The Twisted Links

Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

Florida Keys...

The sun beat down brightly on the sandy shore. After sinking the larger ship off shore, the small group had pulled ashore on a tiny private island on a life raft. The residents of the island were currently not at home and the skeletal staff was not on the lookout for guests landing on the more deserted side.

"Ugh! I hate all this damn humidity! It's messing up my hair!" Trish whined.

"Your voice is messing up my eardrums, Puddles." Haggai grouched.

"Fuck you!"

"Watch your language. There's a child present." Calvin snapped.

"Ugh!" Trish screeched.

"QUIET!" Haggai said, grinding his teeth. "No need for the entire island to come and search for the dying seal choking on an air horn."

"Where are we even going?" Trish asked.

"You and Wizard Haggai will go to the Cub Creek Pack. Calvin and I will be going to the Indigo Sky Pack to meet my mother's family. We will all meet up later. There are two registered boats at the docks. All the staff will be gathered in the kitchen for lunch if we go now."

"Somehow I knew I was going to get stuck with you." Haggai said irritably yet resigned.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Why are we listening to this little brat?"

"Cause we need to leave immediately and I'm the only one who came up with a plan. Calvin let's go." Skylar said, taking off with the aplomb of a royal princess.

Calvin chuckled as his longer strides caught up with the young girl. "Something tells me that you're going to be a handful." he said.

"You are correct. Luckily, I'm well behaved and will try my utmost not to worry you. Though it's not a guarantee."

"Surprisingly, I don't feel reassured."

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The keys to the boat also had a set of car keys attached. The SUV was conveniently parked near the private dock that they pulled into. "Won't they notice that the car is missing and report it?"

"Not for another week. We'll have another car before then and this one returned."

Calvin started the engine and pulled away from the parking lot. "So you see the future?" he asked, after driving for a while. 

"Depends." Sky said, with a shrug from her small shoulders.

"How does it work?"

"It's like a shadow show. Nothing is ever truly substantial. You see the future but there are many factors that change it. It's not a dead set path. For instance, driving this car, we could've gotten into a deadly accident. That truck, you passed about 20 minutes ago, was getting ready to lose part of its load of sawdust. The rope holding the tarp is old and the only reason the rope was used was because kids of the truck driver took the newer cord to play a game.

The flying tarp would have made you swerve. The sawdust would have blinded you for a moment. Distracting you so that you wouldn't see the oncoming traffic. If I had said something it would have put you on alert but at the same time make you paranoid. You would have tried to speed up and pass on a blind corner, then hit a guardrail, flipping us. Technically speaking we're supposed to be dead right now.

While the future isn't set in stone it has factors that make certain outcomes inevitable. Very few can handle knowing what comes because they try to change their destiny which more often than not leads to disaster."