Behind Amethyst Eyes

Chapter 16- Progress

Daniel's POV

      My foot presses down on the accelerator. Trees blur past me as I race towards Kara. I pull off to the side and slam on the breaks when I see her car. I roughly throw open the door and quickly make my way over. I stop abruptly when a dog comes running to meet me. Confusion is evident on my face as I bend over to pet the furry creature.

           “I thought you said you hit a dog, not found a dog.” I say to her while scratchy behind the dog’s ears. Its tail is wagging wildly back and forth as slobber drips down all over my jeans.

           “I-I did.” Kara says, eyes wide with shock. “I don’t know what happened. One minute, I’m crying over the dog, and the next, it’s licking me in the face and jumping around.” She gets lost in thought, so I turn my attention back to the golden fluffball in front of me. The dog rolls over on its back, allowing me to rub its stomach. I chuckle to myself at the excitement. Maybe Kara didn’t hit the dog as hard as she thought she did. Surely the fluffball wouldn’t be this playful if she had. As I think this, I notice the tangled hair matted with blood.

           “Oh my! Daniel!” Kara shouts. I stand up alert, expecting to find some kind of danger. My muscles tense ready to attack.

           “What?” I look around, but there’s nothing there. Kara stares back at me with wide eyes covered in blood. I start to go to her, thinking she hurt herself somehow.

           “I think I just healed the dog!” She tells me. Her words sink in, and I smile. It’s one of those big toothy grins that you can’t hide no matter how hard you try, so I just embrace it. I walk towards her, closing the distance between us and wrap my arms around her delicate frame. Her arms wrap around my neck, and I snatch her up in the biggest hug and twirl her around. I laugh in excitement. My face is buried in the crook of her neck, and I take a deep breath in, soaking in the peach scent I’ve come to love, before putting her back down. We’re still holding onto each other, looking into each other’s eyes. Just a few inches and my lips would be on hers.

           “I knew you could do it.” I say to her softly, trying to control myself and keep my distance without letting her go. Her cheeks warm as the blush forms on her face and she looks away. I reluctantly let her go and she quickly puts some distance between us. She walks back over to the dog who was sitting patiently waiting for us. The dog slobbers all over her face and she laughs at it. Her smile lights up her gorgeous face and it warms my heart.

           “I want to take it to get checked out. Make sure I didn’t miss anything.” She says to me. She opens her car door and the dog jumps in, moving to the passenger seat. She laughs and turns to me. “I guess the dog is coming with me. Looks like you get the back seat.” She smirks at me with a wink. I chuckle to myself before hopping in, letting the dog sit next to my girl.

…

           An hour later, we arrive back at my house. The dog is 100% healthy according to the vet. We found out the dog is a boy, and since he doesn’t have a collar, Kara is going to keep him. The dog, whom she named Zeus, has been stuck to her like glue. We went to the pet store to get some supplies and he listened to every command she gave. On the way back, I tried getting in the passenger seat, but Zeus growled at me until I got in the back. I’ve never been jealous of a dog before, but I suppose there’s a first time for everything. Now, Kara and I are sitting out in the field behind my house while Zeus is sunbathing next to us.

           “So, tell me, how did you heal Zeus?” I ask.

           “I’m not sure. I was crying and whispering how sorry I was, then I started feeling tingles all over my skin and the next thing I know, he was licking my face.” She explains.

           “Have you felt the tingles when you’ve healed yourself?” I ask.

           “No, but I also didn’t have to think about doing it. I wished I could heal someone other than me when I was holding Zeus. When I heal myself, it’s like my body is on autopilot. Like when my heart beats. I don’t have to tell it what to do, it just does it.” I nod to her, telling her I understand what she’s saying. I contemplate how to get her to use her powers again. She sharply lifts her head and looks at me. “But I have felt the tingles another time.”

           “When?” I curiously ask her.

           “This morning when I woke up. I had this weird dream, well it felt more like a forgotten memory. It felt like I was seven or eight again. My mother was telling Katie and I a bedtime story. It was actually about the Dhedra I think. She said Katie and I were going to bring peace to everyone.” She pauses and looks like she is contemplating something. “But it felt so real. I woke up and still felt my mother’s kiss on my forehead. Anyway, when I woke up, I was tingling all over. I didn’t remember that memory before, but now it feels like it just happened. It felt like I was really there.”

           “Hmm. Maybe it’s a coincidence?” I ask. What could a dream have to do with her powers? She shakes her head at me.

           “I don’t think so. This felt different.” She tells me adamantly.

           “Okay, well try to get yourself in a familiar state. Close your eyes and focus on the tingling feeling. Imagine how you felt when you were in the dream.” I prompt her. She closes her eyes and steadies her breath. For a while, nothing happens. Kara sits there with her eyes close and her breathing even. Then I feel the air warm just a tiny bit. I look over at her and her cheeks are pink and the skin on her arms is flushed.

“Kara?” I call out tentatively, trying not to break her concentration, but wanting to make sure she’s okay. She doesn’t answer. Her body starts leaning backwards. When I realize she’s not going to catch herself, I rush to catch her head, breaking her fall. “Kara” I yell a little louder. Her forehead is wet with sweat and hot to the touch. I pull her into my lap and lightly slap her cheek trying to wake her. Panic threatens to take over, but I force myself to stay calm. Zeus makes his way over and aggressively slumps down next to her. He puts his head on her stomach and whines. With no other choice, I wait, hoping she’s okay.

Ten minutes later, her eyes flutter open. Our eyes meet and a smile lights up her face. It’s impossible to contain my relief when she looks at me like this. I brush a few loose strands away from her face and rest my palm against her cheek. She’s still looking into my eyes and I take this as a sign to take the next step.

I’ve waited so long to taste those soft lips. I inch closer. Her eyes close softly and her hand wraps around my neck to tangle her fingers in my hair. My eyes close as I close the gap. Then I feel the slobber of a huge tongue all over my face. I quickly jerk my head back and open my eyes to find Zeus licking all over Kara’s face. I run my fingers through my hair in bewilderment. The stupid dog just c*cked-blocked me. Kara just laughs and scratches the mutt behind his ears.

“Well, thank you Zeus.” She coos to the dog. I roll my eyes at the mutt and stand off to the side like the third wheel I am. Kara plays with Zeus for a few minutes before I clear my throat to get her attention.

“So, are you going to tell me what happened?” I ask, slightly irritated. She looks up at me and me irritation is forgotten. One look into those deep pools and she has me hooked. She doesn’t understand how tightly I am wound around her little finger.

“I saw the past.” She simply states like it’s something that happens every day.

“Excuse me?” I sputter. “You what?”

“I saw into the past. I think that’s what I did in my dream. Except this time, it wasn’t one of my memories, it was someone else’s.” She explains.

“Walk me through this because I don’t understand what you’re talking about.” I try to keep the aggravation out of my voice, but I don’t do a good enough job. She huffs and tries to explain it to me.

“In my dream last night, or I guess when I went back to the past, it was my memory. I was reliving it through the eyes of my eight-year-old self. When I tried just now, it was like I was an unseen bystander. I could hear and see everything that happened, but nobody could hear or see me. I guess it’s because it wasn’t my memory, but this is the only other time I’ve done it so I can’t be sure.”

“What did you see?” I ask.

“I wasn’t trying to see anything. I honestly don’t know how I did it. I was focusing on the tingling and my mind went to my mother’s journal. I read a little bit of it today, so I guess it was on my mind. One second, I’m here and the next, I’m teleported to this entirely different place. I saw a young version of my mother with several other people. They were all dressed in weird looking robes. She was talking to a boy about her age about their journey to Earth.” She pauses and looks at me before asking me a question. “Daniel, do you know your father’s real name?”

“Richard, you know that.” I start to become worried that something happened to her. She’s acting strange. She’s talked to my father several times; she knows his name.

“No, that’s the name he chose for Earth. Do you know his given name?” I shake my head no because I still don’t understand what she’s talking about.

“When the last guardians were sent to Earth, they were told to change their names and blend in with the humans, to make it harder for the Dhedra to find them. My mother’s name was Lilianna, but she shortened it to Lilly when she came here.” She stops playing with Zeus and lays back against the grass. Zeus puts his head on her stomach. I move to lay on the other side of her. “Anyway, in her journal, she talked about a boy she knew from a neighboring galaxy. My grandparents are the rulers of Solaris. His parents were the rulers of a different planet, so they had met before. His name was Eldrick.” She paused again, this time looking right at me. “Daniel, I think Eldrick is your dad. He looked almost exactly like you.”

I take a moment to think about this. I’ve never asked my dad about his time before Earth. It was never something that weighed on my mind. Come to think of it, I’ve never even asked him if he kept his own journal.

“Other than the looks, why would you think this boy was my dad?” I ask.

“Well, he gave me my mother’s journal. I’m not entirely sure how he got it. When he gave it to me, he almost felt sad, like he knew her. He said it was time I learned where my mother came from. The whole thing felt too personal to be simple acquaintances.” I nod, but I don’t respond. “That’s what I saw. That moment she wrote about before they left for Earth.”

We sat there quietly, each of us lost in our own thoughts. The more Kara learns about herself and her past, the more I realize I don’t know as much as I thought I did. I’ve spent the past few weeks reading and studying the lives of the guardians before us, trying to learn as much as they were willing to tell us. I had a firsthand account living with me this entire time.

I turn to ask Kara if she learned anything new, but I am met with closed eyes and soft snores. Her beautiful features are relaxed, and she seems content. I pull my phone out to capture the still beauty and set that as my new screensaver. I shift closer to her and summon the wind. I wrap all three of us in a warm cocoon that settles on us like a blanket. I stare at my angelic fated until my eyes grow too heavy and I succumb to the serene darkness.

…

I awake sometime later. The sun has mostly faded leaving behind a sea of pinks and oranges in the sky. At some point during our nap, Kara must have gotten cold because she is cuddled up with her back against my chest and Zeus curled in a ball at her stomach. I smile at the picture-perfect scene before me. I gently shake Kara’s arm to wake her.

“Kara, love, wake up.” I say. She scrunches her adorable nose and turns to bury her face in my chest. Zeus jumps up and gives me a grumpy look, clearly not liking that she subconsciously chose me instead of him. I childishly stick my tongue out at him, which earns me a bark. “Zeus didn’t like that you pushed him away for me.” With that her body tenses next to mine. She pulls her face out of my chest slowly, taking in her surroundings.

“s**t!” She says as she rolls away from me. I just laugh and let her get away this time.

“I’ll let you get away with curling up next to me this time, but next time that happens, all bets are off.” I smirk at her, giving her a half smile. Her eyes widen and a blush creeps into her cheeks. I laugh as I stand up and brush off my jeans. I offer her my hand. She looks at it, contemplating whether or not to take it. She subtly rolls her eyes and takes it and I yank her up to her feet.

“It’s getting late. I should probably head back.” She says and my mood plummets. I help her load all of Zeus’s new toys and supplies into her car. She lets Zeus in on the passenger side then comes back to stand in front of me. She sucks her lip between her teeth as she often does when she’s thinking or she’s nervous. I gently swipe my thumb across her bottom lip, stopping the abuse it’s taking.

“What’s on your mind?” I kindly ask.

“I talked to Katie yesterday. About you.” I raise my eyebrows and smirk at her, intrigued by where this is going. “She made me realize that I haven’t been fair to you. I’ve been pushing you away, not because of anything you’ve done, but because people told me to be with you. I tried hard not to like you because I wanted to shove it to the gods or whatever. But no matter how hard I try not to like you; you find a way to worm in. I’m tired of trying so hard.” I look at her confused.

“What does that mean?” I ask.

“One date.” As she says that my heart pounds violently in my chest. Did I hear her right? Is she finally letting me in? I can’t contain my smile as I look down at her. She gives me a serious look and takes a step back.

“One date then we see how it goes. I’m not promising anything more. We take this one day at a time and let things happen as they happen. Got it?” I enthusiastically nod my head.

“Yes, of course. I told you that I’d wait as long as you needed me to, and I meant it. We’ll take this one day at a time.” I reassure her. She looks uncertain, as if she’s about to take back everything she just said. I quickly go in for a hug. She tenses at first but then slowly relaxes into my arms. “I promise you’ll be in control the entire time.” I whisper into her hair. She nods against me and starts to pull away, but before she can, I kiss her forehead softly. “Sweet dreams, my sweet Kara.” My voice low and rich with longing. I turn away and walk into my house, excited about what’s to come.