Blood Debt (Touched Series Book 1) (32 page)

Zandra
came up to me, patted her shirt down with her palms as if to brush away any st
r
ay pollen that m
a
y have landed on her.  We were stopped in front of
a statue of Zeus
. 
I had seen
images of
him many times
,
so when she asked me, “Camille, quickly, who is this
?
”

I answered without hesitation, “Zeus.”

“And do you recognize the woman beside him?”

I knew it was his wife, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember
her name
.  I shook my head
,
and she answered,
“She was Hera.
” I hadn’t studied
G
reek mythology, ever
. 
I think the only reason I recognized Z
e
us was because of Saturday
m
orning cartoons as a kid. 

“Hera was very beautiful
. 
Zeus was proud of her beauty and loved having a handsome wife.  But occasionally someone would admire Hera too fondly, and Zeus would take out his vengeance.
  Have you heard the story of Ixion?”

I shook my head that I hadn’t
,
so
she continued.  “
Ixion was a god Zeus thought
was
a close friend
.  Zeus suspected that Ixion had
romantic
feelings
for Hera
,
but
he wanted to be certain of Ixion’s intentions
with Hera
before he passed judgment on this friend.  Zeus sent a cloud
, Nephele
, disguised as Hera to
learn Ixion’s trustworthiness
.  The cloud bore a child for Ixion, who was named Kentaros.
”

“A cloud, like a cloud in the sky?”

“This was Zeus
.  H
is power was
limitless
,
so
making a cloud take the form of Hera was not difficult for him
.
  When Kentaros was born
,
he was shunned by the gods
as well as
humans and was forced to live out his days, utterly alone.  Eventually, Kentaros moved to the beautiful pastures of Thessaly and bred himself with the mares that lived in the pasture.  Kentaros is the father of all Cent
aurs
.”

“But, I thought that
Centaurs that were half horse were all just a
myth
?”

“No, we are all children of Kentaros.”

I knew using Will’s first name diminished his position in front of
Zandra
,
so I
purposely included
“Dad”
in my response
.  “Dad told me w
e were
descended
from warriors
. 
Gretchen said
that humans
described the warriors
’
speed
as fast as horses, so they began drawing our race as both man and horse.”

“
Camille, you don’t really believe that
,
do you? 
Where does the magic in your veins come from?”

I answered cautiously, hoping not
to
infuriate her
and not wanting to let on that I had my doubts about magic in my blood
, “From my mom and dad.”

“Exactly
.  T
hey were both descendents of Kentaros and his mares. 
Most of the herds
from that original pasture
are
still represented, their magic unabated, their blood pulsating with that of a god.”

“Our ancestors really were half horse?”  The notion still sounded absurd to me
,
but she continued. 

“My given name is
Zandra
Chiron
.  H
ave you heard of Chiron?”

“No.”

She furrowed her brow at me. 
“Chiron was the
noblest
of Centaurs
.  H
ad the
re
been royalty among
Centaurs
, he would have surely worn a crown.  He was unlike many of the
other
Centaurs born on that pasture
.  Most Centaurs were fierce warriors, more prone to battle than civility.  Chiron was different
: 
he was gentle and kind
.  He was a musician, a physician
,
and even
a teacher of
gods
.  One of his prized pupils was Zeus’ son, Hercules.”

“So Chiron was a teacher?”

“As I said, he was a Centaur of many talents.  During a class where Hercules was paying more attention to his lessons than
to
his weapons, he inadvertently sho
t
Chiron with an arrow that had been dipped in the blood of
the Lernaean
Hydra.
”

“A Hydra, that’s the snake that you cut off its head and two more grow in its place, right?”

“
It is similar to a snake
,
but it was a sea creature
. 
Its
blood
wa
s poisonous and br
ought
instant death to humans.  Chiron was an immortal
since
Zeus himself had shared his immortal nectar with him
, so the blood
-
tipped arrow only brought suffering and pain to Chiron.”

“But you just said Chiron was a physician.  If he was an immortal and a doctor, why didn’t he just cure himself?”

“He tried unsuccessfully for years to cure himself.  He begged the other gods to kill him to end his suffering, but
none would kill him
,
and he couldn’t be comforted.”

I looked around, a little worried because
Zandra
seemed to take all of this as reality
,
and a small part of me wondered if a suffering immortal Cent
a
ur was around the corner.  “So what happened?”

“Prometheus was a
Titan
who
stole fire from Zeus and gave it to
man.  Fire was a substance for use by the gods and was not intended to provide warmth to the lowly humans.  As punishment for giving fire to mankind, Prometheus was chained to a rock in Tartarus.  Each day as the sun came up, an enormous
vulture
would come to the rock and
gnaw
his liver
.  E
ach night the liver would grow back.”

“That’s
awful
!”

“
For him, immortality was a fate worse than death – an eternity of physical anguish. 
Hercules, despite his accidental poisoning of Chiron
,
was good.  He watched day after day the suffering that Prometheus was subjected to and asked
Zeus
to release him from his punishment.”
  She saw my interest and asked me,
“Camille,
have
you
not heard this before? 
Did you learn nothing in school?”

Ashamed that I’d never heard these stories, I was intrigued and hoped silently that she would continue.  “I don’t remember any of this.”

“And your mother never shared any of these stories?”

“No, never.”

She kept her contempt masked, but I could see it was there. 
“
Zeus
believed in harsh punishments but was persuaded by the young Hercules to show mercy.  He agreed to let Prometheus free of his punishment if another would take his place.
  Hercules wanted to offer himself up in place of Prometheus,
but
Chiron wouldn’t allow it.  Chiron gave up his immortality and released Prometheus from the rock in Tartarus.”

“But how was he allowed to give up his immortality in Tartarus, if Prometheus couldn’t?”

“Prometheus knew he was being punished and chose to hold on
to his immortality.  He believed eventually he would be forgiven by
Zeus
and his punishment would be over.”

“But Chiron took his place before
Prometheus
was forgiven?”

“Yes, but Chiron’s liver was never eaten by the giant
vulture
. 
Zeus
was so moved by Chiron’s selflessness that he placed Chiron in the stars.  You know him as Sagittarius.
”

“So you’re a direct
descendent
of a constellation?”

“No, I am a direct
descendant
of Chiron who was so loved by Zeus that he was permitted an eternal place in the heavens
to look down
on
and to guide his children
.  In that moment Zeus forgave Ixion for his desires for Hera
and
forgave
Kentaros
for being born.  Zeus bestowed many gifts on the Cent
aurs
.  The men he allowed to keep their warrior instincts and speed
.  T
he women
Centaurs
,
he gave the gifts of communicating with the spirits so that they could always receive guidance from Chiron, the gift of
seeing the future so they might guide their husbands, and
telekinesis so that no object would ever stand in
their
way
.  F
or all Cent
a
urs
,
he gave the gift of mortality
and allowed us to
take
human
form
.”

“
Dying was a gift
?”
 

“Mortality is one of the greatest gifts ever bestowed.  After a long and fruitful life
,
we are able to rest.”  She looked at peace as she finished her story.  In a slightly more brusque tone she said, “
That’s enough for today.  Tomorrow we’ll talk about why Chiron’s bow is always pointed toward
Scorpius
.
”

Zandra
stood to walk away.  “Wait, that’s it?”  She nodded, and took two steps before I yelled, “Look, I’ve been here for two nights.  I need to call my father.”

“I have no use for telephones.  If you want to speak to him so badly, project your thoughts.”

My teeth were clenched, “I don’t know how.”

Her mouth curled up in an evil twist, “Then you obviously need the education I am offering you.”

Zandra
walked out of the garden
,
leaving only my guard and me. 
Forgetting that he couldn’t speak to me, I asked,
“So have you heard all of that before?”  He neither spoke nor acknowledged that I’d uttered a syllable.  “I’m, Camille.  What’s your name?”  Again, not even an acknowledgement that I’d spoken.  I could feel my eyebrows furrow, “What’s next on today’s agenda?”  I got my answer
- more
silence. 

Chapter
25

Daniel
- Thursday

Three days
had passed since I heard from her
.  The call Sunday night had me concerned.  It wasn’t like Cami.  She always put her friends before everyone else.  As stoked as she was about meeting Bianca
Saturday night
, I couldn’t imagine what would have possessed her to put the moves on Bianca’s fiancé
Sunday
.  Something wasn’t right.  I dialed again.  “Damn voicemail,” I said to no one in particular.  No fricken way I’m leaving another voicemail. 

Something was wrong
. 
I could feel it.  No way would she not return one of my calls in three days.  I got on the internet and found William Strayer.  I scratched his number on the back of a receipt and called him.

A lady answered the phone, “Hello.”

“Hi, this is Daniel
. 
I’m a friend of Cami’s.  Could I talk to her
?
”

“Uh. . . Camille isn’t here right now.  Could I take a message?”

“When will she be back?”

“She’s visiting her grandmother in Florida.  I’m afraid I don’t know when she’ll return.”

“Since when does Cami have a grandmother?”