Soul Guardian

Chapter 21: Truth and Consequences

The Steins were sitting on the living room couch feeling pleasantly buzzed when their hosts emerged from the basement.

“Sorry about that.” Bael apologized. “I thought I heard our water heater acting up and it’s best to catch those kinds of things before they cause even bigger problems. But rest assured, the crisis has been averted.”

“Are you a plumber then?” Jim asked. “Julia’s father was a-” A vicious elbow from his spouse brought him up short. “Sorry, a drainage fixtures specialist.” He corrected himself.

“Bill is in finance but he does metal work as well.” Maharet explained. “He made my wedding ring.” She proudly displayed her husband’s creation knowing the envy it would elicit from Julia.

“It was really nothing.” Bael blushed, “Something I threw together at the last moment. I honestly was worried that she wouldn’t like it.”

“Wouldn’t like it?” Julia asked in shock. The perfect center diamond was throwing flashes of rainbow light like a sparkler caught in a prism. “You bought your wife a queen’s ransom in diamonds and gold and you were worried that she wouldn’t like it?”

“So what do you do?” Jim asked Maharet, desperate to change the conversation before it went somewhere that would require an expensive purchase on his part. “Are you a homemaker?”

“Well she is a fantastic cook, but no.” Bael cut in. “My wife is a senior partner at a development firm. We may not always agree on her choice of venue, but she is a force to be reckoned with.”

“He’s still bitter about some old trees I wanted to cut down.” Maharet stage whispered. “He’s sensitive like that.”

The neighbors looked at each other. They knew a fight coming along when they saw one. Julia felt herself becoming pleasantly smug at the prospect of watching her wealthy perfect neighbors indulge in a good old fashioned squabble.

“They were part of an established ecological niche and the residents would have had to be relocated. I used to walk those woods when I was younger and it seemed a shame to have them cut down.” Bael explained, leaving out the vital fact that the inhabitants of the grove of suicides had been damned souls and harpies. “In the end they had to redirect the pipeline.”

“At considerable expense and added time.” Maharet shot back, “But I will admit that it was worth it to leave the trees standing.” She smiled. “I went for a walk through the woods after the project was finished.” She took Bael’s hand. “Those weeping willows with their sad branches like a canopy.”

Her husband put his arm around her waist and pulled her close. “The sound of the… leaves... blowing in the wind.” The couple started to slowly waltz in a circle. “The birds calling from above...” He looked down at his wife. “You know, we should go back there sometime soon.”

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Jim and Julia looked at each other. “Maybe we should get going.” Julia said. “I can tell you two are having a moment.”

“Right.” Jim said as he made his way for the exit. “Thanks for the beer.”

“Anytime.” Bael muttered without missing a step. He and his wife continued dancing in the living room, their footwork perfectly in time, moving along to music that only they could hear.

***

Deep in the back shelves of the bookstore Six had become completely lost. The shelves were continuing to rearrange themselves at random intervals making it impossible for Titan to backtrack.

“THIS IS VEXING.” He grumbled. His paws kicked up plumes of dust as he padded down the aisles.

“If we keep moving forward we should hit one of the outer walls of the maze eventually. You could break through, right?” Six asked uncertainly.

“UNFORTUNATELY NO. WE ARE WITHIN A POCKET DIMENSION, THERE ARE NO WALLS TO BREAK. THE ONLY EXIT IS WHERE WE CAME IN.” He sat down on his haunches. “THERE MUST BE A SOLUTION TO THIS PUZZLE OTHERWISE MAHARET WOULD NOT HAVE LEFT US BEHIND.”

Six sat down next to her companion and leaned against him like a chair. “Maybe she thought you knew the way out?”

“DOUBTFUL.” The hellhound yawned showing rows of sharp white teeth. “MOST LIKELY THIS IS MEANT TO BE A LESSON OF SOME KIND.”

“Lesson? What kind of lesson?” The girl asked, annoyed to think that her foster mother might have stranded them on purpose.

“YOU WANDERED OFF INTO DANGER DESPITE BEING WARNED AND I ALLOWED MYSELF TO BE DISTRACTED FROM MY DUTY.” Titan explained. “WE MUST SOLVE THIS TOGETHER IN ORDER TO RETURN HOME.”

“You said we were in a pocket dimension but it looks normal enough to me.” Six squinted to look at the ceiling. “What would happen if we poked a hole in the ceiling, or the floor?”

“THAT WOULD BE MOST UNWISE.” Titan snorted. “POCKET DIMENSIONS ARE FOLDED TIME AND SPACE BUT OUR PERCEPTIONS TELL US THEY ARE FLAT. CROSSING BETWEEN LAYERS WOULD CREATE...PROBLEMS.” When he saw the puzzled look on her face he elaborated. “GRAVITY HERE IS BASED UPON OUR PERCEPTIONS. WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF WE WERE TO BECOME UNSURE WHICH WAY WAS UP?”

For a moment Six imagined herself falling down a hallway then smashing to bits when she hit a wall at the bottom. She leaned in close to Titan in case she started slipping. “So I guess we’re back to wandering around aimlessly.”

“NO, WE HAVE PROVEN THAT IS NOT AN EFFECTIVE WAY TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM. THERE MUST BE ANOTHER SOLUTION.” Titan thumped his tail in annoyance. “HOWEVER I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT IS.”

He went on to mutter about the intricacies of pocket dimensions but Six had long since stopped listening. Instead she was looking at the books on the shelves around them. The Paperman had said that the books wanted to be read, that they were lonely. A plan started forming in her mind.

“Gee, I sure wish I had a book that could help me find my way out of this!” Six called out into the maze. “I’d be so grateful that I’d probably take it home with me.”

There was a dull thud somewhere down the aisle as a book fell from the shelf of its own accord. Six walked over and dusted off the cover. “Divination for Dummies.” She read aloud. “One hundred and one ways to tell the future or find missing objects.”

She patted the book affectionately. “You’ll do nicely.” She said.

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