My hand itched like crazy to find that branch, but no such luck. I felt Brynn’s icy stare carve a permanent hole in my back. How could Claire possibly think she could bring me here and have me actually enjoy myself? Just when I’d had enough of tripping through the dark and scraping myself silly on thorn bushes, an old warehouse came into view.
The concrete fortress took on a chilling presence as flashing lights and pulsating music bled from its openings. A good crowd had already gathered, forming a line, and to my relief I didn’t recognize anyone from school. Leave it to Brynn and her crew to be the only ones from Carver High to make an appearance at something like this.
Brynn stopped babysitting me long enough to push her way to the head of the line with uncanny ease. She was now busy flirting with the bouncer at the top of the steps while the strange glow from a strobe light flickered through the open doorway and bounced off her skin.
With seconds to spare, I tried to take advantage of her absence. “Claire! Come on, let’s get out of here!”
Claire turned to look at me with a blank expression that made me want to shake her and drag her back to her car. I wrapped my arms tightly around myself trying to conserve some body heat. I wondered if I was coming down with something.
“Claire, please. I want to go home.”
But as she opened her mouth to finally answer me it was Brynn’s velvet voice that I heard, not Claire’s.
“She’s not ready to leave yet. Are you Claire?” She stepped closer, linking her arm possessively through Claire’s.
I reached out and touched Claire’s arm only to recoil at the touch of her skin. It was like ice. Maybe I wasn’t coming down with something. Maybe Claire was sick.
“Claire, let’s just go back to your car and get coffee like we planned. My head just isn’t up to this.” I pointed toward the pulsating building.
“Aww. Do you have a headache, Teagan?” Brynn interrupted. “Or are you just concerned about protecting your stellar reputation?”
I hated her mocking tone so I chose not to answer her.
This intrigued Sage, Emily, and Lauren, all of whom suddenly stopped ogling the others in line and became interested in what was now taking place on the grass.
Then Ryan came closer and I realized he was the leader of our little group, not Brynn. That misconception alone caught me totally off guard and made me apprehensive about what might transpire here deep in the woods. As seconds became endless, agonizing minutes, it crossed my mind that we were here for something other than a ridiculous rave.
Ryan set the lantern down at his feet where the light seemed to exaggerate his proportions. I felt myself take a step back. In the eerie glow of the lantern his eyes appeared even darker than Brynn’s, with no distinction between pupil and iris. My breath caught in my throat. His eyes looked lost…vacant…soulless, yet eerily intelligent. As the others stood around anticipating Ryan’s call, I was being silently sized up.
Claire had said something the other day about Ryan rubbing off on her intellectually. I wouldn’t have believed it until now. There was something about the way he stared, dissecting me to my core. He was reading my soul as if it were a book, I was sure of it, while the others grew bored waiting. Clearly, they didn’t have the ability to read a person as he did. I practically jumped out of my skin when Ryan finally spoke.
“Teagan, why don’t you go home.”
“If she can find her way back.” Sage snorted under her breath.
“Claire obviously wants to spend some quality time with her friends,” Emily added.
Ryan’s words stung me more than those of the other two. I was being dismissed. Without Claire. But I couldn’t look him in the eye any longer. I was shaking.
I slowly looked each one in the face, searching for a way out of this — searching for anything. My eyes finally met Lauren’s. She was the newest to their group, therefore wouldn’t she be the weakest? Her honey-blonde curls framed her face and her blue eyes shone back at me. Yes! It was there, a connection. I pleaded with her in silence, afraid Brynn or Ryan would catch on but they didn’t.
“Don’t you think that’s for Claire to decide?” I asked softly, more for Lauren.
As soon as my words left my lips, the acknowledging light in Lauren’s eyes paled. Our connection severed. I was dizzy with fear, wondering if the blasting music had finally taken its toll; that if, indeed, I was seeing straight.
Slowly and deliberately, I studied each face before me.
Each one stood stock still, glaring at me, while I shivered in front of them. My breath streamed out of my lungs, hung in the air in front of me, then dissipated.
Just. My. Breath.
My eyes frantically scanned each one again. Were they even breathing?
Sage…
Emily…
Sharply, I turned to Brynn and Ryan.
When my eyes rested on Claire’s face, I could feel threatening tears sting the back of my throat. This time I didn’t have the dim light of the car to make me question myself. I could see just fine.
“Claire? Please, let’s just go back,” I whispered. My voice was raspy and desperate.
Claire’s beautiful pale face looked only at Ryan and I watched Brynn’s fingers tighten around Claire’s arm, forcing her to decide. Without another word, they turned and proceeded to walk to the line with Claire in tow. I hardly noticed Lauren trailing behind them. She lingered long enough to catch my eye, then she blew me a kiss, her breath dancing faintly in the night before turning to catch up with the others.
As I attempted to control the flood of emotions within me, I heard a twig snap behind me. With a little shriek, I jumped. There was Garreth, his face full of relief. I threw my arms around his neck and buried my face into his devastatingly warm skin, breathing the scent of him deep into my lungs. I pressed myself closer to his chest, thawing myself against him with a need for warmth I’d never felt before.
“Claire. She went with them. I think she’s in some sort of trouble,” I explained urgently.
Fear and anger raged through me like a vicious cocktail as I weighed my chances of following Claire, unseen, to keep an eye on her. But, in my head, I saw only Ryan’s dark eyes. I felt Garreth’s warm grasp pull me away from the clearing.
“Let her go, Teagan. She’s made her choice,” Garreth said softly.
But I couldn’t. I wanted to race up the steps, grab my friend, and take her home. Yet, in the same moment, I wanted to turn and run away from the eeriness of it all.
As soon as one thought formed, my anger answered and interrupted it until they created their own tiny circle that rotated tightly inside my head. My decision was made for me when I saw them fading into the mass of music and bodies.
Garreth took my hand and pulled me with him into the dark tent of trees. I couldn’t help turning around once more for a glimpse of the friend I was leaving behind, but she was long gone. They all seemed to know that in some choreographed way Claire would betray our friendship tonight when, in truth, I was the one being left behind.
Then why was I the one to feel guilty?
“I’ll take you home, you’re tired.”
“I’m not tired” My voice sounded weary, even to me.
“Liar. Come here.”
With one amazing sweep, he picked me up, cradling me close to him like never before. His arms felt so warm, so comfortable, they made me sleepy. I couldn’t resist closing my eyes just for a second. I heard a soft rustling around us and felt his shirt billow as I leaned in closer to him.
“I think the wind’s picking up a bit,” I whispered and then all went black.
In a matter of minutes we were at his car; the same clearing on the highway where Claire had parked hers.
It felt as though we had descended somehow, his feet landing on the gravel with a slight crunch. He managed to open the door for me without setting me down and had me inside and buckled up by the time I opened my eyes. He gestured to a large cup of coffee in the cup holder, still steaming through the little opening in the black dome lid.
“I thought you could use this.”