“I can do things,” I started. “Strange things. I’ve only just found out and what just happened there- that is one of the things I’ve just figured out.” My words were one big desperate rush. I didn’t waste time in letting her know that this was for real and there was no need for her to question her sanity.
“Magic? Are you on drugs? Magic is a crock of shit.”
“It’s hard to believe, I know. I didn’t believe it at first, but I’m telling you the truth. How else do you explain what just happened? And it did happen. I’m not lying to you. Watch…” I might as well really go for it, since I had started. I was winging it, still not having any real idea on what my limits were and I let my energy seep out of me in waves and into everything around me. I could feel it escaping me like silk, filtering through the air in ribbons. I flinched a little when a light wind rustled through the branches and as if they had voices of their own, a gentle humming noise filled my ears. The tinkling of the forest was all around us. Nature’s voice was everywhere, coming from every direction now, and not just the trees.
“The trees are singing?” Mellissa cupped her hands around her mouth, laughing. “What are you, Pocahontas or something? Show me something better than that and maybe I won’t consider calling the asylum.
“Okay,” I said. “How about this?” When the entrancing hum died down, I pointed my finger towards the sky and painted an imaginary archway. Within seconds, the brightest rainbow I had ever seen shimmered above us. Mellissa’s hand flew to her mouth. “It’s magic,” she breathed. “I don’t even believe in magic.”
“Trust me, I’ve been exactly where you are now saying exactly the same thing.” There was more I could stun her with but I would keep Drakes secret. She didn’t need to know every detail. I felt weightless just getting my own secret off my chest. I’d been dying to confide in her for ages.
“Do something else,” she said, getting excited.
“I really shouldn’t, and it’s not magic, exactly. I’m not sure yet what it is.” I had already done too much. And in broad daylight. “Later. I don’t want anyone else to see.” The last thing I should be doing was drawing attention to us. I had to keep Mellissa safe. That was the most important thing.
“So you can just, what… go anywhere? Just like that, one blink and…”
“That’s the first time I’ve ever tried it,” I said. I’d half done it before with Caleb, but I wanted to keep him out of it. I wasn’t in any position to confide in her too much.
“I’m going to need about a month to get my head around this. My best friend is friggin’ Houdini.”
“I’m still getting my head around it.”
“But that is the best freaking thing I ever saw.” Mellissa was ecstatic and it made me feel so much better. She could have took me as being some crazy witch, but she didn’t. I seriously underestimated her.
“You want to go find Matoskah and Quidel?” I asked her. That was why I’d brought her here, after all. To get away and to have fun with people that knew how to chill out. I’d had my fill of serious people to last me a lifetime and I needed a break.
“Oh, you bet. I am truly in need of something beautiful to look at. No offence, babe.”
I sent Matoskah a text and he called straight away telling me that he had only just made it back home from travelling all day. A few minutes later, he pulled up in his beat up jeep with the window rolled down. He was grinning from ear to ear.
“How’d you get here?” he asked, getting out and taking my bag. “Come on, get in.” He smiled at Mellissa. “Nice to see you, again.”
“It sure is.” She hopped up into the truck, sitting in the middle of me and Matoskah.
“So you got here, how?” Matoskah asked again, driving us away from the harbor.
How was I going to explain this one? Turns out I didn’t need to, Mellissa was already answering for me.
“One minute we’re in my bedroom,” Mellissa contributed, “and then the next thing I see, is this place.”
“What?” Matoskah looked straight at me.
“Oh, shit.” Mellissa clamped her hand over her mouth. “My brain, it’s in overdrive. I’m so sorry, Pria.”
“It’s true,” I said to him. “I wanted to come here, and so I did. I guess I kinda wished us here. Sounds crazy, I know.”
Matoskah was either being polite, or he sensed that Mellissa would probably be pissed if she found out that he knew my little secret before she did, and he did a great job of acting clueless.
“Well you already know I’m a converted believer. There’s not much that will shock me.” He smiled at me and I was eternally grateful he didn’t rat me out. “The spirit is more powerful than you think.”
“Actually,” I said to Mellissa, “My mom kinda had the same gift and Matoskah’s heard all about her. This is where she grew up. Turns out, she’s pretty important around here.”
“Your family is so cool.” Mellissa shook her head with disbelief. “The only thing I ever inherited was my grandmas webbed toe.”
“You got that off your grandma?” Two of Mellissa’s toes were slightly more joined than the rest and I always used to laugh about it until one day she threatened to get plastic surgery. Now, though, you can hardly even notice it.
“Yeah, god rest her weird little soul. I will never thank her for it.”
“This conversation just turned weird.” Matoskah grinned at us. “I don’t know anything about any webbed toes, but did you guys have time to grab your swimsuits?”
“Hello, it’s November. Swimsuit season is over,” Mellissa said.
“Me and the boys are heading out to Hobuck tonight, surfing. You guy’s in?”
“Absolutely,” I said. “I think I could give surfing a go.” Again…
It was dark, very dark. The beach was surrounded by forest and cliffs and there was no light offered from either. A roaring fire was already set up on the sand and I could see the pinched face of Rona as the flames flickered golden orange across her face, sharpening her already harsh angles. She was a lot prettier when she wasn’t scrunching up her face like that. I really needed to make friends with her if I had to spend time with her. I liked Quidel and I didn’t want his sister to hate me, especially if it was because of some boy I had no interest in that way. There could be no other reason why she hated the sight of me so much. She knew nothing about me.
She was the only one sitting around the fire, and I saw Quidel already had on his wetsuit and board in hand. It was pretty cold tonight and I had already decided that I wasn’t getting in that water.
“I could have sworn I just left you in Friday Harbor.” Quidel was smiling at me when I walked over him, and he threw his arm around my shoulders, pulling me against him. “I’d ask how you got here so fast but I don’t think I need to.”
“You got that right,” I said. “I needed to get away, and I missed you already, so…” I looked up into his face. A face full of mischief.
“You’ve got good taste. I’d miss me, too. You coming in the water?”
I wrinkled my nose. I had on my wool dress and coat, but the cool night was already getting to me without adding freezing water into the equation. “Um, no. It’s going to be freezing in there. I’ll die of frostbite, no doubt. I’ll be right here where it’s warm.”
“Then you better go sit with the ice queen over there.” Quidel signaled toward his sister and I tried to quash my smirk. Frostbite threatened me from every angle, it seemed.
“I guess I better.” I went and sat down next to Mellissa while Matoskah and Quidel got ready to go into the sea. “Is that Skah out there?” I asked Rona, pointing towards the figure that was already riding the churning, night waves. It looked scary out there. But to these boys, that chilling ocean was nothing more than a plaything.
“Yeah,” she said bluntly, hardly paying me any attention. Mellissa’s lips quirked up at the side and her brow creased, but Rona wasn’t paying any attention to her, either.
“You know,” I sta
rted, “You could just tell him you like him. I’m sure he has no idea.” Ice breaking, here I go.
Rona brought her head up to look me in the eye. “What are you talking about? Tell who?”
“Matoskah. You like him, right?”
“Who told you that?”
“It’s kinda obvious.” I think the only person who didn’t know was Matoskah.
Rona wrapped her arms around herself and tucked her knees into her chest. “He’d have to like me back for me to go there. And he doesn’t, so…”
“How do you know that he doesn’t?”
“Are you kidding me?” She asked sourly. “Ever since you came along, he doesn’t even see anybody else. I’m sick of hearing about you.”
“Ooh, harsh,” said Mellissa. But I could see her budding smile. Rona liked me even less than I originally thought. It was an injustice if you asked me.
“Me and him, we’re friends, that’s it. Nothing more and he knows that.” I think he knew that. We’d never spoken about it before but I didn’t think we needed to. He knew how it was with us. I’d never let him think otherwise.
My innocent plea fell on completely deaf ears. “Keep deluding yourself, but keep me out of it.”
Oh stuff her. I came here to have fun, not explain myself all night. “Fine,” I said, getting up. “I’m not sitting her all night while you wallow in self-pity. I’m going in the water. I’d rather freeze than end up as miserable as you.” So much for getting on her good side, but she was making it too difficult. I was tolerant but not that tolerant. This girl had stretched my patience to the max.
Rona’s lips tightened, but she didn’t say anything else, just carried on staring into the fire.
“Are you coming?” I said to Mellissa.
“Sure. It beats this.” Rona’s face soured even more, but I was out of there. Bitterness was a disease and it made me question whether I really wanted to let Caleb tear into my soul anymore, and end up like her. Or was it too late for that? Was that how I looked every day, thinking no one could see it, but me?
“I’m not really going in there,” Mellissa said to me when we stood by the edge of the ocean, the water barely touching our feet. “I just didn’t wanna sit with her any longer. She’s hard work. At the end of the night, we could just use her to put out the fire.” I chuckled softly. We probably could.
Quidel’s surfboard came rolling onto the sand. He picked it up and stuck it under his arm, shaking his hair like a wet dog. “Come on in. I dare you,” he challenged us.
“Like hell,” Mellissa said, wiping the spray off her face from Quidel’s short hair.
“You know…” Quidel raised his eyebrow suggestively. Like I said, full of mischief. “You could always make it a little warmer.”
Mellissa turned to me. “You can do that?”
“I’ve never tried.” I lowered myself down onto my knees and leaned over, pressing both my hands into the freezing water. I guess, just thinking what I wanted would do it. It had worked for me every other time. My fingers were freezing. Almost numb from the cold water, but gradually, the feeling of heat returned into my fingers and soon, the water was a comfortable temperature. It was warm. Luxuriously warm. Wow, what could I not do? Nothing had come so easy to me before. I was starting to take myself by surprise.
“Try it,” I said to Mellissa, getting to my feet. She leaned down and put her hands in. “I can’t believe it. It’s warm.” Mellissa looked back at me, a shadow of disbelief crossing her face. “It’s warm and it’s winter. You’re amazing.”
Quidel was next to test it out. “Fuck,” he said. “You are amazing. This is incredible. I wish I’d known about you ten years earlier.”
The wave that Matoskah and Skah had been riding came crashing to the shore and they both jumped up, boards in hand. “What’s going on?” Skah asked. “It’s like a heat wave just struck.”
“This is you?” Matoskah asked me, giving me an easy smile.
“Guilty,” I said.
“Wow.”
“Pretty awesome, right?” Mellissa nudged me in the arm. This was too weird, her knowing this about me. I was starting to feel abnormal. The only real thing I had in my life was mine and her friendship but now my abnormality was out there and I could never take it back. I’d lost the only thing that kept me sane and I just had to hope that it only made me and her stronger. I had to believe I’d done the right thing in telling her. I couldn’t deal with any other outcome. She was fine now but what if later, realization sunk in and she freaked?
“You gotta get in now.” Quidel dropped his board onto the sand and zipped down his wet suit, kicking it to the floor. I was relieved to see he had on shorts underneath. Matoskah and Skah kicked off their suits and running into the sea, dove in head first as soon as it was deep enough. “It’s like summer out here,” Quidel shouted over to us. “Hurry up and get in.”
“I haven’t got a bathing suit,” I shouted back.
“Grab my t-shirt. It’s over by the fire,” Matoskah said.
With Matoskah and Quidel’s shirts hanging down almost to our knees over our underwear, Mellissa and I were ready to get in the water. I was fastening my hair tightly on the top of my head in a wayward bun and I couldn’t stop myself from glancing at Rona. She hadn’t budged from that fire and I was starting to feel a little sorry for her. It was kinda my fault she was sitting here bummed out. Well it was my fault in her eyes. I felt bad enjoying myself while she was here sulking.
“I’ll catch up,” I said to Mellissa, before she headed out to get in the water.
I sat down next to Rona. “Don’t you want to come with us?” She looked just as unhappy as before and I figured it wouldn’t kill me to give it one last go at making friends.
“No thank you.”
I was cold with just this t-shirt for cover and I rubbed my hands up and down my legs, trying to get some heat from the friction. The whole beach was empty apart from us and I felt tiny in comparison to the cliffs that surrounded us, towering high, with spruce trees lining the whole perimeter. It looked wild out there, and it brought my thoughts back to Sabre. I hated to think that he might have followed me. Might be out there now… watching me. I hoped I hadn’t made a mistake in coming here.
“… just because your mom lived here.”
“What?” I looked at Rona. I hadn’t even been aware she was speaking. I was miles away, my thoughts in a much darker place.
“Just because your mom lived here, doesn’t mean you know anything about us, or this land. You don’t know anything.”
I was stunned. “I never said I did.”
“You don’t belong here,” she went on.
“I’m well aware of where I belong. My home is back in San Juan Island, and I don’t think any different. I only came here to get away for a while.”
Rona snorted. “What could you possibly need to get away from?”
“Everything,” I said. “I know what you think but you couldn’t be more wrong. I’m not interested in Matoskah and I never will be. I know what it feels like to want someone more than you think your heart can stand and they don’t return even a shred of the same feelings. I know exactly how that feels.” When a sigh slipped through Rona’s lips, I said, “But you don’t even know whether or not he feels the same way because you haven’t told him. At least I had the guts to get a real answer. I have a right to feel pissed off because I wasn’t a coward.” I was starting to think that might not have been the best approach when Rona laughed, breaking the silence. I think that was the first time I’d head that noise from her.
“So you were rejected?”
That was making her smile? She was sadistic. “In so many words, yeah. And not only that, rejected for the head cheerleader who rumor has it puts out more than the trash.” That really made Rona laugh. “I’m glad my misfortune can cheer you up.” I wasn’t really. She was kinda irritating me. She could be a little less thrilled.
“I’m sorry. It’s not funny.” She killed her audacious
smile. “It’s not funny at all, it just made me feel better. I’m terrible, aren’t I?”
“You really are,” I said, and no longer able to keep a straight face, we both started laughing. “Ugh,” I exhaled. “You need to just tell him if the alternative is you living every day with a face like that. It’s really not fair on anyone. Seriously, what is the worst that can happen?”
“He laughs at me. Think’s it’s the most hilarious thing that he’s ever heard. I’m just Q’s little sister to him. He doesn’t see me any other way.”
“Then you need to make him. Guys can be blind to what’s right in front of them. You need to make him notice you.” I glanced at Rona, analyzing her. She was very pretty, not just pretty. Her hair was a few inches past her shoulders, black and glossy. She really did look so much nicer when she was smiling. Her brown eyes, were slanted just slightly at the corners and her lips were full and naturally red. “Matoskah is a fool if he thinks you’re anything other than beautiful and he doesn’t deserve you.”
Rona gave me a faltering smile. “I really wish you weren’t this nice. It was easier to hate you. However you feel, Matoskah still looks at you the way I wish he would look at me.”
“Like I said, you need to make him. Now come on, I’m sick of talking about boys. Let’s go and have some fun. It’s freezing sitting here.” And that was the truth. I was sick of talking about them. I was free of Caleb for a few days and I wasn’t about to get bogged down with more disappointing love stories.
The warm water was a stark contrast to the cold night air and I loved every bit of it. Quidel hoisted me up onto his shoulders. Mellissa was sitting ready on Skah’s and Rona apprehensively climbed up onto Matoskah’s. I gripped onto the top of Quidel’s head until he ducked his head out of my grasp. “Not, so tight,” he said. “You’ll put holes in me.”
“Oops, sorry.” I put my hands onto his shoulders instead and with less exertion. We were going to attempt volleyball. First team to drop the ball was out and then the winning team would pick forfeits for the losers.
“We’ve got this,” Quidel said, just about to fold his fingers around my knees, but slapped me hard on my thighs instead.
Falling Darkness: The second book in the Falling Awake Series Page 23
