Barely anything on? What do you mean? Did they take your clothes off? asked Aarik, his voice in her mind rising with each question.
Easy, big guy. According to Diego, some Ah’naki female changed my clothes and as far as I can tell nobody has touched me beyond that. Kiya answered, with a small smile at the jealousy in Aarik’s voice.
Thank God, you’re alright. I’ll have Anna take me back to the terracraft and, using the coordinates he left for me, I should be able to come rescue you within the hour. Do you think you can last that long? Aarik asked in relief.
They took your terracraft, replied Kiya softly.
Do you think you could get back to it? Aarik asked, concentrating.
Seeing as I was knocked unconscious when they brought me here, it would be by chance, but considering the alternative; I would be willing to give it a shot if I had a way to power it, but I doubt someone is going to let me borrow a medallion or power up the podium for me without persuasion. Speaking of persuasion...as soon as Th’ael wakes up, I’ll have no control over my actions. Kiya responded in defeat.
Don’t give up so easily, sweetheart. We’ll think of something. Your grandma wanted me to ask you if you remembered the song she sang to you as a child. Aarik asked tenderly.
Yes, why? Kiya questioned as she flushed the toilet and turned on the water to wash her hands. Mentally tapping her foot she hoped she had a few more minutes before Diego busted in on her.
She said it can be used to block him from controlling your mind. Just sing it repeatedly whenever he’s around and you’ll be able to resist his voice. We’re on our way back to Vos’rok and as soon as I see the coordinates we’ll be on our way to get you. Try to stay out of trouble until I get there.
How long will that be? Kiya asked with a frown, as she poked around her cheekbone and winced when she brushed the cut below her eye.
Anna just informed me that no matter where you are on the planet, we can be there in less than twelve hours, responded Aarik, with a smile in his voice.
Good to know, but I don’t think I have that much time. I’ll play the song on repeat for as long as I can, but he’s expecting to break me tonight, body and soul, might I add, and while I’m no longer afraid he’ll take over my soul, I’m well aware he can still break my body, Kiya uttered with a shudder, turning off the water reluctantly.
Over my dead body, said Aarik in a deadly voice. I’ll be there in a little over an hour. You’re not far from here. You must be on a large island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean if you’re in a cavern of any type. Hopefully I’ll be there before he wakes. Aarik offered in a calmer voice, as he tried to hold back his anger and urgency.
“Time’s up in there,” Diego called out in warning.
“Just wiping my hands. I’ll be right out,” Kiya yelled back, before she looked into the mirror for encouragement and said, Here’s to hoping luck is on our side. She pushed away from the counter and opened the door with a flourish to find Diego swinging a medallion like Aarik’s.
“Took you long enough,” Diego grumbled, as he grasped the disk mid swing and stared at it with admiration before he added, “He promised to have someone train me in the ways of my people after I helped him obtain the crystal your ancestor stole from him.”
“You’re dumber than I thought if you believe him,” Kiya blurted out and wished she could rewind time when she watched Diego close down and stand to leave.
“Think what you want, but I’ll be the one with the last laugh when he turns you into a mindless slave in less than a few hours,” taunted Diego, as he strode over to Kiya and looked down at her with disgust.
“Anyone ever tell you, your breath stinks?” asked Kiya, as he looked at her in confusion and cupped his mouth to take a whiff of his breath. Just as he was about to respond, Kiya kicked him in the groin with as much force as she could manage and when he crumpled to the floor holding his injured manhood, she snatched the medallion and scrambled out the door. Looking both ways, she crossed her fingers and headed left, hoping it lead her toward the terracraft and her eventual escape.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
AARIK
Aarik searched the area frantically and dropped to his knees in surrender for failing to protect Kiya. He found it hard to believe Th’ael was capable of teleporting away with her, but when he could find no trace of them he cried out in desperation for the immense loss he instantly felt. The act was more than his body could handle and as the last of the cry left his lips he crumpled forward in defeat. Taylor, free of Th’ael’s power, rushed forward and caught him before he hit the ground and said, “I’ve got you. What do you want me to do?”
“I...need to...go...after...them,” Aarik bit out breathlessly. Pushing off of Taylor, he stood up and teetered dangerously before Anna stepped up to his other side and slung his arm over her shoulder stopping him from falling.
“Be reasonable, Aarik, you can barely stand! I’m not sure how you think you’ll be able to face off against him without any of your strength. I think we should leave now before he comes back and starts picking us off one by one. He might have Kiya, but he doesn’t have the crystal and we can use that to barter for her life,” pleaded Anna, as she led him back to the helicopter with Taylor’s help.
“She’s right, Aarik. Let’s take a minute to regroup and at least come up with a plan,” Taylor added, as he helped Aarik into the helicopter and sat him next to Kiya’s grandmother, Tashina.
Aarik was surprised Tashina was not upset they were leaving without her granddaughter, but soon understood where Kiya got some of her strength from when she said, “Under normal circumstances I would be ecstatic to meet my future grandson and would have cooked you something delicious, of that I am sure, but considering our location and present situation that meal will have to wait. Instead, I need you to reach Kiya telepathically while Anna over there takes us back to my place.”
“I can’t. My telepathy is limited by distance,” Aarik replied, shaking his head in defeat.
“Piddle posh. You’re like a newborn baby just learning to walk and with practice you’ll be able to run. Now get to practicing so we can get my granddaughter back in one piece. Hopefully you are a quick learner, because by my estimates we only have ‘til night fall, before saving her is not a possibility,” responded Grandma Tashina, folding her arms across her chest as she stared Aarik down, daring him to argue with her.
Aarik opened his mouth to ask her how she knew when Anna interrupted him by saying, “No pressure or anything, but trust me on this one, Aarik. She knows things. If she told me you flew, I’m one hundred percent certain you would sprout wings from your back and fly.”
“I hope she’s right and I hope she’s wrong but, regardless, I’ll try” replied Aarik, looking over to Tashina to gauge her reaction.
“Why so conflicted?” asked Anna, lifting the helicopter into the air seamlessly.
“If she’s right, I only have a few hours to save Kiya,” answered Aarik solemnly.
“True, but then that also means you’ll be able to reach her,” added Anna, with renewed hope.
“I hope so,” said Aarik, as he looked over at Tashina and said, “No offense, ma’am, but if you know everything before it’s going to happen, why didn’t you stop her from being taken? You could have stopped her from coming here in the first place.”
“None taken, son. I never said I knew everything, but I have been known to have a bit of the sight. I didn’t know she would be taken until he was standing behind her and witnessed it with my own eyes. What I did see, though, was you saving her, so quit wasting time asking stupid questions and start stretching your reach. Oh and when you make contact, ask her if she remembers the song I used to sing to her when she was little,” quipped Grandma Tashina, with a smirk.
Aarik closed his eyes and for the first time struggled to reach the zone of knowledge since he began using his gifts. Filled with dread he opened his eyes and said, “Have you ever been wrong?”
“No, but lat
ely my timing has been a little off. Why do you ask?” Tashina stated flatly.
“I’ve got nothing left in the tank and can’t seem to even accomplish touching the part of me that would be able to reach her,” admitted Aarik, slumping lower into the seat in defeat and exhaustion.
“Oh my. How silly of me,” answered Tashina, before she stretched forward in her seat and said, “Anna, dear, how much longer? I need something from my study to help out our hero in the making.”
“Less than a minute, and not a moment too soon, in my opinion. My bladder won’t last much longer. Taylor, will you be a dear and grab my bag from under your seat?”
Taylor pulled out a large pink tote and balancing it on his lap he said, “Geez. What do you have in this thing?”
“Oh a little bit of everything, but the majority of the weight comes from the batteries powering the device I made to cloak this helicopter from the man,” answered Anna with a smile, as she landed the craft behind the barn. Squirming in her seat, she unbuckled and turned to Taylor with her hand out and said, “Speaking of which, it’s time to switch them out.”
When Taylor continued to stare at Anna, without any indication he had heard her request, she said, “That thing you are holding is the only thing keeping Director Sorr and her minions from knowing our exact location...I need to change the battery...which means you are the only thing keeping me from exiting this vehicle and going to the potty room.”
Taylor blinked once and turned bright red with embarrassment, before he lowered his eyes and handed over Anna’s tote blindly. When she grabbed it from him he mumbled, “Sorry. Your intellect stuns and amazes me to the point that I look like a bumbling idiot any time I’m around you, it seems.”
“Aren’t you just the cutest thing and, if it makes you feel any better, I don’t think you’re an idiot at all,” gushed Anna, with a gleam in her eye. Shaking her head, she sobered a bit, reached into her bag, and pulled out a metal remote-control looking device. Without anywhere to put it, she shrugged and said, “Here, hold this,” handing Taylor her contraption, she continued to pull out the USB cord and large lithium battery it was attached to. Anna swapped out the battery and said, “There, that should give us a few more hours. Would you mind putting it back for me so we can get out of here?”
“Sh….sure. How exactly does it cloak a stealth helicopter?” asked Taylor, while he put the bag back, unbuckled and headed toward the back to help Aarik to the house.
“It conceals our location by scrambling the GPS coordinates coming from the Real Time Locator chip in this baby, to a random region of the world every fifteen seconds using satellite technology and a little program I wrote in my spare time,” answered Anna, as she opened the door and helped Tashina to the ground.
“If it’s random don’t you think your real location would eventually be sent during one of those transmissions?” Taylor grunted, as he labored under Aarik’s weight on their way to the house.
“Yes, but I made sure it wouldn’t be within the first twenty-four hours. I deduced when I was designing it, they would give up on trying the different locations this thing transmitted after the first eight hours. Plus, I wasn’t sure how long I would need to be incognito, so I didn’t want to exclude my location, either. If they were smart and had someone tracking the coordinates over time, my exclusion could be used as the bull’s eye,” answered Anna, as she tiptoed up the wooden steps and waited for Aarik and Taylor on the porch while Tashina opened the door with an old skeleton key and disappeared inside.
Aarik, tired of their flirtatious banter, lashed out at Taylor and said, “If the two of you are finished dallying, I’d like to go inside to rest.”
“No reason to be mean and nasty to your friends, young man,” Grandma Tashina called out from inside, before adding, “Taylor set him down on the sofa in the parlor room to your left. I’ll be out in a jiffy.”
Taylor shuffled into the parlor room and, leaning over, carefully lowered Aarik onto the sofa before he looked him in the eye and said, “I’m going to forget you just said that because I know you’re hurting at the moment, but when you’ve had a chance to think about what an ass you made out of yourself back there, I want you to apologize to Anna.”
Aarik threw his head back and at the end of a large sigh said, “I know. I will. My outburst was uncalled for.”
“Agreed. Thank you for saying so,” replied Anna, as she entered the room and stopped next to Taylor.
“I’m sorry, Anna. I don’t know what I was thinking,” Aarik answered sheepishly, throwing his arm over his head in shame.
“Probably something along the lines that if you can’t be happy no one else can, but I’ll forgive you if you promise to bring Kiya back safely,” offered Anna with a wink.
Tashina entered the room brandishing burning sage. Chanting in low tones, she waved the smoke around as she visited north, south, east and west before approaching Aarik on the sofa. She finished her chant with a low hum and handed the sage to Anna.
“Good to know you learn so quickly. Maybe you’ll be able to do the same with your gift after I fix you up. Now lay as flat as possible and let me do my magic,” Tashina offered, as she pulled two large crystals from her pocket and held them up while she waited for Aarik to lie back.
“Do my legs need to be flat too?” asked Aarik, as he tried to fit on the little sofa.
“Nah. You can hang them over the edge. All I need is access to your core for what I have in mind, and silence while I conduct the ancient healing ritual,” Tashina answered, before leaning over Aarik with her crystals.
Tashina sang a low melody as she brandished the crystal over Aarik’s core in the shape of the infinity symbol. Aarik could feel the energy passing through his limbs as the song reached a crescendo and gasped when he felt his soul stretch and bounce back into place, feeling fully recharged. He looked up at Tashina and said, “How did you do that?”
“Through the power of sound, of course. That healing spell has been in my family for thousands of years,” answered Tashina, as she stuffed the crystals back into her apron, turning to leave. Shuffling towards the door she stopped and said, “I need to rest before our next adventure. Wake me up if you happen to reach Kiya in the meantime.”
“Wait! Will you show me to Kiya’s room? It might help the connection if I’m close to something of hers,” asked Aarik. Standing up from the couch, he waited for Tashina to respond.
“Suppose it won’t hurt anything. Follow me,” responded Tashina, looking back at Anna and Taylor she said, “Make yourselves at home. The couch folds out as a bed if you want to take a nap, but I’d appreciate it if you kept your bodily fluids to yourself. Not much in the mood to change or wash sheets.”
Aarik looked back at Taylor and wasn’t surprised to find him beat red from Tashina’s sexual comments. Feeling sorry for his friend, he opened his mouth to redirect the conversation when Anna piped up and said, “Don’t worry, Grams, if Taylor and I make a mess, we’ll clean it up for you.”
Aarik laughed out loud and said, “I’ll be in Kiya’s room, meditating and what not. Should I stay in there until you guys give me the all clear?”
Taylor finding his voice said, “Don’t get me wrong, normally I would be all over an opportunity like this, but I find it hard to jest when the fate of our friend and the world for that matter, is at stake.”
Tashina smiled gently and walked back to Taylor. She reached up, gently squeezed his shoulder and said, “Life is full of little moments we choose to either make precious or forgettable. Spending those moments fraught with worry will only manifest negativity for the group. Aarik will find Kiya and together they will save the world. In the meantime, while we wait for him to make contact, use your time wisely. Reconnect to the things around you, while they are still here, so you know what we are fighting for. If one of those things happens to be having great sex with the beautiful woman in front of you, by the gods, have it! Just make sure you clean up after yourself.” She clapped Taylor on the
shoulder before walking back to Aarik and grabbing onto his arm. Leading him toward Kiya’s room she stated, “Those two would take forever to make a move if left to their own devices. Hopefully I didn’t scare you away with how forward I was.”
“Not at all, I thought it was fitting. Too many times we focus our energy on things that don’t matter, or we cannot change. Rarely taking time for the small moments outside of the chaos and reconnecting to what matters. I needed the reminder. Thank you,” Aarik replied, as he followed Tashina into a small upstairs room, he could only assume belonged to Kiya.
Instead of the normal teenage obsession of boy bands or actors she would have crushed on as a teenager, the lilac painted walls were adorned with posters of ancient megalithic structures from around the world. Reminding Aarik that Kiya was just as feminine and girly as she was strong and nerdy. He sat down on her bed, took a deep breath and said hesitantly as he exhaled, “I guess I should get started?”
“Was there something else, pressing, requiring your attention?” asked Tashina, from the doorway.
“No, guess I was looking for one more round of your pep talks,” replied Aarik sheepishly, before ducking his head and adding, “I’m afraid of failing.”
“Well, you’ll definitely fail if you don’t try,” Tashina reminded him before walking out the door and closing it behind her.
Not Aarik’s idea of a pep talk, but as he stared around Kiya’s room he smiled to himself. She had a point, he’d never find out if he didn’t give it a shot. Closing his eyes he entered the AZOK and reached out for Kiya, only to hit a brick wall, metaphorically speaking. Picking at the edges of the obstruction, he heard a faint noise in the distance. Focusing on the sound, he rejoiced when he recognized Kiya’s unusual snore, and set to work on destroying the barrier between them. Aarik wanted nothing but physical distance separating them, when she woke up.
Aarik was beginning to lose hope when Anna poked her head into the room a couple hours later and said, “I don’t mean to interrupt you, but I know how much you function on food. So I figured you could use a little pick me up.” She entered the room long enough to set a tray of food down on the nightstand like an offering, before she backed out of the room quietly. Just as the door closed he called a weak “thanks” and dove into the meal as if he was ravaged. Setting the meal aside, he leaned back onto her bed and tried again to contact Kiya, yelling out for the others when he found her wide awake. Rushing to the door he flung it open and screamed, “I’ve got her! She’s awake!”
Cities of the Forgotten Page 14