Akasha 4 - Earth (27 page)

My blood pounded, roaring in my ears.
In response, the dark, red liquid oozed down the wall of flame
around us. Akasha had already risen, too far from my
grasp.

"The baby is mine."

I heard the click of the gun behind
me, and a red haze descended.

Chapter 42

Morning Mullets

I cracked open my eyes. The first
thing to come into view was a mullet. "Morning, Erika."

She turned and nodded. "Hello again,
sunshine."

I was afraid to look at my wrist.
"What's the damage?"

She touched my shoulder, her eyes
pinned to the floor. "I'm so sorry to have to tell you this, but we
had to amputate."

"You…what?!" I held up my arm. My
wrist was wrapped, but my palm and all five fingers were
there.

I glared at Erika.

She snorted she was laughing so hard.
"Sorry, couldn't resist."

I checked my other hand, just to be
sure.

She started laughing all over
again.

I growled and pushed myself up with my
good hand. Nothing went spinning out of control.

"We put some stitches in, is all.
There was no tendon or bone damage. You were lucky." She looked at
me, one eyebrow raised. "I told you not to leave the
mall."

I shrugged. "My catch was worth it." I
stretched, yawning.

Wonder if they’re still
serving breakfast.

"Am I clear to go back to work?" I
asked as I stood up.

"Not to admin you aren't."

"What? Why not?"

Erika walked me over to a desk and
pulled out a pencil and a piece of paper. "We need a meals roster.
Start with your name."

After a sideways glance at her, I
fumbled with the pencil, trying to pick it up with my right hand.
It wasn't happening. The bandages were way too thick and my fingers
weren't cooperating. I picked up the pencil with my left hand and
attempted to write my name. The word 'Lucy' was readable, but it
took forever.

"Now write 250 more names. And oh, by
the way, you have only ten minutes."

"Fine." I straightened up from the
desk. "I get it. So what am I supposed to do now?"

She removed the pencil from my hand
and replaced it with a spade. "Gardening duty."

"Seriously?"

"What?" She put her arm around me,
leading me outside. "Most Earths pine for the chance. Working all
day in your element – what could be better?"

"It's just…my wrist hurts." We turned
in between two buildings and emerged into a large parking lot, or
what used to be one, anyway. Where the asphalt was not dug up to
make way for plants, you could still see the painted parking space
lines. Twelve rectangles of dirt, evenly spaced from each other,
stood waiting for me.

"Digging will take your mind off the
pain," Erika said. "I'll have you back on admin duty as soon as you
can write. Today you guys are planting the mobile
gardens."

We stepped back as the trucks carrying
vines and plants were pushed in.

"Why can't they stay mobile?" I
asked.

We both waived at Clay, one of the
workers.

"Because our plan worked," whispered
Erika. "We can't make it over the Rockies before the first big
storm – or so says the weather girl." She smiled down at me. "We're
riding out the winter in Denver."

"Cool." I spun the spade around in my
hand.

Plenty of time for
planning. And planting, apparently.

"Well." She stepped away. "I gotta go.
Things to do. Favors to fulfill."

"Or vice versa," I mumbled under my
breath.

"I'll be back later to check on you!"
Erika disappeared back in between the two buildings.

I chose a truck and hauled myself up
onto it. Pumpkins – very seasonal. My stomach rumbled, but I passed
on a trip to the kitchens. I needed the time to think. Besides, it
was unlikely Shawn would be by here. Hard labor wasn't his
thing.

I borrowed a pair of shears and cut
the larger, ripe pumpkins from the vine and loaded them into a
wheelbarrow.

I could start
recruiting
, I thought.
Between Micah, Clay, and me we might be able to have a
significant force within a few months. Erika said there were plenty
of Wiccans here. But would they leave One Less for me?

I scooted the pumpkins that still had
growing to do over to the side of the truck bed and hopped down. As
long as I balanced them in my inner arms, they didn't hurt my wrist
too much. I started transferring them to the ground, pulling their
vines with me.

Maybe I could just kill
him. Make it look like an accident and hang around to find out if
someone else takes over.
I paused.
Then what? Go down the line, killing one
successor after another?
No, I couldn't do
that.

I finished with the pumpkins and left
to help with the broccoli. I was replanting my fifth crown when a
woman about my age with waist-length, dark-brown hair knelt in the
dirt beside me. I paused, wiping the sweat off my forehead. She
planted her crown and rocked back against her heels. She closed her
eyes, and I felt the energy in the air shift. I tensed, but her
face was peaceful; not like she was preparing to attack. A few
seconds later, the broccoli leaves slowly unfolded from their
withered curls.

I squinted at them – they looked
greener.

"There," she said, looking at me with
her grey-blue eyes and a smile. "The roots are a bit stronger –
it'll help them last through the colder nights."

"That…" I hesitated, running the pad
of my finger across one of the leaves. "Is probably the most useful
magic I've ever seen."

She laughed. "You should see what I
can do with squash." She held out her hand. "I'm
Kassandra."

I shook her hand, looking at the
Chinese symbols on her forearms. "Lucy."

She caught me glancing. "This one
means 'Acceptance of Fate', and this one means 'Karma'." She looked
at me again. Her eyes were calculating. "What do yours
mean?"

"Oh." I touched my finger to the side
of my face, at the cherry blossom branches. I racked my brain for
an answer – one did not simply tattoo their face with insignificant
symbols. I thought of the tree's short blooming period. "This is
for mortality. A reminder of the nature of life, and those we lose
along the way."

She nodded her head. The way her eyes
bore through me was almost unnerving.

We both turned as someone cried out
behind us. An older man held his hand aloft, a pair of
blood-smeared shears on the ground next to him.

"It's ok." Kassandra glanced at my
outstretched hand. "I'll go help."

She rushed away, looking
back at me once. It wasn't until I glanced down that I realized I
had automatically called the elements. They were just beginning to
merge above my palm. I released them before Akasha could take
shape.
Did she know?
If she was an Earth, that would be the only element she would
recognize.

I watched as she helped the man wrap
his hand, then lead him away.

Should I
follow?

I just sat there, full of indecision.
In the end, I stayed. Most likely because of her tattoos –
acceptance of fate and karma. Something bad might happen if I did
follow.

Besides
, I turned back to the last crown of broccoli,
I have one element left to recover;
earth.

Chapter
43

Stalkers

I ignored the sounds of workers around
me. Soon the heavy clunk of spades hitting dirt, idle chatter,
grunts, and laughter dulled into background noise. Vibrating
clacks, high whistles, and low tweaks echoed in my head. These were
the sounds of the Earth.

I smiled, letting the music guide me
until first molecules, then atoms revealed themselves within the
individual grains of dirt. I expanded my own energy field out from
my hands as they speared through the soft ground. A small hole
formed with perfect depth for my broccoli, and I didn't even get
dirt underneath my fingernails.

I set down the plant and pushed the
dirt back in around it. My hands fell to my side, brushing a pile
of broccoli heads that had gone to flower. Bright yellow petals
sprouted from many of them. As I peered closer, one of the leaves
dropped off. Tiny seed pods hung underneath. I scooped up a pile of
fresh dirt and attempted to pick off one of the seeds with my other
hand. My fingers still refused to cooperate. A quick look around to
ensure no one was looking, and I used a gust of air to detach the
seed from the rest of the crown. It landed square on my pile of
dirt.

I squeezed the dirt, concentrating on
burying the seed in the deepest part. It was like I was back in the
Chakra's walk-in freezer, forcing a seed to grow before I froze to
death. This time, it was far easier. Inside, water from the soil
rushed toward seed. I squeezed tighter; warmth from my hand soaked
through. I felt the seed unfolding, revealing roots and
leaves.

I opened my hand, palm up. A few
flakes of dirt fell from the sides. The shoot emerged from the
surface of the soil until it formed a tiny, budding plant. I
touched one of the leaves with my fingertip. The vegetable
quivered. Movement drew my eye down the long line of each of the
broccoli I had just planted. Leaves were spread wide, and I could
swear they were greener. They were all definitely quivering with
energy.

My eyes darted to the right and left.
So far, no one had noticed. "Stop!" I hissed at the vibrating
plants. They didn't, not until I consciously drew back the energy I
hadn't realized I was spreading – at least not on such a wide
scale.

I took a deep breath, and risked a
glance over my shoulder. All backs were turned, except one. Micah's
eyes were as green as the broccoli leaves, staring me down from
across the lot.

My heart leapt into my throat. He
glanced down at my hand. I still held the new seedling.

"Damn it," I huffed to myself. I
buried the plant in the row of broccoli, allowing my heart rate to
return to normal, then scooped up a few of the overripe, flowering
crowns. I walked to the compost bin halfway in between me and Micah
and waited for him to join me.

He was wearing an oversized
sweatshirt, with a hood pulled up over his head.

"Is this what you call a disguise?" I
flicked off his hood as soon as he came close enough.

"Is that what you call a low profile?"
He gestured to my patch of broccoli.

"I am an Earth, so that is perfectly
explainable."

"And what about the water, or the air
that you used?" He dropped his own stash of vegetables in the
compost bin.

Someone came up behind Micah for their
turn to dump. We both turned and walked away. I grabbed another few
handfuls of flowering broccoli.

"Is your wrist okay?" He asked when we
both returned. Fruit flies buzzed up from the bin.

I swatted at them. "Yeah, just a few
stitches."

"Good," he said, lips pressed tightly
together. "We need to get you out of here. It’s too
dangerous."

I shook my head. "I don't think I
should leave. I could get more intel while we come up with a
plan."

He leaned forward. "You're not going
to get any intel playing around with broccoli!"

"I'm not, am I?" I dropped the
broccoli down in the bin and put my hands to my hips. "I'll get a
hell of lot more than you."

He bent over, squeezing the sides of
the bin. His knuckles were turning white. "You're so goddamn
stubborn, Kaitlyn."

"Lucy," I reminded him.

Someone behind me cleared their
throat. I took a deep breath and moved away. Who knew the compost
bin would be such a popular place?

Micah grabbed my upper arm, stopping
me. He bent down to my ear. "Fine. Spend your days here – until we
have a plan. But your nights are with me."

"I'll spend tonight with you. The rest
we'll see about."

He nodded, I swallowed
hard.

"Meet me at Writer Square at dusk," he
said. "And I want Kaitlyn, not Lucy."

He turned back to his
garden, and I did the same. My whole body tingled.
Your nights are with me.
His words reverberated through my head.

The chills dulled the further I walked
away from him. My feet stopped at one last flowering broccoli left
behind. I picked it up, smiling.

Maybe I can get him to
touch me. Just a spark to keep me warm until tonight.

As I turned, a new group of people
were walking into the parking lot. The one barking orders stopped
me dead in my tracks. I squeezed the head of broccoli; yellow
petals floated to the ground.