Sapphire Nights (Crystal Magic Book 1)(59)
Sam wasn’t ready to believe in ghosts yet. Finding water could have been an accident or Harvey playing tricks. The inexplicable compost pile had shaken her, though. She’d not told anyone about that. She’d almost have to either believe in mind reading or ghosts, and right about now, she was spooked enough to believe if they could happen anywhere, it would be in Hillvale. Could her scientific expertise belong in a community like this? She had a longing for the safety of the classroom she’d been teaching in.
“Do we have an agenda for this meeting?” she asked, just to ground herself.
“That’s a very Null thing to expect,” Mariah said cheerfully. “Just watch and listen and you’ll see. It’s very free form and driven by what rocks each individual.”
Being treated as an outsider was nothing new, but loneliness haunted her with Mariah’s words. She was pretty certain Nulls were interlopers, and she shouldn’t be here. Once more, she was the odd one out in a group she wanted to accept her.
Discouraged, Sam found a flat-topped boulder that had absorbed the sun’s warmth. Now that the sun was setting, the temperatures were dropping, and she almost wished for a fire. She squashed that thought. The stench of smoke and ash still lay across the valley like a heavy pall.
Shadows drifted up the path and from down the mountain and through the trees, filling the natural amphitheater around the vortex. She hadn’t realized there were so many ways of accessing this area—or that there were so many people who believed in Mariah’s insane revolution.
Mariah had apparently had an ugly confrontation with the mayor earlier in the day involving developing the burned out land with condos. Apparently the Kennedys expected the scorched landscape to adversely affect the tourist business and had moved to Plan B. Mariah, and probably all the Lucys, were opposed.
Sam didn’t see how the vortex would resolve anything. The energy didn’t feel any different from the earth energy she felt everywhere. Perhaps the negative and positive swirled a bit—she couldn’t quite tell. Resentfully, she crossed her arms under the blanket and refused to indulge in unscientific theories.
Wrapped in her shedding feather coat, Daisy sat in her own world. Sam almost envied her the coat. Talking animatedly with Tullah and Amber, Dinah evidently sided with the Lucys, whether or not she was sensitive. Sam recognized Harvey and Aaron standing with several gray-haired men she’d seen in the diner but couldn’t place otherwise. Mariah had a pretty good audience. As the time for the meeting grew closer, all the rock seats had filled and people were standing on the outside, in the woods.
Luminous globes floated from the empty center rocks, the purported vortex. Chatter died down. That was a neat Las Vegas trick.
Mariah took a stand on one of the flatter outcroppings. “The Kennedys have chosen to proceed with the condo development and ski resort.”
A groan went up from the audience. Voices of protest rose out of the darkness, but Mariah held up her hand, and they silenced. “They own the land. They have the law on their side. There will be evictions. They could raze the entire town if so inclined. But first, they have to level and terrace the hillside on the north end of the valley.”
The valley around the lodge, below the Menendez land, Sam now knew, the area partially consumed by the fire. She could almost feel the despair swirling around the circle. Did that many people live up there? She hadn’t thought so.
“They need Menendez to agree to access,” Harvey said from outside the circle. “Do they have it?”
“They seem to think they do,” Mariah said.
“Bulldozers on sacred ground,” Daisy said sadly from her seat on the rocks. “The Evil One uncovered. It will seek and destroy us, as it has before, and take away the Earth Mother. We must send her away again.”
“It is because she has returned that this is happening,” an older woman shouted from further down the hill. “We sent her away for a reason!”
“I brought her back for a reason,” Cass said, striding into the clearing. “The heart of the town is being sucked dry, and we are growing weak. If we don’t turn the tide now, we may as well pack up and leave and let the Nulls win.”
Sam felt an icy chill down her back. Were they talking about her? Amber had called her an earth goddess. Earth mother was only slightly less whacky. She would get up and leave, but she’d have to climb over rows of people to do so.
“She can’t fight city hall,” Harvey said in a scoffing tone. “Better to keep her safe. It’s not as if any of us are making enough of a living here to make it worth a sacrificial lamb.”
“You’re young,” one of the older men said. “You don’t know what we’ve done to keep this place safe. We have nowhere else to go.”
Voices clamored from every side. An eerie wail began high above the clearing. Shadows shifted, and the weird luminous balls multiplied, flitting back and forth overhead. Chilled, body and soul, Sam started to rise, but a hand pressed her back again.
“It’s all right,” Amber whispered behind her. “Theatrics are always a given in this crowd. Now that you have fire out of the way, you have the Magician and the scarecrow on your side. I’ll read your cards again in the morning, if you have time to stop by.”
Amber’s sensible voice settled Sam’s nerves. Theatrics, of course. Magicians had used them for ages to distract from their illusions. She settled in to enjoy the show.