Going Lucid (6 page)

“It’s
going to cost you,” he said.

“Cost
me?” Malakha asked. “But you were passing them around like it was candy
Friday.”

“I was
feeling a little generous. If you want more it will cost.”

“For one tablet?”
Malak asked.

“I
don’t sell single tablets.”

Malakha
and Malak groaned.

“Really,”
Malak said. “What the heck does Eliza see in you? You’re a—“

“I bet you
don’t know what happened to her do you?” Sabrina asked turning around to face
him.

“Nothing
happened to Eliza.”

“Did too.
She was cutting herself in the bathroom at school
and when Malakha found her, Eliza attacked her. It’s really weird too, for a
person with no history of violent tendencies to not only try to kill herself,
but kill someone else,” Sabrina said and then added, “I bet if we told the
people investigating where Eliza was Friday and what
you
gave her, they’d not only come search the place, but you’d be
an accomplice in attempted murder or something.”

Eliza’s
boyfriend rolled his eyes, getting up and heading into the kitchen.

“Yeah
right,” he said.

Sabrina
followed him, with Malakha and Malak on her heels.

“Do you
really want to risk it?” Sabrina asked. “That’s not the only thing they can
clock you for. What are you?
Twenty?
And Eliza’s
seventeen. That will add statutory rape to the books. You’re looking at a few
years in jail for that.”

Eliza’s
boyfriend stopped at that, turning to Sabrina with narrowed eyes.

“You
wouldn’t,” he said.

“Of
course I would and look at you. Would someone really believe you over me if you
tried to deny it?” Sabrina asked.

Eliza’s
boyfriend inhaled and let out a harsh breath before going to a locked cabinet
in the kitchen and pulling out another bag of tablets. He handed it to Sabrina.

“We
only need one,” Sabrina said not taking the bag.

Eliza’s
boyfriend rolled his eyes and took out a tablet. He handed it to Sabrina, who
handed it to Malakha.

“If
that’s all you needed, would you mind leaving now?” Eliza’s boyfriend asked,
gesturing towards the door.

Malakha,
Malak, and Sabrina would have left without his urging, but made a show of being
displeased at his rudeness anyway before they left.

It was
darker outside now than when they had first pulled up to Eliza’s boyfriend’s
house and a good thing too. Malakha figured they could use the cover of
darkness to sneak back into the school, but before they did that…

Malakha
held the tablet up as Malak and Sabrina got in the van.

“Hurry
up Malakha,” Sabrina said urging the girl along. She started to close the door,
but Malakha stopped her and climbed into the middle seat with her.

“What
are you doing?” Malak asked
,
cranking up the van after
Malakha had closed the door.

“About
to take this and see what happens,” Malakha said.

“In the car?”
Malak asked.

“Well I
can’t do it at school,” Malakha said, “and you won’t believe it unless you see
it obviously, so it has to be now. Hopefully I’ll be awake by the time we get
back.”

Malakha
started to put the tablet in her mouth, but Sabrina stopped her.

“Wait a
minute. I just want to be sure. This isn’t some crazy elaborate plan to get
your hands on drugs because you’re addicted to them, right?” Sabrina asked.

Malakha
gave Sabrina a wry look. “I would have taken the whole bag if that were the
case. Just trust me on this one okay?”

Sabrina
nodded, sitting back as Malakha put the tablet under her tongue. Like Friday
night, the tablet began to immediately take effect. She began to feel like she
wasn’t in control of her own body again and though she was perfectly aware of
what was happening around her, the world began to look surreal and dream-like
again. Then she saw the other world begin to appear first like it overlapped
the real world, but then it began to take over completely and after a few more
seconds, Malakha was back in the barren and gray world.

Chapter
Six

Julius

Malakha
was unsurprised to see that she was naked again. She was surprised to see that
she was in a different place. She had landed in a rundown neighborhood where
all the houses and landscape looked like it had suffered from a fire at some
point; a bad one if the way the ash and smoke seemed to hang in the air and
attach to the atmosphere was any indication. It seemed a lot darker too. Sure
there was the permanent overcast, but something about this neighborhood seemed
gloomier, tragic even.

Malakha
rubbed her arms, looking around for something to cover herself because she
really didn’t want a repeat of what happened last time, even if it did just
turn out to be a dream. She found nothing and resigned herself to having to
explore without any clothes on. This time she didn’t call out. In case anyone
was around, she would only bring attention to herself. She just began to walk
down the cracked sidewalk.

It was
when she was about to reach the end of the street that she saw the first signs
of life. A gray tabby cat came out one of the burnt houses and stopped directly
in her path.

Malakha
looked at it in annoyance. “Would you move?” she asked.

“Meow!”

It
stared at her with wide innocent eyes, and if Malakha had to peg an emotion,
she’d call it confusion.

Malakha
sighed. “You’re really going to make me pet you aren’t you?” she asked.

The cat
looked at her expectantly.

Malakha
sighed again and started to reach out to touch the cat, but a voice stopped
her, a voice that said, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Malakha
jumped, turning in the direction of the voice to see a young man standing with
his hands in the pocket of his jeans. He had black hair, a
very
defined jaw structure, and looked like he shaved enough to keep himself from
getting a beard, while still allowing a thin mask of facial hair on the bottom
of his face. Stubble Malakha guessed some would call it, but it looked too neat
for that. His long trench coat mostly hid his form, but Malakha could tell by
the way it fell on him that he was also very muscular.

“Nothing
in this world is what it seems,” he said crossing the street to come stand next
to her.

“Well
what exactly is it?” Malakha asked.

He
didn’t answer, only looked at the cat, which was now hissing at him.

“Why is
it doing that?” Malakha asked.

He
again didn’t answer, but he did kick the cat into the middle of the street.
Malakha started to yell at him for the mean behavior until she saw the cat turn
into a large demon type creature, similar to the wolf that attacked her when
she first came here, but leaner, more humanoid, and a lot less beastly. The
creature hissed at the young man again before running off.

“What
was that?” Malakha asked.

“Something not even half as scary as the other kinds of monsters
that lurk around here.
By the way, unless you’re purposely trying to
send the message that you want someone to ravish you, I wouldn’t walk around
here like that,” he said.

Malakha
had forgotten her state of undress, and the young man before her was doing
nothing to draw attention away from the fact that he was appreciating the view.
Malakha tried to cover herself with her arms again and got ready to make a run
for it so she could avoid a repeat of what happened the last time she was here.
That other man… monster… thing… hadn’t been that hard for her to fight off
until he turned all beastly and tried to kill her instead, but she doubted she
would be able deal with this guy so easily.

“Relax,”
he said and took off his trench coat, handing it to her. “Here.”

Malakha
looked at the offered coat hesitantly before reaching an arm out and snatching
it from him. She turned around to put it on, glaring at him over her shoulder
when she heard him whistle at her. When the trench coat was secured, she turned
back around, feeling like she was in a better state to try to stand her ground
against him now that she was at least covered. She sized him up again, this
time with only his thin white T-shirt on. She had been right about the muscular
part. Normally she didn’t pay much attention to the appearance of the opposite
sex, not that she got the opportunity to since the uniforms at school did
little to flatter anyone’s physique, but even she wasn’t blind. He was beyond
attractive.

“Who
are you?” she asked, focusing back on the more pressing task at hand.

“Technically
since you’re on my turf, I should be asking you that question. But since I’m a
gentleman, Julius,” he said.

Somehow,
Malakha doubted he was a gentleman, even if he had given her his coat.

 
“Malakha,” she said, hopping he didn’t expect
her to offer her hand to shake or something.

“You’re
not from around here are you?” Julius asked.

“Why else
would I be wandering around here naked?” Malakha asked.

He
laughed.
“Yeah.
That was an indication.”

Malakha
sized him up once more and deciding that he wasn’t a threat to her asked,
“Where is this place anyway?”

“You
really don’t know? Where are you from?”

“Atlanta,”
Malakha replied, “But right now I’m at boarding school as a punishment for not
believing in religion or God.”

“Atlanta?”
Julius asked.

“Yeah.
You know. Georgia?
The United
States of America?”

“Oh yeah.
I’ve heard of that place.”

“Of
course you have. Everyone has unless they’ve been living under a rock or
something for the last two hundred odd years or so.”

“Or
they’ve been living here,” Julius said dryly.

“You
still haven’t told me where
here
is.”

“Simply
put. This is Hell.”

Malakha
looked at him blankly, not at all amused by his joke. “Hell?”

“Yeah.”

“Sure,”
Malakha replied. “Now be serious. Where is this?”

“I’m
not kidding. This is Hell.”

“Hell?”
Malakha asked in disbelief. “You’re serious?”

“Do you
speak another language or something?” Julius asked. “And before you ask, you’re
not dead.”

“I know
that,” Malakha said rolling her eyes.

“What
makes you so sure?”

“Because I did this before.
It happened only two days ago
and I was just high. I don’t know how, but I guess I’ll eventually wake up.”

“Before?”
Julius asked and then said, “That was you Deverick
was chasing.”

“Deverick?
The wolf thing?”

“It was
you alright…” Julius said trailing off and then said, “You came back.”

Malakha
started to ask what he meant by that until Julius laughed and added, “Well we
certainly don’t get many of you around these parts.”

“Many of me?”

“People
who can cross the invisible divide between Heaven and Hell,” Julius said
beginning to walk down the sidewalk again.

“There’s
a divide. Wait. Where’s Heaven?’

“You live
there.”

“I live
there?”

“Well
you did come from the other world, didn’t you?”

Malakha
stopped walking and then scoffed. “Trust me. That place is hardly any kind of
heaven.”

“Does
it look like this for the most part?” Julius asked gesturing to their surroundings.

Malakha
looked around, and though her world had its share of dilapidation, it was
nothing like this barren wasteland Julius was trying to convince her was Hell.

“Besides,
that’s hardly you all’s fault.”

When he
said “you all” Malakha guessed he meant the people on her side of this
invisible divide he was talking about.

“Then
whose fault is it?”

“Creatures
like that wolf and cat. Sometimes there are cracks in the divide between our
worlds, and they take advantage of them.”

“Sorry,
but there’s nothing like those things running around on Earth… My Earth
anyway,” Malakha added.

“That’s
because their hosts do their dirty work.”

Malakha
looked at Julius in shock. “You mean like… like possession?”

“Is
that what they call it in your world?” Julius asked and Malakha nodded. “Don’t
get it wrong, it’s not like they can physically come to your world and take
someone’s body over. It’s like we can make a connection and through the
connection, through the cracks, something can make a suggestion to someone to do
something.”

“Like a
puppet master?” Malakha asked,

“What’s
a puppet master?”

Malakha
shook her head.
“Never mind.
Just…
Well do people show up here often? Like me?”

“Not
that I’ve heard. Not like this.”

Malakha
frowned. That worried her.
If people didn’t show up like this
often, then there was the very real possibility that she was dreaming all this
up.

“That’s
it. I’ve gone crazy,” Malakha muttered to herself.

“No you
haven’t,” Julius said.

“Yes,”
Malakha assured, “I have.”

“Then
I’ll send something back with you to prove it,” Julius said and took a silver
pocketknife out his pocket. He held it out to her. “You take this with you and
when you wake back up in Heaven and you still have it, you’ll know this wasn’t
a dream. You’ll know Hell exists.”

Malakha
huffed, but took it from him anyway. As she inspected the item, she asked, “And
why should I trust you?”

Julius
looked at her like the answer was obvious and said, “Because I haven’t tried to
hurt you yet?”

Malakha
smirked and raised her eyebrows at him.

“I know
that. But you’re the one who told me that nothing here is what it seems,”
Malakha replied. “So what are you really?”

“What
do I appear to be?” Julius asked with a wide grin.

“You
want me to be honest?” Malakha asked.

“Otherwise
I wouldn’t have asked.”

“Well,
you seem like a really nice guy, despite the fact that you seemed pretty
pleased to stare at me naked earlier,” Malakha said while tapping the palm of
her hand with the knife.

Julius
smiled at her and said, “Well then there’s your answer.”

Malakha
blushed under his gaze, feeling like one of those ridiculous swooning girls she
usually rolled her eyes at. Curse hormones and devilishly handsome guys like
Julius. Suddenly noticing that he had gotten closer to her and was now invading
her personal space, Malakha cleared her throat and began to say something to
him to diffuse the awkward tension between them. Thankfully a loud cry,
something that sounded like an animal was dying rang in the still air. Both
Julius and Malakha turned in the direction of the cry.

“What
was that?” Malakha asked.

Julius
didn’t answer and started to follow the cry. When Malakha began to follow also,
he turned around and held his hand out to stop her. She ran into him so that
his palm was resting on her chest and he was physically keeping her back.

“You
need to get out of here,” he said still looking in the direction of the cry.

“Why?”

“Just
trust me on this one alright. Go back to Heaven or your Earth, whatever you
call it.”

“There’s
only one problem with that,” Malakha said firmly, not at all liking that
someone, who was probably not even five years older than her, was telling her
what to do. “I don’t know how.”

“How
did you do it last time?” Julius asked.

“I
don’t know! There was dust everywhere, and I just woke up.”

“Then
try going to sleep,” Julius said continuing to where the noise had come from.

“That’s
stupid. What do you think this is? A TV show or something?”

Julius
rounded on her, mouth in a fierce snarl as he closed the distance between them
so much that Malakha could feel his breath on her face. Before he could say
whatever it was he was going to say, the cry came again and this time something
dark in the sky flew towards them from the distance; something dark and large.

“What
is that?” Malakha asked.

“Move
out the way,” Julius said pushing her and himself aside as the thing, a big
ugly bird that looked like a zombie eagle, swooped down on them. Its talon
grazed Julius on the arm.

“What
the hell?” Malakha asked.

“Damn
it! I told you to get out of here,” Julius said standing up before grabbing her
hand and pulling her up also.

“And I
told you. I don’t know how!” Malakha snapped as she felt the wind of the bird
turning around and coming back toward them.

“Duck!”
Julius said. He didn’t wait for her to decide to
obey him or not and pushed her forward so that she fell on the ground.

Then he
jumped just as the bird pulled up to go back into the air. Malakha lifted her
head to see where he had gone and managed to make out his form on top of the
bird as it turned again to come for her.

“Malakha,
stay down!”

Malakha
tucked her head back down just in time to feel the tips of the bird’s talon’s
graze across her back. When she didn’t hear the bird coming back, she got up
and turned around to see where it had gone.

The beast
was valiantly trying to throw Julius off his back. Julius on the other hand
wasn’t letting go and was pulling at feathers on the back of the bird’s neck.
Malakha didn’t know why, but Julius yanking the feathers disrupted the bird’s
flight, causing it to descend to the ground. It let out another cry, the same
one from before that sounded like something was dying except it was closer and
louder and hurt Malakha’s ears. She covered them as Julius continued to tug at
the feathers until finally the bird fell flat on its breasts, still crying out
loudly. If Malakha thought that the bird’s cries had been louder then, they
only seemed to get louder when Julius tugged on a feather so hard, he plucked
it out.