He grabbed her arm. "Wait, Camille, it isn't like that." She glared down at his hand on her arm, until he dropped it. "I didn't know who you were until you told me your name."
She raised an eyebrow. "And you didn't think to be honest and tell me when the opportunity presented itself?"
Jeremy glanced over at Michael and Jenni, who watched with open curiosity then back to Camille. "I know there's bad blood between you and my brother as well as you and the old man. Hell, there's bad blood between most people and the old man. I was enjoying being with you and didn't want to ruin it."
Camille gave Jenni a tight smile. "I have to go. I'll just walk to your place for my car and head home."
Jenni frowned. "But what about last night's intruders? Are you sure you should be out there alone?"
Jeremy's eyebrows lowered. "You had intruders? I'll take you home."
"I don't need any help from the likes of you, Mr. Walker," Camille growled before turning on her heel and walking out of the pub.
The humid summer heat hit her in the face, making her grimace. Five people paced on the sidewalk in front of the pub, large signs in their hands as they yelled at anyone nearby. Alcohol leads to fornication which leads straight to hell. Repent of your sin. Don't follow Shines to hell. Dancing is devil worship. Shines use alcohol to take you to hell with them. Repent.
Camille rolled her eyes and turned toward Jenni's house. This was a different group than had been here when she entered the bar. There must have been a shift change.
Their voices faded as she practically ran from the pub. How could she have not recognized those icy blue eyes so much like the Walker patriarch’s? She was a fool. Her eyes burned with tears she refused to let fall.
The rumble of a truck pulled up alongside her and the passenger window lowered. "Get in, Camille."
She kept walking, refusing to acknowledge him in any way. He sighed and slowed to pull the truck over behind her so that she was highlighted by the headlights.
Gravel crunched under his shoes as he jogged up beside her. "You can't blame me for how my grandfather and brother are, you know."
She scoffed and stopped, turning to face him. "So you're telling me that you had no idea who I was. That your grandfather didn't tell you to get in my good graces and try to woo my land from me after your brother failed to get me to marry him?"
"I didn't know who you were until you told me your name." He rubbed his neck. "My grandfather did mention that he wanted me to talk to you."
Camille threw her hands in the air and started walking again.
He followed her. "Whatever was between us, wasn't a lie, Camille. You felt it as strongly as I did."
She rolled her eyes. "There is nothing between us, but dishonesty. You saw to that."
Silence hung thick behind her as she turned down Jenni's tree-lined street. Her chest tight, she fought the urge to look back. His footsteps crunched over the ground behind her again as he moved closer. She sighed.
"Look, Jer--" she screamed as she found herself upside down over his shoulder. "Put me down, you Neanderthal. I'm done talking to you."
He clamped one arm over her kicking legs and the other he used to swat her backside. Shocked, she froze at his blatant violation of her person. "Put me down," she bit out through clenched teeth.
He rubbed at the stinging spot on her backside as he muttered. "If you won't listen to me, I'll make you. Now be quiet."
Camille shrieked, pummeling his back with her fists. “You’re just like the rest of your family, bullying and manhandling me to make me do what you want with no regard for my wishes.”
Jeremy froze. Then he pulled her off his shoulder and set her down in front of him. She studied his clenched jaw and stricken gaze.
He stepped back from her. “I’m nothing like them. Nothing.” He walked around to the passenger side door and opened it. “If someone broke into your house, then it might not be safe for you there. With your permission, I'll take you to Jenni's so you can get your car, then I'll follow you home and make sure the intruders didn't come back."
Biting her lip, Camille nodded and climbed silently up into the truck. He closed the door and came around to slide into the driver’s seat. He put the truck in gear and drove the half mile to Jenni’s house, the tension between them thick enough to cut. She ignored the guilt urging her to apologize.
Jeremy pulled into the Pham drive. Camille glanced over at him, and then slid out of the truck. Her mind racing, she hurried inside and gathered her things from Jenni’s room. She threw her bag into the passenger seat and pulled the car out of Jenni’s driveway. His headlights, following behind her, confused her. Gary would have forced her into the truck, maybe even backhanded her into silence. Jeremy had seemed truly upset to be compared to the rest of his family.
They pulled up to her house. He followed her in silently and moved through each room of the house to be sure no one waited to do her harm. Camille found herself intrigued by his thoroughness.
He finished looking in the garage, and then moved back toward where she waited at the front door. “Everything looks clear. I checked all the windows.”
Camille met his shuttered gaze. “I’m sorry.”
Jeremy’s startled gaze jerked up to meet hers. “For what?”
“For comparing you to your brother. He wouldn’t have cared to check if the house was clear or the windows locked,” she said, her eyes burning. “He’d have come in, stretched out on the couch and told me to get him a beer, food, or massage, if he’d bothered to stay at all.”
Jeremy moved to stand in front of her. He closed his eyes and bent down to lean his forehead against hers. "You'll be the death of me, I can already tell."
Camille’s stomach flipped. She pulled away from him even as her eyes found his lips. He was a Walker. He just wanted her land. This was all an act. But her heart wouldn't listen. He should have repulsed her, but she found herself leaning toward him. Her pulse pounded in her ears as he kissed her on the nose. Her startled gaze met his, confused.
He grimaced. "When I kiss you the first time, it will be because you want me to. I won't be accused of taking advantage of you."
Shocked by his restraint, Camille was even more shocked at the need to restrain herself. She felt a reluctant respect for this man, for a Walker. She imagined how she must appear to him and cringed. A line from her father's favorite book popped into her head. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.
He was her Boo Radley and she'd judged Jeremy just as harshly as Scout had Boo by assuming him to be as bad as his brother. She felt like a total dog biscuit. Her father read and discussed that book with her so many times. He'd have been so disappointed in her behavior. Her chest burned. She'd give anything to have him waiting at home to read it to her again. She caught her breath. That was it. The one word her father would have used that he knew she and no other would guess.
She knew the password. Mockingbird.
CHAPTER TEN
Camille gazed down at Jeremy, asleep on her couch, her mother's quilt draped over him. He'd asked to stay and she'd been secretly relieved. Though still attracted to him in the early morning light, Camille found herself suspicious of his motives. She believed that he hadn't known who she was at first, but she remembered the slip in his smile when she'd told him her name and his omission of his last name when he introduced himself.
Could she be in a relationship in which a lie, even one of omission, had already been told? She shook her head, torn, and moved past him to her father's office on silent, sock covered feet. She selected the much used copy of To Kill a Mockingbird and took it along with her tablet to the window seat that looked over her mother's garden. She took the thumb drive from around her neck and inserted it into the tablet. When the security box appeared she carefully typed in mockingbird.
WRONG PASSWORD
Camille pressed her forehead against the window's glass as her stomach knotted. She'd been so sure. She picked
up the book and opened the front cover, hoping for inspiration. It had to be something to do with this book. She fanned the pages. A slip of paper fell into her lap. She picked it up and unfolded it. A long sequence of numbers and letters, written in her father’s neat hand, filled the paper.
Holding her breath, she typed the code.
WELCOME, CAMILLE.
Her heart rate accelerated. She clicked on the single file. Inside were several documents, the top one labeled with her name.
She clicked on it.
My sweet Camille,
If you're reading this, then the unthinkable has happened. Whatever they tell you, please know that it is because of the information on this thumb drive that I am no longer with you and has nothing to do with the Walkers. (I know you've already jumped to that conclusion. Remember what Ms. Lee taught us, it's a sin to kill a mockingbird. Don't judge.) If Mr. Walker harasses you about the land, sell it to him. You can't afford the attention battling with him will bring. Keep the house if you can, but the land isn't worth your safety.
The first document lists everything I could learn about possible terrorist attacks blamed on Shines. I don't know when or how, but they are planning something big to turn ordinary people against you. The second document contains video of conversations between my boss, Brother Corey and a man he referred to only as The Reverend. I don't know much about the man, other than he considers Shines to be Satan spawn. Finally, the third document is a list of known or suspected Shines in Oklahoma. I've never been more thankful that we didn't take you to a doctor when your ability appeared. Delete this before you move on to the other files. We can’t risk this falling into anyone else’s hands.
I'm so proud of you, honey. You've always amazed me. Don't be ashamed to be a Shine. It's a gift from God. He gave it to you to use to glorify him. Don't let him down.
Remember Ms. Lee's words in Mockingbird. Courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. It's knowing you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.
I'm counting on you to make that “sometimes” happen. It's up to you now.
I love you.
Dad
The book slipped from her lap and hit the hard wood floor with a loud thump. Camille ignored it. Her eyes burned as she read the words again, refusing to blink. She'd always believed he wouldn't kill her mother and himself. Gentle hands on her shoulders made her look up, reminding her that she wasn't alone.
Jeremy bent down and retrieved her father’s book. "What's wrong?"
"I found a note from my dad inside his favorite book," she said, laying the book over her tablet and the paper with the password.
Jeremy traced the embossed gold title of the leather bound book. "It's a sin to kill a mockingbird."
Her heart flipped. He’d zeroed in on the most special quote from the entire book. He even seemed to understand its symbolism. She moved her hand next to his on the book’s cover, then leaned her forehead on his shoulder and sighed. "I don't know you, yet I feel as if I've been waiting for you my whole life. Is that weird?"
He laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "As a matter of fact, it is, but I know exactly what you mean."
Camille looked up at him. She wanted to trust him, wanted to confide in him, but was afraid that until she knew his stance on Shines, she couldn't.
As if sensing her withdrawal, Jeremy smiled down at her then stood. "I think we both need to step back and think. You're obviously still dealing with your parents’ deaths and I'm just returning from a six year vacation from my family. Let's take it slow. Go out with me tonight. We'll do dinner, a movie, you know, things new couples often do on their first dates."
Camille nodded and stood. She clutched the book and tablet to her chest as she followed Jeremy to the front door. "Thank you for seeing me home last night and for staying to make sure the intruders didn’t return."
He grabbed her hand, bent over it and kissed her knuckles as he'd done the night before. Camille rolled her eyes. He grinned. "Until tonight."
She closed the door and locked it behind him. He reached his truck, turned and caught her watching him. With a flourish of his hand, he gave her a deep bow more suited to an old world ballroom than her front yard and climbed into his truck. She shook her head, fighting a smile. She still couldn't believe she'd let another Walker into her house. The thought brought her father's words back to her and she leaned her forehead against the glass pane of the door. It's a sin to kill a mockingbird.
Her body shuddered as emotion overwhelmed her again. She replaced the paper with the password and returned to her father's office to place the book back on the shelf where it belonged. After making her way back to the window seat, she read the message from her father again.
She didn't want to delete the document, but knew she couldn't afford not to. Inhaling, she clenched her jaw, her finger hovering over delete file. Shaking her head, she closed the file. She'd do it later. Swallowing past the lump in her throat and shrugging away the guilt, she clicked on the first file. It contained a single list, cities from the United States and a few from various other countries.
Camille scanned the list. Seattle and Santa Monica were listed as the first two cities with New York City, Miami, and Dallas listed under them. Separated and in their own group were the foreign cities of Montreal, London, Rome, Cairo and Beijing. Highlighted below the list her father had typed one sentence.
Target cities. Shines will be blamed. How? For what purpose?
She caught her breath. Her parents had been killed before the Seattle tragedy. She minimized the file to click her browser icon and pull up a search engine. She quickly typed in Seattle and Shine, and then clicked on a national news site she recognized. She flashed hot then cold as an image of Seattle taken from the air appeared on the screen. She stared at the charred ruin. It looked as though a meteor had crashed in the center of the city forming a crater where once the famed space needle had been. The headline read-- SEATTLE DECIMATED BY SHINE
Camille clenched her jaw as she read about the first event to be blamed on Shines and the first city on her father's list. Returning to the search engine, she typed in Santa Monica and Shine. Again, the same periodical showed a picture of the devastation in that city. This time the Shine had died in the blast. She scrolled down the page as she read the article and found another image, one with three young women about her age all wearing the same pleated skirt and string-tie blouse. They were surrounded by an angry crowd. The headline read-- SHINES TO IDENTIFY SHINE RESPONSIBLE FOR SANTA MONICA INCIDENT
Aside from the blue hair of the first girl, they appeared normal. So normal that some cities were beginning to discuss detaining any young woman between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five. Camille closed out the browser window and stared down at the list of cities. Would New York be next? Her gut churned.
She clicked on the third file. A list of twenty names appeared. She hadn't known there were others like her. Halfway down the list, she froze and read the fifteenth name again unable to comprehend what she was seeing.
15. JENNIFER PHAM- 22 -Sentinel, OK
She sent the file to her printer. She closed the file, then removed the thumb drive and rubbed her finger over its shiny, black surface as her mind spun.
She'd known about the Shine incidents in Seattle and Santa Monica. Who hadn't? You couldn't turn on a television without having it rubbed constantly in your face. She'd even been dismayed with the pressure for the Senate to pass the bill nullifying Shines’ rights upon discovery of a Shine, but it had been easy to distance herself from it all. Here in her sleepy corner of the world, it hadn't felt truly real. She'd done what she did best, stayed hidden. In the sanctuary her father had built for her, she'd been able to pretend it had nothing to do with her despite the growing anti-Shine movement growing in her own little town. Now, forced to sell her haven, she wouldn't have a hiding spot. Would they discover that she was Shine? And what about Jenni?
Camille squeezed the bridge of her nose between her fingers. She couldn't think about this right now. She'd hide the thumb drive with her Shine, then call Jenni. The soft brush of fabric was her only warning as something hard hit the side of her neck causing a flash of pain as everything went dark.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Camille regained consciousness to find both the thumb drive and her tablet gone. Head resting in one hand, she rubbed at her neck with the other. The pain in her head eased slowly until finally, she could lift her head without sunlight stabbing into her eyes. Slumped on the window seat, she leaned back against the cool glass of the window and lowered her shaking hand from her neck. Her emotions churned as she realized the latter was still on the thumb drive. She tightened her trembling fingers into a fist. She’d give anything to go back to the moment her emotions got the better of her and she refused to delete the letter. Her eyes burned. She’d just given herself away without using her Shine. Closing her eyes, she forced the helpless feeling drowning her, away.
The intruders would be working on extracting the information on the thumb drive. She didn’t have time for a pity party. Pushing to her feet, she looked around her home. She couldn’t stay here. Once they read the letter, they’d be back. Her eyes snagged on the paper waiting in the printer tray. She inhaled noisily through her nose. Jenny wasn’t safe either. She grabbed the copy of Oklahoma Shines from the printer, packed her car with her clothes and most cherished possessions, then drove to Jenni’s house. Fear was a sick churning in her stomach.
She arrived at Jenni’s house and forced a smile when Jenni opened the door. “We need to talk.” She thrust the paper into her best friend’s hands.
Jenni scanned the sheet and her faced paled. “Where did you get this?”
“The thumb drive, right before I was knocked out and it was stolen.”
Shine: Season One (Shine Season Book 1) Page 48