Slipping - Book 1.5 in the Swans Landing series

Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN

I couldn’t help smiling when I heard footsteps crunch across the sand behind me. I had been sitting on the beach at Pirate’s Cove ever since I’d gotten up that morning. I was unable to keep myself away, wondering if maybe she was already here waiting for me. Thoughts of the way we’d swam and kissed yesterday replayed through my mind over and over.

But when I turned to face her, it wasn’t Mara trudging across the sand toward me. It was Sailor.

“What are you doing here?” I asked before I could stop myself.

Sailor’s scowl deepened. Her cheeks were red and her chin trembled. “So you don’t want me around either, I guess,” she growled.

I ran a hand through my hair. “I didn’t say that.”

She blinked quickly, crossing her arms tight over her chest. “But it’s what you’re thinking. Go ahead, bu just like the rest of them. I don’t need you. I don’t need anyone.”

She turned, but didn’t move from the place where she stood in the sand. Her shoulders shuddered and her head dropped.

I walked across the sand toward her, wrapping my arms around her. “Hey,” I said, hugging her tight. “It’s okay. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Sailor muttered into my chest.

“Tell me,” I urged her gently. She felt so small, like a little kid. Despite how much Sailor tried to appear tough and unaffected by anything, she was easily hurt. “Tell me what I can do.”

Sailor let out a strangled cry. “I don’t want to be here. I want to go find my mom, but Dylan doesn’t want to go now, because of Mara. She’s messed everything up. Why did she even have to come here?”

I clenched my teeth, biting back the sting that rose inside me at the thought of Dylan and Mara together. “He likes her?” I asked.

Sailor pulled away from me, her face contorted into a deep glare as she looked up at me. “Is that all anyone cares about anymore? It’s all about Mara Westray, isn’t it? She’s not even one of us. She doesn’t belong here.” Sailor stomped across the sand toward the water’s edge. She looked out at the water, the wind whipping her hair all around her head in crazy tendrils.

“She’s not all I care about,” I told her as I stepped next to her.

“Whatever,” Sailor muttered, not looking at me.

I turned her toward me, leaning down to look into her eyes. “I mean it. I care about you. You’re my sister, and I’m right here for anything you need. Okay?”

Sailor’s chin trembled and then her face crumpled as tears slipped down her cheeks. “I just wish it would all get better,” she said.

I pulled her toward me, wrapping her tight in my arms. “I know,” I told her.

* * *

“Is there anything else you’d like to talk about today?”

I stared at the trees outside Mr. Richter’s window, thinking about Mara. I hadn’t seen her all day. She had never come to Pirate’s Cove that morning, though that was a relief, since Sailor had stuck around for a while. I couldn’t exactly tell her to go away when she was so upset. She was my sister, the one person I had always been able to count on.

But my body ached with the need to see Mara again, to spend some time alone with her. Where was she? Was it a mistake to tell her my secret?

“Josh?”

I blinked, turning back to Mr. Richter, who sat behind his desk, his eyebrows raised.

“Huh?” I asked.

Mr. Richter laughed. “Okay, I guess you’ve had enough for one day.” He glanced at his watch. “My next appointment should be here any minute now anyway.”

I stood and slung my backpack over my shoulder, not wanting to give Mr. Richter a chance to change his mind. I had talked about meaningless things, schoolwork and my job, just to keep him happy. I couldn’t talk to him about what I really was and what was going on between Mara and me.

I pulled the door open and found myself staring down into a pair of amber brown eyes.

Mara’s hand was frozen in place, as if she was about to knock. She stared wide-eyed at me. Icy chills and burning heat rushed through me at the same time, battling inside my body as I took in the sight of her. It was everything I could do not to lean down and kiss her.

“Mara, hello,” Mr. Richter called over my shoulder. “Come in, please. Josh, I’ll see you next week.”

My eyes were locked on Mara’s as she passed me into the office. I turned, watching as Mr. Richter closed the door behind her.

The hall was empty. Everyone else had already left to go home for the day. My sneakers squeaked on the waxed tile floor.

I started down the hall toward the door, but something stopped me. I wanted to see Mara. I needed to see her.

My shoulders rigid, I turned and walked back toward Mr. Richter’s office. I sat down on the floor, my back against the wall, and I stared at the closed door. I would wait.

I didn’t know how much time had passed before I heard loud voices inside the office and then the door swung open, smacking the wall behind it with a loud crack that echoed down the hallway around me. Mara stood in the doorway, her nostrils flared and her teeth gritted in a snarl.

“Mara!” Mr. Richter said from inside the office. “We have a lot more to discuss today—”

I raised one eyebrow at Mara, silently asking her what she was going to do. Would she stay here with Mr. Richter, or did she want to escape as much as I did?

She extended one hand toward me, palm up. I slipped my hand into hers and stood. Then, fingers entwined, we ran for the front doors of Swans Landing School, bursting out into the bright afternoon sun and stumbling across the parking lot toward freedom.