Anthony caught himself, stammering of a sudden like he’d been doing something he shouldn’t. “Sorry,” he said quickly, glancing around embarrassed.
“Ok, ok, it’s ok, man, it’s just that… Well, forget it,” said Joaquin, stumbling over his own words. “Umm, where was I… oh yeah, ok, the Legacy of Truth!”
His abrupt outburst made a few of them jump.
Even Garfield started and leaped to his feet in a very cat-ish motion, all claws and fangs. When he realized there was no imminent danger, he turned to give Joaquin a level glare. He sat back down, facing away from the entire group, in obvious mortification. He tried to veil it with catlike indifference.
“The Legacy of the Truth is a talisman,” began Joaquin.
“A what?” piped up Mikalah her small face all scrunched up in confusion.
“A talisman is like a thing that symbolizes or possesses great power hidden within an object. I was told it could be anything – a necklace, a crown, a cloak or even a weapon of some type,” described Joaquin in simpler terms. “Anyway, this talisman, this what-ever-it-is, when possessed by the Kring-Hël, will unlock the primary aspects of his Gift. It will bind the twelve of us in a great circle of power. If we are able to get our hands in it and if can unlock the true Gift within Anthony, then maybe, just maybe, we will have a chance to defeat the Lord of the Storm. Maybe we have a chance to save our lives and the lives of every single person we have ever cared about back home.”
Joaquin hoped none of the others could detect the fact he hadn’t told all of what he knew. He wanted to be truthful, but it wasn’t the time or the place to be entirely forthcoming. Besides, it was Anthony who should know first. After all, it was Anthony’s task, Anthony’s decision, not his.
“So, dude, where do we find this Talisman?” inquired Andrew. His eyebrows were raised as if he didn’t really expect Joaquin to know the answer.
Joaquin shook with a few quiet laughs. “Dude, you aren’t going to believe this, but the Legacy of Truth, the Talisman of the Kring-Hël, lies in a cavern whose entrance is marked by a huge crucifix in the middle of a clearing that used to be in Scholl Canyon.”
Jason swung back around to face his friend. His face was a cast of outraged disbelief. “Are you telling me the only thing available to us, the only thing that might give us a remote chance of survival is buried in the middle of a garbage dump!”
There were gasps and sharp intakes of breath throughout the cave.
“Yup, my man, laying in a pool of water in the middle of a ginormous cavern, in the middle of a clearing that, a few days ago, was filled with thirty years of human waste. There lies the key to our only chance of survival.”
Only stunned silence remained.
~~~~~~~~<<<<<<{ ☼ }>>>>>>~~~~~~~~
~ 61 ~
Anxiety and Angst
Day Two, Friday, a Minute Later…
“So, when do we leave?”
Mikalah turned her head to look Andrew’s way for a heartbeat, glancing about at a few of her companions to see their reaction to his query. She wondered what was going to happen next. Her small eyes darted from person to person. She was still perched atop Sophie’s lap. Both of her hands clutched onto the teenage girl’s arm, where it crossed her body protectively.
“Leave for where?” inquired her brother from the same log she and Sophie were sitting. It was early in the morning and already Anthony sounded tried. She didn’t like the way their misfortune was wearing on him. She could sense the stress was bearing down hard on him, weighing heavily upon his shoulders, clouding his mind.
“Leave for Scholl Canyon or where ever this freaking Legacy of Truth lays waiting for you to pick up and save us all. What the hell else would I be talking about?” responded Andrew, a little too strong from Mikalah’s perspective, but Andrew had always been a little excitable.
And impatient, she added as an afterthought.
“Dude, I think we have to do a bit more planning before we head out blindly into whatever weather is awaiting us out there. Don’t you think?” asserted Anthony, muffling a sigh as he looked at the ground in front of him, thinking.
“What are you talking about, Tony? Let’s get some shit together. Let’s go get this Legacy thing and get this done, so we can bone the hell out of Dodge. Dude, I want to go home!” Andrew spoke as if he hadn’t heard Anthony’s reply, or simply didn’t care.
Mikalah watched her brother cradle his head in his hands, clearly displeased with having his thoughts disrupted. She had seen him respond like this whenever he felt someone had intruded upon his personal, mental space. She frowned from Sophie’s lap, hoping Andrew would get the hint.
“Come on, Tony, let’s get going,” implored Andrew standing up and gathering some the items he had already claimed for his own.
“No, man, don’t you get it?” said Anthony through an exasperated exhale of air.
Andrew stopped. He gazed at Anthony with tiny bit of shock on his face. It only took a second to melt into frustration. “Get what?”
“Get IT, Andrew!” replied Anthony in a louder voice. “We cannot afford any mistakes, Andrew. We cannot just get up and walk out of here in search of the Legacy of Truth, all bad ass and shit! We’re gonna get our asses handed to us if we’re not careful. Didn’t you listen to anything Joaquin said? Don’t you understand the size of the forces allied against us? They number in the thousands! Maybe in the millions! Didn’t you hear what he told us? We have to be wary, Andrew. Now is definitely not the time to be reckless or rash. We definitely cannot afford to act stupid in any way!”
“Why!?!” yelled Andrew real anger filling his face. “I want to go home!” It was petulant, childish.
“Because, you idiot, we haven’t even found the rest of the Twelve! Because, we don’t have the right kind of clothes -! Shit man, we don’t even have a change of clothes. We don’t have sleeping bags, tents, the proper kind of coats, or portable anything. What the hell are we going to do if we get stuck in a blizzard or some kind of nasty weather like that, huh? What are we going to do, Drew!?! Do you want me to risk my sisters being caught in something like that? Jesus Christ, man, can’t you, for once in your pathetic life, think of someone else other than yourself for a change!” By the time he finished, after the echo of his voice stopped resonating off the walls of the cave, Anthony was still standing. He was breathing hard, fists clenched at his side, decidedly looking away from Andrew. Instead, he faced the fire, not trusting his control.
Mikalah was certain if it had been anyone other than her brother who had spoken to Andrew in that manner, the taller boy would’ve gone for his throat. His eyes were that angry.
“Anthony is correct Andrew Ibarra,” rumbled Kodiak, trying to sound reassuring, lending a calming voice to the conversation. “We cannot afford to risk any of the Twelve.”
“Oh,” said Andrew meekly, sitting down on the log closest to him. He cradled his own head. The sobs he was trying to hold back all day overwhelmed him, came cascading out. He sat there, half-turned away from them, bent at the waist, weeping.
Those watching him, exchanged unsettled glances with one another, but none of them said anything.
Both Jason and Joaquin looked away embarrassed.
A few minutes later, Kenai roused herself from the floor and strode toward Andrew, stepping along the outer side of the logs. The great bear-dog came up behind his left shoulder and began to speak to him a soothing voice. It was so low in frequency and volume, Mikalah couldn’t hear what she said to the boy. He was overburdened with fear and anxiety, finally forced to face it. Every now and again, Andrew would nod his head as pent up emotions fell away from him, leaving behind an exhausted husk of a person.
“Anthony is right, though,” concluded Jason, breaking the awkward silence with his quiet voice. Though, at the time, it sounded like a sledgehammer hitting a solid block of granite. “We do need more supplies before we go farther out into who knows what out there. I mean, we’re good with food and drinks, and
stuff like that. We just don’t have the proper equipment, tools or clothing for long excursions in the wild, especially with weather like the type we have out there right now. We need to figure out how we are going to find supplies of that type, and at the same time, we have to find the four remaining members of our group.” He paused to take a breath. “I hope to god Fenris hasn’t already got his clawed hands on them, because then it’ll mean we will have to attempt another rescue with only a small amount of our powers at the ready. We’ll be up against an enemy who already knows we have the help of the Fingers of the Light, so there will be no surprises this time around. They’ll be prepared. Am I right, Joaquin?” he concluded somberly.
Joaquin’s eyes glazed over in thought, but a second later, “Yeah, that’s right. Even if we found the Legacy of Truth, the Kring-Hël cannot be Reborn without the powers of the remaining Eleven, in some manner, activated.” Then, he too breathed deeply. “I hope the others are ok…”
A thoughtful quiet ensued.
“So, there it goes,” began Jason a while later, his friend’s answer confirming his suspicions. “We have to find the other four, while at the same time, find better supplies and clothes, then and only then, can we begin to search for the Legacy. Does this sound correct to you all?”
“Yup, it sounds right to me,” replied Joaquin almost immediately.
“Yeah, I know it’s the right thing,” imparted Anthony, but was shaking his head negatively at the same time, “but I am sitting here trying to figure out? Where are we going to find a whole crap load of camping gear within easy reach? If we can’t travel far without it, then it’ll have to be close by. We can’t last long outdoors otherwise. Any stash that’s far away might as well be on the surface of the moon.”
Jason laughed.
Mikalah was sure he’d lost his mind. She shifted her attention toward Joaquin and saw he was smiling as well. The two teenagers shared a quick glance. That was when the little girl knew Jason wasn’t crazy. He knew something!
“Well, I was kinda leading up to that,” prompted Jason, still grinning.
“Leading up to what, Jay?” Mikalah was surprised to see it was Andrew who spoke. Through tears and shuffling, he hadn’t stopped paying attention to what they were saying.
“I was going to mention, before my parents got divorced and my mother went back to China, my parents were all gun-ho on trying to be American. You know, trying to fit in, and raise a good, well-rounded Asian-American son, etc., etc., etc., which proved to be a bunch of bullshit in the end, of course.
“Anyhow, it was what my Dad wanted, not her.” Jason stopped to re-gather his thoughts after a brief silence and a hard swallow. “Well, like I was saying -,” he cleared his throat, “we used to do all kinds of what my parents figured were ‘American’-like things. So, my Dad gets it in his mind that he and I should go fishing every summer like all American dad’s do with their son’s every year. But, the funny thing about the whole thing was my Dad didn’t know crap about fishing or camping or being in the outdoors, you know? Because, he always had his face in a book or in a computer case, he wasn’t a physical sort of guy. So, one winter he goes out and buys all kinds of camping gear and shit, right? He tells me, when the weather warms, us – him and I – are going to go fishing.
“Anyway, long story short, we did go. We went way up in the mountains passed some lake a few hours north of here. We had about three times the camping gear we needed. It was just the two of us, you see, and we had the Suburban packed to the freakin’ gills. Plus, we had a six-foot trailer attached to the truck and it was full as well. I think we spent more time making camp and, later, breaking camp than we did fishing that weekend. Can you imagine two nerdy dudes trying to put up an awning for shade or the monstrous eight-man tent my Dad had bought? It was a total disaster. We came back home, dirty and hungry, because we caught absolutely no fish. Shit, it was hard enough for us to make bologna and cheese sandwiches in the mountains, let alone try and catch a fish. Sand kept getting in all over our food, you know, it sucked totally.” Jason was chuckling wistfully, though it seemed like a disaster to Mikalah.
She could tell it had meant something to him. It least his Dad had tried. Wasn’t the effort worth something?
“So, after we got home, my Dad announces, fishing is not a thing for the Fong Family. It was about a year later when things started getting bad between him and my Mom. A few months after, she left…” He trailed off into the razors and knife-edges of a hurtful past.
The fire crackled a few times. Its’ ever-meandering light danced about the cave.
“As you can imagine, we never went again,” he continued, his voice trembling. “But, the camping gear is still in our garage, a whole crap-storm of supplies. Everything you can think of, it’s all still there locked up, put away.”
“Wow, Ant, do you think it still might be there?” queried Andrew, his natural curiosity returning, the usual vivacity of his personality returning in a flash.
Anthony ran his hand through his hair and stood, peering at the fire. “I don’t know, Drew, everything with this Melded World is so whacked out. It’s really hard to answer a question like that with any certainty. What do you think, Joaquin?”
All eyes shifted toward Joaquin.
The teenager held up his hands in surrender. “Hey, I give up!”
Elena laughed at him.
Mikalah felt herself bounce around a bit as Sophie laughed as well. She jostled the little girl sitting on her lap.
Mikalah just smiled and stayed quiet.
“Truthfully, though,” began Joaquin anew, “it’s like you said Anthony, this place is just too random when it comes to things from our world. I would guess it’s like a thirty to seventy chance Jason’s garage still exists here and that’s looking at things with the glass half-full, if you know what I mean.”
Mikalah frowned for she had no idea at all what he meant.
“Thirty to seventy is better than no chance at all, right? Shit, I bet that’s way better than odds in Vegas!” Andrew implored anxiously.
“How far would your house have been from here, Jason, if we were still on our world?” inquired Anthony, ignoring Andrew for the time being.
Jason’s head slumped as he thought, muttering to himself. They all waited. Mikalah was sitting upon the edge of Sophie’s lap filled with anticipation. This was possibly the only way they could procure the supplies they would need.
Then, “I used to live on the corner of Grandola and Floristan in Eagle Rock, which was just off Colorado Boulevard. From what I have been able to guess, this cave is most likely located closest to the intersection of Colorado and Figueroa than any other road crossing. So, that would make my house about a mile and a half to two miles from here, you know, if the roads were all here and everything was normal.”
“Shit, man, that’s not far. I used to walk about the same distance to and from school every day,” piped in Andrew, real optimism in his voice.
“Yeah, your right, Drew, it isn’t far,” agreed Anthony, but he was still looking over at Jason. “Hey Jay, does your Dad have anything we could tote back all the gear or would we have to use the shopping carts like last time?”
Again, Jason thought for a while. “We have one of those car roof cargo carrier thingies. You know, one of those things you put on the roof of your car. We can put crap into it without having to tie it down and just drag it. Couldn’t we do that?”
“Is it big enough to hold all of your Dad’s camping equipment?” entreated Sophie as enthusiastic as the rest of them.
“Probably not,” answered Joaquin instead of Jason. “The dude is not lying when he said his Dad bought a lot of stuff. It all organized and everything, but it still takes up like a third of their garage from like floor to ceiling. No joke.”
“Wow, that’s a lot of gear, Jay,” commented Andrew, eyebrows raised. He seemed preoccupied imagining how much camping equipment it would take to fill a comparable area.
“Tell me ab
out it,” muttered Jason a little annoyed. “And to think it was only used once, a pretty big waste of time and effort if you ask me – not to mention the money he spent on it.” Mikalah got the impression Jason wasn’t happy with his Father in many more areas than just this one. And when it came to his mother… wow, probably best not to ask at all!
“So, if we took like two of the empty shopping carts to your house and filled up them up along with cargo thing would they be enough to haul it all back here?” ventured Anthony, his hand on his chin, the other crossing his chest as he spoke.
Jason only thought for a second, “Yeah, it might be enough.”
“Then, there you have it? Do we have a plan?” asked Andrew almost as if he were pleading.
To Mikalah, it was as though he needed to do something or he was going to go out of mind. What did Mom used to call it? She asked herself. Oh yeah, Mom would’ve said he had “ants in his pants!” She giggled silently to herself, causing Sophie to look down at her with a questioning expression on her face. Mikalah just smiled back.
“I’d say we do,” retorted Anthony, glancing around at all of them. “Let’s get some food together for the journey, take some wood, so we can make a fire. Andrew still has the flint and steel with him so we’re good there. Let’s grab those shopping carts and get ready to head out to Jason’s house. What do you guys think? Are you ready to get this show on the road?”
All around the cave, the kids and the animals were standing, heads bobbing up and down in acquiescence – they had a plan!
“Mr. Patas,” began Kodiak, “why don’t you scout around the area and see if the way is clear.”
“At once!” he pined in his high-pitched twitter and was gone.
The Unwanted Winter - Volume One of the Saga of the Twelves Page 54