Dark Seraphine (The Seraphine Trilogy) (24 page)

I gave in just a tad more than I ever did before, deepening our kiss. That was until I heard a shrieking crazy-girl’s laughter
in my ears
.”
What the freak?
”
I blurted and pulled back
,
swallowing hard as I tried to control my raspy breaths.

“
What
’
s wrong?
”
she asked
,
a little startled.

This had to stop. It wasn
’
t fair to Erica and it most definitely was wrong to use somebody to ease my pain. Plus
,
I needed to figure out why some crazy girl kept on laughing inside my head. She sounded an awful lot like Paige did before she tried to turn my heart into an ice bag.

“
Listen
,
Erica. You
’
re super nice. But
,
I…
”
Damn.
I couldn
’
t even bring myself to say the words I really wanted to say.

“
I
can
make it all better. Don
’
t say anything. I already know how you feel about that other girl
,”
she said. The pink sweater she wore gave her strangely colored
green
eyes a soft glow under the lamps above our heads. She seemed so desperate.

“
I really don
’
t want to hurt you
,”
I muttered and glanced toward the ocean. Something in those waters pulled at me
,
kind of like it owned me. What was it? I hated feeling this way
,
like a prisoner. I wanted
the
longing
to end; but I refused to use someone else to make it happen.

She placed a hand under my chin and turned my face back toward hers. The pain in her eyes reflected the weight of all the
words
she wanted to hear me say—the
stuff
I couldn
’
t bring myself to admit.
“
I don
’
t think you
’
d hurt me. Not on purpose. You have a good heart
,
a bright soul. Those things are worth waiting for. Right?
”

Her smile made me feel even worse than dog
crap
. In a thousand years I would never have guessed that Erica Jensen would be sitting on a bench in front of the ocean while she was begging for my
affection
.
“
Let
’
s go see what Kyle and Shani are up to down there
,”
I suggested. Yeah
,
sure
,
it was a lame excuse for avoiding her question
,
but it worked.

A new group of about four guys had joined the Frisbee gang down on the beach. A couple of them carried what looked a lot like surf boards.
“
I know those crazies are not going to try and surf in the water at night
,”
Erica said. We stood
and walked in their direction.

This strong sense of dread knocked all around the inside of my chest. I didn
’
t know if it was because of what happened to me the last time I tried to do the very same thing and almost drowned. Or maybe I got that feeling because Kyle stood among the group with a board
under his arm
.

I approached the group. Shani ran up to me
,
her face all screwed up.
“
Caleb
,
tell him not to do this. He doesn
’
t have to prove anything to me.
”

Right away
,
I recognized Tack Head Ethan and Dreadlocked Zeke from the lacrosse game that cost me the season. I stalked right over to Kyle without saying a word to either of them and jerked him away from the crowd.

“
Looky look
,
Zeke
,”
the one I
’
d nicknamed as the Tack Head said.
“
We got Kyle
’
s Mommy
coming
to drag him away by the ear.
”
Collective laughter erupted
between
the oth
er two
guys in their group.

“
So tell me
,
how does that ass of yours feel after warming up the bench all season
,
Wood?
”
Ethan teased.

Ignoring them
,
I turned to Kyle.
“
What are you doing?
”

“
What does it look like?
”
he answered, his gaze darting around. I knew my friend well. He was nervous.

“
Remember what happened to me the last time I tried
to do
something like this?
”
I
asked
.

“
Course I do
,
bro. Look at you
,
now. Not even Superman can touch your healing rate
.
”
H
e
moved around me and
walk
ed toward the shore.

I
stepped
in front of him.
“
You
’
re scaring your girl. And quite frankly
,
you
’
re being dumb as hell.
”

“
I’m
getting scolded
by
the guy who got mad at his wannabe girlfriend? The same person who jumped in an ocean with a board
and
no one else around? Oh yeah
,
don
’
t forget to add
that
Erica
acted the way she did
because you were being an ass toward her
,”
Kyle snapped. He scoffed a laugh and glanced over at Shani. I checked her out too. A strange look passed between them.
Whatever
happened
over the summer was big.

Shani
stood beside
Erica
who studied me with a nervous expression
. Did she read my mind? I was conflicted. And I refused to let my friend play some stupid night surfing game with these idiots. For some reason he was determined to go through with this
thing
.
I knew it had something to do with Shani, but what role did Ethan play in all
of
this?

“
Alright
then
,
I
’
m going with you
,”
I announced. Kyle
’
s face lit up.
Dude number two’s voice was going all kinds of crazy in my head, warning me. I silenced him. Deep down, I probably wanted to do this as much as Kyle.
Behind me
,
Erica
sighed loudly
,
and Shani let out a few select curse words.
“
Any of you girls have another light and an extra board?
”
I asked Ethan
,
Zeke
,
and the rest of their crew.

“I got your girl,” Zeke said, lifting up the board he was holding. “She’s right here.
Think you can handle riding a chick like this?
” Oohs and Ahs came from the other two boys in Ethan and Zeke’s group.

“
Oh
yeah
,”
Ethan said
,
comin
g to stand at eye level with me,
“
This time there won
’
t be no punk referee to hold us back
,
Wood.
”

“I got this,” I said and held his gaze.

“
So it
’
s like this
,”
Kyle said
,
“
Caleb and I are on a team. You and the mouth over there are on the second one. First dude to reach the reef tags his partner.
”

“
Deal
,”
Ethan said
,
meeting Kyle
’
s gaze with a knowing look.
Right, so that did it. A lot of stuff was happening that I obviously didn’t know about.
I intended to find out what that was before I
head
ed
out into the ocean again.

“
Alright
,
stop! Hold up. What
’
s going on here?
”
I asked Kyle who had a murderous look on his face as he stared at Ethan.

“
W
h
oa
! That
’
s kinda rude
,
dude. How could you not
tell your butt-
buddy about
what happened
between me and your girl
?
”
Ethan
teased
,
a smile spreading across his face. Kyle
clenched his fists and his body shivered
.

Oh snap!
Now, I understood Kyle’s rage. Shani cheated on him with Ethan.

“
Please don
’
t do this
,
Kyle. It
’
s too dangerous
,”
Shani pleaded.
“
He doesn
’
t mean anything to me. He never did.
”
She narrowed her eyes at Ethan.
Oh boy.
I missed out on everything.

“
S
weet. You didn
’
t seem all distracted this way when you were calling out my name a few months ago
,”
Ethan cooed.

“
Shut up
,
Ethan
,”
Shani hissed.

Kyle started toward him. I moved in his way and held him back.
“
Save it for the waves
,
man. Let his skills make up for that mouth.
”

At this point I knew the choice was no longer mine. For Kyle
,
this
whole deal had
turned into a rescue
operation
,
the kind that saved your face after experiencing something
humiliating
like what Shani just confessed.

For me it was just plain suicide.

Crazy mission or not
,
I was going to have to ride the waves with my friend.

“
Alright
,
girls
,
you know the rules
,
right?
”
I asked Zeke and Ethan.

“
Call me a girl one more time. I dare you
,”
Zeke warned me.

“
Hey
,
I call it the way I see it
,”
I said.

“
Caleb
,
no.
”
Erica trotted over to me and pulled me off to the side.
“
This is crazy stupid. I don
’
t want you to do this. Please! Let it go. If something happens to you…
”

“
Don
’
t worry
,
I got this. Kyle needs me.
”
I glanced behind her.
“
Keep an eye on Shani. Trust me.
”
  She nodded
,
turned around
,
and made her way back over to Shani who was crying loud enough for us all to hear.

The game was called Reef Tag. Teams of two people surfed against the tides to a given point far out in the water. One person swam up to the tag point while the other one
prepared
to race up to his partner. Then the one waiting at the reef raced back to the starting point. During the day
,
it was all good fun—like when you could actually see the
boulders
in the water. The sun
,
unlike its buddy the moon
,
didn
’
t generally
create
tides that could sweep you away. Surfing in dark waters at night got tricky
,
real quick. Still it was an initiation
,
a test of manhood.
In
Kyle
’
s case
it was about
winning
back the respect
of his girl.