Is that the only reason?
I waited for her to finish -- to say she didn't want to leave me. But she didn't.
I changed the subject. "Maybe that's why we're dreaming about that night."
"What are you talking about?" I had her attention.
"The dream we had last night, about your birthday. I mean, it seemed like your birthday except for the part when Sarafine kil ed me. It seemed so real. I even woke up with this." I held up my shirt.
Lena stared at the raised pink scar, creating a jagged line across my abdomen. She looked like she was going to pass out. Her face went pale, her expression panicked. It was the first time I had seen any kind of emotion in her eyes in weeks. "I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't have a dream last night." There was something about the way she said it, and the look on her face. She was serious.
"That's weird. Usual y we both do." I tried to sound calm, but I could feel my heart starting to pound. We had been having the same dreams since before we met. They were the reason for Macon's midnight visits to my room -- to take the pieces of my dreams he didn't want Lena to see. Macon had said our connection was so strong that Lena dreamed my dreams. What did it say about our connection if she couldn't anymore?
"It was the night of your birthday, and I heard you cal ing me. But when I got to the top of the crypt, Sarafine was there and she had a knife."
Lena looked like she was going to be sick. I probably should have stopped there, but I couldn't. I had to keep pushing, and I didn't even know why. "What happened that night, L? You never real y told me. Maybe that's why I'm dreaming about it now."
Ethan, I can't. Don't make me.
I couldn't believe it. There she was back in my mind, Kelting again. I tried to crack open the door, an inch further, and get back into hers.
We can talk about this. You have to talk to me.
Whatever Lena was feeling, she shook it off. I felt the door between our minds slam shut. "You know what happened. You fel , trying to climb onto the crypt, and you were knocked out."
"But what happened to Sarafine?"
She tugged on the strap of her bag. "I don't know. There was fire everywhere, remember?"
"And she just disappeared?" "I don't know. I couldn't see anything, and by the time the fire died down, she was gone." Lena sounded defensive, as if I was accusing her of something. "Why are you making such a big deal about this? You had a dream, and I didn't. So what? It's not like the others. It doesn't mean anything." She started to walk away.
I stepped in front of her and lifted my shirt again. "Then how do you explain this?"
The jagged outline of the scar was stil pink and newly healed. Lena's eyes were wide, catching the sunlight of the first day of summer. In the sun, her hazel eyes seemed to glint with gold. She didn't say a word.
"And the song -- it's changing. I know you hear it, too. Time is high? Are we going to talk about that?" She started backing away from me, which I guess was her answer. But I didn't care and it didn't matter, because I couldn't stop myself.
"Something's happening, isn't it?"
She shook her head.
"What is it? Lena --"
Before I could say anything else, Link caught up to us, snapping me with his towel. "Looks like nobody's goin' to the lake today, except maybe you two."
"What do you mean?"
"Look at the tires, oh Whipped One. They're al slashed, every car in the lot, even the Beater."
"Every car?" Fatty, Jackson's truant officer, would be al over this. I calculated the number of cars in the lot. Enough to get the whole mess kicked up to Summervil e, maybe even the sheriff's office. This was out of Fatty's league.
"Every car except Lena's." Link pointed at the Fastback in the parking lot. I stil had trouble getting my head around the idea that it was Lena's car. The lot was in total chaos. Savannah was on her cel phone. Emily was screaming at Eden Westerly. The basketbal team was going nowhere.
Link bumped his shoulder against Lena's. "I don't real y blame you for the rest a them, but did you have to get the Beater? I'm a little short on cash for new tires."
I looked at her. She was transfixed.
Lena, did you?
"It wasn't me." Something was wrong. The old Lena would have bitten our heads off for even asking.
"You think it was Ridley or --" I looked over at Link. I didn't want to say Sarafine's name.
Lena shook her head. "It wasn't Ridley." She didn't sound like herself, or sure of herself. "She's not the only one who hates Mortals, believe it or not."
I looked at her, but it was Link who said the one thing we were both thinking. "How do you know?"
"I just do."
Over the chaos of the parking lot, a motorcycle gunned its engine. A guy in a black T-shirt swerved through the parked cars, blowing exhaust into the faces of angry cheerleaders, and disappeared out onto the road. He was wearing a helmet, so you couldn't see his face. Just his Harley.
But my stomach bal ed itself up, because the motorcycle looked familiar. Where had I seen it before? Nobody at Jackson had a motorcycle. The closest thing was Hank Porter's ATV, which hadn't worked since he rol ed it after Savannah's last party. Or so I'd heard, now that I no longer made the guest list.
Lena stared after the motorcycle as if she had seen a ghost. "Let's get out of here." She headed for her car, practical y running down the stairs.
"Where to?" I tried to catch up to her, Link jogging behind me.
"Anywhere but here."
6.12
The Lake
If it wasn't Ridley, why weren't your tires slashed?" I pushed again. What happened in the parking lot didn't make sense, and I couldn't stop thinking about it. Or the motorcycle. Why did I recognize it?
Lena ignored me, looking out at the water. "It's probably a coincidence." Neither of us believed in coincidences.
"Yeah?" I grabbed a handful of sand, brown and gritty. Except for Link, we had the lake to ourselves. Everyone else was probably lined up at the BP trying to buy new tires before Ed ran out.
In another town, you might have put your shoes back on and cal ed the sand dirt and this part of our lake a swamp, but the murky water of Lake Moultrie was the closest thing Gatlin had to a swimming pool. Everyone hung out on the northern shore because it was on the edge of the woods and a hike from the cars, so you never ran into anyone who wasn't in high school -- especial y not your parents.
I didn't know why we were here. It was weird to have the lake to ourselves, since the whole school had planned to be here today. I hadn't believed Lena when she told me she wanted to come. But she did, and we had, and now Link was thrashing around in the water, and we were sharing a dirty towel Link had grabbed out of the back of the Beater before we left.
Lena turned over next to me. For a minute, it seemed like everything was back to normal and she wanted to be there on my towel. But that only lasted until the silence set in. I could see her pale skin glistening under the thin white undershirt, which was sticking to her in the suffocating heat and humidity of a June South Carolina day. The sound of the cicadas chirping almost drowned out the awkward silence. Almost. Lena's black skirt was riding low on her hips. I wished we had our bathing suits for the hundredth time. I'd never seen Lena in one. I tried not to think about it.
Did you forget I can hear you?
I raised an eyebrow. There she was again. Back in my mind, twice in one day, as if she'd never left. One minute she was barely speaking to me, and the next she acted like nothing had changed between us at al . I knew we should talk about it, but I didn't want to fight anymore.
Not like there'd be anything forgettable about you in a bikini, L.
She leaned closer, pul ing my faded shirt over my head. I could feel a few stray curls of her hair brushing against my shoulders. She slid her arm around my neck and pul ed me closer. Face to face, I could see the sun glinting gold in her eyes. I didn't remember them looking so gold.
She tossed my shirt in my face and took off running for the water, laughing like a little kid as she jumped into the lake, stil wearing her clothes. I hadn't seen her laugh or joke around in months. It was like I had her back for an afternoon, even if I didn't know why. I pushed it out of my mind and chased her, running into the water and across the shal ow edge of the lake.
"Stop it!" Lena splashed me, and I splashed her back. Her clothes were dripping, and my shorts were dripping, but it felt good to be out in the sun. In the distance, Link was swimming out to the dock. We were real y alone.
"L, wait up." She smiled over her shoulder and dove under the water.
"You're not getting away that easy." I grabbed her leg before it disappeared and yanked her toward me. She laughed and kicked, twisting until I fel into the water next to her.
"I think I felt a fish," she squealed.
I pul ed her waist into mine. We were face to face, nothing but sun, and water, and the two of us. There was no avoiding each other now.
"I don't want you to leave. I want things to be like they were. Can't we go back, you know, to how it used to --"
Lena reached out and touched my lips with her hand. "Shh." Warmth spread from the tip of her finger down across my shoulders and into my body. I had almost forgotten that feeling, the heat and the electricity. She moved her hands down my arms and clenched them behind my back, laying her head against my chest. It felt like steam was rising off my skin, prickling where she touched me. I hadn't been this close to her in weeks. I inhaled deeply. Lemons and rosemary ... and something else. Something different.
I love you, L.
I know.
Lena lifted her face to mine, and I kissed her. Within seconds, she disappeared into my arms, in a way she hadn't in months. The kiss began to move us involuntarily, as if we were under some kind of Cast al our own. I picked her up and lifted her out of the water, her legs dangling over my arms, the water pouring off us. I carried her back to the towel, and we were rol ing in the dirty sand. Our warmth turned into fire. I knew we were out of control, and we had to stop.
L.
Lena gasped under the weight of my body, and we rol ed again. I tried to catch my breath. She threw her head back and laughed, and a chil ran up my back. I remembered that laugh, straight out of my dream. It was Sarafine's laugh.
Lena sounded exactly like her.
Lena.
Was I imagining it? Before I could make sense of it, she was on top of me and I couldn't think about anything else. I was lost in seconds, tangled up in her. My chest tightened, and I felt my breath growing short. I knew if we didn't stop soon, I'd end up in the emergency room, or worse.
Lena!
I felt a searing pain cut through my lip. I pushed her off and rol ed over, stunned. Lena slid away from me in the dirt, backing onto her heels. Her eyes were glowing, gold and huge. Barely a trace of green. She was breathing hard. I doubled over, trying to catch my breath. Every raw nerve in my body had been lit on fire, one match at a time. Lena raised her head, and I could hardly see her face through the wild mess of dirt and hair. Just the strange golden glow.
"Get away from me." She spoke slowly, as if each word was coming from a deep, untouchable place within her.
Link was out of the water, rubbing a towel on his spiky hair. He looked ridiculous in the same plastic goggles his mom made him wear when we were little. "Did I miss somethin'?"