Evercrossed (2 page)

Two

KELSEY RUSHED FOR THE WALL SWITCH. THE moment after she flicked on the light, they were plunged into darkness again. Rain beat against the windows.

A downdraft through the fireplace brought in a burning smell.

Hand trembling, Dhanya tried to reignite the blown out tea lights. Kelsey grabbed the lighter from Dhanya and finished the candles. "Anybody home?" a male voice called. Ivy breathed a sigh of relief. "Will, we're in here. Our power's out. What happened?" she asked as he entered the kitchen. "What was that crash?"

"The cat, I think. I was headed here when the storm broke. Just as I reached the cottage, the front door blew open. I rushed in, and Dusty came flying in with me."

The girls picked up the candles and carried them into the living room. The large orange cat cowered in the corner.

"You big wuss!" Kelsey said to Dusty. "Look at the mess you made."

A lamp, several dirty glasses, and a pile of seashells lay on the floor next to the sofa's end table. Kelsey lifted up the lamp and tried to straighten its shade. Will picked up the largest shards of the shattered glass.

"I'll get a broom," Beth said, speaking for the first time since she had shouted at them to end the séance.

"Careful," Ivy warned Will when he tried to pick up the smaller fragments.

He turned to look at her for a moment, his dark hair tousled by the storm, his brown eyes shining softly in the candlelight. Dhanya sat on the sofa, her hands clenched in her lap. Ivy was tempted to put an arm around her but didn't know if she would welcome it. "The storm's already letting up," Ivy said reassuringly.

Dhanya nodded. Ivy fetched the cat and carried him back to the sofa. He was more than twenty pounds of feline, a Maine coon, with creamy tufts of fur tipping his ears. Ivy scratched Dusty's chin, then buried her fingertips in the lion-like ruff around his neck. Dhanya glanced at the cat, but didn't seem inclined to pet him.

Beth returned with a broom and dustpan, a grocery bag tucked beneath her arm. Will positioned the dustpan and she swept the glass into it. Ivy couldn't see Beth's face, but she saw Will look up and study her for a moment, then reach to where her left hand gripped the broom handle, putting his hand over hers. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

The expression on Beth's face must not have been convincing, for Will kept his hand on hers. "You're sure?"

"I'm sure," Beth said, pulling her hand higher on the broom shaft and continuing to sweep.

Ivy frowned, annoyed at herself for agreeing to the séance. After months of people watching over her, she had interpreted Beth's concern as another example of her friend being overly protective. She should have realized that Beth, too, needed protection from last summer's memories and fears.

They had just finished cleaning up when Aunt Cindy arrived in a yellow rain slicker. "Neither rain, nor snow, nor the gloom of night stops Aunt Cindy" was how Beth had once described her favorite aunt. She was in her late thirties, petite but strong, with a mane of shoulder length hair the same fading red as Dusty's.

"I meant to give you these the other day," Aunt Cindy said, opening a carton with three battery operated camp lanterns. She handed one of them to Will, then eyed the cat. "What's wrong with you, Dusty?"

"The storm spooked him," Ivy answered.

"You've never been afraid of storms before," Aunt Cindy chided her cat. "I think you're faking it. You've discovered a good thing, with four girls here to feed and cuddle you." She turned to Will. "Don't get any ideas. You've got your own place."

Will laughed good naturedly. "And that's where I'm headed."

"Okay, does anyone need anything else?" Aunt Cindy asked. "Nope," Kelsey replied.

"Then I'll see you all at six thirty tomorrow in the kitchen. You've done a great job this week, but tomorrow, when the weekenders come, you'll get your first experience of having a full inn. Get some sleep."

Will sent Ivy a look that was a sweet, long distance kiss, then flicked his eyes to Beth, as if checking on her one more time, and followed Aunt Cindy into the rain.

"KELSEY TOLD AUNT CINDY WHAT?" IVY EXCLAIMED the following evening, as she, Beth, and Will nabbed a table at Olivia's, an ice cream shop in the village of Orleans.

"That she and Dhanya were meeting us here. I told her, if questions were asked, I wasn't covering for them."

"These guys from Chatham," Will said, "how does Kelsey know them?"

"She doesn't," Beth replied. "That's Kelsey for you. Believe me, there's no stopping her—I learned that the hard way during our summers together in middle school."

"Well, she had better come ready to work tomorrow," Will said as they scraped their chairs back on the plank floor. "I'm not picking up the It had been a long day for them, cleaning up from the storm and keeping pace with the constant stream of incoming guests and their assortment of requests. Kelsey had claimed she wasn't feeling well and had returned to the cottage early, miraculously recovering in time for dinner. Both Beth and Dhanya had headaches, but got through on aspirin and tea.

Ivy had skipped tea for some of Aunt Cindy's very potent coffee—the pot kept in the kitchen, not the more guest friendly brew served to visitors. She couldn't remember the dreams that had kept her tossing and turning the night before, except that Tristan was in them.

Once seated at the ice cream shop, Will opened a spiral pad and began to sketch.

'Your friend's late."

"No, we're early," Ivy reassured Beth, who had suddenly gotten nervous about her date and asked Will and Ivy to come along. "You look so pretty." Beth smoothed her hair self consciously. Liking print fabrics of all kinds, Beth sometimes looked as though she was dressed in mismatched wallpaper. But tonight, under the guidance of Dhanya, Beth had kept it simple. Her amethyst pendant, which Ivy and Will had given to her last birthday, accented the violet hue of her blue eyes.

"So when was the last time you saw this guy?" "Middle school. His family has a vacation house here. I didn't recognize him Tuesday, when Mom stopped for gas on the way here, I don't think he recognized me either—just Mom—she always looks the same.

"I don't know how he got so tall," Beth went on, "or so gorgeous. It's like one of my characters came to life!"

"So what does he look like?" Ivy asked, scanning the crowd. "He has dark curly hair—lots of it. A strong jaw. Did I mention he's gorgeous?"

"Several times in the last three days," answered Will.

"Somehow he grew shoulders. I mean, a real chest and shoulders," Beth said, gesturing with her hands. Ivy smiled. "Sounds as if he could be on the cover of a romance novel."

"Along with the shoulders and chest, does he have a brain?" Will asked.

"Yes. He's going to Tufts University."

"So I don't see why you need us here." Will sounded grumpy.

"Well, it's just that I might not be able to think of anything to say."

Will raised his pencil from the paper and stared at her. "Beth, you've been writing romantic dialogue for years!"

"So what does that have to do with talking to a real guy?" she asked.

"You talk to me all the time. Aren't I a real guy?"

Ivy laughed. "Ignore him, Beth. He doesn't get it." Will glanced from Ivy to Beth, then laughed along with Ivy. "I guess I don't," he admitted, and flipped to the back of his sketch pad, where he and Beth tried out new ideas. They were creating a graphic novel—Beth writing the story, Will illustrating it—about Ella the Cat Angel and her sidekick, Lacey Lovett, a human angel, battling forces of evil. Ivy's ten year old brother, Philip, had requested it.

"So, about this new villain," Will said. "it's a serpent," Beth told him. "A serpent." Will nodded. "That's good—kind of biblical."

"A serpent with feet," Beth added. "Excellent," he said, sketching quickly. "That gives us mobility. I'm exaggerating the head so I have room to draw in a lot of expressions."

Beth and Ivy leaned forward, watching the creature emerge from Will's deft strokes. "No, the head's big, but not like that," Beth said suddenly. "He has a human face. He has eyes with lids and a human mouth, though it can stretch horribly like a snake's." She slid her amethyst up and down its chain. "And tiny ears," she added. "He hears vibrations through his belly. He can hear emotions as well as words—that's what makes him so dangerous."

Will glanced up from his sketch at the same time as Ivy. It sounded as if Beth was seeing something and describing it, rather than make up a description.

"His eyes are gray," Beth continued, pulling on her pendant "I was thinking yellow or amber," Will said, "a color like fire."

"They're gray," she insisted. "I'm sure of it."

"Elizabeth!" Ivy and Will turned quickly toward a guy with dark curly hair and gray eyes. Although his tone demanded attention, Beth didn't reply until Ivy nudged her. "Hi, Chase," she said, pushing her hair behind her ear.

"You've brought friends," Chase observed. "Nice."

Will stood up and offered his hand. "Will O'Leary."

"And I'm Ivy."

"My two best friends," Beth said to Chase. "Nice," he repeated. Ivy studied Chase, trying to interpret "nice." Was he stating his approval of Beth's friends, or was he annoyed because she had brought them along? She suspected the latter.

The four of them sat down and a minute of uncomfortable silence followed. Will returned to his sketching, apparently unwilling to contribute any thing to Beth's romantic dialogue.

"Beth told us your family has a vacation house here," Ivy began. "How lucky!"

"Here, and the Keys and Jackson Hole," he said. "Water or snow, it doesn't much matter, as long as I'm skiing."

"Yeah, that's how I used to be," Will said.

Ivy blinked with surprise. Will hated snow, and his dream destinations were the Big Apple and Paris.

"Really," said Chase, but he didn't sound too interested.

"But that was before I had my three surgeries." Ivy knew that the only thing Will had on his medical record was childhood immunizations. Part of her wanted to kick him under the table, remind him to be polite; the other part of her wanted to laugh.

"Oh," Chase responded unenthusiastically.

"The doctors told me I could continue to ski, but if I fell, I might never walk again."

Beth stared at Will. Chase looked as if he didn't know whether to believe him or not.

Ivy shook her head. Will glanced at Ivy, smiling mischievously, and resumed sketching.

"So what beaches and trails do you like best on the Cape?" Ivy asked Chase. "If you come here every summer, you must know them all."

"I love Billingsgate Island. I'm taking Elizabeth there tomorrow."

"You are?" Beth replied with surprise. "Where's that?" Ivy asked. "In the bay, about six miles from Rock Harbor. It used to be occupied—had a lighthouse, homes, a school, and a factory—but it washed away years ago. Now the island surfaces only at low tide." He turned to Beth. "We'll kayak there and have a picnic."

"It sounds awesome," she said quietly, "but I have to work."

"On a Saturday?"

She nodded. "Weekends are the busiest time at an inn."

"Can't someone cover for you?" He looked at Ivy, as if she might volunteer.

"Aunt Cindy needs all of us," Ivy told him.

Will glanced up from his sketch. "So what kind of summer job do you have, Chase?"

He didn't seem to hear Will. "I was hoping you would surprise me with a fantastic lunch, Elizabeth—something you packed just for us."

Perhaps it was the way he said "Elizabeth" that made Ivy leery, like a guy who thought that by speaking a girl's name he could cast a spell over her.

"You would love the island," he went on. "And there's a sunken boat nearby, At low tide, its old ribs rise out of the water. Very mysterious looking. It will inspire one of your stories."

"I'm really sorry, Chase. How about later in the week?"

"I'm busy," he told her.

"What a shame," Will muttered.

Beth's face revealed her disappointment, but she smiled and nodded. "Oh well. Thanks for asking."

A waitress approached them and broke into a smile. "Hey, Chase, long time no see. Back for the summer?"

Chase stretched and let one hand fall to rest on Beth's chair. "Back until the wind blows me another way."

Will pursed his lips as if to make a whistling sound, but the "wind" never blew, because Ivy gave him a swift kick. "Double dip, strawberry and chocolate," she said to the waitress. "How about you, Beth?"

The order came quickly, but it turned out to be the longest ice cream date Ivy had ever endured. One of the things that she loved about Will was that—not counting tonight—he had always been inclusive with her friends and family.

When he and Ivy were with others, he enjoyed the people Ivy enjoyed. But Chase was the opposite, the kind of guy who isolated a girl with his attention.

Even so, Beth seemed taken with him, and Ivy did her best to keep Will from expressing his opinion after they left the ice cream parlor. As soon as Beth climbed in the backseat of Ivy's car, Ivy turned to him. "No comments," she told him quietly. "You're not the one who wants to date him."

"Dam right!" he said, and they both laughed. When they arrived back at the inn's lot. Ivy and Beth were surprised to see Kelsey's red Jeep. They found Dhanya in the kitchen, munching on saltines. "I asked Kelsey to bring me home," Dhanya explained.

"She went back out with the guys."

Beth sat down at the table and pulled three crackers out of the plastic sleeve. "Is your headache making your stomach queasy?"

Dhanya nodded and chewed slowly.

"That's how I felt earlier," Beth said. "Kind of dizzy, too."

"You want me to get Aunt Cindy?" Ivy asked. "She might have something in her medicine cupboard to help you."

"No, she'll want to know where Kelsey is."

Ivy followed Beth and Dhanya up the steep Stairs from the kitchen, carrying a tray of crackers and mugs with decaf tea, placing the snacks by their beds. The cottage's second floor was one long room, with the steps rising next to the massive brick chimney in the center of the space. A small bathroom had been built across from the chimney.