Enlightenment (Children of Ankh series Book 2)

by Kim Cormack

  Zack leaned over and whispered in her ear, “You always want what you can’t have. It’s the natural order of things.”

  Kayn smiled at him and nodded, knowing this was the truth. Kayn hoped she hadn’t died for the opportunity to sit in a hot spring. Her eyes were drawn to the rearview of Frost in his underwear. It was difficult to look away. Shit, she was staring at him. She was not playing it cool.

  Frost turned around to face them and announced, “All right everyone. Out of the water and into the tombs. Party time is over.”

  They climbed two by two into the tombs. She wanted Frost in a confined space. Held captive where he couldn’t look away and pretend she didn’t exist. Grey motioned for her to come with him. She nodded and climbed into his tomb, wearing her smiley face underwear. She couldn’t help but laugh. It was like being in an uncomfortable situation with your brother. At least she was wearing the least sexy underwear on the planet.

  Grey teased, “Nice red and yellow happy face panties Brighton.”

  Kayn laughed. How could she not? It was the old rule of thumb… Never wear your ugly underwear. If you get into an accident everyone will see them. Well… She’d actually died in her ugly happy face panties today. “I’m throwing these out the second we get back,” Kayn stammered. This was horrifically awkward. Brotherly figure or not, Grey was hot. She was lying beside an extremely hot shirtless guy and all she could think about was how uncomfortable it was. They lay in awkward silence as the tombs clicked, shifted and ground shut with the familiar sound of stone on stone. They were grinning at each other as the tomb pulsed and exploded with blinding light. They were shot up into the air with stomach churning velocity. As they twisted, spun and whirled around, Grey hooted. Kayn couldn’t help but squeal with excitement as the tomb exploded with a blinding burst of light and they began their decent. Kayn could remember her first trip with the clan to the in-between like it was yesterday. She now understood that there was nothing to fear as they spiraled towards the endless desert, they slowed and landed as a group, squatting in the silken sand. They rose to their feet in unison. It was in this moment that she’d always felt the sense that she was a part of something amazing. Their street clothes were now gone and they wore short white sarongs and loin cloths. Kayn shut her eyes and smiled as she wiggled her toes in the warmth of the sand and took notice that there were no diamonds in it. This was the place between life and death that those who were clan could visit but never pass through. There were no diamonds in the sand because each of them had nobody left to lose.

  Frost began speak, “Okay, we still have a few things to go over. Get ready for a little refresher in otherworldly situations.”

  With that, they disappeared, leaving the three newest of the Ankh alone in the desert.

  To Catch a Phobia

  To her, the arrival site was an exquisitely beautiful place. Kayn grinned at the feeling of the warm luxurious grains of sand between her toes. Above her, it looked like someone had melted every shade of blue in a jumbo box of crayons in the sky. Kayn looked down at her toes and noticed that someone had written something in the sand. It was a symbol of some kind.

  “Hey …What do you think this means?” Melody asked, looking a little concerned as Zach bent down and traced the pattern in the sand with his finger. Melody warned, “I have a feeling you shouldn’t do that.”

  Zach replied, “Okay …I don’t mean to be captain obvious here but everyone keeps saying don’t trace the symbol. Don’t trace the symbol. We probably have a symbol in front of us so we can trace it to experience cause and effect.”

  “That makes sense,” Kayn agreed as they waited for the sky to explode or a monster to come flying at them from out of nowhere but nothing happened. Kayn shrugged and suggested, “Maybe we all have to do it?”

  Always their sense of reason, Melody replied, “I don’t like this. I don’t think this is what we’re supposed to be doing. Maybe, they put temptation in front of us to see if we have the presence of mind to leave it the hell alone?”

  That also made sense…Kayn stopped tracing the symbol with her finger and looked up at Melody. Well, it was obviously too late now. She asserted, “Come on…We might as well just finish what we started. Aren’t you the least bit curious?” Something caught her eye and Kayn didn’t finish. Weird…There was a random sea shell in the sand. She held it up to the others and asked, “Why would there be a sea shell in the middle of the desert?”

  They all looked at the shell grasped between Kayn’s fingers and light bulbs appeared over all three of their heads at once. They all looked up and to the east far off in the distance there was a hint of blue on the horizon.

  Zach sighed, “Oh crap...”

  They began to run in the opposite direction as fast as their feet would carry them with no time to speak, nor the breath to yell obscenities at each other. Their hearts pounded uncontrollably and adrenaline drove them forward as the thundering echo of the approaching bone crushing wall of water pursued them. They could see it… The edge of the sand. All three of them dove into the air with arms outstretched in an effort to push themselves further out of the incoming waves reach. They cleared it. Behind them was the sound of the water rushing over the edge of the cliff as they plummeted towards the forest floor. They’d done it. They had outrun the wall of water. The water whooshed over the edge like a waterfall and rushed through the forest between the trees like a destructive otherworldly tsunami. It passed beneath them as they slowed themselves down for impact with the forest floor. A forest floor, no longer there. Oh, crap! They hadn’t thought that far ahead. There was only a split second to make up their minds. In which way, did they want to die? They looked at each other knowing this was going to suck…

  She hit the surface and all Kayn could see was churning water and bubbles as the current surged through the trees flopping her body around like it was nothing more than a rag doll. The water was too deep and the tops of most of the trees were not tall enough to grasp on to. Kayn struggled to keep her face above the surface so she could breathe. The unforgiving current felt like it was grabbing at her legs, attempting to pull her under. Her flesh was savaged by submerged debris. She couldn’t breathe. Sputtering and choking as she fought for a breath but each time she made it to the surface she was pulled back under. The white froth around her, bubbled red as she reached the surface again. She was alone. The others were gone. She grasped for anything, attempting to slow herself down while the unseen pummeled her from beneath the rapidly moving water. There was a large tree coming. The plan was to grab a hold of it to stop her violent journey. She was approaching it too fast. With a blinding flash of excruciating pain, the suffering was over…

  Well that sucked. Kayn’s body had come to rest on solid ground but she could still hear the rhythmic roaring sound of the waves. Was her mind playing tricks on her? Was she still close to the water? She knew she wasn’t in the water. She kept her eyes shut as she twitched her fingers along the smooth unmalleable surface. There was stone under her fingertips. She inhaled a giant breath and glorious air travelled into her lungs. She opened her eyes and pushed herself up with exhausted arms. She had a sense of foreboding for the physical pain she’d undoubtedly feel while attempting large movement and was relieved when there was none. Her mind struggled to process her surroundings. Where were Zach and Melody? As she stood up and took a good look around she realized she was on an island at the mouth of a cave. They usually ended up in the same place each time they were killed in the in-between but in every other direction, there was nothing but endless churning sea. There was no other way. Come on…She was going to have to climb into the tight fit of the cave’s opening and face her newfound fear. Well played karma…Well played. She hesitated at the darkened opening and called out to her friends. They didn’t answer. Her skin began to crawl. Sensing something behind her, she spun around. Her jaw dropped. She knew better than to make lots of noise before thoroughly checking out her surroundings. A monstrous arachnid was crawling up from
the water’s edge. Never make lots of noise in a strange place. You never know what you are calling. Come on…She’d already done her time with spiders but this one was the advanced version of the first spider involved horror movie she’d endured. She slowly backed away from the vehicle sized arachnid, knowing it was far too big to fit through the mouth of the cave. The enclosed space was definitely the lesser of the evils. Hell, she would have chosen an enclosed space over a tiny house spider. Kayn dashed into the cave and when she reached the point where it narrowed, she shimmied between the stone. Relief washed over her knowing that enormous arachnid would no longer have a crack at her. Maybe there was a way through to the other side of the island? It gradually became a tighter fit until she found herself wedged rather precariously between two narrow walls. She continued to work her way through and eventually found the space ahead of her too tight a fit. When she glanced up, there appeared to be more space between the stones above her. She’d have to move further up to maneuver her way through but if she slipped, she’d be seriously stuck. She climbed upwards. Either she’d been wrong about what she’d seen from that vantage point or the walls were becoming tighter on their own. Kayn paused for a second, only able to take short quick breaths now. The cavern appeared wider above her. She needed to climb up higher. It was her only shot at making her way through. She was right! The opening became wider near the cave’s top. Relieved, she gingerly shifted her way through. She glanced down. The walls were now touching beneath her. Tell me I’m not about to be sandwiched. Feeling more than a little bit squeamish for some reason, she peered up… A mass of something was moving on the ceiling. Oh… Crap! The dark blur dropped directly on her and suddenly she was covered with thousands of tiny spiders. Oh shit! Oh shit! She stifled her shrieks of terror, having already learned the lesson on noise. They weren’t biting her. She felt no pain but they’d blanketed every inch of her skin. Her stomach convulsed as her body shook with uncontrollable shivers of adrenaline. This was one of her worst fears. If she panicked, she’d slip and become wedged between the walls. She would lose her ability to move. Panic wracked her brain but her mind persevered. It fought for control of her limbs and she continued to inch her way through the cave even though what she wanted to do was to pass out cold and awaken somewhere less terrifying, somewhere where countless prickly arachnid legs were not scurrying a wickedly torturous path across her flesh. She heard Chloe’s voice in her mind and her twin began to talk her through the horror, they’re tiny spiders Kayn. They are only little insignificant bothersome flies. You are a giant to them. You are an insurmountable mountain. Keep going Kayn. You need to keep moving forward. Kayn repeated her sister’s words in her mind. They are insignificant bothersome flies. I am a mountain. She would have spoken it aloud but she had to keep blowing air out of her nostrils to obstruct the entrance of the spiders. The last thing she needed was a hundred of them rushing into her mouth. She did not need to make a bold affirmation that badly. If spiders scurried into her mouth, it would cause her to lose her shit. Kayn kept shimmying until she felt a breeze. She felt a hand begin to brush the millions of scurrying legs off her skin. Her senses breathed a giant sigh of relief as she fell into Zach’s arms.

  “It’s okay. We’ve got you,” he affirmed.

  She felt Melody’s soft hands brushing the remaining spiders from her skin. She consoled, “It’s okay. You can open your eyes, they’re gone.”

  No…No… She couldn’t. They were going to get in them…She couldn’t. Her body continued its convulsions.

  Melody embraced her and whispered, “It’s over. They’re gone. I wouldn’t be hugging you if you were still covered in spiders.”

  That made sense. Kayn opened her eyes in the safety of her friends embrace and choked out, “That sucked. That scared the shit out of me.” Once she’d regained her bearings she realized she hadn’t made it out the other side. They were in a large open space but still within the cave, with a pool of water. She glanced back at the opening Zach had yanked her out of and sighed, “Please tell me that’s not the way out.”

  Zach weakly smiled at her while replying, “You may wish it was in a minute.”

  Still shivering, while noting that it was unusually cold in this cave, Kayn answered, “I highly doubt that. My chest feels like it was a second from exploding. I think I was about to have a spider induced heart attack.”

  Melody nervously tucked her shoulder length chestnut hair behind her ears as she pointed out, “It’s getting colder by the second. We’ll freeze in here within the hour even if we keep moving. To make things worse, swimming out isn’t an option.”

  Melody crouched down on the cold cave floor, reached over and placed her finger into the frigid water. She removed her painfully frozen finger and shook her head.

  Zach shivered as he asked, “So, there were only small spiders when you came into the cave from that side?”

  Kayn wrapped her arms around her chest. Her lips quivered as she answered, “Only thousands of tiny spiders while I was inside the cave but I was chased into it in the first place by a frigging enormous one. A spider so big it couldn’t fit through the cave’s opening. I need you to tell me there’s another way out.”

  He was shivering as he replied, “Yes, there’s another way but it’s definitely not any better.”

  Kayn knelt to touch the water just to see for herself and only stuck her finger in for a split second before pulling it out. It was about ten times colder than the water she had died in far too recently to make an attempt at that insanity again.

  Melody began to explain, “We woke up in the forest. There was no water on the ground. It wasn’t even wet. We began to look for you. I called for you and thousands of wasps swarmed us. They chased us into this cave but wouldn’t come in. It was strange. They just hovered outside the entrance. Go and take a peek if you want to. We were stung so many times that I passed out after I healed Zach. He had to wait for me to wake up. The temperature in here started out normal and then it began to drop. It’s still going down. We don’t have long to decide which direction we want to go.”

  Zach was pacing back and forth as he added, “Brains over brawn. What would Markus do?”

  Melody slowly shook her head and said, “The spiders are scary as hell but not deadly. The big one, we can deal with when we get to it but I’m not sure we have time for that option. We’ll freeze before we can wriggle our way out and the way we came in has a wall of wasps about ten feet deep. We would have no skin left after about five seconds. Whichever way we go, there’s no option of survival here.”

  She had an idea. Kayn quizzed, “The cave wasn’t this cold about ten minutes ago?”

  Zach replied, “No, it wasn’t. What are you thinking?”

  Kayn’s quivering lips turned up into a smile as she replied, “I’m thinking of science class and the ice skating on a pond rule. If we jump through that ice right now we may die but at least we go out trying to survive. I say we choose the freezing water. Once we’ve broken through the thin layer of ice on top we’ll keep swimming down until the water gets warmer.”

  “You died this way less than an hour ago,” Melody stated.

  Kayn smiled and said, “There’s no time to debate this.” She took the lead and stepped out onto the thin layer of ice. This was going to be painful. She fell through the surface and sure enough, it was less painful about five feet under. She was right. It was tolerable. The water rushed around her as they both leapt in. There was a shimmering light in the distance and she motioned them to follow her towards it, hopeful that it was the way out. In moments, the trio surfaced. They did it! They’d made it out! They all paddled side by side as they looked back at the little island. There were easily a dozen giant spiders above the place she’d entered the cave. Now what?

  “What are we supposed to do now?” Zach called out as he doggie paddled in the now luke warm water.

  Kayn replied, “I’d rather drown.”

  The sky exploded with blinding light and they were w
arm and dry standing in the desert with the rest of their clan. Grey was doing the slow clap for them.

  Invasion of the Body Snatchers

  In the following weeks, Kayn’s mind kept reliving the moment she learned that Tiberius was Kevin’s biological grandfather. That revelation had altered both of their paths. Had he made a conscious choice to leave her? There were so many unknowns but her mind never attempted to alter history as she relived the highlight reel of the reasons why they could never happen. She missed the steamy dreams of Frost. At least they’d made her feel alive. They’d urged her to move forward instead of stagnantly dwelling in the past. She laid on her bunk listening to the steady hum of the tires. The sound had become strangely soothing. It meant they were moving towards a place she’d never seen or experienced. She always had Zach and Melody but Frost’s emotional absence hung thick in the air. She had to hand it to him. He had done a brilliant job of switching their roles around. It was now her longing for him but it wasn’t fair to string him along until she was sure. She needed to be certain it wasn’t loneliness speaking…Or Chloe. She needed to see Kevin. How long would she have to wait for her heart to find some sort of internal resolution? You want what you can’t have…Zach had been right about that. She shifted around to face Frost’s bunk. He wasn’t even sleeping there now. He was acting with self-preservation. She understood that much. Kayn threw her legs over the side of the bunk and wandered to the front of the motorhome. Frost was driving. She sat in the passenger seat next to him and said, “How long are you going to avoid me?”