Fractured Light (19 page)

“How’s it going, guys?” May asked. She looked over at me nervously.

They all began to talk and laugh, about what I couldn’t be sure. My main goal was to appear like nothing was wrong. I could feel my beauty queen perma-grin as if it were painted on my face and every once in awhile I felt my head nod. I avoided looking at Christian as much as possible. As long as I did that, I could possibly endure the rest of the night.

I had no right to be upset. Christian had been very clear about not wanting anything serious. My subconscious heard someone say, “Should we do this in teams?”

I snapped back to the conversation. “Teams are a great idea. Let’s do boys against girls,” I told the group. This would be easier if I didn’t have to see Christian with Haley the whole night.

May agreed. “Good idea, seeing how we’re not evenly numbered.”

I still had yet to look at Christian, even though I could feel his eyes burrowing into me.

Tracey began to hand out blue cards. “First team to get their card stamped at all stations wins. Meet back here when you’re done.”

I looked down at my card, trying to figure out exactly what it was we had to do. Apparently, we had to find our way through the maze to various stations like “Demons Alley” and “Witches Way.” With it being a full moon and me feeling as great as I did, this should be a breeze. Already, if I concentrated hard enough, I could sense the first station, as I could hear kids talking at it.

“You ready, ladies?” I asked.

The two girls who were with Adam and Christian looked at each other hesitantly. “You’re not going to let them beat us, are you?” I asked.

They shook their heads and smirked at the boys. “No way.”

“I didn’t think so. Let’s go,” I said.

We were each handed a flashlight and, after parting ways with the boys, who spoke very confidently about their abilities, we were off.

The cornstalks towered well over our heads, and the second we entered the maze we realized how important our flashlights were going to be. It was very dark, despite the full moon. The tall cornstalks cast shadows in every direction.

I turned to the girls the moment we entered the maze. “How do you guys feel about running? I think we can win if we do, just follow me.”

“How do you know where you’re going?” Tracey asked.

“Let’s just say I have a sixth sense about mazes.”

“Lead the way,” May said.

I quickly took off to the left in a fast jog, and made sure I adjusted my pace when I felt the girls fall behind. We took a few lefts, a couple of rights, and in a matter of minutes we were already at the first station.

“You weren’t kidding about mazes, were you?” Haley asked, out of breath.

I shrugged. “Ready for the next one?”

They all halfheartedly agreed. I took off again and in less than ten minutes we had four more stamps.

“How about we walk to the next one?” Tracey suggested, panting heavily.

Though I would’ve loved to run, I agreed. From the back of the group, I heard May call, “Hey, Llona. Wait up! My flashlight isn’t working.”

“You guys go ahead. Take your next two rights.”

I walked back to where May was standing. She was shaking her flashlight.

“It just stopped working,” she said. “Stupid plastic piece of crap.”

“Let me see it for a sec,” I said.

She handed me the flashlight, and I pretended to examine it while I secretly transferred my Light into it. After a few seconds it lit up as if the batteries were brand new.

“What did you do?” May asked, surprised.

“My secret touch.” I grinned.

We continued to walk. Up ahead I could hear the other girls laughing. Occasionally I’d shout out an order for them to turn a certain way.

“So what’s up with those girls Adam and Christian brought? Do you think they’re serious?” she asked.

“I doubt it. I’ve never seen them hang out before.”

“That’s because they don’t go to our school. They go to a school in Layton.”

“How do you know?” I said.

“I asked one of them when we first starting playing.”

“I’m sure they’re just friends.” I couldn’t bear to think of them as more than that.

“May!” I heard Tracey’s voice call. “Come up here. Haley thinks she knows your cousin.”

“I’ll be right back,” May said.

As she jogged off, I called, “Tell them to take the next left, and then the next two rights.”

“You got it.”

As soon as May disappeared around a bend, I turned off my flashlight and let the light of the moon guide me. There was something calming about walking by myself in the dark, especially under a full moon. It made me feel more connected to nature than any other time, and I hadn’t realized until now, that I hadn’t done it in months. Mostly because I’d promised Christian I would stay indoors at night.

All of a sudden, I became aware of movement from within the cornstalks. A dog? I stopped and strained my ears. No. Definitely human footsteps.

I was about to quicken my pace when without warning my head began to spin, not like I was dizzy, but like I was falling asleep after a long day of swimming. My eyelids became heavy, but my body still moved forward—and I was walking in the wrong direction.

Echoing, as if far away, I heard May call my name. I wanted to stop and call out to her, but I felt like I’d been hypnotized. I shuffled forward toward an unknown destination, no longer in control of my limbs.

Abruptly, my body turned sharply into the cornfield. The cool stalks brushed my face and arms, but I didn’t bother pushing them away. I just continued to follow… follow what? What was I doing and where was I going? Wherever I was headed, the pull became stronger, stopping my ability to think clearly. And then everything went black.

It took me a moment to realize where I was. I was still in the cornfield, but was now standing directly inside a clearing no more than ten feet in diameter. There were no paths leading to it, and I wasn’t sure how I’d gotten there. In the distance, I could still hear May calling for me. I was about to call out when my eyes focused on the only other object within the circle.

I stared at it for what seemed like an eternity, trying to determine exactly what was lying in a crumpled heap at my feet. Hands shaking, I turned on my flashlight and screamed.

I
COULDN’T STOP THE SCREAMS THAT TORE FROM MY LUNGS
. They just kept coming in great waves of pure horror and absolute fear. Never before had I seen anything so cruel and sadistic.

My screams finally stopped when May swung me around. “Llona! What’s wrong?” she cried.

I still couldn’t believe what I’d seen and had to look one more time. Very slowly I turned around and shined the light. Lying in a pool of blood was a dead, white dog. Its throat had been slit, and carved into its side was my name written in blood.

“Who would do this?” May gasped. “It’s horrible!”

“Llona!” Christian’s voice called. I clearly detected a hint of panic. He was nearby and moving fast.

I grabbed May by the arms. “Please! I don’t want him to see this.” I don’t know why I was begging her to do something about the dead dog. I just knew she could.

“Please, May,” I begged again.

Her eyes flashed to the dog and then back to me. I could see the conflict in her eyes.

Finally, when I heard footsteps rushing though the stalks toward us, May lifted her hand and with the flick of her wrist, the dog caught on fire, completely erasing my name.

Christian burst into the clearing. “Are you okay?” He looked at me and then at the fire, which looked like it was burning nothing more than a pile of rags.

“What happened?” he asked.

“A stupid prank,” May answered for me. “Llona saw the fire through the corn and came to inspect it.”

Christian turned to me. “Why were you screaming?”

I crossed my arms to my chest to stop them from shaking. I didn’t want to lie to him, but I couldn’t tell him the truth either. He seemed to have this obsessive need to protect me. I wanted him to want to be with me, and not because he thought I needed him.

“She fell,” May blurted. I looked at her gratefully.

Christian was about to say something more, but the others joined us.

“What is that?” Tracey asked. She circled the now dying fire.

“Someone started a fire,” May answered.

Matt walked over to me. “Why were you screaming?”

“Someone scared me,” I whispered as if I were alone.

“I thought you fell,” Christian said, his eyes narrowing.

“I scared her and she fell,” May corrected.

I have to get out of here, I thought. I wasn’t thinking clearly and was going to end up saying something I’d regret.

“So who won?” I said, changing the subject.

Adam pulled out his card. “We’ve got nine stamps. How many do you guys have?”

“We’ve got eleven,” Tracey cheered.

Christian stared at me. “Let me see your card, Llona.”

Without thinking (of course) I moved to give it to him, but my hand shook so badly the card dropped to the ground.

“I’m taking you home,” Christian said. He reached to take my arm, but I stepped away.

“No. I’m fine. You guys owe us a dinner.” I tried to make my voice sound as steady as possible, but it still cracked.

“Don’t try and get out of this, Christian,” May said, elbowing him. “Let’s go. I’m starving.” May turned into the corn-stalks, and I quickly followed. Everyone else followed too, except for Christian. I wondered what was taking him so long. When he finally appeared, he looked angry.

“Can I ride with you, Matt?” I asked Matt suddenly.

“Sure. Where we going?”

“Let’s go to that new restaurant on fifth,” Tracey said. “I hear it’s really good.”

“Cool. We’ll meet you there,” Adam agreed. “Let’s go, Chris.”

I hurried and jumped into Matt’s car before Christian could say anything. Only when Matt started driving away did I see Christian get in the car with Adam and the other girls. Because I was still shaken up over what happened, I knew I didn’t want to continue the night socializing or be around a now angry Christian. So on the way to the restaurant I asked Matt to take me home.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“It’s not a big deal. I just don’t feel very good.”

“You mean you don’t feel like socializing,” he said.

I shrugged. “Maybe.”

He looked over at me. “You were the one that told me I need to socialize more, remember?”

I smiled.

“But I know how it is,” he continued. “It’s nice to have a break every once in awhile. I’ll take you home.”

“Thanks, Matt.”

After a few moments of silence, he asked. “So what’s the deal with you and Christian?”

“What do you mean?”

“He always gets weird around you. Not like he’s madly in love or anything”—my heart sank—“but he acts like he’s your dad or big brother, know what I mean?”

“Yeah,” I mumbled. I know what you mean.

“He shouldn’t be. From what I’ve seen, you’re the toughest girl I know.”

I stared at him. “Thank you. That means a lot.”

“Well, it’s true.”

“I don’t know about that, but it’s nice to hear.”

Matt pulled into my driveway. “Do you want me to come in?”

“That’s okay. My uncle’s here.”

“I’ll see you on Monday then.” I jumped out of the car and waved good-bye, wondering why I couldn’t like him.

As soon as Matt’s car was out of view, fear reclaimed me. I dashed inside, my eyes scanning the darkness as if it were a cobra ready to strike.

“You’re back early,” Jake said, surprising me. I expected him and Heidi to be gone somewhere as they rarely hung out here, but there was Heidi sitting next to him with a big smile. It quickly disappeared the moment she saw my face.

Jake must’ve noticed too. “What’s wrong?” he asked. He stood up and walked over to me.

“Huh? Nothing. Why?” I darted into the kitchen and pretended to be looking for something to eat.