Chapter 8

            The next morning, I woke up, still holding my book, although my pencil had disappeared.  I had only written three pages before nodding off, but at least I had gotten something done.  My main character had gained some magical powers last night, and when I get another chance, she'll test them out.  I got up, got dressed, and hurried down to breakfast.  The girls were excited and were whispering quickly back and forth when I reached the table.

            They had already decided who would explore tunnels today; D and T.  I showed them the maps and explained that they should never split up and should leave a marker at the mouth of a passage so we would know it's already been mapped.  They took orders well and swore to remember every detail of any tunnel they explore.  I let them take the maps with them so when they got back they could map everything right away.  Dane had promised to come tonight so he could help finish the maps of any known passages.

            The day went just fine, and I was starting to get used to the long days and strict teachers.  I stopped by the library and traded my book for one on the occult.  Ms. Apple frowned, but she didn't say anything.  I noticed something seemed odd about the section on the middle ages, but I shrugged it off as nerves.  When school ended, I quickly went to my room and grabbed the thick leather bound book.

            I sat outside under a tree at the edge of the woods and tried to write, but something still seemed off.  The strangest thoughts kept popping into my head!  Thoughts like where did the ball go, that looks awful dangerous, and the strangest of all was there she is, I found her, and now I'm going to teach that little bitch a lesson.

            Rebecca towered over me, blocking my writing light.  "Well, well, hello skatergirl.  How's the shredding today?" She sneered.

                        I scooted myself out of her shadow, and kept writing, for I had hit a "inspiration bubble" as I call them, and couldn't let it go.  I just couldn't let anyone stop me from finishing this page; the dragon named Rocara had just appeared!  Rebecca stepped to the side to block my light again, and I looked up at her.  "Aw, that's cute, trying to ignore me.  I don't disappear that easily, kiddo." She laughed.  What's she doing that's so interesting anyways?  Before I could think of anything to say, for the cloud of that strange thought still hung over me, she bent down and snatched my book away.

            I jumped to my feet and tried to get my book back, but there was no use.  Rebecca was about a foot taller than me and held the book high in the air above her head.  "What's this, hmm?  Is this your diary, little baby?"

            "No," I growled. "It's not a diary.  My grandpa gave it to me, give it back!" I shouted, jumping futilely to reach the book.

            "Your grandpa gave it to you, isn't that sweet!"  I wish my grandpa had given me something this nice, old coot.  "Let's see just what dear old grandpa gave you, hmm?" Rebecca taunted, flipping the book open and glancing at a couple of pages.  "Stories, huh?" Wow, she's really spent a lot of time on this, it must mean quite a bit to her.  Perfect.  "That's like lying, isn't it?  Well, at church, they say lying is bad, and we have to clean ourselves of our sins, so let's clean house, Liz!" Rebecca laughed.

            She turned to the very first page, stopped, and stared at it a moment.  Look at this date; she's been working on this book for three years.  Why, she must've been in the sixth grade when she started this!  She grabbed a whole chunk of the book, and before I could stop her, started ripping them out!  "NO!" I cried, but it was too late. 

            She had ripped the torn pages in half and tossed them to the ground.  Pity, I'd rather just steal it, read it, and then destroy it, but she'd tell and I'd be in hot water for it.  I jumped at her, but still couldn't get the book.  She continued ripping pages out, one by one now, just to torture me.  I felt as if I had betrayed myself, letting someone like her even breathe on that book, much less what she was doing now.

            Help I thought.  Someone, anyone, please help me!  Rebecca still ripped.  Ms. Evy, My brain pleaded, Ms. Evy, please come, please help, make her stop, it's killing me!  Help!  I couldn't hit her, it would do no good, all I could do was just stand there and watch years of my life float to the ground in tattered shreds.  Just then, I saw someone come around the side of the gym.  It was Ms. Evy!

            "Hey you, Rebecca Morgan, you stop that this instant!" Ms. Evy shouted, making her way down the hill and towards us as fast as she could.  Rebecca, in mid-tear, halfway through my book, stood stock-still.  A few moments later Ms. Evy reached us and grabbed Rebecca by the wrist.  "Just what do you think you're doing?"

            "Um, Ms. Evy, I thought you went home for the day, what are you still doing here?" Rebecca stammered.

            "That has nothing to do with this, it makes no difference.  You know better than this!" Ms. Evy declared, gesturing to the torn pieces of my obsession scattered at our feet.  "You have no right to take Elizabeth's things, much less destroy them.  I'm reporting you to Ms. Harper first thing tomorrow morning, no ifs ands or buts.  And if I ever hear you've done anything like this again, I'll see to it you're expelled, is that clear?" She explained.

            "Yes ma'am." Rebecca mumbled.  She ran off to the patio, nearly in tears.  I sank to the ground and let my own run freely down my face.  I sniffed, trying to control myself, trying not to make a scene as I collected what was left of my book.  I gently laid the torn pages inside the front cover, noticing that the binding had been badly damaged because Rebecca had dropped it before running off. 

            "Liz, come on.  We'll go to my room and tape this back together until we can buy you another." Ms. Evy said, helping collect the pages.

            "You can't buy another one!" I bawled.

            She stopped and said, "Well why not?"  She looked at the page in her hands, and then she looked back at me, wide eyed.  "Liz, did you write this?"  I nodded silently and stood up.  Ms. Evy stood as well and we started to the school. 

            "So how long have you been writing?" She asked when we reached her classroom.  We spread the pages across her desk and started piecing the stories back together. 

            "Always.  I mean, my grandpa gave me this in the sixth grade, but only because I had already been writing stories at school.  He, um, he died not long after." I explained.  Ms. Evy nodded as if she understood.  We finished the taping in comfortable silence, only broken by the occasional need of assistance finding pieces that matched.

            "How are we going to put this back in the binding?" I asked.  Ms. Evy smiled, pulled a jar of rubber cement from her desk drawer and carefully applied it to the inside of the binding.  Then we pressed the binding to the pages with a book holding everything in line. 

            "There, good as new, almost." Ms. Evy sighed.

            "Ms. Evy, how did you happen to come along when you did?" I asked.

            "It's strange, I just felt that you needed me, that you were in trouble and needed my help." She replied, thoughtful.  "At first, I thought I was just being a worrywart, but then the sense grew stronger and I was positive something was wrong.  I swear I could hear you scream 'make her stop, it's killing me', isn't that strange?" Ms. Evy explained.

            "Yeah," I laughed nervously.  "That is weird."

            "What's the matter?" She asked, studying me closely.

            "Oh nothing.  I better get going, I don't want to be late to dinner.  See you Monday, Ms. Evy." I lied.  I hurried to the door, stopped just outside, and sent a message to her to test my theory.  Ms. Evy's high heels clicked across the floor as I headed outside.

            "Your grandfather's name was Frank?" She called, puzzled.  I stopped, nodded, and disappeared out the door.  I hurried to the dining hall for our evening meal and stashed my book in my room on the way.  I didn't want to take any more risks with it.  After dinner, I took my time up the stairs to my room, silently praying I would walk in, and the damage to my book would be erased.

            I sighed when the book sat just where I'd left it, exactly how I'd left it.  I gently picked it up and slid it into the bottom drawer of my dresser.  I sat down to a dull evening of reading when it occurred to me I hadn't checked on Double Trouble.  I hopped up, went to T's room and knocked lightly on the door.  D answered it and stepped aside to let me in. 

            Monica was pouring over the maps making quick short lines, sketching out a tunnel off the known one.  Dane, of all people, poked his head out of the closet, spotted me, and smiled.  "Hi, I, uh, I came to help finish the maps.  How are you, where ya been?" He stumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.

            "I'm good, you?" I replied.  He shrugged and smiled again.  "So, how goes the mapping?  Why didn't you come find me when you got back?" I asked.  Monica finally looked up, and waved me over to see the map.

            "It's going good, Liz.  I didn't want to bother you after what Rebecca did, so I sent Dane a note so we could get some of this done." She explained.  "I'm really sorry about what happened, Liz.  I would have beat her bloody if I had gotten there sooner.  Next time she even looks at you, I'll knock her teeth out, I promise." She threatened, punching an invisible opponent in front of her. 

            "Thanks, I think, but don't get yourself in trouble for me." I replied, taken aback.  The fact that she felt so strongly after only one week was touching.  And she didn't even know how much the book meant to me!

            "No problem, Liz, it's what we do.  Harpy's stick together." T laughed.

            "Hey," Dane said, softly touching my shoulder, "what happened?  What's she talking about?"

            "Oh nothing, I'll tell you later." I breezed, but he looked genuinely concerned.  "I'm fine."  He let it drop, but I knew the second we were alone, he'd say something.  For now, we concentrated on the maps and made a schedule of exploration.  Tomorrow, LA and FBI would track tunnels, then the twins, then Auzzie and Fire, the Shadow and Ice, the Cara and me. 

            At eight, we ended our planning and Dane and I snuck back to my room.  Once the door was closed, he cornered me, practically jumping down my throat saying, "What happened today?"

            "Don't freak out, I just had a run-in with Rebecca Morgan." I said meekly.  A few tears glided silently down my cheeks at the mental picture of her, tearing my book apart.  "She only hurt my book."

            "Your book?" Dane asked, following my gaze to the dresser.  "Show me."

            "Well, it's like this: I write stories.  Not for any good reason, just for me.  A few years back, my grandpa gave me a book to put all my stories in.  That's what Rebecca got a hold of." I explained, going to the dresser and pulling out the book.  "I protested, therefore she destroyed it."

            "Oh Liz, I'm sorry.  At least she didn't hit you." Dane attempted to console me.

            "That would have been better than this!" I nearly screeched.  "I would've healed, the book won't!"

            "Liz, calm down, it's alright.  Shh, don't be childish, it looks fine to me." He chided.  All this over a book?  I reached over and opened the book to a random page, gritting my teeth to keep from hitting him for such a thought.  Wait, that's it, his thought, not mine!

            Suddenly I felt weak, thinking about all the strange thoughts that had seemed to worm their way into my mind, thinking I must be going crazy.  No, they weren't my random thoughts; they were someone else's thoughts that had gotten inside my brain.  In the car, on the way to Carson the day before yesterday, when I'd thought Dane had said something about me without my clothes.  Then today, I thought I'd heard Rebecca say she'd found me, then she'd been astonished by the date in my book, then wishing she could read it.  I could read minds!

            "Okay, now that's pretty bad, what did you say to that girl?"

            "Nothing." I whined.  "And she still took it as an insult."

            "Hush now." Dane scolded gently.  "Okay, it's Friday night, the only night of the week the town's wide open to visitors.  Why don't you wash your face, get yourself all dolled up, and we'll go have some fun, huh?"  I nodded, feeble, and shuffled to the bathroom, still slightly shocked at my new theory.  "Alrighty then, I'll find you something to wear, and we'll get going."

            I washed my face and tied my long brown hair back in a ballet bun.  A little glitter, hairspray, and lipstick lifted my spirits.  A few minutes later, Dane handed me a pair of patchwork jeans, a red sparkly V-neck top, and a leather jacket through a barely opened door.  Jeez, it's not like I'm going to force myself on her.  I slipped into the outfit, chuckling at his thoughts, and stepped out of the bathroom for inspection.  He laughed half heartedly as I jumped into my shoes and swung myself into the already open laundry chute.

            It was 8:30 when we got to Dane's car.  We had to push it down the drive so no one would hear the engine start.  He took me to a club on the south end of town and we ran into a few of his friends there.  The music was deafening, something I was grateful for because I couldn't hear my own thoughts much less anyone else's.  The lights were enough to make you dizzy and the smoke machine made the whole scene seem to dance through clouds.  Dane introduced me to a few townie girls he knew; Jess, Vicky T, and Andrea.

            "Hey, wassup?" Vicky asked, shouting in my ear to be heard.

            "Nothin' much, you?" I replied.

            "I'm five by five." She shrugged.

            "So, Dane tells us you're a Harpy, that's cool." Jess said bluntly.  "So, what'd you do?"

            I looked at Dane, who shrugged, and then back at the girls we were dancing with.  "Just this and that.  Nothing that cool." I brushed.

            "Just ignore her, the rest of us do.  She doesn't know how to say anything politely." Andrea laughed.  "Not an ounce of tact, to save her soul."

            "Tact is useless, you pussy-foot around the obvious until someone decides to bring up what you're all thinking.  It's stupid." Jess argued.  "So, have you guys done anything yet?"

            "Uh, why don't I buy you lovely ladies some drinks, huh?" Dane interrupted, swooping in to my rescue.

            "I'll take that as a yes." Jess snipped.  As far as I can tell, he's already popped her cherry, if she had it to begin with.

            I turned on her, cold rage pulsing inside me, and sent her a very clear message.  She looked at me, positively shocked, and shook her head violently.  "Liz, why don't you come and help me carry them?" Dane insisted.  I nodded, catching on to his plan.  "Sorry about that, they've just been dieing to meet you, but I don't want to leave you alone with those three, especially Jess." He explained, paying for the drinks.  We went to a nearby table and the girls soon joined us for a much needed break.

            "So Vicky, what do you do when you're not here or school?" I asked, breaking the silence.

            "I read a lot." She replied.

            "Oh really, I love to read.  What do you read?"

            "Romance."

            "Yeah, she reads those trashy little paperback novels." Jess added, butting in.  I wonder if she's finished that one she's been reading, so I can borrow it.

            "From the looks of it, so do you." I chuckled, meeting Jess's gaze.

            "How can you tell?" She gasped.

            "Call it a sixth sense, if you will." I replied mildly.

            "What do I like to read, Elizabeth?" Andrea asked, testing me.  Let's see, what do I read; I read romance, and historical fiction, and mystery, and sometimes fantasy…

            "Well, it's hard to say, because, from the looks of it, you read a little bit of everything.  Most of the time you read romance, probably hard bound tasteful stuff like Nicolas Sparks, but you do read some mystery, a little fantasy, and sometimes even historical fiction." I replied slowly.  She stared at me wide eyed a moment, and then seemed to snap out of her daze. 

            "Oh yeah, well, what does Dane read?" Andrea asked.  I turned to Dane a moment and studied him.

            "He reads fiction, science fiction, horror, mystery, fantasy, and, and, and mythology." I stuttered, laughing.  "I love mythology!"  The night continued without another hitch.

            After the club, Dane drove the car out of town, towards home, but turned down a dirt road instead, mumbling the whole way about that being one of his biggest secrets and how amazing I was to tell that from just looking.  "Where are we going?" I asked, but he just smiled.  A few minutes later, a mountain appeared just ahead of us.  Dane pulled the car up alongside the imposing mass and hopped out.  "What are we doing here?"

            "We're climbing this!" He answered.  "They call it the Carson Pyramid.  Come on, Liz!" He called from a quarter of the way up.  I hurried to catch up with him and he continued his story.  "Most sensible folks around here say this is where they dumped the stuff they dug out of the mines when this place was a mining town, but I've never seen the mines, and no one I know has."

            The rest of the hike up was quiet because we had to concentrate on climbing.  The whole thing was loose sand and if you stepped wrong, it slid out from under you.  We reached the peak twenty minutes later, huffing and puffing for air.  I collapsed beside Dane and just lay there a moment.  "Wow!" I breathed, sitting up and seeing the sparkling lights below.

            "Yeah, you can see the whole town from here." Dane sighed, pulling me under his arm.

            "It's beautiful." I agreed contently.

            "I thought you might like it."

            "I do." I smiled.  I turned and kissed him soundly.  He responded immediately, wrapping his arms around me.  We kissed hungrily, greedily, devouring each other.  He ravished my mouth excruciatingly slow, and before I knew it, his hand was at the hem of my shirt.

            He ran his hand up my side beneath my shirt, and then slid his hand around front to cup me.  I sighed against his mouth and he dipped one finger beneath the fabric of my bra, barely grazing my nipple.  It seemed like forever before we withdrew from each other, lungs screaming for breath.  I hissed out mine and righted my shirt and hair.  Dane smiled, stood up, offered me a hand, and we headed back to the car.

            We pushed the car up the drive and into the parking lot.  I tiptoed back to the dorms around 1:30 and was met at my door by Elsa.  She tapped her foot in disgust and pointed to the bed.  I hung my head, closed the door, and crossed the room to sit down.  "Elsa, I'm sorry.  I won't ever do it again." I began.

            "No, you won't.  You're very lucky, do you know that?  Rebecca made her rounds at nine and was on her way to declare your absence to Ms. Harper when I ran into her.  I vowed to tell Ms. Harper for her, but I did not.  Do you know why?" Elsa demanded.  I shook my head, eyes downcast.

            "Because I believe in second chances, that's why.  This is a warning, the only one you'll be getting.  Any more word of your abominable schemes and Ms. Harper will hear about it, understand?" Elsa explained.  I nodded my head and she was out the door, down the hall, quiet as a mouse.