Seventh Dimension - The King - Book 2, A Young Adult Fantasy (17 page)

I snapped. “I
was fired. Doctor Luke doesn’t know it.”

“Who fired you?”

“Shale, you know Scylla fired me. You think I would
have left on my own?”

“She can’t fire you,” Shale insisted.

I rocked on my heels. “That woman can do whatever
she wants.”

“She’s not my mother.”

“She’s not my mother either, but that doesn’t mean I
can do whatever I want.”

By now I was yelling and people were staring. A
couple of nosy eavesdroppers were listening.

“Let’s go around to the back. We can sit at the
table and talk.” I motioned for Shale to follow me.

A few minutes
later we sat across from each other as if we were strangers. I
didn’t know how to break the tension. I couldn’t give Shale what
she wanted.

“You shouldn’t have come.” I looked away to avoid
Shale’s obvious pain. I hated myself for sounding so
insensitive.

“You’re treating me rudely.”

She didn’t have
to tell me. What was I becoming? I wasn’t being the person I wanted
to be. Shale reached over to touch my arm and I
flinched.

She bit her lip
and tears welled up in her eyes. “Fine. Be that way, while Nathan
sits in Nazareth crying his heart out because you’re gone and he
has no one who understands him, let alone that he can talk
to.”

“I can’t do anything more for Nathan. I taught him
how to read and he can write messages.”

Shale shook her head. “Guys are all alike—jerks. I
thought you were different. It must be that other woman.”

I laughed.
“Woman? What other woman?”

Shale rolled
her eyes. “The one I saw you with when I came into town. You know
who I’m talking about.”

I shook my head. “No, I don’t.”

Shale scrunched up the cloth of her dress with her
hand over her chest. “I bought this from her when I first arrived
from the garden. Martha, she sells feminine things—perfume and
such. She has her own booth in town.”

I stopped. “You mean my sister?”

Shale stared. “That’s your sister—Martha? The one
you were having a lively conversation with earlier today? The one
you hugged?”

I chuckled.
“That’s my sister. Back home in my dimension, she runs her own
apparel store. Here she does the same thing, though on a much
smaller scale. She’s my only family here—at least that I have met,
except for Mari, though I don’t know what our relationship
is.”

Shale repeated herself. “Martha is your sister?”

I nodded. “Seriously.”

Shale’s demeanor changed and her face turned red. “I
feel foolish.”

I wished we could start this whole conversation
over.

“Shale, the
real reason I left isn’t because I’m madly in love with another
woman, as you’re supposing. When Scylla told me about the betrothal
for you to marry Judd, it got complicated.”

Shale’s eyes searched my face. “How so?”

“You were given to Judd a long time ago. Judd told
Scylla I shouldn’t be spending so much time with you, even though
we were just friends.”

Shale remained silent.

“I was afraid I would disgrace you. You are to be
betrothed to another man. I couldn’t justify it once Scylla told me
of the impending marriage.”

Shale’s eyes flashed. “Are you crazy? I hate Judd,
and he’s not even from my—world.”

I shrugged. “When you’re with the Romans, you do as
the Romans do.”

Shale rolled her eyes. “What’s that’s supposed to
mean?”

“It means you need to follow the rules.”

“Daniel—” Shale stopped midsentence.

“What?” I knew where this was going. I pushed my
mind reading ability away. I didn’t want it anymore.

“The real reason I came for you is different. It
wasn’t because you left me.”

“Why did you come?”

Shale bit her
lip. “After you left, I took the animals on a short day trip over
the hills. We ran into a man who lived in the cemetery, half-naked,
full of demons and…”

“And?” I prompted her.

“Wait, let me
back up. The reason we went out for the day was because Judd wasn’t
feeding the animals. Lowly said he was starving.”

“Lowly the pig?”

“Yes. He wanted to go to another farm to get some
food. There wasn’t any place nearby with pigs.”

I nodded.

“Later, a fishing boat pulled up. Cherios said one
of the fishermen was the king that I told you about.”

I couldn’t believe she was telling me another story
about the rabbi.

“The lunatic?”

“He’s not a lunatic,” Shale corrected.

I didn’t want to hear anything else about the
prophet. “Keep going,” I urged her. “Get to your point.” I checked
behind her to see if anyone was coming.

Shale was
irritated at my inattention. “You talk about me being impatient. I
traveled on the back of a donkey for hours to get here.”

I apologized. “Sorry.”

She continued. “The wild man ran straight towards
the king—the fisherman. The look in the king’s eyes stopped him.
Demons left the man and went into the pigs. Then the pigs stampeded
into the lake and drowned.”

Out of all the stories I had heard, this one was the
most bizarre. “You expect me to believe that?”

“Yes,” Shale said. “It’s true.”

I shook my head. “Shale, I’ve heard similar stories.
Gossip travels fast here.”

Shale insisted. “It’s true.”

Who was this man? I couldn’t read his mind when I
tried. I realized now I feared him. “So what does that have to do
with me, or us?”

Shale reached
out to me again, placing her hand on my arm. She traced her fingers
along the top.

“I want to take Nathan to see the king. If he could
heal that cemetery man, he could help Nathan speak.”

I shook my head. “No.”

“Look,” she pleaded, “if the king healed Nathan, he
could talk and be normal, right? He’s not stupid, is he?”

“No.” I leaned on the table, propping up my chin. I
didn’t want to take him—not because I didn’t think he could heal
Nathan, but because I was afraid.

“Nothing can heal Nathan. He’s been that way since
birth.”

“What makes you think the king can’t heal him?”

“You saw
something that you can’t explain, but who knows. Maybe the man
wasn’t crazy. It could have been staged.”

Shale frowned. “He tried to attack me on the way
over to the farm.”

“Maybe that was his test run.”

Shale bit her lower lip. “Why do you say such
things?”

I shook my head
that was now pounding. “Shale, that man you call the king, he’s no
healer. He’s a charlatan. He’s nothing.”

Shale’s voice quivered. “Suppose you’re wrong? Are
you going to abandon Nathan without trying?”

I didn’t know what to do. Even though I didn’t want
the ventriloquist’s gift anymore, I didn’t know how to get rid of
her influence. Her power was like poison to my soul. After the last
encounter I hadn’t tried to read anyone’s mind. I didn’t want to do
anything that would make her return.

The power was first given to me by God. Why was I so
resistant to the things of God now—or this self-proclaimed rabbi?
What if the rabbi could heal Nathan? And I loved Shale, even if I
couldn’t marry her. Given the choice, would I do the right thing
for her brother?

I stood and paced. I felt very small and alone. If
only I could pray to God, but I had given up on prayer. Conflicting
emotions made me indecisive. I felt like a man drowning. I cried
out in spite of myself, “Please help me, God.”

No sooner had I said those four words than I felt
immediate relief. I walked over to the table.

“All right,
Shale. I’ll go back with you and find this healer, with one
condition.”

Shale’s eyes popped open. “What’s that?”

“No one knows I’m back. And once we’ve finished our
task, proving to you he’s—a fraud, I’m coming back to Doctor
Luke’s.”

Shale’s excitement waned now that I had agreed. “Do
you hate me for doing this?”

“Do I hate
you—for goodness’ sake, Shale, I don’t hate you. You’re—so
persistent. Even if Judd hadn’t been chosen for you, I needed to
leave.”

“How do you
think I felt when I found out you were gone without saying
goodbye?”

I met Shale’s eyes. “This was arranged long ago. I
wanted to appease Scylla. I wish I knew what to do for Nathan.”

Shale smiled. “You will come back with me?”

“Yes, with the conditions I gave you.”

“Where will you stay?”

I laughed. “Out
of sight. You need to find out where that lunatic and his friends
are staying. It won’t be easy.”

A question popped into my head. “How did you get
here? I mean what did you tell Scylla?”

“Nothing. I promised Judd a golden nugget for his
help.”

“With gold? I won’t ask where that came from.”

She laughed. “I thought you could read my mind.”

I shifted my eyes away. I didn’t want to use the
power again. I’d promised myself that I wouldn’t. “I can, but I
have to put effort into it. You didn’t steal it, did you?”

“Of course not,” Shale said indignantly.

If I didn’t tell her, she would question my ability.
This would be the last time. I’d focused on her thoughts. Never
again, I told myself. Now that Shale knew I was trying, she tried
to block me—unsuccessfully.

“So you got it from the garden?”

Shale nodded.

“Kol Hakavod.
Well done.” I was thankful that God revealed the answer to me,
unexpectedly, but now Shale seemed distracted. “What are you
thinking?”

Shale shrugged. “Nothing. I told Judd to tell Scylla
I went to Jerusalem to search for my father. She won’t expect me
back for a few days.”

I started
making a mental checklist. “We’ll need to sneak Nathan out of the
house. That won’t be easy. He never goes anywhere.”

“We have time, before Judd wants his golden nugget
or thinks I’ve betrayed him.”

“Don’t worry about him. We’ve enough to think about
just taking care of Nathan. Let’s go.”

We walked back
around to the front of Jacob’s Inn to get Baruch, the donkey. I
told Shale to wait. “I need to get something from Doctor Luke. I’ll
be back in a minute.”

She reached out
and snatched my arm. “Like what, what do you need to
do?”

Was she afraid I would leave her again? “Potion, so
Scylla will sleep like a baby.” I left Shale standing by
Baruch.

I rummaged through the medicines and found what I
needed but Baruch’s whinnying interrupted my thoughts. When I went
outside, I saw Baruch but Shale was missing.

I searched the
front portico, along the street, and checked inside the shops.
Scary ideas went through my head. Where was she? I glanced across
the walkway. There I saw her standing in the flowerbed. When I
reached her, she stood in front of a dancing cobra. His menacing
eyes looked ready to strike.

“Shale, give me your hand.”

She half-heartily extended it. I tugged. She
resisted. The cobra hissed.

“Shale, come to
me,” I urged. Out of the sky a white dove descended. The movement
caught her attention and broke the spell. Shale backed away and
collapsed in my arms. I held her tightly as she sobbed.

Several men who had witnessed my distress rushed
over. Once they saw the snake slithering away in the grass, they
set about to kill the viper. We left them to the task—Shale had
been traumatized enough.

We journeyed
back to Galilee without much conversation. The solitude gave me
time to think. I replayed in my mind all the weird things we had
both faced. Were we battling demons?

Perhaps I was as shaken up as Shale. I wouldn’t have
believed such a thing could happen. Did I still believe honor was
more important than love?

I walked beside
Baruch, longing to return home, but I didn’t know how to make that
happen. Shale didn’t know how to get back either. Were others
stranded in a twilight zone battling demons? Where was God and why
hadn’t he revealed himself?

We arrived in
Nazareth in the early evening and stopped just short of the house.
How would we get Nathan out of the house without Scylla
knowing?

“Shale, what
about that crow that follows you around? Could he create a
distraction with Mari, and you sneak in and put the potion in her
wine?”

Shale was skeptical. “Mari promised she would do
anything for me if I ever needed help. I don’t trust Worldly Crow.
In fact, I don’t trust any crow.”

I couldn’t argue with her, but whatever we did was
going to require creativity or luck—maybe even some divine
intervention.

I walked over
to a rocky outcropping and sat. My legs burned from so much
walking. I studied the potion in the flask and shook it. “We only
get one chance. If Scylla catches us, it’s all over.”

Shale nodded. “Mari cares about Nathan. Knowing
we’re helping him to be healed will be enough.”

I agreed, but I
was worried Mari could be persuaded to tell Scylla if confronted. I
didn’t want her to feel threatened. I also didn’t trust Scylla,
especially when she drank. I remembered the time she slapped
Nathan.

“We need to make sure Scylla doesn’t find out that
Mari knows anything.”

Shale slid off Baruch, walked over, and sat beside
me. “As long as we’re back by the time Scylla wakes up, everything
should be fine.”

I leaned back on the ledge stretching my legs. “You
know better than me.”

Shale turned
towards me and smiled. She lingered on my face as if pondering a
deep thought. “Do you think we will ever make it back?”