by Kristie Cook
My dreams continued through the night. They were filled with dark shadows and flaming red, cat-like eyes moving around me, pulling me into the deepest pit of darkness. I felt like I had barely fallen asleep when my alarm woke me up. My eyes were gritty and heavy as I forced myself out of bed, propelling my body toward the coffee machine before my lids fully opened.
Getting me up early on a Saturday was like poking a bear with a tiny stick. I was not a morning person. And it looked like it was going to be a caffeine-diet day.
“Good morning,” Mark said in an annoyingly chipper voice, lifting his coffee cup toward me. Mark was a morning person.
“Right,” I grumbled, heading to the cupboard for my coffee cup. Mark chuckled, knowing perfectly well how much I wanted to throw his perky, morning ass through the window.
“Oh, come on, Em. It’s a great day. It’s cold and overcast and you get to spend the day with a bunch of angry preteens.”
Okay, now he was pushing my buttons. I whipped around and glared at him, which only made him chuckle harder. “Oh, someone is grumpy this morning.”
“Wow, you really are pressing your luck, aren’t you?”
“Oh, it wouldn’t be a good morning for me if I didn’t annoy you.” He laughed, but he also knew to back off. He understood I was more of a night owl. As a kid, I would stay up until three in the morning drawing or reading, even if I had to be up at six am. Most people who knew me highly recommended to others not to make conversation with me until around 10 or 11 am.
“You used to be such a nice man.”
“Yeah, before I joined your family.” He snickered and handed me an empty bowl. I grabbed the cereal off the counter and sat with a thump.
I ate breakfast, staring out the window at the forest beyond our house. I watched the mist weave eerily through the trees, twirling and twisting like clawed hands, beckoning me into the dark woods. From the day we moved in, I felt like I was being watched, like the woods had eyes. Strangely that only drew me more. What was it about this forest? I couldn’t explain why I was drawn to it. Knowing me, it was because it was creepy and dark. I was weird like that.
Mark looked at his watch. “You better get going. I’m going on my run. See you tonight.” He kissed the top of my head and left the house.
“Really, it’s someone like him who needs to be committed.” I shook my head.
After I showered and dressed, I kind of sleepwalked to the bus stop. My body was awake, but my mind was still snoozing. I moved onto the bus like a zombie. I must have dozed because in no time I was at my stop.
As I walked down the aisle towards the exit, the guy sitting at the front looked up at me.
Torin’s handsome face looked back into my frozen, shocked stare. “Don’t trust him.” His words came out clear, but for some reason, they didn’t match the movement of his mouth.
“What? Don’t trust who?”
I stared back in confusion. Then, Torin’s features shifted and his face became chubbier. I watched, stunned, as Torin morphed, becoming an overweight man with glasses.
The man looked at me curiously. “I’m sorry. Did you need help with something?”
I jerked back. The pudgy man continued to look at me. I turned and ran off the bus.
***
The ropes course was twenty-five minutes from Silverwood, deep in woods, and no way to get there except by car. Mrs. Sanchez had told me Eli would take me the rest of the way if I got myself to Silverwood.
I needed to get a car—like, now.
I arrived at the school a little after nine. Eli was already there, leaning against his bike, reading a paperback, reminding me of the first time I saw him. He was so enthralled with his book he didn’t seem to notice when I walked into the parking lot. I let myself take in his rugged beauty. His leather jacket was zipped all the way up to his chin, making me focus on the rough stubble along his jawline. My eyes moved to his lips as he rubbed his chin.
Dear God, he was hot.
The book was worn and old, and he held it so I couldn’t see the front cover. I had to admit I was curious. What sort of books would he read? No genre seemed like it would be his thing.
I walked slowly toward him. His eyes never left the pages of the book, even when I knew he was aware of my presence. “Morning.” My voice came out slightly squeaky.
His eyes flashed quickly to me, then back to the book. He continued to read for another moment before he dog-eared the battered book and stuffed it in his pocket. I humored myself, imagining it was a bodice ripper—a biker who liked romance novels. Now that I knew he was a part of the RODs, I couldn’t help but look at him differently. I should run as fast and as far from him as I could, screaming the whole way. I knew I wouldn’t. He was terrifying, even more so now, but there was something about him making me take another step forward.
“Sorry I’m late. The bus was running behind,” I fibbed. The bus was on time. I was late, but he didn’t need to know that.
He made a gruff sound in his throat. “You ready?”
“Um, yeah.”
He threw me the only helmet he had.
“Hope you’re not scared of motorcycles,” he said as he swung his leg over the bike. He didn’t say it because he was concerned. It was more like, “Tough luck if you are.” If he thought or hoped I would be afraid, he had the wrong girl.
“Scared of a Harley-Davidson Dyna Super Glide FXD? Hardly.” I hopped on the back and snapped the helmet strap under my chin.
He looked over his shoulder, his eyes wide in awe. “You know what model it is?”
“You sound surprised. Why? Because I’m a girl who knows about motorcycles?” I replied with a sly smile on my lips. “It’s a 2003, Hundredth Anniversary model, right?”
He stared at me in disbelief for a few more seconds before turning around and shaking his head. Guys were always surprised I knew about motorcycles and automatically assumed it was because of Mark that I knew my way around a Harley. This was completely untrue and sexist. My mom was the one who had the love for Harleys. She had gone through a rebellious phase, dating many leather-clad bad boys on bikes. She might have lost her love for the biker, but she never lost her love for the bike. That love had been passed down to me.
“Hold on,” he said.
I grabbed onto his waist and tried to ignore the raw electricity and heat I felt as our bodies pressed together. The chilly wind whipped at my face as he tore down the road. Nothing made me feel more exhilarated than being on a motorcycle.
Regrettably, driving so fast had us arriving at the location way too soon. His warm body had felt like heaven against mine. As soon as we separated, I felt a loss, both in temperature and in something more I didn’t even want to think about.
Taking off the helmet, I looked around. Low and high rope challenges were suspended throughout the trees like spider webs. It looked like a strange version of the Ewok village from Star Wars.
There was a green storage unit a few feet away at the base of a large cedar tree. Eli walked to it and rolled up the door. It was filled with plastic bins and a huge blow-up air mattress.
He unzipped his jacket and threw it to the side. My eyes couldn’t help but wander over him. He wore his usual button-fly jeans, a long-sleeved, white shirt under a dark green t-shirt that said Team Leader on the back. I ignored the quickening of my pulse as I watched him bend over a pile of harnesses.
Oh, holy hell.
“You want to grab something here, Brycin?” he asked, bending over again.
Um … yeah. Your ass.
Joining in, I helped collect the rest of the harnesses.
“Do I get one of those?” I pointed at his t-shirt.
He nodded and walked to where he had left his backpack. Pulling it out, he threw the shirt at me.
I held up the tee. It had a decal of a person on ropes with Ropes Adventure Course in the left hand corner. Like Eli’s, it had Team Leader written in block letters across the back. I tugged off my jacket and hoodie and slipped the top on over my
gray thermal.
Eli and I set up and checked everything before our group of pre-teens made their appearance. But nothing could have prepared me for the day that lay ahead. I wanted to be back in bed, under the safety of my warm comforter, instead of being glared at by bad attitudes behind twelve sets of.
A.E.R.C. worked with different age groups and levels of troubled kids. Level 5 was the hardest, as they were already in juvie and extremely troubled. Level 1 was for those who were only beginning to show signs of problems; most had low self-esteem.
This morning’s group was Level 3, which meant most had some real attitude problems. They ranged from age ten to twelve, and they looked like they wanted to be anywhere but here. Right then, I felt the same. When Eli took a step towards them, even the toughest looking kid gulped nervously.
“All right, we’ll be going over some rules and safety tips with you. We want you to have fun, but if I see anyone pushing, fooling around, disregarding the rules, ignoring or disrespecting one of us”—Eli motioned to both of us—“you will find yourself dealing with me. I promise the experience isn’t something you want.” His tone sounded foreboding. “You got me?” Eli looked hard at each one of them. Terrified, they nodded in agreement. “What?” Eli took another step towards them; again he seemed to fill more space than occupied by his body. It was something you couldn’t explain, but it was overwhelming and disturbing.
“Yes, sir!” the kids screamed.
“Yes, sir!” I echoed.
Eli turned his head to stare at me with a “what the hell” look.
“Sir, yes, sir?” I said hesitatingly, feigning meekness.
The kids laughed, and it immediately broke the ice as I had hoped it would. They needed to respect and listen to us, but they also needed to trust and like us for the day to work and become a positive experience for them. From the way Eli looked at me, I knew he understood what I was doing. A ghost of a smile formed on his lips before he crossed his arms. “That’s right. You can call me sir or Eli. And if you refer to her as Fairy Princess all day, I’ll get you pizza for lunch.” He smiled wickedly, and the kids returned the conspiratorial smile.
Oh, you didn’t do that, my eyes said to him.
I think I did.
Fine, but payback’s a bitch.
Then, it won’t be a far stretch for you.
I shook my head and smiled.
“Okay, Sir Eli, let’s get these guys climbing!”
To my pleasure, the kids picked up on his nickname as well, which seemed to bother him enough to make me happy. Despite the annoyance of me being called “Fairy Princess” all morning, we worked efficiently and quickly together. We knew without saying a word to each other when to do something, picking up where the other had left off. I hated to admit it, but it looked like Mrs. Sanchez was right.
At lunch Eli followed through with his promise and got them pizza. The kids had lightened up a lot. They seemed to be laughing, joking, and talking about the experience with each other, except for one, a boy named Derek. He kept himself separated from the rest of the group. Something about him rubbed me the wrong way. I tried interacting with him a few times, but he would answer my questions with a shrug or a grunted word. At lunch, I decided to go where he sat alone, sketching, to try to get him to join the rest of the group.
“Hey, what are you doing over here?”
He looked up from his pictures depicting an assortment of beast-like monsters ripping people apart. Hello, red flag.
“I draw, too.” I nodded at his sketches.
He bowed his head and continued drawing.
“Look, I understand about being independent and a loner. I am a loner, too, so I completely get that. But today is about being part of a team. It’s about working with people you might not normally hang out or interact with or people you might not like too much. So today, I’d like you to try and get to know some of the others. Who knows? You might be shocked and meet someone you like. That’s how some of my friendships have started.”
He went on ignoring me.
“Derek?” I asked, trying to get his attention.
“Bitch, leave me alone,” Derek shot out venomously.
“Excuse me?”
“Bitch, are you deaf?” he said louder.
Before I could react, Eli was there, pulling him off the bench by the front of his shirt. Holy shit! How did he get here so fast?
“Listen, I don’t care what you do or say outside of here, but you will NOT disrespect her or anyone else while you are here. You got that?” Eli’s voice seethed with anger.
I heard a barely audible mumble from Derek.
“What?”
“Yes,” he yelled.
Without thinking, I walked to Eli and touched his elbow. It seemed to calm him. He let go of Derek and stepped backward.
“I think you’re done for the day,” Eli said.
My eyes widened. “Eli, no.” He turned to look at me.
That won’t help him.
He glared at me. I don’t give a shit.
Eli, come on …
For a tense moment, I wasn’t sure what he’d do. He exhaled before spinning on his heels. “All right, fine. Lunch time’s over.”
***
We were on the last course of the day. Eli led the group up through the trees on the ropes. The last event had them zip lining down to the ground, where I stood waiting for them on the giant air mattress. By now, almost all the bad attitudes disappeared, replaced by smiles and laughter, and it looked like some new friendships had developed.
A handful of squealing pre-teens already zipped down onto the mattress with gleeful laughter, when I noticed Derek watching the kid in front of him, Kevin, with unveiled hatred. Derek pulled something out of his pocket. Whatever it was, it glinted in the sunlight. Fear darted up my chest. While Eli and Kevin were distracted, Derek leaned over the rope.
Oh please, no.
Eli hooked the rope on Kevin. Before I could react, Kevin jumped off the platform.
“Eli, no!” I shrieked.
Eli’s head shot up and looked at me in panic. My focus was on the kid. Kevin was screaming with joy as he sailed down the zip line, but his delight turned to utter fear as the rope snapped. His small body flailed wildly as he plummeted.
I screamed in horror, leaping off the mattress and running toward the falling boy. With everything in my body I wanted to reach him in time. I had to stop this from happening.
Energy surged inside me and suddenly I was closer to Kevin than should have been possible. His body was only a few feet from the ground when another rush of power ran through me. I dove for him, hitting the ground hard. His body stopped falling and paused in the air before floating into my outstretched arms. I stared at Kevin, his shocked expression mirroring mine.
I blinked as darkness seeped into my vision and quickly took me with it. The last thought I had before blacking out was that I had stopped Kevin from hitting the ground—with my mind.
***
“Em …”
My ears took in my name, but my brain grappled to comprehend its meaning, letting it slip away again. The blackness called to me like an old friend, keeping my eyes shut. I longed to follow the soothing darkness into oblivion.
“Wake up, Brycin.”
A husky voice gripped me, pulling me through the dark. I felt the sensations of someone touching my face gently. My lids slowly lifted, blinking against the bright daylight. My vision cleared to see a pair of unyielding green eyes. There was no hand on my face, but it still tingled with warmth. Everything flooded back to me, and I shot up into a sitting position, which I immediately regretted.
“Whoa, take it easy okay. You might be weak and dizzy for a bit.” Eli steadied me.
“Is … is Kevin okay? Where is he?”
“Slow down. Kevin’s fine. He’s right here. We’re more worried about you. You took quite a header onto the ground. You must have knocked yourself out when you caught him.” Eli’s tone was clipped and tight and
his expression unreadable.
Instinct told me to play along, but the truth took over my thoughts. Could I actually control things with my mind? Years of incidents and denials flooded me. It seemed I was not only capable of pyrokinesis and technokinesis, but I may be telekinetic as well.
What kind of freak was I? Some science experiment? How was I able to do these things?
Crap on ash bark!
That was a funny phrase my mother would say sometimes when she got really upset. It seemed appropriate right then.
I stood and turned my attention to Kevin. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m cool.” He nodded and smiled. There wasn’t a scratch on him, but I could tell he was putting up a front for his friends. He, too, knew something wasn’t right.
I smiled back, but it felt wrong. They all seemed to think I caught him. I did, but that was not the entire truth. I had watched his body stop and float before it settled into my arms. I rubbed my face, my brain trying to take it all in. I felt weak and sick to my stomach. I shook my head, trying to make the images replaying in my head fly out of my ears.
My eyes landed on Derek. I thought he would look away with fear or have a guilt-ridden face, but he didn’t. Derek held my gaze defiantly; a cruel smirk twisted his lips. Didn’t he have a clue I saw what he did, or didn’t he care?
Eli stepped in front of me, blocking my view of Derek. He grabbed my elbow where I was bleeding through my t-shirt. He pulled the sleeve up, revealing a large gash on my arm.
“Let’s get a bandage on it,” he said, sounding as if I were an aggravating nuisance.
“I’m fine,” I replied but squeezed his arm to draw his attention to my face.
***
It was Derek. He cut the rope. My eyes looked intently into his as I tried to get my message across.
I know. Eli gave a slight nod. I got it covered.
I was so glad when the bus arrived to pick up the kids. The guard who had dropped them off earlier greeted us again. I couldn’t recall her name, but she wasn’t paying any attention to me anyway. She was looking and smiling at Eli like he was a cream-filled cupcake. I couldn’t stop my eyes from rolling.
As Derek passed to get on the bus, Eli’s hand clamped down on his shoulder and yanked him back. As much as Derek tried to hide it, panic and fear flashed across his face.
