Centaur Legacy (22 page)

“Roger told you, didn’t he? He said
never to look for your family, am I right? Do you know why he told
you that? Because your mother was hiding you. She died a few months
ago, and they found your sister. I need that arrow so I can get her
back.” I hated to need something so badly, “Please.”

The brief glimpse of panic I’d seen in
his eyes was covered up by the slow country bumpkin impersonation
he was so adept at making, “Afraid I don’t know what you’re talking
about.”

Cami’s fate was in my hands. I didn’t
know what Will or Zandra would do if they got their hands on
Cameron or the arrow. “You have a twin sister. She’s in real
trouble. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t life and
death.”

Cameron stopped trying to push me away
from the door. “Where’s she now?”

“A man named Phineas kidnapped her.
That arrow you have is very powerful. I need it, or I’ll never get
her back.”

“How do I know you’re on the level?”
Cameron didn’t deny he had it.

I shook my head, “You don’t.” Cameron
was a Centaur. He was built like Cami, but there was no doubt he
was deceptively strong. “You are a warrior. You should be able to
sense another warrior. Do you feel anything strange near
me?”

Reluctantly he answered, “I
do.”

“Using that same sense, do you feel as
though you are in danger from me?”

“No.”

“It’s because I am to be your sister’s
husband. I am no threat to you because you are a part of her.” I
begged, “Help me.”

Cameron stared at me for what felt like
minutes. He must have decided that I wasn’t lying. Cameron opened
the door to let me walk past.

He had lost the hick accent that he was
obviously used to using, when he asked, “So this family I was being
hidden from, what do they want from me?”

“I don’t think Angela meant for you to
stay hidden forever. I think she wanted you to stay hidden long
enough for you to grow and to make your own choices about your
future.” Did I really have time to get into the details? I
chastised myself for not bringing Lacey with me; at least I would
have had a warning if the others were getting close. I looked at my
watch. I’d been gone from the hotel for forty-five minutes. There’d
be a knock on the door any time, and my time would be
up.

“Listen to me. This will be hard to
accept, but it’s the truth. You are a Centaur warrior, a very
special warrior. Trust whomever you believe is trustworthy, but be
wary of anyone you believe is deceitful. Your sister and I went all
the way to Ireland to try to find a way to keep your grandmother
from finding us. Unfortunately, I think she’s on her way here now,
and it turns out she wasn’t the one we should have been worried
about.”

He didn’t flinch at this revelation. He
definitely knew more than he was letting on. Would his guardian
have told him? I couldn’t tell if it was genuine interest or if he
was playing along when he asked, “My grandmother? Why would you be
hiding from a grandmother?”

“Zandra is the most powerful Centauride
in the world. She is the chairman of the Centaur Council and wanted
to force Camille to marry a different Centaur.”

“Sounds a little like Romeo and Juliet
action, then huh?” As stressed out as I was feeling, he made me
smile. Cameron was like a chameleon, switching quickly between a
backwoods and an educated accent in the blink of an eye. He had
probably been hiding most of his life, better aware of his
surroundings and the company he kept than most.

“No, not at all like that, but a
tragedy all the same. Cami and I escaped from Zandra’s house a week
ago. We found your Great-Uncle Zethus in Ireland, and he told us to
look for you here.”

“You two were looking for
me?”

“You and the arrow.”

His eyes narrowed. I’d said something
wrong. Cameron was suddenly on the defense and was viewing me as a
threat. His tone was icy when he answered, “I think I’ll stay put
and see who knocks on the door next. You can take a seat and wait
with me.” He motioned toward the sofa.

I heard car doors outside. I was too
late. They were here. I’d never find her now. My heart was breaking
as the reality took hold – I could lose her, really lose her. I saw
Cameron walk over toward the fireplace mantle when we heard the
knocking on the door. His expression gave him away. He didn’t want
to leave me alone in this room. He struggled with what to do. His
eyes kept looking at a bookshelf in the corner.

A second knock, louder than the first
sounded on the door, and Cameron found his hick accent again.
“Looks like we’ve got some more guests. Best go welcome them to my
humble abode.”

As soon as he had cleared
the threshold of the door, I was off the couch and searching the
shelves. One very large, hardcover book stood out on the top shelf.
The title was
Crazy Horse – a Photographic
Chronology
. The book was an oversized
picture book, one someone might keep on a coffee table. It set on
the top shelf, by itself – centered with not a speck of dust around
it.

I took a deep breath and one quick
glimpse over my shoulder. I reached up to the top shelf, removed
the book, and flipped it open. Pages had been sliced out of the
book to allow room for a very ancient, ornate-looking arrow. I
could feel the arrow’s power without touching it. The arrow’s tip
had been encased in a plastic covering. The plastic covering
sheltered the blood of the hydra that still clung to it. This had
been Hercules’ arrow.

I could hear Cameron’s voice speaking
to whoever was at the door. “I don’t take kindly to people showin’
up unannounced, but you aren’t the first ones tonight. Come on into
the living room, so we can sort this out.”

I had what I’d come for. The arrow’s
charms would do Cameron no good now that they knew who he was and
where he lived. I wheeled around looking for an escape route and
found a door that went through a laundry room and out a back door.
I ran as fast as I could run; I didn’t look over my shoulder, and I
didn’t stop running. I had the arrow. No one could keep Cami away
from me, and no one would try to hide her from me now that I had
it.

(Camille – four days after
being kidnapped, FL)

Haziness enveloped me. Flashes of light
nearly blinded me while glimpses of conversation lay scattered. I
tried to make sense of them. Drake’s voice, “I can’t sacrifice my
bloodline. . . she’ll be better off with you. . .” the image of
Phineas shaking Drake’s hand.

I screamed, “Nooooo!” Silence was the
only thing that escaped me.

More flashes of light, a tunnel of
haze, then Phineas’s voice, “I accept your choice to marry my son.
You will lead us out of the Dark Ages. . .” More silent screams
from me.

I clung to the happiest memory I had.
It was Drake’s betrothal pledge. I tried to replay it in my mind,
but the words were all garbled.

More flashes of light. A man I’d never
seen before was giving me his betrothal pledge with Phineas
watching. It didn’t feel right.

None of it made sense. Where was I?
What was the last thing I could remember? Drake. Drake in the
hotel. Daniel called on the phone and warned us we were in danger.
Phineas at the door. . . the blood. . . Drake was on the floor . .
. then darkness.

Bright lights flashed in my
mind. More images that didn’t belong there. Something was wrong . .
. seriously wrong. It felt like someone was
in
my head, a stranger, manipulating
memories, planting images.

It was a woman. I zeroed in on her
thoughts and sifted through the jumbled mess in my head. The
memories she was trying to put into me were wrong, all wrong.
Memories at the surface of my consciousness were in high
definition, then static-filled images intermixed. The static-filled
images weren’t mine.

I began pushing against her. A new
memory, not fuzzy like the others, shone through my
mind.

I concentrated, willing all the
strength left in my body to force her out of my head . . . to weed
through the images that didn’t belong there. My muscles ached and I
felt numb, but I continued to push. I uprooted anything that wasn’t
clear, yanking out memories that didn’t belong.

Minutes passed. Exhaustion drained me
of what little strength remained, but I couldn’t let my guard down.
Whatever was happening had been an assault. Someone had been in my
head, not like when my first Centauride friend, Bianca, had read my
thoughts. Someone was in my head, inserting memories that didn’t
fit – memories that weren’t true.

When I was sure I had gotten all of the
memory remnants out of me, I went on the offense. I zeroed in on
the Centauride who had been in my head. Physically she was only a
few feet away, but her mind was locked away, her thoughts hidden
behind a steel door. I wanted to rest, give into the exhaustion,
let my body float effortlessly back to my dreams of
Drake.

Just as I was about to fold
back in on myself, I heard my mother’s voice echo in my mind,
“
Your life is full of choices. Choose
wisely.
”

In that moment, if I were to escape
back into my dreams, I would lose everything. A new strength began
growing in me, anticipating what I must do. I stood at the steel
door that was protecting the Centauride’s thoughts. I reached for
the handle. It wouldn’t budge. I pounded feebly against it. I saw
myself standing tall in front of the door. I summoned every ounce
of strength I had, put my hand on the handle, and
turned.

Someone was on the other side holding
the handle in place with every ounce of her strength. I could hear
her grunts behind the door, desperately trying to keep me out. I
didn’t relent. I let go of the notion that I could fail and kept
turning. Sweat peppered my brow, veins stuck out on my hands,
muscles throbbed in my arm, and finally . . . the door gave way. I
was in the Centauride’s head, behind her protective door and able
to rummage around her thoughts.

Her mind replayed a conversation with
Phineas speaking to William on the phone. William had called
Phineas, threatening to publicly renounce the Lost Herd if I wasn’t
returned.

The Lost Herd had been hiding from the
rest of the Centaurs for millennia. Phineas had a plan to try to
convince me I was betrothed to his son.

He had set up a meeting with my father
where Will thought I would be handed over. It was a ruse: I
wouldn’t be there, and they planned to slaughter my family. My
mother’s final gift to me was a family so I wouldn’t be alone;
Phineas wouldn’t take her gift away from me.

I rummaged through all of the
Centauride’s memories, forcing her to hide in her own mind. She was
defeated.

I felt my Chiron blood pumping through
my veins. It was stronger than the Tak blood. I finally understood
why people treated me differently. When Zandra said we had been
touched by Zeus, it was all I could do not to roll my eyes at her.
But with my rage toward Phineas, I could feel Zeus’s rage, as well.
If I were in different circumstances, the power would have been
frightening.

The Centauride whose mind I had
rummaged through had hidden herself away. I willed myself to fight
off the drug in my veins that kept me immobile. I forced the drug
out through my pores and felt my consciousness slowly
returning.

I awoke to darkness. My hands and feet
were bound. I had a blindfold on my face. I was a little
disoriented, and the strength I had used against the Centauride had
drained me.

A Centaur stood guard over me in this
room – I could feel him. Whoever he was, this Centaur hadn’t been
at the hotel, and he was not masking any of his thoughts from me. I
couldn’t detect the Lost Herd’s blood in him. I couldn’t
distinguish anything beyond the two bloodlines in my own veins, but
his didn’t feel like either. I wondered to myself how a dominant
bloodline was established? Considering how long Centaurs had roamed
earth, we should all have fractions of all bloodlines running
through us, but in myself I only detected two. I couldn’t explain
how, but I knew this Centaur’s bloodline was neither. When I got
myself out of here, I needed to ask Drake.

I cleared my throat, “Hello, who’s
there?” I almost didn’t recognize my own voice. My throat was dry
and my voice barely more than a whisper.

“It is Brutus, my lady. Can I get you
some water?” His thoughts were pure. He was not okay with this
kidnapping. He heard what had been done to Drake and was furious
with Phineas. I didn’t answer at first, trying to pinpoint how he
belonged to the Lost Herd, then I realized his wife was a member. I
saw an image of the team that took me, and the young Centaur who
Phineas had called Sebastian was Brutus’s son.

My scratchy answer, “Yes,
water.”

He put his hand behind my back and
gently lifted me to a seated position. He left the blindfold I was
wearing in place as he brought a glass of water to my mouth. I’d
never had someone else give me a drink, and I expected to dribble
all over myself, but Brutus was far too attentive. He brought the
glass up only enough for me to drink. When I’d had enough, he was
quick to notice and to put the glass back down.