Time: Wednesday 6 May, 12:30 AM
Place: Somewhere beneath The Fiendish Glow
Follows: Adventure
Downbelow Or, How I Ticked Off the Fanfic Fairies
Uno,
Dos, Tres, Quatro, Cinco
and
A
UFfer Takes on a Fiendish Glow
[Wednesday 6 May, 12:30 AM]
The winds continued to buffet Lora, but she no longer cared. She'd discovered the "molasses" kept her in place, as long as she kept her balance. The feel of the wind made her giddy, and she sluggishly spread her arms to the winds, laughing.
Lora jerked awake. This time she checked her watch -- it was Wednesday!
Why am I not suffering? the Glow Worm mused. She knew that after several days without food or water she should be in intense pain from dehydration and lack of food. She wondered if the mist had something to do with that.
Then Lora remembered that in tales of trips to "faery land" time was meaningless -- that a person could be gone weeks, months, years, yet think that only a short time had passed.
She got seriously scared. What if her watch wasn't working correctly? What if the War was over and she was trapped down here forever? What if she'd already missed the Vegas con? She'd only met one of the "balding beauties" that so captivated her attention of late -- last year she'd met the guy who played the now-former security chief on Babylon 5. She'd also been to a play that featured that gorgeous baldy from STAR TREK: The Next Generation, although she didn't actually meet him. Now she now wanted to meet the man with the voice that caused her to wear out his audio book! What if she missed him? What if she never got out of here? Worse yet, what if a Ratpacker rescued her! The Glow Worm shuddered as she felt panic grip at her very heart.
"Calm down!" Lora told herself sternly, "or the next thing you're going to see is glowing pink rats!"
Thoughts of rats reminded her of Screed, and that abomination of a dream where the "fanfic fairies" showed her patting down a quite happy carouche rather than the tall, handsome LaCroix. Lora again shivered at the thought.
"Definitely a nightmare," the Glow Worm muttered. She tried to get up, but the effort was too much for her. Lights flashed before her eyes. As Lora settled herself gently back to the floor she wondered if it was her low blood pressure causing the "flashing" or if the faeries had come for her once more. She closed her eyes and again lost consciousness.
"We like Hershey's Nuggets™," the voice whispered into her ear.
Lora tried to face the voice, but couldn't see the glowing figure anywhere. "Show yourself!" she demanded.
The glowing figure obliged.
"Are you really a fanfic fairy, or are you a faery?"
"What do you think?"
"I think I'm nuts. I think I'm delusional. I think-- " the Glow Worm faltered in her thinking, "I think I don't know what to think anymore!" she finished in frustration.
"Would you like us to create a faery ring under The Fiendish Glow? We can do that, you know." The voice took on an amused tone. "For chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate."
Lora had heard that before someone could enter a faery ring a gift must be left. Did these fanfic fairies really exist? Did they really eat her M&Ms™ at home?
"I want to talk to the real faeries, if they exist," the Glow Worm finally said.
"You'll have to deal with us," the voice said.
"Why?"
"Because you're not a pure Celt -- too much Brit in you -- you can't hold your liquor."
"Alcohol disconnects me with the universe," she snapped.
"But you'll never get to faery land without it," the voice said, teasingly.
"So I have to become an alcoholic?" Lora didn't hate alcohol, but she knew she had problems with it. She'd quit drinking years ago because of that, and that lowered her tolerance to the stuff so much that one drink now was all she could handle, two would depress her, and three would put her under. Unless, of course, she was about to karaoke. She wondered what this voice wanted from her.
"There is one way to get one place, there is another way to get to another." The glowing figure began retreating. "You know what we want."
Lora awoke with a jolt. She felt the mist cloying to her face and took comfort in that where there was mist, there was no "voice."
But its last words still echoed within her. "Another way to get to another," she repeated. "Omigod!" she said in sudden realization of what the "fanfic fairy" had been trying to tell her.
Brenda was open to Reiki! If she was open to that, why not other things? Lora thought about her friend in California and all the "tests" they'd run on one another when they both discovered they had an interest in meditation. The two had quickly discovered that Lora was a "sender" and her friend was a "receiver." Could Brenda also be a "receiver"?
The Glow Worm decided to try -- after all, she had nothing to lose at this point. She (slowly this time) moved herself into a seated position, then made herself as comfortable as possible.
"I need something to focus on," she mused. Her pearls! Lora had an affinity with rocks, and her pearls were the closest thing she had right now. She carefully removed the necklace (her fingers were quite clammy on the clasp); as it slipped from her neck, they reminded her of something a Ratpacker would want -- shiny and pretty -- especially in the reflection of her "glow."
In her giddy, weakened state, Lora swung the short strand before herself and giggled. Then she thought about how, being dressed in white and glowing, she might be something the Ratpackers would think of as shiny and pretty as well. Lora laughed out loud with that thought and almost lost the pearl necklace in her swinging of it.
"Can't have that," she told herself sternly, grasping it with both hands now. She took a deep breath and tried to collect her thoughts for the task ahead, forcing all thoughts of Ratpackers from her mind.
She held the short strand cupped in two hands in her lap and began her grounding process first through breathing, then visualization. Suddenly her eyes went out of focus. At least she thought they did, because the pearls took on a much greater glow than that of her own skin. Lora stared, mouth agape, as the pearls glowed brighter and brighter. Her head began to ache with the glow. The light bored through her head, and with what felt like a *pop* at the base of her skull, Lora's world again went black.
Lora felt a slight breeze. Not like the wind that had buffeted her in an earlier dream -- this felt like actual wind. She opened her eyes.
Her surroundings had a grey eerieness to them. She stood in a field, surrounded by stones. Although her mind first thought Stonehenge, she quickly realized the stones were too small. An image of Nick as a mortal flashed through her mind, accompanied by harp music.
Where am I? she wondered.
She wandered around the garden of massive rock, occasionally running a loving hand along a lichen-splotched surface. A part of her noticed that her glow, which had earlier had a yellowish-white tone, now had a neon-green tint to it. The stones were so old, she could literally feel the age within; her body vibrated with the power the place held. She offered up a blessing of thanks to whatever gods/spirits ruled this place.
Although Lora's beliefs were basically Christian, she always tried to respect the beliefs of others, and this place definitely didn't look Christian to her. Old and powerful forces ruled this place; something told her not to disturb them. She sent out another prayer of thanks and a request to forgive her ignorance if she slighted them.
Being so close to the great rocks was intoxicating to her. The Glow Worm decided to sit down lest she pass out and possibly lose this vision. She moved to a small stone in the center. As soon as she sat down, though, a vision of a woman with a harp flashed through her mind, accompanied by sounds of harp music.
"Where am I?" she again mused out loud.
A fluttering sound near her ear startled her into standing. She looked around quickly, trying to find its source, which only succeeded in making her dizzy again. Lora leaned against the stone and breathed deeply. The scent of the place was so real -- moist earth, grasses, and a bit of salt in the air.
"Why aere ye heere?" a soft voice behind her asked.
Lora spun, then sat quickly down on the stone as she took in the image before her. A part of her said "elf", a part of her said "faery", and a part of her said "none of the above."
"Forgive me," was all she could get out.
"Ye brought' us a gift, so ye mus' want something. What d' ye want?"
"I'm lost."
"Aye," the creature replied.
Although it looked friendly, a little voice inside the Glow Worm told her to use great caution with it. She simply nodded at the small being before her.
"Ye dinnae wan t' be here, then?"
Lora wondered if this time she really was among the "faer folk" -- something inside her said not to call them "faeries", and Lora wondered where that thought came from.
She chose her words carefully. "This place -- where am I? It reminds me of a story I once heard, about a man named Nicholas and a harp. Is this the place?"
"Nay," the wee one said. "But ye heard the harp? Do ye know the deargh dhu?"
Deargh dhu? Lora asked herself. The word was so familiar; she searched her memory -- yes! MacCousin Heather mentioned not too long ago that it was the Gaelic word for vampire. The creature knew about Nick! She took a chance: "I know of a vampire named Nick. He's searching for his mortality. Can you help?"
"Uy cannae help ye. He woul' have tae come here, an' he cannae."
Lora's heart sank. She didn't know how the War was going, or if it was going (how long had she been gone?), but she had hoped a moment that this "faer one" might know how to cure Nick -- it might have stopped the War. Now she had only one wish: to get back to The Fiendish Glow.
With that thought, everything again went black.
With another explosion rebounding in her head, Lora realized she was back in the "misty" room. She stared down at her empty hands. A part of her told her that the faer folk had taken the pearls as payment; another part of her said she must have flung them across the room before she lost consciousness last time and started dreaming again.
"Dream-ing," she said painfully, "must-have-been-dream-ing." The Glow Worm slowly lowered herself back to the floor to try to sleep off her massive headache.
[7 PM Thursday]
Daniel Joseph Patrick Kelly looked around -- no one! He's
successfully managed to elude the dreaded Siobhan's clutches (the staff
baby-sitter -- ugh!), sneaked to the back stairs, and made his way to the
bottom, unobserved. "That Javietta owes me big time for this!"
he said, pleased that he'd officially won their "bet." "She'll
think twice about making a wager with me again," he said
gleefully as he bounced his neon-green ball (a gift from Ms Nyx, one of
the owners) against the wood paneling at the bottom of the steps. It
didn't matter now if someone found him -- he made it, and Javietta owed
him!
As the luck o' the Irish would have it -- and Daniel Joseph Patrick Kelly was 100-percent Irish -- the third time the ball hit the wall, it triggered the panel mechanism. Daniel quickly caught the ball and clutched it to himself firmly as the hidden door slid open.
The negative-air-pressure system of The Fiendish Glow caused the eerie (to a child) effect of air being sucked into the doorway. He slowly approached to investigate, realizing a faint light was emanating from somewhere below. He leaned his head in, looked down, and then uttered a scream that would make any bean sidhe shudder. All the young lad could see was a great glow surrounded by a large glowing ring.
Within moments the young lad was surrounded by adults. Daniel Patrick Kelly got their first, followed closely by Ronnie, who was on a break in the pub. Seamus McAllister was not too far behind, and Kerrigan brought up the rear. Daniel, of course, grabbed his son to remove him from any danger the open panel might cause. Fortunately, Ronnie had enough presence of mind to knock the panel back open before it swung shut.
"Thaere 's somethin' doan thaere, Daniel," Ronnie said when he stuck his head in.
"It's the faeries, Da!" Daniel Joseph Patrick Kelly said, sobbing on his dad's shoulder.
"Tha's no' faeries, lad," Ronnie said reassuringly, "But thaere is somethin' doan thaere! Seamus, go fetch me a toarch," Ronnie said to McAllister.
Kerrigan approached the open panel carefully, then took a peek. He backed up to the far wall slowly.
Seamus returned in moments with a flashlight; Ronnie grabbed it from him and shined it on the glowing figure. "I's her! We found her! Get a ladder, Seamus -- no, wait, thaere's one 'ere." Ronnie handed the flashlight to Seamus and moved to head down the ladder.
"No -- wait!" Kerrigan said from his position against the wall. "Ye can't go doan thaere!"
"Fie, ol' man!" Ronnie spat. "It's Lora, and she may be hurt."
"Then ye have to take somethin' wi' ye," the old man said as he reluctantly approached the two rescuers. He held out an amulet fastened to a black cord to each of them. Seamus took the one extended out to him; the bauble consisted of a piece of obsidian in a crude metal setting.
Ronnie started to bat the other away, but Seamus stopped him. "Tuyke it. Ye know not what we'll fuynd thaere, or what will fuynd ye."
Ronnie reluctantly took the second amulet -- a piece of quartz in a setting similar to the one Seamus had. He slipped it around his neck and started down the ladder.
"Wait!" Kerrigan shouted. He held out a third item for Ronnie to take -- a small wooden figurine. "Ye'll need thaet to appease the wee folk. When ye get doan thaere, put it next t' the colleen. Then ye can be on wi' it."
At Seamus' nod, Ronnie took the small carved figure from Kerrigan and proceeded down the ladder, followed by Seamus.
When Ronnie hit the floor, he went immediately to Lora's unconscious form. As Seamus dropped down, he stopped his friend. "No. Ye haeve t' give the faer ones a gift. The caerving. Put it doan first."
Ronnie did so, then checking Lora first for injuries, picked her up in a fireman's carry and headed back to the ladder, where Seamus boosted the two up, then followed himself.
Once at the top, Deirdre was there with some water. She held the glass carefully to Lora's lips and, much to everyone's surprise, Lora drank.
Consciousness, and a massive headache, burst in on Lora's awareness. She began coughing, but realized there were people around her. She tasted water and tried to move to get more.
"There ye go," she heard Deirdre say in a calming voice. "Go slow. Plenty here for ye."
"Seamus," she heard Ronnie say, "Get a doctor."
"No," Lora sputtered. "No doctors, no hospitals."
"Ye were missin' a lang time," Deirdre said. "Ye'r not well."
"I'll be fine," Lora said between gasps. "No doctors, please." She tried to focus her eyes, but the light was too bright for her. "Just no doctors," she said as her head fell back into strong arms.
"Ye heard the missy," Deirdre said to the men. "Take her to her room. I'll get Miss Pen and Miss Brenda."
Ronnie easily picked up the Glow Worm and headed up the stairs.
[8 PM, outside Lora's room]
"You think she'll be okay?" Brenda asked Pen.
"I'd rather have her checked out at a hospital," Pen said, "but since she refuses to go, there's not much more we can do. She seems to be resting okay, though."
Brenda nodded knowingly.
"It's a good thing that kid was so scared of faeries," Pen said, pulling her flask out of her apron and taking a quick pull on it before putting it back.
At the mention of the word faeries, Brenda's skin began its neon look again.
"Whoa!" she said, holding out her arm, "let's not talk about the 'wee ones' for a while, okay?"
[meanwhile, inside Lora's room]
Lora stared at the ceiling, listening to her friends' conversation. When she heard the word "faeries," her glow also reacted.
"I gotta do it," she said, slowly moving herself to the edge of her bed to reach her "big bag." As she rummaged through it, a belt fell out, its buckle clattering on the floor.
Pen and Brenda burst into the room. "What are you doing?" Pen cried, seeing Lora leaned off the side of her bed. "Are you nuts? That is not resting!"
Tears began to fall from Lora's eyes as she continued her rummaging. "I gotta find 'em," she said. "I gotta finish my story. They won't let me if I don't find 'em. I gotta finish it." Her frantic breathing took on a "successful" tone as her hands found what she searched for. Lora pulled out a one-pound bag of Hershey's Nuggets™, placed it on the bed, then carefully leaned herself back to her pillows, still breathing laboriously.
Brenda picked up the bag. That's a big bag of Nuggets™, she thought, hefting it in her hands.
Pen sat on the bed next to the restless Glow Worm. "You need rest, Lora," she said sternly. "You should have gone to the hospital after that little 'party'." Lora nodded and asked quietly for another sip of water, which Pen gave her. "Madre de Dios," Pen muttered as Lora drank. Then she retrieved the small flask out of her apron for another slug.
Brenda went to toss the Nuggets™ back into Lora's bag. "No," Lora cried, nearly spitting out the water Pen had just given her, and causing Brenda to jump back and clutch the bag to herself.
Pen glared at the sputtering Lora. "What was that about?"
"I gotta finish my story," she said, tears welling in her eyes again.
"So what's the chocolate for?" she asked, raising an eyebrow and knocking back another pull off her flask.
"The fanfic fairies. I promised them the Nuggets™."
"She's delirious," Brenda decided.
Pen began laughing. "Give me that," she said reaching for the Hershey's Nuggets™ bag. Brenda handed the bag to her and Pen ripped into it. She quickly unwrapped one piece and popped it into her mouth. "So," she began, still chuckling, "the fanfic fairies like chocolate? You must have had one heck of a 'party' in the subbasement!" Pen began laughing so hard at Lora's serious look that she nearly fell off the bed, but she managed to keep hold of the bag of chocolate.
"Just leave some for the fanfic fairies," Lora said, realizing her friends weren't about to believe her. "I can get more for them later."
"What exactly happened to you down there, Lora?" Brenda asked, wondering how bad Lora's "delusions" actually were.
Pen continued to devour chocolate as Lora spoke. "It was so weird, Brenda. I don't know what happened. All I know is that these glowing figures told me that I had to give them chocolate, then. . . " Lora paused, unsure as to how to proceed.
"What?" Brenda finally prompted.
Lora looked at her friend and co-manager. "The fanfic fairies terrorized me, Brenda. I didn't know where I was or what I was doing. But, at one point, I. . . " Lora again paused, then, remembering her experience with Brenda when she shared Reiki with her, she continued. "I tried to contact you once, Brenda. And the weirdest thing happened."
Lora paused, and so Pen, after another quick pull on her flask, let out a stream of Spanish expletives, ending with, "What?"
"I wasn't in the basement anymore," Lora finally said. "I mean, I really wasn't in the basement."
"Where were you?" Brenda asked. She didn't need to look at her skin to know she was starting to glow again. She was getting quite used to it now, and Lora's glow had increased visibly as well.
"Somewhere else. Somewhere old. It was grey, but it was so real -- smell, touch, breezes, everything told me that wherever I was, I was really there!" Lora closed her eyes, exhausted with the speech.
"We better let her rest," Brenda said to Pen. Pen nodded and, still holding the Nuggets™, rose to go. "Pen," Brenda said sternly.
"What?" Pen asked, hugging the bag to her.
"Leave it."
Pen reluctantly put the near-half-empty bag on the bed, then snatched another handful before heading out the door after Brenda.
Once the door was shut, Lora placed a hand over the bag, then looked up toward the ceiling. "If you need any more, just let me know," she said softly, then closed her eyes and let sleep overtake her.
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NEXT STORY: GLOWING PERSPECTIVES
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