[CHAPTER 12] — Cal

Cal wandered the woods around the mountain hunting, fishing, and searching. He had made several trips back to the dorms to bring the game and fish he had caught, heading out immediately after each drop-off. Three weeks he had been doing this; not sleeping in a bed a single night for the need to find the mine entrance and see if there was anything of value left, but he hadn’t yet found the correct spot. He knew it was going to take time to find the entrance, but he never imagined it would take nearly a month.

Just then, he spotted a piece of fabric that he recognized, and with it a coded letter from Rain. She had apparently been out here trying to find him to give him the mine entrance location and blueprints. This was an older one, from almost two weeks ago; it said that he would be able to find her at the dorm each night after sunset. He walked along further and found another more recent note that said she would be at the dorm only once per week. He continued walking for a while not seeing anything of note until he was nearly a mile away, he saw another small piece of fabric with another note that simply held coordinates.

The coordinates were roughly another mile up the mountain over tough terrain going the most direct route. There were roads he could follow that would be easier, but he had already wasted three weeks out here getting nowhere. He set out on a path that would bring him to the coordinates in the most direct way. He hiked about 20 minutes in that direction before he saw a fluffy white cat with a stub tail and calico patches on its rear end.

The cat came up to him and brushed the length of its body up against him, inviting him to pet it. Cal reached down and began to pet the cat, who immediately began to purr loudly. He squatted down so he could get a better distance for petting the cat along its entire length, from the top of its head to the tip of its tail. He gave the cat only a moment or two longer before standing up and continuing on his way.

He hadn’t made it but a few feet when the cat came bouncing back in front of his, meowing its discontent in a series of staccato notes that started and stopped with the cat’s jolting movements. He looked down at the cat and cocked his head to one side, the cat followed him. The moved his head to the other side, the cat again copied him. Well, this isn’t awkward or weird at all, Cal thought to himself.

“I’m sorry, kitty, but I have to go. I have a little girl to find. Why am I talking to a cat? I’ve been out here too long…” He had begun talking to himself and walking away. He made it only a few more steps when he heard it;

I’m sorry this is weird for you, sir, but we’re not talking- well, you’re talking, I’m linking to your mind. That’s neither here nor there, though. Everlea sent me to find help. I’ve been out here looking for weeks and I finally found you. I was so relieved to see a human and I just had to get the pets, but it is imperative that we get to her; they’re keeping her and her adoptive mother captive inside the mountain! She’s ever so sad, and we need to help her! Come on, follow me!

“I’m definitely losing my mind. I’m hearing this cat talk to me.” Cal said as he continued once again on his path.

There’s no time for your doubts! Come on!

Cal looked at the cat once again and it was pacing around his legs, then walking a few feet behind him over and over again. It obviously wanted to him follow it, but he was desperate to find Everlea at this point. He muttered to himself as he kept walking, only for the cat to once again try to get in his way.

“Okay, look, cat. I don’t have time for this.” Cal said.

Seraphina.

“What?”

My name is Seraphina.

“Okay, then, Seraphina… I do not have time to play games. I need to find Everlea so her mother, the woman I’m madly in love with, can know what happened to her. I don’t have time to play games or go on weird little adventures with you, okay? I do not even understand how I am hearing you or why I am even talking to you!”

I can take you to Everlea. You just need to trust me and follow me.

“The mine entrance is this way. You’re trying to bring me in the opposite direction.” Cal was exasperated at this point.

The old mine entrance is heavily guarded both day and night. There is no cover to hide behind to get close enough to sneak in, even if you were able to get the guards far enough out of the entrance to sneak in. You would be exposed the entire time, and I know that Wildcrafters are not given enough ammo to take out machine guns. That’s what they have just inside the entrance, a hidden robotic machine gun that fires over a thousand rounds per minute as a backup to the guards with guns. You must follow me. I know another way.

“I can’t believe I’m going to listen to a cat.” Cal said as he turned to follow Seraphina a few hundred yards back the way he had come, past where they had first crossed paths. From there she turned West and went another few hundred yards into the denser tree line. She stopped before a clump of bushes and sat there waiting for him to approach. As he did, she said;

In these bushes is a vent; an air vent that goes directly to Everlea’s room, but it’s outside in the hall. The two guards alternate, so she’s guarded day and night. She said they were on her side, so you may be able to persuade one or both of them to help you. You must go, Everlea needs to be with her mother again, before it’s too late!

Cal pushed his way into the bushes and found a rather large opening that plunged into the depths of the mountain out of sight. He couldn’t see more than fifty feet down into the shaft, so he had no idea if he would have enough rope to make it to the bottom. He pulled out all the rope he had with him and assessed its quality and length; he found there to be about a hundred and fifty feet worth of rope that was good quality- safe enough for him to use to belay down the shaft and hopefully reach the bottom. The bushes that surrounded the shaft, creating its hiding place, were large and strong; the base of which was the size and width of a medium-sized tree, so he tied his rope to the base of the bushes and tested the hold.

He set up the rope in preparation to belay, when he heard a rustling in the leaves behind him. He turned quickly, whipping out his hunting knife as he spun; ready to fight whatever came his way. He came to a stop facing the cat, Seraphina, who looked at him lazily as if his actions annoyed her.

Are you going to keep messing around, or are you going to go help Everlea? You know if she’s not back to her mother before she hits maturity she will weaken greatly. There’s not a lot of time until then, we must hurry!

“Alright, alright! I need to get a message to my friend, but I can leave it where one of her messages were and with any luck, she’ll find it. I need her to bring Katerina- Everlea’s mother- here as soon as possible, and notify the council. I need a few minutes to prepare.” Cal told her with little annoyance. He immediately pulled out his notebook and pen and scribbled a note in code with the cypher and walked the five minutes to where the closest note from Rain had been. He took her piece of fabric and replaced it with one of his own, then tied the note to it. His fabric was cut from his emergency blanket, so it was a shiny silver strip that would gleam in the sun, catching the eye. Cal just hoped it would catch the right eye, and it wouldn’t be removed before Rain could get the message.

Cal returned to the cluster of bushes that hid the large air vent that would take him to the girl they had been looking for since she had been taken almost fourteen years ago. His heart beat wildly with anticipation, wondering what exactly he would find on the bottom of this shaft. He checked his harness, turned on his head lamp, and positioned himself by the edge of the shaft. He took one last cleansing breath and dropped over the edge, make a moderate and even pace the whole way down. His head lamp barely helped in the oppressive darkness of the air vent, and every few minutes there was a huge rush of stale air as the air supply within the mountain was renewed and the existing air forced out.

Cal was less than fifty feet from the end of his rope when he finally saw the bottom- at least eight feet lower than he had rope for. How the hell does the cat get in and out from here? He thought as he exhausted every inch of rope. He shined his head lamp carefully at the walls around him, noticing a crumbling spiral walkway that had once wound its way up the shaft to act as maintenance access. That must be it, but I can’t reach. Think, Cal… He thought to himself.

He began to shift his weight from side to side and he began to swing, closer and closer to the ramp that would get him down safely. Finally, he reached it and caught the floor of it at chest height. He pulled himself onto the ramp and removed his harness, hanging it on an old iron bar that stuck out of the side of the ramp as if it once held a railing. He walked down the last ten feet of the ramp very carefully, taking are to stay near the wall where the clay was likely to be the strongest. As he reached the bottom, he realized that there were multiple much smaller vents down here, and he had no idea which one would be the one to lead him to Everlea’s room.

He decided to just pick the one directly in front of him and crouched down to enter the tunnel. As he made his way along the tunnel, he saw other vents branching off from the one he was on that led into rooms. He passed room after room until he passed one that had someone he recognized and he stopped, unable to continue forward with his journey. He stared at the man in the room beyond, unable to really believe what he was seeing. He opened the vent and crawled into the room and jumped on the sleeping man inside. The man struggled under Cal, wriggling and thrashing as he tried to break free… But Cal had the advantage and he was squeezing the life out of the man.

“Cal… Stop. Cal… I’m… undercover. Please…” Josh said as Cal squeezed the life out of him.

“Why should I believe you? You betrayed us all! Mother didn’t survive it, and father didn’t survive losing mother. You left me all alone!” He continued to squeeze his brother’s throat as his face turned purple and his heartbeat slowed. Just as it was becoming too late to turn back, Cal let go of Josh’s throat and Josh coughed and sputtered himself back to consciousness. They both sat at the edge of the bed for a long moment, silence the only thing they shared. When Cal couldn’t take any more silence, he began again;

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Why did you betray everyone like that? Do you have any idea the wake of destruction you left behind you? Mom was beside herself; Dad couldn’t cope with the humiliation; I had to take care of both of them, watch both of them dying before my eyes knowing there was nothing I could do to change it. How could you do that to your family, Josh?”

“I couldn’t see any other way to take down the Cult. It was growing too big, too fast, and nobody knew how to handle it. The only thing I could think of was to go undercover and gather as much intel as I could to bring them down. Being here is the final step to bringing them down; it’s the last base they have. The only way to get in way to move up in rank with the Cult, so I’ve had to do things I wish I hadn’t; but it’s gotten me here, watching over Everlea and with a real chance at bringing them down. I know that’s not an excuse, but it’s what I have. I’m sorry for what I put our family through, but the greater good was at stake.” Josh’s voice was hoarse and strained from Cal choking him; Serves him right, Cal thought.

“I had to watch them die, Josh.” Cal said, putting his face in his hands and hunching over. He felt his big brother wrap an arm around his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him and Cal let him. He had been alone in the world until a few moments ago when his dead backstabbing brother was suddenly not so dead and not so backstabbing.

“I know, Cal. I’m so sorry. I hadn’t heard that they died.”

“What do we do now? We need to get Everlea out of here and back to Katarina. Kat’s been dying slowly without her for nearly fourteen years, and Everlea will lose out on something important if we don’t get her back to her mother before she reaches maturity.”

“Maturity, what do you mean maturity?” Josh was puzzled.

“Our best guess is before the girl has her first menstrual cycle, but we’re honestly not sure. It could also mean when she turns eighteen; but since Katerina’s ability unlocked with the birth of her child, we’re not wanting to take any chances.”

“Well, the firs thing we need to do is tell Katerina’s father.” Josh said.

“Katerina’s father is dead, how are we supposed to tell him, get a Ouija board?” Cal responded sarcastically.

“Katerina’s father is not dead; he’s standing guard outside Evee’s room. He’s on our side, obviously, but I need you to stay here so I can alert him that you are here before he comes in.” With that, Josh got up and got dressed. He took one more look at his little brother before exiting and closing the door swiftly behind him. A moment later, and older gentleman with bright teal eyes opened the door and entered cautiously, keeping his eyes locked on Cal as if he were afraid he might disappear in front of his eyes.

“Uh, hi. I’m Cal, I work with Katerina.” Cal said to him awkwardly as the man clearly sized him up.

“I rise from the ashes, reborn and bright; A symbol of hope, a fiery sight; A city of legends, a desert’s crown; a name that echoes world renowned. What am I?” Henry said this while continuing to size up Cal.

“Umm… I didn’t know there would be a test, here.” Cal said nervously. He wasn’t really sure why he was nervous, but he was.

“Answer the riddle.” Henry said simply.

“Umm… I don’t know, a Phoenix?” Cal blurted out as he felt like he was coming upon a corner that he didn’t want to be boxed into.

“Hmm. Interesting. My name is Henry, nice to meet you. Josh said your name was Cal?” Henry backed off and became pensive for a moment before continuing without getting the confirmation on his name. “Well, anyways, tell me everything you know, and I will tell you everything I know.”

“Sir, no disrespect here but I’m a soldier and you’re an old man; I’m not giving you my intel without even confirming who you are. Katerina told me her father has been dead half of her life; how do I know you’re really him?”

Without saying a word, Henry turned and approached him in three quick steps, grabbing him by the front of his shirt, he looked deep into Cal’s eyes. One moment Henry’s eyes were clearly teal blue and the next moment one was bright blue and the other a dark green; just like Katerina’s eyes.

“The only people to have this exact color combination of eyes is our gene pool, so even if you don’t believe I’m her father you can’t deny that I’m a blood relative.”

Cal stared, dumbfounded. Katerina had no other family she was aware of; she had told him she only ever had her mother and father. The only explanation was that this was Katerina’s father, and Cal didn’t even know how to process that let alone how he would tell Katerina. He conceded that this must be her father, and proceeded to tell him everything he knew. He told him about Katerina, her ability, the missions, and finally the mission to rescue Everlea.

“Katerina’s mother died while she slept, so Katerina has no idea what she needs to do for Everlea when she reached maturity. Her instincts should drive her to do it anyways, but she won’t fully understand what she’s doing unless I can get to her and explain everything.” Henry stated pensively.

“So, what happens if we don’t get Everlea to Katerina before she reaches maturity?” Cal asked hesitantly.

“Then Everlea will not receive her powers, he lifeforce will be stripped away and she will be a mortal; no longer what she is.”

“What are you, anyways?”

“Katerina’s mother, Eudora, and I are mates; the two Phoenix created by the Drages to end the Millenium Wars between the Drages and the Leviathans. Once the Millenium Wars were over, we came to Earth to watch over those that would not learn from the wars and move on. While here, we blended in and took on a relatively normal life. After a few thousand years, Katerina was born, and we were happier still; but then the Earth began dying and we needed to escape. We tried getting off the planet with only those who were good and kind, but by then we were seriously outnumbered. I had to leave them in an attempt to keep those who were not suited for freedom from getting off the planet, but I failed. We were separated when it came time to board the Arks, so I ended up on Ark Europa and they were on Ark Americana. Katerina’s mother must have held out hopes that I would return to have the necessary conversations with Katerina with her, and thus never got the chance to really tell her everything she needed to know.”

“You don’t look like a bird…” Cal said slowly; to which, Henry laughed heartily before regaining composure.

“No, no I do not. Much like the Drage and the Leviathan, the Phoenix is mostly a symbol of mine and Eudora’s choosing based on what happens when our physical bodies die.”

“What happens when your physical bodies die?”

“Well, we smolder and turn to a pile of ashes that become hardened into an egg. When it’s time for us to be reborn, the egg hatches and the spirit that comes out is a fiery golden bird with iridescent plumage that looks a lot like what people see as a Phoenix today.”

“So, you’re not immediately reborn?”

“Sometimes we are, if the right conditions are met. Sometimes it takes a while. I once had to wait a century for Eudora to be reborn. I had to carry that damned egg with me everywhere, too.” He said with a chuckle that got him lost in his memories for a moment. “I would do it all again if I could find her egg. She died when I wasn’t there, Katerina was so young and knew nothing, so I have no idea where she is. If I can’t find her, she’ll be lost until someone in our lineage finds her egg and gives her the chance to be reborn. In rare circumstances she can be reborn without me, a failsafe that the Drage put in place to ensure that there will always be at least one Phoenix to do the job; but it’s never happened before, so I have no idea if that’s come to pass or not.”

“Okay… So, you and Eudora are the Phoenix, which makes Katerina a Phoenix; what does that make Everlea?” Cal was trying desperately to come to terms with all he had learned in the last five minutes but his mind was reeling.

“Everlea is something new. We did not know we could mate with humans and produce offspring. Eudora and I were thousands of years into our lifecycle before she was born, so we didn’t even know it was possible for her to conceive a child; let alone a child with Everlea’s abilities. She’s been slowly showcasing them the last few weeks and it’s impressive to say the least. She seems to be able to communicate freely with animals, as you and I are now; that is one I did not expect. When she displayed the ability to control others’ thoughts and actions, I was a bit surprised to see it so young; but that’s one that we all have.

“As our generations continue, the abilities of each Phoenix will evolve based on what’s most needed but we keep the abilities of the previous generations. Fifty generations from now, the Phoenix will be more wise and more powerful and we could ever imagine. That is, if we are able to keep our lifecycle going.”

“Well, what do we do now?” Cal’s head was spinning so fast he grabbed a nearby chair and sat down. This was an incredible story, one that he had heard his whole life in bedtime stories, but to learn that it was all real was incredible.

“We need to get Katerina here; there’s no way that we’ll get Laura, Everlea and Meg out without raising suspicions. Once she’s here- “

“Laura! Laura is here? Where? I hadn’t even heard that she was missing. I saw several notes from Rain but I didn’t get to read them all before the damned cat was in my head and giving me orders.” Cal jumped up at this; the guilt of not knowing one of his own was even missing all but consuming him.

“She’s been here about three weeks. She’s awfully sick, and they beat her up regularly; she is the one you need to get out of here right now. Then you get Katerina and you bring her right back and we will all fight to get them out. I have been rigging gas lines in my spare time over the last few weeks; I just need to rig up the detonator and we can blow this whole place down on the way out.”

“That would mean a lot of casualties in other functioning mines, not to mention the innocent here.”

“There are no innocents here. There are no women who haven’t chosen to be here besides Laura and Meg, and there are no children besides Everlea. Most of them are Leviathan who refuse to live in peace. It’s true, the other mines would likely be affected, but this is our chance to bring down the Cult once and for all. We cannot squander this opportunity.” Henry was getting agitated at Cal’s hesitance to collateral damage, but Cal let it slide; this was his family and his mission after all.

“Take me to Laura. I’ll get her out now.” Cal said calmly. Henry ran his fingers through his hair and turned towards the door.

“Wait here, I have to make sure the coast is clear and tell Josh what’s going on. I’m going to have to take a hit, get knocked out, to make it believable that she escaped alone. I have no idea how much time it’ll buy you, but that’s the plan we’ve got.” Henry turned around and swiftly exited, closing the door behind him. Cal just sat there for a few minutes before Josh was back with Laura under his arm. She was barely conscious, covered in bruises and cuts, and utterly filthy; but she was alive and breathing.

“Holy, fuck! Laura!” Cal exclaimed as he grabbed hold of her from Josh and brought her to a chair to sit her down. “How am I supposed to get her out of here through the vents like this?” He asked his brother as Laura slumped over, unconscious once again.

“I don’t know. The only thing I can think of is to tie a rope to her waist and tie the rope to you… And you drag her through. I doubt she’s got enough strength to make her way through by herself. The air vents are all carved stone, it’ll support your weights and it should dampen the noise but it’ll be hard going.” Josh was explaining as he was still trying to come up with something better for their escape.

“I can do it. She’s lost weight, I can tell. Do you have rope? I left mine at the surface.”

“I’ll go grab some.” Josh replied, turning and exiting the room.

Just then, Laura stirred and started mumbling something Cal couldn’t quite make out. He stepped closer to her to try to hear what she was saying.

“Kat… They’re going after Kat.” She mumbled.

“How do they even know where to find her, Laura? What do you mean they’re going after Kat?” Cal grabbed her by the shoulders and tried to steady her, patting her cheek to try to bring her back to consciousness to no avail. Her skin was on fire, and she was too sick and injured to be of any further use. Just then, Josh walked back in with a length of rope. “Hurry up, I need to go. She said they’re going after Katerina.”

They strapped Laura to Cal and he climbed back up into the vent. While Josh lifted her body up, Cal pulled Laura into the vent with him. Then Cal made his way quickly through the vents towing Laura behind him. It was arduous, but he kept replaying Laura’s words in his mind the whole way.

Kat… They’re going after Kat.