Blood Debt (Touched Series Book 1) (36 page)

Zandra answered me, “You can’t see her because you choose not
to
see her.
  Imagine her disappointment in you.  I can see her.  I can see
you fell short in her eyes
,
and you continue to do so by
refus
ing
to use the gifts
you were born with
.
  You need only open your mind to find your twin.
”
 

Without thinking I blurted out, “Angelo, if you had this connection with my mom, how did you never find her?”

Angelo’s teeth were mashed together; his lips were thin angry lines and his eyes blazed when he answered, “She was cloaked by magic.  When her spirit left her body, I felt it go.  I knew she had died.”

I was intrigued.  Not only had my mother escaped, she was able to completely hide from everyone, even Angelo who should have had Centaur GPS connection to her.  “But your twin connection did not work before her death?”

Zandra must have read my thoughts because she
turned her attention to my uncle, “
Come
,
Angelo
, we have much to catch up on.”

The two of them left me in the garden.  My heart hurt
:
I felt like I didn’t belong, that I was inadequate, that I would never have the life I wanted. 
Angelo
said I’d pay for her debts
.  W
hat did that mean?  To think I was excited when today’s lesson began
,
and in this moment I couldn’t imagine a fate worse than the one I was living. 

I thought back to times as a teenager.  Mom always knew when I was up to something I shouldn’t be.  I remembered I’d stayed at a party all night on the beach
. 
I’d arranged with a friend to
cover for me
;
if my mom checked on me
,
I was staying at her house
.  When the sun rose and I knew it was time to go home, my mother’s car was waiting for me in the
beach’s
parking lot. 
I didn’t know how long she
had
sat waiting for me.  Most parents would have flown off the handle
.  S
he didn’t.  All she said was, “I’m disappointed in you, Camille.”  I think I would have taken any punishment in the world if it meant I wouldn’t have heard those words. 

Another time when I’d “borrowed” a sweater from her after she’d told me I couldn’t
,
I sn
eaked
into her room and jammed it deep in
to
my book bag. 
I tried to get to the front door when she stopped me
.  S
he took it out of my book bag before I left for school that morning and scolded me for lying to her.  All my friends noticed it, too.  I was the only one
who
could never get away with anything.  I’d never put it together before. 

She really was a
Centauride
. 
I was her daughter and if what
Angelo
told me was true – I had a twin brother somewhere in the world that I’d never known.
I thought back to Mom’s treasure box in her closet, the photograph of two babies. 
Was Zandra right?  Maybe as a
Centauride
and as a daughter, I was a disappointment to my mother.

Thankfully,
Angelo
departed the same day he came.  He was like Zandra, evil to the core,
with
no thought for anyone but himself.  I felt horrible for my circumstance
. 
I wanted to run away.  I wanted to talk to someone
. 
I needed human contact. 

*****
 

I read the whole diary in short bursts
;
there weren’t that many entries.  From what I’d read, she really didn’t care for Zandra and
was
thrilled with the idea of marrying Kyle Richardson and getting the heck away.  I wish there had been something that talked about how she made her escape.  A secret passageway
?
  M
aybe her father finally came through for her
?
  But I didn’t find any clues in it, other than to know Zandra had always been a vile person,
and her brother
Angelo
was mean to her his whole life
.

Entry Eighteen
Oct 15 – Kyle stopped by again today
. 
I can’t wait to
get
marr
ied and
get away from this place.
  Dad refuses to stop
Angelo
’s constant threats
. 
I can’t believe
we are related, let alone twins
. 
Angelo
warned
Kyle I’d run the first chance I got, and that
Kyle
needed to talk to mother about keeping me under control.  When Kyle told
Angelo
that he wasn’t worried,
Angelo
offered to show him how to slice my Achilles
’
tendon, to keep me from running.  Kyle pretended he thought that
Angelo
was joking, but
he stayed with me all day
and offered to camp out in the backyard if I wanted him to
. 
Two more weeks and this hell is over.
 

By my fort
y
-
s
econd tick mark on my closet wall
,
I began to wonder if I’d ever
be permitted to leave or speak to another human being.  I was thankful Bianca had taught me how to protect my thoughts
so
the hatred I felt for
Zandra
was masked from her view
. 
I did broadcast t
he loneliness I felt growing each day
, hoping it would ebb away at Zandra’s resolve to keep me a prisoner.  Those lonely thoughts
gave way to
the longing for
relationships that might never be.  I felt myself thinking often of Will, Gretchen
,
and my brothers
, how all
of them had willingly accepted me into their home, their lives and their hearts.  The fun-loving brothers I’d only known for a mere week
had been
abruptly
stolen
like a prized toy. 
The knowledge that somewhere in the world I had a brother that I’d shared my mother’s womb with was crippling because I didn’t know if he was dead or alive. 
The father
who
was full of love
,
who
I’d been denied my whole life
,
was robbed from me. 
I thought of Daniel all the time.  I knew he would be worried sick by now. 
The solitude proved unbearable
,
and the guards witnessed me in emotional turmoil nearly every evening, but none offered even one word of comfort.  They looked on as my hopelessness threatened to envelop
e
me. 

As I
stared at that fort
y
-
s
econd tick mark,
I
made up my mind
, n
o matter what
Zandra
chose to do to me, it couldn’t be worse tha
n
the utter hopelessness of being denied human contact – or
Cent
au
r
contact.  When she
joined me in
the garden
,
she waited
for me to repeat the lesson from yesterday
-
I rebelled
t
he only way I knew how, “
Zandra
, when can I see Dad again?”

“Your father is very busy.  He’ll see you when he chooses to make time for you.”
  She was lying.  I couldn’t read her mind or her thoughts, but I could feel the truth.  She was keeping me from him.

“Does he know where I am?”

“Of course
,
he knows where you are.”

“Then why hasn’t he come to see me?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know.”

“Bullshit!”  The look on her face was worth every penny in my bank account
,
and I would have gladly handed it over.
  I’d rattled her.

“I think we’ll skip the lesson today
. 
I’ll see you tomorrow.”
  She stood and walked away.  I felt that initial panic that I had wasted what little human contact I was afforded by my belligerence.  The panic gave way to seething anger; I made myself a silent promise that I would not relent.
  I watched as an alligator that had been sunning along the water’s edge dove into the water – even that beast with prehistoric ancestors had more freedom than I did.
  I wouldn’t give up
,
and I refused to politely sit through one more of her lessons. 

I was done. 
Nothing in the world was worth
this isolation
. 
When I heard the door to the house close, I knew my human contact was over for the day.  I was wearing blue jeans, a sweatshirt
,
and my favorite sneakers – perfect traveling clothes.  I stood up and started walking toward the large iron gate.  I could hear my guard’s footsteps behind me.  I had gone thirty feet when I heard his voice for the first time in six weeks, “Stop!”

I ignored him and picked up my pace.

His voice was loud and menacing, “Camille, I said
stop
!”

I didn’t even glance over my shoulder.  I had spoken to him on several occasions and was ignored
. 
I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of a response.  Instead I let loose into a sprint for the gate.  Two vice grips for hands grabbed my shoulders, throwing me violently to the ground when I was less than twenty feet from the gate.  I hadn’t expected the impact
. 
I lay on the ground weighing my options.  I could easily make it into the swamp with a hope that this man couldn’t swim and the alligators I watched every day would not attack
me
.  I sat up from the ground, brushed the gravel off of my face
,
and glared in his direction.

His face was angry when he demanded,
“Go back to the house.”

“You go back to the house. I’m going home.”

“This is your home, Camille.”

“No, this is her home.  I’m leaving.”  I stood up, brushed the last of the gravel from me and looked at the gate
. 
I could reach it and be over it in less than thirty seconds
.  T
he problem was, I
knew
the guard
was even faster
.  Where’s a man
-
eating alligator
when you need one?  I took a step toward the water, deciding this would be my best shot at freedom
.  W
hen I did
,
the guard heaved his whole body at me.  The weight of his frame knocked the wind out of me and covered me in gravel a second time.

The guard anticipated what I was about to do.  He was done talking to me
.  H
is palm gripped my neck at the base of my skull
,
and he forcibly escorted me all the way to the front door. 

The anger inside me welled up with such fervor that I was sure it
would
spill over and poison those around me.  I knew I needed to hold the anger
,
but I also needed to get
it
back to a slow boil.  I did what I knew would bring the anger under control, but in doing so would make my heart ache all over again. 

I closed my eyes and imagined the day on the yacht with Drake
:  h
ow his skin felt as I held his face in my hands. 
I saw t
he surprised look on his face when images of the two of us flooded from his mind. 
I remembered h
ow overcome I was by the images
,
so much so
that I kissed him without warning.  I sat in
my room
for what felt like hours
,
reliving those precious few moments with him
,
trying to remember what we had said to one another
.
 

Drake
was my island oasis
. 
I could feel the molten anger subsiding
.  I
t didn’t go away – but I felt I had it under control again.
 
Thoughts of Drake had somehow become my escape. 
I thought of my easy friendship with Bianca and wondered if she’d been able to convince Drake to break their engagement
after I’d been taken away
.
  I wondered what they knew of my disappearance
.  D
id they think I’d hopped a plane to California?
  I tried not
to
think of Daniel, but knew he was probably a nervous wreck; we’d been friends since I knew what a friend was.  Even when I’d gone away to summer camp, I had never gone longer than a week without talking to him.