Gaia Dreams (Gaiaverse Book 1) (46 page)

The Library, Cape Fair

Alex wandered through the stacks of the Public
Library, surprised that the collection of books was larger than expected, and
was approving of the computer terminals set up on tables in the center of the
building. Alex loved libraries. She loved the smell of the books. The sound of
pages turning. The feel of the paper in old books. But today there were no
pages turning.

She worked her way back up through the empty
library to the desk at the front near the entrance and spotted a woman
gathering up her things preparing to leave.

"Excuse me, but are you the librarian?" Alex
asked.

"Yes. Yes, I am. Was." The woman laughed a bit
hysterically.

"Are you closing?" Alex inquired.

"Yes. I have to leave," the jittery woman
replied. "You should leave, too, if you know what's good for you." Then she
clamped her lips together in a thin line.

"Why? Are you leaving town? I've heard that some
folks have left town. I was just curious about why."

The librarian darted looks around the empty
building, and then whispered, "It's not safe. They said on the news there's
going to be a flood. But I knew that already." She paused, chewing on her
bottom lip. "I had the dreams--the ones they talked about. And I saw all the
dead people in the water. So I can't stay here. It's not safe. Not safe at all."

Alex felt a twinge of fear. She'd heard about
Harmony and Mr. Johnson. She hoped she wasn't about to meet the axe-wielding
side of this librarian. Putting a calm look on her face, Alex said, "I've had
those dreams too. But in my dreams, Cape Fair was the safest place to be in the
flood. You should stay here, really. Traveling right now could be dangerous."

"How can you say that?" the woman exclaimed. "My
fiancé, Bernie, and I had the same dream. It's dangerous around here! It is!
All those dead people. Bernie, he works over at the dam, and he says the dream
probably means that the dam is going to break! So we're getting out. Today. We're
going to my Mama's in St. Louis. Even when the Mississippi flooded back in '93,
our house was safe."

"St. Louis!" Alex said, alarmed. "Oh no, you can't
go there. St. Louis is going to be destroyed!"

"Don't say that to me! I know what I know!" the
woman yelled. Coming around from behind the desk, she rushed for the door. "I'm
getting out of here while I still can!"

"Wait! Wait--" Alex called, but then stopped as
she saw Black come through the door.

The librarian stopped short.

Black looked at Alex. "Any trouble here?"

Alex gave him a wry look. "Not really, just that
this woman seems to think she'll be safer in St. Louis."

"Ahhh," Black said, nodding slowly. He turned to
the librarian. "You're sure about this, ma'am?"

"Yes! I'm sure. Now let me by!" she said, her
voice trembling.

Alex held up a hand. "Wait. Are there keys to
this building?"

"What do you want them for?" the woman asked
suspiciously.

Alex smiled as she said, "Why, I want to save
the books!"

"Save the books?" The hysterical laugh burst
forth from the woman again. "Save yourselves!"

"Yes, ma'am," Black said. "But if you could just
give us the keys" He waited until she handed them over. "Are there any other
employees who'll be stopping by?"

"No, they already left town. I wish to hell I'd
left when they did. Now let me out of here!"

Black moved away from the door and walked over
to Alex. The woman ran out of the library and down the steps. Black shook his
head.

"Running right into trouble, that one is," he
said regretfully.

"Shouldn't we have tried to stop her? Done
something to stop her?" Alex asked.

"No. Nothin' we could have done. I've been
running into this all day. Seems like a mess of folks in this town have got it
in their heads that the dam is going to break and flood Cape Fair. And the ones
who didn't have the dream have friends and relatives who did. People started
talking about it after the news report yesterday, and now the whole town is
packing up. Rumors. They'll get you every time. And the ones I tried talking
to, well, they just get frantic about leaving. The dreams can be pretty
powerful stuff, but these folks have misinterpreted them and now they're going
to pay for that mistake." He shook his head sadly again.

Alex patted him on the arm and said, "When
Jessica was telling me this morning about Sam and how she predicted a while ago
that a bunch of houses would be empty, that people would leave--well I didn't
know what to think. It seemed impossible. Especially when so many of us had the
strong feeling to come here – that it was the only safe place to be! And now--the
people really are leaving. Sam was right on the money."

Black smiled widely. "That little girl is
something else. You know," he hesitated for a moment and looked into Alex's
eyes. They weren't any one color, he realized. A kind of hazel maybe, with
flecks of brown, green and even gold deep within them. He decided they were
eyes he could trust.

"Nobody but Sam knows this, but I dreamed like
the rest, dreamed of the flood, but I dreamed of something besides that. I
dreamed of Sam."

Alex looked astonished. "Samantha? Our Sam? You
dreamed about her?"

He bowed his head and looked up again. The look,
Alex decided, was one of wonderment.

"She talked to me in the dream. I couldn't see
her, but I could hear her. Or feel her--I don't have the right words to
describe it. But when she opened the door last night, I knew her. And she knew
that I knew."

"Wow! Do John and Jessica know?"

"I don't know," Black replied; his brow
furrowed. "I'm not sure what all she tells them. But she knows a lot, Alex. She
knows a lot about what's going to happen, but she also knows about us, each of
us. Things we know how to do, things we don't even know yet that we'll be able
to do." He chuckled.

"Yes?"

"She's set me a mission, based on this knowing
that she has. She says she knows, positively knows, that Rachel is going to
become my right hand man, uh, person. That she'll be better at my training than
anyone else. That she'll be a phenomenal shot with just about any weapon I try
her on. Can you believe it?"

Alex stared at him in disbelief as he talked,
but finally started to snicker, saying, "Rachel? John's grouchy sister? The one
who isn't even sure she believes all of us yet? With the short, curly hair--that
Rachel?"

Black nodded solemnly, a twinkle in his eye.

Peals of laughter burst forth from Alex, echoing
in the empty building.

The Mall in Branson, Missouri

"Okay, I think I got all the colors in your size
t-shirt. Except for pink. You hate pink. See? I remembered this time," Rachel
said, arms full of t-shirts.

"Rachel, I don't need all these clothes. You are
spending way too much--"

"Janine, I'm not going to have this argument
again. You came here from hundreds of miles away with only the clothes on your
back. That's reason enough to shop for you. Reason number two is everyone we
know and trust says the world as we know it is ending. Ergo, no more clothing
manufacturers. Ergo, no more malls. No more Limited and Saks and Banana Republic.
Done. Finito. We wear our clothes until they wear out and then what do we do?
Solution--have a lot of clothes to begin with...and hope that somebody knows how
to sew and how to make fabric."

Janine started to giggle. "Ergo? Ergo, Rachel?"

Rachel laughed and dumped the clothes into
Janine's arms. "Here. Take these to the check-out counter. And besides,
remember our rule for good clothes shopping? You find something you like and it
fits you well, you buy one in every color. Except pink."

A voice from behind Rachel made her whirl
around.

"I believe I taught you that rule when you were
about Janine's age," Gracie said, chuckling.

"Oh, my word! Don't sneak up on me, Mother! And
where did you come from?"

Gracie smiled, but looked a little flustered. "Oh,
you know, shopping. I've been here a while."

Rachel eyes widened dramatically. "In Sears?
You?"

"Well, yes, dear. Sears is a perfectly
respectable store."

Rachel's mouth quirked in a half-frown,
half-smile of bemusement. "Yes, I know that. I just didn't know you knew that.
When is the last time I ever saw you in clothes off the rack? You always wear
designer togs and you know it."

"John thought, and I agreed, of course, that
with all the coming changes, it might be a good idea to have some tough, sturdy
clothes. After all, we'll probably all have to do a certain amount of
gardening."

Rachel's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, I sort of figured
that out for myself. But you, Mother? In the dirt?"

Gracie sighed. "I can see I'm in for a long
afternoon with you."

Rachel glanced at her watch. "Well, not so long.
We only have two hours left until supper. John commanded we be there on
time--our fearless leader."

Mother and daughter grinned at each other.

Janine strolled up and said hesitantly, "Um,
Mrs. Samuels? You like to dress up, right?"

"Call me Gracie, dear, everyone does. Except for
my daughter!"

"Oh I don't know if I could--"

Gracie frowned at her.

"Okay, okay," Janine said, smiling. "Gracie. So
do you? Like to dress up?"

"Well, I certainly have in the past."

Rachel snorted.

"So would you like a pair of really pretty and
expensive high heels?"

Gracie looked in puzzlement from Janine's big,
deep brown eyes and nervous face to Rachel, who'd gone quite still and also
looked nervous.

"Well, dear, I already have all the high heels I
might need," she replied slowly, watching Janine's face fall and Rachel's face
get tense. "Let me guess. You spent too much on a great looking pair of shoes,
but don't think you'll ever wear them on a horse, right?"

Janine nodded eagerly. "Yes! That's it. So
wouldn't you like to take them?"

Gracie looked to Rachel for guidance, but saw
only a mixture of frustration and uncertainty there.

"How about I take them and keep them in my
closet on a top shelf. I won't wear them, but someday, maybe someone will want
to wear them. How's that?"

"Someone," Janine wondered aloud. Then her face
brightened and she gave Gracie a lovely smile. "Yeah! Like maybe someday when
there aren't any more shoe stores, Sam might be all grown up and want to have
some high heels to be dressed up in. Okay! I'll give them to you when we get
home, Gracie, and you can keep them safe."

Gracie nodded, completely confused at this point
by Janine's radiant face and Rachel's look of profound relief.

"Thank you," her daughter mouthed the words at
her mother silently over Janine's head.

Gracie shrugged. "Now--how about we go to the
underwear department? Because I'm almost positive that Rachel bought skimpy,
silky underthings, but forgot completely about the need for sturdy cotton
drawers!"

"Mother!" Rachel screeched as Janine got a fit
of giggles.

Table Rock Lake Dam, Power Station

Sergeant Milt Wachowski and Corporal Tommy
Sinclair were both staring at Merlin the cat as he typed messages on his laptop
computer. Tommy's face sported a wide grin, bright blue eyes lit up in
excitement. The Sergeant rubbed his hand over his silver-gray crew-cut hair,
half an unlit cigar in his fingers, mumbling, "If that's not the damndest thing
I ever did see!"

Tommy's lean and lanky form looked ready to
explode as he practically danced around John and Lisanne. "So he just started
talking to you one day? Seriously? That is so way cool!"

Lisanne looked at Merlin fondly. "Yeah, he's
some special cat. I never knew owning a cat would be like this."

Merlin turned and hissed at her.

"Oops," Lisanne said hurriedly. "Not that I own
him or anything. Everyone knows you can never really own a cat. And certainly
nobody could own Merlin, no, sir! If anything, he owns me."

Merlin turned back to the computer and purred
loudly.

Tommy continued his questioning. "So then you
just like started having these dreams? That is so amazing! I never had anything
like that happen to me. You are so lucky!"

Lisanne's smile faded. "No, I don't think I'm
lucky. Those dreams are awful! I wish I didn't get them."

John was nodding. "I get more details now, and I'd
have to agree the dreams are pretty bad."

Sergeant Wachowski shook his head and said, "Wimps!
I've been having these dreams for weeks now, didn't bother me. You live long
enough, then you see everything, that's what I say. Bunch of scary dreams, now
that's not gonna slow me down. Lots more scarier things out there, if you know
what I mean." He chomped down on his unlit cigar, stuck in the corner of his
mouth.

John looked at him in surprise. "Well, that's a
relief to hear! We came out here afraid the place would be deserted. The rumors
are all over town, started by people having the dreams, saying that the dam is
going to break and flood Cape Fair. People are leaving in droves."

"Horse-hockey! Y'all don't plan on leavin', do
you?"

"Well, no," John said with a smile. "We're in it
for the duration. All our indications, from dreams and from the animals, tell
us that Cape Fair will be a safe zone. But Branson will have problems. And we're
concerned about the dam, not because of the dreams but because of the
earthquake."

"Earthquake?" Tommy squawked.

"I didn't dream of no gosh-durned earthquake,
John," Sergeant Wachowski pronounced.

"Believe me there's going to be one. On the New
Madrid fault. Tomorrow night," John replied.

"Well, horse feathers!" Sergeant Wachowski said
explosively. "And here we are with not enough help. Do you think the dam will
have problems?"