Shadow Hills

by Anastasia Hopcus

  It occurred to me that this would be the perfect time to ask him about the stuff that I’d found out in the library. I’d been wanting to run some of my theories by him, but it was hardly the kind of thing we could discuss in photography class.

  The car started up with a rich purr, and the radio came on at the same time. I couldn’t help but laugh as Vanessa Carlton’s voice came blasting out of the speakers.

  “Interesting music choice,” I teased.

  “It’s my sister’s CD. Thankfully, she lets me borrow it on occasion.” Zach gave me a sly grin to let me know he was kidding, then ejected the CD and put in a Les Savy Fav disc.

  “Pretty sophisticated taste for a small-town boy,” I said flirtatiously. Inside, I was working to keep my cool. He was beyond gorgeous, but not in a studied way like Trent. And even if Zach didn’t seem to know how hot he was, I certainly had noticed.

  “Well, we small-town folks do what we can to find out about new bands. But it’s hard when all the radio stations in Shadow Hills only play Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday.”

  “Point taken,” I laughed.

  “So how are you enjoying our tiny backward village?” Zach asked.

  “It’s okay,” I allowed. “Once they get those outhouses put up, we’ll really be living the life.”

  “Indoor plumbing’s just a bit too advanced for us, I guess.”

  We joked back and forth, making small talk—that was a lot more fun than small talk is ever supposed to be—until Zach pulled the car into a space in front of the Book Stop. I still hadn’t asked him anything that I’d meant to, but the conversation had been flowing so well that I hadn’t wanted to interrupt it. I’ll be more focused on the way back.

  “I’m only going to be a few minutes,” Zach said as we got out of the car. “Where do you want me to meet you?”

  “I’m going over there.” I pointed at the sign for Sarah’s Boutique.

  “Okay. See you in a bit.”

  As I started toward the store, the cold fear I had felt in my dream gripped me again. I steeled myself and entered the dimly lit shop. Sarah looked up.

  “I’ve been waiting for you to come again.” Her eyes were sharp and bright, peering out of her worn face.

  “You have?”

  Why was some old lady waiting for me, a total stranger, to show up? Why was she acting like she knew me?

  “How could you possibly know I would be back?” I demanded.

  “It was foretold to me long ago,” she answered sagely.

  “What do you think this is? The second coming of Christ?” I couldn’t control the rising tenor of my voice. “I’m just a girl from the boarding school.”

  Sarah took a deep breath, then stood up from her chair. Walking haltingly on her cane, she made her way around the front desk to where I stood. Every grain of wood in her cane—every bend and knot—was exactly as I had seen it in my dream, but her hand was covering the top. Still, I knew what symbol was underneath.

  “If you are just some girl …” She blinked at me and cocked her head to the side, reminding me of a crow. “If you haven’t experienced anything unusual … why are you back here? Looking for answers?”

  I opened my mouth, then closed it again. Now that I was here, I didn’t know what to say. I was operating on the idea that my dreams were somehow prophetic. Were they really? There was only one way to find out.

  I unzipped the side zipper on my skirt. I felt horribly strange and embarrassed. Exposed. Sarah’s hand flew to her mouth as the mark on my hip came into full view. Quickly, I yanked the zipper back up.

  “What is it?” I tried to keep my words steady, but my whole body was shaking.

  “You are the one.” She made her way back to her chair and sank into it. Her smile was wobbly, her eyes shiny and wet. Sarah laid her walking stick across the desk, and gingerly I picked it up. It was made out of a single piece of wood and carved into the top was the symbol. My symbol.

  An image flashed in my mind: the pendant necklace and the woman who’d worn it in my dream.

  “Who is Rebekah Sampson?” I asked Sarah.

  “She was a very dear friend of mine. She was the one who told me that someday you would come.”

  “Can I speak to her?” I set the cane back down on the desk like a peace offering to Sarah. I wanted so badly to talk to this woman, the one who might have the answers I was searching for. Answers to questions I didn’t even know how to ask.

  “She has been gone for a very long time now.” Sarah slid open a drawer on the desk and pulled out a heavy book. She placed it in my hands. “But she wanted you to have this.”

  I wondered if this was why Athena had been drawn to Devenish Prep. Maybe she was the one this woman was expecting. Maybe it wasn’t me at all.

  The ancient book had a wraparound cover that looked like a large leather envelope with a tie closure. The brown leather was thick and mottled with age. I traced my finger over the emblem that had been carved into the cover. It was the same mark I had on my body. Excitement began to rise in me. Could the answers to my questions all be in this old book?

  “Rebekah always told me it was meant to be with you.” Sarah nodded at the book. “You belong to it, and it to you.”

  “The symbol?” I let my unfinished question hang in the air.

  “It is Hekate’s Wheel.”

  “Hekate’s Wheel.” I repeated her words under my breath. It felt as if they’d rolled off my tongue many times before. “But I don’t understand. What does it mean? Why did you say that I was ‘the one’? The one for what? And why—”

  Sarah held up her hand, smiling kindly. “I’m sorry. It’s not my place. You must be patient. It will all be revealed to you eventually.”

  “But—” I began in frustration.

  The sound of the front door swinging open startled me, and the shaft of outside light that now fell across the room was blinding. I shifted the large book to one arm so I could shade my eyes with the other hand.

  “Hey.” Zach was looking in, smiling at me expectantly. “You ready?”

  “Yeah.” It was obvious that I wasn’t going to get anything else out of Sarah. But at least I had the book. I shoved it into my backpack and started toward the door, then turned back. “Thanks.”

  She gave me a nod, and I walked out of the store.

  “Did you get what you needed?” Zach asked.

  “Yeah. I think so,” I assured him with a smile.

  “Do you mind if we make another stop before we go back to Devenish? My dad wanted me to check on my grandfather.”

  “Sure.”

  Zach drove past the square and turned onto a road I hadn’t noticed before. We passed several large, dignified houses on expansive plots of land before turning onto a tree-lined drive. Though Zach drove slowly over the loose gravel road, the ride was still rather bumpy. Once it jostled me so much that my shoulder came into contact with Zach’s. It felt very intimate, even through our clothes, and I turned to look out my window so he wouldn’t see me blush.

  The building at the end of the drive had a circular central hub with three wings coming off it, and though it was in the same dark brick as much of the rest of Shadow Hills, it reminded me strongly of the nursing homes I’d seen in Los Angeles. As Zach pulled into the unpaved parking area on the right, I glanced at the sign next to the front entrance. OAKHAVEN ADVANCED CARE FACILITY.

  How old was Zach’s grandfather, anyway? His dad had looked pretty young to me—certainly younger than mine. I would have figured that Zach’s grandfather would be in his early sixties—not exactly “advanced care facility” age.

  Zach got out of the car, then stopped and looked at me. I’d already grabbed my purse, getting ready to go in with him, when it dawned on me that maybe he was expecting me to wait here.

  “You don’t have to come in if you don’t want.” Zach echoed my concerns.

  “I don’t mind.” I was stuck awkwardly standing with one foot out of the car. “I mean … unless you don�
�t want me to.”

  “I didn’t mean that.” He smiled.

  We were halfway to the entrance when the front door of the building opened and two men and a woman emerged. Zach stiffened beside me. Curiously, I glanced from him to the group outside the nursing home.

  One of the men looked over. Upon seeing us he hesitated, then said something to his companions. The woman nodded and slipped her hand through the second man’s arm, leading him away toward the cars on the far side of the lot.

  The man who was now coming over to us seemed strangely familiar.

  “Zach. Good to see you.”

  “Hello.” Zach’s tone was just short of rude, which made me wonder even more who this was.

  He looked to me to be in his thirties. An elegant gray suit draped perfectly over his trim frame. With dark blond hair and refined features, he was handsome in an uninteresting sort of way. He shook Zach’s hand briskly, then turned to me.

  “And who is this lovely young lady?” I could tell from his smile that he thought he was charming, but there was something calculating in his gaze. Maybe it was Zach’s attitude toward him influencing me, but I already had a feeling that I wouldn’t like this guy.

  “Aren’t you going to introduce us, Zach?”

  “Phe, this is my uncle, Trent Redford III,” Zach said with some reluctance. “Uncle Tripp, this is Persephone Archer; she’s a student at Devenish.”

  Oh. When Trent and I had locked up the library after our little break in, this was the man who had come up to us. What if he said something about that now, in front of Zach? At the very least, it would sound like I had some interest in the cousin Zach obviously hated. I crossed my fingers that it had been dark enough that he wouldn’t recognize me on sight. And hopefully Trent hadn’t told his dad my name after I’d bolted.

  “That uniform makes it pretty easy to identify you kids.” He smiled as he said it, but that didn’t make my worries recede. So he hadn’t given me away yet, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t in a minute.

  I fiddled with the zipper on the front pocket of my purse.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Persephone.” He reached out his hand, and I shook it as quickly as possible. The shock was so strong that I cringed in pain even though I’d been sure it was coming. I recovered quickly, though, pasting on a tight smile.

  “Nice to meet you, too, Mr. Redford.” I went back to playing with the zipper. Open, then closed, and back again.

  “Please, call me Tripp,” he told me.

  “Okay.” I let go of the zipper pull, realizing the repetitive noise I was making with my purse was probably annoying as hell. I clasped my hands in front of my skirt.

  “As beautiful as you are, I’m sure that my son Trent has introduced himself.”

  “Yes, I know Trent.” I forced myself to smile again. Maybe Tripp really didn’t have a clue who I was.

  “That’s wonderful to hear.” Tripp acted as if I’d said I adored Trent. He turned once more to Zach. “Coming to visit your grandfather? I think you’ll find him in excellent spirits today.”

  “Really?” Zach’s tone was doubtful.

  “Good days and bad days, you know,” Tripp added, somewhat cryptically.

  “Yeah. Well, we should go in.” Zach glanced at the hefty black watch he wore. “I’ve got to get back to Devenish soon so I can pick up Corinne on time.”

  “You’d better get to it.” Tripp raised his eyebrows. “These Redford women can be quite the spitfires when they’re irritated.”

  “Say hello to your parents for me. And Corinne, too, of course.”

  “Sure,” Zach said in a clipped tone. “You ready?” He looked sideways at me, and I nodded.

  I wondered if he realized how stony he looked walking away from his uncle without a backward glance. What was up with this family?

  “Sorry about that. I’m sure you didn’t bargain on having to see my whole family when I offered you a ride into town.”

  “It’s okay.” I was itching to ask him why the Redford men seemed so distant, even antagonistic, but I couldn’t think of any remotely polite way of doing so.

  “Uncle Tripp’s not as bad as Trent,” Zach went on. “I guess that’s not saying much, though.”

  Zach started to speak again, then stopped and finally said, “Has Trent—I mean, have you hung out with him any?”

  I shrugged. “Once or twice. I don’t think we have much in common.”

  “So you’re not like into …” He let the question hang there unfinished.

  “Not at all,” I answered emphatically.

  Zach nodded, looking pleased. A delicious warmth filled me. While jealousy isn’t exactly an admirable trait, I couldn’t deny that I was happy that Zach didn’t want me interested in Trent.

  When we stepped inside the elegant lobby, the receptionist greeted Zach by name and directed us toward the rear of the building. “Mr. Redford’s in the garden.”

  “Thanks.” Zach led the way to the French doors.

  A man shuffled past us, with a nurse at his side. His arms and head shuddered erratically. Outside on the patio, a woman sat in a wheelchair, a sheet bound around her and the chair to keep her upright. She was facing a beautiful rosebush, but she stared past it vacantly, her mouth working as though she was talking. I had volunteered at an advanced care facility for the community service requirement at my old school, and all of it was pretty normal behavior.

  What was odd, though, was the fact that none of the patients here were white haired or wrinkled. In fact, just looking at them, I would have been surprised if they were sixty years old.

  One woman looked up at me and smiled brilliantly. An instant later, her expression changed to one of confusion, and she sank back against her chair, her fingers picking at the crocheted throw across her lap. I did my best to hide my astonishment. None of these people looked anywhere near as old as my father’s parents, who lived in Palm Springs and spent the majority of their lives out on the golf course.

  A man with salt-and-pepper hair sat in a wheelchair beside the fountain, basking in the sun, his eyes closed. Even seated, it was obvious that he was a tall man with shoulders that were still broad. I suspected that this was Zach’s grandfather, and the resemblance was more striking when he opened his eyes and smiled at us. His eyes were not the same color as Zach’s—no one’s were—but his smile was much the same.

  “Zachary,” he said warmly, reaching out to him.

  “Hello, Granddad.” Zach grinned and took his hand. “You look good. How are you feeling?”

  “I’m great. Sit down, sit down.” He looked up at me, and his smile faltered. “I—I’m sorry. Have we met? I don’t remember your name.”

  “It’s okay, Granddad, you don’t know Phe. She’s new here.”

  “Ah.” He nodded, but his expression had lost a little of its glow, and I felt bad that I had inadvertently spoiled his mood. “It’s nice to see you, Phe. Grant should date more; I told him. Always got his nose in a book, that one.” He smiled at Zach.

  “I’m Zach, Granddad,” Zach told him gently.

  “Of course you are, who else would you be? How’s school? Must feel nice being a junior, only one more year and you’ll have the run of the place.”

  Zach and his grandfather talked for a while, including me in their conversation when they could. For the most part, Mr. Redford was lucid and spoke eloquently, but now and then he seemed a bit vague, like he had forgotten what he was saying. His left hand, which lay in his lap, had a slight tremor. My chest ached, watching Zach’s grandfather. This had to be so hard on their whole family. But at this moment Zach seem elated, and he lingered even after they’d finished covering all the usual topics. I had a feeling this was a very good day for his grandfather.

  I wondered what was wrong with him. With all of them. They were too young to be so feeble. And, if Toy was right, these were the lucky ones. The other residents of Shadow Hills had passed away before they reached this age.

  I was more determ
ined than ever to find out what was going on in this town.

  A few minutes later, after we pulled out of the parking lot of Oakhaven, I turned to Zach and asked in a casual tone, “So … what’s a Brevis Vita?”

  Chapter Ten

  “What?” Zach whipped around to look at me, his hand jerked on the steering wheel, and the car swerved into the opposite lane. Hastily, he pulled it back. “Sorry. I—um, what did you say?”

  “Smooth cover,” I told him sarcastically. “I said, what is a Brevis Vita?”

  “I don’t know. Where did you hear that?”

  “I overheard some students say it.” I wasn’t about to tell him about breaking into the library. I was majorly into Zach, but it seemed a little too soon to start confessing my illegal activities.

  “Who said it?”

  “I couldn’t see them, I just heard them talking. That’s not the point.”

  “I don’t know what the point is,” he said, watching the road so intently you’d have thought he was afraid it might vanish around the next curve. “How should I know about Brevis Vita?”

  “Because you’re one of them?” I countered.

  “Phe … this is crazy. I don’t know what you think, but—”

  “Okay. I’ll tell you what I think. I think that you have some kind of strange energy deal that makes you able to attract metal objects and recharge my iPod with your bare hands.”

  “Some people naturally have more of an electromagnetic charge in their bodies than others,” Zach said evasively. “Some people can’t even wear watches because of it.”

  “And do these same people melt plastic with their fingers?”

  He shot me a frustrated look. “I told you—”

  “Nothing,” I supplied. “Or, at least, nothing that was true. Look, I know that you dreamed the same dream about the graveyard that I did. You as good as admitted it that day at the store.”

  Zach’s fingers curled tightly around the steering wheel.

  “And I know that it isn’t only you who can do strange things,” I pressed on. “Corinne and Trent practically give me electroshock therapy when they shake my hand. Trent also has a little habit of setting off the alarms on cars merely by walking by them, and—oh, yeah—he shoots sparks out of his fingers!”