My heart sank.
The engine was still running when we returned to the dust-covered car. We brushed off enough for me to see through the windows and Cash watched me like a hawk as I fastened my seatbelt.
“Familiars.” I exhaled, tapped my thumb on the steering wheel. “Do you think they followed us from the station? Were they waiting for me? Do they work for Petra?” I planted my foot on the accelerator and we took off.
Cash opened the glove compartment, pulled the gun out and rested it on his lap. He stroked the hilt with his thumb and peered at me. “Do you know what familiars are?”
I shrugged. “Fledgling witches?”
“Witches are inherently selfish,” Cash said. “They are consumed with survival and their own obsessions. Familiars are a partnership of convenience. Spirits without the knowledge to take a human body themselves enter a blood oath with a witch and trade favors until they’re given the body-snatching secret.” He studied the road and his voice became gravelly. “After a mortal death, a human soul is pulled back into the dust from which it came. It becomes part of the world’s consciousness, and waits for a time to be reborn again. “
“Are you saying that the planet is alive?”
“In a way. We’re all comprised of matter and atoms, the same particles—even stars are…”
He paused. I looked over at him. A memory?
He shook himself and continued, his voice steady, face hard. “But the soul is made of pure energy. Atoms give off energy and absorb energy. Sometimes a soul, male or female, is strong enough to deny the pull of nature and, instead of returning to the earth, it becomes a witch—a sentient being of energy or chi. Witches know the frequency and wavelengths to travel to enter a body. They make deals with humans who are afraid they won’t have the strength to resist the pull of the earth and, with a pre-death agreement, these humans become Familiars. The witch shares the frequency needed to possess animals, but not the one for female bodies, locking them into a contract of servitude. The fact that they can’t inhabit a human body is not because they’re weak, it’s because they’re simply not allowed to. When blood is shared by beings of power, an unbreakable contract can be made. One that coerces and binds. That’s why it’s important not to share your blood with anyone.”
“Whoa, you just blew my mind,” I said. “Witches can be both male or female?”
“Their souls, yes. The bodies they possess are female only.”
“How do you know so much?”
“I’ve been around a while. Not physically… This body is only twenty-six, but my mind remembers. Chi is an ancient concept, quantum physics is new. It’s really quite similar.”
“So, what do you think they want with us?”
“Obviously to maliciously harm us—you, to be precise. It was a trap. Couldn’t you feel them, sense them coming?”
Suddenly on the defensive, I shrank a little in the seat and wrung my hands on the wheel. “Well…” I thought about it for a second. “I could feel this twisting and pulling energy in the middle of the dust storm, and there was a loud buzzing that didn’t stop. I couldn’t see anything, but it was there. I felt like it was touching me.”
“Can you feel them now?”
I inexpertly groped our surroundings with my mind. “I don’t think so, but we’re moving so fast.”
I thought again of the twisting cold but there was nothing like it outside, just the warmth radiating from the window next to me.
“Come to think of it, there had been three signatures. I’ll try again when w—”
“What’s that?” Cash pointed at the road ahead where a kangaroo hopped into the middle and stopped. It was huge, not usual for the local area. Cash waved forward. “Keep driving, it will move.”
“Are you insane? It’s giant. I’m not going to run over it.”
On its hind legs, it was almost two meters high. I drifted to the right. Cash leaned across and tugged the wheel. We were back in the center of the road.
“It’s the third familiar,” he said. “Who cares if you run it over? In fact, it’s better that you do.”
Long bounding hops brought it closer, and then it pulled up straight to its full height, squared-off muzzle twitching.
“I’m not hitting it because it will jump on its back legs and hop through the windscreen. When it gets through, it will pump its crazy gigantor legs until we’re dead. That’s what kangaroos do.” I put my hand on his wrist and pulled the steering wheel back.
He glared at me, fuming. “It’s not a kangaroo. It won’t act like a normal animal.”
“How can you know that?” We struggled for control of the wheel and I forgot about the danger on the road until we were almost on top of it. Then I freaked and let go of the wheel. Cash pulled it toward him and the car veered sharply, clipped the kangaroo, struck the curb side ditch and flipped.
Airborne and upside down, the airbags deployed with a pop and white smoke puffed into the air. We floated in clouds, except the clouds weren’t fluffy, they smacked into our faces and bodies like a brick wall. My hand, which had been between the wheel and my body, smacked into my face. My cheekbone crunched as it fractured. The car crashed into a tree, then rotated and ricocheted to glance off another. The car was the ball and the forest—a giant pinball machine. Our bodies rattled from side to side until the car landed, driver side down. The engine hissed. The metal creaked and cracked. I groaned, hurting all over. Above me, Cash obstructed my only way out. He hung from his seatbelt, half obscured in a tangled mass of deflated airbag and white dust.
“Cash?” I croaked, the powder from the airbags tasted like dirt. I only had a second to worry about him. Then he moved like he’d been hit with adrenaline. He released his seatbelt and pulled himself through the window above.
I struggled against my restraints and the slippery fabric from the airbags. All I could see was white, and all I could smell was fuel.
I heard a gunshot.
I stopped struggling and waited, listening to the sound of my shallow breathing.
My head rested on the ground and sticks poked me through the white fabric next to my temple. Blood trickled down my forehead. I touched the tender site at my cheek. My nose ached as well. I explored it but it felt okay, no bits sticking out and, apart from a sore forehead, I was whole.
A second gunshot echoed through the cabin and sparks flew inside my mind and down my limbs.
A shadow moved across the interior of the car and the airbag canvas disappeared through the passenger window. Cash poked his head in. “Unlock your seatbelt and grab my hand. I’ll pull you out.”
I sniffed. “Do I smell petrol?” Petrol could mean fire, fire could mean boom.
“Grab my hand.” Cash’s voice was flat. Shit. I didn’t want to test my fast healing with an explosion and fumbled for the seat belt clasp, but I couldn’t get my fingers to work. My head pounded, and the smell of petrol conjured visions of flames and heat. I licked my dry lips and shook my head, panting, squeezing tears from my eyes. I’d always thought if I died in flames it would be at the stake, not in a car accident.
“Focus, La Roux. You need to undo the clasp, reach up and I’ll do the rest. Your legs aren’t caught are they?”
“No.” I sniffed and wiggled my toes.
“Good. Take a deep breath and undo the clasp.”
I breathed in, exhaled slowly, then closed my eyes and felt for the buckle. I pressed the button and sighed in relief when I heard the latch unhook. Untangling myself, I pulled my legs through the confined space and used the wreckage to lever up. I raised my hands and Cash’s gripped them tightly. He lifted me with ease, slowly and safely out of the cabin and guided me to the forest floor below. From the corner of my eye, I saw the kangaroo’s body lying in the brush.
“It might come back for us,” Cash said. “Let’s go.”
We ran.
At a presumably safe distance, I allowed my legs to collapse and dropped in the shade of a large tree, then buried my head in my tre
mbling hands. I’d had way too much excitement for one day.
Cash’s deep voice broke through. “Can you sense them?”
I thought about it for a moment, but couldn’t feel anything out of the ordinary. “No, but I wouldn’t exactly rely on my head at the moment, it doesn’t seem to be working very well.” I took in another breath and felt tiny buzzing bees swimming in the air but when I looked, there was nothing. The noise put me on edge and throbbed in my head.
“Thank goodness we got out before the car exploded,” I said to keep my mind off the sound. Flames danced across my imagination, taunting me with what might have been.
Cash snorted. “That’s a fallacy, cars don’t explode—an absurdity of the film industry I presume?” His feet shuffled in the crunchy undergrowth in front of me. “Get up, we need to put as much distance between us and them as soon as possible.”
He lifted me to my feet and guided me further into the forest.
“Shouldn’t we get back to the road?” I asked, trotting after him. “Someone will pass by and be able to help.”
“No, there’s a brook nearby. We’ll follow it until we’re sure the familiars aren’t behind us. They’re afraid of the water.”
“Are you sure? We’re kilometers away from anywhere. I noticed a lodge back there, we should go back for help.”
He ignored me and kept walking, pulling me along. He must have been in a rush, he’d left his carefully folded designer jacket on the back seat of the car.
“Do you need me to translate the kilometers thing to miles?” I intended the comment as sarcasm, but he didn’t seem to pick up on it.
He gave me a look of disdain. “I got it, thanks. The brook’s not far and my place is at the end of the brook, near the ocean.”
The pain from my injuries waned, I could move my neck fluidly but my cheek and temple ached—and itched. I didn’t fancy trekking through the bush in the hot sun. Also, the incessant, invisible bees made me feel nauseous. I couldn’t tell where they were, it confused me and threw my senses out of whack. I trailed after Cash but soon broke into a trot to keep up with his long strides. For the second time in twenty-four hours I was covered from head to toe in blood, sweat and dirt. There really was no escaping this new lifestyle of mine.
“How long is it going to take?” I asked, slightly out of breath.
“Not long, maybe two or three hours.”
Chapter 11
We hit the brook ten minutes later. Cash paused, stood on the bank and pulled out his phone to check for reception. He rotated with the phone lifted high. The ragged shirt tucked into his pants pulled out to reveal the toned ridges of his stomach. Yup. Those were some nice abs. I stifled an appreciative whistle and turned away to inspect the brook.
“Oh, thank you, thank you. Water,” I said and planted myself on my behind to remove my too big, standard-issue prisoner shoes. I rolled up my pink pants to the knees then jumped down to the creek and splashed water on my face, sighing in pleasure. My legs wobbled, and my lips opened as my body relaxed. Totally immersed in physical bliss, I undid the press-studs to my waist and pulled off my sleeves. It was much cooler in just the black singlet. I tied the sleeves of the jumpsuit around my middle and bent forward to dunk my head.
I dangled upside down, allowing the icy coldness to seep into my skin, and peered through the gap between my legs. Cash leaned against a tree and studied me with his arms folded and eyes sparkling in the sun. In an instant, I realized how stupid I must look, ass in the air, head in the water. If he noticed me noticing him, he didn’t show it.
I watched the water flowing through my hair, the fine blonde and brown strands spread like jellyfish tentacles. Huh, that was strange, I looked closer. The water buzzed. I tilted my head. If I listened closely, the buzzing changed frequency where the current hit my hair. My fingers trailed through the water and I heard a different frequency—no, it was more than a sound; the vibrations crawled up my skin. Could I be sensing the essence of the world around me? My chest tightened at the magnitude of my thoughts and I darted a glance at Cash. He’d said he knew why I was changing.
I squeezed my hair and stood up. Wet, cold strands flipped over my back and droplets trickled between my shoulder blades. The buzzing enthralled me and I cast my senses out in a wide net. Every time they hit an object, I adjusted my focus and felt the frequency change. I laughed, awestruck as warmth spread through me. Feeling lighter, I splashed through the brook to the nearest tree and reached out. My hand passed through a small membrane of energy that covered the bark before making contact with a pop. The vibrations of life scuttled up my skin like ants and I gasped. When I jerked my hand back—the feeling dissipated. Finally, I was aware of the origin of the buzzing. Once this happened the sensation faded into the background, like inconsequential white noise. With knowledge came understanding.
At peace with the niggling noise, I picked up my shoes and joined Cash under the tree.
“Thank you for earlier,” I said.
“What for?”
“For having me released and saving me back there, with the horse-thing.”
“It was the right thing to do.” His thumb stroked his chin, and he gave me the once over, shaking his head slightly. He turned and walked further into the bush. “Let’s get moving, we can walk and talk.”
I jogged after him. “Okay, so let’s get back to that conversation in the car. Why do you think the familiars wanted to harm me? Do they work for Petra?”
“I’m inclined to think not. They wanted to harm you, but Petra wanted to use you. Why you, though?”
“She might be confused. She might think I’m someone else.”
“How do you mean?”
I chewed my cheek. I supposed I had to trust someone and, like Cash said, I couldn’t do this on my own. He did save my life.
“So, what you saw on that memory byte, that was me as a baby and I’m pretty sure I absorbed a witch’s powers. Petra says I feel like her friend. She must mean Kiya—that’s the name she gave her. She must think her friend was somehow reborn as me but I don’t have past life memories like you do. So it can’t be true, right? Does that even make sense?”
He turned to me. “You aren’t a witch, La Roux. I’m never wrong when it comes to that.”
“Well, what am I then?”
“That’s not for me to say. When we get back to my place, there’s someone I’d like you to meet. He’ll be the one deciding what to tell you.”
“Oh,” I said. “Wait—I thought you were a consultant. You have a boss?”
“I’m not supposed to tell you. I do and I don’t. You’ll see.”
“Okay, well, what about Nephilim—can you tell me that?”
He made a kind of constipated groan and blew out a sharp breath.
“C’mon,” I whined. “You said you would tell me.”
“Yeah, I know.” He stopped walking and caught my gaze. He tramped to a tree and gestured for me to sit. “It kind of falls under the same umbrella as the other business. We’re about half way. Let’s take a break and I’ll start. If you are what I think you are, then it won’t matter.”
I perked up and sat cross-legged, folding my hands in my lap, careful not to do anything to arouse his irritation.
He reclined against the back of the tree trunk. “Where do you believe humans come from?”
“From the big bang and evolution. That’s what science tells us.”
“You aren’t religious?”
“No, I’m an atheist. I don’t believe in gods, I believe in what I see.”
“So billions of people around the world believe in some form of divine intervention—Christians, Muslims, Buddhists—but, they’re all wrong?”
“Yes.”
He squared his shoulders. “Well, you’d be right. They’re different versions of the same story. If you look closely enough, you’ll find there are similarities too coincidental to be dismissed as fable.”
“Like what?”
“Like the floo
d. It’s spoken about in the Bible, Greek mythology, ancient Babylonian times and in Egyptian mythology, to name a few. All speak about the great deluge that was sent to rid the world of Nephilim, abominations, or something similar. They all tell their own version of the same event.”
“So what’s Nephilim?”
“It’s the term humans have given to the by-product of an angel or god and a human union.”
“By-product, you mean offspring. So, I’m half angel and you are too?” He had to be kidding.
“Perhaps, or a demi-god, depending on who is telling the story.”
“So, just to be clear. One of my parents is a god, and the other is mortal? Yours too?” I snorted. My father was a divine asshole, that was for sure, but he looked normal. Maybe my mother was the special one. She would’ve had to be special to shack up with my dad. But something didn’t add up. “But, you said religion is false.”
He fidgeted with his shirtsleeves before answering. “Religion as this world knows it, yes that’s true.”
“You’re not making sense.” My brain hurt.
He leaned his head back on the tree trunk and studied me. “You could be the biggest Player this world has ever seen, and yet, you were discarded years ago. I don’t get it.”
“Player? Like gangsta style, or ladies man?”
“If you refer to the colloquial term used in the African American subculture, no, not that kind of player. And not the kind that uses manipulation to pick up women. I’ve said too much so you’ll have to wait. Let’s get going.”
I glanced up at the sky and agreed, the sun had started its descent but we still might have a few hours before dark. “So, I don’t get it, if not from gods, or the big bang, where did humans come from?”
His eyes burned holes through me and I squirmed from the attention. He finally broke the hold and angled his head to the sky. Aliens? Was this guy for real?
“Don’t mention any of this to Tommy. He’s in the dark about it, and I’d like to keep him that way. For his safety.”
Buddy, I wouldn’t even know where to start. I nodded briefly and stood up.
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