Forsaken

“You decided to go for a swim,” I told her, and Carmen smothered her in a hug.

“Don’t you ever do that to me again!” Tears of relief rolled down her cheeks.

Phoebe just smiled up at her, “And you said you weren’t going to do mouth to mouth when you saved my life.”

Chapter 20

The next day I awakened to driving rain and screeching wind. What sleep I had gotten was restless. There were too many thoughts floating around in my head. After almost losing Phoebe, none of us wanted her out of sight, so we had all piled into the living room. Phoebe was still asleep on the couch, Carmen was on the floor and Willow had curled up in the arm chair. How she slept like that was beyond me. I tiptoed to the balcony doors and peeked out through the blinds. The only thing visible was the rain blowing completely sideways. I looked down at the beach I couldn’t see and hoped the turtle eggs were still safe. The four foot wide hole we had dug among the dunes put them within the safety of the shield, but I had no idea when they would hatch. I planned to check on them several times a day until then. I couldn’t let them down. If it was the last thing I’d do, I was going to make sure they made it into the ocean unscathed.

The one tiny detail I’d spent all night coming to grips with was that I saw into the future. Not just saw, but actually experienced it. I was there. Between reveries and visions of the future, my true reality was becoming more and more complicated. During a reverie, I seemed cognizant of what was happening; I knew I was sleeping and where my body was. But in a vision, I had no idea that I’d randomly blacked out and subsequently travelled days or weeks in time. I only realized it after I woke up, which was slightly unsettling. What if I blacked out in the shower? Or swimming? And what if I did something stupid during one because I didn’t know I was in a vision? What if I saw myself?

Would I disrupt the space-time continuum, ending all life as we know it? I had no idea how these things worked.

The other small technicality weighing on my mind was if this last blackout was a vision of the future, then the first one would have been too. That explained how I saw Nicolet’s death a week before it actually happened. It also explained why Finn asked me if I had a reverie Friday. He had seen me earlier that day. It was just the ‘me’ from a week ago. So what I saw during my blackout at the party in Atlanta had been real. It just hadn’t happened yet. Which meant Nicolet didn’t kill herself. Which meant she really was murdered. And the only people that were there were Nicolet, the man who killed her, me, and Finn.

A buzzing sound from my bedroom made me jump. A new text. From Finn. My heart jumped into my throat.

Meet me on the beach In a hurricane? I texted back. He was out of his mind.

Trust me.

You’re crazy.

About you.

“Stasia?”

“Morning Sunshine!” I walked back into the living room. Phoebe propped herself up on the couch and stretched. She immediately clutched her throat in agony.

“Ow. I feel like somebody strangled me. It hurts to swallow.” She leaned back and closed her eyes. My phone beeped from my bedroom.

“You need to rest, Phoebs, you went through a lot last night.” I pulled the blanket back over her and smoothed her hair back. We had both painstakingly taken showers when we got back to Maren, but it was a little easier for Phoebe since she could command the sand to jump off of her body at will.

Pretty cool if you ask me, considering I would never need an exfoliation ever again. I lost about ten layers of skin in the process of scrubbing it off. “Okay…but will you tell Carmen…” she was asleep again before she could finish. Willow shifted in her chair and mumbled something about bacon cupcakes. I chuckled and darted back into my bedroom.

He couldn’t be serious.

See you in 5 min That was three minutes ago. So, he just assumed I was going to go along with his brilliant idea? He was probably out there, standing in the rain, soaking wet, waiting for me. I mean, I couldn’t just leave him out there to catch pneumonia, right? Or, what if he got hit by a piece of flying debris?

It could happen. Damn. He was definitely going to pay for this one.

I searched my wardrobe for anything remotely waterproof or at least water-resistant. I finally found a pair of black wind pants, a red ski jacket (maybe if I got washed away, the Coast Guard would be able to spot me), and pulled my hair up into my Georgia Bulldogs hat. It might be more fitting to wear Phoebe’s wet suit and goggles, but this would have to do for now. I couldn’t believe I was doing this. There weren’t many people I’d venture out in a hurricane for. Against my better judgment, Finn was apparently becoming one of them. I tried to sneak through the living room, but my wind pants were anything but quiet. Just as I turned the doorknob, Willow turned in her chair again and I froze mid-step. Holding my breath, I clicked the door shut, turned around, and walked right into Olivia and Cassie.

“Going for an early morning jog on the beach?” Olivia smirked, and they both laughed hysterically. Why couldn’t they just say hey and keep walking? “You might want an umbrella though; I heard it’s supposed to rain.”

“Oh my God, Olivia. Is that a zit on your chin? It must really hurt, it’s huge!” I leaned in and stared at her face with mock horror.

“What?” Olivia looked accusingly at Cassie “Why didn’t you tell me I had Mt. Everest on my face before we went downstairs!” She pushed past her into their suite.

“Olivia, wait!” Cassie called after her. I hopped onto the elevator before the doors closed and smiled, despite myself.

Down in the lobby, a group of girls were gathered around one of the large big screens watching a movie since the satellites were out. I felt their stares and heard the whispers in my direction as I walked by as nonchalantly as possible. Oh yea, Finn was definitely going to pay for this.

I hesitated at the double doors. How was I supposed to find him in a hurricane? What if I got blown away? And worse, what if everyone saw me get blown away? It would be all over YouTube within minutes. I looked back at the lobby to see how many witnesses there were. Only twenty or so.

Excellent. I turned back toward the door and almost had a heart attack. Finn stood on the other side snickering at me. I was glad he thought this was funny. Using all of my strength, I wrenched open the door. With the wind counteracting my movements, I had to slide out quickly before getting crushed.

“What part of ‘go out into a hurricane’ did you think was a good idea?” I glared up at Finn, but he had vanished. Something touched my hand and he reappeared right in front of me.

“How’d you do that?” I yelled, realizing a second too late it wasn’t necessary. It was like we were back inside, except…we weren’t. The rain had stopped and the deafening sound of the wind had disappeared as well. I was also sparkling.

“I’ve cloaked us.” Finn grinned, proud of himself. “It’s one of my abilities.”

“You what?” He was sparkling as well. Instead of answering, his grin widened and he released my hand. He disappeared and I was back out in the hurricane. Rain battered my face and the sound of the wind screamed in my ears. Thankfully, he grabbed my hand again.

“Don’t do that!” I scolded him, as he tried not to laugh. “You think you’re real funny, don’t you? Just because you borrowed an invisibility cloak from Harry Potter, doesn’t mean you can just

–“He let go of my hand again. I reached out through the blinding rain, hoping to grab him but my hands couldn’t find anything solid. Knowing he was watching me, I put my hands on my hips and yelled over the wind. “If you don’t cloak me right now, I’m going back inside and never speaking to you ever again!” I felt his hand in mine again and he reappeared, along with the protection of his cloak. Unfortunately, I was already dripping wet.

“I just wanted to see if you’d melt,” he explained with feigned innocence.