Forgotten (30 page)

“
You use that gorgeous
blond hair of yours to cover your porcelain face. You tried to hide
in your own skin, but no matter what you do, your sheer beauty
radiates from every laugh line.” He slipped a hand behind my neck
and muttered something about my captivating scent. “For centuries,
men have been awestruck at the wonders hiding just below the
ocean’s surface. I’m no different from them, Gwyneth. For years,
I’ve wondered what’s buried deep inside your soul, as I look
through your ocean-eyes. I’m desperate to see the wonders you hide
from the rest of the world.”

I swallowed. It felt like a dream, but
didn’t, at the same time. I opened my mouth to protest, to tell him
he was living in a fairy-tale, but the words fell short because I
couldn’t breathe. Either, he was holding his breath, or I was - I
couldn’t tell. I looked away; the way he saw me wasn’t the way I
really was. It was all a lie.

“
You have this way of
walking that draws me in. Only with much effort can I look away,
especially when you’re ready to give me a piece of your mind,” Jace
said, and then gently tugged on my chin so I’d look at him. “You
have hypnotic lips. Even when you’re screaming at me, I want
nothing more than to silence all your worries with my kiss. The
pink pigments in them match the way you blush. It makes me lose my
mind when you forget to breathe when I speak.”

I begged him to stop. I was none of
these things, looked nothing like the girl he was describing. He
refused to listen. His hand drifted to the small of my back. I
forgot how to speak, when he said that I deserved more credit than
what I gave myself.

“
You may look young and
naïve, but then you smile. Your wicked grin reveals your
intelligence. Your life blurs into a mess of black and white, and
yet, you see things that most people miss.”

He spoke of my flaws like they were
perfection. I was an orphan child, the result of a horrible crime.
I was nothing – meant little to anyone. I wasn’t this deep person
who knew things all along. I hardly had control of my life. I was
lost, so lost and all alone.

“
You see things I can’t
imagine, with those striking eyes of yours. There are times I swear
you gaze into my soul,” he said and rested his forehead against
mine. “Sea blue, with a touch of hazel trying to conquer your right
eye. I’d willingly drown in your eyes, gazing into them until the
end of time. In all my years searching for you, I’ve never
forgotten the beauty of your soul.”

***

I woke in my bed, without a clue as to
how I got there. Last thing I remember, was passing out in Jace’s
embrace while young girls froze my body… and the dream. Elsie was
curled up by my side underneath the sheets. She was like a little
heater, snuggled up next to me. Not wanting to wake her, I laid
still, but my imagination wouldn’t turn off. A life I’d never have
played out in my dreams. I felt like I was living a lie – living
with a family who could only claim me on their tax forms, a sister
who’d never be blood, and a future that was as unexplainable and
unreliable as the next high school kid’s. And then there was Jace.
When he wasn’t enraged by me, he couldn’t keep his hands off me. Or
vice-versa.

I looked out of my window. The
beginning of a sunrise formed along the horizon. I badly wanted to
see the colors of the sun. I lay in bed playing with Elsie’s hair
long enough to hear Martha get up to make breakfast. My other hand
was asleep from Elsie’s weight, but I couldn’t bring myself to
move. The scent of bacon found its way into my room. I lay in bed
gently rubbing Elsie’s back long after John turned on his favorite
sports channel. Only when I was convinced my arm had to be
amputated to move, did Elsie make a squeak.

“
Did you kiss him?” she
asked.

I smiled and closed my eyes. Out of
everything she could have possibly said, that was the most perfect.
It made me feel almost normal.

“
You think it would be nice
to kiss him?” I asked teasingly.

“
Winnie, you weren’t the
only one touching his lips the other day when he came over for
supper.”

“
You little vixen!” I said,
and tickled her belly.

Breaking free from me, giggling the
entire time, Elsie stumbled out of the bed. After swearing that I
wouldn’t try to tickle her, we decided to get some breakfast. She
took my hand and led me down the stairs. John already had the
pregame on. I wanted to slap myself. I forgot that I had a date
with John, in front of the television and then a date with a stack
of homework. Elsie sat next to me on the couch with a small pile of
books scattered around her. She wasn’t making much progress. Martha
tried every trick in the book to entice Elsie to get her homework
done. Apparently her grades weren’t the best.

“
What about a girl’s date,
Elsie?” Martha said. “If you keep your grades up, I’ll treat you
and Winnie.”

“
Anywhere?” Elsie asked.
When Martha agreed, Elsie quickly picked up one of her textbooks
and began reading.

I spent the afternoon answering a few
of her random questions about math and science. It interrupted by
the protests of my faux father, screaming at the referees on the
television. Elsie started mimicking John’s comments instead of
working on her questions. I couldn’t blame her; my homework wasn’t
getting done either. I was distracted, trying to make sense of what
happened last night. I dug the cell out of my back pocket. For half
a second I wanted to call Jace and sort out what happened last
night. My dreams felt like reality, and my reality was getting a
heavy dose of craziness.

Right before I tucked it back inside
my pocket, it rang. Jace’s deep tantalizing voice came over the
speaker. He wanted to meet tonight, and promised that it’d be worth
it, if I could sneak out. I refused to ask my foster parents for
permission, until he told me what he had planned.

“
It’s a surprise,” Jace
said.

“
So surprise me
now.”

He sighed, and said that I had a knack
for making everything difficult. “Your first home” he said,
suddenly very serious.

“
John, may I go out with a
few friends tonight?” I asked, immediately covering the cell with
my hand so Jace couldn’t hear the entire conversation.

“
It’s Sunday – a school
night,” John answered. “It’s not really appropriate –”

“
Of course, Winnie,” Martha
interrupted. She said that I almost never asked to go out and never
got into any trouble anymore. John conceded, reasoning that I was
now on the “honor system.”

Nightfall couldn’t come fast
enough.

The moonless sky made it difficult for
me to distinguish between the people and buildings. Smaller objects
camouflaged themselves in the shadows. I took a deep breath and
concentrated on settling my nerves. Years had come and gone since
I’d last visited my old home – my stolen life. Jace sat on the hood
of the car, waiting for me to gather the nerve to get out. I rubbed
my clammy hands on my jeans and then opened the door handle. The
cool air hit me, chilling me to the bone. I imagined the trees’
leaves floating to the cool ground. Winter was trying to steal
weeks from autumn’s reign.

“
You don’t need Stella,”
Jace said, when I walked up to him.

“
If we get separated, I’ll
need a way to get out of Dodge,” I said defensively.

“
The only way we’d get
separated again, is if you take a trip to Hades,” he said as he
took Stella. “And this time, I’ll follow you there too.”

The thought wasn’t comforting, but I
let him toss my walking stick back into the car. I was fine for the
first few steps, but since there was almost no light, I stumbled.
He offered his hand to guide me. I refused any help, adamantly,
until I nearly skinned my knees after missing the curb. Since we
hadn’t even gotten to the hard part of sneaking around the
backyards of the houses leading up to my old home, I was going to
announce our presence to the neighbors.

“
Fine,” I said defeated. I
couldn’t manage without his help.

“
Say please,” Jace
insisted, crossing his arms over his chest.

I groaned. Of course I
could see
his
general shape in the darkest night. I started to walk away.
“I’m not begging for your help.”

The dismissal would’ve been more
impressive if I hadn’t tripped a half a second later. I stumbled
onto someone’s grassy yard. We were traveling at mock-zero – if we
were to get to the house before sunrise; I needed to swallow my
pride. I muttered ‘please’ under my breath. He pulled me back onto
my feet; instead of offering his elbow, he gave me the choice of
holding his hand or walking alone. I voted for the latter because
it would be safer – emotionally speaking – but I slipped my fingers
through his anyway.

“
What do you call
yourselves?” I asked, trying to take my mind off the fact that my
hands felt like icebergs in his.

He paused. When I faced
him, he brought my hand up to his chest. In my mind, I heard him
say a word that sounded like
shaman
as he said “Healer” out loud. Then he kissed my
hand, and placed it just below my left shoulder. The word
raconteur
echoed in my
mind as he whispered “Chronicler.” Bringing his hands between both
of us, he said out loud, “We are –” In my mind I heard him
say
deity
. It
echoed, just like when he spoke my name soundlessly.

“
You can’t utter a word out
loud, because the –”

Scavengers
. The word echoed in my
mind, and then he rattled off a mess of words I couldn’t
understand. It sounded like he was cursing about someone. He
instigated our pace – detouring off the sidewalk and into a back
yard. After a few moments passed, he said, “Analee forbade us to
speak their name long ago.”

“
Who taught you the
language, and how is it even possible for you to speak
telepathically?”

“
This gift?” Jace asked.
“Not all of us could speak telepathically like the Prophet, until a
generous person granted us the ability.”

He squeezed my hand like it’d come
from me. Half a dozen questions spewed from my mouth – How had the
gift come from me? Had I blacked out entire years of my life and
done all these things, lived this magical life the other deities
were accusing me of?

“
Dearest, it happened too
many sunsets ago to count. If you want to know more about this
blessing, ask your good friend Marco.”

My
friend, Marco? He wasn’t my friend. Taking my vision into
consideration – the one where I held a knife at him – I sincerely
doubted we had ever been friends, or would become
buddies.

“
You don’t trust Marco,” he
said, guiding me along a fence.

“
Nope,” I said as he
stopped our pace.

He let go of my hand only to slowly
and quietly fiddle with the gate’s latch. I slipped through; he
followed and just as quietly closed it. He reached for my hand, and
then we continued through another back yard.

“
I don’t trust people I’ve
only known for a few weeks.”

Jace led me off the sidewalk, across
the street, and onto the side walk. “Yet your conviction about me
has changed.”

I laughed. “We have an agreement –
we’re partners in crime now. It’s different.”

It was his turn to chuckle. I loved
the sound of his laugh! My hand tingled in his. I didn’t know if it
was an unconscious movement or if he enjoyed tracing his thumb over
mine, but it was extremely soothing.

He stopped me just as a light flared
to our side – illuminating the surroundings. A light sensor had
detected our movement. A dog started barking insanely; a bedroom
light turned on a second later. Yelling about ‘a damn raccoon’
resonated from the house. I knew I should have run. However, my
flight or fight reaction button must have been broken, because I
simply froze. Before I could protest, Jace swept me into his arms
and took off running. He leaped over the fence on the other side of
the yard and didn’t stop until two yards later. Both were light
sensor and dog free.

I draped my arm around his neck. My
body warmed, and I watched his reaction when it hit him. I don’t
know how– I just knew that he noticed I was enjoying his touch.
Clutching him, I almost let my hands explore. I’d be damned if his
chest wasn’t chiseled from stone. That he had to concentrate on
breathing normally made me grin until it he replied verbally with
his own urges.

“
I’m not going to need much
convincing to abort tonight’s fiasco if you keep nuzzling into me,
Gwyneth.”

“
What happened to you and
Deino?” I asked, changing the subject. How would he feel about me
when he figured out I wasn’t his lost love?

Rather than answering, Jace stopped.
He turned me in his arms so I faced a house - like any other house,
except this one, used to be mine. The lights were off; the house
was empty. He analyzed the situation before he approached a
window.

“
The windows were not
altered during the remodel. Is this the window they entered?” he
asked.