by Lizzy Ford
“I don’t understand,” Summer replied. “I didn’t do anything to her. She attacked me.”
“I know, Summer,” Amber said.
“You’re poor. That’s the gist of this. Dawn’s family has money and lawyers. Beck’s does, too. His family is already countersuing for … for another issue, however, there’s no one to defend you,” Matilda said. Frustration made her pace. “You’re one of our best students, and Sam adores you. When this blows over, you can come back.”
“Come back from where?” Summer demanded, starting to panic. “You’re sending me back to the orphanage?”
Amber said nothing, and Matilda looked away.
“When?”
“Tomorrow morning,” Matilda said after a long pause. “Bus leaves at seven.”
“On my birthday. You’re throwing me out on my birthday.”
“We will bring you back,” Amber said firmly. “It might take awhile, but we will.”
It might take awhile. They were throwing her out, like every other school she’d been to. Summer’s face grew hot. She’d thought this place was different.
“Please don’t worry,” Amber went on. “It might take a month or two. As soon as we’ve got some way of righting this, we’ll drive to LA and bring you back. I promise.”
Decker. Her breath caught. She rose. Without a word to them, Summer ran out of the office and back to her room. She slammed the door and paced, oblivious to Biji and Tarzan.
She couldn’t leave without Decker. She’d only just found him and grown happy here.
“What’s wrong?” Biji asked.
“They’re sending me back to the orphanage.” Her words were quiet. She wanted to scream but found herself slipping into a familiar zone where she felt nothing.
It was just one more school. One more failure. Summer squeezed her eyes closed.
“What? No! How can they do that?” Biji demanded, distraught.
“Dawn … filed a restraining order. I can’t come to school, because she’s here. I guess there’s nowhere else to send me but back to LA.”
“I hate that bitch! But what about Decker?”
“I don’t know.” Summer rose again. “He’s supposed to come in the morning, but I have to leave in the morning, too.”
“What time are you supposed to leave?”
“Seven.”
“You and Decker went to breakfast at six thirty, right?” Biji’s brow crinkled as she thought hard.
“Yeah.”
“Then when he comes, you can tell him. He’ll take you to his house.”
“Biji, they’ve told the orphanage,” Summer whispered. “Amber said they’d send me back until things cooled off then bring me back here. If I don’t go, the orphanage won’t let me come back.”
“It’s not fair! How can that bitch run you off?”
Because I’m nobody. Summer wept inside. Matilda was right; Summer had no family or money to defend herself. She had nothing, not even a compelling reason for them to bring her back. She’d passed their trial and was now a member of the Light. They didn’t need her here. An hour ago, she’d had a home, a boyfriend, a future.
Now, there was nothing again. She never remembered feeling devastated at the reality of her situation before. This time, she did.
“I’ll just tell him farewell in the morning,” she said. “He’ll have two more years here, and I’ll be out of the orphanage when I’m eighteen in a year. If he doesn’t hate me for leaving, maybe then …”
A year was a long time.
“That’s ridiculous. He gave you a promise ring, Summer. It means he loves you.”
“I love him, too. But I’ve got nothing, Biji. No family, no money, no future. Maybe it’s better this way.”
“What is wrong with you?” Biji asked, shaking her. “It is not better this way! Decker loves you and you love him. All you have to do is tell him. Right now. Take the shuttle and go see him. I’ll stay with Tarzan.”
“The shuttle,” Summer breathed. “I can go to him tonight!”
“Right now.”
“Oh, god, Biji, you’re brilliant!” Summer sprang up. While she doubted Decker could do anything for her, she could at least find comfort in his arms and reassurance that he’d be there for her in a year, when she was free of the orphanage.
Hands shaking, Summer pulled on a sweatshirt and flew down the stairs. The shuttle was just starting to pull away when she threw open the front door. She waved it down, and it stopped.
“Store?” the driver asked.
“No, the beach,” Summer replied.
“A little late for a swim, isn’t it?”
“I won’t be there long.”
“How about you, miss?”
Summer turned to see the Dark girl in the back of the van. She recognized the slender teen with bright blue eyes from dinner but didn’t know her name.
“Resort for a hotdog,” the girl replied.
“They have great hotdogs.”
Summer fidgeted all the way to the beach. She hopped out of the van. Too worried to notice the other girl didn’t leave the van, Summer took off at a jog down the dirt road leading around the south side of the lake. Dark fell completely over the forest. Breathless, her pace slowed. The trees leaned down to touch her, and she reached up when she thought of it to touch the pines. She no longer felt threatened in the forest, not when the trees and wind were eager to talk to her.
Her magick grew within her, even if it couldn’t connect yet with the outside world. The tinkle of air and low thrum of the earth were louder this evening, as if they crept closer to her to talk to her. They made her feel less like her world was crashing down on her.
Struck by the thought, Summer stopped and gazed around her. If she went back to LA, she’d lose the connection to nature. There’d be no trees to high-five her, no free breezes to mess up her hair. She’d lose so much more than the school. She’d lose herself again.
Tears bubbled. Summer looked around and wiped them away. For a moment, she thought she’d seen someone following her. When she could see clearly, nothing was there. Summer hurried down the path and branched off onto the winding road leading to Decker’s home. The garage door was closed and the house ablaze with light.
She went to the back door and rang the doorbell. The idea of seeing Decker made her antsy, and she paced until the door cracked open. An African-American man with white hair opened the door. While small, his expression was severe.
“May I help you?” he asked.
“I’m looking for Decker,” she replied.
“You came all the way from the school after dark?”
“Yes. It’s kinda important I see him.”
“Young Decker is out with his girlfriend. But if you’d like to come in, I can call him to come home.”
“Oh, no. I mean, his girlfriend?” she asked blankly.
“He left a few hours ago with her. Alexis, Alex, something like that.”
Alexa. Summer’s blood ran cold. She twisted the ring on her finger. Decker had been dating someone else before, but she didn’t think he could lie about his feelings for her.
“Shall I call him?” the small man prompted.
“No. Thanks. I’ll catch him at school.” Summer turned away, not at all certain what to think about the strange words.
Maybe that’s why he didn’t bring me home with him tonight, she couldn’t help thinking. But it wasn’t possible he’d cheat on her. Or maybe everything here was an illusion. Amber’s assurances she’d fit in and be able to stay, Dawn’s curses and tricks, maybe even Decker …
No. Everything else might have been an illusion, but what she and Decker felt for each other was solid. They’d spent their first two nights together here, in his room.
At least I have Biji and Tarzan. Lost in her thoughts, she made her way back to the beach to wait for the shuttle. The lake was silent, the only light coming from the resort. Summer gazed at the deck where she and Decker had realized what each meant to the other. This p
lace was as screwed up as any of the others she’d been to. But Decker was the one constant. No matter what the man at his house said.
Summer sat near the sidewalk, troubled. She was empty, and the cheerful wind did nothing to soothe her. The ground beneath her grew warm again when she shivered. Her thoughts were dark, her gaze going to the ring on her hand.
Decker loves me, she told herself over and over. Will he love me enough to wait a year?
She didn’t know the answer. She wasn’t even certain she would find him before she left.
Summer wrapped her arms around her knees. The shuttle came around ten, and she climbed into the passenger seat. The world whipped by. She wasn’t sure she’d ever see this place again. Its magick would be gone, and she’d be alone in the world, as usual.
This place had been a temporary vacation, nothing more. There was no place for her in this world.
Despondent, Summer trudged to her room. Biji and Tarzan were both gone, and she assumed her only friend had taken the fawn to her room to sleep. Summer lay on her bed for a long moment. No part of her was tired. No part of her wanted to sleep the last few hours she had in the only place she’d almost felt was home.
She rolled onto her bed. It was an hour until her birthday, and she’d be cast away from the only peace she knew.
“Some birthday present,” she muttered, eyes watering again.
“Summer?” Biji called then knocked.
Summer forced herself up and answered the door. Biji stood outside.
“Hey, how’d it go?” her friend asked.
“He wasn’t there,” Summer said, not wanting to relive her doubt and pain. She moved away from the door and threw herself onto the bed.
“Really? I thought that’s where he went,” Biji said, closing the door.
“The guy who answered the door said he was out with Alexa.”
“No!”
Summer sighed.
“You don’t think … you think he’s cheating?” Biji asked.
“I don’t think so, Biji. But it’s strange, isn’t it?”
Biji was quiet, pensive. Summer gazed at her, hoping the resourceful girl had some sort of information on what might be going on.
“He gives you a promise ring then goes to meet with her after you get kicked out of school.” Biji shook her head. “This has got to be the worst birthday ever.”
“You don’t think he would, do you?” Summer asked.
“I want to think no. But he was sleeping with her like, even up to the day before the dance. Ana said she saw them going off into the woods together. And suddenly, she’s back in the picture? It doesn’t seem like a good thing.”
“No, it doesn’t.” Summer didn’t know what to think. “I guess it doesn’t matter. I leave in the morning. I’ll probably never see any of you again.”
“How can you say that? You’re my friend!”
“Biji, I have nothing. I’m being sent away tomorrow. What do you think happens? The orphanage has never sent me to the same school twice, and in a year, I’ll be kicked on my own. I have no family, no money, nothing!”
“I’ll go with you.”
“No, Biji, you can’t come with me. People … people love you.” Summer began to cry, unable to help her heartbreak. Biji sat down and hugged her hard.
“I will kill him,” Biji whispered fiercely. “I don’t care if he is the Master of Night. I will find him and I’ll kill him!”
“Just take care of Tarzan,” Summer said, trying hard to stifle her tears. She’d never cried upon being cast out of any other school. She had to find a way to go numb again, to forget everything and everyone who touched her while she was here.
“I will. Where is he?” Biji looked around.
“I thought he was with you.”
Biji frowned.
“Sometimes he goes in the closet,” Summer said. She wiped her face and rose, crossing to the closet. Biji went with her.
When she opened it, a note fluttered to the ground. Biji retrieved it, reading aloud,
“You took everything that mattered to me. I did the same for you.”
Summer looked at the note then in the closet. “Tarzan isn’t here. Where is he, Biji? I left him with you.”
“I came back to check on you awhile ago. You were here, and I left Tarzan with you,” Biji answered.
Not my sweet Tarzan! Summer quelled her panic.
“I got back like, ten minutes before you came here,” she said. “Biji, I wasn’t here. I didn’t get Tarzan back from you!”
Biji stared at the clock. “It was ten. I swear, Summer, you were sitting on your bed. I brought him back and you asked me to come back in a little bit.”
“It wasn’t me, Biji!” Summer seized the note.
“You think Dawn … you think she used magick to hide herself?”
“Oh, god, we have to find him! He’s vulnerable. He can’t even walk!” Summer pulled on her shoes and sweatshirt. She yanked the door open and ran down the stairs.
“Wait, I’m coming with you!” Biji cried.
Emotions and magick churned within her. Summer hopped off the porch and stood still, listening. She closed her eyes.
Please, please tell me where he is! she begged the wind.
The magick within her stirred but was wild as ever. The tinkling of the wind grew louder, however, and pushed her towards the road that hugged the school property before branching out to the creek.
Summer ran down the road. The wind nudged her towards the forest next, and she charged in. Fear and adrenaline made her immune to the branches tripping and smacking her. Her thoughts were on Tarzan, the only innocent creature in this horrible place. He alone hadn’t betrayed her. He alone hadn’t destroyed what hope she had of finding a home or happiness!
Biji shouted from somewhere behind her.
Summer ran, blinded by desperation and anger. Her magick rose up within her, crouched, and then dove, colliding with the magick of the forest. She fully connected with the earth and air for the first time. Her senses were alive, like when she touched Decker. Her feet bounced off the earth as if it were rubber, and the air in her lungs left her energized rather than tired.
She reached a clearing and stopped to look, her breathing loud in her ears. Something lay on a large, flat rock that seemed out of place in the middle of the field crowded with wildflowers. Dread sank into her stomach. She ran to the rock and dropped on it, horrified.
Tarzan lay wheezing on the rock. His blood looked like black oil in the dim light of a new moon and flowed over the rock to the ground below. There were puncture wounds all over his body while his injured leg still wore the cast.
“No, no, no, Tarzan!” she whispered, trying to figure out how to pick him up without hurting him.
Someone had done this on purpose. The wounds weren’t consistent with those of the mountain lion that killed his mother. These looked as if he’d been stabbed. She touched him. Her magick felt his pain, and tears crowded her eyes again.
“You can’t die, my sweet Tarzan! You’re all I have left!”
Hastily wiping away tears, she pulled off her sweatshirt and placed it over him. Summer lifted him carefully. The deer cried out in pain. She tried to shush it, but before she reached the forest, Tarzan’s cries were too much for her to bear. Summer sank to the ground, shaking. She put him down and lifted the sweatshirt, staring at the blood that marred his body.
You must let him go. Sam’s voice came to her.
“He’s all I have,” she replied. “I can’t.”
It is the way of things. You can do nothing.
“You said I healed him with my magick. I can use my magick now; I can heal him again!”
He’s too far gone.
“No!” She started to cry and stroked the deer. “He doesn’t deserve this. I deserve to lose everything, but he doesn’t!”
You’ve lost nothing this night. His soul will return to the forest. You will feel him as you do the rest of the creatures in the forest.
Her sweet Tarzan was dying. Was this her fate too? To die alone, the victim of a world that wouldn’t accept her?
The earth beneath them was warm. Summer noticed it grow hotter as her anger rose.
Come. He is lost.
“No. I won’t leave him.” Instead, she fed more energy into the earth. She did as Decker had taught her and pulled the magick towards her, until the thrum of the earth became a low roar.
Summer, you must step away. Sam’s voice grew urgent.
“I won’t lose him. I won’t let anyone destroy him the way they’ve destroyed me!” she replied and placed both hands on the ground.
Magick intoxicated her, swirling from her, through her, into her. The earth and air responded, both trembling around her.
Tarzan stopped breathing. His eyes closed and his chest stopped moving.
He’s gone. You must leave him.
Summer closed her eyes. She focused on building the magick then on the fawn’s lifeless body. The earth rumbled. The air grew to a wail, its glitter surrounding her and the deer. Her magick burned bright as daylight.
“Bring him back to me!” she ordered the elements.
Summer, no! You can’t—
“Bring him back!”
Her magick faded from bright white to black shadows that licked at the deer’s body.
“Summer!” Biji’s cry was terrified.
Summer felt only magick. It replaced her fear and emotions, swelling within her. She pulled and channeled it into Tarzan, her insides screaming in pent-up pain. Now that Tarzan was dead, she had nothing more to live for.
“Bring him back to me!” she shouted into the roaring elements.
What sounded like a thunderclap sounded and suddenly, there was silence. Summer collapsed, breathing hard. She stared at Tarzan.
“What did you do?” Biji whispered, drawing near.
Tarzan’s body thrashed suddenly. The fawn screamed in pain. Summer reached for him, uncertain what was wrong. It clambered to its feet and bucked, alternately galloping and falling as it raced around the field.