After a moment, Ashanti spoke again. “Minthe, a nymph of the secret garden and devoted friend of Landkind to the end. No one shall tend the herbs of the Earth so well as she.”
“To Minthe.” We all said it except Nephelae, who sat despondent in a corner of the room. The rest of us had lost a great friend and source of light and joy; Nephelae, however, had lost the partner of a lifetime.
A moment of silence passed, and Ashanti again spoke. “Deputy Jim Withers was not Landkind, but he fought alongside us to preserve our way of life and defend the Earth. Henceforth, we shall remember him as one of our own.”
“To Jim Withers,” Briar said loudly, and the rest of us followed.
There was another moment of silence before the next remembrance. “Mount St. Helens died under the influence of dark forces, as did Mojave, Salt Lake, and Big Sur. Let there be no mistake: they died as victims and heroes. Their lives of remarkable service must never be forgotten. Their sacrifice will forever be a monument to the fortitude of our kind.”
“Mount St. Helens,” we said. “Mojave. Salt Lake. Big Sur.”
Deep regret washed over me as I thought of those possessed Landkind who’d died in the battle...though I knew their minds and spirits had been burned out long before that. Veritas had helped others reintegrate their personas with their physical bodies—Phaola, Blue Knob Mountain, and Prince Gallitzin State Park, to name a few—but the ones who’d gone down fighting had been lost causes.
Others were lost causes, as well. The Allself was gone, but some of those whom he’d controlled were still broken. “Let us observe a final moment of silence,” said Ashanti, “in honor of our fellow Landkind who remain damaged by the Allself’s influence. They will never be forsaken.”
Everyone fell silent again, considering those poor unfortunate souls. We’d created a place for them, safe and remote, where they could do no further harm. Their powers and realms were transferred to others, their contact with the outside world severed...but at least they could live in peace.
Though peace, for them, would not be the same as freedom.
“All right then,” said Ashanti. “We have remembered and honored those who deserve it. Let us now begin in earnest this first session of the Council of Landkind. First order of business?”
“Madame President.” Rune Carson, wearing a businesslike black blouse and skirt, walked to the middle of the floor. After all the help she’d provided in infiltrating the ultra-fracking site near Shawnee State Park, she’d been chosen unanimously by the Council to serve as special Humanity-Landkind liaison. “I’d like to propose a new program for reclaiming polluted sites using ley line manipulation and geomantic magic.”
“Interesting, Ms. Carson.” Ashanti leaned forward on the screen. “Tell us more.”
A lopsided grin appeared on Rune’s face. “Don’t mind if I do.”
Later, when the meeting had ended, I refilled my cup of coffee and stepped outside for a breath of fresh air.
“Earth Angel.” Duke, as usual, was not far behind me. “Are you all right?”
As we stood in front of the office, I gazed at the street where the battle had taken place. Six weeks after that fight, it had been mostly repaired...but the memory of the smoking, corpse-strewn ruins would never leave me.
“It’s almost like it never happened,” I said. “Almost.”
“We remember,” said Duke. “We know the truth, even if it’s a secret to most of the rest of the world.”
I knew he was right, and keeping the truth about Landkind a secret from humanity at large was important, but it still bothered me. After the defeat of the Allself and Terralyzers, a small army of National Guardsmen and federal agents had swept into town—a cleanup detail set on scrubbing all proof of the government’s misled and failed project. Without any kind of apology, they’d given us a cover story, and we’d taken it. How else could we avoid the inevitable difficult questions and unwanted attention? How else could we make people believe we weren’t crazy or full of shit?
So what if most of humanity would never know of the sacrifices made to beat back the ancient alien invader?
“It still doesn’t seem fair,” I said. “Mahoney, Minthe, and Withers are all gone, and the world thinks it’s because of a gas line explosion.”
Duke shrugged. “We both know it was the best route to take, Earth Angel. Telling the truth would have exposed Landkind—and you. Not to mention, hardly anyone would have believed it anyway.”
And if they had, they might have come to town looking for ways to harness the alien might of the Allself. “I know you’re right,” I told him. “I just wish there could be...more for them.”
“The Council memorialized them,” said Duke. “That might be the best we can hope for right now.”
I knew he was right, though I didn’t want to hear it. I kept thinking, as the human avatar of an entire planet, there had to be something I could do to make things right...make it all feel better. But short of bringing my friends back to life, what else was there to do?
Downtown Confluence had been rebuilt, better than before, with federal money. Cars rolled up and down Casselman Street in the mid-morning sunlight, and shoppers strolled happily from storefront to storefront. The first meeting of the Council of Landkind was in session, promising a brighter future for us all. At a glance, it sure seemed like things were on an upswing.
Why then was “sinking fast” my mood of the day? Why couldn’t I just embrace the positivity and get on with my life? Enough with the bipolar shit!
Duke cleared his throat then, breaking my train of thought. “I’m thinking of taking a vacation, Earth Angel. Would that be all right with you?”
I was surprised. It was something he’d never talked about with me. “I suppose. As long as you’re not planning a world tour with the Strayhorns.”
He looked offended. “My big band? You made it clear: no post-mortem world tours.” He continued quickly, getting in one more sentence under his breath. “Unless I’m in disguise, perhaps.”
I smiled. “I’m telling you, Duke, the world isn’t ready for a resurrected golem bandleader.”
“What about you? Have you ever considered taking a vacation?” asked Duke, quickly changing the subject. “Just taking a little time off to go somewhere and see the sights? Or would that be boring for Mother Earth, like looking in a mirror?”
I frowned. “I don’t know. I don’t have time.”
“Nobody does. You have to make time.”
“But something always comes up,” I told him. “It’s just one thing after another.”
“Life doesn’t have to be that way,” said Duke. “There isn’t always a nightmare scenario lurking around the corner.”
“I feel like it wouldn’t be right. I’ve ducked my responsibilities enough.” I shook my head. “Anyway, the world isn’t supposed to take a vacation, is it?”
“Who says so?” Duke shrugged. “Maybe you should give it a try. You do run a travel agency, after all. It’s not as if setting up a trip would be a problem.”
“Maybe you’re right,” I said, fiddling with my braid. “Maybe a getaway would do me some good. But after all that’s happened, I really need to get more serious about my role as Earth’s avatar.”
“Is there a reason you can’t do both?” asked Duke. “You could make it a fact-finding trip. Or a royal tour.”
I wanted to shoot down the idea...but I realized he might be on to something. Maybe some time away was exactly what I needed to get more in touch with my inner Mother Earth.
Before I could tell him so, however, the front door of Cruel World Travel/Charmer Investigations flew open, the chime playing “Caravan” as always. Briar ran out, eyes glued to his phone, looking grim and intense.
“Dale, what is it?” I asked, instantly worried.
He read more text on the screen of his phone, scrolling through it with flicks of his thumb. His expression turned grimmer, and his jaws clenched and twitched.
“We need
to go, Gaia.” His voice was tight with tension. “There’s been another murder.”
“Who?” My heart hammered in my chest like a trapped bird fighting to get out.
“Another elderly woman,” said Briar. “Imogene Parker, a retired politician. Same cause of death as Ellie Grenoble.”
That was all I needed to hear. “Let’s go.” I grabbed him by the elbow, pulling him toward his cruiser.
“I’ll tell the others you had to leave,” Duke shouted after me. “Just keep me in the loop, Earth Angel.”
I jumped in the cruiser as Briar got in behind the wheel. My mind was fixed on one thing now, and one thing only.
Another old lady had been stuffed full of dirt until she died.
Imogene Parker’s house was a modest Cape Cod on the south side of town. Though she’d served as a county commissioner for decades, she’d never gotten rich—or married.
People had liked her, including me. Like Ellie, she’d visited Cruel World Travel, and she’d always been friendly and easy-going. For a woman in her eighties, she’d been healthy and energetic, getting around and living her life as if she were much younger.
Now, she lay motionless at our feet on the beige shag carpeting of her living room floor, a trail of pitch black dirt leading out of her mouth. Her denim shirt and black slacks were in disarray, half-unbuttoned and twisted around on her body. Her shoes and knee-length stockings had been pulled off and discarded on the sofa and recliner.
“She fought her attacker.” Dr. Renee Cox, the medical examiner, took a sample of the dirt from Imogene’s mouth and dropped it into a clear plastic vial. “Eighty-five years old, and she put up a decent fight. Good for her.”
“Same killer, obviously.” Briar scowled. “Same question of how they got all that dirt in the body.”
“Was there a note this time?” I felt numb as I asked the question, dreading the answer.
Renee handed me a zippered baggie with a piece of paper inside. “Same as the last one,” she said stiffly.
I help up the baggie and read the note by the light from the nearest window. My heart sank, because the text was identical to that left behind at Ellie’s house.
Mother Earth is coming for the wicked. That was what it said, written in what looked to me like identical handwriting.
“Her home nurse found the body,” explained Renee. “Showed up this morning for her usual visit, and there she was.”
“No one else saw anything?” I asked.
“We haven’t started canvassing yet.” Marcus Greene, the patrolman who’d replaced the late Jim Withers as Briar’s deputy, emerged from the doorway to the dining room. “But there is one of those webcams by the front door, which maybe caught something. We’re waiting on the security company to send us video right now.”
“Any cameras inside the house?” asked Briar, looking around.
“Not that I’ve found,” said Marcus, scrubbing his left hand over his close-cropped black hair. “But I haven’t been through every inch of the place yet, either.”
Just then, as if on cue, I heard what sounded like a muffled cough somewhere below us. Everyone heard it, in fact, and looked at each other with sudden alarm.
“What about the basement?” asked Briar. “Have you been through there?”
Without answering, Marcus whipped around, rushing to the basement. Briar and I followed close behind.
Marcus flipped on the basement light and eased down the creaky wooden stairs with his service revolver in front of him, clutched in both hands. When he got to the spot where the upstairs walls ran out, opening up the view on both sides, he ducked down for a quick look with his gun at the ready.
He looked left, then bounced back up. Then, he looked right.
Then, he thundered down the steps with abandon, tucking his revolver into its holster on his hip.
As we raced down after him, we quickly saw what had gotten his attention. A huge pile of collapsed and broken cinderblock occupied the far corner of the room.
A human hand stuck out of it, feebly twitching.
“We’ve gotta get this cleared!” Marcus started grabbing and heaving away fragments of block as soon as he reached the corner.
Briar and I followed his lead, though we knew there was a faster way to clear it. Our eyes met, and I knew we were on the same wavelength as to what to do next.
“We need shovels,” shouted Briar. “Go get what we’ve got from the cruisers, Marcus.”
Marcus cleared some more chunks of block from around the twitching hand, then turned and pounded his way back up the stairs.
Briar nodded at me and stepped back. I had already been gathering my energies and wrapping my mind around the debris, getting ready to make my move.
With a single soft grunt, I hauled off the front of the pile and cast it aside, letting the rubble crash to the cement floor. Now, we could see the person inside—another elderly woman, bruised and bloody and covered in gray dust. Her eyes were shut and her frail body pinned, contorted amid the debris.
Focusing my power, I lifted away the pieces surrounding her, heaving them across the basement. As I removed the last rubble holding her in place, Briar leaned in and caught her before she could fall.
I grabbed towels from a basket atop the nearby clothes dryer and quickly spread them on the floor. The woman coughed as Briar gently lowered her onto them.
“Call an ambulance!” shouted Briar as Marcus thundered halfway down the steps with two shovels. “Do it now!”
Marcus frowned when he saw we’d already freed the woman, then charged back up the steps with the shovels.
It was then that the old lady’s eyes fluttered open, and she looked up at Briar. “Oh...thank God you’re here.”
She fell into another coughing jag, her eyes closed and her head and shoulders lurching up off the towel from the force of the hacking. Instinctively, I reached out to comfort her.
She opened her eyes, and her cough became a scream.
“Don’t touch me!” she howled. “Don’t let her touch me!”
“Calm down, ma’am,” said Briar. “You’re safe now.”
“I’m not! I’m not!” The woman writhed on the towels, scooting backward away from me. “She’s the killer! Oh God, she’s going to kill me, too!”
The old woman’s screams echoed in my mind as I returned alone to Cruel World Travel/Charmer Investigations. I couldn’t stop thinking about the fear in her voice and the terror on her dirt-caked, shrieking face.
“Gaia?” Luna got up from her desk and approached me, looking concerned. “Are you all right?”
Duke, who’d been noodling around on his keyboard, followed suit. “Earth Angel? What’s wrong?”
“There was a second victim at the crime scene,” I said. “A survivor. She identified the killer.”
“Whom did she identify?” asked Duke.
“Me. She said I killed Imogene Parker.”
Luna shook her head in disbelief. “She must’ve been out of her mind. Too much trauma or something.”
I nodded. “She was trapped under a pile of shattered cinderblock in the basement. It’s very possible she has a head injury.”
“Still.” Duke took my arm and guided me to a chair. “Nobody likes to be accused of murder.”
“Where’s Briar?” asked Luna. “Still at the crime scene?”
“Yes,” I told her. “The survivor wouldn’t stop screaming unless I left, so...here I am.” I’d driven around for a while after leaving the crime scene, trying to shake off the memory of her screams, but it hadn’t worked.
Duke poured a cup of coffee and put it down in front of me. “I could think of several other possibilities for her misapprehension, my dear. For example...”
Before he could finish his sentence, the door flew open, and “Caravan” played. Briar stood there a moment, his face flushed, his jaws clenched.
“Gaia.” His voice sounded cold and distant. “I’m sorry.”
I’d just sipped the coffee and put it
down slowly. A shiver coursed through me. “Sorry about what?”
Briar hesitated. “They sent the front door video, and there was video from inside the house, too. It shows the murder in…graphic detail.”
Duke stepped between us, frowning. “And what does any of that have to do with the price of tea in China, good Sheriff?”
“Then there’s the eyewitness.” Briar leaned around Duke, keeping his gaze locked with mine. “And...other things, as well.”
My heart raced as I listened. My feeling of dread intensified with each word from his lips.
“I’m sorry, Gaia.” Briar walked past Duke, drawing a set of handcuffs from his belt as he came closer. “I’m sorry, but I have to take you in.”
“What?” Luna was stunned. “This is crazy!”
“I know you couldn’t have done this.” Briar opened the cuffs and held them toward me. “I know there’s an explanation for all of it. But I don’t have a choice right now, given the evidence.”
I looked up at him, fighting back the tears that were burning to escape my eyes. It was like a nightmare, the worst possible thing that could have happened between us.
So much for the well-deserved peace after our hard-fought clash with the Allself. So much for that vacation Duke had gotten me thinking about.
So much for the love of a sheriff for a woman with the weight of the world on her shoulders.
“All right.” I rose from the chair and reached out, placing my wrists in the cuffs. He was kind enough not to make me turn around and wear them behind my back. “I trust you, Dale.”
That was when he finally looked away.
“Gaia Charmer,” he said. “You’re under arrest for the murder of Imogene Parker.”
The sound the handcuffs made as he slid them shut seemed like the slamming of a prison cell door to me. Still, I squared my shoulders and held my head high, refusing to look the slightest bit guilty as he read me my rights.
Though as he led me out the door to his cruiser, a tear trickled down my cheek, glittering as it fell like a single drop of rain to the earth beneath my feet.
Earthbreaker Page 16
