Relentless

by Michael Arches

  I hadn’t known about them being close, but I would’ve gone anyway. It’d been the last chance to recover Cara before she disappeared, and to where exactly? I still had no idea, and my best guess was she was no longer in the USA. My voice cracked as I said, “If we hadn’t tried, I’d never be able to live with myself. We might not find her again.”

  “You’re right,” Dana said. “We had to throw the dice. They just came up snake eyes that time.”

  “Gill made some calls,” Katie said. “He’s collected some helpful information, and he’ll talk to you tomorrow. The main thing to remember is, don’t beat yourself up for doing your very best. Learn from your mistakes, but don’t dwell on them. You need to stay sharp for the battles to come. It’s sure to be hard, but you’ll have lots of help.”

  I wiped away the tears welling in my eyes and nodded. She’d given me comfort, mostly from having her close and knowing that she cared. For too many years, I’d lost touch with anyone who did. Now I was surrounded by friends and Dana, blessed by the gods.

  Dana put her head on my shoulder. “We’re in this together, Moira, and don’t you forget it.”

  -o-o-o-

  Tuesday, March 2nd

  WHEN WE FINISHED our morning run and I’d caught my breath, I waved at Ian to get his attention. “I’m trying—again—to connect with nature. You know, like you said. I was wondering if maybe we could visit the old redwoods. If you’d prefer, we can wait until our friends leave.”

  All during our run, the sky was completely clear, but he looked up anyway. “Let’s not wait. They’ll be here at least a week, and you should’ve started months ago. We can try this afternoon…but only with a few diehards. You know how you bring the weather with you when you visit a forest.”

  I’d hoped I was the only one who’d noticed that. During every one of our weekly trips to the redwood parks, the skies had opened up and poured. Folks always ended up miserable. It’d been the weirdest series of coincidences.

  “This afternoon works for me,” I said. “I’m sure the weather will be terrific. It’s supposed to be sunny all week, but let’s keep the group small anyway. No whiney kids this time.”

  At breakfast, our five visitors sat with Ian’s family, his disciples, and the clan’s council. Only a handful of witches were as gifted as Gill, so everybody wanted to soak up his wisdom, including me most of all.

  Instead of displaying his brilliance, though, he mostly cracked corny jokes and told stories about selling life insurance in Houston. The O’Rourkes and I were used to that nonsense, but the others looked puzzled.

  At the end of breakfast, Dana whispered to me. “He’s really the incredible fighter you told me about?”

  “You bet. Don’t let the aw, shucks routine and Texas twang fool you. In World War II, he was a fighting lunatic, even received the Congressional Medal of Honor. As a witch, he’s earned over a hundred confirmed wins in challenge fights. Look closely at his eyes. They’re gray from all the tiny slivers blending together.”

  She and I’d fought as much as he had, but gladiators rarely battled in challenge matches. Too dangerous.

  She gulped. “He’s risked slavery over a hundred times?”

  I nodded. “And he’s a senior druid priest. This supposed yokel works magic on a whole different level from us peons.”

  She looked at me askance. “You’d better not be pulling my leg. You used to love doing that.”

  I had, back in our carefree teenage days. But I hadn’t played a practical joke in so long I’d forgotten how. “These days, I spend all my free time figuring out how to get the band back together. Anyway, I’ve got a request into him for a private meeting. I hope you’ll come, so you can get to know the real Gill. Don’t know when it’ll be yet.”

  She nodded. “I’ll be helping the kids with karate this morning. It’s part of their PE class, another part-time job. If I can join you, though, I will.”

  -o-o-o-

  ORAN FINALLY TEXTED me. Gill has arranged for your Holar induction at one p.m. He will discuss your future training and other issues of mutual interest later in the day.

  I’d forgotten about the whole Holar business. With luck, it wouldn’t matter much. It wasn’t like I wanted the guild running my life. The main problem I faced was any guild elder could ask me for help, and I couldn’t turn him down. On the plus side, the only two elders in Monterey were Ian and Sadie, and I already owed them my allegiance.

  Dana left me, and shortly after, Thao called. After we exchanged greetings, I said, “Hey, I’m really sorry about not listening to you as closely as I should’ve.”

  He replied with some meaningless generality. I wanted to cut to the chase and ask him if he’d had any luck convincing his niece to come to Monterey, but his voice sounded cold. He and I’d work together quite a lot, and he’d always been very friendly before, so the change was substantial.

  So, I’d kept up the agonizing small talk and waited for him to get around to telling me why he’d called. Finally, he said, “My niece Suong is attempting to arrange her schedule so she can travel. At present, she does not know whether it will be possible.”

  In other words, Moira, you might be too big of a pain in the ass to be worth her effort. “Of course, I understand. I hope you’ll remind her that this is the ideal time to come visit the central coast. To show her how much she’s missing, I’d be delighted to treat her and her whole family to a day of whale watching. That’s always a blast.”

  He paused before saying, “Perhaps. Are you offering to pay for her husband and two children to travel with her?”

  I needed options for finding Cara, and a few thousand bucks of extra expense didn’t matter. Thanks to pricks like Turnbull, I was worth millions.

  “Absolutely. Plus, they shouldn’t miss the aquarium. I’m sure I can talk Christina into giving us a tour that will blow their socks off. I’ll handle all those arrangements, too.”

  His voice warmed up. “I’ll be sure to let her know how generous you are. Her family here would certainly love to see their New York cousins.”

  Finally, I seemed to be making progress instead of pissing him off. “Terrific. Let me know if there’s anything else I can do to coax her away from New York City. I hear it’s dreary there during the winter.”

  -o-o-o-

  AFTER A MORNING of intense karate training, I was starving for pizza, the perfect meal for restoring my energy. Our communal table grew even larger. Five other master witches had come from across the state to meet with Gill. He’d supposedly retired from most activities, but that hadn’t kept folks from begging for his help, including me.

  After a quick lunch, Laura gave me a white ceremonial robe, complete with velvet-lined cowl. I put it on and showed up at the clan’s druid ceremonial room. Ian and Gill were already there, and they wore much fancier robes than mine.

  Dozens of white candles lit up the place, and the sound system played old Irish ballads quietly in the background. The walls had been painted to make the room look like a clearing within a dark evergreen forest.

  Many of the clan’s members joined us, often dressed formally, including all the council members. I also spotted the master witches who’d come to meet with Gill.

  This was turning out to be a much bigger affair than I’d expected. My stomach was queasy, but it was too late to back out. With each step forward in my training, I seemed to be pulled deeper into contact with other witches.

  Sadie rang a small bell three times, and everyone quieted. Gill stood before a long oak altar and led the congregation in a Gaelic chant. It was a language I hardly knew, but most of the folks there joined in.

  When they finished, he spoke for a few minutes, also in Gaelic, so I had no idea what he’d said. It met with laughter at the end, probably at my expense.

  Then he switched to English. “The ancient and honorable Magical Order of Holar has thrived on this fertile Earth since the dawn of recorded history. Eight millennia ag
o, our great and insightful master scholar first established his mighty academy to promulgate his understanding of mystical arts for the benefit of posterity. We are truly blessed that his wisdom continues to be passed down from master to disciple until the present day.”

  He motioned for me to kneel before him. This was the moment of truth. I would bind myself to the guild for the rest of my days. Then I remembered my sister’s tearstained face in Vegas. My sacrifice was minor in comparison to how she was suffering.

  I suppressed the urge to bolt from the room and knelt before Gill. Then I lowered my head. He parted the hair at the back of my neck and used a ceremonial Celtic dagger, an athamé, to draw blood. The blade was razor-sharp; I barely felt the prick.

  He spoke again in Gaelic as he inserted the tip of the athamé into the flame of a candle on the altar. My blood burned and turned into wisps of smoke. At the same instant, I felt pressure surrounding my heart.

  I’d given more of my freedom away. That was the price for staying with the clan and becoming stronger to achieve my own purposes. I was getting much more than I’d expected when I first bound myself to Ian. He’d become much more than a teacher, almost like the father I’d never really had. The pig, Alan Boyle, had never acted like a true dad.

  When I stood again, Gill grinned at me. “By the authority vested in me by the Grand Council, I hereby designate Moira Boyle as a Second-Grade member of the Holar Guild. Written confirmation of this determination will be transmitted to the appropriate representatives forthwith.”

  Ian patted my shoulder and whispered. “Go and sin no more.”

  I had no idea what he was talking about, which happened too often. To put the best face on things, I smiled at him. “Thanks for your help.”

  His eyes laughed at me.

  When the ceremony ended, I was surrounded by well-wishers, including a few clan members who’d never spoken to me before. They thanked me for risking my neck to protect them. My answer to each was the same, “It’s been my honor.”

  And that was the gods’ truth. I’d never belonged to any group before, had never fit in. But slowly and surely, the Seabreeze Inn was becoming my home, and this group of witches was turning into my extended family. I was so lucky to have all of this support, and I made a promise to myself to interact with folks more and get to know them better.

  -o-o-o-

  AFTER THE CROWD thinned out, Ian said to me and his other disciples, “We’d better leave for the redwoods. That is, if we want to get back in time for a late dinner. I’ve always been a big fan of dinner.”

  Me, too. I followed him out of the room. A small bus waited in front of the portico. In addition to the Garda members, Christina, Philippe, Katie, and several of the master witches joined us. Ian made sure everyone brought rain gear even though there still wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

  Chapter 9

  IT TOOK US ninety minutes to reach the park, and by the time we arrived, rain had already begun to fall. Just another reminder—Mother Nature hated me. How could I expect her to help me grow as a witch?

  Despite it being a cold and gloomy day, I was determined to hug a few soggy redwoods and soak up some of that natural magic Ian was always bragging about.

  Christina was even more eager to get off the bus, no surprise there, and she was first in line. The girl wore a full body rain suit, which seemed ridiculous. I’d brought the kind of gear oceangoing fishermen wore. Most of the others joked about melting or decided to stay on the bus.

  The first thunderclap boomed as my foot touched the pavement of the otherwise empty parking lot. Wind-driven rain lashed me so hard I almost fell over. The people around me shook their heads. Katie said, “I knew this was a bad idea,” and returned to the bus.

  I tamped down my guilt. I hadn’t made them come, after all, and I sure couldn’t stop the storm. Instead, I focused my attention on gaining whatever benefit I could from the experience.

  Christina and Ian had vanished, so I walked alone down a trail winding through a grove of giant trees mostly hidden in clouds. Then I remembered what Ian had told me about a magical element that existed within water. It was supposedly released by violent movement. If that was true, I had to be surrounded by this natural magic. I felt like I was standing under a rainspout.

  And something vibrated my magical core. Maybe it recognized that invisible essence, or I was simply freaking out as the lightning moving steadily closer. Soon, it crashed into the forest canopy directly overhead. At any second, I expected some chunk of redwood blasted out of the top of one of these trees to clobber me.

  The storm intensified, with lightning strikes every few seconds. As the rain increased, I felt like I was standing under Niagara Falls. To hide from the worst of the deluge, I moved to the downwind side of a redwood fifteen feet wide at the base.

  Getting out of the wind helped a lot. With my cold, bare hands, I grasped the tree’s rough bark and leaned my forehead, which was covered by a wide brimmed hat, against the redwood.

  This wasn’t the quiet, peaceful experience I’d hoped for, but my choices were limited. Either I could accept this or return to the bus. Not much of a choice. I pushed everything else out of my mind and meditated. Me and this redwood stood alone, floating in the infinite universe.

  My whole body trembled, and not from the cold. Some of the rain did manage to sneak between my hat and my rain suit’s collar, but I did my best to ignore it.

  Slowly, the roar from the wind faded in the background. I stood still and savored a calmness building within my mind. Ian’s mumbo-jumbo about a mist of life energy was true. I wallowed in it, even inhaling the mist with each breath.

  Rain continued to fall in sheets, but I hardly noticed. Instead, I focused on a soothing, rumbling vibration—low and slow—that my hands and forehead transmitted into my body. There was something magical about an ancient redwood or the pounding rain—or both.

  An otherworldly calmness filled me. My magical core resonated at the same frequency as the vibrations from the ancient sentinel. Although I couldn’t be sure about the source, it was too subtle to sense clearly, something began to change deep inside me. Despite the chaos surrounding me, pounding us all, I found it easy to stay within a deep meditative state.

  There I remained, my hands and forehead pressed against this wise old soul, and time lost any meaning. I felt like a child held secure in my mother’s arms. All my fear of lightning and falling branches vanished.

  Eventually, someone tapped me on the shoulder. “Moira,” my sister yelled to be heard over the surrounding roar, “are you all right?”

  I tried to speak, but for a moment, I could only make low, guttural sounds. After swallowing several times, I managed to say, “Feel fantastic…finally understand what Ian has been ranting about.”

  “Good to know,” she said. “The thing is, it’s five-thirty p.m. A few folks, like me, are getting hungry.”

  There was nasty old reality again, ever ready to kill my joy. The words, “Just leave me,” formed in my head, but I caught myself. That was crazy talk. This storm could last for hours, and I had no other shelter, nothing to protect me but the trees themselves.

  I took a couple of deep breaths and stood erect. Then, reluctantly, I lifted my fingers from the bark. When I lost contact, my magical core continued to hum for a moment before it stopped.

  We walked back to the bus together, and I still felt a peace within. My feet didn’t seem to touch the ground, like I was floating on a cloud instead of stepping on a gravel path. How soon can I get back here again?

  When we reached the bus, everyone was waiting for me. I waved my thanks for their patience and sat in an empty seat in front of Ian.

  He looked at me expectantly.

  “I have to talk to you,” I said. “Finally felt something. The whole tree seemed to vibrate, like a long coal train was passing by us, a train that never ended.”

  He beamed at me. “Really? Golly, that seems odd. I wonder what i
t could be?”

  He’d always been a smartass. “Yeah, right. Try not to gloat. What I really need to know is how am I going to capture that feeling again? I’m already missing it.”

  He patted my arm. “So, something finally clicked. The good news first—now you know what you’re looking for. The bad news is it’ll probably be months before you can call up that mental state on your own. Until then, you’re going to need help from Mother Nature to connect with the gods. My best helpers were ancient sequoias, but most of them are snowbound in the Sierras now. Waterfalls are also great, but the best ones are in Yosemite. We can take a trip to Yosemite Valley in a few weeks. That’ll get your mojo working again, I promise. And close to home, giant waves can put you in orbit. Pray for a hurricane.”

  I knew he was exaggerating. California got earthquakes but not hurricanes. “That gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, ‘Surfs up,’ doesn’t it?”

  He stretched out his arms like he was balancing on a long board. “You betcha. Welcome to my world, Moira.”

  -o-o-o-

  ON THE WAY back to Monterey, Thao called me back. I hoped for good news but didn’t expect it. “Hey, great to hear from you.”

  “I’m sorry for the delay. My niece Suong has been extremely busy. Her children will be on spring break next week, and I believe I’ve convinced her to bring her family here.”

  This was turning into a damned good day. “Fantastic. I can check with the clan to see if they can stay at the inn.”

  “No need,” he said. “We prefer she and her family stay with us. She is scheduled to fly here Friday night. I would like to make arrangements for you to meet her on Saturday.”

  “That would be outstanding. Let’s say at ten in the morning. I’ll meet you in the inn’s lobby.”