The Emerald Talisman (4 page)

I looked up at the looming cliff face. I
could see what remained of the branch I clung to, twenty feet up.
It was even further to the top of the ledge where I initially heard
his voice coming from.

I wanted to ask him how he got down to the
bottom of the cliff in time to save me, but felt too overwhelmed to
question him.

“Are you hurt?” he whispered.

I sniffled again. “I’m not sure.”

My left palm began to sting. I opened my hand
to find a dirty, bright red scrape that ran the length of my arm,
past my elbow. The burning ache continued down the side of my body.
Lifting up the bottom corner of my shirt confirmed the injury ran
the length of my body. The wounds began to throb, along with my
ankle and I contemplated what to tell him.

“Well?”

I decided to be brave and not complain, until
I put weight on the other foot.

“Oh, ouch.”

“What’s wrong?”

“My ankle…” I pointed to show him which
one.

He bent down, pulled up my pant leg and
gently inspected it. I winced.

“It’s starting to swell. Best if you stay off
of it. Can you climb on my back?” he asked.

“Yeah?”

My heart fluttered. I couldn’t believe I
actually intended to climb on his back. The whole thing seemed
completely surreal. How could this really be happening? I would’ve
thought this was a dream, but then I couldn’t deny the presence of
the stalker.

“But what about…” I gulped and pointed
towards the cliff.

“I wouldn’t worry. It’s gone.”

“
It?”

His comment sounded as if the stalker wasn’t
human.

“Yes, I chased
the animal
away,” he
insisted in a growl. “Now climb on. I need to get you home.”

The animal?

I hesitated for a minute, contemplating his
comment. Could it really have just been an animal? The thought
boggled me but at the moment, I didn’t care. All I really wanted
was to get home where it was safe. I would ask him about it
later.

With his help, I climbed onto his back. I
could feel his large muscles under his jacket and admired his nice
physique.

“Ready?” he said.

“Yes,” I said and hugged his neck.

Nimbly, he charged his way down the ravine
along the mountain side. A path leading back up to the trail was
about 100 yards ahead of us. Keeping a tight grip on his neck, I
closed my eyes, enjoying the calming peace exuding from his body
and realized I was no longer worried. It was as if he’d wrapped me
in a warm comforting blanket and nothing in the world mattered. I
wanted to stay there forever.

But suddenly he changed course and barreled
up the side of the cliff on a path unknown to me. I snapped out of
my new found utopia and squeezed tightly, feeling like a butterfly
hanging on for dear life, afraid I’d fall off. When I looked up, we
were level again and on the original trail.

“Which way?” he spoke, barely out of
breath.

I glanced behind us, but it was too dark to
see the path that led from the ravine to the trail. Furrowing my
brow, I wondered where this mysterious path lay hidden, as I knew
the trails by heart. Maybe we weren’t where I thought we were?

“It’s that way,” I motioned, pointing him in
the general direction of my home.

With ease, he carried me swiftly through the
dark. I clung to his back, but sensed his worry and inner struggle,
like he fought to control his feelings. I wondered why.

Soon enough, we exited the woods and we were
on the road leading to my house. He relaxed and continued on
quietly, carrying me as if I were as light as a feather.

The road was deserted, lit only by street
lights. The mudslide made the street into a dead end, so no one
drove down it unless they lived in the area. I was secretly
grateful. I could imagine what my neighbors would think seeing me
ride piggy-back on some guys back.

Who was he anyway? And what was he doing in
the woods at this time of night? And what happened to the person he
fought on the trail?

It seemed odd for him to be at the right
place at the right time to save me from my demise. That kind of
stuff only happened in movies. I felt the urge to ask him my
questions until I caught a whiff of his scent. I knew it wasn’t
cologne, but his natural masculine smell that made me secretly
swoon. I buried my nose close to his collar and inhaled. With my
eyes closed and my mind in pure bliss, I almost fell off when he
spoke.

“What were you doing wandering around the
woods alone at night?” he asked.

My eyes flew open and I froze for a minute,
trying to be inconspicuous when turning my face away from his
neck.

“I was just going to ask you the same thing,”
I blurted out.

“I asked first,” he said with a smile in his
voice.

“I ran out of gas and I was sorta taking a
short cut home.”

When I uttered the words, I felt like a
complete moron.

“I see,” he said softly.

I could tell he wasn’t impressed and I wanted
to crawl into a hole. I desperately tried to think of something
clever to say, but nothing came to mind.

“And you?”

“I heard you calling for help, so I
came.”

“Do you live near by?”

“No… not really.”

Tension slinked into the air and I felt my
questions weren’t welcome – like he didn’t want to tell me why he
was in the woods. This time my curiosity got the better of me and I
couldn’t let it go.

“So what were you doing?” I asked, gauging
the atmosphere carefully.

Ever so slightly, he exuded a twinge of
panic, followed by frustration. “Like I said, I was in the area,
heard you scream and then call for help. Did you not want me to
help you?”

“Well, yes… of course.” I bit my lip. “I
heard a lot of noises before you were able to get to me. What were
you doing?”

He chuckled and I felt unnerved, thinking I
asked a stupid question.

“
It
put up a fight. I almost didn’t
get to you in time.”

I hesitated before asking him what I really
wanted to know. If he insisted my attacker to be an animal, then
I’d sense his deception. And if he chose to lie to me, then no
matter how much I enjoyed his company, this would be our final
meeting. I didn’t make friends with liars, especially compulsive
ones.

“I was going to ask you about that…you said
it was an animal?”

I felt his disdain and then his
curiosity.

“Didn’t you see it?”

“No…. actually, I didn’t.”

My mind raced as the tables turned. He was
very happy about the fact I didn’t see anything and I hoped he
wouldn’t ask anymore details. If I had to make up a story on the
spot about why I ran, I would surely botch it up. Without revealing
my insight, it would be hard to explain how I could know to run
from an unknown, unseen predator and then I’d be the liar.

He exuded a huge sense of relief.

“Well, it’s gone now. So you don’t need to
worry about it anymore.”

I clamped my lips closed to stop my gasp. I
knew for a fact he fought a person because my powers didn’t cross
over to animals. But why couldn’t I sense he was lying?

“I need to warn my neighbors,” I blurted
out.

“You do?” he said in alarm. “Why?”

“Because that dangerous animal is still out
there.”

He stopped, slid me off his back and turned
to face me, his hands holding my shoulders. I suddenly felt
self-conscience not knowing if mascara or dirt covered my face,
electrified by his touch. I peered into his emerald eyes. My breath
caught in my throat. He squinted and looked deeply into mine.

“I promise it’s nothing to worry about, okay?
I’d rather no one knew about it.”

My throat constricted in anger. I was tired
of this charade and frustrated my powers couldn’t reveal the lies
he told. And now, he wanted me to cover it up too? I actually
didn’t want my dad to know anything about the stalker part of my
evening, but I needed to know what actually happened first.

“You can tell me,” I pleaded.

He let out a large sigh while he stood there,
lips pursed, still looking directly at me with an expression that
conveyed the message I should just trust him. But I wanted to know,
no, needed to know. The thing he defended me from stalked
me
after all. I held his gaze determined not back down.

“Fine, if you must know,” he said coolly. “It
was a small mountain lion and I had to kill it before it hurt
you.”

This time I felt it for sure. Something in
his story was not true – his feelings definitely betrayed him. My
powers weren’t broken after all. Problem was I didn’t know which
parts were the lies.

He said it was an animal earlier and I sensed
that to be true. But now, when he said it was a mountain lion, he
lied? Or maybe he didn’t actually kill it, but scared it away. I
had no clue and the story was getting more and more convoluted with
each clarification.

Were my powers shorting out, or worse –
crossing over into the animal kingdom? I never saw anyone, so I
couldn’t know for sure. It would explain a lot if a blood thirsty
animal stalked me. I couldn’t imagine anyone who’d have feelings
like
it
did – totally unnatural and animalistic, but even
still, I couldn’t confront him without revealing my secret.

“Okay,” I said, giving up.

I looked away. Lying or not, his eyes were
the most exquisite green imaginable and I couldn’t handle them
looking into the depths of my soul any longer. I felt powerless
against them.

Then we had an awkward pause. I stood there,
with all my weight on one foot, not sure of what to say. Luckily,
he broke the silence.

“Do you want me to continue carrying you?” he
asked.

I looked up. He smiled and his eyes were kind
again. It made it hard to stay frustrated with him.

“Yes,” I murmured, annoyed he wouldn’t trust
me.

Again, he helped me onto his back and slowly
walked down the road carrying me. I noticed the soothing warmth
return again – something about being close to him, made all the
confusion drift away. I fought to stay centered, still remembering
I needed to figure out a way to get him to honestly answer my
questions when a vision of a bloodied dead cat came to focus.

“Someone’s going to find it.”

“Find what?” he said, sounding confused.

“The dead mountain lion?”

“I said I’d take care of it,” he said in an
irritated tone.

“When?” I bit my lip, purposely pressing my
luck.

“Julia, please. Just let me worry about it,”
he snapped.

Julia?
My heart skipped a beat.

“How do you know my name?”

He tensed his back.

“I know your name because we’ve met
before.”

This caught me off guard.

“We have? When?”

“It was a while back.”

I searched through my memories looking for
his face and came up blank. Yet his eyes, they seemed so familiar.
There was something that sparked inside me every time he looked at
me, but I couldn’t place what it was exactly.

“Well, I feel bad. I don’t remember meeting
you—or your name.”

“Nicholas.”

Nicholas
. I sighed. As I repeated his
name in my mind, it instantly became the most beautiful word in the
English language.

“Well, it’s very nice to meet you,
again
.”

I was happy he couldn’t see me blushing but
then I chastised myself. What in the heck was I doing? I couldn’t
let myself get emotionally attached when he wasn’t being completely
honest with me. Where was my better judgment?

It probably flew out the window the same time
you decided to trek through the forest.

My desire for him showed plainly on my face,
so I was thankful he couldn’t see me. I’d never understood the
attraction some girls felt for ‘bad boys’ and prided myself in
staying away from them. Of course my gift usually tipped me off.
But Nicholas was different.

I never felt so drawn to someone before. His
pull felt almost magnetic and every moment we stayed close to each
other, the connection drew stronger. It frightened and electrified
me at the same time.

Maybe I judged him too soon and he wasn’t a
‘bad boy’ although he definitely wasn’t like the other ‘nice boys’
at my school. He radiated a maturity I craved but never found
before. And there was something more – a feeling of déjà vu.

‘
You can trust him
,’ my heart said
while my head screamed no.

It was a relief when we neared the corner
where I lived and approached my house because I needed this turmoil
to stop – to think rationally about things. Nicholas carried me up
the stairs to my front porch and sat me on the swing that hung
there. I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Is anyone home?” he asked.

As he stepped away, I felt the serenity of
his aura leave and I wanted to catch his hand and bring him back to
me. Like a moth to a flame, I craved his touch even though that
meant the risk of being burned.

“You okay?”

My heart dropped as concern spread across his
beautiful face. I’d been late to cover up my struggle. I gave him
the first excuse that came to mind.

“I’m just… dizzy,” I choked out.

He pursed his lips; the concern still there,
I could feel it right under the surface.

I put my hand up to my forehead to try to get
my bearings. Why was this happening to me?

“Is anyone home, Julia?” His worry now
expressed in the tone of his voice.

“My brother or my dad should be,” I squeaked
out.

He walked over and knocked on the door
keeping one eye on me. I gave a weak smile, trying to reassure him
I was all right, but still confused how we had this mysterious
electric connection.

“My dad’s going to freak when he sees me like
this. How bad do I look?”