by AJ Kalliver
"Because," He answered. "You can see me."
She stared at him blankly, but that empty, falling feeling had returned to her middle.
When she said nothing, he stepped forward a pace and lifted a hand. She flinched away, but he did not try to touch her, he merely passed his hand in front of her face, as if testing the consistency of the air there.
"You have suffered a trauma of some kind recently; your body and its energies are still recovering, striving to regain their proper alignments." He said it so seriously that it almost didn't sound like new-age nonsense. That probably explained him going barefoot. "Your talent is extremely strong; more so than in anyone I have ever seen, but you have been blocked all your life, unable to properly use it." He looked thoughtful, moving his hand alongside first one side of her head, and then the other. "Perhaps this thing you did, this changing of your appearance, was the shock needed for your ability to manifest itself at last; but it is also responsible for the pain you have been feeling when the power is used, these headaches."
This had gone far enough. It was looking like she wasn't the only crazy person out here tonight, maybe not even the one most in need of professional help.
"All right then." She began, trying to keep her words gentle and soothing. "I don't know why you singled me out for this little game of yours, but I'm going inside now, and I don't want you to—"
"I came because you called me." He said. She stopped, her mouth open, and he gestured outwards once again. "I rode the storm, like these others, until I felt your need. Your cries were so very loud, I could not ignore you, so I answered. When I reached you I tried to help, but in my natural form there was little I could do; beings of energy and of substance do not often have reason to interact."
Claudia managed to close her mouth, with an effort.
Then, despite her better judgment, she opened it again.
"You're saying that you—" She pointed at him. "Are one of those?" Pointing out at the glowing orbs, which she still refused to believe actually existed.
He nodded.
"Yes. Well, similar to them, but of a higher order." Now it was he who looked somewhat uncomfortable, as if explaining all of this were somewhat embarrassing for him. "You see, in a very real way, I am all of that." His broad gesture took in all of the storm, the enormous, towering front through which the Athena was passing. "It was only because of you that I was able to take on this form. On some level you felt my presence, you reached out to me as I tried to aid you, and your power helped me manifest as something physical." He shrugged, as if that were something that even a child should understand. "Once that had been done, easing your pain was not so difficult. I do not believe it will trouble you again; your energies seem to have managed the most difficult part of the adjustment, now."
Crazy. It was ludicrous, and she felt a tugging at the corners of her mouth in anticipation of the punch line.
"You're saying… that you're a ghost?"
"I see dead people." She thought with a mental giggle, recalling a movie she'd seen back in her teens.
He shook his head with long-suffering patience.
"No, I am not a ghost. I am a storm." He reached out again, and this time he did touch her, a gentle caress along one cheek. "And you, you are a Summoner, a Speaker-to-Spirits. Not the spirits of the dead, but the spirits of the living world around you." He took back his hand, holding it up before his own face for a moment, as if wondering at it, and then looked back to her. "An astonishingly powerful Summoner, as I think I have already said."
Claudia wasn't sure what was worse, that this poor man should be so hopelessly deluded… or that she found herself beginning to believe him. She turned her head, quite deliberately, and looked out into the night sky. Yes, there were things there, dancing through the storm, and yes, when she gazed upon them she felt, instinctively, that they were not some kind of bizarre natural phenomena such as ball lightning, but living beings, as right and natural as a dog, or tree, or eagle.
The storm itself was alive; an immense mass of living energy, tenuous as a spider's web, powerful as an atom bomb. It was hollow, though. Its core, its essence was strangely absent. She could almost feel the hollow, aching void where the tempest's… she supposed in a human she would call it a soul, but in a being like this she didn't know.
All she knew was that the missing part of that vast, near god-like being… was standing there beside her; waiting.
"All of this—" She glanced at him, then back out at the spectacle. "It's all real?"
He rested his folded arms atop the barrier, leaning into it as he joined her in watching the display.
"Yes. More real than most ever manage to see."
Incredible. She thought. And, in a brief moment of clarity added. If this is all just me being crazy, then I guess somebody had better sign me up for a padded room. But… I don't think I'm crazy. A hallucination wouldn't last this long, or be this consistent, would it?
She probably didn't want to know the answer to that, so she asked another question instead.
"Is it like this in other places too? On the ground, I mean?"
He nodded.
"There are entities everywhere; every place, great or small, has its own spirit. Some have many, overlapping each other, unified or conflicting, welcoming or hostile, each according to its nature." He cocked his head, giving her a sidelong look through his blowing, cloud-colored hair. "Perhaps you have already seen them, and not even realized it to be so. Often they are so much a part of a place that one can see them, even speak to them, and never know they are more than what they seem."
She'd already begun shaking her head no when the image of the beautiful girl in the dance club downstairs suddenly struck her.
That girl, the one nobody paid any attention to; the projection. Except, what if she wasn't a projection at all? What if the reason nobody had appeared to notice her was because no one except herself had been able to see her?
"I think I saw one, earlier." She admitted, slowly, still not sure it was true. "She was dressed in the Athena's colors, like the crew, but she was very beautiful, and nobody could see her…."
And she wanted me to come and dance, to have a good time. The Athena is a pleasure ship, she wanted me to enjoy myself… the Athena.
He seemed unsurprised.
"An artifact such as this will usually have a very powerful, clearly defined spirit, for all that it is a creation of man. However, not all such will be so welcoming." He studied her. "Is that the only other you have seen? There would have been headaches, as your power revealed them to you. In a time of great fear, or stress."
Claudia shrugged, unsure of any other time she had noticed anything odd, like the woman.
The most stress I've had lately is in the courtroom; no spirits there. And, I suppose, that morning at Barret, McCandless and Stone; I was plenty scared then, hoping and not-hoping all at once. Then that guy in front of the elevators, staring a hole right through me—
"The lawyer!" She exclaimed, excitement overcoming the last bits of her that were reluctant to accept all of this. "That lawyer archetype, the patriarch I didn't recognize!"
No wonder he looked so pissed; he was the spirit of… well, I guess he's the spirit of B, McC, and S himself. He knew my heart wasn't in it, that I hated being there, and it offended him. And the whole blue hair thing too, if he's a stickler for the appearance code.
The man beside her smiled faintly, and nodded.
"There, you see? Another path has opened itself to you. All you need do now is choose to follow it."
"Path?" She asked, unsure of what he meant. "You mean, like a job? A career?" She wrinkled her nose. "What kind of career is seeing spirits that nobody else can see going to give me?"
He spread his hands.
"I cannot say. It is your path, not mine."
With that he turned, and began walking towards the far end of the otherwise empty observation deck. Claudia, caught be surprise, took a few steps after him.
> "Wait!" He paused, half turning to look back at her. "What, you're going?" The note of hurt in her voice surprised her, a little. The flicker of pain, and sadness that crossed his face surprised her even more.
"I must. Look."
She followed his gaze outwards, and saw that the banks of flickering clouds were nearly all behind them now. Athena drove powerfully ahead, forging through the trailing edge of the stormfront and towards the mountains rising to the west.
Claudia, unsure of what to say or do, stared at him helplessly.
"I… I was hoping you would stay with me, for awhile. Maybe help me to understand all of this."
His expression softened, and he took one step back towards her.
"Oh, how I wish I might do just that." He said, a powerful longing in his voice. "If I could, I would reach out my arms to this ship of yours and hold you close—" Claudia's eyes widened as she saw, beyond his shoulder, the sudden movement of a massive thunderhead, the lightning-lit vapor boiling towards the Athena as if it were indeed a vast arm, reaching out for her. His face fell, and the cloud's moment faltered, and became merely that of a wind-blown mass of water droplets. "—But I cannot; not without bringing you harm." He turned again, and moved to the far end of the deck, as distant from her as he could manage. "Goodbye, beautiful lady." He said, his words coming clearly to her ears though he did not turn again to face her. "I wish you well on whatever path you travel. I will remember you."
Then he was gone, between one moment and the next, and a wind of gale-strength blew her back a step, and whipped her hair about her face.
"Thank you. I'll remember…." She whispered back, but there was no one to hear.
The storm had passed, leaving only the ship, and the stars above her.
* * * * * * *
Chapter Three
The dusty heat of an Iowa cornfield drew perspiration from her brow, and Claudia McTiernan squinted as she stared up at the maddeningly cloud-free sky. Two hundred meters away, the small group of farmers who had hired her waited by their cars, as they had for most of the morning. Even from here she could tell they were getting restless, but she couldn't let that distract her.
They were paying her good money, on nothing more than the recommendation of some ranchers in Montana, who had had some nice things to say about her after she had driven off the dark, hungry spirit that had been lurking in a nearby river, and getting its kicks by drowning any cattle that had ventured there to drink. These, though, were proving harder to impress… especially since she had been out here nearly five hours and their drought-stricken fields weren't getting any wetter.
It's the hair, I know it. She thought wearily, tugging irritably at the thigh-length tail into which she'd bound it. Your average corn-farmer just doesn't appreciate the subtle style of blue hair… even if mine's getting to be more silver than blue, now.
Two years and more, now, since she'd quit her job at the firm, and she was well overdue for her maintenance appointment at Infinite Spiral. Not that she was going to go; there was no way in hell she was going to help them fill their corporate coffers. Let them get by without her patronage; she would just have to learn how to deal with looking old again. Yes, there were a few lines showing on her face now. She was looking more and more like her forty-four years these days, and it would only get worse, but at least she wasn't getting fat again; that was the one benefit of being out from behind that desk and out tromping through cornfields and along riverbanks all day.
The pay wasn't bad, either; not the equal of her old job yet, true, but things were looking up. She was gaining a reputation as one of those few, those very, very few who's outlandish claims of being able to speak to the land, and have the land listen were more than just empty words. She got results… usually.
More often so now than when she'd first started; as with anything else, experience counted in the Summoning game. Speaking of which… time to try again.
Planting her sneaker-clad feet in the dry, crumbling soil of the field, she closed her eyes.
Clouds, thick and billowing, heavy with moisture; come.
Zephyrs, cavorting through the sky, trailing strands of brilliant white, gathering slowly into towering castles of vapor; come.
Storm spirits, born from water raised from the streams and lakes and seas, warmed by the sun upon the land, borne upon the arms of the sky; come.
The power rolled out from her in a wave, spreading outwards like ripples from a stone dropped into deep water, slow and powerful, inexorable, moving into the distance, over the horizon in every direction… to vanish without a trace.
As had the last seven attempts.
Claudia scowled at the sky, pulling her broad-brimmed hat down a bit lower, as her still-pale skin tended to burn quite easily.
Well, crap. Maybe it just doesn't want to rain around here. Or maybe somebody local did something to piss off the spirits of the upper air; I'm starting to think stuff like that can happen.
Whatever the problem was, it was certainly starting to look like the drought wasn't going to end today. She folded her arms across her chest and lowered her head, trying to think of what she was going to tell the farmers over there by their cars.
Five minutes or so passed, with nothing much occurring to her except the fact that she was very glad she didn't live in this part of the country.
Damn, but it is hot! was the only coherent thing to cross her mind. Well, that and the usual sense of loneliness and regret, but that got pushed away with the ease of long practice.
Okay, then; time to go and make some excuses. She raised her head and turned to head towards the highway. Maybe… something about an Indian curse on the fork-tongued white man who took their land? Hm. Not sure if they're quite that stupid, but I guess it's worth a—
Clouds. There, on the western horizon, a solid line of clouds had appeared, scudding along low and fast. And behind the vanguard, there were the high, wide pillars that marked thunderheads. Even now she could see the faint flicker of lightning within them; fair warning that this would be no mere brief sprinkle of precipitation.
Recovering herself, Claudia slowly raised one arm in a grand gesture, pointing towards the oncoming storm. First one, then all the rest of the distant farmers turned to look, and their whoops of excitement reached her where she stood. She considered going to join them, and thereby sparing herself a thorough drenching, but a flash of lightning and the resultant growl of thunder made her change her mind.
Whoops; from the look of that I think I might have overdone it. The drought-ravaged fields would have trouble enough holding water from a sudden rain; if all of that water were to be dumped at once, it would end up causing almost as much harm as good. She would have to stay, and try to restrain the spirits she'd summoned.
After all, this was what they were paying her for.
Within minutes, the first clouds were scudding past, low overhead, and the darker, angrier ones were close behind. The initial gusts of wind were beginning to whip the dust up from the ground, forcing her to shield her eyes with one hand.
Storm. Was her thought as she tried to peer between her fingers at the onrushing giant. Big, BIG storm.
There was no question of that, but what she needed to know now was what manner of temper the thing had. If it were willing to talk to her then everything should be fine. If, however, it was bent on being mean, well, she might be doing her Dorothy imitation real soon now.
Carefully, warily, she reached out, just the tiniest thread of energy probing upwards, a timid little 'Hello? Can we be friends?' riding along with it.
Instantly, a bolt of power a thousand times greater ran back along her probe, striking downwards like a bolt of lightning. The force of it lifted her off the ground and hurled her backwards, and she sucked in a breath to scream with everything that was in her… but she didn't. Frowning, she looked down at the ground she hadn't hit after being thrown back. It was still there, maybe a meter below her, but she was being held off it by a set of arms that were
cradling her gently. She gave a small gasp, and let her power flow outwards, joining it to that she now sensed. The arms solidified, then the shoulders, the chest, the head….
It was him; looking joyful and chagrined all at once, his narrow, strong-featured face the same as the last time she'd seen it, in the uncertain light of a distant storm. The storm was much nearer this time around, growling directly overhead as his physical form finished its manifestation, complete with rough-spun shirt and trousers, but again no shoes. He seemed reluctant to put her down, but when she stirred in his arms he set her back on her feet.
"Forgive me," Was the first thing he said, pushing his hair back from his eyes. "My happiness at finding you again made me careless, and I—"
She slapped him across the side of his jaw, as hard as she possibly could. He took a step back, obviously unhurt but stunned nevertheless.
"Forgive you for that?! She shouted, winding up to belt him again. This time he ducked, and she nearly spun herself to the ground before regaining her balance. He retreated, and she stalked after him. "I've been trying to call you to me for two years, I looked for you in every storm I saw for so long after that night…." She stopped, trying to compose herself as best she could. The wind brought a spate of cold rain, which did little to improve her temper. Folding her arms across her chest and keeping her voice as level as possible, she asked him the question.
"Where were you?"
He gaped at her for a long minute, at a loss. Finally, he waved one hand through a wide arc.
"There. Here, there, everywhere." He edged closer, apparently unsure if she meant to attack him again, and when she made no move to strike he relaxed a tiny fraction. "The world is wide, and one person is nigh-impossible to find unless you know where to look. And I did look, believe me!" His expression was earnest, and she was forced to concede that much.
"Well, yes, I can see that." She shrugged uncomfortably, looking away at the dry, dusty earth. "And really, it wasn't until maybe a year ago that I really learned how to call out, and at first it wasn't very loud."
