Roam (Roam Series, Book One)

by Kimberly Adams

  All the windows were down, and the sunroof was open. I tossed my bag in the back-seat. “I’m taking my sweatshirt off,” I warned, pulling it over my head. There was no way I could sit on leather seats with no air-conditioning, wearing a sweatshirt. I tossed the sweatshirt into the back seat with my bag, my eyes automatically focusing on the numbers on my arm. “Okay, where are we going?”

  “There’s a waterfall less than fifteen minutes from here. You like water. It… calms you.”

  “Paine Falls?” I narrowed my eyes. “It’s probably a trickle in this drought. I…” His words registered suddenly. “How do you know I like water?”

  He shifted gears. Great, a stick shift. I can’t even push him over the falls and take his keys. I have no idea how to drive this. “I’m going to pretend that was a rhetorical question, Roam. The less I have to repeat things, the faster you’ll get the whole story from me.”

  Offended, I glared at him. “Mr. Perry, I’m keeping an open mind here.”

  He slammed on his brakes at the light, his arm automatically extending across my chest. He caught me inches from the dashboard.

  A man in a pickup truck ran the red light across from us.

  “Put your seatbelt on,” he said through clenched teeth, “and start calling me West. You’re going to need more than just an open mind, Roam. You need to trust me.”

  Terrified at our near T-bone collision, I nodded, pulling my seatbelt across my chest and fastening it. “I will. West.”

  My voice shook. He pulled his arm away, and it took seconds for me to realize that I was telling him the truth. I do trust him… On some level I already did, otherwise the sensible girl that I was would never have gotten into the vehicle with him.

  Chapter Six

  “I’m going to start talking. If you have a question, just interrupt me.”

  “You sound like such a teacher,” I muttered under my breath. I turned to stare out the window.

  If he heard me, he didn’t acknowledge. “Do you want to start with the long version, or the short version?”

  I sighed. “The short version.”

  “Good. Less dramatic.” He looked right to check oncoming traffic, and the dark, blond shadow on his jaw caught the sunlight.

  I swallowed hard, turning away quickly.

  I tried to believe that the fantastical story that he was about to tell me would somehow explain the willful physical attraction that I had for him, but I was sure I wasn’t the only female affected by his classically rugged looks.

  “I was born in England in 1348. What was significant during that time, history major?”

  “World trade? The Bubonic Plague? Several things were significant at that time,” I retorted, irritated by his patronizing tone.

  “Very good,” he said absently, and I noticed that he was taking the back roads to the falls. “The Bubonic Plague… or Black Death… took the life of my mother, father, and my three siblings nineteen hours after my birth.”

  I tried to say something sympathetic, but I was too overcome by the fact that he was referring to living over six hundred years ago.

  He went on, emotionless. “I was adopted by a man named Henry Asher. My ability to survive the plague intrigued him. He was an alchemist. Do you know what that is?”

  His words were entrancing. I nodded. “A medieval… scientist.”

  “Good,” he said again. He turned off the main road and made a right, following a winding lane shadowed with trees. I had been to Paine Falls once with Logan, but that had been when my mother was alive. He turned to an uphill, gravel parking lot, easily choosing a spot.

  The lot was empty.

  “I don’t mean to interrupt, but if we’re going to play this history quiz game all afternoon, we should probably call this the long version.”

  He turned to me, his eyes raised. A smile played on his lips. I froze as my gaze locked with his. “You’re so damned smart… and witty.”

  My breath caught in my throat. The events of the morning played through my mind, and for a moment I longed to feel his breath on my hair again.

  His voice lowered, commanding my attention. “I want you to know, Roam, before we get out of this car, that I have no intention of touching you again. Not now, not ever. Just remember that, okay?”

  Disappointment deflated my chest.

  I was mortified.

  “Okay… good,” I said, unconvincingly. We both got out of the SUV and walked toward the path. The paved walkway through the thinly wooded area provided several benches for us to sit on and admire the waterfall before us.

  I had been wrong. The waterfall was strong, rushing over the smooth rockslide and crushing the boulders below. I took a deep breath, inhaling the freshwater scent. He chose a secluded bench where we could sit that was tucked neatly into the woods.

  “Asher was pursuing the elixir of life. A potion that offered eternal life… or youth… to whomever would drink from it. At that time, trying to discover the elixir was as common as playing the lottery. He trained me to be his assistant, and I worked by his side, learning everything that he would teach me about the universe, chemistry, astronomy, mythology.” He sat back, crossing his legs so his ankle rested on his knee. “One night, a fire was set to our cottage. Asher burned in his bed.”

  I gasped, his words catching me off-guard. “That’s… horrible. Why?”

  He watched the waterfall, unflinching. “Those same people who employed us in secret persecuted us in public. One moment we were scientists, the next, we were the right hand of the devil.”

  “Witchcraft?” I whispered.

  He nodded once.

  “But you escaped the fire?” I asked, trying to encourage him to continue. He was lost in thought for a moment. I shifted to sit cross-legged on the bench, brushing some dirt off my white shorts.

  “No, I also burned in my bed.”

  At first, I thought he was being sarcastic.

  I suddenly realized that he was completely serious.

  “You… lived?”

  “I discovered my immortality on that night. I went into hiding until my twenty-seventh birthday.” His blue eyes dove into my gaze. “On that day, I met you.”

  Taken aback, I blinked, staring at him. “Me?”

  God, those eyes. They were deeper than the ocean.

  “I met you on the road. I assumed you were a gypsy. You had piles of curly, red hair… and those green eyes.” He smiled my way, and I blushed involuntarily.

  “A gypsy?” I murmured, enchanted.

  “But you weren’t a gypsy. On that day, you explained to me what I’m about to explain to you. Still with me?”

  I must have had a skeptical look on my face. My thoughts were in disarray. “I’m trying… West… I really am.”

  His face softened when I said his name. “We are both immortals. I am a physical immortal, meaning that I am invulnerable to death. I stopped aging that day that I met you on the road.”

  So, he’s twenty-seven? Or…

  “You’re six hundred and ninety-one years old?”

  He turned to me, stunned. “Did you just do that in your head?”

  I rolled my eyes. “It’s not that difficult. Really. Was I a complete idiot in these other lives?”

  He chuckled, shrugging. “I’m just impressed.” He sounded like he wanted to elaborate, but he stopped. “Yes, I’m six hundred and ninety-one years old.”

  “I’m not immortal… I nearly died once,” I added.

  “The yellow jackets.”

  A cold chill traced icy fingers down my spine. “How did you know?”

  “Because I found you when you were six years old, Roam. By chance. I recognized the birthmark on your shoulder in a picture in the newspaper. You were in a regional spelling bee.”

  “Yes,” I realized quietly. “I wore a sundress. My dad saved that clipping.” I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself.

  He pointed to my hands as I wrung them together in my lap. “You press your hands together w
hen you’re nervous.”

  I stopped, gripping the hem of my shorts. “I’m not nervous… I’m scared. Please, just tell me the rest.”

  “You’re afraid of me?” he asked, stoic. I shook my head.

  “No. I’m afraid of what you’re telling me.”

  He nodded, looking back at the waterfall. I followed his gaze, the rushing water immediately soothing to my psyche. “You are an immortal soul, Roam. You are born again. I knew you were here, in Ohio. The numbers appeared when you were born. They are coordinates, and they change to your location, wherever you go. When they change… it hurts like hell.”

  “It does hurt,” I agreed, remembering the intensity of the pain.

  He held out his arm. The numbers on his arm were not as distinct as mine, but they were there nonetheless. “When I locate you and when we touch, numbers appear on your arm. Reaching for the key this morning was… a mistake. I planned to not touch you until after I’d explained all of this, to prepare you… and help you through the pain.”

  I slowly absorbed his words. “I am a very skeptical person,” I admitted carefully. “I wouldn’t trust you… or believe you… at all right now if some supernatural number tattoo hadn’t just appeared on my arm this morning. So, as nice as your plan sounds, it wouldn’t have worked.”

  He shrugged, nodding. “Okay, then.”

  Questions lined up in my mind, waiting with their hands waving in the air like impatient students. “Coordinates. How long have coordinates existed? How could you possibly know what you were looking at back then? Didn’t everyone believe that the world was flat?”

  He nodded, eyes raised in interest. “Great question. Columbus did not prove the world was round. Plato and Aristotle already had well-formed ideas about the world being round, as early as 900 BC. Even before then, Greek astronomers created the cord system that we know today… the “lines” on the globe.”

  “That is advanced trigonometry.”

  “They were scholars with knowledge beyond their time. Asher knew… and taught me… the polar coordinates well before Rene Descartes made them known to the world. By the time I was born, scholars like Asher were considered heretics.” He crossed his arms over his chest, looking at me appreciatively. “Please go on. Your questions are impressive. You’ve never asked them before.”

  I shivered at his reference to my past existence. “Why do my numbers match yours?”

  He ran his fingers through his sandy hair, and I knew immediately the worst was yet to come. “There are two who work against us. One is like you, born again and again with an immortal soul. One is like me, physically immortal. They are evil, and their purpose is to see that we fail in our task. They are called the Alters.”

  “Alters?” I repeated, tucking my hair behind my ear.

  He watched my movements, his gaze following my fingers. “When we touch, the coordinates for the immortal soul Alter, the one like you, appear on your arm. This helps us identify the location of our enemy and determine how much time we have.”

  “How much time we have before what?” I asked, trying to beat away the doubt that took over.

  He stood and paced to the railing that overlooked the falls. “This is usually the part that frightens you the most. Roam, I’m going to protect you. Please keep that in mind.”

  I nodded, standing and walking to him. Leaning against the railing, I moved closer to him than I’d intended, thankful that we were alone at the park. “You said I’m smarter now. Just tell me before we officially title this the dramatic version.”

  He laughed with relief. “Right. Roam, this is about the end of our world, and our child is the only one who can stop it.”

  His words dug in, and I gave him a skeptical look. “Is this 2012-Mayan-End-of-the-World stuff? Seriously?”

  “No. Nothing like that. This is something else. We don’t know when it will happen, but we do know we have only seven chances to save this world. You told me that long ago, when I met you on that road.”

  “You’re losing me… our child…?” I gripped the railing. “Okay, I’m panicking,” I admitted, holding my breath.

  “You always do. It’s the part about our child. Our child, our baby, is prophesized to save this world. And I have failed six times.”

  “Failed how?” I breathed, not comprehending.

  “I’ve let you die.”

  Chapter Seven

  “We have to have a child… to save the world? I’m going to faint,” I breathed rapidly, seeing the webby shadows crawling into my eyes.

  “No, you’re not,” he ordered, gripping my shoulders like vices. I gasped, cupping my hands over my mouth and nose.

  “Roam… breathe, goddamnit,” he cursed urgently.

  I nodded, dragging slow, agonizing breaths in through my nose. He released my shoulders after a few moments and turned me toward the bench. I dipped my head between my knees.

  “I am,” I replied finally.

  “You would stop fainting if you would stop holding your breath.” I could hear his irritation.

  “I need to go home,” I cried, finally feeling more grounded. “I don’t want anything to do with this!”

  I winced, knowing that he was disappointed in my reaction. “Okay. Go get in the car,” he clipped.

  “I’m seventeen-years-old. This is crazy. Would you believe this, if you were me?” I begged, shaking my head emphatically.

  He stalked to his vehicle, and I tried to keep up with him. “It gets harder for you to believe every time I meet you. It’s the cynical world. You’ve been taught to resist anything that hasn’t been proven and written in those books. Who do you think proved what you’re reading? Do you think that censorship didn’t exist in the medieval times? It was called religion.” He wrenched the passenger side door open, gesturing to the seat expectantly.

  “I just don’t understand…why me, West?” I backed away from the car.

  His entire expression softened as I said his name.

  “I don’t choose you, Roam. I find you.”

  I let his words sink in, twisting my fingers together. “Why do you care about… saving the world? What’s in it for you?”

  He paused, and I could tell that my question interested him. “That’s one you’ve never asked me before, either,” he admitted, nodding toward the SUV once more. “Getting in or not? Are we still talking?”

  I clenched my fists at my sides. “Yes. But don’t curse at me,” I replied, eyes narrowed. He slammed the door and crossed his arms over his broad chest. The sun was much lower in the sky than when we had arrived. I realized that both Logan and my dad were probably trying to call my phone. “And I need to text Logan to tell him that I’ll be late.”

  Reaching through the open back window, he grabbed my backpack from the seat. He tossed the bag to me, and I caught it, thankful it was mostly empty. “Okay. And I won’t curse.”

  “Thank you.” I checked my phone, surprised to see that no text messages waited for me. I texted Logan quickly.

  Me: I’m fine, got caught up researching, will call you later. ILY.

  When I pressed SEND, I realized that West was reading over my shoulder. “ILY?” he read.

  “I… love you,” I clarified.

  His eyes darkened, and I tried to swallow.

  “Oh,” he answered softly, gesturing to the bench again. “Sit down, Roam.”

  After shoving my phone into my backpack, I walked back to the bench and sat down, cross-legged again. “Well, what’s in it for you? Why do you care if the world ends?”

  “As much as I would like to claim it’s my sense of humanity, it’s not.” He sat down again, a little closer to me this time. “From what I understand, if we succeed, I will begin to age. And I will live the remainder of my life as a mortal.”

  “And… you want that,” I confirmed by his tone.

  He nodded.

  “You care for someone,” I guessed, watching the emotion in his eyes.

  “For a long time, it was you, Roam.” H
e raised an eyebrow, glancing at me. I couldn’t help but follow his handsome features, reveling in the hard lines of his jaw. “For every one of our six lives that we’ve had together, I was convinced that we would succeed. Until the one that you dreamed about last night. After I… failed… in 1977, I realized that I would only have one chance left. I didn’t really care anymore.”

  “You felt defeated,” I clarified, and he nodded once.

  “I met a woman in 1994 and fell in love with her, but never told her about my immortality. We got married, but I left her, knowing that you would be born again soon. The day that I left, the numbers appeared.”

  “July fourteenth, 1995,” I realized, the date of my birth.

  He nodded.

  When I thought about him giving up on me and marrying some other woman, irrational jealousy took me by surprise. I am jealous of a woman I have never known, from a story that I barely believe? You’re losing it, Roam.

  “I knew you’d be born again. It was inevitable. This time, though, I decided that if I couldn’t change the circumstances, I would change the method. I planned to find you earlier, younger, like you are now, and make you a partner in this. Not get emotionally involved.”

  “Like create a baby in a lab or something?” I suggested. He cringed.

  “No. I can’t watch you, or our unborn child, die again.” He was lost in thought, almost remorseful. “There may be another way. On the road that day, you told me that there was another way, in our last life together.” He gestured around us. “And… here we are. You told me there were doors, which you would know about, and these doors would take us to our past lives and give us the opportunity to change the past.”

  He saw the confusion in my face. “I don’t know about any doors.” I shook my head, shrugging. “Are you talking about time travel? That’s absurd.” I considered everything he had been telling me and decided that maybe time travel was the least absurd part of everything that I’d learned that day.

  “I didn’t study only history for twenty years. I studied science. More specifically, scientific history. Astrology, mythology. Physics. Relativity and quantum mechanics.”