by Alexie Aaron
“Like Judy.”
“Seems to me I know who taught Mia and Murphy that trick…”
“Bev. But why would she arm Mia and betray her just the same?”
“She’s a complicated woman,” Cid said and sat back as the jet started to taxi away from the FBO building.
Gerald was conversing in Creole behind them. He thought he had the privacy the foreign language would give him, but he didn’t realize that two young lads, who barely survived the matinee showing of Night of the Living Dead, first mission in life was to learn Creole, the language of zombies.
Gerald was talking to his sister, trying to calm her down. His next call was to a priest who was gathering his congregation. Angelo and Beverly would not walk easily into the mountain graveyard. They would have to fight their way in.
Chapter Twenty-seven
Angelo lifted his head from his reading. He felt a shift in his power, a weakening. It felt like he was fraying at the edges. This had never happened before. As long as his path in life was to further the agenda of good over evil, he had an inexhaustible supply of energy. He stood up and flexed his wings. There were several feathers yet to grow to maturity. He had lost too many when Mia tricked him in the theater. The crossing had further depleted him. Her willfulness added to his burden. He was astounded that she didn’t fall at his feet in appreciation for being offered a position in the Brotherhood. The audacity that she would choose a human life over the one he wanted for her puzzled him.
Could the Cooper curse be this strong? How far back did the origins of the curse go? When did it become part of the DNA of the Cooper clan? Maybe if he could suss this out, he wouldn’t have to raise Guillaume from his rest, brainwash Mia…
The door to his study burst open. The elder Australian gray lady rushed in speaking, “She has found Idra and tossed her out. She has found the controlling herbs. I can smell that she has burned them along with the sleeping thorns. What is this human you have brought to us? She has bested us at every turn.”
“Do you not see why I want her?” he asked. “Can you imagine how powerful she can become with our training? Why would she want to waste her life becoming a mother…”
Elizabeth raised her hand to silence Angelo. “Never speak of motherhood that way again. It does not diminish us as women to give birth and nurture offspring. It makes us stronger. Sure, not all women should be parents, and many others can’t and would be wonderful at it. Fate’s a nasty bitch. Motherhood, it is a gift from the…”
“Hush, I have no time for your prattle. Watch her. I have things to take care of, a promise to keep. When I return, I’ll bring Mia to heel. Then you’ll wipe her mind. Reset her emotions, and then I’ll take her to be trained,” Angelo said, dropping his robe and flexing his wings. He wrapped them around him and disappeared.
Elizabeth waited a heartbeat before walking over to his desk and began reading the book he hastily closed. She found where the warmth of his hands had last been and read the words. She was horrified.
Mia woke, reached out and put her hand softly on Murphy’s back. He turned and smiled. “How long was I out?” she asked.
Murphy extracted his pocket watch, looked at it and put it to his ear before hunching his shoulders.
“Nevermind. Time doesn’t seem to matter here anyway. Let’s go up and take a turn around the courtyard. Maybe some fresh air will help me wake up. This room is too calming.”
Murphy nodded, looking at the smoldering herbs amongst the ashes of the thorns. He got up and extended his elbow. Mia slid out of bed and took his arm, mindful of the axe he had slung over the other shoulder. The door was locked, but one swipe of the axe took care of that. They moved the broken wood aside and continued on their way.
Idra moved out of the recess behind the wall tapestry. She ran on slipper-covered feet to tell Elizabeth of the man who had cut his way through the solid mahogany door to free Mia. Where had he come from? How did he get into the room with the American woman?
The air was warm but fresh. Mia breathed deeply. Murphy picked several bunches of grapes and brought them to her. She enjoyed eating them, spitting out the seeds as they accumulated. She caught his eye. “What do you want me to do with the seeds, swallow them?”
He shook his head, refraining from talking. He needed to conserve his energy. He didn’t have Ted’s energon cubes handy. But maybe there was another energy source he could tap into. A ley line perhaps or… his eyes focused on the stone platform. It radiated energy. He got up to examine it when he heard the sound of flapping wings. He tapped his axe to alert Mia. They looked upward and were surprised to see Judy set Ed down beside the fishpond. He held onto several lethal looking spears. He didn’t let his nakedness bother him; he was in full warrior mode.
“Judy, Ed!” Mia called, rushing over to the couple.
Several gray ladies rushed out of the opening of the walls. Elizabeth held her arm out to slow the women’s progress. They held long-bladed knives in their hands.
“Refugia, why have you returned?” she asked Judy.
“I have brought He-who-travels-through-time. He is going to challenge Angelo Michaels for the possession of Mia Cooper.”
Elizabeth looked at the formidable naked man and sensed his power. She looked over at Mia and asked, “Why all this fuss over you, little bird?”
“They are my friends,” she started to say.
“I have come to challenge Angelo in battle for his chattels,” Ed announced.
“What do you risk?”
“He risks me,” Judy said, “and his life.”
“Your challenge is acknowledged,” Elizabeth stated. “Unfortunately, Angelo Michaels has left on business.”
“What business?” Mia, Judy and Ed asked together.
“I fear, the devil’s work. The resurrection of Guillaume Bouché.”
“You as a gray lady of the Alps cannot support his raising the dead after so many years?” Judy asked appalled.
“I do not,” Elizabeth said.
“We do not,” a chorus of hooded women answered.
Mia looked around the courtyard and was amazed to see it fill with women dressed in silk, gray hooded gowns. There were hundreds of them. They wavered as if they were and were not there.
Murphy put his axe down, realizing that he didn’t want to fight women, and there were too many of them for him to be successful. He inched his way towards Mia. She reached out a calming hand. He took it in his.
“Who is this man with the axe?” demanded Elizabeth.
“Stephen Murphy of Cold Creek Hollow,” Mia introduced. “He came with me.
“How did he travel?”
“The same way Judy left,” Mia answered truthfully. “He is my friend, and he came to defend me.”
“You were bound by your aunt. He wasted his trip,” Elizabeth explained.
“Her aunt wasn’t fit to make the bargain. Mia has two sound parents. They want their daughter back. We ask that you release her,” Judy said softly.
Elizabeth sighed. “I do not have that power. She was not bound to us. I can, however, direct you to where Angelo Michaels has gone, and you can bring this up with him.”
Judy smiled. “We would appreciate that.”
Elizabeth turned around and surveyed the woman that had come to the defense of the priory. “Sister Idra, you have failed me twice today. Can I count on you to fail me no further?”
The young gray lady bowed her head in shame. She looked up and vowed, “I shall not fail you again.”
“Take Mia Cooper to Angelo. He is in the mountains of Haiti at the grave of Guillaume Bouché. Refugia, you will take the challenger and follow them. Stephen Murphy of Cold Creek Hollow, you owe me a door. After you have dealt with this situation, I demand that you return and hew me a new door. Doors do grow on trees, but it takes an expert to hew one.”
Murphy nodded. He nodded towards the table.
“Power,” Elizabeth said. “Lay your axe on it, no need to scratch the surface,” sh
e instructed.
Murphy walked over and laid his axe down but held on to it. Elizabeth turned to the women who moved from behind her and glided over to the platform. Each lay a hand on its surface. A bright light emanated from the stone. When it had faded, Murphy picked up his axe and walked over to Mia. She opened her mind, and he walked into her body and then into her mind. Mia felt a strange surge of energy as she opened her eyes.
“Is he settled?” Elizabeth asked.
Mia nodded.
Idra took off her robe, and walked forward and requested, “Drop your clothing, I cannot transport you gowned.”
Mia did as she was instructed. She took a deep breath as Idra moved behind her and folded her massive gray wings around her. Mia turned her head and listened to her heartbeat.
Judy covered Ed and followed the energy path that Idra left. Soon they were setting down in a tiny clearing where some industrious person had tried to make a dent in the last of the jungle of the area by pulling down the trees and burning them, harvesting the charcoal. Idra pointed up the mountain. “You’ll find Angelo there.” She morphed back into a bird and left.
Judy lifted up and circled the clearing before setting down again. “There isn’t a village near here, but there is an encampment close by. I will see if I can secure us some clothing. Ask Murphy to come out and stand guard,” she requested before she morphed into a smaller bird and few away.
“Murph, you heard the lady,” Mia said and opened her mind.
Stephen Murphy moved out of Mia’s mind and out of her body. He averted his eyes from her nakedness.
He-who-walks-through-time did not. He appraised the form of the tiny woman.
Mia turned around blushing. She knew he wasn’t exactly leering, but still she felt ill at ease. How had she gone just over a year ago from her shy but crazy existence to standing naked between a ghost and a superhuman in a clearing of a jungle in the mountains of Haiti?
Judy returned with several sets of combat dress, field military uniforms in her talons. “I’m sorry for the smell, but I didn’t have much choice. Ed dear, I doubt anything is going to fit you.”
Mia covered herself with the sweat-stained cotton shirt and folded the legs in on the pants to provide some protection for her bare feet. Judy followed her lead. Ed split the sides of the pants to encompass his thick thighs and stretched the t-shirt over his massive chest. Mia stared at him but couldn’t pinpoint who he reminded her off.
Murphy leaned over and whispered, “Hulk.”
“You’re reading comic books now?”
“I’m Thor, Ted’s Batman, Cid’s Superman…” he listed.
“It’s worse than I thought. You guys are playing superheroes.”
“Mia, let’s get moving. I saw a trail east of here that leads up the mountain,” Judy said, taking the lead.
Mia admired the former gray lady. She understood now why the former Refugia wanted so badly to escape to the human world. The priory, although beautiful, lacked the stimulus that this woman thrived on.
“Were you Joan of Arc in a previous existence?” Mia asked as she ran to catch up with the others.
“That poor thing, no. I, however, fancy myself an Eleanor Roosevelt or a Hilary Clinton. You western women have much more opportunities than the rest of the world. You have to step up, Mia, and help your sisters along.”
“And how does Ed feel about you?”
“He’s actually quite a feminist considering,” Judy said, not giving Ed a chance to speak. “Now, that Komal, he’s got a major macho problem.”
“It’s his generation,” Mia explained. “Murphy would like us all to return to not being heard and sitting pretty, waiting for our spouses to arrive home status.”
“Stephen Murphy is a tea party republican?”
“No, just tired of saving my butt,” Mia confessed.
“Amen,” Murphy said.
Ted, Cid and Gerald followed their escort over the ridge and down the side of the mountain. They had driven to where 47 had almost kissed the Dominican Haitian border. They had passed nervous looking locals, none of them wanting to venture close to the dark-windowed vehicles as they slowed down. Guillaume Bouché’s grave was in a place that was left to go to ruin. The locals had ceased to make the journey to the hard to get to place. Marie had a hard time bribing workers to clean up the burial site. The last group were shot at and refused to come back.
“How is Bev getting here?” Cid asked as he cut his way through the undergrowth.
“I don’t know. Perhaps there is an easier way. This is the way my sister said her mother-in-law used to go to be with her son, to mourn.”
“I couldn’t help noticing the traditional transfer of piles of cash to hearty young souls with the automatic weapons,” Ted said making conversation. “How illegal are we?”
“Anpil,” Gerald said and translated, “Very.”
“Good to know,” Cid commented.
Bev stood in the shadows. Her guide had counted his money and made his exit. They had barely escaped the villagers lying in wait for them when they exited the road. She told him she wouldn’t be returning alone so there was no need for him to stick around. He left in a hurry.
Bev heard the flapping of wings. A small bird floated down through the canopy of trees. As it neared, it morphed in size. Angelo touched down and placed a small chest beside him. It had taken a lot out of him to change the molecular structure of the chest along with himself, but the contents were needed. He ignored Bev’s greeting and opened the chest. He pulled out a thin dressing gown and pulled it over his head. As the fabric fell over his muscled body, it drew off some of the sweat that had accumulated in the mere minutes he had been there. He turned around and stared at Beverly and asked, “Do you still wish to do this?”
“Why the hell would I be standing in this godforsaken place? Angelo, get on with it. I took care of my side of the bargain, time for you to come through with your promises.”
“I asked you again because the Guillaume Bouché I will summon may not be the man you remember.”
“Yes, he will. I have every confidence in you.”
“Are you certain you wouldn’t rather travel into the past and spend some time with him when he is whole?”
“And have him see me as an old woman, and he a young man? No. Or have to lose him all over again? No.”
“What if he can be cured?”
Bev didn’t answer immediately. “Explain.”
“I have in this chest a cure. It works if you give it to him early in the illness. He would live, and there would be no reason for breaking fates’ laws.”
“Go into the past like Mia did?”
“Yes.”
“But what about that whole disruption of time?” she asked.
“A risk, but Guillaume is unaware of the future. He would do little to influence the world.”
Bev stood still and thought. This would be the right thing to do. “Would we still meet? He had the illness before we met.”
“I don’t know.”
“Could you take me back to make sure we meet?”
“No. You would influence time. You would be seeing yourself as an old woman; it would be a shock.”
“I don’t know what to do. Tell me, if you resurrect him, how will he be?”
“As he was when he died.”
“Would he die again?”
“He would be undead.”
“And still be my husband,” a woman called out from above them.
Bev whirled around and saw Marie Bouché standing bold as brass on top of the ledge overlooking the graveyard. Beside her stood two men, both armed.
“You cast him off. He didn’t love you anymore!”
“Is that what he told you?” she challenged. “Did he also tell you about Cynthia and Mary Jane? He told them I didn’t understand him, but he still came back to warm my bed. Wake up, Beverly, he only loved me.”
“That’s not true!” Bev protested. “Bring him back, we made a deal!” she
ordered Angelo.
“I challenge the deal. You had no right!” Mia said, running into the clearing. “My parents are sound. You have no right to be binding me.”
“Is this right?” Angelo asked Bev.
“No, her parents… are unfit, crazy!” Bev was sweating now. Her niece, whom she used as a chattel, a bargaining piece, stood there garbed in smelly rags, accusing her of fraud.
“I’ve met the couple,” Judy testified, walking in from the jungle with Ed lumbering behind her. “They may be eccentric, but they are sound. They wish to have their daughter returned.”
“And if I don’t?” Angelo asked.
“Then I, He-who-walks-through-time, challenge you. I will kill you and take your possessions,” Ed informed Angelo.
“You have no right,” Angelo argued. He sized up the warrior, saw the weapons he carried and felt fear.
“Now look who’s talking rights,” Judy commented. “I assure you, Angelo, I have looked up the rules, and he has every right.”
“Why would you risk your own death for Mia?” Angelo asked.
“Because she saved my life. I risk nothing; you will die. I will bind her to Ted.”
“Did someone mention my name?” Ted asked, coming into the graveyard. He ran over and met the running Mia halfway. He picked her up and held on to her. “Oh, Pepe Le Pew, what are you wearing?”
“Someone’s old laundry,” Mia replied. “How did you get here?”
“He came with me,” Cid said, coming out of the undergrowth, holding a vicious looking machete.
Murphy, who hung back, quickly moved ghost-speed and disarmed the men on the ledge. Bullets had no place in this fight. He collected the weapons and piled them inside an open grave. He sensed something else stirring in the graveyard, someone waking. He moved quickly to Mia’s side and whispered in her ear, “The dead are waking.”
Chapter Twenty-eight