Obsidian (Mystic Stones Series #1) (30 page)

I just smiled. I’d tease him later for scaring the man to death.

Our attention finally focused back to the gate. I wished I had a camera, but I settled on just keeping a tally sheet of the number of people coming and going with time passages. I noticed that most of the outgoing traffic came at noon and most of it returned at one. Jesse was recording plate numbers, although I wasn’t quite sure why. Our observation was momentarily interrupted when Hiu returned to deliver a radio. Jesse exchanged it for a list of code words.

For the most part, it looked like a normal business. Employees were coming and going, or so it would seem to the unquestioning eye. Finally, Jesse and I saw three semi-trucks enter the gate. Jesse radioed Hiu to let him know there might be some action at the warehouses, but he warned him to keep a good distance.

“What do you think is in those trucks?” I asked with a hint of morbidity in my voice.

Jesse caught on to my tone and answered, “Probably just more devices that block the virus.”

I turned back, watching as each truck checked in at the gate. I hoped Jesse was right as the image of the shareholders in the coffin-like crates came to my mind. Although, if he was right, the vampires might be planning to begin the task of forcing people to sign contracts in return for the devices soon. Surely, that would be the next step for Psytech.

Hiu’s voice came over the radio again, “We got brown ones.”

“How big?” I asked. Brown ones meant boxes.

“Small,” he replied.

“Told you, I’m always right,” Jesse said smugly.

I smirked and rolled my eyes. Hiu and Kapono held their position while the trucks were unloaded, after that we called it a day. Jesse talked to the owner of the store once more to see what time he would be at the shop the next morning.

“I’m usually here at five and open by six, but I could come in earlier if you need me to,” the man replied.

“Thank you, but that won’t be necessary. We don’t want anyone catching on to any changes. We will come back between seven and eight tomorrow morning,” Jesse said with his official voice. Jesse then handed the old man some money for the coffee and sandwiches we had eaten plus a hundred dollar bill for his cooperation. The man thanked them while we walked out the door. We were to meet Hiu and Kapono a few blocks down.

Once out of earshot from the old man, I met Jesse’s eyes with mine and said, “You’re a man of many scandalous talents.”

Jesse smirked. He tried to hide it, but failed miserably, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I began listing the things I’d seen him do over the past few days in question form, “Hotwiring? Breaking and entering? Posing as a CIA agent?”

“Don’t forget, you posed as a CIA agent too!” he said as he tried to incriminate me.

I smiled. “I didn’t show a fake badge to an old man.”

“You didn’t deny you were a CIA agent,” Jesse teased.

“So,” was all I could think to say.

“So if I go to jail, you’re coming with me, honey. You’re my partner in crime. Like Bonnie and Clyde,” Jesse said as he gave a mischievous grin.

“Bonnie and who?” I retorted.

Jesse laughed, amused that I was clueless to his reference. “Bonnie and Clyde. A couple of famous bank robbers,” he explained, “You know, they died in a storm of bullets back in the 1930’s.”

“I guess that shows your true age,” I teased as we arrived at the car. Hiu was still in the drivers’ seat. I decided not to kick him out. I felt the need to let someone else take the wheel.

“At least I’m not into old guys,” Jesse retorted, lovingly, of course.

I just laughed. I didn’t have a comeback for that one.

“What so funny?” Hiu asked as they climbed into the car.

“Ava likes old guys,” Jesse replied.

“I do not!” I said childishly.

The rest of the car ride back to the boat was filled with playful jeering and teasing between the four of us. Kapono mostly made fun of Hiu since Hiu was the only one he knew. But he seemed to be fitting in with us easily. Once we put my car away and boarded Hiu’s boat, the teasing came to a close and we started in on a more serious conversation and involved everyone else.

We all sat down to dinner and discussed what we should do about the surplus of virus blockers assumed to be in the warehouses right now.

“We should burn down the warehouses,” Kapono said bluntly.

“We can’t, brah. We need da kine for the container ships so we can get food flowing again,” Hiu explained.

My mind tried to formulate a plan for the strike. The lot almost emptied between the hours of noon and one o’clock, but it was still too full for comfort. A night operation wouldn’t work because we would need the advantage of Jesse’s immortality, so that option was out. We needed one more day of surveillance before we could make the decision.

“I think we should watch them again tomorrow. We’ll keep track of the cars coming and going. That should give us our window of opportunity to go in and take as many of those virus blockers as possible. We’re going to need something besides my car to transport them.”

“I can take care of that,” Jesse said with a grin.

“I’m sure you can,” I said.

“Okay, we’ve got a nice set up at the café across from Psytech. The guy thinks we’re CIA, so he’s letting us sit in his shop without a whole lot of questions,” Jesse announced. “We’ll watch tomorrow and the next day we’ll strike. We’re going to need either Latoria or Moana in on this too. The other one of you will need to stay back on the boat with Alani and Nalani.”

“I’ll go,” Moana said. Latoria didn’t seem eager to go on the mission with us.

“Alright, the five of us will set up a time to leave tomorrow night after we’ve done our reconnaissance,” Jesse said. He glanced at Latoria, which turned my attention to her as well. She seemed to care nothing about what we talked about.

I hoped I wouldn’t have to step up and say anything to her. Latoria’s distaste for me was becoming more and more evident to everyone else, and I didn’t know how to handle it. Catty wasn’t something I did well, but somehow, politely asking Latoria to back off seemed cowardly. I didn’t want to fight with Latoria, but at the same time I wasn’t willing to extend the olive branch. Jesse was an adult who made his own decisions, and although I could see why Latoria liked him, I would not be so pouty in Latoria’s shoes. Not with so many lives on the line.

Friendship was a terrible thing to throw away, and Latoria seemed content to do just that with her friendship with Jesse. A true friend would be happy he had finally found love, but Latoria was too wrapped up in her own grief to realize the friendship she put at risk.

Dinner finished after more conversation about how to get into Psytech and backup plans for where to meet in case of disaster. Hiu worked on sharpening obsidian and I practiced my ocean control while Jesse took inventory of the ammo and guns. Alani helped him. I remembered him saying Alani’s training was almost complete the other night before his “bedtime.” The sun was about to go down, so I put my practice on hold so I could say goodnight.

I saw Hiu and Kapono mimicking some moves they’d probably seen in action movies. They were all hyped up, but I knew deep down they worried about how things would end up.

I left Jesse alone after I turned the TV on for his entertainment. I told him I was going to practice some more and that I would return in an hour or so. I hated leaving Jesse alone when he was a statue, but I had to practice more to defend my friends. I made my way to the back of the boat and turned my eyes up at the sky framed by the cliffs that nearly surrounded us in the crevasse. It was clear, but a few clouds started to roll in.

I hesitated when I got to the back of the boat. Latoria leaned on the railing and faced the water.

“Latoria, I didn’t expect to see you back here,” I said as I tried to sound friendly.

The woman turned and scowled slightly at my presence. “I’m sick of sitting alone in my room.”

“It’s a beautiful night,” I said. “I was planning on practicing a bit since it’s not raining.”

“I’ll leave you alone. I don’t want to get in your way. Unless you need an audience. In that case, I’ll just fetch Alani or Jesse. Wait, I can’t. He’s a statue, and he’ll probably be stuck that way for the rest of his life now that you’re in the picture.”

The harsh words hit me like a whip. I preferred the silent treatment to this kind of offense.

“Can’t you be happy he’s found someone to be with?” I asked, keeping up the diplomatic act.

“I would be happier if it wasn’t with someone like you,” Latoria sneered.

“What is that supposed to mean?” I snapped.

“First you barge into Moana’s house, trying to rope her into your little crisis, and then you drag us into it. We were all perfectly fine before you and your drama.”

“You think I enjoy the fact that the world is going to hell and I’m the one who found out about it first? I would much rather have gone through life not knowing anything about Psytech or vampires or sirens. But now that I have, I’m doing my best to adapt. You don’t even have to be here, you could have stayed behind with Edison, Perry, and Kassidy. I’m going to fight. I will fight for humanity just as hard as I will fight for Jesse. You need to realize everything happens for a reason, and you and Jesse weren’t meant to be,” I said. The volume of my voice raised with each sentence.

“You ruined everything. I almost had him, and you took him away,” Latoria yelled.

“I took no one that wouldn’t have run away on his own,” I said harshly.

Latoria began to cry. A tear ran down her cheek and caught the glint of the moon. Instant guilt flooded my gut.

“I’m sorry. I’m just stressed out, okay? There’s a lot on my shoulders. I know Jesse cares about you, Latoria. He just wants your friendship. There’s nothing that can change that. I know what he’s going through because I’m going through it with Hiu. I hated hurting him. I think it hurt me just to say the words I said to him. Jesse is hurting too because he knows your feelings run deep. He doesn’t want to hurt you and he doesn’t want to lose you as a friend. I hope someday you understand Jesse and I have something special. I hope you can forgive me someday.”

Latoria still had tears running off her face, but she seemed different.

“It’s not fair. I’ve been trying to get him to open up to me for years. You come along and in a few days he’s changing for the better. His heart was locked up tight, and I knew there was something just waiting to be awakened in him, but you got to it first. I don’t understand why he can’t love me,” she said.

“We can’t choose who we fall in love with and who we don’t fall in love with. It’s a natural thing that either happens or doesn’t. There will be others for you, Latoria. I thought I was in love with a vampire. Turns out he’s a monster. Jesse’s no monster, but trust me, you will love again,” I replied.

“I might be able to forgive you if that happens, but for now I’m too hurt to forgive either of you. I hope you’re right. I hope I do find someone and all this will seem silly to me, but right now my envy will not let me forgive and forget.”

“Fair enough, but can we at least be civil toward each other? There is much more going on around us than you and me. We have to stick together and stop Psytech. Agreed?” I asked as I held out my hand for a handshake.

Latoria slowly met my hand with her own and said, “Agreed.”

She walked away.

I felt a little better about the air between Latoria and me. A pang of sympathy overcame me as I watched her walk away. I couldn’t imagine what I would do if someone tried to take Jesse away from me. I would probably react much the same way as Latoria at first, but after a while I imagine I would have had the strength to contain my discontent for the person who stole my love for the greater good. I would be able to put others’ needs before my own pitiful love issues, although I’d never get over Jesse. If we were to ever be apart, I knew I wouldn’t be able to get past the pain it would cause.

The thoughts in my head swirled around. I made myself stop thinking about the possibility of Jesse ever leaving me. The hope that he felt the same way about me made me want to go to him now and confess my undying love for him. Unfortunately, now was not the best time. His stony circumstances would only frustrate me further. It wasn’t fair that he had to return to his prison every night because he couldn’t fall in love with the woman he was slated to marry all those years ago.

It was amazing to me that so many women had fallen for Jesse, yet I had been the one he’d fallen for. It was also very humbling. The fact that he could suddenly consider someone so insignificant to his existence for his one and only was a mystery to me. Jesse was a mystery in himself. There was so much I didn’t know about him, yet I wanted to spend my life trying to unravel the secrets and stories that made him who he was.

After pondering over my relationship with Jesse, I decided to try to get a little practice in before bed. My abilities grew stronger and stronger every time I used them. The ocean’s energy uplifted me. When I finished, I felt restful. I made my way to mine and Jesse’s cabin and entered to find him still in his stony state, which was no surprise, but what did take me by surprise is the reaction of my heart at the sight of him.