Destiny Defied (The Destiny Series)

by Marx, J. A.

  The wardrobe door creaked open and metal hangers screeched along the steel rod. “Ooh. Wow.” Delightful squeals mimicked the screeching hangers.

  Jase whispered, “You’d think an elf replaced the archaic clothing with Vogue’s hottest fashion.”

  “You’d think.” Isaac chuckled.

  The girl descended the ladder with material bunched under her arm like a giant wad of tissue. Crossing the living room, she dangled two swimsuits in front of Isaac. A bikini, and a modest one-piece that Amish women might endorse. “Which do I wear?”

  Bewildered by the plea, Isaac sensed she wanted his approval yet craved a specific response. His conscience caved in under her silent insistence.

  Behind her, Jase simpered like a clown. “The bikini,” he mouthed.

  You’re not helping. Isaac was used to seeing females in bathing suits, but something here didn’t feel right. He wondered if Hope was playing him or if she was conditioned to being told how to dress.

  Etiquette Academy. To the max. “The one piece.”

  Her burdened sigh concluded with a shy smile. “Thanks.” Leaving a sinkhole in his heart, she trotted down the hall to the bathroom.

  Jase held out is hands. “Whyyyy?”

  Sabio finished tying his shoes and slapped the musician upside the head. “This isn’t the place for flirting. Think with integrity, not with … you know what.”

  That pretty much summed up Isaac’s thoughts. His patient—a sole female on a secluded island among strange men—put him in defense mode. He grabbed a T-shirt from his duffle for Hope to wear as a cover-up. She probably had a boyfriend somewhere and definitely a father who’d appreciate the protection.

  Carrying the lunches and the two-way radios in the backpack, Isaac led the crew up Mt. Merhamet’s winding trails. In some spots, the labyrinth of vines called for a machete he didn’t have. Although he’d never volunteer for trail maintenance in this endlessly green setting, its beauty definitely satisfied his love for nature.

  He kept an ear out for whining about the distance and steepness, but Hope said nothing.

  Behind him, the resident artiste with his guitar strapped to his back whistled the theme song from The Sound of Music.

  Isaac pictured the Foursome as nuns … pruning the trail with machetes.

  “That’s pretty music, Jase,” Hope said. “Did you write it?”

  The whistling faded.

  Her amnesia can’t be that acute. “How about this song?” Isaac whistled Do-Re-Mi.

  “The Von Trapp children don’t whistle,” Sabio bellowed from the end of the procession. “They march!”

  Here comes the re-enactment. Isaac groaned.

  “I’m Marta.” Akiko lisped in a high-pitched voice. “‘I’ll be seven on Tuesday, and I’d like a pink pair of socks.’”

  Jase yodeled. Not exactly his forte.

  Looking over his shoulder at Hope, Isaac shook his head. “Kiko’s mother made us watch that movie every Thanksgiving break.”

  “You’ve seen movies?”

  “Yeahhhh.” How much oddity could one girl possess? Isaac ducked under a low branch and took a giant step up. “Didn’t you ever go out for pizza and a movie?” He offered his hand to help her up a precarious section of the trail.

  She negotiated her own route. “Explain pizza.”

  You’re kidding. Hearing absolute silence from his friends, Isaac figured they suffered the same astonishment. He veered left up another root-laced incline.

  “Hello? Pizza?” Hope obviously wanted an answer.

  Thankfully, Sabio appeased her with descriptions.

  Halfway up the center of Mt. Merhamet, the trail flattened into a spacious garden. Isaac estimated the dimension at roughly a quarter-acre. At the rear stood a twelve-foot high amphitheater-like rock wall with a curtain of water and vines. The lush flow dropped straight down and emptied into a fifteen-foot-wide basin—the plunge pool—hemmed in by boulders. Penetrating sunbeams gave a crystal view of the basin’s rocky bottom.

  Altering the original vacation plan, Isaac kept his trunks on.

  Sabio, Jase, and Akiko whipped off their shirts and kicked off their shoes. They bounded over the boulders and into the water.

  Seeing Hope wiggle out of her baggy shorts, Isaac couldn’t explain what made him do it, but he held her T-shirt down at the last minute. “Keep yours on.”

  Chapter 18

  Sleeping on the slug-filled, lizard-crawling ground was a humiliating experience Lord Vétis intended never to repeat. As soon as the sun dragged its heels into action, he built a camp and crafted bamboo into tools for fishing and hunting. Famished from his hectic work, he gorged on fruit.

  He approached the bungalow just as Riki departed with the mongrels. Shadowing her up the winding trail, Vétis stayed just out of sight, which was too far back to eavesdrop. He trusted the mongrel’s immature customs would bore her and that her indoctrination would sufficiently sustain her through this trial.

  The terrain opened up around a dwarf waterfall. Vétis concealed himself among the tree ferns and elephant ears.

  The mongrels disrobed in front of Riki. Shameless toads.

  Condemnation twisted his upper lip. He longed for the day the Lux would completely free the world of religious hypocrites. The day every human would acquiesce to the Left-Hand Path—or die as threats to the new global structure.

  He had to get closer. Slinking over to the mountainside, Vétis studied its rocky face then started climbing. Tiny lizards scuttled from under his hands. Birds scattered, cheeping up a squall as they escaped the emerald screen of trailing plants and aerial roots concealing his ascent. He paused, commanding nature to silence her racket. Creeping farther up, he settled into a large mossy cleft and formed a spy-hole out of the dense vegetation. The wall’s concave design improved the sound quality to his advantage.

  Riki shined at keeping her identity veiled, as she had been drilled to do. But she appeared to be blending in to the point of overly enjoying herself. And the mongrels treated her too favorably.

  Hatred rumbled in Vétis’s chest. To defy the Lux was begging for punishment. Determined to put a damper on the frivolity, he removed a plastic bag from his pocket. Salt, ashes, tree root shavings, smashed insects, and dried animal feces—ingredients he had ground together by moonlight. He poured a pinch of the contents into his palm.

  “Hear me now, both friend and foe. Your seductions and your lusts must go.” He blew the powder into the air then prayed in Latin for Riki. “Veni. Vidi. Vice. You were, are, and always will be what destiny commands.”

  Frustration had pestered Hope all the way up Mt. Merhamet. She couldn’t visualize a movie theater, a place the boys referenced to with enthusiasm. And their phrase going out for pizza made no sense. How did they go out for a food that didn’t grow on a tree or get cooked over a fire pit?

  Maybe I’m just strange. If not, then whoever invented amnesia should be shot.

  By the time they reached the waterhole, she shelved her frustration. Her island mates stripped down for a swim. She started lifting her T-shirt, and it got caught.

  “Keep yours on.” Alpha Dog was holding it down.

  Her mind tumbled over disbelief into offense at being bossed around. Gripping the shirt in a mini tug-of-war, she opened her mouth to tell Isaac off … then shut it. His adamant, caring gaze flushed the tension from her shoulders. Wearing the tee lessened her insecurity.

  How did he know? She let go of the shirt. “Fine. But I am getting wet today.”

  “Very wet.” Isaac gave back her shirttail.

  She dropped into the pool and into a splash war already in progress. The coolness rinsed off the sweat from the hike.

  Jase climbed out. “Cannonball!” He jumped back in.

  She cannonballed, too.

  The Ohioans took turns doing handstands, judging who could stay straight-legged the longest.

  “I’ll outdo all of you.” Hope plunged headfirst.

  Submerging with her,
Isaac stuck his thumbs in his ears, wiggling his tongue and fingers.

  She surfaced prematurely to cough out laughter. “You are trouble, Isaac.”

  “You were warned.” He splashed her.

  “Marco!” Akiko shouted.

  “Polo!” Jase yelled.

  How many games did these guys know? She’d sacrifice anything to inhabit these pleasurable sensations forever.

  The boys’ elbow nudging and arm hooking intensified. Even though their practice of bodily contact never involved her, she avoided the risk and swam to the waterfall. A transparent, protruding object caught her eye.

  Affixed to the rock wall above her head was a modest bridge made of fiberglass-encased slats. She hung from it and pulled. The bridge felt plenty worthy of her weight. Gauging the water flow as too mild to knock her over, she hoisted herself up. Her feet tested the non-slip, ribbed base before she stood. Time to remove the clingy shirt.

  She changed her mind when the Hispanic sphinx floated her direction. Watching Sabio climb up next to her, she compared her skin color to his. We might be related.

  “Ahh. The perfect water massage.” Sabio closed his eyes in apparent bliss and allowed the falls to swallow him.

  With her back to the wall, she mimicked his stance. The rippling flow beat her shoulders … stung her head wound … blurred her view.

  A shudder of alarm brought her face out of the water to look for the sixth person her third eye insisted was there. Why did something have to disturb her every time she relaxed?

  Someone, please slap this madness out of me.

  “Hey!” Jase pointed at her. “Where’d the bridge come from?” He left Akiko and Isaac lazing on the far side of the basin and drifted toward the falls. His eyes showed just above the surface. Arms straight in front of him, one on top the other, he clapped, mimicking an alligator mouth.

  Giggling at Jase’s goofiness, Hope elbowed Sabio. “Invasion.”

  The sphinx awakened from his blissful stupor and thrust a blocking hand toward Jase. “Think again, McFly.”

  What? She’d thought Jase’s surname was Simon. “McFly may enter if he first proves his worth by entertaining Her Majesty.” To clarify who was royalty, she thumbed her chest.

  Sabio sent her a whose-side-are-you-on look.

  “Make room for the rock ’n’ roll king.” Jase jumped up, buckled Sabio’s knees, and toppled him into the basin. Then he started climbing into royal territory.

  “You have crossed the Rubicon, McFly.” Hope shoved him back with her foot.

  Splashing in the water, Jase resurfaced with a hilarious, shocked expression. He climbed up the far end of the bridge, no doubt to avoid her hazardous feet. “All hail, McFly! The rock ’n’ ruler.” He blew kisses at the waterhole vassals.

  She managed a semi-straight face. “Queen Amnesia exiles you.”

  “Queen Amnesia?” Jase chuckled. “Of the Forgotten Kingdom?” He blew her a kiss.

  “Banished!” She pushed at him.

  He slipped but caught himself. “You are in royal trouble.”

  “Go, Hope! Go, Hope!” The three vassals cheered in unison, beating the air with their fists.

  Height … 178 centimeters. Weight … roughly 82 kilograms. Estimating Jase’s measurements, she shoved his shoulder, testing his stability.

  His hand rushed at her.

  Ducking, she snorted at his arms flapping to keep balance. “Veni, vidi, vice.”

  “Say again?” The Latin motto apparently stumped him.

  She pinched Jase’s ribcage. “Veni! Vidi! Vice!”

  “Royal bully!” He grabbed her by the shoulders and threw her from the bridge.

  She sailed backward … hit the water … and time paused. A grotesque darkness disoriented her. Burnt bodies. Blinding fire. Her lungs panicked.

  A hand clenched her arm and dragged her out of the grave, out of her déjà vu.

  Where am I? She wheezed in a desperate breath.

  “Hope!” Isaac’s grip was painfully tight.

  The waterhole. She scissored her legs to stay afloat. “I’m fine.”

  On her other side, Jase smothered her with a look of worry. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to throw you down so hard.”

  “You didn’t.” Coughing fragmented her words. “Another flashback immobilized me.”

  “Another flashback?” Isaac sounded disappointed. “You never told me.”

  Prying her arm from his fist, she swam to the edge to feed her greedy lungs and await a scolding. Good-bye fun and pleasure. She’d killed the adventure.

  “You’ve had flashbacks?” Isaac’s gentle tone melted her foreboding. He drifted closer. “As in memories?”

  He’s not angry? She glanced at him then looked away. “At least four since yesterday.”

  “That’s great. Tell us what you saw.”

  She didn’t share his definition of great. Suspending the urge to scan their tropical haven, she chided herself for the persistent, irrational paranoia. “It was pitch dark. I saw a burst of light and heard a loud rumbling. I could almost feel it.”

  “Your mind’s trying. That’s awesome.”

  Hardly. Horrifying, historical episodes didn’t amount to awesome. She nevertheless congratulated herself for not hiding this one from Isaac. How could she? It practically drowned her.

  Her skin prickled. The sixth-person impression grew stronger, more ghostly. Sweeping her hair out of her eyes, she pored over the emerald mountainside.

  Isaac’s shoulder touched hers, aligning their gazes. “What are you looking at?”

  “Somebody’s watching me.” I did not just verbalize that thought.

  “Relax.” He patted her back. “We’re the only humans on the island.”

  “I know.” A strange, naked feeling begged Hope to run and hide. Fear of being alone kept her at the waterhole.

  Chapter 19

  Akiko couldn’t hold it in any longer. He left the waterhole and found a secluded spot to take a dump. Besides providing the abundance of leaves for wiping, the enveloping hues of green created a calm setting for introspection.

  I should’ve said something.

  When Hope had told them she felt watched, he’d chickened out on agreeing with her. Especially after seeing Sabio and Jase look at her as if she were mentally disturbed.

  It had to be Dr. Caedis watching them. Akiko needed to come clean about the psychiatrist, at least with Sabio who had a knack for handling awkward situations. That way, Akiko could validate Hope’s paranoia without exposing his own.

  Bowels relieved, he squeezed out of the leafy potty stall and bumped into a fully clothed body. His neck hairs spiked.

  “Kiko, faithful ally. I finally caught up with you.” Caedis’s dress clothes were going to need stain treatment. “Is Hope saying much yet?”

  Was he watching me poop? He finger-ironed the nape of his neck. “She has amnesia.”

  “Hmm?” The man’s eyebrow arched. Then he nodded slowly. “She does this often. Quite believably, too.”

  “You mean …” Akiko’s spirit drooped. “She’s lying about the amnesia?”

  “I diagnosed her, son. I regret the trouble she’s causing.”

  Groaning over the news, Akiko let his shoulders slouch. “Where’s she from? What’s her disorder?”

  His brow creased with sympathy, and Caedis rested his hand on Akiko’s bare shoulder. “I see she’s disturbing you. She won’t hurt you as long as she thinks you’re part of her fantasy.”

  She’s delusional. Should’ve guessed.

  “The pendant will give you clear judgment and help you see through her tricks, if you wear it.”

  He searched the doctor’s partially exposed, hairy chest. “Where’s yours?”

  Pinching the empty chain around his neck, the man muttered something. Alarm sparked in his eyes.

  How dangerous was Hope? Akiko feared for his gullible friends.

  Papaya trees. Isaac could identify those. But the surrounding trees, far taller than
his house, wowed him. Vines entwined the trunks like massive external veins while others hung down from on high. Maybe later he’d climb up and visit the howler monkeys playing in the canopy and screeching like jungle phantoms.

  Next to him, Sabio was half-sunning, half-soaking, keeping Isaac connected with his humanness.

  He climbed onto the basin’s rim where he had a better visual on Hope who’d secluded herself after almost drowning. Her independent nature could give him trouble.

  Jase crawled closer to Sabio, finger-combing his hair to reshape the spikes. “What’d she mean by ‘wunny wed-wich’?”

  “Veni. Vidi. Vice.” The scholar shielded his eyes from the sun and squinted up at the musician. “Spell it with a V. You’ll figure it out.”

  Disappointed at the non-answer, Isaac huffed out a breath. He’d worked hard to maintain a C in Latin. “This is paradise. Not a library.”

  “Then don’t ask for knowledge?”

  Geek. Isaac spotted Akiko heading into the trees, probably to take a leak.

  “I’m gonna go cheer up Hope.” Jase flicked Isaac’s arm. “Guess I’m the only one who likes having a girl around.”

  Isaac flicked him back. “She’s embarrassed about what happened. Don’t bug her.”

  “I bet she’ll open up if she’s among friends rather than strangers.” Jase carried his twelve-string to the flat boulder across from Hope.

  Just don’t start flirting. Isaac’s concern doubled when Hope peeled off her soaked cover-up and spread it out on a rock.

  Her ebony hair smoothed back over her head shimmered in the sun. Her swimsuit, though more modest than his grandma would wear, stretched to accommodate her … curves.

  Jase had better keep his Don Juan impulses in check and treat Hope like a sister. One look might lead to one kiss, which could lead to a broken nose—caused by Isaac’s knuckles.