“He’s just representing Vank interests. They haven’t had as much say as they would like since Preda’s father died and we temporarily took over,” replied Will.
Preda became alert with the mention of her father—her real father. Who are these Vank people, and what do they have to do with my father? She sat up. She was careful not to disturb the sleeping cat, and contorted herself out of the chair without waking him. She received a sharp twinge in her left side from her acrobatics.
Preda hastily ran her fingers through her hair. She was absolutely sure she must look as if a train had hit her. She walked into the kitchen where Will and Jim were standing, and cleared her throat. Her sudden appearance seemed to startle both of them.
“I’m sorry we disturbed you,” said Jim.
“It’s OK. I was just taking a catnap.” Preda chuckled and thought of Fiver.
Neither Will nor Jim got the joke.
“I’m starving,” she said quickly to change the subject.
Will came alive. “We can take care of that.”
He immediately set about bringing out pots and pans and was cooking a delicious-smelling bean soup in short order. It was a new side of him Preda had not expected. She sat at the counter on a stool and watched him contentedly. He looked lost in his own world as he carefully selected spices and ingredients from the cupboards.
Jim left the kitchen, but Preda hardly noticed his absence. Will served her a bowl of soup and sat down quietly to join her. It was delicious. The warm broth radiated through her bones. “Do you think I could find that girl Laney and explore the caves?” she asked.
Will’s response was immediate. “Not on your own.”
“Why not?” she asked. “This place is on an island and completely isolated. I saw that whole song and dance at the entrance. How would they find me? Besides,” she continued, “why would they be so interested in following me here now that they know I’m just a weakling?”
Will did not respond right away, and Preda looked up from where she had been swirling her spoon in her soup. She saw his confused expression. After a moment he finally said, “You’re not a weakling, Preda. You’ve just been brought into an entirely different existence than the one you’ve known your whole life. In the past couple of days, you’ve seen people die, been stabbed, and been dragged to two different continents. Yet you still greeted every single person out there as though it was your job. You’re not weak. You’re just waking up.”
Preda put down her spoon, astonished at his impassioned response. He had meant what he said, and suddenly she realized she was staring at him. Will cleared his throat and stood to bring his bowl to the sink and clean the dishes. He looked embarrassed. “Despite all that,” he said, “or perhaps because of all that, you’re not going anywhere alone.”
Preda was bewildered. How did he finish his soup so quickly? Did he even taste it? Finally she snapped out of it and said, “Fine. Can you take me to see Laney and explore the caves? You and Jim can protect us, right?”
Will dropped the silverware he was washing with a loud clatter, but he recovered quickly. “Neither of us is your official guardian. You will have to check with Tamron and Al.”
Official guardian? This term confused Preda. She would have to remember to find out more about it later.
“Fine. Where are they?” she asked.
This was starting to become frustrating. She could not be expected to ask permission for everything. Her whole life she had been independent and careful not to interact with anyone. Now it was as if she could finally use her voice, but they were treating her like a child.
“Tamron’s in his room,” Will answered. “It’s the first one on the left upstairs. Yours is at the end of the hall, by the way.”
Preda brought her dish to the sink to wash herself, but when she grabbed the sponge, Will gently took the bowl from her and said quietly, “I’ve got it.”
Their hands brushed for a moment, and Preda was acutely aware of how strong his looked. She could feel her toes tingling when she stood close to him. It felt like it did when she was about to project herself with her voice.
Preda quickly let go of the bowl and left. She felt embarrassed but didn’t know why. She still didn’t understand how this voice thing worked, but that was the first time she had felt that way without being about to speak. She figured it had something to do with how Will’s presence had helped her rein herself in before.
Preda shook her head and made her way upstairs slowly. The pain in her left side forced her to use the handrail. She knocked on Tamron’s door softly. She did not want to wake him if he was sleeping. He opened it quickly and looked wide awake, but his bed was unmade, and it looked as if he had just flung off the covers. He was still wearing nice clothes—like every other time Preda had seen him. He wasn’t wearing any shoes, though, and that looked unnatural.
“Is everything all right?” he asked. He looked a little concerned.
“Yeah,” she said and then was not quite sure what to say next.
It wasn’t as if she was a little kid asking if she could have a playdate. Truthfully she had never socialized with anyone. She thought about joking and saying, “May I go play with Laney?” However, something told her Foxy would not find it so funny.
She chose a different tactic. “I was actually wondering about this official guardian business.”
Foxy sighed and opened the door farther. “Come in.”
Preda went into his room, and it looked just as she would have imagined it—sterile. Everything was in its place, and everything was in a neutral color. There were two pictures on his bedside table, and she immediately walked over to inspect them. Foxy beat her to them, though, and stuffed the pictures into a drawer before she could get a good look. She did see that one was of a small boy who looked a lot like Will. Preda sat down in a chair, and Foxy sat on the end of the bed.
When she didn’t say anything more, he started. “Your official guardian will be bound to you for life. There is only one requirement. The person must be a Kait. Whoever it is, you’re stuck with him or her. It is not the same thing as being mated to a person, but the guardian goes wherever you go,” he finished.
“Is it someone I choose?” she asked.
“Yes, but not until you’ve considered—”
“I choose Will to be my guardian.”
She had interrupted him without even thinking about it. Something in her brain had clicked into place as soon as the words left her mouth. She didn’t know anything about Will or his guardian capabilities. All she knew was that he had been the only person besides Phillip Torrance who had spoken to her before she even knew who she was.
Preda immediately felt a hot blush creep up her neck, and she squirmed under Foxy’s incredulous stare. He shook his head slowly and then suddenly looked in the direction of the doorway. Will was standing there. Will had a wide-eyed expression and looked as though he had just run up the stairs.
Will paused. “Did she just say…”
Foxy knew what Will was trying to ask. “Yes. She just said the words without even knowing what she was supposed to say.”
Preda felt as if she had just broken a rule. From the looks on their faces, she suddenly felt she was in trouble.
“What do you mean without knowing what I’m supposed to say?” she asked.
“You just irrevocably made me your guardian,” Will said.
28
Preda looked back and forth between Will and Foxy for some sort of explanation for their behavior.
“I made you my guardian?” she finally asked. “I don’t understand. All I said was I wanted Will to be my guardian.”
“That’s not what you said,” Foxy replied. “You said, ‘I choose Will to be my guardian.’”
“OK. What’s the difference?” Preda asked.
“It’s you,” said Foxy. “You’re the differe
nce. When you use that voice of yours, you have to be careful. You have the power to dictate how others feel, but you can also make certain things binding.”
“So this is binding?” she asked.
“Yes,” Foxy answered, but he was looking at Will while he was speaking. “He is your guardian for the rest of his life.”
Preda suddenly felt the weight of his words. She looked at Will and said, “I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I just did that, and I didn’t even ask your permission or how you felt about it. You must hate me.” She was looking down at her feet when she finished.
“I’m sure it’s quite the opposite,” Foxy said cryptically.
Will looked down, and Preda saw that his hands were shaking. Foxy walked over to him and put his hand on Will’s shoulder until he met his eyes. “Sit down,” he said.
It was not a request. Will looked shaken as he walked into the room. He sat down on the end of the bed and faced Preda. With his elbows on his knees, he lowered his head. Foxy awkwardly placed a supporting hand on his son’s shoulder.
Preda felt as if she had just done something horrible. She looked at Foxy with a pleading expression. He answered her unspoken questions. “Being bound to a Vozia is jarring. He will need some time to adjust to it.”
“Have you been…bound?” Preda struggled with the word. It felt as if she was referring to a prison sentence.
Foxy considered her question for a time before answering. “I was bound to your mother, Preda.” He looked as if he was in pain when he spoke about it. “Every Vozia has a Kait guardian. It has been that way since the beginning of our written history. Your father and I were friends, and I would have done anything to protect the both of them.”
As much as Preda wanted to know more about her parents, she felt as if she couldn’t ask him at the moment. Instead she asked, “What does this mean for him? For us?”
“He is aware of everything about you. He can tell your general location in reference to himself and whether you are in danger. He can feel if you are injured, and when the two of you are separated, he will feel the need to return to you. It is an unbelievable honor for a Kait to be chosen, and since you are the only Vozia, he is the only guardian. In a way he even outranks me now.” Foxy chuckled after this last sentence.
“Are you OK?” Preda asked Will.
He hadn’t lifted his head the entire time his father was speaking. “I’m OK,” he said with his head still lowered.
Preda noted the slight tremor in his voice. “Is there anything I can do?” she asked. “To make this easier?” She felt as if she had probably done enough already.
“Stop getting stabbed,” he said, and he lifted his head to look at her. “Jeez, Preda. You’ve been walking around with that pain in your side this whole time?”
Preda was shocked into silence for a moment. She gingerly placed her hand over the wound on her left side. “You can feel that?” she asked.
“If it’s hurting you, I can feel it,” he said tightly.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
She had bound him to a job she didn’t know if he wanted for the rest of his life, but it was also as if she had stabbed him with a knife. Preda felt suddenly overwhelmed. She got up and ran out of the room before either Will or Foxy could say anything else. She felt disoriented at first, but she remembered Will had said where her room was. Preda found the partially open door at the end of the hall and went inside. She shut the door behind her. She locked it as though she was locking out the rest of the world, and turned around to look for a place to sit down.
When she looked around, though, Preda felt as if she must have gone through the wrong door. It led into an opulent sitting room with beautiful gold trim. The furniture looked extremely expensive, and she touched the soft material lightly with her fingertips. It felt too expensive to sit on.
She glanced into the bedroom through the next door, and what she saw staggered her further. The ceilings opened up into a vaulted center with a crystal chandelier inset with light stone. The crystal reflected the green and blue light onto the walls, and the effect was otherworldly. The bed was canopied, and the bedding was the same beautiful emerald and cream as the rest of the furniture.
Preda was about to leave the room. She thought it couldn’t be hers, but then she saw Fiver on the bed. He must have come in when the door was open. He was curled up next to the same teddy bear that had been in her bedroom in Al’s house. The bear was wearing the same red bow tie, which made him look like a present. Al must have brought the bear all the way from Florida. She could hardly believe what she was seeing.
Preda felt she didn’t deserve these people in her life, and she had just bound one of them without his permission. She curled up on the soft bed next to Fiver and held the teddy bear to her chest like a child. The tears came slowly at first, but she soon found herself overcome with racking sobs.
29
Preda was looking at a green planet surrounded by stars. She felt as if she was floating in space and the planet was moving toward her. As it came near, she slowly realized the green on the surface was not land but water. It was moving in swirling currents along the surface, and it mesmerized her. It was beautiful.
Suddenly she felt the weight of the planet pull her in toward it like a tug on her center. Preda was falling fast. As the water came closer, she could make out shapes moving on the surface. There were people swimming in it. The farther she fell, she more she could start to make out individual faces. They were staring at her with blank expressions and smiles on their lips. Right before Preda hit the water, it lit on fire like oil. Everyone below burned in an instant before she landed in the flames.
Preda woke with a start and felt as if she couldn’t catch her breath. She shook her arms out but still felt as if flames bathed her body. As she calmed down, the feeling started to subside. Then she heard knocking on the bedroom door.
“Come in,” she called before remembering she had locked it. “Just a minute,” she amended and tried to sit up.
She moved slowly. She was careful once again not to disturb the cat, and left the bear in her place next to him so he wouldn’t be alone on the bed. When she stood, Preda noticed a vanity on the opposite wall. It was beautiful solid oak inlaid with gold. She caught a glimpse of her face in the mirror and stopped. She didn’t recognize the person looking back at her. Preda moved closer to the mirror to inspect herself. Her chin was stronger, and her cheekbones were more prominent. The most striking change was her eyes. They were glowing green, as if they were drinking in the surrounding light stone. Preda touched her face in disbelief. For the first time, she started to believe she was truly alien. Another knock on the door startled her out of her disorienting trance. She hastily brushed her too-long black hair with the gold-handled brush on the vanity. Once she was satisfied she no longer looked like a maniac—just an alien—she ran to open the door.
The pain in her left side flared as she moved too fast, and she stopped a moment next to a chair in the sitting room to catch her breath. When Preda finally opened the door, she immediately started apologizing for taking so long, but her words caught in her throat. Will was standing there with a look of genuine concern on his face.
“I’m sorry. It’s OK. I’m OK,” Preda stammered. She felt as if she didn’t know how to speak like a normal person to him anymore.
“You have got to be more careful or that wound will never heal,” he said with a sudden crooked smile.
Preda was confused for a moment before she remembered she had just hurt herself running to the door. A realization hit her. She was going to hurt him now if she hurt herself. That was going to be difficult with her clumsy nature. This whole guardian concept was going to be hard to get used to. Preda frowned as she thought about it.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you,” Will quickly apologized. As if he could read her thoughts, he then said, “I think it�
��s going to take a while for both of us to adjust.”
He smiled to take the sting out of his words and ran his hand through his hair nervously.
“It’s OK. It’s just me. Come in,” she said absentmindedly.
She moved out of the way and indicated the chair nearest the door. Will walked in, but he didn’t sit down until Preda had sat in her own chair across from him.
“So,” he said, “what do you think of your room?”
“Don’t you mean rooms?” she countered.
“I guess there is more than one.” He smiled and looked around.
“It’s too much,” she admitted. “I’m not used to having all this.” She indicated the furniture around her.
“Wait till we get to Vaka,” he said.
Preda shuddered to think about what that would be like, and she remembered the dream she had been having.
“Were you having a nightmare?” Will asked quietly.
“Are you in my head now?” Preda asked before she could stop herself.
“Not exactly,” he said. “I could feel you were in distress, but I knew it wasn’t real. I don’t know how to describe it.” He seemed frustrated.
“I was having a strange dream that ended badly,” Preda said. She saw how uncomfortable Will was and asked, “What is Vaka like?”
Will looked thoughtful before answering. “It’s like Earth but greener. Water covers it, and there’s no visible land. We’ve adapted by developing massive floating islands anchored in the shallow waters. Sprawling cities are on the metal islands. The smallest of these cities is bigger than New York City. The largest is where you will live. It’s practically the same size as Rhode Island. The water’s not the same as it is here, though. It contains a mercury-like salt that makes it green, but we’re adapted to it.”
Preda was terrified. She thought back to her vision of a green planet with swirling water currents. “Is mercury flammable?” she asked.
“Mercury does not burn, but when it’s exposed to fire, it releases a toxic vapor,” Will answered. “Why do you ask?”
Preda's Voice (Guardians of Vaka Book 1) Page 12