In the River Darkness (11 page)

Of course, I had been to other parties in the city, even snuck into a nightclub. But nothing had prepared me for what would happen that night.

It was one of those summer nights when people toss and turn in their damp sheets, too restless to sleep. The heat of the July day still clung heavily to everything. I could feel it radiating from the pavement through the soles of my sandals as I walked along the path to the pool. Even the leaves on the trees seemed to reflect the sun’s burning rays, and even though it was almost ten o’clock at night, it was astonishingly bright out.

As I drew closer to the park, I could hear high-spirited voices and booming music, like the beating of an enormous heart.

The gatehouse was deserted, and the gates to the swimming pool stood wide open. Behind them, shadowy figures moved around in the twilight. It looked like half the teenagers in town were gathered here, especially judging by the number of inflatable mats floating around the black surface of the water. I even spotted the plastic outline of a Caribbean island, complete with palm trees!

On the cement slabs, a big bonfire burned. I moved toward the group standing around it. Some people were dancing to the music. The flames threw flickering light on their bare skin, since most of the guests were only wearing bathing suits. In my black top and gypsy skirt, I felt like a crane surrounded by beautiful birds of paradise.

Laughter surrounded me, and the crackle of sparks flew skyward like tiny orange fireflies. Faces appeared in the circle of light from the fire and then faded back into the night, but none of them belonged to Alex.

I did see his brother, though. His head tilted to the side, a fist pressed against his ear, Jay was crouched on the opposite side of the fire. Finally, someone I could talk to.

“Hey, Jay!” I called, making my way toward him. “What are you doing there?”

Slowly, Jay uncurled his fist—and showed me a tiny voice recorder in the palm of his hand. “I’m recording my own Four Seasons,” he explained in a serious tone.

“Uh huh,” I replied, only slightly interested. “Where’s your brother? I haven’t even said happy birthday yet.”

Jay closed his eyes briefly and listened, then pointed, without looking, in the distance. “Over there!”

Sure enough, there he stood with his friend Wolf and a couple other guys. The whole group didn’t give the impression of being especially sober anymore.

“Happy birthday, Alex!” I gave him a hug, even though it felt kind of weird to me in front of his staring friends. “Here’s your present,” I said awkwardly, handing him my package.

“Ooooh,” Wolf said with a leer. “Come on guys, I think we’re in the way here.” With whistles and jeers, they went away.

“I hope you like it,” I said as Alex unwrapped his present.

After much deliberation, I had finally decided on a little travel atlas because Alex had once told me that his greatest desire was to move away from this hick town. “I want to travel and see the world, you know, Mia? The ocean!”

As he tore open the wrapping paper, I was already anticipating the excitement I had seen in his eyes then. But no, there wasn’t even a hint of it! Alex just leafed through the pages covered with pictures of exotic places and muttered, “Cool, thanks.”

I was disappointed, maybe even a little insulted. Alex didn’t even notice. He looked right past me, as if he didn’t know I was there. “Is . . . are you okay?” I asked hesitantly, staring at him.

“Yeah, sure. Everything’s great!” he answered, but his eyes flickered as he spoke. “And you, are you having a good time?”

“Mmmm.”

“Me, too. Do you want a beer?” Without waiting for an answer, he tried to casually open a beer bottle. “Damn!” The bottle opener had slipped and cut his hand. Alex sucked on the bleeding wound, then spit it out and laughed.

Usually, I got a warm feeling in my stomach when he laughed, but now I wished he would stop it. It was giving me goose bumps.

“That works, too,” Alex laughed, and let a few drops of blood fall into his bottle of beer. “Now we can drink a blood oath! Hey, Jay, remember how we used to do that?” he called over to his younger brother.

“Sure!” Jay came trotting over to us. For the second time that evening, I was glad to see him.

“What kind of ancient macho ritual is that?” I joked, trying to hide my insecurity. “You two must have watched too many Western movies when you were little!”

“This isn’t a stupid kid’s game!” Alex snapped at me unexpectedly. “It means that you’re there for each other—that you can really count on each other!”

“Exactly!” Jay echoed. He explained, looking professional, “Blood brothers stick together forever. Nothing in the world can come between them! They don’t have any secrets from each other.”

No secrets.
I had to think of Nicolas then, and that I had absolutely no intention of telling Alex anything about him or that whole sorry episode.

I swallowed. “And if you can’t keep this blood oath?” I protested. Both brothers stared at me. “I just mean those are really high standards, aren’t they?” I squeaked in a small voice.

“Anyone who breaks the oath is a traitor,” Alex replied coldly. But it was Jay’s words that scared me more: “If you broke the oath, it would make everyone very unhappy,” he said quietly and sadly. “Then each of us would be all alone.”

I had a safety pin on my skirt. Ceremoniously, Jay and I pricked our fingers with it and let a few drops of blood fall into the bottle of beer. Then the bottle was passed around.

Each of the three of us took a swig. I threw mine back so fast that I almost choked on it—yuck, was that revolting!

“Do you feel it? Now we’re bound together for ever and ever!” Alex said. His face glowed in the firelight. I didn’t feel anything. Instead, I asked myself in what kind of a freakish place I had landed here.

Suddenly, we heard a loud splash. The people who had been standing around the bonfire streamed over to the pool as if something were being given away for free.

“I don’t believe it, they’re actually starting without me! Wait for me, you idiots!” Alex yelled, and off he went.

I turned to Jay. “Can you please explain to me what’s going on with your brother?” For the first time since I’d known him, Jay seemed sad.

“It’s because Skip always gets a package on his birthday. Photos from his mother.”

His choice of words was odd; after all, Katarina was
his
mother, too.

“But today he didn’t get any pictures,” Jay concluded with a sigh, as if he had just explained everything. He gestured toward the party, the fire slowly burning down. “All of this is just ashes in the wind for Skip, nothing but ashes.”

I was still thinking about this comment as we quickly moved toward the swimming pool, too. Lots of kids were already sitting on the edge of the pool, dangling their legs in the water and eagerly staring up at the diving tower. “Come on, get on with it, you cowards!” someone yelled.

That’s when I first noticed the divers up on the high dive. Their silhouettes were only vague against the backdrop of the star-studded night sky. Animated by the cheers and whistles of the crowd, they took a running start and plunged from the tower into the void. They smacked the surface of the water in such quick succession that their bodies seemed to almost touch each other in the air.

Impressive fountains of spray spouted up. The water drops sparkled in the moonlight, soaked the hem of my skirt, and covered the faces of the screaming spectators.

“Splaaaassshh!” cried Jay, who was standing next to me. He drew out the letters in such a unique way that it sounded astonishingly like an actual spray of water.

“So why aren’t you up there with them? Don’t you want to prove how brave and manly you are?” I asked in a teasing way.

But Jay just looked at me uncomprehendingly. “I don’t like it. You could fall up there . . . fall out of the world.”

His words got lost in the hoots and jeers of the crowd because the divers’ tricks were getting harder and riskier. Wolf did a somersault and Matt surfaced after a cannonball, coughing and spitting out water.

And then came Alex.

Swaying slightly he stepped onto the diving board and bowed, like the ringmaster at a circus, to his audience. Suddenly, everything grew quiet; only the water gurgled as it slapped against the edge of the pool. I didn’t want to believe my eyes when I saw what came next: Alex did a handstand up there at the end of the diving board—ten feet up in the air!

He could break his neck!
Have you completely lost your mind!
I wanted to yell at him, but it was too late.

Slowly, almost in slow motion, Alex let himself tip over toward the water.

My heart pounded in fear like a broken lawn mower. Instinctively, I closed my eyes, and only opened them again when everyone around me broke into wild applause.

Then I saw Alex, all in one piece, climbing out of the pool. He disappeared into the darkness, and the crowd of spectators gradually broke up, too.

“Wow, that was the best jump Alex has ever done!” Jay said, next to me, deeply impressed.

“That was a completely idiotic, suicidal show!” I said through gritted teeth. My heartbeat had slowed down by then, but anger and concern remained. “Come on, Jay, help me look for this crazy nut before he accidently kills himself with one of his stunts!”

We finally found Alex at the top of the diving platform, where he lay stretched out flat on the diving board. He stared dully into the water, where a shaky moon was reflected, almost full and so blindingly white it looked like someone had cut a piece out of the black night sky with a sharp blade.

I stayed close to the exit and held tight to the railing. Just looking around was making me dizzy.

“What are you doing up here?” I said cautiously, not wanting to scare him.

“I’m trying to remember,” Alex replied, then took a swig from his beer.

“What?”

But he didn’t answer.

Somehow, I finally managed to convince Alex that he’d be a whole lot more comfortable in his bed than up there on the diving platform. Together with Jay, I steered him toward home.

“You’re my angel, Mia,” Alex mumbled as I helped him to his feet when he stumbled. In gratitude, he tried to plant a big kiss on my cheek. He stank of alcohol. Disgusted, I turned my head. Jay giggled.

I came within an inch of leaving the two brothers stranded in the middle of nowhere—the two of them could figure out how to make their way home without me. But just an hour earlier I had drunk their blood, and I felt obligated, somehow.

That, however, was before Alex started singing sentimental songs about lonesome sailors. I was starting to understand how he had come by the nickname Skip! On top of everything, Jay joined in with a rousing “What should we do with a drunken sailor!”

“Ssshhhhhh,” I warned as we navigated the narrow steps inside their house. “Or do you want to wake up your grandmother?”

That got their attention. Jay disappeared into his room, and I thought what a relief it would be to slip away and go home.

But instead, Alex grabbed my hand and pulled me into his dark room. “Wait—I want to show you something.”

Carefully, as if it could disintegrate into dust any moment, he placed something cool and smooth in the palm of my hand. It was a large shell. The mother-of-pearl lining the inside caught the moonlight, and it glistened like a hidden treasure.