Rogue Wave (The Water Keepers, Book 2) (24 page)

“I just thought you were going to play a trick on us,” she said to him, in between elated smiles. “I had no idea you were going to ask me to
prom
. Of course I’ll go with you. You’re the best boyfriend ever.”

Zach bounded around the corner of the house, also in a black robe, with a scream mask in his hand. Sean and Brandon followed behind him, doubling over with laughter. After that, we all hung out in the yard with the boys for a while, each girl retelling their version of what happened during the prank. I was pretty sure I was the only person at the party who still felt just as scared and uneasy as I did before the boys arrived. Their nightmare was just a silly prank. Mine was real.

Heather’s parents pulled up in their Lexus around midnight. They ushered all the girls back in the house and sent the boys on their way home. Lucky for me, by the time we were settled back in our blankets and sleeping bags, no one felt the need to finish the rest of the movie. I had just about enough
scary
for one night.

“Who’s ready for a little truth or dare,” Heather said in a hushed tone.

All the girls seemed to giggle with delight. I used to be all about this kind of fun, but it didn’t hold its usual appeal. I was too tired from such a long day. The whole week had been one long disaster. Plus, I was starting to think I was getting a little too old for this sort of thing. Was I the only one? Probably. I had experienced things in the last few months that no girl my age should ever have to experience. The world seemed too gritty and real now, nothing like the bubble of happiness I’d grown up in.

The game quickly began and things didn’t start off too badly. I could handle questions about secret crushes on celebrities and dares to drink concoctions made with mustard, chocolate syrup, and sauerkraut. These things seemed like a walk in the park compared to my real life. So when my turn came to be put on the spot, I wasn’t the least bit worried. I had no idea when Nicole picked me to play next that she was going to ask me the hardest question I’d ever heard in my life.

“Sadie, truth or dare,” Nicole said with eyebrows raised.

Nicole was known for coming up with some pretty disgusting ideas when it came to dares. The last thing I was in the mood for was a trip to the bathroom to lick the toilet. “Truth,” I answered easily.

A strange, almost devious smile crossed Nicole’s pretty pink mouth when she said, “Sadie, are you
in love
with Rayne Stevens?”

It was a simple question made up of less than ten words, and yet, my entire body fell into a panic, at least on the inside. On the outside I was guessing I resembled something like a statue made of marble. Why couldn’t she ask me something easy like,
what’s the purpose of life
or
how do you build an atom bomb
? Anything but the one question I wasn’t sure I would ever know the real answer to.

I knew I didn’t want to live without Rayne, for a multitude of different reasons. I knew my body would wither and die without his help because he was the only source of the Healing Water I had access to. I knew I felt safer with him near me. Just the sound of his voice or the glance of his glowing eyes was enough to hush the worst of my nightmares. I knew that his touch on my skin sent my heart into a flurry. I knew that he would do anything for me.

Rayne said the bonding effect wasn’t forcing us to have feelings or desires that weren’t real. They were my own. So why was it so difficult for me to understand them? Why did I still feel too scared to embrace them and let them be real?

I looked up and found an exchange of awkward glances among my friends. Heather glared at Nicole, who appeared to be recognizing her mistake.

“Nicole was just joking,” Heather said with an encouraging smile. “Weren’t you, Nicole?”

Nicole nodded vigorously. “Yes. Totally. You know me, always making bad jokes that nobody thinks are funny.”

“No, that’s okay,” I said, looking down thoughtfully. “The answer to your question is…I don’t know.”

Uncomfortable silence fell upon the room, filled with elements of what I guessed were sympathy, pity, and maybe even conjecture and cynicism. Poor Sadie, broke up with her boyfriend. Of course, it was her own fault. She was the one who pushed him away in the first place. She was the one who couldn’t make up her mind, even though Rayne was the most perfect and amazing guy on the planet, who any of us would give our right arm to be with.

The downturned mood dragged our game to an abrupt end. The girls all said their goodnights and turned off the lights, with hopes for a fresh start in the morning. I, on the other hand, fell asleep just hoping to make it through the night in one piece.

***

A faint rustling pulled me from troubled sleep. I raised my head abruptly and panned my eyes across the black room. I squinted to let my vision adjust, but I didn’t find any movement. The air was still and quiet. All my friends in the room were deep in slumber. Even as I had fallen in and out of sleep throughout the night, I had clung to my cell phone in my right hand, wanting to be ready if Rayne tried to reach me or if I needed to call for help.

I opened my phone to look at the clock, wondering if I’d slept more than thirty minutes this round. It was three-thirty in the morning. Finally, I had slept more than one hour in a row. I shifted my weight and turned onto my side, trying to squish the pillow into a more comfortable position, but I stopped moving when the pillow made a strange noise. My hand brushed against something smooth, yet out of place under the white fabric.

My heartbeat quickened and I moved my hand under the pillow, finding what felt like a piece of paper. I slid it free carefully, not wanting to disturb the others, and forgetting to breathe as I wondered if I should brace myself to run. I ducked my head under my blanket and shined the light from my phone on the paper.

A small tear gathered at the corner of my eye. It wasn’t death threats or cryptic instructions to meet someone where I would soon find my doom. It was a note from Rayne. He had been here, his hand within inches of my cheek under my pillow. Maybe he was still here, inside Heather’s house or outside in her yard. Maybe the note would tell me to come find him. But I realized quickly that he had something different in mind when I began to read:

SADIE,

DON’T TRY TO FOLLOW ME IF YOU WAKE BEFORE MORNING. YOU MUST CONTINUE TO ACT AS IF EVERYTHING IS NORMAL. YOU WERE RIGHT IN THINKING THAT WE ARE BEING WATCHED AND ASH IS BEHIND IT. YOU DON’T NEED TO WORRY. I HAVE A PLAN. FOR NOW IT’S BEST IF WE PRETEND WE ARE UNAWARE OF ANYTHING OUT OF PLACE. I DON’T WANT TO SET ANYTHING IN MOTION PREMATURELY. YOU SHOULD GO TO THE BONFIRE TOMMORROW WITH YOUR FRIENDS AS PLANNED. AS ALWAYS, I WILL BE CLOSE BY.

YOU SHOULD BE AWARE THAT I DON’T HAVE A LARGE SUPPLY OF HEALING WATER AT THE MOMENT. I WASN’T PLANNING TO TELL YOU BECAUSE I DIDN’T WANT YOU TO WORRY, BUT I REALIZE NOW THAT IT COULD AFFECT YOU AND YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW. I KNOW I’VE KEPT THINGS FROM YOU IN THE PAST AND I DON’T WANT TO DO THAT TO YOU ANYMORE. YOU DESERVE BETTER. ON SUNDAY I HAVE A PLACE I WANT TO TAKE YOU. I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU HAVE MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT ME AND OUR RELATIONSHIP, BUT I HOPE YOU WILL AGREE TO COME WITH ME. THERE ARE MORE TRUTHS YOU NEED TO KNOW.

I WILL HAVE ACCESS TO MORE HEALING WATER ON MONDAY, SO THERE’S NO NEED TO WORRY. THERE IS ENOUGH TO LAST UNTIL THEN. I PROMISE I WILL KEEP YOU AND YOUR MOTHER SAFE. PLEASE TRUST ME. I WOULD NEVER LET ANYONE HURT YOU.

RAYNE

I folded the note and held it to my chest, as if it were an actual piece of Rayne I could hold against me. As I lay in the dark, the things he wrote didn’t take away my anxiety, but at least I knew he was working on a solution. There was some comfort in that. I wondered what he was planning to share with me on Sunday. Had he changed his mind? Would he finally tell me who my father was? Would I be able to handle the truth if he did? I closed my lids around a mind full of questions, all the unknowns that left me insecure and undefined.

Bright sunlight stung my eyes when I opened them again. It only felt like a moment later, but it was definitely morning. My body must have finally claimed the rest it so desperately needed. I was surrounded by a room full of purple sleeping bags and hot pink pillows, but there weren’t any girls in sight. After a night surrounded by people, it felt odd to wake up feeling so alone.

Just be normal
, I told myself. For now, that was the plan. I slid on my hoodie, grabbed Rayne’s folded up note and my phone to keep close to me in my pocket, and wandered to the other side of the house. Then I put on a cheery face and joined my friends who were just finishing up a batch of French toast.

By the time I took the last bite of breakfast, Heather was at my heels to get ready for the day. Apparently there were a lot of things we needed to get done before the bonfire later that afternoon. Heather had already sent Nick to head down to Huntington Beach a few hours earlier to reserve a fire ring. They were coveted spots, especially on a Saturday.

During a major group trip to buy groceries, Heather sent us out in teams of two with food assignments. Afterward, we reconvened in the parking lot outside the grocery store so Heather could give each girl instructions and delegate tasks. Heather never did anything half-way, and she expected those around her to pitch in as required. At this point, we all knew how smoothly things went when we left Heather in control, and most of us were glad we didn’t have to be the one in charge. The party was sure to be a big success from start to finish.

It was almost perfect outside, clear skies, mild breeze, mid-seventy temperatures, and for a moment, I almost felt normal. I spent several hours with Heather, taking trips back and forth from her house to the beach, where most of the guys had already started setting things up. We dropped off shade canopies, chairs, and beach towels to get things started, followed shortly by a load of firewood. Although, it turned out that Brandon had an entire truck bed full of firewood that we didn’t know he was bringing, so we were pretty much set in that department for the rest of the night. Then there were all the coolers of ice, and hotdogs, and endless drinks, the paper plates and napkins, chips, chips, and more chips, fruit platters, brownies, marshmallows for s’mores, the list went on. We probably had enough food to feed the entire student body from our school.

Finally, Heather sent me home to get myself ready for the party. There wasn’t much I needed to do. I kept the ponytail I’d been wearing all day, since the beach was usually breezy, especially after dark, and I didn’t feel like worrying about my hair blowing in my face all night. I changed into my aqua blue tankini along with some shorts, then packed a bag with warm pants and a hoodie to change into when it got chilly later on.

Before I left the house, I stopped in on my mom, who had lingered quietly in her room since I’d walked in the house.

I tapped hesitantly on the open door. “Hey,” I said to her, peeking my head in the room.

Mom glanced up from a small suitcase she was sifting through on the bed. Her face looked forlorn and tired. “Hi, sweetheart. Getting ready to head off to your party?”

“Um, yeah,” I said, taking a few steps into the room. “But I have a minute, if you want to talk about anything.”

She zipped the suitcase shut. “Yes, we do need to talk actually.”

I stared at the suitcase and back at my mom. “Wait, are you going somewhere?”

She lowered her gaze. “Mark’s been having a rough couple of days. There have been these reporters hounding him wherever he goes. And we were planning a trip later this week anyway, so Mark called in a favor at the hospital. We both really need to get away right now.”

Was she
crazy
?

“You’re leaving out of town
now
?” I gasped. “With
him
? But you can’t.”

“Honey, I’m sorry. The plans are already made. You’ll be okay alone for the week, right? I already called Heather’s mother. She said you’re welcome to stay with them if you’d like.”

“Where is he taking you? You have to tell me where you’re going,” I said in a panic. It didn’t feel right. She wasn’t safe with him.

She tilted her head sympathetically. “Mark didn’t say. I think he wants it to be a surprise.”

“Or he wants to get you alone where no one can find you.”

Mom’s eyes narrowed. “Or he’s trying to be sweet and romantic.” She pulled her bag to the floor and rolled it towards me. “Listen, I doubt we’ll go very far. It’s not like he’s going to whisk me off to Rome on a day’s notice. We’ll probably just be a couple of hours away. And you have my cell phone number. I’ll keep it with me at all times, I promise.” She stopped in front of me and kissed my forehead. “Cheer up, Sadie-bear. Everything’s going to be fine. I’ll be home by the end of the week, and if anything, this will be good for you. Just think of it as practice for when you’ll be off on your own in L.A. this fall.”

“But—”

“I have to get going,” she said, ignoring my plea. “Mark’s waiting for me. We’ll talk about this more when I get back.”

I felt so helpless watching her disappear out the door. Unless I found a crowbar in the next thirty seconds to smash in her windshield, my mother was as good as gone. The older my mother got, the more elaborate her methods of avoiding her problems seemed to become. She wasn’t even upset about the right issues this time. My mom had no idea what kind of trouble she could be getting involved in.

I ran across the street to Rayne’s gate and banged my fist over the intercom’s
talk
button. You’d think after all we’d been through together, a key to Rayne’s front gate would be well deserved by now. Rayne appeared at his front door as the black iron gate swung open in front of me.

“My mom just left,” I groaned, stomping up the sidewalk. “She just…took off; with Dr. Jenson. He wouldn’t even tell her where they were going. I think we should follow her. I don’t trust him.”