The Soul Mate (15 page)

Some small part of me knew he was right and
could rationalize why he would keep such an incredible secret from
me. But I couldn’t forget everything else he’d done. That while he
was keeping this secret from me he’d still been breaking promises,
promises to refrain from touching me, to give me space and let me
keep my wits about me.

Why couldn’t he just give me my space? What
exactly was he so hell bent on?

It’s not going to work you know?” He said.
His expression turned brutal. “You can’t be with Xan. You can’t be
with anyone, except me. Ever.”

Gerik was watching me expectantly, hoping
this information was going to get some sort of reaction out of me.
Too bad for him, but I’d already known, and wasn’t going to give
him the satisfaction of showing my anger.

“I’ll be with whomever I want Gerik and rest
assured it will never be you.”

Whatever control Gerik had been holding onto
instantly broke. I watched the change in him happen. He went
ridged, his skin seemed too tight for his body and his eyes too
large for their sockets.

I was stepping backwards when the earth began
to ripple beneath my feet. It was just a small tremor at first then
the ground began to shake so furiously I could no longer stand and
had to brace myself on my hands and knees.

“You will be mine,” He told me. His voice had
changed, had deepened enough to carry over the groaning earth and
the creaking trees that were being uprooted before my eyes.

A vicious wind swept through camp stopping to
circle around Gerik and I. It blocked out the light from the
bonfires and engulfed us in darkness.

“Gerik…” I tried to speak but my words were
swept away, unheard, by the wind. I doubted he could even see me
now through the thick fog of wind currents.

“Gerik!” I screamed over the noises of the
unnatural storm.

Long minutes passed until the trees began to
settle as the ground stilled. I scrambled to my feet. Still
seething, Gerik glared down at me.

“You don’t have a choice in the matter. I
have my full powers now, Trinity. I’ve had them since I was twenty
five and can barely contain the energy inside of me anymore.”

He closed the distance between us and gripped
my shoulders. “I need you. If we don’t complete the bond I don’t
know what will happen to me.”

I could only gape at him. Complete the bond?
And give me magic?

“Our soul will never stop trying to come
together! Don’t you get it? It’s forcing you to me! This is beyond
you and me! You don’t have a choice and neither do I! ”

If he wanted to hurt me then he’d done a
sufficient job. Everything was about him. His powers, his energy,
his need for me and the fact that I was made for him, to house his
excess magic or whatever. Gerik could wrap this package up in a
pretty bow and call me his “other half” but that didn’t lessen the
fact that what he was trying to force on me was purely selfish and
sounded clinical.

I was obsolete in this. Gerik was sick and I
was his cure. Who I was or what I looked like had never mattered.
He didn’t even know anything about me or me him. He’d never before
asked about my life, or attempted to share his with me.

Ours was a relationship based on single-sided
need, if anything he had a more functional relationship with Onyx
than he ever did with me. I was just a means to an end, a backpack
really, to store things in that he didn’t have room for on his
person.

I wondered if he even cared for me at
all.

“Gerik,” A deep voice boomed.

Belatedly I realized that Jericho was calling
out to us. He looked wary, undoubtedly because Gerik had just
started hurricane in the middle of his camp. Most of camp had
gathered behind him. I’m guessing they were all prepared to try and
control him if he hadn’t gotten control of himself.

“Son, in this clan, nothing will be forced on
a person. Gaje or Gypsy.”

The two men stared at each until Gerik
released my shoulders and took a step away from me. I took a
sideways step toward the living lot, then another, and then I was
running as fast as I could to my trailer.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

After my morning chores, I grabbed lunch and
sat down with Hockey and Becki. Instead of eating, I ended up
tearing chunks of bread into tiny pieces and tossing each one into
my soup. When I ran out of bread to tear, I began to stir. And
stir. The three of us continued to sit in an uncomfortable
silence.

“I’m sorry Trinity, I should have told you,”
Becki said, ending the silence, “I’m a shit friend.”

“Told me what?” I asked. Scooping up a piece
of bread I let it fall back into my soup with a loud plop.

“About Gerik,” She replied.

I dropped my spoon, surprised. “You knew?” I
accused.

She nodded. “Everyone did. It’s… it’s hard to
understand if you don’t have magic but you Gerik have the same
aura. It’s downright identical and because of that everyone knew
immediately something was up. No two people have the same aura and
with Gerik being so powerful and a Gaje having the same aura as
him… well, you know the rest.”

If my spoon had still been in my hand I would
have dropped it again.

“Why is he staring at you?” Hockey asked,
interrupting my shock.

Becki shook her head. “You’re imagining
things.” Hockey didn’t look like he thought he was imaginings
things but he dropped it and looked away.

I turned in my seat and caught Tobar’s gaze.
He smiled politely at me and went back to eating.

Tobar was tall and lean with shoulder length
brown hair and soft brown eyes, not nearly as dark or as harsh as
the other guys in camp. I supposed he was decent enough guy but
there was something off about him.

Constantly amused and unnaturally quiet, his
laconic smile always firmly in place, he gave me the creeps.
Whereas Hockey was just naturally shy and probably didn’t have very
much to say, Tobar had a method to his madness. Those wheels of his
were constantly turning and he missed nothing. You could
practically see the machinations forming in those eyes of his.

I turned around to find Becki blushing and
suddenly everything made sense. Becki’s disappearing act, Xan’s
random comments and now this.

“So how come Xan didn’t know about Gerik and
I?” I asked her, changing the subject before things got messy. I’d
had enough of my own messes and didn’t want to get caught in
Becki’s.

She shrugged. “He doesn’t have magic and I
guess no one told him…”

“Shandor has magic right?” I asked. She
nodded.

I turned in my chair, angry and glared at the
little hyena for not telling Xan what he knew. Some best friend he
was. With a ridiculous grin on his face he saluted me with his
spoon. Everything would always be a joke to him.

A sudden weight across my shoulders had me
jumping, bumping the table and spilling more soup. Tobar slid into
the seat next to me, smiling.

I was way too jumpy today. I should have
stayed in my trailer. Better yet, my bed.

“What’s up, Trinity? How are you feeling?
Better I hope after what happened with Gerik.”

“Uh, yeah. Thanks.” I went back to playing
with my soup, wishing he’d remove his arm from my shoulders.

“I was wondering if you’d maybe like to come
to the next fire dance with me, that is if you’re free to?”

Tobar’s sudden interest in talking to me was
suspicious enough, let alone escorting me to fire dances. I turned
to look at him only to find he wasn’t even looking at me but
staring instead at Becki.

“Maybe she doesn’t want to go with you frate.
If Trinity is freed up now what’s to say she doesn’t want to go
with me?” Gunnar sat down on top of the table precariously close to
my soup and leered down at me.

I was starting to feel like a lone sheep
surrounded by hungry wolves.

“Um, I’m probably not going.” I shrugged a
few times attempting to dislodge Tobar. As his arm fell he snaked
his hand around my middle and with one hard yank he’d pulled both
my chair and I flush against his own chair. His creepy smile
deepened.

Becki’s face was turning an interesting shade
of red. Odd considering how dark skinned she is.

“You could wear that tiny purple dress of
yours Trinity, the one that barely covers your-

A loud crash had me nearly grabbing Tobar out
of fear. Becki’s chair had flown almost halfway across the tent and
directly into the picnic table housing the food. She was already
storming outside with Hockey racing after her. Tobar immediately
released me, his smile was gone.

“I’m sorry,” He said and stood. He left the
tent through the opposite side Becki had.

Still trying to process what had just
happened, I grabbed my bread drenched soup and headed for the
entranceway with Gunnar hot on my heels.

“I was serious Trinity.”

Gunnar Horváth, the older brother to the
tacky triplets who, like his sisters, never hesitated to throw in
my face just how Roma I wasn’t. He’d called me a Gaje so many times
I’d lost count.

“Why?” I asked him.

“Huh?”

“You heard me, why all of a sudden do you
want to take me to dances?”

“You didn’t hear fată?” Just entering the
tent, Xan paused next to us. “After that crazy display of Gerik’s
hormones, Jericho has forbidden him contact with you.” He shrugged.
“He’s probably worried he’ll destroy the camp trying to get in your
pants. Looks like your fair game now.”

Xan slapped Gunnar on the back and the idiot
actually grinned back at him. He was such a meat head.

But wait… forbidden?

Questions were popping up left and right. Was
I free now? Would Gerik be okay? What would happen to him? Did I
even care?

I was way out of my element with all this
hocus pocus that everyone else around here seemed so blasé
about.

“So you’re free to do what you want Trin.
Maybe you’ll have better luck with Gunnar here…” Xan slapped Gunnar
on the back. Then, leaning in so close that I could smell the
cigarette smoke mingling with fresh cut wood clinging to his
clothing, he whispered, “Maybe he won’t repulse you as much.”

“Bastard!” I cried out, backing away from
him. “That wasn’t my fault!”

“Maybe…” Xan looked mockingly thoughtful.
“You just didn’t want it bad enough.”

I didn’t think, just reacted. And my reaction
landed Xan with a bowl of soggy bread and soup on his chest. Clumps
of vegetables and meat slid down his pants before hitting the
ground.

I recognized Shandor’s laughter as I tore out
of the back of the tent. Anything that amused Shandor pissed Xan
off twice as much. I needed to be invisible. Like yesterday.

“Watch it Xan Daniel!” Kizzy, Shandor’s
mother, yelled. Horrified, I glanced over my shoulder at the Asenov
trailer. Kizzy stood outside hanging her laundry and Xan had just
trampled her basket of freshly washed clothes. He was bounding
towards me, his face a mask of fury.

I amped up my speed, pumping my legs as fast
as they could go, I had only two more rows of trailers before I got
to my own row and was hoping upon all hopes Becki hadn’t locked
herself in after what had happened with Tobar.

I raced past a shocked Maisera and Jericho. I
knew Xan was right behind me, his heavy footfalls growing closer. I
could only imagine what this must look like. Any day now I was sure
they were going to kick me out of camp, citing that I was causing
more trouble than I was worth.

A flash of white had me nearly tripping over
my own two feet. Gerik was standing near a small fire at the edge
of the back lot, his eyes aglow. A chill peppered my arms with
goose bumps as the scents of cinnamon and pine trees deliciously
filled the air.

“You pussy! You magic using pussy!” Xan
yelled, sounding very far away.

I paused at my door to look back. Xan was
picking himself up off the ground halfway across the living lot and
Gerik was…gone.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

An unplanned fire meeting had begun about an
hour ago. Tonight was special, several of the school aged children
were participating in an impromptu spelling bee and would be
singing songs they had been practicing for weeks.

Spelling was the last thing on my mind.

Between watching Xan chug a bottle of Gin,
only pausing long enough to make-out with the most terrible of the
triplets, Fifi and having to watch Gerik and Onyx do the same, I
was having trouble simply remaining calm.

“Becki!” I exclaimed. “I need a mental detour
over here.”

“You and me both,” She said sullenly.

Nadya moved from her place beside me and
wriggled in between the two of us. “Hmmm…” She tapped her chin
while she scoured the fire pit. “Aha! Whose boobs are bigger? Alana
or Jaelle’s?”

Becki laughed. “My mami’s definitely. They
are the size of my head.”

“Okay… too easy.” She looked around. “Who
would rather kiss, Pitti or Pesha?”

I pushed Nadya playfully into Becki.
“Ew!”

“Okay, okay…” She grinned mischievously. “Who
would you rather hook up with, Harman Siwak or Djordji Čonka?”

“Eeeee!” Becki shrieked. “They are sooo
old!”

Throat clearing had us looking up into the
smiling face of Madeleana Čonka. “Some things get better with age
girls,” She said with a wink.

As she walked away we fell over top of each
other laughing.

Pitti plopped down next to me. “What’s so
funny fetita?” Still laughing, no one answered him.

He shrugged and handed me his flask. “Half
full babe. Just for you. And may I add Trinity, that you’re
especially sexy tonight.”

Seriously? Maybe I would prefer to be off the
market if this was how it was going to be from now on.

“Damn, I can’t even spell some of these
words.” Stevo mumbled, taking a seat next to Becki. “How old is Adi
anyway? Five? Six? Shit.”