Telesa - The Covenant Keeper (42 page)

Daniel laughed at that. “And how’s that warning working for you two?”

“Put it this way, he’s barely said Boo in class since then. Actually Ms Sivan was asking him today if he was sickly or something since he’s been so subdued.”

We laughed together. And it felt good. Like before. But then the laughter ended and we were left with uncomfortable silence again. Filled with unspoken questions. Daniel cleared his throat. “Leila, does it hurt? The fire? Does it hurt you?”

“What? Oh, that. It’s kind of hard to describe. Yeah it hurts, especially when it first erupts, but it’s kind of a good hurt? Does that even make sense?”

“Not really. Where does it come from? Why is it happening?”

I took a deep breath. Heavy in my mind was Nafanua’s warning about keeping
telesa
secrets from men. Any men. These were the questions I had been dreading. The ones I had been rehearsing answers for over the past few weeks. Answers that still didn’t even make sense to me.

I’m not sure. I know it sounds unreal, but apparently it’s got something to do with me being able to tap into the earth’s core heat and fire. Like volcanoes and stuff. Nafanua’s an … expert on it and she’s been helping me to understand it a bit better and control it. That’s why I’m able to be back at school – because I kind of have a better handle on it now. There’s still a lot we don’t know though, I’m still afraid of what it, I mean what I can do if I let my guard down for even a moment.” I stole a glance at him. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about that night when it first happened, what I did, what I almost did, how I nearly hurt you and all those people. I hate myself for that. Can you ever forgive me?”

He leaned forward and reached across the desk to take my hand in his. “There’s nothing to forgive. It’s not like you planned that to happen. It came out of nowhere, and besides, you stopped it, you called it back, you saved those people.”

“Aha yeah right, from a fire that I started. And I only did it because …” I trailed off, unwilling to say the words, afraid of what he would think of me. I pulled my hand away from his and resolutely clenched my fists in my lap.

“Because what?”

“I only called the fire back because you asked me to. Because you told me to. If you hadn’t been there, things would have been very different. If you hadn’t stopped me, that hostel would have burned to the ground and all those people would likely be dead. And I would have been celebrating the entire time, loving every destructive minute of it.”

His eyes flashed. “That’s not true. Don’t say that. I know it’s not true.”

I stood abruptly, the chair grating loudly on the cement floor. “And just how do you know that? How well do you really know me anyway? You don’t know where I’ve come from, what kind of family or mother I descend from, you don’t know all the things that I’ve done. You don’t know what I’m capable of. Your grandmother was right on the very first day. I’m no good for you. I have to go. This was a bad idea.” I shook my head as I hurriedly packed up my books. The room suddenly felt stifling. Hot. I needed to get away from there, away from Daniel before I lost control. He stood as I started to back away from the desk.

“Leila, wait – don’t go – please.”

Sadness choked me as I looked at him. The concern. The pleading in his face. “I’m sorry, I have to.” I reached over and took the paper of lyrics. “I’ll read over this tonight and if I have any questions about it, I’ll ask Nafanua to help me. Hey, it’s not like we really need to work on it together – you’ll play and sing your song and all I need to do is dance. We don’t need to actually meet to get that right. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Daniel didn’t try to say anymore. He only stood and stared after me as I hurried out, breaking into a run when I caught sight of my car in the parking area. I was impatient to get home. I had emotions running riot and I wanted to erase them with flames.

* * * *

By evening I was calm. I had spent the afternoon throwing fire balls at the rock wall of an abandoned quarry I had found on one of my many breathless runs through Nafanua’s vast property. The quarry dated back to twenty years ago and was the perfect spot for practicing my aim. And for letting off steam. I had come back to the house more at peace with myself, ready for the delicious dinner Netta had prepared for us, ready to settle down to doing some homework. I was submersed in calculus when Netta called from downstairs. “Leila, you have a visitor.”

Puzzled, I came halfway down the stairs then stopped with a grin when I saw who was waiting for me in Nafanua’s living room. Rumpled blonde hair, blue eyes, sun-burned face…

“Jason. Hey! What are you doing here?”

 Nafanua gently chided me. “Leila, is that any way to greet a guest?”

I hadn’t seen her sitting there at her writing desk and winced.

Jason smiled with open ease. “Sorry for dropping in like this, but I didn’t get your cell number and I was in the neighborhood so I thought I’d stop by. Hope I’m not intruding?” All three of us knew how ridiculous that was as we stood in a house that stood alone amidst acres of forest. Nafanua arched an eyebrow and a knowing smile danced at the edge of her lips.

“Nonsense Professor, we are always delighted to see you. Leila was studying but I’m sure she would like to take a break. I was just going out to the lab. Please stay and visit for a while.”

I narrowed my eyes at her but I wasn’t annoyed. Quite the opposite. Calculus was not my forte and hanging out with Jason ranked light years higher on my list of things to do. We both waited as she exited. He spoke first. “So, I wanted to tell you that Matavanu has calmed down a bit and you can come visit anytime.” I saw uncertainty flash on his face for the first time “that is if you’re still interested in a volcano?”

I grinned. “Of course I am. I barely got a chance to see anything the other day, you rushed me out of there so fast. What’s been happening up there?”

“Oh not much. That day was pretty much the bad temper highlight of our whole study so far. You sure picked the wrong day to visit.”

I hid a knowing smile, I knew why Matavanu had heated up and the secret warmed me.

We went through to the kitchen. Math always made me ravenous and I knew Netta had coconut cookies hidden in the cupboard somewhere.

“Aha! Bingo, hungry?”

“Definitely. Are those homemade?” He took a bite. “Mmmm these are delicious, we don’t get much decent food up at the camp, pretty much living on canned tuna and crackers for the last few months.”

I took pity on him and brought out the rest of the dinner Netta had made earlier. Fresh river shrimps baked in coconut cream with a touch of curry, green bananas, roasted pumpkin and eggplant with sprigs of mint, a chilled bowl of fruit salad.

Jason protested, laughing with hands upraised. “Whoa, how much food do you think I need? Wow.” He surveyed the dishes spread out on the table. “You ladies eat like this every night?”

I was busy expertly zapping a plate generously heaped with dinner in the microwave as he pulled up a seat at the bench top. “Oh yeah, Netta does the cooking and I think she forgets we’re not a household crawling with twenty million extended family. You should see what she made last night – a hunk of roast pig … hmm … some of that should be still in here too, let me see.”

Within minutes I had Jason set up with enough food to feed a small army and he was digging in with great enthusiasm. I sat and watched, nibbling on coconut cookies, laughing as he attacked the pork, licking his fingers. “You should come over every night, we always have tons of leftovers and its terribly wasteful all the food that sits around in this house.” Inwardly, I winced as I realized how the invitation sounded and I hurried to qualify it. “In fact there’s probably enough food here for your whole team, where are the others anyway? And what are you doing here on Upolu?”

“They’re all back at the camp. I came over this morning to do our grocery shopping and uplift some gear that came on the boat for us, then I went surfing and kinda missed the ferry back.”

His cheeky grin had me guessing that the missed boat had been deliberate. “Surfing? Where do you do that?”

“Oh there’s some good spots out on the south coast, my favorite is just past Salani Surf Resort, caught some sweet barrels today. Do you surf?”

“Who me? No. Never tried it. Back home we lived in Maryland so not much surfing opps there. And then here, I’ve never been to the beach here.”

He looked horrified. “What!? That’s just sinful. How could you be on an island and
not
get to the beach yet?”

I laughed at his shock. “Well, I’ve only been in Samoa for a few months you know and I’ve been kinda busy with a new school and … stuff. Besides, when I first moved here I stayed with my aunt and uncle and they were intensely strict. They didn’t want me going anywhere.”

He frowned. “That must have been rough.”

I shook my head. “No, it was okay, they were just worried about me. They were really sweet actually.” As I rushed to defend them, a pang of sadness cut me as I realized that I missed them. I resolved to go visit them this weekend and smiled as I thought about Aunty Matile’s grouchy face and how she would struggle not to smile if I gave her a hug.

Jason helped himself to some more shrimps. “These are really good. I don’t know how you can have such a hot body when you’re eating all this stuff every day.” He continued on talking about his afternoon but I was momentarily disconcerted by his reference to my figure. Nobody had ever commented on my looks in such blunt terms and I wasn’t sure whether to be pleased or annoyed. But as he rattled on about food, surfing, and more surfing, I shook off the moment as I realized he hadn’t been making a play for me. I was fast realizing this man had nothing to hide, he was straight forward and up front. He said what he thought and didn’t stop to analyse it first. There were no secret agendas.

“So you wanna try it?”

“Try what?”

He looked exasperated. “Leila don’t be ditzy. Have you been paying attention to anything I’ve been saying? Surfing, do you wanna try it?” I had to smile at his eager expression.

“Okay, I’d love to.” I couldn’t resist the dig. “But are you sure you’re qualified to be my teacher? I mean, you being such a bimbo and all and not to mention you’re kinda ancient to be standing up on a board in the middle of the ocean aren’t you?”

He narrowed his eyes and got up to clear away his empty plate. “Little girl, you are soooo going to regret that.” He spread his arms out expansively. “I’ll have you know that you’re looking at the two time surf champion of Rosewood Beach Surf Club. Standing right here in your kitchen eating leftovers!”

I was impressed. “Wow, okay that’s impressive. What’s the Rosewood Beach Surf Club?”

He grinned the cheeky grin that seemed to be his trademark. It always seemed to tug an answering smile from me whether I wanted it to or not. “Actually, the club is made up of a grand total of six of my buddies – all at the science faculty – that surf in our spare time. So the term ‘champion’ is kinda relative but I’m still a surf champ and I have the two beer can trophies to prove it!” He struck a surfing pose on a dining table chair and had me laughing. Again.

“Okay, okay, I’m convinced, I shall take surf lessons from a master and be extremely humbled with the opportunity and I shall pay you with Netta’s dinner leftovers. Anytime you’re in town, you will have to come by and get fed.”

With that settled, Jason proceeded to clean up his mess before plonking himself down on the sofa. “So what homework were you slaving over before I got here?”

I rolled my eyes. “Calculus. A mild nightmare for me, especially since the math teacher is quite horrible.”

“Want me to give you a hand? I’m not too bad at math. I had to do a little bit here and there – you know, while I was finishing my advanced science program and being the youngest person ever to graduate with a PhD in geophysics from my university.” He sighed with exaggerated modesty and adopted a bored expression.

I had to laugh. “Okay, you’ve convinced me. Let me go grab my stuff from upstairs. I’ll be right back.”

The next hour flew by as Jason went through the calculus problems with me. He was a good teacher who managed to make the most complex equations simple. It was going on 10:30 when we finished. Jason stretched out wide, “All done! I guess I better get going. I didn’t mean to bother you so late.”

I had a pang of disappointment at the thought of him leaving. The time had gone by so fast and without a single reminder that I was a
telesa
walking on the edge of fire at every moment. I didn’t want the evening to end. Suddenly, the house seemed constricting. If Jason hadn’t been there, I would have gone for a flame-driven run through the forest but instead, the thought of swimming in a moonlit ocean sounded just as appealing. I stopped him on the way to the front door. “I know, why don’t we go now?”

He was confused. “Go where?”

“Surfing. Let’s go now. Can we do that?”

He shrugged. “Well yeah, we can, but it’s late. What will your mom say?”

I was up and lightly running up the stairs before the words were even all out of his mouth. I threw back a flippant reply over my shoulder. “Oh, she doesn’t care what I do. I’ll text her. We could have wild sex upstairs and it wouldn’t bother her. Let me just grab my stuff.” It was too late to take back the thoughtless words or to check even how he had taken them but with a rush of excitement, I didn’t care. I was thrilled to be getting out. The spur of the moment mood reminded me of my dad and I deciding what road trip to take on a long weekend. I couldn’t wait to get out into the night.

I wriggled into the two-piece suit Nafanua had bought me that I had never even bothered to try on and threw a cotton tee and shorts over it. A towel and jandals and I was ready, fingers sending a quick text to Nafanua.
Goin surfin w/Jason.
I was back downstairs when the reply beeped through.
Hav fun.
I was triumphant as I showed it to Jason. “See! What did I tell you. She’s not bugged. Come on, let’s go. Bye Netta!” I yelled out to the quiet house.