2 Deja Blue (20 page)

I gulped a big breath of air, went under the water
,
picked up the heavy rock
,
and started running across the sandy bottom of the lake again. Anya would swim near th
e surface holding a stop watch,
as she followed me along. After what seemed like forever
,
my lungs felt
like they were going to explode so
I dropped the heavy rock and propelled myself to the surface.

Anya was smiling, “Good! You made it
almost
twenty
-one
minutes that time! See?
Much better
, Ruby.
Mu
ch better.”

I treaded water lightly, catching my breath. Even though swimming and staying under water was so much easier for me, and I was (as Anya said) the fastest swimmer in Lake City now, I still got tired, just like any other person would. It just took longer to
affect me. And
we had already been working hard in the water for a few hours. After
I caught my breath, I tiredly said, “Okay, I think I’m done. It’s getting late. I should be heading home soon.” My arms and legs felt fatigued
,
and I just wanted to crawl into my bed. The sky was turning purplish-blue
,
a
nd the stars were starting to twinkle.
In the summertime, I usually stayed out late swimming or whatever, so I knew my parents wouldn’t worry, but
I was past the point of exhaustion now. I just wanted to go to sleep.

Anya wouldn’t let me off the hook that easily. “Tomorrow is our last day to prepare you Ruby. Let’s
take a few minute
rest
on the beach and then
go through the drills just one more time, okay? 
Then
you can go home.”

I blew out a big breath, feeling defeated. Boy, Anya was sure cracking the whip.
Just then, her phone went off again. She handed it to me without even looking at it.

“
m
j
st
drpped
me off
.
suprho
t
.
swim
f
st
grl
!
ttyl
!

I texted back,

“
tr
y
n
2.
gnite.ttyl
”

I sighed and
handed the phone back to Anya.

“Come on,”
she said
, “Let’s head back
out,
and we’ll start from the beginning,” she swam easily ahead of me, not waiting for me to answer. I reluctantly followed like a lost
,
little puppy.
I supposed I should put in the extra work, since I blew off the othe
r night and kept getting interrupted tonight with Jeremy’s constant texting.

After another hour in the water, I dragged myself to the beach and collapsed. Anya sat down next to me
.
“You’re doing well, Ruby
…really good,
”
she said as she wrapped a towel around her. I was too tired to even bother. I laid on mine, sprawled out on the beach, staring up at the starry, dark sky.

“Yeah.
But am I good enough?” I asked, staring at the bright twinkling stars and wondering if I could possibly make
the happy ending come
true for Celestine and
Bexin
. 
Why is it up to me to give them the happy ending to their
f
airy
tale? I didn’t like it. I didn’t like having that responsibility on my shoulders.
But I knew I had to do my best. I owed it to them.
And to myself.
And to my
Fairy
friends who have protected me for so long.

Anya didn’t answer. She shrugged her shoulders and stared up at the sky.
“
Well. There’s still work to be done.
Tomorrow’s another day,” she simply said.
“Same time?”
I nodded, stood up and wrapped my towel around me.
She didn’t sound very supportive. Maybe she was just worried. Or
,
maybe she just knew I could do better. Or
,
maybe she just didn’t want to get my
hopes up in case
I
lost. She knows m
e better than almost anybody. She kn
ew
how
awful I’ll feel if I lose and Celestine can’t marry
Bexin
.

“Okay,” she firmly nodded. “See you then.” She gave me a quick hug and POP, she was gone from my sight. I slowly walked back to my hou
se, through the dark woods, as F
airies fluttered near my feet.
I suddenly thought of the song
“
Popular,
”
from the musical
Wicked
, that my mother
was singing
the
day I came home from Traverse City. The lyrics eerily ran
through my head as I thought about
what Anya had said to me.

“
To be popular

I’ll help you be popular!

You'll hang with the right cohorts
You'll
be good at sports
Know the slang you've got to know
So let's start
'Cause you've got an awfully long way to go
Don't be offended by my frank analysis
Think of it as personality dialysis”

Personality dialysis… Ha. That’s what Brennan needed.
I thought sarcastically.
But even I couldn’t smile at my thought.
I was too wrapped up in my own worries.
Was I good at sports?
Would I be good enough in the
Challenge
?
Things were moving so quickly…and I didn’t know everything I needed to know.
All I
knew was
that
I definitely seemed like I had an awfully long way to go… And I’d have to get there in just one more day.

Chapter 20

The next evening, I went to the beach to go through my swimming drills one
last time before the
Challenge
.
“What?
No Brennan again?”
I asked Anya as I walked up to her. She shook her head
and shrugged,
“Nope
.”

“What’s his deal? I thought he was supposed to be helping
me
. Why isn’t he here?” I asked her. I was more than a little hurt that Brennan had
not
showed up.
Again.
He was the one who made such a big deal about everything, and it was his
“
brilliant
”
idea for me to do this stupid
Challenge
in the first place…now he just seems like
to be
blowing it off.

“Well, he was getting things prepared so Jeremy could come to watch too. He had to get permission from our Father and from the King of the Water Court. They normally don’t let…ah…outsiders come to watch, if you know what I mean,” she said.

“Okay…but…that couldn’t have possibly
taken
him all day. I mean…he knew we were practicing, right?” I pressed.

Anya nodded.

“So? Why isn’t he here then?” I asked again.

Anya kept her lips pressed together in a firm line and shrugged. “Ruby, he just didn’t want to be here
.
”

I stood there staring at her.
Well,
that was a pretty darn straight-forward answer. 
A lump rose in my throat
,
and I could feel tears well up in my eyes. “He…he…didn’t
wanna
be here? Is he mad at me? What did I do?” I said softly, very close to whining. Why did it bother me so much that he wasn’t here?

Anya’s expression softened, and she touched my shoulder as she spoke, “Oh Ruby, I don’t know…he just seemed crabby to me, that’s all. He didn’t really tell me anything. I’m sure you didn’t do anything wrong. You know how boys are…”

I really
didn’t
know how boys were. But
,
I guess I really couldn’t worry about it. He wasn’t here. I felt let-down. Brennan was one
of my best friends (
even though
I couldn’t stand him half
of
the time
)
. I just really needed his support right now
,
and he didn’t even want to be here. The lump in my throat was still there
,
and
,
no matter how many times I gulped and swallowed
,
it wouldn’t go away.
I blinked away the tears that had welled up in my eyes and decided I couldn’t worry about Brennan anymore.
Good friends don’t let each other down like this. Maybe he didn’t think of me as fondly as I thought of him. Maybe he only hung aroun
d so much because of his sister
and because he
was
friends with Leo.
Or
,
m
aybe
he was “crabby
,
”
as Anya
had
said
,
because he’s just tired of dealing with me.  Maybe
because of
all the times he’s had to rescue me
, keep me safe from stalkers,
do
healing
spells on me
,
and all
of
the other crap, he’s decided it’s just too much work. I
suppose
I
have been kind of a burden
to him
. I tried to shake off all of my
feelings of self-doubt and
pity.
I had one mo
re night to get ready for this
Challenge
, and I couldn’t waste time
worrying about why he wasn’t here. “Okay then. I guess we might as well get to work,” I sighed.

Anya put me to work in the water again, and I got the feeling she was going muc
h easier on me tonight.
I think she felt sorry for me.
I was pretty quiet
and tried not complain at all. I didn’t want her thinking I was too much work to be friends with too. I worked extra hard
,
and
,
when she told me we were done for the night
,
I even offered to
stay
longer.

“Anya, I
can
work some more. Come on, let’s go through everything again,” I offered.

Anya smiled and shook her head sympathetically at me as we walked up the beach to retrieve our towels. “No Ruby. You are as ready as you’re going to be. You
’re
exhausted and you
’re
stressed out. What you need now is a good night’s rest. You’ll be great.” She smiled, wrapping her arm around my shoulder.

“Are you sure?” I looked at her with wondering eyes.

She nodded firmly.
“Absolutely.
And don’t you worry about Brennan either. He’s just being crabby. He’ll be there tomorrow. I promise.”

I let out a big sigh, “Okay, if you say so…” But I wasn’t so sure. At this point in the night, I had co
nvinced myself that Brennan
felt like the friendship we had was just too much work. When I thought about it, I realized that I was the pain in the ass, not him. This past summer, I’ve nearly gotten killed at least three times, once by a dragon, and at least twice by a Troll, not to mention I’ve probably caused him so much trouble with the Royal Counsel…it’s no wonder he’s fed up with me. I’d be fed up with me too.

It was
August
17
th
–
the
day of the C
hallenge. Thankfully, I had to work today
,
which kept
my mind busy. If I had to sit a
t
home all day
,
I’d just worry and worry and worry. Anya and I had arranged for me to spend the night at her house, so my parents wouldn’t suspect anything.
Jeremy did the same thing. H
e told his parents he was sleeping over at Brennan’s. Since the
Challenge
was at night and we’d be out until who knows what time, we arranged the “sleepover” excuse. I think it was the longest day in history. It must have been. Was the clock even working at the craft and hobby shop? It seemed like I looked at it every five minutes
;
the hands were just crawling. Finally
, my shift was over and I
head
ed
over to Anya and Brennan’s cottage. Jeremy was working
that day too. He worked at the bookstore in town that was just down the street from where I worked,
so he was going to pick me
up. I waited outside the store with
my backpack slung over my shoulder
,
and paced the sidewalk. I chewed my lip while I anxiously walked back and forth, full of too much nervous energy to sit still. Where was he, anyway?
My
stomach churned in anticipation of the
coming
events of the night
,
and I actually started feeling a bit nauseous. Finally, Jeremy roared up to the curb in his mom’s huge Buick
LeSabre
.
“What took you so long?” I asked as I hopped into the front seat.