Free Talisman 01 - The Emerald Talisman by Brenda Pandos Page B

anything private to this looney. Sam felt confused and clammed up.
    The old woman’s eyes shifted from Sam and then back to me. She dropped my hand.
    “He’s trouble. Stay away from him.”
    I rubbed my hand, grateful to have it back, wanting to wash it off thoroughly with antimicrobial soap.
    “That’s all I can see. You can leave now,” she said, getting up abruptly.
    I wanted out of there, so I got up too, grabbed my crutches and headed toward the door. Sam led the way.
    “When you want answers, you’ll be back,” she said quietly behind me.
    I pretended I didn’t hear her.
    Once outside, I hobbled quickly down her walkway and took a deep breath to cleanse my lungs. She disturbed me. Her touch unleashed a wave of toxic emotions, as if she’d poisoned me. I moved as fast as my crutches allowed, down the walkway, relieved that with each step, my feelings began to return to normal. No way would I ever return to her house again—never.
    “Sorry about that,” Sam said as we rounded the corner of the theater. “She was totally weird.”
    “Yeah—” I looked back towards her house. “She was.”
    I tried to process what the woman said. What did she mean by them ? And being innocent? She sounded like I would save the world, from some unknown darkness, like a super hero.
    And then her insistence to avoid Nicholas? Not that I had any choice in the matter seeing how he completely avoided me like the plague. Could she have been anymore cryptic? I looked at my palm for a special mark, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.
    I wanted to tell Sam about how I believed the mountain lion incident and the old lady’s rants were more than coincidental. I might have told her, if I could’ve done so, without disclosing my lie. I marveled at how insane my life had become, as if I was on a collision course with some crazy alter universe. I wished for normalcy.
    There was a line outside the theater. We walked to the end of the line to wait our turn. I checked the time. We had ten minutes until the movie started.
    “What do you think she meant by ‘you bear the mark’?” Sam asked me.
    “I have no clue. She’s crazy.”
    “I thought she was okay at first, like when she said—”
    Sam kept talking, but I didn’t hear her. The same eerie stalking hunger-filled feelings from the forest were here. I whirled around to find the source.
    I spotted a group of college-aged people walking in our direction. Something about them seemed unnatural, almost surreal, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I stiffened and felt the need to protect Sam who still prattled away about the old woman. I put my arm around her and ushered her closer to the wall, away from the middle of the walkway. I glanced back in their direction. One member of the pack looked right at me with his dark black eyes and smiled a wicked grin. Frightened, I looked away and watched their feet out of the corner of my eye as they paraded past—not wanting to cause any trouble.
    I breathed a sigh of relief as they moved away from us and the hunger feelings dissipated. Sam, oblivious to what just happened, was more concerned with paying for our tickets, than fearing for our lives, but I knew it wasn’t over.
    Someone, who looked an awful lot like Nicholas walked hurriedly towards us. He wore the same long, brown leather trench coat and it flapped in the wind as he made his way in determination. When I spotted him, he flipped up his collar and averted his sunglass covered eyes, just before walking by.
    “Nicholas?” I said as he passed.
    He ignored me.
    I spun around and spoke louder.
    “Nicholas.”
    He stopped and turned towards me.
    “Oh, hi,” he said coolly.
    “Hi,” I said, nudging Sam. “This is my friend Sam. Sam this is Nicholas .”
    I emphasized his name. He reached out and shook her hand.
    “Nice to meet you,” she said with a smile and wide eyes that said ‘ yeah, he’s gorgeous’ .
    “Likewise,” Nicholas said, with a nod, his voice polite, but