One of them looked directly at me. I looked away, feeling uncomfortable, but my curiosity compelled me to look at him. Suddenly, the whole group was staring at me. I could swear that their eyes sparkled behind their sunglasses. The guy who looked at me moved his lips. Without taking his eyes off me, he seemed to be telling others, “It’s her.”
I took a deep breath and then got behind Delilah as we followed the others along the narrow path. We had to watch where we were stepping because some stones made the going a little rough. The path wasn’t steep. It was actually pretty straight, except for a few curves.
Even though walking was easy, I couldn’t walk fast. The guys didn’t notice. They kept moving forward with enthusiasm, while I was slowing down, already breathless. Delilah saw Abby farther ahead, next to Dwayne, and she ran to catch up them. Other people walked around me and disappeared as the path curved. I realized I was alone on the trail. I breathed deeply and stopped to rest. We hadn’t walked very far, but I hadn’t had much physical exercise during my hospital stay. What a shame! I felt like I was ninety years old.
Suddenly, a rustle of leaves startled me. I didn’t go closer like the protagonist of my latest fantasy about the Forest Green-Screen would have done, nor did I ask “Who’s there?” I looked at the shadow hidden amongst the trees and felt a renewed wave of terror come over me, as if hostile vibrations emanating from precisely that unseen point in the woods—“unseen” in quotation marks, since apparently it was advancing towards me, leaving behind swaying branches and falling leaves.
For a fleeting second, the figure stood out from the green leaves and the shadows between the logs. My muscles immediately tensed. I thought I saw a pair of sparkling yellow eyes looking at me. I blinked, but the eyes didn’t disappear like a “well-behaved” hallucination would do.
I heard a low growl coming from the creature. It sounded like a buzzing bee—very odd! The figure moved and began to advance straight toward me, moving very fast, and then just as fast, it stopped again, as if seized by sudden tension. Then I saw the leaves of trees swaying farther away as it rapidly retreated and muffled sounds of pursuit. I stepped back so fast that I collided with someone behind me.
“Hey, watch out!” The voice was that of David Martin.
He held me firmly by the elbow to preventing me from falling.
For the rest of the way, I didn’t see or hear anything strange. Silence reigned. I don’t know if David’s presence inhibited my hallucination, if that’s what it was. Anyway, I was grateful to him for accompanying me the rest of the way.
* * *
When the trees became less dense, I realized that we were approaching our final destination. The sound of laughter could be heard beyond the trail, which abruptly ended near a large rock. At first glance, it looked like it had been carved, but upon closer inspection, I concluded that its rounded contours were natural. All of the freshmen and the yellow shirt guys were there.
“We’re at the top of the ‘cranium’ of the skull,” David whispered in my ear.
The cliff was approximately the height of a three-story building.
“More or less,” David confirmed when I asked him. “It’s not dangerous. Many people come here to jump in the lake or to practice sport climbing. I just don’t understand what Verano intends to do.”
Delilah came out of nowhere, leaving behind a stunned Abby.
“Where were you?” she asked me. Her tone sounded critical.
Upset, Abby looked at us and then walked away without saying a word.
I didn’t answer Delilah’s question since it was obvious that I could not have been anywhere else but on the trail. I wiped the sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand and walked around the edge of the rock.
Damn! It was windy here. At first it felt good because it provided relief from the heat, but soon I began to shiver. However, the view was worth the discomfort. The lake shimmered with the last rays of the sun—the light was dispersing in tiny dots into the blue water, glistening like thousands of sequins scattered on black velvet. Ethereal beams of light seemed to float on the surface.
Laughter and music drew my eyes to the lake shore. Facing the “skull” was a sandy beach formed where the opposite shores of the lake narrowed, bordered by rocks and underbrush. Many people were dancing, some were sitting and talking, and others were swimming in the lake, playing with the buoy and a rubber raft. The music was provided by a DJ whose equipment was installed in the rear of a van. Farther back, I could see logs being arranged for tonight’s campfire. Several cars were parked nearby, including Dwayne’s 4x4.
“Over there, guys, see the winners!” said a dramatic-sounding voice behind us.
I turned on my heels in time to notice the approach of a young man with a shaved head, a goatee, and the tattoo of a sword on his right arm.
“Joe Verano,” Delilah said. She didn’t have to tell me. I’d already guessed.
Although his comment was intended for everybody, he glanced at me.
“To get into the party, you have to do what they did—jump.”
“Come on, is this some kind of ritual?” Nikos asked. I noticed that Sally was with him. She shook her head, looking worried.
“You can say ‘yes,’ freshman!” Verano replied, staring at Nikos.
Not far from us, Abby covered her mouth with both hands and threw herself into Dwayne’s arms. He, in turn, faced Verano.
It turned out that Joe Verano didn’t seem to care about the distress he was causing. He just gave us a playful smile. “No courage?”
As if to demonstrate what should be done, two of the guys in yellow rushed to the platform and then uttering war cries, jumped into the lake. I held my breath as I watched them plummet toward the water. I felt nervous beads of sweat make their way down my forehead and seep into my eyes, causing them to sting. If the demonstration was intended to make us less afraid, the effect on me was just the opposite. I was terrified. I watched the two men fall until their yellow T-shirts disappeared into the sparkling waters. Those few seconds before they emerged screaming and waving at us seemed like an eternity. As they swam toward the party on the other side, Verano turned to us.
“See guys, it’s not so difficult. We do this all the time here, but you aren’t from Maine, you’re from way off!” He shrugged and pointed to the lake. “Anyway, that’s the only way you can get into my party.”
For a split second, I hoped that the freshmen would rebel, that everybody would turn away around and leave that asshole standing there. It was certainly what I wanted to do; however, some guys got excited about the bid to jump and their enthusiasm was infecting the other guys. I started hearing words of encouragement, “C’mon, before we lose our nerve!”... “The last to jump is a fool!”... “I’ll bet you a hundred bucks that I jump before you!”... “Let’s show those arrogant veterans what we’re made of!” Soon, I was hearing screams...and thus began a festival of bodies crashing into the water below.
The group of pale guys made no comment in favor of or against Verano’s orders. As if they had been born to do it, they ran and jumped without hesitation...with elegance. Surely, they would incite envy in Olympic champions with their elegant style. Even Joe Verano fell silent, as fascinated as we were watching those beautiful, pale bodies flying off the rock.
I took a deep breath and stepped back a few steps, almost tripping over Delilah. She looked as if she wanted to say something. I wanted to tell her something very important related to my irrevocable decision to run back down the trail; however, we both kept silent when David passed us heading toward the rock ledge. Apparently, he wanted to jump too.
“Dwayne, Nik! Normally I’m the coward,” he said, turning back and smiling. “But today, I think you two are the ones with cold feet.”
“No way, dude!” Nik replied, passing us like a tornado as he ran to catch up. David made the sign of the cross on his chest and quickly followed.
Upon hearing the sound of bodies in the water, I closed my eyes,
but curiosity made me look. I glanced at the edge of the cliff just in time to see Abby and Dwayne jump hand-in-hand. How romantic! I grimaced, feeling my stomach doing pirouettes. I thought I was going to throw up any minute now.
Delilah came to me again and I grabbed her arm to avoid falling.
“It’s hot, right?” she said, attributing my nervousness to the high temperature. I realized that she was preparing to jump.
“I will not go!” I shouted, retreating a few more steps.
“What do you mean you won’t go? You can’t let me do this alone!”
“I can and I will. Did you forgot that I just got out of the hospital?”
She gave me a disappointed look. This was a worse insult than if she actually had forgotten.
“Oh, really... Sorry, I completely forgot.” She also forgot that I was in jeans and a T-shirt.
“That’s okay,” I replied in a faint voice. Of course, everything was not okay, but I did not intend to discuss it now!
I made a vague gesture with my hand and started walking back toward the trail. She had to run to catch me.
“If I’d known that this was the way it would be, I wouldn’t have let you talk me into coming,” I blurted loudly as I walked away. My ribs protested a bit and I was breathless, but my anger drove me to ignore the signs.
“Believe me, I didn’t know,” Delilah tried to argue. “Verano’s parties always have rituals, but he’s never done something...so radical.”
“Or full of suspense,” said Sally, joining us. “I’m afraid of heights. I won’t even jump from a trampoline half a meter high, much less from a cliff.”
Suddenly, two of the fraternity guys blocked our access to the trail. Joe Verano immediately approached us.
“Sorry, girls, there’s no going back. You already received your passes, so you’ve got to take it all the way.” We three stared at each other, shocked.
I peeked around, looking for help, but then I remembered that our guys had already jumped.
“C’mon,” Verano insisted. “I guarantee you won’t get hurt.”
I winced when he tried to hold onto my arm. I felt an instantaneous repulsion for this man.
Noticing my gesture, his smile faded and then he turned nasty. “You’re the girl who got lost on the mountain, aren’t you? The Cahills’ baby girl. I suppose you think you’re better than the others?”
It was his manner that was scaring me, but he really scared me when he grabbed my wrist tightly and started pulling me toward the rock ledge.
“Let go of me!”
“Fear goes away fast, baby!” He affected a sympathetic tone that sounded as insulting as it was fake. “If you can face the mountain, certainly a jump in the lake will be easy.” He kept looking around as if searching for something among the trees.
With some difficulty, I managed to turn my body and saw Sally and Delilah following the two yellow-shirt guys. They seemed annoyed, but not as scared as I was.
“You don’t understand...” I tried to explain, but he cut me off.
“Explanations are a waste of time,” he said, continuing to pull me toward the rock.
When I realized we were right on the edge of the rock, I grabbed his shirt, clinging to him as vertigo washed over me in waves. Though the height was comparable to a three-story building, to me it seemed like twenty! In the water below, the heads of those who had just jumped moved slowly away toward the other shore. Some were floating, others were playing, splashing water on each other. Again, the music and the laughter came to us on gusts of wind, which seemed to be growing stronger. People were having a great time, totally unaware of the drama I was living up here.
“A small step forward and everything will end quickly,” he whispered in my ear.
“Listen to me...”
“I advise you to let go of the girl.” A familiar deep voice echoed across the rock. “Step away from her slowly.”
Verano didn’t seem concerned. It was like he’d been waiting for him. He turned back and said, “So it’s really true. You wouldn’t be here if she wasn’t important to him.”
Dazed, I looked back and saw Stephen Cahill casually leaning against the trunk of a tree. However, his attitude didn’t seem casual. He took off his sunglasses and glanced at me.
“She has broken ribs, Verano. She can’t participate in the antics that you organize for your silly parties.”
Verano feigned astonishment. “I didn’t know! You should have told me.” He scolded me as he slowly moved away from me.
“I tried, remember?” I didn’t hide my anger.
As soon as he let me go, I quickly walked over to Stephen. Automatically, he put his gloved hand on my back in a protective way.
“Come,” he commanded, without taking his eyes off of Verano.
Indeed, his yellow eyes looked like two yellow drills and he made no effort to disguise them.
The discomfort among the Empiric Fraternity’s guys became almost palpable. Although Verano pretended to remain calm, I could see his nervousness. The signs were evident. He couldn’t hide his trembling hands or the tightening of his jaw.
Only then did I notice the shocked looks on Sally’s and Delilah’s faces—Delilah being the most shocked! Stephen glanced briefly at the two girls. They needed no more incentive to follow him.
“Do you want to go to this party?” he asked me quietly.
I couldn’t say why, but his scowl no longer seemed as threatening as before. I was learning to trust him and feel safe at his side.
What an irony! Verano’s affable manner scared me far more than the angry expression on Stephan’s face.
“No,” I hastened to reply.
“And you two?”
“No way!” said Sally.
“Not anymore,” Delilah replied, staring at Stephen as if mesmerized.
Unlike Delilah, Sally felt intimidated by his nearness. When Stephen turned, she took a step back. Of course he noticed, because nothing escaped those strange, penetrating eyes. His expression softened a little in an obvious effort to not seem so threatening. He straightened his back, put on his sunglasses, and gave us a half smile.
Hmmm... I appreciated his attitude.
Stephen was starting to rise in my esteem—not that he would care about what I did or didn’t think about him. I doubted that my opinion would bother him at all, but the fact was that I was seeing him differently now. I’d already grown accustomed to being around “the palefaces.” That meant that I was able to be in the same room with them while their eyes were changing color. Is that not a big breakthrough?
Voices behind us interrupted my reverie. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that there were still some undecided freshmen on the edge of the rock and the yellow shirt guys were laughing at their fear, but Verano was not among them. It didn’t take me long to locate him. He and his two partners were walking toward us.
I recognized one of the guys. He was the guy that Dwayne talked to in the clearing. Suddenly I realized that they were following us. To me, it seemed ironic that he intended to abandon the party so readily now that Stephen was there.
“Don’t be a party-pooper, Cahill.” Verano walked a little faster to catch up to us. “They’re just scared. They’re outsiders and don’t know our traditions.”
“Traditions?” Stephen laughed wryly. “Traditions that you just invented.”
Verano’s expression suddenly became serious. His eyes were troubled.
“He’ll have to meet me someday. You know that.”
Stephen’s smile widened and an evil glare shone through the shadowed lenses.
“Oh, don’t worry about it. He will...now that you’ve gotten his full attention. I hope you will enjoy the realization of your greatest wish.”
Verano squinted, trying to understand the meaning of those words.
Stephen’s face grew serious. “This time you went too far. If I were in your shoes, I’d leave town right now.”
Stephen turned his back to them and kept wa
lking down the trail without looking back. The girls and I followed clumsily behind him. When we got to the end of the trail, he stopped abruptly, turned to Delilah, and held out his cell phone to her.
“Call Preston and tell him that you’re not staying for the party,” he ordered in an impatient voice.
“He left his phone in the car,” she argued.
“Then find someone who will give him the message.”
She nodded, taking the phone from him as if he had just handed her a rare jewel. While she made the call, Stephen gently pulled me by the arm, leaving behind us a dumbfounded Sally; so he led me down to the shade of the trees.
“Thank you!” I took the opportunity to say that, hoping it would quell his temper. “I didn’t even want to go to that party!”
“Then why were you up there?” he asked, obviously still angry.
His voice made me angry too, but I swallowed an “It’s none of your business,” since he’d just saved me from a very difficult situation. I didn’t want to seem ungrateful. With some effort, I began to explain. “Because it’s my first day...I didn’t...” How do I say this without sounding like a jerk? Like, ‘everyone-does-what-they-want-to-me...’
Stephen took off his glasses. His eyes were as disturbing as Adrian’s jade colored eyes, but then his face softened unexpectedly.
“You didn’t want to disappoint your new friends.” He sighed to keep from becoming angry. “Don’t make concessions for them. No one should make a rule that causes you to feel afraid or to make you risk your own life in order to be accepted. If someone asks you to do something like that, he or she will never be your true friend.”
Suddenly, his gaze became alert, as if a thought had just occurred to him, something deeply disturbing.
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