Bluehour (A Watermagic Novel) (26 page)

When we pulled into the woods at the
campground, my parents discussed payment and park rules for the
site at the ranger’s booth and chatted with him through the
motorhome window. I was anxious to start our day, so I rushed over
to the adjacent mini-market for some sunscreen. I knew they could
go on and on with their jibber-jabber.

As I jogged over through the clearing, tiny
stones kept getting in my sandals. How frustrating. I tried to
ignore the irritation, biting my lip hard as I ran. But once the
saturation level became unbearable, I stopped to shake the darn
things out.

That’s when it happened. When I stood back up
from shaking out the stones, I saw a crazy good looking boy. This
sort of thing NEVER happened to me. My body felt like it was on
fire.

He and his two friends were walking out of
the log cabin store. I hardly noticed the other two boys because
the one with dark hair caught my attention and made me feel all out
of whack.

He was gorgeous, but as I looked closer, I
realized he was staring at me with a sinister gleam in his green
eyes. Chills ran up my spine. What was I thinking? I wondered what
I could have done to illicit such a glare.

But before I could turn away, one of the
other boys, the shirtless one with sandy blond hair, called over to
me, “Hey, cutie. Come on over so we can suck face.” His lips
puckered in a kissing sound.

Involuntarily, my eyes widened in surprise. I
looked around for a moment to see if he was talking to someone
else. Nope. It must have been me. I was the only one around. What a
creep.

Before I could respond, the guy with dark
hair grabbed the blond one by the shoulders and threw him to the
ground. “Idiot,” he yelled. And then he kicked him hard in the
ribs.

I gasped and covered my face. Once I opened
my eyes to see what was happening, I saw the dark haired boy brush
his messed up locks out of his face. His expression was
intense.

Their other friend who had brown hair pulled
up the blond guy onto his feet. But while he was helping him up,
the dark haired boy punched him once more in the nose. He choked
for a moment on the blood that was now oozing from his nostrils,
yet he managed to gain his balance.

“Come on,” the dark haired boy said to the
other two.

The brown haired guy helped the blond one
walk. He was limping a little. But they all strode away toward the
campsites. Then, to make the circumstances even stranger, the dark
haired guy looked back over his shoulder and smiled at me.

What the hell! My face must have turned as
red as a tomato. I was so confused. I didn’t know what to make of
the whole situation.

At once, I just turned around and ran back to
our motorhome. Oh, my! My heart was beating a mile a minute.

“Are you okay?” Mom asked when I stepped back
into the motorhome.

“I’m fine,” I breathed, trying to act normal.
My mind was all mixed up.

“Your face is flushed.” Her blue eyes were
laced with concern.

Dad looked back at me as he took the ticket
through the window from the park ranger. “You look like you saw a
ghost.” He laughed.

He turned back to the man. “Thanks for your
help.”

“You all be careful, now,” the ranger
responded through the booth window. “Don’t walk outside alone at
night. Some strange business has been going on here. Some teenagers
were reported missing.” His voice was hesitant, but Mom and Dad
were focused on me now, so they didn’t hear him.

“Okay, bye, Ranger Mike.” Dad pulled the
motorhome forward along a forest of trees toward the campsites that
nestled within the outer edges. The car tow swayed a little side to
side as we rolled along the dirt road. I noticed the greying light
gave the campground an ominous look.

Dad was glancing at me in the rear view
mirror. “Did you get something from the store?” He cleared his
throat.

“No.” I blushed probably even redder. “I’ll
go later.”

“What happened?” Mom asked running her
fingers through her long golden locks before twisting them up into
a French knot.

“Nothing.” I was sitting stiffly on the bench
seat that paralleled the side windows. “I just didn’t want to hold
you guys up. It’s your special week and I’m catering to you.”

Mom and Dad laughed. “You don’t have to do
that, Hailey,” Dad said. His eyes were focused ahead now.

“Well, I’m going to,” I responded adamantly.
“Twenty year anniversaries don’t happen every day and I want yours
to be memorable.” I planned this trip just for them. Mom’s favorite
place was the ocean and Dad found every place annoying so it didn’t
make a difference where we went.

“You’re a keeper, Hailes.” Dad parked the
motorhome in campsite number 12. “Here we are,” he said cheerily as
he pulled on the security brake.

Mom unbuckled her seatbelt and almost glided,
as was her way, over to the vanity mirror to put on fresh lipstick
and powder her face. “So what’s the plan for today?” she called
out.

“It’s almost dinner time. I thought I’d take
you guys to that fish and chips restaurant by the wharf.”

Mom’s blue eyes lit up. She loved seafood,
especially raw. “That sounds fantastic.” She blushed a little.

Dad ran his fingers through his brown shaggy
hair. “I’ll get the car ready.” His voice sounded a little
grumpy.

“Why don’t we find some wood for the fire pit
so we don’t have to get it later?” I suggested to Mom.

She laughed. “Hope I don’t break a nail.”

I rolled my eyes. “If you do, I’ll super glue
it back on.” My voice was sarcastic.

“Oh, please,” she snorted as she examined the
glitter polish on her naturally long nails.

After we walked outside and examined the
campsite, Dad unhitched the car, while Mom and I gathered sticks
and branches in the forest behind the campsite for the fire pit.
Even though it was still light outside, the woods were dim and
eerie. There were some used cigarette butts on the ground and a
man’s wallet.

My eyes widened. “Look at this.” I motioned
Mom over to me.

She sort of sauntered over with her tote bag
filled with sticks. “What is it,
ch
é
rie
?” She
looked distracted. Her eyes were directed upwards looking into the
high reaches of an oak tree.

“No not up there—here.” I pointed at the
ground.

Glancing down, she picked up the wallet
absent mindedly. “A man’s wallet, Hailes. What’s the big deal? You
look frightened.”

I bit the side of my cheek. “It just looks
like someone was hanging around in here and left in a rush.”

She opened the wallet and looked through it.
Her eyes widened. “Fifty four dollars and a golf pass.”

“Is there an I.D.?”

“No.” She shook her head and glanced around.
“Look over there.”

I followed the direction of her pointer
finger to a boulder several feet away. “Oh!”

We both walked over to the large rock.

“A Peter Segal bikini top!” Mom picked a
garment up off the boulder by her nail. Her jaw was clenched and
her nostrils flared.

“There’s blood on it,” I said in a
whisper.

She threw the thing down as if grossed
out.

I examined the boulder more closely and saw
wet blood that had splattered against the other side of the
rock.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Mom mumbled as she
examined it. “Some girl probably just had her period.”

I scoffed and then shook my head. “And
splattered it against a rock?”

“Did you hear that?” I asked suddenly.

Her eyes widened. “What?”

My body tensed. “Whispers.” I looked around
through the trees.

“No. I didn’t hear anything.” Her thoughts
seemed distant. And then in the dim light of the forest she started
to sing softly. It was a gentle lullaby and under the circumstances
totally out of place. Though I could never figure her out entirely,
I think she sang like that to calm herself or maybe to calm me.

Even though I was used to her unusual
behaviors, I found myself lost in her melody. The sounds were so
soft and entrancing. For a moment, I felt like I was floating in
the clouds.

When she stopped singing, I felt suddenly
irritated. “Let’s go,” I snapped as I pulled Mom by the arm.

She looked agitated now too as I led her
through the trees back to the camp.

Dad turned to us with a wrench in his hand.
“The car is ready to go,” he said in a proud voice. A wind coming
off the ocean was blowing through his shaggy brown hair.

“We found a wallet in the woods and Hailey is
going bonkers,” Mom sang the words teasingly.

“Where’s the money?” Dad chuckled as he
walked over to the picnic table to set his wrench down.

Mom smiled playfully. “There was fifty four
dollars in it.” Her hand was on one hip.

Then a thought struck me. “Where is it?” I
demanded as I glanced at the tote bag of sticks that rested over
her shoulder.

“Oops,” she rolled her eyes. “I dropped
it.”

I got the feeling she left it in the forest
on purpose.

“We could use that money for dinner,” Dad
joked. “Especially with the way you eat, Jo.”

I ignored his play. “We should at least
return it to the park ranger,” I said sternly. “Somebody could be
looking for it. Maybe even the police.”

“I’ll go back and get it,” Mom suggested.

My eyes widened. “No way!”

Dad was shaking his head now. “Women and
their dramatics.” He liked to play the chauvinist to get us riled.
But this time we hardly paid attention. “I’ll get it.”

“No, Dad. Stay here.” I looked at him, but he
was already stepping into the woods.

I chased after him. “It’s over by that
boulder,” I said pointing through the trees.

“I don’t see anything,” He murmured as he
looked around on the ground.

“That’s strange. It’s not here.” I looked
over by the rock. “There was a bikini top here too, but it’s gone.”
Dirt covered the blood on the boulder now as if someone had taken a
handful from the ground and thrown it against the wetness to hide
the mess.

I walked back over to where we saw the
cigarette butts, but they were gone too. “This is so weird,
Dad.”

“What are you upset about?” he asked.

“It’s nothing.” I sighed. “Let’s get out of
here.”

But just as we turned to leave, I heard the
sounds of footsteps advancing toward us, crunching the fallen
leaves upon the ground with every step. “Hey, there,” a masculine
voice called through the trees.

Dad and I stopped and turned to look. The
three boys I saw at the market were approaching through a cluster
of tall pines.