Centaur Legacy (25 page)

“So where is he?”

“He didn’t say.” She shook her head
like she was talking to an imbecile. Just because I didn’t want to
lie to her, I didn’t want her turning the waterworks on,
either.

“Well, what
did
he say?”

“He said you were en route to the
airport. He told me to take you home.” I knew if I threw in the
part about protecting her, that’d just piss her off. Cami didn’t
like the idea of anyone “protecting” her. She never had.

“But he didn’t say he’d meet us
there?”

“It didn’t come up.”

She shook her head again, “Let me use
your phone.”

I handed it over and gave her his
number. She didn’t have it on speaker, but I could hear it ringing.
I heard his stupid voice mail playing. “Drake, it’s Cami. I’m fine.
Where are you? I’m at the airport with Daniel and Beau. Call me
back on Daniel’s phone.”

“Cami, he said for us to go back to San
Diego.”

“I’m not going anywhere without
Drake.”

It was dark outside. If we left now we
wouldn’t get into San Diego until the middle of the night. My dad
had sent a pilot up to get his plane a couple days ago, so having
Beau fly us back wasn’t an option. I wasn’t even sure the aircrew
who just flew Cami in would be willing to fly again
tonight.

We’d known each other forever, and if I
forced her to dig her heels in, she’d get bullheaded and fight me
on everything. I took a different approach, “Beau, can you talk to
the pilot and see if he can be ready to leave by nine
a.m.?”

“Sure.” He zipped up his coat, flung
his hood over his head, and walked through the doors toward the
plane.

Cami hadn’t given me my phone back, and
she was gripping it like it was a lifeline. “He’s okay, right? You
saw him?”

“I saw him a couple days ago. He looked
okay to me.”

Her voice started getting shaky, “That
morning at the hotel, four of them attacked him.”

“He told me.”

“What aren’t you telling
me?”

“There’s nothing to tell. He called me
and told me to get you back to San Diego. End of story.”

“Does Zandra have him?”

“Nope. Your grandma, your dad, and all
your brothers, except Beau, took off hours ago.”

“I bet Drake’s looking for
Cameron.”

“Nope. Cameron was on the plane with
everyone else.”

“I know, but maybe Drake doesn’t know
that.”

“Possible. He didn’t mention
it.”

“So tell me what he
said.
Exactly
what
he said.”

“Geeze, Cami, I already
did.”

“I’m not leaving without
Drake.”

I shook my head, “Well then, you might
be here a while.”

“What’s that supposed to
mean?”

“It means. . . it means he isn’t. . .
he broke up, okay? He’s a jerk, and he’s probably the only person
on the planet who I like less than your dad.” My face was warm, my
hands were shaking, and my nerves were shot. I reached over to pull
Cami close. I had to do the same thing when her last boyfriend got
a bad case of the “stupids.”

She backed away from me, unwilling to
accept any comfort I had to offer. Her voice was hallow, “I don’t
believe you.” Her back was arched and fury shot through her eyes.
She thought I was lying to her. Well, wasn’t that a kick in the
pants?

“Okay, don’t believe me. Wait for the
phone to ring. Wait all frickin’ night if you want to. He’s not
calling you back.”

Her eyes narrowed, her brows furrowed,
and she leaned in toward me, accusing me as much with the sound of
her voice as with her words, “What’d you do to him?”

I put my hands up like she had a gun,
“Whoa, Cami. I didn’t touch him. I’ve told you what he told me. If
you want to hang out until the morning for him to prove that he
really bailed, fine. But tomorrow morning, you’re getting on that
plane.” As soon as the words were out, I knew I’d screwed up
royally. I couldn’t help it. She’d been pissed at me before, but
she’d never accused me of something like that. What’d she
expect?

“You can get on that plane tomorrow.
But I’m not going anywhere. Not without him.”

A million things shot through my mind.
He doesn’t deserve her. She’s just going to get hurt. Centaurs are
idiots. Her family turned their backs on her. None of those
thoughts formed into words. As true as they were, I couldn’t hurt
her the way everybody else could.

Drake was right about one thing: I
loved her. I had my whole life. I wish he would take her phone
call. Even if he were a jackass to her, at least she’d know I was
telling the truth and hadn’t done anything to him. If she never
heard from him, she’d always think in the back of her mind that I
was somehow involved or was responsible for sabotaging their
relationship.

(Camille – SD, two days
later)

I’d been searching for two days;
several times I felt close but hadn’t found Drake. I opened the
door at Cameron’s house. I expected the emptiness, the darkness of
the room. He wasn’t inside. I could feel it – Drake had been here.
Even before I shouted, I knew I wouldn’t get a response, “Drake!” I
touched the doorknob, hoping to find some hint of where he might
be. I spoke to him, willing him to hear me, “Drake, if you can hear
me, I’m coming for you.”

I had been concentrating so hard to
find Drake, I was startled when a voice hissed from the hallway,
“Well, isn’t that sweet? My granddaughter, looking for her lover.
Did you lose him?” She had plastered a sentimental look on her face
that was a stark contrast to her acidic words.

I looked her square in the eye, the
hatred I felt for her clear, “What are you doing here?”

“Cameron is all settled in at home. I
flew back to this miserable place. I needed to see how your search
was going.”

“Where is he? What’d you do to him?”
She should be down south, with all of the others. Why was she here?
Zandra was manipulative and vindictive. I wouldn’t allow her to
gain any control over me a second time. I backed myself into a
corner waiting for whatever onslaught she was planning.

“Did to him?”

“You’re responsible. Where is
he?”

“Am I? And how is that possible, my
dear?”

“Drake would never abandon Cameron. If
he were here, he never would have just left with the arrow. He
would have stayed. He never would have left Cameron
alone.”

“Oh, wouldn’t he now? Cameron told you
what happened. You don’t believe your twin? Did you ever ask
yourself what Drake’s motivation was? Why was he so willing to fly
halfway around the world chasing an arrow? It couldn’t be to take
out a feeble old woman – you yourself know he had other
motivations. His soul yearns for the same power that you already
yield. You were his drug, Camille. I’m afraid he’s found something
new to tickle his fancy.”

“Drake only wanted the arrow to stop
you.”

Her evil little grin morphed into a
wide, condescending smile, “Yet, here I am. The arrow was in his
possession. It is gone, and Drake is gone, too. If he was so
worried about you, where is he now?”

This was her trickery; she was more
cunning than I had given her credit for the last time we met. I
wouldn’t make the same error this time. “Say what you want, Zandra.
Drake risked everything for me. I love him.”

“There is a fine line between hate and
love, Camille. The slightest action, with the best of intentions,
can make that line blur.” I wondered silently if this was how she
viewed me, with a blurred line? Loving the idea of keeping a piece
of my mom even after her death, but hating all but the sliver of my
mother she saw in me.

He loves me. He wouldn’t leave me. He
was trying to protect me. Whatever had happened, I wouldn’t let her
words make me believe otherwise. “What do you want?”

“What I’ve always wanted: To honor my
family, the Chiron legacy. Your brother, Cameron, was alone. His
guardian abandoned him when he turned eighteen.” She looked around
the ramshackle house. “He is part of my legacy. I’ve been looking
for him ever since I felt you leave for Ireland.” I froze. I didn’t
know how much she knew about my trip, and I wasn’t about to give
her any more information than she already had. Zandra asked
sweetly, “You met my brother while you were in Ireland. How is
he?”

Reiterating what Zethus, a.k.a. Jeb,
had told me, “Your brother’s dead.”

“That is merely wishful thinking on my
part, I assure you. Zethus is very much still in the land of the
living, although each breath he takes becomes closer to his last.
I’ll let you in on a little secret: I do not fear death. When I
leave this world it will be with a clean conscience. I may be a
tough woman. Some have described me as ruthless and brutal, but
I’ve never taken another’s life.”

“Doesn’t killing your own parents
constitute taking a life?”

“I didn’t kill my parents. I assure
you: they died of natural causes, despite what Zethus’s twisted
mind has led you to believe.”

I didn’t believe a word from Zandra.
She was manipulative and had just admitted she was brutal. The pain
she had inflicted on my mother and on me proved it. This was just
her new way of achieving the same result. Rather than letting any
doubt seep into my mind, I accused her again, “What did you do to
Drake?”

“I did nothing to Drake, you stupid
girl. He found the arrow, and he took it. I tried to protect you
from him and the future I saw for both of you. You still found a
way around me.” A look of disbelief must have shone on my face
because she continued, “With twenty-four hour guards, a betrothal
to an exceptional Centaur – you still found a way. I don’t know
whether to be proud of your cunning or furious with your
intellect.”

“You tried to force me to marry a
Centaur I didn’t choose.”

Zandra stepped closer to me and placed
her hand on my shoulder. “I saw your future, Camille. I saw it the
day you and Drake found one another, before you and I had even been
introduced. I couldn’t allow it to happen if it was within my power
to stop it. Drake is not who you believe him to be, I can assure
you. You do not want to find him.”

Fury with her words erupted with no
warning. “You are a manipulative, deceitful, evil. . . bitch. Think
what you want, Drake saved me from you.”

“Yet, you’ve not married him. Somewhere
inside, you know the truth. Had you married him, you would have an
unbreakable bond – you could find him anywhere. All you have now is
the betrothal bond, which is not enough to locate him. You know he
is not the right one for you. You’ve known it since the
beginning.”

“I don’t believe that.” I turned to
storm away, hoping never again to see this woman.

Her voice caught me as my heavy steps
walked to the door. “Cameron will be at my estate. I hope you’ll
join us soon. Go ahead and look for your Centaur. When you find
him, retrieve my arrow. Zeus’s curse is unforgiving of thieves, and
he has stolen Chiron property.”

“If you don’t know where he is, then he
and the arrow are both safe. He’s hiding it from you.”

“Safe? That is a matter of perspective.
Let me share what I’ve pieced together. I knew Drake Nash’s
intentions toward you. I did everything in my power to stop the two
of you, but he was able to escape and convince you it was your idea
to go. You flew to Ireland. Why? To find an arrow that belongs to
our bloodline. You located the arrow that should have been used
against your enemy – me; but where did it go? I don’t have it. You
don’t have it. Not only does Cameron not have it, he no longer has
its protection. What is your priority now, my dear?”

“Once I’ve found Drake, I’ll be there
to collect my brother.”

“I wish you the best of luck, Camille.
Once you learn the truth about your Drake, you can rest assured no
one else will have you. All the Centaurs will soon know of you and
your ties to the Lost Herd, so finding a suitor now would prove
difficult. I think you have earned the destiny I tried so hard to
keep you from. Enjoy it.”

As I stood holding the door, she walked
past me. I remembered my time at her estate. She cut me off from
everyone. She refused to allow anyone to talk to me. She led me to
believe Drake and Bianca were dead, and she tried to force me to
marry Gage. She was more manipulative than any person I’d ever
known. She was more than capable of lying to me: this was just her
latest lie. Of all the powers I possessed, being a lie detector
wasn’t one of them, but if I had to choose between Uncle Zethus and
my grandmother – I would believe my great-uncle.

Last time she had pretended Drake was
dead when he was safe. I wouldn’t be manipulated by her; I wouldn’t
allow even a morsel of doubt to seep into my mind. I just needed to
find him before she did.

(Camille – looking for
Drake, SD)

I had walked seven miles past Cameron’s
house, following Drake. It wasn’t his scent, or a path through the
snow; it was as if I were following his energy. I couldn’t count
the number of times I’d called him on my cell or called out to him
with my voice and through my mind. I was exhausted. He wasn’t dead,
and I was sure he was close.