But, in recent years, I had come to despise her and that for which she stood. I knew that I should not, but emotions run deeper than logic, and I could not change the way I felt.
As much as I had denied it earlier, I knew full well that my heart had stopped. Death was something I cheated every time this happened, and I would continue to duck her gelid embrace for as long as I could. But right now, as in times before, the cold bitch was waiting at the other end of this path with open arms, and Felicity was running full speed toward her.
What the darkness offered so freely was meant for me, not my wife, and I simply couldn’t allow her to get there first.
CHAPTER 19:
I had a problem, and it wasn’t a small one.
The problem being that there was absolutely nothing to stop both of us from dying if this was allowed to progress. Throwing myself into the arms of the Dark Mother, noble as it may seem, did not guarantee Felicity’s safety on this plane or any other. Given the situation, she could easily follow me right into death without so much as a pause. There was far more at work here, and while I didn’t know exactly what it was, I was determined to win out over it.
This wasn’t the time for sacrifice, and I knew that.
What I didn’t know was how I was going to make it all stop. Felicity was hell bent on finding an answer, and because of that, she was now caught up in a vortex of her own creation. She had plunged directly into this on purpose, and now I was not only fighting an overwhelming ethereal force, I was pitted against her willful determination as well. The fact is, her doggedness was probably feeding whatever it was she had connected with.
Out of pure reflex, I reached for her hand and clasped my fingers around her gnarled fist. I felt the thread of pure agony arc along my nerve endings as it raced up my arm and exploded through my body. My teeth began to involuntarily gnash as my jaw grew tight, and the sensation of holding onto a bare extension cord ripped into me just as it had the day before.
Amidst it all, however, was a new and different feeling. At first I thought it was my imagination. Nothing more than my senses thrown off kilter by the intensity of what was now happening. But, when the feeling struck for a second and then again for a third time, I knew it was more than a phantom sensation. It was real.
It came first as a tug. Next, it was a sharp jerk pulling against my arm and flowing through to the base of my skull as if some internal wire connected them to one another. Then it became a fierce pull, undulating in time with my on-again off-again connection to the earth.
What was even more surprising was that it made perfect sense to my tortured brain. It was my ground- my connection with the earth- slamming on the brakes as it attempted to shunt the energies harmlessly away. In order to stop this, I was going to have to complete that ground for the both of us and hold it fast. Unfortunately, that was an almost impossible task for me in my current state. Still, I had little choice but to at least try.
I seized on everything I had, reaching deep within myself for the strength to make it happen. I fought to push aside the stabbing pain in my head long enough to visualize a shaft of light extending from myself and deep into the center of the earth. But, just as I feared, each time I would form the vision in my head a fresh lance of agony would pierce me, and I would falter, losing both the connection and the supernatural skirmish in the process.
At some point, I think I let out a scream. I wasn’t sure because I don’t know that I actually heard it. I couldn’t tell you if it was born of pain, frustration, fear, or even a combination of all three. All I know is that whether I heard it or not, I definitely felt it deep within my soul.
I would have assumed that it was only in my mind, but for the fact that behind the deeply felt wail, I did hear Ben cry out my name. A split second later, I felt his hand briefly clamp onto my shoulder, and at that moment, a sizzling electrical pop reported in my ears. Ben’s hand immediately jerked away in combination with his expletive-ridden yelp.
In that instant I knew what had to be done. This had grown beyond what I believed it to be. It was no longer a case of me, or even Felicity, stepping across the threshold into the world of the ethereal. The ethereal had come to us. Felicity may have stepped into its domain first, but it was on this side of the veil now. It was a physical manifestation, and it was making itself right at home. If I was to deal with it, I had to approach it as the unwanted houseguest it was.
The arc that occurred between Ben and me was the clue I needed. I was on the right track when I had tried to ground; I just hadn’t taken it far enough. I knew now that this could be brought to a screeching halt. All I needed to do was treat it like household electricity- I had to short it to ground and blow its fuse.
“G-g-gr-n-n-d-d,” I stammered as I pushed myself out of the chair and fell to my knees next to Felicity.
“WHAT?” Constance yelped.
“G-Ground!” I managed to spit the word out once again, this time without dividing it into a stream of stammered consonants.
Using the arm of the chair for leverage, I pulled myself to one knee and slipped my right arm in behind Felicity’s denim-covered knees. I forced myself to release my grip on her hand and worked my left arm partially behind her upper back as she continued to buck and tremble.
“What are you doing?!” Ben shouted at me.
I didn’t take time to answer him. I pushed myself upward and tried to pull Felicity along with me, but the awkward angle immediately worked against us. I lost my balance and fell forward, stumbling into the chair, barely catching myself against the opposite arm with my hastily extracted left hand.
I pushed back, breathing heavily as I concentrated on keeping myself from being sucked completely under by the preternatural riptide that was now tearing through my living room. I quickly pulled my right hand free and grasped my petite wife by both wrists then pulled her upward. For her to tip the scale at one hundred five pounds, she had to be fully clothed, soaking wet, and have rocks in her pockets; but at the moment she may as well have weighed ten times that much. She was dead weight with an attitude, and it was taking everything I had just to get her up out of the chair.
“ROWAN!” Ben bellowed again. “What the hell are you doing?!”
“Get back, Benjamin,” Helen ordered. “Give him some room.”
I threw my gaze in his direction as I dragged Felicity to her feet and steadied her body against mine. His face was a contorted mask of concern, as were Constance’s and Helen’s. The three of them were frantically moving about, trying to find a way to help but afraid to touch either of us after witnessing the severe jolt Ben had taken. Still, Ben was moving in on me with total disregard for himself, obviously willing to be bitten again if that was what it took.
“Benjamin,” Helen declared again. “Move away! I think I know what he’s doing. Give him room!”
“G-Ground!” I repeated, forcing the word out past my teeth as my jaw repeatedly clenched and released.
Ben shot a glance at his sister, then at me, but backpedaled as she had ordered. I stooped quickly and planted my shoulder into Felicity’s waist while slipping my arm around the backs of her thighs. She was still trembling spastically as I brought myself upright with her body folded over my shoulder. The combination of her weight and the violent jerking sent my sense of balance on hiatus, and I stumbled as I aimed myself toward the front door.
“Door. Get… The… Door…” I managed to chatter through my aching jaw.
Ben was already there, whipping it open and rushing through ahead of us to hold the screen door. I threw myself at the opening and thudded against the doorframe on the way through. I careened forward and staggered onto the porch, just barely catching myself before we tumbled down the front stairs. I steadied myself against a support pillar and grabbed the handrail.