I did my best to keep up, prodding Micah’s mind without distracting him from the struggle. Finally he answered my unasked questions. One of the groundskeepers didn’t want to be inspected, tried to make a run for it. Not one of Shawn’s, seems to do with drugs.
Susan and Alex relaxed as I repeated the information. Who would have thought such a rampant drug problem would have been considered good news? I looked at the last two men waiting for inspection and wondered if we would have any more problems. They certainly didn’t look like drug users, though one looked considerably worse for the wear. He paced the room, emitting a nice film of sweat that covered his entire body.
“Withdrawal?” I asked Susan who had moved to stand beside me.
“No, not so soon,” she said hesitantly. There was something almost certainly wrong with him. “Let’s try to calm him down before sending him to Micah.”
We moved toward him, trying to look as innocent as possible. It didn’t help. As soon as he saw us, he met us halfway in the open area of the living room; feet shoulder width apart and crossed arms.
“Calm down, dude. It’s just a standard inspection – nothing to worry about.” Alex coaxed him from across the room.
“There is nothing standard about it! They are searching for the same mark this one here has, but I don’t see her being forced to strip down.” He glared at me.
The medical team, I placed his face. Of course he knew my body inside and out. They all did.
Susan stepped to his side. “The women went first, she was already inspected.”
“Bullshit!” He reached underneath his shirt and produced a gun. It was cocked and pressed against Susan’s forehead before any of us could move. “Get on your knees. Arms up and out to the side.”
Susan did as she was told, moving slowly, looking the part of a perfect sacrificial lamb.
He glanced at me next. “What, no lightning strikes?”
I gritted my teeth. “Word travels fast.”
“That would be my fault.” Alex said, raising his hand in confession from across the room. I gave him the best accusatory glance I could muster. “What? There is nothing else to do around here.”
“Hence the drugs,” Susan piped up.
“Shut up! Everybody shut up!” His finger tightened slightly around the trigger.
I looked at the only other man in the room for support, but he was more useless than any of us, huddled behind a large armchair.
I felt Micah just outside the door.
Stop! I commanded. He has a gun to Susan’s head and an itchy trigger finger. Micah didn’t respond but I felt him ease off the door handle.
Despite the jokes, heat crawled up my neck. There was no way I could let Susan get hurt - again. My emotions fed the weather outside and more wind crept in along my weaves, following the already established path.
The gunman allowed a small smile to creep onto his face. “I was warned about you; about some kind of power that is a part of you; runs in your veins. But I don’t see it. I think there is nothing but fear there.”
“You have no idea what is coursing through my veins.” I was slowly stepping toward him as we spoke.
A strong gust of wind made him step forward to keep balance. His face lost all its confidence, his eyes widening. “It doesn’t matter. I was also told to use this to bring you back to him.” He produced a knife, the athame Shawn used to scar me. “I wasn’t planning on doing it just yet but it looks like my plans have changed.”
I was just within reach for him to scrape the point of the knife along my neckline. The sensation sent chills down my spine and Shawn’s smell, his taste, everything that was Shawn invaded my senses, overpowering them. I was too scared, too helpless to do anything but stand there and shake.
My body froze, locked in a block of ice. Through blurred vision I could see the wind picking up dangerously inside the room. If it weren’t for the non-existent ice I would have been knocked over. A muted choking fought its way through the wind. I blinked the forming tears away and realized it was the gunman. Still managing to hold the knife and the gun, his mouth worked furiously trying to expel something that wouldn’t come up. As he slowly sank to his knees, Susan rose, chin lifted and eyes narrowed, concentrating on the man. She was drowning him; forcing the water particles carried in on my wind down his throat and into his lungs.
Micah was screaming in my head. What happened? Talk to me!
I tried to respond but only stutters and broken phrases were sent. Finally I managed to emit one clear word, come.
Two blurred bodies appeared. One tackled Susan, taking her out of the gun’s sights. The other simultaneously tackled the gunman and both rolled away like tumbleweed in a windstorm. No longer at my neck, the knife dropped to the ground in front of me, and wavered slightly from the wind, giving it a life of its own. I couldn’t take my eyes away, mesmerized.
Once everyone got to their feet, several heads came into view. Their very outlines wavered.
“What is wrong with her?” barked one voice.
Another voice squeaked, “It’s the knife – hide it. Get it out of here!”
An old, wrinkled pair of hands covered the knife with a towel, wrapping it tightly without touching it and moved it away. Immediately the ice around me burst into liquid and I collapsed to the floor in a splash of water.
Chapter 17
More Questions than Answers
I lay on the ground, shivering but now fully aware of my surroundings. I half expected to be soaking wet, but my clothes were dry as a bone.
“What’s wrong with her? She’s ice cold.” Micah leaned over me.
Cato started barking orders, “Get that man tied up and take him to the basement.”
“You don’t want him on the boat with the others?” One of the guards hesitated.
“No, we need to interrogate him. Micah – come on.”
Micah spared a glance at Cato over his shoulder. “I’m not leaving her.”
A moment of silence passed between the two. It seemed all at once Cato understood what our relationship was doing to the well-oiled machine of an operation he had worked hard to officiate his entire life.
“Fine. Alex, then.”
Alex relinquished his hold of the gunman to the guards and set out to follow Cato, shoulders squared.
I didn’t have much say in what was going on; I couldn’t have spoken had I wanted to. My teeth chattered too violently. Micah slid one arm under my shoulders and another under my knees, hoisting me to his chest. As he carried me out of the room I couldn’t help but notice someone digging a bullet out of the wall. Instantly I looked for Susan, unaware she had been so close to death. Judging the calm and collected vibe she exuded while straightening up the living room, she was just as unaware.
Micah carried me straight to his room, and the private bathroom that accompanied it. He set me in the bathtub, supporting me with one arm and flipping on the hot water to the shower with the other. Even the cold water that first came out seemed to warm me. He plugged the drain and the water slowly began to build up, surrounding me in warmth. It still wasn’t enough and Micah seemed to know it. The cold set in deep into my bones, clinging to me mercilessly.
He began to strip me of my clothes, then his. When he slid his body into the bathtub next to me I could only squeak in protest. He wrapped his body around me, forcing me to the top, letting the heat of the water raining down from above warm my front while his body warmed me from behind.
“Don’t do this to me, baby,” he whispered in my ear. “Fight it, you are stronger than this.”
He was right; I had no idea how close I was to losing the battle until I heard the fear in his voice. Why was I losing? I had no idea what had even attacked me. The more I thought about it, the more panicked I became and my shivering started all over again despite the heat surrounding me. He held on to me tighter, resolved to bring me back.
“No. This isn’t happening. I won’t let it.” His words were slipping away and seemed
almost foreign, like they weren’t part of my world. I felt a peace calling me, beckoning for me to join it and turn my back on all the fear, confusion, and anger that was my life.
I headed that direction but something was nagging at me; something not right. Some unfinished business; I was forgetting something. There was another life slipping away as well; a life undone too early. An even stronger feeling washed over me. It was two lives, not just one. I turned my attention back in the direction I had come. Micah and the baby were pulling me back – each one absorbing the cold for me. They were using themselves as bait, taunting the cold to join them. Micah took the majority of it, but the baby could access the numbing freeze set deep in my bones more easily.
That won’t do, I thought to myself. I plunged myself back into my body, away from peace. Peace will come another time. Just not now.
My eyes flew open. I gasped, taking a desperately needed gulp of air. My body was sore, but the cold was no longer there. I felt Micah shivering behind me. I turned around to face him and began rubbing my hands up and down his arms and legs, willing the warmth back into him.
He seemed to be concentrating, and after a few moments let out a deep sigh of relief. He opened his eyes, and looked at me. “It’s gone. I’ve released it far away from us. It won’t be coming back.”
Satisfied he was okay, my hands instinctively wrapped themselves around my belly. “The baby. She was helping. She was doing the same as you.”
His hands quelled my worried fingers. “She’s okay. I took it from her as soon as I could. She’s safe, I promise.”
“How could you know? We should call the doctor—”
“Kaitlyn. I felt her, just as I can feel you. Come here.” He leaned me into him, forcing my belly under the rising water. I felt better for it. “She’s very powerful, you know.”
I let the complications sink in, and began to shake again, this time in tears. Micah rubbed my back, hushing me like child. That, the warm water showering my back, and the tub full of water, now running rapidly over the side, calmed me.
When my sobs subsided Micah turned the shower off with his foot and glanced at the floor. “We are going to have a hell of mess to clean up.”
I laughed and pushed myself closer to him. He grew hard and my nipples responded, pushing back against his chest. Embarrassed for both of us, I reprimanded him, “You have to be kidding me. We just had a near death experience – all three of us.”
“Sorry, just a natural response to our…present situation.” He was silent for a few moments and then asked, “Why do you think that was?”
“What?”
“The near death experience. Why did that happen?”
“I don’t know. I was just frozen with fear. Once I saw the knife, I couldn’t move. But it wasn’t like that before, even on the island with Shawn. I always responded with sarcasm. I was never frozen with fear.”
“It’s not just you that you’re fighting for anymore.” He rubbed my stomach. “There are two of you and your body knows that. Maybe the response of fear instead of anger is a protective instinct.”
I nodded, agreeing with his point, but not liking it.
He went on, “There was something else, though. How come your body temperature dropped so much?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I think it was the knife. It did something to me. As soon as Cato took it away whatever was happening stopped.”
“It is possible Shawn put some kind of spell on it. If the wielder of the knife is being attacked by an element, as Susan was doing to the gunman, the same element turns against its intended target – you.”
“I thought Shawn wanted to recruit me, not kill me.”
“He does. But he could have enchanted the athame long ago for his own protection. He was always looking into magic that was beyond his responsibility with the group. Cato discouraged it as much as possible, but you know Shawn.”
“Unfortunately, yes. I do know Shawn.”
We both fell silent as we let Shawn come between us, as only he could.
“I’m sorry, Kaitlyn. I can’t do this anymore.” He looked down, gripping the sides of the bathtub tight.
I pushed myself off his chest to look into his eyes. “Do what?”
“I can’t just stand by, fending off attack after attack until finally one of these times he’s successful.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What do you mean?”
“I’m going after him, without you.”
“The hell you are!” I pushed myself completely off of him, my movement causing even more water to splash out into the bathroom. “What do you intend to do without me there? Punch him to death?”
“If need be, yes.”
“No. If you’re going, I’m going.” I was hesitant even saying that; another personal encounter with Shawn was the last thing I wanted.
Micah immediately picked up on my uncertainty. “You are not going anywhere. If I could handcuff you and lock you away in a safe while I was gone - I would.”
“Well why don’t you? Cause I’d have to use the bathroom?”
His eyes flitted around the bathroom as if he were considering the possibility.
“You bastard!” I swiped at his face with an open hand.
He stopped my swing, locking tightly onto my wrist. His other arm snaked around my waist possessively. “I’m serious, Kaitlyn. If anything ever happened to you, I wouldn’t survive it.”
I relaxed into his hold and stared him down. “And what makes you think that doesn’t go both ways?”
He lifted his chin and I saw understanding flood his eyes.
I shook my head, frustrated it had taken him this long to grasp the concept. I got out of the bathtub, slipping on the flooded floor the whole way to the door, and headed to my room after grabbing his robe to cover me.
I was stopped short in the hallway seeing Alex walking past. I reached out to him, hoping to gain an ally. My hand touched his shoulder and landed in liquid. I pulled my hand back sharply. It was red, all blood. And still warm. My eyes widened. “What happened?”
He turned toward me. His entire chest was covered, splotches even reaching his face. “It’s not mine.”
“What—?”
“Not now, Kaitlyn.” He turned away and kept walking.
My blood-covered hand was still up in disbelief. Micah came up next to me and watched Alex disappear down the hallway.
“That was supposed to be my job,” he said it softly to himself as he wiped off my hand in with his water-soaked shirt.
Cato passed next. He wasn’t covered in blood as Alex was but small sprays had obviously reached him. He didn’t look at us, but his faded blue eyes held an odd calmness to them. Compared to stunned Alex, he looked almost at peace with whatever had transpired.
Micah hurried to put on dry clothes and raced out the door. “Get dressed and meet us in the library.”
His body rushing past sent a breeze through my hair and jolted me out of my shock. “What do you mean your job?” My question echoed down the hallway after him but he was already gone. I sighed and made my way to my room. Once again my head was filled with more questions than answers.
Chapter 18
States of Mind
My arrival was too late. By the time I got to the library, recent incidents had been discussed and further action had already been planned. Cato and Susan were on their way out, intent on their own list of things to do.
Micah followed behind them, nearly crashing into me at the doorway. “We’re leaving tomorrow.”
“We meaning…?”
“Meaning me, Cato, and Susan. Alex will be staying here with you.”
I didn’t respond, keeping my lips pressed together tight for fear of saying something we would both regret later.
He continued, “You have a few things to do while we’re gone.”
I remained silent.
“I want you to work on communicating with the baby. If I can do it, then you can. If something ever happens, it may be
the only way to save her.”
Finally trusting my voice, I said, “What else?”
“Spend a lot of time with Alex. He can protect you while I’m gone and he’s going to need you to help him work through this recent information-gathering episode Cato put him through. Stay close to him, just not…too close.”
“Okay…” It was unlike Micah to tell me purposely to be close to another man, but it made sense with him leaving me behind when Shawn was still out there. Plus I was smack dab in the middle of a bunch of workers who hated me at the moment. “Anything else, Master?”
“Yes. I feel a little awkward telling you this but…”
I couldn’t take the pause. “What is it? Just spit it out already.”
“We had a bunk bed made and put in Alex’s room – I want you to sleep there for now.” He avoided my gaze.
“So, you don’t want me to get too close to the man but you want me to sleep with him?”
“Don’t be childish, Kaitlyn,” he snapped. “I’m doing the best I can here. Just do what I ask and it will be easier for everybody.”
“You mean easier for you.”
His eyes flared with color; never a good sign. “This has to be done my way. There is no discussion about it. Don’t fight me on this.”
I regarded him carefully. He was right; arguing would do no good, but hell if I would make it that easy. “I promise I will consider your requests,” I said in a low, even tone.
He took a step closer so aggressively that I took a step back. I hit the wall and flinched as his fist went flying inches away from my face and through the drywall of the room. I gasped, looking at his arm trembling in anger beside me. I looked back at him with fear. He withdrew his arm from the wall and grabbed my chin. “Damn it, Kaitlyn! Don’t you understand? I would hurt you in order to keep you safe!”
I didn’t respond. I couldn’t. It was one of the most romantically angering things anyone had ever said to me. I had never seen him so furious, yet there were tears forming in his eyes.
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