The Lost Coast by Amy Rose Capetta

Author:Amy Rose Capetta [Capetta, Amy Rose]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781536206593
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Published: 2019-06-10T16:00:00+00:00

Imogen kept pulling away, and Rush couldn’t figure out why.

The rain gave way to a wickedly dry summer. Heat pushed the rest of the Grays into their skimpiest shorts and wafer-thin tank tops. June considered shaving her entire head. Hawthorn put contacts in every day because her glasses kept slipping off her nose. Imogen and Rush did their best to pretend that nothing had changed.

Heavy sweat and thick silence kept Rush and Imogen company on a drive to the movie theater, where they settled into a pair of seats with a huge soda wedged between them.

But halfway through the movie, Imogen couldn’t seem to keep her eyes on the screen. They left before the hero and the girl even managed to kiss. Rush drove Imogen back toward Tempest in yet more silence.

“Pull over,” Imogen said.

She walked through the weeds at the side of the road, all the way down to the Eel River, where she took off her clothes. She looked as if she were carved from a piece of moon. Rush thought she’d finally gotten it right, given Imogen the time she needed. She closed her eyes and waited for the waiting to be over.

When she opened her eyes again, she found that Imogen had left her behind to stare at her naked backside as she lowered herself into the water. Rush sat on the bank and pulled her knees up. The dry summer had come hand in hand with a drought, but the river seemed to inch up until it almost touched Rush’s sandals.

When Imogen came back, Rush asked her, “Why are we here?”

Imogen scraped up a smile. “I thought you liked night swimming.”

Day after day above a hundred degrees gave Imogen an excuse to slide away whenever Rush sat down next to her, to give them both a little breathing room when they stood side by side, working a spell.

This was why Hawthorn didn’t want any of the Grays to date each other. Most of them had kissed each other. Sometimes as part of their spellwork. Sometimes just to do it. When Lelia discovered she was on the ace spectrum at fifteen, she let everyone know that kissing was fun, as long as it wasn’t about sprinting to get to other bases. Hawthorn and June kissed every time Hawthorn brought June a good piece of rose quartz — her favorite. The Grays took each other to school dances, brought each other corsages, held each other tight on dance floors while people laughed. They ignored the whispers about orgies. They were in love with each other, and that was good.

Love wasn’t the problem.

It was losing it that could hurt the Grays.

Rush still wanted to believe that this was going to fix itself, but as week after week went by, her hope dissolved. The worst part was that Imogen kept kissing her. Dull, dutiful kisses. Kisses that had so little of Imogen in them they might as well have been the wind against Rush’s lips.

And then she mumbled another girl’s name when she thought Rush wasn’t listening.

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