sedona files 05 - falling angels

by Christine Pope

  No, Callista really wouldn’t, especially not with Kara and Lance looking on. But I knew I had to make a stand here, even though Raphael and I hadn’t made any concrete plans. Yes, I was itching to go house hunting, but I sort of doubted my parents would be exactly keen to have him stay with me in the casita until we found a place to live. I supposed the two of us could go back up to his ship. For some reason, that felt like backtracking, though. He’d committed to staying with me here, on this world, and that was where we should remain.

  The words came out in a rush. “Raphael is going to stay here. With me. So…I think we’re going to go find a suite or room in one of the local hotels until we can get something more permanent.”

  That was quite possibly the first time in my life that I’d ever seen my uncle look flummoxed. His mouth opened, as if he intended to say something, and then he shut it with an almost audible snap, apparently realizing that this was something he needed to stay out of. If I were his own daughter, matters would have been different, but otherwise….

  Kara was twisting the eternity band on her ring finger, the diamonds sparkling as it went around and around. She, too, had the appearance of someone who desperately wanted to say something but who knew this wasn’t her fight. And God bless her for that, because in the past she hadn’t always kept her nose out of our business. She’d probably thought it was her right to do so, since she was the older sister.

  My mother still had that drained, pale expression on her face, while my father — well, something of the tight, angry clenching of his jaw actually loosened, although I couldn’t say he looked exactly relaxed. More just…tired.

  “So that’s what you’ve decided?” he said.

  We hadn’t, not really. At least not the hotel part. But Raphael gave me a barely perceptible nod, and I said, “Yes. I know it might not be what you wanted to hear, but this thing between us isn’t going away. So I hope you and Mom can learn to be happy for us.”

  “Are you happy?” she asked, a sort of terrible urgency in her voice.

  I didn’t even have to stop to think about her question. The universe had become infinitely stranger over the past couple of days, and I still didn’t know what was going on with the Reptilians, but even so, there was only one answer I could possibly give. “Yes.”

  “Then we’ll be happy for you.” She got up from the couch, then came over and put her arms around me, hugging me fiercely. I caught a faint hint of the perfume she always wore, something fresh and woodsy, clean and bright, just like she was.

  I had to fight back the sudden stinging in my eyes. I really didn’t want to break down in front of everyone, especially when there was such a strong chance someone might misinterpret my reaction.

  Then she surprised me by letting go of me and embracing Raphael in the next instant. The sudden widening of his eyes told me that was about the last thing he’d been expecting, but he awkwardly returned the hug. Luckily, she didn’t hold on for very long, but let go after a second or two, just as my father rose from the couch. He hugged me as well, and afterward sent Raphael an amused glance as he held out his hand.

  “Welcome to the family.”

  Looking infinitely relieved that he wasn’t about to be pulled into another uncomfortable embrace, Raphael took my father’s hand and shook it. “Thank you, Martin.”

  Back on the couch, my aunt and uncle glanced at each other but didn’t say anything. I could only imagine what they must be thinking. Then Lance cleared his throat.

  “Well, it looks as if it’s all’s well that ends well, so we’ll get going.” He paused before adding, “I don’t like this news about the Reptilians, though.”

  “I don’t think any of us do,” Kara said. “But since Callista is home safe and things seem to be quiet for now, we probably shouldn’t worry about it too much yet.”

  “Hmph.” It was all he said, although he managed to communicate worlds of disapproval in that single syllable.

  But then they made their goodbyes, Kara smiling at Raphael and me, Lance giving my companion a single appraising look before the two of them headed out to the entryway, where they retrieved their coats from the hall tree there and let themselves out. They shut the front door quietly enough, but it still seemed as if the sound echoed throughout the house.

  “Well, then,” I said, as we all stood around awkwardly, “I guess I’d better go get some stuff put together.”

  “Do you even know where you’re going?” my mother asked.

  “Not yet,” I replied. “But we’ll find something.”

  “On New Year’s. In Sedona.”

  Technically, the holiday had come and gone, but I could see what she meant. It was Saturday, and the exodus to leave town and head back to wherever people had come from wouldn’t start in earnest until Sunday at the earliest. Even so, there had to be something available.

  I said as much, and she gave me a dubious glance. But I didn’t want to argue. I just wanted to go pack a few things, make some calls, see what I could figure out.

  My father put a hand on her arm and she took a step back, remaining silent as I asked Raphael to follow me out to the casita. Once we were inside and I’d shut the door, I couldn’t help heaving an exaggerated sigh of relief.

  “Thank God that’s over.”

  He stood in the middle of the space, looking around. Yes, technically it was a guest house because it was separate from the main house and had its own bathroom, but it really wasn’t that large. Room enough for my bedroom furniture and a desk under one window and not much more. At least I’d left it neat and clean, since in a space that small, just one thing out of place was enough to make it all look like a mess. Still, I couldn’t help wondering what he thought of the pine furniture and the pieced-silk coverlet from India and the tea-dyed Persian rug on the floor. It was all very different from the sleek, elegant furnishings aboard his ship.

  “It looks like you,” he said after a moment, ignoring my previous comment.

  “Um…thanks.” For some reason, my cheeks warmed. Was that because of his compliment, or because he was standing only a few feet away from my bed?

  Not that the bed was going to get any action. This might have been my space, but I couldn’t imagine being intimate with Raphael there. No, we needed to get ourselves to a hotel room, stat.

  “Anyway,” I said, “I need to make some calls. I know this town is packed with tourists, but there’s got to be something available somewhere. Once I have that figured out, I’ll pack my things and we can go.”

  He nodded, still looking around at the hangings on the walls, the candleholders, the jewelry tray on the nightstand. I’d gone with tapestries and fabric hangings from India and Guatemala not just because they appealed to me, but also because the casita was sort of drafty, and having all that fabric hanging on the walls seemed to help.

  Then the depressing business of calling hotel after hotel, getting more and more “no, sorry, we’re all booked” replies as I went down the list I’d pulled up on my laptop, which had been sitting on my desk on its charging pad the whole time we’d been gone. I was trying the mid-priced places at first, mostly because I didn’t know how long we’d have to stay, and also because I didn’t know if I was the one who’d have to fund this little venture. But when I ran out of options, I started trying the higher-end hotels and resorts, who all gave me the same answer.

  Until I called Enchantment. I’d actually avoided contacting them, just because I couldn’t forget that it was from Enchantment that my mother had set out to confront the Reptilians all those years ago. It seemed like tempting fate to go back there now. But since I was out of options, I tried them anyway — and they’d had a cancellation on one of their junior suites.

  The words “I’ll take it” were out of my mouth even before I started scrabbling in my purse for my credit card. Raphael shot me a curious look, and I nodded.

  Once the arrangements were handled and I’d told the front desk clerk that we’d be there within the hour, I ended
the call and set the phone down on my desk. “All right, we have someplace to land.”

  “Good. I could tell you were beginning to become concerned.”

  Beginning? I wanted to shake my head but decided to let it go. “It’s — it’s fairly close to the abandoned Reptilian base. Is that going to be a problem?”

  Raphael’s eyebrows lifted at that revelation, but I could tell from the faint smile he wore that he wasn’t overly concerned. “No. They have been gone from there for many years, and they know not to come back.”

  Well, that was the hope, anyway. I still couldn’t guess what they were really plotting, but as long as they stayed far away from Sedona and Boynton Canyon, where the Enchantment Resort was located, then I wouldn’t allow myself to stress about it.

  I figured I had plenty of other things to worry about.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  It was strange to go back into my parents’ house with my weekender bags slung over my shoulder and make my goodbyes, but by then they seemed to have resigned themselves to my departure. My mother’s eyes were a little too bright, and my father seemed too quiet, as if he was holding back the things he really wanted to say. However, they were civil enough to Raphael, who treated them with that grave charm I loved so much. I could see it beginning to have an effect on my mother; she didn’t exactly fawn over him, but I could see her start to unbend, as if her bad memories of the way he had acted all those years ago were starting to be overridden by her current encounters with him. I had to hope so, anyway.

  My father was friendly enough as well, although I could tell from the careful politeness of his smile that he was only being civil for my sake. I hoped his opinion of Raphael would change as they spent more time around one another, but right now I thought it was probably better if I put some distance between them until things settled down.

  It wasn’t until I’d backed out of the driveway and was heading westward along Highway 89A toward the resort that I turned to Raphael and said, “You don’t have any luggage.”

  “Don’t I?” he replied.

  Mystified, I allowed myself a quick glance over one shoulder and into the back seat. Sitting there were two dark blue bags that definitely hadn’t been there a few minutes ago. “Do I want to know how you managed that?”

  “Just a modified form of an energy jump. I thought of the things I might require to survive here on your world for an extended period, then put them in acceptable-appearing receptacles and had them sent down here to your vehicle.”

  “All in the space of five minutes.”

  “Less than that, actually.” There was a glint near his waist as he slipped the jewel he always carried with him into his pocket.

  “What are those things, anyway?” I asked. “Magic?”

  “Magic doesn’t exist. The jewel is tuned to the frequency of my thoughts, no more.”

  “Well, I’ve seen you do a lot more than just talk to it. Or have it talk back to you.”

  This time he did chuckle. “It is also connected to the ship — its drives, its food and materials synthesizers — all of those functions. So when I send a request through the device, it works with the ship to deliver the things I need.”

  I could almost visualize what he was talking about. Not the nuts and bolts of it, since I was pretty sure that involved science beyond even what Paul or Michael Oliver could comprehend, but enough to get the gist of how it all worked. I slowed to take the turn onto Dry Creek Road so we could head into the hills and toward the resort, then asked, “But what happens if you don’t have your ship?”

  The smile he’d been wearing abruptly faded. “Then I’m afraid the jewel can do very little for me. They’re linked, you see.”

  How was I supposed to reply to that? He’d said he would stay here with me, but that meant giving up his ship. And without the ship, the jewel wouldn’t be much more than a pretty bauble.

  His voice sounded in my mind, soothing, warm. I knew what I was getting into when I said I would stay here. It is not something I offered lightly, Callista. I will still have some powers of my own, after all. And if the need arises, I can have the ship returned to me.

  That explanation did reassure me somewhat. How? Do you just…call for it?

  More or less. That is, the jewel strengthens my thought patterns, and I can send them all the way to Penalta if necessary. One of my people would receive the call and set forces in motion to ensure that I had a ship. I cannot say my ship, for it isn’t truly mine, but one of our fleet. But there would always be one for my use if the situation should require it.

  The idea that he could project his thoughts all the way across all those light-years was staggering. And yet he spoke of the process as if it wasn’t that big a deal. “All right,” I said aloud. “It still bothers me, but if you’re sure you’re all right with being here….”

  Both my hands were on the steering wheel, but he reached over and laid a hand on my knee. “I can’t think of anyplace I would rather be. That is the truth, Callista.” He fell silent for a moment, clearly gathering his thoughts. “You have ties here, a way of being connected to these people and this place. I wouldn’t wish to take that from you — indeed, I am beginning to see it is something I never had, and now wish I might have been able to experience for myself.”

  My heart ached for him. Yes, he might be from a civilization so advanced beyond ours that I still had a difficult time understanding much of how it even functioned, but in that moment, I thought maybe they’d lost something along the way. Being with the people who knew you and understood you — and loved you anyway — was just as important as being able to travel among the stars.

  “You will,” I said as I came to a stop next to the guard shack that stood watch at the entrance to the resort. “I’ll make sure of that.”

  * * *

  After that, everything went smoothly enough. I was just paranoid enough to worry that our suite would turn out to be unavailable, but my worries were for naught, since we checked in without incident and then were directed to the casita where we’d be staying. For how long, I had no idea. I’d booked us for a week. After that, I supposed we’d have to see what happened.

  Once we were done putting our things away — which didn’t take very long, since neither one of us had brought much — we sort of stopped and stared at each other. I cleared my throat. “Well….”

  “Well,” he echoed, then came over and took my hands in his. At once the nervous butterflies in my stomach subsided, although they were only replaced by a warm quiver of nervous excitement. Was this when he would lead me to the bed, make the room truly ours?

  But he only lifted one hand to his mouth so he could lay a kiss on my palm. “We have come a very long way today, my love. And as much as I am going to enjoy being here with you, I think some fortification beforehand might be wise.”

  “‘Fortification’?” I echoed. Even as I spoke, though, my stomach growled, and I clapped a hand over it as Raphael’s mouth quirked. “All right, fortification is probably a good idea. Especially since I don’t even know how many Earth hours it’s been since we last ate.”

  “Long enough. Did I see signs as we came in pointing to the restaurant?”

  “Restaurants,” I said. “They have several here on-site, which makes it easier. We won’t have to go very far.” I glanced at the clock on the table across the room. It was a little before nine. Late for dinner, but not so late that the resort’s restaurants wouldn’t still be open, especially on the Saturday night of a holiday weekend.

  We got back into our coats and went outside. The sky was clear, but snow shone in the moonlight on the higher elevations of the bluffs that surrounded the resort. It hadn’t been snowing when Raphael and I left Sedona a few days earlier, although it was certainly cold enough now to explain why that precipitation had turned to snow. I turned the collar of my coat up around my throat, wishing I’d dug one of my scarves out of the drawer where I’d stowed them.

  But it still felt good to walk alongsid
e Raphael, to feel his hand in mine as we followed the winding paths that led to the main building where the restaurants and outdoor bar were located. Of course no one was sitting outside now, not on this bitterly cold January night. Water still filled the pool, though, glowing blue-green in the darkness as wisps of steam rose from its surface.

  Because it was so late, the restaurant was beginning to empty out, and we got a table right away. The table sat next to the windows on the eastern side of the room, but you couldn’t see anything in the vast black out there, not even the stars, because of the reflections from within the restaurant against the floor-to-ceiling glass. Something about that impalpable darkness made me think of the Reptilians, out there somewhere, watching and waiting…for what?

  I shivered, and Raphael immediately reached out to touch my arm. “Will it be too chilly here by the window? There seems to be an empty table toward the center of the room — ”

  “No, it’s fine,” I said. I wasn’t about to let myself get overcome by the heebie-jeebies, not when I was in a warm, safe place with the man I loved. “There aren’t any drafts at all.”

  He nodded, but still looked troubled as he helped me out of my coat and laid it on one of the spare chairs at our table. I sat down while he took off his own coat and set it on top of mine. The hostess, who’d been waiting for us to divest ourselves of our outerwear, handed over the menus and said our server would be along shortly. I managed to smile at her, although I still felt cold.

  Maybe it was only the proximity of the resort to the base the Reptilians had once called home. Their former base wasn’t here in Boynton, despite much speculation in various chatrooms and forums on that point, but over in the Secret Canyon wilderness, several miles away. But that still felt way too close, even though I knew the facility was completely deserted now. My parents had gone with Grace to the alien base and had confirmed that nothing of the Reptilians remained. Possibly I was only feeling the psychic residue of the place they’d inhabited for so long, although in general I would have said that sort of woo-woo observation was more up Taryn’s alley.