Lost Wanderer Awakened - Book One of the Airendell Chronicles (61 page)

“I know, babe. Just keep walking, I am with
you. Just please don’t look at me too much or touch me! Please!” He
nods, and opens the door to the hallway. They survive the walk to
the elevator and most of the ride down the elevator until Luca
can’t stand it any longer; he takes her hand into his. She smiles;
it makes her feel better too. When the elevator door opens they are
looking at each other very intensely. It takes a few seconds before
they notice it’s time to walk out of the elevator. They smile and
step out, still holding hands. Breena sees them first; she snickers
and rolls her eyes. Aideen sees them next and laughs and runs to
meet them. George and Brigid look up at the same time and see the
look on their faces.

George leans down and whispers, “I guess in
700 years a couple can get pretty close, huh?”

Brigid laughs and replies, “They have loved
each other since a week after he fell through the gate. It’s
impossible, but it’s beautiful.” she whispers back.

Morna and Luca hear the whispered comments
and smile at each other. Aideen has reached them by now. She hugs
her Daddy first, and then hugs her mother. Then she wraps her arm
loosely around Morna’s shoulder. “I am not sure when I will get
back from Alfheim she whispers to her mother, I will miss you two.
Please take care of him Mama. I mean it.”

Morna lets go of Luca’s hand and turns to
embrace her daughter and whispers, “I will darling, I will. I
promise. You be well, and we will miss you so much.”

Aideen has turned from her mother to her
father when Morna’s phone rings. Morna fishes it out of the side
pocket of monster purse and frowns at it. She flips the phone open
and says, “Hello?” She motions to Luca to lean down and listen and
she hit’s the speaker button. “Deidra… I mean Morna, this is
Samantha. DO NOT GET ON THAT PLANE! Do not even go to the airport.
She is waiting at the airport, she knows the vampires failed today
so she is going to wait at the airport until you guys show up and
curse the pilot of whatever plane you board. She’s willing to kill
a 747 full of people to destroy you two. Oh, the hatred that woman
has for you Morna!” Sammy is sobbing raggedly.

“Okay Sammy, we won’t get on the plane. It’s
okay darling. All those people will be okay. It is alright
darling,” Morna assures the distraught girl.

Luca takes the phone. “Sammy you are doing a
great job kiddo. Morna and I are very proud. Now take a deep breath
and take the phone to Rinda. Thank you sweetheart.”

Not even three seconds go by before Rinda is
on the phone, “Luca, do as she says,” Rinda urges.

“Oh we intend to. I wanted to talk to you to
tell you I am going to call Damian to come join you in the house,”
he tells her.

“No need, we have a signal worked out. He
just walked in. Do you want to talk to him?” Rinda asks.

“Yes I do, and thank you Rinda, I knew you
were just the person we needed there to look out for the kids. You
have a buffer spell up right?”

“I do, and you are welcome. They are good
kids. I am handing the phone to Damian now. Take care of our Morna.
Bye Luca,” Rinda says.

“Hey Luca,” Damian says, “What’s up?”

Luca quickly tells him about Samantha’s
vision. He tells Damian to stay in the house with the girls. “Can
you handle it?” Luca asks.

“I can handle it. I won’t let anyone hurt
these girls. Don’t worry between me and Rinda, we will watch over
them.”

“Good job, Son,” Luca says. “Reinforcements
will be there very soon. Call me if you need anything. Morna and I
will be there soon, with a couple of friends.”

He hangs up and dials Almeda, and fills her
in. The cell phone is handy, but it won’t work in magical realms.
Almeda has a better idea, “Luca with your permission Ari will
contact you telepathically and leave the link open so you can
report any changes. Will that be okay?”

“Honestly Almeda I would be grateful for it.
Too many people I care about are scattered all around, I can’t
protect them all at once. Ari’s calming influence would be an
asset. Thank you for the offer.”

Instantly, Luca hears, “Thank you for
receiving me Luca. You are indeed a rare man, to allow someone
access to your thoughts like this,” Ari comments.

“Sure” replies Luca in his head.

Morna looks up at Luca trying to figure out
what’s going on after he snaps her phone shut and hands it back to
her. Luca taps his temple and Morna understands. Luca motions for
everyone to follow him. He leads the way into the piano bar. He
sits in a large circular booth and the others join him. Breena
immediately starts weaving a buffer spell around them. Luca nods
his approval.

“We can’t fly out. Kyera is watching the
airport. She is planning to place a curse on the pilot of whatever
plane we board. We are going to have to drive, but I think I should
get another rental car. If they have been watching me…” Luca breaks
off uncertain about what is the best way to proceed.

Morna and Ari speak to Luca at the same time,
“Use the gateways.”

Morna says, “There is one at Kankakee, it’s
only about an hour away from here. Maybe little over. If everyone
is up to a run we can be at Robber’s Cave by 6 or 7 am.” She looks
at George, “Can you run, like Luca can I mean?”

“Maybe not quite as fast,” he admits, “but I
can run for hours and track, so I could catch up if y’all get ahead
of me,” George says.

Breena says, “I am not that fast either, but
I am fast enough.” She looks at Morna. “Isn’t there a short cut
between Chicago and Kankakee?”

Morna says, “Last month they had some
problems with trolls in that area. We don’t have time to deal with
trolls.”

“How do you know that?” Luca asks.

“I went over to see Mulder, three weeks ago,
he told me about it.” Morna says absently.

“Why didn’t you mention this before?” Luca
asks.

Morna and Breena roll their eyes at him,
“I/she just remembered!” they say in unison, exasperated.

“Oh yeah, right.” says Luca, and girls
laugh.

George looks at them all like they are crazy.
Morna says, “Sorry George, my memory comes back to me in spurts.
It’s strange. I didn’t realize I was going to the gateway until I
got my memories back. It’s very confusing. Sorry,” she offers.

“I’ll say it’s confusing,” he says looking
completely baffled.

Luca taps his temple, “Ari says you went 19
days ago, when I was hunting. He has had a sprite on you since the
crash.”

“You let someone in your head?” asks George
in awe.

“Why not? We need the help, he’s honorable,
he won’t snoop around,” shrugs Luca.

“Still man!” says George with a shiver. “I
don’t think I could do it!”

Luca shrugs. “Okay, so we drive to Kankakee
and go through the gate. Morna do you know the gatekeepers there?”
Luca asks.

“They will know me,” she says confidently.
You two will recognize me too,” she lowers her eyes and smiles. “I
am not sure if the new me will translate down there. It’s always
been my original form when I have been down there before. Until I
go through the ascension rite again, I will have my old form and
probably limited strength down there. Well, like I was in
Airendell,” she speculates.

“Well Morna, you can run fast enough with the
iron-lion to keep up with these two, and I certainly won’t leave
any of you behind. So let’s go,” Luca starts to rise.

“Wait,” says George. “This may sound kind of
stupid, but I have some things I value in my suitcase, how we
planning on getting our luggage to Oklahoma?”

Breena says, “Put the things you really value
on your person, like we do, and we can ship our luggage from the
bus station at Kankakee. Sound like a plan?”

“I can’t Breena. These are ancient tribal
artifacts, I am transporting to my grandmother from a shaman that
passed way north of Chicago. They will not be pleasant for Luca and
probably Morna to be around,” he confesses to the group. “My
people, the Stone Breakers have many artifacts that protect us from
vampires.”

“But Luca and I don’t drink human blood. They
shouldn’t affect us,” Morna says.

“How do you know that?” George asks
incredulously.

“Montoya had such artifacts, they never
bothered Luca,” Morna replies.

“Okay,” says George, “let’s go then.” Breena
drops the hiding spell and they all get up and walk out to the
lobby.

Then Morna says, “What about Brigid and
Aideen?”

“Mama, we are perfectly capable of weaving an
iron-lion and leaving it on,” asserts Aideen. “Besides, I am
leaving in the morning to go with Ari and Almeda.”

Morna’s phone rings, “What’s wrong now?” she
frowns at her phone. Luca takes it out of her hand and answers it.
“Hello?” he says, then pushes the speaker button. “Morna, make
Aideen and Brigid come too. There are more vamps waiting in
Chicago. It looked like fifteen or so. Your mother and that witch
created an army! They are planning on capturing them tonight to
draw you out.”

Morna and Luca speak in unison, “Great, now
the Italians will show up!”

“Italians? I don’t see any Italians,” says
Samantha confused.

“It’s okay Sammy, they may not. Either way we
don’t plan to be here. I hate to say this, we don‘t have time to
clear out a nest of vampires right now. Damn! We must get someone
to take care of that, soon! Everything still okay there?” asks
Morna.

“Yes, the other two weavers showed up. They
are here now. You want to talk to them?” Sammy asks.

“No,” says Luca. “But tell them to rest up,
they will have to take over for Damian in a couple of hours when he
comes to pick us up. Tell them Ari or Almeda will contact them if
we run into problems. Please let me talk to Damian now.” Luca
strokes Morna’s cheek absentmindedly, and kisses her forehead while
he waits for Damian to come to the phone. “Damian do you know how
to get to Robber’s Cave?”

“Sure,” replies Damian. “I used to go
partying and swimming down that way with some friends when I was
human. Why?”

“I need you to meet us there at 6:00 am, give
or take. Cell phones won’t work where we are traveling. If we
haven’t showed up or called you by 7:00 am, check in with Samantha.
If she hasn’t heard anything, or had new vision of doom, wait there
until 8:00. If we are still a no show by 8:00 get back and keep an
eye on the girls. We will find out own way home,” says Luca, then
he adds, “Be careful Damian, and thanks.” Then he hangs up.

George says, “Let’s take the truck. We can
all fit in it, it is a double cab. And its four wheel drive in case
we have to go off road.”

“Fine,” says Luca, let’s get moving. “Aideen
and Brigid call whoever you need to call with a made up family
emergency and meet us at the truck.”

“I will stay with them Luca,” says Morna.

Morna goes to the bar and orders a ham and
cheese sandwich and a coke while the doctors make their phone
calls. They finish up about the time her food comes. “Wrap it up to
go, okay? Looks like my friends are ready.” She pays the bartender
when he hands her the sandwich and the coke in a can. Brigid rolls
her eyes when she sees her with the food. “I can’t help it,” Morna
growls around a bite of sandwich. They all three race out to the
truck.

Luca chuckles when he sees Morna with the
sandwich. The luggage is in the bed of the truck. George, Brigid
and Breena pile in the back seat. Luca drives, Morna sits in the
middle, and Aideen gets shotgun. Morna finishes the sandwich and
polishes off the coke before they leave the parking lot. She is
reaching for the wet wipes in her purse when she hears George on
his cell phone. It sounds as though he is contacting other Stone
Breakers, informing them of the nest of vampires in Chicago. When
he hangs up he tells everyone, “I just couldn’t leave them here
without getting someone to come and deal with them.”

“I am relieved and grateful George,” Morna
admits. “I hated to leave them to feed on innocent mortals,
especially since they were created to come after me.” Everyone
falls quiet, thinking about a nest of Stone Colds running loose in
Chicago. Morna leans against her mate and eventually goes to sleep.
Brigid does the same with George. Poor Breena and Aideen look out
their windows, and wonder what is coming at them next. They have
almost made it to Kankakee when Morna’s phone rings again. Everyone
tenses. Luca picks it up off her lap and answers. “Sammy, what is
it, kiddo?” he asks in his calm, soothing voice.

“Well Luca, you guys make it here just fine,
but don’t bring the Indian guy with you. He freaks Mac out for some
reason and she goes off. It takes Morna and Damian 45 minutes to
calm her down. Morna has to put her in some kind of spell that
freezes her in place, so Damian can hold her without her hurting
herself. I don’t know what sets her off, though,” Sammy say
breathlessly.

Morna mumbles in her sleep, “It’s probably
because he looks like the villain in that movie she watched a few
weeks ago with Monica.”

Luca looks down at Morna, “You heard her
love? I don’t have it on speaker phone.”

“Sure I heard it, I am only sleeping not
dead,” replies Morna her voice thick with sleep.

Luca chuckles and says, “Wow! Okay. Sammy we
will drop Brigid and George off at our house, and then come over.
Thanks Kiddo. You are truly a life saver tonight. Morna’s fine
honey. She’s just fine, only tired. Go get some sleep. Damian and
Rinda are watching over everyone there. And we will see you
soon.”

Aideen chuckles, “She still holds
conversations in her sleep, I see.”

Brigid and Breena laugh softly in the
backseat. Then Breena says, “When we were kids, I got her to teach
me how do a spell she invented. She can make rainbows. We aren’t
supposed to be able to magic like that. Morna was always
experimenting with magic, she figured it out and taught me how in
her sleep.”