Sorceress' Scheme
Part Seven
Thomas explained to Nicole, Micky, Jenny, and Fiona what had happened on the beach.
"Well at least now we have some sort of clue," Jenny said optimistically.
"Yeah, something's better than nothing," Micky agreed.
Nicole frowned slightly. "Yes, but it's not much of a clue," she pointed out. "We don't know who contacted Thomas, or why. And we don't really have much more of an idea as to where Mike, Peter, and Davy are."
Fiona nodded. "I agree with you there," she said. "But there is something that can be learned from this."
Nicole was skeptical. "Oh? What?" she asked.
"Well, I think it might have something to do with the stone," she replied. Thomas nodded in agreement.
"I think it might have something to do with the prophecy," he agreed. "She seemed like she was...I don't know...testing me. She wouldn't tell me where they were, she wanted me to find them. I guess she wanted to know if I'm really worthy of it." He frowned and stared down at the stone around his neck, fingering it slightly as he thought.
"So I guess you'd better find them," Nicole told her son.
"Yeah, but how?" Micky asked. "If you couldn't find them the first times you tried, what makes you think you could find them now?"
Thomas didn't answer for a moment. "I don't know," he replied thoughtfully. "But I have to try."
"I think we should spread out to cover more ground," Jenny suggested.
"Good idea!" Micky agreed. "We'll split up, take the cars, and head in opposite directions."
Fiona agreed as well. "Perhaps you should take the boy and go north along the ocean while we go south," she suggested to Micky.
"Wait a minute," Nicole interrupted, getting out of her seat. "What about the kids?" She gestured vaguely towards the second floor, where the twins, Robert, and Joanne were already sound asleep.
"Stay here with them," Micky told her. "Us four will go out."
"Stay-? But...you might need me," she protested.
"The children may need you even more," Fiona replied sensibly as she rose from her chair.
Nicole didn't look as though she agreed much with this idea, but she reluctantly obliged, sitting back down. Micky, Jenny. and Thomas stood up, ready to go.
Jenny slowly backed Micky's small, blue convertible out of the Pad's driveway and waved cheerfully to Thomas and Micky, standing on the sidewalk.
Micky and Thomas climbed into Peter and Nicole's old car and backed out, following her. "Be careful with my car," he warned.
Jenny waved a hand, dismissing it. "Don't be such a worry wart," she called back. "We'll be fine." Before he could protest, she sped off in the opposite direction with Fiona.
Micky grumbled something under his breath as the girls drove off. "How I ever let her talk me into driving my new car I will never know," he mumbled as drove off.
Thomas chuckled slightly and sat back in his seat without comment, shutting his eyes and focusing. He didn't notice (but Micky did) that his left hand held the stone around his neck nervously while he thought.
Fiona had been silent for the past half hour. Jenny continued to drive the little blue car alongside the ocean. She glanced out at the water periodically as she drove, watching it.
The ocean had always been of a curious interest to her. She viewed it as a bit of an anomaly. Strong, but at the same time gentle.
Suddenly, Fiona opened her half-shut eyes. "Stop the car," she ordered.
Jenny was so shocked out of her thoughts that she slammed the brakes on hard, jolting them both forward and then back into the seats with a thud. She heaved a sigh of relief that no one was behind them.
"What is it?" she asked Fiona.
"Out there," Fiona replied, pointing towards the ocean.
Micky had been driving for a good half hour with no clues from Thomas when suddenly the boy opened his eyes.
"What is it?" Micky asked, sensing his alarm. He pulled over to the side of the road.
"We've got to go back," Thomas told him. "I think they've found something.
Jenny was on alert as she stepped out of the car with Fiona. It was dark out, but her eyes scanned the area anyway, hoping to spot whatever it was they were looking for. Her ears strained, listening for a sound to alert her before her eyes. The smell of the salty ocean was ever-present as she and Fiona trudged slowly through the sand towards the waves.
"What did you sense, exactly?" Jenny whispered to Fiona. "What are we looking for?"
"I'm not exactly sure," Fiona whispered back. "I just felt a presence that didn't belong."
"Is it still here?"
Fiona nodded, though Jenny could barely see. "Very faint," she admitted. "But here."
Jenny heard the crunch of a shell beneath her feet. "Man, I wish we'd brought a flashlight," Jenny mumbled to herself.
Fiona raised her arms into the air. Jenny heard her mumble something in another language. Then, two sticks appeared in her hands, burning brightly. She passed one of the torches on to Jenny. "That should help," she commented.
Jenny took the torch, gladly. "How'd you do that?" she asked.
"Magic," Fiona replied, shrugging her shoulders, and Jenny abandoned the question.
Instead, she shined the light around her, searching for whatever could have been that 'unknown prescence'.
Davy had stopped pacing long ago. Mari had appeared to him as well and he had received her explanation with much the same hesitation and fear as the others. Now he lay on the floor, thinking of what to do next.
At least he now knew the others were safe. He estimated himself to be quite a ways underground, and wondered if that was what was limiting his abilities. He had never been underground before, so he didn't know how it would affect him.
Suddenly, he sat straight up, eyes wide open. He probed his mind, and then the outside of the cave. It couldn't be, it just couldn't. He couldn't hope that much. But then...
Davy stood up and began to pace again. He shut his eyes while pacing and concentrated. He couldn't make the feeling or the sense any stronger. But it was there, faint, and he could feel it. Some one else. On the surface. Approaching the cave he was now in.
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