by Dena Nicotra
“Yes, I do believe I could meet with you to discuss my order tomorrow” he said.
“Kess, I really hope that you mean to get to me tomorrow and get me out of here.” I was growing more frustrated by the second but I imagined his crazy sister, or someone who would tell her must be standing there next to him.
“That’s correct. I believe that you already provided some samples to one of my waitresses so I am familiar with your products.” My crazy mind started to simmer down and I realized he was talking in code.
“If you are asking me if Pepper is with me, the answer is yes.” I said with a huff.
“Good. Very good. I’ll speak with you tomorrow in that case.” He hung up and I returned the phone to my pocket with a sigh. Pepper was leaning forward, anxious for information. It hadn’t occurred to me until then how frightened she must have been to be alone with me while I was knocked out. Not to mention what it did to her personal life.
“So, is he going to come get us out of this place?” Pepper propped her elbows on her knees and rested her face in her hands. I contemplated for a moment because I really was a little confused by the response Kess had given me. Was someone right there? Was his sister more powerful than him? It seemed like that must be the case. What was worse to me was the fact that I hated to ask him for help in the first place. I also really hated being in this hole…and I really hated Railey.
“Jo?”
“Sorry Pepper, I was lost in thought. He said he would come tomorrow. I think someone was there with him because he was very vague…but I think he sent you here.”
“Oh well in that case, I hope he’s paying me overtime.” She laughed a little, but I knew that she was actually serious, and that she could really use the money. I made a quick mental note to help her when I had the chance. It was the least I could do under the circumstances.
I touched my head again and looked at my hand when I pulled it away. I wasn’t bleeding anymore, but my hair was crusted with dried blood. I was also keenly aware of the pain in my face and ribs. I shut my eyes for a second and tried again to concentrate on my apartment. When I opened my eyes I was still sitting in the same place. For the first time in all of this I realized with a shocking sense of panic that I could not weave. I still had some of my ability because I knew what Pepper was thinking…but that really wasn’t going to help us.
“So you want me to make us some more chicken soup?” Pepper asked.
“That would be wonderful,” I said.
Pepper and I sat in silence and ate our bowls of chicken soup, and then I curled up on the dirt floor and fell asleep. I was too tired to do anything else and too afraid to try. The concept of not being able to weave was just too much to handle.
When I woke again there was a commotion of sound and light that battered against my foggy brain. I was vaguely aware of Pepper’s voice and that it was getting louder by the second. I forced myself to sit up and that’s when I came face to face with Kalan. Pepper was shining a flashlight at him. I guess she’d managed to weave it to see who was coming. I threw my arms around his neck and cried like a baby.
“Oh thank God,” Pepper said. She was doing her best to protect me from him, unaware until she saw my reaction that it wasn’t necessary. I really was lucky to have her as a friend.
“Kalan, I’m so glad to see you!” I soaked in his cedar scent and welcomed the relief that flooded over me. He sat down and pulled me into his lap, which hurt like hell considering my ribs, but I didn’t care. He tipped my chin up to look at the bruising on my face and I noticed that his eyes were filled with unshed tears.
“I’m so sorry Joey, I never meant for you to get hurt, and I should have known better. It was selfish of me to reach out to you. I –“
“Don’t Kalan. It’s not your fault.” I searched his face hoping that he realized my words were sincere. He looked so miserable. Somewhere behind us Pepper busied herself with rearranging a bundle of wood she had just weaved. I knew that she was uncomfortable because she felt that she should give us privacy, but there was no place else she could go.
Kalan took my hands in his and then looked deep into my eyes. “Joey, she has taken your gift, and it is my fault. How can I not blame myself for that?”
“What do you mean? Taken?” I held my breath because I knew this was true even if I didn’t want to admit it. I heard Pepper suck in a shocked breath but I couldn’t look away from Kalan’s beautiful face. It seemed like forever before he spoke again and when he did, his voice was choked with emotion.
“It is what she wanted all along. Your gift is unique Joey and she knew that. She has always known that. There are only a handful of weavers left and of those there are only two known master weavers. You and Peter.” At this revelation Pepper dropped her arm full of wood and fell to her knees. “You knew my brother?” She whispered. At the same time she was deeply saddened by something she couldn’t bring herself to mention -- the realization that the only other person who could help bring her brother back was me, and I couldn’t do anything now.
“Yes, I did, he was my friend. Unfortunately he was also Railey’s boyfriend. She knows who you are Pepper, she just doesn’t have any use for you so she doesn’t care that you are working at the club. In fact, she thinks it’s funny. I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you have actually figured out who she is more than once. She just undoes it each time and then she and her assistant enjoy waiting to see how long it will take you to figure it out again.”
“That must be Lela,” I said.
“Yes, that’s her, or at least that’s what she’s calling herself these days.” He added.
“What do you mean, these days?” I asked.
“Well, Lela is a dark weaver, a very old and powerful one. She’s been mentoring Railey since she was very young.” Kalan said with disgust. I took in his words and realized that there was a reason I did not like Lela. I also realized that I knew far less than I needed to.
“How do you know all of this Kalan?” Pepper asked.
“There are two very old families of weavers. Both initially light, but over time one proved to have tendencies toward the dark threads.” Kalan rubbed the back of his neck like telling this story caused him pain. “Eventually the traits evolved to be either dark or light. Kessler is the only one I know who has ever possessed both.”
I thought back to that day at the beach with Kess and how I’d felt so strange when he answered my question about his abilities. No wonder.
“Because of his lighter tendencies, Kess has become indentured to his sister. He’s more powerful than her, but he won’t go against her and she knows it. He tried once…” Kalan’s voice trailed off.
“Why didn’t it work?” Pepper asked.
“Let’s just say Railey isn’t a sucker for love.”
“I don’t see how she could love at all. She’s got a dark spot where a heart should be.” I spat.
“How do you know so much about Kessler?” Pepper asked.
“Well she is very full of herself and she never lets an opportunity to brag pass her by. It is so easy to forget who is listening to you. She tells Lela everything and since the two of them forget that I am nearby…” He said and shook his head. “You see, she took most of my gift a year ago. Shortly after I met you Joey.” His voice trailed off.
“We met a year ago? That doesn’t make any sense!” I said. I am sure the expression on my face was upsetting because the tears finally began to fall from his beautiful blue eyes.
“I know it doesn’t.” He said softly. “It hardly makes sense to me, and it took a long time for me to remember, but it’s true. I came looking for you shortly after my mother died.”
“But why don’t I remember?” I asked. My heart thudded in my chest and I felt like the ground beneath me was spinning. How could I ever forget him? This made no sense in my mind, but my heart told me differently.
“Because she took that from you right after the accident. I’ve been trying to get to you ever since.”
He added with a sigh and brushed his hair back out of his eyes. The accident. I…was there. I was the passenger in that car accident with him. A rush of agony surged through my body and I felt sure I was going to be sick or pass out. I remembered. This wasn’t the first time I had been to California.
“Do you remember now Jo?” Kalan’s soft voice came from a distance.
“Yes.” I shut my eyes and let the tears flow. I couldn’t help it. How do you grieve the death of the one and only person you have ever loved? Or the fact that he had been ripped from your life as if he never existed? I remembered him coming to Arkansas. I remembered meeting him for the first time at the bayou. Our place.
He’d walked up so quietly. I was sitting alone on a fallen log with my feet dangling close enough to dip in the cool water when I felt like it. I was crying over the loss of my Papaw. I’d saved my Mamaw from death, and I couldn’t do it again. Not because I didn’t want to, but because he’d made me promise not to that day in the cotton field when we’d walked together between the rows…and he’d explained some things.
Kalan sat down beside me that afternoon, and without a word, he took my hand. I looked up at him and saw the pain in his eyes. He introduced himself to me and then I understood why he shared my grief. I didn’t think it at all odd that this beautiful boy sat beside me. That he silently offered comfort and understanding. It was as if we’d known each other, and words were not needed. I remember leaving home with him to move to California…and I remembered weaving together all along the way.
“I’m so sorry Jo.” Kalan was holding me and we were both crying together now. I was faintly aware that Pepper was also crying. We just sat there like that for the longest time. I wept for the loss of my gift, and his. I cried for Peter as well. Though I had never known him, I knew how much he had sacrificed for the sake of love. It is the essence of weaving; the selfless kind of love that triggers the gift and propels it forward. Peter had obviously trusted Railey in the same way that I trusted Kalan and he had paid the ultimate price for it.
“So what do we do now?” Pepper asked as she stood and brushed at her grimy face with the back of her hand.
“Do you know where we are Jo?” Kalan asked gently.
“I have no idea.” I answered honestly.
“We’re in the mine, on your property.” He said.
“Why would she put us here?” Pepper asked.
“Because it’s the place where…” Kalan began.
“It all started.” I added. It was all beginning to make more sense to me now. I recalled the conversations that I’d had with my Papaw and those I’d had with Kalan when we met. I also recalled the lessons from him. Some of them more interesting -- or should I say, more exciting than others. Kalan had been my mentor.
Understanding flooded through me at the same time the words fell from my lips. Railey had wiped any connection to Kalan from my mind, which had included Genessa. The only things I could remember about my gift were fragmented bits and pieces of information offered from memories of my Papaw until now.
“When my Papaw Levi was a boy he saved a young girl who was trapped in this mine.” I said. “Unbeknownst to my Papaw, she was a very special little girl.”
“That young girl was named Genessa, and she was my mother. She was lured to this quartz mine by a dark weaver, and trapped within the threads of the weave that sent her here. Of course, the only thing that saved her was the essence of purity from the person who saved her. She gave Jo’s grandfather a very special gift as a token of her appreciation for what he had done, but he never used the gift,” Kalan said.
“He gave it to me instead.” I said with a sigh. Memories rushed into my mind, some lovely, others like shards of pain. “I didn’t know anything about weaving until my Mamaw passed. It was then that my Papaw decided it was time to use it…but he was so afraid.” I remember seeing him standing in the kitchen, clutching the small vial in his shaky hand. I remembered my determination to swallow the contents when he told me that it was the only way to help Mamaw and he couldn’t do it. “I triggered my new ability by drinking the elixir Genessa gave him and I saved my Mamaw. After that I knew what I could do, I just didn’t understand why or the extent of my abilities.”
“Levi was a good man, but he wanted to keep Joey removed from the weaver community.” Kalan said.
My Papaw did his best to explain things, but he was a simple, God-fearing country man. I don’t know that he really liked all of the “hocus-pocus” as he called it. He was just glad to have his wife back. I accepted my new existence, but not much made sense to tell you the truth. That is until Kalan and I met after my Papaw died.” I said.
Pepper turned her attention to Kalan, “So your mother told you about Jo?”
“Yes, she did. Just before she passed, she explained that she had given the gift of weaving to a very special boy. She admitted to me that she fell in love with Levi that day, but she already knew that she was not destined to be with him.” Kalan said.
“How did she know that?” Pepper tucked her coppery hair behind her ears and leaned in like a little kid at story time.
“Well, my mom was a descendant of royal blood so she was obligated to marry a full-blooded weaver. She was betrothed to my dad. It’s a blood-line thing. Besides, Levi was much younger than her. My mother was having her second childhood, by choice. Of course, the gift could have changed that, but Levi wasn’t comfortable with the gift. In fact, he wasn’t comfortable with our ways at all. It confused him from what I was told.”
He shrugged his shoulders at this as if he found it just a little awkward to discuss. I guess talking about a person your mom might have been with would be somewhat weird.
“So your mom was like a princess then?”
“Something like that.” Kalan looked away and I knew this was painful to talk about. In an effort to ease his burden, I continued to explain.
“Because she chose to give the gift to my Papaw, she died when he did. It is the sacrifice that a weaver makes to continue the bloodline beyond the boundaries of their own offspring.” I said.
Oh, that is just wild! I have no idea where Peter and me…well, if you can really even count me, got our gift.” Pepper said as if we were talking about the traits of hair or eye color. I looked up at her and smiled.
“I don’t know either Pep, but I do know that you are one of the most selfless people I’ve ever met. I’m sure that has something to do with it.” I said.
“So Kalan, if you are dead then does that mean that—“ I started to finish but Pepper cut me off.
“Whoa! What do you mean dead?” She held out both of her hands in the universal stop position and looked at us with huge eyes. I could feel fear creeping up on her, but at the same time a twinge of hope for her brother.
“Well Joey and I were driving home from school one day (yes we actually attended at the same university I weaved for my folks to believe all over again) and the brakes went out on my car in the canyon.” He added in a low voice.
Just thinking about that day made my heart quicken. I could clearly remember the car rolling and me screaming Kalan’s name over and over as we bounced over hard rocks and earth. I couldn’t weave us out of it. Railey had taken over. She weaved me back into my life in Arkansas to a point just before my Papaw died, and wiped Kalan from my mind completely. No wonder I was so damn melancholy when I was home! My heart knew something was missing even if my mind didn’t. I rested my head against Kalan’s shoulder and closed my eyes. It was too painful to think about the fact that he was little more than a thick mirage.
“So, if you are dead, how is it that you are sitting here with us?” Pepper cocked her head to the side and scrunched her nose. The whole thought just creeped her out. She half expected him to turn into a gory talking corpse or something. I had to stifle a giggle at this because I didn’t want to let on that I knew what she was thinking.
“I don’t really understand that myself. I just know that somehow Jo is summoning me and whe
n she does I can respond, though it only works when Railey is asleep, or thoroughly distracted. It’s like it weakens her weave.” Kalan looked up at me then and kissed the tip of my nose. When his lips touched my skin I felt his emotions mix with mine. We both knew just how precious these stolen moments were. I nuzzled in closer to him. A part of me wanted Pepper to go away so that I could be alone with him, though that was totally impractical.
“So Joey is making that happen?” Pepper asked.
“Yes. She’s manifesting my essence. My body is actually in a cell under Railey’s home in the canyon. It used to be a wine cellar but she has converted it.” He looked down when he said this, and I knew without him saying the words that this was as disturbing for him to say as it was for us to hear.
“Is my brother there with you?” Pepper held her breath and waited for a reply.
“I don’t know Pepper. I have not seen him, but my senses are not complete at all times so it is possible.” He was trying to give her hope but I knew that he really didn’t think that Peter was there. In the space of a heartbeat I felt the flush of loneliness that was a part of Kalan’s world now. He was truly a prisoner in a sense that one cannot describe. Imagine being a hostage in your own dead body. That’s enough to raise the hair on the back of anyone’s neck. Mine included.
I had to shake the thought of his bones lying in a dark cell some place with his clothes slack and dusty on his frame like a prop at a haunted house. I shook my head to clear the image and then wrapped my fingers around Kalan’s. I would not think about his hands in a skeletal form. I just wouldn’t accept that thought at all.
Pepper stood and dropped another piece of wood into the fire. Her thoughts were on her brother now and I knew that she was wondering if she could manifest his essence in the way that I had. She was also very afraid of trying (the whole talking-corpse-zombie thing again.) She crossed her arms like she was cold and paced in the small space before asking “Hey are either of you hungry?”
