Shared Skies (20 page)

Daveen was a witty and talkative woman. She
kept them all entertained with stories of the school she ran. She
trained on how to use their energies: how to move atoms and how to
redirect things to Earth or on Earth. A frequent mistake made by
learners, she told them, was to try and move energy in an entire
block, instead of extracting it in individual photons and
electrons. And, she told them, as they usually practice with water
because it is such a huge source of energy, they often shifted
unsuspecting fish or frogs as well, which would then rain down on a
bewildered Earth town or village. Her description of a remote
desert town in Australia bombarded by hundreds of white fish was
hilarious, but the stories of the frog showers really made Gaiah
forget the horror filling her head, and she laughed aloud.

“
These have been
well-documented in Earth’s history for centuries,” Daveen said. “In
fact, there’s an engraving from the fifteen hundreds showing a
shower of fish in Singapore, and even though it’s embarrassing to
admit it, I have to confess that was
my
fault. In my enthusiasm to help
construct a house that was to be our door for shifting in the area,
I moved a whole lake by mistake. And while I could just about
manage the water’s energy, I couldn’t manage the fish. Oh Powers!
They...just…emptied down…
over every
one
!” She spluttered with laughter and her
two children shrieked in delight.

The twins had lost their shyness and asked
Gaiah to take them for a walk before the early winter dark arrived.
Renny jumped at the suggestion. “Yes, great idea. I’ll get our
coats.”

Oh God! There’s no
avoiding it. I’ll have to go and finish this.
Gaiah reluctantly got to her feet. Renny came back with
jackets and scarves. The twins, already bundled into their coats
were tugging at her arm.

Kaley stood. “Actually, Gaiah, I don’t think
you should go. It’s very cold and you did have a temperature
yesterday. Renny, would you mind taking them on your own?”

Gaiah sagged back on her
chair with relief at the reprieve, but she didn’t miss Renny’s
meaningful glare as she left with the twins. Gaiah helped Kaley and
Alasdair get dinner ready. All she could think was,
talk to Neal, I must talk to Neal.

The twins stayed glued to Renny for the rest
of the evening, following her from room to room. So there was no
chance to chat privately, and while Gaiah was glad of this
distraction, she knew the conversation with Renny had to be
finished down to its last awful detail. And the consequences dealt
with.

At dinner, conversation flowed, easily and
entertainingly. Kaley’s delicious spaghetti bolognese was a great
success. Renny didn’t take part much. It was so unusual for Renny
to be withdrawn and Gaiah felt a pang of guilt for being
responsible for this change. The winter evening was dark when they
moved into the front room and drew the curtains.

Alasdair had a big fire going and Kaley
brought in coffee and homemade biscuits. The children, curled up
together in a big armchair, lost themselves in the array of comics
and colouring books that Kaley produced. The conversation became
serious and Gorand’s view of the future was bleak. He told them two
of the Five Or‘kan families were investing their families on Earth.
Seoc, from Clan Fire, with his brother, who was now of age, barely
had a presence on Or’ka, other than to keep their slaves
working.

This indicated that their human occupation
was becoming streamlined, and they were going to be able to stay
Earthways for the centuries needed for complete domination. As far
as he knew, Clan Moon, the most powerful clan, had one son, Gunn,
who, with his cousins, were occupying humans and building support
on Earth.

Gaiah leant forward. “What about the other
families?”

“
Clan Spirit has no
representation in the Or’kan council. They are one of the oldest
and richest of the Or’kan families. But every succeeding generation
has become more hedonistic and selfish. That family has now
dwindled down to one son. Their supply of slaves is running out.
They’re desperate to replace them. The other two clans, Clan Night
and Clan Shadow, are supporting them all from Or’ka, by forcing
more and more work out of the remaining Or’kan people.”

Gorand looked at Gaiah “What do you think we
should do?”

Gaiah looked at him blankly. “Me? Nothing. I
know nothing about this situation at all”

“
But what do you
feel
we should do?”
insisted Gorand.

She was uneasily aware
that there was hope and expectation in the eyes watching her. She
looked around for support and was dismayed to see this mirrored
around the room; even her grandparents were waiting.
This is so unfair. What do they expect from
me?
The knowledge that she was
disappointing them all added to her building anxiety about
yesterday. She clenched her fists, cutting half-moons into her
palms. Her voice rose. “Why don’t you believe me? I haven’t got a
clue.”

Gorand couldn’t accept
this. “But
you are
a melding’s child! There
must
be something you know or feel?”

Gaiah jumped to her feet.
“There isn’t!” Her shout ended on a sob. Everyone stared at her in
shocked silence.
God! This is all too
much, I can’t bear it.
She turned and ran
from the room. Gorand’s s voice followed her down the
hall.

“
I’m sorry. I didn’t mean
to upset her.”

Kaley’s voice was loud as she rose to close
the door. “Of course you didn’t. She's only just finding out about
things. It’s too soon to be looking for answers from her. She just
needs more time.”

Gorand sighed. “I’m just not too sure how
much time we have.”

Gaiah cut off their voices
with her bedroom door. She sat staring out into the dark. By the
time she’d crossed her room to her desk by the window, Gaiah was
already regretting her behaviour. She gazed unseeing out at the
night. She was just about to go back and apologize when a pale face
materialized outside the window, directly in front of her. Her
hands flew to her mouth and stifled her scream. Her heart seemed to
pulse in her throat.
Neal?

He stared at her through the window. His
eyes were serious and his face was pale, still bruised from the
fight with Graeme. She should have shouted but she didn’t. She
should have run for help, but she didn’t. Her body seemed to move
of its own volition as she stood and leaned across the desk to the
window. She saw his green eyes, dark with pleading, as he
mouthed–“come out and talk to me.”

She walked around the
desk.
Damn! If this was a movie I’d be
screaming at myself. I might as well be heading to the basement
during a power failure to reason with a lunatic with a pathological
hatred of teenagers and a set of sharpened knives.
These ridiculous thoughts flashed through Gaiah’s
head even as she opened the window; even as she stood on the desk
and climbed out.

Neal was hunched inside a big, dark jacket
with his hands buried deep in his pockets. His voice was low. “Can
we go somewhere to talk?” His words were puffs of white in the
cold, dark air.

Gaiah didn't hesitate. Wild horses couldn't
have stopped her. She nodded, and led the way across the courtyard,
over the wall into the garden, past some bushes and finally to a
garden seat out of view of the house. They sat and looked at each
other. Gaiah felt neither the cold nor the damp.

“
What do–” they both
started and paused.

Neal started again. “Gaiah, I feel like a
guy in a movie who has been told he can inherit this mansion and a
fortune but the one thing he mustn’t do–”

“
Is go down to the
cellar?” finished Gaiah for him.

Neal smiled, then became serious again.
“Gaiah, I know what I’m about to do could be considered going down
to the cellar on a grand scale, but somehow I feel I must try.”
Gaiah met his eyes. “Actually, I think I’m already down in the
cellar with you.”

They looked at each other
intensely.
What was happening?
He looked so sad, she yearned to…to…She didn’t
know.

He hunched forward, elbows and forearms on
his thighs. His large, square, strong hands twisted together.
“Gaiah, please listen to me and don’t run for help, till I’m
finished.”

She discovered she was
looking at his face as if she were trying to memorize it. Thick,
dark eyebrows, green, almond-shaped eyes, wide, full
lips–
what was it about him?
His hair, coming loose from its ponytail, fell
down, obscuring his face.

His voice was quiet. “I know I'm not a great
talker; there was never much of it at home and I'm hopeless at
trying to express what I feel. But I feel my life depends on
talking to you tonight.” He took a deep breath. “Here goes. I know
you’re Gaianan, because–I’m Or’kan!”

Instinctively Gaiah leapt to her feet.

“
No! Don't go, please.”
Neal pleaded. He too, sprang to his feet, stretched out his arm and
caught her hand. For the first time, their skin touched. A jolt of
awareness, a surging electric current of recognition joined them.
Their breath caught, their eyes met.

The world stopped.

Time stopped.

For a moment, the beating of their hearts
was the only sound across the vastness of the three worlds.

A circle had been completed.

Gaiah gazed at her hand in
his.
Two hands? One hand? Two people? One
person?–No difference.
She stared at their
hands, and then her eyes were drawn back to his. He looked as
stunned as she felt. This touch, this feel, this union…. Gaiah
felt, no she instinctively
knew
, that this electrifying meeting
of their flesh had opened her mind and heart to become one with
Neal.

The night sounds began again as the worlds
continued their turning

Gaiah’s world had shifted once again, but
this time, it wasn’t her knowledge of the world that had changed,
it was herself. Or rather, the self that she had become with
Neal.

It was a transformation.

Now
things were right.
Now
she had everything she could ever need in any
world, standing next to her holding her hand. This instant
knowledge filled her to her core with certainty and truth. Gaiah
took a deep, shuddering breath. It felt like a new breath in a new
life.

Neal's eyes widened with incredulity and a
dawning delight. She knew he was feeling the same.

She lifted their joined
hands to her face and said softly, “It really
was you
I saw in that shop. I felt
you were familiar when I saw you in Inverness. I wanted to be your
friend when I thought you were sad. I wanted to save you when I
thought you were an occupied human. Now, all I know is, I never
want to let go of your hand.”

Neal’s voice was husky as he said, “The
minute I heard about you, about your journey to Inverness, I had an
irresistible urge to see you. I got on my bike and followed some
magnetic pull that tugged me to that shop in Edinburgh. I have
never been far from you since that day. I was even here the night
the occupied tried to kill you. I was here watching but your
grandparents took care of him.”

“
If you’re Or’kan,” began
Gaiah, and she moved closer to him, reaching up to put her free arm
around his neck, to show him she had no fear of him and never
would. “If you’re Or’kan, how come we can feel like this? And how
come you’re here on Earth?”

He pulled her tight and held their joined
hands up to his cheek as he spoke. “I’m half Or’kan. My mother was
from Earth.”

Her heart thudded.
“What?
You’re
a
melding’s child too?”

“
Yes. Not a good thing to
be in Or’kan eyes. They see the offspring between an Or’kan slave
and an Earth person as a weak and useless thing. If they didn’t
think I was so insignificant, they’d have killed me ages
ago.”

“
But how did you find out?
Have you been to Or’ka?” Gaiah had a million questions. She wanted
every detail of every minute of his life they had been
apart.

Neal smiled; he knew what she wanted,
because he felt exactly the same. “That’s a long story and I don’t
think we have much time now. You and I have centuries to talk, my
love. After what happened yesterday with that poor woman, I had to
see you to make sure you were all right, and to tell you that you
are the only person who could make sense of my life. I never
dreamed touching you would mean a new life. I know I’m not the same
guy that looked in the window at you ten minutes ago.”

Gaiah smiled at him. “I know–I can feel you,
as well as me.”

A separate level of awareness and feeling
settled like a gossamer blanket over her senses. Neal’s feelings of
profound happiness and dawning understanding were as open to her as
her own. He stared at her, “Earth’s mysteries,” he breathed. “It’s
true! I can feel you.” They closed their eyes and the silent
communication of emotions said more than months of talking.

Alasdair’s voice cut through their silent
union. “Gaiah, Gaiah. Come in! Where are you?” He sounded
worried.

It seemed impossible she should have to
leave Neal. But she needed to make things right with everyone after
her behaviour, and this wasn’t the right time to introduce
Neal.