Fire

by Terra Harmony

  I looked into his mesmerizing green eyes. "I love you, too."

  We leaned in for a kiss, a small peck at the mouth, then laid back on the pillows again.

  I looked down, and grimaced. "Ew – I'm covered in my own milk."

  His turn to laugh. "There are worse things to be covered in."

  "Like yogurt?" I asked, poking fun at myself. Fuming over his hot, flirting maid on Reunion Island, I had accidentally squeezed a cup of yogurt all over my shirt.

  "I was thinking more like bird poop," he grinned at me, referring to the greenhouse incident. I used energy to attract thousands of birds, thereby passing my test and teaching Micah a lesson – or trying to, anyway.

  "Hey, that was well-deserved!" I pushed at his chest. He gathered me back into him and kissed me again.

  We were interrupted by a knock at the door. Micah sprung out of bed, put a pair of pants on, and slipped out the door. I pulled the covers over my head. I wasn't going to get up for anything. Micah stuck his head in the door, "Kaitlyn?"

  "What?" My voice was muffled even to my own ears.

  "The paternity test is back."

  I was out of bed and dressed within seconds.

  Chapter 45

  Vested Interests

  The hotel bar was packed with tourists from Australia, reminding Shawn of his short time in the land down under. He’d stayed there with his team of Fires just long enough to get the wildfire started and to ensure it grew beyond the local fire department's control. It was kind of fun hiking through the bush each day.

  The nights had been less fun; especially those spent in the pubs. Too many g'days and no worries for Shawn.

  Like now.

  "What can I get you?" Ahi asked from behind the bar, wiping her hands on a dirty, white towel.

  "I'll take the same 'amber nectar' those gents are havin'." Shawn said, using his best aussie accent.

  "Sure." Ahi half-smiled, laying a small napkin on the bar in front of Shawn.

  He put his hand over hers to stop her from turning away.

  "I have your proof," Shawn said in a low voice, leaning forward.

  "Do you?" Ahi made a pointed glance at his hand over hers.

  Shawn hastily let her go. Shoot – probably lost points with that.

  Ahi turned away, poured his beer and placed it in front of him. They both stared at the white foam dripping over the side.

  "So where is it?" she finally asked.

  "It's a video; we'll need a DVD player." Shawn cleared his throat. "Why don't you come up to my room?"

  Ahi was wiping her hands again, studying Shawn.

  That has got to be spreading more disease than a whore, Shawn thought. He kept his mouth shut, waiting for Ahi's answer.

  One of the tourists fired up the jukebox. AC/DC ripped through the bar.

  "My shift ends in an hour," Ahi shouted above the music. "What's your room number?"

  Shawn wrote it down on the napkin and slid it over to her. Ahi picked it up and shoved it into her pocket. She turned back to her work without another word.

  Shawn continued to watch her as he finished his beer from the dark end of the bar, as far away from the tourists as he could get. She smiled at the rest of her customers, batting her long, charcoal eyelashes at them. It was the same way Kaitlyn smiled at Micah. No one smiled at Shawn like that. No one ever had – except Sarah.

  And Kaitlyn took that away, more than once. She took everything from me.

  Shawn's hand tightened around the glass he held. The only thing left to do now was pursue the goal he and Sarah had set together. A clean Earth, achieved by the simple notion of One Less. One less human to create waste for landfills, one less factory to spew poison in the air. Hell, one less country to add to greenhouse gases – what could be better for the planet?

  But to do that he needed power. Power that the Athame gave him, and that the Easter Islanders would give him, but it wasn't enough. He needed the power of a Gaia. And right now, Kaitlyn was the only living Gaia.

  Shawn spun the glass around in his hand, glaring at the Aussies, and thinking.

  Unless the child turns out to be a Gaia.

  No, he could not wait that long. It would have to be Kaitlyn and her power; whether she was willing or not.

  *

  Shawn was on the phone with a client, riding out a bidding war. "Listen, my guys can do it ten times faster and ten times cheaper. No more geologists, engineers, environmentalists – you were at the demo – you know." Earth Elementals were the newest, most efficient, and least evasive way to locate minerals and precious stones underground. But the client already knew that. "It's just that I have another client that is willing to put more money down; his schedule conflicts with yours."

  Each party would win, little did they know. Shawn had plenty of Earths to go around.

  A knock on the door interrupted the call. "Listen, think about it and I'll call you back." Shawn hung up before his client had a chance to respond.

  Shawn shut down his laptop and walked to the door. He swung it open just as a second round of knocking began. Ahi entered his hotel room. Shawn couldn't help but smile. The fact that she was here – alone, was telling. He was winning her over.

  The door stopped short as Shawn closed it behind Ahi.

  Ahi swung around. "Oh – I've brought a friend. You've met my cousin Andrés, right?"

  Andrés popped his head in the room. "Hey again, brother." He stepped the rest of the way into the room.

  Shawn took a step back to accommodate Andrés' large body.

  Is everyone on this freakin' island her cousin?

  "Hi," Shawn mumbled under his breath. Obviously he had more work to do. Hopefully the video he had received this morning from the Chakra would be enough to convince her. "Have a seat."

  The two chairs Shawn set in front of the TV for Ahi and him were now occupied by her and her cousin. Standing behind them, Shawn picked up the remote and hit play.

  Cato's library at the Chakra lit up the screen. Kaitlyn, Susan, and another female were leaning over a computer. Shawn rolled his eyes.

  Whatever they're doing, does it really take three of them? Like always insisting on going to the bathroom together – too dependent, weak, and needy.

  Micah walked in, holding the child. Shawn peered closer. He had already watched the video a dozen times, but couldn't help studying her features – again. She had the blue eyes, yes, but there were no other telltale signs that she belonged to Shawn. Or Micah, for that matter.

  Shawn looked down at Ahi. Her hands gripped the sides of the chair; knuckles turning white.

  Vested interest in the child, maybe? How much time had she spent with Kaitlyn on the island? He had tried asking around, but most people were annoyingly tight-lipped about Kaitlyn.

  Micah set the baby down. The four adults discussed something. Shawn second-guessed showing this part to Ahi. Right now, they all came off as friends.

  Wait for it…

  The group's attention shifted to the baby on the blanket, and then the most wonderful thing Shawn could have hoped for happened. Susan attacked Kaitlyn.

  "What's happening – what are they doing to her?" Ahi actually jumped out of her seat, screaming at the TV.

  Shawn was prepared to watch her reaction closely, but Ahi was not her usual, guarded self.

  So they were close.

  Kaitlyn reeled across the screen in Susan's water globe, choking and struggling to get out. The giant, rolling globe shifted direction toward the camera, and just as Kaitlyn was about to crash into it, the screen went fuzzy.

  "What?! Well what happened? Is she okay? What about Bee – did they attack her too?" Ahi turned, looking as though she was about to shake the answers out of Shawn.

  Shawn frowned in confusion. "Bee?"

  "The baby," Andrés answered, while trying to calm his cousin down.

  She named the child after an insect?

  "Well?!" Ahi screamed at Shawn.

  Shawn eyed Ahi, retreated
to his bathroom, and returned with a glass of water. He handed it to her, "Kaitlyn and…Bee…are okay. My people there tell me this is a regular occurrence. A torture session, of sorts, to get information out of her. Sometimes this happens to her; sometimes they use the baby, my daughter, as collateral."

  Shawn rubbed a hand through his hair in frustration.

  Bee? Seriously?

  Ahi forced herself to take slow, controlled breaths. She was back to scrutinizing Shawn. Finally, she tipped her head back, finished the glass in one swallow like it a shot of whiskey, and slammed it down on the coffee table. "My mother died protecting that child. We will not let her death be wasted." Ahi stepped around her chair, walking up to Shawn until they almost stood nose to nose. "The entire island supports you, Shawn."

  "Ahi—" Andrés mouthed in caution.

  "The. Entire. Island." Ahi glared at her cousin. "Mama would've wanted it, Andrés."

  Andrés took a step back, consenting.

  Chapter 46

  No Chance

  I flipped the sealed envelope over in my hands, for the tenth time since Susan handed it to me. She had quickly left the room, taking Bee with her to give us the privacy we insisted upon. That was two hours ago. Since then, I had dragged Micah from our room to the kitchen, then the library, the medical lab, the storage rooms, and finally outside. I now stood at the lake, or rather in it, knee-deep in cold water.

  Micah paced the shoreline, his hands on his hips. "I swear to God, Kaitlyn. If you don't open that thing I'll wrestle it from your hands!"

  "You'd lose," I whispered to myself.

  "What?" He stopped pacing and looked at me.

  "Never mind. I just…want to make sure this is a good place. You know, in case I overreact."

  He sighed, then trudged toward me in the water without bothering to take off his shoes or roll up his pants like I had. He took my hand in his. "Whatever the news, I'm with you. You and Bee – no matter what."

  I nodded, swallowing hard. Then I ripped open the paternity test results. At the top of the page, each of our names were listed: Micah Collins, Alleged Father. Kaitlyn Alder, Mother. Bee Alder, Child.

  Micah, leaning over me, cleared his throat. I sympathized. As if the 'alleged' inserted in front of his name was not enough, Susan selected my last name for Bee, probably going with the obvious.

  We considered false names for the test, but if the baby was Micah's – I wanted the proof in black and white, using real names. Perhaps one day I could shove it down Shawn's throat.

  My eyes floated further down the page to the heading 'Results', in bold. A chart followed, with no less than seven columns and 18 rows, each with numbers that meant nothing to me.

  I grit my teeth. Below the chart, another word in bold, 'Conclusion':

  The probability of Mr. Micah Collins being the biological father of Bee Alder is 00.0000%. Therefore it is proven that Mr. Micah Collins is not the biological father of Bee Alder. This conclusion is based on the fact that the results of testing in the ACP, GCi, and pS194-P genetic systems do not follow the expected rules of inheritance.

  Below that, the signature lines of the technicians blurred through tears in my eyes. I held them back, along with my breath. One number still swam in my head. 00.0000%. Even a 00.0001% chance would have given us a glimmer of hope. We didn't even have that.

  My hands dropped and I turned to Micah. "We could retest. There could have been…a mistake."

  His face was white.

  "Micah?"

  His eyes floated back to me. "No." The word caught in his throat. "We can't risk Shawn finding out." He took the letter from me, scanning it again. "Alex couriered the results back from the lab in Australia himself, just to make sure it didn’t fall into the wrong hands."

  I nodded, brushing my eyes with the back of my sleeve. "What do we do? Keep it a secret?"

  He shook his head. "Susan would know. Alex would know. Shawn would know, if he ever had the opportunity to ask." Micah looked at me. "You're a horrible liar."

  I didn't argue.

  He held the letter out to me. "Burn it."

  "What?"

  "I want to see it burn."

  The fire in his eyes probably was enough to set the thing aflame, but I obliged, taking it from him. I wove strands of fire together using only the energy my own body could provide. The purest element was easier to control if the energy was pure. The corner of the page lit up, and we watched as the flame made its way up the page, turning from white to black before disappearing. Pieces of ash floated away with the wind, some disappearing into the air and some dissolving in the water – our secret lost in the elements.

  But how long could we keep it a secret? And what would Shawn do when he found out? Would he set his targets on Bee instead of me?

  We returned to the Chakra, hand in hand, silent. When we entered our room, Susan was in the nursery rocking chair with Bee. She stood, eyebrows raised, asking silently.

  Neither of us answered. Instead Micah took Bee and sat down with her on the bed. He rested his chin on her head while she played with the buttons on his shirt.

  "Oh, honey," Susan whispered. She walked over to the pair and wrapped her arms around her brother.

  Watching them, tears didn't come. Bee was exactly where she should be; with her family. It was up to me to keep it that way.

  "We need to be stronger," I announced. "We need to recruit more."

  "But…I'm not sure…I mean – it takes a lot of money to do that." Susan looked at me, panicked, eyeing her brother.

  "I have the money," I said.

  "What? You mean the money your parents left you?" Micah finally spoke.

  I nodded.

  "You don't have to do that, Kaitlyn," he said.

  "Agreed," Susan said sharply. "We'll find another way. You don't need to give me your money."

  I crossed my arms. "It's not for you – it's for Bee."

  Chapter 47

  Game Changer

  Shawn sat back, reveling in the plush surroundings of his private jet. The entire back end was his own quarters. Procured with funds from the bidding war for his Earth Elementals, it was coming in handy already. Ahi and eleven other of the strongest Elementals on the island she had identified joined him.

  Three circles of four, she insisted. The rest of the islanders stayed back, awaiting instructions.

  Thank God for that video, Shawn thought. It produced better results than he could've imagined. He was studying the video again, frame by frame, using special equipment installed in his private room on the plan. Unfortunately, there was no audio.

  He pushed the thought aside, and hit play. His focus now had to be what transpired just before Susan attacked. What would lead her to do such a thing? Granted, they appeared to have worked it out. That part in the video had been cut out for Ahi's viewing.

  Frame by frame, Shawn inched forward, slowly making his way through the session and reading lips where he could.

  Susan paced while she talked. Just as she turned toward the camera she said, book…book of something. Shawn replayed it twice more.

  Book of Shadows, Susan said while gesturing to the computer.

  Interesting, he thought.

  Shawn moved forward, pausing it again when Susan suddenly stopped pacing to stare at the child. Shawn leaned forward, studying the baby. Nothing odd there, except…

  She was staring at the computer.

  Do babies do that? Shawn couldn't see the computer screen – maybe it had something, cartoony, on it. No, no. She isn't staring at a computer. She is staring at the Book of Shadows. Huh?

  Shawn shook his head, filing away the confusing thought to assess later. He skipped forward to Kaitlyn just before all hell broke loose. He zoomed in on her lips. They pursed out. Shawn went through the sounds of the alphabet until his lips imitated hers. 'Sh', maybe. 'She' - that had to be it. He did the same for the next few words. 'She is a…'

  Shawn skipped back to the beginning of the sentence one more time, s
aying it aloud for Kaitlyn. The final word came to him.

  "She is a Gaia." Shawn let the rest play out, eyes wide with shock.

  This changes everything.

  Chapter 48

  Safe with the Spirits

  "Isn't there anyone else coming?" I whispered.

  Alex leaned over, shaking his head. "No."

  I looked around. Besides me and Alex, there were only the three Elementals assigned to Uri's circle. Clay was the Earth.

  They are finally doing things together.

  Wrapped in a white cloth and laid out on top of a mountain of wood, they doused Uri’s body with gasoline. A foldout table sat in front of the funeral pyre, with an old, worn chalice, paper, and a pencil. The Air walked up to the table, wrote something on a piece of paper, crumpled it into a ball and threw it into the chalice. She reached in her pocket for a lighter, and lit the paper on fire, the flames licking the inside of the chalice.

  Alex whispered, "We are helping Uri enter the afterlife. Each of us is supposed to write him a message. The ashes, and therefore the message, reach him – wherever he is."

  The Air returned to the side of the pyre and the Water took her place, writing whatever message she thought would do him good.

  "Where did you get the cup?" I asked.

  "It was used for initiating men into the Seven a while back. Sort of like the Athame for women. They were made to bleed into the chalice until it was full." Alex kept his voice low. "I think they stopped it before even Cato became part of the Seven. We just use it for ceremonial stuff, now."

  I vaguely recognized it as part of the décor at Bee’s Wiccanning. Clay now approached the table.

  As we watched him write the message, Alex explained, "Generally Earths would choose to be buried, Fires cremated, Waters buried at sea or cremated and their remains scattered at sea, and Airs request an air burial."

  "What's that?"

  "The body is placed up somewhere high on a platform until birds devour most of it."