I visualized the lush green ferns and the soft grass around the pool at the bottom of the fall and felt the cool water droplets on my skin brought over on a soft breeze.
It was a real place, so imagining it took little work on my part as I was only remembering the last time I was there. As I concentrated on the steady sound of falling water, Nikki relaxed in my arms.
I knew now that I’d taken far too long to take her to visit Jenna. Just as I’d had someone there to teach me the ways of the wolf, she needed someone there to teach her how to become a Seer without picking up every single thought from five teenage boys’ heads.
Nikki and I stayed on the bleachers for a few more moments with my memories of the waterfall, until she finally sat up and smiled at me, wiping the back of her hand across her face to clear away all of the traces of her tears. “Thank you.”
“I’m coming to get you when school is over,” I told her. “Whenever you get home, meet me at our place at the edge of the forest.”
She understood what I was going to do and nodded, then squeezed my hand and left to get to her next class.
I skipped the rest of mine.
That evening, I sat on Jenna White Hawk’s front steps as Nikki went inside to learn how to block me out. Well, everyone out, if we’re going to get technical about it. I wasn’t sitting there long when Erik came out and sat down next to me.
“Nikki’s in there,” he said, pointing out the obvious.
“Mm-hmm.”
“And you’re out here…”
“Yeah. So?”
“Women trouble, huh?” he said, giving me a knowing nod as if that could be the only reason for one of us to be inside while the other was out. Granted, Jenna was the closest thing I had to a mom, but unlike my best friend, I wouldn’t haul her over to talk girl talk with her if we were fighting.
“Erik,” I addressed him.
“Yeah?”
“You’re a moron.”
“Not women trouble I take it, then?”
“Not even close.”
“Hmph.”
He sat still for a minute, thinking things over, and then he sighed. “Well, I’ll tell you, bro. I do have women troubles. You’re the lucky one. At least you’ve not even asked yours out yet.”
“I’m probably not going to want to listen to this, am I?” I groaned, burying my head in my hands.
He hadn’t heard me, though, because he’d already began spinning his tale of the latest misunderstanding between him and Penny. I tuned him out, wishing Jenna would hurry up and help Nikki so we could leave.
When Erik stopped for breath, I spit out my one and only suggestion to fix his problem. “You should go apologize to Penny. I’m sure she’ll forgive you.”
That, naturally, didn’t go over well. His eyes narrowed and he began explaining all of the reasons why she should be the one apologizing instead of him. I’d only heard part of his side of this story and I was already siding with Penny.
Thankfully, Ed and the cousins showed up and I didn’t have to listen to all of it alone.
“She’s picking up too much off of us, isn’t she?” Ed asked. His dark eyes rested on the front door where Nikki had disappeared.
“Yeah. I’m hoping Jenna can help so she can block us out when it gets to be too much.”
“I hadn’t really thought about it until now,” he said. “It would have to be rough picking up on every thought from all of us, all of the time. Especially, when that one is in the notion that he never does anything wrong.” He nodded toward Erik, who was now standing on the porch, busy pleading his case to the cousins, who didn’t appear to be taking his side either.
The screen door opened and everyone went quiet as Nikki came out. When she reached my side, she sat down and looked up at the cousins who were watching her carefully, as if they were afraid of what thoughts she might be finding in their minds. “What?” she asked, nonchalant, lacing her fingers into mine.
She turned her attention to me. “I don’t know what’s wrong with them.” Her lips quirked up at the edges. She was trying not to smile. “Maybe they’re getting sick or something. I can’t hear a thing.”
Michael and Tommy doubled over in laughter and Erik came down to sit on the other side of Nikki, throwing his arm over her shoulder. “I’m glad you got it fixed, Nikki. You were starting to worry all of us. Some things are better left unsaid, unheard…whatever,” he joked.
The look she gave him wasn’t a pleasant one. “You’d better go apologize to Penny.”
“Umm…yeah.” His arm dropped from her shoulder and he hopped up from the steps, shoving his hands in the back pockets of his jeans. “Actually, I need to go see her. I’ll catch you guys later.” He sauntered off in the direction of Penny’s house, attempting to look carefree, but not quite pulling it off.
Michael and Tommy laughed even harder.
Ed smirked, watching Erik’s retreating back. “One day he’ll learn that he has a brain and then maybe he’ll learn how to use it.”
“That’s doubtful,” I grinned. Then I looked over at Nikki. As much fun as I was having, joking at my friend’s expense, I needed to ask forgiveness too. “Come on, Nikki. I’ll walk you home.”
I waited until she told Jenna and the rest of my pack goodbye, then I took her hand and led her toward the woods.
“I’m glad you’re okay. I was worried,” I said as we made our way through the forest.
“I’m glad, too. Thanks for taking me to Jenna.”
Those were not the words I wanted to hear. I turned back to her. “You have nothing to thank me for. It is us who should thank you or apologize to you, or…or…something!” I shrugged, agitated. “We’re the reason this happened to you and, well, just don’t thank me. Please.” I blew out a long breath and scrubbed my palms over my face. That definitely didn’t sound right, even to me. How was it that I knew how I felt—and I knew exactly what I needed to say—but it wouldn’t come out right?
“Okay.” The expression on her face told me that she wasn’t sure what to say now at all. She shifted uneasily from one foot to the other and clasped her hands behind her back.
I took a step forward and leaned down so that my forehead touched hers. “We hurt you and I couldn’t stop it. I can’t stand to see you cry. And knowing we were the cause of it…” I broke off and rubbed my palms up and down her arms, needing to reassure myself that she was all right now.
“Adam,” she whispered.
Hearing my name from her lips was all it took for me to lean down that last inch to kiss her. As my hands came up to cradle either side of her face, her hands came out to rest on my arms. Instead of becoming lost in that kiss, my mind kept replaying the fact that my pack and I were the reason she had been on the edge, ready to break.
She noticed and broke the kiss, leaning back far enough to look into my eyes. “Adam?”
“Forgive me,” I managed, looking down. “I couldn’t keep us from hurting you. We made you cry, Nikki and I’ve never wanted to do that. Ever. I should have taken you to Jenna sooner. Please forgive me.”
There. I’d laid it all out and asked for forgiveness. When I looked back up at her, she smiled.
“Oh, it’s okay. You didn’t make me cry. I was just…frustrated, I guess, is the word I’m looking for. But you did take me to Jenna and I’m okay now,” she said, awkwardly patting me on the shoulder.
“You’re sure you’re okay?” I asked again, just to make sure. She’d just blown off the whole thing as if it wasn’t a big deal at all.
I wondered if Erik had had that good of luck.
She nodded, a little too quickly, her blonde curls springing around her head. “I guess we’d better start toward the house. I didn’t leave Mom a note,” she suggested.
“Right.” I watched her for another moment, walking by her side. Then the underbrush became thicker, so I led the way, letting the limbs and roots move themselves as we came through.
“Ow!” she exclaimed. “Okay, that was n
ot there.”
I spun around. “You okay?”
She was rubbing at her watering eyes. “Yeah. I swear everything seems to just move out of the way for you, but it snaps right back into place when I follow behind you. It’s like that tree just didn’t like me.” She paused, her eyes narrowing as she stared at the tree. “It did move, didn’t it? Or am I just imagining things?”
I opened my mouth, ready to explain about the Keepers way of moving in the forest, when I heard something move a short distance away. I lifted my hand, so she would know to be quiet, and then I turned my head to listen. I smiled. There was someone here who would be a lot more fun to show her than a wolf who never tripped in the forest.
“Come here,” I whispered, taking her hand and pulling her to my side. “Now look at that tree over there. The one with the fallen log next to it. Do you see that?”
“No,” she said, squinting. “What am I supposed to see?”
“Concentrate and keep looking. Focus on it, but be still,” I urged. “Don’t speak. Just focus.”
She shrugged and looked again at the fallen log that I had pointed out. Whereas her eyes were still searching, mine had no trouble making out the dark form of the Sasquatch in the shadows just behind the log where two trees met.
An errant beam of sunlight came through the overhead limbs and it moved, uneasy. Nikki clutched my hand tight and I knew she had finally spotted it.
The Sasquatch was watching us closely, his small, dark eyes not missing a single movement as he stood.
“Bigfoot,” Nikki whispered, her voice weak.
“Sasquatch,” I corrected, then addressed the towering mass of fur. “Hello, friend,” I told him in my own language. I felt Nikki relax minutely at my side; as if knowing that I was there made her feel safer.
That made me feel a bit better.
The Sasquatch answered me, humming and clicking. He straightened, standing to his full height, the top of his head brushing the branches above him. He stood, staring at us for another moment, then snorted, obviously having had his fill of us, and turned and left, moving soundlessly through the forest, disappearing like a ghost.
“They don’t normally come this close. They usually avoid human contact. This one was curious, though. He wanted to see what you were, since you were with me. Are you all right?” I asked Nikki.
“Yes. I’m fine,” she said, turning loose of my hand.
I flexed my fingers to regain blood circulation. She was much stronger than she looked.
“I thought they were only myths,” she said, staring at the place where the Sasquatch had vanished.
“Every myth has some basis in truth,” I explained. “And as you can see, he was very real. They are very shy creatures. He never would have come so close if you hadn’t been with me. That’s one reason they are thought to be only a myth or a legend, very few people see them.”
“You told me before that there were things in the forest I wouldn’t understand. Is he dangerous?”
“No, they have never attacked anyone and are strictly vegetarian. They’re docile creatures and don’t like conflict of any kind. Like I said, they tend to avoid all contact—even with us. They know we are the Keepers, and that we would never hurt them, but they still keep their distance. I’m surprised he came that close.”
“So the library has a Spriteblood. What else does this forest have? Just werewolves and Bigfoot?”
“Wherever there is life, there is magic,” I explained. “So many people just don’t see it. They look, but they don’t see. Every tree and every animal are full of life—full of magic. It’s not just in this forest, but in everything, everywhere. The trick is to teach yourself to see, like you did with the Sasquatch. When you learn to see, you’ll find things you would have thought were only in your dreams.”
I felt my wolf come toward the surface and a black, glittering mist pulsed just over my skin, as if my wolf wished to prove that he too, knew of the world’s magic.
“Show me something else!” Nikki said, excited.
I laughed. “We have to get going. We’re going to be late and I don’t want to explain to your mother the reason why I kept you out was to show you how to see wood nymphs and fairies. She might think I’m on something and not let me come back to you again.”
“It doesn’t matter. No one can keep me from you,” she whispered. “I’m yours, remember?”
“I know.” I leaned down and brushed a kiss against her brow. “And I belong to you. But it’s time for us to go.”
I changed, letting my wolf come. Sitting atop my back, Nikki was silent the rest of the way home, but I felt her moving, watching the trees, waiting to see more of the magic our forest held.
Chapter 11
It didn’t take long for news of our visit with Jenna to spread to my grandfather. As soon as I got home, he cornered me and asked me for all of the specifics. While he’d known about Nikki being the Seer—there was very little that he didn’t know that happened on the Res or off—he still made me start at the beginning and tell him everything, piece by piece, detail by detail.
When I finished, he told me the one thing that I hadn’t really wanted to hear. “If she is the Seer, she must pass the test. The elders must recognize her as part of our tribe.”
I managed to hold him off for a few days, explaining that Nikki didn’t need to worry about that just yet, but he eventually won out. He was right, as usual. Our people needed to know that their new Seer was here. So far, it was news that only the Keepers and a handful of others knew. But more than that, I wanted her to be part of my people. With her father gone and only having her mom and Emily as family, I wanted more than anything to give her people she could call her own. Tribe was family, and it was something I wanted her to have.
The fun part came when I had to ask Nikki to come with me and prove her magic.
“They want to test me? In front of the elders?” she squeaked in alarm, as I half-pulled her down the dirt road toward the center of the Res.
“It won’t be bad. Jenna has already told them you are the new Seer, so they already know. Trust me. Everything is going to be fine,” I said, trying to reassure her.
She cringed. “That didn’t help. Are you sure we have to do this today? Can’t we do this later? Like next year, maybe?”
I laughed. “No. Besides, if we get it over with now, there won’t be anything to worry about later, right?”
“I guess,” she grumbled.
I knew she didn’t want to come. Nervous energy was coming off her in waves, causing the air around us to crackle. “If they already know about me, then what’s the use of going?” she asked, trying again to dissuade me. “We’re just wasting their time.” She looked up and gave me an enormous smile—the nervous one that always showed a lot of teeth.
“We’re not wasting time. This is very important. You have a test to pass to prove you are the new Seer. The entire tribe will be there for this. It affects us all, not just the Keepers.”
She stopped, dead in her tracks, unmovable. “A test…in front of the whole tribe?”
I came in front of her and took her face between my hands. “Do you trust me?”
She managed a slight nod, not entirely convincing.
“Then believe me when I say everything will be okay. You are mine. I won’t let anything bad happen to you. They are people the same way that you and I are and soon they will be your people, too. You have nothing to prove. You are the new Seer. It’s nothing you can fake, so there’s nothing to fear. Just be yourself.”
“Okay.” She closed her eyes as I leaned forward and kissed her forehead.
The sounds of laughter that came from the circle around the campfire helped break the nervous tension. I turned and spotted Erik on his hands and knees, attempting to start a fire once again.
As we walked to the circle, I saw Ed watching Erik, a huge grin on his face.
“How long has he been at it this time?” I asked.
“Awhile. It’s a
good thing he doesn’t show the school kids how our ancestors built a fire. They would have to bring sleeping bags and spend the week with him,” he replied.
“I’ve almost got it. Honestly. I swear there’s a little flame in there just waiting to come out.” Erik looked at the little pile of sticks, hopeful.
“I’ll show you a secret,” Ed offered.
“Sure. What is it? I’m open for suggestions.” Erik flopped on the ground.
“Secret white man trick,” Ed said as he took out a lighter and set the pile of sticks ablaze.
“But this is a tribal meeting. Shouldn’t we be building a fire in the old way?” Erik protested, getting up from the ground.
“Only if Nikki wants to spend all night here and wait for you to improve your fire-building skills. Trust me, son, the lighter is fine,” Erik’s dad replied, clapping him on the shoulder.
Jenna came up behind him and linked her arm through his. Her eyes met Nikki’s. “Hello, Nikki. How are you this evening?”
“Well, okay... No, I don’t think I’m okay at all!” Nikki managed, panicking.
“You’re going to be just fine. You’ll see. Nothing to worry about at all,” Jenna said with a smile.
“I promise we won’t eat you or anything,” Erik’s dad joked as he held out his hand. “I’m Luke White Hawk.’
Nikki shook his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“So how is the Wrangler working out for you?” he said, not so subtly changing the subject.
“It’s great,” she smiled. “I love it.”
As more people drifted in and took their seats, Nikki squeezed closer to me, watching them.
“I’ve found where they got their dimples,” she said suddenly.
I followed her gaze and found Tommy and Michael’s parents standing a short distance away. “Yeah, Debbie and Donnie are twins. Debbie is Tommy’s mom and Donnie is Michael’s dad. That’s Thomas, Tommy’s dad standing behind them. Everyone seems to get named after one another around here.”
The Keeper Saga: Wynter's War, Charmed, and The One (The Boxed Set Book 2) Page 31