The Keepers Book Two of the Holding Kate Series

by Cole, LaDonna

  I flinched, and then I thought about her appetite for the unusual last night and frankly had to agree with Trip. Kate acted really strange. I clenched my jaw, determined to get to the bottom of it.

  “Something unknown is doing we don’t know what.” ~ Sir Arthur Eddington

  I WALKED INTO our bedroom and closed the door behind me. A bedside lamp flared and Kate jumped up.

  “Corey!” She flung herself into my arms. “I was so worried about you! I know you were mad at me when you left this morning and I couldn’t stand it.” She kissed my neck and ran her fingers through my hair.

  I wanted to fling her across the room, disgusted. “Where were you all day, Kate? All night?” I stepped away from her, slipped my T-shirt off and threw it on the floor. I hated having these thoughts about her.

  “Oh, I went into the village to hang out with Caitlyn and Pinky. We went for a walk and talked. It felt good to be with them.”

  The blatant lie! Pinky? When did she start calling her that again? Only Trip called Eunavae Pinky anymore. “And tonight? I came home, and you were gone.”

  “I went for a walk.” She crawled onto the bed, stringing me along with her. “I looked for you, my love. I’ve been waiting for you all day.” She crawled into my lap pushed me down on the bed and began untying her gown.

  “Kate, don’t.” I grabbed her wrists.

  A look of sheer pain crossed her features and my heart lurched. “Corey, don’t you want me?”

  “Of course, I do, Kate,” I stammered. How could I help her through this, if she refused to even talk to me about it? How could I talk at all if she kept undressing every time I needed to communicate with her? I suddenly felt very sympathetic toward Trip.

  “Kate, what is this?” I waved my hand over her. “What are you doing?”

  “I don’t understand. I thought I would make love to my husband,” she snapped.

  “Why? Because my best friend didn’t satisfy you tonight?”

  She halted. “What are you talking about?”

  “I saw you, Kate.”

  “Corey.” She placed her head on my chest and spoke so sweetly that I wanted to cry. “I don’t know what you think you saw but that was nothing.”

  “I talked to Trip. He told me everything.”

  “He told you what? That we kissed in the woods? I pecked him on the cheek. It was nothing.”

  “Kate!” I rolled over and shook her. “Stop it! I don’t even know you anymore! What has happened to you?”

  She sat up and stared at me with huge eyes. Tears bubbled up, and rolled down her cheeks. “Corey,” she whispered. “I’m sorry.”

  She flung herself onto the bed and sobbed into the pillow. I didn’t have any emotion left to give her. Wrung out, I couldn’t even muster up sympathy. I sat on the edge of the bed with my back to her and listened to my wife sob tears of grief and anguish and felt nothing but regret.

  I woke the next morning to Kate nuzzling me. “Good morning, love,” she crooned.

  I looked at her eyes expecting them to be swollen and tear stained, but they weren’t. Just as beautiful as ever, she captivated me. I kissed her. Things always look better in the morning light than they do in the shadows of the night. She lay here, by my side, eager to start the day right, and I determined to be a firm and unmovable foundation for her.

  “Kate.”

  “Shhh.” She put her finger to my lips. “No words.” She ran her hands down my chest and kissed me.

  Overcome with the need of each other, we spoke our apologies in tender caresses. I kissed her arm, wrist, palm, and fingers. “Kate, where is your ring?”

  “What ring?” she muffled into my neck.

  “Your wedding ring.” I held up my braided wheat stem to show it to her.

  She finished her nuzzling and turned to look at my hand. She snorted. “Yeah, right,” then returned to her seductive kisses.

  Again the blistering swipe at my heart.

  “Kate, do you want a different ring?” I asked her. “I mean, of course you do. I should have asked you before, but you seemed so attached to the one I made you.”

  “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend, Corey,” she giggled and continued kissing me.

  Wait. What? Last night she is making wild Kama Sutra love to my best friend, and today she wants diamonds.

  I sat up and dangled my legs off the edge of the bed. “I need a shower,” I said, feeling that sick nausea again.

  “Do you want company?” Kate purred.

  “No,” I said flatly, walking into the bathroom. I slammed the door.

  So much for being the unwavering foundation.

  Breakfast ended abruptly with a screeching sphere.

  “Man! I wanted that pancake!” Dirk groused, fork in hand, and scanned the team. A quick count affirmed we were intact. “We are completely unprepared for this jump, no backpacks, no weapons, nothing.” He let out a stream of curses. “Mama Ty was supposed to let us know when we were on green status. The last I heard we weren’t.”

  I glanced at Tara, still in her nightgown and pink fluffy slippers. Mel, frozen, still had a glass of orange juice to her lips.

  We were at the bottom of some type of red rock formation that encircled us, then pinched off to one narrow opening behind Donnie and ran in a long tunnel through the red rock. Pockmarks dotted the wall all the way to the top.

  “Listen,” Donnie whispered.

  We all stilled and cocked our ears. A braying sound echoed down the tunnel, wild dogs on a hunting run.

  Not good!

  “Are they coming here?” Mel asked.

  Sure enough, far at the end of the tunnel we saw them run past, then stop and turn into the tunnel braying madly. They were enormous, as tall as a pony, but fast like a greyhound. I had enough canine encounters to last a lifetime after the demonic jackal jump.

  “Climb!” Trip shouted.

  Tara kicked off her slippers and started up the wall. Mel dropped her glass and Donnie lifted her to the pockmarked climb. I grabbed Kate, and I saw that Trip also had a hold of her. We hefted her as high as we could and then began climbing behind her. Donnie and Dirk followed Tara and Mel.

  The dogs were under us in no time, slavering jowls and razor sharp teeth lashed at my heels. The slippers and orange juice distracted them long enough for us to get out of their reach, but the pockmarks were jagged and ripped into our hands with each hold. Tara’s feet were bleeding, but she pressed on higher and higher. I glanced down to see what the dogs were doing and Kate screamed.

  I jerked my head up to see an enormous eye peeking in the hole we were climbing up. It moved away, then a giant hand shoved down and started groping. Kate reflexively let go of the wall and fell screaming toward the dogs.

  The sphere fell and we jumped, we didn’t end up at QHR, but in a city that seemed deserted.

  “Ah Crap! I know this one! This city will haunt my nightmares for the rest of my life,” Dirk bellowed.

  “This is where we lost Gregory,” Trip moaned. “It’s almost the exact spot we lost him. There is the smashed bus and motorcycle right where we left them.”

  The sound of a freight train bore down on us and Trip and Dirk both yelled, “Take cover!” We all ran in different directions. Trip, Donnie, Mel and Tara raced for the basement of an abandoned liquor store. Kate, Dirk and I ran into a high-rise building. We barely got hunkered down when a tornado struck the building.

  Kate’s eyes were huge, and she clutched me with a vice grip, screaming.

  “Hang in there, Kate! We’ve already done this one, right?” Dirk yelled.

  She looked at me in panic and rolled into a ball with her head in my lap.

  The tornado bombarded the building we were in for several hours. My head felt like it could explode. The pressure clamped down on my ears. Kate’s hair flew into my face, then twisted into a spiral and blew wildly around us as the tornado pelted the building and then finally moved on. We slowly stood from our crouched positions, thousands of stab
bing ants raced across my feet as the circulation returned. Kate’s hair twisted into a rat’s nest and her eyes bulged in fright as tremors rocked through her. Climbing out of the basement into the street, we called for our friends.

  We met in the middle of street.

  “Well, we know this one. Let’s find the subway station.” Dirk glanced at Kate. “Do you remember what street?”

  “What?” Green tinged the corners of her mouth and she rasped in short breaths.

  “I think it was in the middle of Cooper between fifth and sixth,” Trip answered.

  “Lead the way, then.”

  We took two steps and the sphere fell.

  Suddenly, we stood in the Darchori forest with the Tondo perched all around us. Reaching out with my mind, I made contact with the giant birdlike beasts that had spent fifty years trying to make a love connection for me. They acknowledged me, the Cianti Todura, then asked me where I put my Kate of a Thousand Years.

  I walked over to Kate and put my arm around her. She gaped at the Tondo as though she had never seen the likes of them. “Here she is, you remember? She came for me.” I tried to press her hair down into some recognizable form.

  They kicked up such a protest of squawks and screeches, flapping their wings defensively and clicking their talons. I had never seen Tondo so agitated before. They were screeching so loudly that I didn’t even hear the sphere coming as it dropped on us.

  We were violently whisked away again and landed on a large mountain volcano. Gazing down into a deep valley, we found it full of human slaves with painted bodies building some type of contraption.

  “Finally!” Kate said and took off running as far and as fast as she could. I shouted and took off after her, but the sphere fell and took us to QHR, leaving Kate behind in the volcano and dragon world.

  Trip and I both shouted frantically when we realized what had happened. The white coats rushed in to see what we hollered about. “What are you doing here? There were no scheduled jumps.”

  “Tell us about it,” Dirk spat at the white coat. “Get Mama Ty, now!” he commanded. The white coat scurried from the room, giving Tara an appraising look. She snatched her robe closed and sat down.

  “I don’t know what is going on, but that was weird,” Donnie said.

  “Those were all familiar places,” I said. “Except for the first one.”

  “Giants,” Mel squeaked and reached for Donnie’s hand.

  Silence claimed us while we pondered giants.

  We waited for Mama Ty for an hour.

  Dirk slammed his hand on the squawk box for the third time. “What is taking so long?” he growled.

  “Please stand by,” the box requested again.

  Trip paced back and forth along the back wall. Tara sat beside me and held my hand. Donnie stood behind me and patted my shoulder, occasionally.

  My heart, raw and fragile, constrained many questions. Confused by Kate’s actions and her running away from us, I pressed my thumbs against my brows and tried to erase the tension. Every few minutes, Trip and I made eye contact, my anguish reflected in his.

  Finally, Kim Stevens stepped into the room and motioned for us to follow her.

  Dirk started to ask a question, but she held up her finger to her mouth to shush him.

  We followed Kim to a dark section of the terminal. She led us out a back door and down the hill toward the outdoor Amphitheatre. We gathered around her.

  “What is going on, Kim?” Dirk grumbled.

  “Mama Ty has gone under,” she whispered.

  “What does that mean?” I asked.

  Kim looked around clandestinely. “She took the vacancy of the last Inner Circle member.”

  We shook our heads. “What?”

  “She has become one of the Inner Circle.”

  “When did this happen?” Tara asked.

  “She left two days ago. With all the prep, she probably actually connected to the hive today.”

  “Who is running the village?”

  “Chaplain Wright.”

  “Chaps? Does he know about us?” Mel waved her hand around the circle.

  Kim shook her head. “Mama Ty called me into her office and explained her intentions, and asked me to watch for anything unusual. She said she’d try to send us signals by directing the jumps.”

  “Kim, we lost Kate in a jump,” Trip said. “We’ve got to get back there.”

  “Hmm. I am sure Mama Ty knows. She’ll be influencing the Circle to send you back.”

  “We don’t have a target jumper now that Kate’s gone,” Donnie stated. “They won’t be able to jump us without a target, will they?”

  “Well, I guess they can. They already did.” Tara threw her arm up.

  “I’ll transfer one of the Chartreuse team to you,” Kim said. “Just in case. Who do you want?”

  “Pinky!” Trip stated decidedly.

  “Definitely, send us Eunavae,” I agreed. “Kim, send her quickly.”

  “Let’s get back to First Cabin and get our supplies and weapons together. Give us about half an hour then send her. I don’t want to jump again without our equipment.” Dirk commanded.

  “Okay.” Kim moved toward her cabin, then paused and looked at me. “Corey, you’ll get her back.”

  I nodded. For the first time since Kate and I were married, I doubted whether or not she would be coming home to me. I glanced at Trip and had a sense that he thought the same thing.

  “…the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” ~ Albert Einstein, Nobel Prize 1921

  “WEAPONS CACHE,” MEL read from her compad.

  “Check.” Donnie located the item.

  “Shelter.”

  “Check.”

  “Food staples.”

  “Check.”

  “Water.”

  “Check.” We secured the cabin and assembled our things then sat and waited for Eunavae. Mel and Donnie checked the list once more to verify inventory.

  “Kitchen sink?” Trip grumbled under his breath.

  “That’s it. We’re ready.” Mel closed her compad cover and draped herself over the sofa. Donnie checked the latches on all the cases.

  “Why did you want Pinky?” Dirk asked. He sat on the hearth cleaning his fingernails with his hunting knife. “Wouldn’t you rather have Ash or Navarro? Someone who could kick butt?”

  “No, I wanted someone who would put Kate first,” Trip answered from the kitchen.

  “I wanted someone I could trust completely,” I added. “We’ve spent so much time together we tend to think alike. Definitely the right choice.”

  “Besides, you’ve seen her on the archery range. She’s pretty good with a bow,” Donnie interjected.

  “I packed one for her,” Tara said from the couch, her long legs stretched out in front of her, arms crossed over her chest. She blew a huge pink bubble with her gum and then sucked it back in.

  I snorted at her. I found it hard to think of her as a teenager most of the time. When she did something so juvenile like smack on bubble gum it threw me. She raised her eyebrows at me and winked, then blew another bubble.

  “Want a piece?” She tossed me a pink wrapped cube.

  “Nah, thanks,” I tossed it back to her. I needed to talk to Trip, alone. There were things rolling around in my brain that I needed to speak out, but I didn’t want the whole team to know of Kate’s indiscretion. They did need to know my thoughts, though.

  “Hey, guys,” I started. “I think it’s important for you to know something.”

  Tara glanced at me, knowing what I would say.

  “Kate’s been acting weird.”

  “Weird, how?” Dirk asked.

  I swallowed. How could I tell them enough without exposing her? “She doesn’t seem herself.”

  “No, that’s not true, Corey,” Trip argued. “She seems herself but like her old self.”

  “Old self?” Mel repeated.

  I thought about what Trip sai
d. True, she seemed to have reverted back to an earlier version of Kate, a more conflicted version, but not wholly Kate either. “I agree to an extent, Trip. She seems conflicted like before, but there is something else going on.”

  “What?”

  “I don’t know. It’s like she is being controlled.” I looked at Tara. “Do you remember what you said about Kate being the one to betray me in your Scriptorium experience?”

  Tara nodded and spit her gum into a wrapper, her face crestfallen.

  “You said she spoke with a dragon. Do you remember what she called him?”

  “It sounded like dragon or dargon.” Mel pursed her brow in concentration.

  “Dagan!” Tara remembered.

  “Corey, wasn’t that the name of the dragon cat thing who bonded with Kate in our first jump?”

  “Yeah. I think she may be under his influence again, Trip. I mean, we did go to that world with all the dragons and that is when she started acting differently. Do you think it could be the same world we were on before? Do you think he might have found her and bonded with her again?”

  “It’s a long shot, Corey,” Trip said.

  “We weren’t even there that long. I don’t see how it could be,” Dirk agreed.

  “This is Kate we are talking about,” I reminded them. “All of the jumps seem to focus on her, and she is our team leader.”

  “And this is Corey putting these facts together,” Tara interjected. “I think we should listen to him.”

  I smiled at her, always reminding the others of my status as team leader, Tara remained a loyal friend.

  Dirk rubbed the stubble on his chin in concentration. “We’ll keep open minds.”

  Trip looked heartsick. I understood that if an outside influence controlled Kate, it changed everything that happened between them. I think he had begun to hope that she gravitated toward him again. I knew the moment he told me they had made love I had a fight on my hands over her. He would never just let her go now that he had a taste of her. My stomach curdled at the thought.

  I knew that the treasure of Kate lay in her very soul, the most precious of all her many assets. The hours of hearing her heart cry for her family and the love she had for her friends confirmed my belief in her unique value. This tender soul endured as the most incredible person I had ever known. Her capacity to give of herself unselfishly and lather affection on others never ceased to amaze. Trip might understand a small part of that, but he had no clue to the unmined depths of her soul. The true treasure of my darling wife hid there. Though lately, that treasure remained well buried.