Falling Darkness: The second book in the Falling Awake Series

by T. A Richards Neville

  “There’s no party here.” My attention snapped back to what was going on now, when Nathan and his friends stopped next to me and Mellissa.

  “Huh?” I said, looking between him and who he had brought along.

  I recognized both of them. The one with the dull shade of spiked blonde hair was called Tye Sinclair, and just like Nathan, he was taking a gap year and offering his services to Mr. Loren, Nathans dad. Tye came with us to Paris, and the other burlier guy, who reminded me a little of a bear, was Jason Monroe. Jason was a senior, too and played on the school football team. I only knew that because he never took his letterman jacket off. I swear he must have glued that thing to his back.

  I cut a sideways glance at Mellissa who was eyeing Jason with intent. She couldn’t keep the grin of her face, and he looked equally pleased to see her.

  Before Drake came along, Jason was Mellissa’s newest crush. Even though I had never really spoken to him, I could see why she would like him. He was tall and very muscular, and not in a gross way either. Despite his overpowering and hulking frame, his soft brown eyes were kind and sexy both at the same time. He was very popular at school, but from the little attention I had paid him, I couldn’t remember ever seeing him with a girl. I watched her eyeing him up. What the hell? Drake would not be happy about that.

  “The party,” Nathan said. “Where is it?”

  “Oh right. Afterglow Vista.” I pointed through the wood. “Just through there.” I nudged Mellissa discreetly with my elbow. She smiled like she wasn’t doing anything wrong, and nudged me back twice as hard. I tippled to the side, but caught my footing.

  “The old McMillan plot?” Nathan asked.

  “That’s the one.” I gripped Mellissa’s hand, hard. “I can hear music, let’s just follow it.”

  We trudged through the wood, me and Mellissa in front, and I couldn’t get one foot in front the other quick enough. I couldn’t rid myself of the nervousness that had settled in me. Anybody could be in the trees watching me, and I was too scared to look up in case I saw something out of place. I kept all my focus on the dirt path in front of me. A gateway up ahead with an arching iron sign, read Afterglow Vista, and I could see beyond it dancing lights from a gathering in the middle of the McMillan mausoleum.

  The mausoleum was cryptic looking to say the least. It was a giant circular, pillared, stone structure, on a raised platform, housing a round limestone table and six limestone chairs. The chairs held the ashes of each member of the McMillan family. We had learned in school that the McMillan’s were a very wealthy family in the 1800’s, controlling a successful lime company, here in Roche Harbor, and this was what was left of them.

  We climbed the stone steps up to the mausoleum, and the increasing noise from the party helped me to feel more at ease. There really was nothing out here. We were completely isolated. I didn’t recognize a single face, and everyone looked at us as if we had dropped in from another planet. I was beginning to regret ever coming here. This was all Caleb’s fault.

  “Nathan, dude! What’s up?” A figure separated its self from the gathering and walked over to us. He was older than us that much was obvious, and he wore a blue and grey, Braves hoody. He was part of La Conner’s football team. I’d seen flyers with La Conner’s logo plastered all over school advertising the now cancelled football game. Nathan’s face lit up in recognition and he bumped fists with whoever this guy was. “Karl, the Game was cancelled so you thought you’d invade our turf instead?”

  “That’s it man,” Karl said, casting a satisfied glance at his handiwork. “Thought we’d wake the dead before we go back home.”

  I didn’t care for football in the slightest, but there was no way of not hearing that tonight’s game had been cancelled because of a waterlogged pitch from the other night’s monstrous rainfall.

  Mellissa stuck out her hand, forcing it into Karl’s grip. “Hi, I’m Mellissa and this is Pria. We’re not with him.” She jerked her thumb sideways at Nathan. “He just followed us here. So, where’s the alcohol? This isn’t a party until my twenty-twenty vision has turned to double vision.”

  Karl held onto her hand, obviously enjoying the view. He tipped his head in the direction of the table that sat at the center of this whole thing, right in the middle of the mausoleum. “Bar’s over there. Help yourself. I’ll see you later?” Yep, he definitely liked what he saw.

  “Maybe you will,” Mellissa said in her flirty voice. I followed her over, pushing our way through the unknown crowd. La Conner was in Skagit County, about three or four hours away, and this must have been some of its high schoolers. No the wonder no one knew about the party. How did Mellissa end up with a flyer? No one else was here from our school. Mellissa grabbed a bottle of what looked like whisky off the table and two red plastic cups, pouring it in and mixing it with some lemonade. She passed me a cup and I took a sip. I scrunched up my face. “I can’t drink that. I’m driving.”

  “Just leave the car,” she said.

  “And get home how?”

  “Nathan.”

  “Oh, it’s okay for Nathan to take us home? You can’t stand him any other time.”

  “He owes us.”

  “Us?”

  “Seriously? You’re gonna leave me to drink all on my own?” I had to laugh. Did she really think that was going to make me feel sorry for her?

  “I’ll have this one, and then I’m drinking soda.”

  “Fine. That’s up to you if you want to be a total kill joy.” Mellissa looked at the crowd that surrounded us. “There’s no place to sit here.”

  “There’s a space on the steps over there.”

  “Let’s go sit down,” Mellissa said, and we anchored our way through the party, sitting down in the empty spot on the cold steps, that led up to the mausoleum. A rap song was pumping from somewhere, but I couldn’t see any speakers. I took another sip of my drink. It was so strong, one would be more than enough.

  “What was that back there, with Jason?” I asked Mellissa.

  She shrugged. “I can’t help it if he’s cute.”

  “Do you still like him?”

  “I still think he’s cute, yeah. But that’s it.”

  “He is cute,” I said. “I think he’s into you.”

  Mellissa’s hand clamped down hard on my leg. “He’s coming over,” she said, barely moving her mouth. Jason was walking over from Mellissa’s direction and sat down on the step below us, directly in front of Mellissa, angling his body so he was facing her. I bit back a smile. I could see that she was pleased he’d come over. She absolutely did still like him.

  “Hey girls, what’s going on?”

  “Not much,” Mellissa said. “What’s going on with you?”

  “Not much. It’s Mellissa right?” His smooth brown eyes held a deliberate smirk and I was beginning to feel like an intrusion before anything had even happened.

  “Yeah.”

  “I’ve seen you around school.”

  “I’ve seen you too.”

  Jason laughed and rubbed his hand over his short dark hair. “Oh you have? I wouldn’t mind seeing you outside of school sometime.”

  Okay, I was leaving. This was too uncomfortable. “I’m going to dilute this drink,” I said to Mellissa. I smiled at Jason and stood up and left. I looked back and he got up, jumping into my place. I squeezed in through the unknown bodies and picked up the empty bottle of lemonade on the table. “Great,” I Murmured.

  “You after this?” A hand, landed a full bottle of lemonade onto the table. A boy with long, black hair tied back into a low ponytail smiled down at me.

  “I was, yeah,” I said.

  “I’m Matoskah.”

  “Pria.” The boy wasn’t local or I would have seen him somewhere before. He was too distinct looking and too exotic.

  “I’m from La Conner,” he said. “Sucks about the game, huh?”

  “I don’t like football.”

  “Figures. A pretty girl like you.” I smiled in my discomfort.
I opened the lemonade and poured some into my cup. “Thanks for the lemonade,” I said to him, and walked off, losing myself in the crowd.

  I stood at the edge of the Rotunda. Mellissa was still sitting with Jason. I didn’t really want to go back over there, and I found a spot on the edge of the steps, circling the mausoleum. I was surrounded on either side by standing groups of kids, laughing and chattering away. I wrapped my hands around my cup and took a sip of my drink. The temperature had dropped dramatically and I watched steam waft up out of my mouth from my warm breath. I had never attempted to use my supposed gift since my birthday with Caleb, and I actually had no idea where to start. Caleb didn’t seem too keen on me using them. He kept insisting the power will come to me on its own, but I was becoming restless, and if I really could make things happen, like storms, and summoning animals, then I really wanted to make this night a little warmer. I was supposed to be here having a good time but I just felt miserable. What was wrong with me? Was I really going to let Caleb ruin everything in my life? Did I really want to be that girl? No, I didn’t. I hated that girl, and I was slowly becoming her. I guzzled my drink and just as I was about to get up and get another, Matoskah plonked himself down next to me.

  “Got you this,” he said with an easy smile. His teeth were dazzling white, perfectly in line. “You look like you could use a friend over here.” Matoskah was good looking with his chiseled features and smooth copper skin, but I wasn’t attracted to him. I was thankful for his company, however. It would help keep my mind occupied from slipping back into that dark place.

  “Whisky and lemonade right?”

  “Right,” I said. He set the lemonade and whisky bottle down in-between us and poured a drink into my empty cup. “Wouldn’t want you to think I’d slipped anything into it,” he said jokingly. He handed me my cup back, now full, and I thanked him.

  “So, do you wanna talk about it?” he offered. I turned to face him and he was watching me with what looked like part sympathy, part curiosity.

  “Talk about what?” I said.

  “Whatever’s stopping you from having a good time. Your face thinks you’ve sent it to a funeral, not a party.”

  Might as well be a funeral. We were in the right place for it. “Maybe you’re right,” I said. “It’s just boy stuff. I’ll get over it.”

  “Whoever he is, he’s an idiot.”

  “I wish that were true. He’s many things, but idiot isn’t one of them.”

  “If you say so.”

  “What’s with the mausoleum, anyway?” I asked him. “It’s kind of a strange place to have a party. Aren’t we supposed to respect the dead?”

  “It’s almost Halloween. It’s the perfect place, don’t you think?”

  “I think it’s creepy. I mean, here in the mausoleum, it’s not so bad. But out there, in those woods, that’s what’s scary.”

  “There’s no one out here,” Matoskah said.

  “That’s exactly my point.”

  “Do you believe in ghosts?” I thought about that for a moment. I’d never seen a ghost, but there was no doubt in my mind that they existed. “Yeah, I guess I do,” I said.

  Matoskah smiled at me. “Me too.”

  I sipped my drink. “So how do you like it over at La Conner?” I asked him.

  “It’s alright. The girls don’t look half as good as you, but hey, I’ll survive.” I let out a small laugh. “How very original.”

  “I try.” The cold was seeping into my coat and clinging to me. My teeth started chattering. “Want to take a walk?” Matoskah asked me. “Not far, just around the mausoleum.”

  I looked out through the almost bare branches of the trees. Honestly, I didn’t want to go anywhere near that empty darkness. But I didn’t want to sit here, freezing my ass off either. The coziness of the spaced out candles, flickered around us and I figured as long as I stayed nearby, It wouldn’t t hurt to take a walk. “Okay, yeah.”

  Matoskah held out his hand to me and helped me to my feet. I brushed my coat down and we walked down the steps and along the surrounding area of the mausoleum. I glanced nervously through the trees. I stopped walking, and a few steps ahead of me, Matoskah turned around. Burnt orange leaves rustled around my feet, rolling along the grass with the wind.

  “Hey, you okay there?” He tipped my chin up and held onto my arm. “You look a little pale.”

  I straightened myself up. “I’m fine. I just got a little dizzy that’s all.”

  Matoskah looked worried. “Do you need to sit back down?”

  “No, I’m okay.” I finished my drink and Matoskah took my empty cup from me.

  “No more for me I think.”

  “Are you drunk?” He found the question amusing. He probably thought I couldn’t handle my alcohol. Well he was right… I couldn’t.

  “I’m not drunk, no. Tipsy, maybe.” I smiled. “This cold air should clear my head soon. Let’s just keep walking.” We walked side by side, skirting the edge of the wood. “Are you half Spanish or something?” Matoskah asked me. “I hope you don’t mind me asking. You’ve just got something a little different about you.”

  “My mom’s native American,” I said.

  “Ah, me too in case you hadn’t already guessed.”

  “I kinda guessed.”

  “Your mom must be very beautiful.”

  I could feel the flush in my cheeks, despite the freezing temperature. “She is.”

  I stole a quick look over at him. There was something about him that was hard to ignore. His crisp, turquoise-blue eyes creased at the corners and I quickly turned away when I realized I was staring. He was better looking than I first gave him credit for, and in a very unique kind of way.

  “So, this boyfriend of yours. Where is he?”

  “He’s not my boyfriend,” I said. “And I don’t know where he is. Don’t care either.”

  “Very convincing,” said Matoskah.

  “It’s true.”

  “How has someone as beautiful as you, not got a boyfriend?”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe I don’t want one.”

  “Or maybe you just haven’t found anyone that’s worthy of what you can do.”

  I stopped midstride. “What did you just say?”

  Matoskah slowed and turned to face me. He drew his eyebrows together. “I said, maybe you just haven’t found anyone that’s worthy of you. Are you sure you’re okay? You really don’t look okay.”

  “Sorry, I thought you said something else.”

  “I didn’t mean to offend you,” he said softly. “I’ll shut up.”

  I felt the darkness pressing in on me, and I turned full circle when I realized the noise from the party wasn’t as loud, and the glow of the candles was gone. When had we come into the woods? I hadn’t even noticed. “I need to get back,” I said. “I never meant to come this far out. I thought you said we would stay next to the mausoleum?” I stepped forward to find a break in the trees, and a loud snapping noise held me frozen. It was so loud, it echoed through the wood. “What was that?” I whispered to Matoskah. He didn’t reply. I turned around to face him, but he was gone. “Matoskah!” I shouted his name loud his time. Oh my god, he had just left me. I stumbled backwards as my vision blurred around the edges, and the image of the trees in front of me distorted in and out of shape. I felt like I was going to be sick. I hadn’t even drank that much. I doubled over and gripped a nearby tree trunk, holding onto it for support, until my vision swam back into focus.

  I straightened up and called out again. “Matoskah!” Nothing. It was silent. How far out into this wood was I. Had Mellissa noticed I was gone? I turned around, facing the way I was sure I had come from, and broke out into a run. The debris on the floor cracked under my feet and paired with the heaviness of my breathing, the noise was deafening. I kept on running, but the darkness was never ending. Every turn was the same. More trees, more narrow trails, more blackness.

  I looked up.

  I couldn’t even see the sky, t
he naked, leafless trees reached so high. If it was even possible, the darkness was only getting darker and more suffocating. I was struggling to separate objects from the dense night air. Everything was blending into one solid black hole.

  SNAP!

  There it was again. Someone was here. “Matoskah,” I called out meekly, afraid to draw too much attention to my position in case it wasn’t him at all.

  SNAP!

  I cried out. “Whose there?” I turned around in every direction frantically, my eyes searching through the darkness to seek out whoever was approaching. I let out a whimper as my head became foggy and nausea crept back up on me. I clawed my way along the tree trunks, one after the other, keeping myself upright, and then I saw it. A shadow just in front of me, slipping through the trees.

  I blinked. It was gone.

  I didn’t dare move. I heaved, and the bitter taste of my last two drinks projected itself from my mouth. I heaved again and emptied the last of what was in my stomach. I wiped my mouth and the tears from my eyes. I was shaking from being sick so aggressively, and from fear. My eyes darted across the narrow dirt path in front of me as another shadow flitted across it and disappeared behind the trees. I took in a deep breath. The cold air was raw in my throat and I stood, until my eyes adjusted once again to my surroundings. My head felt like it was packed with cotton wool and I had drunk about ten times more than what I actually had. It was now or never. I had to see what was ahead of me before I passed out in this place.

  I carefully put one foot in front of the other until my steps became more steady, and I bolted forward to where I had seen the shadow. The smoky, charcoal mist materialized from behind a tree on my left, and I screamed. The mist expanded, until it took the shape of a human form. I clamped my hand over my mouth as the mist became so big, it towered over me, crowding me, making me feel impossibly tiny.

  It was going to swallow me.

  I closed my eyes and sunk down onto the ground, pulling my knees up to my chest and I covered my ears with my hands. A deep and low moan emanated from the shadow creature and it grew louder and louder until I couldn’t bear it anymore. The sound was crushing me from inside. It was excruciating.