In this passage, Bea is in a coma. Her mother, Fiona Bauman, and her Druid teacher, Anu Gren, have joined forces in order to enter Bea's mind. Once inside, they attempt to help her by communicating with her Earth-Mother, Beatrice Darrow.
Chapter 13 Excerpt
A heavy, velvet curtain of shadow, almost tangible in its breadth and width, surrounded Fiona and Anu. Yearning for light, they both felt themselves reach out for protection and balance, as any person would in the dark. Then Anu, using their combined magical energy, extended their minds into the gloom. Far away in the distance, they suddenly saw lightning-like flashes, arcing from one long tendril of neural matter to another. Anu moved the two of them towards the jagged shards, only halting when they were close enough to be repulsed by their heat and intensity. They were now at the epicenter of Bea’s subconscious. It was a good sign that, at least in this part of her mind, the neurons continued to be active. If her Earth-Mother was to be found anywhere, it would be here.
Anu reached out and said, “Beatrice, my name is Anu Gren, are you here? Bea needs your help.”
With Anu’s words, the flickering bolts surrounding her and Fiona increased in intensity and volume, for a time. Then, almost as abruptly as they had begun, they lessened, and a voice, slow and measured, said, “I am drowsy and weak…but…I am here.”
With Beatrice’s response, Fiona and Anu were relieved, then Anu asked, “Do you know what happened to Bea? Can you help her?”
“…I do…but I’m afraid my ability to talk with her is limited…not only…by how I, too, have been affected…but because…Bea’s conscious mind is dark.”
“Is it dark all the time? What about when she’s having those horrible dreams?”
“…is the only time that I have…a sense of her.”
“So…can you bring her out of this darkness?”
“I cannae…too deep…”
Sensing that Fiona was pushing her to ask more, Anu said, “If you can’t help her out of her coma, can you stop the nightmares? They're taking an awful toll on her.”
“…can do that…can stop them…when happen…I think…”
Anu could tell that Beatrice was becoming even more weary and less coherent, so she said, “I can tell this is difficult for you, but please help Bea as much as you can. Fiona and I will leave now. Tha sinn a’ toirt taing dhut bho ar cridheachan…”
“…aye…”
And with Beatrice’s final response, Fiona and Anu floated away from the fierce glimmering lights of Bea’s subconscious and back into the limitless night of her conscious thought. They remained there a moment, then opened their eyes.
