Drake was on a roll, so I made no effort to answer. “Camille was raised as a human. She was only recently introduced to her Centaur family. Her grandmother, Zandra Chiron, held her captive and arranged a marriage for her to the descendant of Winfield and Unice.”
The old woman clasped her hand over her mouth in an effort to hold in her surprise. “She was trying to strengthen the Chiron bloodline, the same as she tried with Angela. But you two are married, are you not?” She eyed us suspiciously as if searching our thoughts, trying to break down our defenses.
We answered together, me saying, “No.” and Drake saying, “Not yet.”
Stronger than I felt, I explained, “While I was held captive by Zandra, a guard who was loyal to my father helped us escape. We’re worried we won’t be able to hide from her, so we are looking for her brother to see if he could help us. My father helped us make our way here. We meant no harm to you or your family.”
The woman pursed her lips together and gave us a slight nod, “I believe you. How did you think Zethus would be able to help?”
For some reason, our plan no longer sounded absurd, so I told her the truth. “We wanted the use of Hercules’ arrow.”
The woman cackled at us, while smiles erupted on the faces of the two men standing just behind her. Her voice was full of humor, “That arrow doesn’t exist. If it did, it would be so sought after that he who had it in his possession would be a target for every living Centaur.”
Drake put his arm around me and squeezed my shoulder. He meant it to be a comforting gesture, but I couldn’t be comforted. Zandra was probably already on her way to Ireland after us. There was nothing I could do about it but sit and wait or try to stay a few steps ahead of her.
As I felt my body repulse at the idea of coming face-to-face with her, the old woman said, “You two both look like you could use a good meal and some rest. There’s a wash room through that door. Get cleaned up; I’ll have dinner ready in thirty minutes. Once you both have a good night’s rest, you may be seeing more clearly in the morning.”
I wanted to believe her kind words. She was a stranger and yet she knew about my mother. She knew my grandmother. Would she alert Zandra that we were here? Would we really be safe for one more night?
Chapter 8
(Camille – Bed and Breakfast, Southern Ireland)
Dinner conversation revolved more around me than I would have liked. I didn’t have any real secrets, but was not all that comfortable being the center of attention. As the five of us sat together, it struck me odd that none of the three had shared their names with us. The older woman asked me, “So, how is it, Camille, that you were raised human?”
“My mother never told me about being a Centauride.”
“Angela? She raised you to be a human? Not a Centauride?”
“Mom never married. She met my father, William Strayer, a married Centaur. . . briefly. She died a few months ago and told me who my father was. . . but not what we were.”
The old woman was quick to pick up on the nuance that I’d shared, “You were born out of wedlock?”
I nodded. Both of the two men standing on either side of her exchanged a glance. I wanted to know what they were thinking, but I wouldn’t be able to concentrate enough to listen to their thoughts while carrying on a conversation with the woman. To date I’d only been able to “listen in” with Phineas, and it was just the one time. She asked, “So how did she explain your abilities?”
I hated admitting this part, “It never came up.”
“Listening to others’ thoughts and talking to the spirit world never came up?”
“She never actually showed me how to do it.”
“What about your grandmother?”
“She was more interested in teaching me Greek mythology than how to use the skills that every other Centauride seems to have at birth.” Drake put a hand on my knee and gave me a reassuring squeeze. He knew I felt inadequate every time the subject of Centauride skills came up.
“So, you do not . . . “
I cut her off before she could finish her question, “It’s sporadic.” I didn’t want her to know I was worthless as a Centauride. “My stepmother, Gretchen, offered to help me, but I haven’t had much time alone with her.”
“It’s really much easier than that, my dear. You are tense; I can see it on your face. I can feel it in your demeanor. Relax your mind and listen to the voice that speaks to you from the inside. You need only accept who you are.”
“I’m tense because from the moment I found out Centaurs were real, I’ve been jerked every which direction. My inner voice just keeps telling me to go back to being human and forget about everything.”
She shook her head at me and shared a knowing smile, “No. Your inner voice guides you. ‘Twas my inner voice that told me you needed me when you arrived on my front porch unannounced. It’s my voice that tells me: you speak the truth. It’s also my inner voice that tells me you have a long journey ahead of you. Listen to yours; it will tell you exactly where you need to be.”
Drake confessed, “I convinced Camille to come to Ireland. It was a huge waste of time since Zethus is dead. We don’t have any defense against Zandra.” Drake, for the first time since our journey began, doubted himself.
The old woman nodded, “You are both fierce warriors. You are deceptively strong and quick. Any who attack you will not expect such a fight. Isn’t that right, boys?” Her eyes twinkled as she good-naturedly jeered her two sons who had been rendered helpless in a matter of seconds by Drake and me. “Get some rest. You fall under my household’s protection this evening. No harm will come to you while you rest. You have my word.”
I offered to help with the dishes, but she wouldn’t hear of it. Instead, the woman escorted us upstairs, to two awaiting rooms. My heart sank. After all of today’s disappointments, I couldn’t stand the thought of sleeping alone.
Drake held up a hand, “I’m sorry, Ma’am. Camille is my responsibility. Her father has entrusted her to my care.”
Irritated at Drake’s suggestion, she answered. “You know the rules, young Nash.”
“Yes, Ma’am, I do. But I am sworn not to let her out of my sight.”
The old woman’s skepticism shone while she addressed me, “Miss Camille, our customs do not permit an unwed Centauride and Centaur in the same sleeping quarters.”
I tried to mask my exhaustion, “We don’t want to be disrespectful of your home. Thank you for your kindness. We will find our way back to town.” I absently reached down and took Drake’s hand in mine.
Her eyes moved to our intertwined hands, another obvious disregard for customs on my part. Clearly frustrated with my answer, “I told you, you both fall under my house’s protection tonight. You will be perfectly safe here.”
Drake’s voice was gentle, “Ma’am, she has been through a lot. I won’t leave her alone. Even just across the hall is too far for me to be sure of her safety.”
Her brows furrowed and her lips pursed together tightly. She guffawed and asked the question she already knew the answer to, “No funny business?”
Without hesitation, Drake answered, “On my honor as her Centaur.”
“Very well. It seems this arrangement has her father’s blessing. Who am I to stand in the way?” She held open the door closest to us and motioned for us to go inside, then closed it behind us.
I had so many questions, like: How did Drake know they were Centaurs? How did we get the jump on the Centaurs who were both so much larger than we were? Could we trust the old woman? Why didn’t she give us her name or introduce us to her sons?
I turned around, ready to ask him all these questions and more when he whispered, “Where did you learn to fight like that?”
I pushed on both his shoulders, trying not to laugh, “I went to public school in Oceanside, Drake.” I softly punched him in the shoulder, “We make a pretty good team.”
My face buried itself in his chest as his arms wound around me. I could feel his
smile without seeing it. “I won’t worry about you in a bar brawl, that’s for sure. What possessed you to try turning the guy into Dumbo?”
I shook my head, still smiling at how impressed he’d been with my non-Centauride skills. “Everyone goes for the groin or the knees in a fight, but thirty-five pounds of pressure and you can actually rip someone’s ear off. It’s one of the most sensitive parts of the body.”
Drake’s hands were running the length of me. Those familiar shivers set my body ablaze when he whispered, “You’re so hot when you’re kicking the crap out of Centaurs.”
“Funny. So, now that we know my great-uncle’s dead and there’s no arrow, what do we do next?” I didn’t mean for it to sound negative, but I hoped he’d have another idea.
“I’ll send a text to the pilot tonight. We’ll leave tomorrow morning.”
“For where?”
“You’re the Centauride, Camille. You’re taking point.”
“What?”
“You can’t do any worse than I’ve done. Sleep on it. Something will come to you.”
Talk about pressure. I must have stared at the ceiling for two hours, memorizing a water spot that looked strikingly similar to Sagittarius. I was becoming far too immersed in this whole thing. Since Drake was leaving it up to me, we were going to San Diego. If the U.S. Government couldn’t find two hundred thousand illegal immigrants there, then there was a good chance Zandra wouldn’t be able to pinpoint us, either.
I felt a wave of peace settle over me. I’d be home soon – my home. No more Centaur rules, Centaurides, crazy relatives – just awesome Carne Asada burritos, sunshine, sand, and Drake. After I’d made the decision, sleep found me quickly.
*****
Drake held me tightly while we slept, his arm making an uncomfortable but welcomed pillow. My eyes opened to the pre-dawn light streaming in through the window. I felt Drake’s muscles tense around me as he pulled me closer to him, and his voice, strong and unyielding, said, “Who the hell are you?”
I jerked the rest of the way awake. An old man sat in a chair just a few feet away from us. He didn’t waste any time when he said, “Well, top o’ tha marnin’ to ya. Thought you two might sleep the marnin’ away.”
Drake sat straight up, pulled his shirt from the nightstand, and he was yanking it hard over his head when he asked, “What do you want?” Very subtly, Drake motioned for me to slide behind him.
“I should be asking you that question. Eadie says you’re lookin’ far me.”
She had told us we would be safe in her home, but waking up to a strange man watching us didn’t feel like much security. Ignoring Drake’s hand still trying to move me behind him, I scowled, “Who are you?”
“Well – me friends call me Jeb, but me mather named me Zethus. I understand you two air lookin’ for a family heirloom?”
Zethus’s accent made it nearly impossible to understand him. Everyone we’d met had an Irish accent, but it was subtle. The only time we had really heard pronounced accents was in the few pubs we had stopped in, and only when there was drinking involved.
I sat up straighter, “You’re my great-uncle, Zethus? But how? She told us you were dead.”
“You aren’t the firs’ to come lookin’ for me. She tells er’eyone I died. Wishful thinkin’ on her part, if you ask me! No. . . you’re the firs’ that’s looked for me in more than twenty years.”
“I’m Camille. This is my. . . this is Drake. Your sister, Zandra, is my grandmother.”
“How is the ol’ bat?”
“She’s actually pretty pissed off at me right now.”
When he laughed, his whole face lit up. He was covered in wrinkles, deep set around his eyes. It looked like he hadn’t seen a razor in weeks. He wore a cabbie hat and a tweed scarf, his skin looked like he’d worked hard his whole life, but his face was warm, and his eyes were the same brown as mine.
“Eadie says she tried to arrange a marriage you were no’ in favor o’ – she had bigger plans for you, did she?”
“She set up a marriage between Gage Richardson and me. Eadie said she was trying to strengthen the Chiron bloodline. What did she mean by that?”
“My fool sis’er dreamed up a plan that the Chiron blood with Winfield and Unice’s could have a powerful effect. She’s had a lot o’ time on her hands since your mather disappeared. Ne’er could figure out where that lass went, probably for the bes’. So, lemme guess, you turn up out o’ the clear blue, and Zandra swooped in an’ locked you up.”
He had put the whole situation together without me having to relive any of it. “She did. Once we escaped, I thought we’d be fine, but Drake and my dad think she’s going to come after us.”
Uncle Zethus turned his attention to Drake, “You’re a smar’ one. That deci’ful little bat will keep chasin’ you. She gets somthin’ stuck in her craw and there isn’t any gettin’ it ou’. What do you wan’ from me?”
“Zandra’s magic is much stronger than ours. If we had Hercules’ arrow, we could protect ourselves.”
He nodded, “Tell me somethin.’ How did you and your mather stay hidden so long?”
There wasn’t any reason to withhold information from him. “Aphrodite’s magic protected us. Kyle Richardson gave his magic to hide us, but when my mom died, the protection went away.”
He guffawed, “Well, isn’t that ironic! The very magic Zandra was tryin’ to give to you is what hid you from her all those years! An’ since this handsome fella isn’t a descendant of Winfield and Unice, he can’t do nothing for ya. You sure know how to pick ‘em.”
I could hear the pleading in my voice when I asked, “So, will you help us?”
“I wish tha’ I could, Darlin’. Too many Centaurs were power hungry. Didn’t think I’d see a very long life with the arrow. Gave it to a bloke from the States.”
“The states? You mean the United States?”
“Aye, he came to me o’er twen’y years ago, tellin’ me he’d take care o’ the arrow. He’d hide it from the Centaurs. He’d protect it.”
“Who was he?”
“I forget his name. Said he lives by Crazy Horse.”
“Crazy Horse, the Indian?”
“I knew enough to know that Crazy Horse was dead. But this fella says near Crazy Horse’s Mountain. I handed it o’er and have no’ seen him since. Crazy Horse was a powerful Centaur Warrior – but he adopted those Indians like they was his own. Seemed like a good idea for the arrow to be near his mountain. The fella needed it, so I handed it over.”
“You don’t remember the man’s name or a way we can get in contact with him?”
“Robert or Roger. . . maybe, I don’t remember. All I can tell ye’ is he isn’t a Centaur.” Zethus paused as if there was something important he wanted us to know. “He’s a man. He’s go’ that arrow. You tell ‘em I sent you.” Zethus stood up to leave the room, “Good luck to you. If that fool sister o’ mine shows up here – I’ll give her the what for.”
When we were alone in the room again, I asked, “Did I hear that right? He gave the arrow to a man he didn’t know, because the guy lived near Crazy Horse’s Mountain?”
“That’s what it sounded like.”
“We’re supposed to find the guy: no name, no description, no clue who he is, and tell him Zethus said we could have the arrow?”
Drake smiled at me, “Yeah, unless you have a better idea.”
“We do this while we avoid my grandmother?”
“He didn’t tell us that, but I think that’s implied.” Drake’s smirk grew bigger. I was ready to give him a smart aleck comment back when it hit me. It didn’t matter how much danger we were in, we were together. My blood debt should be forgiven – Bianca should have chosen Gage by now. None of those things seemed possible on Friday; now less than a week later, my life was nearly my own, other than the one little thing I still hadn’t figured out how to tell Drake. Spending the night here and talking to Uncle Zethus helped put everything in better perspective.
> As we emerged from the staircase, Eadie was waiting for us on the first floor. “You talked to Jeb, did you?”
“We did.”
“Don’t believe a word he says. He ain’t been right since his sister killed their parents.”
“His sister? Zandra? She killed their parents?’
“Aye, about thirty years ago. She was convinced they were hiding that fool arrow from her. Jeb tried to convince her that it didn’t exist. She didn’t believe him. If they had it, they took that location to the grave with ‘em. He hasn’t been the same since.”
It sounded like Zethus had hidden the arrow from Eadie, too.
“Here, it isn’t what you’re looking for, but it protected my family against her. He wants you to have it.” She handed me the ugliest broach I’d ever seen. It was a gold and metallic green spider with a torso that bubbled out and was the size of a full-sized locust. The spider had large bulging gem stone eyes, and I wanted to hand it back to her. When she pressed down on the spider’s head, the abdomen opened to reveal a locket with hair in it.
“It won’t protect you from any of her people, but it’ll protect you from Zandra. This was Athena’s locket.”
I remembered this story from the endless lessons at Zandra’s house. “Athena was the goddess of weaving. She got jealous of a mortal and killed her, but felt guilty, then brought the mortal back to life as a spider, right?”
“Yes. Arachne was the girl. Whoever’s hair is placed in this locket cannot harm you. Zandra’s hair is already in it.”
“But, what will happen to you?”
“I’m an old woman. I don’t need Athena’s protection anymore. Be on your way. Sides, if Zandra shows her face here, Jeb won’t be so kind. She won’t leave this island unless it’s in a box.”
If things didn’t go well, Ireland may be a place that we could set up as a safe haven from Zandra. I wasn’t sure what to call my uncle, so I asked Eadie, “You keep calling him Jeb. I thought his name was Zethus?”
Centaur Legacy Page 6
