Never Let You Fall (The Prophecy of Tyalbrook), Page 2

  Several times in the last few months I had been forced to step in and save her from an unknown threat. At one party, some weasel with his shaggy hair and leather jacket had started to make the moves on her, and she had been wasted enough so that she couldn’t fend him off. What had started out as a drunken make-out session had quickly turned into him trying to get in her pants, and she had only been able to offer mild resistance. The weasel had been pretty messed up himself, so I was able to quickly knock him over the head and thwart his attempt. I left them both laying there and watched as Skye’s friend Janelle found her; calling to Rex to pick Skye up and carry her to the car.

  I had to give Janelle credit - she took care of Skye - when she wasn’t completely wasted herself. Last night though, was a bad night. I had watched from afar as Skye did shot after shot of some purple-looking drink. The same shaggy-haired weasel was there again, with his arm slung over her shoulders, handing her a new drink each time she downed the one before it.

  As I watched her through the large crowd, I saw her suddenly stiffen and lower the drink from her lips. The weasel was whispering in her ear and trying to raise her hand to get her to drink, but Skye’s eyes were wide as saucers; she seemed to be staring at something out across the eastern corner of the back yard. Fear was etched all over her lovely face, and it was that terror which made my own senses heighten to the point where I became aware of a menacing presence. Something was lurking in the shadows and it was coming from the east, where Skye was staring.

  Bound by oath, I stalked the predator that seemed to be watching Skye, all the while worried about what she would do once I was no longer keeping an eye on her. When I returned to the party an hour later, Skye was nowhere to be found. Panic gripped me until I saw the same weasel working on a different unsuspecting female. However, as quickly as the fear had eased once I realized Skye was not the object of his attentions, it boiled back to life when I saw that Janelle was still there.

  I worked my way around the house, quickly expanding the perimeter as I went, searching for any clues as to where she had gone off to. I was relieved when I found a plastic shot cup like the one she had been drinking out of, about 100 feet into the woods to the west of the house. I scanned the area, using my enhanced hearing and eyesight to look for her, and hoped that she had just wandered off into the woods before passing out.

  It took about 30 minutes before I finally found her. Skye had passed out completely; she lay face down on the ground, close to a creek. She had obviously run through the creek, as her shoes and the lower portion of her pants were soaked. Her body shook from the cold, early November air, and she wore only wet jeans and a small shirt.

  Watching her lying on the ground, curled in a ball and shaking, I couldn’t stand it anymore. I decided that I had to help her. There was no way Janelle would search this far in the dark woods to find her, and there were definitely worse things in these parts than the shaggy-haired weasel.

  I took her back to my hotel room, got her cleaned up and in bed, and then sat in the chair next to her and watched her sleep. I came to terms with the fact that by going against Rioden’s plans, the anger that he’d unleash on me would be awful. He would tell me that I’d put her at an unnecessary risk, but I could finally argue against that. The monster that I’d had chased and killed the night before proved that. She was already at risk and without immediate Guardian help, would probably be gone within a week.

  Sliding the key card into the door, I quietly stepped into the room to see that she was still lying on the bed, crying under her pillow. Her sobs were so loud that she didn’t even hear me enter. I let the door close with a bang and she stiffened at the sound, then bolted up; terror filling her eyes as she looked at me.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” I held up the coffee carrier and box of donuts I had picked up that morning in an attempt to ease her fear. “I figured you would be hungry, so I ran out. I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you woke.”

  My eyes took in her messy locks and tear-stained face, and then scrolled down to the bra that she had obviously forgotten was exposed. I saw something like confusion flicker in her eyes, but it was gone in an instant. She took note of my stare and glanced down at herself. Once she realized she had no shirt on, she grabbed the sheet and pulled it up to her chest.

  “Hi,” she responded timidly with a half-smile. “Can I ask what I’m doing here?” She shrugged and motioned around the room.

  “First things first,” I told her as I walked into the bathroom and grabbed her now mostly dry and rinsed out shirt from the towel rack. “Here’s your shirt and some coffee.”

  I stepped towards her, holding the items out like a peace offering, and after a moment she took them both. She slipped on her shirt, which made it easier for me to concentrate, and then wrapped her small hands around the warm coffee cup.

  “Um, thanks.”

  “Skye,” I began, but she immediately interrupted me.

  “How do you know my name? Am I supposed to know you?” Her face was once again a mask of confusion, but I was pleased to see that she wasn’t afraid of me.

  I placed the donut box on the bed and slowly lowered myself to take a seat, raising my eyebrows to silently get her permission to sit. She nodded assent, and I watched as her hair fell over her eyes. My hand itched to tuck it behind her ear as I watched her push it up and off her face.

  “Skye,” I began again. “There are a lot of things I think I should tell you, but many that I just can’t right now.” I swallowed hard as I looked into her warm, chocolaty brown eyes.

  I wondered how and what to tell her, and knew it would have been easier with Rioden around. I mentally kicked myself for not just dropping her off at home last night.

  “Um, honestly I don’t even know where to begin to try to explain myself to you.” I stuttered like a boy on his first date, but I could see that I had piqued her interest with my cryptic explanation.

  She opened up the donut box, took a deep breath and inhaled the sweet sugary smell.

  “Do you have a favorite?” she asked, pointing to the box, and suddenly I was caught up in a memory from 12 years ago…

  “Xander! Xander! Look at them making the donuts!” Skye yelled, as she waved me over to the glass window to watch as fresh donuts were being made by a machine. “Do you think we could buy one of these?” she asked me prettily when I walked up beside her.

  “Sure, whatever Princess Skye wants, she shall get,” I mocked, and bowed to her.

  Her giggles filled the store as she curtsied to me and then turned back to the donuts.

  “Oh yummy!” She licked her lips and sighed, “I want a hot one right off the belt thingy, Xander. Which one is your favorite?”

  I pretended to contemplate all of the choices and then answered her with a smile. “Whichever one is yours, Princess.”

  She laughed again and yanked my arm as she pulled me to the counter.

  “I declare you shall have chocolate with pink sprinkles, Sir Xander,” she laughed.

  And of course because I always did what Skye wanted, I ate the chocolate donut with pink sprinkles while she devoured two fresh, hot glazed donuts just off the conveyor belt.

  “Do you have a preference?” Skye asked, reigning me back in from my memory.

  “Oh, sorry. I just remembered…something. No, you pick whatever you want, I’ll eat anything,” I replied, feeling my face turn a shade redder for sounding like such an idiot.

  Skye picked out a plain glazed one, and I tried not to smile at her as she licked her lips after her first bite.

  “Mmmmm, I don’t know why, but I have always loved them plain.”

  We sat for a moment in silence as we each ate our first donut. Skye kept her watchful eyes on me and I could practically hear the thoughts and questions formulating in that brain of hers.

  “Ok,” she started. “How about if I ask you questions and you answer what you can - is that a deal?” I noted absently that her head tilted to one side like a pup
py’s would as she asked the question.

  When I didn’t answer her, she continued.

  “Look - I know all too well what it’s like to keep secrets. I don’t want to make you say anything you don’t feel you should, but I do have questions. First off, how did I end up in your hotel room in just my underwear? Did we…well, you…” she trailed off in embarrassment; her cheeks staining pink.

  Shaking my head I began to answer her questions. “No Skye, I would never have taken advantage of you in the state you were in.”

  Her relief was obvious as she listened to me.

  “You don’t have any memories, huh? I found you in the woods; you were so out of it that I decided to bring you here. Once you puked all over the carpet there,” I pointed, “I put you in the shower to clean you up.”

  Her cheeks blushed crimson at that, and she bowed her head - either from shame or embarrassment, I couldn’t tell.

  “Thank you for helping me,” she finally replied, and then almost as an afterthought, she lifted her eyes and added, “But why?”

  “Why?” I shrugged. “Oh, you mean why did I help you?”

  She nodded.

  “Well, it was cold out, and you were shaking and wet, and well, I …” I stammered; not sure how to explain away what, to her, seemed like a random act of kindness.

  “Ok, how do you know me?”

  I cleared my throat and considered the best thing to say. “I really can’t answer that right now.”

  “OK….. Well, why do you seem familiar to me, then?” she asked; the frustration building in her voice.

  I tried to hold my emotions in, but hearing her say that I seemed familiar brought a warmth to my chest that had been missing since I was nine.

  “Skye, there are many things that you need to know, but right now I don’t know if you’re ready to hear them. I know this is going to sound crazy, but will you put some trust in me without answers for right now?”

  “What’s your name?” she asked quietly.

  I was impressed with her composure. I had a feeling that most people in her situation would have just told me off, but she didn’t. Not yet anyway. She had been through so much in her short life, so much more than she even knew, yet she sat there calmly in the hopes I would answer her questions. And I sat there knowing that my answers might be the tipping point that finally made her crumble.

  “My name is Xander,” I told her, watching her face carefully.

  After a long moment of staring at me she finally shrugged, “Xander? That’s cool - with a Z?”

  “No, an X.”

  “OK, Xander with an X, I’m intrigued. I haven’t had much of a reason to trust anyone for a very long time, but I’m going to choose to trust you,” she said. Almost as an afterthought she whispered, “Please don’t make me regret this.”

  “Never,” I whispered back.

  Skye

  ‘I’m such an idiot’, I thought to myself, as I sat across from Xander and sipped my coffee. My head was still pounding, but I felt better than I would have expected after the previous night. This guy hadn’t given me anything other than his name and a bunch of questions, but for some reason I had just told him that I would trust him.

  ‘Ugh! What is wrong with you, Skye?!’ I screamed at myself. I would readily admit that he was beautiful, as he sat across from me looking casual in dark jeans, a dark T-shirt and a hoodie. His clothes may have seemed typical, but his looks were anything but.

  His hair was a lighter shade of brown than mine – it was thick, and while short, had that shaggy messed-up look that made you want to run your fingers through it. However, it was the chiseled planes of his face that made it so hard to tear my eyes from. He looked like he had been carved out of a piece of marble and then brought to life. I was almost jealous as I looked at his high, well defined cheekbones - what girl wouldn’t kill for those! - and his lips. Oh my… I could just die!

  I shook myself when I realized that he was grinning at me. I felt my face start to burn as the blood rushed up my body.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled weakly. “I don’t mean to stare, but there is just something so…familiar about you. I keep thinking that if I stare at you long enough I’ll remember it.” I told him all of that in a rush to cover for my blatant infatuation, but as I said it I realized that it was the truth.

  When he had told me his name, my heart actually skipped a beat. ‘Xander, Xander, Xander’ my head kept chanting. Maybe as a kid I knew a ‘Xander’? I had virtually no memories of the life I lived with my parents. Although the doctors initially thought it was strange, later they said that the trauma of losing them must have been so difficult that it had forced me to repress everything. But ever since I’d had heard Xander’s voice, my brain had been swimming with thoughts that maybe he was someone that I should have known.

  What was it about this guy that made me so willing to let down my carefully constructed wall and let him in? His beautiful face, his soothing voice, the fact that he had saved me? I had no idea but I knew I had to trust him.

  I could feel it.

  That was the true reason that I had decided to trust him. My brain - and heart – were telling me that there was something special about Xander. At that point, I was so tired of my life that I found I was willing to follow what was most likely nothing…just to see if it would possibly change the path I was on.

  TWO - NIGHTMARES

  Skye

  After finishing up our donuts and coffee, Xander and I sat for a while in silence; our eyes bouncing around the room, while neither of us looked at each other. He seemed jumpy, almost as if he was waiting for something. His unease began to get to me as I watched him fiddle with the zipper on his hoodie, all while his eyes kept glancing at the door.

  Finally unable to take it any longer, I asked, “Are you expecting someone?”

  “Well, about that…”

  Knock Knock Knock

  “Yep,” Xander finished with a slight smile, and then shrugged at me as he stood up.

  He called out, “Hold up!” to the person knocking on the door, and tossed me my jeans from the previous night.

  “You may want to be wearing pants.”

  I had forgotten about my lack of clothing and quickly jumped up to slip them on. Living in group homes you just got used to a lack of privacy, so I have never been very shy; but I couldn’t help but blush slightly as I took note of Xander. He was checking out my legs as I got uncovered and stood. He quickly shook his head and turned his back, but not before I’d seen the look in his eyes as he had turned around, which caused my heart to give a small leap.

  “Ok, I’m dressed,” I called to him as I pulled the sheets up and sat back on the bed. “Is this a friend of yours?”

  As he started to pull the door open, he glanced back at me with a measure of trepidation. He was nervous, but about what, I couldn’t imagine. I was unable to keep my thoughts from wondering about all the crazy things that could happen to me in a hotel room with two strangers. However, although my mind was playing a reel of worst case scenarios, my heart still felt comfortable. Inexplicably, I felt like I could trust Xander, and I was about to test that theory.

  Stepping through the door was a man like none I had ever seen before. He was handsome, probably in his mid-thirties, and huge! Xander looked about six feet tall, yet this guy towered over him. He was wearing a long, brown leather duster with dirty-looking jeans and a dark shirt. His hair and skin were both dark - everything about him was dark - and I felt the hair on my arms raise as I took in the assassin standing before me.

  ‘Assassin?’ I laughed at myself. Why would I even think that? Because that was what he looked like; a big crazy killer from some movie where he’d be swinging a battle ax and chopping off heads. His eyes took me in for all of two seconds, and then he turned around and slammed the door; giving Xander the most menacing look I had ever seen.

  “Rioden, this is Skye. Skye, this is my uncle Rioden.”

  “Skye,” Rioden nodded with a dee
p voice, and I could have sworn that I saw him slightly bow to me. He must be old school, I thought.

  He turned to Xander again. “What’s going on here?” He asked tightly.

  Assuming that his anger was for finding his nephew in a hotel room with a girl, I jumped up to answer for Xander.

  “Um, Mr. Rioden sir, this isn’t what it looks like...” I started.

  Not even turning towards me, he asked, “Well then, please tell me what is going on, by all means.”

  I tried to take a step towards them as they stood by the door, but as my fear won out, I decided to explain while standing by the bed and leaning against it for support.

  “Xander helped me out last night, and…well, he brought me here, um, because I was sick. Nothing happened between us, though. I swear.”

  Xander stepped around the large man, and then stepped a few feet towards me.

  “Skye, it’s fine - he doesn’t care about that. You don’t have to worry,” he smiled. “But please just call him by his first name, Rioden. Not Mr.”

  He waved for me to sit again, which I did without complaint, since my head was still spinning from the night before.

  Rioden stayed standing by the door, while Xander pulled the hotel chair up to the side of the bed. He plopped himself down on it with ease, stretching his long legs before him.

  “We have a problem that I think we need to discuss with Skye,” Xander explained to Rioden.

  I wondered what he was talking about. What problem? Was that his secret? I noted the way Rioden stiffened as Xander continued; his large hands curled into fists so tight his knuckles turned white.

  “Last night I was at the same party as Skye and we had some crashers show up.”