Daniel looked at me. I nodded in response to her. When Daniel concluded that I wasn’t going to say anything, he answered, “It was all Beau. He’s the one who pulled you out.”
She nodded. I felt worse than I had five minutes before. If I’d just been a few seconds faster, I might have been able to save her fiancé, as well. She wouldn’t recover from the loss any time soon. He had had a life to look forward to. I felt a loss for the Centaur I’d never known. Would his bloodline carry on? Did he have brothers or did my delay cause his bloodline to cease? “I’m sorry I couldn’t do more.” I hoped she had heard the words, but my voice was barely over a whisper.
Her voice was much stronger than mine, “You did more than most could have, Beau. Thank you.”
I nodded, desperately wanting out of the room. I felt like the walls were closing in on me, and I needed air. Why would I be permitted to live when I had nothing to live for? I didn’t have a life waiting for me. I would have to make my own, and it wasn’t even a life I’d fought for. Why would their lives not be spared?
I couldn’t take the feeling anymore, so I gave Lacey a half wave and walked toward the door, “I’m glad you’re going to be okay.”
When I hit the door’s threshold, her raised voice found me, “Beau, be careful.”
I stopped in the doorway, angled my body slightly, “I will.”
“I mean on your trip. She needs you.”
I’d already decided I wasn’t going back to South Carolina. What was she talking about? “What? What trip?”
“To South Dakota. She needs you. I can see it.”
I took a step back inside the room. “Who needs me?”
Daniel had been standing just to the side of Lacey; he leaned into her. “What’d you say? South Dakota? Is it Cami?”
Lacey looked a little confused, “Yes, I think so.” Her head did the smallest of a circle as her eyes lost focus on us; it looked like she was concentrating on something not in the room. “I’m sorry. I’m not feeling well. . .” Her voice cut off for a second, she took a heavy breath, and when she spoke again her voice was shaky, “I’m sorry. I woke up this morning and had a really bad feeling about Ted and Tom. Tom was my brother, Ted was my. . . betrothed. They were going to play golf, but I had this vision of a car crash and their burning bodies. I begged them not to go. I told them I’d do anything if they just wouldn’t go. . .” Tears streamed down her face, and she took several ragged breaths. Lacey was a seer: she saw the future. She had known of the accident that was to take their lives and couldn’t prevent it.
Neither Daniel nor I said a word. Her sobs were deafening, and Daniel reached down and instinctively held her hand trying to comfort her. She didn’t shrug away from his touch as I would have expected, not because he wasn’t a pure-blood but because he was a male. She continued, “I couldn’t stop it. It happened anyway.”
Daniel’s voice was kind, “You can’t stop fate, Lacey. I’m sorry for your loss, but there’s nothing you could have done. I’m sure they are both looking down and happy that you’re alive, wanting you to make the most of the rest of your life.”
She nodded through the sobs. I didn’t want to be insensitive, but I needed to know what she was talking about. I inched closer to her, and when I was close enough to keep my voice low, I asked, “You said Cami needs me? Are you sure?”
“Not yet, but she will.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t work like that. She’s in South Dakota, and I can see her screaming for help. I can see someone trying to help her. I see you, Beau.”
“What’s happened to her?”
“I can’t see that, either.” She gave an exasperated expression, “I’m sorry, I wish I could control the visions better. When I see the future, it’s always just glimpses, sometimes words. In this vision I could see cars with license plates, so I know what state. Otherwise, they’re really just random.”
Daniel’s face had turned sheet white, his jaw hung open, and it looked like he’d seen a ghost. “We gotta’ go, Beau.”
I turned to Daniel and asked, “What’s wrong. What do you know?”
“I got a call from Cami last night. She said she was going to South Dakota.”
“Was she okay?”
“I don’t. . . I’m not sure. She and I argued a little, and I didn’t answer the phone when she called back. C’mon. We gotta’ go, now!”
I nodded respectfully to Lacey as a good-bye and rushed out the door after Daniel.
Chapter 13
(Beau Strayer – Daniel’s house, San Diego, CA)
Daniel drove us to his father’s house. We knew taking his father’s plane would be the fastest way to get to Cami, but for that he needed to tell him what we were up to. When I met Derrick, Daniel’s father, I wasn’t surprised at all. Daniel looked like a younger version of Derrick, but Derrick’s demeanor reminded me of my father. There was no mistaking it: he was a Centaur.
“Daniel, I haven’t seen you in a week, and now you’re demanding the use of my plane. Why can’t you fly commercial?”
“I already told you, Dad. We need to get there fast. Beau’s got his pilot’s license. He’s okay to fly your jet.” Daniel was stuffing clothes in a backpack standing in the doorway of the living room.
Derrick eyed me suspiciously. He knew what I was, as well. “We think my sister’s in danger. I called my father, but his jet’s in Charleston. It’d be faster for us to take a commercial flight than it would be to wait for his plane to arrive. Daniel mentioned we might be able to use yours.”
He grimaced. “I’ve known your sister since she and Daniel were in the same third grade class, so I can empathize.” His looked passed me to his son. “I’ve told Daniel, she isn’t his concern.”
Daniel interrupted, “Dammit, Dad! I never ask you for anything. I’m asking for this now.”
Derrick looked at Daniel and said, “You know how I feel about you around her. You know why I feel the way I do. Why do you need to go?”
“You told me once that if a Centauride were ever in trouble, it was every Centaur’s responsibility to come to her aid. Cami’s in trouble.”
“Daniel, you aren’t a Centaur.”
“Thanks for the reminder, Dad. I almost forgot.” The fury subsided and his voice lowered when he continued, “I couldn’t do anything for her when she was in trouble before. I’m going to do this now, with or without your help.” Daniel bowed his head and left; I could hear his footsteps climbing the steps to his room.
“Sorry you had to see that, Beau. Cami has a way of bringing out the worst in him.”
“It’s okay. He and Cami are really close.”
“Despite my best efforts to the contrary.”
“Daniel told me you weren’t in favor of their friendship. Did she do something that made you feel that way?”
Derrick snickered. “I’m not human. Just because I couldn’t carry my bloodline doesn’t mean that I don’t honor the traditions Zeus set down for us. She didn’t have any business befriending a male human.”
“Did you know who her mother was?”
“Do I look like an imbecile? Of course, I knew she was Angela Chiron.”
“But you never told anyone.”
He shook his head. “I wanted to. I wanted to call Angela’s mother a hundred times. When I met Angela, I couldn’t believe she was a single parent working as a waitress. She was a Chiron. She was our generation’s Centauride. She had responsibilities to our society.”
“But you never called?”
“No. She and I spoke one evening when the kids were young. Like everyone else I believed she had been murdered, so when I saw her I was elated. I assumed she had married a Centaur who died and chose not to return to our society because of her grief.”
“Did she tell you that’s what’d happened?”
“No.” Derrick paused as if struggling to put his thoughts into words. “When I recognized her, she said she intended to raise Camille as a Chiro
n and would introduce her to her herd the next year – she just needed more time. The following year, Cami was still enrolled in the same school as Daniel. And the next and the next.”
“So you only confronted Angela the one time?”
“When Cami turned eighteen, she had a human boyfriend, and I was furious. Daniel had told me about him. He was a mechanic. Can you imagine? It wouldn’t have made a difference if he were a state senator; the fact was he was human. He had a blue collar job and he had no business being romantically involved with a descendant of Chiron.” Derrick wasn’t putting on a show for me. I could tell he was still angry about the whole situation. Cami was twenty-two now, so I can just imagine his reaction four years ago.
“From my own experience, I knew how hard it is for a Centaur to find a Centauride. I couldn’t believe Angela allowed Camille to date a human. I confronted Angela and asked her if she planned to arrange a marriage or to allow Cami to choose. Angela said Cami would make choices her whole life; she would let Cami choose to be human or Centauride when the time was right.”
“So, what’d you do?”
Derrick’s voice trembled, “I told her I might have to make a call to Zandra.”
“How did she react to that?”
He shook his head, “She said, ‘Go ahead and try,’ like it was a challenge or something.”
I couldn’t understand why if he felt so strongly, he never made good on his threat. “But you never called Zandra?”
“That’s the strangest part. Every time I picked up the phone to do it, I got distracted. I wondered if there was some sort of enchantment that wouldn’t let me divulge Angela’s whereabouts. After several days of trying to call, unsuccessfully, I picked up a pen and paper and tried to write a letter – I couldn’t do that, either.”
“Angela was protected by Aphrodite’s magic.”
Derrick smiled, “I knew it! I knew there was a reason I couldn’t make that call.”
“So why were you opposed to Daniel being her friend? At least he could offer her some protection if she were ever in danger.”
“I saw that look in his eyes when he was in the seventh grade. I didn’t want him to get hurt. He didn’t understand things. You and I knew what we were from an early age, but Daniel’s different. He carries Centaur blood, but he isn’t a pure-blood. There aren’t enough Centaurides to go around for the pure-blooded Centaurs. I couldn’t let him get involved with Cami, knowing her future would never allow the two of them to remain in contact.”
“So, you didn’t have a problem with Cami. You just assumed she’d eventually join her herd, and you thought Daniel would get hurt.”
Derrick tipped his chin as his eyes fell to the floor. I didn’t have much time, and this might be my only opportunity. “Derrick, I’m twenty-nine.”
“I remember that age. Why are you here with Daniel? You’ve only got a year of eligibility left.”
“I’ve pretty much decided to hang it up.”
His bewildered eyes met mine as his voice echoed the same confusion. “Hang it up? You mean you’re leaving your herd?”
I forced a smile on my face, “I don’t want my father to bribe another father just so I can carry on the bloodline. I have a brother who’s already married; our bloodline’s secure. I’d rather start my life now, on my own terms.”
His voice was powerful and his tone unashamed, “Beau, don’t waste a day, let alone a year. You have a finite period of time, and you’re letting it slip away.”
“You regret your decision? Marrying a human?”
“It wasn’t a decision. There were no other options for me. You still have options. If your father is able to arrange a marriage, let him arrange it.”
I shook my head. “I’ve decided I’m not going back. I’ll find a human, and I’ll do it on my terms.”
“Or maybe ten years from now, you’ll look back on this day and be upset that you didn’t do everything in your power to fulfill your destiny.”
Daniel’s voice echoed in the hallway. “This is what you wanted to talk to Pops about? Hell, I coulda’ told you he regretted every day of his life for at least the last twenty-three years. I’ve been nothin’ but a disappointment, and Mom’s never been good enough for him, either.” His spiteful words didn’t even register with Derrick. Daniel turned to me, “We’re taking the plane. Let’s go.”
I looked back at Derrick as he glared at his son. Derrick was nothing like my own father. I never wanted to be like Daniel’s father. I’d always disliked the Centaur way. It felt mechanical, in some respects unfeeling.
I refused to father a son who would grow up to think he was inadequate or a disappointment. The more I thought about it, the more sure I was that I was making the right decision. I could marry for love, have a family that wouldn’t be governed by the rules that had nearly suffocated me my whole life. This was the life I wanted, and it was mine to take.
Derrick still held onto a lot of emotional baggage from not being chosen. Daniel was a constant reminder to him. The bitterness that Derrick felt was his own choosing. I refused to share it.
Chapter 14
(Camille – Rapid City, SD)
I was still groggy from the flight. Mom’s spirit had told me the only thing impeding my powers had been the fact that I didn’t embrace them. She wasn’t kidding.
When we stepped off the plane and onto the tarmac, I could see spirits all around me, human spirits walking aimlessly on the earth mingled in with everyone else. I could feel their loneliness, their confusion, in a few – their anger. Living people walked through these scattered spirits. A baggage-handling cart barreled past, paying no attention to the lights of energy haphazardly sprinkled everywhere.
Several of the spirits had climbed onto the wings of an airplane awaiting take-off. I silently wished them luck, although I thought if their idea was to somehow launch themselves into the heavens, it may be a waste of what little energy they still possessed.
I felt woozy as we walked into the terminal building, as if I were at a cocktail party with voices in all directions. The constant chatter all around me was deafening. As I looked at the thirty or so people waiting, few seemed to be speaking aloud. I realized it was their thoughts spilling in from all directions: some soft and thoughtful, others angry and loud, a few in different languages – it was overwhelming.
I tried to steady myself by putting a hand up against a wall for support. I changed my mind: it didn’t sound like a cocktail party – that would have been some assembly of civility – these competing thoughts in all directions reminded me of being at a rock concert with hundreds of people while the warm-up band played. No one really listened to the music at first; they just shouted over the music playing in the background.
I heard Drake’s voice, but I couldn’t understand him.
Bracing both my hands on my temples, “I need to get out of here.”
“Cami, Cami, look at me.” I looked at him. I hated catching anyone’s eyes because the moment I did, their future lay out in front of me, like a slinky with all the twists and turns that would befall them mapped out in front of me. Drake saw my expression and took my hand in his. His touch blocked out most of the sensory overload. He led me toward a wall away from all the people. I heard his thoughts, “Are you okay?”
“Oh, it’s too loud.”
“What’s too loud?”
“People, their thoughts, it’s too much.”
“You can hear everyone’s thoughts?”
“Their thoughts are loud, some are in different languages. I keep getting glimpses of people’s futures. It’s making me dizzy.” I tried to speak over the competing thoughts, but I ended up shouting. “We need to get out of here. I can’t think straight.”
“Concentrate on my thoughts. Listen to what I’m thinking, and it should keep the others at bay.”
I did what he told me, and to my relief Drake was replaying our conversation on the plane in a constant loop in his head until after we had our bags and a rental c
ar. Once inside the car and away from the others I said, “Thank you. I’m not sure how I’m going handle all of this.”
“We’ll steer clear of crowded places until after you’re used to it.”
I had heard about Mount Rushmore growing up as a kid, but South Dakota had never been on my “must visit” list. It turns out there was a whole lot more to see than some presidents’ faces on a mountain. From the minute we drove away from the airport there were billboards every fifty feet, each advertising some place we weren’t supposed to miss during our trip: Mount Rushmore, Rushmore Caves, Bear Country USA, Custer State Park, Sturgis Bike Rally, Deadwood, old trains, Reptile Gardens, and hundreds of other possibilities, but we were driving so fast, I didn’t catch what they were promoting. Every store we passed had a similar sign, “Black Hills Gold 20% off.” Some said thirty percent, a few said sixty percent – I’d never even heard of Black Hills gold.
Thick lush forests hugged the outskirts of Rapid City and escorted us all the way to the hotel. Temperatures were frigid, and we knew we weren’t ready for this type of weather, any more than we had been prepared for Dublin’s when we arrived. After my quick experience around people when we entered the airport, I dreaded the idea of finding a mall to pick up winter attire.
Drake found a hotel that was ten miles from the Crazy Horse Mountain. As we drove, we could see the mountain from the road. Snow covered the top of the mountain, but the face of Crazy Horse somehow eerily peeked through the snow to the winding road below.
The hotel had a small gift shop inside proudly displaying what all the fuss was about from the signs we had passed: Black Hills gold. I was surprised to see pink and green leaf and flower patterns inlaid over the top of the traditional yellow gold I’d always seen. Not only had I never seen it before, I had no idea gold came in any color beyond white or yellow. I made a mental note to get a souvenir before we left this place, but not today. The clerk in the gift shop was obsessing about some loser guy, and her thoughts made me want to grab her by the shoulders and shake some sense into her.
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