Twisted Souls (Edited) 3rd Edition

Chapter 15

Sneaking in and riding out of Matehuala with a broken-down heap of a jeep was an easy feat. Police were not a place to be seen and the trio were gone an hour past their hot-wire conversation. Picking up a bike and situating it within the jeep was not so easy.

So, the three rode on, more at home than when they were in the truck of Jaz's; Kaya was clean from the blood that sweated from her pores during the interchange. She made the decisions. She felt the bond between her and Jaz grow as they rode on and knew the place Michael had taken her. It was a place way too familiar. To them all.

Home.

It was an odd thirty-hour drive back to the Cabin In The Woods effect the place had on Kaya. A thirty-hour drive where Kaya had to explain to Ian exactly everything that had happened.

"You see here, I severed the matebond link between Jazbel and Tamin to spare the suffering of my brother." The word suffering broke Ian. He started to blubber, going from a fright-filled sadness to an intense anger.

How was another long explanation. Kaya didn't want to delve too deep in how she knew how to do this. It was a technique that spiritless used when their mates died to survive. The next long explanation was on how she knew that. Thus far, it was only Vasha who gave this information freely to a dual spirit.

By the fifth hour, explanations were finished, and Ian finally stopped asking–more like demanding. They traded off the driver's seat. Two hours through the highway inspection gate at the border nearly drove Ian crazy. Kaya and Tamin, not so much. Long practice of patience had them eerily calm during this transaction.

Off they went, this time through New Mexico. All along, Kaya thought about how they were tracked. Who could have known where they were going? Kaya didn't even know Mexico was their destination until the siblings caught up with them. How . . .?

By the tenth hour, the trio stopped for Kaya to extend her powers and run around as Betsy. Back at the cabin, she ran every night as Betsy, keeping it a secret so others wouldn't know about her second soul. Then they were off again. Betsy having spent two hours freed, she admonished Kaya for her stupidity yet again. Severing the matebond had more repercussions than any of them knew, but it was what had to be done.

The second day of driving was tense. The full moon was the next day and Kaya nor Tamin had a way of hiding their hair from people on the highway. "Seriously you two, no one on the highway is going to care if you have white hair or not." Ian admonished, frustrated at the two's fretting debate. "Chill."

Kaya rolled her eyes but agreed. Betsy nearly overtook Kaya's spirit with her argument. She was just as wary as Kaya about people knowing. Full moon or not, the curse was always upon them. It was something that needed to be kept secret for security reasons.

Tamin, hearing her thoughts, said, "Too many know anyway, right?"

"Right."

The next day dawned. Ian got to watch the hair shift at midnight. They were driving nonstop and it was Tamin's turn to drive while the other two slept. Ian, though, was unable to sleep at the moment.

Tamin kept sneaking a glance at the clock. 11:59pm rolled around and the air went stiff. Tamin himself stiffened it with his awareness. The feeling of his hair transforming into another color always gave him pause. It was unsettling. A description he could give it was 'ick.' A shudder followed the slow crawl of white.

Watching the short haired twin's hair transform wasn't nearly as fascinating as Kaya's. She had hair to the ground and the slow crawl of white was easier to see with her. Ian watched, transfixed as midnight struck and the white began. Kaya was snoozing against his shoulder, so his neck was at an awkward angle. She shifted her position and fell on to his lap.