Forsaken

by Kristen Day

  “Stasia! Please stop and tell us what’s going on!” Willow tugged on my arm, but I shook her off and moved on to the next nest. One by one, I made sure the eggs were safe. At the last nest, my legs gave out from under me and I fell on the soft sand.

  “Thank God they’re safe!” I sighed with relief.

  “You better have a damn good reason why we’re running for our lives on the beach in the middle of the night!” Carmen sat down beside me, breathing hard.

  “Stop being so dramatic, Carmen,” Phoebe said, “Tell us what happened, Stasia.” She rubbed my arm supportively.

  “I saw them die. They washed away. All of them.” Hot tears burned my eyes and I was helpless to stop them from spilling over. If these eggs were safe, what nests did I see get destroyed? According to the tape, I was on Bald Head. The boardwalk I had stood on was right above us. It had to be these eggs. I watched the waves rolling in to the shore and noticed how much bigger they had gotten since this afternoon. It hit me like a ton of bricks. The hurricane. I remembered the wind. The blinding rain. The rising water. I wasn’t having a reverie or even a dream. I was seeing something that hadn’t happened yet. I was seeing into the future. A new panic took over. “We have to move them! Before the hurricane comes!”

  “But they’re protected by the shield! They’ll be fine.” Carmen dismissed my worries.

  “It doesn’t extend this far. They’ll wash away. I saw it happen.”

  “What do you mean you saw it happen?” Phoebe’s forehead scrunched in confusion.

  Suddenly exhausted, I tried to explain, “When I blacked out….I had a vision. I saw it happen.”

  “Are you talking about foresight?” Carmen shook her head unbelieving. “You have reveries, Stasia, not foresight. No descendent has ever had foresight.”

  “It couldn’t have been a reverie, the hurricane isn’t here yet!” I threw up my arms in frustration. “In my vision, the hurricane was here and it washed all of the eggs out to sea. We have to hurry!”

  “Are you sure?” Carmen asked at me, still skeptical.

  “I’m sure, Carmen.” I closed my eyes hoping to stop the tears, but that just caused them to come faster.

  “We could move them closer to our beach where they’ll be protected by the shield?” suggested Phoebe.

  “You know it’s illegal to touch the eggs,” Willow countered, “We should call someone from the island to come and get them.”

  “There’s no time. We have to move them now. It could be too late by the time we went and got someone. We don’t have much time.”

  “She’s right,” Phoebe agreed with me, “we can’t just leave them.”

  After several more convincing arguments, Willow gave in. We decided the best thing to do was go back to Maren and get our clothes baskets, pad them with towels, and then transport the eggs to our protected beach. We took off running. I just hoped we made it back before it was too late.

  Twenty minutes later, clothes baskets and blankets in hand, we split up and each made our way toward a different nest. The weather was quickly going downhill. The rain was coming down in sheets and persistent wind howled around us. Phoebe jogged down to the last nest. It was closest to the water, therefore more susceptible to the increasing waves. Carmen and Willow ran past me to the other nests.

  I knelt down and gently removed each egg from the first nest, placing them into the clothes basket. I secured them with the blanket, preparing them for the walk back. I moved onto the next nest and did the same. The water had risen to my calves and the rain had started blowing sideways. I could barely see Phoebe down the beach as she struggled in the much larger waves.

  Carmen made her way over to me and set her basket down. “I got them all except for one, it slipped out of my hand!” she yelled over the wind. Her dark hair was plastered against her head and mascara was running down her cheeks.

  “I just hope we can get them back without breaking any!” I called up to her. Willow joined us, having retrieved as many eggs as she could.

  “Where’s Phoebe?” she yelled.

  “She was right over there!” Carmen leaned into the wind and pointed up the beach. The nest Phoebe had been emptying was now under at least three feet of water and her basket was floating away, held captive by the waves. I looked around frantically, but didn’t see her.

  “Take the baskets!” I yelled to Carmen and Willow, “I’m going to find her!”

  As I maneuvered my way down the beach, the water rose up to my thighs. I was having difficulty keeping my balance in the strong current, and the waves crashing into me were relentless. I could hardly see my hand in front of my face. This wasn’t going to work! There was only one thing to do. I dove into the water.

  Beneath the water, my vision magically cleared. Not sure how to find her, I tried to swim in a zigzag pattern, hoping she hadn’t been swept out too far. The current was still strong, but I was able to counteract it pretty well and stay on course. I spotted something bright green blowing in the current just a couple of yards away and instinctively swam toward it. Phoebe’s shirt. She was sinking. I wrapped my arms around her and kicked toward the surface.

  “Phoebe!” I called out to her, but there was no response. “Phoebe!” Her lips had turned blue and her eyes had rolled back in her head. I struggled to keep her head above water and swim at the same time. I’d never had any lifeguard training and I had no idea what I was doing. I kicked as hard as I could with my legs, but I knew I wasn’t getting anywhere. The rain assaulted my face, making it hard to see where we were in relation to the beach. I could be swimming out to sea for all I knew. Wave after wave crashed over us, trying to pull her from my arms. I latched onto her as tight as I could and shut my eyes. I controlled the waves once before, I could do it again. I concentrated on breathing and tried to slow my heart rate. Be calm. Be calm. Be calm. I tried to project my feelings in to the water. Another wave crashed over us and we tumbled helplessly below the water. Somehow I held on to her shirt and was able to pull her back up to me as I kicked to the surface again. This wasn’t working. She was going to drown out here in this God forsaken hurricane. Another wave hit us from the side, instantly ripping Phoebe away from me.

  “Phoebe!!” I screamed, knowing she couldn’t hear me. My eyes stayed locked on her green shirt as she was tossed around like a rag doll.

  I lost sight of her as a wave crashed directly on top of me, pulling me under and slamming me against the ocean floor. The back of my head hit something solid, a sharp pain shot down my neck, and I decided I’d had enough. An inferno sparked deep within my soul, growing in to an all-consuming emblazoned fury. My vision sharpened immediately and a powerful sensation shot through my limbs, filling me with added strength and resolve. I pushed off the bottom with my feet, propelling myself back up to the surface easily. I glared at the boiling ocean with hatred, like I was staring down an old opponent in the ring before a fight. It would NOT break my will. And it would NOT take my friend. I unleashed what sounded like a roar filled with pain and anguish, and then brought both of my hands down on top of the water with such force it stung. Words flowed from my mouth with a ferocity I hadn’t known I possessed.

  “You will not take any lives tonight!! Give her back to me!! Now!!” I yelled at the top of my lungs and squeezed my eyes shut.

  I hit bottom with a thud, momentarily knocking the breath out of me. I looked down at the ocean floor. The ocean floor? I tried to get my bearings and realized the ocean had receded in about a five yard radius all around me, as if I was standing in an oversized bubble. The waves sloshed up against the sides, unable to reach me. Miraculously, Phoebe was laying a couple of feet away from me, still unconscious and ashen. She had long gashes along her arms and legs. I lifted her up and tried to remember how long a person could go without oxygen before brain damage set in. I felt like we’d been in the water for hours. Surprisingly, as I walked towards shore, the protective bubble followed, allowing me to walk all the way up to the beach untouched by the wav
es. Finally on the sand, Carmen and Willow took Phoebe from me, staring at me wide-eyed. I was just hoping Carmen wouldn’t ask me to show her how to do what I just did. Because I had absolutely no idea.

  Carmen gently rolled Phoebe onto her back and began trying to resuscitate her. Every ounce of energy left me and I collapsed on the sand. The stinging rain battered my body. I made an effort to catch my breath, but the wind just kept blowing sand in my face, clogging my nose and mouth. I shakily lifted myself up and crawled on all fours to where Phoebe lay in the sand. I tried to wipe off my face, but the sand had mixed with my tears and I only succeeded in scratching my skin. I gave up and I fell down beside her. Willow was cradling her head while Carmen performed CPR. I just looked on helplessly.

  Time slowed as I silently watched the frenzy around Phoebe. Willow and Carmen were saying something to me, but all I heard was the howling of the wind. Something caught my eye through the rain a couple of yards away. Movement. A figure was retreating in to the night, but I was too exhausted to worry about it. Instead, I tried to concentrate on Phoebe’s cold, limp hand in mine. I tried squeezing it and started talking to her.

  “Phoebe, you gotta wake up,” I whispered, as tears streamed down my sandy face. “Please wake up.”

  Carmen continued to administer CPR, rhythmically breathing into her mouth and pushing on her chest. Over and over and over. Suddenly, Willow opened her eyes and released Phoebe’s head. Phoebe began coughing violently as water spewed from her mouth. My heart swelled, and Carmen turned her onto her side. She continued to cough for several more minutes, as all the water was expelled from her lungs. Willow moved behind her and placed her palms on the cuts and bruises decorating her arms. She slowly opened her blood shot eyes and focused on me. Her lips were returning to a normal color, but her face was still deathly pale. Her hair was twisted around her head, matted from the sand.

  “Why are you all wet?” she asked weakly, attempting a smile.

  “You decided to go for a swim,” I told her, and Carmen smothered her in a hug.

  “Don’t you ever do that to me again!” Tears of relief rolled down her cheeks.

  Phoebe just smiled up at her, “And you said you weren’t going to do mouth to mouth when you saved my life.”

  Chapter 20

  The next day I awakened to driving rain and screeching wind. What sleep I had gotten was restless. There were too many thoughts floating around in my head. After almost losing Phoebe, none of us wanted her out of sight, so we had all piled into the living room. Phoebe was still asleep on the couch, Carmen was on the floor and Willow had curled up in the arm chair. How she slept like that was beyond me. I tiptoed to the balcony doors and peeked out through the blinds. The only thing visible was the rain blowing completely sideways. I looked down at the beach I couldn’t see and hoped the turtle eggs were still safe. The four foot wide hole we had dug among the dunes put them within the safety of the shield, but I had no idea when they would hatch. I planned to check on them several times a day until then. I couldn’t let them down. If it was the last thing I’d do, I was going to make sure they made it into the ocean unscathed.

  The one tiny detail I’d spent all night coming to grips with was that I saw into the future. Not just saw, but actually experienced it. I was there. Between reveries and visions of the future, my true reality was becoming more and more complicated. During a reverie, I seemed cognizant of what was happening; I knew I was sleeping and where my body was. But in a vision, I had no idea that I’d randomly blacked out and subsequently travelled days or weeks in time. I only realized it after I woke up, which was slightly unsettling. What if I blacked out in the shower? Or swimming? And what if I did something stupid during one because I didn’t know I was in a vision? What if I saw myself? Would I disrupt the space-time continuum, ending all life as we know it? I had no idea how these things worked.

  The other small technicality weighing on my mind was if this last blackout was a vision of the future, then the first one would have been too. That explained how I saw Nicolet’s death a week before it actually happened. It also explained why Finn asked me if I had a reverie Friday. He had seen me earlier that day. It was just the ‘me’ from a week ago. So what I saw during my blackout at the party in Atlanta had been real. It just hadn’t happened yet. Which meant Nicolet didn’t kill herself. Which meant she really was murdered. And the only people that were there were Nicolet, the man who killed her, me, and Finn.

  A buzzing sound from my bedroom made me jump. A new text. From Finn. My heart jumped into my throat.

  Meet me on the beach

  In a hurricane? I texted back. He was out of his mind.

  Trust me.

  You’re crazy.

  About you.

  “Stasia?”

  “Morning Sunshine!” I walked back into the living room. Phoebe propped herself up on the couch and stretched. She immediately clutched her throat in agony.

  “Ow. I feel like somebody strangled me. It hurts to swallow.” She leaned back and closed her eyes. My phone beeped from my bedroom.

  “You need to rest, Phoebs, you went through a lot last night.” I pulled the blanket back over her and smoothed her hair back. We had both painstakingly taken showers when we got back to Maren, but it was a little easier for Phoebe since she could command the sand to jump off of her body at will. Pretty cool if you ask me, considering I would never need an exfoliation ever again. I lost about ten layers of skin in the process of scrubbing it off. “Okay…but will you tell Carmen…” she was asleep again before she could finish. Willow shifted in her chair and mumbled something about bacon cupcakes. I chuckled and darted back into my bedroom.

  He couldn’t be serious.

  See you in 5 min

  That was three minutes ago. So, he just assumed I was going to go along with his brilliant idea? He was probably out there, standing in the rain, soaking wet, waiting for me. I mean, I couldn’t just leave him out there to catch pneumonia, right? Or, what if he got hit by a piece of flying debris? It could happen. Damn. He was definitely going to pay for this one.

  I searched my wardrobe for anything remotely waterproof or at least water-resistant. I finally found a pair of black wind pants, a red ski jacket (maybe if I got washed away, the Coast Guard would be able to spot me), and pulled my hair up into my Georgia Bulldogs hat. It might be more fitting to wear Phoebe’s wet suit and goggles, but this would have to do for now. I couldn’t believe I was doing this. There weren’t many people I’d venture out in a hurricane for. Against my better judgment, Finn was apparently becoming one of them. I tried to sneak through the living room, but my wind pants were anything but quiet. Just as I turned the doorknob, Willow turned in her chair again and I froze mid-step. Holding my breath, I clicked the door shut, turned around, and walked right into Olivia and Cassie.

  “Going for an early morning jog on the beach?” Olivia smirked, and they both laughed hysterically. Why couldn’t they just say hey and keep walking? “You might want an umbrella though; I heard it’s supposed to rain.”

  “Oh my God, Olivia. Is that a zit on your chin? It must really hurt, it’s huge!” I leaned in and stared at her face with mock horror.

  “What?” Olivia looked accusingly at Cassie “Why didn’t you tell me I had Mt. Everest on my face before we went downstairs!” She pushed past her into their suite.

  “Olivia, wait!” Cassie called after her. I hopped onto the elevator before the doors closed and smiled, despite myself.

  Down in the lobby, a group of girls were gathered around one of the large big screens watching a movie since the satellites were out. I felt their stares and heard the whispers in my direction as I walked by as nonchalantly as possible. Oh yea, Finn was definitely going to pay for this.

  I hesitated at the double doors. How was I supposed to find him in a hurricane? What if I got blown away? And worse, what if everyone saw me get blown away? It would be all over YouTube within minutes. I looked back at the lobby to see how many witnesses
there were. Only twenty or so. Excellent. I turned back toward the door and almost had a heart attack. Finn stood on the other side snickering at me. I was glad he thought this was funny. Using all of my strength, I wrenched open the door. With the wind counteracting my movements, I had to slide out quickly before getting crushed.

  “What part of ‘go out into a hurricane’ did you think was a good idea?” I glared up at Finn, but he had vanished. Something touched my hand and he reappeared right in front of me.

  “How’d you do that?” I yelled, realizing a second too late it wasn’t necessary. It was like we were back inside, except…we weren’t. The rain had stopped and the deafening sound of the wind had disappeared as well. I was also sparkling.

  “I’ve cloaked us.” Finn grinned, proud of himself. “It’s one of my abilities.”

  “You what?” He was sparkling as well. Instead of answering, his grin widened and he released my hand. He disappeared and I was back out in the hurricane. Rain battered my face and the sound of the wind screamed in my ears. Thankfully, he grabbed my hand again.

  “Don’t do that!” I scolded him, as he tried not to laugh. “You think you’re real funny, don’t you? Just because you borrowed an invisibility cloak from Harry Potter, doesn’t mean you can just –“He let go of my hand again. I reached out through the blinding rain, hoping to grab him but my hands couldn’t find anything solid. Knowing he was watching me, I put my hands on my hips and yelled over the wind. “If you don’t cloak me right now, I’m going back inside and never speaking to you ever again!” I felt his hand in mine again and he reappeared, along with the protection of his cloak. Unfortunately, I was already dripping wet.

  “I just wanted to see if you’d melt,” he explained with feigned innocence.