Water (15 page)
I put my elbow in the sling. "That works, I guess." I shrugged then winced in pain again.
Micah shook his head. "You’re hopeless."
We continued walking and before I knew it, we had ended up in a part of the garden that was new to me. We sat down on a bench surrounded by blooming Cherry Blossoms. I looked up at them. An occasional gust of warm wind came through, catching white and pink petals that made several circles around us until they finally settled on the ground.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, enjoying myself, until a very distinct tickle snapped me out of my stupor. "Stop that!" I sat up quickly and grimaced at the pain that shot through my shoulder.
"So you can feel that?" Micah studied my face.
"Yes, I can." We both sat in silence until I spoke again, nearly snapping at him. "Did you find out what you wanted to know?"
"How do you know what I was doing?"
"I don’t know, I just…know."
"Well, to answer your question, there wasn’t much going on in there." He moved his foot before I could stomp on it. "But I did get the short version of what happened in Shawn’s room." I didn’t say anything. "You know, you can stop me from doing that."
"How?" I sat up a little straighter. What goes on in one’s mind is ultimately private, a person’s true sanctuary, or so I thought.
"You sent me a message earlier, a call for help. The image was somewhat exaggerated…"
"It worked," I said.
"That it did. But you could most likely do the same thing now; send out a signal specifically to me. Something that, for lack of a better term, jams the frequency. Do you want to try?"
"Okay."
"Okay, here I go."
It wasn’t too long before I felt the familiar tickle, and I began to fill my head with white noise and static. I didn’t know what else to send, and his references to electronics gave me the idea. The tickle distracted me to the point where images in my mind came and went, but I kept working at it. Once the static was as big and steady as I could manage, I sent it out, straight at Micah like an arrow.
He immediately doubled over, clutching his ears. He screamed, "Stop! Stop it!"
There was nothing I could stop; the vision was gone. "I’m sorry, I don’t know what to do!"
I stood up and was about to shout for help when he put his hand on me, "No, don’t. It’s gone now."
"Are you okay?"
"My ears are ringing, but I’m all right. It’s my fault, we should have started smaller." He righted himself, shook his head as if to rid it of the remaining bits of static, then gave me a reassuring smile. "You are a quick learner."
"Yes. Not something I’m particularly proud of at the moment." I offered him the rest of my water and he declined mumbling about saving it for whatever other disasters should come my way today.
"Come on, there is something I want to show you." He took my hand and led me further into the gardens, pushing aside branches of the trees as we went. Soon we stepped into a small clearing, an almost perfect circle in the center of thick brush, shrubs and trees. A giant boulder sat in the center, looking out of place. I studied it.
"This," Micah announced proudly, "is the center of the Chakra. A large part of the energy contained within the Chakra resides here. The rock was excavated from underneath this exact spot, about 50 feet underground. Cato believes the rock has some sort of significance; although he has never said what."
"And you?" I asked.
"Not sure, but…"
I watched him. "But what?"
"Animals seem to be attracted to the rock. They manage to chip away pieces."
I moved closer to see dozens of small gashes, scratches, and chunks missing.
"We do our best to keep them away, but critters can be persistent. I came out here once just in time to hear something scurry away. It left some of its loot behind." Micah produced something small from his pocket. He held his hand up close to my face and opened it slowly. A piece of rock, similar to the coloring of the larger boulder beside us, sat in his hand.
I took it from him, running the pad of my finger over its smooth surface. It wasn't rough like the boulder.
Micah shrugged sheepishly, "Many years of rubbing. It keeps me calm. It’s like my good luck charm."
"Oh."
"You can have it."
"Oh, no. It’s obviously, umm, special to you." I tried to hand it back.
"It is special to me, and so are you. That is why I want you to keep it. Besides, you can use a little luck." Just as he placed his hand around my own to push the rock back toward me, a small blue butterfly landed on the rock. It was smaller than the one I’d seen at my saining, but just as beautiful. Micah and I both stared in awe, careful not to breathe and scare away the delicate little insect. I risked a glance to the sky, keeping watch for any more hungry owls.
"See?" Micah whispered in my ear. "There is something about that rock." Our hands, still locked together, were as sturdy as an oak. "One of our former Gaias could send messages, similar to what you do with me, only with animals. The animal would eventually find the intended recipient, or pass on the message to another of their kind until the message was delivered." I cut off my own snort as I mentally discarded the image of kangaroos playing telephone.
How distorted would that message be?
The butterfly stayed a few seconds longer, then fluttered off, disappearing in a swirl of falling cherry blossom petals. I smiled and said in a low, distracted voice, "I think I
will
hang on to this for a while."
He smiled. "Come on, let’s get you something to eat."
By the Book
Micah burst into the library, "Cato!"
A throat cleared from the back of the room, "By the tree, Micah."
Before he even reached Cato, Micah was talking, knocking over stacks of books as he pounded past them. "Do you know what he did to her? I thought we were through with that archaic practice."
Cato patiently waited until Micah came into view, then asked, "You are alone?"
"Kaitlyn is in bed."
"Good. She will need her rest no doubt, with the training schedule you created." Cato set down the book he had been reading. "To answer your question, the Seven is no longer marking Gaias or elementals. But apparently Shawn has taken it upon himself to continue the practice – he admitted to doing so even with Sarah."
Micah crossed his arms, "He has gone too far."
Cato raised one eyebrow, "May I remind you, Ardwyad, that with the fate of a Gaia looming over Kaitlyn's head, what Shawn did pales in comparison."
Micah's flinch did not escape Cato.
Cato narrowed his eyes, "Despite your relations with her, I assure you, Kaitlyn is no different from every other Gaia we've had. Her mission remains the same; as does yours. There can be no deviation."
"Do not preach to me Cato. I can probably recite the doctrine better than you." Despite the bite in his voice, Micah kept his glower planted firmly at Cato's feet.
"Of that, I have no doubt, my boy."
Micah raised his chin, "But Shawn is a loose cannon. He is a danger to us all, and especially to Kaitlyn. If it is my job to protect her—"
Cato held up his hand, effectually interrupting Micah, "Say no more." Cato smiled, looking on approvingly at Micah, "Always on mission."
Micah met Cato's eyes with a hard stare, his jaw set.
Cato cleared his throat again, "I've sent Shawn away to liaison with the Spanish government for our upcoming visit."
"But he'll be back?"
The smile disappeared from Cato's face, "He is your brother, after all."
"But the mission of the Seven supersedes everything else, including family ties." Micah turned to leave, but looked back at Cato, "Like the doctrine says, right Cato?"
Cato was left without words.
As Always
The next couple weeks were more relaxing than any since arriving at the Chakra. According to Micah, Shawn was sent away on temporary hiatus from the Seven, which helped relieve a lot of tension. Still, my shoulder was taking a long time to heal, even with mud treatments. Micah rarely left my side, for which I was thankful. We spent a lot of time talking and I took on a less physically demanding training agenda. Alex trained me on weapons, which consisted of anything I could operate using only my left hand. And, of course, the rest of my time was spent on mental exercises with Micah.
The mental exercises at times were more taxing than physical training, ending with both of us covered in sweat – a real problem considering I couldn’t shower with my shoulder still healing. Micah ran at least two baths for me each day, and developed a time consuming hobby of creating different herb mixtures using a variety of flowers found around the Chakra.
Although we spent most waking moments of the day together, and shared the same bed every night, he kept a respectful distance. He made no more sexual advances, which was fine with me. Our relationship had escalated too quickly. The gap seemed healthy. It allowed us time to get to know each other. We had a similar sense of humor, which I found fortunate. Unfortunately, we also shared a similar sense of competition. After dinner we often played card games to fill the time. Inevitably the loser would spend the rest of the evening sulking. Our only reprieve was when others joined us – Micah and I worked well as a team. The others seldom had a chance.
Micah dealt the cards to a group of four of us as we played spades in the living room. Sitting opposite each other as partners, Micah and I had the advantage in play, letting one another know what was in our hands. It was a mental exercise that we were becoming masters at. Underneath the table we kept our bare feet locked together. It was easier to communicate if we were touching. Our points grew steadily and evenly. Alex was getting more frustrated with each hand and Cato, who only played at my insistence, quickly learned to keep his bids small. I won the hand.
Cato took the cards from Micah, shuffling them before dealing. He pushed the deck to Micah to cut it. "A few more tricks and Micah and Kaitlyn will be at 500 – do you want to go another round?"
"Oh, they have more than just a few tricks." Alex mumbled. "They’re cheating."
"Now, Alex," Cato scolded. "Those who blame their failures on others have only failed themselves."
Alex gave a dismissive grunt. A tickle inside my head meant Micah was trying to send a message. I opened up to it. The corner of my mouth rose slightly, letting him know I understood. At the same time each of us selected all of the spades from our hand and pushed them toward Alex.
As expected, Alex turned bright red and slammed his hand down on the table. Cards scattered across the room. "I don’t need your charity!"
I stifled a giggle and Micah turned away to hide his smile. Cato raised an eyebrow at the two of us, then pushed himself away from the table. He crossed his arms and addressed Alex. "It is just a game, Alex. What exactly is troubling you?"
Alex stood, turned and began walking away.
"Alex." Cato’s voice echoed through the room. Alex stopped in his tracks, reluctantly turning around. He took a couple of deep breaths, then walked back.
"It’s just…" Alex paused and looked at me.
"Yes?" Cato prodded.
"I’m bored. I do nothing all day. Spend maybe an hour a day with Kaitlyn, because Micah keeps coddling her shoulder. You know if we have to ship out soon, she is not going to be prepared. But it’s not just that." Alex paced. "There are no missions to plan, no projects for me to help with, there is nothing for me to do. I feel…useless."
Cato leaned back in his chair and looked Alex over, studying him. Finally he spoke, "I agree. You need something to do. Come see me in my office tomorrow morning, before Kaitlyn’s lesson."
Alex kept looking at Cato, waiting for more of the plan.
Cato, however, was not known for oversharing. "You may excuse yourself now. We could do without another outburst."
Alex threw his hands up in the air and left the room, stomping as he went.
Micah cleared his throat and began cleaning up the mess. I helped by collecting the cards. Cato broke the silence, "You two are getting good at that."
We both paused momentarily to give Cato an innocent ‘
I don’t know what you are talking about’
look.
Cato narrowed his eyes at us. "Don’t give me that. I know what you are up to."
Micah came to our defense, "We have been spending a lot of time on mental exercises. We can’t do much else until Kaitlyn heals. Anyway, her mastery of this particular discipline is more important than any other. If something goes wrong on assignment she has the rest of us to help her out."
Cato raised an eyebrow. "You know that isn’t always the case. Many a time a Gaia has been left fending for herself. Although I will admit, Kaitlyn is quickly becoming one of the most powerful I have seen in my lifetime."
