Qaletaqa (11 page)

Claire scrunched her face at my offhanded
reply and waved away my question. “What happened?”

I had to tell her. “Daniel told me once that
he saw you in a dream when he was sick from his infected snake
bite. He said you came to him and comforted him and told him he
would be alright. Do you remember that?” I asked.

Claire shifted uncomfortably. “Yes, I
remember. After I drank the poison, I was locked in this black,
empty space. I couldn’t escape. Then one time I heard Daniel
moaning in pain. I couldn’t help but go to him. I felt so awful for
him. I didn’t know he remembered seeing me. I thought it was just a
dream at the time.”

“I think that empty space is something
between dreaming and being awake. It’s similar to both, but
something completely unique,” I said. How else did you describe a
completely black universe when you were aware of who and where you
were, but still had no control over when you came or went? “I don’t
know what else this place is used for, or who else might visit it,
but it seems to be a way for Twin Souls who aren’t yet united to
contact each other.”

I waited for Claire’s response.

“You saw her again?”

I nodded.

“What did you say to her?” Claire asked.

“I told her everything.”

“Everything?”

“She needed to know what was happening. I
asked her to try and find any clues about where she is so we can
find her sooner.” I wanted to be sure Claire knew I hadn’t spent
the entire night simply chatting and getting to know Melody.

Claire nodded slowly, but the concern in her
eyes hadn’t left. “What else happened?”

Sweat seemed to spring from my pores at her
question. I felt my heart rate rising, but could do nothing to calm
it. When I finally forced out the words, they came as a
whisper.

“I touched her.”

“You touched her? Why? You had to have known
that would only make things worse!” Claire cried. Her tone said she
was trying to be patient, but her hands were clenched tight around
the blankets.

“It was an accident, Claire. I promise.” I
took her fists in my hands and smoothed her fingers against mine.
“I told her about leaving Harvey behind and she freaked out. She
got really upset that he hadn’t come looking for her. I tried to
explain, but she wouldn’t listen. She was walking back and forth,
not paying attention to anything I said, and I didn’t think. I
reached out, just to make her stop and listen. I didn’t mean to
make the bond any stronger. I just wanted her to listen to me.”

Claire’s frustration melted into sorrow. “I’m
sorry, Uriah. I shouldn’t have gotten upset at you,” she said. “I
know you would never do something like that on purpose. I just got
scared when I felt the change in the bond.”

The day before when Claire caught up to me
sprung into my mind again, as did Talon’s words describing how he
had heard Claire’s thoughts. When I was with Daniel, I had
suspected at certain times that the bond had been trying to form
before we made it back to San Juan, but I had never actually felt
anything.

“How can you feel the bond?” I asked.

Claire’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “What do
you mean? I think anybody could feel what I feel. The Twin Soul
bond, it’s like it’s pulsing around you. How could somebody not
feel that?”

“Claire, I never felt anything when I was
with Daniel. I knew from how he acted that the bond was doing
something to him, but Cole and I never felt anything. I don’t think
normal people can feel the bond until it actually forms,” I
said.

“Normal people?” Claire’s one raised eyebrow
said she did not appreciate that I wasn’t including her in that
category. I could only shrug. I was too curious about what else she
could do to argue with her.

“Remember how I told you that Talon showed me
what you were thinking when you first found me on the road?” I
asked.

Claire nodded.

“Talon can’t do that with everybody. I’m the
only one who can talk to him, and he can only hear the thoughts of
people like Kaya and Quaile,” I said.

“You mean shaman? Talon can only hear
shaman’s thoughts?” Claire eyes widened, the panic in her eyes
startling me. About to ask her what was wrong, I was thrown again
when she suddenly shook away the expression and exchanged it for
one of unconcern. “I’m not sure what that has to do with me, Uriah.
Maybe it was a fluke, because you and I are so close.”

“I don’t think so.” I thought about how Kaya
said she had been able to see things others could not most of her
life. I couldn’t imagine Claire would have had the same experiences
and never shared them with me. I had no idea about how Quaile’s
talents had developed, so I didn’t know whether Kaya’s childhood
visions and impressions were a common occurrence for future
shaman.

I looked back at Claire. She fiddled with a
strand of her hair, staring off at nothing in particular. “Have you
ever had any dreams that seemed like more than dreams, or saw
anything when you touched somebody?”

Claire stared at me incredulously. “Like
visions? No, never.” She paused. “Uriah, we have more important
things to talk about right now, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know. Maybe this is important. Maybe
you could help me find the Matwau if you really can do stuff I
can’t.”

“Aside from all the strangeness surrounding
you, I’ve never had anything shaman-like happen to me,” Claire
said.

“Well, what about all the stuff with me?” I
asked. “It wasn’t all on my end. Touching you hurts me. I can’t
control you. None of my powers work with you.” Just like Kaya and I
had discussed, everything that happened between me and Claire
pointed to me needing to stay away from her. Not anyone else, just
her. There had to be a connection.

“I…I don’t know,” Claire balked. Her body
stiffened and turned away from me, not blatantly, but enough to
appear as if she were hiding something. I didn’t understand why she
was reacting like this. Turning back to me, Claire appeared to
soften, but I could still see the edge in her eyes as she
spoke.

“It could mean something, I guess, but it
could have nothing to do with this at all. How am I supposed to
know?”

Something about the tone of her voice alerted
me. “I don’t know. How would you know? You said your dad told you
about me. Did he tell you anything else?” I brought my hand up to
Claire’s troubled face and gently pushed her to meet my gaze. She
looked at me, but didn’t look any more inclined to talk.

“Claire,” I said softly, “do you know
something?”

“Maybe…”

“What do you mean, maybe?” I asked. Claire
leaned away from me, her eyes flitting back and forth as she
thought.

“Quaile…gave me a book.”

A book? Why wouldn’t she want to tell me
about a book? My eyes widened. “Did Quaile see something in you? Is
it a book that has something to do with becoming a shaman?”

Excitement grabbed hold of me as I imagined
the possibilities for my current quest and the future. “You would
be a good leader for the pueblo, Claire. You’ve learned a lot about
how not to be shaman from Quaile, and when you meet Kaya, you’ll
learn ten times more about how to be a great shaman. I don’t know
if your talents have just been hiding, or if the timing is
different for everyone, but I think I’m right about this.”

“It wasn’t a book about becoming a shaman,
Uriah. It’s a book about you.” Claire hesitated. “At least I think
it is. I haven’t actually read much of it yet.”

“What? Why not?”

“Well, I couldn’t read and drive after I left
her, and then when I finally found you all I wanted to do was be
near you. I kinda forgot about it. There was a lot going on.”

“Why did me asking you about being a shaman
remind you of the book?” I asked.

Leaning back onto her pillow Claire let her
gaze rise to the plain white ceiling above us. I laid down next to
her, propping my head on my hand so I could watch her expressions
change with every new thought. I worried that she was going to clam
up on me again.

“I thought of the book because Quaile gave it
to me. She said it might be able to help us, but she didn’t give it
to you, she gave it to me.” Claire paused, biting at her lip.
“Maybe there was a reason she gave it to me.”

Understanding her hesitation wasn’t a
problem, but I couldn’t afford to pass up even the smallest bit of
information at this point. A pang of selfishness rose in me as I
hoped I was right and she might develop talents that would help us
end our journey more quickly.

“Claire, I know the possibility of being a
shaman is a lot to take in, especially since we’ve grown up with
Quaile, who everyone hates. Kaya is nothing like Quaile, though.
The people in Hano love her. They respect her. She could teach you,
guide you, if you really are a shaman. I think it would at least be
worth trying.”

“You speak so highly of this Kaya woman. What
did she do that made you respect her so much?” Claire asked.

“What she did wasn’t what made me respect
her,” I said. “It was how she handled her talents. She never told
people what to do. She told them what she saw and tried to help
them make the right choice. She never lied or held back what she
knew, either.”

“She could really see things about people?”
Claire asked.

“Yeah, she did it twice for me on purpose,
and once on accident. That was when she got the warning that the
Matwau was about to take Melody,” I said.

It all sounded so normal to me as I laid next
to Claire. I almost laughed at how much my reality had changed in
the past week. I hadn’t believed in Twin Souls, shape shifting
creatures, potions, or visions before approaching the Elders to ask
permission to marry Claire. That one small step to hold with tribal
tradition had changed mine and Claire’s lives forever. Countless
others like Daniel, Melody, and Harvey had also been affected. I
wondered when the ripples would stop.

“What about the other two times?” Claire
asked, pushing away my previous thoughts.

Kaya’s visions had been extraordinary. I
struggled to find the words to explain what I had experienced.

“The first time she did it, I had asked her
to show me the vision Quaile had told me about. She showed me being
chased by the Matwau, then fighting him to save Melody’s life. The
second time was much different,” I said. I paused. Some of what I’d
seen I was afraid to tell Claire. What would she think? I shook my
head. Not trusting Claire with the truth had already proved a
stupid thing to do.

“The second time was different. It was right
after we found the prophecy about the Qaletaqa. I knew it was about
me and I was scared to death because the last thing the shaman,
Bhawana, said was that my Twin Soul and I were carried away to
eternal happiness,” I said. I watched Claire’s jaw firm and her
eyes tighten. “Kaya and Samantha both told me that Bhawana was
probably just assuming that was what would happen, that shamans
often mistake details of their visions because of assumptions. I
wasn’t convinced. I asked Kaya to look into my future and tell me
what she saw.”

“What did she see?” Claire asked. Her voice
was thin. She reached over and took my injured hand, holding it
tightly.

“What Kaya saw and what I saw were a little
different,” I explained. “Everything moved so fast that all I could
see was images. Kaya was able to interpret some of what she saw.
She saw both the possibility of me living my life with my Twin Soul
and of me coming back to you. She said there were choices I would
have to make that would determine which one came true.”

“What were the choices?” Claire asked.

“She said I would have to choose between
saving you and my Twin Soul. She said you would make a choice that
would affect my future, but she didn’t know what it was. She also
said I would meet a person who equals me in power, and how I chose
to deal with them will determine my future,” I said. “At first I
didn’t understand any of it, but after Melody was taken, I knew I
was facing the first choice, saving you or her. I was sure you
couldn’t hold out much longer without help. I chose you, and I
believe it was the right choice. The others? I don’t know any more
about them now than I did then.”

Claire took in everything I had just said
without a word. It was several seconds before she finally spoke.
“What did you see? You said it was different than what Kaya
saw.”

She had asked the question I was most
reluctant to answer. “I just saw pictures really. They went by so
fast, I only saw a few.” Claire was not going to let me off that
easily. Her curious gaze was focused and unrelenting. “I saw the
ranch, fields, me in a lot of pain, Talon covered in blood, a woman
wearing a veil, and…my daughter.”

A gasp escaped Claire’s lips and brought her
hands up to her face. “Your daughter? Who was her mother?”

I shook my head sadly. I wanted the same
answer. “I don’t know.”

Suddenly Claire bounded of the bed and flew
to her backpack. Her unexpected movement left me watching her in
confusion. What was she doing?

Claire unzipped a pocket and produced
something thin and brown. In a flash Claire was back at my side.
Holding out what she had needed so badly, I stared in wonder. The
thin strip of leather was decorated with vibrant beads in a complex
and beautiful pattern. My father had planned to give it to me after
graduation, but he passed away before that day came. My mother
found the box after his funeral and given it to me in his place. It
was a token passed down to him from his father when he reached
manhood, meant to be given to me at the right moment.

I had so many questions about how she had
found it or why she had it with her still, but none of them were
important. I stared at Claire’s hands as she offered me the same
token my father had wanted me to have, and I asked her my most
burning question. “Why are you giving this to me?”