Keepers of the Flame. Robin D. Owens

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СКАЧАТЬ relaxed her jaw. Again. There was no place like home and family, and no one who could push her buttons so easily as Elizabeth.

      Bri turned the car east and a wave of sound washed over her, through her. “The sounds of chimes and stuff is getting louder.”

      Elizabeth said nothing, but she’d stiffened.

      “Chanting mostly. Sheesh, don’t even need to turn on the radio.” She cocked her head. “Maybe I should have said merde. Sounds like French.”

      There were a couple of minutes of uneasy silence, then Elizabeth finally said, “Never did like those French classes in school.”

      Then she did hear it, too! Bri kept her tone light. “When you visited me in Cannes, you spoke French with a better accent than mine.” A tinkle of chimes rippled, then settled inside her, coiling. She flexed her fingers. “Do you recognize that?”

      “What?” The word sounded dragged out of Elizabeth.

      “The chimes are the tones associated with the seven chakras: C, D, E, F, G, A, B.”

      “Leave it to you.”

      A gong sounded in her mind. Elizabeth flinched beside her. “Put on some speed. Let’s get home.”

      “Right.”

      The rest of the drive passed in a rush, both physically and emotionally. Chanting blocked out all other sounds—except for the chakra chimes and the occasional gong. The rhythm was odd, Bri couldn’t catch hold of any pattern, but it wound her so tight she was near panting.

      Elizabeth gave a little moan, rubbed her temples. “I can’t anticipate the beat.” She squirmed. “It seems to be having a physical effect. My skin prickles.”

      “So does mine. Nerve endings do you think?”

      With a choppy exhalation of breath, Elizabeth said, “Probably. I have my medical bag up in the loft. We can check this out.” She sounded as if she was reassuring herself as well as Bri.

      “Of course,” Bri said, pulling into the underground garage and parking in Elizabeth’s space.

      They got out. Bri grabbed the freezer chest and Elizabeth both bags of potatoes. As they hurried to the elevator, Bri realized her whole body trembled—the chanting was spiraling, rising with excitement, with demand. She glanced at Elizabeth and saw a huge flickering multicolored banded aura. Bri’s breath whooshed out. She noted her sister wouldn’t look at her. “This is scary.”

      2

      “Scary,” Elizabeth said, jabbing at the elevator button. “Everything will be fine in a few minutes. We’ll figure this out.” She tilted her head in Bri’s direction. “I’m glad you’re here with me.”

      “Likewise.” The sounds had affected her heartbeat; the chanting sped it up, the chakra chimes tugging at different internal energies. She didn’t like the sensations.

      The elevator dinging melded with everything else and she didn’t notice it until the steel gray doors opened and Elizabeth hustled in. The black rubber-edged doors nearly closed before Bri hopped inside, stumbled to the far wall and braced herself.

      Elizabeth pressed thirty-four and the elevator rose.

      Too slowly. Bri’s vision was morphing. Sound seemed to take shape, with pastel clouds of pink and green and coral whirling around them. Bri gulped.

      “Just a couple of minutes,” Elizabeth chanting herself.

      “This ain’t good,” Bri whispered. She wondered if she should dial 911.

      The elevator went up and up and up. The chanting and chimes and gong filled it.

      There was a slight hesitation, then the upward motion continued.

      “We’ve passed the thirty-fourth floor!” Elizabeth cried.

      Bri shuddered. “Isn’t that the last one?”

      The walls and ceiling vanished.

      A wind whipped them into its grasp. They shrieked in unison. Bri wanted to drop her load and reach for her sister, but her fingers were frozen around the chest. She saw Elizabeth’s pale face, arms clutching the potato sacks.

      They flashed through a rippling field of blinding rainbow light, an enveloping wave of sound. Nothing under Bri’s feet. She fell, jarred, as if she’d missed a couple of steps descending a staircase.

      Her screams mingled with Elizabeth’s. They were together, at least. Chanting came around them, along with the chimes that pushed all Bri’s chakra buttons, the gong that had her dropping the chest and shuddering. She flung out her hand, found Elizabeth’s. They grabbed each other, clinging.

      The chanting stopped. “Well, how about that,” said an accented voice. “Two for the price of one. And they brought spuds! Did we get this right, or what?”

      Elizabeth hung on to Bri, who was trembling as much as she was. The chimes continued to rise and fall, touching her inside—her chakras if she was to believe Bri—stirring her. Everything echoed in her head: her thumping heartbeat—and her twin’s?—her ragged breath, whimpering.

      Blinking again and again, Elizabeth saw a large circle of people surrounding them, holding hands. There seemed to be four different groups. Some obvious couples were dressed in matching colored tunics over chain mail and had a weapon at each hip. Others had silver or gold bands around their foreheads and wore long robes. A third group wore leather clothes and sheathed swords, a fourth bunch wore colorful pants and shirts or dresses. Most of the people appeared Asian. Golden skin, black hair with slightly different colored highlights, brown eyes. Silver or gold streaks in their hair at one or both temples. Beautiful features. Beautiful people.

      I’ve got a bad feeling about this. Bri’s voice came in Elizabeth’s mind! She stared in shock at her sister.

      Bri!

      What!

      I can hear you in my mind.

      Me, too. A whisper.

      “Welcome to Lladrana,” a woman said.

      The gong sounded again and it was as if a surgeon clasped her beating heart. She and Bri screamed and swayed.

      “It sounds as if they’re hurting. It’s not supposed to hurt that much, is it? I don’t recall. Marian!”

      Elizabeth focused on the different voice. She saw a blue-eyed blond woman in leathers staring worriedly at her and Bri.

      “Ohmygod,” Bri said thickly, turning her head. “Lladrana. I didn’t do it, twin!” Childhood words of utter truth tore from her. My itchy feet didn’t bring us here!

      The chimes ran up and down the scale, once, twice…seven times. Noises wrung from Elizabeth merging with Bri’s. After the last tone reverberated, they huddled together on cold stones.

      Bong! The final thump on the huge silver gong had them twitching.

      Silence.

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