Like a Torrent

by Olivette Devaux

  And it did come.

  An hour later, Cooper stood up and stretched his legs and his back. His muscles had stiffened, all cold and cranky, and he couldn’t reach overhead because of the basement’s low ceiling.

  The shower beckoned.

  He turned it on, pulled a towel out of a basket, and hung his clothes over the back of a plastic patio chair so they weren’t cold and clammy.

  As he let the hot water sluice down his back and as his flesh and bone greedily absorbed its heat, Cooper’s mind wandered back to what he had found.

  Yes, they could build on that old parcel of land now. It wouldn’t be without its own set of complications, but the node wouldn’t kill them anymore. More importantly, they wouldn’t disturb its overloaded structure and make it blow. Its shields were holding, the ley lines carried less power now, and the node’s swirls of raw, elemental energies were settling into a calmer pattern. Cutting off the dissonant frequencies caused by fracking did the local environment wonders.

  Of course, the fracking would continue, but if he and Ash took care to empty the node before it reached a turbulent stage, they would be fine. And, no, it wasn’t at all like living on top of a pressure-cooker.

  As Cooper turned the water off, he wondered where else the power would go, now that they reduced the node’s capacity. An operation like natural gas extraction from a deep layer of Marcellus shale couldn’t just stop. Too many people had spent too much money to make it all happen. The county should be fine, and the city within it would live unscathed. What of the surrounding areas, though? Now that Brian wasn’t dumping his waste into strong ley lines that converged here in Pittsburgh, the stress would build up elsewhere.

  Which raised the question, what was it exactly that Brian was doing, and how, and why? He was working for the fracking companies in some “advisory” capacity, it seemed, and the venture seemed to be financially motivated, but what did he actually do for them?

  Cooper realized he was cooling off again as he stood there, wet and naked and worrying over things he could not affect. He dried off. Only once he was fully dressed, did he permit himself to consider the problem again.

  Wherever the frackers dumped their waste, Cooper hoped no people would get hurt in the fallout that was sure to come. Meanwhile, Cooper would work on his centering and his shields, and once he was ready, he’d go and visit Brian’s fracking worksite in person.

  He made it up the stairs just as Ash breezed in through the front door, all excited and refreshed. He wasn’t carrying bags of groceries, which was what Cooper had been expecting. His hair was jet-black and neatly combed against his head, as though it was wet.

  Cooper reached out and touched it. Yep, wet. “Did you make rain?” he asked with a bemused smile.

  Their lips met in a brief kiss before Ash reached into the refrigerator and pulled out two bottles of chilled beer.

  “No, beloved,” Ash replied as he handed one to Cooper and beamed him a smile. “I did a bit of river-walking today, and I came up with a fantastic idea!”

  CHAPTER 23

  Cooper was terrified. It wasn’t that he thought Ash’s idea was entirely without merit, but going full out? Making love? Having penetrative, out-of-control sex on dry land? He didn’t have his ground-stone anymore, and despite today’s positive experience in the basement, where everything had seemed under control, Cooper knew full well that he could still generate and release too much power.

  Without the ground-stone, Cooper couldn’t guarantee that he wouldn’t level whole neighborhoods. Not when he was with Ash, not with their mutual, harmonic resonance feedback. Certainly not with the way they bolstered each other’s power. And, hell, Cooper had found it hard enough to maintain even a regular level of control around Ash under the best of circumstances.

  “Obviously, you’ve thought about this a great deal,” Cooper said hesitantly. He didn’t want to turn Ash down, especially not when Ash had that excited gleam in his eyes, not with the way he comfortably softened as he leaned into Cooper’s shoulder.

  No, he didn’t want to deprive Ash of even the tiniest smidgeon of happiness. He just wanted to make sure that Pittsburgh was standing when they were done.

  Ash nodded. He settled into the brand-new chair of their brand-new kitchen. He had displayed absolutely no doubts that moving to their Lawrenceville rowhouse, as they had originally planned, was the right thing to do. Likewise, he exuded a similarly good feeling about his Sycamore Island idea.

  “If you don’t want this, then we don’t have to...” Before Ash could say anymore, Cooper grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight. “No. No, I do want this. I want this for both of us. I just... I want to be responsible about it.”

  Ash quirked his eyebrow at him, pulled on his beer, and grinned. “With you, safe sex takes on an entirely different meaning.”

  They both chuckled uncomfortably.

  “It’s just simple physics,” Ash said.

  “The physics of magic?” Cooper’s smile floated out all by itself this time. As he let his beer sit untouched, Cooper tried to summon the same self-confidence and satisfaction which he had felt in the basement only half an hour ago. Rationally, he knew that this wasn’t an entirely lost cause.

  Ash had a good point, and furthermore, Ash had gone out of his way to seek out a solution to their unusual predicament. Maybe Cooper’s lack of training had led to his initial lack of control, but he had improved. They, as a couple, had to fulfill their physical needs as well as offering each other unwavering daily support.

  He had not doomed this relationship yet. Thin hope stirred in Cooper’s breast, and he met Ash’s painfully hopeful eyes when he said, “When you talk like this, you remind me of Uncle Owen!”

  Ash spun his half-empty bottle between his hands. The sound of glass clinked steadily against the slate tabletop, and beads of condensation ran together down the bottle’s long, brown throat.

  Ash spun it again, and again, as though he was just passing time while waiting for Cooper to decide. Cooper sat, mesmerized by the movement of Ash’s hands and by the pattern of watery circles which Ash’s bottle was leaving behind.

  Ash’s hand slipped.

  The bottle fell.

  Alarmed, Cooper reached out.

  The bottle hovered in midair, teetering like a drunken sailor with Cooper’s and Ash’s hands inches away from it. Slowly, carefully, Cooper exerted his will.

  The bottle clunked back into a standing position.

  “Nice parlor trick,” Ash said with raised eyebrows.

  “Glass is a lot like stone. The table is stone.” He glanced at the slate table top, just so he didn’t have to weather the intensity of Ash’s curious gaze. This was new, though. He had never stopped anything from falling.

  Never.

  Once again, Cooper exerted his will. He focused on the wet chunk of glass ahead of him, and on the surface that supported it.

  Slowly, in little pushes and jerks, the bottle moved an inch in Ash’s direction.

  Cooper slumped in his chair, threw his head back, and laughed. “If I can control this, I think there might be hope for me yet. “ As he said it, something much like a light bulb clicked in Cooper’ minds. He lifted his gaze towards Ash’s very brilliantly sparkling eyes, he knew what Ash was going to say next.

  “See how far you have come?” Ash gave him a smile that was both encouraging and victorious. “If you can do this, then...”

  “Then we can visit the Sycamore Island.”

  They leaned their faces close together over the corner of the slate table. Before their passionate, relieved kiss blossomed enough to occupy his mind entirely, Cooper’s last thought was that they would soon be finishing each other’s sentences, and old age wasn’t going to have anything to do with it. If that was so, they might as well go the whole hog.

  They broke apart, gasping for air, and Cooper realized that this was the first time he had ever seriously considered proposing to anyone.

  Except he didn’t dare to. A
sh was a solitary creature, or had been before they met. Cooper bit his lip in an effort to remain silent. He wouldn’t do anything rash and scare Ash away.

  COOPER EYED THE faraway island curiously from the pontoon boat. They hadn’t even left the dock yet, and Cooper already had butterflies in his stomach. The moored craft bobbed up and down on the waves caused by faraway boats, and the movement of the deck underfoot didn’t fill Cooper with confidence.

  Suppose the boat sank.

  Suppose his lousy swimming skills failed him.

  Suppose the safety vest he was wearing failed to float.

  He felt Ash’s smaller hand in his. Warm, comforting, giving a light squeeze. “I know. We are on the water. Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe.”

  The pilot eyed them curiously. He was tall, wore a long ponytail, and sported distinct Native American features which happen to be uncommon in the Pittsburgh area. His name was Jesse Hightower, and he had the body of an ancient God. Not that Cooper was looking – Cooper was mostly worried about not sinking.

  “I take it you’re not a big fan of being on the river?” Jesse’s question was posed in a neutral way. He didn’t mean to offend or embarrass, and for that, Cooper was grateful.

  “Not really,” he choked out. “I don’t swim real well.”

  Jesse gave an open-throated laugh, the kind that lit his face all the way to the crinkles that peeked from behind his mirrored sunglasses. “Trust me, I know how you’re feeling right now. Before I got involved in doing triathlons, I used to sink like a brick!”

  Ash seemed eager to jump at anything that would distract Cooper from his predicament. “Oh, so you do triathlons?”

  Jesse checked the engine, gave their life vests a once-over, and untied the rope from the dock. “Sort of,” he said before he turned the engine over. “Give me a sec so I can back out, and then I’ll tell you.” Cooper observed him maneuver the square pontoon boat back and forth, circling backwards, then pointing them headfirst through a space between the two floating docks that formed the boat’s enclosure.

  Once they were on the river and the engine settled into a satisfied purr, Jesse piped up again. “My boss decided everybody should do a triathlon. Back when I worked for his security company full-time, he decided we all have to look fit, you know? Even me, even though I’m just in IT.”

  Momentarily forgetting the terror of the river around him, Cooper looked Jesse over. He looked nothing like an IT geek.

  “Except I didn’t know how to swim,” Jesse said. “I had to learn from scratch, and if it was not for this guy taking pity on me and loaning me his trainer, I would’ve had to doggie-paddle the whole thing!”

  Cooper cleared his throat. They were halfway to the island by now, and the boat was almost certainly crossing a deep part of the river. If he fell out of the boat now, and if the vest failed to support him, Cooper was mortally certain that he’d keep falling into an endless abyss, on the bottom of which he would drown. Somehow, he didn’t think the water liked him very much. It felt... jealous.

  “So are you still doing triathlons? That’s pretty impressive.” Cooper managed to get the words out without stuttering.

  Jesse shook his head. “No. Ever since my husband started doing them professionally, it got too serious. He’s faster at everything. Running, biking, swimming. And he has to travel to different training locations, and to races. I go with him twice a year, and I work four days a week. When he’s out of town and I’m on my own, I volunteer here, doing river conservation.”

  Husband. This hot dude, a non-profit volunteer who was taking them to the island, the fellow who was piloting this boat, had a husband. Cooper slid a glance towards Ash, and just at the same moment, Ash glanced in his direction.

  Ash smiled.

  Cooper squeezed his hand in a conspiratorial gesture. They weren’t all alone.

  Soon, the gravel ground against the bottom of the pontoon boat. Jesse cut the engine and jumped off the front. He held it by the rope, tugged hard, and wrapped the rope around a stump on the shore. “If you pass me your things, I’ll stack them on the beach for you,” he said.

  “Thanks!” Ash said and jumped straight into the river, not caring if his shorts got wet.

  Cooper proceeded more cautiously. “Here, let me hand these things to you,” he said, and when Ash was ready, Cooper tossed duffel bags and camping supplies to Ash, who tossed them to Jesse, who then stacked them on the dry pebble beach.

  Then it was time for him to get off the boat. Get his feet wet. Surely he could do that!

  As carefully as he could, Cooper lowered himself off the front. The shallow water hit his sun-baked calves with a shock of unexpected coolness. He could just feel the current tugging at him with its greedy little hands. Quickly, as though not to offend or seem intimidated, Cooper made his way onto dry ground.

  Being here, on an island and entirely surrounded by water, was curiously isolating. Threatening, even.

  Jesse hopped back into the boat. “Alright then, I’ll pick you up in two days!” He looked around. “Hey, Ash! If you wade back, I’ll hand you your cooler. You guys forgot your food.”

  The situation having been salvaged, Cooper waived at Jesse with a wistful expression. He was stuck on a rock in the middle of the river. He was entirely surrounded by an element he couldn’t read, whose language he didn’t speak, and who didn’t particularly care for him.

  Two days from now couldn’t come fast enough.

  CHAPTER 24

  Cooper was in a daze. The boat disappeared off site, guided by Jesse Hightower’s able hand. Cooper was now marooned on an island, surrounded by an element he did not understand and which he failed to command.

  Ash’s arm slipped around his waist, all sensuous and soothing, so he let Ash pull him into his side.

  “Don’t worry,” Ash said in a low voice, as though the trees might overhear. “We’re fine. You’re fine. In fact, you’re mighty fine! This will be fun, I promise!”

  Cooper turned to him. Their eyes met, and he knew that their lips just had to follow. He grasped Ash, clutching him, pulling him in like a safety blanket. His frantic action didn’t catch Ash by surprise.

  “I got you,” Ash whispered into his hair. Cooper began to relax as he felt Ash’s strong fingers grip his shoulders. “You are safe with me.”

  The moment passed, and they let go of each other, Cooper shook his head ruefully, and the small smile he allowed pierced through the veil of anxiety that still covered the world around him. “I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s... It’s all the water around us. It’s like being in a boat, except it’s bigger than Jesse’s little bucket of bolts. I thought for sure that boat was going to sink!”

  ASH OBSERVED COOPER with an assessing gaze for a long while. When Cooper didn’t move and didn’t show an inclination to do anything, Ash gave out a slow sigh. Then he tilted his head to the side, and said. “The way I see it, we have two choices. We can either set up the tents first, and then meditate. Or, we can do some centering exercises, and worry about setting up camp later.”

  Ash’s effort to make him comfortable got Cooper writhing with guilt. His lover worked hard to find a way for them to get together, and now Cooper and his stupid fear of deep water threatened to spoil what would, for anyone else, be a lovely outing. He took a deep breath and looked around, making sure to take in the details of their unique environment. The river surface still glistened through the trees, true, and he could hear the splashes of gentle waves against the rocks that encircled their small strip of land.

  Land. They were, despite the water around them, still on solid land, and as soon as Cooper reframed his position in terms of his primary elements, he began to feel the earth under his feet once more. Instead of feeling adrift and in immediate danger of drowning, Cooper focused on that earthy, gritty connection which he was accustomed to feeling every day. It was a solid part of his mental and emotional landscape now, one which he, apparently, began to take for granted.

  Cooper
turned toward Ash and draped his arms over his shoulders. As soon as he grinned and touched their noses playfully, Ash’s tense shoulders began to relax under his touch, and the concerned tightness of his jaw began to drain away like so much rain water.

  “I’d like to explore this place first,” Cooper said. “I think that’s option number three. Let’s see where we want to camp. I bet we will find a nice piece of bedrock here somewhere, even though we are in the middle of all this water!”

  They followed the path, walking to their left, going upstream. The trail circumnavigated the island, winding through the tall trees. Points of interest were demarcated by discreet plaques, which described both natural features, and those left by people only decades ago.

  The upstream end of the Sycamore Island sported an old, rusty barge that was stuck in what used to be a dock, carved into the landmass. Now, only a low point that flooded during high water showed where the old barge still sat. She was rusty and sad, with a breach in her steel hull. Cooper peered at the informational sign affixed to a tree, and after a while, he shifted from foot to foot and cleared his throat. “It’s amazing that they were fueling all the boats from this barge alone,” he said. “Look at it now!” He came closer, scrambling up the dirt and over the roots of the tree that was ingrown into the ancient structure. “Look, Ash! It looks like it was firmly affixed. I bet it’s too much trouble to remove it now.”

  “Maybe we could climb over it, see what’s on the other side,” Ash said. “If you feel with your senses, I think you’ll find there is land over there.”

  Cooper stopped in his tracks, closed his eyes halfway, and did so. “Yeah, you’re right. There is a little bit.” Then he shook himself and scrambled back down.