The Gossamer Crown: Book One of The Gossamer Sphere (21 page)

The North Sea

The message reverberated in Zach’s skull, and even after it faded away his head felt like he’d just embraced a ten-foot-tall speaker at a rock concert.  He heard excited murmurs from the crowd and opened his eyes.  Above them, the sky blossomed with all the colors of the rainbow.    He was horrified that he’d ever closed his eyes when he saw Caitlin lying prone on the deck.  At first he didn’t know whether she’d been attacked or if the effort of contacting the sphere had been too much for her.

He crouched down next to her and she stirred.  Gently, he turned her over and sighed in relief when she blinked.  Lizbeth, too, knelt down beside her as Caitlin looked silently up at the sky as if enchanted.  Every once in a while she inhaled deeply and let it out in a long breath.  After several minutes, she said, “Kevin.”

Kevin?
  Not quite what Zach expected her to say at such an auspicious moment.  Maybe she simply wanted the three of them with her.  A flash of fear shot through him – she wasn’t dying, was she?

He craned his neck, looking for Kevin, who had been standing right next to him but had disappeared.  Then he spotted him, or what he could see of him – his backside – as he leaned over the far rail and retched.  “He’s a little indisposed.”

“Did we do it?” Lizbeth asked.

Caitlin started to sit up, and Zach helped her.  She took the crown from her curls and placed it back in its box.  “Help me up.”

Seamus came forward and between them, they got Caitlin to her feet.  Zach heard people on both sides of the ship calling to those lining the aisles, “She’s alright.  She’s okay!”  Some applauded.

“I think it worked,” Caitlin said with a weak smile.  “I hope it worked.”

“How will we know?” Seamus asked.

She raised an arm and pointed.  Kevin had just turned from the rail.  His shaggy hair hung into eyes that had gone blood red again.  A collective gasp rose from the people close enough to see him.

“Ask Kevin,” Caitlin said.

By now Zach was used to being confused.  Why did Caitlin think Kevin had the answer?  He saw Kevin shield his eyes from the brilliance of the light show above them before staggering over to Caitlin.  “Ask me what?”

“You broke through.  Did you receive a reply?”

Zach was flabbergasted.  All that talk of da zhuang, and the dwarf with no personality had been the most powerful of them all.

“No.  I’m not sure if I will,” Kevin muttered, hand still covering his eyes.

Bill Masters and the captain of the ship pushed through the crowd.  Bill gave Seamus a hard look and the shapeshifter relinquished his place next to Caitlin so Bill could support her.

“USGS is reporting complete cessation of the earthquakes,” he announced.  “Starting about ten minutes ago.”

Zach thrust his arms in the air and yelled, “
Yeah
!” as the crowd erupted in frenzied cheering.  Lizbeth threw herself into his arms and he lifted her in the air.  If there’d been more room, he would have spun her around, but as it was, he settled for rocking her back and forth.  Her delighted laughter in his ear was quite possibly the most wonderful sound he’d ever heard. 

He set her down, wide grin fading as he noticed Caitlin’s pallor.  She was not laughing or crying like so many of the people surrounding her.  Neither was Kevin.  In fact, Kevin looked worse than he had at Felicity’s house.

“Seamus,” Zach said, catching the shapeshifter’s attention.  “We need to get them inside.”

Seamus nodded.  The aurora in the sky had almost faded away by the time Zach, Lizbeth, Seamus and Bill herded Caitlin and Kevin through the rambunctious throng into a lounge area Zach hadn’t seen before.  They sat them on two stiff grey couches while Lizbeth ran to fetch cold drinks.  Caitlin held the triskele box on her lap, looking dazed.  Kevin slumped down, eyes closed, one hand in his pocket.

Zach realized that Kevin’s hand had been in his pocket throughout the entire saving-the-world undertaking.

He grabbed Kevin’s shoulder and gave him a little shake.  “You have the nugget, don’t you, bro?”

Kevin sighed and pulled his hand out.  The lump of metal sat in the middle of his palm.

“What is that?”  Bill asked.

Caitlin said, “
That
is why you are not a shapeshifter.”

Bill’s frown slowly changed to a scowl.  He gaze shifted from the silvery nugget to Kevin’s bright red eyes.  “How stupid of me.”

“The end result is that you were protected,” Caitlin said.

“Protected from what?  From you?  Is that what you want, Caitlin, to stop me from becoming like you so I don’t
become
like you?”

“That doesn’t make sense-”

“It makes perfect sense!”  Bill was practically shouting now, and Zach moved into position to intercept him should he make the bad decision to get physical.  “You’ve been alive too long.  You’re heartbroken a dozen times over.  I get that.  You wake up every morning because you have a driving purpose.  Guard the crown, find the crown, use the Goddamn crown to save the world.  You know what’s wrong with that picture?  The crown doesn’t love you back.”

Seamus stepped closer and held out his arm, “Brother, this isn’t the time or place-”

“To be betrayed?”  Bill snapped.  “You got that right.”

“You would have died if Kevin hadn’t taken the iridium,” Caitlin said quietly.

Bill carried on as if she hadn’t spoken.  “What are you going to do now?  Now that the crown is safe and the world is safe and you have a bunch of new recruits to help you stave off the next crisis?  Maybe…” his voice dropped, “…you could let yourself
feel
something.”

He stalked to the door, throwing over his shoulder, “We’re heading back to the coast.  Have these people ready to debark as soon as we arrive.”

After he was gone, Caitlin sat staring at the carpet while everyone waited in respectful silence for the awkward moment to pass.  She let out a faint sigh, opened the triskele box and said to Kevin, “Hand it over.” 

He reluctantly dropped the nugget in.

Lizbeth rushed back in carrying two bottles of water.  “What’d I miss?”

East of England

During the entire trip back to the coast, Lizbeth stayed with Caitlin, Zach and Kevin in the lounge.  Despite Caitlin’s exhaustion and the head wound that had to hurt, she spoke individually or in small groups with the men and women who’d come out of hiding to offer their services.  They lined up in the corridor for the privilege.  Caitlin’s rigid posture and serene countenance made her seem like a queen receiving her subjects.  They certainly treated her like royalty.  Caitlin calmly accepted their effusive gratitude and pointed out repeatedly that she couldn’t have done it without help.

After the dismal failure at Simon’s house, Lizbeth could attest to that.  She was still in shock that their efforts had paid off this time, and it especially floored her that Kevin and his iridium nugget had been the catalyst.  She kept sneaking looks his way.  Since relinquishing the nugget, the redness in his eyes had faded, but he still had dark half-circles under them.  He hadn’t contributed to any of the conversations unless he was asked a direct question, and even then his response was short and dull.

Zach was the one who chimed in now and then, usually with a comment designed to make everyone laugh.  Kevin finally excused himself to go rest in his cabin.

News from the ship’s bridge periodically filtered down to the lounge.  The world’s leading scientists, who’d been scrambling to explain the devastation, were now equally puzzled that it stopped so abruptly.  They could come up with no plausible scenario that linked the different phenomena:  the earthquakes, volcanoes and auroras, the magnetic field switch, and the violent subspace storm that had incinerated so many satellites in the atmosphere.  Under pressure to produce a theory, some chalked the events up to “chaotic coincidence” – bad things sometimes
do
happen simultaneously.  Lizbeth didn’t blame them.  If she hadn’t been right in the thick of it, her wildest imaginings wouldn’t have conjured up the real reason.

The ship arrived off the coast of England late at night, but Bill insisted everyone disembark.  Groups of sleepy people, including Seamus, were loaded into dinghies and dropped on the beach nearest the pier.  Caitlin protested, but Bill informed her that if there was any chance the authorities didn’t know he’d commandeered the ship, he was going to prevent them from finding out.

“Besides,” he told her, “if they do know, or if they find out before we can get everyone off the ship, whoever is on board will be quarantined along with me and the crew.  You want to spend however long it takes them to figure out what killed those scientists living on this tin can with me?”

He said, “I thought not,” before Caitlin even answered.  Lizbeth felt sorry for him.  He was being a jerk, but she saw through it as a cover for the raw emotions right under the surface.  Caitlin had not only rejected him, but done it in a humiliating way.  Felicity said that Caitlin preferred to fight her battles alone to protect the people she loved.  It looked like sometimes going it alone
hurt
the people she loved.

Lizbeth looked at Zach.  He’d dozed off with his head bent backward on top of the couch, Adam’s apple protruding.  She thought about his grandfather, who’d committed suicide after Zach’s grandmother grew old and died.

“Caitlin?”

Both Bill and Caitlin turned.

“Since I’m a – a shapeshifter now, does that mean I’m going to outlive everyone I know?”

Caitlin looked at Bill.

“We can be killed, deliberately or by accident, but we don’t grow old.  We are rarely blessed with children, and the blessing is in the rarity.  Our precious ones are babies one day, friends the next, and before we know it, they’re gone – just like that.  Every time you lose someone, your heart shrinks a little more until it’s as small and hard as a pebble in your chest and you wonder how it could possibly keep beating.”

Lizbeth marveled that anyone could deliver such passionate words in such a dispassionate tone.

Bill touched Caitlin’s cheek.  “Even the smallest heart needs love.”

“But isn’t always capable of returning it.”

“I don’t believe that.”

Caitlin closed her eyes and said softly, “Please.”

He took her hand and pulled her to her feet.

Lizbeth looked away, but heard him say, “Please what?  Please leave you to wallow in your loneliness?  Is that what you really want?”

“I want…to stop having to start over,” Caitlin’s voice was choked with tears.  “I want it to last.”

“It will last as long as it lasts.  All I can promise you is that while it lasts, it will be amazing.”

Caitlin uttered a small laugh, the kind of laugh Lizbeth knew came out against a person’s will.  Then she sniffed and said, “That’s some promise.”

Lizbeth thought it was safe to look over, but caught them just as Bill lifted the much-smaller Caitlin up into a tight embrace.  She looked away quickly, but not before noticing Caitlin’s ardent response.

 Lizbeth hid a smile even though there was no one to see.

The Isle of Wight

After everyone but Caitlin, Kevin, Zach and Lizbeth left the ship, Bill had the captain of the scientific drilling vessel set course for the Isle of Wight.  Before Kevin had gone to his cabin, Bill was justifiably furious with Caitlin and not inclined to be generous, so he wondered how she’d convinced him to take yet another risk for them. 

It was still mostly dark when Bill brought them to shore in one of the dinghies.  In the dim glow from the approaching sunrise, Kevin unwillingly witnessed Caitlin slip into Bill’s arms in a passionate embrace.

Love
, Kevin thought,
will make a man take chances
.

“I’ll come to you,” Caitlin said, giving Bill a tremulous smile.  “Fare well.”

Her car wasn’t waiting for them in the parking lot this time.  She chose a nondescript green sedan, waited while Lizbeth picked the lock, and told them, “Don’t leave any fingerprints.”  She parked it about a half-mile away from Felicity’s house and they walked the rest of the way.

In the muted light of early morning, no one would guess Felicity’s hulking stone house was a veritable kaleidoscope on the inside.  Kevin took note of the strange car parked in the drive as he walked with Caitlin, Zach and Lizbeth to the front door.  Caw flew to a lamp post and perched atop it, calling out a raucous challenge to the local birds.

Before Caitlin could lift the brass door knocker, Kevin threw an arm out to block her.

“Something’s wrong,” he whispered.

“Do you think you could be more specific with these warnings?” Zach asked.

Kevin shushed him, but it was too late.  The door opened and he was suddenly face-to-face with the barrel of a pistol.

“Put your hands in the air, all of you!”

Kevin obeyed, stepping back as the gunman advanced on them.  Two police officers, one male, one female, ordered them down on the ground.  Kevin kneeled on the gravel and looked at Caitlin.  She set the triskele box down near the bushes and stepped away from it before lying down.  In his head, he heard her clearly, “
Do nothing
!”

He tried to respond, tried to telepathically tell her, “
Change
! 
Shapeshift into someone else while they can’t see your face
!” but he wasn’t sure if he’d done it right because she either didn’t hear him, or chose not to.

The male officer stood over her and asked, “Caitlin O’Connor?”

“Yes.”

He knelt and cuffed her before hauling her up.  “You’re under arrest for escape and kidnapping.”

“Kidnapping?” Lizbeth and Zach exclaimed together.

Felicity appeared in the doorway.  She shook her head at Caitlin as if to say, “I had no choice.”

Kevin saw Caitlin give her a sad, understanding sort of smile.

“Wolfdogge?” Felicity asked.

“I’m sorry, Grandmother.”

Felicity nodded.

The officer marched Caitlin to his unmarked vehicle and tucked her inside.

The female officer went over to Lizbeth and asked, “Are you Miss Moreau?  I’m Officer Bennett.”

Kevin expected her to begin cuffing them all.  Instead, the front door opened wider and an attractive black woman rushed out, hands clasped in front of her mouth.  In a distinctive New Orlean’s accent, she cried, “Lizbeth!  Thank God you’re safe.”

From her prone position in the gravel a few feet away from Kevin, Lizbeth’s eyes went wide.  “
Mom
?”

The male officer, hand on his weapon as he eyed Zach and Kevin, helped Lizbeth up.  “Is this your daughter, Mrs. Moreau?”

With a sob, Lizbeth’s mother swept her into a fierce hug.

“For the record, Moreau is her maiden name,” Felicity said.

Mrs. Moreau turned her head and snapped, “And if it weren’t for you and your crazy family, I wouldn’t have had to use it, or to hide out gutting fish for a living!”

“What?” Lizbeth asked weakly.

Her mother stepped back, hands on Lizbeth’s shoulders.  “What nonsense did Caitlin fill your head with?”

“It’s not nonsense,” Lizbeth began, but Mrs. Moreau’s delicate features, so like and yet unlike Lizbeth’s, twisted with rage.  She pointed at Caitlin in the back of the police car.

“
You stay away from my daughter
!”

“Don’t worry, ma’am,” Officer Bennett said, patting her on the back.  “She won’t escape a second time.”

The officers allowed Zach and Kevin to get up and began questioning Lizbeth about her supposed abduction.  Kevin flashed back to the young police officer who’d detained them in London and reacted so strongly to her ID.  He
had
recognized her face, but not, as they’d all supposed, because the police thought they were Caitlin’s terrorist associates.  The police officer realized who Lizbeth was because her mother had reported her missing, claiming Caitlin had abducted her.  Kevin realized something else:  Len knew Caitlin had been arrested on terrorist charges because he and Simon were the ones who turned her in in the first place.  They needed to get her out of the way while they figured out what to do with the crown.  Simon had been aboard
The
Gossamer,
the ship whose mission Griffey secretly funded, so he had to know who and what Griffey was.  Len and Simon would have anonymously called the Chief Inspector because he was the one person they knew had the power, and the desire, to control Caitlin.  Their mistake was in underestimating the time it would take for Caitlin to escape and figure out their involvement.

Lizbeth categorically denied being abducted, saying, “I ran away.  Caitlin is my grandmother and I wanted to get to know her.  She didn’t do anything wrong.”

“And these boys?”

“They had nothing to do with any of it,” Lizbeth said, looking down.

Officer Bennett took Mrs. Moreau aside, but Kevin heard her tell Lizbeth’s mother that as long as Lizbeth claimed to have run away, they couldn’t file kidnapping charges.  “But Ms. O’Connor will certainly be charged for escaping jail, and we’ll be questioning her about a recent triple homicide and our missing Chief Inspector, who was the original arresting officer.”

Before the officers got into their cruiser, they assured Mrs. Moreau they’d send a car to take her and Lizbeth to the ferry landing.

And then Caitlin was gone.  Kevin, Zach and Lizbeth watched the car until it disappeared around a bend in the road.  From his perch on the lamp post, Caw let out a plaintive cry that echoed throughout the neighborhood.

“I know you’re angry, Annabelle,” Felicity said, “but at least come inside to wait.  Let the kids say their goodbyes.”

“I’d rather eat gator scat.  Lizbeth – let’s go.”

Lizbeth backed away when her mother reached for her, staring into her face with an uncomprehending look.  “How could you do this to me?”

Mrs. Moreau tried again to grab Lizbeth’s arm.  “We’ll discuss who did what to whom on the trip back home.”

“No!  I’m not going back to Alaska.  I hate it there!”

“You’ll do as I say, young lady!  You’re my responsibility until you’re eighteen, and until that day, I’ll do everything in my power to keep your grandmother – either of them – from corrupting you.”

Lizbeth’s eyes narrowed and her face hardened. “Corrupting me like this?”

Kevin knew Lizbeth had been traumatized the first time she’d shapeshifted, but this time it looked as if she’d mastered the process.  As her arms became claws and wings grew from her shoulders, her mother backed away, tripping over her own feet and landing on her backside in the gravel.  Lizbeth held the griffin visage, looking rather ridiculous dressed in jeans and Werka’s oversized sweatshirt, for maybe ten seconds before shifting back.  She directed a satisfied look toward her mother.

Mrs. Moreau scrambled to her feet.  Kevin expected her to blubber in shock, but she surprised him.  “I see you take after your father.  Fair enough.  I didn’t want you to learn about any of that.  I wanted you to have a normal life.  Your birthday is less than four months from now.  You can choose what you want to do after that.  Right now, you’re coming home with me.  Say goodbye to your friends.”

She crossed her arms and walked away down the drive.  Kevin heard the crunch of tires on the gravel.  Mrs. Moreau stopped next to a car and spoke to the driver through the passenger window.

The sun finally made its appearance, beaming weak rays of light through a thin layer of hazy clouds.  The tears in Lizbeth’s eyes shimmered, but didn’t fall.  She stretched her arms out, one toward him and one toward Zach.  Kevin moved in for a three-way hug, and they held each other for a long moment.

“We’ll see each other again soon,” Zach said, kissing her on top of the head.  “You can be sure of that.”

“I can’t believe it’s ending this way,” she said.

“How did you expect it to end?” Kevin asked.

Lizbeth produced a weak laugh.  “Parades and accolades?  No one even knows what we did.  My reward is to go back to frigid Alaska, back to work at wonderful Clowntastic Pizza.”

“You work there?” Zach asked in a teasing voice.  “I loved that place when I was a kid.  Sing the song!”

“No!”  Her laugh was stronger this time as she pushed him away and took a half-hearted swipe at him.

“Oh, you’ll sing it for me someday, Missy.”

Lizbeth’s mother called out for her to hurry.  Lizbeth went to give Felicity a quick hug.  Felicity patted her on the back.  “You’ll be fine, dearie.  And you’re always welcome here, remember that.”

Lizbeth pulled away, fully crying now.  Kevin felt an answering sting in his eyes, but he’d be damned if he was going to bawl in front of Zach.

“Don’t forget this,” Felicity said.  She retrieved the triskele box and handed it to her.

Lizbeth looked down at it with a dejected sigh.  “Tell her I’ll keep it safe.”

Felicity chuckled.  “You can probably tell her yourself soon enough.  This is Caitlin we’re talkin’ about.”

Lizbeth’s footsteps were heavy as she walked to the car where her mother waited.  She gave them all a half-wave as her face crumpled.  Looking up at the sky through her tears, she said, “’Bye Caw.”

For the second time that morning, Kevin watched a car carry someone he loved away from him.