Akasha 4 - Earth (11 page)

She looked at me. "I’m
scared."

I nodded, taking it in. "Me too. It's
probably because of the two-ton boilers sitting beneath us. They
keep propelling us closer to Shawn, but I don't think we're ready
for him."

She agreed, "It feels like it has
mostly been a draw. He doesn't come out on top, but neither do we."
She took a deep breath. "It can't be a draw this time; we have to
finish it."

"How do we win?"

"That's the question of the year,
isn't it?" She smiled at me. "When we were back at the Chakra, we
were talking about all of his advantages. He has his knowledge, his
locations of power, and his Athame."

I recalled our conversation. "We have
our own knowledge – and our own locations of power; the Chakra, the
forest in Indonesia Micah and I planted, and Easter
Island."

Susan nodded her head.

"But what counters his
Athame?"

She stopped nodding, her hand touching
something at her hip. "Do you know what the Great Rite
is?"

"No," I said. "Is this another Wiccan
thing?"

"It’s a ceremony, used to raise
magical energy. It’s a spiritual practice that involves sex, either
literally or symbolically."

I eyed her. "What are you getting
at?"

She continued fiddling with something
at her hip. "In the symbolic sense, during the ceremony a knife, or
Athame, represents the male half. A cup, or Chalice, represents the
female half."

I finally understood. "So we are the
Chalice to Shawn's Athame."

She shook her head. "No. This
Chalice…is the Chalice to Shawn's Athame." She held it up and we
both leaned away as if it were the devil itself.

"Is that the one from Bee's
Wiccaning?" I asked.

"Yep." She turned it in her hand and
light from the moon glinted off. It had come in handy at Mammoth
Cave, but only because Susan used it as a physical weapon. It had
left a mean lump on someone else's head.

I swallowed. "Does it hold Shades like
Shawn's Athame?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I
wouldn't have the ability to find out, anyway."

But I
do
. We both sat in silence. I could most
certainly try, but these things never seemed to work the way I
intended. I wasn't sure if the risk was worth it. I sighed, and
took a step back. Sitting on the deck, I really took in the view
for the first time in a while. With our passing from the Ohio to
the Mississippi earlier that day, thick groves of tall trees along
the banks of the river had given way to shorter shrubs and opened
our view to the horizon.

The night was cloudless, and
fluorescent green swirls streaked across the sky. The aurora
borealis had been visible in the lower latitudes ever since
Daybreak, like a constant reminder of my failure.

Susan sat down beside me. "Remember
when Bee got that pack of crayons and paper?"

I nodded. We had had a lot of luck
with wild berries that season and plenty to trade for frivolous
extras.

Susan smiled. "She held up the green
crayon, and said, 'sky'. Then she ran around for an hour, holding
up her crayon trying to trace the green lines, trampling the paper
into the ground."

I laughed with Susan. I guess the
magnetic fields weren't all bad.

Snoring from the front deck reminded
us to keep our voices down. We lowered our gaze from sky to inky
black river, and all at once I was reminded of the experiment in
Spain when Susan and I had stood alone at the end of a long pier in
the Mediterranean.

"The green reminds me of
phytoplankton," I said.

She smiled. "Yeah – it kinda does.
Funny how nature has a way of repeating itself."

"Just like history." The words were
out of my mouth before I could stop them. I cringed, half expecting
another tidal wave to take us out.

Susan's hand on my shoulder brought me
back to reality. "We've come a long way since that night. And we
have plenty to go on to ensure history doesn't repeat itself this
time." She held out the Chalice for me to take. "Have you ever held
this before?" she asked.

I shook my head. "No." I extended my
hand cautiously, letting it hover over the cup. It was definitely
powerful. This close to it, I could feel the energy coming off in
waves. "Was it ever used for the same purpose as the
Athame?"

Susan nodded her head. "Yes – though
not in my time. During a saining, the inductee would bleed into the
cup until it was full."

"Lovely." I stood and walked around
the cup, studying it. "Do you think I need to consecrate it first,
like I did the Athame?"

Susan shrugged. "Probably not; this
was never cursed to begin with, and never corrupted, so far as I
know."

I moved my hand closer, and a static
shock jumped from the cup to my finger. "Whoa." I pulled my hand
back. "That doesn't bode well."

Susan looked like she might drop it.
"Maybe we should consecrate it." Susan stood just as the boat
lurched to the right. Knocked off balance, Susan stumbled then
tripped. The Chalice went straight up into the air. I caught
it.

Just as I had done with the Athame,
part of me went forward, falling to the deck unconscious. Another
part fell back, and I watched green streaks rush down to meet me.
One bright flash, and I was falling, or rather flying. Instead of
plunging into a deep cave, I was thrust into the air. It was just
as uncontrollable. My arms and legs flailed, trying to slow my
momentum.

Give in to
it
, I told myself.

I heard Susan call my name in a
distant echo. My face stung. She was trying to slap me
awake.

Just give me a
minute
, I thought.

I extended my hands in front of me,
and angled my body one way then another. Just like S-curves on a
ski slope, it allowed for some control. Blackness opened up to a
small sliver of light. My eyes adjusted to the brightness as I came
closer and closer.

Blurry, dark forms dotted the edges of
the circle of light. As their outlines came into focus, I realized
I was looking at lean muscle. And very few clothes.

Arms rose, pointing to the center of
the circle simultaneously. A small pinpoint of light emanated from
each of their fingertips. Before my lips could form the word
'wait', their light joined and shot toward me. I was blasted back.
My eyes flung open. I sat up, catching Susan's arm mid-slap, and
gasped for air.

"Kaitlyn! Are you okay?" she sounded
frantic.

I nodded my head
swallowing.

"What did you see?"

"Men. Lots of men."

Chapter
16

Ladies' Night

"It makes sense," Alex said. We sat at
the bar at one end of the large, open ballroom below deck. Bee was
at our feet, playing with clay poker chips.

"What makes sense?" I asked, taking a
swig of my pint of Tang.

"The men would be less excitable.
Possibly more organized," said Alex.

"How would you know?" Susan and I
squeaked at the same time.

"Haven't you ever been to a strip
club?"

"No," Susan looked offended, her eyes
shooting darts. "Have you?"

"Of course."

She punched him in the arm.

"What?" Alex rubbed his arm. "I was in
the military!"

"Our tax dollars hard at work?" Susan
glared.

He narrowed his eyes right back. "You
never paid taxes."

"Touché," she mumbled. She buried her
nose in her own pint.

"Men at a strip club are relaxed,
calm, and very businesslike. Ladies' night, on the other hand, is
completely out of control."

I almost choked on my Tang. "You've
been there on ladies night?"

"Well, yeah." His cheeks turned red.
"I worked on stage; the military doesn't pay very much."

Susan punched him again. This time,
her hand lingered near his bicep. "I think he does have the body
for it." Her eyes flickered to me. "Don't you?"

"Oh, please." I rolled my eyes. "As if
you didn't know. I've shared the same campfire with you two for a
loooong time."

Now her cheeks turned red.

I looked at Bee. "But why would they
just…push me away like that?" Many of the female Shades in the
Athame befriended me; trained me, even. Granted, I had to bargain
away control over my body, but they never tried to oust me – not as
a coordinated group, anyway.

I rubbed my eyes, trying to ward off
sleep and the inevitable nightmares. After my brief fling with the
land o' plenty men, I worked off my adrenaline rush by charting the
rest of course with the captain, and comparing its timeline to an
estimate of how long our supplies would last. Once Bee woke, I
spent the rest of the morning tending to her and trying to avoid
First Mate Arnold's persistent arguments that nuclear was the way
to go.

"Not enough sleep?" Alex
asked.

"Not in months."

I caught Alex and Susan exchanging a
glance. "What—?"

Bee spilled her drink, cutting my
question short. The already dirty carpet was now tinted a bright
orange.

"Dang it!" I stooped to grab the cup.
"This is how we get ants."

"Is that even possible in the middle
of a river?" Susan asked, searching the bar's cabinets. "Where
would they keep the towels?"

"Why do you need them anyway?" Alex
asked, refilling a cup for Bee.

What we needed was sipper
cups.

"Why do we need towels?" I was on the
floor on my hands and knees, doing what I could to clean up Bee's
mess.

"I mean the men – in the
Chalice."

"Oh – ow." I bumped my head underneath
one of the chairs. "Because it matches Shawn's advantage with the
Athame."

Alex handed Bee the new cup. We all
straightened at the same time. Susan eyed the forming bump on my
forehead, sighed, filled the towel she found with ice and handed it
to me.

"Thanks," I mumbled. "Wait – we have
ice?"

"The fridge and freezers are powered
when the boilers produce excess steam," Alex said, chomping on
something hard. I looked at his glass, failing to realize until now
their pints of Tang contained refreshing, cold, cubes of
goodness.

I immediately dumped the contents of
the towel into my glass and took a sip. "Mmm, that's the stuff. By
the way – no Tang for Bee tomorrow. We have just enough for one
glass a day for everyone on the ship. No going over."

Susan frowned into her empty glass. "I
think we need to put someone else in charge of food
storage."

"Fine by me; it'd give me more time to
figure out this Chalice." I looked at the cup in question, sitting
on the bar.

"So, with the Chalice and Athame pair,
the two location pairs, and the Book of Shadows…" Alex was counting
out on his fingers. "That makes six points of power that balance
each other out," said Alex.

"And?" I asked, not
following.

"They sort of correspond to six of the
chakras on the human body. Maybe together they’ll reach The Seventh
– Sahasrara. This is, in a way, just like Akasha. It is the state
of pure consciousness, transforming the divine. The 1,000-petalled
lotus."

"Buddhist much?" I asked.

"Yes, yes," Susan chimed in. "That
might be just what we need to beat Shawn."

Now my mouth hung open. "What –
meditation?"

She rolled her eyes. "Maybe there’s
more to the names—'The Seven' and the Chakra—that we've been
missing all along." She turned to Alex. "These seven vortices on
the human body are focal points for receiving and giving
energy."

He nodded.

She continued, ignoring my raised
hand. "What if there can be such a thing on the body of Mother
Earth, so to speak."

"Oh, I get it," I said.

"Congratulations." Susan smiled,
turning back to me.

I cleared my throat, and all eyes
traveled down to the cup still sitting on top of the
bar.

"Drink!" Bee exclaimed.

"Not from that thing, honey. Not
ever." I glanced at Alex. "So what are the chakra points on the
body?"

"Let's see – there is Muladhara, set
at the base of the spinal cord and associated with the element of
earth. Then there is Manipura—"

"Okay," I said, cutting him off. "You
lost me at Mu…Mula…"

"Muladhara," he helped.

I shook my head. "We're going to have
to come up with code words or something."

"What, like 'head, shoulders, knees
and toes, knees and toes'?" Susan began singing the song and going
through the motions. I put Bee down so she could join
in.

"More like head, throat, stomach, and
prostate," interrupted Alex. He snorted, the only one laughing at
his joke.