by L J Andrews
I missed the bus. Mr. Burns, the science teacher, had decided today was the best day to catch me up on all sorts of biology terms I’d missed on Friday’s test. As I ran outside the rusty, white bus was already chugging down the road. Swearing loudly, I noticed how a few younger classman looked slightly offended, but I didn’t fret over it.
I wasn’t exactly sure where the reform house was, but had a pretty general idea. Calling Sapphire was an option, and I knew I should let him know what had happened. I was still on thin ice. But then again, the afternoon was boasting decent weather. A few storm clouds were rumbling over the mountains in the distance, but I could make it back in time. Of course, getting caught in the rain wasn’t the worst thing that could happen. As I sauntered slowly down the road, there came a sudden fork I’d never noticed while riding the bus. The road was made up of gravel, but wide enough a large pick-up could pull a load down. I paused, staring at the road. It would be a solitary walk. The road had to come out somewhere, and Wyvern Willows wasn’t a huge town—I could probably orient alright even in the forest.
It was too tempting to surround myself with the serenity of the forest. The closer I came to the road, the more at ease I felt. Along the road there were old ATV tracks, and tucked in the back were small cabins. I was certain I could live quite peacefully in this part of Wyvern Willows. The road was dark as the clouds covered the sun, but in this particular part of the forest the trees seemed to tower high and cloak the road in a blanket of gray. The road narrowed, and although I loved the place, I started to worry I might have less direction sense than I’d thought.
The sounds of the forest hushed to a peaceful whisper. The warmth in my chest spread, almost as though the wildlife were welcoming me into their haven. I could have sworn a chipmunk perched on a bough was studying me as he passed—no fear, just cocking its little head curiously.
Then out of nowhere I nearly trampled another person.
“Hey, watch it.” Her voice was surprised, angry, and put-out in one shrill tone.
“Whoa, sorry. I didn’t see you at all,” I said quickly.
A girl whose face looked to be about my age but her body was thin and tiny like a young girl glared at me from beneath thick, dark eyelashes. “What do you think you’re doing out here?” she snapped.
“Uh, I’m walking home,” I chuckled, trying to pass by.
“No one comes down here,” she growled. The girl was hooded, her entire body cloaked in dark sweats and ankle-high sneakers. Even her hands were gloved. It wasn’t exactly cold outside. “Only certain people know about this road.”
“Well, I guess I’m one of them now. It was wide open, so I’m pretty sure more than a few people know about it.”
She glared harder, chirping in her high voice. “No, they don’t. Now what do you want?”
I sighed and walked a little faster. “I’m just trying to go back home.”
“Where’s home?”
Maybe I could scare her away. I stopped, lowered my voice and stared directly into her hazel eyes. “Wyvern Reform School.”
It didn’t work. She was undeterred, but her eyes did widen a bit. “Well, you should turn around and use the main road.”
“You’re pretty protective about your not-so-secret road, aren’t you?” I scoffed, trudging forward again.
“Yes, I am and I don’t…” she stopped talking abruptly enough that I glanced to the side to see where she’d gone. She was still keeping up with my quick pace, but her eyes saw the tips of the tattoos branching from beneath my shirt. Suddenly self-conscious, I pulled my sleeve all the way down. “What are those?” she whispered.
“None of your business.”
“When did you get them?”
“Again, none of your business.”
She was staring at the ground but wasn’t leaving either. “I’m Mini. It’s a nickname, my real name is Agatha, but I prefer Mini. Mini Keeper.”
“Teagan,” I reluctantly grumbled. “Ward.”
“Teagan Ward,” she repeated breathlessly. “Wow, it’s real then.”
“Okay,” I said slowly, feeling the prickle of nerves creep along my forearms. “I’m just going to go.”
“No, wait. I know you’re lost,” Mini said softly. For a moment I wondered what she’d meant by lost, but she kept rambling to worry too much on it. “Sorry I was so snippy back there. I shouldn’t be so unwelcoming. I’ve been told I can be overbearing. Listen, Teagan, if you cut through on that path right there you’ll end up back at Wyvern Reform in about fifteen minutes.”
“You’re giving me whiplash,” I muttered, pausing at the trailhead with Mini.
“I know. It’s just a lot of people come up here to party and they leave their junk everywhere. I live in one of the cabins on this lane, and we all like to keep it orderly.”
“Sure,” I said. “So this path will take me to the house?”
“Well, close to it. You should see it when you come out on the road,” Mini said.
I nodded. “Thanks. Do you go to Wyvern High? I haven’t seen you.”
She shook her head. “Nope, I’m homeschooled. It helps when you don’t play nice with others.”
I chuckled and agreed inwardly. “Alright, well maybe I’ll see you around now that I know your hideout.”
“Maybe so,” she added wistfully.
I didn’t wave goodbye to Mini, particularly because she darted away in the direction I’d just come from. The trail she’d set me on was narrow, and the darkness of the forest only thickened the further I went. After five minutes of walking, the forest looked as though it had fallen into night and I had trouble seeing my own feet. In my thoughts I cursed Mini. She must have tricked me just to be rid of the reform, and I’d fallen for it.
I pushed through a thick spruce tree, and in a matter of seconds my stomach was shooting into my throat, the air whipping around my face, and I was freefalling. The forest floor took a downward slant. My face scraped along the brambles, twigs, and stones as I grappled for anything to hold. It seemed like forever, but must have only been a moment before I slammed hard against the ground. Groaning, I rolled onto my back, sensing the bruises already settling along my ribs. It was shockingly brighter in the ravine, or wherever I was, and I could see the slope I’d just survived. It had to be thirty feet or more. My palms were warm with sticky blood, probably from countless gashes. Releasing a pent breath, I carefully lifted to my hands and knees and tried to orient myself.
It wasn’t a ravine at all. It was a clearing at the base of the slope. I shuddered when a cold breeze kissed the back of my neck. It was unsettling in this part of the forest. And I could almost pretend there were whispers floating in the air. Glancing around, I searched a few seconds for my backpack. The sore skin where my tattoos had been inked ached when I started looking for a way out. The wind picked up once more, rustling funnels of leaves around my body—this time I wasn’t imagining it. I heard a voice. A terrifying, calming, chilling voice.
“Hello? Is someone there?” I called out like every soon-to-be-murdered victim in every horror movie. Rubbing the sudden chill from my arms, I started walking. The leaves blew again, but I pushed through them. My stomach rumbled in knots, and all my senses piqued in defense.
I stumbled on a stone jutting from the ground. The undeniable whisper on the wind came once more. The words made no sense in my mind, but they spoke to an instinct somewhere within. Without understanding why, my attention floated down to the rock I’d stumbled over, as if the voice came from below. Despite the general improbability that the deep crevice of the forest would be brighter than the upper portion, it was. I leaned back on my knees, my fingers tracing strange, carved symbols on the stone. It was written in some language of which I couldn’t even guess the origins. At the top center was a symbol of a dragon head. My eyes scanned the rest of the clearing and noticed I was surrounded by similar stones. There were five main stones in a circle, with corresponding small markers splaying out from behind in a straight row l
ike a sun with its rays. Each stone was weathered and old. They could have been tribal artifacts from another time, but I was inclined to believe these strange dragon stones were something more.
Each rock was decorated in different symbols, obviously saying something unique. I touched one of the large stones again. My forearms ached and bubbled in the same slow burn I’d experienced over the weekend. The tips of my fingers felt a slight shock, and a smile spread over my face.
I felt no fear despite the phantom whispers and physical reaction to the clearing’s energy. The forest was suddenly alive in my thoughts, and as if the circle of stones breathed the same as me, I felt at home. Energy of the forest filled my body. I breathed deeply, interpreting the feel of the land. Something strange was happening, and I didn’t even care enough to consider the impossible way my soul seemed to be connecting with the trees, the soil, the dragon stones. I never wished to leave. But as quickly as the surge of energy had flowed through me, all at once it stopped. The forest was again silent, the stones were just stones, and the sunlight faded, leaving me in cold pitch.
In my mind, I tried to find a way out of the lower forest. Climbing would be difficult. My hand was still resting atop the dragon stone as I yearned for a new path. With the shudder of an icy chill, I searched over my shoulder. No, there hadn’t been a path there before. It was an impossible thought, so the path before my eyes had certainly not simply appeared because I’d wanted one. Despite the eeriness of it all, I slowly found my footing and moved toward the uneven escape. The branches swooped over my head creating a shield against the newly falling rain. The storm had found the town, but I felt warm and dry until a few more paces dropped me directly on the back lawn of the large white house. I spun around—there stood the forest as it always had. Open, wet, and inviting, with no curved shield of branches over a path. My dry body was now soaked from the fury of the downpour.
The back of my throat was dry, and my body fell from the euphoria of the powerful forest. Where was the road, the path? The clearing, what had just happened. Thoughts lambasted my mind as my arms trembled with new cold. My calm body had become a fury of chaos. Where were those stones, and what did they mean? The forest had spoken with me—yes, I wasn’t crazy, I’d felt a subconscious connection to the clearing. I’d sat in my haze, surrounded by the stones, believing magic and powers beyond my understanding were real. Now, the feeling was seeping away like water in a sieve.
“Teagan!” Mr. Sapphire was shouting from the porch. Ducking my head, I buried the nauseating questions deep inside and rushed toward the house. “Where have you been?”
“I missed the bus. I had to walk—I got turned around,” I said. It wasn’t completely honest, but Sapphire didn’t need to hear my supernatural experience with a cult-like circle of dragon stones and an eerie whisper on the wind.
“Come inside and get warm, we were starting to get worried.”
I stomped my muddy shoes and stepped in the house. The storm howled behind me, and I watched the rain pound against the glass panes. As the wind rattled the screens I could almost hear the same voice, clearer now. It was speaking directly to me. I wouldn’t show it, not when nothing made sense, but now the voice terrified me.
Chapter 12
My body must have been more exhausted than I’d thought because I fell asleep before the other students had even finished their nightly tasks. The aches and pains along my arms and head were fading, but my heart was still in a patter after the experience in the forest. I got up once, asked Sapphire for an Aspirin, and tried to sleep. That girl, Mini, she was strange. Dash was strange. The more I thought about the people in Wyvern Willows, the more I felt like I was a walking secret that everyone knew but me. On top of the weirdness of everything else, there was that feeling that never left—the need to ensure Jade Drake was safe. Not seeing her wasn’t easing the tension mounting in my neck.
With visions of Jade’s silky hair and perfect smile floating through my mind, I found a way to drift into a dreamless sleep, though it wouldn’t last long.
With an upright jolt I snapped awake, the cot groaning beneath my weight when something fiercely shook my shoulders.
“Shh,” a voice hissed in the dark. Then a gentle hand touched mine, sending a tremble up my spine. “Don’t say anything, they’ll hear you.”
It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust in the dark, but panic set in when I locked onto her emerald eyes. “Jade, what…what are you doing here? Sapphire will kill me.”
Jade moved like the dark was just a part of her. She was silent as a shadow, and her hair once again looked like the moonlight. “I needed to see you.”
“How did you get in here?” I asked in a husky whisper. The light was on in Sapphire’s office and I was positive Jesse, who was in charge again, would barge out any moment.
Jade smiled coyly, her bright teeth breaking through the darkness. “I went through your window, of course. It took some doing trying to find you all curled down here like some delinquent.”
I couldn’t help but revel in the thrill of having Jade sneaking into the house just to see me. Thankfully I was actually dressed; sleeping without a door and privacy would do that. “You must have ninja skills or something to get around Bart and Lily. They patrol all the floors and they don’t mess around.”
Jade snickered and kneeled at the edge of the cot. “I have my ways. Now, come on, let’s go.”
“Wait, go where? Jade, what are you doing here?” I said, hesitating for the first time. “Why haven’t you been at school?”
“Do you want to ask all these questions now, or come outside with me?” she teased, inching closer so I caught a breath of her rosy perfume.
I battled against the urge to touch her face and pointed toward Sapphire’s office. “If I get kicked out of here, I’m going to jail. I can’t risk getting into trouble.”
“Teagan,” she said softly, her face only inches away. I was certain I’d never seen someone so perfect. “You don’t really believe you got blackout wasted, do you?”
Drawing in a breath, feeling my heart pounding all through my neck, I held her deliberate gaze. Jade seemed to read my thoughts when I relented and shook my head. “No. I don’t.”
“I don’t either,” she said honestly and inched her perfect mouth right next to my ear. “There’s something different with you, something I need to understand.”
Did she know about the encounter with the frightening dragon stones? “What do you want to know?” I asked, my shoulders curling as my pulse raced when Jade’s hand topped my knee.
“Please come with me?” she said, her smile melting all my resolve. “We’re going to figure this out. They don’t want us together for a reason, and frankly I’m a little tired of being treated like a clueless child. Come with me, please. I need to take you somewhere we can find answers. Don’t worry about Sapphire. I’ll make sure we’re back long before the sun comes up. Oh, and Jesse won’t come out, he’s fast asleep.”
I wrung my fingers together, but after a long breath, I stood and followed Jade toward the kitchen and out the back door. The storm had left the world in damp freshness that invigorated my mind and made the risks of the night fade into oblivion. Jade strolled close, her body radiating warmth that was soothing to my very soul. She was locked in a constant smile, and though we didn’t speak at first, she occasionally glanced at me and said a thousand things with her eyes. Jade was dressed in solid black, and only her pale face and hair were visible when we walked deeper into the trees. The night was alive, the sounds of creatures seeming louder the longer we walked. I closed my eyes, reveling in the peace of the place, breathing in the extra energy from the towering trees.
“You fit in out here,” Jade whispered.
I nodded, a gentle smile finally breaking through my frustration. “I’m alive out here,” I admitted, once again feeling as close to the forest as before. Clearing my throat, I nudged her shoulder with my own. “You said they don’t want us to be together. What did
you mean?”
Jade rolled her eyes and sighed but didn’t drop her smile. “After what happened, I had regulations placed around me. I’m certain they believe they’re doing it to protect me, but I think there’s more to the story. There is something they are trying to handle without keeping me in the loop, and you’re a piece of that secret.”
“Okay,” I chuckled. “I’m going to pretend like that made sense. Are you talking about your mom? She talked with me, but was pretty nice about it. Honestly though, who is she going to believe when Sapphire called her to let her know I was out partying and getting inked up? I don’t really blame her for telling me to stay away.”
Jade laughed, but it wasn’t humorous. “I think those tattoos are what has everyone on edge. But the frustrating thing is no one will tell me why. Eisha told you that so you’d keep your distance while everyone tries to figure out what to do and leaves us incompetent children out of it all.” Jade spoke with a bitter sarcasm that surprised me.
“You call your mom by her first name?” I gaped.
Jade smiled but didn’t answer. Before my heart could prepare, she linked her fingers in mine. “Come on, it’s just up here.”
My palm was burning, but it was a nice burn, as Jade squeezed my hand tighter and led me through the trees until we came to the chain link fence. When she released my hand, I felt empty somehow. Jade dragged her fingers along the fence then without a backward glance she started climbing.
“Jade, what are you doing? I’m starting to think you really want to see me kicked out,” I hissed. Though partly teasing, there was a side of my brain that kept thinking of Aunt Liz.
She shot one of those addicting grins and shook her head. “I would never want to send you away, Teagan. You’ve changed me. Now, climb so we can get you back and tucked in like an obedient young man.”