August

by Edwards, Maddy

Nick knew enough to drop it. “Let’s go swimming,” I said. I was starting to sweat. “It’s too hot to just sit here.”

  “I’ll go,” said Nick, getting up.

  Carley rolled over on her towel with a magazine. “I’m fine here, thanks,” she said. Nick rolled his eyes.

  The two of us headed towards the water. All along the beach people were swimming. Many of them were little kids on a day’s visit to the beach with their parents. I had a flash of what it would be like to be there with Holt instead of Nick and Carley. Damn it. I pushed the thought of Holt away.

  Just as Nick and I were wading into the water, I thought I heard someone call my name. I looked around, but I didn’t see anyone who looked like they were trying to get my attention.

  Turning back to the water, I started to wade further in after Nick. Just as I started to feel cooler I heard a shout from the beach. Running frantically towards us was Samuel. Dressed in a white t-shirt and jeans, he was waving his arms over his head like a crazy person. Nick started pointing to him and laughing, like it was some kind of joke. He wasn’t close enough for me to hear what he was saying – and I didn’t want to hear. I dunked my head under the water and started to let the tide pull me away.

  I felt rough hands grab me around the ribs and pull me out of the water. I gasped for breath as I was pulled to the surface. Samuel’s hands turned me to face him. “Are you insane?” He was actually yelling at me. His face looked blanched and scared. “I told you not to go in the water.”

  “When did you tell me that?” I gasped. I was so shocked I’d swallowed some, and my eyes were stinging.

  “Just now. It’s what I was yelling,” said Samuel angrily. “And you did the exact opposite.”

  “Calm down, man,” said Nick. “I thought you were kidding. I’m sure Autumn did too.”

  Samuel was breathing hard and his hands still gripped into my soft flesh.

  “Let go of me.” I squirmed. So, he touched me for the first time in weeks to stop me from having fun? “You can’t tell me what to do. Why would I stay out of the water on this gorgeous and hot day?”

  “That’s a big theme with you, isn’t it? You’re going to be independent if it kills you. Fine. Be an idiot.” With that he turned and stalked away. I watched him go, feeling like I might cry.

  “Come on,” said Nick kindly. “Let’s do what the man says and get out of the water.”

  I frowned. Even in the haze of being yanked out of the water I realized that Samuel would never do something like that as a joke. He didn’t even like to touch me. There was a reason Samuel wanted me out of the water. I just wondered what it was.

  Chapter Two

  Despite Samuel’s ridiculous run down the beach, I felt better after the swim. “We should do that again soon,” I said, ringing my hair out.

  “Yeah,” said Nick warily. “You just want to piss Samuel off more?”

  “Yup,” I said, grinning.

  Nick laughed. “If there was a competition for holding grudges you’d win it. Too bad you can’t make money that way.”

  “Maybe I could do a How To DVD, though,” I joked.

  Nick laughed again.

  Luckily, Carley had gotten out of her bad mood by the time we got back to her.

  “Hey, did you guys see Samuel?” she asked, sitting up on her towel and crossing her legs.

  “Yeah, we saw him alright,” said Nick, shaking his head. After he told her what had happened, Carley said, “Well that was silly of him. What did he think was going to happen?”

  “Who knows,” I answered. I bent down and grabbed my beach bag. In it was my phone. I always put it in my bag to try and keep it out of the sun, but usually that just means that I forgot to check it often.

  There was a text from Samuel. I sighed inwardly. He was probably apologizing. Well, he should. He had no business grabbing me. It was the first time he had voluntarily touched me and it hadn’t been how I had imagined it would happen. Then I blushed. Not that I had been imagining anything at all with Samuel.

  I was even angrier, though, after I read the text and realized that it wasn’t an apology at all. Not even close.

  The text said, “We need to talk. Seriously. I’ll see you at the ice cream place at eight.”

  Excuse me? I tried to keep myself calm. Here he was telling me what to do again. And not apologizing. What a jerk. We had just started to get on good terms after that dinner at Carley’s, and now this.

  “Fine,” I texted back.

  “I’m going to go home and shower,” I told my friends.

  “I think I’ll stay out and tan a little longer,” said Carley, stretching back onto her towel.

  “Yeah, I’ll stay too,” said Nick, sitting down.

  “Okay,” I said. Grabbing up my stuff, I headed for home. They were probably tired of having me around; they’d been friends long before I’d shown up. My parents didn’t want me around this summer; now my friends didn’t want me around, and Holt had left town to stay away from me. I felt like everyone I cared about didn’t care about me back. I never thought I’d think this, but I couldn’t wait for school to start. Maybe I could forget that this summer had ever happened.

  It didn’t take me long to get home. When I’m stressed I tend to walk fast, and Samuel’s forcibly yanking me out of the water had stressed me out. Mrs. Hightower’s car wasn’t in the driveway. Relieved, I knew I had the place to myself.

  After I showered, I hung up my wet bathing suit, got dressed in a light green cotton dress, brushed my brown hair, and headed downstairs to find a snack. I’d been at the beach through lunch, and now I was starving. But despite rummaging through the fridge and all the cupboards, I couldn’t really find anything I wanted, so decided to pick up something to eat on my way to UP, UP and Away. Since I wasn’t going to meet Samuel til quite a bit later, I headed out with my laptop. I could get a sandwich and then go to the cafe and email my parents before I met him.

  As I left the house I made sure to lock it, Mrs. Hightower’s orders. Carley had told me not to mention that we ourselves never locked it when she wasn’t there. “It will only freak her out,” she said. “Also, don’t tell her that Nick sometimes falls asleep on our couch. She won’t like that either.”

  I had laughed at the time, but after I’d met Mrs. Hightower I could see what Carley meant. Her mom was a stickler for safety and following rules, and even though it was nice that she let Carley and me stay there without her, when she was there she definitely paid attention.

  Ever since the party, I hadn’t been able to walk past the Roths’ place. I would take the longest way around possible to avoid even seeing the house, which was hard, because it was within view of most of downtown Castleton.

  This time, once I’d gotten my sandwich from one of the sandwich places along the street, I headed for UP, UP and Away. Luckily Mrs. Fritter wasn’t there. If she had been she’d have either talked my ear off or asked me to work. Normally I would probably have agreed, except that I wanted very much to talk to Samuel about what he’d done.

  In UP, UP and Away I ordered a latte from Jill, who was home from college for the summer. She was nice; she liked Mrs. Fritter a lot better than Carley and I did. She was also cute, with blond hair cut to her ears. I had noticed an increase in guys coming in and hanging around once she had started to work there. I was always jealous of people like that: girls who could experiment with their hairstyles and end up looking amazing. I always just had long hair; I never had the guts to do anything else with it. Since we worked together sometimes we smiled at each other and exchanged a bit of gossip about Mrs. Fritter.

  Once I got my latte I went and sat in a corner with my laptop. There was only one other person in the café, and she wasn’t sitting near me so I was able to concentrate on the email to my parents. They liked it if I kept them updated about what I was doing. I tried to minimize what had happened to Katie, because I didn’t want to worry them. But I was sure they had talked to Mrs. Hightower, so I knew they could have h
eard some other version than mine. Once that message was sent off, I fiddled around online and checked my phone. I still had some time before I was supposed to meet Samuel.

  While I was on my computer, two men came into the café. I recognized one as Castleton’s chief of police, but the other one wasn’t familiar. They sat a couple of tables away from me, bent over their coffees. At first I didn’t pay much attention, but when I heard the name ‘Katie’ my ears perked up.

  “Everyone said she wasn’t drunk. Even the kid whose house it was – Nate – said she hadn’t been drinking much. A lot of the kids at the party had, but not her.”

  “Makes you wonder how she couldn’t swim. I saw her room. Full of swimming medals.”

  “You know kids. Not paying attention. She probably tried to do something stupid. Maybe she got up on a rock and slipped off. No one killed her. There were all sorts of witnesses that said she simply disappeared into the water.”

  “We know no one killed her. There’s no evidence of that, but it’s still strange.”

  “Yup.”

  “Any chance it was a shark?”

  “Not much. She wasn’t far out, and there have been no reports. Plus, there’s usually some sign of them. The whole body doesn’t just vanish.”

  I was so tense I almost jumped clear out of my seat when my phone beeped, but it was just a text. I checked it. Samuel had asked, “Where are you?” I checked the time and saw that I was ten minutes late to meet him. Quickly I grabbed up my stuff, trying not to look at the two men as I left. I didn’t want them to know what I had heard. I guess it wasn’t exactly new information – except that she hadn’t been drinking – but it was interesting to hear that the police wondered how she could have drowned.

  Racing towards the ice cream shop, I could see Samuel sitting on one of the benches nearby. He had changed into jeans and a blue collared t-shirt. His dark hair looked a little damp from showering, and despite the fact that he’d been out in the sun just that morning there was no sign of a tan on his skin. Lots of people probably thought that was odd, but I knew that it was because he was a member of the Fairy Winter Court.

  “Everything all right?” he asked when he saw me.

  “Yeah, sorry. I was emailing my parents in UP, UP and Away,” I told him, which was technically true.

  “That’s alright,” he said. “Do you want anything?” He gestured to the ice cream window.

  “Yes,” I said. “Why else would I have agreed to come if not for the ice cream?”

  Samuel muttered something. I couldn’t exactly hear it, but it sounded a lot like, “I was hoping it would sweeten your mood.” I ignored him. Why were guys always surprised when, after they do something rude, girls are hostile?

  I went up to the window. Jason, a guy probably around my age, was sitting there with his head propped in his hand.

  “What can I get you?” he asked, not bothering to lift his eyes from the spot on the counter on which his eyes were fixed.

  I told him I wanted hot fudge sundae. Samuel said he didn’t want anything. Jason called to the back, “Hey, Mary.” A girl with short brown hair and very red nails appeared from the back. “One hot fudge sundae.”

  Samuel paid, and we returned to the bench to wait for my dessert.

  “So, what did you want to talk to me about?” I asked.

  I was more confused than ever when I saw him these days. I had hoped that with time, and after what his mother did, that pull I had inexplicably always felt towards him would go away. But it hadn’t. If anything, without Holt there it had gotten stronger. I didn’t know what that meant, but I didn’t like it.

  Plus, we hadn’t talked about the Solstice Party since that night when I had gotten home and he had come to visit me. I wasn’t sure if what he had said then was still true; he had been so cold at the time. I think he also probably guessed that I felt guilty about what had happened at the Roths’ – really, the attack by Mrs. Cheshire was my fault – but he never mentioned it. I also knew that since he wanted nothing to do with me he was probably secretly happy that I had been avoiding him like the plague. That one night of our being polite to each other didn’t change a summer of not talking.

  All the more reason for me to wonder what gave him the right to yank me out of the water.

  Now, sitting calmly on a bench outside the ice cream store, Samuel didn’t look like he was going to apologize. “It’s complicated,” he said brusquely.

  “No,” I said. “It isn’t. I’m tired of being told I can’t know things because they’re complicated.” My ice cream was ready and I went and grabbed it. Samuel hesitated for a moment, then said, “Let’s take a walk.”

  “Fine,” I said. I knew I still sounded hostile. It wasn’t completely his fault that his family was angry, but he should have warned me about what his mother was planning. All he’d told me was that his family wouldn’t like it if I kept seeing Holt. Well, too bad for them, I had thought. He hadn’t said that they might try to kill everyone at the Solstice party.

  “I just wanted to tell you that you need to stay out of the water,” said Samuel. “I know you’re pissed at me. I don’t blame you, but this is serious. Just give me some time to figure it out.”

  “Figure what out?” I asked.

  “I can’t say,” he said, looking away from me.

  “So are you telling me I can’t shower either? That will start to smell really quickly,” I pointed out. “I’ll have to buy those face wipes at the grocery store....”

  “You can shower,” he cut in, smiling a little. “I just mean the ocean – and probably lakes for good measure.”

  “What?” I gasped. “You realize that I came to Maine for the summer because of the wonderful lakes and oceans? How many lakes are there in Maine? Thousands! And you want me to stay out of all of them?”

  “Well, no; if you want to go in a lake that isn’t around here that should be fine,” said Samuel. He looked like his usual cold self and it made me angrier. Here I was miserable, and he was fine, even though this whole mess was mostly the fault of the Fairies and their ridiculous rules in the first place.

  “Is this a joke?” I asked. “Are you and your family having more fun at my expense?”

  “No,” said Samuel. “It’s not a joke. It’s not like I’m having this conversation for fun.”

  It was like he had slapped me. “So, what you said the other night isn’t true? You don’t want to have anything to do with me?”

  “Autumn, this is bigger than you and me. You just have to stay out of the water.”

  We walked in silence for a few minutes. He had led us to residential streets, where we wouldn’t be in a danger of anyone walking close by and hearing what we were saying to each other.

  “I’m sorry,” said Samuel.

  I didn’t say anything. I guess Samuel took that as my agreeing to what he had asked, because the next thing he said was, “What are you doing the rest of the night?”

  “Oh, I thought I might go swimming,” I said sarcastically.

  “Autumn,” said Samuel, exasperated.

  “Look, you have to tell me why,” I said. “What’s wrong with the water? Is it poisoned? Because I don’t think it is.”

  “It’s not that it’s poisoned,” he said.

  “Is it that you think I’ll end up like Katie?” I asked quietly. That had to be it. She had been found yesterday. Today was the first day I had ever seen Samuel freak out about my swimming.

  Samuel blanched, then said, “Yes, I’m afraid you’ll end up like her.”

  I knew it!

  “Look, Samuel,” I said. “What happened to her was awful, and I can’t imagine how her family must be feeling right now. But it’s not the first time someone has drowned. Unfortunately, it happens. It doesn’t mean I should never go swimming again.”

  I tried to make all of this sound infinitely reasonable.

  “I know,” said Samuel. “Just promise me that you’ll give me a few days.”

  I sighed. I
really didn’t see the point, but Samuel looked so worried and his face looked so pleading that I said, “Yeah, fine.”

  “And look, Autumn, if you can pass this along to Carley and Nick as well.”

  “How am I supposed to get them to agree to that?” I asked. “They’ll think I’m crazy.”

  “No,” corrected Samuel. “They’ll think I’m crazy. I can live with that. What I can’t live with is….” I waited for him to finish, but he didn’t.

  “This is nuts,” I muttered.

  “I’m sorry,” said Samuel again.

  “Right,” I said. “And while we’re on the subject, what were Lydia and Leslie doing looking for Katie with Logan and Susan?” I asked.

  I must have struck a nerve, because Samuel frowned. “They were being good citizens.”

  “That’s crap and you know it,” I shot back. “They never got along and then suddenly they are hanging out together looking for Katie? Not a chance.”

  Samuel didn’t say anything. Just shook his head. “How are you otherwise?”

  “Nice subtle subject change,” I murmured. I wanted to know what was going on, but Samuel obviously wasn’t going to tell me. This was becoming the theme of the summer, and I was long past tired of it.

  “I gotta go,” I said. There was no way I was going to stick around and talk about what had happened. “I’ll do what you ask. For now. But I’m telling you there’s nothing wrong.”

  With that I sped away. Samuel could have easily kept up with me, but he didn’t. He let me go.

  I hurried home. It was late, and it was dark outside. Ever since the Cheshire girls had cornered me earlier in the summer while I was walking home alone at night, it hadn’t been my favorite thing to do. Luckily, Samuel had made sure we kept close to Carley’s place, so I wasn’t far from home. When the house came into view, I could see Nick’s car and Mrs. Hightower’s in the driveway. There were also a lot of lights on.

  I headed into the house, expecting to find everyone clustered in the kitchen or around the TV. Only Mrs. Hightower was there, though, quietly reading in a corner of the living room.