The Gathering Darkness (17 page)

I looked around for the first time since getting on the bus. The babble came at me in a rush. I had it perfectly tuned out before. Marcus had a way of making me forget about everything else around me when he was near. Sammy was sitting close to the middle of the bus with Robyn. A couple of younger kids sat in the seat in front of us. I twisted my body, sitting with my back to the window and faced Marcus. I spoke low and told him who the robed figures were in my nightmare.

His expression darkened. “You say there were five of them?”

I nodded.

“There’s an old story I heard once about a coven of witches who came from Salem and settled in Deadwich years ago, but I don’t remember any details, only that there were seven in the coven.” He shrugged a shoulder. “I never believed in all that witches and magic stuff, so I never really paid much attention to the story.”

“And now? Do you believe now?” I asked almost desperate for him to be on the same page as me.

He lifted his eyes from my clenched hands to my face. I must have looked shocked, because he said, “It’s not real, Brooke. It’s just a myth.”

I finally blinked. “How do you know it isn’t true?”

“Logic tells me it isn’t.”

“What are you, a scientist now?” I felt half-annoyed. “What about this?” I pulled my sleeve up exposing a long, swollen scratch on my forearm that extended down the back of my hand. I wasn’t mad at Marcus, so I quickly changed my tone, but kept the frown. “This isn’t logical either.”

He frowned and said, “I think we should talk to my uncle.”

“Why? Who’s your uncle?”

“Uncle Edmund. He lives on a small island up the shore.”

“What does he have to do with this?”

“He’s the one who told me the story of the Ravenwyck Witches.”

“The Ra—” I choked on the word at the same time as the Inn’s rooftops, came into view. My eyes followed the line of the Inn’s roof until it disappeared behind a thicket of tees. I shuddered and looked back at Marcus. “Seriously?” I whispered so low I watched him read my lips. “They were called the
Ravenwyck Witches
? And I have to work there tonight?”

“I’ll be there too. What time are you going? I’ll meet you there.”

“Five-thirty.” I thought about the walk to work with Sammy, how awkward it would be.

“I’ll meet you at the gate at five-thirty.”

“I really don’t think I should go there anymore.” The thought scared the crap out of me.

“Remember the trunk?” he asked.

I nodded.

“Let’s find out what’s inside. Remember the double spiral carved into the wood?”

“Oh, my God, I totally forgot. But there’s no way I’m going into the attic of that place now.”

There was a light pressure on my thigh. I looked down to see Marcus’ hand resting there. Where he touched, warmth penetrated the velour and soothed the scratches beneath.

“It’s okay,” he said reassuringly. “I’ll be with you.”

It was the same thing he’d said the first time he’d asked me if I’d wanted to explore the attic. If Maggie was a witch, and I was beginning to believe the absurdity that she was, how could Marcus possibly protect me against her? The bus pulled into the middle school parking lot. Marcus removed his hand from my leg, but the warmth lingered.

Sammy and Robyn had exited first and hadn’t waited for me, so Marcus walked me home. We stopped at the stone wall on the corner of my street. He brought his hands out of his jacket pocket. The note rustled. I blushed. Marcus looked down at the ground.

“I’m sorry things didn’t work out at lunch,” he said.

“No, it’s okay. You couldn’t leave the team.”

“I could have come over to say hi.”

“There’s enough gossip about us at school now.” I let on as if it didn’t matter. He looked at the pendant that I wore outside of my T-shirt all day.

“Maybe you should hide that from Maggie.”

My eyebrows rose. “So you
do
think something’s up with her?”

“I really don’t know, but whether it’s with her or not, something
is
up, and it isn’t good.”

He glanced at the scratches on my face. I swallowed back the fear I felt from his sudden change of tone.

As we stood there, both deep in our own thoughts, a dark cloud passed overhead, almost devouring the daylight. We both looked up. A large, grey mass was moving in from the sea about to swallow Deadwich. The mass moved swiftly across the sky, blanketing everything it touched with its dismal shadow.

“That can’t be normal,” I said, suddenly feeling chilled, even though it was warm outside.

“It’s just a cloud. We haven’t had any rain for days. Things are starting to dry up,” he joked, but I saw the anxiety behind the smile. “You’d better get going before it rains.”

Suddenly anxious to get inside, I nodded and said, “See you at five-thirty.”

“I’ll be there.”

Thankfully, today’s supper conversation was mostly about the new cocker spaniel pups that were born by cesarean in the clinic the previous night. How everything had turned out successfully. Sammy was interested in the news, so that left us off the hook for talking to each other.

After supper I brushed my teeth then went to my room to find something comfortable to wear. After careful consideration, I decided it was either jeans or sweats, so I decided to wear what I already had on. However, I compensated by fixing my hair.

After taking the ponytail out, my hair was still molded to the shape, so I had no choice but to straighten it. I gave it a crooked parting and pulled my bangs to one side, hiding the cut over my eye, and then added some earrings. I was finishing up with a touch of make-up, when Sammy walked by my room. She leaned against the doorframe with her arms folded, one corner of her mouth turned up into a snarl.

“Humph, so it’s only been a week and a half and you managed to snare both Knight Brothers—the two most popular guys in school.”

I let her ramble on. I didn’t know where all her anger was coming from all of a sudden.

“And you know Evan would have you back in a second if you wanted him. Even Justin looks at you differently.” Now she sounded jealous.

I slammed the mascara down and turned to face her. “Look, Sammy, I don’t know what your problem is all of a sudden, but you knew from the start that I was never interested in Evan, and I let him know before it went any further. As for Marcus … .” I hesitated, not knowing what to say on the subject. I decided to be honest. I took a few steps towards her. “Yes, I like him, okay? And Justin’s just a nice guy. You should be lucky that he likes you. Stop wasting your time on being jealous.” I grabbed the door and slammed it in her face, making her jump backwards.

Just as the door slammed, a loud thunder clap startled me.
Oh great
. I could just imagine how cozy the Inn would be during a thunderstorm. I went back to the mirror, deciding that from the neck up I looked great. I put some lip gloss on and was ready to go.

The heavy clouds looked as if they would burst open at any moment. It might as well have been night time, it was so dark out. I went downstairs and put my sneakers on.

Uncle Jim called out from the living room, “Daniel Knight’s truck is in the driveway. Looks like one of the boys driving.”

Something fluttered in my chest. I couldn’t imagine why Evan would be here, so I figured it must be Marcus. I peeked behind the shear that hung on the side window of the door and saw Marcus alone inside the cab of a black truck.

I thought fast. “It looks like rain; I think he came to pick us up for work. Coming, Sammy?” I said sharply.

“Actually, Mom,” Her tone changed to a fake whine, “I have a really bad headache, and Brooke has a drive, so I think I’ll stay home tonight.” She was in the front hallway with me. Aunt Rachel and Uncle Jim were in the living room watching the news.

“Okay honey, make sure you call Maggie and explain.”

“Okay, Mom,” she sang out.

My heart pounded at the thought of being alone in the Inn. She knew exactly how it would make me feel. Her eyes pierced through mine, and a slow smile of triumph lifted her cheek. Frustrated, I grabbed my windbreaker off the hook and threw the front door open. I didn’t say good-bye.

The silver lining was that Marcus was waiting for me.

“It looks like it might rain any minute. I thought you might want a drive,” he said as I closed the truck door behind me.

“Thanks.”

I sat staring straight ahead. The anxiety at the thought of being alone in the Inn was overwhelming.

“What’s wrong?”

“Sammy’s not coming. Something’s not right with her.”

In answer, the sky crackled over-head, shooting streaks of crooked light across the sky. I suddenly felt sick. Marcus backed out of the driveway as the rain burst from the clouds, slashing sideways across the windshield.

“Where’d that come from?” Marcus said, turning the wipers on the highest speed. It was unnaturally dark outside for only five-thirty.

“You said we needed rain,” I reminded him dryly and slouched back into the seat.

“Okay, so I asked for it.” He laughed.

The wind whipped up out of nowhere, shaking the tree tops, letting loose an abundance of leaves. In little more than an instant, Deadwich was drenched.

The stage was set. The curtain was about to go up, and I had the feeling that I was the solo act in this horror drama.

But amidst everything that was wrong, Sammy, the weather, my life for that matter, I was sitting in a truck next to Marcus. No matter what was in the darkness waiting for me, I had Marcus now—my light.

Marcus parked facing the Inn. I pulled my windbreaker over my head and put the hood up, ready to jump out and make a run for it. Marcus sat still for a minute and then turned sideways to face me.

“Are you going to be alright in there without Sammy?”

“What, in Dracula’s Castle during a thunder and lightning storm, by myself? Why would I possibly not be?”

One corner of his mouth turned up at my bitter humor. “Okay, if you don’t want to check out the trunk tonight, we’ll do it another night,” he teased.

“Thank you!” I couldn’t help the slight sarcasm.

“I won’t be far away. Sammy always works on the second floor, and that’s where Evan and I will be.”

“Yeah, good to know. If you hear a blood-curdling scream, I’m sure it will be coming from me. Please
do
come and find me.”

His shoulders shook in a silent chuckle. “Hey, you’re shivering. I’ll turn up the heat.”

“The pendant’s cold,” I said. “It turned cold when we pulled into the parking lot.”

Marcus looked at me uncomprehending.

“Here, feel it.”

I reached for the chain, but Marcus was faster. He picked both sides of the chain up with his fingers and pulled it out of the front of my top until the double spiral lay in his palm. He closed his hand over it and looked at me.

“It
is
cold. Do you think maybe you should take it off?”

“No. It’s the weirdest thing, but I don’t feel right without it.”

He gave me a half-hearted smile and let go of the pendant. I put the cold chunk of metal back inside my top.

The truck was still running, and the fan pumped out heat through the vents in the dash. The radio played a popular slow song, and I mouthed the words. Marcus got serious and said something that melted my insides.

“There’s so much about you I don’t know.”

Was he kidding? There was everything about me he didn’t know. His serious statement disarmed me. I didn’t know how to counter. To me that line implied that he wanted to know more. I got shy and lowered my eyes to the blue-lit dash display.

“Brooke?”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I lowered my hood and turned sideways on the bench seat to face Marcus. My fingers twisted nervously together in my lap.

“Yeah?”

“I was just wondering; have you decided yet if you’re going to the dance?”

I shrugged. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Can I pick you up?”

I hesitated. He seemed to take it as an uncertainty.

“Unless, of course, you have other plans.”

“No.” I shook my head and lifted my eyes to gaze upon the face of this mysterious boy. “I don’t have any other plans.”

He reached his arm out across the backrest of the seat, leaning toward me a bit more. “Good, it’ll be just you and me then.”

While the rain continued to batter the truck, my insides continued to melt. “Uh huh, just us.”

My mind wandered immediately to my outfit. I would have to unpack the rest of my things tonight in case I had to wash or iron something. Oh, but then I couldn’t wear a dress, or a skirt because of my damaged body. I wouldn’t want to traumatize anyone—unless I wore leggings and long sleeves.

A heavy metal song came on the radio, someone screeching death and destruction. I couldn’t concentrate on the moment anymore. As if the heavy music jarred Marcus’ concentration too, he switched channels from a button on the steering wheel, settling on something lighter. Overhead, the thunder sounded muffled, as though it were drifting away from us. I pulled some hair away from my face, tucking it behind an ear, forgetting about the scratch over my eye, until Marcus’ eyes drifted to it.