The Glassheart Chronicles

by Courtney Cole

In a town where you can’t trust anybody to have your best interests in mind, I was amazingly slow to learn how to put up a protective wall around my heart. I was sixteen years old and I still believed in true love. That might have been forgivable, but the fact that I believed that it could happen to me was just delusional.

  David Abernathy was nineteen years old to my sixteen. He’d graduated the year before when I was only a freshman at Desire High. He was from a strong Family, but not one of the Coven Families. I knew him, of course. Everybody knows everybody else in Desire and in that way I’m sure he knew who I was as well. I thought he was a good looking guy, his eyes were a soft brown color and his hair was softly waving and brown.

  I had him in my Biology class. He spent most of every period cracking jokes and essentially flaunting his contempt for the class and the teacher. It was a bold move for someone who wasn’t from a Coven Family and thus above consequences, but if he was ever scared, he never showed it. That rebellious streak drew me in. I was from a Coven Family, but as a Second Daughter’s Second Daughter, I was a nobody. I wished that I could be as brave as David, but I crept around the edges of life hoping that I wouldn’t accidently offend anyone.

  It was over Christmas break of my junior year that David talked to me for the first time. I was walking through a bookstore in the next town when I rounded a shelf and literally bumped into David.

  “I’m so sorry!” he said as he knelt to help me retrieve the books that were scattered all over the floor.

  “It’s ok, I wasn’t watching…” My words dried up when I realized who it was I was talking to.

  He noticed my sudden silence and grinned at me. “I know you. You’re… Jennifer?”

  I opened my mouth to correct him, but he laid a finger across my lips. My heart stopped beating for a moment.

  “I know this. Something with a J, right? Don’t tell me, just nod if I’m right.” I nodded. “Julie?”

  “So close. I’m Julia Carter.” I held out my hand and he shook it solemnly.

  “I’d just like to say that I was going to say that next.”

  “Suuuure.” I teased, amazed at my boldness. I was usually very shy, but David seemed to bring out a more aggressive me.

  “I’m David Abernathy. I think we had a class or two together once.”

  I nodded, delighted. “I remember you. We had Biology together your senior year.”

  His eyes lit up. “Ah, yeah, that’s right. I didn’t learn a thing all year. If it weren’t for my lab partner I wouldn’t have had a prayer at passing. But you know, she was just a Second Daughter so-“ It was his turn to cut himself off abruptly.

  I attempted a smile to let him know that it wasn’t a big deal, that I totally understood how it is. I hoped that it wasn’t as wobbly as it felt, but my stomach was clenching violently and I was afraid I might throw up. How embarrassing to think that his friendliness might have meant something.

  “Hey, no. I didn’t mean it like that. You’re different, of course. She’s not from a Coven Family like you. Her Talent is really lame too. I think it was something like being able to boil small amounts of water. I’m sure she’ll make some lucky guy some really great soup someday.”

  I snorted despite myself. I wanted to be mad at David, but I couldn’t. He was just too charismatic even though I knew he would never like me like that.

  “Do you want to go get some hot chocolate? I hear they have a double chocolate recipe here that’s amazing.”

  I nodded, hope rising again.

  He took my books from me and carried them under his arm like an old time suitor might have a hundred years ago. He insisted on buying my drink and we sat together at a tiny table in the corner. Our knees were forced to spread around each other or else jut out the side of the table. My legs ended up between his and he swayed them back and forth ever so slightly. It was probably a nervous tic, but it was easily the most erotic thing to happen to me in my short life.

  “You know,” he pulled a thin section of hair into his fingers and stroked it, “You are a really pretty girl. I guess I never really noticed before.”

  I flushed, but I knew it was true. I wasn’t conceited; being pretty was just a part of who I was as much as my Family’s wealth or the fact that my Talent was strong and useful. I had long, glossy black hair that tumbled down in loose waves to my lower back, clear tanned skin, and wide brown eyes framed by especially long lashes. I had considered moving to NYC when I graduated and becoming a model. I was tall enough and I didn’t really know what else I should do with myself.

  David was quick to realize he’d touched on a nerve and he easily changed the subject. We sat at our table for the next two hours, sipping our drinks and chatting. David made me feel interesting and, of course, I was already a big fan of his.

  When we finally decided to leave, he asked me if he could call me. I agreed quickly and gave him my number, half afraid it was just an empty gesture so that we parted on a good note, but he called me later that night. And from that day on we talked every day.

  When he asked me if I’d like to be his girlfriend, I couldn’t believe my luck. He wasn’t from a Coven Family, but he surely could have had a First Daughter from a strong Family. With me, he was trading all hopes of a powerful station in the hierarchy of Desire. I expressed my concerns and he just laughed at me.

  “Silly, girl. If I wanted that, I wouldn’t have fallen in love with you.”

  “You fell in love with me?” My voice was nearly inaudible.

  His eyes were soft and serious. “How could I not? You’re gorgeous and smart and funny and a really good kisser.”

  I slapped his arm playfully, flattered and happy.

  “So,” he asked, pulling my body against his as he leaned against a tree in the park where we’d been hanging out all afternoon, “Is that a yes or what?”

  “Yes.” I said, but it was lost inside his mouth as he kissed me.

  We dated for the next four months. When he clumsily attempted to seduce me for the first time, I smiled and pretended that his awkward attempts were irresistible. With practice he did become much more adept at it and by April I was confident that maybe someday I’d enjoy the same level of pleasure from our encounters as he did.

  During Spring break David accepted an invitation to join some of his older friends on a trip to Florida. It was our first fight.

  “Babe, I don’t understand why you’re being so unreasonable.” He whined. We were standing on my front porch and I hoped that our voices wouldn’t carry into the open windows.

  “Because you’re going with a group of girls to a beach where there will be even MORE girls in basically nothing and you didn’t even have the decency to invite me. I’d love to take a trip to the beach, Babe.” I spit out the last word, furious from the hours of circular arguing.

  “You’re too young for this trip, ok? And you wouldn’t have fun anyway. It’s a bunch of First Daughters and their boyfriends.”

  I was livid. My hands itched to hit him. To pummel him until he admitted how much his careless words hurt me. Worse than his words was his apparent inability to empathize with how the situation made me feel. I shoved my fists into my pockets instead.

  “You said that status didn’t mean anything to you. That you loved me and were happy to give up all that.”

  He pulled me against him and kissed the top of my head. “I do love you, but all of my friends are going and I want to do this with them. Just this one thing, ok? Please tell me you’ll be cool.”

  I shrugged. “Does it really matter if I’m cool or not? You’ll just do whatever you want to do. I don’t care.”

  He whooped and spun me around in a circle before he dropped me to the ground. I staggered, off balance with my hands in my pockets, but he righted me. “I’ve got to call the guys and let them know I’m coming for sure. Thanks, Honey.”

  I watched him gallop off and for the first time I realized that there were a lot of things about him that I didn’t love. Hell, there wer
e a lot of things that I didn’t really even like. I sighed and entered the house.

  It was three weeks after his trip when he called me and asked me to come over.

  Things had been tense ever since he came back. I could sense a distance, but I couldn’t think of what I could do to make things better when I was still carrying so much anger over his abandonment of me. He’d been in Florida doing who could tell, while I spent my break sitting in my room, reading.

  This time he was the one waiting on his porch. I figured that he’d take me up to his room right away like he always did. I was fully prepared to deny him sex. Actually, I’d been waiting on the opportunity to make him work for it again since he came back, but he hadn’t tried anything with me.

  “Hey, you look great.” He was cheerful today. It was the first time he’d shown any sincere emotion with me for weeks.

  “You look pretty good yourself, you cool drink of water.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed the side of his mouth playfully.

  He gently disentangled my arms and led me to a wicker settee.

  “Look, Julia, we need to talk.”

  I groaned, “Are you breaking up with me?”

  “Yes, I think that’s exactly what he’s doing.”

  I whipped around to see that there was another girl on the porch. I knew her, of course. Her name was Lynn Patterson and she was 22 or 23. Her hair was blond and cut into a limp shag that was unflattering to her pinched features. Her overly tanned skin looked leathery and caught her eyes in the middle of a dense web of wrinkles. I knew she was one of the First Daughters who went on the trip with David and it didn’t take me long to figure out why she was here.

  “Really, David? Her? She’s not even from a powerful Family.” Lynn glared at me.

  “I had a lot to drink and things just happened. I’m so sorry.”

  For once he wasn’t smooth and I wasn’t melting into a puddle at his feet.

  “We’re getting married,” Lynn said smugly. “We’re having a baby.” She rubbed her flat stomach in triumph.

  I felt like throwing up, but unlike the way it felt when David and I met, this wasn’t a pleasant sensation at all. I fought the urge, determined not to let them see how devastating this news was. “Great. That’s just great. I wish you all the best. I’m sure your marriage will be nothing but happy and healthy.”

  I walked off the porch at a gait that could almost be called a jog. I heard David call after me, but he didn’t follow me. The last thing I heard was Lynn’s sickening coos. They deserved each other.

  I didn’t go to school the next day. Although David didn’t go to school there, I couldn’t bear to face anyone. I felt so humiliated and angry. I wanted to hurt someone. I just wanted to punch someone until their lips split against their teeth and their eyes swelled shut. The idea of blood running down Lynn’s leathery face made me smile, but it was a false smile. Tight- lipped and painful.

  I paced my room in an attempt to burn off the adrenaline that coursed through me. My violent fantasies had me in a keyed up state. I lapped my bedroom dozens of times before I had an idea. What if I weren’t in Desire? What if I went somewhere where all the kids were the same regardless of their birth order in their family? I knew from watching TV and reading books that unless you were heir to a royal lineage or something like that you were off the hook in the outside world.

  I decided that with school ending in a few weeks I might be able to find a summer camp where I could go live for a couple of months and not have to risk running into David or Lynn or any of their friends. The fact that I’d be treated like everyone else instead of a second class citizen was just icing on my cake.

  I did some research that afternoon and after a couple of phone calls I was able to locate information for a couple of camps and asked them to please send me their marketing materials overnight if possible and I’d gladly pay the shipping charges.

  I picked my camp mostly based on the way the lake was lined with willows. It looked so beautiful and I imaged myself sitting underneath one as the sunset, writing bad poetry.

  My Mother agreed dismissively when I asked permission to go. I thought I might have to persuade her to let me spend the summer away from town, but all she asked was what name she should put on the check.

  I made it through the last month of school without running into David or Lynn. I wasn’t close enough with anyone for them to notice a change in my behavior. The good thing about being invisible is nobody notices when you retreat inside yourself. I was just another piece of furniture to the kids at school and for the first time I was happy about it.

  As the school year drew to a close I had more and more trouble sleeping at night. Fluttering anticipation filled me every time I thought about going away for the summer. More than once I thought I might vomit when the excitement got too overwhelming. The prospect of being treated like every other kid instead of a worthless reject made me dizzy.

  I hoped that my mother would drive me to camp and see me off. She told me she had errands that she had to take care of and that since I set this plan in motion it was my responsibility to see it through to the end. I thought about pleading with her, but it would be pointless.

  I left Desire before the sun came up and made it to camp around noon. I parked in the dirt lot and hiked to the camp proper, balancing my luggage the best I could. I had to stop several times to adjust my grip or just to rest, but I finally made it, a little sweaty, but otherwise intact. A perky counselor a few years older than me took my name and directed me in the direction of cabin four.

  This camp catered to high school aged teens from fourteen to eighteen. Campers were segregated by age in each cabin so I knew that everyone in cabin four would be sixteen like me. I struggled up the short flight of stairs to the door, but luckily a girl inside saw me coming and rushed to help me carry my things inside.

  “Hi! I’m Daisy.” She was a tiny thing, blonde and pretty, but she barely came up to my chin.

  “Hi.” I tried to remember that I was going to be a different me here. A bolder me who was used to being the center of attention. Still, my voice cracked when I said, “I’m Julia.”

  “Do you want to share a bunk with me? If not there are a few that are still open.” Her smile was open. She did seem like a nice girl.

  “Sure. Are you on top or bottom?” She led the way to a bunk at the rear of the room.

  The cabin was long and filled with a double row of bunk beds that were pushed against short sections of walls between screened windows. There wasn’t glass in any of the windows, but there were thick oil cloth curtains that could be rolled down and tied to hooks at the bottom. The entire interior was built with the same unpainted wooden planks that the exterior was built with. The effect was rustic and, to my mind, exciting.

  “I have the top, but I’ll trade if you want it.”

  “No, the bottom is fine with me.” My smile felt genuine for the first time since David dumped me. I hadn’t even been here for ten minutes and I was already making friends.

  She showed me the row of lockers where we could store our things and then offered to give me a tour of the grounds since this was her third summer at camp.

  I struggled to keep everything straight in my mind as she showed me the shower facilities, mess hall, rec center where you could check out all sorts of outdoor sporting equipment and other key landmarks. We were on our way to the lake when a male voice called to Daisy.

  “Hey, Daisy, glad to see you made it back.”

  We turned around and saw a group of cute boys. They were all bare-chested and wearing swim trunks and flip flops. They were all good looking, but the one who greeted Daisy was breath taking. His chest was chiseled perfection with a light dusting of blond hair, but it was his face that made me bite my lip. Green eyes, full lips, and long white-blond surfer hair. He even wore a shell necklace. He was also the only boy who was significantly taller than me.

  “Hi, guys.”

  I watched the way Da
isy interacted with them. She was wearing a short, form-fitting sun dress and a pair of dainty strappy sandals. Her hair was twisted carelessly and clipped in a fun up-do. I felt like a hippo next to her in a pair of denim shorts that fell just above my knees and a baggy t shirt. And the hour I’d spent on curling my hair into pretty ringlets? I sighed.

  “So who’s your friend?” One of the boys asked.

  “This is Julia.” She pointed out the boys one by one. “And this is Ormond, Zach, and Mark.” The cute one was Mark.

  We all headed to the lake together. Daisy flirted effortlessly with them as they did silly things to impress her. I couldn’t quite bring myself to start any conversations, but I was proud of myself for being able to answer their questions with humor. I wasn’t ready to think of myself as a social butterfly yet, but I was willing to bet that none of them could guess at my desperate insecurity. That wasn’t who Julia-at-camp was. Julia-at-camp was pretty and about to become a lot sexier.

  We left the boys at the lake and when Mark said to me, “Hope I see you around.” I wanted to squeal.

  I kept it cool until we were well on the path back to the camp proper. “Oh my gosh, Mark is the cutest guy I’ve ever seen.”

  Daisy sighed. “I know. I’ve been coming to camp with him for years and he still hasn’t gotten the hint that I’d like to see him naked.”

  I knew I was blushing, but I was exhilarated. Having a friend was wonderful. “Do you want to go shopping with me? I drove my car here and my clothes aren’t going to work.”

  “You were supposed to turn in your keys when you checked in.”

  I shrugged. “I guess the counselor forgot to ask.”

  “Do I get to help pick out the clothes?”

  “Sure.”

  She clapped her hands. “Yay!”

  Daisy directed me to the nearest town with a mall she deemed adequate. We spent the next three hours shopping and I bought enough clothes to replace everything I’d brought with me. I bought a couple of things for Daisy too. We decided to head back instead of eating out because, Daisy assured me, meal times were the prime times to socialize with everyone at once.

  Camp was pretty unstructured. The only scheduled events were meal times, wake up, and lights out. The rest of the day you were free to do whatever kinds of activities you wanted. There were lessons every hour that you could join and you were always free to do things on your own. If you left camp to go hiking, you had to sign out and then sign back in, you had to return before dark, and you couldn’t go alone. And, of course, as Daisy pointed out, you weren’t supposed to leave camp by car.

  Every evening once the sun set there were different group activities planned. Usually a bon fire, but there were also dances, movies, and a talent show to look forward to. Daisy explained that relationships that formed during the summer tended to burn hotter than ones back home because you were free to spend literally every waking hour together.

  The literature stressed that it was a camp for kids who could be trusted to be responsible for their own choices. Sexual conduct was discouraged, but those choices were ultimately left up to each camper to decide for themselves. There were condoms provided in a no questions asked environment and tomorrow on the first full day of camp there would be an orientation that covered the camp policies as well as an extensive safe sex lecture. I didn’t plan on having sex while I was there, but I also wasn’t going to rule it out.

  We went back to our cabin and I switched out my clothes in my locker and shoved the old ones under the bed. I slipped on a lightweight dress that hugged my curves in a way that would have normally made me feel embarrassed and exposed, but Daisy assured me it looked amazing on me. She showed me how to twist my long hair into a simple French knot. I finally felt like I belonged somewhere now that I looked like all the other girls milling around our cabin.

  We went to dinner together and sat at a round table alone. “I know a lot of people here, but trust me, it’s better to do it this way and see who turns up.”

  I looked around the huge mess hall and saw that it seemed to be filled with girls sitting in groups of two to four at other tables. Within the next ten minutes guys started to trickle in and they were in their own small groups. They got their food and started sitting among the girls. There were tables filled with only girls and only boys, but they all seemed to be either incredibly awkward or younger.

  Daisy and I were talking about different activities we’d like to try during the summer when the rest of the seats at our table filled up. We were surrounded by six boys and I was delighted to see that Mark was one of them. Zach was there too, but I didn’t know the other four. We did a quick round of introductions and the boys started talking in the loud way that they do.

  Mark sat across from us and while Daisy spared him several friendly smiles, she seemed to be even more occupied by the two boys that sat between them. When he whispered in the ear of the boy sitting next to me and they traded places, I almost chocked on the piece of broccoli I was chewing. The boy who had formerly sat next to me gave me a lingering look before getting involved in the passionate sports debate with the other guys that’d he’d been engaged in since they sat down.

  “I thought it’d be nice to learn a little bit more about you. This is your first year, right?” Mark’s smile was lopsided and infectious.

  “Yeah, I’ve never been to any kind of camp before. I thought this place sounded awesome though, so here I am.”

  We chatted for the rest of dinner and then Mark asked me if I’d like to sit with him at the bonfire afterwards. I shot a look at Daisy to see if she minded and saw that she didn’t look happy. I raised my eyebrows and she nodded and made a pushing gesture with her hands that I took to mean “hurry up and say yes, already” so I hurried up and said yes.

  As we were getting ready for bed later I asked Daisy if she minded and she said, “Oh hon, I wish I could have something with Mark, but I think we’re destined to always be just friends. It’d be nice if one of us had a shot with him.”

  Our days took on a relaxing rhythm that first week. We’d wake up to the obnoxious sound of bugles blasting Reveille over the PA system at 6 am. There was an hour between wake up and breakfast which we could use however we wanted. Some girls rolled over and went back to sleep, others spent the time preening, but Daisy and I slipped into gym clothes and went to a morning yoga class together. We had just enough time for a quick shower before breakfast.

  We took a class or two in the mornings where Daisy would pay more attention to the boys flirting with her than the instructor, while I became proficient in different skills. And then after lunch we’d always end up at the lake where we’d swim and sunbathe with some of Daisy’s other friends until dinner. Mark joined us almost every night with a group of his friends and Daisy started to get especially friendly with his friend, Simon.

  The second week, Mark started asking me where we planned to be the next day and more often than not would show up at the classes with Simon. They even managed to coax us away from our group of girls to use the jet skis, boats, and canoes. It took some convincing to get Daisy to agree. She wasn’t a very strong swimmer and being out in the middle of the lake made her nervous. Eventually Mark and Simon managed to charm her and it wasn’t long before we became an inseparable foursome. And Mark asked me if I’d consider dating him exclusively.

  Our first kiss was the most romantic moment of my life. It was on the night of the first dance of the summer. We’d spent the evening dancing together and talking, but there was a tension between us that made me feel like I was constantly trying to swallow past a lump in my throat. He asked me if I’d like to take a walk across the grounds with him. I was having a great time, but the crush of bodies was exhausting.

  We walked for a while, holding hands and not talking much. He pulled me into the shadow cast by a tree and backed me up against it. He playfully held my hands above my head and then leaned in and kissed me. I pulled my hands away from him and wrapped them around hi
s neck and kissed him back.

  It was a point of no return. I think I knew on some level that sex was inevitable. I felt something on a physical level that I had never felt for David and I wanted to explore it. We started sneaking kisses at every opportunity. We became experts at sneaking out after lights out.

  Officially, nobody was supposed to leave their cabins after lights out, but in reality, nobody ever checked the cabins after a perfunctory bed check and the bolder kids and those most ruled by hormones were always sneaking out, Daisy and I among them. She and I would walk together to the edge of the woods and then go off with our boyfriends in different directions.

  It wasn’t long before Mark and I took things to the next level. Although the sex was different from how things went with David where I was used to having sex in the comfortable beds of our rooms, it was infinitely more exciting. There was something arousing about frenzied sex on a threadbare camp blanket in the middle of the woods. The fact that other couples were all around us only added to my excitement. We could be caught at any second. It was thrilling.

  Daisy was on the money when she said summer romances burned hot. Mark and I started spending every minute together we possibly could. For the first time I could see a future for myself outside of Desire. I could go to college with Mark and we could get married and live like normal people do in the outside world. When he looked at me, it wasn’t with pity at my low station. His eyes shone with admiration and love and he told me frequently that he couldn’t believe how lucky he was to have caught my attention.

  It was during the last week of camp that I got food poisoning. Evidently the fish they served us at dinner was bad and I and a lot of other kids got sick. I spent the next two days throwing up in a basin next to my bed and sleeping uneasily. Daisy apologized, but explained that she couldn’t be around me while I was sick or else she’d end up vomiting too.

  I made my recovery and felt desperate to see Mark. He hadn’t even sent me a note while I was sick. I worried that it grossed him out too much and when I finally did see him, he seemed strangely distant, although he said the right things and was as physically affectionate as ever. If I hadn’t been burned by David, I probably would have even been looking for it, but as it was, I became paranoid and was rewarded by intercepting several covert looks between him and Daisy.

  I asked him before lights out where he wanted to meet for our nightly rendezvous, but he made lame excuses about needing to be there for Simon who was still sleeping off the effects of his own bout with food poisoning.

  Things seemed a little strained with Daisy as we brushed our teeth and got ready for bed check. I didn’t mention anything, but when she dropped to the floor beside our bunk and started sliding into her easy-to-remove clothes that were our nightly uniform, I asked her where she was going.

  “Oh,” she said casually, “I’m meeting with Simon, of course. Where else would I go?”

  If I wasn’t already suspicious, her brittle laughter would have convinced me something was up. But again, I said nothing. Instead, I left the cabin moments after she did and followed her.

  I wasn’t worried about her seeing me. I was from a town of witches where every woman has a unique Talent. Mine was being able to turn invisible. Anything I was holding or wearing turned with me. The only sign I was around was the footprints I left, but nobody ever thinks to check the ground when they think they are being followed.

  She drifted quietly through the dark trees to the lake where she started to remove her clothes under the cover of the willow trees. She slid into the water with hardly a splash and swam out past the point she could reach and started to tread water.

  Not even a minute later a shadowy figure arrived and started taking off his clothes. I wasn’t surprised at all to hear Mark’s voice call out a soft hello. He rushed into the water, but he didn’t make any efforts to be quiet. I went ahead and took off my clothes too under a different tree and swam behind through his wake, although I seriously doubted either one of them would have noticed if I’d joined them completely visible.

  “Did she suspect anything?” he asked.

  “No, I told her that I was going to meet Simon.”

  Mark frowned. “I told her he was still sick and I was going to hang out with him tonight.”

  Daisy shrugged. “Well, tell her that he felt better and left you there, but since you already blew her off, you just went to sleep.”

  “Yeah, that’ll probably work.”

  “What are you going to tell her for the next couple of nights? I’ve had a crush on you for ages and now that we’ve finally hooked up, I want to make the most of it.”

  Mark shook his head. “I have no idea. I like her a lot, but you’re so damn sexy. I wish you would have come up to me the first summer like you did the other day. We could have been doing this for years now.”

  She swam up to him and they started to kiss. They somehow managed to kiss and swim until they could reach bottom. At that point, it was easy to see that things had progressed past kissing.

  I stood there, not even a yard from where they made love, fuming. When David cheated on me, at least I didn’t have to see it or listen to him plotting behind my back. Pacing was out of the question in these circumstances. All I could do was stand there, clenching my fists and grinding my teeth for what felt like forever. Finally, mercifully, it ended.

  Daisy gave him a final kiss and then swam back out to the deeper water. Mark started goofing off and doing handstands underwater, careless of his nudity. Perhaps flashing his private parts was his intention. It infuriated me even more…the idea of them laughing and playing while they assumed I was sleeping alone in my cabin without a clue of what they were up to.

  I don’t remember there being a conscious thought about what I was about to do next. There was just a hazy blank between standing there fuming and then grabbing Daisy by her ankle and pulling her underwater. She tried to struggle, but I was bigger and stronger. I wrapped my legs around her and wrapped my arms around a massive rock. Because I wasn’t struggling or winded from having vigorous sex, she ran out of air long before I did. I continued to hold her until my lungs ached.

  To be sure that she wouldn’t pop up and ruin the next part of my revenge, I dug a hole in the muck underneath the rock I’d used to hold us under and shoved her leg as far into it as I could manage, then I packed mud around it. It probably wouldn’t hold very long, but I hoped it would last long enough.

  I shot to the surface and took a great gasping breath of air. Mark was still playing in the shallows. I thought about what I should do with him. Drowning him wouldn’t be easy. In a face-off between us, he was the bigger and stronger of us. I gulped air and dove to the bottom of the lake again. I was scouring the bottom with my hands when something wrapped around my arm. I almost inhaled water until I realized it was just Daisy’s hair floating around like kelp down there. I found what I was looking for and surfaced.

  This time I splashed loudly enough to get Mark’s attention. I gasped loudly and made helpless mewling sounds. I wanted to convey my urgency without giving away my identity. It took him long enough to pay attention that I could have easily drowned for real if I actually needed his aid, but eventually he came to rescue his damsel in distress.

  When I was sure he was coming, I stopped thrashing and hoped that since he couldn’t see me, he’d assume that I was under the surface of the water.

  My plan worked flawlessly. He started diving only to resurface empty handed. He was shouting for Daisy, but we were far enough away from camp that I didn’t worry that anyone would hear him.

  I let him expend his energy while I treaded water calmly. I saw that he was started to flag and I steeled myself to act. I let him attempt another rescue and when he resurfaced, I smashed the rock I brought up from the bottom of the lake into his skull.

  I must have let my invisibility drop when I attacked because he looked at me, confused.

  “Julia? What are you doing?”

  “
You lied to me. I loved you and you lied to me. She was supposed to be my friend. You were supposed to be my friend!” I struck him again for emphasis and then hit him again.

  By now his entire face was covered with gushing blood and his head had a distinct dent in it. His eyes rolled back behind his eyelids until only the whites showed. I dropped my rock and hauled him under the water. He didn’t resist as I held him until I couldn’t hold my own break anymore.

  When I was sure he was dead, I let him go. I didn’t try to hide his body or disguise the scene of my crime. I was sure that there wouldn’t be any evidence of my part in their murders and nobody could possibly have seen me.

  I got dressed and slipped back into cabin 4. I thought that maybe I wouldn’t be able to sleep, but it turned out not to be a problem at all.

  The next morning I pretended to be concerned that Daisy was missing and reported her absence to the admin. They organized a camp wide search for her and Mark when Simon reported that he was also missing. Activities were suspended while they sorted things out.

  Campers weren’t sure what to do so everyone milled around. Simon asked me, in what I suppose was supposed to pass for a casual tone of voice, if I thought it was weird that those two were gone. I told him I was sure it was nothing. I knew that Mark loved me and Daisy was crazy about him.

  The details were never publicly released, but my best guess is that they found Mark floating on the surface of the lake. It must have taken a lot longer to locate Daisy. They probably had to bring in divers. They called everyone’s parents and camp ended that very day.

  I’m not sure how the deaths of two campers affected their business because I never went back. That summer taught me a lot about myself. My relationships with Mark and Daisy showed me that I was a person worthy of love and respect, but it also taught me that people lie and cheat even when they say they love you.

  I drove back to Desire with a new sense of confidence. I realized that being invisible in all possible ways wasn’t a burden, but a blessing. Nobody would ever suspect I was a threat until it was too late and now I knew how I could handle those people who would try to hurt me. I decided that I didn’t want to leave Desire after all. I was going to dispense justice.

  I became friends with Marla Madison when she started dating my cousin, Jack. And when she came to me in tears when he cheated on her with her sister, I started to plan my revenge. For some reason she was able to forgive Jack for his role in the affair, but I wanted to make sure that Vanna got what she deserved. Unfortunately, I could never get her alone and one day she and her mother and her bastard daughter disappeared from town.

  I was disappointed, but I settled in for a long wait. I knew that someday they’d return. Desire has a way of calling women home whether they like it or not. They’d be back and I’d be waiting.

  The End

  About Wren Emerson…