Redemption (Night Marchers #2) Written by: Rebecca Gober and Courtney Nuckels (12 page)

"So what's the plan then?" Kaylee asks trying
to lighten the mood.

Tristan thinks about it for a moment. "I
guess it's not safe here tonight. We don't have enough daylight
left to pack up the site though. Why don't we just grab our things
and I will get us a hotel room nearby."

Kaylee literally jumps up for joy at the word
hotel room. She runs quickly to the tent to start packing. I roll
my eyes and then ask Tristan, "We will be coming back right?
Tomorrow?"

"Yes, we will. I'd of course rather you stay
in the hotel, but I know you won't have that. So, we’ll come back."
He says reluctantly.

"Good." I say with a smile.

I turn to head towards the tent to pack my
stuff but Tristan grabs my arm pulling me to him. He gives me a hug
and then whispers in my ear, "Boyfriend, huh?"

My heart starts pounding at the question. I
don't know what to say. "Um..."

Tristan pulls out of the hug and tucks a
strand of hair behind my ear. "I'm just messing with you Emma. I
know she was just razzing you."

"Yeah." I say a little unsurely and then give
him another hug trying to add that reassurance that I do really
care for him. Even if I can't call him my boyfriend, I do really
care.

He brushes a quick kiss on my lips, which
makes the butterflies dance in my belly. I blush and then head to
the tent to pack.

An hour and a half later we pull in to a
small cozy hotel. Kaylee and I wait in the Jeep while Tristan goes
in to get us a room.

He comes back a few minutes later and says,
"Sorry girls, they only had one room left. Not that I could afford
it if they had two since it was two hundred dollars for a night.
Anyhow, we got two double beds."

Kaylee jokes, "Well, isn't that cozy. Don't
get any ideas though Tristan, we aren't gonna be cuddling up
tonight."

We all laugh at that. I'm grateful that we
can still be lighthearted after a day like today. Tristan, the
gentleman that he is, grabs our bags and we all head in to find our
room.

For two hundred dollars I would have thought
the room would have been bigger or have a Jacuzzi or something in
it. It was just a run of the mill hotel room though. We order a
pizza for dinner then take turns using the shower. I know I only
roughed it for one night, but I didn't realize how much I missed
clean hot running water.

Feeling refreshed, Kaylee and I jump into one
of the beds while Tristan takes the other. We stay up a little
while longer watching re-runs of Friend's episodes on Nick at Night
until finally we’re able to fall asleep.

Chapter 7

I wake up to the sound of Kaylee's ringtone
playing out 'Tough' by: Kellie Pickler. The song is fitting for
Kaylee's character. She doesn't seem to stir at all so I kick her
lightly trying to wake her up so she can answer it. She just groans
and pulls the covers up over her eyes. When the phone stops
ringing, I contemplate going back to sleep but decide against it
when I catch sight of the bedside clock. It's already eleven in the
morning. I've been accustomed to getting so little sleep lately,
that getting a whole ten hours actually left me feeling groggy.

The phone starts ringing again. This time I
climb over Kaylee to grab her phone off her nightstand. I look at
the display and it says:
Mom
. Oh crap! My heart starts
racing as I think about how she might have found out we are gone!
We haven't even thought to check in or anything over the past two
days. I elbow Kaylee hard this time. "Kaylee, it's your mom!"

She opens her eyes quickly at that statement,
grabs the phone and answers it groggily, "Hello."

I listen to the one sided conversation.

"Yes, mom. No, I was taking a nap."

Kaylee is a smart cookie. If she had said, I
just woke up it would have alerted her mom that something was wrong
since it's three p.m. in Texas.

She continues, "Oh, yeah, sorry mom. We were
just catching up and I forgot to call." She pauses and then looks
at me concerned. "Um, we spent the night at Annie's. You know, it
had been a while since Kaylee saw her."

Kaylee puts her hand over the phone muffling
it and says to me, "She sent a friend to check on us last night!"
She uncovers the phone and answers her mom, "Yeah, we were going to
spend the night again tonight. Is that okay?" She nods to me
letting me know that her mom is okay with it.

Kaylee finishes up her conversation with her
mom and promises to answer the next time she calls. I guess her mom
had tried to call a few times yesterday but we didn't get any
signal out at the campsite. When Kaylee hangs up I tell her,
"You’re a quick thinker Kaylee. I totally forgot about calling your
mom."

"Yeah, me too! I don't think she suspects
anything though. I told her we were at Annie's because she lives in
the boondocks. My mom knows that we often have problems getting a
signal out there." She picks up her phone and then tells me, "I
better call her and ask her to back me up just in case anyone
asks."

"Good idea. Thanks again Kaylee. I know you
don't like lying to your mom, but I appreciate you helping me out."
I say sincerely. I’m sure her mom would hit the fan if she knew
where we were.

"That's what BFI's are for honey." She says
with a smile before picking up the phone to call Annie.

I get up to head to the restroom allowing
Kaylee time to have her conversation. I catch a sneak glance at
Tristan who looks like he's peacefully sleeping, undisturbed by our
panicked conversation. I make it two steps from my bed when Tristan
darts up pulling me down onto his bed playfully. "Hey!" I yell a
little too loud.

"Got you!" He said laughing.

"Yeah, you play dead real well Tristan," I
say while playfully jabbing him in the ribs with my elbow since
he's holding me down in front of him. He loosens up just enough for
me to sit up and face him. Man, he looks good with his bed head in
the morning.

"Yeah, we learn how to do that when we are
young in Hawaii. That's what they say you should do if you see
them, the Night Marchers, you know. Play dead." He looks at me
seriously.

"Really? They teach you that?" I ask
believing him.

He smiles slyly then answers, "No, us kids
just talk about it when we tell our ghost stories. Many Hawaiian's
believe it's just a legend. Perhaps, they should teach the warning
though since they are anything but a mere legend."

"Yeah, perhaps they should." I say solemnly
thinking about Noa's fate. Kai made his choice to save me, but Noa
didn't really have a choice. He was just in the wrong place at the
wrong time.

Kaylee interrupts our conversation by loudly
clearing her throat. We turn towards her.

"Sorry to interrupt love birds, but I've had
enough PDA over the past two days so, let's get to business. What's
our plan?"

Tristan and I both blush at her comment. I'm
not sure what the plan is so I just look to Tristan referring it to
him to answer.

"Well, I was thinking you could both stay
here. Maybe get a manicure or something while I go and investigate
the cave."

Kaylee and I simultaneously throw a pillow at
him attacking him from both sides.

"Ow! Okay, okay. Then I guess, we should pack
up and head back to the campsite." Tristan says pretending to rub
his head in the spot where the pillows hit him.

"Sounds good to me," I chime in.

Kaylee nods her approval and we both start
getting ready and packing our things. Before we head out, I make a
quick phone call to my dad. We have a brief conversation in which I
tell him that I'm fine and that I forgive him for sending me to
Kaylee's. I keep it really short because I despise lying to my dad,
so the less I say, the better.

Twenty minutes later, we hop in the jeep and
head to the campsite. We stop to pick up some burritos from Red Hot
Momma's along the way, which makes my stomach flutter reminding me
of our first kiss. I can tell by the look in Tristan's eyes, that
he is reminded of the same moment.

With our stomachs full, we drive to the
waterfall and head off on the short hike to where we set up
camp.

"What the!" I hear Tristan yell out in front
of me. He had stepped into the clearing first.

When I get close enough to view the scene, I
gasp in horror. The campsite has been ripped apart. Equipment and
food strung out all over the place.

Kaylee sees it and asks, "Maybe an animal? A
bear perhaps?"

Tristan shakes his head and answers, "There
are no bears in Hawaii. It's possible that a wild pig could do this
damage, but I don't think that's the case." He walks up closer to
the campsite examining the destruction. "No, I think a human did
this."

"Who would do that?" Kaylee asks.

Realization dawns on me, "Kao." I say his
name with all of the venom I can manage.

Tristan wheels around quickly staring at me.
"Who is Kao?" He asks forcefully.

Crud! I wasn't planning on telling him about
Kao. We even went so far as to leave his name out of it when we
told Tristan about the cave. "He's the Night Marcher who tried to
kill me."

"You know its name! Emma, why in the world
are you just now telling me about this? You can't just keep me in
the dark and expect me to help you!" I can hear the hurt in his
voice.

"I'm sorry Tristan. I don't like to talk
about him, about any of it...
He
is evil and he is out there
somewhere. He could have done this!" I say gesturing to the mess
and pleading to Tristan with my eyes for him to forgive me. I feel
like all I have been doing lately is screwing up and then
apologizing. Rinse and repeat.

"Frankly Emma, I don't give a crap if you
don't like to talk about him. You withholding information from me
is just as bad as lying!" He runs his hands through his hair and
pauses mid hair stroke. As if he just caught on to what I had said,
he looks at me dumfounded and asks, "What do you
mean
out
there somewhere?"

The emotion in Tristan's voice makes me
flinch. I realize I never told him the part about how Kao became
human once Kai took his place as a Night Marcher. Looking at
Tristan I see the pure frustration and concern in his eyes. Even
further down I can see how much he cares for me, loves me. Instant
guilt washes over me as I think about how I have semi-purposely
withheld information from Tristan. "When Kai stepped in to save my
life, Kao and him switched places. I don't know how to explain it,
but it's like something crazy happened and all of a sudden they
switched roles. Kai turned into a Night Marcher and Kao turned
human again."

Tristan just stares at me blankly but I can
tell that his mind is trying to process what I just told him. I'm
sure he's thinking about Noa. I hadn't even thought about it before
now, but if what happened to Kai and Kao happened to Noa, then who
knows... The Night Marcher who turned Noa, could be out there
somewhere! "No, that's impossible Emma," he says, not quite
believing his own statement.

I just shake my head and whisper back,
"
Nothing
is impossible." It's hard for me to see Tristan
hurting. I'm sure that my information just added a whole new slew
of worries to his plate. To top it all off, I kept this from him.
At first I just didn't tell Tristan about Kao because I didn't want
to explain the whole story. It was too much to relive. I wasn't
intentionally trying to keep things from him. But then, when we ran
into Kao in the cave, I purposely didn't tell Tristan about it. I
didn't want him to worry or make us leave. Or worse of all, tell my
dad, because then this whole jig would be up and I'd be sent back
to Texas. I couldn't take that chance.

For whatever reason though, it wasn't right.
I should have trusted Tristan and been completely honest with him.
I decide to start off right now. "There's more...We saw him, in the
cave." I say nervously.

"You saw who?" Tristan says tight-lipped.

"Kao."

"What! He was here? Seriously Emma? Did you
think maybe that I didn't need to know that?" He furrows his brows
and pure frustration overcomes his face. "I just don't know what is
up with you lately. It's like I don't even know you Emma!"

I wince at Tristan's angry tone, his words
cutting my heart. I've really messed it all up now. I move closer
to him and put my hand on his arm trying to calm him down. "I'm
sorry Tristan."

He pulls his arm away from me as if my touch
burned him. He turns his back to me and walks away.

Hurt and pain washes over me bathing me in a
bath of self-guilt. Tears sting my eyes as I turn to do what I do
best, run away. I run past Kaylee who had sat there quietly through
the whole scene. I run past the beautiful waterfall and into the
woods. I don't know when I became so fond of running, but it's the
only thing I can think to do.

I run through the brush, dancing around
obstacles on the forest floor. At first there are footsteps behind
me, but I push myself harder and faster until the footsteps I once
heard vanish. I keep running and I find myself relieved that I can
be alone with my thoughts. Why did life have to get so confusing,
so complicated? Just a few weeks ago I didn’t have a care in the
world. Now, I don’t even know if I will be able to graduate, find
Kai, Adam and Noa, or if I can avoid breaking Kai’s or Tristan’s
heart. It seems like everything that was ever important to me is
being taken away. To have Tristan openly reject me like that hurt
me to the core of my being. He is my rock, my calm in the storm,
and now I don’t know where to find my balance. All the feelings of
the last few weeks come over me, weighing on my shoulders like a
ton of bricks. At first silent tears come, and then the sobs begin.
I can’t stop, nor do I want to. I just want to be alone for a
moment, in private to let myself morn for everything that has
happened and everything that may happen. I cry for my mother, and
for Noa, and for Kai, and for Adam. I just let it all out. I
eventually stop running and I allow my body to drop like a ton of
bricks. I curl up into a ball on the hard forest floor hugging my
knees to my chest. While the tears continue to flow, I close my
eyes trying to release every last thought and fear. Total
exhaustion flows over me, my tears spending the final ounce of my
energy.