by Nana Malone
“You’ve both already done that.” Ali shook her head, suddenly weary of it all. Right now, she just wanted inside her warm house so she could shut the door between them and let go in private. “Go away, Ryan, it’s over.”
“What’s going on here?”
Her father’s voice boomed into the night air, full of authority and suspicion. Ali turned to him with relief. “Nothing. Ryan was just leaving.”
“You forgot your coat, sweetheart.” He held it out for her to slip her arms in and she shivered as she tugged the sides close. He wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders. “Come back to the house and warm up.”
She shook her head. “Thanks, but I’m really tired, Dad. I’m going to bed.”
Ryan watched her with an eerie intensity that made her doubly glad for her father’s presence. She completely ignored him as she raised on tiptoe to kiss her father’s cheek.
Ryan took a step forward, his hand outstretched. “Ali, please—”
Her father stepped between them, his bulk completely blocking Ryan from her view.
“I don’t know what’s going on, son, but my daughter wants you to leave. And until I hear otherwise from her, I don’t want to see you back here. Understood?”
Ali moved to the side in time to see Ryan’s defensive stance. Hands and jaw clenched, for a moment he looked prepared to fight her father. Then he gave a stiff nod before shifting his gaze to hers.
“Whatever you decide to believe, Ali, just please, be careful.”
Her heart skipped a beat, but she didn’t respond. Without another word, he bent to scoop up his sport coat and stalked to his SUV.
“What was he talking about?” her father asked as Ryan drove away.
“Nothing.” When his gaze narrowed, she sighed. “It’s not a big deal, don’t worry about it Dad.”
He didn’t look convinced. “You want me to send your mom and Aunt Liz down?”
“No!” At his frown, she took a breath and more calmly added, “No, really, I’m just tired and my feet are freezing.” She forced a smile and gave him another quick hug before hurrying onto her porch to unlock the house. “Good night, Dad. Thank you.”
“Night, sweetheart. Call us if you need anything. I mean it.”
“I will.” She shut the door on his concerned expression and sank against the wood at her back. Tears flowed, silent and hot. She wasn’t sure how long she sat there, but the painful tingles in her cold toes finally convinced her to move. She locked the door again before going to change into fleece pajamas and a thick pair of wool socks.
Her cell phone rang on her way back into the kitchen, but when she saw Ryan’s name, she let it go to voicemail. While making a cup of tea, the phone chimed for a text message three times and rang twice more. She turned it off and carried her tea to the living room where she huddled on the couch with a blanket. The gas fireplace flickered silently on high.
Thoughts and images whirled in her mind. Initially, all she saw was Ryan and Liz kissing in the pantry. Her eyes squeezed tight against the scene didn’t help, so she opened them again and stared into the blue tinged flames in the fireplace. Eventually, she analyzed the replay as flashes of Ryan’s words began to penetrate.
“She kissed me.”
He hadn’t been holding Liz in some passionate, illicit embrace. In fact, one hand held the wine bottle, the other had been clutching the support beam of the wine rack.
“There’s something about that fairy necklace.”
She’d asked Liz about her necklace over dinner, hoping to learn the name of a shop so she could research its origins. See if it had the same meaning as the one she’d seen on the witchcraft website. But she’d been disappointed in Liz’s explanation that it was a gift from an aunt long dead. No dark magic in that story.
The hair on the back of Ali’s neck prickled as another memory shifted and solidified in her mind. She’d sworn Ryan had called her name as she sat on the couch in her parents’ living room. It’d been so faint, and no one else seemed to have heard anything, so she figured she’d imagined it. The second time she couldn’t ignore the echo in her mind, and she’d gotten up and gone into the kitchen.
Confusion swirled. Nothing made sense. Why would he call her when he was kissing Liz?
“You didn’t even push her away.”
Her words this time, but now she saw they weren’t true. The moment he’d seen Ali in the doorway, he’d shoved Liz aside. Because he’d been caught? Or had Ali’s appearance broken whatever spell Liz had supposedly cast upon him?
She rubbed her eyes, gritty from earlier tears and burning from mental exhaustion. She wasn’t sure what to believe right now. A sip of cold tea told her she’d been staring into the fire for much longer than she thought, and the clock confirmed it was after midnight.
Ali went to check that her front door was locked one more time before shutting everything off and going to bed. Sleep came surprisingly quickly, but it was not restful.
The clouds rolled in, blacker than ever. The river was colder than before. The water clearer. When the surface went still and Liz’s face materialized above her, she jolted awake, gasping for air.
“Just a dream,” she whispered and fell back on the bed, heart pounding. “It’s not real.”
With her eyes closed, she took deep breaths while repeating the words over and over in her mind. Sheer determination banished the horrifying dream, along with Ryan’s theory about all the strange events in her life since they’d met.
He kept insisting she had to accept what he said as truth; that they were doomed if she didn’t. Well, she was now willing to concede Liz had likely kissed him, but as for the rest, he didn’t understand that she couldn’t believe.
Because if he was right, the pasts proved her dream would come true.
***
Ali learned avoidance didn’t make anything go away. Tossing the amethyst necklace back at Ryan might not have been the best move either. Her dreams continued despite not seeing him or Liz.
She missed Ryan’s company and his face and his kisses, more than she imagined possible, but every time she picked up the phone, her trembling hand convinced her to set it back down. Giving him the benefit of the doubt would mean admitting the whole reincarnation/evil witch scenario was possible. She didn’t want to believe, so she deleted his continued voicemails without listening, knowing if she heard his voice her resolve would weaken. Texts and emails met the same fate.
Tuesday night, she came home from picking up her fully repaired Jeep to find a package on her doorstep. When she saw the name of the witchcraft website on the return mailing address, she set the box aside unopened. The Lovers’ Embrace pendants she’d ordered on a whim would only remind her of what she’d lost with Ryan.
The next morning, she took a deep breath, set her jaw, and marched into creative writing class. Liz may have ruined her relationship with Ryan, but she was determined not to let her ruin her academic career as well. The professor glanced up and then did a double take. Ali met and held her gaze all the way to the front. She calmly set her assignment on the stack of other papers and turned away.
“You missed two classes.”
The disapproving voice stiffened her spine, but Ali ignored her until she was in her seat. Then she gave a careless shrug. “I read the lectures online. Didn’t seem like I missed much.”
Her gaze narrowed. “You do know I have the authority to factor unapproved absences into your overall grade, don’t you?”
“Do what you feel you have to do.” Ali didn’t bother hiding her contempt.
Liz stalked over, planted her palms on the desk, and leaned in. Malice shimmered in her ice-blue eyes as she whispered, “Don’t worry, Ali, I always do.”
Ali’s pulse raced so fast, she became lightheaded. She managed to maintain eye contact despite the cold sliver of fear the previous statement injected into her veins. What had gotten into her? Showing the woman she wouldn’t cower was one thing, outright challenging her was another.
Glo
ssed, ruby lips pressed together in a tight, angry line before Liz spun around and returned to the front of the room to begin class. At one point, Ali looked up from note-taking to find the professor glaring at her. Before her eyes, classic beauty morphed into a ghost-like face. Dark hair flowed in undulating waves, then swept back as the mouth opened in a silent scream and the specter flew toward Ali.
She jerked upright with a blink, and the next instant Liz was talking mid-sentence as if nothing had happened. A frantic glance around the room revealed nothing out of the ordinary as the other students listened to the professor. Her friend Debbie gave her a smile from the other side of the aisle, but then quickly returned her attention front and center.
Was she the only one who’d seen the ghoulish image?
After class, she caught up to Debbie out in the hallway. “Did you notice anything strange in class today?”
The blond shook her head. “Other than Liz being exceptionally tense, not really. Why?”
She saw Liz standing in the doorway, arms folded as she watched them.
“It’s nothing, forget it,” Ali said, backing away. “I’ll see you later.”
“Hey, wait.” Debbie hurried to her side, and they walked together. “Where’ve you been, anyway? That guy Ryan was looking for you the past couple days.”
“He was?” Ali cast a quick glance around to see if he’d shown up today and saw Liz had disappeared. No Ryan, either.
“Yeah. What’s up with you two?”
“We went out a few times, but it didn’t work out, that’s all.”
Debbie looked at her with concern. “He seemed awfully worried about you. Did something happen?”
Ali forced a reassuring smile to her lips. “Everything is fine, I swear. But I really have to go or I’m going to be late. See you tomorrow.”
She hurried to her jeep, and then just sat there, thinking about the apparition she’d seen in class. Had it been real or imagined? Skepticism and conviction teetered back and forth, confusing her more than ever. She knew what Ryan would say if she asked him, but she wasn’t ready to talk to him.
There was one person she trusted who knew Liz better than anyone, except her mother refused to talk about what had happened. Ali thought back over the phone conversation from a few days ago. Judging by her reaction then, and back when Ali read her journal all those years ago, her mother knew more than she wanted to admit. Maybe if she knew the stakes, she’d be willing to talk.
Ali started her jeep, but an unexpected sense of urgency moved her hand from the gearshift to her cell phone. When she turned it on, she waited to see how many messages she’d have to delete from Ryan.
None.
No texts either. Shaking off her disappointment, she thumbed the speed dial number for home. Her mom answered the call, cheerful and carefree as usual.
“Don’t you have class right now, honey?”
“I do, but…Mom, I have to ask you a question, and I need your promise you’ll answer me.”
“What’s this about?” her mother asked in confusion.
“Promise me.”
“Ali…” Suspicion had crept into her mother’s voice.
“Mom, please. It’s important.”
Silence was followed by a heavy sigh of resignation. “Go ahead.”
Ali took a deep breath. “Aunt Liz knew both the people that drowned up in the mountains twenty-some years ago, didn’t she?”
Her mom’s swallow was audible over the phone line. “Yes.”
“Do you…” Ali lost her breath and had to start again. “Do you think she had anything to do with their deaths?”
“Both incidents were investigated,” her mother said, almost by rote.
“I want to know what you think, Mom. I want to know what you wrote in that journal you wouldn’t let me see.”
“Oh, honey,” her mother whispered. The choked emotion in her voice told Ali all she needed to know, and exactly what she’d been avoiding in her denial of belief.
“Why are you asking me about all this?”
Because I might be the reincarnated soul of Becca. Of Alianna. Just thinking the words made a lump form in her throat. Instead of answering her mom, she asked another question. “Why didn’t you say something back then?”
“To whom?” Her mother asked in despair. “The police? Your father? Uncle Ted? They’d have all thought I was crazy, that I’d gone mad after the trauma of watching Becca drown. I didn’t even suspect anything until the day of the funeral, when I found out Liz had known the boy, too. Afterward, I watched her, and researched and discovered all kinds of things I realized too late were too dangerous for me to know.”
“What do you mean you realized too late?”
“I was pregnant with you by then. Your dad and Ted were best friends, Liz and I were sorority sisters. There was no getting away from her, and for awhile, I forgot.”
“You forgot?” Ali asked in disbelief.
“In all honesty, I don’t believe I had a choice in the matter.”
Liz.
“One night, shortly after you were born, I had a dream in which Liz had my journal, and she intended to take you from me. I woke up and hid the journal in a box of old high school items during the middle of the night, and after that, I didn’t remember any of my suspicions until the moment I saw you reading it years later. Then I thought it was safer for you not to know.”
“But since then, why stay friends with her? Why do you always let her walk all over you?”
“It was the only way I knew how to protect you—especially after what happened when you were twelve. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” Her mother laughed softly, but there was no humor in the sound. “Unfortunately, there are still moments she gets to me, like the other night. If I’d have realized who your Ryan was, I never would’ve invited Liz and Max to join us for dinner.”
Adrenaline swept through Ali. “Who do you think Ryan is?”
“You know that answer or you wouldn’t have called me, Ali.”
She lost her breath for a moment.
Ryan was James. Liz was Elizabeth.
I am Alianna.
The facts were too convincing to blame on coincidence, and yet she still couldn’t help but ask, “You really believe it’s all possible, Mom?”
“With all my heart. I knew you were special from the moment you were conceived, and it terrifies me.”
A chill ran though Ali at her mother’s admission.
“Does Dad know?”
“No. He wouldn’t understand. Not like Ryan seemed to after having given you that necklace.”
And she’d thrown it back at him.
“Have you talked to him since your fight the other night?” her mother asked.
“I wasn’t ready.” Ali took a shaky breath. “But I think I am now.”
“Good. I love you honey, and please, be careful, but it’s time to go find that man, love him, and fight for the life you were meant to live.”
* * * * *
Chapter 15
Ryan sighed as he stood amidst the ruins of Alianna’s cabin. What remained was nothing more than a crumbling fieldstone fireplace, a few rotted logs, and a couple of jagged-edged floor boards slowly turning to dust. The legend had carried on for all these years, had taken lives, and yet, it hadn’t been strong enough to warrant preservation of the site.
He wasn’t surprised or even disappointed. His expectations had not been so much in the physical aspects, but on a spiritual level; he’d hoped to feel some sort of connection. Something soul-deep and meaningful, like what he felt with every waking thought of Ali. Something other than a blank nothing.
His fingers clenched around the amethyst in his pocket, his thumb rubbing the smooth stone. It kept her close.
With the crystal warmed from his touch, he closed his eyes, breathed deep, and searched in vain for a spark. Seconds ticked by. A snowflake landed on his nose; another one melted on his cheek. He continued to massage the stone, meditating on t
he past and present as his stillness allowed the chilled fall air to seep into his bones.
The woods around him and the earth below his feet yielded no answers. Realizing he couldn’t will a solution to appear like magic, he tamped down on his frustration and made the trek back to his campsite before it became dark.
Tomorrow would be the real test. He instinctively knew the danger lie in not believing, but what happened when someone visited Still Waters despite their convictions? Would belief keep him safe, or be his ultimate downfall? Either way, it was a risk he was compelled to take as it was the only place he could think of that might reveal a way to break the deadly cycle he and Ali were trapped in.
They’d lost so much time and love in the past, he was determined to save her in this lifetime. He’d missed her over the past few days, but in retrospect, maybe it was better this way. After listening to her and her father reminisce about past camping trips at dinner the other night, she might have wanted to come with him. Although he was banking on an evolving theory that Liz had to be present to wield her power, subjecting Ali to possible danger was not an option. By himself, he felt relatively safe since he’d only told his dorm-mate he was going camping, and Liz would have no way of knowing his whereabouts.
Back at his campsite, he started a fire with wood he’d gathered and covered earlier, and heated a can of soup for dinner. Eating and clean-up took about a half hour, and then the long evening hours stretched before him with nothing but his thoughts and the sound of the nearby rushing river for company.
He turned up the collar of his coat and huddled closer to the fire as tiny snowflakes continued to drift down from the night sky. In his pocket, he cradled the amethyst crystal in his palm out of habit. He became so spellbound by the flames in front him, it took a few minutes to realize the stone had begun to radiate heat beyond what it’d picked up from his body.
A noise on the trail completely broke him out of his trance. Sitting completely still, he strained to pick up more sounds over the crackle of the fire. The steady tread of footsteps stiffened his spine and quickened his pulse, but the voice that spoke from the dark nearly stopped his heart in his chest.