Qaletaqa (20 page)

I had also dropped a completely new fear in
his lap, one I’m sure he had never even considered being a
possibility. Melody’s love for him could actually falter and
disappear. One simple touch and he could lose her forever. Only the
mention of the potion and how Claire had gathered her willpower to
suppress the bond seemed to give him any hope. The fear in Claire’s
eyes when she spoke of the experience tempered Harvey’s optimism
and dug at me as well. What had she truly gone through to
accomplish such a thing?

Finally the bizarre explanations ran out and
I took Claire’s hand in anticipation of Harvey’s reaction. Our
hands locked together, united, we waited. We had earned our chance
to be together, but still we fought. Melody and Harvey were being
asked to do the same thing. Pure determination bled from every
pore.

“You need stories? Memories of me and
Melody?” Harvey asked.

I sighed in relief. He wouldn’t fail her. I
was sure of it. His sudden willingness to bare every detail of
their life together both calmed and terrified me.

Uriah nodded. “It’s the only thing that seems
to work.” Claire tugged at her shirtsleeves. “Well, aside from
physical pain, that is,” I said.

Claire turned away from me and Harvey’s eyes
followed her, wonder about what she had been willing to endure to
save her love for me clear in his eyes. Would Melody be asked to
pay such a high price as well? I hoped I could keep her from having
to face that.

“So, how do you want to do this?” Harvey
asked. “We can’t stand here all day.”

“Call me on my cell phone. We’ll talk as we
drive. You can tell me about the different forests too.”

Claire was already around to the passenger’s
side door. I moved for the handle to my own door. Harvey reached up
and grabbed my arm. I turned at once, concerned.

“Thank you,” he said.

I nodded. I reached for the door handle
again, but paused and looked out at the horizon. Harvey followed my
gaze, but neither of us could see anything. I kept watching. A
small moving object that was barely visible among the prairie
grasses quickly drew larger. It was aimed directly at us. Talon’s
tawny fur quickly materialized.

Harvey’s hand jumped to my arm again. He
started pulling against me, urging me to get into the truck, but I
didn’t pay him any attention. Harvey scrambled behind his car as
Talon loped right up to the truck and stopped.

I had just told Harvey about my animal
companion, but hearing about it among potions and curses and
prophecies was apparently one thing, seeing a wild animal calmly
approach a human was something else entirely. Plenty of cougars
lived in the Rocky Mountains, but as predators, not pets. I
couldn’t blame Harvey for his trepidation. I reached out and rubbed
Talon’s head then glanced back at Harvey hiding behind his car.

“It’s okay, Harvey. Talon won’t hurt you, I
promise.”

“Great,” he mumbled. “That’s just great.”

I looked back down at the animal, then shook
my head and laughed. Talon seemed to think his reaction was
hysterical. I listened to Talon’s quick report that the Matwau’s
creatures hadn’t been seen in the area and sent him to get in the
back of the truck. His route took him right next to Harvey, who
scrambled away as Talon laughed a laugh only I could hear. Harvey
couldn’t take anymore. He stomped back to his car and slumped into
the seat. There were only so many assaults to reality a person
could handle in one day.

19: Details

“I should have just told him the truth from
the beginning,” I said to Claire as we pulled back out onto the
interstate.

“He may not have reacted as well if you had,”
Claire said. “I was really surprised by how well he did take
everything. Hearing what you told him before must have prepared him
somewhat. Plus, I think he knows he has no hope of getting Melody
back on his own.”

That was certainly true. The Matwau was way
too powerful for a normal human to ever hope defeating him. The
corners of my mouth turned down at that thought. I had once thought
of myself as the exact definition of normal. Fairly average in
looks and intelligence, although Claire would slap me again if I
voiced that opinion, no great accomplishments or dreams of the
future, nothing special. The fact that I could casually talk about
“normal humans” and not include myself in that category was a
bitter truth.

“I’m glad he finally knows,” I said. “I’ve
never been very good at lying to people.”

Claire smiled. It didn’t last very long. “Do
you want me to talk to him? So you don’t have to listen to his
stories about Melody? It’s only going to make it harder if you have
to hear him talk about her.”

I honestly wanted to cry just thinking about
listening to Harvey’s stories of his life with Melody. I had no
doubt that their love was just as strong as mine and Claire’s, not
with Melody involved. It was very hard to admit, but I knew that
the more destined a person was for greatness in our tribal stories,
the stronger the Twin Soul bond was between that person and their
companion.

Together, I knew that Melody and I could have
shared a love greater than any other I had ever heard of in legend
or myth. Being the Qaletaqa made me sure of that. Just being who we
were seemed to have gifted both Melody and I with an unparalleled
ability to love and be loved. My own story had convinced Samantha,
a woman who had to vowed to never use her knowledge of the dark
lore for any reason, to abandon her promise and give me the aid I
needed. What would Harvey’s memories of his beloved Melody do to
me?

A huge part of me wanted to take Claire’s
offer gratefully, but what was the point? I still had to hear the
stories in order to tell them to Melody tonight. Sure, Claire could
listen to Harvey’s gushing recitations, and then relay them to me,
but what would Claire gloss over, hoping to spare the details that
would only pull me closer to Melody?

Claire would do it because she was terrified
of losing me, but those lost bits and pieces would be the exact
things Melody would need to hear. The way Harvey touched her, or
the little things he did for her just to make her smile were the
invisible strings that would keep Melody tied to Harvey and not to
me.

“Claire, I need to do this.” She immediately
started to object. I reached up to her face and stroked her jaw
from ear to pouting lips. “I need to hear every detail so I can
pass them on to Melody. I have to.”

Tears fell down Claire’s cheeks, rippling
over the fingers I still held against her face. “She’s so right for
you,” Claire whispered.

My hand fell away.

“Everything about her matches you perfectly,
and you know it,” Claire said, a little more strongly this time.
“Hearing stories about her caring for animals the way you do, or
how she prefers spending time away from crowds, just like you do,
it will only tear down your defenses.”

“She is not the one I want.” It was the
closest thing to I lie I had ever uttered to Claire. I still loved
her as much, more even, than I ever did, but I could not forget the
pulsing link to Melody firmly planted in my heart. I felt our
kinship with every beat of my heart.

“It doesn’t matter what you want, not when it
comes to the bond,” Claire said. “Every story will weaken you, I
promise. Please let me do this for you, Uriah.”

I started shaking my head before she even
finished talking. “I can’t. She has nobody, Claire. I at least have
you here with me. Every time I feel the bond pulling at me, I can
take your hand, or kiss your lips to distance myself from her, but
Melody doesn’t have that. I’m the only person she sees beside the
Matwau. She’ll turn to me for strength if I can’t offer her
something else strong enough to keep her away from me. I can’t risk
having Harvey’s stories watered down. She’ll need every
detail.”

Claire finally sank back in defeat.

“Besides,” I said, “you have more important
things to do right now anyway.”

“And what would that be?” Claire asked.

“Calling Kaya.”

Claire instantly pulled back. She had agreed
to do it, for me, but she still didn’t like the idea of training to
become a shaman and risking losing me. If she had been able to meet
Kaya, I knew she would have felt much different. I grimaced as
well, then. It was my fault Claire hadn’t been able to meet Kaya.
If I had only been strong enough to take here with me to Hano. If I
had, Claire would likely have a different outlook toward working
with Kaya, and she wouldn’t be forced to hide bruises and scars,
either.

Claire’s hand came over to rest on my leg.
She must have sensed my dark thoughts. My mind snapped back to
Quaile admitting that she could sense other’s pain. I wondered if
Claire might share that talent, but I also knew how easy my face
was to read. I had learned a little better how to hide my emotions
over the past week, but I still couldn’t help them slipping out
fairly often. Whatever talents Claire might eventually develop, I
hoped she could develop some kind of foresight first. I needed an
advantage badly enough to push Claire toward the lessons with
Kaya.

“She’s really excited to teach you,” I
said.

Claire sighed. “I know. I’ll call. It just
scares me still.”

I handed her my phone and she handed me hers.
I took her pink phone with a smile. It was the one girly accessory
Claire allowed herself. Not waiting for Claire to find Kaya’s
number again and make her call, I dialed Harvey’s number.

“Okay,” Harvey said, not bothering with any
kind of greeting, “I’ve been thinking about what you should tell
Melody.”

I steeled myself for the onslaught of…I
wasn’t sure what, but I knew it wouldn’t be good.

“I’ve already told you about how we met, so I
was thinking you could talk to her about our first date.”

Here it comes.

“Yeah, okay,” I said, “go ahead.” I knew it
was doubtful that their first date went badly, but still I
hoped.

“Knowing how much she loved animals, I
decided to take her to the Denver Zoo,” Harvey said. “That might
not sound very exciting, or romantic, but I had a friend who worked
at the zoo and owed me a favor. I set it up with him to have dinner
delivered there from a restaurant I knew Melody liked and asked my
friend if Melody could get up close and personal with some of the
animals. He got permission from his boss and set everything
up.”

When Harvey first said he took her to the
zoo, my hopes of a bad first date had risen, but after his
explanation, it actually sounded pretty neat. I wanted to close the
phone, but I knew this was going to be what Melody needed.

“I’m going to need more specific details than
that, Harvey,” I said.

“You sure you’re okay with this?” Harvey
asked. Evidently, the difficulty the Twin Soul bond put on me was
not lost on him.

“Just tell me the story.” One more person
trying to protect me from this was the last thing I needed.

“Okay, here goes nothing,” Harvey said.

***

Harvey had been nervous about taking Melody
to the zoo. He knew she loved animals, but was he being too forward
by trying to determine her likes and dislikes on a first date? He
stood at the gates of the Denver Zoo, checking his watch and hoping
Carlton had followed his directions. Harvey didn’t like standing
around waiting on her wondering if he had given her the right time
for sure. Melody had suggested meeting him at the zoo rather than
him picking her up.

She made the suggestion right after he told
her he wanted to take her to the zoo. That had immediately made him
worry about his choice. No doubt she had been expecting a simple
movie or dinner at someplace casual, something more fitting for a
first date.

It was still ten minutes before she was
supposed to be there.

She seemed excited about going to the zoo on
the phone when they last spoke, despite her desire to arrive
separately. Harvey kept telling himself that, not believing such a
sweet girl would actually stand him up. There was, of course,
another very good reason for her to not want him to pick her up.
She was barely sixteen and a half and Harvey was twenty. Almost
four years difference, and while that would be nothing if Melody
were older, he knew it would make a huge difference to her
parents.

Harvey had never dated anyone as young as
Melody, but something about Melody drew him to her. He knew the
moment he met her that she was special, way too good for him, but
definitely worth the risk of rejection.

Elation washed over Harvey when he spotted
her car pulling into the nearly empty parking lot. She was even a
few minutes early.

He waited for her to walk up to the entrance
even though he had wanted to run over to her car as soon as he saw
it. Melody bounced over to him, dressed in a floral pink sun dress
that should have clashed with her auburn hair, but only made it
more vibrant. Her smile was genuine and eager. Harvey felt his
anxiety rush away in an instant.

“I’m so excited,” she said with an adorable
giggle. “I’ve always wanted to come to the zoo after hours.”

Harvey couldn’t help but laugh too. How many
other girls could say that? “I thought you might like it more than
a movie,” he said.

“Definitely,” Melody agreed. All of the
sudden she was blushing fiercely. “You probably think I’m a huge
dork. Who picks going to the zoo over a movie? I mean, I like
movies too, but I just really enjoy being around animals.” Her
blush deepened, although Harvey wouldn’t have thought it was
possible.

Before Harvey could talk himself out of it,
he reached up and took her hand. She seemed surprised, but didn’t
pull away. “I don’t think you’re a dork,” he said. “You look great,
by the way.”