The Water Queens (Keeper of the Water) (19 page)

I swallow hard and squeeze my eyes shut. I’m back to feeling sick; there’s no doubt in my mind that Cassie just connected with me and saw everything that happened. I keep my eyes closed and clear my thoughts, calming my emotions, until I force Cassie from my mind. When I open my eyes, I want to cry.

“I know I shouldn’t have climbed up here but they promised I could see all the way to our village from this spot,” Janey says.

I’ve never seen such worry on her face. Janey must be able to tell how upset I am though she doesn’t realize she’s not the cause. The boy on the ground begins to yell in Greek; he clearly wants to be freed. Down on the beach, the other three boys hobble away. I’m relieved to see they’re not hurt, at least not seriously.

“They came after
me
,” Janey babbles nervously. “I didn’t
want
to hurt them, I promise.”

“How did you stop them?” I ask. “They’re much bigger than you and there
were
four of them.”

Janey shrugs. “I don’t know. Once they came closer to me and I decided to fight back, they just seemed so weak… and slow.”

“It’s okay, you
should
defend yourself when you have to,” I tell her. “But you shouldn’t have climbed up here in the first place, especially without telling me.”

“But if I would’ve asked you to come up here, you never would’ve let – ” Janey stops mid-sentence, smart enough to know when she’s talking herself into a hole. “I’m sorry. We might not be able to see our house but the view is still nice.”

She’s right but I can’t exactly appreciate it while knowing Cassie has seen what I’ve seen, that now she knows I’m alive and have a daughter. I look up toward the top of the cliff but still don’t see anyone up there. But there are plenty of people down below – nearly everyone on the entire beach – and they’re all looking up at us. I realize I’m standing over a boy who’s still tied up and that makes me appear much guiltier than I really am.

I carefully untie the boy, making sure not to break Cassie’s necklace in the process. In my broken Greek, I tell the boy to be nicer but he doesn’t hang around long enough to listen, jumping off the ledge and splashing down into the water. I hear him calling after his friends and most of the crowd disperses back to their beach chairs. Looking down at the necklace, I see a clear bead mixed in with the rest of the blue ones; wet sand fills the bead and I dump it out before giving the necklace back to Janey.

“We’d better get going,” I say. “I’m hoping the crowd didn’t see as much as I think they might’ve. Can you climb
down
as well as you climbed up?”

“No problem,” Janey says.

We’re almost three stories up – and I’d just been panicked at the thought of Janey falling into the water – but I’m not so worried about her now that I’ve seen the way she can handle herself; she’s no normal little girl. A much easier path along the cliff wall – one with plenty of hand and footholds – is located to the side of the outcropping. I imagine this is where she climbed up in the first place because she doesn’t hesitate to find her footing and start descending.

She moves along the wall with the ease of a spider. Within seconds she’s cut the distance between the outcropping and the ground in half. It’s not natural for an Olympic athlete let alone a little girl to move so effortlessly.

“Don’t go so fast,” I tell her.

“Don’t worry, Mom,” she says. “This is easy.”

“Then
pretend
like it’s hard,” I say.

Janey sighs but slows down. I understand why she’d want to show off her natural abilities; it’s difficult to act burdened by human limitations. I suddenly realize why my mother had been so reluctant to let my play sports in high school. Once we reach the beach and walk toward our stuff, I feel every set of eyes focused on us. I don’t look at anyone else and instead take Janey by the hand. We gather our towels and beach bag and as many pages of Cassie’s bio as I can before heading toward the car.

“It’s probably best if we don’t mention any of this to your father.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

As if I’m not bad enough at driving stick-shift – and as if driving on narrow mountain roads with no guard rails isn’t dangerous enough – now I’m even
more
distracted, searching the hills around every turn for any sign of the person I
thought
I saw atop the cliff. But there’s nothing beyond the usual houses and churches, the usual barren mountain lands. Nothing is out of place and though I hate doubting my instincts, I sincerely hope my eyes had merely been playing tricks on me.

Janey doesn’t say much on the ride back to our village. I try several times to engage her in conversation; I want to find out more about her attack on the boys, about what she’s really capable of doing or if she’s confused about why she has certain abilities that normal people do not. For that matter,
I’m
confused about how she seems to be developing Amazonian-like abilities. But whenever I start a dialogue, she points out that I should focus on driving and continues to stare out her window in silence. She makes a good point about focusing and it pays off once I carefully drive up our steep driveway and safely stop near our house.

“Don’t forget: let’s not worry Daddy about what happened today,” I tell her as she jumps out of the car.

John sits on the porch, dirty and sweaty from a long day of working in the gardens, but waves happily as Janey runs over to him.

“There’s my favorite girls,” he says. The smile on his face gets even wider when Janey hugs him. When she backs away, he looks at the beaded necklace she’s wearing. “Well isn’t that pretty? Got a little bit of sand stuck in one of those beads?”

“Yeah, I can’t get it all out. But I love the new necklace Mommy got me; it’s really been useful,” she says.

“Useful?” John asks.

Janey turns toward me and winks before rushing inside. John looks at me and raises an eyebrow but I shake off his questions. Instead, I reach into the beach bag and pull out the pages I printed at the Internet café. I considered not telling John what I learned but this isn’t a secret I’d be able to keep from him anyway. He looks confused when I hand him the printouts but recognition quickly crosses his face.

“I see you discovered the Internet café in Batsi,” he says.

Now it’s
my
turn to look at
him
suspiciously.

“You knew the island got Internet access and didn’t tell me?”

John shrugs sheepishly. “One of the old guys told me about the computer store opening; I didn’t tell you because I knew
this
would happen.”

For the next several minutes, he reads through Cassie’s biography, occasionally nodding his head. I can’t help but become annoyed that he doesn’t look as disgusted as I’d felt while reading it. By the time he’s done, his only reaction is a low whistle.

“That’s it?” I ask. “That’s all you have to say. Don’t hold back now.”

“You have to give her credit. Isabella’s plan is impressive; it seems to be working out exactly as she wanted.”

I shake my head; he has thoroughly annoyed me. But he’s also made me feel something I haven’t experienced in years: jealousy.

“Oh, now she’s
Isabella
to you?” I ask.

“That
is
her name, it has been for hundreds of years.”

I sigh. Whether intentional or not, he’s missing the point.

“So you’re impressed that she’s
murdering
people to get herself in power?” I ask. “You’re impressed that she’s going to take control of her country and put the entire world in danger? Do I have to remind you how close she is to us?”

John reaches for my hand but I pull it away. Still, he doesn’t let me away so easily. He grabs me around the waist and pulls me closer to him. His eyes smolder as he stares into mine. It’s hard for me to stay annoyed with him when he looks at me like this.

“Spain is far enough away,” he says. “But if it seems like trouble is getting close to us, we can move to Australia or Antarctica for all I care. As long as the three of us stick together, we have nothing to worry about.”

I consider telling him what I experienced with Cassie – or about who I
think
I saw atop the beach cliff – but there’s no need to worry him. For that matter, I don’t want him to think I’m crazy for being so freaked out about two things he might
think
are only in my mind. Hopefully I
am
just being paranoid because of what I’ve read about Cassie; hopefully the tingling and odd pulling sensation I felt in my mind were merely a result of Janey’s trouble with the boys. John kisses my forehead, which melts away some of my tension.

“I’m going to shower and then go out for a bit,” he says, heading inside. “I picked a lot of stuff today, have a lot of trading to do. Then I might stop at Niko’s place for an hour or so; he’s having some of the guys over to test out a new barrel of wine that’s ready.”

“How is it that only a few dozen people live around this mountain but someone has a new batch of wine or moonshine to test every night?” I ask.

John chuckles. “These people know how to live; must be something in the water.”

“Must be.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t stay long, not considering how terrible I felt this morning,” he says.

John never intends to stay out late with the guys but that’s always what ends up happening. Now I see why the soldiers at his command in a former life must’ve liked him so much. Tonight ends up being no different. Janey was so tired from our day-trip that she fell asleep without asking to hear about the Amazons. I want to talk to her about her abilities – maybe see if I can test her to figure out
how
different she is from other kids her age – but there’ll be plenty of time for that once she’s well-rested. I know how confusing it was for me to grow up knowing I was so unlike everyone else; I want her to know she can talk to me about it whenever she wants. It’s hard to believe my baby is getting so old that I need to start having these kinds of talks with her. It almost makes me wish for simple assurances that the goat monster isn’t real.

I sit outside on the porch but this time I’ve brought a small flashlight and Cassie’s bio. I read the pages again, knowing it won’t accomplish anything more than furthering my mental anguish. All I can wonder about is what’s happening now in Spain, what further updates might be part of Countess Isabella’s biography tomorrow. Now that Count Cristiano is next in line for the throne, it won’t be long until Cassie has serious power in her hands. While Spain is controlled by an elected government, I have no doubt Cassie has a plan to deal with that once she wears the crown of a queen atop her head. And my eyes keep returning to the mention of her charitable work, wondering what role that plays for how she might end up with total control…

Her special school is the perfect training ground to foster loyal followers. First she provides impressionable girls with a role model to look up to, a savior to love. Once they’re a bit older, Cassie can supply them with enough water to build an Army of her own recruits. And if they can prove as efficient and deadly in eliminating important leaders in other countries of the world, Queen Isabella might be able to –

My racing thoughts are interrupted by the quiet trickle of disturbed rocks near the bottom of my driveway. Instinct tells me to jump out of my seat and leap over the railing again. But I try to remember John’s comforting words from earlier, try to convince myself that we
are
safe in our small corner of the world, Besides, I doubt John would appreciate it much if I nearly tackle him off the side of a mountain
two
nights in a row.

“Is that you, John?” I hiss.

The sound of my voice seems to be swallowed by the darkness of night and I receive no response. I’m tempted to call out louder but Janey’s bedroom window is open and I don’t want to risk waking her. Instead I wait to hear him stumbling closer but the sound is suddenly gone; he doesn’t show up the next few minutes. I convince myself it was just an animal but my pulse races, especially once I hear the light sound of rustling in the surrounding brush. I can’t sit still any longer.

Within seconds, I’m soaring off the porch and touching down in the gardens below. I don’t make a single noise but I have the advantage because I know every square inch of our land; I could do this with my eyes closed, which wouldn’t be too different from the darkness around me. But whoever else is out there moves almost as quietly. Still, I can hear her footsteps – I assume it’s a
her
– running even quicker, this time heading in the opposite direction of my house. Someone, whoever’s out there, sensed my approach and is attempting to flee.

Nighttime on the side of the mountain is pitch black; I no sooner leave the vicinity of my home when I’m thrust into near total darkness. The terrain is so difficult here that most normal people don’t stray from the roads even when the sun shines brightly overhead. I’m out of practice but it only takes a few seconds to transform into my old self; I traverse steep, rocky lands with the greatest of ease, gaining on my opponent in the matter of seconds. Still, whomever I follow makes almost no noise and is fast enough to give me great cause for concern. A normal person wouldn’t have avoided me this long, though I hear the panting of my tiring opponent.

In only a minute, I’ve made my way down the entire mountain. My house is little more than a speck in the distance. But the racing footsteps of whomever I’m chasing suddenly sound different; it’s almost as if there’s more than just two feet running away. My insides turn to ice at the thought of being set up, being led into another ambush, but I keep going anyway, confused about which way to go. Finally I follow the panting and within seconds, I find that my opponent has given up trying to escape.

Lying on its side – breathing deeply with its tongue flopped out of its open mouth – is one of the village’s stray dogs. It rolls onto its back in surrender and I can do nothing but sit on the ground and rub its belly. As the dog’s tail wags, I try to steady my racing pulse, try to convince myself that paranoia is going to get me in trouble one of these days. Eventually, the dog stands and runs away, off to scrounge for scraps of food from the villagers.

It takes me much longer to go up the mountain than it had going down. Just when I’ve convinced myself to calm down, I finally reach my porch and find the front door cracked open, no lights on inside. I think of my bow hidden deep inside the utility shed attached to the side of the house but there’s no time to go digging for it. Instead I rush to the porch railing and quickly unscrew one of the metal banisters, which has a false bottom. A hunting knife slides into my hand and I hurry through the door.

“John!” I hiss, praying he stumbled home when I was gone and was drunk enough to forget closing the door all the way.

I’m met with nothing but silence and darkness. My eyes are already adjusted to the lack of light so I rush toward Janey’s room, finding the rest of the house empty. But when I open her door and look into her small bed, I find it just as empty. My heart sinks.

“Janey!” I call out, no longer trying to hide my presence. “Janey, are you in here somewhere?”

Still nothing. Every second that passes leaves my heart feeling squeezed tighter and tighter. By the time I’m back on the porch, I’m in an utter, uncontrollable panic. My first thought is finding John, hoping for something relatively innocent like Christos’s son looking for revenge from earlier. It doesn’t make me feel better to think of a vengeful young man coming after my daughter but at least Janey has shown an ability to handle him. That thought makes it pretty obvious that Cassie must somehow be involved in this. Since she already knows I’m alive, there’s no point trying to hide my existence from her any longer. I reach out to connect to her, hoping for any clue about whether she knows what’s happened to Janey…

Nothing happens. I have no idea what I’m doing. The other times I’ve seen through her eyes were done by accident, lucky moments of extreme emotion for both of us that left our minds the ability to open to one another. I’m certainly upset enough now but as I focus on thinking about her, I realize Cassie could be eating a relaxing dinner or taking a casual stroll or sleeping or doing a hundred other calming things that might stop me from being able to –

“Get down!” a voice cries out in fear.

I barely have time to register the crowd in front of me when I spot a speeding blur of movement. Isabella sees it, too – she’s seen it from far away – and though I know her reaction time is comparable to mine, she does not budge. She’s the most conceited person I know so I’m obviously confused why she doesn’t react while watching the arrow speeding toward her. It smashes into her and she experiences great pain as she falls to the ground. A loud gasp erupts from the crowd, soon followed by screams. Cassie groans in pain, looking up at the darkening sky, trying to avoid seeing the arrow sticking out of her. Despite noise from the chaotic crowd, I still hear the light babble of water nearby.

She’s only down a few seconds before she’s surrounded by guards. I see flashing lights and it takes a moment to realize they’re flashbulbs exploding nearby. Cassie lifts her head toward the cameras and I sense she’s worried about how good she looks. Most of the crowd flee though it’s slow-going considering we’re in some sort of walled location. Upon closer inspection, it appears to be an amazing garden venue, outdoors yet surrounded by walls. I guess it would be asking too much to have a giant sign telling me where she’s at.