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Chapter 18
I'M ON THE BUS again, dreaming the same old dream I've been stuck on since the accident.
Everything starts off the same.The bus winds through the late afternoon sunlight, jagged cliffs and sparkling sea far below.Evan's on my right, looking out the window. Mia's on my left, sharing the iPod earphones.Our favorite Fable song, Déjà Vu, blasts into our ears.Usually at this point in the dream, Mrs. Blythe starts teaching math on a huge chalkboard at the front of the bus. Which leads to me pulling the glassy seaweed out of Evan's hair, and him vomiting up seawater, and everyone on the bus turning around and Mia whispering to me before I wake up.Tonight, however, the dream doesn't run its usual course.Tonight, the dream is different.Tonight, I'm not dreaming.I'm remembering.Just as it happened on that day, Mia reaches over and turns up the sound on my iPod.She mouths out the words to Déjà Vu, herRelated chapters
FABLE Chapter 19
PANCAKES. PANCAKES WITH CRISPY bacon and syrup.I wake up to the smell of my dad's Saturday morning specialty. The sudden pang of hunger literally makes me nauseous, as if I haven't eaten in forever.What did I have for dinner last night?My appetite is gone in an instant, as the events of the evening come back to me.Oh yes, that's right. I didn't have time to eat. I was too busy having my clothes ripped off by a pack of psychotic girls.And after I went to sleep... I had the dream, but it was different.No. That wasn’t a dream.That was a memory.My mind wanders to the shadowy shape in front of the bus just before we went over the cliff. I'd never noticed that before. I'm sure it didn't really happen. There couldn't have been anyone there. Just my dreaming mind adding little embellishments to my memories, as if the actual event wasn't already horrifying enough. I pull the covers over my head, terrified of falling asleep again, bu
FABLE Chapter 20
"Is that... you, Felix?" I ask."Obviously," he answers. There's a long silence on the other end of the line.Ok. Calm down. He called my house. That's a good thing, nothing to freak out about. It's impossible to embarrass myself any more than I already have."You left your phone in the dressing room last night," he says. "And your guitar. We're only flying out at noon, so I'll bring them over to you."What? WHAT?"How did you get my number?" It sounds more suspicious than I intended it to."I'm calling from your phone. I just selected home in the contacts," he replies.Oh. My. God. Maybe I never actually woke up this morning."Are you still there?" He asks, irritation creeping into his voice."Yes! I... are you sure it's ok?" I ask. "You don't mind coming here?""It's fine," he says. "What's your address?""10 Ariel Terrace," I answer in a daze. "The double story with th
FABLE Chapter 21
WE MOVE INTO THE living room to get away from the racket Tammy and Sam are making outside the front door. By the time I'm done explaining to my parents who Felix is and why there are two girls in hysterics on our doorstep, those two girls have multiplied into four.Mallory Wright, a quiet girl around my own age and who lives opposite me, isn't being so quiet at the moment – she's yelling outside my house, calling Felix's name over and over.She must have spotted the other girls from across the street and came over to investigate."Ashling? Mr. Shields? Mrs. Shields? Hellloooo? Is it true? Open up!" she shouts. She's usually timid and soft spoken. I had no idea her voice could get this loud. Another, more familiar voice, chirps up from outside. "Ashling! It's Olivia, you remember me right? I was a year above you at Southwood Lakes. Is it true? Is Felix Lockhart really in your house?"Olivia. How could I forget? We used to carpool together before I move
FABLE Chapter 22
Brilliant hazel irises flecked with gold. I know these eyes...Felix's face is hovering inches from my own. I blink, trying to dispel the lingering haze.More faces appear as my vision clears. Elliot, Lyall, Ben and Alastaire. They're all here. Gathered around. Gazing down at me. From the ceiling.I stare at the poster above my bed for a split second before sitting up so fast that I get a head rush. After it passes I get up slowly, realizing I'm alone in my room.How long was I out?The screaming outside is totally gone. I stumble over to the window and look down at my driveway. Apart from one or two stragglers, the crowd has vanished.Which means...I run down the stairs, already feeling my eyes prickling with tears. My mom and dad are standing in the kitchen, both looking at something on my mom's laptop."Where's Felix?" I ask."Thank goodness, we were starting to get worried," my mom says as she shuts the screen of her laptop. "You wer
FABLE Chapter 23
Monday morning turns out to be just as crazy as I'd dreaded.The day gets off to a bad start and goes downhill from there. I get a ride to school with Zee and Alix like usual, but Alix is quiet all the way there. Zee must have told him what happened with Fable, and if not, he would have seen the crowds mobbing my house on the news or online.But he doesn't say a thing about it.I expected him to at least tease me. It's not like him to miss a chance to mock Fable.He's silent the whole way to school, while Zee chatters away nervously about the weather, soccer tryouts, the traffic – anything but Fable.Maybe Alix is just upset that I missed our band practice. I hope that's all.When Zee and I arrive at our lockers a few minutes before first bell, I find the words "GROUPIE SLUT" scrawled over the front of my locker in black sharpie. Jamie's scrubbing furiously at it with what looks like eye makeup remover and a Kleenex.Her face drops when she s
FABLE Chapter 24
Friday night finally arrives, and with it, summer vacation. I skip my usual set at the Night Owl, because we were planning on going to the movies to celebrate – Zee, Jamie, Grace and me – but Jamie has other plans at the last minute.For reasons I can't even begin to fathom, all four of us got invited to a keg party at Aaron Young's house. He's undeniably cool, and a senior, but both Alix and Micah think he's a jerk (and he goes through girlfriends faster than a hot knife through butter).Still, the lure of popularity points and cute seniors is too much for Jamie. She and Grace end up going to the party, while Zee and I skip it to watch a Frozen rerun at the cinema near my house (for about the fifth time since it came out).It works out pretty well – Zee will spend the night at my place, then tomorrow we'll go together to band practice at her house in the afternoon.It's as
FABLE Chapter 25
"Before I tell you what we're doing here, take this," Felix says.He reaches into the back pocket of his jeans, and takes out a small piece of paper folded in two. Alastaire rolls his eyes as Felix passes the note to me over the table, closing my hand over it.I'm still in such a state of shock at finding them in my house that it takes a second to register that Felix Lockhart's hand just touched my hand."Read it after we've left," Felix says. "And don't show your friend. It's for your eyes only. Understand?"I nod, tucking the paper away into my hoodie pocket."Basically, you're going to help us with a... project," Felix says.He's ordering me. There's no 'please', no 'if you want to.'"You want me to help you?" I ask, searching his face for some sign he's joking. His expression is as indecipherable and distant
FABLE Chapter 26
The dappled afternoon sunlight is warm against my back as I cycle through Forest Park.Everything is threaded with green, and the slow buzz of summer. Every now and again I stop riding to look at the sword ferns and bracken lining the dirt trail, and the thick canopy of firs and lushly leaved maples overhead.It feels so good to be back in the forest. We've lived on the edge of the park my whole life, and I used to know it like the back of my hand.Since the accident, I haven't visited even once.After I've been riding for almost half an hour, I hop off my rusty old BMX and pull Felix's note out of my pocket.Unfolding it, I study it for the hundredth time.I still can't believe he drew me a map.Two lines intersect at a 45-degree angle. One is labeled 'Wildwood', the other, 'Chestnut'. There's a big X where they meet.And at the
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