Mackenzie Legacy, The

by Anderson, Derrolyn

  Cali nodded, eyes widening. “Yes.”

  “Well, it gets worse when you get older,” she said sourly.

  “But I don’t understand– How did you get it… Th-the sight?”

  “Granny said it was in the blood.” She laughed a little, remembering. “Old country witchcraft, she called it.” Her hand grasped for a little pendant she wore, a tiny hand with an eyeball embedded in the palm. She twisted it on the chain.

  “Witchcraft?” Cali echoed.

  “She used to tell me that our ancestors were burned at the stake in Scotland… That’s why her people came here and headed for the hills,” She chuckled, “Superstitious hillbillies, that’s what they all were. I don’t buy all that stuff. I think it’s more like… ESP or something.”

  “She said Scotland?” Cali gasped.

  Roxy shook her head wearily. “Yeah, and she also said the sight was cursed… and I’m actually starting to believe her. She said that gambling was the devil’s work… Don’t your people know? Didn’t they tell you about any of this?”

  “My parents are dead,” Caledonia said.

  “What about your other family?”

  “There aren’t any.”

  Roxy frowned, “Listen sweetie… Take my advice, and get the hell out of this town. It’s rotten to the core. I’d have been outta here a long time ago if it wasn’t for Ray.” She looked over at The Great Raynaldo, still flirting with a table of women. “Don’t end up with a gambler. Go find yourself a nice guy…. Make some pretty babies. The only thing that’s real in this life is love.”

  She looked so sad that Cali felt like crying.

  Roxy could see her sympathy, and sighed. “I suppose it’s time for me to move on… But I feel like I’m just too old to start over ya-know? You can always use people to get what you want, but you can’t make someone love you… Well, maybe just for a little while, but it’s too much work to keep it up. And it’s not worth it… Not really.”

  Caledonia could see the bitter truth behind her words.

  Roxy looked at the bar in front of Caledonia. “Are you gonna drink that? My head is killing me.”

  Cali slid her over the third drink. “Why are you doing this? Why aren’t you gambling?”

  “They know me and Ray in every joint from here to Reno. We’re blackballed most everywhere. Listen sweetie– They’re always watching, and they’ll figure out that you’re working together. They don’t have to know how you do it– or even have any proof. Hell, they kick out legitimate card counters.” She started to slur, “They can ban you from the tables for no reason other than you win alot! Get out of this town before it ruins you. Ray over there… He won’t leave… Loves the high life too mush.”

  She looked back at Caledonia’s stricken face and softened. “Cheer up hun… There’s still plenty of time for you.” Her hand went to the pendant again, fingering it like a talisman.

  “What’s that?” Cali asked.

  “Sah good luck charm. Got it from a Gypsy in Reno… I went to get a reading, hoping she could tell me how to break the curse… She said it would protect me from the evil eye.” She looked over at her boyfriend flirting at yet another table of ladies, “Wish it could have protected me from falling for a louse like him.” She patted Cali’s hand, “I’m sure things’ll work out better for you.”

  “Thank you,” Cali said solemnly, looking over at Ray, and then back down at the charm dangling from Roxy’s neck. She couldn’t help wondering if Calvin would ever start to behave that way again. She’d seen him in action before.

  Roxy rose unsteadily, “I gotta go break that up… It was real nice meeting you angel face.”

  “But–”

  “Now you scoot, before he sees you and falls in love all over again.”

  ~

  When she stepped back out into the casino lobby Calvin was right there, looking for her. “There you are! C’mon, let’s go eat!”

  He was bubbling over with energy, taking her arm to lead her to the nearby elevators. He pressed the call button and turned to sweep her into his arms with an enormous smile. “I really think we can pull this off! I found the perfect spot you can see all the tables from…” He paused, finally noticing her serious demeanor. “Hey… You alright?”

  She relaxed into his warm colors, nodding yes into his chest. The smell of him comforted her, bringing her back to reality. “Something really weird just happened.”

  “Weird good or weird bad?” he asked.

  Just then an elderly couple arrived on the scene, and she stretched up to whisper into his ear, “I’ll tell you at dinner.”

  The elevator arrived, and when the door opened Calvin stood back, gesturing for the older couple to go ahead of them. The two men reached for the same button, and the woman smiled kindly at Caledonia.

  “La Volière?”

  “Yes,” Caledonia nodded shyly.

  The old woman beamed at the pretty pair. “Are you two on your honeymoon?”

  ~

  Chapter Nine

  COMPED

  ~

  The restaurant was even higher up than their room, and when the elevator door opened the view of the sun setting over the dessert was amazing. Directed to wait in a dimly lit lounge, they made their way to a quiet corner to sit side by side on a plush couch.

  “So what happened?” Calvin asked.

  Caledonia took a deep breath and described what she’d witnessed, and what Roxy had told her about it. The more she told him the more questions she had, and she sighed with frustration.

  “Maybe there’s more than one way you can get it.” Calvin suggested.

  “Maybe,” she mused, her thoughts racing. “It could be that the Athena compound is not so rare… It might exist in nature… Maybe there are a lot more people like me…”

  He squeezed her hand. “There’s no-one like you.”

  “She said her grandmother had it too… She called it witchcraft.”

  He smiled. “I’ve always said you could do magic.”

  “I wonder where she grew up. I need to go back and find out more. I need to go back and talk with her again.”

  “Can I go with you?” he asked.

  She nodded gratefully. Maybe if Calvin was with her Roxy wouldn’t feel so threatened. “Please. I’d like that.”

  The maître‘d approached them, “Jarod Allen? Your table is ready.”

  This time Calvin didn’t hesitate, taking Cali’s hand and rising to follow the man into the dining room. They were seated at a window, and now that the sky had darkened, the city of Las Vegas was pulsing with life, an oasis of light in the black desert that surrounded it. They held hands across the table and looked down at the spectacle.

  “Sometimes this doesn’t even seem like it’s really happening,” Caledonia said reverently.

  “I know what you mean,” Calvin agreed, and when she looked back up at him he was watching her with a goofy smile, glowing with such brilliant pink and purple love that it took her breath away. Surely he would never change, she thought… she hoped.

  “I’m starving,” Calvin said. He picked up his menu, and his brows knit together in a frown. “Uh oh… It’s in French,” he whispered. “I don’t know what any of this stuff is!”

  She took a look, perusing the list intently. “I can order for us if you want.”

  He looked at her with amazement. “You really do speak French… Don’t you?”

  She raised an eyebrow at him. “No… Only enough to order.”

  “Are you kidding? God only knows what I’ll end up with.”

  She smiled with amusement. “You can trust me. I read the Larousse Gastronomique.”

  “The what?”

  She turned her attention back to the menu. “It’s an encyclopedia of French cuisine.”

  He snorted. “Seriously? Is there anything in the world you haven’t read?”

  “Of course there is.” She looked back up to see him beaming at her and realized she was being teased.

 
“Does everything you know come from a book?” he asked.

  She thought for a moment, blushing. “Not anymore.”

  He grinned even wider, making her duck behind her menu. She peeked over the top, “It would serve you right if I ordered you a nice big helping of Cervelle de Veau.”

  “What’s that?” he asked.

  “Sautéed calves brains.”

  “You wouldn’t do that to me… Would you?”

  The waiter returned, and Calvin nodded towards Cali, “She’ll order for both of us.”

  Caledonia smiled up at the man. “We’ll start out with the canapés le saumon fumé. And for the plat de principal… Chateaubriand pour deux… And we’ll finish with the Tarte Tatin.”

  She handed the menus back to the waiter with a sweet smile, along with a little shot of eagerness that sent him scurrying off in a hurry. She suddenly realized that it was becoming second nature for her to manipulate strangers, and Roxy’s warning rang in her ears. Her face took on a grave look, worrying Calvin.

  “Well?” Calvin asked, a nervous edge in his voice.

  She smiled with amusement. “It’s nothing you can’t handle.”

  It only took a few minutes for the waiter to return with their first course, little triangles of toast with smoked salmon and sour cream, topped with thin shavings of black truffles.

  Calvin looked at his plate suspiciously. “What’s that black stuff on top?”

  “It’s one of those dirt clods I found at your Grandparents,” she said with a wry smile. “I figure I should actually try truffles in a restaurant now that I have the chance.”

  He shrugged, picking one off and taking a bite. “Not bad... Tastes like mushrooms.”

  She was disappointed, “I thought they’d make them taste better somehow… different. Papa used to put them in the soup all the time.”

  After they finished the appetizers Calvin leaned in to inspect her face. “I’m still hungry. Seriously… Exactly what did you order?”

  “Seriously?” she asked, her eyes sparkling with amusement. “Meat and potatoes with apple pie,” she said.

  The main course was served on a wooden plank with great fanfare, and Calvin smiled gratefully at Caledonia, pleasantly surprised to see that it really was meat and potatoes. After dinner, she took him to meet Roxy, but by the time they got down to the little stage, the hypnotist show had been replaced by a sultry lounge singer.

  Calvin looked at the show schedule that was posted by the door. “We can try again after the tournament tomorrow,” he suggested.

  When they got back to the room he started running water in the giant bathtub, inspecting the content of a basket of soaps and shampoos. He poured some bubble-bath under the running tap, sending a cloud of fragrant steam into the room.

  Caledonia wandered over to the window to take another look at the glorious lights of the Las Vegas strip, and Roxy’s warning about the pretty trap echoed in her mind again. She turned back around to see Calvin had already stripped off his clothes and climbed into the tub. He crooked a finger at her, “Last one in is a rotten egg!”

  She smiled, coming over to perch on the side of the tub. She trailed her hand back and forth across the bubbles. “Why do people say rotten egg? Is it because they float?”

  He grabbed her wrist, “Get your cute little butt in here and we’ll find out.”

  ~

  That night they lay entwined in the suite’s huge bed, wrapped in the plush white robes they’d discovered hanging in the closet. Calvin absentmindedly toyed with Caledonia’s hair, fingers coiling in the damp curls. “This is the life,” he sighed with satisfaction. “You should have a nice place like this all the time.”

  “Calvin?”

  “What?” he asked sleepily.

  “I don’t want to stay here after my birthday. I have to go home… I need to see it again.”

  “I know, but I’ve been thinking… What if the professor comes looking for you there?” Calvin asked. “I’m not sure we should risk it right away.”

  Caledonia knew he had a point, but she felt compelled, pulled by powerful forces as surely as a salmon swimming upstream to its home waters. She couldn’t really explain it, but it was strengthening, and she had no desire to resist the immense tug. She had even less desire to stay and gamble any longer than they needed to. Las Vegas held no charms for her.

  “Once I’m eighteen I’m finished running,” she said firmly. “If Professor Reed ever tries to kidnap me again I’ll kill him.”

  Calvin raised his eyebrows at her tone; she was as serious as she’d ever been. He couldn’t help wondering what it would be like when she no longer needed him to run with, when she chose to stand her ground and fight. He hoped she’d still want him around, because there was nowhere he’d rather be than fighting alongside her.

  Caledonia realized that this room was a far cry from her parent’s little cabin in the woods. In fact, they were about as different as two places could possibly be. For the first time, she began to seriously worry about her future with Calvin. She wondered how long Calvin would want to stay with her, trying to imagine him in her little house in the woods. She feared that the quiet life she yearned for would be far too dull for him.

  She fell silent for a minute, thinking. “Calvin?”

  “Yeah?”

  “When I go back home… I might want to stay there for a little while…Until I decide about what I should do and everything.”

  “Okay,” he said.

  “But it isn’t anything like this back home… It’s not nice– I mean, I think it’s nice, but in a different way. I don’t think you’ll like it very much…” She paused to collect her thoughts, “I want you to know that you don’t have to go with me… I mean, if you’d rather stay in the city I’ll understand.”

  He tensed up. He’d given lots of girls this kind of talk before, and he knew what it meant. It sounded to him like she was slowly backing out, easing away from him. “Don’t you want me there?” His voice cracked a tiny bit, betraying his fear.

  “No!” she protested, looking over to see him projecting a sickening apprehensive green. She didn’t understand. “I mean… Yes! I mean, I only want you to know that it’s not going to be like this at all.”

  He rolled onto his side, looking into her eyes intensely. “Stop it. I’d rather sleep on the ground in our stupid little tent with you than anywhere else in the world without you.”

  “I know you think that now, but if you change your mind–”

  He spoke urgently, wanting to make himself perfectly clear, “I’ll go anywhere you want– Do whatever you want me to do… I just wanna be with you, okay? I won’t ever change my mind.”

  “How do you know that?” she whispered, in awe of his blazing colors.

  “Easy.” He leaned in to kiss her softly on the forehead. “I love you… And I’m gonna love you forever.”

  ~

  Chapter Ten

  LEAVING LAS VEGAS

  ~

  Calvin took his seat in the tournament while Caledonia found the best possible position among the spectators. She broadcasted a back-off blue to anyone who took a spot on the rail near her, intent on getting through this final ordeal without incident. She was determined to win the tournament and put the casino life far behind her.

  Hand after hand was dealt, and the stacks of chips in front of Calvin piled higher and higher. Caledonia grew fatigued as the games dragged on, and by the time they reached the final round, her head was spinning. Calvin won, flashing a jubilant smile at her before rising to shake hands with his fellow players.

  She waited on the rail, her shoulders drooping with exhaustion. She watched as a man from the casino pulled Calvin aside with a friendly smile and a manipulative grey-blue aura. Calvin grew increasingly excited as the man spoke to him, shaking his hand enthusiastically before rushing over to her with his eyes on fire.

  “You’re not gonna believe this!” he was thrilled. “He wants to move us to the presidential suite to
night!”

  She looked at him wearily. “We already have a room.”

  His face was glowing with excitement, “He’s going to comp us a voucher for a private helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon! This is gonna be so awesome– We can go on your birthday!”

  She was suddenly filled with dread, feeling the walls of another cage rising up all around her. “What does he want in return?”

  He pressed his lips together, looking at her hopefully, “There’s another tournament in a few days– And this time they’ll pay our entry fee… We won’t even have to risk anything! It’ll be easy money!”

  “This was supposed to be the last time.”

  “It’s just two more days,” he cocked his head with his usually irresistible charm.

  Her voice rose, exasperated, “You said we could leave!”

  “But Cali…” he said pleadingly. He looked back towards the man nervously. “I told him I’d give him an answer…”

  She was tired and irritable, “First you go and blow all of the money on a truck, and now you’re letting them suck you into this… this…” she looked around the room with a shudder, “This place!”

  He looked wounded. “I thought you liked the truck… I got it for you.”

  The hotel’s representative approached them, a predatory smile on his face, “You’re absolutely going to love the suite… Shall I go ahead and book it for you?”

  Calvin looked up nervously, “Uh… Uhm… We haven’t decided yet.”

  “Why don’t we discuss it while we collect your prize money?” the man gestured for them to follow him to the barred window of the cashier.

  Calvin took Caledonia’s arm to bring her along but she yanked it back bitterly. “C’mon Cali,” he said, his voice lowering, “Please?”

  She glared at him, standing her ground. She had a terrible feeling that if she gave in now it would be too late to turn back, and they would be lost, every bit as doomed as Roxy and her magician boyfriend.

  “No,” she said, folding her arms across her chest.

  “Wait right here, alright?” he pleaded under his breath. “I’ll be right back.”