"Sorry. No flowers."
I rolled my eyes. "No. I mean, do you feel that energy loss?"
He paused, taking a deep breath then exhaling slowly. "No. I feel, actually a little more powerful."
I nodded. "That's how it is with Shawn. Take a few steps in front of me."
Micah obliged, walking in a straight line, then stopping and turning. "Are we done with the sobriety check, officer?"
Nothing had happened. He moved but the island didn't. Now it was my turn. I took a deep breath in, and held it. No gust of wind. One step forward. No earthquake. As a final test, I closed my eyes and conjured the elements of fire, lighting it without preamble. There was no explosion on the island, no volcano eruption. I was satisfied.
"Ok, I am good to move, but I still feel drained. If this turns into an extended fight; I'm not sure I'll last. These Goddamned places are like my kryptonite."
We started walking toward the center of the island.
"I think I can help there, Kaitlyn. I might be able to block some of energy-depleting sources for you,” Micah said.
I shrugged, too tired to consider it more. "Ok – shield me."
Instantly I felt a protective barrier slide over me. I wasn't more powerful, but I was at least back to normal. It wavered slightly as Micah tripped over a rock, and the ill effects of the island managed to creep through, but he quickly solidified the barrier again.
For the second time that day, I beamed in pride, only this time it was pride in Micah. "It works!"
I extended my hand out and practiced a small weave of air. My magic still worked through the shield. "This is very, very good."
Back up to my normal strength, my confidence rose. It still may not be enough, but a weakened Gaia was something Shawn was probably counting on.
We continued moving toward the middle of the island. I glanced back at the boat, and Cato, watching them slowly disappear as we moved up and over a hill.
"Okay. This island is mostly barren. No trees. The wind can be harsh." Alex looked at Micah as he briefed him on the terrain. "No one lives here permanently; it is mostly just visited by scientists and researchers. They tend to take refuge in the underground caves. I couldn't find much information about the caves. They’re numerous, but I'm not sure they’re connected. Also, there’s an active volcano. It's how the island was formed."
Micah nodded. "Got it. Kaitlyn – I think you should concentrate on the water and air elements. Those are your strongest. Use what the island has to offer, then just add to that or manipulate it. If Shawn's team is hiding out in caves, wind and water will be able to penetrate them without causing us too many problems." He turned back to Alex. "Are there any civilians on the island now?"
Alex shrugged. "Couldn't find any official research teams scheduled to be here."
"That is good enough for me."
We were heading uphill now. The icy air, combined with the exertion of climbing, was getting to me. I panted, breaths coming short, and my leg muscles felt ready to give out. Micah reached for my hand and pulled me along, forcing me to the top of the hill. When we crested, our jaws dropped. There must have been a hundred people in the valley, all spaced evenly apart. At first it looked like a random pattern but after taking a step back, and taking in the design as a whole, I realized the formation was shaped like Shawn's mark.
Whether or not positioning his people like that increased their strength, it certainly put the fear of God into me. Or the fear of the Devil.
"Just a scare tactic," Alex mumbled, but I could tell he was shaken as well.
"Yeah. It's working," I replied.
Micah agreed.
I looked at him, shocked. He was supposed to be our fearless leader, knowing the perfect thing to say to boost our confidence in this situation. I punched him in the arm, hard.
"Ow." He rubbed the spot, then pulled himself together under my glowering stare. "I mean…okay. I think we should break up the formation, just in case."
I followed his gaze to the far end, and could just make out three women directing weaves away from us and toward the ocean; toward Susan. Their strength was amplified by two men standing on each side of them. They were Shus, using air to expand and push the weaves out further to the fishing trawler. Together, the five of them formed the upper lip of the seditious smile in Shawn's mark.
"So we've got water and air there." As Micah spoke I followed his pointing. "And earth in the lower lip. The outer circle doesn't look like elementals at all; just guards."
Alex reached in his backpack and pulled out binoculars. "Yep. Maybe fifty of them; each with automatics and plenty of ammunition."
"Great," I mumbled. Magic I could handle; bullets I could not. I'd practiced redirecting bullets with wind, but never managed to throw them off their mark. They were just too fast.
Inside the outer circle was a triangle, then a square. Micah borrowed Alex's binoculars and confirmed, "Fire and then earth again; each intermixed with air elementals."
"It's still missing something. Wait, let me check." Micah stepped behind me, lifted the blanket off my shoulder then pulled down my coat and shirt, studying Shawn's mark.
"Glad I didn't forget the map."
He didn't acknowledge my snide remark. "It's missing the inner circle."
"Look closer. I bet Shawn is in the middle – being the entire circle himself," I said.
Micah lifted the binoculars to his eyes, "Oh, you're right." He snorted. "Tool."
"Okay – I say we start with the water elementals. They are the fewest and that would free up Susan to help us."
Alex kneeled and began digging through his backpack. "I'm going to branch off; start taking out the guards." He pulled out a sniper rifle and connected a high-powered scope, one of our more sophisticated weapons. After me, that is.
"Why not just take out Shawn, first?" I asked.
"No," Micah said. "I feel his wall. He's protected somehow. I’m sure he’s thought of bullets as well. You can try but that would probably just alert him to your position. The wall is thick and concentrated; he has to keep it small. It doesn't extend to the guards so you can still take them out."
"Right." Alex popped in a magazine with a snap and turned off the safety. "I'm about to go sniper on their asses."
Micah and I watched Alex slink away, blending in with the terrain almost immediately. He would watch our backs, but who would be watching his?
Chapter 32
Now or Never
Micah and I watched Alex slink away, blending in with the terrain almost immediately.
"And then there were two." Micah looked at me and smiled.
I reached for his hand, and we connected. I could feel the familiar spark of energy jump from his hand to mine. His shield around me strengthened. Our eyes widened as we finally realized it. We were much, much stronger together.
Finally, I understood what he was trying to say back at the rock, right after Vayu was lifted into the air. I squeezed his hand in confirmation.
"Come on, we'll take them from the east. Susan has the north, Alex went west, and Cato – for what good he is – is south."
We made our way over the terrain, several times avoiding hidden caves that seemed to open up out of nowhere in the ground. I took care, not quite trusting my back yet, scared I might stumble over some rocks and take a hard hit to the belly.
Micah's grip was solid, as was his shield that moved with me. We took our places east of the formation without incident. We weren't even sure if they knew we were on the island yet. Squinting, we could just make out body forms all the way around the valley. Including Shawn standing dead center, barking out orders to his minions. His attention was focused on the Nerinas, weaving their flows straight toward Susan.
Suddenly, his head whipped around toward his guards at the west. Two lay sprawled out on the ground, the third quick to follow. Alex fired, each shot dead on. After the fourth went down they finally returned fire. But they were shooting blind; no one could spot Alex in the
rocky hills, or even the flash of his muzzle in the broad daylight. In fact, they were squinting into the sun, giving Alex even more of an advantage. As the only non-magical being on our side, he was going to need it.
"Now, Kaitlyn! While they are distracted!"
With effort, I pulled my eyes away from the distorted bodies on the ground, now numbering in the double digits, and looked to the three Nerinas, down to our left. Why Shawn had picked a valley to stage his troops was beyond me. So far we had the upper hand.
I closed my eyes, cautiously summoning energy held within the ground below my feet, unsure of how the island, or I, would react. It was neutral energy, slightly tainted by the volcanic ash, but with enough of my influence, it could still work with me. I released a breath. This island was not nearly as potent as the Galapagos.
I used the net Vayu taught me in Australia, constructing it with tight weaves, just big enough to cover the span of the three women. I sent it out, fast and hard, but kept it low, right above the heads of everyone else in the formation. You could see their hair flip up as the wave of air passed over each one. It needed to take the women by surprise, before their Shus detected it.
Success. The net dipped down in front of them and I pulled back, drawing it tight. The three women went crashing back. I angled my pull, using them to take out two of the Earth elements and a guard standing behind them on the lower lip of the smile.
"Hah!" Micah cried out, putting an arm around my waist in a tight hug. "Good job! A few more like that and we'll be home in time for supper!"
The ocean calmed almost immediately. Hopefully Susan had made it through ok. The elementals I took out were now sprawled on the ground, not moving. No way to tell if I had killed them. I shrugged it off, instantly recalling the cruel lack of sympathy from Shawn when we lost Juan. "One less," I whispered to myself.
Shawn’s eyes shot to me. I froze, paralyzed. I had tunnel vision, and he was standing at the end. He smiled, as though he knew what I had just said. The nightmare came back to me all at once and I felt my physical body fall directly into Micah's arms.
There was a brief struggle. Something was wrong, inside. The rock wall inside the cave to protect the entrance to my conscious body from Shades had disintegrated. Instead of disappearing in a puff of magic, the hard rock had shattered. Pieces of it littered the ground and the stairs, and other pieces shot around the cave like deadly missiles. The Shades roared, battling each other. I felt Arianna and some of the team we put together – they had the clear advantage of numbers – but they were distracted. I was exposed.
My presence was barely noticed, except by the one true entity I should have been more careful with. I watched her gaseous form emerge from the crevice halfway up the cave. I knew she was there all this time, but I mistook her aloofness for apathy. I was wrong. She was only biding her time, watching, learning, planning her attack.
She floated forward, hurling energy bolts to clear her path, not caring who she hit – those fighting for or against her disintegrated. They weren't gone permanently, but effectively removed from the battle, left attempting to piece themselves back together.
She began hurling her weapon at me. Not having had enough practice inside myself, I rolled, dodging them physically. I was at a loss for what kind of magic to use. I looked desperately for Arianna – for anyone to help. In my moment of distraction, the enemy Shade lunged at me, knocking me back off of my platform. I gripped the slippery ledge. My grasp was precarious as the rest of my body dangled over the distant water.
I tried telling myself I was just a Shade here, too. I could just float up and away; I didn't have to fall. But fear and panic paralyzed my brain. Maybe it was that pesky self-preservation instinct.
She landed hard on the ledge, barely glancing down at me – but her evil half-smile told me everything. I watched as she shot up to take command of my body. I reached for her, using what energy I had to try to lasso her and bring her back. I was no match.
But something I did connected, and part of me was dragged up with her while the other part was left behind.
I opened my eyes. While I had fought inside, the battle on the islands had continued. A familiar looking wall of water had formed far out into the ocean, and was now heading for the island. But it had Susan’s magical signature all over it.
Several holes had opened up around the perimeter of the valley, and more elementals came out, previously hidden in the caves. How did we not know? I thought back to my recent experience in a cave with Micah. When I had let my powers go; they bounced off the walls. They couldn't get out. Caves were like a natural barrier to our powers. Nothing entered, nothing left. Shawn had known that all along.
I would like to say all hell broke loose. Hell I could handle. But this…this was an organized battle, well planned. Sun Tzu would be proud. Shawn barked out more orders. All of the air elements broke formation and ran toward Susan's tsunami, fighting back the monstrous wave with their own wall of air. The guards grouped, and began to charge the hill. Half kept Alex pinned down with gunfire, while the other half moved forward. Soon his fight would become point blank shots or hand to hand combat, and he was grossly outnumbered. The earth and fire elements formed a tight circle, Shawn in the middle. Simultaneously, they turned and faced me.
I did the unexpected. I broke the bond with Micah and ran straight to Shawn. I heard Micah yelling after me, struggling to keep the shield intact, but he couldn't. His energy was drained, and combined with the distance I was putting between us, it was too much for him. The shield disintegrated. I expected a full on attack from Shawn and his lackeys, even felt myself flinch in anticipation, but it didn't come.
Yet, I moved forward. Panic reached me. I wasn't controlling my body. The Shade had taken full control while I was unconscious. I made an attempt to steer, but she pushed me right back down, allowing only the part of me that was lassoed to her to stay.
I could see what was happening. I could feel my body. Cold from the icy ground was creeping up into my legs. My lips were burning and chapped from the constant wind. But it was her body, not mine. She continued to walk forward, awkwardly. She had a slight limp caused by stiff leg. Maybe an old injury. Her left hip jutted out in an unintentional sexy sway.
It was that sway which stopped Shawn from attacking. Vayu, nearly out of the cave, saw me coming and raised his wand. Shawn put a hand up to stop him.
Vayu looked thoroughly disappointed.
Somehow, Shawn had just become my protector.
He is protecting me, bitch, the Shade spoke to me.
Hmmm, I answered. We'll see about that.
"Sarah?" Shawn's voice carried straight through to me.
"Hey, baby." Sarah stepped up to Shawn, kissing his cheek.
He stepped back in amazement. "It… How?"
"Your athame,” she said. “That bitch absorbed all the Shades you had in there. Well, all the female Shades."
"Sarah!" He picked her up and swung her around. A foreign happiness lit up his face.
I took advantage of the distraction, trying to regain control. The temporary struggle brought my body to its knees. I gripped my head with my hands and screamed with frustration.
She won, again. But I was a lot closer to breaking through this time.
"Sorry about that, babe.” She straightened again. “She's trying to win back her body. I don't know why. It’s so damn…frumpy."
Shawn and Sarah turned to face Micah, and holding hands, began their attack. It was the very image my nightmare had conjured. Me and Shawn, side by side, doing his bidding. Destroying the population in order to save the planet. My stomach twisted painfully.
And we had our sights set on Micah.
Under command, the fire and earth elements surrounding the pair began gathering strength and energy. The ground around Micah shook. It began bubbling, releasing steam, and cracking open. Together, the elementals were turning the ground beneath his feet into molten lava.
"One last chance to join us, bro. Ka
itlyn's gone anyway,” Shawn called. “Sarah's too strong to let her come back."
I panicked, silent and helpless in my little cave. The Shades picked up my mood, and most started skittering about anxiously. The rogues by now were subdued, and my team of Shades made their own attempts at taking over my body. Sarah fought back, pulling at her hair and screaming at herself.
This could go very bad. My body was still carrying my baby. I couldn't do anything to let her harm it.
"Stop!" My command carried throughout the cave, and everyone instantly obeyed. "Form your circles; join hands. Make sure each circle has a water, a fire, an earth, and an air. Gaias in the middle. That is not just my body she is holding hostage – it is my baby."
A few gasps, some moans, but then they were all business. Every single Shade joined hands, creating circles, even if they weren't part of one before. It takes a village to save a child.
The strongest of the circles, the two I trained with, stood on the platform at the top of the stairs, waiting for the chance to elevate me back into my own body.
One of the Shades gave instructions in how to detain Sarah once she was returned to the cave.
We started chanting.
Above it all I could hear Sarah, "Now they're all acting up. Let's take care of Micah; then we can fix this little problem together."
The power of Shawn's circle increased exponentially, and the ground rolled up around Micah in waves. He could barely hold on. One misstep and he would be burned alive.
It had to be too much for him, watching me and Shawn hold hands, working together against him. He too, had seen my nightmare. Even though we kept it close as a warning, every step we had taken since then was the exact right move that got us to this point.
I chanted louder, encouraging the rest to put everything they had into it.
"Shut up, shut up!" I could hear Sarah yelling.
"Sarah? Are you still there – is everything ok?" Shawn’s voice was worried. She was losing it.
I began to take control again; little pieces of the real world came through to me, then shot away as Sarah resisted. But I was getting through, and each time I managed to stay a little bit longer. I focused on the wall around Shawn. Micah was right; it was thick, impenetrable. There were several flattened bullets lying just outside; Alex had been taking shots when he could. It was difficult to comprehend; I could see weaves of all four elements, but it was too hard to distinguish where just one began or ended. They were working as one, melding into the perfect armor.
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