The Secret of Spruce Knoll (2 page)

It was far more than she’d hoped for and it made her feel a flush of guilt. This looked more like a master suite than a guest room. Had Sylvia given up her own room for her? The woman certainly seemed kind enough to do such a thing.

“You didn’t need to give all this to me,” Eren said.

Sylvia smiled and waved the comment away as she plopped Eren’s suitcase down in front of the dresser.

“It was just unused space. This house has two masters, mine’s downstairs,” she said with a shrug.

Eren gave her a weak smile and nodded. It didn’t look like she was lying. As bizarre as it was, she could tell when people were lying. They usually did something funny with their face or looked off to one side. The signs were there if one knew where to look. It had always been something that had come naturally to her. Lately she had become even more tuned in to the instinct.  

Picking out liars was normal compared to the other thing that had started happening though. In the last month or so, she had started to notice that when she walked into a room she could sense the energy of the other people in it. She could almost feel how they were feeling without even looking at them. It sounded as crazy as it felt so she hadn’t told anyone. Her school counselor would have probably committed her for it.

There had been so much to do in the last month that she hadn’t had time to really think about it much. This had followed a crazy growth spurt that had come years later than it should have. Finally she was starting to look and feel like a woman and all she could think about was how much she wanted her mother. Maybe her mother could have explained some of this craziness.

“Now honey, if there’s anything you want to change—furniture or wall color—you just let me know. I want you to be comfortable here,” Sylvia told her.

There was so much sincerity in her voice that it nearly moved Eren to tears again. No one had been this kind or understanding toward her, not even her old friends. People avoided her. They didn’t seem to know what to say or how to act.  Sylvia must have realized she’d hit a nerve because she turned and headed for the door, saying something about dinner.

“No thanks. I’m pretty tired. I think I’ll just turn in,” Eren said.

Her aunt stopped at the door and turned around to give her a brilliant smile. She looked so happy that it wiped some of Eren’s sorrow away. For a moment she could almost believe everything would be okay some day.

They said good night and Sylvia closed the door as she left. Eren changed into a tank top and a pair of shorts before gravitating toward the window-seat bench. It was a lot larger than it looked from across the room. So large in fact, that it was actually a daybed and not a bench at all. And it was very comfortable.

Eren lay there and stared out at the dark treetops and the star-filled sky above them. Her mind raced so frantically that she feared she may never fall asleep. Finally her restlessness drove her to search the house for a place she could find some peace. But, she had little hope of finding this elusive thing, now or ever.

Chapter 2

Sanctuary existed on a back deck that overlooked a massive expanse of aspens. Her aunt had called it the Mayan forest and described it as a place belonging solely to her people. Eren didn’t really care who it belonged to, only that it smelled refreshing and sweet and it meant she wouldn’t be bothered by anyone.

It was a lot darker than she had expected but it was comforting. The main thing she had always hated about L.A. was that it was too bright. She lay back onto a lounge chair and looked up at the star-choked sky. Back in the glaring lights of L.A., not even a fraction of these were visible. It was as if the entire Earth was altering to reflect the change in her own little world.

Shifting on the cold chair caused the tiny box in her jacket pocket to poke into her side. Tears tried to spring to her eyes but she blinked them away, refusing to break down. The box was wrapped in gold and pink birthday paper and was tied up with a curled pink ribbon. It had come with a card that she had carefully placed in her backpack, neither of which was opened. She hadn’t been able to. When she’d been packing things up in the house she’d found the tiny box and card in her mother’s closet. Her birthday was still a few months away and she wasn’t even sure she’d be able to open it then.

Her fingers brushed her cell phone which was next to the box. She couldn’t get a signal anywhere in this Podunk town but it didn’t really matter. The moment she stopped caring about all the drama of school, her popularity had faded. People didn’t want to be around someone who was grieving. The Captain of the basketball team, who she had thought maybe she might be in love with, had dumped her a week after her parents had died. Shortly after that her friends had stopped talking to her. There wouldn’t be any messages or texts on her phone even if she could get a signal. All those names in her phone that she had been so proud of just depressed her now.

Aunt Sylvia was nice enough, but Eren really didn’t want to like her. Getting close to someone would open her up to more pain and she wasn’t about to do that. The room she had given her was great, but it wasn’t
her
room. She missed her parents, her house, and even her loser friends who had abandoned her. 

A sound came from the forest, disrupting her from her self-pity. Looking up, she went very still. Had it been a twig breaking? It was probably nothing more than a small animal scurrying about the forest, a rabbit or something. But what if it was a bigger animal? Who knew what lived in the woods just beyond the deck. She was being a silly city girl and she knew it. Ignoring her rising fear, she turned her attention back to the stars.

The enormity of all that had happened to her in the past six months pressed down as if the Milky Way itself was collapsing upon her. This place was nice and her aunt was very sweet, but it wasn’t home. She missed her parents so much. The descriptions of death and loss she’d heard from others seemed shallow in comparison to this abyss. By now she could formulate a thought and finish a sentence, putting on the air that she wasn’t going mad with grief. But the fact that it was still there, below the surface, seemed terribly cruel.

Another twig broke, snapping Eren’s gaze back to the forest. That was no rabbit, it sounded way too big. Sitting up, her eyes scanned the trees. She had to force her breathing to slow in an attempt to quiet her heart so she could hear over the pounding. What she heard ratcheted her anxiety up. Things were moving in the darkness beyond the lawn, four-footed things from the cadence of their steps.

Fear tightened its grip on her guts and made it hard to breathe. Now she could see shapes moving through the darkness around the trunks of the trees. There were several of them and they were big. The porch light flashed on eyes here and there. For a moment, Eren couldn’t move. Could they be wolves’ eyes?

She started to shake. “
An animal attack.”
The memory of the words reared up like a persistent ghost. She wanted to call out to her aunt but when she opened her mouth nothing came out but a strangled sound.

The eyes moved closer, propelling Eren into action. She jumped to her feet, got tangled up in the lounge chair, then leapt free of it. Though she was now unhindered by the chair, she was on the edge of the deck, far too close to the ominous eyes. Her legs shook and she feared if she tried to make them move, they’d give out. Had this been how her parents felt? Afraid for their lives and dreading the thought of being eaten alive, torn to bits before they could even bleed out? She wasn’t sure if she wanted to scream or throw up.

Light bounced off white fangs and a low snarl emitted from the darkness. All her life Eren had heard extreme fear described as turning one’s blood to ice. It was nothing like that. It felt more like fire working its way through her body, giving her energy and slowing time as it went. Her legs stopped shaking.

The snarling increased, and Eren found the strength to slowly start working her way backwards. Several sets of the eyes advanced, revealing the outline of canine-like heads. More snarls joined the first one. A feeling of such powerful animosity emanated from them that it made Eren shake even worse. There were more eyes in the forest beyond their yard. A pair of them looked human.

“Is someone there?” she asked in a voice that felt tiny and weak.

Eren bumped into something and looked down, regretting it as she heard the quick advance of many padded feet. There was a click and whoosh of air as the door behind her whipped open. Suddenly, Aunt Sylvia was standing in front of her.

“Get off my land!” Sylvia yelled. It felt like her words carried the pressure of a storm front behind them. The sensation actually made Eren’s ears pop.

The wolves receded into the darkness as if it were absorbing them. Eren watched until the lights of their eyes disappeared completely. It occurred to her that Aunt Sylvia’s words were kind of a strange thing to shout at animals. Had there been someone with them in the woods? Aunt Sylvia’s hand gripped her arm and she jumped, emitting a small squeal.

“Easy honey, come on into the house,” Aunt Sylvia soothed.

Eren felt a mist of calming energy sink into her and relax her, dissolving her panic. While it sounded weird, that was the only way she could think of it. It felt almost like magic and made her regard her aunt with a touch of suspicion. Aunt Sylvia pushed her into the house, casting a glance back over her shoulder before she followed. The sound of the door closing behind them brought a profound sense of relief to Eren. She kind of wished Aunt Sylvia would have locked the dead bolt.

“Wolves, it looked like wolves,” Eren muttered.

“Don’t worry about them. They won’t bother you again, I promise.”

Dropping her head to hide her doubt behind her hair, Eren nodded. “I thought I saw a person,” she said, feeling silly the moment the words left her lips.

“The dark can play tricks on the eyes. Why don’t you go up and try to get some sleep?” Aunt Sylvia said with a smile that looked a bit forced.

Eren smiled back, knowing it probably looked even less convincing. She tolerated a kiss on the cheek before turning to go upstairs. Once inside the dark of her own room, Eren’s idea of animals not being able to open doors didn’t sustain her false sense of safety. There was something very strange about the way her aunt had just told them to leave, and they had. Something wasn’t quite right here. Before climbing into bed, she locked both the bedroom door and the window. It was a long time before she fell into a fitful sleep.

Chapter 3

The heat of the late June sun finally forced Eren from bed. Barely awake, she went through the motions of her morning routine. She pulled a brush through her damp, long black hair and tied it up into a ponytail. Wincing, she slipped into a sports bra that had just recently become way too small, and a pair of jogging shorts. A lingering nightmare about the wolves made her stop and grab her mace from her purse. She had to get out despite the danger but she didn’t have to go unarmed. Clipping her I-pod to the strap of her sports bra, she crept through the quiet house.

The sun hadn’t even been up an hour before she reached the paved road and settled into a comfortable jog. She ran west, away from town, hoping to avoid people altogether. It should have been an easy thing to do, considering she was stuck in the middle of nowhere with only a little over a thousand people in town.

About a mile down the road she was fully immersed in the zone, her breathing steady and her pace smooth. She loved to run. The world and all the troubles in it seemed to melt away when her blood got pumping and her muscles had the chance to stretch. Something about running out here felt better than running in L.A., much as she hated to admit it. It was more than just the fact that she didn’t have to worry about being mugged. The air was clean and easy to breathe, the pine-needle strewn roadside felt great beneath her feet, and the sweet, earthy scents of the forest were invigorating.

Each stride brought her closer to a bridge that lie ahead. The song she was listening to ended and during the pause she heard the flow of a river. Then the next song drowned everything out again.

Eyes on the road ahead of her, she crossed the bridge without slowing—and was blind-sided. The second she hit the black top on the other side of the bridge, a figure stepped into her path. Whatever it was must have been downwind and moving very fast, otherwise she would have noticed it. She and the figure tumbled to the ground in a tangled heap.

Eren’s knee hurt and her elbow stung, but she forgot about them both in an instant. Above her hovered the most amazing hazel eyes, framed by a shock of tousled brown hair streaked through with black highlights. It was a boy and he was lying on top of her. She fought a flush of embarrassment and lost.

Smiling a sheepish grin, he paused a moment before standing up and offering her his hand. She accepted it and was pulled up into his arms. He let her go and quickly stepped back.

“Sorry, I was coming up from the river and didn’t see you,” he said.

He had a nice voice, and it just got better from there. Wearing only a pair of swim shorts, he looked like he’d stepped out of an Abercrombie and Fitch ad. His face looked too young for his body, but it wasn’t an unattractive combination, not by a long shot.

Something warm trickled down her arm and distracted her. That warmth dripped into her hand. Her first instinct was to wipe her palm on her shorts, but then she saw the flash of red. Blood. Instead, she lifted her hand and looked at it. When she did, it stretched the skin over her elbow and a dull pain made her realize where the blood was coming from.

“Oh man, you’re hurt! I’m such an idiot! I’m so sorry, come on, let’s get that cleaned up,” the boy said.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her down the steep embankment after him. She was too busy concentrating on her footing to fight him. Besides, she liked the feel of his hand around hers. It was more than just a good looking boy touching her. He had an almost magnetic feel. They reached the rocky bank and he hesitated as he looked down at her shoes. Barefoot as he was, he hadn’t stopped until he was up to his ankles in the water and she had finally resisted.

“Thanks, but really this isn’t necessary. It’s only a scrape,” she protested.

He turned those hazel eyes on her and anything else she was going to say slipped her mind. Normally she was fine around boys, confident even. Most boys didn’t look like they’d just stepped out of a trendy storefront window, though. But it was more than that. The confident way he held himself and the soft way he spoke with a lilt that hinted at an accent, was even more attractive than his looks.

Ignoring her protests, he scooped up a handful of water and began rubbing the blood from her arm. His fingers were gentle when they touched her scraped elbow. The sting was nothing compared to the flush his touch sent spreading through her. At this point, she wasn’t even sure it hurt at all.

“I’m so sorry,” he muttered.

He inspected the damage with a frown, and somehow even that managed to look cute. The scrape had already stopped bleeding. It really wasn’t all that bad but she wasn’t about to stop him from fussing over her.

“You’re Eren aren’t you?” he asked as he sat down on a boulder next to her.

“That obvious?” she said with a laugh.

“Small town,” he said with a smile.

“That it is,” she agreed as she sat down beside him.

His smile made her want to blush again so she looked out over the river. It was wide and riddled with good swimming holes. Where it passed beneath the bridge it appeared particularly deep. The water was so clear she could see all the way down to the pebble-strewn bottom. Spruce and aspen hugged the banks on both sides.

“That sucks about your parents,” he said.

At that moment she was relieved he wasn’t looking at her. She didn’t want him to see the pain that she felt contort her features. People turned away from pain like that.

“So you’ve heard about that already, huh?” she mumbled.

“Small town,” he said.

“Thanks for not saying something stupid like, ‘I’m sorry for your loss’ or ‘the pain will get better with time,’” she said.

It was refreshing to meet someone who didn’t say the same old garbage or act like she had the plague. Of course it didn’t hurt that he was tremendously cute either. But there was still a chance he’d cut and run from ‘the damaged girl’ as soon as he could. Everyone else had.

“Usually people are sorry they have to say anything. They’re not really sorry for your loss. As for the pain, I haven’t noticed that it gets any better,” he commented.

His voice was quiet and when Eren looked at him she saw a familiar look in his eyes.

“You’ve lost someone too,” she made it more of a comment than a question. That look was undeniable, she knew what it meant.

“Hard to lose someone you never really had, but yeah. My parents died when I was a baby,” he explained.

“Wow, that sucks,” Eren said as she shifted her gaze back out over the water. It seemed only fair to extend him the same courtesy he’d given her by looking away. The pain on his face was far too personal to intrude upon.

After a few moments of a surprisingly comfortable silence, he struck up a conversation about where she was from. By the time he walked her home, they were chatting about movies and music like old friends. He was remarkably easy to talk to and unlike a lot of other boys, he actually listened.

“So what happened to your parents?” Eren eventually asked.

His face fell, but not into a look of old pain like she had expected. Conflict warred within his eyes and his brow furrowed. His energy felt conflicted. Almost a quarter mile passed before he answered.

“They were in a car accident when my mom was pregnant with me. Their best friends Virgil and Camilia were following in a car behind them and saw the whole thing. It was too late for my dad, but they pulled my mother from the burning wreck. She went into labor right there on the road. Her injuries were too bad, she didn’t survive.” His voice was so quiet Eren had to hold her breath to hear.

The way he twisted Virgil and Camilia’s names made her think he didn’t like them very much.
Odd
, she thought, they had saved his life.

“That sucks that they didn’t make it. I’m sorry,” she said.

“Me too. Virgil and Camilia adopted me after it happened,” he said. This time his distaste for them was almost hidden.

The story blew Eren away and actually made her feel a little better. At least now she had someone she could relate to, though, she thought, it was a horrible way to relate to someone. But she wouldn’t have to hide it or pretend to be happy when she was sad, he would understand.

When they reached her driveway, he stopped. “Do you run every day?” he asked.

“Pretty much.” Eren tried not to sound too hopeful.

“Me too. We could run together if you’d like. I could meet you here tomorrow morning,” he suggested.

Eren didn’t want to seem too eager so she paused and pretended to think about it. He was so nice—she didn’t want to screw this up. “Sure. Seven o’clock okay?”

“I’ll be here,” he said before turning to leave.

“Hey wait! I didn’t catch your name.”

Spinning around, he grinned at her as he walked backwards. Her heart felt like it skipped a beat. He was gorgeous when he smiled.

“Aiden,” he said.

Eren laughed. She could tell by the mischievous look on his face that he knew exactly how he affected her.  With any other boy it may have been embarrassing, but he had a way of making things funny and lighthearted. It was very refreshing. Too many boys she had come across became arrogant when they realized she liked them. This one was different.

“See you bright and early, Aiden.” She threw a bit of a challenge into her tone.

Waving, he turned and jogged down the road. Eren watched him until he was out of sight, enjoying the view. A feeling that had become very elusive over the last six months crept upon her: happiness. She smiled as she practically skipped her way to the house. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad here after all.