“What? What are you talking about?” demanded Doreen, clearly frustrated.
“This girl, Gina, had a major crush on Miles last year,” I said, trying to stay calm and keep my blood from boiling any more than it already was. “She tried all sorts of tricks to come between us.”
“She had no chance of succeeding,” Miles said to both me and Doreen, as he gently squeezed my shoulder.
“No, she didn’t. No more than the professor did last semester,” I said.
“She had no chance, but she sure tried,” said Jenny.
“She’s the reason Bea Cochran knew which bedroom was Anika’s, and that Miles’ room shared a wall with hers,” said Annette, almost as mad as I was. John tightened his arm around her, and she stopped short of saying any more.
“This sounds exactly like something she would do,” I said, utterly disgusted, my blood beginning to boil again. “Spence wanted nothing to do with her, so the bitter little shrew—”
Miles hugged me tightly and I stopped talking. I was so upset, I felt like crying. The thought of how much damage one horrible girl can do—
“So she tried to kill Violet?” asked Doreen.
Everyone looked at each other, wondering.
“If she did,” said Miles softly, “we’ll figure it out.”
“We need to find a way for Anika to talk to her,” said Xander. “I don’t know if she did it or not, but she’s lying about Spence. She’s got to be.”
“I already thought so, but now that we know who’s claiming to be a witness…” said John. “I’m sure he’s innocent.”
“You know, I wanted to believe Gina was more immature than bad,” said Jenny. “I’m really wondering now, though.”
Annette said grimly, “Whether she’s lying about Spence purely for spite, or she’s guilty of attempted murder and lying to hurt Spence, she’s a lot worse than just immature.”
“So how are you going to talk to this girl?” asked Doreen.
“Good question,” I said. “None of us are on friendly terms with her.”
We gave that a little thought.
“We’ll have to see if Spence is willing to set something up,” said Miles.
“He’ll be willing to set her up alright, when he finds out she’s the one claiming he tried to kill Violet!” said Xander.
“We’ll talk to him tomorrow,” I said. “We’re not going to tell him Gina’s the one claiming she saw him attack Violet, though.”
“Anika’s right,” said Miles. “For so many reasons, Spence is better off not knowing.”
“I couldn’t pretend everything was fine and be friendly toward someone who did that to me,” said Annette.
“We also don’t want Spence blamed if something happens to Gina,” I said. “There are coincidences in life, it could happen, and it can’t be used as motive as long as he doesn’t know.”
“The party was at her house,” said Miles. “It isn’t illogical to want to talk to her. We won’t need to give Spence more detail than that.”
“How’s the force field?” I asked, noticing the time displayed on the wall clock.
“There’s less and less pressure,” Miles answered. “Let’s move into the sitting room, it won’t be long now.”
“Talk to each other, don’t talk to Violet,” Doreen directed. “She gets confused if you ask her questions.”
We left the family room’s comfortable couches and moved to the more formal seating that the sitting room afforded. Doreen plopped into her chair beside Elizabeth, and Jenny and Xander took the loveseat. Miles lit the firewood waiting in the fireplace while John and Annette and I sat on the couch. Once the flame took hold, he sat beside me.
“Have you told your parents yet?” Jenny directed her question to John and Annette.
“No,” said Annette, glancing at John. “We thought we’d wait until after the weekend, anyway.”
“If I could have talked Miles into eloping, I probably would have informed my parents much later on and by letter,” I said, and Doreen laughed. I forgot she was here!
“More than likely we’ll call and tell them next week,” said John.
“Yeah, well I’m mad at you, man!” said Xander, hurling a throw pillow in John’s direction. It halted in mid-air and came to rest on the coffee table.
“Thanks, Miles,” John laughed. “So what did I do to earn your wrath, Xander?”
“Jenny and I talked about eloping. If we do that now, we’ll look like copy-cats.”
“Maybe you will,” I said. “But we’re all grown-ups here. No one will point that out to you.”
“Most of us here are grown-ups,” Miles said. Doreen started to shoot him a look, but then he added, “Only one of us still throws things when he’s upset.”
Everyone laughed at that, even Xander. He also threw another pillow. It made it no further than the first one did.
“The pressure’s gone,” Miles said suddenly, as he looked toward Violet. “There’s no pressure now.”
We watched her. She didn’t move.
I looked at Miles, puzzled, and then at Doreen. She was watching Violet, a puzzled frown on her face, her forehead creased. Our friends looked from us to Violet and back again.
Violet stirred, and we all breathed a sigh of relief. I realized how tightly I was squeezing Miles’ hand, and relaxed my grip.
Violet’s luminous blue eyes blinked, and Annette gasped softly. Violet looked around, her face filled with confusion as it always was when she first woke up.
“Now that Violet’s been moved to a better hospital, maybe she’ll get well,” I said.
“I hope so. She’s got good doctors and a good family that support her,” said Miles. “Tomorrow we’ll go by the hospital and see her, and talk to her mom and dad.”
“You’ll see Mom and Dad? You’ll see me too? How?” Violet asked, her gaze clear now.
“The physical side of you is at Memorial Hospital,” Miles answered. “Your parents were there with you today, and they’ll be there again tomorrow.”
“They hope that you’ll come out of the coma,” I said. “So they talk to you, and hold your hands. They love you, and miss you.”
“I miss them too,” she said, her luminous eyes filling with tears. “I haven’t seen them in a really long time. How did this happen?”
She held out her thin transparent arms and looked at them.
“I don’t know,” said Miles.
“I don’t know either,” said Doreen.
“I don’t know how this happened…” said Violet, frowning slightly. “It was dark, and I was falling.”
Miles squeezed my hand, and I squeezed back. She was remembering something.
“I remember falling once,” I said quickly. “It was during a thunderstorm. I fell through a set of rotten doors. I grabbed hold of a ledge, but couldn’t hang on. I was so scared.”
“I was scared! There was nothing to hold onto, my fingers slipped.”
“My fingers slipped, the ledge was wet and I couldn’t hang on,” I said.
“My fingers were cold, and it was dark, and I couldn’t feel the limb. I could’ve held onto it I think, but I couldn’t feel it and could barely see, except for those yellow eyes.”
She looked puzzled, and I know the rest of us were. I glanced around. Did the thought of yellow eyes in the darkness disturb everyone else as much as it did me? Yes. Yes, it did.
“Miles caught me and I didn’t fall after all,” I said.
“Is Miles your boyfriend?” asked Violet, fastening her eyes on me now.
“He became my boyfriend later,” I said.
“Spence would have caught me, but he wasn’t there. He was waiting for me. I was supposed to meet him.”
“I knew it,” said Xander under his breath. “I knew he didn’t do it!”
“Spence wasn’t the one that hurt you,” said Miles.
“No, Spence wouldn’t do that,” said Violet, waving away the very idea of such a thing. “It was someone else.”
�
�Someone tried to hurt me before,” I said. “I knew who it was.”
“Did they hurt you?” she asked, her eyes and voice intense.
“No, but they tried,” I replied.
“How did you not get hurt?” she asked, still intense.
“One guy I sprayed with pepper spray,” I said, and she laughed. Everyone else sort of did too, which seemed to help her relax. Doreen looked confused. She probably never heard the details of the Bill the jerk incident. “Miles stopped the other guy.”
“Spence would have helped me, but he wasn’t there.”
“I knew who tried to hurt me,” I prompted her.
“Someone tried to hurt me too, and I knew who it was,” said Miles.
“I don’t know who tried to hurt me,” said Violet, and we all slumped in our seats a bit. How much easier it would be if she did.
“I’ve seen Halloween decorations with eyes that glow,” said Doreen.
“I have too, I went to a haunted house last year. It was awesome,” said Xander.
“I’ve been to a haunted house, I went last year,” said Violet. “I went with Spence.”
“Jack o’ lanterns have eyes that glow,” said Annette.
“Cats have eyes that glow,” said Doreen.
“Cats have eyes that glow,” Violet repeated. “The cat in the tree had glowing yellow eyes. It wasn’t supposed to get out. I tried to get it to come back in, but it went up in the tree.”
“This happened after you put your jacket on,” Miles said.
“Yes, someone almost saw me. I heard voices in the hall.”
“I’d hide if that happened,” said Doreen.
“I did hide,” said Violet. “I went out onto the porch. It was dark, and I put on my jacket. Then the moon came out and I saw the stairs. I was going to call Spence and tell him to meet me, we’d go down the stairs and no one would see us leave. But then the cat ran out. I didn’t know there was a cat until it ran out. I tried to grab it, but it jumped onto the railing and into the tree.”
“And so you tried to get the cat,” said Miles.
“It was my fault it got out. I had to try. There are coyotes, and it was Halloween, and it wasn’t safe for it to be outside.”
“Anika tried to save a cat once,” Miles said. “She could have been badly hurt, but she tried anyway.”
“Did you save it?” Violet asked.
“Yes.”
Now let’s move along!
“I didn’t…” she said. “I couldn’t reach it.”
“But you tried,” said Jenny.
“Yes, the cat jumped to the limb but I had to climb. I stood on a chair and called the cat, but it wouldn’t come.”
She was thinking, and we waited. I looked to Miles, wondering if there was any pressure on the force field. He shook his head slightly.
“I had to get higher… I stepped up onto the railing. It was made of wood, and thick. I was still scared I’d fall, but there was a table behind me, I knew I could step back if I had to. There was the tree too, I could reach the limb the cat was on. I almost had it.”
We stayed silent as she tried to remember. She shook her head a little.
“I was holding the limb… someone laughed! I remember that, someone laughed right behind me. A girl. It was a mean laugh, and I was so startled my hand slipped. I managed to get my foot behind me and onto the table, but someone grabbed the other end and tilted it hard. I lost my balance and fell. I fell…” Violet reached up and felt of her head. Then she looked down at her transparent arms. “Then I became like this.”
“Some girl made you fall off of that balcony?” asked Jenny. Violet didn’t seem phased by the direct question, because she answered.
“Yes, and now I’m in pieces. I’m in fragments. Part of me is here, and the rest of me is somewhere else.” She looked at her arms again.
“You appeared here at the Lodge at noon and midnight for several days,” said Miles. “I’m not certain how many exactly. Each time you stayed briefly, and then disappeared. You cried for help, something was pulling you away, and you didn’t want to go.”
“No, I don’t want to go! It’s happened over and over!” she said, in a panic.
“What happened when you were pulled away?” I asked. “Why don’t you want to go?”
Doreen gave me a withering look as Violet became confused. But then she answered.
“I don’t know, but it didn’t feel good. Like being paralyzed. Don’t let it happen again!” she looked at Miles pleadingly.
“I won’t,” he reassured her. “There’s no pressure anymore on the force field I have around you, though. It’s never been absent for this long. It’s possible the hospital you were at was giving you medication that caused this. It may not happen again now that you’ve been moved.”
Her glowing eyes were fixed on Miles. He waited, but she had no response, so he continued.
“If I release this force field, then perhaps you’ll wake from the coma you’re in.”
“Or I’ll be paralyzed and never be free again,” she said, breathing hard. She looked as if she was having a panic attack.
“You don’t want to be the way you are now though,” said Miles. “Not forever. The longer your body is in a coma, the more difficult it will be for you to recover.”
“It’s got to be so hard on your parents, they don’t know if you’ll ever wake up,” said Jenny.
“It’s very hard on them,” I added. “I’ve talked to them, I know.”
“What about Spence?” reminded Doreen. “You like him, right?”
“Yes,” Violet said, focusing on her now.
“He must feel awful, he can’t even go see you.”
She held her head in her hands.
“Okay, let me think… let me think,” she said, agitated.
Her fidgety movements slowed, and she looked at Miles and I.
“You figure out who tried to kill me… and I’ll try. I’ll risk it, I don’t know if I can do it. But I’ll try. When you figure out who did this to me. I’ll try.”
“Okay, Violet. We will,” said Miles, and I nodded.
“Okay,” she said. Letting out a deep breath, she looked as though she was deflating. “I’m tired now.”
“Get some rest then,” said Miles. “We’ll talk again.”
I looked at Doreen. Her heart was sinking too. I looked at Miles.
“There’s no pressure on the force field,” he reassured all of us. “She’s just… tired.”
“That’s a relief,” said Xander. “Maybe we’ll get somewhere with this mystery then.”
“Yeah, that’ll be great if we can talk more than twice a day,” said Doreen.
“And go to bed at a reasonable hour,” I added.
“You guys are keeping me awake,” said Violet. She sounded grumpy.
“To the family room, then,” said Miles, and we all followed him. Doreen stifled a laugh behind her hand.
“What?” I wanted to know, as we each settled back into our seats.
“Nothing, it’s like ‘to the bat cave,’ that’s what it sounded like. Only for Miles it’s ‘to the family room,’” she said, and I rolled my eyes.
“First of all, Miles is so much cooler than Bat Man. He doesn’t have to rely on expensive gadgets, his powers are built in.”
“Bat Man doesn’t have a really cool wife, either,” smiled Miles, which made me laugh.
“Well so what’s your name then?” she asked.
“Miles,” he said, and smiled at the look on her face.
“So who thinks Gina tried to kill Violet?” asked Xander, raising his hand in the air. “Aw, come on! You all know you do.”
“She’s my prime suspect,” I said. “She had motive, and it was a girl that laughed. If Gina did it, I’ll know as soon as I get a chance to talk to her.”
“It’s a good thing you’ve got Spence to set up a meeting then,” said Annette. “There’s no way she’d agree to one. She probably still thinks you’re the reason s
he isn’t with Miles.”
“Why does she think that?” Doreen looked perplexed.
“No reason that makes sense to us normal people,” Annette replied. “Miles and Anika were engaged before they ever had a class with her. Gina was in one of our study groups, and she deluded herself into believing he wanted to be with her.”
“All I’ve ever wanted is to be with Anika,” said Miles, tightening his arm around me and kissing the side of my face.
“Girls can be weird that way,” said Jenny.
“Guys can too,” said Xander. “They’re otherwise known as stalkers.”
“While we hate to be the first to leave, it’s inevitable,” said John, as he and Annette stood. “Xander and Jenny won’t be, and Miles and Anika live here.”
I laughed, and Miles caught another pillow mid-air as Xander hurled it in John’s direction. John laughed, and he and Annette said goodnight and went on their way.
“Doreen has youth group in the morning,” said Miles. “We’re going to follow John and Annette’s lead.”
Xander groaned, then he and Jenny stood, and so did we.
“Fine, we can take a hint! So much for staying up late having fun, now that all our friends are married.”
“You poor thing,” I laughed. “You don’t even have a roommate now.”
Xander grumbled a little more, then we said goodnight to our friends and they left.
“I’m not tired,” said Doreen. “I slept all day.”
“Not hardly you didn’t, and I don’t care,” I said. “Miles and I are going to bed, and so are you. If you can’t sleep fine, but stay in your room and don’t keep us awake.”
“What if I need to go to the bathroom?” she said. “Is that banned again?”
“Yes. Goodnight,” I said, and laughed when Miles caught the pillow she threw in mid-air before it could reach me.
“Watch it sister, he won’t always be around to save you!” said Doreen, tossing her gold curls on the way to her room.
“That’s not the truth,” Miles smiled.
“I know,” I smiled back, and kissed him.
“Aurgh! How do you do that!” I heard the frustrated voice of my sister behind me again.
“It’s called a force field,” Miles replied. The pillow she’d just thrown lifted off the floor and came to settle on one of the couches. “Might as well give up, I’ve got your sister’s back.”
The Lodge at Whispering Pines Page 29
