Fort Lupton

by Christian, Claudia Hall

  “Jake,” Blane said. “He’s calling me. He said . . .”

  Blane collapse in a seizure.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Monday night — 9:15 p.m.

  Phoenix, Arizona

  Wrapped in a towel, Yvonne left the massage room. She wandered down the hallway in spaced-out bliss. Dionne had to start later than Yvonne, so she wouldn’t be done for a while. Yvonne had time for a bath in the room. She went into the locker room to change back into her loungewear.

  When she pushed open the door, the woman sitting on the bench turned and looked up at her. The woman had long blonde hair and was wrapped in a towel. When she smiled, she was truly beautiful, but Yvonne could feel a survivor-vibe radiate off the woman. This woman had been through some bad, bad stuff. Yvonne nodded to herself and gave the woman one of her bright smiles. The woman blushed.

  “Did you have a nice massage?” the woman asked. “I don’t get massages very much.”

  The woman dropped the back of her towel to show Yvonne scars on her back and arms.

  “People freak out,” the woman said. “You think they’ll . . .”

  The woman gave a slight shrug, and Yvonne instantly liked her. Yvonne sat down next to her.

  “I think they’ll be just fine,” Yvonne said. She patted the woman’s knee. “Don’t you worry about that stuff.”

  When the woman nodded, Yvonne realized that the woman looked familiar.

  “You know, my memory is not very good,” Yvonne said. “Have we met before?”

  “Nope,” the woman said. She leaned forward and took an envelope from the open locker in front of her. “I was asked to give you this.”

  She held the envelope out to Yvonne.

  “What is it?” Yvonne asked.

  “A message from a friend,” the woman said.

  Yvonne didn’t take the envelope.

  “It’s what you’ve been looking for,” the woman said.

  “A sure-fire ticket to hell for the Spider?” Yvonne asked.

  “Sadly, no,” the woman said. “I wouldn’t mind one of those myself.”

  “A way to get back at Annette for hurting Jabari?” Yvonne asked.

  “Not that,” the woman said.

  “The person who hurt Mr. Chesterfield?” Yvonne asked.

  The woman smiled and shook her head.

  “A way to eat everything I’d like and not gain weight?” Yvonne asked.

  The woman laughed. She nodded toward the envelop,e and Yvonne took it.

  “Smell it,” the woman said.

  Yvonne held the envelope up to her nose. She took a deep breath and smelled sunshine, beeswax, and honey.

  “Alex,” Yvonne said.

  The woman raised her eyebrows.

  “You don’t have a massage?” Yvonne asked.

  “Oh, yes, I do,” the woman said. “I told them that if I was coming all this way, I was getting a massage.”

  Yvonne smiled.

  “You are truly the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” the woman said.

  “You’re not so bad yourself,” Yvonne said with a smile. “Your daughter is a beautiful girl too.”

  The woman beamed.

  “She’s friends with Paddie,” Yvonne said. “My friend Delphie has picked her up at the Marlowe School to play at the Castle a few times.”

  “Yes, she has.” The woman smiled.

  “Leena?” The massage therapist came to the door.

  “My turn,” the woman said.

  She gave a little wave and left the locker room. Yvonne got dressed in her loungewear. She was just about to leave when she saw the envelope on the bench. She picked it up and looked at it for a moment. Glancing around the locker room, she decided she’d better bring it up to her room. She left the locker room and went to the elevator. The spa was in the basement of their hotel. She had to wait for an elevator to come all the way down there. When it arrived, there was a tall, thin, brown-haired person standing in the back.

  “Alex?” Yvonne asked.

  “Max,” he said. “Would you mind if I hung out with you tonight?”

  “Not at all.” Yvonne smiled.

  She stepped into the elevator and stood next to him. The elevator doors closed and they started to rise. Yvonne leaned in close to him.

  “Do you have any superpowers?” Yvonne asked.

  “I’m not a fairy,” Max said, “if that’s what you’re asking.”

  Yvonne shook her head, and Max grinned.

  “You’re going to protect me,” Yvonne said.

  “I’m going to protect you,” Max said. “And I’m going to finish this thing once and for all. My sister and I have a particular dislike for people who hurt children. But we get really mad when people we love get messed with.”

  “You mean my handsome agent?” Yvonne asked.

  “Sandy,” Max said. “You. Raz. Colin. The list is long.”

  “You’re Alex’s brother.”

  “What gave it away?” Max asked.

  He waved his hand up and down over his body. He grinned at her and she smiled.

  “I am a lawyer,” Max said.

  “That’s kind of a superpower,” Yvonne said.

  The elevator stopped at her floor and the doors slid open.

  “Come along,” Yvonne said.

  They got out of the elevator together.

  “Have you met Dionne?” Yvonne asked.

  “I have,” Max said. “Dr. Bumpy was our childhood doctor. My sister Erin still sees him. We would too, but we have to see doctors through our work.”

  “Dionne does not like strangers. Too much time on the road as a singer. It’s good that you know her,” Yvonne said. She opened the door to the suite. “You sure you don’t have a super power?”

  “Pretty sure,” Max said, and stepped into the suite. “Why do you keep asking?”

  “I just have the feeling that you’re going to save the day,” Yvonne said.

  Laughing, Max closed the door to the suite.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Monday night — 10:15 p.m.

  Denver, Colorado

  Jill leaned up on her elbow to see if Katy was finally asleep. Katy had not passed her horse exam today. She was so upset that she’d cried almost all night. Jill had lain down with her in her bed to try to comfort her, but Katy needed Jacob. He wasn’t here. After an hour of sobbing, sleep had caught up with Katy.

  Jill got up from the bed and went out into the loft. Her bare feet padded across the cool wood floors. She went to the nursery. The boys were sound asleep. They would sleep for another hour or so, then want to be fed. Jill went to her bedroom and stood in the doorway.

  She couldn’t bear another night in that bed without Jacob.

  As she had the last few nights, she went to her office and settled in to work on the Marlowe School. She opened her laptop and pressed the button for it to come on. While she waited, she opened her project journal and went over her notes.

  Hearing something, she looked up at her laptop. Her usual desktop image of Katy and the boys was gone. The screen was black except for a square in the middle. Jill leaned forward. The square was a small box with some kind of video playing in it. The image was light orange with vague shadows, possibly sticks or trees, moving through the orange-yellow fluid. She grabbed her computer mouse and clicked the “make larger” button. The video filled her screen.

  She had no idea what she was looking at. She noticed the sound was off and clicked it on.

  “He’s stuck,” Blane’s voice said.

  Jill gasped. Blane had passed out while Heather was visiting him. They hadn’t been able to wake him. Heather was beside herself with worry. No one could explain what had happened to Blane. He seemed to have just fallen asleep.

  “Jill!” Blane’s voice said. “No one can hear me. You have to listen.”

  “Blane?” Jill asked.

  “Jake’s stuck,” Blane’s voice said. “They’re all stuck. Delphie too. Your father. Keenan. Can you see it?”
/>
  “Orangey liquid stuff?” Jill asked. She hit Print Screen and saved a copy of the image. She cued the image to print.

  “I can’t see it,” Blane’s voice said. “But I can hear him.”

  “What does he say?” Jill asked. Her printer began to print the image.

  “He says it’s liquid amber,” Blane said. “He says they are stuck in it. Held outside of time. He has no idea why.”

  “Fin too?” Jill asked.

  “Finegal is there too,” Blane said.

  “Shit,” Jill said. She hit Print Screen again to make sure she had a copy. “What did Fin get them into?”

  “Jake doesn’t know,” Blane said. “But he thinks you, Edie, Tanesha, Yvonne . . . you have to help them.”

  “Us?”

  “And the boys,” Blane said. “Katy.”

  “What?” Jill asked. She hit Print again.

  “Tell Heather that I’m okay,” Blane said. “I’ll wake up tomorrow morning and not remember any of this.”

  “Okay,” Jill said.

  Her computer made a buzzing sound. Lightning flashed across the screen and the laptop went dark.

  “Shit,” Jill said.

  She hit the on button, but the lap top made a fizzling sound and started to smoke. She watched for a moment to see if it would burst into flame. When it didn’t, she went to check the printer. She carried the two sheets of paper back to her desk.

  Not sure of what to do, she set the images down and went to bed. She was dozing off when she felt an urgent need to get the printouts. She jogged to her office and grabbed the sheets. When she got to the bedroom, the first image changed. Jacob was staring at her through the orange. She smiled at him, and he grinned back. She laid the sheet on his pillow and got back into bed.

  For the first time in days, she fell sound asleep and dreamed of orange seas of amber.

  Chapter Three hundred & twenty-five

  Sea of Amber

  Tuesday morning — 5:25 a.m.

  “Try it yourself,” Jill said to Tanesha over her cell phone.

  In her own kitchen, Tanesha stirred a pot of oatmeal at the stove.

  “What?” Tanesha asked. She shifted the phone to her other ear.

  “Try it,” Jill repeated. She was setting out breakfast for Katy in the loft’s little kitchen.

  “I can’t really. . .” Tanesha said.

  “I can finish up,” Jeraine said as he nudged her out of the way.

  She smiled her thanks. He rolled his eyes up to the heavens in a dramatic “Thank God.”

  “I thought you’d burn the place down,” he said in a whisper.

  She blew him a kiss and went to the dining room table. She opened her laptop, turned it on, and sat down.

  “What do I have to do?” Tanesha asked.

  Still wearing his fleece sleeping onesie, Jabari climbed onto her lap. She shifted so her lap was free, and he scooted against her. Jabari was sleepy and warm, so she reached around him to her computer.

  “Now what?” she asked.

  “I was missing Jacob,” Jill said. “And then I turned on the computer.”

  “Oh, I already turned it on,” Tanesha said.

  Heather came in the front door carrying Mack in his car seat. Tink pulled the door closed behind them. Tanesha turned to nod in greeting.

  “I don’t know,” Jill said. “Maybe it doesn’t make a difference.”

  “I’ll turn it off,” Tanesha said. She reached to turn the computer off. Her hand hovered over the button. “Did your screen go dark?”

  “Black,” Jill said. “You know I have that picture Sandy took of Katy and the boys on the desktop? It wasn’t there.”

  “Yeah,” Tanesha said. “My desktop’s not there either.”

  “Hey! Do you know where. . .” Jeraine yelled from the kitchen. He pointed a spatula at Jabari and waved to Heather. “Never mind.”

  “Is it black?” Jill asked.

  Tink went into the kitchen. Heather took off her heavy coat and brought Mack over to the table. Mack was sound asleep.

  “A window, you know like a video window, is in the middle of a dark field,” Tanesha said. “What the. . .?”

  The smaller box was awash in orange and yellow. There were dark shadows, like sticks, in the background. Fin’s face appeared on the screen. He smiled at Tanesha. She looked down to see if Jabari could see this. He was asleep.

  “He’s there, isn’t he?” Jill asked.

  “Fin,” Tanesha said into the phone. She put her hand out, and Fin’s hand appeared on the screen.

  “Just like Jacob,” Jill said. “Can he hear you?”

  “No,” Tanesha said.

  “I had to take a picture before it shorted out the screen,” Jill said.

  Tanesha hit Print Screen and sent the image to the printer.

  “The print, you know?” Jill asked. “It came alive when I was in the bedroom.”

  “Alive?” Tanesha said. “Like sexy?”

  “Like I could see Jake,” Jill said. “Just his face.”

  Jill said something to Katy.

  “And now?” Tanesha asked.

  Jill said something else to Katy before turning back to the conversation.

  “Sorry,” Jill said. “What was that?”

  “What’s on the paper. . . uh . . .the picture, now?” Tanesha asked.

  “I can still see him,” Jill said. There was a sound of paper rustling. “He can’t hear me and I’m not sure he can see me. He just has a goofy look on his face. I could hear Blane.”

  “Blane?” Tanesha asked. She looked at Heather.

  “She heard Blane but saw Jake,” Heather said. “Blane told her that he would wake up today.”

  “Let’s hope,” Tanesha said to Heather. Into the phone, she said, “Fin has a weird look on his face too.”

  “Fin?” Heather asked.

  She hefted herself from the chair to come around to look. Tanesha shook her head at Heather.

  “Where are they?” Tanesha asked.

  “Sea of Amber,” Jabari said.

  “What was that?” Jill asked.

  Tanesha looked down at Jabari. He was sucking on his thumb and looking at the screen. His dark eyes with their impossibly long lashes looked at her. He smiled around his thumb.

  “Sea of Amber,” Tanesha repeated for Jill.

  Tink came out of the kitchen carrying two bowls of oatmeal. She set them down and went back into the kitchen.

  “What’s a sea of amber?” Tanesha asked Jabari.

  Jabari just looked at her. Tanesha pulled his thumb from his mouth and repeated the question. Rodney came in the front door.

  “Not what,” Jabari said.

  Rodney touched Jabari’s head in greeting. He looked up at Rodney and gave him a big smile. Rodney kissed Tanesha’s cheek.

  “What’s that?” Rodney asked. “Looks like Fin.”

  “Jabari says it’s the Sea of Amber,” Tanesha said.

  “What’s that?” Jill asked into the phone.

  Sandy’s voice was heard in the background at Jill’s house.

  “Sandy and Rachel are here,” Jill said. “Jabari says it’s the Sea of Amber.”

  “He said, ‘Not what,’” Tanesha said to Rodney.

  “Where,” Jabari said.

  “Where?” Tanesha and Jill asked at the same time.

  “Jabari,” Rodney kneeled down to Jabari’s level, “Is the Sea of Amber a place?”

  Jabari stuck his thumb back in his mouth and nodded.

  “Where is it?” Tanesha asked at the same time Jill said, “What’s a sea of amber?”

  “I don’t know,” Jabari said.

  Tanesha and Rodney shared a look.

  “What’s a sea of amber?” Sandy said in the background.

  “He says he doesn’t know,” Jill said.

  “No, he knows what a sea of amber is,” Tanesha said. “He doesn’t know where it is.”

  “Jabari, this is important,” Rodney said. “What is a s
ea of amber?”

  “It’s a sea of amber.” Jabari shrugged.

  “Where is it?” Tanesha asked again.

  “I don’t know,” Jabari said.

  “Come on, son, I’ll get you dressed.” Rodney picked up Jabari.

  They were almost out of the room when Jabari said, “She knows.”

  Rodney stopped walking. He looked down at Jabari. Everyone turned to look at Jabari. Tink came out of the kitchen with two more bowls of oatmeal.

  “Who knows?” Rodney asked.

  Jabari pointed to Heather, who had backed away from the table. She was standing near the front door. Tink set the oatmeal down and returned to the kitchen.

  “Uh,” Heather said.

  Everyone turned to look at Heather.

  “What’s happening?” Jill asked.

  “Jabari says that Heather knows what a sea of amber is,” Tanesha said. “Heather?”

  “Well. . .” Heather said.

  “Heather?” Tanesha asked.

  “It’s not like I know for sure or anything,” Heather said.

  “What’s going on?” Jill asked.

  “Heather’s acting weird,” Tanesha said.

  “Uh,” Heather said.

  “I’m going to have to call you back,” Tanesha said into her cell phone.

  She hung up on Jill. Hopping to her feet, she went to Heather.

  “Excuse us,” Tanesha said.

  She walked up to Heather.

  “Well. . . I . . .” Heather said as she backed away.

  “If you’re going to fight, can you do it after breakfast?” Tink asked from the table. “I have to get to that meeting at school — that is, if someone doesn’t kill me first.”

  Tanesha raised an eyebrow to Heather and she gave an acquiescing nod.

  “Good,” Tink said, and set two more bowls of oatmeal on the table.

  Jeraine came out with a plate of eggs, and Rodney came down the stairs with a dressed Jabari. Tanesha helped Jabari into his high chair, and Heather woke Mack. They were just seated when Tanesha’s computer made a popping sound. The electricity in the house flickered, and the computer started to smoke. Tanesha groaned.

  “You backed it up?” Rodney asked.

  Tanesha nodded.

  “Everything?” Rodney asked.

  Tanesha nodded.