Eternal Youth

Eternal Youth

Copyright © 2012 Julia Crane/Nolia McCarty

Published by Valknut Press

Kindle edition, first published April 2012

All rights reserved.

This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork herein is prohibited.

Disclaimer: The persons, places, things, and otherwise animate or inanimate objects mentioned in this novel are figments of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to anything or anyone living (or dead) is unintentional. The author humbly begs your pardon. This is fiction, people.

Cover Art by
Stephanie Mooney

This ebook formatted by
CyberWitch Press

For Mayme:

a supportive friend and an invaluable eagle eye.

June 25th, 2005

St. Augustine, Florida

Mom has been really freaked since Daddy died. The past few months have been this really weird blur. I miss him so SO much, but he’s not coming back. I just turned ten last week, and I heard Gran yelling at Mom because she forgot my birthday. It’s okay, I hurt, too, so I get it. But I’m wondering if my mom will ever come back from Daddy dying.

She started babbling on to Gran about something called the Fountain of Youth. I wasn’t really sure what that was so I did some digging at the school library. It’s a fountain that supposedly gives anyone who drinks from it “eternal youth.” I can’t WAIT to grow up, so it’s kinda strange that she’s so hooked on staying young, right?

But, that’s okay because Momma has decided that we’re going to find this fountain! And that means NO SCHOOL. How cool is that? She’s already planned our next few trips, and right now, we’re in Florida!!

VACATION!!

Not only do we get to go to the beach, but the fountain is in this theme park thing that’s really kinda neat. Mom doesn’t think it’s real, but it’s fun anyway. And next we get to go to Morocco, and then we go to Russia! I am SO excited. I can’t wait to get started.

T
he path before them stretched dim and treacherous into the smoke created by the volcano. Callie Bishoff stared bleakly ahead, her heart thudding in her ears. The very idea of walking into the volcanic haze and continuing towards the peak of
Volcán de Fuego
made her knees wobbly.

Further ahead and surrounded by the vivid green of the Guatemalan rainforest, Callie’s mother paused on the trail and turned. A frown marred her pretty face. “Calista Alana, get a move on.”

Callie rolled her eyes. Her mom looked so silly in that stupid rucksack with the ugly gold buckles.

Then again
, Callie thought with a sigh,
my backpack isn’t any cuter.

She watched her mother face forward once more—tall, slim, with hair a deep honey blonde and a tan that could shame the locals. Her mom was gorgeous, no doubt, and definitely not the kind of woman one expected to see traipsing about the rainforest.

Braden clapped a hand to Callie’s shoulder, interrupting her train of thought. “You okay?”

He could have passed for her brother. His dark brown hair and emerald green eyes were almost the exact shade of her own, and he was cursed with awkwardly pale skin like hers. The biggest difference between them was how tall he was compared to short and petite Callie. But, Braden wasn’t her brother—he was her cousin.

Callie waved away his concern. “Just hot. And tired.”
In more ways than one
, she thought bitterly.

Most people were apt to gush about being able to travel the world. To climb the mountains in Tibet; to zip-line through the rainforest in Costa Rica; to sail down the Nile river beneath the hot desert sun… Callie had done all those and more.

And she wished she hadn’t.

“Come on, we’re going to lose her,” Braden said, gently punching Callie’s shoulder. “You know how she is.”

“Insane.”

Braden chuckled. “Yeah, a bit.”

Callie shifted her backpack higher on her shoulders and narrowed her eyes at her mom’s retreating back. “Irrational.”

“Illogical,” Braden agreed with a nod.

Her boot got caught on a gnarled tree root and she tripped. Callie righted herself before she fell face-first into the undergrowth, and then stomped her foot, her groan echoing through the forest. “
Why
can’t we live a normal life? A two-story Colonial on half-an-acre of land with a white picket fence, a dog, and nosy neighbors who steal our newspaper.”

Braden’s eyes were sad. He just touched her arm and kept walking.

“I’m sick of this,” Callie went on quietly as she continued to follow him higher up the volcano. She gestured with both hands to encompass more than just the jungle. She couldn’t even appreciate its beauty—the majestic trees with trunks so large her hands wouldn’t reach around them if she tried and the neon flowers that seemed to glow beneath the dim canopy. It was luminous, and full of the sounds of birds cawing, monkeys screeching, and invisible paws brushing across the ground. “I want…normal.”

“Aunt Emma really thinks she can find it, Cal.” Braden lifted his palms to the sky as if to say
who knows
? A lock of curly hair fell into his eyes as he used one finger to push his thin, wire-rimmed glasses further up on his nose. “Maybe she can.”

“There’s no such thing.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes, I do!” Callie didn’t mean to yell, but it was loud enough to cause all wildlife in the vicinity to scurry noisily away from them. She wished desperately for a pillow so she could bury her face in it and scream.

Her mother shot her a glare but didn’t say anything.

When they finally passed through the smoke ring, they lost all visibility. Like an off-white curtain, the fog cloaked everything around them so that Callie couldn’t even see her feet on the ground. She reached for Braden before she lost him in the abyss.

“You kids alright?” her mother’s lyrical tones drifted back to them, disembodied.

“Yeah,” Braden answered, his deep voice booming in a landscape that had gone eerily silent.

“Why is it so quiet?” Callie asked, gripping Braden’s T-shirt as they stepped carefully up the mountain.

“We’re close to the peak. The animals don’t come this far,” he answered. “Years of eruptions have destroyed the vegetation. I bet, even though we can’t see it, our surroundings have changed. Moon-like.”

“You’re always full of useless information,” Callie joked, pressing closer to his back. The lack of vision was disorienting. “How do we know we aren’t going to run into anything?”

“We don’t.”

“It smells like rotten eggs.”

Braden’s hand touched hers where it held onto him. “It’s sulfur. Quit worrying, Cal.”

“I
hate
her,” Callie spat, her anger rising like a geyser.

“Take it easy, Tiny,” Braden said with a short laugh. “We should almost be there.”

“Not that we’ll know where
there
is,” she grumbled.

Her mother’s excited yell startled her a few moments later, just as the fog began to thin. A little bit of visibility, and then a lot, and Callie’s mom was right in front of them. The dark, ominous maw of an opening in the side of the volcano appeared through the thinning smoke.

“According to the map,” Emma said as they approached, “the fountain is inside.” She had the map open between her hands—a giant piece of paper that had been half-destroyed by a monkey the night before. One corner looked suspiciously as if the creature had dined upon it.

“
A
fountain,” Callie said, refusing to look at her mom. She was worried if she did, she’d kick dirt at the woman’s knees.

“I’m positive this is it!”

You always are.

It was cold and damp inside the cave. Braden and her mom flicked on their flashlights as they stepped through the pitch-black opening. Always the rebel, Callie didn’t bother digging through her pack to find hers. She just latched on to Braden once again and allowed him to lead her.

Twin beams of light illuminated the usual suspects of stalactites, stalagmites, and rock walls that oozed water in yellowing, calcite lines. Other than the steady drip of water, nothing else broke the tomblike quality of the cave but the shuffle of their footsteps. The chill air was refreshing after the intense humidity of the rainforest; Callie had a wild urge to strip off her clothes and dance around in it, and promptly blamed it on malaria.

Inside such darkness, Callie lost track of time. Her cell phone—despite being one of the top-of-the-line satellite phones on the market—had crapped out about halfway up the side of the volcano, so there was no comforting glow to remind her that there was a world outside the narrow cave.

It felt like they walked forever, steadily heading upwards. At some point, the dripping water grew to a dull roar that became louder as they walked: a steady rushing, like a train on railroad tracks. The source of the sound became obvious as they turned a corner and emerged into a large cavern.

Braden’s flashlight swept across ceilings that soared high above; the stone had visible ridges where rock had fallen in the past, like upside-down craters. Her mother’s flashlight spanned the length of a wide, rushing river, illuminating cresting white caps and swirling eddies, until it paused directly across at a small inset in the wall of the cave.

It was obvious the river had carved the wall into its current crescent shape. A stair-step of outcroppings led from the bubbling surface of the river to a shallow pool just above the water line. The rock above the pool was decorated with shiny, pearl-like strands of natural stone, and the surface of the bowl was significantly calmer than the river.

“There it is,” Emma murmured, barely audible over the roar.

“It’s just another cave formation,” Callie said loudly, rolling her eyes.

“Aunt Emma, it doesn’t look like what folklore describes,” Braden said, carefully choosing his words. Callie’s mother was as emotional as Callie was temperamental.

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Emma argued with a decisive shake of her head. “I’m going in.”

“Mom, you can
not
get in that water,” Callie argued, reaching out to snag her mother’s elbow. “It’ll drag you under.”

Her mom shook her off and smiled. “It’s fine.”

Callie stepped forward to stand beside Braden at the edge of the water, and both watched as Emma yanked off her boots and waded in. Braden shone the flashlight on the small pool, lighting a path to the “fountain” for his aunt.

Even knowing her mom was a championship swimmer who had almost gone to the Olympics years before, Callie’s heart pounded. She kept her eyes trained on her mother, as Emma swam confidently arm-over-arm towards the formation.

She pulled her lithe body from the water with both hands and grabbed a foothold on the stairs. Braden moved a little to the left to allow her more light.

Callie’s mom knelt next to the pool and leaned forward, her head disappearing in the water.

“She’s going to get some kind of exotic, brain-eating bug.” Callie sighed.

Braden nudged her. “Buck up.”

A few long moments passed before Emma got to her feet and made the slow swim back to their side of the river. Braden handed the flashlight off to Callie and went to help his aunt from the water.

Her mother’s brilliant blue eyes were haunted, her face drawn. She swiped both hands back through her chin-length hair, smoothing it to her scalp as she drew near. By the drawn look of her face, Callie knew her mother was barely keeping the tears at bay.

“The fountain of youth does
not
exist,” Callie said coolly, then turned on her heel and headed for the exit. She didn’t even turn around to make sure her family was following.

Callie closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the leather seat.

The plane was deliciously cool compared to the tropical country they’d just left behind. She reached up and angled the vent towards her, closing her eyes as the column of air brushed across her face. Stale airplane AC was loads better than malarial forest humidity.