The Sign of Seven Trilogy Read Online Free

around the slippery bank grew bunches of the wild orange lilies his mother liked. Fans of ferns climbed up the rocky slope, along with brambles of wild berries, which when ripe would stain the fingers a kind of reddish purple that looked a little like blood.
    The last time they’d come, he’d seen a black snake slither its way up the slope, barely stirring the ferns.
    Fox let out a shout, dumped his pack. In seconds he’d dragged off his shoes, his shirt, his jeans and was sailing over the water in a cannonball without a thought for snakes or ghosts or whatever else might be under that murky brown surface.
    â€œCome on, you pussies!” After a slick surface dive, Fox bobbed around the pool like a seal.
    Cal sat, untied his Converse All Stars, carefully tucked his socks inside them. While Fox continued to whoop and splash, he glanced over where Gage simply stood looking out over the water.
    â€œYou going in?”
    â€œI dunno.”
    Cal pulled off his shirt, folded it out of habit. “It’s on the agenda. We can’t cross it off unless we all do it.”
    â€œYeah, yeah.” But Gage only stood as Cal stripped down to his Fruit of the Looms.
    â€œWe have to all go in, dare the gods and stuff.”
    With a shrug, Gage toed off his shoes. “Go on, what are you, a homo? Want to watch me take my clothes off?”
    â€œGross.” And slipping his glasses inside his left shoe, Cal sucked in breath, gave thanks his vision blurred, and jumped.
    The water was a quick, cold shock.
    Fox immediately spewed water in his face, fully blinding him, then stroked off toward the cattails before retaliation. Just when he’d managed to clear his myopic eyes, Gage jumped in and blinded him all over again.
    â€œSheesh, you guys!”
    Gage’s choppy dog paddle worked up the water, so Cal swam clear of the storm. Of the three, he was the best swimmer. Fox was fast, but he ran out of steam. And Gage, well, Gage sort of attacked the water like he was in a fight with it.
    Cal worried—even as part of him thrilled at the idea—that he’d one day have to use the lifesaving techniques his dad had taught him in their aboveground pool to save Gage from drowning.
    He was picturing it, and how Gage and Fox would stare at him with gratitude and admiration, when a hand grabbed his ankle and yanked him underwater.
    Even though he knew it was Fox who pulled him down, Cal’s heart slammed into his throat as the water closed over his head. He floundered, forgetting all his training in that first instant of panic. Even as he managed to kick off the hold on his ankle and gather himself to push to the surface, he saw a movement to the left.
    It—she—seemed to glide through the water toward him. Her hair streamed back from her white face, and her eyes were cave black. As her hand reached out, Cal opened his mouth to scream. Gulping in water, he clawed his way to the surface.
    He could hear laughter all around him, tinny and echoing like the music out of the old transistor radio his father sometimes used. With terror biting inside his throat, he slapped and clawed his way to the edge of the pool.
    â€œI saw her, I saw her, in the water, I saw her.” He choked out the words while fighting to climb out.
    She was coming for him, fast as a shark in his mind, and in his mind he saw her mouth open, and the teeth gleam sharp as knives.
    â€œGet out! Get out of the water!” Panting, he crawled through the slippery weeds and rolling, saw his friends treading water. “She’s in the water.” He almost sobbed it, bellying over to fumble his glasses out of his shoe. “I saw her. Get out. Hurry up!”
    â€œOooh, the ghost! Help me, help me!” With a mock gurgle, Fox sank underwater.
    Cal lurched to his feet, balled his hands into fists at his sides. Fury tangled with terror to have his voice lashing through the still summer air. “Get the fuck out.”
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