Scarlett Hayes's Arc

Chapter 1 of 9

Scarlett Hayes had one plan today: reach the boy she loved before she lost her nerve. She'd rehearsed the words for a week. Now the tide had eaten the path. Brown water slid over the low stone walk of Quietmoss, swallowing the stepping stones one by one. On the far side stood his house. Between her and it, the flood widened by the minute. She paced the wet edge, red hair sticking to her cheeks. Her blue top and short maroon skirt did nothing against the spray. The water was too deep to wade and too fast to trust. Every plan she made, the tide beat. "You're thinking so loud I heard you from the trees," a voice called. Azumi Sakamoto dropped out of the air and landed on the wet stone. Her feet barely touched down. Scarlett's best friend could fly, and she never let anyone forget it. She wore even less than Scarlett, a tiny green top and a plaid skirt slung low, and she grinned like the flood was a gift. "You want to cross," Azumi said. She tapped Scarlett's forehead. "To see him. I can hear it, you know. Loud and mushy." Scarlett shoved her hand away, face burning. "Then help instead of reading me." "I can carry you." Azumi lifted an inch off the ground to prove it. "But not far. You're heavier than you think." Scarlett looked at the water again. Something bumped the bank near her boots. A long board floated there, carved all over with strange dark spirals and shapes that seemed to watch her. It had come loose in the flood. She grabbed it before it drifted off. "A paddle board," she said. "I paddle, you push and guide. We stay low." Azumi clapped. "Yes. Bad idea. Love those." Scarlett flopped onto the strange board. The carvings felt cold under her palms. Azumi gripped the back and rose just enough to shove them off the stone. The current caught them at once and spun them sideways. Scarlett dug her hands in and pulled. Water soaked her to the ribs. "Left, left!" Azumi shouted, hauling the tail straight. They slid past a drowned bench and a floating basket. Halfway across, the board tipped. Scarlett threw her weight flat and held on. Azumi pushed harder, gasping now, her flying weaker over the deep water. The board struck the far steps hard. Scarlett scrambled up onto dry stone, chest heaving, alive and across. She'd made it. But his door hung open. The house was dark and empty. Wet footprints led away from it, toward the high ground, gone before the flood. He had already left. Azumi landed beside her and read it off her face. "He's not here." Scarlett stared at the muddy prints climbing the hill. She had crossed the impossible water and reached the wrong side of the day. Now she had to find where he'd run.