Crossroads (25 page)

Words could not describe how I was
feeling and what I was seeing. To see the splendor of nature from
the sky was unbelievable. I completely forgot about everything, and
a tranquil feeling rushed through me. Michael’s grin continued to
hold the whole time as he never left my eyesight. I didn’t know how
long we were flying, but knowing we had to come down saddened me
deeply.

“
Thank you,” I whispered.
It was all I could say. There were no words to express how grateful
I felt. He had already given me so much. I would never forget
today.

As we spiraled down slowly, I could
see the tired look in his eyes, and his body showed some fatigue.
Although he tried to conceal that he was getting weaker, I couldn’t
bear to see him that way. I knew he had to go back quickly, and I
was afraid for his life. Without warning, he collapsed to his
knees.

“
Michael!” I yelled as I
fell to my knees next to him.

“
I’m alright,” he lied,
trying to hide the worried look in his eyes.

“
Davin!” I called, afraid
that he had already left.

“
Right here,” he said.
With a blink of an eye, he appeared next to me. “We should leave
now, Michael,” Davin spoke, looking very concerned. “I’ll take her
back to the campsite. It’s getting late. She should have been back
by now.”

I could tell Michael was not happy,
but I knew he completely trusted Davin.

“
I’m sorry, Claudia, I
always have to leave you,” he said, struggling to stand
up.

Davin tried to help, but Michael just
pushed him away. Michael somehow managed to get up, but he moved in
a pained way. When he finally stood up, he fixated on me with such
intensity. “I’ve changed my mind. I’m going with you. I can
manage,” he said, sounding strong again.

“
I don’t think it’s a good
idea, Michael. Let me take you first, and then I’ll be back,” Davin
replied.

“
Don’t worry. I’m not that
weak. I can manage to go on my own. If you take me first, Claudia
will be left alone. And that’s all it will take for them to get
her. I know my body. I’ll be fine,” Michael said.

“
We’ll do it your way, but
we need to hurry,” Davin replied.

Michael and Davin grabbed me, and we
glided across the field. They brought me back to the same place I
had entered. The soaring trees looked a lot friendlier than when
they were seen at night. When we neared the campsite, all that was
on my mind was Michael’s safety.

“
Your campsite is in
between those trees,” Davin said, pointing toward two trees that
were in front of us. “We’ll wait until we know you are
safe.”

“
I don’t want to leave
you,” Michael said, still holding me.

“
Don’t worry, Michael. You
need to go. I’ll be fine.” I tried to sound strong.

“
I’ll be back as soon as I
can,” Michael said. “I’ll think of something to say to Phillip.
Nothing can keep me away from you.”

“
I’ll be waiting as long
as it takes. But…make it quick.”

I turned to Davin. “Thank you for
being my friend, and thank you for understanding. I know we are
asking a great deal of you to keep our secret, but—”

He interrupted, “It’s too late for me
to intervene. He’s already lost to you. He’s already feeling human
emotions that we have tried so hard to suppress all these years. I
don’t blame him. I think I would too. How could you not? I know
Michael far better than anyone else. As you already know, he
doesn’t follow the Divine Commandments. He makes up his own, which
can get him into trouble if he’s not careful, but who am I to
judge? I think in some ways we all make up our own rules. As long
as you are both aware of the consequences, then so be
it.

“
Regardless, human
emotions or not, he is your guardian angel. He is the most
qualified one. His powers are stronger than any alkin I know.
Sometimes I envy him. I wish I knew what it is like to fall in
love. Don’t worry, I don’t blame you. It’s not like you both
planned this. This kind of love is something you cannot control. I
understand that. It makes you a better human, or alkin. That’s what
I see from Michael, and that is my opinion. I’ve never seen him
happier and full of life. Evidently, love knows no boundaries.
Anyway, no puff this time,” he laughed. “See, your friendship makes
me care about my health even though I’m already dead.”

I didn’t know what to say. I quickly
gave Davin a peck on the cheek, “Thank you.”

He was in slight shock. Immediately he
placed his hand on the cheek I kissed and smiled.

As I turned to face Michael, Davin
spoke again. “I almost forgot. Here’s your flashlight. Can’t get
any brighter than this one.”

He wasn’t holding it before; it was as
if it magically appeared in his hands. It seemed they could make
things appear and disappear, like Michael with the picnic basket,
their swords, and now with this flashlight. “Thank you!” I said
excitedly and grabbed it out of his hands and hugged it. “I thought
I lost it. I was sure it fell over the cliff.”

“
It did, but Michael
retrieved it, thinking it was important to you. He just asked me to
hold on to it. Michael was right. It is important to you,” Davin
replied, giving me a funny look.

Then I thought how ridiculous I must
look hugging this thing. “It belongs to my friend, and I would like
to take it back to her.”

“
Now I understand. Well,
we better get going. See you when I see you,” Davin
said.

I turned to Michael and placed my head
on his chest. His hands ran through my hair and back to my face, as
if trying to memorize every detail.

“
See you soon. I promise,”
he said. He pointed to the crystal. “I am with you.”

“
I know,” I said, looking
straight into Michael’s eyes. “I love you,” I said, shocked at
myself for saying it. The words flowed out of my mouth so
effortlessly. I immediately looked down after I said it, fearful of
how he would respond.

He lifted my chin, and our eyes met
again. His face lit with a broad grin as he said, “I love you
more.”

Feeling relief that I hadn’t made a
big fool of myself, I returned a heartfelt smile.

“
You’re doing it again,”
he said.

“
Doing what?” I asked,
wondering if I had done something wrong.

“
Melting my heart with
your smile,” he said.

“
Okay, enough with the
mushy stuff. Time to go, Michael. Now I’m getting really
disgusted,” Davin said, laughing.

I looked at both of them, blew them a
kiss, and said, “Go, I’ll be fine.”

“
He loves me more” were
the words I held on to, but he didn’t know it was me who loved him
more. I took a deep breath and walked toward the
campsite.

Chapter 16

I reached the campsite filled with
anxiety. I needed an explanation. What was I going to tell Andrew,
who had told us explicitly to stay away? Oh no, how would I tell
Patty? From a distance, I could see Patty running toward me. Her
smile was a good sign and I was able to slowly release a bit of my
anxiety.

“
Are you okay?” she said,
squeezing me tightly. “We were so worried about you. Did you fall
hard? You must have, for the ranger to keep you that
long.”

As usual, Patty had too many
questions, so I simply nodded. “I’m fine. I don’t remember much,” I
lied. I was hoping that would be the end of it, but I knew she
wouldn’t let me off that easily.

“
Now that you’re fine,
what the heck were you thinking?” Her voice was steady. “Who goes
there in the middle of the night?” She pointed toward the
off-limits area. “Are you crazy? What possessed you to go there all
by yourself? And to top it off, you got hurt. Do you know how
worried I was when I couldn’t find you in the middle of the night?
I thought you were kidnapped or…and…I just had these images of
something horrible,” her voice trembled, holding back her tears.
“For goodness sake, I’m the one who made you go
camping!”

Filled with guilt, I felt sick to my
stomach that I had put her through all of this. The whole time she
was giving me the third degree all I wanted to do was to tell her
the truth, but I couldn’t. There was nothing that I could say now
to make her feel better, so I just grabbed her and held her
tightly. “I’m so sorry,” I said. “I’m so sorry, Patty. I don’t know
what came over me. I promise never to scare you like that
again.”

She let out a heavy sigh. “Okay, don’t
scare me like that again, ever. You nearly gave me a heart attack,”
she said as she let go and looked at me. My heart sank to the
ground, seeing her eyes slightly teary. “I’m never bringing you
camping again,” she said, nudging me on the arm.

Although she seemed to feel better, I
continued to feel horrible, and I had to find a way to make it up
to her. One thing about Patty, she doesn’t hold a
grudge.

“
So, you were with that
ranger, Michael, all this time?”

“
You…you met the ranger?”
I said in shock, and I felt my face flush with guilt. I knew
Michael had spoken to Andrew, but I couldn’t recall Michael
mentioning anything about meeting Patty.

“
Sort of. He spoke to
Andrew, and Andrew filled me in.”

“
Oh,” I said.

“
So, were you with the
ranger the whole time?”

“
Yeah. He wanted me to
rest,” I said with a straight face. I knew Patty could see right
through me if I was not careful with my facial expression and my
choice of words. Patty knew I wasn’t a good liar, and I thought she
was going to get mad at me for not telling her the truth, but she
didn’t suspect anything. Either that, or she decided to let it
go.

“
I would rest all day if
he looked after me,” she said. “He is one hot ranger.” She looked
at me from head to toe. “He gave you his shirt too? And what
happened to your sweat pants? Looks like he cleaned you up pretty
well.” She moved her brows up and down, insinuating there was more
to my disappearance from the camp.

I blushed and lost my words. “I…umm…he
had to cut it, and…I tore my sweatshirt from the fall.” That was
the lamest excuse, but that was all I could come up
with.

“
Uh huh…” Patty
smiled.

I hated lying to her, but what choice
did I have? Patty started to say something else when Andrew
interrupted. “How are you feeling?”

“
I’m good as new,” I said
cheerfully.

“
Just stick to the
perimeters, please,” Andrew said blankly and walked
away.

I looked at Patty. “Is he mad at
me?”

“
What do you think? He was
worried because you sort of went in there when you weren’t supposed
to,” Patty said, pointing to the forest, trying not to sound
accusatory. “Don’t worry. He’s fine. I told him not to be mad at
you, and that I would handle it since I brought you
here.”

“
Oh,” I said, feeling
guilty for not sticking to the rules. I was just glad Andrew didn’t
give me the heat like Patty did.

As Patty and I walked toward our tent,
she finally noticed the flashlight I was holding. “So, you made use
of the flashlight,” Patty said suddenly.

“
Oh, this thing. It’s
pretty useful. Very bright.”

Patty just smiled. “I’ll wait for you
outside.”

As I changed into my jeans and
T-shirt, I quickly reached for my cell phone, wondering if I had
any missed calls. Several missed calls from Mom. Then I looked at
my text. It was from Kristina. Don’t forget to RSVP to Ryan’s
B-day. Missing U at the movies. Hope U R having fun
camping!

I texted back. Amazing! We sud go. Say
Hi to Maggie for me.

Just as I stepped out, Patty
approached me with her cell phone.

“
Please don’t tell me you
called my mom!” I whispered.

“
No, I didn’t,” she
replied with a stone-cold look on her face.

I was glad she didn’t, but wondered
why she had that expression on her face. “What is it?” I asked
immediately.

“
Talk to your mom.” She
handed me the phone and left quickly.