He shook his head. “I’m not sure.” He leaned down and kissed me softly. “We’ll figure something out.”
The little blue bird flew down and landed on my shoulder.
“Can you see where they are?” Jasper asked her.
She chirped and flew away.
“Let’s go, Hayden.” He took my hand and started to walk, leaving me no option but to follow him.
We walked without talking, both of us lost in our own thoughts. I glanced sideways at him and felt a lump form in my throat. He looked miserable. His frown hadn’t left his face for almost three days. I gave his hand a squeeze.
His frown deepened as we walked around a large boulder and came face to face with a lake.
The butterflies in my stomach took off with a vengeance. “Where is it?” I asked.
He pointed a little farther down the edge of the bank. “See the deer path that leads to the edge?”
I nodded.
“Just walk down it a little way and you should see it fork. The right fork leads you out.” He looked about to say something, but stopped.
“What?”
“It’s nothing. I just… I thought… I want…” His face turned red and he looked across the lake.
“Good lord, Jasper, spit it out.” I smiled at him.
“When Tara sent me to run that errand, I was actually picking something up that she had gotten for me.”
It was my turn to frown. “I don’t understand.”
“I was curious, about customs from where you’re from. About what mates do for each other there. She told me about wives and husbands.”
My eyes widened.
“I was going to wait until we were home again.” He reached down into his pocket. “But since I’m not sure when we’ll get to go there, if we’ll get to go back there, I want to give this to you now.” He took my hand and dropped a beautiful gold band into it.
“It’s…” My voice cracked and I swallowed. “It’s beautiful.”
He took it back and slipped onto my ring finger. “Is that the right one?”
I nodded.
He took my hand and ran his thumb over the ring. “I was hoping to make things a little more romantic to give it to you.”
I leaned my head on his shoulder. “It doesn’t matter.” I stood on my tip toes and kissed him softly. “I’m yours and you’re mine, and that’s all that matters.”
The blue bird landed on a branch above us and chirped.
Jasper’s eyes were wide. “They found the trail. They’re coming fast.”
I looked back the way we had come.
He looked at me, something close to panic in his eyes.
“An hour. They’ll be here in about an hour.” He grabbed my hand and started to run. “Let’s go!” He looked at the bird. “Go! Let me know if anything changes.”
We ran along the bank of the lake, got onto the deer trail and kept going until we got to a fork in the trail.
I bent over, trying to catch my breath.
Jasper’s eyes were focused on the trail leading to the right. I put a hand on his arm and he jumped.
He pulled me against him, his arms like vices around me. “Promise me you’ll be careful.” His voice caught in his throat. “I need you to come back to me.” He swallowed hard. “You have to come back to me.”
“I promise.” I took a deep breath. “Jasper, you have to promise too. If I walk down that path, you have to disappear. You find somewhere to hide until this blows over.”
“No ifs, Hayden. You’re going down that path.”
“Then promise. I am not going if I can’t be sure you’ll be safe.”
He chuckled. “I promise.”
I looked up at him, shocked. “Why are you laughing?”
“Just because.” He took a deep breath. “It’s better than the alternative.”
I felt my throat tighten with fear at what was coming. “I don’t think I can do it,” I whispered.
Jasper tilt my face up with his fingers and kissed me softly. “Yes, you can.”
I jumped at the chirp that sounded from a branch by my head.
“They’re coming.” He pulled me against him and kissed me deeply.
I wrapped my arms around his neck kissed him back, losing myself in the feel of him against me. I breathed in deeply, determined to stamp this moment in my memory. My heart was beating a mile a minute. I was overwhelmed by a barrage of feelings. Fear, excitement, anxiety, and sadness.
Jasper put his forehead against mine, his breathing fast and hard.
“You have to go now.”
“I’ll be waiting.” I kissed him again. “Oh, god, Jasper.” A sob shook me and I clung to him. “I… I love you.”
“I love you more.” He touched his lips to mine then quickly looked up. “Go, Hayden. Go now!” A growl made its way up his throat. “Don’t stop running until you know where you are!”
I turned and ran down the trail as fast as I could go. I glanced back once and saw Jasper looking after me before shifting and running off in a different direction.
I ran until I thought my lungs were going to burst. I was starting to think that I had taken the wrong path when the ground under my feet started to change. The hard packed deer trail widened and became a paved path. I stopped short.
“It’s the park!” I turned in circles and looked around to make sure I was right. My heart soared. I spotted the fountain shaped like a frog riding a salamander that made the park a few blocks from my house one in a million.
I started running again. My feet abandoned the path and carried me over the grass, taking the shortest route home. I took a quick look for traffic and bounded across the street, repeating the process twice more before coming to a stop in my driveway. I was grateful it was getting dark and that no one seemed inclined to be out walking at the moment.
My truck had been covered and parked closest to the house. Behind it were my dad’s SUV and my mom’s car.
I stood frozen, staring at the front door. Should I just walk in? Maybe you’d better ring the doorbell.
A beam of light hit me as someone opened the door and then closed it behind them again.
My dad dropped his keys and stared. “Hayden?”
Sobs shook my body and tears flooded out of my eyes. “Dad?”
“Oh, my god! Hayden!” He ran to me and hugged me close to him. “Are you alright? What’s going on? Why are you back?” He held me out at arm’s length to examine me. “Are you wearing a dress?”
I snorted back my tears and laughed out loud.
“Let’s go inside. Your mother is going to have a heart attack when she sees you.”
I took a deep breath and let him lead me into the house. I glanced back once to make sure no one was watching, then stepped through the door.
My mother’s reaction wasn’t quite a heart attack, but close. She turned at the sound of our footsteps coming into the kitchen.
“Hey, mom.” I smiled through my tears.
Her jaw dropped, her hands flew up to cover her mouth. She looked me up and down, then back up again.
“Is it you? Are you really here?” she whispered.
“It’s me, mom.”
“What happened? Are you hurt? Are you ok?”
“Mom, I’m fine.”
She slowly held her hand out and touched my cheek. “Oh, baby, you are here!” She pulled me into a hug.
My dad came up behind us and hugged us both.
We stayed that way for a few minutes, not talking, just happy to be together again.
My mom pulled away first and wiped the tears off of her face with the back of her hand. “Are you sure you’re ok?
“I’m fine, really. Exhausted, but fine.”
She kept staring at me.
“What?”
“Are you wearing a dress?”
I burst out laughing. “That’s the most amazing thing?” Once I started I couldn’t stop. “Oh, my god, out of everything, it’s the dress! It’s like Tara and her
ears!”
They both stared at me, confused.
“Tara is from there,” I explained once I got my laughter under control. “She’s a Wedelve, like my mom.” I glanced at my mother. “I mean, my other mom.”
She smiled at me. “It’s alright, hun.”
I looked at my dad. “You met her? Brayanne?”
He nodded. “Tom, I mean your dad, lived with her over here for a while before they decided to live over there.”
“Oh. But the illusion… You wouldn’t have seen what she really looked like then. Wedelves are pretty short. And they look like us, except that their skin can be any earthy color out there. Uncle Brinnan said that my mom’s was a tan color. Tara’s is green! She looks great. Oh! And Ben! He’s from there too. He’s fated to Tara. But he’s brown. And all of them have pointy ears.”
Both of them were looking at me with wide eyes.
I stopped. “You didn’t know how different it was, did you?”
My dad shook his head.
I smiled. “It’s amazing. Where I live, which is on the Wedelven lands, the trees are silver green and sliver pink. The pine trees have red flowers. And in our meadow, the grass by the stream is blue.” My smile faltered at the thought of our little house.
“ ‘Our’ meadow?” asked my mom.
I ran my thumb over my ring and my throat tightened. “Jasper and me. He is one of the queen’s top captains. Or was, I guess. He’s a Namael. They shift. From humans into big cats. Jasper’s a tiger. Anyway, he was supposed to find me and bring me back to Queen Melana in Pinsaber, but then we found out we were fated, like mom and dad, and so we stayed in Sageden, where Tara and Ben live, for a while. But after Luke kidnapped me, he’s one of the Maj, and Jasper’s brother, we built our own house in the most perfect meadow…”
I stopped again. “I’d better start at the beginning.”
“Are you hungry?” asked my mom.
“Starving.”
“Why don’t you go have a shower and I’ll make some sandwiches.”
I hugged them both before heading up the stairs. My room was exactly how I had left it. I pulled some shorts and a tank top out of my dresser and stopped when I caught a sight of myself in the mirror.
“No wonder she kept asking if I was ok!”
Mel’s black cloak was grey with dust. The dress was streaked with dirt and my face was so dirty I could have passed as a Wedelve. I brought my hand up to brush some hair out of my face and paused. Jasper’s ring flashed as it caught the light. I stared at it in the mirror and fought back a sob.
“You better be disappeared,” I whispered.
I walked to the bathroom and stepped into the shower. The hot water hit me and I sighed. Once I was clean and a bit more composed, I stepped out, got dressed and made my way downstairs.
My dad had pulled out a couple of beer and handed one to me.
I smiled. “Thanks.” I took a long swallow. “Next time I come back, I’ll make sure to bring you some sloan. You’ll like it. Kind of like an amber ale.”
My mom’s face fell. “You have to go back?”
“I… I guess I don’t have to.” I looked at her. “No. I do. I have to.”
“Why?”
“It’s hard to explain. I feel…I’m not all me here. Part of me is gone. I understand what Jasper was talking about, only I don’t think it’s as bad for me as it was for him. He said when he crossed the tiger part of him was gone. I just feel like part of me is fuzzy… He would have come otherwise.” I stopped, not sure how to explain it. “The magic is missing.”
My dad nodded. “That’s exactly what Brayanne said.”
I reached over and took a sandwich. I took a bite and started to tell my story from the beginning.
“Dodge can talk?” exclaimed my mom.
I laughed. “Well, not really. Jasper can hear his thoughts. But we can have a conversation if I keep it to questions that require a yes or no answer.” I explained about Dodge’s stone quest. “When that happens I’ll be able to hear him too.”
I moved on to the part where Jasper and I found we were fated, the dreams about the future, and accidently setting trees on fire.
My mom’s eyes were saucers in her head. I laughed. “Actually, I was lucky. I almost set Jasper on fire the first time.”
I took another drink of my beer.
They laughed at the part where Tiny decided she should claim me as her own.
I started to tell them about Sageden and stopped where we were fighting on the ridge. Dad caught my hesitation.
“What’s wrong?”
“I just… I’m not sure how much of this you really want to hear.” I got up to get us another beer.
“Hayden! What happened to your leg?” asked my mom.
I looked down in surprise. “Oh! Well, I guess that’s part of the story I’m not sure you want to know about.” My calf showed evidence of the fox attack at the ridge. White scars showed each puncture mark and some of the tearing that had occurred. I sat back down.
“Somehow, the Maj learned that I was in Sageden, and sent a pack to retrieve me. Only I had a dream, and we had time to form a small army of our own…” I decided they should hear it all.
My voice dropped to a whisper when I told them of Jasper almost dying at the hands of Ream and I smiled to myself as I recalled being able to save him.
“We were by the pond when Luke kidnapped me. I didn’t know that he was Jasper’s adopted brother at the time. And for some reason, Luke was able to break his bond to the Majs, killed the other abductor, Ryland, and then brought me back to Sageden.”
I told them about Mel and the twins, Dawn and Zane being fated, building our little house in the meadow.
I went into detail about some of the healing I had been doing, and some of the things I had learned to do there, some of the magic I was getting good at doing.
“There’s a plant I need to get that I know I can make into a mush for a few different ailments. It’s called Tish Weed. I was hoping to find some during Wellfore.”
I then finished off my story with an explanation of Wellfore, how I had been selling my halters, and finding the rare herbs I needed.
I laughed. “That’s why I was in a dress. We were all modeling some of Tara’s dresses to help her sell them. But then Jasper noticed I was being followed, and with Dodge’s help we found out the queen had put an order out for me to be found and brought to Pinsaber.
He made me come back so I’d be safe. They’re going to be hunting him. And it’s all because of me.” I felt a tear slip down my cheek.
My mom took my hands in hers. “He seems to care about you very much.”
I nodded. “I feel like my heart’s been ripped out of my chest. I just want to go back and make sure he’s safe. But I promised I’d stay here until he sent for me.”
There was a knock on the door. I jumped up and reached back for my swords but grabbed air.
My mom and dad stared at me.
I took a deep breath and willed myself to relax. “Sorry.”
“It’s just the poker crew. It’s our turn to host it tonight,” my dad explained.
“If you guys don’t mind, I’m going to go up to my room.” I gave them both a hug. I hesitated a bit before heading up the stairs. “Umm… Would you mind if no one knew I was here for a bit?”
Both of them nodded and gave me another hug. “Get some rest, honey.” My mom brushed my hair out of my face. “You look exhausted.”
I made my way back to my room and lay in my bed, and fell into a dreamless sleep.
I spent the next two weeks catching up with my mom and dad, and pacing in my room when I had free time.
I would wave to the neighbors and make small talk to a few people I knew that I ran into at the grocery store. My parents had told everybody that my birth mom had contacted me and I had gone to visit her because she was ill.
*****
The three of us were sitting in the back yard watching the steaks cook on the bar-b-q
when a little blue bird landed on the bird feeder.
My heart jumped in my chest.
“It’s you!” I stood and strode over to the feeder. The bird chirped and bobbed her head. “Is he ok? Did he make it to the other crossing?”
My parents were staring at me. “How do you know it’s from there?” asked my mom.
“Oh. I… well, I just know. She’s kind of mine, see? Jasper said he sent the birds to tell you I was there. How did you know?”
“There were five of them. They sat on the porch in a row. That was the signal.”
I turned back to the bird. “Did he send anything?”
My little friend bobbed again and lift her wing. I put out my hand and she hopped onto it. I went back to my seat and set her on the table in front of me.
My hands were shaking too hard to undo the knot that held the note to her leg.
“Here, honey, let me do it.” The bird hopped over to my mom.
“Thanks, mom.” I took the note from her and read it out loud.
My love,
I wanted to let you know I made it to the hill crossing so you wouldn’t worry. Brice has sent word from Sageden via our friends the blue birds. There has been four groups of guards that have shown up to the house to see if we have been back. After some convincing, they have all seemed to be satisfied he is not lying.
Being away from you has been a hundred times harder than I had even imagined.
I cleared my throat to get the lump out of it.
I spend my days thinking of our times together, wondering what you are doing now, and hoping that we are together again soon.
I send my regards to your parents. I hope you are enjoying your stay there and are not worrying to much about things here.
We will be together again, Shlova, this I promise you. Until then, know that I love you more than words can express.
Jasper
I lay my head in my arms and sobbed.
My mother rubbed my back. “Shush, honey. It will be ok.”
I took a few deep breaths and wiped my face on my arm. “I know, mom. And it’s not that I don’t love being here with you and dad. It’s just…I miss him so much!”
She pulled me into a hug. “I know, Hayden. Remember when your dad left for two weeks for a business trip when you were about twelve?”
Crossover 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book One' Page 22