The Prophecy Read online

  Shyla’s steps slowed, and her voice was more sympathetic when it came out. “What’s going on with you and my brother, huh?”

  I shrugged again and sniffled. “I don’t know. He’s being a jerk.”

  “It’s a two-way street,” Shyla said.

  I looked at her, my mouth hanging open in shock. So much for sympathy. “How can you say that?”

  “He’s pissed off because he thinks you and Caleb are hiding some secret from him. He even thinks you’re cheating on him.”

  I half-laughed and almost asked if she was serious, but I could see just how serious she really was. “Well, that’s just asinine,” I said, throwing my hands in the air.

  “Is it? What is going on between you and Caleb?” she insisted again, and this time I realized she wasn’t inquiring simply out of concern for her brother.

  “I told you. It isn’t like that between us!”

  Shyla continued staring at me as if she didn’t quite believe the words coming out of my mouth. She pointed an accusing finger at me. “There’s definitely something going on, Sarah. I’m not blind and neither is Adrian. Or anyone else. I see the way he looks at you, and I don’t like it. So quit being naive and just grow up already.”

  I stopped in my tracks, shock completely rooting me in place. “That’s so mean and . . . and completely unfair!”

  Shyla huffed with impatience and grabbed my hand, towing me the rest of the way to Coach’s office. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.”

  Ten minutes later, after a lot of finger-pointing and name-calling, we trudged back to the field. Almost everyone else had given up on their laps and was randomly spread out on the field or in the bleachers, taking it easy. Coach Wally sighed heavily next to us.

  “I’ll see you two after school,” he said to Jasmine and me. “You got off lucky. I could file a report on both of you, but I won’t since neither of you has been in trouble before. Just—” He looked at us harshly. “Knock it off.”

  He’d made Jasmine and me apologize and shake each other’s hand in his office. The man was totally clueless.

  “You could have been suspended,” Shyla said.

  “I know.”

  “Seriously, fighting? Since when do you fight?”

  “I know!” I stalked off and stood away from the group, counting down the minutes until class was over and I could make my escape.

  But there was no escape today. Everywhere I went, people were talking about the fight that I, a senior, had gotten into with a sophomore.

  In second period I made the mistake of meeting Adrian’s eyes as he walked by me and had to quickly look away. I had never seen him look so disappointed.

  Caleb, however, sat down and offered me a huge grin. He held his fist out. “Come on,” he said when I refused to bump it. “She deserved it. Everyone knows it. I’m surprised she made it this long without someone whipping her—”

  But I just turned away, effectively silencing him, and stared at my desk the remainder of the class.

  When I saw Priscilla at lunch, she held up her hands in mock fear and said, “Don’t hit me! Please, don’t hit me!”

  “Ha ha. Very funny,” I said.

  I budged in line behind her, but the girl I had gotten in front of didn’t say anything at all. She just looked the other way, as if maybe she was scared I’d deck her, too.

  We got our food and took it outside. I started shivering, even though it wasn’t all that cold, but it was better than being inside where everyone could stare.

  “Any sign of the mystery man?” Priscilla said. Thankfully, she had decided to drop the subject of Jasmine’s and my fight for more important matters.

  “Nope. I was sure I’d see him this morning, but he wasn’t there.”

  Priscilla licked a blob of mayo oozing from the side of her turkey sandwich. “Maybe he was just a figment of your imagination.”

  “He was not a figment of my imagination!”

  “Yikes. Just kidding.”

  I pushed my tray aside without eating anything and hugged my legs to my chest, burying my chin in the crook of my knees. “Sorry. I’m just really on edge about everything.”

  “He’ll turn up again,” she said, forgiving me at once.

  “How do you know?”

  She rolled her eyes. “I just know. So be patient, all right?”

  But getting through the rest of the day, and then the hour-long detention with Coach Wally and Jasmine that afternoon, was easier said than done. I walked home as quickly as I could once my hour was up and, ditching my bag in the kitchen, tore out the back door. If the wolf appeared again, it would be in the security and relative privacy of the woods.

  I cast my eyes to the sky. Although the day was grey with the threat of rain, it wasn’t yet true twilight. Hopefully it was dark enough already.

  I ran to where I had last seen the wolf, but of course it wasn’t there. I sighed heavily, my hope fizzling like a dying balloon. I was stupid to think that the wolf would be waiting for me like a faithful dog. After all, it wasn’t man’s best friend. It was Man, himself.

  Resigned, I turned to go and at once came face to face with him. I gasped and stumbled back, my arms wind-milling to regain my balance as my heel caught the edge of a rock. I went down hard on my butt, biting my tongue in the process and tasting blood.

  “It’s you,” I said stupidly through the pain and awkwardness.

  When he didn’t respond, I slowly got to my feet and then reached out a hesitant finger to touch him, just to see if he was actually real.

  “What are you doing?” he said, his eyes looking pointedly at my finger.

  I took back my hand as though it had been scorched. “Uh.”

  The man’s dark eyes bored into mine, but there was a hint of amusement on his lips, as though he thought something was very funny. “I’m Sebastian.”

  I don’t know why I had been expecting him to speak with some sort of accent—probably another television-inspired stereotype—but he spoke perfectly understandable English. I narrowed my eyes. “And just who are you, Sebastian?”

  He was definitely smiling now, and it grew larger. “I would be your uncle, Sarah Redbird.”

  Of all the answers I thought he might give, that one was nowhere on the list. After a few moments in which my mouth worked wordlessly, I managed to say, “You’re my f-father’s brother then?”

  “I’m certainly not your mother’s.”

  “Why are you here?” I asked, when what I really meant was why hadn’t my father come instead?

  “Why is not important at the moment.”

  “The hell it’s not!” I yelled, which was met with the slow rise of a pair of very black eyebrows. “You’re here for a reason,” I said more calmly, “and I want to know why.”

  “You are my brother’s blood—my blood, too. That is reason enough.”

  Suddenly, my eyes welled with tears and I blinked hard to clear my vision. I did not want this stranger to see me cry. “I am seventeen years old,” I said, as my nose began to run. I lifted my arm and dabbed at it with the cuff of my hoodie.

  He nodded. “I am aware.”

  I raised my chin a fraction of an inch. “And in seventeen years my father has never tried to find me.”

  He leveled his gaze at me. “And how would you know that?”

  That brought me up short. I relaxed my arms and took an automatic step forward. “You mean he has?” Sebastian only shrugged, but I took it as affirmation. “Then why are you here instead of him?”

  “Because his love for you and your mother almost got him killed once before.”

  “If he loved me, he would let nothing stop us from being together.”

  He laughed. “You don’t live in a storybook world, Sarah. This is real life, and real life is never that simple.”

  I began crying. If my father loved me and my mother, like Sebastian said, it was that simple. In my world—storybook or not—that’s what love was about, what it meant. Being together.
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  A sympathetic look came over Sebastian’s face then. He lowered his eyes and spoke quietly. “Trust me, Sarah. Sometimes it’s better to love from afar.”

  I looked at the ground, my thoughts suddenly going to Adrian. Maybe the best thing for us would be for me to let him go. Let him date Jasmine if he wanted with no interference from me. And if he decided to be with me after all . . .

  I lifted my head and saw he was watching me. “Does my father even know you’re here?” I asked.

  Sebastian shook his head. “I came on my own. I had to be sure. And now I am.”

  “Sure about what?”

  He opened his mouth as though he wanted to say something more, but then shut it.

  “Sure about what?” I insisted.

  “My brother’s wishes be damned,” he said under his breath, through clenched teeth. He met my eyes then. “Do you want to meet your father?”

  My heart stuttered in my chest. “More than anything.”

  He held out his hand. “Give me your phone.”

  “There’s one other thing,” he said as he programmed his number into my phone. “I need to speak to the one they call Caleb Moon.”

  That brought me up short. “What does Caleb have to do with any of this?”

  “Quite a lot,” Sebastian replied, handing me back my phone. “Seeing as how he is your brother.”

  EIGHTEEN

  My throat tightened and I gulped convulsively for air, like I was suddenly starving for breath. “What did you say?”

  “Caleb Moon is my brother’s son,” he enunciated, raising his voice as though I were hearing-impaired.

  I shook my head slowly back and forth as if to refute what he’d just said. “But I am my mother’s only child. Aren’t I?” I added uncertainly. I didn’t think I could handle any more shocking news today.

  “Caleb is your half-brother,” Sebastian clarified. He took a step forward and reached out to steady me, but let his arm fall back to his side without actually touching me.

  “Does Caleb know?”

  Sebastian shook his head. “No. Not unless his mother told him. She brought him to the reservation once, when he was younger.”

  “Caleb met our father?”

  “Caleb saw your father. From a distance.”

  “From a distance. What is that supposed to mean?”

  Sebastian’s eyes flicked to the darkening sky and I sensed we didn’t have much time.

  “Shortly before your mother’s passing, Charlene brought her son to my reservation.”

  I felt a sudden, renewed loathing for Charley Moon. I understood exactly why she’d done it. “She hoped to take my mother’s place.”

  “There was a time when my brother felt a certain fondness for her, but she was never more than a friend to him. You have to understand that he never gave up hope that he would one day be able to claim you and Melody as his wife and child.”

  “Is that why Charley hates my mom? Is that why she hates me, because she knew that my father loved us like he didn’t love her?”

  “He loves both you and Caleb, as any father should,” he said, without really answering the question.

  “So what now? You can’t expect me to go back home and pretend like we never had this conversation.”

  Sebastian shook his head. “Times have changed and things are different now. I believe it is up to you and your brother to bridge the gap between the seven tribes once and for all.”

  I stared blankly at him. “Bridge the gap? What are you talking about?”

  “You have it within you, Sarah.”

  I clenched my fists, growing more agitated at his talking in code. “That’s not a real answer.”

  “And yet it is the only answer I have for now.” His eyes flicked toward the sky again and he turned to go.

  “Wait!” I called out. He stopped and turned to look at me again. “When will you take me to see my father?”

  “Soon,” was all he said.

  I watched him walk away then, disappearing into darkness. Only after he was out of sight completely did my hands and legs begin to shake. I lowered myself to the ground to the sound of a wolf howling, and waited for the trembling to stop.

  *****

  Meg knocked on my door several times asking if I was okay, but I just sent her away. She didn’t even bring up the fact I’d gotten in a fight with Jasmine—Coach Wally had called, of course. I’d gotten nothing more than a disapproving look. Maybe she thought Jasmine deserved it, too.

  I couldn’t get my mind off Caleb and how I would have to confront him sooner or later, this time as his half-sister. But first I had to put things right with Adrian. I called his cell, but it went straight to voicemail. I tried him at his grandmother’s house.

  “I’m sorry, Sarah, but he’s out. Try him on his cell phone.”

  My stomach clenched. “I did. You said he’s out?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Who with?” Please not Jasmine.

  “I don’t know, honey. He just said he was going out. I assume he’s with Caleb.”

  I didn’t think for one minute that Adrian was with Caleb. He was mad at Caleb probably even more than he was mad at me. If he was out with Jasmine . . . but he wouldn’t do that. Would he?

  Adrian supposedly loved me, so how could he just give up on me? How could he just throw away what we had, as well as everything that was supposed to be?

  Restless, I got up and went to the kitchen where Meg was busy making dinner.

  “Did my mom ever talk about my dad?”

  The spoon Meg was using to stir the spaghetti sauce stilled in the pot. Without turning to me she said, “Why do you ask?”

  I grabbed the salt and pepper shakers and held them out to her. She always under-seasoned. “Why shouldn’t I ask? Don’t I have the right to know?”

  Meg stirred in the spices and then replaced the lid on the pot, placing the spoon in the spoon rest with what I thought was exaggerated care. She turned to me and drew a deep breath.

  “Of course you have a right to know. But I have to be honest, I don’t know much.”

  Leaning against the counter, I snagged a carrot and bit off the tip. “Do you know his name?” Sebastian hadn’t told me, and in my general surprise, I hadn’t thought to ask.

  She nodded. “Lucas.”

  “Lucas what?”

  She shrugged and sighed. Loudly. “Lucas. Just . . . Lucas. I don’t know his last name.”

  “Well, what tribe does he belong to?”

  “I don’t know,” Meg said, impatiently. “Your mother never mentioned that.”

  “Where does he live? Somewhere close to the Katori reservation, obviously. Or maybe not,” I said to myself. “I suppose wolves can cover a lot of ground.”

  Meg shrugged again. My questioning was obviously making her uncomfortable. “I don’t know, Sarah. I really don’t know. You forget I was very young when all of this, you know . . .” She let her voice trail off and turned to rinse the colander of lettuce leaves.

  “Did my mom ever mention anything about a guy named Sebastian?”

  Meg, who’d been giving the colander a vigorous shaking under the running water, stopped abruptly. After a moment, she shut the water off and turned slowly to face me. Her eyes narrowed. “How do you know about Sebastian?”

  I stood up straighter and returned the look. “How do you know about Sebastian?”

  Meg gave the strainer another good shake and dumped the contents into a ceramic bowl. Then, choosing a red bell pepper and turning for the sink once more, she took a painstakingly long time washing and drying it. Finally, she selected a paring knife and resumed her spot at the cutting board. All the while I was biting my tongue in order not to scream at her to just tell me already.

  “Shortly after your mother died,” she said without looking at me, “a man named Sebastian paid me a visit.”

  “Sebastian came around?”

  “Sometimes it seems that Sebastian is always around,” she said with
a humorless laugh.

  This was news to me. “Uh, I think I might have noticed a strange man lurking in the shadows.”

  “If he had wanted you to see him, you would have. That doesn’t mean he’s not there.”

  The blood drained from my head and I reached for the counter. I swallowed hard. “Do you see him?”

  She shrugged. “Sometimes. I try to ignore him. Which he can make extremely difficult.”

  “Well what did he want?”

  The knife in her hand made a sharp snick against the cutting board. I saw her swallow. “At first? He wanted to take you away.”

  I blinked. “Take me away? Why would he want to do that?”

  She placed the knife on the counter and turned to me. “I was young, Sarah. David was even younger. We knew nothing about raising a child, and yet all of a sudden we had a child to raise, and without the benefit of a tribe. He wanted to take you back to his people. To be reunited with your father.”

  I blinked again. “Why didn’t my father come for me himself?”

  Meg laughed again under her breath, a sinister sound. “He did once. I told him he wasn’t welcome in my home, and that was that.”

  “Are you crazy? He’s my father!” My voice pitched up in anger with the realization that he could have been a part of my life all along if not for Meg’s meddling.

  “He cost us everything! And he had a hand in your mother’s death, even if not directly.”

  “That’s not fair!”

  “And what happened to your mother wasn’t fair!”

  Her eyes blazed with fury. She turned away then and took a deep breath. When she had finally gotten her emotions under control, she said, “Sebastian came here, apparently without your father’s knowledge. He wanted permission to take you back to his tribe.”

  “Permission which you denied.”

  “Sarah, you were eleven years old. The only family you’d ever known was your mother and grandparents, and David and me. Do you honestly think I would willingly hand you over to Sebastian and Lucas? Your mother hadn’t seen or spoken to Lucas since that day at the reservation, before you were even born.”

  “That you know of,” I said. “How would they know how to find us otherwise?”