by Linda Hawley
“The seas have calmed while I slept,” I said, noticing. There was a husky, raw edge to my voice and a sharpness when I swallowed. I didn’t want to think about the bruises.
“Yes. It was like crossing a threshold.”
He was right.
We soon saw the Alden Point Lighthouse on Patos Island blinking once every six seconds. Not long after that, we were moored on a buoy in Active Cove on the west side of the island. I was grateful that we were the only boat moored in the cove, considering Patos Island’s eighteenth-century history of its shoreline caves being popular hideouts for smugglers.
I opened the companionway door, and Lulu joined us on deck in the night air.
“We’ve got forty minutes before Edwin’s due,” Chow informed me, looking at his watch. “Enough time for you to tell me about your dream?”
“Yeah, enough time.”
I told Chow everything that I remembered about the conversation with Armond five years ago, and I realized that the conversation occurred only a year before he was killed in the avalanche on Mount Baker.
“It seems like he told me about The Prophecies just in time,” I said to Chow.
“So you’re the Guardian of Time?” he said with reverence.
“I suppose so.”
“It all fits, Ann. The Herkimer you lost as a girl returned to you in Shanghai, and by bringing it back from your dream, your paranormal abilities were fully unlocked. Also, remember the meeting in D.C.?”
“What about the meeting?”
“Vanessa wanted you to be an assassin for the cause. You said that you would be willing to alter historical events to change things for the better, but that you would never be a killer. The second prophecy says that the woman will undo the wrongs of the past, purifying it. You…are…the…Guardian,” he said, realization washing into his voice like a gentle wave washing up on shore.
I looked at him, blinking.
“When Armond told me the story, I joked about the responsibility of guarding time, completely unaware that it was me, even when my husband told me that it was. Now, looking back, I feel foolish that I didn’t take him more seriously.”
“You weren’t meant to link it all together until now, Ann.”
“You always know the right thing to say.”
He patted my hand, looking down.
“The shaman said that once The Prophecies were unsealed, they’d be completed in twelve months.”
“Since the Shanghai dream when you retrieved the Herkimer was two months ago, you have about ten months left to right the wrongs of mankind,” Chow said.
“Not much to do at all,” I joked.
Chow smiled. “We need to look for events that have shifted mankind’s direction from its intended path.”
“So we need to find junctions that steered us in the wrong direction.”
“Yes. Correct.”
“You were co-dreaming with me in Shanghai, so you were there at the start of The Prophecies, and you are here with me now, during the second prophecy. Chow, I think you are one of the Wisdom Keepers.”
“Me?” he questioned, looking up at the stars.
“You are, Chow. I can feel it in my gut. I just know that’s right.”
He was silent, focused inward for some time. “I think you are correct, Ann. I believe I am a Wisdom Keeper,” he said, looking up into my eyes.
“But who is the other?” I asked. “We know it’s a man.”
We both pondered, looking at one another. “When it is time for the third Wisdom Keeper to be revealed to us, we will know it,” Chow said confidently.
“I must tell you that I can’t think of another person alive on this planet that I would rather go through this with, than you,” I said to him.
Chow stood and bowed to me, hands clasped together.
I sat there, tears forming, awe and wonder washing over me. We were silent for a time, each of us considering the possibilities.
“He said the three of us will bring a message to humanity, creating a celestial event.”
“Yes…” Chow nodded, questioning.
“What do you think the message will be, and what celestial event could possibly occur?”
“I don’t know. But I think deity will have a hand in it,” Chow said, as though it were fact.
“I read about something a month ago in the Nature Nanotechnology Journal. It was a quantum-physics article about how quartz crystals are a resonator and amplifier of energy, and in some new studies, they’ve learned that crystals can greatly amplify thought energy.”
“You’re reading about quantum physics, Ann?”
“Only when it has to do with quartz crystals.” I laughed. “And only since I brought the phantom Herkimer back from my Shanghai dream. The article was fascinating. The physicist said that in their experiments, they’ve been able to store up to one million megabytes of digital information within the subatomic structure of one crystal, and then they can project that information as a hologram across a broad area.”
“How broad an area?”
“The article didn’t say. But it did say that the area extended tenfold when they released the hologram over water.”
“So we’ve got crystals amplifying thought energy over a broad area and expanding further when they’re over water.”
“Yes. What are the odds that I haven’t thought about this article until this very moment?”
“As I said, Ann, deity will have a hand in it.”
“Apparently so.”
We sat looking at one another in the dark, pondering the events unfolding. Then I looked up.
“I think we need to start looking at the skies. The Prophecies say that the Wisdom Keepers will see signs in the skies and know that the time for their message has come.”
“I agree.”
“It’s overwhelming, thinking that I’ll have a part in changing history.”
“I understand. But remember what the shaman said about you.”
“What?”
“You are a warrior who will fight to fulfill these prophecies.”
“Yes. A warrior.”
“And for a hundred years, the shamans have been performing ceremonies with crystals so that you would be protected.”
“I have been protected so far, thanks to my friends,” I said, squeezing Chow’s arm.
He smiled at me.
“I just realized something else,” I said suddenly.
“What?”
“When Armond gave me the sacred crystal he received from the shaman, he said, ‘Ann, just believe it’s possible.’ I said, ‘Believe what’s possible?’ Then Armond looked intently into my eyes and said, ‘Believe in your power to change the future for the good of mankind.’”
I sat there stunned that I had remembered this after all these years—and that I had forgotten it in the first place.
“But that’s not all, Chow. When my husband was dying, the very last words he spoke to me were, ‘The Herkimer. Believe…’ After years of wondering, I finally understand the meaning of Armond’s last words. He was telling me to believe in The Prophecies, and to believe that I am the Guardian of Time.” My tears were flowing and unstoppable now.
Chow handed me his handkerchief, saying, “I think your husband wanted to tell you the most important thing in the little time he had left.”
I simply nodded in agreement. Minutes passed while I collected myself. For the first time, I felt resolved to my destiny.
The nav system interrupted our reverence with a warning blip, showing a vessel approaching.
“Friend or foe?” I asked, knowing we had no answer.
Chow raised his eyebrows, questioning. “Can you get the lamp?”
We had agreed with Edwin that our signal was to hang a red lantern from the boom; this would tell him that we were moored and all was well. Once he saw our lamp, he was to hang a red lantern from his own boom.
I fetched the lamp from the cabin and looped the handle over the boom, which hung six feet o
ver Woohoo’s cockpit, and then I turned it on. It glowed red, guiding what I hoped would be Edwin to us. We looked out into the dark and could not see any vessel; we only knew of its presence because our radar had alerted us to it.
“Why don’t you go down below with Lulu, just in case?” he said to me in all seriousness. “You’re protected, Ann…by many…for more than a hundred years. Don’t forget that.”
“Okay,” I said softly, and Lulu and I went down into the cabin and closed the hatch.
There was another nav station at the captain’s chart table in the cabin. I sat there and watched the blip on the radar coming toward us. As it neared, I felt nervous; I had no idea if the U.S. Coast Guard would be on the lookout for my sailboat. My house had blown up tonight, after all.
Chapter 24
THE SAN JUAN ARCHIPELAGO
The Year 2015
Sitting at the captain’s desk, I watched the blip get closer. Not having any word from Chow was bad news. As I sat petting Lulu, I hoped that it would calm me, but it didn’t. The thought of being trapped below as the U.S. Coast Guard boarded us unnerved me. How would I explain bags full of cash if they searched the Woohoo? They would assume we were involved in illegal activity. All they would have to do is discover the cash and run Woohoo’s registration, and then they’d easily put together the explosion of my home and charge me with arson—and murder—whether I had anything to do with it or not. I knew Chow well enough to know that these same things were going through his head, and he must be formulating a plan. He would die before he would allow me to be arrested; that I knew for certain.
As I was considering separating the cash and stashing it throughout the sailboat, I heard Chow call to me.
“Ann, red lamp confirmed.”
I was up the stairs and opening the companionway almost before the word lamp finished coming out of his mouth. The brisk air was a relief from my emergency planning.
“Do you see the lamp?” he said, pointing off our starboard side.
Focusing intently, I saw the tiny red spot.
“That’s a relief. I was in crisis mode below,” I said as I exhaled a breath that I didn’t know I was holding.
“I too was considering a plan so that you would not be arrested.”
“Come up with anything?”
“None that didn’t involve me getting killed,” he said in exasperation, shaking his head.
I laughed, partly because it was unusual for Chow, and partly out of sheer relief that we didn’t have to test his plan.
He smiled in return, in his understated way.
“As long as there are no other vessels on the radar, he’ll tie alongside us to board the Woohoo so we can exchange sailboats. But if we see another boat come within range, he’ll moor on the other buoy, and both of us will have to put ashore in our dinghies with our bags,” Chow reminded me.
“And Lulu,” I said, knowing that would be a challenge. “I sure hope there are no other blips on the radar, because if we have to use the dinghy plan, it’ll take a lot more time in the dark of night. There’s even more chance we would be caught.”
Chow nodded his head; he clearly had already thought of this.
Thankfully, a sailboat came into view with a red lantern hanging from the boom, with no other vessels on our radar. As it got closer, I could see that it was another Ranger twenty-six-foot sailboat. I laughed out loud.
“You’re right,” Chow responded to unspoken words. “After some searching, we were able to borrow a British Columbia–registered Ranger. After we make the switch and cross into Canadian waters, there will be very little chance that we will be boarded by the Canadian Coast Guard, since the other Ranger is registered there. My brother will be in more danger with the Woohoo than we will.”
“Not exactly. At the house, I drew up a bill of sale and signed over Woohoo’s title to Edwin. I dated it two weeks ago. If Woohoo’s boarded by the U.S. Coast Guard, all he has to do is show them the papers. In Washington, he has thirty days to register it in his name, so he’s the legal owner. He shouldn’t moor at Squalicum Harbor, though. It’s better if he heads to Anacortes Marina, south of Bellingham.”
Chow looked at me with gratitude. “You and I are well partnered, Ann. I was thinking the same thing, but it wasn’t my place to ask you to do this.”
“After all we’ve been through, I suppose you should feel free to ask me anything.”
He nodded. We could now see Edwin in the cockpit of the other sailboat. I raised my hand in silent greeting. The radar was still clear of other vessels, and before long, Edwin was alongside the Woohoo and roping to us.
We all sprang into action, getting our luggage from the cockpit and tossing it over to Edwin, who was catching it in the other Ranger. We stored Edwin’s single overnight bag in Woohoo’s cabin. Then it was time for the transfer. I crawled over first, careful when crossing over the rails of both sailboats, so I wouldn’t end up in the water. As soon as Edwin helped me board, I could hear Lulu start to whine.
“Hello, Ann,” Edwin greeted me.
“Hi, Edwin. We better get Lulu over before she starts to bark,” I warned him.
“Of course,” he said in haste.
Chow was able to pass Lulu over to Edwin without dropping her, which was a challenging feat. Once she was by my side, she sat down, satisfied. Edwin smiled at her. I took her down into the cabin. After looking in my bag, I found what I was looking for and removed the envelope.
As I emerged from the cabin, Chow and Edwin stood close together, talking in Korean in low tones. Standing there, I waited for them to finish, shocked that they both knew how to speak Korean so well. I’ll have to ask Chow about that later. When they finished, Edwin turned to me with a look I had never seen on his face, and he bowed to me for the second time in my life.
“I told him about The Prophecies, and your role,” Chow said to me.
I didn’t know what to say, so I returned Edwin’s bow and handed him the envelope with both my hands. As I stepped closer to him, I could see his respect toward me reflected in his face.
“It has been my honor to help watch over you until now,” Edwin said to me.
I shook his hand. “Edwin, thank you for everything you’ve done,” I said sincerely, looking into his eyes. Pointing to the envelope, I explained, “Inside is a bill of sale and the title for Woohoo, signed over to you. It’s pre-dated for two weeks ago. If you’re boarded by the U.S. Coast Guard, you can show them the papers, which shows that you’re the legal owner.”
Edwin nodded.
“Make sure to sail down to Anacortes Marina, instead of Squalicum Harbor,” Chow added.
“Thank you,” Edwin said to me.
“And Edwin?” I added.
“Yes?”
“Take good care of her. She holds precious memories,” I said sentimentally.
“I will, Ann. I will.”
Edwin faced Chow. “Ahn-nyeong-hi ga-se-yo,” he said in Korean, bowing to Chow.
Chow returned the farewell of peace with feeling.
As I started up the Canadian Ranger’s engine, Chow untied us from the Woohoo. I couldn’t help but tear up at the loss of her. Armond and I had retrofitted the Woohoo and given her a new birth, storing away many happy memories on the sailboat. As I watched her slip away, the memory of Armond’s smell in our double sleeping bag also fell away. It seemed that I was losing the very essence of my soulmate.
Chapter 25
CANADA
The Year 2015
We motored away from the west side of Patos, entering Boundary Passage in winds ranging from ten to twenty knots and a three-foot chop. We could hear porpoises accompanying us, racing alongside our bow. Our destination was only five nautical miles away in Narvaez Bay, on the southeast of Saturna Island, in the Canadian Southern Gulf Islands.
Crossing into Canadian waters without any other vessels on our radar was a surprise and a relief as we continued motoring in the dark of the very early morning. We made the crossing in just
over an hour without any difficulty and navigated into the bay. The inlet was dark and peaceful, without any other vessels anchored. To avoid being exposed to a southeasterly wind, rough sea, and passing ship disturbances, we decided to drop anchor along the shore in twelve meters of water. There was no mooring buoy, dock, or any other signs of human disturbances in the isolated bay.
Not long after we anchored and got everything settled, dawn broke. After finding some scones in the sailboat’s galley, along with herbal tea, I came up top, bringing along Lulu’s breakfast. We sat in the cockpit on opposite benches, watching the sun wake up. I could see that he was tired; he hadn’t slept all night.
“Oh, Ann,” he suddenly exclaimed, looking at me hard.
“What?” I answered him immediately.
He sat down next to me and gestured to my throat. “Does it hurt?”
I guess he hadn’t seen it before now, since we had been travelling in the dark.
“Yes. It hurts.”
“I wish that I had been there. I could have prevented it,” he said solemnly.
“You can’t save me from everything, Chow. Joe did his best. It just happened. At least Joe and Lulu got him off me in time.”
Chow reached down and petted Lulu. “Good dog,” he said to her kindly.
We sat there, side by side in silence after that, watching the gulls search for their breakfast as they skimmed the smooth mirrored water. The rising sun revealed the small bay, with the shoreline heavily forested with Douglas firs. Clinging to the shore were wind-shaped trees at odd angles.
“A bald eagle,” Chow called out, spotting one.
“Beautiful,” I remarked, seeing the majestic beauty.
We continued sitting, watching nature awaken.
“How is it that both you and Edwin speak fluent Korean?”
“It is our home land.”
“I thought you were Chinese.”
“A fabrication woven by GOG. We were born in Korea. Both our parents are physicians there. When my parents became GOG members, Edwin and I were nearly teenagers—”
“You were both almost teenagers?” I said, interjecting. “Who’s the eldest?”
