Chris
Liam stormed past us out of the palace. My cheeks puffed to blow out a heavy, slow breath. I looked at Michael, and his mouth pulled in a funny way, "I wouldn't have been able to do it."
"No, me neither… How do you feel about it?"
"I don't know…? I don't know."
"Hmm… I thought about killing myself more than I did about sex."
Michael looked off into the distance. Did I say something wrong? "Mmm." Was all he could muster. What happened to him?
"Come on, let's go to Earth… We have seven days to find Satya… We don't even know if they're still in Argentina."
"If you're sure," Michael sounded hesitant.
"I am… Let's give Charlene a surprise before they reach the wolves… Maybe I'll get my manifestation back only to give it away again."
"No! This time, I think Ira can do it."
I chuckled, and Michael teleported us to the last place where he had met them. Juliet was with him to speak to the couple, and Satya said she didn't want to slum it on Mirach.
Wood creaked under Michael's weight. I looked down as he placed me on my feet. We were standing on a very narrow wooden walkway with dilapidated railings on either side. The path was built on different levels following the slope of a mountain down and up through a neighborhood of houses. Three trees stood clustered on our left, almost breaking through the balustrade. They were tall, and more of the forest surrounded each house, becoming denser in the distance and covering many mountains on the horizon.
I turned to a large roof slanted high and embedded into the ground. The wood was moldy, wet, and falling apart. Thin slats were nailed against it to the top, posing as a ladder, a way to fix it at such a steep angle. A murky, small triangle window protruded to see out the back of the house.
I scanned the neighbors; the other houses were as run-down as the first. From the closest one, across the path, a tiny steel chimney smoked. Old tree bark and rotten leaves covered the damp ground; I didn't care for the smell.
Michael moved in the other direction, following the walkway upward. He helped me with the next two steps I had to take to scale the mountain. We came to a T-junction and turned right. At the corner, just off the path, almost invisible by plant growth, a door to the slanted house came into view. The entrance was littered with wooden logs on one side, unable to be used for a fire anymore. "Hello."
It was so quiet; you could hear every sound, and our feet thudding on the wood as we took two stairs to be on the ground level, ending up in front of a very faded turquoise door. Michael looked into the window. "Do you see anything?"
"No… It's dark."
"There's smoke coming from that chimney."
"Let's see if they left us a destination to where they would go. If your mom can teleport, I guess she had to travel around to feed."
"We both know how boring it is to stay in one place for a hundred years."
Michael reached for the handle. The door creaked, and as he pushed, the wood damply crumbled right in his hand. "I don't think they're here."
"No."
Inside, it was riddled with cobwebs. A bird flew out of a broken window. Dim sunlight tried to beam through holes in the roof. The floor was mushy under our feet, and the furniture disintegrated. I scanned the walls for any carved-out messages. I was only looking for one because there was a wooden slate outside above the door, engraved and varnished with an inscription on… Paper would never have survived. Metal maybe. A plastic bag? There was nothing. Would she not even tell us? Did they give up hope after a few years like everyone else? Disappointed, my shoulders slumped. "You wait outside. I'll try to have a look around."
"I'll go talk to the neighbors."
"Good idea."
I had to scale the giant stairs again. Someone had to maintain this path. There had to be some humans left. I had to walk further up the hill to find the next opening from the balustrade to the smoking chimney's door. "Hello," I knocked.
The steel clanked and slowly opened. An older man stuck his head through the tiny space. Another face came around him and stared at me. A young woman. Dark hair and skin. "English?"
He stared at me as if I was speaking some foreign language he couldn't understand. Well great. Who would've taught them English anyway? I pointed to the house across from them. He turned and went inside, leaving the door open. The teenager stood there waiting.
After a few minutes of searching for something noises coming from inside, he came back and held out a book. I smiled, willing to take it. He retreated his hand quickly. Huh? He gestured to his mouth with fingers together and tapped his mouth. Food. I had to give him something. Seemed fair.
"Hey Michael, I found something." He wasn't going to mess around and teleported to my side. The girl screamed—the man tossed the book at me, shutting the door. "Smooth! Can you maybe get them something to eat?"
"You want me to travel somewhere to find what? A cow?"
I looked up, "Could be fun."
"Where would there be cows?"
I scratched my chin, thinking… We made eye contact, "India." We said at the same time.
"Remember the last time we were there."
"Do you think Ian's made it that far?"
"Two million vamps who have to eat every month," Michael suddenly stared into the distance, "I'm rather afraid of the number of women chained up," his voice trailed off.
"F—."
"Yeah… Well, at least both of us spent the time going to every country at least once."
"It was fun mapping Earth to memory." I kept trying to lighten the mood.
Michael picked me up, and we landed in New Delhi. The last time we were there, it was a bombed mess of rubble. It still was… Every temple, building, and house was leveled to the ground. The people fled outwards as the vamps spiraled out into the country… It was nighttime on the other side of the world and dark around us; not one candle, shack, or person anywhere. At least no vamps. Michael looked to his left, "No way. I hear a cow."
"You're kidding."
"No, I'm not."
"Okay, you see if you can knock one out and deliver it to the old man."
"Cow tipping?" I giggled, and he disappeared.
The book in my hand caught my attention. Another diary I had to read. Is this one going to send me into another depression? Maybe it was Satya's last days as she was dying from what? I didn't even ask Ira how old she was. If she were on Earth and could only live for nine hundred years… Satya could've died here.
I took a few steps down the broken-down street. Plants and roots had made their way through cracks in the tar and ruined the street. The moon was at least bright. Almost time. I couldn't wait. Caleb was right. Why did I need to be so slow? It hit me. I felt better and could already move with a little more strength, lift my feet, and walk like I was normal. Excited, I went into a run. I could make it a few yards and stopped out of breath.
Michael appeared where he had left me, "Chris!"
"Here. How did it go?"
"The herd keepers were pissed when I lifted the cow. But the family was so thankful; it was the right thing to do. They'll have milk for years…."
"Take us to the compound. I need to read this book."
"Your wish is command. But you're on two, so the genie is reaching his limit."
"Ha, ha. So that's what's wrong… If I had your power, I'd be hopping around like crazy."
"You have no idea what you're talking about."
I frowned while Michael took us to Juliet's room. We coughed with the dust cloud his landing caused. "Argh!"
"Who's that?"
"Someone lived here? And died right there… Not cool."
"It was so beautiful once."
"Hey, Chris, when you get your manifestation back, you won't go back in time, will you?"
"No! Why?"
"Just making sure."
What was going on with him? What a weird—out of the blue—thing to say. "Hey, I know you're upset about Juliet going to the dark city—" He shook his head. "It was never our intention to choose and cut you all out. I was as in the dark about what she was doing as you guys."
"I know, Chris, it's not— Come on, let's go outside and get this done." Michael yanked on the door; it was stuck. He kicked some debris away and tried again. Stubbornly, the glass and steel didn't want to budge. Michael retracted a fist and smashed through the window. Shattered pieces burst out and covered the ground. Okay! Or no, he was not okay…
I stood and waited for him to look at me. "We could teleport outside.
"I don't want to talk about it."
I laughed. Yeah, he and Marcus were still not emotionally mature enough to handle very much.
Juliet's deck chairs were still on the patio, broken down and askew on only one leg. I chose to sit on the ledge the walkway created out to the yard. Michael joined me to read the first page.
To Chris and Charlene
I turned the page.
Michael and Juliet were here yesterday to come and check up on me and Will. I stayed because I've come to love Earth as my new home. Will also wanted to be around his own people… He still thinks Ian will lose the war, and we will be able to help the humans in the end.
Forgive me for all the choices I made.
Chris, I'm sorry I never got a chance to get to know you. Qadir threatened me and said I would never see you again if I didn't give him the stone. Maybe you think it wasn't worth our time apart. But if you knew him at all, I hope you can forgive me…
I was just waiting to see when you would manifest and create the stir you did. Will and I were so taken aback when we realized you were right under our noses. Bertram never told us about you or all their theories. Whether you were some creation or a riphath…
Unfortunately, and yet very happily, Charlene was pregnant, and we knew Ben was a werewolf, so the chances she could conceive a cub could go either way. I had to wait some more… And then we found out you also went to France. I couldn't be happier that the two of you were in each other's lives. We never thought Ira would come for you… I didn't think there was anything on Zoreah to warrant the vamp's cooperation. The deal was for you to survive, and Ahasuerus could go to the origin city. I still don't understand how Ira got you out…
It was crushing to learn that you had gone home. We were on our way to France to find Charlene when she was all alone… I feel like the two of you were always just outside my grasp.
I shook my head and turned to the next page; there was no time to think about her excuses… It was addressed to Charlene, and the next few were more diary entries. Every year—only a few—about their lives there. I kept paging to see when they left. The last page with anything on was an open one with only a few sentences in the middle.
Michael, if you find this, we're going to this location. My teleportation is very bad… Yet good enough for us to be safe and move around. We'll stay in South America, but need to leave a place every fifteen years or so. I'll leave a journal in every location if you make it. I don't know what happened, but the plate you gave me stopped working. If none of my neighbors has my next book, I'll hide it in a plastic bag and put it in an attic or a loose panel against the wall.
"Well, what now?"
"I don't know? We need to find her."
"Let's see… Chile… We've been there… We could find an old map if there are people around." I turned the page, "No need… She pasted a little piece of a map down."
Michael traveled us to the capital of Chile, which was our only reference. The city was as barren as all the other capitals Ian had destroyed. Michael took the book, looked at the map, and turned north, "We have to jump that way… Ready to step in some s—?"
"No! Look at this mountain range between us and the coast. We can't, Michael; it's too dangerous."
"We will follow streets, Chris."
"Oh," I laughed.
It took us the rest of the day to get to the coast from where we were, and when we finally approached the outskirts of town, the humans freaked out. Of course, they'd never seen an alien, and we couldn't speak the language. As we moved deeper into the heavily populated areas, we had to pretend to be one of them. We showed the map and address to some locals. All they were willing to do was point to where we needed to go.
The streets were mazes of buildings and neighborhoods. Many sat on chairs outside houses, while others were in groups doing some activity, much like Zoreah. Even though it was dark, they didn't care very much or didn't have a choice. Without electricity, you had to continue with the day until the sun completely disappeared.
When it got too late, the people retreated inside and wanted nothing to do with us knocking on doors when we got lost. Going back to the compound to crash for a few hours was our only option. We each chose a room, shook out sheets, aired them for a while, and every minute, I got stronger. My stomach growled when I lay my head on the mattress.
"I heard that."
"Earth is officially the worst place to go on a treasure hunt for your lost mother."
"Do you mind if we sleep first. I'm so tired."
"I'm fine, really…"
We had no money or connections. I chuckled at the thought of Juliet. Soon, I'd be able to go to her.
***
Voices resonated outside the open door. Hurriedly, I turned around. Kaia stood at the door. What in the world? "I'm here to help you for a few days… I brought food… My father said it is okay for me to come see for myself."
"Of course, come in." I crossed my legs and waited for her healing to fill my muscles and stimulate my brain. I took a deep breath. My daughter-in-law. I did like her.
We ate breakfast together, spoke a lot about Earth, and answered all her questions. She was the sweetest woman. Fully grown yet young and innocent. "How old are you?"
"Three hundred years."
"Heh! You're older than me."
It looked like she was blushing. She reminded me a little of Juliet when we first met. Was I really so intimidating? "Does it bother you? Do Caleb and I have your blessing?"
"No, I'm the last one to judge an age gap." Michael scoffed. "And yes, you do have my wholehearted blessing; you make Caleb very happy." Tears filled the corners of my eyes; I wiped them. Urg, my emotions were all over the place. Couldn't blame Marcus for having trouble adapting to all the changes.
Kaia's sweet smile returned, "When you leave, may I look around? Is it safe?"
"Yes, this place is our history… Agatha lived in the house down the lane… There might be very large cats… Manifest and fly up to a roof." I pointed. She nodded assuredly. "Oh, and long beast on the ground they slither, like this… Spiders!"
"Chris! I will not touch anything that moves… I do have abilities."
Michael laughed lightly and picked me up, "We'll be here for lunch when the sun is high." She waved, and we left to continue our search in the streets of Chile.
"There, it says 1023."
"The house and this place are a little better looked after than the last location." Michael knocked, and an ancient woman opened. "Hello, English?"
She shook her head, "No English."
I showed her the book. A smile formed, and she bobbed her head, "Chris?"
"Yes." Her hands jutted out to stay us. "Funny how no one here cares how thin I am."
"I don't think you're the only one… Look."
I turned to see kids kicking a ball around crafted from reeds. They were much more emaciated than I was, and their clothes were too big for them. Faded and worn. All of them barefoot. Poverty and orphans would always be a problem. F— how different my life would've been if Qadir had put me with some family.
She came back, drawing my attention to the door. Another black diary. I looked at Michael. He groaned and then chuckled, "I'll be right back."
I laughed as he went to get another cow. The woman clapped her hands when Michael manifested; she said a few words I didn't understand. This time, I immediately paged past all the entries. I'll read it later. The date was marked twenty years after they left Argentina. They stayed much longer than she thought they could. I scanned the last few lines to see if she still mentioned Will. His name was there. With the next location, we'll find out if he was dead. It would be the worst to have to tell Charlene her dad died. What would I do if Ira suddenly passed away? Now that everyone was alive, we all had hope again.
Michael appeared with a cow draped over his arms. The thing was paddling in the air like a dog about to go into water. For a few minutes, we indulged them in their thanks. Kids, men, and women came our way to beg for us to get more. Michael had to teleport us away from the throng.
"Okay, so twenty years each; it seems they moved up the East Coast. Peru. Ecuador. Columbia. Venezuela."
"So we might catch them before they leave for the next place."
"Where in Peru?"
"The last time we were in Lima, it was," I sighed, "Destroyed. So they decided," I dragged the pages closer to read the place. "Pucallpa."
"How did your mother choose the places?"
"Probably the same way you did… Traveled as far as she could and had to stop eventually."
Michael and I teleported to Lima and had to take another road out toward the town inland. It was tedious, but I was gaining more strength.
Halfway, we checked in on Kaia for lunch. As Michael placed me on my feet, I looked around, seeing no one. "Kaia?!"
"Here."
I looked up. She pointed to the tall, dead grass. Before I could yell, Michael hit the running mountain lion across the jaw. It skidded through the dirt, coming to a limp stop. "Is it dead?"
Michael took giant steps toward it and leaned down, "No, just blitzed. I'll take it into the wild."
She floated down. "Did you get hurt? Caleb will never forgive me if anything happens to you."
"I didn't know what a cat looked like. When it came through the door, I waited. It made threatening loud noises. I was a little scared."
"Good."
"What is a cat? Juliet spoke about her pet… She had one of those as a pet?"
Michael landed after he got rid of the lion. I stared at him. "What?"
"Katty?!"
"What? F— the cat! Where is it?!"
Kaia laughed, "Juliet said she's on Zoreah in the city." Michael and I joined her. Katty was now the oldest living feline in the universe. "Kaia thought Katty was a mountain lion."
"Ha! Juliet would've loved that. It could've protected her… No, Katty is small," he lifted his hands and showed Kaia the size, "Once I go get her, you'll see. The cutest pet… Guess she was with Sammy the day—" Michael sighed, "Lyla pressed another button. Here." His eyes aimlessly drifted over the yard. Was it just me, or was something bugging him?
"You killed the wrong sister."
Michael turned away from us and walked off.
***
For the next few days, we traveled all along the coast to Ecuador and Colombia, and ended up in Venezuela. Satya's last diary had a lot more entries before she came to the end of her map to say where they were at that moment. At our next stop, I would either meet my mother, or we would have to travel to one more location. Michael and I scanned the map. "Well, s—." They were on the Los Roques islands, far from the mainland and the capital.
"Yeah."
Caracas's streets were pristine. The rubble was removed, and in some way, they created a road through the city and rebuilt the lost buildings. It wasn't the once-filled metropolis, but it was getting there. Men on horses galloped past us, followed by a few drawn carriages lugging goods from one side to the other.
"I'm going to follow this road whether they can see me or not."
Michael teleported for a while toward the coast. The trip was through overgrown foliage on either side, making it hard to see anything but the path to follow. No one said anything or even looked at us. Weird.
A sea breeze filled the air. Michael's fur didn't like it and frizzed to a puffy down. He only stopped when we stood on a beach. Kids were swimming while adults sat in groups, watching their young around large fire pits cooking up lunch. Most of them only glanced our way and continued with what they were doing. My stomach complained—again. "Yeah, a steak smells like a good idea about now," he growled.
We approached the first person. I showed them the map. "Los Roques." He pointed down the beach. I pointed out toward the islands. He shook his head vehemently.
"Guess we have to go that way."
Michael sighed, picked me up, and kept hopping from the beach to the street, going down it back to the beach until we reached a harbor. The once giant structure that could hold container ships was now filled with tiny boats bobbing in the dark blue water. Enormous military ships and ferries floated rusted around the hull. A few people saw Michael and were coming our way in a hurry.
"Get us a boat… Or find out what they do to get there… I'm bringing Kaia here."
"Right…" The group surrounded me, nonviolent and happy with our appearance. They kept going on and on, pointing. I politely went away, unable to understand their enthusiasm or gestures.
I walked for a good while, speaking to as many men on their decks as possible, to find someone who could understand me. Most people stared at me, scanning my body for a while before they would wave me away, "No English." Yeah, yeah, I figured.
I showed the least grumpy-looking fisherman the picture of a map, "Los Roques," I pointed out to the sea. He dug in his pockets and held out a flat hand with coins in it. He lifted one and showed me ten fingers, ten times. A bit expensive... But yes, money.
"How long?" I tapped my wrist where a watch was supposed to be and pointed it out.
He gestured towards the islands and then lifted five fingers. He brought one finger back with another five held up. Ten days. I sighed and nodded.
Michael landed behind me. The fisherman stood happy, rambling into a long story with no interruptions. I halted him to slow down. He pointed at Michael and then out to the islands. I shook my head, "No."
"Yes!" He lifted his finger repeatedly.
"What is going on?" Kaia asks. "What is that he is standing on?"
"A boat… We travel on our waters."
She held out her hand to the man. He looked from her hand to her face. Kaia gestured to him that she wanted to get on. "No."
I put my hands together, pleading. He clucked his tongue and held out a hand for Kaia to step on. Her balance was off; she spread her legs and her arms flung out. The waves and her added weight rocked the boat. She dropped down to her knees and scooted to the edge. Like a child, she leaned over the rim and knocked on the wood. Kaia looked back, "Will those big ones be able to travel on our waters?"
Michael shook his head, "Nothing will be able to survive your seas… Chris, what now?"
"We need a hundred coins for him to take us there."
"Expensive."
"That's what I said, but not our biggest problem. It's five days there and five back in that small boat."
Michael drew in a nervous breath, "Sailing? A full moon?"
Kaia leaned over, scooped some water, and drank it. She coughed violently. "Urgh, what is wrong with the water?"
The fisherman pulled her up, complaining, "No!"
Kaia kept coughing as Michael helped her back onto the dock. The fisherman joined us and went on with his ramblings a little too animatedly. He gestured for us to follow him.
We did and walked over the once-harbor grounds and abandoned buildings. After that, we had to cross two big, dilapidated roads. In the distance, a residential area with small shops and tiny buildings waited for us. In between the shacks, we followed small dirt lanes. The streets were filled with people, creating a throng through the market area. "Where do you think he's taking us?"
At one specific little kiosk with a counter, he stopped and knocked on the wood. We moved closer to see a man asleep behind it. I scanned the tiny space to see what he sold. Nothing? What would he be doing there? Our guide spoke even louder than before, and his flow of words increased. He moved around to a door on the side and went right in, shaking the man, trying to rouse him. Our fisherman lifted the man's head and listened to his breathing.
"Will," Michael said… He didn't wake up. Michael and I looked at one another; he grabbed my shoulder and shook it excitedly. The fisherman didn't understand what was going on. We did. My mom was asleep. Michael chuckled and tapped on the wood, stopping our fisherman. He seemed confused, like we would leave, trying to stop us. He repeatedly pointed from Michael to Will. We nodded and showed him we would wait. To assure him, I sat down and tried to communicate that we would wait till he woke up.
Michael held out his hand to the man. He shook it and left. "If we gave everyone a cow, what am I supposed to give him?"
"Can I go walk around?"
"No!" I said.
"I'll go with her," Michael offered.
"Oh, okay. Thank you."
"In this mess, she'll only get lost."
So many people walked past and stopped at the kiosk to look in, and when they saw him asleep, they left again. What service could Will provide? A bit bored; all I could do was people-watch. A few faces were happy and going about their business. The humans did regroup. Other places might not be so lucky. I shuddered at what we would find with Ian and Soren in Europe.
After a while, I stood up and closed the door. Only to sit down again and lean against it to take a nap. Michael and Kaia were hopefully finding us something to eat and drink.
I fell back when the door opened like I planned. I looked up, and Will was confused, looking down. It took him a moment. He dropped down on his knees, "Chris… Chris."
I smiled, "Yes."
He shook me, "Look at you. I didn't recognize you. Are you okay? Your mother is going to be so happy! What took you so long… Looking at the state you're in, you weren't anywhere nice."
"No, I was not on holiday."
"Come, let me help you up."
"Thank You… We found you only by luck… The last clue was the islands."
"Yes, we figured if the teleportation is working again, it wouldn't be a problem. And if Michael made it, we thought the harbor would be your first guess, and then if the locals recognized him, they would bring you to us… Everyone knows what your mother is."
"Oh! Explains why they didn't try to stone us to death… How though? And what do you sell?"
"Your mom helps with transportation."
I chuckled, "A hundred coins."
"No, more like whatever the people are able to trade with... She's still a riphath to the core… Come, do you need to sit down… Let's go to that little table." Will talked to the patron, and he was as happy as the other locals at my long-awaited arrival… Everyone wanted to meet me and surrounded our table… Until a week ago, I didn't even know Satya was alive…
A cup of water appeared, and a small plate of fruit and dry bread. I was so hungry I wanted to stuff all of it into my mouth. "Please, eat…"
"Chris!" I heard Kaia's voice. Will and I looked that way. She was searching around the kiosk where they had left me. Michael shrugged his shoulders, meeting my eye.
"Kaia! We're here," I said with a light laugh.
"What language is that?"
"We were stuck on Mirach."
Will stood and shook Michael's hand with heavy pumps, "I'm so happy you're alive." His gaze drifted to Kaia. "Who's this?" He reached out to her.
She shook his hand, "Hello. My name is Kaia. Nice to meet you."
"Hey!" We cheered.
She smiled, "Caleb's wife."
Will's eyes widened, and he pulled her in for a hug and pushed her away again, "Welcome to the family."
"Thank You."
Will turned, "Tell me… Is Charlene alive?"
"Yes, happy, and all the kids are healthy."
"Fia, Jaali and Minè?"
"Yes… It's a long story."