Jules laughed. “God, it’s good to see you.”
Where Shara cautiously tiptoed, Jules dove head first. Where Shara weighed the data, Jules relied on her psychic energy. Where Shara kept her feelings locked down hard, Jules was free and open.
“It’s been too long,” Shara admitted.
Jules chuckled, “One good reading, and we’ll be good to go.”
“If only life were that simple.” Shara sighed, and the happiness in Jules’s eyes dimmed to a troubled murkiness. She placed an arm around Shara’s waist then glanced at Cade as he looked around her home.
Both women caught his wide-eyed amazement as he took in the unusual architecture and eccentric decor that Jules had used to update the house she’d inherited from her great-great-great grandmother who’d had to leave Hawaii before the volcanic explosions that had destroyed the islands.
Her house was a combination of high tech and old-world charm. Open to the breezes in all four directions, between the wind and the removable tiki roof that dispersed the hot air, the structure remained pleasantly cool and didn’t require expensive air-conditioning. A shiny new robot tended the potted lilies, honeysuckle, and hibiscus that spilled outward into the yard, and a goldfish-filled fountain bubbled from the patio into a pool in the living room under a decorative arched bridge lit with holovid enhancements. Visitors had to look closely to see exactly where the house stopped and the outdoors began—just the way Jules liked it. Chimes tinkled in the breeze. A cut-crystal dish glowed orange and perched next to a carved jade elephant on an imported Martian stone dining table. Four chairs, none of them matching, but each lovingly hand-painted with ancient Hawaiian symbols, sat under a string of high-volt Japanese lanterns. The entire decor shouted high-tech bohemian, down to the blinking macramé and string beads that draped the hallways leading deeper into the house.
Finally Jules released Shara. “I have so much to tell you.”
“Me, too.” Boy, did she ever. “But I’ve been rude. Jules, this is Cade Archer.”
“I can see why you fished him out.” Jules’s admiring tone was light, but Shara could see that her friend was disturbed by his presence.
“I’ve told her about you,” Shara admitted to Cade.
He stiffened. His icy glare moved past her to pin Jules then returned to frost her. “So much for classified information staying secret.”
The last thing she’d wanted was to betray his trust. Seeing the hurt in his eyes and knowing she was the one who’d put it there tore at her conscience. And yet, she’d had to tell Jules. The last time Jules had made a prediction about someone close to Shara, Bruce had died. And in the exact manner Jules had foreseen. “Jules is family. I trust her . . .”
Jules immediately tried to defuse the tension with gracious manners. “Please, you can trust me. Now, come outside. I try never to miss a sunset, and the soy burgers are almost done.”
The beachside patio, an extension of inside, was shaded by a trellis covered with vines. But unseen to the naked eye were invisible shades that filtered out the sun’s harmful rays. A hammock hung from two corner poles. Jules’s cat, Kapuna, sat under the auto-grill waiting for crumbs to fall.
The setting sun’s orange ball plummeted on the horizon, and clouds of luscious magenta and striking flamingo spanned the brilliant sky. Couples strolled hand in hand down the beach and seagulls cawed.
“This beachfront property has been in Jules’s family for generations,” Shara told Cade.
Jules unnecessarily picked up a spatula and tended the food. The auto-grill would have done the job if she hadn’t. “I could never afford to live here if I hadn’t inherited the place.” She shook her own special homemade barbecue sauce onto the grilling burgers. A drop spattered, and Kapuna licked it off the patio.
A measure of peace stole through Shara. Jules’s house was like a second home. Somehow, her friend would help her figure out what to do. She recalled one of Jules’s sayings: “A burden shared is a burden eased.” She certainly hoped so.
During a delicious dinner of perfectly barbecued burgers, a crisp salad, and corn on the cob, topped off with coffee, the conversation had remained light and unimportant. Jules didn’t comment on the extraordinary amount of salt Cade had poured over his burger. Instead, they’d chatted about Jules’s cat, her garden, and the tourist season. Oddly, Cade had fit right in, but after coffee he excused himself to check out the beach. His look plainly told he knew she wanted some alone time with Jules. And he was trusting her.
With the breeze teasing his blond hair, his silhouette outlined by the sunset, he exuded sinewy grace, his long legs heading toward the high-tide mark. It was hard not to stare at him.
Shara wondered if he could swim. “I haven’t known him long, but he’s kind and caring.”
Jules sighed. “It’s clear you like him a lot.”
“We almost kissed.” She recalled the darkening in his green eyes that had set off her own desire. Desire she hadn’t felt this strongly since she’d lost her husband.
Jules’s tone was serious. “Stop drooling.”
“I wasn’t,” Shara protested.
Jules closed her eyes; her facial features smoothed. And she swayed on her feet.
Shara recognized the signs of Jules’s visions.
Within seconds, Jules reopened her eyes, her expression darkened with worry.
Jules’s expression was so grim that she braced for bad news.
Jules took her hand. “You brought him to me for confirmation. But the answer is . . . he’s real, and you must stop his mission.”
“What makes you so positive?” Shara leaned forward to catch every nuance of Jules’s expression, hating that Jules sounded this certain. But she saw no doubt in her friend, not in her sad gaze, nor the resolute set of her shoulders.
Sometimes her friend’s gift came to her like dreams and required interpretation. Sometimes, the meaning wasn’t obvious. But, this time her vision was as clear, as inexorable as the full moon rising over the horizon.
Jules shuddered, glanced around to make certain they were still alone, then lowered her tone to a husky whisper. “I . . . think . . . I’ve seen . . .”
“Yes?”
“Death. Destruction—on a planetary scale.”
“What?” Fear crawled down Shara’s back and settled into her stomach. The good food she’d just eaten churned up acid.
The last time Jules had talked about death, Bruce had died. He’d never made it to his thirtieth birthday.
Jules pulled her chair closer to Shara until their knees almost touched. Nervously, she played with the end of her braid, curling it around her finger. “I’m seeing cataclysmic images.”
“Are you saying this is a war?”
“I’m seeing boiling gases. Fires. Explosions on your asteroid. Your asteroid’s orbit wobbling.”
Oh, God. “Is my Lamenium mine exploding?” Shara asked.
“I don’t know. I think your asteroid is crashing into Earth, and Cade is there with you and me and another man.” Jules paused. “It’s so strange that Cade would cause such destruction.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because I sense no evil in him.”
“Maybe it’s not Cade.” She quickly filled Jules in. “Maybe Jamar causes the disaster? Maybe it’s him I stop.”
“Don’t be foolish. Accept what I’m seeing this time,” Jules warned. “Earth can’t afford for you to lose focus because you’ve been taken in by his good looks or his keen intelligence. Or even his goodness. It’s your destiny to stop him.”
“He’s a very strong and competent man. I may not be able to—”
“Billions of lives depend on what you do.”
Perhaps there was another option. “Suppose I stay with you. Let him go on alone with his mission.”
Jules shook her head. “You know how I see things in flashes? And have to piece them together?”
Shara nodded. She’d never seen Jules this intense or upset. Her friend tended
to live life and enjoy. By nature she was a free spirit.
“These flashes last longer,” Jules continued, “and are more vivid and urgent. Yet, my balance is off.”
“Balance?”
“I’ve always seen many paths. Think of a tree with one strong trunk. Life is rooted in the ground, comes together in the trunk with purpose, but can diversify again and again. Each choice leads one to a thinner branch, a more fragile route. But now my visions don’t have a variety of offshoots. There is only one path—that you must stop Cade.”
“He claims his people are no more than slaves. He’s trying to help them.”
“So he says, and maybe he even believes it.” Jules grimaced. “Worse—maybe it’s true. But helping his people will start a terrible disaster.”
“Could the disaster be taking place on his world, Rama, and not Earth?”
“I don’t think so.” Jules sighed in disgust. “I’m very sure it’s your asteroid I’m seeing. All that blue water and the shape of your island is distinctive. I see widespread panic on a planetary scale. War. Devastation.”
“You’re certain that stopping Cade from building the portal will save Earth?”
“Yes.” Jules shrugged. “But you know it’s possible that if we fork from the path that I envision, the future can change. I’ve seen a fourth man with us in the chaos of the explosions. He’s been haunting me for months. He just keeps popping into my visions. His name is Dr. Lyle Donovan, and he’s a scientist who lives on Io.”
Io was the innermost of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter. But so far Shara didn’t see the connection. “Io?”
“Io has the most active volcanoes in the solar system.” Jules’s eyes burned into hers. “But some explosions aren’t volcanic. They’re fueled by Lamenium.”
The hair on the back of Shara’s neck stood up. “Lamenium’s the same element Cade wants to use to fuel his portal.”
“Since Dr. Donovan has more doctorates than I have years in college, I’m hoping he can help us.”
Shara believed in Jules’s visions and hoped she’d seen a way out. But she was afraid to get her hopes up. “How?”
“I don’t know. But night after night, Lyle Donovon comes to me in one fiery flash after another. I have to go see him.”
“To Io?” Shara gazed at Jules in shock. She’d never seen her friend disturbed enough by a vision to seek out a stranger, never mind travel half way across the solar system.
“In my visions, I always see Lyle’s face with explosive flames overlaid. Not as if his flesh is burning or melting or anything gross. It’s just that every time I see him, there’s fire.” Jules stared off at the ocean. “I’ve been trying to talk to him for months. But he never answers the vidlink or returns my calls.”
“You really think a man of science is going to believe your visions?” Shara asked.
“Even if he won’t help, my visions are always stronger in person. If I could meet him, maybe I’d have a better idea how to interpret the catastrophe.”
As far as Shara knew, Jules had never before seen anything so serious. Usually, she saw personal events. They were both in over their heads this time.
“It’s almost as if the man is calling to me.” Jules frowned. “He would have to live in the coldest place ever.”
“Not quite.”
“Close enough. I keep hoping he’s away on vacation and will return to answer my calls, but I checked with the university, and he’s working on a project and hasn’t taken time off in months, maybe years.”
Shara suspected Jules would only consider traveling at all because she was worried about those cataclysmic images. “You’re doing this for everyone. I’m paying your fare.”
“I can’t accept—”
“Jules. Don’t argue. Paying is the least I can do.” Before Jules could protest, Shara took her hand. “If your visions of Cade and Lyle are connected, you must be very careful.”
“Why?” Jules’s gaze pierced her.
“Because Jamar actually came to Earth before Cade did. He was waiting for Cade to arrive so he could shoot him out of the sky. Cade says he may have a base and friends here.”
“A friend like Lyle Donovan?”
“It’s possible Lyle could be from Rama, too. Or the men could work together. Maybe that explains his great scientific mind—he comes from a world more technically advanced than ours. Our salt would only enhance everything about him.”
“Oh . . . my . . . heaven.” Jules’s lower lip quivered. “You’re suggesting the mother of all conspiracy theories. If there are a bunch of aliens living in the Solar System and about to fight over the portal . . . and you mention this to anyone but me, they’ll lock you up for sure. Maybe me, too.”
Jules was right. If Shara told anyone else, they’d think she was insane. Confusion ate at confidence. “Am I such a bad judge of character? Is Cade lying to me?”
“Maybe he’s not lying. Maybe his war is just. But Cade’s portal could put our solar system at risk—especially if his people go to war over the portal or our salt.”
“You think that maybe the catastrophe you’re envisioning is us getting caught in the middle of the Raman conflict?”
“I don’t know.” Jules remained silent for a long time. “Maybe Lyle will have answers for both of us.”
Before Shara could ask another question, a hovercar alarm started honking.
13
A loud, repetitive, and irritating noise, a hovercar horn, blared from the front yard as Cade returned from his walk.
Fearful that Jamar had found them, Cade broke into a sprint, running around the house. Worry that the First might hurt either of the women increased his speed. He’d seen Jamar backhand his own wife, terrify his daughters, and threaten their mother.
Jules’s yard was an obstacle course, resembling a rainforest and unlike the many manicured lawns he’d seen during their drive to Jules’s home. Tightly grown bamboo blocked his progress at every turn. Giant leaves slapped his face, roots tripped him, and when he finally broke through the growth, headlights blinded him.
Squinting, Cade saw a large man—most definitely not his brother—lunging clumsily forward, swinging a long pole at the women with menacing fury. Jules and Shara backed up. All three people were shouting, but between the blaring horn and the three voices, he couldn’t understand what any of them were saying.
The intruder was a big man with a wide girth, double his own mass. Although the long pole wasn’t thick, he swung it with anger and strength.
“Let me turn off the horn!” Shara shouted.
“Don’t move.” The man slashed the pole as if it were a sword, threatening her.
Suddenly the horn ceased blaring.
The women didn’t seem particularly frightened, only angry. When the man spied Cade, he shouted an oath, pawed the ground with his foot, and let out a roar.
Cade sprinted closer to the women. Face red with fury, the stranger threw the rod at Cade.
Cade dodged. Caught in mid-stride, the sudden evasive maneuver unbalanced him. While Cade struggled to remain on his feet, the stranger ducked his head, closed the distance with a speed that belied his weight, and rammed Cade in the stomach. His opponent may have appeared fat, but he was solid muscle.
Powerful arms closed around Cade in a wrestling hold. Cade reacted automatically, slamming his head into the other’s face. His attacker grunted in pain, and his arms relaxed, but Cade fell hard, the weight of his attacker landing on top of him, walloping a double blow, one from the ground, the other from his opponent.
Crushed, Cade gathered his strength to shove the man off.
Hearing a woman’s shout, he glanced up, surprised to find Shara and Jules standing over the two men.
Shara was kicking the strange man in the side, trying to shove him off Cade. “Get up, Lou.”
Lou? So the women did know him.
Jules climbed onto Lou’s back and pulled his hair. Lou yowled in pain and tried to twist out of her grip. Cade shove
d at the man’s chest and finally freed himself from beneath the other’s massive body.
Rising to his feet, Cade caught sight of Jules slapping the man across the face with an open hand. “You idiot. How dare you show up at my home uninvited. I told you not to come back. Not ever.”
The man cowered and covered his face. “You didn’t mean it.”
“What part of ‘I never want to see you again’ don’t you understand?” Jules stood back, fisted her hands on her hips, and glared.
Shara picked up the pole and tossed it out of reach. “Lou, leave before I call the cops.”
Cade looked from one woman to the other. He’d never expected them to attempt to rescue him. Damn. Together, without a weapon, the two of them had taken on this Lou, not even hesitating to place themselves in danger.
Never had he seen women like these two. The women Firsts on Rama whined and complained to get their way. The seconds and thirds were subservient, no better treated than the males, beaten into submission just as often.
To see two women fighting with feet and fists . . . to help him, rocked him back on his heels. And made him feel slightly foolish. He hadn’t thrown even one punch.
Lou, who had seemed so dangerous only moments earlier, deflated with every angry word cast in his direction. “I miss you, Jules.”
Jules spit at his feet. “You should have thought of that before you cheated on me with that haole.”
Cade didn’t comprehend the word, but sensed negative connotations.
Shara prodded the man’s gut with the broken pole. “Go.”
“I made a mistake,” Lou pleaded.
“So did I.” Jules’s nostrils flared. “I trusted you, and you betrayed me. You didn’t just cheat. You brought her here to my home. To my bed.”
Shara sucked in her breath, her expression for her friend sympathetic, but when her gaze moved to Lou, her eyes narrowed in harsh judgment. In obvious disgust, Shara tossed the snapped pole at Lou’s feet. “I’m going to the house. If you aren’t gone by the time I get there, I’m calling the police.”
Lunar Heat: 1 (The Heat Series) Page 7