by Sky Winters
The moment the bell sounded signalling the end of the class, Savannah rose from her desk and moved out into the corridor. Her next class was calculus and she was confident she could find the room without help. She certainly didn’t expect help from Marissa, which was why she was shocked when Marissa came out of the classroom and turned toward her.
“Come on,” she said. “I’ll take you to your next class.”
Savannah tried to catch sight of the grey-eyed boy, but he seemed to have moved on to his next class already.
“Looking for someone?” Marissa asked when she noticed Savannah’s preoccupation.
“No,” Savannah replied quickly.
Marissa didn’t look convinced. “What’s your next class?”
“Calculus.”
“Follow me,” she said after a moment, and Savannah had no choice but to follow her down the halls. Marissa didn't look back to see if Savannah was following, nor did she walk slowly. Finally, they veered to a stop in front of the calculus class, and Marissa turned to face Savannah again.
“My mother told me you were deaf,” Marissa said, cocking her head to the side and examining Savannah unapologetically.
“I am,” Savannah replied, refusing to back down from Marissa’s challenging glare.
“And yet you can hear me?”
“I’m wearing a hearing aid,” Savannah replied. “And I read lips pretty well.”
“Do you?” Marissa asked sounding unimpressed. “I think I know who you were looking for back there.”
“I wasn’t –
“It’s okay, I get it,” Marissa interrupted. “He’s hot and you’re only human, but I want to make one thing very clear, and since you can read lips so well, you can read mine now.”
She looked directly into Savannah’s eyes and mouthed words that were as clear as day: "Stay away from Xander Wilson."
Chapter Three
Savannah spent the rest of the day thinking about Xander Wilson. She couldn’t understand how Marissa had sensed her interest in him, but she was not wrong. Savannah felt an inexplicable fascination towards Xander and she could barely understand why.
He was a complete stranger to her. She hadn’t even known his name until Marissa had mentioned it. She tried to reason that it had something to do with his bright and beautiful aura, but she had counted nine people with similar energies, and her interest in them wasn’t even minimal.
After calculus she had a free period, so Savannah walked around the school until she found the library. It was extremely quiet, and apart from the librarian, there was no one else in there. Savannah slipped between the shelves and looked through the books, but there weren’t very many choices. A half an hour later, Savannah realized she had circled the entire library twice already.
She moved toward the back of the library, trying to search for a book that would hold her attention until her next class. She was looking through a book when she felt eyes on her back. Her senses caught the presence before she became aware of the bright aura that surrounded the person. She turned slowly and found herself staring into Xander Wilson's haunting grey eyes.
“Hello,” she said, feeling herself tense.
He moved a little closer. “Hello,” he replied.
He didn’t speak like any of the other kids. His eyes seemed so much older, as though he had lived a hundred lives already. His aura was charged with energy and filled with light, made up of bright blues, fiery reds, and violently passionate purples.
“Is something wrong?” he asked.
Savannah realized she was staring. "Sorry," she mumbled, turning away.
He came to stand beside her to look at the same shelf of books. “You’re new, aren’t you?” he asked. His voice was deep and silky, somehow matching his face.
“Yes,” Savannah nodded.
“It’s a bit late to join a new school, don’t you think?”
“I do,” Savannah agreed, “but my parents apparently don't.”
He smiled, and Savannah felt her heart flutter a little. She didn’t know what was going on exactly, but she knew it wasn’t normal. The energy passing between them was strong, more potent than Savannah had ever felt before, and it was taking everything she had to keep up her end of a casual conversation with him.
“You’ve moved around a lot, haven’t you?” he asked.
“How did you know that?” Savannah asked.
He shrugged. “Just an observation,” he said. “You enjoy being alone, and you like the quiet, probably because you’ve been moved around so much that you've replaced friends with silence and you've had no choice but to like it.”
Savannah raised her eyebrows in shock. She was used to understanding things about other people. What she wasn't used to was other people understanding things about her. “That was…”
"Accurate?” Xander asked.
“I suppose it was…somewhat accurate,” Savannah conceded, and Xander smiled.
Whenever he smiled, Savannah noticed that his aura burned a little more brightly, and the colours surrounding him grew wilder. There was something about this boy, a secret he was hiding, and it was either special or dangerous-‒perhaps it was both.
“How long have you lived in this town?” Savannah asked, not wanting the conversation to end.
“My whole life,” Xander replied.
“Wow,” Savannah said. “Graduation's not that far away…you must be making plans to leave soon.”
Xander’s expression was unreadable. He looked at Savannah with those cool, grey eyes, and shook his head. “I don’t have any plans to leave Grey Mountain,” Xander replied. “This is my home.”
“You must really love it here,” Savannah said.
Xander smiled gently. “This town…it grows on you.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Savannah replied.
“Don’t take my word for it,” Xander said. “I’d much rather you take it on proof.”
“Proof?” Savannah repeated in confusion.
“Let me show you around after school,” Xander said.
Savannah was taken aback and thrilled by the offer, but she couldn’t help thinking about Marissa’s threat that morning. She was obviously Xander’s girlfriend, in which case the last thing Savannah should be doing was going off alone with him to explore the town.
She contemplated turning him down for a moment, but her resolve melted the moment she was faced with the intensity of those hypnotic, grey eyes.
“Okay,” Savannah nodded. “Show me.”
Chapter Four
Once the last bell had rung to dismiss everyone for the day, Savannah skulked around her locker, marking time. She had no desire to go off with Xander while the entire population of Grey Mountain High watched.
Her thoughts fluttered back to Marissa, and she wondered if she was making a mistake. Her doubt disappeared the moment she set eyes on Xander, walking down the corridor toward her. He was tall and well built, with a lean, athletic frame that hinted at a muted power, lying just beneath the surface. Savannah was able to sense it every time he got close to her.
“Hi,” he said as he approached her. “Are you ready?”
“Yes.” Savannah nodded as she followed him outside.
Almost all the other students had dispersed by then, and the school looked practically abandoned. Xander walked her down the stairs and toward a large, intimidating, black motorcycle.
“You ride a motorbike?” Savannah said, staring at it with wide eyes.
“Yes.” Xander nodded as he put on his helmet. “Is that a problem?”
“I…well, I’ve never actually been on one,” Savannah replied. “I’m probably not even allowed on one.”
“According to your parents?” Xander asked with interest.
“Well…yes.”
“Well, lucky for you they’re not around at the moment,” he pointed out.
Savannah looked from him to his mammoth motorcycle, and felt her excitement rise with her nerves. She had never done anything rem
otely rebellious in her life. She had always followed the rules, and sometimes even enjoyed it. She had lived in villages, towns, and big cities, and in every single one of them she had stayed away from boys like Xander.
Which was why she couldn't understand the strange pull she felt toward him. It was almost as though she had no choice in the matter. She had this unexplainable, intrinsic need to be with him, and she could find no reason for it.
“Savannah?”
Savannah felt a thrill of electricity speed down her back at the sound of her name on his lips. She had never experienced such a strong connection before, and she had sensed enough to know. She stared into his grey eyes and felt something pass between them, but she had no name for it, and no understanding of what it was. It was the only time Savannah had ever questioned whether another person had felt the same thing she was feeling, but she didn’t have the courage to ask.
“I’m coming,” she said.
He smiled and handed her the spare helmet. “You’ll need to wear this.”
Savannah took the helmet and slipped it on. It was a little big, but she could see through the visor clearly enough.
“You’ll have to fasten it,” Xander directed her.
“How?”
“There’s a clasp under your chin.”
Savannah found the clasp easily, but she couldn’t seem to fasten it together. She had never really experienced this kind of fumbling uncertainty before, but her nerves were dulling her other senses, it seemed.
“Let me help you,” Xander said.
He leaned forward and Savannah was forced to move her hands out of the way. Their fingers brushed against each other, and she felt that strange sensation of heat flood through her body again. She noticed his eyes flitted to hers at the exact same moment, and she thought she saw a flash of confusion in his eyes, but it was gone in a flash, and Savannah wasn’t sure if she had imagined it.
“There,” Xander said as he took a step back. “You’re all set.”
“Thank you,” Savannah replied softly.
He nodded and helped her onto the bike. “You’ll have to hold on to me tight,” he instructed her. Savannah placed her arms around him gingerly, feeling a sense of wholeness she had never experienced before.
Xander revved the engine and within seconds they were whizzing down the streets of Grey Mountain. Savannah didn’t know where he was taking her and she really didn’t care. She felt a sense of freedom she had never experienced before, a freedom that came with making her own choices. She had chosen to be here, she had chosen to shirk the rules and listen to her instincts instead.
They kept riding until they had left any sign of human activity behind. When Xander finally came to a stop, it was in front of a massive, emerald forest that stretched off into eternity.
“Is it safe here?” Savannah asked, looking around at the wild trees. She could sense that the forest was crawling with wildlife, and any number of dangerous creatures.
“You’ll be safe with me,” Xander replied.
Savannah glanced at him. His reply hadn’t really answered her question, but it suggested something Savannah couldn’t quite wrap her head around. She pushed away her frantic thoughts and moved toward the trees behind Xander.
He led her into a thicket of firs. Savannah had to reach out for one of them to support her climb. The moment she touched the tree, a flash of light shot across her eyes and she saw something. It was a passing vision, a bolt of lightning shaped in the image of a large, feral animal.
“Savannah?” Xander called. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” Savannah replied. “I just…got a little light headed.”
She had experienced visions like that before, glimpses that weren’t really visions at all, more like flashes of images that she could barely hold on to. Sometimes she didn’t even understand them herself, they were so fast and so bright and so filled with hidden meaning.
“Do you need help?” Xander asked.
“No,” Savannah answered quickly. “I’m all right.”
They walked through a forest that seemed to grow successively higher as they went. Savannah could feel the air thinning as they moved. It was not something anyone else might sense, but she’d had a lifetime of distinguishing even the smallest shifts in atmospheres.
As they climbed higher, Savannah began to detect new scents. There was oak, cinnamon, and the perfumes that came from the wild flowers growing on the hilltops. There were also the many-toned layers coming from a variety of animal scents. Savannah wrinkled her nose as she came across a smell completely foreign to her. It was the scent she had noticed from her room on her first day in town.
“Something the matter?” Xander asked.
“No,” Savannah said quickly. “Are there a lot of animals in these woods?”
“Yes,” Xander said shortly.
“Do you have deer?”
Xander nodded. “Deer and elk, both.”
“What about wolves?” Savannah asked.
She noticed he glanced at her before he spoke, but she didn’t know why. “There are rumors of a small wolf population.” Xander nodded. “But no one has spotted a wolf in years.”
“You think they’re just rumors?” Savannah asked.
“People like a good story.” Xander smiled. “And they feed into the old legends, so it’s convenient.”
“Old legends?” Savannah asked with interest.
“This town is rife with them,” Xander said with a wave of his hand. “Apparently the founder of this town was a witch who sold spells and curses for money. There are legends of vampires hiding in these very forests, and young girls who mated with wolves in order to breed a stronger, more powerful generation.”
Savannah raised her eyebrows. “That sounds…”
“Insane?” Xander offered.
“I was going to say fascinating.”
“That’s one word for it,” Xander said with a shrug. “If you ask me, we should forget the legends and focus on the present.”
As he said the words he walked through a massive clearing, surrounded by trees. In its center was a clear blue lake that reflected the silver clouds hanging over them. Savannah could only stare, amazed at how perfect everything looked.
“This is…amazing,” she said. “Do people know about this place?”
“If they did it would be crawling with them,” Xander said.
Savannah moved closer toward the water, and this time it was Xander who had to keep up with her. She felt as though her senses had come alive, surrounded by all the raw, wild nature. So many of her senses were hit with information that she could barely separate them. Beside her, Xander’s aura grew brighter as though the environment was feeding into him, giving him more energy and more strength.
“How long have you known about this place?” Savannah asked.
“As long as I could remember,” Xander replied. “My mother used to bring me here when I was a boy.”
Savannah sensed sadness waft from him at the mention of his mother, and she instinctively knew she'd died some time ago. She glanced from Xander to the immense pool of silver-blue water, so clear she could see little fish swimming in it, just beneath the surface. When she bent over, she saw her reflection, as though she were staring into a mirror.
Her hair had been tossed about by the unruly wind, but she thought her eyes looked brighter, more alive than they ever had before. They were certainly bluer than she had ever seen them. A moment later, Xander’s reflection appeared next to hers, and it was impossible to take her eyes from it. Savannah felt like a pale shadow next to his unadulterated beauty.
“Are you ready?” Xander asked as he came to stand beside her.
Savannah looked up at him in surprise. “Ready for what?”
“A swim?” he asked as though it was obvious. “It would be a shame not to make use of this big, lonely lake.”
Savannah turned to Xander in disbelief. “Are you serious?”
Xander nodded. “Of course
.”
“I can’t,” Savannah said, and she backed away from the water.
“Why?” Xander demanded.
“Because…well, because I don’t have a swimsuit with me,” Savannah said, feeling as if she’d won the upper hand.
Xander raised his eyebrows. “You’re wearing underwear, aren’t you?” he said simply. “That’ll work just as well.”
Savannah stared at him for a moment. “You are serious.”
Xander nodded as he stared her down, challengingly. “I am. If you really don’t want to get in I won’t force you,” he continued calmly. “But if you do, then don’t let the little things stop you. Stop worrying about the cold, your doubt, or your parents. Just do what you want.”
It sounded so simple when he said it like that, Savannah was forced to sit back and consider what it was she really wanted.
“Savannah,” Xander’s voice was gentle. “What do you want?”
Savannah took a deep breath. She was tumbleweed, that’s what she had always been. She went wherever her parents decided they would go. Decisions were so often left up to other people that Savannah rarely got a word in edgewise. Faced with Xander’s searching grey eyes and the picturesque little haven she found herself in, Savannah was forced to come to terms with the fact that she no longer wanted to be tumbleweed.
She wanted to be in charge of her own life. She wanted to make her own decisions. If they ended up being mistakes, then that was her right.
Savannah looked up at Xander with conviction. “I want to swim.”
Chapter Five
Xander smiled. “Go on then,” he said, and Savannah sensed the dare in his tone.
She took a deep, steadying breath and then she pulled her shirt off, unzipped her jeans, and pulled those off, too. She didn’t turn back or glance at Xander because she didn’t want her courage to give way when she was almost there. She faced the clear, blue water in front of her, and without allowing herself to hesitate for even a moment, jumped into the lake.
Instantly, the icy water hit her from all sides, and cold seeped into her body. She wrapped her arms around herself and turned to face Xander. “It’s cold,” she said, her teeth chattering as she spoke.
