The Spirit Keeper Read online

  It didn’t take me long to come up with the answer to that one. “Shyla’s father. Aida’s husband.”

  “Victor,” Meg said, nodding.

  “But how?”

  “Even if he didn’t set the fire himself, he had the perfect weapon in his hands, a weapon that would leave absolutely no evidence behind, except for ashes. And that perfect weapon was his own daughter and the magic that she possessed. She was the Spirit Keeper, Sarah. She could wield fire.”

  My entire world had shifted out of alignment with the revelation of our family secret. I closed my eyes. My brain felt heavy as a waterlogged sponge, and I wished I could wring it out and forget everything that Meg had told me in the last half hour.

  “David and I have just one request of you,” Meg said, her voice low and urgent. I opened my eyes and looked at her, waiting. “Stay away from Victor Hunt, and stay away from his children. Don’t go anywhere near them.”

  I laughed then, relief running through me. “Um, okay. I don’t think staying away from them will be a problem, considering I have no idea who or where they are.”

  Meg got up from the bed and went to the window again, pulling back the curtain to look out. “It might be a problem, especially since Victor Hunt and his son just moved in across the street.”

  Chapter 6

  “What did you just say?”

  I was sure I’d misunderstood Meg, and yet I didn’t know why it hadn’t occurred to me before. What were the chances of another Native American family moving into the vacant house across the street? They had come here for a reason, and I was afraid what that reason might be.

  “Victor Hunt is here,” she repeated.

  I sat in stunned silence, a slow dread creeping over me and making my scalp tingle. But then I laughed, common sense winning out.

  “You must be mistaken, Meg. How can you be sure it’s even them? It’s been, what, over seventeen years since you lived on the reservation?”

  Meg nodded as though anticipating I might make this very argument. “After you and Priscilla came home and told us that the family was from a reservation up north, that there was a boy named Adrian about your age, I knew it couldn’t be anyone else. David checked it out last night and confirmed what we thought. He was able to get a look inside a window, and he saw Victor.”

  “That Peeping Tom,” I said under my breath. “He told me he was out jogging.” Then something else occurred to me. “You said Victor has a daughter named Shyla. As far as I know, it’s just Adrian.”

  “Shyla and Adrian are twins,” Meg said. “They’d be about eighteen by now. Even if you didn’t see Shyla, we’re sure it’s them.”

  “But I only saw Adrian,” I insisted again, as if repeating it would negate the possibility that he had a sibling. “He never mentioned anything about having a sister, much less a twin.”

  Meg waved her hand impatiently. “It doesn’t matter, Sarah. Just stay away from them, okay? I hesitate to come outright and accuse them of setting the fire, and I certainly don’t want to start trouble, but they could be extremely dangerous. Let’s mind our own business until we figure out what’s going on.”

  I suddenly remembered the girl in the woods. Had that been Shyla? And if so, where was she now? I didn’t tell Meg about seeing her. She was even more unnerved than I, and I didn’t want to add to her worry. I also didn’t mention that Adrian had followed me to the creek earlier that afternoon, or that we’d been flirting. Under the circumstances, I thought I’d best keep my mouth shut.

  “Listen,” Meg said, “I’m very sorry we didn’t tell you any of this before. We shouldn’t have waited until our hand was forced. I guess we hoped we’d never have to speak of it.”

  “It’s okay,” came my automatic response.

  But what else was I supposed to say? My insides were twisted with all these conflicting emotions: fear, anger, and confusion most of all. Adrian didn’t seem the least bit dangerous to me. I really liked him, in fact. But now Meg was telling me I couldn’t see him. As for his dad . . . well, she had a point there.

  “I’d like to be alone,” I said.

  Meg’s face was the picture of guilt, but she reached out to touch my shoulder. “I really am sorry, Sarah. I hope you will forgive us for keeping this secret.”

  She left then, closing the door behind her. I sat on the edge of my bed for a minute longer—just thinking—before I finally got up to shed my damp clothes for dry ones. And although it was the middle of the afternoon, I yanked back the covers of my bed and climbed in, if only to be cocooned in comfort and safety.

  I concentrated on the sound and rhythm of my breathing for several minutes until my eyelids drooped and finally shut. But even then, disturbing images of savage men, ferocious wolves attacking innocent people . . . and my mother, hugely pregnant with me . . . flickered through my head. Turning over on my side, I drew my knees to my chest and fell into a restless sleep.

  I woke with a jolt sometime later, unable at first to recall where I was. The blanket over my head didn’t help.

  I leapt from the bed with the smell of smoke strong in my nose and the pulse in my neck throbbing underneath my skin. I stumbled to the window on shaky legs, frantic to escape. It was only then that I came fully awake and realized I’d been dreaming of the blaze that killed my mother and grandparents six years prior.

  Bits and pieces of the dream started to come back as the fog began to lift. They were replicated memories that played over and again in my mind, never changing and always ending the same way.

  I scrubbed my face with my hands and took a deep breath, desperate to forget. And then I heard it: the chime of the doorbell. It was probably what had woken me in the first place.

  I padded down the hall to the front door, expecting to find a customer who’d gotten lost on his way to the greenhouse out back. I did my best to fix my usual polite smile on my face, but the dream made it difficult.

  “You’re just the person I was hoping to see,” Adrian said when I opened the door. “Are you busy?”

  The smile fell from my face immediately as I remembered Meg’s warning. “Uh, I was taking a nap.”

  “Oh. I didn’t mean to wake you up,” Adrian said. “Never mind. I’ll come back later.” He began to turn away.

  “Wait!” I said, unable to help my curiosity. “Why were you looking for me?”

  Adrian turned back and began shuffling from one foot to the other, his hands thrust in the pockets of his khaki cargos. When he spoke, he looked at me through downcast eyes, his dark lashes long on his rounded cheeks.

  “I have to run to town,” he said. “And since I don’t really know my way around yet . . .”

  “You thought I could be your tour guide,” I finished for him, unable to hold back my grin.

  Adrian got down on one knee and held his fisted hands in front of him, begging. “Please? We’ll even stop and grab something to eat. My treat.”

  I stifled a groan and motioned for him to get up. If he had asked me a day ago, I would have jumped at the chance. Here was this really cute guy literally begging me to go out with him, and yet Meg was telling me to stay far, far away. I considered it a cruel twist of fate that the one guy who showed any interest might be interested in me for all the wrong reasons. For all I knew, this was all one big ploy to get me alone. Perhaps he meant to tie me up so he and his family could take turns torturing me.

  “I can’t,” I said. “I have to get back to work.”

  The smile fell from Adrian’s face. He let out a self-conscious laugh under his breath, and only then did I realize he hadn’t anticipated that I might turn him down. I didn’t know whether he simply had one heck of an ego, or if he was that confidant of all that flirting we’d done at the creek.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. And I really was, especially when he turned those dark brown eyes on me.

  No. It has to be a trick, I thought. He wants you to like him and trust him so he and his dad and sister can hurt you.

  “Are you sure y
ou can’t come?” He arched his brows and jutted out his bottom lip, looking very much like a rejected puppy-dog.

  The knife in my gut twisted as the pendulum of resolve swung in the opposite direction. Meg and David had no proof that Victor had either started the fire himself or that he’d used Shyla to do it for him. They had no proof of anything at all. They were going on nothing but pure speculation.

  I kicked my bare foot against the door jamb a little too hard out of frustration and winced as my big toe cracked. “I wish I could ditch and hang out with you,” I said, “but I need the money. I’m saving up for a car.”

  Adrian smiled crookedly, one side of his mouth pulling up. “So you’re not just blowing me off because you don’t like me?”

  “What? No!”

  “Good,” Adrian said, his smile widening.

  “Who are you talking to?”

  David had come up behind me so quietly that I jumped at the sound of his voice. I nearly slammed the door in Adrian’s face, but David caught hold of it and swung it all the way open. Their eyes met, and I could practically feel David vibrating with tension next to me.

  “You must be Adrian,” David said, his tone so frosty that I was sure the flowers on the front stoop would freeze.

  Adrian glanced at me, obviously catching the note in David’s voice. “That’s right.”

  “Well, Adrian. If you don’t mind, we need Sarah’s help out back. You can show yourself out.”

  Adrian lifted his chin to David and said more formally than necessary, “Of course. I’m sorry I bothered you.”

  I watched him walk away before closing the door and rounding on David. I thrust an accusing finger in his face, my anger bubbling just under the surface. “No matter what you and Meg suspect his dad and sister might be guilty of, Adrian is a really nice guy.”

  David batted away my hand. “Don’t assume he’s innocent in the whole thing, Sarah. You’re too naive for your own good sometimes.”

  “I am not naive!” I huffed and attempted to scoot past David, but he grabbed my arm and dug his fingers into my flesh.

  “You can’t be friends with him,” he said. “At least tell me you understand that.”

  David’s grip on my arm hurt more than just physically, and I blinked back the tears that had suddenly sprung to my eyes. “Actually, I don’t understand. And you’re hurting me.”

  David let go of my arm, his nostrils flaring. “Do you hear yourself, Sarah? Your f-father,” he said, stumbling on the word, “attacked and killed Victor’s wife. We were cast out of a tribe that believed you were a threat to them. Victor showing up here can only mean that you are in danger.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest, jutting out my chin. “You don’t have any proof that he had anything to do with that fire.”

  And even though it was a childish pot-shot that I resorted to whenever I was especially angry, I added, “And besides, you aren’t my parent. You don’t even have legal custody of me, so you can’t tell me what to do. It’s my choice whether or not I’m friends with Adrian!”

  David’s eyes widened, and this time he was the one who pointed a finger in my face. “Your safety is my responsibility whether or not a piece of paper says so. Stay away from Adrian. I mean it!”

  My entire body shook with rage until I was sure I would explode from it. David and I had had our arguments over the years, but never had we fought like this, or over something so serious. But he was wrong about Adrian—at least I thought he was—and he wasn’t being fair.

  Meg rushed in through the back door just then waving her hands and shushing us. Judging by the look on her face, she was more than a little peeved. When she spoke, it was through clenched teeth.

  “What is going on in here? Don’t you realize the windows are open and everyone can hear you fighting? I had to turn up the radio in the greenhouse just to drown out the noise. You are embarrassing me and my business. Now be quiet!”

  David ignored the rebuff and pointed a finger at me again. “She likes him, Meg. She thinks she wants to be friends with Adrian Hunt. He was just over here asking her out on a date.”

  Meg’s hand flew to her chest as if she feared her heart would explode from behind her ribcage. “I thought we discussed this, Sarah? Weren’t you paying any attention at all?”

  “He didn’t ask me out on a date,” I said, rolling my eyes at David. “He only wanted me to run a few errands with him. There’s a difference.”

  But I could feel my face getting hot, as if to prove David right, and I was positive it was now turning an unflattering shade of red.

  “And besides,” I said, peeking at them through downcast eyes, “I’m pretty sure I’ve already met Shyla, and she didn’t seem dangerous at all.”

  Their mouths popped open at the revelation. And while Meg looked like she might be in danger of passing out, David’s chest puffed up, and the vein in his forehead bulged like a worm beneath his skin.

  “When? Why didn’t you say anything before now?” he demanded, the volume of his voice rising despite Meg’s previous warning.

  “Because before I didn’t know anything was wrong! Anyway, I only think it was her. It was when Priscilla and I were at the creek yesterday. Someone was there watching us, but I didn’t get a good look.”

  “You’re sure it was a girl?” Meg said, her face ashen.

  “Well, it looked like it. But it was kind of far away to be sure. Maybe it was just one of the kids from down the street. I don’t know,” I ended lamely, shrugging my shoulders.

  “That’s it,” David said. “The creek is off limits from now on. It’s too far away if something were to happen.”

  “But David!” I yelled, not caring who was listening. If I would have known he was going to stop me from going to the creek, I wouldn’t have said anything. “You’re being unreasonable.” I turned to Meg. “Tell him he’s being unreasonable.”

  Meg shook her head. “I’ve got to side with David again on this one. I’m sorry, Sarah. It’s for your own protection. Just until we get this sorted out.”

  I turned back to David, glaring. “What’s wrong with you?”

  David’s upper lip curled as he stepped threateningly into my personal space. He looked as if he wanted to close his hands around my neck and give it a good squeeze, and for a minute I was actually scared he might.

  “What’s wrong with me?” he said. “The better question is what’s wrong with you?”

  Meg put a hand on each of our shoulders, presumably to keep us from killing each other. “Both of you stop it right now. You’re acting like children, and fighting won’t help us solve this problem.”

  She turned to me. “I’m afraid you’re letting your feelings for Adrian cloud your judgment. Why would you trust him over us?”

  My eyes swam with unshed tears, and I blinked several times to clear my vision. The thing is that I knew they cared about me and that’s why they were acting this way, but I was just so angry with the whole situation.

  “The one time a guy actually likes me and you tell me I can’t have anything to do with him. It’s not fair!”

  I shoved Meg’s hand away and ran to my room, slamming the door behind me.

  I was acting like a spoiled brat, but I didn’t care.

  Meg and David were being irrational about Adrian. And if Shyla could control the elements—which I highly doubted was even possible—why hadn’t she done something to hurt me in the woods when she had the chance? As far as Victor was concerned, he was just a bitter old man. I doubted he was really dangerous at all.

  I paced the floor of my room, growing more agitated by the minute. I couldn’t stay cooped-up for the rest of the day avoiding David and Meg or I’d go crazy. I picked up the phone to call Priscilla, but then I remembered she was going to the movies with Laura Beth. It was probably just as well. Priscilla could read me like a book, and she was sure to know that something was up. What the heck was I supposed to tell her about any of this, anyway?

  I drummed my fin
gers on the nightstand, thinking.

  Hanging out at the creek apparently wasn’t an option. Aside from the fact that my stupid uncle had forbidden me from going there, I didn’t want to risk seeing Shyla.

  Just in case.

  I sized up the stack of library books sitting on the floor beside my bed, but I knew I’d never be able to concentrate on reading. I was too hyped up. I needed to get rid of this excess energy. I needed to do something to put my mind at ease and maybe prove to my aunt and uncle that they were wrong about our new neighbors on all accounts.

  After a few restless minutes of walking in circles, I finally came up with an idea. It was a perfectly crazy and totally illogical idea, one that could land me in some very hot water if I were to get caught. But now that the idea was stuck in my head, I couldn’t get it out.

  I slinked into the kitchen and peered out the window to make sure Meg and David were busy. David was crouched along a row of peas, twisting off the bulging green pods and tossing them into a plastic bucket. Meg was in the greenhouse at the register, ringing up an order and laughing with some customer. I was fairly certain that neither of them would come looking for me. They’d always been good about keeping their distance during my occasional bad mood, and nothing said “leave me alone” like having a door slammed in your face.

  I glanced at the digital clock on the stove. I’d have to hurry. If we got our normal before-closing rush today, Meg would come calling for me, bad mood or not.

  I grabbed the pair of dirty sneakers I’d left sitting by the back door and shoved my feet into them. Then I re-twisted my hair into a tight knot to keep it from getting in the way. Before my resolve fizzled and I had a chance to come to my senses, I hurried out the front door and down the garden path to the gate.

  Once there, I had to stand on my tip-toes in order to see out the diamond-shaped peep-hole. Directly across the street was Adrian’s house, and I was able to get an unobstructed view from this vantage point without risking them seeing me. The U-Haul was gone, as well as Adrian’s blue Beetle. His dad’s rusty Toyota was still parked in the driveway, though. Maybe this wasn’t going to work, after all.