Lies Beneath

  “Not a talker?”

  “Oh, he talks,” Lily said. “He talks a lot, but he doesn’t really ever tell you anything. Y’know what I mean?”

  “Mmm,” Gabrielle said. “Typical guy.”

  Lily fell quiet and, again, I wished I had a higher vantage point.

  “Calder—” Gabrielle started.

  “Are you hungry?” Lily cut her off.

  “What? Oh, yeah, sure.”

  Four feet tiptoed down the stairs toward the kitchen. I rolled out of the hammock and pulled back into the trees. The girls leaned against the kitchen counter, and I got my first look at them in a while. Lily looked paler than usual, except for the dark circles under her eyes. Gabrielle was popping cheese puffs into her mouth.

  “So if the thing you have with Calder doesn’t work out …,” said Gabrielle.

  Lily’s eyebrows pulled together.

  “I’m just saying,” said Gabrielle, “if it doesn’t, you’d put in a good word for me, right?”

  Before Lily could respond, a stick snapped on the driveway. I spun around. Maris? No, she would never mount an attack on dry land. It was beneath her. I squinted through the darkness, my eyes focusing on a familiar silhouette. I wished my first guess had been right.

  The beam of Jack Pettit’s flashlight bobbed and weaved on the ground in front of him. Still, he jumped when he saw me charging up on him in the dark.

  “Wh-what are you dong here?” he asked.

  “I lost my wallet. Came back for it. What about you?”

  Jack looked at me skeptically. I guess retrieving wallets in the dark wasn’t normal human behavior. Particularly without a flashlight of my own. I’d have to make a note.

  “I’m here to break the girls out,” said Jack. “There’s a party at … well, never mind.”

  “I’m sure they’re sleeping. Lily and I are working the early shift tomorrow.”

  “Pfff. What are you, her mother?” asked Jack. “And, besides, how would you know? Even if they are sleeping, I bet Lily’d be up for a party. Gabby always is.”

  I stared him down, and he shifted in his shoes.

  “Fine,” he snapped. “So what’s the deal with you and Lily anyway?”

  “ ‘Deal’?”

  “Yeah,” Jack said, his eyes going to the light in Lily’s window. “Have you asked her out?”

  “Not yet.”

  “What are you waiting for?”

  Good question, I thought. “Maybe I’m waiting for her to want me to.”

  “Ah.” Jack folded his arms across his chest. “I didn’t think she was that into you.” He smiled broadly, and I wondered which of his shiny teeth would break the easiest. “Easy, dude,” Jack said, holding his hands up, palms out. “Just playin’.”

  A white moth flew between us and flitted past my hand. A snap of blue light shot from my middle finger, and the moth dropped to the ground in a charred heap.

  “What the hell?” Jack yelled as he staggered back a few steps.

  “I think you’re going to your party alone,” I said, feeling the electric charge pulsing through my fingers. I reached out to turn him around, but he was already running back to his car.

  After Jack’s taillights disappeared, I returned to the hammock and tried to fall asleep. I might have had fleeting moments of dreams: images of pink awnings and steel drums, a turquoise backdrop. Maris and a sturgeon, my mother’s face. But most of the time, I was wide awake and staring through the tree branches at a shattered sky.

  I didn’t know how much time was passing, or how close we were to morning, or how far I was pushing the chance of Hancock busting me for sleeping in his yard. Rolling out of the hammock, I got to my feet and headed toward the driveway. The loose gravel looked purple in the early morning light, and it crunched under my feet.

  “Being the creepy stalker guy again?”

  I whirled around. Lily leaned out her bedroom window, Juliet-style, with her hands on the sill.

  “Geez, Lily, you scared me. What are you doing up?”

  “I think there’s a much more interesting question, don’t you? Like what the hell are you doing down there?”

  “Shhh,” I said. “You don’t want to wake anyone up.”

  She looked behind her, then slung one leg out the window and climbed onto the porch roof.

  “Careful.” I put my hands up, ready to catch her if she fell.

  “What is going on with you?” she asked.

  Good question. “I just forgot my—” I gestured vaguely toward the fire pit.

  She looked at me with a puzzled expression. “Maybe if you hadn’t rushed away so quickly, you wouldn’t have forgotten something.”

  “I’m sorry about that.”

  “It was rude.” The roof creaked, and Lily’s foot made a scraping sound on the shingles.

  “Well, at least I left you in good company.” My voice sounded strangely bitter, and her eyebrows arched.

  “Are you for real? Is that what this is about? You have something against Jack Pettit?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  “Okay, then why are you here? Unless you plan on sticking with another one of your lame excuses.” She crept closer to the edge of the roof, and I formed my arms into a basket. “Y’know, you’re probably the worst liar I ever met.”

  “Did Jack Pettit fix that roof?” I asked, cringing.

  “Him and his dad.”

  “You’re probably going to fall through.”

  She laughed and sat down on the edge, dangling her legs over the gutter. Even in the dark, a rosy aura dripped from the ends of her toes like pink candle wax.

  “What do you want from me?” I asked. I didn’t understand where the question came from. Somehow our roles had reversed without asking permission.

  “I told you what I want,” she said.

  I chuckled low under my breath.

  She bent forward and reached down to me. “You have answers to questions I’ve had since I was little, since I first heard my grandpa tell the story.”

  “You can think that if you want, but you’re wrong. Now will you get off that roof? I’m going to have a nervous breakdown.”

  “See?” she said. “You’re talking with your eyes again, Calder White. You know things. And I intend to know it all, too.”

  “You’re unbelievable,” I murmured.

  “Ah,” she said. “So I’ve been told.”

  20

  PINK

  Mrs. Boyd had the door to the café propped open, and the cool morning air blew in. Lily and I sat at a small circular table with a stack of paper napkins and a bin of freshly washed silverware in front of us. Our hands bumped as we took turns reaching for knives and forks to roll in the napkins. I tried to make it seem accidental, but it was a well-planned maneuver. A half hour later we’d amassed a small pile of table settings between us. Neither of us spoke.

  I wondered if she was still irritated with me for leaving the campfire so rudely. That would be fair. I was still pissed that she’d let Jack Pettit get so close. Was she blind? Couldn’t she see what he was after? The guy was about as subtle as a harpoon. If she’d been given the choice, would she have gone to that party with him?

  Or maybe she was mad because she knew I was lying to her. That would be fair, too.

  Lily carried the tray of silverware behind the counter. I scraped my chair back across the floor and followed close behind.

  “What are you doing after work today?” I asked.

  “Who wants to know?”

  “I was thinking maybe we could do something.”

  Lily turned, dropped the tray on the counter with a clatter, and put her hands on her hips. “Depends. Are you going to run out on me again?”

  “I said I was sorry about that.”

  “And you’re not going to tell me anything?”

  “No.” I reached out, and she didn’t object when I dragged my fingers down her arm, shoulder to wrist. She gave a small shiver and turned away from me. “But
only because there’s nothing to tell.”

  She pressed her finger to her lips as a bunch of boys came in the door, kicking their skateboards up into their hands. Clustering around a table, they emptied their pockets and pooled their quarters and dimes. Two came up to the counter and ordered a large mint mocha latte.

  Mrs. Boyd had a basket of apples on the counter, and I cut one into sections while Lily made their drink. I grabbed a salt shaker and dusted the slices.

  “You’re salting an apple?” Lily asked with interest. She snapped a cover onto the paper cup and handed it to the shorter of the boys.

  I wiggled my eyebrows at her, and she shook her head. She opened her mouth to say something more, when the door swung open and the bell rang out.

  Jack and Gabrielle strolled in as the skateboarders left. The look on Gabrielle’s face was priceless—something between surprise and satisfaction. She sucked her teeth and raised her eyebrows at Lily. In contrast, I could smell the testosterone rolling off Jack. The muscle in his jaw bulged as he clenched his teeth.

  “Hi, guys,” said Lily. I looked at her sharply. Her bright tone confirmed her cluelessness when it came to this guy.

  “Hi, Calder,” said Gabrielle. She leaned her body over the counter and let her V-neck T-shirt hang open. “You took off too quick last night.”

  Jack stood behind his sister with his arms crossed. I couldn’t tell if his show of machismo was for Lily or for me. My mind instinctively went to thoughts of violence. Jack eyed me up and down and stopped when his scowl landed on my hands. I crossed my arms, matching his posture. Jack dropped his arms when he realized I was mocking him.

  I smiled. “Did you have fun last night, Jack?”

  “Dude? What the—?”

  Lily kicked my foot. “Ignore him. Did you guys want some coffee?”

  “No,” said Jack. “We just stopped in to tell you we’re having a bonfire out at our house tonight. Lots of our friends will be there. You’re invited if you want to come, Lily.” He glared at me to make his point. I ran through a list of potential responses. I wanted to say that she already had plans. With me. But Lily didn’t like to be told what to do.

  “Yeah, sure, that sounds fun,” said Lily. “Would you be up for that, Calder?”

  Jack’s expression soured, which was satisfying, but I didn’t need to press my luck.

  “I’ve got plans tonight,” I said. Lily’s eyebrows pulled together in response. Curiosity? Disappointment? I couldn’t tell. I turned my back on the Pettits and leaned toward her ear. “But I still want to do something with you this afternoon. Can I take you to Big Bay?”

  Her tiny nod was all I needed to sustain me.

  A few hours later, I waited impatiently at the pier. The Madeline Island ferry’s next run was scheduled to depart Bayfield in seven minutes. Not ten. Seven. Residents set their clocks by the iron monstrosity. Lily’s not coming, I thought miserably. She was probably just being polite when she agreed to go to Big Bay with me. She probably got a better offer from Gabrielle later, after our shift ended.

  Several children dressed in jeans and yellow Windbreakers rushed past me, laughing, casting rainbow beams off their happy faces. I bounced my knee with anxiety, trying to ignore them. It wasn’t easy. Their excitement at riding the ferry burned like a neon sign that said Take Me, Take Me, Take Me. I closed my eyes to the brightly lit children and sank my teeth into my bottom lip.

  Where was Lily? The physical separation ate at my insides. Why couldn’t she feel this way? I cursed the abysmal failure I’d become.

  Leaning back against a wooden fence, I closed my eyes to the soft wind that blew across my face. The halyards clanged and clanked against the sailboat masts in the marina.

  “Calder!”

  I whipped around at the sound of my name and broke into an easy smile. Lily was jogging up to me. She was wearing the most ridiculous skirt, an ankle-length patchwork of velvet and paisley squares. A small backpack hung from her arm. Her hair swung behind her in buoyant curls against a tight navy T-shirt. Her eyes were bright with expectation.

  At first I thought she had a pink sweater draped over her shoulders, but as she drew closer I could see the aura emanating off her arms, confessing her enthusiasm. I groaned with desire. It was worse than the little kids. Not that I hadn’t seen her like this before, but I didn’t have any excuse for escape now. I’d be trapped with her right at my side for the next several hours—her radiating that succulent sweetness into the air. Tingling on my tongue. Begging to be consumed. The familiar bleakness enveloped my mind. Why did I think this would be a good idea?

  “You okay?” she asked.

  I managed to get out a halfhearted “Perfect” and pushed her toward the ferry, which was already loaded with an old VW van and several cars with kayaks strapped to their roofs. Lily pulled out a card and handed it to the ferry captain. “Season pass,” she said to me.

  We walked on, weaving between the cars, to a spot along the rail. Once all the cars were in place and their emergency brakes set, the crew flipped the lines off the iron cleats, casting us off from the pier. The captain engaged the throttle, and we set off across the lake to Madeline Island.

  Lily leaned over the rail and let the water spray her face. She shivered, and I hesitated for a second before putting my arm around her shoulders. She didn’t object.

  She gestured to the lake. “It’s like bedazzled denim,” she said.

  I nodded, and my mind raced out, searching for something clever to say. I came up empty. Awkward and off balance, I thanked the ferry engines for being loud enough to excuse my silence. I picked at the peeling paint on the rail.

  The wind dissipated the pink glow off Lily’s face, shattering her aura and sending pink flecks onto the waves like flower petals. It made it easier to be so close, but I still had to marvel at my self-control. Once or twice I had the urge to scoop her up and dive over the side of the ferry. But there were too many witnesses. Besides, why would I want to end this?

  As if she were reading my mind, Lily sighed and leaned closer to me. I looked at her face but she looked straight ahead, making it impossible to interpret her body language. Did she want me to kiss her? Doubtful. I mean, any other girl and that would be the obvious assumption, but there wasn’t much obvious about Lily. If she wanted me to kiss her and I did, I’d be making a happy report to Maris tonight. If I kissed her and she didn’t want me to, I’d lose whatever ground I’d gained in the last twenty-four hours.

  I tightened my grip around her shoulders and she leaned more heavily against me. It wasn’t like I’d never kissed anyone before. How many times was the kiss just a prelude to the kill? I’d practically invented the move. I pulled my arm back and touched my finger to Lily’s chin. Her lips parted, soft and warm, expecting me. But I didn’t know how to kiss Lily. When I looked into her eyes, all I could see was my deceit. I cleared my throat and went back to peeling paint.

  It didn’t take long to cross the channel. Small pale buildings dotted the shoreline. Their docks projected into the lake like little fingers. A few brave children ran along the beach and tested the water with their bare toes while the adults watched in long pants and sweaters.

  The ferry turned and backed into the pier. Two seagulls circled a tall wooden pole stained black with creosote, then landed on the railing a few feet from where Lily and I leaned. One of the birds looked at me for a second, accusing me with its yellow eye. Danger? it asked. I answered its question, and it was aloft again, soaring to the roof of a long white building.

  The captain cut the engine and Lily staggered. I caught her before she fell.

  “Nice catch,” she said, smiling appreciatively.

  I righted her onto her feet. “I think so” was my witty response. Innuendo would have to suffice for romance. At least for now.

  The moped rental shop was just a block from the ferry landing, on the corner of Main Street and Middle Road. A bearded man in board shorts and a Led Zeppelin T-shirt greeted us. Lily eyed the
sign behind his head—All Minors Must Be Accompanied by a Parent—and then at me as I stared the man down. Without breaking eye contact, he handed us two helmets.

  “Going to Big Bay?” he asked.

  I nodded.

  “Need a map?”

  I shook my head. I signaled to Lily and she ducked out the door.

  “What the heck?” she said with amusement. “He didn’t even ask for IDs.” She twisted her hair up on top of her head and wiggled the helmet over the top.

  “Good thing,” I said, winking. “I don’t have one.”

  “Did you even pay for these?”

  I straddled a blue Honda and revved the engine. Lily hoisted up her skirt and got on behind me. We bounced softly on the tires a few times before taking off up Middle Road. Lily wrapped her arms around my waist, her palms gliding across my sides, her thumbs pressed into my abs, and laid her head against my shoulder blades. I sank back against her heat.

  The tiny town gave way to forest, and the trees pressed in on both sides. Long shadows cut across the road. I could hear the thoughts of several deer and a fox, lurking in the woods, just out of sight of human eyes. They watched me pass. Wondering. Worrying. The fox skittered into a hollowed-out log and crouched low.

  I kept my eyes straight ahead, waiting for the point where the road would come to the northeastern shore and take a ninety-degree turn to the left, toward the Town Park. I pointed ahead toward the lake, and Lily nodded against my back. The sun hit the water, turning it silver, and I banked the moped into the curve. A few minutes later, the brown Town Park sign was in front of us and we were pulling into the parking lot. I killed the engine and knocked down the kickstand. Lily swung her leg over the back to dismount.

  “Do you think it’s warm enough to swim?” she asked.

  “For you, maybe,” I said. “You have a higher tolerance than anyone I’ve ever met.”

  “Including you?”

  “Definitely including me. I’ll be staying on the beach.”

  “Oh, don’t be such a baby.”

  “We’ll see.” I took a risk and grabbed her hand. The familiar tingling sensation tickled up my arm to my heart, and the fluorescent pink glow pulsed out of her shoulders, spreading over her body like a perfect outline. I dropped her hand, and the glow dimmed to a rust-colored shadow. Interesting. She was happier when I held her hand.