Seventh Dimension - The King - Book 2, A Young Adult Fantasy (14 page)

“Shale isn’t here,” Judd said. “And Baruch is
missing.”

Scylla’s face turned ashen. “Find them.”

She stormed back inside yelling at me, “Daniel, if
you can’t do your job, we’ll find someone who can.”

No one said
anything, but it seemed odd she was more concerned about the donkey
than about Shale. A few minutes later, Brutus took off with the
Roman soldiers, promising to be back as soon as he
could.

“Extend my apologies to Shale for leaving on such
short notice.” He added, “I’m sure she’s fine. Just like me, can’t
stay in one spot for too long without getting antsy.”

I worried the rest of the day. Was it because I knew
her better than anyone else? She didn’t know the dangers that
existed here, and she certainly didn’t know the area. I drove
myself insane thinking about all the bad things that could
happen.

Scylla called me into her room late in the afternoon
when Shale hadn’t returned.

“Did you say
something to her that drove her away?” she asked. “Did you do
something to her?”

I shook my head. She looked out her bedroom window.
“Search the road and the hills around the property. Maybe she fell,
had an accident.”

I did as she suggested, but didn’t find her
anywhere.

The sun was
setting when Shale returned with Baruch. I ran out to the road to
greet her.

“Where have you been?”

“Long story,” she replied. “I’ll tell you
later.”

I took Baruch and led him to the stable. Judd washed
down the donkey and cooled him off. I noted the poor animal was
dirty, tired, and thirsty.

“They must have
been down in the wilderness,” Judd said. “Baruch is very
dehydrated. Why would they have gone down there?”

I shrugged.
“I’m just glad they’re safe.”

Now that Shale
and Baruch were back, the distance between Judd and me widened
again. I was worried. Had I said something to Shale that upset her?
What did Judd tell Scylla? One thing I did know, Shale would feel
abandoned by her father if he didn’t soon return.

And another thing concerned me. Whatever mind
reading ability I once possessed had left me, but I didn’t know
why. One day I had it and the next day I didn’t.

Hundreds of birds flew over the Sea of Galilee. They
rode invisible currents as easily as I walked along the seashore. I
picked up a pebble and threw it into the water. The ripples spanned
out and lapped against the rocks. I had brought Nathan with me. He
loved to run into the water holding up his tunic, peering into the
receding waves looking for fish underneath the surface. Perhaps he
found a connection with them. They couldn’t speak either.

I was thankful
to have some quiet time away from Brutus’s home. I had lost the
ability to communicate with Nathan in an extraordinary way. Feeling
discouraged, I sought solace.

I didn’t know whether to tell anyone. Plus I was too
upset about my last conversation with Shale to think about much of
anything.

“Nathan, I’m
going to walk up to that embankment and then I’ll come back, all
right?”

Nathan nodded and waved.

“Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be watching you.”

He nodded again.

I walked along the shoreline. I noted the sun was
behind me and a second shadow came up alongside my own, but no one
was near me. When I stopped, the second shadow stopped.

“Can you see me now?”

I turned. I saw
the old woman. She was wearing the same dress. Her balding head,
hollow eyes, and sunken cheekbones seemed even grimmer in the
bright sunshine. She had three fish speared on the end of a stick
in her right hand.

“How come I couldn’t see you at first?” I asked
her.

“I was here,” she said.

I shrugged.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“I’m headed
over to the embankment. I need to keep an eye on
Nathan.”

The old woman
came closer and the familiar smell of rotten eggs turned my
stomach.

I trekked to
the stone embankment that butted into the water as she followed me.
Then I climbed to the top to get a better view, keeping my eyes on
Nathan. The old woman stayed down below.

I sat on the ledge. “Who are you?”

“I’m your
benefactor,” she said.

“Come on,” I
objected. “You aren’t my benefactor.” I rubbed my nose—what was
that foul smell? Must be the dead fish. I tapped myself on the
head. “Are you okay—up here?”

The old woman laughed. “What do you want?”

I shifted my weight on the ledge. “I want my gift
back,” as if I expected her to understand what I meant.

“To read minds?”

I swallowed hard. How did she know?

“I can give you that ability,” she said.

I looked at the
strange old woman skeptically. “I don’t believe you.”

She laughed
“You are upset with Shale. She’s met a man she calls the king, the
one Christians call Jesus the Christ. You are troubled because
you’re in first century Palestine. You are disturbed about events
surrounding Yeshua and want to convince Shale he’s a charlatan. Is
that enough?”

A sick feeling came over me. “How do you know these
things?”

“Does it
matter?” Her eyes twitched menacingly.

I stared at the fish on the end of her fishing
pole.

“So you can
give me back the ability to read Nathan’s mind?”

“Anyone’s mind,” she corrected me.

I looked across the water. Why did this bother me
when so much good could come out of it? Nathan’s life would be more
fulfilling and I would know things that Scylla and Judd had kept
from me. And I could be a better friend to Shale. Still, I
hesitated.

The woman keyed in on my thoughts. “Daniel, you are
trying to be a better friend. Let me help you. I told you I was
your benefactor.”

“What’s the cost?”

The woman laughed.

Something about
the woman bothered me. She seemed evil. Finally I said, “I need to
head back,” but I couldn’t resist thinking about the
offer.

I scooted down
the rock wall with her trailing me. Before I reached Nathan, she
said, “Nathan is hungry, but you wouldn’t know that without being
able to read his mind, would you?”

I stopped. All right. “What do I need to do to get
the power back?”

“It’s done,”
the old woman said.

When I turned, she was gone, as if she had never
been with me. I saw only one shadow.

Was it true? I came up to Nathan. “Hey, are you
hungry?”

He nodded and a smile crossed his face. I reached
over and squeezed his shoulder. “Come on, let’s head back.”

Eleven Months Later

The days
blurred into months. My mind-reading ability had become second
nature and I hadn’t seen the strange woman again. Each day I tried
to finish my chores early so I could spend time in the pasture with
Shale—if she had time to join me.

She would
generally search for me in the late afternoons—this had become our
daily routine. Sunlight filtered through the trees and shone on us
in scattered shadows.

Shale held
Cherios in her lap and patted the rabbit’s back. Much-Afraid had
become an expert sheepherder. Judd had invested lots of time
teaching the dog. Because Much-Afraid did Judd’s work, his
slothfulness was less obvious.

Baruch grazed
nearby and Lowly the pig had been let out to pasture—at Shale’s
request, though I insisted he stay far away. Shale didn’t care that
he was an unclean animal. To her, he was a cute pig with a curly
tail, as she described him.

Sometimes I’d
ask her what Cherios or one of the animals had said, but I’d gotten
used to being left out. Shale hinted that it annoyed her, like
asking someone what happened in a movie that is ending. No one
wants to tell you.

Judd always
watched us—and I usually knew what he was thinking, but I didn’t
care. I’d never kissed Shale or been alone with her—she was three
years younger. Relations were forbidden before
betrothal.

I worried more
about something else I had discovered. There was a secret contract,
a betrothal document between Judd and Shale. I’d overheard Judd and
Scylla talking about it one afternoon. Could it be broken? I’d
thought about searching for it in Scylla’s quarters so I could read
it, but I was hopeful the contract would just go away or Judd would
change his mind. Probably wishful thinking on my part, but it was
like the big elephant in the room no one wanted to talk about—it
was there, but no one mentioned it. Certainly Shale had never
mentioned it to me.

Whether the
contract was real or not, I knew if I defiled her, she would be
shamed—could even be stoned. In the meantime, I had grown to love
Shale—surpassed only by Judd’s envy. He did nothing to conceal his
jealousy. He didn’t have to. His name was on the
contract.

Recently,
however, the sweet conversations between Shale and me had become
contentious. I sensed restlessness in her. Her father had only been
back once. I knew she wanted a relationship with him, but that was
hard to do when she was in Galilee and he was somewhere
else.

Shale’s
longings were also spiritual. When her thoughts went there, I’d
pushed her away. My interest in spiritual things had evaporated.
Shale’s had only deepened. The gap between us had widened—not to
Judd but to something more disquieting

As we sat in
the pasture, Shale was absorbed in her latest drawing. I glanced
over to see her artwork.

Two beings
faced each other on top of a mountain. One was large and wore a
black robe that unfurled across half the mountain. The other was
just an ordinary, frail-looking man, half the size of the black
creature. I leaned back and stretched. “Are you still thinking
about that experience?”

Shale quipped. “I heard some women talking the other
day in the village when I went shopping with Mari.” She studied her
drawing. “I think they were talking about this man.”

“What makes you say that?” I asked.

Shale added
shading to the dark creature. “They were discussing an itinerant
rabbi who stays in Galilee when he isn’t teaching. One woman said
he was a brilliant rabbi. Another woman called him a prophet. Still
another person said she saw him heal her uncle, a
paraplegic.”

“Who do you say he is?” I asked.

Shale focused
her eyes on my face and spoke without hesitation. “I think he is
the son of God.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s a pretty bold
assumption.”

The distance between us widened.

Shale was
undeterred. “I was in the garden. I know this isn’t all there is. I
saw him fight the darkness in the wilderness.” She bit her lip. “I
wish I could see him again. Would you take me if I found out where
he is?”

I should have known not to get involved with a girl
who wasn’t Jewish. I probed around in the dry dirt with a stick. “I
don’t know what I believe anymore.”

Shale shrugged. “Some things are worse than
dying.”

“Like what?”

“Being alone.”

“You aren’t alone. I’m here.”

“No, Daniel. I’m not alone. But you are.”

I sat up straighter. “What do you mean?”

“When I first
met you, I was intrigued by your Jewishness—your spirituality. I
grew up in a home where we didn’t believe in anything. I envied
Rachel’s family, and when I met you, I saw that passion.

“You’ve walked
away from your past. That the king is Jewish should be enough to
interest you—to find out more. I don’t understand why you aren’t
even curious about him.”

I felt my face
getting hot. “The best thing about being here in first century
Israel is being with you, Shale.”

Shale shook her
head. “I can’t be everything to you. I believe more than this
exists, and when we die, we will understand. I hope so,
anyway.”

She was right.
I didn’t care about my heritage anymore. I had everything I wanted.
Money for my education and the girl I wanted. My special gift
helped in lots of ways, too, not the least of which I could get
whatever I wanted. Why did I need God?

Shale looked up
from her drawing. “Can’t you find out where the rabbi is and take
me to see him?”

I shook my
head. “He’s a false prophet, Shale. We’ve had this discussion many
times. If he were a true prophet, he wouldn’t cause riots or
challenge the Sadducees or Pharisees. They know the Torah better
than anyone—including him.”

“But Daniel, he’s Jewish. He heals people. I mean,
you want to be a doctor. And he’s a rabbi. When is the last time
you even met with a rabbi?”

“When my father
was kidnapped.”

Shale’s face
paled. “Is your father dead? You never told me anything about your
father.”

I turned away. “He was killed by Arabs, we think, on
a business trip—extremists.”

“Daniel, I’m so sorry.” Shale’s voice soothed me.
She set her drawing aside and leaned into me. “Forgive me for
judging you. I didn’t know.”

“That was the last time I spoke to a rabbi,” I said
glibly.

Shale scooted
on her knees and turned my head towards her. “You should meet this
rabbi yourself. Don’t waste the opportunity, Daniel. We don’t
always have second opportunities in life to do the important
things. It’s too easy to squander what matters most for the sake of
convenience. We could make the time.”