"But if the planet was planning revenge because we burned landfills, why did it wait so long?" Alex asked.
"I don't know – maybe it was keeping the possibility on standby. Just in case we did something else fucked up."
We both paused.
"Do you realize what's happening?" Alex asked.
"Yeah. We're buying into his theories."
"Yeah."
I closed the manual. We both reached for the last cookie at the same time. I raised my eyebrow at him then casually glanced down at my protruding belly.
"Oh, fine." He growled in defeat. "I'll go get the other box."
I finished my cookie slowly, repeating a calming chant, keeping Shawn's manual from terrorizing my mind. A flicker of light caught my eye. One of the candles had suddenly flared up.
I smiled in response and said as I heard Alex approaching, "See – maybe the planet is on our side."
"What does it mean?" he asked, keeping a wary eye on the flaring candle.
"I think it wants us to burn the document."
"Agreed."
Alex held the papers up while I touched the edges lightly with the flame. I heard laughter inside my head. "You do this," I handed the candle to Alex. "I'll be right back."
Before he could protest, I had tuned into the athame – now kept at my side in its own sheath, and was facing Arianna. "Did you cause that candle to flare up?"
She smiled. "Yep."
"I didn't realize you could use magical powers outside of here – it's actually kind of concerning. Can all of the Shades do that?"
She leaned in. "I didn't know I could do it. I think maybe because we have spent enough time together. I know your body as well as you know my spells."
"Oh, lovely." It was a problem for another day. "I need one more spell from you."
When I returned, the document was almost done burning. Before it could totally dissipate into the air, I held my hands over the ashes and began chanting. I was attempting to bring bad luck to Shawn and his organization. Every little bit helped.
"Satisfied?" Alex asked.
I answered with a big yawn. "For now."
"Hallelujah."
I began crawling around the circle, blowing out candles. The buckets and dirt could wait until tomorrow. I glanced at him. "Do you believe in God, Alex?"
He shrugged. "Practically my whole family is staunch Catholic. I grew up with religion in the forefront, common sense in the rear."
"So I'll take that as a no?"
"You should take that as an 'I don't believe in religion', but God is a different story." He turned the tables. "What about you?"
"I have begun to realize, that my parents were somewhat Wiccan in their beliefs. Nature was their God. We celebrated a lot of the religious holidays only because they were derived from pagan traditions back in the day."
"But you admit there is something more to life than just the Earth and humans."
"Sure." I held up the half-eaten toffee-nut deliciousness. "There are cookies!"
Alex rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean…"
"What?" I played with him.
He cleared his throat, picked up a candle, and held it like a microphone. "There is magic in the air…"
"Stop!" I laughed. "And don’t quit your day job."
"Why? My day job sucks."
I crossed my arms and let out a squeak of protest, since his day job mostly consisted of me.
"Well, I mean – look at the perks." He looked at me. "Oh, that's right. There are no perks." He winked at me.
I picked up one of the smaller buckets of water, and before he could react, doused him with it. "Just 'cause Susan's not here, doesn't mean I need to be concerned with your 'perk'."
"You little…"
I squeaked again and ran. I didn't get far; a few steps later I tripped over a pile of dirt which was obscured from my view by my bulging midsection.
Thankfully, Alex caught me mid-fall, hoisting me back on me feet. "Damn, Katie. You've gotten heavy."
I steadied myself. "Wow, you are just full of compliments tonight, aren't you?"
"Yep – I certainly have my way with women. Come on; let's get you to bed before I get my ass kicked."
I took his arm, letting him lead me in. I looked back. The ashes of the burned document were still there. I waived my hand, and weaved a small net of wind, scattering the ashes into the air and out of my view.
Chapter 26
Ready or Not
The next week flew by. It had barely felt like a couple days when Alex announced our departure for the following week. I had spent every waking moment in a not-so-awake state, conferring with Arianna, my newly appointed second in command. Together we built a team of strong Shades, each with a specialized power. Every one of those Shades had a second team consisting of at least two, sometimes more, other Shades as backup. Moreover, I was given knowledge willingly by almost every Shade inside the athame. There were a few who refused, but I didn’t push them. I had enough to learn as it was.
Today was fire day. I had prepped as best I could by ensuring Alex knew where all the fire extinguishers were, and that they had been recently inspected. I took several with me to the most open field I could find, well away from the Chakra and anything even remotely flammable. I even took the liberty of removing all my clothes.
Once inside, Arianna explained I would need a fire Shade and a former Gaia to help.
"Why a Gaia too?" I asked as we floated down the stairs. The Shades were calm today, lazily floating about, giving me a sense of security that no hijackings were going to occur. I glanced up at the crevice in the cave that always gave me an uneasy feeling. Someone was in there still, but she was inactive, staying well out of sight.
"Because the element of fire, although considered to be the purest element – resistant to pollution – also relies on the magic of the other elements to be effective. Usually fire elementals have some abilities with the other elements, and could even potentially take over as Gaia if necessary."
We approached two women sitting on a small island in the lake of the cave.
Arianna sat me down with them. "This is Aideen, a Gaia, and well, we don't know this one's name." Arianna gestured to the other woman. "She doesn't talk much, and doesn't speak any of our languages anyway."
"What's the craic?" Aideen asked with a strong Irish accent as she shook my hand.
"I'm sorry, the…?" I was never any good with accents.
She rolled her eyes. "Effin' yank. What I mean to say is 'what is up'?" She managed in her version of an American accent.
"Oh. I'm good." I turned to the other Shade and extended my hand to her. She shrank back.
"She nae like to touch." Aideen informed me.
"Sorry." I waved at her instead.
She narrowed her eyes back.
"Well, I'll leave you three to it, then." Arianna said with a nod, disappearing into the water surrounding our small island.
I shook my head as I watched her gaseous form sink into the depths of the pool. "I will never get used to this place."
Aideen shrugged. "Ye kin only piss wit da cock ye got."
I laughed, "I don’t know about you, but I’m sort of lacking in that department."
The fire Shade spared a horrified glance toward Aideen and her phrasing. It was only a split second, but I caught it. She could definitely understand us.
"Ok, let's start. I've done fire before, but only on a small scale."
"Aye. No wonder. Ye got to use air to fuel it, if ye want to make something of it."
She started her weaves, forming a small fireball that floated in between the three of us. She gestured with her hands, more so than I'd seen anyone do. When the ball of fire was steady, she held it in place with one hand and started another weave of air with her other hand.
"It's like knittin', ye know. Make yer weaves, but use a needle to fuck with it." Her free hand constructed a tight, narrow wind tunnel, no bigger than her hand. With her brows furro
wed and tongue creeping out the side of her mouth in concentration, she gently poked and prodded at her fireball. Each time she did, it either grew in size or intensity. Just as the heat grew to be so much we all three had to lean away from it, Aideen reversed her wind tunnel and the fireball shrank.
"Now –ye can tie it off."
I watched her force her weaves around each other in tight knots. Even though she still had to expend a small amount of energy, the fireball for the most part was self-sustaining, and required little concentration.
I couldn't resist, I reached behind me into the pool of deep water, used a little energy to gather a small puddle in my hand, then forced it at the fireball, effectively extinguishing it and soaking my two partners all at once. Aideen laughed, but the other freaked. She changed into her gaseous form and flew straight up and then in circles, faster and faster until droplets of water shot out, drying herself as effectively as the spin cycle of a washing machine.
Aideen leaned toward me. "She's one dem fires, ye know? Doesna like water."
After enough spinning that would have caused my stomach to empty, the fire Shade resumed her place in our circle, giving me a pointed stare. I could almost see flames in her eyes. Trying not to burn bridges, literally or figuratively, I apologized with another wave and friendly smile.
She crossed her arms.
"Okay," I tried brushing the incident off, "let me give it a try." I copied Aideen’s weaves and accomplished the fireball in no time at all, then attempted the air needle. At the first poke the ball nearly blew up in our faces. It took more precision than I cared to try. But I did, and after several hours I had the control I needed. If we weren't so ethereal, we'd all be sweating from the heat.
Aideen showed me how to mix earth with fire, effectively creating a type of lava, slow moving and deadly.
The fire element took over, and gave me a detailed show of the different types of fire and how to create them. Her flames changed from yellow-orange to red to blue depending on their intensity. Then she manipulated, or dispersed, the gasses and vapor created by the fire.
Even Aideen seemed to pick up a few pointers from the lesson. The fire Shade, either still bitter about my water or pretending she didn’t understand us, effectively ignored all of my questions. Didn't matter; I had gotten what I needed from her.
Finally, she resumed crossing her arms and shrank back as far as our little island would go.
"I think she is done." I looked at Aideen.
"Aye."
I looked up at my walls protecting the platform that led to control of my body. No forms floated around the walls for the time being, or even on the stairwells. Still, I needed Arianna to escort me back, to watch my back while I entered the platform, but she was nowhere in sight.
I turned my attention back to Aideen.
"So, when were you a Gaia?"
"Early 18th century. But I only for a year, 'til they found another."
"Oh. You mean they…"
"Aye. They burnt me. A circle of them fires." She gestured toward the fire Shade.
The frankness shocked me.
"Tis no matter. Painful at first, but over quick. I think ‘twas harder on me ma."
"She knew?"
"She was one o' them fires."
A sick bile crept its way up my throat. "Your mom helped to kill you?"
Aideen shrugged her shoulders. "Cried buckets, she did. But the decision was made. ‘Twas for the good of the earth, aye?"
The bile formed a large lump and refused to go back down. "Is your mom here?"
She shook her head. "Ne'er was marked by the knife."
"Ready to go?" Arianna interrupted the horror story unfolding before my eyes.
I jumped. "Yes, please. Let's get out of here." I didn't want to know any more. I looked at Aideen, "Thank you so much for your help. And I'm sorry for your, your…well I'm sorry for what happened to you."
We hugged, and I attempted to wave goodbye to the fire Shade, but her back was already to me. Arianna and I made our way up the steps. I didn't talk, didn't even turn around to look at her before I weakened the wall barrier. I needed to get out before I broke down.
Hindsight, I probably should have taken better security measures. In my hurry to leave, I didn't consider an attack. The intense heat grew behind me until I had to cower down. And then nothing but blackness.
* * *
When I came to, I found myself buck naked, dancing around a large bonfire in the middle of the night.
It had been afternoon when I left my body.
Immediately I backed away from the searing heat of the fire; most of my skin had turned cherry red with what must have been hours next to my, or her, creation. I bumped into Alex.
Head turned away, he quickly wrapped his coat around me. Feet quickly shuffled and I looked around to find several men, most of whom I recognized as the Chakra staff, hurry away carrying fire extinguishers, and in one man’s case what I could have sworn was a bag of popcorn. “What in the…”
“Hell. Yes. This is my own personal hell. I’ve had to watch them watch you dancing around that fire like some sort of crazed witch for hours. It was like watching porn and discovering your sister’s the main character. Your pregnant sister. Ew.” Alex shook to rid himself of whatever chills crawled up his spine in memory of my performance.
“Why didn’t you turn them away? Or stop her?”
“Her?”
“Well it wasn’t me putting on that show!”
“Could have fooled me.” Alex crossed his arms. “Anyway, we tried. And several men had to be sent to the doc to get treated for second-degree burns. I kept the rest here in case the fire got out of hand. But once we left you alone, you just sort of…did your thing.”
“Great. Just great. Well, she’s off the team, believe me.”
“Team?”
“No time to explain. I have to get back. There’s more work to do.”
“No, you need to rest. We leave tomorrow afternoon.”
“Tomorrow! I won’t be ready by tomorrow.”
“Ready or not, here we go.” Alex walked me back to our room and saw to my packing.
“This is pointless.” I threw down the shirts I was stuffing into my bag. “None of this matters.”
“None of what matters?”
“These! Shirts, clothes…shampoo!” I took out bottles and threw them across the room. “These things mean nothing right now! What matters is my baby’s life, and mine. I need to practice!”
“Quit delaying the inevitable, Katie. We leave on that boat whether you’ve had time to pack your shampoo or not.”
He picked up my bottles and shirts, placing everything in the bag for me. I looked at it with disgust, as if it was the very first step to my defeat. I sat down on the bed and sighed.
Alex did the same. “You look exhausted. Maybe try to get some rest on the plane?”
I shook my head, managing to hold back the tears threatening to flood my eyes but my quivering lips gave me away. “I can’t. I have more work to do. I need to be prepared for him.”
“True. But none of that work will matter if you’re too tired to stay on your feet for the battle.” Alex put his arm around me. “I’ll make you a deal. Sleep for half the trip and work for half. And if you’re still too tired to stand for the battle I will hold you up.”
“And if I falter because I have not trained enough?”
“Then I will step in front of you and protect you with my life.”
I looked up into his eyes and read truth there. He would die for me. And that was the problem. It wasn’t just my life and the baby’s I had to worry about. It was Alex with his goofy ways of making me laugh, and Micah whose arms are the only place I’ve ever truly longed to be. Then there was Susan with enough confidence to fill a room, and Cato, and the staff, and the rest of humanity for that matter. I broke down as the enormity of our undertaking hit me for the first time. I cried on Alex’s shoulder. My wailing soon turned to sobbing and hiccu
pping which in turn became snorting and uneven, labored breaths.
I woke when it was still dark – sprawled out on my bed. My breakdown led to some much needed sleep, but that few hours of missed training could mean defeat. I found my suitcase neatly packed and Alex staring at me from the doorway with an arched eyebrow, assessing me.
I cleared the sleepiness from my throat and made an attempt to smooth out my hair. “I hope you know that counts as my half of the bargain.”
He snorted in response. “Truck leaves in three hours.”
“Just enough time for one more session.”
He looked me over, no doubt taking into account the dark bags under my eyes. “Fine – a quick one.”
I sat up in bed, careful to wake up fully before I attempted to stand. “I need some air.”
“Want me to go with?” Alex picked up my suitcase.
“No – I’ll just be out in the gardens. Come get me when you’re ready to leave.” I needed some practice using the earth element, having rarely used it except in the case of extreme agitation. Once against Shawn, once against a plant seed.
I walked away under Alex’s watchful eye, and went outside toward the gardens. Stepping into the vegetable section, I saw it was now in full bloom with ripe tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, and potatoes.
I made my way to the center of the garden, plucking a cherry-red tomato from its vine as I passed. I chose a freshly tilled spot, the smell of dirt still strong in the air. Tomorrow everyone would be pitching in to plant new herbs, except Alex and me. We would be long gone. But tonight, the only thing that would be planted here was my butt. I sat down in the dirt, cross-legged, and sank in slightly. Biting down slowly on the tomato, it burst open in my mouth, sending squirts of juice running down my chin. I hummed in pleasure.
Sufficiently relaxed, I sank deep down into my subconscious, landing on the protected cave shelf with a barely audible thump. I’m getting good at this. Arianna, sensing my presence was just on the outside of the protective wall before I could call for her. She was a good lieutenant.
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