Shaxoa's Gift (22 page)

“How can he find out?” I asked. I didn’t
really want to hear the answer.

“Physical contact,” Kaya said.

I sucked in a sharp breath. Everyone at the
table was aware of the fact that I had been touched by the Matwau
multiple times. Even thinking of it made my skin burn again.

“The Matwau already knows who she is,” I
said. It wasn’t a question, but a statement. That was why he hadn’t
attacked me again. He was searching for her. But had he found her
yet? “Does he know where she is?”

“There’s no way to know for sure,” Kaya
said.

“Tell me what happened in the story,” I
demanded. There was little chance that I could glean anything from
it that Kaya and Samantha had not, but I needed to hear it.

Kaya was the one to speak up. “The shaman
recounts that a strange man came into their village one day. He
seemed to have a strange air about him that made all the
townspeople take to him immediately. One young man in particular
was very taken with him. The shaman watched them shake hands, and
when they did, the stranger’s face lit up, a wild emotion in his
eyes. He left very soon afterward.

“She said that the young man drove off with
some friends and did not return until later that night. When she
saw him the next morning there was something changed about him.
When the shaman approached him, she felt the beginnings of the Twin
Soul bond. Right away she knew that the man had seen the same
thing, somehow. Quickly she took his hands and read his future. He
would meet his Twin Soul in a matter of hours.

“Frantically she tried to find the woman, but
could not. The next day, two women were talking about a poor girl
that had been mauled by a rabid wolf in the next village. She
sought out the young man again and found him sitting alone under a
tree, feeling a deep sadness he couldn’t explain. She could no
longer feel the pull of the bond surrounding him. She went to the
town and confirmed that it was the boy’s Twin Soul.”

I sighed. The Matwau may have known exactly
where to find her, or knowing the two would meet very soon, he may
have simply stuck around the village until he also felt the bond
beginning to form. There was no way for him to know for sure.

“We don’t think the Matwau has found her
yet,” Kaya said.

“Why not?” I asked.

“You will most likely know as soon as he
finds her. You’ll feel it,” Samantha said. “Most of the precious
few that find their Twin Souls meet when their paths cross, but a
select few begin to feel the pull of the bond because the other
person is in some kind of danger. Those are the stories children
hear about most often.”

I had heard many such stories as a child.
Those were the stories that made me wonder how the Matwau had never
been mentioned to me before. If two people were searching over
great distances or periods of times, how had the Matwau not gotten
to them before they found each other? A sad thought crossed my mind
as I wondered if any of those stories actually ended as happily in
real life. Not every ending was suitable to tell small
children.

That story was the reason Talon had
strengthened his efforts to protect me. “Was there anything else?”
I asked.

Both women shook their heads.

“You didn’t find any reason why the Matwau’s
touch burns me or why I’m not affected by his charm like everyone
else?” I asked.

“Nothing yet,” Samantha said, “but we’ll keep
looking.”

“Anything about the stuff with Claire?” It
was a long shot, but I hoped. Kaya and Sam both shook their heads.
“Well, I’ll get back to work then.”

Samantha was beside me at the kitchen counter
in a moment, instructing me on how to pull apart the yucca leaves
and reach the desired white substance inside. The juniper berries
were easy to recognize and would be even easier to crush. The
sunflower oil would take much too long to extract from the tiny
kernels. I threw myself into the repetitive motions, urging my
fingers and hands to work faster while Kaya and Samantha went back
to their work amid the stacks of books.

I was itching to delve into the books with
them. I needed answers so badly. First things first, though. I
couldn’t expect Claire to hold out against the bond forever. I
needed to fulfill my promise to her first. I would worry about my
Twin Soul when the time came to do so. I felt a pang in my heart at
the thought.
I have no idea where she is
, I told myself.
There was nothing I could do for her until I felt the pull of the
bond. Until the Matwau had already found her.

19: Confession

Uriah’s mother had already eaten, and Sophia
had gone to visit some of her other patients by the time I made it
back to the house for lunch. I had spent the morning working with
Hale again, up before breakfast as Sophia had requested. Feeding
and checking the sheep, brushing the horses, and watering the
alfalfa fields left me physically drained.

Emotionally, I was holding my ground. The
demanding work kept me focused on what I was doing, leaving me no
time to consider what was lurking just below the surface. I ate my
bowl of chili alone. Each bite unwound my focus. Hurrying through
the meal, I was rinsing the bowl, and dropping it in the sink only
a few minutes after sitting down to eat.

The unyielding string of the Twin Soul bond
began pulling at me the longer I stood unoccupied. Thinking that I
would bury myself in Uriah’s room until I was called to help Hale
with the evening chores, I hurried across the living room. I was
only halfway across the wood floor before Lina looked up from her
book at me.

“Claire, would you mind doing something for
me?” she asked.

Grateful for any distraction, I was quick to
reply. “Sure, Lina, what do you need?”

“Sophia won’t be back until this evening, and
I need a few things for dinner. Would you mind running down to the
store for me?” Lina asked.

The store? I had been hoping for something
that wouldn’t require me to leave the house. I had no idea what, if
anything, the rest of the community knew about what was happening
between me and Uriah. At the very least, I was sure people would
have heard of the Elders denying our marriage request. That alone
would spark a million questions I didn’t want to answer. Still, I
had promised to help however I was needed.

“No problem. What did you need?” I asked.

Lifting a piece of paper from the table next
to her, Lina handed me her shopping list. “It’s just a few things.
Sophia’s cooking is wonderful, but I have been itching to get back
in the kitchen. She wants me to stay in bed for another week, but
I’m perfectly capable of making dinner tonight.”

I laughed silently to myself. If Sophia were
here, Lina wouldn’t be quite so confident about what she could and
could not do. I could sympathize with her frustration, though.
“I’ll be back in a little while. Is it okay if I take Uriah’s
truck?”

“Sure, dear, the keys are on the table by the
door. Take your time. You could use a break,” Lina said. She smiled
at me before turning her attention back to her book.

After changing into a fresh pair of clothes,
including another of Uriah’s old shirts, I was in the battered red
truck and on my way to the only grocery store in San Juan. It took
me several tries to park the truck. I was used to driving my much
smaller Lexus, which handled a million times better than Uriah’s
old truck.

“I better get used to driving this if I’m
going to marry Uriah,” I said to myself after finally getting the
truck into the parking space. I knew Uriah worried he wouldn’t be
able to give me everything my parents could. I wished I could make
him understand that those things weren’t anywhere near as important
to me as he was.

Getting out of the car, the door swung shut
with a screech. I laughed. It would certainly be an adjustment,
though. I crossed the parking lot quickly and pulled a basket from
the cramped stack. I read through Lina’s list carefully before
pushing the basket towards the produce section.

I made my way through the store, aisle by
aisle, dropping each box and bag Lina needed into the cart as I
went. The last item on the list was not for dinner, but a bag of
Lina’s favorite candy. It was largely mindless work so I hurried
through it, eager to get back to the shelter of Uriah’s room. The
candy and soft drink aisle was usually the most popular, and as I
turned onto it, I found it even more crowded than usual. The moment
I realized who it was debating over what snacks to buy, I tried to
turn the shopping cart around.

“Claire!”

I groaned. I wanted to pretend I hadn’t seen
or heard her, but it was too late. Dana Atcity and Beth Pioche were
already coming toward me with four other girls from school trailing
behind them. Two of my best friends growing up, but all of them had
turned their backs on me the moment Uriah and I started dating.
They also made a point of telling everyone they knew to do the
same. They really weren’t the nicest of girls, but it still hurt to
be abandoned by them. And it pissed me off every time she tried
flirting with Uriah, too, even though he never paid her any
attention.

“Hey, guys,” I said weakly. The excited
curiosity on their faces said that they had already heard rumors
and were dying to know the truth.

“Claire, oh my gosh! What has been going on?
Did you and Uriah elope?” Dana said. The words came bursting out of
her mouth in a rush.

“Elope?” I asked. “What are you talking
about?”

Dana’s father was one of the Elders. It
wasn’t completely unbelievable that he might have let slip to his
wife about what had happened with Quaile. Dana had always been the
biggest gossip I knew. If anything even slightly interesting was
whispered where she could hear it, everyone else would know about
it as soon as she could pass along the words. I couldn’t decide
whether her getting the story ridiculously wrong was a good thing
or a bad thing.

Dana’s face was absolutely glowing as she
spilled her news. Dana was one of the girls that still resented me
for being Uriah’s girlfriend, so I wasn’t sure why she would look
so happy if she believed we had eloped. There had to be some other
reason she was smiling. Beth’s sneer was even more oddly pleased.
She was sure Uriah would have chosen her over Dana if I hadn’t
gotten in her way.

“I overheard my dad telling my mom that
Quaile said you and Uriah couldn’t get married because you aren’t
Twin Souls,” Dana said.

“Then you and Uriah both disappeared for a
few days and now you’re living at Uriah’s house,” Beth said. “You
two must have eloped. Does Quaile know?”

I could not think fast enough to catch up
with them. Eloped? That was the last thing I had been expecting to
hear. I wished it were the truth. “Dana, Beth, I don’t know where
you got that idea, but Uriah and I didn’t elope. I’m staying at
Uriah’s house because he’s out of town and his mom still needs help
around the ranch,” I said. I watched their expressions. Most of the
girls looked extremely disappointed. Dana and Beth’s expressions
turned catty.

“But what about what Quaile said?” Dana
asked, feigning sweetness.

That was a trickier point. My mind raced
trying to come up with an explanation for Quaile’s part in all of
this. I wanted to say that Quaile had finally gone senile, and
Uriah was on his way to find another Tewa shaman to take over for
her. The problem with that was that Quaile was here, and perfectly
capable of telling everyone what a liar I was. I decided that a
slightly altered version of the truth was my best bet.

“She did say that Uriah and I aren’t Twin
Souls,” I admitted. A few of the girls gasped and whispered in each
other’s ears. “Uriah went to visit another shaman and talk to them
about it.”

“Nobody has ever been denied the right to
marry before,” a know-it-all girl named Tabitha said in her most
teacher-like voice.

“There’s a first time for everything,” I said
drily. “Uriah should be back in a few days, and then the Elders
will speak with us about what to do.”

Dana’s cutting laugh made me grit my teeth.
Her pleased expression made my skin crawl. Her earlier excitement
had seemed off and now I realized she was just toying with me,
pretending excitement that we might have eloped, knowing full well
it wasn’t true. She just wanted to rub in the fact that we had been
turned down in as malicious a way possible. Turning back to her
friends, her sickly sweet voice addressed the other girls, but the
comment was clearly for me.

“I always knew Claire and Uriah weren’t Twin
Souls. Uriah and I have much more in common than they do.”

Beth was not about to let herself be outdone
by Dana. “Like the fact that you’re both so smart,” Beth said
nastily.

I had no idea whether Dana was truly smart or
not, but I knew that her grades certainly would not side with her.
Dana had no plans for her future other than marrying and letting
her husband support her. Dana glowered at Beth, but Beth didn’t
appear to notice.

“Uriah and I have been friends since we were
babies. I doubt Quaile would have two words to say about us getting
married,” Beth said. She was obviously using the term “friends”
very loosely.

My hands were tightening on the shopping
basket with every word. Daniel was screaming in my head to listen
to them. Their words seemed to strengthen the pull as well as make
me want to tear their hair out.

“Actually,” I said in my sweetest voice,
“whether Quaile agrees or not, Uriah and I are still getting
married. We may go to Santa Fe. The Botanical Gardens there does
weddings, I’ve heard. I’ve always wanted to get married in a
garden.”

Actually, I had no idea whether the Santa Fe
Botanic Gardens could be rented out for weddings or not, but the
jealousy that swept over Dana and Beth’s faces was definitely worth
the possibility of being caught in a lie later. The surge of
satisfaction momentarily wiped the aching for Daniel out of my
mind. The girls behind Dana and Beth were giggling behind their
hands. That made me smile even more.