfgar could get to all of them…if he could make five of them simply disappear into thin air….what else he could do?  Was he even stoppable in the slightest?

“I say we wake her.”  Maeve challenged.

“Can’t you give her just one more night before you rip this chance away from her and tell her that all of her Children are missing?”  That made the Old Faery flinch.  “How much can you keep putting on her shoulders before she breaks?”

It was Calla’s place to do all of these things.  It was her destiny, her fate…her job.  If she broke in the process well then that too would be her fate.  Arguing this point with the redneck would not do her any good and Maeve knew it.  “We will continue this after we hear what Hades and Poseidon have to say.”

**

In what was once the Royal Bedroom Randy the therapist stood by bed of the Queen Mother.  “Hello, Grandmother, how are you today?”  He whispered as he looked around to see she was completely unattended.  Straining to listen as hard as he could with his very acute ears, he did not hear so much as a fart anywhere in the mansion.  They were all down there, down in the Meeting Hall, discussing current events.  Eventually someone would waltz through the door remembering that there was vulnerable woman in here but he did not think it would be anytime very soon.  The one good thing about being Randy the Physical Therapist right now was that, when they did come in, he had a perfectly valid reason for running his hands all over.  “I see you’re still resting comfortably. Do you know my voice, Grandmother?  Do you know who I am?  I think you do.”  Taking another glance around Wolfgar settled next to her on the side of the bed and ran his hand across her gray hair.  “I am your God, the One True God and I’ve just come from Brigid, I left her in my bed…sobbing in my bed actually.”  He mused and traced his hand along her papery cheek.  “I’ve got them all Grandmother, all of them are mine now, and I’ll never let them go, so you see you’ve nothing to wake up for any longer.  Your Husband will never return all that’s here for you is loneliness and heartache.  Let go.  Come with me and let go, Grandmother.  It’s time to rest and return home.”

**

In her sleep, Calla had been lazily wandering around this interesting little town on the bay.  It had many wonderful things to see, to smell, and to taste.  She loved the blue cobblestone at her feet and the people…oh the people! They were so very friendly and polite!  Everyone smiled and said ‘hello’, ‘yes, please’ and ‘no, thank you’.  They went out of their way to open doors for each other and ask the other was doing as they passed by.  It was a lovely place and she’d like very much to stay here.  Wandering around aimlessly she came upon a park with blooming flowers and shade-giving trees.  Looking around for a comfortable place to sit for a while and think about the important thing that she knew she was forgetting she heard an odd sound.

Someone was crying.

“Hello?” Calla called out peering around to see the weeper was a boy sitting under a Rowan tree.  “Are you all right?”  She asked as she slowly made her way up to him.

The boy, who looked very familiar indeed, looked up at her with bloodshot blue eyes and smears of dirt of his slightly chubby cheeks.  “I’mmmmm…Iahhmmmmm….Immmm…..I’m….lalala…lost.”

“Well I’ll help you, don’t cry, it will be all right.”  She soothed and held up the hem of her gauze dress to wipe away his tears and the dirt clinging to his face.  “Where are you supposed to be?”

“There!” He cried and started to blubber once more.  “I can’t get there!”

Calla looked off to where he pointed and saw the bay.  “You want to go to the shore?  The bridge?”

“No!  There!”  He pointed very angrily once more.

“The lighthouse?”  She asked as though a light had dawned but then faded just as quickly while she stared at the oddly shaped structure so like a wedding cake it was remarkable.  “Why do you want to go to the lighthouse? No one goes there.”  She advised but she didn’t know why or how she knew that.  It didn’t feel right and she wanted to take it back but didn’t.  As she turned back to him to wipe away his fresh tears, she realized he was staring straight through her.

“You need to go there.”  He nodded his head very seriously.  “Now.”

The Ichor in her veins ran cold as a shiver went through her slender body.  “Why?  Is it important?”  Calla whispered.

“Yes.”

Well how was she going to get there?  She could get to the shore, surely, she could do that, but how was she going to the lighthouse in the middle of the bay?  “I don’t under—“  the boy was gone and she was alone in the park.

No one goes there.

“No, of course they don’t because….because….” she wondered aloud. “Because?”  That shiver came back to wrap around her shoulders and then shoot down to her toes.  It was a very long walk and soon the sun would go down for the night.

Wasn’t it just noon?

Maybe it would be best to find a place to stay for the night and make her way to the lighthouse in the morning.  That sounded good.  She could go into town and inquire about the lighthouse further before getting a good night’s sleep and setting out about her important adventure to the place where no one goes.

Night fell quickly in this place and by the time she exited the park and was back on the cobblestone street the first stars could be seen in the sky.  Now the people were hurrying along, still polite, but perhaps a little curt, perhaps their smiles were quite as wide as they had been in the daylight.  All of the blue buildings in this part of the Bay Town were up on a hill, she had to strain her neck to look up at them and decipher what they were.  She tried to ask a few passersby but they just smiled, nodded, and went on their way pulling collars close as they did.  Calla noticed the whiteness of their breath linger in the air after them.  Feeling lost and out of place, she finally came to a place that looked to her as though it were some type of inn.  Up, up, up the flight of stairs to the door when she finally arrived her legs felt like rubber, she had to lean against the doorway for a moment to recover.  The view from up here was divine and she hoped to be able to obtain a room with a window in this direction so she could watch the stars glitter on the bay.  Feeling a little better, she went inside and was glad to see her assumption had been correct.  “Excuse me, I’m sorry, but you see, I seem to be lost and in need of a place to stay.”  Calla said to the man behind the desk.  “I’ve no money but I’m a good worker and---yes, what?”  Her voice trailed off as she followed the direction he was pointing and noticed the shiny emerald and diamond ring on her finger.  “It’s worth much more than a single night’s rest.”  Calla protested and twirled the ring around not wanting to let it go.  Her hand reached up to her throat.  Hadn’t she been wearing a necklace?

Necklaces?

Wasn’t she doing something with them?

Wasn’t it important?

And…and….and….

“Oh damn!” She cried softly in frustration.  “I’ve forgotten you see, I’ve forgotten what I’m supposed to remember.”  There were no chains around her neck. 

Perhaps they were never there.

Perhaps they were never important.

“Please, I can work.”  Nevertheless, he only pointed at the ring.  “I’ll find another place then, thank you for your time.”  The man gave her a queer look and watched her walk out the door only to run back inside.  “What is that?”  She asked in a hushed voice.

“Festival.”  The man said dryly.  “The ring?”

Festival?  It didn’t look like a festival.  Well…maybe it did.  Maybe it was Mardi Gras, she and Daniel had gone to that several times along with Carnival in Rio and it was much fun.  They had such wonderful times dancing and laughing all dressed up in costumes.  Maybe Festival was like that and she’d just mistaken the gaiety for something more sinister.  Slowly she went over to the window to look out at the townspeople who had been so civilized and polite during the daylight hours.  They were running wild in the streets now it was no party it was a mob.  They were out of control; they knew it, reveled it, and couldn’t care less about it.

Calla began to hand over her engagement ring to the man behind the desk.  “Should I find something of lesser value which would you satisfy you, will you give this back to me?”

“Maybe.”

With a deep sigh, she dropped it into his waiting hand.  He put it in the till; hit the little bell on the counter and from nowhere another man appeared to show her to her room.  They walked up a winding stone staircase, which held a wrought railing in the few spaces where the stone gave way as they spiraled up, and up to what floor Calla didn’t know.  She did know that like the ascent to the front door she was very tired when she arrived and dismayed to find her room had no door.  None of the rooms had doors.  The man with her gestured toward the doorway and she walked inside. 

Lit by three oil lamps she saw that the room was actually three rooms, the main area here with a bed, bathroom, and possibly a sitting room that she couldn’t really see from her vantage point.  However, there wasn’t a single door.  Each room was separated from the other by a large archway and nothing more.  Not even the bathroom was private.  “Thank you.”  She muttered. He gave a slight bow and then left her alone.  Festival or not, this room was not worth the ring she had paid.  Calla noticed the draft surrounding her and wrapped her arms around her body to keep warm.  In front of her was an archway that gave way to a balcony and the chilly night.  With fear she walked forward, around the uncomfortable looking bed, to tip her toes over the line between this room and the balcony.  The people were still out there she didn’t have to see them to know that, as they were loud enough to be heard but not necessarily understood.  Below her, they danced and caroused in the street with all the fervor of a Bacchanalia.  They drank and groped each other in singles and groups hands ran untamed and lips sought out tender places.  It was frightening sight to witness and she was glad to be so high above and away from it all.  Perhaps, in that respect, the room was worth the ring.

Taking her eyes away from the unsettling sight, she looked off into the distance to see she had gotten the room she wanted.  Out there past the debauchery stood the calmness of the bay and the solid constance of the lighthouse keeping watch.  Stars twinkled in the deep blue sky as the light revolved around and around guiding ships to port and to home.

“Yes, it’s important, I must go there.”  She mumbled to herself hoping that when morning came the gallivanting crowd would again turn into the demur docile society she’d encountered earlier in the day.  She wouldn’t have to walk through and around them didn’t want to go anywhere near them.

No longer wanting to stand there and watch as she felt the coldness of the night enfold her, Calla turned back to the room with the intent of gathering up the blanket.  On the bed was a tangle of necklaces glittering in the dim light of the oil lamps in the room.  In joy she clasped her hands together and smiled.  “Yes!  That’s what I was doing!”  Relief washed over her as she remembered her important task and happily began making her way to the bed to continue untangling them.  As she reached out for the beautiful jewels, a man appeared in the doorway and held out his hand to her.  The heart, which was light with joy, grew heavy with dread.  “Is it time?” She asked fearfully and watched him nod.  “But I’ve things left to do; I have to fix these….”  Hastily she picked up the necklaces and showed them to him.  “I have to go to the lighthouse tomorrow….I can’t go tonight because, well because they’re…they’re…out there.”  She looked back over her shoulder toward the open arch and then back to him.  “Please it’s very important.  I remember what I have to do now.”

For the longest time he just stood there.

In the bedroom, Wolfgar saw the necklaces and the lighthouse in his Grandmother’s dream and knew someone was working against him.  Someone was on to him.  Morpheus perhaps?  “Come with me, I am your God, I am your Lord, your Master, mine is the only voice you will follow the only voice you hear.  Come with me.”  She was fighting him.  Forehead to forehead, almost lip to lip, he hovered over her willing her to do as he commanded.  “Follow me.”

In the dream, she looked helplessly at the tangled necklaces as she felt compelled to do as He wanted.  After all, He was God and one should never disobey a direct command from God.  Taking a few steps away from the bed leaving the shining jewelry behind to follow Him she suddenly turned back, grabbed up the necklaces in her hands and then turned toward Him again.

In the bedroom, Wolfgar let out a deep growl and in the dream, he batted them out of her hand.  “They’re bad, evil.  Do not let them tempt you.”  He demanded.

She was confused and flustered beyond what she had ever been before.  They weren’t bad.  They weren’t evil. “They’re important.”  She said in a whisper and stooped to retrieve them.

“You would go against me?”  He roared so loudly that the windows rang in their panes.  “Disobey me?  You would risk my wrath for a few trinkets?”

Instead of stooping Calla fell to her knees in front of Him.  “No, never.”  She said in a trembling voice.

“Then come with me now and do not look back.”

Huddled on the floor a large extended to her and she took it.  God helped her stand and taking one glance back at the trinkets as he had called them, she left the room with Him.

“Fucking finally,” Wolfgar muttered to himself.  “You’re damn stubborn woman, Grandmother.”  He had been here alone with her for several minutes and he was certain that someone was bound to walk in on them in the very near future.  “Our time is short, hurry.”  He said in the bedroom and in the dream.

Calla followed God out of the safety of the inn begging Him all the way not to make her go out there.  “Oh, please, no, I don’t want to go out there!”  She looked back at the desk clerk for assistance and found none.  He just sat there behind his desk staring at her ring and smiling.

When they got near the door, Wolfgar actually had to drag her through it and then down the long staircase.  How she’d found her way to the safety of the inn he didn’t know but he would find out once this was over with.  As they wound their way through the drunken fornicating crowd she fought him harder at first trying to get back to the inn but when it was no longer in sight she clung to his arm for safety.  That was most unexpected and he played the part of the Protective God pushing people out of their way as he escorted rather than dragged her through the town.  Calla cringed and cried out each time one of the inhabitants touched her.

To her they wandered downhill through miles upon miles of the town before the people finally faded away along with the sounds of scents of rancid sex.  “We’re past them our journey should be more pleasant for a while.”

“For a while?”  She asked as she stumbled alongside Him.  “Where are we going, my Lord?”

“On an important journey.”

Well that much she had gathered but; “Where?  I don’t mean to question You I’m just curious.”

Her curiosity was legendary.  “I am taking you to your one true love.  It is time for you to rest and be reunited with him.”

“Daniel!”  Calla cried out suddenly and her face rushed with color.  “Where is he?  Is he all right?”

“Not Daniel, he is not your true love though I know you believe him to be.”  The face, which was so alight now, fell into despair.  “Walk with me in silence now and at the end of our journey you will be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams.”

**

Poseidon appeared first in the Council Chamber to announce the islands were completely empty.  There was no sign that anyone, other than Ares who still liked to visit his cave from time to time, had been there in years.  Poseidon carefully searched Zeus’ Dungeon and the Palace along with Ares’ Cave, Aphrodite’s Temple, and Eros’ Tower.  “If Wolfgar has them then they are not on this planet.”  He announced.

“So it’s just as likely that they somehow got sucked into the vortex and are now on Sengul with Daniel.”  Sam said to those gathered.

“Provided they are not found by Hades.”  Poseidon agreed.

Hades returned several minutes later to announce they were not in the Underworld.  He had every inch of the place searched.  “They’re not dead.”

Once again, Sam spoke up and stated her case.  “So that’s it, they have to be on the planet.”

All of them trapped on Sengul?

“What do you say now, Sa’Tan David?  Are you still unwilling to wake Lady Calla?”

Morpheus had been hanging around with the rest of them for most of the day.  He couldn’t say if waking her would harm her or not.  Annie was dragged away from Danny’s bedside for consultation; she too could not say what would happen if they woke Calla early and all of the Xerinium had not been absorbed by the Dust.  If that turned out to be the case, then none of them could say putting her back to sleep once the pathway was open was a viable option.

Callie just had so little time left as it was—she was never going to go along with Danny’s plan— and asking her to open that damn thing was going to take a lot out of her.  “If they’re with Danny and Ares then they’re all right,” David said thoughtfully.  “Give her tonight and wake her tomorrow.  It’s still a few hours earlier than we thought but I think it will be enough.”

“If you’re wrong?”  Maeve asked.  “If they are not all right?  If they are not on Sengul?”

“Then no one knows where the hell they are least of all Callie, Danny, Ares and the rest.”  David shot not liking the coolness in the woman’s voice.  “If they’re not on that planet and they’re not on this one then where the fuck are they?”  Shaking his head, he caught sight of the fading light outside the window and then looked down at his watch to see that several hours had passed.  “Who’s up there with her?  Anybody?”

**

Calla’s Journey With God seemed to be endlessly downhill and several times she stumbled over her own two feet as the grade grew steeper.  The walk took them close enough to the lighthouse that she could make it out clearly in the moonlit night.  Each time the bright light revolved around landing upon her it felt warm like sunlight and not a synthetic light at all.  She felt drawn to it and constantly kept wandering off toward it—as though she could get there with all of that water in the way—and He pulled her back and away from it telling her it.

“No one goes there.”  God said to her. “It is an evil place full of horror and agony.  Like the glittering jewels its outward appearance is only there to tempt you and it’s hard to resist, is it not?”

“I am weak, my Lord.” Calla offered in her defense still wanting to swim to the lighthouse if she had to just so she could be closer to it.  She wanted to run all the way up the stairs to the light chamber and stand in the warmth of its revolving glow.  Surely if she felt its warmth from here, then standing so close would be like standing in a kiln and she’d be cooked within seconds.  Perhaps that’s what it was tempting her to; an unkind death.  Yet, wasn’t it strange how the light never seemed to fall upon God even though He was right next to her.  For Him it cast no shadow.

“I am strong. I will not let you falter in this most important task.”

On and on they went with Calla doing her best to ignore the lighthouse but it seemed no matter how far they walked they never passed it.  Was it moving with them?  God led her off to the right for a long distance that should have put much room between them and the lighthouse yet it did not.  The longer they walked the more pissy God seemed to become with its presence.

**

“What are you doing in here?”

The sound of David Jackson’s voice took Wolfgar by surprise and the sharpness of his tone was almost enough to pull him all the way away from Calla’s side in the Dreamworld.  That would be bad, as she would run toward the lighthouse and all might be lost at that point.  It took him a few seconds to answer, as he made sure that when he turned around he presented as Randy the Helpful Therapist and not himself.  “Therapy Mr. Jackson.  I was just exercising her.”

“That what you call it?”

“I know it may have looked peculiar when you walked in.”  Wolfgar stood up and away from the sleeping woman to face them only to see or rather see through Morpheus standing there ready to give Calla her nightly dose of Dust.  This was good news; yes, it seemed Fate really was going his way.  Wolfgar had been afraid they would try to wake her or send her up to Thor’s ship where he was less likely to gain entry without suspicion.  Turning into the shape of a human was one thing turning into an Asgard was another.  Little buggers.  So damn small.  The other thing he noticed was Morpheus’ lack of suspicion as he stood there seemingly unaware that anything nefarious was going on in the world he supposedly commanded.  Olympians, always so secure in their own superiority.  This meant the old goat wasn’t suspicious of him either and that was welcome.  “Any news?”  He inquired.  “Have they been found?”

“Let’s not talk about that in front of her.”

“Do you think she can hear us?”

“Don’t matter what I think,” David returned.  “There’s no news you can talk to Annie about it I’m sure she’ll fill you in.  Now if you’ll excuse us…” he motioned toward the open door.

“Of course.  Good night.”  Randy made his way out the door on his way find Annie but then back to Olympus where he could continue this in peace They were so close to the Underworld now, another twenty minutes and he was sure he would have had her there.  The Dust would bring her closer of that he was certain just as certain as he was that she’d be dead within the next few hours but he’d like to be in the room with her, to touch her, as he guided her through the journey to the door and through the door to the Underworld.  After that, where her body was didn’t matter in the slightest.

With his mind, Morpheus closed the bedroom door.  “Are you sure you’re doing the right thing?”  He asked David.

**

In Calla’s dream the whole world seemed to, well, to bobble for a moment.  Everything wobbled like the flashback sequence in a television show but then returned to normal.  The wind began to pick up and she noticed that they were quite unexpectedly quite a bit closer to the lighthouse.  Now she saw a reach that she did not notice before.  It connected the little island to the mainland and she could simply run across it to the lighthouse where…she squinted in the darkness in a vain attempt to see better.  The wind seemed to call her name.

Is that my name?

No.  It’s not.

It’s not ‘Calla’ it’s

**

In the bedroom, Calla’s eyes opened and David looked at his watch again.  It was time she ate and there was nothing here for her.  “Not yet,” he said to Morpheus, “she’s probably starving; I gotta get her something to eat.”  His skills still weren’t up to snuff and he couldn’t produce a bowl of Ambrosia and chalice of Nectar so he ran down to the kitchen and did it the old fashioned way while he called for Inez on his cell phone to remind her that it was time to take Calla’s vitals.

**

Grandma.

The wind is crying ‘Grandma’.

Still holding on to God’s hand she stared harder at the lighthouse as she tried to keep up with His uneven pace.  There was a boy on the reach.  Was it the same boy she had met this afternoon?  Yes, it looked like him.  Was he waving to her?  Was he jumping up and down trying to get her attention and screaming ‘Grandma’ at the top of his lungs?

**

“Danny!”  Calla called out.  Even down in the kitchen David heard her and traveled the astral to her side.

“Callie?  What’s going on?”

Morpheus had no answer and Calla just went on screaming; “Danny!  Danny!  Danny!”

**

In order to avoid suspicion Wolfgar decided to traverse the distance between the manor house and Annie’s clinic where he was sure he’d find her hovering over her dying son or a microscope when he suddenly crashed to the ground with a hearty thud.  In the Dreamworld Calla let go of his hand and was breaking away from his side.  “Don’t!  I forbid it!”  He roared in both worlds, which drew the attention of those milling about around him.  Looking around he saw those eyes looking back at him and he scrambled to his feet only to ignore those looking on and the queries in their eyes.  In his head her voice was deafening as she screamed; “DANNY!”

It wasn’t Morpheus leaving Calla little clues it was Danny.  That little shit why couldn’t he just die like a good little boy!

Off in the distance he heard the same name being cried out but in Annie’s voice.  Maybe the bastard was going to comply after all and this was a last ditch effort to save his beloved Grandmother.  Stumbling toward the clinic and hopefully away from prying eyes, he struggled to stay in both worlds, as Calla broke free of him.

“Come back here!”  God demanded in the Dreamworld.  “I forbid you to enter there!”

Calla paid Him no mind not with Danny standing there calling to her, needing her, surely a Kind and Gracious God would understand a Grandmother’s need to tend to her Grandson and would never hold such a thing against her.  If what God said was true, and of course it was because He was God!—then Danny was in danger if he went in that place and she could never allow that.  “Danny!”

From Danny’s point of view, he did not see God chasing after his Grandmother but a hideous beast with teeth that dripped blood.  “Run Grandma!  Run!  Hurry!”

**

In the bed, Calla lashed out at those around her as she screamed for her Grandson though those tending her were apt to think she was calling for her Husband.  She pushed at them, kicked them, and bit them when they got too close to her teeth.

“Dust her!”  David shouted at Morpheus as he tried to hold the squirming woman down.

“No,” Morpheus returned.  “Something is wrong.”

“I can see that!”  David tried to pin her shoulders to the pillows but made the mistake of brushing the back of his hand to close to those pearly whites.  “Ow!”  He screamed out as she bit down hard and then refused to let go.  “Callie stop it!  Stop it!  Danny’s all right!”  She held his flesh until he swore she was going to bite right through and tear off a chunk.  Finally and mercifully, she let go before her teeth emerged through the other side but it was only so she could call out his name one more time.  “Danny!”  On the mattress her legs, both of them, pumped hard as though she were running and her arms, both of them, and joined in keeping time.  Those eyes, distant as they were seemed to be coming closer to wakefulness.  In an amazed haze David let go of her and stood back away from the bed, sure enough, she took off.  She was up and out of that bed and running across the room almost before Morpheus could catch her.  No limp to hinder her and when the God of Dreams turned her around her face did not droop neither did her shoulder.  “Let her go.”  David hissed.

“What?”

“Let…her…go.”

Confused but willing to go along Morpheus let go of Calla who ran out of the bedroom, downstairs and out the front door with David and Morpheus hot on her heels.  Those in the town who had just been treated to the strange antics of Randy the Helpful Therapist now bore witness to their aged Queen Mother running blinding through the night in nothing but the King’s shirt.

**

“Run Grandma!  Run!  He’s too close to you!  Run!”

**

Across the Commons, before Wolfgar could get to the clinic he saw Calla running for the Worship Center and the town following her.  “Damn it!”

“Danny!”  Annie’s voice again and he looked over to see her standing in the doorway of her clinic.  “Where’s Danny?!”

Wolfgar didn’t know which way to go.  He couldn’t risk tipping his hand out here in the open and going after the aged Queen Mother with ill intent but he couldn’t let her wake up not when he had been so close to getting her to threshold of the Underworld’s Back Door.  Judging by the look on her face and those eyes Calla was still sleeping on some level and he still had a chance to get her and end this tonight.

David and Morpheus heard her cries from across the commons and looked at each other as they followed Calla to the Worship Center, which was starting to glow with an eerie blue light.  Wolfgar stood there frozen for a moment.  The damn light.  He was too late.  She was too close.  He would never get to her in time.  Not in this world.  “Bitch.”  He muttered and then took off for the clinic in the Real World but kept running after Calla in the Dreamworld hoping to catch her before she could reach Danny.

**

In the dream, Calla ran as fast as she could without looking back.  The light seemed to be revolving quicker and growing hotter.  Strange, up until right now she didn’t realize how cold she had been.  She leapt upon the forbidden ground of the reach and looked up to see Danny was now closer to the entrance to the lighthouse.

“Hurry!  Hurry!”  He called to her.  “Come on Grandma you can do it!”

Danny was almost within grabbing distance now.

In both worlds, Wolfgar was too late. 

The closer she got to the lighthouse the brighter the light grew there and in the Worship Center.  In the dream, he had to hold up an arm against it.  For him it wasn’t simply warm it was hot as hell and every time it revolved around and landed on him, it burned him until he cried out in pain and was forced to retreat to a safer distance.  Calla turned around to see him, not as her Faceless Dream Lover but as the snarling monster Danny saw with its long sharp claws and dripping fangs.

Not stopping in the slightest, she turned back around, dashed to Danny, scooped him up in her arms, and did not stop running until they were inside the lighthouse.

**

In Altair Ain Calla burst into the Worship Center where all witnessed the massive statue of Zeus glowing with ethereal blue light.  Upon his seated lap lay Danny.  Calla scrambled up the statue of her Grandfather which stood nearly twenty feet high and took the fading body of her Grandson up in her arms.  “Danny?  Danny?”  His face was white, his lips a deep blue.

“I knew you could do it.”  He mumbled in both worlds as Calla came the rest of the way to wakefulness.

“No, you did it.”  She kissed his forehead and held him close.  “You did it.”  Calla felt him before she saw him.  “No,” she moaned.  “Oh, please, Uncle, don’t.”

“I’m sorry, Little One, his energy is gone.  It’s time.”  Hades soothed as he ungloved his hand and reached out to touch Danny’s cheek.

“He saved me, don’t take him.  Take me, Uncle.”

Hades looked up at the face of the statue of his Brother.  “That’s not what they wanted.”  Looking down at the tears streaming down Calla’s face Hades gently touched Danny’s cheek and the boy was gone.

“No,” Calla mourned and rocked his body in her arms.

Annie burst through the door of the Worship Center followed quickly by Randy who would only enter after the light had faded.  “Oh no, no, no.” She put her hand over her mouth and fell to her knees at the sight of Calla sobbing holding the lifeless boy.

Wolfgar or Randy, rather, tried to hold back the disgust at the fact that the wretched little reincarnation of Zeus couldn’t have died ten minutes sooner!

End of Chapter Fifty-Seven of
Golden Years
by Moon Mistress
a/k/a Lisa Beth Darling
Go to
Chapter Fifty-Eight