Tyler's Story (Tales of Quelondain) (20 page)

Tyler tightened his hold on her and sank lower into
the water. Come on, Heidi. Fight, hit, bite, anything…

Her eyes filled with fear as she realized he wasn’t
going to let her up for air. His jaw clenched and he swallowed
hard. He knew, had known, the fear would come. He had known that to
save her from herself, he’d have to lose her.

She pushed against his chest, trying to get out of
his grasp. When he didn’t let go, she reached down and dug her
fingers where the arrow had penetrated his leg. The pain caused him
to suck in a breath. The water hit his lungs and he let go of her
so he could get up for air. By the time he’d recovered, Heidi was
already swimming back to shore.

He swore under his breath and swam after her. He
watched her pull herself up onto the small beach, her body heaving
with sobs.

“Heidi, I’m sorry.”

Her whole body stiffened at the sound of his voice.
He reached for her arm to help her up and stopped as she shied away
from his touch. His heart sank. The damage had been done.

“Come get changed,” he said softly. “Bird brought
back a cross stone. Let’s get you home.” He led the way back to the
cave. He glanced back once to look at her, but quickly turned back
around at the fear and hate in her eyes. Once back at the cave, he
went in, grabbed his pack, and walked back out. With great effort,
he pulled off his wet clothes and put on clean ones. He unrolled
the note his aunt had written.

Hey there, Tyler

Here is the cross gem the blue bird came for. She was
very vague on the details, but I trust you know what you’re doing.
If you decide to cross over, be sure to let us know.

Love,

Aunt Hayden

He rolled the small white stone in his hand, admiring
the light blue veining. Heidi appeared wearing the jeans and
t-shirt he’d found her in, the green bandana holding the hair out
of her face. He dropped the stone into her hand. He tried to think
of something, anything at all, that he could say to get rid of the
hard look on her face.

Bird chirped and he nodded. She flew ahead, showing
them exactly where Hayden had told her the crossing was.

“I…I’m not sure where you’ll come out, but I do know
you won’t be anywhere near where you were when you first crossed
over here.” Tyler stopped walking and turned to her.

She glared at him. “I don’t care where I end up, so
long as it’s not in this godforsaken place.” She turned away from
him and smiled at Bird. “Take care, Bird.”

Tyler took advantage of her distraction to slip the
boot knife he’d bought her into her pack. Bird pecked her cheek and
bobbed her head.

“You see the deer trail that runs by the orange
bush?”

Heidi nodded and looked where he was pointing.

“Just follow it. The stone will do all the work and
you’ll be back in your world in no time.” The urge to pull her
close overwhelmed him and he took a step toward her.

“Don’t,” she whispered. Her eyes welled with tears
and she wiped them with her arm.

He took a deep breath and swallowed hard.
“Heidi...”

She turned and walked down the trail. He watched her
walk around the bush. Bird flashed a picture of him holding her
face at the dance. He marvelled at the look on her face, the way
she was melting into his touch. She didn’t hate him… she couldn’t
hate him. By the moons, he just had to explain why he’d done it.
She was a smart woman; she’d have to understand he’d done it
because he loved her.

He swore under his breath. He had to tell her. Even
if she decided to go back, he couldn’t just let her leave without
telling her how he felt. He started to run down the trail after
her.

“Heidi, wait! Please!” He turned the corner around
the bush and stopped short. His chest tightened. He sank to the
ground, unable to think of anything else to do. Before him, the
woods were calm, quiet, and empty. She was gone.

Bird landed on his knee.

“Did you tell Auntie where we were?”

She did her impression of a head shake.

“Good.” He rubbed his hands over his face. She looked
up at him, her head tilted to the side. “I’m fine. All is back to
normal. This is what we wanted, yeah?” He stood and started limping
back to the cave.

She showed him a picture of his family and he shook
his head. “No.” He took a deep breath. “How about west? Let’s go
see what the coast looks like on that side of the Quelondain.”

She flew into the cave ahead of him and landed on his
blankets.

“You think I need to heal first.”

She bobbed her head.

“It’s tempting.” His leg was throbbing painfully. He
looked down and saw a spot of blood starting to soak through the
pant leg. The thought of being so close to home, where someone
might accidently come across him… having to explain that he wasn’t
back to stay. “We’ll use the displacement stone and make camp
elsewhere.” He stuffed his things into his pack and reached into
his pocket for the stone. Not finding it in the left one, he tried
the right.

“By the moons, today just gets better and better.” He
let out an exasperated sigh. “It must have fallen out of my pocket
when I was in the lake.” He hiked his pack onto his shoulder and
started limping away from the cave.

Bird flashed him another picture and he raised an
eyebrow at her. “You’ve lost your mind, have you? You actually
think I should go after her.”

She nodded.

“She has a mate, Bird.” His dark eyes widened. “No,
it’s not me. She’s better off there and I belong here. Leave it
be.”

Three hours later, he dropped to the ground. The
throbbing in his leg had gone past the point of painful and his
entire leg from his hip to below his knee was numb. He took a drink
from his canteen and leaned back against a tree.

Bird showed him a picture of his aunt. He clenched
his jaw. “I said no. If you want to go back, then don’t let me keep
you.”

She chirped.

“Damn it, Bird, I know she’s a healer!

He felt her resentment as she flashed him a picture
of his angry bruised face before she flew away. He growled to
himself. Great. He checked the dressing on his leg, only bothering
to wrap another layer of cloth over the old one before struggling
to his feet and continuing on his way.

Chapter Eight

Heidi awoke with a start, her hand moving to where
her dagger should have been by her head. Someone cleared their
throat.

“Morning.”

She took a deep breath and rolled onto her back so
she could look up into Blake’s dark blue eyes. He stood at the foot
of the bed in just his pyjama pants. “Morning.”

“How did you sleep?”

“Alright.” She glanced around and noticed she’d
pulled her blankets off of the bed and she was now sleeping on the
floor. “I’m sorry.” She hadn’t been able to sleep in their bed
since she’d gotten back. She always started the night in bed beside
him, but managed to wake up on the floor in the mornings.

He shook his head to dismiss her apology and came to
sit on the floor beside her. “Don’t be. You’ve been through a lot,
Heidi. The therapist said it would take time for things to feel
normal for you again. Maybe you should go see her again.” He pulled
her close at her small ‘no’ and kissed her forehead. “I don’t care
if you sleep on the floor for the rest of our lives; I’m just glad
you’re alive.”

Heidi took a deep breath and Blake gave her another
squeeze.

“How’s work going? Are you sure you’re ready for
this?”

“It’s going well. It helps me to not think of
things.” She didn’t tell him that what she was trying to forget was
the way Tyler’s eyes softened when he kissed her, how his arms had
felt when he held her. The worst memory, however, was the
devastated look on his face when she’d flinched from his touch and
how he’d simply stood, looking like his heart was breaking, the
instant right before she’d turned and walked away from him.

“Robbie and the other staff are being great and the
regulars are happy I’m back. I need to do this, Blake. I need to
get back to my life.”

“Alright.” He kissed her hair. “Go have a shower and
I’ll make breakfast.”

She watched him walk out of the room and made her way
to the bathroom. She watched herself in the tall mirror as she
pulled the green t-shirt over her head before stepping out of her
sweat shorts. She was thin, she thought with a grimace. She
couldn’t blame it on her time away; she’d started losing the weight
when she’d gotten back. She turned so she could see the ‘H’ shaped
scar on her shoulder. It took a few deep breaths to keep herself
under control as the flashback took over.

Steve’s face was twisted into an angry sneer.

“This will teach you to forget what you are,” he’d
spat at her. “Hold her still, boys.”

She’d struggled as hard as she could, but no amount
of kicking and wiggling had helped. She’d felt the blade cut
through her skin and into the muscle.

Heidi bit her lip to bring herself back to the
present. A shower. A shower always helped. She ran the water until
the steam rose over the shower curtain then stepped in with a sigh.
She reached for her shampoo and took her time lathering her hair.
When she was clean and the water was starting to run cool, she
stepped out, wrapped herself in a towel and went back to the
bedroom.

There was a knock on the door.

“Heidi?”

“Yeah?”

“Look, work just called. There’s a problem with one
of the sites and for some reason I’m the only one who can fix it.
Are you going to be ok if I leave now?”

She opened the door and smiled at the worry on his
face. “You’ve been back to work for a week now. I’ll be fine.”

“I know, but I told you we’d take a hike this
morning.”

“It’s ok. We’ll go tomorrow.”

“Ok.” He smiled and kissed her forehead. “I’m
sorry.”

“Go.” She hugged him tightly. “I’m fine.”

“Ok. Coffee is ready and there’s pancakes keeping
warm in the microwave. I have my cell phone and you know the number
to the office. I’ll try to come home early since they called me in
early…”

“Blake.”

He stopped pulling his hiking boot on and look up at
her.

“I’ll be fine.”

He took a deep breath and nodded. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

She watched as he rushed out the door with a pancake
in hand. Heidi inhaled and let the breath out slowly. He’d refused
to leave her side for an entire week after she’d come stumbling to
the door claiming not to remember how she’d gotten home. It was the
same routine every morning since he’d gone back to work. Wake her
up, spend time with her, make her breakfast, then worry endlessly
about how she’d do on her own until she left for work. Her parents
had tried to get her to move back in with them so she wouldn’t have
to spend any time alone, an offer she graciously turned down.

The phone rang on cue.

“Hello?”

“Hey, honey. How are you feeling?”

“I’m good, mom. I’m just having breakfast. Blake made
me pancakes.”

“Have you thought more about seeing the therapist
again? I’m worried that you refuse to talk about it.”

“I’m fine, mom. Really. I just want to get on with my
life.”

“I know. I phoned the detective in charge of your
case yesterday.”

“Mom! I told you to leave it alone.”

“I just wanted to see if they’d made a bit more
headway.”

“Mom, I don’t remember where I was, how I got there.
Everything is sort of a big blur up until I found myself walking up
to the apartment.”

“Maybe the thera…”

“No. Look, mom, can’t you just be happy I’m home. I
just want to leave it behind me. Please.”

Her mom stayed quiet.

“I’m just getting ready to go for a hike. I’ll see
you for supper tomorrow, ok?”

“You’re going hiking?”

“Yes. I miss it. I can’t just go through life scared
of what might happen. What happened to me is a one in a million
thing.”

“Do you have the pepper spray you dad got you?”

“I do. Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

“I’m sorry, honey… I just…”

Heidi’s throat tightened at the sound of her mother
fighting back tears at the other end of the line.

“Mom, hey. It’s ok. It’s going to take a lot of time
for everyone to get back to normal. I’ll give you a call when I get
back from my walk. I love you.”

“I love you, too, honey.”

Heidi hung up before her mom could start crying.
Would it have been easier on all of them if she’d stayed in
Quelondain? She knew most of the people in her life had started to
convince themselves she was dead; that she wasn’t going to be
found.

Giving her head a shake to clear her thoughts, she
pulled on her hiking boots and grabbed her bunny hug off of the
back of the chair before locking the apartment and making her way
to the woods behind the building. It was one of the reasons they
had picked this apartment complex. It sat just on the edge of a
park filled with trails. Heidi picked her way onto one of the main
trails. The breeze blew softly and she smiled. She walked
aimlessly, picking one trail and then another.

She stopped short at the sight of a trail she knew no
one else was able to see. She reached into her pocket and pulled
out the cross gem. Could she do it? Did she want to? What about
Blake, her parents? Could she do that to them again? And what about
Tyler? Could she assume he’d even be happy to see her? It had been
two weeks. Where would he be? Her throat tightened. She should have
said goodbye. She should have kissed him one last time for good
measure.

When he’d first held her under the water, she’d been
shocked then terrified. By the time she’d gotten to the shore she’d
been angry beyond measure. It wasn’t until a few days later when
she’d been lying on the couch, trying to not think of him, that
she’d realized why he’d done it. She’d given up and he’d seen it
and once again he’d saved her.