“You know me too well.” Alora scrambled to change the subject. “So, what are you wearing to the dance?”
*****
“Listen to me, Jireo. She must be my soulmate,” insisted Kaevin. “Why else would it spark when we touched?”
Jireo’s gaze rose to the sky as he crossed his arms. “Did anyone on the council say that’s what it meant?”
“No, but perhaps they simply weren’t paying attention. They were all excited about her being Wendelle’s daughter.”
“Yeah, about that. Who’s her father?”
“Well, no one said it out loud in the council meeting, but everyone thinks her father must be—”
“Vindrake? That’s what I thought, too. Who else could it be? Will that make her partially evil? Can you inherit that?”
“It’s not possible. She’s totally innocent.”
“And you know this because she spoke, what? Five words to you?”
“Seven words, actually. But I can sense these things with my gift, you know. And I could tell by looking in her eyes.”
“I thought you said her eyes were a weird color.”
“Not weird—just unusual.” Kaevin tried to squelch the urge to punch his friend. He imagined Alora in his mind and added softly, “Beautiful.”
“I think you like her because she’s the first girl you’ve ever seen without clothes on. And I won’t pretend I’m not a little bit jealous.” Jireo grinned. “Please, please... can’t you simply do a description so Darielle would add a little more to that sketch she drew?”
Kaevin started to give an angry retort, but when Jireo dropped to his knees and clasped his hands in prayerful pleading, he laughed instead.
“I don’t even think about that,” he lied, bending over to pick up a rock, hoping to hide the rush of blood to his face. He threw the rock as far as he could. “I’m angry they won’t let me go on the expedition to find her. I believe I should be the one.”
“You know why they won’t let you go. For one thing, you’re the next clan leader, so they have to keep you safe. And, if she transports you again, they need to question you. Anyway, we both get to go question the shires close by, even though we don’t have the minimum eighteen years. Arista threw a fit over that when I announced it at supper last night.”
“Ha! Your little sister could never stand being left out of a quest. Perhaps it’s because we teased her all her life with impossible stories of the great adventures we encountered every time we left the house together.”
“What? After she tormented me at every possible opportunity? You don’t believe she deserved a bit of teasing?” Jireo adopted an expression of deep injury, before bursting into laughter. Kaevin knew, for all his harsh words and bantering, Jireo was deeply attached to his sister.
“She shouldn’t be jealous of this particular journey, for we will find nothing in the nearby shires. I already know she’s located somewhere with a lot of snow on the ground. Alora can’t possibly be in any of the close shires. Wendelle probably hid her somewhere as far as possible from Vindrake.”
“Well, Master Soulmate.” Jireo bowed in mock humility. “We’d best get these snares set and hurry back, or we’ll miss the chance of going on even the close scouting trips. And
I, for one, plan to make up a grand story to tell Arista if we don’t experience one in real life.”
*****
Alora made a new habit of wearing a swimsuit when she took a shower—just in case. But Kaevin didn’t appear during her brief showers on Monday or Tuesday night. She kind of missed him, although she was relieved her father hadn’t reappeared. She planned to wait as long as possible before deciding whether to meet with her father. After all, she was only a sophomore in high school. She wasn’t even close to being a grownup. She had plenty of time to make these adult-type decisions.
All this stuff hadn’t helped her confidence at all. She was already taller than all the other girls and most of the boys in her class. Her uncle wouldn’t let her date a boy who was more than a year older, so dating one of the tall senior boys was out of the question. Discovering her mother and father had a strange, violent background and she had some freaky power she didn’t understand only added more insecurity. Kaevin was the first boy who’d ever made her feel special, and he’d done it with hardly any words. It was in his eyes.
She’d developed a pounding headache that hadn’t responded to repeated large doses of ibuprofen. It seemed to be draining her appetite and energy as well. She reasoned that a long relaxing shower might make her feel better. If there was the added benefit she might get to see Kaevin’s beautiful green eyes again, that was okay with her.
She stood under the hot water, letting it pound on her tight shoulders. Then she moved to let the water flow over her head, trying to relax her body. She tried to empty her mind, but she couldn’t do it. Her head was flooded with memories of Kaevin standing over her in the snow and reaching out for her hand. She could picture him in exacting detail. The waves in his hair. The deep green of his eyes. Abruptly, she realized she was actually seeing his image, not imagining it. She kept her eyes shut, knowing he would disappear if she opened them.
She knew the moment he recognized her. His gaze was intense and she thought she read her name on his lips. But something was wrong—she could tell. His eyes looked glazed-over. His face was pale. His eyelids closed.
“Kaevin!” she called. His eyes fluttered open again, and he blinked as if trying to focus. “What’s wrong?” Again his eyes flashed open, but immediately drifted closed. In a panic, she opened her eyes, but he was gone. Her heart was racing and her headache was back with a vengeance. He was sick and he needed her.
She tried to reason with herself. Why do I think I can help him if he’s sick? I don’t have any medical knowledge. But she couldn’t overcome the conviction she needed to bring him back to her.