"You're a big boy now," I said. "You're old enough to understand more than you did when you were a three-year old, so we can tell you more things.""You know that I created a small portion of the Underworld," Alexis said, "and I made this place in the way I make Pop Tarts and dinner when Mama's too tired."King nodded."Where we live everyone is good," Alexis said. "But it's not like that in the Above. Some people want to fight each other."King frowned."Mama and I wanted to stop it from happening, but other people didn't agree with us," Alexis said. "So, they sent us here. And now we have to wait until they call us back.""Like a punishment?" King asked.I nodded. "Yes, like a punishment. But we weren't bad.""And they still punished you?" King asked."They sent us away so that we wouldn't stop them from what they want to do," Alexis said."What do they want to do, Papa?" King asked.Alexis' eyebrows gathered. "Now that's a longer story. You wanted to know why you couldn't
Ran exploded.Not literally but figuratively. His eyes began to turn red and blood trailed from his nostrils to his lips. I wanted to end the experiment, but Ran refused to stop."So, you and Alexis are Golden and I am really a Neanderthal?" Ran asked with an angry frown.Oh my God. This was truly working! After all this time, these secrets could be revealed and no one's head needed to explode!"Ran," I said, "Alexis and I are Golden, but we were bitten by Neratomay, too."Oni dabbed the blood from Ran's lip."Mama?" King looked scared. "Uncle Ran's nose is bleeding."Ran shook his head and told a bald-face lie. "No worries, King. It doesn't hurt." He gave my son a shaky smile. "Hit me with your next secret."King looked at his father and me for assurance. "Is it okay?""King, what you're doing is very important," Alexis said. "But if you want to stop, you can stop."King looked at me, not wanting to disappoint but not liking how this was turning out for the two men he most c
"No." I smiled. "In this small piece of the Underworld Papa and I look like human beings. But we're not human beings."King nodded. "Because human beings are living and you and Papa are un-living.""Right." I nodded. "Well, you know the stories that I asked you to tell Papa and Uncle Ran?"King slowly nodded."Don't worry," Alexis said. "You don't have to tell them anymore. But you spoke about the Neratomay and the Chosen." Alexis explained briefly about the difference and that we were Chosen and Uncle Ran was Neratomay."Vampires," I said simply.King nodded. "Okay." He had heard most of this years before."Okay, well, a Vampire doesn't eat food the way we do down here," I said. "Like Aunt Oni doesn't need food but she eats it anyway.""Yes," King said. "She eats other things."Alexis' eyebrows dipped. "Other things? What do you mean?"King shrugged. "I asked Uncle Ran why Aunt Oni doesn't eat, and he said she eats other things and then he ran away."I hid a smirk. Chicken.
I did not want to return to that dark path again. It was dangerous. The Wraiths may have figured out a way to move us from the path. They were numerous, greedy, and cunning. "There is no path to follow leading to the Chosen, is there Oni?" My palms became wet."No," Oni said. "We won't need a path. We would enter directly to the Chosen's limbo."Alexis had paced nonstop throughout the discussion.I slipped into his arms, hoping to stop his distress. "The Chosen can't kill us here. It's like what you told me when we first started allowing King to travel to other realms with Oni. This is the one chance that we have to do anything like this, Alexis. The secret is important."He looked into my eyes and then nodded.~*~We all knew the importance and far-reaching implications of what we wanted to attempt. If it worked, it showed the power that King possessed. If it failed, then we still had a plan with holes in it.King was excited to explore a new world and to do it with us all.
I turned to the powerful being cloaked in a child's body, remembering why I had always hated clowns. I stood over his prone body with my fists balled and ready to beat the shit out of something that looked like a seven-year-old kid. "What did you do to my baby?"I only meant to share information with him...Is he hurt?Bassma sounded as if he wanted to cry."What in the hell did you show him?" I shouted. "He's just seven years old!""My life," Bassma said softly using words that were as frail and gentle as a child's."We have to get out of here," Alexis said, trying to wake King, but King stared blankly with his thumb jammed into his mouth.Oni was so pale that she barely looked brown. Tears filled her eyes, and she was shaking like a leaf. Ran put his arm around her."We can't leave until King guides us out," Oni said.~*~King lay on a wood cot covered in colorful cushions and silks. I knelt beside him, holding his hand. Oni was on the other side of the cot stroking his
"Who says I should make that decision?" I snapped."Mama…" King whimpered sleepily. "What's wrong?"I gripped his hand. "Nothing, honey. It's time to wake up so that we can go home."King rubbed his eyes and then looked over at Bassma. "Can Bassma come with us?"Alexis lifted King off the cot. "Bassma has his own home. We've overstayed our welcome. We need to leave."Bassma followed us outside."Thank you for your hospitality," I said, even though he had hurt my kid. Bassma was afraid, and that was something that I could understand."Bye." King waved at him from where his head rested listlessly on his father's shoulders. "I'm sorry about what happened to you and your wife and children. I hope you come and visit and play one day."Bassma looked down and then nodded his head.Alexis turned and looked at Bassma. "You may visit."Bassma nodded slowly.When we returned home, I sat at King's bedside until he fell asleep.I had wanted so much in order to be free of the Neratomay b
King leaned forward and kissed my cheek and then his father's. His hair was loose in a wild lion's mane of an Afro. It was just as dark as ever with barely any red or blonde highlights despite the amount of time he spent in the sun. He was tan but not because the sun had darkened him. It seemed that only the un-living were impacted by the sun, growing darker as each year passed. The spirits and King never tanned.Instead of squeezing in between us to chill with us, he stood in front of us so I knew he had something on his mind. "Mama, Papa…it's time that I spoke to the Mother."My mind flashed back to images of the dark path and the demons that had chased us…chased me. I vividly remembered the nightmare of BJ crying for me among the stalagmite trees.King put his hand on my arm. "It's okay, Mama. I've seen Wraiths. They think I'm one of them." King could read me as easily as Alexis could.I took a slow breath. "Have you talked to Oni about doing this?"King gave me a guilty look b
King placed a hand on Dave's shoulder. "Your spirit is strong, Dave, even stronger than the dark Incubus." King bit into the chicken. "You protect Papa all the time in the other world. The Mother said that everyone has a purpose. Even me."A swift exchange happened between King and Alexis, and I stared at Alexis.Alexis leaned toward me. "We'll talk about it soon."King stood and reached for an apple and a hunk of cheese. He sat and hungrily bit into them both. Yeah, they were starving. Eat first, talk later.Alexis drank most of a pitcher of milk. He was too famished and exhausted to reveal anything he had seen or heard while in the Mother's realm. Did he know that the Elders and he were being controlled by Underlings? Would he even care?A while later Oni stood. "Everyone. Your attention please."We turned to her."We are all so happy to see Alexis and King return to us safely, but I'm sure that they have a lot to talk about," Oni said. "We'll finish our meal and excuse oursel