The Water Queens (Keeper of the Water) (9 page)

CHAPTER NINE

Quick flashes pass in front of my eyes, snippets of scenes that are hard to focus on at first. It reminds me of the dreams I had when memories of my past life initially started coming back to me. But somehow this is different, somehow I
know
these aren’t dreams, these aren’t events that happened in the past…

I’m in the jungle. Bugs buzz loudly, animals whine even louder. It’s dark and raining and I hear the sound of footsteps rustling through foliage. My heartbeat races but not as fast as my feet. Anger pulsates through my body at the thought of impending death. I sense other people running nearby but I can’t see them. Still, I know it
must
be Cassie and her clan, I can feel the rage and murderous intensity building with every step we get closer to the water of life at the Amazon camp…

The next flash couldn’t feel more different. While the first one was rife with anger – and excitement – for the violence to come, this flash immediately feels serene, familiar in a way I’d forgotten. But now, I realize how much I truly miss being in our camp. The spring of water shines blue light around the jungle clearing once my home for so many years. Seeing the water of life fills the empty parts of my soul but there’s something different about it from the last time I saw it. The bluish glow isn’t as bright, no doubt the result of a Keeper nowhere to be seen. I suppose that’s better than the water being extra bright with Cassie close to it.

Although I see the spring clear as day, the view around the rest of camp is foggy, unclear, no matter how hard I try to focus beyond the water. I want to see Mary Bowser and Harriet Tubman and the others but I can’t. I can only sense the movement – and tension – of nervous Amazons. I don’t know how to explain it but I feel a connection with the rest of them, especially my recruits. I try to send them a mental warning about potential trouble headed their way but I don’t think they can hear me.

Distantly, a soothing voice urges everyone to keep calm, to stay focused. I can’t say for sure who the voice belongs to but Jane Austen comes to mind. Not only is she the fill-in Keeper – as well as my fill-in Mentor – she’s also the calmest, most peaceful Amazon I know. If there’s one woman who can defuse a potentially deadly situation with Cassie and the Queen Clan, it’s Jane…

My next flash is clearer than the first two. I no sooner realize I’m running through the jungle again when a voice interrupts the cacophony of jungle noise. I hear the voice as if I’m the one speaking though it does not belong to me. I’m confused about how this can be, especially since there’s no doubt in my mind who’s talking.

“When we get there, we give them one chance to swear their allegiance to me – their allegiance to
us
,” Cassie says. “Then, we destroy anyone still loyal to their dead mentor.”

Hearing Cassie’s voice speak as if it were my own – not to mention the command she gives – sends chills running through me. I suddenly stop running, though more and more I’m getting the feeling that this is no dream and
I’m
not the one running. Around me, blurs of movement slow and the forms of several women – several
queens
– begin to take shape. Most of these women I haven’t thought about for years but it’s not long before one queen – her hair tied back high atop her head, twin short swords glistening in the moonlight – stops in front of me.

“Did any of you feel that?” I ask though it’s actually Cassie speaking words I have no control over.

Catherine the Great and the others look confused.

“Did we feel
what,
My Keeper?” Catherine asks.

“It was like… the chills running through me,” Cassie says.

I’m confused… or is it
Cassie
who’s confused? Maybe us both? Either way, I wonder if
she
feels what
I
feel. This connection with her sickens me but when Catherine looks at me – at
us
– with pity, I feel the same amount of rage as Cassie does. Just before Cassie’s about to snap at our second in command, I sense something else nearby that my queens do not.

“Do you hear that?” she asks.

Catherine slowly shakes her head. “Is everything okay, Isabella? I know you’ve been living among humans for many years but – ”

My hand lashes out and smacks her – hard – across the face. I don’t know if that was my choice or Cassie’s but it feels great nonetheless. Catherine’s head snaps back toward me; she looks seriously pissed. The other queens are shocked by Cassie’s attack but when they raise their weapons, they don’t aim them in her direction. Instead, they threaten Catherine – their leader in Cassie’s years of absence – before she can think about retaliating.

“How dare you address me as anything but My Keeper,” Cassie hisses at her, offering no apology. “If you make that mistake again, I’ll make sure you end up like our last two Keepers.”

Some of the other queens chuckle cruelly, though Catherine still looks furious. But Cassie’s second in command bows her head slightly.

“I apologize, My Keeper,” she says. “But I did not feel anything strange nor did I hear anything.”

Cassie holds up a hand and she stops talking. The queens don’t move a muscle or say a word. Beyond the insects and animals, I sense something else out there. We’re nowhere near our camp but this jungle is still teeming with life, even
human
life, not that natives living around here can be considered the same species as us.

If I were in control of my head, I would shake it at this thought. I need to get out of Cassie’s head.

“Natives, a band of them just ahead,” Cassie says. “They’re right in the middle of our path.”

“That’s not a problem,” Catherine says. “We can easily go around. They’ll never even know we passed.”

I think about this for a moment and want to agree with her plan. Unfortunately, Cassie has a different idea. She still fights against my wishes though she has no clue what I’m thinking.

“I have a better plan,” Cassie’s voice says. My hand – her hand – reaches out and snatches one of the short swords. Cassie touches the edge with her fingertip, drawing a small drop of blood. The queens simultaneously gasp and move forward to protect her. Even Catherine – who glared at me moments ago – suddenly looks concerned. Cassie holds up a hand to stop them. “I think it’s time for a little practice.”

“At least let us surround you for protection, My Keeper,” Catherine says.

I concentrate on the humans in the distance, feeling their energy among the rest of the jungle life forms. I’d forgotten how wonderful it is to feel this connection, to have these Keeper powers. But it disgusts me to know how she plans to use them.

“I’ll use them however I damn well please,” Cassie says.

“My Keeper?” Catherine asks, as confused as the rest of the queens look.

I look around at the others… or should I say Cassie looks at them. Somehow she senses our… I don’t know what to call it, some sort of connection? But she shakes her head and ignores it. I try to keep my mind clear; I don’t know what’s going on between us but I don’t want Cassie sensing my presence.

“There’s no need to protect me,” she finally tells them. “These natives aren’t warriors.”

A few of the Amazons smile cruelly but not all look excited for the impending slaughter. Still, nobody dares question her and when we start to run again – speeding toward the sound of several dozen peaceful natives – the rest of the queens take up position around us…

The final flash is the shortest; for that, I’m thankful. Blood flies as screams from natives echo across the jungle. Only the guttural cries of nearby animals drown out the people, their squealing unnaturally loud…

CHAPTER TEN              

My eyes snap open to the sound of squealing and I shake lightly in my seat. At first I’m nervous about the plane ride but quickly realize it’s just the tires touching down. Have you ever woke from a nightmare and it takes a few terrifying seconds to realize everything was just a dream? That things aren’t really so awful? Imagine waking up and things
are
that bad; that’s how I feel right now. I realize I’m squeezing John’s hand with all my strength. When I let go, his flesh takes a few seconds to push out the marks left by my fingers. But I look at his face and he doesn’t appear to be in pain. Also gone is his anger.

“We’re here,” he whispers to me.

He looks at me and raises a questioning eyebrow. I don’t know how I was acting in my sleep – or if I was saying anything – but I hope my tight grip was his only clue that something is wrong. I give the slightest shake of the head; he doesn’t press me for more info.

“I could’ve made better time,” Amelia says.

I glance over and see my recruit in the seat across the aisle.

“Cassie is getting closer to the water,” I whisper breathlessly. “We need to hurry.”

“It won’t be long now. But what about
her
?” John asks, gesturing toward the front of the plane.

The plane hasn’t finished taxiing down the runway when Ashley is already out of her seat. Apparently, she’s in just as much a rush to get off the plane as we are. She’s already on her cell phone and already isn’t happy what she hears.

“What?” she yells. “They’re certain of that already? It’s barely been ten hours since the plane went down. Dammit! I should’ve broken that story before my flight. I had that information hours ago but sat on it like a frightened fool… Don’t worry about who my source is. She’s requesting anonymity for now but the world will find out everything soon enough.”

Ashley turns off her phone and hurries toward us in the back, nearly thrown to the floor as the plane turns off the runway.

“You were right, yet again,” she says. “Initial searches of the wreckage and the plane’s fuselage shows no survivors but
also
no signs of Cassie or her friends. You haven’t steered me wrong yet so as soon as we get off the plane and find a suitable location to shoot, I’m going live with the story you told me about the lost city. My producer thinks I’m crazy, that this could ruin my career if what you’re telling me is wrong. But I trust you and was hoping you’d reconsider letting me interview you on live TV?”

Ashley looks hopeful but my stomach sinks quicker than if our plane was crashing. I’m not bragging when I say there’s little in life I’m afraid of. But the thought of being in front of millions of viewers terrifies me. I slowly shake my head until I can find my voice.

“I can’t,” I say. “Cassie tried to kill me once and thinks I’m dead now. My life would be in serious danger if she saw me alive.”

“We can protect you,” Ashley says. “With the information you can share, every American defense and security agency would keep you safe. Besides, Cassie would be a fool to ever show herself again.”

“Believe me, the world hasn’t seen the last of her,” I say. “And nobody can protect me from her and her people but myself. That’s why I can’t go on TV.”

Ashley nods, though I can tell this isn’t the end of that discussion.

“The first story I plan to break is her identity,” Ashley says. “Everyone at CNN is on pins and needles that someone else will report that info first but nobody else has. Once that news goes public, we’ll go over more details about the lost city before we drop that bombshell on the world.”

Ashley’s phone rings again; the thing never stays silent more than a few minutes. She’s just as tireless. She looks out the window, where we approach one of the few hangars at the end of the airport.

“What’s taking so long? We have things to do,” Ashley calls out to the pilot. She proceeds to the front of the plane and answers her phone. “I know, I know, I’m trying to get off as soon as possible…
No
, I’m not going to do the report from the plane after I just flew all the way to Brazil… I
know
it’s not Peru, there are plenty of people covering the crash but only
I
know the reason it happened… I’m telling you, this lost city is going to make Machu Picchu look like LegoLand… How can you have never heard of that? Look it up!”

“If she runs the story about Z, it’ll be the end of her career,” Amelia whispers.

She’s like my conscience, which is telling me the same thing. Ashley may not be an Amazon but she’s still a strong woman who’s earned my respect, which isn’t an easy thing to do.

“Who cares?” John says. “We needed a plane ride here to help
save the world
. I think one bad story will be okay since you’ve already given her so much other information.”

I don’t know much about journalism but I’m pretty sure John is wrong; one bad story
could
prove disastrous to her reputation. I saw the way male journalists treated her, the way they judged her for her looks instead of her hard work and tenacity. I don’t want to be the cause of her losing everything despite our best intentions for the world as a whole.

I spot Ashley’s notebook on her seat a few rows down. While she’s still occupied on the phone, I snatch the notebook and a pen. Usually I’m not artistic but this doesn’t feel like the first time I’ve ever drawn a rough sketch of a map.

“Are you sure you want to do that?” John asks.

“The jungle is massive and the Amazon is thousands of miles long,” I say, carefully sketching the layout of our section of river. “The river closest to the City of Z has uniquely shaped tributaries, which makes it easy for us to find. But for anyone who has to compare
this
drawing to countless satellite images of the river, it will take a
long
time to find a match. By the time an expedition team is put together and gets there – if Ashley takes the story that far – the water and our tribe will be long gone, regardless of who’s in control of it. At least I’m giving Ashley a chance to save her credibility.”

I no sooner finish the detailed sketch and toss the notebook on Ashley’s seat when she reemerges from the cockpit. The plane has finally come to a stop. I look out the window and see a sign that reads: Marechal Rondon International Airport: Cuiaba. Dusk has begun to settle over a large metropolis that rises in the distances. It doesn’t resemble major cities in America. Tall buildings seem to be scattered among large sections of green, not the other way around; city planners seem to have worked around the forests instead of completely leveling them. I’m tempted to go to the other side of the plane, to look out the windows in the direction opposite of the city, which is where we’ll be headed. But Ashley blocks my way, sitting in the seat across from me. She looks in a small mirror, checking her makeup while fixing her hair.

“HQ is insisting I not wait a minute longer to run the first story,” she explains, snapping the mirror closed. “Once we debark, I’m going to find a good angle with the city in the background before I go live to the world.”

She takes a deep breath before jumping out of her seat, rousing her cameraman who’s been asleep since we took off from America. The two open the plane’s door and head outside.

Amelia, John and I look at each other; we’re obviously not getting an invitation to follow. I grab our bag of weapons and sling it over my shoulder before heading toward the front. Once we step off the plane, we already see the cameraman in position, a backdrop of the city behind Ashley. We’re far enough from the rest of the planes so noise won’t be a hindrance to the broadcast. Ashley holds the microphone in her hand and stares into the camera; she wasn’t kidding when she said they wouldn’t wait long.

“We need to leave before she’s done,” John says.

John and Amelia already search for a route away from the airport. There seems to be plenty of green beyond the airport fences. Considering how strong we still are from our recent drinks of water, we could be deep within the rainforests – and on the way to our camp – within an hour. But something makes me stop to listen. I know that
I
was the one that gave Ashley this information but it’s still disturbing to hear a fellow Amazon – the Keeper at that – be exposed to the world.

“But Cassie isn’t just a girl from a small town in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania,” Ashley says after quickly introducing Cassie to the world. “A reliable source has informed me that Cassie is also the ring leader of the band of women who hijacked the plane, killed several law enforcement officers, murdered innocent passengers and ultimately crashed it on purpose. Here is a side by side comparison of a still photo from airport security footage along with Cassie’s yearbook photo.”

There’s no TV for me to see but I finally allow the hint of a smile to cross my lips; Cassie absolutely
hated
that yearbook photo. She’d complained about how
awful
she looked for weeks after it was taken. If she knew it was being broadcast to the world right now, she’d flip out. Unfortunately, the days of her petty misery being the focus of her obsession are now over.

“Initial searches of the wreckage have located no survivors, yet also no trace of Cassie or the other hijackers. Some suggest these women perished and were washed away; other reports indicate they’ve been spotted alive and well, farther inland from the crash site. Only time will tell for certain but my same sources also indicated that Cassie and her friends likely survived and are heading for sanctuary deep within the Amazonian jungles.

“There are still many questions about this young lady, questions involving her past, her family and where she ultimately comes from,” Ashley explains to the camera. “From what we’ve discovered so far, she’s led the typical life of a teenage girl. So what could’ve happened for such a drastic change to happen?”

Of course
I
know the answer to that question and Ashley doesn’t but I’d still be interested to hear her theories. But I don’t know how much longer she’ll talk and we need to get going. John gestures toward an area of the airport’s fence nearby. With nighttime about to descend, there’s no better time for us to make our escape undetected. I take one more glance at Ashley before nodding to the others; we begin to run.

John, Amelia and I are at a full sprint within seconds. We hurdle the ten-foot fence with the ease of a normal human leaping over a few books lying on the floor. My pulse races and heart pounds. The temperatures down here – even at this time of night – are nearly as unbearable as the Florida swamps. But this heat feels different – it
smells
different. I finally feel like I’m home.

In less than a minute, the bright airport lights are nothing but a dot in the distance behind us. Though we’re several miles outside of Cuiaba, the outer city limits are lined with a maze of small streets and narrow alleys. As we run, we stick to the shadows, the rest of the world around us a blur. The only time I slow is when I spot a large storefront with metal bars over the front window. Behind the bars is an old tube television tuned to Ashley’s broadcast, a
BREAKING NEWS
banner scrawled at the bottom of the screen. I want to stop and watch but this area of town buzzes with crowds of party-people. A few probably spot us but it’s not long before the area around us turns less city-like.

Once we’re beyond the city, we really unleash our power and speed. Well rested and strong, we pass through small, poorer slums and reach the jungle sooner than I expected. With trees and brush packed so thickly in this land, it
should
be harder to maneuver at such speeds. But for me, I run even faster, right at home in these surroundings. John and Amelia gradually fall behind but I don’t slow down to let them catch up. The location of our camp – and more specifically the water of life – is engrained in Amelia as much as it is in me. Even John has been to and from our camp numerous times, though I try not to think about his reasons for those trips.

Thinking about my parents and Celeste makes my legs churn faster, makes the surrounding trees and brush become more of a blur. Mother Earth has so many reasons for me to stop Cassie but my own selfish reasons – revenge for the most important people in my life – spur me on the most.

Hours pass and the jungle grows thicker. But I remain focused on the land in front of me, focused on feeling an invisible hand guiding me to our camp and the water. It’s a huge relief that I’m heading toward the same spot where the water’s been kept for more than a century; hopefully that means the queens haven’t moved the water source yet. I pray we reach it first and I’m hopeful about of chances. Cassie and the Queen Clan might’ve had a huge jump on us but we started the race much closer.

Running in this environment is second nature to me, which allows plenty of time to consider what I’ll do when the big showdown takes place. Things would be so much easier if I could just kill Cassie; it sickens me to think in such a murderous way but this is what my life has come to. I obviously can’t hurt the Keeper but that doesn’t mean I have to leave the Queen Clan alone. If we can separate Cassie from her cronies, she won’t have enough firepower to take control of the water source. Maybe we could even force her to drink enough water to become young again…