Nathaniel was the victim of foul play. Left for dead in the Myste, he’s still a little dazed when he crosses paths with Sara. Together they must work their way through the many dimensional layers of Myste to find their way home again.
Today’s excerpt is from the beginning, which starts just after Hannah leaves for home.
Sara said one more goodbye to her friend Hannah and closed the door with a sigh. She always felt let down the morning after a night out on the town. Wandering over to the window she looked out but the fog was so thick outside that she couldn’t even see the street, let alone see Hannah exit the building or walk to her car. It was a sea of white cloud out there, a few buildings poking up like islands.
Curling up on the window seat she took a sip from her cup of coffee then rested her forehead against the glass. If she was honest with herself she’d have to admit that her let down feeling was not just due to the after affects of a night out. She’d been feeling like this for a while now and she didn’t know why. She had a decent job, great friends - life was pretty darned good. But there just seemed to be something missing.
Without realizing it, she fell asleep. A warm, perfumed breeze wafted around her, caressing her skin as she stood on a white sand beach. She was watching the sun as it lowered towards the horizon in a blaze of crimson glory. Gentle waves lapped at the shore, almost at her feet. Warm hands rested on her shoulders, strong, oh so familiar hands. She might not know his name, but she knew him. He was tall and strong, with toffee coloured skin and jet black hair. She had been dreaming about him off and on since she was fifteen. Sometimes she wondered if that’s why she never had a successful relationship in real life, no man could compare to her dream lover.
Sara turned in his arms. He held her close making her feel safe, protected, as though this was where she belonged. They didn’t speak, words weren’t necessary between them. Their lips met in a kiss she felt all the way to her toes. Their clothing vanished as, not breaking the kiss, they sank slowly down to the blanket on the sand.
The sound of a phone ringing startled her awake. Sara cursed as she slopped cold coffee down the front of her favourite sweat shirt. Reaching back behind her, she fumbled the phone into her hand.
“It’s about time you called. I’m telling you, you need a cell phone– What?” Sara swung her legs around so that she was sitting with her back to the window. “No, I’m sorry. You have the wrong number.”
Ending the call, but taking the phone with her, she dumped her coffee into the sink and glanced at the clock in the kitchenette. “Shit!” More time than she realized had passed.
Opening up her contacts, she scrolled down the list and stabbed her finger at the phone. She waited, foot tapping, for Hannah to pick up the phone. “Come on, come on,” she muttered. “Pick up Hannah. You know I worry.”
After letting the phone ring at least twenty times, she gave up.
“You know what I’m going to have to do,” she said, glaring at the phone. She sighed. “I guess it’s not like I have anything better to do.”
She padded into the bedroom where stripped off the soiled sweatshirt, throwing it towards the laundry hamper, and missing. Muttering under her breath she pulled a tee-shirt emblazoned with the advice, Keep Calm and Drink More Coffee, and a red hoodie out of the pile on the floor and did a quick change into them. Heading back into the living room she grabbed her coat and purse, forgetting her own cell phone lying on the table beside the door.
The fog began to thicken as Sara turned off the highway onto the road that wound through the woods to the causeway. Unlike Hannah, she’d never liked being out in the fog, it creeped her out. But it was definitely at times like this she appreciated her Cadillac El Dorado. It may be a gas guzzler but it would stand up to anything the fog could throw at her.
She could barely see the road but she kept to a steady pace, you never knew what might be lurking if you stopped in the fog. Every horror movie Sara had ever seen flashed through her mind. The road was usually in good repair but it had been a hard winter and it felt like the pavement was being held together with potholes.
There was no worry that she strayed off the road, she’d been down it often enough she could probably navigate it blind-folded, which is what it felt like now. But it led pretty much straight to the causeway, which lead straight to the island Hannah lived on, and there were trees bordering the sides, not that she could see much of them either.
It was probably just an illusion because of the fog, but the road seemed to go on forever. Shouldn’t she be on the causeway by now? A dark shape loomed up suddenly in front of her. “Holy crap!” Sara slammed on the brakes and yanked the steering wheel hard to the right. The big car jerked to a halt and she sat there, clutching the steering wheel and gasping.
“Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!” Did she hit whatever, or whoever that was? She should go check. Really she should. Just as soon as she could make herself let go of the steering wheel. They might be hurt. It might even have been Hannah. That ratty old Jeep she drove might have broken down and she could have been walking along the road, on her way home.
That thought was enough to make her release her death grip on the steering wheel and scramble out of the car. The fog swirled and eddied around her. It was so thick she could barely see and she kept one hand on the car until she reached the front bumper. It was disconcerting not to be able to see the road under her feet. She shuffled forward slowly, hands out in front of her to ward off anything she might run into.
“Hello? Is anyone there?”
She’d always thought fog was supposed to amplify sound, this fog was so thick it seemed to muffle it.
“Are you alright? Hannah, is that you?”
Was that the sound of someone in pain she heard over there? Sara followed the sound, not sure if she was on the road or not. Her foot struck something soft; this time there was definitely a groan.
“Oh jeez!”
She hunkered down and found the form on the ground more by touch than by sight. “Oh my God, are you okay?” Frantically she ran her hands over the body, trying to determine if there were any serious injuries.
“I am so sorry! You just appeared out of nowhere. I know I was probably going a little too fast, you know, considering the fog and all, but oh my God what are you doing out here in the middle of the road anyway? Didn’t you have enough sense to move out of the way when you heard my car coming?” She was babbling and she knew it, but couldn’t seem to stop herself.
The body started to rise under her questing hands.
“Are you sure you ought to do that? Maybe you should just stay put until we’re sure you’re alright. Is there someone I could call for you?” She patted her pockets. “Oh, damn! I must have left my cell phone at home. Do you have one with you?”
She was on the verge of checking his pockets for a phone when a thought struck her. “I don’t know if the 911 service would risk sending an ambulance out here or not. It’s probably not such a good idea to have someone else risk coming out in this fog, unless you feel you need one?” This last was phrased more like a question and she paused for a breath, waiting for a reply. When there was none, she shrugged.
“Oh well, it shouldn’t be too far to my friend Hannah’s house. We can use her phone.” She helped him as he started to rise. “Wow, you are a tall one, aren’t you? Let me help you to my car.”
So far her victim hadn’t said a word. Sara couldn’t decide whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. All she could tell was that he was a man, a tall man, and he felt pretty solidly built under her helping hands. He moved slowly, carefully, with her towards the car. Or least towards where she thought the car should be.
After a few minutes she halted them. Sara bit her lower lip and glanced around. “I know you probably don’t want to hear this, but I think we missed the car in this fog.”
The man mumbled something.
“What did you say?”
“Not fog, Myste.”
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