Solstice Surrender

by Cooper-Posey, Tracy

  “But there was someone there like that,” Jenna insisted, knowing she was right. “One of you. Someone who prompted the tales.”

  Rhys hesitated, studying her. Was he trying to decide if she could be trusted with the information? But Jenna already knew she was right. She could feel it in her bones.

  “His name was Taliesin,” Rhys said. “He was one of the greatest amongst us. There has been none like him since. There have been powerful lords amongst us. Mighty ones. But none of them had the power and insight that Taliesin wielded.” He shrugged. “That is how it works, Jenna. The field, the power that keeps humanity cohesive and gives us our talents, seems to provide us with a great leader just when the field fluxes and surges the most and creates such strife in the world.”

  Jenna stood up, translating her discomfort into action. She began stacking the breakfast dishes onto the cart. “What is the field?”

  “You know that answer already. You’ve felt it. You’ve felt the surges. You’ve used it, too. You used it in the coffee shop yesterday.”

  “Human auras?”

  “If you like, but that scarcely does it justice. Consider something on the scale of the magnetic field that envelopes the earth and you have a working analogy. There’s a whole earth field and then every living object has its own weaker field that meshes with the earth’s and with each other.”

  “You—we—have stronger fields than others?”

  “Stronger, yes. And we have the ability to manipulate our fields. You, Jenna, appear to have the ability to manipulate others’ fields. That is how you dumped the coffee into the Prince’s lap.”

  She realized she was still massaging her temple, trying to rid herself of the tension there. She dropped her hand and sat back in her chair.

  “If you…we…are born to this—” She grimaced, then made herself say the word as evenly as possible, “destiny, then why did it take you so long to figure out who I am? Surely, you recognize another…what? Talent? What do you call yourselves?”

  “There’s no name for us, but sometimes we use watchers.”

  She considered the name. It seemed a simple enough word. At least they didn’t have some unpronounceable title without vowels. It was a word she could use without blushing. “You must recognize another watcher, then. Quite early.”

  “The onset of puberty, usually.”

  “Rhys, I’m nearly thirty years old. Why have you only figured out about me now?”

  “Because of Kevin.”

  She stared at him.

  He reached for the insulated coffee pot and poured himself another cupful. “The magnetic analogy won’t do for this one. So think about nuclear radiation instead. You understand basic radiation theory, right?”

  “I did physics at school.”

  “When two pieces of radioactive material come together, the radiation they give off more than doubles. It’s a synergistic relationship.”

  “Sure. If there’s enough material there they can spiral into thermonuclear reactions.”

  “But if you enclose one of those pieces of radioactive material in lead, then nothing can get out. No leaks.” He took a mouthful of coffee. “Kevin was a blocker. We’ve known them to exist throughout history, here and there. He was that lead casing.”

  The analogy was startlingly clear. But not quite perfect. “He didn’t live around me, though.”

  “You were bonded to him emotionally. That’s all it takes. He subsumed your field.”

  “Blocked it.” She realized she was rubbing her temple again.

  “I’ve been thinking it over since I realized what Kevin was. You must have met him when you were very young.”

  “High school.”

  “You were lovers in high school?”

  She felt herself blushing. “He was the only lover I have ever had.” She didn’t finish the rest of the thought: Until now.

  But she didn’t need to finish it, for by Rhys’ startled expression, she knew he had finished it for himself. He recovered his poise swiftly. But he didn’t speak at once and Jenna wondered why he hesitated.

  He considered her for a few seconds, then he said, “Those of us who bond together are like two pieces of radioactive material. The bonding forms a stronger, more powerful united field.”

  “Makes sense.” Wariness flooded her, created by his careful selection of words. He was leading up to something. Something big.

  “I have known my fate since I was a child,” he continued. “It has been my journey to find you. You and I are twined together. It is our fate. To battle the coming dark days we must bond and then be bound together by the solstice. We will work together to overcome the enemy. We have been forever destined to be mates.”

  Even though she had suspected the shape of what he would say the actual speaking of the words shook her. “How can you know that? How can you possibly know something like that?”

  You know it, too, Jenny.

  She shook her head, refusing to use her mental abilities, for that would be supporting his theory and helping admit he was right. “So, regardless of how I feel about it, I’m supposed to just do what someone else tells me for the rest of my life?”

  “You were made for this.”

  “Bullshit. I make my own future—no one else gets to tell me how it goes.”

  “Like Kevin tried to?”

  She shut her jaw together with an audible snap. Shock filtered through her like a cold chemical racing through the marrow of her bones. All she could do was stare at Rhys.

  “Kevin died three months ago.” He said it calmly, without malice or anger. “Yet the touch of your field and the surges you have been giving off have been felt and monitored for nearly a year now. They were weak at first. Mere hints, but they have been growing stronger all the time.” Rhys’ voice was still neutral, still kind. “You may have been technically his lover when he died, but you had already dissolved the emotional bond between you, long before then.”

  “But how did you know…?” Her voice emerged pathetically weak. It terrified her to have someone speak aloud the horrible thoughts and feelings she had assumed had been buried along with Kevin.

  “You quote Kevin’s cynical attitudes about anything magical or extra-sensory, yet you’ve had no qualms using those talents for the last twelve hours, so the attitudes were just borrowed from him. They’re not really yours at all. But now and whenever I have spoken about fate or destiny, your resistance is immediate and your fury hot enough to scrape paint off buildings.”

  Her breath was hurried. Jenna got to her feet and turned away from him. Didn’t he know she didn’t like to speak of such things? Never with Kevin and she hadn’t been the sort to have women friends to share intimacies with, either.

  Rhys’ mental touch came like a brief hug, but she didn’t acknowledge it, so he continued with audible words.

  “Your whole life, you have struggled to find your own identity and to learn your place in the world. Kevin would have prevented that and would have smothered you as surely as he blocked your field. He was a strong man. Strong in character and temperament. He was master of his own life.”

  “Yes, he was.” A single tear rolled down her cheek but she didn’t bother wiping it away.

  “It’s little wonder that you eventually pulled away, Jenna. You’re strong, too. I suspect that in the end you’ll prove to be stronger than I and far stronger than Kevin ever suspected you to be.”

  She took a long time to absorb it and to get her mind around it. She struggled with it. “I still don’t buy this ‘fate’ thing, Rhys. I never have.”

  “It doesn’t matter if you believe or not.”

  “It’ll come up and tap me on the shoulder anyway?” She felt her lip curl. “We’ll see.”

  “All right.”

  She turned to face him. He still sat at the table, holding his coffee cup. They might have been discussing the latest movie over a leisurely Sunday breakfast. His casual pose contrasted weirdly with the subject matter. “Just like tha
t? No argument?”

  “Unlike you, Jenna, I accepted my fate a long time ago. I know it doesn’t matter how much you try to dodge it. Sooner or later, the universe will arrange to have you in exactly the right spot to get hit by it.”

  “Is that why you have been so patient? Let yourself be so….” Lonely. She found it easier to speak the word mentally, rather than use the audible, unadorned, negative version.

  “In part, yes. Mostly, I wasn’t interested in a half-life with a…a normal human.”

  “And now that I’m theoretically here within reach, you’re prepared to let me go until my fate slaps me in the face?”

  “I’m not going to push anything, Jenna. I don’t have to. But I won’t let you out of my sight until the solstice.”

  Twice now he had mentioned the solstice. “Why? What happens at the solstice? When is the solstice?”

  He smiled. “If you think about it, if you reach out and sample the surges, you could probably tell me down to the minute when the solstice is due.”

  “Sure. December twenty-first. Everyone knows that.” She frowned. “Wow, that’s tomorrow.”

  “Try it. What time tomorrow?”

  “Sorry, I’m not wearing a watch.”

  “You don’t need one. You can feel the solstice coming. I’ll give you a hint, Jenna. At the moment of solstice, everyone’s powers are at their zenith. Just like the seasons, our powers grow and fade over the year’s cycle and we’re now on the build up to the solstice. You can feel the moment coming, just like you can feel an orgasm building. It’s inside you. Growing.”

  She shook her head. “There’s a term they use for Star Trek double talk. Technobabble. That’s all this is. Technobabble.”

  “Tell me. You know the answer.”

  “No.”

  “Tell me.”

  She shook her head again.

  Tell me!

  The answer spilled out of her obediently. “Ten p.m. No, just after.” She looked up at him. “Goddamn you. That was unfair.”

  “Just proving a point. You are almost down to the minute, as it happens.” He got to his feet.

  “Why. When is it?”

  “Four minutes past ten p.m., mountain standard time. I’ll let you verify it for yourself.”

  “And what happens at solstice? We all caper about in a circle and chant?”

  He gave a low chuckle and leaned over and kissed her temple. “You’re very sexy when you’re angry, you know.”

  “Don’t change the subject.”

  “I’m not. But you’re cutting into a whole new ball of wax here and you’re still digesting the last one. Are you completely sure you want to start this now?”

  She was saved from an answer by the room telephone ringing. The sudden noise made her jump.

  Rhys picked it up and gave his name and listened, then glanced at Jenna and held out the handset.

  “It’s for you.”

  “No one knows I’m in this room.”

  “I had them forward any calls to your room to here.”

  She took the phone reluctantly. “Hello.”

  “Jenna, thank god! I’ve been looking high and low for you the last twelve hours.”

  “Hi, Dean.” She scrambled to orient her mind back into a professional frame. Her supervisor was the only person on earth who knew she was in Banff and the only reason she had given him the information was because operational protocol demanded it. “I’ve been busy.”

  “So I gathered.” His voice sounded dry. “He sounds ruggedly handsome. Are you all right?”

  “Couldn’t be better.” She realized that physically, at least, she spoke plain truth. “Is something up? Why the call, Dean? You assured me that only in the case of direst emergency would you use this number.”

  “True, true. And while there’s not an emergency here, I rather thought there might be there.”

  “Here? Dean, what on earth…?”

  “Jenna, honey, listen to me. I’m not your boss right now, okay? I’m just a concerned friend. I know how you feel about my…well, my psychic abilities. You and I both know the department would freak if I ever used them for an operation—”

  Jenna glanced at Rhys, recalling that the department had hired him at least twice. She was damned sure it wasn’t for Rhys’ analytical skills they’d hired him. “Don’t be so sure about that, Dean. I’ve had one or two eye openers about the department lately.”

  “Well, anyway, I know you’ve never believed psychic stuff and that you think it’s all a magnificent jest. You’ve always made that very clear. So I want you to remember that while I say what I’ve got to say. I’m risking your ridicule and more trouble than I can predict with the department if this ever came out.”

  “If what came out?”

  “Jenna, last night I was watching television, minding my own business and got knocked into next week with a mental shout. I heard it plain as day, as clear as words, almost. Jenna’s in trouble. That’s what it said. Jenna’s in trouble. Christ, I could almost feel you, feel your fright.” He sighed deeply. “I dumped a perfectly good bowl of Jerri’s chilli all over the floor, it startled me so much.”

  “Dean, I’m fine.”

  “You might be right now, but honey, these things are convoluted sometimes. This could be about the future, something that’s going to happen. And you know….”

  She understood his hesitation. He risked more than simple ridicule and a formal rap on the knuckles. He risked exposing the extent of whatever talent he had.

  Jenna marvelled at her own train of thought. From pure cynic to a believer within twelve hours.

  I have been changed already.

  Yes, you have. Rhys’ mental tone caressed her, a warm mental hug.

  “You know that the solstice is coming up, don’t you?” Dean said.

  “Sunday,” Jenna supplied. “Tomorrow night.”

  “Uh-huh. You’re on a hot spot right there in Banff.”

  “A what?”

  “Hot spot. There’s all these lines of power that run over the globe and along each line, well, anywhere along a line, you can tap into an extra dollop of power if you go about it right. The ancients knew about it. Stonehenge is sitting right over one. Same with all the other standing stones in England. And all those freaky signs in South America. There’s another line runs up through the middle of the Rockies and Banff is right on it.”

  Her heart thudded along unhappily. Had she unwittingly put herself in a place of power. Was this fate of hers already pushing her around?

  “I didn’t know that, Dean. I’ll bear it in mind. If it’ll make you any happier, I’ll be super wary tomorrow, just in case. Okay?”

  “Well, yes, now that you’re stuck there. That’s a worry right there.”

  “What do you mean?” She put it sharply.

  “Why else do you think it took me ten bloody hours to get through to you? The phone lines were down because of the avalanches.”

  “Avalanches?”

  Dean chuckled. “Honey, I think you’ve been tucked in that hotel room for too long. Go grab a paper or talk to a local. There was a series of avalanches this morning. They cut off all the roads into Banff, along with phone lines and a shit load of other services.”

  She gripped the phone hard. “I see.”

  “So you be very, very careful, okay? I know you can look after yourself. And this warning I got could be about something as simple as getting stuck in a snow drift.”

  “But it didn’t feel like that, did it?”

  She sensed his surprise. “No, it didn’t feel like that at all.” He cleared his throat. “Well, it sounds like you’ll take me seriously enough to be cautious. Do you…would you like me to come up there and bring you home? You can stay with Jerri and I and the kids for Christmas—I know you don’t want to be at your home for it.”

  “You couldn’t get through anyway, Dean.”

  “Shit, I could get a helicopter in there.”

  Shock rippled through her. “You
’d blow departmental resources on this?”

  “Just give the word.”

  That frightened her more than any other thing he might have said. Dean was a genuine Scrooge when it came to parceling out money for even genuine departmental needs. That he’d break his own stringent rules to come haul her out of Banff before the solstice spoke volumes about his worry.

  “Nah, I don’t think you need to do that.” She made it sound as casual as she could manage. “Although I really appreciate the gesture.”

  “He’s that good, huh?”

  She smiled. “Something like that.”

  “Well, okay. But you know where to find me.”

  “Thanks, Dean.”

  She replaced the phone, listening to her heart thud unhappily, as she encompassed everything Dean had said. Then she turned to find Rhys.

  He stood at the window with his back to her, staring out at the snow that was still falling in thick, heavy flakes.

  “You chose to stay. Why?” he asked.

  She went up behind him, put her arms around him and rested her cheek against his back. “I don’t believe in fate, Rhys. I’m still getting use to these strange new things that I can do. That you can do. I don’t know that I like them much, except that they have some interesting applications.” She recalled the electric moment in the restaurant when they had revealed to each other the depth of their need to make love now, all while the waiter fussed over Jenna’s fingers and a ruined tablecloth, completely oblivious to the heat passing between them. And her mind jumped to their completely public lovemaking in the dress shop.

  Rhys drew in a heavy breath.

  “But I do know that with those powers or without them, fate or no fate, I’m drawn to you. I need to see where that goes.”

  He let go of a great gust of air, his shoulders lifting and relaxing under her cheek. “Thank you.”

  “How much did you hear?”

  “I picked up a lot from you.”

  “I thought you couldn’t do that unless I willed it?”

  “We’re bonding, Jenny. Whether you like it or not, the longer we’re together, the closer we draw to each other. When that happens, all bets are off. There’s no predicting what a unified field will do.”