Shaxoa's Gift (19 page)

At the very bottom of the box lay a wide
strip of beaded leather. Each end had two long tassels to be used
as ties to secure the bracelet to someone’s wrist. The beadwork was
beautifully done in traditional Tewa design and color.

Lina hobbled into the room suddenly, and that
hint of guilt returned. I stared at the trinkets covering the bed,
wishing I could put them away without her noticing. Lina casually
walked over as if I were doing nothing out of the ordinary. Perhaps
she didn’t think Uriah would mind that I was looking through his
things. Peering down at me, Lina smiled at the bracelet in my
hand.

“That was a gift from Uriah’s grandfather to
Notah, and then a gift from Notah to Uriah,” she said. “Uriah will
give it to his son as well. This bracelet is supposed to bring good
luck, although I can’t remember what the symbols on it mean.”

Uriah could use some good luck right now, I
thought, and so could I. “It’s beautiful,” I said.

“It is,” she agreed. Taking the leather strip
from my hand, Lina carefully wound it around my wrist. “Maybe it
will bring you both some good luck.”

Looking up at her, I was grateful for her
intuitiveness. “You don’t think he’ll mind if I wear it?” I
asked.

She shook her head gently. “You can keep it
safe for him until he needs it.” Lina already saw me as part of her
family, and I was hard pressed to think of anything that would
change her mind.

“Cole is here,” Lina said suddenly. “He said
you called him. Are you leaving?” Her face was calm, but her eyes
quickly darted to my unpacked backpacks. She was wondering if I was
going home. I already felt like I was home.

“We’re just going to go out to the bluffs to
talk,” I said. “I’ll be back home in a little while, unless you’re
getting tired of me already.”

Lina smiled widely and pulled me into a quick
hug. “Not at all.”

I stood and helped her back to the living
room. As soon as she was settled in her chair, I turned to Cole,
who was waiting patiently by the door.

“You ready?” Cole asked.

One look at his tired face sent a new wave of
guilt through me. He was exhausted. I shouldn’t have called him to
come out to Uriah’s house, but I needed to understand what had
happened on his trip with Uriah. My strong and loving Uriah had
acted so strangely since coming back, and I needed to know what had
caused the change. “Yeah, let’s go,” I said. I would try to not
keep him out too late.

*****

“So, are you doing alright?” Cole asked. We
sat in his Toyota 4Runner on top of the mesa just outside of San
Juan. “You sounded kind of strange on the phone.”

“I’m okay, I guess,” I said. I didn’t know
what else to say. “I wish Uriah was here.” Cole’s arm settled
around my shoulders. I appreciated the effort. Even though Cole and
I had always been pretty close, we had never been the type of
siblings that cried on each other’s shoulders. If I was upset, Cole
would usually try to make me laugh or tease me relentlessly
depending on what he thought would work better. This was different,
but a good kind of different. “Will you tell me what happened while
you and Uriah were gone?”

“You really want to know?” Cole asked.

His question struck me as odd. What could
have happened that I wouldn’t want to know about? “Yes, please,
Cole, I need to know what happened. Maybe if I do, I’ll understand
why Uriah left. I mean, I know he told Quaile he wasn’t giving up,
and that I should wait for him, but before that, he was leaving for
real. I have to know why he would do that,” I said.

Cole still looked reluctant, but eventually
he agreed.

“Don’t leave anything out, Cole,” I warned,
“it’s important.”

Nodding his head, Cole launched into his
tale. I listened silently, drinking in every detail. I could hardly
believe what he was telling me. If it hadn’t been my brother, who I
trusted completely, recounting their strange journey, I would never
have believed it. The potion my father had given me was one thing,
Uriah speaking with animals and fighting shape shifting monsters
was something else entirely. Although, having conversations with
animals did explain why his animals always behaved so perfectly for
him. It did make me wonder, again, why me being around him seemed
to cancel that out. I shook my head and held that question for
later.

Uriah had only been gone a few days, but so
much had changed. When Cole told me about the deal Uriah and Daniel
had struck, I began to understand Uriah’s decision. When he first
walked out the door, I couldn’t believe that he would really
abandon me when I needed him most. In my scattered mind, I thought
he was leaving because he had no hope, because he didn’t believe I
was strong enough to fight the bond.

My heart nearly broke to hear the real reason
he left. He thought he was giving me a better future. But didn’t
Uriah realize that I would never be happy without him? The fact
that Uriah was willing to sacrifice so much, just for me, renewed
my determination. Whatever he was doing, he was not running away,
and neither would I.

“He really loves you, Claire,” Cole said.
“It’s kind of weird, but I never really thought someone could love
another person as much as Uriah loves you. Maybe it’s from growing
up with Mom and Dad. Their relationship is bizarre, to say the
least, but I thought that was pretty normal. With Uriah, I don’t
know if he could make it without you. Not to say he isn’t strong,
but I don’t think he would see the purpose in going on if you
weren’t with him.”

“Dad told me that he married Mom because she
wasn’t Tewa, and he thought he needed to marry an outsider for some
reason. It was something to do with Uriah, but he wouldn’t explain
it,” I said.

“Dad’s an idiot. We already knew that,” Cole
said. He had said it casually, but his grip tightened around my
shoulders. Cole was as close to our mom as I was. On several
occasions, Cole had lost his usually mild temper when our dad had
made hurtful comments to our mom, and ended up nearly coming to
blows with our dad. “What do you mean it had something to do with
Uriah?”

“I don’t know. For some reason he thought it
was important that I wasn’t full Tewa. He thought it would protect
me from Uriah. I don’t know what he meant by that, though. Uriah
would never hurt me,” I said.

“Hmm.” For a moment Cole was quiet. He seemed
to be considering something. “Did he actually say he thought Uriah
would hurt you?”

“No, I guess not. He made it sound more like
being with Uriah would hurt me. He said if I stayed with Uriah, I
would end up following him to places I shouldn’t.” I still thought
that sounded ridiculous. Why would Uriah ever lead me somewhere
where I would get hurt? It didn’t make sense to me, but Cole nodded
as if it made perfect sense to him. “What, Cole? Don’t tell me you
agree with Dad?”

“Did you hear what I just told you? Shape
shifting monsters, animals fighting with us, that monster thing
making it pretty obvious he was coming back for Uriah.” Cole shook
his head. “I don’t think Uriah would ever purposely put you in
harm’s way, but being near him right now would be dangerous
enough.”

I suspected my dad knew something about
Uriah’s strange abilities, but if what Cole was saying was true, he
knew a lot more than I ever expected. “Cole, could Dad have
possibly known that thing would come after Uriah? Is that why he
never wanted me to be around him?”

Shrugging, Cole said, “I don’t know, Claire.
I’ve never seen Dad display any talents other than being a jerk,
but how many times has he reminded us that his grandfather was the
last Tewa chief. He thinks of himself as our current chief. A lot
of people do. Maybe that has something to do with it.”

“Like something passed down from chief to
chief?” I asked.

“Either that or something Quaile told him.
Shaman and chief usually worked together to lead the pueblo. If
anybody knew about Uriah, it would be Quaile.”

Great. My choices for answers were the three
people determined to make me do this on my own. One way or another,
I was going to get one of them to explain things to me. What I
wouldn’t give to be able to borrow a few of Uriah’s talents. Making
people do what I wanted would certainly be useful, but if nothing
else, I could at least use his amazing strength to wring a few
answers of out either my dad or Quaile. My vengeful planning was
interrupted by Cole’s jaw cracking under the pressure of an
enormous yawn. Everything he had been through in the past few days
slipped back into my mind along with some guilt.

“I’m sorry you had to drive all the way back
to Tucson, Cole,” I said.

“Oh, it’s okay. The drive back was nice and
quiet at least.”

“Was it that bad?” I asked.

“No, Daniel’s an okay guy. It was just hard
to listen to all his questions. He didn’t understand why Quaile
made him leave so quickly. He kept trying to talk me into turning
around,” Cole said.

“I’m so glad you didn’t.” The thought of
seeing Daniel again made me want to cry. The love I felt for him
was suffocating. The pull was strong enough to leave me crying and
gasping for breath with him a state away. I knew I would never hold
out if I was faced with him again.

“He begged me to give him your phone number
and address,” he said, eyes widening at my panicked reaction, “but
I didn’t. I told him he should just leave it alone for now. I said
that when you were ready, he would hear from you. I felt bad giving
him false hope, but I had to tell him something. He wouldn’t shut
up.”

“You didn’t think I would want him to call or
come back?” I asked.

“Never,” he said. “You are the most stubborn
person I have ever met, Claire. If Uriah is what you want, I have
no doubt that’s who you’ll end up with. Even if Uriah had left for
good, I knew you would find him and drag him back.”

I would have. If I hadn’t been too stunned to
react, Uriah never would have made it out the door without me.
“Uriah’s mom told me that when he left she thought he was going to
do something to hurt himself,” I said. I choked back a sob. I knew
she meant get himself killed, and after hearing Cole’s story, I had
a pretty good idea about how he was planning to do that. But I
could not force the word “kill” to come out of my mouth. “Do you
think he would have?”

Cole pulled me closer to him and turned his
face up toward the starry sky. “Yes,” Cole said, “I think he would
have. Uriah was so determined to save you without letting the bond
form. When he realized he couldn’t do it, it almost broke him. I’d
never seen the look he had on his face before on anyone. Seeing him
like that…I honestly wanted to cry.”

“But why? How could he do that to me?” I
asked.

“I don’t think he would have seen it as
hurting you. In his mind he would have been giving you the only
thing he had left to give, freedom from his love,” Cole said. “I
think he honestly thought he was doing the right thing. I’m glad
Quaile stopped him. Whatever other crap she pulled, at least she
stopped him from doing that. I just hope it wasn’t another
lie.”

I shivered. I couldn’t believe how close I
had come to losing my only love. Would Quaile put me in jeopardy of
that again? “You don’t think she was sending him on a wild goose
chase do you?” I hadn’t considered the idea before, but it reeked
of something Quaile might do. “If he thinks he’s failed me
again…”

Cole’s eyes were wide in the dark, the whites
gaping at me before he closed them and took a deep breath. “No. No,
I don’t think she would do that to him again. He was so angry with
her when she told him that Daniel’s blood had to be mixed with the
herbs. She looked pretty scared. I think she knows what would
happen if she betrayed him again.”

“I hope you’re right, Cole,” I said. “I wish
he would have told me where he was. It makes it so much worse not
knowing what he’s doing or where he went.”

“He’ll be home soon,” Cole said.

“I know.” I did know. Whatever Uriah had
thought of doing before, he was focused now. He was trying to find
a way to rescue me, and I had faith that he would find it.

“Are you going to be okay?” Cole asked. “I
know Uriah will be back soon, but I saw what this bond thing was
doing to Daniel. He looked like he was in agony the entire drive.
He kept his arms wrapped around himself almost the whole time. He
just kept babbling about how he was going to come back and see you
as soon as he could.”

Cole hugged me a little tighter. “I can
imagine it must be even worse for you. Even a state away I could
still feel the bond sitting next to Daniel. Daniel was having a
hard time trying to figure out how you could reject him when he
felt like he did, but you, you’re trying to fight the bond. I
remember what it felt like when he woke you up. I had never felt
anything so intense in my life. That can’t be easy to fight
against.”

“It’s not. I have these thoughts shoved into
my mind constantly. Every time I close my eyes I see his face. I’m
sorry this is hard for him, too, but I can’t let myself care. I
care about keeping Uriah, that’s it. I spend my whole day trying to
find things to distract me, or things that reminded me of Uriah. It
isn’t easy,” I said.

“Yeah, I was wondering when you decided to
join a Santa Fe youth baseball team,” Cole said. He motioned to my
shirt with a laugh. I smiled. Cole always had been good at cheering
me up.

“Where’d you get this?” he asked fingering
the leather bracelet on my wrist.

“I found it in Uriah’s room.”

“It’s nice,” Cole said. “Do you know what it
is?”

“No, I don’t know what it is,” I admitted,
“but it’s his, and I can look at it and think of him whenever I
need to. Lina said it was a gift from his dad.”

“His dad would have given it to him when he
was old enough to be considered a man,” Cole said.