Earth(24)

They retrieved their bikes, and headed back for their island. Shawn kept a slow pace.

"A nuclear facility – here?" Clay asked, angling his bike next to Shawn's.

"Country has gotta run on something," Shawn said.

Clay glanced at the Wasatch Mountain Range. They were not hand-carved; they were thrust together over time. Whatever fault line did that was still there, which meant the potential for earthquakes. And their fearless leader wanted to build a nuclear power plant right on top of it.

Shawn watched Clay eyeing the mountains. "Lake Utah is the largest, natural freshwater lake West of the Mississippi. Nuclear stations need tons of water to cool down the core, and I plan on building a really big one."

"Why not saltwater? You can build this thing in the middle of the ocean, away from the population."

"Saltwater corrodes the lines and valves. Besides – look at this place!" He gestured to the Wasatch and the much smaller range to the west. "It is completely protected."

Clay ran a hand down his beard.

Shawn continued, "No one cares about Utah except the Mormons, and they’re used to being pushed around. I'm not too worried about earthquakes; that's what I have you for." Shawn patted Clay's shoulder, hard.

Clay steered back and forth, thrown off balance. By the time he had his bike under control, he had to pedal hard to catch back up.

Shawn was still talking, "Though, I can't say the same for some of the other facilities I have planned."

"There will be more?" Clay huffed.

Shawn shrugged. "As many as there needs to be to power the world."

"How are you going to mine for the Uranium?"

"What – you can’t find it for me with all your 'Earth' magic?" Shawn smirked.

"Sorry – I'm not powerful enough for that." Clay grimaced. He'd only seen one person with that kind of power, and she wasn't with One Less. "So…" Clay peddled harder to keep up with Shawn. They approached a hill. "How are we gonna get to Fort Calhoun?"

Shawn looked down at his bike. "The rivers will be the fastest."





Chapter 15





Patterns





Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri, Platte. I ran through the list of rivers again. It worked better than counting sheep when I was trying to fall asleep. Sheep reminded me of fluffy pillows; something I had too long gone without. Bee stirred next to me. If I wasn't careful, I'd wake her too. Then there'd be no sleeping for anyone on the deck. I slid out of my sleeping bag and made my way to the back of the steamboat, out of view of the night watch and away from the sleeping mass that was my new army. I leaned over the railing and watched the churning water left in our wake. I was partly relieved to be on a boat powered by something other than my own arms. Perhaps we could outrun whatever was chasing us. I glanced behind me at Bee.

Or maybe not.

At the same time, we were approaching our destination much faster, and we weren't nearly ready to face Shawn and One Less again. I squeezed the railing, thinking of our last battle with them. I’d almost won. I was seconds away from destroying his EMP with Akasha, but something caused me to release too early. Something horrible had happened…

Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri, Platte. I interrupted my own train of thought with the familiar chant.

"You okay?"

I jumped at the sound of Susan's voice. I turned, rubbing the rail imprint out of my palms while I willed my pulse to slow. "Yeah…couldn't sleep," I mumbled.

"Me neither," she commented, joining me at the railing. "I keep thinking…"

"About how you've gone from Pocahontas to Mark Twain?"

Her tight smile revealed a few new wrinkles around her eyes.

"What?" I prompted.

She looked at me. "I’m scared."

I nodded, taking it in. "Me too. It's probably because of the two-ton boilers sitting beneath us. They keep propelling us closer to Shawn, but I don't think we're ready for him."

She agreed, "It feels like it has mostly been a draw. He doesn't come out on top, but neither do we." She took a deep breath. "It can't be a draw this time; we have to finish it."

"How do we win?"

"That's the question of the year, isn't it?" She smiled at me. "When we were back at the Chakra, we were talking about all of his advantages. He has his knowledge, his locations of power, and his Athame."

I recalled our conversation. "We have our own knowledge – and our own locations of power; the Chakra, the forest in Indonesia Micah and I planted, and Easter Island."

Susan nodded her head.

"But what counters his Athame?"

She stopped nodding, her hand touching something at her hip. "Do you know what the Great Rite is?"