Chapter 8

“It isn’t until the Great Owl leaves its nest for the first time that its eyes begin to open and it begins to see the forest in an entirely different light.”

Crying Shadow’s teachings of the Great Owl

Translated by Erik Livingtree

Gathering in the Copse

1

When Whitney woke up the next morning, it took her a little time to realize where she was. She came out of the depths of sleep and right away, she knew things were different—that she wasn’t at home—and she had to steal herself against her panic. She felt like a disassembled puzzle, stowed in its box, placed on a closet shelf—forgotten. She needed to put herself back together—starting from the edges—working toward the inevitable middle. She turned onto her back, careful not to let her breathing get away from her. As long as she could control that, she could maintain some semblance of calm. If she couldn’t control that, it wouldn’t be long and she’d be screaming, alarming everyone around her. There were other people around, but she had no idea who.

She couldn’t remember. That was her problem. She had no ideas about anything. That was what was so scary about it. She couldn’t remember where she was, what she was doing there, or why she wasn’t at home.

Pinky, ring, index, middle, pinky, ring, index, middle. She continued to focus on her breathing and began to look—searching her mind for clues—remaining calm. Most importantly, remaining calm.

Nothing came to her, so she turned to the only other thing she knew. There were shadows on her radar. A lot of them and they were close to her. The first one she focused on was familiar to her. It was close ... very close—right above her. A name came to her associated with it. Kat ... The girl’s name was Kat and Kat was quickly becoming the first best friend Whitney ever had.

She hated how difficult thinking was to her. Her thoughts were as dark to her as her vision and without vision, her thoughts were all she had. It was terrifying. With the name came the recognition of where she was. Kat was her friend and she met her at camp. Kam was here too, and a girl named Penny, who slept across the room. There was a girl named Jessica, and Cheyenne and Kaitlyn.

Her thoughts began to return to her slowly, but with each memory came a little more clarity, and thankfully—sanity.

That didn’t explain what happened with her memories, or ability to think straight. The events leading that point were still completely dark and the only thing poking through the dark strands of light were the facts that she was where she was and who was there with her. She sat up in the bed and put her feet to the cold cement floor. She reached out with her mind, searching for her brother, and found him. She felt an immediate sense of relief and beyond that, an immediate need to be in his proximity.

She couldn’t connect with him though, which meant he was probably still asleep. She stood and began to shake Kat awake.

She was oddly relieved to find that her friend also awoke in a panic. Not that she wanted her friend to feel the panic, but for some reason it was comforting to her to know she wasn’t alone in it.

Kat pushed her away and nearly fell from the bed in her panicked state. When she was sure Kat regained her senses, she did something she never did in the company of strangers. She spoke.

“Take me to my brother,” she demanded.

Speaking when her brother was around was difficult. Speaking when he wasn’t—when no sound accompanied her words—was a guessing game. All she had to ensure the words were coming out correct was her memory of how to form them. In this case, she must have gotten it right, because Kat hopped from the bed and a moment later, Whitney felt clothes being handed to her. Her clothes. Kat got the message.

She got dressed, but Kat was taking longer than she did. How it was that a girl who could see should take so much longer to get dressed than a blind girl was beyond her. She waited impatiently for her friend to finish. When she was finally done, Whitney reached out to her, put her hands on her friend’s shoulders and let her lead her on. An act that she was incapable of only a few days before.

Of all the times Whitney wished to hear, and to communicate with others, this was one of the worst. She could feel the vibrations of Kat talking through her shoulders, so she knew Kat was running on at her usual frenzied pace and she wanted to know what she was saying.

Her memories were beginning to come back to her as they walked toward the boy’s cabin, but not all of them. The last thing she could remember was talking to the Chief’s nephew Erik. After that, there was nothing—as if the day ended abruptly and the next thing she remembered was waking in her bunk with her pajamas on.

What she did know was that she wanted to get to the bottom of it. The suggestion was that Erik had something to do with it, but what was left out, was how and why? She might have been able to find out something more from Kat if she could only just talk to her. Maybe Kat remembered more than she did.

She didn’t know what time it was, but she could feel the moisture from the dew in the air and on her ankles as they walked. She could feel the earliest hints of warmth as it must be gently licking the moisture from the blades of grass on the ground.

She could see the shadows of other campers moving, but there was something a little unsettling about the way the shadows reacted to them as they approached. The shadows moved away as Whitney and Kat approached, giving them a wide berth. Once they passed, the shadows continued, but not until after but not until after they passed.

Whitney stumbled a few times along the way, but each time her foot caught a stray rock, or root, she had Kat’s shoulders to catch and recover herself before planting her face into the soil. Kat stopped as they approached the cabin, and Whitney speculated that they were probably no more allowed in the boy’s cabin than the boys were in theirs.

She waited almost impatiently for Tommy. This morning, everything seemed to be taking forever. She remained focused on Tommy’s shadow and as soon as she sensed movement from him, she extended herself and joined with him.

She was immediately reminded of her own awakening earlier. It was like swimming to the surface of a mucky swamp, and it wouldn’t do any good to ask him any questions right away. She would just have to wait for him to get his bearings first.

He sat up in his bunk, dangling his legs over the side. He had a top bunk. He rubbed his eyes groggily, trying desperately to center himself. He was just as disjointed as she had been.

There was a guy she didn’t recognize standing next to the bunk. He was staring at Tommy and the expression on his face didn’t match the looks she was used to seeing other teens give Tommy. Everybody liked her brother and their feelings were always easily expressed in their faces. She had never once seen Tommy greeted with anything but a smile, or laughter. Even when Tommy was competing with someone and beating them, he was able to get the person not to resent it too much. He got that from Blake, she guessed who was also adored by everyone.

The boy didn’t adore him.

“Didn’t you hear me? Your freak of a sister and her friend are waiting for you outside. Do us all a favor and get her as far away from our cabin as you can. Wouldja?”

What’s his deal? Whitney thought to Tommy.

No idea. What did we do last night? Drink a bottle of Whiskey and piss in everybody’s Wheaties? My head feels like salami.

Language! She thought to him instinctively. That’s why I’m here, Tommy. I came here because I have no idea what we did, why we did it, or how I got back to my cabin. I don’t remember anything past the lake. How is that possible?

Yeah ... the lake! I remember the lake! Erik. We were talking to Erik ... Then nothing, Tommy thought back to her. He hopped down and started getting dressed.

Whitney turned herself inward, in a sense closing her eyes mentally, so her brother could get dressed. So much for no girls in the boy’s cabin, she thought to herself.

2

Whitney’s facial expressions existed, even when her mind shared space with her brother. Fascinating, Kat thought as she studied Whitney, gauging how her facial muscles responded to the conversation she must be having with Tommy inside the cabin. A twisting whirlwind, blowing cool air through her face, when she’s not home and her mirror is broken!

Whitney’s lips curled downward, her frown contagious, but her vibrations absent. Can my vibrations ever mix with hers, one to one?Will our sparks ever be visible to each other when Tommy isn’t around?

Kat reached up, pulling Whitney’s sunglasses down enough to look at her eyes. Her sky holes are blue, not silver now. She slid them back into place. Silver as a sword this morning, blue as river now. Very coolitus!

Will she tell me? Can we share lightening strikes?

Kat didn’t know it then, but Whitney’s lightening would enter her cloud.

The only question was whether she would regret it.

3

Tommy headed for the door as soon as he was dressed. Before that, Whitney hadn’t bothered to question where Kam was, but there was something weird about him not being a part of their group.

I actually have my own group? She thought. It was true. Her group was no longer of two, her and Tommy, but of four. She smiled at the thought.

So where is Kam? She asked Tommy.

Good question. I was wondering the same thing. His bunk was empty and he wasn’t in the cabin.

Bathroom?

Tommy laughed and shook his head.

What’s funny about that?

Kat was standing there watching Tommy as he came out, but her attention kept going back and forth between him and Whitney.

Nothing ... he just refuses to use the bathroom the entire time he’s here even though it’s against the rules to go outside. He even has a special place to make torpedo runs.

Okay ... that’s too much info, bro.

Well, that’s what he calls them. Anyway, he says bathrooms ruin the camping experience. You must really like him more than you’re admitting.

Stop it, Tommy. I can’t go there! It’s just that he’s a part of this group and he has as much of a chance of helping us figure out what happened as anybody else, she barked.

“When your windows lift and the storm blows in, your curtains dance in the wind!” Kat cut in. She looked at Tommy. His face screwed with confusion. She elaborated. “Whitney’s facial expressions still change and express her emotions as if she were talking even though she’s not ... you know ... actually saying anything,” she said to Tommy. “You’re eyes are different too,” she said cupping Tommy’s cheek and looking at him and blinking into his gaze.

Don’t you even think about it, Tommy! Whitney snapped.

What? I wasn’t going to do nothing!

You forget. I can see your every thought! You were about to kiss her. Dream on, Bevis. Not while I’m in here.

“They change color when you two are together. Yours don’t change a lot, but the shade is a little different,” she added with a smile. Then she turned toward Whitney. “Yours, however! Wow!”

“Mine don’t change!” Tommy argued.

“Seriously. It’s not by a lot, but your curtains do change color. Yours get brighter,” she said pointing into his. She pointed at Whitney. “Hers, though ... Amazing! They go from blue to silver when she’s not with you.” She pulled Whitney’s shades down a little to illustrate. “Blue now.”

Make her put them back, Tommy! You know I don’t like people looking at them.

Instead of complying with her wish, Tommy went to her and looked into his sister’s eyes. Whitney again turned herself inward to avoid seeing her own eyes.

“Of course they’re blue,” he said as if there was a possibility that he could convince Kat that she hadn’t seen the silver version of Whitney’s eyes.

Give it up, Tommy! I wasn’t wearing my sunglasses when I woke up this morning. She obviously saw them! No point lying to her.

“They are different,” Kam interjected. Tommy spun toward Kam’s voice. He hadn’t even realized he walked up to them.

“You probably wouldn’t notice the color change of your own eyes yourself unless you were staring into a mirror when she goes into your head, but don’t tell me you don’t know about her eyes being silver when she’s not. Even I saw that much! Let’s go somewhere else to talk. We seem to suddenly have a lot on our plates.”

Kam snatched Whitney up before she could protest and started down the path leading from the front of the camp. Tommy and Kat followed behind walking next to each other and Whitney was tempted to withdraw from Tommy. The thought crossed her mind because Tommy’s mind was on Kat. Once again, his mind was on the way her hair smelled, the gait of her walk, and what she was thinking. His mind wasn’t on everything happening now, nor was it on what happened last night. Instead, he focused on the pretty girl a few feet from him and she could feel his desire to make something of it.

You two gonna hold hands? she asked him.

Tommy’s vision panned over to her as they walked. One second she was seeing her cane swaying back and forth on her belt loop as Kam carried her down the path and next she was seeing Kat’s rosy cheeks as she smiled back at Tommy.

Would that really be so bad? Tommy replied.

Under the circumstances? Yeah! We don’t know what’s happening, Tommy.

“She’s talking to you, isn’t she?” Kat asked, dropping her strange banter completely. Her eyes turned forward as they went up a gentle incline in the path and their walking became more laborious.

She’s jealous of me, Whitney thought to herself. Or jealous of the idea that I am in Tommy’s head and she’s not.

Kat went off to the side of the path. Tommy paused as she bent and plucked a small purple flower. She came back to his side and they both started to walk again. She held the flower by the stem and stared at it as they walked.

“The word iris comes from the word rainbow in Greek,” she said. “That’s kind of weird to me because it’s mostly a bluish purple color.”

“Yeah,” Tommy said. “I guess you gotta point.”

Kat looked at him, smiled and Tommy’s heart fluttered. “The life of a flower that goes unpicked is but a few weeks, or months, at best. But the life of a flower picked and given to someone you care about is as long and powerful its memory.” She stopped him and tucked the flower into the second buttonhole from the top of his shirt.

How cute! Whitney said sarcastically as Kat turned back to the path and started walking.

It was cute, Whitney, Tommy thought back to her as he filed back in next to Kat. You might want to consider trying to live a little. Just because you don’t want to ‘go there’ doesn’t mean I don’t.

The group crested the incline and Kam stopped along the path and turned toward two small pines growing close enough together so their branches were barely touching.

“This is it,” Kam said. “Watch your face, Whitney. We gotta go between these branches.”

Kam was insistent on remaining quiet as they walked down the secondary trail until they got to the place he wanted to take them to. The path ended at a large copse of trees, which was hollow in the center. There was an opening facing the trail. The copse started with a larger grouping of trees that cut down a long time ago. All that was left of the older trees were stumps just below waist high.

Kam bent his head so that both he and Whitney could fit through the opening leading into the copse. He turned around so Whitney’s back end was toward one of the stumps and let her slide from him. Whitney sat, and Kam took up a spot next to her. Tommy and Kat followed suit. They sat opposite Kam and Whitney.

“I woke up early this morning. The thing is, I woke up mad as hell. Madder than I think I’ve ever been before, and believe me. That’s pretty pissed off.”

Language! Whitney thought to herself. What is you people’s infatuation with swear words?

“He’s round—a cool brother, yaknow, but his knuckles get bruised sometimes. Especially if he loses a game,” Kat said. She emphasized ‘loses a game’ with her voice, but she also emphasized it with her eyes. They widened when she said it.

Tommy looked at Kat while she spoke, but turned back toward Kam. “About what?”

“Because we were drugged!” he answered emphatically. “I’m over it now, I guess, but when I woke up, I was so pissed off that I was going to literally rip Erik’s head off. I have never even considered using any kind of drug before, because all they do is get in the way.”

“Drugs are for losers!” Kat interjected.

Kam nodded, “Well ... yeah! I mean I’m not all that impressed with the people I see using them, but that’s all beside the point. I woke up this morning and I couldn’t remember anything about last night. Nothing at all. I still can’t remember anything past our conversation with Erik.”

“Yeah,” Tommy said. “I think we all are having that problem.”

“Erik did it,” he said flatly.

“No, huh, uh, he ain’t crafty like tha...”

“He did it, Kat! Quit interrupting. There’s a lot more. Both he and his uncle are in rough shape. They fought the thing in the lake last night ... well kind of fought it anyway. Erik’s aunt says they hit the snooze button in reverse, but they didn’t get out untouched. They barely got out at all.”

The rest of the group tried to soak in everything he was saying, but he was skipping too much and whatever he was getting at wasn’t clear.

Tell him to start from the beginning, Tommy, Whitney demanded.

“Whitney wants you to start from the beginning. Tell us the whole story,” Tommy said.

“Oh,” he said looking at Whitney sitting next to him. He reached over, grabbed one of her hands and held it in both of his. “I guess I thought I was.”