Daughter of Destiny (6 page)

“Over there,” Kai said, pointing toward the counter. “Coffee's in the fridge. Help yourself. I'm going to get changed and grab a shower. I stink.”

Turning, he saw her leave the kitchen and heard her footsteps on the carpeted stairs. Smiling to himself, he quickly found everything to make a good, strong cup of black coffee. Of course, he made enough in case Kai wanted some. Did she even drink coffee? Jake didn't know. So many years had gone by. It felt like a lifetime in some ways. He wanted to ask her a million questions about her personal life, but realized it would do no good to pry. Kai had been like a willful wild horse when she was young, defying authority at every turn. He could see by the set of her clean jaw and the blaze of rebellion in her eyes that she wasn't going to allow him entrance into her life as she had when she was a child. Something deep within him grieved at the realization.

 

“So, that's the story,” Kai told him, sitting opposite him at the kitchen table, a cup of coffee between her hands. It was well past noon and she was hungry. Rising from the table, she went over to the refrigerator and pulled out some tuna and a loaf of bread.

Jake sat back, digesting what she'd told him about her vision quest dream. “That's really something…. I remember my mom telling me about the crystal totems when I was a kid. I never saw any of them except for our Paint Clan
one. Each totem was brought out for specific ceremonies for its clan at different times of the year.”

“Yeah,” Kai replied, pulling a knife from the drawer, “my mother told me about them, too. I thought it was just a fairy tale. I didn't want to hear anything she had to say….”

He watched as she slapped together a tuna sandwich, and wondered if she would ask if he wanted one. Jake had decided to expect nothing of Kai, for to do so under the present circumstances would be pure folly. But his stomach growled.

“Hungry?”

“Yeah,” he said ruefully, sliding his hand across his flat stomach, “I guess I am.”

“It's tuna.”

“That's okay by me.”

“One or two sandwiches?”

“Two, please. Thanks.” He saw her glance briefly at him across her shoulder. Jake couldn't get over how deliciously curved she was, and obviously in top physical form. She was eye candy, and he found himself secretly salivating. If Kai could read his mind, she'd deck him, no question. His reactions to her were no longer a little boy's, but a man's.

“You always did eat enough for two people,” she stated, setting out four more slices of whole wheat bread on the counter.

“I guess I'm still a growing boy….”

“Nice try. What are you now? Twenty-five years old?”

“Yeah. And you're twenty-four.”

“Feelin' like I'm goin' on eighty, believe me.”

“You seem bothered by this vision. Your Gram said the Great Spirit had chosen you for this quest. Why are you upset about it?” Jake got up and moved to the cabinet, pulling out two white china plates. Kai placed the sandwiches on them and he took them to the table.

Snorting, Kai sat down and tossed him a paper napkin. “Because I'm the
least
qualified person to do this, don't you agree? I was a hellion growing up. I defied authority, defied my drunken lout of a father, defied my mother's wishes that I learn the medicine ways…. I refused to learn to be a medicine person. Why would I want to end up like her?” Kai took a bite out of her sandwich, studying Jake with an intense look.

Jake wiped his mouth on the napkin and balanced a sandwich in his other hand. “You had your reasons for being a rebel, Kai. We both know that. Besides—” he held her tumultuous gaze “—my mother taught me enough that maybe I can be of some help to you on this mission. Between us, we should be able to find that mask. I don't think it's any accident that we're both from the Paint Clan. Who better to get the vision than you? Who better than us to find it? Seems right to me.”

Kai knew Jake's mother was a well-respected medicine person. She was dead now, according to Grams. One thing Kai and Jake shared was that they had both walked away from their heritage. She was wondering if that decision was going to haunt them on this quest to locate the crystal mask. “Well, at least you got some training,” she muttered grudgingly. “And maybe it will come in handy. I don't really know….” She was certain it would, but, out of stubborn pride, she didn't want to admit that to Jake.

Why was she fighting him so hard? Every time he gave her that gentle smile, her heart melted all over again and warmth passed through her like an invisible caress. It was fear that kept her fighting. Fear of men like her father, or Thorval. She knew it wasn't rational. But she also knew that just because she'd trusted Jake as a young boy didn't mean she could trust him now. No, he'd have to prove himself all over again before she'd let down her guard.

Kai didn't want to look too closely at the reasons for her distrust. She had too much rage toward Thorval. Jake was coming back into her life at a bad time.

“Well,” she growled, “I don't know what's going on. I guess I believe Grams, but I'm having a tough time accepting it all. I have absolutely no metaphysical training under my belt. All I get are dreams, and I possess a strong intuition. But that's it. My mother was completely clairvoyant. She could see people's auras, see the spirit guides around a person and talk to spirits who passed through our house. Next to her, I can't even be considered a neophyte.”

“I understand,” Jake murmured. “I remember a lot of what my mother did, but my dad, as you know, didn't want me learning about this stuff.” Jake's father had been a military pilot who had only believed in what he saw in the physical realm. He was never happy about Jake's spiritual training, or “hocus-pocus,” as he'd termed it. There had always been verbal fights between his parents over whether Jake should be taught his heritage or not. His mother had been adamant that he should experience his Cherokee culture, and she'd always won that argument with his dad.

“I feel like the blind leading the blind,” Kai grumped
unhappily. She opened her hands, frustration in her tone. “I mean, I keep getting this same dream every night. I see Australia. I see a cave situated at the end of a canyon that reminds me of the Grand Canyon, only it's a lot smaller. The canyon's out in the middle of a red desert. I went to the Internet and finally found a place to start, I think, but I didn't find any reference to the canyon or the cave. But the nearest landmark is Ayers Rock, which is sacred to the Aboriginal people. And then, in my nightly dreams, I keep seeing this old woman with milky-looking eyes, dark skin and curly gray hair calling to me.”

“Does she call you by name?”

“Yes, she does. And she keeps repeating ‘Kalduke.'”

“Did you find out if that's a real word or not?” He grinned at her.

“Yeah, it's an Aboriginal village about two days away from Ayers Rock, from what I can make out.”

“Sounds like what you're dreaming can be verified by outer sources,” Jake said, “so that means you're on the right track.”

“Humph, whatever the hell track that is.”

“Do you know this woman's name? Where she lives?”

Shrugging, Kai finished her tuna sandwich, then wiped her fingers on her napkin. “I keep getting ‘Ooranye.' And then I see these two shaggy camels out in the middle of the red desert. And I see a very small village. She's standing there at the edge of it, waiting for me. I see her raising her hand and gesturing for me to come to her.” Staring at Jake, Kai said, “Damned if I know what this is all about.”

“It's about the crystal mask, I bet,” Jake murmured. “Did Grams tell you anything else about the crystal totems?”

Kai shared with him what her grandmother had told her. “Do you know anything more about them? Did your mother instruct you about them? Did she tell you anything specific about the Paint Clan mask?”

“Not much. Mom said that each crystal totem was associated with the energy of that clan, as we discussed. It was like the heart of our clan and fed us energy. Each totem helps its clan to maintain balance and a peaceful state of harmony for all the people in it.” Jake rubbed his brow, trying to recall more. “I remember when I was nine and undergoing my passage ceremony from childhood to becoming an adult. That day the crystal mask was brought out of the leather pouch where it was kept. It was held over my head as I was given my new, adult name, Stands Alone, by the medicine man.”

Kai said, “So you've seen what it looks like?”

“Yes. But that was a long time ago, Kai. And I only saw it that one time.” He gave her a rueful look. “But I do remember that when the crystal mask was held over me and the medicine man was chanting in our language, I felt so light-headed and woozy from the energy pouring off it that I wobbled a little. My mom, who was standing next to me, grabbed my arm and made sure I stood there and didn't fall.” He gave Kai an amused look. “That crystal mask is powerful, Kai. I'll never forget the energy or what it did to me. It wasn't bad. I felt really good—empowered and almost giddy afterward. Like someone had shot me full of adrenaline or something.”

Nodding, Kai muttered, “That's helpful. I remember my mother saying something about the mask, trying to teach me about it, but I ran out the door. I didn't want to have anything to do with it.”

“So much for rebellion.” Jake smiled briefly. He saw some of the tension thaw from Kai's face. Taking the napkin, he pulled a pen from his pocket and drew a rough sketch of a human being on it. Turning it around, he said, “Maybe this will be helpful to you. If you've seen this before, stop me, okay?”

“Okay.” Kai looked down at what he was drawing.

“This is our energy system, from what I can recall. My mother taught me that there is a series of chakras or energy stations located in the first field out from our physical body. It's called the etheric field, and it reaches three to six inches beyond our physical form, like a glove that fits tightly around our body. People who can see it say it's light gray, and almost transparent. Embedded in this field are the energy stations, or what Hindu people refer to as chakras. Being vortices of energy, they're circular and are often represented by a lotus or other flowers. Think of a fan or a propeller whirling around in the center of each.” Jake quickly drew seven circles on the human figure he'd sketched. “Now, each chakra is related to a different color. The color red pertains to the root chakra, located in the area of our tailbone.”

Studying the napkin, Kai hungrily absorbed what Jake showed her. Maybe he wasn't going to be such a pain in the ass, after all. She needed this kind of information to try and put together what she was receiving in her dream state. Pointing at the circle at the bottom of the figure's spine,
she said, “Well, what does all this mean? How does the crystal Paint Clan mask fit?”

“I don't know, Kai. I wish I did. I just know that the mask made me dizzy—” he tapped the head of the figure he'd drawn “—so that tells me it had something to do with my crown chakra. My dad, who was a fighter pilot, really tried to stop my mom from telling me this stuff. So she'd slip me the information when he wasn't around.” He grinned. “She didn't take no for an answer.”

“I'm glad she didn't. She was much more of a fighter than my mother was.”

Jake gave her a tender look. “Under the circumstances, Kai, there was no way you could really live in that house with your father like he was. You had to run every chance you got in order to survive, and even then he still got his hands on you. And your mother…well, she took his beatings and I'm sorry about that…sorry about what he did to both of you….” Jake didn't want to get into how much seeing Kai battered had torn him up. He'd been a child himself, unable to do anything but hold her after the fact.

Pain flashed through her heart. If Jake had mentioned her past in any other tone she'd have lashed out at him. Instead, she whispered, “Look, let's just stick to what you know, okay? I feel like we're two halves of something. Maybe…just maybe…with my dreams and your knowledge of our medicine ways, we'll know what to do with this and where to go. Together, we make a circle. We're complete….”

“I think we'll make a good team, Kai,” Jake said sincerely. “So we're heading for Australia, to Ayers Rock, to find this Aboriginal village?”

Kai lifted her chin and raised a brow. “That's what I told Mike. They're preparing our travel documents. But I'm really not sure, Jake. I've never put any stock in dreams before.”

Jake saw her fighting with herself, questioning the vision she'd received. “Isn't it logical, with your dream? You've already checked it out on the Net. Let's just use the dream as a starting point. We'll use our wolf noses once we get there to snoop around, and hope the Great Spirit will give us another piece of information to follow. We have to have faith in this process. My mother always said being a medicine person was running a hundred percent on faith all the time. I'm now beginning to understand what she meant by that.” He wanted to reach out and touch Kai's hand, but stopped himself. Seeing the uneasiness in her expression, her eyes fraught with questions, Jake sat quietly.