Ether, Chapter 3a

    Jay eyed Amy as she shifted the gear into park.  The Beast moaned and wailed.  The shaft itself and it’s innards creaked before the ignition was turned off.  Amy cast a weak smile into the rear-view and  Jay held her gaze for a moment before turning his attention to the small house they were parked in front of.  It was a simple adobe one-story with a meter high wall across the perimeter.  The front of it was cracked and abused by years of the occasional odd hail-storm, heavy rain and errant basketball.  In the glinting light Jay made out a small, pleasant garden inside the wall.  It’s leaves and  thorns made a short, winding path to the front door.

    “One thing I’ll never understand about mystics,” Charles said with a low irritation, “is the whole pathway thing.  They love a good theme, you know?  Seems to me that they should be interior decorators.”  Jays eyes flicked back to him, then to the door.  “Take this one for example:  One of the most potent  creatures you  will ever come across.  Feels the future like you or I go through the silverware drawer.  Still a sucker for the whole path thing.  Very careful to give off the right vibe.  Makes sure everything is a crooked line.  Believes in it like you or I do the ground beneath our feet.  Wants you to see it, though;  See it the world like she does.”  Charles paused.  Jay felt the shift in the fabric of the back seat as Charles threw his head back.

    “Jay,” Amy whispered from the front, “I’m a little drained after all that.  If you don’t mind I’m going to wait here for you.”
    “Of course,” Jay said.  He then cast his eyes to the passenger seat.  Rodriquez had said nothing since they’d gotten back to the car.  At first he thought he couldn’t hear the man, but he simply said nothing.  Jay was still trying to get his orientation back.  He blinked carefully and turned back to the house. 
    The world seemed so much darker now.
    “I’m going to stay with Amy,” Rodriquez offered simply. 
    “Great,” Charles said, leaning forward and letting out a slight groan.  “Not that I don’t like you, man, but it’s been a hell of a night.”  Charles reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small, ornate flask.  As he unscrewed it he looked forward to the back of Amy’s seat.  “Not a word,” he muttered before taking  a long pull of it and tightening the cap once again.  “So, if you wouldn’t mind getting out, Alberto, so the two of us can make our way in, we’ll get this party started.”  Charles paused for a moment, turned to Jay and winked.  “That is, of course, unless going anywhere near that house will make you burst into flames or something.”

    The entire vehicle rattled and groaned whenever anyone so much as looked at it.  The thing was old and abused  but when Rodriquez exited, Jay noticed it didn’t make a sound.   Nor did the man.  Not a noise or a breath or a whisper.  Like he wasn’t even there.  Rodriquez let the front of the seat up and Jay thanked him while edging out.  Feeling tipsy and veering forward he begrudgingly took Rodriquez’ hand.  After a moment he took a breath and felt fine.  He gave a small nod to the man who smiled and nodded in return.   Charles groaned  as he made his way out, his feet stamping loudly against the asphalt.  Rodriquez wasted no time in getting back in behind them, slipping into the bucket seat and slamming the door.

    Jay looked at the house again, noticing the complete lack of light coming from the interior.  “Hey, Jay, funny question,”  Charles asked, coming up beside him and smiling, leaning in.  “What do you see?”
    “A house,” Jay said turning to him.  “Why?”
    “Just wondering.”  Charles looked ahead as well.  “Just trying to figure out why you  can see it already.”
    “See what?”
    “Don’t worry about,” Charles said amicably before patting Jay twice on the back.  His brown eyes shined and he grinned disarmingly.  “Come on.  You’ve got a date.”
    “Charles?”
    “Yeah?”
    “Were there really six women on top of the roof,” Jay asked, turning back to look at the top of the car.
    “I don’t know.  I wasn’t on the roof at the time.”
    “Fair enough,” Jay said turning back to the path.
    “Anything else,” Charles asked helpfully, smiling fully, his artificially whitened teeth reflecting in the twilight.
    “Yeah,” Jay said turning to him, “your breath really stinks.”
    “You don’t say,” Charles responded  with a large laugh.  “Remind me to pick up some gum before we go out drinking.  Come on, best not to keep a lady waiting.”

    Charles went ahead, through the open gate and down the path.  Jay watched him vanish around one of the bends.  He could see the door, but little en route to it.  So he stepped lightly in the darker world, bowing his head down as he looked over the small stone path.  It was made of fired, red clay that was cracked and beaten.  Jay kicked little, stone debris into the surround flora with every step, feeling like sand crushing gently beneath his feet.  “Charles,“ he called out.  When he got no answer he simply pressed on, following the path when a hot, sharp pain ran over the back of his right hand.  Gasping, he jerked his left hand back and covered it with his right. 

    A thorn from a Rosebush had sliced him open..

    Jay stopped and rubbed his wound.  Looking at the back of his hand a small cherub on the garden floor caught his eye.  It had shattered into many small pieces and was lying on it’s back, reaching the sky.  Rubbing the gap in his hand Jay frowned, thinking it was a perfectly nice statue. 
    He moved as far to the right side of the path and he could to avoid further scrapes. The path curved to the right now and he was looking at it more carefully.  Jay was now only looking out for rosebushes and thorns and so hardly noticed the small fountain until he came up on it. 

    It sat upon a pedestal in the middle of the road.  It was small and stone and sang a sweet song to him.  The base of it was shaped after an Doric pillar and it’s head transitioned into a beautiful, branching disk that went off in every direction.  Water sprayed from many small orifices into one, long stream.  So Jay leaned down and took a slow drink of it.  Restlessly thirty, he gulped it in until he ran out of breath.  He rested a moment then and took another long sip.  Then another.  Over and over again until he felt at peace and the pain in his hand stopped.  After that he swung around to the left of the fountain and continued on. 

    The path now curved in the opposite direction.  Jay moved quickly on it now, shifting effortlessly through it’s obstacles and brambles.  Feeling rejuvenated he came to the far, opposite end of the path  and saw two small statues.  One had no head and was lying on it’s stomach.  The other hand no hands and faced away from him.  Jay noticed the spot for a third sculpture from the indentation in the earth. Kneeling down he peered at the place it was supposed to be.  Even at night, small black ants were crawling in the hole, on the statues and over everything in the area.  Jay frowned and raised himself up.  Getting his bearings he thought that the path would go back to the right.  It didn’t,  it merely kept winding to the left and ended at a dead rosebush.

    As soon as Jay passed the flowers the house appeared again.  Charles was leaning against the wall, smiling.  “What did you see,” he said grinning, standing up straight.
    “Statuary and flowers,”  Jay grumbled.  He noted that the path ended directly at the door. 
    “Wish I got flowers,” Charles said with a grin before turning to wrap upon the wood.  He gave it a hard, solid knocking.   Jay looked at it for a moment, then back, past the garden, to the car.  He couldn’t make out either person in it and, once again, he couldn’t see his way through it.  Shaking his head he looked back to the door..   The shape of it grew as it moved up the ground, widening out until it’s greatest width at his shoulders before narrowing again over his head.  Jay was about to ask what they were doing there when the door opened.  Inside there was absolute darkness.  Charles moved through it without at word. 

    Jay peered into the thick gloom before moving in.