Air (5 page)

Cato gave me a chance to respond but I couldn’t come up with an argument so he continued, “He wants you there, Kaitlyn. We are going to oblige because we need this lead.”

I felt Micah’s hand on the back of my neck, giving me what support he could, but his warmth did nothing for the chill growing in my body.

Chapter 5

A Fish out of Water

"Now
that
is a warm welcome."

No one laughed at Vayu's joke as we made our way down the steep flight of stairs from the plane onto the open tarmac. We all eyed the ominous orange glow visible in the distance.

As we passed a baggage handler his radio crackled to life and a thick Australian accent came over the airways, “Ok guys, that is the last plane in. We are going to start the evacuation process. Make sure…” the man with the radio walked out of earshot.

I felt my heart beat faster. I glanced up at Micah, sticking close by my side. He met my look, but kept all emotion hidden behind the stone wall of his face.

Having packed carry-ons only, we were able to leave the airport quickly. We stuffed ourselves into the rental van Alex had arranged while waiting for our flight in Sumatra. We were pressed up against one another, two seatbelts short of accommodating everyone.

Cato sat in the front passenger seat, studying a large map of the Northern Territory. He looked at Alex, “We are supposed to meet my associate here. He is with a local fire brigade and can direct us to where we will be most effective without being detected.”

Micah leaned forward to consult how to get there while making our best guess on avoiding fire-ravaged roads. I looked behind me to the back row where Vayu and a haggard Susan sat.

I furrowed my eyebrows at Susan’s pale face. “What’s the matter? Are you all right?”

She took a sip from her water bottle and nodded her head. “Yes, I’m…well, no.” She leaned forward and lowered her voice sending a furtive look at Micah. “It’s the air – there’s no water in it. The fire’s dried out the entire area. I feel like…well, a little like a fish out of water.” She managed a smile. I reached back and took hold of her hand, squeezing tightly. Maybe being closer to me and the extra water my body carried would give her some comfort. She leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes. Pink returned to her cheeks.

White ash began to fall on the windshield of the van. I swallowed hard, forcing my attention to Vayu. He ignored us and looked anxiously out the window, closing and opening his eyes, concentrating on something no one else could see.

Ten minutes later we pulled up to a large gathering of firemen, fire trucks, and emergency personnel. Cato looked at us, speaking quietly before we left the van, “I don’t want to draw any attention to us, which is what will happen if we all go. Alex and I will stay here with the fireman and will let you know where to go.”

Alex began shuffling around in a large duffel bag by his side. “I brought handhelds. Here.” He handed a radio to Micah and kept the other to himself. “Channel Two.”

“That’s my boy.” Cato winked at Alex. They got out and disappeared into the sea of yellow coats. Micah crawled forward into the driver’s seat and took us back out onto the roads, checking in with Alex over the radio every 15 minutes. I stayed where I was, holding Susan’s hand. Alex began spewing directions over the radio, leading us onto unmarked dirt roads. We passed a small neighborhood of a dozen houses, all of which should have been evacuated, but residents still stood outside watering down their roofs and lawns. The orange glow and the roar of the fire grew louder as we continued.

“These idiots are going to be trapped soon…” Micah mumbled under his breath.

A few minutes past the houses, Alex’s voice began to fade in and out, leaving static for longer and longer stretches.

Micah stopped the van, “This is as far as we should go. I don’t want to lose radio contact.” He turned to Vayu, who was still lost in his own world. “Vayu…Vayu!”

Vayu snapped his attention to Micah.

“Can you work from here?”

Vayu nodded, taking a long moment before answering. “Yes, I think so. We need to walk a little further in but this will be good.”

We opened the doors and immediately began to choke on the tainted air.

“Come on, let’s make this fast.” Micah coughed, handing us backpacks, each stuffed with random items Alex thought might be useful.

We began to see the flames not far from the van. The roar seemed to shake the forest, punctuated by loud bursts when dry trees went up in flames. I glanced at Micah – his hair was as white as his sister’s skin. I frowned. All of us were turning white as ash stuck to us.

A cry made us spin. Susan fell to the ground. Micah and I rushed to her side, each taking one of her hands.

“I don’t think I can go anymore, I need water now.”

Micah rifled through his bag for a water bottle and handed it to her.

“No, not that. I need more.” She coughed.

“Am I not enough?” I asked.

Micah looked confused, but didn’t question me.

“No, not anymore.” She closed her eyes in concentration and Micah and I waited, helpless. Finally she spoke, “There is water that way, not too far. You could carry me there Micah.”

“Yes, of course.” Micah began to pick his sister up.

 “I need to go this way to be most effective,” Vayu said, pointing east, right into the heart of the flames.

Micah shook his head. “No – no one goes alone.” Realizing the situation he had just put himself in, he laid his sister back down gently and looked from me to her. We all waited impatiently. Vayu had crossed his arms, making it apparent which way he was going regardless of Micah’s verdict. Micah finally reached into his backpack and pulled out the only fire blanket Alex had. He turned me around and stuffed it into my own backpack. He grabbed Vayu’s arm. “If—”

“No if’s. We’ll be all right.” Vayu interrupted. He followed Micah’s gaze toward me and rephrased his statement, “
She
will be all right.”

Micah nodded, picked up his sister, and walked away without glancing back.

Vayu gently took my hand and pulled me in his direction. I hesitated. His direction meant higher temperatures, more smoke, and significantly more risk. Up until now, I had taken Micah’s comforting presence for granted. I sighed heavily, and then coughed. I tried to keep my arm over my mouth, breathing in the cotton fibers of my sleeve instead of the poisoned air.

Only a few minutes later, something on all fours came lumbering out of the smoke.

“A koala bear!” I exclaimed. It was the first wild koala bear I had ever seen, and it was also noticeably hurt. I angled toward it.

Vayu stopped me. “We don’t want to scare it back into the fire.”

As it came closer, it glanced at us but didn’t seem to care one way or the other. The fire was behind it, more dangerous than either of us. I noticed a small baby clung to the koala bear's back. My stomach turned over. Both baby and mother had singed hairs on their backsides. I forced myself to stand still while they passed, wanting to help. The mother walked awkwardly on her paws. It soon became apparent the bottoms of her feet were burnt. Suddenly my trials as a mother-to-be seemed rather insignificant.

Vayu shook his head, face wrinkled with pity. “Slow moving creatures. They fall prey to wildfires too easily.”

“We have to help it.” I spoke, just short of yelling to be heard over the roar of the fire.

“No. There isn’t much we can do –besides, if we can stop this fire from moving forward, we’ll save the town back there and the koala bear.”

I agreed and followed Vayu deeper into the bush, encountering no more animals.

Only the stupid ones would still be here
, I thought.
Humans notwithstanding.

A thick wall of fire came into view. Vayu stopped. “Here. This is the front of the fire.”

He turned to me and I realized how wildly unprepared I actually was. Wind was the most unpredictable of elements, the most difficult to control. I hadn’t had much practice with it.

Vayu was able to read my face. “I don’t have time to teach you, but we can do this one of two ways. You can either feed me energy or you can try to copy what I do as best as you can.”

It didn’t take me long to choose, remembering what happened to Micah last time he willingly gave me his energy. “I’ll try it on my own.”

Vayu scrutinized me for a moment, trying to judge my abilities as if he could by just looking at my face.

I frowned. He hadn’t seen any of what I could do. “Vayu – Micah wouldn’t have left me if he didn’t think I could handle it.”

Vayu accepted my reasoning, which in turn gave me more confidence. Amazing how Micah could change things without even being there.

Vayu took a deep breath in, and flows of energy left his body as he exhaled. There weren’t streams as I saw or felt with Susan or Cato, but more of an all-encompassing net that went out from his body. The net expanded, retracted, and grew thicker or thinner at Vayu’s will. I felt it allow air through in some places and block it in others. The net quickly grew to the left and right of us, expanding beyond my sight. Somehow, Vayu knew what to do in the places he couldn’t see.

Following his lead, I took a deep breath in and immediately sputtered on the smoke. Vayu spared a sideways glance at me but kept most of his focus on the job at hand.

I remembered Cato’s words, “Everyone has a different way of doing it. Knowing how one person does it won’t help you figure out how to do it on your own.” I thought back to all the other times I had used my powers. I had either drawn energy from within myself, drawn energy from another element, or used raw emotion to conjure weather. Thinking briefly of the koala bears, I decided I couldn’t draw energy from within and risk the baby; it was the least I could do as a mother. I also lacked any significant emotion, barring the fear building up in the pit of my stomach. I had never really operated on fear before. It was anyone’s guess how the elements would react.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on elements around me. Water was obviously in short supply, the air was tainted and I didn’t want to interfere with Vayu’s element. That left fire and earth. Could I possibly draw energy from the very element I was trying to defeat? I shrugged my shoulders.

“Why the hell not?” The fire was far too loud for Vayu to hear me. Good – the less crazy he thought I was, the better.

I began to draw energy from the fire. I worked gingerly through Vayu’s net. Before the energy returned through the net to me, I shifted its direction and in the process, it simply converted itself to wind. Perhaps it was following my will or even Vayu’s example. I directed the wind more over the fire than around it, quelling what flame I could and cooling the entire area.

“Good,” Vayu called over the noise. “That is helping – very good.”

He looked surprised, and I smiled. I liked surprising people, as long as it was with my skill and not the lack thereof. I continued to concentrate on my wind, cooling down the fire and occasionally letting a gust blow over the top of Vayu’s net to cool us down.

Blackened landscape came into view as we pushed the fire back. We moved constantly, to the sides and forward, following the fire as it retreated. Several loud bursts to our left shocked us from our concentration. A small grove of trees had succumbed to the fire and were exploding into flames, one right after another.

“Move your wind to only that area,” Vayu yelled.

I refocused my efforts as Vayu’s net grew more intense. I worked for what seemed like hours, no longer sparing wind to cool us down. I was drained.