Shaping Destiny (13 page)

“A good person? That means
I'm not evil?” Although the responsibility of being the world’s
greatest protector weighed on me, hearing I wasn’t evil comforted
me.

“Evil? Where did you get
that idea?” Mom asked.

“Oh, sir,” Max cut in. “I
never reported our last encounter with the enemy, because it was on
the way here and we knew we’d be here shortly. Also, sir, you would
have been very proud of your daughter the way she handled herself
in the face of danger . . . I was knocked unconscious and . .
.”

“You weren’t
awake?!”

“Dad, stop. It wasn't like
that.” I stepped in, hoping to calm his nerves.

“
She's right, sir, it
couldn't have been helped. I was thrown from the vehicle. You must
listen to what happened.” Max looked over to me to take over the
story so as not to miss any important parts.

“Yes, Max was doing his
job by keeping me safe making sure I was belted in, but he on the
other hand was not.” I repositioned in my seat as I kept talking.
“We both had feelings of panic even after we were driving for
miles, but I think that the emotion of fear got in the way and
slowed our reflexes a little. We got in an accident with a semi,
but the boss meant for it to happen.” I went ahead and told them
that this was my second full transformation into a wolf. I hoped
they wouldn't ask about the first time, when Max and I
kissed.

During my story I could
see my dad shaking his head back and forth with anger and my mom
covering her mouth almost like she was waiting for me to tell her I
was safe. “I'm OK, as you can see, but what surprised me was the
way the boss thought about me and our family. He categorized me as
a demon, and evil. He knew I would be the girl with the shifting
power and said he's been keeping tabs on us because I destroyed his
family by murdering and stealing.”

My dad stood up, walked
over to our hutch, and pawed through the drawers. I rubbed my face,
hoping to push the tired away from my eyes.

“
Ha! I got it,” Dad
announced. He held a square, four-by-six, off-white piece of paper.
When he brought it over it was a black-and-white family picture. “I
have a lot to tell you.” He held the picture on his lap where
nobody could see it, and then he started his tale.

“Every one hundred years,
a pure woman from the Hawk family receives the gift of shift. When
fate sees fit to give this young woman the power of strength,
hearing, and smell, she then meets a man that possesses the same
gifts.” He looked toward Max while still gripping the picture.
“This man is not picked out of a family name. It could be any man
in the whole world, but when this man receives his gift, it means
he is also good and pure of heart. This man will be the other half
of this woman, as if they were one. He’ll be there for support,
love, and encouragement. He’ll be the one who brings out the wolf
in the Hawk woman, in you, Leah. As the story goes, it tells of a
great love and power that draws the two people together. It’s a
great force that connects these people together in a way that no
human can. I can see now that it has happened. Max, you came all
the way across the US for this job. I have a feeling it was
something that you couldn't pinpoint at the time, but it was
something you couldn't turn down.”

Max nodded, as Dad paused
to gather his thoughts. Dad then looked back at me.

“
He is your soul
mate.”

An uncontrollable smile
spread across my face, and I looked down to my lap.

“It’s OK to smile, Leah.
It wouldn't be right if you didn't,” Mom said.

I smiled at my mom and
looked up at my dad, who was staring down at the pictures he
held.

Mom and I could feel the
stress in the home. “Max, can I get you anything? A drink or some
food?”

“Yes, please. If I could
have an ice-cold drink of water that would be great,” Max replied
with a grateful half smile.

A break sounded good. I
rose off the couch and went to the bathroom. I looked at myself in
the mirror and splashed some cold water on my face. After taking a
few more minutes to myself, I exited the bathroom to see Dad still
sitting where I had left him. Max stood outside with a glass in
hand. He looked out from the porch. I walked toward Max to
accompany him. As I got there, I pulled the door closed and put my
hands on the railing. Max had one hand in his pocket and the other
holding his ice water. I looked over at him and instantly smiled
again.

“I needed something to
cool me down,” he said while raising his glass and smiling back at
me.

I couldn't stand him being
away from me. I leaped over and wrapped my arms around his chest. I
buried my head into his upper chest as a few droplets of cold water
from his glass fell on my hair. His cheek rested on my head as we
held each other.

“Let’s sit on the swing,”
he whispered.

The stars were bright and
many, and the cool breeze was pleasant.

***

“Max? . . . Leah? . . .
It’s Mom. It’s time to wake up now. You two lovebirds can come in
the house to sleep. Max, I made you a bed on the couch, and Leah,
you have clean sheets on your bed. Just come inside and we'll catch
up in the morning.”

I sleepily pulled myself
up to a sitting position, using Max as a steadying bar to hold me
up from exhaustion. As I rose to my feet and started walking to my
bedroom, Max stayed close to me until he reached the
couch.

“
Goodnight, sweetheart,”
Max whispered.

“
Goodnight.”

Waking up to sweet birds
chirping made me feel stress-free, until the cobwebs started to
clear and memories rushed back to me. I swung my legs off my bed
and sat there staring, waiting to feel more awake.

The smell of bacon and
eggs filled my nose. It took me to the kitchen, where I saw Dad
reading the newspaper, Mom doing the dishes, and Max sitting across
from Dad. Max noticed me first. He got up immediately to be by my
side.

“How did you sleep last
night?”

“Surprisingly, I had the
best sleep I've had in a long time.” I placed my hand on his arm.
“Was your breakfast good?”

He nodded. “Your mom is a
very good cook. You should get some food too. Your father said it's
going to be a long day.”

Great
,
I thought
sarcastically.

“Yes, Max is right. Get
some food because I have some things to tell you. Your training
starts today also. I want you to be ready, so there’s no time to
waste.” Dad looked back down at his newspaper and turned the
page.

“Train me? Who is going to
do that?”

“Max, of course. Didn’t I
teach you anything last night? He’s your strength.” Dad spoke with
another turn of his paper. I looked up at Max with my eyebrows
raised and my hands on my hips. Max responded with a small lift of
his shoulders.

I really did need the
nourishment; my stomach growled at me a time or two.

Mom had my plate filled.
“Here, eat up.”

I took my plate gratefully
and took my seat at the table across from Dad. He folded up his
paper and set it aside. He got up and went for the picture that he
had held so carefully last night.

“While you’re eating, I’d
like you to listen. Max, you need to listen too, now that you are
part of Leah's destiny.” Dad made it back to his chair. Max took
the seat next to me and rested his hand on my leg under the table.
I rested my left hand on his as we listened to my
father.

“Our family is from
Almont, as you might have heard from time to time. It's still in
Colorado, but about five hours south from us. It’s a beautiful
place to live. It used to have great rivers and prosperous lands.
Our ancestors had been there for a long time, until a hundred years
ago. Then we all scattered. Everyone knew everyone there. Grandma
used to talk about a family that was very close to her. The Sparks
family.”

While eating at a steady
pace, I listened intently.
Sparks, Sparks,
where have I heard that name before?
It
sounded so familiar, but I just couldn't place it. My dad's voice
started to drown out as my thoughts took over, so I held my hand
up.

“Dad, do I know that name
from somewhere?” I asked. “Sparks seems like a name that I've heard
before.”

“Oh no, no, no . . . Our
family hasn't been involved with that name for years,” Dad
answered. His assurance made me blow off the thought and continue
listening to him.

“A man from the Sparks
family had the gift of shift, and your great-great-grandmother was
the woman who had the gift. Those two people fell madly in love,
and for years it was peaceful and wonderful. Together, the man and
woman took care of the crime in that little town. Although our
grandmother was revered, there were people in the Spark family that
thought a human turning into a wolf was unnatural. They thought
shifting must be the work of the devil. Everyone knew that the wolf
held much more powerful than a human, and it frightened them. They
thought if they got enough people to agree that shape shifters put
them in danger, it would be easy to kill just two.” Dad paused for
a minute and turned toward Mom. “Can you get me a drink, honey?” He
turned back again to see if we were listening. Then he told more of
his story.

“One late, cold night in
November, a war broke out. The Sparks family members who were
against the gift thought they could go in unnoticed, kill the two
wolves, and exit. Well, they underestimated the gift of shift, and
many were killed that night. The fight started in the wolves’ home
and ended up in the streets of town. Many people jumped into the
war to save one another, but just more and more people fell.
Grandmother says it was all self-defense.” He paused for a second
to get another sip of his water as I held on to the edge of my
seat, waiting for more.

“Everything started to
calm down by sunup the next morning. Grandma stood there in wolf
form with her fur covered in blood. Not long after, her heart
started aching. She felt as if she’d had a heart attack, but all
she could think about was her love, her soul mate. Without seeing
him, she knew he was dead. She looked frantically for him and
noticed that not only had her mate died, but a lot of people she
thought were friends. After that day nobody looked at Grandma the
same. The part of the Sparks family who still lived left town
scared; they left a lot of things behind. Some of our family even
scattered as well. The remaining Hawk family took care of the
Sparks home and land in case they returned, but, to my knowledge,
none of them did. Grandma moved away too and married eventually,
but it was never the same true love. This marriage is when they had
children. That man is your great-great-grandfather.” Silence filled
the table until my dad started to speak again.

“I'm getting ahead of
myself a little here. When you were telling me of your last attack
last night, this story popped into my head. I could see how the
enemy would twist this story around. If you didn't know the truth,
it would look like an evil wolf had killed everyone out of anger
and with no mercy. It would look like she killed everyone and took
everything. I think the Sparks family is back to finish the war.”
Dad then placed the four-by-six pictures face up on the table for
Max and me to see.

“This is a group picture
of Grandma and some of the Sparks family back in 1905.” I stared at
the picture as if I waited for them to pop out at me and start
talking.

“It does make sense, Leah.
The boss said that you killed his family and stole his property,”
Max commented.

“Yeah, but now that we
know what’s going on, couldn't we just explain what really happened
to them?”

Max looked at me as if he
loved to see the innocence I portrayed. “I wish it were that easy,
but you have to remember there’ll always be people in the world
that’ll never accept someone who is different. Different is scary
to some people, and we already know these people are scared. They
have been taught over the years about their family and they believe
it, just as you believe what your father has told you. They
wouldn't believe you even if you tried.”

Was I really supposed to
finish a war that my grandmother and the Sparks had started a
hundred years ago? What would that accomplish, other than spilling
more blood?

“Max, I know you have much
experience in protecting and fighting,” Dad said. “You have senses
that I don't understand and that will be very helpful in defeating
these lunatics. I can't lose my daughter. I need you to work with
her and train her with everything you’ve got. Please don't let me
down.” Dad held out his hand as if he were making another business
deal.

Max was in this one
hundred percent. He got up and circled the table and placed his
hand in Dad’s, then pulled him in for a hug.

“I would risk my own life
for your daughter, sir. I love her with all my heart, and I’ll let
nothing happen to her.” Max spoke confidently into Dad’s
ear.

“That’s good to hear,
son.”

I picked up the picture
and turned it over. Although faded from age, the name
Sparks
still stood out
to me. Seeing it written down made me knew I'd seen it
before.