by Kealohilani
“So he’s a jerk, and she’s a witch. Sounds like a perfect match to me!”
“Please stop calling him that! I’ve given up, okay? You don’t need to talk me into it. I’m not going to go after a taken man even if he was mine first!”
“You never go after any man, Lani, and you shouldn’t start now.”
“I—”
“You deserve to have a guy come after you, just like they always have. What you do need to do is to get out there so that someone new can find you, Sis.”
“I—”
“You should stop coming straight home the minute class is over. You should stay out there in the real world where the real men are. Even the library would be better than your room.”
“I know… I'm just afraid I'll never find my guy. I mean I've had three failed engagements already and how many ex-boyfriends? And Josiah was the best one I ever dated. It’s hard to replace the love of your life, you know. I’m not sure if I’ll ever find anyone as good as him again.”
“I’m sorry… But that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!”
“Thanks for that…”
Tyler grabbed her gently by the shoulders and spoke in a firm but loving voice.
“No, hear me out, ‘cuz I’m only gonna say this once. You are a beautiful, smart, funny girl who deserves better than Josiah! The right guy is out there. He’ll find you someday when you least expect it.”
“Thank you, Tyler.”
Lani reached behind her to pull a pillow off of her bed and smacked him playfully in the head with it. Tyler smiled widely.
It was a little out of character for Tyler to be so complimentary to her. He wasn’t rude or anything, but she didn’t know until now that he had such a high opinion of her— or that he could dispense such mature advice, for that matter. It felt really good, but a little too serious to be comfortable.
“You’re right! I just need to push forward with my life. I’m good at that, at least.”
“You do that! And let’s start with this.”
Tyler picked up the picture of Josiah and backed away from his sister slowly.
“What are you doing? Give it back, please.”
Lani tried to reach for the picture, but she missed as Tyler pulled it farther away from her and held it high in the air.
“See this? Little blue box time.”
“How do you know about that?” Lani’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.
“Puh-lease! I’m your little brother. It’s my job to know these things. Look here… we’re taking the picture to its new home… We’re getting closer now… Almost there…”
Lani hugged her pillow and bit her lip tensely as she watched Tyler approach the little suede box on her bottom shelf.
“And we’re opening the lid now… Here it goes… Bye-bye… And now it’s gone! Feel better yet, Sis?”
“I think I’ll plead the Fifth,” Lani laughed nervously. She appreciated what her brother was trying to do but…
“Well it’s a start. Now you keep that in there. It’s for your own good.” Tyler walked back over and sat on the edge of the bed next to Lani.
“Thanks.”
“Anytime, Sis, anytime! And my offer still stands to beat him up!”
“Tyler!”
“Well I can!”
Tyler and Lani laughed happily. Tyler’s phone began to play Wouldn’t it be Nice by The Beach Boys. He pulled it out of his pocket but did not answer— looking uncertainly from Lani to his phone and back again. Lani smiled.
“Go talk to Michelle.”
“You sure?”
“Yes! One of us should be happy in love,” Lani answered with a cheerful but insistent tone, as she whacked him with a pillow once more for good measure.
“Thanks!” Tyler said, giving Lani a great big hug as she laughed. “You’re the best sister in the world!”
“You’re just saying that because Jenna’s gone.”
“I’m closer to you though.”
“Hurry up and answer it before she goes to voicemail, Ty-Ty!”
“Okay, okay! – Hey babe! What’s up?”
Tyler left the room to continue his conversation with his girlfriend in private. Lani smiled, jumped out of bed, walked over to the box, and pulled out the picture of Josiah, closing the lid on the past once again. Sort of.
She hugged Josiah’s picture close as she flopped back down on her bed. Tyler had given her hope that maybe someday there would be another Josiah in her life… maybe.
That boy! Why did Josiah have to be so adorable? Could she really meet another like him?
Until that unfathomable day came, her writing would keep her busy. Work was always the way she distracted herself from heartache— and it was a good thing too. Her past boyfriends always had the most unbelievable timing!
Almost all of her break-ups had taken place without even the slightest bit of warning, during midterms or finals weeks at school— forcing her to finish projects and exams, when all she wanted to do was eat ice cream and watch movies inside her parents’ walk-in closet.
Sometimes she struggled to even see her test papers through a veil of tears. Through sheer will power, and what could only be described as a series of minor miracles, even in those stressful times, she still managed to get good grades.
But writing this novel meant more than just maintaining a GPA. Lani’s writing gave her soul a place where it belonged, where it was understood, and where it could thrive in the perfect escape from reality. In her little writing universe, she could control everything and her creative dreams could be realized.
She would often lose herself so completely in her novel that she would actually forget she was even on Earth— an unparalleled therapy for a gut-wrenching break-up.
Lani placed the picture back on the nightstand, grabbed her MacBook Pro and settled in with her back against the pillows on her twin bed to read over the chapter she had just finished.
Her family lived on Corte Verano Avenue in Oceanside, California in a typical Southern California home in the suburbs— a large three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath, light coral stucco house, with all the standard features, and of course the customary red-tile roof.
Lani had just turned twenty-one in the spring and it was now summer. This house had been where she had spent all the summers, falls, winters, and springs she could remember with her family. Some of her favorite memories were of eating homemade popsicles, being pushed off the little bridge by the small waterfall into the family pool by Tyler, reading with Jenna and Tyler in tents when they had campouts in the backyard, and making s’mores around the fire pit on lazy summer nights while listening to the crickets.
Her dad, Mr. Thomas, was a loving, fun, strict-but-fair, father and a respected and beloved professor of finance at UCSD. Her mom, Mrs. Thomas, had been an advertising executive who had already risen above all the other ad executives at her firm by the time she was nineteen. However, she believed in being a stay-at-home mother in order to give her children the best possible environment. And there was nothing she loved more than being a mother and a homemaker and all the love, growth, creativity, and challenges that came with that chosen profession.
Early on in their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas had been told by numerous doctors that they would never be able to have children— even though Mrs. Thomas had been barely twenty years of age when they married. They had been married for less than three months when they got blindsided by the news during a routine doctor visit.
And so, they had decided to adopt, because they knew that there were already many children in the world who needed good parents.
Lani had never cared about finding her biological parents— probably because she was so happy with her family that she figured it didn’t really matter. Not that she had never wondered about them. It had just never become a priority.
She had been adopted when she was a baby and her mom and dad were the only parents she had ever known. Lani was actually the second child, whom they had adopted, and
was only two years younger than her sister, Jenna. Four years after Lani’s adoption, Tyler had been a great surprise and a miracle to Lani’s parents as their first and only biological child.
But looking through the family photos that hung on the walls throughout the house, you would never have known that two of the children had not been born into the family. The three siblings had a natural blend of looks between them, but even more balanced was the wall space and mantle space that was dedicated to each child.
There were photos of Tyler’s soccer triumphs and surfing competitions next to photos of Lani’s fencing meets and graduation, which were next to photos of Jenna holding her viola before and sometimes after various important concerts. And, most recently, pictures of the entire family at Jenna’s wedding.
Lani looked up from her computer and gazed pensively across the room. Jenna’s empty bookshelf, the perfectly-made untouched bed, and the lack of any objects on top of her dresser were all stark reminders that she was gone. Has it really been over a year since Jenna married Jonathon and moved to New York? Lani asked herself, as she recalled the day that Jenna’s dream guy had come home to meet the family.
It seemed like it was only yesterday. Lani had known from the first moment she saw the tall, curly-dark-haired, half-Italian, half-Irish, young professor— who had just been hired to teach at Columbia University in the coming fall— that he was going to be a member of their family.
Two weeks later Jenna came home with Jonathon once again, displaying the rock on her left finger. Lani had giggled as her theory was confirmed and joined the other women in the family in screaming for joy.
Tyler rolled his eyes. Mr. Thomas narrowed his, folding his arms and glaring at Jonathon— until Jenna ran up to him and kissed the reluctant father-in-law-to-be on the cheek.
A pang of loss tugged at Lani’s heart as she continued to stare at the vacant side of the room. Since they were children, it had always been Jenna who knew everything about Lani and had kept all her secrets. Tyler had stepped up to fill part of the void, but the silence in the empty space was still deafening.
Dealing with the changes Jenna’s wedding brought to their sisterly bond would have been challenging enough if Jenna had remained in the same state. But, now that Jenna was in New York, even phone calls were hard because of the time difference, despite their absolute commitment to keep their relationship strong. Lani’s face changed from sad to determined as she once again set her laptop aside and picked up her cell phone.
“Hi, you’ve reached Jonathon and Jenna Mason,” Jenna’s voice sweetly declared. “We’re not available right now, but if you leave us your name, number, and a brief message, we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Have a wonderful day!”
Why doesn’t Jenna get a cell phone already? Lani mused. The beep of the answering machine informed Lani that it was time for her to say something.
“Oh, hi… Hey Jenna, it’s Lani… your sister.”
Lani cringed and smacked herself on the forehead. This was already sounding stupid. Of course Jenna knew who she was!
“Anyways,” Lani continued, trying to regain any semblance of composure, “I was just calling to say… I really miss you Jenna… Wait, I probably shouldn’t tell you that… um… Things are great here… Tyler’s great… How are you?”
Lani glanced at her bedroom clock and her eyes went wide with panic.
“Oh no! I’m so sorry! I didn’t realize how late it was in New York! Monkeys! It’s only nine o’clock here and— aaah! Who cares what time it is here?! Sorry! I hope I didn’t wake you guys up! Oh my goodness! I feel like such an idiot now! Sorry again, call me back when you g—”
“You have reached the maximum recording length for a message,” the cold mechanical answering machine voice interrupted. “Goodbye.”
“Great!” Lani blurted out to the open air.
She threw her head back onto her pillow and closed her eyes, wondering if she shouldn’t have called. Not only did she still miss her sister, but now on top of that she sounded like a complete loser on tape!
What she wouldn’t give for a magical power to go erase that stupid message before Jenna could hear it. Lani wondered what it was that made her brain shut off whenever she heard the diabolical beep of her arch-nemesis— the answering machine.
Mortified, she sat up, picked up her laptop, walked to her window seat, closed the curtains— barely noticing the clear dark sky and the nearly-moonless night— snuggled into the pillows, and returned to her writing.
Back in the Forest of Kar, Jharate sat deep in thought. His piercing brown eyes stared out into the thick impenetrable darkness— created by the canopy of the surrounding trees— which obscured the moon and the stars. Cold beads of sweat adorned his troubled brow. His breathing was as though he had just run for hours.
Jharate knew his gift was extremely rare and precious. However, at this moment it felt like a curse. He was experienced enough to discern between his visions of the past, the present, and the future. And so, he knew for certain that his only brother had literally died before his eyes— only moments ago.
His brother’s death continued to play over and over and over in his mind until it was almost more than he could bear. The screams of pain and Keanu’s final warning to stay away echoed in one continuous round.
Jharate felt as if his heart had frozen. Every beat a struggle to break through the ice while his stomach turned to stone. He desperately wanted the power to travel back in time in order to save his brother. Failing that, to avenge him, or die trying.
However, Jharate knew that was impossible— especially with the knowledge he had just received through that same hellish vision. Jharate had discovered that he, like his beloved brother, was a Half-Heart.
The weight of the responsibility that this entailed crashed down upon Jharate. Revenge would have to take second place now. He could not fail Alamea for the sake of personal redress.
He focused on his duty and tried to force the images of Keanu’s death out of his mind. How was he to complete this mission?
He had gained an invaluable advantage with the discovery that he was numbered among the chosen Half-Hearts. However, this astronomically-critical realization notwithstanding— how was he to even find a female Half-Heart? Let alone recognize her, fall into complete and true love with her, and marry her?
Loose Ends
Chapter Three
Running frantically through empty winding cobblestone streets, a slender young woman with long golden hair raced toward a charming and well-kept thatched-roofed lodge. A small, simply-carved wooden sign swinging in the breeze over the double doors read Hapri’s Creek Inn.
Many of the shops and peddlers’ carts that she rushed past in the pleasant flower-filled town square had been left in such a hurry that the merchants’ wares were still laid out expectantly. Every door and window was shut up tight. Only the creaking of the inn’s little sign gave any hint that the town had not been frozen in time.
The woman darted beneath the sign and burst through the doors of the tavern. The large room was dim, despite the late afternoon sunlight, which came through the panes of the distorted handblown glass windows and filtered in over the scores of empty chairs and tables— illuminating the minuscule particles of dust, which floated through the air and swirled chaotically as the woman entered.
As her eyes adjusted, she saw the shadowy figure of a large sturdy man seated in a chair at the end of one of the far tables. She hurried over to him, stumbling over one of the chairs that had fallen in the recent crowd’s haste to leave. The steam rising off the food on all of the tables added to the hushed haziness of the room. The man looked up at her slowly with deep concern etched into his chiseled face as he waited for her to speak.
“He is coming! He knows!”
“I feared as much when Rayel came here to warn us all to run home and hide. I had hoped that perhaps it was just one of his routine visits— but even before you arrived, I knew better. I still do not und
erstand how he could have found us out. The only people who knew of our plans were you, myself, and—”
“Where is Kezick?” Tesara gasped.
Zareth pounded his fist on the table. “We have been betrayed!”
“What can we do?” Tesara’s eyes darted wildly about the abandoned room while she waited for Zareth to answer her.
He stared off into the distance and remained silent. Suddenly, a crashing sound louder than a roaring cannon thundered through the town and shook the very ground beneath them. Zareth and Tesara braced themselves until the ground settled again. A man’s magnified voice followed this boom and reverberated with a sickening magically-enhanced echo.
“People of Kellinsi, crimes have been committed against your rightful lord and master.”
“How dare he call him the rightful master of this land?!”
Zareth spat angrily, and the voice continued.
“Because of the crimes of those few of your fellow citizens, it is my duty to inform you that the price will be paid by all.”
Tesara looked at Zareth, who nodded, and the two of them burst out into the town square and fell to their knees at the feet of a tall man, dressed entirely in black. Tesara was the first to beg.
“Please, Lord Drakne! We are to blame!”
“We acted alone! There are over ten thousand souls in our village! Do what you will to us, but do not harm our people!”
“That is not up to Drakne to decide,” stated a malicious voice.
Vranah emerged from behind his right-hand man as though he were Drakne’s shadow. Zareth and Tesara quickly bowed their heads even lower before him.
“Please, Your Excellency. They are innocent. Kill us and us alone!”
“Silence woman! This town has caused me no end of trouble and this day has been coming long before you two ever interfered. It began decades ago with the birth of your former queen. Your actions only proved what I already knew. Kellinsi must not stand!”