Flicker (Flicker #1)

Chapter 1: The Forest of Light

"Did you see that?" Lee asked, raising her voice a little to be heard above the pounding party music, so loud and insistent that she could feel the bass vibrating in the soles of her feet. She touched Kendall's arm, and the other girl half-turned her head, just barely pulling her gaze from the honey-haired boy on the other side of the room who had her attention.

"See what?"

"Out there." Lee pointed toward the sliding glass door, open to let a breeze inside. The house lights stretched across the backyard like a grasping hand, not quite reaching the low fence that separated the yard from the woods beyond. "I thought I saw some people come out of the woods."

Kendall's eyes widened, her silver eye makeup sparkling. In her cherry red, vintage-style dress and with her carefully-styled blonde hair, she was a touch too fancy for this crowd. "What, like cops?" she asked, squinting at the yard. "Where?"

"No, no," Lee assured her quickly. "They had dark clothes, like-"

"Burglars?" Kendall supplied instantly.

"No, I just-"

Lee glanced through the sliding door again, biting her lip. She'd been standing in the crush of teenagers in the kitchen, watching a game of beer pong with a scholarly interest and thinking of how she might draw the scene: bright colors, just shy of harsh; loose, sketchy lines to capture the sense of movement, the energy.

From the corner of her eye, Lee had noticed movement at the edge of the woods. Several shadowed figures emerged from the dark trees and approached the fence, hopping nimbly over it and into the yard. Lee had frozen, watching them trot toward the house. The light never seemed to hit them directly, so she couldn't get a clear view.

Then she'd blinked, and the mysterious figures were gone, dispersed like smoke. The only people in sight were the kids clustered on the back patio, laughing and drinking, oblivious.

"I don't see anyone," Kendall said, still craning her neck.

Lee shook her head. "It was probably nothing. Trick of the light."

But the hairs on the back of Lee's neck were standing up, and she wasn't so sure. A strange chill was encroaching on the August night. She needed to get away from the yard.

With minimal prodding, Lee guided Kendall into the living room. Even more teenagers were packed in this room, which had been turned into an impromptu dance floor. Tessa Willard, the host, was sitting on the L-shaped couch, surrounded by pretty boys and prettier girls. Her long brown hair fell over her shoulder in a shiny wave.

When a couple of guys got up-to get more drinks, probably-Kendall grabbed Lee's arm and glided over to the couch, settling into one of the empty spots and pulling Lee down beside her. She did it with an ease that Lee admired, a subtlety, like she'd occupied that spot beside Tessa her whole life. Lee, on the other hand, felt like she was observing the scene from a distance: a visitor in Tessa's world, a place she'd never belonged before.

On a night like this, Lee normally would've had a date with whatever sci-fi marathon happened to be on TV and her sketchpad, but because of Kendall's fearless finagling, she was at Tessa Willard's annual end-of-summer bash.

Lee listened more than she talked and watched everything with a studious fascination, like a naturalist doing research. The party flowed around her, conversation competing with music, people dancing everywhere, and she was thirsty for it. Her hands itched for her sketchpad so she could trap these moments on paper, but for now, she just drank them in with her eyes.

She was listening to a petite, curly-haired girl named Rosie gush about the upcoming fall musical when a boy with dark hair and skinny jeans wedged himself into the space between Lee and the couch's armrest. It was Darren Mayhew. Lee knew him from school, but they'd never talked much. He was sitting so close; she scooted closer to Kendall to make more room.