Qaletaqa (19 page)

“I know twenty-five is still a lot,” Harvey
said, “but I’ll keep working on it. I’ll get the list down as soon
as I can. Have you talked to Melody again?”

How did I know that question was coming? “No,
Harvey, I haven’t. It only works when we’re both asleep
unfortunately.”

I was itching to know whether Melody had been
able to find anything out that might help us. As glad as I was to
have time to sit next to Claire, I was counting the hours until
nightfall. Mostly I needed more information, but another part of me
just wanted to see her again, to touch her, and feel that terrible
connection one more time.

Crushing the phone against my ear, I tried to
pay attention to what Harvey was saying.

“If you’re heading toward Greeley, there are
areas in both Wyoming and Montana that he might be leading you to.
If you keep heading in that direction, let me know. I can give you
the GPS coordinates for each area. You can just punch them into the
phone I gave you,” he said. “It might not help very much if you
already know where you’re heading, but you may be able to find a
quicker route if you know where he’s leading you.”

“I’ll let you know if we change directions
before we reach the Wyoming border.” I wanted to believe that the
Matwau was considerate enough to take a nice direct route to his
final destination, but I feared the path would jut off somewhere
new when I least expected it.

“Uriah,” Claire whispered, pointing at the
off ramp leading to the rest stop.

“Just a minute, Harvey, I need to pull over,”
I said into the phone. I flipped on the blinker and made a not very
smooth lane change.

“Sorry,” I whispered to Claire. As soon as I
pulled into a parking space, Claire leapt out of the car and dashed
off to the bathroom. Suddenly alone, I felt Melody’s presence
stronger than before. I could hear Harvey saying something, but all
I could think about was how I was going to make it through another
visit with Melody.

At least I had Claire with me during the day.
Her warmth gave me strength every time I felt a shift in the bond.
Melody had nothing, no one to turn to when she was scared and
alone. I was afraid of becoming her only support. The leather
bracelet on my arm shifted suddenly, reminding me of how both
Claire and I had used our memories to give us strength.

The idea of hearing endearing stories about
the woman I was trying hard not to think about sounded like
torture, but I knew it would help Melody, which in the end would
hopefully help us both. It was time once again to test the strength
of love formed by choice and commitment over love formed by
Fate.

“Harvey,” I cut in, not bothering to pretend
I had been listening, “I need you to do something else for me.”

18: Catching Up

I thought Harvey was trying to explain the
differences in the forests around each spot to see if I could tell
him which one sounded more familiar when I interrupted him. The
fact that I hadn’t responded to him in a while might have been a
clue that I wasn’t listening very well, but my sudden break in the
conversation let him know for sure. Irritation seared through his
voice when he spoke.

“What?” he asked.

I could almost hear the thoughts running
through his mind. He was doing everything he could, everything I
would let him do to help Melody, and I wasn’t even listening to
him. Now I wanted something else from him. He was probably
wondering if that help go unnoticed as well. I took a deep breath
and started off my request with an apology.

“Sorry, Harvey, I didn’t mean to interrupt
you,” I said. “I know you’re working hard to help me find the
meeting place, and I appreciate it, I do, but I need you to do
something else for me. I need you to tell me about Melody.”

He hesitated, probably wondering why on earth
I would need specifics about his wife. It was hardly the time for
casual conversation. “You want me to tell you more about Melody?”
he asked. “Why? I think the descriptions of the forests I was
trying to tell you about would be a lot more helpful.”

“We can talk about the forests in a minute,
but first I need you to tell me something about you and Melody,
something that will give her strength,” I said. My voice strained
to get everything out without letting my emotions slip through as
well.

Harvey seemed surprised by my faltering. I
knew he worried about how Melody was being treated and cared for.
He, like me, was sure she was scared being alone with her captor,
but I knew I sounded so much more worried than I had before. Harvey
probably knew I wasn’t being completely honest with him before.
Claire and I had scared him enough to make him listen despite his
fears. Apparently that fear had just been overruled. Harvey wanted
real answers.

“Uriah, what’s really going on? Is Melody in
danger?” he demanded.

That was the one thing about my story I knew
Harvey found the hardest to believe, even though it was the one
thing I wanted him to believe the most. Probably the one thing he
wanted to believe most as well.

I said nothing at first. I knew he wouldn’t
accept any more lies from me, but I didn’t know how much, or what,
to tell him. The whole truth was obviously out of the question.

“She’s…fine,” I said.

The hesitation sent Harvey’s breathing into
an angry rhythm. I knew it hadn’t been enough, but I was struggling
to come up with something to say to him. I had promised him I could
bring Melody back to him, but I sounded like I had no idea about
anything. Whatever trust he had talked himself into placing in me
was gone. Trust only went so far when it was one sided.

“Harvey, look…”

I was going to say more, but a sudden
screeching of horns on the interstate interrupted my thoughts. I
look over my shoulder to see a small blue sedan swerve across three
lanes of traffic, barely missing a green SUV and lurching onto the
exit ramp. I stared at the sedan. Something about it seemed
familiar. When the driver hit the ramp, he kept going, looking like
he wasn’t even going to stop. The ramp speed limit was only fifteen
miles per hour, but I didn’t think the driver came down to that
speed until seconds before careening to a stop next to my
truck.

The furious face that stared out the window
at me made me jump. Harvey! What on earth was he doing here? How
had he even found me? I jumped out of the truck and stared at the
little blue sedan Harvey was climbing out of. I glanced back behind
me, and then back at his car. My hand came up and ran through my
hair slowly.

Stalking around the car, Harvey faced me. I
was more than half a foot taller than him, but the fury Harvey
barely held in check made me pull up and take a step back.

“Tell me what’s going on, right now,” Harvey
said. He couldn’t force his jaw open to utter the question, but
each word came out clear enough to be heard.

“Harvey, please calm down. Melody is fine, I
promise,” I said.

“Damn it, Uriah! Fine for how long? You need
stories about me and Melody so she can stay strong! Why does she
need stories? What is she facing that makes you so scared she won’t
be able to face it alone?”

Harvey’s hands balled into fists as he
waited. He needed to hear that he was overreacting. I knew the next
words he wanted to hear out of my mouth were that Melody was only
missing him and needed her spirits lifted. Those words never
came.

My eyes fell and my shoulders slumped. “I’m
sorry, Harvey. I lied to you about almost everything.”

Harvey’s fist left his side before I fully
processed what he was doing. Fire raced through my jaw, but Harvey
seemed to get the worst of it. Cradling his hand, his knees buckled
and dropped him to the pavement. A sharp scream was quickly stifled
as he cradled his hand against his chest.

He had probably never punched anyone before.
If he had known how much it would have hurt, and if he’d had a
split second more to even think about it, he may not have done it.
But then again, maybe he would have judging by the look on his face
right before he swung at me. I rubbed my jaw. It wasn’t the hardest
I’d ever been hit, but for a smaller guy he had decent punch.

Harvey glanced up at me, pain filling his
eyes. I doubted, though, that the majority of his pain came from
punching me. Fear that his wife was about to die was killing him. I
reached my hand out to help him up. He looked at me with a strange
expression, like he didn’t understand why I wasn’t angry with him.
I didn’t blame him for hitting me. I would have done the same
thing. The ache in my jaw was going to last for a while, but I felt
sorrier for him. His hand was beet red. It was going to hurt longer
than my face. What I really felt bad about was lying to him. Maybe
Harvey saw that because he reached for my hand.

“Harvey!” Claire called out as she raced over
to me. Her hand reached up to touch my reddened cheek. I winced a
bit at the pressure and her eyes hardened. She turned on Harvey,
anger spilling off of her.

“What are you doing here? And why are you
fighting with Uriah?” The words came out much more like accusations
and demands than actual questions.

“I’ve been following you since you left my
house, tracking the GPS device in Melody’s phone. I knew Uriah
didn’t tell me the truth last night, at least not all of it, and
for that he deserves what he got,” Harvey said bravely. Harvey
looked angry, but I was putting my money on Claire. She had a lot
more practice fighting with people thanks to her dad than Harvey
probably had. Her eyes seared into Harvey, but he stood his
ground.

“Uriah is doing everything he can to save
Melody. How dare you show up and hit him! You have no idea what
Uriah has gone through, and will go through to get your wife back
to you. How dare you!” she spat.

Harvey looked like he had an equally heated
answer ready for her, but my movement stopped him. I reached a hand
up and gently pushed down the accusatory finger Claire had raised
at Harvey. She opened her mouth to say something, but the slow
shake of my head kept the words from forming. Her lips pressed
together in irritation. Instead she only turned to glare at Harvey.
My gaze fell on him as well.

Eventually I asked, “Are you okay?”

He looked so lost, like everything was
slipping out of his control faster than he could even understand.
“I need the truth, Uriah.”

Harvey shook his injured hand. Satisfied that
everything was in the right place, he seemed to put the pain out of
his mind and refocused on getting answers. “I can’t do this without
knowing what I’m facing, or what Melody is facing. I need to know
what I’m up against.”

I turned away from him and put my hands on
the hot metal of the truck. I stared past the parked vehicles
before letting my head sink down between my shoulders. I was
defeated, which scared me more than I cared to admit. I had to tell
Harvey the truth. How he would react, what this knowledge would
push him to do, I had no idea. Harvey must have known his answer
was coming, because he let me take my time.

“Melody told me I should have trusted you
with the truth,” I finally said. “She also said that you would
never have let me tell you to stay at home. I guess I shouldn’t be
surprised that she was right.”

“Melody’s pretty much always right,” Harvey
said. “She can see the truth of any situation, and she’s the best
judge of character I know.” Harvey smiled knowing she had stood up
for him. I know I wasn’t the easiest person to stand up to,
physically, or otherwise. They had both done it, though. It gave me
hope that their love for each other really was strong enough.

“Tell me what’s really happening,” Harvey
asked. This time there was no anger, simply a desperate need to
understand.

“I lied about Melody being in danger, and
about what her role is in this.”

I paused, waiting to see how he would react.
I had no intention of letting Harvey screw anything up. I would do
what I had to do in order to get to the Matwau and Melody. I hoped
Harvey understood that and didn’t force my hand. I looked at him to
see his expression, but was distracted when Claire reached over and
took my hands, drawing my eyes to her.

“Harvey,” she said, “Uriah only lied because
he was trying to protect you. Please don’t think badly of him for
it. You really don’t know what he’s been through, what we’ve both
been through in the past couple weeks.”

It was a surprising change from her earlier
anger, but her sincerity was just as strong as the protective fury
she had flung at Harvey a few minutes earlier.

“I don’t,” Harvey said, “I just need to know
what’s really going on before I go any further without involving
the police.”

Claire nodded. She looked as if she wasn’t
sure how good of an idea it was to tell Harvey, but she didn’t
object. She looked over at me. I responded by squeezing her hand
and smiling the kind of smile that admitted both fault and
defeat.

“Well,” Claire said, “we better get on with
it then. There’s no telling how much further we have to go.”

Leaning against my car, I started to tell my
story. Claire filled in where she felt I had left something out,
but no matter how many times either of us tried to explain what was
happening Harvey just couldn’t seem to understand it. Twin Souls?
Unbreakable bonds that could possibly be suppressed, but only if
the people involved were committed enough? Links between animals
and humans? We stood there talking about it as if we were
discussing football results, a little anger and joy underlying a
calm acceptance of the basic facts.

Harvey stared at us, bewildered. I’m sure the
only things he really heard were that Melody’s heart was not truly
meant for him and that the Matwau was holding her life in his hands
and could, on a whim, permanently end any fear or pain she might be
enduring. His biggest fear, that Melody truly was in danger, had
been realized.