Under the Blood Moon (The Stargazers Trilogy Book 1) (4 page)

Chapter Eight

April 15
th
, 6:21 a.m.

Day of the First Tetrad

It was early morning hours when Eric followed Sybil to their rental car at the Portland airport. They both traveled light. Eric was happy that the trip was paid for with a grant which would provide follow up information on his dream study.

Sybil seemed to know her way around in the big city, which surprised Eric.

“When were you in Portland, sis?”

She smiled and playfully pushed his arm. “Remember all those postcards I sent you from all of those places I traveled on my grant? Guess what? Portland was one of them.” Her sarcasm did not escape her brother.

They got to their rental Toyota. She climbed in the driver’s side.

“I don’t even get to drive?” he questioned.

She put her sunglasses on and raised her chin toward him. “Do you know where we’re going? No. Thank you for playing. Now shut up and enjoy the view.”

Following the directions on the business card, she drove for what seemed like hours.

Eric lost interest in enjoying the Oregon view and turned to play Minion Rush on his smart phone. He kept the volume low so he wouldn’t disturb his sister.

“You’ve been very quiet, Eric. That’s not like you.”

Without looking up from his game, he said, “You told me to shut up, so I’m being a good boy.” He put his phone away and straightened up with a sense of urgency. “Yeah. If you got to hear me talk, then tell me where the heck we’re going! I’ve only been here for a few hours and I already can’t wait to leave! This scenery is stale.”

She smiled. “It’ll get exciting soon, bro. Hang in there. We’re almost there.”

She pulled off the main highway and onto a dirt road. He looked at her as if she was crazy.

Her smile widened.

“Eric. If I would have told you where we were going, you would have never come.”

“That’s a heck of a thing to tell me now!” he bellowed. “What’s up with you? You never used to play tricks on me before like this!”

“It’s not a trick, Eric. You’ll understand more when we get to her house. You have to understand that as a scientist, I have to look at all possibilities. Even the non-scientific ones.”

He rolled his eyes and stared out the window. Sybil said, “We both know that you have a wild imagination.”

He said, “Are you taking me to someplace like a secret military facility or to some weird psychic.” He wouldn’t put anything past her.

The road became rougher as they went through a narrow row of trees. That was where the road ended. Eric looked back behind them and then to the front in a panic. It was pitch dark. “I want some answers now, sis, or I swear I will jump out of this car!”

He looked at her in a staring game of chicken. His heart was racing, while she seemed abnormally calm. He placed his hand on the steering wheel and waited for her to slow down. She didn’t.

He had enough of the games. He looked at the door, unbuckled his seat belt, and took in a deep breath. He was going to call her bluff. She would never let him jump from a moving car.

He opened the door, just as she slammed on the brakes. The momentum pushed him onto the ground. He rolled several feet into a stack of hay. He rolled so fast that he ended up being completely covered in hay.

Sybil got out of the car and just laughed at him. “Look, we’re here.”

“Where is here?”

He looked around. In front of them was a rustic log cabin. It appeared to have been made several decades earlier, or more. There was gray smoke billowing from the chimney. It had a front porch with a homemade rocking chair and a few folding chairs. There was also a small card table folded up and placed against the side of the cabin.

Eric managed to stand up, as he furiously brushed the hay from his clothes, hair, and face. When they got back home, he would have words with Sybil, who was now waiting patiently for him on the porch.

He caught up with her just as she was about to knock on the front door. The door opened before her hand had a chance to connect with the wood. Before them stood a young woman dressed in blue jeans with slits in the legs and a white blouse with ruffles on the sleeve and at the collar. She wore no shoes or socks. She was a thin girl who had purposely drawn dark circles around her green eyes. Her chestnut colored hair was wavy with red streaks throughout. She had the darker skin of someone who loves to be out in the sun. She appeared as if she just woke up. Sybil showed her the card. “Is this you?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“What do you do?”

“Remember, you called me.”

Sybil nodded. “I know.”

That was all information Sybil was getting.

Eric stepped onto the porch, still removing hay from his hair and his mouth. He tried to contain his surprise of how the girl was dressed. He didn’t want to judge.

The girl’s eyes darted all over her two guests with a concerned look, as she extended one arm and leaned on the doorway. She then looked deep in Sybil’s eyes and smiled. When she looked deep in Eric’s eyes, she looked disgusted.

“What?” he said, looking around. “I used mouthwash!”

The girl saw the hay in his hair. “Good. You are a vegetarian. Come.”

She had a European accent and a deep voice to go with it. Her English was broken. It sounded like she might have been from Bulgaria or Romania.

“Gypsy?” Sybil asked, as she entered the one-story cabin.

The girl turned her head slightly with a serious grin. “Isabella.”

Eric narrowed his eyes, trying to figure her out. “What’s that accent?”

“Hungarian.” She sighed. Isabella gave him a look of impatience as she folded her hands and closed her eyes. “Just sit down.”

The cabin had one main room and three smaller rooms, believed to be her bedroom, the kitchen, and the bathroom. There was a huge fireplace in the middle with a blazing fire and no other light. The curtains were pulled down on all of the windows.

There was a homemade round table set in the middle of the living room, with no other furniture around the walls. There were three chairs at the table.

“Sit,” said Isabella, as she forced a smile. Eric looked with surprise at his sister, as she sat down. He was about to sit, but first had a question. “Excuse me?”

“Sorry to interrupt your… seance, or whatever you’re doing out here. But! Can I get a glass of water?” He raised his eyebrows at her.

“No beverage at the table,” was her reply. “Sit.”

He then banged on the table in triumph. “I knew it! I figured you as some sort of psychic! Hah! And I’m right.”

Isabella narrowed her eyes at Sybil. “You said he needs my help. Why does he act like an untrained monkey?”

Sybil cleared her throat and turned toward Eric. “Bro. Isabella is going to try to make some sense of your dreams. That’s all.”

“I thought that’s what all the electrodes and the fancy machines were for,” he replied, totally confused. “You have deceived me.”

Sybil licked her lips and continued, “Yes. We tried to decipher the dream through science, but I believe that there is more to this than we might think. I got Isabella’s business card yesterday at the debates. I did a lot of research on her and then called her. Isabella has references from several friends of friends. She is not easy to get, unless you know exactly what you’re looking for.”

Eric narrowed his eyes at his sister. “What exactly are we looking for now, Sybil? Someone who can talk to ghosts?”

“No ghosts,” Isabella said abruptly. “No hocus pocus, or witches. I read messages in the stars and have other spectral practices.”

“This is all too weird.” Eric stood up. “I’m not going to go through with this, Sybil! I’m not going to sit here while this medium tries to decipher my dreams. For all I know it could be the…”

“End of the world?” Isabella replied.

“Yeah... I just need some fresh air.” Eric stood and went outside.

First Blood Moon

Eric waited as the late afternoon faded into evening. The hot Portland sun passed over the ocean with colors of pink, orange, and yellow. As the sun went down, the moon came out.

Eric took a small New Testament out of his pocket and read from it. He thought about what it said about worshiping a beast. Those who worshiped him would not escape the plague—the plague of the sickening sores. He had not seen the beast in his dream. He was also called the anti-Christ. What did that scripture mean? Was this a real beast or a man? Eyes glued to the sky, Eric waited for something big to happen. Nothing happened, so he waited longer.

* * *

Ever since his first disturbing dream, Eric followed stories about the blood moons. There was to be a blood moon tonight, April 15. This was the night for the first blood moon since 1967. While Eric was staring at the moon, a corner turned ruddy shade. The color slowly moved toward the center. It was happening. As a dark cloud came under it, he remembered reading that a dark cloud was to come over the people who belong to the beast. The book of Revelation tells of the people cursing the one true God. They would beg for the rocks to fall on them. That could be soon.

He thought about the times he had heard the voice of God in his head. The voice in his head told Eric that he was called to tell of a cleansing rain to pour over God’s people. Eric was being called by God to be a prophet. The voice in his head said, “You will tell people that God will take vengeance on the earthly ones who have shed innocent blood. The evil ones who have mocked my servants will be punished. Right now, in the Middle East, evil men are murdering and martyring God’s messengers. They blaspheme the Lord’s name. You must tell them that they will not get away with it.”

“What about the beast?” Eric whispered his prayer.

“Those who follow the beast will be deceived, because they do not know the time is short. Nor do they care. Those that choose the darkness rather then the light will follow the evil one. After a short time, it will be over. Unbelievers will not stand in that day.

“He then heard the voice of Jesus say, ‘Behold! I come quickly!’”

Suddenly, it was all quiet. Eric’s hands dripped with sweat. He felt weak all over. Sitting on a stump, he dropped his face into his hands and cried.

He felt that he was being washed all over by a supernatural spring.

Chapter Nine

April 15
th
, 6:00 p.m.

Sybil stayed inside the cabin to visit with Isabella and sip herbal tea. “He cannot run from destiny, Sybil,” said Isabella, showing excessive interest in Eric. “Tell me again about his blood moon dreams.”

“I’ve explained the dream to you, Isabella, to the best of my ability. I’ve heard it so much that I memorized it! So there is nothing else to say. Why can’t that be enough?”

“I know what I have to do.” Isabella took a sip of tea and smiled. “I need him to tell me the dream. I need to hear his words. Only then can we find the answers we need. Nothing more.”

“Leave him alone.” Sybil took her cup, walked over to the open door and looked out.

“I want to ask him a few questions, that’s all,” Isabella said.

“Let me ask if he will talk to you. See what he says.” Sybil saw her brother standing out in the trees. Walking out toward him, she tried to be quiet so as not to disturb his thoughts. He looked up. “Hi, sis.”

She put her arm around his shoulder. “I know you well, Eric, but I’ve never seen you like this before. Talk to me. Tell me what is going on in your head.”

He turned to her with tears in his eyes. His eyes were puffy as if he had been crying for quite some time. “Yeah, you do know me. You know me well enough to know that I’m scared. I’ve never had a dream like that before. But now I’ve had it several times. It was so real and I can remember every aspect, like I just dreamed it.”

“I know, bro’. It goes beyond anything we can find out with conventional science. Heck, we already tried back at the lab. You saw where that got us. A big zero.”

“I just wished you’d have asked me before bringing me out here. This gal scares me.”

She set her cup down on the ledge and gave her brother a big hug. “I get it, Eric. You know as well as I do that that dream means something important to a lot more people than just you and me. We can figure it out. Let me help you. Let Isabella help you. When science fails, we try something else. Isabella is that something else. Will you please just listen to her?”

He smiled weakly and nodded.

Sybil looked up and said, “Look brother, it’s a blood moon.”

“I saw it, but it means nothing.”

Isabella came out to the edge of the porch and pointed at the sky. “Full moon tonight. Blood Moon will get brighter. Not much time. Please go inside now.”

She rushed back inside, followed closely by the siblings. Eric closed the door behind him.

“No!” Isabella exclaimed. “No door closing on Blood Moon! Sit. Please.”

He opened the door again. Everyone returned to their chairs at the table. A gentle breeze came into the cabin.

Sybil felt anxious, knowing her brother was frightened. Eric turned to Isabella and asked, “Why don’t you wear shoes?”

Isabella grinned. “No shoes helps me to be in touch with mother Earth. Nothing comes between me and her. Plus, the Lord told Moses to take his shoes when God told him to go set His people free.” She touched his hand. “No more stalling. You must tell me the dream now. Just stare into my eyes, Eric. Do this as you tell me your dream. Don’t ask why, just do it.”

“Okay,” he replied, with some trepidation.

“Ready?” said Sybil.

Isabella held her hand out to her. “Sybil. You must remain quiet. Do not get up from your chair for any reason.”

Sybil reluctantly nodded, as she scooted the chair in further under the table.

Isabella sat in front of Eric and opened her hands in front of her. Eric clasped Isabella’s hands, and immediately felt a slight tingle go all the way up his arms. He was about to open his mouth, but she shook her head.

“No.” Breathing slowly, Isabella sighed. She then regulated her breathing and told Eric to do the same. “I need not hear your words in order to hear the story. Please remain quiet and still. Allow yourself to experience the dream again. I must see it and feel it, as well. Understand?”

He nodded.

“Shut your eyes and then concentrate.”

He just stared.

“Close your eyes and think only of the dream.”

Eric closed his eyes and the dream reappeared. After viewing the scenes of zombies and his mother, he reached the part of his dream where he touched the moon. The blood was more intense this time. He could even smell it. He started fidgeting, but Isabella squeezed his hands, helping him to be aware of what he was doing. He regained control.

Beads of sweat formed all over Eric’s body, causing his shirt to get soaked. His dream soon became his only reality. More real than it had been when he first dreamed it. His breathing became erratic, as he felt the heat pressing in on him.

The floor under his feet felt like dirt. Around him, it vibrated intensely. It was stronger than the last time. He felt the soft soil underneath his feet squish between his toes.

His hands shook, as he scrunched his face in fear. He could tell that Isabella was trying to calm him, but he could not respond. He clenched his teeth as he felt his face turn hot and crimson red.

He ran to the door and looked out. The moon was now fully red. It seemed so close, so he reached for it. But it was not close enough to touch. The black clouds gathered. Lightning flashed. Thunder rolled. Instantly, there was a flash flood. Then the rain stopped as quickly as it had started.

Water ran down the driveway and down the hill. Eric went back to his seat and sat down, saying nothing. It felt like his body was on fire.