The Gift of Sky and Soil (Father Sky Book 1)

by Gillian Zane

  He regaled me with stories from his youth. He was a typical South Louisiana boy, raised fishing and crabbing. There were a few incidents with alligators that made for fun tales, and a lot of interaction with cousins, great aunts, grandmothers, that made for very compelling tales. The fact that the community he had been raised in was such a melting pot, hippy commune in the middle of Cajun country was fascinating to me. I couldn’t imagine being raised like that.

  “Are you still in touch with your family?” I asked, and he got quiet. Really quiet. The kind of quiet I got when you brought up the French Quarter rampage.

  “It was a direct hit from Hurricane Gaston. The family all stayed together in the school, it wiped out most of them. I had begged them to come up to Baton Rouge. Some of the younger cousins got out; they went to Houston. But most of them were stubborn as hell, and they had weathered many a hurricane before. Nothing that big, though. Nothing could have lived through that. I should have gone down there and forced them to come back with me.”

  “Would they have listened?” I asked.

  “Probably not, I would have ended up dying myself because I would have stayed with them. I knew it. Deep down, I knew it. It sucks.”

  “It does.”

  “You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

  “I don’t think I have that guilt that you have, though, there was nothing I could do to save my parents. It was sudden, but they died doing what they loved, traveling. You know there was nothing you could have done, right? Just like me.”

  “I know, it doesn’t stop me from overanalyzing everything, though,” he sighed and took a big gulp of his beer. The intercom buzzed; our food was ready. He stood and went to get the food, luckily no one approached me while he was gone.

  The meal was delicious, as I was used to with this place. I had ordered the chargrilled oysters, and Zeke had gotten a shrimp pasta, which I helped myself to as soon as I saw how good it looked. We laughed about stupid things, talking about everything from failed goals to politics, which we didn’t align that much on, but that was okay, it was things I could live with.

  We even ordered dessert and were one of the last people at the restaurant as the citronella candles burned down, and the frogs’ symphony was the loudest noise in the area.

  “Think we need to head home.” Zeke looked around at the empty tented area. The employees were cleaning on the inside and kept glancing in our direction and trying not to frown.

  “Good idea.” I picked up our plates and walked them to the counter and left a bill in the tip jar.

  “I had a lot of fun with you tonight. I didn’t think something like this could happen in these crazy times.”

  “What? Having a fun time with me?”

  “No, eating at a restaurant with a smoking hot female that I really want to get to know more.” He slipped his hand into mine.

  “You are a charmer, Ezekiel.” I took the hand holding further and wrapped my arm in his.

  “You okay to drive?” he asked. I assessed my current level of sobriety and nodded. I had only had two glasses, and that was over a couple hours and a large meal.

  “Only two glasses won’t put me under.” I unlocked the doors to the SUV, and he got inside while I started it up. This part of the city appeared dead. No one was out because we were technically under curfew. With so few people out, I noticed a car whose headlights turned on the moment I pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward home. The car pulled out and headed in the same direction, making my heart skitter.

  That was only a coincidence. But I turned right, and the car turned right as well.

  “I think we’re being followed,” I said quietly to Zeke, and he immediately turned around in his seat to access the car behind us.

  “It’s a police cruiser.”

  “It had us staked out. Jesus, you think they were watching for drinkers?” The police were well-known for staking out bars and restaurants to get easy DUIs. They loved to get people coming through the drive-through daiquiri shops and catching them the moment they put that straw through the plastic top. Open container. But that was before the reduction in the force. When they had quotas, and bottom lines.

  “It could be for curfew. They haven’t been enforcing it, but things change when politicians die.” Zeke referenced the fact that we had just lost our parish president to the allergen, and now there was a new person in charge.

  “I did hear something about stricter code enforcement,” I sighed, I didn’t need this shit.

  “You think you can influence them from here?” He slipped a hand into mine, and I felt the power we had together. I could feel the person following us. They were intent on pulling us over for possible drunk driving, looking for a swerve or a failure to signal. Anything to be able to pull me over so they had a reason. They were bored and didn’t want to go home because their wife was pissed at them again because she had checked the credit card bills and he was eating out too much.

  “Go home. Forget about the car you’re following,” I said the words aloud and projected them. The car behind us stopped suddenly, put on the right turn signal and did a complete U-turn on the two-lane highway we were on.

  “Now, that was amazing.”

  “That was scary as shit. I can’t believe I can do that.” My hands shook. I held them out and felt the air in my chest tighten. Crap.

  “Pull over,” Zeke said, and I followed his order, moving the SUV to the side of the road. “Don’t cry, Miley, c’mon, you’re going to make your make-up smear.” I hadn’t realized I was crying, shit, I was crying. I wiped at my face, probably only making it worse. The sobs came out in staccato bursts, and the more I tried to restrain them, the harder they came pouring out.

  “Miley, Miley,” Zeke cooed my name, pulling me to him. I crawled over the console in to his lap, his hands went to my hair, my face pressed to his chest. I was probably getting snot and mascara all over his nice blue shirt.

  “I’m a monster, I shouldn’t be able to do that,” I hiccupped through my tears.

  “You’re not a monster, you’re amazing.” He brushed the hair away from my face.

  “No, you can make things grow, create. I just manipulate, I’m just a manipulator.” I had always been a manipulator. My cousin had told me that over and over again.

  “You don’t manipulate, you command. Miley, you’re meant to be a leader. A born leader, even before this power. I see your posts, I see what you’ve done with your home, the Airbnbs. You take charge. That is not manipulation, that’s being a leader.” He raised my face to his and kissed my cheek, kissing the tears.

  “I don’t know how to lead, I can’t lead this army, or whatever the Father has planned,” I whined but my tears were coming to a stop.

  “Yes, you can. You’ll learn, and I’ll be right there with you.” He kissed my cheek again, and I moved my face so it landed on my lips. The tingles that crept down my body were welcome this time. there was still a hint of fear behind it, but I could cope with that.

  “You’re not afraid this has all been engineered to happen?” My head fell back, and his kisses landed on my neck. My emotions went from inconsolable to insatiable in a moment. I thought about how he had taken charge in the restaurant. I always loved a good show of territorialism. Nothing too heavy-handed, but the way Zeke had handled it was perfect. He always let me set the pace, let me show him how far he could go. And at this point, I would let him go as far as he wanted. I shifted in his lap, straddling him and finding him ready.

  “I don’t care if this was engineered. I’ve never experienced anything like you before, Miley, and all I want is more.” That about did it. I slipped my hand between him, unzipping and freeing him from his pants. He shifted me, and I pulled my own underwear to the side so I could push myself onto his thick shaft.

  “Fuck.” I fell against him as he filled me. His hands went to my ass, pushing me up as I pushed down. We found a rhythm, quick and desperate. All we were was that connection where he entered me. It
was intense and all encompassing. I came within moments, and then he followed me over the edge, squeezing my ass hard enough to probably leave marks. It had only lasted five minutes at most, but I was spent, the orgasm taking everything from me. I slid off his lap and crawled back to the driver side, fixing my underwear and my top so I wasn’t hanging out.

  Zeke’s eyes were closed, and there was a slight smile on his face. He cracked one eye open and looked at me, his smile spreading further across his face.

  “Is that how you like to be consoled, because I can do that any time you need it?” I couldn’t help it, I laughed. The fear from earlier all but gone. Some doubts lingered, but that helplessness I felt was eradicated.

  “Yeah, that worked, all good now,” I said as I put the SUV into gear.

  “Here to please.” He let his head fall back onto the headrest, the shit-eating-grin still nice and prominent.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll take advantage of that.”

  32

  When Miley made the turn onto her private drive, the headlights reflected off of something. It was a vehicle. Everything inside of me tensed in anticipation of a fight, and I wondered when had I gotten like this? When had I started expecting an attack? It wasn’t like me; I had always been so laid back.

  “It’s okay.” She placed a hand on my leg, and the touch reassured me. “It’s Liam and someone else, a woman. I think they are related?”

  “You can feel them now?” I asked. Her powers had gotten so much stronger in the last couple of days.

  “Yes, it’s not just about control anymore. I can pick up on impressions, strong emotions and guilt that lingers with them. If they are happy, I pick up their happy thoughts. If they are insecure, I pick up on those things too. I didn’t realize I was doing this until the restaurant. It kind of clicked into place with the cop. That’s what scared me so much.”

  “You must be having a field day with me,” I laughed.

  “Certainly when you are thinking all lusty,” she laughed with me.

  “Well, that’s embarrassing since in the last couple of days all I’ve been thinking about revolves around sex.” The words were meant to be funny, but they were the truth, I couldn’t get Miley off my mind. All I thought about was Miley, her laugh, her breasts, her ass… she giggled. She obviously picked up on that, but how could I not. We had just had one of the most explosive quickies, and I still wanted more.

  “It’s like when you say not to think about something.” I folded my arms over my chest like a child. “Fine, what is Liam focused on?”

  “He’s scared. Really scared. The girl with him is as well. Something happened.” Miley pulled up next to their vehicle, the oversized Jeep that he had been in at the clearing.

  Rolling the window down, she said, “Hi Liam, glad you came back.”

  “I don’t think I have much of choice at this point. This is my sister Lily.” The female in the Jeep waved a hand.

  “Way to make us feel like a good choice.” I couldn’t help myself, being around Miley made me a little snarkier, it was probably jealousy and lust all mixed together.

  “I didn’t want any of this shit, man.” Liam got back in his Jeep.

  “Follow us in, I have a place y’all can stay for the night.” Miley was placating.

  The big Jeep followed us onto the private path. Miley stopped to make sure the gate closed behind us and then proceeded up to the house. She motioned for Liam to park near the front of the house, while she parked along the side of the garage. There wasn’t room for her SUV anymore, now that the garage was a make-shift lab. Getting out of the vehicle, I assessed the two newcomers.

  Liam was a lot younger than me, probably barely twenty-one. He had mentioned military service and that he was just getting back from a deployment. All our troops had been pulled back in the recent months, needing most of them for domestic issues now, but there had been rumors that a lot of our men and women in uniform had been stuck overseas after the coup because of such turmoil on our own soil.

  Liam was fit, as you would expect a soldier, on the bulky side, but not as tall as me, probably right under six foot. His sister looked very similar to him, similar in face, but she had darker coloring. Her hair was thick and black and pulled up tight in a pony tail, while his was sun-kissed and blond. She was on the curvy side to his bulky fitness, but they were both about the same height, which was tall for a female. She was young as well; they must have been close in age. As I neared them, I could see that her face was puffy and shiny. She had been crying, and she held her arm like she was injured.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, and she pulled her arm closer to her and shook her head.

  “We were attacked at her house. They burned it down while we were sleeping,” Liam answered. “First, they killed her dogs, and then they destroyed everything she owned.” I saw Liam’s fist clench like he wanted to punch something. I looked at Miley, she needed to keep things calm.

  “Was there anyone else hurt?” Miley asked.

  “No, it was just us in the house. I don't know how they found me. They got us when we were sleeping, set the house on fire and barred the doors, but they didn’t hang around to see if it worked.” Liam looked slightly confused by this. “Stupid move. As soon as I smelled the smoke, I got us out, somehow. They had barricaded the doors, but I broke the windows. I called the police but the fire department never came. We tried to put it out with the garden hoses, but it was spreading to the neighbor’s houses. We woke everyone in the neighborhood and then fled, came straight here. We didn’t know where else to go.”

  “The ones that are attacking us are just as new at this as we are, so it doesn’t surprise me they botched the job. Y’all are very lucky. You can stay here, there is plenty of room. I think that is what the father had planned for you anyway. We’re safe here, or safe for now.” Miley looked around as if expecting an attack, and I empathized completely with her.

  “What do you mean what the father planned?” Lily asked.

  “We have a lot to share with you,” Miley let out a big sigh and adjusted her shirt to cover her nervousness about what we would have to pile on to these strangers.

  “Come on inside,” I told the siblings, gesturing to the door that led to the kitchen.

  “Welcome to Silence,” Miley said with a welcoming gesture.

  33

  “Can I see your arm?” I asked Liam’s sister Lily when I had them seated at the counter and a warm plate of pancakes in front of them. Zeke had surprised us all with his flapjack making skills, and things had become a little less tense than they were when this all started. Liam stood to the side with his arms folded over his chest, but his scowl had become less of a frown and more of a tense stare.

  Lily nodded and held out her arm, she winced from the pain. She wouldn’t meet my eyes, even though she was probably a foot taller than me. She kept looking down and away like I made her nervous. When I touched her arm lightly, she made a pained sound.

  “What happened?”

  “I fell, tripped on the stairs.” Her wrist was swollen, she had probably jammed it. There were also burns on her biceps. I could feel the pain, and I could feel the dead cells and the misalignment of her wrist bones. She had broken it.

  “I need you, Zeke,” I said in a whisper. If I focused, I felt I could do something. It was like Zeke’s plants. My voice had been a manifestation of will, but as I got deeper into my gift, I found it was not exactly just about controlling of action. I could control the living mammal’s cells, like Zeke could control the living plant cells. We needed both of our power to repair it though.

  Zeke moved around the counter and placed his hand on my shoulder. I didn’t need him actually touching me, but in close proximity. I found the pain; I found the cells that were ripped to shreds. The bone fragment that was embedded in her muscle. I urged it to go back to order, to go back to what was right. Or at least, help it go back to what was right, because it didn’t know how. Not without my help. The wrist straightened, the
skin smoothed out, tears leaked down Lily’s cheeks, her eyes huge in awe.

  “You can do that, along with being able to control me with your voice?” Liam’s hands were on his sister’s arm. “Will I be able to do stuff like this?”

  “You’ve gotten so much stronger,” Zeke said in a whisper.

  “You’ll be able to do something, but I’m unsure what it will be. Zeke is plants, I’m mammals. There was a guy we encountered that could control rocks. Threw them at us like bullets.”

  “And the couple that attacked me,” Liam whispered.

  “It was a couple; did they show what they could do?”

  "Wolves," Liam said. “I don't know if it was the same two that burned down my house. But it was wolves that killed the dogs and bit me.”

  “Wolves?” Lily asked fear in her eyes.

  “Two men and a woman that could shift into wolves, like werewolves,” Liam clarified. “I think I would rather be able to heal and control people with my voice than shift into a wolf.” Liam’s voice sounded much lighter. “Could you do that when we met, though? All you said was you could control people’s minds, that seems like a lot more than just controlling people.”

  “No, my gift has gotten a lot stronger, since we…” I swallowed the words around an embarrassed smile.

  “Since you what?” Liam asked, looking down at us. He trembled with the adrenaline that still coursed through him and his voice rang slightly aggressively. His sister placed a hand on his arm to calm him and he looked at her reassuringly.

  “Since we got together,” Zeke covered that up nicely.

  “You weren’t together before this?” Lily asked.

  “No, we met the day we were recruited,” I finished.

  “Recruited? Was that what you called it? How long ago was this?” Liam fired off question after question.