Clan of Redemption (20 page)

“Ok, then stop talking to her
and maybe she can get some sleep,” Sully said as she
grumbled.

I’m not sure how long I was
sleeping, I tried to focus on the clock but it was blurry. I woke
up before Logan and Sully and just laid in bed thinking about my
Mother. I think I dreamed about her again, but I couldn’t fully
remember. I decided to get my mother’s letters out of my beg and
read some of them. It might help me understand my grandmother
better.

I sorted through the letters
and decided to read them in chronological order, which looked like
the first one was several years before I was born. I hadn’t
realized how long they hadn’t been talking.

Dear Grace,

I beg you to reconsider your
choice, I’m not sure that you really understand the consequences of
what you are doing. This is what you were born for; it is your
destiny to fulfill your role in our society. If you walk away I
cannot control what happens to you, nor can I protect you from
others that might harm you. I know that I have not been the
affectionate mother that you had hope for when you were a child but
in our lives there is not room for love only loyalty and devotion.
If you were to come back now, I know that the punishment would be
insignificant and you could return to your rightful place as
princess. Please don’t make this about me, listen to your mother
this one time, I fear for your safety and do not want to say good
bye to you before your time. I will wait for a response from
you.

Sincerely,

Your Mother

It’s hard for me to think that
my Mother didn’t receive all the love that she showed me. I was my
Mother’s universe; she lived to teach me especially about love and
compassion. Just from meeting my grandmother I can’t believe that
she was raised by that woman and turned out to be such a wonderful
person.

“Jayden, is that one of your
grandmothers letters to your Mom?” Sully asked me as she sat up
from her nap.

“Yes, but it doesn’t say much,
here you read it,” I said.

I got up and handed Sully the
letter and went and sat back down and grabbed another
letter.

While Sully read the letter I
handed her I started to read the second letter which really wasn’t
any different from the first.

“Not to be mean Jayden, but
your grandmother didn’t sound like a very nice person and from what
we’ve seen already, I’m not sure that you can trust her,” Sully
said.

“I’m starting to think that
myself, but I still need to find out what’s happening to me and
there’s still my grandfather to consider,” I said as I put the
letter away.

“So Logan can’t tell you
anything else, which sucks, what use is he then,” Sully
said.

I can hear you
Sully.

“Oh, sorry Logan, I just mean
that it’s stupid that you can’t tell us more about what’s going
on,” Sully said.

I got up from the table and
went and sat next to Logan on the bed. He rolled over onto his
back, I guess so I cold rub his belly, he has the softest
fur.

“So why do you think that
Blake stayed at my grandmother's house? I found that sort of
strange,” I asked.

“Well I don’t trust him, so it
doesn’t surprise me,” Sully said as she flung her legs off the side
of the bed.

Sully’s right in not trusting
Blake, Jayden.

I decided to call my Dad to
check in, he didn’t really have much to say but wished me well and
to make sure I called him if I needed anything.

“How does everyone feel about
going down to the beach, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen the
ocean and I would really like to go?” I asked Logan and
Sully.

“Sounds groovy to me, but
after that maybe we could go into town, I really need some
entertainment.” Sully said as she got up and started to layer up.
The beach can be a chilly place.

Laughing.

“
Ok, Sully
we can go into town later, I know you’re getting
bored.

I think there’s a place to
rent horses, I know how much you love horses.

“Oh that would be fun, Sully
what you think?” I asked her.

“Fine, but then you really owe
me, me and horses don’t like each other, but I’ll try,” she said as
she put her iPod in her pocket.

Healing

We got our things together and
I made sure that I wore my wool sweater that my Dad had gotten me
for Christmas last year. It’s gray and has a mock turtle neck, this
sweater has always given me a cozy feeling, plus it’s one of the
only pieces of clothing that my Dad has bought me that I ever
liked.

The drive to the beach was
nice and quiet. it made me think of the time that my Mom brought us
to a beach when I was around 7. We rented this house on the beach
in Oregon. I wonder if that’s why we had to go to Oregon, maybe Mom
didn’t want to run into her own Mother. We had such a great time;
my Mom would sit on the porch at night, wrapped in a blanket and
just stare out at the sea. It was one of her favorite places to
visit.

We parked on a road that lead
to the beach and walked the rest of the way. Sully had complained
that I might get salt water under the car and it could hurt my
engine. I think she loves my car more than I do.

“This is so beautiful, I’ve
forgotten what it looked like, no wonder my Mother liked to come
here,” I said as I looked at the ocean waves crashing onto the
beach.

You belong here
Jayden.

“Who doesn’t belong here, it’s
so peaceful and simple,” I said as I realized that it was cold
outside.

“Hey Jayden, do you mind if I
go check out that bonfire those boys have going on over there, I’m
getting cold,” Sully said.

“Sure, just be careful Sully,”
I said as I watched her start walking over to the
bonfire.

Logan and I sat down. I buried
my feet in the soft sand, watching the waves roll in. I felt a poke
on my hand and looked down and saw a small crab pinching my
finger.

“Owe, that hurts little guy.”
I picked him up and watched him try to get my fingers with those
pinchers.

“You shouldn’t go around
pinching people that are bigger than you,” I said to
him.

The crab just stared at me, he
was kind of cute.

“Your Mother use to love to
come to the beach and try and find the crabs.” A voice said that
sounded like it was coming from behind me.

I turned around and there
stood an older man with salt and pepper hair and brown eyes. He was
wearing slacks with a dress shirt, not an outfit you wear to the
beach.

“I’m sorry do I know you?” I
asked the man.

“You should know me, I’m your
Grandfather,” he said as he came and sat down next to
me.

Wow, this was my Grandfather.
He was so handsome.

“Oh, hi, I’m sorry I don’t
have any photos of you or Grandmother, sorry I didn’t recognize
you,” I said as I kept starring at him. He wasn’t what I expected,
even though I really didn’t know what to expect.

“Don’t be sorry honey, it’s
not your fault that you don’t know me. I blame that on your
grandmother. I recognized you right away; you look just like your
Mother. He sat starring at me. I think I saw moisture in his
eyes.

“How did you know where to
find me?” I asked.

“You’re Mother and I use to
come down here all the time, it was her favorite spot. Your
grandmother told me that you were coming for lunch tomorrow so I
thought I would look here for you. I also like to come here and be
close to your Mother,” he said as he picked up the crab that I had
just put down.

“Yeah I was just telling…..I
was just thinking that to myself before you came, that Mom use to
take Dad and I to beaches in Oregon,” I said as I realized that I
had almost given Logan’s identity away.

“Would you like to go for a
walk up the beach, I have some time before I have to get back?” he
asked me.

“Sure, that would be nice,” I
said as I stood up and brushed the sand from my back
side.

“Logan, can you please walk up
ahead of us and make sure that it’s clear,” Grandfather said as he
dusted off the sand from his pants.

“You know about Logan?” I
asked with surprise.

“Of course I know about Logan,
I sent his father to your Mother and he to you,” he said as we
started walking along the beach.

“What do you mean sent him to
me,” I said as I thought about Logan’s Dad.

“When your mother left and
went on her own, I worried for her safety, so I sent Logan’s father
after her to protect her,” he said.

“So Logan has been my friend
because he was told to be,” I said as I realized that I was getting
angry again about my friendship with Logan.

Towards the sand dunes there
were several bon fires going with people all around them. I heard
screams and turned around and saw the fires growing in size. The
people were panicking and trying to throw sand to put them
out.

“Jayden, listen to me, you
need to calm down. Your anger is causing those fires to burn out of
control. If you’re not careful you could hurt someone,” he said as
I tried to take deep breaths.

He grabbed me by my shoulders
and turned me towards him. His eyes, I know those eyes, they’re a
different color than my Mother’s, but those were her
eyes.

“You are a very special girl,
just like your Mom. Things are going to start happening to you that
might be scary and confusing, but you need to try to keep your
emotions in check. I will try to explain whatever I can, but until
then, try to think about the bigger picture, not about your
feelings for Logan,” he said as he hugged me.

I felt uncomfortable at first,
then I gave up and I hugged him back with all my heart. I started
to cry uncontrollably where my body just went limp. My grandfather
picked me up and held me in his arms.

“It’s going to be ok, little
one,” he said as I could barely hear him through my
tears.

Sir, we need to leave,
Jayden’s barrier is down and men are coming from the other side of
the beach.

Logan had come back from his
scouting mission and I hadn’t even noticed.

“Jayden, you and your friend
Sully need to leave, you’re not safe right now. Listen to what
Logan tells you, he is here to protect you and knows when things
are going badly,” he said as he put me back down. I could tell he
wanted to stay holding me, I could feel it.

“But I don’t want to leave
yet, I just got a chance to talk to you and now you’re leaving,” I
said as I wiped the last of my tears away.

“I will see you again, but
until then, try to stay focused and when you see your grandmother
tomorrow, do not think about me. She must not know that we have
talked. At least not yet,” he said as she bent down and kissed me
on my cheek.

“If I need to talk to you, how
will I contact you?” I asked him.

“The same way you talk to
Logan, you have the power to talk to me the same way, just be
careful. Now get going, I don’t want to have this confrontation
with these men right now, on this beach,” he said as he waved his
hands for me to go.

Come on Jayden, let’s
go.

We ran up the bon fire where
Sully was talking to some guys.

“Sully, we need to go.” I
said, as I grabbed her arm.

“Hey, Jayden, let me introduce
you to my friends. This is Max….he." I didn’t let her
finish.

“Sully, we don’t have time, we
have to leave right now…come on,” I said as I started to pull
her.

“Ok, ok, well Max, I gave you
my cell number, I should be in town for awhile, give me a call. She
winked at him. Leave it to Sully to find a fling at the beach, or
anywhere for that matter.

We started walking back to the
car, but Sully wasn’t moving as fast as I wanted her
to.

“Sully, let’s pick up the
pace,” I said.

“Did you see that guy, he was
hot, why do we have to leave, we were just getting to know each
other,” she said as she turned to look back at him.

“Hey Jayden, are we leaving
because of those group of guys that are running at us,” she said as
I turned to look back.

Jayden, this could get bad, we
really need to run a little faster.