CHAPTER 15

Glacier Lakes

The mountains hold the memories, which trickle to the lakes.

The ice holds the power; beneath it rock will break.

The single-prop plane was not my idea of an ideal way to travel, but driving all the way to Glacier National Park would not get us there as quickly as I fear we need to. A sense of dread and a tightness in my muscles is all I have to go on, but I also know my connection to Gaia helps me tease out things well before others can.

Dana slept the whole way; her darn snoring earning me glares from the other passengers. My elbows didn’t seem to faze her at all when I attempted to jostle and move her into a quieter position. She woke with a stretch and a grin during our last minutes of taxiing to the gate with refreshed eyes and a few unpleasant-sounding pops of her back and neck.

“Well, that was a breeze, wasn’t it?” She caught the look on my face and the manner in which my fingers still gripped the arms rests, and shrugged.

“I told you to take a few nibbles of the muffins I brought, but noooo, all have-to-be-alert-and-in-control Alex preferred to freak out the entire trip instead.”

I should have taken her advice. Instead, I feel so strung out and racked with nerves that the hour-and-a-half drive ahead across gravel roads and twisting turns sounds pretty darn awful. Vex told Dana that Polebridge, Montana, is where he wants us to stop and wait for further instructions while he figures out which one of the glacier lakes nestled between Western glacier and Canada is the one from the first kill site. We will be heading east through Hungry Horse and around the Apgar Mountains. Lake McDonald is there, and even though Vex doesn’t feel that is the location we are looking for, the Healers’ Leader wants us to do a quick check anyhow.

“I’ll drive there, little one. At least take a bit of the tea I smuggled in to ease your muscles or you’ll be no good to me, no matter how much Earthen energy you can wield.”

When we get into the rental car I concede and take a few swigs of a milky substance. My muscles unclench immediately and I sink into the seat while Dana drives us off toward whatever awaits us. It is so bright out. The sun is still up despite the late hour. Being this close to Canada and the Artic Circle, it will be light out till nearly eleven. It is beautiful here; I used to come out this way with my grandmom, so it isn’t foreign to me. I was so young then though and would hardly be able to lead the way now, so we have the maps and GPS going.

 

The car door closing jolts me out of my thoughts and maps fly into the air. The sun is starting to set and I feel a strange lightness in my head and muscles.

“Feeling better, Sleeping Beauty? All clear at Lake McDonald, as we knew it would be, so let’s continue up north, shall we?” Wrangle sleep out of my eyes, I turn to her quickly coming out of my daze.

“You went out there alone? Wait, you left me in here alone? What if someone was there?” She shrugs and starts the car.

“Not a single vibration of power being used anywhere near here, Alexis. This is not my first rodeo, you know, plus I need you sharp; the way that tea knocked you down a few notches shows me you needed some alone time.”

Wow, she has all the nerve in the world.

We continue north, past the entrance to Glacier and the Road to the Sun, and onto the gravely road that is the North Fork. Dust flies all over and my teeth rattle as we hit certain washboard patches in the road. Not many cars are out at this time of night although two truckers pass us and kick up enough dust to slow Dana down momentarily. She is taking our rental Subaru through the ringer though. When we get to Polebridge, the red mercantile sign greets us and we head to the saloon next door. A fun-filled sand volleyball game is taking place between the two buildings and pleasant smells of freshly cooked food waft in the air. The world goes on around us. The rise and fall of laughter, beer bottles clinking, and children chasing each other around the garden while we look for a killer leaving death and carnage in the wake. Watching life continue around us has me stumbling into Dana’s back.

“You okay there, sunshine? Need a minute? Food.” Nodding in agreement, I look back at the life I’ll never have on last time before following the dangerous woman into the saloon.

After scarfing down some awesome chili and a piece of strawberry rhubarb pie I turn to Dana and give her an ‘okay now what?’ look.

“I’ll be back in a jiffy. Hold down the fort and maybe grab some grub to go. This could be a long night.”

After thirty minutes, Dana returns.

“Bowman Lake it is. Time to head out; do you have your girls ready?” I reach behind my head and touch Serenity and Chaos; they vibrate under my fingertips. The staffs have been itching for action after those teasers with the boys, well two boys and one Demon. Whatever lies ahead for us will be a true test.

“Oh, and Vex said we have a little hiccup.”

“Hiccup? Like what?”

“Galena, the Healers’ Leader, left. Apparently she took off as soon as they figured out the lake location and Vex mentioned letting us know ASAP. Terra and Vex are worried that perhaps it’s a trap and maybe she was never the Leader at all.” Well, damn.

“Why would she leave and what do they think her plan is?” Dana shakes her head. “The whole thing sounds so bizarre. Why go through all of that just to, what? See what Vex and Terra knew?”

“I’m with you. They’re worried that the killer is a Healer either working for the Absolute Protectors to wipe out the others on our side or that it’s a power-hungry Healer who wants to rule. Either way, it seems odd that the Leader, who’s already in power, would be involved. That’s why Vex said Galena, or the person posing as Galena, may not be the true Leader or has changed sides.” This really isn’t good.

“So, she knows we’re here? What if we’re being set up? I thought the only reason we all felt this would work was due to the element of surprise, and hasn’t that been tossed out the window and set on fire now?”

She smiles slyly at me. “Apparently Vex and Terra didn’t tell Galena who we are, so at least we still have that going for us. I’m hoping we can cloak our power and appear like two normal humans on a camping trip. Hardly anyone knows a thing about you since you’ve been disassociated from this world, and I’m more wraith than truth.” She has a point there. As long as we don’t go in guns a-blazing we may still have the upper hand.

“Okay. We keep going then?”

“Yep, onward and upward! Literally, we are going even higher in elevation so be ready there sea level lungs.” And with that she gives me a slap on my backside and heads out the saloon door.

 

The steep drive up to the lake is set to a backdrop of towering glacier mountains. The Subaru whines and takes the narrow turns slowly as dust kicks up all around us. I am glad Ryan’s SUV wasn’t our car of choice as I fear its width would have been terrifying on this road. We are alone on this time of night and the sun begins to make a slow descent as clouds roll in with promise of rain. They need it here; forest fires are springing up all over, their previous destruction from summers past still evident.

My body vibrates and my mind reels. Dana has concealed our power with ease, something that always drains me. Here, defensive weapons are just as impressive as offensive ones. What will we find up here? Is this the killer’s hiding spot? I know we want to look for clues but something tells me we are in for more than that. As my brain spins I hear my phone chime. There has hardly been a lick of service since we were thirty minutes outside of Polebridge, but Sandra has me plugged up to some contraption that I can only guess gives me a boost to a network that still gets me texts and emails.

“It’s Mom!” I scramble to open the message with a swipe of my finger. “She says she finally heard of the Healer killings from her boss, who leads her undercover team. He wants her to get on it and says they may have an identity. She’s been told to take out the killer by any means necessary and he’s sending her here, so she, Ryan, and Valant are headed our way.” An ache begins to creep into my sinuses, spreading around my head. Something is troubling me and it’s more than the change in elevation. The Council being involved in anything is sketchy, especially with what happened to Galena and her second-in-command. But if they are up to no good why send my mom? Isn’t she one of the best? And an assassin apparently, but still inherently good all the same, right?

“She says as soon as the picture comes through she’ll forward it.” Dana stares forward and says nothing. “Well, at least it’s only one person, right? It could be so much worse.” Yes, optimism, absolutely necessary on a manhunt, that’s for sure.

“Something stinks.” Dana’s reaction has me smelling around my seat and shrugging.

“Not in the car, silly girl. Something about this whole thing smells like a rotten corps in someone’s spank me closet.” I give my head a shake at the visual and try to dial my widened eyes down a notch. “We must be on our highest of guards and run point in this takedown. Your mom will be here soon, but hopefully the picture will come first and we can take the murderer down and get out of here before the Council gets its paws on things.” She is worse than Mulder with his conspiracies, worse than me!

As we finally near the Bowman campground we pay our camping fee—hey, we have to be legit, right? It is a state park after all. As we approach the lake, my heart starts to pound and I know in an instant that this is where the first killing Vex and I witnessed took place. A shiver runs through me turning my body cold and rocks are underneath me as if I am lying on top of them again. It is darkening outside and raindrops begin to fall around us. No one is about; they’re all snuggled in their tents and sleeping back in the protection of the trees away from the lakeshore.

Warming up my arms, I toss off the memories of the Dreamwalk and we exit the car as Dana puts a barrier around the lake area, just as Ryan did in the alley when I kicked his ass. Well, that’s how I remember it. I immediately take Serenity and Chaos from my ponytail and they glow in response. I choose to form them into my twin fighting staffs and move to the shoreline with Dana, the smooth stones underfoot seeping their coldness into the soles of my shoes. My skin trembles and my senses pick up on something cold and powerful. Yep, something is here all right. Something…no…someone.

A cloaked figure, unrecognizable to me in the darkness of its shroud, heads toward us over the lake. Lightening crackles and the wind gains momentum, chilling me once again. I ready Serenity and Chaos while Dana pulls the biggest gun I have ever seen out of her duffle bag. She is a sight to behold, her hair unraveling and her long skirt waving in the impending storm and her power rendering her ageless and spectacular.

The eerie voice Valant described to me echoes all around us, shooting a spike of pain through my mind, and nearly bringing me to my knees. I am gripping Serenity and Chaos so tight I feel my calluses stretching. Pulling more of Gaia’s energy within me to ready for a fight, I use my reserves to protect my brain from the onslaught. A chill chatters my teeth and then seeps away as my power locks into place, keeping the figure’s power away. Gathering my composure, I give Dana a nod that I am okay and take my fighting stance toward the wraith advancing over the water.

A commotion comes from our right as a woman about Dana’s age rushes at us from the trees around the side of the lake.

“Wait! It’s my son. Don’t hurt him; he doesn’t know what he’s doing. Look at him. Can’t you see he isn’t well?” Dana points her gun at the woman as I keep my eyes on the killer over the lake.

“Stay where you are, lady; we don’t want to have to hurt you. This man has been killing a lot of innocent people and you don’t want to be next.”

Hearing Dana’s words, and knowing that gun, I wonder if Dana intends to stop this woman herself if she doesn’t wise up and get the hell out of here. I look over my shoulder and see the lady with her hands in the air, in a placating and pleading gesture, frozen about twenty feet away. Damn, she came up on us fast and under our radar. She is no ordinary human, that’s for sure.

“I’m Galena and this is my son, what’s left of him at least. He can’t be responsible for this, he just can’t be; someone has tricked him, set him up.” Even from this distance I can see the pleading and desperation in her eyes. “Why would he try to kill me? His own mother? He could have, but he recognized me and instead saved me by linking me to Vex.”

Wow, this is heavy laced with a neat dose of insanity. Her son has been taking out his own kind, taking out Healers. Why? I look at Dana and the wheels are obviously spinning inside her mind while her finger also itches on the trigger. What if this is a trap, and the Leader and this monster is working together?

“Let me help him. Somewhere inside him he knows who he really is. Allow me to try and stop him. He isn’t himself, I’m sure of it.” I look back and forth between Galena and the cloaked figure as it glides toward me. I raise my right staff high.

“Who are you and why have you been killing healers?” I call out to him. Chills run through my body when heaps of ice straining and crushing within my skull triggers my body’s response and the voice of death echoes around us.

“I am saving us all.”

Man, this dude is either off his rocker or he is a puppet in one terrifying game. Something inside me doesn’t want to risk never knowing the truth and my decision is made.

“Dana, we can’t kill him. No matter how crazy this all sounds, we need to know for sure what’s been happening. Let’s concentrate on capturing him instead of taking him out.” Her mouth sets in a tight line and she yanks back on part of the gun, appearing to change a setting.

When she nods at me in agreement, my phone pings. How it is working at all in this rustic area of Montana I have no idea. It is a text message from my mom, subject “wanted for murder of Healers.” When the picture comes through of the man the Council has its eyes on for the Healer murders, my stomach drops. Dad? Not the Dad Mom knew, no, this is the man in the desert, the man in my Dreamwalk at the lake. Mom doesn’t know this version of Dad. I never told her.

Looking from the picture to the specter over the lake, who is now only about thirty feet away, I can make out a shadow of his face. I cannot believe this is happening. Why is my father killing innocent Healers? Ones even younger than me…children. I can’t believe it. There must be some mistake, or someone is posing as him. Sandra’s vision hits me like a semi and I recall the task he was sent to do. Can this be it? Is he being tricked, like Galena said, by the Council member in the vision?

“Dana, oh my goddess, it’s my dad, the twisted version I met when I was younger.”

Dana looks over my shoulder at the text and whispers “bloody hell” under her breath. I try repeatedly to send a message to Mom, but my texts keep failing. I make one last-ditch effort then have to put the phone away in the back pocket of my jeans.

I am frozen in this moment, my mind circling, making no sense of who the warped and misled man over the lake is, while he continues to approach us where we stand on the rocky beach. As he gets within twenty feet of us, he drops his hood. The cloak flies open and I see his bald head. There isn’t a trace of his platinum blond hair or his missing leg, and his face has become a sadistic version of the man I met, when I was a scared and beaten child. There isn’t a trace of the young man my mother loved, and now barely a trace of the tall, blond stranger remains either. However, I know in my heart that it is he, and my throat struggles to swallow while my body turns frigid once more. I shiver to control my despair. Get it together, Alex. I need snap out of it if I am to save my father while also ending the horror he has been dealing out to those of his kind.

Suddenly his hands arch toward us, and Dana and I both struggle against his will as he tries to take our powers.

“Damn, we are like sitting slugs out here. We need to do something to stop him.” I am slammed down to one knee, I feel the skin break instantly, but Dana manages to get him in her sights and shoots the gun at him, coating him in a translucent force field of sorts and boy does he get pissed. The scraping sense of my gifts being stolen from me stops and I rise again and begin to take steps toward him. He rages against the invisible fence around him, his horrifying voice roaring like a monster deep within a cave—ferocious and powerful.

“That should hold him for a bit while we sort this drama out.” Dana is fidgeting with her gun while she speaks so neither of us sees my father’s mother running toward him from our right.

“Alexander, it’s Mommy, honey. Please stop and come to me. I can help you!” Alexander pulls into himself, folding his arms into his chest and bowing his head. It looks at first like he is sobbing, but then his arms fly out and his head flings back as a force hits me like a semi and I hit the ground hard, giving my elbow an equal battering. His mother isn’t as lucky as his magic tosses her against a large cluster of rocks. Her body slumps to the ground, but I see her breathing, so I turn back to my father and begin to light up my staffs, readying myself to attack and subdue him. I hear Dana cursing at her gun behind me and I feel dread creep in, knowing that it may have been a one-time shot.

“Dana, focus on the weapon while I keep him busy,” I shout over my shoulder, keeping my eyes on my father the entire time.

My father lowers to the rocking water’s edge and strides toward me, his shroud flying behind him. Against the backdrop of enormous mountains and the falling rain he is awe-inspiring, terrifying. If I wasn’t so scared of what he has done and what he’s been warped into I might have been impressed.

Well, I guess it’s my turn and I gulp loudly, knowing the power I am about to go up against. I know my goal is only to restrain him, but I still balk at the idea of harming my dad, which is my inevitable first step. Deep inside I know this is just a shell of him, but I keep hope burning that I can bring Alexander back to us. I hold the knowledge of who he is to me to myself for now; I don’t want him to disappear.

“Last chance, buddy,” I shout out while coming to a wobbly upright position. Damn it, I’m bleeding, again. “Let’s talk like two normal, well like adults, shall we? I don’t want to have to hurt you, but I will.” I snarl while spinning my staffs in my hands.

His laughter breaks through the storm. “Your move, child.”

His words hurt me know than he can know, unless he does now, oh god. Anger fuels me and I morph my heartache into something more, something powerful, just as I had done when training with Dana after Ryan’s lie consumed me. I bend down into a sprinter’s starting position, my staffs within my palms like relay batons, and then shoot out toward him. My father quickly tosses his cloak and readies to take me on. His hands form into fists, his fighting stance seasoned, but possibly not prepared for a little Serenity and Chaos action. As he swings at me high with his right, I crouch under his attack with my wrists crossed. Keeping my staffs together, I shoot my arms toward his face, touching the V formed by my staffs under his chin. I uncross my wrists and staffs forcefully, forcing them downward to smack the inside of both of his arms violently before spinning away. I hear bone break within his right arm and know I have rendered his dominant arm useless.

Backing away I ready myself again while shaking away any sorrow of having hurt the man who gave me life and feeling my own blood leaking from my elbow and knee. He touches his arm and a red glow hovers over it, sparkled with what I know is his gold manifestation of power. The gold barely shimmers in the oozing red wickedness that has been taking so many lives. I briefly wonder how someone’s power changes and why? I just hope I get a chance to help fix him. When the red disappears from his arm, he flexes it and looks back at me. He shrugs, tilts his head mockingly at me, and mouths “Healer” with a sneer on his face.

Damn it! Okay, this is not going to be easy. It’s going to require more power than my staffs alone. I pull on the Earthen energy and it rushes into me, unbridled in the wild. My staffs glow more intensely but then I feel a whoosh as the wind is knocked out of me. I gasp and struggle to breathe as fear builds and I start to rise from the earth, sprawled out by his force with my toes barely brushing the rocks. The vision of the woman over the lake, powerless and drained hits me like a slap and I scramble helplessly out of his hold. I calm myself enough to call forth my grandmother’s energy and use her dandelion magic to poke holes in his hold over me. The confused look on his face lets me know it’s starting to work.

“What is this? How can you hold another power within you, someone else’s power? You aren’t an Absolute Protector, how? Tell me now.”

My lips curl and I shake my head at him. “When you’re ready to chill out and share, I’ll share too. You see, I learned how to do that as a child, did you?”

His frustration contorts his face and in those precious seconds I overcome his hold over me and drop to the ground at a run, rushing at him again as he charges. Right before we collide I drop into a plank on the ground, letting him fly over me in a mistimed lunge. He rolls onto the ground and I leap up, running full out and kicking him in the jaw, sending him falling over to the left. I glimpse him on the ground, but he is on his feet before I can make a move.

My father’s eyes lock on mine and I feel him wrap his power around me once again before I can get close enough to take another crack at him. I am frozen and getting pretty sick of it. I scream out to Dana and she tosses the gun and tries to reach me, but when she gets within five feet of me it’s like she hits a wall. I take Serenity and Chaos and pound on the invisible force field around me. It’s like the one Dana shot at him. Crap, did he just take it in and transfer it to us?

“Damn it, let me out of here. You don’t know what you’re doing,” I nearly sob. “You can’t know.” But, whatever my dad is now, he is no longer just a Healer. My powerful staffs bounce off the field like drumsticks off skin; they take the bulk of the shock and light up under my power as I bang away. I try to pull more energy within me, but it’s as if the connection has been severed and all I can use is the little reserve I still have deep inside.

Ryan’s ring begins to warm on my finger and I hear a loud pop before I see Valant suddenly appear with Ryan and my mom in tow. They rush toward Dana and me, but Dana warns them before they can get too close. I see determination in Ryan’s eyes and he moves past her.

“Do not come any closer, Earthen Protector.” My father’s voice explodes around us and I feel tremors underneath my feet. “I have no business with you.”

Ryan, who has a thing for not following authority of any kind, especially the crazy kind, ignores my father’s warning and steps across the barrier surrounding me and puts his hand in mine.

“If you attack Lex, then you have to go through me as well, you son of a bitch!”

My eyes well up as my heart tears. Ryan is once again here for me, but this time the evil we are facing is my own flesh and blood. Ryan’s ring must have allowed him to come into my father’s trap, but now what? What are we going to do? My dad is a seriously powerful being on a mission and I am not sure how to stop him. I turn to look at my mom and see Dana talking hurriedly to her.

Dana is filling her in, but I think she already knows. My mom’s eyes are on the woman slumped on the ground and then she looks back and forth between the Leader and the monster from hell seething on the shores of Bowman Lake.

Yes, she knows. It is her love, her Alexander—my father.