Of the Trees(38)

The cemetery lay in dull grays and silvers, the moon full and bright above. Cassie jerked her hand from the unnerving boy before the car stopped moving. He chuckled but didn’t reach for her fingers again. Corey pulled his car right alongside the low stone wall, so close that Cassie had to open her door carefully to avoid scratching it against the rocks. She and Laney eased out of the car, stepping carefully over the wall and into their domain. Laney paused for a moment in the grassy confines of the cemetery, bending over and pulling off the heels she wore.

“I left my bag here earlier,” Laney said, pulling her green backpack from where it laid against the stone wall. “I have some extra shoes if you want them.”

Cassie grabbed the worn sneakers gratefully, leaving her heels piled with Laney’s in the backpack.

Lizzy Palmer’s headstone gleamed in the moonlight, its edges white and the deep etching of her name shadowed and obscure. It was hushed tonight, more so than the last time Cassie was there. The bugs were mostly gone. The air was silent, except for the occasional brush of leaf over ground and the shaking of bare branches in the wind.

“Where to?” Laney asked brightly, after tying her laces. Cassie pulled her own laces tight, looking up to Corey. His smile was both gentle and exhilarated. He reached back, grabbed at Laney’s hand, and took off across the cemetery and into the woods beyond.

“We should keep up.” His voice was soft and deep as he came up behind Cassie. She stiffened, at once wanting to run after Laney and turn to the right to bolt for home. The thought of being alone in the woods, knowing Blue Eyes was somewhere behind her, possibly following her, and that no one else would know where she went, forced her to move forward.

Cassie felt him move behind her. He kept disconcertingly close. Though, once they crossed the cemetery and pushed into the woods, there wasn’t much else he could have done. Laney and Corey were just far enough ahead that Cassie couldn’t clearly see them. She could hear them though—not outright, not the words they spoke, but the low undercurrents of their conversation. Laney laughed frequently, completely enamored with her date, and Corey didn’t seem disinterested either. There was some depth to his voice, some infusion of warmth and caring, that almost startled Cassie. It was a lot, too much even, to be so expressive after only a couple weeks, to be so obviously drawn and comfortable with each other.

Cassie felt that drawn to Ryan. She felt the way her voice would soften for him, knew her smile extended to her eyes when he made her laugh. She felt warm and sort of achy when he touched her, and she thought that maybe he did, too. But they had known each other for ages! It wasn’t a flash of lust driven madness; it was more, it was sustaining.

At least, Cassie had hoped it was—would be—if they could ever really get anything started. She felt a twist of chagrin that again they were interrupted. Again, something stupid got in the way. She took a moment, there in the cool, gray wood, to promise herself that the next time she saw him, they would talk, get it all out, and fix whatever rut they had fallen into.

Cassie and Blue Eyes caught up to Laney and Corey just as the forest opened. Cassie actually bumped into her friend’s shoulder, sending Laney careening into her boyfriend. He tucked her under one arm, spreading the other in an all-encompassing gesture that swept the clearing. The forest floor dipped down, just fractionally at first and then lower, creating a shallow, empty bowl in the middle of the woods. The trees that lined the perimeter of the depression didn’t intrude in the small, bizarre clearing, but their roots did, large and twisted, they broke through the earth all around the circle, some large enough to sit on. A group of people, a dozen or so, were perched throughout the ring on the distended roots. Cassie didn’t recognize any of them and assumed they must all be students from St. Paul’s.

Although … Cassie stiffened, looking across the fire that flickered in a small circular cropping of rocks. The man sitting there, the one who looked up when the newcomers came into view, he looked strangely familiar. She couldn’t place him. He looked older than a high school student though, like he could be in college at least. He might have worked somewhere nearby, or graduated from her school years before, and she’d seen his picture somewhere, an old yearbook or in the trophy case. Regardless, he was familiar.

“This is us,” Corey said grandly, squeezing Laney to his side. “C’mon, I’ll introduce you around.”

Laney bounced off after glancing back at Cassie. To her credit, besotted as she was, Laney did mouth “You okay?” to which Cassie rolled her eyes and nodded, shooing her friend along. Blue Eyes might be pushy and far too grabby for her taste, but she felt that here, in such a large group of people, he wouldn’t try anything outright.

She felt fingers, warm and light, trace the lines of her palm, and she wrenched her hand away, turning to glower at their owner.

“Can I get you a drink?” he asked, his voice low and heavy.

“No,” she answered firmly, walking into the clearing and leaving him behind. She’d taken no more than two steps when she heard the sounds of a small group trudging through the bracken. By the time she turned around, she could see Mackenzie Roberts, her boyfriend Austin, Rebecca Murphy, Jessica Evans, and Jon and Samantha heading toward her. Samantha tripped, knocking headlong into the back of Jessica, who just laughed and propped her up again.

“Leave some booze for when we get there, Jon!” Rebecca laughed, shaking the beer from her hand. The pale liquid had splashed from the can Samantha was holding when she pitched forward.