Witness

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Witness Page 19

by Lori Darnell


  “Marcus, most of that country is desert. The Church has been looking for years for that location. Maybe they have already found it.” His voice betrayed his skepticism. While this instantly put me on edge, I decided on an attempt for patience.

  “James, I think you forgot who you’re talking to. I saw the temple in the woman’s mind, and I had it confirmed by a god. It is kind of hard to believe that the Church has found what they are looking for.” James appeared unconvinced. Exasperated, I stalked away and walked over to a large tree, away from them all. This was insane. I could feel James was hiding something from me, otherwise why would he doubt my visions now. He had always relied on their accuracy.

  “Marcus, Egypt is a dangerous place. It was dangerous before the war, it is worse now. I just don’t want to see anyone hurt.” That confirmed it, he was hiding something again. It was infuriating to put your trust in someone, who refused to trust you.

  Jill spoke up, “Listen, I don’t know about the rest of you but Marcus and I have to go. If you're afraid, we will find our own way.” She looked over to me. “Besides, I don’t think that the Church or Isis is going to let this go anytime soon. I mean, let’s be realistic. They killed that poor girl in London to find a location, when they knew she would have told them willingly.”

  She had a good point, and James, feeling defeated, sat next to me on the ground. “Well, I don’t have to like it.”

  “Do I get a say in this here?” Dean, feeling left out, stood in the middle of our grouping. We all looked at him with our full attention. "I understand danger, I understand purpose, but James, why the sudden obsession with safety? You and I both know these two may never be safe."

  "Well, I don't like throwing them to the wolves either." James glared back at Dean. It was obvious that he was holding something back.

  "James, I want to trust you, but you have to stop trying to protect me. I will never be protected. In fact protecting me seems to get me in more trouble." I put my hand on his shoulder and noticed he was shaking. "Whatever it is, I can deal." I looked up at Jill and she glared at me. "Okay, we can deal with the issue. Please be honest. Don't keep this from me."

  "Marcus, it is about your family." I dropped my hand. This was something that was never mentioned. He knew the subject was off limits. I had mourned my family long ago.

  "What about them?"

  Seeing the apprehension in my eyes, he hesitated, then stood up and walked toward Dean as though he needed the support to continue. "The Church has been hunting your family, well more technically, your race, for years. When I saw you, I was amazed. It had been so long since we had seen one of your kind." He looked over to Dean.

  "What do you mean; my race? I never realized I was a race." I just never thought of the differences between me and the other children when we were around at the compound. Each of us were different in some way.

  "Your parents were refugees, pure blooded. Most of the children the Church captured from your village did not possess the gifts you do. You are unique. I can only think of a handful of your people actually having the magnitude your gifts have." Jill sensed my unease, she came and sat beside me with her arms circling me, protectively.

  "James, what exactly is the danger for me in Egypt?" I knew that this was the question that would finally get the straight answer he was so reluctant to give.

  "That is where your people are from, and you're no longer specifically marked with your coded wedding bands. The Church still has spies seeking your kind out. You may become a target." He sighed, looking to the ground.

  "What about the danger from the local people you mentioned before? Is that really a danger, or is it fabricated to keep this from me?" James flinched at the harshness of my tone.

  "No, the danger is there. However, it may be more dangerous for Jill. Beauty is prized there. The Church has never been able to take a firm hold in Egypt, and the outlaws there are capable of a great many things." He looked at Jill with concern. "Dear, we may not be able to guarantee your safety." Jill was not amused. In fact, she seemed quite angry.

  "James, Marcus, Dean: This has to stop. I am no child, nor am I incapable of protecting myself. I can manipulate someone's will as though it were my own - something everyone here conveniently forgets." She glared in my direction, remembering my hasty moment with the Reverend Michael.

  I nodded in agreement, shamefaced. "She is right. If we stick together, it will be much easier to stay out of trouble."

  "Fine, you win. You knew you would. We will start the journey tomorrow. It will take several days by car, and then we will take a boat to Alexandria. Once there, I hope your god, Isis, can make sense of it all. Otherwise, we are just waiting for the danger to find us." He pointed in our direction glaring at us as though we already sealed our fate. But Jill and I were sure that this is what we needed to do.

  "James, do we really have to take the long way? I mean, I can get us on a plane. It would be a lot faster." Dean asked. It seemed he was about as thrilled as we were to start another long travel segment.

  "Dean has a point, James - don't we want to have all the information and try to find the girl, Jenna, and her father, before the Church does? I don't know what they will find in that smaller temple," I reminded him. James hung his head in defeat. He knew we were right.

  "I just don't relish the idea of being stuck in a tube with unknown passengers, with unknown motives. It makes me nervous."

  "Don't worry, I will take care of everything. I will find us some inconspicuous air travel." Dean smiled wide. He had a plan. He seemed to always have a plan.

  James reluctantly accepted the truth. There was no time to think of any alternatives. Dean seemed to be deep in thought, probably sifting through the contacts he had made over the years.

  “Marcus, I just want you to be careful. There is no telling who or what we will encounter there. I can’t help it; I have protected you from all of this for too long. It is habit.” James, trying to appear casual, failed miserably.

  “I understand your frustrations, but you must know that keeping the truth from me was never going to protect me. I am beyond words on how I feel about you keeping this information about me and my family away from me. I want to trust you, but you’re not making it easy.” I leaned my head against the tree, trying to calm down. Anger made it harder to control the visions, and at the moment they were bursting through me, making me dizzy. My emotions had been running rampant for months now; new freedoms had changed me.

  I had not thought of my family in years, but just the brief mention of then brought back visions. Some the visions were happy, like my father laughing at something my mother said, or how it felt when my mother held me in her arms, or the way they looked at each other; you knew that love was definitely there, it always felt right. But these memories were burned at the edges by the memory of my last night with them. The smell of the incense and smoke was still thick in my nose, as though I was smelling it anew, despite not having thought of it for a long time. One of the last images of my parents I could recall was of them praying on their knees. It was only when Jill brushed my cheek that I realized I was crying.

  “Marcus, there was nothing you could do.” She held my cheek, feeling cool to the touch. “Please try to calm down. You’re burning up.” I hadn’t noticed.

  “I don’t know - what if they had only waited a few more days? Maybe I could have seen them coming for us. Maybe we could have left earlier.” I hit my head hard against the tree, trying to stop the spinning visions and eliminate the futility I felt. I didn’t want to see this anymore. My parent’s bodies abandoned on the beach, the fires burning in the background and the black robed Reverends judging at will, it was too much. This was the past, but it still felt like this was happening all over again, that it was doomed to happen over and over again. “I can’t make it stop.” Panicked, I pleaded, “Jill, please help me make it stop.”

  She took my face in her hands. I felt her straddle my legs. “Marcus, focus. Look at me, try to see
me.” She was scared; I had never lost control before, not like this. I opened my eyes, trying to see her face, but all I saw were the visions flashing quickly in front of me. I was so dizzy, so tired. I felt like I was going to pass out. “Marcus! Look at me!” I tried to focus on her voice. I concentrated on her skin, how it felt against my face, the weight of her body on my legs. I started to see the shape of her face, through the clouds of visions. “Marcus, are you ok? Try to see me.” I could. I felt the visions slow and fade. My breathing started to slow. I could feel her hand on my cheek, and tried to focus on the physical sensation of her touch.

  “I think I’m alright.” I tried to smile, seeing the worry crease her brow.

  “You can see me?” What a strange question, of course I could.

  “Yes, I don’t understand. What’s wrong?” She was not helping my panic.

  “Marcus, your eyes.”

  “Jill, tell me.” I already knew what was wrong. They hadn’t changed yet. If I let go of the present, the visions would start to circle me again. But my body responded as though they were gone.

  “Your right, they haven’t changed back, but I can see through the cloud. Maybe you need to calm down some more.” She looked back to James, who had his head buried in his hands. “James, what do we do?”

  “I don’t know. Marcus, you’re unique. There is no precedent for this. Can you see at all?” He crawled over to me, cautiously.

  “I can see, but if I want to I can see the visions at the same time. It is making me dizzy.” I concentrated on Jill’s face, hoping it would make it stop again.

  “Maybe, you need to be distracted, to stop bringing them out.” She hesitated a little, unsure of herself, which was quite unusual for her to be around me. She leaned in slowly and put her lips to mine, kissing me softly, then withdrew, waiting to see how I would respond. The visions did flicker, but refused to dissolve.

  “You know, that might work. Why don’t you try it again?" I told her. She giggled, and leaned in again. This time I caught her face in my hands. This time the kiss was deeper, more demanding. I concentrated on the taste of her mouth, the feeling of her tongue touching mine, and the way my body reacted to her touch. My mind was suddenly completely in tune with this moment.

  “Wow! Now that is what I call a kiss!” Dean’s voice echoed behind Jill, I opened my eyes and I saw James take a deep breath, looking very much like he hadn’t done that in a while. Remorse and futility wrenched at him as he saw me returning to normal in Jill’s hands.

  “Marcus, there are no words for what I have done to you. I understand now. I understand why you feel like you can’t trust me. I just didn’t think that far ahead. I am so sorry; I should have told you about your parents, I should have told you about your people. It was wrong for me to keep it from you. I can only promise to be open with you, with both of you, from now on.” He pleaded with me.

  “I know you were trying to protect me, but that time is over.” Jill shifted her weight and rested her head against my chest while sitting in my lap. There was a long awkward silence following our conversation; it wasn’t often we had a chance to speak frankly, or openly, so we didn’t know what to say next. Dean, finally growing impatient, was the first to break the silence.

  “Good, now that all of this is settled, and Marcus doesn’t look like as much of a freak, why don’t we go find out what Grandma has cooking for dinner? I'm famished!” he announced, waiting impatiently for us to join him on the path back to the house.

  “Grandma?” Jill and I both exclaimed at the same time. This was the first time we heard anything involving Dean’s family.

  “Yeah, she runs the inn with her sister. She’s the one who brought up your breakfast. Now, that was a first. She is usually ‘if you're not in the kitchen at 7:00AM, you aren’t going to eat until noon’ and here she was, bringing up your feast! I knew it had to be Jill.” Dean grinned widely at Jill, who began to turn a few shades of red. “Grandma looked so confused when she came back down.” He shook his head, clearly remembering the same puzzled look I had caught upstairs on the old woman's face. Jill batted her eyes in mock-innocence, and everyone began to giggle. Dean, paying no attention, didn’t notice a tree root sticking up out of the ground on the path, tripped, and landed hard on his bottom. All of us erupted in laughter, including Dean.

  James was the first to contain himself. “Okay, okay, we need to get going. Dean will work on getting us in the air – that is, if he can ever manage to get his butt off the ground…” James teased. Dean, almost composed at this point, broke out into new fits of laughter, aborting his attempt to stand. “Let’s get back before his grandma sends out the search party,” James stated,walking over to Dean and trying pitifully to help him get off the ground. Finally composed and standing, Dean shook his head at James.

  “Trust me, I will get us in the air. I have a few ideas. You guys go eat dinner; I will grab a roll or something and make a couple of phone calls.”

  We all walked back to the house in silence. My head was still spinning, so I leaned into Jill for the support. She pretended to strain under my weight, but as soon as I pulled away, she laughed and pulled me back. She really was stronger than anyone gave her credit for – myself included.

  Dinner was an awkward affair, mainly because Jill was trying to help Dean’s grandmother carry the plates in, refill glasses, and pretty much not let her lift a finger. I couldn’t help but smile; apparently she felt worse about what she had done this morning than I had first thought.

  She glared at me when she caught the edge of my thoughts and stalked back into the kitchen. It was hard for me to imagine Jill using her abilities to manipulate people without just cause. She was too much a softie - tonight was evidence of that. It made me laugh, just once, before I caught myself, hoping she didn’t hear. Did she feel this bad every time? I just shook my head, and casually started picking at my dinner. My stomach was still quite unsettled from this afternoon, and the visions seemed just on the edge, lying in wait to engulf me again.

  The room was very quiet; it seemed no one had anything else to say. James was terrified he would upset me again. Jill was busy being the innkeeper’s assistant, and I was too miserable to make polite conversation. So it was with a little too much exuberance Dean ran into the room.

  “Why is everyone so morose?” He looked at his grandmother; and she just shrugged - how was she supposed to know? By his demeanor, I had a feeling we would be in the air soon. My stomach dropped. The last plane ride I could remember - flying to Rome in captivity toward an uncertain future - didn’t exactly bring back any pleasant memories.

  “James, you’re going to love this. I called in a few favors, and we are leaving tonight.” Dean beamed with his accomplishment.

  “So how big is the plane, and how many other passengers do we need to worry about?” James stated, glaring back at Dean.

  “I told you I would find a good option. How could you doubt me?” He excitedly turned to me, hoping to see some level of enthusiasm show. I managed a grin at him, but by the return look it must have been closer to a grimace. “Good grief! I hope you guys are in a better mood by the time we get in the air. Which, by the way…” Dean pointedly glared at James, “we will be the only passengers on the plane.” Dean instantly had four sets of eyes looking up at him in disbelief.

  “How did you pull that off?” James asked coolly, almost sounding snide.

  “Well, mister smarty pants, we are going on a cargo plane. It is leaving in less than four hours. We will need to leave pretty soon, to get to the airfield. Grandma, do you mind if we grab some sleeping bags from the attic?” The elderly woman just smiled and nodded. You could see the love and respect she had for her grandson in her eyes. Instantly, I wished I had more time to get to know her.

  Hearing this news made everyone feel much better. There would be no luxury on the trip, but there would be no prying eyes, either. And the latter was what everyone was most concerned about.

  “So, just curious, w
hat is the cargo?” Jill viewed Dean with a keen eye. She knew there was something more to this announcement.

  “Well, they are carrying livestock.” His glance fell, eyeing the floor, as though his feet were suddenly of great importance. Leave it to Jill to get the goods on our travel arrangements.

  “So, we will be sitting in poop for several hours, hoping we don’t get trampled?” She ducked her head, trying to draw Dean’s attention from his toes.

  He looked up and sighed. “No, there is a separate area for the crew and handlers. It isn’t huge, but it will be away from the animals. It was the best I could do on short notice.” His excitement turned to hurt, as he realized that his efforts may be refused. James, looking mildly ashamed at his earlier tone, placed a hand on Dean’s shoulder.

  “Dean, it will be fine,” James answered. “I am just glad to be with the animals rather than a hundred or more people staring at us for hours.” Looking to lighten the mood, James smiled and continued toward me. “Well, at least we don’t have to worry about Marcus getting stuck in the doorway again.” That brought laughter from the entire table.

  “I can’t help it that the world seems to be made for little people,” I commented sorely.

  Dean laughed, shaking his head. “Sorry, but you are a freak of nature. Better get used to it.”

  “I know.” The words went a little deeper than he intended. It wasn’t his fault, I knew, but it upset me all the same.

  Dean saw my face fall. “Now you know I didn’t mean it that way.” I knew he did, but tried to put a genuine smile back on my face. Everyone seemed to be waiting for me to fall apart again. It wasn’t helping my efforts to keep it together.

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said, shrugging it off. Well, he said we had to leave soon, and that gave me an idea of how to get my mind off things. “I’m heading up to pack up our stuff. Hopefully our laundry is dry.” I eyed Jill. Belatedly, she caught the hint, though she delayed for a moment out of propriety. I took the stairs two at a time. Jill murmured something inconsequential, then quickly excused herself from the table and sprinted after me. James rolled his eyes and shook his head, watching us go. In the distance we heard them giggling, but paid it no heed.

 

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