Gaia Dreams (Gaiaverse Book 1) (30 page)

Andy returned the man's stare, and said only, "Yes."

The man shook his head, then said, "Well, come
on over here then," and opened up the back door of the camper.

Lisanne and Andy moved to the camper and for the
next half hour purchased more weapons than either of them would have thought
possible. As they progressed from one crate to the next, it became more and
more clear they didn't have a clue about the weapons they were buying. And as
the minutes passed, Lisanne felt her anxiety rising as this stranger helpfully
showed them how to operate each type of gun, from cleaning to loading to
firing. Something was not right, and Lisanne was regretting with every passing
breath the need to have Merlin in the car instead of by her side. Who was this
oh-so-helpful black market gun merchant?

Finally, she couldn't take any more. Picking up
the latest gun they had been shown how to operate, she stepped away from both
men and said, "Okay, just who the hell are you? FBI? ATF? What?"

Andy spun around and stared at her, thinking she'd
lost her mind. "What are you doing, Lisanne?" he asked.

"I'm asking a question," she replied. "Who is
this guy? Why is he being so helpful? Just what's going on here? I think we
need some answers before we go paying for all this. How do we know we aren't
about to be arrested and thrown in jail?"

Andy's mouth fell open and then snapped shut in
a grim line as he turned to face the man who stood at the door casually loading
a Colt .45 while watching his two young buyers.

"I wondered if you two would worry about that,"
he said. "As for who I am, I don't think names are all that important. Just
call me--Black. What is important is that you need to finish here and get on the
road if you're going to meet with someone up north--am I right? What with the
flood coming and all that."

Lisanne and Andy just stared at him for what
felt to Lisanne to be a full few minutes. Then she became aware that she was
hearing the low sound of chuckling coming from the man who called himself
Black. The weight of the gun in her own hand brought her back to reality enough
to put the gun down and narrow her eyes and start looking around the camper.

Andy said, "What are you doing, Lisanne?"

"I'm looking for a cat or a dog or a--a--a lizard,
or I don't know what animal it is, but I bet there's one here." She turned back
to the man in black and asked, "Am I right?"

He just whistled, and a snowy white owl flew by
them to sit on the shoulder of the man. "This is White," he said.

Cape Fair, Mrs. Philpott's House

Mrs. Philpott sat in the rocking chair by her
window, clipboard on her lap forgotten, while Jessica told her of the
conversation with Sam. She understood Jessica's distress, but knew there was a
lot at stake. Samantha might be a key factor to their survival.

"Jessica," she said in her no-nonsense tone of
voice, "you were only caught up in the moment and in the surprise of hearing
news that was somewhat astonishing. And Samantha does have a child's way of
blithely dropping these momentous announcements on us all."

"But--" Jessica began.

"Wait," Mrs. Philpott continued, "on top of
that, you have to understand that Sam is not a normal six-year old girl--not
anymore."

She paused and wondered how much to say.
Perceval's discussions with her about Samantha's role in their future were only
speculation.

She met Jessica's troubled gaze. "I know that's
hard for you to accept. Samantha is your little girl. But it's clear to
everyone that Sam has a depth of knowledge about what's going on. Her ability
to communicate with the animals is profound. She seems capable of seeing the
future in ways that the adults can't--at least not yet. We don't know what her
ultimate role in all this will be."

"I'm still her mother," Jessica said, "and I'm
not going to let her be
used
to see the future in the way it happened
today. You weren't there. You didn't see what it did to her. It was like she
was there instead of here. I'm afraid if I hadn't been there she wouldn't have
come back."

Mrs. Philpott's brow furrowed as her eyes
narrowed in thought. This was not something Perceval had mentioned. Removing
her glasses, she rubbed her eyes and said slowly, "Obviously, we must protect
Samantha in the days to come--first, because she is a precious child in her own
right. But perhaps even more important are her abilities and contributions.
There may be times when we'll need to rely on her information, on her
abilities. But I promise you that none of us will take advantage of her. It
sounds like you stumbled across something today with her.

"As you know, those of us who have the dreams
really feel like we are there. I should know. I've felt that drowning sensation
before myself in the dreams. But waking up brings you out of it. I've never
tried to look at the future in the way Sam did today. It sounds like she tried
going into some kind of dream state or trance state. Accessing the
consciousness where all of this is coming from.

"It may be that anyone who has a connection with
an animal could do what Samantha did, or it might only be Sam. She has the
strongest ability with the animals. Were you aware that she can communicate
with anyone's animal in our community?"

Jessica looked surprised. "No, I didn't know
that. How did you find out--oh, did Perceval tell you?"

"Yes, he did," Mrs. Philpott answered. "Even he
was surprised. Regardless of that, this all makes me think we have to start
exploring these new abilities. Finding out what the limits are, what new
talents are there that we may not be aware of yet. Because we don't want to
wear down Samantha, you're right about that."

Mrs. Philpott rocked quietly, thinking about the
future, the bits and pieces of it that she knew, the vast amount unknown.
Things were changing in ways uncountable. The world they were all so familiar
with would soon be gone. Then what? Would they know how to survive? Could they
adapt? Learn to? Unknown.

Looking at Jessica sitting hunched over in
worry, Mrs. Philpott asked somewhat sternly, "And as Samantha's mother, are you
ready to guard her? From all of us who would try to use her up or wear her
down? Will you keep her safe while still letting her use her talents and
abilities? Because those are also a part of who she is now, who she has become,
is becoming."

Startled, Jessica looked up into serious, pale
blue eyes that questioned her.

"I will protect her with my life," Jessica
declared, "She's my daughter and I won't let her be hurt by this. No matter
what she becomes, she's still my daughter and I
will
keep her safe."

And as she spoke those words, Jessica felt she
was entering into a covenant, that this conversation, this declaration by her
as Samantha's guardian, was of great import. It was as if she was in some fairy
tale of old, and the wise old wizard was handing down a challenge, a charge to
her to accept. Accepting meant more than being just "Sam's mom."

Jessica's eyes opened wide, and then she
whispered, "You really are the wizard, aren't you?"

Mrs. Philpott sat back in her chair and sighed. "We
are all becoming, my dear. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Maybe you should
spend some time with your trees soon."

Ignoring Jessica's astonished face, she picked
up her clipboard and made up a list of herbs for Harmony to locate tomorrow.

On the outskirts of St. Louis, Missouri

The one-sided argument continued from the train
station to the cab to the gas station that rented trucks to the shopping mall
where Alex finally parked the truck.

Nathan began again. "How many times do I have to
remind you that getting away from the flood plain was the goal here?"

Alex yanked the keys out of the ignition.

Precisely enunciating each word, she said, "And
for the last time, the plans have changed."

Nathan reached across her body and grasped her
door handle. "Just wait, Alex," he said. "Can't we take a minute to talk? You
haven't explained anything! You hauled ass out of the train station muttering
something about getting a truck and I've been running to keep up since--and I
think you can at least tell me what the heck is going on."

Alex took a deep breath and then instead of
yelling at him like he thought she would, she leaned back against the seat and
blew out the air through her mouth. Settling her baseball cap more snugly on her
head and adjusting her ever-present braid, she motioned him away from the door.

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you," she said.

"Finally!" he said throwing his hands in the
air.

Alex laughed a bit wildly, and then, her
laughing ending abruptly, her voice turned serious and quiet and she started, "When
I was asleep on the train, I had a dream."

"Uh, oh," Nathan said. "Why didn't you tell me
right away?"

Alex frowned at him and said, "I almost felt
like I was still in the dream until just now. I was doing what I needed to do
based on what the dream told me, like
I had to do it
. You know when you
reached across me for the door? You brushed against me? When you touched me I
kind of, I don't know,
came to
or something. Like I hadn't been
completely awake until then. You hadn't touched me, nobody had, until then."

A few moments of silence passed as Nathan
thought of Alex driving him across St. Louis in a state of sleep. After
promising himself a good stiff drink at some point in the day, he said, "Okay,
new rule: whenever we wake up, either one of us, from a nap or in the morning,
we each make sure we have made physical contact. This dream thing is too weird!
You're saying you were under some kind of compulsion?"

"I guess," Alex said. "It was just that in the
dream I got information."

"What information?" asked Nathan.

"That we should bring supplies with us to where
we're going," Alex replied.

"Supplies?"

"Yeah," Alex answered dreamily, "a whole list of
supplies, so I would need a truck, so I had to get a truck...." Her voice
trailed off.

"Alexandra!" Nathan said and started to shake
her roughly back and forth.

"Hey! Stop that--what are you doing?" Alex said.

"You sounded like you were drifting off when you
talked about the list of supplies and the truck, when you described what we
needed to get, your voice sounded all spaced out. I thought you were back in
dreamland."

"Oh," Alex said. "Well, your shaking me to death
seems to have woken me right up." She grimaced and Nathan grinned
unapologetically at her.

She continued, "Anyway, I don't know where the
info came from, but I think the people in this safe zone we're heading for
assume they will eventually be cut off. So they're asking us to bring supplies
with us. And I figured a mall like this with a couple of big discount stores
would be the fastest way to fill up the truck so we could get out of here."

"Is it just regular survivalist-type gear?
Whatever that would be," Nathan wondered.

"No, at least, not all of it. There are a lot of
really specific things. A lot of seeds, medical supplies, and yeah, batteries
and stuff, but then there's some pretty weird stuff too. Like stuff for
animals."

Nathan said, "Well, you'd expect them to have
farm animals."

"Uh, no, I mean things to do with the care of
cats and dogs and birds."

Alex just nodded in reply to Nathan's raised
eyebrows.

She added, "And what do they need electronic
parts and computer equipment for? If the world as we know it is ending and we
aren't going to have electricity, how would we use computers?"

"What?" Nathan exploded.

"I know," Alex nodded sagely, "I think you and I
still don't have as much of the big picture as we thought."

Jonesboro, Arkansas

"Black and White?" Andy asked. "Surely your name
really isn't Black."

"No," the man replied, "It's not, but then it
probably wouldn't be a good idea for me to be travelling around with a camper
full of guns using my real name, now would it?"

Lisanne was staring at the big, snowy white owl
in admiration. "That's some bird you've got there--psychic connection?"

Black chuckled again and said, "Well, I don't
know if I'd call it psychic. That word seems a bit mild for what's going on.
Let's just say that White and I have a connection."

"Yes! A connection--that's what I feel so
strongly with Merlin now. It seems like the connection is growing, linking us
together more."

"Or maybe it was always there and it's a pathway
that's just now opening up inside humans so they can feel it--at least that's
what I've been thinking as I've talked to people like you two," Black replied.

Andy leaned against a crate of guns and asked, "You've
met other people like us?"

"A few," came the response.

"Do you know what's going on?" Andy demanded.

"I only have pieces of it, I expect," said Black
musingly. "I've had the dreams of what is coming for a while, and I've lately
been trying to open my mind more to communicate with White here, but I still
feel there is a lot I don't know."

Lisanne nodded thoughtfully, and then said, "So
what's your plan? Are you heading to a–I don't know what to call it, a safe
zone maybe?" Pausing, she shook her head and said, "That is, if any place will
be safe."

Black crossed his muscular arms over his chest
and looked carefully at both of them. "I've been thinking about where to go.
You do realize that society will break down, right? That there will be some
places in this country, around the world for that matter, that will turn into
hell on earth before this is done. And it won't be directly due to the
disasters. People will take the law into their own hands, some will grab power
for themselves, others will indulge in their lowest instincts. It's not going
to be pretty, folks."