“It is often a relief to slip into the minds of the animals,” said Gaia, following my own train of thought, no doubt. “There is a beautiful simplicity and contentment...and life. So much life. It is a pleasure to fly with them, run with them, hunt with them, howl with them, swim with them, and connect with them.”
“And with humans?” I asked.
She smiled at me. “Humans are a whole different animal, child. Humans are often full of angst and self-doubt and worry and fear and hate.”
“You prefer communing with animals?” I asked.
“It is a nice change of pace, certainly. But they are generally as evolved as they always will be.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Their growth is limited. Whereas, humans...well, humans’ growth is limitless.”
“Why is that?”
“It is the way of the Creator, child. I did not make the rules, as you humans say.”
“Were you ever human?” I asked.
“No.”
She gave me an image of her purpose...and it was to give life, a soul to this planet. It was a great honor for her. She had, after all, been doing this for a very long time.
“You have truly seen it all,” I said. “Kingdoms rising and falling. You know all mysteries and all secrets.”
She smiled at that. “A fair assessment.”
I nearly asked her who had killed Kennedy, or if Bigfoot was real. As the thoughts flitted through my mind, I waved them off with a small smile.
“Some mysteries should remain a mystery,” said Gaia gently. “And with some mysteries, you already know the answers.”
I nodded and felt the heat on my neck and wondered if where I was sitting was a real place, or, somehow, a dream state. I wondered if the eagle was real, too. I also realized it didn’t matter if it was real or not. It felt real, and that was good enough for me.
“You allow great evil to walk on your surface,” I said, finally speaking that which was troubling me the most.
“And also great good,” said Gaia. “At this time, both must be here. I am merely acting as host to a greater experiment.”
“Experiment?”
“Yes, child. You have been given free will to see what you will do with it. It is a great and noble experiment.”
“I can’t imagine that you’re very pleased with the results.”
“Humankind has fallen far, true, and there is the potential for total collapse. But there is also the potential for massive leaps in evolution. Positive leaps.”
“You do not know which direction we will take?”
“I have seen the potentialities, child. That is all. I am ever hopeful that humankind will choose the noble path.”
“And, if not?”
“Then the experiment will have failed. And it will start again.”
“How many times has it failed in the past?”
She shook her head. “This information is not important to you now, child. But it has happened in the past. Often.”
“Is there any hope for us now?”
“Oh, yes. The future could be bright.”
I took in a lot of hot air and slipped my fingers into the soft sand. I let the grains fall away through my fingers.
I said, “I need to remove a great evil from the Earth. From you. Is that possible?”
“All things are possible.”
“But you just said that evil is, well, necessary.”
“Indeed, child. That is, until it is decided not to be necessary.”
“Well, I am deciding that this evil is not necessary. I am deciding that it is a great blight on your surface, and should be removed.”
“Then so be it, child.”
Chapter Twenty-one
The knock was confident, urgent.
I opened the front door, knowing full well who would be there, since I had just buzzed her in.
“Are you okay, Allie?” Ivy Tanner asked, as she swept into my small apartment. I had spent the past fifteen minutes straightening it up. I wanted to make a good impression on her, although maybe it was silly to worry about the condition of the apartment.
“Yes, everything’s okay.”
“You said you wanted to talk,” she said. “It sounded so urgent.” She shivered at that, and I saw her skin prickle. She was getting a psychic hit. “Something is up, something important.”
“Yeah, you could say that.”
“Does it involve our special talents?”
“It could, yeah.”
Ivy was, of course, more than aware of what I could do. But she wasn’t aware of much more than that. I thought about how to tell her, and then decided to tell her everything I knew. If she was going to be part of our triad, well, there were no secrets in the triad. At least, I didn’t think there should be.
So, I sat her on the couch. She had wanted some wine, but I suggested water instead. So, we sat with two glasses of ice water, as I told her my tale. I told her about my vampire companion years ago, who was killed in his sleep, and who had first awakened my psychic gifts. Then I told her about Samantha Moon. I reminded her that Samantha Moon was still very much alive and wouldn’t like it much if Ivy gave away her secret. And, if she did, she should expect a visit from Samantha herself. She agreed to keep her story quiet. That is, if she really believed me. Mostly, she just stared at me with a look of growing excitement in her eyes.
Then I told her about Millicent, and about the triad, and about how we were short one witch, now that Samantha Moon had, well, switched teams. At that point, Ivy suggested that we were, in fact, short two witches, as Millicent was presently dead. I reminded her that dead witches were just as powerful, perhaps even more so. I explained that Millicent had access to me and others instantly, which was never a bad thing, unless she scared the shit out of me in the shower, which she had done once.
“Why are you telling me all of this?” asked Ivy.
“I think you know why,” I said.
She looked down at her glass of water. The rim was smudged with her lipstick. She swirled the ice. Her fingers were long and thin and her nails were perfectly manicured. Her hair looked as if she had just had a Brazilian blowout. She was the quintessential rising Hollywood actor.
“Are you asking me to join you and Millicent? As a witch? In a triad?”
“Is that something you might be interested in?” I asked.
“Oh, yes! But...” She paused for dramatic effect, and I suspected this was a common ploy of hers; perhaps one could never take the actor out of her.