Authors: Marissa Farrar
T
hat
evening, I arrived at Sage Springs’ Olympic-sized, outdoor pool. Already the stands were filling with people. I searched the crowds, chewing on my thumbnail, trying to spot either Flynn, or someone with a camera strapped around their neck who might be the Sage Gazette’s photographer.
Someone handed me a program, and I glanced down at it, trying not to be baffled by all the names and numbers.
What the hell are seed times?
“Elizabeth?”
A female voice came from behind me, and I turned to find the girl whose necklace I’d had until earlier that day standing there. My heart jumped, thinking she was going to start questioning me about what I’d been doing with her jewelry, but then I noticed the camera she held.
“I’m Melissa Wilder. I’m the photographer for the Sage Gazette. Dana said I’d see you here. I figured we should probably meet and make sure your story and my pictures worked together.”
“Oh, sure,” I stuttered. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“You too.” She started to walk away, and I hesitated, unsure whether to follow, but she turned back and jerked her head in the direction she was going.
“There’s a bench for reporters. We get prime seats. Perk of the job.”
I smiled and followed, pretending this was something I already knew.
The place began to fill up, until almost every seat was taken. Another college had come in to compete against Sage Springs, and the two teams’ supporters had naturally divided themselves between the two opposite parts of the stadium.
The swimmers began to file out of the changing room, some of them sitting on benches on the opposite side of the pool to where the reporters were, while others stood up, swinging their arms to warm up, or doing stretches.
My eyes automatically sought Flynn, but he was deep in conversation with another swimmer and paid no attention to me.
I focused on the program, trying to figure out which each of the columns of names and numbers meant. Wanting to appear busy, I took my notepad out of my bag and began jotting down my mental descriptions of the atmosphere and people.
Before I knew it, the swimmers were being announced. Guys lined up at the pool edge on the starter blocks.
“Take your marks … Get set …” and a whistle blew. In synchronized motion, the competitors dived into the water. Arms and legs thrashed, and they reached the end of the pool and flipped beneath the water, pushing back off the wall with their feet. All of the swimmers appeared to have reached the other side together to me, but the scores flashed up on the board, so someone must have been able to figure out who’d won.
For the next swim, Flynn’s name was included in the announcement. He walked out into the pool area, swinging his arms and jumping up and down on the spot to warm up. He headed over to the pool and lined up with the other competitors, his toes curled around the edge of the starter block.
“Take your marks … Get set …” and the whistle blew once again. All the competitors dived in. The arena filled with the sound of people whistling and yelling their encouragement, but all of the noise faded into the background as I was mesmerized by Flynn’s agility.
The water seemed to part before his fingers had even reached it, allowing him a clear path through. His powerful body cut through the water with barely a splash, keeping him an easy body’s length ahead of all of his competitors. He literally appeared to be flying through the water, so streamline, his arms rising over his head to cut back through the water, his body undulating like a dolphin.
Excitement built in my stomach as he left the competition behind. I found myself jumping, clapping and screaming with everyone else.
Flynn won by a full body’s length.
Facing me, he placed his hands on the side of the pool, and in one smooth move, pulled himself out of the pool to standing. He wore only a pair of very small, very tight swimming shorts, leaving nothing to the imagination.
“So, what did you think?” he asked me, catching his breath.
“You did great.”
Don’t look down,
I willed myself.
Keep your eyes on his face.
“Better than great, in fact. You’re really fast.”
But I couldn’t help myself, my gaze traveling down his lean torso. If Flynn Matthews dressed attracted everyone’s attention, Flynn Matthews almost naked positively
demanded
everyone’s attention.
He stood before me, water droplets coursing down his tanned skin, dripping from his golden hair and eyelashes. I couldn’t help but stare. The curved muscles of his biceps and pectorals, the narrow line of his waist, broad shoulders and defined muscles. I gulped. I might not have much experience—boy-wise—but I was still an eighteen year old girl, well, part girl anyway.
“Thanks.” He grinned and ran a hand over his head, shaking water from his hair.
Someone get him a towel,
I wished vehemently. I looked around for one, hoping I could just cover him up myself. The effect he was having on me was simply not lady-like.
“So I assume you got the places our team made?” he said, completely unaware of my reaction to him standing almost naked in front of me.
I glanced down at my notes, happy to have something to distract me. “Oh, yeah, sure. But I could do with you explaining how the seeding arrangements work.”
He nodded. “Sure. Let me get changed, and then maybe we can take a walk, or something. I like to cool down after a race.”
Thank God, he was going to get changed.
“No problem. I’ll wait here, shall I?”
“Hang on, Flynn,” called Melissa, lifting her camera high. “One more for the paper.”
Flynn gave a boyish grin which managed to appear both sexy and shy, before he turned away from me to head off to the changing room.
I was staring again, but this time not at Flynn’s fine body. Instead, something
on
his body had caught my attention. At the top of his back, midway between his shoulders and the base of his neck, was one of the symbols I had seen drawn on Brooke’s body.
My mouth ran dry. I waited until he’d vanished from view and then rifled back through my notebook to where I’d drawn the symbols I could remember.
Yes, there it was. Exactly the same. It looked like a sideways flag, with a couple of smaller swirls coming from the base.
My heart sank. Was everyone in this town involved in something strange, or was it pure coincidence?
Melissa had sat down on one of the now deserted benches, flicking through the images on the screen of her digital camera. There wasn’t any sign of the pale-faced girl, foaming at the mouth, her eyes rolling back in her head. This girl had it completely together. She’d made no move to touch me yet, not to shake my hand or anything else, but I wanted to touch her. Did she have the necklace on her now? Had Laurel told her that I’d taken it? If she had, Melissa wasn’t giving any indication that she thought badly of me.
“Hey,” I said, sitting down beside her. “Mind if I take a look at those?”
She gave me a half-frown, as if not expecting me to be quite so forward, but then said, “Yeah, sure,” and handed me the camera.
I deliberately reached in too far as she passed it over, the back of my hand making contact with her fingers. I braced myself.
The necklace dropped into her hand. Her fingers curled around it, and she lifted it, pressing her fist to her heart. “Thank you,” she said, her gaze lifting to take in Laurel standing in front of her. “Where did you find it?”
“That girl had it. The one we’ve been watching.”
“What? How did she get it?”
“She picked it up off the floor when your chakras were thrown out of line because of this damn planet alignment. You should be more careful.”
“I was hardly in any state to be careful.”
“I know, but something’s off with her. She’s involved with the carnival somehow. If we’re not careful she could ruin everything …”
“Beth? Beth?”
I realized Melissa was speaking to me in the real world. I blinked, trying to regain focus. It wasn’t often I picked up such clear visions. Normally they were only tiny glimpses. I could only assume it had something to do with the fact we’d all touched the necklace and had connected our energies somehow.
“Beth?” she said again. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, sorry. I’m a bit of a daydreamer.” I pushed the camera back to her. “The pictures look great.”
Flynn saved my awkwardness by choosing that minute to return. He stopped right in front of me. “Okay, ready?” he asked.
Melissa squinted up at him, and then back at me, clearly wondering what the deal was.
“I’m just getting some details for the article,” I said, not sure why I felt the need to explain myself to her.
She lifted her eyebrows, a small smile on her lips, and gave a nod that said, ‘sure you are.’
I got to my feet, stepping into Flynn’s side. I sensed eyes watching as we walked from the pool and out onto campus. The image of the tattoo on his upper back played on my mind. Did it mean Flynn had something to do with whatever happened to Brooke?
“So where do you want to walk to?” I asked.
“How about a hike out through the forest? Not too far, but enough to get away from all the people. Having everyone shouting like that for the last hour makes me want to escape to somewhere quiet.”
I wanted to suggest the library as being a perfectly decent, quiet place in which to talk, but didn’t want to appear to be a total nerd. Besides, though my dreams had pointed toward the forest as containing something threatening, I couldn’t avoid the place forever.
“Sounds great.”
I wondered how sensible it was to go walking in the middle of a forest, in the evening, with a boy I thought might be connected with the kidnapping of my roommate, and the occult drawings I found on her body. Yet I considered myself to be a fairly good judge of character, and I didn’t get any sense of darkness coming from Flynn. Not like Riley. I felt a stab of guilt at the thought of Riley, though the guilt was misplaced. After all, attraction alone didn’t give you a hold on another person.
Anyway, I doubted Flynn could do me much harm, even if he wanted to. In reality, I was more likely to hurt him than the other way around. My control over my bloodlust seemed to be getting weaker by the day. I wondered if it was this place that was causing it, the people I was around, or perhaps it was just me.
We headed off campus and turned a couple of blocks until the road led to a forest trail. Flynn walked with long, strong strides, and I hurried to keep up. We headed out along a trail into the forest. It was peaceful this time of the evening, the heat of the sun waning, insects buzzing around our heads. I swiped at a couple of mosquitoes which whined by my ear, though I didn’t want to kill the bugs I shared an evolutionary trait with.
Flynn slowed, allowing me to catch up. “So, have you seen that carny guy again?” His tone was terse, and I felt myself bristle. Was this the reason he’d brought me out here?
“No,” I lied. “Have you?”
He glanced at me, confused. “Why would I have?”
“Why would I?” I snapped back.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess he seemed kind of interested in you.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m interested in him.” My voice was sharp. I couldn’t help myself.
He held up his hands in mock submission. “Okay, okay. No need to get defensive.”
“Anyway,” I said, “aren’t we supposed to be talking about swimming?”
“Sure. I just wanted to show you something first.”
Alarm spiked through me. Was this where it was all about to go wrong?
Flynn stepped off the track and moved between the huge trunks of the old pine trees, ferns brushing against his legs.
I hesitated.
He turned back to me. “You coming?”
I’m fast and strong
, I reminded myself.
If he tries something, I’ll rip his throat out.
I
widened my eyes, staring down at the ground, shocked at myself. Where the hell had
that
thought come from?
We seemed to be walking in a random direction through the forest, not sticking to one trail or another, but Flynn moved with certainty, as if he knew exactly where he was going. We cut between the tree trunks, birds settling in the branches overhead to roost for the night. The heat of the day had waned, and where the foliage grew dense, casting deep, thick shadows onto the forest floor, the air almost became chilly. In the distance, I became aware of a noise—a low thrumming and grinding of machinery, though it seemed to be coming from below us.
I frowned. “What is that?”
“The noise, you mean?”
I nodded.
“It’s the Squires Mining Corporation. They own and mine most of the land around here. When they’re not digging up the ground, they’re chopping down the trees to make wood pellets for fuel.”
“Oh, right,” I said, my thoughts already drifting. Was this the same company Brooke said her parents owned? I hated to think of the beautiful forest being destroyed like that.