King 03 - Restless (24 page)

Hey, Tasmyn. I’m just calling to remind you that no matter what, I’m with you, even when you think you don’t want me. The world is going to end before my love for you does. I love you. Call me.

“Oh, God!” The frustration and the anger were gone, swallowed up by remorse and disbelief. How had I done this? What kind of monster was I?

I ran to Amber, my heart in my throat.
What if I had really hurt her? What if she was
—but no, I refused to think about that. As if through a tunnel I heard shouts of alarm; apparently other students had witnessed this little display.

Amber laid horribly still, her eyes closed. One leg was folded beneath her body, and both arms were flung out, as though she had attempted to fly. Her face was so very, very white, and I remembered the night Michael and I had rescued her from Nell. Had I saved her life that night only to take it today?

I grabbed her hand, my own fingers shaking as I searched for a pulse.
Please, Amber, please, I’m so sorry, please be okay
…

“Amber! Come on, wake up. Come on. You’re going to be fine.” I spoke through chattering teeth, and then I felt a reassuring pulse in her wrist, and I saw her chest rise and fall.

“What happened? Did someone call 911?” A girl stooped next to me, gaping at Amber’s still motionless form.

Before I could formulate an answer, a boy whom I vaguely recognized from my English class joined us. “I don’t know what happened. I’ve never seen anything like that. It was freaky—one minute she was standing over there, then it looked like someone threw her into this tree.” He too was pale, I saw, his eyes wide in disbelief. “You know, like there was an explosion and she just got totally blasted over here.” He fastened on me. “You were talking to her. What was it?”

I shook my head. “I don’t—”

“What’s going on here?” I looked up as a shadow fell over me, and felt the first hint of relief. It was Mr. Frame, my history teacher from last year. He would be able to take care of this, to help Amber.

The boy held up his cell phone. “I already called 911. We don’t know how it went down, though.” He repeated his story, and Mr. Frame frowned at all of us.

We heard a siren, and within minutes, paramedics swarmed into the courtyard. I stepped back and with shaking hands groped for my phone. I hit the button for Rafe’s speed dial, and when he answered, I began to cry.

“Amber—she’s hurt—Rafe—we’re at school, can you please come? I need you. I-I did something so bad—”

He didn’t even hesitate. “I’ll be right there. Wait for me. Don’t go anywhere.” 

As I hung up, I heard a low moan, and one of the paramedics said, “She’s coming around. Take it easy, honey. Keep still.”

I strained to see over the backs of the medics as they carefully moved her onto a stretcher. I felt a hand on my shoulder.

“I think she’s going to be all right, Ms. Vaughn.” Mr. Frame looked at me appraisingly. “Did you… see what happened to her? I imagine there will be questions.”

I flushed miserably and shook my head, unable to meet his eyes. “I-no. We were talking, and then she just—was here.”

He frowned at me, and I realized anew how lame that sounded. I just didn’t have anything else to say. When my silence made that clear, Mr. Frame nodded. “All right. You know, you look pretty shaken up yourself. Why don’t you have a seat and try to settle down?”

I looked after the group of men, wheeling my best friend toward the ambulance that I was sure was waiting in the parking lot. “Should I go with her? And someone should call her parents.”

“I’ll take care of notifying her parents, and no, they won’t let you ride with her. Better off to stay right here.” He guided me to the bench on the other side of the tree. “Sit tight.” I watched him stride away, toward the office.

I don’t know how long I sat there, numb, but it felt like only seconds before Rafe was kneeling in front of me. 

“Tasmyn! What happened? God, you look like a ghost. Where’s Amber?” 

Wordlessly I gestured toward the parking lot and then dropped my hand and shook my head. 

“Tas!” Rafe took hold of my shoulders and shook me gently. “What happened? You’ve got to tell me. I can’t help if I don’t know.” He touched my face, held my chin and looked into my eyes. 

Huge and ugly sobs racked my body, and tears gushed down my cheeks. “Rafe… oh, I did something terrible. I don’t know—I didn’t know it would happen—but—” And then it all poured out. I don’t know how Rafe understood what I was saying through my gulps and tears, but I saw his face change from concern to a grim comprehension.

“What’ll I do? I—I’m so frightened, Rafe. I never meant to hurt her. It just—she kept talking and talking, and it came out, I swear I didn’t mean it.”

Rafe sank onto the bench next to me and pulled my face into his shoulder. “Of course you didn’t mean it. You love Amber. She knows that. This isn’t your fault. It’s that witch—she unleashed the power, but she never taught you how to control it, to use it the right way.” Rafe’s voice was tight, and for just a moment, his mind opened to me and I saw that he was picturing strangling Marica.

“Rafe—no, no more violence. Please. I’ve got to get to the hospital, see if Amber’s all right. Will you take me?”

“Yes, of course.” He stood and pulled me to my feet next to him. And then I saw his face darken, and I looked over my shoulder, following his gaze. 

Mr. Frame was walking into the courtyard toward us, accompanied by two men. One was dressed in regular clothes, but the other wore the familiar uniform of the King Police Department.

Tasmyn, sometimes I think if I just keep saying it enough, you’ll believe me again. I’ll wait for you. When you realize we belong together, I’ll still be here. I love you. Call me.

“Tasmyn, don’t say anything. Listen to what I’m thinking, and do what I tell you.” Rafe moved to put himself between the approaching men and me.

Mr. Frame reached us first, and I clearly heard his thoughts as he took in Rafe’s protective stance.
What’s going on here? 

“Tasmyn, this is Officer Burton and Detective Lawrence. They want to talk to you about what happened to Amber.”

Detective Lawrence met my eyes. “We’ve met. How are you, Tasmyn?” There was a wealth of meaning behind his words, and I remembered the last time I’d spoken with him, days after Nell had tried to kill me last year. He had left me that day with a cryptic warning about King, and now I could hear him thinking that I must not have paid very close attention.

I swallowed hard and tried to concentrate on Rafe’s thoughts.
Answer him. Tell him how you really are
.

“I just watched my best friend get carried out of here on a stretcher. I really want to get to the hospital and see if—see how she is. That’s where we were headed.”

Officer Burton’s eyebrows rose skeptically, and I looked away from him. Detective Lawrence was still watching me closely as he spoke.

“I’m sure. We need to find out what happened to Amber, how it happened, and since apparently you were the last one to speak with her, we’d like to get a statement from you before you go over to the hospital.”

I flicked my eyes to Rafe and heard him think,
Just relax. Go with it. Tell them you were talking to her, then you went to leave and the next thing you knew, she was under that tree.

I nodded to Detective Lawrence, and Officer Burton pulled out a clipboard.  

“So… were you with Amber? Where were you two going?”

I focused on sharing on the barest facts. “I—we were going home. That is, I was going to my house, and Amber was going to hers. She asked me if we could do something together, and I told her I had a lot of homework.” Tears filled my eyes again as I remembered my harsh words. “And then I told her good-bye. I turned to go. A few seconds later, I heard someone yell, and I saw Amber under the tree.” I didn’t have to fake the shudder that accompanied that memory. 

“I ran over to help her, to see if she was okay. And there was a girl with me and a boy, too… he said he’d called 911.” 

Officer Burton nodded. “We’ve got their statements already. The boy—he said he thought it looked like you were both upset when you were talking with the victim.”

I cringed.
The victim.
That was my best friend. And if she were the victim, what did that make me?

Focus, Tas.
I heard Rafe thinking.
Tell them… you were upset. We had a fight. That’s not a lie, and everyone will believe it. Tell them you were angry with me.

I nodded, just slightly. “I was. I—Rafe and I had an argument. I was still thinking about that. I wanted some time to myself, to just think things over. Amber was trying to help.”

“Did this fight with your boyfriend have anything to do with Amber?” Officer Burton tried to keep his tone even, but I could feel the growing suspicion. And I heard him think,
Love triangle. These kids get so worked up. A girl spat that got out of hand…

“Absolutely not. Amber is our friend, but it’s nothing like that.” I glanced sideways at Rafe. “Rafe and I just had a kind of difference of opinion over something. Ask anyone, it’s not that uncommon for us.” 

Detective Lawrence spoke this time. “So you’re saying you have absolutely no idea what happened between the time you finished your conversation with Amber and her hitting the tree? We have two witnesses who claim that she flew through the air, as though she’d been thrown.”

I shook my head, keeping my eyes down.

“Look at her,” Rafe interjected. “Tasmyn said they were talking on the walkway over there.” He pointed across the courtyard. “She and Amber are about the same size. You can’t honestly believe that Tas could physically toss Amber against that tree from there, can you?”

Detective Lawrence shrugged and then shook his head. “No. It doesn’t seem possible.” He regarded us both for a few beats and then turned back to Officer Burton and Mr. Frame. “Frank, would you and Mr. Frame go tell the other witnesses they can leave now? I’ll take a look over here at the tree, and I’ll meet you back at the car.” 

After the two men had moved out of earshot, Detective Lawrence turned back to me. “So, Tasmyn. You’ve been here in King how long? Not even two years yet?” When I nodded, he sighed heavily. “And I’ve met you twice in the line of duty. That doesn’t make me happy.”

“This wasn’t Tasmyn’s fault. You can’t hold her responsible for anything that happened here.” Rafe’s voice was full of certainty. 

“You’re not wrong, Rafe.” Sam Lawrence didn’t sound happy about that fact, either. “There’s nothing under the law that points to Tasmyn being culpable here. But let’s drop all of the pretense. Something went down, and you both know what it was.” 

Rafe and I were silent.

Detective Lawrence shook his head again. “If you two-either of you—are over your head in something here, you could tell me about it. I could help you.”

When we still didn’t answer, Sam shrugged and dug into his pocket. “Okay. Here.” He handed me a small business card. “I gave you my card back after all that Nell business, but in case you’ve misplaced it, hold onto this one. If you think of anything you feel I should know, call me.” He leveled one last sharp glare at Rafe. “You know what I’m talking about, with your family. Whatever’s going on, I can take care of it, as long we don’t let anything get out of hand.” He waved us away. “Go on now, get to the hospital.”