Verum (The Nocte Trilogy 2)

As I ride towards the pond.

The place Dare took me swimming.

I loop Jupiter’s reins on a tree branch, and leave him eating clover.

I strip off my shirt and shorts, and wade into the water.

It’s not as cold as it was before,

It doesn’t take my breath away.

I slip under,

Allowing the water to cover my face, to cover my head, and my hair billows toward the surface. I stay under as long as I can, until my lungs are hot and heavy, then I kick to the surface. Pushing onto my back, I stare at the sky as I float.

I’m buoyant,

I’m a boat.

But then she’s in front of me again.

Olivia.

Her hair is on fire and her eyes are wild.

“Help him!” she screeches.

I look to where she’s pointing, but there’s only a car, a smashed silver mess.

“You did this,” she croons, rocking back and forth, sinking onto her heels. Her sheer nightgown drags in the water.

All of a sudden, the car catches fire, even though it’s half submerged. It flares like a flash in a pan, and then the rest of it is underwater, extinguished.

A shadow flashes by.

The boy in the hood.

What does he want?

Then I yank myself out of the water,

And I’m back at Whitley.

I’m in the bathtub, the water spilling over the sides.

Dare has a washcloth in his hand, running it over my arms. I still his hand with my own, my voice wild.

“What happened? God, just tell me. I can’t take this anymore, Dare.”

He stares at me sadly, and the front of his shirt is wet.

His expression reminds me of his little boy face, the haunted one, the sad one. The one he had because my uncle beat him, and because his own mother let him.

“You’re almost there, Calla-Lily. You’re almost there.”

His words are careful and slow, and I hesitate, because I’m afraid that there might just kill me.