The friends had talked long into the previous night, each emerging memory triggering another along with visions of familiar faces and conversations.
Aari let his focus fade and the ball reappeared in his hand as Jag spoke. “When our memories started returning last night, we recalled being trained by the Elders of that village, right? They showed us how to . . . how to develop our special abilities. They said it was to prepare us for something big coming our way, something dark. A gathering storm.”
Aari nodded. “They said that we’re part of Dema-Ki’s ancient prophecy. That’s why we were trained.”
“The Elders also told us that we wouldn't be alone when we returned to the outside world,” Tegan murmured, “that there would be Sentries looking out for us.”
“So that we’re protected while trying to fulfill the prophecy,” Aari finished.
“Do you still think our assessment last night about who this Sentry might be is right?” Mariah asked worriedly.
“From all the signs so far, I would think so,” Jag replied. “Hard to imagine that it’s all been a mere coincidence. He’s been there almost every step of the way since we started this trip. We’ve already made the call and invited him to meet us here anyway, so all we can do is wait.”
“I still can’t figure out how we could ever forget all this,” Tegan said. “The village, its people, the Elders, our powers . . . the battle at the mountaintop.”
The group looked out toward the water, silent. Aari fiddled with the sleeve of his shirt before finally saying softly, “I can’t believe we were a part of that . . . that fight.”
“Explains our dreams and why they were so much alike,” Jag said.
“All that death and destruction.” Kody shuddered and stared down at the water. “And those beasts. Those machines of murder.”
Tegan nestled her head on his shoulder. “You saw everything from your vantage point with Elder Nageau . . . Can’t imagine how horrifying that must have been.”
Aari watched as Mariah made sure no one on the wharf was looking, then she hurled the ball as far over the waves as she could. Just when it was about to hit the water, it came flying back toward them. Kody put up his hand and caught it right before it hit him. He tossed it back to her. “Careful. You could have nailed me in the face with that.”
She looked at him apologetically, then sighed. “What I want to know is, why is it that none of us except Jag had our dreams until this trip?”
Aari had been wondering the same thing. He rested his hands behind him and leaned back a little. “I may have an explanation . . . not for why we started having our dreams, but why Jag’s been having his for a while.”
Jag’s eyebrows rose. “Oh-ho-ho, I’d love to hear this.”
“You’re somehow the only connection that the Elders have had with us since we left the valley.”
“You mean, my dreams were some sort of a link with them?”
“Maybe.”
“But why?”
“My guess is that the Elders wanted to maintain some kind of connection with us. They trained us for a reason and maybe they were keeping us close through you.”
“But why did we lose our memories of Dema-Ki and all our experiences there?”
Aari shrugged. “I dunno. It could be that maybe our abilities needed to be concealed for some reason?”
“Then why is it all coming back now?” Mariah asked.
“I wish I knew.”
“Whatever the case, it’s back and that makes us a bunch of cool cats,” Kody said; Aari could see him making an effort to shake off his gloom. “Because we’ve got powers!”
“Not that we should flaunt it,” Jag cut in firmly.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Captain.” Kody gently butted heads with Tegan. She shoved him playfully.
Mariah swung her legs back and forth over the pier, nodding. “Do you think the Elders wiped our memories clean?”
“Why would they do that?” Jag asked. “Especially when it’s connected to something as important as the prophecy—”
“Prophecy? What prophecy?” asked a cheery voice.
The five started at the sudden interruption. They craned their heads to their right as Tony sat down beside Jag. The friends breathed sighs of relief as Jag shook the newcomer’s hand. “Tony, it’s good to see you!”
With a bright smile, Tony said, “Likewise. When I got your call last night, I knew I had to come see you guys again.”
“Hey, Tony,” Tegan called. She pulled up her jeans slightly, revealing striped socks.
“No way!” Tony looked as if he’d just seen the greatest thing in his life and reached out to high-five her.
She laughed and slapped his hand. “Because we actually get to see you again today, I wanted to surprise you.”
“And you sure did.” He looked back at Jag. “Over the phone, you mentioned something about memories that you’d lost starting to come back?”
“Yeah. Sorry for not telling you much, but we felt that it would be best if we could speak face-to-face with you.”
Tony nodded slightly.
Aari watched Tony closely as the five quickly filled him in on the events of the previous summer—the plane crash, Dema-Ki, the Elders, the battle atop the mountain—but leaving out the crucial details regarding the prophecy and their innate abilities; a tugging at their gut instructed them not to divulge anything else. By the end of it, Tony looked blown away, which Aari wasn’t sure was a good sign. Still, he was hopeful.
“We’re not making this up, I swear,” Jag said.
Tony thumped Jag’s back reassuringly. “No, no, I believe you. Just . . . wow. Now I know why I thought you guys looked familiar when we first met. You were in some media reports.” After a brief period of silence, he said, “So . . . how do you think I can be of help?”
“The Elders told us that, when we returned to our lives, we would not be alone,” Aari answered. “There would be people here who would help us.” He felt nervous as the moment of truth hung over their heads like an axe on a fraying rope. “They said that they’d placed special people around the world and . . . and we wondered if . . . you were one of them?”
The five’s hopes sank the instant they saw that Aari’s words had left Tony completely nonplussed. “I’m . . . I’m sorry. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Doing all they could to hide their disappointment, the friends looked away. “It’s alright,” Jag said through a tight smile.
Tony seemed distraught, as though he felt that he hadn’t lived up to the five’s expectations. “I wish I knew what you meant, but—”
“It’s alright, Tony,” Jag repeated.
There was another pause in the conversation. The group looked on as two dragon boats practice-raced; the craft carried ten rowers on each side who were energetically working their paddles.
Tony shifted uncomfortably, then asked, “What’ll you do now?”
Aari and the others didn’t take their eyes off the dragon boats. “I guess we’re just gonna continue our trip,” Jag responded. “We checked out of our hotel a day early. All our stuff’s already in the car.”
“Where to next, then?”
“We’re driving down to San Diego in a bit.”
Mariah stretched out her feet. “I can’t wait to check out the zoo and Sea World.”
“And the USS Midway,” added Aari and Kody in unison.
“Sounds like you’ll be having a blast,” Tony said. “I’m just sorry I’m not who you thought I was.”
“Don’t worry about it. If anything, we should be apologizing. We called you away from your girlfriend and had you drive out all the way from Morro Bay.”
Tony gave Jag a friendly smack on the back. “I like being with you guys! Trust me, there really was no harm done here. I learned a lot about the five of you. It was enlightening. But there was something you said, right when I joined you guys—about a prophecy?”
Aari and the others froze; they thought they’d managed to wriggle out of that question at the beginning. Thankfully, Jag recovered quickly. “It was an inside joke,” he said dismissively.
Aari couldn’t tell if Tony bought into that, but he sure hoped he did.
Tony looked at his watch. “Mind if I catch lunch with you guys before we part ways?”
The teenagers' faces lit up. “Of course not!” Tegan exclaimed. The group pulled their feet back from the edge of the wharf and helped each other up. Together, the six of them made their way to a fish and chips place not far down the pier.
From behind the windows of a crowded restaurant, a man watched the group walk past. He inspected them with a careful eye as the five chatted animatedly with a light-haired man. When they turned out of his sight, he leaned back and rubbed his short beard, then glanced down at a black bag that lay by his feet. He picked it up. Unzipping it, he reached in and cautiously removed a pouch. When he was sure no one was looking his way, he opened the pouch and pulled out a glass container that was filled nearly to the top with a glowing liquid. It was exactly like the one that he’d tossed into the teenagers’ Jeep a few days before.
He stared at it for a while, debating with himself, until finally reaching a decision. Pressing his lips together, he glared and placed the container back into its pouch. He would wait and see if he needed to use the device again.
T
he friends arrived at San Diego smack in the middle of rush-hour. They’d been happily following their GPS to their hotel along the freeway but were stunned to see the lines of cars ahead of them as they neared the city. They sat with the air conditioning on full blast, not aware how hot it was outside their vehicle. They’d tried to pass the five-hour drive from Santa Barbara with some games, but after playing scavenger hunt on an app and a run of thumb wrestling they’d gotten bored and couldn’t wait to get out of the traffic. They hadn’t spoken for a while now, each retreating into their own personal space.
Jag rested his chin on the steering wheel and glanced at Aari, who was fiddling with his phone as he rode shotgun. His black sling bag sat across his knees. Every time Jag would make an attempt to engage him in a conversation, he only received distracted, one-word responses.
Letting out a sigh, Jag leaned back and tried to stretch the kinks out of his legs as best he could. He knew that the silence that had converged upon the friends was largely due to Tony not being a Sentry. They’d had such high hopes for him. That wasn’t the only thing that was unsettling the group, though—all five of them were at a loss. They’d wanted someone to tell them why their memories and powers were just returning and what they were supposed to do.
We need guidance
, Jag thought sullenly, but with no one around them providing direction, the friends were nothing more than wandering teenagers who harbored abilities for reasons they weren’t sure of.
What do we do now?
He sighed loudly and looked up at the rearview mirror. He saw Kody reading a brochure with such intensity that he didn’t notice Tegan balancing an empty plastic bottle on his head.
“What are you looking at, Kode-man?” Jag asked.
“I’m trying to find a good restaurant around here,” Kody answered. “By the time we get out of traffic it’ll be dinner time.”
Mariah snorted. “You and food . . . ”
“We have a beautiful relationship. If food wore a white dress, I’d marry it in a heartbeat. I’d put a ring on it.”
Tegan threw her head back, laughing. “It’s scary that I don’t doubt that.”
The traffic moved in starts and stops. Jag grumbled as he scratched his temple. “When we get to the hotel, take twenty minutes to freshen up. We’ll meet in the lobby and head out for dinner.”
“Yes, Sir,” Tegan barked, looking dead serious.
Jag smirked, glad that the group was perking up. “Ha-ha, Ms. Funnypants.”
“Hey, hasn’t that van been following us since that gas station several miles ago?” Mariah asked suddenly.
Jag frowned and checked his mirrors. “What van?”
“That black one a few cars behind us, in the other lane.”
He found it a second later. “I don’t think so. There’s a ton of vehicles going the same way. I think you might be carrying over your suspicious feelings from Vegas.”
Mariah huffed but didn’t say anything more.
Aari yawned and put his phone down. “This traffic is ridiculous. Hope it’s not this busy when we visit the Midway museum tomorrow.” A smile worked across his lips. “I can’t wait to see that ship. We’re actually going to be on an aircraft carrier that saw action during the Vietnam War
and
Desert Storm.”
“That’s all good, Aari, but I just found a Malaysian restaurant,” Kody said, looking up from his pamphlet, “and I can’t wait to get my satay fix.”
Aari gasped in mock astonishment. “Food trumps an aircraft carrier?”
“Only until my hunger’s gone,” Kody promised.
“Mmhm . . . ” Aari reached out to turn on the radio. He shuffled through a few channels before landing on a talk show that caught the five’s attention.
“ . . .
But does this mean we’ll see rising gas prices soon as well?”
a gravelly-voiced man asked.
“I mean, that’s how it tends to work, right? I don’t want to be driving to the studio one afternoon and get a heart attack ’cause gas shot up to ten bucks a gallon!”
“I dunno,”
joined another voice, a woman this time.
“I think the main worry right now is food. The prices of bread and other grain products in some places have nearly doubled in the past two weeks alone. Had to do a double take at the baked goods section while doing groceries yesterday.”
“Just a matter of time before we’re going to have to pay more for red meat too, then,”
the man moaned.
“Give up on meat!”
the woman said.
“Being vegan is a much healthier lifestyle.”
“Hey, if I want to eat meat, I’ll eat meat. Besides, I heard that even San Joaquin Valley’s been hit hard. Hundreds of acres of fruits and vegetables, gone. And—hold on.”
There were a few moments of silence followed by the sound of shuffling papers on the radio as the five waited intently.
When the male radio host spoke into the mic again, he sounded grave.
“We’ve just received some news and it ain’t good. Looks like whatever’s hitting our crops at home has spread to other parts of the world. Scattered reports are beginning to trickle in from farmers in Asia and Europe claiming substantial loss of crops.”