Forgotten Self (Forgotten Self #1) (5 page)

Apprehension begins to flow through me. “I – I've never even been here.” So much for playing it co
ol. But I couldn't play it cool because I suddenly knew he knew something.

He shakes his head slowly. “No, you've been here many times, Abigail.”

I'm sure my whole face is a frown at the moment. “What are you talking about?” This is getting weird, fast.

H
e reaches a hand out as if to touch me but pulls it back at the last second. “You shouldn't go to see her alone anymore. It's not safe.”

I jump off the car. “What the -? Are you stalking me or something?” My feet step backwards. How could he know?

He stan
ds, hands up and open in a placating gesture. “No, it's not like that.”

My anxiety is on overdrive. Nobody knows about our place. How does he know Kelly? The cemetery? And beyond that, something about this place doesn't feel right. I'm forgetting somethin
g. I back up a few more steps.

“
I think you should go,” I tell him, pulling out my cell phone.

He drops his hands. “I can't just leave you here.”

Just as quickly as my anxiety came, it's replaced with frustration. “What, you think I can't handle myself? T
hat I won't be able to find my way back? I'd rather walk the ten miles home than get back in that car with you, the new guy who knows way too much about me.”

Lucas' face is apologetic. “It'll be safer if you just let me take you home.” The way he says 'hom
e' makes my stomach drop. I shake my head but he tries again. “I won't say anything at all. And I'm sorry that I've frightened you. Believe me, it wasn't what I intended.”

“
So what were you intending then, genius?”

He says nothing.

“
Fine, go. I'm not gett
ing in that car unless you tell me why you know something you shouldn't.”

Lucas rubs his hands over his face. “I'm not used to the way things work here.” He looks back at me. “Abigail, I -”

Suddenly, I gasp. The sun has completely disappeared now. Faintly,
but clearly, I can see a shimmer. It's a glow just like Kelly's, but brighter. And it's around Lucas.

I turn and run down the mountain.

The rocks are slippery and I've fallen more than a few times, but I don't stop. When I first started running, I'd he
ard Lucas calling behind me but it is quiet now. Other than the rocks sliding underneath me and my loud breathing. “Guess I need to get on that treadmill,” I try and joke to myself, but it's really not that funny.

It's a while before I stop to take a brea
k. I sit on a big, flat rock and take large gulps of air. What have I gotten myself into? I check my cell phone. No bars. While my breathing quiets down, I lay back and look up at the stars, keeping an ear out for any creepy boy footsteps. Out here, a bit
beyond the light pollution, they are gorgeous. I want to touch them.

The stars' beauty is distracting, but after a few minutes I sit up to review my options. I can stay here until morning comes and continue down the mountain, but I can't keep going now. M
y reason has somewhat returned and I know it's way too dangerous. The other option is to make my way across the slope back to the road and hope that someone passes by. Or I'd really be walking ten miles. I decide that the latter is the best option and star
t trekking my way back to the road.

After twenty minutes – and more than one branch hitting me in the face – I can see the outline of the road. I quicken my step and reach it in no time. But as I look up and down the road I see no cars, no airports, and de
finitely no teleportation devices. “Of course,” I tell no one. This line is quickly becoming my catch-phrase.

I start to make my way down the side of the road. Now that I'm not scrambling across rocks, my mind is reeling over what I'd just seen. How could
Lucas have had the same glow? Does that mean I really hadn't been hallucinating the whole time with Kelly? Or does it mean
–
I stop walking. The shine of headlights is coming up the road. A thought occurs to me that this might be Lucas so I step back behin
d a bush, hoping it's not. The car slows down as it nears my location; my heartbeat speeds up. When it stops in front of me I nearly pass out.

The window rolls down. “Abigail, are you out here?”

My mouth drops open. It's Jonathan. I rush up to his car and
quickly get in. “How did you...?”

Jonathan pulls his car around in order to head back down the mountain.“Lucas showed up at your house. He told me you freaked out and ran away. That I should go find you.”

“
But how did you know right where I was?”

He shifts
to a higher gear. “I thought I saw someone standing on the road when I turned the bend.”

I want to say something but I don't know what to say. I finally come out with, “Thanks.”

He's upset. “Why would you do something like that, Abby? That was so stupid.
You could've hurt yourself, or gotten picked up by someone dangerous on the road.” His voice raises to a volume I've never heard.

I'm tongue-tied. “Well, I – I don't know. I just...” A feeling of guilt washes over me. I probably had acted rashly. So a new
guy knows a couple random things about me, so what? And the glow was just some moon reflection or something. I'm disbelieving it as I think it, but I still feel bad. “I'm sorry,” I say.

Jonathan looks over at me. “Don't apologize, just be careful.”

It take
s a few minutes of me mentally arguing with myself before I make a decision. “Jonny.” I use a nickname I haven't used with him since eighth grade.

“
What, Abigail?” His voice is softer now.

“
I have to tell you something.”

6

J
onathan is completely expressionless as I explain to him all the strange events I've experienced, starting with the glow that surrounded Kelly. I finish my monologue with what happened with Lucas earlier tonight. I intentionally leave out the part about th
e graveside visits – and Lucas watching me.

“
I don't know, Jonathan. I mean, when I met him I got a weird vibe but I never expected
that
.”

We are inside the city limits now and he slows the car way down. “Yes, that is unexpected,” he replies.

I look back a
t him from the window. “That's all you have to say? I was stuck with a creepy boy who turns out to be a psycho boy and that's it?”

Jonathan shrugs. “I don't think he sounds psychotic at all. Weird? Definitely. But it's not like he came after you with a cha
insaw.”

“
Give him a few days.”

He raises an eyebrow at me and continues. “Lucas obviously knows some things that are strange for him to know. But before you jump to any conclusions, you should find out how he knows them. And then find out why.” He takes a
deep breath, seeming inexplicably disappointed. “Who knows? Maybe it's a totally innocent reason.”

Something about the way Jonathan says this tells me that he doesn't believe that at all. In any case, we quit talking about it and I look back out the window
, watching trees and houses fly by. I'm kind of glad he didn't bring up everything else I'd told him. One thing at a time.

We pass the sign that welcomes us into my neighborhood. Someone standing next to the sign raises a hand in greeting. I look back at t
he person, but I can't see him anymore. “Did you see who that was?”

“
Who?” He asks me this distractedly.

“
Um, not sure. Someone was standing by the sign back there. He did a still-wave thing.” Jonathan gives me a quizzical look, so I show him.

“
What was h
e wearing?”

“
Black. That's all I saw.” Of course, at this moment the figure from Salem canyon pops into my head. No way. Not the same thing. I shove it out of my head and say nothing. There's no need for this night to get any weirder.

Morning comes, but
it's dark. I open my eyes and feel – rested. I stretch contentedly. I haven't gotten a good night's sleep in so long. The wind has picked up and from my bed I can hear hail hitting the windows and roof with loud pings.

“
About time, storm. We've been wait
ing,” I grumble and get up. Sure enough, when I look out the window dark clouds are swirling in the sky and a couple massacred tree branches roll down the street. The sounds of the storm make me shudder. I've never understood my aversion to storms. Must be
some childhood psychological-something.

Shaking it off, I hum and walk to the bathroom to take a shower. When I flip the switch, however, no juice. An expletive here, an expletive there, and then I'm running down the stairs for the breaker box. Jonathan s
teps right in front of me, interrupting my most likely futile mission.

“
Woah!” I yell, and slide down the last two steps. Luckily I grab the banister before any permanent damage can occur.

“
WTF, Jonathan? Spooky much?” I glare at him, but secretly I'm tha
nkful to not be alone. I'd forgotten he was here.

“
Sorry, Abby.”

I brush past him and make my way down the basement stairs. I say this is a futile mission because I am sure the storm knocked down a power line instead of a breaker just tripping, but one can
hope. It's pitch dark down here. I'll be the first one to admit that I don't like the dark, but a dark enclosed space is even worse. So pretty much I hate unlit basements. As I reach the last step I pause and clear my throat.

“
Jonathan?”

“
Yes?” He's righ
t behind me and, startled, I jump the rest of the way into the basement.

“
Je
sus,
” I snap, but again I'm glad to not be alone. I reach blindly out for the breaker box, feeling along the walls until my hand feels metal. Then I about smack myself in the foreh
ead. “I have no light.”

A blue light glows out of nowhere. “Here.” Jonathan shines his Blackberry in my direction.

As I had suspected, when I open the box all the breakers are flipped the right way. “Well, that blows.”

We maneuver back through the darkne
ss and head upstairs to eat breakfast. I get a couple texts from people – those who have the blessing of working electricity – celebrating the TV's announcement that school has been closed.

“
No school?” Jonathan asks when I smile. I give him a thumbs up i
n reply.

Despite our day off of school, there's not much to do. I try to go back to sleep but the storm is much too loud. Looking out the window reveals a lot more tree damage than an hour before. I resignedly get dressed and go back downstairs. Jonathan
is sitting at the kitchen counter, reading.

“
What book is that?” I grab a water bottle from the pantry.

He doesn't look up. “Team of Rivals.”

I make a questioning sound. He hears this and tells me, “It's about Lincoln, you geek.”

“
Doesn't sound like I'm
the one who's a geek,” I say under my breath.

I'm about to go back to my room when Jonathan snaps his book shut and looks up at me. “We should talk.”

“
What, about last night?”

“
Yeah, that. And other things.”

My hands tingle just a little bit. “Like what?”

He's quiet for a moment. A branch snaps violently against the kitchen window, making me jump, but he acts like he doesn't even notice.

“
What
, Jonathan?”

His long, slender fingers rub his eyes. Piano fingers, my mother had once called them. “It's about Luc
as.”

The branch hits the window again and this time I don't move. “You know something?”

Jonathan seems to be debating whether or not to continue. After a moment he says, “I think you should stay away from him.”

“
Why?”

He looks down at the counter. “He's no
t...”

“
Not what?” My foot is actually impatiently tapping now.

His eyes bore into mine. “Just tell me you won't go off alone with him again.”

My foot stops mid-tap and my tension deflates. “That's it?” I guess I'd been expecting an explanation or something
. But what would he know?

Jonathan clears his throat uncomfortably and nods. “Last night is reason enough.”