We found Susan the same place Cato would have been; the library. But this wasn't Cato's library anymore. The uneven stacks of dusty, yellowing books had, for the most part, been replaced by rows of folding tables. On top of the tables were computers, scanners, and files to hold loose papers. A dozen workers buzzed around the room, all intent in their work. Busy as bees.
As if in response to her own kind, Bee squirmed. My grasp on her tightened and she let out a squeal.
Everyone in the room stopped to look. It was the yard all over again. This time, the clink of heels against a hardwood floor broke the silence. Susan approached.
My eyes met hers, and my lip trembled. In coming back, I had to face my betrayal. All along I told myself I left to protect Bee. When it came down to it – I had left in fear. I was afraid for Bee. I was afraid I couldn't live up to expectations. I was afraid of the Seven. And I was afraid of myself. I was confident I could do it all on my own, but the moment I was forced off my protective island, I couldn't handle my powers. Worse, I brought them down full-force with Bee in the middle.
I shifted Bee on my hip, clinging to her fat little thighs. Susan and I hadn't logged very many hours together, but she had always been on my side. She had been my mentor, my mother, my sister, and my advocate when I had none. And I had let her down.
My chin lowered. A strong hand lifted my face back up.
Susan's green eyes drilled into mine. "I missed you," she said.
A lump grew in my throat and I couldn't respond. We embraced, and I buried my face in her curly hair with Bee squashed awkwardly in between us.
When I could finally speak, it was between sobs and hiccups. "I missed you, too. I am so sorry. I just left because I…because of—"
"Because you did what you thought you had to do for your child, as any mother would."
I nodded quickly, grateful she saw it my way. She always did.
"You are here now," Susan continued as she wiped away my tears. Her hands smelled like vanilla. "So no regrets. Let's just focus on what's next."
I nodded again, but this time managed a smile.
Her eyes drifted to Bee and Susan held out her hands. "May I?"
Alex came up behind us and huffed, "Can't believe it took her this long to ask…"
"Hush, Alex." Susan chided, but the corner of her mouth turned up when she looked at him.
His cheeks turned red.
Bee took to Susan immediately, cooing and giggling. In no time at all, Susan had her cracking up. It was contagious; everyone in the room had at least a smile on their face. Most were laughing openly.
"Nom, nom, nom." Susan pretended to eat Bee's fingers. Bee threw her head back in pure joy. Her other hand flapped up and down. I peered closer – her flailing hand glowed, creating a reddish-orange light.
I looked on in horror as the glow took the shape of a ball.
"Everybody duck!" I screamed.
Not everyone reacted but Alex, always quick on his feet, didn't hesitate. The ball flew away from Bee and Susan, over his head, and straight into a file box full of paper. Hopping back to his feet, Alex ran for a fire extinguisher. Though a little slower to my feet, I was inspecting Bee's hand for burns within seconds.
"Never invoke powers – why would they think this was a good idea?" I mumbled.
"She has powers already?" Susan asked, staring at the fire Bee started. The first box quickly spread to the one beside it. Alex had not returned with a fire extinguisher and everyone else started flapping at the fire with their jackets, only succeeding to fan the flames further.
"Oh, for Pete's sake. Am I a Water or am I a Water?" Susan took charge, weaving an orb of water over the fire, calling on the moisture in the air. Once it was large enough, she released it and it splashed down over the fire, the table, and anyone else standing close enough.
A symphony of astonished whispers, relieved sighs, and some grumbles cut short as Alex stormed in followed by three other men, each with their own fire extinguisher.
Susan cleared her throat. "Sorry, boys. It's been handled."
Self-importance deflated, the men slowly lowered the red canisters to the ground.
Susan rolled her eyes. "Ok, back to work everyone. Get this mess cleaned up, find out what files were destroyed and if they were copied somewhere else." Susan pointed to each person, giving them specific instructions. "Leave those fire extinguishers and order more. A lot more. Two or three per room. Tell the camps we have another Fire, but that she is, well – she'll be staying with her mother, not outside."
Susan had effectively averted disaster with her element, ordered the room back to action and no one questioned her. All with Bee on her hip. If Micah was the general, Susan was the Monarch; no doubt about it.
Susan turned to me, shifting Bee to her other hip. "We've had all the Fire Elementals camping outside for exactly this reason. Two floods caused us to do the same with the Waters. Except for a select few, myself included. No one seems to mind." She leaned into me, "And don't crack any jokes about wet dreams. It won't go over well, as Alex recently found out."
I smiled, still continuing my inspection of Bee, moving on to her clothes and hair. "Where did you find them all?"
"Cato had been tracking them; he just never pulled the trigger. He wanted to keep the operation small."
"And you don't?" I asked.
"We can't afford to," Micah said, entering the room. He looked around, eyes narrowing. "What happened here?"
"Your daughter happened," Susan answered. "She has powers already. She’s a Fire." Susan rubbed noses with Bee. "Yes you are, yes you are a Fire aren't you?"
Micah looked at me, narrowing his eyes further. "Elementals aren't born with their powers – they don't come until later, usually puberty."
"Are you accusing me of something?" I crossed my arms.
His lips pressed shut. He obviously wanted to accuse me of many things but his better judgment prevailed. "We'll need to run all the tests."
Memories of being strapped to a lab chair for days straight while I was poked and prodded flashed through my head. I edged closer to Bee, ready to take her away from Susan. "No way."
Micah shook his head, "It won't be like that, Kaitlyn—"
"You just stay out of my head, Micah." I frowned.
Susan put her hand on my shoulder. "Kaitlyn, I'll do the testing. No one else will touch her. Besides, who better to watch after a Fire than a Water?"
She had a point.
Alex moved to stand next to Susan, throwing his fire extinguisher up on his shoulder, "And I'll watch over them both."
Now memories of Alex holding a helmet over Bee's head after wrapping her in a flak jacket softened my resolve.
"Kaitlyn?" Micah asked.
Going from Susan's green eyes to his only softened me further.
"You need to meet all the new Elementals, and the sooner the better." He took my hand, gently pulling me toward the door.
I still hadn't decided.
Let go – you can't do this by yourself. You've already proven that.
The problem was I still wanted to do it by myself.
Susan pushed my shoulder toward the door. "Go, Mommy. You can meet us in the lab when you’re done."
"Ok, ok, I'm going."
As Micah led me out of the library, I risked a glance, then couldn't help myself. "Bye honey! Bee?"
I was ignored. Susan already had her laughing again – though not hysterically. We had all learned our lesson with that one.
Chapter 29
The Blaze in Her is Strong
We walked out of the building, not saying a word until we hit sunshine.
Micah went first, "We've been recruiting, as you can tell. More would have been done, but we spent a lot of resources looking for you." He cleared his throat. "Besides, we are about out of funds. A lot of the Elementals used their own money to get here."
"How many are here?"
"Twenty Waters, twenty-four Airs, thirty-one Fires, and just two Eart
hs. They are hard to find – most are never even aware of their magic."
"You guys did all of this in three months?"
"Not exactly. Susan had plans in place. Just as Shawn was taking his own path, Susan was taking hers. Seems no one was happy with the way Cato was running things."
I glanced at him. "What about you?"
"Kaitlyn." He put his hand on my arm, stopping me. "I never would've bought the place in Reunion if I didn't intend on spending the rest of my life there with you." Now he put his hand on my other arm, turning me to face him. "I thought you understood. I thought you were with me."
Now? We are going to do this now?
I stepped away from his grasp and turned, concentrating on the group of Fires practicing nearby. The one who burned himself earlier had rejoined the group, hand wrapped in bandages.
"I wanted it, more than anything," I said. "More than anything, except for one thing – Bee. I couldn't risk her."
The group jointly created a flame, and now morphed and twisted it into a sphere almost as large as the Akasha balls on Easter Island.
I turned back to Micah. "Can you understand that? You can't be a part of our lives unless I know you would do anything for her."
"Which is why I spent three months hunting you down," he said. "Why I agreed to let Shawn help, when all I wanted to do was strangle the son of a bitch."
I turned away before I cried, forcing my attention to the Fires. Now they raised the element into the air. Simultaneously, they brought their arms down, then flung their hands out. The element flew up and away, making a large arc over an otherwise empty field, and landing directly onto the old farm truck I scarcely recognized. Hollowed out and charred, it obviously had been aimed at before.
"Target practice?" I asked under my breath.
"What?"
I looked at Micah, eyes wide. "They are using their elements as weapons…and not just in self-defense."
He didn't say anything.
I moved in front of him, forcing him to acknowledge me. "That is not what these powers were meant for. Even I know that."
He looked over my head. "Come on – I'll take you to see the Waters next. They tend to stick by the lake."
"Hello!" I yelled after him.
He continued walking away, leaving me to stomp my foot and yell obscenities at the air. I looked at the group of Fires, who were now all looking at me. I considered them for a moment, and Micah's receding back made my decision for me. I walked to the Fires.
They weren't very welcoming. In fact, they all took a few steps back at my approach. I looked from one face to another. One averted his eyes; another looked me over from head to toe. A woman put one hand behind her back, but I smelled the flame springing from her fingertips. She was actually preparing to defend herself. It was the Galapagos all over again. I was the witch, the outcast – only this time it was worse because it was amongst those with elemental magic.
I paused, unsure of how to proceed. "Umm…" I raised one hand in the air. "I'm Kaitlyn. Hey."
"Hey, yourself." Micah stepped up beside me and put his arm around my shoulders.
I held back a huge sigh of relief.
He looked down at me and winked. I smiled. Then he turned those piercing green eyes on the woman. "Extinguish your flame, Sierra."
She looked at me, still debating, her eyes flitting from me to Micah and back to me. As scared as she looked about disobeying her general's orders, she didn’t seem scared enough to risk her own life. I would have felt sorry for her if those flames weren't meant for me.
The air around us, which had up until now been completely dry from the overuse of one element, was becoming suffused with moisture. Water particles raced in from the direction of the lake, merging together directly over Sierra. She was completely oblivious. In fact, all of the Fires were – except one. A younger man – maybe even a teenager, stood on the outskirts of the group. He had escaped my notice until the tilt of his chin skyward gave him away.
He caught my stare and quickly looked away – down at the ground again.
The downpour drew my attention back to Sierra. She gasped in shock as the cold lake water dumped, effectively extinguishing her flame and drenching her hair and clothes. The telltale wisp of smoke floated up from behind her.
"Let me make this clear." Susan approached the group. "The next time you disobey Micah – you will be removed from the island."
She stopped next to my other side, crossed her arms, and stared the entire group down. Her eyes rested on the troublemaker. "Do I make myself clear, Sierra?"
Sierra glanced at the ground, "Sure."
Susan raised her eyebrow.
"I mean, yes, of course. I’m sorry, Susan. It's just – the blaze in her is strong. I could've sworn she was preparing to attack."
Micah nudged me. I wanted to punch him back, but Susan's threat lingered even with me. I most certainly didn't want to get kicked off the island. I just got back.
Susan put one hand on my shoulder. "This is Kaitlyn, our Gaia. She will be working with you to strengthen your powers."
I will? My head snapped toward Susan.
Her grip on my shoulder tightened, answering my unspoken question, yes – you will.
"Her guidance is to be followed without question. Understood?"
There were a few nods, and a very audible yes from Sierra. I half expected them to salute.
Susan turned me away from the group and leaned into me, lowering her voice, "Sorry about that. But thanks for not undermining me in front of them."
I turned and leaned toward her, glancing at the Fires, "Sure, I guess."
"I came because I need a DNA sample," she said.
"Why?" Micah interrupted our pow-wow. "Can't you use what's in storage?"
My back stiffened. "You keep my DNA…in storage?"
As I bent back down, Susan let out an exasperated sigh. A quiet, exasperated sigh. We were still in huddle mode. "Yes, we keep your DNA – along with every other Gaia from the past few decades. But it isn't yours I need. It is Micah's."
"Why?" Micah and I asked together this time.
"For the paternity test."
Now it was Micah's turn to straighten. "The paternity—"
His exclamation was cut off by Susan's hand over his mouth. "Shh. Do you guys want to know or not?"
Micah and I went silent as we stared at each other with raised eyebrows, debating the consequences.
"Do you?" I asked.
"I'm not sure. Do you?"
"Oh, for crying out loud. I sure as hell do!" Susan interrupted our debate.
We both glared at her.
"Sorry…" She took a step back.
Micah seemed to make up his mind. "Ok. Do it. But deliver the results to Kaitlyn in a sealed envelope. Before you look at them."
"Okay, okay," Susan said, producing a cotton swab. "Open."
Micah obeyed.
"Thank you." Susan swabbed the inside of his cheek and placed her instrument into a vial. "Now if you'll excuse me…"
Susan walked away. I looked back at Micah, scrutinizing him. Was he really father material? I realized he had yet to ask anything about Bee, including her name. Since we left Seattle his sole focus had been me.
"Are you mad or something?" I asked.
He glanced at the Fires; they had gone back to practicing.
"Don't you want to know, I don't know, the basics? Why I left? What her name is?"
He sighed then faced me. "I'm afraid to ask."
I blinked. Not what I was expecting. "Afraid to ask what?"
"I'm afraid to ask about all of it!" he hissed. "I'm afraid to ask how in God's name you were able to drive a boat to Australia, fight off whatever was attacking you in the midst of that freak storm we saw following you, all the while giving birth. By yourself. I'm afraid to ask why you left because I don't want it to happen again." He turned, pacing away from me, then back again. "And I'm afraid to ask what her name is, because what happens if I fall in love with he
r and she gets taken away again?"
I shook my head. "That's not going to happen."
"Like it didn't happen with you…three different times?" He stepped closer.
I came closer to him, inhaling his wooded scent. "One of those times you left me, trying to find Shawn – like some sort of bounty hunter."
"And then you left me."
Here we go again. Tit for tat. I scoffed. "Your fault. My fault. Shawn's fault."
Micah met me the rest of the way. He put his hand around the back of my neck. "I still want to marry you, Kaitlyn. For real."
I tipped my chin up. "Even after all I've done?"
He leaned into me, touching my forehead with his. "Only if you'll have me after all I've done."
"Let's just call it even, then." My voice lowered to a whisper.
Micah whispered back, "Let's."
Our lips touched, lightly. There were no sparks, no heat running through my body. There was just quiet, and stillness, and peace. My mouth parted, but the kiss ended and we pulled apart.
"Get a room!" Alex yelled at us from the building. "But later – we're all done."
Micah intertwined his fingers with mine and pulled me toward Alex.
"Done, huh?" I called back to the building. "Any reason why I spent three days straight in that lab when I first got here?"
Micah cleared his throat. "We just needed to…double check everything."
"Bull."
Alex led the way down to the lab. Suddenly, I felt anxious. Last time I had left Bee alone with someone, her powers had been released. "How is she?"
I lengthened my stride, overtaking Alex in the excruciatingly long hall to the lab. Both guys quickened their step to keep up.
"She fell asleep," Alex said.
We walked into the lab. The large steel door that once locked me in was propped open, a heavy chain holding it back. In the middle of the room was a beautiful, white bassinette. I rushed to it.
"So, what did you name her?" Micah joined me, leaning over Bee’s bassinette.
"Her name is Bee."
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