The Shadow Watcher

  “Pair of macaws?” A pair of hyacinth macaws had inhabited a neighbor’s yard ever since I was a little girl. They migrated every winter, but returned every summer to the avocado tree in the Nelson’s yard three doors down. “You don’t mean....”

  “Yes, your Romeo and Juliet, I think you call them, know where the tree is. They don’t fly over the open ocean, so we find them off the coast, near a resort area called Playa Azul. They will lead us to the river, where we will take the inflatable inland.”

  “Yes,” Zhou’s voice came from behind, startling me, “we should spot them tomorrow afternoon.”

  I hugged him, “Mr. Zhou, I’m so glad to see you.” I stepped back and looked him over. He looked the same as he did last week. “You haven’t used the Philosopher’s Stone?” I just assumed he would have, as my mother did.

  He smiled, “Don’t need to yet. When I do, I will. Now, let’s eat.”

  ***

  Zhou had a feast of fish ‘n chips all laid out for us, complete with ice cold beer. “Been fishing?” Michael asked.

  “Catch was good.” Zhou grinned. “Had to do something to keep busy, waiting for you two.”

  I was surprised by how hungry I was, given the events that occurred earlier in the evening, or rather Friday evening. Feeling like I’d been awake the last seventy-two hours instead of hopping through them, I kind of zoned out while they chatted.

  Michael asked, “Get any sleep?”

  “Sure, had it on autopilot all day. No worries, I’ll be up all night.”

  “Any sign of the macaws yet?”

  “No,” Zhou shook his head, “we’re still too far out. Probably spot them around noon tomorrow, then the rest of the day we’ll follow them by sea. The next day they take you inland.”

  Nine days to find the Flamella Tree and hop back to the Society. If the conditions Mom and Jayden are enduring are as tolerable as Michael says, everything will be okay. It drove me crazy that I wouldn’t know until we got back.

  Michael went on, “Anything unusual going on back home since we left?”

  Zhou glanced at me and smiled too broadly, “Nothing happens in Novica.”

  I was mid-way through a gulp of my beer, and while I managed to avoid spraying the table, I nearly choked. Nothing happens in Novica, my ass! Michael and Zhou both sprang to their feet as I turned away from the table and doubled over coughing, ready to perform the Heimlich, if necessary. I stuck my arm out behind me, motioning them back to their seats as I regained my composure. “Excuse me, gentlemen. Please, do go on.”

  “I’m sorry, Miss Sam, are you all right?”

  “Yes, Mr. Zhou, but let’s make it just Sam from now on?”

  “Only if you make it Zhou,” he said with a grin.

  “You got it, Zhou.” I felt weird saying it. “What you meant was that nothing new of interest has happened since we left?” Because we all knew there was a lot more going on in Novica than meets the eye.

  His eyes darted over to Michael as he nodded, “Right.” He took another bite of food.

  He was leaving something out, but the buzz from my beer kicked in and I decided not to care for a little while if they left me out of the loop.

  Zhou resumed the conversation, “How’s Tollack?”

  “Even more self-absorbed and volatile than the last time I saw him, if that is possible.”

  “He is a liability. We should have dealt with him long ago,” Zhou condemned.

  “He may still be of use,” Michael argued.

  Zhou shook his head, “No, he is trouble. I know, I had to put up with him centuries longer than you. We would not be in this situation if not for him.”

  They went on debating who should be counted as friend or foe among the Society members, and I drifted off into my food and thoughts until my plate was clean. By then, I was almost done with my second beer and ready for a cigarette, so I excused myself and took the bottle with me out on deck.

  ***

  A storm was rolling across the ocean, tucking the stars away into its folds. My cigarette was almost gone when Michael and Zhou came out to head up to the bridge.

  “You should probably get settled down below, Sam,” Michael advised me. “It looks like a long night ahead.”

  I asked, “Where will you two be?”

  Zhou pointed to himself, “I’m going to make sure the boat doesn’t sink,” then jerked his thumb at Michael. “I can’t speak for him.” Michael’s shoulders heaved as he held back a laugh. “Good night, Miss Sam,” he said, forgetting about our agreement.

  So did I. “Goodnight, Mr. Zhou.” It was habit.

  Michael shook his head at the old man, and said to me, “I’ll be down in a little while. Zhou and I need to finish discussing a few things.” He meant they would finish their conversation about whatever they didn’t want to discuss in front of me at dinner.

  I shrugged, said, “Okay,” turned and opened the door to the cabin. Even with Zhou’s hypersonic modifications in place, the sea was rough enough to cause a little pitching and rolling, so I held the handrail on both sides as I made my way down below.

  Still charged from the events of the day, I decided that I didn’t want to go to bed. Two beers wasn’t enough; I wanted to be drunk - now - so I went straight for the bar and poured a shot of vodka. It burned as it went down, so I mixed the next double shot with some cranberry juice to take the bite out.

  I went over to the stereo system, and put on one of my old-mix CDs, left behind from a previous voyage. It was an odd mix - No Doubt, The Cure, Republica, Billy Idol, and The Offspring - but whatever state of mind I was in when I made the disc matched up with the inebriated state I was currently in, so it worked for me. I cranked up the volume.

  Dancing with Myself always makes me feel better; it helps me forget about the rest of the world. In what seemed like a semi-choreographed routine, I stripped my clothes, hop-stepped into a pair of boxer shorts and shimmied into the cami I’d packed for sleepwear. My feet kept moving while I brushed my teeth and washed my face. Saffron was singing by the time I was done, and I was Ready to Go back and finish my drink, which tasted a little weird after the toothpaste.

  I danced and danced, and thought I must have been rocking the boat. I needed to forget what happened at the cabin - how crazy my life had become - and dancing did that, at least temporarily.

  Somewhere about halfway through I’m Just a Girl, not to mention my best Gwen Stefani vocal impression, I felt Michael’s presence in the room. I didn’t see him at first; he hovered in the shadows on the steps.

  I remember trying to get him to dance with me, taking his hand and drawing him into the room. I twirled around him in circles, pausing to strike a provocative pose here and there. He laughed at my goofiness, shaking his head so that his hair fell in just the right way, looking like a shy boy afraid to dance with his date at Sadie Hawkins. I remember taking the collar of his coat in my fists, pulling him into a spin, then slamming him into the wall and kissing him.

  Knotting my fingers in his hair, I pressed my full length against him, the transparency of the thin fabric separating our skin betraying every chiseled line of his chest and torso. Acutely aware of the electricity coursing through my every nerve, I felt the ripple effects of that kiss take hold of my body, burning so intensely, my skin melted where his made contact.

  He lifted me, and I hooked my legs around his waist as he carried me across the room, our lips not parting until he dropped me on the couch. My pout lasted a split second, until I saw he was just taking off his trench coat. Then he was on top of me, carefully supporting his weight, while his lips began to not so carefully explore my neck and earlobes.

  I knew then I had been dying of thirst in the desert, and his kisses were my quenching salvation. I wanted nothing more than to drown in them, so I did.

  CHAPTER 24

  10/03/2006

  Reflections

  The sun was already more than halfway on its journey to noon by the time I opened my eyes.
I sat up, but the spinning in my head combined with the rocking of Poseidon's Gift made me groan and lie back down. One too many, Sam.

  Something seemed off, but I couldn’t place what it was. I looked over and saw my cami and shorts on the floor. When did that happen? Then, I remembered throwing myself on Michael, and the whole world turned upside down again. Who am I? Overnight, I’d become a murderer and a cheater. Okay, technically, on the calendar, it was over four nights. It bugged me a little that I found it easier to deal with my former transgression than the latter. They were there to kill you, Sam. It helped to keep that in mind.

  Vaguely, I remembered waking and seeing Michael next to me at some point in the night, but there was no sign of him now. I looked up and noticed a note taped to the door that read “Meet me in the galley,” so I got dressed and headed in that direction.

  ***

  At a loss for words when I saw Michael at the stove, I cleared my throat to get his attention. He smiled at me over his shoulder, and gestured for me to take a seat with a spatula. A moment later, he delivered my plate to the table. “Sorry, it’s just scrambled eggs, bacon and toast. I’m not much of a cook.”

  “How many years have you had to learn?” I teased.

  He shrugged, “Never had anyone to cook for, I guess.”

  I finished a mouthful and taunted him further, “Well, it’s edible.”

  He chuckled as he sat down across from me, with his plate. He drew my sunglasses from his trench coat, and slid them over in my direction, “You really should keep these on at all times.”

  “Right,” I slipped them on, “I need to make it a habit.” I never was the sunglasses wearing type, so it would be a shift.

  We sat and ate in silence, until I couldn’t stand it anymore. I needed to apologize for throwing myself at him. “Michael, about last night....”

  “Sam,” he spoke gently, “last night-”

  “Shouldn’t have happened,” I blurted, immediately wishing I hadn’t, because I didn’t want him to think I was upset with him. “No, I mean ... well....” My cheeks burned.

  “Oh, you think we....” The smug look on his face put me off at first, “Sam, what’s the last thing you remember?”

  “Dancing,” I took a bite of toast, “and drinking a lot. You weren’t drunk, were you?”

  “No.”

  “I know, I was singing I’m Just a Girl,” my face flushed again.

  “And then?” he urged me on.

  “Black.”

  “Pearl Jam didn’t come up on the play list.”

  “No, I mean literally. I don’t really remember much else.” It wasn’t entirely true, but what memories from that point on I did have were pretty tainted.

  “You probably shouldn’t drink so much,” he scolded playfully.

  “I know, but really Michael...”

  “Sam, that’s all that happened,” his tone was even.

  “But I woke up without my....”

  “Yeah, well,” he sighed. “You fell asleep, so I carried you to bed. I stayed, in case you got sick. About an hour later,” now came his turn to blush, “you jumped up rambling about the heat and stripped, then got back into bed, under the sheet. A half hour later, you were shivering so I covered you with the blanket. I kept my clothes on, except for the trench coat and shoes.”

  I chewed on that with my toast for a moment, and remembered very distinctly shoving my tongue down his throat more than once, among other things. “More happened between my singing and passing out than you’re telling me,” I insisted.

  “A gentleman never kisses and tells.”

  “Those were not very gentlemanly kisses.”

  His cheeks flushed again, but he kept his cool, “I thought you didn’t remember anything after I came in the room.” He had me there. He gave a deep sigh before continuing, “Sam, if I were going to take advantage of you, I could have done so on any number of occasions. I’m not going to let you do anything stupid either, both because I’ve sworn to, and because I do care, so please believe me when....”

  “Okay,” I cut him off, putting my hand up. He was convincing enough. “I don’t need you to detail all of the reasons why you aren’t going to sleep with me....”

  “I never said never,” he winked, “just that we haven’t yet.”

  I threw a bit of crust from my toast at him, and it bounced right off of the tattoo on his forehead. He shook his head and just smiled at me like it was the most natural thing, us sitting there together. I couldn’t help but smile back, because it was.

  ***

  We spotted Romeo and Juliet just before noon, just as Zhou said we would. Michael had taken over for Zhou at the wheel so he could get some sleep, and I went to lie out on the deck to get some sun, in shorts and a tank top, while we followed the birds along the coastline. More than getting a tan, I wanted to avoid being alone with Michael. I barely made it through breakfast without kissing him.

  It was a beautiful day, clear skies and fair winds. Inevitably, my thoughts turned to Michael, and the role he now played in my life. What exactly would that be when we got back? I knew that I had certainly not had enough of kissing him yet, and I didn’t know what to do about it. Then there was Bailey, sweet and caring, overprotective and assumingly oh-so-blissfully-ignorant-of-all-of-this-craziness Bailey. Oh crap, what do I do about him?

  Artemis never seemed to warm up to him, whereas she adored Michael. Don’t they say you should trust your animal’s instincts? Maybe that’s not quite how it goes, but that’s how I chose to look at it in this situation. Then again, ever since Bailey had confessed to me about his past, I was a little more intrigued. He was a wounded soul, longing for someone to share life with him. Though the circumstances were a little over the top, it was a romantic notion nonetheless. I resolved that I would not decide anything until we got back and I had consulted with Jayden.

  My grandfather’s wise feline lay stretched out as still as a statue beside my thigh on the lounge chair, with just the tip of her tail twitching to indicate she was a living creature. I’m sure it is a talent inherent in all felines. I stroked her down her back, which she wasn’t expecting; she flattened her ears and turned her head back, giving me a sharp “Maow.”

  I laughed aloud in response. “If only everything was as simple as you make it look, Fuzzball.” She rubbed her chin on my knee and purred contentedly before going back to her statuesque state.

  I tried not to think about what would be going on back at the Society’s complex, about what Mom and Jay were doing, but it was impossible. I really hoped what Michael said would be true, that they were just sitting back, sipping on some Flamella wine. I wondered how the Society would react when we returned, and what would become of the tree.

  The tree was the reason for my own existence, something my father and grandfather had protected for nearly five hundred years. Samuel was compelled to leave behind everything he knew, and ultimately gave his life to keep it safe. He and Dad had taken it from the Society for a good reason, even if I never fully understood what it was. Only because Mom feared for my life had she agreed to go there, even though she knew it was exactly what my father didn’t want her to do.

  There was no guarantee that Tollack Pennington would keep his word and release any of us upon our return. If I was him, I would be weighing my options on how to dispose of us right now. There were a few I knew would support us, but I didn’t know if they would be enough to overthrow Pennington’s orders. Without the tree, we would be of no use to him. I was not willing to risk sacrificing Mom or Jay though, so Pennington would get his tree.

  We had Hoppers set to get us out of there, but it would be a matter of going on the run if the Society was after us. Things would be much less complicated if everything would go according to plan, and we could ally with the Society.

  ***

  We dropped anchor in a harbor near a string of resorts just before nightfall, and I watched two lone fishermen pull their nets in the last time for the day. By
the time they reached the shore, Zhou had cooked up another wonderful feast for dinner. I ate heartily, but stayed away from the alcohol. We were going to finish getting ready after dinner so that we could leave at dawn, and the last thing I needed to take with me into the jungle was a hangover.

  Michael told me that before Zhou left Novica, he had been by my place to pick up a few things, among which was my hiking gear. My pack, complete with binoculars, first aid kit, compass, rope, utility knife, and canteen was ready as always, I just needed to fill the canteen, add a few bottles of extra water and some food. I picked out some khaki cargo pants, a dark green camouflage print t-shirt and my brown hiking boots to wear, and decided I was ready.

  I looked out in the other room, and saw Michael arranging some pillows and blankets on the couch. “Michael,” he looked up, startled, but then smiled. “I’m turning in for the night.”

  “Did you set an alarm, or shall I wake you?”

  “That depends on what method you’d use to wake me,” I purred at him.

  He raised an eyebrow, “How ‘bout if you’re not up by five o’clock, I’ll dump a bucket of sea water over your head.”

  I wondered if he’d lied about being drunk the night before, and if it was the reason he’d let his guard down. I decided I’d have to get some booze in him again soon and find out. I put my hands on my hips, “I’ll set an alarm.” I turned and pulled the door shut behind me, emphatically.

  CHAPTER 25

  10/04/2006

  Shadows in the Jungle

  Artemis was licking my forehead when I woke. I peered out of the window facing the mainland and saw the first sliver of the light escape from the horizon, arching wider, up over the mountains, to chase the stars away before the sun rose. It was early.

  I dressed quickly in the clothes I had laid out, then pulled my brush through my hair to detangle it before doing a quick French braid to keep it secure and out of the way. Finally, I put on my sunglasses.