Timeless (33 page)

It had to happen, of course. Ben had to begin
dating again at some point, but did it have to be her? And why
couldn’t I shake that odd sensation that made me feel so afraid?
This was Kirsten, after all, someone I’d seen a hundred times by
now and knew almost as well as myself. Yet I couldn’t shake the
weird feeling I had. Kirsten’s boyfriends were none of my business,
and I’d made it very clear to Ben that I’d moved on. Our
relationship hadn’t been the same ever since the afternoon of the
fight. If he wanted to date Kirsten, then it had nothing to do with
me.

“Great,” I said in a squeaky voice. To my
credit, I looked her straight in the eye and tried to ignore the
overpowering feeling of danger.

That’s when I noticed. Her eyes were no
longer the strange golden color they usually were. They looked
much, much darker.

“Good, Emmeline. That’s wonderful news. I
wouldn’t want for you to be upset,” she said, her voice becoming
lower, huskier. It was a voice I recognized, and it terrified
me.

She was already walking out of the store
before I could respond. How could I have been so stupid, so blind?
I ignored all the warning signs from the very beginning.

Lamia. She would get to me through Ben. She’d
been waiting, listening and biding her time. She’d planned the
entire time to find the one person most vulnerable because of
course he wouldn’t believe any warning about her from me. She knew
I still cared for Ben despite our estrangement. For some reason I
didn’t yet understand, she couldn’t get to Damien, but she
obviously saw Ben as an easier target.

Damien didn’t like Kirsten much; he thought
she was a nuisance, and she knew it. He didn’t, of course, know
that she was really Lamia, but his indifference to her somehow must
have made him immune to her power.I’d thought I caught her flirting
with him once or twice, but it didn’t bother me because Damien
never responded to her advances.

At the time, I’d just attributed her
overfriendliness to cultural differences, thinking that it was just
her way of being nice. And then, too, we were her only friends in
Florida. Damien was polite but not that responsive. He respected
her as my friend, but that was it.

Had Damien known who Kirsten really was, he
would have gone after her to avenge me. But he hadn’t been able to
defeat her in our past life. Why would she avoid him now? Didn’t
witches only get stronger the more past lives they experienced?

I wondered why Lamia had chosen to reveal
herself to me now. I could only figure that she had more than just
my death in store for me. Maybe she’d go after everyone I cared for
and leave me last. She’d obviously kept herself hidden from me as
long as was necessary, striking out only after she’d gleaned all
the information she needed. Once she knew everything about my
current life, she could begin her attack, which included revealing
herself to me. She wanted me to know that she orchestrated my pain.
Part of the satisfaction in her revenge, I concluded, was to make
me suffer. She started with someone I loved, someone also obviously
attracted to her—Ben. It seemed that her powers had doubled, if not
trebled from our past life in the thirteenth century. Had she
experienced another past life since then? Not only could she change
shapes and bewitch others, using their own emotions against them,
she could also almost totally hide her power from me, another
witch. I only felt her when she chose the time and place.

By now, I’d finally composed myself enough to
begin thinking clearly about what I needed to do next. My first
thought was that I had to get to Ben. I didn’t bother telling the
manager, Mr. McDougal, that I needed the rest of the afternoon off,
but ran out of the store to where I’d parked the Saratoga. I knew
I’d have to use my powers to make it go much faster than it usually
did. Lamia already had a good ten minutes on me. I was glad I
hadn’t let Damien drive me into work this morning. I worried about
what she might or even could do to Damien, but I thought that she
wouldn’t go after him, at least not yet.

I knew eventually that Damien would be
worried when I didn’t show up at his place later and would start
searching for me. That could be dangerous. Just before I got to the
Y, where Ben worked, I called Damien on my cell phone. He answered
immediately, and I struggled to steady my voice so he wouldn’t
suspect something was wrong. I told him I had a headache and needed
to go home and sleep. I cringed at the lie, but it couldn’t be
helped. I had to keep him safe.

As I expected, he was immediately concerned,
but I rushed to assure him that I didn’t want him to come to Aunt
Jo’s since it was just a headache. The safest place for Damien, I
thought, was Sugar Hill, way out of town.Though Damien was
physically the strongest person I knew, Lamia was a witch. It would
take a witch to deal with her. I took a deep breath, praying that I
was strong enough. To my knowledge, I’d only had one past life, and
that had been cut very short. I knew I possessed only one power,
while Lamia wielded many. Could I defeat her?

Damien didn’t want to hang up, sensing
something was wrong, but I downplayed my agitation and thought I’d
made him understand that it wasn’t a big deal—just a headache from
the heat. I could see that my hands were shaking, and I knew I
wouldn’t be able to continue hiding my agitation for long.

I finally convinced him, and after we hung
up, I decided to ask for help from the only person I knew who could
give it—Ramona.

I felt guilty because I hadn’t spoken much to
Ramona lately. I’d taken Damien to her store once, and though
Damien was polite, I could tell that he wanted me to put my power
behind me, to live a normal human life. Ramona was a reminder of
that part of me he still found distressing, so I was sorry to say
that I hadn’t kept in touch much since I’d brought Damien back.
Ramona also definitely looked like a witch, and I knew that Damien
couldn’t get past the stigma, even knowing that I was one too.

A few minutes later, I arrived to the store,
parked the Saratoga out front, and rushed in. Ramona was helping a
customer to choose several herbs. She signaled for me to wait, but
I was antsy, each moment making me more afraid for Ben’s safety
than the next.

The customer finally made her purchase and
left. I was furious and frantic.

“Why did you make me wait?” I said,
exasperated. “Don’t you know why I’m here?”

“Because right now, there’s nothing you can
do,” she replied quietly.

“What do you mean, nothing I can do!”

“She isn’t at the Y.”

“Then where is she, and how long have you
known what she is?”

“I suspected some time ago, but I couldn’t be
sure. Part of her power, I think, is an ability to hide herself
from us. You didn’t recognize her immediately either.”

I knew she was right, having already surmised
this for myself. I should have felt her the moment she’d arrived,
but then I mentally kicked myself. I had felt her or felt
something; I’d just ignored the feeling because it was so weak.

“Where is she now?” I asked, feeling that
this was a huge waste of time.

“I’m not sure, but I’m positive it isn’t the
Y.”

“Then how do you know?”

“Because I see his future, and nothing bad
happens to him today.”

I felt a huge sense of relief.

“What about tomorrow?” I asked.

“Fine.”

“And the next day?”

“Also fine.”

“What about long-term? Do you see Lamia
anywhere in Ben’s future?”

“No, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t
there.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that Ben’s okay for right now, but
since Lamia can hide from me, I can’t see what role she’ll play in
his life. All I can see is that he isn’t dead.”

“Then he’s safe?”

“Not exactly. I do sense some danger, some
force looming over him. And I see him lying still. But I don’t see
him losing his life force.”

“How can you know that he isn’t going to
die?”

“Intuition. But Emily, I could be wrong. If
Lamia can hide herself like this and her actions, I don’t know what
she’s capable of.”

“Then she could be on her way to him right
now.”

“No, I don’t think so. His picture is very
clear today.”

“Then I have time to get to Ben before she
does.”

I made Ramona promise to call if she saw
anything clearer that could help. I wasn’t exactly reassured by
what she’d told me.

I was anxious to leave and get to Ben. I knew
I was likely the last person he wanted to see, but I had to try, to
make him understand the danger he faced.

As I was leaving, Ramona’s voice followed me.
“Remember, Emily, to be careful. She’s a powerful witch.”

I arrived a few minutes later at the Y,
hoping Ben was still there. It had been a while since I’d been, and
I obviously had forgotten where things were located. I blundered
into a random room, right in the middle of a summer camp crafts
demonstration. I excused myself, backing out into a group of
middle-schoolers running and yelling down the hall. Was everything
conspiring to keep me from Ben?

The hall cleared, and I saw a friendly camp
counselor who directed me to the outdoor pool where Ben was a
lifeguard.

I made my way out to the pool, relieved to
see Ben there, but he was in the middle of giving swim lessons to
twenty or so five-year-olds. I obviously couldn’t interrupt
that.

The lesson finally finished, and Ben started
talking to Zack, who saw me and waved. I was glad for one friendly
face, at least.

Ben looked up, saw who it was, and turned
away. So this was going to be more difficult than I thought. He
started go into the locker room, and I ran to stop him.

The five-year-olds, fresh from their lesson
yelled at me, “No running around the pool!”

I ignored them, wanting to catch Ben. Zack
called after me, laughing, “Hey, Emily, didn’t you hear? You’re not
supposed to run around the pool! Don’t forget what happened last
time!”

I didn’t slow down or laugh. This was too
important.

“Ben,” I called, out of breath. The pool was
Olympic-size. Before reaching the locker door, he stopped, turned,
and looked at me, not speaking.

“Ben,” I said again more quietly, still
trying to get my breath. “I have to talk to you. It’s about
Lam—Kirsten.”

He crossed his arms across his chest.

“What about her?” he asked defensively.

“Ben, you can’t go out with her,” I blurted
out.

He rolled his eyes and started to go in the
locker.

“You really are unbelievable, Emily,” he
muttered.

I clutched his arm.

“Listen, Ben, I know you’re upset with me.
And you have a right to be, but this is just too important. You
have to listen… she’s dangerous. You’ve got to stay away from
her.”

He smiled at me, but there was no mirth in
it.

“Jealous?” he asked.

“What? No! Ben, this isn’t a game.”

“Oh, really? Then what would you call it? You
have Damien now. You made it very clear that you want nothing to do
with me. And you lost the right to tell me who I could and couldn’t
date when you broke up with me. You want to know what I think? I
don’t care what you say. I think you are jealous. Kirsten is
beautiful, much prettier than you, and she wants to go out with me.
You don’t want me, but you don’t want someone else to have me,
either. It’s malicious, Emily, but then that’s what I’ve come to
expect from you,” he finished, stalking off.

It could not have hurt more if he’d hit me. I
didn’t go after him. It was hopeless; he hated me now in earnest,
and nothing I could say would change his mind.

I turned to Zack.

“You have to make him understand,” I pleaded,
desperate now for someone to believe me.

Zack shook his head at me.

“Give it a rest, Emily. I didn’t want to get
in the middle of this, but just listen to yourself. I mean, you’re
engaged to somebody else! Why don’t you just cut Ben a break? He
deserves to be happy too, you know,” he finished, walking off.

Zack was right. Ben did deserve to be happy,
and he shouldn’t have to be a pawn in Lamia’s game with me. If was
I going to save him, I’d have to go after her.

Chapter Seventeen

"Déjà Vu"

The river is within us, the sea is all about
us…

T. S. Eliot, “The Dry Salvages”

As it turned out, going after Kirsten proved
harder than I thought. Two weeks went by, and I hadn’t seen her. I
couldn’t track her to the false address she’d given me, and the
school wouldn’t tell me any confidential information, not that I
actually thought it would have helped. I tried using my power,
considering that this definitely counted as a life-threatening
emergency, but it didn’t work. Ramona was right. She was blocking
both of us.

I called Annie to ask about whether or not
Kirsten was dating Ben, but Annie didn’t know or wasn’t telling.
She was more than a little angry with me for my friendship with
Kirsten. If you want to know where she is, she’d told me, why don’t
you call her yourself?

It didn’t help that I had to keep all of this
from Damien, at least initially, which was more difficult than I’d
anticipated. He knew me better than anyone and could read my mood
swings. During the first few days, when I waited for something to
happen, he knew something was wrong. Two weeks after Kirsten
frightened me in the drugstore, I couldn’t keep it a secret any
longer. I told him the story.

“Kirsten is Lamia? Are you sure?” he’d asked,
alarmed and looking around Sugar Hill as if she might appear any
moment.

“Absolutely positive,” I replied, more
worried now that I had no idea where she was or what she was doing.
I knew it was part of her revenge to keep me guessing, frantic and
worried all the time.