by Nixon, Diana
Only some time later, I felt something was wrong. My attention was distracted by a strange smell. I looked around and saw a beautiful bouquet of daffodils and white violets on my table. I must have missed it last night. I guessed that they were sent intended to be a message from Christian. The flowers seemed so gentle, that I couldn’t find it in me to throw them away. I took Amanda’s book to find the significance of those flowers and read the following: “When I'm with you, the sun is shining,” said daffodils. “Let's try our luck,” said white violets. Next to the bouquet, I noticed a soft blue velvet box. Opening it, I saw a beautiful golden pendant in the shape of an orchid - a symbol of love.
Now I knew that the bouquet was really from Christian. Someone brought it here when we were at the party, before the evening turned out to be fatally flawed. Not knowing what to do with his gift, I put it back in the box. I needed something to distract myself from Christian. Immediately!
After taking a shower and dressing quietly so as not to awaken my friend, I went into the hall, clutching the cell phone and car keys. It was so good that our cars were already brought here to Dever! I just needed to find a companion to go with me. I left a note for Amanda saying that I wanted to spend some time alone. No doubt she already knew about what happened last night.
“Going somewhere?” Evan called to me from the other end of the hall.
“Good morning,” I said. “Yeah, I wanted to go to Gloster.”
“Will you take me with you? I was just going there too,” he said, adjusting to my step.
“Uh... Evan, I'm certainly grateful that you helped me yesterday, but I don’t want to upset Amanda any more. She may misunderstand this joined trip.”
“Come on, Eileen. I don’t think she would mind. When I was going to my room last night, I met her on the way, and she made it clear that she didn’t want to see me for the next hundreds of years.”
“What was your quarrel about? Christian... well, I didn’t have time yesterday to hear about it.”
Evan told me his suspicions about Patrick, and I couldn’t help thinking that Christian and Amanda must be as shocked as I was. As much as I didn’t want to think about Christian that morning, I didn’t succeed. I felt that he was as upset as me, but I still didn’t want to see him, let alone talk to him. Deep down in my heart I knew that Evan was right yesterday, suggesting that I not pay attention to all of the nonsense, but the pride and resentment didn’t allow me to forget so easily.
“Apparently, we won’t have any other company today, so let’s go together,” I said smiling sadly.
“I promise not to bother you so much and behave myself,” in his usual manner replied Evan.
“That’s unreal!” I thought. It was always so easy to find common grounds with him...
“Is everything all right?” he asked.
“Yes, let's go.”
I was so glad to be back behind the wheel of my beloved car. I enjoyed driving. Ever since I got a driver's license, the car had become my second home. In Norfield I couldn’t get away without it. I took my car even to visit Amanda, who lived just a few blocks from me.
“Did you sleep well?” suddenly asked Evan.
“Yes, even better than usual. I was dreaming about the lake again.”
Evan raised his eyebrow questionably.
“No, it wasn’t a nightmare. On the contrary. I was there alone, and I felt so good and so calm. And I heard the man’s voice again.”
“He doesn’t scare you anymore?”
“No. He reassures me, just as...”
“Christian,” finished for me, Evan. “Eileen, of course, I understand that this is not my business, but you two really need to talk. You can’t be far away from each other. Remember what I said about the bond?”
“Evan, I know. But not now, not today. I need some time to recover. I still don’t understand why he didn’t say anything about Vanessa.”
“What would you have said if he did?”
“I don’t know. But I think that I wouldn’t have felt like such a complete fool yesterday, receiving attention from a guy, who belonged to someone else.”
Evan smiled shaking his head.
“Trust me, Eileen, if someone felt like a complete fool yesterday, it was Vanessa. After all, Christian followed us at once. I saw him last night, and he was very upset with the way things turned out. Vanessa is just such a self centered person. When Christian said that she accepted their breaking up so easily, I immediately said that this wasn’t the end. He should have expected such an outcome.”
“Okay, let's not discuss this topic. I will deal with that later. By the way, I wanted to go to town to escape such talks today.”
“Deal!” Evan nodded.
“So why are you going to Gloster?” I wondered.
“I need to see a friend of mine there, and don’t look at me like that. She is really just a friend. Tara and I had been studying together until I moved to the department of Wizardy. She is one of Ventura and can see the future really good. I wanted to ask her some questions. About you too. It may even be better if you go there with me. She will be able to give more detailed answers.”
“What exactly are you going to ask her about me?”
“I wanted to know if she could see the experiences mentioned by Darcy. If it wasn’t just a fortune-telling, Tara could help to predict something. We would know more precisely what to expect.”
“So, you still think that we really will have some kind of experience?”
“I have known Darcy for many years, her predictions are always true. In this case, though, she couldn’t say exactly what to expect, unfortunately. But we want to be sure about something, right?” smiling, said Evan.
“Yeah. That would be great.”
We drove another few miles when Evan told me to stop at one of the houses. It was very beautiful, with lots of flowers and many other plants around it. It wasn’t very big, but its snow-white color created an illusion of pure shining light. Bright red and yellow roses were decorating the entrance and there were some exotic purple flowers hanging over the windows.
“She had some additional classes at Embry,” Evan explained, seeing my surprise.
We rang the doorbell and a few seconds later a girl a few years older than me appeared on the threshold.
“Evan! Good to see you again,” she said, hugging her old friend.
“Still amazing,” noted Evan, looking at her from head to toe.
“Oh, you're an incorrigible flatterer! And you're not alone?” she said wonderingly, looking at me.
“This is Eileen Clark. Eileen, this is Tara McKenzie,” he introduced us to each other.
“Nice to meet you, Eileen. Come on in. Let’s drink some tea.”
“Your favorite, I hope,” said Evan.
“Of course,” Tara replied winking.
We went into quite a spacious living room, furnished in traditional British style, with lots of live and dried flowers all around. Tara brought a tray of tea with a wonderful fruity aroma.
“Mixture of cherry, raspberry and strawberry,” she said. “Hope you will like it.”
“I already like the aroma,” I said. “You have a very beautiful house, Tara.”
“Thank you, Eileen. It’s always a pleasure to hear such things from visitors.”
“So my compliments are not as nice anymore?” Evan asked surprised.
“Time changes everything, sweetheart. But I'm always glad to see you.”
Judging by their conversation, in the past they were more than just friends. Tara was a beautiful young lady. She had long light-brown hair and incredibly expressive gray-blue eyes. It seemed that they really could see right through you. Judging by their color, she wasn’t a direct descendant of the Ventura.
“I understand that your companion, Evan, has some questions too,” she said.
“Haven’t you seen that I won’t come alone?” laughing, replied Evan.
“You are right. Because I don’t know Eileen, I couldn’t
understand why she was coming with you.”
“I do really have a few questions, Tara. Only you can answer them, and some of them are related to Eileen,” explained Evan.
“That was clear from the very beginning,” smiling she said. “So go ahead, ask what you want to know.”
I blankly stared at Tara, who sat in a chair in front of us.
“In order to see the future, I don’t need any special equipment, Eileen,” she said to my surprise. “I simply concentrate on what I need to know.”
“Tara, we would like to know what is waiting for Eileen in the near future,” said Evan, looking at me worriedly.
She stared into my eyes and after a few seconds, she said:
“I see a woman and a man. They don’t wish you any good. They are weaving a plot, because of which you may lose what is most precious to you in this world. And yet... I see two other men. They are trying to help and protect you. One of them is a dark-haired man, who is very close to you. I see also a girl, and your bond with her is very strong, but not as much as it should be. She wants to help you, but doesn’t know how. And... Evan, your protection is also very important. Eileen needs you and you'll always be there for her, no matter what happens. She will need your help very soon.”
“Tara, can you see exactly what is going to happen?” I asked.
“I see the lake. Oh, yes, the one on the border of Dever - the Black Lake. And a golden medallion, but the vision is not clear, so I can see only that it’s oval or round. A month... Everything is going to happen during this month. Be careful, Eileen, don’t go to the lake alone. It's dangerous.”
“You have just answered all my other questions, Tara,” smiling sadly, said Evan.
“I wish I could tell you more.”
“Thank you, darling, you have already helped a lot.”
“Don’t you want to know something about yourself, Evan?”
“Not unless you see something good.”
“It is good,” Tara smiled. “You will finally find her.”
Who exactly Tara was talking about, I didn’t understand, but Evan seemed to know perfectly well.
“Good news,” he said at last, becoming the old, carefree, Evan.
Tara nodded.
“I always knew that this would happen,” she said, looking straight into Evan’s eyes.
“May God grant it!” he said. “Well, we need to go, cause I’ve made Eileen take me with her, so it's time for me to be tortured by her shopping or anything else you were planning to do today,” he added, looking at me. “I was glad to see you Tara,” he said, hugging the girl goodbye.
I saw the warmth and tenderness between them. I wondered why they had broken up. The fact that once there was something serious between them was quite clear.
“It was nice to meet you, Eileen,” said Tara. “If you need any help, I will be here for you.”
She hugged me goodbye as if we were old friends.
“It was good to meet you too, Tara. Goodbye.”
Evan and I got into the car and left. We were driving in silence, passing by some buildings and people, walking down the streets. I wondered if I should ask Evan about Tara, but he talked first.
“You know, she was the first and so far the only girl who managed to really get my attention,” he mused.
“So what happened?”
“She didn’t see our future together,” chuckled Evan. “And no matter how hard I tried to talk her out of it, nothing worked.”
“Do you still love her?”
“I do, but not the way I used to. Now we're just friends. It was a long time ago, my former feelings are gone, so now I just feel tenderness for her. She is a wonderful person; I haven’t met anyone like her. No, scratch that, I have actually met...”
“Really? And who is this lucky?” I was curious.
“I won’t tell you everything,” he added cheerfully.
We stopped at the shopping center and decided to start with a visit to the cafe.
“What would you like to drink?” Evan asked.
“Only juice, orange.”
“Then two orange juices please, and two sandwiches with ham,” he said to the waitress.
“You know, I think that Tara hasn’t found her soul mate yet,” I started, watching Evan’s reaction. “Her eyes are sad, though they are very beautiful.”
“You're right,” he said thoughtfully. “After our break up, I never heard her mentioning any other guy. I know that she broke up with me more because of me. She blindly believes everything she sees, and even more - what she doesn’t see. She couldn’t see us together and she didn’t want to be a barrier to me. I suffered for a long time, and then...”
“Then you decided finally, to take advantage of the attention that other girls were giving you,” laughing, I suggested.
“Something of the sort,” with a smile replied Evan.
“Frankly, I was surprised by what she had said. Especially about a month.”
“Me too. And I had more questions. For example, who are all these people, weaving a plot and who are those, who want to help you. If there was someone among us, Tara would see it.”
“I think the girl who doesn’t know how to help me - it's Amanda,” I suggested.
“I think so too. And a dark-haired young man...”
“That is Christian.”
“How about what is most precious to you in this life?”
“It could be anything in fact. There are so many things that I love and value. So there’s no single answer to this question.”
“I’m glad that I can help you in the end,” said Evan.
I smiled.
“Yes, this is really good news. So, after all I will find a way out of this mess. And you know what? I still think about one more event... There’s my birthday in less than a month. And full age can change a lot. Maybe this will be the main reason for my experiences.”
“That’s something I haven’t thought about. Your birthday is on the third of October, right?”
“Aha.”
“So after that day you must be very careful, Eileen. Pay attention to everything that seems strange or unusual. And we'll all be there to help.”
“We must warn Christian too,” I added.
“The sooner the better,” pointed Evan. “So that’s enough worry about Vanessa, I can deal with her myself, but you two need to make peace. She can’t ruin all our plans. Speaking about the lake… Christian said that you wanted to go there alone, but that is exactly what you can’t do. You heard what Tara had said.”
“Okay, I got it, Evan. Do you think we can figure out who are all the other people she mentioned?”
“I can only say that we will try to find it out.”
The rest of the day was spent walking around the mall. Despite the fact that discussing our problems was left for later, I never stopped for a moment thinking about Christian. All his emotions were inside of me as well. He was worried, he was sorry about the party and he was desperate to do something. Maybe to talk to me.
“Judging by the colors of your aura, you don’t follow your own advice to leave the problems for later,” Evan admitted, realizing that I missed his last joke.
“Sorry, I can’t stop thinking about him. Again and again, everything goes back to my bond with Christian. I don’t want him to risk his life for me, but I know that he won’t sit still and do nothing.”
“Just like you.”
“You're right, I would also like to do at least something.”
“Besides, Christian hasn’t taken any risks... Yet. He is trying to find answers to his concerns. All of his questions are about you, just like yours - about him.”
“It has become normal. That’s nothing surprising,” I said smiling.
“If the number of packages that I am carrying is enough to improve your mood a little, maybe we should go back?”
“Man! Sorry, Evan. I haven’t noticed,” I replied, trying to take at least a few purchases.
“No probl
em, I asked for it myself.”
“Okay, let's go home then.”
We got back to Dever in the evening. Despite the late hour, there were many people outside on campus. Students and teachers were enjoying the unusually warm Saturday night. Evan helped me bring the purchases to the room and left, saying he didn’t want his presence to get on Amanda’s nerves. To my surprise, she wasn’t in the room, but there was a white piece of paper on my bed.
“I’m with Christian. When you come back, come meet us, there's news we need to talk about,” said the note.
“Great!” I thought. I haven’t planned on going to see Christian that soon, but according to the note I had no choice. So I left all the bags on my bed and went out.
When I knocked on the door to Christian’s room Darcy answered.
“Hi, Eileen. Come on, we’ve been waiting for you,” she said, quickly shutting the door behind me.
Once inside, I saw all of our cloak-and-dagger friends there. Amanda and Evan were reading some papers that Darcy tried to put in the right order, sitting on the floor beside the couch. Christian was standing by the window, concentrating on a sheet of noticeably aged paper, illuminating it from behind with his desk lamp.
“Eileen, you wouldn’t believe what we’ve found!” said Amanda excitedly, coming to me. Christian, not looking up from his focus, asked:
“Eileen, does the name of Patricia Clark ring a bell?”
“Of course, this is my mother's cousin. What's the matter with her?” I asked, approaching him.
“Look at this,” he said, showing me the old piece of paper. It was a letter from Camilla Stewart, addressed to my aunt.
“Dear Patricia! I know how much you are worried about Catherine and her child. F. and I have found a way to help them. In this letter, you will find a detailed instruction that will save them both. And remember, the light always helps us to see what was hidden by the darkness. C.S.”
“What does it all mean?” I asked.
“Darcy, tell her,” said Christian, walking away a few steps from me. We both felt the proximity affecting us. I was glad that Christian tried to stay relaxed, but the tension between us, I think, was quite obvious to all the present. Evan and Amanda, seemed to have announced a provisional truce.