Chosen (20 page)

Chris stepped deftly in front of me and took my hand.  “It might not be such a good idea to touch them,” he said gently.  “They grow hot, sometimes.”

I shook my head, not understanding.  “What?” I replied dreamily.  I felt a longing for the crystals, which was even more ridiculous, and Chris was standing in the way.  I felt irritated with him for that.

“Come on,” he suggested. “Let’s go back.” He gently took my shoulders to turn me around.  I complied, though not really sure why.  My mind seemed hazy, and movement… well, movement felt a bit like moving underwater. 

“Why?”

“It’s getting dark.”

 I looked around.  To my surprise, the light had started to fade.  But it had been so intense only a moment ago! 

“Is the sun going down already?” I asked, still irritated with him for blocking my way.

“It started going down fifteen minutes ago.  We’ve been here for the better part of an hour.”

“
What
?” I said in surprise.  We had only just gotten here!

“Yeah.  You were pretty fascinated with the crystals back there.”

I blinked, and everything changed at once.  The fuzziness I felt was gone, and I became acutely aware of new memories rushing into my head.  Memories of how I had stared at the crystal since arriving here, trance-like.  It was like my brain was playing catch-up with reality.

I realized now, also, that we were already back in the darker tunnel of the cave.  Chris had the Zippo out, and was leading me toward the entrance.  I frowned.  What had happened back there?  It was like… insomnia, or maybe sleepwalking.  I racked my brain trying to think of a possible explanation.  Could it be the effects of my concussion exhibiting themselves for the first time?  I had to get it checked out.

Then I remembered something Chris had said to me.  “You said they grow hot.  Why?”

Chris looked over his shoulder at me, as if surprised to hear me speak.  “There are geysers in some places on the island.  Some of the caves sit atop the hot pools of water.  The crystals are connected to the heat of the earth, and every once in a while an errant blast of heat might come up, and make their surface scalding to the touch.”  He shrugged.  “I don’t know much about the geology of it.  You’ll have to ask my father about that.”

“Does he know about the crystals, too?”

“Actually, he’s the one who showed them to me,” Chris said.  Then, frowning as if he had made a blunder, quickly changed the topic.  “Anyway, who did you say your friend was that you had a sleepover with?”

“Oh.  Uh, Megan,” I said, quickly making up a name.  I didn’t like to lie, but I didn’t want to see his reaction if he found out I had been with Liz. 

He frowned again.  “I don’t know any Megan.”

Damn.  Caught in the lie.  “Maybe you haven’t met her yet?”

“I’ve been going to class with these kids for three years,” he laughed, “I think I know mostly everyone.”

“Well, apparently not,” I said. 

“Are you sure that’s who you were with?”

“Yes!  Why are you so adamant about finding out where I was last night?  You didn’t seem to care much, earlier.”

“Alright, alright, I believe you,” he backed off.  “You’ll have to introduce me one day.  Since we’re friends and all.”

“Um, sure, I guess that’ll be fine.”

“I’ll hold you to it.”  He looked at me expectantly, as if waiting for me to admit the lie.  Somehow, I felt like he saw right through my attempts to hide the truth. 

“Why do you care so much, anyway?” I asked, quickening my stride.  I didn’t have any responsibility to tell him everything about me.  It’s not like he was my boyfriend or anything.  Plus, I was still annoyed that he hadn’t let me touch the crystal.

“I didn’t mean it that way,” he said somewhat apologetically, catching up to me.  “If you don’t want to say, that’s fine.”

“I
did
tell you,” I repeated.

“But not the whole truth…?”

I started feeling fed up with him.  “You want to know the whole truth?” I demanded.  “Fine, I’ll tell you, but only because you insisted on it.  Before, I didn’t want to say anything because I didn’t want to hurt your feelings.  I
know
you saw me at breakfast yesterday, and I
saw
your reaction when you noticed who I was with.  I don’t know your history with those girls, but whatever it is, rest assured they feel the same way about you.  So, you want to know what I was doing last night?  I went to a party with
them
.  I didn’t want to tell you that, only because I remembered what you said about not having many friends here.  I didn’t want to
upset
you about it. 

“But you keep insisting, so here’s the truth: Liz told me that I should never be seen talking to you.  She nearly made me promise, in fact.  But you know what?  I like to make my own decisions about who I’m friends with.  So, she’s just going to have to understand that I’m friends with you.  And same goes for you, too.  Now you
know
that I’m friends with those girls, and you can’t go storming off in anger like you did yesterday morning whenever you see me with them.  It’s possessive, and creepy, and damaging, and it’s
not what friends do
!”

He looked absolutely shocked at my outburst.  I turned away and kept walking.  For a few minutes, he walked silently just behind me without saying anything.  Finally, he spoke up.

“And what about Rob?” he asked gently.

How did he know about
Rob
?  “What about him?” I asked suspiciously.

“I heard he’s taken quite an interest in you.”

Rob had taken an interest in me?  I was flattered, maybe even a little bit giddy, at the thought.  But it was ridiculous.  “Who told you that?” I asked, followed up by, “That’s stupid.”

“That’s not what I heard,” he replied.  “Last night at the party—”

“Wait, you were there?”

“No, no,” he shook his head.  “But some people I know, who know him in turn, said he wouldn’t stop gushing about you yesterday.”

I looked back at Chris in shock.  Surely he was mistaken?  “You’re kidding.”

“Nope.  And then last night, at the party, I heard you guys had a pretty intimate moment.”

“That’s not true!” I blushed.  If the short hug was deemed intimate… my thoughts shifted.  Who could have told him that, anyway?  Who would have noticed me at the party, and taken enough of an interest to see what happened between me, a completely anonymous girl who was little more than a stranger, and one guy out of a hundred? 

“That’s what I figured.  I didn’t think he was really your type, anyway.”

“My type?” I asked quizzically.  What did he mean by that?  I asked him as much.

“Oh, you know, handsome – but moronic.  Single-minded.  Vain, and not particularly interesting to talk to.”  Was that a hint of
jealousy
I detected in his voice?  “I just would have thought you’d be interested in guys with more, I don’t know,
substance
, maybe.”

“How do you know all that about him?”

“I hear things, and I see a lot,” he answered coyly.  “From the little time I’ve spent with you, you seem pretty smart.  I just thought you’d need someone else like that, to match you intellectually, at least.”

Someone like you?
  Was that what he was getting at?  I had a sneaking suspicion that there was more to Chris than he let on.  I realized that it would be nearly impossible for someone
not
to have any friends and survive this long at a school, and then mysteriously hear about everything that went on at an apparently exclusive party.  No, there were definitely more layers to him than met the eye.  I didn’t think he was being completely honest with me that day we first met.  The question I wanted answered was
why?

“Well, you’ll be glad to know that there’s nothing going on between me and Rob,” I told Chris sourly.  I sighed.  “You’re probably right, anyway.  Maybe he’s not my type.  To be honest, I barely even know him.”

We continued down the cave in silence, the single flame casting long, flickering shadows of our bodies against the floor.  As we were just about to exit, Chris spoke up.

“…I’m… sorry if I pressed you,” he said somewhat hesitantly.

“What?”  I had been lost in my thoughts and wasn’t paying attention.

“You clearly were looking out for me, like a good friend should, and I’m sorry that I didn’t trust you.”  He said it with such candor that it made me instantly regret my brief outburst.

“Don’t worry about it,” I said.  “I think I should apologize, too.  I shouldn’t have gotten mad, especially after what you showed me just now.  In fact, I should probably thank you for sharing the crystals with me.”

“So we’re good again?” Chris asked behind a sly smile.

“We’re good.  It wouldn’t be much of a friendship if a little argument got in the way.  Right?”

“Right.”  He beamed at me.  “Come on, we’ve got to get out of here before night falls.” 

He was right.  The sun was already setting, and I did not want to climb up the cliff in the dark.  As we made our way back up, the last remaining bits of sunlight providing just enough light to see, I felt an odd type of relief for having made full amends with Chris after the argument.  It was weird – hanging out with him today.  I felt like I had been on an emotional rollercoaster ride.  First there was the mystery of our destination.  Then there was the wonder of the crystal.  Finally, there was the irritation at being barred from touching the surface of the glassy rock.  Afterwards, when he insisted on my telling him what I did last night, the irritation grew to outright anger.  Now, it was superseded by a peculiar feeling of contentment.  In fact, I felt closer to him now than I had even when he showed me the crystal.  Which was strange, because we did have that short fight.  Maybe it was because I realized that there were things to him that he hadn’t yet shared.  This mystery made him seem more… interesting.

“If you’re any slower down there the high tide will get you in the morning!” he yelled teasingly from above.  I realized he was nearly three-quarters of the way up, while I was still languishing just a few yards above the water.

“We’ll see about that,” I said determinedly, and started climbing faster.  Before long, I had nearly caught up with him.  I knew he had slowed down to wait for me.  A few minutes later, he was at the top, leaning against that big boulder and looking out over the horizon as he waited for me.

I grabbed a worn handhold, and pressed myself tightly against the wall.  The ledge was the most unnerving thing about this whole trip, but I was proud that I had made it all the way up without stumbling once.  Well, nearly all the way.  There was one more narrow passage, which I was crossing now, before I was home free.  It was trickier than the first time, with the sun going down, but I made it across without incident.

Finally, as I was about to take the final step from the ledge onto the ground above, I relaxed.  I had made it to the top before it had gotten dark, and there was no more danger of tumbling down.  I put my foot onto the hard earth, but as I shifted my weight onto it, I felt the ground crumble beneath me.  I started to slip, and let out a yelp.  I tried desperately to reposition my weight.  But, I could feel myself losing balance, starting to fall backwards.  The spiny rocks below threatened to take my life. 

Chris moved with incredible speed.  One second he was ten feet away, the next, he had his hand wrapped around mine.  He jerked back with such force that I flew into him, and we both crashed onto the ground, safely away from the edge.  My heart was pounding out of my chest.  I could feel the adrenaline rushing through my veins.  I had just been a hair’s breadth away from certain death.

I heard a sound, like a deep sort of rumbling.  It got louder, and the ground started to shake.  I looked down, and saw that it wasn’t the ground at all.  It was Chris, pressed down against me, struggling to keep an entirely uncalled for bout of laughter under control.  I glared at him menacingly.  That only made him laugh more.  So, I punched him in the arm.  His mirth was contagious, and I started laughing, too.  I was still too shocked from what just happened to move off him, but it felt
good
to be able to laugh. 

I laughed and laughed, until it hurt to do so, and then stopped.  I realized Chris had stopped too, and was staring up at me.  I looked back down at him.  The only sound I heard was the beating of my own heart.  I couldn’t pull my eyes away from his face and I didn’t want to.  He had saved my life.  Slowly, inexplicably, I moved my head down.  And as the last rays of the sun winked out over the horizon, I pressed my lips against his.

Chapter Fourteen – A Meeting

That night, I got back to my room much later than I expected.  Saying goodbye to Chris, I unlocked my door and stepped dreamily inside.  The entire last few hours had seemed almost unreal.

It all started with the crystals, which eventually led to the kiss.  Had that been his plan all along?  No.  If I hadn’t stumbled on the ledge, it would never have happened.  Would it?