Shaping Destiny (7 page)

“Yeah, go ahead,” Melissa
said.

Everyone still looked at
me as if they saw a ghost, but as I continued to ignore them and
get my food, they started to follow.

My keen hearing didn’t end
after that. In fact, it never gave me a break. Bangs, crushes,
moans, and yelling were surrounding me. I immediately turned to the
door that lead to the outside patio. Someone sounded in trouble,
and I seemed to be the only one to notice. Everyone now happily ate
their food and watched TV. At first I tried to put the noises out
of my head, but they pulled at me until I found myself walking out
onto the patio.

“Leah? You OK?” Jared
called behind me.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’ll be
right back.”

Stepping out into the cool
air, goosebumps instantly formed down my arms. I grabbed onto the
railing that circled the patio and peered down. I saw Max and five
other men surrounding him. Adrenaline made my heart pump harder as
anger surged through my veins. Quickly, I turned, ran back in the
way I came, and swung open the front door.

Voices from my roommates
echoed as I passed, but I didn’t care. “Where is she
going?”

I slowed my pace as I came
closer to the men. “Hey!” All heads turned my way. “Leave him
alone. It’s me you want.”

Small smiles started to
spread on the faces of the crowd. Max saw me and came to my side in
the blink of an eye.

“What are you doing?” Max
whispered in my ear.

“I couldn’t have them do
to you what they did to me.”

“But you need to stay
away. I am here to protect you, not the other way
around.”

“There are five of them,
and you are only one.”

“Five is nothing. Now, go.
Run.”

“No.”

I heard a small growl
vibrate his throat, but there was no more time to discuss what was
right for me or not. The boss stepped forward to take a better
look.

“Well looky here . . . You
don’t have a scratch on you.” The boss looked back to all his men.
“If this doesn’t prove you are some kind of freak, I don’t know
what does.”

I moved back a step by
instinct but only bumped into Max’s chest. He reached down,
clutched my hand, and moved me behind him. This jester made my
heart leap with joy, but his kindness didn’t go unnoticed from the
boss.

“Isn’t this sweet.” The
boss frowned. “He thinks he’s going to save her.” He looked Max
straight in the eyes. “You have feelings for her? If you know
what’s best for you, you would just leave. You don’t need to get
involved in this mess. She is not even human!”

“Lucky for you, I’m not
going anywhere.” Max said.

“That’s too bad.” He
leaned over and pulled a knife from his belt. His followers did the
same, pulling a variety of different weapons from pockets and
holders. “Get the girl, kill the boy!”

They all charged forward.
Max went forward to put more distance from me and the fight. I
watched in horror, so badly wanting to step in and protect Max.
Although I had the strength to leave my room, my experience in an
actual fight was minimal.

One of the men got flipped
over my way. I didn’t give him a second glace, thinking he was dead
or unconscious, but then I felt a hand around my leg. He pulled me
down so fast my back landed hard on the blacktop. My breath
temporally left my lungs on impact, and he grabbed my neck before I
caught it again.

“Call your boyfriend
off!”

“Max . . .” He held me so
tight I hardly heard myself speak.

“Louder!” He pressed his
knife against my neck.

Before I could obey, I
didn’t have to. Max stood over the man, yanked him up, and got
right into his face. “Tell your other men that if they come back
for Leah ever again, their fate will be much worse than this.” I
couldn’t see Max’s face, but something made the evil man get big,
fearful eyes and start twisting fiercely. “Trust me, I can take on
a lot more than five men.” Max released his grasp and watched the
man run in terror.

I stood to gauge my
surroundings. Dark skies and utter silence were all that remained.
Max turned to me, and I leaped forward, wrapping my arms around his
neck.

“I thought I would lose
you. There were so many men, and I thought . . .” I rambled
on.

Max stroked my hair. “You
will never lose me.”

We pulled away slightly to
see each other, not letting go.

“You’re bleeding,” Max
said as he moved his hand to my neck.

“It’s not deep. Your head.
You’re bleeding too.”

“Well, I don’t heal as
fast as you do. It takes me a few days.”

It normally takes me a few
days too
, I thought.
Why do I heal with so much speed
? I
placed my hand on my neck. “Is it gone?”

“No, not yet.”

I nodded. “I came out here
because I heard you.” I told him about the evening, starting with
the smell of dinner and ending with my storming out of my room.
“Which reminds me, I should get back.” I kept my eyes down to avoid
the pull of our connection and started to walk away.

Max reached out for my
arm. “Wait.”

Instantly, I looked up and
felt the need to stay, but what took me off guard was that the
injuries on his head had vanished. “Max.” I raised my hand to his
forehead. “You’ve healed.”

“What?”

“Your split, it’s gone. A
little bit of blood is there, but you’re better.”

Max looked confused. “No,
I may be many things, but I don’t heal. Your neck, on the other
hand, looks like nothing has happened.”

“Trust me, your head is
the same . . . It looks like nothing happened.”

“Leah?” Jared yelled from
the other side of building, trying to find me.

“I have to go,” I
said.

“Later, we need to talk,”
Max said.

I slowly backed away. The
cool night didn’t feel cold anymore as I jogged around the
building’s corner and met up with my concerned
boyfriend.

“Leah! There you are. What
are you doing?”

“Just talking to a
friend.” I pointed behind me.

“That’s why you left like
a crazy person. With no explanation?”

“Yeah, I saw her and I
didn’t want to miss her. I needed to tell her about an
assignment.”

“Umm . . OK. But lately
you just seem a little off. Are you OK?”

I knew my lies were rough.
I was not a liar. “Yeah, I’m great. Don’t worry about
me.”

“Leah, I am not stupid. I
know you’re going through something. But what I can’t understand is
why you feel you can’t tell me. You tell me everything.”

He was right. Why couldn’t
I confide in him? It was Jared, the one and only person I always
talked to. He was my best friend, who knew everything about me.
Call it confusion, intuition, guilt, or Max, but I just couldn’t
tell him the truth. Not this, and not now. Even if it was safe to
talk to Jared about everything, my tongue would not reveal the
truth. I had nothing more to say to him. I couldn’t say he was
right, but my lack of words told him enough. Something was going
on, something I didn’t want to tell him, and he knew it. The pained
expression on his face was undeniable.

“Here, let’s go inside.
It’s cold.” Jared wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

Jared didn’t drop his
questioning as I’d hoped. When we arrived back to the apartment, he
gently towed me to my room, away from the commotion of my
roommates. That whole evening he reminded me about our history, how
long we had known each other, and how I could trust him with
anything. I kept reassuring him that it was just stress about my
courses, but he wouldn’t take that as an answer.

“You say it’s school, but
I’ve known you all though our school years. Leah, it’s not school
that is bothering you. I want to help you. Can’t you see I love
you?” Jared said sincerely.

“I don’t know what else to
tell you. I am fine. There is nothing going on. I am sorry if you
think I am different, but there is nothing to say.”

“Have you met someone
else? Do you like someone else?”

His questions rang more
true than I thought they would. “What? No. Jared, nothing is
wrong.”

He bowed his head, his
hands on his hips. “Whatever. It’s late; I’m just going to go.” He
left in frustration.

I couldn’t remember a time
Jared and I had disagreed. We had a perfect relationship. I didn’t
want him to leave like that, but what choice did I have? I wanted
to tell Jared everything, but more than that, I needed to keep it
between Max and me. At least for now.

“Come, hurry up. Get those
shoes on and get in position on the dance floor. In four weeks
we’ll be preforming.” Miss Chapel, our ballroom dance coach was
making her announcements.

Jared and I stood in dance
hold in the middle of the student center in silence. Our
relationship hadn’t been the same since that night. Of course we
cared for each other and loved each other, but right now it felt
cold between us.

“Have you looked into
getting another phone?” Jared asked plainly.

“No, I haven’t had time. I
need to, though. I had to use Gretchen’s phone to call my mom and
dad.”

“I would like a way to get
ahold of you. You should get a phone.”

“I know. Tomorrow I
promise I will get another one hooked up and call you.”

Miss Chapel continued
showing us some combinations and some ideas she had for our
routine. Other students suggested some other moves, and we listened
to the music that Miss Chapel wanted us to dance to. With all the
ideas floating around the room, Miss Chapel dismissed the class and
said she would have the routine put together next time.

As Jared started to take
off, I yelled after him. “Where are you headed?”

“Steve’s.”

“Oh.”

Jared stood to look at me
for a minute, but then turned and left. I hated it. I may be hiding
things from him, but the way he acted felt like he too was hiding
things from me. If we both could no longer confide in each other,
our coldness was only going to get colder.

***

The walk home reminded me
of all the previous attacks, but when I smelled Max I continued in
confidence. He would never let anything happen to me, and it almost
surprised me that I knew that without a doubt. A smile curled up on
my lip just thinking about him. Without seeing him I felt him
getting closer. Soon he walked right behind me, in such a way that
a normal person could never hear. I pretended to not to notice his
closeness until I could no longer kept in my girly
giggle.

I turned as he almost
bumped right into me. “Are you trying to sneak up on
me?”

He grinned from ear to
ear. “Is it working?”

“No. Well, with a normal
person you did great, but I’m afraid I am no longer normal. I felt
you the minute I stepped out of the student center.”

He looked at me. “Felt me?
Or could you smell and hear me?”

His question took me back.
Yes, I did smell and hear him, but I also truly felt him. I could
feel him as clearly as I could feel my heart beating, or the
butterflies that swarmed my body when he neared. “All
three.”

“It’s getting late
tonight, but tomorrow will you go somewhere with me?”

“Sure, after school. Oh,
and after I look into getting another phone. I promised Jared I
would get another since mine is broken.”

“That’s fine, you have
early classes anyway. I will catch up with you around
3:00?”

“Perfect.” I
smiled.

“Let me walk you
home.”

***

If physical torment wasn’t
enough, that morning my emotions were tearing me apart. There were
two men in my life that had touched my heart in different ways.
First, Jared. We had been friends for as long as I could remember.
He was the boy next door, which would capture the heart of any
girl. He had a sense of humor and such a sweet kindness about him.
We both had so much in common, such as dancing, culture, our likes
and dislikes. But sitting there thinking about why Jared and I were
together, it felt more like a friendship. The best friendship I had
ever had, but a friend nevertheless. The only thing I knew was
Pagoda and the people in it. Maybe I fell in love with Jared
because I didn’t know anyone else.

Max and I couldn’t be
explained. We’d just met but the attraction between us was more
than I had ever experienced or read about. Yes, Max was handsome,
but that wasn’t the attraction that stood out first in my mind. It
was the undeniable pull and intense connection that drew me to him.
Even if I shouldn’t get involved with him because of Jared or
because he was my bodyguard, I had to and wanted to. The need to
know him, touch him, and be around him consumed me. After thinking
about it, I hoped I could understand what I needed to do. I knew
one thing for sure: I couldn’t have both men, and I had to choose
who I wanted to be with.