by S. E. Akers
My eyes narrowed. Like you don’t know. I shot the mouthy bird a dirty glare and gripped the steering wheel. “I’m driving pretty fast…and he’s quite distracting.”
“Oh, pretend he’s one of those cute little hula girls,” Beatrix replied. “Help her out Mr. Webber. Twitch your tail.”
“Whatever,” I grumbled. He can crow all he wants. This ’ole girl ain’t changin’ her tune!
We had just exited Interstate 64 and were pulling onto Highway 92 outside Lewisburg when I ultimately caved. Maybe it was the much curvier road? Maybe it was Katie begging me for more details? Maybe it was the smugness of Beatrix’s calm ruse, trying to pretend she was asleep? Or maybe it was hearing “GUILTY CONSCIENCE” squawking about a million times that did it? Maybe it wasn’t just “one thing”? Between all that, and zooming down road after road with no end in sight on a hunt for my bosom friend’s body, I was just THAT FRAZZLED! But at least I held firm for almost two full-hours. Sadly enough, it had already crossed my lips before it dawned on me that I could’ve mentally shut my little green and yellow taunter up myself.
“Damiec,” I mumbled.
Beatrix stretched her arms. “What about him?” she yawned.
“He’s the one who left the stone.” That woke her up.
“Damiec?” Beatrix questioned, now all ears. “You’re telling me that a cursed Talisman who tried to kill you and attempted to steal your powers simply handed this to you?”
“Not exactly. His messenger did.” Beatrix arched her brow over her aimless chestnut eyes, needing some elaboration. “Fuzzy little jungle monkey,” I blurted. Beatrix’s mouth may have been open, but nothing came out. And she was really struggling for the words too. It was sort of painful to watch.
“What in the name of Medusa’s curls are you talking about?” Beatrix finally demanded.
“Damiec saw all of my memories when he—”
“Yes. I know,” Beatrix interrupted. “But why on earth would he want to help you?” I could feel her studying me like a vexing splinter buried deep underneath her skin. “What haven’t you told me?”
“Tanner had just gone after the fire opal when Damiec found me alone on the beach. I had something that Lorelei had taken from him. He had Katie, so we traded.”
“But that doesn’t explain why he didn’t kill you right then and there. Bargain or not. He’s vowed to carry out his vengeance on us all. It makes no sense whatsoever!” Beatrix charged.
I gripped the wheel as a nauseating feeling rolled out of my stomach and worked its way up to my throat. One deep gulp forced it back down. After all, Tanner didn’t need the remnants of that on his dash along with the bird poo.
“It may have had something to do with what he saw,” I alluded.
“Go on,” Beatrix insisted. “I have a hunch that you’re almost there.”
Ugghhh! My muscles locked into place with a stiff cringe. “A dream I had,” I admitted.
“A dream?” Beatrix questioned.
“Do you remember when I spelled myself in the freezer with Ty?”
Beatrix nodded. “I do.”
There was so way to phrase this delicately. “Damiec was in the dream.”
A loud gasp shot through my head like a steam whistle. “There’s something else you didn’t tell me!” Katie interjected.
“Really?” I objected. “Now?”
“Excuuuse me,” Katie sang.
Beatrix sat motionless in her seat, simply staring out the front windshield. “Exactly what happened in this dream?” Her reflection may have looked as impassive as her tone, but I could tell they were both equally forced.
“Can we discuss this later?” I pleaded. Like never. “We need to focus on finding Katie’s body.”
My bosom friend cleared her throat. “Uh — ‘Katie’ has been without her body for months, but Katie’s soul is dying to hear this,” she stressed. “And I can tell by the way your pulse is racing, it must be killer-good.”
“Ugh!” I grunted. “We were on a beach, near a cove. It was nothing.”
“Damiec wouldn’t have given you such a merciful pass if it was simply ‘nothing’,” Beatrix charged.
I had to tell her something without going into too much detail, mainly to put an end to this gut-churning third-degree. “We were friendly to each other,” I phrased judiciously, though I could still picture me shoveling a huge chunk of dirt out of my grave as it rolled off my tongue.
“How ‘friendly’?” both Katie and Beatrix inquired.
I let out a frustrated sigh only to have my breaths replaced with raw agitation. “Aw Crap! He was approaching Second Base! THERE! Are y’all satisfied?” I grunted. “Can we pleazzze drop this? I feel icky enough just knowing I had the crazy dream. I don’t want to go into it out loud!”
“SECOND-BASE! SECOND-BASE!” Mr. Webber squawked repeatedly.
“I’m going to roll down this window and blow you off the dash if you don’t shut your beak,” I barked at the parakeet. I glanced at Beatrix, who was the only other being sitting in the car that oddly hadn’t made a peep. If I’d had a penny for her thoughts right now, rest assured I wouldn’t have had to carve out a single diamond to save our house!
“It was just a crazy dream. That’s all,” I stressed.
Beatrix scooped Mr. Webber off the dash and leaned back in her seat. “That explains a lot,” my mentor mumbled while she listlessly stroked his feathers and remained deep in the trenches of her thoughts.
The Talisman who was never at a loss for words remained locked in a trance for several miles. I didn’t think she would ever snap out of it, but she eventually did by the time we’d reached the edge of White Sulphur Springs.
“We need to get some gas,” Beatrix insisted, now fully alert.
I checked the gauge — the same one she hadn’t even glanced at. “We still have a half a tank,” I remarked.
“But the stone hasn’t reached its peak,” she argued, sounding downright adamant. “We don’t know how much farther we have to go. Pull over at the next station.”
“Okay,” I complied, noting the sudden shift in her demeanor.
I pulled into a run-down Stop-’n-Go a couple of miles down the road, as requested. I peeked into the car through the rear windows while I pumped the gas. Beatrix was scanning every inch of the interior like she was desperately searching for something. But what?
Once I had lowered the iconic flagged lid to a close, I crept around to her door and tapped on the window. She about hit her head on the roof. “I’m going in to pay. Do you need anything?” I inquired curiously.
“Not a thing,” Beatrix grinned sweetly and flicked her hands. “Run along, dear.”
I smiled back, playing along. “Furtive” was the last thing I needed on my plate right now — it was already piled up with doubt, danger, and a side order of crazy.
“Bea’s acting weird now,” I revealed to Katie as I pushed open the glass door.
“Can you blame her?” she laughed. “Who knew you had such a vivid imagination.”
“Don’t start,” I replied as I handed the clerk my debit card. “I couldn’t care less about what was going on in the dream. I’m more confused by why I had it in the first place? Some guy I’ve never seen before? Ever?”
“Do you think it was a premonition?” Katie asked.
“No. I can’t have them on my own. That’s the thing.”
“Did you drink any Emerald Eyes that night?”
The cashier handed me the keypad. “NO,” I insisted, just as forcefully as I punched in my code.
“That is kind of odd,” Katie concurred.
After a quick trip to the ladies’ room, I strolled out the door and hurried back to the car. Even under the crappy flickering fluorescent lights Tanner’s ’63 Vette looked wicked-hot. I just hoped he wasn’t too pissed at us for ditching him and hijacking his sweet ride. We still hadn’t heard a word from him, and considering he was in town to “baby-sit”, it seemed downright bizarre.
; Beatrix slammed the glove compartment shut as I slid down into the seat. “What were you looking for?” I inquired.
“Mints,” Beatrix replied, empty-handed but with that same candy-coated smile.
“Do you want me to run back inside and—”
“No. No. That’s quite all right,” Beatrix insisted. “The craving has passed.”
I sat there for a moment analyzing her kooky behavior and trying to make sense of it. She hadn’t been herself since I revealed the “censored” details about the dream. Good thing I didn’t go into any specifics. That would’ve twisted the lemon right out of her tea.
Beatrix glanced at her watch. “Katie’s body is not going to come to us, dear,” she urged. “I suggest we get moving.”
I pulled back onto Highway 92, headed north. We hadn’t made it down the road a hundred feet when Tanner’s voice boomed in my head.
“Shiloh, where are you? Tell me, RIGHT NOW!” Tanner demanded.
I cringed as I reached for my bag.
“Both hands on the wheel please,” Beatrix ordered.
“Tanner’s calling,” I announced. “Can you get my amethyst out for me?”
“Of course,” my mentor replied as sweet as honey, though as soon as Beatrix had it in her hand, she rolled down the window and pitched it straight out.
My mouth fell into my lap. There goes another one! “What did you do THAT for?” I shrieked.
“It slipped?” Beatrix posed.
Are you kiddin’ me? “Ugh! How am I going to answer him NOW?”
“Do what I’ve been doing for the past five minutes… Just don’t.”
“WHAT?”
“Do you want to him to deter us in any way?” Beatrix asked.
“No, but—”
“Because if you think for one second that he’s going to let you go after her body at the risk of running into the Onyx, then you’re nothing short of insane,” Beatrix insisted. “Especially after everything you went through in Mexico.”
“But—”
“He’ll want to know where you got the howlite,” Beatrix warned. “And why?”
Talk about someone checking my king. “You’re right about that,” I mumbled uneasily.
Beatrix patted my arm. “I always am.”
Tanner kept bombarding me with questions and ordering me to answer him. Beatrix sensed it too by my decreasing speed.
“No need to distract you while you’re driving,” Beatrix said. With a speedy snap of her fingers, our connection broke off merely seconds before he was about to tell me something he swore was extremely important.
“Did you just cut us off?” I asked.
Beatrix grinned. “We’ll tell him that we lost signal in the mountains. It happens all the time,” she added with a frivolous wave.
“Yeah. He’s really going to buy that.”
“He won’t be mad at you. He knows it’s me,” Beatrix sighed. “Rest assured, he’s probably tracking us as we speak.”
Our unknown course continued onward along what seemed like a never-ending chain of curvy roads and bright-yellow double-lines. After Highway 92 led us onto Route 28, my nerves shifted into high gear — but not because of Katie. My distress stemmed from what was flanking our right side. At one point we got so close to the Virginia State Line that I could actually feel the energy from Bea and Padimae’s collective spell. I tried to tune out thoughts of Lorelei popping up and prayed that on this evening, we stayed well on the left side of Hell.
The stone’s glow increased when we crossed into Pendleton County. I glanced at Mr. Webber perched on Beatrix’s finger. This was where he and his son, Neil, were last seen. My suspicious gaze shifted towards Bea. Somehow she knew tonight was to be a homecoming of sorts, and not just for Katie. Bringing her hair along… Knowing we could locate her body tonight… Not wanting Tanner to come.
Oh yeah…Something’s definitely up.
After we cruised through the small town of Circleton, the howlite’s glow guided us onto US Route 33 — East.
“Thirty-three runs straight into Virginia,” I voiced uneasily.
“Not for twenty or thirty miles down the road,” Beatrix said. “Give or take.”
Lucky for me, the signal started to fade twelve miles in. I screeched to a halt in the middle of the road and backed up in a tire-smoking squeal. There was nothing but towering, shadowy trees for as far as our eyes could see. Beatrix waved the howlite from left to right. The light was strongest on her side, so I veered the car off the road and crept it into park.
Beatrix retrieved a small pouch from the back and draped it over her shoulder. “Looks like we’re walking,” my always-prepared mentor beamed as she popped open the door. I couldn’t help but notice the pair of Asics she was sporting on her normally designer-shoe clad feet. She even paused to pick up a long sturdy stick to use as a walking prop.
Humph… Don’t you look comfy. I cut the engine, hopped out, and yanked off my five-inch, sparkly heels. “You couldn’t have foreseen to bring my sneakers?” I posed, half-teasing. Or some jeans, I grumbled silently. “You brought Katie’s hair? And the bird?” Beatrix shook her head and smiled as she headed into the forest, stroking Mr. Webber while he squawked off another humiliating round of “SECOND BASE”. I slung my heels behind the seat and snatched up my clutch.
Why is there never a hungry mountain lion when you need one!
With my hilt securely in hand, I shut the door and followed Beatrix’s lead. Between the full moon and the intensity of the howlite’s glow, there wasn’t any need for a flashlight. Our path couldn’t have been better lit if a pack of hunters were spotlighting our trail. We trekked through the woods at a semi-speedy pace while I reassured Katie and Bea kept a heedful watch on the time.
“How much longer will the moon be full?” I whispered covertly.
“Roughly two hours,” Beatrix replied telepathically.
I stopped in my tracks. “You’re kidding?”
She held up the howlite. Its light was practically blinding. “That’s plenty of time.”
I hope.
We ran upon several “Keep Out” and “Private Property” signs tacked to numerous trees about a mile into our jaunt. Our uncertain trail ended in a small valley lying at the foot of a large mountain, where a sign was posted along with a crisscrossing steel barricade. I didn’t have to look at the stone. I knew this was the place.
HELLHOLE CAVE
Do Not Enter
Private Property
“All it’s missing is a glaring black “X”,” Beatrix chuckled as she scooted the sturdy barrier away from the entrance with an effortless whirl of air.
I nodded. “You think?”
“Where are you?” Katie asked.
“At the entrance of a cave,” I grumbled.
Beatrix poked her head inside the jagged opening, along with the glowing howlite. The whistle she belted out seemed endless. “It drops straight down too. Maybe a hundred plus feet?”
“Why did it have to be another cave?” I groaned. My gripe to the cosmos tickled Bea. I glared at her, unamused. “You laugh, but nothing good EVER happens in a cave!”
“I beg your pardon. You found your diamond inside a cave,” Beatrix contended.
“Ha! And I almost broke every bone in my body doing so too!”
Beatrix patted my back. “Then you’ll be sure to mind yourself on the way down this time,” she affirmed and then pushed me inside the pitch-black hole.
I illuminated my golden topaz quickly, trying to do just that. A jarring jolt shot up my legs no sooner than the stone’s light appeared — but at least I landed on my feet, this time. I looked up to see Beatrix descending gracefully, looking like Mary Poppins sans her black parasol and tapestry satchel. Mr. Webber was even perched perfectly-still on her daggone shoulder.
“Do you see anything?” Katie asked.
My eyes panned around the massive dusky chamber. “Nothing but rocks,” I replied as I listened to the echo of my voice bouncing around t
he creepy cave.
Beatrix shushed me. “I think it’s best if we only speak telepathically.”
“Do you think he’s down here?” I whispered, mentally this time.
“Hard to say, but right now, I’m more concerned about—” Beatrix stopped mid-sentence. I followed her motionless lead and turned my attention to a peculiar sound that seemed to be growing. “Bats!” she called out and threw her arms over her head. Suddenly a swarm of the winged creatures charged out of a fissure and whirled around us in a smacking fit. Beatrix quickly summoned a vigorous gust that shooed them out of the cave.
“Ugh! Disgusting creatures!” Beatrix fussed as she knocked a few stragglers off her arm.
I untangled one out of her hair and held it up. “You mean there’s actually something with wings that you don’t like?” I laughed.
Beatrix blew it out of my hand with a sneer, sending the critter on its way. “I’ve never been partial to flying rats,” she affirmed with a quiver and scooped up Mr. Webber. “There, there,” Beatrix cooed as she stroked his feathers. “I promise. Those nasty little things are gone.” Once our mascot was back on her shoulder, she waved the glowing stone towards the narrow opening and instructed, “This way.”
With our path now clear, we crept through the fissure and forged ahead down the dim, hollowed-out tunnel. We twisted and crouched for a good mile. The bottoms of my feet may have been unscathed, but I still felt the nagging chafe of every jagged rock. There were even a few questionable “squishes” I didn’t bother to formally check out. Right about the time we thought the tunnel would never end, the howlite guided us over to a large crack scored into one of its walls. We edged our way through it and found ourselves standing in another sweeping chamber that branched off into three different passageways.
Beatrix waved the howlite in front of each entrance. Only one of the openings made the stone’s light surge. The scene looked far too familiar, so I took the lead and called upon the lapis lazuli’s powers, mostly to surprise Bea. I shot a quick gust of air down the tunnel to check for any booby-traps. Nothing happened. No diamond-covered spikes… No harrowing cave-ins full of iron-rich hematite… Absolutely nothing. I turned to Beatrix and motioned for her to follow. “Lucky number three?” I posed proudly.