Chapter 33
Seeing Peter and Jonathan’s clandestine meeting more or less killed any romance with speculation and when they thought enough time had passed to clear out the parking lot they left the bar. Andre drove Elena home. He walked her up, as before but this time there were no hallway lurkers. Elena wondered if Smith was just taking the night off or if they were just trying to regroup after she found their bugs.
“I think next time we should try for something at least a little way out of town,” Andre said. “It might keep the interruptions down.
“I agree,” Elena said. She opened her purse and took out her keys. “Even so, I had a really good time.”
“Me too,” Andre said. He leaned in for a kiss and Elena met him halfway. She felt a tingle run down her spine and for a short space no one but she and Andre existed. He pulled away and smiled. “Definitely need to do this again.”
“Definitely,” Elena said. She felt breathless. Andre’s cell phone rang, the Munsters’ theme song sounding loud in the hallway. He pulled the cell phone out and Elena could see him swallowing a swear.
“Peter,” he said.
“Ah,” Elena said. She unlocked her door.
“Good night,” Andre said. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Yeah,” she answered, knowing Andre had to take the call. “Tomorrow. Good night.” She opened her door and Andre stepped away, answering Peter’s call. Elena went into her apartment. Spin was waiting in the living room as if expecting to receive a report. Elena smiled and before she could answer the cat’s questioning gaze she yawned hugely. She glanced at the clock on the wall and realized it was later than she usually went to bed on a week night.
“So no story for you,” she told Spin as she set her cell phone to charge and began to get ready for bed. “Although I think that next time we will both turn off the phones as well as leave town.” Elena smiled at the thought of having an uninterrupted next time as she changed for bed.
Spin followed her around and instead of curling up on her cushion and ignoring Elena she jumped up on the bed and took the extra pillow for the night. Elena took this as a sign that Spin felt a little neglected and when she slipped between the covers she pet Spin. She concentrated on the spots under the cat’s chin and on her belly until the feline purred like a well tuned sports car. When Spin stretched and yawned Elena judged her content and turned off the bedside lamp, snuggling deep beneath the covers.
She drifted off to sleep thinking of Andre. She smiled softly as her first dreams had her starring in an old black and white move as she and Andre danced across the gleaming surface of a ballroom dance floor. She was dressed in an old fashioned ball gown with a low cut neckline and layers of beaded trim while Andre wore a tux. Around her throat was an elaborate diamond necklace that somehow looked familiar. As they moved the lights from the chandelier made the diamonds cast sparkles of white blue fire. Elena looked up to find the chandelier held candles instead of light bulbs. The chandelier was dripping with cut crystal drops that sparkled just like the diamonds at her throat. She heard herself laugh as they executed a complicated spin in time to the orchestra’s song.
They spun again and this time they kept spinning until the lights began to spiral in a dizzying array. They spun faster and faster, the world around them bled to black with just the candles remaining streaks of light in the black. The cut crystal drops on the chandelier began to fall, turning into droplets of water as they sped towards the dance floor. The gleaming wood turned slick with water and while it stayed wood suddenly it was no longer a dance floor but the deck of the Storm Chaser. Andre released her and for a moment she spun like a top. The spinning slowed, Andre was gone and Elena fell to her knees gasping for breath. The candles resolved themselves into stars, punched deep in the black night sky. A crack of thunder sounded and lightning split the black. A wave crashed over the bow, drenching Elena. The wind was whipping the water to whitecaps around her.
She struggled to her feet, pleased to see that her clothing had changed with the scenery. The ball gown had disappeared with the dance floor. She was instead wearing a faded t-shirt and jeans, her beat up green chucks completing the outfit. She swallowed hard as she took in the situation and realized for some reason she was still wearing the diamond necklace. She shrugged the thought away and got her bearings. The Marta channel was straight ahead but the season had passed.
With the ship’s weight she would be scraping bottom if she attempted to clear it. A sense of urgency drove her. Elena whipped her head around and saw the mast of another ship approaching. From the size she knew it wasn’t a channel rider. She blinked water out of her eyes, the salty sting of the sea a familiar sensation. It pushed away confusion, there was no time to wonder just time to act. A ship in a storm tossed sea was no time for deliberation.
She must not let the other ship catch them. Somehow she knew that. Her cargo could not be risked. Clouds, black and boiling rushed in to block out the stars and rain began to sheet down. Elena gritted her teeth and fought both the rolling ship and the elements to reach the pilot house. Inside the noise of the storm dimmed. She ignored the voice from the other ship trying to hail her on the radio. It was filled with static and urgency. She blocked out the words. Elena aimed the ship towards the Marta and opened her mind to the channel.
“A few feet,” she muttered. “Just a few more feet.” She focused her attention on the open channel the way she had focused on the not yet channels of earlier dreams. Inside her head she felt the channel move. Inch by slow inch, the channel’s depth increased. Elena could feel it like a rubber band. Stretching as her mind forced it open. It reached proper depth as her ship began its entry. She could feel it wanting to snap back but she held it firm.
“Please don’t let it break,” she muttered. Her cargo was too precious to lose. The ship slid into the channel with barely an inch to spare. As the world slid into the blurred rainbow of non-space, Elena allowed the channel to resume its normal depth behind the ship.
She released it slowly, unsure what would happen if the channel simply snapped back into place. She released it when it reached normal depth and sighed with relief. The cargo was safe. They would have to shelter skyside until the next season but that wouldn’t be a problem. She had known it might come to that and had left plausible explanations for those not of the guild. And her cargo was safe. That was what counted.
Elena took a deep breath and opened her eyes in her night dark bedroom. Outside a storm had begun and rain pelted her window panes. It sounded like it had ice around the edges and she wondered if the new spring shoots would survive it. Somehow that turned her thoughts to Kiera and her balcony garden with its greenhouse enclosure. The thought of the plants, safe from the icy rain gave her comfort for some reason she couldn’t explain. Life would continue. Elena shook the thought away with a confused frown. She had never been given to overly worry about plants before. She mostly stayed away from any that weren’t cut and placed in vases. She snuggled deep into her covers, unsure if this had been a dream or the Calling. She shivered a little in reaction. The worry, stress and relief of the dream had seemed so real.
“What exactly was my cargo?” She thought, puzzled by the fierceness that had filled her. She had never had a cargo worth the risk of running a winter shallowed channel. Just as she had never thought of deepening an existing channel. It was a long time before she finally drifted back into sleep.
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