Boy from the Woods (9781311684776)

by Minkman, Jen

  “I don’t see the connection between oaks and Druids,” Donna said with a frown.

  “The Celtic name for oak is duir. That’s the word their name derives from. As it so happens, the word also means door, as they believed the oak was a doorway between this world and another reality. Druids would meditate under oak trees to communicate with supernatural beings,” Silke chattered on, clearly on her hobby horse. “The oak is a symbol for longevity and represents the power of lightning.”

  Julia stared at Silke in surprise. “Lightning?” Once again, she couldn’t help thinking of the thunderstorm that had raged when she’d found Michael.

  “Yes. Oak trees are often struck by lightning. The oak binds the life-giving powers of the lightning bolt and the nurturing powers of the earth, opening a temporary vortex or gateway to the other side on Midsummer’s Day.”

  “Hey, dinner’s ready, High Priestess!” Marco grinned as he approached their little gathering, shoving his sister playfully. “I can hear where this conversation is going. You want me to fetch your hooded cloak and staff?”

  Silke thumped him on the shoulder. “You just don’t get it.”

  Julia didn’t really get it, either, but she felt like she was onto something. All the things Silke had mentioned in correlation with Michael’s horoscope… that couldn’t be coincidence. As soon as she got home tonight she’d fire up her computer and Google anything and everything about the Celtic belief system and the alleged powers of the oak.

  A new batch of hamburgers and buns was put on the table. “Could you make me one with lots of ketchup?” Julia asked Gaby. “I really need to use the toilet. I’ll be right back.”

  She plunged inside, stalking past the piano into the hallway, where she fortunately found the door to the bathroom instantly. After she was done, she took out her cell phone and wrote herself a memo about what Silke had told them before she forgot important details. Tonight, the hunt for more info was on.

  Lost in thought, Julia walked into the kitchen to wash her hands, but stopped dead when she saw Michael sitting at the kitchen table. His back was toward her, but he turned around when she stepped backward.

  “Hey,” he said softly. Julia stood glued to the spot as he stood up and closed in on her.

  “Hi,” she replied when she remembered how to use her voice again.

  He looked so normal and relaxed. Surely this guy who was always so comfortable with himself couldn’t have cried over her song? Gaby must have been seeing things.

  “You played so beautifully,” he said at that instant, as if he’d read her mind. “What was that song?”

  “It was mine.”

  He nodded, a smile spreading across his handsome face. “I could hear that.”

  All of a sudden, something inside of her snapped. He was doing it again – talking to her as though he’d known her for years. Using that confidential tone of voice that suggested they had a whole history together. But they didn’t, and it was his fault.

  “I wrote it for you. Could you hear that too?” she said, viciously sneering. “I bet you’re wondering how and why. How I could have been so mind-numbingly stupid as to write a song for you, and why I fell in love with a guy like you who crushes my heart, tramples the pieces and forgets about me the very first chance he gets?”

  A silence descended in the room. Michael’s face had turned pale. “Julia,” he mumbled, shock evident in his eyes.

  She shook her head, her hands trembling. “Stop it,” she snarled. “Stop confusing me like this. Stop giving me all this attention you didn’t think I deserved before. Why are you doing this? Why?”

  Her breath hitched when he took another step forward, taking her in his arms without saying anything. His body felt warm and his arms were protective around her, and strangely enough all her anger subsided instantly. Her heart slowed down even despite him being so close. He exuded a calmness she had never felt from him before – in fact, she’d never felt this kind of influence from anyone before.

  This was how she had always imagined being in his arms, but she’d never felt it. She’d felt the thrill of passion between them a few weeks ago. But now, she felt cherished in his arms.

  “Don’t be silly,” she stuttered despite herself. “Let go of me, Michael. This is embarrassing.” Her cheeks flushed red. His arms slipped off her and he took a step backward, a sad look crossing his face.

  “I can’t let go of you,” he softly said. “Please, don’t ask me that.”

  Before Julia could even respond to his puzzling remark, he turned around and dashed off into the yard. Sheepishly, she stared at his retreating figure. What in God’s name was wrong with him? As a matter of fact, what was wrong with her? The way she’d crawled into his embrace as if Michael had comforted her like that many times before – and then, her sudden snap at him, telling him to let go of her. Julia could literally kick herself. She was turning into the Queen of Mixed Signals – first in dealing with Thorsten and now with Michael. And as icing on the big Cake of Embarrassment, she’d also blurted out that she’d written her song for him. Great – just great.

  With an angry sigh, she whipped around and stalked outside, where Gaby was waiting for her with a big question mark on her face.

  “Where the hell have you been, woman? I was about to put out an Amber Alert for you. Here you go – your cold hamburger.” She shoved a plate into Julia’s hands.

  “Yeah, I know. Sorry about that. I bumped into Michael in the kitchen. We sort of had a fight, and then he tried to kiss and make up, also sort of.”

  “Oh? What were you guys fighting about?”

  “Nothing in particular. I don’t want to talk about it.” Julia stole a glance at the other side of the lawn, where Marco and Michael were chatting to another guy she didn’t know. “I went and told him I wrote that song for him,” she muttered despite herself.

  Gaby looked at her thoughtfully. “You know what’s weird? To me it looked like he already knew that. You know, because of the way he looked at you when you were playing it. Maybe that’s why he was crying – because he was touched by the way you felt about him… or still feel. I don’t know.”

  Julia shook her head. “You’re not making sense. He couldn’t have known that. You’re the only person who knows I wrote it for him.”

  Gaby glared at her. “I am making sense. Something very strange is going on with Michael. I can feel it. And yes, I know – you already tried telling me that a few days ago and I didn’t want to listen to it, but I just couldn’t believe it. Sorry.”

  “No problem. I understand.”

  “And by the way, did you also notice Michael’s Celtic horoscope featuring a lot of elements related to his accident?” Gaby continued in a hushed tone. “You know, the lightning, the oak tree…”

  “I did, and I was planning on investigating tonight. Although I don’t know if I should, after that whole drama show in the kitchen.”

  “Of course you should. You’re curious, just admit it. Shall I help you?”

  “Yeah, I’d like that.” Julia smiled at her friend. “Thanks.”

  After dinner, they quickly left the party to go to Florian’s. Julia didn’t want to spend one minute more than necessary around Michael – she’d have to dodge him at work tomorrow too, after all.

  “I’ll pay for everything in advance,” Tamara said. Everybody was huddled around Florian’s computer to fill out the details for their plane tickets. With a broad grin, she flashed her credit card. “Please pay me back ASAP.”

  “What kind of rooms are we booking in London?” Florian asked. “Shall we just book one of those eight-bedded dorms?”

  “You can’t be serious,” Gaby said in mock disdain. “And us having to listen to your snoring all night?”

  “Yeah, or to you sleep-talking in your wet dreams,” Tamara chimed in. “Oh yeah, Moritz, like that, don’t stop…”

  The girls started to giggle and Florian raised his chin defiantly. “Fine. Have it your way. You chicks go bunk up,
the three of you. Axel and I will stick together.”

  “Where are Moritz and his band staying?” Axel wanted to know.

  “Oh, somewhere more luxurious. Definitely outside our poor man’s budget.”

  Florian got up and opened the double doors leading to the roof terrace, while Tamara finished up their booking and printed the boarding cards. “Are you guys staying around for a drink?” he asked.

  “Sure,” Axel replied. He got up and shot a quick glance at Gaby, whom he hadn’t directly spoken to since her and Julia’s arrival. “Can I get you something, Miss Gloom?”

  Gaby looked up, startled. “Uhm, yes… I’d like a beer, please. Thanks.”

  Julia snickered. The fact alone that Gaby didn’t get her panties in a strop about Axel using that nickname was evidence enough that something was going on between the two of them. “Why don’t you get me one too, while you’re at it,” she shouted after her cousin.

  Meanwhile, Gaby had installed herself at the computer. She opened Google and typed ‘druids oaks’ into the search bar. When Julia sat down on the armrest and looked over her shoulder, her friend had just clicked a link titled ‘The Magical Tree’.

  “Wow,” Gaby breathed. “You see that? Oak trees can grow to be over two thousand years old! And they really attract lightning somehow. Look here – the British mythological Green Man is a forest god with a face consisting of oak leaves.” She pointed at the image on the screen.

  “Come outside, you nerds,” Axel told them as he strolled over with their drinks. “All this staring at computer screens is gonna ruin your eyesight.”

  “That’s rich, coming from you,” Gaby shot back, getting up and taking the glass of beer Axel handed to her. “You practically live at your computer.”

  She slowly turned red when Axel slung an arm around her shoulders and replied: “Still, no reason to follow my bad example. Come on, let’s go outside. I’ll drag you away from this infernal device and save you.”

  Julia caught the look in Gaby’s eyes and couldn’t help but grin at her flushed face. She started when her phone vibrated in her pocket. One look on the display showed her that at least it wasn’t Michael – it was her mother.

  “Hey, Mom. What’s up?”

  “Hello, darling. What time will you be home?”

  “Around nine, I guess. Why?” Somehow, her mother sounded anxious.

  “Oh, it’s nothing. Your father just called, and Anne was in the room with me when we got into an argument over the phone. She went outside. I think she took off to the woods, because her bike is gone.”

  “I’ll be home shortly. Don’t worry.” Julia hung up, heaving a sigh. Anne didn’t handle conflict very well, and it was even worse if that conflict was between their mom and their ever-absent father. She was doubtlessly upset, so she’d fled into the woods to cool off. In that respect, Anne was just like her. Mom was probably feeling really guilty right now.

  “I’m leaving in a bit,” she announced to her friends on the terrace. “I have to go help my mom.”

  “Shall I join you?” Gaby asked.

  “Yeah, cool.” Julia’s interest was piqued by the website Gaby had discovered. She wanted to explore it some more back at her place. “Are you sleeping over?”

  “Good idea! It’s been a while since we had a pajama party.”

  In the light of the sun slowly sinking toward the horizon, Julia walked to the edge of the roof terrace and looked down at the river Salzach meandering past the house. Behind her, she heard Tamara and Florian laughing out loud and Axel animatedly telling one of his jokes. She tried to imagine Michael amidst her circle of friends, then substituted him with Thorsten. Of course, it was a pointless exercise – she knew full well Thorsten would fit in perfectly here. And yet, she somehow couldn’t bring herself to make that choice just yet.

  Gaby joined her at the railing. “Are we going?” she asked.

  “Yeah, let’s. I want to be home before dark.”

  “Tamara just offered to drop us off by car, so we can go to my place first and I can pack a bag of clothes for my shift at the riding school tomorrow. You know, pants I won’t mind getting stained with horseshit.”

  “Poor you. Oh well, I wonder what’s worse working with – horse manure or Michael.” Julia rolled her eyes. “Speaking of which, let’s see what else we can find out about the old Celts and their tree horoscopes tonight.”

  Gaby giggled. “Most likely, we’ll discover all people with oaks in their horoscopes are arrogant assholes.”

  Fifteen minutes later, Tamara pulled up in front of Julia’s house. When Julia got out of the car, she saw her mom standing at the gate, peering into the street in both directions.

  Ms. Gunther’s face lit up when she saw her eldest daughter. “Hey, sweetheart. I’m glad you’re home early. Anne still isn’t back, and she’s not at Sabine’s either.”

  The troubled undertone in her mother’s voice wasn’t lost on Julia. She exchanged a glance with Gaby. “We’ll go look for her in the woods,” her friend said decidedly. “Come on, let’s go by bike.”

  They walked to the shed and got the two bicycles parked there. Julia couldn’t wipe the frown off her face when she cycled down the street next to Gaby on their way to the forest edge. “I am so going to give Anne a talking-to,” she said grimly. “She can’t do this. She can’t just take off and stay out for hours on end and get Mom worried sick. My mother already feels like she’s a lousy parent as it is, because she can’t get my dad to show his face around here more often. She really doesn’t need this on top of everything else.”

  When they got to the edge of the woods, the girls got off their bikes. Julia hesitantly looked at the forest path running between the trees. It wouldn’t be long before the woods got completely dark. Would Anne really venture out here all by herself? She couldn’t imagine it; her sister was kind of a scaredy-cat.

  “Shall we call out to her?” Gaby suggested, looking a little lost.

  Julia nodded. “Anne!” she shouted at the top of her lungs. “Where are you?”

  “Anne!” Gaby yelled in the other direction. “Come home!”

  To Julia’s great relief, it didn’t take more than a minute for a tiny, human figure riding a bike to appear at the bend in the road. She nudged Gaby. “There she is.”

  Once Anne came to a stop in front of them, Julia flung her arms around her little sister. Suddenly, she couldn’t be angry anymore. All she felt was immense gratitude for Anne being there. “What happened?” she asked gently, stroking Anne’s soft hair.

  “They were fighting again,” Anne replied in a small voice. “I didn’t want to listen to it.”

  “Mom’s sad. You shouldn’t have stayed out this long.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. I just didn’t know what to do.”

  “Well, we’re glad you’re here,” Gaby said kindly, putting a hand on the little girl’s shoulder.

  They all got back on their bikes. “So where were you?” Julia asked curiously.

  Anne remained silent for a moment. “I’m not telling,” she replied resolutely, cycling away ahead of Julia and Gaby. Julia stared at Anne’s back, blinking her eyes in astonishment. That was an odd reaction – Anne could have just told her ‘everywhere and nowhere’ if she wanted to be vague, but she hadn’t. Maybe she had a special place in the forest she didn’t want anyone to know about, just like her.

  Julia sighed. Her own ‘special place’ had lost most of its luster – Michael’s accident had happened near the oak, and moreover, her hugging tree looked moribund as of late. It was probably sick, or maybe it had truly been hit by lightning in the storm, like in the Druid myth. Her thoughts turned to Silke’s stories and the information Gaby had found online. It was time to do some research once they got home.

  Her mother pulled Anne inside with a mixture of relief, indignation and coddling. Gaby and Julia grabbed some potato chips and soda from the pantry and disappeared upstairs to put the spare mattress in Julia’s room and start up the l
aptop.

  “Google Detectives at the ready,” Gaby declared, double-clicking the Firefox icon. It didn’t take her long to get back to the site they’d checked out earlier. They continued reading, captivated by the many stories the website featured. There was info about the oldest oak trees in the world, the meaning of the oak in different cultures, as well as a long paragraph about the Druids and their meditation techniques. Julia’s eyes widened when she got to some familiar info. “Hey, look. This is what Silke told us.” She pointed at the screen and read out loud: “The oak connects the cosmic fire of lightning with the powers of the earth. In addition, the power of this tree opens a doorway tapping into the supernatural powers of summer on Midsummer’s Day.”

  “Midsummer,” Gaby mumbled, scrolling down. “Which is – let me look for it. Oh, here it says.”

  Julia gaped at the screen. She couldn’t utter a single word. Incredulously, she stared at the table of Celtic holidays on the screen. Midsummer was on the twenty-first of June.

  The day of Michael’s accident.

  8.

  “It’s almost as if he brought something back with him when he regained consciousness.” Julia was sitting on the bed, munching on some chips.

  “Something?” Gaby prompted.

  Julia stalled. She’d sound like a lunatic, but she just had to get this off her chest. “Yes. Something otherworldly. A strange kind of energy. It feels like there’s some sort of supernatural force changing him from the inside. Maybe that’s why he survived the accident.”

  Gaby looked at her pensively. “So that whole Celtic saga about the oak and the force of lightning could actually be true?”

  “I have no idea.” Julia stared at the screen of her laptop, which was now switched off. “I know Druids were held in high esteem in earlier times, so they can’t have been completely crazy. But it sure sounds crazy, I’ll give you that.”