Chapter Four

~ Remy ~

I was going swimming.

I went to the bedroom and changed into a pair of shorts and simple tennis shoes. I grabbed a towel on the way out of the cabin and then walked over to Yeri"s cabin, knocking the door.

When it opened, Yeri was in a pair of shorts just like I had been. "I guess we were thinking alike."

"Oh yeah, man, that water is calling me."

"So, show me where this place is then."

Yeri stepped out onto the porch and closed the door behind him before shouting, "Going swimming. Anyone that wants to go, better get out here."

I crossed my fingers and prayed Margot stayed in her cabin.

We waited a few minutes for others to join us, but only a few did. No Brad, Margot, Levi, or Olivia.

Maybe I should lock my door?

"If she tries to move into my cabin while we"re swimming, I"m gonna smack the bitch."

"If she tries anything," Yeri stated, "I"ll handle it. I won"t let her have your cabin."

"Don"t let her have yours either." I leaned in close so I could whisper in his ear. "Hers may not have a bathroom."

That seemed important.

Yeri snickered. "I hope it doesn"t."

"Oh, that"s mean." I grinned at Yeri. "I approve."

This would be why he was my best friend.

Yeri wouldn"t willingly hurt a fly, but if you pushed him too far, he would snap. And no one wanted that. Yeri might looks small, but he was damn scrappy. His father and brother had taught him how to defend himself when they realized he wasn"t going to be big and brawny like Vanya.

What was sad was the fact that he was taller than me.

I was cursed. I just knew it. Both of my parents had been tall people. My mother alone stood at six foot one inches tall. My father was taller. I have never figured out how I ended up so short.

My mother always told me that her and my father had been selfish and took all the height in the family so I was left with none. I got her wavy sandy brown hair and my father"s moss green eyes so I guess there was a trade-off there somewhere.

I wasn"t thrilled with the freckles.

"Oh, my god."

Yeri had described it to me. He had even called it glorious. I had no idea he was speaking the truth until I looked down the hill to the large swimming hole with clear crystal water falling from a waterfall above.

No wonder they kept this land in the family.

"Tell me this is part of your family"s property and not national forest or something." I would hate to be told off by a forest ranger.

"Oh, no, my family owns all of this, two-thousand acres of prime real estate."

"Damn." That was a lot of land.

"The wild part? My great-great-grandfather bought it for a song. It was right after World War II and the government was trying to raise money. Gramps got the whole two thousand acres for twenty-thousand dollars."

I was born in the wrong era.

"Come on," Yeri said as he headed to the edge of the swimming hole. "There"s a swing calling my name."

"A swing?"

"Yeah, me and Vanya put it up when we were kids. Watch." He tossed his towel onto a nearby rock, kicked off his shoes, and then moved up the edge of the swimming hole to a very large tree.

He unwound the rope that was tied to a peg, grabbed it with both hands, and kicked off with his feet. His momentum carried him right out over the middle of the swimming hole.

And then damn fool let go.

"Yeri!" I rushed over to the edge of the swimming hole and desperately searched the water for signs of life.

When Yeri"s head popped up, he was nearly all the way across the pool. He shook his head back from his face and gave me a wide grin. "Man, I missed that."

I stared at him for a moment and then marched over to where he had left his towel. I tossed mine over his before kicking off my tennis shoes and going for the rope.

A moment later I was flying through the air, and then I knew nothing but freezing cold crystal clear water.

When my head broke water, I swam in a circle until I could see Yeri. "You never said it was cold."

Yeri grinned at me. "You never would have gotten in."

Probably true.

"Cannonball!"

I barely got out of the way before Carmine hit the water. I wanted to shout at him for practically jumping on top of me until he came up sputtering.

"C-C-Cold!"

I splashed my hand into the pool, sending a wave of water at him. "Its mountain fed. Of course it"s cold." I wasn"t about to tell him I hadn"t expected the cold water either.

It wasn"t like I was experienced with mountain swimming holes.

We spent the next couple of hours swimming and sunning ourselves on the nearby rocks. It totally made me understand why Yeri and his family came up here.

Best yet, Brad, Margot, Levi, and Olivia never showed up. I knew I would eventually have to deal with them, but I didn"t want to do it yet. Once I relaxed a little, maybe then.

Once we were done swimming and headed back to camp, I decided to take a little nap. It had been a long time since I was able to nap in the middle of the day unless I was cramming for exams. Now I could nap and hold no guilt that I was sleeping when I could be studying.

By the time I woke up, it was dark outside. I rolled over onto my back and stared up at the wood ceiling above, wondering if I wanted to go back to sleep or if I should go outside and join the others.

The sounds of music playing somewhere outside floated through the open window. It was faint, but my bedroom was at the back of the cabin, and this was the last cabin in the line, so that made sense.

My stomach growled.

Okay, I needed something to eat. I tossed the blankets back and climbed out of bed. After dressing, I went to the kitchen to grab a quick snack and a bottled water.

I knew some of the others had brought booze, but I wasn"t much of a drinker. I never developed the taste for it.

I carried my small bounty outside and then headed for the fire pit where everyone had gathered. I made sure I sat down next to Yeri, which luckily for me, was across the fire from the others.

"How was the nap?" Yeri asked.

"Not bad. Could have lasted longer."

"We made some hot dogs if you"re interested."

"I"m good." Hot dogs actually made my stomach want to rebel. All that processed meat? No, thank you.

I glanced around the fire to where the others were sitting. Levi was deep in a conversation with Charlie. Olivia was staring at the roaring fire with a sad looking frown on her face, which made me wonder if they had had a fight or something. Carmine and Akio were talking casually so I knew they were good. Yeri seemed to be passing jokes back and forth with Cindy.

My stomach almost rolled when my eyes landed on Brad and Margot. Margot was sitting on Brad"s lap, which wasn"t that unusual for them. I didn"t think it was entirely appropriate for him to have his hand up her shirt while we all sat around the fire pit. I didn"t know about the others, but it was something I certainly didn"t want to see.

When they got up to go back to their cabin, I blew out a sign of relief. Even looking somewhere else, it had been hard to ignore them making out in front of us. Margot was not a quiet moaner.

Levi and Olivia left next. I was pretty sure they were off to do the same thing Brad and Margot were doing, but they were less obvious about it.

Cindy said she was headed to bed soon after that, leaving just Yeri, me, Charlie, Carmine, and Akio. Someone had turned the radio off so it was quiet for awhile, the five of us just sitting there enjoying the silence and the firelight.

"Braaadd!"

I turned and looked toward the last cabin. "Seriously?"

"Think he strangled her?" Yeri asked.

"We"re not that lucky," Akio deadpanned.

I tucked my lips in and quickly looked back at the fire. A moment later, I heard a small snicker, but I had no idea who it came from. It was followed by another snicker and then a muffled laugh. After a moment, we were all laughing out loud.

"What is that?" Akio asked.

All of the laughter died down as we all looked in the direction Akio was staring.

"What is that?" I asked, repeating his words.

"It looks like a shooting star," Charlie said.

"Or a meteor," Carmine added.

I squinted, trying to get a better look. "But it"s green." I don"t remember shooting stars or meteors being green.

"Could be aliens," Yeri said.

We all looked at him.

He shrugged. "I"m just saying."

"Aliens are not real," I insisted.

"No?" Yeri pointed. "Then how do you explain that?"

I glanced back. Whatever it was, it was still green and glowing, and it was getting bigger. "Uh, guys?" I stood up and took a step to the side, readying myself to run. "I think that thing is headed our way."

"If it"s a meteor," Carmine said, "it will most likely burn up before it even reaches us."

"And if it doesn"t?" That"s what I wanted to know.

I took another couple of steps, moving out of the circle of seating around the fire pit. My heartbeat picked up a tempo, pounding in my chest. "Guys, I really don"t think it"s going to burn up."

This time when I took a step back, Carmine, Charlie, Akio, and Yeri were right there with me. When it seemed to streak directly above us, my will broke and I turned to run. We all ran.

A loud explosion caught us before we could even take two steps. I was thrown forward by the blast, slamming onto the ground so hard I was positive something had broken inside of me.

As the world around me started to dim into darkness, I absently noted something green and sparkly fall from the night sky, landing on the ground and the trees.

It landed on my skin. It didn"t burn, but it did make my body tingle...until it didn"t, and then pain came, ripping through my insides until I wanted to die.

I screamed as my world went dark.