by Evie Del Mar
I didn’t like the thought of going anywhere without the guys near us. You never knew when you would need extra hands, or even security. I fidgeted with my necklace. “I don’t know, Lily. Do you really think we should go anywhere by ourselves? I mean, what if we run into The Brotherhood?”
“We’re just going to be away for a few minutes, an hour tops,” Lily begged. “The park already has a few people in it, so I doubt The Brotherhood will attack so openly.” She looked over at Blair, with pleading eyes. “Blair, come on. Please?”
Blair and I exchanged a look. “A couple of minutes won’t hurt,” she said, shrugging her shoulders.
Clearly outnumbered, I gave up the discussion. “Give me a few minutes to change and we’ll head out.” Maybe they were right. What could happen in a few minutes? Blair and I quickly changed out of our pajamas and followed Lily out the door.
When we entered the park, I felt like I had walked into a whole new world, all of the sights and smells overwhelmed my senses. The mahogany brown tree trunks of the Sequoia trees stretched as high as skyscrapers, their branches creating circles of green above my head. Two squirrels chased each other, weaving in and out of the above ground tree roots. I inhaled deeply, the scent of pine, mixed with a little bit of rotting wood from the aged trees, brought me back to fall in Texas.
“We’d better walk faster, or we’re going to lose Lily,” Blair joked, bringing me out of my nostalgic moment as she linked her arm through mine, guiding me further into the park. Lily was practically sprinting down the trail with her sketchbook in hand.
We watched as she danced through the park, giggling and so full of energy, like blinders had been taken off of her eyes and she was fully experiencing her affinity for earth for the first time. She couldn’t seem to get enough of the giant trees as she touched each one we passed.
“There are so many beautiful trees, I can’t possibly pick just one to sketch!” she cried out.
A little girl near us started complaining, tugging on her mother’s arm, attempting to haul her toward the exit. “These trees are boring,” she whined. “There are no pretty flowers. I want to go.”
Lily stopped in her tracks, turned around, and walked to the side of the trail. Confused at her sudden halt, Blair and I stood next to her, and watched as she bent down to pick up a pile of dirt. She looked left and right before she placed her other hand over the pile of dirt, waving it across. Immediately, a beautiful sunflower sprouted in the pile of dirt in Lily’s hand.
“Lily, what are you doing?!” Blair hissed, panicked.
Lily didn’t say anything as she picked the sunflower from the pile of dirt, letting it fall to the ground. She stood up and gave us a smile before walking over to the fussy little girl.
“Here you go, sweetie. This is for you,” Lily told the girl, giving her the sunflower. The little girl’s eyes grew wide with fascination.
“This is the prettiest flower I’ve ever seen!” She looked around, confused. “But where did you get it? I never saw any.”
“Just think of me as your own little pixie,” Lily whispered, winking to the little girl. She looked at Lily with wonder, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
Lily left the girl in awe and walked back to Blair and me, pure satisfaction on her face.
“I thought we weren’t supposed to use our powers in public?” I nervously looked around to make sure no one witnessed what Lily had done.
“Yeah, we’re really not supposed to, but I just couldn’t help it,” Lily smiled. “It’s just that being in this place is doing something to me. I feel so giddy!" She turned around and continued through the park.
I knew exactly how she felt. It was the same feeling I had when I first saw the ocean, and the feeling multiplied when I jumped into its waters. I had felt so alive and free, not a care in the world. It was intoxicating. With just me and the world beneath the waves, I never wanted it to end.
“So, have you thought about what we talked about last night? Are you going to tell Cole how you feel?” Blair asked, startling me. I was so focused on thinking about the ocean, I hadn’t realized she was even talking to me until she said Cole’s name.
“Um,” I shook my head, trying to remember what she asked. “What?”
She giggled at my response. “Are you going to tell Cole how you feel?”
“No, probably not,” I sighed, “or at least not right now. I want to focus on our mission and I don’t want any distractions.”
Blair rolled her eyes. “Well, don’t make the poor guy wait too l—.” Oomph. We had been so focused on our conversation, we didn’t realize that Lily had stopped walking, and we ran right into her back. She stared straight ahead, not moving a single muscle. Blair and I walked around and stood in front of her face.
“Lily, are you ok?” Blair looked worried at Lily’s sudden behavior.
“Can you feel it?” she whispered.
Blair and I looked at each other, confused. “Feel what?” I replied hesitantly.
“The pull…” she mumbled and started walking, like she was in some sort of trance. Worry creeped its way into me as Blair and I watched Lily do whatever she was doing. I knew we should’ve brought the guys with us!
I turned to Blair. “What should we do?” Blair looked just as concerned as I was as she shrugged her shoulders, not quite sure if we should get out of here quickly, or let her continue on.
“We should at least follow her and make sure she’s ok,” she suggested. I nodded, and we followed closely behind Lily, careful not to disturb her.
As we weaved in and out of the growing crowd, a man in a dark red baseball cap and sunglasses rammed his shoulder into mine, knocking me back a little, and continued on without looking back. The contact filled me with unexpected fear, making my blood turn cold, and raising the hair on my arms. I turned around to confront him, but he disappeared into the mass of people.
Something about this incident wasn’t sitting well with me, and my instincts urged me to pull my phone out and call Cole immediately. First, Lily’s strange behavior, which wouldn’t bother me much, if it weren’t for Blair’s concerned reaction. She’s known Lily longer, so if she was worried, then I definitely was. Second, the strange man that gave me chills. Was he with The Brotherhood? I hardly believed in coincidences, but I couldn’t ignore the impulse to call for help.
“Something about this isn’t right,” I told Blair. “I’m calling Cole, now.” I reached in my pocket and pulled out my phone. I looked for Cole’s contact info, but before I could press anything more, Blair shot her hand in front of my phone, blocking me.
“Wait! No, not yet.” She moved her hand away. “Let’s wait just a little while longer and see what she does.” Reluctantly, and against my better judgment, I put my phone back in my pocket and continued following Lily.
After a couple of more yards, she finally came to a stop at one of the biggest trees I had ever seen. The trunk was so wide, it would have taken at least seven or more people to come close to its diameter.
I turned and noticed a plaque next to where Lily was standing. I pulled Blair with me and we both gasped as we read the name of the tree: The General Sherman. We both looked at each other, wide-eyed. There was no way we found the first crystal piece this quickly. We ran back to Lily, whispering too excitedly.
“Lily! Do you know what this tree is? We found the first piece!”
Still in her trance-like state, she simply said, monotone, “I know.” She walked forward and laid her hand on the tree’s trunk, closing her eyes in concentration.
Blair stepped forward, prepared to assist if needed, but I put my hand on her shoulder, stopping her. “I think we need to let her find it on her own. She’s more familiar with her powers. Maybe she knows how to get it.”
After a few minutes of Lily standing in front of the tree, she took a few steps back, away from the trunk. With her hand out, palm up, she looked up to the sky. Blair and I followed her gaze and saw some branches above us shift, something cau
sing them to move. They separated, making room for something—a pinecone?—to fall in between them and land directly in the palm of Lily’s hand.
A gentleman, who had been taking pictures of the General Sherman tree, gasped at Lily. “Woah! You were lucky to have been standing there to catch that!”
Blair gave the gentleman a nervous chuckle. “Yeah, she was pretty lucky.” We grabbed Lily by the shoulders and ushered her to the side of the trail, away from everyone. Lily was too busy studying the pinecone to realize she was being moved.
“Earth to Lily…” I waved a hand in front of her face.
Coming out of her trance, Lily rapidly blinked her eyes. “Woah, that was extremely trippy.”
“Care to tell us what happened?”
“Well, when we were walking the trails a ways back,” Lily pointed to where we had been when she had given the little girl the flower. “I started to feel this pull.”
“What do you mean by ‘pull’?” Blair narrowed her eyes in confusion.
Lily shook her head. “I can’t quite explain it. It just felt like there was somewhere I needed to be, and that something was calling out to me to guide me there.”
“Ok, then what?” I urged her on.
Lily cleared her throat before continuing. “The ‘pull’ brought me right up to the General Sherman tree. I kept hearing whispers, coming from the tree, so I put my hand on it.”
“Um,” Blair raised an eyebrow, “trees can’t talk.”
“Trees are living things and so, technically, they can talk, when the right person is listening to them.” Lily smiled at the General Sherman tree. “Anyway, the whispers were saying to ‘reach up and take it’, so that’s what I did, not expecting a pinecone to fall right into my hand.”
Blair and I exchanged a glance. “Why would a tree give you a pinecone? I mean, you can find them all around the park on the ground.”
“Oh,” Blair perked up, “maybe the tree knows about Lily’s power and thinks of her as Mother Nature, and wanted to give her a gift?”
“Uh, guys…” Lily, who had been examining the pinecone like it was buried treasure, slowly raised her head up to meet our gaze, her eyes wide with shock. “This is the crystal!”
Blair and I stared at the pinecone, clearly not understanding how Lily thought it was one of the missing crystal pieces.
“Lily, that’s a pinecone.”
Lily rolled her eyes. “Yes, I know, but remember what the song said? Earth’s power was hidden in the arms of the general,” she gestured back to the tree. “The branches are the ‘arms’ of trees, so they opened up and gave me the pinecone. The crystal must be hidden inside. Why else would the tree just give me a pinecone?”
There was no way this journey was going to be that easy. Were the other pieces just going to fall into our hands? I was anxiously waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“Well, let’s not try and open it in public.” I looked around nervously, expecting someone from The Brotherhood to jump out and attack us for the piece. “We should head to the guys’ room and fill them in.” I knew we were going to be safer behind a closed door when trying to pry open the pinecone.
As we got closer to their door, Lily knocked abruptly, again and again. Drake opened the door groggily, wiping the sleep from his eyes. “What’s wrong?”
Without answering, Lily pushed past him and into the room, Blair and me following behind. Cole and Blake, undisturbed by Lily’s knocking, were still fast asleep, and I couldn’t help but stare. Cole was lying on his stomach, his dark hair swooped down over his forehead, covering his eyes. I had to stop myself from walking over to brush it back. It should be a crime to cover up his hypnotic, iridescent eyes. His long arm had fallen off the bed, causing his fingers to curl on the floor. His t-shirt was clinging to the muscles in his shoulders, which moved with every breath he took.
“I got this,” Blair called, breaking me from my daydream. She walked over to the window and pulled the curtains apart, brightening up the room. Like before, she grabbed the sun’s rays and moved them in front of Blake’s face like a spotlight.
Blake jolted awake, arms flailing, and knocked Cole right off the bed.
“Ow! Damn it, Blake!” Cole rubbed the part of his shoulder where he had landed. I covered my mouth and suppressed the giggles, but he still heard them. He looked my way and chuckled, shaking his head as he got back on his feet.
“Don’t blame me!” Blake replied. “Blair, knock it off!”
Blair let go of the spotlight. “You guys needed to get up, anyway!”
All traces of Cole’s cheerfulness disappeared, his eyes looking alarmed as they searched mine. “Why? Is everything ok?” Lily walked up to him to show him the pinecone.
“You bolted in here and woke us up for a pinecone?” Drake yawned mid-sentence.
“Ugh, no!” Lily groaned, clearly annoyed to have to replay the story again. “We were walking through the park, because I wanted to do some sketching, when I started feeling a pull. I can’t explain it exactly, but I just knew something was guiding me somewhere—”
“To the General Sherman Tree!” Blair interrupted. At the mention of the tree, all three of the guys’ eyes grew wide.
“Yes, to the tree,” Lily continued. “When I touched the tree’s trunk, I could hear whispering.” Drake opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, Lily put her hand up, stopping him. “Yes, you heard that right. I heard the tree talk.” Drake shut his mouth, and Lily told them the rest of the story.
Blake picked up the pinecone and twisted it around, examining it. “I still don’t understand how this pinecone has anything to do with a crystal piece? I thought the actual piece was in the tree?”
“It is, or was.” Lily sat cross-legged on top of the bed, with the pinecone placed in front of her. “The piece is actually inside the pinecone. We just have to figure out how to get inside. Mmmm…” As if a thought popped into her mind, Lily took the pinecone and sat it on one of the beds and sat cross-legged in front of it. She placed her hands on top of the pinecone, not quite touching it, and closed her eyes, concentrating.
Drake stood next to her and leaned in her ear. “Anything, yet?”
Without opening her eyes, Lily turned her head toward Drake. “Shhh!” He backed away from her, hands up defensively. She turned her focus back onto the pinecone.
Next, with both hands still above the pinecone, Lily started pulling them apart, like she was trying to pry open something. As she did this, the pinecone broke down the middle. I could see little beads of sweat forming on her forehead, as she continued to struggle with the weight of the force. A shimmering light shined out the middle of the pinecone.
Everyone gasped.
When the pinecone was done cracking down the middle, a circular crystal, about the size of a grape, sat on the bed. Lily picked it up, smiling triumphantly.
“I hope the others are as easy to get as this one,” Drake joked.
Cole took the case that Tony gave him out from under the bed and opened it. Very gently, Lily laid her piece inside and closed the case.
Lily let out a large gust of air. “Now, what?”
“Woohoo,” Drake shouted, pumping his arms in the air. “Vegas time, baby!” He lifted a hand for Blake to high five him, but Blake shook his head disapprovingly, holding the bridge of his nose. Clueless, and a tad bit hurt, Drake dropped his hand. “What?”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
We all watched Cole as he looked out the window, updating Tony on the phone that we had found the first crystal piece. His shouts of excitement over our first victory were easily heard through the phone. I seemed to be the only one who was skeptical about how easy finding the piece was. Why hadn’t The Brotherhood come after us? Were they waiting for us to find all of the pieces before attacking? I started moving my necklace back and forth on the chain to keep my fingers busy, the zipping noise calming me. Anxiety started to creep inside as I thought about the possibility of The Brotherhood outside, watchin
g us.
“All right, Dad I’ll call you when we get to Vegas. Bye.” Cole turned around and put his phone back in his pocket. “Dad secured two rooms for us at the Luxor Hotel and Casino in Vegas, and a car to pick us up at the airport when we land. He’s calling Colin now to come meet us, so we’ll leave the cars here, and someone will take them back for us.”
“Leave the cars?” Drake’s face dropped in sadness. “Why aren’t we driving?”
“Because it’s about a seven hour drive, so, dad thought it would be easier if we just flew there. This way, we’ll have more time to search for the next piece.”
Drake scoffed. “I could make it there in five hours with my little fire ember.”
“You only want to get there quicker so you can sightsee.” Lily crossed her arms and eyed Drake accusingly. “You do know you’re only twenty, right? So there won’t be a lot of places you’ll be able to go.”
“Just leave that to me.” Drake winked.
“So, it’s settled,” Cole clapped his hands. “Let’s all go get cleaned up and get our stuff together. Colin will be here soon.”
The girls and I headed back to our room, quickly re-packed our things, and met the guys back out in the parking lot. A little ways down, a large, white helicopter waited. Its enormous blades cut through the air so quickly that you couldn’t see where one blade started and another one ended. Colin patiently waited beside it while we all made our way down to the parking lot, hauling our bags behind us.
I followed closely behind Lily, who seemed to be in deep thought. “Lily?” She stopped and turned to me. “I’m sorry that we’re having to leave so early and that you didn’t get a chance to sketch one of the trees.” I gave her a side hug, hoping she wasn’t too hurt.
“Are you kidding?!” She hugged me back, pure joy and excitement etched on her face. “This was so much better than sketching! Yeah, I wish I had gotten one of the trees, but I never would’ve thought I would hear one speak to me and give me something!” She laughed and walked away, like she could hardly believe she said a sentence like that.