by KB Anne
“I want to share something with you,” he said with an air of mystery.
Easy, Starr, easy. Remember to breathe. “Oh yeah, what?”
The sun reflected off his bare chest, his skin already darkening with its rays. “I know how you love fairy tales. I want to show you an enchanted forest.”
“What makes it enchanted?”
“You’ll just have to wait and see.”
“Alright…,” I replied, trying to hide my impatience.
“You don’t like to wait do you?” he said with his crooked smile.
Focus, Starr, focus. Don’t get lost in it.
“No.”
“Good things come to those who wait,” he teased. My heart pounded. I pretended to study the shoreline, but really I was trying to calm myself down. I considered diving right into the lake just to avoid this conversation. When I regained most of my control, I was ready to talk to him again.
“So, where is this enchanted forest?”
When he didn’t answer, I turned to him. He was staring at me lost in his own thoughts. He shook his head. “Huh…?”
I liked watching him recover for once. “The enchanted forest?”
“Just ahead,” he said. With a few paddle pulls, he steered the canoe over to the shore. When we were about to hit the bank, he jumped out of the boat into the water and dragged the canoe up. He reached for my hand. “A magical adventure awaits us.”
I bravely took his hand and smiled. The possibility of magic stirred something deep within me. An awakening of sorts, but I figured it had more to do with hormones than anything actually magical.
The woods on this side were different than the shore we came from. The trees soared to the heavens. The leaves, the plants, the grass, every living thing on this side of the lake was more vibrant, making the woods both spooky and magical. “There aren’t any bears or anything, are there?”
He squeezed my hand and leaned into me. His shoulder pressed against mine. The heat of his skin warmed my arm and my heart. “Starr, when are you going to realize I will never put you in harm’s way? I’m your guardian angel. Don’t ever forget that.”
Breathe Starr, breathe!
My bobble head returned. At this rate, I certainly wasn’t impressing him with my profound intellect or dazzling personality.
We followed a small stream into a hidden valley. The narrow path was barely wide enough for us to walk side by side, but we managed. Our hips bumped rhythmically with each step. As we descended deeper, the forest grew in stature and presence. Gigantic green ferns lined the path. Patches of tall yellow flowers bowed down to us. The trees were so round I could barely wrap my arms around their trunks. Brilliant green moss dressed the bases of the trees. Although it was a warm, sunny day out, the sun’s rays couldn’t peek through the thick canopy. I shivered as tiny electric surges coursed through my hand and up my arm. This forest was enchanted almost Otherwordly.
“Are you cold?” Concern touched his eyes.
I shook my head back and forth, smiling in contentment. I expected to see little sprites tending the flowers and garden gnomes shooing us away. I took a deep breath. I had never breathed air so pure. I had never felt so alive.
“So, what do you think?” he whispered.
I didn’t possess the words to describe what lies before me, but for Christian, I would try. “It’s… amazing. It feels so old in here, like it’s been here forever.”
He pulled me along the trail deeper into the wood. “This patch of forest is one of the last remaining old growth forests in the Eastern United States. Lumber companies came through and ravaged most of the Tennessee and North Carolina wilderness, but somehow missed this place. When I was a kid, my grandfather told me an old troll lived here and chased away anyone who trespassed, but if you left him a colorful stone at the base of the tallest tree, he would let you stay. If he really liked your stone, he’d grant you a wish.”
I realized I was staring at him. I had a habit of doing that. I broke eye contact by searching the ground instead. “Should we look for one now?”
He reached into his pocket and dug around. His eyes lit up as he found what he was looking for. He pulled out his hand and opened it. In the center of his palm sat a blue-green stone. “I already found one.”
“It’s beautiful,” I whispered in awe. A thousand facets of light sparkled from it.
“It’s okay,” he shrugged his shoulders. “I can think of someone more beautiful.”
Was he talking about me? Did he think I was beautiful?
Breathe Starr, breathe!
I finally managed to compose myself. “So, where are you going to put it?”
“I want you to do it. My wish has already been granted.” He placed the small stone in my hand and closed it without taking his eyes off me.
Breathe Starr, breathe! Breathing was a good thing. I tried to put the stone back in his hand. “Too much pressure, I don’t know where the cranky old troll lives.”
“I’m sure you’ll pick the right place,” he replied. I tried to maintain eye contact but I couldn’t. I was a big ol’ chicken. I stared up into the canopy, pretending to search for the tallest tree.
“Is this a good one?” I pointed to a tall one.
“It’s perfect,” he replied, but he didn’t even glance at the tree. I wasn’t uncomfortable with him staring at me, but it made me nervous. I wanted him to kiss me. I really, really, did.
“Okay, here goes.” I knelt down at the base of it.
He bent down beside me. “Don’t forget to make your wish.”
I knew what I was wishing for.
I tried to close my eyes to make my wish, but I couldn’t close them. His face was inches from mine. I kept trying to close them, but my eyes wouldn’t cooperate with me. Nervous laughter erupted from my mouth. Here I was with Christian in the most perfect setting for a first kiss, and I couldn’t close my eyes long enough to make a wish.
“What’s so funny?”
I am sooo not telling you.
“I was just imagining the big cranky troll delicately picking up the stone, and then standing up and scratching his belly as he burps.” I was laughing so hard at the image I just created, tears rolled down my cheeks. He began laughing along with me.
The romantic moment evaporated with the morning dew. An enchanted forest was way too heavy with ancient longing for a first kiss, anyway.
As we canoed back to the opposite shore, we cracked jokes about the old troll the entire ride. When we reached the shore, I stepped out of the canoe, took my shirt off, and dove into the water. The cold water blasted any remaining nerves out of me. When I finally came up for air, Christian’s eyes widened with surprise. I remembered the bikini I had on and became very self-conscious, but I had such a high from swimming, I didn’t want to kill my buzz. I put my hands on my hips. “What?”
“I…, I,” he stuttered at a loss for words. “You just dove in and disappeared. You surprised me.”
I winked at him. “I’m full of surprises.”
“Evidently.” He smiled and dove in. I took a guess when he was coming up for air and dove in the opposite direction. When I couldn’t swim any farther, I lifted my head. He grinned at me and dove again. We played this cat and mouse game for a while, until my laughing made it impossible to swim any distance.
He grabbed me around the waist. “Gotcha!”
Electricity pulsed through the water between us. Did he feel this too? I shyly looked up at him.
Yes, yes he did.
Floating in the water, times stood still. Staring into each other eyes, the tension returned.
Is he going to kiss me? I think he’s going to kiss me. I want him to kiss me…
Then I shivered.
“You’re cold,” he whispered.
I shook my head in denial, but the goose bumps gave me away. He smiled and pulled me to shore.
Strike two. Way to go, Starr. Way to go.
Reluctant to leave, I stood at the water’s edge wa
tching the late day sun. The damp sand between my toes helped calm my racing heart. He wrapped a towel around my shoulders and whispered, “Later.”
Later. One little word with so much promise.
Chapter Twenty-One
Changed and waiting for Christian at the water’s edge, the promise of later weighed heavy on my mind. School was easy. I got an assignment or volunteer for a job and I did it. Done. This thing between Christian and me was easy. We got along great, but what was next? I had no real experience with boys. I’d kissed some guys before, but I didn’t really like them. And there never was electricity like there was every time Christian touched me. I wanted to kiss him. I really, really did, but I didn’t know how.
That was one for the record books—Miss Leadership girl didn’t know how to take initiative.
I guess I could wait and see what happened. Or I could kiss him first—but I never made the first move. All I did know was that he better kiss me or I would explode. Full-on everybody get out of the way explosion
“Did you miss me?” he called out to me as he wound his way down the path. My stomach did a back-flip followed by a cartwheel. I bravely swallowed my nerves before turning to him. He was completely overloaded with piles of blankets and baskets.
“Of course. Need some help?”
“Can you lay out the blanket?” He bent over so I could grab it from the top of the pile. “Mountain pies and s’mores for dinner.”
I smoothed out the corners of the blanket. “What are mountain pies?”
He let out a shocked gasp.
“And I’ve never had s’mores. Are they good?”
Again he shuddered. “You’ve never had a s’more before?”
I shook my head.
“Starr, there’s much I have to teach you.”
I wanted to say, “Christian, you have no idea,” but instead I said, “Where do we start?”
“First a fire and then magic!” It was the magic that tightened my stomach and the promise of later…
With the strike of a match on a small teepee of sticks and tinder, he got a fire roaring. He patted the blanket beside him. “Watch and learn.”
I took a deep breath and sat down. He picked up a long handle with a cast iron square at one end of it. When the cast iron square was hot, he instructed me in the fine art of mountain pie making.
After we devoured several pizza pies and blueberry pies, we moved on to s’mores. My first bite of the campfire dessert erupted from my mouth. Gooey marshmallow and melted chocolate dripped down the corners of my lips like delicious hot lava. Using my hoodie sleeve, I wiped the drippings from my face. “Oh my gosh, yummm!”
“No really, you should leave it. The look is quite attractive,” he teased, shifting closer. “I bet you taste delicious.”
“Bah hahaha!” I fell sideways in a fit of laughter.
“Just what do you think is so funny?”
“I’m sorry,” I managed to choke out, “but that line was one of the corniest come-on’s I’ve ever heard.”
He grinned at me. “You think that was a come-on? Oh Starr, you do have a lot to learn.”
That sobered me up. “You didn’t want to kiss me just now?”
“I guess you’ll never know,” he said with a wistful expression before standing up and walking over to the water’s edge.
I brushed myself off and followed him. “I’m sorry for hurting your feelings,” I whispered, reaching for his hand. Instead, he put his arm around my shoulders, and we stood watching the lake together. The sun set long ago and the moon hadn’t peeked out yet. Shades of purple, blue, and black blanketed the night sky.
He pulled me close to him. “Starr, I really care about you.”
“I care about you too.”
“No, you don’t understand.” He dropped his arm from my shoulders and grabbed both my hands. “All day I’ve tried to come up with a way to kiss you that you would remember forever. I wanted to stand out from all the boys you’ve ever kissed. I know it’s corny, but I wanted our first kiss to be your best kiss.”
I peeked up at him under my eyelashes. “How many boys do you think I’ve kissed?”
“I know you’re beautiful and that all the guys at school are crazy about you.”
I stepped away from him. “Beautiful? You think I’m beautiful?”
“Of course I do, along with everyone else.”
“Everyone?” I scrunched my forehead.
“You have no idea just how appealing you are.” He played with a lock of my hair. “You’re smart, athletic, friendly—”
“Keep going,” I teased.
“Funny, outgoing, love the outdoors and wildlife, especially bears and snakes,” he said with his crooked smile.
“Very funny.” I pushed him away from me. “There really haven’t been many boys.”
“Really?” He sounded surprised.
Something about Christian encouraged me to always be honest with him. I wanted to tell him everything. “Actually maybe two, and those were dares at a friend’s house. I’ve never paid guys much attention.”
“I always pegged you as the social butterfly type.”
“Oh, I’ll go out with a group of guys and girls. Some of the guys might have considered them dates, but I didn’t. As far as I was concerned we were just friends, and so, no kisses.”
“So what am I?”
He did not just ask me that, did he?
Be strong Starr, be strong.
“What do you think?”
That’s it. Put it back on him.
He moved closer to me. “Well, you call me your guardian angel. That has to rank higher than ‘just friends,’ but I’m not sure if it means ‘romantically involved.’” He arched an eyebrow at me.
I grabbed his hands. His eyes dazzled me as shockwaves ran through my fingers. I stood on my tiptoes to reach his lips. He bent down to meet mine. More than friends, much more than friends.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Worth the wait,” I whispered, more to myself, but his sweet lips were still so close to me that he heard. His lips turned up into a coy smile.
“Worth the wait,” he agreed before returning to mine. He wrapped his strong arms around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him. I ran my fingers through his hair. It was as silky and luxurious as I imagined it to be. There was no awkward fumbling, no second guessing, just magic.
Pure magic.
Just like he promised.
Eventually, we found our way to the blankets. I’d always heard stories about people kissing each other all night long. I never thought I’d want to. I always assumed I’d get bored or grossed out—especially after my less than stellar, okay downright sloppy, open mouth, sweaty palms kissing situations I’d previously experienced. But with Christian, I could kiss him for hours. Days in fact. Maybe even weeks. And we did at least until the early morning sunrise brought us back to this world. As we pulled away from each other, we shared red puffy lips and contented smiles. Any shyness that existed between us was gone. Without a word, we grabbed the blankets and headed up to the cabin.
Once we put our stuff down, I stretched. “I think I’m going to go to sleep for a while.”
“But I’m not done kissing you,” he said.
“Well, come on then,” I replied as I walked over to the bed. “I’m not that tired either come to think of it.”
Hours later, I woke up with Christian lying beside me. I was torn about what I wanted to do. I could have stared at him for hours. I could have started kissing him—I was sure he wouldn’t object—but a nagging feeling in my gut rose within me. I didn’t want to be away from him for even a minute, but in order to think straight, I needed to get away from this complete and utter distraction.
I wandered down to the lake and climbed onto the boulder that he sat on the day before, the very boulder where I actually saw Christian, the real Christian. He was no longer the Goth loner he pretended to be at school. He became the boy, the man, who saved my life and won my heart
. A week ago, we were strangers, and now, we were so much more.
I couldn’t believe it had only been a week. I had lived a lifetime since the last time I was home.
Home.
My mom and dad must be devastated that their little girl was “dead,” but at least they were safe. If nothing else, I could do that for them.
I wondered how Frank was managing. We’d been inseparable since he moved to Webster five years ago. I hoped his new flavor of the week kept him occupied. I laughed at the visual of him using his damaged goods image to get girls—so Frankie. In truth, I knew he felt like he lost a part of himself. I wasn’t whole without him either though Christian helped keep my mind off things.
The rest of the kids at school should be getting over the news. Life should return to normal for them without me. And without Sami and Jovie.
I couldn’t believe Sami and Jovie were dead. It didn’t seem real. I always thought a person would know deep down inside if someone close to them was gone, but I didn’t feel anything. I dug my fingernail deep into the palm of my hand. My face drew inward at the pinch, but no tears came. It was almost as if I cried myself out the night Christian rescued me, and now there was no emotion left in me like I was an empty shell, but that wasn’t true either. I felt warm and fuzzy when I thought about Christian, but when I thought about my grandparents or the Organization, I felt nothing but hate and anger. I would get my revenge.
My mind circled back to the Organization. What did I know about them?
KNOWNS:
1. I took a test at Trevnor University.
Organization must have a connection to the college.
Find out who owns the island and the buildings.
2. The General appears to be in charge.
Who is he and what is his background?
3. The test proctor
Is he anyone of consequence?
4. The other recruits
Where did they get them?
Are they volunteers?
Are there any weak links we can exploit?
5. The Organization started tracking me when I first took the ELA exam.
How do they have access to school data?