He scratched his head thoughtfully. "We'll have a hell of a job trying to drive this five miles. We'll probably end up in a ditch."
Aric bent to study the rims. He ran a hand down the side of the trailer. "I'll hold it up as you drive. We'll try to get it to balance."
I gaped at him, astounded. What was he - Superman? Superhuman speed and strength? However evil they might be, the Innaki sure knew what they were doing when creating the perfect human.
Aric walked with me back to the cab and hoisted me in as the step rail had been torn from the side in the gargoyte fight. He hauled himself up after me.
"Well, move over then," he said with a grin as he hovered over my lap.
Confused, I shuffled over to the middle seat "Aren't you going to be holding up the trailer?"
He laughed. "Who do you think I am? Superman?" he said, parking himself in the passenger seat. "I'm not going to hold it up physically. I can do it with wyk." Putting his arm around my shoulder, he turned to Olaf. "Ready?"
The semi's engine roared to life on the first try, and Olaf patted the steering wheel affectionately.
"She's got guts, this one. Never lets me down." He jammed the gears into first and hit the gas.
"Come on old girl, one more trip and then you can have a nice long rest." The cab shuddered and moved off slowly, a clunking sound coming from the back.
"Higher Aric. It's best if she's level."
"Sorry." Aric stuck his head out the door and concentrated on leveling the trailer. I heard the axles creaking, and the weight of the cab seemed to shift.
"Better?"
Olaf nodded. "Let me know when we get to the spot you found."
The two of them were silent for the remainder of the short journey as they both concentrated on the task at hand. We didn't see another vehicle at all. Finally, Aric, who'd been scanning the woods at the side of the road, leaned forward, and held up his hand.
"Stop, here." He pointed to the blackness. I couldn't see anything.
"There's a big ditch between the road and the woods. You won't be able to drive in."
The shoulder of the road was perhaps only a few feet across. A guardrail stretched out along the side of the road and the 'ditch' on the other side was so deep and steep it may as well have been a canyon. It'd be impossible to get the rig through there. But Aric was full of surprises and I had no doubt he'd find a way to get it done.
Quickly repacking our backpacks with a few essentials, we decided we'd leave most of the stuff we'd packed behind in the rig's cab as we didn't know how far we'd be walking. We assembled with our stuff at the roadside.
"Right, how do you want to do this?" Olaf leaned over the railing and squinted into the darkness. He was having as much trouble as I was coping with limited night vision.
"I'll have to float it over I guess."
My admiration for his abilities increased ten-fold. How much did a rig like that weigh? And he was going to attempt to float it into the air, across a ditch and into the forest? This wyk stuff was amazing.
Aric stood, legs apart in front of the cab. The night mist swirled in the glow of the headlight. The semi began to rise slowly, the coupling creaking and protesting as Aric leveled the cab with the trailer. He'd lifted the whole thing about five feet above the ground. I could see him shaking with the effort. Maybe he wasn't as recovered as I'd thought he was. At this rate he'd be as weak and ill as he the night I'd taken him to Saul's place. I wasn't about to just stand around and let him do this by himself.
"Wait!" I said. Aric's concentration was broken and the semi went crashing to the ground. Olaf winced.
"Sorry," I continued. "It's too hard for you to do on your own. Let me help."
Aric shook his head. "No, it's okay, I can do this by myself. It just takes some concentration." He turned back to the rig and it rose slowly into the air, but his body was still shuddering with the extreme effort he was putting in. I decided to help him whether he wanted me to or not. I figured it must work just like it did when I sent candy flying across the table at Phil, only on a grander scale. I pictured the rig sliding across the space over the ditch. The semi began to turn, and then stopped at an angle, hanging stubbornly in the air no matter how much I tried to push it across the ditch.
"Lucy, I'm trying to turn it!" Aric was eyeing me in amusement. "If you're going to help we have to do this in sync, otherwise we're just battling against each other."
"Oh!" I lost my concentration and the rig began to fall, but Aric caught it again.
"Okay, let's turn it ninety degrees so the headlight's facing the trees. You'll see the gap as it gets closer. I'll steer. You just help keep it up okay? Don't fight it!"
I nodded and just focused on keeping it up in the air. It glided over the ditch slowly, strangely silent aside from an occasional creak, moving like a giant truck shaped balloon through the air. The headlight fell on the trees and I made out the gap Aric had been talking about. We'd never fit it through there. I presumed he was going to force it.
He moved closer to the rail. My strength was beginning to wane, but I kept up my side of the task. The cab pushed against the trees, and I heard the crack of branches as they gave way. It is hard to describe the feeling. I could feel the resistance of the trees as we pushed the vehicle through, yet it was all in my mind. I shook with the effort. We pushed until the rig was swallowed up by the trees, lodged deep into the woods so none of the rig was showing from the road. Only the glow of the headlight and parking lights could be seen through the brush, and Aric quickly turned those off remotely using his mind, leaving us in complete darkness.
I slumped against the rail. I felt as though I'd run a marathon. I felt the warmth of Aric's body behind me, although I could barely see him.
"Are you all right?"
I pushed the hair out of my eyes. "Yeah, give me a minute. That was harder than I thought it'd be."
"You know you are one stubborn woman." He murmured near my ear. "I could've done it by myself you know."
"You're welcome," I said facetiously, but I leaned my weary head back on his chest. He put his arms around me.
"Sorry... and thank you - for the help," He said, hugging me closer for a moment. He kissed my temple, then released me, giving my backside an affectionate pat. He shouldered my backpack but I insisted on carrying it myself. I could just make out his white grin in the dimness. "We've got to get going," he said. "No point hanging around here all night." Grabbing his own backpack, he took my hand and the three of us headed off along the dark and silent road in the middle of nowhere.
* * * * *
Chapter Fourteen
The rain started as a gentle patter, then, heralded by a low rumble of thunder, big fat droplets turned into a steady downpour which seeped into our clothes, washed the blood from our battered bodies, and set my teeth chattering again. We'd had to run to the cover of the trees for the worst of it, and were standing shivering amongst the damp tree trunks when the only pair of headlights we'd seen in more than two hours appeared in the distance.
Aric dropped his backpack on the ground and studied the rapidly approaching vehicle. "Stay here, I'll let you know when it's safe to come out," he said. Taking off across the ditch to the roadside, he stopped for a moment to yell back to us. "Leave the talking to me!"
We watched as the car's headlights caught his waving figure in the gloom. It slowed down and I was hopeful it would stop, but it sped up again as it passed him, its wheels squealing on the wet asphalt.
Beside me, Olaf cursed and folded his arms against his chest. "Where's the community spirit these days?" he said.
Although disappointed, I tried to be little more understanding. "Maybe it was a lone woman in the car? I wouldn't be stopping in the middle of nowhere to pick up a strange man. Perhaps we should show ourselves? They might be more open to picking up a female-"
I fell silent as I watched the car stop dead in its tracks a few hundred feet up the road. It slowly rose into the air, its engine silenced, t
hen floated back to Aric, where it was gently lowered to the ground. I watched as Aric walked to the driver's side and bent to talk to what, I presumed, would be one very shaken driver. After a few minutes he signaled to us to come over. Olaf grabbed Aric's backpack and we ran through the rain to the car where Aric motioned for us to hop in.
"Lucy, Olaf, this is Carole." Aric twisted around in the front passenger seat. "She's kindly agreed to take us to see her brothers. They have a car we might be able to buy." After depositing our backpacks in the trunk, Olaf and I were sitting, soaked to the skin, in the back seat.
"Lucy and Olaf is it?" Carole seemed strangely unaffected by the fact her car had been stopped and floated ten feet in the air. "I'm really sorry to hear about your sister. I hope you get to see her on time."
Olaf and I threw each other a confused glance. I heard Aric's voice in my mind.
I told her we have a sister who's very ill and we're on our way to see her, hitch hiking because our car died.
A sister? Then that would mean... Then you're supposed to be my brother?
Er, yeah, and Olaf's our father. I'll let him know.
I wasn't sure whether I liked that, the brother/sister thing. I could see Carole already throwing Aric flirty glances from under her long, overly bleached blond bangs. Why couldn't you just tell her I'm your girlfriend?
Because this will work better if... well, if Carole thinks I'm... available.
I sat up in my seat and nearly spoke out loud, the green monster of jealousy growling inside me. Available! No way! You have to tell her the truth.
Lucy, trust me, okay? This works best if I can, um, flirt with her.
What works best? Your evil plot to drive me nuts?
He laughed quietly. The... whispering thing, it's quicker and... more natural... if I can, well, flirt. I can't do that if she knows you're my girlfriend. I knew he'd cringed at the term 'whispering', even without being able to see his face.
Well, don't whisper too - closely! I said grumpily, crossing my arms over my chest. I scowled in silence at the back of his head. His muffled chuckle echoed in my brain.
I don't think it's funny, I sulked.
You have nothing to worry about. I'm -
Carole interrupted him. "So, Aric, tell me about yourself. Where are you from?"
I sat, seething in the back seat as Aric and Carole entered the most excruciatingly lame, flirting exchange, full of innuendo and suggestive glances. My fists clenched and unclenched under my armpits while Olaf peered uncomfortably out of the window at the brightening landscape.
"Perhaps you could come back this way, after you've seen your sister I mean," Carole was saying. "Stay at my place. I could always find a bed for you." She turned her head to wink at him, adding a seductive smile.
I'd had enough. "Right!" I sat bolt upright, but Olaf put a warning hand on my arm, protesting silently with a slight shake of his head. His eyes opened wide in a soundless plea for me to stop.
"Right..." I continued, trying to salvage the situation. "Er, I'm off to sleep." I threw my head back against the upholstery with a thump, cricking my neck. The pain only made me angrier. Leaning over, Olaf whispered in my ear. "Read my mind."
I jammed my way into Olaf's head. My jaw clenched so tight my teeth hurt.
What? I said, rather too sharply.
Calm yourself down Lucy. If you go off half-cocked now you'll ruin everything and we'll be thrown out of the car on our asses. We need the ride, remember?
I scowled behind closed lids. He doesn't have to do it this way...
Olaf sighed. Trust him. I know it's... uncomfortable for you, but trust him. He knows what he's doing. It's all part of the process.
The 'process'? What process was that - the abduction process? Surely he didn't seduce every person he helped the Innaki abduct. What about the men? Kids? He wouldn't seduce them, so why'd he have to do that now, in our situation?
I hadn't realized I was still sharing my thoughts with Olaf, and was surprised when he answered me. I guess he just feels it's the easiest, quickest way to go about it in this case, he said. Although, he added with a wry chortle, I bet he didn't count on your wrath when he decided to do it. Maybe it would have been easier to do it any other way!
I grunted. It's not funny Olaf! He wouldn't be impressed if it were me flirting with some guy in front of him!
I think he would trust you.
I opened my eyes and turned my head to catch Olaf's meaningful gaze. I was kind of ashamed. He was right, Aric would trust me, and I should be affording him the same trust and respect. I was acting like a spoiled twelve year old.
I sighed. Okay, point taken. We were silent for a while and I tried hard to concentrate on the passing scenery rather than the conversation in the front seat. When I couldn't block out Carole's squeaky, over-zealous laughter any longer, I turned back to Olaf.
How do you think he explained the floating car to her?
He probably repressed her memory of it.
That's what the Innaki had done to me. I didn't know he could do that. A shudder rattled through me, even though Carole had turned the car's heating up. Could everyone repress another's memory, once they knew how, or was it an 'Innaki thing'? Aric was part human, part alien. Where did one end and the other begin? If I was confused about that, it was no surprise Aric didn't know who or what he was.
I'd said it didn't matter what he was. There was good and bad in everyone, and it was how you chose to live, think and feel that mattered. On that point I wondered whether there was a chance that there were any good Innaki, or whether they were all inherently evil. If the rule was that there was both good and bad in everyone, then didn't it follow that some of the Innaki weren't all bad? So far I hadn't seen any proof of that, but then maybe those Innaki who were drawn to blood farming and abduction were the only ones I'd come across, and there was a whole mixed society of them, good and bad, somewhere, on whatever planet they called home.
All this deliberating was confusing and made my overtired head hurt. After a while, I sank into a restless sleep, troubled by visions of fanged monsters, winking suggestively and cackling in a high-pitched, girly voice.
* * * * *
Carole's home was a shabby, isolated farm in the spruce-covered hills to the west of Evanton. The property was littered with rusting farm equipment and old, broken building materials. At the end of the winding drive, the old farmhouse sat in the morning sun, its ancient, neglected paint peeling in places, the wooden walls surrounded by a lopsided fenced in porch with missing banisters, reminiscent of a gap toothed grin. The remains of spent flowers wilted in polystyrene boxes on either side of the farmhouse steps. All along the porch a series of wind chimes in various sizes tinkled in the morning breeze. Colored glass spirals twisted enthusiastically on their strings, catching the sunlight and sending a smattering of rainbow colored prisms across the porch treads. I followed Aric and Olaf up the steps, resisting a smile as Olaf's head hit the low-hanging spirals. Carole threw him a warning look, and Olaf sheepishly tried to stop the glass from clashing.
"Nate! Travis! We have guests!" Carole hollered at the top of her lungs as she entered the house. There was no answer. She led us through the front hall, down a long passage, and into a large, cluttered kitchen.
"Please, sit down and I'll make you all some coffee." Smoothing her hands over her tight white jeans, she cocked her head as though she were listening for something. "Now where are those boys?"
Moving to the window, she leaned over the kitchen sink and peered out, squinting at the sun.
"No sign of the truck. They must be in those damned caves."
She looked at us apologetically, and picked up the coffee pot.
"My brothers are a little... odd. Grown men but I swear they act like kids most of the time."
Gathering four mugs from the cupboard, she deposited them on the table and turned to the fridge.
"I'm not sure what we've got left here, but I could cook you up some breakfast." She fis
hed about in the fridge. "Damn, they've eaten all the bacon."
She grabbed the milk and turned back to us, smiling ingratiatingly at Aric. "I could make you some toast, honey." She pointed to a jar of honey on the kitchen bench, but I knew she really meant 'honey' as a term of endearment. My teeth ground together.
"Sorry, that's all I've got," she added with a shrug, smiling coyly and thrusting her chest out in an unspoken invitation to admire her ample bust.
Aric beamed back his most irresistible smile - even my heart flip-flopped as I watched him - and I was used to it.
"That'd be awesome, thanks. Toast sounds just the thing."
I declined the toast but I needn't have bothered - Carole only had eyes for Aric. She blushed at the intensity of his gaze, and I felt a wave of nausea. She poured the coffee, leaning over the table so far I thought she was about to spill out of her top. I watched Aric's eyebrow raise, and the grin spring to his face as he held out his mug, and I wanted to kick him under the table.
I needed to get away from there. Olaf just looked uncomfortable, although I could tell he was quite impressed with the view. The flirting thing was making me ill. I wished Aric would forgo the niceties and just tell her to fetch her brothers so we could buy their damned car. Surely he couldn't have put this much effort into the other people he'd manipulated? Maybe he really was attracted to her.
Appraising her over my coffee mug, I sipped the weak brew and considered my 'competition'. She was busy making the toast, 'accidentally' brushing against Aric as she moved about the kitchen, all swaying hips, generous cleavage and fluttery eyelashes. She was attractive in a fake, trying-too-hard way, but I figured, according to Aric and Olaf's stupid, appreciative grins, men liked that kind of thing.
I compared my own appearance - I wore a pair of muddied blue jeans and a plain beige woolly sweater. Nothing special and certainly not very sexy. I'd taken off Aric's jacket and slung it over my backpack in the hall. My hair cascaded over my shoulders in dark, clumped-together tendrils - I really needed a shower. Yanking my sweater straight, I sighed at the sight of my unremarkable chest. I wasn't flat-chested, but I was certainly not in the league of Carole's considerable assets. I wondered if they were fake. Whatever, Aric seemed to be impressed.
Starcrossed: Perigee - A paranormal romance trilogy Page 25