The California summer sun was high overhead and beating against the the metal roof of the RV making waves of heat shimmer the air as they finally got Caleb wrestled in through the door.
Who knew that a a full grown jaguar would be so hard to move? He was still out cold and had not shifted back, making it a scene worthy of Keaton to get him up the stairs and into the dark interior of the motorhome. They settled him onto the bench at the very back with Lisa taking up a permanent seat on the floor next to him. Sam knew there was no way anyone was going to make her move until Caleb was out of the woods. She’d seen that stubborn look in her eyes too many times growing up.
Lisa had given Daniel the keys on the way out of the shattered doorway to what had been her house. She hadn’t even looked back once. Even the paintings on the walls couldn’t make it feel like home to her. She lifted her head to look at the others as they were settling into their spots.
Riley and Sam sat facing each other, their heads bent together over the boxes they’d already laid out on the table. The roll of scrolls laid to the right under the window. Past them, through the small opening she could see Daniel fiddling with something on the dash.
“Where are we headed?” He called back over his shoulder. Sam answered before Lisa had the chance.
Lifting her gaze to Daniel, “Stay off the main freeways, we can’t afford the time. I don’t care how you get us there but the cabin is near Lake Casitas.” She bent her head back to her mom’s box, already deep in thought.
Daniel started the engine. Surprisingly, it hummed to life without a twinge. He pulled away from the back of Lisa’s house and onto the main driveway to spiral back down the hill the way they’d come up only a few short hours ago. Why did it seem like it had been a lifetime? He sighed, at least they were all together and everyone was going to be okay.
The thought of loosing Caleb had been more than he was prepared for. You’re never prepared to see your child like that. He didn’t know yet what exactly had happened between his son and the two girls, but he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he owed the sisters more than he would ever be able to repay for saving Caleb’s life.
Lisa dozed off and on during the two hour drive from the house in the Hollywood Hills to Casitas Springs. She tried to make sense of everything that had happened since Sam and the men had pulled in the driveway this morning. Was it really still the same day? It seemed like so much longer. Her gaze drifted up to check Caleb’s breathing for the hundredth time. It was slow and even. There was no evidence left of the near fatal injuries that he’d suffered just a few hours ago.
She ran back over the memories that played on repeat behind her eyes. It still didn’t make any sense to her.
The fact that the boys obviously weren’t human, at least not all human, coupled with whatever had happened between her and Sam that had obviously been something supernatural, was spinning in circles.
She’d tried several times to return to whatever place in her head she’d been in when the colors had begun to swirl through her head while she held Caleb in her lap. All she could remember was a burning need to see him healed. There was an underlying light to it all that she chose not to look at too closely right now. That was for another time.
She pressed her hand against his chest again to check his heartbeat. The soft fur under her hand slid between her fingers like silk. She ran her fingers up from his chest to his ear and back to his cheek. His whiskers were sharp. He chuffed in his sleep and she swore she heard him purr. It was more of a felt vibration than a sound, but she couldn’t help but smile about it. She would never let him live that one down.
A sharp whistle from the table brought her back to reality. Riley was sitting back against his bench with his eyes closed. The whistle had come from her sister who was still staring at one of the scrolls. There was an expression of awe mixed with disbelief written all over her face.
Lisa stood up, hunched down in the low clearance of the RV, taking the few steps to lean her hip against her sister’s bench seat. “What’s up Sis?”
Sam slid over to let her sister sit down. She was still trying to process what she’d just read of Daniel’s early translations of the scrolls. If he was correct in his translations, it shed a whole lot of light on some things that had bothered her for quite a while.
“According to these translations, there are more boxes. They all are supposed to contain stones like the emerald. The boxes belong to the…: She squinted at Daniel’s writing but it was smudged from years of handling. “Uncle Daniel, what’s this word?” She passed the paper to Riley who slid out of the bench to step over to the passenger seat.
Daniel pulled over to the shoulder. He shut the engine off and reached for the paper. “The word is ‘mágos’, it’s Greek for magi, a sorcerer.”
He returned the pages to Riley. “We can pick this back up once we get settled at you mom’s cabin Sam. Rest for now ok? We’re almost to Ojai now.”
He turned back in his seat and turned the key. He waited a few moments to make sure Riley was once again settled at the table before he pulled back onto the highway heading for the Lake. The road up the mountain was not something he was looking forward to in this metal box, but it was safer than taking the main roads. At least this way he would see if someone followed them.
He’d pass the miles trying to figure out how to explain everything he knew to the kids. It was a lot and some of it he was only just now beginning to understand.
The two lane highway wound its way up the mountain in a steep S-curve. The drop off into the ravine made Sam more than a little nervous. She could see the many other vehicles that hadn’t made it up the mountain scattered down both sides. The RV was an older model and kind of top heavy. She trusted Riley’s father to get them to the cabin safely, it was other drivers that worried her.
She glanced over her shoulder out the back window. There was no one visible behind them as they rounded the next bend. She really hoped that Thane had no idea where they had been headed. They needed time to figure all of this out and Caleb needed more time to heal.
Her eyes moved back to where Caleb was resting on the bench under the window. His breathing was steady though he still hadn’t shifted back yet. Maybe he would need to be awake to do that. Sam had so many questions about the brothers and their alter egos. She smiled as she watched Lisa lay her head against the bench. She had nodded off, her forehead rested against Caleb’s muzzle. His whiskers made her nose twitch. Sam shook her head and turned back to face Riley.
“What are we going to do about those two?” She gestured back over her shoulder.
He sighed, “I have no idea. I can’t say that I approve, but who are we to judge them? We don’t exactly have a stellar history ourselves.” He grinned at her, raising one eyebrow. She wrinkled her nose at him. She really was adorable. He didn’t want to think about his brother or her sister right now. He was just happy to be with her. No matter what the future held for them all, he had her back and that was all that he needed.
Sam broke eye contact with Riley to look out the window. They were getting close to their destination now. "Take the next left Uncle Daniel. The cabin is about a quarter mile back on the right. It’s just past the last line of mailboxes.”
Sam began gathering up the scrolls, rolling them into one roll and sliding them back into the leather carrying case. The case was a bit awkward but necessary to protect their only source of information about the boxes and stones.
She suddenly had a thought, “Lisa, check that cupboard behind you. Maybe one of us left one of our smaller suitcases in there. We could use something to put the boxes in.”
Lisa nodded sleepily and rolled her hips to face the wall behind her. Her left hand never left Caleb’s body as she did so. She opened the lower cabinet and was surprised to see one of their father’s small tackle boxes in it. She pulled it toward her knees and flipped it open. Inside was an array of lures, hooks, and weights. A dazzling array of colors that brought tears to her eyes. She mentally pushed the memories aside. There was a smaller case at the bottom. It was made of black canvas with cardboard corners to keep it solid. The zipper went all the way around the top. It looked to be just about the right size to hold the two silver boxes. She pulled it from the case, careful not to get caught on the treble hooked lures.
“What about this Sis?” The case wasn’t empty. She could feel something shifting around inside of it. It slid back and forth as she stood up. Lisa unzipped the case and flipped it open as she set it down on the table in front of her sister. The girls gasped in unison as they gazed down at the huge, double terminated Amethyst crystal inside.
Riley eyed the girls with curiosity. They were staring at the black case like a giant spider was about to crawl out of it. “What is it?” He leaned forward as far as his still stiff hip and arm would let him. He didn’t heal as fast as he used to. If he didn’t find a way to hunt soon, both he and Caleb would be useless. He stole a glance past Lisa to where his brother still slept. Must be nice to sleep all day. He turned his attention back to the girls.
Sam spun the case so that Riley could see inside of it. His eyes widened in surprise. The cat that curled around his soul lifted its head and sniffed. It could sense the power that pulsed and sparkled around the crystal. It was a steady thrum, like a heartbeat.
Sam reached her hand out to touch the stone. The low hum grew louder in Riley’s head, it made him dizzy. “Sam, I don’t think you should do that.” His vision cleared as she snatched her hand back.
“Why not?” She looked at him in confusion. The crystal shone in the sunlight streaming through the mini blinds. There were tiny rainbows glinting through the soft purples and pinks of the matrix. It seemed to have a life of its own. It called to her, she could hear the heartbeat of its energy. It beat in time with her own. She looked at her sister and saw the same look of awe that she knew must be on her own face.
Riley shook his head to clear the buzzing in his ears. “It doesn’t feel right. It’s a pretty crystal, don’t get me wrong. But it feels, off to me.” He really didn’t like the feeling he got from it.
A look passed between Lisa and Sam, they reached for the stone at the same time. They rested their hands just a touch above the stone, fingertips barely brushing each other from either end. The steady beat from the stone intensified as the air around it began to shimmer in a mock heatwave.
Riley was forced to close his eyes against the riot of colors going off in his head. His cat hissed, he had a fleeting image on the back of his eyelids of cat ears laid flat and fangs bared. Whatever was going on between the girls and the crystal had the cat terrified and it made his head swim.
It was Daniel’s voice that brought them all back to reality. “Girls! What in the nine billion names of divinity are you doing?” He hit the brakes hard as he pulled into the driveway of the cabin. The sharp stop jarred them all and forced Lisa to grab the short countertop behind her that held the two burner stove and the sink, effectively breaking the circuit of power between the girls and the stone.
He turned in the driver’s seat and glared at them. Whatever they were doing had caused him to nearly lose consciousness just as he’d turned down the driveway. He’d almost lost control of the RV. Muscle memory had kicked in thankfully, making him slam hard on the brake pedal to prevent them from parking in the cabin instead of in front of it.
He shook his finger at them, “I don’t know what that was, but don’t do it again until we are inside. Deal?” He raised his eyebrows at them. They nodded, mumbling their answers with their eyes lowered. They didn’t look any older than the last time he’d seen them. It nearly broke him. Instead he grunted at them, turning back around to reach for the door handle, “Lets get your brother inside first Riley, then we can carry everything else inside. Lisa, which one of these keys goes to the door?” He jingled them in his hand...
“The round topped one with the purple key cap on it.” Lisa turned back to check on Caleb as Sam zipped the case closed over the Amethyst. She wasn’t looking forward to moving a sleeping jaguar again.
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