“Nice to meet you.” Matwau gave her his hand to shake, as did Matoskah and when it came to Quidel, he picked her up and flung her around. I couldn’t help but laugh at her screams.
“Really nice to meet you,” he said, placing her back on her feet.
She smoothed her hands over her hair. “Yeah, you too.” She was a little bit breathless.
“You guys wanna go get something to eat?” I asked.
“Yes,” Quidel and Matoskah said at the same time. Matwau was still just standing looking at me, smiling. Quidel rubbed his stomach, dramatically.
“Very cute,” Mellissa whispered in my ear, as we walked over to the tables filled with masses of hot and cold food. She could have been talking about Matoskah or Quidel. Both looked good. Matoskah’s hair was out around his shoulders and he was wearing navy blue jeans and a khaki, v neck t-shirt, clinging to him in all the right places. I really needed to ask him how old he was. And Quidel wore knee length, grey gym shorts with a white t-shirt. He was dressed for summer and I mentally patted myself on the back for that. The sky was blue and clear and the air was un-naturally warm. Anyone that had come wearing any kind of coat or jacket, now hung onto them while they trolled the stalls or sat chatting.
“You organized all of this?” Matwau asked me when we stopped at a stall selling salad boxes. “Well, I had help. I didn’t make any food or anything. I set up and got people involved.” I took a salad box and paid Jessie, a girl I went to school with, two dollars.
“You should be proud. This looks like a big event.”
“I try,” I said. We found a spot on the grass, sloping down towards the marina and ate our food. I stuck to salad only because I was vegetarian. I ate Thanksgiving dinner normally, minus the turkey, but I was working today and I couldn’t do that on a heavy stomach. Matoskah and Quidel wolfed down turkey sandwiches and polystyrene cups of candied yams, and green bean casserole while Mellissa ate a turkey sandwich with a lot more gracefulness.
“Guy’s,” I said. I have to check on how everything’s going, but have a good time?”
Matoskah nodded and shoved his wrapper from his sandwich into his empty cup.
“Where are you staying?” I asked.
“The Blue Dolphin Inn,” Matwau answered.
“Nice,” I said. “Do you want to just meet back there? Say about…” I looked at Mellissa. “What time is it?” I patted my pockets down. I’d forgot to pick up my cell.
“It’s twelve thirty.” Mellissa stood and balled up her food wrappers. “Drake text. He wants to meet me.”
I gave her a reassuring smile.
“But I can meet him later.” She smiled down at Matwau. “I can show you guys around if you want. Just for a while. I’m sure once the girls get their hands on you, you’ll be in good hands and very popular.” She kicked Quidel playfully in the leg and he jumped up. “Sounds good.”
“Great. So I can probably sneak away around four,” I said. The Blue Dolphin was right on the marina, so I wouldn’t have far to go and wouldn’t even really need to leave the festival. I said goodbye to them all and weaved my way through the crowds.
Mr. Kelly waved me down from where he was selling raffle tickets. “Pria,” he greeted me, “Such a wonderful job you’ve done. I knew you were the only one for the job. I don’t know where you get your organization skills, but they are impeccable.”
Sounded like he was describing someone else. I looked round. Everyone looked like they were having a good time, and it was a full turn out. I guess I had done a good job, especially since I left everything right until the last minute.
“I’m just glad everyone’s enjoying it,” I said.
“And don’t forget, this will all go towards extra credit.”
“Is there anywhere you want me to be?” I asked him. “You want me to work a stall or something?”
“Actually-” He put the raffle ticket book into his jeans pocket, so it was half hanging out. They were super tight, as always. The smart school wear was gone, but he was still stylishly dressed in his jeans and white button down shirt rolled up to his elbows. “The dessert stall is just this minute getting set up. Gracey was a little late with the pies.”
I smiled. “I’ll go right there.”
“Thank you. I’ll take you.”
The stall was at the furthest end of the marina and Gracey was already there frantically setting out a mouthwatering spread of pies, doughnuts, cakes and muffins.
“Let me help you,” I said, rushing around to her side and taking the pies from her.
She blew back a thick strip of hair that had come loose from her clip. “Oh thank you, honey.” Mr. Kelly helped too and in no time at all the stall was set and the food looked amazing. I had people there buying in a matter of seconds. When nearly everything had been sold and all that was left was a few lonely pieces of pie and a handful of doughnuts, I thought what the hell, and took a bite of a glazed doughnut. I picked another up and handed it to Gracey.
“I need this,” she said with a grin and took a bite.
“These are really good,” I said to her.
“Your daddy’s favorite,” she said, chewing thoughtfully. These were his favorite, along with her pie, her chicken and dumplings, her gravy, her biscuits. When it came to Gracey’s food, everything was his favorite. She was an amazing cook, and my dad was exceptionally greedy. My hand discreetly travelled down to my back pocket where the pendant from Matwau seemed to throb through the denim of my jeans. That was weird.
“You okay, honey?” I looked up. Gracey was staring at me.
“Fine,” I said.
“You looked like something was wrong. I shouldn’t have mentioned him, it was thoughtless.”
“No, I’m fine. It wasn’t that.”
“How are things at home anyway? You need me to bring you anything… stay with you, maybe?” Was that hopefulness in her eyes?
“Thank you, but I’m fine. Leah’s doing a great job of looking after the house, and me.”
Gracey plastered a big smile on her face. “That’s great.”
“I better start getting these stalls cleared,” I said, noticing that everywhere else was becoming just as empty as my own stall. I wrapped three pieces of pecan pie and put them in a bag along with two strawberry muffins. I said goodbye to Gracey and worked my way through packing up the other stalls with Mellissa’s help.
“Hey.” Jason stood in front of me.
“Oh, hi,” I said. Mellissa stayed in position where she was crouched down, picking up empty cartons from the floor. I glanced down at her but she avoided looking at me.
“I haven’t seen you all day,” Jason said to Mellissa, peering over the table at her shrinking form. Very awkward. For me, anyway. The layout of the Festival wasn’t big enough not to eventually run into someone you knew and especially when you went to school with that someone. It was obvious by Mellissa’s poor attempts at trying to curl up and dissolve into the ground that them not meeting was intentional.
“I’ve just been so busy,” she said, getting up with a besmirched look on her face.
“Doing what?” he asked. It was plain to see, he didn’t buy a word of it.
“Oh, just helping Pria. She took on way more than one person can handle.”
“That’s me,” I said, squashing the last of the trash from this stand into a garbage bag. “I’ll be back,” I said to Mellissa. Not wanting to stand in-between whatever this was any longer, I tied up the bag and enthusiastically smiled at Matoskah when I caught him walking over to us. “Perfect timing,” I said to him.
“Here, let me get that.” Matoskah took the bulging bag from me.
“Thanks. Where’s Matwau?” We stopped at the next stall that needed clearing away and I started on filling a new bag with leftovers and trash.
“He’s around. I’ll call him if we don’t see him.”
I looked up to agree with Matoskah and just glimpsed the back of Mellissa and Jason rounding the corner behind Spring Street. Where
were they going? Mellissa could make her own decisions and she was more than capable of looking after herself, but Jason was still a friend of Nathan’s and I wasn’t about to forget our first real introduction. Trying to tell myself that what Mellissa did was up to her and not me, and to run after her would be considered way over the top, was all I could do not to go charging after them.
“Hello?” Matoskah’s face came into view.
“Sorry.” I continued to fill up the bag. “What were you saying?”
“I’ll call Matwau, and… do you wanna hang out… later? Tonight, I mean. We could do something.”
“That’d be great. I’ve hardly had a chance to see Matwau all day… Oh,” I said at the drop in emotion on Matoskah’s face. “Did you mean, just me and you, or…”
“No, Matwau,” he said quickly, a smile gracing his beautiful face once more.
“Great.” I really didn’t need another ‘Ressler’ situation thrown into the mix. “We’ll go find Matwau right after…” I stopped mid-breath. Drake stormed right past us and broke out into a run, heading towards the dumpsters.
“Oh no.” I pushed past Matoskah and ran after Drake. “Drake, wait,” I yelled, but the last of his form slipped around the corner. If Drake was angry, it was bad. I was almost afraid to see whatever had happened. You better be okay, I thought to Mellissa. I could hear shouting as I ran through into the opening of the square spaced loading area where the dumpsters were set up. The palms of Drakes hands slammed into Jason’s chest as he shoved him hard against the industrial sized dumpster, the strength of it echoing off the surrounding brick walls.
“Drake, no!” Mellissa screamed. Her hand came up to her mouth and she bit down on her clenched fist as tears began to water her eyes. “This is all my fault.”
I ran over to her. “What happened?”
“Nothing,” she whimpered. “I don’t know. We were just talking.”
“Stay away from my girl,” Drake warned Jason, his fists bunched at the neckline of Jason’s t-shirt. His knuckles were pressed deeply into Jason’s throat and judging by how red Jason’s face was turning, I was guessing he was struggling to breathe.
“Let him go,” I said to Drake. “He’s not worth it.”
Drake shoved him harder against the dumpster and then uncurled his fists, cursing under his breath. He turned to face Mellissa and Jason rubbed at his neck. Soon finding his breath, a sneer spread up on his face and he said, “Your girl really shouldn’t go around kissing other people. You better get her in check. I’ll have her in my bed next, if you don’t keep your eye on her.” Jason sniggered and at that point I wanted Drake to put him in the dumpster and lock it up.
Drake’s focus hardened on Mellissa and her eyes dropped to the floor, tears rolling down her cheeks. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled and I couldn’t help but feel bad for Drake as he stood there, his eyes never leaving Mellissa.
“Really?” Drake said to her. “You want a guy like that? Mellissa, do what you want but try not to do it with dickhead’s like him.” Calmly, he turned to Jason, the sneer seeming to leave Jason’s face all at once, replaced instead by blatant fear. Drake and Jason were nose to nose and in nothing more than a hard edged whisper, Drake said, “Touch her again and I will kill you.” He walked off with Mellissa eventually following after him and my eyes met Jason’s for a brief moment.
“I thought you were better than that,” I said to him. “How wrong was I?” He rolled his eyes and slumped to the floor. I walked out onto the street when someone grabbed me, dragging me into a shadowed alleyway. It was only then that I realized that I was still holding onto the garbage bag.
“Caleb? What are you doing?” I shook my arm free of him and he pushed me further into the alley.
“Sabre’s here,” he said.
Every single hair covering my arms stood on end. That name alone was enough to draw every ounce of fear from me. “Sabre?” I shook my head. “Dead, Sabre?”
“Not so dead, anymore.”
“No,” I said disbelievingly. “You’re crazy. Sabre’s dead. You were there. You saw it.”
Caleb’s hand shot out, pinning me to the wall when I took a step to leave. “And I saw him today. He’s here.”
“Where have you even been? I don’t see you at all, and you start telling me this, when you haven’t even been here. How can you have seen him? You’re seeing things, and I’m leaving now.” I was almost positive that Sabre couldn’t be here but there was a waver in my voice and my confidence was much too forced.
“You’re coming with me.” Caleb was the three c’s- cool, calm and collected, with possibly the least effort exerted, ever.
“Yep, crazy,” I said. “There’s no way I’m going with you. I’ve got things to do.”
“They only thing you’ve got to do is leaving right now, with me.” His eyes trailed down to the trash I still had a firm grip on. “Bring your new bag with you if you want, although it’ll have to ride in the back. It smells funny.” He smiled, and I sighed in boredom. “I’ve missed your humor.”
“Let’s go.”
He tugged my wrist and I stepped back. “No way, Caleb. If Sabre’s really here like you say then there’s no way I’m just leaving my friends. I’m going to get them.”
“I don’t care about your friends and neither does Sabre. You need to get out of here, now. I’m not messing around with you.”
I yanked my arm free when Caleb grabbed at it again. “And you think I am? I’m not leaving here without my friends. I mean it.”
“Pria?” Matoskah stood at the entrance of the alleyway. “Are you okay?”
“She’s fine,” Caleb answered for me.
“I was just coming to find you,” I said with a strained smile, finally able to step around Caleb, faced with the thinning light of the day. “You wanna get out of here?” I asked Matoskah, ignoring the fact that Caleb was standing right behind me.
“You’re kinda interrupting something.” Caleb stopped next to me, a look of fury in his eyes aimed solely at Matoskah.
“I think she wants me to interrupt.” Matoskah looked just as pissed as Caleb and I decided I liked him that little bit more for not letting Caleb un-nerve him.
“I don’t care what you thought.” Caleb took a step closer to Matoskah and I could see this getting out of hand, fast.
“Caleb!” I pierced him with a deathly glare. “I’m staying and that’s the end of it. I’m clearing up and as soon as I’m done, I’ll be out of here.”
“Ressler will pick you up in exactly one hour and no later.”
“Fine,” I agreed. Anything to get rid of him right now. If Sabre was here, I absolutely did not want to bump into him.
By sundown, I had cleared everything away with the help of Mr. Kelly, Gracey and a few others. All money raised was going to whichever stall seller made the most money and we would find out at school tomorrow. The whole day was a success and now, I was exhausted. I stood by the port with Matoskah and Quidel, and Matoskah handed me his phone after calling Matwau.
“Hi,” I said when he answered. A sleep filled cough filled the line. “Where are you?” I asked.
“At the Hotel. I’m sorry I disappeared earlier. I’m not feeling great.”
“Oh. I was just gonna ask if you wanted to come with me tonight. I could show you some of the island. But if you’re unwell…” I was disappointed. I was missing out on seeing him and he would only be here until tomorrow.
“You and Matoskah go and have fun.”
“Right,” I said. “We will.”
“Pria?”
“Yeah?”
“Keep your Talisman with you.”
“Sure,” I said. Why is he saying that? “Are you okay on your own?” I quickly asked him before I hung up. A bad feeling was creeping up on me.
“I’m fine and so are you as long as you have that pendant.”
“I have it, don’t worry.”
We said goodbye and I gave the phone back to Matoskah. “You still
wanna do something?” I asked him
“You bet. What did you have in mind?”
“How about pool and a bar where the word I.D doesn’t exist?”
“I’m in,” said Quidel.
“Me too,” Matoskah said.
Ressler’s Mercedes pulled up and a familiar figure came jogging along the harbor. “Quidel, is that your sister?” I asked, unable to remember her name but just able to make out her familiar features. Her slight frame came into clearer view as she drew nearer and her thick black hair was gathered into a side plait, entwined with a brown ribbon and a brown and gold feather was hanging from the end. She was wearing a red tank with a tan, leather biker jacket and bootleg jeans. She was pretty and the smile she gave to Matoskah when she reached us made me smile, too.
“Rona,” he said, looking more infuriated then happy to see her. I frowned, watching him. That was rude.
“What are you doing here?” Quidel said. “I thought you weren’t feeling well.”
“I was tired,” she said. “I’m not now, and I’m coming with you guys.”
“The more the merrier,” I said, cheerily. Ressler was gonna love me.
His Mercedes pulled up and I could see his anger through the tinted windscreen. Matoskah, Quidel and Rona to get in the back and I rode shotgun.
Ressler twisted in his seat to look at the three sitting behind him and then turned to me for an answer.
“Sully’s,” I said. I looked away from his judgmental face and into the blackened window of the ferry terminal office. Gleaming, yellow eyes with thin black slits, pierced the darkness and when I pressed my face closer to the glass, cupping my hands around my face to block out any excess light, I could no longer see anything but the vacant window. They were the eyes of a lion. A lion on the hunt for its prey. They didn’t belong on any person and I would know them anywhere. Caleb was right. Sabre was here.
***
I racked the balls on the pool table and then took aim at the cue ball, breaking the triangle, and knocking a solid blue into the top left pocket. I was surprised I’d managed it. The sight of Tamara and Caleb sitting at the table across from us was managing to steal most of my attention. I was starting to wish I never told him I was okay with the two of them. But I’d done it and this was my punishment for lying.
Falling Darkness: The second book in the Falling Awake Series Page 19