On The Road Again
Big, fluffy clouds drifted above Eka in a postcard blue sky, a perfect day for selling the benefits of the area. She glanced sideways, from her vaguely lounge chair shaped contraption, at Christelle, then lifted her leg through the dangling plastic strips.
She remembered buying the beach chairs from a thrift store, their bright colors almost shouting at her from inside the dingy shop. And they had brighten up her campsites, and cheerfully held her up above many a questionable campground. After all, she’d had many neighbors with dogs and grass can hide some crazy stuff.
But after a while, with wind throwing the chairs around, and rain corroding their frames, and sun fading their plastic strips, their colorful enthusiasm seemed deflated. Now they sagged at the mere presence of Eka, seeming to have started a slow, unraveling end to their existence. Her chair barely held enough faded plastic strips (strips the indifferent thrift store clerk had mumbled were ‘confetti pink’) on a wobbly aluminum frame, to keep her from falling through. Well, at least her butt, left shoulder, and right foot were solidly above ground. Everything else was a ‘wait and see’ game. Christelle lay face down on her own, previously sky blue ‘lounger’. A luxury version that held tightly to the left foot as well.
Okay, sell the scenery, not the amenities.
“Beautiful day, huh?” Eka asked her.
Would it work?
Christelle lifted her forehead off the ground and stared at Eka before flipping over. “Nice change from rain, yeah.”
A slight snap and the luxury of Christelle’s lounger ended as her left foot hit the ground.
Come on chairs, work with me.
Eka gently tapped her chair with her foot, then blew out a sigh as she scanned the campsite. Off through the trees, glittering bits of light reminded her of the clear, fresh river water. Perfect.
“Hey, how about a swim?”
Christelle opened only one eye this time and seemed to keep the rest of her body still on the chair. Maybe afraid to move. “It’s fifty one degrees. I’m good.”
Eka sprang off the chair, then pulled off her top and shorts, bikini ready. “Come on, the water’s amazing!”
Christelle stared at Eka, seeming to decide on something. She opened her mouth and started to lift herself up, then stopped, stiffened, and rolled off the chair. Another plastic strip sighed and let go.
Christelle glanced at the chair, then shook her head and stood up. “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll go swimming if…” Christelle paused, staring at Eka. She took a deep breath, “If tomorrow morning we finally head to your grandparents.”
Eka’s breath caught and her body rooted to the dirt, heartbeat drumming against the ground.
“I know this is hard,” Christelle squinted at nothing in particular. Maybe a thought? “But we were supposed to be heading there months ago. I mean, traveling with the Tents, was great but we haven’t learned anything else about our abilities. Or what Lintu wants. Why the attacks.”
A familiar darkness flitted through Eka’s memories, pulling and calling her to somewhere. Then the screams followed. Luckily not from her.
“Eka, are you alright?” Christelle took a step toward her, frowning.
Eka wrenched herself forward, stumbling and shaking free of her frozen pose. “Fine, fine. I think I just need to swim.” Feet, somehow attached to her, rushed her body into the trees.
“Eka?” Christelle’s voice trailed behind her. “Hey! We haven’t trained for two months! I mean, I didn’t really think Gaia would show up to train us, but I thought we’d learn more by now!”
Eka kept moving.
Deep breath. Breathe!
“You can’t keep avoiding this!”
“Sure I can.” She whispered to a pine flashing by.
“No you can’t!” Christelle’s voice echoed through the empty campground and into the tree line.
All Christelle’s demands flitted through her memory. Why had she decided a partner would be a good idea?
‘Little plates go on top of big plates.’
‘Leave the seat down.’
‘Clean the dishes when you’re done.’
‘Let’s go to Hawaii now.’
Christelle wasn’t her manager or boss.
“I could just drive off and never look back. See you running after me.”
She mumbled. And smiled at the image.
“Still hear you!”
“Is one of your gifts freaky hearing!”
Eka broke through the trees and slowed, padding across the thinning, quiet pine needles and across the pebbles to the river bank.
Why can’t she just chill? It’s not like Hawaii won’t still be there.
“Still hear you!”
“What? But I wasn’t…”
A splash caught her attention, thoughts gone. In the river, a tiny, scaly fishtail disappeared into the rippling surface. Sunlight bounced off the surface in bits of tiny sparkles, entrancing her to a stop; until the wind lightly caressed her face, waking her from the trance as it tumbled through the leaves and disappeared into rippling trees. And, along with the wind, tension drifted away from her body.
“Hey super-spy, I’m going to swim. If you can hear me, get over here and jump in.”
The late afternoon warmth, being a Northwest warmth, was completely assured of its ability to heat up its Northwest environment. This smugness was reassured by the warming rocks, trees and grass. Unfortunately, a human body, something this particular warmth had never encountered in its hours-long incarnation, was a blazing inferno compared to its little heat and soon its life lesson was learned. Just before it petered out.
Eka shivered a moment as her heat disappeared, but cannonballed in through the chill. Then her body hit the water. And slid into the river as an icy blanket gripped her, the moment slowing down as each nerve inside her shouted an alarm. Above her, sun and sky rippled with the surface. Hanging motionless, the cold settled into her, driving the lingering darkness out of her mind. As she sank to the bottom, her feet wiggled in the river bed muck; muck which commenced to explore every nook and crevice of her toes, as if it had never encountered such a weird object. A moment more and her legs bent, then pushed off, and she rocketed up, sending muck off in all directions. A bit of muck, apparently not done with the exam, pulled at the disappearing feet until there was nothing left to pull, sadly drifting off.
Eka’s skin shimmied through the cool, smooth water until she shot through the surface and into 51 degrees of cold air, pulling air into her aching lungs.
“Woo woo!”
Shivering at the touch of air, she stayed in the somehow not-freezing water, finally settling into a horizontal float along the surface. Clouds puffed overhead, racing in slow motion as, across their surfaces, faces imploded into birds, that contorted into sailing ships. Around her, the breeze continued to whisper through the branches, and an eagle scanned from the top of a fir.
Memories of swimming this river, the Crooked, and the nearby Umpqua, hiking through the Teanaway and Ahtanum, all rushed back. Sema and Win could be in Borneo or Peru, but they always brought her back here, back to their cabin.
And that’s where they were headed. A short pit stop before Hawaii.
But not today.
“Or tomorrow.” She argued to herself. “I mean, I haven’t seen the falls in a while. We could head there first.”
“Are you kidding?” Christelle stood on the bank in her one piece, arms crossed.
Eka sighed and swam to her, crawling out into shiver inducing air.
“What?”
“You want to make a detour? Again?”
“Maybe.” Eka shrugged at the ground then looked up. “I mean, it’s once in a lifetime. The falls are amazing and who knows when we’ll get the chance again.” Her half-smiled struggled to sell it.
Christelle sucked in a breath. “I can’t believe you’re doing this! Every time we’re close, you turn us around!”
Eka started to remind her of the time Christelle wanted to travel to Thor’s Well, convinced it couldn’t exist. And it just happened to be in the opposite direction of Winn’s cabin. But lavender energy pulsed from Christelle and her hair seemed to take that moment to defy gravity.
“Christelle, your…”
“No! You are not distracting me this time!”
Old leaves, twigs, and other forest debris joined the hair in floating around, adding some bobbing moves to show off.
“I’m not.” Eka held her hands up. “But there’s…”
“Every time you say you’re not, we end up further away from the goal! I didn’t sign on for a tour of America! I’m done with screwing around!”
And ground debris rose up and spiraled in the wind, funneling around Christelle’s body.
“Christelle!” Eka pointed at spinning leaves and dirt.
“What?”
Before an explanation left Eka’s lips, wind spun around them, picking Eka and Christelle up and hurling them into the air. Eka, reaching for anything to hold onto and finding nothing, pinwheeled up, then hung for a brief moment far above the landscape.
Float, float! Come on magic!
But she didn’t float, her magic on break, apparently. Instead, the forest hurtled up at her as she, again, hopefully grabbed at nothing, finally meeting the trunk of a pine and bouncing down the rough surface. Hope finally panned out and she managed to catch some branches, clinching them hard, and jerked to a stop halfway down.
A few breaths later, she finally opened her eyes and looked down. At a far away forest floor.
How high up was she? She examined the ground from all her upside down angles. Maybe only one broken leg from the ground? Probably?
Taking her chances on staying in the tree, she pulled both legs up and around a thick branch, then flipped upright.
“Christelle?” Her whisper-shouted question dissipated a few trees away. “Eka?” The answer-question came from below and off to the right. “Hey! I think your gifts are working.” Erratic giggling trailed Eka’s shout.
“Are you okay up there?”
“Just getting to know the locals.” She patted the pine.
“Uh, okay.”
Crunching came closer to the tree, growing louder. “I think I see you.”
Christelle’s voice drifted directly up. “Can you climb down?”
Can I?
A few, tiny branches lay below her, just enough to add scratches to a broken leg. “Not really. Have anything left to get me down?”
A long, quiet moment hung between them.
“No. What about your gifts?”
Eka glanced down again. Could she make it down before the magical kickback happened? She couldn’t even remember how long she had between doing magic and the after effects.
“I haven’t even tried since we left Florida.”
“No time like the present,” Christelle’s response drifted up through the trees.
Her arms were losing their stand against gravity and there was no Waker rescue coming, Christelle or otherwise. She sighed and wrapped her hand around a tiny branch nearby and mumbled. “Fine. Sink or swim.”
It never hurt, the way she seemed to empty herself into the area around her, her energy lighting up the surroundings like a spotlight. At least that’s what it looked like to her and Christelle, a spotlight that shouted ‘Hey Universe, changing things a bit. Thought you could use an upgrade!’
Then the spotlight was gone.
The twig shimmered, then broke from the tree and shot out from both sides. It grew fast, smoothing out, as small offshoots sprung from the growing wood, connecting it to a second long, growing piece of wood and, within a minute, a ladder hung from her hand. She held her creation, like all her creations, without feeling any of its weight, no matter how large or heavy it was. She dropped the bottom on the far off ground, the top against her branch.
“My foot!” Christelle shouted.
“Sorry!”
Even if she couldn’t feel it, it was still heavy.
“No, no. It’s okay.” Christelle squeaked from below. “You did it, yeah.” “Woot woot! I didn’t…” A buzzing sound came from above and she looked up to see the ladder pushing against a beehive. And bees, haloed by yellow energy, spun out and around the hive, moving in wider and wider circles.
“Crap!” She shimmied to the ladder and swung onto it as the buzzing grew louder.
“What?” Christelle shouted up.
“Bees!” Eka felt them brush against her skin and she started sliding, more splinters lodging in her hands and feet. It may be a magical, temporary ladder, but it was definitely wood. Unfortunately.
A few feet from the ground she dropped next to Christelle and sprinted as she yelled. “Angry Bees! Run!”
Christelle bolted after her, and they swerved through trees, as buzzing swirled around them. The bees’ energy rolled around her, angry energy. So angry it was almost palpable, like tiny energy stingers, even as the bees fell behind.
Eka pulled ahead at the camper, leapt up the step, yanked open the door and stumbled in. Without loosing momentum, she grabbed the broom and propelled several attackers out the door and over the dying camp chairs, before Christelle stumbled in, slamming the door behind her.
They’d made it.
They collapsed down, scratching and rubbing at rapidly rising welts.
Apparently, this was bee victory, as the excited buzzing outside seemed to be a celebration.
Then Eka felt it, the itching aftermath of using her magic, which always heralded consequences. The vardo shook, rocking them as she grabbed her stomach in anticipation. But the nausea never came, even as the vardo settled.
Why wasn’t she nauseous? Not that she wanted her stomach roiling, but, what had changed? So…strange.
“Bet the ladder’s gone.” She mumbled, releasing her stomach and scratching a few late-comer welts as magical slivers disappeared from under her skin.
Christelle nodded, rubbing a minefield of welted skin. “Did you see that…energy? Did you feel…”
“Angry energy? Yeah.” Eka checked her clearing skin, the pulsing aches dissipating.
“They were pretty angry.” Christelle narrowed her eyes at Eka. “Or agitated at something. Someone? Know anything?”
Eka shrugged. “Bees can be unpredictable.”
“Uh, huh.”
A soft buzzing still hovered outside, but the party was winding down. Eka pushed herself up from the floor, grinding dozens of real world tree splinters into her palms.
“Holy crap!”
She fell back, lifting her hands to find wooden needles zig-zagging under her skin.
Christelle studied Eka’s hand, then stood up and rummaged through the bathroom supplies, returning with tweezers. “Here.”
“Thanks.” Eka grabbed them and pulled at the pine slivers.
Why can’t they disappear, like the ladder’s?
“Eka, I’m sorry I lost my temper.” Christelle sat next to Eka.
“No worries, we lived.” The tweezers dug into her thumb, dragging out another long slice of wood. “Owww.” She sucked her thumb then glanced at Christelle. “Your magic is getting crazy strong. I mean, you didn’t even break a sweat.”
The twinge of a smile pulled briefly at Christelle’s face. “I know right.” But the smile was attacked by a frown and defeated. “And I’m afraid. Afraid of what I just did, that I could hurt someone.” A brief flash of anger. “Afraid I won’t be ready if that…if Lintu comes back.”
“I know.” Eka continued to pull slivers, dropping eye contact.
“I’m not saying I haven’t had fun. I loved performing again.” Christelle continued.
Eka’s hand stopped mid-tweezer and her gut tightened as she held her breath.
“But that’s not why we’re here.”
Quiet and stillness.
“Not why I’m here.”
Eka looked up. “I know. We’ll get there.”
Christelle sighed and squinted at the tweezers. “Grab a little higher.”
She touched the splinter, pushing it further in.
“Hey!” Eka jerked her hand away. “I got it.”
“Sorry. Eka, I know you don’t want to go back to Hawaii. But,” she held up her hand as Eka opened her mouth, “I have to go.”
Flashes of screaming, fear in darkness, rolled over her. Always followed by a pit of loss and fiery anger.
Christelle took a deep breath. “You know I’m the first to jump on the ‘avoid Wakers’ bandwagon, but I need to figure out my gifts. Get ready.”
Eka’s shoulders sagged and she nodded.
Christelle sighed. “And I can’t. Not if I avoid Wakers. Or my gifts.” Eka nodded again.
“So, what I’m saying is, you don’t have to go. But…I’ve got to go.” Eka’s stomach twisted and she ripped a piece of skin off with a splinter.
“Damnit!”
After a few moments of sucking on the finger in the expectant quiet, Eka took a deep breath. “You’re right. It’s time. I just…” The screams and darkness again. “I haven’t remembered much more about that night in Hawaii. It’s all crappy darkness. And fear.”
Christelle frowned, fidgeting in her seat. “But it’s the only other place we know with Wakers. And your grandparents, the good ones, will be there too.” Christelle frowned deeper. “You’re okay with your grandparents, yeah?”
Sema and Winn, their laughter, the hugs and treats on scary nights, unlikely adventures across the globe. She nodded. “So we go.”
Across from her, Christelle’s whole body sank away from the vice-grip of tension holding it, and the frown gave way to a smile. “Really?”
“Yeah.” Eka smiled back. Outside, stillness reminded her their attackers must have gone home. “And the bees seemed to have left. We can pack up tomorrow and be there by evening.”
Christelle sat up and the frown marched right back in. “Wait. We’re less than a day away? And we’ve been camping in this area for three days?”
“Hey, procrastination is an art-form.” Eka smiled. Weakly.
Christelle’s thumb shot to Eka’s big toe and ground a splinter in deeper. “Hey!” Eka yanked her foot back.
“You deserved that.” Christelle stood up and walked out, slamming the door.
“Maybe!”
After a moment of quiet, Eka staggered up, needles still stabbing into her hands and feet. She hop-walked after Christelle.
There’s got to be ‘remove splinter’ magic or something.
Eka stumbled out the door and down the steps. “Christelle, come on.
We’re going, no more jacking around. I can probably get us there faster if…” She bumped into Christelle’s still form.
“Christelle?”
Her friend pointed shakily to the windshield, a single sheet of paper flapping under the wiper. A familiar sheet of paper that seemed to wave ‘hello again’. Eka’s heart sped up as she tentatively lifted it from under the wiper blade. Half-written letters stared back at her. The same letters.
“Is it?” Christelle whispered.
Eka nodded. “From the book. Or a maybe a copy.”
“But how? Grams had them. Or…” She was pale and took off into the vardo. A moment later she emerged, shaking her head. “My copy is still in tact.”
“You still have that?” Eka almost yelled. Almost.
“I was trying to figure out something that seemed like a weapon.”
Christelle still hadn’t regained any color.
“We could use one right now.”
Christelle shook her head. “Not sure it was a weapon, it seemed like more of a charger or something.”
“Awesome.” Eka whipped her head around, looking for someone hiding in the campsite or tree-line. Even footprints. Nothing. “We need to go.”
Christelle nodded.
Eka, splinters forgotten, hooked up the camper as Christelle ran around grabbing their stuff and shoving it into the vardo, both racing until they were done and leaving. The sun was just setting as they pulled out and Eka checked the rear view mirror for signs of anything following. Nothing.
As the campsite grew farther away, her heart slowed and she focused on the road. It really did seem to stretch forever ahead of them, an endless invitation to unknown wonders. But it was deceptive. It didn’t really go on forever. There was an end, and that end was Winn’s cabin, very, very soon. And then…
“Hawaii.” She mumbled.
“What?” Christelle whispered, glancing toward the side view mirror. “Nothing.”
Just a rock and a hard spot.
