Alight The Peril (5 page)

Ang giggled. “Can I be there when you do?”

“Of course. I definitely want a witness to that moment.”

“We’re going to be . . . stuck with each other.” The amusement evaporated from Ang’s voice. “I don’t know if I can deal with this. I mean, it’s not even that it’s Sophie. It’s the whole idea, being linked to someone that way forever. I feel way too young to have something this huge happening to me, you know?”

Anxiety stirred through my chest. “I know. Sometimes I feel like if I think about it too much my brain will start whirling like a Tasmanian devil, and then just . . . explode, or something.” I sat up and scooted over so I could rest my back against the wall. “But it’s not like no one’s ever been through this. Maybe we should ask Aunt Dorothy what it’s like. I mean, what it’s
really
like to be in this situation.”

“Yeah,” Ang’s voice brightened. “I’d like to hear her story anyway.”

I squinted, trying to imagine my grandmother and great-aunt as teenagers, new to their pyramidal union. I shook my head. “So, topic change,” I said. “What’s new in the Angeloby department?”

“Toby is sooo sweet, Corinne!” Ang’s voice took on a cooing tone that made me want to laugh and make barfing noises. “He came by and surprised me last night and took me for ice cream.”

“Aw, did you get a banana split and share it with two spoons?” I teased.

“Actually, yeah, that’s exactly what we did,” she said, and we both laughed.

Ang described the extreme adorableness of the flop of hair across his forehead, and how they’d made out in Toby’s car for, like, twenty minutes. When she’d run out of Toby anecdotes, we said goodnight and hung up.

Mason came over late that night when I couldn’t sleep and tried to cheer me up with stories from his time in Africa. I laughed in the right places, but couldn’t help thinking about how Ang and Sophie would have the same kind of link I had with Mason. There was something so intimate about being in
syndesmo
with someone else. With Ang getting involved with Toby and now she’d have such a close connection with Sophie . . . would I get squeezed over to the sidelines of her life? The larger part of me knew that was irrational, but I couldn’t help the anxious little twinges every time I thought of my best friend.

“You want to talk about Sophie at all?” Mason asked after I’d hardly reacted to his story about his dad losing his watch down one of the wells they’d built.

“Not really,” I said. “Sorry I’m such a buzz kill right now.”

“I don’t blame you. It sucks.”

“I’m sorry about my general state of crankiness, too. I know I haven’t been much fun.”

“Well, life hasn’t exactly been a Disney vacation lately,” Mason said. “But I understand that better than anyone.”

I rested my head against the hollow just below his shoulder, his arm warm around my back, and his heartbeat thumping in my ear. My thoughts turned from Sophie to Mason. On the surface, he and I looked like any high school boyfriend and girlfriend, but still, something clouded the space between us. I remembered Mason’s angry words when I’d used the red influence on him. Maybe it was the Sophie thing? It occurred to me that we’d never officially acknowledged any boyfriend/girlfriend status. But I couldn’t think of a way to bring it up without sounding extremely lame.

It seemed crazy that anything could keep us from being as close and in love as two people could be, like Toby and Ang. Mason and I had years of friendship, hundreds of moments of shared history. Heck, we had a
psychic link
. And still this space, or hesitation, or whatever it was kept us from falling completely into each other. Maybe it just took time to switch from friends to boyfriend and girlfriend.

I yawned. Mason’s legs twitched a little, and I realized he’d fallen asleep. I let my eyelids close. After a moment, the world seemed to tilt, and my feet sank into sand. The cove.

My heart in my throat, I turned in a half circle, vigilant for signs of the fog. Tiny ripples of water lapped against the beach with a sound as soft as a mother’s whispered, “shhh, shhh.” The dark circle of the fire pit stood empty. I doubted I’d ever be able to hang out around the bonfire again without seeing Bradley in the flames, black fog puffing from his lips as he begged me for help.

Corinne, over here,
Mason’s voice whispered through my mind.

Straining to see in the dark, I scanned the beach.

Where?
I asked, just as a swatch of beautiful aqua light danced a slow twirl across the night sky. By the light of the twilight rainbow, I spotted Mason near a stand of Ponderosa pines about twenty feet to my right.

As I began walking toward him, the ground beneath my feet changed and softened. Instead of scuffing over fine grains of sand, I pushed my legs through six inches of fluffy, cotton candy-like material. To my right, Tapestry Lake shimmered like gossamer. I looked harder and realized a body of water no longer occupied the space. Instead, the reservoir held an undulating sea of tiny threads that seemed to have their own faint source of illumination.

“Mason?” I called, my voice cracking with apprehension. “What’s happening?”

“I don’t know, but I think it’s okay. Just keep walking toward me.”

With each step, the temperature dropped, and the air took on an almost solid quality, like cold metal against my skin. I drew a sharp breath, half expecting there’d be no air to pull in.

I finally reached Mason and stopped before him, my teeth chattering so hard I doubted I could form coherent words.

Is this a dream like last time?
Echoes of my fear during the vision of my brother ricocheted through me.

Yeah, a dream, but real at the same time. But not like last time.
His crooked smile reminded me of a little kid who’d been sneaking candy before dinner. He stepped toward me and pulled me to his chest, circling his arms around me. The scent of his soap wafted past. My chattering and shaking subsided to occasional shivers. Mason didn’t even have goose bumps. His breath made opaque white clouds in the frigid air.

Why is it so stinking cold?

I think I might be, um, doing this,
Mason said.

What?
I pulled back a little and looked up at him, but shadows obscured his eyes.

Watch.

I turned, pressing my ear into the warmth of his chest, and looked out at the mass of glowing strands that used to be Tapestry Lake. Twilight rainbows began streaking upward like fireworks.

Blue . . . red . . . yellow . . . purple . . .
Mason named the colors before each one appeared.

What are you doing?
How
are you doing it?

I think this is my dream, and you just got drawn into it.

I shook my head.
That’s just . . . wow. So if you can control what’s going on here, can you maybe make it less cold?

Yeah, I probably could, but. . . .
His arms tightened around me, and a flush spread through my body in spite of the cold. Then his arms loosened a bit, and he leaned back and tilted his head toward mine. I looked into his hazel eyes, and then noticed something looming over his right shoulder.

“Main and Wild Rose,” I whispered. It was the street sign. The corner where Mason had kissed me last winter, before he left for Africa. “You’re recreating that night, Winter Solstice Fest?”

He shrugged one shoulder, his eyes shining in the pale light. “Good memory. It was before . . . well, everything.”

Before I gave him the silent treatment . . . the dreams . . . the
pyxis
.

His face inched toward mine, so slowly I thought he’d never close the gap between us. Then his lips finally met mine, and I melted against him. His fingers slid up the back of my neck and tangled in my hair.

With a snap that left every muscle in my body pinging, I woke in my bed. I pushed myself up to sitting just as Mason did the same. We stared at each other in the nearly dark room. His hand caught mine, and he twined our fingers together. He drew me toward him, and meeting me halfway across the coverlet, he kissed me. When he moved away, he stared earnestly into my eyes.

“The stuff that happened after winter solstice, when you thought I was with Sophie, when we didn’t talk for months. It changed something for me and you, and I hate that,” he said. “Can things be right between us, now?”

Could it be that simple? I nodded in the dark, and his arms enveloped me in warmth.

I woke up once in the middle of the night, for a moment absorbed in the glow of Mason’s nearness and the dream or hallucination or whatever it was that we’d shared. But the glow gave way to a knot of worry. It was up to me to get Sophie to agree to come to Aunt Dorothy’s. And even if I could get her there, I couldn’t imagine trying to explain the
pyxis
, the pyramidal union, and getting her to understand and take it seriously. Even with the power of the
pyxis
influences.

Brushing a c-shaped curl of hair from Mason’s forehead, I watched his still face. A second later the curl fell back exactly like it was.

I needed to practice with the influences some more before I tried them on Sophie, and I imagined my great-aunt would disapprove of practicing on unsuspecting people. That left Mason. Or maybe Ang. I pulled my knees up to my chest, curling myself around the ball of doubt and uncertainty growing within me.

Two months, Aunt Dorothy had said. We had two months before summer solstice to pull everything together.

|| 6 ||

THE NEXT EVENING AFTER DINNER, Mason tried to help me with my thought-blocking. We sat cross-legged on the floor of his tree house, facing each other. This time, I imagined my thoughts encased in a vault deep in the earth, cut off from the rest of the world. It worked for about a minute, but holding the mental image required too much concentration.

“Ugh, I just can’t do it.” I swiped my fingers through my hair.

“Don’t worry. You’ll get it.” Mason grinned.

“You,” I narrowed my eyes and pointed at him. “Stop enjoying this so much.”

He chuckled and grabbed my hand, squeezing it in his.

Mason walked me home, and after he left, I called Ang. I twirled a strand of hair around my finger.

“Hey, can you talk?” I said when she answered.

“Yeah, I’m in my room. Wait, let me shut the door.” I heard some rustling and a muffled click.

“So are you ready to mind-meld with Sophie Marcelle?” I attempted lightheartedness, but knew I failed.

“I’m nervous, Corinne,” Ang said.

“Yeah, I’m nervous about having Sophie in my head, too.”

“It’s not just that.” Ang hesitated. I bit my bottom lip and pressed my phone harder against my ear. “It’s all of it. I mean, how do I say this? This link thing, like you have with Mason? It’s, like, permanent, right?”

“I think so.” I chewed at my pinkie nail.

“I’m going to be linked to Sophie Marcelle
forever
? I’m just not sure I’m ready for that. For any of this.” Her voice wavered, and I wished we were face-to-face so I could give her a hug.

“I understand,” I said quietly, and then I waited. The fact was, I doubted I could say anything that really would make any of this easier.

“I don’t think I get what this is all about, but it seems really scary.” She hesitated again. “And I’ve started having dreams.” Her voice was tiny and far away.

I sat up on my bed. “You have? About what?”

“I don’t remember details most of the time, but they’re always about the cove. Sometimes there’s this really gross smell. I know that sounds weird, to be dreaming about a smell.”

“No, I know exactly what you’re talking about. I’ve had those dreams, too.”

“Oh. Thank goodness, I’m not crazy.” She heaved a breath that was half sigh, half laugh. “Do you know what it means?”

How could I explain the dream world to Ang in a way that wouldn’t freak her out even more? I couldn’t just leave her in the dark, though.

“Well, it’s partly a warning about something bad that’s coming,” I said. “But when you’re having those dreams, your mind is actually going somewhere else. Another world.”

“Whoa,” Ang said.

“Yeah, it’s pretty crazy. But Aunt Dorothy will explain it much better, I promise. You know what?” I forced a bright tone and steady voice. “We’ll have time to talk about all this stuff. I know it’s mysterious and scary, but we’re in it together. You and me and Mason, and yes,
Sophie Marcelle
. And Aunt Dorothy and Mr. Sykes, too. We’re going to figure this out, I promise.”

“Okay,” she said, and sniffled a couple of times. “What’s it like, anyway? The link, I mean.”

“Pretty wild. Especially at first. I wanted to jam one of my mom’s knitting needles into my ear and give myself a lobotomy for about the first couple of days. But it gets easier. And once you get used to it, it’s really, really cool. I mean, think about it. We’ll be able to talk to each other using just our
minds
, Ang.”

“That
is
kind of awesome.” She sounded a little brighter. “So did it hurt or anything?”

“Nah, I was just kind of disoriented and dizzy when I woke up after we first formed the link.”

“I bet Mason loves being linked with you.”

I rolled my eyes and felt my cheeks grow warm. I wanted to change the subject, but I took it as a good sign that Ang was teasing me.

“He totally does; I know it,” she said. I could practically see her grinning.

“Well, he’s not complaining or anything. But he kind of treats the whole Shield thing like it’s his job.”

“Good, because if he’s supposed to help you, then I’m glad he’s taking it seriously.”

“True,” I said. “So, guess what?”

“What?”

“Last night, Mason and I were in this dream together, and it was amazing. I don’t know how, but it was almost like we were revisiting Winter Solstice Fest,” I said.

“And you waited ‘til now to tell me?”

I described the twilight rainbows, how cute Mason was when he admitted he was manipulating our surroundings, and what he said when we broke out of the dream.