Shaxoa's Gift (13 page)

“How do you do it?” she asked.

I stared at her. “Really? You’re not going to
comment on how weird that is or question whether I’m lying? You
just accept it?”

“I told you, I’m good with freaky stuff like
this. Look at everything else you can do. Why would one more power
surprise me? I have a feeling you’ve only scratched the surface of
what you can do, Uriah.”

A cold chill rushed through me. I really
hoped she was wrong about that. My head was already threatening to
fall off. I didn’t need anything else to tip the balance.

“So, tell me how you do it,” Kaya asked after
a moment.

I shrugged. “I’m not really sure. I didn’t
even believe Claire that I was doing it until recently. I just tell
someone they’re going to do something, and they do it.
Usually.”

“Usually? What does that mean?”

The urge to squirm under her gaze bites at
me. It was different when I didn’t believe I could control
anything. Admitting that I had used it knowingly left a slimy
feeling in my gut. “I tried to force Claire’s brother, Cole, to go
back when he tried to come with me to find Daniel, but he refused.
It was weird because I’d told him to do things before and he always
did it. And I almost couldn’t convince Claire’s dad to let us get
married, either. He looked like he was fighting the pull to give in
pretty hard, but he couldn’t win. When I found Daniel, I tried
telling him he had to come with us right off the bat and he didn’t
listen at all.”

“Well, that’s not surprising. Twin Souls who
are being pulled toward each other can’t be affected by any power
other than the bond,” Kaya said matter-of-factly.

“Oh…that’s good to know, I guess.”

“The others, though, why couldn’t you control
Claire’s brother, and why did it almost not work on her dad?” she
asked.

“I’m not sure, but I think it had something
to do with their conviction or love for the person. I told Cole to
go home, but he refused to turn his back on Claire. With her dad,
he really wanted to keep us a part, but when I said Claire deserved
to be happy he finally broke.”

“Are Claire and her brother close?” Kaya
asked.

“Yeah. They fight and stuff, but they’re
really close.”

“So making him abandon her when she was in
trouble…”

“He would never do it. He would hate himself
if anything ever happened to Claire because he didn’t help her,” I
said. Cole was an irresponsible punk a lot of the time, but he
loved Claire. He would always be there for her.

Kaya leaned forward, her elbows on her knees.
“Claire and her dad, I already gathered that they don’t get along,
given the poisoning incident, but do you think he cares about her?
Does he love her?”

Claire wouldn’t agree with me on this, but I
said, “He does. He doesn’t show it, ever, but I get the feeling
that whatever reason he thinks we shouldn’t be together, he thinks
he’s doing the right thing by her. He wants her to be happy and
safe. He just doesn’t seem to think I can do that for her.”

Nodding, Kaya considered what I had said.
“Listening to you and going back would have made Cole go against
his deepest convictions to his sister. Keeping Claire from marrying
you would get her dad what he wanted, but it would make him break
his daughter’s heart. On the other hand, stopping someone from
punching a girl, that was most likely a heat of the moment thing
the kid would have regretted later.” She looked up at me
thoughtfully.

“So, what do you get from all that?”

“I don’t think you can make anyone do
something against their nature. Cole will protect Claire. Her dad
wants her to be happy. The guy punching Claire, sounds like a jerk,
but not evil,” Kaya said.

Evil? No, Jonny wasn’t evil, just a dirt bag.
Kaya’s words started to sink in. I thought back to all the times
Claire had pointed out when people listened to me without a good
reason. Other kids that quickly agreed to my suggestion of what
game to play when I was a child, teammates who took my word on
plays over the coach’s opinion even when it sounded risky, even
coaches who put aside their own experience and training to take my
advice. Teachers, students, young children, grandparents, I could
stop an argument or fight, offer solutions that were taken on hand,
convince people of the right choice.

I guess I never went around purposely trying
to get people to do bad things. If I had, would I have found
resistance a lot more often like Kaya was suggesting. Asking Cole
to go back was wrong. He had every right to try and save his sister
along with me. Letting Claire marry me was right, especially from
my point of view. Thomas Brant’s efforts to try and control her
life were pushed away in the face of my compulsion to make a better
choice. Kaya was right.

“So, what about Claire?” I asked her.

“That, I don’t know what to tell you, Uriah,
but…” Her gaze fell from mine. I sat up straighter and tried to see
her expression.

“What, Kaya?”

She shook herself and looked up. “I don’t
know, Uriah. In all I’ve studied, I’ve never heard of anything like
this. It could be anything.”

“But you have an idea.”

Hesitant to answer, she shifted in the chair,
crossing and uncrossing her legs before settling both feet back on
the floor. I waited. Finally, she sighed and looked back up at me.
“Making you weak, hurting you, the animals, not being able to
control her at all…Uriah, I know this sounds crazy, but it almost
sounds like Claire is either stealing or negating your powers.”

“What?” She couldn’t possibly mean that. “If
anything, I thought maybe Claire was immune to what I could
do.”

“Maybe that would work for the control, but
not for anything else. Immunity wouldn’t affect the animals or you
personally. Being around Claire does something to your gifts,” Kaya
said. The authority in her voice made it hard to argue.

“That doesn’t…Why would Claire…” I shook my
head, unable to form a clear thought.

Kaya said quietly, “It almost makes it sound
like…”

My own thoughts, ones I had thought a million
times before, crowded back into my mind. “It makes it sound like
something is telling us Claire and I shouldn’t be together.”

12: Samantha

The gentle touch was enough to rouse me from
the unpleasant sleep. Fighting through frantic searches for Claire
and bloody battles with the Matwau, I was grateful for the escape.
I hadn’t wanted to go back to sleep after Kaya woke me up the first
time. She insisted when a pounding headache crept up on me after
our discussion. Claire not meant for me? It made every part of me
ache to even entertain such an idea. Sitting up, I saw Kaya
kneeling next to the bed.

“Is it time to go?” I asked.

Kaya watched me with worry in her face. I was
breathing hard for having just been asleep. My headache was gone,
but I didn’t actually get much rest with the nightmares shadowing
my every step. I wondered if I would ever sleep peacefully again.
Making an effort to remove her frown, Kaya watched me carefully.
“Yes, it’s nearly six o’clock. Are you feeling well enough to go?”
she asked.

“I’m fine, Kaya,” I said, “unless you know
how to stop someone from dreaming.”

Kaya’s mouth turned down again. “We’ll talk
about your dreams, as well as Quaile’s, when we get back.”

It was no longer a question, apparently. I
made some noncommittal noise as I drug myself out of the bed. I
would avoid the subject if at all possible, but I knew that was
highly unlikely. My dreams were becoming nearly as bad as Quaile’s.
I fervently hoped it wasn’t some new ability trying to manifest
itself like Kaya had suggested. I had enough to worry about
already.

Walking back to the cheerful living room, I
waited for Kaya to gather her keys. With a few more worried
glances, Kaya led me to her car. “Samantha lives a little ways out
of town,” she said.

I could guess the reason why.

“Is there anything I should know or expect
before we get there?” I asked.

“She’s going to be very wary of helping you.
Just tell her your story,” Kaya said. “I’ll help in any way I can,
but you’ll have to do the convincing. It will help that I’m here to
vouch for you. Sam and I may be on opposite sides of the spectrum
when it comes to what we study, but we trust each other
completely.”

“I almost tried going to her first because I
didn’t want to get involved with another shaman,” I said.

Kaya smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.
“She wouldn’t have even opened the door.”

“Thank you, Kaya, for everything,” I said. I
was pleased to have found such an unexpected ally.

“Don’t thank me quite yet,” she said. “Is
Talon following us?”

I nodded. Talon was never far from me. Kaya’s
sister or not, Talon was not about to let me walk into a Shaxoa’s
home unprotected.

“Good. Sam will want to meet him.” If they
were polar opposites in every other way, Kaya and Samantha seemed
to share an unquenchable curiosity from the little she had told me
about her sister earlier. Kaya’s curiosity had earned her the title
of shaman, while Samantha’s had earned her a life of pain and
fear.

It was odd, but I wasn’t afraid of meeting
Samantha. At most, I was worried that she wouldn’t be willing or
able to help me. Thinking of Zarafen, the Shaxoa responsible for
poisoning Claire, still made my stomach curdle. I trusted Kaya when
she said her sister wasn’t evil or dangerous, but I wasn’t sure
whether I was right to do so. It may have been just a desperate
hope, but I would know soon enough.

Kaya pulled up to a solitary adobe house
miles outside of Hano. It sat beneath the shadow of a row of red
rock bluffs. Her home was an oasis in the rusty desert. An herb
garden almost equal to the size of the house blossomed and bulged.
Decorative flower pots covered the small wooden porch, leaving only
a thin pathway up to the door.

Snatching the keys from the ignition, Kaya
stepped out of the car. Putting a hand up to her eyes, Kaya stared
at the curtained windows. I saw a brief flutter as I shut my own
door. Silently we approached the home. Kaya opened the squeaking
screen door and knocked confidently on the solid wood.

“It’s me, Sam,” Kaya said. “I have the boy I
mentioned with me.”

Boy. I no more looked like a boy than I felt
like a boy. Kaya had admitted that she was only twenty-seven. The
nine year difference was hardly enough to turn me into a helpless
child. Kaya only winked at my annoyance.

The crack of the old door dispelled my
irritation. The woman who opened the door was shockingly beautiful,
though not as striking as Claire. She looked like she could have
been Kaya’s twin, but was surprisingly even younger than her
sister. Her nervous smile completed the unlikely image. She was
nothing like what I had been expecting.

Kaya stepped forward and embraced her sister
warmly. Turning back to me she said, “Sam, this is Uriah.”

Samantha extended her hand. “Thank you for
seeing me, Samantha,” I said. I took her hand and shook it warily.
She nodded and opened the door wide enough for us to enter.

“Please come in,” Samantha said. Her bright
eyes watched me closely.

Over the shock of how non dark and evil
Samantha was, I wasn’t that surprised by how warm and bright her
home turned out to be. The cool yellow walls were calming. The
beautifully woven rug in the sitting room had to have been made by
Kaya. The clay vase held fresh cut tulips. It was a home I could
imagine a family living in, one with children playing on the
rug.

“You have a beautiful home,” I said.

“Thank you,” Samantha said, her nervous hands
smoothing her blouse. “Would you like to sit down?”

Nodding, I took a seat next to Kaya on the
couch. A sharp ping broke the silence. Glancing at the computer
nestled in the far corner of the room, Samantha frowned at the
sound. “Just another email,” she said.

I looked at the stacks of books and paper on
the desk. It seemed odd to me that the Shaxoa would have so much
computer work. Samantha’s eyes followed mine. She smiled and spoke
up. “I’m a software programmer.”

I felt my eyebrows rise, and tried to force
them back down. Of course she had a regular job as well. There
would be no reason being a Shaxoa would be lucrative, especially
for one who refused to ply her trade. Stumbling to recover, I said,
“What kind of software do you make?”

“Mathematical programs to track breeding
patterns in animals. It’s not that interesting to most people, but
I like it,” Samantha said.

“She’s very good at her job,” Kaya said.

Samantha ignored her sister’s compliment.
“Well, Uriah, why don’t you tell me why you’re here. I doubt it’s
to learn how to program in JavaScript.”

Before answering, I reached out to Talon.
“Can you hear the Shaxoa's thoughts at all?”

“No,” Talon said. His answer was laced with
irritation. “I will keep track of Kaya’s thoughts. She may know
whether her sister speaks the truth or not.”

I thought of the strand of Claire’s hair
hidden in my pocket. I wanted to be with her so badly. I placed my
hand on my thigh, feeling the shape of the strand in my pocket and
drawing strength from it. I had a feeling that Samantha would react
badly to my request. Claire was counting on me to make Samantha
understand. Forcing my attention back to her, I focused on her
worried eyes. “I need to know how to sever the Twin Soul bond.”

Samantha’s eyes went wider than I would have
thought possible. Her mouth dropped. A split second later she was
turning a fiery gaze on her sister. “This is why you brought him
here? You know I won’t use what I know to hurt anyone. How could
you?” she asked.

Even Kaya was taken aback by her sister’s
angry response. “Sam, please, just listen to him,” she pleaded. “I
would never have brought him here if I thought he was trying to
harm someone.”