The Mantis Continuum - Book Four - 37. Chapter 37 - Pelipi

The radiance from Thech faded as Jzuna opened her huge eye. The children separated and Jzuna hovered beside her brother.

Z’Matri looked shocked, and his voice sounded startled. “What did you two just do to me?”

Jzuna looked around the silent courtyard; everyone was staring at her and Thech. Her voice sounded nervous as she answered. “We reached into you and told your power to find their friend.” She rotated in the air to look at Kosephaji and Relliduna.

Olona stepped up and asked Jzuna, “What exactly is your power?”

The hovering tentacled eyeball turned and faced her brother.

The two of them stared at each other for a moment.

Everyone else continued to watch them.

Then Jzuna blinked and turned back to Olona. “We tell things to do stuff.”

Olona furrowed her brow. “What stuff?”

“We can tell fire and water and air and the ground all to do stuff,” Jzuna explained. “We can hear the things everyone says to themselves, but they don’t say out loud. We can move things and touch things without touching them for real. We can see what people see.” Jzuna stopped talking.

“You can control natural elements and manipulate objects without physically touching them? That makes you like some sort of, I don’t know, omni-kinetic,” Olona mused.

“What does that mean?” Dotty Marbles replied.

“How did you tap into my powers?” Z’Matri asked Jzuna.

“Thech could see what you see, and he could tell that you couldn’t see strong enough, so we made you see stronger.”

“You two must also be ultra psychic,” Olona commented, pondering aloud all the information Jzuna shared.
Z’Matri turned to Ogomo, bewildered. “Cap’n, the lad is underwater at the bottom of a cove. The tide must’ve washed his body to the coast. I don’t understand how he’s still alive, or why I couldn’t see him,” and Z’Matri looked at Kosephaji and Relliduna, “but Pelipi is alive!”

The two boys were dumbfounded.

“How do we find him?!” Kosephaji squawked.

“I can still see him,” Z’Matri said. “I know exactly where he is, but I don’t know how we’re going to get to him. The submersible could take us down to where he is, but it has no way to bring him up.”

“Mystic!” Dozi suddenly cried out. “You’re the one! You’re the one who needs to get Pelipi!”

“Me, honey? What on earth do you mean? Oh!” he said, as realization came to him.

“Yes!” Olona declared. “Jzuna, Thech, you can control water, correct? Do you think you could make the water take the mystic straight to Pelipi, and can you make it so the water doesn’t hurt him? The pressure of the water above the mystic will be dangerous, but that’s a lot to handle.”

“It’s okay,” Jzuna replied. “Water listens to us.”

“I’ve got a pair of old Oselian diving goggles hung on my wall,” Dozi added. “I found them a while ago with a bunch of underwater stuff, including a thermometer.”

“The one in our tub?” Tchama asked, and Dozi nodded at her.

“Mystic, it’s going to be dark as you get deeper,” Harakin commented, “so I can make you a light to bring.”

The mystic took Dozi’s hand. “You’re so clever, aren’t you? This is why I have the silly ridiculous power to hold my breath for a long period of time. This is why I became a Demifae all those years ago. This is it.” He turned and looked at Kosephaji and Relliduna. “Let’s go find your friend. Please, tell us his name again.”

“Pelipi,” Relliduna answered.

“Pelipi,” the mystic repeated. “Let’s go find Pelipi!”

Ogomo looked down at Z’Matri and asked, “Where are we headed?”

“The boy is in a cove a little way past the Grey Shallows almost to Brokenpointe. It’ll take a while to get there.”

“Let’s think about who needs to be involved in the search party,” Olona recommended. “Thech and Jzuna need to be there to control the water for the mystic. Harakin needs to be there for her light. Z’Matri will guide us, in case Pelipi’s body drifts from where he is right now. We’ll likely need to resuscitate him, so mystic, we’ll probably need some of your treatments, and I’ll bring my gear, as well,” Olona added.

“I’m coming too,” Bivon stated. “Jzuna and Thech, you can ride there in the back of my cart.”

“I’ll stay with Lahari,” Theolan said to his husband.

After several hours of walking along the Great Southtrack, Z’Matri told the group that it was time to leave the path and head toward the water. He led Kosephaji, Relliduna, the mystic, Olona, Harakin, and Bivon with Thech and Jzuna in his cart onto the rough and uneven coastal lands that stretched to the water’s edge.

They reached a rocky outcrop and Z’Matri pointed out to the water. “Pelipi is down there.”

Kosephaji brought his hands to his mouth and smothered a sob of joy and relief that wracked his body. “Pelipi,” he whispered.

Relliduna wrapped his arms around Kosephaji.

Jzuna floated over to Z’Matri. “We’re sorry,” she said sheepishly. “Before we left the city, Peggy told Thech and me it was wrong to use our powers on you without asking. We just knew we could help, but we didn’t mean to force you.”

Z’Matri stared at the enormous hovering eyeball with tentacles, and he looked at the bizarre little boy behind her. The two slimy children were so strange and so unique, and they were powerful. “She’s right,” Z’Matri managed to say. “You should always get permission if you ever intend to use your powers on another person like that again someday.” He added in a tone of admiration, “You two are very strong, and I know you did it for the right reasons.”

“Here, mystic,” Harakin said as she formed a wand made of light, “this will let you see in the darkness.” She extended it to him.

“What an astonishing power you have,” he said as he marveled at the solidified light beam in his hand. He turned to Thech and Jzuna. “All of you Shifts are so incredible. Okay, kids, I’ll get in the water, and you take me to Pelipi.”

The mystic took off his shoes, socks, shirt, and trousers. Wearing only his undergarments and a little pouch on a belt around his waist that held a few tools and items, he stepped into the water. “Chilly,” he commented. He waded out until the water was up to his chest, took a deep breath, and he submerged. The mystic had been swimming many times in his life, but the sensation he experienced was nothing like any of those times.

As if a whirlpool appeared in front of him, he was suddenly drawn forward and down, deep into the dark water. His ears did not pop, nor did the weight of water put any pressure on his chest as he sank. The two children did not create a tunnel of air for the mystic, but it felt as if he were merely underwater in the shallows, and not being drawn deeper and deeper into the crushing depths.

The mystic’s goggled eyes were attracted to something beyond the glowing wand, and he was certain that he could see another light ahead of him, down on the ocean floor. All was darkness in every direction around him except for the light in his hand and the light in front of him, and he was being pulled straight to it.

As the mystic came closer to the bottom, Thech and Jzuna from far above slowed his speed, and they brought him to a hover just above the ocean floor.

There was no body. There was no physical form of any kind, but the mystic focused on the light. Lying on the sand was something he recognized instantly, and even in the darkness of the water he knew what he was seeing. He was looking at a photonova gland. He had never seen one that produced a light of its own, and he tentatively reached a hand out and lifted it from the sand. It did not pulse or flicker; it simply glowed.

Are you Pelipi? the mystic thought to himself.

He took a small glass vial from a pouch at his belt and removed its cork. At that depth, the container, and even the mystic himself should have been crushed to oblivion, but Thech and Jzuna’s powers kept him protected. The glass did not shatter, and he sealed the glowing photonova gland within.

The mystic did not know how he was supposed to alert everyone on the surface that he had found what must be Pelipi, but he was suddenly being drawn back up again through the vast column of water, and a moment later he popped out at the surface.

He revealed the little glass vial cradled in his hands.

Kosephaji looked overwhelmed with too many emotions. “Pelipi!” he cried out, and he turned toward Bivon. “Do you have a glass box, or maybe just an empty jar in your cart?”

A moment later, Bivon poured out a container of dried tealeaves and handed it to Kosephaji.

Relliduna took the vial from the mystic, and he removed the cork. He carefully poured the seawater onto his palm and caught the tiny photonova gland. “Pelipi,” he whispered, “you’re going to be okay.”

Kosephaji was holding the jar, and Relliduna carefully let the glowing gemstone fall into it.

To the others’ amazement, the crystal did not drop to the bottom of the jar and make the little clink sound they all expected. Instead, the light stayed directly in the center of the container and Pelipi’s voice blurted out, “Would you just tell Relliduna how you feel, already?!” The illuminating photonova gland blinked in time with the voice. “Wait, where are we?”

“Pelipi!” Kosephaji and Relliduna screamed in unison.

“Weren’t we just on the ship?” Pelipi asked.

“You don’t know what happened?” Relliduna responded.

“What do you mean? What happened?”

“Oh, Pelipi, it was awful,” Kosephaji cried out. “The ship wrecked and your box was lost at sea. You’ve been on the bottom of the ocean for days! I can’t believe you’re back; we were sure you were dead!”

“I was underwater?” Pelipi exclaimed. “Wow, liquids really do not agree with this bitch, not since I changed.” He shined bright.

“Somehow it didn’t kill you,” Relliduna marveled. “And…”

“Wait,” Pelipi interrupted, “if I was on the bottom of the ocean, how did you find me?”

“That’s a little confusing and probably will take some explaining,” Olona replied.

“We’re near Brokenpointe,” the mystic said. “Maybe we should head there for dinner and stay the night at one of the inns.”

As the group began to make their way the short distance to the seaside fishing village, Relliduna asked, “Pelipi, what did you mean by what you said when we first found you?”

Pelipi let out a laugh and his light blinked bright inside the jar. “I don’t remember the shipwreck, but the last thing I do remember is Kosephaji fumbling over his confession of undying love for you.”

Kosephaji’s voice cracked. “Pelipi, what are you talking about?!”

Relliduna pulled Kosephaji to him, and he kissed Kosephaji hard on the lips. When they separated, Relliduna said, “I’m in love with you, too, Kosephaji,” and Pelipi laughed in delight★