Escaping Fate

by Gladden, DelSheree

  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.

  I didn’t think Claire had any idea about the way she made me feel, but she almost never went out of her way to talk to me or be around me. If I was too near her she would get up and leave. When we saw each other in the hallways she inexplicably found someone to talk to on the side furthest from me. She was one of the only girls in the high school who had not asked me out at least once. That was why her looking at me from the Jeep was so frustrating. The one time she sought me out I had no idea what she had said. I knew my own reason from staying away from her, but all the way to the riverbank I wished I could figure out what hers was.

  My shoes and socks were left in a heap next to my backpack. The soft grass that grew naturally in so few places in the New Mexican desert rippled under my bare feet. Its coolness was such a stark contrast to the hot summer sun. Just thinking about the heat seemed to make it ten times worse. Slipping my feet into the lazy rills of the river, I contemplated tugging off my shirt and jumping in.

  The thought barely formed before the sound of flying gravel hit me. Turning around to see who had invaded my favorite spot, I was surprised the see Jonny’s Jeep skidding to a stop on the side of the road. And even more surprised to hear Claire yelling at him as she jumped out of the cab and slammed the door behind her. Jonny was right on her heels.

  Slowly getting to my feet, I walked toward the still running car. Claire’s raised voice caught my ear.

  “Just leave me alone, Jonny! I swear if I hear another word come out of your mouth I’ll slap you,” Claire said.

  “Knock it
off, Claire, you’re acting like a total-” Jonny didn’t get to finish.

  “Don’t tell me to calm down!” Claire yelled. And true to her word, she slapped him.

  I went from a walk to run. I knew these two well enough to know where this was going. Jonny’s anger flamed in his eyes, carrying him toward Claire as his arm reached forward and grabbed her shoulder. She tried to break away from him, but he yanked her back.

  “Let me go!” Claire’s other hand came around and smacked Jonny in the shoulder. She didn’t do enough damage to make him let go, unfortunately. Instead he grabbed her chin, pulling her face up next to his.

  “Don’t you ever do that to me again,” Jonny seethed. “Now, get back in the Jeep.”

  “I’m not going anywhere with you,” Claire said. Jonny’s free hand balled into a fist, but Claire stared him down.

  I didn’t think he would hit her, but I had never seen Jonny this angry before. One more, quick step brought me to his side. Grabbing his arm tightly, I snatched it back. Jonny spun around as his other fist came up. I caught that one too and forced it back down. He stared at me in shock for a few seconds before letting his hands fall to his side. Dana and Beth, still huddling in the back of the Jeep, sighed in relief.

  “Ur-Uriah,” Jonny stuttered, “where did you come from?”

  “I was here before you were,” I said. “What’s going on? You looked like you were about to hit Claire, Jonny.”

  His face paled and he started shaking his head vigorously. “No, man, I was just…I wasn't going to hit her. We were just arguing.”

  “About what?”

  “Nothing. It wasn't a big deal. I just got carried away, I guess. I didn’t mean anything by it,” Jonny assured me.

  Claire’s narrowed eyes and attack stance clearly disagreed that it was no big deal. She looked ready to rip his spiky black hair right out of his head. No need to see that happen today. “I think you should probably apologize to Claire,” I said.

  For all I knew Claire had started the entire fight, but Jonny nodded hurriedly and looked over at a still very angry Claire. “Sorry, Claire, I didn’t mean to piss you off. I didn’t mean it, okay? Let’s just forget about it.” Even though is apology was to Claire Jonny looked to me for approval. I nodded and his shoulders sagged in relief. He didn’t waste any time trotting back around to the driver’s side. He was back in the seat before Claire had time to react.

  His buckle clicked into place as Claire responded. Grabbing the side of the Jeep, Claire pointed at Jonny. “Where do you think you’re going? You just say sorry and take off? You’re such a creep, Jonny. Get back over here, you jerk!”

  “Claire.” I took her hands off the jeep, feeling that odd, painful sensation sweep through me. I had to grind my teeth together to keep from letting her see the effect she had on me. I desperately wished I knew what it was that made me feel so strange. “Just let him go,” I said, “he isn’t worth the fight.”

  Anyone else would have backed off, but not Claire. She yanked her hands away from me, making the pain evaporate and bringing my strength back immediately. She spun back to the Jeep, but Jonny had seen his chance to escape and taken it. He was already out of reach.

  “Thanks a lot, Uriah. You let him get away. I wasn’t finished yelling at him yet, that stupid prick.”

  “I…” My mind struggled to come up with anything to say to her. I thought I was helping. Shouldn’t she be thanking me? Yeah, she hadn’t asked for my help, but she definitely looked like she needed it. She had been half a second away from a nasty black eye. Sometimes it was hard to think around Claire, but I suddenly had a moment of clarity. This road was nowhere near the way out to the bluffs. Was there a reason she had ended up at the river. “You’re pretty far away from the bluffs. How did you end up here?” I asked.

  Claire bottled up her irritation in a flash and replaced it with pure embarrassment. Her mixed Anglo and Native American heritage gave her lighter skin than any of the other Tewa Indians on the reservation. I loved the unique look it gave her, but now I had another reason to love her skin. The light color made it much easier to see her blushing. It was almost enough to make me forget that she hadn’t answered my question.

  “Did you know I was here?” I asked. The blush spread from her cheeks to her ears. She turned away to hide it from me but I had already gotten my answer.

  Being around her made my thoughts fray into straggling bits of thread, and touching her sapped my strength and made my skin burn. Fate, or some other power, obviously wanted me to stay away from her. I was having a hard time listening today. I didn’t know how she knew I would be here, but it was apparent that she had led Jonny right to me. She seemed determined to avoid me most of the time, but when she needed protection she thought of me. Whatever else loving her did to me, I would do anything for her.

  About the Author

  DelSheree Gladden lives in New Mexico with her husband and two children. She has always been an avid reader, and started writing fiction as a teenager. In between teaching yoga or gymnastics, studying dental hygiene, and being a wife and mother, DelSheree loves spending time working on her next novel, painting, and reading.

  Connect with DelSheree online at:

  http://www.theediblebookshelf.blogspot.com/

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  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002234464643 or http://www.facebook.com/TwinSoulsSaga