Book of Life (6 page)

I sighed, feeling let down by that fact.

“Don’t feel let down. He’s busy trying to fix things for you and you know that.”

I had my thoughts blocked as best I could but still she was reading them. “How is it that you’re doing that?”

She grabbed another handful of tall grass and pulled it out of the ground. “Because I’m good. Because I’ve been doing this for a very,
very
long time. As a prophet, naturally my seeing ability is stronger. It takes layers of potions, tricks and rings for you to block your thoughts from me.” She looked at the ring still on my hand, the ring Max had given me. It was a weak attempt at helping me block my thoughts from people like Greg, but it wasn’t perfect. “You may as well assume that I will always be listening to your thoughts. Prophets have to have exclusive rights to everyone’s minds in order to accurately foresee the future—tricks like that ring don’t work.” She giggled then. “Don’t worry, I’m used to people thinking I’m irritating.”

She took the words right out of my mouth, thinking how I really did think she was irritating as I had a number of times before this.

“It’s a curse I’m used to. Having someone always inside your thoughts would irritate me, too.” She was twisting the grass between her fingers, making rings of green until the blade broke and she dropped it to the ground. She sighed, looking happy and refreshed. “Come on. I’ll show you the city.”

I stopped again and pressed my brows together. “City? What city?”

STELLA:

At last I reached a road that cut through the forest like a scar. The pavement was black, a glaring yellow line streaming down the middle that screamed human in a place so full of the natural. I looked in both directions, each identical. There was not a car or person in sight. I bit my lip, wondering which way I should go. I walked to the middle of the road, standing with my feet on the yellow lines. The pavement was wet, the sky overhead slightly overcast. I closed my eyes and spun until I almost fell down. Taking a minute to catch my balance, I finally opened my eyes, facing an unknown direction and ignoring the woods I’d just come from, afraid I’d recognize my path. I took a step forward, making my way to the shoulder and out of the middle of the road.

Fate had gotten me this far, fate would take me the rest of the way just fine.

I walked for a ways, only the occasional car passing until one slowly pulled up beside me. It was an old truck, puttering loudly, making it hard to ignore. I heard a window roll down, but I kept my eyes on the ground in front of me.

“Hey.” A man’s voice snaked over the rumble of the engine.

I disregarded his greeting, pulling the hunter’s coat more tightly around me.

“Hey,”
he barked again, more forcefully. “Where are you headed?”

Did I look like I wanted a ride?
I stopped and his truck stopped too.

“You realize you’re about three miles from town, right? That’s a mighty hike on foot. Where did you come from?”

At last I bothered to look the man in the face. He was exactly what I expected—scruffy, unkempt and admittedly creepy. I shuddered to myself. This was not a good situation.

The man smiled a sly smile. “Why don’t you let me take you into town?”

I almost wanted to laugh. Like that’s what he really wanted to do. I knew if I had to I could easily fly away right now, but I wasn’t willing to blow my cover so fast. If I got in his car I would lose the ability to escape. I found myself eyeing the road behind me, wishing another car would come along and scare the man off.

I shook my head.

The man laughed. “I’m not leaving until you let me give you a ride.” It sounded sinister. “Seriously, I hear there’s a storm coming. You don’t want to get caught in the rain, not a skinny thing like you.”

Was he an idiot? I was wrapped in a jacket twice my size. I’d be fine. That threat maybe worked on stupid girls, but not me. I shook my head again.

The man continued to chuckle menacingly.

I shut my eyes, the sound reverberating to my very soul. This was an inconvenience—a problem. When I opened my eyes, I was relieved to hear a car echo through the forest, headed up behind us. I looked back, seeing an old Suburban approach. I looked from the Suburban to the man, tilting my head as though to say, “Now scram,” though I knew I wouldn’t be able to form the words.

I saw an admittedly frustrated look arrive on the man’s face as he looked in his rear view mirror. It was disgusting to see. If this was how the world was, I wasn’t sure I wanted to be a part of it. Thankfully, I heard his engine rev and he closed the window as he drove off. The Suburban passed me a moment later. I watched the two cars disappear into the distance and the sound of their tires on the rough pavement faded away. I was left with nothing but the familiar, comforting sound of the woods—and the rain that had just begun to fall, right on cue. I pulled my hood over my head, allowing its oversized reach to fall down half my face.

After that event I was no longer sure that I wanted to leave the woods at all. I was comfortable here, things were predictable and safe. I had to remind myself that I didn’t want safe anymore, and comfortable wasn’t very entertaining. I remembered my urges and stuck to them. There was someone I was meant to meet, someone important to me. I knew he was within this world where the disgusting man in the truck had come from. I only hoped I would know who he was when I found him, and that he was better than what I’d seen of this world so far.

I shuffled along for what seemed a mile before another car could be heard approaching from behind. I began to think that if everyone was headed in the same direction as me, perhaps I was going to the right place after all. It wasn’t like there were a plethora of cars leaving. Again, I heard the car slow. I shut my eyes, praying I was just hearing it. Sadly, I wasn’t.

This time, when I opened my eyes, I was met with a much more appealing sight than the rusty truck of before. A red Audi was rolling beside me, the window slowly falling. A boy, about my maturity, was seated behind the wheel. I pressed my brows together, leaning down to see him more completely though keeping myself hidden under the hood. He had thick glasses, and when he smiled, his teeth seemed large and goofy. He was hardly threatening if not for his fancy car. I was readying myself to ignore him like the last, but he lifted his hand to stop me before I got the chance to look away.

“I’m not trying to be creepy or anything. It’s just that,” he looked at the sky. “This rain is going to get worse like the creepy man said. I doubt you should be out here.”

His words seemed out of place, as though he was picking up on the conversation happening within my thoughts.

He narrowed his gaze as I bravely stepped closer to the car, drawn by curiosity and a means to make him go away. I pushed the hood back away from my eyes. His eyes grazed over my face, followed by a confused and admittedly shocked look, though he tried to hide it. I was intrigued. He’d noticed something about me he hadn’t before, or so it seemed. Still, my mind screamed for him to leave me alone.

“I’m not going to hurt you, so calm down.” His words were detached and distant as he continued to gawk at me.

I myself was a little taken aback all of a sudden. His words were like a reply to a blow-off I’d already offered, though it had only been a thought on my mind. I bit my lip, sensing something different about this boy. I don’t know how I sensed it so fast, or why, but it felt familiar, just as his reaction to me seemed to be one of familiarity as well. Scanning his face, small things stood out as though I really did know this boy—perhaps from the previous life I couldn’t remember.

He tilted his head. “Do I know you?” He was offering me the same question my mind was already thinking.

I shrugged timidly.

He leaned across the car, his leather seats squeaking as he leaned his weight on the center console. “That’s crazy, you look a lot like someone I used to know but . . .” his voice trailed, looking me directly in the center of my forehead as though there was something there to see.

That’s when I got the sense that I was not alone within my thoughts, and I quickly tried to clear my mind. For some reason, this felt like an instinctual thing to do, like I’d done it before, or at the very least knew how, but with little success.

“Wait . . .” He leaned back. “You’re different, aren’t you?”

I crinkled my brow, still trying to shove away thoughts. There were a lot of things I didn’t know, like why I was here and who I was beyond a name, but I was aware of the fact that I was not the only one of my kind in the world. I couldn’t be, but what was out there was a mystery to me, too. Thinking this boy was reading my thoughts didn’t seem very farfetched when I knew I could turn into an owl at the drop of a dime. But why me? Why today? And why was he looking at me that way?

“You’re right. You’re not the only one,” he blurted.

What?
My mind demanded, feeling flustered. How was it he could read my thoughts? How was it he could even make sense of it? I turned away from the car and began walking, arms crossed against my chest as the wind picked up. I was done with this whole day.

After a moment the Audi crept forward. “I’m Jake,” he offered, trying to reconcile as he drove at my pace. “I get that you can’t talk. You’re a bit out of sorts but . . . I can help you.”

I refused to look at him or stop. I hoped if I kept this up he’d eventually leave, just like the creepy man in the truck.

He didn’t. “Seriously, though. You’re sure you’ve never seen me before? You don’t know me?”

I glanced sideways at him and shook my head sharply.

“You’re right. Your eyes are all wrong,” he muttered, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. “Do you want a ride?”

My gut lurched,
no!

He laughed.

I stopped anyway. I didn’t know why. The gravel of the shoulder ceased crunching under the heel of my oversized hunting boots. If I looked like someone he used to know, then perhaps he could connect me with this person I was supposed to meet. Should I take the risk and ride with him, or not? Where was he going?

“Winter Wood,” he answered swiftly.

My golden eyes stopped searching the ground before me. Something about that place felt right.

He pointed ahead of him. “Pretty much where you were headed, once you get past Glenwood Springs, that is,” he answered sarcastically. “Do you even know where you are?”

I didn’t offer him a gesture to answer this, but I can’t say my thoughts didn’t do that for me.

“No. You don’t.” He sighed long and hard. “Of course you don’t.” He perked up. “Listen, I’m not going to hurt you, and I know you don’t trust me, but I can’t let you walk there alone, not when you look like Jane—not when that seems like an eerie coincidence.”

Jane?
Finally, some hint of who I was, or at the very least, who I was before.

He stared at me. “Does that sound familiar to you?”

I tried to think, but nothing came to mind, despite the fact that my whole body tingled when I heard the name.

His lips pressed together in thought. “Alright, well, I know you’re a shifter, that wasn’t hard to sense. I just can’t figure why the Hell you look like Jane.”

If I was someone he used to know, wouldn’t he be more surprised? He was so calm, so cool about this whole thing, cool in a way a murderer could be. A far off sound made me turn and look over my shoulder. Another car crested the hill, headed our way.

“Are you getting in or not?” he pressed.

I didn’t have much time to make up my mind, so my body made it up for me. I got in the car. Once inside, I began to immediately regret my decision.

“Just calm down,” Jake reminded, shifting the car into gear as we quickly got up to speed. “You’re going to want to meet the people I’m taking you to.”

I was comforted by the way he said this, like they were long lost friends or perhaps the answer to all my questions.

“They could be,” he offered.

I eyed him, a judgmental look that I hoped expressed my discomfort towards this entire situation.

He just laughed, coaxing the car up to speed. “So, what’s your name?”

My mind immediately spelled out the name Stella before I could prevent it.

He about choked. “
What’s
your name?”

My mind thought it again.

He began shaking his head. “This is too weird.”

I shifted uncomfortably in the seat. From all I could recollect, I’d never been in a car before. In my small seat I tried all I could to escape his gaze, but it was useless. The way he was looking at me, like a science experiment, was beginning to make me wish I knew what had happened in my past. What if there had been a history between us? Why wasn’t he paying better attention to the road?

He didn’t answer any of my questions, instead sticking to idle chit chat. “And you’re a shifter? And you shift into an owl?”

I nodded firmly. Being coy wasn’t going to work with this guy. I wished again he could just inform me of who Jane was, and why I looked like her.