Free Spiritus, a Paranormal Romance (Spiritus Series, Book #1) by Dana Michelle Burnett

than the water in regular swimming pools, slick and more there somehow. I went deeper, lowering my entire body into the water, loving the earthy smell that clung to my skin and hair.
     
    “How sweet is this?” Billie asked as she floated by on her back.
     
    I leaned back and soaked my hair again, trying to get rid of that itchy sweaty feeling. At that moment I agreed with her completely. “It is very sweet.”
     
    A loud whistle drew our attention back up to the edge high above. There, perched above the water, in her red bikini top, Ally was waving. She was nothing more than a speck leaning out over the water.
     
    As I watched horrified, she stepped closer to the edge. I opened my mouth to scream, but before I could utter a sound, she jumped.
     
    “Ally!” I screamed too late.
     
    She fell for what seemed like an eternity before breaking through the glass-like surface of the water with a large spray. I held my breath until she bobbed back up laughing.
     
    “Are you insane?” I scolded as she swam towards me. “You could have killed yourself!”
     
    “It’s all in how you land,” she replied with a playful splash.
     
    I couldn’t stay mad at her; I was too in awe of what she just did. I didn’t even say anything when she “had” to do it two more times. There was a part of me that wished I was the brave, but the real me watched terrified from the water as she threw herself off again and again.
     
    At last, just as it was getting dark, Ally grew bored of terrifying me with her antics and agreed to go back up to the fires. Billie was right, the fires were the only light around by then, and they were too far away to do much good as we stumbled through the tall grass.
     
    I tripped and stumbled, smacked at bugs, and all the while kept thinking to myself that this is what qualifies for a good time around here. What was wrong with this picture?
     
    More people were surrounding the fires by the times we made it to the top of the hill. I took a seat near our cooler and dug through the melting ice for a soda, trying to search the larger crowd for one face in particular at the same time. In the dim, flickering light, and with everyone moving from group to group, it was difficult to tell who was who.
     
    He told me to come. He said he would be here. So, where was he?
     
    Billie and Ally soon joined the mix, leaving me alone on the log with no one to speak to. I couldn’t blame them. One of the boys from my English class, I forgot his name, had Billie pulled aside and was whispering something in her ear that made her giggle. Ally was following her newest crush, a boy I had only seen a few times in the hall, from group to group.
     
    I was only alone a few minutes before a boy sat down on the log next to me. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the darkness to see Jonah’s handsome face beside me.
     
    “So, you made it after all.” He said with one of his brilliant smiles.
     
    “Yes, I did.” I said while twisting my still damp hair. Could I look anymore awful?
     
    If he realized how uncomfortable I was, he was ignoring it. “Having fun?”
     
    I guess so.” I mumbled, wondering if the zit that was just starting to show that morning was glowing bright red.
     
    Jonah frowned, “You don’t like it here, do you?”
     
    “It’s my first time at a rock quarry, that’s for sure.”
     
    “That’s not was I was talking about,” he said with a smirk. “I was talking about Corydon.”
     
    I was trying to craft the perfect response when Billie and the boy from my English class came up to get a soda. She eyed Jonah sitting next to me and smiled widely.
     
    “How are you doing there, Becca?” She asked with a wide smile.
     
    I was absolutely mortified. The only thing that I could be grateful for was the darkness so that Jonah couldn’t see me blush.
     
    “I’m fine, Billie.” I replied through clenched teeth, wishing her and that boy would just go away.
     
    The boy seemed amused