[Jennifer Cloud 01.0] The Shoes Come First Read online

  “Owee,” Gertie howled as she completed the feat. “You are a rude bitch!” Gypsy whinnied and shook her head.

  The boys laughed at this, until Mrs. Hobbs gave them a glare.

  Caiyan got up on Dan, then turned to me. “What’s it gonna be, me or Gertie?”

  I looked over at Gertie. Her dress was wadded up around her thighs, and she was dancing around with Gypsy, telling her what a good horse she could be if she would just be still.

  “You,” I answered and held my hand up to get a boost.

  We thanked the Hobbses, then rode off toward the trees. It was the first time I had been close to Caiyan since Scotland. I wrapped my arms around him, trying not to be too close because I was still put off by the one-night stand.

  “You’d better hold on tighter, lassie, if you want to stay onboard. Dan can kick up the pace if he wants to show off for Gypsy.”

  I hugged tighter to his back. He was obviously warm from the Texas heat. Even in October it was hot this far south. His body was hard, and I could feel myself melt into him. So much for self-control—if we didn’t get to our destination soon, I was going to have an orgasm in the saddle.

  As the trees began to thin out, I could see a river off to the left following the tree line. The water was flowing lazily downstream, and the wind was gently blowing, relieving some of the afternoon heat. A hawk spread his wings and swooped down toward the water, checking for a midday snack. Gypsy seemed content trotting along behind Dan. Gertie developed her riding legs and was able to maneuver the big gray horse along the trail. I loosened my grip on Caiyan because the heat we were generating between us was starting to make me hot.

  “It’s the gift.” Caiyan answered my unspoken question. “The connection between us generates a warmth, sometimes an extreme heat.”

  I pulled closer, and sure enough the heat intensified.

  “Careful, lassie, I’ve been told I dinnae have good self-control, and you’re making me sweat.” After riding for what my thighs screamed was too long, we came upon a clearing. In the middle of the space was a stone circle that looked as if it had been built for a campfire.

  “This place is good to make camp,” Caiyan said.

  The river branched off to the right and formed a small stream. Caiyan tethered Dan to a tree near the stream, and the horse helped himself to a drink. Gertie tried to maneuver Gypsy in the same direction, but she stomped and snorted, then trotted sideways.

  “This damn horse won’t mind a bit.” Then she gave Gypsy a good kick, and the horse freaked. She took off running, with Gertie screaming, “Shiiiiit! Stop! Halt! Brake, damn you!”

  “Do something,” I cried out, grabbing Caiyan’s arm.

  “What ye want me to do, love?”

  “I don’t know, make it stop!”

  Caiyan stepped forward and said in a very stern voice, “Whoa.”

  Gypsy came to a screeching stop, then lurched forward, sending Gertie sailing over the horse and landing in a grove of prickly-pear bushes.

  “Well, that’s one way to get off.” Caiyan smirked.

  I ran to the prickly bushes to check on Gertie. She was struggling to get free. I gave her a hand out and helped her pick the leaves out of her hair.

  “Double damn, that hurt. Stupid horse wouldn’t stop. What did Caiyan say to make her stop?”

  “Whoa.”

  “I guess that would have been the obvious choice.”

  Gypsy sauntered over to Dan and started drinking from the stream. Caiyan snuck up next to her and secured her to the tree. Dan gave a snort, then decided he would see how things went.

  The sun was starting to set in the sky, so I figured it must be around seven, give or take a few minutes or an hour. I never did get the whole sundial thing in Girl Scouts. My stomach was starting to rumble, and I didn’t see a McDonald’s anywhere.

  “What are we going to eat?” I asked.

  “I picked up a few things at the store,” Caiyan responded, opening his backpack. He unpacked plates and cups made of tin, a small cooking pot, and some utensils.

  “If you ladies would help me find some wood, we can eat.”

  Gertie and I went in search of wood to burn. Caiyan set up a makeshift grill and made a fire. He cooked something that looked like beanie weenies, except the weenies were bigger.

  Caiyan asked me to get the rest of the food from the backpack. I peered in to see bread and some wine. Well, at least I am getting Communion. If we all held hands and said a prayer, I could cut down on my Hail Marys for the month.

  Chapter 9

  A thin veil of darkness blanketed the sky. I looked up at the full moon beaming back at me. There were so many stars here. An old oak tree had been uprooted and was lying on its side. I spread my bedroll out next to the tree, sat down, and leaned my back up against it. I was unusually exhausted from the ride. I rested my head back against the tree and admired the clear night above. Caiyan handed me a plate of food and sat down next to me, balancing his plate on his knee. Gertie straddled a rock across from us.

  “Thanks.” I sighed and realized I was quite hungry.

  Caiyan noticed my fascination with the stars. “You’re missing aboot a hundred years of pollution.”

  “What?”

  “That’s why you can see so many stars.” He pointed to the sky with his fork.

  I looked over at him. The dark hair that usually lay casually at his collar had become soaked with sweat during the ride and was drying in glorious curls around his neck. I wanted to reach out and run my fingers through it. He looked over at me, and our eyes met. He raised an eyebrow, and a slight smile tugged at his mouth. Get a grip, Jen. I told my inner slut to calm down.

  “Are you going to tell me aboot my gift?” I asked him.

  “You think you’re real cute making fun of my accent?” he said. “Let me have a crack at yours then, lassie.”

  As we relaxed around the small campfire eating our meal, Caiyan explained in a perfect Texas drawl, “Y’all’s gift was passed down through generations. Your aunt had given up and thought your family would no longer have the gift.” He shifted his weight slightly and set his empty plate on the ground. “My grandfather told me if there are no children, the gift dies, or sometimes the gift just doesn’t pass on to the grandchildren. I have never heard of it passing outside a direct line.”

  I looked over at Gertie and wondered why I was the one who inherited the gift instead of her. She was holding her plate at mouth level, scooping the last of the beanie weenies inside with a slice of bread. Go figure.

  Caiyan continued. “The job we do is difficult, and the gift doesn’t emerge until you hit puberty. When you put on the key, your gift can turn on the vessel. However, your mentor is supposed to protect your vessel until you are ready. It’s kind of a built-in safeguard to protect you.”

  “Unless your mentor dies,” I said, and Caiyan pressed his lips together, nodded his head in agreement, and looked at the ground. “But I didn’t know I was going to be jetted back to the past.”

  “I can only tell you the story my grandfather told me. So far it’s been true.”

  “OK, let her rip,” Gertie said, hunkering down like she was about to hear a scary story.

  “Legend has it that an ancient people, the Ancalites, had the gift of time travel. The gift was given to their king by the gods, and he was told the gift would be transferred through his bloodline.”

  “Oh come on, the gods?” I asked sarcastically. “As in Zeus and all that bull?”

  “Do you want to hear the story or not?” he said, crinkling his brow.

  “Sorry, go on,” I said, trying to be more open-minded.

  “The king’s key was large, like the armor of a warrior. It fit around his neck and covered his entire chest. When his offspring inherited the gift, a piece of his armor would be removed, made into a necklace, and given to the new child. The armor was designed so each piece represented an element of the universe.”

  “So I have—or had—the moon,
and you have the sun.” I realized that before we left the hill where we met Caiyan, he had buttoned his shirt up, hiding the precious key.

  “Yes.”

  “Who has the others?” Gertie asked.

  “We have found several others. Searching for the remaining keys is our mission. The main key was made of titanium, which, by the way, wasn’t even discovered until the seventeen hundreds. Each element is formed from moonstone.”

  “Moonstone. I have read about that gemstone,” said Gertie. “If you give your lover a moonstone when the moon is full, you will always have passion with each other.”

  “That’s what I hear, but it also provides protection and healing powers,” Caiyan said.

  “Geesh, you don’t really believe all that stuff, do you?” I asked.

  “Maybe I should remind you, lassie, we are sitting here in 1915.”

  “Good point.” I wondered if he realized when he was annoyed, his accent returned. Mamma Bea always told me that everyone has a tell. This means when they are fibbing, there is always a sign that gives them away. She said it is good for poker and cheating husbands. My tell was twisting a strand of my hair. Whenever my mom caught me doing something wrong, I would pull a piece of my hair and twist it around my finger. Gertie would bite her fingernails, and Jake would tuck his bottom lip under his front teeth. I wondered if this was Caiyan’s tell and stored it away for future use.

  Caiyan continued. “When the king was young, he traveled back in time to help secure land for his tribe and make his tribe wealthy.”

  “You mean he went back in time and ripped people off,” I said.

  “I think he was more or less like Robin Hood. He only took what his people needed from those who had more than they deserved. He also went back to his ancient people and taught them how to grow crops and develop so they were ahead of the surrounding tribes, giving them a superior status. This gave his people security.”

  Caiyan reached down and picked up a smooth rock from the ground. He rolled it around in his palms as he continued the story.

  “The king’s vessel was made of pure gold. It was large because the king was rumored to be at least seven feet tall and built like Hercules.”

  “Now we’re talkin’,” Gertie added, doing a fist pump.

  “During this time the king had many wives.”

  “Hold up,” Gertie interrupted, holding her free hand up in a “stop” position. “How many wives, like three or like twelve?”

  “Many!” Caiyan said a little louder, glaring at Gertie. “The king had several daughters, and none of them had inherited his gift. He did not understand, because the gods had told him his bloodline would carry the gift. When his only son reached sixteen years, he went through the ceremonial rite of passage celebrating his claim to be the next king. During this ceremony the king put the key around his young prince’s neck, and it started to glow, thus revealing the gift. The king was ecstatic and had a piece of his key made into a necklace for his son immediately. He taught the prince how to use his vessel to travel through time to do good things and help their people become greater and wealthier. As the king’s son grew into a man, he fell in love with a girl he met while traveling back a few decades, and he wanted to marry her. The girl’s name was Analia. She was from a poor tribe, the Mafusos. They were also an enemy of the Ancalites. The king would not allow the marriage.”

  “Ooh, very Romeo and Juliet,” Gertie interjected.

  “Aye,” Caiyan said sternly, then continued. “One night the prince secretly left to marry Analia. They returned to the tribe hoping his father would accept his new bride, but the tribal king was not pleased. And because Analia had learned their secret of time travel, he sentenced the girl to death. The king also believed she had coerced his son into marrying her for his fortune. While the girl was held captive, waiting to be executed, the prince snuck in and freed her. He transported her back to her time and her people.”

  “Why didn’t he just stay with her in her time?” I asked.

  “He could naugh he didn’t have enough time.” Caiyan raked a hand through his dark hair, mussing it a little and making my toes tingle. “You see, it was the year he was to be born, and you cannae travel to a time when you are already living.”

  “What would happen if the prince was there when he was born?” I asked.

  “The grown prince would die. We have seen it happen before when a transporter wanted to stay back in time. You just sort of vanish.”

  “That’s kind of creepy,” Gertie said.

  “How do we know when to return?” I asked.

  “Travel is based on the cycles of the moon. We go back when the moon is full. We have about three to five days to complete our task. When the moon begins to wane, we must return before it reaches the third quarter, or half-moon appearance.”

  “What happens if we go back to a time when we were not alive and decide to stay?”

  “When the moon begins to wane, you get very uncomfortable.”

  The way he said it made me uncomfortable. Maybe I didn’t need to know all the details at once. My Mamma Bea always said some things are better taken in small amounts, and I think this was one of those things. Mamma Bea was usually referring to liquor and men, but I was beginning to get a little frightened.

  “The prince was going to stay with Analia, knowing he would die.”

  “That’s so romantic,” Gertie said, placing her hand over her heart.

  “Some of us that have the gift also have—How can I explain this? Let’s just call them special abilities.”

  “What do you mean? Like superpowers?” I asked.

  “Not exactly, but just imagine a few of us are given extra gifts, and the king possessed every gift we have discovered so far.”

  “He was like a god, right?” Gertie asked.

  “Sort of.”

  “Do you have a special gift?” I asked. “Do I?”

  “I don’t know what kind of gift you have, Jen.” He stood casually, avoiding the first question. “Now where was I—oh yeah. The king had the ability to control other travelers by causing a painful cramping sensation in all the muscles of the body simultaneously just by touching his key.”

  What if the Mafusos have this gift? I thought to myself. What if they use it on me? I shuddered.

  “Oh my God, that is so awesome. Then what happened?” Gertie asked as if she were sitting front row at an Ozzy Osbourne concert.

  “The king thought the prince had gone off to sulk, so he summoned the prince at about the time the moon cycle started to make him sick. The prince couldn’t take the pain, and he returned. When the prince realized the king was unaware Analia had been freed, the prince secretly dressed in the girl’s robes and took her place. The prince did not want to live without his beloved bride. The next evening he was taken to the great volcano to be sacrificed to the gods. As the prince was pushed into the volcano by his own guards, he removed the shroud, revealing his face. The tribe was in shock. Falling to his death, he shouted, ‘I am sorry, Father, but my son shall live.’

  “The tribal king was so distraught at his son’s death, he forbade himself all time travel. He put his key away, not to be used again. What the king didn’t realize was that although his daughters did not inherit the gift, some of his grandchildren would be blessed. One day his favorite granddaughter found the key. As soon as she put the key around her neck, it glowed. The king’s wife was excited and showed the king the miracle; however, the king was frightened he might lose another child, so he forbade anyone to wear the key. The wife thought this unfair, so she secretly took the key and divided it into many necklaces so each grandchild who inherited the gift would have one.”

  “So how did they travel without a vessel?” Gertie asked.

  “We are not sure.” Caiyan shrugged. “Some say the tribe’s witch doctor transferred the vessel’s power into small stone discs with the symbol each child had on his or her key. These discs were placed onto ordinary objects, creating vessels of their ow
n. They could travel without using the king’s vessel. This is where the common vessels originated. When the moon was full, the tribal king went to the volcano to mourn his lost son, leaving the tribe alone to secretly travel back in time. The men would go back in time and get gold, grains, anything they needed and then summon the women to come and collect the goods. That is the reason you are a transporter.”

  “Why are women the transporters?” I asked.

  “Maybe because that was the way the tribe functioned. The men were the hunters, and the women were the gatherers.”

  I tried to take in all the information and sort it out to something I could comprehend, but it felt like so many questions were left unanswered.

  Caiyan was watching me intently. I think he must have realized my bewilderment, so he continued to explain. “I am not sure why the vessels of most men are only able to carry one person while the women can carry two or more.” He shrugged. “Somewhere along the way, we lost the ability to transport objects.”

  “How do the brigands get their ill-gotten gains, so to speak, back to the present?”

  Caiyan looked around as if someone in the bushes might be evesdropping on this secret. “They bury it, or if it is not too far in the past, they may have secured a location they can retrieve the items from when they return.

  “Like a hollow stump or a secret lair?” Gertie piped in.

  Caiyan laughed his first big laugh since we had arrived. It made his eyes light up and my toes curl a little. “No, Gertie, more like a post office box or the house of a relative. Cemetery crypts are also good hiding places.”

  “Crypts,” I shuddered at the thought of having to search crypts for brigand booty. On the other hand, I didn’t think Caiyan would mind disturbing the dead if it involved recovering a treasure. I leaned back against the tree, and the bark on the tree trunk snagged my hair. I sat up and untangled it the best that I could and pulled my hair to the side so that it fell across my shoulder as I leaned back against the tree.