In the River Darkness (14 page)

I knew exactly what she meant, and fear grew inside me. So I said quickly, “I’ll never forget you, I promise!”

“That’s not enough anymore!” Alina countered. “I want you to
prove
it to me!”

“Okay, sure. How . . . what should I do?” The kingfisher that had obediently sat next to us the entire time seemed to throw me a pitying look with its beady little eyes.

“But you know already,” Alina said. She made a gesture with her hand—and the kingfisher plunged down into the river like a falling jewel.

Yes, I did know. I knew it even before Alina climbed up on the railing of the bridge. It took a lot of effort to resist the impulse to cling to her bare ankles as she stood up on top of it, swaying. Alina didn’t let anything or anyone hold on to her!

I knew exactly what she demanded of me.

Her image flickered before my eyes, a delicate silhouette against the blazing blue of the sky. “This . . . this is just a joke, right?” I waited for her to start laughing, but Alina’s expression didn’t change. “I mean, people have already landed in the hospital because of that . . . it’s dangerous!” Because she didn’t laugh, I did, but it sounded too shrill.

“We’re going to do it together, Jay.” Alina turned herself halfway toward me on the railing, as elegant as a dancer. “Do it for me!” she whispered, stretching out a hand toward me.

“But . . . but this is crazy!” I protested weakly, and then I had already taken hold of her hand. And then I stood next to her on the railing, trembling. I hardly dared to look down, where the water of the river yawned at least twenty feet below us. We were up so high that I didn’t know how we could possibly get down from there alive.

In my head, everything was churning. The taste of bile in my mouth. “I feel sick. Please, Alina.” The voice that came out of my mouth sounded peculiar, an unfamiliar whimper.

But Alina’s firm grip didn’t let me go. Her fingers clenched mine, foreign and as cold as stone polished by water. My limbs were clay under those fingers.

Cold sweat ran down my spine, and I shivered in spite of the heat. The wind, the whispering hot wind, pulled at me. Enticing, threatening. There were voices in the air, but I couldn’t understand exactly what they were saying.

“Go!” whispered Alina.

Afterward, I couldn’t say whether she pulled me with her, or I did it myself. Only one thing was certain: we jumped.

The water raced toward us. The air around me screeched. For a heartbeat, I could understand the voices more clearly; they sang of love . . . and of death.

Then we crashed onto the surface of the water. It felt as if I were being shoved through a glass wall.

Hand in hand, we sank, sank down to the muddy bottom. Alina’s long hair drifted in the current like seaweed, gently brushing my face. Down here, everything was green and murky. The only thing I could recognize clearly was Alina’s eyes, only a few inches away from my face.

Air bubbles streamed from my nose, tracing a shimmering path toward the surface. I wanted to follow it, to take back the air, but I couldn’t. Alina had a firm hold on my wrists, holding me tight, underwater.

Slowly, I was running out of oxygen.
This isn’t a game anymore! This is not fun!
I wanted to scream. Because that was the most awful thing down there: the silence. It was a stifling, deafening silence that swallowed any sounds. As if the world had gone mute; as if the world had died to me.

I tried to tear myself loose from Alina. Fleetingly, I was amazed by the sheer strength of her delicate white hands. She was much stronger than me! With my lungs burning, I fought wildly to get free, kicking, scratching her.

It was no use.

The last thing I saw was her smile, which was gradually eaten up by black holes. Then darkness.

My muscles went limp. I succumbed.

And only then did she let go of me. I shot upward through the blackness, the water’s surface like a massive slab of glass, shattered as I broke through it. Air! Sounds exploded in my head.

Alina pulled me ashore.

Later, we both lay in the soft grass along the shore, with Alina’s hair spread out around us like a fan of silver.

“Why did you do that?” I asked. “Why did you hold on to me? It was so quiet down there, I thought I was dead already.”

She took her time before she answered, all the while braiding kingfisher feathers into her hair, little slivers of heaven. “I did it so you would know how your world would be without me. Promise that you’ll never forget me!”

I promised it—of course. But I couldn’t take my eyes off my wrists, where her grip had left bruises like red chains.

“Would you like some more pasta, Mia?” my mother asked. At least she was speaking to me again.

There had been an unpleasant postlude to the nighttime horror trip Alex and I had experienced recently. Just as I was about to sneak back into my room, exhausted beyond belief, the light had suddenly gone on. My mother was standing on the landing of the stairs, her lips pressed together in a tight line.

“Where are you coming from in the middle of the night? Sneaking out of the house behind our backs. Did you meet that boy from next door?” There was no more talk about the nice young neighbors.

Unfortunately, my nerves were already strained to the breaking point that night. All I wanted to do was curl up in a ball in my cozy, safe bed.

“Why don’t you take care of your own problems for a change, Mom!” I had snapped back at her. When I saw the expression on her face, I was sorry I had said it. More than a week had gone by since then, and my mother was still angry.

“Thanks, but I’m full,” I replied and tried to send her a conciliatory smile across the dining room table. “I’ll see you later. I still have something to take care of.”

My stolen earrings, the bloodletting ritual, and this creature in the river . . . all of that was still haunting my thoughts. Alex apparently couldn’t or didn’t want to help me understand these mysterious events.

“I don’t know anything about it,” he said when I brought up the subject. “It may be that I used to know something, but I can’t remember anymore.” And he looked so tortured every time I asked that I soon left him in peace.

So I would have to get to the bottom of things myself. I had decided to play detective. This afternoon I wanted to ask Iris a few unpleasant questions.

On my way to the Stonebrooks’ house, I came across Jay on the dock. He seemed to be talking with someone who was hidden by the bushes. Curious, I went a little closer. But when I reached the dock, I couldn’t see anyone but Jay, who was throwing stones into the water. Strange. For a moment, I thought maybe Jay was talking to himself, but that couldn’t be it. That would be too crazy.

“Hi, Jay. Who were you just talking to?” I asked innocently.

He kept his gaze fixed on the river. “Alina.” Another stone pierced the water’s surface with a splash. Jay hurled them as if he wanted to give the river a beating.

I observed him from the side and just couldn’t control my stupid tongue. “Did you two get into an argument?”

“No! Well, maybe a little.” With an unusually forceful movement, Jay turned toward me and glared at me defiantly, almost with animosity. “Alina is my best friend! I’ll never forget her. Never!” he added for emphasis. It sounded a little like something he had memorized.

“Okay. It’s alright, I get it!” I said, astonished. Why was he reacting so strangely? Carefully, I tried to test the waters and see what else Jay might tell me: “Your friend Alina sounds like quite an interesting person. Does she go to our school?”

Jay blinked at me in confusion, as if this question had never occurred to him before. “Uh, no . . .” he replied hesitantly.

“Then she drives to a school in the city every day? That’s a long way to go! I mean, she lives here in the neighborhood, right? I’d really like to meet her.”

Jay suddenly seemed nervous. “I don’t think that would be a good idea,” he whispered into my ear so fast that his tongue almost tripped over the syllables, “because Alina doesn’t like you!”

“But why not?” I exclaimed indignantly. “She doesn’t even know me!”

Maybe it was just the light, but Jay’s different-colored eyes seemed more noticeable to me than usual today: blue and green-brown . . .

Nervously, he looked around and whispered, “Alina is jealous. And angry, very angry!”

I opened my mouth to ask what he meant by that, but just at that moment, he touched my chest.

I froze. But Jay only touched the silver chain with the cross and twirled it in his fingers. “Ah, so
you’re
wearing the chain now! Skip gave it to you, didn’t he? That was clever of him. It will look out for you; that’s good. It will protect you.”

That’s exactly what Alex had said.

“What’s the necklace supposed to protect me from?” I asked with irritation. “From the shadow that leaves behind wet footprints and dead fish? Hey, stay here!”

But before I could press Jay for any more information, he had already rushed past me. As I watched him running off, it occurred to me that he had been more hunched over than usual in the past few weeks, as if something were bending his back . . .

There was something strange about this family. I was becoming more and more convinced that there was some secret that all the Stonebrooks were entangled in like an invisible web. But where was the point where all the threads came together? There had to be some kind of explanation! Even if I hadn’t discovered it yet.

Maybe you should just leave this alone,
whispered a warning voice inside me. But I couldn’t do it. It was too late. Whatever it might be, I was already in way too deep to stop now.

I turned and walked toward the Stonebrooks’ house. When you find a dead fish in your bedroom, you’re entitled to a few answers.

I found Iris in the kitchen bent over a pot she was stirring with abandon, as if it were a magic potion. “Hello. Are you looking for Alexander?” she asked when she noticed me.

“No, um, actually I wanted to talk with you.”

“Well! That’s a surprise. I thought you had completely forgotten about me, old woman that I am,” she said dryly, but a seldom smile brightened her face. “Have a seat, then! Would you like to try my lekvar?” And immediately she handed me her wooden spoon, completely coated with a thick, black goo. Under her expectant gaze, I had no other choice than to try it. The pungent taste of plums seasoned with cinnamon and cloves filled my mouth.