Midnight Runes (The Bestowed Ones) (9 page)

He turned toward the parking lot and faded into the darkness.

In what seemed like a few seconds, he reappeared wearing a dark green jacket.

“That was fast,” I said. I was already warm. “Did you run or something? You’re not even out of breath.”

He gave me a smug half-smile and replied, “I ran or something.”

“You should try out for track. So, you’ve never really been to a cider mill?” I had overheard him mention that to Adrienne earlier.

He regarded me with interest and answered, “No. Places in New Mexico grow apples, but we didn’t have a cider mill like this. Same with where we lived in Texas.”

“Is it difficult to move around as much as you have?”

“It’s something you get used to. Has your family ever moved?”

“I’ve lived in Michigan all my life. My dad’s side has lived generations in Michigan, too, although we don’t talk about them much. I love to travel, though. My favorite place to go in the summer is—”

Elyse clapped her hands to capture everyone’s attention and yelled, “Hey, you guys! The hay ride is loading up!”

I gave him a tight smile. “I have to go claim a middle spot so no one can sneak up and grab me.”

He looked amused. “A little old to be afraid of the dark, don’t you think?”

“Just of what it can hide.”

“Understandable,” he muttered.

I couldn’t tell if he was mocking me or not. “It’s different if you can see what’s coming at you. At least that way, you’re prepared. It’s another thing when you’re blindsided.”

“So where is your favorite place to go in the summer?” he asked.

“The beach in Tawas.”

“A Michigan beach? Really?”

“Michigan has a lot of nice beaches.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

“They’re beautiful. I even found this there.” I uncovered my wrist to show him the bracelet.

He stared at it a beat before saying, “It looks really special.”

“Are you going on the hay ride or not?”

“Right. Let’s go.”

Luckily for me, Elyse had already saved me a space next to her. There was enough space for Landon, too.

The hayride through the black orchard was one of the scariest I’d ever been on. Zombies stalked around the trailer and reached for us. A chainsaw started up in the distance, and blood-curdling screams filled the air. People ran through the darkness holding flashlights, randomly illuminating sections of trees. The crunching leaves betrayed their locations before they shined blinding lights on us. The driver pretended the tractor engine stalled while monsters hidden in the dark advanced on us. A few of them tried to pull themselves onto the trailer, while others tried to pull some of us off. Landon found too much amusement in my distress, and I scowled at him. I knew this was all staged, but it was hard not to get caught up in the moment.

At some point, the loose hay started flying around, and soon we had strands in our hair and covering our clothes.

“A few of us were thinking of going to the local diner for something to eat. Who’s in?” Lauren asked after it was over.

Elyse, Zach, and I looked at each other. “We are,” we said in unison, not wanting the fun to end.

“Us too!”

“And us!”

Our crowd began to dissipate. Landon finished up a conversation and walked past our group. We made eye contact as he slowed. “Are you going to the diner?” I asked.

“Can’t. Unfinished business.”

“Oh.” The disappointment in my voice startled me. “Let me give this back to you.” My hand flew up to unzip his fleece, but his hand touched my elbow and stopped me. The nearness of him froze me in place. I didn’t realize how close he was.

“No, stay warm. Return it Monday.”

I got lost in his eyes for a moment. “Thanks again.”

We piled into the car and drove the short distance to the center of town.

“Look who’s jacket Brynn’s wearing,” Zach taunted.

“It was so nice of him to give it to her,” Elyse agreed.

I didn’t say anything, but I agreed with Elyse.

“That was the best apple orchard trip we’ve had,” Zach said.

“Definitely. I can’t believe it’s our last one as high school students,” Elyse said.

I sighed. “It’s so sad. Can we plan to meet up every year and do this? It’s a tradition.”

“As long as one of us doesn’t pick a university across the country.”

“And even then, we can still share pictures. It’ll be the closest thing to being there.”

We pledged to stay in touch regardless of the distance between us, but part of me wondered if we would honor the promises after graduation. Once we left the confines of school and didn’t see each other daily, would the promises matter? When we settled into a new routine, would we value our old agreements?

I thought of Trevor and his lack of wanting to talk to me, how that had transformed into only talking when he wanted to. He only shared what he wanted to; it was all on his terms. I reflected on how much he’d changed this year, and how little remained of the old Trevor. How could he have become a shadow of someone I once knew so well? I refused to accept the new Trevor was permanent. I couldn’t accept it. It would be like saying it was okay. Maybe I was in denial of the truth in front of me.

One of my dad’s favorite quotes was “Facts speak truths,” and he would then follow up it with a life lesson he had learned the hard way. I usually half-heartedly listened because none of it applied to me. Or so I thought. Apparently some of it stuck. “We resist change if we hold onto things that no longer fit us, Brynn. Sometimes it’s due to not wanting to recognize it’s time to let go and move on, and sometimes it’s due to—”

The energetic chill I felt interrupted his phantom voice. I didn’t let it start again.

I
had my backpack slung over both shoulders and Landon’s jacket draped over my arm as I waited by his locker Monday morning.

Emilee slowed as she passed me, clearly irritated and debating with herself not to cause a scene.

Landon arrived a moment later, and I held it out for him. “Thanks again. You didn’t have to go out of your way like that.”

“What kind of guy would I be if I could help you, but chose not to?”

I nodded. “So, what did you think of the orchard?”

“It was fun. I see why so many people go each year.”

“It’s the ultimate fall activity. I go with my family each year too.”

He put the jacket in his locker, switched his books, and we headed off to class together.

“You mean go with your parents or your extended family?” he asked.

“With my parents and aunts and uncles and cousins on my mom’s side. We either meet for breakfast or go to lunch afterward. My family started the tradition, and I carried it over to my friends. What did you do with the rest of your weekend?”

“Spent it doing assignments. I helped my parents around the house too, patching and painting, that type of stuff.”

“It’s so much work,” I said. “Projects always take so much longer than we estimate. Stuff always goes wrong.”

“Yeah, it does. But we’re used to it now. We have a good routine.”

The day passed fast for a Monday, actually, which I welcomed because there weren’t too many things planned. Next week would be busier. Our first float-building party was next Tuesday after school, then another on Thursday evening. With any luck, we’d finish early and wouldn’t have to rush around Homecoming Week. There were fun activities scheduled during Spirit Week that I didn’t want to miss—specifically hall decorating and the powder puff game.

• • •

I felt the same presence as I had felt in the park on and off all weekend. It even came during the weeknights.

I decided to tell Elyse that I’d been feeling…something different lately. I had to tell someone, and she was the best person to confide in.

But it didn’t mean I wasn’t nervous about it.

My parents were both out of town on business, and while I was old enough to spend the night by myself, I still preferred Elyse to stay over. My parents did too.

We cleaned up the dishes from dinner, completed our homework, and settled in for some girl talk while our favorite movie,
Pitch Perfect
, played. We could barely hear it over the thunder rolling across the night sky and rain hitting the roof. The sporadic lightning lit the darkness. It was like a horror movie, except instead of cowering from a lunatic, I burrowed under my favorite blanket and waited for her reaction.

She studied me for a moment. “What are you saying? That you see ghosts?”

“I don’t actually see anyone. The best way I can describe it is it feels like there’s someone around…or watching me…every so often. It’s not a constant thing. Sometimes it’s only for a minute, sometimes I feel that I have an invisible shadow.”

“You’re my best friend in the world,” Elyse said. “It’s not that I don’t believe you. I just think you have so much going on right now that you’re a little stressed. Stress does weird things to people. You just may be hyper aware of your surroundings.”

I was quiet while I thought that over. She had a way of looking at things from a few angles. “I don’t feel any more stressed than normal. What if that’s not it? What if I have this for the rest of my life and never know what it is?”

“You need to talk to a psychic or something. Let’s get some books on the famous ones. Don’t they always write about how it was for them growing up? You know, you could read their stories and see if what’s happening to you is similar to what they went through. And you could try to make contact or something.”

“You mean ask what it wants?”

“What are your other options?”

“Hope it goes away? Too bad I don’t have that feeling now, or I’d make you do it with me.” We both shivered at the thought of people being around us who we couldn’t see.

“Look on the bright side, if you really have this talent or gift or whatever, eventually I’ll be able to do a special on you. It will be all sentimental about how we’ve known each other forever and you confided in me and I supported you and all that wonderful stuff.”

“Glad to see you have the right perspective. Although I don’t know for sure that I’ll give you an exclusive.”

“Are you kidding me?! You had better give me an exclusive!”

“It has to be a pretty good offer.”

“Something you couldn’t turn down.”

“Exactly,” I said.

“Speaking of some
one
you can’t turn down, you and Landon are getting down-right chatty.”

I didn’t feel like talking about it, but there was no way to avoid it. Refusing to talk about him would only reinforce her opinion that I was into him. I couldn’t tell her the reason we were together so much, probably because what started off solely as an info-gathering mission had turned into something close to friendship, or at least that’s what it felt like. What happened was that it turned complicated, that’s what happened. I didn’t trust him, yet I liked him. There was a reason he was here, and I knew Trevor and him were into the same…whatever it was. And he had a purpose for being around me. Despite my reservations, I was drawn to him. “He’s…not what I expected.”

She gave me a knowing smile. “He seems like a really great guy.”

“It hasn’t been long enough to really know him, though,” I replied.

“I’m just happy to see you happy. If it’s him that’s causing it, that’s great. Everything happens for a reason.”

“I’m not saying I’m abandoning my rules, you know,” I warned.

“I think you have silly rules.”

“Like you can talk! You’ve never dated anyone in the same grade. Jared is a year older than you, remember?”

“Yes, but not even Jared walked me to my classes as much as Landon’s done with you. For a guy to wait for you, without being expected to…that says something. He’s making a statement, and he’s not afraid of people knowing he’s into you. He hasn’t been around here long enough to know if he’s stepping on another guy’s toes or not. The fact that he doesn’t care shows confidence. Confidence is sexy.”

“Or it’s a sign of a big ego,” I said.

“Yeah, but do you really get that from him? There’s a maturity to him that isn’t in any other guy I know.”

“I don’t know, Elyse. I’m happy just being me and getting to know him. I’m taking it as it comes.”

She sighed. “Don’t forget that we’re going to start construction on the float tomorrow after school.”

“I’m sure Zach will announce it in first hour in an attempt to recruit more people.”

Our topics drifted until we focused on the movie. We paused it momentarily to make extra-buttered popcorn and filled bowls with fun-sized candy bars. We said we’d resist eating all of them, but we both knew they would be gone by the time the movie ended.

M
r. Lewton and Zach stood at the front of the classroom, waiting for the class to settle in after the bell. I knew it hadn’t taken much for Zach to convince Mr. Lewton.

“Let’s see a show of hands for who’s going to come to the first of many float-building parties tonight!” Only Zach and I put our hands up. “Oh, come on, you guys! We need lots of help so we can beat the inferior underclassmen. Our float theme is the eighties, and we already have all of the supplies. Come tonight for just a few hours, and if you don’t have fun, you can leave.” He bent his arm at his elbow to hold up his hand. “Scout’s honor.”

After another round of begging, three more hands went up, including Landon’s.

Landon and I walked together between classes, stopping at our lockers. It had become a predictable part of my day.

“You’re coming tonight?” I asked. I was still reeling from the fact that he volunteered for it. “I didn’t know you were into school spirit stuff,” I said as I spun the combination.

“Elyse is highly insistent I make friends. I thought it would be a good way to connect with my peers. Besides, I’ll get to see if you have any creativity,” he said with a smirk.

I squinted. “I helped come up with the float ideas.”

“Well, a lot of people did, didn’t they?”

“How would you know? You weren’t there. Perhaps the question isn’t whether or not I’m creative, it’s if you’re going to embarrass yourself
trying
to be handy.”