Boy from the Woods (9781311684776) (16 page)

Jul
ia gaped mutely at her friend
for a second.
“He
wasn’t
.”

“He was.”
Gaby opened a beer can and gulped down a few
generous swigs. Julia picked up a can of beer herself, mindlessly
turning it around in her hands.

“I can’t
believe I’m saying this, but I think you should give him another
chance,” Gaby continued. “That look on his face, in his eyes. There
was so much emotion.
Just… I don’t know.”

Julia bit her lip.
“So where is he now?”

“No idea. He’ll be
back.
You want to talk to
him?”

“I don’t
know.” Julia gulped down half her can of beer before anxiously
looking around.
Silke and Donna were just walking up
to them.

“You were so cool!”
Donna beamed at Julia. “Who wrote the second
song?”

“I did.”

“No way!
Really? You should totally record that some
time. I’d buy it on iTunes any day.”

Silke vehemently nodded in agreement. “I’m
going to make you a regular at all my parties. The audience loved
your little show.”

The four
girls sat down on the plastic lounge chairs around the
fountain.
Michael was nowhere to be seen.

“What is that pendant
you’re wearing?”
Gaby asked curiously,
pointing at a small, multi-colored plastic ball dangling from the
chain around Silke’s neck. “Are there beads inside that
ball?”

“No,
they’
re dried rowan berries. The rowan
tree is my Celtic protection tree. Everybody has a tree assigned to
their date of birth, according to the Druids’ thirteen-month
system.”

“That’s one
too many,” Donna observed dryly.

Silke
chuckled. “They use a lunar calendar, so thirteen months is just
enough.
That’s why their astrology is different,
too.”

Julia’s interest was
piqued.
“Which tree belongs to me? My
birthday is at the beginning of March.”

“The ash
tree,” Silke replied. “The sorceress tree. You are a creative
dreamer with a tendency to run from the real world.
And you communicate with nature.”

Gaby giggled.
“Those Druids have Julia down to a tee.
What about me? Beginning of April?”

“The alder tree. The
trailblazer, the pioneer.
You don’t care
about other people’s opinion and go your own way, even if you
always surround yourself with a lot of friends.”

“That’s crazy,” Gaby
mumbled. “And eerie.
I really am like
that. Do you have some books I can borrow?
You’ve made
me a Druid fan.”

Julia remembered Michael’s
birthday.
“Which tree belongs to the
third of July?” she blurted out without thinking. Gaby elbowed her
in the ribs.

“Oh, that is
a really nice one,” Silke answered with a smile. “It’s actually the
tree tha
t the Druids were named after –
the oak tree.”

Suddenly
, Julia had a flashback
to Michael stretched out under the oak tree in the woods, his head
lying in a pool of blood. The look in his eyes when he woke up and
recognized her. It made her shiver. She couldn’t quite put her
finger on why this was strange, but it was.
It was
bizarre.

“I don’t see the connection between oaks and
Druids,” Donna said with a frown.

“The Celtic
name for
oak
is
duir
. That’s the word their name
derives from. As it so happens, the word also means
door
, as
they believed the oak was a doorway between this world and another
reality. Druids would meditate under oak trees to communicate with
supernatural beings,” Silke chattered on, clearly on her hobby
horse. “The oak is a symbol for longevity and represents the power
of lightning.”

Julia stared
at Silke in surprise. “Lightning?” Once again, she couldn’t help
thinking of the thunderstorm that had raged when she’d found
Michael.

“Yes. Oak trees are often struck by
lightning. The oak binds the life-giving powers of the lightning
bolt and the nurturing powers of the earth, opening a temporary
vortex or gateway to the other side on Midsummer’s Day.”

“Hey,
dinner’s ready, High Priestess!” Marco grinned as he approached
their little gathering, shoving his sister playfully. “I can hear
where this conversation is going. You want me to fetch your hooded
cloak and staff?”

Silke thumped
him on the shoulder. “You just don’t get it.”

Julia didn’t
really get it, either, but she felt like she was onto something.
All
the things Silke had mentioned in
correlation with Michael’s horoscope… that couldn’t be coincidence.
As soon as she got home tonight she’d fire up her computer and
Google anything and everything about the Celtic belief system and
the alleged powers of the oak.

A new batch
of hamburgers
and buns was put on the
table. “Could you make me one with lots of ketchup?”
Julia asked Gaby.
“I really need to
use the toilet. I’ll be right back.”

She plunged
inside, stalking past the piano into the hallway, where she
fortunately found the door to the bathroom instantly.
After she was done, she took out her cell phone
and wrote herself a memo about what Silke had told them before she
forgot important details.
Tonight, the hunt for more
info was on.

Lost in
thought, Julia walked into the kitchen to wash her hands, but
stopped dead when she saw Michael sitting at the kitchen table. His
back was toward her, but he turned aroun
d
when she stepped backward.

“Hey,” he said softly. Julia stood glued to
the spot as he stood up and closed in on her.

“Hi,” she
replied
when she remembered how to use
her voice again.

He looked so
normal
and relaxed. Surely this guy who
was always so comfortable with himself couldn’t have cried over her
song? Gaby must have been seeing things.

“You played
so beautifull
y,” he said at that instant,
as if he’d read her mind. “What was that song?”

“It was mine.”

He nodded,
a
smile spreading across his handsome
face.
“I could hear that.”

All of a
sudden,
something inside of her snapped.
He was doing it
again
– talking to her as though he’d known her for
years. Using that confidential tone of voice that suggested they
had a whole history together.
But they didn’t, and it
was
his
fault.

“I wrote it for
you.
Could you hear that too?” she said,
viciously sneering. “I bet you’re wondering how and why. How I
could have been so mind-numbingly
stupid
as to write a song for
you, and why I fell in love with a guy like you who crushes my
heart, tramples the pieces and forgets about me the very first
chance he gets?”

A silence
descended in the room. Michael’s face had turned pale.
“Julia,” he mumbled, shock evident in his eyes.

She shook her head, her
hands trembling. “
Stop
it,”
she snarled. “Stop confusing me like this.
Stop giving me all this attention you didn’t think I
deserved before. Why are you doing this?
Why
?”

Her breath
hitched when he took another step forwa
rd, taking her in his arms without saying anything. His
body felt warm and his arms were protective around her, and
strangely enough all her anger subsided instantly. Her heart slowed
down even despite him being so close. He exuded a calmness she had
never felt from him before – in fact, she’d never felt this kind of
influence from
anyone
before.

This
was
how she had always imagined being in
his arms, but she’d never felt it. She’d felt the thrill of passion
between them a few weeks ago. But now, she felt
cherished
in his
arms.

“Don’t be
silly,” she stuttered
despite herself.
“Let go of me, Michael. This is embarrassing.” Her cheeks flushed
red. His arms slipped off her and he took a step backward, a sad
look crossing his face.

“I can’t let
go of you,” he softly said.
“Please,
don’t ask me that.”

Before Julia
could even respond to his puzzling remark, he turned around and
dashed off into the
yard. Sheepishly, she
stared at his retreating figure. What in God’s name was wrong with
him? As a matter of fact, what was wrong with
her
? The way she’d
crawled into his embrace as if Michael had comforted her like that
many times before – and then, her sudden snap at him, telling him
to let go of her. Julia could literally kick herself. She was
turning into the Queen of Mixed Signals – first in dealing with
Thorsten and now with Michael. And as icing on the big Cake of
Embarrassment, she’d also blurted out that she’d written her song
for
him
.
Great – just great.

With an angry
sigh, she whipped around and stalked outside, where Gaby was
waiting for her with a
big question mark
on her face.

“Where the
hell have you been
, woman? I was about to
put out an Amber Alert for you. Here you go – your cold hamburger.”
She shoved a plate into Julia’s hands.

“Yeah, I know. Sorry about
that.
I bumped into Michael in the
kitchen. We sort of had a fight, and then he tried to kiss and make
up, also sort of.”

“Oh? What
were you
guys fighting about?”

“Nothing in
particular. I don’t want to talk about it.” Julia stole a glance at
the other side of the lawn, where Marco and Michael were chatting
to another guy she didn’t know. “I went and told him I wrote that
song for him,” she muttered despite herself.

Gaby looked
at her thoughtfully. “You know what’s weird? To me it looked like
he already knew that. You know, because of the way he looked at
you
when you were playing it. Maybe
that’s why he was crying – because he was touched by the way you
felt about him… or still feel.
I don’t
know.”

Julia shook
her head
. “You’re not making sense.
He
couldn’t
have known that. You’re the only person who
knows I wrote it for him.”

Gaby glared at her.
“I
am
making sense. Something very
strange is going on with Michael. I can feel it. And yes, I know –
you already tried telling me that a few days ago and I didn’t want
to listen to it, but I just couldn’t believe it.
Sorry.”

“No problem.
I understand.”

“And by the
way, did you also notice Michael’s Celtic horoscope featuring a lot
of elements related to his accident?” Gaby continued in a hushed
tone. “You know, the lightning, the oak tree…”

“I did,
and
I was planning on investigating
tonight. Although I don’t know if I should, after that whole drama
show in the kitchen.”

“Of course you should.
You’re curious, just admit it.
Shall I
help you?”

“Yeah, I’d like that.”
Julia smiled at her friend.
“Thanks.”

After dinner,
they quickly left the party to go to Florian
’s. Julia didn’t want to spend one minute more than
necessary around Michael – she’d have to dodge him at work tomorrow
too, after all.

“I’ll pay for
ever
ything in advance,” Tamara said.
Everybody was huddled around Florian’s computer to fill out the
details for their plane tickets. With a broad grin, she flashed her
credit card.
“Please pay me back ASAP.”

“What kind of rooms are we
booking in London?”
Florian asked. “Shall
we just book one of those eight-bedded dorms?”

“You can’t be
serious,” Gaby said in mock disdain. “And us having to listen to
your snoring all night?”

“Yeah, or to
you sleep-talking in your wet dreams,” Tamara chimed in. “Oh yeah,
Moritz, like that, don’t stop…”

The girls
started to giggle and
Florian raised his
chin defiantly.
“Fine.
Have
it your way. You chicks go bunk up, the three of you. Axel and I
will stick together.”

“Where are Moritz and his band staying?” Axel
wanted to know.

“Oh,
somewhere more luxurious. Definitely outside our poor man’s
budget.”

Florian got
up and
opened the double doors leading to
the roof terrace, while Tamara finished up their booking and
printed the boarding cards. “Are you guys staying around for a
drink?” he asked.