by M. Leighton
As my eyes came back around, they met Jackson’s where he stood on the bank, arms crossed over his chest, watching me. My stomach twittered in response to him, but I ignored it, closing my eyes once more and concentrating with all my strength.
I repeated the process, to no avail. Angrily, I bent to roll my jeans up further and then I walked deeper into the water, hoping more contact would increase my power. But, alas, it did not.
Irritated, I realized that I was going to have to either strip down in front of Jackson and get back in or save myself some embarrassment and just go home with wet clothes.
Of course, that was a no-brainer.
Turning, I walked into the deepest part of the water, which was up to my waist, and I stopped. Closing my eyes once again, I let my hands trail along the surface of the water, feeling the glorious kiss of the stream against my palms.
I called to the dark spirits of the trees, praying to God that they would show themselves to me. But they did not.
Frustrated, I looked helplessly back to Jackson, who stood in the exact same position on the bank, watching me. He was frowning.
“I can’t reach them without the Seer.”
“And you can’t call the Seer,” he said, stating the obvious. His brow furrowed deeper, as if he was thinking hard. “Come on then. We’ll just have to find another way.”
I dragged my legs through the still-choppy water toward the bank. As I neared him, Jackson offered his hand.
I looked at it and then up at him. His face was an unreadable mask. With a sigh, I slipped my fingers into his palm. The instant our skin made contact, heat started to ascend my legs from the suddenly-roaring waters at my feet.
Shocked, I looked up at Jackson. His expression was far from inscrutable. Now, he plainly wore surprise.
We stared at one another for what seemed an eternity, an invisible currency buzzing between us, tingling where our skin touched.
Jackson recovered more quickly, stepping easily from the bank down into the water with me. He nodded toward the center of the creek.
“Try again,” he said sternly.
He kept hold of my hand as we made our way back into the deeper water. When I stopped, Jackson took another step and came around in front of me. Squaring his shoulders to face me, he took my other hand in his and laced our fingers together.
Power surged between us, through us, around us. I felt Jackson’s strength flowing from him, from his skin, into me. It poured into my palms and ran in waves up my arms to flood my body. My scalp tingled with it. My lungs expanded with it. My soul danced with it. My heart burst with it.
It was the tie. It was love and strength and a bone-deep connection that made everything else seem small and insignificant.
I looked into Jackson’s eyes, hoping to see understanding there, hoping he recognized what we shared. But they gave me no answers. He closed them, shutting me out of his mind, out of his heart.
With a sigh, I closed my eyes as well, pushing the complexities of Jackson out of my mind and directing all my thoughts, all my energy to the tree spirits.
“Let me see you, dark spirits of the trees. Show me your secrets,” I said one last time.
Immediately, I felt the difference. Inside my mind, it was as if a curtain had been drawn back and I was able to peer into a world that was normally closed to me. I could suddenly feel the presence of others, the spirits of all living things, moving and whispering all around me.
Opening my eyes, I looked to the trees. Sure enough, there, as if in answer to my plea, were the tiny creatures with yellow eyes, staring down at me, waiting…
“Who is Wolfhardt?” I asked quietly.
As I watched, the creatures began to vibrate where they clung to the sides of the trees. Their forms blurred right before my eyes as they shook. And then I heard whispering.
I listened closely, trying desperately to make out what they were saying, but I was unable to decipher even a single word. It was like trying to understand the wind.
“Please. Help me,” I begged, only to hear more whispering.
Just as I opened my lips to ask again, something moved overhead, something large enough to darken where Jackson and I were standing, like a great cloud gliding by.
The shadow lasted only for a fraction of a second and then it disappeared. By the time I looked up, there was nothing there. I looked back to the tree spirits.
“Was that Wolfhardt? Was that his spirit moving in the forest?”
The whispering grew louder and louder, harried, frantic almost, and then it ceased entirely.
“Can you show me anything else? Anything to help me save my friend?”
This time, one quiet word made its way to my ears. See.
Instantly, night fell all around me and I was looking at a scene from another place in the woods. There was no stream, no rocky bank. There was no Jackson and no setting sun. There was only an overcast midnight sky and a cloud-covered moon.
“Where am I?” I asked.
No answer came. Only more images.
There was no sound to what I was seeing, only a vision. Like a silent movie, the scene played out before me in a muted video.
It was Kellina. She was running through the forest. She looked wild-eyed and hysterical, as if the devil himself was chasing her.
The closer she got, the clearer her state of dishevelment became. Her hair stood about her head in a tousled sable mess full of leaves and twigs.
I could see that she was hurt. There was blood. Lots of blood. It was on her face and chest, thick and sticky, streaked with tears. Her mouth was stretched into a noiseless grimace as she bawled.
She stumbled as she crossed the uneven terrain at breakneck speed. Once, twice, three times she looked behind her until finally her mouth opened wide in a scream. I couldn’t hear it, but it sent shivers down my spine nonetheless.
And then she was gone.
I looked around, hoping to recover her, recover the terrifying scene. But Kellina was gone. And then I was back in the water with Jackson.
I blinked several times, a bit disoriented. What my eyes saw now was that the sun had completely disappeared behind the horizon. Dusk was fully upon us.
I looked up at Jackson, who was still standing in front of me holding my hands. He was staring down into my face. His eyes were full of something I couldn’t quite identify. It made my knees feel rubbery, though, which made me believe that it was something good.
“What did you see?” he finally asked.
“Kellina. She’s in trouble.”
“When? Where?”
I looked at the darkening sky once more.
“We’ve still got time. If it’s tonight, it’s long after dark, after the clouds have rolled in.”
“We’d better go then,” Jackson said, and yet he didn’t move. He continued to stare down at me.
After a minute or two had passed and Jackson hadn’t budged, I started to feel uncomfortable under his intense gaze.
“What?” I asked.
His eyes slowly scanned my face, as if he was taking in every detail, memorizing it, before they came to rest on mine.
I saw Jackson’s lips twitch at the corners, up into a small, sad smile.
“Nothing,” he said, releasing one of my hands and turning toward the bank.
Wordlessly, I followed along behind him. We walked together out of the water, Jackson helping me across the rocks and onto the grassy bank. He released my hand so that I could put my shoes on. When I bent over to pull my dry socks onto my wet feet, my head swam dizzily.
Reflexively, I straightened in an attempt to regain my equilibrium, but equilibrium was not to be had. The forest spun wildly around me. I staggered as I tried to remain upright.
Just as I felt myself tipping over, Jackson’s strong hands wound around my upper arms, steadying me.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, concern evident in his voice.
“I- I don’t know. I just got dizzy all of a sudden,” I admitted, my head still as light as
the air around me, but not nearly as much since Jackson had grabbed me.
I opened my eyes and focused on Jackson’s handsome face. I could see it with perfect clarity, but the woods still seemed blurry and wavy.
“I think I’m ok,” I declared, trying to be convincing.
Hesitantly, Jackson released my arms. As soon as he did, I felt the world dip. That or it was me that dipped. Either way, my knees turned to jelly and gave out beneath me.
I gasped, knowing I was going to hit the ground and hit it hard. But just before I crumpled into a boneless heap, powerful arms slid beneath my knees and behind my shoulders, catching me before I fell.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered softly, scooping me easily into his arms.
Jackson straightened and I gratefully laid my head against his chest, my face nestled snugly against the curve of his neck. I inhaled, letting the exotic, manly scent of his skin sooth me. And it did. My mind felt clearer within seconds.
The gentle thump of Jackson’s feet hitting the ground as he walked reminded me of my shoes.
“My boots,” I mumbled, feeling exhausted for some reason.
I felt Jackson turn and walk a few steps and then he stopped. Without loosening his hold on me, he bent.
“Can you grab them?”
Looking at the ground, I reached for my boots and placed them in the cradle of my stomach as Jackson straightened.
Turning once more, Jackson headed back the way we’d come. Neither of us said a word as he walked.
After a few minutes, I let my eyes close as I drifted peacefully in his arms, lulled by the rhythm of his pace.
The skin of my cheek tingled where it was pressed against Jackson’s neck. It was like tiny waves of electricity were flowing from his body into mine, rejuvenating me much as the water had done.
I tried to reason what had happened, why I hadn’t felt this way after my journey with the Seer, why Jackson’s presence in the water had so energized me, why contact with him seemed to somehow put things that were wrong back to rights, but it was no use. I was simply too tired to think.
At one point, I began to hear the changes in the environment, as if we were nearing the hustle and bustle of town. Without opening my eyes, I knew that we’d left the solitude of the forest and were making our way through the outskirts of Slumber, toward campus and our temporary home.
For a moment, I cursed the proximity of the dormitory. I would spend the entire night in Jackson’s arms if I could, if he’d let me. But I knew that wasn’t going to happen. It shouldn’t happen. It couldn’t happen. That didn’t stop me from yearning for him, though. With my energy slowly returning, I could feel my body coming to life beneath his touch.
Reaching up with my left hand, I wound it around Jackson’s neck, pressing my palm to his nape, and snuggled in closer. Something brushed my hair. I thought it might’ve been his lips, but I didn’t want to look. If I kept my eyes closed, the world around us didn’t exist. It was just me and Jackson, his strong arms wrapped around me, his scent in my nostrils, his skin at my lips.
Before I could think to myself that I shouldn’t do it, I kissed his neck. I did it so softly, so gently I don’t know how he even felt it. But he did. I knew that he did. I felt it in the tensing of his arms. I heard it in the sharp inhalation of his breath.
Jackson stopped walking. When he didn’t start back after several seconds, I raised my head and looked at him.
“Don’t make this harder, Madly.”
Night had fallen and I couldn’t make out what was in his eyes, but I could hear regret in his voice.
Nodding, I laid my head back on his chest and he carried me the rest of the way home. When we reached my door, Jackson set me on my feet and steadied me.
“Are you going to be alright?”
For an instant, I wondered what he’d do if I said no, if he’d pick me up again and carry me to my bed and stay with me. I quickly cast those imaginations aside, however, knowing they would lead nowhere good. At least not in the long run. The only future for Jackson and me was one of pain and heartache and loss. He was right—there was no reason to make it any harder.
I tried to smile, but I felt it wobble.
“Yeah. I’ll be fine,” I said, the tie we shared squeezing my chest tight as I looked up into his breathtaking face. “Thank you.”
Jackson smiled, a slight curve of his lips. He raised his hand to my face. It hovered in the air at my left cheek for several seconds, as if he wanted to touch me, but he didn’t. He let it drop back to his side. I saw him clench and unclench his fist.
“You’re welcome, Princess,” he said and then turned toward his door.
He was resisting again and it seemed to have resumed when I’d dropped his hand guiltily in front of CoCo. He said earlier that he’d never hide me. Maybe he thought I was hiding him.
Jackson unlocked his door and opened it a crack before he turned back to me. He waited—quietly, patiently—until I obediently unlocked my own door.
With a sigh, I walked into my room, not sparing Jackson another glance. At the moment, it hurt too much.
CHAPTER NINE
I had just changed into my warm, dry pajamas when I heard a key sliding into the lock of the door. I knew before I saw her that it was Jersey. Other than me, she was the only person who had a key to our door. And her timing couldn’t have been more perfect.
From the moment I’d closed the door behind me after Jackson had dropped me off, all my senses had been irritatingly, excruciatingly focused on the sounds of him just a few feet away, puttering around in his room. Everything in me wanted to throw caution and tradition to the wind and march right through the thin door that separated us. But I didn’t. I knew it wasn’t right. But, more than that, I wasn’t sure it was what Jackson truly wanted. He fought it far too diligently.
Jackson would always be a Sentinel first. He would always do what was right by the Mer and what was right by the code of the Sentinel. And being with me wasn’t right on either count.
With a sigh, I pushed those depressing thoughts aside and geared up to defend myself against my most imminent threat—Jersey.
I watched as she stepped through the door and then, eyeing me angrily, she slammed it behind her.
“That was some shower,” she snapped without preamble.
“Jersey, I’m so sorry. I swear I didn’t do it on purpose. I swear.”
“Yeah, right. You didn’t want to go and that’s fine. But you should’ve just told me. You know I hate to be lied to.”
“I know and I wasn’t lying. I have something to tell you.”
“I can almost promise you that I don’t want to hear it,” she said dismissively, walking to her bed and throwing her purse on it as she began taking off her various pieces of chunky jewelry.
“Even if it involves me being kidnapped from the shower by a Seer?”
That at least got Jersey’s attention, though she was still skeptical.
“Please don’t tell me this is the best you could come up with.”
“The truth? Yeah, it’s the best I could come up with.”
“Well then,” she said, perching on the edge of her bed and crossing her legs, as if she was settling in for a whopper-of-a-tale. “This ought to be good.”
With as much detail as I could impart, I told Jersey exactly what happened. By the time I had finished, she was wide-eyed, gape-mouthed and incredulous.
“Shut up!”
“I’m serious.”
“What the—”
“I know, right?”
“So that’s why you wouldn’t answer me in the shower?”
“Yep. You know me better than that, Jersey. Why would you even think I’d do that?”
Jersey shrugged, looking decidedly unhappy.
“I don’t know. I was just aggravated, I guess.”
“But why?”
She shrugged again.
“You seem distracted lately, like there’s something on your mind that you’re not tel
ling me about.”
She was more right than I could admit. So I prevaricated.
“Of course I’m distracted! Geez, Jersey, look at what all has happened, what’s at stake.”
“I know that, silly. That’s not what I mean. It’s…I don’t know. It’s something else.”
The way she eyed me made me uneasy. I felt naked, like if she looked closely enough she’d somehow perceive my feelings for Jackson.
“Well, this stuff with Aidan’s not easy either,” I said, throwing her a red herring before she asked more questions.
Jersey’s head snapped up and a look of deep sympathy stole over her face. I knew when I saw her eyes that she had fallen for that likely excuse without a second thought. As well she should. That should have been the case.
“Oh,” she said nodding knowingly. “You mean Kellina?”
We’d never discussed how I felt about Aidan’s obvious fascination for her or how it would affect our upcoming betrothal. She would no doubt assume that it bothered me, even though it did not.
“Yeah.” I nodded, relieved that she went down that path rather than digging around for more information.
Jersey nodded in a you poor thing kind of way and offered, “You know you can talk to me if you need to, right?”
I nodded again, solemnly, all the while thinking that I’d probably never need to take her up on that offer.
“So,” she began, making an effort to change the subject. “What did you do then? After the Seer brought you back?”
I took a deep breath.
“Well, I came back here, but you were already gone so I got Jackson and we went to the forest. I thought maybe I could find something more, learn something more helpful.”
Jersey’s eyes narrowed for a fraction of a second before she asked, “And? Did you?”
I recounted the events of our trip to the forest, omitting all the details that pertained specifically to what happened between Jackson and me.
“What happens now? What are they going to do?”
“Who?”
“The Sentinels?”
“Oh, I don’t know.”
“You don’t know? Didn’t Jackson tell you?”
“No. He was sort of…grumpy by the time we got back, so I didn’t ask.”