Violet light began to overtake Marlene's third eye. Damali was so shaken that she neither complied nor objected. The team had such wild looks in their eyes that each and every one of them seemed about ready to keel over at any second. But the moment Carlos synched up to the fact that Marlene was summoning the Neteru Queen Council pyramid energy, he opened his fist, had the blade of Ausar in his hand, and rammed it into the sand.
"Aw, hell no!"
Damali's time distortion broke. Curious but amiable beachgoers looked at their team in passing and went on their merry ways, none the wiser that they'd just stepped out of a dimensional fold.
"We just got played," Carlos said, walking in an agitated circle. "You know what..." Damali watched him, trying to remain calm as no one said a word. She could tell he was so pissed off that blue-white static was flickering at the edges of his nostrils. But it was good to see that - rather than the other way he'd been.
"Never again!" he shouted, walking a hot line back and forth in front of the team and drawing slight glances from the occasional passerby. "I'm never in my life again gonna be chased out of my own house or wherever I am," he said, talking with his hands and almost stuttering. "We take a stand, right here, right now - if this is the big one, so be it! We were chosen to be here to hang because somebody must have thought we could! I am so f**king pissed right now, you just don't know!"
Unblinking eyes stared at him. Nobody moved, nobody said a word, nobody breathed for what felt like very long seconds.
"Aw'ight, C, what's the plan, boss?" Shabazz said, the first to break the silence. "I'm down for whatever."
"It was a damned familiar," Carlos seethed and then spat. Confused glances passed between team members.
"Y'all wanted San Diego, all right, we're in San Diego - just a little ahead of schedule, aw'ight?" Carlos walked away and headed for the surf.
"Is he okay, Damali?" Marjorie asked in a quiet tone after a moment. "This doesn't feel Carlos-normal, you get me?"
"He's under a lot of stress, Marj," Damali said hi a low murmur, giving her teammates the eye not to press for more right now. "Hold tight, I'll be back." She jogged down the pristine strip of beach to where Car los stood and watched him rake his hair with his fingers, drawing in slow breaths with his eyes closed and face tipped up to the sky, as though summoning calm with every fiber in him. Rather than interrupt him, she just stood as a soothing presence beside him - at the ready for when he was more able to talk about it.
Within her bubbled a very quiet prayer, one for peace and understanding, hope, and no casualties this time around. They were blessed, regardless of all the drama they'd endured. Carlos had brought them to a place that boasted of seventy miles of pristine beaches situated between the Laguna Mountains and the Anza-Borrego Desert where the northernmost point of La Jolla offered three-hundred-foot cliffs. As wild as the last fifteen minutes had been, not to mention the last twenty-four hours or so, a sudden peace claimed her soul as she stood next to her very agitated husband. Going inward, she sensed the land and drew its el ements of beauty to cloak her, sharing that vision with every seer in the group. Then she drew in the wondrous vibrations and scents of the nature around her, allowing that to pour as balm over the shattered nervous systems of her tactical and olfactory squad members, saving the gentle natural calls of the serene environment for her audio, Big Mike, for last.
Before long a certain knowing overtook her. Carlos had put them down within the oldest and most exclusive district of La Jolla. This place was an extension of Carlos's land homing pattern, where his regal spirit could claim residence amid his ancestral trails. It had Spanish and Indian vibra tions in the very sand. It was all him - high, majestic cliffs from his old existence of owning a lair, and would befit a warrior's sensibilities by being surrounded on three sides by the sea with the steep slopes of Mt. Soledad at its back. At high enough elevation, one could be alerted to anything coming before it approached. He was, after all, a Neteru.
But she tried not to think of that right now, the very real issue of war, choosing to focus on the Mediterranean-like balmy temperatures and the way she could sense that the streets rolled up by midnight, all residents indoors and relax ing at home. Peace. Yeah ... Upscale boutiques, art galleries, restaurants, good elementary schools set in turnof-the-century, stunning Spanish architecture and eclectic designs. University of Cali
fornia San Diego campus for all the newbies, and maybe even her, to get that chance to do something normal that they'd never done before. High-tech industries and state-of-the-art labs that would make J.L gasp, loaded with free-thinking geeks so prevalent that there'd be a supportive community for him and Krissy here, too.
Naturalists, herbalists, green-space folks who respected Mother Earth. Seabirds; Bird Rock. Protected marine sanctuaries and an idyllic crescent of sand sheltered from storms, a flang glider's paradise. Pure water, gleaming sand. Sandstone bluffs, natural kelp beds that drew gray whales and seals, with busy sea lion rookeries, a world-renowned zoo, beautiful family parks, museums, and an elegant presidio... oh, God, hi Heaven, she was
nesting, too - and her husband had found the perfect spot for everyone on the team, even shooting at it blind.
She understood his terror, because that's what he most wanted to do - nest, come in off the road of high stakes and high drama. To make it all just cease for a while, make it all go away.
Carlos took one look at her face then opened his arms not saying a word, and she filled them. He pressed his cheek against her hair and began to rock her gently to the pound of the surf. She understood, could feel it through his skin, his pores, his breath, why he'd been so angry with himself... why he'd gone after Lilith wild swinging - because of this. He wanted to preserve this. The peace. His right, more so than to bear arms, but also his right to a place where he and every other man he respected could raise a family in peace. He'd gone after Lilith swinging hard, swinging blind, and then realized that he might have actually drawn something worse than her his way ... then" way, jeopardizing more than his personal interests.
Damalie hoped that her gentle, steady caress at his back conveyed that she'd heard him, no words necessary. Her steady, calm breaths said that she trusted him, respected him, no matter what; he'd done what he felt he had to do. Finally she could hear his breath stabilize and he kissed her hair, slowly letting her go.
"I got us here ass out, no weapons, and no luggage... I guess I should go see if I can get everybody set up in a temporary hotel so Dan can work some real estate magic, and, uh, go back and get our gear from Tahiti."
He was looking down at the sand when he spoke, an embarrassed half-smile tugging at his mouth. She kissed him and tried not to smile too wide.
"I think I can get us set up in a hotel. We'll manage." Her insides were screaming with a thousand wife-worry questions that all began with 'Are you sure,' but that was the thing - in order for him to be sure it was cool, he had to get back his confidence at the scene of the crime. Of course he wasn't sure, but the only way for him to reverse that was to face the thing that had shook him head-on. So she fell back, trying to keep her vibe easy and confident. "I'll let everybody know what's up, and by the time you get back, we'll be somewhere busting a grub."
"You sure?" he said, watching her retreat toward the group.
"Yeah, we're good," she called over her shoulder. She forced her tone to be light and upbeat as her mind bleated a hundred prayers at once - Lord, let this man be all right, don't let the Unnamed One snatch him when he goes back. From everything she'd learned from Marlene-the-wise, as well as her dear queen, Nefertiti, making the man lose face in front of the team by having to explain that he'd temporarily wigged was just as bad as putting a blade in his confidence. So she walked, glancing over her shoulder just once with a strained smile.
Concerned stares met her as she returned to the group several yards away, and she stood in front of Carlos's blade that had been rammed in the sand, body-shielding it from onlookers as it slowly dematerialized into nothing. The moment he was gone, team hysteria broke out, and they hit her with rapid-fire questions all at once.
"Okay, what's the deal with our boy, D?" Mike said. "He wigged. I ain't seen Rivera battle-freaked like that in my life."
"Took the words right outta my mouth, Mike - and probably just gave me a Bride of
Frankenstein streak of gray hair on my head," Rider fussed and then spat on the sand.
"Can't do that to us old dogs; our hearts can't take it. Sheesh!"