by Sarah Jaune
“We have to wait for daylight, but then we can set out to see what has happened,” Pablo said as they all stared into the mesmeric flames of the bonfire.
“We’ll have to go north first,” Eli told them. “We have to get to the places where the rivers were diverted, and undo them.”
“The only problem will be doing that without being detected before we can empty the lake,” Oliver pointed out. “Also, if we empty the lake, are we going to flood something downstream?”
Ivy tapped her feet on the ground as she rested her arms on her knees. “There are underground aquifers all through the region here. I could, theoretically, drain the water back into the ground and send it out that way. Eli and I did that once, but that also opens us up to the possibility of more sinkholes.”
Eli considered that as he tried to think through all of the ways that everything could go horribly wrong. “The way I see it,” he said slowly, “is that we are faced with a lot of bad choices. We have to get the water back to where it was supposed to go. That’s the priority. If we send it overland, we kill animals and people. If we send it under the ground, assuming the underground caverns are there, we risk collapsing huge sections of the forest. In the process a few animals might die.”
“I’m voting for underground,” Oliver told them as he scrubbed at the stubble that was darkening his chin. “I think that would be the safest.”
“I think he’s right,” Pablo admitted. “We don’t know what will be downstream of the lake. If it’s under the ground, then it’s going straight back to nature. That’s a better scenario to me.”
Eli grinned at Ivy. “So we’ll eat, sleep, and then tomorrow we’re going to make your father pay.”
She grinned back as the light danced in her green eyes. “I can’t wait.”
CHAPTER 19
UNDERSTANDING
They were to sleep around the fire, along with some of the younger males, except for Ivy who was ushered away by Yul. Ivy glanced back at them as Yul chittered and guided her away from them.
“We stayed together when we were in Yellowstone,” Eli explained as soon as Ivy had disappeared into the hut. At the look his brother shot him, Eli scowled. “I mean, we all slept in the same place. The entire pod was there.”
“Was it a smaller pod?” Pablo asked. At Eli’s nod, he grinned. “There wouldn’t be a dominance issue, then. Here there are so many big males that they have to structure things into mini-pods in the group or they risk fights.”
Oliver’s brow rose skeptically. “They don’t look like they fight.”
“Here’s what I’ve seen,” Pablo said as he pointed around. “These groups are living here now, but I don’t think they have been for that long. I think that the families are typically spread out around the forest in smaller pods. When the water started to leave, I think they banded together. Pak is the leader, of sorts. He’s definitely the biggest, and possibly the meanest, but there are other alphas here that do not like submitting to him. Pak consults with them when important issues come up. I think he’s doing that to keep the peace, but I also think that’s why the females are moving off with their respective families.”
“And that’s why the younger males are out here?” Eli asked him curiously.
“That’s my best guess,” his dad confirmed. “The younger males are always the outliers. You never know if they’ll grow up to be the next alpha or cause trouble.”
Eli couldn’t help his chuckle. “Is that a hint, Dad?”
“Not at all,” Pablo lied with only a minor twitch to his lips.
“Well, I’m not going to be the alpha,” Eli told him honestly. “I have no desire to go back to Chicago.”
“I second that,” Oliver agreed as he punched Eli’s shoulder. “You may have to go, though. You’re the oldest boy.”
“But I’m not the oldest,” Eli reminded him. “I’m not taking that from my sister if she wants it.”
Pablo shook his head. “If your sister had wanted it, Eli, she’d have already taken it. I think it’s safe to say that Naomi isn’t going to go after it.”
“From what you said, Chicago is a dump,” Oliver reminded him. “Can the zone wait for your little siblings to grow up?”
The honest answer was no, but Eli hated that answer. He turned away and focused on the heat of the flames shooting off the huge fire. He could still picture Jonas in his arms. His brother was so small, so fragile, that there was no way he’d have been able to stand up to whatever Campbell Hunt might have put him through.
He’d saved Jonas from enduring his own snake pit.
“Elijah,” Pablo’s gentle voice called him back to the conversation. “Cole is a good man. He’ll be a great father for them. I haven’t met his wife, but I hear that she’s wonderful as well. Having raised you and your brothers, I understand the privilege and the honor of stepping in to take on that role. You don’t have to worry about them.”
“I won’t know them,” Eli choked out. “I’m not going to be allowed near them because of my past.”
He wouldn’t meet either of their gazes, but he sensed Oliver’s fidgeting in discomfort at the turn of the conversation. Finally, Oliver stood up and walked off.
Pablo scooted closer. “Are you remembering more of your past?”
“I…” he hesitated as he pictured again the blood on his hands. “I think I hurt Naomi. I mean,” Eli shook his head. “I know I hurt her, but I don’t remember how. I keep dreaming about it, but it comes in flashes and nothing is solid or chronological. I can’t piece it together enough to tell the story.” He thought about the dream in which he’d done something, and Naomi had taken the blame for him. “Naomi protected me. She looked after me. I don’t know that I deserved her protection. I think I ended up being a…” Eli’s words failed him.
His dad shook his head. “You were a messed up kid when I met you. You exploded out in anger. I think there are episodes that you don’t even remember from that first year. Do you remember when you threw all the glasses against the wall?”
Aghast, Eli gaped at him. “I did what?”
“It was before we put you into school,” Pablo confirmed. “We wanted to make sure you had adjusted. Mom hadn’t had Ava yet, and you lost it. You broke everything we had. I ended up coming home to clean it up.”
Eli had no idea what to say. He didn’t remember any of it. “I don’t…”
“You’d cried yourself to sleep, and when you woke up, you acted like it hadn’t happened,” he recalled sadly. “I tried to talk to you about it, but you gave me this blank look and asked what I was talking about.”
He was so stunned that he couldn’t form a coherent thought. Eli had no idea that he’d done anything like that. He’d thought, clearly incorrectly, that his memory lapses had ended when he’d left Chicago.
“You have a few other instances like that in that first year,” Pablo informed him as he wrapped an arm around Eli’s thin shoulders. “Then it faded away as you learned to cope with the anger. Since it was getting better, I didn’t think I should bring it up with you. I think, though, that knowing it was a defense mechanism will help you move forward from this. You might never remember all that you did, but you know now that you can handle it, Eli. You have already handled so much. You’re a strong person.”
“I felt weak when I was saying goodbye to Becca and Jonas,” Eli confessed. He needed to get it out. It was eating him alive. “I felt like I shouldn’t be handing them over. I wanted to be there for them.”
Pablo’s smile was just a bit too understanding, and Eli had to look away. “You’re growing up fast, but you’re still sixteen. You have another role to play. Cole was ready to step down from being a Pursuer for the Guard. He wanted to be home with his wife and child. You are still untethered by family, Eli. You have a base with us, but no major responsibilities. You and Ivy are a great team. Because you stepped up, Cole was able to retire. That’s an admirable thing.”
“There’s Thane,” Eli reminded him. “Ivy
and I aren’t the only ones.”
“One person can’t handle the entire land,” Pablo said simply. “It’s too big. It’s still too much for even the three of you, but you’re making do. You’re helping out here.”
“We were in Yellowstone,” Eli recalled as he picked up a twig and started to draw circles in the dirt in front of him. “We were staying in this cabin, and the alpha of the Yellowstone pod came to get us. They had part of the primary lake that they used being poisoned by the volcano. They sensed Ivy and came for her.”
Pablo let out a low whistle. “She must be very powerful.”
He gave him half a smile. “Too bad she can’t tell her own power level. Anyway, she fixed the lake, but she ended up sick. She was feverish, delirious, and really upset.”
Pablo’s pause was louder than it should have been. The silence beat between them like the pounding on a door, in time with Eli’s nervous heartbeat. “She’s been through a lot.”
He nodded sadly. “She said she feels like everyone will leave her, like I might, because that’s all her life has been. I don’t know what to say to her.”
“You two grew close fast,” Pablo observed as he studied his son. “She didn’t have the benefit of years of stability. You flinched when we were upset with you. You expected to be hit. It took you a long time to trust us. She needs that time as well. Just be her friend, and try not to let her down if you can.”
“I won’t let her down,” Eli promised fiercely as a ball of fire built in his gut.
Pablo shook his head. “You can’t know that, Eli. You don’t know for sure, and she understands that maybe better than you do. She’s had her mom and her grandmother die.”
Eli felt awkward and unsure as he stared at his hands. They didn’t look like his hands anymore. He’d been so used to small, skinny fingers, and now they were nobly, scarred, and at the moment undeniably dirty. He stole a quick glance at Pablo’s hands and saw the same ones that had helped him through the last few years. They’d reached for him, hugged him, guided him, taught him to fight, and how to survive. They were hands of a man who loved him. Campbell Hunt’s hands were never dirty. They never strayed into anything that wasn’t selfish or hostile. Campbell’s hands were, undoubtedly, the strongest that Eli would ever know, but it was meaningless. They might as well have been made out of smoke, because they couldn’t hold anything that meant something.
“You don’t know where your life is going to take you,” his dad said gently. “You don’t know what will happen in the next few years. You’re in for a lot of change. You can only promise to do the best that you can. You can control your actions. You can be honorable and a good friend, but what happens around you is out of your control. You might need to go to Chicago.”
It galled him more than he could say to hear that, but Eli knew that Pablo only spoke the truth. It was the truth that he needed to hear, and he knew himself well enough to know that if he let himself, he could be furious with the way that the world twisted around him. He didn’t think well when he was angry, and apparently, when he was really angry or scared, he could stop remembering what he did.
“Anger is…” Pablo began and let his voice fade away.
“It’s a secondary emotion,” Eli repeated the mantra he’d had drilled into him for over six years. “When I’m angry, I’m not thinking clearly about what’s really going on. So right now I feel helpless.”
“Why?” Pablo asked pointedly.
Eli considered that, but knew there was only one answer. “I can’t fix things for Ivy, and I can’t make the promises that I want to make.” Just saying it out loud lessened some of the tension.
His whole body sagged with exhaustion as everything caught up with him.
“Let’s get some sleep,” Pablo said as he beckoned for Oliver to come back over. “It will be a long day tomorrow.”
The moment his head hit the small animal fur he’d been given to use as a pillow, Eli was out.
He didn’t dream.
He did wake to a prod in the cheek. Eli blinked at the early morning sun that was barely creeping through the trees around them to find a dark, hairy face above him with big, deep brown eyes. They blinked in curiosity, and, somehow, he managed not to yell. The youngling chittered at him and poked his nose again, but gentler this time.
“Hey,” Eli said as he slowly pushed himself to sitting. A few of the females were moving around the encampment, while the large group of males gathered off to the side. Pablo was with them, but Oliver was still asleep next to him. “Where’s your mama?” he asked the tiny Sasquatch. Tiny was relative, of course. This one was still at least three feet tall, and it moved on steady, sturdy legs as it backed away from him. The Bigfoot wandered back towards the females where it attached itself to one of their legs and held on. Eli couldn’t help but laugh. He’d seen Ava and Alexi do that exact same thing to Pablo numerous times.
He glanced back at his brother and kicked out his foot. He connected with Oliver’s shin and he grunted in his sleep. “Wake up.”
“No,” Oliver protested as he flung his arm over his eyes. “I will not wake up.”
“Suit yourself,” Eli said as he pushed to his feet and moved over towards the group of adult males.
They stopped their gesticulations the second he was within earshot. Eli’s brows rose as he stuck his hands in his jean pockets. “I’m not invited?”
“Apparently not,” Pablo said in amusement.
The alpha, Pak, growled at him, clearly intending for Eli to back off. He found, though, that his feet wouldn’t move. He stared at the alpha and knew, without any hesitation, that he should not move for anything. Eli couldn’t have explained why, but his stubborn pride drove himself to refuse to give an inch.
Pak took a step towards him and Eli was forced to reevaluate the Bigfoot’s size. He was at least thirteen feet tall. He was more than twice Eli’s height. His heart kicked over with fear as his palms began to sweat, but he still didn’t move, didn’t remove his hands from his pockets.
“Elijah,” Pablo said in a low warning voice. “You should back off. You need to show him respect.”
Eli knew his dad was right, but before he could unglue his feet from the ground, Pak shot out a hand to push Eli away. On reflex, Eli pulled his hand from his pocket and blocked the strike, sending Pak stumbling back from him.
Terror filled him then as the angry, embarrassed Sasquatch flew at him. Pablo instinctively stepped forward to protect Eli, but Eli threw his dad back with magic as the Bigfoot’s massive face filled Eli’s vision. He didn’t move. He simply waited for the next blow to land.
It didn’t come. Pak huffed in his face, and Eli forced himself not to gag at the foul stink of his breath.
The wait was torture, but finally Pak bellowed in his face and turned back to the group of males. He didn’t make Eli leave.
Eli hesitated only a minute longer before he stepped up to join the group. He might as well have stayed back with Oliver, though, for all he understood. Pablo seemed to have a better understanding of what they were communicating, but that was closer to Pablo’s magical gift. He had the ability to smell better than any dog, and it gave him an innate knowledge of animals since animals used smell as one of their greatest tools. His dad shot him a warning glance which Eli read loud and clear.
He needed to stand still and keep his mouth shut.
Eli swallowed down a lump and knew he would be in for it for using magic against Pablo.
But he understood, now, better than he had before that having a father who wanted to protect him, would fight for him, and also ground him was better than almost anything in the world.
Eli stared at the ground and tried to hide his grin.
CHAPTER 20
THE THREE RIVERS
“That was reckless,” Pablo said as soon as the meeting was over.
“It was pointless, too, since I had no idea what they were talking about,” Eli agreed as his dad pulled him away from the big males.
Pablo stopped at the edge of the banked fire ring and held Eli at arm’s length. “You have to respect the hierarchy in this situation, Eli. Pak is the leader, and to go against it would be catastrophically bad for us. They might not be able to kill you, but the rest of us are vulnerable. For as advanced as the Sasquatch are, they are still very rooted in their ways when it comes to social structure.”
“I got it,” Eli said after a moment. “I didn’t mean to cause any problems. I couldn’t move! I was stuck or something.”
“Stubborn,” Pablo told him with the first hint of a grin. “Stubborn, and you don’t back down from anyone bigger than you.”
“Eli!” Ivy’s voice carried to him from over the camp, and he turned to see her carrying a youngling. This one was tiny compared to the rest, but Ivy was still clearly struggling under the weight of the baby with the dark fuzz and big, black eyes. She grinned as Eli jogged over. “Isn’t he cute?”
