The First Ones Read online

Jet remembered the ferry from childhood, and he still marveled at the sheer immensity of the boat. Four levels of parking, for everything from motorcycles to semi-trucks was available on the lower levels of the boat, with another three stories of sitting areas for the passengers after they had parked and left their vehicles for the journey.

  Once they were on board the ferry, Ursula parked the truck, made their way to the cafeteria level and found an empty table as they waited for the boat to leave the pier. The lack of security for boarding the ferry made it possible for Ursula and Jet to conceal their handguns within the larger duffle bag, and they kept them close, just in case.

  “Want me to get anything for you guys to eat?” Jet asked. As an answer, Ursula reached into the bag and pulled out a small roll of Canadian bills.

  “Canadian? You knew?” Jet asked, surprised that Ursula had the correct currency.

  Ursula raised a reproachful eyebrow at Jet, “It wasn’t such a stretch to think we might have to go through the Canadian territories before we made it to Alaska.”

  “I suppose not. So, do you guys want anything?”

  “Buy as much as you can with the money,” Ursula instructed, “packaged sandwiches, cookies, jerky, anything canned, and find whatever else you think might keep well for a couple of days.”

  “How about water?’ he asked her.

  “This part of the world is overloaded with fresh water. We can find it as we need it, using our limited carrying space to hold food.”

  “I meant, for right now?”

  Ursula playfully looked at Jet with false desperation in her eyes, “Find out what the largest size coffee they have is… and then get me three.” She smiled as she finished and her expression instantly warmed Jet. Ursula must have seen his demeanor change, so she stood up from the table and wrapped her arms around his neck.

  The thought of pulling away did occur to him and, even though his mind was screaming for him to keep his distance, his body melted into her arms. Jet held her tight and breathed in the scent of her hair, all the while cursing at his inability to resist her.

  The kiss she gave him was tender and her lips were soft against his. He felt the air in his lungs pass into hers and vice versa as they held each other, with his hands gripping and then gliding, over her waist, while hers clung to his neck, sliding around to his back.

  “Ursula,” Jet whispered as their lips parted, “I should…”

  Ursula shushed him and reconnected the kiss, with one of her hands moving to the back of his head and pressing it forward to lock his mouth into her mouth as if desperate not to lose the connection with him again. When they finally came up for air they were both breathing heavy and staring deeply into each other’s eyes.

  “If only I could get you alone,” Ursula whispered huskily into Jet’s ear.

  Jet smiled and said, “We’ll get our chance,” then his thoughts returned and he remembered, “that is, if we survive this whole mess.”

  Ursula’s face changed as Jet said the words, and sadness flowed over her when she released him, closing her eyes as she nodded.

  Well, I sure can kill the mood, he thought.

  ***

  Eventually, and all too soon, the ferry landed at Victoria’s pier, and the trio found themselves waiting their turn to drive Benjamin’s truck off the boat and onto the island.

  Jet had known that his grandfather worked with the Victoria Museum of Natural History as a consultant, helping the staff with researching and organizing various Native American’s antiques and artifacts. There were banners raised all over the city regarding the new Kaigani Haida exhibit, which was to be unveiled next month, which was going to feature immense totem poles and other woodcarvings for which the Haida were so famous. Jet hadn’t realized his grandfather was on Victoria Island, but given the fuss the museum was making over their latest exhibit, it made sense they’d have called him in for help.

  “Will your grandfather be at the museum?” Ursula had asked.

  “Not at this hour.”

  “Staying at a hotel perhaps?” she inquired.

  “No, he got tired of always staying in a hotel every time the museum called him, so he bought a small piece of land and built a small cabin on it. It’s just outside of the city.”

  “How long ago was that?” she wanted to know.

  “He’s had it as far back as I can remember,” He remembered the cabin very fondly and continued, “When I went to live with him after my parents died we would flip between living on the reservation and in the cabin, depending on his work schedule.”

  “Do you remember how to get there?” Ursula asked.

  Jet smiled, “Not a problem.”

  The log home was small, maybe only nine hundred square feet, but it was as well put together as any of the log mansions built within a multimillion-dollar community. The home rested on a short rise overlooking a portion of the bay, surrounded on three sides by pine and juniper trees and lots of sage brush. Each imported cedar log was meticulously cared for and the cabin had maintained its integrity with no sign of the kind of wear that a saline environment usually imposed upon many building’s exterior surfaces.

  Jet led Ursula and Aurora to the front door and knocked. Once he stepped back from the door he couldn’t help but take a moment to admire the intricate carvings that a wood artist had rendered into the solid oak double doors. They all waited patiently for his grandfather to answer their knock.

  A voice sounded from behind the doors. “Hello?”

  “Grandpa, it’s me.” Jet answered.

  After a pause the voice behind the door said suspiciously, “Who’s ‘me’?”

  Jet rolled his eyes, “How many grandsons do you have old man?”

  “Jethro?” he exclaimed.

  “Yes,” Jet moaned, while muttering, “Obviously.”

  “You’re not alone?” are you.

  “Uh, no.” Jet knew there was no peephole in the door. The artist wouldn’t have allowed it, despite the final function that his work destined to become. “No Grandpa. I brought some…friends.”

  Jet could hear the lock on the door ratcheting as it moved into the unlocked position and the door opened to reveal his grandfather, fully clad in the ancient tribal regalia the Squamish tribes had worn in ancient days for celebrations and rituals. Jet looked at the buckskin clothing, feathered headdress and colored face paint with surprise, and not a little unease. His grandfather had always been a jeans and flannel kind of guy. Sure, he had the knowledge and respect for the ancient ways, but he never dressed the part. Even during festivals and demonstrations his grandfather would act as Master of Ceremonies but leave the donning of traditional gear to others. On very rare occasions he would allow for some simple and subtle hair adornments, but that was as far as Jet had ever seen his grandfather go in order to dress the part. Now it was as if he was looking at some character out of a black and white photograph of the kind tourists would purchase from the gift shops. His grandfather seemed taller in the regalia than he actually was, moving with a grace that only one who moved without any wasted motion was able to accomplish. There was nothing in the man’s seventy-eight-year-old frame that looked as though it ever creaked with age, or was frail in any way. In fact, every deep wrinkle in the man’s face belied power and wisdom as opposed to advanced age or decrepitude.

  The interior of the cabin was sparse, but well decorated with natural woods, artistically rendered to appear as if still in their original form, while functioning as the furniture pieces they were intended to be. The tables, chairs, and cabinets all appeared as though they were grown out of the ground in the exact form that they now were positioned.

  Jet’s grandfather must have noted the look Jet was giving him, and said, “Quite a sight, I know.”

  “Grandpa,” Jet waved a hand up and down in front of his grandfather, “what’s all this?”

  “In a moment boy,” Jet’s grandfather said, as he eyed the woman and girl following Jet into the cabin, “introductions should
come first.” The older man faced Ursula and Aurora with his hands outstretched in a welcoming gesture, “Ladies, welcome to my home. My name is Geswanouth Slahoot,” he stated formally, and then he leaned in close to Aurora and whispered, “But you may call me Grandpa George. Everyone else does.”

  Aurora was beaming as she looked up and said, “You’re beautiful.”

  Jet’s grandfather was clearly shocked by the tiny girl’s allocution and his eyes shifted from being wide with surprise to narrow with suspicion, as his mind raced to make sense of her.

  Then as if giving up on an unsolvable riddle Jet’s grandfather shook briefly, as if shaking off rainwater, and turned to his grandson, “What brings you here Jethro? I thought you were still of a mind to keep away from home.”

  Jet immediately felt guilty, “Grandpa, I may have been trying to find my own way but I never meant for you to think that I was trying to distance myself from you.”

  His grandfather smiled, “I never once felt or thought anything of the sort.” His grandfather grabbed Jet’s shirt front, and with a strength that belied his age, pulled Jet into a fierce embrace, patting him fiercely on the back, “I just missed you, boy.”

  “I missed you too Grandpa. Sorry I haven’t been better about keeping in touch.”

  His grandfather laughed, “Ah, it’s not as though I have a one-way phone that will only receive calls. We’ll just have to do better in the future.”

  “We surely will do just that.” Jethro said.

  They held the embrace for another couple seconds and then broke away, with both men looking just a little bit damp around the eyes.

  “All right,” Grandpa George broke the moment, “as much as I am overjoyed to see you, I imagine there is a more official reason for your visit?”

  “There is,” Jet admitted, “but it is going to take some explaining.”

  “Really?” Grandpa George inclined his head toward Ursula and Aurora, “Well then, why don’t we all have a seat and you can tell me how I can be of service to you?”

  Ursula opened her mouth as if to say something, but before she could get any words out Aurora said, “Time is of the essence,” and simultaneously touched the back of Grandpa George’s hand.

  Grandpa George froze with his eyes wide and unfocused, looking off into the distance as if in extreme shock, or fear. Then the old man’s body began to shake, and as Ursula moved in, he fell with Ursula able to catch the older man before he could hit the floor.

  Jet, realizing what happened, knelt beside his grandfather, as Ursula gently laid the shaking man down to rest on the floor. Jet then turned to Aurora, saying “You can’t do that to him! He might not be able to take it!”

  Aurora frowned slightly in confusion, “He is your grandfather,” the child said inscrutably, “and as such, he is fully capable of withstanding the onslaught of the universe.”

  Jet ignored the child, turning to check on his grandfather, who suddenly came out of the trance that Aurora had put him in. Quickly the old man scrambled to one knee and bowed his head before the toddler while pushing the concerned hands of Ursula and his grandson away.

  “You are of the First Ones,” Grandpa George said shakily, “does…does that mean the…”

  “Kaylanna and her brood are preparing to siphon my Spirit from this child, before balance can be returned to the world,” Aurora said bluntly before asking, “you understand what it would mean if she is successful, yes?”

  Grandpa George nodded, “Yes, yes I do.”

  “The balance of the world?” Jet skeptically asked, without even realizing that he had spoken out loud.

  Aurora turned to Jet, “Kaylanna’s intervention would allow her to acquire my Spirit as it is purged from the child, and in doing so she would then have the power to initiate her plan to release a plague that would wipe out all of humanity upon this planet in order for her to reshape it into her desire.”

  Jet turned to his grandfather, “Is she serious?”

  Grandpa George just looked numb after hearing Aurora’s words, but managed to nod his head in affirmation.

  Perhaps it was his own fear, or a reaction to the surreal nature of the situation, but Jet suddenly and angrily growled, “This is crazy! You’re all crazy!” Then, as if he suddenly realized he wasn’t where he was supposed to be, he said, “What the hell am I even doing here?!” and stormed out the front door.

  Ursula started to go after him, but Grandpa George held up his hand, saying, “Let the boy go.”

  Ursula turned on him, “He’s far from a boy.”

  Grandpa George chuckled and nodded, “I know that, just as Jet knows the truth of what is happening. Let him process it in his own way.”

  Ursula looked dubious, but she made no further attempt to go after Jet.

  “Why haven’t you prepared him?” Aurora asked in the quiet that had followed.

  Grandpa George smiled, “I have. He has everything he needs to fulfill his role in this... should it come to that.”

  “I have seen that he has the lessons in his head, but not the knowledge of its use.” Aurora had corrected him, but then reconsidered, “Unless you plan on fulfilling that role yourself?”

  Grandpa George sighed, “I would spare Jet the burden if I could,” and he quickly turned to Ursula, saying, “no offense meant.”

  Ursula wrapped her arms around herself, smiling slightly, before giving Grandpa George a slight bow.

  “I suppose immortality is a dream for the young,” Grandpa George watched Ursula as he mused, “Whereas the old simply dream of second chances, or perhaps of being young once again. I understand the difference and am too jaded not to realize the reality that life is hard.” He sighed again, and his simple expression was full of both regret and loss, “Very hard, and no matter how long you live, that truth never changes.”

  Aurora nodded her approval, “Wisdom.”

  Grandpa George shrugged his shoulders, then changed the subject, “I saw the signs, as had the other elders, and we are prepared. All that we need now is a time and location. Short of that, how do we proceed?”

  Chapter 21: Explanation and Planning

  Outside the cabin Jet was simply kicking the loose pine needles around the yard in his attempt to blow off the anger he was feeling. It couldn’t all be true! It couldn’t! This was all just the kind of crazy crap that his father had so arduously rebelled against and, he admitted, had ultimately driven him away from home as well.

  He remembered the lessons, and how much he had enjoyed learning them, but what he had disliked was the way the elders always seemed to be testing him or how Grandfather had paraded him in front of them like some prize horse. When he had asked, “Why?” his grandfather had always simply said that it was the proper thing to do, but Jet had never seen any other children treated in such a way. At best, the attention made him self-conscious, and at worst he felt as though he was being subjected to the close scrutiny of everyone he had ever met. And that scrutiny never ended for as long as he was living on or near the reservation. It was why he just had to go, to live his own life, to find his own way, even if that meant working for the US government.

  Jet laughed at the thought. The position in the Forestry Service had supplied for him the means to have a good life. A low monthly pay, but it was actually enough for his needs each month, and it came with full benefits, allowing him to be out within nature for the majority of his working day. Now he was on the verge of giving that all up, if he hadn’t done so already because of his disappearing act, and for what exactly?

  “Okay, okay,” Jet repeated as he closed his eyes and made a calming motion with his hands while he breathed in the moist forest air. He thought about all he had seen in the last few hours of his life, and he knew, he just knew in his heart, that he couldn’t deny the fact how the impossible stories of his childhood were actually becoming a reality. Maybe he could rationalize the mind-numbing event he had experienced in the truck with Aurora as just a strange hallucination brought on by exhaustion,
but there was no way to explain the werewolves, or that “thing” he had fought with Ursula at the private airport. And, if it all wasn’t just a story, then that meant the fate of the world was at stake, and not because of global warming, nuclear holocaust, or any of the other reasons that the human race had considered would be the cause of the end, but because a god had become greedy.

  Jet opened his eyes, slowly walking up to the front door of the cabin. He hesitated with his hand on the door handle, for just the span of a single breath, and he gathered back his courage and walked back inside.

  Grandpa George was on the phone, thanking someone on the other end, as Aurora looked on. He couldn’t see Ursula but heard her moving around in the kitchen, and he closed the door behind him.

  Jet waited until his grandfather had hung up the phone, before walking back into the main living area, and as if he had never left the cabin, asked, “So, if this is as serious a situation as you say, then why aren’t we calling in the Marines and going out with all guns blazing, and kill the bitch?”

  Grandpa George rolled his eyes, “Even if we could call the military, what would we tell them?”

  Jet shrugged, “That the world was at stake?”

  “Against what, exactly?” his Grandpa asked calmly, “magical beasts and their evil Mistress?”

  Jet screwed up his face, “We could lie and say they were terrorists. Americans hate terrorists.”

  Grandpa George shrugged, “You work for the government, so you tell me how they would react.”

  Jet considered, “If, and that’s a big if, we could find someone who would listen, then they would use satellites to view the situation and when they saw the images they would know the truth.”

  “What truth?”

  “They would see…” Jet’s voice trailed off, but Ursula, who had poked her head out of the kitchen, finished his thought, “…animals congregating in a cluster around a specific point. An unusual sight, with a currently unknown animal, to be sure, but not something to call on any military force, and certainly not something that would be weighing on the fate of the world.”