Searchlight (Crystal 1)

Chapter 10

The sky was a starless expanse of black. The smell of burning fire torches made Crystal’s eyes water. She supposed using flashlights would make these SOT freaks feel less traditionally evil. Crystal’s fist tightened, but peace and calm followed quickly on the heels of the breakthrough negative thought.

Randall looked at her. He’d seen the clenched fist. Crystal gave him a small smile. He had another syringe on him, so she had better disguise her breakthrough thoughts before he injected her again. Max, the man who’d spent the evening showing her the SOT logo, telling her what a good organization it was, how privileged she was to be invited to join and how important it was not to tell anybody about it, had told Randall she couldn’t have another shot until twelve hours after the previous one. But Crystal didn’t trust Randall to listen. And only God knew what an overdose would do to her.

Randall’s eyes narrowed. Maybe her smile wasn’t fooling him. Crystal turned her attention back to the platform. She wondered when something was going to happen at this midnight meeting. For the past twenty-five minutes, they’d been in ‘silent meditation.’ Crystal wasn’t sure what they were all supposed to be meditating on. Maybe they meant meditation in the new age spiritual sense, rather than the mere contemplation of a matter.

She shivered. It was a warm May night so it wasn’t because of cold. Was it another breakthrough emotion?

Crystal looked around, moving only her eyes and not her head so that Randall wouldn’t know she was looking. They were in a pretty big clearing in the woods of Regency Park in the south of the city. About a hundred other people were present, all wearing black robes and standing like statues in the still night. The only movement came from the flickering fire of the torches that some carried.

A few minutes later, a white-robed figure ascended the platform. A long wail filled the air. Crystal grimaced before she could catch herself. Luckily, the drug in her system quickly controlled the reaction. Whoever was making that sound, it was awful.

As the wailing continued people began to move, some slowly, some with jerky movements as though they were having some kind of seizure. Randall remained still so Crystal figured she should remain still, too.

The wailing became a mournful song. Crystal didn’t understand the words. It sounded like Latin or something like that. Crystal guessed that whoever the wailer was, they could actually sing quite well, if only they would stop that nasally howling.

After a while, the white-robed figure on the platform raised a hand and silence descended over the woods. Everyone stopped moving and jerking. Crystal was grateful.

He produced a microphone from under his robe. “The Tenets of the church of Dol Sonel Vei.”

Crystal recognized the voice. Luke. His voice boomed around the clearing, bouncing off the surrounding trees.

Dol Sonel Vei. Crystal wondered why the words sounded familiar. A second later it clicked. It was the religion that had swept across Hollywood over the past decade. A lot of successful actors, actresses and musicians practiced the DSV religion.

“There is no such thing as good or evil,” Luke declared. “No such thing as absolute right or wrong. There is only energy and agenda. Forces of will and reason. Everything is relative…”

Crystal’s fist clenched again. She forced herself to relax her fingers immediately.

“…Evolution didn’t happen, neither did creation. Life cannot be tied down to a sole event, but is the result of a summation of processes that we may never comprehend.

“Love is a figment of the imagination, as is hatred. We desire sex and we desire revenge. These things should not be labeled as something noble: love; or something wrong: hatred.”