The Soulkeepers

Chapter 16: Oswald's Rules

Chapter 16
Oswald’s Rules

While the hope of finding his mother comforted Jacob, he was disappointed to learn he’d have to be patient for his journey to meet the medicine woman. Dr. Silva explained certain locations were possible only on certain dates. The next time the tree was connected to the South American Amazon was June 10th, the day after Jacob’s sixteenth birthday, and two months away.

Later that night, he lay on the pink bed thinking about what Dr. Silva had told him about his blood. There was no way Jacob believed it. It didn’t make any sense. Still, he was sure that what happened with the tree was not a hallucination. The hardest part would be keeping it all from Malini. Ever since the incident with Dane, she had desperately jumped at any clue to what had happened that day. He cared deeply for her but he knew if he told her what Dr. Silva had said, she would believe every word. The last thing Jacob wanted was any more pressure to believe the impossible.

Plunk

Something skimmed across his window. He glanced at the clock: 11:30 PM. He cringed when he thought of Dr. Silva visiting his window weeks ago and hoped it wasn’t her.

Cachink

A stone skipped across the glass and he decided it was more human than anything he’d expect from Dr. Silva. It was, after all, a stone and not the glowing skull of a dead husband. He stood up and looked out into the front yard. Malini was waving from the lawn, her hand full of rocks. Jacob opened the window.

“I need to talk to you,” she whispered.

He pointed to the rose lattice on the side of the house. She scaled it with ease and he reached out to help her inside.

“Nice room,” she said with a grin.

Jacob had never hated the pink room more.

“Long story.” He closed the window behind her. “How did you get here?”

“Drove.” She held up a set of keys. “I know I won’t be legal until September but all those driving lessons should count for something. I had to see you.”

“It’s great to see you too, but what’s going on?”

She leaned against the floral wingback. A sigh escaped her lips. “I just needed to talk to someone.”

“Why? What happened?”

“We were sitting at home tonight. I was just watching TV, you know; it’s not like there’s a ton to do in Paris on a weeknight.”

“Right.”

“Well, the doorbell rang and my dad answered it. It was a deliveryman from Paris Pizza. Jacob, they sent ten pizzas to my house.”

“Who?”

“I can only guess it was Amy or Jessica.”

Amy was Dane’s girlfriend and Jacob suspected the reason for the prank. Although his lip and eye had healed, the animosity had not. None of them ever talked about what actually happened that day at Westcott’s grocery, but everyone at school knew there was something. Only, somehow, all of the speculation had Dane coming out on top.

“Dane. Dane was behind this,” Jacob said.

“What makes you so sure?”

“I just know. Tell me what happened next.”

“My dad just shook his head and said we didn’t order any pizzas. The driver said that Malini Gupta ordered them. So, my dad calls me to the door, right in front of this man, and asks me why I ordered the pizza. I tell him that I didn’t. But my dad keeps asking me over and over, ‘Why are there ten pizzas here?’ Meanwhile, the driver is looking for his money. He says we owe like a hundred dollars. My dad is having a fit and finally, I say to him, ‘Dad, I think this is a prank, the girls from school, again.’”