Curses, Fates & Soul Mates

by et al Kristie Cook

  I’d never been on a motorcycle, but they looked like more fun than should be legal.

  “I was hoping for that kind of reaction. Most girls would freak because they’d get helmet hair or a bug in their tooth.”

  “Like you said, I’m not like most girls, right?”

  “That’s for sure.”

  If he only knew.

  He climbed on and clicked the massive machine to life. I swung my leg around the back and eased onto the tiny black leather seat behind Zach. I scooted as close as I could to him.

  The bike’s idle tickled my stomach exactly how I thought it would. Or was that because I sat so intimately close to Zach?

  “Hold on.” He slapped his helmet on.

  “Gladly.” I wove my arms around his waist and clasped my fingers against his stomach. My mind whirled.

  The world blurred by as we sped down Main Street. I clutched him hard, keeping my strength in check. Even though he wore a leather jacket, I felt his hard stomach flex on the turns. The muscles had to be pretty significant if I was feeling them through the leather.

  Kind of made me want to see them…

  The warm wind brushed over my arms, and the hair sticking out from my helmet whipped my back. I glanced over Zach’s shoulder. The speedometer read sixty-miles an hour.

  My thoughts wandered into oblivion as I clung to him. Man, I was falling hard for this guy. Not sure it was such a bright thing to do, but I’d never been known to make the best decisions.

  I had to think of Georgia and Scott, too. What if I blew it here? Exposed us? That would mean another move.

  I felt like I was in one of those spinning teacups at the fair.

  I hated those things.

  The roar of the engine slowed, and I opened my eyes. The road he turned onto wasn’t dirt, but it might as well have been. The tar was so broken up. In the distance, a single story house, crackled white paint, and faded green shutters came into view.

  The sun peeked up from the trees behind us, sending long shadows over the fields surrounding the property. Two massive trees hung close to the roof. Bet it sounded eerie in the house if a wind kicked up.

  “Where the heck are we?”

  “Jess lives outside of town. Creepy, isn’t it?”

  Creepy wasn’t enough of a word to describe it. Lots of dark spots for people to hide. Far away from civilization. Not good. My heartbeat hitched up a notch as I scanned my surroundings. Trees hemmed in the house, and there wasn’t another structure in sight.

  “I should warn you, Jess is a little odd.”

  “No he’s not. I’ve seen him at school.”

  “He’s normal enough there, because that’s his job. He has to be professional. But he’s kind of a recluse. Keeps to himself. Quirky. You know what I mean?”

  “I get it.” As long as he figured out my disc, I wouldn’t care if he had three heads.

  We veered into the driveway, and a porch light clicked on.

  “That was awesome.” I hopped off the cycle. I’d always wanted to cruise around on one of these things. I pulled off the helmet. Scents of dust and flowers floated across the air.

  Zach kicked his leg around the seat and dismounted. He yanked his helmet off, and his soft, chestnut curls bounced free. “You put your helmet on so fast back at your place I didn’t get a kiss.”

  I smiled, still giddy from the bike ride, and stepped to him. He rewarded me with the sweetest, most gentle kiss.

  “Mmm.” I literally purred. Oh, yeah, I was a goner.

  “Break it up, lovebirds,” a voice called out as a door banged shut.

  Zach turned.

  “Hey, Z-man, what’s goin’ on?” Jess stomped down the steps. “So, this is your girl?” He nodded at me.

  “Hi.” I nestled under Zach’s wing.

  “She’s the one you got busted with in my office, huh?”

  My cheeks burned. I could only imagine how red my face was.

  Jess, in his wrinkled shorts and t-shirt, looked barely older than me. And he worked at the school?

  I glanced at Zach. He smiled and held out his hand to Jess. “Yeah, yeah. Behave, Jess.”

  “I’m just givin’ ya crap. Come on, let’s see what you have for me.” His eyes bulged. Brown, shaggy hair that somehow defied gravity shot out in all directions. Dark stubble dusted the tip of his chin. Or was he trying to grow a beard?

  Tattoos of naked ladies, a couple of crosses, and a mural of crazy symbols covered his arms. No wonder he wore long sleeves at the school. Jess clapped his hands together, then whirled around and headed to the front door.

  “I told you. He’s a little different. It’ll be fine.” He lifted my hand to his mouth and kissed it.

  We walked into the tiny house through the front door. It led into a small, dark living room with a kitchen to the left.

  Straight ahead was a hallway, probably leading to a bedroom. To the right, a dim room with a huge desk, housing four monitors. Each one scrolled something different. It looked like chicken scratches to me, but the flickering screens provided most of the light in the room. Scraps of paper littered the floor, and empty plates cluttered the desktop.

  Wires criss-crossed, hooked to various contraptions. I recognized a scanner and a couple of CPUs. No clue what the other junk was.

  “So, where’s our little gem?” Jess’s fingers wiggled.

  Could we say caffeine overload?

  “In my backpack.” I dropped it to the floor and unzipped it. My eyes suddenly burned, and my nose tickled. I sneezed the mother of all sneezes.

  “Careful, this old house isn’t that sturdy.” Jess laughed. Air swooshed from his black leather chair as he plopped onto it.

  This place probably hadn’t been dusted in a hundred years. And I didn’t even have allergies. “So, how’d you get into all this computer stuff?” I asked while digging around in my bag.

  “Oh, here and there. Took some classes, found a few hacker friends.”

  I grabbed the disc and pulled it from the bag. Clutching it to my chest, I looked at the skinny guy. As if staring at him would tell me if I could trust him. A knot tightened in my stomach. What if he saw something incriminating? Turned us in.

  “What?” He looked at me with his beady little green eyes. “What’s the matter?”

  “I—ah—well—I’m not sure what’s on here. It could be—”

  “Jess. It’s got something to do with her mom. She died four years ago.” Zach smiled. “So she might not want us to see it.”

  “How am I gonna hack it if I can’t see it?” The naked-lady tattoo on Jess’s bicep bulged as he crossed his arms over his impressively wimpy chest.

  “Is there any way you can break into it without actually watching all the contents?”

  “Don’t know yet. You haven’t given me the disc to see what I can figure out.”

  “Jess.” Zach shook his head.

  “I’ll do what I can. You have any idea what’s on this? Data? Images? Video?” He reached for a can of Mountain Dew I hadn’t even seen amongst the clutter.

  “None.” I gave him the disc and fisted my hands to hide the shaking.

  “You can trust me.”

  That didn’t work real well for me. Did that once, the Coats found us. Several needle pokes later I was whisked away to a hotel on my way to some research facility.

  Not so big into the trust-thing, but I had to know what was on that stupid disc. Scott and Georgia agreed it was worth the risk, too. It wasn’t like I got a bad vibe off this Jess character. I was just scared. Coats had found me here. Georgia had powers. I was falling for Zach. The idea of risking all that clobbered me in the gut like a baseball bat.

  Jess swiveled his chair to face the computer screens, then cracked open the CD case.

  “Breathe,” Zach whispered in my ear.

  I didn’t take my gaze from Jess’s fingers tapping a dance over the keyboard.

  Two of his screens flashed. Random words and letters scrolled from the top to the botto
m.

  “Wow, someone really put a hex on this one.” He turned around. “Where did you say you got this?”

  “From some of my mom’s things.” My breath left me. Even though Zach stood right next to me in the middle of the room, I felt so alone. Maybe Georgia should have come along.

  “Can you hack it?” Zach asked.

  “There isn’t much I can’t get through, but this is pretty tight stuff. Haven’t seen anything this good in a while.” He faced the screens again.

  “You love a challenge.”

  I could tell he grinned by the way his cheek bulged. “This is gonna be fun.”

  Jess’s fingers flew over the keyboard so fast they almost blurred, but I couldn’t move. I wasn’t sure how long had passed when he said, “I think I’m getting through.”

  I clutched my cheeks.

  “Just a bit more.”

  Zach pulled a chair in from the kitchen and motioned for me to sit. No need to fall over. I’d probably crack my head on a desk corner, then freeze the room and destroy the disc. Not to mention freeze the guy I was totally falling for.

  Zach stood behind me, as I watched over Jess’s shoulder. He glanced back with an arched eyebrow. My chair inched away from the desk, then Zach’s breath feathered against my neck. “He’s not so much into letting people hover too close while he works.”

  “Oh. Got it.”

  Twenty minutes later, we got another, “Just a bit more.”

  My stomach rumbled. Or was it nerves doing a jumping bean impression? I shot up and paced. Eventually, I made my way to the living room, still within range of hearing the clack of the computer keys.

  A picture hanging on the wall of two kids playing catch with a baseball caught my attention. Both wore caps three sizes too big.

  “That’s me and Jess,” Zach said from behind me. The floor creaked as he approached.

  “Cute.”

  “We’ve known each other forever. It was pretty cool to have him come work at the school.”

  “How old is he anyway?”

  “He just turned twenty-one.”

  “Wait, what?”

  “He did high school in two years. College in three. Then came back here. Now he’s a janitor.”

  “Wow. Brainiac, then.”

  “Yeah.”

  Zach’s voice sounded distant. I couldn’t place the emotion. He obviously cared for the guy.

  “Why isn’t he in some high tech job somewhere making a killing with the computer stuff he knows?”

  “Long story. I’ll tell you sometime. But for now, he didn’t fit into the corporate world very well.” Zach’s arms wove around my waist, and he pulled me close. “I’m curious. Why would your mom have such a protected disc? Seems strange. Didn’t you tell me she was a schoolteacher?”

  “She was. I have no idea what’s on there or why she’d have it.” Oh, other than the fact that she was probably a super-hero, or super-spy, or some government project involving super-powers. Heck maybe schoolteacher was her cover.

  I rested my head against his chest. I’d never wanted anyone to know about me more than Zach. Something about him drew me in. Maybe he’d understand. We could—

  “Got through, guys.” Jess’s voice reverberated off the dark walls.

  My lungs deflated like a pricked balloon. He’d gotten through? I twisted out of Zach’s arms and scurried to the computer room. A picture of my mom’s face filled the main screen.

  My knees buckled.

  Zach caught me.

  I took a deep breath, but the oxygen didn’t chase away the darkness creeping into my vision.

  “Whoa, hold on.” Zach dragged me to the chair. “Amanda?”

  I couldn’t pull my stare from the screen, though.

  “As soon as I got through, I hit pause.” Jess turned to me. “See, told you, you could trust me.”

  A smile sent the dimple in his left cheek into spasms. He’d done it. But why would Georgia’s mom have a disc of my mother’s? Did her mom know mine? She must have powers, then, if Georgia did.

  Or, she was a Coat.

  CHAPTER 19

  Jess glanced at me. “Whoa, did it just drop a few degrees in here?”

  I coughed through the thickness in my throat. My mom was on the screen. How was that even possible?

  “I’ll watch it with you,” Zach said.

  “No.” I shook my head. “No. I don’t want to.”

  “What do you mean you don’t want to watch it? Why did I spend the last hour and a half breaking into it for you?” Jess’s eyebrows scrunched together. He guzzled more soda.

  No wonder the guy twitched.

  “Is it fixed for good? Like, if you give me the disc, can I play it on my computer?” I managed to keep my voice from cracking, despite how focused I was on keeping my ice at bay.

  “I’m going to put it on this thumb drive here. You can plug it into your USB on your laptop and it’ll run. People don’t use discs anymore.” Jess turned to his computer.

  Mom’s image disappeared from the screen. “Whoa, what happened?”

  “Just closing everything out so you can have your stuff.”

  After a few minutes, he handed me a little flash drive.

  “The disc’s worthless. I trashed it. Don’t need that stuff around anymore. The drive has everything you need. No codes, no nothin’.”

  I took the treasure with shaky fingers.

  “Thanks, Jess. I owe you big-time.” Zach bumped knuckles with Jess.

  “I’d say, Z-man. That hack was wicked. Cool, but wicked.” He smiled. “Thanks, though. It’s exactly what I needed. I was getting bored with the lame-ass hacking stuff on the net.” He laced his fingers together and stretched his arms out in front of him.

  His crackling knuckles sounded like popcorn. Gross.

  “I really appreciate it, Jess. Free smoothies for life.”

  “Hey now, I might take you up on that. You two stay out of my little office, you hear?” He laughed as he rolled his chair away from us, then hopped to his feet.

  We made our way down the front steps as the creaky door slammed shut behind us.

  “Tough seeing your mom’s picture, huh?”

  “Shouldn’t be. I see the one hanging in my living room every day.”

  “But this is different.”

  He had no idea. Georgia’s mom must have known mine if she had a disc with my mom’s picture on it. My gut rolled like I’d eaten a bad burrito.

  “How come you didn’t want to watch it in there? I would have stayed with you. You wouldn’t have been alone.”

  I glanced up at him. Compassion brimmed in his eyes. “You’re sweet. I just think I need to watch it with my bro.”

  “I can see that. I’d like to be there, too. To help you through it.”

  “Wow, are you for real? You’re too good to be true.” I cupped the side of his face. “But I better watch this with Scott. You understand, don’t you?”

  He nodded and offered me the helmet. “Let’s get you home, then.”

  Five minutes into the ride, a set of headlights zoomed up behind us. The car went to pass us, but then didn’t. Shit.

  Tinted windows paired with the darkness of night prevented me from seeing into the car.

  Zach gunned it and put some distance between us. It sped up as well. This was not good. I held tight to Zach and turned as much as I could. Should I try to freeze a tire or something? What if it wasn’t the Coats?

  My pounding heart knew it was the Coats, my mind was a few beats behind it. I cooled down my hand and glanced around again before turning my focus to the car. Someone was leaning out the window.

  Wait, was that a gun?

  The bike jolted. Metal scraped pavement. Sparks lit up the darkness, leaving a trail of light behind us. The bike jerked, and off I went, like a bull rider in a rodeo.

  “Amanda,” Zach yelled.

  Oh God, Zach. The Coats wouldn’t take him, would they? Of course they would. Please, no.

 
I flew across the road toward a field. Waving my arms, I fought gravity to land upright. The ground zoomed at me faster and faster. I lifted my arms to brace for the fall, and light, powdery snow shot from my palms with the force of water from a fire hose.

  A huge pile of snow formed in time for my landing. The impact knocked the wind from my lungs and sent me rolling down the mound. I scrabbled to get my bearings, but my back rammed into something hard.

  A sharp point jabbed my shoulder, pinning me to the ground. “Move and I’ll put you out.”

  Damn dart guns. I showed my palms as I scanned the area to my left best I could. Dried grass and weeds. I must have really shot into the field a distance.

  I had to cooperate for a second to catch my bearings. Couldn’t help Zach if I was unconscious.

  Shuffling to my right drew my attention. The man holding his weapon to me shifted his focus to his partner. “Get the boy. He’s coming, too.”

  In his distraction, I grabbed the barrel, crushed it shut and turned on the cold. Die! Ice crackled around his mouth as he let out his last breath.

  I pointed my hand at the other guy. Before he could get a shot off, he froze solid. My pulse hammered through my ears, and my stomach churned. I pushed to my feet and checked for more Coats.

  No way were they taking my Zach. Shit. I gulped down the nerves and did another three-sixty. I’d never frozen anything—or anyone—that quickly before. Power and energy raged through me like a river. My pulse throttled my eardrums.

  Seemed clear so I took off. I’d jetted about fifty feet into the field. But where had Zach landed?

  Smoke spewed into the night air from across the road and up nearly a hundred feet. “Zach!”

  Please let him be okay. I glanced around again. Still no sign of anyone else. The moonlight danced off the ice sculptures, but I shook it out of my mind. All that mattered right now was Zach.

  I sprinted toward the plume and found him lying in the ditch, the bike on top of him.

  “Zach.”

  He grunted, trying to push the cycle up.

  Before I could think it through, I reached down and yanked the cycle off him, then tossed it behind me. When I looked back at him, he stared at me with wide eyes.