A Diamond in My Pocket
Morning begins abruptly when the owner of the truck discovers me and shakes my shoulder.
“Missy, if you needed a place to sleep, I had an extra bed in my room.” His mind doesn’t show any ill intention behind the remark, and he seems friendly enough. I grab my pillow and apologize. As I jump out of the truck, Chris and the gang meet up with me.
Beth says, “Sleep well?” Her smile reveals growing admiration.
“Yes, you?” I answer with a smile on my lips.
We move out of the way so the man can drive his truck out of the parking lot. I notice Chris makes an extra effort to avoid eye contact, but I don’t mind. Somehow, it makes it easier to focus on the task at hand. We need to check-out and get moving.
Soon we are running through the thick forest. The group is arranged differently than before. I’m placed up front to protect the group, I assume, with Justin somewhere in the middle of the pack, and Chris bringing up the rear. I suppose Justin is carrying the package because he has the full protection of the group. Ironically, it’s the real diamond in my pocket that allows me to protect him.
I lead the team over a hilltop and stop so abruptly a couple of kids crash into my back. I stand rooted to the ground with my mouth hanging open.
Beth comes up behind me. “What’s the matter?”
I gulp and say, “This is the clearing I keep seeing in my visions, the place where the package exchange is supposed to take place, only . . . ”
Justin overhears and pushes his way to the front. “So, if this is where the exchange will happen, why were we headed to the Death Clan’s caves?”
His cantankerous attitude is really getting under my skin.
“I don’t know. Everyone should block their minds now. I need to check this out.”
I walk around and smell the air, trying to pick up on scents, intentions, clans, but I come up with nothing. I jog down to the clearing with all my senses on high alert, looking for smashed grass or footprints, anything signifying someone has been here already. Still nothing. Along the edge of the trees, I spot an old logging road with deep ruts carved into the forest floor. In the center of the clearing, a mound of stones forms the rude table where the exchange will happen, the place where Chris will die. Seeing the clearing I’ve seen in my visions, untouched and undefiled, stirs up strong emotions.
I rejoin the group, looking for Chris. He is near the back of the crowd. Clearly he still doesn’t want to be around me. He waits like the rest of the team for my assessment of the situation.
“Three of you need to work on your mind-blocking abilities,” I say. “I’m not going to single you out, but you’re probably aware I’m in your head. This is definitely the clearing from my vision where the delivery will take place. Chris, where are we headed?” I figure if I bring him into the conversation, he’ll have to answer me.
He looks over his map for a couple of seconds and announces, “There’s a town not far from here to the east.”
I turn to Justin and say, “We’ll follow you.”
“Me? Why me?”
“You’re second in command, right?”
“Well, yes, but you’re the one with all the powers.” He leans in close to my ear and whispers, “Even Chris has stepped aside to let you take the lead. Why shouldn’t I do the same?”
“You want to give up the lead?” I ask.
“Chris did.”
“Oh, so you do everything Chris does?” In the back of my mind, I can hear my mother saying the same thing to me when I was younger about my friends jumping off a bridge.
“No, I just follow the leader like I’m supposed to, and right now that leader is you.”
I lean even closer to him and whisper, “But, we all know the rightful leader is you, isn’t it?”
He pulls away from me as if my breath is a sharp knife cutting into his flesh.
I take in all the faces in the crowd, not seeing Chris’s, and realize they respect me as their leader, but I know it’s only because I have these powers. This very clearing where we presently stand will be where everything ends. This is where they will discover the truth about me.
An idea pops into my head that might allow me to preserve the illusion of my powers. What if I present the diamond to the Death Clan all by myself? I know where the clearing is now, and if Chris isn’t present he can’t be killed. In fact, why would anyone else need to be here at all? I can meet personally with the Death Clan and hand over the magical stone on my own. Why haven’t I thought of this before?
Now, I only need to peek into Chris’s future to find out if this change will be a good one.
I catch a glimpse of him, and that’s all it takes for me to view his future. I find this alteration is by far the worst to date. The future through Chris’s perspective reveals that handing the stone over myself without the others present doesn’t destroy the Death Clan. Instead, they become even more empowered, propelling forward their ambition to rule the world by killing all other clans and humans who stand in their way. Not only would Chris die, but millions of other people would die.
When Harold Bates and Maetha said all three of us must be present at the delivery, they were absolutely right. Maybe it’s impossible to find a solution that will result in the Death Clan being obliterated, leaving everyone else unharmed. Perhaps these attempts to save Chris from imminent death are pointless. I feel as if nature is speaking directly to me, informing me someone will have to die for the mission to be a success—a sacrifice of sorts. I look over my team. I don’t want them to become alarmed by trying to second-guess what’s going on in my head, so I say, “Let’s get going.”
I take off running, leading the clan east, in the direction Chris had pointed. We can’t move as fast as usual because of the density of the forest undergrowth and the fallen trees. The deeper we go into the trees, the darker it becomes, and the more panicky the fading light makes everyone feel. Two different times I’m stopped and asked if Demons are in the shadows. I assure them the shadows are only that, shadows.
As we near the little Canadian town Chris targeted for our next stop, I halt the group to investigate. After clearing the area, we secure motel rooms with two sets of adjoining rooms. I let others make those arrangements and am not shook up at all to discover Chris makes sure we don’t end up together.