Chapter 10

“Every owl must learn to use both eyes in order to hunt. The Great Owl is no different. Without both eyes, it is destined to crash into the trees instead of soaring into the sky.”

Crying Shadow’s Teachings of the Great Owl

Translated by Erik Livingtree

Butterflies and Sleeping Friends

1

It was like a mixture of butterflies and leaves swirling around on a windy day.

Whitney had been piggybacking with Tommy all of her life and she was used to him. His mind was orderly. He thought what he needed to think, and saw what he needed to see. Of course the thoughts in Tommy’s mind never stopped. She doubted anybody’s ever did (minds were busy things like that) but Kat’s mind was a tornado. Not that it was a bad thing, but her first impression of Kat’s mind was of butterflies. Bright colors filled her thoughts like candy colored flashes of lightning, consuming it with reds, pinks, blues, and yellows ... and flowers. More than anything, there were flowers.

She still wasn’t sure if Kat realized that Whitney was in there with her. Whitney hadn’t been able to believe it at first either, but as soon as Kat put the necklace on, Kat became “available” to her. Whitney didn’t hesitate. She wrapped her mind around Kat’s and slipped in.

Kat cocked her head like a confused puppy. Whitney could see herself through Kat’s eyes and her own head appeared slightly sideways.

You gonna stare at me all day or what?

“You speak but your curtains remain still?” she asked aloud.

“What are you talking about?” Cheyenne asked.

Shhhhh! You don’t have to talk. Just think what you want to say and I’ll hear it.

“Oh, WOW!” Kat said. She jumped up from her perch on the picnic table and her eyes blew wild with excitement. Again, she said it aloud, but only this time she said it louder.

“What?” Cheyenne said.

Shoot, Kat! They are all going to think you’re crazy or something!

“I think I’m crazy too! I have a new canary singing songs in my head!”

“No huh uh!” Cheyenne said. “That’s what the necklace was for!” She said as she bolted for the supply table, and started to grab a bunch of things from it.

What in the world is she doing? Whitney asked.

“Hell if I know!” Kat answered.

Language! Whitney thought to her.

“Huh? Language what?” Kat responded.

Your language ... you guys all swear too much.

Cheyenne came back over to them with a tray full of different pieces.

“Make me one, Whitney!” she begged. She was looking right at Kat even though she was thrusting her tray full of jewelry pieces toward Whitney.

“Tomorrow, baby cakes!” Kat said stepping out from the table. Whitney followed suit. “Gotta catch up with our twibros, ya know!”

“Meet your brothers for what? Aren’t they like, swimming or something? And tomorrow is the big event. You know that! She won’t have time tomorrow!” Cheyenne whined, getting louder as they walked away.

“Oh, yeah, right ... sorry!” Kat called over her shoulder. Whitney linked arms with her and they were both walking away with everyone staring after them.

2

“Well, this is gonna be a total bust!” Kam said to Tommy as he surveyed the groups on the beach head.

“What the hell is everyone’s problem?” Tommy asked.

“Dunno. Everybody’s stuck on the Chief’s legends.”

Tommy stared at the middle of the lake for a long time without saying anything. Occasionally he’d look at the groups as they stared at the center of the lake. It took him a while to realize it, but looking away was getting more and more difficult. Something drew his eyes to the middle of the lake like metal to a magnet. So was everyone else.

“We gotta get off the beach!” Tommy cried out. It was his dream becoming a reality and he cursed himself for letting his guard down. It took effort to break the spell and to get the words out.

“Nah! It’s nice here. We should stay and relax,” Kam answered. “Kinda like it here.”

Tommy turned Kam away from the lake, but Kam’s head pivoted, trying to remain toward the middle of the lake. Tommy persisted, guiding his friend further away from the lake. Kam resisted, but as their distance grew, his resistance abated.

“Wow!” Kam finally said after the hold dissipated. “We were about to end up like Erik, weren’t we?” he finished the sentence with a shudder.

“Not sure, but eventually, yeah. I think so.”

“Maybe swimming is a bad idea,” Kam said.

“Ya think?”

Tommy turned back toward the beach. Kam grabbed him and spun him around. “Fight it, Tommy! Don’t let IT sink ITs teeth back into you!”

“Huh? No, that’s not it. We need to get them off the beach. Just don’t look at the middle of the lake, or the atoll to be safe.”

3

Whitney sat on one of the stumps facing the center of the copse of trees that was quickly becoming their hangout. Kat’s gaze continually returned to her as the minds of both girls curled together like a whiff of smoke ascending from the bowl of a pipe.

“What’s it like, Whit?” Kat asked her.

“What’s what like?” Whitney answered.

The girls were both speaking aloud. They were alone, in the copse of trees, and no one else was around to pass judgment. Her ability to form words like a normal person, despite her deafness, wouldn’t make sense to most people. It was a feat that any regular deaf person would never be able to accomplish, but she wasn’t a normal deaf person. It took her years to perfect the ability to speak. The day before Tommy suggested Whitney could sense vibrations in the air and even though he was just trying to pacify them with his explanation, there was truth in that. Whitney couldn’t exactly hear through these vibrations because her sense of them wasn’t that astute, but her body was a receiving station for vibrations. She was very much aware of the vibrations that existed around her.

Tommy and Whitney experimented with it after Carol told them the story of how she discovered Whitney’s blindness. Whitney refused to answer her when Blake took Tommy out to play at the park when they were four. Carol tried everything to get Whitney’s attention and as she was ready to give up, she tossed a carrot at Whitney from behind her. Whitney’s hand shot up and she caught the carrot without looking. They duplicated it by having Tommy toss things at her while she wasn’t piggybacking with him and they figured out she could knew when something was being thrown at her. She could catch it and she could smack it out of the way every time. That was also how she learned to form words to speak so clearly. She wasn’t sure about that, but it was the best explanation she could come up with.

“You know. Your drapes are forever drawn and the cotton in your ears is permanent. What’s that like?”

They weren’t limited to the words of their conversation. Whitney could feel the expressions on Whitney’s face and so could Kat. They shared every experiencing, every subtle movement from every muscle from both bodies. Sometimes, it got a little overwhelming. Whitney was used to it and didn’t hold anything back, but Kat found herself fighting it from time to time.

“I’m used to doing this with Tommy, and he’s accustomed to it. I can hold back if it becomes too much for you.”

“It’s a tidal wave, but I can dig it,” Kat answered.

“To answer your question, I’m used to it. I guess I’m not completely blind though. I mean I can’t actually see anything unless I’m piggybacking, but I know where people are ... animals too if I look for them. I can’t see them in any way and yet I could throw a rock at them and peg them right in the shin.”

“It’s desolation and desertion, a pretty girl with no friends, living alone in her own little head, isn’t it?” Kat asked. She had a stick in her hand and she was drawing circles in the dirt in front of her. “Talking is everything to me. I can’t imagine living in a wall with no holes to see or breathe,” Kat said. She hung her head low as the full weight of Whitney’s situation was sinking in.

“It’s not so bad, Kat. I have Tommy—and now you,” Whitney answered. “You don’t have any idea how much this means to me. I love Tommy. He’s my brother but sharing this with you is like ... Well it’s a dream come true for me. Now I have a best friend.”

“Kam’s heart is in your pocket. You know that, right?”

Kat could feel Whitney’s eyebrows crinkle. She looked over and to see her friend’s expression and, once again, feeling the expression and seeing it at the same time gave her a dual sense of being. She couldn’t grasp how Whitney could ever get used to that.

“I can’t go there, Kat. You have to understand how difficult things are as it is. I don’t think a boyfriend will ever be in the cards for me. Besides. Your brother just thinks I’m interesting because of my situation. He’ll find a prettier girl and move on anyway.”

Kat laughed aloud and rocked back and forth on her stump.

“The girl with no mirror doesn’t know that she is Snow White,” Kat said “Mirror, mirror on the wall. I sit next to the fairest of all,” and her thoughts immediately triggered a chain of images. Kam glancing Whitney’s way repeatedly, followed by that lopsided smile of approval; images of Whitney’s face, half covered by her dark sunglasses which hid her eyes, but not her tanned face.

“My brother is used to getting attention from pretty girls. He’s a nest that girls flock to. I know my brother. He doesn’t want them, Whitney. He likes you.”

“Well tell him to stop, Kat. I told you. I can’t go there.”

“Every girl needs a Prince Charming. Is he that for you?” She shrugged. “Don’t know. Only you can answer that, but don’t expect me to be your wicked witch. You tell him yourself.”

“Fine!” Whitney said and she resigned herself to do just that.

4

It took a half hour but eventually they got everyone off the beach, and it wasn’t completely without risk. Tommy had more resistance to the draw, but wasn’t immune. Kam had to be extremely careful. If he even glanced toward the center of the lake or the atoll he was hooked, and Tommy had to pull him back out of it.

They started with the staff members. There were seventeen people mesmerized and their strategy was to help the staff members first, they could then help them with the rest of the zombified campers. As Tommy was helping the first of the staff, the invisible arms of his telekinetic ability (he thought of his telekinesis as invisible arms) wrapped around the staff member in a protective blanket. As this happened, Tommy felt a gentle snapping as if he had just brushed away a few strands of cobwebs from around the staff member. As soon as that happened the staff member snapped out of his waking coma. Without even trying, he stumbled onto something.

“I want to see Erik and the Chief,” Tommy demanded when they were finished clearing the beach. The staff members were beginning to take control. They cordoned off the beach with caution tape, and posted guards along the perimeter.

“Probably not a bad idea,” Kam answered. “I wouldn’t mind checking on them myself, but don’t we need to start looking for that owl?”

Tommy shook his head no. “I don’t know what good an owl would do in this situation.”

Kam took Tommy along the same path that he took earlier that morning. They gained the trust of some of the staff, but that didn’t include whoever it was watching the cameras. They still needed to avoid being tracked. Tommy could have manipulated the cameras if he wanted to, but chose not to. He figured that shutting them down would only draw attention and might bring someone out to check out the problem. It was better to avoid them.

“So tell me. When you’re in your sister’s head? Can you read her thoughts?” Kam asked. Tommy could tell the conversation was leading to something. He wasn’t just asking for curiosity’s sake alone. He was getting to something.

“Well, technically, she’s in my head, but her thoughts come with her. Why?”

“Does she like me?” he asked bluntly. He was straight and to the point. “I can usually tell with a girl, but with your sister it’s a little different.”

“It’s a lot different. She’s a lot different. I mean that in more than she’s blind and deaf,” he added as he remembered all of the time they spent in the arena.

They were cutting their way through the brush. Tommy could still smell Kam’s scent from earlier. It was beginning to fade. If he needed to, he could track it for another day unless it rained.

“Well, yeah, I know that.”

Tommy grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him. They both stopped dead in their tracks. At first, Tommy didn’t say anything. He was choosing his words carefully.

“She’s not...” he began. “No. We’re not normal. We don’t have normal lives laid out in front of us, Kam. Things are different for us. I can see, and hear. That doesn’t mean that I can be Kat’s boyfriend, though. Not even if we fall madly in love with each other. It just can’t happen,” Tommy said turning back toward the path they were walking.

“You really like her, eh?” Kam asked following behind him. “I mean everyone kind of likes her, but she talks so much! That doesn’t get on your nerves?”

Tommy pulled a group of branches aside and made his way through the tangle. Kam followed behind him. At first he wasn’t sure if Tommy heard his question and was about to repeat it, but before he could Tommy finally did.

“My sister hardly ever says a word, Kam. Yours always talks. Does it get on my nerves? I could listen to her all day every day for the rest of my life. The question I have is whether or not you could stand never talking to my sister?”

Kam continued to follow behind Tommy. This time he didn’t answer. He wasn’t sure what to say. When he spoke again, his words walked the fine line of anger. “Don’t toy with her Tommy. I mean it. I think she’s starting to like you, man, so if you don’t think you can return that, she needs to know.”

Tommy nodded with his head down, his thoughts low on his brow. Kam pushed passed him, dropping the subject.

“Shouldn’t I be taking the lead? I know the way,” he said after going another few hundred yards.

“You already did,” Tommy said. “I can smell your scent from earlier.”

“You can smell my scent?” Kam asked him and Tommy nodded.

“It’s not pity is it?” Tommy questioned, walking by Kam again and kept walking.

“What’s not pity?”

“The reason you like my sister. You know because she’s blind and deaf. People see her as helpless. She’s not. She doesn’t always know it, but she’s far from helpless.”

“Is that what you think?” he said just as Tommy pulled another tangle aside. He let it go a little too quick and the branches smacked Kam in the face like an idea.

“Well is it?”

“No, At least I don’t think so. So far your sister is ... impressive.”

The boys came to a path that crossed in front of them. According to Erik, it was at a point where there were no cameras, so they could cross safely as long as nobody was coming through. Kam put his hand to Tommy’s shoulder to urge him to wait.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Tommy said as images of his sister (the silver-eyed tattooed version of her) flashed through his mind

“What’s the other half of it?” Kam asked as they crossed the other path. Tommy had signaled to him that the coast was clear and they carefully made their way across.

“Let’s just say that she is impressive,” Tommy confided. He still felt as though talking to Kam and sharing things with him was like betraying their secret, but he trusted Kam and he knew Whitney trusted both Kat and Kam. It no longer seemed vital. Unloading some of those burdens made him feel better. “She’s impressive beyond anything you could imagine.”

“In what way. You’re being a little elusive here,” Kam said. There was frustration in his voice.

“It’s not easy to explain,” Tommy said. “I’ve seen Whitney do astounding things. Sometimes I can’t believe them myself. Whitney doesn’t even realize how incredible they are.”

“Like?” Kam said as they made their way through tangle after tangle through the woods. They weren’t following an actual path so the going was slower than it would have been.

“Well; we don’t have a ton of time so I can’t tell you the entire story in a way that you’ll understand, but Whitney and I used to sword fight each other when we were younger. She beat me almost every single time. One time she beat me so bad that she damn near killed me.”

“Really?” Kam asked.

“Really,” Tommy answered.

“How is that even possible?” Kam inquired. “I mean, she’s blind and deaf.”

“That’s what I’m getting at. When you say that she’s impressive, I agree. But she’s impressive beyond what you can grasp. Hell ... she’s impressive beyond what I can grasp. I don’t really know how it’s possible because it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Even to me and I spend half of my life with her in my head. Even to this day, I can’t comprehend how she could whip me in a sword fight, but I’m telling you, Kam. Most of the time she flat out kicked my ass up one side and down the other. The rest of the time, I’m still not sure about because I don’t think she’d ever admit it, but I actually think she let me win just so I wouldn’t quit fighting her.”

“You know what?” Kam asked.

“What?” Tommy answered.

“I think I really want to hear that whole story sometime. If we had time I would flat out demand it right now, but you’re right. We don’t have it now. We’re almost there.”

5

The invisible cobwebs surrounding Erik were more than just cobwebs. With the zombie campers at the beach, severing the invisible strands was an easy process. It was just a matter of surrounding the campers with his telekinesis.Doing so cut them clean.

With Erik, there were so many that they had a more tangible substance to them. The longer IT had a hold on ITs victims, the stronger the bond became and, as Tommy hovered above Erik’s motionless and comatose body, removing the bond quickly might be a huge mistake.

When Tommy and Kam arrived at Little John’s cabin, Erik’s aunt was waiting for them at the back door. They didn’t have to knock or barge into the cabin because she had the door open, waving them in as they approached.

“Thank the Great Father that you have finally come,” she said as she ushered them in. “Hurry. We are running out of time,” she added.

Tommy and Kam gave each other a goofy look and followed her instructions. “Were you watching for us?” Kam asked her.

“My husband. He is mumbling in his sleep. He told me you were here. Now go, Kameron!” she said pronouncing his name like camera on. “Take the left eye of the owl to Erik first. He is fading fast.” She pushed on Kam’s back and began to usher him toward Erik’s bedroom.

“But we haven’t found it yet!” Kam informed her. “The owl. We didn’t bring it!” Kam said as both of them were shoved through the doorway to Erik’s room.

Erik’s aunt furrowed her brow. “You talk nonsense. You have brought him and he needs to save my husband and nephew. GO!” she said and she shut the door behind them.

Erik’s sleeping body was cold to the touch. Tommy bent over him, closed his eyes, and wrapped his invisible arms around Erik. He could feel those cobwebs as he did it, and Erik’s body began to quake with miniature seizures. “Hold his eyes open, Kam,” Tommy demanded. “I need to look into his eyes.”

Kam followed Tommy’s instructions. He stepped in next to Erik and used his thumb and index finger to prop each of Erik’s eyes open.

“Holy crap!” Kam cried out. “His eyes are faded! They’re almost white!”

Tommy couldn’t tell exactly where the invisible cobwebs were attached, but it seemed like they went into Erik at the back of his head just above where his neck ended. The strands didn’t stop there, because he could also feel them in Erik’s eyes and that’s where he began the delicate task of removing them with his invisible fingers. He had to do it one at a time and there were many of them. He plucked each one from Erik’s eyeballs and he could feel them popping off like tiny little suction cups.

It took Tommy twenty minutes to get them removed and as each one was pulled from its host, itretreated. As the number of the strands decreased, Erik’s breathing returned to normal, and more color returned to Erik’s retinas and pupils. When he finally removed the last one, Erik began to blink his eyes.

“Hah!” Erik said as he laid there blinking. “I’m alive!” He clasped Tommy’s arm and gazed up at him. “You brought me straight from the reaches of the beast!”

Tommy nodded. “I guess, so. Yeah.”

Erik breathed deep, mustering his strength and sat up in his bed. “I went to hell and I come back swinging!” He hopped from the bed, clapped his hands and took in a deep breath. Tommy and Kam stared at him.

“You’re okay then?” Kam asked.

Erik nodded with bravado, “hmm,” he said as he got up and headed for the door to his room. Tommy expected Erik to start pounding his chest like a gorilla, but he didn’t. “Let’s get my uncle. Then we share the pipe. There are stories that need to be told!” he said as he opened the door and headed through it. Tommy and Kam followed him through the door.

Erik’s aunt had done a good job of cleaning the bird crap Kam referred to from Erik, but she hadn’t bothered to wipe any of it from Little John. She was bent above Little John and singing to him softly in her native tongue as they walked into his room. As soon as they were in, she got up from her sitting position on the edge of his bed and faced them.