Chapter Eighteen
“I will have to rethink my stance on carbon offsets. I may never fly on a regular airline again,” Mel declared as she drove her Mini far too fast over the winding mountain road.
“At least not without a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth. I’m officially spoiled.
Same as with this place.” She waved at the heavily forested slopes above and below them.
“Every road through these mountains is amazing.”
“Even the interstate,” he replied, still focused on her laptop.
Daniel had picked this particular route home to throw off any possible tail, although that seemed unlikely at this point. Had what he’d seen meant the danger wasn’t really over?
For one brief moment on the plane, she had been overwhelmed by his confusion and despair. But when he had emerged from the bathroom, he had instead been full of resignation and determination.
Nick had reported that Italian authorities had intercepted an armed man stalking Dr. Ricci. Mel wondered if it was one of their original two stalkers or a third man.
So, they had saved Dr. Ricci’s life. Hopefully they could stop the virus, if the authorities could find the lab. She could tell Daniel was still chewing on that big ‘if.’
“It’s not the road, it’s the mountains,” she said, trying to cheer herself up. “It almost feels like they’re living, breathing creatures with trees growing on their backs, and stars in their hair. It’s hard to imagine that some people only see them as obstacles to getting the coal underneath.”
“It’s good to know they have someone like you fighting for them,” Daniel said. He closed the laptop and tucked it back into her backpack.
“Words make good weapons.”
He turned to her. “That article really is amazing, Mel. After seeing how focused you get when you write, I’m not surprised how quickly you pulled all that together. It’ll make a difference. I know it.”
She smiled, but his emotional turmoil had been the reason she’d had him focus on helping her edit her article on the plane. Work was a great distraction.
The resulting article was even better than the original. Between the additional preprint research that Daniel had access to and the juicy anecdotes and details he provided, some quick investigation during the flight had resulted in a terrific story.
It hit all the key issues—not just the way these herbicides impeded the growth of honeybee larvae and reduced the bees’ navigational abilities, but also the impact on the bees’ gut microorganisms. She was surprised to learn bees even had a gut and that, like humans, their microbiome was vital to their health.
The herbicides also killed off blooming weeds that honeybees needed to forage—essentially destroying a food source.
Meyer wouldn’t be happy, but she had been meticulous in verifying her sources, noting which were preprint and which were peer reviewed, and they would have difficulty rebutting everything. At least they wouldn’t send thugs to try to stop her from telling this story. Well, she hoped.
She wondered if anyone would write the story about Dr. Ricci’s mystery virus. She shivered, remembering all that had happened. It was too big for her to tackle, but now that the truth was out there, she hoped someone would.
“You okay?” Daniel asked. She must’ve been broadcasting her fear.
“I’m great. Always great when the wind’s in my hair,” she said. “It smells like spring. It even feels like spring against your skin.”
“Mmmm,” he replied.
She wondered again what was bothering him. “Are you having second thoughts about telling me everything? Is it about my parents?”
“Not at all,” he said. “Where did you get that idea?”
“I… You seem upset about something.”
“I keep forgetting about your talent.”
“I can shield, but not for this long. Sorry. Are you worried we’ll tell someone about the cave?”
He shrugged. “Not really. Let’s just say the mountain seems to have its own security system. If it doesn’t want you up here, you won’t get anywhere near that cave.” He seemed to hesitate. Confusion. Despair. “And if it wants you, you can’t stay away.”
She resisted the urge to reach for his hand.
“I think it’s gotten into my head too.” She put a finger to her temple. “It sings to you or hums or something.”
He nodded, but she finally had to shield. The despair was getting overwhelming.
“What’s wrong?”
He blew out a breath. “I’m still struggling with that tipping point you mentioned in the article. Whether the kind of incremental changes they want to make could really have an impact. Incremental isn’t going to do it. It feels like a Band-Aid on a punctured artery.”
Mel could tell that wasn’t what he was chewing on. He was struggling with something else. “Well, that’s understandable, considering the things you’ve seen.”
He looked out at the passing scenery. “Yeah.”
“Pretty bad, huh?”
“I’d prefer not to be around to experience it, if that tells you anything.”
“How long have you been seeing that kind of thing?”
“I’ve had dreams since I was a kid. They’ve gotten worse over the years,” he said in a tight voice. “I thought everyone had dreams like that, until I was older. Then I thought I was… I’ve been dreaming of endings for a long time.”
No wonder. Dreaming of endings sounded so hopeless. Her hand touched his. He had his gloves on again, but there was nothing in that touch but plain old comfort.
“But going in the cave made a difference?”
“Yeah, it did. I should have gone in there sooner.” The tight look on his face eased a bit. “Now it feels like too little, too late.”
“That future niece of yours was pretty determined to get you in there.”
“Granny Lily and her namesake both.”
“But do you think it really was your Granny Lily or your niece talking to you? Or both? I mean, even if you accept that your niece has a powerful gift she’s using in utero…
It seems inconceivable that a message that complex and…
specific would be delivered that way. Do you think what you experienced on the porch, what we experienced, was another vision of the future, or something else? Something even more amazing?”
Daniel looked at her, surprised. “Nothing escapes you, does it?”
Mel smiled. “Not much. Don’t you think if that is possible, anything is? That we might manage to save this planet and every creature on it?”
“Maybe.” Hope. Despair.
“Well, with little Lily on our side, who can stop us? I mean, using her gift like that, even before she’s born?” Mel shook her head. “Imagine the possibilities.”
“Yeah.” He looked thoughtful. “Maybe her gift will make the difference.”
“Well, it’s probably a side effect of my gift to be a bit of an optimist,” Mel said.
“And maybe it’s a side effect of mine to be a pessimist,” Daniel said. “I’ll have to work on that.”
“I don’t know what I would be like if I’d seen the things you’ve seen,” she said. “To have dreamed of all those endings, and still be determined to find a way forward, to fix things. I would… Well, I don’t know what I’d do.”
“You’d find a way,” he said. “There’s a lot of negative emotion out there in the world. I can’t imagine feeling all that and staying as optimistic as you are.”
“Shielding helps, but I’ve had some bad experiences with my talento, like learning how not to use it.”
“I’m listening.”
She sighed. “You know, it’s nice to be able to talk to someone without constantly guarding your words.”
“Yeah, it is,” Daniel admitted.
“When I was fourteen, I learned that I could really hurt someone with my gift. We were somewhere at a Ren fair. We were all still partially in costume, and we had gone into town for my birthday. Most of the towns around the fairs enjoy seeing the performers in their restaurants and stores, but these three kids were total jerks.”
She paused for a moment but continued. “I had seen one of them in our audience that day, and I actually think this was his stupid way of flirting with me. He was cute and I was friendly toward him, but one of his friends said something about all the performers at the fair being a bunch of dirty gypsies. The other agreed, and he joined in and said something about me being a tramp-in-training.”
Daniel frowned.
“I was so angry and hurt that I projected blood-curdling terror at all three of them. I must’ve done it pretty well because they all turned white as a sheet, and the ringleader threw up right there,” she admitted.
“Then I ran into the bathroom and threw up as well. I haven’t projected anything really negative since.
Not on purpose. It felt like I tarnished my soul. ”
“Your soul looks fine from here,” Daniel said.
That megawatt smile made Daniel realize it really wasn’t her gift that made him feel this way. It was simply her. Mel made people smile without even trying.
And he was in love with her.
Even now, watching the wind whip through her hair as she maneuvered along the winding curves in her Mini, he wanted to tell her to pull over so he could kiss her, so he could take her in his arms and—
“Are those white trees dogwoods?” she asked. She pointed to the understory beneath the tender green of the hardwoods, which was filled with ivory lace.
“Probably. Or serviceberry,” he said, distracted.
The fiasco on the plane had proven that her shield couldn’t stop his visions.
He needed better control so it wouldn’t be an issue.
And he didn’t want her to keep him out. He needed to see, to protect her from whatever was out there right now.
It chilled him to think of how close he had come to losing their baby.
Their baby. That brought him circling around to what he had been thinking about all day.
How could he make love to her knowing that at any moment he could see something horrible or traumatic?
Every time he touched her, he might see the end of their relationship, like this morning when he had watched her run away from the mountain. From him.
But if he had to see it all end, he would rather see her walk or even run away on her own two feet, alive and breathing.