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Tamporlea (Tamporlea Trilogy, Book 1)

Page 2

by Tiffany Lovering


  “They were weird mom”

  “Don’t worry about it, we’re leaving anyway,” she said leading the way back to the car.

  When we got back to camp, we unloaded our groceries into the cooler. Casper ran to his bowl and happily ate his kibble and mom got the cards out so we could play some Gin, but I was feeling too restless to stay seated.

  “Mom, why don’t we just go for a walk and talk?”

  She set all the cards down and got up to walk with me. Casper ran to us, eager to follow. We walked on the narrow road of the campgrounds without really saying anything to each other. I was thinking about college again and mom was deep in her own thoughts. Since we’d left the farmer's market she barely said five words to me. I wondered if those men bothered her more than she let on. I wanted to ask what was wrong but I wasn’t sure she would tell me and I didn’t want to end up in another argument with her.

  “Let’s go this way,” mom said pointing toward the trail that went further into the woods. As we started going deeper into the trees, I noticed that mom was slowing her pace.

  “So mom, are you going to tell me what’s going on with you?” I asked nervously.

  She sighed and finally said, “I’m really going to miss you.”

  “Stop. I’m not even leaving for another two months and you know that I am going to come home all the time.”

  “Your dad would be so proud of you.”

  “He’d be proud of you too mom. You really are a great mother.”

  “I just want you to know how proud I am of you. I’ve always known that you were special in ways that nobody else is. And you’re right Jazzy, there is something going on. Something I can’t even explain to you but you will find out everything very soon and you should know that no matter what you decide, I support you one hundred percent.”

  “Mom, you’re kind of scaring me.”

  “Well, you shouldn’t be scared. You should be excited!” she said in a much happier tone. “I’m sorry I’ve been so distant lately. I know it’s probably been hard on you. I guess it’s been selfish of me to be down in the dumps because you are moving on to bigger things.”

  “Mom, do you see Casper?” I said suddenly realizing he wasn’t near us.

  “What? No. He couldn‘t have gone too far.”

  We heard barking not too far off in the distance and we both ran into the woods to go and find him.

  “Casper! Casper come!” I yelled frantically still not seeing him. We were heading off the trail, which I really didn‘t like to do. It’s too easy to get lost in the woods.

  “Don’t worry Jazz, we’ll find him.”

  “Why did he go away from us? He never does that.” I whistled for him to come but he just kept barking. Finally I saw a patch of his white fur by a large tree. “There he is!” I said pointing.

  “Call your dog off of me!” A man’s voice yelled.

  “Casper come!” I yelled. He turned to me and followed the command. “Mom, let’s go,” I whispered nervously as I turned to go back on the trail.

  “Hey! Wait a minute!” the man yelled again.

  “He might need our help,” mom said.

  “Yeah, or our dead bodies won’t be found for months!” I stressed.

  “Oh stop. Casper won’t let anything happen to us.”

  “Yeah right.” Casper wasn’t even close to a Guard dog. When it came to new people, he was always more concerned with how quickly he could get them to play fetch than protecting us.

  I didn’t realize how quickly the man was walking and he was closing the distance pretty quickly. I grabbed my mom’s hand and pulled her along with me. Just as I laid my foot on the path, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I gasped and started to run but the man had a hold on my shirt. I started to wiggle out of my shirt the best I could when he said, “Miss Jasmine, it’s ok.”

  Taken by surprise, I turned to face him, wondering if I knew who he was. Casper was barking and my mom was holding onto his collar not letting him go after the man. He let go of my shirt and I realized that he was the man that we spoke to at the farmer's market.

  “Jasmine, this is Orion,” my mother said quietly.

  Orion stretched out his hand to shake mine. I had to gather my composure but eventually shook his hand. “Nice to meet you. Sorry I frightened you,” he said soothingly.

  “Um, ok. What’s going on?” I asked.

  “Miss Jasmine, we have a lot to talk about. Do you mind if we go back to your camp where it’s a bit more comfortable?”

  “Yeah. I guess so. I mean if it’s okay with my mom.”

  “Of course,” mom said smiling at Orion.

  Orion was several feet away from us, leading the way back to camp.

  “Mom,” I whispered, “Who the hell is he?”

  “It’s a really long story, and I honestly think it would be better coming from him.”

  “Does this have anything to do with what you’ve been trying to tell me?”

  “Everything,” she responded.

  “How does he know where he’s going?”

  “I told him,” she said looking ashamed.

  “At the market? I didn’t see you talking to him.”

  “About a month ago.”

  As we walked, I kept stealing glances at my mother and she seemed to be nervous. I was trying to figure out where she would know Orion. He didn’t look like anyone that I had seen working at the hospital but I couldn’t be sure. He was around my mother’s age, mid-forties maybe, with the kind of brown hair that would easily blend in with dust and dirt which also had a few patches of gray coming through. It was cut very short which made the fact that his ears stuck out a bit very noticeable. He wasn’t bad looking, just very plain. Not the type of person I pictured my mother dating, that’s for sure.

  When we made it back to our site, Orion was already starting to build a fire for us. Casper sped off to his water bowl as I sat down in one of the folding chairs. My mom got another chair from the Rover and sat next to me, forcing me in the middle between her and Orion. I sat there waiting for someone to explain what was going on.

  Once the fire was really going, Orion sat next to me and said, “Miss Jasmine, I’m very sorry about frightening you before. The initial meet didn’t go exactly as I had envisioned.” He looked at Casper indicating he wasn’t expecting a dog to corner him, which made me smile. Served him right for spying on us. “I met your mother about a month ago. Just before your seventeenth birthday.”

  “Are you dating?” I asked.

  “Of course not!” my mother said shocked at my assumption. “You know I would tell you something like that.”

  “So you would tell me if you’re dating someone, but you wouldn’t let me know if some random guy is spying on us?” I was angry at her for setting me up, and if she didn’t know it before now, she sure got the hint now. Finally, I directed my attention to Orion. “Who are you?”

  “I’m from a small community called Tamporlea. We live within the Adirondacks. I came to find your mom because Tamporlea has an offer for you. After some lengthy discussions with your mom, she has decided to let you come with me to Tamporlea so that everything can be explained to you there.”

  “She did?” I asked glaring at my mother, “So glad you two were planning things for me behind my back. God forbid you let me in on the decision making process.”

  “This is coming out wrong,” Orion said disappointed. “Listen, your mom couldn’t tell you. She gave me her word she wouldn’t say anything.”

  “I wasn’t going to keep my word,” my mother added. “I tried to tell you, but I honestly couldn’t. The words would not come out.”

  “It’s a small spell I put on our agreement Ms. Taylor.”

  “Spell?” I asked. Apparently Orion had lost his mind. “You know what, I think you should just go Orion. It doesn’t matter to me what you’re offering. I…”

  “Jasmine, settle down,” my mother pleaded. “What he has to say is quite important. I know this is confusin
g. I know you’re angry, but please give him a chance.”

  “Fine,” I said as I stubbornly crossed my arms.

  “I had to get permission from your mother before giving you the opportunity to decide to come with me. I assure you, it’s still your choice. I am hoping you will spend a week in Tamporlea. There’s a few meetings planned and your attendance is requested.”

  “Meetings for what?” I asked.

  “For what we have to offer you.”

  “Which is?”

  “Well, it’s something pretty major. Unfortunately I cannot discuss it until we are in the meetings.”

  “But my mom knows?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you think I should go?” I asked her.

  “Yes, I know you should go,” my mother said.

  “What can you tell me? This is all sounding ridiculous so far.”

  “I can tell you what Tamporlea is like, it might sound like a place you’d like to see.”

  “Alright.”

  Tamporlea sounded like a place you only heard about in fairy tales. A land of beautiful flowers, happy people living in harmony and magic. He didn’t say what type of magic was there, and I knew if I were to ask, he probably wouldn’t tell me. He said that Tamporlea has been around for hundreds of years and they still lived by many of the same standards. I didn’t want to admit it, but Tamporlea did sound like a place I wanted to see.

  “And you say that there is supposed to be a meeting for me there?”

  “Yes Miss Jasmine. You can say no if you want to and we can part ways right here. But aren’t you at least a little bit curious?” he asked.

  I tried to hold back a smile and said, “A little.”

  “Okay then, it’s just a week. If you decide to go back home when the week is over, we’ll bring you back without any argument.”

  “Well, of course I’m coming back. I have college in a couple months.”

  “Are you saying you want to go?”

  “Mom, do you want to go?” I asked.

  “I’m sorry Miss Jasmine, your mom can’t come.”

  “What?!”

  “Jasmine,” my mother finally spoke. “This is for you, not me. I have no purpose for going there and if I were to come with you, it would only confuse you.”

  “Whatever is going to be offered, you should be there to help me decide. You’ve always been there for me mom.”

  “This is what I’ve been trying to tell you. I trust your decisions and I know without a doubt, you will do what is best for you. Tamporlea is truly beautiful, you don’t want to miss out on this opportunity. Don’t let me not being able to go get in the way of your experience.”

  “You’ve been there?”

  “Yes, a long time ago. When I turned eighteen.”

  “Miss Jasmine, your mother was given the same opportunity as you will be given. When she chose not to accept, her memory of Tamporlea was taken from her. I gave the memories back so she could better understand what is going on.”

  I took a deep breath in and said, “You gave her this charm, didn’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “This place has to do with my family then doesn’t it?”

  He smiled and nodded.

  “How?”

  “Come with me and find out,” he said simply.

  I looked to my mother who was smiling nervously. “Can I sleep on it?”

  “Of course. Now, if you decide to come with me, we will have to leave early in the morning. It’s quite a hike.”

  “You had a truck at the farmer's market,” I pointed out.

  “Yes, and my nephews have returned to Tamporlea without me. Besides, a nice hike will give us some time to talk.”

  “So how was this all planned out? Like how did you know we were going to be here?”

  “Well, your mom told me where you guys were going camping for your graduation present and I thought that would be a perfect opportunity to introduce myself. I told her that we go to the farmer's market as vendors and she should make sure that you were wearing the medallion if we had her permission to approach you.”

  “What if she didn’t give you her permission?”

  “We would have waited until you were eighteen to approach you.”

  “So why not just wait? I mean my mom was eighteen.”

  “There are reasons we came to you early. For one, you graduated early, isn‘t that right?”

  “Yeah, I skipped second grade.”

  “So it was kind of important that we meet before you go on to the next phase of your life.”

  “This meeting, you’re going to make me choose college or whatever this meeting is about. Am I right?”

  “You are very insightful,” he said as he got up from his seat. “Now, if you will excuse me, I have some loose ends to tie up before the morning.”

  “You’ll be back for dinner?” mom asked.

  “Yes, I’ll be back before sunset.” He smiled at my mother and left us alone.

  I stayed seated, staring into the fire, thinking about everything. Mom was fixing us some tomato and cheese sandwiches, probably trying to keep busy so I didn’t overwhelm her with questions. I couldn’t help it though, I had a million questions just bubbling up inside of me. I tried to hold it in, but when we sat at the picnic table with our sandwich and I saw the tears in her eyes, everything started to pour out of me.

  “Why would you want me to leave you mom?” I said, already starting to cry.

  “Sweetheart, it’s not that I want you to leave. I know what’s waiting for you and I could never forgive myself if I didn’t make you go.”

  “Looking back, do you wish you had taken whatever this place is offering?”

  “Not at all. I did what was right for me and I have no regrets. I know you will do what’s right for you and I can totally accept whatever you choose.”

  “You wouldn’t be disappointed if I chose college instead of this?”

  “Jazzy, the only thing that would be disappointing is if you did what you think I would want you to do. I want you to be selfish with this choice.”

  “Can you tell me what you remember about being there?”

  “I remember that it’s beautiful and unbelievable, which I’m sure you guessed by what Orion was telling you. When I went there were like three hundred people that lived there and they all had a purpose and somehow they all worked as one. It’s hard to explain, but really amazing to see.”

  “If all this is true, than what made you not take what they were offering?”

  “I…hmmm…interesting. Apparently I can’t tell you that,” she said a little surprised.

  “Wait, so if I ask you a question that you’re not supposed to give me the answer to, you literally can’t say anything?”

  “Yeah, I mean, it’s happened over and over when I tried to tell you what was going on, but I didn’t know it went beyond that.”

  “Can you tell me about the magic?” I asked finishing off my last bite.

  “Not really. I mean, personally I didn’t see any while I was there so there’s nothing I can tell you.”

  “Oh,” I said disappointed.

  “Even though I didn’t see it, I knew it was there.”

  “I think I’m gonna go.”

  “I know you are. You’ve got to be curious.”

  “I am curious, and it’s just a week right?”

  “So we’ll tell Orion he gets back?” mom asked.

  “No. I’ll tell him in the morning.”

  “Why?”

  “He irritates me.”

  “Jasmine!”

  “He comes here, tells me very little about anything. All after having who knows how many meetings with you. He just expects me to jump at the chance to go. I want to make him squirm the same way he’s making me squirm.”

  Mom laughed at my response, which let me know that she understood how I was feeling. I was curious about this place, but I was still very irritated by the way everything was happening. I hate feeling like I
’m in the dark and everything that was said or done so far only pushed me further into the dark.

  Orion came back after a few hours while mom and I were playing card games and talking about anything but what was really happening. When he sat next to my mother, he looked exhausted. I wondered where he had gone, but knowing that he probably wouldn’t tell me anyway, I didn’t bother to ask. I offered him a bottle of water which he gladly took and thanked me for.

  Mom and I started to make dinner while Orion decided to take a shower. We chopped up the vegetables that Orion sold us earlier and boiled some water to make the rice. When he came back, dinner was just about done and I was setting the table for the three of us. Dinner was simple but delicious and we had the raspberries over some vanilla yogurt for dessert. We chatted a little bit about nothing in particular, which was good. I had enough talk about things I didn’t understand.

  Orion had brought his own small tent which mom and I helped him set up. Casper got in the way of course, thinking that the fabric from the tent would make a fun toy. Luckily he didn’t put any holes in it, but it took a couple tries before he realized that we weren’t playing with him and he went to go lay down. When the tent was finally set up, we all sat around the fire and Orion pointed out constellations in the sky. He told us that he’s always been fascinated with the stars because he was named after the constellation, Orion, the hunter. He knew how to find all of the formations pretty easily and knew the stories connected to the stars.

  Eventually I excused myself for bed and left them still in front of the fire. Although we really didn’t do much compared to other days, I was exhausted. While I was lying in the tent, I heard mom and Orion talking but I was too far away to hear anything they were saying. I wondered if they were talking about Tamporlea, maybe discussing things I wasn’t allowed to hear about. I tried to listen more closely but soon gave up and fell asleep.

  Chapter 3

  A History Lesson

  “Jasmine,” I heard my mom whisper. “Jasmine, wake up.”

  “What?” I said through a yawn.

  “Orion just left for a bit. I thought maybe you’d want to wake up with me.”

  “Mom, I have to hike today. Don’t you think I should sleep in?”

 

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