Of Gaea (23 page)

“I just…” Ari frowned. “Gaea gave me knowledge. I guess
some of it just comes to me as needed. Some of it I have to go
digging for.”

“I see. And yes, you’re right. Those that are Faithful can
use the elements but not actually become them.”

“So then…”
Ari racked her mind and remembered the hint Gaea had given
her. “You’re… a creature. One of Gaea’s creations.”

Nasya vanished into the tree line. Her voice floated back
to Ari. “Yes, I am.”

“Nasya, I need your help.” Ari followed her into the dim
trees, but Nasya was already gone. “Nasya, please. I need your
help.”

Nasya reappeared a hairsbreadth from Ari’s face and Ari
fell back startled.
“You are only limited by yourself. As a Child, your gifts
work based on your intent, your will. Wiccans chant, “As we will so
mote it be” for a reason. Your will controls the gifts.”

“So if I will it to happen, it will?” Ari stood slowly. Her
legs still didn’t like the getting up motion.

“In a manner.
You don’t need the spells, or the sacrifices or
the ass kissing. You are Gaea. All you need is the intent, and the
control to maintain.” Nasya smiled. “Let’s play a game of tag. We
can make it down to your house, get some gear and then figure out
where to go before Ghita gets back from the city.”

“Tag?”

She nodded and a tree branch slapped Ari’s butt.
“You’re it.” She
vanished.

Ari laughed
the whole way down the mountainside.

When they
reached the edge of Ari’s yard, she couldn’t bring herself to enter
the yard.

“What’s
wrong?”

Ari didn’t jump when Nasya materialized in the tree next to
her.
Ari was
getting used to her popping in and out. It had also helped her
learn. By watching Nasya.

“I’m not sure.
There’s something here. I can’t explain
it.”

“You just did. And you’re right there is something here.
It’s a warding, for the Pure.”

“Why is it here?” Ari hissed.

“Isn’t it obvious?
Ghita is Pure.”

“I can’t go in there. Not right now. It’s too…
substantial.” Ari let herself fade into the air. “I have another
idea.”

Ari reappeared at the edge of Sasha’s yard where her
targets from the discus game still hung. There was something around
his yard as well but it was different. It wasn’t the ominous cloak
that surrounded her house.

“He’ll know you’re here.”
Nasya murmured. “Kleisthenes has protected
what’s his against the Tainted and the Pure.”

“He won’t know I’m here. He’ll know you’re here. We have
nearly the same stamp. We go in together you visible, me not. I’ll
grab my gear and meet you back on the cliff. Say thirty minutes
tops.”

“It may work
but it has to be exactly at the same time.”

Ari waved a hand at her and dissolved into the earth. Nasya
sighed but nodded, together they entered the yard.

Kleisthenes was immediately on the porch.
He scanned the
yard, and frowned when he saw Nasya. She crossed the yard lazily
and Ari moved to the shed.

Thankfully the shed had a dirt floor.
It was also well organized and
neatly stacked. It took no time at all to open a pack and stuff it
with camping gear. Ari left the pack resting against the wall as
she filled it.

She didn’t have any clothes but Ari really didn’t care
about that.
She was sure Nasya had a work around for that anyway. Her
bow hung on pegs overhead and as she pulled it down the door swung
open. It was an instant thought to vanish.

The bow clunked to the ground attracting the attention of
the person in the doorway.
Sasha stepped in, leaving the door open behind
him. He picked up the bow and gently ran a hand over its fluid
curve.

Ari lay motionless against the ground.
She was the earth. Literally.
She had to clench her jaw to keep from laughing. The freedom her
knowledge gave her was intoxicating.

When Sasha turned Ari almost lost her resolve. In the light
form the door, his face was haggard and tired. He looked paler than
she remember and sickly. He put the bow back up and Ari saw his
eyes fall on her pack. He looked up and scanned the shelves then
turned and walked out shutting the door firmly behind
him.

H
e didn’t know what he
expected. He had
felt something that was Ari, not Nasya. He was tired though, and it
was very possible he was just imagining it because he wanted her
near. He desperately wanted her near.

He didn’t know where Ghita had taken her, but he had an
idea.
Thanks
to his stupid promise, he couldn’t do anything about it. He was
dying not being near her. Not knowing if she was okay.

I
nitially he had been angry when Leonidas had called. Angry
and scared he had screwed something up. That hadn’t been it at all,
and he brought Ari home where she would have been safe until she
woke.

There was no hiding the tattoos from Ghita.
She had freaked,
screamed at everyone and taken Ari. And there was nothing anyone
could do about it.

He wanted to talk to Ari.
He needed to talk to her. He wanted
nothing more than to hold her hand and apologize. Hold her hand and
say goodbye. Before it was too late.

Now with a half full pack and the bow resting on the floor
he knew Ari was around and up to something. A sign, he was sure, of
her growing into herself. It hurt more than anything that she had
not come to him for help. It hurt to think she didn’t need him
anymore.

“Are you okay?”
Nasya asked.

Sasha didn’t respond as he sadly went back to his room. He
was empty without Ari. There was no point in giving an answer they
both already knew.

A
ri counted to
ten before
coming up out of the earth. There was no doubt he knew. She
wouldn’t be able to rendezvous with Nasya. He would be there ahead
of time. Ari grabbed her bow and a full quiver from the adjacent
wall. She strapped the quiver on then slung on her pack. Hoping
that she had enough control to move everything as she dropped into
the earth.

When Ari reappeared several miles further up the mountain
than her checkpoint with Nasya, she promptly vomited.
She had been using
a lot of power since waking in the institute and she was starting
to feel it. Her body felt too small for the organs in it and she
felt super weak. Ari supposed it was deserved. A baby learns to
walk in steps, not go from crawl to run.

Ari looked around and sighed.
She couldn’t stay there either. The
clearing was the hunting grounds for quail and deer and the
occasional moose or elk.

She would have to suck it up and move to at least the
farthest point out she’d ever been.
Then she could walk from there (if she was
able) to the north. There was a lake just on the other side of the
West Virginia border that she had never been to. She would be safe
enough for a few days there.

It was a three day hike to the lake on the norm.
Ari thought she
could do it in eight hours. The sun still hung kind of low to the
east. It wasn’t yet noon.

Ari groaned to her feet.
She couldn’t do another jump. There had to
be another way. Ari forced herself not to vomit as she jumped and
let the air catch her and swirl her up. Ari couldn’t take another
vanishing trick, but she could probably, hopefully, ride the wind
for a few minutes. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the cool
feeling of the wind against her clammy skin.

Ari must have passed out. She groggily surveyed her
surroundings to find she laid half in and half out of a vast body
of water. Ari was covered in mud, no part was spared, and her pack
sat neatly a few feet ahead on the shore.

Slowly Ari pushed to her feet and staggered over to her
pack.
Her
head still swirled but she had no need to vomit. Her body felt
beaten and just the few feet were excruciatingly
draining.

How did she end up at the lake anyway?
Ari glanced back at the water.
She had intended to be there, but on foot. Nasya had said the gifts
work on intent, maybe her intent to be there had been stronger than
her intent to walk there? It didn’t matter. She was there, and she
had to find a way to get Nasya there too.

“Look what we
have here.”

Ari looked towards the sound without fear. Some part of her
knew there was no getting away from them. The Tainted creature
stood a few feet away and thankfully downwind, or Ari would have
gagged on the smell that she knew all Tainted possessed.

“I have no business with you at the moment.”
Ari’s voice was
calm, more from fatigue than anything else, and flat. “Leave at
once.”

“Or?” It tipped its head similar to a bird would when
contemplating. “Is there an or?”

Ari picked up the dropped bow and drew an arrow from her
quiver as she slowly rose. She was rock steady when she knocked the
arrow to the bow. “We both know I rarely miss.”

His eyes narrowed and he stepped back a few paces. “You
would attack me?”

“I would defend me.” Ari corrected. “From you and
her.”

Ari gestured to the Pure bird that fluttered in the air
behind him. He didn’t even bother turning.

“You cannot keep us at bay forever.”
The Pure paused in mid-flap and
seemed to just float, as if in water.

“Shall we test that?”
The Kirin stepped up from behind Ari. “At the
moment she is in my care. Do you dare challenge me?”

Tension and silence filled the air for several long
moments. It was the weirdest standoff Ari had ever seen. It was the
Pure that broke it first when she flapped her great wings mightily
and vanished into the sky.

“Time is running short, Gaean creature.
You will not have her much
longer.” The Tainted faded into shadow.

Ari dropped to her knees and relaxed the tension on the
bow.
The
Kirin turned to her and in a blink Nasya stood there. She knelt and
pressed a hand against Ari’s head and her other grabbed Ari’s
shoulder.

“Nasya.
You’re the Kirin?” It made sense. She could use the
elements. She had been in and out in key moments. “Something’s
wrong. I feel sick. Very sick.”

“You’ll be okay. Your body is just cleaning out the residue
of the others. You need some rest but we can’t stay here. The
rescue service already has men out. It won’t be long until they
make it up this way.”

“Residue?” Ari couldn’t think anymore. Just seeing Nasya
brought so much relief.

It was like a dream watching Nasya pick up the pack and
pulling Ari to her feet.
Everything was colored differently. Ari was so
tired.

“You’ve lived all your life in a Pure house and spent the
last eight months tangled in Tainted magic. You should have figured
some of it had rubbed off, so to speak. And now it’s being washed
out by what is in you.” Nasya hefted Ari upright without
staggering. “Come on. I know where we can go.”