Every Boy Should Face His Demons, Charlie Boone! - 8. Chapter 8

"Wake up, Charlie Boone. It's Halloween!"

Charlie opened his eyes. Sunlight was streaming into the right-hand window, and the room was cheery and bright. Kippy's face hovered above him, smiling.

Charlie grinned, raised his head and kissed his boyfriend. "What a gorgeous sight to awaken to!"

Kippy laughed into their kiss, and Charlie tasted toothpaste. It immediately made him conscious of dragon breath, and he closed his mouth and lay back against the pillow. "You've been up. I haven't had time to brush my teeth yet."

Kippy shook his head. "Oh, Charlie. Stop worrying. I've had my nose by your butt. You think I'm going to worry what your breath smells like?"

Charlie burst into laughter, but still brought up a hand to cover his mouth. "My butt was clean from the shower. Let me go brush my teeth, please."

Kippy sighed, but backed away. "Go. Hurry back."

Charlie wiggled out from under Kip and out of bed, and dashed for the bathroom. They'd left their toothbrushes in the little plastic storage tubes they used when they traveled, but they were easy to tell apart. Charlie's was blue, and Kip's was pink. It was a joke between them, that only Ricky and Adrian were in on.

Charlie brushed his teeth, watching himself in the mirror. He turned his face one way, and then the other, scanning his cheeks. Shaving had become a routine with him, but he'd found he didn't need to do it every day. A tiny bit of stubble was kind of cool - well, until Kip complained about it, anyway. His boyfriend's face was still as smooth as a baby's, and Kippy disliked anything that was scratchy.

But, he'd shaved just yesterday, and his face looked okay. Charlie squinted, because the light in the bathroom seemed awfully dim. He leaned closer to the mirror, trying to see if his eyebrows were okay...but...what the hell was wrong with that light? He looked up at it just as it seemed to dim out. At the same moment he spied movement in the mirror...behind him.

Without warning, Charlie felt himself swimming in a dark sea. It flowed around him, caressing him, but it was not wet, and left no mark upon him. He knew immediately that he had slipped into a state of split presence, and that his other self was on its way...somewhere.

But how?

He had not initiated the move. Charlie had grown able at focusing on where he wished his other self to go, and getting that part of his inner being to its intended destination. But this felt more like the first time Charlie's presence had split, in response to the destruction of Pacha'ka's ship on the far distant world of Antariluma. Pacha, and Mike, Bobby, and Kontus, had planeted the ship there in order to explore the ancient, sealed city of Taraqua. A planetquake had dislodged a tremendous glacier from the mountain above the ship, raining millions of tons of ice upon the unlucky vessel. Pacha had thrown out a protective field at the final instant and prevented that last tiny space in which the survivors huddled from being crushed, and their dire situation has somehow drawn the attention of Charlie's nascent talent, and awakened it. That first time, Charlie had been totally unprepared for what had happened.

Just like now.

A blob of light formed ahead of him, grew wildly in size as he approached it at tremendous speed, until he was hovering just beyond the invisible membrane that separated him from this other place. And then he pierced it, and the world beyond came fully into view.

He was standing on a rust-colored plain, beneath a sky that was incredibly dark, without even a single star to mark it. But there was a light - an eerie glow that seemed to dance around the distant horizons. Even as he watched, a fierce, crooked yellow bolt, like lightning, flashed across the sky in the nearer distance, and then another. Charlie squinted at the horizon, and imagined that what he was seeing was a virtual barrage of the things. They provided scant illumination at a distance, but the sandy ground beneath his feet was not dark. He looked around, and was able to see huge, even mounds of sand all around him, and what looked like mountains in the distance. But that this was a dim and eerie place seemed evident.

He saw motion then, far off, and somehow his other self moved closer. One of the sand mounds was suddenly flying apart, creating a thin cloud of slowly dissipating dust in the air above. And then something emerged from the dust, and then something else, and then a line of creatures came into view, shuffling slowly across the sands. Charlie stared in wonder at what he was seeing. These creatures were like none he had ever encountered before!

They were in a way manlike, but their bodies were squarish, as were their arms and their legs. Even their heads seemed square, and set directly upon the shoulders with no neck between. There was no face on the front of the head, no ears, no hair. How the things could see where they were going was a mystery.

Charlie could feel slight vibrations in the earth beneath his feet now, and realized that these creatures must be very heavy for their movements to be felt this way. He lifted, and floated along beside the line now, watching as it moved along. He counted twenty-two of the creatures, all taller than he was by several feet, all shuffling along at a ponderous walking speed. They didn't speak, or communicate in any way that Charlie could see, yet their unity was obvious to him, their sense of shared purpose, clear.

He turned then, and looked in the direction the line of creatures was heading. In the distance was a jagged slit, a break in the very image of the world around them, that seemed to hang in the air itself, a hand's breadth above the sands. A faint glow emanated from the edges of the ragged break, but the heart of the thing held only darkness. Charlie looked back at the line of creatures, determined their direction, and felt certain then that this strange rent in reality was their final destination.

He sensed motion out of the corner of his eye then, and turned to look as something else came into view. Charlie's first impression was of a flying craft of some kind, but the longer he looked the more convinced he became that it was actually a living thing. It was huge, dwarfing the block creatures, and somehow hard to look at, having curves that seemed to double back upon themselves, and lines that went nowhere. It's complete alienness was upsetting, and its plainly malevolent intent frightening. It drew nearer with alarming speed, making no sound as it swooped above the sands, plainly focused on the line of hurrying block creatures. The sand beneath it roiled as if swept with currents of some kind, but the absolute silence was unnerving as it closed in on its prey.

The last block creature in line, as if sensing the approach of the thing, turned and seemed to spy it. And then it plunged ahead, bumping into the creature ahead of it. That one bumped into the next in line, and so on, and the entire line sped up then, and as they neared the ragged cut in reality, Charlie suddenly understood that for the line to reach it meant some form of escape. He found himself looking back at the enormous thing bearing down upon them, as it swooped ever lower above the sands, and rooting for the blocky creatures to make it to the break first.

The first member of the line reached the cut, and did not even slow, plunging into it and disappearing. Then the second, and the third--

But it was quickly clear that not all would make it before the devil in the air reached them. The last member of the line seemed to realize that, and suddenly turned and charged back along the path the line had made in the sand, waving its squarish arms. The thing in the air seemed to falter just a moment, and then settled lower, plainly going now for the block creature running towards it. Charlie cringed, figuring that even creatures as massive as these seemed to be would be no match for the creature of the air.

The line continued to disappear into the rent in reality. The air beast was scarcely above the sands at all now, bearing down on the block creature running at it with unerring precision. Something like a claw descended from beneath the thing, and flexed menacingly, obviously preparing to grab the block creature as it swept overhead. Charlie drew his shoulders up, waiting for the inevitable crash...

At what seemed the last possible second, the block creature threw itself prone and seemed to melt down into the sand. A violent, angry surge of purples and reds flared all along the odd length of the flying thing as it was suddenly deprived of its victim, and the claw grabbed only empty air instead. The beast in the air surged forward now, going for the end of the line of block creatures; but the delay had been just enough that the last one in line was able to throw itself into the dark break just as the vicious claw swept overhead.

For a brief second the sharp ends of that claw brushed against the glowing edge of the rent, and a violent crackle of white lightning surged up and along the body of the thing. Charlie did hear a cry then: enormous and full of rage, a sound so large that he felt his ear drums flex painfully in reaction. He clapped his hands over his ears, but it seemed to do nothing to lessen the sound.

The flying thing gained altitude now, trailing small white trails of static discharge, until it was high in the air; and then it wheeled and plunged in a long descending arc back towards the break in reality. The block creature that had sunk into the sand reappeared then, managed to propel itself upright, and took off at a slow run towards the rent. Again Charlie watched, his throat tight with fear, as the race played out a second time.

It was close, but the block creature managed to make the break and plunge into its depths seconds before the claw arrived above it. This time, the flying creature stayed high enough not to contact the edges of the rent, sailed past it, and gained altitude once more, again cloaked in angry colors of red and orange. It circled, as if inspecting the sands below for other victims, and then wheeled slowly about and headed off into the dark sky.

Charlie watched it go, and only then became aware of other dots in the skies, slowly moving back and forth along the horizon. Other predators, seeking prey?

He turned to look at the amazing break in the world around him, and moved closer to it. That it must lead somewhere away from this awful place seemed clear. Perhaps if he took a look--?

But even as he took a step, the menacing world began to fade away. Quite suddenly, he was in a dim but vaguely familiar place.

"Charlie?"

Charlie turned to find Ricky beside him. "Rick?"

"Come back, Charlie. Come home." The worry in the other boy's voice was plain.

Charlie nodded. "Okay. Let's go."

They started walking, and after a moment of no-time, the world lightened around them.

"Are you okay?" a voice called to him.

Hands touched him then, gently reassuring, transferring love and comfort and caring. Charlie blinked, and turned to find Kippy beside him, staring at him, fear plain in his eyes. Behind him stood Rick and Adrian and Horace, all looking concerned. Charlie moved his mouth, found something blocking his tongue, and turned back to the bathroom mirror. His toothbrush hung out of his mouth, and a white stream of toothpaste had run down his chin and dripped onto his bare chest.

"Oh, Charlie, are you okay?" Kippy repeated. The relief in his boyfriend's voice was plain.

Charlie blinked at himself in the mirror, then raised his hand and pulled the toothbrush from his mouth. "I think so."

He bent down, ran the water, and rinsed his mouth and cleaned off his chin, then swiped his wet hand over the dribble of paste on his chest to remove it. He grabbed a towel, and dried himself, and turned back to the others.

Kippy immediately pulled Charlie close, and wrapped his arms around him in a powerful hug. "I thought I'd lost you," he whispered.

Rick and Adrian moved close on either side, and put their arms around Charlie and Kippy, and for a moment the four of them stood in silence. Charlie could feel the power of their emotions, all directed at him. He tried to give that back, seeing now they had been worried about him.

"Worried?" Ricky said then. "You scared the crap out of us!" But he followed that with a laugh, and squeezed everyone even harder. "I came to find you. I'm so glad I did."

Charlie looked at the other boy. "Did you see it? That place?"

"What place? I found you in that weird tunnel, like the one we took to rescue Pacha and Mike and the others. But I didn't see any place."

"My presence split," Charlie offered, remembering. "My other self took a trip. I went to this weird place."

Kippy pulled back far enough to look at him, and Rick and Adrian allowed them some space. "I know," Kippy said. "But where did you go?"

Charlie was stunned to see tears on his boyfriend's face. "It's okay. I'm back."

Kippy smiled, sniffed, and wiped at his eyes. "You scared me, Charlie."

Charlie hugged him, and kissed his cheek. "I'm not leaving you, Kip. I love you too much to ever go away. Okay?"

He felt the other boy nod, and pulled back. Charlie reached down and took Kippy's hands, and squeezed them comfortingly. "We all need to talk."

His eyes touched upon Horace then, standing just outside the doorway, watching them intently. "All five of us," Charlie added.

The older man nodded, and offered a smile. "I think that would be a good thing."

Ricky stepped back, drawing Adrian with him. Both boys smiled, and Charlie smiled back at them. "Get dressed, and we'll meet in the kitchen?"

The group split up, and Kippy and Charlie were left alone. Kippy pulled Charlie into another hug, and kissed him. "If you ever do that again, you'll be in trouble!"

Charlie smiled at the warmth and closeness of his boyfriend's face, and had to kiss it several times. But then he shook his head. "I'm not even sure how it happened. One second I'm brushing my teeth, the next I'm...somewhere else."

"But where?" Kippy asked softly.

Charlie shrugged. "I don't know." He smiled again. "Can you wait a minute? Wait until we all get to the kitchen? Then I'll tell you what happened."

Kippy nodded, but wrapped his fingers around Charlie's wrist and squeezed it. "When you've gone off like this before, I could still always sense you, Charlie. Even when you went to rescue Pacha and the others, and that was such a long way off." He shook his head. "Wherever you went this time, it was beyond far. It was like...it was like there was nothing left behind. I couldn't sense you at all. You were stiff as a board and...and--"

Kippy gulped, and more tears ran out of his eyes. He wiped at them hastily, and tried to smile. "I'm just glad you're back."

Charlie smiled, blinking his own eyes, and nodded, and pulled his boyfriend close. Kippy needed a moment, and Charlie wanted to give it to him. The others wouldn't mind waiting, just a little longer.

He knew they would understand.