Intaglio Dragons All The Way Down

chapter 8: The Snake is a River



“A reading from my past?” Ava repeated.

Her father nodded.

“If that’s all right with you.”

Ava stared down at the cup, chewing anxiously at her lower lip. The music played on behind the group of them, a single note pulsing for a long moment, a woman’s keening voice.

Decision made, Ava looked up.

“Yes.”

Her father set her cup upside-down on the napkin in her saucer. He reached forward, putting his fingers on either side of hers, holding her hands tightly. Sad notes of trombone and saxophone rose and fell like waves around them. Cole's heart was in his throat as he watched. He had been pushed to the side. Forgotten for a moment.

‘Not sure I like this...’

“There’s no number of turns to this one,” Oliver explained, eyebrows pulled together in concentration, “just go backward — counter-clockwise this time — as long as you want to, Ava. Let your mind wander if you can, and I’ll look if I can see anything that’s coming up from there.”

‘Up from where?!’

Ava nodded. Cole could see she was scared. His body was starting to twitch in anticipation. Ripples from the future he could almost wrap his head around, but the past affecting the present made no sense whatsoever. Tonight had jumped from the realm of science fiction to complete fantasy. He couldn’t quite keep up with the script. He reached up for the collar of his t-shirt, tugging it away from his throat. It felt like he couldn’t breathe.

“Will it work?” Ava asked.

Oliver laughed, his fingers still on hers.

“It didn’t matter what’s in your cup,” he said, winking. “It already happened, right? So there’s no point worrying about it. Nothing to be scared of.”

Ava nodded again. The same feeling Cole’d had at the studio when he saw Ava’s painting of the swirling clouds – fear and horror – was starting to mesh with his apprehension. For a moment, he considered just calling it a night and walking out. But then Ava set her fingers lightly on the edge of the upside-down cup and began going backward, counter-clockwise. Her eyelids fluttered, then closed. She almost looked asleep except for the endless turning of her fingers.

Cole waited.

And waited.

And waited...

The turning went on for longer than he’d imagined it would, his mind starting to wander. He was tired and strung out from the aftermath of Ava’s reaction to his sculpture. Across from him, Oliver watched the motion of Ava’s fingers, body poised and waiting.

‘Wonder how long this will—’

“Now,” Ava whispered, her eyes blinking back open.

Her voice had changed and Cole jumped at the sound, feeling a cold tremor run the length of his spine. There was a strange canter to her words. Like she was speaking with an accent he’d never noticed before. She looked sadder… care-worn. The sight of her pursed lips reminded him of something or someone he couldn’t quite place.

‘Something from a dream I once had...’

Cole cringed at the thought.

“Okay, then...” Oliver said, picking up the cup, and glancing down into the bottom.

Cole could see that more than half of the tea leaves now sat on the discarded napkin in the saucer. The interior of this cup was far more barren and sterile that her first. It looked like a faded map.

“This reading’s definitely an old one.” Oliver began. “It’s the end of a long journey... maybe across the ocean. I can see a group of people going out for a long, long time... travelling so far that they can no longer see the shore of where they’d left from. See here?”

He gestured to a lump in the center.

“Yeah?”

“I’d say that’s a ship of some kind,” Oliver continued. “An old, big-bellied one, maybe a galleon.” He frowned, squinting. “Actually, it’s not one boat, it’s two. There’s a second one there, in the distance… following from behind. They’re moving together, leaving one place, going to another. Heading to another land. It’s a new beginning...”

Cole’s heart shuddered against the walls of his chest, his breath becoming jagged; he felt like he’d been running.

‘It’s not real!’

“Things had gotten very bad in the place you left from, Ava. People were fighting,” he said, voice sad. “Sickness… poverty… The place you were headed was a beginning. You were starting a new life, but it wasn’t easy. People were being tested, their faith questioned. You most of all...”

Ava gasped. Cole reached out, weaving his fingers into hers. He squeezed, then let go. (He didn’t know how to reassure her when he was fighting the terror, too.)

“But you survived it... both of you, actually…”

“Both?” Ava asked.

“Yes, the two of you. Look, there’s Cole there too.”

The older man gestured with his finger to a small shape of leaves, but the smudges looked like nothing to Cole, so he simply sat back and listened.

‘Could be anything,’ his mind prompted. ‘Doesn’t mean a goddamn thing...’

He didn’t know why the words bothered him so much. Why he was getting more edgy by the second. The record had switched to a new song, the instrumental music slow and melancholy.

“When the ship begins to near this new land, there’s so much hope. I can see you standing on the deck of the ship, looking up at the birds. See here, Ava? Yes, that’s a bird, and you’re watching it, knowing that you’re almost there…” Oliver’s words suddenly stopped, eyes widening.

“What?”

“It’s um…”

“Dad, what?!”

Oliver’s chin bobbed up, eyebrows furrowing in alarm.

“Before you make it ashore, there’s a storm, a terrible storm. The two ships are torn to pieces. There are people in the water, screaming. So much death… so many dying. Oh Ava, I’m sorry.”

“And Cole?”

“No, Cole’s okay. He’s swimming. Wait! You’re there too! But something’s not right…” He lifted the cup closer, brows low over his eyes. “You’re both there at the end – I can see the two of you together … both of you on a beach but… but…” He frowned, eyes narrowing. “Hold on… Yes, both of you made it to the shore. The storm’s ending, and you’ve made it to safe harbour. I can see you, Ava… you’re lying in the grass, looking up to the sky. Cole’s beside you… the new land surrounding you… swirling grasses and low rolling hills... And from above I can see something that looks like a snake...”

‘The snake is a river,’ Cole’s mind announced. At the words – coming from someplace deep inside him – his body began to quake.

“Yes... I can see it now... not a snake exactly, but a river leading out to the ocean. You’re laying a short ways from the shore, a field of grass all around you... a river in the distance… the sea further on… and trees. You and Cole are together, but you’re staring upward… something’s not quite right...”

Oliver tipped his head in concentration, his gaze back in the past. Cole’s body was frozen in place, his fingers clawing the edge of the table. Heart thudding loudly in his ears.

‘This can’t be happening...’

Oliver’s voice dropped back into its hypnotic rhythm, the words rippling like wind against grass.

“The sun is shining. It’s a beautiful place: the shore and the trees, and the river in the distance. There is so much beauty there, so much peace. Cole is talking to you and the wind is blowing... but you already know something…” He frowned. “Ava, you know what’s happening to you.”

“What’s happening?” Her voice was barely a whisper.

Cole could feel something pulling at his awareness. It was so close now he could feel the wind on his cheek. Knew the texture of the grass under his shoes. Adrenaline rushed through his veins, poising him for flight.

‘I’ve been there!’ his mind screamed. ‘I’ve seen this!’ His body rioted with the urge to run. It was too much, and the denials from earlier only made this moment all the worse for its intensity.

“You’re there, just the two of you. You love him, Ava... I can see that even here.” Oliver’s voice roughened. “Cole’s begging you to stay with him, but you can’t…”

As Oliver spoke, distress began to wrap tightly around Cole’s chest. Oliver’s voice was no longer soothing to him; the words leaving Cole more panicked with each passing second.

‘I know this story...’ he realized. ‘I know how it ends!’

“He wants this new beginning… this new start for the two of you…” Oliver glanced up, catching Cole’s eyes, and with that, ice ran down his spine. Oliver looked worried. “Ava, you’re just lying there… and you want to stay with Cole, but there’s something wrong, you’re hurt… your body is… you’re…”

Oliver’s voice broke, and he let out a sharp gasp. Both Ava and Cole jumped at the sound.

“Please, Dad,” Ava begged. “I need to know.”

“Your body it’s… it’s just broken, Ava. You’re dying. Cole’s there with you, talking to you, and you want to stay with him, but you can’t.”

His words stumble awkwardly to a stop, and he looked up at his daughter, eyes wide.

“I’m so sorry, Kiddo.”

“I died after we made it to the shore,” she answered him, her voice oddly calm.

Cole pushed back from the table, his screeching chair tipping over and banging on the floor. He was already on his feet when Ava jumped up. Oliver dropped the cup from his hand with a loud clatter, tea leaves scattering, words disappearing as Cole began to yell.

“No!” he shouted. “It can’t be that story! That’s my DREAM! Don’t you see?! You’re seeing my dream!” He was yelling, his body wracked by the onslaught of pain. “The dream I had after Hanna died. I was always being left behind... and it was always Ava who LEFT ME!”

She was beside him, her arms around him, holding him tight.

“It’s okay,” she said, voice breaking, “I’m here now.”