No
, I thought. I had come too far. I had recruited and trained an army. I had increased my magical ability with months of hard training; all the while fighting off Shawn’s dream attacks. I had done it all without my one true partner, Micah. And I had done it all pregnant.
Shawn began to lift himself to his feet. Cato, exhausted as he was, still lying prone on the ground, turned his attention to Vayu.
Vayu didn't miss a thing. With military precision, he sent out an air net, scooping up a stray pistol and brought it back to him. It fell into his hands, the safety came off, and he shot Cato through the head. Blood splattered over Shawn and Vayu. Shawn looked at Vayu in shock.
Vayu laughed, his gleaming white smile looking oddly misplaced on his blood-streaked face.
NO!
The word screamed in my head, the mental push strong enough to command the attention of Micah and Shawn. I looked again at Cato's frail, withered body. Vayu had been responsible for my parent's death, and now my Godfather.
NO
! I screamed again, louder this time. Everyone in the valley cowered, covering their ears, unsuccessfully blocking out the shriek that rang inside their heads.
With everyone incapacitated, the Shades inside pushed me to act. I closed my eyes, asking the earth Shades for help. We needed to reveal the caves underneath us; all of them. My trusty friends obliged. Together, we sent our weaves into the earth, finding the air pockets and expanding out until the large caverns revealed themselves. We forced the energy upward.
Large chunks of ground burst open. Shawn and his circle, who stood over one, went flying up, and then back down into the cave. Unfortunately, so did Micah.
With the wind now non-existent, Alex and I ran to the open mouth of the cavern that swallowed Micah. He was maybe only twenty feet down; I hoped Shawn had fallen further. Micah moved, calling out to us; he seemed to be fine. I was about to call back when a sudden burst of pain shot through my mid-section. It caused me to sink to my knees, clutching my round belly.
I was broken, sapped of energy. The fight took everything out of me. The Shades inside were not using their own energy for weaves; they were using mine. It was more than my body could bear. I searched for energy in the land, in the water, in the air and even from the sea, but the ecosystem had little to offer. With so much magic and energy-hungry souls, the battle had robbed the entire area.
Alex pulled a rope out of his backpack, but it wasn't long enough to reach Micah. It would be some time before we could get him out. The blast of pain eased out of my midsection, but it was coming in cycles now. It would be back.
If I was going to follow through with my plan, it would have to be now.
Fair Winds
Two hours. Alex probably had Micah out of the hole by now, and Susan would be joining them. I tried to stop thinking, but images of Micah's face when he emerged from the hole, anxiously looking for me, assaulted my brain. He would be worried, then perhaps shocked that I had disappeared. Hopefully they would have enough sense to ensure Shawn was gone before they came after me. That would give me at least a little extra time.
More than 2,000 miles away lay my first destination, Cape Leeuwin, Australia. There was a bank waiting for me, where I arranged to have enough cash in a security deposit box to get me underground, and to stay there for a long time. I had to be off the grid; undetectable not only to the international and federal connections Alex had, but also to the magical connections of both Shawn, if he survived, and Micah. No one would have the chance to touch my daughter.
I had expected to use the same wind tunnel Vayu and Shawn used to extract Vayu from the Chakra, but I had not expected to be completely void of energy, and in intense pain. Plan two consisted, oddly enough, of Shawn's escape. Of course he had a backup plan, or at least an escape plan. He always did, that coward. He probably anticipated our arrival from the west, and so he would have been prepared to leave east.
I strode east, as fast as my body would carry me, away from the setting sun. I kept the blanket pulled around me tight to ensure a good mask from the island, and to keep myself warm. Micah's shield had been blocking more than just energy depletion. He had been blocking the cold, too.
I almost screamed in relief when a large boat came into view. A newly built, makeshift port jutted out into the sea. The boat was slightly smaller than our fishing trawler, but it looked faster. An extra strong cramp made me double over. I endured it, and then got up again. My escape was in sight. I had to keep going.
Once on the boat, I ran for the captain’s deck. I became a tornado myself, a force flurrying to push buttons and pull levers. The engine roared to life. It was a beautiful sound. I bent over with another cramp. As it built up, climaxed, then faded, I suddenly realized – I was in labor, one month early.
The pain was low in my stomach. I felt my muscles contract involuntarily in response to it. The scariest part was, I had no control over it. My body rode wave after wave, the same cycle each time. Swelling, peaking, flowing out. It was coming in regular intervals now; I counted 500 seconds in between. Roughly eight minutes. The doctor hadn't prepared me much for labor, planning to take care of everything himself. And now I was headed resolutely in the opposite direction of anyone that could help; Micah, Alex, Susan and even the Shades. I knew the exact moment when my link to them disappeared. The distance between me and the athame was too far, and our connection snapped like a piece of string pulled too tight.
However, I did know I wouldn't be with the doctor during labor. I had planned everything out, right down to every hospital possibility on my route toward my ultimate destination. Easter Island. I had arranged for money in different currencies to be stored in safety deposit boxes in several banks, and of course had my parent’s fortune at my disposal; but that could be tracked. I had to stay off the grid.
The guilt of tearing my daughter away from Micah tried to rip me in half, even more than the contractions, but it was the only way I could ensure her safety. Hopefully, Micah would understand. He would have to. I prepared myself to hide telepathically from him as well. No mental shout-outs, no dream connections, nothing. As if I had disappeared from the face of the earth altogether. Hopefully, that would be their conclusion. My plan was going to work.
But now, I was in labor, in the middle of the Southern Ocean, alone and completely exhausted, about to give birth to a premature child. Another contraction was coming. They were still eight minutes apart, but becoming more intense.
Aideen's voice, the Irish Gaia inside who taught me fire, rang in my head.
Ye can only piss with the cock ye got.
She was right. No sense in wasting time, I needed to prepare.
I set the boat on course for the Australian city, and turned on the auto-pilot. Of course, I had planned on riding the wind there, not a boat, so I'd have to deal with port issues once I got there. At this rate, I'd be arriving in the middle of the next night anyway. Maybe I could sneak in undetected – that is if I didn't have a crying baby at my breast by then.
I made my way below deck and started searching the rooms, frantic to find something; anything to help me before the next contraction came, and before the boat ran into an iceberg. I opened the door to one of the rooms and Shawn's odor hit me hard. I took a deep, calming breath and forced myself in. I rummaged through dresser drawers and boxes. Several copies of his manifesto, a few clothes, some knifes. That was it. I leaned down to look under the cot when I felt the waves of pain coming back. I buried my face in his bed spread, kneeling down, and endured. It was the worst yet, with everything 'Shawn' surrounding me; his scent, the feel of his bed, even the slightly salty taste of one of his pillows as I bit down. The contractions were starting to get difficult to breathe through.
After it was over, I stumbled back into the hallway. Just opposite me was a very clean, white room. It had a bed, retractable at the feet; stirrups protruding from the end. On one wall were shelves lined with clean towels, antiseptic, and swabs. There was also a row of books. I walked over and ran my finger along their spines.
Natural Childbirth, Labor and Delivery, Birthing at Home
… I gasped. Shawn was planning on bringing me here, and delivering the baby himself. I pulled out a folder, full of notes. Scrawl in his handwriting filled each page. Information on how to handle delivery when the mother was unconscious, how to perform a C-section… I closed it quick and stuffed it back on the shelf.
Further up, I saw stacks of newborn diapers, formula, bottles, baby clothes, and blankets. He was planning on keeping my baby. No evidence on what he had planned to do with me. My resolve to go underground deepened. I whipped into action. I couldn't stay in this room; I needed to be at the captain’s deck to steer the boat and monitor the equipment. Everything I needed would have to come with me. I started packing supplies in the small basinet I found in the corner of the room. I spent the next two hours ferrying books, towels, medicines, and baby supplies to the captain’s deck. The time spent was made significantly longer; I had to stop every six to seven minutes now to ride out the contractions. Once I had everything up, I raided the kitchen area and filled a bucket with ice, grabbed plenty of water bottles, and filled other buckets with fresh water.
Sweating profusely, I made a bed in the corner of the captain’s deck using a thin twin mattress, blankets, and pillows. I lay down and sucked on ice cubes, recovering from my many treks up and down the stairs, pausing only when the contractions came. Four minutes apart, lasting up to 45 seconds each. I had done some reading of my own; this was the point you were supposed to go to the hospital.
I laughed out loud at the thought. I considered stopping the boat to endure the rest of the crazy journey without having to worry about running into an iceberg. But what if something went wrong? What if I needed a hospital? I decided the closer I was to civilization, the better off I would be.
After another contraction, I uncoiled from the fetal position, slowly lifting myself to my feet, and hobbled over to the steering wheel. Nothing but the ice cold, frothy blue sea in front of me and the clear, crisp sky above me. "I am in labor. I am alone in the middle of the Southern Ocean." I looked back at my makeshift hospital room. I took a deep breath in. The oxygen flowed throughout my body, calming me and replenishing my muscles.
"I am about to meet my beautiful baby girl."
I smiled. I had never felt so in control.
Excerpt from ‘Fire, Book Three of the Akasha Series’:
Micah pulled himself up the last few feet of rope. The pulling had stopped, but the rope hadn’t been let go of altogether. What was Alex doing up there? Micah crested the top of the deep cavern. A hand appeared; it was strong, firm, and familiar. It yanked back, pulling the rest of Micah’s tired body over. Micah pushed himself to a standing position, and looked up, right into Shawn’s bright blue eyes.
Micah did a double take, stepping back and nearly falling back into the hole. Alex was still at the rope, confused into inaction. The very man they had just been battling, had tried to kill, was standing before them, helping them, and looking just as worse for the wear.
Micah reached for his gun, it was no longer there. Alex had apparently done the same, giving Micah a sympathetic ‘been there, done that’ nod.
“Where’s Kaitlyn?” Her absence was suddenly very noticeable among the maelstrom of male ego.
“Gone.” Shawn replied. His hand was at his side, blood seeping through his wound after exerting himself to help Micah.
“What did you do to her?” Micah, fatigue momentarily forgotten, lunged for Shawn. He didn’t give him a chance to answer. They were both on the ground wrestling about as effectively as four years olds, with five year old strength.