Page 18 of Shielding Maya

His mother sat and motioned to one of the two empty chairs at the table. "Please sit, Jasiah."

He swallowed again. All this emotion that welled up inside of him was over-whelming.

He gently pulled the chair from the table and carefully sat down, as if something would hurt him if he sat too quickly.

"Was that Zara I saw you speaking with?"

His eyes looked into his mother's for a while. "Yes."

All she said in return was, "Hmm."

Focusing his eyes on his father, he saw his father watching him. Lifting his teacup with two shaking hands, his father sipped at his tea, then slowly lowered the cup.

Finally he spoke again. "The most important job of my life was raising a good, smart, strong son. As the years wore on and Craig and Hanalore didn't have children, your mother and I talked about what that might mean for our family. Especially you. Then, all the changes began coming our way with the military installation being built at the base of the mountain and Craig's shear hatred and resistance to it. Then, when Elena left to live below and wasn't here to make the elixir, he had a few people try to recreate what she did, but it was never the same. Only that family, Elena's family, has the recipe. Craig grew more dangerous and unstable."

His father glanced at his mother, and she smiled the softest, sweetest smile she'd ever given, and he continued. "That day I went down the mountain to find Craig, I knew if I found him, I'd have to kill him. To banish him would mean he'd be lurking around, causing trouble, for us and the townspeople. The sheriff couldn't guarantee he'd be put in jail, and that would only happen after he'd harmed someone."

His father took a deep breath. "When I saw him pointing the gun at that woman, Everleigh, I knew I'd be justified. But, Jasiah, I went down the mountain and didn't send anyone else, because I knew I was sick."

Jasiah's eyes opened wide. His mouth dropped open slightly as he stared into his father's eyes.

"I knew I wasn't going to be around long and anything they did to me, would be short-lived. It just so happened, it worked out the way it did for the good of all of us."

12

Maya crawled through a thicket of dense brush after Marni. The weeds grabbed at her ponytail and scratched at her clothing, but she continued on. Finally, there was a small copse of clearing, in the middle of it all. The thick brush shielded them from the outside world. It was literally like a playhouse inside the forest.

"Do you like my playhouse?" Marni asked.

"I do. How did you find this?"

Marni shrugged. "I made it. One day I climbed in here and there was a small section of brush that had been pushed down, like someone slept there. I started stomping more of it down until it was big enough to play in here. Then, I brought some of my things here."

Marni reached into the dense brush on the east side and pulled out a woven basket. The long slivers of branches from this brush were used to make that basket and it blended perfectly.

"Did you make that?"

Marni's smile was wide. "I did. My grandma showed me how to do it. I make all sorts of baskets and bowls."

She reached in once more and pulled a couple of bowls, one had a lid tied with the weeds used to create the basket. "This is my favorite one."

She lifted the lid and showed Maya a collection of small bottles. They were empty, but nestled inside like little treasures.

"Where did you get the bottles?"

Marni's head bent down as she studied the ground. "From Elena's cooking room."

"Elena. Who used to make the elixir up here?"

"Yeah." She lifted a small bottle, it looked like a vanilla bottle. "This is my favorite one. It's brown."

Maya lifted the bottle and looked at it closely. It was definitely a vanilla bottle. She'd seen many of them over the years. The cooks she'd grown up with, and her grandmother always had real vanilla in the house, and it usually came in a glass bottle not plastic. "I can see why. It's pretty special. Do you know how Elena got it?"

Marni shrugged. "The boys used to go to town and dig in the garbage before the big trucks came to take the stuff away. They'd bring Elena little bottles and hope she'd fill it with elixir for them."

Maya set the vanilla bottle on the ground near Marni's basket and lifted another bottle out. An old cough syrup bottle. She grinned as she turned it in her hands.

She set that one down too. "Marni. You said the senator's name earlier. Did you meet him?"

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