Air (7 page)

Trying to occupy my mind with nothing last night was so effective I didn’t even remember one of the most important beauty tips my mother gave me – never go to bed with wet hair. It was crinkled in some placed, and sticking straight up in other places. I tried pulling at my hair in vain. The only solution was another shower.

Two showers in eight hours. I had never been so clean in my life. My physical cleanliness did not mirror my emotional state. I began to chase away visions forming in my head. Burning trees that reach out for me, and bodies lumped on the ground, making it impossible to get away. I definitely needed a distraction and soon; something more powerful than TV.

As I was stepping out of the shower, I couldn’t hear the TV. Thinking further, I realized it wasn’t even on when I woke up.

Distraction achieved.

Had someone come into the room without me even knowing? Were they still around? I looked around the bathroom for something to cover myself just in case. Two towels did the trick; they were the only option next to the clothes I wore yesterday now piled in a black heap next to the toilet.

I poked my head out cautiously and called, “Hello?”

The intruder spoke, “I put clothes in front of the door there for you.”

I craned my neck out further and saw him sitting on the corner of the bed with his back to me. “Cato?!”

 He didn’t respond; keeping his head respectfully turned away.

I looked at the clothes he had left for me, complete with undergarments. I made a face. “Well, that is kind of disturbing.”

“Not as disturbing as this.” He held up the document given to me yesterday. I growled at the thought of having to discuss it with anyone but scooped up the pile of clothes and changed nonetheless. I ran a comb through my hair but left it wet, vowing to take a blow dryer to it before I went to bed again.

Cato spoke before I could. “Have you read any of it yet?”

I shook my head, joining him on the bed. “I can’t look at the thing without feeling sick.”

He eyed me critically, as if wondering what could have been that bad. “I see. Micah let me know about it, and I’ve read through some of it while you were still under your blankets. Sorry for the intrusion, but this isn’t something that can wait.”

“What is it, exactly?” I asked trying to avoid glancing at the white paper still marked with streaks of ash from the deliverer’s hand.

“It appears to be a business plan.”

“What?” Confused and maybe a little intrigued, I now leaned over to see.

Cato opened the document to the table of content and I scanned over it; Mission Statement, Description of Corporation, Feasibility Studies, Location, Personnel, Financial Data...

Cato explained, “He is starting his own organization, with a mission similar to ours but carried out with extremely different principals.”

“We knew that much, but why share such detailed information with us? It’s like he is giving us a roadmap to bring him down.” I flipped over to the page number that supposedly held the organization’s location information. It was blank. “Oh.”

“He conveniently omitted a few parts.” Cato pushed himself up from the bed stiffly. Yesterday must have been hard on him, too. “Susan, Alex, and I are leaving today. There isn’t much more we can do here. We will be counting on you, Vayu, and Micah to continue to help contain the fire until it is manageable enough for the local authorities to control it on their own.” He closed the document still in his hand. “Here.”

I put up my hands in protest. “I’d rather not.”

“I am insisting, Kaitlyn. This was given to you, and although we may not understand exactly why, I think it best that you read through it.”

I stood up angrily. “Shawn put me through hell and back. I went through things you could never even begin to understand. I don’t want anything more to do with him!”

Cato kept his cool as always, meeting my fiery stare. “I know. But it seems as though Shawn wants everything to do with you. And I think we both know him well enough to know that you don’t have a choice in the matter.” Cato tossed the document next to me on the bed. “Read it. Analyze it. Understand it. Know it from front to back. Witnessing the lengths that Shawn will go to, such as with this wildfire, I admit I was wrong. I now believe there is a large, drawn out battle approaching, and this may very well be the key to saving your own ass one day.”

That was the first time I heard Cato curse. It sounded ten times more atrocious coming out of his mouth than from anyone else. He took his exit before I could recover from shock.

I sat in silence for a few minutes, occasionally glancing at the document with wary looks. It felt as though it were Shawn himself sitting next to me. Finally, I decided it could wait a little longer, and I went out into the hall to look for Susan, or Micah, or anyone else that could keep me occupied. I soon realized I had no idea where any of their rooms were. Well, we were the only current tenants of the hotel as far as I knew. Finding them couldn’t be hard.

I walked down the hall, pausing at each door to listen for signs of life. After hearing nothing the entire length of the hallway, I turned around and yelled, with my outdoor voice, “Hello?!”

My voice echoed down the hallway and for a long moment nothing moved. My pulse started to race, a momentarily terrifying moment of abandonment hit me. Finally, a door not too far from me opened and Micah poked his head out, “We’re in here.”

Sighing in relief, I walked a little too quickly into his room. He didn’t seem to notice. Three backpacks and a spread of supplies covered his bed, everything in triplicate. Fire blankets, first aid supplies, water bottles, walkie-talkies, and dehydrated food. Vayu began packing everything in the backpacks. “Ready for another round?”

I sighed, but a job which prevented me from going back to my room, and back to what awaited me there, was better than nothing.

* * *

The next three days were filled with on-the-job training on how to fight fire with wind. My nights were spent holed up in my room reading the paperwork given to me. My days were significantly better than my nights. The document was completely Shawn, written by his own hand. The words resonated through my mind as if he were reading them to me in his pompous voice. I read each night until I could bear no more of Shawn in my head.

By the end of the third day, Micah announced we had done our part. We’d leave the next morning. Vayu and I merely nodded in acknowledgment. It was a struggle to expend even that much energy. Perhaps Micah was the only reason I could still stay on my feet. The entire time we were out, Micah strayed no further than a few yards from me. His closeness was comforting, and the few brief moments of physical contact sent chills through my body, even in the blinding heat. A brush of the hands or accidental bump of the shoulders seemed enough to keep me moving to the end of the day.

That night, Micah stopped me gently before I could put my key card in the door to my room. “I want to take you to dinner tonight.”

I looked up at him with tired eyes. As much as I wanted to crawl into bed, I also wasn’t ready to leave him. Despite our long day, his eyes were bright and his skin looked smooth, amazingly hydrated. He must have been a stark contrast to my chapped lips and smudges of black I had to have had across my forehead and cheeks. Were we not just in the same fire fight?

“I have to warn you,” he continued, “I want to talk to you about the document.”

Ah, so there’s the rub.

I weighed my options, but in the end couldn’t resist his green eyes boring down at me. “Fine. Let me get cleaned up – give me 15 minutes.” I glanced at my dirty fingernails and realized I could smell my own body odor, even over the smoky smell that seemed irreversibly soaked into my pores. “I mean half an hour, give me half an hour.”

He smiled. “Deal.”

* * *

Some of the restaurants had reopened. Micah chose a small diner, requesting a seat in the corner for privacy. Privacy from what, I don’t know; we were the only customers. As it was, the waitress had plenty of time to hover over us, attending to our every need, which gave us very little opportunity to talk. She seemed a little too entranced with Micah. I bristled. Once our food came, I asked for the check and dismissed her, saying we’d call her over if we needed anything else. She huffed and turned away; probably disappointed she wouldn’t have more excuses to flaunt herself in front of Micah. He smiled at the look I gave her. My jealousy surprised even me after not having any intimate contact with Micah for months. Maybe that would change…

“So what did you find out about the document?” Micah interrupted my thoughts.

So much for intimate contact tonight
. I frowned, mood officially ruined.

I put down my fork, wiped my mouth and came right out with it. “His organization is much stronger than we thought. He’s been busy.”

“How so?”

“Mostly seeking financing for his projects, setting up corporate partners and such. He’s also delving into high-tech gadgets to assist in his missions. His missions are pretty much the same as ours, but on a much bigger scale, and set up to bring him as much publicity as possible.” I paused to let Micah interject but he stayed silent. “Oh, and he’s been recruiting…heavily. There is a list of elementals he has already recruited.” I leaned over to get the document out of my small bag. I opened it to the personnel page and handed it to Micah.

He scanned the list. “All of the strongest.”

“Then why don’t
we
use them?” I asked. I honestly wasn’t sure who worked for us, but I knew there was usually just one person for each element. Shawn listed several for each.

“There’s such a thing as being dangerously strong.” Micah raised an eyebrow. “But besides that, there are those who don’t agree with what we do or the way we do it, or whose personalities don’t mesh with the rest of ours. Others are just downright uncontrollable. Anyway.” He flicked his finger at the paper. “You can’t put more than one of the same type of elemental on a mission– the results are too unpredictable.”

“Doesn’t he know that?”

“Yes!” Micah shifted in his seat, “He knows it all. From first-hand experience in some cases.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe he’s found a way around that.”

“Why are you…?” Micah nearly lifted himself out of his chair with the force of the words. He caught himself and lowered his voice. “Why are you defending him?”

I fixed my eyes on Micah and stared him down until he averted his. It was quite the coup for me – he had a major advantage when it came to the power of the eyes.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply you sympathized with him. I’m just upset,” Micah continued to stutter excuses.

I looked down and rubbed my temples, trying to fight off the massive headache I could feel coming on.

Finally Micah fell silent so I spoke, “I hope you understand how difficult it has been for me to even read this thing.” I grabbed the paper out of his hands and stuffed it back into my bag. “I’m only doing it as a favor to Cato. If I had my choice it would have burned in this God-awful fire.” I paused briefly to take a deep breath and began to rub my temples again, avoiding Micah’s eyes. “Shawn has— for some reason—given us this information. What we choose to do with it has to be smart. It can’t be what he expects us to do with it, and it can’t be more wild goose chases. He has us running around all over the place chasing after him while he can put his plan into action.”        

I looked up to see Micah smiling at me. “What?” I snapped.

“This is the most I’ve heard you say in a long time. You must be feeling better.”

“On the contrary, I feel like crap.” A sudden gust of wind blew open the restaurant doors. The otherwise bored waitresses chased down the paper menus that scattered across the room. “Unless you want this fire to flare up again, I suggest you take me back to the hotel.”