“Yeah but I’ve gotta let go of a hand to get it.”
Kara released her hold on her brother, breaking the link to our energy input but since Silver and I still retained contact with the siblings we could maintain the light field hiding us in plain sight. After a little digging in his front pocket he fished out the phone and turned it on.
“No signal. They’re either blocking it or we’re in a dead spot. This is a valley in the middle of nowhere. If I had to guess I’d say we’re in Mexico based on the plant life and the mountain range in the distance, but we could be in Texas or even near the border of the two. There are plenty of deserts to choose from in the Americas, north or south.”
Worms of worry wiggled in our middle and my mind pictured our twisted restless intestines entwined into a sea of knots. What if we couldn’t find this place again? Anxiety pulsed from Silver to settle next to my own concerns, strengthening them. There was an unspoken urge to rush in and find a way to destroy the place while we had the chance. We were here. Cooler, rational thoughts prevailed, but for a moment frenzied imagined action hung in the air like a real future just waiting to expand into reality.
Kara raised her free hand for permission to speak. This habit of hers made her seem so young but we weren’t about to tease. “What’s up with your bending? Are you on the fritz?”
Silver and I thought along the same lines creating a mental echo. Our gut was telling us the interference was probably from the same place as our dreams and there was a purpose to it but our confidence was shaken. What if we tried to leave here and we couldn’t get back? You had to trust your own abilities to the point of arrogance to be a Bender.
Silver growled in our head, angrily twitching her emotions at me. “We’re not conceited, we’re convinced, bitch. Let’s do this!”
My voice, when it came out of our mouth, at least sounded composed and filled with surety. “We aren’t an appliance, Kara. Link up so we can get out of here.”
James stuffed his phone back in his pocket and grabbed his sister’s offered appendage. We tried not to notice the wary concern-filled glance that passed between them before they turned an encouraging hopeful look our direction. The closed circuit of our contact flooded us with energy, and without warning, Silver increased the frequency just like we had in the hotel room this morning. James and Kara’s inhales sharpened as the surge flowed into them. Rather than argue I put the image of Maggie and Gerome’s kitchen firmly in the forefront of my mind’s eye then lowered our lids on the desert.
The absence of the suffocating heat was my first clue we were at least partially successful and then the heavenly aroma of fried breakfast meat assailed our nostrils like an olfactory welcome mat. Every fiber of our being relaxed and relief swamped us. Maggie’s voice filled our ears right before we were crushed against her, tearing our hands from James and Kara’s.
She grilled us, saying, “What took you so long, dears? I was worried something had happened.”
We kept our lids clamped shut, enjoying the soft enveloping warmth that was our aunt and the faint scent of lavender on the delicate skin of her neck.
From behind James murmured with gusto, “Food!”
Silver excitedly opened our eyes and pushed against Maggie’s shoulders to end the hug then impulsively gave her a brief but loud smack right on the kisser. “You cooked us breakfast! I love you more than sarcasm!”
Our aunt smirked as she looked us over for damage, her gaze stopping at our unshod feet. “Where are your boots, young ladies? Why are there two different colors of dirt all over your socks? You know what, never mind…eat before some other dang emergency comes up. Go sit at the table.” She made a shooing motion with both hands.
I took over our mouth to ask, “Are the twins already at school?” When I noticed Kara was frozen in hesitation Silver snagged her arm and pulled her toward the table. At some point in anticipation of our arrival Maggie had unstrapped the booster seats from the two chairs they’d occupied so we could all sit. Napkins and silverware were set out for each of us so we all chose a seat with utensils. In the center she’d put out syrup, butter, salt and pepper.
“Yeah, they’re already courting trouble per Melody’s last update in the Web but every time they try to monkey around she reminds them of your stargazing deal. It’s working for now.” Maggie bustled around the small kitchen, getting us all a plate ready. She pulled several platters from the oven where they were keeping pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage and bacon warm. She served James first without even asking him what he wanted—she just forked over about half of everything and dropped it on the tabletop with a clatter.
The look he gave our aunt in response was filled with adoration before he stole the butter from the center of the table to slather his pancakes. Apparently he wasn’t having a nauseous reaction to our recent ‘port since Silver had used the new method.
Silver groused, “You better save some butter for us, Romeo. If you use all the soft stuff and we have to carve out cold pats from a new stick I’m not gonna be pleased.”
Footsteps drummed toward the kitchen and Gerome poked his head around the wall from the short hall, looking much improved. His skin was actually flesh-colored instead of snow white. The kitchen light made his eyes present as glassy, and the dark circles caused our uncle to look like he’d pulled an all-nighter but the wound on his neck was barely detectable.
Gerome opened his mouth to speak then caught sight of Silver’s iris alteration with its nonexistent pupil solution. “What happened to your eyes, Girls?”
Silver made a fist and popped our sternum as Maggie set a plate full to overflowing in front of us. “We’re not a girl, we’re a woman.”
Both the Lees were startled into laughter, causing James to slap a hand over his mouth and choke as he tried to chew the massive maw-ful into small enough bits to swallow. When Gerome looked to Kara and their gaze met our friend sobered and seemed to shrivel. My aunt put down a plate of food in front of her next and gently rubbed one of Kara’s shoulders through the thin cotton of her t-shirt. “Eat honey, before it gets cold.”
James managed to get his food down enough to speak but didn’t. Instead one of his long-fingered hands traversed the tabletop and wrapped around one of his sister’s still ones.
There wasn’t any call for it but our back was up about Kara. If our uncle did or said anything that made her upset the fit was going to hit the shan, so to speak. “Our eyes are fine, Gerome. Silver made some adjustments for our light sensitivity. When we go to the gate and chat up the police I’ll bend some light to make them look normal or you can loan me a pair of shades. By the way, we found the Warp stronghold where they held us…that is unless you already knew where it was and just hadn’t told anyone.” The tone I used was hard and sarcastic and it cut through the warm atmosphere of the kitchen subtly the way water creates caves in rock through years of relentless passage.
The only free chair was directly across from Kara at the table and Gerome walked to it with steps so smooth and silent only the creak of the floorboards betrayed his approach. Once seated, he propped his elbows on the table, resting his chin on one palm and dusting stray salt off the metal top of the shaker with the other.
Silver and I recognized he was stalling, trying to find words to respond and defray the tension floating lightly in the air like an oil slick on water. One wrong word or turn of phrase and the whole thing could burst into flames. When Gerome raised his eyes they bored into Kara’s, causing her to gasp so low we almost missed it. James and I tensed simultaneously, ready to leap to her defense but my uncle spoke, surprising us all.
“Before my nieces left for Axsa they asked that I watch over you and James. I was supposed to protect you. In my mind it was just another duty to add to the list…and the list is damn long. Somewhere along the way you started to feel like family, you and James became children of choice, not nature. I’m not Maggie, I don’t hug much and I certainly can’t cook, but I do care for you. What happened to you is m
y fault, Honey. If anyone so much as breathes a word of blame your way you tell me. I’ve already filled in the Council about what Shiva can do and how much we need Cass and Silver to search out anyone else who’s affected. Do you forgive me, Kara? Can you?”
All I could think in the stunned silence of the kitchen was…he called her Honey?
A sob escaped Kara’s mouth before she tore her hand out of James’ grasp on the tabletop and covered her crumbling red face. Maggie glided over, hugging her from behind and the only thing stopping the maneuver from looking like a headlock was our friend’s thin wrists barring our aunt’s forearms from her neck.
James looked to his sibling and then to Gerome before diving into his food with gusto. At my expression of disbelief at his insensitivity, James shrugged and circled his fork in the air to say through masticated bits, “The world continues to turn even as we stop to mourn our life’s losses. Eat it while you got it, Cass.”
My uncle and I shared a long, tense moment and then his eyebrows crept up his forehead as his chin lifted to ask us for our approval. A slight shift in our posture and a long blink occurred, granting Gerome amnesty which he received with a miniscule lift to the left corner of his serious mouth. He dismissed us to concentrate on Kara, and as much as we’d criticized James, our pancakes were getting cold so we dove in after dipping into the butter with a table knife, spreading the light yellow nectar of the god’s over the browned spongy stack on our plate. Maggie mixed the best batter ever. At the first bite the smooth and salty texture mixed with the cinnamon spice of the fluffy pancake, creating anticipation in our gut that caused our saliva glands to burst to life and an involuntary groan of pleasure to leak from our lips.
Kara’s head popped up, knocking away our aunt’s arms. She rubbed her hands over her cheeks like a squirrel cleaning its face after a good feed as she smeared away tears. “Are you having a food-gasm?” Her voice was shaky, warbling on the edge of total breakdown but the normality of Maggie’s domain seemed to be what she needed.
Silver paused our leisurely chewing long enough to purr out. “You betcha. Grab some grub and have your own.”
Maggie walked around the table to rest her arms on her husband’s shoulders and plant a kiss on the top of his neatly combed dark hair. Kara’s eyes tracked our aunt’s progress then sank down to settle on Gerome’s face, sucking in a deep shuddering gush of air she smiled hesitantly and picked up her fork from the table. For just a moment life felt suspended in a fragile bubble of happiness composed of people who genuinely cared for one another. No one was inclined to burst the bubble of illusion or speak of anything beyond the immediate until all of our plates were clean. Kara finished last, looking more like herself than she had yet.
Gerome’s voice broke the peace with brutal finality. “What did you do to Shiva that caused him to disappear in front of Outsiders, Girls? Not just Outsiders but the police to boot.”
I tossed our used utensils on the greasy empty plate in front of us and pushed our chair back with a loud scrape on the floorboards. I didn’t miss our fragile friends flinch at the noise and the name as we walked our dirty dishes to the sink. “We burned him out and watched the attachment sizzle off into the ether back to its frackin’ host. Hopefully he’ll die in agony. If not we’ll let Kara finish him later.”
Maggie harrumphed and issued a solid, “Good,” before Gerome could respond.
“Officer Walters called Malcolm and let him hear it. The authorities are going to want an explanation for last night’s events. You hit a man three times your size and busted up a wall of mirrors then disappeared without any explanation. I don’t know what you’ll want to share.” Our uncle’s honey-colored irises flicked in Kara’s direction, “Get your story straight before you head to the gate.”
James rose from his place at the table, snagging his sister’s dirties and his own to amble over to the sink. After the dishes were set gently in the bottom of the stainless steel square he turned to lean his hip against the counter edge and crossed his arms over his chest. The whole left side of his body wedged in against ours as if he wanted a nap standing up but his expression was alert as he directed a question at Gerome who’d turned his chair sideways for a better angle on our position.
James queried, “Outside or inside? If we take ‘em to a more normal setting on the premises maybe we can negate some of the mystery.”
Gerome’s words rolled out unstrained. “It’ll piss off Cora but I say invite them in. Walk over to the training building and answer their questions in the mudroom. I’ll put the word in to Control.”
Silver put in her two cents. “How honest are we allowed to be? They’ve already seen someone teleport or light bend…that can’t be explained away. Do we try and put a good spin on it? It’d be nice to have law enforcement thinking of us as the good guys if we get hit by the Warps.”
“Per Malcolm, Walters has an inkling we’re different. Probably one on one with him would be better. There are ten officers waiting though, plus an FBI agent just showed up offering assistance, conveniently. Ever since the Calvin incident they’ve been itching to find out more about us.” Dryly Gerome added, “I’d advise against a group demonstration of Prana or disappearing from sight.”
Kara’s voice lilted into the conversation like an autumn leaf. “You talk as if you aren’t coming with us, Gerome. Why not?”
“Sometimes less is more. Malcolm will be with you.”
Maggie snorted. “He’s under my orders to rest. His body needs to recover whether he likes it or not. Gerome can gallivant around tomorrow.”
James hid a smile with his palm at Gerome’s annoyed expression before asking the fiery-headed doctor, “Who’s got the infirmary? Nicky?”
Maggie nodded and started to speak then eyed our sock-clad feet before snapping her fingers. “You need shoes. Hold on, I’ll be right back.” After some hurried thumping and the muted sounds of movement from down the hall our aunt was back, holding up our old pair of lace up boots. “See if these’ll fit.” They weren’t near as nice as the footwear Kal had gifted us but our feet hadn’t grown much in the intervening years so they’d do for now.
Silver gratefully accepted the boots and dropped to the floor. Much patting and grumbling ensued as my twin tried to dust off the majority of the dirt from our socks and the bottom of our pants. Partway through the process Silver looked up at Maggie who was scowling at the mess. Sheepishly my sister stuffed our feet into our shoes and rose when we were properly shod.
Kara raised her hand again but this time it rocketed up into the air. “Um…can I change clothes?”
James popped his arm into the air as well. “Ditto.”
Gerome waved an arm like a ruler granting pardons all around. “Sure but be quick about it. Cass, Silver, I need to talk with you while they’re gone.”
Resolve hardened in our sternum before I answered, “No. Where they go we go. We’re stronger together. You can talk to us later.”
Silver and I weren’t about to let them out of our sight for the foreseeable future, especially Kara. Their house was just next door but it was also a place that had probably been invaded by Shiva and he could ‘port there at will if he was able. Our guard was up.
Our uncle’s disapproval was clear but he didn’t express it verbally. We were developing our own version of speaking without words and it was pretty effective. Guilt pulled at us. Kara stood, scraping back her chair to come around the table and hug Maggie, thanking her for breakfast.
To everyone’s surprise Kara bent at the waist and wrapped her thin arms around Gerome’s upper body. “I hug even if you don’t. I’m not sure what happened to you that Maggie wants you to rest but I’m glad you’re alright.”
Slowly while Kara spoke our uncle raised a hand to pat her on the back then settled into a gentle rubbing circle between her shoulder blades. The unwieldy expression of affection ended just as clumsily as it began but it changed the tone of the room from confrontational to semi-harmonious.
&n
bsp; As we all walked to the door to leave, I noticed the living room was once again flour free. Some of the magazines were missing from the coffee table but the Winnie the Pooh blanket was back on the couch, freshly clean and bloodless. I turned to hug our aunt goodbye and she added a damp kiss on our cheek for good measure.
She whispered, “I love you more than butter.”
Silver chuckled from deep in our diaphragm. “That’s a whole lotta love.”
James opened the front door, bringing in a burst of burgeoning May heat and the freshness of the outdoors to mingle with the still lingering scents of our breakfast. Birdsong came in the doorway, as well, adding lightness to a day we already knew would be anything but. Gerome walked up behind Maggie to rest his hands on her shoulders as we walked across the threshold into the daylight.
When we turned our backs to head as one down the unpaved path to James and Kara’s house it felt like more than the simple physical task it was. It felt like a beginning.
Chapter Nine: Pants on Fire
James fumbled in his pockets for the key to their front door, suddenly nervous. Kara snatched the key from her brother when it was liberated.
He protested, “Hey, where’s your key? Did you lose another one?”
Kara elbowed James out of the way. “Does it matter? We have to change the locks anyway.”
When the door opened inward I knew the layout of the house would be the same but I was curious and so was Silver about how they would keep their home. Would it be a mess with clothes on the floor or dirty dishes in the sink? Maybe James was the domestic one and not Kara. The Lees blocked our view of the interior momentarily as we all tramped inside.
We moved into the living room to find it occupied by a black futon couch that looked to convert into a bed, and brightly colored bean bags tossed here and there still depressed by the last derriere to sit on them. The color scheme was black and white with dashes of color thrown in to break up the monotony. All in all it was youthful. There was no entertainment center to take up floor space and their television was wall mounted with floating shelves just underneath to hold the stereo components and a gaming device. The cords that dangled were wrapped together with neon pink stretch bandage. I wondered if Maggie had come up with that idea.
VECTOR (The Weaver Series Book 3) Page 14