Akasha 4 - Earth (15 page)

Susan looked at me, eyes wide. "Oh,
yes – I suppose. You know, it happens to a lot of Gaias, very
shortly after they start using their powers. Though normally women
don't become Gaias until after menopause; you were a rare
exception."

I raised one eyebrow at her. "So I've
been told."

Time for her to change the
subject.

She turned, scanning the woods for
Alex. "I suppose I should just tell you, Alex would muck it up
anyway."

"Tell me what?"

She picked up a stick and poked at the
fire, all of a sudden avoiding my eyes.

"Susan?!"

"Okay, okay." She threw the entire
stick into the fire. "Just…try not to get mad. Have you meditated
yet this morning?"

I stamped my foot.

Her lips went tight.

I huffed. "Just spit it out before
I—"

"There was a tornado in
Evansville."

Her interruption rendered me
speechless.

She continued, "An F3, they think;
wiped out half of the town, including the Chakra Center.

"That…is terrible." Weak response, I
knew, but I was preparing myself for what was to follow.

"There are too many incidents for it
to be considered coincidence any longer," Susan said.

My eyes flit to the woods around us,
seeking Alex and Bee. I stood up, looking harder, my heart skipping
a beat.

"Kaitlyn, don't freak out." Susan
stood now too. "We need to decide what to—"

Before she finished the sentence, I
bolted into the woods. "Bee?" I turned and turned. Still no Alex,
still no Bee. "BEE?!"

Out of everyone on the planet, Susan
and Alex were the two people I trusted the most. They would do
anything to keep Bee safe, including keeping her away from me, if
that was what it took.

"Kaitlyn!" I could hear Susan running
after me, and I bolted again. She continued to try to reason with
me. "What happens when the disasters catch up with you? What
happens when you and Bee stay in one place too long?"

Blood pounding in my ears worked to
block out Susan's voice. I felt her hand on my shoulder.

"I'll tell you what happens," she
started, but didn't finish.

An explosion shook the
ground, and knocked us both on our asses. My eyes went wide as I
looked at Susan.
Was it catching up with
us already?

She shook her head. "That came from
the river."

A second later, shards of white and
red painted wood rained down on us. A piece of the Spirit of
Evansville metal railing bounced on the ground a few feet
away.

"Oh, God." I got to my
feet.

"What was that?" Alex's voice boomed
behind us.

I turned; he approached, arms full of
wood.

"Mommy!" Bee yelled, running up behind
him with two small sticks in her hand.

I dropped to my knees and scooped her
up in a bear hug. "Oh, honey. I thought…" I trailed off. It didn't
matter what I thought now. She was here, and that was all that
mattered.

It was a moment before I realized
Susan's arms were around the both of us. I raised my head, looking
at her with tears in my eyes. She looked to be on the verge of
waterworks herself.

"We would never take her away from
you," Susan said. "We will work this out together."

I nodded, and buried my head back in
Bee's hair. She trembled.

Alex set his pile of wood down with a
clatter. "There could be people hurt. I need to check it out. You
guys stay here until I know it is safe."

We nodded, uncoiling ourselves from
each other. A half an hour later, without Alex's return, we
ventured forward. People were wading into the river collecting
anything they could from the disaster; wood, supplies – useable or
not – pieces of metal from the ship. People in canoes in the water
were doing the same. Whole sections of the Spirit of Evansville
were nowhere to be seen.

Captain Carl saw us and stood from
scouring the ground. He was in his briefs; nothing else. "Boiler
exploded. Ship is now at the bottom of the Platte River." He hung
his head. "The captain did not go down with it. Thankfully, it
happened after they had quit work for the night. No one was on
board except…"

"Except who?" I swallowed
hard.

"Except Robert." Captain Carl nodded
to a figure hunched over the ground, Bobby Jr., his shoulders
shaking with sobs. Margie kneeled next to him, rubbing a hand over
his back. Her eyes completely dry.

"What do we do now?" Susan
asked.

"Now – we walk," I said.

Chapter
22

New Energy

The marching party was reluctant, at
best. We only packed what could be carried on our backs, which
meant much of the supplies were left behind. People had a hard time
giving up their Tang. But Susan, Bee, Alex, and I had spent the
last year and a half walking. For us it was like returning
home.

"Do we stick by the rivers?" Alex
asked.

"Yes," Susan and I said
together, probably for different reasons. I glanced at her,
continuing, "That’s where Micah expects us. He might be leaving
other groups of people or supplies along the river – or
he
might be
there…"

I trailed off and Alex arched his
eyebrow. "Waiting with open arms?"

"Something like that," I
mumbled.

Susan walked up to us, cinching her
backpack down on her shoulders. "Just so you know, I'm not happy
about this. I'd rather be on the water. It's faster, and less
physically demanding."

I put my arm around her. "Well, you
are welcome to swim your way there."

She looked at me sideways. "Ha, ha."
She took a deep breath. "We divided the group. Half will stay back
to finish the burial ritual and clean up the mess. They'll follow
in a day or two."

I craned my neck to look around Susan.
"What about Margie, is she staying?"

"Well, the deceased was her husband,
so I assume so," Susan said in her grumpy voice.

I rolled my eyes. "Wait here, I want
to talk to her a minute."

I found Margie inland, gathering wood
for the funeral pyre, whistling.

"Margie?"

She stopped her tune and spun, eyes
wide, like she had gotten caught with her hand in the cookie
jar.

I narrowed my eyes. "Are you
okay?"

"Yeah, um…" she looked around, then
set down her pile of sticks. "Look – I know what this might look
like."

"Like what?" I asked, playing
dumb.

"Like, maybe that I'm not sad enough
after what happened." She brushed bits of leaves and dirt off her
skirt.

"Are you sad?"

She paused, actually thinking about it
for a moment. "For Bobby, I am. His father was everything to him.
But…" She paused again, and scratched her arm.

"But what?" I prompted.

"But he was going to lead that boy
astray. He was not the best role model."

I furrowed my brow, testing her. "He
was your husband."

"I accepted the union because I
thought I needed him to survive. I was lonely, and scared, and
destitute."

Now I was reeling with confusion. "You
can do some pretty powerful stuff; I didn't even know Earths could
control plant life like that," I said, thinking of the vines that
saved Robert on the river.

She ceased twisting her hands to wave
one in the air, "I don't know about at all that. I had to save him.
I mean, I caused the mess in the first place."

Funny, I blame
myself.

I sighed, and sat down on a large log
a few feet away. She joined me.

I nudged her. "Maybe we both need to
stop being so hard on ourselves."

She smiled.

"I'm serious," I told her. "You’re
totally powerful – and smart. You could live off the land by
yourself for years if you had to."

"Well, what about you?" she asked.
"The energy practically comes off you in waves. I've felt it
strengthen every day since I've met you. Especially
today."

"Oh." My cheeks went red. "Last night
I, um, meditated." I cleared my throat, looked at her, and smiled.
"You know, I think we’re going to be okay. We've been through…a
lot. But we're still here."

She nodded. "Alive and
kicking."

"Exactly…" our voices were almost at a
whisper now.

"You and Micah saved us, you know." It
was her turn to nudge me.

"What? How?"

"Robert and his son were in charge of
the camp, as you probably guessed. When we started to grow food
successfully, our small group thrived. They became more and more
protective – to the point that it was becoming more of a cult than
anything else." She picked up a stick, scratching it aimlessly in
the ground. "It was getting ridiculous. He…hit…me a couple of times
when I tried interjecting." She shrugged. "I made excuses for him,
thinking it was just because he had so much on his shoulders,
protecting us and all."

I stayed silent, letting her get her
story out.

"When we went more than a month
without seeing other people, Robert claimed we were close to the
last humans. He even 'accidentally' destroyed our radio. He said it
would be up to us to repopulate."

My hand went over my mouth as I
gasped.

She kept her eyes forward. "They were
coming up with a schedule – a rotation at nights. And that was the
exact moment when Micah walked into our camp." She smiled to
herself. "There was a fight, of course. But it was no contest.
Robert was way out of his league."

"But, how did things not go back to
bad as soon as Micah left?" I asked.

"Somehow, Micah detected my abilities
and he made me demonstrate to Robert. I had never revealed them
before; not even to my first husband." The words caught in her
throat.

I took her hand and squeezed
it.

She continued, "I thought, people
might fear me. Single me out – you know, like a modern-day witch
hunt." She shrugged. "So I hid them. But Micah spent three days
with us, and spent a lot of time guiding me to believe in myself,
and in my powers."

"Yeah, he is good at that," I said,
the words almost choking in my throat.

"It wasn't instant confidence, of
course. But it helps to see you – leading all of us, making
decisions, working toward a goal that is going to save the planet,
and all with a baby on your hip." She straightened her back and
smiled at me. "Makes me believe I don't need someone like
Robert."

"Margie." I squeezed her hand. "I have
to ask you something, and please don't get upset."

"What?"

"Did…you…cause the boiler to
explode?"

She stiffened for a moment, settling
her gaze on me. "I saved Robert, in the river. You saw it. I would
never resort to murder. Not even when he was beating
me."

"You're right, okay. I'm sorry. It was
just on my mind, after your reaction to his death, is
all."

She relaxed her shoulders. "I know.
It's not like his death hasn't brought me some relief, after all. I
really don't care what people think. I just need to concentrate on
Bobby Jr. now; undo everything Robert planted in that poor kid's
mind."

"Fair enough," I
said.
Time for a change in
subject
. "I need to leave soon, got a long
walk ahead of us."

She laughed.

"I was hoping you could show me how to
move the vines like you did on the river."

The corners of her mouth went up in a
smile. "I'd love to." She released my hands, cleared her throat,
and stood. "It really has everything to do with the energy of the
plant; and much of the energy is active during
photosynthesis."

She walked over to a small, budding
plant in the ground and squatted down. I followed.

"You're aware of the laws of ecology?"
she asked.

"Not necessarily," I
said.
Not at all.

"I won't give you a lecture here, but
one of them is that energy cannot be created, nor destroyed. In
photosynthesis, plants simply convert solar energy into chemical
energy. I tap into the byproduct, enzyme-modified electrodes. It
works much better when the plant is actually absorbing sunlight."
Margie looked up, frowning at the cloud-covered sky.

"Oh, I got this." I stood
up, closed my eyes, and whispered a spell Vayu taught me shortly
after we met. "
Sol iustitiae nos
illustra
- sun of righteousness shine upon
us."

I tapped into the frequency of the
wind, guiding it to carry my words higher. I shivered as memories
of the man who killed Cato, and my parents, assaulted my brain. But
his spell was good magic. The clouds above us parted, and the
warmth of the sun raced to chase away the remaining chills in my
body.