Page 35 of Always Darkest

Saber saw a gold Tiffany bracelet jangle on Laurel’s wrist. She wouldn’t have known it was Tiffany if not for the huge heart-shaped charm with the brand’s prominent label. The way Laurelmoved her hand, Saber couldn’t help but think she was, at least unconsciously, very proud of the bracelet and showing it off.

“We had fun, yeah,” Saber said, “but the weirdest thing happened on our way home.”

“What?” Elise asked, taking a sip of an Ensure.

Saber did a double take at the Ensure and thought Elise must be dieting.

“Lozen and I almost ran over a woman who’d fallen in the road, up on Phelps, I guess? Not far from your house, Laurel. She was really drunk, but I don’t know how to describe it. It was really weird.”

Nobody said anything.

Looking back later that day, Saber realized how very weird it was, but in that moment, it felt as if she’d said something she shouldn’t have.

“I bet she was fine,” Laurel said, and ate a grape from her lunch.

“Yeah, probably,” Saber said. “It was just really strange.”

“Well,” Elise said. “You can’t worry about other people, you know? You have to stay positive.”

“Anyway,” Laurel said, “we’re having another party in two weeks, at Sophie’s house. I know Rex wants you to come.”

“Where is Sophie?” Saber asked, noticing she wasn’t there.

“She didn’t feel good today,” Elise said.

“Didn’t feel good about taking her chemistry test,” Laurel grumbled.

Saber smiled. Rex was definitely hot, but she just didn’t feel that attracted to him. She worried that it was her crush on Ansel that made all the boys at her school seem kind of silly and immature by comparison. She was going to have a tough time dating if she compared every boy to a wildly attractive, obscenely rich art collector.

“I’ll try to be there,” she said. “Thanks for the invite.”

Saber’s dad surprised her with a weekend trip to a cabin on some remote islands near Canada for her birthday. She had said she didn’t want to celebrate, and didn’t have enough friends to justify a party.

“Invite Lozen,” he said, telling her about the rental. “Come on, you only turn eighteen once. I’m going to be working some while we’re there anyway.”

So Lozen went with them, taking two ferries through breathtaking island passages to a sprawling, evergreen-dense property that exuded rustic, understated elegance.

The cabin looked out over a cove with crystal clear, inviting water that was actually so frigid Saber could barely stand to put a foot in. They spent the weekend hiking, cooking, hanging out in the hot tub, and reading in front of the cabin’s fireplace.

The island was in the rain shadow, meaning that it was protected by the mountains from the dreary weather. It was sunny and breezy with gentle, happy clouds floating like wisps of dandelion puff through the untroubled blue sky. The night they arrived at the rental house, Saber’s dad surprised them with a small chocolate cake covered in dark red roses.

“Eighteen,” he said, raising a glass to her. “It feels like just a few years ago we were bringing you home from the hospital.”

Saber raised her can of coke and smiled self-consciously.

“This is great,” Saber said, walking with Lozen across a rocky, breezy beach on a hiking trail. “I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed the sun.”

“Yeah,” Lozen sighed, and pointed up as a bald eagle soared over them in a cinematic arch. “I love birds,” she said, a non sequitur and they kept walking.

They were mostly quiet, and Saber found herself thinking of Ansel more than she wanted to. She’d had crushes, butthe way thoughts of him and fantasies about him popped up like mushrooms in the rain really troubled her. Trying to stop thinking about him was like trying not to turn around when someone says “Don’t look behind you, but…”

She imagined having a show of her artwork and him coming. She imagined coming upon him on one of her walks, and letting him lead her back to his magnificent house. Most of all, to her deep embarrassment, she imagined him at one of these probably-urban-legend parties, imagined him sitting in a chair in an empty room, offering her a gold necklace, dripping out of his hand, if only she would…

“Saber!”

“What?! Sorry, I was lost in thought.”

Lozen was indicating a little ways down the path. They’d walked up from the beach now and were on a sparsely treed stretch of meadow. Ahead of them by about fifty yards were three coyotes, standing stone still and staring back at them as though they were just as surprised to see people as Saber and Lozen were to see coyotes.

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