"What?" Thom said.
"But I thought he..."
"He does have his own magic,
but Queen Kareen didn't. She used fairies like him
and sprites like Daina by draining their powers for
their magic. That staff you've got has a Valorian
crystal on it just for transferring that magic to herself.
It just sucks up sprites whole. In fact..." She gave a worried glance at
the
"How?"
"Focus on the crystal,
then...oh, never mind." She knelt down beside Jerry and took his hand.
Thom watched Christine struggle mightily, as if she were armwrestling
Jerry, then finally let him go. Jerry's pallor returned slowly and he opened
his eyes.
"What'd you just do?" Thom
asked.
"Something called fairy light
healing that I'm gonna have to teach you for future
reference one day. With Jerry and Daina around,
you'll need it. Jerry?"
"Yes?" replied Jerry
softly.
"Jerry, I won," said Thom.
"Really?
That's nice," Jerry said simply. "Give me the staff."
"What?"
"Daina's
in the crystal, now give me the staff," he repeated.
"Daina...shit!"
Thom nearly threw the staff away from him toward Jerry, who caught it. "Chris, if she's in here how can we get her out?"
"I could call her and she'd
have to come," Christine said. Then she started. "Oh, you mean alive. I don't know if that's
possible...no, wait! Naomi did it once! Let's ask her how she did it."
"Well, let's...make
sure....she's...alive first," Jerry said slowly. "We had this 'what
if' going and...just help me talk to her. I can't seem
to make my magic work right here."
"That's because you've been
halfway drained," said Chris. "You're not supposed to be doing
anything but resting. Here, I'll help you." She put Jerry's hands on
either side of the crystal, then put hers on top of
them. "Okay, you're hooked up via Chrissy Communications.
Talk."
daina? daina?!
jerry...
omigod, it works! are you
okay still?
okay...is
an…extremely…subjective term...
which
means...?
…help...
we're
getting naomi's help. sit
tight.
naomi????
finally you
respond like you're alive!
(faint chuckle)...i'm...tryin', man.
just stay alive 'til i
get there.
okay? daina?
Jerry tore himself out of his link
with Daina. "I gotta
get in there now!" he demanded.
"She's trying to die on me again."
"Shut up and let me think on
how I did it, then!" Naomi snapped at him.
"Babe, he just came to, give
him a break," Alan said, gently.
Jerry blinked in surprise. The last
time he'd checked, he'd been sitting in the midst of a large field with Thom
and Christine. Now he was in Daina's subconscious
room with Naomi and Alan as well. Naomi stood pacing the floor, totally in
control of herself and her emotions for the moment.
"Okay, it'll take a ton of
magic to get you in, but even more to get you out." Naomi said, pointing
at him. "I just overloaded the crystal itself with magic when I got out
and I had somebody on the outside with a magic leash helping me."
"What's a magic leash?"
Christine asked.
"It's like a tether rope that I
followed back out of the crystal. It kept me linked to the guy so I could go in
and still find my way back out. It's all done magically. None of you, except
Christine, could do that.
"I can help with my
magic!" Jerry said.
"No, you've already spent most
of yours," Christine said. "You need time to heal up first. In fact,
you really shouldn't even go in."
"I have to go in. We don't have
that much time!" Jerry protested.
"Well, Christine can get you
in, no problem, but you need your own magic to get out." Naomi said.
"Daina, if she's well enough, could do it
herself. If she's not..."
"She's not," Jerry said
flatly.
"Then maybe I could..."
began Naomi.
"No, you can't," Alan
said, standing up and facing her, "and I don't give a shit what you say,
you are not risking your health and the baby's over this."
"If Daina
doesn't come back alive, then I don't live, anyway, so what's the big
deal!" Naomi snapped back. They both stood toe to toe, neither ready to
back down from their stance.
"The big deal is that you're
pregnant and you're not taking care of yourself, so now it's up to me to do it
for you!"
"Alan's right," said
Christine. "There has got to be some other way!"
"No,
there's...well, wait," said Naomi, turning thoughtfully. "I guess we could go the complete opposite
way."
"What do you mean?" Alan
asked, also calming down for a moment.
"Well, I mean rather than using
heavy magic to get back out, we could use heavy reality to make this crystal
overload. Someone completely devoid of magic could go in, then..."
"Well, magic didn't used to
affect me," Jerry offered.
"Even that's magic,
Jerry," Naomi said. "Back when you rescued me from Pyrope, you concentrated on things and they didn't affect
you, but that was still a magic power...one that you apparently don't use too
often or you wouldn't have this problem now," she added wryly.
"Shut up," Jerry grumbled.
"If I coulda helped Daina,
I woulda."
"Did I hear someone mention
reality a moment ago?" Thom asked. They all looked at him strangely, then
at each other.
"Well, whadaya
think?" asked Alan.
"What's to think about?" grinned
Naomi. "He's perfect. Send him in."
"Thom?" Jerry questioned.
"What's this 'Thom' shit all of
the sudden?" Thom demanded. "I think it was me that just saved your
ass a moment ago...why can't I save Daina, too?"
"Because you don't know what
you're doing?" Jerry asked. "Because you haven't a clue what you're
getting yourself into and me and Daina have been
doing this longer than you?"
"Because the only way for him
to learn will be to go through it like you and Daina
did," said Naomi. "You didn't know you're own power when it was right
in your face, so don't you dare talk
about experience."
"Yeah, but...."
"Stop trying to be the
superhero, Jerry; let somebody else have a turn," said Chris simply.
"My point
exactly." Naomi raised her eyebrows briefly at Jerry, who decided
to silence himself. "Okay, Thom, here's what you
do," Naomi said to him. "Chris is going to send you in. We'll give
you some time to find Daina, then
you grab her and hold on tight. We'll try to use the crystal and since you're the
only one in there besides
"No," said Thom.
"Go in, grab Daina and duck," said Jerry.
"Exactly," said Naomi.
"Where do I find her?"
Thom asked.
"That, my friend,
is your job to figure out," said Naomi. "We'll give you ten
minutes."
"No, wait, we don't have time
for that either!" Jerry said. Couldn't you just lock on to Daina mentally and send him there?"
"That is a good idea,
Jerry!" said Naomi slowly. "Except we can't."
"I can," said Jerry.
Christine looked at Naomi, who nodded to back.
"Okay, tether through him," said Naomi.
"Use your dream magic to see the place in his head and send Thom
there."
"Wait a minute," Thom
asked. "I need to know one thing. What happens if Daina
actually...y'know, dies?"
"Then everything she ever
created or made happen disappears backward, like in the order it came about.
The last thing she made or decided should happen was...." Christine
thought for a moment, then looked in growing horror at
Naomi. As if hearing her very thought, Naomi and Alan both looked back at
Chris, mirroring her shock and almost simultaneously put a hand across Naomi's
child-swollen abdomen.
"Go now, Thom," said Alan quietly, with a firmness of tone that
made them all shudder. "Find Daina
and bring her back."
"Sit, Jerry," Christine
said. "You, too, Thom. This is gonna make you both feel...kinda
weird." They did as they were told, then
Christine closed her eyes and concentrated. Thom watched Jerry's face change
rapidly, as if going through several emotions as once, then Jerry collapsed.
Thom felt the room fall out from under him.......
........then was
blinded by and abundance of white light and glass. He looked around him, not
sure where he was for a moment or even what he was supposed to be doing. The
room was so ethereal and warm, he was tempted to just sit (lay? he wasn't sure)
where he was and sleep...
The name "Daina"
drifted through his head and he snapped to. I must be in the crystal, he
thought. I'm supposed to find her.
He opened his eyes again and did
just that.
It was certainly her figure, but it
couldn’t have been her body. Every detail, including wrinkles in her shirt,
were visible, but in all seemed to be made of solid crystal.
He was far too afraid to not be sure
it was her.
"Oh, Daina..."
he said softly.