Escaping Fate (20 page)

“I’m sorry about dragging you into
this, Tanner.”

“Don’t be. I’m glad you told me. I’m
glad we got this time together. I’ll never forget it,” he said. My
heart broke a little to hear him say that. It sounded like he had
accepted the inevitable too.

There were so many things I wanted to
say to him, but I just leaned against his shoulder and let him hold
me until everything melted away.

“Arra. Arra, wake up.”

I heard the word, but it was the soft
touch of Tanner’s lips against my ear as he whispered that woke me.
Opening my eyes I saw nothing but mahogany. I don’t know how I even
managed to fall asleep, but at least it had been a dreamless sleep.
Somehow I had ended up with my head on Tanner’s lap and my feet up
on the bench. Probably not the most reverent way to sit in a pew.
Or the most comfortable. Pushing myself up, pain flared in my neck
and shoulder.

Why had Tanner woken me up? Was it time
already? I bolted upright. “Tanner? What’s happening?” I
asked.

“It’s okay, Arra. Sorry to wake you,
but your grandpa wanted you to meet him in the garden,” Tanner
whispered.

“The garden?” My mind was still a
little groggy. What garden was he talking about?

“Behind the church. Father Margulies
suggested it,” Tanner explained.

A garden behind a Catholic church. That
was where I would die. Was that fitting, or ironic? I wasn’t really
sure. It seemed like it would only bring up more questions, like
how had I managed to die just sitting in a garden behind a church?
Katie and Maera were both doing something that at least might have
account for their deaths. What could any coroner say about me? My
heart would just stop while I was taking in the scents of the
summer blooms.

That would kill my dad. He would want
an explanation, especially after Katie. But maybe this was better,
I thought. It would just be a freak occurrence. I was healthy,
current on all my vaccinations and physical exams. There was
nothing my dad could blame himself for. It would break his heart,
but maybe not his mind as well.

“Are you ready to go?” Tanner asked. He
cringed, hearing the double meaning in his words. I nodded, to both
questions, and he took my hand.

Stepping aside, he waited for me to
grab my backpack and make my way to the aisle. The walk through the
church was quiet and still. There were no other patrons. The
emptiness was lightened by the light filtering in through the high
stained glass windows. The hallway we walked down look as if it had
been paved in precious gems. For a moment I felt like Alice, or
Dorothy, or a dozen other fairytale girls, except that I was not on
my way to find a prince or live happily ever after.

Even still, I was saddened when Tanner
pulled me from the dazzling hall toward a door nestled at the back
of the church. It was square, made of plain looking wood, sturdy,
but old. Nothing special. Nothing special to anyone else maybe, but
Tanner and I slowed to a stop right in front of it. Neither of us
wanted to open it.

Tanner’s hand came up to my chin and
tilted my head to look up at him. His eyes tore at my heart. Every
emotion running amok in my own heart was staring back at me through
his eyes. All except the panic. I had put my panic aside with the
hope that someday this would all end. Tanner had either not been so
lucky, or he did not care about when it might end, only that it
hadn’t ended already.

He was piercing me with his eyes, and
then he was pressing his lips against mine. It was nothing like his
earlier kisses, light and playful. His fingers tangled themselves
in my hair and pulled me against him. I found that mine were doing
the same. His hair was coarse from the sun, but his lips were silk
against mine. Passion and desperation wrapped themselves around us,
mixing with the tears falling from both of our eyes.

Slowly the moment ebbed away and we
were left crying with each other in front of the old wooden door
that stood waiting to be opened. Loosening my grip on Tanner wasn’t
easy, but somehow I found the strength to let go and reach for the
brass doorknob. I turned it and the light of full dawn swept into
the hall.

Chapter Twenty-Six

I saw my grandpa as soon as I entered
the garden. It was a small area, sheltered by trees on one side and
opened to the grass and flowers on the other three. Under the shade
of one of the trees, my grandpa sat calmly on a wooden bench.
Letting go of Tanner completely, I walked over to the bench and
took the seat next to him. Tanner stepped back giving us our
privacy and waited with Father Margulies.

“Did you get a little sleep?” he
asked.

“I’m sorry, Grandpa, I didn’t mean to
fall asleep like that. I should have been helping you. I’ve just
been so tired since all of this started.” Maybe at least after I
was dead I might get a little rest.

Wrapping his weathered arm around me,
he pulled me close to his chest. “No, it’s good you got some rest.
You may need it before the end.”

“Grandpa, there nothing left. I know
you want to believe you can change what will happen, but you just
can’t. We’ve run out of time,” I said. “Just promise me one
thing.”

“What, Arra?”

“Promise that you’ll keep trying. We
may be too late now, but it will happen again, and maybe by then
you’ll have figured it out. Just promise you’ll keep trying,” I
asked.

“Of course I will, but don’t give up
yet,” he said. He stroked my hair for a few seconds before asking,
“Did you tell your parents where you were going this
morning?”

“I left a note,” I said quietly. “I
told them I was going over to your house and that we were going to
visit a friend of yours. It’s not much of a goodbye, is
it?”

“Hopefully, goodbye won’t be
necessary.”

“I almost stayed,” I said, “I wanted to
have a few more hours with them, but I couldn’t. I didn’t want to
put them through that, watching me die, especially not Dad. I can’t
do that to him.” I looked at my grandpa with guilt in my eyes. I
had thought so much about protecting my dad from all of this, he
seemed to need it so badly, but how much had I thought of my
grandpa? “I don’t want to do this to you either, Grandpa. You’ve
already lost so much. I feel so selfish expecting you to go through
it all again. I just don’t think I can do it alone.”

He dried my tears with his fingers,
brushing them away as fast as they could fall.

“What are we going to do?” I
asked.

His shoulders sagged. “I’m not
completely sure, honey, but promise I won’t leave you alone for a
minute. I have had more than twenty years to figure out what to do.
I won’t lie and say I’ve figured everything out, but I’m not going
into this blindly either. Just don’t let go,” he said, grasping my
hand tightly.

His tone was so calm and sure. Did he
have a plan? I wondered what he was still holding back. “How did
you know what ceremony to ask Mr. Gadner about?” I
asked.

His face and voice were calm, but he
gripped my hand so tightly it started to hurt. “I went through all
of this after Katie died. I knew then that the stories were real. I
went to South America for a few weeks to see some of my family,
others who knew the curse was real. I needed to hear the stories
from someone closer to the source. Women are usually the story
keepers in families, but not ours.

“My great uncle was bedridden from
illness and age, but when he heard why I was there, he summoned me
to his sick bed. He told me a secret that he had never told another
soul, not even his wife. When his daughter died, like Katie and
Maera did, he was right next to her. They were tending their goats
together out in the fields when she suddenly started screaming. He
said she leapt up and ran as fast as she could. He barely caught up
to her before it happened.

“He grabbed her arm to stop her, and
suddenly they weren’t in the fields anymore. They stood, both of
them, on top of an ancient temple.” My grandpa struggled to control
his emotions. “He was taken with her, but he couldn’t do anything
to save her. They held him and forced him to watch his own daughter
die. After that, he knew every detail of the ceremony. It wasn’t
hard for him to find his answers then.

“He was so stunned. He had no idea how
to help his daughter. Like me he didn’t believe the stories until
it was too late. I don’t know that I can be any more successful
than my great uncle was, but I will try. I have spent so many years
searching for answers. They won’t take you from me, Arra, I
promise,” he said, his calmness returned. He smiled down at me.
“Just don’t let go of my hand.”

“I won’t, Grandpa,” I said, my eyes
wide. He was scared, I knew that, but he had a plan, I knew that
too. I knew why he would not tell me what it was as well. He was
afraid it wouldn’t work. Even that thought soothed me. Not able to
come up with anything useful myself, I threw every ounce of
willpower into believing in my grandpa. Whatever he was planning,
even if he didn’t believe it would work, it was more than I had. I
did trust him. I hugged him even more tightly and hoped.

Sitting quietly on the bench, we
watched the flowers blow in the breeze, neither of us speaking.
Tanner and the priest stood watch as well. Tanner’s looked ready to
run to my side, but Father Margulies held him by the arm. I guessed
that might have had something to do with the story my grandpa had
just told me.

The four of us waited together for what
we knew must come. The morning breeze stirred the leaves above our
heads. The sun inched its way up the sky. We hardly breathed. I
knew it was insane to simply sit and wait for my death bringers to
arrive, but I could not bring myself to move from my grandpa’s
side. Ice cream truck music drifted through the air, drawing my
attention to the nearby road.

Expecting brightly arrayed colors
plastered on the side of a truck, my eyes widened as I saw a dark
skinned trio of men slowly marching towards me. My body stiffened.
Clutching my grandpa, I cried out. Tanner struggled against the
priest, but Father Margulies held him tight.

“Arra, what do you see?” My grandpa’s
voice trembled. He pulled me closer to his chest. “Who’s
coming?”

“Three men,” I said breathlessly.
“They’re dressed like the men in the dream. What do we do, Grandpa?
They’re coming closer.”

“I…I don’t know. Running won’t do any
good.”

Our eyes met, both wild with terror. My
face hardened and my shaking stilled. “Well, I’m not just going to
sit here and waited for them to come get me. Get up,” I said. Eyes
on the approaching men, we stood together. I was ready to bolt into
the trees, my grandpa stood his ground.

“Arra, you can’t run from them. You’ll
only waste your strength, something I don’t think you should do,”
he said firmly. His grip tightened on my hand, keeping me in
place.

“But, Grandpa, there coming closer!” My
calm visage collapsed. Shivers rippled through my body. My knees
were on the verge of buckling and Tanner was trying to tear himself
away from the priest. “They’re almost here,” I
whispered.

“Be strong, Arra. We’ll get through
this. Trust me,” he pleaded. His gaze was calm and sure. I didn’t
know what his plan was to save me, but the strength in his eyes
held me and comforted me in a way I would not have
expected.

“Okay,” I squeaked, steeling
myself.

Suddenly, and without warning, the men
were in front of me and my grandpa. Their speedy approach did not
so much as stir the air. Still unable to see the men, my grandpa
seemed to be able to feel their presence. The air felt as though it
thickened around us, noises ceased. I had the impression I had been
wrapped in a bubble and suspended in time.

The man leading the group leaned close
to me, but did not touch my body. Piercing eyes gazed into me,
seeing through my outward appearance. He seemed to take pleasure in
assessing his prey. An appreciative look settled on his
features.

I pulled closer to my grandpa. What was
this man doing? I wondered why he didn’t just take me wherever we
needed to go.

The man glanced at his companions. Each
nodded in agreement. The leader extended his hand, waiting for me
to accept it.

Looking at my grandpa, I saw his
bewildered expression and remembered that he could see nothing of
what was happening. I didn’t want to take the man’s hand, but I
felt that my grandpa was right. This was at least more bearable
than screaming through the streets in terror. Slowly, my own hand
extended. The tips of my fingers brushed the smooth skin of the
Aztec warrior’s hand, and the world slid away.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

I stood, amazed at what I was seeing.
My skin burned from the bright sun overhead. Standing high atop the
mesa, I felt as if the sun had moved right up next to me. No breeze
came to cool my glistening skin. The putrid stench of the
ceremonial fire filled my nostrils, stealing away what remained of
the clean air left in my lungs.

Regal in his ceremonial dress the high
priest stood waiting, a long black knife held loosely in his hand.
His shoulders sagging with weariness, a quiet sigh escaped his
lips. The men who had come to claim me, now stood in a half circle
behind us, as if there were any real chance of escape.