Qaletaqa (21 page)

He was amazed at how many shades of red her
beautiful face could hold.

“Thanks,” Melody said, embarrassed again.

Harvey’s smiled grew wider.

“You look good, too,” she said when she
recovered.

Harvey hoped she meant it. He had spent way
longer than usual getting ready for their date. He really wanted to
impress her.

“Should we go in?” he asked.

Melody nodded enthusiastically. He led her
over to a side entrance where Carlton was waiting for them. Harvey
had given him an idea of what he wanted, but he had to work that
day and couldn’t be there to help set up. He wasn’t sure what to
expect, but the candlelit table sitting under a tree took both
Melody and Harvey by surprise. Predator Ridge, home to the large
cats, had been transformed into a romantic vision with the single
table.

The tree had twinkle lights strung through
its branches, illuminating the intimate two-person table covered
with a white linen table cloth, tapered candles, and formal
dinnerware. Carlton had really outdone himself. Or more likely his
wife, Annette, the interior decorator had. Carlton didn’t have a
single creative bone in his body. Melody’s hand tightened around
Harvey’s and he couldn’t help but pull her a little closer.

A couple approaching them brought Harvey and
Melody out of their amazement. Carlton and Annette walked up,
confirming Harvey’s guess about the décor. After introducing them
to Melody he thanked them both for their help. Carlton promised to
be back to give Melody a guided tour in an hour before he and
Annette left the two of them to enjoy their evening. Harvey led
Melody to their table and held her chair as she sat down. He was
quick to take his place as well.

Harvey would have been happy just sitting and
staring at her all night, but he thought that would probably make
her uncomfortable and ruin any chances at a second date.

“What’s your favorite animal?” he asked.

“I don’t know if I could name just one,” she
said, “but if I had to pick, I’d have to say dogs.”

His eyebrows rose. He had been expecting
something more exotic. “Not orangutans, or ibexes, or spotted tree
frogs?”

Melody laughed. “I don’t think tree frogs are
considered animals. I guess I’m just not that sophisticated,” she
said. “I’ll take a playful puppy over an orangutan any day.”

Harvey had a whole slew of questions prepared
for Melody, but most of them were forgotten as they talked about
their pets, school, family, plans for the future, and everything in
between. It had been kind of strange hearing Melody talk about her
high school life while Harvey told her about his college classes,
but the strangeness didn’t last very long.

There weren’t that many things they had in
common, aside from their love of animals and the outdoors, but
their differences didn’t seem to bother Melody any more than they
did Harvey. He could easily see himself trying out some of the
things she liked to do, like watching documentaries, or painting,
or ice skating. There was little doubt in his mind that Melody
wouldn’t do the same for him.

They had spent a combined total of only a few
hours together, but Harvey had no problem imagining sharing the
rest of his life with her. The most difficult part of being with
Melody would be scaling back his affection to keep from scaring her
off. Their meals slowly disappeared without either of them really
noticing. Harvey barely remembered eating any of the food, but he
remembered every word she said. When their desserts were gone, he
was sad to see the empty plates.

Melody, however, grabbed his hand and pulled
him from the table when Carlton reappeared and asked if they were
ready for some animal encounters.

“What are we going to see?” she asked as we
joined him at entrance to Predator Ridge.

“We’re going to see the monkeys,” Harvey
said.

“Really?” Her excited squeak made him laugh.
He pulled her close, feeling like they had been together for months
instead of mere hours.

They followed Carlton through the zoo, their
clicking footsteps mixing in with the gentle rumbling of animals
settling in for the night. An autumn breeze followed them down the
path, swirling Melody’s dress around her legs and her hair around
her shoulders. She kept brushing her bangs out of her eyes, but her
smile never left her face. Harvey hoped it stayed there
forever.

They stopped, and Harvey realized that
Carlton was already talking, explaining the rules of how to handle
the monkeys. Melody was listening very carefully, and Harvey
decided he probably should as well.

It took almost ten minutes to get through the
instructions. The rules all seemed pretty simple, things common
sense would tell you to do, like not putting their fingers near the
monkey’s mouths or feeding them anything Carlton hadn’t approved.
Harvey was pretty sure Melody hadn’t stuffed anything from her
plate into her pocket to give the capering monkeys, but you never
knew. Carlton certainly didn’t know anything about Melody.

Carlton excused himself for a moment and left
to retrieve the monkeys. Melody watched the door, her smile
doubling in size when he marched back into the room with two
capuchin monkeys perched on his shoulders.

“All right then, who wants to go first?” he
asked.

Melody looked over at Harvey, her expression
begging for permission to jump in line ahead of him. This night was
for her. He smiled and motioned for her to take the lead. She
quickly stepped up to his friend. The other capuchin got set on
Carlton’s should as he began helping Melody. Harvey couldn’t say he
was quite as enthusiastic about holding the monkeys as Melody was,
he doubted anyone was, but it was fascinating to see them up close.
Watching Melody with the squirming monkey proved even more
entertaining, though.

Melody held the furry little creature as if
she had been doing it all her life. Harvey suspected that a frisky
puppy was little different from a monkey to her. Although puppies
probably didn’t climb across her shoulders and pick at her hair
very often. Her eyes crinkled in laughter when the monkey did
that.

Harvey watched her for a few more minutes
before Melody waved for him to join her. “Harvey, this is so much
fun! Get up here so you can hold Camilla.” She gently untangled the
monkey’s arms and tail from around her neck and held it in her arms
so she could watch Harvey. Carlton stepped back, letting Melody
take the lead in showing Harvey how to hold the animal.

The encounter passed quickly, and enjoyably,
and soon they were walking back to where they had come in. Annette
met them along the way, asking whether they enjoyed their
encounter. Melody’s enthusiastic response made everyone smile.
After they were sure Harvey and Melody knew how to get back out of
the zoo, Carlton and Annette left them alone again. Harvey led
Melody slowly across the courtyard. He was reluctant to let go of
her hand.

“Thank you for tonight,” Melody said, keeping
her head down. “I had a really great time.”

“I’m glad you liked it,” Harvey said. “To be
honest, I was a little worried about bringing you here. I thought
the zoo might be a little much for a first date.”

“No, it was great. It didn’t even feel like a
first date, actually.” She finally looked up at him with a nervous
smile.

Harvey grinned back at her, thrilled that he
hadn’t fabricated the connection between them. “I felt the same
way,” he said.

Her nervousness fell away immediately. Melody
pulled his arm around her shoulders and leaned into him. He felt so
comfortable with her by his side. When they reached her car, he
didn’t want to let her go. Melody hesitated before finally pulling
away and digging her keys out of her purse. She didn’t make a move
to actually leave, though.

“Do you want to do this again?” Melody asked.
“Not the zoo particularly, but maybe we could catch that movie
sometime.”

Harvey tried to suppress his grin and look
halfway casual, but he knew he was failing miserably. “How about
tomorrow?”

Melody’s grin grew to match his. “Sounds
great.” She opened her car door, but popped back over to him,
planting a quick kiss on his cheek before disappearing into her
car. Harvey watched her pull away, already knowing that his time
away from her would be spent wishing he was near her again.

***

Harvey’s story lingered in my mind, even
after he finished his tale and ended the call to check in with a
friend that was helping him with the meeting locations. The memory
hadn’t proved quite as painful as I had expected. Sure, the story
had me smiling as I could almost feel Melody’s excitement, and I
could certainly relate to Harvey’s anxiety about pleasing Melody,
but very little of the story pulled me any closer to her. Not until
the very end.

Harvey mentioned the kiss briefly, but even
his few words had inspired a sudden surge of jealousy in me. The
feeling startled me to the core, but I couldn’t push it away. I
barely heard anything after that, and was grateful when Harvey hung
up.

At first I had enjoyed hearing the story,
glad Harvey and Melody did share such a deep connection, but the
mention of Melody’s chaste kiss awoke a desire to have felt that
myself instead of Harvey. What did her lips feel like? How would I
have felt at their touch? My heart raced at the thought of seeing
her tonight. It would be so easy to find out the answers to those
questions. A shift in Claire’s folded legs made me aware of her
presence.

The steering wheel jerked as my hands quickly
tightened around it. Shame and guilt sent my heart speeding faster
than my previous thoughts ever could have. How could I think about
such a thing? With Claire sitting right next to me no less? My eyes
were instantly drawn to her carefully covered arms. I knew what hid
under the thin cloth. She had risked so much for me, and I had let
my heart wander at the mention of one quick kiss. I turned my face
quickly away from Claire, as much as I could and still keep my eyes
on the road. Claire knew my expressions too well. One look at my
face and I could imagine the expression hers would hold.

I had seen Claire disappointed with me only
once before, but it had cut deep enough to make me never want to
see that look again. I wondered if maybe I should have let Claire
take this task instead of me. Maybe she would have spared me the
small detail of the kiss at the end. It was only a peck on the
cheek, after all. It couldn’t possibly matter that much to
Melody.

I knew that to be a lie as soon as the
thought formed. The first kiss I ever received from Claire was a
horribly painful experience due to what I now know was her trying
to steal my power, but it was one of the sweetest memories I had of
her. I knew then that I would suffer any amount of pain to stay by
her side. I knew the power one kiss had to change the course of a
life.

I would retell the story to Melody, exactly
as Harvey had told it to me, kiss and all, even if it left me
looking for a blade of my own.

20: Alfalfa and
Strawberries

I looked over at Uriah. The sudden lurch of
the car a few seconds earlier had broken my concentration for a
moment, but the way Uriah suddenly pulled away from me had me
breaking off mid-sentence. He was hunched over a little, like he
often did when he was upset. With him turned away from me, I
couldn’t tell what was bothering him.

The fact that he was trying to hide the cause
irritated me to no end, but I could hear Kaya saying my name,
asking me if I was still there. We were right in the middle of a
very strange lesson. I wanted to hang up and drag whatever was
bothering Uriah out him, but he had really wanted me to speak with
Kaya. He truly believed this would help and not hurt our chances of
finding the Matwau’s hidden meeting place. And whether I agreed
with him or not, I had promised to try. Uriah’s secret struggle
would have to wait.

“Sorry, Kaya, Uriah distracted me for a
minute. What were you saying?” I asked.

Kaya muttered something about being
distracted, but was quick to get back to the lesson.

“You have to learn to concentrate better,
Claire. Learning to use your talents takes a great deal of focus,
especially in the beginning,” Kaya said. “Once you’re more
practiced it will come more easily, but as new at this as you are,
you’ll need every ounce of concentration you can muster.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” I wanted to say
something about Uriah’s sudden shift in attitude, but that would
only make Kaya worry. Then neither of us would be able to
concentrate. I needed to focus on the lesson, not gossip. “What
would you like me do?”

“Well first off, I want you to promise you
will keep practicing those focusing exercises I taught you. You’ll
get nowhere without mastering those first,” Kaya said.

“I’ll practice as often as I can,” I said. I
would, but I was dying to move on to something new. Sitting quietly
and emptying my mind wasn’t very easy to do in a moving car, not to
mention with several people’s fates and lives hanging on my ability
to master this.

“Uriah mentioned you learning about seeing
the possibilities of someone’s future,” Kaya said. “I can guess at
the reason for that, so I’ll try, but you have to understand that
this is usually one of the last things a student is taught. Because
it’s one of the most difficult to master. I am still learning
myself.”

“I understand.” I wasn’t surprised. I had
expected as much, but still, my hopes fell a little. I was still
not sure whether it would matter since seeing the future didn’t
seem to be part of my role, but for the moment at least, Uriah was
right. We needed every advantage we could get.