s*t*a*r*s/J*A*D*E*S
“My head is killing me,” groans Natalie. She rubs her temples as Amy and Jo are making breakfast. They tap dance around one another without a wasted movement or getting in one another’s ways. Jo hands Amy a fork, and Amy takes it without looking.
“What? Did you say something?” asks Jayden loudly. She sits next to Natalie and then slaps her hands down hard on the counter.
Natalie groans, gripping her head. “Please, oh please.”
“You going to go deliver the couple’s food or we just going to let them fend for themselves?” asks Jo to Amy.
“They can eat each other, I’m not a bell hop.”
Jo snorts and flips the pancakes. She serves Jayden, and then herself. Amy finishes the eggs and set a plate in front of Natalie. “No, I’m good.”
“You’ve got to eat,” says Jo. “Don’t you ever have a glass of wine?”
“It’s rare,” says Natalie. She massages her temples, then reaches out and picks at the food with her fingers. Not bothering with the fork. Tearing a sliver of pancake and dipping it into syrup. She chews delicately. She becomes aware that they are all watching her. “What?”
“You don’t teach table manners here, do you?” teases Jayden.
Natalie’s stormy blue eyes widen and she can’t find the words. So, instead, she shrugs. Her conversation with Jo is still hot in her mind. She casts a cautious glance at Jayden who is now eating. She feels Jo looking at her and sends at her, Don’t look at me like that, Jo Wheaton.
Jo picks up a piece of bacon and chews. She hasn’t told the girls that her telepathy works, not wanting that burden just yet. Make up your mind if you want her.
Like you have with Amy? snaps Natalie in her mind. Oh how the tone in someone’s mind is so much deeper and sardonic than an actual voice.
Amy is a big girl. Jayden isn’t.
You underestimate her!
Jo’s eyebrows rise at that comment and she taps Jayden’s hand. “What are you up to today?”
“I am going to go shopping,” says Jayden off handedly. “I need clothes, I need shoes, I need stuff. I need an iPod and I need a new laptop.”
Amy chuckles. “That sounds like a nice civilized day, doesn’t it?” Amy can’t remember when she last had a day like that. Nice, quiet, civilized and easy.
Jo rolls her eyes. “I have to head out soon, do you want to drive out with me?”
“No, I have a car,” says Jayden indigently.
“You do?” chorus Jo and Natalie. This sends Amy into a small giggling fit.
“Yeah, I bought it two weeks ago. Don’t you two pay attention to anything? It’s a Prius. I really wanted a stick but they only come in automatic,” muses Jayden. “Anyway, I’m all set, thanks. I’m a big girl, Jo. And you do underestimate me.”
Jo’s face pales.
“Huh?” says Amy. “I’m missing something, aren’t I?”
“No, just my sister worries about me all the time. She doesn’t need too. I’m okay, Jo. Understand?”
Jo grits her teeth. “I got it.”
“Good.”
A rippling silence overtakes them. Natalie rubs the back of her neck and finishes the meager amount of the meal that she can handle.
“You should go get ready,” says Jayden to Natalie. She dumps the plates in the sink and washes her hands.
“I should what?”
“You’re coming with me,” says Jayden. Her eyes flash to Jo who is busy studying her hands. “You need to get off this island. Live a little.”
Natalie nods. “You’re right, I do.” Natalie feels the hot gaze of Jo’s eyes and is afraid to look at her because her eyes may well be blazing in amber anger.
Jayden and Natalie leave the kitchen and Amy turns to face Jo. “What is that all about?”
Jo runs her tongue over her fangs, shakes her head and says, “Nothing.”
“No, what was that all about? Is Jayden crushing on Natalie? I feel like everyone is going gay and we paved the way for it,” says Amy. How different was the world now? There were lesbians on TV, hosting talk shows, giving the news, all out and about. Amy wonders what it would have been like if she and Jo were teenagers now. Spencer and Rylee may have hurdles to overcome but the world was an easier place now than it was fifteen years ago.
“I’m not hot on the fact that either of them want to dive into that. Nat’s never been with someone for more than a week, she’s never had a real relationship and I stole Jayden’s childhood.” Jo closes her eyes. “I don’t know. I should mind my own business.”
“You should. I have to get back. I have some things I need to get organized, and I am going to look at a few places this afternoon. I have to get out of that house,” sighs Amy.
“If the beach house were in better order, I’d offer it to you,” says Jo. “As it is, the 1st floor is pretty decent but the other two are in bad shape. I have contractors going over there in the next few weeks.”
Amy smiles. “Thank you but no. I have to stop living with other people. I’ve never lived on my own, Jo. I’ve gone from one relationship to another and always to somewhere that was someone else’s, granted the beach house was ours. But, still, it was yours. It was Lar – Dylan’s house. I need a place that is mine.”
Jo collects her plate and rinses it. “I live in a club and at Bev’s. I was always with Spence. I never lived on my own either. Funny, eh?”
Amy feels the flood of memories fill her. All the times with Jo, from the stolen moments to all the moments after that, and it makes Amy miss her touch all that much more. That ache will never go away. “You really love her, don’t you?”
“Spencer? Yeah, she’s my…”
“No, Bev,” interrupts Amy.
Jo leans on the countertop. Arms crossing over her chest, she nods seriously. “I really do. She’s different and I’ve told her everything and she never batted an eye. She’s fearless, in a different way than me. She’s sophisticated and I’m not.”
“You are too,” says Amy.
“Not like her. Art and literature. Things I never looked twice at unless it was a ring that bound you to someone you loved for eternity. She looks at the world differently and not through rose colored glasses,” says Jo.
“You write brilliantly,” says Amy, getting up from her place and moving to stand hip to hip with Jo.
“But I don’t read like she does. I never read Annie Proulx, she made me read it. I read the dead sea scrolls,” chuckles Jo. “I love her for different reasons than I loved you, but I love you nonetheless.”
“How do we deal with Spencer?” asks Amy. This had been another thing that Amy worried about, what did she do with her other daughter.
“I think you need to let Spencer deal with you.”
“Yeah like that’s going to happen.”
Jo laughs hard. “Well, honey, you can file for joint custody, but it ain’t ever gonna happen.”
“I want to get to know her,” says Amy. Having Spencer in her life might help chase away the cold ache in her heart for Jo.
“Let her get to know you,” says Jo. “I’ve got to go. I’m apparently cooking supper tonight, and it will have to be brilliant.”
“I’ll tell the other’s you had to go, and I’ll keep you updated if we hear from the girls,” says Amy. She catches herself before she leans in to kiss Jo.
“Later.”
“Bye,” whispers Amy.
s*t*a*r*s
“I feel weird,” says Abby. They are twelve or more miles into the forest and seem to be walking aimlessly through the thick forest. At about mile three they realized that the river veered off into an underground cavern. So, Spencer is using her power to follow the flow of energy. She feels odd flickering moments and can’t pin down what is going on but she says nothing.
“Me too,” says Tegan. She sits on a moss covered rock and rubs her temples. She takes another long gulp of water.
Rylee sits. “I keep seeing nothing. I think we are on the wrong trail. I mean nothing at all, zip!”
Spencer rubs her wrist where the bracelet had been. Then she flashes back to the conversation from earlier about how Rylee’s powers aren’t working as efficiently when Spencer is around. “The water is getting weaker and weaker as we go. I’m not feeling it as strongly as I was an hour ago.”
Sydney asks, “Should I just pop us back?”
“Might as well,” says Spencer in a miffed voice. “We did what we could, and it’s noon or so, we might as well go back and see what sort of fun we can have back at camp.”
Sydney takes a deep breath and grimaces. Then she cocks her head to one side. “Guys, I can’t open a port.”
“Huh?” asks Abby. She digs into her pocket and takes out her silver dollar. It doesn’t change as she stares at it hard. “Hey! My bracelet is off!”
Rylee snatches Tegan’s hand and whispers, “I can’t see anything. Oh my god we’re bound but we aren’t wearing our bracelets what is going?” Her voice rises shrilly in the forest, the thick pine needle carpet around them muffles her voice.
Spencer stands, and tries to draw in something, anything and she gets, “Nothing. Nat wouldn’t have done this to us, would she? I’m going to kill her.” She rummages in her pockets and pulls out the marble that transports them back to the island. She pinches it between her fingers and it crumbles, but no portal opens. Each girl, one after the other takes out their marble. Each breaks it and nothing happens.
“It’s this place,” whispers Rylee. “It’s the forest, the woods, something here dampens magic.”
“Then we shouldn’t be bound!” retorts Tegan. She shakes hard. Even though her power isn’t active at least not like the others, she depends on them to keep her safe. “We aren’t witches, we don’t wield magic, we just have powers!”
“Calm down,” says Spencer. “Our powers are based in magic. We just have to back track and get out of here. Easy as that, we have the sat phone too.”
Spencer digs out the small knife that is in her back pocket and runs it across her thumb, drawing blood. Nothing happens. Abby sees her doing this and gasps. “You are totally human, it bypassed your Quinn DNA and Eden DNA.”
They start walking. Spencer, the only one who has a pack shifts it around on her shoulders. “I’m human.” The revelation jars her. What if they’d come here four months ago? She’d have simply vanished? Then she’d have been in the other reality, she reminds herself.
“What’s the dealio, is this okay? What is this place?” asks Tegan. She keeps wanting to slow down time but nothing happens, it’s odd, she’s grown accustom to having her powers at her will.
“The opposite of a magic forest,” muses Rylee as she takes the lead from Abby. “Long as it’s not permanent.”
Tegan grunts and takes a sip of water from her canteen. Sydney spins around and looks at Tegan oddly. “The water?”
“Could be anything. We so have to tell Nat about this place. Should we just call them?” asks Tegan.
A deep rumbling vibrates under their feet. They all stop, Rylee in the lead with Abby right behind her, then Spencer, Sydney and Tegan. “What was that?” asks Rylee just as the rocks under her crumble away and they go plunging into the underground river.