Three years to think about you, Bowen said that night around the campfire.
Colson did have three years, and I wish it was less, even if he did scare the hell out of me. I wish I’d stopped and listened to him a day later rather than years later in the middle of a parking lot. But we can’t go back to single moments in time and roll the dice for a different outcome. Bad things happen, and there’s no reason for any of it. We are a chaotic blend of joys and tragedies woven together by sticky webs that fuse to our flesh when we get too close to one another.
The spiders know, for as long as they’ve been living in the crevices and joists of the ramshackle barn on the mountain. Unfortunately, they too will have to move on because we’re about to ruin their day. Ray Marcum promised the guys beer as soon as the barn is reduced to a smoldering pile of ash. And in the meantime, the nine of us have the privilege of watching them ignite it multiple times and practice putting each fire out before finally digging into Sergei’s bag of tricks.
Dallas, Sydney, Tyler, and I sit far back, perched on the quads a safe distance from the inferno. It feels like I’m at one of the bonfires we used to have on the beach back in high school. I’d walk through my backyard with my friends and splash through the waves until the sun dipped low enough to bring a chill to the air. Then we would stay on the sand late into the night, breathing in the sweet wood smoke mixed with summer air.
Sometimes I still don’t know how I ended up here, but I finally feel like I’m home, sitting on this mountain, burning down a barn with my family and 10 volunteer firefighters. Under my trees, on my dirt…
“Throw it!” a blonde kid who looks like he’s fresh out of high school yells.
I catch Sergei’s silhouette against the orange glow as he lobs something into the middle of the flames. There’s a thunderous boom and a flash of green, followed by whoops and hollers near the tree line. When I glance over at Dallas, her mouth is affixed in a broad grin, her eyes wide with excitement. Colson, Mason, Aiden, and Alex stand behind Sergei, all laughing like I’ve never seen them before.
I give Dallas’s arm a nudge and motion to them across the clearing, “Is that what they all used to be like before?”
Dallas is silent, gazing at the boys shoving each other and laughing together. I didn’t know them before things turned harrowing and complicated, but Dallas looks at them like she sees a shadow of what used to be.
“Yes,” she says thoughtfully, digging memories out of the far reaches of her brain.
I hope it doesn’t fade when the sun rises tomorrow; they’ll never be who they used to be, but I want to see what Colson’s like when he’s not constantly on-guard and hear Alex’s laugh that’s so vibrant, it’s like gold he keeps locked away in a safe. I want to know why Aiden hides his smile that rivals any I’ve ever seen and if Mason’s always been so carefree.
“I need to apologize to you,” Dallas suddenly turns to meet my eyes, “I didn’t mean for all of this to happen.”
Her choice of words strikes me as odd, as if she had anything to do with it.
“All of what? You didn’t do anything wrong,” I reassure her, “you’re the one who got everyone up here so fast after all hell broke loose.”
“No,” Dallas shakes her head, “not that. I mean…other things. There are so many choices we make, and it’s hard to know which ones will have unintended consequences.” She hesitates before taking a long breath, “I don’t regret any of it, I’m just sorry that you had to go through it—that you got dragged through everything like the rest of us.”
I link my arm through hers and give it a squeeze, “Colson once told me that love is choosing who you want to walk through a lifetime of pain and trauma with, so I guess none of us can escape it.”
“He’s right,” she admits, “but there are some things that even Colson doesn’t know.”
I shoot her a sideways glance as Mason hurls something else into the flames, “What secrets do you have, Dallas?”
A few seconds later, it explodes just like the first one, but this time in a flash of pink.
Dallas gazes into the flames, “I knew who you were before I came to Wolfsson…before you came to Wolfsson,” she finally says.
“Oh?” I arch my brow, “Like, from college?” It’s possible, we went to the same school and she would’ve been a freshman when I was a senior.
She cracks a smile, “Not exactly.”
Maybe Colson mentioned me. But why would he bother, especially after what happened?
“You didn’t act like you knew me when we met,” I point out, recalling that one day in her office when she was surprised that I even knew who Colson was.
“No,” she chirps, shifting her eyes to me and then back to the fire, “but I did.”
Sydney turns her head slightly, her interest piqued. Tyler does the same, a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth.
“But how?” I ask.
There’s a lot Dallas isn’t saying beneath her soft voice and docile demeanor. There’s a familiar tone to her voice. She sounds like Colson; calm, contented, and almost…
Unbothered.
She stares ahead, the glow of the flames flickering across the apples of her cheeks and, slowly, her glossy lips twist into an impish smile. There’s more to Dallas Berrera than meets the eye. But I already knew that. What I don’t know is how deep her loyalties lie and how much more vengeful she can be than her older brother.
“Christmas,” I hear Sydney’s smooth voice over my shoulder, “at my house this year.”
It sounds like she’s changing the subject, until Tyler pipes up, “There’ll be hot chocolate, presents under the tree, a roaring fire…and scary stories…”
Suddenly, I feel like everyone knows something that I don’t. Suddenly, I feel like these three women I’ve grown to trust over the past year are drawing me deeper into their world and are about to reveal secrets they’ve been keeping all this time.
“We’ll tell you all about it,” Dallas turns to me, the inferno reflecting in her eyes, “I promise…”
Before I can respond, a deep voice cuts through the smokey air, drawing our attention.
“Beasts of waste!” Mason’s voice echoes into the emerald treetops stretching high into the failing daylight.
“Beasts of desolation!” Alex returns the call.
“We die alone!” Aiden continues.
“But together—” Colson shouts.
“Rulers of creation!” the girls echo around me before the entire clearing erupts in a cacophony of howls.
