by Evie Del Mar
Lily rolled her eyes. “I’m going to need you to hand over your man card if you think this weather is freezing.”
“Let me go check where our hotel is,” Cole said. He walked up to a gentleman who was taking pictures of the jet. He nodded his head and pointed at a beige building behind the airport. Cole clasped the gentleman on the shoulder, thanking him, and walked back over.
“The King Eider Inn is just behind the airport.” He pointed in the same direction as the gentleman.
“Aw, how cute is that?” Blair giggled.
By this point, Drake was shivering. “I don’t care if it’s cute, just as long as there’s heat inside.” He gathered his luggage and quickly trampled toward the inn, the rest of us following him.
The King Eider Inn reminded me of a cabin my parents took me to when we went camping. There was a river rock fireplace in the lobby with log furniture surrounding it. Three small seats sat next to a rocking chair, with a hand crafted wooden table in the middle. Pictures of Alaskan nature and wildlife decorated the walls.
Drake grabbed the rocking chair and sat it in front of the fireplace, rubbing his hands back and forth for warmth, while Cole and Blake went to check us in. A few minutes later, they rushed back to us, excited about something.
“Are y’all ok?” I looked at Cole, alarmed.
He nodded his head, turning to Blake. “Go ahead, tell them!”
Blake was wearing the same huge smile Cole had. “While we were waiting for the receptionist to hand us our keys, we asked her what kind of things there were to do around here. She laughed and said not a lot, but the biggest tourist attraction is the Barrow Whale Bone Arch.”
Lily choked. “Why would anyone want to go see a whale’s bone?”
Blake tried to calm her down, showing her the pamphlet he got from the receptionist. “No, no, no, it’s not what you think. Way back when, whale hunting provided the town with everything they needed; meat for food, skin and bones for boats, houses and clothes, and the blubber was used for oil.”
Lily turned an awful shade of green while Blake continued. “Whaling became a problem when the whale population started to decrease, so it was then prohibited. The bone arch opens up to the Arctic Ocean, which, to them, symbolizes the relationship the town has with the sea and whaling. It’s also referred to as ‘The Gateway to the Arctic.’” Beside him, Cole was jumping on his toes, anxiously waiting to see if we were making the connection. We remained silent.
Blake rolled his eyes and recited the map song. “‘The gate made from death is where you must run’. The ‘gate’ from the song is ‘The Gateway to the Arctic’!”
The light bulb in our heads finally clicked on. “Where is the arch located?” I asked.
“It’s located about a mile from here, so we don’t have that far to travel. I’m sure we can just walk there.”
Drake, still at the fireplace, finally turned around to join in the conversation. “A mile can be pretty far, especially in this kind of weather.”
“Oh, quit whining,” Cole responded. “Be thankful there’s no snow on the ground.” He handed me one of the keys, our fingers slightly touching, the familiar buzz sending warmth through me. I looked up and saw him watching me, looking for something. He cleared his throat and shook his head, breaking our eye contact. He put an arm over Drake’s shoulder and dragged him upstairs, leaving me still dazed.
Lily linked one of her arms through mine. “I saw that.” She gave me a knowing smile.
“Saw what?” I asked innocently.
Blair linked her arm through my other one. “That moment you had with Cole. That was some serious connection.”
My cheeks heated up. “Guys, I already told you that nothing is going to happen. Our main focus is, and should be, retrieving the crystal pieces.”
“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” Blair said. “I’ve known Cole a few years now, and I’ve never seen him look at another girl the way he looks at you.”
“Why don’t you both go for a walk? You guys could have some alone time and get to know each other away from all the craziness going on,” Lily suggested.
My face fell. “There hasn’t been any time, well, minus the car ride back in California. Besides, we still need to figure out where his and my pieces are, so I need to focus on that.” It’s what my mother would’ve wanted.
After dropping off our luggage in our room, we went back downstairs with higher spirits. Even though Blair’s piece was a little tougher to retrieve than Lily’s, it seemed this mission was going a lot quicker than any of us expected. We had been in Alaska for all of thirty minutes before Blake found out the location of his piece.
“The arch is about a mile north,” Blake stated. “We can easily make it in about twenty minutes.” He led the way outside and toward the location. I could already feel the energy of the sea long before I saw it, like a pull tugging me home.
It ended up taking us closer to thirty minutes due to Drake’s complaints. Every now and then, he would stop and rub his hands together, trying to warm himself up, since he couldn't use his powers in public. “You know, if we had a car we could’ve gotten there in about three minutes!” he whined.
After it was my turn to drag him forward, Blake called out in the distance. “Guys, look!”
Up ahead was a huge whale jawbone overlooking the sea. Abandoned boats surrounded it, giving it an eerie, deathly feel. We all crowded around the bone, looking for the familiar crystal shape.
“Do you feel any sort of pull, Blake?” Cole asked.
Blake didn’t answer. He went in and through the bone, checking every inch and side of it. He checked under and inside the boats but turned up empty handed.
“Ugh, what the hell?!" he groaned. “I know it’s supposed to be here, so where is it?”
I continued searching around the bone. Did we come to the wrong location? Maybe we were looking at this the wrong way. Mom wouldn’t have just stuck a crystal piece in clear view. I thought back to Blair and Lily’s experiences. Both girls had used their powers to get their pieces. I looked at the bone again, but this time I turned my focus to its shadow. Looking at the widest part of the jaw, I saw a little shadow sticking out that didn’t match anything on the bone. I felt around the shadow, hoping to find whatever was sticking out of it, but couldn’t find anything.
“Hey, Blake,” I shouted. “Come take a look at this. Something is sticking out of the jawbone’s shadow, but I can’t seem to find what it is.”
He walked over and looked at the spot where I saw the weird shadow. “Let me try something,” he said, an idea forming in his head. He looked left and right, making sure no one was paying us any attention, then crossed his arms into an “X” across his chest, blending himself within the shadow.
Losing sight of where he went, I kept my eyes on the extra piece of shadow. I jumped back when I saw the shadow of a hand reach out and grab whatever was sticking out. Blake stepped out of the shadow, with a huge smile, and stood next to me, opening his hand to show me a crystal piece.
“How did you know it was there?”
“It was a total guess,” he laughed. “I was trying to get a closer look at whatever was casting that shadow, but when I blended into the darkness, I started feeling the pull. That’s when I knew.”
Cole slapped him on the back. “Way to go, man! We’re halfway done!” Everyone crowded around Blake, wanting a closer view of his piece.
Without realizing it, I stepped back and walked closer to the shore. The lapping sound of the waves calmed every nerve in my body. For the first time since we left the academy, I took a deep breath in and relaxed, letting all my stress sweep back into the sea with the receding tide.
I took another deep breath in.
Ok, I can do this.
I looked out toward the horizon, head held high, and raised my arm up, trying to form a larger wave off of the smaller ones, but nothing happened. I looked at the shore and stomped my foot, hoping a small circle would form like la
st time, but still nothing. I groaned, frustration building up inside. I knew my powers were tied to my emotions, and the fact that my emotions were in hyper drive didn’t help matters.
I turned over my shoulder and saw everyone was still crowding around Blake. I was grateful that no one had witnessed yet another failed attempt at controlling my powers. Was I ever going to get it right? Blake got his piece and, luckily, didn’t have to endure pain like his sister, but this mission was far from over.
I turned back around to the water, unable to explain the uneasiness flowing through me. It was like the calm before a storm. I didn’t know when or how, but something was going to happen. “Trust your instincts,” Mom had said. Was she warning me about something?
“Ok, great we’ve got his piece,” Drake shivered, breaking me from my thoughts. “Can we please head back to the inn for some warmth?”
Reluctantly, I walked back toward the group and faked a smile, not wanting anyone to worry about my troubling thoughts about the lack of control over my powers.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
We started our trek back to the inn when I once again felt that we were being watched. The fact that this had happened immediately after finding each of the crystal pieces was more than a simple coincidence. I carefully watched the people we passed, the uneasy feeling in my stomach growing. Across the street was a gentleman wearing sunglasses and a red baseball cap, shadowing most of his face. He turned in our direction, just watching me. His stare stopped me in my tracks, goosebumps forming on my arms making the hair stand up. The man seemed very familiar, but I couldn’t remember where I had seen him. He didn’t move.
“Melody, are you ok?” I hadn’t seen Lily step up next to me.
“Do you see that guy across the street?” As soon as I tried to point him out to her, a large truck pulled up in front of the man, blocking him from view. Less than a minute later, the truck drove away and the man was gone.
“What guy?”
“He was right there, just staring at me.” I turned to face her. “I didn’t want to say anything because I didn’t want to worry y’all, but I’ve been having this weird feeling we’re being followed by someone from The Brotherhood.”
Lily’s face fell, but from pity, rather than worry. She hugged me. “Don’t worry about that. I highly doubt they’re following us. Why would they attack us when we don’t have all the pieces? It would be suicide to go up against us.”
This was what I was worried about. Someone thinking I was paranoid. However, her statement did put my mind a little more at ease. No one would be stupid enough to go up against anyone who could make fire from their hands or cause the ground to shake. I rubbed my hands up and down my arms, hoping to release some of the anxiety.
Once we got inside the inn and upstairs to the guys’ room, Drake headed to the fireplace and rubbed his hands together, smoke rising from his fingers. He pulled them apart and a small ball of fire sat in his palms. He shot the ball inside the fireplace, igniting it.
“Ah, much better,” he sighed.
Cole walked to his bed and reached underneath, pulling out the lock box. He opened it and handed it to Blake, carefully laying his piece inside. He slowly closed the lid, careful not to rattle it too much, and handed back to Cole, who was already dialing Tony to update him.
Blake sat on the bed, leaning back onto the headboard, and crossed his hands behind his head. “Three down…three more to go.”
“How come yours was so easy and mine was difficult?” Blair whined. “Mine physically drained me!”
“I’m sorry that happened to you, but I’m not asking any questions; just counting my blessings. Maybe it’s because you’re always reminding me that you’re the older one,” he joked, winking at her.
We heard faint laughter and hollering, and watched as Cole held his phone out at arm’s length. “Haha! Yes, Dad, we are making excellent progress! We can hardly believe it, either!”
“So, Drake,” Blake started, “it’s your turn. Are you ready?”
“Ugh, I’ve been ready since we touched down in this freezing state,” Drake scoffed. “Speaking of, what all do you know about the volcano?”
“Not a whole lot, except the pictures I saw online,” Blair answered. “To see the actual volcano, we’ll have to go to the Hawaii Volcano National Park, but it looked to be blocked off, so we’ll have to sneak around if we want to get close.”
“How am I supposed to know where my piece is? It’s not like I can jump into the volcano and swim around to find it."
Lily pushed her glasses back up her nose. “None of us knew how to obtain our pieces until we were near them. You’ll have to wait and see how you feel.”
“Don’t worry, Drake,” Cole reassured him, hanging up his phone and sticking it back in his pocket. “Dad said that Colin will be waiting for us tomorrow morning to take us to Hawaii.”
“What are we supposed to do now?” Lily asked.
Drake quickly stood. “I vote staying inside where it's warm. We can do something in here. How about a game?”
In a desperate attempt to avoid further discussion, Drake began searching the room for something to do. He searched in the cabinets under the TV, and pulled out a board game. “Hey guys,” he shouted. “Look what I found! Remember the last time we played this?” He turned around and showed us a game with the title Battle of the Sexes scrawled on the top.
“Yes, and you guys cheated!” Blair shouted. “Lily and I were outnumbered!”
“Yeah!” Lily chimed in. “But now, with Melody on our team, it’ll be an even match.”
I started laughing. “Battle of the Sexes? What kind of game is that?” Everyone’s eyes turned to me, shocked.
“You’ve never played Battle of the Sexes?” Blair asked.
Heat flooded to my cheeks. “Um…no, I haven’t. I didn’t have a lot of friends at my old school. How do you play?”
Lily sat up straighter. “So, it’s a battle of wits and you have to defend your gender by answering questions about the opposing one and acting stuff out. It’s quite hilarious watching the guys try and answer cosmetic and shopping questions.”
Lily continued explaining the rules while opening the board and laying the cards out. Each player picked a card and either read the question or acted out the scene to his or her own teammates, while they had to guess the answer. The objective was to get your team’s trophy across the board.
The rest of the evening was filled with laughter, some of us even to the point of tears. My favorite part was one of Cole’s acting scenes. He had to be a cheerleader, so he hiked his leg up but apparently did it too high. He lost his balance and toppled over, landing on his back. We had no concept of time. It was just the six of us, letting loose, having fun, and not worrying about crystal pieces or The Brotherhood. All thoughts of the strange man I saw earlier disappeared along with the consistent worry.
Cole stretched his arms above his head as his phone rang. “Hello?” he answered with a loud yawn. “Ok, yeah, we’re on our way.” He put his phone back down and got up off the floor. “Colin is waiting for us at the airport.”
“Did we really just play through the whole night?” I asked. With the game suddenly out of mind, I began to feel the exhaustion from the long night. Trying to keep my eyes open was feeling like the hardest job ever.
Blair stood and stretched her hands out for Lily and me, helping us to our feet. “Come on, ladies, let’s go get our stuff.”
I sluggishly stood on my feet and we made our way to our room. I sighed in relief knowing we didn’t even take anything out of our bags in the single night we stayed here, so we didn’t have to clean the room or re-pack. I grabbed my bags and went downstairs, not even bothering to pick one of them up as it thudded down every step.
Once outside, we all walked toward the airport in silence, fatigue consuming us. I was ready to lay my head on the bed in the jet, so I walked faster, hoping to be first on board. I saw Colin standing by the entrance, on the phone. He loo
ked up from the ground, noticing me for the first time, smiled, and turned his back to me. As I got closer, I could hear a little of his conversation.
“Don’t worry about it, I have the situation under control. Yes, I will keep my eyes open and keep you updated.” He looked over his shoulder. “Ok, I have to go now, sweetie. Yes, I love you, too.” Colin hung up his phone and turned back around, giving me a small smile. “Sorry, that was my wife. She always gets worried when I travel, thinking I can’t handle myself.”
“Oh, I didn’t know you were married?” I looked at his fingers, searching for his wedding ring.
Noticing, Colin dismissed me with a wave of his hand. “You won’t find a ring. I lost it on one of my trips and haven’t replaced it, yet.”
I could barely keep my eyes open any longer, so I gave him a nod and boarded the jet, heading to the back where the bed was. I turned back around to the front, waiting to see if anyone else got on behind me. I smiled. First come, first served. I laid my bags on the floor and fell onto the bed, giving into my exhaustion.
◆◆◆
My body was trembling with unbearable pain from the tip of my head, all the way down to my toes. I attempted to turn my head but winced as a throbbing ache stabbed right above my ears. I tried bringing my arms up to cradle my head, but realized they were already up. I pried my eyes open and saw someone had turned the world upside down.
Wait…that’s not right. I was the one who was upside down. I was in the backseat of my parents’ car, all of the windows shattered. I saw Dad, his neck at an unnatural angle and his eyes so blank they would haunt me forever. I couldn’t see my mom’s face, but she wasn’t moving.
“Mom?” I mouthed, but nothing came out.
I saw a pair of feet walking next to the window, the soles crushing the glass that had spilled onto the concrete. I tried calling out for help, but I couldn’t seem to find my voice. My whole body screamed at me to go back to sleep, the pain becoming too much.