Chapter Ten

“Take a shower more often. You’ll feel better.”

Caliban huffed, sniffed under his arms. When he padded into the room, he flopped on the floor in front of the door.

Sera glanced at him, pointing a finger. “Two beds. Pick one.”

He looked at her like she’d lost her mind. “Dogs sleep on the floor. Jack says so.”

Sera sighed. “Tonight, try sleeping on the bed. See what you think.”

“I don’t want to get used to anything I’ll be punished for.”

Sighing, she sat on the bed next to him. “There is another favor, a real one, I’d like to ask.

For a moment, neither of them moved. Sera let the silence settle, knowing the favor would ask him to trust her more than he wanted to. Caliban watched her with suspicion, but he did not leave.

“Here it comes.”  Caliban picked a piece of moss from his arm, throwing it on the floor. He stared at her, grimacing.

“Are you able to slip into my hotel room and bring back my medicine bag? It’s small, about an eight-inch square and dark green, the color of oak leaves in August.”

A curious look crossed Caliban’s face as he lifted his bulk from the bed. He glared at her; she smiled back. Then he flung himself through the doorway and vanished quietly into the night.

Caliban raced to the hotel. With a practiced gait, he fell into a rhythm, loping on padded feet too swift to be noticed. At the hotel, he climbed the brick façade and watched through the open window of Sera’s room. Police were everywhere. Their radios crackled. Several officers bent over the table and chairs, dusting for fingerprints. Others collected small vials of blood from the pool on the floor. Most of their attention, though, was fixed on the unwrapped package on the table. Exposed to the air was the decomposing heart of the sixteen-year-old Jack had sliced out to bring to Sera. As the detectives discussed their theories, the coroner entered the room. When they turned toward her, Caliban slipped inside, hugging the shadowed corners. He found the bag still unexamined near the bathroom sink. Slinking against the wall, he grabbed it, pushed up the small window behind the shower curtain, and lifted himself into the night. Then he flew back to Sera.

When he returned, Sera had already snuggled into the thin terry cloth robe she ordered from the front desk. Without speaking, she slipped the bag from Caliban’s grip. Placing it on the bedside table, she opened it to pull out the Calendula Oil. She rummaged around in the bag until she found the delicate powder from the white flower of her moonlight herb garden. Emptying a tablespoon of the powder into a glass container, Sera then poured the oil over it. As the two combined, light sparkled throughout. Sera spread some of the liquid balm on her cuts and damaged throat where jack had tried to choke her. Sighing from the soothing effect, her eyes closed in relief. She took a deep cleansing breath. “Caliban, please come here.” Wide eyed, he jerked to her side. “I need to tend those wounds.”

“I’m healing.”

She shook her head. “Those wounds go deep.”

Dipping her fingers in the compound, she raised them toward Caliban. He startled. “I won’t hurt you.” He quieted. “It’s all right,” she purred at him. “There, there.” Caliban sighed as she rubbed the balm into cuts and bruises both old and new, the balm sparkling as it entered the wounds. 

Traces of the light also entered his system. It felt odd. 

“Do you feel warm?” 

Caliban nodded.

“You’re safe with me.”

Caliban closed his eyes, curling on the bed, falling into a deep sleep. As she continued to soothe him with the balm, Sera curled beside him. Without another murmur, she fell into an untroubled sleep beside him.

The next morning, she woke with a start. Sunlight streamed through the crack in the curtains. When she reached out for Caliban, he was gone. Sera shivered, not from cold. Where was he? Dark thoughts curled through her mind. At least, she murmured, he had kept her safe through the night—but morning was different. She slipped out of bed, pulled on her clothes, and went into the bathroom. Instead of heading for the front door, she opened the bathroom window and wiggled out. After a cautious look around, she unfolded her large, dusty-white wings and fanned them for height, flying low over the trees behind the motel. She settled on a low branch with a view of the front office. After fifteen minutes, when no one came to her door, Sera lifted into the sky, flying high enough to resemble a bird from below. When she reached the tunnel below the lake, she descended and landed neatly at the entrance. She would relate her plans to the guardians.

Before she called to them, Sera steadied herself in the hush beneath the lake. The crystals answered with faint pulses of light, and the tunnel seemed to listen with her.

Hearing her song as she sat by the crystals, the women gathered.