Bonded (The Raegan Mason Trilogy)

by Cheryl Courtney

  “Of course. I’d love to help you.” I smiled thinking about our first official date.

  “Help you what?” Julie had returned, catching the last bit of our conversation. She looked at Kyler knowing I wouldn’t tell her anything right now.

  “Raegan’s agreed to come help me with the marine animals at the Aquarium later. You know feed them fish and brush their teeth? I’m going to loan her some rubber boots and everything.” He smiled at Julie. “Want to come?”

  “Gross. That’s disgusting. I don’t even like going to watch those creatures swim around much less deal with their hygiene. You two can go get fishy all you want. I have other plans.” She didn’t bother sitting again. She had finished her meal and was ready to go.

  Our server had returned at just the right time. She handed the bill to Kyler and he reached into his back pocket for his wallet. I reached into my purse to pull out some cash but he’d already handed the money back to the waitress. “You didn’t have to pay for our lunch.” I objected.

  He smiled. “I don’t mind. It’s not like you broke the bank.” He laughed as he rose from his seat replacing his wallet in his khaki shorts. He made all clothing look good. His shorts were sitting low on his waist and his white polo shirt clung tightly to his arm muscles. I still couldn’t get over how defined he was compared to other guys my age. He waited for me to get up so he could walk us to the door. I wasn’t sure my legs would cooperate. He was breathtaking and his invisible force field was tempting me touch him. He held out his hand to help me up, and I caved in.

  His touch sent shocks through my system and his hand was so hot. His smile faltered briefly until I stood and he released my hand. The humming was intense and vibrating between our closeness. I followed Julie out of the restaurant and paused at the door to say goodbye. “I’ll meet you at eight?” He smiled unloading his full dimples.

  “Eight o’clock it is.” I returned the smile and turned to walk toward Julie’s car. The attraction to him was getting stronger. I was hopelessly falling for him.

  CHAPTER 7 – THE DATE

  I didn’t know what to wear to a sea creature feeding and then to a carnival, so I just chose some regular jean shorts and a nice t-shirt I didn’t mind getting ruined. I wore my hair up this time to keep it out of any fishy foods. I also brought along a change of clothes just in case it did get messy. Julie still thought I was insane for agreeing to feed dolphins, and who knew what else, dead fish. She didn’t need to hear that it actually was freaking me out, I just didn’t care. I was looking forward to the part after feeding them stinky fish. I was so glad she declined his invitation. Jealousy was a new emotion for me when it came to Julie, but I definitely didn’t want to share my alone time with Kyler.

  I told my Aunt Sarah that I was going to help a friend out at the Aquarium and that I was going to drive Dad’s car. She hesitated on giving me permission, but it wasn’t because I couldn’t drive. I had my license and drove Dad’s car many times before. It had been sitting in the garage all this time. Dad had an old Mustang and it was exciting to drive. He had it for years. He had reupholstered the inside with tan leather. The outside was navy blue. Everything that could be chrome…was. All of the guys drooled when I got to drive it school.

  When I got in, I could still smell Dad’s cologne and spearmint gum. I inhaled deeply feeling a part of Dad still with me. I put on the seatbelts Dad added to the car, turned the key in the ignition and backed out of the garage.

  I arrived at the Aquarium a few minutes before eight. It closed at seven but there were still several vehicles in the parking lot. I didn’t know where we were supposed to meet. I guess that would have been something to ask before planning this. I parked and threw the keys in my small backpack purse I put together for tonight. It had my change of clothes and my wallet. I didn’t like carrying a purse. It never felt right holding it on my shoulder or just carrying one in my hands. A backpack was something I was used to carrying at school and it was convenient to have on my back. I walked to the entrance but the gates were locked so I slowly walked back toward the car to wait.

  I sat on the hood looking around for a few minutes when I saw Kyler jogging from around the corner. He slowed as he approached the front gates and looked around. The disappointment on his face left when he saw me sitting on the hood of the car and he walked out to meet me.

  “Nice car.” He smiled and ran his hand over the hood. The vibrations rumbled quietly through the metal of the hood. “Ready to go?” He nodded his head toward the Aquarium.

  “Sure.” I hopped down off of the car and grabbed my backpack. My stomach was flipping.

  “You won’t be getting dirty, if you’re worried about that.” He smirked. “I don’t feed the animals. I just like messing with Julie’s head.” He chuckled sending those intense sensations through me.

  “So we’re not feeding the animals?” I felt relief as I said it, but then worried. What were we really going to do?

  He started walking toward the gated part of the lot and I followed nervously. I caught up with him before asking again. “What are we doing then if we’re not feeding the animals?”

  He smirked. “I wanted to show you something. Not many people get to come back here and it’s something I’d like you to see.” We kept walking toward the side of the Aquarium. When we reached the doors, Kyler swiped a key card to open the door. The hallway wasn’t lit very well and I got a weird sense of falling. I reached out for the wall to make sure I wasn’t going face first on the concrete. Kyler held out his hand to me. “Your eyes will adjust in a minute. It isn’t far down this hall. They shut the lights off at closing time in here so it’s just emergency lighting, but I’ll get the lights on in the lab.”

  I grabbed a hold of his hand allowing those tingles to bounce back in forth. To me the darkness intensified the sparks. It was much stronger than when he shook my hand on the beach. We stopped in front of a door that had an illuminated key pad again. This time Kyler punched in a code instead of using his card. The door buzzed and then clicked open.

  The room was filled with tanks containing different types of rocks, or at least that’s what it looked like. Kyler turned on the lights and the room came to life. There were some computers along one wall, chemicals and beakers along another. The tanks were spread around the room creating rows to walk through. “These are some of my mom’s findings. She’s a marine archeologist and she spends a lot of time scouring the ocean floor looking for past civilizations and sunken ships. Some of these will turn out to just be rocks, but occasionally she does find sunken treasure.” He winked and started walking toward the back of the room passing all of the rows. “Come over here.”

  I walked through the maze of tanks trying to glimpse any treasures being preserved in the tanks. Kyler had stopped at a tank that stood alone. The tank’s water was algae green and it looked like it was glowing from within. “What is that?” I asked.

  “We’re not really sure. We thought it was a rock or gem that some ancient civilization carved on but we can’t figure it out. We haven’t been able to determine its composition, but it’s harder than a diamond. Sometimes it gives off a glow like now, but it doesn’t change temperatures so it isn’t conducting heat when it glows, or at least nothing measurable. Got any creative ideas?” He walked around the tank looking deep in thought at the murky green water.

  “Ideas? Um, not a clue.” I walked closer to the tank hoping it didn’t smell as bad as it looked. “How big is it?”

  “Here, I’ll show you.” He reached under the tank and brought out some black rubber gloves. He pulled one glove on and it went up past his elbow. He reached into the water and pulled out a blue stone about the size of a large potato. It was perfectly round. The stone was pulsing with an inner light like a heartbeat and he held his hand open so I could see the markings on it.

  The markings were strange. They didn’t look like hieroglyphs or letters. Some were irregular shapes like blobs, some looked like stars or crossed lines forming c
risscrossed shapes, and then some looked like spirals or bull’s-eyes. “Wow, that’s really strange. Any idea what the symbols mean?” I looked up at Kyler and he was watching me intensely. I blushed and he looked back at the stone.

  “No real theories yet. She found it off of the coast of Greece a few years ago. We’ve ran a lot of tests on it, and each test leaves us even more confused.” He replaced the stone in the water and the green murky water turned brilliant blue. I gasped. “Oh yeah, it does that too. The water isn’t really algae infested. We think it’s some kind of camouflage or defense mechanism. I’ve seen it algae green, this blue, and even a blood red. Usually when we return it to the water, it stays that green color. So what do you think?” He watched me again waiting for a response.

  “Honestly, it makes me think of some kind of space rock or a meteor, but those marks had to been made by someone, right? Maybe it’s from Mars.” I tried to laugh, but it really was a weird stone.

  “Do you believe in Martians?” He raised an eyebrow questioning me. He had removed the gloves and was going to wash his hands in the sink.

  “I believe that there may be life on other planets besides ours, not necessarily that they’re from Mars.” I crossed my arms and watched as he pulled on the soap dispenser and turned on the water. As he ran his hands under the water, the familiar music began. It was faint but it was there. He lathered his hands with the soap and began rinsing. The music got louder as he rubbed his hands back and forth under the water.

  “So not from Mars? Where else would they come from?” He smiled as he began drying his hands with paper towels. The music faded as the water disappeared from his hands. I tried remembering all of the times I heard the music. Did it have something to do with the water? “Hello?” Kyler waved his hand in front of my face. “Where’d you go?” He looked at me concerned until I smiled at him.

  “I was just trying to give you an honest answer without feeling like an idiot.” I walked over toward the tank again.

  “I won’t think you’re an idiot. Trust me, I’ve come up with a lot of strange explanations. I would like to hear some of yours.” He crossed his arms and stared again, focusing on my head as if he could read my thoughts if he stared harder.

  “Well, ok. Promise you won’t laugh?” I looked at him and he made a serious face at me while trying to hide a grin. “You’ll laugh, but I have always believed that there were other people from other planets that have been here, on Earth. I don’t know why I believe that, but it’s just too big of a universe to be the only life on the only planet. What if this is some kind of energy source, from one of those visits?” He didn’t laugh. His grin disappeared and the serious face was truly serious. I continued. “You said it didn’t change temperature. Does it conduct electricity?” I stared at his hands expecting them to spark with lightning.

  “Yes, it does.” He answered but didn’t elaborate.

  “Ok, could it have fit in something else? Maybe like a battery?” I asked.

  “Good idea, but it was found at the bottom of the ocean, so we don’t know that answer.”

  “Have you tried to cut it open or melt it?’

  “Yes and yes. Diamonds break but do not leave a mark on the stone. It seems to absorb the heat. We tried heating it to see if the temperature would change, but even after twenty minutes of intense heat, the stone remained the same temperature.” He went to the back wall and grabbed a metal stick. “And it’s magnetic.” He held the stick over the water and the stone began to rise toward the stick. He removed it before it connected with the stick.

  “Maybe it’s a dinosaur egg.” I laughed, shaking my head in amazement. “I really don’t have any good ideas about this. It’s amazing. Why is it here and not at some governmental lab?” I stopped staring at the stone and looked to Kyler. His face was tense but as soon as I noticed the tension, he relaxed and smiled.

  “Besides my mom and me, you’re the only other person that knows about it. Will you tell?” He leaned against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest and waited for my reply. His eyes were playful but he held his lips in a tight line.

  “I won’t tell anyone. I wouldn’t even know what to say. It’s so strange.” I swallowed hard and pried my eyes away from his.

  “What if I told you she was searching for Atlantis?” His lips were fighting a smile. I was sure he was trying to mess with my head now.

  “Atlantis? The lost continent?” He nodded and watched me react. I tried to laugh but his stare was making me a little uncomfortable. “Well, who isn’t looking for Atlantis, right? Isn’t it supposed to be in the Bahamas? I had a friend who went there last summer.” I raised an eyebrow at him. I had an overwhelming urge to stick out my tongue at him.

  His deep chuckle took me off guard as the tremors raced through my body. “Fair enough. Yes, that’s one interpretation of Atlantis. Come on, let’s get out of here and have some fun.” He quit leaning and started across the lab to the door. He looked back once to make sure I was coming and opened the door. He held the door open as I walked through and he shut off the lights and closed the door.

  ***

  We took my car to the Carnival instead of walking. It was on the north part of the island on the boardwalk. The noises and smells filled the air and I was actually excited to be there. I had not been to a carnival in years. Of course, being afraid of heights, I didn’t choose to ride very many rides. I enjoyed the games.

  Kyler bought some tickets for the rides before I could protest. I was older now and I was sure the scariness of the rides would have disappeared, but I was wrong. “Which ride would you like to go on first?” Kyler smiled devilishly and nodded toward the biggest and most frightening rollercoaster I’ve ever seen.

  “I’m not sure.” I muttered. “Can we start with something less intimidating?” I tried to swallow my fear, but my pulse was going crazy. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the fear or because of Kyler. I couldn’t chicken out but fear is an overwhelming emotion.

  “Are you scared?” Kyler wrinkled his eyebrows in confusion. “It’s not that bad, I promise.” He smiled encouragingly. “You can squeeze my hand the whole time if you need to.” He winked and reached out for my hand.

  I sighed taking in a deep breath of carnival air. I guess if I was going to die of fright, I would be holding on to Kyler the whole way down the lighted tunnel. He grinned knowing he hit a soft spot with me. He had to know what his touch did to me or maybe he felt some of the same sparks I did. I submitted to my fears and reached out to grab his hand. The sparks were more powerful than before. I wondered if my fear and adrenaline intensified them. He glanced at our hands briefly and then pulled me toward the Ferris wheel instead of the roller coaster. “Maybe we’ll start off small first.” He smirked at me, clearly enjoying my discomfort with the rides. I let out a strangled breath knowing I had a few more minutes before trying to avoid the heart attack I knew would come while on the roller coaster. I’d only ridden one once before and that was with Julie. She still laughs about that time.

  He handed some tickets to the ride worker and we climbed into the seat. The guy pulled the bar down over our laps and secured it before going to the controls to move us up a spot to load the next seat. The lurch forward made my stomach flip and we were not even a few feet off of the ground. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply hoping I would not get sick. Kyler chuckled. “You’ll be fine, just don’t look down. Look up or out across the island as we go.” Of course the first thing I do is look down, right as the seat jerked forward again. I reached for the bar and slammed our still grasped hands into it. Kyler released my hand to allow me to grip the bar. “You have a bit of an adrenaline rush going on I see.” He reached his arm around my shoulder allowing his hand to grip the other shoulder tightly and pull me closer to him. “I’ll protect you, don’t worry.” He was still holding back a grin, trying not to laugh. I knew I looked like an idiot, but I couldn’t help it. We were bumping our way up slowly while the wheel filled up with riders.


  I couldn’t manage to come up with any witty remarks. My mind was filled with terror. This one small bar that I was gripping onto for my life was all that stood between me and the hard unforgiving ground below. If Kyler said much more, I didn’t hear him. My pulse was pounding in my ears and looking down was all I could do. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from my impending fall. When we reached the top, Kyler rubbed my arm to distract me from the height. “Look.” He pointed with his right hand. “There’s the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia, and do you remember what that one’s named?” He leaned closer to me and the heat became intense.

  I shook my head. “N-n-no?” My knuckles were turning white from my death grip on the bar. Kyler reached down and started prying my hands off.

  “Relax, Raegan.” He purred in my ear. My muscles obeyed and I felt like I was floating. It was a brief moment of floating before I felt both of his hands grab onto me firmly and pull me down hard on the seat. “What are you trying to do, jump?” Kyler was yelling at me.

  “What are you talking about?” I was dizzy and the ride was picking up speed. He was turned toward me and his hands were still gripping my arms pinning me down on the seat.

  “You went head first over the bar! I almost didn’t grab you in time.” His face was panicked and his eyes were wide with worry. “Were you trying to jump?”

  “No! I wouldn’t do that. I don’t know what happened. You told me to relax and I did. Then you grabbed me.” My heartbeat had returned to its rapid beat and I was feeling sick to my stomach. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

  Kyler didn’t move away, but instead pulled me in closer to him and cradled my head on his chest while the ride continued going in circles. He held my head firmly in place with one hand covering my eyes so I wouldn’t be tempted to look down again. His other arm was planted securely around my body in a comfortable bear hug. I listened as his own heartbeat slowly returned to a normal pace and allowed myself to relax into his arms. The electricity flowing through us was so intense, there was no way he couldn’t feel it. I didn’t want to move out of his arms. He held me until the ride came to a stop. “It’s over. You can open your eyes now.” He still had that worried expression as he examined my face. He moved my disheveled hair behind my ear. “I don’t think we’ll try the roller coaster today.” He smiled a crooked grin revealing only one dimple.