by Summer Lee
Anthea glared at him with her eyes widening. Placing her hands on her hips, she said, “Is there something going on that you’d like to discuss with me, Sam?”
He was caught off guard and it was too late to try to hide behind a lie. “I… thought that you could Soul Merge through anything. That’s all.” He showed no confidence in his statement, which appeared to anger Anthea.
She looked abnormally calm, although there was a fire in her eyes. “So you’re saying that you think I can Soul Merge through this weather? That would mean that you’re calling me a liar. I don’t like to be called a liar, Sam. When I Soul Merge, I have to see where I’m going. At least for the first several miles. Otherwise, it’s just like I’m on the icy roads with my vision blurred. We can smack into anything if I fly blind! Here! Let me show you!”
She grabbed Sam by the arm with one hand, while opening the front door with her other hand. The wind immediately blew Anthea to the floor, but she held on and managed to keep her balance. She then pushed Sam into the storm; using all of her strength, she threw him against the wind. Once he was outside, she closed the door and stood guard. He saw her grin as she watched him fly. What a bitch!
Brr. Sam had never felt an iciness as bitter cold, and a wind as biting as he did when he dropped to the ground. His hands immediately froze stiff. It was hard to move his fingers as he tried to get up. He pulled his jacket over his head and looked out through the zipper. He could barely feel his lips as he shivered uncontrollably.
He reached up for the door handle to the pawn shop, but Anthea held it shut from the inside. She jutted her jaw out to him, as if she was teaching him a lesson. Or was she thinking of killing him? He thought that was harsh of Anthea to leave him out there. He felt like he was losing feeling all over his body. It was getting harder to breathe and the wind hitting what was exposed of his face, felt like tiny bullets. He dropped to his knees and thought only on the one person he knew he would want to see again.
Achava.
He closed his eyes and decided that if he was going to die like that, he wanted his last thoughts to be of the woman he loved. He tried to smile, when he thought of her, except that his mouth felt like it was frozen in place. He managed to slowly open his eyes. He could see something across the street. There was someone standing in one position about 100 feet away from him. He could make out the dark outline of the figure through the blinding white falling snow. He narrowed his eyes and tried to see if the figure was real or just his imagination. Achava?
He laughed in his heart, remembering how beautiful she was. Thinking about her caused him to realize that no one could possibly be out in such weather, standing perfectly still, except someone like Achava. He wanted so much to go to her.
He turned and looked again to the pawn shop door. Anthea was gone. Maybe she was the one across the street.
Needing to get inside, he tried with all his might to make his way to the door before she saw him coming. After tramping through the deep snow, he reached out, grabbed the handle, and pulled with all his might. The door opened wide. He fell to the floor of the heated store and embraced the foundation beneath him. The door slammed shut on its own, as it was caught in the wind. He looked up and saw Anthea talking with the old man. So she was not outside. Perhaps it was an optical illusion.
As soon as he entered the shop, Anthea turned to look at Sam and laughed. “See, old man? I told you he was resilient. I wouldn’t associate with him, otherwise.”
She walked over to Sam and pulled him up by grabbing his arm. Standing him in front of her face to face, she glared at him for a couple of minutes. When he said, “I get the message,” she smiled and let him go.
Chapter the Fourth
ACHAVA STOOD MOTIONLESS in the knee deep snow in St. Petersburg, Russia. Khassima’s source was right on target. They were near the country’s cultural heart.
They arrived in the middle of the snowstorm, so Khassima had taken haven in the nearest open coffee shop. Achava did not have that luxury. She needed to keep an eye on the pawn shop, in case anything unusual transpired there. Being that it was the headquarters of the Antiquarians, she expected some kind of early warning system or security to be in place. If she walked through the doors, she could have walked right into a trap.
Since her evil half-sister was involved, she had to take even stronger precautions. She had to keep an eye on both of them—Sam and Anthea.
While standing outside, Achava looked into the warm coffee shop where Khassima took refuge. Snow was coming down in sheets outside, and she was freezing. Looking up to the sky, she could barely see the clouds through the thick falling snow. She wondered what had happened. The afternoon heat could have caused the clouds to swell into cumulonimbus thunderheads bearing lightning, hail, and a heavy snowstorm. Khassima had said nothing about the power to produce a storm, but she wondered what the extent of her new friend’s abilities were. She stood in chilling temperatures that would even cause severe frostbite on the most protected person. Yet she stood with no jacket, no gloves, and not even long sleeves.
Achava did not feel the bitter cold. She pinched herself several times, to see if she had lost all feeling. She felt the pinches. She looked up to the sky. Although all she saw was white, she smiled. “This is Your work, my Lord. Thank You for Your restored faith in me. I will not let You down.”
When her eyes returned to the direction of the pawn shop, she thought she saw a figure on the ground. She narrowed her eyes to try to focus the person through the snow. The figure moved a little, then disappeared from her view.
She realized it was time to make a move.
Achava went into the coffee shop. Everyone glared at her in shock, as she casually brushed the snow off of her arms and shoulders. She saw Khassima sitting on a stool, sipping on a large cup of hot chocolate. “I don’t know what you did to me, Khassima, but something new has been added.”
“Yeah, I see that,” Khassima said as she shivered, even though she was bundled up with a parka, snow gloves, and a warm hat that covered both her ears and her head. “I can’t take credit for that, although I gotta say… I wish I was resistant to the cold about now. Is there some way to share your immunity?”
“I don’t know,” Achava answered, with her thoughts not on the question. She seemed distracted. “If I could share it, I would. Right now I have to go to the pawn shop.”
Khassima nodded. “Gotcha. You need me to stay here. Yes?”
“Yes. If you would.” Achava raised a brow. “Do you wish to go with me?”
“Well, to be honest, if this is what it’s going to be like traveling with you, I don’t know if you need me or not.” Khassima took another sip. “I feel like my time is kind of wasted.”
Achava sighed. “Your time to be of use is not quite yet here. If I could persuade you to please be patient, you will find plenty of adventure soon. I know this because of recent history.”
Khassima smiled. “Alright. Go do your thing then. You don’t have to worry about me going anywhere in weather like this. You’re my ride.”
Achava smiled as well, as she turned and headed for the door. As soon as she touched the handle, a man’s hand grabbed hers. She turned sharply to see a man as tall as she was, with a large coat with a matching Ushanka hat. He had a thick, black beard and mustache and dark, hate-filled eyes.
“Why you need to go to pawn shop,” he said. The Russian accent was strong and she could barely understand his English.
She wrested her hand away from him. “I do not wish to be impolite to you in your own country, but this is of no concern to you. I will ask you nicely to step back.”
The Russian started to laugh. It was a deep and loud laugh. The other three of his companions at his table laughed along with him. “You play trick with eyes by not needing coat in this weather. You don’t belong here.”
Khassima joined the two as she put her arm around the big man. “Hey, guys. What’s the problem?”
The Russian leaned down into Khassi
ma’s face. “What business you have here? You’re not welcome.”
Achava narrowed her eyes. “Are you affiliated with the Antiquarians?” She wanted to mention them to see if she could get a reaction out of him.
He immediately stood straight up with a blank expression on his face. His companions did the same.
Achava turned toward Khassima. Lowering her voice, she said, “They work for the Antiquarians! They will attempt to stop us from reaching the pawn shop!”
Khassima lowered her head with a Cheshire grin. “Go Achava. I’ll take care of these boys. Yes?”
“Are you sure…?” Achava didn’t finish her sentence, before she saw the serious look on Khassima’s face. “So be it. Godspeed, sister.”
As the door closed, Khassima stood in front of it. The remaining three Russians rushed the door. Khassima’s eyes turned golden as she started to dance. “Uh-uh boys. You haven’t seen me perform yet.”
She moved as smoothly as the wind with her hands cupped together. Her arms moved snakelike as she entranced every male in the coffee shop. The few women that were there looked around stupefied, as if they wondered what was controlling the men.
Her smile deepened, as she knew her most important ability still had the same effect after all those years. The Russians were frozen in place, as Khassima grabbed the thick Ushanka off the head of one of them. She looked it over, while continuing her dance, and then placed the Ushanka on her own head. Pulling the ear protectors over her cold ears, she smiled wider. “Alright boys. How about I finish this with a dance that you’ll never forget. Yes?”
Achava watched the performance, and then ducked under the man’s outstretched arm and opened the door. She ran outside, while he followed closely behind. She stopped abruptly, reached over her shoulder and pulled him by the front of his shirt.
***
The silence of the pawn shop was broken up by a large Russian man being thrown through the glass door and into the shop. He lay bruised and bloody as he moaned. He was barely conscious.
Achava stepped over his body and shouted, “Antiquarians! Hear me! I am Achava! Descendant of Achsah and warrior of God! I demand to know where Aharon Malka is!”
An older man came out from the back with an angry look on his face. “Twice in one day? You better be able to pay for that door!”
Achava got in his face. “Your men tried to prevent me from coming here! I will not be pushed aside!”
“What is it with all the pushy women today?” the old man said with a huff. “Where are the other three protectors?”
“My companion, Khassima, is taking care of your men across the street.” Achava wondered if she should not have left Khassima alone with the Russians.
The old man calmed down. “Well, if one woman is taking care of the big Russian brutes, then I suppose I’ll sit down and listen to what you have to say. What can I do for you? Aharon, you say?”
“Yes, Aharon.”
“Another amazon was just here, pushing around a little guy who didn’t really seem to want to be here. I told her where Aharon is after she threw the little guy out in the storm. She’s a heartless one, that one is. And tall. Very tall. I’ll bet that she was the black sheep in her family line. Unlike me, of course. I was always the good one, in spite of the fact that my brothers were violent. Bad ones, they were. Yes indeed.”
“I don’t want your story. Just Aharon.”
He rolled his eyes. “Now my parents. They were really loving, but somehow managed to misplace me several times over the years. I thought at first, it was because of the fact that I howled like a wolf when I didn’t get what I wanted. I later found out that my father wasn’t really sure I was his. Imagine that. Huh. I was, of course, his son. Once we got that water under the bridge, I had to deal with the fact that I wasn’t as tall as my brothers. They used to roll me down hills, when I was just a lad of three years. It was fun the first several times, until they started to wrap me in different things, like a Persian rug. That wasn’t fun at all. I then started to develop a rash a few years later. That was a pain in my… well… you know. It was like diaper rash, except with large red bumps.”
He paused long enough to laugh.
“Aharon is in a Tibetan monk monastery in… well… Tibet. Look to the foot of Hegel and you’ll find him. I finally got rid of the rash, but it took about a year and a half and plenty of Sycamore tree roots rubbed all over the rash. Boy was that a chore. I was the only one in my family who would even get near it. Well, I hope you found what you were looking for. Have a great life and don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”
She turned to leave. “Oh wait!” he said.
Achava looked back in shock. It was a good thing she did, or she would have missed out on where Aharon was. “Go to the foot of Gephel—Mount Gephel. That’s the location of the Drepung Monastery, which houses almost 8,000 monks. It will be no easy task to get inside, especially for two women.”
Achava realized that he told the truth. They would need a disguise, since she and Khassima were female. She nodded to the old man and walked over the fallen Russian once more, as she headed through the door and outside. She then crossed the road and entered the coffee shop.
To her surprise, Khassima was sitting at the table with the three Russian protectors, laughing and drinking, as if they were lifelong friends.
Khassima looked up at Achava and waved her over to the table. “Come on over! Guess who’s buying?’ She shrugged one shoulder, with a nod toward a big dude. And then smiled.
Achava tried to hide her confusion. “I am honored by the invitation, I think.” She clasped Khassima’s hand. “We must be on our way.”
Khassima took a big swig of hot chocolate. “You got the skinny on the target? Awe-some! Let’s move! Sorry guys. Gotta go! Do me a favor and make sure to treat your ladies right. Onward and upward. Yes?”
She got up from the table and kissed the guys on their cheeks. There was a hearty roar of laughter. The Russians waved and yelled their goodbyes to their new friend. She waved back as she shook her head. “I love doing that!”
Grinning, Achava tried to figure out what just happened.
“You are obviously formidable and therefore, a wise choice as my companion,” Achava said, pleased with herself. “We must be going now. Thank you Khassima, for taking care of that situation here.”
Khassima tilted her head at Achava. “Oh sweetie, it’s who I am. It’s how I roll.”
Achava raised her brow. “Well, in spite of your interesting words, I thank you. I have a feeling that we will have use of your prowess later on as well.”
Touching her earlobe, Khassima smiled as her eyes emitted a golden glow. “Achava. You have no idea what I’m capable of.”
“I agree.”
Chapter the Fifth
SAM STOOD FACE TO FACE with Anthea. “Anthea,” he said. “Before we go anyplace else, I really need to get some things from my house.”
She frowned. “That makes no sense.”
“You know what I mean!” Sam said, nervously.
“No, I don’t know what you mean.”
“I need to be transported to my house, or someplace, to get supplies to search for the Crown of Christ. You can find a place to Soul Merge to the Middle East from there where it is warm,” said Sam as he sighed. “I’d really appreciate it.”
“Why didn’t you say so?” She nodded and wrapped her arm around his waist, while twitching her right ear at the same time. In a flash, they both disappeared from the pawn shop.
She used her Soul Merge to travel to the United States.
Arriving in Houston, Texas, she took Sam home.
Sam left Anthea inspecting his kitchen, after convincing her to take him supernaturally to his house in Texas. He went to his room, looking for items to bring with him on his next adventure. He had no idea where they were going next, so he wanted to be prepared for a quick escape. The scary part was that Anthea was being evasive. That worried him more than her behavior towa
rd him at the pawn shop.
She also lied to him. If she lied once, she could do it again.
She said that she couldn’t Soul Merge in the storm and then blatantly Soul Merged. She didn’t even bother to cover her lie. He was at her mercy and he didn’t like that feeling. He needed to somehow gain an advantage, in case she turned rogue on him. Considering how bipolar she was sometimes, anything was a distinct possibility.
What he needed was Achava. Just thinking about her gave him an unbearable ache in his heart. Sam truly loved Achava. But she was a free spirit and had turned him down when he proposed marriage to her. Sam was smart enough not to try that again. Anyway, he hoped he was. He had a feeling that they would be together again soon. He felt her presence in that Russian snowstorm. The figure that he saw across the street had to be her. He had reached out to her with his thoughts and could have sworn that she reached back. She had to have known it was him. He was sure she had known, because of how her presence made him feel. If that was her, he wondered how she overcame the tattoo curse that Anthea hit her with. She did not look like an old lady in the snow. He hoped that he would have all of his questions answered soon.
All he knew now was that he had to be prepared for Anthea abandoning him and leaving him alone in some thick wilderness, or wherever they ended up. He was not going to be left without his resources. Not again.
He was just glad that she did not suspect that he had the Staff of Moses stashed away here in his home in Texas. He couldn’t imagine what she would do if she found out. He knew that she would take it. He knew that for a fact. But she was capable of killing to get what she wanted.
At one point in time, Sam actually trusted Anthea, but recently she had shown her true colors. She really was only out for herself. She had no one’s back but her own. It was Sam’s job to make sure that he had his own back. At least, until he found Achava again.
He hoped that Achava would take him back into her good graces.
