Chapter 28
I pulled my key card from my jeans’ back pocket and led Jonah by the hand to our door. My stomach twisted into a knot of nerves as we walked. It had been over a year since I’d had sex, and then I had only been with my high school boyfriend Adam a few times.
I was ready to sleep with Jonah, but I had worked so hard to stop thinking about him. I’d blocked my desire for his blue-green eyes, his jet-black wavy hair, and his tall toned body and chiseled arms. Our moment had finally come and as I slid my card into the slot on our motel door, all I could think of was that I didn’t know how many girls Jonah had been with and when. Faith? Probably. Melissa? Possibly. There must have been a few girls during his university years. Maybe high school as well. I wasn’t the jealous type, but I was curious. It would have to wait.
No sooner than I opened the door and stepped inside, Jonah turned me around and kissed me. I backed up as he pushed forward. Our mouths connected and our arms wrapped around each other. The back of my knees hit the bed. Jonah bent me backward, slowly climbing over top. The warmth of his breath was charged with electricity, healthy and greedy.
“I never thought this would happen. I’m still in shock,” I said.
“If we hadn’t found the serum in San Francisco, I would have created something myself. I wasn’t going to lie down and die.” He rolled me over on top of him and gripped my backside firmly.
As Jonah pulled my pelvis into his, I leaned down and kissed his neck, nudging my way up to his earlobe. He lost patience and lunged for my mouth. He reached down to my waist and unbuttoned my jeans. I sat up and peeled off my pants, sitting on top of him in my T-shirt and panties. I looked down at his face in the dark. I wanted to savor the night. I flicked the lamp switch on the nightstand next to us.
His smooth pale skin glowed warmly in the yellow light. He smiled and traced the outline of the top of my bra under my thin shirt. My skin tingled at his touch, sending delightful prickles down both arms. He gripped my thighs with both hands and sat up, kissing me again with intensity. I kissed him back with abandon, wrapping my legs around his waist. I gave in and let heat overtake us both.
Dawn light poured in through the gap in the heavy canvas curtains of our motel room. My naked body curled snugly up against Jonah’s back. I moved my hand up along his bare thigh under the sheets, hoping to wake him carefully.
“I could get used to waking up like this, next to you every morning.”
“Do you ever think about what we’ll do after all of this is over? I mean, will we go home to Victoria and look for jobs again? Or start somewhere new?”
“I don’t care where we land, now that you’re finally talking about a future with me.”
“You make it sound like I put up a fight.”
“Didn’t you, Irina?” He raised his voice.
“I did what I did to protect you. If you think back, you did the same thing to me in the beginning,” I said defensively.
“Oh, yeah. Right.” He smiled and kissed me, artfully sliding over top of me.
“Shouldn’t we make an appearance, you know, for breakfast?” I pulled back from him briefly.
“After all the waiting
we
did, they can sit there for another ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes?” I said, overly incredulous. “Is that all?”
“Okay, an hour.” He kissed my neck and I gave in to the rush of heat.
Josh had made another fast food run by the time Jonah and I knocked on Nellie and Bruno’s door. Our friends looked at us with mixed expressions of knowing guile and awkward approval. Everyone except Cole. His stone cold face deterred me from making eye contact with him. A pang of guilt passed through me. I wondered what my poor brother heard from our trio.
“I got you each a bacon and egg bun. Should be cold by now though,” said Josh through an irrepressible grin.
The room hummed with white noise as no one spoke for an excruciatingly long moment.
“Okay, back to reality,” said Faith.
“Good idea. We need a plan of attack before we head into the desert,” said Ilya.
“What exactly do we have to go on?” said Nellie.
“I know Ivan and Tatiana were on their way to the Mojave Desert and they took my sister with them. I don’t think she’s in danger, but I don’t know if they want her because she’s a variant or if it’s to use her against me.”
Bruno gave me a long, steady look. “Are you sure it was the Mojave?”
“Not at first, but I saw them pass a sign for the ‘Mojave Desert Joshua Tree Road Scenic Backway’ which is pretty specific.”
“We’ll head down that road and see where it takes us,” said Ilya.
Nellie picked up her tablet, swiping and tapping away.
“I’ll still need a decent supply of water in the desert, but that’s mostly for offensive purposes now,” said Jonah.
“I’m glad we’re all match-fit, but we shouldn’t let our guard down for a minute. Adelaide and Ralph may be actively helping the enemy now,” said Bruno.
“I found the Backway. We need to cross over into southern Utah via Vegas, but it’s not too far,” said Nellie.
“Everybody pack up. We leave in ten,” said Josh loudly enough for the whole room.
“Works for me. I’ve seen as much of Bakersfield as I ever wanted to see.” Cole marched out of the room. I grabbed Josh’s arm.
“Would you mind swapping me and Jonah for Nellie and Bruno in your Jeep?” I said sheepishly.
“I don’t think Cole’s going to let a little drama ruin the bigger picture,” said Josh.
“Humor me. Faith can go with Cole and we’ll take Ilya,” I said as firmly as I dared.
“Fine. Out front in ten,” said Josh.
We packed, checked out, and were pulling away from the Desert Breeze motel, headed east. Jonah and I sat in the back of Josh’s Jeep. I leaned forward in my seat, holding Jonah’s hand as though the battle lay straight ahead. But only dusty desert stretched around us as far as the eye could see. I hoped with every fiber of my being that Jonah had truly stabilized and our surroundings presented no threat.
“He’s fine. Stop worrying already. He hates it when you worry,” Ilya called out from the front seat. Josh stared at the road ahead.
“Did I ever tell you I hate it when you invade my head uninvited?” I said.
“Let’s worry about the task ahead. We need food. There’s no better place to hit a buffet than Las Vegas. We’ll stop for lunch and be in southern Utah before dinner,” said Josh.
“Try to get some sleep, sis. Dream about the enemy, if you can manage it,” said Ilya.
“Thanks,” I said sarcastically.
“It’s not a bad idea. We need all the intel we can get right now,” said Jonah.
“Okay, but no chatter until I fall asleep then.” I fished my tarot cards out of my backpack and shuffled them. I ran my fingers over cards at random. When I was satisfied, I curled up with my head down in Jonah’s lap and let the rumbling vibration of the road lull me to sleep.
Inside the same trailer where I’d seen Ivan and Tatiana, Rose and Gemma sat at the tiny dining table. Rose was on the far edge, her wings angled out into the cramped kitchen space. Sage stood steps away tending a boiling pot on the stove.
“We had another healer in Victoria. She knew your sister too,” said Rose.
“Do you think you can bring your sister around to working with us?” said Sage to Gemma.
“I don’t see why she isn’t on your side already. Ivan is her father. And he got justice for my parents. That’s enough for me. Once Irina finds out what really happened to Mom and Dad, she’ll get on-board fast enough,” said Gemma.
“We’re lucky to have you here with us, and not just because you’re Irina’s sister. If anything happens to us–or to your sister–having you here means we can recover if a couple of hotheads shoot first and ask questions later,” said Rose.
“I’m happy to help. I don’t know what happened to Irina to make her run away, but she’ll listen to me. She has to,” said Gemma enthusiastically.
The trailer door opened and Tatiana stepped onto the metal stairs with an air of contempt. She wore her crisp camping khakis with a lavender collared shirt. She looked fresh from the fields of a country club. “Gemma, it’s time for my first trial injection. I need you ready, should something go wrong.”
“Do you know what the serum is going to do to you? Healing is still new to me. I don’t want to screw it up and let you down, so the more I know about what’s happening inside your body, the better,” said Gemma.
“It’s hard to say what the reaction will be, but I’m expecting a plant-based kinetic ability of some sort.” Tatiana rolled up her sleeve.
Rose, Sage, and Gemma watched closely as Tatiana removed a glass vial of green liquid from the trailer’s small fridge. She opened a drawer, pulled out a plastic package, and unwrapped a syringe. She turned the vial upside down and pierced the top with her needle, drawing green liquid into the syringe.
“I may lose consciousness. That’s fine. Let me rest and monitor me. Make sure my heart keeps beating and my lungs keep breathing.” Tatiana set the needle down on the counter and prodded the inside of her left elbow with her right hand.
Satisfied, she picked up the needle and slowly, carefully, pierced a vein in her forearm. She pushed the back of the syringe until the green liquid disappeared. She stood confidently for a moment, and then faltered. She gripped the kitchen counter and steadied herself against the cupboard opposite her.
Gemma wiggled out from between the trailer’s bench seat and dining table. She put her hand on top of Tatiana’s. They both closed their eyes for a moment. Tatiana suddenly opened her eyes filled with opaque chlorophyll. Her skin flushed a pale green hue.
Chapter 29
In the daylight, Las Vegas looked anticlimactic. I had always wanted to visit the city and I knew it was best seen at night. We’d agreed to visit the Strip, so Josh turned off the highway and into the heart of Vegas. I looked out my window, up at a column of giant palm trees dividing the road. I touched my window and felt the warmth of the summer sun. Josh’s air conditioner ran full blast and it wasn’t enough to keep the mid-day heat at bay.
I thought we were going to walk through an air-conditioned casino to find a grimy all-you-can-eat buffet. Instead, Josh pulled into the parking lot of a Denny’s. Cole turned in behind us. The retro-style diner was simple enough, an angular red roof and flat stone siding. Behind the restaurant, a long rectangular building striped with dark windows stretched into a giant spire. Jonah and I followed Ilya and Josh inside to an empty corner booth.
“What can I get for you, gentleman? And lady, sorry,” said a gum-chewing redheaded woman who looked to be about the age my mother was.
“Do you serve breakfast all day here?” said Josh.
“And all night too,” said the waitress.
“Let’s do Grand Slams for everyone. Eight total. We’ve got four more friends coming,” said Josh.
“We had breakfast this morning,” I said.
“Grand Slams are simple. And you can never have too much breakfast,” said Josh.
“We need to make it a quick stop,” said Jonah.
“Y’all want the same thing then? Eggs? Toast? Bacon or sausage?” said the waitress.
“Over-easy, wheat bread and bacon for everyone,” said Josh.
Faith, Cole, Nellie, and Bruno arrived at our booth and slid into the seats. Bruno and Cole both nodded at the waitress signaling their approval of Josh’s order. The waitress scratched on her notepad and left.
“Anyone interested in Tatiana’s latest achievement?” I said to the table.
“Are you sure you’re pronouncing ‘abomination’ correctly?” said Faith.
“Okay, her latest abomination. Does it count if she does it to herself?” I said rhetorically.
“Yes,” said Cole flatly.
“She’s started her own variation. The transformation may be complete,” I said.
“Aunt Tat, what have you done now,” said Ilya shaking his head.
“She’s become something plant-oriented,” I said as quietly as I could and still be heard.
“Will she be dangerous?” asked Nellie.
“I’m sure if she can manage it, yes,” said Cole.
“Few creatures in the plant kingdom are actively dangerous,” said Jonah.
“How about passively poisonous?” said Cole.
“Let’s assume she’s dangerous, poison or otherwise. Are she and Ivan still in the desert? What’ll we do when we catch them? And what do we do if we miss them, again,” said Bruno.
“Ideally, fight, incapacitate, and obtain a copy of
The Compendium
so incidents like the Sutro Baths don’t ever happen again,” I said.
“If we miss them in the Mojave, we’ll keep chasing them,” said Ilya.
“All doom and gloom aside, it’s too bad we can’t stay in Vegas longer. Not because of the gambling though,” said Faith.
“I’ll bite. Why is that?” I said.
“This is the perfect city for variants!” Faith exclaimed excitedly.
“I think you’re overestimating people’s tolerance for weird things,” said Jonah, evaluating a tent card advertising pie and ice cream.
“She may have a point. Ralph moved in public on a limited basis as long as he was in an urban area and added elements of the ridiculous to make his lizard self look like a costume. The tactic worked in regular cities,” said Nellie.
“Some variations look like magic tricks. And this is the city of magic,” said Bruno.
“It’s the city of horseshit,” said Cole.
“I’m willing to bet that if one or even all of us displayed our abilities, any onlookers will clap thinking it’s street magic,” said Faith confidently.
“I’ll take that bet,” said Jonah.
“If I win and the people stay chill, you will personally locate and bring me a pint of genuine cotton candy ice cream. From a parlor, not grocery store crap,” said Faith.
“Shouldn’t be too hard in Vegas. And if I win? What’ll you bring me?” said Jonah.
“What do you want?” said Faith. Jonah paused to think.
“Ten liters of distilled water. Not filtered water, not spring water. Distilled,” said Jonah.
“Where do I find distilled water?” Faith frowned. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter ‘cause I’m not going to lose.”
“This has
got
to be a bad idea. You’ve only just bounced back. So now you’re at your fighting weight and you’re ready take on the world?” I said to Jonah.
“Yep.” He smiled, then reached around my waist and squeezed my body into his. It felt good to let him in so close.
“This should be interesting,” said Josh.
“Aren’t we supposed to be on a timeline here?” I said.
“There’s time for this.” Faith cuddled up close to Ilya, mirroring me and Jonah. I felt another pang of guilt as I caught Cole’s face in my peripheral vision.
“Let’s hit the Mirage. Faith, you could use the volcano and the flame throwers and Jonah, you could use the water feature beneath them both,” said Ilya.
“Been to Vegas often?” I asked my brother with a tone of reproach.
“I’m a mind-reader. What can I say? Poker comes naturally to me,” said Ilya.
“That’s not poker, it’s cheating,” said Jonah.
“It was practice. And a study in human nature. We also passed both those casinos on the way here, so it’s not like I’ve got a Vegas map tattooed on my eyelids,” said Ilya.
Our waitress reappeared with our breakfasts-for-lunch on a giant folding tray. She set it down and served us while Ilya and Jonah glared at each other.
We ate quickly, headed back out to The Strip and backtracked until we came to the front of the Mirage casino and hotel. As we pulled inside The Mirage’s parking garage, I realized why so little outdoor parking existed in Las Vegas. This was going to be an intensely hot experiment.
“Are you sure you’re okay to be out in such intense sun like this?” I said quietly to Jonah.
“Stop worrying. This won’t take long anyway,” he replied and squeezed my hand with his.
Ilya led us to a shady patch under a cluster of palm trees in the Mirage’s front yard.
“Okay, it’s your show, Faith, so fire first. After you’re both done, if it’s not obvious who won, the group will put it to a vote,” Ilya said to Faith.
We stood shielding our eyes as Faith stretched out her arms and concentrated. Only Bruno seemed to share my level of apprehension.
Faith closed her eyes. She rolled her head around, stretching her neck as she did so. She opened her eyes and squinted, narrowing her eyelids, focusing intently on the fake rock volcano ahead. The volcano roared to life belching a handful of fire plumes up into the sky. A cluster of tourists at a covered bar whipped their heads towards us.
“Hey Madge, check it out,” a bald man called to his wife. “They’re doing a surprise early show!”
“What? Who wants to see a fire show in the middle of the day?” she called back.
Faith sized up the bar patrons to make sure they were watching. She gestured with her arms coaxing flames out of the tubes mounted in the pond around the volcano. Streams of fire shot out in a ring around the volcano, climbing taller and taller. The streams of fire moved around each other in pairs, like corkscrew shaped dance partners. The crowd at the bar ooooohed and ahhhhhhed.
“Look at that! This is not the normal show!” said the bald husband.
“It’s that girl there!” said the wife.
“She’s a street magician,” said another man in the growing crowd at the bar.
Faith detached four streams of fire and linked them into interlocking hoops, like a short chain of fiery rings. After more ooooohing and ahhing, Faith erased the rings remotely and the fire disappeared. The crowd clapped.
“They won’t be so accepting of this.” Jonah stepped forward and stretched his arms out towards the water. He gestured upwards, as Faith had done, coaxing streams of water up in front of the flamethrowers.
Unlike the flames, the columns of water came out of nowhere. The rippling surface of the water spat four streams up into the sky. Mimicking Faith’s display, Jonah created four corkscrews spiraling upward. He then moved the streams into four interlocking rings of water.
“How are they doing that!” squealed the wife still watching from the bar. I turned my attention to the spectators. The group at the bar had doubled.
Jonah moved the rings into one long plume of water and looped it around to one ring, spinning faster and higher, faster and higher. He brought one of his arms down and the spinning ring of water spun into a funnel, connecting back down to the pond.
“Does the hotel allow this?” said the husband.
“Hey, you there!” called a man addressing Jonah personally. “You’re screwing around with private property. This isn’t funny!”
“Sir, excuse me, Sir!” said a man in a navy blue uniform. His arm had a patch with SECURITY written in bright yellow.
“Guys, I think it’s time to go,” I said nervously.
Jonah dropped the water and we all stood frozen for a moment as another two security guards ran toward us.
“You think you’re funny? You’re about to get a rude wake- up call, kid!” yelled the man who’d called to Jonah. “We don’t let vandals run around free in this country!”
“Screw this,” said Cole. He uprooted the palm tree next to him and pushed it down between us and the security guards. Screams erupted from the bar.
“They’re not vandals. They’re terrorists!” screamed the wife.
Nellie ran to the edge of the lawn and hopped the fence. She grabbed the pole of a streetlight with both hands and grimaced. Sparks exploded CRACKLE-ZAP-POP from inside the glass sending shattered light cover raining down around her. The lights of the Mirage’s billboard went dark, followed by the signage on the building. Neon lights, and signs and traffic lights went dark like a ripple flowing out along the strip in both directions.
“Time to go!” shouted Ilya. We turned and ran together back into the covered parking where Nellie had run to meet us.
“No ice cream for you,” said Jonah as we reached Josh’s Jeep and Cole’s car.
“You’re both idiots,” said Cole as he slid behind the wheel of his car. He shut the door and started his car as Josh did the same in his Jeep. Doors slammed in succession and we peeled out of the covered parking in time to watch a fire engine and two cop cars roll past us to the Mirage entrance.
“That was a stupid idea!” I shouted over the passing sirens.
“No point in yelling about it now.” Josh swerved though traffic stopped in the confusion. “Everybody knows hindsight is twenty-twenty, Irina. Chill and let’s get out of here.”
More flashing blue and red lights raced towards us along the strip. We zipped past and kept speeding out into the desert, leaving the dusty dark lights of Vegas behind us.
I fumed at Josh, Jonah and my brother as we drove. They were all irresponsible. I couldn’t be the only person taking our mission seriously, not if we stood any chance of making it through whatever lay ahead. I clenched and unclenched my fists, silently berating myself for not stopping my friends. What had I been thinking?
Our best-case scenario included somehow unraveling the complicated puzzle that was
The Compendium
. Our worst case would be that Ivan stopped us and ruined the world as we knew it, possibly killing some of my friends, definitely killing most of humanity. If eight people couldn’t take potential catastrophic change seriously, the rest of the world stood little chance.
We kept driving northwest and Josh cycled through his radio stations while the rest of us sat in silence, rattled and relieved at the same time. We crossed the state line into Arizona and dusty, flat beige earth stretched ahead of us and around us as. We crossed another line into Utah. Having started our day in California, our trip had included four states in one day. It was probably a record for all of us.
I nodded off for a moment and snapped my head back up in time to see a road sign announcing an exit for the Mojave Desert Joshua Tree Road Scenic Backway.