Into the Wind

by Ginger Zee

  Mia swiped it from him, glanced at it, and then gave a snort of laughter. “Oh, man. Sorry, Hel. The camera caught you mid-scream. Not your best look.”

  At some point during the pendulum ride, an automated camera had snapped photos of the foursome. Mia, Helicity, and Sam didn’t know that. Trey did. He’d sneaked off to the photo booth and returned with four copies. He looked perfect in the shot, staring directly into the camera and showing two thumbs up.

  Trying not to laugh, he handed Helicity her copy.

  She stared at herself for a long moment. Then she looked up at them, eyes shining. “I look ridiculous. But I don’t care. I love this photo.”

  It was true. The photo had captured the exact moment she’d released her panic into the air with her scream. The ride had only lasted another minute after that, but she’d experienced it with her eyes wide open. And while her heart had hammered in her chest the whole time—and afterward while they waited for Trey to reappear—its beat had been fueled by triumphant elation, not panic.

  Because I’m a survivor, she thought, gazing at the picture again. Allowing herself to bask in her own cheesiness.

  Sam was studying his copy of the photo, too. Suddenly, his eyes widened. “Fourteen! Are you wearing Lana’s necklace?”

  After the ride, Helicity had tucked the necklace beneath her shirt. Now she pulled it out, holding the charm so the lightning bolt caught the sunlight. “Yes.”

  “Who’s Lana, and why do you have her necklace?” Trey asked curiously.

  Mia shot Helicity a concerned glance. “Hey, anybody else hungry?” she said, clearly trying to change the subject to save Helicity from dredging up disturbing memories. “I think I saw some candy apples for sale.”

  “It’s okay, Mia,” Helicity said. “I—I kind of feel like talking about it, if that’s all right.”

  Mia sat beside her. “You sure?”

  “Yeah. If Sam doesn’t mind, that is.”

  He tightened his lips but nodded.

  Helicity took a deep breath and told Trey everything. About the tornado and Andy. About meeting Lana and Sam and going on the storm-chasing expedition. About being caught by the flash flood and Lana coming in after her. “Her necklace came off in my hand when the waves pulled her away from me,” she ended.

  It was the first time she’d told anyone the whole story. She downplayed Sam’s part—that was his story to tell, not hers—but was completely honest about her own role in Andy’s and Lana’s tragedies. To have been otherwise would have felt like a lie.

  Yet she couldn’t meet Trey’s eyes. She wondered how her tale had sounded to him, an outsider untouched by and unconnected to any of it. Maybe Mia was right, and he was interested in her. But what did he think of her now that she’d revealed her terrible past?

  Trey hadn’t said a word while she was talking. Now he slowly sat down next to her. “Dang, girl,” he murmured. “What you went through—what you both went through,” he added with a nod at Sam, “must have been…I don’t know.” He shook his head. “Just dang.” She saw understanding spread through Trey, then a look of unease as he processed how tight Sam and Helicity must be after sharing such a dramatic past.

  Mia slipped her arm around Helicity and gave her a squeeze. “Dang is right,” she whispered, cutting an appreciative look at Trey.

  Sam had been quiet, too. Now he broke his silence. “Fourteen. Before the ride started…before you screamed, you weren’t okay, were you?”

  “No.” Helicity hesitated, then told him how repeating her mantra and visualizing the lightning bolt had brought her panic under control. “And I’ll tell you something else, too.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I thought I needed to wear this to feel in control. But that’s not true.” She traced her finger over the lightning bolt’s jagged edge. “I just need to keep it safe so when Lana wakes up, I can hand it back to her.”

  Sam gave the bolt a gentle tap. “Here’s hoping that happens really soon.”

  After a few hours in the amusement park, the foursome had had enough of thrill rides and crowds. Trey led the way to a nearby beach. They walked along a stretch of the stone seawall that ran parallel to the Gulf. Finally, Mia declared herself too weary to take another step. She plunked down in the sand with her back against the wall and immediately dozed off. Helicity was envious of her friend and wished she, too, could sleep with such peacefulness. Sam wandered off toward a nearby jetty that stretched out into the Gulf.

  Trey watched him go, then motioned to Helicity. “There’s a statue I think you’ll like a little farther on. Want to see it?”

  Curious, she fell into step beside him. “So what is this—Oh!”

  The statue was just past a grove of palm trees. Cast in dark bronze, it showed a pair of dolphins standing on their tails—a mother and baby judging by their size and the way the smaller one was nestled close to the bigger one.

  “It’s so sweet.” Helicity climbed onto the statue’s stone pedestal and stroked the mother dolphin’s back. The bronze was warm and rough under her fingertips.

  Trey joined her. “I wanted to take you to the marine mammal rehab facility to see your dolphin today. It’s just a few blocks from here. But they told me that we’d need an appointment.” He gestured to the statue. “This was the best I could do, dolphin-wise.”

  Trey’s thoughtfulness touched Helicity, and she smiled.

  “Hold that!” He whipped out his phone, leaned in close, and took a selfie of them with the statue.

  Helicity blinked when she saw the photo. Tendrils of her sun-kissed hair had mingled with his curls. Her eyes, startlingly green against her tanned skin, were crinkled at the corners from her smile. Trey was smiling, too. But not at the camera. At her.

  We look like a couple. The thought crossed her mind before she could stop it. And we look good together. Like we are supposed to be together. Momentarily disconcerted, she moved away to the other side of the statue and pretended to be fascinated by the smaller dolphin.

  You only met him yesterday, she scolded herself. For all you know, he’s a total creep.

  Somehow, though, she knew he wasn’t. His shyness on the beach the day before, his eagerness to share the statue with her, and the happiness shining through his smile in the photo—everything about Trey sent a glow of warmth through her. She liked the feeling. She liked him. Equally important, she trusted him.

  Just then, a gust of wind carried a distant shout to her ear. She shaded her eyes and spotted Sam standing alone at the tip of the jetty. A wave broke against the boulders, sending up a blast of saltwater spray. Others might have ducked to avoid getting wet, but Sam flung his arms wide and yelled again, as if daring the ocean to bring on its worst.

  His wild fury sparked something inside her—it was that longing again. It knocked up against the warmth Trey had spread through her, demanding attention. Suddenly confused and feeling tornadic, she jumped off the statue’s pedestal and started walking back toward Mia.

  Trey trotted after her. “Helicity? You okay?”

  She gave a quick smile. “Yeah. But it’s getting late. And you are too cute. So, it’s time to go.” She wanted Trey to know she was interested, too. And she wanted most of all to push herself further from Sam.

  “Still no dolphins?”

  At Trey’s question, Helicity straightened up from the ferry railing and shook her head. Once again, she’d wandered to the bow after they boarded, claiming she wanted to watch for dolphins. But in truth, she wanted—needed—time alone to calm the emotional storm brewed up by Trey and Sam.

  Not that it had helped. Those emotions were still roiling when the others came looking for her.

  “So, check out that lighthouse.” Trey pointed to a tall, dark structure silhouetted against the horizon. It was such a prominent feature, Helicity was surprised she hadn’t noticed it on her first return ferry trip a week earlier.

  “Why is it black?” she asked, grateful to have something normal to focus on. “I tho
ught all lighthouses were white.”

  “It used to be black-and-white striped,” Trey replied. “The outside is covered with cast-iron plates that have completely rusted over the years. The weather turned the white stripes to black, and the black ones even blacker.”

  “Can we go inside it, see how it works?” Sam wanted to know.

  Trey shook his head. “It’s privately owned now, and anyway, it’s not in great condition. The owners are trying to raise money to fix it up, but…” He shrugged.

  “Suze told me a story about the lighthouse.” Mia turned to Helicity and Sam. “You guys will like this. Apparently, like a hundred years ago, two hurricanes swept across Bolivar.”

  “A Cat-4 one hit on September 8, 1900,” Helicity supplied. Her brow furrowed. “Six thousand people died.”

  “And there was another one in August of 1915,” Sam added. “Both just about decimated Bolivar and Galveston.”

  Trey raised his eyebrows. “Wow. You guys really are weather junkies.”

  “You have no idea,” Mia said with an elaborate eye roll. “Anyway, that lighthouse saved lives. Sixty people rode out the 1915 hurricane inside it. Twice that many in 1900.”

  Helicity stared at the black tower, trying to imagine more than a hundred people huddled inside as hurricane-force winds and driving rain pounded the exterior. “They must have been terrified.” She knew what that felt like.

  The ferry docked a few minutes later. As they drove off the boat, Helicity got a text from Andy.

  Got the painting job. Started today. Suze says we can stay 2nite.

  Reading the text, she felt a stab of guilt. She’d been so caught up in her own emotional whirlwind, she hadn’t given Andy a second thought all day. She texted him back.

  Beach walk when you get back? And let’s call Mom and Dad.

  Andy’s reply was a cryptic.

  C U L8R

  “L8R” turned out to be much later than Helicity expected. She was still waiting for Andy two hours after dinner. Mia was in their room, talking with her mother back in Michigan, and Sam was getting gas and purchasing the beach permit needed to camp out on Crystal Beach. Suze was out with friends.

  To pass the time, Helicity wrote in her journal, spilling out her thoughts about what had happened at the amusement park and her jumbled feelings for Sam and Trey.

  They are so totally different. Trey is like a lazy summer day—warm and relaxed and easygoing. And Sam? He’s like a thunderstorm waiting to happen.

  She’d just finished writing when Andy finally walked in. He had white paint smears on his T-shirt and shorts, and his hair was flecked with tiny white dots. His nose and forearms had a hint of sunburn. He reminded Helicity of their father for some reason, though she couldn’t figure out why at first.

  It’s his eyes, she decided with a pinch of concern. The dark circles made him look haggard. Their father had had those same circles after the tornado.

  “Hey!” she said, getting to her feet. “I’m still up for that walk if you are.”

  He gave her a blank look.

  “The walk on the beach. I texted you about it, remember?” she prompted.

  Andy shook his head. “Sorry. I’m going to have to take a rain check.” He moved past her toward his bedroom. “I have just enough time to grab a shower before Johnny comes back to get me.”

  Helicity blinked. “Johnny? Who’s Johnny?”

  “Another guy on the paint crew.”

  That, apparently, was the only information she was going to get. “Well, what about our call with Mom and Dad?”

  Andy stiffened. “Like I said, I have to take a shower. Johnny will be here any minute. I don’t have time for a phone call. Or any interest in listening to Dad.”

  He stalked off without another word, firmly closing his bedroom door and leaving Helicity staring after him in consternation. A buzz from her phone broke the spell.

  MOM AND DAD, the screen ID informed her. She swiped to answer the call.

  “Hey, guys,” she said with false brightness.

  “Helicity! Darling!” her mother greeted. “How are you? Is Andy there, too?”

  “No, sorry, you just have me tonight. Andy’s…out.”

  “Oh.” Her mother’s disappointment came through loud and clear. “Well, let me put you on speakerphone so Dad can hear, too. There. Say hello, dear.”

  “Hello, dear.” Her father’s voice sounded tinny and distant.

  “Ha, ha, Dad. How are things going up there? How’s the new house coming?”

  He blew out a long breath. “Slower than I’d like, but faster than others here. Town’s still in a shambles. That tornado.” He stopped talking, and Helicity could envision him shaking his head. “I swear, I’ll never understand why you find those things so fascinating. They’re terrible. Don’t have to look any further than our own family to see that.”

  “Joe,” Helicity’s mother said wearily. “Not now.”

  Her father grunted. “Fine. Tell us about Andy, then.”

  “Yes,” her mother agreed. “Is he…how is he?”

  Helicity considered telling them that Andy seemed tired but changed her mind when she heard the concern in her mother’s voice. Instead, she told them about his painting job.

  “It was a huge surprise to have him show up here, I’ve got to say,” she added. “I can’t believe you guys didn’t tell me he was coming!”

  Her statement was met with silence. Then her father cleared his throat. “Pretty hard to tell something you have no knowledge of.”

  She frowned into the phone, puzzled. “What do you mean?”

  “Oh, Helicity.” Her mother’s voice was tremulous. “Andy took off without telling us. We had no idea where he was until he texted us. By then, he was halfway to Texas.”

  Helicity was too dumbfounded to react. Luckily, a knock on the door saved her from having to. “Guys, I’m sorry, but there’s someone at the door and I’m the only one here to answer it. We’ll talk again another night when Andy’s around, okay? Love you. Bye!”

  She hung up before they could protest. She opened the kitchen door—and immediately wished she hadn’t.

  Standing in the shadows was a scruffy-looking teenage boy. His shaggy, unkempt blond hair matched a patchy growth of beard on his chin. A bad case of acne turned his face into a craggy red mess that was hard to look at. His T-shirt might have been white once but was now gray and dingy and, judging from the smell, badly in need of a wash. Skinny legs poked out of oversize, drooping shorts. He wore tattered flip-flops on his feet and a row of shark teeth on a leather cord around his neck.

  Helicity had always tried to see the good in people. But when she saw him, her mind screamed one word: dirtbag.

  “’S up,” he drawled, jerking his chin at her. “Drew here?”

  “Drew?” Even the boy’s voice made her skin crawl. “I’m sorry, but you must have the wrong house. There’s no Drew here.”

  She hoped he’d take the hint and leave. Instead, he leaned against the doorjamb, his gaze roaming around Suze’s kitchen. It paused briefly on Helicity and Mia’s tip jar before returning to her. She took a step back and was about to call for Andy when her brother emerged from his room rubbing a towel over his damp hair.

  “Johnny! My man!” he boomed.

  Helicity’s jaw dropped. This was who her brother was hanging out with instead of her?

  Johnny shot Andy with a slow-motion finger gun, then whirled his hand with an impatient gesture. “Come on. Time to rock and roll.”

  Andy tossed the wet towel into his bedroom, pulled the door shut, and crossed into the kitchen. “See you later, Hel.”

  Hurt and confusion rooted Helicity to the spot. “Yeah. See you later…Drew.”

  Andy paused in midstep. Then he reached over and flicked a finger through her short hair. “You know, Hel,” he muttered, “you’re not the only one who needed a change after everything that happened.”

  Then he was gone.

  Despite being exhauste
d from her long day, Helicity tossed and turned all night, wondering and worrying about Andy. In the morning, she rapped on his door, hoping to talk to him before he left for work. But her brother had already cleared out of his room. She’d have to wait until that afternoon, when he returned to set up the campsite on Crystal Beach.

  If he returns, she groused to herself as she gathered up his dirty linens. Maybe he’ll get a better offer from Johnny.

  Andy did show up, but late, and in a foul mood.

  Helicity didn’t care. She’d been stewing all day, and now she wanted answers.

  “Why didn’t you tell Mom and Dad you were coming to see me?” she demanded as they carried gear from Sam’s car to the beach.

  Andy dumped his armload, then began pulling tent equipment from its sack. “Come on, Hel. You think they would have let me go if I had?” He thrust a pole through a tent sleeve.

  “Okay, fine, that’s fair,” she admitted as she handed him another pole. “And I’m really glad you’re here. Except…”

  Andy gave her an impatient look as he slotted the rod into place. “Except what?”

  “Except we haven’t spent any time together since you got here!” she blurted. “And then when I thought we would last night, you went out with that Johnny guy instead.”

  “That Johnny guy,” Andy echoed tightly, “offered to show me around the peninsula.” He jerked his head at Trey, who was working with Sam and Mia on the other tent. “Or are you the only one allowed to make new friends here?”

  “Of course not. But come on. Johnny’s not exactly the type of person you usually hang out with.”

  “Really.” Andy slipped the last pole in place and jammed it and the others into the sand. The tent popped up fully formed, its nylon sides ruffling in the light breeze. “Now you know how I felt when I first met Sam.”

  Helicity’s eyes widened. “It’s not the same, and you know it!”

  “You’re right, it’s not. You and Sam being friends didn’t make sense to me, not at first, but I trusted your judgment. Too bad you don’t trust mine.”