Liquid skies

By James Aa. Keister

A renegade bank robber falls into a magical dust then finds himself at the door of a lighthouse home. Only to find that there is more to this lighthouse than he expected.
Finding journals and keys to other worlds, he falls in love with an alien girl.
Only his angelic demeanor can help him to save his own world as he transforms from his reality to a realm with...liquid skies.

• Language: English
• Publisher: James Aa. Keister
• Release date: Dec 16, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465879936

James Aa. Keister

James Aa. Keister, was born and lives in Monroe, Michigan. An artist in both the arts and music. Letting this strong sense of talent flourish over into his writings. With an imaginative endorsement of realism that brings forth an ever flowing twist to his novels.

Book preview

Prologue

She paced herself as she made her way across the yard of her lighthouse home. Opened the door of her cherry 65 Chevy impala and drove below the speed limit into town. She was stopping at local post office. She had no other errands to run in town but this one. So she was in no hurry. Parking the car out front of the post office steps, she shut the 327 down and exited the car.

She made her way up to the post office doors. With a box full of post cards in her hands, On them a picture of the very lighthouse she lived in. Everyone of the postcards were addressed to the different light houses spread throughout the U.S.A. Spading every shore from east to west, north to south and any that were in between. She set the heavy box up on the counter. While waiting for the clerk. Hello, Mrs. Edington, how are you today?" He asked, looking down at the box she had brought.

I’m fine, thank you. Could you please see that all these get mailed out?

Sure, are they all stamped?

Yes I've checked them twice.

Good... Good. I’ll make sure they get out personally, smiling at her. She half smiled back, turned and walked out the door. Not saying another word. She got into her car. Started the small V-8 engine and disappeared. Vanished, like she had never existed, Only" glittering red dust, like rusted speckles mixed with bone white powder, fell to the ground where she and her beautiful cherry red car had once stood.

Around the corner of the post office he ran. Out of breath, and breathing hard, Making his way past the steps, of the post office. He was headed across the street, but tripped on the edge of the curb that stuck up slightly out of tune from the others.

Down he fell, face first, hitting hard. He was somewhat able to catch his fall. In one hand he held a 9mm, in the other a bag that clearly read National Bank Plummeting down and rolling into the pile of red colored rusty powder he fell, it puffed up around him in feathery whiffs. His lungs heaved from running, drank in the dust with each breath. Feeling the sting as it entered his lungs. His face was covered with the redness mixed with the bone white powder making his face, hands, chest, legs and hair look pinky painted.

He bounced back up to his knees then stood as quick as he fell. Briefly brushing off the thick dust, Looked over his shoulder as he continued his running across the street. He had to get away and fast. Running at break neck speed was as fast as his tired legs would carry him. He made his way crisscrossing out of town and down a one way track that he hoped would take him some place safe.

He stepped off the small lane into the trees and rested, listening to the sirens wailing, behind him. He knew now that he could not stay in this town. The bank he just robbed had been an easy heist, but they had seen his face and would surely be out to find him. Up he got and again he headed down the lane. Around bends and turns he made his way, until he saw the light, high in the air. Circling like a beacon, one flash then another. Sending beams of luminescence out across the bay. Shit! He thought. I needed to be on the other side of the town. That’s what I get for not reading the damn map right. I’m out by the damn ocean and now I have to go back through town to get to the main highway." He was trapped.

Liquid Skies

Chapter One

He continued down the lane, closing in on the light house that stood out on the edge of a rock cliff, tall and leering up toward the twilight sky.

Slowly he approached the out crop building. Creeping in shadows, quick and quiet like a cat on the prowl. In through a window he could see lights, but could not see any-one inside. Around to another window he peered in side an again he saw on one. He made his way to a door at the side of the small house. Reached out and twisted the handle. It opened. He pushed it slowly and peeked inside, his gun at his ready.

Inside no one was there. It looked as if an elderly person had lived there. Old out of date colors, furniture, nick knacks, pictures, and rugs littered the rooms in an orderly neat fashion. Tip toeing through the five rooms the house contained, he found no one inside, much to his relief. He checked for food, he checked out the windows to make sure no one was coming up the lane.

He could hear the waves crashing up against the rocky shore. Darkness set in and out beyond the sparkling waves, lighting streaked through performed clouds. Ray watched as waves of rain swarm through the darkened skies, lit only by the lightning and the full moon that glowed it’s ominous lure.

Winds forcing pelting drops, caught in the strings of a marionette. Whipping them to and fro, refusing to let them go. Huge plumes of spraying water burst up above the rock formations. Creating clouds of moisture that splashed inland, helplessly caught by the beating winds. The storm raged on.

Chapter Two

Ray was stuck here for the night, or so it seemed, due to the raging storms that were blowing in from off shore. He turned off the lights, making it easier to see any movement out side, leaving only one light in the kitchen on. because it was dimmer then the others.

He sat at the kitchen table and took an apple out of the bowl that sat in the center of the old oak table. He set his gun down and threw the bag of money up next to it. Eating the apple, and thinking what to do next. Once he hit the core of the apple he tossed it over his shoulder oblivious to where it had landed.

He looked around, jumped up and quickly peeked out the windows again, seeing nothing out there, but the storm that blew the rain in like sheets of steel waves. He sat back down, checked his gun again, slowly," opened the money bag. He unzipped it across its top, and slowly forced the opening wide. Inside the stacks of bills lay piled upon each other.

He reached his hand into the bag and slowly withdrew one of the stacks. He sat it on the table then continued to do the same with the rest of the stacks, until all the money, had been taken out of the bag. He dumped the bag on the floor. He picked up the first stack of bills. Looked it over, then slowly reached into the leaflets of bills with his finger tips and pulled out the tiny paint packet that was set to explode when the money band got broken.

Instead of it going off, he pinched the tiny trap with his fingers then walked over to the counter and found some tape. He tore off a piece with his other hand and wrapped it around the trap, tossing it into the trash can, just in case it went off. He went back to the table with the roll of tape and proceeded to decommission the rest of the stacks of bills. It took all of an hour to make sure the stacks of money were debugged. Some of the stacks had more then one trap. Once he finished he began counting his take. It summed up to well over two hundred thousand. Smiling to him-self, he was proud he had done so well.

Ray found a small leather bag, big enough to hold all his money, in one of the small rooms that were used for storage. He packed the cash into it and left it sitting on the table in case he had to make a quick get away. The gun how-ever went where he went, added security.

Chapter Three

He finished scoping out the rest of the place, then stopped at a door that had a master lock on it. He looked around the area of the door for the key but could not find one. So he searched further.

Out in the kitchen, by the back door, was a key hook. He fingered through the sets of keys that hung on the hooks in small clusters like grapes. He found the key with the master lock logo on it, than snatched it off the hook. Took a quick glance out the rain streaked window, turned back to the locked door and smiled to him-self. He reached up and put the key into the lock, twisted it and heard the click as it opened.

He pulled the lock from its holding. Flipped the latch open and twisted the door handle. He pushed the creaking door open and peered in-side the dark that waited beyond. Beside the door was a light switch. He flipped it up and a light exploded inside the stairwell. Ray looked back over his shoulder then down the steps. Walked back into the kitchen and grabbed the money filled leather bag, toting it with him.

He headed down the six steps, closing the door behind him. He moved down the old wooden steps until he reached the stone basement floor, than flipped on another light switch, which illuminated the rooms just beyond the darkness.

Down there, were old bikes and tools, a washer and dryer. Usual basement items of old furniture, paint cans and the musty smells of mold soaked wood. He searched both rooms quickly then came upon another locked door. Both the lock on this door was nothing he had ever seen before or knew existed. It was old looking, very old and flatly placed against the doors frame. It looked as though it needed to be opened with some sort of special key.

May-be an old skeleton key, He thought. No, it had to be some thing else. He reached up and gently placed his finger tips upon it, feeling its cold metal impressions. As if it was made of solid gold. He jerked his hand back. Some thing had cut his finger, drawing blood.Click the lock opened and the door swung wide as Ray stepped back in surprise. He stared at the darkness just beyond the threshold. Blinked and begun looking for a light switch.

Just inside the door he found the switch and flipped it on as a river of light bulbs flickered to life. Again he glanced back over his shoulder an up the steps. But curiosity pushed at his will and forced him through the door. Once he entered past the door it slowly closed behind him. Locking as it closed. He followed the cob web laced hallway down the slanting slope that led off into the vast darker ends of the room that was waiting just yards ahead of him. There the light ended and darkness begun.

He could smell the salty whiffs of the sea. He heard the thundering crashes of waves as they beat the rock en shores. Further he pushed through the webs that hung like cotton along the walls. Reaching the dark that loomed ahead. He found another switch and hit it. Again lights exploded in front of him lighting his way. He felt a chill and pulled the 9 mm, waving it around at nothing. It was his paranoia that crept up on him. He moved in through the room and up a small set of steps, Than came to the hollow part of the tower, looking upward at the spiraling staircase that spun the spans of the hollowed tower, ending at the foot of the roof floor, where an opening, hid just out of sight. Ray sighed deeply. Looked up the steps and begun to ascend.

Chapter Four

Round and round he went. Four stories later he made the opening and slipped inside the