“What’s this curse about, Blaine? I thought you were just messing with me, but that was seriously scary!”
“No, it’s not a joke! The curse is very real – you saw for yourself! Do you remember when I told you about my brother, Cillian, who’s in the Top League? Well, he’s there because of the things he can do. He can, well, he can curse people.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, I swear. The first time it happened, we were just kids. I was seven, he was ten, and we were by the pool. He had messed up one of my favorite toys, so, as payback, I decided to embarrass him in front of a girl he liked. He was so mad at me – he really liked that girl, and I’d ruined his chances – so he shoved me into the pool, because he knew I was scared of water. He shouted that he wished there really was a monster in there, and that it would grab me and drag me down to the bottom, forever. He wanted to make me cry. You know how it is, the things kids say when they’re mad at each other,” he said, playing his fingers nervously over his blue-tipped fringe.
“But then something really did grab me and pull me down, just like it did last night. I almost drowned. That was when I discovered what my brother could do: he could curse people and make the curse come true. We received a visit from the Top League soon afterwards. They took him away to figure out what exactly were his powers and what was the range of his ability. They said they were taking him to tutor him and help him hone his powers, but I don’t know what really goes on in that place . . .”
“I’ve heard rumors that he has a different ability,” I countered.
“About how he puts fear into your head, you mean? Yeah, at first the Top League said Cillian’s ability was about that, but how can you explain the thing grabbing me in the pool? They said it was only in my mind, it wasn’t real, but then how do you explain the bruises it left on my leg? And then it happened again and Cillian wasn’t even there.
“It took me a couple of years to gather up enough courage to risk going into the water again. It was a river close to a friend’s cottage; we had gone there for the holidays. It happened again. Something almost drowned me in that river, and I knew then that this curse was really real, and it was still active. I’ve never gone back into the water again – no pools, no sea, no lakes. I stay away because I know what will happen. I’m not sure if this curse can be lifted.
“And if it was really some stupid fear Cillian had put inside my head, it wouldn’t had affected you. But that thing in the lake, it went after you too! You know I’m not imagining this, right? It was real!”
“Yeah, it was,” I agreed, the image of glowing eyes in the water flashing vividly in my head. Simon wasn’t imagining things, which meant this curse was really real.
By the time he’d finished his story, he had both hands deep in his pockets and a miserable look on his face.
“I-I’m really sorry about yesterday, Joe. I knew that if I’d gone back into that lake, I would have been in serious trouble, most likely even dead. I know I should’ve helped you, b-but I was so scared. You were really brave. You saved me, and look how I repaid you!” He shook his head. “I’ll be for ever in debt to you. If there’s anything I can ever do . . .”
I hadn’t saved him with the expectation of a favor in return, but as he made the promise, an idea suddenly struck me. I wouldn’t have an opportunity like this again . . .
“Actually, there is one thing you can do for me . . .” I said. He looked at me in surprise. “Do you think you can contact your brother and ask him something for me?”
“Okay,” he agreed reluctantly. Clearly talking to his brother wasn’t something he liked doing very much. “What do you want to know?”
“It’s about someone in the Top League. Can you ask your brother about a member? Last name’s Gray. Anything you can dig up about that, you know, anything at all, would be helpful.”
“Gray? Is it a relative of yours?”
“Yeah, I’m looking for a long-lost relative, and I heard there was a Gray in the Top League. I know it’s a long shot, but I’m running out of places to look. I don’t have any connections there myself to ask about it, but if you could help me with this, we can call it quits.”
He paused and stared at his feet. “Look, I’m not very close to Cillian. I haven’t talked to him in years. He only shows up for Christmas to see our parents, and even then, we hardly interact. But I’ll see what I can do. My brother never talks about anything that goes on in that League, though. To be honest, the chances of him telling me anything are close to none.”
“I’m sure you can think of something, Simon. Tell him about last night – maybe you can guilt-trick him into telling you. You can put the blame on this curse, and maybe make him think it’s his fault? It’d really help me if you could find this out for me.”
“I’ll see what I can do. I’ll try my best,” he promised.
We were getting close to the main house when he gathered the courage to say, “Before we go talk to Miss Harker, I wanted to ask you something, Joe. What happened in the lake? You were pulled down and disappeared for a while – I was sure you were gone. But then there was some type of explosion, and water sprayed up in the air like a geyser! When I looked back, there was a ring of fire in the lake and I couldn’t see you anywhere! I don’t know how your husband found you in the dark . . .”
“I don’t know what happened either, Simon,” I lied. “All I know is something was grabbing me by the ankle, and then the water started to get really hot and the creature suddenly let go. I thought it was some magic you did, to be honest.”
“N-no, I didn’t do anything! I could never have done something like that! It takes too much power. And I wouldn’t even know how – I’m just an Advanced student.” He wasn’t totally convinced, though: I could see a glint of doubt lingering in his eyes. “Look,” he said, “until we find out exactly what happened, can you not tell this to anyone?”
“Sure. I think you’re right,” I agreed. “We should figure things out first before we say anything.”
I mentally high-fived myself. Things couldn’t have gone any better. I had managed to convince Simon that this was somehow his secret to keep, rather than mine. I couldn’t believe he was going to keep his mouth shut about last night!
He exhaled, relieved. “Okay, then. That’s a deal.”
We shook hands on it.
Chapter Twelve
Baby Talk
“SIMON! THERE YOU are. I’ve been looking all over for you.” Luna Harker ran to meet us as soon as we arrived at the front steps of the main house. “Your mother is on the phone, demanding to talk to you. I’ve put her on hold. Word about the attacks in the camp has reached her, and she’s flipping worried about you. You have to take her call right now!”
“Oh. Okay, I’m on my way. Can you please tell Celeste I had to go take care of this first? She’s also waiting to talk to me,” he said.
“Yes, I’ll find her and tell her.” Luna nodded, hurrying up the steps after Simon and not even bothering to say hello to me. Luna wasn’t a big fan of niceties and pleasantries when interacting with people, especially when she was busy or had urgent problems to take care of.
“Hey, Joe, wait up!” Tristan was jogging down the trail, his hair in disarray – he had clearly left our cabin in a hurry. He must also have skipped his morning shower: he wouldn’t have had time.
“I left a note on the boys’ door, explaining we’d be here for breakfast,” he said, slightly out of breath from jogging.
“That was impressively fast. What happened to your shower?”
“Wasn’t in the mood for showers today.” He shrugged nonchalantly.
“Of course not.” I shook my head at his blatant lie. “Tris, you don’t need to babysit me all day. Blaine is no threat, I swear to you. And I’m not doing anything dangerous, I promise. I’ll be careful.”
“Oh, I know that. He’s def no threat. But he’s no bloody help, either! I still want to be with you today, just in case any more dangerous things ha
ppen to you.”
I rolled my eyes. I couldn’t even blame him for worrying; things really did tend to happen to me, whether I was careful or not.
“Plus, I’m supposed to help you when you get into trouble, remember?” he said. “That’s my job. This ring says so.” He pointed to the white gold wedding band on his left hand to prove his point.
“Oh, all right, then.” I didn’t want to fight him on this. “Come on, let’s have some breakfast before we go talk to Celeste.” I interlaced our arms and directed him to the lobby.
“So, what did you and Simon talk about? What did he want?”
“He’s confused about the fire bomb at the lake. But don’t worry, he feels so guilty about the whole thing that he somehow believes it’s his fault. I’ve left him thinking that way. We’ve agreed to keep our mouths shut about the whole incident until we figure things out.”
Tristan raised an eyebrow. “That was a smart move. How long do you reckon before he starts putting two and two together?”
“I don’t know. But I’ll try to keep it on the down-low for as long as I can. I have a feeling I should keep this secret close to the chest, you know?”
As we stepped into the lobby, a few people were ambling around, preparing to head to the cafeteria for their breakfast. I was used to seeing the reaction Tristan provoked whenever he entered a room full of women, but, nonetheless, the scene was always amusing to watch. There were so many loud gasps and hushed whispers when everyone noticed Tristan, you would think they’d never seen someone good-looking before.
Even though Tristan wasn’t prepped up in the tidy Fifties style in which he usually liked to go out, he still pulled off the scruffier look: slightly tousled hair, the hint of a beard, worn-out jeans over a blue T-shirt and black leather boots that were perfect for stomping around camps in the woods. I had to confess he resembled our favorite musician Caleb Jones a lot, right now.
Okay, maybe all the loud gasps were justifiable, then. He was rocking the rough look like a true rock star.
Tristan’s way to cope with this extreme reaction was to pretend he hadn’t noticed it, and act as obliviously as he possibly could. The girls kept their distance, though, and didn’t dare approach, because Arice was already coming to greet us – and the Harkers had been very clear on the rules about harassing any of The Lost Boys.
“Oh, hello, Joey. You brought Tristan today. How lovely!”
“Arice Harker, good morning! It is so very nice to see you again,” Tristan said, bowing slightly and taking Arice’s hand in his, like he’d been brought up to do.
“Oh, my!” Arice was flustered at the charming – though old-fashioned – greeting. “How are you doing, Tristan? I forgot to ask Joey yesterday, but I hope you liked the gift we sent to congratulate you on your wedding. It was such short notice, I’m afraid we didn’t have much time to shop . . .”
“Oh, I liked the gift, very much so.” Tristan smiled. “I thought I asked Joey to call and thank you for the thoughtful present. Didn’t she?”
“She did, don’t worry.” Arice waved a hand at him. “But I wanted to make sure.”
“Of course. We both loved it, Arice, thank you. You didn’t have to go to all that trouble, but I appreciated the gesture and the gift very much. It was very lovely of you.”
She gazed at him with stars in her eyes. “You’re such a gentleman!” She giggled – and was that a swoon? “Why can’t we have more men like him in the world, Joey?”
I chuckled. “Sorry, Arice, but I’ve already called dibs on this one. You have to keep looking for yours.”
She pouted a little. “You two are insufferably perfect for each other. And the most gorgeous couple I’ve ever seen. You’re going to make such beautiful babies!” she chirped excitedly. “How many are you planning to have? I’ll bet it’s a big batch of cutie pies, ain’t it?”
“Oh, I wanna have a whole team of them!” Tristan said happily.
“Okay, how about we talk about something else?” I quickly intervened. I didn’t want to go into baby plans here, and Tristan’s goofy smile was a good indication that this was exactly where the conversation was going to go, if I let it. “Do you have news from Celeste? I hear she wants to talk to me and Simon.”
Arice immediately snapped out of her baby-bubble dream, her expression changing quickly to a worried one. “Oh, yeah, she asked me to wait for you here in the lobby. She was called upstairs to take some emergency phone calls. There are a few angry parents demanding to know what’s going on. You know how it is . . . Luna is helping out. And I’m taking all groups inside today; there won’t be any outside classes until we make sure everything is safe. We don’t want anyone turning into a wolf snack, now.”
“So you did find signs of a wolf?” Tristan asked, surprised.
“Oh, no! I didn’t say that! We want to be careful, though. Better to be safe than sorry, right? Celeste called Craig, and he’s been doing the rounds and looking for animal traces out there. We’re still waiting for his report,” Arice explained. “And Luna went back to the lake, after she was sure Simon’s two lost friends had got back safely. She gave them a mighty scolding for running away like they did, mind you . . . But anyway, she went back to the lake to search for any sign of paranormal activities in the water.”
“What do you mean, search for signs?” I asked, startled.
“You know, there are ways of detecting if there are supernatural presences around. But Luna didn’t find anything. Only a few dead fish floating near the shore. Whatever was in the lake, it ain’t there any more.”
“So no one has found anything, anywhere?”
“Pretty much, yeah.” She sucked at her teeth and stared blankly into the distance.
“Then what do we do now?”
She shrugged. “Like I said, we’re gathering everyone in the meeting hall for the day. So we can go have breakfast now and then wait for Celeste. She’ll get off the phone, eventually. However, I think that, right at this moment, you’re free to focus on your friends.”
“What friends?” I asked, puzzled.
“Those four handsome men walking towards us.” Arice pointed to the front doors, where four Lost Boys had just waltzed into the lobby.
Chapter Thirteen
Blackout
“THERE YOU ARE!” Sammy exclaimed, and the rest of the boys turned their heads in our direction. They hurried to the front desk to meet us.
“Hey, guys. You’re up early,” I said.
“Josh woke up at the crack of dawn and kept making all sorts of noises until we were up. He saw Tristan’s note, so we decided to come over to meet you,” Sam explained, while Harry rubbed his sleepy eyes and gave Josh an accusing look.
“How did you get Seth to come out of the cabin with all the possible wolves ambling around?” I asked, pinching Seth’s flushed cheeks and pulling his gray beanie over his eyes.
He huffed and pulled the beanie off his head, leaving a messy crop of blond hair, which stuck out in every direction. “It’s safer if we move round in groups. Plus, I figured if a hungry wolf showed up on that trail, these guys would have been snacks first, giving me time to escape.” His eyes still flashed with anxiety and worry, in contradiction to his calm demeanor.
“But you’re the chubbiest of us all! The wolf would want you first, for sure. Look at that delicious fat belly!” Sam joked, rubbing Seth’s stomach and making yummy noises.
“The caretaker has been doing his rounds all over the camp, Sethie. You don’t need to worry. We probably got spooked in the dark and imagined stuff, anyway,” I said, trying to calm him.
“Really?” He sighed, looking relieved. “That’s good to hear.”
“I don’t think you’ll be able to escape this hungry mob here, though,” I mused, as I watched the domino effect their arrival had caused inside the building.
People were hurrying into the lobby in excitement, adding numbers to the group that had already been gathering because of Tristan. They moved as one big bl
ock of squealing fans, swarming over the boys like a hurricane, asking for autographs, photos and sometimes even hugs and kisses. There were even some camp staff members amongst the mass of euphoric fans. The “harassment rule” was definitely not applicable for the time being, since the boys themselves had come into the building, and people figured they couldn’t be in trouble for accidentally being in the same place at the same time.
I wiggled my way out of the screaming tidal wave and hovered near the front doors to watch the commotion from afar. Since there were mostly females in the crowd, the attention was focused only on the boys, so I was left alone to observe the scene in peace.
“Excuse me, Miss Gray?” someone called out. Startled at hearing my maiden name, I turned to see Craig, the caretaker, standing nearby, watching me. “Can I have a word with you, please?” he shouted, raising his voice so as to be heard over the excited yells of the crowd.
“Yeah, sure. What about?”
He frowned disapprovingly at the screaming hoard behind us. “Can we take this outside for a moment? It’s kinda difficult to hear in here.”
I nodded and followed him outside.
“I understand you were in contact last night with what seems to have been a wolf?” he enquired, as we made our way down the front steps.
“Hmm, I don’t really know what it was, to be honest. I didn’t actually see anything, but we all heard growling and rustling in the bushes, you know? It could have been anything, though . . .” I tried to explain, but when I looked up to his face, my words failed me: what I saw in his eyes made warning flares explode inside my head.
The last time I had failed to use my empathy-sight on somebody I didn’t know very well, I had ended up being stabbed by my own security guard and left to bleed to death in an abandoned warehouse. I had been careless then, and I had vowed never to make that mistake again. Whenever anyone approached me now, I instinctively threw them a quick eye-read scan, just to be sure, and most importantly, to be safe.
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