“He is! He wants me to be with Abe because he thinks, for some reason, that I need someone to take care of me. I’m a grown woman. I can take care of myself. And most of all, I can make my own damn decisions.”
Becky held out her hands, palms open, trying to pacify her. She decided a change of subject would be the best way to calm Ariana down.
“Okay, I get it. Now, do you want to hear the latest news? The whole island is on lockdown, still. The Force is out there, looking for Max. I, personally, don’t think they will be out there much longer, though, with Abe leading them.”
“Why do you say that? Is he a bad leader?”
“No, no. It’s just he’s got other things on his mind, of late. Plus, everyone thinks Max left the island before we even knew he was gone.”
“What other things does Abe have on his mind, besides finding a man who beat the hell out of his pregnant wife? That should be his number one priority.”
“Well, he did check on you about five times before he went out. Michael even left the room so he could sit by your bed and be alone with you for a minute. I don’t think Abe and Michael’s talk was that bad, Ariana. Michael knows he won’t be here much longer, and you can’t blame him for wanting you to be happy. And it’s damn sure clear that Abe would do anything for you. Wash my car, honey. Okay. Rub my back, honey. Okay.” The girls started laughing. “Cut them both a little slack, I would say. They just want you to be happy.”
Ariana took a deep breath. “Yeah, I know. I’ll try. It’s just that everything is happening at once. I can’t catch my breath, and there’s another emergency. I just want a day, just one day when nothing happens.”
“Good luck with that,” Becky laughed. I don’t suppose you know what happened while you were asleep, do you?”
“What happened?”
“Abe kicked Julia off the island. He thinks she had something to do with Max’s escape and we all know she was the one who brought Michael here. I guess Abe has just had enough. Long overdue, if you ask me. She left about an hour ago. They escorted her to the plane before they went on their search. Elton is flying her to California as we speak.”
Ariana’s eyes grew wide. “Oh my God. You’re kidding me!”
Becky shook her head and helped herself to a slice of Ariana’s pizza. Ariana was quiet for a while.
“How will Michael get back to where he’s supposed to be, now that she’s gone?”
“Oh, shit! I bet Abe didn’t think of that one when his boot was in her ass.”
Both girls sat in silence, contemplating their options.
“I bet you could do it,” Becky broke the silence. “You can do anything with your mind, so you just gotta figure out what to do, and do it.”
It sounded so simple, in theory. “Thanks, that makes me feel so much better,” Ariana said sarcastically.
There was a knock on the door.
“It’s Abe, I can hear his thoughts. He wants to make sure that I’m okay and apologize for his dream.”
“What dream?” Becky asked, picking up food wrappers.
“The one he was having when you sent me to wake him. I’ll tell you about it later; he’s pretty anxious.” She walked out of the bathroom, gave Michael a sour look, then looked to the bedchamber’s door. “Come in.”
Abe burst through the door and his eyes met Ariana’s. “Could I have a few words with you, Milady?”
Ariana walked past him and out the door he’d just come through, leaving him staring after her.
“You can quit with the ‘My Lady’ stuff. I know why you’re here and I can’t possibly expect you to be able to control your dreams when you can’t even control your waking thoughts, so I’m not mad at you. And I’m doing fine, thanks for asking.”
“I didn’t.” Abe looked confused.
“You did, in your head. I understand you and my husband have been busy planning my future. I’m sorry to disappoint you both, and I know I promised Becky I would give you a break, but I’m not going to just sit back and let someone else run my life.”
Abe’s mouth was hanging open. When he managed to make it work again, he spoke in a low voice. “Look, Ariana, I don’t want to fight with you. Can we just take a walk and talk for a while? Please. I promise I’ll be on my best behavior. I’d just like to get to know you. I have no intention of telling you what to do, not now, not ever.”
He held out his hand to her but she ignored it and walked to the elevator in her pajamas and flip-flops.
“Alright, I guess I can handle that. I’ll try and let you speak the questions before I answer them.”
“I don’t mind that you can read my thoughts, I’ve got nothing to hide from you.” He smiled briefly. “I guess Becky told you we’ve been out, looking for Max. None of the witches are getting any vibe from him, so he’s either gone, or he burned up in the sun today. I think he’s gone to the mainland, somewhere, and I hope for his sake he stays there. You heard about Julia?”
“Yeah, I did. And I wondered if you thought for one minute about Michael and how we can put his soul at peace, now that she’s gone.”
“I wasn’t thinking about Michael when I told her to leave, I’m sorry. I wish I had, but I won’t lie to you. I guess we’ll have to find another way to get him where he needs to go. Besides, he’s not such a bad guy. He’s kinda growing on me.”
“I could try to send him to Heaven, I suppose, but I don’t even know where to start. These powers are all new to me. And I can’t even begin to think how I would feel if I had to be the one sending him away.”
“Ariana, I know there isn’t any chance for me and you as long as he’s here, and not just because you wouldn’t let it happen, but because he asked me to be considerate enough not to make him watch us together. It took a lot of balls for him to let you go; the least I can do is respect his wishes. If I were in his shoes, I wouldn’t be able to give you up, much less watch you be with someone else. I guess I’m a little selfish, or maybe he’s just a better man than I am.”
Ariana realized they were headed toward Lidia’s room and wondered what the Shaman had said after he checked Lidia over. Abe knocked on her new door and heard a soft “Come in.” He opened it and let Ariana walk in before he followed her.
Lidia’s face lit up as she looked at Ariana. She jumped off the couch and grabbed her in a big hug.
“Thank you so much. I can’t thank you enough for saving me and my baby. I’m Lidia.” She stuck her hand out.
Ariana thought Lidia looked very familiar, for some reason. She took Lidia’s hand and smiled back. “I’m Ariana. I’m so happy I could help and it’s so nice to see you so well after that horrific bathroom scene. You had some major injuries. What did the Shaman say?”
“That you are a miracle worker and he wants you to start working for him as soon as you can. Here’s his card. Please call him; it would be a shame to waste such a wonderful gift. He can’t do anything as powerful. You might even consider starting your own clinic, in time, and having him work for you.”
“There’s an idea. That ole’ man needs to be replaced. You could call it ‘Ariana’s Healing Touch’,” Abe said smiling as he put both hands up in the air to illustrate the sign he was talking about. “You could do house calls, and heal fevers, and…”
“Okay, Abe. I think she got the gist. You’re going to overwhelm her,” Lidia said. “Why don’t you go find something to do for a few minutes while I get to know Ariana better, okay?” Lidia shifted her eyes toward the door and back to him trying to give him a hint. She needed him out of the way so she could find out how Ariana really felt about him.
Ariana frowned, suddenly uncomfortable. “Um, Lidia, there’s really no need. I know why you want him to go, and I can tell you I like Abe just fine. It’s just everything is a little complicated right now and I need some time to sort it all out. Thank you for caring enough about him to talk to me. It’s just not going to happen right now.”
Lidia stared at her with her mouth open.
&
nbsp; “I can read minds. Did he forget to mention? I didn’t mean to read yours, but I haven’t figured out how to turn it off yet. It’s all too new to me. I am getting better, though.”
“Well, I guess I should have expected you could read minds as well, with all the healing power you possess. What other tricks do you have in your bag?”
Ariana thought for a second and Lidia’s glass of iced tea floated off the coffee table and into Lidia’s hand. She stared in amazement.
“She can do a pretty neat trick with fire and water, but we’ll have to go outside if you want to see it,” Abe snickered. “Her spatial awareness still needs a little fine tuning.”
Ariana shot him a dark look through narrowed eyes.
“I would like to see it, yes, if you’re up for it, Ariana. I’ve been cooped up in this room for too long. Jonah just left a little while ago. He wouldn’t let me do anything for myself. Kept telling me to sit down and take it easy like I am fragile or something. Will you show me your tricks?” Lidia asked.
“Of course, I’d love to.” Ariana looked at Abe. “Do we need to drive to the park, or do you think my spatial awareness is good enough for the flower gardens out back?”
Abe laughed out loud. “I think the bushes could use a little pruning and watering. Don’t go crazy, though. Jack takes pride in his job; he’s the gardener. Come on, let’s go.”
CHAPTER 30
Abe led them out of the room and down to the back of the palace.
Once he and Lidia were a safe distance away, Ariana closed her eyes and concentrated on fire. She brought all of her emotions to the surface, the way she had done the night before, and then let it all go with one word from her lips.
“Fire!”
Like before, it exploded out of her hand. She focused her mind on making it smaller and the fire shrunk obediently. She moved her hand away, and the fire followed, moving horizontally. She strengthened the force of its flame, and for once she felt well in control. She made the flame get longer and longer until she torched a rose bush.
She rapidly told the fire to go away, took a big breath and flung her hands at the burning bush shouting “Water!” Again, water came out of thin air and drowned the blazing bush.
After telling the water to stop, she turned and faced Lidia and Abe. Lidia was clapping and Abe was on his knees, moving his hands up and down in the air as if he were paying homage to a goddess.
Ariana smiled. “I can dream walk, too. Just ask Abe.”
“Yes, she can. She doesn’t knock, either.” He paused. “That’s it!” Abe jumped to his feet and shouted, scaring Lidia half to death.
“What’s it, Abe?” Lidia asked with her hand over her heart.
“Ariana, is there a range on your dream walking?”
“I don’t think so. I went into Janie’s dream and Rainey said that was about fifteen hundred miles from here, I think. Why?”
“Can you go into Max’s dream without him knowing and figure out where he is?” Abe asked.
Lidia put her hand on his arm. “No, Abe, just let it go. He isn’t here and that’s all that matters. I’m fine, thanks to this wonderful woman.” She placed her hands gently on the very obvious bulge of her abdomen, thankful she didn’t have to wear baggy clothes to hide her delicate condition any longer. “I’m just thankful I didn’t tell him I was pregnant a week ago, before Ariana showed up, or I might not have had a chance to meet her at all.” Abe still looked uncertain, but Lidia effectively stopped the conversation. “All this walking has tired me out. If you’ll excuse me, I think I will retire for the night. Goodnight, Abe.” She walked to Ariana and embraced her. “You are truly God-sent. Thank you again for everything you’ve done for me and my baby.”
Lidia pulled away and turned around once more to wave good bye before she retreated into the palace, leaving Ariana and Abe to stand in the gardens alone.
He began walking west through the garden and Ariana fell into step beside him. The maze of the flower garden ended at a line of trees. Ariana noticed there was a cleared path with large stepping stones leading farther into the woods. She hesitated. Abe held out his hand.
“There are no lions or tigers or bears and if there were, I would make them into rugs and purses for you.”
Ariana took his hand as he led her into the forest. “So you’ve seen the movie, too?”
“I wasn’t born yesterday. Ha-ha, I guess you know that by now. We do have televisions and blu-ray and DVD players here, just no normal TV broadcasts. We have a movie theatre, too. You can rent movies from the library. I think we might even have a VCR or two that are still functioning. Who needs TV anyway? There’s never anything good on cable. ‘The Wizard of Oz’ is a classic and happens to be one of my favorites. You should come to my room sometime, to watch a movie. I have a huge collection…” Ariana shot him a look. “I promise I’ll be good. Bring Michael; I won’t mind.”
Ariana raised an eyebrow at him and smiled. “I… we might just do that.”
Abe led her around a bend and the path opened to a breathtaking scene. There was a waterfall pouring into a fresh water pond in the middle of a beautiful clearing. Ariana stared in awe as Abe tugged on her hand. She wondered if it was just her or if Abe felt the tingling she was feeling, too.
He towed her down a narrow path to the waterfall and, as they got nearer, Ariana realized there was an opening behind the waterfall, a cave of some sort.
“Are we going in there?”
Abe smiled. “Are you scared? I won’t let anything get you. Don’t you trust me? I am the strongest being on earth, you know? I could catch a cheetah and tie him in a knot.” Ariana smiled and that’s what Abe was waiting for. He took something out of his back pocket and a beam shot out, lighting their surroundings. “I thought you would feel safer if you could see where you were walking.”
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think that you planned all of this. You carry a flashlight everywhere you go?”
Abe thought fast. “I was out, looking for Max in the dark.”
“Oh, so vampires don’t have night vision, then?”
He was stumped, and she must have been able to tell he was floundering, so he gave up and told the truth. “I did plan it, kind of. I hoped you would go for a walk with me and this was one place I wanted you to see. It’s so beautiful. I just didn’t know if we would make it here tonight or not, so I came prepared.”
“Thank you, Abe. You don’t have to prove anything to me. All I need is to trust you. Can’t you see that? Just tell me the truth and everything will work out on its own. I can’t promise it’ll be exactly as planned. Then again, it might be better, you never know.”
Abe wanted so bad to kiss her right then, but he refrained.
“Good idea,” Ariana said, smiling.
“Which one, exactly?” He shined the flashlight on her face. Abe knew what she was going to say, but he just wanted to hear it come out of those pretty lips.
“The one about you holding back. I don’t think it would be wise of you to kiss me right now.”
Abe moved closer to her so the glow of the flashlight caught his face, too. His lips were only a couple of inches from hers. “What would happen, Ariana? Would you hate me, or are you afraid that you would fall in love with me? I can’t read your mind, but I bet when you were in my dream and you saw us… I bet you wanted it to be you, didn’t you? I bet that, just like me, you can’t get me out of your head. Other than Michael, I don’t see what is holding you back. Can you not feel the electricity between our hands?” Abe lifted their joined hands and Ariana knew he felt it, too. “I won’t cross that line until you allow me to. I respect you more than that.” Abe made his lips come within a millimetre of hers. “I love you, Ariana, and that you can trust.”
Ariana’s heart actually skipped a few beats, and it only found a steady rhythm again when Abe handed her the flashlight, let go of her hand and started moving on without her.
Abe disappeared into the cave. “You coming?” His vo
ice sounded loud and sure. “There is something special I’d like to share with you, but you will have to come in here to see it, I can’t bring it out.”
She shined the light in the cave and found he was standing only about five feet in, with his hand outstretched towards her. When she took his hand again, the energy was stronger than before and she wished she hadn’t been such a coward when he wanted to kiss her. He was right, she did think about him all the time and she had wished it was her in his dream instead of the made-up, dream Ariana. What scared her most was that, if she fell in love again, something bad would happen to Abe, too. She couldn’t allow herself to be happy like that again, and then see her world come tumbling down, crushed to pieces. Her heart wouldn’t survive it, not again, not even with all her new witch powers. Ariana was positive she was falling in love with Abe, but she kept it locked up inside, where bad things couldn’t touch it. Still, the next time Abe thought of kissing her, she wouldn’t stop him.
“Watch your…”
Ariana lost her footing on the slippery rocks and started to slide down an embankment that was full of sharp pointy rocks shards, ending up in a pool of black water with God knew what in it.
“Step.”
Abe had his arm around her waist and pulled her to him. Ariana laid her head where his heart should have been thumping, but there was no sound. She hadn’t had the chance to be scared when she’d slipped, and right now, being up against his body was where she wanted to be.
Instead of pulling away, Ariana wrapped her arms around Abe’s back and just held him.
“How come you’re warm? Your heart isn’t beating, but you are… warm to the touch.”
Her near-miss had had a different effect entirely on Abe. It scared the shit out of him that she’d almost gotten hurt. He would have never forgiven himself if he’d failed to catch her in time. He was so scared, he was shaking. He just couldn’t work out if he was scared because she’d almost got hurt or because she was this close to him, in his arms for real, the way he’d always dreamed she would be.
Eternal Island (Book 1 in the Eternal Series) Page 17