Winter Falls

by Nicole Maggi

  From below, the Panther let out a belly-deep roar and bounded up the rocks that lined the Waterfall.

  The pull of the rushing water grew stronger and stronger. When I reached the barrier’s border, the air felt cleaner, sharper. I took a deep breath and plunged under. Beneath the surface, the water was crystalline clear, not a touch of the murkiness from the barrier. Just as I was about to tip over the edge of the Waterfall, a sharp pain pierced my wing, and I was yanked upward.

  I broke the surface, twisting and screeching. The Panther had me in its mouth, dragging me away from the barrier. I struck out with my talons and met its nose. It let me go with a howl, and I rocketed up. The Panther lunged at me, its fierce green eyes glowing in the darkness. Beating my wings with all my strength, I buffeted out of the Panther’s reach.

  As much as I wanted to fight, I forced myself back. My wing stung with pain, and my lungs felt tight from being underwater for so long. I rose higher over the Waterfall, the Panther crouched below. My heart stopped for a second as I looked down.

  The barrier was gone.

  The Panther had stepped outside of it.

  At the same moment I plunged, the Panther realized its mistake. It leapt over the rocks, stretching its sleek black body. By the time I reached the Waterfall, the barrier was back, the Panther inside, holding it in place with its presence. I swerved just in time to avoid another electric shock and flew to the sturdy branch of an oak tree at the edge of the stream.

  The Panther sat on a rock, its aura flickering, as though it was nervous. As though it knew it had done something wrong.

  I tried to calm my racing heart as I fixed my gaze on the spot where the bottom of the barrier met the Waterfall. I had breached a weakness there. That was the only reason the Panther had risked leaving the bubble, in order to prevent me from getting in.

  Still, it didn’t make sense. Even if I had gotten inside, there was a good chance the Panther would have been able to take me down before the rest of my Clan could get here, and it wouldn’t have had to risk leaving the barrier to fight me. I remembered how still the Bobcat had sat during our failed attempt to regain control, not even moving a muscle toward the barrier’s edge. It never would have made the mistake the Panther had.

  The Eagle had noticed that the Panther was new. What if the Panther wasn’t only new to the Twin Willows Clan but to the Malandanti in general? What if the Panther was as new as I was? Because the way it had acted, rashly, without thinking, was something that someone with less experience, less training would do. It was just like something I would have done. Hell, I had done that, by attacking the Panther tonight to begin with.

  I stilled on my branch, cold wind whispering around me. The Panther wasn’t just new. It was a kid, like me.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The Bad Influence

  “There’s an opening at the edge of the Waterfall; I’m sure of it,” I told Heath the next morning. “I could feel it, the way the water changed. I think I got underneath the barrier for just an instant before the Panther pulled me out.”

  The Panther had woven itself all through my restless sleep last night. I kept seeing different kids from my school transform back and forth into that sleek-bodied beast. This had gone beyond driving me nuts; I had crossed into full-blown crazy land.

  “Did you tell the Stag?” Heath asked as we neared the pasture gate.

  “Yes, the minute he showed up for patrol.” I opened the latch on the gate to the pasture to let the goats in. “He said he’d be in touch. It better be soon; the Guild is moving fast. You should have seen that trailer.”

  Heath shuddered. “Not looking forward to that.”

  One of the goats ran over my foot. I stepped out of their path, wincing. My body ached from the Panther’s bite last night. “And that Pratt guy is ‘handling it’—it being my mother.” I ran my hand through my hair. “I’m worried.”

  “I am too.” Heath secured the gate after the last goat passed through. “But we’re on top of it.”

  I blew out a breath, tousling the loose strands of hair around my face. “It’s so frustrating. We need to go back in now.”

  The frosty grass crunched beneath our feet as we headed toward the house. “We can’t do that until we have a solid strategy. You saw what happened last time when we didn’t.” Heath clamped his mouth shut as Lidia emerged from the kitchen door, wrapped in a heavy woolen shawl.

  “You two look thick as thieves,” she said.

  I stepped away from Heath. “I was just—asking him a question about French.”

  “You’ve been pestering Heath a lot lately, Alessia. Let him do his work.”

  “I don’t mind,” Heath said quickly. “Is that bacon I smell?”

  “Sì,” she said. “Let’s go in and eat. I have to leave for the farmers’ market soon.”

  I hunched my shoulders. “I’m going to Joe’s for breakfast. With the girls.”

  “Don’t forget your chores this afternoon.”

  “I won’t.” I tugged the ends of her shawl away from her and wrapped them around us both. “I promise.”

  She laughed and kissed my forehead. “Keep your cell phone on.”

  “Do I ever turn it off?” I gave her a peck on the cheek, dashed through the house and out the front door. Lately I had spent my Saturday mornings at Joe’s with Jonah instead of Jenny and the girls, but Lidia didn’t need to know that.

  Joe’s was crowded; it seemed everyone in Twin Willows was here for breakfast. The smells of fried eggs and French toast washed over me as I stood inside the door, scanning the restaurant for Jonah. I spotted the crown of his familiar raven-haired head at the counter and sidled over.

  But when I arrived at his side, I found myself looking down at Bree. “Oh, it’s you.” I stood on my tiptoes and looked around. “Is your brother here?”

  Bree reached into her purse and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. “Man, I did have you pegged from the start,” she said and lit a cigarette. “Now that our assignment is over and you’ve got Jonah, you don’t want anything to do with me.”

  I glared at her. “The trouble with that theory is that you didn’t want anything to do with me to begin with. You took one look at me and decided you hated me. I have no idea why, and I couldn’t care less. So why don’t you go your way and I go mine, and we’ll be fine. Okay?”

  “Except that you keep getting in my way,” Bree said, shaking the cigarette at me.

  “How?”

  “Are you kidding?” Bree took another pull on the cigarette. “Jonah.”

  “What is this obsession you have with me and Jonah?” I waved cigarette smoke out of my face. “You really need to get over it.”

  “You’re the one who needs to get over it,” Bree said, her voice raised enough that the diners around us looked over curiously. She dropped her volume a notch. “Look, I’m actually trying to be nice. With my brother . . . you could get seriously hurt. Do yourself a favor and end it now before you get in too deep.”

  “You have a funny definition of nice,” I said. “Why on earth should I believe you?”

  “Fine, don’t believe me,” Bree said, inhaling a mouthful of smoke. “Ask him. Ask him about Fairfield.”

  “Fairfield?” I shook my head and made to move past her. “Yeah, okay. Thanks for the tip.”

  She grabbed my arm so hard that I gasped. “I’m serious,” she hissed. “I’m telling you, leave my brother alone.”

  “Or what? What are you gonna do?” I wrenched out of her grasp. “Face it, Bree, you can’t control me any more than you can control him.”

  Bree’s pale face turned beet red, her lips white around the butt of her cigarette. Her emerald-green eyes were luminous.

  I stumbled back a step. That ferocious expression . . . I had seen an echo of it last night . . . on the face of the Malandanti Panther. I clutched the counter to stay upright.

  At that moment, Sally, one of the waitresses, appeared. “You can’t smoke in here.”

  �
��Says who?” Bree retorted.

  “Says Joe,” Sally said, jabbing a finger toward the bright red No Smoking sign over the counter.

  “Fine.” Bree grabbed her purse and, with a toss of her shiny black hair, stormed toward the front door.

  Through the huge glass window I saw her halt outside the coffee shop, drop her cigarette, and grind it into the sidewalk with her heel. It was another piece of the puzzle, but they still did not all fit. I watched her walk down Main Street until she was out of sight.

  “You okay?”

  I took a deep breath and turned to Sally. “Yeah. Thanks.”

  “That girl comes in here every Saturday and sulks for hours, reading weirdo books and ordering nothing but coffee. Never tips, either.” She grinned at me. “I think what you’re looking for is in the corner.”

  All the way at the back of the restaurant, I spotted Jonah in a small booth. He took a sip of steaming coffee and darted his gaze around before noticing me.

  In spite of my still-shaky breath, the sight of him made me smile. Later I would try to put all the puzzle pieces of Bree together, but for now I just wanted to be with my boyfriend. I smoothed my hair and shimmied through the tables to reach him.

  I slid into the seat opposite him. “What the hell is wrong with your sister? She will not let up with me.”

  Jonah stared into his coffee cup. “I know. I know. She’s a bitch. How many times are you gonna bug me about her?”

  “Excuse me?” I leaned back into the deep leather cushion of the booth. “Good morning to you too.”

  Jonah looked at me. I noticed his cheeks were unusually pale. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

  “What’s wrong with you?”

  He sighed heavily and crossed his arms over his chest. “What’s wrong with me? You’re the one obsessed with Bree.”

  That hurt, probably because it was true. But I couldn’t tell him the real reason why. I slid out to the edge of the seat. “I’m gonna sit with Jenny. Come get me when you’re in the mood to be human.”

  Jonah reached under the table and grabbed my knee. “Don’t. I’m sorry. Stay.”

  “Then tell me what’s wrong,” I said, inching back into the booth.

  A long moment passed. “I got into a fight with my dad,” he said finally.

  “That sucks but it’s nothing new.” I wasn’t quite ready to be fully sympathetic. “What was it about?”

  “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

  “Are you ready to order?”

  I started and turned in the direction of the overly cheery voice. It was Sally. “Uh, can you give us a minute?”

  “Sure.” Sally looked from me to Jonah, shrugged, and bounced away to the next booth to refill their coffee.

  I turned back to Jonah, who had slid farther into the seat so that he was now smushed into the corner. “You don’t have to tell me what happened. But it’s not my fault, so don’t take it out on me, okay?”

  He leaned forward and reached for his coffee. After a long sip he said, “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

  “Apology accepted.” I grabbed a menu and waved Sally over to order pancakes and bacon.

  “So what did Bree do now?” Jonah asked after Sally had left.

  “Oh, just the usual.” I toyed with my silverware. “She said to ask you about Fairfield.”

  Jonah was still for a long minute while I stared at the table. His silence was answer enough that something had happened in Fairfield, something I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

  He took a deep breath. “Alessia . . .”

  I shivered involuntarily; I loved the way Jonah said my name.

  He touched my hand, and I finally looked up. “What happened in Fairfield . . .” His gaze shifted past me, and he pulled his hand away. “Jenny’s coming over here.”

  With a sigh, I twisted in my seat and watched her thread through the tables, her long blonde hair flouncing over her shoulders. “Hey, Jenny.”

  “Hey, yourself.” Jenny leaned against the edge of the table. “A bunch of us are going to the beach tomorrow. You know, one last bonfire before the weather gets too cold.”

  I laughed. “It’s already like forty degrees.”

  “Well, we’ll have the bonfire to keep us warm. I think we’re heading over around noon.” She pointed at my throat. “Hey, your necklace broke.”

  “What? Oh.” My locket had fallen into the collar of my shirt. I pulled it out and squinted at it; the ancient chain was broken, and the clasp dangled uselessly. “Thanks. I’ll have to get a new chain for it.” Right away, I thought.

  “Anyway, I would really love it if you came. You know you owe me,” Jenny teased. “Both of you should come,” she added with a slightly reluctant nod toward Jonah.

  Someone called her name from across the restaurant.

  “I gotta go—my dad wants to order.” She spun away, a blur of golden hair and flowery perfume.

  Sally came with our food and poured more coffee for both of us.

  I watched Jonah smear egg yolk on his toast while my food got cold. “So about Fairfield?”

  He reached across the table and traced my palm with his thumb, sending tingles up and down my spine. “Listen, I want to explain. About Fairfield. But I don’t want to do it here. Not with all these people around. Meet me in the graveyard tonight?”

  “What is it with you and the graveyard? It’s getting kinda cold to be meeting there all the time.”

  Jonah took my hands and raised them to his lips. “I’ll keep you warm.” He kissed each knuckle. “It might not be the most romantic place, but it’s like our place. And no one will ever intrude on us there.”

  “That’s true.” I swallowed. “I’ll have to sneak out.”

  “So sneak out.” His eyes bored into me.

  Smiling, I half stood and leaned across the table. “You are such a bad influence on me,” I whispered before my lips met his.

  Chapter Twenty

  The Confession

  Lidia went to bed at nine thirty, so sneaking out of the house was simple. It was so easy, in fact, that I wondered why I hadn’t started doing it years ago.

  Dead leaves swirled over the ground as I headed toward the bench where Jonah and I had first kissed. He stood under the huge willow tree that hung over the bench, its branches bare and forlorn. I studied his profile, the graceful arch of his neck, the slope of his nose. He was more beautiful than any of the angels carved into the nearby headstones.

  A little beat thrummed inside my chest, and I finally had to confess to myself that I was in love with Jonah Wolfe. I knew there were a hundred strikes against him and maybe a hundred and one after what he had to tell me tonight. But despite all that, I loved him. After all, I had some strikes against me too.

  I took a step, little twigs breaking under my feet.

  Jonah turned. He smiled, bringing sunlight into the dark night, and stretched out a hand to me. “Wanna sit?”

  “Sure.” I took his hand, and he pulled me into his lap as we sat on the bench. Cold wind swept around us, but Jonah opened his coat and wrapped me against him so that we were both warm. I buried my face in the side of his neck and breathed in the slightly spicy scent of his skin. “Jonah, I don’t really care about your past.”

  Jonah tilted his head back, his gaze fixed on the stars above us. “Even if that’s true, you deserve to know.” Through our thick layers I felt his pulse racing. Against my cheek his Adam’s apple worked up and down. Without looking at me, he said, “Fairfield was the last place we lived. I told you about it once—the place where everyone wore khakis.”

  “I remember.” I thought back to that night outside Pizza Plus. It felt like a million years stretched between then and now.

  “There was more to it than that. Everyone was so bored there. Bored with their own lives but too comfortable and lazy to do anything about it. They all lived in these big beautiful houses and drove big fancy cars, but underneath it all was this . . . I don’t know . . . rage.” Jonah turn
ed his head to look at me. “That’s what it was. Rage. It seethed under everything. It’s different here. People are pretty much what you see is what you get.”

  I pulled away a little bit. I wasn’t. If you looked at me, you saw a normal girl, and I was anything but.

  Jonah tightened his arms around me. “Don’t worry. I like that. It’s a good thing.”

  “I guess.” My heart thudded. I could only hope that if he ever found out I wasn’t what I seemed he’d be able to accept it.

  “Anyway, we lived there for almost six months. That’s longer than most places we’ve lived. I think the company was going to keep us there but then . . .” His voice trailed off. I felt him shiver, but I didn’t think it was from the cold. “The longer we lived there the more I felt that same rage build in me.” He fell silent, staring into the darkness at something I couldn’t see.

  I stroked his cheek with my finger. “What happened?” I asked gently.

  Jonah bit his lip. “The rage was too much. I started drinking a lot to dull it. There were parties every night at some rich kid’s mansion. I’d drink so much that I’d still be drunk at school the next day.”

  “That must have gotten exhausting,” I said. I had never been drunk, but I wasn’t a prude about drinking. There were several bottles in Lidia’s liquor cabinet that looked full but were severely watered down after Jenny and I had gotten to them. It was only good luck that Lidia hadn’t discovered this.

  “Yeah, it did.” Jonah’s tense arms relaxed a little around me. “But every time I tried to stop, my mind would just go into overdrive, thinking about all the things I hated about my life.”

  “And your parents didn’t know?”

  “They were clueless,” Jonah said. His fingers flexed and opened on the back of my jacket. “Bree knew, though. She was worried. She tried to say something to me, but I wouldn’t listen.”

  “She’s protective of you,” I said, thinking about some of the things she had said to me. Maybe that was why she treated me with such hostility.