Blood Vivicanti (9780989878579) Read Online Free PDF Page A

my
photographic memory searched its vast database for the cause of his
strange behavior. And I drew a blank. I could recall no precedent
for a teenage boy tapping a teenage girl on the shoulder. I blinked
at him stupidly.
    Theo laughed. Then he moved
as fast as wind and in the next second he was standing in my
doorway. His grin widened.
    “ Tag,” he said. “You’re
it.”
    Then he was
gone.
     
     
     
     
    I could hear his voice
coming from down the hallway.
    “ Can’t catch me!” He
sounded like Peter Pan.
    Somehow he knew I’d never
played tag before. No one had ever invited me. Somehow he knew I
needed to get out of the house. Theo was such a boy at heart. He
was a good man too.
    I chased him. I never knew
I could move so fast. Maybe I never had a reason to. Not until
then.
     
     
     
     
    My legs were strong. They
rocketed me through the house. I was happy and awkward. More than
once I tripped over my feet and careered into couches and clocks
and cupboards.
    I felt bad about breaking
Wyn’s $20,000 Russian table.
    He laughed it off. He could
afford to.
    Ms. Crystobal would clean
up the mess. That was her work.
    My work was being a kid for
a moment. I hadn’t had many chances to do so. I wouldn’t have many
more later.
     
     
     
     
    The forest surrounding
Idyllville was vaster than I’d imagined. Tens of thousands of
acres. It wrapped throughout the San Jacinto Mountains.
    Theo and I sped past the
thick pine trees. We rushed through open fields. We were a blur to
the herds of cattle and deer. Coyotes and rabbits weren’t fast
enough to scurry off. We leaped over them. We ran around Lake
Hemet, scarcely scaring the fish. Our step was so
silent.
    Sometimes it’s good to run
to avoid escaping. Problems fade when you’re panting like a
racehorse. But before that moment, I had not begun to doubt my
theory: I was a platypus begotten by a platypus.
    That night, however,
sparked a slight revision: I was a platypus who just hadn’t hatched
yet.
     
     
     
     
    Oysters live in their
shells. They’ve been content closed up in the mud for millions of
years. Some creatures were never meant to evolve.
    For years I thought I was
never meant to grow beyond the limits of my suffering. I’d thought
my shell was my life.
    Wyn helped me grow when he
broke into my shell.
    Theo helped me mature when
he drew me from my broken life.
     
     
     
     
    Theo led me to Mount San
Jacinto, very near Tahquitz Peak. We stood at the foot of Suicide
Rock.
    Theo told me its story.
“It’s named after a Native American girl and her lover. The tribal
chief said they couldn’t marry. So they threw themselves off
together to their death.”
    The story of Tristan and
Iseult seemed to be in every culture. England has Romeo and Juliet.
Japan has Orihime and Hikoboshi.
    I’ve never liked stories of
star-crossed lovers. Too much teenage angst is like too much
coffee.
     
     
     
     
    Theo leaped inhumanly high
into the air. He soared toward the steep face of Suicide
Rock.
    The moonlight was bright
and vivid. The nighttime sky was coruscating with clear
constellations.
    Theo landed against the
rock face several stories up from the ground. His fingers were like
metal spikes. They powerfully dug holes into the rock. He scaled up
the mountain like a spider.
    I followed him. It was all
I could do then. As I wrote: Following the stronger personality of
others had become my habit.
    It wasn’t bad then. It just
isn’t me now.
     
     
     
     
    Theo and I climbed Suicide
Rock. We stood at its steepest point.
    I could barely believe that
I had climbed so high.
    More mountains would
follow. The mountain of my self-doubt has been the hardest pinnacle
to surmount. Daily I still work to confidently plant upon that peak
my flag of positive self-possession.
    Veni, vidi, nearly vici.
     
     
     
     
    The whole world seemed to
stretch out before us.
    Moonlight bathed the desert
valley in the far distance. Human eyes wouldn’t have seen anything
without