Qaletaqa (9 page)

The hope in my heart lifted my gaze to meets
Claire’s. “How can you forgive me after everything I put you
through?”

“When you were gone, it was the first time
since that day on the riverbank, maybe in my entire life, that I
was forced to rely on my own strength. You have always been there
to keep me calm, or hold me up when I felt too overwhelmed to even
find my footing. I relied on you too much. Facing the bond made me
search for my own strength for once, and I found it,” Claire said.
“It was hell, I won’t sugar coat it, but I realized that I am much
stronger than I thought I was.”

“I still should have been there to support
you. And then I was stupid enough to do it again. I left the potion
to break the bond with Quaile, and I ran,” I said. “I told myself
that I was protecting you, but the truth is I was scared to see
you.”

“Scared to see me?” Claire asked.

“I knew that if I stopped to see you before I
left, I would never have the strength to leave again. You say you
found your strength, but when it comes to the bond, I’m still
looking for mine.” I pulled Claire into my arms. The pain of her
touch lost power under her forgiveness. “I’m so glad you came after
me, Claire. I don’t think I could do this without you.”

Claire stayed in the embrace a moment longer
before pulling back and looking at me very seriously. The deep
frown in her features said she had something more to say. I let my
arms release her warmth and returned her gaze.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

Claire’s fingers came up to my cheek, running
her hands along my jawline. “The bond is so much stronger than you
know.” She took my bandaged hand in hers. It stung when she pulled
my fingers away from my palm, but I didn’t resist. “You did this
for me. I knew the moment I opened the potion that you had suffered
to bring me such a precious gift. As much as that must have hurt,
it’s nothing compared to what you’re about to face,” Claire said.
“I want you to be prepared.”

“You’re afraid I won’t be able to resist the
bond when I meet Melody.” It wasn’t a question. I hated to admit
it, but I shared her fear. I wanted to wrap my arms around her and
tell her I would never fall victim to fate, but I couldn’t. I felt
the pain of Melody’s capture. I shared in her fear. The desire to
ease her pain had consumed me.

“I’m not doubting your strength or your love,
Uriah, but I know what a powerful force the Twin Soul bond is,”
Claire said. “If you were just another human facing the bond like I
was, I would have no doubt that you would be able to smother the
bond and walk away like I did. It wouldn’t take you more than a
minute. But you’re not just another human, Uriah. You are the
Qaletaqa.”

I tried to shake my head. I didn’t want to
admit that my unwanted destiny would have any bearing on the
strength of the bond pulling me toward Melody. Memories of
Bhawana’s vision attempted to push into my thoughts, but I tamped
them down immediately. Kaya and Samantha had to be right. Bhawana
just assumed my Twin Soul would be the crowning joy of my life. She
couldn’t have known for sure.

“Claire, whatever I’m meant to do, I’m still
the same person I have always been. I won’t give into the bond,” I
said.

“Were you even listening to Harvey?” Claire
asked. “Melody is just like you, perfect. You two are Twin Souls. I
could have seen that even without everything that’s happened in the
past week. You are both amazing people. I don’t know as much about
the Qaletaqa as I wish I did, but I know about other Tewa heroes.
The stronger the person was, the stronger the Twin Soul bond was
for them. You won’t be any different. Your bond to Melody will be
the strongest this world has ever seen.”

“I am not a legend, Claire. I’m not some hero
in a story. I control my life, not Fate, or visions, or anything
else.” My voice was loud in the small room, but I didn’t care.
Everyone else who knew my secret looked at me and saw something
more than I really was. I didn’t want to see that in Claire’s eyes
as well. “I am the same person I’ve always been,” I said
softly.

“I know,” Claire said, her smile soft and
warm. “I know you’re still the same Uriah I have always known, but
I’ve never seen you as an ordinary man. You have always seemed like
someone stepped out of a legend to me, with your strength and
kindness and compassion. I have always known that you were more
than the simple rancher you pretended to be. There’s no denying
that anymore.”

“But, I’m not…”

“You are the Qaletaqa. You can’t hide from
that. You can only prepare yourself for what you’re going to face,”
Claire said. Her hand came up to my chest, touching me softly, but
no longer tempting me to go any further. “You have to accept who
you are and stop fighting it. Beating the Matwau and holding on to
me are connected. I’m sure of it.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

Scrunching her face, Claire hesitated, or
maybe struggled to untangle her thoughts. I wasn’t sure which. “I
can’t really explain it, Uriah. I just know you can’t do one
without the other.”

Tears that made less sense than what she had
just said gathered in her eyes. I didn’t understand where this idea
came from, but I believed her. I didn’t want to see her cry,
either. Gently, I took Claire’s hand in mine and held it close to
my heart. Her head leaned against my chest. My free hand came up to
stroke her hair as I cradled her in my arms. Even if destroying the
Matwau had nothing do with keeping Claire, I would never leave her
again. It was a promise I made to myself, a promise with no
exceptions. Claire was my lifeline to the freedom and happiness a
forced destiny could never truly bring.

9: Simple Touch

I held Claire in my arms until her breathing
slowed and her head felt heavy against my chest. Carefully, I
scooped her into my arms and carried her to the bed. As I laid her
beneath the sheets, her lips turned down in a frown as I drew my
warmth away from her. One of her hands reached out for me and I
didn’t hesitate to take it.

Even asleep, she could feel my presence, and
I wasn’t about to take that away from her again. Without letting go
of her hand, I climbed over her onto the bed and curled my body
around hers. I marveled that she had been able to free her mind
enough to sleep, but I could imagine that her first night free of
the full power of the bond was enough to wash away anything
else.

For me, that danger was still looming in the
distance. I closed my eyes and buried my face in Claire’s hair,
breathing in the scent. I missed the gentle herbal aroma her hair
usually held. The sharp, plain scent of my own shampoo was only a
reminder of her pain. Pulling Claire more tightly against me, I
begged for sleep to come.

The blackness of my mind reminded me of the
shield I still had in place. I was surprised that it remained
intact after the emotional beating I had just taken. A small
measure of relief that my thoughts had not been shared spread over
my mind. I wished that the shield were capable of barring me from
my own mind as effectively as it kept my thoughts inside.

Dreams of my upcoming fight with the Matwau
had plagued me for too many nights already. I learned secrets from
them every night, but I was in no mood for another lesson. I wanted
and needed a reprieve. Taking another deep breath of the scent of
Claire’s hair, I surrendered to sleep with a plea to anyone who
would listen that the dreams would pass me by for at least one
night.

The darkness deepened in my mind. I felt my
body fall limp as sleep overtook me, but no rest came. The utter
stillness of the black void told me I was not in just another
dream. I knew that my body lay on the bed next to Claire, but my
mind seemed to have been transported somewhere else entirely.

Just as I began to ponder my lack of
physicality, I heard the sound of fabric rustling. I turned, not
even aware I could do so, and looked for the sound. It was far
away, but I could follow it. So I did. As I took the first step, I
realized that although my body had been left behind, I did have the
appearance of flesh and bone. I shook off the bizarreness of the
dream world and continued searching for the origin of the
sound.

There was no time in this place, but I knew I
had been searching for quite a while before I finally spotted a
small bit of color ahead of me. Picking up my pace, I hurried
toward the color that grew with every step, taking on shape and
growing into several colors. At only a few dozen yards away, I
recognized the shape the colors had become. It was a woman.

I stopped, holding my breath and hoping she
had not yet seen me. I took a step back, but something alerted her
to my presence and she turned. I snapped my eyes closed, fearing
the face I might see more than being left alone in the
darkness.

“Uriah?”

I knew her voice. Even without the agony that
had accompanied it before, there was no mistaking the sound. Still,
I did not want to look at her. Cool pinpoints touched my body,
followed by a wave of ice cold familiarity. The sensation shook me,
forcing me to take a step back, breaking the invisible contact.

“Uriah?” Her voice was pleading.

I sighed. She was scared and was I standing
next to her offering no relief. The desire to comfort her was
impossibly strong, but I kept my hands by my sides. I could not
leave her wondering. After a long moment I opened my eyes. I
couldn’t resist the urge. Melody’s haunted face peered back at me,
hopeful I might be able to help her.

“Melody,” I said. It was not a question as
hers had been. I had known it would be her, but facing her for the
first time, even though it was not entirely real, was a shocking
acknowledgement of everything I had been told. I truly knew
her.

I couldn’t have fathomed what her favorite
television show was, or what kind of ice cream she liked to eat. I
didn’t know her in that way, but I knew her soul. I knew she was
kindhearted and good. I knew she would never let down a friend, or
betray a confidence. I knew that in another life she would have
been everything I would have ever wanted. But in the life I was
leading, she had no place. The differences between Claire and I
only made me love her more. She supported me where I was weak, and
I hoped I did the same for her. I looked at Melody and faced a
stranger, but a stranger I could not deny had some hold over
me.

“Uriah, where are we?” Melody asked, breaking
me out of my thoughts. She reached out a trembling hand to me, but
I could not take it. I was afraid to touch her. She dropped it,
fear lighting up her features. Guilt urged me to take her into my
arms, but I forced both of my itching hands into my pockets.

“I don’t really know where we are,” I
said.

Hearing my voice again brought a myriad of
emotions to her face. Desire, recognition, longing, fear. “This is
way different from the dreams I usually have,” Melody said after
gaining control of her emotions. “I don’t understand what’s
happening. Do you?”

How was I supposed to explain everything to
her? I had lied to Harvey in order to keep him safely at home and
away from the Matwau. I couldn’t do that to Melody. She deserved to
know the truth. I just didn’t know how to tell her without driving
her away from me. With my eyes closed, I searched for the strength
I needed to begin my tale all over again.

“Yes, I know exactly what’s happening,” I
said.

Melody’s fear remained, but hope began to
push its way into her emerald eyes. “What’s going on?”

“Where are you right now? In real life, I
mean.” I needed to get whatever information I could out of her
before I took the risk of scaring her away from me.

“Um, I’m not sure. I’ve been blindfolded ever
since we left the house. This is the first time I’ve been able to
see anything,” Melody said. She glanced around with a frown. “I
wish there was more to see here.”

“What about sounds, smells, temperature.” I
needed her to give me some clue of where she was. I had enlisted
Harvey’s help to search for the location, but I had very little
confidence in what he would find. The Matwau wouldn’t choose a
well-known location. The most likely place would be somewhere only
he would know.

“Sounds? I haven’t heard very much. He’s been
carrying me, so I can’t hear anything besides the wind. I don’t
understand how he was able to carry me around so long,” Claire
said.

“We’ll come back to that. What about smells
or temperature?” I asked. Frustration began to build as I
anticipated getting similar answers.

“I could smell him, that’s it. He smelled
strange, fresh. Even though he had been walking in the sun all day,
he smelled clean. He never smelled like sweat.” Melody tilted her
head as if this anomaly had just sunk in. Perhaps after the
stressful day she’d had, it was the first chance for her to reflect
on everything.

“Temperature?”

“It was cool. The sun was already down when
we left the house,” she said.

“The temperature didn’t change at all, not
even a little bit? Think hard, Melody, it’s important,” I said. I
almost reached out to her, like I did when I tried to help Claire
concentrate when we were doing homework at my kitchen table. I saw
my hand before I actually touched her, and snapped it back. Melody
flinched at my quick movement, and then stared at me. She didn’t
understand why I refused to touch her. I sighed and shook the
frustration away. She would understand in time. But not yet. I
looked back at her expectantly.

“Oh yeah, the temperature,” she said. She
closed her eyes. Her breathing slowed as she tried to remember.
“When we first left the house it was cool, almost cold. It had been
raining off and on all afternoon. The air was humid. It brought
goose bumps to my arms. After a while, it didn’t feel so humid
anymore. It felt drier. It was still cool, but not as cool as
before.”