Crow - The Awakening (68 page)

He reached out with his awareness and connected with the forest instinctively, feeling the occupants. A bear was foraging in the distance. And a puma was stalking its prey down there somewhere. He hoped he didn't interrupt it too badly as he moved through the tree tops. He wasn't trying for stealth at the moment, but raw speed, so more than once he startled an elk down below as he rocketed by.

As he settled into a groove, he was able to become more introspective, remembering parts of the recent moments. Did he really see what he saw? The agents being savagely killed by the plants? The forest was alive to him in a deeper way than what most other people he'd met could comprehend, but he'd never even remotely considered the possibility of plants doing that. That it was connected to his imaginary friend made him question his own eyes. And how could she have killed them like that? They were definitely looking to harm him, but he was still shocked at the brutality of it.

"I'm so sorry, Steven. I don't control exactly what they do. They... protect me. And you. In their own way. I tried to restrain them, but it didn't work," Asherah whispered in his head, distraught at what she knew could have happened, but seeing no other way to drive home her point at the time. He could feel her tears and for a second wondered if they were his own. But his face was dry.

"Why now? Is it the stress of the situation? I'm being chased by bad guys for two days, and only now you show up?" Steven asked, frustrated with the itch that simply would not go away.

"My father drugged me, Steven. I couldn't protect you," Asherah said apologetically. "I couldn't tell you about who I am and who you are until the mission was complete."

Steven was confused. "Mission?"

"I don't know much about it, Steven. But my father got the message he was expecting. And now I can't wait any longer. You simply must believe." Asherah was insistent.

"Oh, this is getting really complicated," Steven grumbled as he pulled through the tree tops, pushing off trunks and falling to the branches of the neighboring tree, then springing up on their branches, climbing where he needed more height, and repeating. "I am going stark raving mad."

"The kiss was real, Steven. Please remember!" Asherah said, trying to get him to recall the days before he gave up the meadow.

But the memory of it was painful. Steven had fallen in love with a fantasy. He felt like he had been tricked, that his own imagination had betrayed him. All those years.

"They were good years!" Asherah yelled. "Tell me they weren't good!"

Steven couldn't deny that. "They were the best years, Asherah. That's one of the reasons why I'm so upset." He spent more time out there than he spent at home. The two of them had become best friends, confidants, studied together, played together, and eventually they fell in love with each other. For anyone else, that is a relationship of dreams, a one in a million type thing. For him, he still wondered if it really was all just a dream.

"They were the best years of my life too, Steven. And I thought you were my imaginary friend, too. Though I forgot. Like you. Until I kissed you. And Steven, I still think they were the best years in spite of that," Asherah said quietly.

Steven felt a pang of guilt. Before his godparents and his friend had consulted with him, he was amazed to have such a refuge as the meadow and a friend such as Asherah. But it was the realization that it was all in his head that soured his memory of it.

"I'm still your best friend, Steven," Asherah said softly. "And your life-mate."

Steven frowned. Was he just occupying himself as he flew through the forest? Talking to himself and feeding his fantasy again? But his memory of Asherah was crystal clear. And seeing her in the greenhouse, fully bloomed into a mature and extremely desirable woman, that stoked embers that he had not given much attention to until then. That embarrassed him immensely. He was even reacting physically to his fantasy.

"Stop fighting it, Steven. Come to me and you'll see," Asherah whispered gently in his mind. He could feel a presence in him that was distinct in itself. Something he couldn't shut out or ignore. It had been there since the kiss. She was there and he could feel her and her emotions. She was scared, but thrilled at the same time.

"Asherah, you are driving me nuts. You really are. I can feel you inside, hear your thoughts. That's just crazy!" Steven grit his teeth as he came up to a clearing and dropped out of the trees to cross it. A bear ambled up to him and he scratched its ears. It was real. He could feel it, experience the coarseness of its fur as he embraced its neck. It nudged him then ambled off.

"That is the nature of our bond, Steven. We are one now. Always. And you can touch me too, Steven. Just come to me," Asherah said, jealous of the fact that Steven felt the bear was real because he could touch it but she was not. They spent years dancing with each other, racing and wrestling and climbing with each other. Steven experienced that thought and shook his head.

"But it's different. I touched you then. But the meadow is just the same old grassy meadow with a dead snag. I can go there any day and see it with my own eyes." Steven found himself arguing with his imagination. The irony of that bemused him.

"The meadow we spent so much time in is just as it always was here, Steven. You are seeing your home now. But we spent all that time together at my home. There are things about yourself that you just don't realize," Asherah persisted.

"Like what?" Steven asked. He trotted through the clearing and found a suitable tree to climb.

Asherah was quiet for a while. "You're a... gatekeeper, Steven. More than that. But basically a gatekeeper. You can access any world you want. This one. You can come to me. Or bring me to you. It was all you, all this time."

Even in her explanation Steven saw or felt what she was meaning. "A deviant? You meant to say deviant."

Asherah didn't answer. That was more explaining than she was prepared to do just yet.

"Great. Wow. That makes it all easier. Because you're an alien on a world galaxies away and we're having this discussion, in my head. That just clears everything up." Steven shook his head as he pushed off a trunk, grabbed a branch from a neighboring tree, and continued the trek through the canopy.

"Look at yourself, Steven! Who runs through the tree tops?" Asherah retorted at him and he could feel her hurt and anger.

He had never really dwelt on that much. He was the only person he's known to do that. Ever.

"No, you've met one other. My mother," Asherah said. "And me."

"So, I'm also an alien?" Steven said. This was getting better all the time. Perhaps he really should take up writing.

This wasn't going right at all. Asherah was getting very frustrated and fell silent. Steven felt her vexation and was surprised again by feeling guilty. He was feeling guilty for what? Offending someone that he didn't believe existed?

"You'll see me soon, Steven. Touch me. Bring me to you and you'll know I'm real," Asherah said. He could feel her excitement as he traveled through the forest, and wondered if he had gotten things all wrong. He had been tempted to give in to the fantasy, but what if it wasn't a fantasy at all? That tiny little spark of doubt was answered with a thrill of hope from Asherah that Steven found infectious.

The glade seemed to explode in even more blooms at Asherah's excitement. Steven was getting close and she danced around in joy. She radiated her joy out to Steven and felt him receive it and almost miss a branch as he was traveling. Giggling, she covered her mouth. Soon he would be able to see her. Even touch her. She bit her lip and looked around then down at herself. Her forest outfit was scant and tight enough to not get tangled in the branches. She grinned at the thought of his reaction to how she looked. But it wasn't good enough. Asherah brushed at her fur on her stomach. She was dusty from the cave.

Disrobing, Asherah dove into the little pond that captured spring water from a small waterfall a short distance away from where she expected to intercept him. The coolness of the pond was refreshing and helped wash away the remaining tendrils of grogginess. Her own home wasn't quite as tropical as this place and sometimes she found the constant thick humidity and still air of the deeper jungle less than ideal, but the ponds were just enchanting. The cool water seeped into her short fur and rinsed away the dust and seemed to rinse away the last remnants of the drugs her father had given her. Bursting up from below the surface she took in a big breath of air. It was hot and steamy, in stark contrast to the coolness of the spring water. She scrubbed her fur with her fingers, working the old oils up into a lather that carried away the rest of the grime.

Getting out, Asherah shook off and shed most of the water. She took her clothing and rinsed them off as well to get the cave dust off of them. She hated the grittiness of the dust and the smell of the cave and was very pleased to have rid herself of the offensive stuff. Being sequestered in that cave most of the day was cruel of her father, and she resented him for it. He had no idea what he was doing to her and no idea what she was doing or why. Rinsing off the dust from herself and her clothing in the spring was a way for her to rinse off her bitterness toward her father. He had good reasons and took no pleasure in punishing her. But she just wished he would trust her. And now she was struggling just to get Steven to believe in her.

Before she got dressed, she rubbed herself down with her hands, working the natural oils from her skin onto her fur to restore its sheen. She smiled, knowing that Steven would be so attracted to her. He loved her fur. Looking around, Asherah picked several flowers and crushed them up and rubbed them all over her body, transferring their intoxicating fragrance to her. She remembered that Steven liked how these particular flowers smelled on her fur, and she had grown attached to them too. Brushing the remaining crumpled petals off, Asherah put her clothing back on. Her top went straight across and she wondered if she should cut it to show more cleavage. But there wasn't enough time. She could feel Steven getting close. She found more flowers and placed petals in her hair. When Steven saw her she wanted him to have no doubt whatsoever. He was going to take one look at her and scoop her up in his arms and they would be together again. She blushed in anticipation, closing her eyes and reaching out to him.

That was when she sensed someone else in the forest on Steven's side of the fracture. Someone that was stalking Steven.

Laurence was surprised at how nimble Steven was on the motorcycle. In his training, he had never seen a motorcycle taken to such extremes. It was reminiscent of speed bikes on the race track. He watched as Steven pushed the bike through tight winding curves, leaning enough to scrape the pedals on the pavement and shower sparks while his tires skipped along, barely maintaining traction. Several times Laurence was sure that the motorcycle would leave the pavement altogether and crash at a high speed into one of the residences that they were zooming past. But it was like Steven wasn't riding the motorcycle, but taking it along with him.

They hit a straight stretch and Laurence was able to gain a little. But he saw Steven pull to the right as they approached a neighborhood intersection. He instinctively knew that Steven was about to turn left at the intersection and expected him to slow down for the turn. He got ready to bump his rear wheel out from under him and gunned his car to get closer. But to his surprise, Steven actually sped up. Rather than turning onto the street, he jumped the curb of a driveway ahead of the intersection at full speed, catching enough air to clear the hedges beside the sidewalk. He landed nimbly and left a spray of grass and dirt as he crossed around the front lawn and popped out onto the street as if he had done that move a thousand times.

Laurence was so surprised by the move that he almost missed the intersection. He slammed on the brakes as he approached the intersection, yanked the wheel to the left and hit the gas full to the floor enough to break the rear loose. As the rear came around he turned his front tires to the right and entered the turn almost sideways as the spinning tires left a huge cloud of burnt rubber smoke behind him. The force of the turn had him plastered to his seat but he was able to straighten the car again and continue the chase with little speed lost. The motorcycle may have pulled ahead, but he still had the advantage on the streets with his car. He had to get to Steven before he hit the dirt, however.

Looking ahead, Laurence saw that the street lights stopped as the neighborhood came to an end and he knew they were approaching the pastures. Past them the road dead-ended into an unpaved fire road that went into the forest. He didn't have much time at all to catch up with Steven and knock him off the motorcycle.

He pushed it, quickly catching up, and then he had to brake a little to keep from running Steven over outright. Laurence had to do it perfectly or he would end up having to scrape Steven from his tires. As he approached the motorcycle he tenderly bumped the rear wheel. Steven looked back and then leaned over the gas tank to try to get more speed out of the bike. They were going in excess of a hundred miles per hour already. Laurence tried again. He had to touch the tire then try to push it slightly to the left or right to break it from the road and knock Steven over. He tried several times. One time a bump in the road bottomed out his car and he could see sparks in his rear view mirror. The motorcycle's suspension, however, absorbed the bump and Steven pulled out ahead.

Just one more time, Laurence thought to himself. It was like performing surgery while running a marathon. As he got closer and barely touched the tire, he looked ahead of the bike and saw that the road was closed off. And yet, the bike seemed to surge ahead and Laurence was at a complete loss as to what Steven was trying to do. "He's going to kill himself!" Laurence exclaimed. Suddenly he realized that he was way too close to the end of the road himself and he hit the brakes.

The car hit some construction gravel and totally lost traction, spinning around over and over again until it came to a jolting stop just before hitting the barricade at the end of the paved road. Just beyond the barricade was a deep ditch where it looked like some sewer pipe was being installed. During the time that the car was spinning around, Laurence tried his best to keep Steven in his line of sight so he could see where he went, and he couldn't believe what he saw.