Free Autumn Calling by T. Lynne Tolles Page B

one
another for more than a day at most.
    The reason for the fight had to be
believable too, and that’s where Summer was having a terrible time.
What could it be about that would legitimate enough for Tori to not
want to be friends? Another worry was if she did come up with
something, what if it permanently damaged their relationship?
Summer only wanted a temporary solution for keeping Tori away, but
what if it blew up in her face and became permanent?
    The thoughts that jumbled up in her mind
were giving her an awful headache when she slowed for a stop sign a
few blocks from the office. She heard the caw of a crow in the
distance, but it didn’t really register with Summer. She was
thinking about Tori lying in that hospital bed. Summer hated lying,
and worse, she hated lying to Tori. Of course Tori usually knew
when Summer was lying, so that made it a no-brainer. But this
fight, in order to be plausible, would have to have some basis of
truth, or Tori would see right through it.
    “Hmm,” she thought. “What if it had to do
with the fact that Nick’s the reason Jackson hasn’t called? Yes.
And I could be angry because I think Tori had a hand in it too.
That might work.”
    More birds could be heard squawking close
by. Summer turned her head just as a crow swooped down, grabbing
her hair with its sharp claws. It was just a graze, but it was way
too close for Summer’s comfort. She looked over her shoulder and
the sky was darkening with hordes of black-winged birds.
    “Oh my God,” she said to herself and started
pedaling for her life. Unable to out-race the winged beasts, she
found herself being hit and attacked from three sides. One hit
almost ejected her from the bike, but she caught her balance. The
shrieking of birds everywhere made Summer pump the pedals with
fury.
    Pelted by beaks and razor sharp talons,
tears ran down her face as she came to a small canopy of trees. It
slowed the birds enough that she got a little headway as she shot
like a bullet to the parking lot of the clinic.
    She saw the accountant’s car in the parking
lot first; then saw him standing at the door with a coffee in one
hand and a briefcase in the other. She could see in his eyes the
fear as the cloud of birds followed behind her. He dropped his
coffee at the staggering sight as she fished through her pocket in
search of the keys to the office, still pedaling like crazy. She
looked down to find the right key and glanced over her shoulder to
see what the accountant was seeing. “Geez,” she said, finding a
tiny bit more speed to race to the door.
    She jumped from the bike as it traveled on
to crash into the side of the building, just missing the
accountant, shoved the key into the lock, and turned it. Summer
yanked the accountant by the arm, shoving him in the door and
following behind, closing it with a slam as dozens of birds sped
head-on into the glass, leaving bloody streaks and black feathers
in their place. Thumping could be heard on walls and the roof as
hundreds of birds set out on their Kamikaze flight to their
deaths.
    “What in the world is going on?” the
accountant said, wiping his forehead of anxious perspiration.
    “I wish I knew,” Summer said, peering out
the door to see one last bird hitting it, this time making a
sparkling spider web of a break. Thank God the bulk of the hits
were over. If the break had happened with the first hit, they would
not have been safe within their present sanctuary. She sat with a
thump in one of the reception chairs and caught her breath. The
headache was gone due to the adrenaline that pumped through her
body, but she could tell by the numbness at the base of her skull
and the knot forming there, it would be back in full force very
soon.
    After they both took a little breather, the
accountant went off to his chore and Summer grabbed a black garbage
bag and gloves to pick up the pile of dead birds outside the door.
Looking through the cracked glass at the distorted view of