Conflicted: Keegan's Chronicles (3 page)

“I’m sure I would. I love hiking. I think
that is pretty common among elves.”

“That’s true.” She settled back in the
seat.

He could listen to her talk for hours.

Rourk pulled his truck into the parking lot
of the pizza shop and put it into park. He walked around to open
her door, but she had already hopped out and was waiting for him
next to her door.

Michael’s Pizza was one of Keegan’s
favorites, though she didn’t think Rourk knew that. It was packed
with people she recognized from school. The servers bounced from
table to table amid the chaos, white smiles plastered across every
face. Keegan took a deep breath and felt her stomach rumble.

Once they were seated, Rourk asked “What
kind of pizza do you want?”

“Meat lovers. I’m starved.”

Rourk wasn’t sure why this bothered him so
much. He had found it somewhat annoying when he first learned she
was a vegetarian. To have her forget about that reminded him how
she had forgotten about him as well. If only he could turn the
clock back to their time in the cabin, when he cooked her
vegetarian meals and she looked at him like he was the only person
on the planet. Now she sat and glanced around the room like she was
bored.

Rourk watched as Keegan devoured four pieces
of pizza. “You weren’t kidding when you said you were hungry.”

“It’s just sooo good.” Keegan wiped her face
with the napkin. “I love pizza. Actually, I love most food.”

Looking up from his own slice, she smiled,
“You have earned my father’s approval for a second date.”

Somewhat surprised, he said, “Well, I would
hope so.” He was her chosen after all, and had fought alongside her
father in the Great Battle.

Keegan let him in on the inside joke. “He
tells me if I’m on a date and the guy sits with his back to the
door that I’m supposed to get up and leave.”

Rourk laughed. He could clearly picture
Richard making up this rule. He was a character and a great man.
“Well, you don’t have to worry. I will always make your safety my
number one priority.”

Keegan liked the sound of that, and she knew
she needed to give him a chance. Just then, while the two of them
were having what felt like a great moment, her phone went off. She
was surprised when she saw the text was from Donald and her heart
skipped a beat. He rarely texted her.

The text said,
A bunch of us are going to play laser tag. Do you
want to come?

She grinned and replied,
wish I could but on a
date.

Date? Who’s the lucky guy?

Her face felt hot and she replied,
my
chosen.

How’s that going?

Keegan looked across the table at Rourk who
was eyeing his piece of pizza. She replied
Strange.

Have fun, maybe next time you can join us
.

Love to,
she replied, sad to stop the
conversation.

Rourk took a sip of his drink. "Was that
Anna or Lauren?"

After a brief pause, “Yeah, it was Anna. She
was just seeing what was up.”
Why did she just lie to him?
You’re never
supposed to lie to your chosen. Keegan felt like crying. Why was
this not going like it was supposed to? Was she ever going to have
feelings for the stranger across from her?

They went to the movies after eating. She
had to admit the movie was funny, and it was nice to know he had a
sense of humor. After some time she managed to relax and enjoy
herself. He walked her to the door, grabbing her hand when she got
out of the car. She wondered if he was going to try to kiss her.
She didn’t have to wonder long.

Rourk stopped before they even reached the
doorway, put his hand under her hair, and pulled her toward him. He
kissed her softly at first, and then with more force. And then he
pulled away and looked down at her, almost like he was frightened.
“Did you feel it?”

Startled, she asked, “Feel what?”

Rourk groaned. A part of him hoped that
kissing her would make her feel the electricity they felt before.
His mind was reeling. The bond was gone for her. He recalled their
first kiss and her reaction.
“Wow, did you feel that?”
she had asked.
Now, she felt nothing. Of course, for him it was still the same as
before.

Keegan looked up at him. “Okay, well I had
fun. Maybe we can go out again sometime?”

“I hope so,” he murmured, bereft as she
pulled away from him.

Rourk watched Keegan walk into her house,
and she didn’t look back.

***

Keegan went straight to her room through the
darkened house; everyone was already in bed. She thought about the
evening while she got undressed. He wasn’t that bad. But could she
see herself spending the rest of her life with him? That, she
wasn’t sure of. She figured time would tell. There was no
precedence for their situation as far as she knew. Would she still
be expected to marry him when she turned eighteen even if there was
no bond? She couldn’t picture her mother making her marry someone
if she didn’t want to. She pulled on her favorite polar bear
pajamas, and threw her hair in a ponytail.

Keegan looked down at her phone. She still
couldn’t believe Donald had messaged her earlier. After a slight
internal debate, she sent him a text.

How was laser tag?

Fun, we dominated.

Of course, you are magical creatures.

Not as magical as you.

Keegan had to stop herself from squealing,
bouncing on the tips of her toes in the dark and clutching the
phone to her chest.
OMG,
he just said she was magical, and before he had
asked who the lucky guy was. Could he possibly be interested in
her?
Okay, calm
down
; she knew Donald liked to joke around. Maybe he was
just being funny.

I wish I had been there.

Me too, see you on Monday at school,
Donald
replied.

Keegan finished getting ready for bed, got
under the covers, and turned over on her back to stare at the
ceiling in thought. So much had changed in such a short period of
time. She felt like her whole world had been turned upside
down.

Why did things have to get so complicated?
This should have been easy! She was supposed to turn eighteen and
marry her chosen; something she’d planned on since she found out
his name was Rourk. She had lain awake many nights and dreamed
about their perfect home. They were going to have a dog, a fat lazy
English bulldog and his name was going to be Santa. She liked to
humor herself and thought it would be funny since humans thought
Santa and elves go hand in hand. She figured they would have at
least three kids. It was going to be perfect.

Why did this have to happen?

Now, without the bond, the thought of
marriage at eighteen seemed absurd. That was only a year away. She
had college to think about. She’d dreamed of going to college in
Alaska, because they have one of the best marine biology programs
and her dream was to work with dolphins. It had never crossed her
mind whether Rourk would even want to move to Alaska. Keegan closed
her eyes and let sleep take over; she would worry about it all
later.

Anna was nervous, but she needed answers. She
had already put it off too long.

Thankfully, her mother seemed to have come
out of her depression fog. It felt like it hadn’t been all that
long since her mom had been nearly frozen with despair, unable to
function or even smile. She had done a complete turnabout.

Anna couldn’t recall a time when her mom
seemed so happy. Maybe she was on a new medication or something.
Whatever it was, Anna was glad for it. Her mom was back to doing
her hair and make-up and she had even been going for morning runs
like she used to before things got bad.

The idea of upsetting her mother made Anna’s
stomach roll, but it couldn’t be avoided. She took the stairs slow
and dreaded the confrontation and what it could bring.

Her mom stood in the kitchen arranging an
assortment of red and yellow flowers in her favorite blue glass
vase. A private smile crossed her face and Anna wondered what her
mother was thinking. “Hey Mom.”

Jennifer glanced up at her daughter who
stood in the doorway. Anna was more subdued than usual, wearing
only a pair of blue jeans and a tank top. Her pink hair was secured
with a bland gray headband. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

“We need to talk.”

Her smiled disappeared. She pulled her hands
away from the flowers and turned to face Anna. “I take it you have
talked to Keegan?”

Anna was surprised. She thought she was
going to have to pull it out of her mother one word at a time.
“Yes, and she told me you know black magic? Mom, how can that be? I
don’t understand any of this.”

Jennifer sighed and then walked forward and
grabbed her daughter’s hands. She squeezed them tight. Her dark
eyes were haunted. “Let’s sit down.”

Anna let her mother lead her to the table.
She watched Jennifer bustle to the refrigerator and pull out a
clear pitcher of juice. Anna tried to remember the last time she’d
seen her mom look so youthful. Even just wearing her gray cotton
yoga pants and an old, worn out T-shirt on her tall, willowy body,
she was beautiful. She had her long brown hair pulled into a high
ponytail that swished around her neck when she moved. Her toes were
painted pink.

Jennifer put a glass in front of Anna and
sat across from her. “Anna, you know I was raised by your
great-grandmother and that she was also a witch.” She cleared her
throat, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. “What I failed to
mention was that she was a dark witch.”

Anna stared at her mother in disbelief, her
hands wrapped around her glass even though she hadn’t picked it up
yet. “My great-grandmother was a dark witch? How is that even
possible?”

“It’s a long story, or at least the story
unfolded over a long period of time.” She paused, then held up a
finger. “One minute.”

Anna watched her mom hurry from the room,
her flip-flops slapped on the linoleum while she walked. Jennifer
returned a minute later with a large leather-bound album and opened
it on the tabletop. She flipped forward a few pages until she came
to a picture of a handsome young man in old-timey clothes. “Your
great-grandfather, as you know, was also a spirit walker.”

“That’s him?” Anna murmured. She leaned
forward to stare at his face. He had a mischievous glint in his
dark eyes and hair the exact shade of Jennifer’s.

Jennifer nodded. “Yes. His name was Patrick.
As a spirit walker, his body absorbed the spirits he took over to
the other side. He was unable to protect himself from it because he
was never taught to shield himself, or at least that is what we
liked to believe.” Her mother’s eyes darkened. “Some wondered if he
let his guard down on purpose because he enjoyed the power of
absorbing souls. One man with thousands of souls. You can imagine
all the demons that came along with that. It was feared he was
going mad. He started acting irrational. His mind shattered and he
became a deranged lunatic that could no longer live among the
humans. It was like the souls spoke through him, comparable to
someone with split personalities. Of course your great-grandmother,
Grace, loved him very much and it killed her to see him fall apart.
She tried every spell she could think of and nothing worked. She
searched near and far to find a cure.” Jennifer flipped a couple
pages to show Anna a picture of a vibrant, beautiful young woman in
a long black dress. She looked just like Jennifer.

Her mother stopped and looked out the small
kitchen window, her eyes distant, before she continued. “She heard
about a dark witch that could help her. Light and dark witches do
not communicate with each other. So Grace cast a spell on herself
to appear as if she were a young dark witch. She begged the dark
witch to teach her the ways of the dark. The witch was so impressed
with your great-grandmother’s skills at such a young age that she
took her under her wing."

She leaned over and grabbed Anna's hand. "I
know this is a lot to take in."

"Just finish the story mom." Anna pulled her
hand away.

"She was gone for years and when she
returned, Patrick was dead. She went berserk and cursed the light.
She swore never to return, and she remained a dark witch until her
death. The unfortunate part is that she passed on her skills to me.
I was not told of her story until after she passed away. A kind,
light witch took care of me until I was of age. She taught me the
beauty of the light.”

Anna sat with her mouth open and stared
dumbfounded at her mom. “You should have told me. How could you
have kept this from me all these years?”

“What good would that have done? I’m not a
witch. I’m a spirit walker.”

Anna glared at her. “All of these years
you’ve left me on my own to deal with my power. You have given me
no guidance.” She pushed back from the table and crossed her
arms.

Her mother’s anger filled the room, though
she tried to hold it in. “What did you expect me to do? Teach my
daughter black magic?”

“Well, no, but it would have been nice to
have known about all of this.” Anna shifted in her chair. “Mom, I
need to learn about my powers. I’m almost eighteen and this is
crazy. I don’t know what you are trying to shield me from. Avoiding
it is not going to make me human.”

Jennifer’s face was pained. She looked away,
but not before Anna saw the tears gathered in her mother’s eyes.
“I’m sorry Anna, I know I have not been fair to you and my reasons
have been purely selfish. I had hoped you were going to be a normal
human. I thought maybe since your father was human…”

“We’ve known for years that I am not
normal
, as
you say.” There was a lot more bitterness in her words than she
meant.