Chapter 8
Fern goes to the pond.
At eleven on the dot Fern stood on her stoop with her backpack on, feeling for all the world like she was waiting for the bus on a field trip day.
The old bell tower capping the one-room schoolhouse across the street blocked the sun from roasting her as she peered up at the building.
Liv had twelve students, and they all lived within walking distance of the school.
Those kids would never experience catching the bus.
They might have field trips, though; she’d have to ask.
“Hellooo!” Noa’s cheery voice rang out as she turned up the sidewalk from Main Street. “I got sick of waiting at my place and decided to walk over.”
“Where’s Liv?”
Noa shrugged, then paused to wave at someone inside Reads there was a distinct lack of anonymity in Beckett Falls.
Ben and Liv had wandered over to the water, where he was making her stand with her arms up while he removed her shirt. Olivia hadn’t been kidding about him being overprotective. It was kind of cute.
“Should we invite anyone else?” Fern checked as Noa and Adam raced across the pond. Noa was definitely going to lose by nature of having legs a foot shorter than his.
“Nope.”
Grass squeaked beneath her sandals again.
“They’re already soaked. Lost their chance. C’mon, there’s a deck around back, and I need to keep an eye on the grill.” Elliott led the way, and Fern happily trailed along, ogling his well-defined ass through his swim shorts.
“Where are you going?” Liv shouted from the water’s edge.
Turning around, Fern walked backward as she pinched her thumb and forefinger together and lifted her hand to her mouth. Olivia gave her a thumbs up, but her expression turned to one of surprise a half second before Fern plowed into Elliott.
“Oh! Fuck.” She spun to face him, rubbing the back of her skull, then took one look at his split lip and felt the blood drain from her face in a wave of static. “Oh my god, are you all right? I’m so sorry. Here, come sit down or something. I don’t know, let me look at that.”
Elliott sidestepped, peering past her at the water. “No, um, I’m okay. It’s just a tiny nick.”
“There’s blood all over your face.”
“I’m totally fine, no worries.” He passed her abruptly, speed walking away. “It’s nothing major! It’s small.” She thought she heard him whisper-yell, “Help!” to his friends in the water.
With all the blood rushing back to her face as embarrassment flooded her, Fern jogged after him. “Elliott, are you going to pass out? You’re acting weird.”
He stopped at the water’s edge and squatted down. “I’m really fine. With my rapid healing—”
Able, who’d swum over, cut Elliott off with a gruff groan.
“Your what?” Fern asked, a laugh bubbling up as she came to stand beside him. “Rapid healing? Are you a Pokémon? It looks like your whole bottom lip split, my god.”
“I’m really okay, I’ll be fine in like—”
“Shut up, Fitz!” Able scolded, splashing him and soaking Fern in the process.
She looked down at her white sundress and sighed before starting to strip it off. Then she remembered her thong, stopped, and let the soggy fabric drop. Elliott was squatting just to her left. She’d give him a face full of butt—highly inappropriate stuff.
“Lovey, come here, I need to talk to you for a minute,” Liv called, patting a spot beside her on the big flat rock she’d claimed as a seat.
“Why? Am I in trouble?” Fern asked before turning to Elliott, who’d knelt to splash water on his face. “And you, are you really all right? That looks like it needs stitches.”
“I’m fine,” he reassured her. Truth be told, the cut did look better—maybe the cold water was pinching the skin together or something.
Using his arms for leverage, Adam swung himself out of the pond and offered to tend to the grill.
“I got it, Able, you stay,” Ben said, hopping up from his seat beside Liv before leaning down and asking her, “Do you have this covered?”
Have what covered? Elliott’s injury? Oh, Fern knew it was bad, despite his stupid claim of “rapid healing.”
“Fern, come here,” Liv said again, beckoning her over.
With her ass safely out of eyeshot, Fern tugged her dress over her head, laid it down beside Olivia, and took a seat. Warmth from the bedrock climbed her limbs as she braced herself on her palms and looked over at Elliott.
“He’s going to be fine,” Liv reassured her. “He does heal fast.”
“What does that even mean?” Fern frowned.
On the heels of a deep breath, Liv began, “Listen, there are some things you don’t know about us, and I’m gonna bring you up to speed.”
“You’re good,” Adam said to Elliott before leaping back into the water, drenching them all.
“Jesus!” Olivia shouted, her demeanor shifting on a dime. “I’m pregnant and suntanning. Stop bullying me.”
“Sorry!” He dunked to avoid her glare.
Chuckling, Elliott stood, shook out his wet shorts, and shuffled toward Olivia and Fern. “I’m fine. See?”
He tugged out his lip for her to study, and Fern blinked a few times before widening her eyes like some sort of cartoon character. Blood pooled in her extremities, making her pulse hammer in her wrists and ankles.
“What the fuck?”
He was fine. Perfectly, one hundred percent fine. There was no blood on his face, no slice across his lower lip, no red mark, not even a freaking scar.
He only shrugged and said, “I’m gonna help Ben with the grill.”
“What the fuck?” Fern screeched, slapping her hands down on the stone when she realized he wasn’t going to give her any answers. She spun on her butt to face Olivia, tucking her legs up and grabbing Liv by the shoulders. “I hurt him. How is he fine? How, Liv?”
Olivia looked... excited? Her deep brown eyes sparkled, and her lips parted in a small smile. “I have to tell you something, but you can’t tell anyone. Not your mom—”
“I don’t tell her shit.”
“Not Renata.”
Fern scowled. “What’s going on? Tell me right this second, Olivia Montclair.
” Her mind flew to her book, where Xyzandyr’s brother, Trynt, had rapid healing abilities.
Swinging her finger around at Adam, Noa, and the back of the house where Ben and Elliott had disappeared, Fern asked, “Are they aliens?”
Olivia laughed.
“Not aliens,” she concluded. “Please tell me what’s going on.”
Adam whistled loudly, then yelled, “I think you guys are going to want to come back for this.”
“Coming!” Ben replied.
“What the fuck, Olivia?” Now she was just getting annoyed. Why was her best friend in on some big secret with everyone in this weird fucking town? And why were they toying with her?