Akasha 4 - Earth (32 page)

"Because; it's about time to come up
with a plan," Micah said, stepping forward to run his hand across
the continent of Africa. The tip of his pinky touched the tiny spec
of Reunion Island, just off the coast of Madagascar. My heart
lurched at the memory of the small house he had bought for us
there.

I wondered what's become
of it since Daybreak.
Probably occupied by
squatters. Maybe even that maid.

There was some satisfaction in knowing
the maid would not be able to get to Micah now.

"Kaitlyn, please pay attention," Micah
said.

I shook my head, focusing.

"Ok, so if we are equating places on
the Earth to chakras on the body – where do they lie?" Clay
obviously had been paying more attention to Micah’s lecture than I
had.

"Alex mentioned Muladhara," I said,
finally getting my head in the game. "The root chakra associated
with the element of earth. He thinks The Seven headquarters in
Simuelue is the representation."

Micah leaned over me. I inhaled his
scent. Cinnamon and pine.

"So if they are each balanced by
something else, the next would be Galapagos, halfway around the
world," Micah said.

"Manipura," I mumbled. "The stomach of
the human body. Radiates willpower and achievement, and is
associated with the element of Fire." And that was the last of my
knowledge on chakras.

"Two down, five to go," Clay
said.

"What about the forest we planted?"
asked Micah.

"Indonesia," I pointed. "Ariel
reforestation. Could represent the element of Air. I don't know
what any more chakra points are though. Where would the balance to
Indonesia be?"

"Easter Island," Clay pointed
out.

"Easter Island?" I asked, confused.
"What—?"

"Down to three," Micah interrupted me,
barreling through to a conclusion. "What about Heard and McDonald
Islands?"

Clay leaned over the map, brushing the
tip of his beard away.

I almost offered to hold it back for
him.

"The balance to the island set would
be just about where we are now. It's not exact, but…" Clay trailed
off.

"But very convenient," I
said.

"That leaves one left," Micah
breathed, voice low. "Where could it be?"

"Nowhere," I said, leaning back in my
chair. "The Seventh is Akasha. You tap into each of these points of
power and that is when you attain the most powerful Akasha you
could possibly have."

"Look – just like the chakras on a
human body, the places are in one straight line." Clay ran his
thumb across the equator, his forefinger touching Indonesia,
Simuleue, the Galapagos, and Easter Island. "A few locations, like
here, don't follow the line exactly, but if you take into
consideration their balance, it all equals out."

"Ok." I stood from my chair, rolling
up the map. "We've got our points of power – but how do we access
them?"

First Clay, then Micah turned to look
at me.

"That part is up to you, Gaia," Micah
said.

Chapter
48

Dinnertime

We approached the open field, east of
the city, with a group of Earths behind us. Clay and Erika were an
invaluable resource when it came to rounding them up and finding an
excuse for us to be out here, away from prying eyes and away from
Shawn.

"This is our winter wheat crop." One
of the head gardeners, Mike, stepped forward. "It got a slow start,
but we're hoping it recovers. Depends if we get enough moisture
this winter." He turned his head toward the sky. The rest of us
followed suit. The sun had already gone down, leaving behind inky
black without a cloud in sight. I surveyed the wheat field. The
moon was bright enough to see the frosty white etchings across the
leaf sprouts of the wheat plants.

I bent down, running my hand across
one. "What is this?" I pulled back my hand, looking at the beetle.
A red body with metallic blue-black wings.

Mike leaned over me. "A cereal leaf
beetle. They’re destroying our winter wheat crop. They cause the
leaves to go white."

I placed the beetle back on one of the
wheat stems and wished him luck. He was going to need it. I turned
to the group behind me. A small, dark form fluttered just over the
heads of the group.

I smiled, and raised my voice to ask,
"Where are the nearest caves?"

"Just a few clicks north; near the
river," a voice from the back shouted out.

A pang ran through my gut as I thought
of Alex and his 'clicks'. I forced myself to nod at the group, then
sat down, making myself as comfortable as I could on top of the
cold, dry soil. Behind me, the bristled wheat began swaying, and
the low buzz of hundreds of beetles taking flight from the
disturbance filled the air. The energy pulse I sent out kept them
confused, flying in circles, not straying far from the wheat field.
I needed them for the demonstration.

Next, I lay one hand on the ground. I
glanced up at Clay who took position by my side. "I'm aiming for
the caves, but we can't let the vibrations get too strong in the
city."

"I'm on it, but no
guarantees."

I felt Clay send his energy out; an
underground block running right in between the city and the
fields.

I went soon after, tying off my weaves
to maintain the signals with the wheat and the beetles, and pushed
energy north. It went low, the surface of the ground cracking along
the way. The entire field rumbled. I left it at one short burst and
refrained from sending more. I pulled back my magic, nodded for
Clay to do the same, and waited.

We didn't have to wait long. The
buzzing of the beetles behind me grew more frantic. Predators
approached. At first it was just a few. A fluttering shadow here
and there, dipping down to the field and up again. The group of
Earths turned their gaze from me to the north, then to the field,
and back to me again.

I continued to wait. Finally, the
hoard came. The moon and stars – always bright since the rapid
decline of light pollution, were broken by gray strands of tiny
creatures in flight. The bats took over the wheat field, picking
off beetles left and right.

The Earths squealed. Several women
ducked, covering their heads. I glanced down – even Clay had begun
to roll up his beard.

"They aren't going to roost in it." I
rolled my eyes.

"How do you know?"

"Because." I gestured to the field.
"It's dinnertime."

He snorted, but let go of the
beard.

I addressed the Earths before some of
the squeamish decided to take off. "The beetle population will have
been decimated within a matter of a couple of nights. No pesticides
needed. Nature always has a way of taking care of itself –
sometimes it just needs a little push." I stepped toward the group,
lowering my voice and forcing them to lean in to hear me. "The
magic you possess can do more than just…earthquakes."

"Can you teach us?"

I shook my head ‘no’. "I want to…and
I've asked Shawn. But he said no. Said we were put to better use in
the gardens and fields."

A few cries of outrage.

"It's those Fires – he gives them all
the best training!"

"And lets them slide on their duties
when we do hard labor all day long to put food on the
table!"

Mike stepped toward me. "If we could
figure out how to do it in secrecy – would you train
us?"

I rubbed the back of my neck. "I don't
know…"

"We could keep it small – a few people
at a time. He would never know."

I looked the group of Earths over.
They weren’t all that One Less had, but certainly enough to spread
the word. As I studied them, I released the signal I had been
sending out to the field and the beetles. What was left of the
pests fell to the ground, quickly burying themselves under foliage.
Bats began sauntering away, and the night went still.

"Okay – but I'll be sticking my neck
out for you, and I'm going to need that favor returned."

"Have something in mind?" Mike
asked.

A small smile lit my face. "As a
matter of fact, I do."

Chapter
49

A Fragile Grasp

"Weather gir—" Shawn cut himself off
at her glare.

Damn, what was her name
again?
She had told him dozens of
times.

"Sir?" She smiled sweetly, but there
was a gleam in her eye. That ‘sir’ was intentional.

He itched his ear and glanced at David
standing behind him, buying time to think. "Mary?" He extended his
arm, palm up and open, in an unsure gesture.

Her smile turned genuine. "Thank you.
What is it you need, Shawn?"

He crossed the small room of the
deli/headquarters to her workstation at the countertop. Her maps
had spread out in every direction.

"Let's go over these storms you
mentioned," Shawn said.

"Sure." She shifted on her feet. "I
can only pinpoint the anomalies as the information comes to
me."

"I thought you could read the
atmosphere?" Shawn leaned forward over the other side of the
counter, glancing at the map she pulled out.

Her shoulders stiffened. "My readings
only go a dozen miles or so, as the crow flies."

He glanced up into her fiery eyes,
only inches away.

Damn, I've offended her
again.

Shawn straightened, then lowered his
eyes. "By far the most distance I've seen accomplished by an
Air."

Except Vayu.
Shawn kept the thought to himself. He missed
having that kind of competence on his side.

The right corner of her mouth twitched
up. Apology accepted. She cleared her throat. "The weather
patterns, which aren't actual patterns at all, follow a definite
path. First was the forest fire in West Virginia. It had been a wet
season; the conditions just weren't right for that large of a
blaze." Her finger traced down a series of smaller rivers, and over
the Ohio River to Huntington. "The earthquake here."

"No major fault lines," Shawn
murmured.

Mary nodded her head. "There was
another earthquake down the river, but they were too far apart, in
both time and space, to be considered aftershocks. The anomalies
end at the derecho, which ran us off from Fort Calhoun early. There
hasn't been anything unusual since."

"They follow the rivers," Shawn said.
"Coming directly for us; until they reached us."

Shawn stood and started pacing the
room. He pointed to another admin clerk. "Were the numbers any
different when we left Fort Calhoun? Or when we arrived in
Denver?"

"No, sir. Same number.
Except…"

"Except what?"

"One of the camps reported a missing
person. But it never added up since the head counts remained the
same. When we reached Denver we struck the missing person reports
from the records as an error."

"Who went missing? Why was I never
told?" Shawn slammed fist down on the desk of the man.

"I don't…we didn't…you
never—"

Shawn was already walking away, his
back to Mary. Sarcasm dripped from his voice. "What about the
derecho, weather girl? Do you think that was human-induced or
not?"

She spoke, tight-lipped, "It was far
too late in the season for such a massive summer storm,
sir."

Shawn closed his eyes and took a deep
breath. It always amazed him how quickly his fragile grasp on a
situation could shatter.

David stepped forward, notebook in
hand. "But, if someone was aiming for One Less – why did they stop
at Fort Calhoun?"

"Because they found what they were
looking for." Shawn flexed his hands, refraining from shaking some
sense into him.

"Sir?"

Shawn shouted over his shoulder as he
slammed the door open out of the deli, "They found me!"

Chapter
50

It's a Date

After we parted from the Earths, Micah
and I turned for the amusement park and our observation
tower.

"That was very impressive." He nudged
me with his shoulder, inching closer.

"Thanks. I'm glad I didn't freak. I
hate bats." I laughed. "At least I didn't get pooped
on."

He returned the laugh, throwing his
arm around me. "All that guano – good fertilizer for the wheat
field."

I eyed his hand on my shoulder. He
made small circles, rubbing with the pad of his thumb.

I know this
tune.

I tried distracting him. "I need you
to call in my favor with the Earths."

"Finally going to build an army?" His
hand went down to the small of my back.

"No. In fact, just the opposite. I
want them to run away when I give my signal."