Mir shrugged his shoulders and then Doctor James and her sister, the necromancer, walked in.
“It wasn’t enough to have that one here?” Jei asked Doctor James referring to Jesse.
“No, it wasn’t enough to have that one here,” Jesse replied haughtily. “Your wife…”
“Not my wife, that was the whole reason she is dead,” Jei interjected.
“Your not-wife,” Jesse continued, “Doesn’t want to come back to the living and I don’t know how to force her. I can’t blame her as I would only want death too if I had to live in the Empire.”
Jei drew his sword, “I can easily grant you that wish of death, little human.”
Jesse looked up at him defiantly, “I’d love to see you try. Come on, then old man.”
“Stop!” Dru shouted and she and Doctor Rea used their influence to calm the room. Then she looked at Mir expectantly, “Aren’t you going to help?”
“I promised you one thing and a calming presence wasn’t it,” Mir replied casually.
Once everyone was calm again, Dru said, “Everything is set up in the next room. I’ve brought Jane’s body as far as I’ve been able to with technology. Her physical body is alive, but she has minimal brainwaves.”
“Her soul is still in the Afterlife,” Mir said. “She needs a reason to return to make this easier for me.”
They all looked at Jei then.
“I should have brought Ellie,” he said regretfully more to himself than anyone there. “I killed Jane. I’m the last person she would want to talk to. What could I say that would bring her back?”
“Don’t forget she chose to die rather than marry you in front of Ellie. She chose to leave her daughter, that wouldn’t bring her back now,” Dru said hoping to encourage Jei to speak to Jane.
“You could tell her how much you want her back? You’re the one who orchestrated this whole thing, aren’t you?” Jesse asked incredulously. The sooner this was finished the sooner she was free.
Mir took a kinder approach, “Admiral Jei, my wife told me that when she visited the Afterlife as Babette, Jane does what to return but she is confused. The gods have purposefully bewildered her. But make no mistake, Jane can hear you. Working together, you can coax her back with kind words and with me to show her the way from the Afterlife to our realm,” then he added as an afterthought, “and with the help of Jesse granting her human spirit safe passage, she can return. Are you willing to try?”
Jei nodded hesitantly, “Yes.”
Dru looked at them all, “Let’s waste no more time then and go into the next room.”
Jesse raised her hand, “Wait there’s one more thing.”
Everyone looked at her impatiently. They were already breaking the law if they didn’t do this exactly as they had planned, and no one wanted to waste in time. If they were successful in every regard, they could merely walk away with only having to prove themselves to the High Priestess at the Grand City Temple, if she demanded it. If they faltered, it would mean punishment determined by the High Council which would most definitely mean a horrendous death sentence, the kind that the Empire was renowned for.
“Clear your minds. You especially, Admiral. Don’t remember the emotional pain of killing her now, that will only drive her away. Focus on her children and the good times you had between you two. Focus on how you felt about her when you wanted to marry her, and I mean before the trial when you gave her the lovers’ bracelets and your dinner, no lunch at Leld.” Then she looked at Doctor Rea, “And you, absolutely do not focus on taking her baby from her dead bloody body. Maybe that’s something a dead Alliance woman would want to see, and find it endearing, but it doesn’t look good to human eyes.”
Jei and Rea nodded at the same time. Horrified by the way Jesse saw directly into their souls.
Mir shook his head in the corner, “Jesse, you should know better than to use your gifts like that. Hush now, let’s just do what we agreed to do and nothing more. We cannot interfere.”
Dru looked between her sister and Mir wondering what was going on.
Jesse telepathically told her sister, I will tell you another time. It’s nothing new. He’s a serpent. Out loud she said authoritatively, “Fine, now we can go.” Everyone followed her and Mir who led the way.
Inside, the room was bare except for a few pieces of shiny silver medical equipment that Doctor Rea went over and checked and, of course, Jane’s naked body laid out before them in the center of the cold room. She looked perfect. Almost like a factory line doll ready to be costumed and packaged. Her chest was moving up and down. Her body was alive but that was all. Jesse, Dru and Rea felt no signs of a person, just a body pumping blood without knowing why.
Everyone just stood there for a moment and looked at her.
“She looks flawless,” Jei commented. “It’s like she is asleep.”
Jesse and Mir made eye contact and then one stood behind her shoulders and the other at her feet.
Jesse touched Jane’s shoulders and closed her eyes focusing her energy. As she had done many times before, she could see Jane in a misty distance, but she didn’t think Jane could see her.
Mir touched Jane’s smooth feet. He could see Jane in the Afterlife; she was right in front of him. He tried to grab her hand, but she turned away from him and ran, “Jesse is waiting for you that way. There’s no escape you must return to the mortal world.”
Dru looked at Admiral Jei, “Take her hand and talk to her. She can hear you. This may be your only chance. She is in between the Afterlife and the mortal world. They have her cornered and away from the others.”
Jei took Jane’s hand. It was warm. He looked at her closed eyes trying to think of everything he wanted to say. He stroked her cheek with his other hand, the way he had done when she had been alive. He ran his hand down to where his sword had struck her. There was not even a scar left to mark the place. Doctor James has done an excellent job of repairing all the damage I have done, he thought. “Jane,” Jei began and then stopped because his voice broke. When he regained control of his emotions, he spoke again, “Jane.” He paused choosing his words carefully, “They tell me you can hear me. There’s so much that went unsaid before your trial. I don’t know where to begin so I’ll just let my heart guide me. I miss you. I’d give anything to have you here. I’m raising Ellie but she needs her mother. Magnolia, our daughter lives as well. She also needs her mother and I need their mother. Jane, can you hear me? I miss you so much. I’m so sorry that I didn’t see another way. As soon as the trial ended, Doctor Rea rushed you to the emergency medical field unit we brought with us, to bring you back. You were never supposed to really die. You must know that. Did the other gods tell you that?” Jei’s voice broke and tears escaped his eyes, “You were never supposed to become a goddess or not come back to me. I should have told you our plan before the trial. I regret that so much. Whatever the gods offered you, deny them and come home to me and your daughters. We all need you. We need you desperately to come home and I need you Jane. You were taken from me.”
Doctor Rea, noticing some brainwaves decided to speak to Jane as well, “Jane, my dear human friend. Listen to me, I’d never lie to you. The plan was always to bring you back. Jei struck you in a place that we knew we could bring you back. I had done it before, many times before. Gods, I wish we could have told you so whatever choice the gods gave you in that moment you could have known we were trying to bring you back here. Please come back to us. Your life is still supposed to be among the living. You have a place here with us. Please ask the gods to release you.”