sedona files - books one to three

by Christine Pope

  Apparently he could.

  “Anyway,” I went on. “I just have to hope he’ll get over it. There isn’t much I can do about the situation. I mean, it’s not as if I reciprocate those feelings.”

  “No,” Martin agreed. He didn’t say anything else, which could have meant anything.

  The silence in the car felt more than a little awkward, and perversely, that made me even more irritated. Martin and I should be enjoying the afterglow of our night together, not having to worry about whether Jeff Makowski’s poor tender little hurt feelings were going to throw a monkey wrench into our alien-fighting plans.

  “So where are we headed now?” I asked, hoping that would do the trick in changing the subject.

  “Down to Bell Rock. That’s the best place for you to work with vortexes, I think. I’m ninety-five-percent certain the aliens are going to be utilizing an upflow vortex, and the one at Bell Rock is very powerful.”

  So I’d heard. Well, at least it was a Thursday, and a December one at that. We might be able to find a spot in which to work that wasn’t overrun with hikers. “Why do you think they’d want to use that sort of vortex? From what you’ve told me about the Reptilians, they don’t seem like the uplifting type.”

  That got a smile out of him, and I relaxed somewhat. “It’s the direction of the energy that’s key. They want to take the energy that’s already moving upward and outward. It’s easier to harness that way.”

  “And what are they going to do with it once they’ve harnessed it?”

  The smile faded. “You don’t want to find out. That’s why it’s imperative that they be stopped before they get the chance.”

  For some reason I shivered, even though the car’s heater was on. “So why wait? Isn’t there some way to get the drop on them now, days before the big event?”

  He didn’t exactly sigh, but he did expel his breath in a way that seemed to suggest that would never work. “Well, first off, you’re not ready yet. Second, there’s a reason why you have to engage the enemy at the solstice. In order to tap into the energy, they have to open themselves to it, making themselves vulnerable. It’s only during that small, sensitive time that you’ll have a chance of succeeding.”

  “Great. Now you’re probably going to tell me that the exhaust port is only two meters wide.”

  A look of mystification swept over his face, and I almost laughed, despite everything. Apparently there were limits to his store of geek data.

  “Star Wars,” I explained. “It’s okay. So we go to Bell Rock, and I get a feel for this sort of vortex, and — what? Is that where they’re going to make their stand?”

  “No. There’s a reason why they’re located in Boynton. The vortex there is very strong as well, although it’s a slightly different type, a mixture of upflow and inflow. Not quite as powerful as Bell Rock, but they’ll want to work from a position of safety and security.” His jaw tightened, although I noticed he kept his eyes on the road and didn’t look over at me. “You’ll have to confront them on their home ground.”

  Better and better. I reflected that once this was over I was going to hole up in some resort with Martin, order room service for a week, and not stir out of my suite except to get a mani-pedi and maybe some really expensive reiki or hot rock treatments or something. It sounded like I was going to have earned it.

  “You really know how to inspire a girl,” I remarked. “Any other lovely little tidbits you’d like to share?”

  “I think that’s enough for now,” he replied, and something in his voice sounded more relaxed, as if he were relieved that I seemed to be taking the bad news in stride.

  Well, I’d had my share of bad news in this life already. I’d kind of gotten used to dealing with it. Even so, I hoped Martin didn’t have any more bombs he was going to drop before the day was over.

  * * *

  There were a few cars parked at the Bell Rock Pathway trailhead, but not enough to make me worry about the area being overrun. We got out of the car, and Martin offered me his hand. I didn’t really need it — I’d hiked this area before — but I took it anyway. I wanted to feel his fingers wrapped around mine, know he was there for me.

  A brisk wind blew. I didn’t pay it much mind; it’s almost always windy in Sedona. However, I did sort of wish I’d brought a rubber band or a scrunchie or something to get my hair out of the way. It kept whipping into my eyes, and I had to continually push it back with my free hand. The lower levels of the trail were easy enough and hardly involved any climbing, which relieved me somewhat. Not that I couldn’t manage even an advanced trail, but that spat with Jeff had taken something out of me, and I knew my day was just getting started.

  It didn’t help that, as Martin led me around to the eastern side of the enormous rock formation, I began to feel…something. A pressure, maybe, although that didn’t seem quite right. No, a sensation of something moving around me and above me, something that wasn’t the wind at all. It took my breath away and at the same time invigorated me, giving me the impression that I could jump to the top of Bell Rock in a single bound, if I only knew how.

  “You feel it, don’t you?” Martin asked, blue eyes keen as they searched my face.

  “Yes,” I said, sounding short of breath, even though the climb so far really hadn’t been that arduous. “I don’t get it — I’ve been here lots of times before.”

  “Before all your senses were fully awakened.”

  He stopped and faced me. We stood in a sort of small grotto formed by a natural rock wall on one side and several fallen boulders on two of the others. Bare clumps of manzanita sprouted from behind the rocks. It was sheltered and quiet, away from the main trail. I saw a patch or two of unmelted snow in the leeward side of the boulders.

  It was colder in there, out of the sun, and I moved closer to Martin. As if recognizing my need, he reached out to me and drew me close, held me against his chest as I huddled into his warmth. Even while I did that, I could still sense the energy swirling around me. Not warm, no, but crackling with power. It seemed to tell me I should reach out and take it, mold it to my own uses.

  I spoke to Martin then with my mind. It’s so strong. I can’t believe this was here the whole time, and I never felt it like this.

  His arms tightened around me. Most people never do. It’s all right. What’s important is you being able to use it now.

  How do I do that?

  You are a child of this place. It wants to work with you, just as it will fight against the aliens when the time comes. That’s why they have to do their work at the solstice, when the power of your world is at its lowest ebb. Reach out to it, and it will show you the way.

  I didn’t want to leave the shelter of his embrace, but I knew I’d have to for what was to come next. Taking a few steps away from him, I raised my arms — glad even then that we’d stopped someplace where most of the casual hikers wouldn’t come and see me standing there like some goofy new-age sun worshipper — and stretched them outward, feeling the power of the vortex ripple through me, surging along my veins, bright and terrible as molten gold.

  And then the boulders moved.

  Only a few inches, not enough for anyone to notice, or if they did, they’d probably just chalk up the shift in position to natural erosion or movement due to rainfall. But I knew that wasn’t what had happened. I’d moved several tons of rock with only the power of my thoughts.

  Well, that and the energy of the vortex, still snapping and crackling through me, ready to be used, feeling almost playful somehow, like a dog running around my legs and wagging its tail, happy to see I’d come home.

  I looked over at Martin, grinning, and he smiled back at me. For the briefest second I thought I saw a shadow at the edges of that smile, as if not every part of him was overjoyed at my achievement, but I told myself that was silly. Of course he’d be happy to see that I was able to work with the power of the vortex so easily.

  “You continue to amaze me,” he said, running a gloved hand over one
of the boulders.

  “Well, I do my best.”

  A head shake, but then he came over to me and took me in his arms, his mouth on mine, and I knew then that I didn’t have to worry about anything as long as he went through this with me. The heat surging through me right then didn’t have much to do with the vortex, only that delicious energy known as sexual attraction.

  As much as I wanted to say that it looked as if I had this part of my training buttoned up, and we should just go back to the cabin for some quality alone time, I had a feeling that wouldn’t go over very well. So I let myself enjoy the kiss, knowing that was all I was going to get for a while. I tasted him, caught a brief trace of clean soap smell from his skin, let the closeness of his body envelop me and reassure me with its very solidity.

  After a minute or two he lifted his mouth from mine. “I’m letting you distract me too much.”

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing.” I gulped in some cold air to steady my head and wished we’d brought along some bottled water from the car.

  “In this situation, distractions could be deadly.”

  What a way to kill the moment. I looked down at the scuffed toes of my boots. “But you say I’m doing well.”

  “You are.”

  “But not well enough.”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  This time he hadn’t bothered to hide the frustration in his tone. I raised my head and watched him carefully. He didn’t look away, but I could see the strain in the fine lines of his jaw and mouth. Oh, that mouth…

  He continued, “It’s just — I can feel time slipping away. There’s so much you need to know, and I can only help you so much before…” The words trailed off.

  “Before the solstice?”

  A nod, although again I had the feeling he wasn’t telling me everything.

  Since I knew that trying to pry secrets out of him would be an exercise in futility, instead I planted my hands on my hips and said, “Okay, so show me what else I need to do.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  The rest of the day I spent working on my control of the energy from the vortexes. Moving rocks was one thing, but Martin told me when the time came I’d have to do much more than manipulate physical objects — I’d have to reach out with my mind, insert my own will and my own power between their dark energies and the pure flow from the vortex.

  “So is Boynton stronger than Bell Rock?” I asked.

  We were taking a breather in the Taurus, where Martin had stowed bottled water and trail mix and some sandwiches. He hadn’t been cooling his heels in Starbucks while waiting for my tête à tête with Jeff to be over, but had instead been stocking up on supplies for what was turning out to be yet another long day. By the time we broke for lunch, it was already almost two o’clock.

  “Boynton is different,” he told me, after taking a swig from his bottle of water. “There, the energies are more balanced. In a way that will make it more difficult, because you’ll need to be able to separate them to focus on the upflow, which is what the aliens will be trying to tap into.”

  “But it’s strong.”

  “Yes, but not the strongest.”

  “So which one is? Bell Rock?”

  “No.” He put the cap back on his bottle of water and pointed past the formation where we’d been doing our energy work to the imposing bulk of Courthouse Butte. “Courthouse is the strongest vortex in Sedona. But because it’s so visible, it’s useless to the aliens. No place to hide there.”

  That was true. Although it didn’t have the same odd striations, from some angles the butte had always reminded me of the Devil’s Tower formation in Wyoming, the one from the end of Close Encounters. Its steep sides went straight up and were mainly bare of vegetation. The top was flat enough, but you’d need a helicopter to get up there. And, as Martin had pointed out, there was no chance for stealth at the top of something so windy and exposed.

  I shivered a little, although it was warm enough in the car. The sun had come out from behind the clouds, giving us a nice greenhouse effect to combat the wind-chill factor. That sensation of inevitability came crashing down on me again, making my tone more irritated than I’d intended as I asked, “And how am I even going to get into Boynton? I know the path — it’s not the sort of place where I’ll be able to sneak in. Persephone and Lance and Michael really lucked out that first time in Secret Canyon, but I have a feeling the security’s been beefed up a little since then.”

  Part of me really didn’t want to be talking about this stuff, but I knew I’d have to confront the reality of the situation much sooner rather than later. Besides, by focusing on the frightening things, the very real eventuality of my marching into Boynton and facing the Reptilians, I could almost distract myself from paying too much attention to the way the pale winter sunlight slanted through the car windows and turned Martin’s blue eyes almost silver. Or the strong bones of his hands, now with the gloves removed, and how those hands had moved over my body the night before…

  All right, so much for distracting myself.

  If Martin noticed my preoccupation, he didn’t give any sign of it. “You’ll know when the time comes.”

  I didn’t know if that was alien/angel double-speak for “all will be revealed in time,” but I didn’t like it much. All this psychic stuff was new to me. Maybe putting my trust in fate and letting the way be shown me when the time came was what other people did, but it had never been my modus operandi.

  “If you say so,” I replied, and took a bite of my sandwich. I had no idea how Martin had known to get me my favorite from the deli near Safeway, but God bless him for bringing me that delectable roast beef with the roasted red peppers and the provolone cheese. Funny how a good sandwich could do a lot to improve your outlook on life. With regret I ate the last bit of it, then folded up the wax paper wrapping and put it inside the bag we were using for trash. “So what’s next on the agenda?”

  “The most difficult exercise so far.”

  I gave him a hard look, just to make sure he was serious, and as far as I could tell, he was. Those dark-lashed eyes gazed back at me directly without blinking.

  A sigh wouldn’t have sounded terribly professional, so I settled for taking a bracing swallow of cold water before putting the bottle back in the cup holder where it had been resting. “Okay, then. Might as well do this on a full stomach, right?”

  His fingers tightened on the bottle of water he held. “I wouldn’t exactly say it’s a laughing matter.”

  “I’m deadly serious,” I told him. “Food settles my stomach. So I’ll have to make sure I load up on Saturday night.”

  “Kirsten — ”

  I didn’t want to discuss it anymore. He hadn’t said what he planned next, but I guessed it was going to be something a little more complex than levitating a couple of rocks. “Let’s go, Martin. As you keep telling me, time’s a-wastin’.”

  No reply, except a tightening of his mouth as he removed the key from the ignition and climbed out of the car, then locked it. A few more cars had come and parked while we ate, and I had to hope none of the newcomers had decided to take up residence in our grotto and do some plein-air painting or meditate on the nature of the universe, or indulge in some good old-fashioned necking.

  Actually, that’s what I really wished the two of us could be doing, but Martin didn’t seem too amorously inclined at the moment. Maybe he’d loosen up once he was satisfied with my progress for the day.

  Although we did pass a few hikers as we made our way back to our secret little spot, they all seemed to be staying on the more established trails. The weather was unpredictable enough at the moment that I figured most people wouldn’t want to venture too far off the beaten path. Well, unless they were borderline crazy, like Martin and me.

  We scrambled our way back to the place that had sheltered us during my morning exercises. No sign of anyone having been there in our absence, which relieved me somewhat. I didn’t think we’d left any evidence of what
we’d been doing, but you could never be sure.

  “All right,” I said, once we took our positions in the grotto, me with my back to the biggest boulder, Martin a pace or two away from me, partially blocking the “entrance” — if you could call it that, since it was really just a gap between two very large rocks. “Let me have it.”

  A frown pulled at his dark brows. “Is it all right if I explain what you need to do before I ‘let you have it’?”

  “Sure,” I said, lifting my shoulders. I hoped he could tell that my flippancy stemmed from nerves, and not because I didn’t take the situation seriously. It didn’t help that every time I looked at him, a little thrill rippled down my spine and settled in my stomach. All right, maybe a little lower than my stomach. I wanted him. I wanted to drop everything and go back to the cabin and let him love me all over again. That activity, while certainly enjoyable, probably wouldn’t help much in defeating those pesky lizards out in Secret Canyon, and I told my libido to take a hike for a while so I could concentrate.

  Martin watched me for a second or two, then nodded so slightly I almost didn’t catch the movement. “All right. I told you how you’ll only have seconds to strike while the aliens are opening themselves to the upflow power of the vortex. They’ll be vulnerable, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be helpless. Once they sense what you’re trying to do, they’ll do whatever they can to defend themselves. That means you have to protect yourself while at the same time using your own communion with the vortex energies to press the attack.”

  “Got it,” I replied. “Like that little trick you showed me up in Oak Creek.”

  “Exactly.” He didn’t smile, but I thought I caught a glow of approval in his eyes. “Ready?”

  Not really, I thought. I didn’t broadcast the words to him mentally, but only said, “Yes.”

  Then I opened myself to the vortex’s energy once more, letting that brilliant white-gold light flow through me again, sparking out to my fingertips. It almost felt as if I could scoop it up and throw it at any marauding aliens in the vicinity.