Once Again (17 page)

It wasn’t as hard to lie as I thought it
would be. Probably because not all of it was a lie. I was
trying
not to get my hopes up too high, although I knew deep
down it wasn’t working. And I was
trying
not to have too
many expectations. Trying, but not succeeding.

And pretending to be semi-worried about Kara
wasn’t too difficult. She was popular and beautiful - two things
I’d never been. But it was also hard to picture Luke with her. She
was so different from him and his kind, selfless ways. She was like
the anti-Lucas.

“And so you’re trying to be happy just being
friends with Lucas?” Marsha asked this as if I’d just said I was
trying to defy gravity.

“I
am
happy with the way things are.”
There, that was not a lie. “Like I told Kara the other day, I
haven’t mistaken Luke’s kindness as anything other than it was
meant.”

Through the cafeteria doors, a group of
seniors passed by. During the lunch period, each grade changed
classes on a different schedule to avoid overcrowding in the
lunchroom. Lance walked in front, followed by a trio of girls. I
knew Corey and Will wouldn’t be far behind. I turned my head from
the door, not up for one of the friendly waves I knew Corey would
give.

My phone vibrated in my back pocket. For a
person who didn’t particularly love text messaging and didn’t use
it all that much, three texts before lunch was a record.

I opened the phone, careful to be discreet
and keep the others from seeing the message and who sent it. It was
from Luke.

Ignore the pics. Another Kara stunt. U r the
girl of my dreams.

Oh good grief. How in the world was I
supposed to keep my heart even the tiniest bit safe when he said
stuff like that? Of course, it wasn’t just pretty words. He was
speaking literally. He did dream about me.

I closed the phone, returned it to my pocket,
and pushed back from the table. I had to give the girls some sort
of explanation. I supposed it was an unwritten rule that texts
received in the company of friends had to be explained.

“A reminder about literature,” I said, not
telling them for sure it was from Luke. “We got a new reading
assignment today. I’m going to get some lunch.”

Walking toward the sandwich bar, the tingling
sensation began, moving up my spine and across my skin. Words moved
through my mind, random at first, but then sliding into place.

It happened quicker this time because I
didn’t fight it. I’d ceased to be surprised anymore, and whatever
haywire thing was happening in my brain just might be connected to
all this other supernatural stuff plaguing Luke and me.

The phrase formed with clarity before I even
lifted my lunch tray from the stack.

Even if I have to kill him.

For a moment it seemed my heart stopped, and
the lunch tray almost slipped from my hands. But I reigned myself
in, forcing myself to look normal. If whoever was having those
thoughts was in this room, the last thing I wanted to reveal was
that I was aware.

Behind me, someone cleared a throat. Right. I
was holding up the line.

I grabbed a chicken salad sandwich on wheat
bread and glanced behind me. “Sorry.”

“No problem.” It was Phoebe, the girl from
the hallway the other day, who always seemed to be so unhappy.

“Just distracted, I guess,” I muttered.
“Aren’t you a senior? How come you have lunch with us?”

“Glitch in the scheduling.” She eyed the
broccoli and decided to pass. “Since I have art last period, I’m in
senior English this period. It’s a small class, so we all come to
lunch early.”

I nodded, reaching for a bag of corn
chips.

“I saw the pictures.” She picked up a banana.
“Told you people here suck.”

I was sure she felt that way. Which was
awful. Was anyone
ever
nice to her?

I smiled at her. “Well, I don’t think
you
suck. Hopefully you don’t think I do either.”

She just shrugged. “Kara Jennings seems to
hate you, so in my book that’s a point in your favor.”

I glanced back at the table, at the paper
lying in the center, and thought about Kara Jennings.

Something was definitely brewing at Sky Cove
Senior High.

Corey
met me in the front lobby as I left school that afternoon. He was
one of Luke’s closest cross-country buddies, and though I wasn’t
certain, I thought he might’ve been the only person Luke had
confided in that we were more than friends.

“Hey Layla,” he said, catching up with me as
I made my way through the crowd toward the front door. “Lucas
wanted me to tell you Coach Roberts sent him to pick up a case of
bottled water before we leave.”

“Okay, thanks.” And wasn’t it just like Lucas
to think of me? It wasn’t like we had some kind of standing date at
the end of each day to see each other in the parking lot. But it
was so like him to be considerate enough to let me know why he
wouldn’t be there today.

“I’ll walk you out, if that’s okay with you.”
He pushed the door open and held it for me. “Luke was kind of
worried after what happened today with those pictures.”

I smiled. Luke’s protective gestures were so
endearing.

No one gave us a second glance as we made our
way through the parking lot in the misting rain. As much as I’d
gotten used to the attention, it felt nice to not have eyes
watching me as I walked to my car.

“Tell Luke, I said good luck,” I said as I
reached my car. “And good luck to you, too.”

“Thanks. We’ll be headed out as soon as Luke
gets back with the water.”

I reached into the front pocket of my
backpack, but as my hands closed around my keys, I saw my door was
already unlocked.

Odd. I was always so particular about locking
my doors.

“That’s weird. My door’s unlocked.”

I leaned down to look in the window, and
Corey stepped around me to do the same.

“Anything missing?” he asked.

“Doesn’t look like it.” I pulled the door
open for a closer look. “I must’ve just forgotten to lock it this
morning.”

Which was a definite possibility, since I’d
still had last night’s dream on my mind when I arrived at
school.

“Um, Layla I think I ought to ride with
you.”

“What?” I turned back around to face him.

“Well, Luke confides in me some, and I know
he’s been kind of concerned about the things that have been said
and done. And after today, with the pictures, it’s obvious
somebody’s messing with you.”

“It was a stupid prank,” I argued. “That’s
all.”

“Even still, I think Luke would appreciate it
if I rode with you.”

“But you have to leave for the meet.”

“I’ll call Will, have him follow us and pick
me up at your house.”

“How are we going to explain that to Will?” I
asked. “If Luke’s confided in you then you know the two of us want
to keep a low profile.”

“I’ll tell him you had some car trouble.” He
shrugged his shoulders. “And I thought Luke would want me to be
sure you made it safely home. It isn’t really untrue, and Will
realizes there’s something between you guys.”

“Please don’t make a big deal out of this to
Lucas,” I said. “I don’t want him distracted when he runs.”

“I won’t say a word, until after the
meet.”

“All right then,” I agreed. “Call Will.”

Corey pulled his cell from his pocket and
made his call while I loaded my backpack in the back seat. Once we
were both in the car, I cranked the ignition.

Loud, heavy metal music I did not recognize
burst from my speakers, making both of us jump. I slammed the off
button. Eyes dropping to the console, I saw the CD I’d been
listening to this morning lying loose between the two front
seats.

That CD had been in my stereo when I got of
the car before school.

“Someone’s been in here,” I whispered. Thank
goodness the car was still in park, because I was shaking too much
to drive.

“You’re sure?” Corey said.

I nodded, picking up the CD and showing it to
him.

“I was listening to this. I left it in my
stereo.” I pointed at the radio dial. “And whatever that was, it
wasn’t anything I chose myself.”

“Let’s see what station it is,” Corey
suggested. “Might give some place to start.”

“Start what?”

“Figuring out who got in your car.”

The shaking began to subside and I took
several deep breaths. Would it even do any good to report it to the
principal or the school resource officer? Nothing was missing or
broken. There was no evidence of wrongdoing, other than the music.
Would they believe someone had been in my car?

“Why don’t you let me drive?” Corey
asked.

I nodded and got out of the car.

We switched spots and Corey took off. Halfway
to my house the rain picked up and he turned on the wipers.

The windshield smeared and clouded, rather
than clearing.

“What in the world?” I said, not really
expecting an answer.

Corey tried them twice more, with no success.
The smearing just got worse. He didn’t say anything. Just rolled
down the window and leaned his head partially out, peering through
the rain and slowing the car to a crawl. Traffic in my subdivision
wasn’t heavy, which worked to our advantage, as he was able to
creep his way down the street and over to the next block. He turned
in to my driveway just as Will pulled up.

Corey was out of the car in a second,
inspecting the wipers on my car, seeming oblivious to the rain.

“Looks like Vaseline,” he said.

“You’re kidding.”

“Look, I’d stay and help you clean it up, but
I’ve got to get going,” Corey said, looking at Will waiting in his
truck. “You can probably get this off with a rag or a
squeegee.”

“I’ll take care of it. You go.”

He started toward Will’s truck, but turned
back around.

“Layla, Vaseline on windshield wipers is a
harmless prank sometimes. But putting it there on a rainy day,
well, that sort of smacks of more than a practical joke.”

“Don’t tell Luke.”

“I can’t keep this from him,” he said. “And
neither can you.”

“I know that,” I corrected. “Just don’t say
anything until after he runs, okay?”

When he looked like he might argue, I took a
step closer.

“I’m home safe, my mom’s here, and my dad
will be home later. I’m not going anywhere. You can tell him after
the meet, and he can come by here and we’ll talk about it.”

He nodded once and hurried to the curb. I
looked at my cell phone and realized the entire episode, from the
blaring music in my car to this moment had been less than ten
minutes. Surely the two of them would make it back to school in
plenty of time to get on the bus.

Looking at my car, I took a deep breath,
trying to decide what to do. Cleaning that mess from my wipers and
windshield was first on the agenda, but after that, I decided to
make a list.

Luke’s theory about the villains in our
visions being reincarnated just might hold more water than we’d
thought.

***

Getting the Vaseline off my windshield turned
out to be more of a job than I’d imagined. I scraped a lot of it
off with my ice scraper, but afterward it still took almost an
entire roll of paper towels.

I kept waiting for Mom to come out and
inquire about what had happened. I hated the thought of being
untruthful with her, but how could I tell her someone had gotten
into my car and sabotaged my windshield wipers? She’d be on the
phone with the principal immediately, followed by a call to the
police. I couldn’t explain to her that Lucas and I were dealing
with forces beyond what the police could deal with, and the
Vaseline on my wipers may well have been the result of an evil
older than all of us.

When I went inside, I wasn’t totally
satisfied that I’d removed all the slime, but it was enough I could
see. And the wipers were clean. I made sure of that.

In the kitchen, I caught the scent of fresh
pastry and some kind of berries, just as Mom pulled a pie out of
the oven. And there were chocolate chip cookies cooling on the
counter. No wonder she hadn’t come outside to check on me. She’d
been busy baking. I thanked my lucky stars.

“Dinner may be a bit later tonight,” she said
over her shoulder. “I was in the mood for pie and cookies, so I
haven’t started dinner yet. Did you know Maine blueberries are in
season?”

“No problem.” I grabbed a cookie, and leaned
over to smell the fresh-from-the-oven blueberry pie. Butter, sugar,
and blueberries make a lovely aroma. “I’ve got some things to work
on before we eat anyway.”

“Lucas called this morning.” Mom’s words
halted me on my way to the stairs. “Asked if it was all right to
take you to Camden for dinner tomorrow night.”

Camden. Nice.

“He hasn’t told me where we’re going. He
wants to surprise me.”

“Oops.” She sat the pie on the counter and
turned off the oven. “I’ll say no more, then.”

“He might be here for dinner,” I added. “He
said something about coming by when he got back from his meet.”

And I knew after Corey told him about the
business with my car, he’d be here as soon as he was back in
town.

“That’s fine, honey. We’d love to have
him.”

I made my way to my room, thoroughly enjoying
the taste of warm milk chocolate. Being a Friday, I didn’t have a
lot of homework, so I decided to put it off. Instead, I pulled out
the notebook that held my notes from the courthouse and last
night’s dream dialogue, and flipped to the back section.

I started by jotting down descriptions of the
dreams and visions Luke and I had experienced. I included not just
places, times, and events of the visions, but also how I felt,
before, during and after. I figured the more information we had in
one place, where we could look and reflect, the more we might be
able to glean from it.