Shadow Hills (20 page)

“It’s not stupid. He likes you, I can tell.” Toy was into all the guy things Graham was into—but it seemed like there was more between them than that. “Plus, I don’t think he’s very happy with his girlfriend,” I continued. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they broke up soon. Not that I’m saying you
should
wait around for him. But if no one else catches your eye …” I shrugged.

“So you don’t think it’s totally hopeless?” Toy stepped carefully over a tree root as she followed me back to the clearing.

“No. I really don’t.”

“Thanks.” She yawned widely as we sat back down. “I feel kinda tired.”

“You want to go back to the dorm?” I was starting to get bored anyway, sitting in the woods watching other people flirt when Zach was nowhere around.

“Yeah.” Toy tried to stand, coming back down hard on the tree stump.

“Okay, here we go.” I put my arm around Toy, supporting her as she got to her feet again.

“I’m gonna walk her back,” I said. Adriana and Brody were still playing dominos, but Graham was watching the two of us.

“I’ll come with you guys.” He handed his cup to Brody. “Here, finish this for me, okay?”

“Sure.” Brody set the cup next to his other drink.

“See you at breakfast tomorrow?” Adriana asked as I picked up Toy’s messenger bag and slung it over my shoulder.

“Of course.” I gave a little wave to her and Brody as we tromped back into the woods, Graham holding the beeping GPS unit.

After only a few minutes of walking, I felt Toy getting heavier on my arm.

“I think she’s falling asleep,” I murmured to Graham. Toy was tiny—almost half a foot shorter than me—but even so, I was about to collapse under her dead weight.

“Got it.” Graham swooped her up in his arms like a parent
carrying his kid out of a late-night movie. “I’ve never seen her this wasted,” he whispered.

I wanted to tell Graham to wake up. He clearly cared about Toy, but if he kept screwing around, hanging on to this other relationship he seemed unhappy with—well, it couldn’t be long before some more perceptive guy saw the hotness lurking under Toy’s geeky demeanor. But I knew she would kill me tomorrow if I spilled about her crush.
Maybe I can do some recon instead
.

“So how’s the girlfriend? I haven’t heard you mention her in a while.”
Or ever
, I added silently.

“I don’t know actually.” Graham’s voice was sour. “She thought we should take a few weeks off from talking. You know, until she gets settled into the school year. Whatever the hell that means.”

“Seriously? Why do you put up with that?” I frowned. “You could find a way better girl here.”

“Hey, you’ve never met her, okay? You don’t know anything about how great she is,” he snapped.

“You’re right; I don’t.” I lowered my voice, hoping he’d follow suit. We were pretty close to the dorms now. “It just doesn’t seem logical to stay with a girl, no matter how amazing she may be”—I headed off his interruption—“if your relationship and communication is basically nonexistent.”

“I know,” he conceded. “But we met when I was just a clueless freshman and she was this gorgeous senior who could recite pi to the three hundredth decimal.”

“Hot,” I teased.

“It was. And so were we. Now I’m lucky if I get a lukewarm e-mail from her. Whatever. It’s all high-school crap. It’s not even worth talking about.” Graham’s expression was hard as we neared the lights outside Kresky.

“It’s really none of my business. Sorry.” I’d obviously
way
overstepped my new-friend bounds.

After a second Graham made eye contact with me.

“It’s okay.” He shrugged. “I know you’re trying to look out for me. It’s kinda sweet, in an annoying sort of way.”

“You are so unlike most guys.” I shook my head.

“I know. I’m pretty much the most amazing guy ever.” Graham grinned.

Toy’s room was easy to find, her window being the only one with a sticker that read:
THE INTERNET—ALL THE PIRACY, NONE OF THE SCURVY
. I pushed open the window and climbed through, then gestured to Graham. He hoisted Toy up and halfway into the room, and I hooked my arms through hers. I staggered back under her weight, and we came crashing down onto the bed. Graham, of course, was cracking up outside the window.

“Ha-ha.” I rolled Toy off me and got to my feet. I draped the light blanket on the end of her bed over her, then turned back to the window.

Graham was still standing outside, his arm braced on the sill.

“What are you doing?” I whispered. “Somebody might see you. Go away.”

“Do you think she’s going to be okay?” He leaned farther into the window, ignoring my instructions. “I don’t want to get
her in trouble, but maybe we should take her to the infirmary, just to be sure.”

God, Graham was so infuriatingly blind about his feelings for Toy!

I resisted the urge to shake him. “I was watching earlier, and she only had two drinks—granted, Adriana made them, so it’s probably more like three, but still … She’ll be fine.” I looked down at Toy, who was snoring loudly now. She definitely wasn’t having any trouble breathing.

“Tilt her on her side,” Graham instructed. “Just in case she has to puke.”

I was glad Toy wasn’t awake to hear this; she would be mortified. I turned her over and put the trash can next to her head.

“Listen, I’ll get my blanket and sleep on her floor tonight.”
Out of vomit range
, I thought to myself. “I’ll make sure nothing happens to her.”

“Thanks, Phe.” Graham, looking relieved, headed back to his dorm.

As I settled into my makeshift bed on the hard floor, I cursed myself for not thinking to bring a blow-up air mattress to Devenish. But despite my less than five-star accommodations, I fell asleep the moment I closed my eyes.

“I think you might be even more beautiful up close.” Zach’s face was centimeters from mine, searching my features, taking in all of my imperfections. “I love the hint of copper in your eyes, radiating out like the sun, turning your pupils into an eclipse.” He ran his thumb down my cheekbone. “The different striations of color, how every band of green is its own unique shade. A shard of a broken Heineken bottle, a blade of grass, moss on a rusty can.”

“Romantic …” I laughed.

His hand moved back up, and he followed the curve of my left eyebrow. “I love this little scar next to your eye.”

“Got it in a knife fight.” I dropped my mock tough-guy voice. “Actually, I got scratched by a kitten when I was little. Apparently he didn’t like me using his tail as a rope for tug-of-war.”

Zach grinned, his gaze never leaving my face. I studied the darker blue circle that defined the edge of his pale blue-gray eyes. The tea-green starburst around his pupils. I brushed a stray lock of wavy black hair away from his face and let my fingertips trail lightly over his strong jaw. I wanted to memorize every angle, every plane, of his gorgeous face.

Having Zach lying in my dorm room with me, his huge hand completely surrounding mine, made my heart race, my blood pound, my every nerve ending sizzle. My lips tingled, and it was all I could do not to press them against his perfect mouth.

Suddenly, Zach looked startled, confused. Like he had no idea where he was.

“I didn’t mean to …” His eyes scanned my room as if looking for some kind of clue. “I don’t know how I could have done it. I mean, I can’t do it.” The low rumble of his coarse baritone vibrated through me.

“What can’t you do? What are you talking about?” The uncertainty in his voice made me anxious.

Before he could answer, another person came into the room.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Am I ruining something?” Corinne’s icy gray-green eyes, so much like Zach’s, were flashing. “Were you two lovebirds having a moment?” Sarcasm dripped from her tongue like poison.

“Corinne, did you do this?” Zach demanded vehemently.

“Do what?” I practically shouted, forgetting that I should try not to wake Ms. Moore. “What the hell is going on?”

Corinne ignored my little outburst. “No, I didn’t
do this
, Zach. You did. Evidently, when it comes to something you care about, you’re much more skilled.”

“Did you—Is this—” My thoughts flitted away before I could find them.

“Don’t worry your pretty little head, L.A. We’re leaving.” Corinne gave Zach a piercing look, and they were gone.

I awoke from my dream with a jolt that sat me up straight,
my back rigid. Toy was still snoring away on her bed. I wasn’t sure where her clock was, but it was like a magnet pulling my gaze. There it was in bright green digital numbers: 3:33 a.m. Hekate’s time.

The worst thing about a new dream was having to record it before I could go back to sleep. The waking “visions” really stuck with me, every detail standing out starkly. But the dreams faded if I didn’t write them down right away. With a small grunt of annoyance, I got up and padded down the hall to my room. Truthfully, I couldn’t imagine forgetting that dream. Especially not Corinne’s whole “when it comes to something you care about, you are much more skilled” comment.
Did Zach enter my dream on purpose?

I pulled the green notebook out of the drawer on my bedside table and quickly jotted everything down. Then I turned around and went back to Toy’s.

When I woke up the next morning, Toy wasn’t in her bed, but there was a note taped to the inside of her door.

I looked around the small dorm room. I hadn’t noticed the night before because it had been too dark, but Toy seemed to be quite a collector. She had two bookshelves filled with tons of
graphic novels and a huge vinyl toy collection. I recognized the Frank Kozik toys since my ex-boyfriend Paul had also been a fan. But the thing that really interested me was her crate of records. I’d heard Graham mention that her older brother was a DJ in New York, and from the looks of this collection, Toy was following in his footsteps. I flipped through the albums and saw they were mostly indie hip-hop and grime. I recognized M.I.A., Lady Sovereign, Dizzee Rascal, and The Cool Kids, but I would have to get Toy to play me some of the more underground records. I’d never heard a lot of the stuff she had, and I was always hungry for new music.

I’d never had a friend like Toy before, but I had a feeling that was just going to make things more interesting. I grabbed my pillow and blanket and headed back to my room.

Flipping open my laptop, I went to iTunes and turned on TheDeathSet. After my not-so-restful night I needed some crazy-energetic music to feel completely awake. I raked my brush through my snarled, unruly waves—
thanks, Massachusetts humidity
—then slipped on my shower sandals and grabbed my toiletries bag and towel.

I was conditioning my hair and humming to myself when the person in the shower next to my stall let out an exasperated groan.

“Phe.
Pleeease stop that,”
Adriana whined.

“How could you tell it was me?” I asked the tile wall in puzzlement.

“I don’t know,” Adriana’s voice floated back to me. “Maybe because you are humming the same song that was blaring in
your room earlier. In case you forgot, we do share one very thin wall.”

I washed the conditioner out, then turned off the water. Wrapping the towel around myself, I stepped out of the shower. Adriana was standing there, one hand on her bathrobed hip.

“Sorry. Geez.” I rolled my eyes and walked over to the sinks to brush my teeth.

“It’s fine,” Adriana relented grumpily. “I just have a bit of a brain-splitting headache this morning.”

No surprise there
.

“So how was the party after we left?” I asked.

She tilted her head to one side, thinking, then said in a faintly surprised tone, “Actually, it was fun. Brody’s kind of cool.” Adriana’s smile was enough to make me wonder if she had a crush. “I don’t know that many guys who can drink me under the table, but he was sure keeping pace last night. Plus, I didn’t hate kicking his ass at dominoes.”

Breakfast hours would have been long over by the time we were dressed if it had been a weekday, but luckily for Adriana and me, the cafeteria served brunch until the middle of the afternoon on Sunday. After we finished eating, Adriana went to tennis practice, and I took a stroll around the campus, trying to decide what to do with my day. I wasn’t going to study until this evening, and I wanted to relax. It was a beautiful day, with just a nip of coolness in the air.

I was getting used to the softer sunshine in Shadow Hills, and I found I kind of liked it. In L.A. the sidewalks were blinding by midafternoon, but the gray slate walkways that led past the
teachers’ cottages were pretty, the rocks faintly sparkling in the light.

I started walking in the direction of the hospital. The book had been useless, but I was still determined to find out what was going on with the dreams Athena had and the ones I was experiencing now. Maybe there was a reason I was so drawn to the graveyard. There could be something there that would help me. At worst, I’d get a little exercise.

I hiked up the hill to the hospital and curved around toward the cemetery, then walked through the trees and stopped. The eerie aura of the place still caught me a little off guard.

I gave myself a shake. Following the rows, I carefully inspected the headstones. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for. It seemed unlikely that I’d find an ancient decoder ring for my book.

As I went farther and farther back, the plots became more crowded. They had been running out of space. Images of disease-ravaged men, women, and children lying all packed together in the old almshouse flashed through my mind. I could smell the sour note of death, like wilting roses. I tried to focus on the moss-covered stones in front of me, but it was hard with my imagination running rampant.

“Oww!” My right foot came crashing into a rock. “Shit!”

I sat down on the ground, applying pressure to my big toe as it throbbed fiercely. My flats were about as protective as a pair of socks. The rock I had walked into was masked by a matted tangle of green vines. I crawled a little closer. It appeared to be a well-hidden gravestone.
It’s so far away, though
. The back
row of graves was about fifteen feet from here. The headstone was strangely tucked under a large tree, the roots of which grew up on both sides of the stone, encircling it in a shielding way. Pushing the crawling vines to one side, I looked down at the inscription.