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  Chapter 3

  Diva

  Having spent the entire previous day in bed, I woke to see the clouds turn lighter as the sun reached its apex. At twinge of expectation had dragged me from sleep. I had to think hard to remember why. Oh yes, our guest, Vayu. Feeling a sense of purpose for the first time in a long while, I dragged myself out of bed and through a shower. I picked out clothes that made me feel like a functioning human, while still concealing my slightly bulging belly. After drying and combing my wild hair, I brushed my teeth and broke into my makeup drawer. I could’ve sworn there was dust on a few items. I even plucked my eyebrows. Satisfied with my appearance, I emerged from the room.

  The halls felt foreign to me. I walked them just days before but still, something felt different. As I approached the kitchen, it dawned on me. They felt different because I felt different. The usual sickness that accompanied me was gone. I smiled and took a deep breath in. This was going to be a good day.

  The smell of coffee drew me into the kitchen but once there, my growling stomach usurped my need for caffeine. I prowled the cupboards, came across a bag of bagels and popped one into the toaster. I turned back to the coffee pot.

  Should I drink coffee? Was it bad for the baby? This is where a doctor would have come in handy. The smell of coffee beans kept me hovering around the pot. Maybe just a deep whiff would appease my craving. I took the coffee pot from its warmer, removed the lid, and inhaled deeply. I sighed. Nope, craving still there. Maybe one more time would do the trick. I inhaled even deeper and longer with my eyes closed, concentrating hard – willing the smell to appease me. The bagels popped out of the toaster with unexpected vigor, causing me to jump. Coffee sloshed over my hands, and down my front.

  I swore, bending over, inspecting the stain on my clothes with one bright red hand and balancing the now half empty coffee pot in my other bright red hand.

  “What are you doing?” The voice startled me even more.

  I jumped to the side, away from the intruder behind me, bumping into the cupboards and the rest of the coffee, and pot, crashed to the floor. I grimaced, rubbing my hands, sending a dirty look toward the most convenient person to blame. Micah.

  “What are you doing, sneaking up on me like that?”

  “Me? I’m not the one snorting an open pot of coffee like some coke fiend.” He said, brushing past me to look at the mess.

  “Well, I, ummm…” I started pushing some of the shattered glass into a pile with my shoes while I thought up an excuse, “I was just trying to figure out the brand before I poured myself a cup.”

  Micah took a step closer to reach around me, pulling out the bag from behind the coffee maker. He turned it toward me. “Local brand – Sumatra coffee, same as always.”

  “Oh,” I took the bag. “Thanks.” I looked down bashfully, nervous with him standing so close. I frowned. My wet shirt was clinging to my belly, revealing a little too much.

  “You look good today, Kaitlyn.” Micah’s comment was unexpected, as was my responding smile. His eyes were more inviting than ever. It was all I could do to keep from closing the rest of the distance between us.

  “Thanks, I feel good today.” I looked down again, reminded of the shirt situation. I peeled it away from my skin. “I need to go change. That coffee was hot.”

  “You want me to come?” Micah asked, and then hesitated, confused by his own question.

  “No, I got it. I’ll be right back,” I reassured him. I jogged back to the room, knowing Micah was waiting for me. I paused as I searched through my closet. How can I be sexy but covered at the same time? I settled on a low-cut baby doll blouse that billowed out at the waist. A quick look in the mirror – I needed more makeup. Another look – I ran a brush through my hair. Yet another look convinced me to pick up my blush but I put it back down again. Can’t be too obvious. I sighed. Life was so much easier when I chose to mope.

  I made my way back to the kitchen, hoping the second try would be more graceful than the first. By the time I got there, Micah was plating eggs and diced fruit. It was much more tempting than my bagel that had turned cold in my absence. The coffee mess was cleaned up and a newer, albeit smaller pot of coffee, was brewing. The smells had drawn several others out of the woodwork. Susan and Cato were chatting while waiting for the freshly brewed coffee and a few maintenance workers stood in line clamoring for eggs.

  Micah handed the first serving to me. “Sorry guys, beauty before brains.”

  Before I could retort, I felt the plate being snatched out of my hands.

  “Well if that is the case…” Alex took the plate and started stocking it with more grapes and kiwi. I couldn’t help but smile. Alex, my weapons trainer and the sole person responsible for logistics on our missions, always knew how to make me smile, even on my darkest days.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Micah frowning.

  Predictably, Cato stepped in to make peace. “Alex - perhaps you didn’t hear, but Vayu will be making an appearance in a few minutes.”

  Alex froze with his first forkful halfway to his mouth. “Vayu? Here? Now?”

  “Yes, and I thought we could all meet him out front.”

  Recovering, Alex spouted excuses, “You know, I just remembered.” He handed the plate back to me. “I am way behind on inventory. We don’t want any pistols going missing. And flights for the next trip need to be arranged. And ground transportation and our hotel...” Alex was nearly out of the room. “But give Vayu my best. I’ll catch up with him…later.”

  I looked at Cato for an explanation but all I got was a friendly wink. Next I turned to Micah, who seemed satisfied with the situation.

  “Don’t think you are off the hook, mister.” I pointed my finger at him.

  “What?” He widened his eyes innocently.

  “If I’m beauty then I suppose you’re what? The brains of this operation?”

  Smirking, he held up his arms. “Was it ever a question?”

  I took a fork from the pile on the counter and poked him in the arm. “Bastard.”

  He recoiled, “Brute!”

  Cato interrupted, pretending not to notice our quickly escalating fight. “I think I hear the truck rolling up. Come on; let’s give Vayu the greeting he always insists on having.”

  Everyone shoved their last bits of food in their mouth, dumping their plates in the sink for some unlucky soul who would eventually get stuck with dishwashing duty, and shuffled for the door.

  The rusty farm truck rolled up just as we emerged. The old brakes squealed as they did very little to slow the truck down. The security guard driving cut the engine and metallic rattling died out. The truck was the only form of motorized transportation on the island, and it looked to be about as old as the island itself. I had the very unpleasant experience of riding in it a couple times, and from the looks of the passenger climbing out the side door, he hadn’t found the experience any more pleasant.

  The man’s face was white and his shoulder length bleach blonde hair clung to his face, tousled. He took a moment to tame his hair, checking it in the side-view mirror, and smoothed out the wrinkles in his shirt before acknowledging us.

  Cato was the first to reach him, “Vayu – welcome back! I trust your travel was adequate?”

  The newcomer snorted. “If by adequate you mean it got me here, then yes, I suppose it was adequate. But Cato – that truck is on its last leg. The brakes don’t exactly do their job, and its constant stalling on the way here is the only reason we didn’t run off the road into a tree.” He seemed to take a moment to shake the experience from his mind, then smiled warmly at Cato. “Give us a hug, old man.”

  Cato hesitated. “Oh, well…”

  Vayu didn’t give him a chance to back out. He swept Cato up into a bear hug, holding on much longer than necessary. Cato broke free, “Ah, yes. Good to see you too. Sorry about the ride, but as you know – our money is better spent elsewhere. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll just see to the truck.” He side-stepped arou
nd Vayu to speak to the driver about the maintenance of the truck.

  Micah stepped up. “Long time no see, Vayu. Your usual room is ready.” Micah stuck his hand out, well out of hugging range.

  Vayu smiled at Micah and shook his hand, but touched him warmly on the shoulder with his other hand all the same. “Always a pleasure, Micah. I’ll be sure to come see you after I’ve settled.” Still holding onto Micah’s hand, Vayu peered around him narrowing his eyes when he didn’t seem to find what he was looking for. “Where is Alex?”

  “Alex couldn’t get away,” Micah said a little too quickly. “We can hunt him down later.” He looked at the old truck, frowned, moved toward it. “I’d better go help Cato out. Hey…don’t touch that, Cato, it’s probably still hot!”

  Fresh out of men to accost, Vayu finally turned to Susan and me. “Dears, you are looking quite lovely this morning.” He took each of our hands and kissed them lightly.

  “Thank you, Vayu.” Susan cleared her throat. “This is Kaitlyn, our newest Gaia.”

  Vayu turned to study me, lips pursed, his right hand stroking his clean-shaven chin.

  Suddenly, it dawned on me. “Oh, you’re—” I clamped my hand over my mouth, cutting the rest of my sentence off as my brain had a chance to catch up with my mouth.

  “Oh come off it. Say it with me. Gaaaaay.” Vayu prompted.

  I laughed nervously, the only sound that would come out of my mouth. I cleared my throat, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend. You just sort of took me by surprise.”

  “As did you, dear,” he said. “After all, you are the first pregnant Gaia I’ve seen.”

  I nearly stumbled back in surprise.

  “Don’t look so shocked, honey. I know my shapes.”

  I shook my head, looking around to make sure no one had overheard. Thankfully everyone else seemed to be preoccupied.

  Vayu stepped closer without warning, and laid his hand on my belly. “How far along are you?”

  I gruffly pushed his hand away, glancing at the group by the van before glaring at Vayu. “It’s a secret!” I hissed.

  “Oh, right.” He shut his lips tight and gestured as if he were locking them. “Have you seen a doctor yet?”

  I rolled my eyes; figured I might as well answer before he kept asking in front of the others. “I think I am about five months along and no, I haven’t seen a doctor yet. Not an easy thing to ask for if you don’t want anyone to know.”

  “Well, that won’t do.” Vayu put his hands on hips and scrutinized me from top to bottom. “I had a relationship with a midwife once who was all too eager to share the more gruesome parts of pregnancy and childbirth. I suppose I could examine you myself.”

  “I don’t think so,” I scoffed, lowering my voice as Cato and Micah approached. “Besides, I can’t keep it secret much longer.”

  “Already sharing secrets?” Cato asked. I swallowed a grimace. His hearing was deceptively good for such an old man.

  “Secrets of the spoken word.” Vayu lied, waving away the premise with one hand, and putting the other around me. “It can be more powerful than magic itself.” Without further explanation, Vayu steered us away from the other men toward the building. I didn’t fight it.

  After we were out of earshot, he spoke under his breath, “What I said was true, you know – about the spoken word.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “What?”

  “The spoken word can be more powerful than magic.”

  I studied him for a moment as we walked, and finally gave in. “Care to demonstrate?”

  He smiled. “I thought you’d never ask.”

  With another look over his shoulder to make sure no one watched, Vayu stopped walking, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he let it out, words escaped with it. The words were a mix of two languages; Latin and the English translation as far as I could tell, but somehow spoken simultaneously.

  “Sol iustitiae nos illustra - Sun of righteousness shine upon us.”

  The words rode on the wind of Vayu’s breath, becoming fainter as they flew further away and then louder as the wind raced back toward my ears. The wind and words played with my hair a moment then floated up to the sky, straight to an especially dark part of clouds looming over the Chakra. I had lost track of the wind, and could no longer hear the words, but moments later the clouds parted above us slightly, just enough to let a sliver of sunlight through. The sudden warmth and light shocked me into silence. All I could do was close my eyes and soak up its brilliance. It didn’t last long, the clouds quickly closing up again, but the sun had saturated my whole body – right down to the bones.

  I looked at him in awe. “I will pay you a thousand bucks each time you do that. Once a day would do wonders for my mood.”

  He laughed. “I’m thinking there won’t be a need soon enough. See? The clouds are already weaker.”

  I followed his gaze upward and thought he might have a point, but I couldn’t be sure.

  “Things will get better for you,” he said, “and so will the weather.”

  Chapter 4

  Code Breakers

  She was familiar enough with her dreams to realize this one was different. It didn’t seem to be driven by her subconscious. The dream had a mind of its own. She was trapped, subjected to the dream’s whims, if there were such a thing. It wasn’t pleasant. The atmosphere was tainted and cold. She shivered, wrapping her arms around her body.

  The dream answered her need. The skies opened up and a crash of lightning in front of her sparked a small fire. She floated toward it and settled herself, stretching her hands out to soak in the heat. The fire crackled and sizzled and spoke to her, ‘lightning man’. When the dream felt she was sufficiently warmed, the fire died down, but did not disappear.

  As her eyes adjusted to the dimming light, Shawn appeared across the fire. She sat completely still, a strange calm forcing its way inside her. Still, the tainted air kept her alert.

  ‘They call me mellow yellow…’ the words to the 1960’s song vibrated through her head.

  Shawn smiled, his expression friendly, but his eyes cold. As she shivered once again the fire flared up. It grew and grew, fueled by an intruding wind until everything was consumed.

  * * *

  I spent the majority of the next day evading Vayu’s attempts to examine me. I was bribed with more bouts of sunshine, food, and massages but didn’t care to have Vayu’s amateur hands probing me God knows where. I only got rid of him once I sold out Alex’s hiding place. As Vayu walked off excitedly, I sent a silent apology to Alex, knowing it wouldn’t be received. He didn’t have the same abilities as the rest of us.

  Searching for something to do, I found myself in Cato’s library. Scanning the walls of books for something to read, I was disappointed to find no fiction; just rows and rows of boring textbooks, some dating back to the 1800s.

  How accurate can those be? I wondered.

  Distracted by the books’ uselessness, I turned, knocking over one of the stacks of books. They scattered, mixing in with notepads and loose papers on the floor.

  “Crap,” I muttered at the room. I was going to have to get used to my changing body.

  “Is that you Kaitlyn?” Cato called from deeper within the library.

  “Yes, yes,” I responded, trying to put the pile back in some order. Not that it had had much of one before. “I’m coming.”

  Making my way to the sound of Cato’s voice was a trial. His office was ten times more packed than it was the last time I’d seen it, something that should not have even been possible. I worked my way around an especially large pile of junk and found Cato sitting at a desk under the giant tree growing in the middle of the room. The tree looked diseased. Its leaves drooped, some turning brown. The lack of sun was affecting more than just us humans.

  Cato cleared his throat, averting my attention from the tree. Micah sat across the desk from Cato, settled on a torn, ratty couch.

  “This is the letter Micah brought home from your trip
to the states.” Cato motioned to a letter. “We have been studying it for the last few hours. On the surface it doesn’t make much sense, but we believe it is coded. Do you want to look?”

  I stepped closer to the desk after a sideways glance at Micah and leaned over the letter.

  Prepare Your Fire And Rock my Worthiest opponent, in Mass quantities.

  The subject line sat written in clear print across the top.

  Cato continued, “The first line serves as a key to the rest of the letter. We are assuming any word not capitalized is not part of the key. There are several words and phrases we have pulled out; although it is likely more than one key exists to create different messages. Then we will just have to guess which message he is trying to send. Unless of course, anything here jumps out at you?”

  Cato pushed his notebook toward me and I scanned over the list of words.

  ruin kim

  warm

  wary

  eye norm

  pour a worm

  ray of arts

  aye dot

  princess

  I didn’t need to review the entire list; I knew it when I saw it. They should have guessed by the simple clarity of the word.

  “Princess - it’s what Shawn calls me,” I said it quietly, hesitantly, but there was no sense in hiding the fact. I looked at Micah but couldn’t read his expression. Cato took back the notebook and began to decipher the rest of the letter. Taking a seat on the dusty couch next to Micah, I could feel his eyes boring into me from the side. I turned to face him. “What?”

  He looked a second more, face stony. Finally, his eyes softened. I didn’t even want to know what was going through his head. He covered my hand with his own and put his other arm around me. I moved closer, welcoming his warmth. It was the closest we’d been in a long time. We sat in silence until Cato finished his puzzle. It didn’t take long.