Clan of Redemption (33 page)

“
What’s weird?” Blake
asked.

“
These were in a totally different
language and I couldn’t read them before, but now there in plain
English.” I said as I also flipped through the pages and then
opened up the other books to make sure.

"You read Gaelic?" he raised his
brow.

“
Maybe those herbs are giving you
side effects that we weren’t told about. Do you feel funny?” Blake
put his hand on my forehead.

“
I feel fine, are you telling me
that you can’t read these.” I asked.

“
Yes, I see random scribbling that
doesn’t look anything like English.” Blake said as he sat back and
drank his tea.

“
Why would I be able to see this
now and not then.” I asked out loud. I wasn’t looking for answers I
was just talking to myself but I guess I said it to both of
them.

“
Has anything changed since then?”
he asked turning towards me more.

“
Not really…other than the..” I
started to answer when I looked down and was rubbing the ring that
my Mother had given me. “Not really, other than I found out I am a
shape shifter, part of some secret society of freaks.” I said flip
idly.

“
I deserve that one, but there is
one more thing that is new to you,” he said as he grabbed my hand
and pointed out the ring on my finger. “And I would say that the
matching necklace under your shirt would also be something very
new,” he said as he laid my hand back down.

“
So you know about the ring and
necklace, I thought they were a secret. I didn’t tell you,” I said
as I raised my eyebrow at him. All my suspicious thoughts about him
starting to come back again. How did he know about the ring and
necklace.

“
You’re absolutely right, you
didn’t tell me, but Jayden…if something that has been in our
society since we first came to be, do you really thing that it’s a
secret?" he said as he sipped on his tea.

I lowered my head and let my hair
fall in my face, in shame. Of course he right, why would I think
that people didn’t know. I looked across the room at Thornton and
he shook his head in agreement.

“
Right…I guess I’m still a little
suspicious about what's happening to me,” I said as I peaked at him
around my hair.

“
Oh Jayden..did I embarrassed you.
That wasn’t my intention, but you really need to start thinking
about these things. Your family has been handed down the power to
watch out for our people and you need to be on your toes. I can't
imagine the powers that be are all that happy with how we've
handled our gift,” he said as he pushed back my hair and tucked it
behind my ear.

“
I might be a little, and I mean
just a little, embarrassed. I guess my mind hasn’t wrapped around
this whole thing yet, and with Sully being missing, it’s just been
really difficult,” I said as I started scanning the pages of the
journal.

“
Sully’s going to be ok, really.
We haven’t had a murder between our people that I know of. Try not
to worry. I can see that you have some reading to do, and there
might be something in there that you need, so while you’re reading,
I’m going to run some errands,” Blake said as he lightly tapped my
leg with his hand as he got off the sofa.

“
That’s fine; it looks like I have
some reading to do,” I smiled up at him.

“
I have a favor to ask of you,”
Blake asked as he starred down at me.

“
Yes, you can borrow my car. Just
please be very careful with it, it was a gift,” I said as I dug in
my jeans to retrieve my keys.

“
Are you looking for these,” Blake
asked as he jingled the keys in front of me.

“
Right, you were the last one to
drive,” I said.

“
I’ll be careful with your car,
and try to get some sleep after you read up,” Blake said as he
walked out the door.

“
Thornton, thanks for the treats,
they were wonderful. Have you ever thought about working in a
restaurant, or at a bakery?” I asked him.

“
I have, but I was in that half
human half beast for so long that I couldn’t work, but now that you
have fixed that I could think about it. I would love to open my own
café, with coffee’s, tea, and of course my bake goods. Maybe even
some lunch food, who knows,” he said as he picked up the tray to
take it back to the kitchen. “I also think that I’m going to go
out, Sydney has asked me to come and help her with a few projects.
Between her and your Grandfather, I don’t know what I would have
done all these years.”

“
Well enjoy yourself and tell
Sydney I said hi,” I said as I tucked my legs up under my body and
snuggled deep into the pillows on the sofa and started to the read
the story behind the shape shifters beginning….well that would
include me.

***************

It was not a good time for our
clan, the land was dying, the people were starving, and the
fighting was killing so many and draining the life from the rest.
It was a time that most want to forget, but I write in these
journals so that it’s not forgotten.

I read for almost two hours, my
eyes felt heavy and dry, but I wanted to read on. I was learning
all about our history, where we came from and some of our laws. I
didn’t want to stop reading but I could hardly keep my eyes open
and I was so tired that I was reading the same sentence over and
over again.

“
I need to try and read just a
little more,” I said to myself as I drifted off to
sleep.

“
Jayden,” I heard Thornton call
out my name, but I was too tired to open my eyes.

I felt like I was floating through
the air, but I realized that it was Thornton carrying me up the
stairs. I guess he didn’t like to see me sleeping on the sofa. He
put me down ever so softly, in a bed that was mine for now and
covered me up with a light weight blanket. I didn’t open my eyes,
but the blanket felt soft like cashmere, it helped me drift back
into deep sleep.

The Council

I don’t know how long I slept, but
when I woke up, and before I could open my eyes, I could hear
someone breathing.

“
Are you awake?” I heard Blake ask
me.

“
Yes, how long did I sleep?” I
asked him while I stretched me arms and legs to their
fullest.

“
For a few hours, how are you
feeling?” Blake asked.

I opened my eyes and Blake was
sitting next to me on the bed, starring. It was making me a little
uncomfortable, not the kind that I didn’t like, but almost a little
self-conscious.

“
I feel…great actually. That’s the
best sleep I’ve had in days,” I said as I sat up against the head
board.

“
Good, that’s really good. We have
about an hour before we have to meet Xavier and Logan for dinner.
Did you learn anything interesting from the journals?” He
asked.

“
Actually I did, but I didn’t get
as far as I wanted, I feel asleep reading them,” I said as I
starting bring up the memories of what I had read.

“
Well I’m sure that you’ll have
more time later to read them, but in the mean time, I brought you
something to wear to the council meeting tonight.” Blake said as he
reached down and handed me a box with a crimson bow.

"A present for
me! And it's not even my birthday, well it was last week, but
you didn't know that," I said as I snatched the box out of his
hands.

Greedy much.

"Actually I did know
that it was your birthday, and I guess you could call
this a present. Why don't you go take a shower and get cleaned
up then you can open this," he said as he showed me
that grin that makes me turn a little flush colored. I
guess he didn't mind it that I snatched at it like a greedy
kid.

Blake left the room and I
got up slowly, not really ready to wake up yet, I think maybe it's
because I'm a little nervous about the meeting tonight. It seems
like I'm going to be the main attraction and I'm not use to being
the center of attention.

I started walking towards
the bathroom and I could see a faint hint of flickering yellow
light coming from under the door. I pushed the creaking door
open slowly and saw the bathroom full of candles. They lined
the bathtub, the sink, the window ledge and the floor, almost to
the point of a fire hazard. Did Blake do this? It's
beautiful and sweet.

"You know, Jayden, they're
only candles, they won't hurt you. I just thought that
you might need some tranquility.”

“
You startled me," I
whipped around, "…thanks, I was just surprised I guess. You
didn’t have to do this for me, a simple shower would have
sufficed,” I said.

“
I know, but you should
have the best. Are you telling me that Logan hasn’t pampered you
before?” he said with a smirk on his face.

“
Blake, Logan and I are
friends, it’s not like that,” I said.

“
That’s not what I saw
when Logan transformed back today. You ran to him and about
knocked him out with affection.” I couldn't read his expression
which bothered me.

“
I hadn’t seem in him days
and for awhile I thought he was dead, so I was really happy to have
him back in human form, or any form for that matter.” I spat out at
him.

“
Well are sure that he
doesn’t feel more for you, the way he looks at
you?” 

“
He's supposed to protect
me, I guess that’s where that’s coming from.”  I didn't know
what else to say, or what he wanted me to say.

When I didn't say
anything..“Well anyway, enjoy your bath,” Blake said as he ran
his fingers across the middle of my back as he walked
away.

The goose bumps rippled up
instantly and ran across my entire body throwing my body into a
full scale shake.

“
You better get into that
tub before you freeze to death.” Blake mistook my shivers as
being cold, until I saw his smirk.

Why does he made me feel
shy and embarrassed? Logan doesn’t make me feel that way. I
can’t think of one boy that does make me feel that way. When
he’s around or touching me I can feel every sensation from the tips
of my toes to hair follicles on my head.

“
Jayden, just stop
thinking about boys right now, you have more important things to
think about right now,” I said to myself as I closed the
bathroom door and laid my towel down on the toilet and sank myself
into the warm bubbly bath claw tub. The water reached almost
to the bottom of my neck, and I had to really focus on not falling
asleep or I might just sink right under the water, it was that
comfortable. 

I cleared my mind of all my
stressful thoughts, between worrying about Sully’s safety and if I
really wanted this life for myself and how that would affect my
relationship with my father. I tried to think of nothing, but
thoughts kept popping up of different things that have happened
over the past few days. Finally I started to relax and just
think of nothing, I wonder if that’s part of meditating.

The bath felt so relaxing,
at times I had to sit up a little more with being afraid that 
I might just slip right under the water. There must have been
something in the water because my skin felt softer than normal,
almost a silky feeling. 

“
Jayden…I need you…Jayden,
can you hear me?” A voice screamed in my head.

I had been so relaxed that
when I heard this screaming it scared me so bad that I thought my
heart was going to jump right out of my chest. I was so
startled that when I tried to sit up I slipped down and received a
mouthful of water which starting a chocking episode.

“
Jayden, is everything
alright in there?” Blake asked as he opened the door just a
crack.

“
I’m ok, did you a say
something to me?” I asked him as I was whipping the suds from
my face.

“
No, I was down the hall
and heard you. Are you sure you’re ok?”  Blake
asked.

“
Yes…I’m fine, I must have
falling asleep. I’m ok. I’ll be out in a few minutes.” I
grabbed the sides of the tub and started to pull myself up, the
room was full of a warm mist in the air from the hot water, it
reminded me of a light fog. As I was stepping out of the tub
my head rose up towards the sink and in the reflection in the
mirror I saw a figure, it was trying to talk to me, gesturing with
its hands. It startled me enough that I just starred at it in
awe. I’m sure only seconds went by, I snapped out of and it
and started to raise my body towards the mirror and it was
gone.

Did I really see
that?

I stepped out of the tub
and dried myself off as best I could. Laying on my bed was the
outfit that Blake had chose for me, along with the present and the
pretty red satin bow.

Blake came walking in and
I asked him, "Wow, this is beautiful, it's well....what is
it exactly." I pulled the the almost modern, but
with a hint of well I wasn't sure what type of piece
this was.

"You're going to be
meeting with the council, and that means that you need to be
prepared. This was the only way that I could think to
help you out," Blake said as he moved the box so that I
could look at this scarf?