Read Ascending the Veil for Free Online Page B

Xander’s presence in the dream state Nate and I both entered to make contact, I felt a weight lift from my chest. I tried not to eavesdrop on the matters revolving around both of their love for my daughter, but when Xander told Nate how Jesca reacted to him and I being taken into the wormhole, I felt a vacantness in my heart for her. I needed to send her proof that Nate and I were okay. I told Xander to find an ant farm. Xander said now wasn’t the time to be sent on a scavenger hunt for something so mundane. I told him that Jesca would know what it meant and it would comfort her; that it was important. My plea must have been strong enough because he did not argue beyond that. Soon after we ended the dream with Xander, Nate began his telepathic reach for Jesca. Her uniquely potent energy was hard to miss. My heart swelled with pride knowing that she was strong enough to handle things in our absence even if she didn’t realize it herself.
    At dusk, I whisper to Nate, “You ready to move?”
    Nate looks at me, coughs, and says flatly, “We are going to find Sam.”
    I nod at him, confirming his declaration. “Keep your block up.”
    Before I pull the gate open, Nate grabs hold of my arm urgently. “Why? Do you sense something here?”
    I nod slowly, noting his reaction to my request to protect his thoughts. Realizing how he must look, Nate let’s go of my arm quickly. “I think it might be Sam, Ezra. It feels like he is standing right here with us.”
    Nate shakes his head and looks up at the ceiling. “Listen to me. I sound delusional.”
    I close my eyes and focus on the essence I am sensing. I have no doubt that it is in fact Sam. “You aren’t delusional. I can feel him too. It is his life force, being emitted here in this world.”
    I look out into the darkening landscape, trees still and the grass turning from light green to dark shades of moss by the second. Nate is watching me. “What is it Ezra? What you are thinking?”
    My concern for us being in this place and what it could do to us has me grinding my teeth with worry. “This place, Nate.”
    I pause to consider the right words to describe the reason for my caution.
    “If we can sense his energy, then whatever exists here is bound to have sensed ours the moment we arrived. We need to be cautious and aware of everything and anything that may seem out of place. If there are beings here, they will try to manipulate us; take us.”
    Nate clears his throat. “You saw something, didn’t you?”
    “While you were unconscious, I saw a little boy. He looked normal enough until his face...shifted...inhumanly. Then, within seconds it returned back to a normal child’s face.”
    Nate and my silence fill the small enclosure as his mind digests what I have said. He coughs and clears his throat. “That wasn’t a child, was it?”
    I shake my head from side to side. “No, not even close.”

Chapter 5
    Isabel
     
    It’s been two days and my sister, Corinna, lies in a state of stillness. No movement or sound, except for the respirator pumping air rhythmically into her body.
    The memory of the moments after returning to the Kyoto facility , keep playing over and over in my head.
    * * *
    Monica yells, “She is waking up. Siobhan, inject her again! We can’t have her losing it and going off on us or risk her hurting herself!”
    Siobhan yells back at her. “Alright! Alright!”
    I watch Siobhan plunge the needle int o my sister’s arm. “There! Done!”
    Monica yells, “Jake, Nick , take her to the last room on the right. Go through the double doors. Put her on the table. I’m going to get scrubbed up. We need to do this now! Siobhan, Elisha, help Balthazar and Sebastian take the baby. Use room three on the left.”
    Monica tries to move passed me, but I jump in front of her. “What are you going to do to her?”
    She looks beyond me and flags a few of the Kyoto facility staff. She tells them, “I need you two to assist me on the removal of an implant.