Talisman 01 - The Emerald Talisman

raced as the tables turned. He was very happy about the fact I didn’t see anything and I hoped he wouldn’t ask anymore details. If I had to make up a story on the spot about why I ran, I would surely botch it up. Without revealing my insight, it would be hard to explain how I could know to run from an unknown, unseen predator and then I’d be the liar.
    He flowed out a huge sense of relief.
    “Well, it’s gone now. So you don’t need to worry about it anymore.”
    I clamped my lips closed to stop my gasp. I knew for a fact he fought a person because my powers didn’t cross over to animals. But why couldn’t I sense he was lying?
    “I need to warn my neighbors,” I blurted out.
    “You do?” he said in alarm. “Why?”
    “Because that dangerous animal is still out there.”
    He stopped, slid me off his back and turned to face me, his hands holding my shoulders. I suddenly felt self-conscious not knowing if mascara or dirt covered my face, electrified by his touch. I peered into his emerald eyes. My breath caught in my throat. He squinted and looked deeply into mine.
    “I promise it’s nothing to worry about, okay? I’d rather no one knew about it.”
    My throat constricted in anger. I was tired of this charade and frustrated my powers couldn’t reveal the lies he told. And now, he wanted me to cover it up too? I actually didn’t want my dad to know anything about the stalker part of my evening, but I needed to know what actually happened first.
    “You can tell me,” I pleaded.
    He let out a large sigh while he stood there, lips pursed, still looking directly at me with an expression that conveyed the message I should just trust him. But I wanted to know. No, needed to know. The thing he defended me from stalked me after all. I held his gaze determined not to back down.
    “Fine, if you must know,” he said coolly. “It was a small mountain lion and I had to kill it before it hurt you.”
    This time I felt it for sure. Something in his story was not true—his feelings definitely betrayed him. My powers weren’t broken after all. Problem was I didn’t know which parts were the lies.
    He said it was an animal earlier and I sensed that to be true. But now, when he said it was a mountain lion, he lied? Or maybe he didn’t actually kill it, but scared it away. I had no clue and the story was getting more and more convoluted with each attempted clarification.
    Were my powers shorting out, or worse—crossing over into the animal kingdom? I never saw anyone, so I couldn’t know for sure. It would explain a lot if a bloodthirsty animal stalked me. I couldn’t imagine anyone who’d have feelings like it did—totally unnatural and animalistic, but even still, I couldn’t confront him without revealing my secret.
    “Okay,” I said, giving up.
    I looked away. Lying or not, his eyes were the most exquisite green imaginable and I couldn’t handle them looking into the depths of my soul any longer. I felt powerless against them.
    Then we had an awkward pause. I stood there, with all my weight on one foot, not sure of what to say. Luckily, he broke the silence.
    “Do you want me to continue carrying you?” he asked.
    I looked up. He smiled and his eyes were kind again. It made it hard to stay frustrated with him.
    “Yes,” I murmured, annoyed he wouldn’t trust me.
    Again, he helped me onto his back and slowly walked down the road carrying me. I noticed the soothing warmth return again—something about being close to him, made all the confusion drift away. I fought to stay centered, still remembering I needed to figure out a way to get him to honestly answer my questions when a vision of a bloodied dead cat came into focus.
    “Someone’s going to find it.”
    “Find what?” he said, sounding confused.
    “The dead mountain lion?”
    “I said I’d take care of it,” he said in an irritated tone.
    “When?” I bit my lip, purposely pressing my luck.
    “Julia, please. Just let me worry about it,” he snapped.
    Julia? My heart skipped a beat.
    “How do you know my name?”
    He tensed his back.
    “I know your name because we’ve met before.”
    This caught me off guard.
    “We have? When?”
    “It was a while back.”
    I searched through my memories looking for his face and came up blank. Yet his eyes, they seemed so familiar. There was something that sparked inside me every time he looked at me, but I couldn’t place what it was exactly.
    “Well, I feel bad. I don’t remember