An Unearthing of Goddesses

An Unearthing of Goddesses Part 48

Kate was suspended in a position that looked like she was mid-arabesque in some kind of celestial ballet, while also reaching wildly as if about to dunk a basketball through the shimmer of the weirdly lit space around her. Colors and shapes interspersed and twisted with an ever-changing kaleidoscope of motion. Sounds came and went, zooming by like a radio tuner trying to find the right frequency. She felt alone, yet sensed numerous presences gliding by intermittently. A pressure on her arm...

"I didn't mean to bring you." It was Tatsuta-Hime, her voice coming straight into Kate's head. "I wanted only to return. My mother is here, and all of my family."

Kate felt the joy of the entity coming straight into her heart. She tried to focus on her, to see her face, but there was only the voice.

"We will guide you back to the rift. Your people will find you."

Kate couldn't see the bodies guiding her, only streaks of light that swirled around her, supporting and lifting, and she felt herself cartwheeling through the whorls. She surrendered to the motion, trusting that in this universe, she might not be entirely in her body, yet she was safe. She took the alternative to a large breath, focusing on the voice of Tatsuta-Hime, gently assuring her that she was almost home. She felt her body becoming one with the patterns, her legs multiply into a many petaled flower and her arms extend into many tiered wings. Her face held every expression at once, like a Picasso masterpiece, and her air was like a windmill above her head. Her whole body moved with the strange universe, at once one with it, while also feeling for all the world like she was sitting alone, waiting on a park bench.

She looked over to find Adam sitting by her. She wanted to cry out in glee, to reach over and grab him. But she couldn't move. She felt transfixed to the seat, while also still catapulting through space.

"Kate." Adad had an arm stretched out. "I need you to take my arm."

"I – can't." She wasn't sure whether she was talking out loud or just thinking the words.

"Try Kate. Try to take my arm. I'm here at the rift. I came through to find you. I'm stretching through, but I can only just reach your hand. You have to reach out for me."

She tried again, but felt frozen in place. "I'm sorry."

"Just look in my eyes then."

Kate forced herself to focus, looking over to meet Adam's gaze. They locked eyes. She felt a surge of memory, of understanding. This was Adam.

"Good. Now don't try to move. Just imagine you are holding my hand. Think it. Don't stop looking in my eyes." He was staring intensely, imploring her with his glance to try.

Kate thought of her first time shooting the Elemental bow. She had thought only of reaching out to grab the ripe fruit on the tree, not of reaching it with her arrow. She focused on the memory of the warm touch of Adam's hands, his arm firm around her shoulders. She thought of entwining her fingers with his as they walked along the beach. She squeezed her fist – and felt a squeeze back. She was holding onto him! Suddenly she felt an enormous tug and she was hanging, half in, half out of the rift. Adam was leaving through, holding onto her, now with both arms. Several of the goddesses were holding onto him from behind.

They pulled, and Kate felt like her body was a piece of spaghetti, stretching out impossibly long and impossibly thin. Then with a sucking sound, Kate was through the rift, laying on the ground of the wildflower meadow, intact, Adam at her side. She reached for him and they clung together, relief etched on his face.

"How did they – where did you come from?" Kate gasped, breathing what felt like air again.

"From your moss world. I was fixing yet another mushroom dinner and found myself pulled up through the trees. Dumped here in the meadow. Then they told me you were in danger." He pulled her tighter.