BLACKBIRD

Chapter Three

A second vestige. A second hum. Alana could feel it too when she focused, her eyes now narrowed to the end of the water's path. She could feel it too, a gentle, distant thrum in her chest, beckoning her curiosity to drip into control. Maybe, if she looked hard enough, she could even see its light as well.

"Andrea, take Nakoma back to camp," James ordered, his voice clear from behind Alana, "I'll go check it out."

"No!"

Alana and Nakoma called out in sync, their command unaggressive yet firm. That finally drew Alana's gaze from the water path, her head swiveling to stare at Nakoma, shaken out of her developing daze by the woman's fierce yet synchronous dissent.

"I want to go down there," Nakoma ascertained, not glancing even once away from the water path.

"No - "

Nakoma swiftly interrupted James. "I am going down there."

"Then I'm going with you," James said.

Nakoma's eyes finally fell from the water path, turning to James where he stood with his arms crossed. There was a rigidity to her eyes, turning their worrisome sable into hardened steel. However, the stiffness in both her eyes and body waned as she seemed to process where she was, gaze flickering about as she eased ever so slightly.

"I'd rather Alana come with me," She said.

There was something in her words, either in the way she said them or in the tone she had used, to suggest that there was a level of trust she offered only to Alana. Not James, not Andrea, not any other agent. Why her specifically, Alana couldn't be sure, but she was sure of the delicacy of that offer, which she wasn't about to break.

"We'll all go, okay?" Alana said.

Nakoma turned to Alana, eyes boring into hers, scanning her face in an observation of judgment.

"Okay," Nakoma eventually agreed.

Alana sensed James come up to her other side, her head turning to him in an act that felt almost instinctual. At that same moment, his eyes fell from Nakoma to her, an unsure silence between them until James eventually gave a nod. He would trust her with this. Then Alana turned to Andrea, a tired look on the woman's face sinking any cares she had. She merely shrugged in response, a signal that she was fine with whatever at this point.

With collective agreement, Alana was the first to step forward, James consciously keeping close as Nakoma followed at her other side and Andrea brought up the rear. She led them back down the water path, though rather than skirting around it, she eventually stepped into it. It took them to the Cadottes' backyard, mud squelching beneath their boots with every step, growing more and more sodden.

There was light up ahead, a muted aquatic gleam casted out from the mud. It was just a few feet away from the Cadottes' back patio, where the water had pooled and ended its path, leaving a crater of mud and grimy water. Alana came to a stop at where the mouth of the path was, where it expanded outward and had washed away the grass within a couple dozen feet. The ground began its downward dip just ahead, leaving a crater of several arms lengths wide and assumably six or so feet deep, crafted from erosion and filled halfway with whatever water hadn't absorbed into the ground. The light was coming from the center.

"Holy shit," James breathed, halted next to Alana. Then he turned to Andrea. "You didn't mention this from the start?"

"You didn't see it?" Andrea retorted incredulously. "Our focus was on the Water Vestige and getting it deactivated. We were gonna deal with this after."

A thrum had picked up in Alana's chest again, not dissimilar to the one she had felt moments ago with the Water Vestige, but still distinctly different. Like it was another voice, one that was speaking intelligibly, murmuring and humming. It drew Alana forward, stepping subconsciously towards the new vestige, zeroed in on it and only it, just like last time. Behind her, she felt James dart forward to grab her, but he hesitated as the water in the crater moved.