Hubble Bubble - 2. Chapter 2

Light as air Ariel turns away and takes a few quick light steps, then he raises his arms and begins to dance again. Something is happening. It seems as if suddenly he is bathed in moonlight, a strange bluish moonlight. It appears to be affecting my eyes because he seems to be... blurring, fading, changing.

I blink and blink again. He is still dancing but he is no longer a slightly scruffy boy of maybe eighteen or so wearing jeans and a dark hoodie. The moonlight has somehow coalesced into gossamer fine diaphanous robes that enhance but do nothing at all to conceal the body within... the long shapely white limbs, the tiny waist, the...

Blink. It is the same person, no doubt at all. The hair is the same, if perhaps a little more noticeably blue, but the waist is narrower, the hips broader and he has... he...she...

“What the hell are you?”

Ariel spins lightly in a swirl of blue chiffon and hair and in moment he... she is in my arms looking up into my face with eyes that, now I know, have always been entirely inhuman. The scent of lilac is strong in the air.

“At the time between times the veil is thin, Sam. There are more worlds than one that overlap with the one you know.”

And then I know. It’s obvious when you know, when you know what to look for. “Fey.” The word comes out like a curse and Ariel’s eyes widen.

“Don’t you like us Sam? Why wouldn’t you like us?”

“What are you?”

“I’m an elemental, a water elemental.”

“That explains a lot.” Ariel pouts prettily and presses... herself against me in an extremely... disconcerting way. “Put some clothes on.”

Smiling Ariel spins out of my arms and begins to walk slowly across the clearing. As he walks he becomes a boy again, dressed in a loose fitting trousers/tunic combo in soft shifting blue. His hair is bluer too, almost the colour of the summer sky, and he glows softly, repelling the darkness. He looks back over his shoulder.

“Aren’t you coming?”

“Not bloody likely. I may be a fool but not such a fool that I would follow a fairy into the woods at Samhuinn. What do you have in mind? A little light seduction followed by a century of uncontrollable dancing... or will I just wake up under a tree a thousand years from now?”

“You have nothing to fear from me Sam... from us. We need you. Nick needs you.”

The sound of his name sends a lance of pain through my heart which, by the time it reaches my head has turned to anger.

“How dare you? How dare you speak his name? I don’t know what game you are playing but it’s a dangerous one. You’ve been using Nick as bait this whole while, or at least my memory of him. Don’t play with that part of me.”

I am across the clearing in two strides and I take Ariel by the shoulders, shaking him roughly. His head snaps back and forth and a soft cry escapes his lips. His eyes are wide and his lips parted, forming an astonished O.

“You have been manipulating me Ariel. I know of your kind. It’s what they do best. Don’t play with me. Nick is dead. He doesn’t need me. He doesn’t need anyone any more. So who does, and what for?”

“I...I.. I have done as I was told. I was told to bring you... that’s all I know.”

“Don’t fool with me. I know your games. Tell me what you know.”

He shakes his head and winces. He really is so very beautiful but then so are they all. It is an inhuman kind of beauty, cold and too perfect, too unreal. It makes me angry. Everything about this makes me angry and I shake him again. He makes no attempt to fight me, or to run. He simply stares at me, his eyes wide with shock and fear. The anger overwhelms me and I raise my hand. He cringes away from me, waiting for the blow.

Something soft brushes against my leg and I draw back my foot to kick at it. I look down and my hot gaze is caught and held by calm, impassive green eyes. My anger dies under that gaze.

“Lucifer?” The cat stares at me for a moment longer, as cats will and then calmly lifts a leg and begins to clean itself.

My anger is gone and I am suddenly horrified by what I have done. I release Ariel and he skitters backwards, trips over a root and falls. I step forwards with my hand outstretched to help him but he shies away from me. He looks frightened.

“Ariel, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you, to hurt you. It’s just... Nick... he was... he... I suppose I am still very raw when it comes to him. And I don’t like being made a fool of, being manipulated.”

He is still looking at me as if he expects me to spring on him, to hurt him but I smile and reach out my hand again, slowly, gently, as I would to some small animal. Gradually he relaxes and eventually takes my hand and climbs to his feet, brushing down his clothes where dark soil and wet leaves cling. There is a smear of what looks like blood on his cheek. Do fey bleed?

“Try telling me the truth Ariel. If you do then I may be able to trust you. Who sent you? Why? Where do you want me to go?”

He hangs his head, biting his lip. He seems very young but I know better. I am no expert on the fey but I know full well that they do not measure their lives in the way that humans do and elementals in particular are ageless. He might have sprung into existence days, moments ago... or he may have been around since the first life crawled from the first ocean... even before. Elementals are never young and never grow old.

“I can’t. I don’t know.”

“You know who sent you Ariel. No games. I know it is hard for you but I want just plain truth.”

“The queen. The queen sent me. She wants you to go to a party.”

“A party? With the queen of the fey? Why? What does she want?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugs. His face is completely open, innocent, but I am not fooled. I know the way it is with the fey. The rarely lie, not that they can’t they just don’t bother because they find it far more amusing to mislead with twisted truth.

So what to do? This is not an offer that is made every day. To dine with the queen of the fairies is a dream to most, a nightmare to some, the ones who know. She is powerful, and beautiful and utterly without morals in the way that humans understand some. And yet... to refuse...

And then there is Lucifer. It is him, I know it is. I know by the way he looks at me with his head slightly to one side. I know from the way that his eyes seem to glow with an inner light. I know because I have spent so much time looking into that feral, knowing face. If Nick’s cat trusts them, damn if he is assisting them, protecting them... If Lucifer wants me to go then I can be pretty sure that Nick would have wanted me to go... and if that is the case there is no way I can not go.

“Alright. I’ll come with you... but I warn you Ariel... if this is a trick, if you or your queen wishes me harm... in any way... then I will hold you personally responsible and I will find a way of taking it out of your ass.”

He looks puzzled. I don’t think he has any idea what I am talking about but he gets the message that I am going to come because he smiles and reaches out his hand to me. He seems to have forgotten to be afraid of me because his smile is bright again, his eyes almost flirtatious. I sigh inwardly. I have always been impatient with anything fey... they have always seemed so... childlike, so... innocent, so...frustrating.

His hand is cool and soft. It feels delicate but I know that it is an illusion. Ariel is an elemental. His essence is water, emotion. Like water he will yield and flow but like water, if he wanted to he could carve out valleys, flood plains, drown civilisations. Innocent he may be, in his way, childlike too but it would do to keep in the forefront of my mind that he is powerful too, infinitely more powerful than I am.

Lucifer follows close by as Ariel leads me through the trees. He is silent, occasionally looking back over his shoulder at me. His footfalls are light, making no sound, unlike mine which stumble over roots and stones in the darkness.

At length we come to a stream. It is only a small one, but crystal clear. We pause on its banks and Ariel looks up at me a curious expression on his face. Then he turns away and whispers something into the wind. I don’t have a clue what he said but the words come out not just as sound but as a whisp of pale blue energy, curling and twisting like fine mist. As it disperses it seems to hang in the air, a very faint shimmer that slightly distorts the other bank of the stream where seen through it.

‘A doorway’ I think and, even as the thought forms Ariel tugs on my hand and we step over the stream and into another world.

Actually, it looks just like the world I just left. The wood is still there, the stream, and when I turn I can see where we just came from, except that it seems so much darker over there and the air I am breathing is... different. Like fine champagne as opposed to cheap chardonnay. I feel slightly dizzy and close my eyes for a moment, allowing my energies to adjust.

When I open my eyes Ariel is watching me, his head tilted to the side, his eye grave. I smile and he mirrors it, then takes my hand again and leads me into the trees.

I become aware of music away in the distance and, as we draw nearer I see the flicker of lights through the trees. Ariel gets more and more excited the nearer we get, like a child reaching the end of a long and tedious journey. I can practically hear his light voice whining... ‘Are we there yet?’ The thought makes me smile.

By the time we reach a place where the music is a heartbeat away and light is leaking through the densely packed trunks of oak, ash and alder he is practically dancing and, the next moment, as we step into the clearing he is off, spinning and leaping over the grass, joining with others of his kind in a dizzying pirouette.

Uncertain I remain rooted to the spot, gazing around in enchantment. All around the clearing fairy lights have been strung through the branches of the trees which are all in full leaf despite it being winter. I don’t notice at the time that all the leaves are silver. Apart from the lights in the trees there are lanterns strung on ropes across the clearing making a canopy of light.

Beneath the canopy long tables are set with dishes of fine crystal and goblets filled with sparkling wine. Huge bowls are filled with every kind of fruit imaginable and there are numerous small dishes of unknown delicacies.

However, it is not the tables I am looking at but the denizens who sit at them, or dance on the lawns between them. There are many elementals, the water spirits glowing faintly blue, flowing in motion and dance, the air spirits light as feathers never touching the earth as insubstantial as a sigh, the passionate and intense fire spirits dressed in reds, oranges and yellows, flickering from one place to the next and drawing in darkness to consume it in the way others are consuming their meal, and lastly the earth spirits, their skin the colour of the trees or stones they inhabit and from whom they sprung, earthy in more ways than one.

I look away quickly as a laughing nymph, her long green hair woven with flowers, her barely concealing dress slipping off shoulders which are a deep oak brown, throws back her head in wild abandon as a boy with long grey hair sparkling with crystal buries a face that glitters the texture and colour of granite between her ample breasts.

Along the path that Ariel took through the undergrowth to the lawn a cloud of flower fairies had been disturbed, flying up like butterflies and filling the air with the scents of dog roses, violets and hibiscus. As I watch they begin to settle again, their incandescent wings catching the light of the lanterns and the fireflies who dance in their midst.

I was completely entranced. I have heard about the Summer Lands, of course I have, but I have never seen them before, not even in meditation. I could never have imagined anything like this. The music is coming from no obvious source but is everywhere and it is enchanting, utterly enchanting.

I am so absorbed that I do not hear the soft footfall and am startled by a light touch on my arm. I turn my head and my mind turns so mush as my eyes fly wide and my mouth drops open. I have never been in the presence of such beauty, such power, such....

The woman is tall, at least three inches taller than my 6ft and as slender as a willow wand. I could easily encircle her waist with my hands and have space to spare. Her skin is as pale as alabaster and it clothes a body that is shapely and well formed. The only other thing that clothes it is a simple shift of some sheer material that shimmers with many shifting colours, like an oil slick on the surface of a crystal clear pool. It hides nothing.

Around her throat is a simple chain of silver from which hands a single perfect, tear drop of crystal and there are others, dangling from the looped circlet that holds back a waterfall of silver/gold hair that falls in ringlets to beyond her waist. Her eyes are like the light that shines through the crystal. If you concentrate hard you can pinpoint a colour but when you blink it is gone to be replaced by another.

Her whole bearing screamed ‘royalty’ but she is smiling. Her long pale hand, resting on my arm has an air of familiarity about it that makes me feel included. My mind is sinking under the feather light weight of the enchantment and I shake my head impatiently. I will NOT succumb to fairy magic.

“Of course you won’t. I would be disappointed if you did.”

“What?”

Her voice is like the ringing of tiny bells, tinkling and filled with laughter. Her smile widens and she takes my hand, drawing me into the clearing.

“Come Sam Healy, come join the party.”

“How do you know my name?”

“A friend told me.”

“Friend? What friend?”

She casts her eyes downwards and when I follow I am not really surprised to find the small black shape, half hidden among the flowers. Lucifer looks cooly back at me, his mystique somewhat affected by the flower fairy who is sitting on his back with her arms around his neck indiscriminately kissing his head. Impatiently he shakes himself and the fairy flies upwards, laughing then flies off to join her friends.

Lucifer looks up at me with that haughty look that all cats have... it seems to say...’you did NOT see that’.

“So... telling tales now are we Lucifer. I always thought you were loyal and faithful but I suppose I should have known better from a cat.”

“What makes you think that Lucifer has not been loyal and faithful? Do you believe that you have been brought here for a sinister reason?”

“I have no idea why I was brought here, other than that it was by false pretences and manipulation. Forgive me if I distrust you but, given your reputation and behaviour so far...”

“Ah... reputation. You should never pay too much attention to those... much better to make up your own mind. And as for false pretences and manipulation, I can assure you there was never such intention. What has that reprobate Ariel been saying to you?”

“He said that Nick needs me.”

She smiles a veiled smile and I realise that I am halfway around the clearing, standing before a particularly laden table. I am not aware of having moved at all. She throws herself into a chair that looks uncomfortably like a throne and motions to another next to her. Somehow reluctant, I sit.

“Drink. Eat. Please feel free. We do not stand on ceremony here.”

“Forgive me if I don’t. I am aware of the... special properties of fey food.”

“Would it help if I gave you my personal assurances that no harm will come to you from anything you eat or drink whilst in my lands?”

“Define ‘harm’.” She laughs again, the sound spreading like sunshine over me, making me feel warm and safe. I brush away the feeling, extending my defences so that she knows I have some. This simply makes her smile ever more broadly.

“You do know us well Sam.” She picks up a crystal goblet filled with what looks like sparkling wine and takes a sip then hands it to me. “I give you my personal assurance that there is nothing in the glass but wine, and that if you drink you will not be harmed, physically, mentally or spiritually. Will that do. Oh and the fruit... is just fruit. It is not even from our own trees but from yours.... ours is sweeter but yours is... more sustaining.”

“And if I do take a sip, bite an apple... I won’t be bound here?”

“I give you my word that, no matter what you eat or drink, no matter what you hear or say, no matter what happens while you are here you will be free to leave whenever you wish... I will even give you Ariel to show you the way... straight back to where you were before you came... and when. I think that has covered all bases.”

“I appreciate the candour. Alright... I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.... if you answer one question.”

“Only one?”

“There are many but only one that is burning me.”

“Very well. I will answer your question, if I can.”

“What do you know about Nick Rayner?”

“Ah.” She looks down into her glass and swirls the liquid watching it sparkle off the crystal. At last she looks up into my eyes, meeting my gaze directly for the first time. “Tell me Sam, what do you know about him?”

“What? That’s not fair. You said you would answer my question.”

“And I will. I did not say that I would answer it... first. Tell me... what do you really know about him?”

“I know he’s dead.”

“Are you sure about that?”

She is looking at me with the damndest look on her face. What the hell is she playing at? What is she implying? What is she trying to do to me? I can feel my emotions going into overdrive and pull sharply at the reins. The last thing I need to do is to lose control here and now.

“Yes. I am absolutely sure about that. I was there. I held his dead body in my arms. I...” I can’t go on as my throat constricts and stops the words. In an instant I am back there again, kneeling on the filthy floor, the flashlight illuminating the waxy skin, the staring eyes.

I am barely aware of the gentle touch on my arm. “Easy Sam. Clear your mind. Your abilities are stronger here. Use them.”

“What?” I shake my head and stare at her. The look on her face unnerves me and I take a deep drink of the wine to steady myself. It does anything but as suddenly my head swims. “Damn you. You said it was just wine.”

“It is Sam. Fey wine. Mortals find its effects... interesting.”

“Damn you! Damn you to hell! What are you doing to me?” I try to get to my feet but everything seems to be fading. The music is a long way away and everything I see is as though through a veil.

“Sit down Sam. I am doing nothing. You are doing most of it yourself.”

I sit down. I have no choice. “What do you mean?” Our voices seem to be coming from a long way away.

“The wine is enhancing your own abilities. You are shielding, protecting yourself and they have now become a hundred times stronger. Relax a little, let down your defences.”

“Let down my defences? Not bloody likely.”

“Just a little. Try it.”

With deep suspicion I try relaxing my guard a little and then a little more. Things slowly come back into focus. I am genuinely astonished.

“Reach out with your mind Sam. Reach out to Nick.”

“What?” Suddenly suspicious again I am sure this is another trick.

“Trust me. Just a little. Reach out to him and see what happens.”

She is just a shade too eager. Leaning forwards slightly her grip tightening on my arm. There is something like hunger in her eyes.

“No. Tell me what you know and I will think about it.”

Laughing she sits back and waves her hand. Lucifer jumps up onto the table and sits there nonchalantly licking himself.

“If you will not trust me, perhaps you will trust a friend.”

“Lucifer? How can I ‘trust’ a cat?”

“Ah but he is not just a cat. He is so much more.” She nods at Lucifer who gives me a look that suggests annoyance and then he changes. It is very much the same as when Ariel changed, a shimmer of energy, a smooth flow from one shape to the next and then there is no cat on the table but a man. It is Nick.

My mind is thrown into shock and I press myself back into my chair. “No.”

“Lucifer! Stop tormenting the poor boy. Assume your true form.”

The thing that looks like Nick sighs and changes again. He is still a man but now he looks nothing like Nick. He is just as dark but he is leaner, his body whip thin but toned in a way that Nick’s never had been. His hair is short and spiky and his eyes are the same green as they had been as a cat. Come to think of it they were the same colour when he had appeared to be Nick. Nick’s eyes weren’t green. If I had not been so shocked I would have seen, would have known.

“What are you?”

“Isn't that obvious? I’m a shapeshifter.”

“Did... did Nick know?”

“Of course he knew. Don’t you think even he would have found it odd that a cat would follow at his heels like a pup?”

“He never said.”

“Why would he?”

“I thought he told me everything.”

“Not everything.”

“Clearly not.” Although I try I can't quite keep the bitterness out of my voice. Lucifer smiles in a very cat like way. “And I’m supposed to trust... you?”

“If you want to help Nick you will.”

“Nick is beyond my help.”

“Are you sure?”

“Look...I’m tired of all this. Either you tell me what’s going on or I’m out of here.”

“What’s going on? I’ll tell you what’s going on. What’s going on is that you are behaving like a spoiled child in the company of adults. You are so sure you know better than we do and your mind is so closed, it always have been. Stupid child. You made it so easy for them.”

“What? Made what easy for whom?”

“Behave yourself Lucifer. Sam is my guest. As long as he is under my protection you will treat him with respect.”

Lucifer turns his head and bows it gracefully, but when he looks at me his eyes glitter in a distinctly unfriendly way. Although she cannot possibly see the Queen smiles gently at the back of his head.

“My dear... have patience. It was not Sam’s fault that he was deceived. So were you. And what happened to Nick was no more his fault than it was yours.”

Lucifer growls, low in his throat, more like a tiger than a cat. However, after a moment the evil glitter leaves his eyes and he bows his head.

“I should have been prepared. I knew they were coming and I should have been there.”

“You were deceived, as were we all. You did your job well. You are not to blame.”

“Job? What job?”

“I was his guardian... his bodyguard if you will. I was supposed to have been protecting him.”

“Protecting him from what?”

“From those who would do him harm... who did do him harm.”

“I don’t understand.” Lucifer looks up and, at first his face is twisted with scorn but then he sighs.

“I can’t blame you for that. I didn’t understand either, not until it was too late.”

“Too late to save him?”

“Yes, but not in the way you think.”

“Sam.” The queen leans forward again, one hand idly stroking Lucifer’s knee. It is only then I realise he is naked. “Something bad happened two years ago. I take part of the responsibility for it as I, more than anyone, should have realised what was going on so much sooner. It was bad but not as you think.”

She pauses as though to carefully consider her next words. “When someone is afraid, when they are in pain, they raise unconscious barriers, protections, as well as the ones they would normally maintain.” I nod. This I know. “When they receive a shock, a terrible shock the barriers come down, usually only momentarily but it is enough, if someone is waiting and watching for the moment, for someone who has sufficient skill to slip past them and use the emotion to twist reality.

“You were all shocked, all momentarily stunned. For someone with skill and power it was an easy task to deceive you, to distort you reality. As here today you did half the work yourself. The message had told you that you would find Nick at that warehouse, and then you saw a man, a man who looked like Nick, enough like him to make you believe.”

“But it was Nick. I held him in my arms. I saw his face... we all did.”

“You all thought you did. You held someone, you saw someone. You were expecting to see Nick and so, with a little twist of reality from an external source it was easy to make you believe that you did see him.”

“What are you saying?”

“Think back to that moment. The moment when you cut down the body and held it in your arms. Focus on what you saw, what you actually saw and not what you think you saw. You are stronger now, especially here, you can see with true sight. At first you will see what you have always seen but if you concentrate you will see true.”

Doubtfully I close my eyes, shutting out the intense gaze of the two pairs of eyes and it is easy to pull up the picture. It has never been far beneath the surface. Again I feel the surge of pain, of loss when I imagine the coldness, the stiffness, the blank eyes in that beautiful face. But this time I examine the scene.

The emotions first. It happens every time. Every time I remember Nick I get the self same surge of powerful emotion and that colours everything. I push it away and calm myself, using mediation techniques that calm, centre and promote clear sight. The emotions feel...odd. They resist my attempts to put them aside, they seem almost to push back.

Okay, so let’s forget the emotion. Now that I know it is false let’s see what else might be... “Oh... Oh my God.”

My eyes snap open and I stare at the Queen. She looks eager but anxious. “What did you see?”

“I saw... I saw.... Oh my GOD. It wasn’t Nick. That man... it wasn’t him.”

“Easy Sam. Easy now.”

“But what does it mean? What...?”

“You know what it means Sam.”

Yes... yes I do know what it means. It doesn’t occur to me to think that this was a trick because I know it wasn’t. I don’t know how I know it wasn’t any more than I know that what happened two years ago was. Oh my god, my god. It means... it means...

“Nick is alive.”