Shadowlands (Shadowlands 1)

“We?” he asked.

“Me, my dad, my sister.” My heart skipped a beat. Talking about my family might mean I’d have to start recounting our cover story. I’d memorized the facts of our new life on the car ride down, but being able to pull off the lies was an entirely different story. “What about you?”

“Just arrived this morning,” he said. He finished his drink, took my empy bottle of water, and launched them at a nearby garbage bag, which was already overflowing with cups and cans. “I actually came over here to visit my uncle, who lives up in Boston, but there was a fire while I was there and the whole family was displaced.”

“Oh my gosh,” I gasped. “I hope everyone’s all right.”

“Yeah, we all managed to get out unscathed, miraculously,” he said, fiddling with a silver ring on his right hand.

“Good,” I replied, thinking of my own narrow escape back home. Not that I could tell him about that.

“Anyway, they decided to fly back to the UK until the repairs on the house were done, but I wasn’t ready to go back, so I figured I’d see a bit of the country first,” he explained.

“Oh. Cool.” This time the pause was awkward. I felt like I was supposed to elaborate on our vacation, but my tongue was tied. “We just…go away every year right after school lets out,” I improvised.

Our school year didn’t actually end for another week, but he had no way of knowing that.

“My family always goes to the beach on holiday,” Aaron said with a wistful smile. “Being here is making me miss my sister, I must confess. I don’t have anyone to go windsurfing with.” He looked me over curiously. “I don’t suppose you…?”

“Windsurf? No,” I scoffed.

“Then I’d love to teach you. What do you say?” he asked, his eyes brightening with excitement.

My heart thumped with nerves. I’d never been really big on diving into new things. With strangers. In strange places.

“I promise I’ll be gentle,” he joked, raising one hand. “Please? I really want to go, but I’d rather go with a friend. And you definitely seem like friend material.”

I blushed, flattered, then found myself imagining how Darcy would react if I told her I was going to go windsurfing. She’d probably laugh in my face with a “Yeah, right,” and the very thought made my skin burn. I didn’t want to be predictable anymore. I didn’t want to be the lame, boring, weak girl Steven Nell chose out of the crowd. I wanted to embrace this whole “Life is short” mantra, and if I was going to do that, it was time to start facing my fears and trying new things.

“All right,” I said. “Why not?”

“Fantastic!” he crowed. “Meet me at the bay beach tomorrow afternoon at two. There’s a rental place there. You can’t miss it.”

“I’ll be there,” I promised.

I heard my sister’s flirtatious laugh carry across the party and sighed as she practically fell into Joaquin laughing. A couple of girls nearby shot her annoyed looks. I wished she didn’t have to be so overt.

“Well, someone’s having fun,” Aaron said, following my gaze.

“You said you have a sister?” I asked, hoping to change the subject.

“And a brother,” he said. He stooped to pick up a rock and tossed it toward the water. “I tried to call them today for the first time in a while, but I couldn’t get any service.” He squinted as he looked at me. “I don’t suppose your cell works here, does it?”

I wouldn’t know, not having one in my possession. But the GPS had gone dead when we got here, my iPad still wasn’t working, and my father had said that even the landlines were screwed up. Maybe this is why the FBI had sent us here—there was no possible way for us to contact people from our old life and blow our cover. “Nope. Apparently the island is a dead zone.”

He sighed. “I was afraid of that.”

“Why was it the first time you’d called in a while?” I asked.

Aaron kicked at the sand. “That’s kind of a long story, but basically, I had this huge row with my father before I left, so I’ve been avoiding calling home.”

“Ah,” I said. “That makes sense.”

“Of course, the great irony of ironies, I finally feel ready to apologize and hash it out, and I can’t get through to him.” He shrugged.

Before I could respond, the girls he’d been talking to earlier rushed up to him with a loud squeal.

“There you are!” the brown-haired girl said, looping her arm through his.