Drinking Life (Keeper of the Water Book 1) (23 page)

John looks worried as he helps me stand. My legs feel as steady as tall grass blowing in the breeze. Worry for my family and Cassie is all that keeps me moving, though I still feel like I’m fighting a losing battle. John holds my hand as we rush around to his garage. I stop to catch my breath and he rolls out the smallest, sleekest motorcycle he owns. Before I know it, he pushes a helmet over my head and pulls me on behind him.

“I know you’re feeling weak right now but you have to hold onto me tight,” he says, grabbing my arms and wrapping them tightly around his waist.

I lock my fingers and nod my head. The engine roars loudly just before the bike jerks forward so suddenly that my grip loosens and I imagine my frail body falling off the back. I already survived one close call with death today, I doubt I’ll be so lucky a second time. I nuzzle my head and body against his back, holding on for dear life, not once glancing up to see where we’re going or how fast we’re getting there. The ride seems to last forever but not once during the long trip do I have time to think. The only thing on my mind is holding on for dear life.

The vibrations of the bike and snuggling against John nearly put me to sleep. It’s not until we start to hit a lot of bumps that I open my eyes and turn to the side. We’re already on the dirt driveway leading to my house. My heart pounds at the thought of impending danger. I peer around John but don’t see either black truck parked near our cabins or the ‘Adventure Guides’ trailer.

John skids to a stop and rips off his helmet, searching all around for any sign of danger. He jumps off the bike and I climb off a bit slower, though my legs feel stronger beneath me after the short rest. Still, I’m far from being back to full strength. Satisfied that we’re not in immediate jeopardy, John looks at my bloody mess of a shirt.

“Here,” he says, removing his jacket and handing it to me. I put it on before anyone notices I look like a walking murder-scene. I no sooner cover myself when we spot our first sign of movement. The door to the trailer swings open and Cassie stomps out. John breathes a quick sigh and his shoulders droop slightly, releasing some of his tension.

“What’s going on here?” Cassie snaps, sneering in my direction. She can’t take her eyes off John’s jacket that I’m wearing. “John?”

“Nothing,” he says weakly, unable to look at her. In an instant, John returns to the scolded puppy dog he’s been in Cassie’s presence for the last few months. I can’t believe this is the same guy who stood up to his two massive troops—ready to fight to the death for me—and used the last of his special water to save me.

“Where is your mother?” I interrupt. “And my parents?”

Cassie rolls her eyes toward me, a look of utter contempt across her face.

“How the hell am I supposed to know?” she asks. Apparently she didn’t take my earlier warning as seriously as I hoped.

“We have to find them right away,” I say, scanning the grounds for any sign of them
or
for the two goons.

“And we must get somehow safe,” John says.

He and I start to move in action but Cassie stands still, her arms crossed.

“I’m not going
anywhere
or doing
anything
until someone tells me what’s going on between you two,” she insists.

This is getting ridiculous. I look to John but he avoids eye contact with Cassie. He’s obviously not going to tell her the truth. I sigh, knowing there’s only one way to deal with this situation.

“John and I are in love,” I tell Cassie. John glances down at me, relief in his eyes. “Despite everything that’s happened in the past—as well as the
past
—I know the kind of person he is now and I love him.”

Cassie looks confused for a moment but then laughs as she turns to John. Any relief I just noticed on his face is replaced with worry while Cassie glares at him.

“So?” she asks him. “Is this true?”

After everything John and I have been through, this is the time I finally expect him to tell her the truth. He opens his mouth but for several seconds, nothing comes out. I know that look—I know when he’s at a loss for words.

“I care a lot for
both
of you,” he says weakly.

Cassie’s jaw clenches in anger. This is
not
the answer she wants to hear and I can’t say I blame her. I’m as pissed off as she looks. For once, Cassie isn’t the first one to snap.

“Would you just tell her already?” I ask him. My body is still weak but the anger I feel gives me a boost of strength. “Tell her the truth about why you moved to the Poconos—about
who
you came here for.”

“Yeah, John, tell me. Tell us
both
,” Cassie says, “I’m tired of Nia living with the delusion that you love her. Tell the truth about which of us you choose.”

John nods grimly and avoids eye contact with me. The way he looks tells me the answer before I hear the words.

“Cassie is the reason I’m here.”

Cassie’s smile might be the cruelest I’ve ever seen. My heart is broken—the pain just as bad as when the arrow nearly pierced it. I can’t believe how weak John is when it comes to her, how
foolish
I am for thinking that he changed. I guess no matter what happens between us, he will always choose Cassie over me. He looks at me apologetically but I’m in no mood to forgive him. I turn away, disgusted with them both, embarrassed that Cassie has even
more
reason to ridicule me.

Celeste walks out of the trailer and her eyes look right toward Cassie and John.

“What is
he
doing here?” she asks, not sugarcoating what she thinks of him. For once, I actually agree with her.

“I’ll deal with
her
,” Cassie sighs. She stands on her tiptoes and kisses John on the cheek. I’ve already passed the stage of denial and I’m on to acceptance. The crushing disappointment evaporates any rush of energy I felt. I’m so tired again that Cassie no longer bothers me, not even when she looks at me with disgust when she talks to John. “I still expect answers about why you’re with
her
and why she’s wearing your jacket.”

He nods before she jogs off toward Celeste. I want to be far away from John but am too exhausted to take a single step.

“I’m sorry,” John whispers to me.

“No, I’m done,” I reply weakly.

“But it’s not what you think,” he says.

But it seems to be
exactly
what I think. I’m so annoyed with him that I prefer listening to Cassie’s insolence than John’s excuses.

“He’s my
boyfriend,
Mother,” she yells at Celeste. “I don’t care what you think. You can’t keep up apart; you can’t keep our
love
apart.”

Ugh! I might have been naïve to believe John but Cassie is so overly dramatic it makes me feel sick.

“It was
her
,” John whispers to me.

“
God,
I
know,
” I snap at him. “It was
her
that you chose. You don’t have to rub it in.”

“No, you don’t understand. It was
her
.
She
was the keeper I saw at the top of the mountain.”

For a second I forget to breathe as I watch Cassie continue bickering with her mom.

“
Cassie
was the keeper you saw?” I ask in total shock.

“Not Cassie,” he says. “Her
mother
.”

I look at Celeste and it’s like a lightbulb goes off in my mind—maybe more like a massive spotlight. I stare at her face, imagine it covered with wrinkles,
know
that it’s the same face I’ve seen of the old keeper in my dreams and memories. It’s no surprise that Celeste is bad-ass like the rest of the tribeswomen, that she is so attuned and respectful of nature, that she is such an expert and lover of the outdoors.

And she is also Cassie’s mother.

“That’s why you feel like you
have
to be with Cassie? To get closer to Celeste?” I ask, though it’s more like I’m thinking out loud. A lot of things suddenly make sense but my mind is a jumbled mess of questions. One thought stands out more than the others. “That’s why Celeste hates you so much, because she recognized the soldier that tried to steal the water.”

“I looked different back then. Wore soldier’s gear and had shorter hair and longer facial hair,” John says. “She probably thought I looked familiar—that’s why I wore my hair down and put on those big sunglasses during the tour.”

But my biggest questions come from the past, not the present.

“You didn’t kill the keeper then? How did you get the water? And why is Celeste here instead of protecting the spring in Greece?”

“I do not have those answers for you, not right now,” John says. He looks toward the forest. “My troops did not come straight here; they must’ve thought we’d call ahead to warn everyone. But I guarantee that won’t stop them from coming. If I had to guess, they’ll attack from the forest.”

As if on cue, we spot movement from the trees behind the garage. But it’s only my father, who’s come to investigate the argument. Mom also emerges from the trailer. With all of us together in one place, I can no longer pretend like everything is normal. John and Celeste are from a different time, Dad isn’t who he says he was and I don’t know who the hell I am. On top of that, I’ve been shot in the chest, saved by magical water and we’re now being hunted by a pair of psychopathic 15th Century Spanish soldiers. When
Cassie
is the only normal one among us, I know we’re in serious trouble. I decide it’s time to lay our cards on the table.

“What’s going on here?” Dad asks worriedly.

“Am I one of the women warriors?” I ask John, whose eyes go wide. He shakes his head, trying to shut me up. Big shocker that he holds back from me, that he doesn’t want to say anything in front of anyone else. I turn to Celeste, hoping
she’ll
at least tell me. “I am, right? One of the tribeswomen sworn to protect you?”

Celeste wears the same deer-in-headlights look as John. She also shakes her head to quiet me. My mother doesn’t look nearly as confused as Cassie. In fact, Mom appears to be on the very of panic,
not
the reaction of someone clueless about what’s going on.

“You, too?” I ask her. “Were you one of the women warriors, too?”

Mom opens her mouth but nothing comes out. She stares directly at John, an expression of utter fear on her face. I realize that John wore his ‘disguise’ the one time he was near Mom, too.

“You knew
her
in the past, too, didn’t you?” I ask him.

“What are you talking about, Nia? Are you, like,
seriously
going crazy?” Cassie wonders.

My mind is spinning out of control. Even if I hadn’t been shot less than an hour ago, I’d still be so woozy and confused that I’d want to pass out. Over the last eighteen years of my life—who
knows
how many more years there were?—I never truly knew
any
of the most important people in my life.

Cassie visibly shivers just as a tingle suddenly flows through me. Celeste’s head cocks to the side at the same time and I’m certain she feels the same warning. Without a moment’s hesitation, Celeste tackles Cassie to the ground. I don’t ignore the tingle of warning this time and drag my own parents down. It’s not a moment too soon. Several arrows fly around us, missing us by mere feet. John and I both know that his troops are good shots so we drag everyone to their feet and rush toward the supply garage. A few more arrows barely miss us before we find momentary safety behind the small building. The six of us huddle close together.

“Will somebody tell me
what is going on
?” Cassie screeches.

“They found us, they found us,” my mother mutters in utter shock. She snaps out of it long enough to glare at John with fright. “
You
found us.”

“He’s been in front of our faces the whole time,” Celeste says disgustedly. “I
knew
there was something about you I didn’t like. We shouldn’t even be this close to him now.”

“He’s on
our
side now,” I say, sticking up for John despite my disappointment in him. “Those arrows came just as close to hitting him as us. Whatever he once was, he’s not anymore.”

“
Who
were you once?” Cassie asks desperately. “Will someone answer my f– ”

She’s interrupted when an arrows smashes into the ground a few feet beside us. At least one of the troops is obviously on the move, trying to find a better angle to shoot from. But neither goon has showed himself yet. The moment everyone stops talking, I can hear loud, clumsy footsteps running through the foliage. But the quiet doesn’t last very long.

“Who’s attacking us?” Dad asks angrily. Whatever secret Celeste and Mom share, my father obviously doesn’t know. He
does
realize that John has something to do with it. “What kind of danger did you bring upon my family, John?”

“
John Leon
,” Celeste says, shaking her head. “How could I not realize
that
name? It’s not even his real name.”

Dad can see the look of shame on John’s face, which is enough to condemn his guilt. Dad becomes so angry that he takes a swing at John, who barely avoids it. John could hit back if he wants but makes no move to do so.

“Dad,
don’t!
” I yell.

“Please, sir, I’m here to help,” John insists.

“Don’t believe him,” Celeste says, stepping in front of Cassie and me to shield us from him. “He’s been setting us up all along.”

“That’s what he
does
,” my mother yells.

Instead of continuing to hide from John in fear, she steps around us and approaches him. To everyone’s surprise—judging by the look on her face, she’s
also
surprised—Mom punches John squarely in the face. It lands flush and causes him to stumble back and fall down. No sooner does he hit the ground beyond the garage when he just rolls away from an arrow that impales the grass where he landed. He somersaults toward us, taking cover before another shot is fired. He’s barely back to safety when my mother rushes toward him again. Dad hooks an arm around her waist to stop another attack. We all stare in shock at the tiny woman. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen not meek and timid—finally I can see how I’d be related to her.

“I deserve that for what I did to you,” John says before spitting out a mouthful of blood. “But you know damn well that I was only following orders.”

Mom fights free from Dad’s grasp but calms down, taking a cautious step back from Celeste, Cassie and me. An arrow suddenly crashes into the side of the garage but the usual
whooshing
doesn’t stop when it finds its mark. Instead, the sound turns into an even louder
crackling
and we see that the arrow—and now the garage—is aflame. Fire spreads across the old wooden building in the matter of seconds and I feel the burst of heat.

“I’m not here to hurt anyone,” John assures Celeste. “Yes, I got you all into this mess but now I’m here to get you out of danger.”

“He’s not here to hurt you,” I tell Celeste, who has every right to distrust John because of what he did when she was keeper.

“It’s not
me
that I’m worried about,” she says.

“Look, my two troops have gone rogue. They’ll kill me now just as soon as most of you,” John says. “But I know how they think—not that
that’s
saying much. One of them is causing a distraction with the arrows and the flames; the other is circling around the forest to pick us off while we’re taking cover. We probably only have a few minutes before he’s in position to shoot at us.”

I know he’s right but I still can’t see any movement out in the woods.

“They
better
not hurt me,” Cassie says, her voice oozing with its usual attitude. I shake my head at how clueless she can be. Even in the face of mortal danger, she thinks she can simply boss people around, as if the two killers would not harm her just because she said so.

“I can’t believe this is happening, I can’t believe this is happening,” my mother whispers over and over, more to herself than anyone else. Gone is the unexpected spunk she displayed moments earlier, as she once again turns into the woman frightened of her own shadow—though I guess there’s a
bit
more to be scared of right now. Dad tries to reassure her that we’ll be okay but she doesn’t listen to him.

“Don’t worry, I promise we’ll get through this again,” Celeste tells her. Mom may not look convinced but she at least calms down.

“We have to get out of here,” Dad says.

It’s the understatement of the century but it’s also the first thing that Celeste and John agree on.

“I took one of the rafts and then one of the canoes on the river this morning,” Dad quickly explains. “I just got back when I heard Cassie yelling so both boats are down by the water. The four of you girls need to rush down there and paddle to safety—John and I will stay behind and eliminate the threat.”

Cassie is the only one who doesn’t object to this plan. I still feel far from my best but I know my abilities make me a much better option than my father to stay and fight. But before Celeste or my mother or I can talk them out of it, Dad interrupts and yells for us to go. He and John take off the other way, drawing fire away from us.

John moves as quickly as me but Dad—while sprightly for an older guy—clearly doesn’t. He barely steps beyond cover of the fiery garage when an arrow
barely
misses him. My heart can’t take many more jolts like this! I’m about to run after them when Celeste grabs my arm and drags me the other way.

“But – ”