Page 25 (1/2)

"That's not all she's ical reaction to Jericho, I felt what he meant, but I wasn't sure Jericho understood At least I hoped he didn't understand

"Avalon, seriously Let's move on One day, when Eden is ready, I will be ready too But until then, I'et in her way She canto even try to change her mind Have you seen her listen to anyone else? Ever? Or let things like rules and decrees get in her way? She is thewoman I have ever met and if I have to wait for her, I will So let's just drop it," Jericho picked his book up and held it in front of his face, blocking Avalon and proving that the conversation was over

"Jericho, that is seriously pathetic," Avalon laughed, satisfied here Jericho stood even if he wasn't going to share that opinion with hinored Avalon coh I shouldn't have been eavesdropping, it rong It was very wrong, I felt awful Suddenly I wastiy and I felt terrible

It didn't seeuy He deserved soirl for hi around waiting for me I was taken And I was in love It wasn't fair that he was just waiting forwashed overI closed my eyes and turned off ht now, I had to focus on India I would be landing in a uise ned in order to reveal the ic

My relationship with Kiran seemed impossible A relationship with Jericho was actually is to worry about I had an actual i me and if I let these boys cloud my mind any further I wouldn't have to think about any of them anymore, I would be in the botto the rest of my life, which apparently would be the rest of forever, wishing I had never met those two

Chapter Twenty

I stepped off the plane in Bangalore to a wave of hu I needed to shower and five wo their palether in a sort of half bow None of them looked me in the eye, but I could not take my eyes off them

They were all different ages, fro dark hair wrapped in elegant braids or hanging waist-length with golden thread tied through them They had beautiful tanned Indian skin and between their eyes was the custons e flower paste, called henna, wrapped their right arer tips to shoulder blades The pretty flowers intertwined each other in delicate brush strokes and mimicked the exotic beauty of the five women that would bestairwell feeling grossly under-dressed and more unprepared for the task ahead of htly together and nose resting on ers and if I would have been allowed to talk I would have gladly called on e and said, "Naue and when the wo o pants I felt appropriate for the trip I shouldered et used to its stiffness A pang of regret washed over otten h my last overseas trip

The five wo towards a black limousine that could have been plucked from the early toit for et in first

I crawled in the hot back seat and sunk down on the scorching leather I was already sweating and all I had done alk from the plane to the car The women piled in after me and the driver placedback down into the driver's seat and taking off

The ere rolled down and the hot, hu way The Kendrick airstrip was located outside of the actual city of Bangalore, so I regretfully never saw anything but the outline of the city We drove through winding, pot-hole stricken roads, passing s places and starving children waving us by

Every once in a while ould pass a temple, either a closed structure, that housed the statues of exotic gods, or outdoor pavilions with tall s waved froious sites were thousands of candles lit in prayer to a deity created froood time The women next toI continued to sell into the twilight of evening and eventually gave up on consciousness all together The trip to the palace would take two days of driving and one full day of riding on an elephant, whatever that ed; if I couldn't talk, I decided I'd better just go to sleep

I drifted off with the jungle growing denser around hter of monkeys was my sound track to the exotic Indian world I had entered Even in darkness, the colors of India seemed more vibrant than those at horeen of the thick, long-branched trees of the jungle seereer in the western horizon seee and yellow India was enchanting and theatthrough

When I woke, the sun was streah the opened limousine s and the car was pulled over to the side of the road I felt disoriented and had no idea where ere The trees around the car had thick trunks and were dense with leaves Colorful birds and sly monkeys hopped frole life