Chapter 18
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Jane said.
“Like what?” Armando approached in smooth, stalking steps.
“Like you’re a hunter, and I’m the prey.”
“You’re not the prey.” He stopped an inch from her; with her back, Jane brushed the side of the tent. “But you are the hottest thing in this jungle.”
Shanna gasped, staring at the TV screen, where Armando led Jane into the tent, and saxophone music started playing. She let out a yelp and covered Mom’s eyes with her hand. “No, Mommy, don’t watch!”
Mom laughed, gently removing Shanna’s hand.
“They’re doing the dirty,” Shanna said. She still hadn’t quite decided if she wanted to keep watching or if it was too disgusting.
“You can’t even see anything, just a bit of leg,” Mom said. “And also, it’s romantic.”
Shanna blew a raspberry.
Mom scooped her up into her lap. “You’ll change your mind when you grow up.”
Shanna watched in horror as Armando’s strong, rugged fingers slid down Jane’s leg. She put her finger in her mouth to imitate puking. “Never!”
***
They left their kayaks on a narrow, pebbled beach next to the waterfall.
“You’re saying we have to run through that.” Chris pointed at the curtain of water.
“It’s not so bad,” Shanna said. The waterfall wasn’t too thick or powerful, and they were all already wet.
“Yeah, no thanks.” Chris crossed her arms. “I’ll wait here.”
Shanna looked at Simon.
“I don’t have much choice,” he said, although the good mood in his voice made it clear he’d have gone with her regardless. “On three?”
“On three,” she agreed.
They positioned themselves in front of the waterfall.
She counted up, then sprinted toward the waterfall, screaming with laughter as she got showered by millions of fresh, cold drops.
Simon came behind her, holding his hands above his head as if there were still a dry inch of his body to protect.
Soaking wet, Shanna shook her head and wrangled with strands of hair plastered to her face.
“Here we are.” Simon calmed his breathing. “Nice little spot.”
They were in a natural alcove carved into the granite rock.
Despite the rush of water, it was wonderfully calm, with the waterfall protecting them from the outside world.
Shanna closed her eyes, lifted her chin, and reveled in the sensations.
The smell of rain, the cozy semi-darkness of the alcove, the even song of the waterfall meeting the ground.
Even without the usual buzz of a tracking spell, her skin tingled, charged with expectation.
She sensed it—there was a witchiness to this place, even if Mom was long gone.
It still called to her.
“Do you know what we’re looking for?” Simon asked.
She didn’t—and yet, she did. She let her supernatural senses, instead of her eyes, lead her—further into the alcove, fingers scraping along the smooth, slippery rock, until she found it, hidden inside a crack. A small, flat metal box.
She brought it over to Simon. “This is it.”
“You know?”
She nodded. As she reached for the lid of the box, his fingers stopped her.
“Wait,” he said.
“It’s all right. It’s safe to open.”
“I know.” He swallowed, his eyes searching hers. “I just wanted to say …” He covered her hand. “Shanna, come back home with me.”
“Of course I’m going home,” she said. “I need to see Gran. And Jinx.”
“I mean, after that. Even with the bond broken, even with everything fixed.” He locked her in his gaze, soft and pleading. “Stay with me.”
The cave around her whirled. “You’re not …”
“I’m serious.” He drew in, leaning his forehead on hers. “I may have already known it the night in Vegas. I’ll never be sure, but even with those memories gone, I still know it now. I know it again. I want to be with you.”
She stuttered.
“Give this a chance. Give us a chance,” he breathed next to her cheek. “Please.”
The rushing in her ears outpaced the rushing of the waterfall, just as the wild beating of her heart outpaced her breathing.
In here, they were safe from her doubts and fears.
If Simon believed, then she did, too—because she wanted to believe in them, in love.
In the dreams she’d held onto for so long.
She made the slightest nudge toward him, the corners of their mouths meeting.
With an inhale, his lips covered hers. He licked, he teased, he enveloped; he bit her lower lip gently, prompting her to open, and she did, taking in the fresh, peppermint taste of his tongue.
The metal box slipped to the ground as she wrapped her arms around him, traveling over the life jacket and stopping at the back of his neck, where she toyed with his short, wet locks.
Their tongues clashed, their breaths mingled, their souls intertwined.
With Simon, she could be the Shanna she’d always wanted to be: capable, confident, and loved.
And with her, Simon could be whoever he wanted to be—the charming man on the stage, the smart guy staying away from the limelight; whichever version, the businessman or the adventurer, she’d always love him because, away from everything people saw on the surface, she knew his heart.
They stayed in their embrace, even as their lips parted, content to breathe each other in and share in their warmth.
“I think Chris might think we’d drowned,” Simon said with laughter in his voice.
Shanna nuzzled his nose. “I think we have.”
“Do you want to open the box now or save it for later?”
She almost didn’t care about it at the moment, but they had spent so long getting here it felt right to open it now. She picked it back up. “Let’s see.”
A stale scent mixed into the surrounding moisture as she prised off the lid. Inside was a folded piece of browned paper and a flattened fabric pouch. She undid the spring on the pouch and shook it.
A delicate silver bracelet of intertwined links, with three half-inch onyx stones, dropped into the box. Shanna gasped. “This is it.”
She couldn’t believe after all this time, it was here. She was looking at her family’s Mercurial Crystal. Mom’s prized bracelet. Shanna’s heirloom, Simon’s solution.
She unfolded the piece of paper. It was a letter, the writing unsurprisingly matching that on the postcards.
Dear Shanna,
Words will never describe the hurt I must have caused you. You will call me selfish, and I fully accept the accusation, because a part of me is looking forward to the day I’ll forget the things I’ve done. But until then, while my memory of you is still alive, I owe you an explanation.
When your father forgot me, I broke. I sought every solution I could find.
I consulted the cards, the stars, the spirits, even the whispers of our ancestors.
You’ll know how those consultations go; more often than not, you think you got an answer for a question you didn’t even ask.
And so did I. I came asking for a solution for myself, and found one for you, instead.
I had to leave, disappear from your life, because in a vision, I saw you.
You came to this far corner of the world, and there was the other half of your soul and the solution to your curse.
But that would never happen if you had no reason to leave home.
So that’s why I left. I won’t lie; leaving the familiar sights behind was a reprieve for my aching heart. Leaving you and Mom, not so much, but I knew you’d have each other. And if I had to cause you pain, I could at least try making up for it with a game.
So I hope you sang and danced in the rain in Wellington, swam like a mermaid in Abel Tasman, enjoyed your foray into the Wild West in Ross, and lived out your Emerald Fever behind this waterfall.
The first time I stepped foot on this land, I felt freedom. I hope that with this, I have given you yours. And know that, even if I don’t remember you anymore, you’ll always be in this witch’s heart.
Love, Mom
Shanna didn’t know how long she stood there, but she must have swayed at some point because she finally found herself supported by Simon, who’d steadied her with his arms.
“She knew. All this time, she knew,” Shanna whispered. “That I’d come, and for the bracelet, no less—that must be why she took it and left it here. But I don’t understand …”
Was this truly worth it? All the pain, all the suffering, all for a vision her mom had?
“Give yourself some time to process,” Simon said. “Trust me. It helps.”
She nodded, storing the letter and the bracelet safely back inside the box. They returned through the waterfall.
“Oh, here you are. I thought you’d drowned,” Chris said in a flat voice.
“Thank you for your concern in calling the rescue,” Simon said.
“I also assumed you drowned slobbering each other. Didn’t want anyone having to witness that view.”
Shanna felt herself blush. “We—uh—didn’t—”
“I’m glad the uncomfortable sexual tension is dissolved, but I don’t need the details.” Chris stood up from a rock and headed for the kayaks. The mere sight of the bright orange boats instantly doused any excitement Shanna had left from that kiss and Simon’s confession.
“Look, there’s one of the tourist boats,” Simon said. “Do you think if we pretend we’re stranded, they’d take us on?”
None of them had the desire or stamina to drive back that evening. Simon found rooms available at a lodge nearby, so they decided to spend the night in Milford Sound and figure out their next steps in the morning.
Staying inside the car while Simon took their luggage from the trunk, Shanna slid her hands over the metal box in her lap.
The lodge was removed from the hustle and bustle of the harbor, shrouded in the silence of the forest, but Shanna’s mind was full of unpleasant white noise.
This would not do. Simon had said to take time and mull over the details, but she couldn’t distance herself from the box if she kept it with her.
Trapped between the pull to keep it close to her chest and work at it until her mind and heart were satisfied, and the need to take a break, she finally forced herself toward the latter.
She left the box in the glove compartment of the car and followed Simon to the hut they’d rented.
It was a rather fancy suite with a fully glass wall on one side, through which the black barks of the ancient trees, crusted with moss, stood dark against the fog shrouding the valley.
The perfect place for a respite, and as Shanna sat on the bed and breathed deeply, she could feel the strands connecting her to the box grow less taut.
Simon came from the bathroom, drying his hair, and sat beside her. He exhaled, and she knew he appreciated the view and the relaxation as much as she did.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
She gave an uncertain nod. “I will be. I have to figure out what it all meant. Why she made this treasure hunt for me. Why those specific places? Was it only for the movie references?”
“For what?”
“She referenced some movies in her letter. Singin’ in the Rain, Splash, I’m not sure what the third one is—there are a lot of westerns I’ve watched—and Emerald Fever.
I know all of them. I remember them lovingly from my childhood, even though I don’t remember watching them with her. But we must have.”
“I know the first two, but I’ve never heard of Emerald Fever,” Simon said.
“Oh, I love it. It’s about a novelist and an adventurer hunting for treasure in the jungle. They fall in love in the process, of course.” She chuckled. “It’s so painfully obvious now.”
“What is?”
“They find the treasure behind the waterfall. They kiss there, too.”
“Your mom had some prophetic visions.”
“She did.” Shanna turned her eyes to the trees, mesmerized by the fog.
“The one thing I remember the most, though, is that I always got embarrassed by the love scene. It was very tasteful, but I was a kid and thought it yucky.” She looked at Simon, wiggling her eyebrows.
“They did it in a tent while camping in the jungle.”
“Hmm.” He shot a side glance at the forest. “We’re almost in a jungle.”
“Not quite in a tent.”
“It’s a little more comfortable.” He leaned in, touching their foreheads. “If you want a movie experience …”
“Rating yourself high, huh?”
He grinned. “Am I?”
Not undeservingly, though. She giggled and pecked his lips as a tease before she scooted down the bed. Simon followed, tossing away the towel wrapped around his hips, and showed her many things worth a younger Shanna’s embarrassment.
They walked hand in hand out of their hut the next morning, Shanna greeting the new day with a mixture of excitement and nervousness.
They finally had everything she needed for the bond-breaking ritual, and she believed she could perform it.
But even though Simon had told her he didn’t want her to leave, a sliver of fear still remained; perhaps not about him leaving, but about something else, hidden in the recesses of her mind.
Nonetheless, today would be one big step forward. It would leave them both free. The rest was for the fates to decide.
They met Chris, coming from her hut, halfway to the parking lot.
“I hope you used protection,” she said, then fell into step with them as if no remark had been made at all.
Shanna felt heat rush to her cheeks as Simon whispered, “You know who I won’t miss? Her.”
“Liar,” she teased.
She squinted at the car as they walked closer to it. The antenna in the back was missing—lying on the ground, actually. Shanna had been exhausted yesterday, but she was sure they would have noticed it when they left the car.
Simon let go of her hand and rushed to the car. “What the hell?” He picked up elongated pieces of black rubber from the gravel.
Were those the car’s door seals?
The closer Shanna came, the more the horror built. Their wing mirrors had been taken out too, crushed on the ground. The wipers were bent and, worst of all, the window on her side had fallen in, resting on her seat.
“Somebody broke into our car.” Simon ran a hand through his hair. “Shit.”
“The box.” Shanna scrambled for the glove compartment. Before she even touched it, it fell open, revealing a few of the car’s documents they stored inside … and nothing else.
She turned to Simon, panic building in her gut. “The bracelet is gone.”