Pawn (Nightmares Trilogy #1) (2 page)

“I’m gonna be sick,” I croaked through
chattering teeth.

Hastily, the person holding me set me
down on my side. Cold fingers brushed my skin as they gathered
clumps of wet hair clinging to my face while lake water spewed from
my mouth. Some part of me thought I should be embarrassed, but that
part was overshadowed by the jolt of pain that shot through my
right cheek. In the next instant, the fingers released my hair, and
their owner emitted an audible gasp.

“Sorry,” the voice mumbled.
Tentatively the person once again pulled the hair back from my
face, this time careful to avoid skin-to-skin contact.

Even after all the water was out, my
stomach continued to cramp uncomfortably and I continued to dry
heave. Despite the cold, sweat beaded along my hairline and under
my arms. The grass was cool and wet, and I pressed my cheek against
the blades, relishing in the refreshing feel of it. Pounding
started at the base of my skull; it felt like someone was hammering
my head from the inside. I moaned, immediately wishing I hadn’t
when the pounding became louder and harder.

“You’re safe now, we just need to get
you some dry clothes,” my savior said.

The situation was becoming clear. This
person holding my hair, promising me that I was safe, had pulled me
from the water. He’d saved my life. I hadn’t drowned at
all.

I wiped my mouth with the back of my
hand and then rolled onto my back to glimpse the person I was
forever indebted to. Opening my eyelids felt like ripping off a
scab. The ordinary act was extraordinarily painful, and I only
managed small slits as I peered up into the most beautiful face I’d
ever seen. Two blurry, green irises returned my gaze. I blinked
several more times to bring them into focus. The eyes were
gorgeous, brilliant emerald lights in the darkness.

“Do you know your name?”

I nodded, too embarrassed to speak. My
rescuer, who’d just witnessed me emptying the contents of my
stomach on the grass, was a boy about my own age. Not even my
mother had seen me this vulnerable, not since I was old enough to
use the bathroom by myself, anyhow.

“What is it?” he prompted, refusing to
let me off that easy.

“Eel,” I whispered. My throat was raw
and swollen, and the single word was painful on my vocal chords.
The creature in the water that tried to drown me, tried to strangle
me, came flooding back in one sharp burst of memory. I shuddered.
The experience felt so real. In my mind’s eye, I could see the dark
eyes staring into mine, feel the bony fingers around my
throat.

“Eel?” The boy said my name like a
question, like maybe he hadn’t heard me correctly. “Are you
sure?”

“Yes,” I snapped, edgy from the memory
of the lake monster. “Eel’s a nickname, though,” I explained in a
softer tone.

As a baby, my father had christened me
Eel ― like electric eel ― after the mobile that hung above my crib
mysteriously stopped working every night. Each morning, without
fail, he replaced the battery. He joked that I singlehandedly kept
Energizer in business. The nickname stuck around, even though my
father had not.

I tried to sit up, but the effort was
painful and I slumped back to the grass, defeated. The boy wrapped
the blanket tighter around my body before placing one hand on the
small of my back and the other on my arm, helping me to a sitting
position.

“Short for Endora Lee,” he muttered,
more to himself than me.

I stared at him curiously. How did he
know that? Then I realized it wasn’t the first time he had said my
name. He’d called me Endora when he first covered me with the
blanket.

“How did you know my name? Have we
met?” I asked, an ominous feeling creeping up my spine. I had the
sudden urge to get away from him, very far away from
him.

“You aren’t bleeding, so that’s a good
sign,” he replied, dodging my question as he carefully examined the
base of my skull.

He parted wet clumps of my hair until
his fingers brushed the swollen goose egg protruding from my head.
A crackle of electricity sparked in the air, sending a jolt of pain
ricocheting through my body.

“Owwwww!” I exclaimed, as I pulled
away from him.

“Sorry,” he muttered, averting his
eyes from my face to stare at his hand. “Did that hurt?”

Of course touching the welt hurt, but
that wasn’t why I’d pulled away. The literal shock of his skin on
my mine, the current of electricity that flowed from his fingertips
to my head, had come as a very painful surprise. Judging by the way
he was inspecting his hands, he hadn’t expected it
either.

We sat in silence, both of us looking
everywhere but at each other. Water lapped the grassy bank, tree
branches cracked in the distance, crickets chirped all around us.
The longer we were alone, the more uncomfortable I felt. The boy
gave me the creeps. When I finally did look at him, I couldn’t tear
my gaze away. I admired the perfect slope of his straight nose, his
golden brown hair dripping water, his full lips, and those intense
green eyes. He was a magnet, a beautiful magnet, drawing me to
him.

“Endora Lee?” His face was so close to
mine that his breath fanned my cheeks, warming the skin.

“Yes?”

“What happened in the
water?”

“What?” I stuttered, surprised by his
question. I rubbed the spot on my neck where the creature had
wrapped its slimy hands. The skin radiated heat, a sharp contrast
to the cold, clammy skin surrounding it.

“What happened in the water?” he
repeated evenly.

Uneasy laughter bubbled up in my
throat. There was no way I was discussing my hallucinations in the
lake. He would think I was nuts.

“EEL?”

“EEL?”

“EEL?”

At least three separate people called
my name. The sound of breaking branches and crunching pebbles was
growing closer. Devon was among the searchers - I recognized her
voice. The other voices were harder to place, but I was pretty sure
I heard Elizabeth and Mandy as well.

“Over here,” I called back.

My voice was hoarse and low, and I
doubted Devon and the others heard me. The boy and I continued to
stare at each other, weigh each other, pass judgment on one
another. I was torn. On the one hand I was unusually drawn to him,
not romantically attracted as much as physically pulled to him.
Even though we were practically touching, I wanted, needed to be
closer. At the same time these feelings made me lean towards him,
fear made me draw back. Something about him put me on edge, and
considering that I had nearly drowned and he’d been the one to save
me, it made no sense.

“How do you feel?” he asked, breaking
the awkward silence.

“I’ve been better,” I mumbled, “but
I’ll live.”

“Yes, you will.” The words were
innocuous, the exact response that I would have expected had I
given it much thought, but they gave me chills. It was like there
was a hidden meaning behind them, one he thought I should be able
to infer.

In the distance, Devon and my other
friends still called my name, their urgency increasing.

“Endora Lee Andrews!” Devon’s voice
was louder, more insistent, than the others.

I thought again about how this boy
knew my name. Had we met? I studied his face, searching my memory
for one that matched. Nothing. Not even the slightest spark of
recognition.

“I’m over here,” I repeated, louder
this time. I searched my surroundings for a landmark, since “over
here” was pretty vague. All I saw were water and trees.

“By the water, Dev,” I shouted
unhelpfully.

I returned my attention to the guy. He
was staring at me with such intensity that I felt the need to
recoil. But I didn’t. I returned his gaze, losing myself in the
depths of his dilated pupils. My fight-or-flight instinct was a
nagging voice in the back of my mind, demanding that I choose
flight. A different, stronger instinct won out ― the desire to be
close to him.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

Our faces were so close that if either
one of us leaned forward we’d bump noses. My breathing was shallow
while his was ragged, chest rising and falling in rapid
succession.

The footsteps drew closer. “I’ve got
her!” Devon shouted.

More trampling of leaves, cracking of
branches, and low voices; but I didn’t acknowledge my
friends.

“I should go,” the guy said, but he
made no move to leave.

“Wait,” I reached for his hand, “you
didn’t tell me your name.”

The guy drew his hand back as if the
thought of my touch repulsed him. He said nothing and continued to
stare into my eyes as if trying to see my soul. We stayed like
that, gazes locked, ignoring my friends and the world around us,
for what felt like forever. Despite the growing unease in the pit
of my stomach, I didn’t want him to leave. I was intrigued,
mesmerized, oddly transfixed, and didn’t want the moment to
end.

“Eel?” Devon asked
tentatively.

I barely heard her, but the sound of
my name broke the trance. He quickly stood and backed away from me.
Devon rushed forward, followed by Mandy and Elizabeth.

“Are you okay? Oh my god, I was so
scared. You didn’t come up right away, and then you didn’t come up
at all. But we couldn’t see well, so Rick thought maybe you had and
we just missed it.” Devon wrapped her arms around me, hugging me
against her chest. I was about to protest since I was soaking wet,
but the comfort of a familiar person was too nice to turn down. I
returned her hug, clinging to my best friend.

Over her shoulder, I watched my
rescuer disappear into the woods. I wondered whether I’d ever see
him again.

“Guess I overreacted, huh?” Devon
muttered.

“What?” I asked, only half-listening
to Devon.

“We thought you’d drowned,” Mandy
said. Even in the darkness, I could make out the relief in her
hazel eyes.

“No, I didn’t. That kid, the one who
was sitting here with me when you showed up, he saved
me.”

Devon pulled back and stared at me
with confused blue eyes. “Really?” she asked skeptically. “Who is
he?” She turned and looked into the dark woods, searching for the
boy.

I followed her gaze, but he was gone.
“I’m not sure,” I mumbled.

“Have you ever seen him before?” Devon
asked.

Even as I shook my head no, I wondered
if I had. He clearly knew who I was.

“Was he alone? What’s he doing out
here?” Mandy interjected.

Again, I shook my head, unable to come
up with an articulate answer.

“Probably the same thing we were doing
before Eel ―” Rick started to say, but Cooper silenced him with an
elbow to the ribs.

“It doesn’t matter right now,” Devon
said. She returned her attention to me, accessing my face for signs
of damage. “Are you hurt?”

“I hit my head, but I’m
okay.”

Devon looked unconvinced.

“Really, Dev,” I added. “Let’s just
get out of here. Where are my clothes?”

“I’ve got them,” Elizabeth supplied.
She extended a pair of jeans, a tee shirt, and sneakers in my
direction. Apparently, thinking that I’d drowned had a very
sobering effect because she was much steadier on her feet than when
I’d last seen her.

Devon helped me stand, aided by Rick
and Cooper, who both hurried to grab my arms when I stumbled. Mandy
hung off to the side, nervously twisting a lock of short brown hair
around one finger.

“Thanks,” I mumbled, embarrassed by
the way everyone was fawning over me.

I took my clothes from Elizabeth,
handing her the blanket in return. Between the headache from hell
and the audience, I decided it was best to just put on my jeans and
tee shirt over the wet bathing suit.

“What do you guys say we take this
party back to my house?” Cooper suggested jovially.

After nearly drowning and being
rescued by a mysterious stranger, I had no desire to celebrate my
birthday any longer. Elizabeth spoke up before I was forced to make
up some lame excuse for going home.

“Actually, we need to go back to my
house,” she said. “Eel, your mom called.” Elizabeth produced a cell
phone from her jeans pocket and waved the lit-up
display.

Great
, I thought,
overprotective mother to
the rescue
. Normally I begrudged her
incessant phone calls and text messages, but tonight I was
thankful. Since my mother, the Westwood County State’s Attorney,
frowned upon breaking into private property, underage drinking and
cheap thrills, I had told her that I was going to Elizabeth’s for a
quiet night of movies and junk food with the girls. She had still
been at the office preparing for a big trial that started the
following Monday and hadn’t questioned the lie too
closely.

“She said if you don’t call her from
my house within the next hour, she will call the cops,” Elizabeth
continued. Then, to my dismay, she added, “Anyone interested in
late night hot-tubbing is welcome.”