“Once his parents were killed by Zandra, he said he didn’t want nothin’ to do with the Chiron name anymore. Old timers around here still remember him in his younger days; he was a wee bit on the wild side and didn’t take to humans living in Thessaly. After she killed ‘em, he just up and changed his name and stopped goin’ into town. Most folks assumed he died the day his parents did, others thought he moved away. He told us all Zethus was dead. When you two showed up, it was the first time I’d heard his given name since the boys were kids.”
I gave Eadie a hug and thanked her profusely. The broach hadn’t been what we’d come for, but it gave us some measure of safety, and I was humbled by her gift. I was excited to have met Zethus, and it was good to learn I wasn’t the only one who wanted nothing to do with Zandra. Eadie had one of her sons give us a ride back to our rental car.
As for Crazy Horse’s Mountain, I wondered how we would find a person with a magical arrow, with nothing to go on. Once we found him, would he be willing to give it up? Zethus said it was a human. What would a human do with that kind of power?
Chapter 9
(Camille – Dublin, Ireland)
Drake and I waved at the co-pilot who had traded his Bermuda shorts for a navy blue wool coat and blue jeans.
“Good to see you two. We were starting to worry. Camille, your father wants you to call him as soon as we’re airborne. So, are we on our way back to Charleston?”
I looked at Drake. I could feel the hideous spider in my pocket, my hands instinctively playing with it. My home was in Oceanside, and I liked the idea of hiding in plain sight, blending in with the millions of people. I worried that Zandra would eventually zero in on us, even though I had the awful-looking spider to protect Drake and me from her.
Eadie told us the locket wouldn’t protect us from anyone she brought with her, but I was pretty sure we could hold our own with everyone else. I thought of Will and Gretchen. I hadn’t had much time to get to know them; I wanted more time with them. Going back to their house, there would be strength in numbers, and I doubted Zandra could do much against all of us, but I wasn’t willing to put all of my family in her path on a hunch.
I took a deep breath, reached down, grabbed Drake’s hand and told the co-pilot, “No. We’re going to Rapid City, South Dakota.” Drake gave me a reassuring squeeze back. It made me feel good knowing he would have been willing to go anywhere I chose, but I wanted to end this with Zandra. If we were going to have a chance together, we couldn’t keep looking over our shoulders.
Somewhere over the Atlantic the excitement began to ebb. I thought about everything Drake and I had been through. It was good he had magic in him because a regular guy would have tucked tail and run by now. He had dozed off; it was one of my few chances to really look at him. I had already memorized his face. When I shut my eyes, I could picture every line, the symmetry of his face, all of his facial expressions, I could even hear his laugh echo in my thoughts. When I’d first met him, his hair was impossibly short, but in the last several weeks, it had grown out and was a little bit curly. I hoped he’d keep it this length.
Why had I fought so hard against marrying him? Maybe because my mom never had anyone, I had never been in a hurry to fill a void that I didn’t know was there. When I graduated from high school, all my girlfriends grew one track minds. Either they wanted to go to college, get a career and settle down, or they wanted to find a man, settle down and start a family. I never understood the draw. I guess I secretly idolized my mom for being the only woman I knew who didn’t need a man in her life to be happy. A different thought occurred to me: maybe I had it wrong, and she did want a man but couldn’t have the one she wanted so chose to make a life by herself.
I was attracted to Drake. I loved him – but was it enough? Even if I were sure I wanted to get married, would he still want me? He was so set on all the Centaur rules, when I filled him in on certain aspects of my human life, he might change his mind about me. Those few weeks when I thought he was dead, it was like losing my mother all over again – I wasn’t sure I could take the pain if he couldn’t accept me.
I smelled my mother’s perfume, which startled me at first. On sheer instinct I looked at the vacant seats around us. Just to my right was her faint outline. I didn’t want to wake up Drake, but I’d been trying to see her for so long, I couldn’t help but blurt out, “Where have you been? How am I supposed to learn things from you when I can’t hear you!”
For the first time since being in the garden with Phineas at Zandra’s house, I heard her voice, “Camille, I’m so proud of you, and you’re as brave now as you were when you learned to ride a bike.”
It wasn’t my imagination: she was talking to me. The image of my mom’s spirit came into sharp focus for the first time, “I didn’t do anything differently. How come I can see and hear you now?”
“You’re finally ready to hear me. You’ve accepted who you are and all that goes with it. You are leading and making decisions for yourself. Our race is full of warriors who will fight to the death for whatever cause is thrown at them. It is the women Centaurs, the Centaurides, who lead. Up until now you let others decide your fate; you hadn’t embraced the Centaur way, so you could not claim all that was yours to take.”
“So, you’re here, for good. You’ll stay with me?”
“Soon, very soon, I must go to the pasture. You have a family who loves you and your own Centaur to protect you. I can leave you in good hands and go take my place with the others.”
I hated that I sounded like a child, but the words flowed out of me before I could stop them. “But, I don’t want you to go. I want you to stay.”
“I’ll stay as long as I can, but you are stronger than you know. You don’t need me as much as you think you do.”
A thought occurred to me, “Will said I need to ask you something about when you two met. What was so important for me to know?”
“You do not remember your dream? I thought you were able to hear me in your dream.”
I did remember the dream. It was on this plane during the flight to Ireland. The dream was so vivid I actually looked for her after I woke up. “The other night, in the dream, you said the Lost Herd found you anyway. You didn’t seem that worried about your mom finding us, but you said the Lost Herd was after me.”
“I wish your father would have talked to you. William is a member of the Lost Herd, the Tak bloodline. He tried to make me believe that our meeting was merely a coincidence, but it was an impossible coincidence. The Lost Herd is from the original pasture, but they were cast out by Zeus. They have different abilities than we do.”
“Different abilities, like what?”
“There were so many rumors, but the Tak Centaurs are supposed to be wild and unstable. When I met William I knew he was a Centaur, but I never dreamed he traced his bloodline to the Lost Herd. I knew Centaurs were looking for me, but it was easy enough to evade them whenever they got close. Kyle gave up much of himself to protect me. His protection allowed me to make a life for myself and eventually for both you and me. With the one exception of your father, no one ever found me, or those who did were unable to bring attention to my whereabouts.”
Her smile had returned, “But those who are tied closely to Rupert, the original sire cast out of the pasture, are able to mask their bloodline. Your father is Rupert’s direct descendent and can be a chameleon. He told me his last name was Strayer, and I recognized it from the pasture. He did not tell me and I did not realize what his real bloodline was.”
“So you did know he was married?”
“No. I believed him to be a lonely Centaur who had passed his age of selection. Once a Centaur is thirty, he is no longer eligible to marry a Centauride. Many become bitter – William was not. He was carefree and fun and completely charming. I had vowed never to marry, as I loved Kyle and knew I would never meet another like him. Your father was charming, and I was lonely. When he was preparing to return to South Carolina, he told me of his lineage and
his wife.”
“He told you he was in the Lost Herd?”
“He did. He had been ordered to seduce me, to father a child who would unite the herds. When he left, he told me of his orders but said he would go back to his father and tell him that I was not Angela Chiron, that someone had gotten it wrong.”
“But he knew he’d fathered a child?”
“No. He called me weeks later and even tried to see me in the subsequent months. I lied. I told him that the Chiron line was too strong to allow for a set of twins mixed with Tak blood. Zeus himself decreed the end of the Tak bloodline. I didn’t know what to do. I told him his attempt had been a wasted effort, and he had betrayed his wife for nothing. I’m sure I said a lot of other things, as well. He swore he would keep my identity a secret. To his credit, your father kept his word.”
“What about Kyle Richardson?”
“You know all about him. He hid me from everyone.”
“Why did he hate me so badly the night I met him?”
“He didn’t hate you. He was unaware that you existed. He was furious with William and me and he couldn’t comprehend how William could be your father. I tried very hard for you to hear me that night to tell you what had happened.”
“Why does everyone keep telling me that I have to unite the herds. Even Zandra wanted that.”
“My mother isn’t interested in uniting the herds; she merely wanted our blood tied to Winfield and Unice. There is much dissention among the Centaur herds and no clear line of leadership. Most believe Chiron to be the rightful ruler, but the Lost Herd, the Tak, were the true warriors of our race. You or Cameron would be the rightful Centaur leaders.”
“Wait, Cameron? Is that my twin brother?”
“I gave birth to you and your brother. I worried that Kyle’s magic couldn’t protect all three of us, so I placed Cameron with a human for safekeeping. He’s protected, but is also unaware of his lineage.”
“Does Zandra know where he is?”
“Not yet, but after she found you, she began looking for him.”
“Is he in South Dakota? I saw your old plane ticket in your closet. I saw the picture of the two of us.”
“He is protected by the same thing you seek. I’m merely a spirit now. I cannot see the future anymore. He was still in South Dakota when I died.”
“Wait, the man with the arrow? No wonder Zethus gave it up to a stranger. I thought he was crazy when he said he’d given it to some guy he didn’t know, but that makes sense. So, how do we find a man we don’t know, who we don’t have a description of, we don’t know where he lives, who happened to have the arrow twenty years ago, and oh, by the way, is the guardian to my twin brother?”
“I’m running out of time and the strength. Beware of Phineas. You are the rightful leader of the Centaurs: Daughter of Chiron and Daughter of Rupert of the Lost Herd.”
“Wait, Phineas? Like from Zandra’s house?”
“Yes. Phineas is part of the Lost Herd. You feel a kinship to him, but do not turn your back on him. Know that he is seeking you now. Zeus isn’t yet aware that there are Tak survivors, so for now, Phineas is your biggest concern.”
“But he helped me find Drake. He helped me escape.”
“For his plans to work, you needed to be free of Zandra. I overheard him on the telephone after you were free. He didn’t expect your father to arrange for your departure so quickly.”
I needed her to tell me we were doing the right thing. “Finding Hercules’ arrow seems like a long shot. Is this what we should be looking for?”
“Follow your instincts. If that’s where your instincts tell you to go, then you’re on the right path.”
“Can’t you just tell me what the right path is?”
“All the skills I possessed while alive and a Centauride did not follow me to the spirit world. I no longer see the future. I trust you. You need to trust in yourself, as well.”
A feeling of déjà vu crept up on me, and I remembered something else she said in her dream. “Mom, you told me if I loved Drake, I needed to let him go, the same way you stayed away from Kyle Richardson.”
“Yes.”
“I can’t do that. If he’ll have me, I’m going to marry him.”
She smiled at me, and it filled me with a warmth I hadn’t felt in months. “He’s already made it very clear to you that he wants you as his wife; why do you think he would change his mind?”
Wow, a conversation I never wanted to have with my mom when she was alive, I certainly didn’t want this one now. I didn’t have much of a choice. I needed to know. “Okay, from everything I’ve gathered, when Centaurs marry, they’re um. . . each other’s firsts.” She nodded at me affirming what I already believed. I took a deep breath, “Drake wouldn’t be my first.”
“I see. Have you told him?”
“No. So, am I right? He won’t marry me, will he?”
“I don’t know. That’s up to him. I wouldn’t keep it from him. It’s a part of your past. He’s in love with you now. Your past experiences are what make you who you are now.”
“So you’re saying it isn’t that big of a deal?”
“I’m saying you need to trust Drake enough to tell him the truth. Never be ashamed of who you are.”
Another question had been burning inside me. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this, Mom? All those months you knew you were sick. We were at the apartment together watching stupid re-runs on television. There’s so much I should have learned from you.”
She looked sad; her voice was a little lower when she said, “I didn’t want this for you. I didn’t want any of it. I always hoped you and Daniel would grow beyond friends and none of this would matter. Before I died, he promised me he’d always be there for you. I believed any hole you felt when I was gone would be filled in, in a different way. I also hoped that Aphrodite’s magic would still cloak you after I died.”
“But you gave me William’s name. You told me where he lived. You didn’t think I’d contact him?”
“It was a possibility. By the time I had decided to give you the one thing I had always denied you, I was too weak to look into the future, to see what would happen. I trusted that whatever happened, you would draw from your inner strength. You would make the life that you chose your own, whether that life be as a human or a Centauride.”
“So you wanted Daniel and me to hook up? Ewww, Mom, he’s like my brother.”
“Yet you keep secrets from Drake that I’m sure you willingly shared with Daniel. Do you question your decision to marry Drake?”
“No. Drake is different.” I tried to think of a way to put my feelings for Drake into words: the rush I get from him when I catch him watching me, or the tingles that rip through my body when he holds my hand. “He’s so serious all the time, you know? I’ve never met anyone more conservative in my life. He has a way of pushing these images in my head that are – I don’t know. . . lifelike. Like whatever he’s showing me is reality if we just make it that way. I know what you said, but I won’t leave him. I can’t.”
“Are you convincing me or yourself?”
I smiled at her. This was one of her favorite questions when she was alive, and I’d heard the same question at least once a week my whole life, and I couldn’t help but let the smile loose. “Both. I’m convincing us both, Mom.
I saw her image begin to fade. I wanted to reach out and hold onto her. I couldn’t. Despite what she said about growing weaker, I hoped this wasn’t the last time I’d see her. When the last of her had faded away, I looked at Drake still asleep in the recliner next to me. My instincts told me we were doing the right thing. I wasn’t convinced the arrow was the prize we needed, but we were definitely going in the right direction. I reclined my seat, closed my eyes, and snuggled in close to him.
Just as I was about to doze off, I remembered the co-pilot told me to call Will. As I reached for the phone, there was someone I needed to talk to more. I dialed Daniel.
He picked up on the second
ring, “Oceanside morgue. You bag ‘em, we’ll tag ‘em, now offering late night pickup service.”
I rolled my eyes, “Some things never change.”
“Cami?! Cami, is that you?”
“I think I’m partial to ‘Hot Lips,’ but yeah.” It had been months since I’d spoken with Daniel. In our last conversation before I was kidnapped – he’d called me “Hot Lips.”
“Where the hell have you been?”
“Oh, you know, touring the countryside, circumnavigating the world.”
“I thought you were dead.” His voice was. . . I don’t know, serious. I couldn’t remember ever having a serious conversation with Daniel.
“Hopefully you didn’t file a life insurance claim. I’m still breathing.”
“Don’t be a smart ass. Where’ve you been?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Do you know I flew to Charleston two times looking for you? By the way, your father’s a real piece of work. Why wouldn’t you see me when you were at your grandmother’s place?”
“You flew to Charleston? You were at Zandra’s? In Florida?”
“What did you expect me to do? You didn’t return my calls, emails, texts – I filed a missing person’s report. Your dad didn’t tell you?”
“I haven’t talked to him much the last couple months. What do you mean he’s a real piece of work? And when were you in Florida?”
“He wouldn’t tell me where you were. He acted like it was this ginormous secret. He’s a prick. Beau told me where your grandmother lived, but she wouldn’t let me see you, either.” I could hear the hurt in Daniel’s voice.
My mind remembered Zandra coming into my room and speaking when I was still numb from losing Drake and Bianca and so starved I couldn’t understand a word she said. I didn’t want for Daniel to know what I’d been through. “I was pretty sick for a few weeks. I must have been out of it the day you stopped by.”
His voice was guarded when he asked, “When are you coming home?”
“I’m not sure. Things are pretty complicated, but I’m okay.”
Centaur Legacy Page 7