Drinking Life (Keeper of the Water Book 1) (32 page)

I barely stop to breathe. I think I’m as surprised as Celeste by the continuous flow of questions that fire out of my mouth like a machine gun.

“I know you’ve pieced a lot of this story together with John’s help, but that can’t be your only source of information, am I correct?” she asks. I nod my head. “You’ve been remembering, haven’t you?”

“Subconsciously,” I admit. “I started having dreams about the past and the Amazons and the water. At first they were flashes of memories that I didn’t understand or even think about much. But they became clearer over time and I even started having them when I was awake.”

“When did this start?” Celeste asks.

“A few months ago.”

She shakes her head in disgust. “I should’ve realized. Did it start around your eighteenth birthday?”

I think back to that first dream and can’t believe I never made the connection.

“Now that you mention it, I
did
have the dream the night of my eighteenth birthday,” I say.

“We didn’t take you back far enough, I
really
hope we did with
her
,” Celeste says. “I know there’s still plenty of things you want know but your memory is improving and I think it’s best that you wait to remember on your own.”

I shake my head, don’t bother to hide my annoyance. “I
deserve
to know everything right now, especially considering what I’ve gone through. Not only was I shot in the chest and almost killed, I had to watch my father breathe his dying breath. And on top of that, I’ve lost my only chance for love.”

The tears come when I talk about John and soon I’m blubbering like a fool—or like Cassie for that matter. But I don’t care at this point, I don’t care if I look weak in front of my keeper, I don’t care if I lose control of my emotions and act like a girly-girl for once. Apparently, Celeste doesn’t care either. She remains stone-faced despite how upset I am.

“One day, you’ll realize how
foolish
you’re being about John,” she says icily. “You’ll remember more and celebrate the fact that he’s gone forever now.”

My grief turns to anger—had I known this ruthless side of Celeste, I may not have thought so badly of Cassie in the past. Before I snap back at Celeste and say I’ll
never
celebrate John’s death, I consider the crazy things that have happened, the way John
did
bring danger upon my family, whether he intended to or not. But Ponce de Leon
was
one of the most famous explorers and the Spanish conquistadors
did
have a reputation for being particularly brutal. Still, the John who Celeste knew was from many centuries ago.

“I don’t care what he
used to be
. People change. I would expect
you
to understand that,” I finally say, a bit calmer so my point won’t be brushed aside and blamed on uncontrolled emotion. “I know the kind of person John is
now
.”

“
Was
,” Celeste points out. “You need to start thinking of him in the past tense now.”

I grind my teeth and again think of Cassie, who becomes more of an ally with every passing second, whether I like her or not.

“What is Cassie’s connection to all of this? Are you two really related the way my mother—or great, great, whatever-granddaughter—and I
kinda
are?”

Celeste looks back toward the water, clearly hesitant to answer. I feel myself growing angrier as I doubt she’ll tell me anything else.

“She’s not my real daughter either,” she finally admits. Surprisingly, she sounds sad to say this. “We aren’t related at all, at least not by blood. But that doesn’t mean she’s anything less than family to me, just like you and your mother and your father. That is why it’s so vital to keep Cassie away from the water and the Amazons and the past at all costs. I’ve always believed that we did enough to her to make sure she never remembers any of it.”

“But why can’t she know? I still don’t understand,” I say, so heavy with frustration that I may sound whiny.

“You will one day, I promise,” she says. “But know this: it wasn’t
my
idea to keep this information from her.”

“Then whose was it?”

“Yours.
You
decided that you and Cassie would be given enough water to return to your youth and forget the past.
You
wanted to remain near Cassie while the two of you grew up to keep her safe and make certain she never remembered anything. I didn’t choose this life for us—you assigned it to me.”

“Was Cassie bad? Did she do something evil with the water?” I wonder. A part of me knows the answer to both questions is ‘yes’ even if I can’t recall the details.

I can tell that Celeste knows the answers but she shrugs. “I can’t say for sure because I wasn’t part of the tribe at that time.”

I raise a questioning eyebrow so she explains further.

“Amazons—and keepers for that matter—always have the option to leave. But the only way someone
must
go is when a keeper’s reign ends. That’s what happened to me. Once my time was over, I chose my successor and left. Like all outgoing keepers, I was given the choice to drink water and return to my youth—as far back as I wanted to go—but I decided against that. I had already lived
many
lifetimes and was more than content to end my days in the jungle I called home for the final part of my reign. But I soon learned of the trouble back at the tribe and returned to help in any way I could. In the end, I chose to spend the rest of my life serving the Earth once again, this time by raising Cassie and helping to keep both of you girls safe.”

“That’s very admirable,” I say. “That must’ve been a very difficult decision to make.”

“It’s nothing you wouldn’t have done. You were a woman of the Earth, same as me, willing to sacrifice just as much for the greater good. It’s safe to say that I never met another Amazon like you,” Celeste says.

Cleopatra says,
I remind myself. It’s still so surreal that the world’s most famous queen
ever
speaks so glowingly of me, whether she’s sometimes heartless or not. It might be impossible to speak with her about John but she and I obviously had a close relationship for many years. I look forward to hopefully remembering more of it soon. For now, I have no other choice but to trust that she wants the best for me.

“Then I will wait to remember more on my own,” I give in.

Celeste nods, finally offering me a smile. “You’ve always trusted my judgment in the past, as I’ve trusted yours. I’m glad you continue to do so. There will come a time soon when your memory opens wider, allows you to see more of the life you’ve lived—that we’ve
both
lived. We will talk more then. Now I should probably check on Cassie.”

Celeste starts to head back toward the cabins when I stop her with one final question.

“So, you’re really Cleopatra. And you said that the Amazons recruited other strong women. Would I be right to assume that many of those strong women are also famous names from the past?”

“You would be correct,” Celeste says. “And before you ask, the answer is yes. You are also very recognizable from American history.”

“But it would be better if I remembered
who
on my own,” I say, completing her thought.

Celeste winks before walking away. I’m left alone by the river, where I try to look at anything but the cross on my father’s grave. Instead I stare blankly at the river. My eyes may be open but I see nothing, my mind lost in too many thoughts to register anything in front of my eyes. There’s so much to think about: my past, my present, the losses I’ve suffered, how my improving memory will affect my future. Through it all, there’s one feeling that stands out above the others, a feeling I’ve had my entire life—
this
life—that I never fully understood until now.

A strong kinship with the Earth, with all of nature around me, the river’s rushing waters, the clouds in the blue sky, the leaves swaying in the trees. Even with the rocks in the dirt by my feet. I snap out of my momentary reverie and notice that my feet have been shuffling this entire time, playing with the pile of rocks. Without even realizing it, I’ve arranged them in the exact same cross pattern as I saw earlier.

My eyes suddenly lose focus of
this
world again as I remember the scene at the edge of the river at night… the kneeling Amazon with her back toward me… the cross-shaped pattern of rocks she creates…

This is the third time I’ve relived this moment and as the mystery woman slowly turns toward me, I expect to flash away before I see her face. But this time, I don’t go anywhere. The bright moonlight shines down on the sneering, hateful face of –

“Cassie!” a voice screams in the distance.

I’m snapped out of the memory by the name of the same person I’d just remembered. I can still see her familiar face—minus the usual makeup—and her familiar hair—longer and bushier and in desperate need of her daily styling. She was older than she is now, probably in her mid-20s, but there’s no doubt in my mind it was Cassie. I’d recognize that look of extreme hatred anywhere.

It takes me a few extra seconds to recognize the screaming voice as Celeste’s. Yelling between those two isn’t exactly unusual nowadays but Cassie doesn’t yell back and I realize her mother doesn’t sound angry—she sounds frightened. I leave the cross-shaped rocks where they are and spin around, dashing toward the cabins. My body tingles in warning—I can’t believe I didn’t notice it sooner.

I move like a blur, an adrenaline burst pushing me to full speed. I’m back in front of the cabins in the matter of seconds and almost run right by. The tingling is intense but I feel it slowly fading away. I wish I could say this was a good sign but I have a feeling it’s the exact opposite.

I find Celeste still calling Cassie’s name while looking closely at the ground. She doesn’t even notice my approach. My mom suddenly stumbles out of the other cabin, clutching the back of her head. When I look closer, I see blood running down her hand and arm from where she holds her head.

“What happened?” I ask her. “Are you okay?”

“They took her,” Mom says.

I can only imagine that
her
must mean Cassie, though the tingling fades more with every second that passes.

“Who took her?” I ask. “And did you say
they
? Was there more than one person?”

“I think so… I don’t know,” she says, grimacing in pain. “I didn’t see. I went to Cassie’s cabin to check on her but she didn’t answer when I called out her name. I figured she was just ignoring me so I went up to her room. I found her tied up to the bed, mouth gagged. I hurried over to untie her but… but her eyes went wide and she groaned, like she was trying to tell me something. I tried to turn around but got whacked in the back of the head. I hit the ground and everything went black. I somehow stayed conscious long enough to hear her dragged out of the room.”

I feel bad for my mother and that she’s in pain but there’s much bigger problems to deal with. I turn to Celeste just as she rushes inside her cabin. She comes out a minute later, talking quickly into a cell phone. Her conversation lasts only a few seconds before she rushes over to me and grabs my arm.

“Who could have done this?” I ask her. “Do you think it was the
other
soldier?”

“Right now, I don’t care
who
it was,” Celeste says. Her voice is calm yet authoritative, without any of the panic I feel. “You need to find her.”

“
Me?
But I – ”

She pulls me away from the cabin and heads toward the trees. Out of her element, Mom stays behind. A part of me wishes I could stay with her.

“You are one of the best trackers the Amazons ever had. I had thousands of years of more practice but I
still
wasn’t as good as you,” Celeste says. “I need you to put that skill to use now.”

“But I’m not the same person I was then,” I say. Everything’s come so easily for me in this life that I’m afraid of failure.

“You
are.
I see how amazing you are every day. You must
try
to find her,” Celeste urges. “Because if anything bad happens to Cassie, it will be… I don’t even want to think how bad it will be.”

“You may not be her real mother but you seem to care about her like you are,” I say.

“You don’t understand. My concern isn’t for myself, isn’t for how
I’ll
have to deal with anything bad that happens,” she says. “If someone kills Cassie, then not only will the special water be destroyed forever, but so will the entire life force of Earth.”

A numbing dread once again fills every part of my mind, body and spirit.

“What does that mean?” I ask in a whisper, the only sound I can muster.

“That means we better find Cassie
now!
Now concentrate!”

I can’t do this, I don’t know
how
to do this, I’m not even sure where the hell I’m supposed to start or what it is Celeste wants me to do. And apparently the fate of the world depends on whether or not I screw up at this moment, not a good sign since I’m so panicked that I’m in no condition to –
I see something on the ground, twin lines indented into the grass a few inches apart. It’s not hard to imagine Cassie being dragged away here, her heels flattening the grass along the way. Celeste must’ve spotted this earlier but the obvious trail disappears once it runs into the woods. If Celeste is relying on me to pick up the trail from there, we could be in some serious trouble. I take a step into the woods where I lose most of the sunlight. I doubt I’ll
ever
find any clues…

And then I spot a tree branch on the ground. It’s no thicker than a pencil, no longer than a ruler, completely insignificant to most. But I notice that it’s bent just slightly, unnaturally, the way a running foot may stomp on it. I don’t bother wasting time pointing this out to Celeste. Instead, I run. I barely need to slow down to pick out hint after hint, clue after clue, the tiniest changes to the forest that
should
need a magnifying glass but I spot with the greatest of ease.

I sprint faster and faster through the woods, the trail suddenly so obvious it may as well be marked out with little yellow flags. I don’t even look back at Celeste though I know she’s close behind, following me the way a hunter rushes behind a fox hound. I’m distracted from the trail for only a brief moment when we reached a clearing.

Celeste’s shuffling footsteps come to a stop behind me and I turn just in time to see her shoot a single firework into the sky, a red umbrella of sparkles momentarily illuminating the blue sky above. I have no idea what that’s all about but I return my focus to the chase and she’s soon right behind me.

I feel like the woman from my very first dream about the previous life, the one hunting the buffalo, the way I ran without thinking, instinctively knowing which way to go. But instead of reaching the end of my chase and discovering my prey, I find something far more disappointing.

The highway and a set of tire tracks disappearing down the road…