Fort Morgan (13 page)

“
What’s happening?” Sandy
asked.

The serpent looked at Sandy before nodding
to Delphie.

“
They were protected from
every foe,” Delphie said in a low reverential voice. “They made
their home in this volcano for warmth and protection. They never
saw it coming.”

“
What?” The serpent’s
voice was so loud that Sandy gasped and jumped back from him. “What
did we miss? What is this, Oracle? And don’t tell me
it’s
a natural
volcanic cycle, because we both know that’s not true.”

“
The volcano is not
erupting,” the serpent said.

“
It looks like it is,”
Sandy said.

The serpent’s one eye gave Sandy a hard look
before turning to Delphie.

“
No, you’re right,”
Delphie said. “The volcano wouldn’t have erupted for another
thousand years. You would have been well prepared for
it.”

“
What is happening?” the
serpent asked. “Who did this to us?”

Delphie’s eyebrows furrowed over her worried
eyes.

“
Did the fairies do this?”
the serpent asked. His voice rose with rage.

“
No.” Delphie shook her
head.

“
Dragons?” The serpent’s
voice was filled with such loathing that Sandy instinctively
shuddered.

“
They’re fighting against
this,” Delphie said. She pointed to the air where four or five
brightly colored dragons flew overhead. “Watch.”

A dragon gave a powerful
pulse of its wings before tucking them to its sides. The dragon
dropped through the opening of the bowl, only to be pushed out
by
an eruption
of lava spiking up into the air. The dragon screamed with
frustration and flew out of the bowl.

“
They’ve been trying to
get in as long as I’ve been standing here,” Delphie
said.

“
They are our enemies,”
the serpent said.

“
Enemy or not, they are
trying to save you,” Delphie said.

“
Who then?” the serpent
asked. “How is this happening?”

Delphie gave a slight shake of her head.
Sandy saw tears well in her eyes.

“
All we can do is bear
witness,” Delphie said.

The serpent roared with
raw pain. A mother serpent was pushed out of a cave across the bowl
from them. She had five small serpents on her back. She tried to
fly but was knocked out of the air when an enormous piece of molten
rock came loose from the wall. The rock hit her squarely on the
back and knocked her out of the air. Frantic to save her babies,
she flipped over onto her back. She landed on her back with her
children on her belly. The babies tried to fly from their mother’s
stomach. One at
a
time
, they
were knocked into the burning lava
. The
final baby serpent
lay down
with its head near its
mother’s
. They sank together into
oblivion.

Sandy felt tears fall from her eyes. Delphie
put her arm around Sandy’s shoulders.

“
My heart is breaking,”
Delphie whispered to herself.

“
We are not the disgusting
creatures you imagined?” the serpent asked.

“
Just because you’re not
our friends, doesn’t mean any of us would
want . . .
this,”
Sandy said.

“
Yes.” The serpent’s voice
held so much sorrow that Delphie turned to look at him.

“
So ends the serpent,”
Delphie said.

The lava kept coming. The
dragons continued to try to get into
the bowl
to save the serpents. Each
time they entered, the heat, ash, and lava pushed them
out.

Feeling movement behind
her, Sandy turned to see Heather. Tanesha and Jill trailed behind
her. Heather fell to her knees at the edge of the cave. The lava
had risen to where it was
lapping
against the opening to the
cave. Heather put her hands down on the hot, molten rock. With her
touch, the rock began to cool.

“
Only love,” Heather said.
She looked up at Sandy. “Join me.”

Sandy dropped down to her knees next to
Heather. Tanesha and Jill dropped down on the other side of
her.

“
Only love,” Sandy said
after Heather.

“
Love,” Tanesha
said.

“
Only love,” Jill
yelled.

“
What are they doing?” the
serpent asked Delphie.

“
They are bringing peace,”
Delphie said.

“
Focus,” Heather
said.

“
Only love!” Tanesha
yelled.

“
Only love!” Heather
repeated.

Jill and Sandy called out in unison. They
repeated the call until a faint yellow light grew around them.

“
Keep it up!” Delphie
said.

Their light grew in power
and intensity until the
entry
way
to the cave was lit up. When the lava
hit the light of their love, the lava turned to hardened rock.
There was a subtle hissing sound as the light moved across the
bowl. All of the pain, loss, and cruelty created in the Sea of
Amber was released at the lava’s contact with their light. Steam
filled the bowl.

Through the steam, the
dragons dove into the volcanic bowl. They killed dying serpents
with a blast of fire and dragged living serpents from the cooling
lava. Delphie pointed to a dark olive green serpent held in the
claws of a large
grey
dragon. The battered serpent next to her watched
intently.

“
I never knew how I got
out of there,” the serpent said.

“
So, some of you
survived?” Delphie asked.

“
Only a few,” the serpent
said. “You killed two of them in Colorado.”

“
And now?” Delphie
asked.

The serpent shook his head.

“
How did this happen,
Oracle?” the serpent asked. “How?”

“
It’s a combination of a
number of things,” Delphie said. She turned away from the struggle
in front of her to look at the serpent. “You know what caused
this.”

“
Tell me!” the serpent
ordered.

Delphie shook her head. The serpent rose up
in front of Delphie. Sandy and Tanesha rushed to block him. They
stood in front of Delphie.

“
We won’t let anything
happen to her,” Tanesha said.

Delphie put a hand on Tanesha’s shoulder and
another on Sandy’s. She gently pushed them apart and stepped
through.

“
I cannot tell you what
you do not want to know,” Delphie said.

“
Tell me!” The serpent’s
voice reflected sorrow and desperation.

“
The serpents’ destruction
is caused by three powerful forces — nature and the rising tides,
human greed in the form of oil exploration, and more importantly,
the consequences of the Sea of Amber. The serpents imprisoned too
many important, powerful beings in jails of their own self-loathing
and shame. Once freed, they turned these primal feelings into
power. This is the power they have used to destroy the
serpents.”

The serpent leaned his head back and
roared.

“
Why did you hold so many
people for so long?” Delphie asked.

“
It was our role, our
culture,” the serpent said. “The Sea of Amber has existed since
this world was created. It calls to the vulnerable — artists,
writers, and sensitives. Most people were lost in their own despair
long before they came to live in the Sea of Amber. How is that our
fault?”

“
And the rest of those
stuck in the amber?” Delphie asked. She stood a little taller and
the serpent moved back.

The serpent refused to answer.

“
This has the distinct
odor of Olympia,” Heather said.

The serpent’s head jerked to look at
her.

“
I think Delphie’s right,”
Heather said. “This happened in response to capturing and holding
Zeus. What did you expect?”

“
We never expected for him
to get free!” the serpent said. “You have killed us
all!”

The serpent rose up as if to attack them. He
lunged forward, and Delphie jumped back. Then suddenly, the serpent
deflated like a balloon. While they watched, the serpent’s skin
dried up and crumbled. A hot, ash-filled wind blew the serpent dust
away.

“
The end of the serpents,”
Delphie said. “Let’s hope their demise doesn’t bring about the end
of everything.”

Tanesha patted Delphie’s back.

“
Can we go home now?” Jill
asked. “Heather’s close
and . . .
”

They were transported to a private suite on
the maternity ward at Saint Joseph’s hospital, only a few floors
down from where Blane was recovering. Heather was lying in bed.
Tanesha found herself holding Heather’s hand while Sandy and Jill
coached from the other side. Jacob was standing in front of a
laptop computer, which was resting on a side table.

“
There he is!” Jacob said,
and stepped aside.

Blane’s face lit up the screen.

“
Blane!” Heather yelled.
“You made it!”

“
Wouldn’t miss it for the
world!” Blane said. “Now, where are our
contractions
?”

“
Every two minutes,”
Tanesha said.

“
We’re in good shape,”
Blane said.

Delphie came into the room with a dozen
roses. She grinned at them.

“
I’m going to head up to
stay with Blane,” Jacob said.

He kissed Jill and left the suite. Jill got
up to hug Delphie.

“
Will the serpents
be
restored when
the child is born?” Jill asked in a low voice.

“
The serpents are beyond
our help now,” Delphie said. “They are lost to the
world.”

“
They kept their
agreement,” Sandy said.

“
They did,” Delphie said.
“We still don’t know about the financier.”

“
We don’t,” Tanesha said.
“Do you?”

“
I know something,”
Delphie said. “But not something that should stop what’s happening
today.”

“
What’s happening today?”
Sandy asked.

“
Today, we welcome another
member of our tribe,” Delphie said with a smile. “Just rest now. It
will be a while.”

Heather nodded.

“
What was that?” Blane
asked.

“
Delphie said it would be
a while,” Heather said.

“
Good to know,” Blane
said. “Let’s go through our happy delivery meditation. “

Hearing a sound, they looked up to see
Delphie leaving the room. Before they could say anything, Blane
called each of them by name.

“
Let’s start our
meditation. Jill? Sandy? You’re an integral part of this team!
Tanesha? Are you ready?” Blane asked. The women shot each other
amused looks. “Deep breath in. . .”

~~~~~~~~

Thursday morning — 8:17 a.m.

Phoenix, Arizona

“
Is this it?” Rodney
asked.

He held up a small overnight bag. Yvonne
looked over at him from where she stood in front of the mirror.

“
Dionne has the larger
bag,” Yvonne said with a smile.

“
I was going to
say. . .” Rodney said.

“
You’d better watch what
you say, Mr. Smith,” Dionne said from the main room in the
suite.

Rodney laughed.

“
We only brought the
little travel bag,” Yvonne said. “But
then. . .”

She nodded to Rodney. They went out into the
main room of the suite.

“
We did a little shopping
here in Phoenix,” Dionne said.

“
I see that,” Rodney
said.

He reached down for the Louis Vuitton
shopping bag. Dionne scowled at him for a moment. He smiled, and
she let him take the bag.

“
You can afford it,”
Dionne said.

She opened the door to the hallway. They
followed her out of the suite.

“
We’ve been here a long
time!” Yvonne said.

“
I’m glad you had some
fun,” Rodney said with a smile.

Dionne nodded in approval of his words and
turned down the hallway. He chuckled. Yvonne slipped her hand into
his elbow and they followed Dionne to the elevator. Dionne pressed
the button.

“
Have you heard from
Tanesha?” Rodney asked.

“
She called to say that
Heather was in labor,” Yvonne said.

“
She’s been pregnant
forever,” Rodney said.

“
I don’t think so,” Dionne
said.

Rodney looked up at the ceiling to keep from
groaning.

“
Are you. . .?”
Rodney asked.

“
I’m pissed off, Rodney.”
Dionne looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “This bastard is
going to get off. I just know it! And all those kids. . .
All the boys who were stupid enough to buy the videos, all those
precious. . .”

Dionne’s eyes welled with tears, and she
swallowed the last of her sentence. She stared at the elevator for
a moment before turning to Rodney with her index finger pointed
like a dagger at his chest.