Surviving The Tempest: Tempest Tales

by Elsa, Sandra

  I grinned at him. “You never know. Down here I doubt anybody would find it the least bit odd. Grow that hair out a bit; they’ll assume you went native. But I guess you can come with us. Not like we’re buying anything top secret. “

  We spent almost two hours in Zurn’s. When we left we had non-perishable food for the next week for fifteen people. I counted Ryan even though I wasn’t sure about him and decided Leo would be going along as well. We bought a grocery cart full of fertilizer, I kinda hoped that between them Nan and Tony could convince our plants to mature without sucking the nutrients out of the soil. And last, but not least, I purchased the ingredients for the hedge-witch spell including a brass bowl that had Leo’s eyebrows raised.

  As we were leaving, our phone started ringing. First my father called. I told him we’d meet him at the hotel to divide up supplies.

  Paul called wanting to know what time to meet us at the house. He and Jesse were packing kale and had containers of fish and crabs, he informed me they’d be driving their own vehicle. It surprised me that they even had a vehicle but I was glad of it.

  Greg had his own car and wanted to know how many people he’d be carrying. So I told him to meet us in the hotel parking lot as well.

  I called Dee to make sure she was still going and she said Ryan would be going. They had their own transportation and could fit two more comfortably.

  Jerry wanted to know where we were and when we’d be back, he was packed and ready to go. Told him the plans as we pulled up to the Jonah hotel.

  Dee was parked beside Nan and my father in my old Celica. She had painted it red. It looked better than it ever had when I owned it. Across the lot behind them, Paul and Jesse loaded containers into a blue Mercury Cruiser. Two other mer people helped them. Paul introduced them as his parents, John and Mary. As the crowd standing around the parking lot grew they gave him and Jesse anxious hugs and bid them take care of themselves and be careful, before disappearing down the boardwalk.

  Finally we’d divided supplies between the vehicles going. Jallahan rousted Greg, Nate and Tony from their rooms. They returned with bags packed having signed out of their lodging. Before everybody found seats I explained that I would be performing a hedge-witch spell to bind them from speaking about the excursion and that it would require signing in blood. Nobody even looked like they thought the precaution was extreme as they slid into whatever seat was available.

  At our house I got out our newly purchased mortar and pestle, combined the ingredients, ground them to dust while Harrison wrote up the contract they’d be signing. When everything was prepared, I passed the brass bowl to Harrison, just in case my null field would interfere, and he collected signatures burned the herbs and the contract and then we were finally on our way. We stopped at the rust pile that was Coosawatchie and decided to take separate paths. We shifted vehicles and Harrison and I rode with Paul and Jesse toward Old House and the Sound while Jerry took our car up toward our inland colony. It was everybody else’s first experience outside without rebreathers and reactions registered from discomfort through no big deal. By the time we stopped shuffling people, the first timers were talking excitedly.

  Chapter 35

  “We’ll meet you inland later tonight or tomorrow.” I told my father who looked like he’d rather come with us, but had other people with him. My main goal in dividing up was keeping everybody else away from Paul and Jesse so they didn’t hesitate about changing into their mer forms if they chose to. “We need to get the fish in the water, probably stay awhile to see how they do.”

  At the Sound, Paul and Jesse unloaded a bunch of netting. We helped them carry it down to the edge of the water. They tentatively stretched down and placed their hands in the water then stood and walked into it, changing forms when they were waist deep. Harrison and I tossed the netting into the water and they began setting up a pen for their fish, to keep them from straying too far. Once the pen was up, the kelp lined the net and provided a couple places to hide within the enclosure. Then they took some out into deeper water and planted it. Fiddler crabs released on shore wasted no time burrowing in the sandy soil. The fish took more effort acclimatizing them slowly but before nightfall they’d been released with only two fatalities.

  While they worked, Harrison and I poured water into nullspace and prepared to refill our lakes.

  We slept under the stars by the Sound. Jesse and Paul were uncertain enough about the Sound and its currents that even they slept on shore. The next morning, they inhaled breakfast and dove into the water heading east toward the open sea.

  We filled up the half-empty Old House pond. We’d been gone less than two weeks. Hopefully with longevity the loss of water would slow. Harrison watered the few plants we’d left here with a gentle rain. The flowers were thriving. Twice the size they’d been when we left them.

  We added some corn seeds and buried the dead fish in the miniature garden plot before walking down to the dry waterways which would one day feed the Sound again.

  Pockets of moisture appeared here and there. Our missing water, traversing underground passages rising spottily to reveal its course.

  We swam in the pond while awaiting Paul and Jesse’s return. After dressing we decided to put grass seed along the banks of the pond and everywhere the water had surfaced. We needed to look into freshwater plants. And earthworms.

  Having done everything we could, we drove back down to the Sound to wait for our missing team members. None of the little fish were floating, but several strands of kelp rose to the surface. We started to worry about Paul and Jesse when the sun was high overhead and started to follow the Sound eastward on foot. We traveled about an hour when we heard noise from the south and turned to see Jerry driving the Subaru along the barely there trail.

  Harrison waved at him but Jerry continued on another half mile then stopped and got out of the car and started calling, “We’re back here.” The volume issuing from Harrison’s mouth could have been heard over the noise of a jai alai stadium at a championship game. Except to watch him he could be speaking to someone standing beside him.

  I covered my ears until the reverberations died down. When I uncovered them I said, “Warn somebody next time. I guess that’s one of those talents you haven’t thought to tell me about?”

  He grinned. “Yeah, vocal projection. Not much good in a dome. Too many houses and neighbors.”

  “So you’re telling me our baby will be able to make himself heard if he’s hungry and I’m five miles away? That would have been nice to know.”

  Harrison’s smile turned sheepish. “Didn’t think of that. Speaking of hungry babies, have you given any thought to how we’ll feed him?”

  “With a spoon?”

  Harrison looked conflicted.

  I rescued him from having to assume I really might be that stupid about babies. “I’m less than two weeks pregnant. Less than a week. I haven’t thought about much at all.”

  “I’ve thought enough for both of us. I want to be able to help raise him. So I thought formula might be the way to go. Then I think, if we’re in the middle of nowhere without easy access to things like formula and bottles and diapers we may want to keep it as simple as possible and go with breastfeeding…”

  “Slow down! We’ll have plenty of downtime where I can educate myself. It’s certainly not something I’ve put a lot of thought into. I’m not going to come up with answers standing here waiting for your cousin to back up the trail and join us.”

  He pulled me close. “Forgive me. New life. New wife. New world. New baby. My mind spins out of control. I want you to be as excited as I am.”

  “To me, my unicorn is more real than a baby growing inside me. I’m not quite sure I’ve grasped the whole concept. There are enough other things to fill my life right now; I can’t even fathom the concept of breastfeeding a baby versus feeding formula. It just doesn’t feel real yet.”

  Jerry had stopped a hundred yards away. I believe he’d have driven closer except the crys
tal trees stopped him. I hoped he hadn’t run over any shards that could damage the tires. He parked it and came down the slope toward us. “Everybody’s waiting for you!” Leo climbed out of the far side and ambled in Jerry’s wake.

  “It got late by the time we set the fish up. Decided to make a few additions down here. Then Paul and Jesse swam off this morning. We were just wandering the shore hoping to see them return.”

  “Swam off? How could you let them swim off? You’re the ones who told me to be careful even walking in the water last time we were out here.”

  “They live in the water. They’ll be back.” I attempted to keep my voice calm and sure but a little of my worry must have slipped in.

  Harrison massaged my neck. “They’re fine. But there’s no point to us walking any further. The sound is getting wide enough we could easily miss them. Let’s ride back to our starting point.”

  We went back to the net holding the fish. The morning heat proved to be too much for the fish in the shallow water. Three more of them were floating. We grabbed a net from the back of Paul’s car, scooped them out of the water and drove back to plant them with our corn seeds.

  Leo got out of the car and stretched. He removed his shoulder holster and placed it on the seat of the car, then stripped out of his t-shirt and jeans. “I’ll be back shortly.”

  I smiled at him. “Going for a run?”

  “Like I never have before.” His grin stretched ear to ear. “Probably the same thing Paul and Jesse are doing.” He shimmered and dropped to his paws.

  Jerry gaped.

  Sorensen came over, rubbed along my legs, then bolted down the road paralleling the Sound in long leaps and bounds.

  When he was out of sight, Jerry said, “I’ve known him since Uncle Jordan hired him. How could I not know he was a Were?”

  “Because he’s very good at hiding it, and not exactly typical. If he hadn’t been hunting me down the other day, I wouldn’t have known it either. I’ve watched too many Were stalk their prey not to recognize the signs, so I knifed him to satisfy my curiosity. That wasn’t exactly what I expected.”

  “You knifed him?”

  “Just enough to force his change. Little scratch on his bicep.”

  “Well…shit, that explains a lot. I guess I can see where he’d be anxious to join the group that might accomplish moving into the wide open world sometime in this decade. I couldn’t believe you accepted him jumping off Uncle Jordan’s team and bringing him straight out here.”

  Harrison stared in the direction Leo disappeared in, then bent over picked up the boxer briefs and tossed them on top of the rest of the abandoned clothing. “Guess I should consider myself lucky he doesn’t strip all the way before changing.”

  I winked at him. “He has to change back sooner or later.”

  Leo appeared on a high bit of ground, little more than a speckled shadow under the crystal branches, then disappeared into a gully. A fierce roar floated back to where we watched.

  “What did he mean, the same as Paul and Jesse are doing?”

  “They’re merfolk. Genetically changed a couple of generations back. And nobody’s secrets go any further until people decide yay or nay on staying to be part of the team.”

  “I understand. Anything else I should know?” He appeared a bit dazed already as he struggled to see where our world was heading.

  “Frankie’s pregnant,” Harrison proclaimed proudly.

  “Ryan ratted you out on that one. He seems the least certain he wants to be part of this, but I think Dee is talking him around.”

  “What about the rest of them?”

  “Greg’s already picked out a location for his manufactory. Nate’s imagining the sailboats he’ll make. Tony’s been fertilizing and planting. Him and Dee are going hog-wild on how to make things look best.”

  “Guess we should have some plan as to how we plant. My thought was just to see how this plot went and then move, but if Paul and Jesse want to colonize it, I guess we should plan a little bit. I figure this place,” I gestured at our flowers and the little plot of earth we’d turned over to plant corn seed, “will probably get flattened in the storms—even if it doesn’t turn to crystal, but hopefully they can grow some food up there.”

  “Nothing says they can’t grow crops here.” Harrison picked up a packet of the corn seed we’d planted, “Seventy-eight days to maturity. We might even harvest something from what we planted this morning. Storms are at least ninety days away. And we could have planted long ago had we chosen to do so.”

  “We’ll see.” Optimism was his strong suit, not mine. He was right though, nine out of ten years the storms held off to mid-September. Even on the early years they never occurred before the last week of August. “What are our parents doing?”

  “Mage Jallahan explored everything we’ve done, like a ten year old at a party. Then they went walking. Didn’t get back until this morning. Realizing the two of you got your libido from them, I’m not going to speculate on what they were doing off by themselves overnight.”

  Harrison laughed. “Probably a wise move on your part.”

  Leo reappeared on a high bit of ground heading back toward us. He’d moved inland a bit to follow the trail and he was moving so fast he disappeared and reappeared in the blink of an eye as the ground dipped and rose. He slid to a halt at our feet then limped toward the pond. After a long drink he lay down. He could not have looked more contented had he just been fed a bowl of tuna.

  “Enjoy your run?” I asked him.

  His tongue lolled out and lapped a drop of water from a whisker. He slowly closed and opened his eyes as though telling me I should be able to see that he had enjoyed himself immensely. His sides heaved and I recalled our first experiences in thin oxygen.

  “Any sign of Paul or Jesse?”

  He lifted his head from his paws and shook it. At least I didn’t have to interpret that. I started to worry about my friends.

  We loaded everybody in the car, including Leo the leopard, and drove back down to the makeshift hatchery to wait for them. Leo poked his head at the netting and sniffed a couple times then licked his lips.

  “Don‘t even think about it,” I warned him. They’re colonists just like we are.”

  He pushed his head into my palm. I guess that was reminding me that if he allowed instincts to rule I could be his supper as well as the fish. I reached up and touched the handgrip of my pistol to remind him we poor humans weren’t defenseless. He leapt up, put his paws on my shoulders and pushed me to the ground before I could even consider drawing the pistol.

  “That was a lucky move. If I’d had my taser instead of my pistol I’d have nailed you. Wouldn’t want to shoot a friend, even if it won‘t kill you.”

  Harrison dug in my purse and tossed me my taser. Reckon he figured that would be more effective than telling Leo to get off his wife. It worked too. Before I could flick it on, Leo was ten feet away. I got off the ground, fired up the taser and stalked after him. We were playing a game of cat and taser when Paul hollered from down by the water. We all spun around to see him and Jesse hovering by their net. Harrison reached into the car and grabbed their suits, hurrying down to the water. I sensed Leo over my shoulder but when I spun back around, Taser raised and armed he was already changed and wearing his briefs. Paul changed and strolled out of the water meeting Harrison halfway. For a change my eyes weren’t on his body but on the fistful of green that he handed Harrison. It wasn’t the same as the kelp they had brought to plant. I hurried down to see what they had brought as Paul slipped into his swimsuit then turned and took Jesse hers.

  There were two different kinds of plants. Both looked a bit ragged but for all I knew that was natural. When Paul returned he pointed to one with small toothed leaves with a bit of brown mixed in, “That’s naiad. Found it up an inlet just north of here. Lives in brackish and fresh water. Don’t know if it can transition from one to the other but thought we could give it a shot. This one’s called bladder wrack. It o
nly lives in the oceans--”

  “That’s the one Harrison and I found growing near Two-Three-Seven. Floating anyway. We planted the second one we found. Never did check in on it. It can be used to create iodine and it’s edible.”

  “Very good,” Jesse said. “What’s more, it has a fairly strong start, up and down most of the coast.”

  Harrison dangled the plant by its stem. “That’s fantastic. Better than we hoped. Any animal life?”

  They shook their heads. “Not so much as Plankton. Of course we stayed near the coast. The depths could be hiding anything. Think we’ll wait until we get Poppy out here before we venture beyond seeing the coast.”

  Jesse turned to the fish then went to the back of the car and pulled out large brown triangles. She took them back and tossed them in with the fish. She spun from the nets and asked, “The cat didn’t eat some of my fish, did he?”

  Leo growled at the false accusation.

  “Three died when it got hot,” I told her.

  “Then we’ll need to move them deeper. Don’t want to release them until we have a decent habitat started. Seen any of my crabs?”

  “None of the blues, but there’ve been a couple fiddlers here and there.”

  Paul dug a bucket out of the trunk. It was filled with something green and brown and stinking to the high heavens. He emptied half of it on shore and half in the water where they’d released the crabs. “Hopefully they stayed within the current or they’re out in the kelp. There’s enough plant life they’ll probably get by even if they do wander.” He rinsed out the bucket. “We need more blues, They’re delicious.” He glanced up at Harrison and me. “I’m not messing up your plans, am I?”

  “Not at all,” Harrison said. “We didn’t have plans for the ocean except to make rain out of it. If Frankie hadn’t found you guys, populating it would have taken a back seat to starting the colony. If you can do anything with it, it’s all yours.” The plant life in the oceans makes me believe the storms won’t change things to crystal anymore. I suspect enough resources survived in the depths that as soon as it became safe they started taking hold again. Which means at least my father was right about the fact that it’s only been safe for a couple years. Unfortunately, I don’t think there was any place on land that didn’t get scoured clean of life and the means to repopulate all life forms except in the domes. At least the water plants should give you a start on a habitat. Probably need to get some microscopic forms started to clean up the bacteria from the decaying plants.”