Centaur Redemption (Touched Series) (29 page)

Angelo’s voice brought me back to the present.  “A human could not have possibly followed us here.  Who is your guardian?”

Roger cut in before I could answer, “You weren’t listening when I told you about snakes hiding under rocks, were you, Cam?”

Roger had been the closest thing I had to family for most of my life.  I was excited to see him, but the bitterness of his abrupt departure gnawed at me.  How had he found me here?  Did he know I was a Centaur?  He had to have known, but he never said a word.  I wasn’t sure what I could even tell him.  Grandma and Angelo both told me humans weren’t supposed to know about us.

Wanting desperately to give him a hug, I took a step in his direction.  I stopped short when I noticed he was glaring at Angelo.  His question hung in the air, so I answered, “I guess not.  How was the fishing trip?”

Roger inserted himself in between Angelo and me.  “Fish weren’t biting this week, decided to try Peru.  Turns out the fish here are a little harder to get off the hook; they got teeth, so I went for a stroll.”

Perspiration shone on Angelo’s brow, “You went for a stroll?  You expect us to believe you just happened to be in the neighborhood?”

“Yeah, didn’t Cameron tell you?  I’m his guardian.”

I laughed, “Yeah, I’m an adult now, Roger.  It’s great to see you and everything, but I don’t get why you’re here.”  My neck felt raw where Uncle Angelo had just choked me.  I was grateful my voice seemed to be working.

Roger shook his head at me.  “You did exactly what I told you not to.  You turned over rocks looking for snakes.  Congrats, Cam, you found one.”

I shook my head, “This is my uncle Angelo.  He was my mother’s twin brother.”

“I know exactly who Angelo is.  C’mon, we’re getting out of here.”  He kept me toward his back and continued facing Angelo.  That eerie feeling I’d had when it was just Angelo and me was gone.  What kind of a schmuck was I that Roger showing up out of the blue gave me a safe feeling.  What was I, four?

Angelo took a step in Roger’s direction, “I don’t believe my nephew has use for your services any longer, Roger.  Why don’t you go back to your fishing.”

Roger sounded bitter, “Not a chance.  Angela told me all about you.  You stay away from him.”

My breath hitched, and I felt like I’d just been sucker punched.  “Angela?  You told me you didn’t know my mom.  You lied to me?”

“Not here, Cameron.  We need to get top side.  Now, go.”  Roger shoved me toward the path we had walked down.

Angelo’s answer was condescending, “You’re not listening to him.  He doesn’t have any desire to go with you.  We’re meeting a friend.” 

I was still pissed about Roger leaving me without so much as a call on my birthday or Christmas, but I didn’t want Angelo to hurt him, either.  I hadn’t seen Angelo’s temper for myself, but Grandma told me he could be dangerous when provoked.  Centaurs were seriously strong and fast.  I wouldn’t put it past Roger to pick a fight, and he wouldn’t know what he was getting himself into with Angelo.

Roger held his ground, even with me tugging at his shirt from behind.  His expression looked like Angelo had just told him a joke.  “A friend?  You don’t mean Eris do you?  Maybe you think Ate is down here, too?”

Angelo’s eyes widened with surprise, “How do
you
know my friends?”

“Your friends are up at the Mountain talking to Dad right now.  I think they’re going to be grounded and won’t be able to come out and play after all.  Now, get away from my charge.”

Angelo asked incredulously, “Talking to Dad?”

“Zeus, you moron.  Jig’s up.  Now feel free to get yourself lost in this cavern or find another rock to crawl under.  I’m taking Cameron back to South Africa.  There’s going to be a little ceremony he needs to attend.”

“Ha!  A little ceremony, is there?  Don’t pass out the invitations too quickly.”

Roger’s smile grew wide, “It’s already been announced.  The Chairman is stepping down and you might just as well stay here.”

This couldn’t be.  How could Roger know about the ceremony?  Somehow he had information.  I asked, “Is Grandma okay?”

Roger nodded, “Yeah, c’mon, I’ll explain everything once we get out of here.”

Angelo laughed an evil hiss of a laugh, “Grandma?  Isn’t that cozy?  So it wasn’t just a hick act:  you really believe you have endeared yourself to her?  Roger, maybe you can enlighten my nephew on what a sweet old lady my mother really is?”

Roger kept his back toward me, prodding me toward the entrance.  Angelo walked toward us with an evil look in his eye.  “Come, let me share a little secret with you.  She is a manipulative dictator.  She isn’t satisfied unless everyone around her is miserable.  You were nothing more than a pawn in her game.”

None of this was making any sense.  Grandma told me to be careful of Angelo and to stay away from Camille.  Camille told me not to trust any of them.  Roger shows up out of the blue and says Grandma is retiring.  How does Roger know any of this?  I wasn’t going anywhere with anyone, “No!  Tell me what the hell is going on.”

Roger repeated, “Toward the top, Cam.  Let’s go.”

Angelo kept walking toward us as Roger kept pushing me toward the mouth of the tunnel.  Angelo’s eyes narrowed as his voice thundered, “You think she cared about you?  She doesn’t have the capacity to care about anyone but herself.  You think your dear mother was any better?  She disappeared without a trace.  Everyone presumed Angela was dead, and who do you think everyone blamed?”

I stammered, realizing that we were in real danger.  Angelo's narrow eyes fixated on us as his face contorted in rage.  We needed to get out of here.  I worried what he might do to Roger.  I stopped backing toward the cave's entrance and reminded Angelo, “Roger didn’t have anything to do with my mother taking off.  Leave him alone.”

“Me!  Angela destroyed my future.  My only vindication was finding out that she had snuck off and birthed you bastards.  Fatherless Chirons, who could have guessed?  Yet she did one better and located the Lost Herd in the process.  Well, bully for her.  I don’t care what the Chairman says, no Council in their right mind will allow either of you as Chairman.”

Roger stopped moving backwards.  He stood erect and in a forceful voice announced, “It’s already decided.  Now back off.”

“Who do you think you’re speaking to?”  Angelo lunged at Roger.  He was so fast that Roger was on the ground with Angelo’s knee in his chest before I’d even seen Angelo flinch. 

Roger looked straight at me and said, “Don’t make a sound.”

Angelo’s fists were burying themselves into Roger’s face.  I vaulted toward them, yanked hard on Angelo and threw him into the wall.  Angelo jumped to his feet, but a confused look was the only expression I saw.  His face turned right, then left, then right again.  Angelo yelled, “Go ahead and hide, you coward!  Hide like your mother!  You think I can’t find you?  I know how you think Cameron!  You’re just like my sister!”  He took a few steps toward the left as if he were going to run up to the mouth of the cave, stopped, turned back, and ran further into the cave.

Had he just gone mad?  I reached down and helped Roger to his feet.  Roger cautioned in a whisper, “Not a sound.” Angelo ran back to where Roger and I stood.  Angelo was pissed, “Where is he?  What did you do with him?”

Roger looked directly at me and gave his head a small shake, reminding me to be quiet.  Angelo whipped his head around, looked right at me, then turned back toward Roger.  “What did you do with Cameron?”

Roger grinned, “Sent him back to South Africa, just like I said I was going to do.” 

None of this was making sense.  I was standing right here.  I was an arm’s length away from Angelo.  He bellowed, “Impossible!”  Angelo shined a flashlight along the walls looking to see if I was tucked in a crevice in the passageway.

I looked down at my feet – they were gone.  My body had transformed into a boulder.  I blended in perfectly with the sides of the tunnel.  Angelo stepped around me, shining his light along the wall and in the space between me and the side of the cave.  Angelo’s words became frantic, “I know you’re here.  There’s no use hiding from me.  I’ll find you!”

Angelo’s temper got the better of him as he went after Roger a second time.  Roger was back on the ground as Angelo was landing kicks to his side.  Roger had rolled up into the fetal position protecting his head and internal organs the best he could.  I jumped on Angelo’s back, knocking him off-balance and to the ground.  I looked like myself again as Angelo tried to get me off of him.       

An ear-splitting CRACK sounded, and a lady in battle armor appeared out of thin air.  Rocks fell off the walls, as the crack echoed up and down every crevice in the tunnel.  She spoke with authority, and it wasn’t any kind of a request.  “It’s over, Angelo.”

Angelo let go of my arm, rolled out from under me, and stood up with a look of disbelief.  Roger got to his feet, too, and bowed low to the ground.  “Goddess Athena.  What a pleasure.”

“I wish it were under better circumstances.  Take Cameron and go.”  This wasn’t a request, either.   Without hesitating, Roger stood up, took my arm and led me to the mouth of the cave.  He didn’t look over his shoulder once, and with every step his pace grew faster.

Neither Athena nor Angelo followed us.  When we emerged in the jungle air, Roger took a seat on the ground.  It was the first time I had gotten a good look at his face, Angelo had busted his lip, bruised his eye, and I couldn’t tell for sure from the swelling, but he may have broken his nose, too.  Roger focused on me with his one good eye and said, “Look, I know you’ve got a lot of questions and I wish I had all the answers – I don’t.”

“You knew I was a Centaur?”

“Yeah, I did.  That goddess down there wanted me to look after you.  She told me you were the son of Chiron, and I was to protect you with my life until you were eighteen.”

“Protect me from who?”

“From him.”  His finger pointed toward the cave we’d just emerged from.  “When you were just a baby, I used to flinch at the slightest noise in the woods.  I don’t think I slept for the first year you and I were together.  But as the years passed and he didn't find you, I thought you were safe.  For a while I was able to convince myself that he'd never find you."

"Angelo was looking for me?"

"Not specifically you, but your mother.  I grew to think of you as my own flesh and blood.”

My heart beat faster as I wiped my palms on my pants.  He thought of me as his own?  When he’d left and I never heard from him, I thought he’d finished whatever his obligation was and didn’t want anything to do with me.  I couldn’t bring myself to catch his gaze for fear he’d know what I was thinking.  Maybe he could read minds like Grandma. 

“Well, what can you tell me?  Like, did my mother ever check on me?”

“Yeah, every week, your whole life.  She was the one who told me to give you space.  She said she was doing the same thing with your sister, that you were Chirons and it was time you found your way in the world.”

Give me space?  Was she deluded? Roger was the only person I knew in the whole world.  She told him to get out of my life?  “She didn’t want to meet me?”

“She did, but she worried that she wouldn’t be strong enough to fend off Angelo if you were discovered.  She had planned to come see you on your eighteenth birthday, but called and told me she was sick.”  Roger put his hand on my shoulder, “She was in bad shape.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell me about her?  I would have gone to her.  Did you know about my sister?”

“Hind sight is always twenty twenty, Cam.  Angela was sure she was going to get better.  She wanted to tell you herself.  When she told me to go back to my family, I thought she was going to swoop in and explain everything.  I just found out today that because of her cancer she never made it to South Dakota.”

“So how did you know my mother?”

“I only met her in person once – at the airport, the day she flew out to give you to me.”

“You were a stranger to her?”

“I was a stranger to your mom, but Athena chose me.  It was a great honor to be your guardian.”

“So, you didn’t have a choice?”

“Cam, I didn’t want a choice.  Sure, at first, I took care of you because the goddess Athena called on me, but you’re a hard kid not to love.”

My lungs forgot how to take in air.  Roger had never told me he loved me.  No one had ever told me they loved me.  I’d felt out of place my whole life.  All the other kids had cousins, aunts, uncles, parents, grandparents – I never did.  I never thought of Roger as family, but truth be told, it ripped me apart when he left without so much as a backwards glance. 

I didn’t know what to say, so I looked at his hand on my shoulder and asked, “Since when did you get so sentimental?”

His had squeezed my shoulder, “You don’t get it do you?  I was raising a boy, not a boy,” he paused, “but a Centaur whose great-great-great-I don’t know how many greats – granddaddy was an immortal Centaur.  I was scared I was going to screw up, and some god was going to swoop in and take you from me.”

A sarcastic sigh slipped out of me, “Right.  Gods and goddesses were lined up to get a piece of me.”

“Cam, do you have any idea the lengths we went to, to protect you?”