Air (9 page)

“Don’t!” Vayu yelled, startling me with his intensity. “That’s him. Keep the connection. Send the message.”

“Oh crap.” I suddenly realized my mistake. “I forgot to bless the water before I evaporated it. That is how I did it last time.”

“Better think of something fast,” Vayu pressured me.

“Ok, ok. Just let me think.” I pulled out the piece of paper Vayu handed me, doing my best to read it while the chill grew, threatening to snap the connection.
Wyoming
. I blinked, trying to comprehend the one word scribbled in the middle of the paper. “That isn’t very helpful. Where, exactly in Wyoming?”

“Your choice,” Susan said. “Don’t ask…”

I closed my eyes to think, concentration shattering a little bit every time Vayu tapped his foot impatiently. I’ve only been to one place in Wyoming on a photography assignment, Yellowstone National Park. Kind of ironic, the similar names of meeting places. It would be easier to send the message though.

“Got it,” I announced triumphantly. Blessing the piece of paper in an impromptu prayer, I placed it on the rock. After a few seconds of deep concentration, manipulating two elements at once, the tiniest spark flared at the corner. The entire paper went up in flames within seconds. I urged the smoke from the fire toward the weaves Vayu and I created, letting all the elements mix themselves together. “I pray to Water, Air and Fire, and the God and Goddess Spirits that governs them. Send this to Shawn, wielder of power over Gaia; that he may find me.”

I would have never admitted his power to Shawn’s face, but a pleasing message might be that much easier to absorb. As my energy neared its breaking point, I’d take all the help I could get. I looked to Vayu. “Do you know that Mellow Yellow song?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Sing it.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“Just do it,” I snapped. “It is part of the plan.”

He broke into a hesitant, non-melodic song.

I opened my mouth to chastise him when Susan interrupted with her own version, which was slightly better. Encouraged by each other, the song grew confident. They almost looked like they were having fun.

“Good, that’s good,” I said. “Now let the song move your weaves. He needs to hear this somehow.”

Their voices got louder and I found myself joining in. The song vibrated through my body and back down the cold strings of power. After we ran out of words to the song, we slowly let the weaves slip from our grasp. I shivered and hugged my arms around myself for warmth. No one spoke.

Vayu finally forced a smile. “A little unorthodox, but I think he got the message.”

“Um, Kaitlyn,” Susan asked hesitatingly. “What was the message?”

“Yellowstone National Park – near Yellowstone Lake. I think he’ll be able to figure it out. There are only two backcountry trailheads near there. They are accessible by road but completely private.”

“Good choice.” The excitement bubbled from Susan. “Yellowstone Lake is the second largest freshwater lake in the world above 7,000 feet. I’ve always wanted to go!”

“Hmmm,” Vayu and I said in unison, failing to share her same enthusiasm.

She had the good manners to look abashed.

“Come on, let’s go brief everyone else,” Vayu said, a certain self-importance puffing out his chest.

“Hmmm,” Susan and I said, mimicking the same unenthusiastic tone.

“You go ahead, I need to talk to Kaitlyn a minute.” Susan motioned Vayu to run ahead.

Which he did without hesitation.

As soon as he was out of earshot, I looked at Susan. “What about?”

She put on her best scolding face. “About you, your powers, and your baby.”

Here we go again.

“I’m sorry to have to say this, Kaitlyn, but if you don’t tell Micah soon – I am going to tell him for you.”

I stopped. “Don’t you dare. That would turn out worse than you think.”

“Perhaps.” She motioned for me to keep walking. “But each day that they don’t know makes the entire situation worse. They will continue to do things like put you in the middle of one of the largest wildfires Australia has had in a long time.”

I grumbled something incoherent even to my own ears and changed the subject. “What about my powers?”

She looked at me, as if making up her mind if she was going to let the last issue slide. She sighed. “I’ve never seen someone tied so emotionally and physically to their powers as you. Maybe that’s a part of what makes you so strong, but I worry about you. I think that you also take more damage than normal because of it. Coming back from Australia, you were much worse off than Micah and Vayu – and knowing Micah, he probably took care of you better than himself out there.”

She gave me a chance to interject but I kept silent. “Would you consider, only temporarily, not using your powers until we have a doctor check you out?”

I pressed my lips together tightly, and fixed her with a stare. “Fine, on one condition.
You
refrain from telling Micah anything until I do.”

She hesitated to accept the condition but ultimately gave my health, and perhaps the baby’s health, priority. “Deal.”

“Pinky swear?” I held out my right pinky finger.

We walked into the house shaking our pinky fingers in a truce worthy of any two childhood girlfriends.

Chapter 8

Better Plans

I was the outcast…again. Several times in the days before our trip and once on the way to Wyoming, I walked into the middle of a discussion and the speaker was quickly hushed. They were planning for our meeting with Shawn, anticipating his moves, working in weapons, spells and when and where to use elemental magic. I was the wildcard; no doubt the majority of their planning was based around my reactions.

Yellowstone was no better. Although I understood the precautions, I didn’t like them. To top it off my stomach was in knots due to three days of travel. At least it was almost over. I hoped. Micah drove Susan, Vayu and me down a dirt road toward one of the Yellowstone Lake hiking trailheads. Micah gritted his teeth, trying to focus on the curvy road over the music Vayu insisted on blaring. Susan ignored both men, leaning in to coach me. “No powers this time. Not until we can figure out how to deal with it in your current…state.”

Like I have a disease
.

She continued, “If Shawn deciphered our message, it’ll be you he wants to talk to, but don’t worry, we won’t let anything happen to you.”

I bit down the retort, “
You mean like last time, when you didn’t let anything happen to me and Shawn had me for months
?” It wasn’t worth the effort of arguing over Vayu’s music.

The car pulled into a dusty, deserted lot meant as a starting point for hikers on the thick forest trail. Micah put the car in park and turned off the music, to Vayu’s annoyance, but he didn’t kill the engine. They all turned to look at me.

“What?” I frowned, looking between each of them in turn.

“This is your stop, honey.” Vayu smiled.

I continued to look between them. “By myself?”

Vayu nodded. “Oh, you know it.”

Susan and Micah looked away from me. It suddenly sunk in. “I am the bait?!”

“We need Shawn to think you’re by yourself.” Micah didn’t seem able to look at me. “He may reveal more that way. Hopefully we’ll catch him off guard. But we’ll be right there the whole time. You won’t be alone. I promise.” He finally looked up, his deep green eyes boring into to me, willing me to accept the plan.

Disgusted with them all, I got out of the car without another word, slamming the door behind me.

“Oh no she didn’t,” Vayu’s muffled voice followed me, and Micah hesitated before he drove off. But he did, leaving me behind to wait for Shawn, alone.

Minutes crept by. I made symbols in the dirt with the edge of my shoe to occupy myself while I stewed in my anger.
I’m the bait am I? Well where the hell is the catch?
I began to mimic a chirping cricket. It didn’t work. Shawn was bigger than a fish. Maybe imitating a lamb would work.

A vehicle coming down the road shook me from my thoughts. I craned my neck, watching the road attentively, hoping it was Micah coming back to me to apologize and instead go home and make sweet, sweet love.

No such luck.

A mud-covered blue jeep rolled into the parking lot and stopped on the end opposite of me. A car door on the far side opened then closed, and the Jeep rolled away, back up the road.

Through the dirt cloud kicked up by the jeep’s tires, I could make out a silhouette standing in the parking lot. I didn’t have to wait for the dirt to settle back down to know who was there. Shawn. I could sense it. A constant chill blew in from his direction. I tucked my arms in closer to my body, drawing as much warmth to my center as I could.

Where is Micah?
I felt out for him and sensed him too far away, directly through the thick forest.

Shawn sauntered toward me, a friendly smile on his face. I stood my ground but still released a happy breath when he stopped several feet away.

He looked me over slowly. “You read our doctrine?”

I studied his expression, careful not to give anything away with mine. His hair had grown out to where it almost rested at his shoulders. It had a relaxed curl to it, something most women spent hours in the morning trying to achieve. Rough, patchy facial hair and thick eyebrows along with new tattoos down his arms darkened his appearance. His shadowy facade only accented his bright blue eyes.

“I scanned it,” I commented, pulling my arms in even tighter. Still no Micah, and our surroundings were strangely quiet, even with a lush forest surrounding the barren parking lot on three sides.

“Good. I left it specifically for you.”

“Why?” My question was dry, as if I didn’t care about the answer.

Shawn, never one to beat around the bush, said, “I want you to join us.”

I smiled, remembering his resolve to replace me as soon as possible when he held me captive on the Galapagos Islands. “What’s the matter Shawn, can’t do any better than me? Maybe you’re not trying hard enough.”

His smile disappeared and he furrowed his eyebrows, but before he could respond, I continued, “Thanks but no thanks. I have better plans for myself.”

I slowly turned toward the forest, in the direction I sensed Micah. Shawn didn’t speak. I moved, finally sending a cautious look back, wondering if Shawn’s offer was just that, or something he wasn’t prepared to negotiate. He stood his ground, even as I began walking.

Just as I began to pick up my pace toward the trees, he shouted after me, “How is the shoulder?”

I stopped in my tracks, frozen for a long moment before I turned to see he had lifted his shirt. His sheathed athame was visible, hanging from his belt. He didn’t need to show me the blade for me to know it was the same knife he had used to carve that damned symbol into my shoulder. The wound stung, as if reminding me that it had never fully healed. I looked toward the tree line and judged the distance to be maybe fifty feet. 

Skids on the loose gravel snapped my attention back to Shawn. He came toward me at a dead sprint, anxiously closing the distance between us.

Shit
, was my first thought and
run
was my second.