Forsaken (14 page)

At the water’s edge, s
he scooped up a sample of the ocean in a small glass and brought it back to the table.  She raised her arms, looked up at the sky, and regally proclaimed, “It shall come to pass.” Then she poured the sea water over the burning candle on the table.  The second it touched the flame, the water snuffed it out.   Simultaneously, every other candle on the beach and in our hands did the same.  We were instantly drenched in darkness and a suffocating silence.  I looked around anxiously as uneasiness began wrapping around me.  No one else seemed to be worried about this sudden turn of events, so I tried to remain calm.  Just as quickly as they had gone out, the candles danced back to life and the night filled with a warm glow once more. Priscilla bowed her head, walked around the table and gave Kira a small box.  They turned to leave and everyone else began making their way back to the boardwalk.

As the beach cleared, Priscilla walked
towards us.  Her cold blue eyes locked on mine and she gave me a practiced smile that didn’t reach her eyes.  She stopped in front of us, dissecting us one by one before speaking.

“Willow, it is customary that you receive a personal item of your mentor’s upon graduation.
” Even at a close distance her voice held a certain amount of esteem and conviction.  “Since these are extenuating circumstances, I believe you should receive that gift tonight.”  She held out a purple velvet pouch with ribbon drawstrings.  Willow wiped away a few tears that had escaped her eyes and anxiously untied the drawstrings; pouring the contents into her palm.  A breathtaking silver ring set with a turquoise stone sat in her hand.  She slipped it onto her ring finger and held it against her chest.

“This means so much to me, thank you.”
  Willow’s eyes were bright with tears again.

“
It once belonged to Nicolet’s great grandmother.  I know you will take great care of it, Willow.  I know how much Nicolet meant to you.” Priscilla bowed her head towards Willow and slipped past us.

“
Willow?” Kira came up behind us and I gave her the biggest hug I could manage.  She held on to me tightly and I felt tears dampen my shoulder.  She straightened and wiped her eyes.

“I have something for you.”
She turned to Willow and handed her a piece of paper rolled up, secured with a lace ribbon. “I found this among Nicolet’s things.  I think you should have it.”  As Phoebe took the paper, Kira grasped both of her hands and her eyes widened with urgency.

“The contents are very old. 
Make sure it stays protected.”

Phoebe nodded
and embraced Kira in a hug, “Thank you.  I’ll keep it safe, but…what is it?”

“An old poem-“ Kira
stopped as someone called to her from the boardwalk, then focused back on us, looking defeated, “I have to go.” She gave me another quick hug, and then started to walk away. Hesitating, she placed her hands on top of her Willow’s slender shoulders. “Nicolet loved you so much.  Don’t ever forget that.”

“
Thank you Kira,” Willow glanced down at the paper as she walked away. 

“
Open it, open it!” Phoebe insisted, peeking over Willow’s shoulder.

Willow
slid the lace ribbon off the paper and unrolled it carefully.  The piece of paper was browning around the edges and looked like it belonged to a different century. I worried that it would crumble any moment and be carried off by the wind.  The words scrawled down the paper looked like a work of art, looping and swirling into elaborate designs.  Unfortunately the work of art wasn’t written in English.

“Wha
t language is that?” Carmen wondered aloud.

“I don’t know
,” Willow turned the paper sideways, trying to make sense of it, “I’ve never seen it before.  I’ll have to look through my books.”

“Let’s
Google it!” Phoebe exclaimed, attempting excitement for Willow’s sake, “I love a good treasure hunt!”

“I’m pretty sure treasure hunts never incl
ude googling things,” she gave Phoebe an ‘are-you-serious look, “but if you want to put some money on it, I’m down.”

“Ten bucks
,” Phoebe suggested.

“Twenty
,” Carmen countered.  She twirled a finger around her dark hair and lifted an eyebrow daring Phoebe to up the price again.

“Thirty
.”

“Forty
.”

“Okay, okay,
” I put my hands up, “you’ll be selling me and Willow off by the time you settle on a price.  How about whoever figures out what the paper says gets a free meal at any restaurant, paid for by the other roommates?”

“
Only if that includes dessert,” Phoebe upped the ante.

“Deal
.” I said.

“D
eal.” Willow and Carmen agreed.

“Speaking of dessert, wh
o wants brownies?” Willow smiled for the first time that day.  Baking was her form of therapy.  We took the boardwalk leading back to Maren.  I saw a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye beneath us in the dunes, but when I looked closer only saw darkness and the swaying of grass.

“You’re telling me, you were in his bed and NOTHING happened. I don’t buy it.”  Phoebe shook her head at Carmen.  A plate full of brownies sat on the coffee table as we lounged around talking in the living room that night.

“It’
s true!  Logan was a total gentleman.” Carmen winked at me.

“I saw that!  You liar!  You better tell me what happened or I’ll throw your
precious bag off the balcony!” She lunged for Carmen’s Louis Vuitton bag.

“Okay, okay
!” Carmen laughed at her, “Seriously, we lit some candles, got naked….and played poker.”  She shrieked as Phoebe started throwing pillows at her.

“
I hate you. I’ve only had one boyfriend and on one of our dates, mom drove us to the movie and gave us the sex talk!  In the car!  I wanted to throw myself into oncoming traffic.”

“
Speak of the devil…” Carmen said under her breath, reaching for her phone, as it alerted her of a text with Caribbean steel drums.

“Whatever Phoebs,
Ian’s been chasing you for months and you won’t even look at him.”  Willow challenged her as she set her sights on a brownie.

“Who’s Ian?” I ask
ed curiously.

“It’s not that I don’t like him, I just don’t
know…”

“Excuses, excuses Phoebs.  He wants you, he’s hot.  What’s so hard about
that?” Carmen insisted.

“Who’s Ian
?” I asked again, louder this time.

“He’s hot, I know, I know…” Phoebe
sighed “but he’s a Son of Daimon.  They kind of creep me out.”

“If somebody doesn’t tell me who Ian
is, I’ll just go ask Olivia!”  That finally got their attention.

“I’m surprised you haven’t met him yet…he’s one of your boy
friend’s friends.” Carmen made kissing noises at me.

“
Nobody said Finn’s my boyfriend!” I put my hands on my hips.

“I knew it!  You slept with
him didn’t you?” Carmen started bouncing in her seat beside me.

“NO!  He is NOT my boy
friend and I did NOT sleep with him!”

“But she really likes him…uh oh,
her face is getting red.  Yep, she’s likes him, alright” Willow grinned at me and Phoebe chewed on her fingernails in deep thought.

I thre
w my hands up, “Fine, I like him.  Happy?”

“Very
.  Just watch out for your soul.” Carmen continued eating her brownie, a smug look on her face. “I’m just saying.”

“You don’t think he’s creepy?” Phoebe
scrunched her nose like we were talking about zombies.

“He’s definitely dark, but nowhe
re close to creepy.” I chuckled at her.

“
It’s not like he’s a pedophile,” Carmen frowned at her, exasperated. “He’s a Son of Daimon. They’re mysterious, hot and sexy.  What could go wrong?  Plus, I heard he’s going to ask you to the Cimmerian Shade Ball.”

“Really?” Phoebe’s eyes got wide.  She turned
to me, “Are you going with Finn?”

“You guys, we aren’t together!  I’ve never even heard of
the Cimmerian Shade Ball.”  My heart squeezed.  Would he ask me to go?  What if he didn’t?

“Mmmhmm…you so
oo slept with him,” Carmen mumbled, as she furiously typed away on her phone.

“It’s the ann
ual dance that the Sons have on the night of some important meteor shower.  I can’t remember what’s so significant about that shower, but I think it has to do with Aquarius,” Willow explained while licking brownie crumbs off her fingers, “I’ve never been, but I hear it’s a big deal.  Real formal.  Like prom dresses and tuxes formal.  But of course it’s invite only.” 

“
Although….as far as I know, your precious Finnegan has never attended.” Carmen said dramatically.

“Why not?” I ask
ed.  She looked at me like I was missing something obvious.

“Can you say
‘cursed’?  No girl in their right mind would go out with him.” She looked at me, waiting for me to realize she was referring to me.  I changed the subject.

“He did show me some cool stuff though.”  I scoot
ed to the edge of the cushion and leaned forward.  “He showed me that I can manipulate waves.”  I heard them gasp. “I actually made them stop!  It was wild!”

“Maybe you can help Carmen figure it out
.” Phoebe teased from the kitchen as she poured an entire bottle of Hershey’s syrup into her milk glass.  Apparently, she liked a little milk with her chocolate.

“I don’t need help!” Carme
n was grinning, but I caught a hint of jealousy in her eyes. “I’ve been doing it for years, so
I’ll
be the one teaching
her
.” She flipped her dark hair back over her shoulder.

“
That’s not the best part, though.” I paused dramatically, “I can breathe…underwater!”

My
announcement was met with silence.  Then they all start talking at once.

“What?!”

“That’s amazing!”

“
You’re so lucky!”

“No way!
  How’s it work?”

“I
don’t know, I just…started breathing water.” I shrugged and purposely left out the whole Finn tried to drown me part. “It was pretty crazy.” 

Willow’s eyes
widened.  “That means you must have an affinity for a sea animal!”

“It does?”

“The sea turtles!” Phoebe jumped
up, almost spilling her milky chocolate. “They must have recognized you!  That’s why they were around you!”  I realized it made perfect sense.  It would also explain the images that I saw when I touched the turtle. Wow.  Controlling water, breathing underwater, and an affinity to sea turtles.  This was seriously blowing my mind.

“
So what does that mean?  To have an affinity?” I questioned her. “Are they going to follow me around every time I go in the ocean?”  I didn’t remember any sea turtles the night Finn and I were swimming.  And drowning.  And then breathing.  And…

“It means you have a special connection with them, so you can communicate with them somehow.  It’s different fo
r each person,” Willow explained, reaching for another brownie.

Phoe
be sat back down beside me. “I’ve only known one person who had that kind of affinity and it was this guy who could communicate with sting rays.  Talk about weird.  I don’t think I’d want to be BFF’s with one of those.” She made a face, “But sea turtles are awesome!  They get huge and live for like eighty years.  And the baby turtles are adorable!”

“Have you ever
watched them hatch?” Willow asked me.

“
I’ve seen it on the National Geographic channel, does that count?” I tried to remember what the documentary showed.  I’m pretty sure that halfway through Laura Beth came in and changed the channel to something much more thought provoking, like Jersey Shore.

Carmen looked
up from her text messages with Logan to add to the conversation. “It’s really cool to see - the female turtles lay their eggs on the beach, then leave.  After they hatch, the babies find their way to the ocean by following the moonlight shining off the water.” 

“We’
ll have to take you to see it!” Phoebe declared, “They’re an endangered species but we can still get really close.  They usually hatch right around this time.  They stay in the nest for a couple nights after they hatch, then when they’re strong enough, they run to the ocean.  If the moon isn’t shining, we get flashlights to help them go the right way.” She rubbed her chin and raised an eyebrow at me, “You know, we could just throw you in the ocean; I bet they’d follow you anywhere.”  She laughed, but I had a feeling she was probably right. 

~Ӂ~

              When Sunday rolled around, I lazily shuffled into the living room to find Phoebe and Willow watching the Weather Channel and painting their toenails.  Phoebe was balancing a bottle of neon green on her knees, and Willow was in the process of filling up the room with used cotton balls. 

             
“Dang, Willow. How many toenails do you have?” I ruffled her already messy hair and made myself comfortable on the couch. 

             
“Note to self,” she paused to toss another used cotton ball in the pile. “Any nail polish with glitter in it requires turpentine for removal.”

             
“I might have an electric sander in my room if you think that’ll help?” I snickered. She tried to throw a Q-tip at me but it fell short, landing on the floor three feet in front of me.

             
“Oh!” Phoebe pointed at the TV, grinning from ear to ear. “Hurricane Faye’s coming to visit!” By her excitement, you’d think she had just announced that Prince William was coming instead.

             
“Hurricane Faye?  Isn’t that a bad thing?”  I’d never been through a hurricane before, but I couldn’t imagine that staying on a tiny piece of land surrounded by water was ideal.

             
She just giggled like I was being ridiculous. “Of course not!  We break out the popcorn and enjoy the show!”

             
“But it’s a hurricane,” I emphasized, “It could wipe out this entire island and all of us with it.” Did the word ‘hurricane’ mean something different around here? 

             
“We never leave for hurricanes; I’ve been through three since I’ve been here,” Willow looked up from her toes. “It’s pretty amazing to witness.”

             
Amazing, sure, but from a front row seat right on the beach?  Not so much.  Something surfaced in my memory.  “You know…I saw a documentary once about a hurricane that hit Galveston, Texas at the turn of the last century.  There was a school on the beach just like us.  But no one was able to warn them about the hurricane, so they didn’t know to leave. When the water started rising, the nuns tied themselves to the little girls to keep everyone together.”

             
“What happened?” Phoebe’s face turned white.

             
“When the hurricane hit, as each girl drowned, she weighed down the others, and the nuns couldn’t keep everyone above water.  When they dug through the ruins of the school looking for survivors, they found all the girls and nuns still tied to each other.   All of them had died.”

             
“That’s awful….” Willow looked up from her toes, her face grave.

             
“I know.  I can’t even imagine how scary that would be, which leads me to my next question.  Why are we not running for the nearest mountain town?” I scratched my head.

             
Carmen came out of her bedroom, “Duh, our ancestors came from the sea.” She tossed some silver nail polish to Willow and picked up a magazine, flipping through it. “So don’t get your panties in a wad. They placed a protective shield around the campus. We’re golden.  Plus, we used all the extra death-by-drowning rope tying Phoebe to the balcony last year.  Now that was fun to watch.” She blew a kiss to Phoebe who caught it and pretended to shove it in her mouth, chew it up, and finally spit it out on the floor. 

             
“Don’t ask.” Phoebe squelched the question already on the tip of my tongue.  I decided on another one.

             
“So, why can’t we make the hurricanes veer off course and stay out to sea or make them fall apart before they reach land?”  I thought of all the lives that could be saved and the millions of dollars in damages that could be prevented.

             
“Messing with the balance of nature is a risky business.  Especially something as powerful as hurricanes.”  Willow blew on her shiny metallic silver toenails to dry them, “It’s forbidden by the Sanctions.”

             
“What are the ‘Sanctions’?” I needed a dictionary for all these new words.

             
“Basically the rules we have to follow.  There aren’t many, but they definitely enforce them.” Willow explained.

 
              “Most of us aren’t powerful enough to do much harm anyway,” Phoebe shrugged, “I mean, what kind of damage could my little sand tornado cause?” 

             
“It could devastate an ant farm,” I said in all seriousness. “Mass chaos would erupt and the death toll could rise to as much as a twenty.  I wouldn’t want that on my conscience if I were you.” Carmen laughed in her orange juice. 

“The complete and total annihilation of an entire
sand castle, that’s what,” Willow added.

             
“I foresee some serious chafing if it got in your bathing suit,” Carmen looked up from her magazine, “and you thought razor burn was painful…”

             
“And don’t get me started on how it feels in your eyes.  We could all go blind in a matter of minutes,” Willow threw out.  We all erupted into a fit of giggles, except Phoebe.