Akasha 4 - Earth (6 page)

I flinched as I realized Micah had
been doing what I had just accused Robert of.

But why just
Earths?

Earth magic was slow, steady, and ran
on much lower frequencies. It was very hard to detect. Perhaps it
would easier to sneak past whatever detection rings Shawn set
up.

"And what about the children?" I
asked. There were several, ranging from infants up to teenagers.
"Do they have powers?"

"Some of the older ones do – we're not
sure about the babies."

I nodded. Still none of the women
spoke. Robert ran a tight ship. "How long ago was Micah
here?"

"It's been three weeks
now."

I chewed at my lip. I supposed I could
begin to forgive Micah for his absence. He was clearing our path to
Shawn, making it safe for me and Bee – and giving me the tools I
needed to defeat Shawn once I got there.

Still, I could use a good foot rub –
like the one Alex gave Susan every night. I longed to be touched by
Micah again, and even more so to laugh with him. I missed my
partner.

I rubbed my temples, swallowing the
hard lump fighting its way up my throat. "Well – you still want to
come with us?"

Robert hesitated, looking back at his
son. "What if we don't?"

"I'll take the women and kids anyway,
along with whatever can be reaped from your gardens." We had plenty
of canned food, but now I had an army to feed.

He looked at me sharply. "We'll starve
come winter."

"Okay then – start packing up and
let's get on the road," I said.

As the camp whirled into action, the
women moving faster than the men, Alex stepped closer to me.
"River."

"What?" I asked.

"Let's get on the river – not
road."

"Oh, shut it." I pushed him toward the
tents. "And go help. We're going to need more mosquito
netting."

Chapter
9

No Rhythm

Fortunately, Robert's group had
several kayaks and canoes, enough for the people and their
supplies. Alex, Susan, Bee, and I stayed in our own canoe. I needed
to get some of the women alone; none of them seemed to want to talk
much, especially with Robert nearby.

Halfway through the second day with
our new crew, Robert paddled up to me on his kayak. "We need to
talk about supplies."

"What about them?" I pulled my oar out
of the water, glancing up at him.

"They won't last us long; maybe
another two weeks."

Alex continued to row behind me. "And
who knows how many more we'll collect along the way."

"Maybe we need to be foraging – a
little bit each day, and when we stop for the night."

Robert snorted, "I ain't no
gatherer."

"So adapt." My words were clipped.
"We've been doing it the past year and a half. How have you managed
to get by?" I made a pointed glance at some the women in a canoe
next to him.

He grumbled, but didn't
answer.

I took a deep breath, backpedaling. It
wouldn't do to chase Robert away now; or not yet,
anyway.

"How will we know where Micah has
people stationed?" I asked. "I'm sure they won't want to advertise
who they are in case One Less comes their way."

Robert paddled deep twice, then rested
his double oar in front of him. "He said there'll be signs you
recognize. Oh, and the water filters. They were his design. Said to
look for them along the path."

I looked over at another canoe holding
two women, including Margie, and the bulk of the group's supplies.
"Can you get me one?"

He nodded his head, slowed and angled
his kayak over to the supply canoe. Why he wasn't in there with his
wife, helping, was beyond me. He retrieved a water filter and
paddled it back to me.

"Thanks." I looked at the contraption,
turning it over in my hands before attempting to disassemble it.
"Did he make these using your stuff or did he have these with
him?"

"He had them with him. Said it came
from another camp. But he showed us how to make them."

I'd seen several versions of water
filters; they had quickly become the most essential personal item
anyone could own. They ranged from complicated contraptions filled
with rock, sand, and charcoal to a basic water filter of plastic
bags suspended over pans of mucky water. It took forever for the
condensation to drip off into smaller jars, but it was the purest
way to retrieve water and it could be done from basically anything
letting off condensation. Micah's seemed to be a combination of the
two.

I dismantled the filter as Robert kept
talking. "There will be Chakra Centers along the way; places that
supposedly have an abundance of food and other resources. Wiccans
teaching people how to live off the land or something."

I nodded, still inspecting the filter
and shirking my navigational duties. Bee was doing a good enough
job of that, pointing out every fish and rock she saw over the
clear water. I searched the inside of the contraption, and each
side of the material for a message. An 'I love you' or 'thinking of
you' would have been enough. There was nothing.

I analyzed every small nick, scratch,
and dent, piecing them together in my head, searching for a
pattern. Still no luck.

"Kaitlyn," Susan said behind me. "Put
it back together. I think his message to you is pretty
clear."

"Yeah? What would that be?" I asked,
with more bite in my voice than I intended. "Just keep
paddling?"

"Something like that," Susan
mumbled.

I reassembled the water filter and
tossed it back to Robert, feeling sick to my stomach. I had been in
a boat too long, and my old motion sickness was beginning to
resurface. At least Bee didn't have that problem. I watched as she
leaned over the side, swiping at fish that came close. She had been
born on a boat – she was right at home.

"I think that Micah knows what he's
doing, better than the three of us, at least," Alex spoke from the
rear of the boat.

No one responded because we all knew
he was right. But it wasn't what I wanted to hear. I was tired of
straining my neck around each bend of the river, hoping to catch a
glimpse of Micah waiting on his boat. I was tired of counting the
days that passed since our handfasting ceremony. A year and a day
was the agreement, then we tie the knot for good. That had come and
gone. We should have been married by now.

Shawn's voice echoed through my head,
"You can't have your cake and eat it, too."

Chills ran down my spine. I was pining
after one man, who was leading me straight to the only man I never
wanted to see again. And I was dragging everyone left in the world
I cared for with me.

"This is so stupid," I said
aloud.

"Stupid!" Bee repeated gleefully.
"Stupid basherd!"

"That's it," Alex said. I heard him
plunge his oar into the water and the entire canoe lurched toward
the bank. He whistled, motioning for the boats ahead and behind to
do the same. "Quick break," he yelled at them.

Once the bow hit soil, he jumped out
and jerked the canoe to shore. He threw his oar back into the boat,
narrowly missing Susan's head.

"Hey!" she shouted.

He took a deep breath. He was pissed.
"I’m sorry. Could you please take Bee to use the restroom while I
talk to Kaitlyn for a minute?"

Oh, crap.

Susan lifted Bee out of the boat, and
started for the woods.

Bee started to squirm. "Fishies! I
want to see fishies!"

Susan started to point out different
tree species, making it seem far more interesting than it really
was. I had to give her credit. No matter how much Alex and I
treated her as a punching bag, she was always great with
Bee.

Another canoe came ashore, the women
gravitating toward Bee. "Wanna sing a song, little
miss?"

"Yes," Bee squeaked. "Stupid basherd
song!"

I cringed, watching the group walk off
into the woods. After they disappeared, I turned to Alex and
crossed my arms, "What?"

He waited for two more canoes to come
ashore and their occupants to disappear into the woods before
speaking, "Do you remember when you first came to the Chakra? You
were a brand new addition to our team that had been together for
years. You hadn't even known you had powers until we told you. But
within months, you had us all standing behind you – willing to do
anything for you."

"Except one," I mumbled.

He rolled his eyes. "Besides Shawn."
He picked up a rock and skipped it across the river while we waited
for the last of the boats to pull in. "And with the Athame, full of
Shades. You had your own little army right there in the blade,
teaching you to do more things than any Gaia in
history."

I stayed silent, willing him to make
his point.

"Which brings us to Easter Island.
When we found you there, the entire island was standing ready to
fight for you."

"For Bee," I corrected him.

"For
both
of you. Then your triumphant
return to the Chakra turned out to be not so triumphant. But you
worked at it, and won each Elemental over in your own way. In a way
Susan, Micah, and I hadn't been able to do ourselves. What I'm
trying to say, is if all of this has taught you anything – it
should be to have confidence in yourself. Cut the bad mood, quit
wishing Micah were here, and act like the Gaia you really
are!"

By now, Alex's fists were clenched
tight by his side.

I sighed. "Alex, I know I can do this
– that isn't the problem. I just…"

"What?" he asked.

"I just don't
want
to do it by myself.
I mean, I know I have you and Susan, but I need more. I need
Micah." I kicked at the rocks at my feet. "I'm…you know, lonely.
It's like this empty feeling in my chest that won't go
away."

He put his hand on my shoulder.
"You'll get him. But let him do his thing – let him help you in his
own way. Deal?"

I didn’t respond.

He lifted my chin up with the crook of
his finger. "Come on, Katie. Is it a deal?" he asked, raising his
eyebrows.

I smiled. "Deal."

"Good. Now let's go find Bee. I think
she's this way. I hear curse words."

I laughed, letting him lead. He was
better at spotting the infamous three leafs and red tinted stem of
poison ivy than I was. We walked to a group of three women,
clapping their hands and stomping their feet in rhythm. One sang a
country western song. Susan stood off to the side, stretching out
her limbs and watching the show.

I walked around the women and found
Bee in front of them, squat-dancing in time to their music. She
kept with the beat, but about the only dance move she had thus far
mastered was bending her knees, then straightening them again.
She'd mix it up a little by throwing her hands over her head for a
few squats.

"Mommy, watch!" she squealed when she
saw me.

"I see you, honey. Very good!" I began
clapping my hands, joining the circle of the other
women.

Bee looked up at me, a proud smile on
her face that matched mine.

"Wait." Susan walked into the circle,
raising her voice to be heard above us. "What is that?"

"It's our insane rhythmic beat," I
said, stomping my feet now.

"You have no rhythm, Kaitlyn!" she
shouted back. She wasn't teasing, her eyebrows were furrowed and
lips pursed, the way she always did when she was
concerned.

I stopped stomping and clapping, and
noticed the ground vibrating beneath me. "Stop – stop!" I yelled at
the women.

They abruptly stopped their routine,
looking at me confused.

"Something’s happening."

"Earth magic," one of them said. "But
not from me."

"Me either," the other two chimed
in.

"No, no. It's from Bee." All of us
looked down at her. She had given up her squat dancing and was now
spinning in circles, expending all of her pent up energy from being
stuck in a canoe for days on end.

"Bee, honey. Come here – give mommy a
hug."

She ignored me, continuing to
spin.

"Bee, stop it now." I used my stern
voice, lowering it a pitch.

Bee stopped and looked at me. Her
lower lip quivered, embarrassed to be chastised in front of an
audience.

Crap, if she throws a fit
now, the earth vibrations might get worse.

I took a step toward her, tripped on a
tree root, and fell smack onto my face. Now I had the audience. I
rolled over onto my back, groaning and feeling my nose to make sure
it wasn't bleeding.

Bee laughed. "Stupid
Bashterd!"

The rest joined in her
laughter.

Susan helped me up whispering, "Nice
save."