Qaletaqa by DelSheree Gladden Read Free Book Online

from, but it seemed to cool
Harvey’s desperation. Uriah looked over at me with a look of
careful thanks.
    “You see, Harvey, Melody will be fine. He
can’t hurt her, only me,” Uriah said. He slowly let go of Harvey’s
arm and nodded for me to do the same.
    “So she won’t be harmed? Are you sure?”
Harvey asked.
    Uriah nodded, his face hard, so as not to let
any of his emotions show through as they usually did. He did a
surprisingly good job of it. A small part of my heart was chipped
away at every change I noticed in him. Uriah’s face had always
shown his every thought and feeling, a tribute to his tender heart.
In such a short time he had learned to harden himself, and I
wondered whether that would ever leave him.
    “Okay,” Harvey said, “so what do we do
now?”
    I balked at the thought of Harvey
accompanying us on our search. Having been in the exact same
situation, I should have been the most compassionate to his needs,
but selfishness overruled my heart. I did not want to share my time
with Uriah. Harvey knew nothing of our legends. He would be more of
a hindrance than a help. The thoughts and emotions shamed me, but I
couldn’t shake them away.
    I risked a quick glance at Uriah, to find him
doing the same. The look on his face was clear. Harvey would not be
coming with us. I made a quick nod to show that I understood and
turned back to Harvey.
    “Claire and I will continue looking for
Melody. You will remain here,” Uriah said. Harvey’s head instantly
began shaking back and forth. Uriah’s hardened façade remained, but
I could tell it was beginning to wither.
    “I’m going with you,” Harvey said. “I won’t
be left behind when Melody is in danger. You can’t expect me to do
that, Uriah.” Harvey’s voice was pleading.
    Uriah’s fingers began to move, undoubtedly a
subconscious attempt to subdue his itching palms. It was another of
Uriah’s tells. Every time he became nervous, his palms started
itching like he’d been pricked by a thousand tumbleweed thorns. The
fidgeting gave him away to everyone who knew him well. Fortunately,
Harvey was too absorbed in his own anxiety to notice how close
Uriah was to giving in to his pleas.
    Balling his hands into fists, Uriah looked
Harvey in eyes and gave his answer. “You can’t come with us,
Harvey.”
    Harvey tried to interrupt, but Uriah
continued over his objections. “Hopefully, we’ll be back within a
couple of days, but even in that short time, people will notice if
you and Melody suddenly disappear. You both have jobs, family,
school. You need to stay here and cover for Melody’s absence.
Otherwise someone will get suspicious and then the police will get
involved. I really don’t want to try explaining all this to the
police, do you?”
    Harvey considered the option, and then shook
his head. “I guess not. Nobody will believe us. If it weren’t for
Melody’s dreams, I wouldn’t believe you either,” Harvey said. “I
still can’t stay here, though. I need to find her.”
    “Look, Harvey, I understand why you want to
go, but it isn’t safe. Melody is protected from being harmed right
now, but you aren’t. The Matwau isn’t the only one searching for me
at the moment.” Uriah paused, perhaps to think up what else to say,
perhaps just to intensify his words. Either way, Harvey stood very
still, listening for what Uriah would say next.
    “The Matwau has allies, other dark creatures.
These creatures are not held to any rules when it comes to humans
not involved with the Matwau. If they were to come across you, they
would rip you to pieces and gloat over your defeat. I will not take
you with me only to watch you get killed before I can return Melody
to you safely. If you’ll just listen to me, you and Melody will
both be fine and we can all go back to our normal lives.”
    Harvey and I both smirked at the mention of
normal lives. For me, that ended the day Uriah and I went to the
tribal Elders and were denied the right to