His fingers brush away my tears before I even realize he is awake. My crying must have woken him.
“Hey,” he whispers, “what’s wrong? Did you have another dream?”
All I can do is nod. Tanner’s lips come down and touch my temple. His hand slides down to my shoulder and runs up and down my arm. His touch slowly sends the pain far enough away that I can feel his warmth surrounding me. Reaching up for his hand, I grab it and pulled it across my body so I am wrapped in his arms. I feel protected in that moment. I never want to move.
“What happened in the dream,” Tanner asks.
I don’t want to think about it, but I answer anyway.
“She gave us all up. She promised her daughters’ lives to her god so she could save herself.” I choke back another fit of crying. I can hardly believe the words I’m saying. This belongs in a bad Hollywood movie, not in real life. Blood thirsty gods thousands of years old don’t exist, I tell myself over and over again. Tonight I will go to dinner and watch a random movie with my parents. I will.
“Are you alright?” Tanner asks, shattering my weak fantasy.
“How could she?” I question, the tears and sobs flowing freely once more. I am amazed to find I even have any tears left to cry. “How could she condemn her own children, condemn me and Katie and everyone else, to death? She had no right to offer what wasn’t hers to begin with. How could she?”
“Some people are just so selfish they can’t think about anything beyond what they want,” Tanner said.
“What do I do now? There’s no way to stop this, is there?”
Tanner’s body stiffens and he moves my face to look at him. “Arra, you are not going to die today. Do you hear me? It isn’t going to happen.”
“Yes it is. There’s no way to stop it. I don’t know how many girls have died already, but I know I’m going to be the next one.” I just want to curl back up and close my eyes.
“What about your grandpa? You said he had some kind of theory or something. What was his plan?” Tanner asks.
“I don’t know. He said he had an idea, but he never told me what it was,” I say. “He might not actually have a plan. He might have just been saying that to make me feel better.”
Tanner rolls onto his back, but doesn’t let go of my hand. “There has to be something we can do.” He looks back over at me. “I wish you’d told me sooner. Maybe if we had more time we could find something.”
I almost laugh. “Tanner, for one thing, if you hadn’t mentioned going to the bonfire Saturday, I don’t think I would have told you at all. I was ready to back out. I mean, ‘Hey, Tanner, I’m gonna die tomorrow. Wanna hang out?’ just isn’t something you really say to someone. And two, I have been trying to figure this thing out since I found out about it. There’s just nothing left to do.”
“I won’t accept that, Arra.” The seriousness in Tanner’s face startles me.
“Why do you care so much?” I ask. “You’ve know me for less than a week. I mean, I’m glad you do, and I’m glad you even believe me, but why? Why aren’t you running from the crazy new girl as fast as you can?”
Tanner’s face softens as he looked at me. I am no shrinking violet. I don’t fall all over myself or spend hours in front of the mirror, but I know I’m attractive. Being pretty is definitely not the whole reason for Tanner sticking by me, though. It would take way more than pretty to make up for everything I dumped on Tanner last night. There has to be something more.
“Why are you still here?” I ask.
“I…I don’t really know,” he admits. “I remember seeing you walk down the dirt path that day and I was completely mesmerized by you. You were so focused that you didn’t even notice us, even though Evan was laughing like an idiot about something. I didn’t know what you were thinking about, but it seemed important, and I instantly wanted to know more about you.” He pauses and his boyish grin returns. “Plus, I thought you were absolutely gorgeous.”
That breaks through my hopeless pallor just a little and elicits the tiniest smile. Tanner leans down and kisses me lightly, transferring a little more of his hope to me.
“Well, now you know what I was thinking about that day,” I say. “And you’re still here.” I want to believe him so badly. I have nothing left to put my hope in but him. “Do you have any ideas? I’m willing to try anything.”
Tanner considers my question for a few minutes. I can see the barest hint of the morning sun starting to edge into the sky.