Free The Temptation (Kindred) by Alisa Valdes

said, rubbing his chin.
    Though I normally found Mr. Hedges’s rants incomprehensible, something about what he was saying made sense to me now, at a visceral level that I did not understand. My heart thundered with excitement as a new, untested instinct surfaced, a knowledge that was just out of reach, but there , where none had been before. The sudden thrill in my belly surprised me, and suddenly, terrifyingly, I heard Travis’s voice inside my head, saying, He’s not crazy, Shane. He only seems crazy. He knows.
    Strangely, the locket around my neck began to feel warm, and then quite suddenly hot. I put my hand to it, and sure enough it was burning up. Even stranger than that, the tiny clasp on the heart locket had opened, something that was ordinarily difficult to do. I closed it, and tried not to panic.
    Then, to my chagrin, the teacher turned his attention to me again. “Miss Clark. You’re a musician. And a very good one from what I understand.” His eyes were on fire with crazy delight. It scared me.
    “I guess,” I said, feeling creepy and uncomfortable.
    “Do you have your instrument with you today?”
    I shook my head. “No, sir. I’m waiting on my new one to come in. Mine was destroyed in a car crash.”
    “Well now, that’s a shame. A crying shame. Hmm. Would you please be so kind as to bring it in when you get it, so that you could demonstrate the pentatonic scale and harmonics for the class?”
    “Okay.” It was odd he didn’t ask about the crash, but he was weird to begin with.
    “It’s all part of the same thing, you know,” he said, staring me down.
    “Okay,” I answered.
    I looked over at Kelsey. Her eyes burned with amused sympathy.
    Mercifully, the bell rang then, and Mr. Hedges was forced to release us to the rest of our day. Logan, in a rush to get somewhere, gave me a quick peck on the lips, and said he’d see me at lunch. It felt wrong to kiss him. Something had shifted in my heart. It didn’t belong to Logan anymore. It belonged to Travis, and I had a strange sense that he was close by.
    As I gathered up my books, Kelsey put a gentle hand on my arm.
    “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked.
    “Yeah,” I lied with a fake smile. “Everything’s fine.”

Chapter Nine
     
     
    I ’d never lied to my mother in any significant way, so I felt like a criminal as she stood in the doorway from the laundry room to the garage the following Friday, watching me load Buddy into the Land Rover. She thought the dog and I were taking a short trip to Santa Fe, to have dinner at my dad’s. I told her he and his new wife were having a big dinner party and they wanted me there. I couldn’t tell her I was driving back out toward Farmington on Highway 550 to see the guy who’d saved me. I knew she was unlikely to call Dad, and he would never call her, so there was no risk in this particular fib.
    I wore a pair of flattering jeans, with a couple of layered long-sleeved T-shirts, silver hoop earrings, boots, and a cute short white parka. I’d put on makeup and blown my long wavy hair out straight and shiny. I wanted to look good when Travis saw me. I thought about taking off my locket, but again it seemed to warm and glow when I thought of Travis, and something inside of me told me I needed to wear it.
    “Be careful,” my mother said, as she always did before I drove anywhere. “Call me if you’re going to be late or if you need me for anything.”
    “Okay,” I mumbled, unable to meet her gaze. I felt exposed and cruel, but what choice did I have? Sometimes, the truth just wasn’t an option with parents.
    “Have fun,” my mother said. “Give your father my regards.” She looked pained, and I figured this was because she still loved him. I’d heard her tell her sister once that she thought she’d always love him and never get over him, and I felt terrible for her. He was my dad, I knew that, but he wasn’t worthy of my mother’s love. The thought of me with him and his new wife