The 13th: Frozen Destiny (2 page)

She frowned. Had something happened while she was sick?

#

“Claire,” she said her name out loud. “The girl with straight, mousy brown hair.” She leaned closer to the silver surface of the mirror to better distinguish the colour of her eyes. “Brown.” But not the warm colour of chocolate, but dull light brown. Her nose was slightly too wide and her chin too strong to be called beautiful, but if she put on make-up to enlarge her eyes and to highlight her cheekbones, she would be pretty. She smiled. Her smile was sort of cute. She puffed her cheeks and patted them with her hands as she exhaled. “This is you, Claire. This is you. You are not beautiful, but you are not ugly either. That's something, isn't it? You do look tired though.” Even after a nap.

A knock on the door and Mandy called, “Are you ready yet?”

“Almost.” She put on some mascara, a dash of lip gloss and a brush of blush to cover the fatigue that lingered as a dull greyness in her skin. She tied her shoulder-length hair in a low ponytail before she left the bathroom.

“We are going to be late.” Mandy tossed her a light blue sweater; which vibrant sky blue had faded with wear to a grey blue. It was faded like everything in this school, the colour of the walls, floors and furniture, even the students' skin looked washed out, but that was probably because of the flu that put the majority of them into their beds for a week.

“They are not going to leave without us.” Claire draped the sweater around her shoulders and knotted the sleeves. She would have preferred to skip the party that a few students had organized in the clearing on the west side of the forest that spread out behind their boarding school, but since they had already made the plans, she didn’t want to be the one ruining them. The gathering had been organised without permission from the school administration, which meant they would have to sneak out. Because of lax supervision, that wouldn’t pose any problems to them. They would have to be careful, though, when leaving the protective walls of the converted monastery, since the teacher's lounge in the upper level of the south wing overlooked the expanse of lawn they needed to cross.

“They might. You know how boys are.” Kate, who sat on Mandy's bed, stood.

“Tyler would never do that,” Claire said. She would have said, ‘neither would Ethan,’ but Kate had told her that Ethan had said he would join them later.

“You are right.” Kate plastered a smile on her face. “Let's go.”

The girls’ rooms were in the east wing and the boys’ in the west, both with an entry point in the common hall and connected by a gallery that overlooked the inner yard. Tyler and Ryan were waiting for them in the common hall, perched on the sofa watching a black-and-white telly, the only television in the dorm.

Together they went outside and climbed up the low sloped ribbon of grass that led to the forest. After a twenty-minute walk among the high trees they could already see the yellow dot of a bonfire in the twilight and hear the faint sounds of music. A few more minutes and they found themselves at the edge of the crowd. Some of them were dancing to the music of guitars and home-made drums; some stood by the fire, cups in their hands, their silhouettes outlined by the warm glow of the fire.

Somebody pushed a cup into Claire’s hand and she took a sip, expecting beer, but the liquid she tasted burned her tongue and throat. She coughed.

“Home-made brandy,” Kate said over the music and chatter of people.

“It seems everything is home-made here,” Claire said to herself.

“Huh?” Kate's eyebrows rose up.

“Can we move closer to the fire?” Claire removed the sweater from her shoulders and put it on. It was summer and yet she always seemed to be cold; because of the flu, most likely. The fact that the school was nestled under a hill that blocked the sun in the afternoons didn't help, either. There was not much sun here and the light pouring over the hilltop and through the forest that overlooked the school was dimmed and without warmth.

“There's Ethan.” Kate lifted her hand and waved.

Claire followed her gaze. Yes, there he was, her boyfriend. Her mouth curled into a smile on its own, but when the blond came closer and he stopped to whisper something in Kate’s ear, her lips narrowed. She averted her gaze and it landed on Ryan, who stood beside her, staring at the two. Her eyes moved to Mandy and Tyler. Tyler had his arm wrapped around Mandy's shoulder and he was saying something to her with his head bent. They looked so perfect together. A ghost of a smile appeared on her face, then her eyes focused back on the boy who wore heavy thick eyeliner around his eyes, a lip ring, and tight black clothes with zippers and chains. She had never seen Kate wearing any make-up, or without her long black hair in a braid, and she always wore casual, slightly baggy clothes. She and Ryan seemed such an odd couple. But ‘odd couple’ could be applied to her and Ethan too. The mouse and the beauty, that's how she would have described them. But the beauty didn't matter to Ethan, it actually burdened him. She walked over to the blond and looped her arm around his. “You are late.”

An action like that usually resulted in a smile and a twinkle in his eyes. And yet, when his eyes lowered to hers, a scowl marred his face and for a moment she thought that he would yank his arm away from her. “I'm sorry. I had something to do.”

“That project again?”

“Yes.” This time he did smile, but she had used enough placating smiles herself to recognize a fake one.

Ethan exchanged glances with Kate.

Claire’s eyes landed on Kate.

Kate, who noticed Claire staring at her, gave her a small smile before she turned to Ryan.

Kate and Mandy were good friends; it was only natural that Ethan, who was Mandy's brother, had a good relationship with Kate. Claire wondered how long they had known each other. Later, when the boys went in search of something less alcoholic and Kate had disappeared somewhere, she joined Mandy on the log by the bonfire. First she made a small talk, then when it seemed appropriate she casually asked, “How long have you known Kate?”

“Since we moved from Japan, a year ago.”

“A year? But... we have been roommates for three years now.” A feeling of unease washed over her and the fine hair on the back of her neck stood up.

“Oh, yeah.” A small crease cut between Mandy's eyebrows. “I don't know why I said that. We must have come from Japan three years ago, then. The time sure flies by.”

“Are you sure?”

“Why wouldn't I be?”

“I don't know.” Claire shrugged her shoulders. “It’s just... it's weird, isn't it?” From the corner of her eye she noticed Tyler and Ryan turning left and right, probably looking for them.

“What is? -- Tyler!” Mandy lifted her arm. “Here.”

The boys came to them. Tyler juggled three glass bottles of what appeared to be root beer. He gave one to Mandy, one to her, then sat down on the log beside Mandy. He put his arm around her shoulder.

Mandy, with a light blush on her cheeks, snuggled closer, sipping at the bottle in her hands.

“Where's Ethan?” Claire asked Ryan, who sat beside her.

“He said there's something he has to do.”

Claire opened the old swing-top lid of the bottle and took a sip. Lately, Ethan had quite a lot to do.

#

The light dimmed by the thick, dirty glass drew grotesque silhouettes on the dark stone floor and the bookshelves. Claire leaned close to the shelf as she moved her finger from spine to spine, reading the titles. She found a spine void of any title and she pulled it out. A cloud of dust lifted and she coughed, then waved her hand to disperse the greyish fog. She had found two books in the pile on the table pushed against the wall, near the door. One was Dickens's
David Copperfield
and the other Gaskell's
North and South
. She had already read both of the novels and she didn't mind reading them again, but she would have loved to find a mystery, something she hadn't read yet, to occupy her brain. She would even have been satisfied with some Christie story, though she had read all of them. But all this large, deserted and dusty library had was bunch of old books -- most of them written in Latin -- and quite a large number of Bibles. There were also a lot of guides on plants.

She sighed, her eyes darting over the shelves against the walls, then up at the vaulted ceiling laced with cobwebs. The whole building, including her modestly furnished room, showed neglect and lack of funds.

She sighed again and picked up the two books she had put at the edge of thick oak table. She wiped them with the edge of her cardigan and then, with them under her arm, left the library. In the hallway she turned right and left, then left again, than right again. A few steps and she should have come to the stairway leading up to the east wing, instead she came to a dead end.

She stared at the stone wall. In her mind she reviewed the path she had taken, trying to figure out where she had turned wrong. The third left? She turned around and retraced her footsteps. She arrived at a staircase, but not the one that led to girls' rooms, she was certain. She heard the screech of wood coming from above. Even though she had just thought how good it would be to run into someone she could ask for direction, she panicked and hid in the empty space behind the stairs.

What's wrong with you?
she silently chided herself as she peeked from between the stairs. Ethan's evasion and the lack of attention and care he had so freely bestowed on her in the past was probably getting to her. She didn't believe he was falling out of love; he couldn't. Love was a precious and fragile feeling. Without nurture it could fade away so easily, especially a teenage love, a young love. But Ethan and she... the ties that held them together couldn't be so easily broken.

First appeared a pair of tennis shoes, then jeans, a black sweater and at last a tuft of blonde hair. She only saw the back of the head, but she would have recognized it anywhere. She opened her mouth and took a step aside, ready to call to him, but the ‘E’ of his name stuck in her throat.

He stepped off the last stair and continued down the hallway.

She had asked him what project occupied him so and he had murmured something incomprehensible and quickly changed the subject. She didn’t even know which class he was doing it for. For all she knew, the ‘project’ could be just a lie to get her off his back.

He turned around the corner.

She should have called after him, she really should have, but this was her chance to learn what he was up to. She darted behind him. Slowly, cautiously, she followed him, keeping close to the cold stone walls, flinching and diving low every time he slowed down or glanced over his shoulder. She was close behind until he disappeared for the fourth time around a corner and when, after a few seconds she carefully peeked after him, a wall awaited her. Dead end. This wall wasn't made of stone, but was covered with wooden panels. She pressed her ear against it.

Silence.

She slid her fingers over the rough grooves of the wood, searching for slots or parts that could be pushed in.

A cough.

She whirled around and hid her hands behind her back.

Heavily lined eyes stared at her, under black spikes of hair.

“Hi, Ryan.” She nudged up her chin in greeting. “What are you doing?”

“Shouldn't I be asking you that?”

“I was just...” She waved her hand. “Well...” She stepped past him. “It was nice seeing you.”

“You were following him, weren't you?” He fell into step with her.

She pinched her eyebrows. “What? Who?”

“You don't have to play stupid.”

“I don't know what you mean?”

“I was following him, too.”

Her step slowed down. “Why?”

“You lost him, didn't you?”

She stopped. She pressed her lips together, scrutinising his face as if she might find an answer there as to why he had been following Ethan. She should have expressed her thoughts out loud, it wasn’t as if she had something to lose by asking him. “Why did you follow him?”

He didn't answer right away and for a long moment she thought that he wouldn’t, but then he spoke up, his voice low and hesitant as if he were being forced to tell her. “He and Kate... Kate has been quite mysterious lately and I think it has something to do with him.”

“He doing a school project for extra credit.”

“And you bought that?”

“He is not cheating.” Even though it had been ages since they had kissed, Ethan would never stoop so low as to cheat on her. If -- and this was only hypothetical -- he had fallen out of love, he would have told her, he would never do it behind her back. Never.

“I never said he was,” Ryan said. “Or that she was. It's just... you know?”

Yeah. It was just that things were not as right as if they should be. She had thought that she was imagining things, especially since Mandy never confessed to having the same doubts, too distracted by Tyler, most likely. Claire couldn't help but smile. Mandy, despite her tall and athletic body, most often reminded her of a cute puppy. She and Tyler, with all their blushing and shyness, made such a lovely couple.

He rubbed his neck.