Earth(81)

He returned the laugh, throwing his arm around me. "All that guano – good fertilizer for the wheat field."

I eyed his hand on my shoulder. He made small circles, rubbing with the pad of his thumb.

I know this tune.

I tried distracting him. "I need you to call in my favor with the Earths."

"Finally going to build an army?" His hand went down to the small of my back.

"No. In fact, just the opposite. I want them to run away when I give my signal."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "Run away? Why?" Despite the frown, his hand slipped around my waist, pulling me into him.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think we should try it again – at least not this soon." I removed his hand, intertwining my fingers with his.

He stopped walking, pulling me back into him. I tried to avoid looking in his eyes, but he lifted my chin up.

"I think we should. You have more control over your powers because of it, don't you?"

My eyes floated away. "Yes, but—"

"And you will not take an army to the fight with you…" his sharp tone caused my eyes to snap back to him. "Although you claim to know you need all the help you can get."

I ripped my chin away from his hand. "What about you? You insist at being by my side, but if we do this – you won't even be able to make your way back to camp."

His hand fell. "Why is it so difficult for you to let people do things for you?"

I laughed. "Let them? I let your sister take Bee away from me. How much more 'let' do you need?"

He shook his head. "That's not what I meant."

"Well that's how it was taken." I clipped my words short. I crossed my arms over my chest, but in my own way, heaved a huge sigh of relief. We were finally arguing, and it felt good.

"What if I…" Micah trailed off.

I stayed silent.

"I mean, I might know a way for me to pass along the energy, then gain some for myself."

"How?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

"We can ask for the help of some of the Elementals. And I think I've identified another Medwin; other than Shawn."

"Who?"

"Natasha." He took me by the arm, walking again. "Tomorrow is a free day at the One Less camp. I thought we could take it off and stay here. We'll do an energy exchange tonight then I'll try to recover some of it with Natasha tomorrow."

"Why don't we try the recovery first, to make sure it works?"

"I don't think we would truly know if it works – unless I was in a condition to really need it." He lifted an eyebrow at me, waiting for my answer.

I floundered, almost out of excuses. "But what if I need you? What if something happens and you can't even stand?"

I risked a glance at him. One corner of his mouth tipped up, but his shoulders drooped. For a moment, he looked like a heartbroken man. "The thing is…you don't need me. You seem to be the strongest when I am not around. We can't separate again – I won't do it. But, if I'm at least incapacitated, I figure you'll keep stepping up."

I shook my head and mumbled, "That's stupid." But was it really? I thought back to each of the times we were separated. Galapagos – I hadn't done much there. Though I had managed to send messages to Susan and Micah. And I had pseudo-escaped; who knows what would've happened if Micah hadn't found me lying unconscious on the rocks.

Then my time at the Chakra with Alex, when Micah traveled the world like a madman hunting down Shawn. What did I accomplish then? I tapped into the Athame…that was a power increase like no other. Then I left, right in the middle of childbirth. Hell, if I could do that on my own, what else could stop me?

"Fine." I leaned in to Micah. "We'll try it again. But we'll take it slow this time. I could use the energy to visit the Shades in the Chalice."

"The Chalice?" Micah asked.

"Like the Athame, but it keeps the Shades of men. Their blood filled the cup during the initiation ritual."

Micah nodded. "Banned before my time."

"But not before Cato's time…"

"He's there?" Micah's head snapped back to me.

"Yes…he's, well, I think he's on our side."

I let Micah run through the possibilities in his own head.

"Is there something you want me to tell him? Or ask him?"

Micah nodded slowly. "Yes – ask him if the mission of The Seven, according to the doctrine, supersedes family ties."

"Okay…" I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to know the answer to that.

We made our way through the gates; I noticed Micah had doubled the guards. We stopped for dinner, then began the trek up the stairs. "You know, there is probably an easier way to do this. Like, with air, in the elevator shaft."