First Kiss: The Ghost Bird Series: #10 (The Academy Ghost Bird Series)

by C. L. Stone

  I headed toward the line of trees, to the small trail that stretched between the sites. I listened for someone following but didn’t hear anything except Gabriel still arguing with Kota about why I should come back.

  As I strolled away from them, I realized I hadn’t taken a lamp with me. Clouds had cleared once the sun had set, giving us some view of the stars and a glowing half-moon. I could follow the path on the other side easily, and the tent stood out among the dark landscape. I marched, lifting my feet so I wouldn’t trip over anything, and headed straight for the tent.

  I climbed inside, but then nearly fell over a pile of stuff. Had some of my things shifted? I had placed a lot of it along the back and sides so I’d have room to get in. I zipped up my tent and then secured a lock on the zipper. The lock came with the zipper so I assumed it was to keep animals…or people out.

  I used the phone I had in my bra for a light and looked around. There was a cot set up along the back side of the tent, along with a stereo in a different spot, and a small electric heater hooked up to a battery unit. There were also carefully placed items like the iPad and a light hanging off the side of the tent. I turned it on, checking out the set up so I could turn my phone off and put it down on the little cot.

  Kota and the others must have set things up for me, knowing I was determined to sleep out here. I didn’t think a cot would have fit, but there it was with my sleeping bag unrolled on top of it.

  If I was going to be out here alone, they’d made sure I would be comfortable. It was sweet. I hoped they knew I wouldn’t continue to stay out here, though, if I had the chance to stay in their tent tomorrow.

  Still, maybe while I was on my own tonight, I could work out how I’d handle tomorrow with all those other people. If I tossed and turned all night thinking, I wouldn’t keep anyone else awake.

  I tucked the thought away, sitting on the cot and clicking the heater on. I wanted to get into bed quickly and let my body warm up the sleeping bag to keep me warm along with the heater. I turned on the stereo, finding some familiar music, similar to what Luke had on his phone. He must have made a CD for me.

  I thought of sleeping in my clothes, but there was a bit of sand in my shoes, and I wanted to keep the sleeping bag as sand-free as possible. I rushed to get out of my clothes, leaving them in a pile on the ground before brushing off my feet and then slipping into a T-shirt and pink flannel pants. While it was freezing, the heater was starting to warm the space up. I adjusted it to point at the cot. I jumped into the sleeping bag on the cot, finding a pillow and settled in.

  The coolness of the sleeping bag faded as my body warmed it. I ended up getting up only once to scoot the heater closer, warming the underside of my cot a little. I hoped the power wouldn’t run out before morning. I’d have to leave it on all night. I wondered where I would have to charge it for tomorrow.

  About an hour later, while I had dozed a little, I wasn’t really sleeping. I counted and listened to the music to avoid thinking but it didn’t work. I felt tired, but between the new place, a lack of someone else around, and the expectations for tomorrow my brain was working in overdrive to try to piece together some solutions.

  The problem was, there wasn’t a solution. I didn’t know what to expect, so speculating was pointless and just made me more tired.

  Over the sound of music playing on the stereo, there was a rustle outside my tent.

  I turned over in the bag to listen. I’d had a feeling one of them might come to check on me, but I was also aware it might be one of the other Academy people checking the place out, so I stayed still and quiet. Hopefully, if it was Taylor or the other girls coming to check on me, they’d think I was asleep.

  Or it might be animals.

  I suddenly wondered about the bears. And the coyotes.

  It was Hunting Island, after all.

  A faint shadow came close to the door of my tent.

  I watched it, waiting. Would a bear make that shape?

  It bent down like it was looking for the zipper of the tent.

  “Oy,” Gabriel called softly. “Trouble.”

  I sighed in relief. Not a bear. “Meanie?” I wanted to stay in bed, fearing the cold; if I had to spend the night here, I didn’t want to get up and freeze.

  He fiddled with the door, tugging on the lock. “Open up.”

  I lifted an eyebrow, staring at his shadow. “Why?”

  “Let me in.”

  “Nu-uh,” I said, not moving. “I’m fine. Did you need something?”

  He yanked at the outside of the tent door, causing the material to flutter. “Yeah. You. Open up and let me in. It’s cold.”

  I sat up but kept the sleeping bag tucked around me. “Go back to your tent.”

  “You’re not staying out here by yourself,” he said. “It’s too cold. There’s wild animals. It’s not safe. You’re too far away. Open up.”

  “No,” I said. “You said I had to spend the night by myself.”

  “You’re not doing that shit tonight. There’s bears and it’s freezing. You really shouldn’t go camping by yourself anyway. Open up.” He yanked at the door again as if he were going to rip it. “Come unlock this thing.”

  “No,” I said. “Go away. I’m trying to sleep.”

  “Sang, you either let me in, or you come back with me to the big tent. Let me in and we’ll just count it to say you slept all night in here.”

  I fell back onto the bed. Was he that worried about bears? “That doesn’t count. You’re the one who said I had to spend the night out here by myself.” I’d curl up and sleep, even if he was standing out there all night.

  “You’re not sleeping out here alone,” he said.

  “Why not?” I asked. “You’re not going to let me do the rite of passage?”

  “I told you. It’s not safe,” he said. “Unlock the zipper thing.”

  “Nu-uh,” I said.

  “It’s too cold for this. Trouble, I’m going to count to three. If you don’t open...”

  I didn’t totally disagree with him, but it felt like I couldn’t give in so easily. That and I didn’t really want to get up when I was already warm. It wasn’t the best but I thought I could sleep through it. If he just left me alone tonight, it’d be over and I could say I did it.

  I hit the buttons on the stereo and turned the music up loud to drown him out. I wasn’t going to the big tent. He was trying to mess with me and I didn’t want to be the one who chickened out of sleeping in the tent alone.

  Beat It started playing.

  Gabriel quieted for a moment. “Are you... are you telling me to fuck off with that song?”

  “Go away,” I called to him, turning the music up even louder. I hadn’t noticed what the song was, I just wanted to tune him out. The song choice was a coincidence, but it made a nice point.

  “Oh my fucking god, Sang. That’s it. That’s not even Michael Jackson. That’s Fall Out Boy.”

  There was shuffling outside. I tensed, ready for him to pick the lock or break it so he could get in. I wondered if I should yell for Kota. He seemed to think it was fine.

  Suddenly the top of the tent started to cave in on one side. I sat up in a shot. He was pulling up the stakes!

  There was a snap, and the tent billowed as it fell. The material covered me over the sleeping bag, and I reached up, giving myself some breathing room. The heater knocked over and automatically shut off. It got cold quickly.

  “Gabriel!” I cried out, my voice squeaking by the end. Words twisted on my lips and I couldn’t get out what I wanted to say though it would have been mostly a lot of name-calling.

  Gabriel climbed over until he was sitting on me on top of the tent. His weight sank into my thighs as he trapped me. “I will fucking sit here all night until you get out. You can’t sleep out here by yourself with bears walking around.”

  He’d been talking about bears so much, I wondered if he didn’t psych himself scared for my life thinking about them. I struggled and punched him, mostl
y mad that I was being sat on, but he wasn’t moving. I yanked the phone out, but in the dark, I couldn’t figure out where the button was. Gabriel rolled his butt against my body, and I dropped the phone somewhere beyond the cot. I couldn’t reach it after that.

  “I’ll get up when you promise to come back to the big tent,” he said. “I’m not going to let you freeze to death tonight.”

  “Silas!” I tried to cry out, but my voice broke and the word was no more than a squeak. I punched at Gabriel. “Gabriel,” I cried out. “Get off of me.”

  “Are you coming back with me?”

  “No!” I cried. “I’m going to fix my tent, kick your butt and then I’m going to sleep in my tent all night. You told me I had to sleep alone. I’m going to do it. I was fine until you came by. There’s no bears. The heater was on. Now fix my tent and let me go to sleep.”

  Gabriel bounced and settled on top of me harder. “Joke’s on you. I broke your tent. You’re too far away and you can’t scream if something came in after you. You’re not going to sleep with a whistle in your mouth to choke on. I’ve thought it all out and you can’t sleep out here alone.”

  He did have a point, but I kept punching at him through the tarp anyway. I was so worked up, I didn’t care if he was right. I was just so mad he broke my tent to get me to come out.

  “Sang,” Nathan called out.

  “Nathan!” I called back, relieved. “Get Gabriel.”

  There was some shuffling, and suddenly Gabriel was gone from on top of me. I tugged the tent up on my head, giving myself space to find my way to the door. My body quaked, shivering as the collapsed tent seemed to stick to my skin, prickling me with cold until my bones were rattling together.

  “Aggele,” Silas called. “You okay?”

  “Kick Gabriel,” I said, trying to find the zipper. “He broke my tent.”

  “Aw,” Nathan said. “Peanut, you okay? Can you get out?”

  I shifted through the tent material, trying to find the lock. “I don’t know. I don’t know if I can find a key now.” I wasn’t sure where it was, either. There was no way I’d find it in the dark.

  A massive body shifted on the tent nearby. “Hang on, Aggele,” he said. “Don’t move. I’m going to cut it open.”

  My heart sank. Victor’s gift! Silas was going to break it more. Still, it couldn’t be helped. I was freezing. I couldn’t stay out here looking for a little key in the dark.

  Before I could protest, I heard the slash of the knife breaking through the material. The air grew intensely colder through the sudden opening. Hands reached in for me, wrapping around my body and tugging me through the hole.

  Silas picked me up though I couldn’t really see him or Nathan in the darkness.

  “You okay?” Silas asked, holding me close, his body warming me up.

  “Yeah,” I said, hanging onto him, wrapping my legs around his waist to let him carry me. I finger-combed my tangled hair away from my face. “Gabriel broke my tent.”

  “I didn’t really break it,” Gabriel said. “Actually, I might have. I just pulled the stake out, but there was a snap to one…”

  “Sorry,” Silas said. “We’ll get you another one.”

  Nathan fished into the tent, pulling out the heater and making sure the power was unplugged, and then shut off the stereo. He stepped back, looking things over. “Was that all you had turned on? What should we do with it?”

  “Leave it for now,” Silas said. “Let’s come back in the morning for her stuff when we can see.”

  Nathan picked up the lantern and started on the path back to the other campsite. Gabriel followed behind Silas, his lips twisted into a smug smirk.

  I pushed at Silas, urging him to put me down. “You mean.... Meanie,” I called after Gabriel. “You ruined my tent.”

  He shoved his hands deep into his pockets and shrugged. “Got you out of there, didn’t I? Now the bears aren’t going to eat you.”

  “I was fine!” I lunged toward him, but Silas held me back. I couldn’t believe that after all that effort I’d put into putting up the tent and the guys’ putting together the nice set up for me, he had come by and ruined it. “You broke everything. How am I supposed to do the rite of passage thing now?”

  I nearly slid off of Silas when he redoubled his arms around me. “Easy, Aggele Mou,” he said. He pulled me up until I was dangling over his shoulder. “It’s cold. You can fight him tomorrow. Maybe he was right. You can’t fight a bear.”

  “I want him to sleep out in my tent,” I said. I didn’t care if Gabriel was right, I just wanted to argue. It felt like a defeat. “Gabriel, go sleep in my tent since you busted it.”

  “No,” Gabriel said. “I’m going to the big tent.”

  “I thought you were my camping buddy.”

  “You can’t be my camping buddy if you’re sleeping in another tent. I tried to get you to let me in.”

  He was so frustrating! “How am I supposed to be part of the group now? You said I had to sleep by myself!”

  Silas marched between the trees toward the other site. Dangling over his shoulder, it was hard to yell at him, so I let my anger smolder inside me.

  When we got close to the other tent, I heard North calling after us. “What happened to her?”

  “Gabriel broke my tent,” I said through clenched teeth, so angry that it felt good to tattle on Gabriel. Silas set me down until I was standing. I threw my arms over my chest quickly to block out the cold.

  North was in the opening of the big tent, looking out at us. He wore all black, and in the darkness, it was like his head hovered in midair. “He did, huh?” North said, his head tilting to gaze over my shoulder at Gabriel. He threw Gabriel a wicked eye, his lips tight. He side-stepped, taking part of the folded door with him, to allow the rest of us in.

  “Yeah,” I said, pausing outside, not caring about the grass at my feet or how cold it was. Tattling just felt too good. “He broke it so I had to come back. And then he sat on me. And then Silas had to cut it open to get me out. But it’s Gabriel’s fault.”

  “Oh,” he said. “Sorry, baby.” He turned to Gabriel. “You ass. You broke her tent.”

  “Sorry,” Gabriel said though I didn’t believe he meant it.

  North shot out a hand, giving his head a chop. “Well don’t break her shit.” I started walking past North to duck into the tent when out of the corner of my eye, I caught North leaning into Gabriel. He patted him on the back and stage whispered. “Good job.”

  Gabriel smiled quietly to himself.

  I huffed. They sent Gabriel out to bring me back. I bit my tongue, too angry and cold to argue. I’d beat them all up in the morning. Maybe I’d sleep in my own tent the rest of the week.

  Not that I really wanted to sleep out there anyway. The more I thought about it, the more I was pretty sure if Gabriel had concerns and told North, North would have made the call to bring me back, due to cold and threat of bears.

  If it had been Gabriel, I might have broken his tent, too, to make sure he was safe.

  I was still mad, though. I couldn’t help it.

  The lanterns were on the floor in the tent, casting long shadows against the nylon walls, but it was enough to light up faces. The air was warmed by a similar battery powered heater.

  “Sang?” Victor said, sitting up on one of the cots in the middle, sliding his sock-covered feet to the floor.

  I shot a glare, ready to throw accusations, assuming they’d all been in on it.

  He raised an eyebrow, lifting himself out of the cot quickly. “What happened?”

  I realized he might not have known anything about what had happened. Underneath the anger, I was disheartened and sad that they had broken something Victor had paid for and had been set up so nicely for me. “They broke the tent.”

  “Aw,” he said as he stood, holding his hands out. He came forward, enveloping me in his arms. It was a cozy hug, full of sympathy and warmth. He kissed my cheek. “I’ll get you a new one.”


  “She doesn’t need a new one,” Gabriel said. I threw him an angry glare and he skirted around cots, looking at the floor with a frown, avoiding my eyes.

  I didn’t want to say more while I was still angry.

  Nathan was sitting on a big, king-sized blow-up bed pressed against one wall. Luke was sitting up on one of the cots. Gabriel headed toward an empty one.

  Luke patted his cot. “Come sleep back here, Sang. I can make room.”

  Nathan scooted until he could tug my arm while I stood next to Victor. “No way,” Nathan said. “She’s sleeping on the air mattress with us. There’s room even with Silas on it.”

  Luke grunted. “Naw, let her come back here with us.”

  Silas entered the tent with my pink sleeping bag slung over his shoulder.

  “I’ll sleep next to Nathan and Silas,” I said.

  Luke pouted. “Aw. Why?”

  “They’re the ones that came to save me,” I said. “And I don’t want to go back there with Gabriel.”

  Gabriel had already climbed back into his cot, clothes still on. His hat was still on, too. He curled up, facing the wall of the tent. It almost made me feel sorry for him. He was the one willing to face the cold and bears to make sure I was okay and now he seemed so dejected.

  Luke stretched out and kicked Gabriel in the head with a toe. “See what you did.”

  “Shut up,” Gabriel said, his voice muffled. “You would have done it if I hadn’t.”

  Silas chuckled. He dropped my sleeping bag on the air mattress between Nathan’s and his own. “Finder’s keepers,” he said.

  “I thought we were going to sleep,” Kota’s voice came from outside the tent. A moment later, he stepped in, dressed in pajama pants, a jacket, and a long sleeve shirt underneath. “It’s cold, and it’s late. Let’s sleep.” He blinked in surprise at me standing at the foot of the air mattress. “You came back?”

  “Gabriel broke her tent,” Victor said.

  “Oh,” Kota said, and then sat down on the cot farthest from the air mattress and took off his jacket.

  He said nothing else about it. Had he been in on it, too? Or was he not surprised by it? I smothered a sigh. Maybe none of them really wanted me to sleep out there alone, either. Gabriel was just sent to be the bad guy.