Joe watched her go and then looked back to me. “You are letting her go to bed alone? You surprise me.”
“Why is that?” I asked.
“She’s a beautiful woman.”
I laughed softly and shook my head. “Joe, you’re a dirty old man.”
“I can remember what it was like to lie between the legs of a beautiful woman.”
“I bet you can.”
“Then why are you passing up the opportunity? Your body is still young and strong.”
“Yeah, but she’s my apprentice, not my lover.”
“I may be old, but I’m not deaf. I could hear you last night. She sounded like she was your lover then.”
I shook my head. “She needed it.”
“And you didn’t?” Joe asked.
“Not really. I don’t mean that I was reluctant about it, but she’s still getting used to working with magic and you must remember how it is to work with someone of the opposite sex.”
“I remember, but that doesn’t explain why you let her go to bed alone.”
“It’s complicated, Joe. I’m trying to keep the sex from becoming love. We’re going to be together for a long time, but eventually, we’ll separate. When that day comes, it’ll be better for both of us if we aren’t in love.”
“So you’d give up decades of love to make the break up easier?” Joe asked.
“Something like that,” I said.
Joe gave that some thought and enough time passed that I expected he had dropped the subject, but then he said, “That’s not the only reason you are keeping your emotions in check.”
Damn it, old shamans were just too smart to miss something. “You must know the other reason.”
“Your own mentor,” Joe stated. It wasn’t a question.
“Yes. He died abruptly after I had just five years of training. What if that happens to me? Tess will have a hard enough time getting by without having the emotional baggage of losing a loved one.”
“Old friend, you are a powerful Wanderer, but you are still ignorant when it comes to matters of the heart. Mark my words, if you continue on this path the two of you are going to fall in love whether or not you wish it were so. Denying it will only make your life harder than it needs to be. You should allow things to flow naturally. It’s the way life is meant to be led.”
“But she’s still my apprentice. I need her to learn, not fall in love. The sex is just a release. Besides, it wasn’t my idea. I tried to avoid it.”
“You didn’t try very hard,” Joe observed.
“You don’t know how difficult it was to resist her.”
Joe laughed softly. “You sound like Br’er Rabbit begging the fox not to throw him into the briar patch.”
I didn’t say anything and tried to ignore him.
He laughed for a long time.
He was still chuckling when I got up and went to bed.
I slipped beneath the covers without waking Tess. I lay on my back, staring at the ceiling and trying not to think of the young, attractive, woman who lay within easy touching distance. Joe was too damn sharp for his own good. He might have been right about Tess and my relationship, but I wasn’t going down that road. I’d lost a woman I’d loved just a week ago. There was always the danger of one of us not making it through our training period and even if we both made it, we’d be separating then. I didn’t need to lose another loved one.
I forced myself to forget about Joe’s talk and concentrate on what it would take to work Tesla’s magic. Just before I fell asleep, I had an epiphany. I wasn’t sure I had time to work out the technique, but in theory, it could be as good a weapon as Tesla’s magic.
Tess was gone when I woke up. The sheets on my side of the bed were in disarray. I had done a lot of tossing and turning during the night. It wasn’t like me. I usually slept like a baby. I sat up and dropped my feet to the bare wood of Joe’s floor. It was cool. I wiggled my toes, stood, and stretched. What had my sleep troubled? Was it the upcoming fight? Doubtful, there’s always an upcoming fight in my world. Was it Joe’s admonishment? More likely than worrying about a fight. There wasn’t time to concern myself with my relationship with my apprentice. We were handling things fine the way we were. If things ever slowed down, then I could reflect on the properness of it.
Noises in the kitchen confirmed that if I wanted breakfast, I’d better get a move on. I stood and dressed quickly, pulled the covers taught on the bed, and left.
“Good morning, Boss,” Tess said as she held out a mug of coffee.
I took it with a smile and a nod of appreciation. “Morning, Tess. Joe.”
“Good morning, Rafe. Pancakes okay?” Joe asked.
“Certainly.”
I took the coffee and walked to the front windows. The curtains were open, and the sun was a bright ball above the distance radomes of Schriever AFB. Tess joined me with her own cup.
“Any change?” she asked.
“Change? As in our mission?” She nodded. “No, I feel no additional urgency. I think we have another day, at least.”
“Then we’ll have time for your Tesla experiment?”
“I believe so. I’ve had some other thoughts on what might help us. Something that could only work if I had access the scene of the trouble beforehand. Luckily, Verðandi’s summoning was specific on location.”
“What does it involve?” Tess asked.
“I’ll need to check with Beast and see if he thinks I can make it work. It’s something I’ve never tried before, and I’m not certain it’ll work.”
“Why Beast? You’ve never given me the impression that he knew more than you,” Tess said.
“In most things, he doesn’t, but I recently found out he could track across portals and that means he knows more about them than I do. Let me talk to him first. If he thinks it’ll work, I’ll explain the technique to you. Besides, I’ll probably need your help to make it work.”
“Really?” Tess sounded cheerful that she was being asked to participate actively in the battle.
“Yes, really. Don’t sell yourself short. You may be a novice, but even a novice applying a modicum of force at the right point at the right time can change the outcome of a fight.”
“Pancakes are ready. If you’re still hungry,” Joe said from the kitchen area.
“Damn straight, Joe.”
We ate breakfast, and I explained what I thought I needed for the Tesla experiment. It wasn’t much, mostly a little copper.
When we finished eating, I helped Joe with the cleanup while Tess did whatever it is women did to get ready.
I was cleaning the cast-iron skillet when the bathroom door opened and Tess re-joined us.
“You clean up nice, young lady,” Joe said.
I turned and found that he was correct. Tess had been brushing her hair back, and that was about it. This morning she had some kind of product in it to style it close to the sides of her head, although the right side was only about an inch long from where she’d been regrowing it after having it burned off. A light green eyeliner highlighted her eyes and a soft magenta lipstick darkened her lips. Her leather jacket was unzipped nearly to her navel, and for some reason or other, her blouse’s top two buttons were undone. The result was a revealing of both the soft swell of breasts and a thin black bra that had little in connection with her usual sports bra. Her boots were already on, and her leather pants were tucked inside them.
“Wow,” I said a lot softer than I would have thought possible. “To what do we owe the pleasure of your beauty?”
Tess braced her right hand on her hip and struck a pose. “Are you saying I’m not usually beautiful?”
Danger Will Robinson, danger.
“No, of course not. I’ve just grown so use to your natural beauty that I’m surprised to see you touch it up. This must be for your benefit, Joe,” I said, slapping the older man lightly on the back.
Tess broke the pose and came over to us. She kissed Joe lightly on the cheek and then put her han
ds on my shoulder and kissed me on the lips.
After a few seconds, she pulled back and gave me a sly smile. “It’s for both of you. Our lives may be in constant danger, but there’s no reason we can’t look good while saving the world.”
I grinned stupidly. “That’s what I love about you, Tess. You take everything I throw at you in stride and come back for more.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You love me?”
Joe broke into a coughing fit as if he’d suddenly developed tuberculous.
The danger scale in my hindbrain broke past the stops, and I think my heart stopped for a second. “It’s an expression, Tess. Just an expression.”
She watched my eyes for a few seconds. The patted my cheek and gave me a light peck on the lips. “I’m jerking your chain, Rafe.”
Tess stepped back and bent to adjust her bootlaces, giving me an even better view of the lovely swell of her breasts. I had the sense to get my gaze up before she straightened. The woman was deliberately behaving provocatively this morning, and I couldn’t decide what her game was.
Then I realized that I was enjoying the game at least as much as she was.
Chapter 18
Therese
The three of us rode in Joe’s old Ford pickup, down the mountain to a Home Depot on South Nevada Avenue. The day was bright and cool, the temperature hadn’t reached the fifties by nine, at least according to the bank sign we passed. Joe drove–I couldn’t see any sign in his driving that he was more than a hundred years old–I rode bitch, and Rafe had shotgun. I prefer not to ride in the center, but then I was definitely the youngest of the three of us. You’ve got to respect your elders.
Joe parked about halfway down a lane in the parking lot, and the three of us piled out. As we started across the parking lot, I zipped my jacket up to a more modest line. Teasing these two old men was one thing, but I wasn’t walking through a hardware store dressed like some kind of bimbette.
Rafe asked a lady at a nearby cash register for the location of what he needed and then grabbed a cart. He pushed it while Joe and I walked behind him. Joe told me about when he first moved to Colorado Springs, back about the time he’d met the future President Roosevelt. Joe was a fascinating man. Just living that long was amazing, but he’d also met more than one President, and he was in touch with animal totems. Me, I was raised Protestant, but I’d always thought that religion belonged more in the heart than the head. Joe’s religion didn’t recognize one god, even if he had no problems believing in Christ and God. His pantheon had room for everyone’s religion.
Rafe put three, eight-foot long brass rods in the cart and then a heavy roll of copper that was nearly three-feet wide. Then we headed for the lumber aisle. There, Rafe got three eight-foot 4x4s.
“Don’t you need a posthole digger?” I asked.
“No, I think I can manage without one,” Rafe responded.
We returned to the cash register by the door and checked out. Rafe paid with a credit card and then we returned to the pickup.
On the way back to the cabin, Joe pulled into a liquor store parking lot. Rafe ran in and came out a few minutes later with a case of beer and a bottle of bourbon. He set his purchases with the other material in the pickup bed.
When he slid in next to me, I caught his eye, and he said, “We can’t drink up all of Joe’s beer without replacing it.”
I grinned and placed a hand on Rafe’s knee as Joe started the pickup moving again.
We were back at the cabin before noon.
“Beast,” Rafe called. “You and Maia morph. We have some flying to do.”
I heard bells chiming from somewhere nearby. I listened, enjoying the fine tune and was surprised when I counted more than thirty notes. Looking at Joe, I found him smiling.
“Thirty-two, if you were wondering. It’s on the hour. That’s the Shrine of the Sun.”
“He means the Will Rogers Shrine,” Rafe corrected.
“Same thing,” Joe said. “Shame about ol’ Will. He was a good man.”
“You knew him too?” I asked.
The bells echo had barely died away when music began playing.
“Now what? That sounds like Anchor’s Away,” I said.
“It’s Veterans Day today,” Joe said. “They play seasonal music three times a day.”
“Don’t they have The Caisson Song? Not that there’s anything wrong with Anchors Aweigh, but…”
Joe laughed. “I think that one played yesterday or maybe the day before. They only play three times a day and they don’t repeat.”
Both familiars were resting in the shade of a tall pine, but at Rafe’s words, they shifted forms and walked over. We mounted up, and Rafe told Joe we’d be back in a few hours. I carried the three brass rods, while Rafe carried the three 4x4s and the roll of copper.
Maia and Beast each activated their glamours to appear as nothing more than hawks and then leapt into the air. I thought I was going to lose one of the rods, but then I triggered my shield tat and focused it tightly around the rods. That made them much easier to control.
We soared upwards, passing the concrete structure of the Shrine. It had to be at least one hundred feet tall and looked like a medieval castle. We rose steadily along the heavily treed mountainside, climbing higher and higher until we reached the top of the massive granite mountain.
Television and radio towers sprouted from between the trees, rising high above the city. I noticed that the air was thinner and wondered what the altitude was. The city was above six thousand feet, and Joe’s cabin had to be nearly eight thousand. I guessed that put us somewhere between nine and ten thousand feet at the top.
Rafe directed Beast toward a clear rock west of the towers and had him land. Maia set us down beside Beast a second later. She knelt to make it easier for me to dismount.
The top of the mountain was cooler, and a strong breeze tried to blow my hair, but the little dab of product I’d applied held it still. Rafe’s hair, while shorter than mine, still showed the effects of the wind. He turned toward me, and his hair flew forward into his face, momentarily hiding his expression.
I took one of the rods, leaving the other two on the ground, and followed Rafe to the massive granite boulder that stuck up above the trees.
“Where are you going to put it?” I asked.
Rafe pointed toward the top of the boulder. He looped one arm around my waist and pulled me tight against him. I wrapped an arm around his waist and resisted smiling. A moment later, we floated upwards the forty feet or so to the top. He set us down gently on the top and slowly released his hold on me. I could no longer resist smiling, and I made sure he caught it. He hadn’t needed to hold onto me to levitate us both. He had wanted to hold me. I found that…interesting.
Rafe cleared his throat noisily and set down the sheet of copper and the single 4x4 that had floated up with us. While he took out his pocket grimoire, I marveled at the view from the rock. Pikes Peak rose considerably higher than we were and was just a dozen or so miles to the northwest. Snow covered a good share of its barren area above the tree line. To the south, I could see the snowcapped peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains that we’d flown near on the way from Raton, New Mexico. More mountains I didn't know the names to pointed toward the sky everywhere I looked to the west and north. Only eastward did the land appear flat and nearly featureless. I wondered if I was looking at Kansas or if it was too far to see. I decided I needed to Google the local geography during our future travels.
Rafe took my hand and snapped me out of my thoughts. He was kneeling, and his grimoire was open in front of him. “Mesh with me.”
I knelt beside him, and in a few seconds, we meshed auras, heartbeats, emotions, and thoughts.
“Follow me on these spells,” he said aloud.
Rafe triggered a tattoo. I could feel it heat up on his left bicep as the spell released energy from Rafe’s stores. Rafe’s right hand began to glow with power. He lowered his hand toward the boulder and extended his index
finger. A soft glow emanated from his fingertip and where the glow touched, the rock vaporized. Moving slowly, Rafe traced a square in the surface of the boulder. The cloud of vaporizing rock was swept away on the wind.
A minute after he’d started Rafe canceled the spell. There was now a square hole in the boulder. It looked to be at least a couple of feet deep and was about the size of the 4x4.
Still meshed, Rafe activated his levitation tat and the post he’d brought floated over, rotated, and dropped into the hole. It stuck out six feet above the rock.
Rafe and I stood and dropped our hand hold, but maintained our meshing. He picked up the roll of copper and handed it to me. “Unroll about three feet.”
I removed the fastening on the copper and began to unroll it while Rafe took his knife from his boot. When I had three feet unspooled, he stepped back from me.
“Another foot,” Rafe said as his knife grew into a katana.
I did as he asked.
“Now, hold it up and let the slack hang.”
I could see where he was headed and looked cautiously at the long blade in his hands.
Rafe had nothing to prove to me so I raised the copper and held still. A moment passed and then his blade cut through the copper just beneath my hands, cleaving the copper sheet smoothly along a horizontal line. The wind threatened to carry the copper sheet away, but Rafe caught it with a spell while I set the remaining roll down.
He began to read from his grimoire, and I felt the power growing around us as he did. Moving his finger across the copper sheet, he traced a pattern onto its surface. When he finished, the pattern glowed momentarily as he applied power to it.
Rafe read another spell from his grimoire. The copper curved up and around, forming a globe with the spell on the outside surface. Material separated from the top of the sphere, forming a hole the diameter of the brass rod. It rolled into a ring and floated through the air to Rafe. He slipped the small ring into a pocket.
Triggering the tat he’d used to dissolve rock, Rafe touched the top of the post and held it there for a few seconds. Canceling the spell again, Rafe picked up the brass rod, poked it through the center of the copper sphere, letting the sphere slide down the rod until it reached the closed end of the sphere. Raising the rod to the top of the post, Rafe dropped the rod into the hole, and it sank until the copper sphere stood pointing at the sky.
Wanderers 3: Garden of The Gods (The Wanderers) Page 22
