Ocean's Fire

by Stacey Tucker

  “Right now, I need to lie down,” Skylar said.

  “Yes, let’s get Ronnie and Rhia out of here,” Ocean said.

  Skylar looked at Joshua. “Why are you still here?”

  “You have something I value,” he said coldly. He walked toward her with a piercing desire in his eyes. Skylar was not scared for her life; she was scared of her predictable reaction. Much to her surprise, however, she felt none of her former angst. She felt Joshua’s desire for her as it truly was: a ploy to get what he wanted. In the past, she had been either a pawn or an obstacle. But now things were shifting.

  He leaned toward her and inhaled sharply. “You are finally getting interesting.” He raised his hand to touch her face, and she grabbed his massive forearm, stopping him in midair. She stared into his blinding blue eyes.

  “I always was interesting,” she said fiercely.

  He pulled his arm away and sauntered off. She watched him disappear into the foggy afternoon before turning back to Ocean to ask, “When do we call the police?”

  “The police are no help here,” Ocean said.

  “How can that be? He goes to jail. Milicent is exposed for all her evil. It would all be over.”

  Ocean just stared at her. Skylar knew she was being naive. “Sorry,” she said, a tacit acknowledgment of all she had to learn.

  “Help me get Ronnie up,” Ocean said.

  Skylar knelt beside Ronnie. “Ronnie, we need to get going.”

  “I will never let her go,” Ronnie said, tears streaming down her face.

  “You will see her again,” Skylar promised. “I will help us get to that place. I was there. I know it exists. This . . .” Skylar knocked on a wood floorboard. “This is only one place in which we live. You know that, Ronnie!” She was pleading now.

  Ronnie reached out to touch Skylar’s lightly glowing chest. “You’re right. But I want her here, with me.” She traced her daughter’s face with a fingertip. “She knew her short time here was over. She knew you were the one.”

  Skylar managed a smile. She helped Ronnie to her feet, and Ocean lifted Rhia’s lifeless body in her arms. Together, they slowly made their way back to Ocean’s.

  The glow of the heart light disappeared completely a few days after Rhia’s death. Aside from an occasional flutter between her ribs, Skylar didn’t feel any different, physically or otherwise. The only noticeable change was a huge increase in her appetite. She could swear she was consuming at least five thousand calories a day, but she knew that couldn’t be true, since she hadn’t gained a pound.

  The bulldozers were set to demolish the old barn in a few days. Skylar was no longer sad to see it go. It had become a wretched reminder of the horror that was still so fresh in her mind.

  Ronnie had confronted Milicent about her involvement in Joshua’s actions the day after Rhia’s death. Milicent adamantly stuck to her story that he was instructed not to harm the child, and even she seemed solemn in her own self-involved way.

  Ronnie waited until the new moon to have Rhia’s memorial, which coincided with the spring equinox. The day of rebirth seemed appropriate. Rhia’s body was kept on the altar in the Grotto, perfectly preserved by the crystal energy swirling around her.

  At noon on the first day of the new moon, immediate family and friends gathered in the backyard garden at Ocean’s house under a shining sun. Everyone at the service wore white, Rhia’s preferred color. Rhia’s body lay upon the crystal altar under the great black tree.

  A soft melody drifted into the air, and Skylar noticed for the first time the piano that had been positioned behind the altar. She figured the same magic that had carried the crystal bed there had brought the piano as well. She looked to see who was playing. Argan. He was gorgeous in white linen, a true prince. Skylar’s heart leapt at the sight of him. He looked up from the keys to meet her eyes and smiled slightly before returning his gaze to the keys in front of him.

  The music got louder and everyone stilled to listen. The stirring piece brought Skylar’s tears forward. As they spilled down her cheeks, she stared at Rhia, waiting for her to jump up and say it was all pretend. Get up, Rhia! she screamed in her head.

  Argan’s fingers slowed to a stop, and Ocean took her place next to Ronnie and her husband, Fagan. She wore white clergy robes and carried a book almost identical to the Book of Akasha, only smaller in size.

  “Today we celebrate the life of Rhiannon Fortunata,” Ocean said. “She was an exceptional child with an uncontainable spirit. There are no words to comfort when a child is taken from us. There are no answers, only questions. Right now we are merely existing in the shadows that cloud our hearts with pain. When we are ready, we will feel her boundless love again. And we ask Rhiannon to watch over us from her seat in heaven. When we are ready to accept the rays of sunshine glistening upon us once more, we can be sure Rhia is helping us greet a new day.” Ocean was silent for a moment and then held the book over Rhia’s head. “I call on her namesake to guide her safely on her journey. May Rhiannon’s spirit remain forever free.”

  Skylar looked at Rhia’s body, lying on the crystal bed, then looked up at the sky and saw Cheveyo there, Rhia sitting on his back. She waved. Skylar looked back to the bed, and Rhia’s body was gone. Skylar felt a tug at her heart, like a cork had been pulled out. She took in a deep breath and waved back.

  Argan started to play again as Ronnie and Fagan walked into the house. This song wasn’t quite so sad.

  “Does he know the truth about all of this?” Skylar asked Ocean, gesturing to Fagan.

  “He knows all of Ronnie’s truths and accepts them. He’s pretty advanced.” Ocean mentioned something else about food, but Skylar could hear nothing but the music. She stared at Argan. He was luminous in the sunshine. She walked over to the piano as he ended his piece.

  “You finally got to hear me play,” he said softly.

  “You were wonderful,” she said. “I’m sorry it was on such a solemn occasion.”

  “Rhia is in a far better place than the rest of us,” Argan said.

  Skylar wondered how much he knew about it all.

  He got up from the piano and stood in front of her. “I don’t want you with him, Sky. He’s dangerous. You know that now. It’s too late for Rhia but not for you.”

  He knows more than I thought, she realized. She touched his shoulder. “Argan ….” A part of her wanted to gush with flowery words about her love for him and beg him to give her another chance. But she didn’t say any of that. She knew she couldn’t be with him now. There was a mountain to conquer, and she couldn’t do it if she was tied to him. “I have no excuse for my past behavior. But now . . . now, things will be different.”

  “I hope for your sake they will be,” Argan said. He stood inches from her and took in a deep breath. He stared intensely into her eyes.

  “When you look at me like that, it makes me think you forgive me,” she said, her voice catching in her throat.

  He refused to release her from his stare. “Anger is a meaningless emotion after witnessing Rhia’s sacrifice,” he said. He leaned in closer, inches from her face, and she was sure he would kiss her. But then he stepped back. “I’ll see you inside,” he said, and left her standing in the garden.

  Skylar stumbled backward over a tree root and caught herself on the trunk. She took in a deep breath and blew it out of her mouth. A butterfly of hope stirred in her stomach.

  Skylar got out of bed and shuffled to the bathroom. She was in desperate need of a shower. When she turned on the light, the bathroom seemed different, brighter. She had to squint under the glare of the fluorescent bulbs. She sat to pee and felt a burning sensation between her legs. “Good God, what the hell is that?” she said. She looked down to see the bowl full of blood and gasped—but after her brief moment of shock, she sighed. Spontaneous bleeding was a common occurrence these days and no longer sent her screaming to Ocean’s.

  “Come to me with this stuff, please,” Ocean had said after Skylar’s second panic at
tack over seeing large amounts of her own blood left behind on pillows and in coffee mugs. “Your blood is rebalancing. Your body needs to shed the waste somehow.”

  She cleaned herself up and headed to the mirror for the first time that day. The piercing ice-blue eyes staring back at her no longer startled her. They reminded her of Sasha, her grand-mother’s Siberian husky. Skylar never knew what changes to expect when she woke up. That was, if she got any sleep the night before. She didn’t seem to need much sleep these days. One night she’d stayed up until three in the morning staring at her reflection in the mirror, wanting to catch the changes in action. It hadn’t worked. The next day she woke up, after three hours of sleep, with white eyelashes that looked like they had been spun by spiders. That one was easily concealable with mascara, although she had never been one for eye makeup. Beyond that, her boring blond hair had paled to white, and any roundness her face had still possessed had faded into wildly chiseled cheekbones. The little bit of fat she’d had hiding her muscles had also melted away, leaving a ripped physique for which she couldn’t take credit.

  She dressed for summer that day, in a tank top and shorts, and completed her outfit with her barn boots. She stopped to take in her appearance in her full-length closet door mirror. She had to admit, she was no longer ordinary.

  The barn was bustling with vaguely familiar faces Milicent had hired to fill every potential need. Skylar didn’t care to know any of them. She had developed a sensitivity around strangers in the past few weeks. She remembered Rhia describing it as seeing people as colors, not bodies. The first time Skylar saw a green, bulb-shaped figure where Ocean was standing, Ocean had to talk her off the ledge. To Skylar, most people were masses of swirling red blood cells these days.

  “It’s not the blood you’re seeing,” Ocean had explained. “It’s the aura. It takes on the color of the person’s most dominant chakra. You usually see red because ninety-five percent of people can’t make their way out of their ass . . . I mean, root chakra.”

  “Why are you green?” Skylar asked, taking a seat on the floor to recover.

  “Green is the color of the heart chakra. I try to live my life from there.” Ocean put her hand on Skylar’s forehead as if checking for a fever. “I don’t always succeed,” she said.

  Skylar saw Kyle and went over to introduce him to her new look. In a most ironic turn of events, he now had seniority at the barn. Milicent had promoted him to day manager. Skylar had briefly considered introducing herself as someone new, but she knew it wouldn’t work. She’d also tried contact lenses to hide her new eyes, but they’d felt like steel wool and she’d removed them almost immediately.

  Kyle stared at her for an age before he opened his mouth. “I’ve always had a thing for badass women,” he finally said.

  Skylar glared at him.

  “I’m not hitting on you. I’m just sayin’.” He continued to stare at her, unapologetically, as if he’d paid money to do so. “Very cool.”

  Suki walked up, and Kyle wandered off in search of work to do. “What are you supposed to do now, fight crime?” she asked.

  “It’s all still unclear to me, Suki,” Skylar said. “I have a freight train running through my body, and I’m just trying to hang on. But right now I need to focus on something other than my life. What can I do to be helpful?”

  “Cheveyo’s been restless,” Suki said. “Why don’t you take him out for a go?”

  “Love to,” Skylar said.

  She made her way to Cheveyo’s stall. She took one look at him and dropped the water bucket she’d been carrying. Before her stood her stately friend, transformed into the white unicorn that had whisked Rhia away after her ceremony. He had returned. Or had he ever left? As she now saw the true identity of humans, she supposed she could also see the true identity of animals.

  The horses were the most prideful of the animals Skylar had encountered so far since her change. They had photographic memories and held on to the emotions of every experience. And they say it’s elephants who never forget, Skylar thought.

  Cheveyo stared into Skylar’s new eyes with an unspoken knowing. She felt his concern.

  “What is it, old friend?” she asked. She reached out to touch his mane. He shook his head and bowed. She smiled and bowed in reply. She tried again to touch him and this time succeeded. She moved her hand slowly up to his ear and then to the spiraled ivory horn atop his head. It felt like porcelain. Her smile widened, and for the first time she understood that she was the link between worlds—not just old and new but also physical and etheric. For the first time since the start of her transformation, she was excited about the possibilities.

  “Remarkable,” she whispered to Cheveyo. She led him out of his stall past Suki and a half a dozen others. None of them gave him a second look.

  She led Cheveyo out into the sunshine. So often she had promised him that they would ride beyond the confines of the paddock. She had always told him someday. Now, full of her new-found giddiness, she knew today was someday. When she was sure no one was watching, she rode the stallion out of the paddock and together they climbed the mountain—away from the school, away from the pain of recent events, away from the problems that seemed too daunting to solve. The feeling was glorious. Freedom. Cheveyo lifted Skylar, body and spirit, into another dimension, one of pure pleasure and love. The sound of the horse’s breath put her in a meditative trance as she lifted her chin to the sunshine. The whoosh of air in and out of his massive nostrils lulled her into closing her eyes. She trusted he would take her where she needed to go. They left the rolling hills and pastures of campus behind them.

  At the top of the mountain, Cheveyo slowed to a walk and Skylar hopped off his back. They paused to look at the campus grounds below. Skylar remembered her conversation with Ronnie from this very spot, the previous fall.

  That was a lifetime ago, she thought, reflecting on the many turns all of their lives had taken since then.

  “They are all good turns, indeed,” a familiar voice said from behind her.

  Skylar kept her back to the voice and turned to Cheveyo. “You had an agenda.” He shook his mane and bowed, then trotted away to graze in the grass.

  Skylar turned to face Magda. She was radiant, as always.

  “How is Rhia?” Skylar asked.

  “She is full of life, whole and happy,” Magda said approaching Skylar. “I wish I could say the same for you. Your eyes have darkened.”

  “I wouldn’t call them dark. I’ve tried hiding them, but it hurts too much.”

  “It always hurts to hide one’s true identity,” Magda said, touching Skylar’s face, tracing her new cheekbones.

  “Please don’t get all deep on me,” Skylar said. “I just need to function in society, and that’s impossible with X-Men eyeballs.”

  “All change benefits,” Magda said.

  “Benefits who? Me? Not likely.”

  “Your adjustment period is over. It’s time to embrace your power.”

  “No, it isn’t,” Skylar said, instantly nervous. “It’s too soon. The heroine has to run from her greatness for a good long while before she makes the decision to become the warrior. I haven’t thrown my tantrums and denied my gifts yet. I need time to deny my gifts!”

  Magda’s lips turned up in a slight smile. She stood in silence, staring off into the trees. A cool breeze started at their feet. At first Skylar welcomed the relief from the heat, but it soon made her shiver.

  Magda gestured down toward the school grounds. Skylar was aghast at the sight before her. The earth had been scorched as far into the distance as she could see. The trees were gone; the main campus buildings were in rubble. Smoke hovered over pockets of debris.

  “Is this the future or the past?” she asked. She felt a familiarity in the scene, as if she had lived through it once before.

  Magda kept silent.

  They watched an army of black horses led by one white mare march toward a crowd of thousands mesmerized by a great light above them
. An iron gate surrounded its perimeter. An unkindness of ravens the size of vultures dipped down to greet them.

  “That’s a lot of birds,” Skylar said.

  Joshua appeared on the stage in full demon rage. He wore a chain collar around his neck, and his arms and legs were chained to four black horses.

  “What are they doing?” Skylar asked. She couldn’t quite see through the cloud of smoke. Her desire for clarity lifted the haze immediately. The audience was engulfed in flames, but no one seemed to notice. They were in a trance. Skylar could feel the energy of the scene. There was no fear among the people in the crowd. They welcomed whatever madness was consuming them. The ground swelled underneath to receive their souls.

  “This is insanity,” Skylar said, growing agitated. “Make it stop!”

  Again, Magda said nothing.

  “You’re not the Ghost of Christmas Future, you know. Talk to me!”

  Magda smiled. “Getting angry? Good. It will reveal your true desire and which side of this you favor.”

  “Why would I ever favor that side?” Skylar asked, pointing to the grounds below.

  “Power is sorcery,” Magda said. “It grows within and creates worlds. A person can get lost in their own creation and lose sight of perspective.”

  “You are not saying I did this.” Skylar was surprised at her own anger.

  “You were not the victim here, I’ll say that.”

  Skylar looked back at the bleak scene below. “I do not have this hate inside me.”

  “Everyone does,” Magda said. “Everyone is capable of great love and great destruction. You feed one flame or the other.” With a wave of her hand, the horrors below vanished and Skylar’s beautiful school returned.

  “I understand that the heart light is neutral,” Skylar said. “But I will use it for good, like Rhia.”

  “Rhia had a pure soul. You do not.”

  “You are not the first person to tell me that,” Skylar said, rolling her eyes.