Escaping Fate (23 page)

Tanner scoffs and pulls back in mock
hurt. “How was I supposed to know you shooting with me was a big
secret. You could have told me,” he argued.

I kind of had a lot on my mind the last
week. It’s a good argument, too, but I don’t use it. I’m done
talking about what happened. Thankfully Tanner picks up the sudden
slack in the conversation.

“But you have to admit I did a pretty
good job of convincing her archery was perfectly safe. She let you
keep the bow, at least.”

“No, you convinced my dad it was safe.
My mom was still pretty upset about the whole thing. I think she
might have tried to hide it last night if I hadn’t slept with it
under my pillow last night,” I said.

Tanner’s deep laugh broke around me.
“You slept with the bow under your pillow? Why?”

“Because I know my mom all too well,
and…” I stopped myself, not meaning to add anything to that
sentence. The and caught Tanner’s attention, though. His eyebrows
rose expectantly and I knew there was no chance of him letting me
squirm out of this one.

“Because I was a little scared of going
to bed last night, and since I couldn’t have you with me again I
had to settle for the bow.”

I couldn’t believe I just admitted that
to him. My embarrassment had me looking down at my toes squiggling
around in the sand. Tanner’s hands pulled me back up to meet his
eyes. The soft, playful, sensuous glow in them froze my breath.
Slowly his hands dropped from my face and pulled the sweatshirt
he’d been wearing against the cool ocean breeze off of his
body.

In one smooth motion he pulled it down
over my shoulders. Autopilot alone made my arms work to push them
through the sleeves. Tanner placed his hands back on my face, and
said, “Since I’m guessing my chances of getting to sneak back into
your room for the night are pretty slim…”

He paused and waited for my confirming,
if not much too slow nod. My grandpa made it pretty clear to both
of us he’d spill everything if he found out Tanner stayed over
again. Whether my grandpa understood why I asked Tanner to stay or
not, I was still his to protect.

“
Well, now you have
something else to keep you company if you need it,” Tanner said,
rubbing his hands up and down my now covered arms
slowly.

A sweatshirt wasn’t nearly as good as
having Tanner, but it was a lot better than an uncomfortable bow.
“Thanks, Tanner.”

Back in his arms again I closed my eyes
with no fear for the first time and what seemed like years. I had
planned very specifically to hate everything about Grainer. It
really shouldn’t have taken a near death experience at the hands of
ancient Aztec gods to realize how lucky I really was to be here.
Somehow I had escaped my centuries old fate and landed the best
boyfriend ever since moving here. Not bad for my first week as The
New Doctor’s Kid. I just hoped the next two years aren’t nearly as
exciting. Boring and small sounded pretty perfect right
now.

###

Also by DelSheree Gladden

Twin Souls: Book One of the Twin Souls
Saga

Shaxoa’s Gift: Book Two of the Twin
Souls Saga

Qaletaqa: Book Three of the Twin Souls
Saga

Inquest (Book One of the Destroyer
Trilogy) Coming 2012

Check out this Sneak Peek of

Twin Souls

Book One of the Twin Souls
Saga

Prologue

The back tire of the Harley tore at the
earth, spraying gravel and dirt out behind me as I throttled the
engine harder. I could not stop. Claire was waiting.

My vision blurred in and out as I tried
to remain focused on the danger around me. The Matwau’s bulky grey
form broke into view. No matter how hard I pushed the bike’s
engine, the Matwau kept pace, its long wolf stride running parallel
to the bike.

I could see the house where Claire
waited, dying. I could just make out Quaile, now, standing outside
the door, her face twisted with worry. Time was running out. The
Matwau had almost reached me. Gripping the brakes, I pulled too
hard, too fast, sending the bike over in a cloud of dust in my race
to reach the house before the Matwau did. The bike slid across the
hard earth, but whatever wounds the dirt and gravel inflicted, I
could not feel them. Blood pounded in my head.

Free of the bike, I immediately jumped
to me feet. I was sure that I was moving as fast as I could, but
the world seemed to have lost its momentum. The trees slid past my
view slowly and the breeze seemed frozen in place. Emerging from
the dust cloud, the Matwau fixed me in its sights.

Fury at everyone and everything that
had brought me to this point boiled under my skin. The creature was
stronger, faster, more experienced than I. But I would not be
stopped. I would reach Claire. If I was certain of anything, and
there was precious little I was certain about at the moment, I was
certain of this. The Matwau would not stop me from reaching
Claire’s side.

The Matwau had reached its tipping
point.

With a cry of deep frustration, he
turned and launched himself at me. Quaile screamed for me to attack
and my body responded before I could even think to move. Power
built in my muscles, strengthening them beyond what was humanly
possible. Propelling myself right into the creature’s path, I
locked my arms around it. Fire raced through my body from the
contact as I flung it into the ground. The snapping of bones echoed
in my ears but did not stop the Matwau’s attack.

Claws and teeth raked the air as he
tried to tear my flesh. Pure reflex snapped my body back and forth
to cut off his attacks. My thoughts focused completely on Claire, I
pushed harder than ever. I was so close. I had gone clear across
the desert to find Daniel and bring him back to save her life. I
couldn’t stop now. Smashing my fist into the creature’s side, I saw
its ribcage collapse. Fury screamed out of the Matwau’s shattered
body, but it did not give up.

Broken bones meshed back together as he
shivered in my grip. He was trying to change again. I refused to
let him heal his wounds and prolong the fight. I had to get to
Claire. Nothing was as important as saving her life. Heaving the
beast into my arms I threw him as far away from me as I could. His
body slammed into the ground, a blast of sand spraying into the air
far enough away that it was barely noticeable by anyone but
me.

Releasing an infuriated howl that said
he knew he was outmatched, the Matwau pulled himself up and raced
away from the ranch with ground eating strides. I didn’t even wait
to see where he was going. Claire was dying.

I stumbled into the house, hardly aware
of anything but Claire. The antidote was ready, just waiting for
Claire’s Twin Soul to give it to him. I had brought him so
far.

“
Give it to her,” I hear
myself pleading, almost growling.

“
It will only take a few
drops,” Quaile said quietly. She leaned heavily on a walking stick
as she strode to the center of the room. “But it’s not quite that
simple.”

Quaile looked away, her fingers
wringing her skirt nervously. The corner of her mouth twitched as
she unsuccessfully tried to keep it from falling into a deep frown.
Her eyes took on the glassy glaze of tears. “There is one more
ingredient,” Quaile said with trembling lips.

My hands started to tremble. Quaile had
hidden more from me. I clenched my jaw to hold my hatred for her
inside. There was something else, something that she knew would
seal Claire’s fate. I felt my last particle of hope slip
away.

“His blood,” Quaile blurted out. “The
boy’s blood must be mixed in with the herbs.”

“What?” I exploded. Before I could stop
myself, I was on my feet, my rage carrying me across the room. My
hands gripped her frail shoulders roughly. She winced under my
touch, but faced me regardless of her fear. “How could you?” I
hissed. “You lied to me, Quaile! You told me there was hope, when
all along you knew there wasn’t. How could you do that to
me?”

Quaile’s frightened eyes pleaded with
me for understanding. “I did not know if you would still go if I
told you the truth,” she said.

I shoved her away from me, too angry to
even look at her. My breath came in gasping chunks. My vision
blurred and I suddenly couldn’t find my footing. I sank to my
knees. I thought I had prepared myself for this, but now that I was
truly facing reality, my heart shattered. His blood. She was lost
to me forever. “I can’t lose her, not now, not after everything
we’ve been through. I don’t know if I can live without
her.”

I wasn’t sure whether I was speaking
aloud or not. I had lost all feeling except for the crippling pain
in my chest.

1: Anything

Chaos streamed out of the double doors
of the high school. The way everyone ran for their cars and sped
out of the parking looked something like terrified masses running
from a bomb scare. Nothing as interesting as that happened in San
Juan Pueblo, though. It was just the last day of school. Everybody
was in a hurry to start their summer vacations except for
me.

Living on a ranch meant my summers were
spent watering the alfalfa fields and looking after the sheep and
horses we owned. Not to mention mucking out stalls, cutting and
binding alfalfa, hauling stock, and a dozen other things. I didn’t
really mind the work, but sometimes I wished for the freedom to go
tearing off to Santa Fe on a whim like some of the other kids did.
Like Claire Brant did.

I watched her long, chocolate colored
hair bounce around her shoulders as she climbed into Jonny Begay’s
Jeep Wrangler. I wondered if they were dating, now. She laughed at
whatever Jonny said and reached down to help Dana climb up behind
her. Turning back to look at Jonny, Claire’s eyes swept over me.
Her smile seemed to brighten when she saw me but that was probably
just my imagination.

There were plenty of reasons I should
have caught her eye. I had more sports trophies than anyone else in
the school, decent enough grades, good looks as far as I could
tell, and the build of a football player, thanks to working on the
ranch with my dad. For some reason, though, I had never managed to
say more than a few words to her.

It wasn't that I was shy, it was hard
to be too shy when sports constantly put me in the spotlight, but
there was something about Claire that made it impossible for me to
approach her. With any other girl, I was confident and comfortable.
Claire was different, though. And since I was hopelessly in love
with her, I didn’t date much.

Backing out of his parking space, Jonny
let out an enthusiastic yell as they drove toward me. He revved the
engine as if he was going to speed out of here but the line of
waiting cars held him at bay. Dana and Beth were standing up in the
back of the Jeep with their hair flying around their faces.
Spotting me, Dana leaned over the frame alluringly, and said, “Hop
in, Uriah. We’re heading out to the bluffs for the bonfire
tonight.”

She never quit. “Sorry, Dana, I’ve got
stuff to do at the ranch. Hauling hay bales into the barn and
things,” I said.

The exaggerated pout on her lips was
amusing. She knew I wasn't interested but she still tried. Too
hard, most of the time. “Will you come later? I’ll be disappointed
if you don’t.”

“Maybe, I don’t know.”

Dana looked like she was going to keep
pressuring me, but my frown made her hold her tongue. I liked Dana
well enough, but it really bothered me that she tried to push her
attention on me when she knew very well I didn’t want it. Bouncing
back quickly, Dana just shrugged and went back to talking with
Beth. I started walking again, my gaze sliding along to Jeep to
Claire. I realized she was looking right at me and froze. This time
I didn’t have to imagine she was really smiling at me. Raising her
hand she motioned toward the Jeep and said something but Jonny’s
theatrical engine rev drowned her out. I took a step forward hoping
to hear her better, but the Jeep jerked forward onto the main
road.

Was she asking me to come along? She
could have been motioning toward the car, or just pointing back at
Dana and Beth. Jonny, and his stupid engine. I wished he could
figure out how to not act like a total delinquent once in a while.
What had she said? Dana asking me to go was easy to turn down, but
Claire, I couldn’t refuse her. I should, but I wouldn’t.

I didn’t feel like hauling hay bales
suddenly.

Abandoning the dirt road that led me
home, I let myself wander toward the one spot I could clear my head
and think. The river was completely out of my way but I needed the
quiet sound of the water lapping against the bank right now. Every
time I saw Claire I felt different. Being around her made me feel
weaker for some reason. It actually hurt me to touch
her.

The first time it happened, when I
bumped into her in the hallway in fifth grade, I thought she must
have just shocked me. The next time I touched her I had tapped on
her shoulder to get past her. My light touch had been like tiny
daggers shooting through my arm. The affect she had on me was
undeniable when she grabbed my arm by accident, her bare skin
against mine. I lost every ounce of strength and had to cover
myself by saying I had tripped. The few other times we came in
contact were the same. It was as if my body was trying to tell me
that it couldn’t handle being near her.