Renhala (37 page)

Chapter 46

Transfixed

After everyone crashes in my
apartment for a brief nap, which turns into plenty of hours, I wake up to find Jenna—her energy field much more relaxed—and Gunthreon deeply involved in a conversation of cell phones and laptops. Conner and Lupa study the map as Bu fidgets with my refrigerator, once again. He’s so involved, he doesn’t even budge when I pull out the Devil’s Food cookies I hid in my cabinet. “Where’s Ladimer?” I say.

Suddenly, shouting emerges from the hallway outside my apartment door. Jenna and I simultaneously jump up to peek outside. It
’s Ladimer and his foster mom going at it.

“I should call the cops right now! Who the hell are you?” she s
houts. I see her holding a towel up around her breasts.

“Sorry, Miss. I though
t Kailey lived here. Wrong door!” Ladimer has a dumbfounded expression on his face I would love to capture on film right now.

Her eyes narrow as
she stares intently at his face. “Do I know you?” she asks, tilting her head like a dog hearing a dog whistle.

“Uh, no, no. Oh, look, there
’s Kailey now,” he responds, blushing—such a rare occurrence. “Hey there. I, uh, accidentally entered your neighbor’s apartment by mistake.” He pushes past me to get into the room. I look at my neighbor’s door as I stand halfway in my doorway. Karen now peeks through the hairline crack she’s allowed with her front door.

“He
’s always doing stupid things like that,” I say. “So sorry. You know what? I’ll bake you a cake!” With this, I quickly close my door, and glare at Ladimer.

“What the hell?” I say.

“I kinda forgot I don’t live there anymore—momentary loss of placement,” he says. “I was going to check on the plants and grab an orchid clipping for your mom, that’s all.” I realize how nomadic his life is, and how hard it must be to switch from one life to another so quickly.

My mom laughs as Ladimer walks by her to check on Bu
’s progress. “Hon, I’m going to go home,” she says to me. “I can’t sleep in your bed. Mine is much more comfy.” I see her grab her back, exactly over her right kidney. “I’ll talk to you during the week.” She hugs Kioto farewell, then leans into me for one too.

As she lets go, I whisper in her ear. “Thanks for coming to my rescue. I owe you.”

She takes my hands in her own and looks into my face. “I hadn’t heard from any of you—even Gunthreon—so I just had to make sure you were safe. You don’t owe me.
No more
IOU’s between us,
please,
Kailey
.
You no longer need to be my guardian angel. Understand?” I nod, knowing she indirectly speaks of my constant intervention in her medical conditions. “I’m tired,” she says, simply, but to the point. She attempts to walk away, but I hold tightly as the tears in my eyes trickle out. “Kailey, it’s time,” she murmurs, breaking from my grasp. I reach her energy, grabbing at it as she shakes her head, asking me to release her. I do, sadly. She says her goodbyes to everyone and asks Ladimer to walk her to her car.

“Sure.” He holds out his arm to her and she actually takes it. She then signs me our special gesture. I do the same to her. They leave my apartment.

Conner appears beside me. “You okay?” he asks, genuinely concerned. I shake my head and he wraps his arms around me as I cry into his shirt. “The love between you and your mom is special—strong. Just know that it’s something indestructible, no matter what karma throws at you. Unlike beating hearts, true love exists for eternity.”  

I cannot help but glance out my window as Ladimer and my mom stand by Fidello
’s limo, Conner’s arms still around me. My mom does all the talking as Ladimer just stands and nods, repeatedly. He glances up at my window as he continues to nod, and nod, and nod. He’s surely getting an earful. A small laugh escapes my mouth as I wipe my tears away and release myself from the comfort of Conner’s chest.

“Thanks,” I say to him.

He wipes a stray tear from my cheek and says, “Anytime.”

The discussion at my dining room table would seem to be the last thing I want to involve myself in, but I know I must. I almost trip over Jenna as she darts past me to play with the computer on my desk. 

“Hmmm.” She tries lifting the CPU.

“H
ey! Be careful with that!” I yell.

“Sorry, Kailey. I’m just starting my preparations,” she says. Busily, she zooms around my apartment, examining everything, everywhere. She lands in my bedroom.

I see her pulling out my dresser drawers. “Hey! Get out of there!” I say. I sure don’t want her to pull out something I might be a little embarrassed to admit I own. I race over and slam it shut. “Dresser drawers off-limits!” One glance at her face and I see she doesn’t really hear me. She’s in the zone. “What preparations?” I query.

She looks to Gunthreon, who nods at her. “My new job, that
’s all,” she replies.

“And this involves items in my dresser drawers?” Gunthreon ignores my glare, and I see Conner, who, from his face, is clearly contemplating what must be so secret in my drawers. Jenna then sits in front of my television and turns it on, then off, then on, and off again.

“Uses electricity,” Gunthreon states without turning from the map. “Out.” Then she spots my stainless-steel toaster and runs over to push all the buttons. “Out,” says Gunthreon. “If it has a cord to the wall, forget it.”

I stand motionless, staring at Jenna with my hands on my hips. Then it hits me. “You
’re going to sell this stuff in Renhala, aren’t you?” I say.    

The biggest grin imaginable stretches across Jenna
’s face. “Lovely idea, eh?”

“If so many Renhalans are afraid of this stuff, why bother?”

She stands before me with my iPod. “I’m a convert, aren’t I?” she says. “If Gunthreon
and Bu
—” she then whispers to me, “—who’s afraid of everything—” she then stops whispering, “aren’t afraid, I choose to not be afraid, also.”

“Really? Hmph.” I see the enthusiasm in her face. “Jenna—”
She
puts her hands on her hips this time, “I actually think you could pull it off.” She jumps up, elated, clapping and dancing around. “You, I think, are quite capable of outwitting the UFOE.” Then she stops jumping and freezes, as though she has just realized something horrible.

“Oh yeah,” she says. Her head shakes like she
’s trying to force some bad idea out through her ears. “I
can
do this—you’re right, Kailey,” she says. “I
will
do this.” Her journey through my apartment continues, and she spots my handheld
Yahtzee
game. She picks it up and examines it closely, noting all buttons. It starts blaring its delightfully entertaining music, and she drops it, evidently not expecting it to make so much noise.

“Can you answer me one thing?” I
ask. “How do you plan on acquiring these items? You’re surely not selling my things.”

With her eyes not leaving the game, she says, “There are a few details I still need to figure out, of course, but all the answers will come in due time. Fascinating.”

Conner is in the kitchen, preparing cups of tea.             

At the dining table, I spot an open seat next to Lupa, so I sit and finally take a look at the rather large map. As I sit Indian-style, the contents of my pocket spill out onto the floor—both my ring and pendulum. I pick them up and lay them out in front of me, turning over the rather curvaceous womanly-shaped pendulum I received in Socola, and tracing the figure with my finger.

My ears don’t hear Gunthreon until he’s practically on top of me.

“Kailey!”

“Huh? What? Why you shouting at me?” I say.

“Maybe because you have not answered one question since you sat down.” Gunthreon, Lupa, and Conner all stare at me with quizzical faces.

I seriously heard nothing. “Sorry,” I apologize. “I thought maybe you were talking to somebody else.”

“Where did you get that?” he ask
s. His eyes are bigger than plums as he stares at my trinkets. “Holy mother of Neda.” The only thing that has moved is his mouth. He makes no motion even to touch anything. 

“You
’re talking about the pendulum, aren’t you? Isn’t it awesome?” I say. I stretch my arm to pick it up, and he grabs my hand with such force that I retract it for fear he’ll break it. Ladimer comes back in and makes his way over to see what all the hoopla is about.

If Gunthreon
’s eyes were plums, Ladimer’s are now grapefruits. Their eyes alone scare the shit out of me. “
What!
Someone tell me what it is!”

Lupa and Conner shrug. “Must be an elders
’ thing,” responds Lupa, as Conner puts cups, hot and steamy, in front of us. Gunthreon and Ladimer seem to hear nothing around them, but only continue to stare at my pendulum. When I put my hand over it, they shake out of their trances.

“I
’ll ask again, what is it?” Gunthreon tries moving my hand away from the pendulum, but I refuse to budge. “Answer me first.”

“What you are covering with your hand is perhaps one of the most valuable missing
pieces of Renhalan history,” states Ladimer. “To make this easy for you to understand, I’d say it’s like finding the Ark of the Covenant.” My jaw drops, and I fall off of my chair with no grace whatsoever. 

I recover quickly. “How did the pendulum wind up with
me
?” I ask. “What am I supposed to do with this? You take it.” I try handing it to Ladimer, but he jumps back. Gunthreon shakes his head. You’d think I had the plague. Conner moves quickly beside me, sticking out his hand. I place the pendulum in it, relieved that someone else is willing to touch it.

“Some old mooncat just walked up to me and put it in my hand,” I say. “How did
he
get it?”

Gunthreon walks over to Lupa and asks for her everything pack. He opens it slowly and pulls out Michel
’s sword. “Maybe the same way we ended up with this,” he says. “A won battle.” The sword he holds is no less beautiful then when I saw it previously, and I want it. Gunthreon sees my face, then holds it behind his back, bringing me back to reality.

“W
hy do I want that so bad?” I ask, realizing the intense feelings I felt when the sword was exposed.

“The power these items hold calls to your soul, rather like how
Conner talks to the soul,” amswers Gunthreon. “It
wants
you to want it. You have to try your best and resist. After enough exposure to these items, you’ll do it involuntarily, except if it catches you off guard, like it just did me and Ladimer. I’ve seen many a person killed over pieces like this.”

Ladimer finally puts out his hand to hold the pendulum. Conner hesitates. “Please,” says Ladimer. Conner places it in his hand, reluctantly. “Items like this predate Gunthreon here,” Ladimer says. Gunthreon just grunts. “They are from the harmonious time of Neda and Velopa. The Higher Ones worked jointly once, knowing that their relationship held Renhala together. Items like these antiquities were made as gifts for one another, recognizing the other’s importance, and they were deeply treasured by the Higher Ones. When times went sour, the ‘Lost Treasures of the Surge,’ as we call them, were either destroyed or hidden away. Upon rare occasion, they are rediscovered. The strong will of the mooncats proved valuable on passing these priceless artifacts. How we ended up with three is beyond belief.”

“Three?” I ask.

“The urn is also one.”

At the word “priceless,” I see Jenna’s eyes wander over and fix upon my pendulum. “Don’t even think about it, Jenna!” I say. I grab my ring off the table, deciding I best put it away before losing it. 

“Kailey, that hurts my feelings.” But Jenna just giggles, and I smile at her. Despite her history, I feel a trust between us that I hope is genuine.

I walk into my bedroom and kiss my ring before placing it in my grandmother’s beaded clutch that I keep in my closet. On my way back to the map, I stop by Bu,—all slimy with grease—who is standing in front of my refrigerator. “Bu fixed your icebox. It should be true to its thermometer now,” he says.

I watch him carefully place his beloved tools in his fanny pack. “Bu, you are truly amazing,” I say. “I think I may still have a couple T-bones I forgot about in the fridge.”

“Yes, you did. Bu saw them.” He wipes a drip of salty blood from his mouth.

“I
did
, eh? Well consider that payment for your services,” I say. “It was nice doing business with you.” We shake hands, then I continue on to my dining room table.

Ladimer carefully examines the pendulum, turning it over and over in his hands.
             

“Do the Lost Treasures of the Surge have names, like they do in fantasy books?” I watch Ladimer as he sniffs the stone carving.

Gunthreon holds the sword before him and places it on the table. “Kailey, meet Evlengard,” he says. “You may pick it up if you like. Just remember what I said. And we are both here—”, he glances at Ladimer, “—if the need to intercept arises.”