Making the Saint, page 6
She was finding her introduction to the Norse religion very interesting. She’d read stories about the goddesses and gods before, but she hadn’t known anything about the actual religion that was built around them. It was fascinating to learn how the celebration of the religion was so closely tied to the day-to-day lives of the people. It wasn’t just something they did one day a week, or on special days. It was what they did every day. In that respect, it reminded her a lot of Wicca.
But she was also a little bit troubled by what she was reading, particularly the reference to loyalty to one’s friends. What would the ancient Norse people have thought about a girl who fantasized about making out with her best friend’s boyfriend? That certainly didn’t show a lot of loyalty on her part to Kate. So why couldn’t she stop thinking about Tyler? It wasn’t as if he was encouraging her or anything. It was all her own doing.
She put down the book, turned off the light, and snuggled down into the warm sheets. The rain danced over her head as she yawned and drifted into sleep. But just as her thoughts were fading into dreams the phone beside her bed rang, startling her awake. Instinctively, she picked it up and answered it with a sleepy, “Hello?”
“Hi, Annie,” said a guy’s voice. “It’s me. Tyler.”
Suddenly she was wide awake. She sat up in bed. “What’s wrong?” she said.
“Why does something have to be wrong?” Tyler said.
“I’m sorry,” Annie said. “It’s just that when the phone rings this late at night I’m always convinced that it’s bad news.”
“Is it too late?” asked Tyler, sounding embarrassed. “I can call you tomorrow.”
“No!” Annie said. “It’s okay. What’s up?”
“I just wanted to see if you could meet me tomorrow,” Tyler said. “There’s something I want to talk to you about.”
“Um, sure, I guess,” said Annie. “What time?”
“How about four-thirty?” replied Tyler. “At the wharf?”
“Okay,” Annie told him. “I’ll be there.”
“Thanks,” Tyler said, sounding happy. “I’ll see you then.”
He hung up, leaving Annie listening to a buzzing dial tone. As she set the receiver down she realized that she’d forgotten to ask Tyler why he wanted to see her. He’d said that he wanted to talk to her about something. But what? She almost picked up the phone and called him back to find out, but she stopped herself. That would just look weird, and she wanted him to think that she was totally over her momentary indiscretion. Calling him—even for what she thought was a good reason—might make her look all clutchy.
That didn’t stop her from thinking about what he might have to say to her, however. A million different things ran through her mind, all of them ending with Tyler grabbing her and kissing her. She was hopeless, and she knew it. Probably, he just wants to ask your advice on what to get Kate for Yule, she told herself. After all, it was only a little more than a month away. She herself had already been thinking about what to get her friends for the holiday. It would make sense that Tyler, who unlike other boys actually thought about what he should get his girlfriend, would be thinking along the same lines.
With a sigh Annie got back into bed and closed her eyes again. The call from Tyler had woken her up, but the rain pattering on the roof above her coaxed her back asleep with its steady song.
After school the next afternoon, Annie took the bus downtown to the wharf. She hadn’t mentioned to either Kate or Cooper that she was going. But it wasn’t like Kate didn’t know that Annie and Tyler hung out together. She did, and she was okay with it. That didn’t make Annie feel better though, so she just kept quiet about the whole thing.
When the bus reached the downtown area she got off and walked to the wharf. The rain had stopped and it was sunny, although the fall afternoon was coming to a close and the shadows had started to lengthen. She loved this time of the year, when the seasons changed and the world felt as if it was slowly falling asleep for its long winter rest. Even the ocean looked like it was growing quieter, the waves rolling in slowly and sliding onto the beach as if they had all the time in the world.
Tyler was standing on the end of the wharf, leaning over the railing and looking down at the water. The afternoon sun glinted off his hair, and as Annie walked toward him she wished she could have a picture of him just standing there, staring out over the ocean.
“Hey,” she said when she reached him.
Tyler turned around and smiled at her. “Hey.”
Annie leaned against the railing beside Tyler, purposefully not letting her arm touch his. The two of them stood there silently, looking at the water for what seemed to Annie like the longest minute in the world.
“Sorry again about waking you up last night,” Tyler said.
“Really, it was okay,” Annie said. “I wasn’t really sleeping. I was just listening to the rain.”
“I love hearing the rain on the roof,” Tyler said. “Especially at night. And it’s even better in a tent. A couple of summers ago we went to this big pagan gathering where we stayed in tents. It rained a lot, and it was great hearing it outside while we were inside, dry. Do you like camping?”
“Um, I’ve never really been,” Annie answered. Why was Tyler going on about camping? she wondered. Not that she minded hearing him talk or anything, but he seemed to be rambling. It wasn’t like him at all.
“The ocean is really beautiful right now,” Tyler said.
Annie nodded but didn’t say anything. Had Tyler asked her to meet him just to talk about rain and the ocean? He didn’t seem to be in any hurry to tell her why he had called her. Did he just want to hang out? That was okay, but he’d said that he had something he wanted to talk to her about.
“What are your Thanksgiving plans?” Tyler asked her.
“Mr. Dunning and Becka are coming,” she told him. But she was sure that she’d already told Tyler that. Had he forgotten?
He nodded. “We’re doing the usual coven get-together,” he said. “It should be fun.”
Okay, Annie thought. This is weird. Is he ever going to tell me what’s up? Then a horrible thought occurred to her. What if Tyler had brought her there to tell her that he didn’t think they should hang out so much? What if he’d decided that her obvious crush on him was too much? Maybe that’s why he was acting all strange around her. Her heart sank. That was it. He was going to tell her to back off. Well, she would save him the trouble.
“I’ve been thinking . . .” she began, but at the same time Tyler turned to her and said exactly the same thing. They looked at one another for a moment and then laughed.
They both paused, looking at each other. “What have you been thinking?” Annie asked, unable to stand him staring at her that way.
“I’ve been thinking,” Tyler began again. But again he stopped.
Here it comes, Annie told herself, preparing to hear Tyler tell her that their hanging out together was a bad idea. But still he didn’t say anything. He just stood there, looking at her. She tried to look away from his golden eyes, but she found herself looking right into them, wondering what Tyler was thinking about.
He opened his mouth to say something and then stopped. Finally he said, “I’ve been thinking that sometimes I think too much.”
Then he leaned forward and kissed her. Annie didn’t have time to think about it. One moment she was staring into Tyler’s eyes and the next his mouth was on hers. Before she could register any of it he had pulled away and was standing there looking at her, his hands gripping her arms.
Was she dreaming again, or had Tyler just kissed her? It had all happened so quickly that she wasn’t even positive that she hadn’t imagined it all. All she could do was stand there feeling slightly dizzy as Tyler’s beautiful golden eyes searched her face.
“I’m sorry,” he said, dropping his hands and stepping back. “That was way out of line.”
Annie shook her head, still unable to speak. She wanted to tell him that it wasn’t out of line, that she had wanted him to do it. But her thoughts were all jumbled together. This was Tyler. It wasn’t just some guy. It was her best friend’s boyfriend. He wasn’t supposed to be kissing her. He was supposed to be telling her that he didn’t want to see so much of her.
“I’m just going to go now,” Tyler said. “We’ll just pretend that I didn’t do that, okay?”
He was backing away, a hurt and confused look on his face. Annie, stunned, could only watch him and shake her head. She wanted to speak, but her voice was locked inside of her.
“No,” she whispered hoarsely as Tyler continued to go. “No.”
Tyler was moving away from her now. He turned around and started to walk more quickly. He was leaving. She couldn’t let that happen.
“No!” she called out, forcing the sound from her throat.
She ran after Tyler. Hearing her call out, he turned around. Annie ran to him and stopped just in front of him. She was afraid to touch him, in case he pulled away, so she just looked into his eyes.
“Annie, I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to—”
“Then why did you?” she asked.
Tyler looked away for a moment, then looked back. “I think about you all the time,” he said. “I try not to, but I do.”
Annie felt her lip beginning to tremble. She bit it so that she wouldn’t do something dumb, like cry.
“I know I’m not supposed to think about you like this,” Tyler continued. “And to tell the truth, I’m not exactly sure why I do. Ever since you kissed me that night at the bus stop. Or maybe even before that.”
He stopped and took a deep breath. “Wow,” he said. “This is really hard.”
He reached out and took Annie’s hands in his, holding them tightly. They were standing very close together. Annie hoped he would hug her again, but she was terrified that if she stepped into his arms he would pull away from her. She wouldn’t be able to bear that. She just knew it.
“I don’t know what to do about this, Annie,” Tyler said gently. “I really don’t.”
“What do you want to do about it?” she asked him.
Tyler shook his head. “I don’t think I can answer that,” he told her. “Not right now. I’m really confused.”
Annie nodded. “I know how that feels,” she said.
“All I know right now is that I really like spending time with you,” said Tyler. “You make me feel comfortable, and your friendship means more to me than I can tell you. You’re smart and you’re funny and—” His eyes shone in the sun as he looked at her and smiled. “And I think you’re really beautiful,” he added.
Annie’s heart was beating wildly as she listened to Tyler talk. It was just like her fantasy, only better. She couldn’t believe it. Was he really saying all of those wonderful things to her? Was he really holding her hands and looking at her with those gorgeous eyes of his?
Then a thought passed through her mind, eclipsing her joy like a cloud passing over the sun.
“But what about—” she started to say.
“Don’t,” Tyler interrupted. “Not now.”
Annie looked down. How could she not think about Kate? How could Tyler not think about Kate? It wasn’t possible. But she wished she could forget that she was standing there listening to her best friend’s boyfriend tell her that he—She couldn’t finish the thought. What was Tyler telling her anyway?
“What happens now?” she asked him.
He shook his head. “I don’t know, Annie,” he said. “I’m not exactly thinking clearly, you know?”
Annie sighed. “Oh, I know,” she agreed.
Tyler pulled her closer. His face was only inches away from hers. “I don’t know what comes next,” he said. “But I know that right now I can’t let you go before I do this again.”
His mouth closed over hers. This time she let herself feel the kiss. She’d imagined it so many times that it almost felt as if she were dreaming it again. But this time when she reached up to feel Tyler’s face in her hands she touched real skin, not empty air. Her fingers touched the smoothness of his cheek, the roughness where the short hairs of his unshaven beard tickled her. And she felt his tongue, warm against her lips. These things were real. And she knew that when he finally stopped kissing her and pulled away she would be looking once more into those magical amber eyes.
She didn’t know what was going to happen when the kiss was over. She knew that there were questions to be answered, and she knew that she might be making the biggest mistake of her life. But as Tyler’s hand caressed her back, those fears slipped away and all she knew was that she’d never wanted to be with someone so much in her life.
CHAPTER 7
“Are you going to be like this all night?” Kate asked Cooper.
“Like what?” snapped Cooper. “I’m fine.”
Kate nodded. “Right,” she said. “You always sit hunched in your seat with your arms across your chest. You’d look less defensive if you were wearing a full suit of armor.”
Cooper sat up in the bus seat and put her hands in her lap. “Happy?” she asked sarcastically.
“You didn’t have to come if you didn’t want to,” said Kate.
“I want to,” Cooper said. “I just wish she wasn’t going to be there.”
“She kind of has to be,” remarked Annie. “It’s her mother who’s holding the gathering.”
“Besides,” added Kate, “it’s not like there’s any chance whatsoever of her getting T.J., is there?”
“No,” Cooper said after a minute of edgy silence. “I guess there isn’t.”
“Then, try to have a good time,” said Kate. “I think it’s going to be really interesting, don’t you, Annie?”
“Sure,” Annie said brightly.
Kate looked at her two friends. They were both acting a little strangely. Cooper was being all weird and jealous about Madelaine, and Annie seemed to be in perky overdrive. Kate didn’t know what was up with the two of them, but she wasn’t going to spend a lot of time worrying about it. She had other things on her mind, like Tyler. She really missed him lately. Their brief meetings at Crones’ Circle just weren’t enough. She was going to have to find a way to see more of him. Her parents had been in good moods recently, and she knew that once Kyle arrived on Tuesday for the Thanksgiving break they would be even happier. If she was going to ask them for permission to see her boyfriend, that was the time to do it. She’d have to think that through later, though. Right now the bus was stopping.
“Come on,” she said, standing up and waving Annie and Cooper ahead of her.
The three of them got off and walked to Botanica Yemaya. The store was closed for the night, but Evelyn had told them to ring the bell. Kate pressed it and waited. A minute later the door opened and Madelaine’s face peered out. She smiled when she saw Kate, Cooper, and Annie standing there.
“Ah,” she said. “You came. Come in.”
The three girls walked into the store, and Madelaine shut the door behind them. Kate saw that she was wearing a white dress with a full skirt. Her feet were bare, and she had a ring of small bells tied around one ankle.
“Come with me,” said Madelaine, leading them through the door at the back.
They passed through and found themselves in a large room. One end of it was apparently used as a stockroom. Boxes and shelves lined the wall, and there were bags of herbs and cartons of candles and other items piled around. But the main area was clear. The wood floor had been swept clean, and there were lit candles on tables arranged along the sides of the room. The tables were also piled high with food. Bowls and platters seemed to be everywhere, and the air was rich with the scent of roasted meats, sweet baked things, and spices that Kate couldn’t identify. Just smelling them made her mouth water, and she found herself hoping she would get to sample the food before too long.
Against one wall was what looked like an altar. It was a large table covered in white and yellow silk. On top of it was a statue of a woman, and around her feet were piled pumpkins, bottles of wine, and plates of little cakes. Yellow and white flowers were heaped around the table as well, and there were candles of the same colors burning on either side of her.
“Who is that?” Annie whispered to Kate.
“I don’t know,” she answered. “I guess we’ll find out.”
Kate looked around. There were a number of other people already gathered in the room. Like Madelaine, most of the women were wearing white dresses, while the men had on white pants and shirts. But other people were dressed in regular clothes, so Kate didn’t feel like she and her friends were completely out of place.
To one side of the room, several men were playing hand drums. They knelt on the floor with the drums between their knees, and their hands tapped out rhythms on the tops. They seemed to be practicing, as they would play for a minute and then stop, laughing and talking.
“Hello there.”
Kate looked up and saw Evelyn walking toward them.
“Hi,” Kate said, smiling at her. “This looks like a big party.”
Evelyn laughed. “It is,” she said. “This is a celebration marking an important day for one of my godchildren.”
“What do we do?” Annie asked.
“Just watch,” Evelyn told her. “I will be busy, so Madelaine will explain things to you as they happen. If you have any questions you may ask her.”
Evelyn walked away, leaving Kate and the others with Madelaine. She turned to them and said, “You are very lucky. We do not usually let people of the eleventh rank attend our ceremonies.”
“Eleventh rank?” Cooper said guardedly. “What’s that?”
Madelaine looked smug, as if she enjoyed the fact that they didn’t know what she was talking about. “In Santeria there are twelve ranks of people,” she said. “The first are the omokolobas. They are very powerful priests who have received initiation into the highest mysteries. The twelfth and lowest rank are those who do not believe in the orishas or in Santeria. In between are those who have attained various levels of initiation and understanding.”
