Smirks appeared all around the kitchen. Drake gave Daniel a genuine smile, “I wouldn’t have it any other way, but I’d like to think I’m more of a thoroughbred.”
Daniel laughed, “When you started shaking all over out there, I figured you’d either change into yourself or stomp me flat. Either way it meant I’d be out of this cold in less than a day.”
I slapped Daniel’s arm, “So, it wasn’t a chivalrous ploy on your part? You just wanted out of the snow.”
Daniel smirked, “The snow’s not so bad, but the cold here sucks. I always thought of twenty degrees below zero as more of a theoretical temperature in science class. Who knew people actually lived in this?”
Jessica smoothed her long platinum blonde hair back behind her ear, “You just haven’t been here long enough to learn how to keep warm.”
Without missing a beat, Daniel responded, “I’m a slow-learner. Maybe you could suggest a good tutor to school me on the finer points of staying warm in these parts.”
Brent’s face looked like he was about to come unglued. Did Brent have a thing for Jessica? After seeing the way Brent had responded to Katherine in the tunnel, I assumed he might have some sort of a crush on her. He scowled openly at Daniel. Was it because of Centaur traditions? Maybe he just didn’t like joking like that? He was still young by Centaur standards; maybe he thought Jessica was a possibility for him if his betrothal fell through.
Before a second situation had the potential to turn into a brawl, Gage cleared his throat and said, “All right. It’s been a seriously long day. Katherine has graciously offered to let us all stay here at her house. With her here, we should all be safe for tonight. Tomorrow morning, once it’s warm enough to drive down the mountain, we’re piling in the two trucks and going to Omaha, Nebraska. It should take us about eight hours to get there. That’s far enough away that the Centaurs and Centaurides looking for us up here shouldn’t be able to find us.”
I’d been absent from all the planning sessions, so other than Drake’s proposal in the entryway, I didn’t have a clue what the plan was. “Then what?”
“Everyone has tonight to decide. Bianca and I are accompanying you and Drake to Centauride, South Africa next week. We’re going to Cancun until it’s time for the Council meeting. Brent, Daniel, Jessica and Katherine – you need to decide where you want to go from Omaha. Money isn’t an issue, so figure out where you’re going before we get to the airport. We’ll leave here just before noon.”
Katherine found sleeping bags, comforters, pillows and blankets, and then started sending everyone to their assigned sleeping quarters. There was a guest room for Gage and Bianca. Brent was on the couch in the living room; Daniel took the floor. Drake and I were on an air mattress on the floor in the dining room. Jessica stayed with Katherine in her room.
Chapter 11
(Cameron, Camille’s twin brother, His House in South Dakota)
We pulled up outside my house. It looked like a war zone. Curtains swung in the breeze through broken windows, footprints stamped in the snow circled the yard, tire tracks snaked in all directions. I unclipped my seatbelt, flung open my car door, and ran to the gaping hole that used to be my front door.
The door was gone. The hinges were ripped from the doorway and hung mangled to the side. The front porch served as a mud room and the entryway to the kitchen. The kitchen door lay on the floor in front of the stove. Snow had blown onto the floor from the shattered picture window on the other side of the kitchen.
My whole life was in this house. I walked into the living room only to find more destruction. A picture of me trick or treating as a cowboy lay under the shattered glass of its frame on the floor. Pictures of Roger and me were tossed in a pile by the bookcase. Papers from my closet lay charred in the fireplace. I couldn’t believe my own eyes, “What the hell happened?”
I hadn’t meant for it to be a question, and I didn’t know Grandma was right behind me. She placed a gentle hand on my shoulder, “I’m so sorry, Cameron.”
I spun around, anger overcoming me. “What happened? Where’s Camille?”
Sorrow shone in her eyes as she shook her head, unable to answer. It was frigid in the house. I stormed from room to room: every single door and window in the place was destroyed and the furnace was running full blast trying to heat the outside. I reached over to the kitchen sink to check the water – nothing. A pipe had to have frozen and burst somewhere. It looked worse than a crack house. Who would do this?
Grandma found me in my bedroom, staring at my most prized possession: a football trophy from my senior year when my team went to state and I was the MVP of the game. It lay broken to pieces at the foot of my bed. Her voice was soft, “I didn’t want to tell you, but now I don’t have a choice. Camille is unstable.”
“Unstable!? You think!? She ripped my house apart! No way she could have done this on her own.”
Grandma walked up to me. She was a little bit of a woman, at least a foot shorter than me and looked so fragile I was almost scared to touch her. I wanted to grab onto her, but I was afraid I’d break her. Her voice was gentle, “I’m so sorry. I’ll pay to have everything put back. I’ll have contractors here today to repair the house, and I can have restoration experts on a plane this afternoon. It’ll be like it never happened, I promise.”
“Don’t bother. There’s nothing left to restore. It’s all destroyed. Everything, it’s just gone.”
Grandma took me in a hug, her warm embrace trying to soothe the anger just under my skin. “Everything can be repaired, Cameron. I’m so sorry I didn’t warn you.”
“How could you? I should have just been honest and told you she was staying here from the beginning.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. This whole life is new to you. There’s no way you could have known who to trust. I, myself, have spent very little time with your sister. I brought her to my estate the same as I did you, but I could tell she was troubled from the start. I tried to get her counseling and even did my own ‘tough love’ campaign, but I wasn’t strong enough. I failed her.”
Grandma had a heart of gold. From the first minute I met her, she let me be who I was. She never forced any of this Centaur stuff on me. She said I could choose my life. I’d spent my first twenty-three years about a dollar away from poverty with a man who knew nothing about kids. Roger was nice enough: he made sure I always had enough to eat, he helped me with my homework, and he was kind – but he wasn’t family. From the time I was old enough to understand, all he ever said was I should never look for my family – I needed to stay hidden. I wish I’d have had a lifetime with this lady instead of just the last couple weeks.
My eyes darted around the room. As I looked at the destruction, Roger’s warnings to stay away from my family made sense. My twin sister must be schizophrenic to do this kind of damage. She seemed so normal on the phone. She warned me not to trust Grandma – that was a joke. Camille was the one I couldn’t trust. She called me with an elaborate story that she and Drake needed a place to hide out. I couldn’t tell her no – she was my sister.
I looked at the frail old woman standing just feet away from me. Grandma had had a tough life. Her husband of over fifty years was dead. She had two kids: one flew all over the world spending her money like the apocalypse was coming, and my mother ran away when she was a teenager after spreading lies about being abused. Grandma told me that Mom had slept with every man she could find. She ended up a single mother who could barely care for herself, let alone two children. That’s why she’d given me away. Will seemed like a stand up guy – I couldn’t understand why he didn’t help her. Course, who knows, from what Grandma said about Mom, maybe he wasn’t my father.
I wanted to feel sorry for Camille. I tried to tell myself it wasn’t her fault. Mom made her this way. Maybe she didn’t know the difference between right and wrong. Grandma cleared her throat and brought me back to reality, “I’m sure Camille didn’t realize what she was doing. She might have thrown a party and ma
ybe her guests got out of hand.”
“Stop defending her, Grandma. If that’s what happened, she could have picked up the phone and called me. No, this was on purpose. She wanted everything I owned destroyed. I just don’t understand why.”
Grandma sat on a frozen lump of furniture with stuffing ripped out of the cushions. From what was left of the material covering it, it had been my sofa, but there wasn’t enough of it left for anyone other than me to recognize it. Grandma confessed, “That’s probably my fault, too. Can we sit down? There’s something I need to tell you.”
I looked around my home. The whole place was in shambles, and it was just as cold inside as it was outside. I didn’t want her to freeze to death. Despite the sun beaming outside, it was still ten below. I held out my hand to help her up, “C’mon, Grandma. Let’s get back to the car. It’s warmer there.”
She took my hand and squeezed it, “Cameron, you are so thoughtful and kind. I’m not sure I deserve you.”
How could anyone be mean to this lady? She had told me about my mom and Uncle Angelo. Both of them were jerks. And Cami, I couldn’t believe she and I shared the same DNA. I led Grandma out through the living room, kitchen, front porch and back to the car. I held her door for her and helped her into the passenger seat before going around to my side. The engine turned over immediately as the welcomed heat blasted us.
I couldn’t help but stare through the windshield at my shack of a house. I had had a small antiques store in an old building on the property, Cameron’s Collectables, it’s door was hanging open, too. I took a couple deep breaths to keep from losing my temper all over again. How could Grandma possibly think any of this was her fault?
She held her hand up to the vent as relief filled her expression. “Better?” I asked.
Grandma reached over and took my hand again. I loved that about her. Roger had never been very affectionate, so I wasn’t used to her motherly gestures. It hit me that this is how family treats one another. I’d seen it growing up when I went to my friends’ houses, but I didn’t realize how much I craved the comfort from another person until Grandma came into my life.
“Much better, thank you, Cameron. It’s so thoughtful of you to worry about me, but I’m a lot tougher than I look.”
Yeah, right. She was maybe ninety pounds soaking wet and barely five foot five. “I know Grandma. But no sense sitting in the cold when there’s a perfectly good car whose windows haven’t been smashed and with a heater that works.”
“You’re right.”
“So, why do you think what happened at my house is your fault?”
She pursed her lips together and looked out the windshield. I could tell what she was about to tell me wasn’t something she felt comfortable sharing. I gently prodded her, “It’s okay, Grandma. I want to know.”
She patted my hand but didn’t take her eyes off the scene through the windshield. “You think I am old and fragile.” She smiled, “I am much more fragile than I was twenty-five years ago, but I hold a prestigious position in our community.”
That wasn’t a surprise. She had her own plane, a huge secluded estate in Florida, and more men providing security than the president surrounded by the Secret Service.
“I was trying to establish a relationship with Camille. I inadvertently let slip that my position is passed to the heir of my choosing.”
“I’m not following you, Grandma.”
“Camille believes she will take my place leading the Centaur Council, by force if necessary. I had some reservations before, but after seeing what she did to your home, I’m certain – she is jealous of you and no doubt unstable. When I told her I believed she had a twin brother, she became angry – nearly to a rage.”
My heart plummeted. “She didn’t want a brother?”
Grandma squeezed my hand again but still didn’t look at me. “Your half-brothers dote on her. Your father already has five sons, so he wasn’t all that interested in finding you. You have to understand, Centaurides in our society can be traded for social status. Your father and his sons view Camille as their meal ticket. When she came to me, she had already been ruined by the Strayers.”
My breath caught. “So what’s all that have to do with me?”
“I choose who my position on the Centaur Council is passed to. I’ve known since Angela and Angelo were children that they were too reckless for such a position. I wish you could have understood my elation to find Angela had children.”
Her gentleness warmed me, and I couldn’t help but confess, “Probably the same thrill I had to find out I had a real family.” When my words registered, she turned her gaze on me for the first time. I loved this lady. She was so selfless and kind, despite all the things she had been through.
“Camille believes she will take my place, by force if necessary, on the Centaur Council. I’ve called a special session to share with the Council my misgivings about Camille.”
That was the second time she’d said Camille planned to take her position by force. My eyes were drawn to my home destroyed by the sister I didn’t know. “Grandma, I’ll support you in any way you need me.”
“You’re a good boy, Cameron: the son I’d always hoped for. If Camille forces my hand, I may have to step down.”
I hated the idea of talking to Camille after what she’d done. All the memories I had were crushed, broken, and burned inside what was left of my home. Despite my desire to stay away from her until I’d cooled off, I couldn’t let Grandma face her alone. “I could try talking to her if you want me to.”
“That’s so thoughtful of you. Judging from what she did to your house, I think she’s past the point of a simple chat. No. Cameron, I want you to take my place.”
“What? No. I can’t.”
“You can. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be with you every step of the way to guide you for as long as you want me to.”
“I can talk to her and make her understand. You don’t have to step down.”
“It’s time. I’m old. The Council needs new Chiron blood leading it. There is just one concern.”
My mind was reeling. What did the Centaur Council do? Was it like being on a board of directors or something? I’d never been to college. I’d never been anywhere or seen anything. How could I lead a council of any kind?
As if she were reading my mind, she answered, “Don’t doubt yourself, Cameron. You have what it takes. You are a natural leader and more fierce of a warrior than you know.”
A warrior? The council went to war? With who, fairies? I shook my head, “There’s too much I don’t know.”
“I’ll be right beside you the whole time. The only problem we have is your father. He is of the Lost Herd, and you will need to renounce him if you are to take my place.”
“Renounce him?” She said it like he was royalty or something. She’d explained the Lost Herd to me in Florida – at least a little bit. It was hard to believe the gods I’d learned about in grade school were real, even harder to learn one of my distant relatives had ticked Zeus off.
“There is much I haven’t shared with you. I was pleased to have found you and did not wish for you to learn too much at once and fear for your safety. These last weeks I’ve watched you closely. You are strong enough for every truth I need to share.”
While we sat in the overly warm car, she told me the history of my father’s Tak bloodline, how we were banned from the pasture of Thessaly, how a death warrant was placed on our heads ever since then. She grabbed my arm, “Cameron, I can’t lose you the way I’ve lost everyone else. Renounce your father’s line, and I can protect you. You can take my place as Chairman of the Centaur Council.”
I was shocked. Her story explained all the security at her estate. She didn’t even know me but wanted to keep me safe. Grandma should have been more jaded after everything she had gone through – but she wasn’t. What about Camille? She was in as much danger as I was.
Again, as if she had read my thoughts, her expression soured. “I offered your si
ster the same protection, and she disgraced me. She ran away telling lies to all who would listen of her mistreatment at my hands.”
Bile rose up from my stomach. Grandma was right. It would just be she and I. We were all we had left. My father had phoned me and warned me to be careful of Grandma. Camille told me not to trust Dad or Grandma, but as I looked at what she’d done to my house – Camille was the one I couldn’t trust. That loser Drake she was with stole my arrow right in front of me. Hatred bubbled up from within. I knew who I could trust, and she was the little old lady who had shown me nothing but kindness since I met her.
“I’ll do whatever you need me to do, Grandma.”
A smile spread wide on her face. “Good. I knew I could count on you. We need to find Camille.”
Not what I had expected her to say. “What? After what she did? Why would we want to find her?”
“She is unstable. We need to get her help. Your mother made her this way. Maybe there is a chance we can get her some counseling. Will you help me find her?”
“I’ll do anything you ask of me, but I don’t want to see her.” I was ashamed that I would be so attached to material things, but I needed to be honest. “She destroyed everything I had.”
She patted my arm, and I could have sworn there was a twinkle in her eye. “Don’t you worry about a thing. You won’t have to talk to her. Just help me find her . . . , so I can make sure she is safe.”
Grandma was a saint. After everything her kids and Camille had put her through, she still wanted to help them. My priorities changed in that moment. Roger had always told me to look out for number one. I could feel my heart grow as I would now be looking out for this sweet old lady, too.
“How do we find her? Credit card receipts?”
“You are her twin. You are Chiron twins. The two of you share a bond that allows you to find each other no matter where the other is. Open that connection and tell me where she is.”
Centaur Rivalry (Touched Series Book 3) Page 11
