Centaur Legacy (19 page)

Something important was
going on. Before we moved from our airport seats, I called my
brother. “Norman, it’s me. Lacey and I just landed in Rapid City,
South Dakota. It’s a long story and not one to share over the
phone. There are at least twenty
family
planes at the airport, and
from the looks of it, at least that many chartered planes, as well.
Do you know what’s going on here?”

Norman and I spoke almost every day. He
had always had a knack for knowing when something important was
going on. I was disappointed when he answered, “In South Dakota?
No, I haven’t heard a word. Do you want me there?”

“No. We’ve only just arrived. I need
you to find out what’s going on. Call me back.”

I flipped the phone shut. Lacey looked
at me, questioning without words. “Sweetheart, we don’t know what
we’re walking into. I don’t want to sound callous, but as of this
morning you are no longer betrothed. Promise me you’ll take
precautions. Stay with me at all times.”

Her green eyes looked up into mine. She
knew my meaning without me having to say it. From the time she was
sixteen, I’d had fathers applying pressure to me for a betrothal. I
wanted to give her as much time as I could, but sadly I had only
been able to buy her two years.

When she turned eighteen, I told her
she needed to choose a Centaur or I would select one for her.
Centaur fathers could be ruthless: I’d had my job threatened,
envelopes stuffed with cash nearly forced on me, and one that made
me laugh – season tickets to the Chargers. Lucky for Lacey they
hadn’t had a winning season! Thankfully, Lacey made her own
decision. She’d selected Ted on her eighteenth birthday. He had
been close to her age, headstrong and willful, but he had been her
choice. I breathed a sigh of relief after making the phone call to
Ted’s parents.

A sadness that only a father could
understand washed over me. She wouldn’t be given long to grieve
before Centaurs would again be bombarding her. I sympathized with
their desperation. I felt for the Centaurs, but few, if any, knew
of the emotional toll on the Centaurides.

Lacey knew which hotel the others were
gathering in. We drove to the hotel with little conversation. I was
too lost in thought, dreading the coming months. All Centaurides
were prized, but Lacey’s bloodline was predominantly from the
Barber herd. As a result, she could see the future, sometimes just
glimpses, other times with uncanny accuracy. When word spread of
her abilities at sixteen, I was overwhelmed by the number of
Centaurs who came to introduce themselves. I dreaded that the same
process would start all over again, too soon.

Lacey stayed close to me while I
checked us in. She was careful not to make contact with anyone,
preferring instead to stay close to my side with her eyes pointed
toward the floor.

“Lacey? Lacey is that you?”

She cautiously looked at the young
Centaur who had approached. I heard her let out a breath as if
pleased to see him. “Daniel, oh, I was worried we wouldn’t be able
to find you.”

He asked, “What’re you doing here?” I
looked at the Centaur standing in front of Lacey. No, he wasn’t a
Centaur – he was human. I instinctively took a step in front of
her.

Lacey pushed my arm to shove me to the
side. “Get a grip, Dad. This is Daniel Ward. He’s a friend of Beau
Strayer.”

I was confused: Centaurs and humans
didn’t mix. They were beneath us. The last thing I needed was a
half-breed in the mix now that she was available. Instead of
forcing myself between them, I waved the little plastic cards and
said, “Lacey, I’ve got our key cards. Let’s go.”

She glared at me. I hadn’t seen her do
that in years, and I took a step away as if her stare could produce
a laser beam. I doubted a laser could inflict much more damage than
she could. She turned her attention back to the half-breed. “So,
you didn’t get here in time?”

The half-breed’s face was laced with
pain. His voice lowered when he answered, “No. We were too late.”
He reached out and put a hand on Lacey’s shoulder. I felt a
guttural growl release from me on pure reflex. Lacey shot me a
second glare. He ignored my warning and added, “But, hey, thanks
for your help earlier. We wouldn’t have even known if you hadn’t
told us. They got her a few hours before we got here.”

“I’m so sorry.” Lacey hated it when she
couldn’t stop the bad premonitions. I was silently kicking myself
for not asking more questions during the flight. This had to have
been a tough day for her: two premonitions in the same day and both
had come true.

The half-breed asked, “So, what are you
doing here?”

She chewed her lower lip. Lacey only
did that when she was nervous about something. “I thought maybe I
could help. I mean, I’ve been having weird visions all day. I don’t
know who she is, but I think I was connected to her for a while.
Not long after you left the hospital, I tried to connect with her.
I tried to warn her, but I couldn’t make the connection. I could
see things through her eyes, at least for a little while, then
everything went black. I didn’t know what happened, but I thought
you might need me.”

A Centaur walked past and Lacey began
shouting. “You, hey! Hey, you. Yes!” Lacey had gotten the Centaur’s
attention and motioned him over. Without any of the manners she
seemed to come by naturally, she blurted out, “Who are
you?”

The Centaur didn’t take offense, but he
responded, “Excuse me?”

“My name’s Lacey; I’m a seer.” A look
without any sort of recognition spread on his eyes as she
continued, “I saw you a few hours ago in a vision. The girl, you
were with the girl!”

The Centaur’s expression soured. He
nodded respectfully, “Yes. I was. I’m Drake Nash. I was with her. .
. I was there. . . when they took her.” His voice cracked. I wasn’t
sure how all the pieces were fitting together. Lacey had come to
help the Centaur who pulled her from the car accident, Beau
Strayer, who we had yet to meet. A Centauride important to him was
in danger, but it was not his wife or his betrothed. Judging from
the reaction of this Drake Nash in front of us, Drake had been the
Centauride’s betrothed.

I grew tired of trying to assemble the
jigsaw puzzle while I was still missing pieces. I stepped forward
and asked, “I’m Lacey’s father. Who was taken?”

The Centaur who stood before me was
broken. Not the physical injuries, although he must have been in a
tough battle and fought hard. There was no swelling in his face,
but the remnants of bruises that were only hours old still shadowed
his face. He answered, “It was Camille Strayer.”

“Who is Camille Strayer?” Hmmm, Beau
Strayer, the Centauride had to have been a sister or a cousin. That
explained his connection. I didn’t know the name Camille Strayer as
anyone of importance, certainly not enough to warrant this much
attention.

Drake’s answer was absent any emotion
when he answered, “Her mother was Angela Chiron.”

I felt my heart skip. It couldn’t be.
Angela was dead, or so I and every other Centaur believed. She was
the closest thing to nobility any of us had ever known. Angela had
been of betrothal age when I was. Every Centaur on the planet knew
of Angela: she was the last female Chiron; then she disappeared.
She had been betrothed to Winfield and Unice’s descendant, Kyle
Richardson.

We all believed she’d
backed out of the marriage, so he had killed her. Her body was
never found, and he had never been held accountable for the crime.
It couldn’t be. I wanted to make sure I had heard him correctly,
“I’m sorry, you said this Camille,
she
was the daughter of Angela
Chiron?”

He nodded. “She was kidnapped late this
morning.”

Rage grew within me. How could this
have happened? It was every Centaur’s duty to defend the Chiron
family. Why was her safety in the hands of one Centaur? “Has the
Centaur Council been notified?”

Drake shook his head, “I don’t know.
Her father is over there.” Drake pointed to a Centaur surrounded by
young Centaurs. He was not someone I’d seen before. I’d never
claimed to be very political, but having a Centauride of age forced
me to get to know the influential families. I had never heard of
William Strayer.

My curiosity had definitely been
piqued. I didn’t like the idea of leaving Lacey alone, but she
seemed to feel comfortable with them. I would only be a few feet
away. “Lacey, excuse me. Remember what I told you.”

“I remember, Dad. I’ll be
okay.”

So many thoughts were racing in my
mind, I had trouble keeping up. When I was mere feet away, I held
out my hand to the distraught father, “Mr. Strayer, my daughter,
Lacey, and I are at your service. She is a seer; how can we
help?”

He held out his hand, “Hello, brother.
I’m William Strayer. These are my sons. We are mounting a search
now.”

“Did I hear it correctly? Your daughter
is the daughter of Angela Chiron?”

A stoic expression looked back at me.
“Yes. Yes, she is.”

“Has the Centaur Council been
notified?”

William flinched, “Not yet. We didn’t
want to draw more attention to ourselves than we already have.
Right now we’ve taken over this entire hotel. There are no humans
other than the hotel staff.”

“You are mistaken,” I angled around and
turned to the half-breed Lacey spoke to. “There is one over there
talking to my daughter.”

“Ah, yes. That’s Daniel. Although his
blood isn’t pure, his Centaur lineage is strong. He’s a close
friend of Camille, so he has been permitted to stay.”

“Your daughter has a half-breed friend?
As a pet?”

William laughed heartily, and I could
tell from his reaction that he did not approve of this friendship.
I was pleased that Lacey had never befriended one. “No, Camille was
raised as human. She’s a recent addition to the Centaur
society.”

I started assembling what he had said
in my mind. Camille was the daughter of Angela Chiron and William
Strayer. William had four sons flanking him, but they could not be
Angela’s. Chiron Centaurides only gave birth to a single set of
fraternal twins: always a son and a daughter. How was this
possible? He could not be the father of Angela Chiron’s daughter
unless his sons were adopted. But the resemblance between William
and his sons was uncanny. They were not adopted.

To make sure I wasn’t missing
something, I asked for clarification. “But these Centaurs are your
sons?”

“Yes, Brent, Ben, Bart, and Bruce,”
each nodded a silent greeting as William pointed to them. His eyes
darted around the room, as he added, “Beau is around here
somewhere.”

Still not understanding,
“You have five sons
and
you fathered twins with Angela?”

William lowered his voice, “I do not
have time to share the details with you. As you can imagine, in
this instance, notifying the Centaur Council would not be in
Camille’s best interest. I appreciate your offer to assist, but
understand if you lack conviction.”

Lack conviction? William Strayer broke
the first of Zeus’s seven tenants. Those were the rules set down by
Zeus himself: they were the laws all Centaurs followed. How could
he have taken two wives? It wasn’t possible. “William, it is not my
conviction in question, it is your integrity. Camille cannot be the
daughter of Angela Chiron.”

He didn’t answer me. I saw a petite
older woman with long flowing silver hair step through the hotel
entrance. All the Centaurs in the lobby backed away to allow her
passage. She was walking directly toward William. I would recognize
her anywhere. It was Angela’s mother, Zandra Chiron.

The woman didn’t acknowledge my
presence. Instead she asked, “William, have you located
Camille?”

“Zandra, I’m so glad you could join
us.” From William’s tone, nothing could have been further from the
truth. “I trust you had a pleasant trip?”

“No small talk, William. Do you know
how much attention you’re drawing to us? You booked an entire
hotel, kicked out the humans, and the airport looks like O’Hare.
Are you an idiot?”

His answer was respectful. “I believed
it better to relocate the humans to avoid the risk of their
overhearing what we are or what we’re doing here. The hotel staff
believes we are here for a family reunion. They’ve been told we
require no support, so what little staff is on hand is simply
handing out room keys and conducting parameter surveillance. I
called the airport. All available pilots are shuttling aircraft to
Omaha, Sioux City and Denver to private hangars; only five private
jets and five charters will remain in Rapid City.”

Zandra nodded. I shouldn’t be party to
this conversation. My curiosity, rather than having been satisfied,
grew by leaps and bounds. I needed to call my brother, Norman, and
fill him in. I backed away a few steps, allowing the two to
strategize as I walked back over to the area of the lobby where
Lacey stood.

She was very animated when
I returned. “Dad,
this
is Beau.”

I sized him up. He looked very much
like his father, which worried me. His father had children with two
different Centaurides; he had broken the first of the seven
tenants. He couldn’t keep this a secret. His actions will bring the
wrath of the Centaur Council down on his family. Putting on my best
poker face, I held out my hand to Beau and said, “I understand I
owe you a thank-you for your actions this morning.”