Peripherally, she saw that Flora had joined Adrienne. Both were staring at her.
“Please,” Flora said. “Talk to me.”
“Not now.”
“But what should we do?” Flora said, pressing her.
“Be quiet.” Then she added, “Please.” To Adrienne she said, “Don’t touch me and definitely do not touch it.” She indicated the stone.
Caitlin sensed Flora’s struggle, Adrienne’s compliance, but then quickly forgot them both as she stood upright and ground her left heel into the floor for a strong sense of balance. With the stone in repose, she could attempt to take care of her other priority, although the Source and its dead inhabitant could not be underestimated.
Her main concern was how Jacob was affected by her connection with the stone, with ascended souls, with the past. Without leaving this place, without surrendering these connections, she had to know what was happening at home.
Caitlin reached out as she had when seeking Yokane from the roof. With the ensuing wave of energy she reached toward her home and found it almost immediately, not by sight but by feel. The visual feed wasn’t there but she could sense that no one was in the living room and heard water running in the kitchen. She extended herself like fingers, searching for something she had a good chance of sensing—and yes, Ben had left his phone on the living room table. It had the same aura of life as hers, his clinging presence, an emotional hook that she could grab on to.
Once more she had the sensation of swinging herself toward the destination—grabbing for it across space, but hopefully not across time. Then the visual came in, as clearly as if she were standing in the room. The sound of water turned off and to her surprise Caitlin’s friend Anita Carter walked out of the kitchen into the dining room.
“Anita?”
The psychiatrist turned, looked around. “Caitlin?”
“Yes.”
Anita went to the front door, looked out the peephole. No one was there. She looked around for a phone.
“What are you doing there?” Caitlin asked.
“Me? What are you—where is that coming from? Laptop? You Skyping?”
“That’s not important now. Why are you there?”
“I called, couldn’t reach you, came over. Ben said you were gone. I figured I’d stay.”
“Why?”
“Ben was with Jacob,” Anita said. “He was talking in his sleep. Doves, ashes, flying—”
“Dovit? Azha?”
“I’m not sure,” Anita said. She was still looking around as if suddenly Caitlin would reveal her hiding place. “Caitlin, seriously—what is this? Where are you calling from?”
“I’ll tell you later, I promise,” Caitlin said. “Is he all right, Jacob?”
“Yes, he’s fast asleep and snoring.”
“Can you stay Anita?”
“Of course, but . . .”
“Tell Ben, Global Explorers’ Club, Fifth Avenue and Ninth Street, now—no, never mind. I’ll tell him”
“All right, fine. Caitlin—”
That was all Caitlin heard. She sought and found Jacob asleep and snoring in his room. He seemed calm. She felt only one other presence near him and it was Ben. A surge of mortal need rolled through her. More than anything else she wanted to hear Ben’s voice, hug him, but she couldn’t indulge right now. Still, she wanted him with her for support. He was the only one she trusted.
And then, like a dying fireplace, the apartment vanished, lost all its warmth.
Caitlin dropped her hands. She took a moment to feel her gratitude to Anita for going with a hunch that something was wrong and being clairaudient and fearless enough to hear her. Then, as Caitlin fully returned to her body, she pulled out her cell phone. While speaking to Flora she simultaneously texted Ben the address followed by the same information she was announcing.
“A man’s coming,” Caitlin said. “The man who translated what I know of the Galderkhaani language. He’s going to watch over the stone while I’m otherwise occupied.”
“I do not allow—” Flora started.
“In return,” Caitlin continued, “he will share what he knows about the language. It’s a fair bargain. Some trust, some distrust, in the end win-win.”
She hit “send” and stowed the cell phone.
Flora approached. Caitlin pinned her in place with a look.
“Doctor,” Flora began very carefully, “you must tell me how you—”
“When I’m ready. I’m not even close to being done here.”
Flora braced herself defiantly, then shrank as quickly.
Suddenly Caitlin was vaulted from the room. It was similar to what she’d experienced in Haiti, when an unseen force had whipped her around like a dog on a leash.
For a moment she was simply in darkness. Then a face appeared. Not Yokane. Not hazel eyes. A woman with flaming red hair.
I am Azha, she said without moving her lips.
The woman was speaking Galderkhaani but Caitlin understood more words than Ben had already translated. “I am—” Caitlin began to respond.
I know, the woman said with quiet authority.
Fear cascaded through Caitlin’s entire being, but before she could grapple with it, she was jerked away again.
Then she was somewhere—a place that was blue upon blue upon blue, and moving. She opened her mouth to speak and tasted salt. She was in the ocean, beneath it, but she was still breathing. Or perhaps she was beyond the need for breath.
She was suddenly afraid of something new—not of drowning but being stranded here and unable to get back to Jacob.
Azha? she called.
Not far away, the red-haired woman floated facedown in the sea. It was just a small section of water, an opening that had apparently been punched through the ice by whatever wreckage was around her and by the flames that still licked at it.
Caitlin felt sympathy and horror all at once. Whatever tragedy had befallen this woman, she had to prevent Jacob from experiencing her agony… her death.
You’re the soul who’s been haunting my child, Caitlin said to the woman. What do you need from me?
We must stop my sister, Enzo, she replied. She seeks to help her mentor.
Who is her mentor?
A Priest named Rensat, Azha informed her. But Rensat cannot communicate with Enzo. They are not bonded through cazh.
So they’re trying to contact her—to do what?
Rensat is ascended, with a Priest named Pao. With the help of Enzo, Rensat seeks to undo the destruction of Galderkhaan.
How is that even possible, winding back time? Caitlin asked. Even as she said it, she knew the answer. She had changed the past before, when she’d gone back to Galderkhaan to protect Maanik. They will compel me to go back.
Yes. To stop a Galderkhaani named Vol from activating the Source. Just before my airship crashed, I revealed the treachery of Vol to Enzo, Azha said. I told her of his plan to activate the Source prematurely. When she died, Enzo was trying to cazh by fire, to possess someone living in Galderkhaan, to pass this information to others. She failed.
I have seen others try to do that, Caitlin said.
Enzo is trying, still, to communicate that information.
Enzo was attempting to do what the dying of Galderkhaan had done with Maanik, Gaelle, and Atash: to enter their bodies and bond with their souls. After millennia of trying, Caitlin couldn’t begin to imagine how mad this Enzo must have been.