The Creek (16 page)

“Marco!” she shouted.

A hand snaked around her ankle.

“Hey,” she said.

Suddenly, without any warning, firm hands gripped both her ankles and she was pulled beneath the water. She tried to kick out, but it was useless. Flailing in fear, panic roaring in her ears, she was pulled relentlessly down by the hard hands. She needed to take a breath but couldn’t; her lungs were freezing up. Someone was trying to drown her!

Still underwater, Penny opened her eyes, the chlorine stinging them brutally. She looked down, and for a moment she saw a ghostly face, strangely distorted in the dark, watery depth of the pool.
But it couldn’t be!
she thought wildly.

Caleb.

Then everything went black.

When Penny came to, she was lying on the hard tiles, her mother’s nose just inches away from her own. And then she was coughing and spitting up what felt like gallons of water. Someone turned her on her side, and the water kept coming.

“Thank heavens!” her mother said with a sigh, leaning back on her ankles.

Penny’s eyes fluttered open, her tongue sharp with the metallic aftertaste of chlorine. The boys were jostling one another to get to her, and the pretty
lifeguard was leaning over.

“Give her some room,” her mother ordered.

“Caleb!” Penny sputtered, her slender body racked with the force of her coughs.

“What?” her mother asked, startled.

“It was Caleb!”

Her mom looked at Oren, alarmed. “Did you see Caleb? Did you see him in the pool?”

“No way, Mrs. Carson. And I know what he looks like,” he said in a solemn voice.

“Oren saved you, Penny!” Teddy blurted out.

“Thanks,” she whispered hoarsely, meeting Oren’s eyes. He blushed.

“Any of you kids see Caleb?”

They all shook their heads in bewilderment.

“Honey,” her mother said, smoothing Penny’s hair back in a soothing gesture. “Are you sure you saw him? None of the other kids saw him, and I was watching, too.”

“But I saw him,” Penny began, her lower lip trembling.

“We didn’t see him, Penny,” Benji said. “And he’s pretty hard to miss.”

Penny looked at the shocked faces of the boys, the
worried expression on her mom’s face, and wondered if she was losing her mind.

“I … I don’t know,” she stuttered. And then the stress of the past week came crashing down on her and she burst into tears.

Penny looked out dully at the passing landscape as her mother drove them home, the other kids quiet. The minivan pulled into the familiar driveway on Mockingbird Lane, and the boys jumped out, towels in tow.

“See you tomorrow, Penny,” Benji said in a subdued voice.

“Yeah, see you, Penny,” Oren echoed. Penny suddenly realized how tall he was, his arms ropy with muscles. He had to be pretty strong to have pulled her out of the pool by himself. How had she never noticed this before?

“Let’s get inside, you two,” her mom said to Penny and Teddy, hoisting up the baby. “Penny, I want you to take a hot shower, okay?”

“Okay,” she said.

It would take a lot more than a hot shower to make things right, Penny knew. A hot shower would not get
rid of the guilt that taunted her. Had she kicked Caleb over the cliff edge when he’d grabbed at her feet, or had the ground simply given way? And worse, had he still been alive when she’d left him there? But nobody could survive a fall that high … could they?

Had his hand moved?

Maybe, she thought, a shiver running through her, his ghost was after her. She remembered something Nana had told her long ago, about how restless spirits sometimes roamed the earth searching for vengeance. Was Caleb a restless spirit? The face in the pool had been hazy, but it had looked so much like him. She didn’t know anymore. She felt like she was going crazy.

Penny went up to her bedroom. She stripped off her shorts, kicked off her flip-flops, and stood there in her damp, chlorine-scented swimsuit. She looked at the shorts, lying there in a tangle, and suddenly knew what to do.

She would call Nana.

She thought of the stuffy little pantry in the kitchen in Key West where Nana kept all sorts of odd-colored bottles, full of sand and seashells. Her spells, she called them.

Maybe one strong enough to get rid of a vengeful ghost.

Penny waited until her parents were in bed and then crept downstairs and flicked on the small lamp by the phone, the warm yellow light glowing comfortingly in the dark kitchen. She dialed the number by heart. Nana picked up on the second ring.

“Hello?” the familiar husky voice said, and Penny almost wept in relief.

She curled herself up on the chair and whispered in an urgent voice, “It’s me, Nana. It’s me, Penny.”

“Hello, Penny dear. How nice to hear from my favorite granddaughter.” Her voice crackled across the distance. “How is your baby brother doing?”

“Fine”

“And your mother and father?”

“Fine.”

“Teddy?”

“Fine.”

“So you’re the only one who’s not fine, I’m guessing.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Tell me,” Nana said in a calm voice. Penny could
almost see her in the sweet little kitchen, a cup of tea within easy reach, the scent of lemon in the air.

Penny gripped the phone. “Someone tried to drown me today.”

There was a distinct pause, and then Nana said in a sharp voice, “Tried to drown you?”

“This boy Caleb,” she whispered.

“Go on.”

“Except I think it was his ghost who tried to drown me.”

“What do you mean, ‘his ghost’?”

Penny felt it building in her, the aching need to tell someone what had happened, to share this terrible burden.

“There was this accident—”

The kitchen light suddenly flicked on, and her mother was standing there in her nightgown, an annoyed expression on her face.

“Who are you talking to at this hour? You’re supposed to be in bed. It’s past midnight.”

Penny gulped. “Nana,” she whispered.

Her mother’s features softened, and she walked over and took the phone from Penny. “Go to bed,” she ordered in a firm voice.

Penny ran out of the kitchen, and then paused in the hallway to listen to her mother.

“I’m sorry, Mom,” her mother said in a tired voice. “It’s been a bad day. We had a scare at the pool. I’ll call you tomorrow and tell you about it, okay? Penny’s just a little overwrought right now.”

T
he day was relentlessly hot, even deep in the cool of the woods. A stingy breeze stirred the trees, carrying the faint scent of something rotting, and Caleb’s face rose before Penny’s eyes, hard and angry.

Several days had passed since the incident at the pool, and with each passing day, Penny’s fear grew. It didn’t help matters any that she felt like she was being watched, stalked by a predator just out of sight, behind that innocent-looking row of bushes, or crouched in the shadows of the garage.

Only the day before, she and the boys had witnessed Amy Bukvic stomp down the block and bang on the Devlins’ front door, looking for her boyfriend.

“Maybe he dumped her,” Mac guffawed, watching as Amy practically ran up the block in tears after a terse exchange with a gray-looking Mr. Devlin.

What had Mr. Devlin said to Amy? Did he think Caleb had just taken off, business as usual, or did he suspect foul play? And if Mr. Devlin thought his son was dead, where were the police? Were they the ones hiding in the shadows, waiting for just the right moment to jump out and slap the handcuffs on her?

Or—and this thought shook her like nothing else could—was Mr. Devlin secretly nursing his son back to health behind the drawn blinds of the house? Or maybe it was Caleb out there, hiding somewhere in the silky dark tangle of the woods. A zombie, or worse:
alive
and really pissed off at her—

“Yo Penny, wake up!” Mac was hollering angrily, as a box of nails flew past her, spilling everywhere. “you wake up!” she shot back. Penny didn’t even want to be here in the woods with the boys, building another stupid fort. She didn’t know what she wanted anymore, but she knew it was not
this.
It all seemed so childish to her now, so silly. “What did you say?” Mac said slowly. “Chill out, Mac,” Benji said, defending her.

“You’re just mad ‘cause of your mom.”

Teddy’s ears pricked up. “What about your mom?”

“She’s acting all weird,” Mac said, mouth twitching. “She’s gonna send me down to my stupid
grandmother’s in Georgia.”

“Because of Caleb?” Teddy asked. Mac and Oren had carried Teddy down to the woods because he couldn’t maneuver on the uneven ground with his crutches. He sat on a log and spent a lot of time supervising the other boys.

Mac nodded. “At the beginning of August. She said the fire was the last straw.”

“That blows,” Oren said with a low whistle.

And then Mac said, “Your bratty sister’s here, Benji.”

Becky Albright stood in the clearing, her crisp white cotton eyelet dress out of place in the cool green woods. She seemed to glow where she stood.

“How’d you find us?” Benji demanded.

Becky shook her head, refusing to tell.

“If Mom finds out you came here, she’ll kill me. Go home.”

“No!”

Benji marched up and grabbed her arm. “Then I’ll take you myself.”

Becky started shrieking her head off. Benji glared at her in exasperation, and Penny walked over and competently took Becky’s hand. “Shut up.”

Becky was so startled by Penny’s sharp tone that she did just that.

“I’ll take her back,” Penny said, happy to get away from the creek.

“Thanks,” Benji called in a grateful voice.

Becky followed Penny quietly. They were halfway out of the woods when Becky stopped dead in her tracks.

“I want to go back!” the little girl declared petulantly, and for a brief moment some part of Penny wanted to slap that defiant little face, slap it hard.

“Too bad,” Penny said sharply. “I don’t have time to waste on bratty little girls.” She grabbed Becky’s wrist and pulled the resisting child after her.

“Why are you being so mean to me?” Becky cried out.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Penny said.

Penny stood in her driveway beneath the rapidly darkening sky, watching the porch lights flick on up and down the block, casting small pools of light. Down at the cul-de-sac, kids were gathering for flashlight tag.

She had taken great care with her appearance this evening. She was wearing a pair of skimpy jean shorts and one of her mother’s skinny tank tops, a racy red
one that entwined her body like a pair of hands. And she had put on the bra, thrilling at the way it made her chest curve softly beneath the thin fabric. This outfit made her feel different, wilder, like she was a cat that had just figured out how to climb trees.

Across the street, Amy was sitting on the step of her front porch, applying nail polish to her toenails.

With a careless ease she had not suspected she possessed, Penny walked across the short length of asphalt, one step after another, and right up to Amy.

Amy’s eyes widened slightly as she took in Penny’s appearance, pausing on the tank top. Something approaching grudging admiration flickered in her eyes briefly and then disappeared.

“Hey,” Penny said, sitting down casually next to Amy.

Amy ignored her, expertly applying the bright red nail polish. Her face was splotchy, as if she’d been crying.

Penny looked at Amy’s handiwork. “Nice color.”

Amy narrowed her eyes, and Penny could almost see the biting reply on the tip of her tongue. And then Amy said, “Thanks.”

“Can I borrow it sometime?”

Amy shrugged.

From the cul-de-sac, Benji’s voice rang loudly. “Come on, Penny! We’re picking sides now.”

Penny hesitated. Amy stared at her challengingly.

Something had changed. She didn’t want to play flashlight tag. Well, part of her did, but another part of her just wanted to sit here and put on nail polish and let the warm night air wash over her bare skin and talk about how it felt to have a boy like Caleb kiss your neck.

“Penny!”

Penny shook herself. Who was this girl inhabiting her body? What was she doing, sitting here with Amy and thinking about kissing boys? She stood up quickly, shaken.

“See ya,” she said, and rushed down the block, leaving Amy to stare after her.

Mac laid down the rules. “Okay, no hiding in garages, and the top of the storm drain is jail. Let’s pick sides.”

Mac and Benji started the slow process of picking teams. There were over twenty kids. Mac picked Oren. Benji picked Penny. Mac picked Billy Gimble. Benji picked Alex Knief. Mac picked Ralphie Kearns. Benji picked Simon Hamel.This went on until there
were only two kids left. Poor Teddy was relegated to sitting in the cul-de-sac, watching the action.

Mac eyed the last two kids. Stan McCann and Zachary Evreth. A lame choice either way.

“I’ll take Stan and you get Zachary,” Mac finally said to Benji, his eyes lingering on Zachary with obvious distaste.

“Hey, Penny,” Zachary said shyly, coming over to Benji’s side.

Penny smiled back.

It was barely light now. By the time the game started, it would be pitch-black.

Mac nodded at Benji. “Toss to see who goes first?”

Benji dug a quarter out of his pocket and flipped. “Heads,” he called.

The bright quarter landed tails up in his hand.

Mac looked at his team and nodded. “Let’s go.”

Penny and her teammates waited ten minutes and then took off into the dark, their flashlights scanning bushes, sides of houses, dark alcoves. Fireflies blinked in and out of the darkness. Every once in a while Penny saw a kid on her own team dart by, flashlight shining. She gave a quick flash back in support.

In short order her team had caught five of the ten
kids. Since they were limited to front and back yards, many of the hiding places were well known. Penny tried to get into the spirit of the game, but her heart just wasn’t in it. And for the first time in her life, she felt scared to be outside in the dark. She kept hearing soft meows and lingering barks, as if the ghosts of the pets Caleb had killed were following her in the dark, eyes glowing.