Veiled Waters

by H G Lynch

  She stormed up to her room, clutching her stupid textbooks to her chest, grumbling about the homework that she’d been given in Chemistry – more bloody calculations, as if she wanted to spend her evening doing Maths! –and slammed the door open…and almost dropped her textbooks.

  Reid and Sherry were laughing, Sherry covering her mouth with her hand as if it were outrageous that she be laughing. Reid had a wide grin on his face, clearly highly amused. Hiro was there too, sitting on the floor by the desk, looking like he might grab a pen and stab himself in the head with it if it would end his suffering. But none of that was what made Ember swallow the urge to throw up, or set something on fire. Lia was sitting on her bed. On her bed! Casually! As if it were perfectly normal for her to come in and invade Ember’s personal space and chat with her best friend and her boyfriend!

  The faint smell of burning paper floated into Ember’s nose and she glanced down absently, then noticed she was burning the textbook in her hands. With a jerk, she reigned herself in and the flames went out, leaving the edges of her book charred and her chemistry homework in a crumbling mess of ash. Ah. Great. She’d probably get detention for not doing her homework now. Brilliant.

  Luckily, Hiro seemed to be the only one who noticed, and he sent her an understanding look. He cut his amber eyes toward Lia, then not-so-discreetly made a throat-slashing gesture, which made Ember snort with laughter. Everyone abruptly turned to look at her, and Lia pasted on her biggest, fakest smile.

  “Oh, hey! I hope you don’t mind me sitting on your bed, but I was just coming to ask Sherry if she wanted to come to the gym with me tonight, and Reid showed up just in time to mock us.” Her following laughter was high and more fake than Pamela Anderson’s boobs, but nobody else appeared to notice. Ember thought, very seriously, just for a second, about making Lia into a bitch- kebob.

  She didn’t smile back as she walked over and dumped her singed books on her bed. She also didn’t answer. Instead, she ducked under her bed for a moment, grabbed her bottle of coke, gave Hiro a look that told him to follow her, and then stalked out of the room, slamming the door so hard behind her that she was sure it rattled the bookcase.

  *****

  Hiro was right behind her, smartly keeping silent as she barged out of the dorm building and into the trees. The smell of winter was sharp on the air, and the smell of burning leaves soon joined it as she walked, the dead leaf litter under her feet smoldering where she stepped.

  Once they reached her tree, Ember handed her coke bottle to Hiro and threw herself up the tree, regardless of the branches that snagged her hair and clothes, ignoring the pain when she smacked her elbow and knees. She perched a safe distance up on a thick branch and Hiro appeared on the end of it, holding her coke bottle out to her. Gratefully, she took it, patting him roughly on the head – she couldn’t stand to even try to give him a thankful smile right now – twisted off the lid, and gulped down as much as she could in one short breath. The fizzy, sweet liquid bubbled on her tongue and ran down her throat so fast she choked, coughed, then grunted and leaned back against the tree trunk with a pounding headache developing over her left eye.

  She closed her eyes but she could feel Hiro watching her silently so she cracked an eyelid to peer at him. He lifted his brows slightly. “Well…that was entertaining,” he said in tone so deadly sarcastic, it made Ember burst into laughter. She nearly dropped her coke lid, tried putting it back on the bottle, but her hands were shaking too much from her giggles. Eventually, Hiro took the bottle from her and screwed the lid back on, then handed the bottle back to her, grinning.

  “Ugh, thanks.” She sighed, getting a grip on herself. It really wasn’t that funny; In fact, none of this was funny. It was frustrating and it made her so angry, and it hurt, too. But it was the way he’d said it…

  “No problem. Wait, are you thanking me for the bottle lid, or for making you laugh?” Hiro asked, swinging his legs over the ground so that the branch wobbled a little.

  Ember shrugged. “Both I suppose.”

  He gave a mocking half-bow with some difficulty seeing as he was sitting, and winked at her. “I have thought about being a comedian.”

  She snorted. “You look more like a circus clown kind of guy,” she teased.

  Hiro scrunched his nose and looked offended.

  “And here I was going to offer to help you get rid of Lia.” He scoffed and turned away, crossing his arms sulkily.

  “Mmh, what were you thinking? ‘Cause I’m thinking we knock her out, stuff her in a sleeping-bag, seal it, then throw her in the lake.” The idea played out in Ember’s mind and she felt an evil smile cross her lips.

  Hiro tossed her wicked look. “I thought we could throw her in a volcano instead.”

  “Where are we going to get a volcano?” She rolled her eyes, but she had to admit, she liked his idea better. Could she make a volcano? She could melt rock, so maybe…She could at least make a lava pit somewhere…

  “Hawaii.”

  “You can teleport to Hawaii?”

  “I can teleport to anywhere.”

  “The moon?”

  Hiro shrugged. “Never tried it. I’m not like your undead boyfriend. I need to breathe. Space has no appeal to me.”

  At the mention of Reid, Ember’s smile died and turned into an angry grimace. After their sweet moment yesterday, she’d thought she was over her whole jealousy thing, but apparently not. It didn’t help that Reid seemed to be totally enthralled by Lia’s every bloody word. She could probably insult Ember right to his face, and he’d just laugh. In fact, she was pretty sure that was what Lia was doing right now. A sharp sting of hurt lanced through her and she bit her lip to keep it from wobbling.

  Hiro must’ve noticed because he stopped grinning and a gentle look came over his face. It was a look he only ever showed Ember. She wasn’t sure he’d ever trust the rest of them like he trusted her, and it made her feel just a little bit special that someone would put her at the top of their friends list like that. “You know Lia’s just doing this to get to you, right?” he said, his strange amber eyes softening. His crimson hair whipped around his face in the wind, making him look exotic and dangerous.

  Ember nodded, trying not to sniffle. “Well, she’s succeeding,” she muttered, hastily scrubbing at her eye as a tear got tangled in her lashes.

  Hiro was quiet for a long moment and then he reached out and touched her arm. It was such a kind gesture, it surprised her and she blinked at him in shock. Hiro wasn’t one for physical contact unless he was in fox form. She’d asked him why once, when he’d refused to give her a hug, and he’d told her that because he needed to touch people when he fed – as a Kitsune, he fed on peoples’ spirits – it felt weird to touch them when he wasn’t feeding. Right now, he gave her a wistful half-smile and a small shrug, realizing her surprise.

  For a moment, Ember felt her mouth quiver and her eyes sting, and she pushed the tears away, taking a deep breath. She forced herself to give him a smile in return and he took his hand back, looking just slightly smug, as if he were proud of himself for the gesture. Sometimes, Hiro was kind of like a little kid, though he was only two years younger than her.

  “If you want, I can put itching powder in Reid’s bed? And I have this lotion that when you apply it to hair, it all falls out. I could switch it with Lia’s shampoo,” he offered with a mischievous grin, and Ember laughed again.

  “No, no. I can deal with Reid…but if you want to do the shampoo thing for Lia, I’m not going to stop you.”

  For a minute, they just grinned at each other, and then Ember felt her smile turn a little sad. Hiro tilted his head, and then began shaking, vibrating. Changing. In thirty seconds, there was a small red fox sitting on the end of her branch, and he padded along the branch and into her lap. The little fox put his paws up on her shoulder and she hugged him gently, stroking his ears at the same time. It reminded her of hugging her pet cat, and she buried her face between the fox’s ears, the warm fur brushing her chee
k soothing her, and Hiro simply let her.

  Chapter Six

  ** Ember **

  Despite the temporary lift in her mood, thanks to Hiro, Ember was still angry when she climbed down from her tree an hour later. Hiro had vanished a while ago, something about needing to feed, but she was pretty sure he was just looking for an excuse to leave because he was embarrassed about the hug-the-fox session.

  She was just on her way back the dorms when she realized she really didn’t want to go back to her room. Especially since she wasn’t sure that Lia wouldn’t be there – Or that Reid would be. I need a distraction, she thought. Something else to do while everyone fawns over Lia. She started wandering in circles through the trees, thinking of things to do. Slowly, an idea came to her, and a tiny, dark smile came to her lips. It was something to do, and it had the added bonus of going behind Reid’s back. Sure, he wasn’t who she was really mad at, but if he insisted on being Lia’s flirting buddy, then he could expect Ember to get a little pissy.

  So, feeling vindictive and bitchy and ve-er-ery sneaky, she crept into the dorm building and made her way to Reid’s room. She hesitated outside the door, listening, and when she didn’t hear anything, she snuck inside.

  Thankfully, nobody was here, and Ember went to the desk first. She rummaged around the papers and bottles, then tried the drawers. No luck. It wasn’t there. Frowning, with her hands on her hips, Ember scanned the room. Where else would he have put it? Then she spotted Reid’s leather jacket hanging on the chair in the corner of the room and a light flickered on in her head. She went over and shoved her hands into the pockets until she felt rough metal and smooth plastic. She pulled her hand out and grinned victoriously at the key to the motorbike, hanging on a little silver hoop with various carved runes and charms. She recognized a couple of protection charms and rolled her eyes. Reid was more paranoid than she’d realized.

  In the parking lot, she located the shiny bike hiding in the bushes, and heaved it upright, folding away the kickstand. She’d never ridden this thing on her own – she didn’t even have a driver’s license – but hell, she’d give it a go. If she crashed…well, it’d suck but right now, she didn’t really care about that. Swinging her leg over the bike, she settled on the seat and grasped the handlebars, stuck the key in the ignition and turned it. The bike roared to life and she had a moment of panic where she thought, Am I seriously going to do this? I should not do this. But then she remembered the way Reid had been laughing with Lia, the way he flirted with her, the way she’d run her green-painted nails down his chest playfully…Yeah, then she felt sick and decided, screw it, and popped the bike into gear.

  She turned it around and took off out of the parking lot. It was scary to start with, terrifying really, but she soon got used to it, and a flash of wild laughter broke from her lips. She couldn’t help it. The wind ripped at her hair, whipped color into her cheeks, and she wished she’d grabbed her leather jacket and gloves, but with the trees and fields blurring past her, the adrenaline rush, she ignored the thought.

  About half-way to her destination, it started to rain, the dark clouds lashing it down. It felt like little cold pellets hitting her hands and face, and soon she was soaked, rain water dripping from her hair and down her face. It should have terrified her more, driving a motorbike at seventy miles an hour down a wet road while her hair flew into her face and the rain tried to blind her, but instead, it just felt good. It was a rush, like when she galloped cross-country on a horse. The cold water stung her cheeks and ears, almost painfully, and she grinned madly. It was just as she was turning a sharp corner that something small and furry came darting out from the trees by the side of the road, and stopped right in front of her.

  Now, most people would’ve run over the stupid little red squirrel, endangered or not, but Ember simply couldn’t. She swerved around it, nearly hitting a tree, and slammed on the brakes – which, she realized a minute later, was a bad idea, because the slick tire screeched against the brake pad and the bike wobbled unhappily. She struggled to regain the balance, narrowly missed skidding into a ditch by the roadside, and eventually came to an unsteady stop three inches from hitting a lumbering pine tree. Breathing hard, her heart thrumming in her chest, Ember turned off the bike and grasped the handlebars so tightly her knuckles were white. Her streaming hair fell into her face and she used one very shaky hand to push it back. She had to try three times before her quivering fingers caught the lock of hair and tucked it behind her ear.

  Suddenly, a car pulled up behind her and a guy who looked to be in his twenties hopped out quickly and rushed over to her. He had sandy blonde hair and wide brown eyes, and he clutched his short, spiky hair with one hand as he looked her over anxiously. “Holy crap, are you okay? I saw that squirrel jump out into the road and saw you nearly crashed and I thought…God, are you alright?” the man gasped, looking honestly worried.

  Ember blinked, a little caught off guard. Then she nodded slowly and the man let out a sigh of relief.

  “Oh, thank God. You really shouldn’t be going so fast in this weather. It’s dangerous and-hey, are you even old enough to be driving that thing?”

  Ember resisted the urge to groan as she answered, as politely as possible, “Yeah, I am. Thanks for, um, making sure I was okay. Not a lot of people would’ve bothered stopping.” She smiled, trying to hide how shaky she still was.

  The guy nodded slowly, eyeing her carefully, then turned his attention to the bike. “That’s a pretty sweet bike. Is it yours?”

  She shook her head. “No, it’s my boyfriend’s.” And he’s going to be massively pissed when he finds out I took it out…on my own…without his permission…and nearly crashed. Yeah, if he ever found that last bit out, she’d be dead meat. He’d likely lock her up in a padded cell somewhere so she couldn’t hurt herself. Or, her mind said darkly, He won’t care. He’ll be too busy playing footsie with Lia. She shook that thought away, realized the man was looking at her expectantly, waiting for an answer to something. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

  He gave her a funny look. “I asked if he knows you’re riding it. Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked it like he suspected she’d hit her head on a branch at some point during the mishap.

  A sliver of anger slicked through her. Who was this guy to ask if Reid knew she had his bike? What business was it of his? And it wasn’t like she could’ve asked Reid to borrow it. She knew what he would’ve said, a flat out N-O, and he would’ve asked a bunch of stupid questions like, why did she want it? Where was she going? Why couldn’t he just take her there? Blah, blah, blah. No. She was doing this to get back at him. Okay, the stealing the motorbike part wasn’t really to get back at him, but still. If he’d known where she was going, it would’ve ruined the part she was actually doing to get back at him.

  “No, he doesn’t know. We can keep this as our little secret, right?” Okay, so she shouldn’t have compelled him. He was just a kindly stranger who’d stopped to check if she was alright, but now she was annoyed all over again. It wasn’t like the compulsion would hold for long anyway. He’d remember this strange encounter in a few months and by then it’d just be a weird memory and he’d never see her again.

  “Yeah…yeah, sure. Our secret. I won’t mention it to anyone,” the man said slowly, mechanically.

  Ember smiled and clapped her hands once. “Good. Now, I’ve got to be going, so thanks again for stopping to check I didn’t hurt myself. Bye.” Hopping back on her bike, Ember waved to the man as he got dizzily back into his car and just sat there for a bit while his fuzzy head cleared. Then he gave her a quick wave as he pulled out and disappeared along the road.

  Now, Ember thought, turning the key in the ignition and putting her hands back on the handlebars, Let’s try not to get killed the rest of the way there.

  *****

  As she pulled up in the dirt lot and pulled the key from the ignition, the bike dying down, its growl silenced, she couldn’t help a shudder. It was dark now, and the sm
ell of wet air and earth and that woodsy smell that seemed to surround the whole of Acorn Hills filled Ember’s nose. She breathed it in gladly, hoping it would calm her racing pulse. She looked up at the imposing old farmhouse, with its cracked shutters and boarded up windows and shadowy porch. It was creepier when she was alone. The darkness didn’t help either.

  “Get a grip, Ember,” she muttered to herself, swaying on her toes, hesitating. “You’ve faced way scarier stuff than a creepy building…and Reid’s wrath if he finds out about all of this.” Although, Reid’s wrath could come in a very close second to the scariest thing she’d faced, which she was pretty sure was either watching Sherry die, or her nightmares over the winter holidays. Reid was pretty scary when he wanted to be.

  Figuring she’d come this far, still with her heart in her throat from riding the motorcycle, she walked slowly up to the door of the rickety building. The door was closed, cobwebbed here and there, and she wondered for a moment what she’d do if they weren’t here. She’d just sort of assumed they would be, but what if they weren’t? What if they’d decided to do something normal this evening, like watching football on TV and eating pizza? Somehow, she couldn’t see it, but it was possible. Well, if they aren’t here, stealing the motorbike will have to be your payback for the day, she told herself. Then she pushed open the heavy door. It gave a long, agonized whine and she winced. Why did doors on creepy houses always creak? It was such a cliché, and mostly, it was really…well, creepy.

  Slowly, she made her way to the steel door under the stairs, which was covered in black spray paint, marked with various insults and scratchings of ‘Jenny loves Adam’ and ‘Sandra and Billy 4ever’. Ember snorted and raised her hand to knock on the heavy door, but before her knuckles touched the metal, the door swung open with an ungodly groan of metal. She pulled a face.