In the Company of Angels, Episode 4.2 – The Empath (cont.)
“Take it off! Take the ring off!” she heard Mr. Luke say to her, as if from a great distance, but Jill could not move. Then strong hands grabbed her by the shoulders, and she realized that Polydora was holding her up. Immediately she felt calmed, and she heard the most beautiful singing, high and sweet, that seemed to be coming from the rafters above them. Polly had turned Jill around, had kneeled before her, and was holding her up and peering into her eyes.
Jill looked into the Ferrumari’s face and heard a voice in her head say “Those are the ones that were lost, but they are not sad voices. They are voices of joy; echoes from the times long before I was born. Do you understand?”
Jill shook her head. “Not really. But…I’ll be OK. I just need a moment….”
“Sorry,” she said, looking up at Mr. Luke and Sam. “It was just getting used to the ring, I think.”
“No, it was a lot more than that. Polly, do you think she’ll be alright in Orbaratus?”
“Yes, if I am with her. As I said, she sees very far, and she may soon come to sense the presence and emotions of those around her as well as can I.”
“You mean,” asked Jill, “you mean you’re an Empath too?”
“Of course,” said the voice in her head. “That is how I sensed what you were thinking and feeling.” Polly smiled.
“But I can’t do that,” said Jill.
“Can’t do what?” asked Sam.
“Hush, Sam,” said Mr. Luke.
“But, you already are!” thought Polly. “You’re doing it now!”
Jill looked at Polly, wide-eyed. “OK, let me try this…” said Jill.
“Try what?” asked Sam.
“Hush, Sam!” said Mr. Luke.
“Can you hear me?” thought Jill, looking directly at Polly.
Polly nodded and smiled, “Of course!” she thought back.
“Well, that’s a first!” she said aloud.
“What’s a first?” asked Sam. Mr. Luke clapped his hand over Sam’s mouth.
“But, Polly,” thought Jill, “if I can understand what you’re thinking, why can’t I understand what anyone else is thinking?”
Jill heard a tinkling sound in her head that she recognized as Polly’s laughter. “Because, little one, you’ve not tried to! And because it is always easier to read the thoughts of another Empath than of anyone else, provided, of course, that the Empath is allowing you to do so.”
“Oh!” said Jill aloud. She closed her eyes and rubbed them.
“What’s going on, Mr. Luke?” asked Sam, clearly confused.
“Something you’ve never seen before, Samuel, nor I, and something you should remember and cherish; you may never live to see it again! Jill is learning a new thing about herself, a wonderful thing. You remember when you first discovered that you were a Navigator?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, this is like that, only more so.”
“Oh!”
While Sam and Mr. Luke were talking, Polly and Jill had been silent, gazing at each other.
“Polly?” said Mr. Luke after a few moments, “I know I’ve asked already, but are you sure Jill will be alright in Orbaratus?”
There was a long pause while Jill and Polly appeared to be chatting with each other, then Jill said “Yes, Mr. Luke. Polly was already telling me about her world, and I would really like to see it for myself.”
Sam shook his head. “So now you can read minds?!”
“No,” said Jill, “not yours. But Polly says that will likely come in time.”
“Sheesh! Bad enough having to watch my mouth, now I’m going to have to watch my thoughts too?!”
“You’ve not done so around me thus far,” said Polly, smiling. “Why should you have to do so with your friend?”
“It’s…it’s different with Jill…” Sam said, sulkily.
“Well, we can sort such things out later,” said Mr. Luke. “But now, if we’re all agreed, let’s go explore another world….”
Mr. Luke went behind a curtain nearby and emerged wearing the duster coat that he had been sporting when Jill first discovered him in her library. He also had brought two short, grey, hooded cloaks with him. “It’s not really that cold on Orbaratus,” he said as he handed one cloak to Sam and the other to Jill, “but it can be a bit damp and windy. These will serve to keep you warmer and drier while we’re there.”
The four of them then gathered before the painting. “Everyone please make sure your skin is in contact with your crystal,” said Mr. Luke.
Jill clenched her fist and felt the sting of electricity. Then came the wash of emotions and the sound of singing from the painting once more. But whether it was because she was prepared for it this time or because Polly had her hand on her shoulder, Polly found that she was now able to bear it.
“Is everyone ready?” Mr. Luke asked, looking pointedly at Jill.
Jill nodded.
“Then hold onto you hats!” said Sam. With that, he jumped, with both feet, straight at the painting. Jill saw him one moment, and in the next he was gone. She gasped involuntarily.
“You two next, Polly,” said Mr. Luke.
Polly stepped forward without hesitation and strode into the painting, stooping to fit her head and wings through it. She kept Jill’s hand grasped firmly in her own. Jill followed her, hesitating only for a moment. Once through, her feet crunched on something like gravel and she felt a cool, wet breeze blowing through her hair.
Jill looked around her. The silver skies above were racing with clouds, and the cliff-like buildings towered on all sides. Polydora was still holding her hand, but the Ferrumari stood just ahead of her, gazing at a particular spot high atop of one of the buildings.
Sam stood before them both grinning. “Whatcha think?” he said.
Jill felt quite disoriented — dizzy, and even slightly sick to her stomach. She turned around just in time to glimpse Mr. Luke stepping up behind her. Just past where he stood she could still see the lights and the desk of the Gallery. Jill leaned to one side of Mr. Luke to see it better and realized that the window, if one could call it that, was simply hanging in space. She let go of Polly’s hand and stepped back toward it. She opened her hand and reached out to touch the edges of the bright frame, but as soon as she did so, it vanished, and she was staring at the empty landscape of Orbaratus. She pulled back her hand, startled.
“It’s still there, you know,” said Mr. Luke. “Close your hand upon the crystal again.”
Jill clenched her fist, and immediately the frame reopened in space before her.
“It will remain here for us to use when we return,” said Mr. Luke, “but no one can see it or use it without one of the sapphires.”
Jill continued to look throughthe portal for a moment, and then she relaxed her hold on the sapphire. The view from her own distant world dissolved away, but not before she thought she caught a glimpse of something, or someone, moving in the background of the vanishing image. She was about to mention this to Mr. Luke, but in the Orbaratan light, she saw that he was very pale. “You don’t look so good, Mr. Luke. Are you alright?” she asked.
“Don’t worry, he’s always that way after a run,” said Sam, stepping up beside her. “But, how are you feeling…OK?”
“I think, so. A bit woozy, I guess.”
“Yeah, just like Mr. Luke. Here, have some chocolate.” Sam gave her a chocolate bar, and after eating a few bites, Jill began to feel better.
“I thought that only worked in Harry Potter books,” she said.
“Naw. I think J.K. Rowling must have known someone in the Order and stolen the idea. Chocolate seems to help if framerunning an image ever makes you feel woozy. I hardly ever do, but I keep some with me just in case, and you should too.”
“Well, we’re not all Navigators, Samuel,” said Mr. Luke, who was likewise now munching on a chocolate bar.
“Why do you call Sam a ‘Navigator’, Mr. Luke?” asked Jill.
“Because that’s his special talent, just as yours appears to be that of an Empath.”
“But what does it mean to be a Navigator?”
“It means that Sam is very adept at framerunning. He can do it all day long without getting tired or disoriented, and in fact, he has a special ability to sense the existence of frames, or portals, even without the aid of a crystal. Also, he can use mirrors to move from one place to another, something that we call “mazerunning”, without ever losing his sense of direction. That is an ability that you and I do not possess; we would likely find it nearly impossible to mazerun on our own without becoming hopelessly confused, and perhaps even end up getting lost in the Maze for good.”
“So that’s how Sam got out of our house last night? Through the mirror?”
“Yes, apparently, although I’ve not heard all the details yet. He found his way back to his own house without ever going outdoors. I quite envy him the time he can save instantly getting from one place to another when the need arises….”
“So you aren’t a Navigator yourself, Mr. Luke?”
Sam snickered.
“Ahem!” said Mr. Luke, scowling at Sam. “No, Jill. Nor am I am Empath like you and Polly. I’m a Renderer.”
“That’s a fancy name for an artist,” said Sam.
“There’s a lot more to it than that, but the description is certainly close enough for our purposes,” said Mr. Luke. “That said, right now….”
Mr. Luke looked past Jill.
“…right now, we need to find out what Polly is so fixated on….”
Jill turned around. Polly had not joined in their conversation; she had remained looking fixedly up at the top of one of the cliff-like buildings. She was completely still and silent, and once more Jill thought she could easily have been mistaken for a statue. But Jill could almost feel Polly listening; listening intently not only with her ears, but with all of her empathic senses.
“What is it, Polly?” Jill asked, stepping forward and putting her hand in that of the Ferrumari.
“Can’t you feel it?” Polly spoke to Jill in her mind.
“What, Polly?” Jill thought back.
“Someone else is here. Here, on Orbaratus.”
“But, I thought you said your home was deserted; that no one else lived here but you…?”
“That was true, little one,” thought Polly, “but it is so no more. Someone is up there.” Polly swept her long arm upward and pointed at the cliff tops. “Someone, or something….”
[ To read Episode 5.1, click here…. ]