Destiny Defied (The Destiny Series)

by Marx, J. A.

  Assuming his role as the island’s new authority, Vétis left his hiding place. He squeezed the lad’s shoulder from behind.

  Kiko jerked his head up, features frozen with shock.

  “Did you hurt yourself?” Vétis exerted kindness. “What’s your name?”

  “Kiko. Who … Who …?”

  The stuttering made him chuckle. “I’m Caedis.” A necessary name change.

  Many quivered in his presence but not as patently as this pawn did. The Asian’s gaze zigzagged across Vétis’s face, down his white dress shirt and black trousers to his lacerated foot with the missing toe. His jaw dropped, declaring his alarm.

  Vétis ripped a strip of cloth off his dress shirt. “I suffered a minor accident. I’ll be fine.”

  “How’d you get here?”

  “A quirk of fate.” Leaning against the tree for support, he wrapped his foot in a makeshift manner. “You need to be clued-up about the female your chums found.”

  “You know her?”

  Vétis tied off the cloth at his ankle. “I was on my way to find help when I bumped into you. Is it just the four of you on the island?”

  “Yes, sir.” The lad floundered to his feet. “She’s not dead?”

  An absurd notion. “Do you have a communication source?”

  “A ham radio. But the storm fried the wires.”

  “Oh, dear.” Vétis suppressed a smile and knitted his brow. “Listen carefully. You’re in danger.” Gripping the beetle pendant, he fired a bolt of energy with his thoughts—an application of black magic he had long ago mastered as a member of the temple priesthood.

  Kiko rubbed the red lump on his forehead.

  “You look ill, son.”

  “Just dizzy.” He wobbled in place. “How are we in danger?”

  “The girl is unstable, and I don’t have her medications.”

  “Medi … cations?” Kiko grasped an aerial root for balance.

  “I’m her psychiatrist.” He squeezed the pendant. “Doctor Caedis.”

  The mongrel nodded. “We’ll bring her to you.”

  That offer barbed Vétis with foreboding. “No. She’s liable to blow a fuse and hurt someone if she finds I’m here.”

  “Why?”

  He gently brushed a leafy tendril from Kiko’s sweaty front. “Before the shipwreck, I opened her mind to her true identity. She didn’t like it. But we can never escape the truth, can we?”

  Kiko’s head shook. “Shipwreck?”

  Must every puppet frustrate me? “I noticed a helipad. How soon will someone be in touch?”

  “Mr. Fletcher picks us up Friday.” He spoke groggily, as if just waking.

  Six days. Plenty of time. These juveniles would not be a problem. “All I need you to do is babysit her until then. I’ll handle her once Mr. Fletcher arrives. Can you manage that?”

  Vétis lifted one of the twin pendants from around his neck, the one intended for Riki. Slinging the chain over Kiko’s head, he dropped the beetle inside the lad’s T-shirt. It landed below the chain bearing the mini, silver drama masks.

  “This gift is my calling card. It will protect you. Strengthen you.” Until Riki wants you dead.

  Either way, the Asian now carried Vétis’s monitoring device.

  Chapter 6

  Being a secret agent for the week would’ve made Akiko Edwards feel scandalously important if it weren’t for the out-of-body sensation. He fingered the sore lump on his forehead, which he blamed for his weird condition, and trotted up the steps to the bungalow.

  Sabio ran toward him from the other trail. The scholar leapt onto the deck, winded. “Where have you been? What happened to your head?”

  Akiko casually tapped the beetle through his T-shirt. It radiated vibes of protection. “What time is it?”

  “Eleven.”

  Impossible. They’d left the bungalow around nine and couldn’t have been gone more than an hour. His skin prickled under the pendant. “Where’s”—he’d forgotten to ask the patient’s name—“the girl?”

  “Minutes away. Get the first aid box.” Sabio went inside.

  Great. Akiko’s week of fun and catching up with friends now verged on being screwed up by a psychotic and injured female. Her presence was probably going to make him miss his girl, Crystal, twice as much.

  Plodding inside, he swung right and climbed the ladder between the kitchen and hallway, up to the storage loft.

  Fletcher’s Cay is a place to escape fragile, intoxicating, and emotional creatures. A rugged territory where a man can be a man. “I don’t even know what I’m saying.” He merely echoed Isaac’s perspective.

  The loft air started him sneezing. He located the medical supplies next to the wardrobe of female clothing that belonged to Mr. Fletcher’s niece. Akiko might score points with Dr. Caedis if those clothes fit his patient. Even the abandoned lipstick tube on the bathroom counter might comfort the girl.

  Comfort. The word struck Akiko funny. Comforts didn’t mix with roughing it on an island. Nor was he comfort-able keeping Caedis’s secret from his friends. He felt compelled to do so for their safety, and afraid not to because … He didn’t know why.

  Before a flurry of dust got the better of him, he skated down the ladder and carried the supplies out to the deck. He set the kit on the cast iron table next to the water and washcloth then helped his friend secure a bed sheet around the wide bench that ran along the side of the wall. “I wish we had an adult to pawn her off on.”

  Sabio gave him a look. “We are adults, Kiko.”

  Halfway home, the deadweight began fatiguing Isaac’s shoulder, slowing his pace. Still smoldering in humbleness, he felt alone in understanding how closely this victim flirted with death. “Sabio. Run ahead and prep a spot for me to work.”

  Driving an ambulance placed Isaac strategically where he wanted to be—in the middle of a person’s nightmare. He loved his job, loved helping people in crisis. Yet his passionate acts of service had not satisfied him. I need empowering. He’d hoped to discover what that meant this week, except he now had to contend with a wounded female.

  Jase jumped onto the deck ahead of him. “The walking ambulance has arrived.” He helped unload the patient onto the prepared bench.

  Stretching out her long legs, Isaac removed the single leather sandal dangling from her foot and tossed it to the edge of the deck. No point in keeping half-a-pair of shoes.

  Jase laid her head on a folded towel. “Welcome to Paradise Clinic, whoever you are.”

  Clinic—another image pressuring Isaac to guarantee this girl’s wellbeing.

  Black hair tangled with seaweed webbed her bruised cheeks. Scrapes and bruises peppered her arms, but those wounds were superficial. Given her facial features and olive skin, Isaac pegged her as part Indian or Hispanic.

  He nodded at Sabio who’d been raised bilingual. “Might need a Spanish interpreter.” But he hoped not. He dreaded adding frustration to inconvenience.

  Dipping the washcloth in the bowl of water, he wrung it out then wiped the sand from around her eyes, nose, and mouth. He rechecked her vital signs. Everything had normalized. What more could he do?

  Heal the spirit, and everything else will fall into place. His father’s longstanding principle bumped into his thoughts. A soft moaning sent Isaac’s attention back to his patient.

  She shivered.

  Not wanting to overwhelm her, he signaled his friends to fall back. Isaac squatted beside the bench.

  Her breathing quickened, and she squinted at him.

  Prompted by an impression of her clutching her makeshift life raft, he prepared to employ fear management. “Can you hear me?”

  A shaky inhale. She nodded.

  Assuming she understood English, he proceeded. “My name’s Isaac.”

  She pressed her hands against her temples and shut her eyes, grimacing. Definitely in pain.

  He softened his tone. “You have a stylish bump on the back of your head. We’ll keep tabs on it for you.”
r />   Her eyes popped open. “We?”

  “My friends.” He pointed. “This is Sabio. Jase. And that’s Kiko over there.”

  The male trio behind the cast-iron table seemed to startle her. Her vision evidently needed time to fine-tune.

  Come on. Get with it. He tapped an impatient finger against his knee. “What’s your name?”

  For a few seconds, her face reflected contemplation … then she swung her legs off the bench and floundered to her feet. She backed into a corner, staring wide-eyed, like a wild animal.

  “Whoa.” He rose, motioning her to chill out. “Don’t rush yourself.” Not wanting to frighten her, he reluctantly gave her space.

  “Where am I?” Grabbing her head, she staggered forward.

  Akiko stepped in at the same time as Isaac, and they caught her before she hit the deck. They eased her back on to the bench.

  She stiffened. Her silence screamed a fierce defense.

  Something wasn’t right, but Isaac couldn’t pinpoint the problem.

  Akiko hauled over a chair and sat across from her. “We’re not gonna hurt you. Don’t know how you got here, but you’re safe.”

  Pressing back into the bench, she glowered, which Isaac interpreted to be saying, you’re too close for comfort. He then realized Akiko was staring at her … as were Jase and Sabio.

  To avoid towering over her, Isaac lowered to one knee again. Her gaze frisked every inch of him from his head to his bent leg as if he were from another planet. Elliott checking out ET. “What’s your name?”

  “Hope.” Her whisper sounded more like a question than an answer.

  ET phone home. He waved two fingers in front of her face, watching her eyes react. No dilation. “Where are you from, Hope?”

  Her hostile expression faded to bewilderment. She stared at each of them again, finishing with Akiko. “Where are you all from?”

  “Ohio.” Akiko squinted. “How old are you?”

  “Old enough.”

  Not knowing what to make of her evasive answers, Isaac wondered if she was dumb or affected by a concussion.

  She touched the back of her head. “Where are we?”

  “Fletcher’s Cay.” Akiko scratched his chest. “No one’s here but us.”

  Way to freak her out on the first date. Isaac scolded him with a glare. Waiting for Hope to ask for the telephone they didn’t have, he followed her curious gaze. It led him around the large deck, bounced off the green wall at her back, and rose to Mt. Merhamet’s rounded summit jutting above the trees.

  Her head tilted. “This is no cay. It’s an island.” She wasn’t dumb after all.

  Needing to hydrate his patient, he went into the bungalow and returned with a full cup.

  She shrank back from his offering.

  “Relax. It’s water.”

  Taking the plastic tumbler, she smelled it. Took a sip. Even the breeze flowing under the awning, tempering the heat, failed to relax Hope. And she never asked for a phone.

  Isaac sat next to her, disappointed in his friends for not making conversation. “We found you unconscious on what looked like a tabletop. There was other wreckage on the beach.”

  She leaned away as if afraid of his cooties.

  Scooting a foot away, he covertly signaled his friends. Help me out here, dudes.

  Jase slid off the wooden railing, pulling the scholar with him. “Sabio and I’ll go fix lunch.” He shrugged at Hope. “Hungry?”

  “I guess.” Her cold stare chased them into the bungalow before dropping to her sand-speckled front. She untangled seaweed from her hair with one hand.

  “I bet you’d like to wash up.” Isaac relieved her of the empty cup, writing off her behavior as a dramatized, female reaction. “As soon as you can stand without getting dizzy, you can take a shower inside. Unfortunately, we don’t have a tub.”

  “A shower is adequate.” Her eyes gleamed with stubbornness. Not acting at all attuned to her instability, she slowly stood.

  Keeping a hand ready to catch her if she collapsed, Isaac escorted her through the sliding glass door and across the breakfast nook. Cutting right at the living room, he started down the hallway.

  As though walking the green mile, Hope hesitated at each corner, trying his patience.

  He hung a left before the bunkroom at the end of the hallway and led her into an L-shaped room. The oversized bathroom doubled as an arsenal of cleaning agents and pesticides. Spare bedding and laundry supplies took up the back wall.

  After showing her the shampoo in the shower cabinet, he gave her a towel and comb. The lipstick tube on the sink left by the owner’s niece might actually find purpose with a female around. “Sorry about the door not having a lock.”

  She stared at the skylight, perhaps planning an escape … or fearing they’d use it as a spy-hole. Her communication security system rivaled that of the military.

  “Don’t worry. Nobody’s coming in.” He closed the door as he left and felt it press against the frame before he released the knob.

  She was pushing.

  Women. The morning’s troubles clotted his thoughts. A dead radio, a shipwreck, and a strange girl who gave only her first name. Not a vacation-friendly pattern.

  Isaac went to the fridge and scooped a handful of sunflower seeds out of his personal stash. Dodging the lunch chef chopping up fresh papaya and pineapple on the granite counter, he made his way into a chair at the round eating table. The running shower doubled as a soundproof booth, allowing him to speak freely. “Is it just me, or is there something dark about her?”

  Sabio placed the cheese and pita platter on the table. “I assumed it was trauma.”

  “It’s more than that.” Isaac swallowed a tongue-full of minced seeds. The dark he saw in Hope’s eyes also hung on her like a cloak.

  Sneezing, Akiko descended the narrow ladder from the loft and presented clothing he’d apparently found in the wardrobe. “For our intruding sister-tag-along.”

  Isaac overlooked the minor slur on his patient—this time.

  Optimism waning, he skated his hand over the table’s smooth, glossy surface. His life had never been smooth. It reeked of trials since he could remember. He hadn’t been a bad kid, just over zealous, as his mother put it. He couldn’t help devouring any adventure that crossed his path. In the adult world, that zeal transferred into overexertion at work and school.

  Craving an escape from his excessive lifestyle, he’d come to the Cay seeking simplicity. To be a man among men. To bodysurf in the buff.

  I will not let her feminize our retreat. Hearing the shower turn off, he solicited quiet input. “We have to alter our vacation strategy.”

  Jase placed the sliced fruit on the table then licked his fingers. “Let’s play an advanced version of Twenty Questions. Whoever figures her out first, wins. I think she’s a rich princess.”

  Rolling his eyes, Akiko dropped into a chair. “She’s probably a mass murderer.”

  A loud thud yanked Isaac’s attention from their purposeless conversation. Fearing the noise had come from the bathroom, he hustled down the hallway and stuck an ear to the door. “Hope? You okay?”

  His friends crowded in around him like junior high boys sneaking a glimpse into the girls’ locker room.

  Isaac pounded the door. “Say something if you’re all right.”

  Jase’s eyes widened. “What if she passed out and hurt herself,” he whispered. “Stank. She’s prob’ly naked.”

  Isaac snapped his finger at the musician’s troubled face. “Get a sheet.”

  Jase brought him one from the bunkroom.

  Unfolding the white linen, Isaac stretched it above his head. “Don’t even think about checking her out.”

  His friends retreated to the far wall.

  “I’m coming in, Hope.” He turned the handle. Pushing the door with his foot, he peeked over the top of the sheet.

  His patient sat slumped in the corner between the shower stall and the wall. Comb in hand. Wrapped in a towel.
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br />   He hurried in and draped her, tucking the cover behind her shoulders. Lifting her chin, he cradled her head in his hands. “Hello-ooo?” He nodded at Akiko who was gawking near the door. “Smelling salts.”

  Chapter 7

  Hope snapped the valve off, uncomforted by the shower. The jetting water had stung the cut on her head, which already throbbed. And at any moment, one of those guys was going to invade.

  No one else was on the island. Were they isolated? Exiled? What danger had she fallen into? She wrapped the towel snug around her and stepped out of the stall. Keeping the worthless door handle in her peripheral field, she picked up the comb and looked in the mirror.

  Time paused … and a shadowy silhouette of a man sailed through her mind, reaching for her. Dizziness tipped Hope backward into blackness.

  Isaac’s voice, faint at first, grew clearer. His muscular torso came into view.

  Where am I? Realizing the tile floor was beneath her bottom instead of her feet, Hope felt for the towel.

  Still snug around her body.

  Isaac smiled. “Woozy?”

  How long was I out? Heart pounding, she sucked in a breath. “Negative. I’m good.”

  Three faces grinned at her from the doorway, making the heat in her chest climb to her cheeks. Refusing to sit there exposed, she freed her arm from under the … sheet? Where’d that come from? She started to get up.

  Isaac stopped her. “Not this time.”

  He slid one arm behind her and wedged his other arm under her knees. Whisking her off the floor, he carried her to the next room and laid her on a bunk.

  No time to dispute his actions. Nor could she do much under the circumstances.

  Sabio, the tall Hispanic, studied her from the foot of the bed, arms folded. The mysterious sphinx would probably keep to himself, if she was lucky.

  Blue-eyed Jase with spiky hair brought in a glass of water. He placed that and two white tablets on the nearby squat chest of drawers. Drumming his fingers on the dresser, he looked worried. Or nervous. What was he hiding?

  His deviously beguiling smile set off warning bells in Hope’s head.