by Dan Glover
When her hair began coming out by the handful, she had had enough. The fight was over. She threw away all her medicine save for the pain killers, put her affairs in order, bought a ticket to Europe, and said goodbye to the only life she had ever known.
It had started like any other day... with a double dose of morphine the pain in her kidneys was barely bearable, the rocking of the train as it traveled down the rails lulled her into a sort of trance, and then everything changed in an instant.
At the stop in Paris a tall blonde woman with the greenest eyes she had ever seen sauntered into the car where Natalia was sitting. She had been musing upon disembarking for a wander about the City of Love but as her breath caught in her chest not on account of the pain in her sides but because she had never seen a more precious creature in her life her plans as well as her life was altered in ways she had no way of foretelling.
She didn’t know such a woman existed, and, fearful she might frighten the girl, Natalia was hesitant to approach her at first. While she told her self it was true that she hadn’t been attracted to women in that way prior to that moment, she often wondered afterwards if that was why she had never actually taken up with a man.
She watched as the vision—was she an angel sent down from heaven to lead her home—picked out a seat just down the aisle from her, sat down, and closed her eyes as if to catch a nap. Natalie longed to go to her and declare her love but those words of her mother echoed in her ears telling her to forget about it.
She was dying, however, and that gave her a certain power that had heretofore been denied her. Instead of obeying her mother, she listened to her heart instead. Within hours of their meeting, Natalia breathed deeply without any pain for the first time in over a year and she knew without a doubt that the cancer that had been slowly killing her—eating her alive—was gone.
Now she felt as if she was losing Lily. Their encounters were irregular at best and seemed more of a formality than before. The opulence of the love she had finally found was dying. What made matters worse, it was her own son who had come between them. Since she and Nate had become a couple, Lily rarely visited their old bed and when she did she seemed distracted, as if she no longer belonged together with either Natalia or Lauren.
Chapter 28—Ginger
Ginger's leg bothered her most on the cool and damp Scottish mornings.
It was never set properly. The pain reminded her of the look in Marilyn's eyes when she realized she was dying. Ginger remembered the hate for that woman thick and hard in her throat like she was choking on it. She had half a notion to shoot Kirk too but he was so sick she was sure he'd die anyhow.
Yet he survived.
Now, suddenly the man was a hero, the best friend and savior to their leader, the great Nate. Delilah was asked to sail away with him and the crew of elders but when she asked to go along too, she was rebuffed by the one person she thought she could rely on: Natalia.
"There isn’t enough room on the Nautilus, darling Ginger. I'm sorry. This trip is important for Nate's health. We need to leave immediately and the crew is already chosen. Perhaps on our next cruise you can sail with us."
Now, Ginger was lonely.
Orchardton Hall was too quiet this morning. The kitchen was empty. She cracked eggs and added fresh cheese and onions to make an omelet thinking the odor of something cooking might attract a hungry person. No one appeared, however.
She was curious about the stranger named Kāne. Since his arrival she had yet to talk with him. It almost seemed as if he purposely avoided her. One day she saw him ahead of her walking on the beach but when she hurried to catch up he broke into a trot. With her leg aching the way it did and the sand holding her back she was not able to run after him.
She told herself that he didn’t see her. He merely wished to get a bit of exercise. A couple days later she was up late. While going to the kitchen for a bite to eat, she discovered Kāne was there too. He was eating a sandwich at the huge island in the center of the room. When she entered the room he grabbed his meal, got up, and left without saying a word.
Ginger knew that he stayed in the old coach house on the edge of the estate down by the marshland where the mosquitoes and bot flies were so thick at this time of year no one wished to venture there. She imagined that was why he chose to live where he did.
"Hi... I thought you might like some breakfast."
She brought half the omelet down to him in a covered container and knocked upon the heavy wooden door. There was no answer so she knocked again, louder this time. When he answered she held out breakfast before he could refuse her.
"Thank you."
His voice was as melodious as a fountain, his eyes so black it hurt her to look into them. He took the container from her hands while standing there like a stone not seeming to know what to do next.
"Can I come in?"
He stepped aside without answering allowing her entrance into the tiny house. The floor was completely vacant of furniture but for a smattering of large pillows. The walls were decorated with ancient Persian carpets covering any hint of windows.
"Wow... I guess you're what they call a minimalist."
Kāne looked at her with a barely perceptible shake of his head, as if he didn’t want to admit ignorance. Walking over to the pillows he sat down while beckoning her with a nod of his chin to do the same. He ate with his fingers in the way a man who lived apart from others for a long time might do.
"I brought a fork."
He looked at her with his head tilted to one side, shrugged his shoulders, and went back to eating with his fingers. She wondered if he might be hard of hearing.
You are especially pretty this morning.
It took a moment to realize she hadn’t heard the voice in her ears. It was inside her head. Kāne was staring at her with an intensity that sent shivers up her spine. She wondered momentarily if she was in danger here.
Don't worry. I won't hurt you.
"How do you do that? Are you reading my mind?"
"Yes."
The single word resonated softly off the carpeted walls as he shrugged his shoulders again; he continued to gaze at her while shoveling the remainder of the omelet into his mouth. She wondered how it was that he seemed so young and yet so old at the same time.
I am one with time.
"I'm not sure I like how you know what I'm thinking."
"Come."
He set down the empty container and wiping his fingers on his pants he got to his feet holding out a hand to help her up. They walked outside past the fence of tall Poplar trees sighing in the early morning breeze shivering their leaves and down to the old stone breakwater overlooking the ocean. The tide was out with the beach going on forever. It seemed to be littered with sparkling treasures brought in by last night's surge.
Ginger didn’t realize he still had hold of her hand until he pulled her after him. Like him she was barefoot. The sand was sharp under her feet filled with tiny spiraled shells which nearly but not quite pierced her skin as she walked over them. Every so often they came upon larger mollusks. Kāne let go of her hand as he picked up each one carefully testing it for living creatures inside. The ones which were inhabited he set back down while the clean ones he carefully stacked in a pile above the high tide line.
"My work."
An image entered her mind, sculptured sea shells fitted together like a jigsaw puzzle making up a three dimensional figure of a mermaid.
"You're an artist! I love your work!"
Kāne smiled as he turned and stooped to continue collecting shells. Ginger walked beside him watching his every move. He seemed intent on gathering the iridescent shells bypassing the ones that did not shine of their own accord.
"Will this one work?"
She held up a beautifully whorled shell of pink and blue. Kāne took it in hand to examine closely before handing it back to her.
"No."
He indicated she should inspect the inside the shell. When she looked, Ginger sa
w it was occupied by a tiny crab with green eyes and long black marbled antenna and one red claw much larger than the other black one.
"Oh... hello there, Mr. Crab... I'm so sorry to disturb you!"
She carefully placed the shell back in the indentation where she found it. Looking up she saw Kāne was smiling at her and shaking his head.
"What... don’t you talk to crabs too?"
Giggling now, she teased him by grabbing one of the shells he had collected and running away with it down the beach and through the surf as fast as her aching leg allowed. When she looked back he was right behind her with an enormous ear to ear grin on his face.
The next moment he had gathered her into his arms and she no longer cared about not being invited to go along to old America.
Chapter 29—New York, New York
"But Lily, there is no reason for us to sail to old North America."
Lily sensed Nate was being obdurate for no other reason than pride. He hadn’t left their suite of rooms for over a week now and each time Lily decided to go somewhere he insisted on knowing exactly where and who she would be visiting and what time she'd be home. She was relieved to see Natalia at their door this morning.
She seemed electric with excitement and a desire to sail to old New York when she stopped by their rooms. Natalia was the world's worst poker player as she was clearly bluffing when she gave her reason for wanting to go.
"I've traveled all over Europe and Asia but never to the New World. This morning I dreamed of walking amid high glass buildings swaying in the wind and a huge Lady holding up a torch. When I wake I say, oh! That Lady is the Statue of Liberty! She lives in New York City. This dream of mine portends great things. We must go there immediately."
"Am I invited along?"
"Oh but you are such a silly girl, my darling Lily. I wouldn’t go without you!"
"What do you think, my precious Nate? Will you take a couple of lovely women to old New York?"
Though she didn’t care much for salt water, Lily loved sailing on the ocean with its swells and troughs making the schooner buck like a wild thing suddenly loosened on a surface of mottled glass. She counted some of her finest memories as those days she manned the sails for Nate adjusting the trim using the boom vang the way he taught her and reefing the mainsail when needed.
In years past, they sailed along the coasts of old Europe as far north as Norway and south into the Mediterranean Sea as well as along the coast of Africa. Maon grew up learning to sail the Nautilus too. Now, it sat like a forlorn beast tethered to the rotting dock in old Aberdeen.
It seemed to Lily that ever since Kāne's arrival Nate had fallen into a darkly pensive mood. At first, he seemed unreasonably jealous of Kāne but lately things became worse. Nate scowled if anyone so much as mentioned Kāne's name, cursing under his breath and stalking out of the room.
Today he seemed inchoately obsessed with putting together an old plastic toy model of a Harley Davidson motorcycle that he found sequestered in a lower kitchen drawer in one of the unused rooms of the castle. The odor of airplane glue was making Lily ill.
"Will lover boy be coming with us?"
Natalia looked at Lily with a question in her eyes.
"Stop it, Nate. If our darling Natalia wishes to travel to old New York, why don’t we go? We're not doing anything here. You haven’t left our apartment all week."
Getting up from the table he smashed the toy motorcycle sending pieces of it hurtling through the air in all directions before he stomped out of the kitchen. A door slammed signifying he was gone for the time being.
"Oh, my poor sweet Lily... is this how it's been?"
"Each day he seems to become more like a child. I'm frightened of him... no, that's not right... I am frightened for him. Something is going on in his mind, my precious Natalia. Karen seems to think it is a form of early dementia but would such a disease manifest itself so quickly? He was fine just a month ago."
"That's why I want us to all get away, my lovely Lily. I believe Nate's symptoms appeared about the same time Kāne came to live with us. You well know the positive effects that you and Lauren have on human beings. What if Kāne is having a negative effect on Nate?"
"I mentioned this to Nate but he became angry with me. You just saw how he is. Just the mere mention of the man's name sends him into a frenzy. I need help, darling Natalia."
"I've asked Kirk and Delilah to talk to Nate. I know they've become friends. Karen is willing to come along on our trip too. I thought the six of us could make sail tomorrow morning, my unbelievably beautiful Lily. If we have to, we'll put some knock-out drops in Nate's food."
"You are so wicked, my lovely Natalia. I love you. I'll talk to Nate again when he comes home. Perhaps he'll be in a better mood by then."
"Come with me, my sweetest Lily. It is clear to me you need some soothing. Let us go to our hideaway for a brief while and let the world take care of its own self."
She yearned to forget her troubles for just a moment and yet even the thought of Natalia's arms around her did nothing to mitigate the slowly creeping feelings of horror that seemed to be seeping up out of the floor itself threatening to envelope her, suffocate her, and rob her of whatever semblance of sanity that was still hers.
They had never argued. All the years she had spent with Nate passed her by, tender moments soon forgotten and all run together, handfuls of sand that no matter how tightly she clutched slipped from her grasp.
Since the day they first made love she had always felt like a queen around Nate. He treated her royally and with respect. Now, she felt like she was only being a pest that bothered him into doing that which he'd rather not. She didn’t want to trick him into going to old America and yet if the trip helped him regain his old disposition she would be negligent not to do as Natalia suggested.
She had to admit there were days—like today—when she regretted ever approaching Karen about the possibility of implanting an engineered embryo into a surrogate mother... one that would grow to be the man who she loved so fervently.
Maybe it would have been better to let both species die away along with the earth. Perhaps she had no right to interfere with the fated extinction of humanity. They only brought death and disease not only to themselves but to her own people by poisoning the Lake and killing her kith and kin. She should have been happy to see them all perish.
Instead, she had gone to Lauren and kept her from sending the last of the survivors away. Had she but stayed by Natalia's side and allowed the ending to play out as it should have that day of the Great Dying they would be alone right now, the three of them, and happy.
Lily had a sudden urge to sail away with Lauren and Natalia... to leave everyone behind and find their own Shangri-La somewhere far away across the ocean... a place where they could be alone with one another like they once were a century ago. When the urge lingered more than a moment she considered investing her idea with her two lovers and allowing them to make the decision.
One way or another, she sensed things were coming to a head. The People no longer required the Ladies presence to survive... with the birth of Nate and now Maon and Sileas, there were options not afforded to them a few decades ago.
Lily could sense the grumbling of the People. None of them had the courage to complain out loud about their treatment at the hands of the Ladies but it was clear that they were dissatisfied. Rather than appreciating the fact that the people of the Lake made many sacrifices in order to safeguard their health, human beings were generally an unruly lot who would just as soon go back to living their shortened lives if it meant they no longer had to toe the line of the Ladies.
The only thing that kept Lily from advancing her notions of leaving was that she knew instinctively that Natalia would turn her down, as would Lauren, though each for reasons of their own.
Chapter 30—Sparks
The girl turned out to be unexpectedly alluring.
She was human and full of mystery and yet she was so forthright i
n her speech and endearing in her mannerisms that Kāne found he was falling under her spell within minutes of her arrival.
He awakened starving.
Normally he went to the big kitchen inside Orchardton Hall for breakfast but he knew the Nautilus was sailing this morning. Everyone would be down at the dock seeing the crew off and the castle would be deserted.
When a knock sounded at the door he ignored it. He knew who it was without looking out the window. Ginger seemed shy. She always lurked in the background and her mind was unusually open for a human, making her easy to read.
When she knocked a second time he realized she was not going away. When he threw open the door the rising sun silhouetted her head making it seem as if her red hair was sprouting flames. Sparks danced from her eager green eyes.
She limped into the living room holding a container of food and he saw her face for the first time. Her skin was very pale with puddles of freckles running over her upturned nose spilling onto both cheeks. Her mouth was small yet it suited her face perfectly with naturally crimson lips full and soft. Her forehead was high yet her red bangs tumbled into her eyes accentuating the jade sparkling in them.
She was a tall girl, a good ten centimeters taller than he was, and despite the limp she walked proudly with her ample chest thrust out and her back straight. Her waist was very narrow compared to her hips and bust giving her a true hour-glass figure.
"Thank you."
The words sounded as if someone else spoke them creating an echo inside his head and momentarily discombobulating him. Without another word he sat and motioned for the girl to do so as well. He began gobbling the eggs marveling at the way the taste of cheese mixed with the texture of the onions.