by Pamela Davis
"No, Daddy, no," Sam said suddenly, forcefully. "We gotta stop Margaret now, right now. She's already there!"
"Where? What?" John said, stunned. "You mean at the power plant?"
"Who's at the power plant?" a voice asked, and John turned to see Zack and Maria entering the room.
"What? Oh," John said. "It's Margaret--Sam says she's gone off to the power plant. We knew someone would try to damage it, but really, it's hard to imagine. She seemed like such a normal person earlier--a bit intense maybe, but this? And I honestly didn't think anything would happen so soon," he ended with a rising tone of frustration in his voice.
Zack looked from the agitated man before him to the little anxious girl. Sam--the girl he'd known from the dreams, even if he hadn't realized she was just a kid, or a girl for that matter, and said, "What you don't realize is that Margaret has got some screwy ideas about why all this happened."
Maria spoke up, "You can say that again. She's...not right."
Samantha said urgently, "Yes, yes, she is wrong, very, very wrong. We have to stop her, Daddy. Now."
John looked at each of them in turn, torn between the two crises. But Samantha had been right about so much before this. And Abby was her grandmother after all. Sam wouldn't let anything happen to Abby. This had to be the right choice. "Okay, then," he said decisively, turning and grabbing his keys off the hook on the wall. "Let's go. You guys come, too, since you know Margaret." And stopping only to pick up his two-way radio, he led them from the house.
The Farm
Black was leading his team of searchers into the woods where some of the birds thought they had seen the woman fleeing among the trees. Just as his radio cackled with static and Rachel's voice could be heard saying, "No sign of her yet. Rachel out," he received another voice...in his head. Remarkably, it was Sam's voice, cool, clear tones, saying, "We need you at the power plant. Come now."
Black stopped dead in his tracks. Motioning his group to a halt, he didn't have to pause to think. Sam needed him. "Nathan, you stay here and take over this group. There's trouble at the power plant. White and I will go there." And he took off running, the large snowy white owl floating above his head, leaving a stunned Nathan staring after him.
Before Nathan could go after him, or even formulate a question, a shout went up from one of the searchers. "Hey! Got a fresh footprint over here!"
As Nathan ran to where the group was standing, he heard another man say, "Uh, oh, looks like she headed into that cave system."
Nathan groaned inwardly. He'd gotten the lecture from Black about the caves. This area was riddled with cave systems, a result of dissolving limestone rock beneath the earth's surface. If his mother were in there--Nathan's fear doubled.
Power Station, Table Rock Lake Dam
"Hello! Anybody here?" Lisanne heard a woman's voice calling out. She looked up to see a tall, striking, red-haired woman entering the control room. Even though the woman was smiling at her, Lisanne felt warning and fear emanating from Merlin in her lap. In surprise she said to herself and Merlin, But I thought it would be a man! And I thought everyone would be back here when it happened! And I really, really, really shouldn't have given my gun to Andy to make the rounds outside...
She felt Merlin's agreement.
"All alone here, are you?" asked Margaret genially. She stalked across the room to where the petite, spiky-haired young woman was sitting with a large black cat in her lap. Ah, yes, Margaret thought. Another animal communicator.
Lisanne watched as the woman brought a large heavy wrench out from the folds of her full cotton skirt. She listened in stunned surprise as the woman said, "Why don't you just keep sitting right there and we'll get along fine, you and your little cat."
And even as Lisanne tried to rise from her chair, even as she felt her limbs go weak as the woman shook her head and grimly forced her way into Lisanne's mind, even as she felt the blow to the back of her head, Lisanne thought, "Merlin, we are so fu--" and then she slid from the chair onto the floor, motionless.
Merlin launched himself at Margaret's face with the first blow, claws out, scratching her once before Margaret whacked him across the room with her free hand. Merlin hit the concrete wall and collapsed in an almost unconscious state. His last thoughts went out to Waldo, then...darkness.
Heading to the Power Station, in the car
"No! No, no, no," Samantha shouted from the backseat. Twisting in her seatbelt, the little girl's head shook back and forth. "Hurry, Daddy! Hurry, hurry, hurry!"
John stepped on the gas pedal, speeding up the last road to the power station. He didn't bother asking what was happening. If it was bad enough for Sam to be this upset, it was bad.
Zack, sitting in the front passenger seat, looked at him in consternation. "Does she always just know things like this?"
John jerked his head in acknowledgement. "More and more--it's awful."
Maria slid across the back seat to put an arm around the trembling and crying Samantha. "What can we do? Can we help her?"
John asked, "Either of you a dreamer or animal talker?"
Zack said, "I get the dreams. Haven't talked to any animals."
"Okay, you might be able to help. Open your mind, clear your thoughts and try to connect to her. We're almost there."
As he closed his eyes to help focus, Zack thought irrevelantly, that for a safe zone, this place was feeling a lot like some war zones he'd been in.
Power Station, Table Rock Lake Dam
Andy realized he was whistling and walking jauntily up the path to the front door of the power plant, all in an attempt to ward off a sense of unease. He stopped and looked at Waldo. "You feel that, boy?" he asked the dog.
Waldo whined.
"Yeah, there is something, isn't there, a feeling of--danger. I thought it was just me feeling weird lugging this gun around," he continued, waving the gun vaguely. "Or some residual effect from the San Francisco earthquake. But now--come on, Waldo, let's get back to Lisanne and see if she feels it--"
At that moment Waldo barked loudly and took off running for the door. Andy stood stock-still for a second, and then as Merlin's call for help went from Waldo to him, yelled out "Lisanne!" and dashed after the dog.
Waldo got to the control room first, skidding to a stop as he faced an unknown woman standing over Lisanne's body. The dog saw Merlin crumpled up next to the wall. He heard the woman saying, "Just stay where you are and nobody else gets hurt."
But Waldo knew things about people who hurt other people. He knew they didn't stop hurting you just because they said they would. He knew once they crossed that line and started hurting one person, one animal, it was easier and easier to do it again. The dog heard Andy run up behind him and sent the same thought over and over--danger, danger, danger.
Andy roared, "What have you done to her?"
Margaret replied, "She would have tried to stop me--I could see that in her thoughts. I just tapped her on the head a bit," she said, continuing, "she'll probably be fine. The question now is, will you and your dog give me trouble or stay out of my way?"
Margaret walked slowly, but surely toward Andy, pausing momentarily as he raised the gun up to point it at her, and then she just kept coming. Andy's hand shook slightly, but he kept the gun pointed at her.
"Listen, lady, I don't know you, don't know what your problem is, what you want to do here, but you'd better re-think your plan."
"My problem? It's a problem for all of us! We can't keep doing this, can't keep the technology that damages the planet. What I want to do is save the planet before it's too late," Margaret replied implacably.
"Save the planet? By attacking Lisanne and Merlin?" he asked incredulously.
"Merlin? Oh, the cat," Margaret said. Andy looked startled and she nodded her head. "Oh, yes, I have the ability to read your thoughts, your dog's too. He seems to be rather slavishly attached to you, by the way. Yes, the Earth has given me this ability, obviously to help her, to aid in her protection."
/> Andy shook his head, "A lot of people have new abilities now, in case you hadn't noticed. Now--stop where you are!" He realized suddenly she was right there in front of him, reaching for the gun....how? How had he not noticed...his mind felt...fuzzy.
Waldo called out to Andy mentally. No use. He could sense that woman doing something, stopping Andy somehow. Just as Margaret's hand touched the gun, Waldo lunged at her.
Seeing Waldo jumping into harm's way broke whatever hold Margaret had on Andy's mind, but it was at once too jarring, too much happening, too fast--
Margaret and Andy struggled over possession of the gun right as Waldo came for her. Her finger reached the trigger--she fired the weapon--a loud, very loud noise, shockingly loud.
Waldo's jaws closed on her arm as the gun went off, changing the trajectory of the bullet...but not enough to keep it from exploding into Andy. Waldo watched helplessly as Andy dropped to the floor, but didn't let go of Margaret's arm. Unfortunately, he realized with alarm, it was not the arm controlling the gun. He twisted away right as she fired the gun again--at him.
The Farm
Jessica stumbled on a rock, and then felt Harmony's hand beneath her arm, keeping her upright. She stopped and said, "Hold up, Dad. This isn't working. Nathan wasn't sure that was her footprint and we can't just wander around here without some idea if we are really on the right track. We need Sam."
Harmony held the radio up as they heard static, "Wait a sec, Jessica, maybe this is something."
Janine's voice came over the radio. "The horses can't find her. Something else is happening, dunno if its earthquakes or what, but it's all confused," she finished in a frustrated tone. "Janine out."
"Dad, if you'd known she was this bad off, why didn't you tell me?" Jessica demanded.
Clay replied, "None of us knew, Jess. She seemed okay earlier, she really did."
Jessica immediately regretted the question. "Sorry. I'm sorry, Dad, I just can't believe she ran off like this. Okay, okay, I'm going to sit down here and focus on Sam and see if I can get her help."
None of them thought to use the two-way radio. Clay and Harmony watched Jessica sit down on a boulder and close her eyes, as if it were perfectly normal for a mother to call out to her daughter in this way.
Power Station, Table Rock Lake Dam
As the car stopped and they scrambled out, John picked up Samantha to carry her toward the building. Suddenly her eyes opened wide, staring at nothing. Then she said calmly, "Put me down, Daddy, let me be next to Harry."
He did as she asked, alarmed by how pale she was, but knowing she knew more of what was happening than he did at the time. Softly, he queried, "What is it, Sam?"
"Mommy. She needs help--Grandma Abby--if I just find her fast, I think maybe--"
John jumped when he heard a gunshot ring out from the main building. "What the hell?" he said, running to the building with Zack following him.
Samantha looked terrified, Maria thought. She heard the little girl saying, "I can't find her yet, and Margaret--Margaret has the gun." And suddenly Sam was off running to the open door of the power plant, Harry at her side. Maria took off after her, calling out, "Sam--wait!"
John and Zack dashed through the open door to slide to a sudden stop in the vestibule. Margaret was walking toward them, a gun in her hands. John heard Maria calling out Sam's name, and heard her running footsteps. No, he thought, I can't let her near Margaret. He backed slowly out the door, hands in the air.
Zack was talking calmly, backing up with John. "Oh, Margaret, this isn't like you. You don't need that here. Why don't you just put the gun down and let's talk?"
Margaret stood straight, looking very tall and very pale. Her emerald eyes seemed to blaze out of a face white as paper as a line of bright red blood oozed from a scratch across her cheekbone. "It's too late. It's all too late. I can see that now. We are just too contaminated. No wonder she wants to destroy us. We are like a virus, a plague upon the Earth. Too damaged, too twisted."
Standing in the glow of the light on the outside of the building, John heard Sam run up next to him. He turned swiftly to thrust her behind him, but the little girl pulled away from him. Behind Margaret, John saw a shadowy figure moving, and then realized it was Waldo, but an injured Waldo. The dog was limping slowly, almost creeping. What the hell had happened here?
Samantha's voice rang out, a high childish voice, but filled with a maturity and a certainty that was utterly resolute. "Margaret, no--it has to stop. Stop here. No more."
Even as Margaret shook her head and raised the gun to point it at Samantha, John felt something, some awareness, some sense. It was a drawing of strength, mental strength. He started to panic,and then recognized his daughter in that feeling. She needed him. So he'd be there for her. He opened his mind and heart fully to Samantha.
Zack and then Maria both felt a sensation of intrusion, but, for Zack, it was almost recognizable, ah yes, he thought. Just like the whales, but this time it was the little girl. What power! He opened up his mind to her, trusting that the dreams had been right.
Samantha reached out, expanding the circle around her, expanding her awareness, connecting to the rocks, trees, plants, animals, people...stretching, reaching, gathering threads until she could look in Margaret's eyes and say calmly, "It's over, Margaret. The planet doesn't hate us. It loves us. You've had it wrong, very, very wrong. The whales tried to tell you, but you didn't listen. This has never been about punishment, or even about humans at all. We are all connected, Margaret, every living thing. But you've done something very bad now. You can't keep doing this."
And then as a twisting grimace appeared on Margaret's face as she struggled against the power of Samantha and all she was connected to, Margaret realized she had no feeling in her hands--the gun clattered to the ground. "No!" she said weakly--then felt a severing of connections inside her mind. "No, don't!" she tried to say, but it was all going dark
John watched with relief as she collapsed in a heap on the ground. Waldo reached her right as she fell, and grabbed her wrist in his mouth, beginning to bite down.
"No, Waldo, no," Sam said sternly. He yelped, a whining, pleading bark, but Sam just shook her head. "She can't hurt us anymore, if we're careful. So you can't hurt her now...it wouldn't be right." The dog regretfully let go of Margaret.
It was abruptly dead quiet. Everything was still. Then two things happened--John heard a voice calling for help from inside the power station--Lisanne! And Samantha, with all her expanded senses, found her grandmother.
"No! No! Grandma..." Sam burst into tears and the others felt their connections break with her. "She's dead, Grandma Abby's dead, and it's all my fault, oh, Grandma!" John gathered his sobbing daughter into his arms and rocked her gently.
"Go," he requested of Zack and Maria. "Help Lisanne, find out what happened--and here--use the radio to get the doc over right away." He paused and said sadly, "He won't be needed for Abby after all."
Power Station, Table Rock Lake Dam
The tears flowed down Lisanne's face, even as her mind sought refuge, sought a denial of what she saw before her across the room. Not Andy, not him, he couldn't be dead. Lisanne felt like she couldn't breathe. So much blood--was he still alive? He had to be alive, she decided. There was no other option. He was everything to her; he was the future, so he couldn't be dead. Her insides felt all quivery, shaky with dread, as she slowly crawled across the floor--it was taking forever to get there. But trying to stand up had not been a good move before. Best to just stay down here. How, how, how had this happened? He had the gun before, how could he be lying there so still? Vaguely in the distance she heard voices raised--why didn't they come in here and help her? She took a deep, shaky breath and tried to scream for help. But all that came out was a croak. She really had to stop this ridiculous crying. Had to. And Merlin--he was so quiet in her head, barely there at all now. Finally, finally she was at Andy's side. She saw a gunshot wound, but was he breathing? Oh, please, please--yes! But b
arely, barely breathing. And where was Waldo? Waldo would never have left Andy, would he? Then she heard a yelping bark outside. Waldo. Suddenly it was all very quiet, and Lisanne could hear her own raspy breaths. "Help," she said tentatively. "Help!" louder now, and finally very loud, even though it hurt her head to take such a deep breath, "Help us, please! Help!" And then the sound of running footsteps. Oh good, she thought blankly as she fell across Andy's body, passing out.
Chapter 23
The Farm
Jessica sat in Abby's bedroom at the Farm, waiting. She stared at the cut-glass crystal vase on the nightstand. Stared at the brightly colored zinnias with their separate, distinct, perfectly formed petals. Mom probably liked those flowers, she thought. Why had she left things like bringing flowers to her mother for another day? Why had she let Harmony take over a duty that should have been hers? Why hadn't she spent more time with her own mother? Mom must have been so scared to have run off into the woods. There had just been so much going on, so much happening all at once. It always felt like there would be time to deal with her mother's problems. Plenty of time once things settled down. And somehow, even with all the deaths all over the world, here in their little cocoon of safety, it had felt like they couldn't be touched by it, by all the death. Now, however, now they knew. Death had found them here.
Jessica knew she should feel more concern and worry over Andy and Lisanne and Merlin and Waldo. But, she felt numb inside. She knew many of the other Gaians were at the hospital, helping as they could, while Doc Shapiro and Penny Perkins did surgery to try and save Andy. She'd heard the report from Gracie about the chaos at the Power Station, how Lisanne had a bad concussion and possibly a broken rib. That Clay, their veterinarian, was needed to look at Merlin, but nobody would think of asking that of him so soon after the shock of finding his wife's body. She knew others were caring for Waldo, the dog hero who probably, hopefully, saved Andy's life, and ended with a bullet in his hip. She was aware that Black and Rachel and Max stood guard over a still-unconscious Margaret. None of it seemed to matter very much to Jessica. It was all just a swirl of activity, voices heard in the distance, as she stared at the flowers, alone and waiting. She thought rather vaguely that somewhere inside she should hate Margaret for the distraction she had caused them in finding Abby in time. But she felt nothing. Just waiting. Waiting for them to finish hauling Abby's body up from the crevice she had fallen into, in the caves where she'd stumbled and been lost and had, Clay said after climbing down there, broken her neck. So Jessica waited.