by Silver, Ruth
“Mind if I start up the game, Death Run?” Bray asked.
“Yes.” Lil laughed. “You don't get a head start, and I want a snack. Are you hungry?”
Bray sneaked up behind Lil in the kitchen, startling her. “When aren't I?” His breath tickled her neck.
Lil let out an anxious breath. A current of butterflies oscillated through her at his proximity. It wasn't as though they'd never stood close. In fact, Bray was always the boy who offered to put suntan lotion on her back when they went swimming at the community pool. She didn't think anything of it. They were best friends. She pushed all thoughts aside. “Fine, fine.” Lil opened the cabinets, leaving it up to Bray to decide what to eat. “Help yourself,” she said, slipping away, trying to hide her discomfort.
Bray seemed oblivious as he glanced through the cabinets. “Don't I always?” He pulled out chips, pretzels, and snack mix. Lil gave him a look.
“What? You said help yourself.”
Lil laughed. “Yes, but I didn't say eat all our food.” She rolled her eyes and shut the cabinets behind him.
“Semantics.” Bray grabbed the bags of junk food, taking them into the living room where the video game console was. “When does your sister get home?”
“Around four.” Lil checked the clock. “If the bus is on time. You know how the good ol' Cosima Public Transportation system is . . . crappy as ever.” There were two hours of free time until Lil had to entertain Jamey, which consisted of sitting her in front of the television and putting a movie on.
Bray powered up the console while Lil turned on the television. “It's Missouri,” Bray said. “What do you expect? At least you don't have to pick her up every day.”
“Put the game on. It's time for you to lose to a girl.” The grin never left her face as she plopped down on the sofa, controller in hand.
Two hours later, Lil paused the game with a frown. “Did you hear something?” She glanced around the room. Not seeing anyone, she shook her head, returning to the game at hand.
“I think that was your sister.” Bray caught sight of the muddy shoes in the foyer. “Must be raining or she fell in a swamp.” There weren't any swamps in Missouri, let alone on the way home from the bus stop. The room darkened, but Lil didn't notice. She was focused on winning.
“Must be.” Lil shrugged, pushing harder and faster on the controls as her character in the game died. She cursed beneath her breath. “I can't believe you distracted me!”
“I distracted you?” Bray asked with a smile. “You've got to be kidding me. You didn't even notice Jamey.”
Lil turned off the console and stood, stretching as she glanced up toward the balcony. After a moment, she heard a commotion upstairs and eyed her watch. “I should put on dinner.” She headed for the kitchen. Thunder rumbled in the distance. “Clean up the living room, will you?”
“Me?” Bray grabbed the half-eaten bags of snacks and lifted them into his arms, carrying them back into the kitchen to put back in the cabinets. “I'm the guest. You should be waiting on me.”
Lil stopped and turned around. Bray's hands were full with the junk food. “Don’t hold your breath.”
Bray grumbled, pushing past Lil as he juggled the bags and opened the cabinets, placing the snacks back where they belonged.
After several hours of video games, junk food, and dinner, both Bray and Lil found themselves in front of the television, watching movie after movie. Her parents had come home late, cleaned up the dinner dishes, and gone to bed. Bray and Lil struggled to stay awake. “I swear I'm not tired.” Lil said, fighting the urge to sleep. After the previous night, she didn't want to shut her eyes, afraid what she’d seen this morning hadn't been a dream.
“I'm not going anywhere. I told you that and I meant it.” Bray shifted closer beside her, both of them buried in blankets on the living room floor.
The upstairs hallway creaked, and Lil turned around, glancing up toward the balcony loft where Jamey hid behind the railing. “Jamey, go to bed!” Lil hissed.
“I'm not tired,” Jamey whined, climbing down the stairs, her hands playing with the banister railing as she peeked into the living room at them. “Can I watch a movie with you?”
“No.” Lil shook her head. “It's late.”
“Lil's right, Jamey.” Bray pushed himself up from the pillow. “It is way past your bedtime.”
“You two are no fun.” Jamey pouted, crossing her arms as she stomped back up the stairs.
“Bet that'll wake your parents.” Bray shifted and put his head back down on the pillow.
Lil laughed. “I doubt it. Those two can sleep through anything.”
“I bet that's what they want you to think, so they don't have to deal with your sister.” He smiled, pointing up toward Jamey where she crouched once again in the loft.
Lil's voice rose. “Go to bed, Jamey!”
Jamey scampered off down the hall and shut the bedroom door behind her.
Lil shifted back down, resting her head on the pillow. Bray reached for the remote, shutting the television off as the credits of the forgotten movie rolled in the background.
“I'm still not tired.” Lil stared at Bray in the darkness.
“You have to fall asleep eventually.” He reached out, his hand brushing a stray hair from Lil's eyes. “If you have a nightmare, and I'm sure you won't, I'll be right here.”
Lil nodded. At least she wasn't alone. The dream hadn't been that horrific. The reality of it after she woke up had frightened her. “I'm sure I'll be fine.” Lil yawned, her eyelids growing heavy. “I didn't tell you about the rest of the dream. There was a girl who looked exactly like me.”
Bray smiled. “Then it must have been a dream, because your only sister is six years younger than you.”
Lil slid a hand beneath the pillow as she closed her eyes. “I guess so. Goodnight.”
Watching the rise and fall of her chest lulled him toward sleep. “Sweet dreams, Lil. Sweet dreams.”
Lil shifted onto her back, rolling around as the morning light stirred her awake along with the soft sound of footsteps against the floorboards. “Bray?” Lil mumbled, half-asleep, knowing if he was beside her then she wasn't dreaming.
“Hmm?” He refused to open his eyes and wake up just yet. He was not a morning person.
Lil breathed a sigh of relief, grateful she hadn't experienced any weird dreams. Perhaps whatever had happened was a simple oddness in passing with no explanation. It didn't explain the boy outside school during English class, but she pushed that thought aside. Her eyes opened and she caught a glimpse of her mother heading into the kitchen. It was earlier than she expected to see her, but stranger things had happened. If she expected anyone, it was her sister, but Jamey was up late and was probably still asleep. Lil slipped out from her blankets and pattered off to the kitchen.
“You're awake early,” her mother said.
“Looks like I’m not the only one.” Lil had been surprised her mother was up and out of bed. It seemed like Lil never saw her these days.
Her mom smiled, dropping a kiss to Lil's head. “You and I need to talk later.”
Lil rolled her eyes, assuming it had to do with Bray spending the night. “It's just Bray.” Lil didn't see the big deal in him spending the night. “We're friends. We have been as long as I can remember. Don't turn this into something that it's not.”
Lil's mother sighed, watching her daughter, but let the subject drop. “I have somewhere to be.” She glanced at her watch. “Your father should be up soon to make breakfast.”
“You’re working on Saturday?” Lil frowned. Her mom hadn't worked weekends in a long time. “Are you working on a big project?”
Her mother nodded, packing up her purse. Only then did Lil realize her mother was dressed for work. “I'll see you later. Stay out of trouble,” she warned, before grabbing her keys and heading out the front door.
Lil tiptoed back into the living room, careful not to wake Bray.
“Hey, how'd you sleep?
” Bray's voice rasped from the comfort of his blankets on the floor.
“I don't remember any dreams. I guess that's good.” Lil glanced down at her fingernails. The polish was still there. She’d never bothered to find the nail polish remover. Would it even take the polish off? She picked at her nail, finding it impossible to chip away.
“Everything okay?” Bray asked, sitting up on the floor. “I thought I heard your mom.”
Lil nodded and sat beneath the covers, keeping herself warm. “Yeah, I guess she had work. She went out, somewhere. Did you have any weird dreams?”
“Only dreams of you and me together.”
With a laugh, Lil leaned forward, pushing his chest and knocking him onto his back. He let out a loud groan as he hit the floor. “You're gross,” she said and shook her head, staring down at him.
Bray smiled up at her. “That's why you hang around me.”
“I hang around you because you know all the physics answers,” she said.
Bray raised one eyebrow. “Is that so?” He glanced past Lil as Jamey descended the stairs. “Maybe from now on we shouldn't be lab partners.”
Lil's eyes widened in horror. “You wouldn't dare!”
Jamey padded down the steps. “What are you talking about?”
Bray smiled. “How Lil needs to find a new lab partner for physics.”
Lil's eyes warned him not to say anything more. Her parents had no idea how terrible she was doing in physics. The only reason she was passing the class at all had to do with copying Bray's assignments. It wasn't as though she was a bad student; she just didn't understand a single concept. All the science and math seemed like a foreign language.
“I don't need to find a new lab partner,” Lil muttered under her breath.
Bray laughed, and his smile widened. “I don't mind being lab partners,” he confessed. “Especially if it turns into wrestling matches.”
Jamey giggled. “Bray's flirting with Lil.”
“Shut it, Jamey,” Lil said, letting go of Bray. She untangled herself from the covers and she stalked upstairs.
“Where are you going?” Bray called out after her.
“Away from the two of you!” She was upset. Lil’s frustration with Jamey was growing, and Bray wasn't helping matters.
Bray climbed out of his blankets but didn't move as Lil slammed the bedroom door.
“Think she'll be back?” Jamey asked.
“She can't stay up there forever.” Bray stood. “How about we find some breakfast, and if she doesn't come down by the time it’s ready, I'll go get her.” He hoped Lil would cool off by the time she came downstairs.
The Sanctuary
Chapter 2
Early the next week, Mr. Roberts handed Lil the physics exam. She pulled out her calculator, pretending she knew what she was doing before the teacher moved on to pass Bray his test. The equations and numbers jumbled together as she stared at the stapled pages. There was no way she was going to pass this test. She could only hope she'd get lucky and guess a few right answers in the multiple choice section. She'd settle for a passing grade of D.
Five minutes into the exam, while she was still fumbling with the first problem, there was a knock on the classroom door. Her physics teacher exchanged a few words with someone in the hall, then walked over to Lil and loomed above her desk. “Pack your things, Lil.” He handed her a note from the office. “Your cousin is here to pick you up today.” Mr. Roberts didn't appear pleased with the situation, but there was little he could do to stop it.
Lil didn’t know what to say. She shouldn't be leaving school early today. Her cousins lived in Chicago and there weren’t any plans for them to visit. Had something happened to her parents or her little sister? She zipped her bag, tossed it over her shoulder, and handed her blank exam to Mr. Roberts.
“You'll be expected to do a make-up test when you get back.”
Lil headed for the classroom door, glancing back once at Bray, who kept his head down, answering the questions on the exam. Lil walked to the office. Her stomach flip-flopped as she saw the stranger who had been in her dream and then outside the classroom window on Friday.
“Hey, Willow. Ready to go?” The boy had a few years on Lil.
She hesitated a second before she signed the sheet for the office administrator and followed the boy outside the building. Everything inside her told her this was a bad idea, but he was her ticket out of class. She needed to get out of her physics exam and this was the perfect opportunity. She could walk home after she left the school.
Once they stepped outside the school doors, she took a tentative step away from the stranger. “I'm not going anywhere with you!”
He eyed her curiously, and his pale gray eyes sent a shiver down her spine. “Then why'd you leave school with me?”
It was an honest question, but she wasn't sure he deserved an honest answer. “You got me out of an exam I was going to fail.” That was a half-truth. She was itching to know who he was and what was going on around here. She didn't like waiting for answers, sitting around idle wasn't part of Lil Porter.
“I'm Rawlie,” he said in a thick Australian accent, walking toward a convertible.
“This is your car?” Lil glanced at the candy apple red car with black leather seats. It was sporty, but she wasn't impressed. It didn't matter what car this guy drove; she was not an idiot. She remembered all the stranger danger warnings and the “don't trust crazy guys who take you out of class” lessons her parents drilled into her brain when she was younger. Or maybe the second one she'd never actually heard, but it was becoming one she'd teach Jamey.
His dark locks fell into his eyes, and he pushed them aside. “We don't have much time. I need your help, Willow.”
Lil's eyes narrowed. “It's Lil,” she said, correcting him. “Why should I help you? Why should I even go with you?” She stood beside his car, her heart thumping in her chest as she crossed her arms.
“Jamey's in trouble,” Rawlie said.
“How do you know my sister?” Lil’s eyes narrowed.
“We don’t have much time.”
Lil was torn in two. She shouldn't go with Rawlie, but the thought of something happening to her sister was even more terrifying than any gruesome scene she could imagine landing in herself. “What happened?” She looked back as the main door to the school opened and the principal came outside to the lot. It was now or never. If they waited any longer, he'd be wondering why she wasn't in class.
“If we're leaving, now would be a good time.” Rawlie jumped into the car, not bothering to open the door. He unlocked the passenger side and Lil pulled the door open, glancing back at the principal before getting into the car. A moment later, Rawlie sped off and away from Twain High.
The drive was like nothing Lil had ever experienced. She secured her seatbelt, tightening it as much as possible. The wind burned against her flesh, tearing at her skin worse than the most painful sunburn she’d ever experienced. The forest shifted in waves around them. She opened her mouth to speak, to ask what was going on, but the words didn't come. The forest grew darker the faster they drove. The trees billowed overhead and though it was spring and there had been leaves on them, the dark forest looked dead. Lil glanced back behind them, seeing a shift and a ripple, the same odd glimmer she'd seen when Rawlie first appeared outside the school.
“Where are we going?” Lil choked out, gasping for air. A bird swooped down just above her head and she flinched, swatting it away. She’d never liked birds, and she definitely wasn’t a fan of ones with large, sharp talons coming at her face.
“Yeah, I don't like birds either. Getting to Orenda through the forest isn’t an easy drive. It’ll be okay.” Rawlie moved an arm to cover and protect Lil while he drove with the other.
“How is any of this okay?” Lil’s eyes widened with alarm as the dead trees closed in on them. The roar was as deafening as a lion's, causing the windshield to shudder and her heart rate to quicken. From a distance, she could make out the
faintest hint of pink light streaming in from the edge of the forest. She doubted they'd make it in time. The forest was swallowing them whole. “I want out!” she screamed, fear overtaking her.
“If we stop, we're both dead.” Rawlie didn't let up on the gas. He pushed the pedal harder to the floor, his arm protecting Lil from anything that might attack as they narrowly escaped the forest. He should have put the top up on the convertible before they left, Lil found herself thinking. A moment later, they reached the clearing and Rawlie put both hands back on the steering wheel as they came to an abrupt halt.
Catching her breath, she stared up at the bright pink sun. It wasn't a dream. It never was, was it?
“Orenda isn’t like your world.” Rawlie shut the car off and got out. “Come on. Don't waste time outside; it's not safe.”
“Orenda?” Lil jumped out of the car, rushing after Rawlie and following him up the porch steps. The house looked just like her house back home, except there were no neighbors. Bray’s house didn’t exist—only the grass that extended as far as Lil could see and the strange forest across the street.
“Come inside.” Rawlie ushered Lil into the house, past the squeaky screen door. He closed and locked the solid wood door behind them.
If it hadn’t been for the frightening drive, Lil would have stayed outside and demanded answers. She had the strange feeling that outside wasn’t safe.
“Answers now!” Lil demanded upon seeing the familiar house, but knowing it wasn't her home. “Is Jamey here?” she asked, moving between the rooms downstairs, looking for her little sister. The house looked the same until she reached the stairs. Pausing, she examined the pictures lining the wall. Every photograph was of Lil and a young boy with a mess of brown hair and steel-blue eyes. One photograph at the top of the stairs contained the three of them—Rawlie, Lil, and the little boy. Nothing in this house made any sense, but that was the least of her troubles. Lil ascended the staircase, finding a little boy—the same one from her dream—standing in the loft, looking lost.
“I'm Jamie,” the young boy said, “but you're not Willow.” His sad eyes made her stomach flop.