The Light Bringer's Way

by C. F. Fruzzetti

  We pulled up to the Grist Mill. The lot was full of cars so we parked in the empty field next to it. Blair directed Ruth to back it in so when we popped the trunk we would not be unloading the bikes into the dirt road but by the woods that framed the parking area. There was not exactly a recreational trail available so that would explain the bikes but not where we were going.

  The gravel path leading up to the Grist Mill was lined with jack-o’-lanterns flickering in the light October wind. A black flag with the red Greek letters for Zeta hung from one of the windows by two bloodied mannequin arms.

  “Oh! I love the arm stubs! Nice artistic gore touch. Zeta doesn’t skimp, that’s for sure,” Shannon cooed. We got into line to get through the door. Up ahead I saw several cat-women. I nudged Blair. “Who is that?” I asked her, pointing to them.

  “You know, I’m not sure. My plan to hide in plain sight is totally working.” Blair grinned with pride. “Ruth and Shannon, let’s synchronize our watches. We need to be at the car and on our way in thirty minutes. Be sure to talk to people who will recognize us and not forget we have been here. Then blend back into the crowd and make the exit.”

  Fog and music were spilling out the front door. A thick coating of cobwebs draped the entrance to the door and glowed from the black lights. A cat-woman with a bright smile came bouncing over. This one I recognized and said, “Hi Holly. Nice outfit.”

  “You too. I popped over to tell Blair that we are the talk of the party. I think we are going to go down in Zeta history as the year of the black cats. Super cool idea, Blair.”

  “Hey, how did you know it was Blair?” I asked, realizing that something was giving us away. Holly had made a beeline toward us but we could not figure out their identities.

  “Oh. The watch. Blair always wears that one,” Holly answered. “We are going to do the apple-bobbing contest. See ya!” Blair immediately took her watch off and switched it with Ruth’s. Shannon gave me her watch and decided not to wear one. I looked at Blair and tried to wordlessly tell her I didn’t need one but she shook her head and motioned for me to keep it on and shooed me into the crowd with Shannon. I tucked my medic alert bracelet up into my sleeve.

  Shannon gave me a runway dialogue of her thoughts of everyone’s costume. She noticed Karen Eubanks first and said she was surprised Karen came up with something that did not incorporate her favorite white tank top. The tank top might have given her more coverage. She was wearing a cowgirl costume that used a bandana print string bikini top, a fringed suede vest, and acid-washed jeans tucked into cowgirl boots.

  “Meow! Who is THAT Batman?” Shannon purred. I could tell it was Reid by the way he was standing. I closed my mind and spun Shannon into another direction. We ran right into Sean, who had painted himself in green paint and was wearing ragged cut-off shorts.

  “Hey Sean,” Shannon said, squeezing his green bicep. “Let me guess. We won’t like you when you are angry?” She gave me a kick with her boot to encourage me to talk. That was the last thing I wanted to do this close to Reid, but if I didn’t Shannon would probably say my name to let Sean know I was there.

  “Hi Sean,” I sputtered, looking past him for the exit. My flight response was skyrocketing; I had to get out of here. “I think I am going outside for some air. This fog is getting hard to breathe.”

  “Nice outfit, man,” I heard Gary congratulate someone from behind me. There was a good chance it was Reid and I was not waiting around to hear the response. I started to move past Sean and he latched onto me.

  “Hulk angry! You no talk to Hulk!” Sean picked me up off the ground. I didn’t think about anything other than the fact that I wanted to leave and Sean was not letting me. I spun down and grabbed his arm and twisted up behind his back. Hulk was not expecting that from me but Hulk did not know this cat was actually a Shaolin panther.

  Ignoring Sean’s cursing, I grabbed Shannon’s hand and we filtered back through the crowd. I was suddenly glad there were twenty other girls who looked like cats to confuse anyone who was looking for us.

  We careened out a side exit and Shannon wobbled into me as we stopped. “What is wrong with you? Do you know how hard it is to run in these boots?” she hissed. “And we were supposed to TALK to people, not practice self-defense moves.”

  “Sorry. We’re late. We’ve got to get to the car and I didn’t want to be Sean’s play toy.” To the left, I saw the apple-bobbing contest and decided to move through the group of girls in cat-woman costumes to blend in further. I didn’t care about Sean—it was Reid I had to avoid and I sensed he was looking for me. He had heard my voice in the party when I talked to Sean and the spectacle Sean created did not help my anonymity. I wanted to get out of here.

  In the crowd by the apples were at least ten of our cat lookalikes. I scanned the feline group to find Blair. Luckily, I found her with Ruth and suggested we ask our fellow cats to cover us as we walked to the FBI car. We blended into the large group and disappeared into the shadows of the tree line as we approached the car. The loud bunch of girls continued on to the corn maze and four missing from the pack was not noticeable. Finally, I took a deep breath. I had avoided two confrontations I was not prepared to handle.

  Ruth popped the trunk with her key and she and Blair started to unload the bikes while Shannon and I put on sneakers. Blair handed us each a black hooded sweatshirt and led us slowly into the woods. We were walking our bikes for a minute until we picked up a paved trail. Blair switched on a flashlight she had duct taped to the handlebars. The entire trail had been spray painted with glow-in-the-dark paint; it was almost like riding in the middle of the morning. I appreciated the prep work. “Good job, Blair, but where are going?” I asked, pedaling up next to her.

  “To Zeta’s hell night, of course,” Blair said with smile. “This trail takes us straight to Fort Hunt Park. Mr. Parks and I sometimes run this trail for training. It goes right by his house and that, incidentally, is where Ruth parked her Wagoneer.”

  “I’m sorry. I should have said EXCELLENT job. Great prep work and a clever escape strategy. As long as we can keep our cover for hell night you have me fully impressed with your stakeout skills,” I said with a laugh and relaxing enough to appreciate the silliness of the adventure.

  “That’s why we are all dressed in black. We are going up to the top of one of the old batteries of the fort and can watch the whole thing from there. There is a special guest coming and the ceremony will answer a lot of your questions. I wish I could tell you more but I am bound by an oath not to speak about it,” Blair panted as we climbed up a large hill on the trail. I decided to keep up my cinnabar shield. There were Cloccans there and now I did not know who else.

  At last, we pedaled up to the section of the park that had the old fort. The interior of the fort was bright with bonfires but we could not see inside because it was set into a hill. There was a small entrance cut out of the natural earth bunker but we had no intention of getting that close.

  There was a hill nearby and Blair motioned for us get off our bikes and to leave them in the trees. We silently followed her up the hill to an area that had a tarp with an army blanket on the ground. Blair retrieved a large bag hidden in the shrubbery and pulled out binoculars, night vision goggles, snacks, thermoses, and another large army blanket. This was a stakeout with style.

  “Well?” Blair asked as we all sat on the blanket and grabbed a thermos of hot chocolate. “What do you think?”

  “Thanks for the hot chocolate, Blair. Good thinking,” Ruth said as she wrapped her hands around the steel container.

  “Much better vantage point this time around. I’m happy not to be up a tree. That almost killed me last time,” Shannon joked.

  I huddled in between Blair and Ruth and said, “I never thought I would say this about a stakeout but it seems clear to me that practice makes perfect. I’m not even cold.”

  Shortly thereafter, the Zeta pledges arrived with their Zeta big sisters from the Halloween party. It was time for their h
ell night to begin. We watched as the blindfolded pledges had to recite songs, honor their big sisters with poems, and do line dances. Then they endured having all sorts of disgusting food poured over their heads until it was time for their initiation.

  Blair perked up and cleared her throat. I took that as my cue to focus my binoculars, glad I was sitting down. I was shocked to see Diana walk out.

  “This is the special guest?” I murmured to Blair. “What in the world is Diana doing here?”

  “Just wait. It is about to get better,” Blair said with her binoculars pressed up to her face. I had a horrible sensation that Reid was close by and my stomach dropped. Diana was speaking and doing some kind of welcome ceremony. We could not make out all the words as the fires burning around her popped and flared in the breeze. The binoculars were hurting my eyes because I was pressing them so hard into my face as I looked for Reid. Why did I feel he was here?

  Diana had some kind of gold bell pins she was about to put on the new members, and I caught the part that said she was going to call up her own daughter first. I missed the name but heard the applause as Karen Eubanks stood up. I felt like I had been clocked with a hammer.

  “No way. Karen Eubanks is Reid’s cousin?” I said, mystified.

  “Last time I checked,” a deep voice said from behind me. Shannon shrieked and Ruth ducked under the blanket. Blair and I jumped into a fighting stance.

  Chapter Twenty-Two: Clarity

  It took me a second to register Reid’s voice and to put down my hands. “You scared me,” I breathed. I bent over and clasped my knees as I let the adrenaline rush clear my system. In the fort below, the pledges erupted into cheers and Ruth came out from under her blanket hiding spot.

  “Hey, Reid. What’s going on?” Ruth said in her best cool as a cucumber voice. She acted as if her dive under the blanket seconds before was an urgent search for something and not because she was terrified when she heard his deep voice behind us. I was grateful Ruth engaged him so I had a moment to collect myself. Karen was Reid’s cousin! The realization bounced around like a rubber ball in my head and the relief of the news seeped into my bones. I had not let myself realize how afraid I was of losing Reid. He had told me several times that I was not alone and that he wasn’t going anywhere…but I did not fully believe him. Oh brother. What did that say about me? And why did my intuition tell me to be careful of Karen? Was there something else or was it not working properly? One thing I had learned in the past five minutes was the lesson not to wait so long to find out the answers.

  Ruth pulled the blanket babushka off her head as Reid approached. He arched an eyebrow at Ruth and said, “Funny, but I was about to ask you the same question. What exactly are you all DOING up here?” His eyes sparked with interest and seemed to have a golden glow against the blackness of the night. He was finding this immensely entertaining and I knew the element of surprise put us at a disadvantage.

  I stood up and tried to take control of our situation by blurting out, “Duh. We are making sure Eileen was OK. It’s Zeta hell night and she IS a pledge. We were just keeping an eye on her.”

  “You know, we were stargazing,” Shannon replied at the same time. I sighed as our credibility went down the drain. “There might be a meteor shower tonight so we came up here to check it out.” Clearly, Shannon was not telepathic because otherwise, she would have heard me screaming inside my head at her to stop talking.

  Reid’s smile grew larger and the dimple in his cheek appeared; it was the compelling smile that made girls swoon and was a powerful weapon. He warmly focused on Shannon and I could anticipate this was going to be child’s play for him to extract our entire plan from her. “Right. And that’s why you have the binoculars and night vision goggles? It seems strange that I didn’t notice any of you looking up at the sky. What constellation can you see from here?” Reid said, pretending to be intrigued. Shannon stuttered and looked at me for support, revealing she knew nothing about astronomy.

  I took the bait to rescue my friend and moved into his line of vision. He had maneuvered masterfully and I could not fight the upturn of my lips as I walked toward him, asking to be caught in a kiss. Reid’s eyes danced as the magnetic pull between us seemed to diminish the separation. His lips told me how much he missed me and he managed to completely ignore the loud coughing and groans of protests from Ruth and Shannon.

  “OK. I think we’re done here,” Blair loudly announced. I could hear her stuffing her equipment into the backpack. She hated public displays of affection and I pulled away from Reid to end her misery. “Reid, we left Ruth’s car at Mr. Parks’ house. Are you heading back with us?”

  “Hmm. Leave my girlfriend and her friends in a dark wooded park or escort them to their car? Blair, you often present me with such tough decisions. I’ll take a gamble and head back with you all,” Reid teased as he threaded his fingers through mine. “I was wondering how you made it here so fast. Did you use mopeds?”

  “Mopeds! That would have been a good idea. The seats on those things are way more comfortable than a kid’s bike,” Shannon griped. She rubbed her rear end and gave Blair a suffering look.

  “We were going for silent transportation, Shannon. Zeta would have heard four mopeds coming a mile away. Literally.” Blair was getting annoyed. If Shannon kept whining, Blair was going to rescind the offer to treat her to “Moons over My Hammy” at Denny’s. “That’s why the bikes were a better choice.”

  “Yes, good thinking, Blair. I was running behind Whitney at a decent pace but couldn’t seem to catch up. That explains it,” Reid agreed. He motioned to Blair that he was willing to carry the backpack and she happily handed it over. It was a subtle reminder of how Reid respected boundaries and others did not, I thought as I recalled how Sean had taken my backpack off my shoulder without asking me. Small decisions and actions comprised a person’s character and these were telltale signs of who someone was under a nice smile.

  “How did you know where I was?” I should not have left a trail unless Cloccans were part bloodhound, but if I had made a mistake, I wanted to know about it so I could correct it. Carson Noir would exploit every trace and I knew I had to be careful.

  “I was following your transmitter signal. It’s connected to my watch.” Reid tapped the large and beautiful instrument strapped to his wrist. He looked like he was giving me a reminder, not an explanation, and that didn’t make sense to me since I had returned the dog tags I wore around my neck from the Africa mission.

  “Um. What transmitter?” I asked in a confused voice. We were back on the asphalt path and in the trees of the park again. In front of us, Blair and Ruth were deep in their own conversation.

  “The one in the bracelet I gave you; the watch and the bracelet sync together. Your dad’s Breitling with his emergency transmitter gave me the idea. That’s why I called my watch ‘The Survivor,’ because it helps me find the way to your heart,” Reid said in a sappy voice, and he poked my side. I laughed since the obvious reason the watch was called “The Survivor” was because it had his food allergy medication and medical alert identifier.

  Shannon spun around and clutched Reid’s arm. “You just said that you made a watch that syncs to her bracelet? That is the most romantic gift EVER.”

  Reid smiled. “I know. That’s because I’m the best boyfriend, EVER.” He gave Shannon his charming grin again as he mocked her gushing tone. I let go of his hand and flicked him with my finger to warn him to stop messing with Shannon.

  “Hey!” he protested. He rubbed the spot on his arm as if I hurt him but I laughed, thinking he was probably miffed I had intervened for Shannon again.

  “What? I’m just correcting you that it was not THE most romantic gift EVER,” I contradicted, recalling his promise on Sanctuary. Reid crossed into my mind and smiled at me as he watched the memory. He grabbed my hand again and gave it a squeeze of acknowledgment.

  “Good call, Whit. You’re right, diamonds are a girl’s best friend,” Shannon replied. She quicke
ned her pace to join Blair and Ruth, and I let her comment drop as I thought about the book covers of gemmed manuscripts that I had dumped aside in the first cave chamber of the Light Bringer’s Way. No, diamonds were not a girl’s best friend. Those rocks were a commodity of rising and falling values. Knowledge, confidence, wit, common sense…girls’ best friends were inside themselves and I wondered why more girls did not know that.

  We took the path out of Fort Hunt near Mr. Parks’ house. “This works out well. I needed to stop by Mr. Parks’ tonight anyway. Do you think I can steal you away from your friends for awhile or will I have to pay a diamond ransom to Shannon?” Reid lightheartedly kidded, but I gave him a serious stare. There had to be a compelling reason behind a trip to Mr. Parks’ house at this hour of the night. His demeanor had given nothing away so I crossed into his mind and saw he was thinking about his grandfather’s funeral. I understood there was something Cloccan he wanted to discuss.

  “Guys, I have to grab something from my martial arts teacher down the street. I’ll meet you back at the party,” I called to the threesome strolling in the road toward Ruth’s car ahead of us.

  Shannon giggled. “That’s a new one. We’ll see ya tomorrow!”

  Blair turned around and narrowed her eyes at us to see why there was a change in plans. I shook my head in a wordless message not to worry. I shaped my hand into a phone and put it up to my ear, telling her I would call her later tonight, and she nodded.

  “You do that a lot,” Reid mentioned as we turned toward Mr. Parks’ house at the end of the street. The thick woods muffled the sounds from the fort but the air was tinged with the hint of smoke from the bonfires. It stood out in the unusually mild October night.

  “Do what?” I had no idea what he was talking about and it made me feel self-conscious. He was holding my hand so I tried to rein in my pulse. His eyes met mine and I knew he felt it.