‘Lilith’s teacher noticed bruises on the back of her legs. Do you know how she got these welts?’
‘How would I know? You know kids… always falling from trees, climbing over fences. Uh… what did Lilith say?’
‘She said Chester kicked her.’
‘Chester? Who’s that?’
‘We don’t know. There’s no boy named Chester in our school. But Mrs. Walker noticed Lilith at recess, talking to an imaginary friend named Brandy.’
Quenton grinds his teeth.
‘You don’t seem surprised?’
‘The girl’s mother, she suffered from similar, uh, delusions. Leave it to me, I’ll handle it.’
‘Reverend, if this is some form of mental illness, then Lilith should really be seen by a professional.’
‘Believe me, ma’am, when it comes to this, I am a professional.’
Longboat Key, Florida
Immanuel Gabriel stares hard at his brother’s computer screen, the rows of Hebrew letters blurring in his vision. ‘I still can’t see any patterns.’
‘They’re there,’ Jacob says, smugly. ‘I bet there’s a million warnings encoded throughout the Bible. References to the dinosaurs and extinctions, Martin Luther King and the Kennedys, wars in the Middle East, the World Trade Center, the 2008 Ebola outbreak-’
‘Shut up.’ The dark-haired twin covers his ears. ‘I keep telling you, I don’t care.’
‘You’d better care. I came across our names, too.’ Jacob advances the text to another page where series of letters are highlighted like a crossword puzzle. ‘Going across, this says Gabriel Twins. See these intersecting letters going down? That means Time Tunnel.’
‘Time tunnel?’
‘It’s the Bible’s word for wormhole. It’s how we’ll travel to Xibalba.’
Immanuel shakes his head. ‘I’m not going to Xibalba.’
‘Yes you are.’
‘No I’m not.’
‘It’s our destiny, Manny.’ His eyes widen. ‘It’s in our blood… the End of Days!’
‘Maybe your freaky blood, not mine.’
‘The Hunahpu gene is in your blood, too, shit-for-brains, and I can prove it. I discovered a place, a place in my mind where everything slows down. It’s like a higher dimension.’
‘Shut up.’
‘I’m serious. Our Hunahpu DNA gives us special abilities. By focusing our thoughts inward, we can actually tap into this higher realm.’
‘You’re making this up.’
‘Am not.’
Immanuel is frightened but curious. ‘Okay, tell me what it’s like.’
‘It was weird, but really cool. Everything around me sort of slowed down. But inside my head I felt, I don’t know… it was like I was more in control. I could do things, see in every direction all at once, control my body in different ways. I could slow down my heart, or even follow blood cells as they moved through my veins. It was like having another sense, one that lets you see inside yourself. The only thing is, you can’t stay in too long, or all this lactic acid starts building up in your muscles. I think it’s because your mind’s in the nexus, but your body’s still in the third dimension, and it’s moving extra fast.’
‘The nexus?’
‘That’s what I call it.’
‘Teach me how to do it.’
‘Come on.’
Manny follows Jacob outside to the fifty-meter pool.
‘What are you doing?’
‘Teaching you the way I learned, by holding my breath. Happens best when you’re frightened, when the adrenaline really kicks in.’ Jacob strips down to his shorts. ‘Swim down to the bottom and hold on to the ladder. Then close your eyes and look for a white pinpoint of light. When you see it, focus on it but don’t go in. The light will grow bigger, and then everything will just slow down. You’ll be able to tell ’cause your lungs won’t hurt anymore from holding your breath. Just remember, see the white light but don’t slip inside its warmth.’
‘Why can’t I go inside?’
‘Just don’t.’
‘Why not?’
‘I think it might be a higher dimension.’
‘Have you done it yet?’
‘Not yet, but I will one day.’
‘Are you afraid to do it?’
‘I’ll do it when I’m ready. You just focus on getting in the nexus.’
‘If I make it inside, how do I get out?’
‘Just say to yourself, I want out, and you’re out.’
‘What if I forget and drown?’
‘You won’t drown. Once you begin running out of air, your hands will let go of the ladder, and you’ll float to the surface. That’s what always happens to me. Every time I try to stay under, my body lets go and the nexus tosses me out.’
The dark-haired twin stares at the bottom of the pool. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Come on, Manny, stop being such a baby.’
Immanuel strips to his underwear and climbs down the aluminum ladder into the pool, the cool water giving him the shakes. ‘It’s cold.’
‘It’s warmer in the nexus. Now take a deep breath and go under.’
Immanuel takes a gulp of air and ducks underwater, working his way below using the ladder. Gripping the bottom rung, he closes his eyes.
Blackness.
His heart pounds in his ears.
His lungs burn.
Immanuel releases the rung and kicks to the surface, exhaling as his head breaks water. ‘You are such a goddam liar. I swear, I don’t know why I let you talk me into these things.’
‘I wasn’t lying-’
‘Shut up!’ Immanuel climbs out of the pool, shivering. ‘I’m going inside.’
Jacob grabs his arm, then points to the digital clock on the pool house wall. ‘It’s 2:04, right? Watch and learn.’ Without waiting for a reply, he dives in, kicking to the bottom.
Immanuel sees his brother wrap the crook of his left arm around the lowest ladder rung. Crazy freak.
Jacob steadies himself. Closes his eyes. Loses his thoughts in the blackness behind his eyelids.
In his mind’s eye, he is sliding down his larynx, racing through a bronchial tube into his right lung. He follows a bronchi branch into one of the smaller bronchioles until his mind dead-ends at a harvest of grapelike alveoli clusters, each tiny sac containing molecules of air. Like a honeybee he taps into each one, drawing minuscule breaths, which he redirects into his oxygen-starving brain.
The constriction in his chest eases. The pinpoint of light appears, its warmth increasing as it expands.
Okay, I can do this… I can do this…
Jacob Gabriel’s mind slips inside the bright hole, his soul bathing in its warmth.
Then he sees the shadow.
Immanuel looks up at the clock. Almost three minutes… A tingling as his bladder tightens. What do I do? What if he drowns? He focuses on his brother’s face. Sees the melancholy smile. Geez… he’s really doing it.
Beyond the haze is a lithe figure, floating along the periphery. Jacob’s mind reaches out to communicate: Hello?
Who’s out there? A girl’s voice. Frightened.
