by Ginger Zee
“Helicity! Mia! Hey!”
Helicity’s jaw dropped. “Andy?”
“Hey, Hel!” her brother called. “Surprise!”
“Hang on! I’ll be right down!”
Andy didn’t need to tell her to wait. Helicity was so stunned she couldn’t have moved if she tried.
“What…when…how—?” she sputtered when he reached the path. Then she gave up on talking and simply hurled herself into her brother’s arms.
After a moment, she wrinkled her nose and pulled away. “Um, no offense, but you kind of smell.”
“Kind of?” Mia waved her hand through the air. An only child, she’d always viewed Andy as her own big brother—and she treated him with all the sarcastic disrespect of a bratty little sister. “That’s the understatement of the century.”
Andy laughed. “Well, I’ve been driving for two days straight, subsisting on nasty road food and sleeping in the car, so I’m not surprised. But let me put you both out of your misery.”
Without missing a beat, he pulled off his T-shirt and ran into the waves. A pair of teenage girls walking nearby paused to watch him. Such admiring looks were nothing new. With his thick, wavy brown hair, sea-green eyes, and tall, athletic physique, Andy was undeniably good-looking. But it was his kindness and affability that made Helicity proud to call him her brother.
He dove under and splashed around, making a show of dousing his armpits with water and scrubbing his hair with his fingers. “Come on in!” he yelled.
“Why, so you can dunk me like you always do?” Mia yelled back. “Nice try, but no thanks!”
Helicity smiled broadly but kept her feet firmly onshore, too.
Her smile faded when Andy waded out. He looked worn-out, with dark circles under his eyes and hollows in his cheeks. His right arm moved with an awkward stiffness. It was badly shattered when the tornado flipped his car, and Andy had needed surgical implants—metal plates and screws—to repair the damage. The angry red scars were the only evidence of what lurked beneath his skin.
He saw where she was looking. His expression darkened. “Come on, Hel.” He snatched up his shirt. “You’ve seen my scars before.”
She lowered her gaze. “Sorry.”
For a long moment, tension hung thick in the air between them. Then Mia intervened. “Well, I haven’t seen them. So, I’m going to go ahead and take a good long look.”
She stuck her hands on her hips and stared pointedly at his right arm. He growled and tried to catch her in a headlock. She skipped away to the path, laughing. Helicity and Andy followed, the sudden friction evaporating like the salty seawater on his skin.
“All right, now that you’re less smelly,” Helicity said, “tell me what you’re doing here. And how you got here!”
“All will be revealed in good time,” Andy said evasively. “But right now, I’d love to get changed out of these filthy wet shorts and into some filthy dry shorts. Suze said I could use the outside shower.”
“You met Suze?”
“She told me where to find you. Invited me to stay for dinner, too.”
While Andy showered, Helicity ran up to their room to change into shorts and a tank top. She reached for Lana’s necklace but then decided against wearing it. Andy knew the story behind it. It wasn’t a story he liked to be reminded of. So she left the necklace on her nightstand.
Downstairs, Helicity found Andy dressed in fresh clothes and sitting in an Adirondack chair on the deck. “I could get used to this,” he said, leaning his head back and closing his eyes against the late afternoon sunshine. “I think I’ll take a little snooze.”
Helicity thought he might, too, until his knee started jittering up and down like a mini jack-hammer. “Whoa, bro. Just how much caffeine is running through your system right now?”
She took a seat next to him, nudging his bouncing knee with her foot until it stilled. “I’m really glad you’re here, Andy. But…why are you here?”
He grimaced and opened his eyes. “Things at home are not good, Hel. Dad’s on my case every hour of every day. ‘Go to therapy. Get strong. Michigan State might still honor your scholarship if you get your arm back in working order.’” He gave a mirthless laugh. “Please. That door hasn’t just closed, it’s slammed in my face.”
“But why would Dad keep on about it if it wasn’t a possibility?” Helicity wondered. “I mean, your surgery was a success. And if you’ve been doing PT—”
“Are you seriously taking his side against me?”
Andy’s anger flared so sudden and hot, Helicity shrank back. Like any brother and sister, they’d had their share of arguments. But she couldn’t remember him ever lashing out at her that quickly and for something she felt didn’t merit such a curt response.
“You have no idea what it’s been like for me.” Andy rocked up out of his chair and began pacing like a caged animal. “The constant nagging from Dad. The pitying looks from the people in town. Friends who are mysteriously unavailable all of a sudden. And Mom.” He rolled his eyes. “Mom keeps trying to play peacemaker between Dad and me. Well, good luck with that. And don’t get me started on physical therapy. More like physical torture. The stuff that PT guy made me do was worse than the accident and the surgery combined.”
The fight seemed to leave him then. He sank back down into his chair and raked his fingers through his damp hair. It stood on end, making him look slightly deranged. “Every PT session was agony, Hel. So I quit. Dad thought I was still going, but I just drove around for the hour. I swear, if it weren’t for—”
He abruptly stopped talking.
“Weren’t for what?” Helicity prodded.
He flashed her a half smile. “For you. You’re the only one who treated me the same after the accident. So, two days ago, I decided to come see you. My head was going to explode if I didn’t leave, Hel, I swear. Like, boom!” He flared his fingers out from his temples to punctuate the explosion, then dropped his hands in his lap. “And so here I am. End of story.”
It might have been the end of the story, but Helicity guessed it wasn’t the full story. Andy was hiding something from her.
“Wait. Mom and Dad—they do know where you are, right?” she asked, suddenly alarmed.
“Well, I didn’t exactly plan my itinerary with them, but yeah. I let them know where I was going. And that I got here.”
“But how did you get here?” she persisted.
He avoided her eyes. “I got a ride.”
Helicity was about to ask who with when she heard a car pull up. The engine growled like that of an older-model automobile before it cut out. A door slammed. Andy’s eyes flicked toward the sound, then back to her.
“Wait,” she said. “Is that your ride?”
He lifted his shoulders and let them fall. Frowning, she got up and looked over the deck railing. And suddenly, she knew why Andy had been so evasive.
A beat-up baby-blue sedan had pulled in next to the beach-mobile. The trunk was open, and the driver was leaning far inside, pawing through the contents. She couldn’t see his face. But she didn’t need to. She knew exactly who it was.
“sam.”
Helicity rounded on Andy. “You came here with Sam.”
Down below, the trunk closed with a hollow thump. Helicity tensed, her fingernails digging into her palms.
After Sam vanished from the hospital, she’d told herself that she didn’t care if she ever saw him again. That any warm feelings she had for him had been replaced by cold indifference.
But her quickening breath and racing heart said otherwise.
As Sam’s footsteps sounded on the stairs, her emotions bubbled in a hot, jumbled mess. Fury and hurt mixed with anticipation. She wanted to run inside, but she couldn’t make her legs work.
And then Sam was there. He saw her and froze. The familiar zinging jolt of electricity struck her when their eyes met. So intense, it threatened to consume her. She dropped her gaze, breaking the connection. But just long enough to slow her breathing. To
scold her heart for betraying her. Only when she was in control did she dare look at him again.
At first glance, he seemed the same—spiky black hair, ice-blue eyes, tall, thin build. His black leather jacket was missing, but he wore one of his favorite retro concert T-shirts with his jeans and black boots.
But there were differences, she now saw. A jagged scar, redder and more raw than Andy’s, marred his forehead. His face was drawn, and his eyes, once filled with mischief and laughter, had a haunted look.
She recognized that look. She saw it every day when she gazed in the mirror.
“Fourteen.”
Helicity’s breath caught in her throat at hearing his special nickname for her. He’d given it to her when they’d first met, after she insisted she was almost fourteen years old.
Andy moved to her side. “He came to the house a few days after you left for Texas,” he said quietly. “Said he had to talk to you.”
“And tell me what?” She directed her question at Andy. It was easier that way.
But Sam was the one who replied. “That I’m sorry. And to explain why I left.”
Helicity lifted her chin and faced him. “So, tell me.”
Sam looked miserable. “Guilt. After the accident…after what almost happened to you and Lana—I couldn’t face you. So, when an opportunity to disappear came my way, I took it.” He made a sound like a cross between a laugh and a sigh. “Turns out, leaving just made the guilt worse.”
“You think he looks bad now? You should have seen him when he showed up on our doorstep,” Andy joked.
Helicity shot her brother a look. He held up his hands in surrender and retreated into the house, mumbling about checking on his laundry.
Sam watched him go, then turned back to Helicity. “Everything that happened that day was my fault. I convinced you to get in Lana’s SUV to chase down that possible tornado. I drove too fast. I lost control on the bridge.” His face contorted with anguish. “And I left you stranded in the river on top of the SUV and let those other storm chasers rescue me first. If you hadn’t made it to shore in time, if you’d been swept away, too—”
His voice hitched. “Lana is in a coma because of choices I made that day. Selfish, stupid choices.” He sat down in the chair Andy had vacated.
Helicity stared at him. Then she sat down, too. “You’re right. Your choices were selfish and stupid.” She paused. “But so were mine.”
Sam started to protest, but she cut him off. “I knew going after the tornado was stupid. I could have—should have—tried harder to stop you. Instead, I pulled up the GPS on my phone and gave you directions! I led us straight into danger. So I’m as much to blame as you are for what happened to Lana. And believe me, I feel just as guilty.”
They sat in silence. Then Sam said, “Did you ever go see her?”
Helicity reached for the lightning bolt necklace before remembering it was still on her bedside table. “I visited her a few times before I came here.”
Sam put his head in his hands. “I only went once. That was all I could take.”
Helicity remembered how gutted she’d been at seeing Lana in the hospital. Yet unlike Sam, she’d gone back. She had owed Lana that much. “I guess we dealt with our guilt differently.”
“Yeah.” Sam raised his head. “I think maybe your way was better.” He gave her a hesitant smile.
That smile unknotted something inside her. It wasn’t just its tentativeness, though that was worlds apart from Sam’s usual brash confidence. His smile seemed to be seeking her forgiveness even more than his words had. Seeing it, she felt the anger and hurt she’d been carrying since his disappearance ease. In its place was a bud of renewed trust.
So, she smiled back. “We should make a pact. No more stupid or selfish choices. Deal?”
Relief eased the tension in Sam’s face. “Deal.” He stuck out his hand.
When their palms clasped, Helicity experienced the same magnetic force she’d felt when she first saw him. His eyes widened slightly, and she wondered if he felt it, too.
Don’t go there, she cautioned herself, dropping his hand and standing up to go inside.
“Fourteen?”
She fixed a smile on her face and pivoted back. “Hey, about that nickname. My birthday’s in a few days. So, it’s time to stop calling me Fourteen.”
“Or,” Sam countered with a hint of his old mischief, “I could start calling you Fifteen.”
The deck door opened then. “Yo! Dinner!” Mia called.
While Helicity and Sam were outside, Mia had filled Suze in on the stranded dolphin. “I know where the marine mammal rehab center is,” Suze informed them. “You can schedule a visit to the center. Although,” she added, “I’m not sure you’d be able to see your dolphin right away.”
Mia switched subjects from the dolphin to Trey. “He’s super cute and really nice and totally into Helicity.”
“Mia,” Helicity chided, embarrassed as much by her comment as by the pointed way she directed it at Sam. He raised his eyebrows but said nothing.
Andy came out of the kitchen armed with their food—a huge bowl of pasta, another with salad, and a plate of warm crusty French bread. Suze followed closely behind. His gaze darted back and forth between Helicity and Sam questioningly.
Helicity sat down next to Mia. “We’re good,” she said simply.
Andy broke into a broad smile. “Awesome. Because Suze says we can stay here for the night, and it would have been awkward if you guys were still mad at each other.”
“You didn’t have to do that, Suze,” Helicity said gratefully.
She waved away her thanks. “The rooms are available, they’re friends and family, and there’s supposed to be a thunderstorm tonight. No-brainer.”
“Wait,” Mia interjected. “If there hadn’t been room here, what would you guys have done?”
“Camped out somewhere, probably,” Andy replied as he helped himself to a small portion of pasta. “Sam’s got a trunkload of gear—tents, sleeping bags, propane cookstove, you name it.”
“I’ve been camping out a lot lately,” Sam added vaguely.
Helicity’s curiosity was piqued, but she didn’t give in to it. What Sam did was none of her business…unless he wanted it to be.
“After tonight, though, then what?” Mia prodded. “Are you heading back to Michigan?”
Sam and Andy exchanged glances.
“Actually,” Andy said, laying down his fork, “we were thinking of hanging around here for a while. Not here here,” he added quickly when Suze cocked an eyebrow. “Like I said, we’ll camp out. Pick up an odd job, maybe. I don’t know about Sam, but I’m a little thin in the wallet department right now.”
Sam made an “I’m good” gesture. Andy grinned at Helicity. “But you haven’t heard the best part. When you’re ready to head home, we’ll all drive back together.”
Helicity blinked in surprise. She’d come to Texas on a one-way ticket with no definite return date other than before the start of the school year. Driving back with Andy and Sam instead of flying with a chaperone—and maybe through turbulence—that appealed to her.
Suze, meanwhile, had latched on to Andy’s quest for cash. “Odd jobs, huh? I know a friend of a friend who needs some house painting done. I’ll hook you up with him, if you like.”
“That’d be awesome.”
After the meal, Suze shooed them to the fire pit. “Go on, have fun. Better hurry, though. The thunderstorm is due in a few hours.”
Andy let out a big yawn and stood up. “Sorry, guys, but I’m going to skip the campfire.”
Helicity’s face fell with disappointment. “Really?”
“Sorry, Hel. The road trip is catching up with me. I gotta crash.” Andy disappeared into his guest room.
Down at the fire pit, Sam got a blaze going. Orange-yellow sparks shot into the air, competing with the stars and the moon for brightest objects in the sky.
Mia pulled her chair close to Helicity. “So. You real
ly okay with him being here?” She indicated Sam with a skeptical nod.
Helicity watched another spark shower vanish into the darkness. She wondered again why Sam had been camping for the past weeks. Where he’d gone. If he’d been alone…or with someone.
She suddenly realized Sam was staring intently at her through the flames. So intently, in fact, that she was afraid she’d spoken that last thought out loud. “Sam, I—”
“You look older,” he interrupted with a slight frown.
“I…do?”
Beside her, Mia nodded. “He’s right. It’s your new hairstyle, I think. Makes you look more mature.”
Helicity’s hand crept to her hair. A week in the sea-soaked sunshine had warmed the sandy-brown locks to a lighter blond. Her skin had burnished to a golden tan, too. The changes made the green of her eyes stand out, she’d noticed in the mirror that morning.
Sam tilted his head. “It could be your hair, I guess. Seems like something more than that, though.” He got up to fetch more wood.
Helicity hugged her knees closer to her chest. “You know what, Mia? I think everything with Sam is going to be fine.”
Boom!
Helicity and Mia sat straight up in their beds.
“Holy moly!” Mia’s wide eyes gleamed in the darkness. “I felt that in my gut!”
“Me too.”
Helicity, Mia, and Sam had hung around the campfire for more than an hour. Helicity had peppered Sam with questions about the road trip—whose idea it had been, where they ate and slept, and what they talked about.
“The trip just sort of happened,” Sam confessed. “I said I wished I could see you in person. Next thing I knew, your brother had packed a bag. We ate wherever, took turns driving and sleeping.”
He poked the fire with a stick. “I thought he’d ask me about…well, you know. About what happened. Or yell at me. Blame me for putting you in danger. I think some part of me wanted him to.” He sat back. “But he never did. Mostly, if he wasn’t sleeping, he just stuck in his earbuds and zoned out.”
Helicity would have liked to ask more. But it was getting late, and a bank of clouds was rolling in. So they doused the fire and called it a night.
