Fatal Charm (21 page)

I’d never seen the brown Toyota before, but the little girl and her older brother getting out of the car were dear friends.

“K.C.! Zoey!” I whooped joyfully and rushed forward. “I didn’t know you were coming!”

“Sabine!” Zoey cried out as she reached me first and gave me a big hug.

She was taller than I last remembered and mature for a first grader. Had it been only a month since our last meeting? K.C. looked as average as ever, I thought fondly. He had a way of blending in and not being noticed. When I first met him at school, he’d been homeless, living out of his car and working in the evenings so he could send extra money to Zoey, who was in foster care with her aunt. He wasn’t any older than me but already had huge adult responsibilities.

“It’s great to see you!” I hugged K.C. “Are you still living with Thorn’s family?”

“Yeah.”

“How’s that working out?”

“Cool.” He grinned. “Although yesterday was weird—serving food in a food kitchen that I used to eat at. I saw some dudes who used to hang on the streets with me. The perks of living with a minister’s family.”

“Sounds like things are working out for you.”

“Well, sleeping on a bed instead of in my car is good.”

“So what brings you here, where you’ll have to sleep on the ground?”

“Zoey, of course.” He ruffled the curly dark head of his little sister. “She signed up for this ride months ago, and that’s all I’ve heard whenever I visit her. When she found out there weren’t enough teen mentors, she conned me into coming.”

“You ridden before?”

“No.” He groaned. “I must be insane.”

“You’re the best brother ever.” Zoey hugged him. “Come on, let’s pick a horse!”

K.C. gave a helpless shrug, then allowed Zoey to drag him over to the stables. Having them along would be fun. K.C. was easygoing and hardworking. He had such a quiet manner, people didn’t usually notice him—although I suspected he wished Thorn would notice him. Not that I saw that happening. K.C. was like an earnest puppy, while Thorn was more like a piranha.

I heard another car and looked up to see Josh’s sports car churning dust and gravel. At last Josh was here. I hadn’t wanted to admit, even to myself, that his delay worried me. I had a flash of him blindfolded as he balanced on a high wire over a sea of sharks and felt like I should warn him about something, but my feeling was vague. Besides, he didn’t believe in psychics. Maybe I was just projecting my own guilt for planning to break up with him. Was I one of the sharks in his treacherous sea? Still, just because we were breaking up didn’t mean I would stop caring about him. We’d always be friends … I hoped.

The sports car jerked to a stop and the driver’s door flung open.

“Sorry I’m late,” Josh said in a rush. “But Evan and I had to pick up a last-minute mentor.”

At the mention of Evan’s name, I frowned. He stepped out of the passenger seat, walking in that macho “I’m an athlete” way, and shot me a sour look. I glared back just so he’d know I wasn’t any happier to see him. We’d long established our animosity. Josh had warned me Evan was coming, and I planned to keep my distance.

“Sabine, you look great.” Josh came over and brushed a kiss across my lips. “I owe you a huge thanks.”

“Huh?” I glanced over my shoulder, hoping Dominic hadn’t seen the kiss.

“She told me you’d be surprised.”

“She? Who?” Now he had my full attention.

He pointed to his car, where a girl stepped out of the back seat.

What the hell was Jade doing here?

Jade was smiling.

I wasn’t.

Once again, my half-sister suckered me into lies and there was nothing I could do without causing an ugly scene. Josh was so happy to have another teen mentor that he practically danced in his boots. And to hear Jade talk about her horse experience, you’d think she’d been born in a stable and teethed on rawhide.

How had this happened? I’d left Jade sleeping and hadn’t told her about the ride, yet here she was in Josh’s car. Unbelievable!

“Your boyfriend is just the sweetest guy,” Jade said with a giggle. “He made a special trip just to pick me up.”

“Glad to.” Josh smiled at her with this dopey expression.

“I just
loooove
horses and kids. Being here is a lucky accident.” She flashed this flirty look at Josh and then at Evan. Both guys were hanging on her every gesture.

“Lucky for us,” Josh said. “Now we have almost as many mentors as kids.”

“How did you meet Jade?” I asked.

“I overslept and was running late,” Josh told me. “I wanted to let you know, only when I called your cell phone, your cousin answered. Soon we were talking horses and she told me about her riding lessons and the blue ribbon she won for barrel racing. When she mentioned her volunteer work teaching handicapped kids to ride, I asked her to be a mentor. I don’t know why you didn’t think of it, Sabine.”

“Yeah, cuz,” Jade said sweetly. “Why didn’t you ask me?”

“I didn’t want to you to feel obligated because of our … um … relationship,” I said through clenched teeth. “It’ll be rough sleeping outside. I didn’t think you’d like camping.”

“You thought wrong.”

“Obviously.”

I glared, outraged that she’d answered my cell phone and was invading yet another part of my life. I was even more furious when I recognized the embroidered jeans, yellow Western-styled shirt, and brown half-boots she was wearing. My clothes! I seethed inside, especially remembering her snotty comment about not wanting my castoffs. She didn’t want them when I offered, but stealing them—now that didn’t faze her a bit.

I was tempted to call her something crude, but there were kids around.

A shrill whistled blasted.

“Come on over, everyone!” The ranch hand Simon whistled again from a high perch atop the back of a wagon.

Abruptly, I turned from Jade and stomped over to the assembling riders.

“Now that everyone’s here,” Simon declared, rubbing his fuzzy goatee, “let’s get this ride started. But first we need to cover some basics. No running or sudden moves because you’ll spook the horses. Do not go behind the horses, you’ll get kicked. Always mount from the left side. And though it may sound cliché, do exactly as Simon says.”

A few kids chuckled while the older riders groaned.

Then we were taken over to the horses and shown some basic techniques; mounting, proper reining, and how to flow with the horse’s motion.

Afterwards, Josh read off a list that matched mentors with riders. Naturally K.C. was paired with his sister Zoey. Evan was matched with a shaven-head boy named Mario. And Josh took two kids: his namesake Joshua and Joshua’s younger sister Evie.

Josh paired up Dominic to Rocky, the gangsta grouch, and I wondered if this was because of Dominic’s ability to handle difficult kids or revenge. Had Josh guessed something was going on between me and Dominic? But how could Josh know? I was still getting used to it myself. And I’d been careful not to give our secret away. If anything, I went out of my way not to be alone with Dominic.

More pairs were announced. I already knew who I was matched with, so I didn’t pay much attention. When Josh said Lindsay’s name, I started toward her.

But the next name he said wasn’t mine.

“Jade will be Lindsay’s mentor,” Josh stated.

Lindsay skipped over to Jade, waving her horse scrapbook.

“Sabine, you’re with Melina,” Josh said as if nothing was wrong. Then he continued on with his list and turned away from me.

I stood there stunned until Melina tapped me on the back and shyly introducing herself. She was waif-like with light-brown pigtails, olive skin, and round thick glasses.

“I’m eleven,” she said shyly. “Well, almost eleven. I never ever rode a horse, at least not a real one. Do they bite?”

I glanced over at Lindsay, who was smiling with Jade, and felt mad enough to bite. Lindsay had no fear of horses. But Melina was so rattled with fears, she didn’t even want to pet her horse. I tried to calm her—not that it worked.

Melina was a squealer, I soon found out. She squealed when her horse snorted. She squealed when the horse swatted at flies with its tail. And she let out a shrill scream when I hoisted her up on her horse—which spooked several other horses. It took all my strength—and Dominic’s soothing talent—to settle the horses down.

By noon we were finally ready to hit the trail, with Simon in the lead and another ranch hand, a sturdy-looking brunette named Wendi, holding up the rear.

Our pace was so slow a lame turtle could have passed us going backwards. When the trail was wide enough we rode in pairs, so I was able to talk to Melina. I don’t know how many times I told her to relax and loosen her grip on the reins. Her nervousness made me nervous.

We rode for a few hours, pausing whenever someone had a problem. Rocky fell (jumped?) off twice. Melina had to go to the bathroom—which meant ducking behind a thick bush. Then there were the wild-animal sightings, which usually turned out to be rabbits.

By the time we took our first break, I was exhausted.

We tethered the horses to trees and stretched our legs. Snacks were handed out to the kids and a few more kids had bathroom breaks. There was some grumbling about that, but it wasn’t like the pack horse could cart along a Port-O-Potty. Josh told the kids that they were getting the authentic outdoor experience.

I watched Dominic from across the clearing, brushing down his horse and giving him a snack, too. Carrots, it looked like. I considered joining him, but Josh came over to me with his two kids: Joshua (now dubbed Little Josh) and his sister Evie. They seemed like great kids, not at all nervous with the horses, and surprisingly polite. Every other word from their mouths was please or thank-you.

Melina wandered over to talk to some other girls, so I took the opportunity to ask Josh why he’d matched Lindsay with Jade. “You said I would get Lindsay. Why did you change your mind?” I asked, hands on hips.

“I didn’t.” He furrowed his brow. “You did.”

“No way!”

“You think Lindsay’s a brat and didn’t want to be with her.”

“I never said that!”

“That’s what I heard.”

“That’s an outright lie. Did Evan tell you that? You know better than to believe him—he’d do anything to cause me trouble.”

“It wasn’t Evan.”

“Then who?” I demanded.

“Jade.” Josh frowned. “But why would your cousin lie?”

Because she wants anything—and anyone—that’s mine.

But I couldn’t admit this to Josh. If he knew war was brewing between me and my “cousin” it would cause too many questions.

I shrugged it off. “Jade’s idea of a joke,” I said.

“I don’t see you laughing. Want me to talk with her and—”

“No!” I shook my head. “I’m happy riding with Melina. She’s a sweetheart.”

“Really?” He glanced across the clearing. “Wasn’t that her squealing?”

“She’s excited about riding. But just so you know, Lindsay is great too, definitely not a brat. I would never say that.”

Then Simon whistled, our cue that the break was over.

Ironically, it took longer to get all the kids back on their horses than it took for the entire break. But finally we resumed riding, and I relaxed in the rhythm of Goldie’s stride. She was a good mount, not too rough or in a hurry.

Tree branches swayed overhead, some so low I had to duck. The weather cooperated by not raining, only steel gray clouds that blocked any chance of sun. Climbing up curving hillsides in a slow straggling line took a while. For about an hour the riders laughed and talked a lot, until the trail grew steeper and everyone had to pay close attention to the trail, avoiding bushes, rocks, and holes.

At first it was just an uneasy feeling—a prickly sense of eyes watching me.

I shifted in my saddle to look around, but saw nothing unusual; only the other riders and none of them were staring at me. Must be my imagination, I decided. Then I settled back into the ride.

The feeling hit me again as we crossed through a grassy meadow. Stronger, piercing like a laser beam—so intense I couldn’t shake it as my imagination. Trusting my horse to follow in line, I closed my eyes and looked for answers.

Immediately I got a vision of a dark-brown horse mounted by a shadowy rider. An older man wearing a cowboy hat. He sat comfortably in his saddle, controlling his horse with only one hand on the reins. A yellow ring flashed from his hand and there was a pulsing, crimson-black aura. I sensed he was looking at me.

Was this vision real or my imagination?

I tensed in my saddle, peering out at trees and wild brush. It would be easy for a skilled rider to follow our slow-moving group without being seen. Shivers rose on my skin. I sensed he was out there, invisible among dense foliage.

Who was the rider? I wondered, adding a footnote of “if he really exists.”

I mentally called out for Opal. At first there was no reply, then I heard static with fuzzy mind shapes, like an out-of-focus TV. Then the shape sharpened into tawny skin under a white jeweled turban.

Keep vigilant
, I heard her say.

“Is someone really following me?” I asked wordlessly.

There is a presence of danger close by.

“I had a vision of a rider on a brown horse.”

When someone has forsaken their humanity, they are no longer alive in spirit and have nothing to gain or lose.

“What are you trying to tell me?”

The rider with blood on his hands will not stop until there is more death.

“More death? Do you mean this rider killed someone?”

Remember the details that ring true to your vision.

Details that ring true? Did she mean “ring” literally? I thought back to Jade’s house and the glint of a gold ring on the killer’s hand. “In my vision of the rider, he was wearing a ring, too. Is it the same man?”

There is no need to ask questions when the answers resonate inside you. Even when you travel without your body, there is a heavy weight of responsibility. You cannot live between two worlds without risking self.

“I don’t know what you mean!” I shouted in my head. “Who is the stalker and what does he want? There are innocent kids here, and I want to keep them safe.”

Danger follows the soul witness.

Her words sunk in, terrifying. There was a static sound in my head and I felt her pull away. I opened my eyes to the bright shock of daylight.

My horse plodded steadily beneath me, but shook her mane as if sensing my fear.

I tried to make sense of Opal’s message. She’d hinted that my astral experience was real and that someone was dead. Jade’s mother? Then why wasn’t Jade upset? If it had been my mother, I’d be hysterical with grief. I would definitely not be on a campout with a bunch of people I didn’t even know.

If Crystal had been murdered, that meant both Jade and my father had lied. Lies from Jade weren’t anything new, but why would Dad lie to me? The only reason I could think of was that he might be protecting someone.

Did that mean he knew the killer?

Could my own father be an accomplice to murder?

I didn’t want to believe this, but suspicion was a germ that grew and spread poison. I tried to remember details of my astral experience. I’d been spying on Jade, then slipped into the next room where I saw Crystal and her killer. She’d trusted him and he’d see-med to care about her, too. The flowers and candy hinted at a budding romance—until he took the ribbon off the candy box …

I wished it had been a dream—but I was afraid it was real.

And somehow the killer had found out about me.

I was the “soul witness.”