Gaia Dreams (Gaiaverse Book 1) (71 page)

The Samuels' House

John raced out the back door and down to the
waterfall, where he was shocked to find Samantha lying on the grass, Harry
standing protectively over her. "Come on, Sam, come on, wake up," he urged as
he cradled his daughter in his arms. He saw her eyes flutter open, confusion
and then awareness filling them.

"Daddy, Grandma Abby," she began.

"Yes, Sam, we know. Grandma Abby is missing. She
ran away from the Farm. We need your help, kiddo."

"But, Daddy, the power station?"

"Listen, honey, we'll worry about that later.
For now, let's get back to the house, and we'll head out to the Farm, okay?"

Sam bobbed her head in acquiescence, her face
troubled. As she and Harry walked back, her father said, "I know this is hard
on you, Sam. I know the earthquakes in San Francisco have started. But you have
the best connection to the animals and right now we need to coordinate the
search. I'm sorry to ask this of you, but we need to find Grandma Abby. She
hasn't been okay...mentally, lately."

Sam said softly, "I know, Daddy."

As they walked through the back door, he said, "Yes,
yes, I guess you would know." He reached for a note left on the table by the
door. "Ah, okay, Alex has gone to get Mark and Penny, in case there's a need
for medical help. I guess we'd better jump in the car and get out to the Farm,
Sam."

The little girl stood in front of him and peered
up, struggling under the weight of too many images, but holding onto here and
now. "Daddy," she hesitated, and then said intently, "where's Margaret?"

Power Station, Table Rock Lake Dam

Margaret crept swiftly up the earthen
embankment, lying flat against the ground at the top. There it was, she thought
grimly. A symbol of everything that was wrong, so very wrong. These people were
survivors, and they had part of it right. But they couldn't hang onto this kind
of thing. It would destroy them in the end. Electricity, power--by using this
power they were denying the power within the Earth. And now was the time, she
thought with decision. She could sense all of them focused on something else,
one person, ah, a missing person, searching for her. Or else they were getting
the earthquake sensations--either way, they were out of her way--for now. Not
focused on her. It was strange how her talk with that little precocious child
had clarified her mind, helped her to see she had to take steps now, before
this group got so used to having all their old conveniences. They might be
upset with her, she thought, and then shrugged it off as irrelevant. In the
end, they would thank her. They needed her, after all. They needed someone with
a strong connection to the Earth.

The Samuels' House

"Margaret?" John asked, bewildered. "I saw her
for a minute when she came back up here from the waterfall. I was going to ask
her where you were...funny, I don't know why I didn't." He looked more puzzled.
"Now that's really very odd. Of course I would have asked her about you--why
the hell didn't I?"

Sam said softly, "Oh Daddy, she can do it, same
as me, the mind pressing thing."

"Oh sh--shoot!" he said strongly. "Why would she
keep me from asking--no! Is she the one? The power plant thing?"

He watched Sam nodding and thought this evening
was going downhill fast. "But so soon? Kiddo, listen, are you sure?"

Samantha looked up at him, frustration on her
face. "I wasn't sure. That's why I had to talk to her alone. But then, just
when I was sure, the earthquake started--Daddy, we have to find Margaret!"

"But, Sam--your grandmother. Can we at least wait
until we find Abby?"

"I don't know!" Sam responded. "I can't see all
the way into Margaret. She is--it's like a wall or something. I need help to
see." Her voice trailed off as she thought about it.

"Sam, I think you have to focus on Grandma Abby
for now," her father insisted. "Your Mom and Grandad are worried sick, and Abby
needs to be found. We can talk about Margaret and how to deal with her later--"

"No, Daddy, no," Sam said suddenly, forcefully. "We
gotta stop Margaret now, right now. She's already there!"

"Where? What?" John said, stunned. "You mean at
the power plant?"

"Who's at the power plant?" a voice asked, and
John turned to see Zack and Maria entering the room.

"What? Oh," John said. "It's Margaret--Sam says
she's gone off to the power plant. We knew someone would try to damage it, but
really, it's hard to imagine. She seemed like such a normal person earlier--a
bit intense maybe, but this? And I honestly didn't think anything would happen
so soon," he ended with a rising tone of frustration in his voice.

Zack looked from the agitated man before him to
the little anxious girl. Sam--the girl he'd known from the dreams, even if he
hadn't realized she was just a kid, or a girl for that matter, and said, "What
you don't realize is that Margaret has got some screwy ideas about why all this
happened."

Maria spoke up, "You can say that again. She's...not
right."

Samantha said urgently, "Yes, yes, she is wrong,
very, very wrong. We have to stop her, Daddy. Now."

John looked at each of them in turn, torn between
the two crises. But Samantha had been right about so much before this. And Abby
was her grandmother after all. Sam wouldn't let anything happen to Abby. This
had to be the right choice. "Okay, then," he said decisively, turning and
grabbing his keys off the hook on the wall. "Let's go. You guys come, too,
since you know Margaret." And stopping only to pick up his two-way radio, he
led them from the house.

The Farm

Black was leading his team of searchers into the
woods where some of the birds thought they had seen the woman fleeing among the
trees. Just as his radio cackled with static and Rachel's voice could be heard
saying, "No sign of her yet. Rachel out," he received another voice...in his
head. Remarkably, it was Sam's voice, cool, clear tones, saying, "We need you
at the power plant. Come now."

Black stopped dead in his tracks. Motioning his
group to a halt, he didn't have to pause to think. Sam needed him. "Nathan, you
stay here and take over this group. There's trouble at the power plant. White
and I will go there." And he took off running, the large snowy white owl
floating above his head, leaving a stunned Nathan staring after him.

Before Nathan could go after him, or even
formulate a question, a shout went up from one of the searchers. "Hey! Got a
fresh footprint over here!"

As Nathan ran to where the group was standing,
he heard another man say, "Uh, oh, looks like she headed into that cave system."

Nathan groaned inwardly. He'd gotten the lecture
from Black about the caves. This area was riddled with cave systems, a result
of dissolving limestone rock beneath the earth's surface. If his mother were in
there--Nathan's fear doubled.

Power Station, Table Rock Lake Dam

"Hello! Anybody here?" Lisanne heard a woman's
voice calling out. She looked up to see a tall, striking, red-haired woman
entering the control room. Even though the woman was smiling at her, Lisanne
felt warning and fear emanating from Merlin in her lap. In surprise she said to
herself and Merlin,
But I thought it would be a man! And I thought everyone
would be back here when it happened! And I really, really, really shouldn't
have given my gun to Andy to make the rounds outside...

She felt Merlin's agreement.

"All alone here, are you?" asked Margaret
genially. She stalked across the room to where the petite, spiky-haired young
woman was sitting with a large black cat in her lap. Ah, yes, Margaret thought.
Another animal communicator.

Lisanne watched as the woman brought a large
heavy wrench out from the folds of her full cotton skirt. She listened in
stunned surprise as the woman said, "Why don't you just keep sitting right
there and we'll get along fine, you and your little cat."

And even as Lisanne tried to rise from her
chair, even as she felt her limbs go weak as the woman shook her head and
grimly forced her way into Lisanne's mind, even as she felt the blow to the
back of her head, Lisanne thought, "Merlin, we are so fu--" and then she slid
from the chair onto the floor, motionless.

Merlin launched himself at Margaret's face with
the first blow, claws out, scratching her once before Margaret whacked him
across the room with her free hand. Merlin hit the concrete wall and collapsed
in an almost unconscious state. His last thoughts went out to Waldo,
then...darkness.

Heading to the Power Station, in the car

"No! No, no, no," Samantha shouted from the
backseat. Twisting in her seatbelt, the little girl's head shook back and forth.
"Hurry, Daddy! Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

John stepped on the gas pedal, speeding up the
last road to the power station. He didn't bother asking what was happening. If
it was bad enough for Sam to be this upset, it was bad.

Zack, sitting in the front passenger seat,
looked at him in consternation. "Does she always just know things like this?"

John jerked his head in acknowledgement. "More
and more--it's awful."

Maria slid across the back seat to put an arm
around the trembling and crying Samantha. "What can we do? Can we help her?"

John asked, "Either of you a dreamer or animal
talker?"

Zack said, "I get the dreams. Haven't talked to
any animals."

"Okay, you might be able to help. Open your
mind, clear your thoughts and try to connect to her. We're almost there."

As he closed his eyes to help focus, Zack
thought irrevelantly, that for a safe zone, this place was feeling a lot like
some war zones he'd been in.

Power Station, Table Rock Lake Dam

Andy realized he was whistling and walking
jauntily up the path to the front door of the power plant, all in an attempt to
ward off a sense of unease. He stopped and looked at Waldo. "You feel that,
boy?" he asked the dog.

Waldo whined.

"Yeah, there is something, isn't there, a feeling
of--danger. I thought it was just me feeling weird lugging this gun around," he
continued, waving the gun vaguely. "Or some residual effect from the San
Francisco earthquake. But now--come on, Waldo, let's get back to Lisanne and
see if she feels it--"

At that moment Waldo barked loudly and took off
running for the door. Andy stood stock-still for a second, and then as Merlin's
call for help went from Waldo to him, yelled out "Lisanne!" and dashed after
the dog.

Waldo got to the control room first, skidding to
a stop as he faced an unknown woman standing over Lisanne's body. The dog saw
Merlin crumpled up next to the wall. He heard the woman saying, "Just stay
where you are and nobody else gets hurt."

But Waldo knew things about people who hurt other
people. He knew they didn't stop hurting you just because they said they would.
He knew once they crossed that line and started hurting one person, one animal,
it was easier and easier to do it again. The dog heard Andy run up behind him
and sent the same thought over and over--danger, danger, danger.

Andy roared, "What have you done to her?"

Margaret replied, "She would have tried to stop
me--I could see that in her thoughts. I just tapped her on the head a bit," she
said, continuing, "she'll probably be fine. The question now is, will you and
your dog give me trouble or stay out of my way?"

Margaret walked slowly, but surely toward Andy,
pausing momentarily as he raised the gun up to point it at her, and then she
just kept coming. Andy's hand shook slightly, but he kept the gun pointed at
her.

"Listen, lady, I don't know you, don't know what
your problem is, what you want to do here, but you'd better re-think your plan."

"My problem? It's a problem for all of us! We
can't keep doing this, can't keep the technology that damages the planet. What
I want to do is save the planet before it's too late," Margaret replied
implacably.

"Save the planet? By attacking Lisanne and
Merlin?" he asked incredulously.

"Merlin? Oh, the cat," Margaret said. Andy
looked startled and she nodded her head. "Oh, yes, I have the ability to read
your thoughts, your dog's too. He seems to be rather slavishly attached to you,
by the way. Yes, the Earth has given me this ability, obviously to help her, to
aid in her protection."

Andy shook his head, "A lot of people have new
abilities now, in case you hadn't noticed. Now--stop where you are!" He realized
suddenly she was right there in front of him, reaching for the gun....how? How
had he not noticed...his mind felt...fuzzy.

Waldo called out to Andy mentally. No use. He
could sense that woman doing something, stopping Andy somehow. Just as Margaret's
hand touched the gun, Waldo lunged at her.

Seeing Waldo jumping into harm's way broke
whatever hold Margaret had on Andy's mind, but it was at once too jarring, too
much happening, too fast--

Margaret and Andy struggled over possession of
the gun right as Waldo came for her. Her finger reached the trigger--she fired
the weapon--a loud, very loud noise, shockingly loud.

Waldo's jaws closed on her arm as the gun went
off, changing the trajectory of the bullet...but not enough to keep it from
exploding into Andy. Waldo watched helplessly as Andy dropped to the floor, but
didn't let go of Margaret's arm. Unfortunately, he realized with alarm, it was
not the arm controlling the gun. He twisted away right as she fired the gun
again--at him.

The Farm

Jessica stumbled on a rock, and then felt
Harmony's hand beneath her arm, keeping her upright. She stopped and said, "Hold
up, Dad. This isn't working. Nathan wasn't sure that was her footprint and we
can't just wander around here without some idea if we are really on the right
track. We need Sam."