Descendant

By

Eva Truesdale

Copyright © 2011 by Eva TruesdaleEva's Blog

These stories are works of fiction. Names, characters,places, and incidents are either products of the author’s

imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actualevents, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely

coincidental.All rights reserved.

No part of this publication can be reproduced ortransmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or

mechanical, without permission in writing from EvaTruesdale.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 8Chapter 9Chapter 10Chapter 11Chapter 12Chapter 13Chapter 14Chapter 15Chapter 16Chapter 17Chapter 18Chapter 19Chapter 20

CHAPTER 1: goodbye

“Late, late yestreen I saw the new moon,With the auld moon in her arms;And I fear, I fear, my master dear!

That we shall have a deadly storm.”

-The Ballad of Sir Patrick Spens

It was a beautiful day for a funeral. That didn’t exactly helpthe situation. Somehow it seemed that, given all that hadhappened to me over the past few weeks, the weathercould’ve at least been catering to my feelings. So itshould’ve been raining. No, more like storming—with gale-force winds and hail the size of golf balls. Enough of thissunny sky and cool breeze nonsense. It was starting to pissme off.

My dad was the guest of honor, the one we’d all come tosay good-bye to. We’d kept this affair as intimate aspossible and invited only family and close friends—emphasis on the word ‘close’— because if we hadn't it waslikely the whole town would’ve shown up. This was mainlybecause of two reasons: one, because in our rural,mountain town of Cody's Creek, North Carolina, everybodyknew everybody, and that somehow gave everyone theright to be involved in everyone else's business. And two:because my dad's death, and the stories surrounding it,had been dominating the headlines of the local newspaperfor the past week. It had even been a story on ChannelThree's six 'o' clock news one night—which was a big dealfor a town whose front-page news normally contained suchfascinating stories as the one about Farmer Such-and-Such, who broke a long-standing town record with theincredible girth of a pumpkin he managed to grow. And thesad part is I’m not making that up. That really was a story

last November.

An accidental drowning. That had been the newspapers’conclusion—and it made sense. After all, as far as I knew,my dad didn’t have any enemies. In fact, he was arguablyone of the most well-liked people in town. Besides that,stuff like murders just didn't happen here in Cody's Creek—it had been something like fifty-years since the last knownone, I think. Plus it had been raining for days before the oneDad went missing, and the lake we lived next to had beensteadily rising to dangerous levels. Combine that with thefact that my father had never been a particularly strongswimmer, and everything added up just fine.

Not that that stopped people from coming up with their owncrazy conclusions. I had to admit—it was tempting to comeup with one myself. Because the fact was, I couldn't help butbe a little bit angry with my father, for going and drowninglike that. I know that sounds awful. But at least if he’d beenmurdered, I could’ve directed my anger at someone else,and not toward Dad on the day of his funeral. Because thatseemed…wrong, somehow.

So there I stood, between my younger sister, Lora, and mymom, Anna. The latter had her hand resting lightly on myshoulder, in what I think was an attempt to be comforting. Itwasn't a very good one. My mom was a very practical, no-nonsense kind of woman—she didn't do the touchy-feelystuff much, so her hand being there came off as moreawkward than anything else. Still, I suppose it was thethought that counted. I sighed and leaned against her, andshe wrapped an arm around my shoulder as I starednumbly forward.

The pastor from our church—who had been a close friendof my father’s—was reading something from the Biblepropped open in his arms now, his voice sounding like itmight crack any second. A small group of mourners stoodwith us in a semi-circle around him. Most of them had wadsof well-used tissue clenched in their fists and were dabbingat puffy, red eyes, which made me feel a little ashamed. Myown face was dry, and it had been since I’d learned of my

own face was dry, and it had been since I’d learned of mydad's death. It wasn't that I didn't feel like crying. I justcouldn't make the tears fall. I think maybe I was still tooshocked to do anything except stare blankly at the worldaround me, like I was doing now as the pastor said his finalwords.

A few other people spoke up after he had finished, but Ididn't hear a single word any of them said. Like it mattered.What could any of them possibly say about dad that I didn'talready know, anyway?

I shuffled restlessly where I stood. The cemetery’s giant oaktrees had been providing us with shade for most of themorning; now the sun was hovering directly above us, and Ihad to throw up a hand to shield my eyes from its rays.

Apparently, the sun's annoying new position was a cue ofsome sort, because a minute or so later silence descendedover our group. The pastor took a handful of dirt and tossedit across my father's coffin while chanting something about‘ashes to ashes and dust to dust'.

And then it was over.

The pastor closed the Bible, and people turned to theirneighbors and shook hands and hugged each another.Then one by one they directed their attention to us. I wastedno time ducking out of my mother's one-armed embraceand attempting a bee-line toward our SUV.

Something about me must’ve been screaming “I don’t wantto talk to anyone”, because I managed to escape most ofthe crowd with only a few discreet head nods and briefembraces. I hadn’t quite made it to the safety of our vehicle,however, before I had that inexplicable feeling of beingwatched.

I tilted my head to the left, and saw the reason instantly outof the corner of my eye; she would’ve been hard to miss,since she was staring blatantly in my direction, her eyesresolute and a creepy statue-like air to her. Without

thinking, my pace slowed almost to a stop. My hand hadalready reached for the car door. Now it simply rested onthe handle.

For a moment I couldn't help but stare back, but that quicklygot uncomfortable for me—even though she seemedunnerved by my returned stare. Seconds later I admitteddefeat in our staring contest and averted my eyes, pulledthe car door open and clambered inside. I slumped downas far into the seat as I could go—far enough so that Icouldn't see out the windshield.

I stared at the dashboard for a long while before sitting upand chancing a glance in her direction, but by this time thestrange girl had already disappeared. My gaze was metinstead by what was left of my family just as they reachedthe car. They didn’t say anything as they climbed in. I didn’tbother to interrupt the silence.

That girl’s face followed me home. I’d seen her somewherebefore, I was sure of it, and now she hung in my memorylike a nagging tune I couldn’t name. I knocked my headlightly against the headrest in frustration, and my motherglanced over at me, her lips forming a thin frown.

"You okay, Alex?"

Well that was a loaded question.

"I'm fine Mom. Just thinking about something." She gaveme one of her I-know-better-because-I’m-your-mom looks,but all she said was:

"Okay." The silence settled heavily after that, and lastedthroughout the remainder or the trip, leaving me alone withmy thoughts.

Eventually, the longest car ride of my life came to an endand we turned left into our long, twisting, gravel driveway.My nose was pressed against the window, causing a tinycloud of fog to appear on the glass with each breath.Outside, the wind was picking up, and the trees lining our

Outside, the wind was picking up, and the trees lining ourdriveway were bowing forward, their branches skimmingthe top of the car. The glass was getting colder, despite mywarm breaths, as the sun was now completely hiddenbehind the gray clouds. A thunderstorm—a nasty one fromthe looks of it—was rolling in quickly, as they had atendency to do during our North Carolina summers.

It was about damn time the weather got with the program.

My door was open before the car had even made it intopark. I jumped out and pulled the light jacket I was wearingmore tightly around my self, and took the front porch stepsat a run without offering so much as an acknowledgingglance over my shoulder at either Mom or Lora. My housekey was out and ready when I got to the front door, and Ihastily shoved it in the lock. I didn't bother to shut the doorbehind me as I darted off down the hall. As I reached myroom I heard the wind fling the screen door against thebrick siding with a loud bang!—which I mimicked a secondlater when I slammed my own door. I walked to theoverstuffed couch in the corner of my room and slumpeddown into it, promptly burying my face in its cushions. Myeyes were closed within seconds.

Outside, car doors were slamming. The front door wasopening and closing, and the distant murmur of quiet voicesand footsteps of our friends and relatives was gettinglouder and louder. But none of that mattered right now.

Right now, I just wanted to sleep for as many days as Icould possibly get away with.

***

I hadn't been to a lot of funerals in my sixteen years. In thedays following my dad's, people were constantly telling mehow ‘beautiful' it had been. I hadn’t ever thought aboutfunerals being such but, looking back, I suppose it hadbeen a nice enough way to say good-bye.

Good-bye.

Wow.

That word was still hard to swallow. I guess now Iunderstood the comfort people found in believing in life-after-death. It made things easier, I guess— the idea thatyou might see them again. As for what I believed? I wasn'tsure. I didn't want to think about it.

So, in an effort to keep myself from thinking, I spent the nextfew weeks doing anything I could to stay busy. I took extrashifts at the library where I worked during the summer. Ivolunteered my time to help out with Lora's soccer team. Ihelped our elderly neighbor, Ms. Cartwright, with her yardwork. I reorganized my closet about ten times. I rereadnearly every book I owned (which was no small feat, giventhat I owned several bookshelves full) at least twice.

It was inevitable, I suppose, that I’d eventually run out ofthings to distract myself with.

It happened a lot sooner than I would have liked, on anovercast Saturday afternoon exactly three weeks after mydad's funeral. I sat on our front porch, my head resting ondrawn-up knees clad in sweatpants I hadn’t bothered tochange out of when I woke up that morning. The ear buds ofmy Ipod were wedged in my ears, blaring my music at avolume my mother probably would’ve nagged me about. Iwas, not for the first time that week, mulling over the idea oftaking a walk down to the lake.

My eyes drifted toward it—or at least to what I could see ofit through the fortress of thick-trunked trees that separatedthe two of us. That was were my father had taught me howto swim. My fists clenched at the memory.

He should’ve spent more time teaching himself. What hadbeen the very first lesson he’d taught me? Never swimalone. He’d been alone. And dead almost an entire daybefore anybody knew because of it.

I got to my bare feet, and before I knew what I was doing my

I got to my bare feet, and before I knew what I was doing mylegs had taken several strides toward the trees, closing thedistance in a matter of seconds. I pushed aside thebranches along the forest edge and made my way downthe well-beaten path that led down to the lake's edge,stumbling over the limbs littering the ground as a result oflast night's storms.

I cleared the trees and paused, admiring the enormousbody of water I was facing. The surface of the lake wasdark and foreboding in the meager light of the gray sky, butsurprisingly smooth, given the deteriorating weatherconditions.

The wind was picking up, so I pulled the hood of thesweatshirt I was wearing over my head and huddled over inan attempt to shield myself from it. It didn’t do much good.Shivering, I picked my way down to the pebble-strewnbeach until I reached the water's edge. My eyes closed as Iinhaled the fishy, soggy smell that enveloped me. Everynow and then a gust of wind would urge the water to slideover my bare feet, causing chill bumps to erupt across myskin. The lake seemed unseasonably cold, but I rolled thebottoms of my pant legs up and waded further out anyway,until I was knee deep in the murky water.

This had always been my place. No matter what I wasgoing through, no matter how horrible a day I'd had, I couldalways count on the lake to make it all better. Now, standingthere I felt empty. Alone. Like I was drowning in the knee-deep water, even as I took slow, deliberate breaths of air.

And then, very suddenly, I realized I wasn’t alone at all.

A distinct click sounded behind me. I spun around,forgetting for a moment how deeply I had waded out, andnearly lost my balance. I threw my arms out to steady myself, just as my gaze found the source of the click, and Ifroze, hands still in the air. My eyes were the only thing Idared to move. They widened slowly as they took in thesight of the man who stood before me, staring with anappraising look in his narrowed eyes. I didn't recognize him

as anyone I'd ever seen around town—or around anywhereelse, for that matter. But I didn't linger too much on who hemight’ve been.

Because at the moment I was a bit preoccupied by the gunhe was pointing at my chest.

CHAPTER 2: oxygen

There were several things I could’ve done in my situation.The only problem was I was pretty sure each one was justas likely to get me killed as the next. I couldn’t run. I couldn’tmove. The water suddenly seemed even less like my usualescape and more like a pool of rapidly-setting cement.

At first, I couldn’t focus on anything but that gun. After aminute I started to feel light-headed. Then I remembered tobreathe. My head started to clear a little after that, andalmost right away I had this crazy idea that maybe I couldescape under the water. I could, after all, easily hold mybreath for a whole minute, maybe longer—especially if mylife depended on it. Plus, I was a fast swimmer, so if I couldjust hold my breath long enough to get out of close-firingrange…

It was crazy, I knew. And I was fairly certain this plan wouldfail miserably, but within a split-second I’d decided I wasgoing to do it anyway. What other choice did I have? Standthere and let him blow my brains out? Yeah, no thank you.

I moved noticeably then, for the first time since I’d laid eyeson the man. I saw his finger itch towards the gun’s trigger,and I inhaled a little sharper than I meant to in response. Hedidn’t seem to notice. I tried to focus, tried to steady my selfand take the deep breaths I’d need to follow through withmy plan without being too noticeable. But it wasn’t easy.

He was so close.

So close I could see the cold expression in his pale-blueeyes. So close I could see the pistol he held didn’t so muchas quiver as he took two steps toward me. So close that,when his eyes darted ever-so-slightly to my right, I saw it.And then I saw him move the gun, slowly and deliberately,

to follow his gaze as he looked away from me.

I was so confused by this that, at first, it didn’t even occur tome that this would probably be a good time to make myescape. I got over that real quick. I took a deep breath,sucking in as much air as I could possibly hold, and my legsbent to submerge my self in the water. But just as myshoulders reached the surface, two things happened inquick succession:

First, I felt something brush against my arm, and then downto my waist—something warm, something that felt kind oflike seaweed. And then, before I could even open my mouthto scream, the man standing before me spoke for the firsttime, in a deep, calm voice:

“Don’t move, Alexandra.”

I probably would’ve listened too, if only because I was soshocked to hear this complete stranger say my name,except at that moment something grabbed my left arm andclamped down on it with a merciless grip. And next thing Iknew, I was under water.

My nostrils and throat burned as water tried to force its wayin. I flailed in protest, my legs kicking wildly until one of myfeet made contact with something soft, and I managed tobreak free and resurface briefly. I sputtered out the dirtylake water and gulped down as much air as I could before Iwas jerked back under.

I twisted. I turned. I kicked. I punched. I did everything I couldto shake the thing off, but it was moving around me inrelentlessly quick motions, dodging almost every attack Ithrew. Even the ones that did make contact with it didn’tseem to count for anything. I might as well have been hittinga solid block of concrete. Make that reinforced concrete.

The muscles in my legs and my one free arm werethrobbing, and my mind began to dull at the mercy of theconstant ache. A sharp pain was spasming through my left

arm. It was a fleeting, hard-to-focus-on pain though—andthat was the scary thing: it was getting harder and harder tofocus on anything. I was slipping.

Was this the end? Was this really how I was going to go?

I tried to focus, tried to find any strength that might be leftinside me. There wasn’t much. But I still was ready to giveup just yet. My body went rigid as I prepared it for one lastattempt at freedom. The creature must’ve sensed therewas still some fight in me, because its grip on my arm goteven tighter. Something sharp, something like nails, orknives—I wasn’t about to look and see— crushed throughmy skin, and then I felt a vicious twist that had to haveripped my left arm at least part-way off.

I had a brief moment of clarity then, and with it came asudden surge of adrenaline that made me oblivious to thefact that I wasn’t sure I still owned two arms. I began to fightagain, jerking and kicking with everything I had left. My foothit something, and for a second the thing’s grip loosened.Using the arm I could still halfway feel, I tried to reacharound and shove them off.

When I reached out though, my hand didn’t find a body toshove. It only brushed something that felt like strands ofhair, which slid through my outstretched fingers and thenwere gone.

And I was free. Just like that.

My body relaxed and began to float, bobbing awkwardly upand down in the water. I’d kept my eyes closed up until thispoint, partly because the muddy lake water stung my eyes,but mostly because I was having a hard enough time notpanicking without seeing whatever sort of monstrous thinghad been trying to drown me. But I did open my eyes then,and lifted my head to gaze in the direction I thought thesurface should be in. It was disorienting, at first, but myeyes eventually found the sunlight.

God, it was so far away.

God, it was so far away.

The sun’s rays seemed so feeble, so pointless in the murkybrown water they were barely penetrating. And the surface?Five feet, ten feet, maybe fifty feet away—I didn’t know. All Iknew was that it seemed so out of reach now. I kicked half-heartedly towards it anyway. It didn’t get any closer. Ishould’ve been panicking. But all I felt was cold. Very, verycold.

Then the light went away.

The pressure was back on my arms all of a sudden,although this time it wasn’t as strong. Of course, thatmight’ve been because my nerves were pretty much shot atthis point. Still, I could feel enough to know I was beingpulled again. I wanted to scream. Couldn’t they just let medrown in peace?

My eyes closed again, and I saw faces—Lora’s face,Mom’s face. Faces I was never going to see again. Ireached out. I wanted to touch them one last time, but myhand treaded nothing but water before floating slowly backdown to my side.

Whatever had me was whipping me through the water withease now, but whether we were going up, or down, or what Ididn’t know. After a minute the light came back again, andeven from behind closed eyelids I could tell it was brighterthan before. It was blinding, and I couldn’t stop my eyesfrom fluttering open once more in response. Just as theydid so, my head crashed through the water’s surface.

My left arm was shaking, a weird itching numbness runningthrough it. I was light-headed, and not quite sure how I’dmade it to that precious, previously underappreciatedoxygen—but I had. I could breathe. And for now that was allthat mattered. There was an arm around my waist, andwhoever it belonged to was still pulling me along. It didn’toccur to me to try and see who it was though. I didn’t careabout that either. Everything was so peaceful now, and Iwas too busy enjoying the miracle of oxygen to worry about

anything else.

All too soon though, the peace came to an end. I felt mylegs, and then my back, scrape along the lake’s rockybottom. A second later I was brought to an abrupt stop.Everything was still for a moment, and then I was lifted outof the water and into a strong pair of arms that cradled meagainst a broad, muscular chest. I was soaked, and in themerciless wind I quickly succumbed to a fit of shivers. It hadstarted to rain, too, and, even though I was alreadydrenched, I huddled closer to whoever held me in anattempt to get away from the pounding raindrops.

“Are you alone?” said a deep voice. I tried to lift my head,but found I didn’t have the strength.

Alone?

“Answer me!” barked the voice.

Just give me a minute! I kind of almost drowned there…

“Vanessa. Please.”

Vanessa? My name is not Vanessa...

I heard footsteps, followed by what sounded like a lowgrowl, and I tried twisting my neck around to get a betterlook. Bad idea.

About twenty feet from me stood a huge… creature. At firstglance I would’ve called it a wolf, but it was as big as agrizzly bear—if not bigger. It was stocky, with thick trunksfor legs and feet with claws so long that even from thisdistance I automatically drew back at the sight of them. Thecreature was dripping wet, and its long black fur clung to itsbody, clearly outlining the bulging muscles in its legs andneck.

There was a blonde-haired woman walking toward it, andeven on its four legs, the beast could easily look her in theeyes. I was terrified for this woman—this woman who

eyes. I was terrified for this woman—this woman whoseemed unbelievably tiny and fragile next to the beast. Herstride was confident, but as she approached it the creaturelet out another menacing growl, baring teeth that lookedseveral inches too long for its mouth.

I wanted to scream, to beg her to turn around, but my mouthwas so dry I could barely swallow. I couldn’t take my eyesoff the creature. They kept unwillingly shifting back to itsfrightening display of a mouth, and soon I noticed the furdirectly around there was darker, and that several of itsteeth were covered in red splotches. Blood, maybe? Myeyes drifted to my mangled arm.

Was that the thing that had tried to drown me? I turned myattention back to the creature, and a small gasp escapedmy mouth.

The woman now stood only inches from it, her stancerelaxed. The giant wolf-creature was pacing irritably. Everytime one of its oversized paws collided with the earth, thetiny pebbles covering the beach around it rattled as if theywere being subjected to an extremely localized earthquake.Several times it stopped directly in front of her, brought itsface so close to hers that the tip of its nose almost bumpedagainst her forehead, and let out a low growl. The womannever even flinched.

“Last chance,” she said in a cold voice, after about five ofthose up-close-and-personal growls.

The creature turned its head in my direction then, and itsglare caused a fresh set of shivers to run through my body.Thankfully, its eyes lingered for only a few seconds beforeturning back to the woman. Then it sat down and tilted itshead to the right. For a long time it held that pose, lookingalmost like it was calculating something.

Then it laughed. There was nothing animal-like about thislaugh, either; it was shrill, piercing, and devoid of anyhumor. And there was no mistaking it for what it was. Nowmight be a good time to point out that I am not, in fact,

insane. Or at least I didn’t think I was.

But then it spoke.

I uttered a small whimper of surprise, and the personholding me gave a small chuckle. Somehow, I’d almostforgotten about my brush with death, and that I was stillbeing held by whoever my savior was. Maybe because theman had been so quiet. Or maybe because the talking wolf-thing happened to be demanding my attention.

I didn’t understand the language it was speaking in. Thewords were quick and seemed to fall together in an almostmelodic way. Its tone, I decided after a minute or so oflistening, sounded amused. You know—assuming it couldspeak in a tone. And that it was capable of complexemotions.

Okay, maybe I was going insane.

It went on for at least a full minute, pacing as it spoke andnot pausing once for breath. When it finally seemed to befinished, nobody spoke. Nobody moved. There was nosound other than the plop, plop, plop of the steadyraindrops as they disrupted the already uneven surface ofthe lake.

Then, in a motion so fast I would’ve missed it if I’d blinked,the blonde woman had the creature—the huge, five-times-her-size creature—by the throat, and in another blur ofmovement she lifted it effortlessly into the air and flung itacross the beach.

The creature managed to twist itself so it would land on itsfeet, but it hit the ground so hard that its claws dug a ditchseveral feet long before it was able to skid to a stop directlyin front of the man holding the gun. It gave a disgruntledgrowl as it straightened up and shook off the dirt that hadgotten into its fur.

The man with the gun hesitated. He said something in whatsounded like the same language the creature had used, to

sounded like the same language the creature had used, towhich it responded with a vicious snarl. Then they both fellsilent. The creature’s ears laid flat against its head as itgave another low growl.

The blonde woman took two steps toward them, but thenseemed to change her mind and stopped midway throughthe third. Now she just stood, arms folded against her chestand eyes alternating between the creature and Gun Man.My savior shifted his weight to the right. I just stared,wondering when I was going to wake up from thisnightmare.

It was gun-fire that shattered the silence.

One, two, three—I couldn’t keep count. At least ten bulletshad to have hit the creature, several of them landing squarein its chest. It winced as the first bullets hit, but then stoodits ground, even when Gun Man threw the first gun asideand pulled another from his coat pocket and unloaded itsclip as well.

My mouth dropped open. “It’s not…dying…” I said, more tomyself than anybody.

“He’s not trying to kill her,” said a quiet voice. It soundedannoyed.

I looked up at the man holding me. “What? Why not?” Icouldn’t imagine what could be gained from letting thatthing live. The click of another clip of ammunition beingloaded echoed through the air. “It looks like he’s trying to killit to me,” I added defiantly.

“That gun he’s using? It’s not even going to faze her, and heknows it.” He shook his head. “He just wants to scare heraway, not kill her,” said the man quietly. There was nomistaking the irritation in his voice now. “At least thatseems to be working,” he added under his breath, tilting hishead in the direction of the confrontation.

The creature was crouching submissively now, backing up

slowly and tossing its head in irritation with each bullet thathit. It still wasn’t attempting to dodge them, though. Not thatit really needed to though, since they were just bouncingharmlessly off anyway.

“And… there she goes,” said the man.

I watched as the creature gave one last snarl beforehurdling off into the woods.

“Wouldn’t have expected her to give up that easily but—ahwell.” He shifted my weight a bit and walked toward theother two.

It was kind of awkward being carried around by thisstranger, but I didn’t exactly feel up to supporting my ownweight at the moment, what with the recent near-drowningexperience and all. So I settled for my role as baggage,and took this opportunity to get a good look my carrier forthe first time.

He didn’t look much older than myself; if I had to put anumber on it I would’ve guessed he was seventeen oreighteen at the oldest. His eyes, wide and child-like, were adeep chocolaty brown and easily the most attention-grabbing of his features. His dark hair, which was croppedshort against his head, glistened from the reflection of thewater droplets that clung to it.

“Like what you see?” He said suddenly, glancing down atme with a smile that caused me to blush. His light browncomplexion was enhanced by that good-natured smilewhich, despite the dreary situation, sent a flood of warmthover me, and I instantly felt like I could trust this man. Hehad saved my life, after all.

“Thank you, by the way,” I said. My voice sounded a lotweaker than I’d expected.

“Don’t mention it,” said the good-natured man withoutlooking at me. We were approaching the other two now,and I realized at once that we’d walked into the middle of

and I realized at once that we’d walked into the middle ofan argument.

“She’s the enemy, Kael!” said the tiny blonde woman in ashrill voice. “Or at least, she’s our enemy—but maybe youstill haven’t decided whose side you’re on?”

“Watch it, Vanessa,” said Kael.

I automatically turned as he spoke, but my gaze didn’t stayon him for long. His light blue eyes were narrowed into afierce glare that made him appear downright dangerous.

“You know very well were my loyalty lies,” continued Kael inhis harsh tone as I averted my eyes. “I think I’ve proven thatmore than enough to satisfy most people.”

“Except when it comes to—”

“No one’s saying you haven’t,” interjected my savior.

“I am, Will!” The woman shouted.

I felt Will recoil slightly. “Vanessa I…”

“My God Will! You always take his side!”

“That’s not—”

“She almost killed another human, and we—no he— just lether get away! There were three of us! Three against one!What are we going to tell the others?” Vanessa’s high-pitched voice sounded a lot like my Mom’s when she wasangry.

Will’s chest rose and fell with a deep breath. “We’ll tell themwe had other things to worry about,” he replied in a calmvoice. “Which is true.”

I felt incredibly uncomfortable all of a sudden as three setsof eyes fixed on me.

“How bad is it?” Vanessa asked, her voice abruptly shiftingto a more gentle tone—one I much preferred over hersqueaky angry one.

“Her wounds are already healing,” Will replied quietly.

I’d been trying to avoid looking at my mangled armanymore than I had to, but Will’s words ignited my curiosity.So I took a deep breath and looked down.

I gasped. It was the only noise I could manage to get out.

My arm was still there, and what was more— it wascompletely in one piece. Aside from a few dried upsquiggles, there was hardly even any blood. Besides that,the only proof I’d been attacked at all lay in the long, ridgedscar that ran from my wrist all the way up past my elbow—but even that was faint, like the scar on my forehead fromstitches I’d had nearly ten years ago. And it was gettingharder to see every second. I stared open-mouthed at it forseveral long moments before glancing back up at Will.

“…Hey. What the heck is going on here?” Will didn’t answerright away, so I looked frantically to Vanessa. She avertedher eyes, and when I glanced back at Will he did the same.Blood pounded behind my ears. “Hello? Is anybody goingto answer me?”

“That’s kind of a difficult question.” I was surprised by thevoice, which still sounded harsh but not entirely unkind. Kaeldidn’t look away when I lifted my eyes to him.

“I can handle the answer, I promise,” I said, frowning slightly.Kael hesitated, and the other two still didn’t bother to speakup. This was getting really annoying.

I squirmed my way out of Will’s arms and planted both feethard on the ground. Unfortunately, my legs weren’t willing tocooperate just yet, and I ended up having to grab Will’sshoulder to steady my self. The simple act of standingseemed to take an unreasonable amount of energy.

“I don’t think now is the best time,” Kael said, his eyesstaring vacantly off into the distance. He sounded bored.

“Oh really? Well what would be a good time for you, then?” Ididn’t bother trying to keep the acidity out of my voice.

He turned to me then, his eyes very serious as they metmine. “I’d prefer never, actually,” he said. “I hope we don’tever have to see each other again.”

I glared at him. "…Well, I assure you our feelings aremutual," I all but spat. What was this guy’s problem,anyway?

Kael laughed a humorless laugh, and Vanessa cleared herthroat and shot him a nasty look before turning to me.

"Um…how are you feeling, Alex?" she asked, her voicewavering slightly.

"You can see for yourself,” I said, holding out my arm. Thescar was almost gone at this point. “I'm f-f-f-" Why was Istuttering?

“I’m fi-fi-” I tried again.

"Alex?" I heard Will’s muffled voice say my name, but all ofa sudden I was too tired to care about answering.

My eyes started to water, begging me to close them. I triedto ignore the burning, tried to stay focused on the peoplearound me. But no matter how hard I stared they just gotblurrier, and the noises—the wind thrashing across thelake, cars passing on the distant road—grew faint, until Iwas surrounded by complete silence.

And then everything went dark.

CHAPTER 3: insane

“My God,” I said aloud to nobody in particular. “That was thestrangest dream I’ve ever had.” I sat up slowly, running ahand through my bed-worn hair and blinking my eyes open.

I was in my room. Safe, in my room. It had all been a dream—a very vivid dream, for sure—but just a dream. I turnedmy head to my left, inching the covers off my arm. I held mybreath as I examined it, but let it out a second later as Irealized it was perfectly whole. Not even a scratch. But whywould there be? It was only a dream. I gazed out thewindow just to the left of my bed. I couldn’t see the lakethrough the trees.

I sighed and took a few good stretches before throwing mycovers off. The sound of footsteps coming down the hallcaught my attention just as I was about to step onto thebare wooden floor. My mom appeared in the doorway afew seconds later, her arms folded across her chest.

“You’re up,” she said. The smile she wore was perfectlypleasant. It was bright, cheery. It wasn’t like her smile at all.

This couldn’t be good.

“So, are you going to explain to me why you were passedout on our front porch when I got home from work last night?Or maybe we should save that conversation for after you’vetaken something for that killer headache I’m sure you have?I hear cold showers are good for hangovers, too.”

I stared blankly at her for several moments before I realizedjust what I was being accused of. “Whoa. What? Mom…areyou serious?”

“This is very serious, Alex.”

“Mom—come on! I didn’t…I’ve never…I’m only sixteenMom! I would never…”

“I know how old my daughter is, thank you very much.”

“Mom, you can’t seriously be accusing me of this! I don’tdrink! You know me!”

My mom bit her lip, as though she were actually consideringmy words. But then she shook her head.

“You know you’re right—I’m jumping to conclusions.”Sarcasm was one gift I got from Mom. Her voice wasdripping with it. “So then, Alexandra Louise Layton, pleasetell me the real reason you were passed out on our frontporch last night?”

Oh no. She was using my full name—which meant therewas no way I was going to get out of this one unscathed.But how to minimize the damage?

Of course, it occurred to me then that I didn’t have even thebeginnings of a good excuse.

“Well? Are you going to talk?”

“If only I knew what to say…”

“What was that, young lady?”

“Nothing,” I said, turning over excuses in my mind.

My mom cleared her throat expectantly.

“Look, Mom—I think I may have been sleepwalking,” I saidquickly. Yeah, it was lame. But it was the first excuse thatcame to mind. “I had a really bad nightmare… a really,really bad nightmare, and I remember passing out—in mydream I mean—but I don’t know how I got on the porch, Imean… Didn’t Dad use to have problems withsleepwalking? I’m pretty sure it’s hereditary, I should

probably—”

“Right,” Mom interrupted, still wearing that sickeninglysweet smile. “You’re grounded. Indefinitely. Maybe for life.”My unjust sentence dealt, she started to turn away, buthesitated. “Alex, I know it’s been a rough couple of weeks—but we’ve taught you better than that. You know alcohol isnot the answer.”

Yes I do mom, yes I do.

I sighed, shaking my head at her retreating back, but didn’targue. I knew that, right now at least, it wouldn’t do me anygood. I’d talk to her later, after she’d—hopefully—calmeddown. Besides, I needed to work out what had happenedfor myself. My eyes drifted to my left arm. My perfectlyhealthy, injury free left arm. Suddenly, the idea that I’dinherited my father’s sleepwalking problem didn’t seem liketoo farfetched an idea. It made more sense than anythingelse. But still…

“Oh, and Alex—“ my mom’s voice interrupted. “You need togo apologize to your sister. You were supposed to drive herto soccer practice, since I was working a double-shift.Remember?”

“Oh…right.” Woops.

“Don’t forget,” she said as she turned and walked off downthe hall.

I closed the door soundlessly behind her, walked over to mywindow and drew the curtains shut. Suddenly, I felt likecrawling back into bed.

I didn’t go back to sleep, but I did spend several hours lyingon the floor, staring at the ceiling. And if there hadn’t been alight knocking on my door just then, I probably would’vespent the rest of the day there.

“Come in,” I called hoarsely.

The door opened and my little sister floated in. And yes I domean float, because my sister didn’t walk anywhere—shefloated, and every step was deliberate and fell silently. Itprobably had something to do with the ten years of dancelessons she took. Or maybe she just got all of the gracegenes our parents had to offer. I know I definitely didn’t getany of them.

If my sister and I didn’t share the same last name mostpeople probably wouldn’t even believe we were related. Mythirteen-year-old sister was, in a word, gorgeous. While Iwas clearly my Irish father’s child, with the shockingly redhair to prove it, she was practically a carbon copy of ayounger version of my mother. Her eyes, normally wide andexpecting, were a brilliant blue that made my green oneslook dull by comparison, and her perfectly flawless skin wasnaturally tan—it looked especially so when she stood nextto my alabaster white and freckled self. Besides that, mysister constantly looked like she’d just stepped off a runway—with every hair in place, and every outfit perfectlycoordinated and accessorized. As for me…well, let’s justsay was decidedly anti-fashion. I lived my life in well-wornjeans, flip-flops, and t-shirts. Every now and then I’d throwon a necklace, maybe a pair of earrings just to changethings up.

Despite our differences in appearances and otherwise,however, my sister had always been—and probably alwayswould be—my best friend. Our parents had been too busywith their jobs to worry too much about raising us, so thetask of bringing up Lora had fallen largely to me. I’d be lyingif I said it was a chore I’d always enjoyed, because trust me— Lora could be a real pain in the you-know-what. She wasloud, she was messy, she broke things like it was her job,and I’d spent the better part of my sixteen years trying tokeep her out of trouble.

But as little sisters went, I guess she could’ve been a lotworse.

“How long are you grounded for?” Lora asked with a frown,closing the door behind her. She fluttered across the roomand drew back the curtains to shine some light into thedismal place that was my room.

“Indefinitely,” I replied, also frowning.

“You know that means like a week, right?” She offered mea half-hearted smile. “This is Mom we’re talking about.” Shehad a point—not unlike myself, my mom had a quicktemper, but her anger usually subsided pretty quickly.

But she did have a thing for grudges.

“Sooo…” Lora began, twirling a finger in her dark hair asshe walked over and plopped herself down on the bedbeside me. “Thanks for bailing on me yesterday.”

“Yeah…sorry about practice,” I said.

Lora shrugged. “It wasn’t that big of a deal—when I couldn’tfind you anywhere, I just called Madison’s parents andasked them to swing by here and pick me up. I was stayingthe night with them anyway.”

“Oh, well that’s good then.”

“I was worried though, when I couldn’t find you,” Lora said.“And then Mom calls me at Maddy’s at like eleven ‘o’ clocklast night, telling me she got home from work and found youlaying in the porch swing…” She paused, as if waiting forme to correct her, to tell her none of it was true. When Ididn’t, she continued in a rush, sounding frustrated. “Shesaid you were unconscious. She—we—were reallyscared.” She looked at me expectantly.

“Yeah…” What was I suppose to say? I didn’t have anexplanation to give her. I still didn’t have one to give myself,come to think of it.

“Alex...?” Lora began, fidgeting with the ruffled trim of the

“Alex...?” Lora began, fidgeting with the ruffled trim of thesundress she was wearing. “Were you…were youdrinking?”

“Why does everybody think that?” I practically shouted.

“I don’t think that,” Lora said, jumping back.

“Mom does.”

“That’s only because Miss Cartwright left a bunch of rudemessages on our answering machine, saying she wasgoing to call the cops if we didn’t keep the noise down. SoMom assumed—”

“What?” Miss Cartwright was our elderly, slightly senilenext-door neighbor. And it was perfectly plausible that shehad imagined any noise she’d heard. A sinking feelingbegan to form in the pit of my stomach anyway. “What kindof noise?”

“Um… I don’t know Alex, she didn’t specify…” Lora lookedat me curiously. “What does it matter, anyway?”

“It doesn’t.” No— it didn’t matter. As long as the noise inquestion didn’t sound like gunfire. Or like a fight between agun-toting man and some mythical creature. Now that Ithought about it, it had been a really noisy nightmare.

“What’s wrong?” I met Lora’s confused gaze and sighed. Iwanted to tell her everything that was going trough my head—I truly, desperately did. But I really didn’t want my littlesister thinking I was insane.

“I’ve just got a lot on my mind,” I replied lamely.

Lora didn’t look the least bit convinced. Thankfully though,she wasn’t the type to push people into talking when theydidn’t want to. She said nothing, just stood up with aworried look on her face and turned toward the door. She’donly taken a few steps, however, before she stopped andturned back around, reaching into a side pocket on her

dress as she did so.

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot…” Her hand emerged from thepocket, holding something that glinted in the rays of sunbeaming in through the window. She held out her hand tome, and I noticed a strange humming noise coming from it.

“This is the main reason I came in here,” Lora said.

I didn’t take my eyes off her hand.

“I wanted to give this back to you. Sorry I didn’t ask if I couldborrow it, but you were kind of missing in action, youknow?” Her hand unfolded to reveal the silver necklace mygrandmother had given me on my last birthday. I’d neverworn it—it was a little too fancy for my taste. The tear-dropshaped diamond in the center of it was real, and setagainst a silver backing intricately shaped to resemblevines. She stepped toward me, trying to give it to me. Asshe did the humming grew louder, like it was some kind ofreverse metal detector homing in on potential treasure.Sunlight bounced off the diamond, reflecting into my eyeswith a brightness that was almost sinister. I stumbled backuntil I bumped against my bed.

“What is your problem?” Lora asked.

“…Why is it humming?”

“What?”

“It never did that before.”

“Alex, what are you talking about?” She looked terrified. “It’snot humming.” She glanced over her shoulder, as if thinkingabout making a run for it. Apparently she decided against itthough, because she took another step toward me instead.“Are you okay?” she asked in an urgent whisper.

I closed my eyes and gave my head a little shake, trying tofocus on what she was saying.

“Alex?”

“…Sorry.” I mumbled. “I guess I’m still just a little tired…” Itook a deep breath, and tried to force a smile—or at least anormal expression. “Give it here,” I said, reaching out myhand reluctantly. The humming was so loud now that it wasdifficult to concentrate on anything else, and it was startingto give me a headache.

Lora hesitated, then dropped the necklace into myoutstretched hand.

It made contact with my palm for about two seconds beforeI flung it. The charm had been hot—white hot. My unburnthand flew to my mouth; the scent of my own burning fleshwas filling my nostrils and it made me want to gag. I did afrantic survey of the room and saw that I’d manage to throwthe necklace all the way to the far corner of my room. It wasstill humming, but at least it was barely audible now.

“Alex! Calm down…”

I tried. I took deep breath after deep breath, closed myeyes and thought every happy, comforting thought I couldthink of. Those thoughts might’ve made a difference too,except at that moment I unfolded my clenched fist toexamine my burned palm. But there was nothing toexamine.

It was happening again.

I knew I’d been burned, burned so badly it should’ve leftsome kind of mark. It wasn’t even red. My eyes darted frommy palm, to my sister, and back to my palm again.

“Alex…?” Lora began.

My hand fumbled for the bedpost. So much for my littlesister not thinking I’m insane.

CHAPTER 4: plans

“Get that thing out of here,” I said, jabbing my finger in thedirection of the necklace. My sister stayed rooted in place.

“Alex? This isn’t funny anymore.”

“I’m not laughing!” I said in a hysterical whisper. “Do I looklike I’m joking to you? I don’t want it back—you can keep it.Consider it an early birthday present, or whatever, just takeit away from me.”

Lora shifted her weight back and forth where she stood andfolded her arms across her chest.

“Alex…” she began, shaking her head and looking at melike she thought I could use a straight jacket. She did moveslowly toward the necklace though, not taking her eyes offme even as she bent down to pick it up and drop back intoher pocket.

With the necklace out of sight, I found it much easier tocalm myself. I could still pick up its quiet humming, but thelonger it stayed in her pocket the easier it was to block itout. I took a deep breath, and my eyes closed for a fewseconds. When I opened them again, Lora was backing uptoward the door. She seemed to have noticed my regainedcomposure, judging by the timid smile she flashed me.

“So, when you get over this crazy fit you’re having… you letme know, okay?” Lora’s tone had changed from frightenedto wary amusement. “I’ll be outside. Maddy’s coming over— we need to get some more practice in before the biggame against West Meck tomorrow.” Her face turnedserious again. “You should join us, maybe get a little freshair, you know? It would probably do you good.”

“Sure.”

And now my little sister was the one looking out for me.Great. The thought alone made me sick to my stomach. Notthat I could really argue for a role-reversal after what justhappened. Because clearly, Lora had a more commandinggrip on reality than her big sis did at the moment. I checkedmy palm one last time. Still completely burn free.

As if I needed to reaffirm my insanity.

Lora walked away, and for a moment I considered shuttingand locking the door behind her. But there was no point instaying in here—I wasn’t tired anymore, and if I didn’t goback to sleep then I’d just end up sitting in here thinkingabout all this stuff I wanted to pretend wasn’t happening.And as much fun as that sounded, I decided to go getsomething to eat instead.

My mom was sitting at the kitchen table, her face hidden bya newspaper. I moved soundlessly to the refrigerator,grabbed an apple and a coke from it and attempted toleave just as quietly. I’d made it to the threshold separatingthe kitchen linoleum from the hardwood dining-room floorwhen the newspaper rustled behind me.

“Sit down, Alex.”

I bit my lip and reluctantly turned back around to take a seatin the chair opposite of her.

“I thought you were going to sleep all day,” my mom said,lowering the paper and peering over it.

I shrugged. “Yeah… I didn’t sleep well. Remember?Nightmares, sleepwalking—really, I barely slept at all,” Isaid pointedly.

“Mmm…” She moved the newspaper so it blocked her faceagain and was silent.

I inhaled deeply and held the breath, waiting for her to

speak. But she seemed extremely interested in thatnewspaper all of a sudden. I took a sip of my coke andpushed my bangs out of my face. Then I set the coke downas loudly as I could and cleared my throat. She continued toignore me.

Maybe she wanted me to speak first? And maybe, now thatshe’d had a chance to calm down, she’d listen to my side ofthe story? If nothing else, I needed to break thisuncomfortable silence hovering over us.

“Mom, about last night. I really think you should know that—”

“You had a visitor earlier.”

“What? Who?”

“A young man I’ve never seen before. He said the two ofyou had plans?” She closed and folded the newspaper andset it aside.

“Plans?” I repeated, confused. “Um…what did he looklike?” I couldn’t remember making any plans for thismorning—especially with anybody my mom wouldn’t know.

“Like somebody I wouldn’t approve of you dating,” shereplied.

I rolled my eyes. “Who says I want to date the guy—I don’teven know who we’re talking about.”

“He was older, I think—too old for you. Dark hair maybe?”She paused, looking frustrated all of a sudden. “I don’tknow Alex…maybe you should ask Lora? She saw him too.Actually, she’s the one who answered the door first. Shedidn’t know who he was either though…”

“Why didn’t you come get me?” I asked, trying to keep theannoyance out of my voice.

“Lora tried. But it was earlier this morning, and you werestill dead to the world.”

still dead to the world.”

“Oh.”

“Not that it mattered,” my mom continued. “I informed him ofyour incarcerated state, and told him you two would have toreschedule your plans. I told him to check back with you inabout ten years.”

“Great. Thanks Mom.”

“Anytime sweetie.” She took a sip from the coffee mug nowoccupying her right hand.

“Can I go now?” I stood up without waiting for an answer.

“I need you to run to the store and pick up a few things,” shesaid, ignoring my question. “The list is on the counter overthere.” She picked up and unfolded her newspaper, thendisappeared behind it without another word.

I glowered at her. My mouth opened, ready to argue, butthen I thought better of it. At least she was giving me achance to get out of the house.

Thinking I should probably take this opportunity and run withit, I snatched the list off the counter and dashed to my room.Once there, I threw on my favorite pair of jeans and the firsttank top I could find, pulled my hair up into a messy bun,and grabbed my purse from where it hung on the bedpost.My car was parked in front of the garage, but in an effort toavoid my mom, I slipped out the back door and took themost indirect route possible to reach it.

I reached my beloved old-piece-of-crap Honda Civic andthrew the door open. The keys were in the ignition before Ieven rested completely in the seat. I pushed in the clutch,turned the key and waited for the engine to stutter to life.Then I jerked it into reverse and practically flew out of thedriveway, spinning up the gravel as I went.

***

Few things clear my mind like driving does. And my minddefinitely needed clearing. I drove slowly—a rarity for me.Seeing as how I was grounded for who knows how long, Idecided it made sense to draw out this shopping trip, thistaste of freedom, for as long as I possibly could. Evendriving slowly though, and taking the longest way possible, Istill reached the store in less than fifteen minutes. Gottalove small towns.

Going out in public was awkward these days. I guess I justwasn’t expecting everybody to treat me like I had somekind of disease just because my dad died. It was kind ofannoying really, the way they avoided eye contact, orsmiled awkwardly at me if they couldn’t do that in time. Andonce I passed them, I could feel their eyes following me untilI turned around—at which point they would suddenlybecome ridiculously fascinated by the floor.

I wasn’t in any hurry to get back home, but I wasn’t in themood to be gawked at either, so I got in and out of the storequickly. It was the instant I stepped through the automaticexit doors that I noticed her.

I probably would’ve walked right by her, except thisparticular young woman actually looked up and made—andheld—eye contact with me. This was so strange, so foreignto me at this point that I had a hard time looking away. Itwas so distracting, in fact, that I tripped as I stepped off thesidewalk and into the parking lot, causing some of mygroceries to topple out of their bags. The women just keptstaring as I hastily bent to pick them up. I finished shovingthe fallen groceries back into their bags and hurried to mycar, popped the trunk and started flinging stuff in.

My hand was resting on the trunk, about to shut it, when outof the corner of my eye I saw the woman walking towardme. Her pace was quick, and within seconds she wasstanding uncomfortably close to me. I slammed the trunkand spun away, only to somehow find my self face to facewith her.

“I need you to come with me,” she said. “Quietly. Okay,Alexandra?”

I tensed as she placed a hand on my arm.

“I don’t want to hurt you—I just need to talk to you.”

I tried to jerk my arm out of her grasp, but she held on likeher fingers were covered in superglue. “I’m not goinganywhere with you,” I said, after about my fifth unsuccessfulattempt to break free.

The woman smiled through pursed lips. “You’re wrongabout that. This is going to be a long talk—it would be kindof silly for us to just stand in the middle of this parking lot,wouldn’t you agree?”

I stared blankly at her.

“I didn’t mean to startle you,” she continued, her griptightening. “I just didn’t want you to get away.”

“I’m afraid I don’t really have time to talk.” I was starting topanic. “I should be getting home,” I added, suddenlythankful that my punishment, however unfair it was, at leastgave me a ready excuse to leave.

“Why don’t we grab some lunch, hmm?” she said, acting asthough she hadn’t heard me. She peered over my shoulderand, with the hand that wasn’t cutting off the circulation inmy arm, she pointed toward Michelangelo’s— a tiny Italianrestaurant on the other end of the shopping center.

“I’ve heard that place is good,” she said.

“I’m sure you’ll enjoy it,” I said as I attempted to pry herfingers off my arm. “And by ‘you’ll’ I mean just that—as inyou go enjoy it. By yourself. Now let me go!”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. Not just yet…I have too much totell you.” But even as she spoke, her grip loosened slightly.

“But I’m not trying to kidnap you or anything…” she said witha frown. A torn look crossed her face. “If I let you go, will youplease just sit and talk with me?”

“Will you leave me alone, then?”

“If you want me too, then yes,” she said with a careful nod.

I cast one last defeated look at my car. “…Fine,” I said,wrenching my arm out of her grasp. “Shall we?”

She nodded, and together we walked the short distance tothe restaurant. As we sat down at one of the umbrella-shaded tables outside the venue, I took my first good lookat her and suddenly realized that this woman, with her long,straight black hair, was familiar somehow. I ended upstaring at her for a long time, trying to place her face. Shedidn’t seem to mind, though—I had a feeling she wasprobably use to people staring, because there was nodenying that she was incredibly beautiful. There wassomething exotic about her and those almond-shaped,dark blue eyes and thin lips that formed an understatedsmile. She was flawless—one of those people who madeyou wish you’d spent a little more time getting ready beforeyou left the house.

“Who are you?” I asked, mostly to interrupt my own staring.

“My name is Serafina Blake,” she said, extending her righthand to me. “But please, you just call me Sera, and I’ll justcall you Alex, if I may? No need for formalities.”

I shook her hand hesitantly, still trying to place her face asshe continued.

“I was a close friend of your father’s. I was so sorry to hearabout his passing.”

“You were at his funeral, weren’t you?” I knew the answerbefore I even asked the question. How could I forget her?The way she’d stood that day, completely still—like acorpse herself, and the way her eyes had followed me to

corpse herself, and the way her eyes had followed me tothe car…

“Yes. I was there,” Sera replied, frowning. She seemeduncomfortable all of a sudden, and all too ready to bedistracted by the waiter who chose that moment to cometake our drink orders.

“Why have I never seen you before?” I said as the waiterwalked away. “I mean, if you and my father were such goodfriends?” My words probably came off as accusing, but Iwas kind of okay with that. I didn’t like the idea of my fatherbeing ‘close friends’ with a young, beautiful woman I’dnever met.

“How about I explain that after we order some lunch? I don’tknow about you, but I’m starving,” she said, her smilereturning as she reached into her purse and pulled out apair of thin-rimmed black glasses. She slid them on andpicked up her menu.

I didn’t touch mine.

“Is the lasagna good here?” she asked after a few minutesof browsing.

“I don’t know. I don’t like lasagna.”

She lowered the menu and peered at me over the rims ofher glasses. “Aren’t you going to eat?” she asked. “C’mon—it’s my treat.”

“I’m not hungry,” I lied. Actually, I was starving. That applereally hadn’t filled me up. But I didn’t want to be distractedby food now—I just wanted to hear what this strangewoman had to say and then get as far away from her aspossible.

“Relax, Alex. I just want to talk, okay?” she said, reachingher hand across the table laying it across my own. I jerkedmy hand from under her touch and pulled my other arm outof her reach too. She didn’t acknowledge my jumpiness,

maybe because at that moment the waiter returned with ourdrinks and to take our orders.

“Are you sure you don’t want anything, Alex?” Sera asked.

“I’m good, thanks,” I replied, handing off my unopenedmenu to the waiter.

“Okay,” she said with a shrug.

Sera placed her order while I slumped back in my chair andfolded my arms across my chest. Then she clasped herhands together and placed them on the table in front of her,and we commenced a long, awkward moment of silence, inwhich I stared at her expectantly and she stared amiably offinto space, pretending not to notice me.

“Well?” I finally said.

Sera had been busy studying her nails by this point, butwhen I spoke she lifted her head up and smiled. “You’rerather impatient, aren’t you?”

I shrugged.

“Well, I suppose I do owe you an explanation,” shecontinued, drumming her fingertips across the table. “Butwith so much to tell—I wonder where to begin?”

“Maybe you should’ve planned this whole kidnapping mething out a little better?” I said with a sarcastic grin.

Her smile faltered slightly. “Perhaps you’re right. Andperhaps that’s where I’ll start—by reminding you that I’m notkidnapping you. In fact, I’m trying to do quite the opposite.I’m trying to protect you.”

“Protect me?”

“These are…unsafe times for you, Alex. And for your family.But especially for you.”

“Why my family? Who’s threatening my family?”.

Sera didn’t answer, her eyes shifting to a couple sitting afew tables away who were now staring curiously in ourdirection. “You need to keep your voice down,” she said,animosity appearing in her voice for the first time.

“Sorry,” I whispered.

“And you don’t need to worry about your family, anyway. I—and several others—have been keeping a close watch overyour household since…” Her voice trailed off as a frownreturned to her face.

“Since…?” I prompted.

She hesitated and took a deep breath. “Since we failed toprotect your father.” It took a few seconds for the words tosink in.

“My father?” I shook my head. “What are you talking about?My father drowned. He was alone. What could youpossibly…”

“He didn’t drown, Alex.”

“Liar.” I said it—practically yelled it—without even thinking.Several heads turned our direction, but I didn’t care aboutbeing quiet anymore.

“Look, Alex—I didn’t want to be the one to tell you all this,but you have to understand. The danger is very real, andyou need to know what’s going on. Or at least know enoughto keep yourself safe.” Her voice was urgent, but she stilllooked calm—which was a lot more than I could say formyself.

Our waiter returned and set Sera’s food in front of her. Shesmiled and thanked him, but didn’t touch the food even afterhe left; instead, she reached into her purse and pulled outan envelope, from which she pulled several photographs

which she laid in a row on the table.

“I know him,” I said suddenly, laying a finger on aphotograph of a dark haired young man with light blue eyes.He was looking at the camera with a disgruntled look thatclearly said ‘I don’t want to have my picture taken’. “Or, atleast, we’ve met… briefly…” I trailed off, not wanting toelaborate. The man in the picture was Kael— if Iremembered his name correctly—one of the people who’dsaved me at the lake yesterday.

“You’ve met?” Sera’s voice sounded anxious. Her eyesgrew wide. “And the others…?” She motioned to the otherphotographs lying before me.

“Um…I’ve met her…” I said, pointing to a picture of a paleblonde woman. “I think her name was Vanessa?”

“Yes,” Sera confirmed in a voice devoid of emotion.“Vanessa Lindstrom.”

I studied the remaining pictures, almost all of which had onething in common: except for the one of Kael, none of thepeople in the other pictures seemed to be aware they werehaving their picture taken. They all appeared to have beentaken from a distance, or from odd angles, and none of thesubjects were looking at the camera. My eyes swept overthe remaining photographs. Most of them were of people Ididn’t recognize, until I came to one of a darker-skinnedyoung man. He was wearing a lopsided grin and talking tosomeone who had their back to the camera.

“This one,” I said as I pointed to the picture. “We’ve met.”

“William Rodriquez,” Sera said, a hint of what sounded likemalice in her voice.

“Right—Will,” I said, recalling his introduction fromyesterday.

“Any of the others?” she asked.

I gave the photographs one more glance-over and thenshook my head. “No—just those three,” I said. “Why do youhave these pictures? Who are these people?”

“These people…” Sera looked thoughtful for a moment, asif carefully searching for the right words. “These people…are the reason that you and your family need protecting,”she concluded.

“But why? I still don’t understand…who—?”

“It’s not so much who they are that’s the problem, it’s whatthey are—and what they are, to put it simply, is a threat toyou, and to your family. A threat that needs to beeliminated.”

“Eliminated?” Suddenly the situation seemed a lot moreserious.

“You say you’ve met these three?” Sera asked, pulling thephotographs of Kael, Will, and Vanessa out of the row anddisplaying them like we were playing a hand of poker. Inodded, and she leaned back in her chair, shaking herhead. “You’re lucky to be alive, then.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked. “They’re the reasonI’m alive.”

“Oh?” Sera looked at me curiously.

I picked at my folded napkin, not wanting to elaborate. Icould feel her gaze pressing down on me, and I don’t knowwhy I kept my mouth shut—it didn’t really make sense; allmorning long I’d wanted to talk to someone about whathappened yesterday, someone who wouldn’t think I wascrazy. Sera seemed like a perfect candidate to be thatsomeone. She seemed to know a lot, and she seemedgenuinely concerned about my well-being.

But for some reason, I didn’t want to talk to her. I think I wasjust suffocating under the weight of everything she’d said so

far, and of everything that had happened. Was I really in thatmuch danger? Had my brush with death been even closerthan I’d realized? What about my family? And my dad’sdeath…did those people I’d seen as saviors really haveanything to do with it?

“The reason you’re alive?” Sera repeated, shaking herhead. “I don’t know what you mean by that.” She paused, asif to consider, but after a minute she shook her head. “But Idon’t believe it, regardless. Please don’t let yourself befooled, Alex—they may have acted otherwise to gain yourtrust, but I promise you those people would like nothingbetter than to see you dead.”

My throat was unbearably dry all of a sudden. I started toreach for my glass of water, but changed my mind. “I haveto go,” I said , standing up quickly and forcing my chair toscrape hard along the cement.

“Okay,” Sera said.

I was a bit taken-aback by her willingness to just let meleave, but I didn’t let that slow me down. I sgrabbed mypurse and shoved my chair in. As I turned to leave I felt herhand on my arm. I turned back to her, and she handed me asmall slip of paper, on which she’d scribbled her name anda phone number.

“If you need anything—anything at all—just give me a call,okay? I won’t be far away.”

I took the paper and nodded hesitantly. Then I shook hergrip off my arm and turned and walked as quickly as I couldback to my car.

***

It didn’t make sense, I reminded myself again as I drovealong the curvy back-roads that led to my house. Thosepeople had saved me that day at the lake. Saved me.People who wanted you dead generally didn’t save yourlife. There was no way Sera could be right about them.

life. There was no way Sera could be right about them.

On the other hand, Sera was the only one who had takenthe time to explain anything to me—and she hadn’tabandoned my passed out self on my front porch withouttelling me anything. And she hadn’t gotten me grounded forpossibly the rest of my life. That gave her some credibility inmy book.

As I drove along trying to sort these things out, I couldn’thelp but notice the car behind me—some kind of blackToyota. A Camry, maybe. It was kind of hard to ignore,considering it was eating my bumper. I tried to be patientwith them at first; I rolled down my window waved for themto pass me, but they didn’t seem to get the picture. I spedup… they did the same. I slowed down… they did thesame. I glared into my review mirror, cursing under mybreath.

What the heck was this person’s problem?

I tried to wave him around me again, but he just flashed hisbright lights at me in response. I sighed and gripped thesteering wheel tighter. The Toyota was so close now that Icouldn’t even see its front bumper. Its windows on eitherside were tinted, and the driver had the sun visor down,casting shadows that covered his face. The car followedme all the way to Bryant Street, and it nearly rear-ended meas I slowed down to turn into our driveway. As soon as Iwas out of its way, it revved its engine and shot off like abullet down the road.

When I pulled up to the house, still mumbling about theToyota, the first person I saw was my mom. She was sittingin the front porch swing, reading a book that she set downas soon as I stepped out of the car.

“It’s about time you got back, Alex. Where did you go?”

“I got caught up.”

“Doing what?”

“…Talking to somebody,” I replied as I went to retrieve thegroceries from the trunk.

“Talking to who?”

I didn’t answer. I’d become distracted—distracted by thegravel dust being thrown up by the black car coming downour driveway. The car pulled to a stop a few feet away fromme, and I looked at my mother for an explanation. Shelooked just as confused as I did.

“Alex? Who is—oh.” My mother’s voice broke off as thesound of a car door slammed. I turned my attention back tothe black Toyota, and then to the man who had just steppedout of it. My mouth dropped open in disbelief.

“Kael?” I said in a quiet, unsure voice. Our eyes met for afraction of a second, and then he looked away.

“You again?”

Again? I shot a confused look at my mom, until a suddenrealization came to mind. This man—this violent man fromthe other day at the lake—was the one who had come bythis morning. This man was the one I supposedly had‘plans’ with.

And this man, according to Sera, wanted me dead.

CHAPTER 5: visitors

I had no idea whether Sera’s warning was valid, but all thesame I found myself in a hurry all of a sudden. I slammedmy car door and sprinted over to the porch, to the relativesafety of my mom’s side. We barely had time to exchangea glance before we turned to meet Kael as he leapt up theporch steps to stand before us.

As the initial shock of his sudden appearance began towear off, I couldn’t help but notice that he lookedconsiderably more clean-cut today, standing there in hisbaggy jeans and a fitted, black, long-sleeved shirt that he’drolled up to his elbows. In fact, he looked almost like anormal teenager. And he definitely didn’t seem asthreatening today as he had at the other day at the lake.

Still, there was something about him that made me uneasy.Maybe it was his piercing gaze, or the way his eyesseemed to reflect an unnatural amount of the sun’s rays. Ormaybe it was the way he smiled without showing anyemotion—it looked like he’d forcibly molded his mouth intothe shape of a smile and then taped it into place. It waskind of creepy.

“Forgive me, Mrs. Layton—I don’t mean you anydisrespect,” Kael began in a very business-like tone, thetaped-on smile instantly fading. “I realize your daughter isbeing punished, but I was hoping you would permit me tospeak with her, perhaps just for a few minutes?”

I turned to my mom anxiously. She threw me an irritatedglance and took a deep breath through her nose beforereplying.

“If you will recall, Mr.…McClelland was it…?” Kael nodded,even though she didn’t pause long enough to be corrected

one way or the other. “…As I said this morning, Alexandradoes not need to hear anything you have to say about—”

“And I assume that you recall,” Kael interrupted in acompulsorily pleasant tone, “what we spoke of thismorning? Your daughter is facing a very… pressing…situation, and our intervention is necessary to assure—”

“What did you two talk about this morning? Mom?” I lookedat her expectantly. “You didn’t tell me you two talked aboutanything?”

“Because he didn’t say anything worth repeating,” my momsaid, waving a dismissive hand. “Just a bunch ofnonsense…this whole situation…” she added under herbreath.

Kael cleared his throat purposely. “As I was saying…”

“I don’t care what you were saying. I told you—it’s a bunchof nonsense. And my family won’t be a part of it.”

“You know as well as I do that you’re a part of this whetheryou like it or not,” Keal said through clenched teeth. It wasobvious that he was trying, somewhat unsuccessfully, to notlose his temper. “And you realize, Mrs. Layton, that youractions are not giving us any reason to doubt oursuspicions about you?”

I jerked my head towards my mom. Her face had turnedblood red.

“I sincerely hope you’re not threatening me, young man.”

“I was merely stating a fact,” Kael said. But he flashed atriumphant smile.

“Mom…?” I said uncertainly. She didn’t reply, and for amoment the two of them stood glaring at each other. Iwatched them nervously, half afraid they might leap at eachother and start ripping throats out any moment now. After

what seemed like an eternity though, my mom’s jawunclenched, and she jabbed her finger towards his car.

“Go. You’ve got about thirty seconds to get off my propertyor I’m calling the cops.”

Wow. Mom was harsh today—even more so than usual. AsI watched her continue to give Kael her death glare, Icouldn’t help but wonder what he could’ve possibly said thismorning that would make her that upset. After all, right nowhe seemed like a perfectly respectable young man. I mean,besides the fact that he was possibly here because hewanted to kill me.

So far though, he’d done nothing to suggest that was true,and he’d been making an obvious effort to be polite. Ilooked at Kael, wondering if he was going to dare arguingback. I almost wished he would—if only because I wantedto hear what he had to say. As soon as I laid eyes on him,however, Kael shook his head in annoyance and turned toleave. But he only made it as far as the top porch stepbefore stopping abruptly.

“Alex,” he said, glancing back over his shoulder. “Until wemeet again, do me a favor…”

“…What?” I asked.

“Stay away from Sera.”

“How do you know who—”

“Who’s Sera?” Mom asked.

“I happened to be out doing a little…shopping. I saw thetwo of you talking.” Kael said, addressing me and notbothering to acknowledge that my mom had even spoken.

“What were you doing, hiding in the bushes or something?”I asked—only half-way jokingly. Because I could totally seethis guy being a stalker.

“Hardly,” Kael replied with a smug smile. “You walked rightby me. You’re not a very observant person, you know that?”

“Maybe not,” I said with a scowl. “But I kind of have a lot onmy mind here lately, so you’ll forgive me if I don’t noticeeveryone I happen to walk by?”

“Fair enough,” Kael replied, shrugging. “But anyway—stayaway from her.”

“I’m not promising anything,” I said, mainly because I didn’twant this guy thinking he could tell me what to do. I didn’tparticularly want to see Sera again, anyway. Because themore I thought about it, the more my meeting with herbothered me, and the more I just wanted all these strangepeople to go away and leave me alone. But he didn’t needto know I wasn’t going to go see her.

“Do what you want then,” he replied with a shrug.

Like I wasn’t going to anyway, I thought with a scoff.

“Right. Well I’ll be seeing you soon, Alex,” he called as heturned and continued down the steps.

“Oh no you won’t,” my mom called to his retreating back.But Kael simply mimicked her dismissive wave fromearlier, keeping his back to us as he reached his car. “Nohe won’t,” Mom said, turning her attention to me instead.“You will not see him, and I—”

“Don’t worry, Mom,” I interrupted as I watched his cardisappear down the driveway. “I don’t want anything to dowith that guy.”

“…Good,” she said, wary relief spreading across herfeatures. “Well…” She was silent for a few seconds, untilKael’s car was out of sight. “I guess we should dosomething about lunch before I have to start getting readyfor work,” she said.

“I’ve actually already eaten, Mom. While I was in town.”Well, that was sort of true.

“You did?”

I was busy trying to avoid my mom’s searching gaze whenan earsplitting screech filled the air, followed by whatsounded like it might’ve been thunder. Except it was sunny,and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Me and Momexchanged a quick glance.

“That sounded like a wreck,” I said. My mom nodded, andthe two of us jumped from the porch and raced down thedriveway. The trees that encircled our yard hid the roadfrom view, but as we neared the end of our driveway therewas little doubt in my mind that a wreck was what hadhappened—the scent of burnt rubber and gasoline werealready filling the air.

I broke through the opening in the trees, several yardsahead of my mom, and saw it immediately. Less than afootball field’s length away, Kael’s black Toyota rested onits side in the ditch. My stomach turned several somersaultsas I watched plumes of smoke billow out from under itshood, one side of which looked like a monster truck hadrolled over it. As I moved closer I could see that both thefront windshield and the driver’s side window were lying inshattered shards on the ground. Besides the massive dentthat covered the entire left front fender, there was a secondone that graced the left front door. Eying this dooranxiously, I cupped a hand over my mouth and rushed overto it.

“Be careful, Alex!” I heard my mom call from somewherebehind me.

I didn’t giver her warning much thought, and within secondsmy free hand rested on the twisted metal of the door frame,where it stayed until I gathered up enough courage to lookinside. I cast a nervous glance toward the hood beforepeering in.

But I didn’t see the horribly mangled body I’d beenexpecting. In fact, I didn’t see a body at all. Confused, myeyes, which were now watering as the smoke assaultedthem, searched the passenger seat and the back seat.They found nobody. I wanted to be relieved, but the anxiousfeeling in my gut persisted. I pushed away from the car,nearly colliding with my mom as she reached my side.

“Is he alright?” she asked, her voice muffled under herhand. I tried to open my mouth to respond, but by this pointthe smoke was getting to my lungs; I could hardly breathe,much less speak, so instead I grabbed my mom’s arm andpulled her away from the car and the thick shroud of smokecovering it. It took nearly a full minute of coughing andsputtering to clear my throat before I could speak.

“He’s not in there,” I finally managed to wheeze.

“What?” my mother asked.

I shrugged.

“Well he can’t have gone far,” she said, eying the wreckageas she pulled her cell phone out of her back pocket. “Yousearch that way, I’ll call 911 and check over here. Try not tobreathe in too much smoke if you can help it.”

I nodded and raced off in the direction she’d pointed to.

Before I had even begun to look, something told me that Iwasn’t going to find anything. I combed the area anyway,even going so far into the distance that I could barely makeout the car amidst the haze of smoke surrounding it. Then Idoubled back and searched along the ditch, and up to theedge of the woods that ran along the road. I was looking fora body—preferably a live one. By the third time I’d circledthe area I would’ve settled for a sign that a body had evenbeen there.

I had no such luck.

I was just about to find my momr and inform her of myempty search when something on the ground— orsomethings, rather—caught my attention. In the gravel dustof the road’s shoulder were several paw prints, andwhatever made them must have been huge. The tracks ledaway from the wreck, and I turned and followed them withmy eyes. They ended a few feet away, but I could see faintindentions in the grass that probably marked more. Ihesitated for a moment, glancing back over my shoulder atmy mom.

I’d almost made up my mind to follow the tracks when thewail of sirens caught my attention. A fire truck hurtledaround the curve a few seconds later, followed by anambulance. The vehicles had barely slowed to a stopbefore firefighters and EMT started pouring out of them.

“Dr. Layton!” I heard one of the EMT call. My mom ran tomeet them, passing several fully suited firefighters as theyran towards the smoking car. For a few minutes everythingwas chaotic as the newly arrived emergency workersdoubled our search efforts. EMTs scoured the surroundingarea and some of the firefighters used a jack to lift andsearch under the car, while others tore off the hood andextinguished the smoking flames underneath it.

After a few minutes though, they all seemed to concludethat maybe there was nobody to rescue after all. Everythingslowed down, and everyone stood around talking andoccasionally gesturing toward the wreckage. I continued towatch the firefighters hosing down the car, until out of thecorner of my eye I noticed two of them walking by me.

“This is strange though,” said one of the firefighters as heremoved his helmet to reveal a full head of blonde hair.

“What’s strange?” I asked automatically.

The two slowed to a stop and exchanged glances. Then theblonde one gestured back toward the car.

“This wreck—we were just talking about how it’s almost

“This wreck—we were just talking about how it’s almostidentical to one we responded to a few weeks ago.”

I looked at him curiously.

“That one…” he continued in a dramatic voice—obviouslyglad to have an audience, “…it was another one car wreck,‘cept that time it was a Jeep Wrangler. But the entire hoodand the driver’s side door was dented in, just like this ‘in.We never did find any victims of that wreck either, did weGene?”

The fireman standing next to him shook his head. “Nope.We didn’t find the cause of that wreck, either,” said Geneas he picked at a loose thread on his jacket. “I think thehighway patrolman wrote it off by sayin’ that it must havebeen some kind of animal or somethin’,” he added with asnort. “But I don’t know of any animal that could cause thatmuch damage and walk away from it—especially seein’ ashow there wasn’t even any blood.”

“A bear, maybe?” suggested the blonde fireman.

“Nah—doubt it,” said Gene in a monotone voice. “Therearen’t many bears left around these parts. And even a bearprobably wouldn’t have been big enough to cause thatmuch damage and walk away without a scratch. Don’t youremember how that Jeep looked? It wasn’t even worthsaving for scrap metal.”

“Could it have been a wolf?” I asked, more to myself thanthem.

“There are even fewer wolves than there are bears around,”my mom, who had just walked up, interjected quietly beforeeither of the firemen could answer.

The blonde fireman nodded in agreement with her. “I don’tknow that I’ve ever even seen a wolf in the wilds ‘roundhere,” he said.

“…And even if there were, I’ve never heard a one big

enough to do that,” added Gene with a nod toward theblack Toyota.

“Maybe not,” I said. But just because you haven’t heard of it,doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

I shuddered as thoughts of yesterday dropped involuntarilyinto my head. For a moment I considered telling them aboutthe paw prints I’d found, but just then I looked up to meet mymom’s gaze—which, for some reason, looked angry. Idecided to keep quiet.

The two firemen left when the highway patrol officer arriveda few seconds later. He asked Mom and me severalquestions—most of which I let Mom answer while I watchedwhat was left of the Toyota being loaded onto a tow truck.

My eyes lingered on the driver’s side door. I barely knewthe guy, but I couldn’t help but worry about what might’vehappened to Kael. I didn’t get the chance to worry abouthim for too long, however, because at that moment I felt ahand on my shoulder.

“C’mon, Alex,” my mom said. “Let’s get out of their way sothey can finish cleaning up here,” she said. I nodded slowlyand, with one last look at Kael’s car, turned and followedher back to the house.

***

The wreck was on the news that night. It was on the six ‘o’clock news first, but it was just a short story— so I stayed upuntil the eleven ‘o’ clock news, hoping for more. But ateleven they just repeated that same, vague story. In theirdefense, I guess they didn’t have a lot of details to workwith. The cause of the wreck was still under investigation,according to the anchorwoman, and there were still novictims to report. Dead or alive, Kael was apparently longgone. I frowned at the T.V. as the news anchors told megoodnight. I hadn’t really expected otherwise, but I still felt abit disappointed that they didn’t have more to report.

I didn’t get up from the couch when the news ended. Myarm was draped over the armrest, and my index finger wasthe only part of me that moved as it slid across the remote.Channel surfing was about the only thing I had the energy todo. I don’t know if it was the wreck, or everything else I hadon my mind finally getting to me, but for some reason I’dbeen feeling like this all day—so exhausted I could barelymove.

My eyes flickered to the clock above the entertainmentcenter. Five past midnight, according to the glaring reddisplay. Mom would be home from her late shift at thehospital in a few hours. Maybe I could just go to sleep hereand she could carry me to my bed when she got home?That seemed like a good idea. My eyes were wandering inand out of focus now. I’d dropped the remote and hadn’tbothered to pick it up, and the T.V. had come to rest on achannel showing what looked like an old western movie. Iwatched it, in between resting my eyes, for a few minutesbefore turning and burying my face in the couch cushions.

I was drifting uneasily between sleep and consciousnesswhen a quiet tapping noise caused my eyes to open again.At first I thought it was the T.V., so I felt around the floor untilI found where the remote had fallen, then pushed the mutebutton and, with a sleepy groan, turned back into thecushions. But a few seconds later, I heard the tapping noiseagain. Annoyed, I lifted my head and blinked my eyes intofocus, staring down the hall that led to my sister’s room. Icould see a light shining from underneath her door.

“Lora!” I shouted. “Be quiet, I’m trying to sleep!” I listenedfor her response, but the house stayed quiet. Assuming thesilence meant she must’ve heard me, I slumped back intothe cushions and closed my eyes.

Then the tapping came again, this time louder than before. Isat up, glaring toward Lora’s room. I was mumbling cursewords under my breath when the tapping sounded yetagain. Much to my annoyance, I was almost fully awakenow, and with the clarity that brought to my senses I realized

the noise wasn’t coming from Lora’s room at all.

Our dining room, which was adjacent to the living room, hadsliding glass doors that led to the back porch, and that waswere I suspiciously focused my attention on. Sure enough,a second later several more taps on the glass paneconfirmed it—someone was knocking on our back door.

At twelve-thirty in the morning.

“Who in the heck…”

Tap, tap, tap…

I was tired. Nauseous. And the last thing I wanted to do wasget up off that couch.

TAP, TAP, TAP.

“I’m coming!” I flung my blanket off, causing a sharp spasmof pain to shoot through my arm, and stood up and stalkedover to the door. I guess I should’ve been frightened. Imean, it could have been a burglar, a serial killer, whoknew? But at the moment, I was too tired, too sick, tooannoyed at having been so rudely awoken that I didn’t muchcare who was outside the door.

I did grab the poker laying by the fireplace, but the motivebehind that wasn’t really self-defense—I just really wantedto hit whoever had disturbed my sleep. Regardless of themotivation behind picking it up, however, as soon as Iflipped on the back porch light, it dropped to the floor with aclang! And I was too shocked to even move to pick it up.

“Alex?” my sister’s voice quickly ended my paralysis. “Whatwas that?”

I heard her door open, and panic flooded over me.“Nothing!” I shouted back. “It was just… Apollo knockedsomething over!”

Apollo was our dog. Our dog who was currently outside,

Apollo was our dog. Our dog who was currently outside,and had been for the past several hours. Hopefully Loradidn’t know that. And hopefully, Lora would just stay in herroom—the last thing I wanted was her getting mixed up inall this any way, shape or form.

“You know Mom doesn’t like him sleeping in the house…”Lora called back after a few seconds of hesitation.

“Right, I was just going to put him outside!” I called back,amazed that my lie had worked out so perfectly. I slid theglass door open and, as an after thought, reached downand grabbed the dropped poker on my way through.

“You!” I said in an angry whisper to the man standing beforeme.

“Were you expecting someone else?” Kael asked, eyingthe poker I was brandishing with a look of amusement.

For a second I was too busy staring into his eyes to reply;maybe it was just the way the moonlight was shining off ofthem, but they seemed to be glowing. A slight shiver randown my spine as I glared at him. I gave my head a hardshake back into focus.

“I wasn’t expecting anyone—it’s twelve-thirty in themorning!” I said, straining to keep my voice down.

“I told you I’d be seeing you soon, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t expect you this soon—and did it reallyhave to be right now? I was trying to sleep!”

“I can’t help it your mother works night shifts,” he said with ashrug.

My eyes widened. “My mother…oh. If she knew you werehere… you would be in so much trouble, you know that?” Isaid, jabbing him in the chest with the poker for emphasis.

“Are you going to tell her I was here?” he asked as he

grabbed my weapon and pushed it away.

I bit my lip. “Well…no,” I had to admit.

“Guess I’m safe then,” he said dryly.

“Whatever,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Look—why are youhere, anyway? And why did you follow me earlier today?And what did you and my mom talk about this morning?She wouldn’t tell me, and it’s been bugging me all day.” Thequestions came pouring out like water from a dam that hadjust been released. I had plenty more to fire at him too, butjust then the scream of a distant siren reminded me of onequestion that took priority over all the others:

“Wait… you’re here? And you’re okay!”

“What?”

“Your car— that wreck— I thought…”

“Oh, that,” he said with a look of sudden understanding.“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“What happened?” I asked.

He frowned, and was quiet for a long time.

“Well?” I finally pressured.

He let out an aggravated sigh. “It’s not really importantbut… remember how I told you to stay away from Sera?”

I nodded slowly. “Yeah but…what does Sera have to dowith any of this?”

“Well…” he looked at me expectantly.

I stared at him blankly for a moment, somewhat annoyedthat he couldn’t just answer me—but then a suddenrealization hit me.

“Wait—what?” Are you saying the wreck was somehow herfault?”

“Oh wow—you’re not as dumb as I thought.”

It took ever once of personal restraint I had to ignore thejab. “That doesn’t make any sense,” I said impatiently. “Mymom and me were at the road like a minute after ithappened—and there was no you when we got there, anddefinitely no Sera.”

“Right.” He didn’t elaborate.

I could feel my temper flaring. “Right? Is that all you’re goingto say? I mean, don’t beat around the bush or anything—it’snot like I need sleep.”

“There are more important things than sleep at themoment,” he said.

“For you, maybe—but I feel like crap, so sleep is kind ofhigh on my priority list right now. So how about you just tellme what happened to Sera and then go away?”

“Why do you care what happened to her?”

I was surprised by the question. “…I just want to know ifshe’s okay,” I said.

“She’s fine,” he said shortly.

“Oh…well, that’s good then,” I said in a careful voice.

He said nothing to that, just folded his arms across hischest and gazed skyward, a thoughtful look on his face. “Tobe fair, I guess I kind of had it coming,” he said after a fewmoments of silence.

“What?”

“I did the same thing to her a few weeks ago,” he said,

bringing his gaze back down to meet mine. “So I guess it’skind of a running joke between us now—making each otherwreck our cars.”

Surely he was kidding.

“That’s…probably the worst joke I’ve ever heard,” I said, myeyes widening slightly.

“Maybe,” he said with a shrug.

“Definitely.” This man was insane. Why was I still standinghere talking to him? I should’ve ran inside and barricadedthe door shut behind me. For some reason though, Icouldn’t move. His gaze was fixed on me now, and it washaunting—I wanted to stare forever and look away at thesame time. His eyes were supposed to be pale blue, Iremembered, but in the moonlight they looked almostcompletely white. It was mesmerizing.

And I didn’t like it one bit.

Standing next to him I felt powerless. Something told me Iwas going to have to listen to what he had to say whether Iliked it or not, and that if I ran away from him now I wouldregret it forever. So I didn’t move. Instead, I took a deepbreath and tried to forget about his morbid attempt athumor.

“We’re getting off track,” I said.

“Yeah…” He looked distracted all of a sudden. “We shouldprobably wait for Vanessa though, before we say anythingelse.”

He was really testing my patience. “Fine. Okay. When isVanessa getting—” My words fell short as the sound offootsteps filled the night air. I gave Kael a skeptical look.“…Is that her?”

He nodded, his eyes still scanning the yard.

“How can you tell? I don’t see anybody.”

He turned to me then, and I saw that he wore a skepticallook identical to my own. “But you can hear her?”

“Of course I can,” I said. “I’m not deaf.”

He started to say something, but then just nodded instead.The footsteps were growing louder now, and he turnedback to watching the distance. I followed his example,feeling even more confused by the second; those footstepswere awfully loud for the tiny person I remembered asVanessa.

“Where is she?” I asked. The footsteps were so loud at thispoint that they might as well have belonged to someonewalking right beside me—even though Vanessa, or anyoneelse for that matter, had yet to appear. I was gettingimpatient, and while Kael stood completely still beside me Iwandered up and down the porch, searching the yard forsigns of life. The footsteps grew louder still, but now theywere being drowned by the sound of the siren I’d heardearlier, which also seemed to be getting louder.

“There,” Kael said suddenly, causing me to jump. Henodded toward the trees. My gaze followed and, sureenough, a second later a figure emerged from the shadowsand swiftly made its way across the yard.

In the light of the three-fourths moon, Vanessa’s paleblonde hair shimmered as it fanned out behind her. LikeKael, her eyes seemed to glow in the moonlight, althoughnot nearly as brightly. She smiled warmly at me as sheapproached.

“How are you, Alex?” she asked in a quiet voice.

“…Fine,” I lied.

“That’s good,” she replied, the concerned look on her facetelling me she didn’t believe I was fine at all.

“Is everything taken care of?” Kael asked, looking anxiouslyback toward the trees.

“Yes.” Vanessa didn’t take her eyes off me as she spoke.“Will stayed behind with Eli to help him keep an eye out. Butas of right now, we’re in the clear.”

“Good,” Kael said.

Vanessa nodded, and turned to him for the first time. “Haveyou…?” she trailed off purposely.

He shook his head. “Not yet. I—we— heard you coming. SoI decided to wait for you.”

Vanessa made a face. “Because you want me to do all thetalking?” she said as she folded her arms across her chest.

“Precisely.”

A sudden flush of red in her cheeks lit up Vanessa’sotherwise pale complexion. “Okay, so first you wreck mycar—”

“Not my fault.”

“And then you insist on coming along even though—”

“I was bored.”

“And then you run off and leave me in the middle of theforest—”

“I can’t help it you’re slow.”

“I swear Kael, sometimes you—”

I felt a little awkward standing between them and theirbickering, so I wandered over to the side of the porch anddid my best to drown them out. It wasn’t hard findingsomething else to hold my attention, either: the sound of

something else to hold my attention, either: the sound ofsirens I’d noticed almost five minutes earlier was still in theair, close enough now that every wail caused a sharp painto shoot through my ears. I pressed my hands against thesides of my head and turned toward the direction the noiseseemed to be coming from. But my hands fell almostinstantly to my sides as I did so, because blocking out thatearsplitting noise was suddenly the least of my worries.

“Wow. This just gets better and better,” I said, my voicebarely a whisper as I stared in disbelief at the reflection ofblue lights against the trees. My legs moved on their own,sprinting the some twenty feet to the corner of the house.My sweaty palms gripped the rough brick and I peeredaround at the driveway.

“Why are the police here?” I heard Vanessa say.

I turned around a minute later and saw her lookingexpectantly at me. “I have no idea,” I said. I really didn’t—although I did have a pretty good guess. As Vanessaturned back to Kael, I threw a quick glance toward mysister’s room. The blinds were inched up just high enoughfor her to peek out.

“Well this is wonderful,” Vanessa said.

I turned back to the two of them.

“They’re just the police, Vanessa,” Kael replied calmly. “Wecan handle them.”

Vanessa’s eyes went wide. “Um— no. No. We’re nothandling anybody! Don’t you think our kind have hadenough publicity over the past few weeks?” The pitch of hervoice was getting higher, like it had when she was upset atthe lake the other day. Kael seemed to find it amusing.

“Relax. I was kidding,” he said calmly. But the look on hisface was clearly a disappointed one.

“They’re coming,” Vanessa said suddenly as two car doors

slammed in succession.

“Then we’re leaving,” Kael said.

“What about…”

I felt Vanessa’s eyes on me, and for the millionth time thatnight I considered running back into the house and boltingthe door shut behind me. But again, something kept merooted in place. Curiosity? Insanity? I think it might’ve beena little of both.

“She’s coming with us,” Kael said.

I barely had time to protest before Vanessa was no lessthan an inch from my face. “I’m really, really, really sorryabout this, Alex. I—”

“Vanessa!”

“We’re coming, Kael!” Vanessa screeched. Then she bentdown and swept my legs out from underneath me.

“Hey! What are you doing? I know how to run!”

“Not nearly fast enough, I’m afraid,” Vanessa replied.

I might’ve argued, except at that moment she shot offacross the yard, and the wind was rushing into my face sofast it was impossible to even open my mouth to speak.

CHAPTER 6: elias

“Will you please put me down?” I said for about the tenthtime. “I’m pretty sure we can slow down now—there’s noway they’re going to catch up to us.” Several miles into ourtrek, I’d insisted on switching to piggy-back mode asopposed to being carried, and so it was from my place onVanessa’s back that I saw her shake her head ‘no’.

“I’m sorry Alex, but we just need to—”

“Make sure,” I interrupted, finishing the reply she’d given forabout the tenth time. “I know,” I groaned. “But we must’vegone like ten miles by now—I doubt we’re even withincounty limits anymore.”

“You’re exactly right,” Kael said as he came up beside us.“We crossed into Avery County about ten minutes ago. Butwe’ve gone more like twenty-five miles.”

“How are you guys so fast?” I asked.

“How are you so calm?” Kael replied. “You realize you’rebeing kidnapped?”

“Kael…” Vanessa began, throwing him a sideways glare.

“Well?” he asked, ignoring Vanessa and looking at me witha curious gleam in his eye.

For a moment I couldn’t focus on his question— I was toobusy being amazed by his ability to run so fast and stillavoid running into any trees, even as he kept his eyesfocused on me. It was a fair question though, and now thathe mentioned it I realized I had absolutely no idea how toanswer it.

Why was I calm? Any normal person would’ve yelled forthose police, or at least tried to run—though I realized now,of course, that I couldn’t have outran them anyway. Still, Icould’ve tried. It wasn’t like me to give in without a fight.

But fighting these two had never even occurred to me. Iknew it was stupid. I needed to know what was going onthough, and I was so desperate to get answers at this pointthat I think I would’ve gone just about anywhere with them.Besides, even if I had managed to get away, somethingtold me all of these strange people probably weren’t goingto just leave me alone.

“Answer my question first,” I said to Kael. I didn’t want to tryand explain the logic behind my calmness to him. It barelymade sense to me.

“Vanessa,” he said, turning away. “We’re getting close. I’llrun on ahead and make sure everything’s clear, and letthem know we’re coming since they won’t all recognize thegirl.”

My eyes narrowed, but before I could protest, Kael’s figurebecame nothing more than a blur that quickly disappearedfrom sight.

“Well he’s incredibly annoying.”

“He’s Kael,” Vanessa said. “That’s just how he is. In fact,I’m surprised he even talked to you in the first place.Normally, he just ignores people he doesn’t know—andsometimes even the ones he does.”

“I think I would’ve preferred that,” I said with a frown.

Vanessa laughed as she slowed to a jog, and then asteady walk, and then, finally, a stop. “Maybe. But anyway…we’re in safer territory now, so why don’t you walk? Nooffense, but even you get heavy after running thirty miles.”

“Sure thing,” I said, sliding off her back without hesitation.

My legs, numb from the thirty-mile ride, shook uncertainly asI hit the ground. Vanessa waited patiently while I regainedmy balance, and then we continued side-by-side up thepath.

I grew up in the mountains, and I’d done my fair share ofhiking—so keeping up with Vanessa was easy enough atfirst. But I wasn’t exactly well-equipped for mountainclimbing at the moment; I was still wearing the t-shirt andsweats I’d fallen asleep in, and had nothing on my feet butthe cheap plastic flip-flops that had been by the back door.

“How much further?” I called as Vanessa stopped to waitfor me yet again. “And where are we going, anyway?” Iadded with a groan as I attempted to scale a particularlysteep rock in my path—an attempt that failed miserably. Ilost my footing and ended up breaking the fall with my knee.“Flip-flops are definitely not a good choice for rock-climbing,” I said, examining my bloodied knee.

“I could carry you again, if you like?”

“I’m good, thanks,” I said with a huff. I tried again, and thistime I managed to pull my self up over the steep rock andonto more level-footing.

“It’s not much further now—just to the end of this path…”Vanessa pointed as she spoke, and I could see where thepath curved to the left a short distance ahead as I caught upto her. “…just around the corner, and then just a fewminutes after that and we’ll be there.”

“Right. But where is there, exactly?”

“We’re going home. I want you to meet a good friend ofmine,” explained Vanessa. “His name is Elias.”

“And why are we going to see this guy?”

“Since we couldn’t exactly hang out at your place and talk,we decided ours would be the safest place to take you.When we told Eli we were coming back, he insisted on

When we told Eli we were coming back, he insisted onmeeting you, and talking to you—which works out well,because he can probably answer any questions you havebetter than Kael or me could, anyway. And he likesexplaining things…he’s kind of nerdy like that.”

After the bend, we took a sharp right down another pathwhich led to an area with more trees than rocks. Theground was much more level here, and we moved quicker.Within minutes we’d reached the end of the path and stoodat the bottom of a steep, grassy hill. And there, perched ontop of the hill and drenched in bright moonlight, was a logcabin style house overlooking a steep valley.

It was massive—I don’t know how it even managed to staybalanced on top of that hill, which was tiny in comparison.One side of the house’s wraparound porch looked like itwas actually hanging over the valley. Hopefully that wassome sturdy railing, because that would be a long fall.Dangerous location aside though, it was a beautiful house—or maybe mansion was a better word, since it was atleast three stories tall. It reached its tallest point in the verycenter, where an ‘A’ shaped frame stood out against themountain background. The entire front of the house wascovered in tall windows that reflected an eerie image ofswaying trees in the moonlight.

“Nice place.”

“We like it okay,” Vanessa said with a smile.

“Is it just you and Eli?” I asked as we walked the windingstone path to the front door.

“No, ‘we’ is the four of us—Eli and myself, and Will andKael, too,” she explained.

“Seems like an awfully big place for just the four of you.”

“Well, it used to belong to Eli’s family until...” I glancedsideways and saw that she was frowning. When shenoticed my gaze, however, the frown quickly disappeared.

“Anyway,” she continued in a rush, “I sort of grew up withWill and Eli… so when Eli ended up all alone in this bigplace, Will and I decided to move in with him. Kael hadalready been staying with them off and on—he was a goodfriend of Eli’s dad. Now he pretty much stays here all thetime, and we have others who stop by every now and thentoo, and some of those stay for a while.” Vanessa stoppedsuddenly and pointed at two people sitting on a bench onthe house’s lower porch. “Like those two, for example.”

The bright moonlight and a nearby lantern helped me makeout their two distinct figures. One of them lookedconsiderably smaller than the other, with long hair thatshimmered in the moonlight like Vanessa’s did. The two ofthem were hunched over in conversation, studyingsomething on the table that I couldn’t see.

“Jack Lawing and Emily Vaughn,” Vanessa said. “Theytravel through these parts a lot.”

At the sound of their names, Jack and Emily bothabandoned whatever they were looking at on the table andlooked our direction. I couldn’t stop a shiver from runningdown my spine when they did so; I suppose I should’veexpected the glowing eyes they stared at us with, since theywere just like Kael and Vanessa’s. But I still found themincredibly unsettling.

“Hello Vanessa!” Emily called. She seemed a lot moreenthusiastic than her companion, who gave us a wary lookas he grabbed something off the table and slid it into hispocket in what I took to be a rather poor attempt at secrecy.

“Hey Ems,” Vanessa said. She smiled warmly at the girl,and then at Jack as he slowly made his way over to us.

Jack seemed to be purposely avoiding eye contact with meas he approached, but I couldn’t help but stare at him; hisface was covered in scars, including one that ran all theway from his cheek down the side of his neck and possiblyfurther—I couldn’t tell, since it disappeared underneath hiswhite t-shirt.

white t-shirt.

“This the girl Kael was talkin’ about?” Jack said in a gruffvoice. His golden eyes, which were poorly complimentedby the dark circles underneath them, darted about nervouslyas he spoke.

Vanessa didn’t reply. I glanced over at her, but her eyeswere locked with Jack’s, and they stayed there—even whenI tapped her on the shoulder after about a minute of silencehad passed. It was starting to get creepy, mostly becauseof the fact that, while every other part of them was perfectlystill, every now and then their faces would twist into somesort of expression. I endured about another minute of thisbefore grabbing Vanessa’s arm and giving her a hardshake.

“Hello? Earth to Vanessa?”

She looked over at me, but it wasn’t Vanessa who spoke.

“The whole thing seems really suspicious,” Emily said.

I breathed a sigh of relief. They hadn’t gone mute on meafter all.

“I guarantee you Valkos has got something to do with this,”Jack said in his rough voice, his eyes continuing theirnervous flittering.

“We don’t know that, Jack,” Vanessa said.

“Don’t we? Think what you want, but me and Elias wastalking about it earlier and—”

“Oh!” Vanessa said suddenly. “Sorry Jack, but you’ve justreminded me… Eli will be waiting for us, we should go…”And next thing I knew, Vanessa had grabbed my sleeveand was pulling me toward the house. Once we wereinside, she let go, shaking her head. “Jack will talk to youforever if you’re not careful,” she said. “Crazy old guy…Good thing we had an excuse to get away.”

“Yeah…” I agreed distractedly.

“Eli is waiting for us…I think he’s in the study,” Vanessalooked thoughtful for a second before continuing. “Yeah.This way,” she said, walking towards a flight of spiralingstairs and heading up them.

I followed slowly, throwing an occasional glance backtoward the front door. Maybe my mind was playing tricks onme? I was really tired—maybe the silence hadn’t lasted aslong as it seemed? Maybe. But then again…

“Well…that was an uncomfortable silence a minute ago,” Isaid.

“Huh?”

“With Jack and Emily? I mean, were you guys having astaring contest or something?”

“A staring contest…?” Vanessa looked confused for amoment, but then her cheeks turned a bright shade of red.“Oh… I know what you’re talking about. That, yeah, I’m sorryAlex—I wasn’t trying to ignore you, I was just catching themup on everything that’s happened.”

“Only…you didn’t actually say anything.”

She nodded. “Right…because we’re kind of in a hurry. AndI can think much faster than I can talk.”

“What…?” I stared at her for a moment, until a crazyhypothesis came to mind. “You mean they heard what youwere thinking…?”

“Of course.”

“So all of your thoughts…?”

“Oh no—no they only hear the ones I want them to hear,”she said. “And thank God for that…” she added with a

she said. “And thank God for that…” she added with asmile as she steered me around a corner and down a longcorridor. “Yeah, I guess I forget humans can’t do thatsometimes—which is a shame, because it’s rather useful,especially for long-distance communication. Much moreconvenient than a cell-phone.”

“That’s kinda weird,” I said.

She shrugged. “You get use to it. Anyway, you should’ve hitme or something—sometimes I get caught up in aconversation and get kind of oblivious to what’s going onaround me.”

“Right…” I was still listening, but all the paintings andsculptures lining the hall had caught my attention. It was likewe’d taken a detour and ended up in a museum; everythingaround us—from the giant floor vases and the oil-paintingsthat would’ve taken up an entire wall of my room, lookedancient and priceless. There were even suits of armorspaced out along the hall.

“Eli’s mother collected all this stuff. His parents traveled alot in the years before they ended up here,” Vanessaexplained.

“These paintings and everything…they must’ve cost afortune,” I said as I paused to admire a painting of VanGogh’s “The Starry Night”.

“All together, I guess it is probably worth a fortune now. Butstuff like that Van Gogh painting you were looking at? Theygot it before he died—before he was famous, you know.”

I was nodding along until the meaning behind her words hitme. “Wait—didn’t he die in like the 1800’s?” I asked, tryingto remember back to the art class I’d taken last year.

“Yeah, 1890-something,” Vanessa said offhand. “Shothimself, I think…”

“I thought you said Eli’s parents died recently?”

“Five years ago,” she said quietly.

I didn’t want to keep talking about them, since the topic wasobviously upsetting for her. But what she was saying justdidn’t make any sense. “They would have been over ahundred, and if they bought it before 1890, then…”

“They were way past a hundred,” she said. Before I couldsay anything to this we reached a tall door, which she gavethree heavy knocks.

“Come in,” a voice called. Vanessa pushed the door openand stepped inside, and I followed. The room was well lit,thanks to the towering floor lamps in each corner and acrackling fire burning in the stone fireplace on the far sideof the room. Beside this fireplace several armchairs werearranged, and in one of them sat a boy who stood up assoon as we stepped into the room.

He held a book, which he placed on the glass-topped tablebeside him before swiftly crossing the room to meet us. Hisfeatures were unyielding, especially his grayish-blue eyeswhich sat in the shadow of thin-rimmed glasses. A few feetin front of me he stopped, and my first-impression uponseeing him close up was that he must’ve been severalyears younger than me; he was taller, but his features werestill young and boyish. He had wavy, shoulder-length blackhair and wore a gray Pink Floyd t-shirt and baggy jeans solong they almost entirely covered his bare feet.

He extended a hand to me. “My name is Elias—althoughmost everyone prefers to shorten it to Eli…” He articulatedevery syllable, giving his voice a proper sound that madehim seem much older than he looked. His serious gazecontinued to hold mine, and for a moment I started to feeluncomfortable. But then he grinned an impish little grin,and, relieved, I smiled back.

“It is so nice to finally meet you,” he said.

I took Eli’s hand and shook it as he continued to scrutinize

I took Eli’s hand and shook it as he continued to scrutinizeme from behind his glasses. When I released his hand, hisgrin faded and he put both hands behind his back andbegan to pace. Every now and then he would pause, lookmy direction, then shake his head and resume pacing. Hekept this up for a couple minutes, and soon I found myselffighting the urge to laugh.

I was about to loose that battle when, thankfully, somebodycleared his throat loudly. My head jerked up. Kael and Willhad apparently followed us in, and both now stood in thedoorway.

“C’mon Eli—none of us are getting any younger here,” Kaelsaid, leaning against the doorframe. “Do you really have tomake everything so dramatic?” Beside him, Will laughed,then moved from the doorway and made his way toward us.

Eli threw them both a disgruntled look. “Oh good, all of usare here…” he said with a touch of smugness in his tone.Then he turned and stepped directly in front of me, andwent back to studying. I shifted awkwardly under his gaze.Thankfully, it wasn’t long before he spoke again: “I don’tsense much fear.”

It’s because I’m a crazy person, I wanted to shout. “…Should I be afraid?” I asked instead.

Eli didn’t reply right away. Then, slowly, he shook his head.

“Oh. Well…good,” I said, attempting a smile that I’m prettysure came out more like a grimace.

“Are you an open-minded person?” Eli asked suddenly.

“What?”

“We have a lot to tell you, and we need you to listen.”

CHAPTER 7: poisoned

The room was so quiet it made my breathing seemunnaturally loud. Or maybe it really was that loud. Because Ithink I was finally starting to panic.

“Of course,” I managed to answer in what I hoped was asteady voice. Of course I would listen. I was just waiting forthem to start talking.

“How have you been feeling today?” Eli asked in a quietvoice.

“Are you really asking about my health right now? Can wenot just get to the point?” I said, my voice rising slightly. Ithink it came out a lot more rudely than I meant it to, but Iwas tired of waiting. When Eli frowned at my little outburst,however, I quickly added an apology.

“I’m sorry. But it’s just… a lot has happened, and I washoping you were going to have some answers for me.Everybody,” I shot a meaningful glance at Kael, “…seemsto enjoy changing the subject whenever I start askingquestions.”

“I am trying to get to the point, actually. Which is why I wasasking—and I will ask again—how have you been feelingtoday?”

“…Not the greatest,” I said. “But I’m feeling better now.What does that have to do with anything?”

“It has everything to do with the situation you’re facing,” Elisaid, matter-of-factly. “It is a symptom.”

“A symptom?” I repeated.

Eli nodded. “Alexandra—”

“Alex,” I corrected automatically.

“…Alex, I was told that, after you were attacked by thatcreature at the lake the other day, you made an incrediblyquick recovery. Is this correct?”

I nodded slowly.

“And your arm, which should have been damaged beyondrepair, is perfectly healthy today?”

I nodded again.

“May I see that arm, please?”

I gave him a curious look, but held out my left arm to him.He took it gently by the wrist and examined it, then closedhis eyes and murmured some words I couldn’t understand.A burning sensation swept up my arm, and I followed hisexample and shut my eyes tightly. The burning wasunsettling at first, but it wasn’t altogether unpleasant; it justfelt like I’d stuck my arm in bathwater that was a bit too hot.The heat faded quickly though, and was replaced by atingling sensation which was strongest just below myshoulder.

“Open your eyes,” Eli said.

There was a strange indention in the skin just above myelbow. It was tear shaped, with rough, jagged edges thatwere glowing with a brilliant red light.

“What is that?” I said, my mouth dropping open slightly.“What is that?”

“That is the reason you have not been feeling well today.You were bitten, and it took the toxin some time, but at thispoint it is likely evenly distributed throughout your blood. Assuch, you’re starting to show signs of—”

“That…thing…poisoned me?” I interrupted hysterically.

“Much to its dismay, yes,” Eli said patiently. “That thing—awerewolf—”

I inhaled sharply at the word ‘werewolf’, even though I kindof figured it was coming. I’d seen enough horror movies,heard enough stories to know that all the signs had beenthere. What else could that thing at the lake have been? Upuntil this point though, I’d been trying to convince myself thatthis whole thing was some horrible nightmare I waseventually going to wake up from, mostly by repeatedlyreminding myself that all those stories and stuff were justthat. Stories.

But now here I stood, and hearing the word ‘werewolf’spoken by someone else—even if it was by this strange,somewhat goofy looking little kid that I’d only just met—somehow made everything seem far too real to be anightmare all of a sudden.

“From what I have been told about the incident…” Elicontinued. I did my best to focus on what he was saying. “…this particular wolf seemed more like it was out to kill thaninfect. Lucky for you, it succeeded only in infecting.”

I had to stifle a bitter laugh. “Oh yes, I definitely feel like theluckiest person in the world right now.”

“You could be dead,” Kael said with a shrug.

“Right,” I said, turning to him. “And being kidnapped by abunch of werewolves is a much better alternative.” My voicewas on the verge of cracking.

“Firstly,” Eli said as he removed his glasses and wipedthem with the corner of his shirt. “I wish you would not referto this as a ‘kidnapping’—it’s more of an intervention. Andfor your benefit, no less…” He replaced his glasses,frowning. “And secondly, you misunderstand. The creaturethat attacked you was, in fact, a werewolf. But we are not

that attacked you was, in fact, a werewolf. But we are notwerewolves. We are lycans…though in your defense, Iwouldn’t expect a human to know the difference.”

“So…what’s the difference, then?”

“It’s mostly one of connotations, really…but it is generallynot a good idea to mix up the two in conversation.”

“Why?”

“Because both sides have a tendency to take offense whenreferred to by the wrong name,” Vanessa said. “The thingis, most werewolves and lycans don’t get along very well.”She looked like she wanted to say more, but at thatmoment Eli spoke again.

“Kind of silly, really…” he said. He stared silently atVanessa for several seconds, and it occurred to me thatthey were probably doing the thought speech thingVanessa had done earlier. Whatever Eli was saying,however, he kept short.

“Anyway, to answer your first question—” he said, turningback to me. “‘Werewolf’ is a term you humans are probablymore familiar with; it’s one name your kind gave to thevicious, blood-thirsty shape-shifters that have terrorized thehuman-race over the past few centuries. We lycans, on theother hand…” When he said the words ‘we lycans’, hestood up considerably straighter, and the pride in his voicebecame evident. “Are bound by an ancient pact that wouldnot allow us to harm a single hair on your head—even if wewanted to.”

“Okay so let me get this straight— you guys are…friendlywerewolves, basically?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Let me finish, Alex?” Eli replied. “Aggression towardhumans aside, there is another major difference between alycan and a werewolf—and that is the fact that one is born,while the other is created. We…” Eli paused and placed ahand on his chest, then gestured to Will and Vanessa. “…

and all lycans, are born with the spirit and the blood of boththe human and the wolf within us, and are equally at homein either form. Werewolves, on the other hand, are anunnatural mutation of our genes. They are often a danger tohumans, and even their own kind, when in their unnaturalbeast forms. This is especially true during the full-moon,when transformations become involuntary for mostwerewolves—much like suggested by the folktales andmyths of humankind.”

“Right. Okay so… I was attacked by a werewolf, right?” Ithought aloud. “But… it was in the middle of the day.Definitely not a full moon, and it seemed like a perfectlycontrolled attack to me.”

“Yes…” Eli’s brow creased in thought. “It is not thatwerewolves are incapable of voluntary transformation aswell.”

“And,” Vanessa chimed in, “…unlike lycans, they are boundby no pact that prevents them from attacking a human.” Herlips fell into a frown as she spoke. “We’re still trying todetermine just what the motivation behind that attack was,but it is entirely possible that the attack was simply forsport,” she said.

“And my dad?” I said, suddenly recalling the conversationwith Sera. “Was it a werewolf that…that attacked him too?”I couldn’t bring myself to say the word ‘killed’. “It kind ofseems like they’re targeting my family, don’t you think?”

“That idea has occurred to us, of course. But we do notknow all the details yet, Alex…” Eli said quietly.

His inconclusive words made me angry, and I had to takeseveral deep breaths before I trusted myself to speakagain. “Okay. So that’s it then—that thing bit me, and nowI’m turning into some shape-shifting monster?”

“Not necessarily,” Eli said.

“What?”

“What?”

“That is why we have brought you here—intervention.”

“Intervention…?”

“I told you that you were lucky you had only been—to useyour word—‘poisoned’, remember?”

I nodded.

“Very lucky, in fact, because there is an antidote, which isalmost always effective if administered in time. You do nothave to become a werewolf. In fact, we insist that you donot.”

“What?” I said again. “An antidote?” That’s not how itworked in all the fairy-tales I’d ever heard. In fact, I’d alreadystarted cringing at the thought of gruesome transformationsand uncontrollable, beastly urges.

“Your first shift would take place tomorrow night under thelight of the full moon. But as long as we give you theantidote before sundown tomorrow, you will remain human.If not…”

“…I become a werewolf?” I finished.

“And our enemy. Something I would much rather avoidso…”

“Enemy…?”

“Yes. You would be unstable, a monster we would have toeliminate for the sake of the other humans in the area, andfor our own safety.”

My first instinct was to agree. In fact, I almost started to nodin agreement as I thought to myself—“when can I take thisantidote?” But for some reason, I didn’t voice that questionout loud.

“And there’s no chance I wouldn’t be a bloodthirstymonster?” I asked.

Maybe I just hadn’t properly wrapped my head around thisyet, but for some reason I couldn’t bring myself toimmediately reject the idea of becoming a werewolf.Crazy? Yes. But the thought of being able to fight backagainst what was destroying my family—the thought ofbeing able to protect Lora, and Mom, and not to mention toavenge Dad…well, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t appealing.

“…You would be a danger to yourself, to everyone aroundyou. To your family,” Eli said, looking worried.

“I could help my family. I could protect them,” I said, talkingmore to myself than anybody.

“If by protect them you mean slaughter them in their sleep,”Will said dryly. I turned to him, mouth open in a horrifiedgape, but he just shrugged. “I’m just saying, Alex—it couldhappen. If you don’t let us help you, then this time tomorrownight you won’t even remember who you are. There’s notelling what you might do.”

Vanessa nodded in agreement and placed a hand gentlyon my shoulder.

“Maybe,” I said, shrugging her hand away. “But maybe not.Werewolves learn, right? I mean, they learn how tovoluntarily transform and all that, so there must be somelevel of conscious thought—”

“That takes years to achieve. Some never achieve it. Youwould be—”

“I don’t care!” I shouted. “Obviously, my family isn’t very safenow, are they? Your little protection league didn’t stop mydad’s death, and it barely stopped mine. And what aboutright now? How do I know my family’s safe right now?”

“There are several of us monitoring—”

“But is it enough? And how do I even know you’re telling thetruth about any of this? How do I know I can trust any ofyou? Have you found out who killed my dad? Have youdone anything about them?”

“Alex—” Vanessa began timidly.

But I didn’t care to hear any answer she had to give me atthe moment. “No? Okay then. So you’ll forgive me for notautomatically rejecting the idea of becoming somethingcapable of fighting back myself.”

“It’s not worth it,” Kael said suddenly.

I jerked my head toward the doorway. I was a little surprisedto see him still standing there. “Excuse me?”

“I said… it’s not worth it. Even if you could control yourself,even if you could protect your family, get back at whoeverkilled your father, whatever—what will you do after that?There’s no undoing this. After you transform, that’s it. Youcan’t go back to your normal human life—even if you wipeout everyone that’s threatening your family. You’ll spend therest of your life—your long life— a monster. It’s not worth it.”

“Maybe I think it is,” I said defiantly, even though his wordshad caused the doubt in my mind to swell to double its size.

“You’re not capable of rational thought right now.Understandably so—”

“You don’t even know me...” I said. “Don’t tell me what I’mnot capable of.”

His eyes narrowed, and mine did the same in automaticresponse. “Fine,” he said. “Do what you want.” He left theroom without another word.

And watching him go, leaving that room suddenly seemedlike a great idea.

“I’m going to get some fresh air. I need to think,” I said.Without waiting for their objections, I headed toward thedoor Kael had disappeared through.

“Please do not go far, Alex,” Eli called as I approached thedoor. “If you really are…a target… then it would be unwisefor you to be wandering off this close to a full moon.”

“Whatever,” I responded, fully aware—but not caring— that Isounded childish.

***

Why in the world would those monsters be targeting myfamily? I wondered as I kicked at a rock along the well-worndirt path. I was angry, confused, and tired—and I’d beentaking it out on rocks like the one I was kicking now for thepast hour or so. I’d wandered as far away from their houseas I dared, then doubled back near it, and now I found myself drifting further and further away from it with every step. Iwas at least ten minutes away by now, and I was seriouslyconsidering not going back. How did I know I could trustthose people, anyway?

My eyes strayed up the path ahead of me, and I wonderedif ten minutes was enough of a head start to let me outrunthem. I seriously doubted it, but it was still tempting. Iglanced over my shoulder. Maybe they would just let mego? Again, doubtful. But my legs were suddenly carryingme a lot more quickly down the path at the thought. I’d onlymade it a few hundred feet, though, before the sound offootsteps crunching through the brush reached my ears andjolted me to a stop.

For a moment my body tensed, but then I recognized afamiliar scent on the air; Kael’s scent was a mixture ofleaves and dirt, and of smoke— like the kind that lingers onyour clothing and hair after you’ve spent too much timesitting around the campfire. It was surprisingly easy to pickout amongst all the other scents the forest air was filledwith.

“I know you’re there,” I called. I sighed as he appearedbeside me on the path a second later.

“Heard me?” He asked as he picked off a leaf that wasclinging to his jacket.

“And smelled you,” I replied. I could smell people coming. Icouldn’t help but smile at the thought. There really wasn’tanything funny about the reason behind my new-and-improved sense of smell—it was just so bizarre though, thatit was almost amusing.

“Ah. Guess your senses are getting stronger, huh?” Kaelsaid.

“Or maybe I’m just trying to tell you that you should showermore?” I suggested. Okay, that was completely untrue—Iactually kind of liked his smoky scent. But I was hoping if Iwas rude to him he might go away.

“You’re such a nice person. I’m so glad I came after you,”he said, his lips forming a sardonic smile.

“Why are you following me?”

“Because I enjoy the company of bratty teenage girls. Whyelse?” he said with a shrug.

“You’re hilarious.”

“I know.”

“But seriously?” I said in an attempt at a more pleasanttone. “I said I wanted to be alone for a while. Have you beenfollowing me the whole time?”

He shrugged again. “I knew you wanted to be alone. And tobe perfectly honest, I would’ve preferred to leave you alone.But…” He frowned.

“I probably shouldn’t be alone?” I supplied.

“…That’s the conclusion the others have come to, yes.”

“And what do you think?” I asked, suddenly curious.

He looked at me, hesitating. “…Normally, I would’ve saidthis was your own problem, and you should deal with ityourself. But…”

“But what?” I said, folding my arms across my chest.

“But maybe I just wanted to make sure you didn’t doanything stupid.”

“Like what?”

“Like running away, like you were thinking about doing,” hesaid. “And to answer your question—no, ten minutes is notnearly a big enough head start. I would’ve caught up withyou in about thirty seconds, maybe less.”

I slowed to a stop, and he walked a few more feet and thendid the same. “How do you know…?”

He glanced back at me and then nodded toward the sky, orwhat we could see of it through the tangled web of treebranches above. “It’s getting closer to the full moon…towhat would be your first transformation,” he explained. “Yoursenses aren’t they only things changing.”

“So that’s not just a lycan thing, then?”

He shook his head.

“Still, I thought people only heard the thoughts you wantedthem to hear?”

“There are exceptions,” Kael said. “If you’re really close tosomeone—emotionally speaking, I mean—you can’talways keep things from them. And as for you? Well, ittakes practice—the newly transformed can’t always directtheir thoughts the way they’d like.”

their thoughts the way they’d like.”

“Oh,” I said, feeling incredibly self-conscious all of asudden. Had people been listening to my thoughts all night?

Kael let out a chuckle. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I don’t thinkyou thought anything too terribly embarrassing,” he said.

I groaned and wandered a few feet up the path, staring atthe moon. “Directing thoughts…” I thought aloud—eventhough apparently that wasn’t even necessary now. “That’sgoing to take some getting use to. You’ll teach me how,right?” I turned back to him and saw that he was frowningagain.

“…If it should come to that,” he said. “But I don’t think it will.”

“Why not?”

“Because you strike me as a somewhat intelligent person. Ithink once you’ve thought about it, you’ll realize what amistake becoming a werewolf would be.”

“There you go making assumptions about me again,” I said,shaking my head. “You don’t know me.”

“No, I suppose I don’t. But I can hear your thoughts,remember?”

“…Cheater,” I said with frown. “Can you not like, tune-out ofmy head or something?”

“I could,” he said. “But…why would I want to do that?”

“Oh I don’t know, common courtesy or something? It feelslike you’re eavesdropping on me. It’s kind of rude.”

“Okay. I’ll stop then.”

“Really?” I said, raising an eyebrow. “But…how do I knowyou’re telling the truth?”

“You don’t,” he said with a small smile.

“You’re an incredibly annoying person—has anyone evertold you that?”

“I might’ve heard it once or twice.”

We walked side-by-side in silence for several minutes afterthat. I wanted to lose myself in thought, because I haddecisions to make. I needed a plan. Every now and then Iwould cast a wary eye over at Kael, and every time I did heseemed increasingly more oblivious to my presence—but Iwas sure that was only because he was concentrating ontrying to hear my thoughts. With that in mind, I had to keepthem as vague as possible. I didn’t want him to hear myuncertainty, and I definitely didn’t want him reinforcing it. Iwas having a hard enough time trying to figure out what Iwas going to do without any more outside pressure.

One part of me—the sane part of me, perhaps—wasscreaming for me to get a grip. Of course I should remainhuman. What kind of person wants to become abloodthirsty monster? Why was I even considering anythingother than taking that antidote and resuming my normallife?

But there was the catch—that word, ‘normal’. Consideringthe way the past few weeks had gone, it didn’t look like mylife had any plans to return to ‘normal’ any time soon. Somaybe being infected was actually a good thing.

I wasn’t completely ignoring what Eli and the other’s hadsaid, though. There was a good chance, I knew, that I wouldbe a monster at first. But I was convinced that part wouldpass quickly, and once it did… Once it did I wouldn’t beweak anymore. I wouldn’t have to rely on others to keep myfamily safe. The more I thought about it, becoming awerewolf was the only thing that made sense to me. Maybeit was what was supposed to happen? Things happenedfor a reason, right? That’s what people kept telling me aftermy dad died.

“You can’t seriously believe that,” Kael said suddenly.

“Stop listening to my thoughts!” I hissed.

“Would it make any difference if I told you that, werewolf ornot, you’re no match for what threatens your family?” heasked.

“None at all.”

“You’re delusional.”

“You’re obnoxious.”

“You have no idea what you’re dealing with.”

“Maybe I’ll find out?” I said. “And maybe they’ll be no matchfor me?” And then, all of a sudden, I realized I didn’t evenbelieve what I was saying.

“You’re going to get yourself killed,” Kael said.

“I’m not afraid of death.” Oh God. There I went again. Whowas this person and what the heck was she saying? I waslying, and I knew it. And since I was sure that Kael waslistening to everything going on in my head, I’m sure heknew it too. My gaze shifted sideways at him, expectant.

He sighed, and I braced myself for his words. But he didn’tcall me out on my lie.

“Do you want me to take you home?”

“What?”

“It would be better if we got you back before your mothercame home from work,” he said.

“Oh…Yeah, I guess,” I replied. I stared at him, confused.

His attention seemed to have drifted elsewhere; he closed

his eyes, and his body tensed. Even his breathing stopped.

“What’s wrong…?”

He let out the breath he’d been holding. “Can you not hearthat?”

I closed my eyes too. At first, there was nothing to hear butthe sound of our own, steady breathing. But then there wasanother sound—faint but getting louder every second—andthere was no mistaking it for what it was.

“Someone’s coming.”

CHAPTER 8: blackmail

Unlike before, I didn't readily recognize the scent on the air.

"...Who is it?"

"...I'm not sure.”

"One of the others?"

"Be quiet," Kael growled. "I'm trying to listen."

"Well excuse me..." I shot back in a whisper.

"We should probably get moving," Kael said a secondlater. He sounded worried, which didn’t exactly calm mynerves. I stared at him, hoping he might elaborate, but heonly started to walk away. I’d only taken a few steps afterhim when a low-pitched howl sounded somewhere in thedistance, and I jumped and latched on to closest thing Icould find—which was Kael’s arm. Of course.

"You're awfully jumpy for someone who's not even afraid ofdeath," he mused, looking down at me.

I dropped my circulation-stopping grip on his arm andshoved him away. "Shut-up," I snapped. "It just startled me,that's all."

"It's just Will," he said.

It was hard to believe, because I still couldn't picture Will asanything other than human—even though now I knew whathe really was. What they all were. What I might become.

"And the footsteps…?” I asked, trying not linger on thoughtsabout the future.

"That's what he's making all that noise about—he's givingwhoever's walking around out there fair warning."

"Warning?"

"Our animal side is very...territorial," Kael explained. "It'snot normally an issue for us, living all the way up here in themiddle of nowhere. The closest pack to ours is down inJonas Ridge...and they usually do whatever it takes to stayaway from us."

"Why?"

"We have our differences."

"Don't be vague or anything.”

"Don't be nosey or anything," he said with a smirk. "It's gotnothing to do with a human."

"I might not be a human this time tomorrow," I pointed out.

"Maybe not," he said offhand. "But it sounds like whoever’sout there is moving away from us now. We should gobefore they change their minds and decide to join us.”

He didn't give me a chance to argue, and in seconds he’ddisappeared into the darkness. I hurried after him. Thisforest was growing creepier by the second, and I didn’treally like the idea of being alone with whomever thosefootsteps belonged to.

I caught up with him a few seconds later, and I was able tokeep up for most of the journey back. Our pace was steadyat first, but once we reached the less rocky landscape wegot gradually faster, and faster, and faster still— until thetrees lining the path started to blur, and we darted in andout of them so fast that I don’t even know how I didn’t runinto any of them. What was really weird was that, no matterhow long we ran, I never seemed to get tired. I could feel my

heart pounding in my chest. I could feel my leg musclestightening with each stride I took. And I kept waiting for mybody to start protesting, kept waiting to lose my breath, formy muscles to cramp, for some sign—any sign—that wouldtell me I'd reached my limit.

It never came.

We reached the edge of the woods surrounding my housein what seemed like no time at all. Kael stopped so quickly Inearly crashed into him. I stood silently, trying to catch thebreath that the exhilaration of running so fast had takenaway, while Kael pushed aside the tree limbs blocking ourview.

He looked back at me, nodding his head toward ourdriveway and the two police cruisers parked there. "Almostforgot about those guys," Kael said.

"Great..." I said with a groan. "What am I supposed to tellthem?"

"Anything but the truth?" Kael suggested. "Not that they'dbelieve you if you did tell them the truth.”

"No kidding,” I said, nodding as I stared at our well-lithouse.

"Your mom will be home soon," Kael said pointedly. "Itwould be better if she didn't come home to the copsquestioning her daughter, don't you think?"

"I guess," I said, grimacing at the thought. But I didn’t move.

"Well?" Kael prompted.

"I know," I said testily. "I'm going—just give me a sec,alright?"

"…Take as long as you want," Kael said. "And good luck. Iguess I'll be seeing you around." I heard his words, butmost of my attention was focused on the light shining from

most of my attention was focused on the light shining fromour living room window, so it took me a moment to realizethat the sounds of leaves crunching I heard a second laterwhere his footsteps as he walked away.

"Wait!" I called without thinking.

He slowed to a stop and glanced back over his shoulder."What?" he asked.

"Um...Are you just going to go back home then?"

"That was my plan," he said, raising an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Is it...safe? I mean, the person in the woods...I..." I stared atthe ground as I spoke.

"Whoever that was they're long gone now," Kael said."There's no need to be afraid..." he added. I glanced up justin time to see the corner of his lips turning up slightly.

"I'm not afraid.”

"Right." Kael rolled his eyes. "Then I'll just be on my way."

"I just don't think I should be alone, given thecircumstances..." I grumbled to his retreating back.

"Don't be stupid..." Kael said as he paused and lookedback again. "You haven't been alone since your father waskilled."

I couldn’t help but wince at the word ‘killed’.

“We've been patrolling the borders of your houseconstantly," he continued. "And right now? You met Jackearlier, right? Well, he's been following us, and he's goingto switch off with another friend of ours—a guy named Sam.Sam's been running circles around this place for the pasttwelve hours or so. He's a good kid, and he and a fewbuddies of his have been traveling a long way from theirhome in Brookford to help us keep you safe."

"Oh..." I said quietly, dragging my foot in a circle along theground. In my mind, I pictured Jack, with his scarred faceand stringy blonde hair. I remembered how uneasy he'dseemed, and I couldn't help but wonder—what was makinghim so nervous? Of course, I wanted to think that Jack andthe others Kael mentioned were perfectly capable of takingcare of whatever was after me and my family. But at thispoint I probably wouldn't have felt safe even if I had anentire army constantly stationed around my house.

"Look, if it makes you feel any better..." Kael began with asigh, "I probably won't go straight back to the house. I mighthang around with Jack for a bit so..." He trailed off andgave a slight shrug of his shoulders.

"...Okay," I said. But I still didn't move from where I stood.

"All you need to worry about right now," he began, his voicegrowing impatient, "...is getting rid of the police before yourmother gets home and causes a lot of trouble for all of us.Nothing else, alright?"

I nodded silently. I knew he was right. I was wasting time,standing out here.

"You’ll be fine," Kael said. "As long as you're here, you'vegot more protection than you could ever need."

"As long as I'm here?” I repeated before I could stop myself.“What, so I'm under house arrest now?"

"Of course not," he said flatly. "Go wherever you want.But..."

"But...?"

"But I, for one, am not going to chase you all over town," hesaid with an irritable sigh.

"I never asked you to chase me anywhere.”

"I can't say the same for the others," he continued withoutacknowledging my comment. "But it would make things alot easier for them if you would just stay in one place for thetime being—preferably near your family so they can keep abetter eye on them as well. And you really shouldn’t—"

"Okay. I get it," I interrupted. I really wasn't in the mood for alecture. "I'll stay here."

"…Good," he said. "Now go. Quit stalling and go get rid ofthe cops. I'll see you later."

I watched him disappear into the shadows of the forest,feeling a bit disgruntled. "He's awfully fond of orderingpeople around," I muttered, hoping he was still withinearshot. Then, with a frown, I turned and began a very longwalk to our back door.

The police were surprisingly easy to get rid of. Of course, Ihad several things working in my favor: first of all, it wasafter two a.m. when I walked in the backdoor, and bothofficers that greeted me looked like they must’ve beenreaching the end of their shifts, judging by their bloodshoteyes and the frequent yawning accompanying theirquestioning. They definitely seemed more than ready to bidus good-night and be on their way. Besides that, both ofthem were long-time friends of our family (living in a townwhere everybody knows everybody does come in handysometimes), and I think that made them more inclined toaccept the bogus story I fed them about 'just needing to getaway by myself for awhile'.

Once I'd convinced the officers they had, indeed, beenfalsely alarmed, I showed them out the door and dead-bolted it behind them with a sigh of relief. But unfortunately,there was still one person left who needed convincing.When I turned around, my sister stood waiting in the foyerbehind me, her arms folded across her chest and a smuglook on her face.

"Is that really the best you could come up with?” she asked.

“What?”

“You just needed time to yourself?"

"Yeah," I said, brushing past her and heading for my room.

"Except you weren't alone," Lora said, stepping on myheels as she turned to follow.

"What are you talking about?" I asked with a yawn, trying tosound as nonchalant as possible.

"Do you think I’m stupid?”

“Do you really want me to answer that?”

“I saw them, Alex. That strange guy that was here the othermorning, and some other woman, too. Who are they? Andwhat were they doing at our house so late?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you.”

"Try me!" Lora practically shouted.

"It's none of your business," I said. "And why did you call thecops, anyway?" I added as I approached my bedroomdoor. Lora didn't answer at first. I turned and glaredexpectantly at her, and she took a half-step away from me.

"Mom said..." she began in a suddenly shaky voice, "...shesaid to call the cops if anything suspicious happened whileshe was at work... And I...I was worried about you."

"Well don't," I said crossly as my hand reached for thedoorknob. "Don't worry about me, okay? I can take care ofmyself."

Lora shouted something back at me then, but I didn't hear itover the slamming of my door. I listened until the sound ofher footsteps stomping down the hallway faded away, and

her footsteps stomping down the hallway faded away, andthen I slumped against my door and slid down to the floor,burying my face in my hands on the way down.

"Well I handled that beautifully," I said, my voice muffled bymy palms.

Lora hadn't done anything wrong—I knew that. But if shewas mad at me, she wouldn't talk to me, which meant shewouldn't insist on me telling her what was going on. As faras I was concerned, the less she knew, and the lessinvolved she was, the better. This was my problem. Thiswas a situation I was facing. And as much as I hated theidea of facing it alone, the thought of dragging anyone elseinto this mess—especially my little sister—was ultimatelyworse.

So alone was how life was going to be for a while.

***

When I woke up the next morning, though, I definitely wasn’talone.

"Allllllex! Get up! Get up, get up, get up!"

"What the—" My eyes opened to the blurry sight of mydresser bouncing up and down as the sound of creakingbedsprings filled the air. "Lora, what are you—ow!" I'd justbeen about to sit up when I received a hard kick to my leftside. "What the heck was that for?" I asked, shoving her asI sat the rest of the way up.

Lora toppled backwards off the bed, but somehow stillmanaged to land gracefully on the floor.

"Aren't you a little old to be jumping on the bed?" I askedgrumpily.

"No," she said. "Now get up, we're going to the mall. I neednew cleats."

"Yeah…thanks for the invite, but I'm going to go ahead andgo back to sleep now. Maybe you should try me again at amore reasonable hour?" I suggested, pulling the covers upover my head.

"It's almost ten in the morning! There's nothingunreasonable about it," Lora protested. "And besides—I'mnot inviting you. You're taking me."

"Says who?" I asked from underneath my makeshift tent ofsheets and blankets.

"Says me."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes really. Unless, of course, you want Mom to know thatthose people were here last night…"

I threw the covers off and glared into the triumphant eyes ofmy little sister. God she could be annoying. "Blackmail?" Iasked in disbelief, my eyes narrowing. "You wouldn't."

"Wouldn't I?" Lora said with a devilish grin.

"What about that sisterhood bond we're supposed toshare?" I wailed.

"Yeah, what about it? It didn't seem to be here last nighteither—you know, when you slammed the door in myface?"

Ouch. She had me there. It was looking like I might have tobe her personal chauffeur for a while after all. "You fightdirty," I said with a frown.

"Oh get over it," Lora said, rolling her eyes. "I'm kind ofdoing you a favor, anyway, by convincing Mom to let youtake me. You're supposed to be grounded, remember?"

"Gee, thanks," I said. "I don't know how I'll ever repay yourgenerosity."

generosity."

"Oh, I'm sure I'll think of a way for you to," Lora said with asmile. "Now hurry up and get ready, will you?"

"Alright, alright..." I said with a yawn, reluctantly turning andplanting my feet on the cold hardwood floor. "I'll meet youout front in about ten minutes," I yawned, walking to thevanity in the corner of my room.

I stared sleepily into my dresser mirror as Lora left, closingthe door behind her. In zombie-like fashion, I grabbed abrush that was balancing on the corner of the dresser andpulled my hair back into my trademark messy bun. Icontemplated putting on make-up for about five secondsbefore deciding against it (I was way too tired to be wavinga massacre wand anywhere near my eye), then stood upand walked slowly over to my closet. As I crossed the room,the fog of sleepiness hovering over my mind began to lift,and memories of last night flooded in.

I thumbed absentmindedly through the shirts hanging in mycloset while the conversation I’d had with Kael playedthrough my mind. There was one part that kept repeatingitself: he didn’t want me to leave the house. Which probablymeant that he wouldn't approve of me going as far away asthe mall—the closest one was about forty-five minutes awayfrom here.

Not that I cared about, or needed, his approval. As reluctantas I might have been to admit it though, I did needprotection, and so did my family. If I took Lora with me, Imight be putting her in danger too. Had Kael been bluffingwhen he said he wouldn't follow me? Something inside medoubted it. He didn't really seem like the bluffing type.

But what about the others? Surely they wouldn't abandonme just because I left the house? I hated to make thingsdifficult for them, but they couldn't really expect me to stayhome for the rest of my life.

Could they?

I realized then that I had no idea how to answer thatquestion. After all, I barely even knew any of them. I mean,we'd all known each other for what? A grand total of twodays? Of course, that realization begged the question: whywas I taking orders from them, anyway? And an even moreimportant question: how did I know whether or not theyreally had my best interests at heart?

Maybe I was just being paranoid, or maybe I was justmaking up excuses because I really wanted to get out of thehouse. But whatever the reason, I suddenly found myselfdetermined to spend the day somewhere other than Cody'sCreek. It wasn't like I couldn't take care of myself, after all. Iwasn't a child. Besides, there was no guarantee that I wouldeven be in any danger if I left the house. I'd gone to townyesterday and made it back alive, hadn't I? On the otherhand, if I didn't take Lora then my mom would find out aboutmy late-night visitors—and then I would definitely be introuble. I shuddered at the thought

Yeah, I would take my chances.

Still, I hesitated. I felt a little bad running off, especiallyconsidering I’d promised to stay put. Not bad enough tochange my decision, mind you—I just wished I could atleast tell them I was going, so they didn't think I was trying tosneak off on them or anything.

I crossed the room to my window and pulled the blinds up.My eyes scanned the yard and the trees surrounding it,wondering if Jack was still out there or if someone else hadtaken over for him by now. And if Jack was out there, howcould I flag him down? I guess I should’ve gotten a phonenumber or something.

Then I remembered what Vanessa had told me: they coulduse something that worked much better than cell phones.The only problem was, I had no idea how to do that weirdthought-speech thing.

"Alex!" My sister's voice and the sudden rap of her

"Alex!" My sister's voice and the sudden rap of herknuckles on the door made me jump. "You ready?"

"...Give me like five more minutes, ok?"

"Hurry up! I'll be out front.”

I took a deep breath and turned back to the window. Itcouldn’t be that hard, right? Kael definitely didn't have anyproblems reading my mind last night. With that in mind, itwas him I tried to focus on.

(Hey...Kael?) I thought, feeling a little silly. I waited silentlyfor nearly a full minute, but he didn't reply. I’d tried imaginingI was talking with him face to face, but maybe that was thewrong way to do it? I couldn't imagine any other way,though, so I just continued: (I know you told me to stay at thehouse but...well, I'm going to go out for a bit this afternoon.But I'm not going to be too far away...and I won't be gonelong.)

Five seconds passed. Ten seconds passed. Twentyseconds, forty seconds, a minute—

This is stupid, I thought to myself, shaking my head infrustration. (If you're listening, then I'll take your silence as a'go ahead'—and that's exactly what I'm going to do. I'mleaving now.)

Still nothing. With a shrug, I pulled the blinds shut. Then Iturned around, grabbed my purse and a light jacket, andheaded for my car.

***

The closest mall to Cody's Creek was in a town calledBoone. And it was one awkward car ride. I kept the radioturned up for the sole purpose of discouragingconversation, which it did; Lora and I didn't exchange somuch as a glance until I pulled into the mall parking lot whatfelt like hours later.

Boone was a relatively small town, especially at themoment; the majority of its population was made up ofstudents who attended the university there, and most ofthem had already gone home for the summer. Combinethat with the fact that it was a weekday, and the result was amall parking lot that was almost completely empty, and kindof eerie because of it.

Inside the mall, things weren't much different. As we strolledbetween stores, we had only each other and the sound ofour footsteps for company until we decided to take a breakfrom shopping and head to the food court. There, abouttwenty other people were scattered amongst the tables andchairs, including a group of people I recognized from myhigh school. I waved to them as I sat down with my plate ofChinese food. My sister joined me a few minutes laterwearing a stony expression on her face that I wasbeginning to think might be permanent. We ate in silencefor as long as I could take, and then I breathed an irritablesigh.

"How long is this silent treatment going to last, anyway?" Iasked, stabbing a piece of sesame chicken withunnecessary force.

"How about until you explain what's going on with you?"

I laid my fork down, my appetite rapidly disappearing. "So,it's going to last forever then. Great."

"We use to talk," Lora said. "You use to tell me everything."

"I'm sorry, Lora.”

She just shook her head and turned away. It wasn't long,though, before she spoke again: "There's that guy again,"she said. I turned my head to follow her gaze, whicheventually landed on a blonde haired young man sitting byhimself several tables away. "I've seen him like ten timesnow..." Lora said. "I think he's following us."

"I doubt it," I said quickly, more to convince myself than her.

"I doubt it," I said quickly, more to convince myself than her."I mean, there are hardly any people shopping in here—ofcourse you're going to pass the same ones over and overagain," I said, forcing my attention back to my food.

"Maybe," Lora said. "But he's looking over here now."

My head jerked around. Lora was right. But he looked awayas soon as I laid eyes on him. "He's just some weirdo," Isaid with an attempt at a dismissive shrug. I watched himout of the corner of my eye until he got up and walked awaya few minutes later, a shiver running up my arm as Iwatched him go. "We should get going," I said, jumping tomy feet.

"…Okay," Lora agreed, eying me uncertainly. She gave herempty Styrofoam cup a shake. "But I'm going to get a refillfirst. I'll meet you outside, okay?"

I nodded, staring in the direction that guy had disappearedinto. Slowly, I collected my stuff and headed toward the exit,out the door and into the brilliant sunlight.

As I stepped off the curb and into the parking lot, I couldn'thelp but toss a quick glance back over my shoulder. I knew Iwas overreacting. I mean, I hadn't even noticed him whilewe were shopping. So what if he just happened to beshopping in the same stores as us? That was no reason forme to be scanning the parking lot frantically, expecting theworst. And it was definitely no reason for me to practicallysprint to my car while scanning the parking lot frantically(and nearly running into a car or two in the process). But Idid both those things, and when I finally reached my car, Ithrew open the door and climbed in as quickly as I could,slamming the door behind me.

With a shaky hand I slipped the key into the ignition andturned it, then dropped my sunglasses from their perch ontop of my head down over my eyes. As my car's enginestammered to life, I leaned back against the headrest,wondering how much longer Lora was going to take. After aminute I twisted my head back towards the mall entrance,

hoping to see her heading this way.

I couldn't see the entrance though, because it was beingblocked by someone standing next to my passenger door.My hand automatically flew to the lock, but I wasn’t quickenough. The door opened. And it was definitely not Lorathat climbed inside.

"Hello, Alex," Sera said, shutting the door and turning to mewith a smile. "It's so nice to see you again."

CHAPTER 9: my choice

“Sera?” I said, sitting up straight in surprise. “Can I…helpyou with something?”

“As a matter of fact, you can. If you wouldn’t mind drivingme home?”

“Driving you… home?” What was I supposed to say to that?Her expression was deathly serious, and somehow I waspretty sure she wouldn’t respond favorably if I told her to getthe heck out of my car. Since I couldn’t think of anythingelse to say, I decided I’d better just go along with it. “Uh… Iguess I can? Where do you live?”

“Not far from you. It’s easy enough to get to—I’ll tell you theway,” she said as she rummaged through the bag at herside.

“Well…okay. But we need to wait for my sister, she shouldbe out in a min—”

“Actually…” Sera interrupted quietly as her hand emergedfrom the bag, “I’m kind of in a hurry, so I’d prefer it if wecould get going…Now.”

I would’ve argued. In fact, even as she spoke, I already hadmy mouth opened, and an argument ready to roll off mytongue. I swallowed it quickly, however, because out of thecorner of my eye I saw what she’d been searching for in herbag.

Her left hand now held a shiny, silver pistol.

“Why do you have a gun?”

“Drive,” she ordered.

“What’s going on?” I demanded. “Why are you doing this—what have I ever done to you, anyway?”

“Drive,” she repeated in the same, toneless voice.

I obeyed with a little more enthusiasm than was necessary.We shot out of the parking space, accompanied by thesqueal of tires, and nearly collided with an oncoming SUV.

“You didn’t listen to me, Alex,” Sera said in a quiet voiceonce we’d been driving for about ten minutes. She twirledthe gun casually around her finger as she spoke.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, eyeing the gunnervously.

“I warned you about those people—about Kael and theothers. And what did you do? You went to visit them.”

“It wasn’t exactly a leisurely visit!” My mouth fell open. Wasshe seriously going to hold that against me? “And how doyou know about that, anyway?” I asked as an afterthought.

“I have my sources.”

“What sources?”

“I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.”

“…Is that supposed to be funny?”

“It’s funny to me,” Sera said with a shrug. “But anyway,where I get my information isn’t really important right now.”She gazed out the window as she spoke. I gripped thesteering wheel a little tighter.

“Okay—so you can’t tell me that,” I said through half-clenched teeth. “But at least tell me why? Why are you

following me? What do you want with me and my family,anyway?”

“I’m just looking out for you, Alex.”

I pulled my eyes of the road and gave her a quickincredulous look. “This is your idea of looking out forsomeone? Are you insane?”

“Oh…you mean this?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Sera lifted the guninto her line of vision, appraising it like she just realized shewas carrying it.

“As long as you cooperate, we won’t have to use it,” shesaid.

“And if I don’t?”

“Then I’m going to have to kill you,” she said bluntly. “Whichwould be a shame.” It might’ve been my imaginationrunning wild, but she didn’t really sound like she thought mydeath would be a shame at all. My hands were growingshaky at the thought when all of a sudden she bent forwardand looked up into my eyes.

“You want to be careful whose side you’re on, Alex,” shesaid in a quiet voice.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I mumbled, doingmy best to keep my attention focused on the road. “I’m noton anybody’s side…Although the fact that you’ve got a gunpointed at me is not really helping your odds, just so youknow.”

“Turn left at this stoplight,” Sera said quietly, settling back inher seat.

“How much further is it?” I asked as I jerked the car into theturning lane.

“Not long now.”

My fingers drummed against the steering wheel as I staredinto the glaring red left turn arrow. I swear every other lightat that intersection turned green at least three times beforeit was finally my turn.

As my car finally rolled forward, I pictured my story beingshown on one of those unsolved mystery shows—you know,the ones with the crazy twilight-zone music that you findwhen you’re surfing channels, and you don’t want to watchthem, but for some reason you can’t manage to look away,so you stick it out until you learn the outcome and all thegrisly details. Hopefully, if it came down to it, my episodewouldn’t have too many grisly details to share.

Or better yet, maybe there’d be no episode at all.

I’d heard about victims of car-jacking who purposelycrashed their cars in order to escape, and I was pretty surethat, if it came down to it, I could do that. Of course, therewas no guarantee I’d walk away from that crash—so I wassaving that for a last resort.

The problem was I was quickly approaching that last resort.Ever since turning at that stoplight, we seemed to beputting more and more distance between ourselves andcivilization—which meant my chances of being able to alertanyone to my situation were growing increasingly slim. As Isped through curve after curve, I started scanning theroadside for possible places to make an effective get-awaycrash.

(I thought I told you to stay at your house?)

Kael’s voice inside my head made me jump. I jerked thesteering wheel a little more to the left than I meant to,throwing Sera into me and causing the gun she held tobrush against my temple. My eyes widened. I never thoughtI’d be so happy to be hearing voices in my head.

(Sorry,) I thought back.

“What are you sorry for?” Sera asked suddenly.

Well damn.

(Try and distract her,) Kael thought.

I tried my best not to think anything in response, for fear ofSera’s interception. That, I quickly realized, was not nearlyas easy as it sounded— especially with Sera glaring at mesuspiciously the whole time. I needed to stop thinking andstart talking.

“Oh…nothing,” I lied, racking my brain for some sort ofconversation starter. “I was just…just thinking about howsorry I am that I’m not going to get to see the world like Iwanted to. And I’m also kinda sorry this is how it’s going tohappen, you know? I mean, assuming you kill me, whichhopefully you won’t because…well, because I alwaysthought I would go some way much cooler than this.”

My voice was surprisingly steady now, considering mysituation. My pulse, on the other hand, was a different story—and the fact that Sera still looked as suspicious as everdidn’t help. “Have you ever seen those people who go overNiagra Falls in barrels?” I said, trying to keep talking. “Ialways thought that would be a really cool way to die. That,or jumping out of a plane or something—something to getyour adrenaline going before it’s all said and done, youknow? Get it going In a good way, I mean—because thishas definitely got my heart racing, don’t get me wrong. Butnot exactly in the way I was hoping my last adrenaline rushwould go.”

“You talk entirely too much,” Sera said.

“It’s a nervous habit. I think it’s a pretty common one. I knowmy sister’s the same way, when she gets nervous shestarts talking a mile a minute.” I had to pause, gulp downsome air and swallow then, because my mouth was gettingso dry. “It’s impossible to shut her up sometimes.”

so dry. “It’s impossible to shut her up sometimes.”

“That’s nice,” Sera said.

“I find it kind of irritating, actually. I mean really—sometimesshe just will not shut up, and I have to—”

“Shut-up. Now.” The cold barrel of Sera’s gun was againstmy temple again, only this time it was deliberate.

“Right. Shutting up,” I said, my voice cracking. What couldpossibly be taking Kael so long?

“Where is he?” Sera asked quietly.

I realized my mistake even as she spoke. “Where is who?” Isaid, trying to keep my eyes occupied with the road.

“Don’t play stupid with me, Alex.”

“I’m not playing any—”

“I wonder what could be taking him so long?” Sera said in amocking voice.

I could hardly argue with her after that. She’d obviouslyheard my thoughts, and now she was alternating betweenglaring at me and throwing expectant glances into therearview mirror. (She…knows you’re coming,) I thought witha frown.

(That’s not going to save her,) Kael replied.

I wished I felt half as confident as he sounded.

(Listen to me, Alex.) His voice stayed confident, but itseemed a lot more urgent all of a sudden. (You’re going tohave to stop—quickly so we can throw her off guard. Whenyou reach the end of the long curve up ahead, just hit yourbrakes as hard as you can, okay?)

(Okay,) I thought. I could do that.

Right?

I took a deep breath, doing what I could to avoid Sera’sgaze, and then stomped on the gas pedal so hard we wereboth thrown against the backs of our seats. The quicker Igot around that curve, the better.

“Driving rather fast, aren’t we?” Sera said as she grippedthe center armrest for support.

“You’re right. I should slow down.” I muttered as I flewaround the curve so fast that my car ended up on the otherside of the road. Luckily, no one met us in the other lane.

“Maybe just a—” Sera words were drowned out by thescreech of tires ripping through the air.

Both of my arms were braced against the steering wheel,but the strength of the momentum shift was such that I wasthrown forward anyway. I hit the steering wheel with asickening thump, and the wind was knocked out of me. Stillgasping for air, I looked sideways to see how Sera hadfared, and saw that her face was buried in the dashboard.She remained like that for several seconds before slowlyleaning back into an upright position, turning her venomousgaze on me as she did so.

“Oh…you’re so going to regret that,” she said quietly, herhand reaching to her temple and wiping off the thin trickle ofblood running down from it. She pulled her eyes away frommine and looked down. I followed her gaze and saw whatshe was searching for almost instantly—her gun rested inthe center console, glinting in the sunlight.

My hand fell on the gun first, but Sera’s was right on top ofmine an instant later. I gripped the barrel as tightly as Ipossibly could, but Sera gripped my hand even tighter andpushed it down, preventing me from drawing the gun upand making it of any use.

“Remember what I said about cooperating?” Sera said, her

“Remember what I said about cooperating?” Sera said, hereyes narrowed. I didn’t reply, I just focused all my energy ontrying to wrench the gun and my hand out of her grasp. “Youweren’t supposed to be this much trouble,” she added,digging her nails into the flesh on the back of my hand.

“Sorry to disappoint you,” I said with a grunt as I poured asmuch strength as I could muster into one last effort to freethe gun. To my complete surprise, I succeeded—soabruptly that I fell back against the door, clutching it againstmy chest.

Sera looked surprised too. “Take it,” she snarled. “I doubtyou even know how to shoot it… And I don’t need a gun todeal with the likes of you, anyway.”

I fumbled the gun around until I had it pointed at her andgripped it as tightly as I could with shaking, clammy palms.

“Go on—shoot me,” Sera said with a nasty smile.

My finger inched onto the trigger, but there it froze. Oureyes met. The world stopped. There was no sound otherthan the sound of my own breathing, my own heartbeat. Allof the colors around me faded into black and white as Iwatched Sera laugh soundlessly from the passenger seat.

It was the sound of shattering glass that eventually brokethe silence. Time seemed to switch into overdrive to makeup for what it had lost, and suddenly everything seemed tobe trying to happen all at once. I watched as Sera’sexpression twisted from triumph to painfully obvious agony.And the reason behind her rapid mood shift stood in theframe of what had been my passenger door, which wasnow bent in toward the seat and had been crumpled soeasily it might as well have been made of clay.

At first, all I could look at were its teeth, several inches longand dripping with saliva as they latched onto Sera’sshoulder. When I finally forced my eyes away from the itsmouth full of daggers, the creature’s familiar blue eyes metmine for a fraction of a second.

“…Kael?” I said uncertainly. He only growled a deep-throated growl in response, then twisted his shaggy, silverhead and pulled Sera with ease from the car, and threw herthrough the air with a toss of that massive head. Shelanded several yards away on the side of the road with suchforce that a cloud of dirt exploded around her and gravelscattered from underneath her.

I turned my attention back to what was left of my passengerside door, but Kael had already backed his way out of thegnarled metal frame. Tufts of fur clung to the jagged shardsof the broken window, and drops of blood dotted the glass,shining a brilliant, pinkish-red as sunlight poured in throughthem.

Lifting my eyes away from the shattered window, I saw Kaeladvancing quickly on Sera’s heaving form. I sat frozen in myseat as Sera climbed to her feet to face him. I wanted tolook away. I didn’t want to witness a massacre. She didn’teven have the gun to defend herself—I still held it in mytrembling hands. I kept telling myself to look away, but Icouldn’t bring myself to do it. That might’ve been a goodthing though—because what happened next, I probablywouldn’t have believed unless I’d seen it with my own eyes.

Sera stood completely still, fists clenched and adetermined look on her face, until Kael was no more thanfive feet away. She took a single step backward andcrouched low to the ground, her teeth bared as if to returnKael’s growl.

Then things started to get really weird.

I was about twenty feet away, and at first I thought what Isaw must’ve been have been a trick of the sunlight. Thesun’s rays couldn’t possibly have been beaming off of herteeth, could they? But I quickly saw that they, in fact, were—because her teeth had suddenly grown much too large forher mouth, into fangs that had plenty of surface area toreflect sunlight. Her face grew longer then, to accommodateher new set of teeth, and she fell forward onto her hands

her new set of teeth, and she fell forward onto her handsand knees. Her arms and legs shook uncertainly for a fewseconds before shifting into more muscular, canineversions. Then her own shadow enveloped her, and for afew seconds she was nothing more than a cloud ofdarkness that seemed to be growing bigger every second,until it finally unfurled to reveal a massive, jet-black wolf.

And there was something very familiar about this particularwolf.

My hand cupped and flew to my mouth in surprise. Therewas no mistaking it. I was staring at the same creature thathad tried to drown me in the lake. Sera had failed to kill methen, and so she was back to try again. Last time, Kael hadmanaged to chase her away. But this time he was facingher alone.

He hardly seemed intimidated though. Before the newlytransformed Sera had even taken a single step, Kaelattacked. His teeth went for her throat, but she dancedsideways and out of the way just in time, so they just barelygrazed her shoulder instead.

Sera stumbled briefly as Kael hit her, but she recoveredquickly, spun around and threw her uninjured shoulder hardinto his side— with what must have been incredible force,judging by the indention Kael’s body left in the ground whenhe landed several feet away.

Almost as soon as he hit the ground, Kael had sprung to hisfeet once more, and in the next instant, he propelled himselfforward in a single, fluid motion. Sera dodged andretaliated with a strike of her own, but Kael managed tododge it as well. They moved with surprising grace for suchlarge creatures, and I couldn’t help but be a little awestruckby it all.

Neither seemed to have a clear advantage over the other,which was a scary thing. What was I supposed to do if Kaellost? Not to mention that if anything happened to him, itwould be my fault. He’d told me to stay at the house. He’d

told me I would be safer there. Why couldn’t I just listen?

I was so busy trying to control these racing thoughts that myfocus inadvertently drifted for a moment, but a sharp yelpbrought me back into the moment. My anxious gaze flewback to the battle. There was no need to worry, though,because while I’d been busy freaking out in my head Kaelhad clearly gained the upper hand.

He towered over Sera now, and she seemed to be havingdifficulty putting any weight on her right front leg. I watchedher hobble slowly backward on her three good legs, earspinned against her head and snarling and snapping all thewhile. She stopped once she’d put about five feet betweenthem, and there she seemed determined to stand herground.

But that determination wavered as Kael closed that spaceshe’d put between them. For every step Kael took towardher, Sera took two reluctant steps backward, until she’dbacked all the way up the bank and to the edge of thewoods that ran alongside the road. There, her stubbornfigure remained even when Kael stepped so close theirnoses touched.

When she refused to move any further, Kael’s low growlexploded into a fierce snarl and he lunged forward, hittingher square in the chest and sending her toppling over. Sheremained on the ground for several seconds beforeclimbing shakily back to her three good feet.

She lowered her head and, still growling, turned and slinkedinto the cover of the trees. Kael tore after her, and it was along while before their snarls and yelps faded into thedistance.

Dazed, I pushed my door open and stepped out. I felt aflutter of panic rising in my chest as I looked toward the nowsilent woods. Where was Kael? And had I really just seenall that? I braced myself against the hood of the care,closed my eyes and too a few deep, calming breaths. Iwanted to go make sure he was okay. But I couldn’t move.

wanted to go make sure he was okay. But I couldn’t move.

( Kael?) I tried thinking. It was all I could manage; I was tooshaken to even think a coherent sentence. There was noanswer for what felt like a long time. I was about to attemptto leave the support of my car behind and go search forKael when I heard footsteps.

“What part of stay at the house didn’t you understand?”

My teeth clenched at his words, which where loud and clear—without the soft echo that accompanied thoughtspeech.

“I was only going to be gone a few hours! You can’t reallyexpect me to stay locked up in my house the rest of my life,”I said, whipping around to face him. I still had plenty ofadrenaline left, and if he was looking for fight…

But a quick glance over his now-human self melted myanger pretty quickly. I saw the bloody streaks across hisface first; they started across his right cheekbone anddisappeared up into his hairline, into a patch of hair thatwas significantly darker than the rest.

“Kael…you…you’re bleeding!”

He snorted. “Yeah, that’s generally what happens when sixinch fangs rip through you,” he said bitterly as he examinedhis right arm, which was covered and dripping with dark redblood.

“No, I mean, you’re bleeding a lot.”

“Again—they were like six inches long.”

“You’re going to bleed to death!”

He glanced up at me then, amusement briefly lighting up hisfeatures. “Not this time,” he said, ripping a strip of clothfrom what was left of his shirt and using his teeth to help tieit tightly around his upper arm. “Just a few scratches—nobig deal. They’ll heal soon enough...especially since

tonight’s a full-moon.”

“Full moon…?” I stammered, still staring at him in disbelief.Even with his make-shift tourniquet, it still looked like hewas losing an awful lot of blood.

“You humans got a few things right in your stories,” heexplained. “We’re stronger during the full-moon. And youalready know, since you saw what happened to your armafter you were attacked at the lake, that we heal severaltimes faster than humans do on any given day. So multiplythat healing ability by the power of the full moon and, like Isaid, these scratches will be gone this time tomorrow, if notbefore.”

The site of all that blood was starting to make menauseous, so I looked away. My eyes ended up on my ownarm. Hopefully Kael would heal as quickly as I had.“Speaking of the lake…that was Sera, wasn’t it? That dayat the lake… she was the one who tried to drown me?”Kael nodded. “Now you see why I told you to stay awayfrom her?”

“Well, yeah. But why didn’t you tell me who she was?”

Kael looked uncomfortable all of a sudden, and took a longtime answering. “…You didn’t ask,” he finally said.

I glared at him. Did he really think that was a good enoughexcuse to not warn me about somebody who wanted to killme? He turned and started walking toward my car, and Istomped after him—I wasn’t planning on letting him off thateasily. But then I caught sight of his bloody arm again, andguilt flooded over me.

Okay, maybe I could ask Vanessa or somebody aboutSera later.

Kael reached my car and crouched down beside mypassenger side door.

“Wow,” I said, kneeling down beside him. “You completely

“Wow,” I said, kneeling down beside him. “You completelydestroyed it.”

“Would you rather I had left the two of you alone?”

I frowned. “Just making an observation,” I said quietly. “Andfor the record?” I couldn’t help but add, running my handalong the twisted metal frame. “I had everything undercontrol…I was the one holding the gun, in case you didn’tnotice.”

“You wouldn’t have shot it,” he said. “And it wouldn’t havemattered if you did. Even in her human form, a few bulletswouldn’t have stopped her.”.

My eyes widened slowly as I realized just how serious of asituation he’d gotten me out of. “Why did you do it?” I askedsuddenly.

“What?”

“You said you wouldn’t follow me. What made you changeyour mind?”

The question seemed to have caught him off-guard.“Maybe I just didn’t have anything better to do?” he said,looking away.

“You didn’t have to help me.”

“I know.”

“What about the others? Why didn’t they come?”

“They did,” Kael said. “Will and Eli stayed behind to takecare of things at the mall.”

“At the mall…?”

“Sera rarely operates alone.”

“You mean there are more like her?” I asked. And then a

horrifying thought crossed my mind. “Lora!” I cried, placinga hand over my mouth. “I forgot about Lora! We have to goback! That guy that was following us…I bet he… How couldI have left her?”

Close to hyper-ventilating, I ran over and threw open my cardoor. Kael was beside me a second later, and he pushedme aside and slammed it shut again.

“What are you doing?” I asked, glaring at him.

“Do you listen to anything I say?” Kael asked, his tone amixture of annoyance and bewilderment. “Lora’s fine. Willand Eli are with her—they’re already on the way back toyour house.”

“…Oh,” I breathed.

“We should probably head back too,” he said, eying mewarily. “Are you going to be okay to drive?”

“Yeah,” I said without hesitation—even though, now that Ithought about it, the last thing I wanted to do was get backin that car. “But what about my door?”

“Might be a little breezy, but the car should still drive alright,”he said, opening the door, sliding into the seat and turningthe key I’d left in the ignition. My car started with no moreprotest than usual, and Kael got back out and held the dooropen for me. “Just stick to the back roads and drive slowly.Hopefully you won’t pass any cops…Do you know the wayto your house from here?”

“I think so.”

“I’ll run alongside you, just in case.”

“Okay.” I climbed into seat and pulled my seatbelt on. “I’llsee you at the house.”

He nodded and then disappeared up into the trees, and Iproceeded to drive back to my house slower than I’d ever

proceeded to drive back to my house slower than I’d everdriven in my life. Every now and then I’d catch a glimpse ofsilver racing through the trees beside the road, which wasbizarre at first, but by the time we pulled onto the road Ilived on it seemed almost normal. Other than an occasionaldemand to ‘hurry up’—which I ignored every time— Kaelkept his thoughts to himself. And so, for most of the ridehome, I was left to my own.

I knew I should’ve been overwhelmed with relief. It had beena close-call, but everything turned out fine. Despite whathe’d said, Kael showed up just in time to save me. I wasthankful for that—truly, I was. But for some reason, all I couldthink about where the what-ifs.

What if he’d been too late? What if he hadn’t come at all?What if Sera had decided to kill me right then and there, inthat mall parking lot? And then what about Lora? If Serahad moved to attack Lora, I wouldn’t have been able to stopher. I was just a weak human, after all. For now, I was just aweak human. But not after tonight. I didn’t care what Kael,or any of the others thought anymore.

I wasn’t staying this way.

CHAPTER 10: sure

As I drove back to the house, I didn’t bother trying to keepmy thoughts from Kael or anyone else who might’ve beenlistening. So it came as no surprise when Will met me at mycar door with a worried look on his face the second I droveup.

“Don’t do this, Alex,” he said as he held open the door andoffered me his hand. I took it and pulled my self out of thecar, but didn’t look at him. “You seem like a nice kid—Idon’t want you to become my enemy,” he continued in aplaintive voice.

“Where is my sister?” I asked quietly.

“She’s inside. And she’s perfectly fine,” Will said, as ifpresenting an argument. “So I don’t know why you—”

“Yeah, she’s fine thanks to you,” I interrupted. “What if youhadn’t been there?”

“But I was there. Me and Eli both were.”

“And I thank you both for that, I really do. But—”

“But what?”

“But I’d prefer to take from here.”

“There’s nothing wrong with relying on others, you know,”Will said, shaking his head.

“Yeah. Until they let you down,” I said under my breath,shoving past him and heading for the front door.

“We haven’t let you down yet, have we?” he called after me.

His voice sounded smug, and I slowed almost to a stop, myguilty feelings from earlier resurfacing. I regained mycomposure quickly, though, and hurried on to the front door.I’d almost made it to the porch steps when another voicecalled my name. This time I did stop, leaving one footbalanced on the bottom step. I looked back over myshoulder to see Eli walking toward me.

“What?” I demanded.

He smiled at me, despite the harsh tone of my voice. “Itseems you’ve made up your mind,” he said in his calm,quiet voice.

“…Yes,” I said with a careful nod, taking my foot off the stepand turning to face him.

“It is your choice to make, so I will not try and talk you out ofit,” he continued. “But I do have a favor to ask of you.”

Of course he did. There’s always a catch. “What kind offavor?” I asked.

“I think it would be in everybody’s best interest if your firstshift took place under capable supervision—just in case.The newly transformed are usually a danger to not onlyothers, but also to themselves as well.”

His words caused the bile that had settled in the back of mythroat to rush forward. I swallowed it down and managed asmall nod.

“Kael has offered to come back later this afternoon andescort you back to our home. You should rest until then.”

“Okay.”

“I will see you tonight, then,” Eli said.

I waved halfheartedly as he turned and walked to the blacksedan parked beside my now doorless Honda. Will was

already sitting behind the steering wheel, and I waved tohim too. He just looked away.

I sighed as I watched the two of them disappear down thedriveway, and then I turned and headed through the frontdoor. Before I’d even closed the door, the sound of hurriedfootsteps thundered through the entryway.

“Alex!” my sister called hushed voice. She rounded thecorner a second later and threw her arms around me sohard I nearly lost my balance. “You’re okay!” Lora’s voicenever rose above a whisper, which probably meant Momwas still resting up before tonight’s hospital shift. And thefact that Mom was still sleeping meant she likely had noidea Kael and the others had been here. I said a silentprayer of thanks for that bit of good fortune as I hugged mylittle sister tightly.

“What about you?” I asked her when I finally pulled away aminute later. “Are you okay? What happened?”

Lora stepped back and stared seriously into my eyes. “Icouldn’t find your car when I came outside,” she said. “So Iwandered around in the parking lot for a bit, then I pulled outmy phone to call you. But you know that guy I pointed out toyou in the food court? The one I said was stalking us?”

“Uh-huh.” If I’d been nauseous before, it was nothingcompared to how I felt now. How could I have left Loraalone with that guy creeping around?

“Well, apparently he was following us. He followed me intothe parking lot,” Lora said. “And the jerk grabbed my phoneright out of my hand before I could finish dialing yournumber…”

“He stole your phone?”

She shrugged. “I got it back.”

“…How?” I asked, a cold sweat sweeping over me.

“I kicked him. He practically threw it at me then.”

“You kicked him?” I had to swallow a laugh. What could Isay? I’d taught her well. “Then what?”

“He started rambling about making me pay for kicking himand stuff—I don’t really know what all he said ‘cause Iturned and ran away right about then.”

“You were able to get away?” I asked anxiously.

“Not even close—that guy was fast. I mean like crazy fast.”

“So he caught you?” I said, my breath catching in my throatas I spoke.

“Yeah, but then those friends of yours… Will and Eli I think?They showed up and kicked that guys butt—right in themiddle of the mall parking lot.”

I exhaled slowly as she continued.

“Well, I mean—they kicked it as much as they could in twominutes… But the police showed up pretty quickly, and thestalker guy ran off, and Will and Eli seemed to be in a hurryto get out of there all of a sudden too. It was all really…strange,” she concluded with a shrug.

“Yeah…” I agreed, Vanessa’s words from last nightechoing in my head. Don’t you think our kind have hadenough publicity over the past few weeks? They’d been in ahurry to avoid the police then, too. “But the important thingis that you’re alright,” I said, deciding quickly that I’d worryabout my newfound friends’ problem with the police later. Iwrapped my arms around Lora and gave her anothersqueeze.

“Alex,” she said in a voice that was suddenly way tooserious for a thirteen-year-old. She pulled away, and herdeep brown eyes stared unrelentingly into mine as shespoke. “Who are those people? And what happened to

you? I saw your car when you drove up. Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” I said, trying to avoid her gaze. I couldn’t blameher for wanting to know what was going on. I knew a lotmore now than I did this time yesterday, but I still felt likethere was more to everything that was happening. And itwas driving me crazy, thinking about how little I knew. Lorawas completely in the dark though, which must’ve beeninfinitely worse.

But she was just going to have to endure it.

“Lora, I think it’s better you didn’t know everything. Oranything even…I feel like…the less you know, the safer youprobably are.” I think some part of me wanted to believethat if she didn’t know what was going on, she wouldn’thave to worry about it, and so she wouldn’t have to be apart of it any more than she already had been.

Unsurprisingly, she disagreed. “Come on Alex,” Lorawhined. “You can’t keep this from me forever. If you won’ttell me, you know I’ll just find out for myself, one way oranother.”

“Lora…”

“How about I just guess, and you tell me if I’m right or not?”

“How about not?”

“Okay, so that guy in the mall? Blondie? What was he?”Lora asked.

I just rolled my eyes.

“He moved way too fast for a normal human—” she said,looking at me for confirmation.

“Think about what you’re saying,” I said, in my best attemptat a skeptical tone. “So he was fast. So what?”

“He caught me in like less than a second—that’s what. And

“He caught me in like less than a second—that’s what. AndI had about a ten second head start. You know I didn’t eventhink he was gonna follow me at first? I kept looking overmy shoulder…but he just stood there for the longest time,looking all pissed off. Then all of a sudden—Bam! And he’sright next to me. No human moves that fast. And when Willand Eli were fighting, all of them were nothing but blurs—Icouldn’t even keep up.”

I tried to give a believable laugh. “Yeah. They’re probablyaliens.”

“I thought about that possibility,” Lora said, matter-of-factly.“They don’t look like aliens though…”

“I was joking. There’s no such thing as aliens,” I said irately.And then I realized I wasn’t entirely sure that was true—afterall, up until a short time ago I thought there was no suchthing as werewolves, either. And I’d never even heard of alycan. I couldn’t help but smile a defeated, what-else-can-I-do-but-smile kind of smile as I thought about how bizarremy life had become lately. That smile didn’t hang aroundlong.

“Okay well maybe not aliens…but am I hot or cold? Giveme a hint,” Lora insisted.

“I’m not playing this game,” I said. “I need to go move mycar into the shed so Mom doesn’t see it when she leavesfor work. And then I’m going back to bed—I’m kinda tiredseeing as how someone woke me up entirely too early thismorning.”

Lora opened her mouth, but I turned around and quicklyheaded back outside before she could even utter a syllableof protest. I half-expected her to follow me outside tocontinue her pursuit of answers, but she didn’t. And when Ireturned from parking my car in the shed at the far edge ofour yard, she was nowhere to be found. I assumed she’dprobably gone to her room, either to pout or to concoctmore possible explanations of what had happened at themall. I moved quietly in hopes that, if she was in her room,

she’d stay there and leave me and my thoughts in peace.

True to my word, I headed straight for my bed. I didn’t goback to sleep though, partially because of everything I hadto think about, but mostly because no matter how hard Itried I couldn’t seem to get comfortable. The second I triedto close my eyes, the dull headache I’d been fighting allmorning got a million times worse, and even after I took acouple aspirins, it still lingered. And my head wasn’t theonly thing that hurt; for some reason, almost all of mymuscles were aching, and no position I laid in gave me anyrelief. Worse than the aching, though, was the strangetingling sensation that shot through my arms and legs everytime I moved.

Even though I wasn’t able to sleep, I stayed in my bed—mostly to avoid Lora. As an added bonus, I managed toavoid Mom too, by pretending to be asleep when she camein about an hour and a half after I’d lain down. I heard herdriving away about thirty minutes later.

It wasn’t until the digital alarm clock at my bedside read4:00 that I reluctantly decided to drag my self out of bed. Ididn’t know what Eli’s idea of ‘later this afternoon’ was, so Ifigured I should probably be up and ready to go—wheneverKael decided to show up.

The thought of seeing Kael again wasn’t exactly thegreatest motivator for getting out of bed. I had a feeling ourtrip back to their house was going to be an awkward one,since I doubted the short time we’d been apart was longenough for him to have forgiven me for not listening to him.In fact, I was a little surprised Kael had offered to comeback for me. My guess was he was planning on using it asanother opportunity to lecture me. That did seem to be hisfavorite pastime, after all.

Still thinking about Kael, I migrated from my bedroom to theliving room and plopped down on the armchair nearest tothe back door. As I stared out the sliding-glass, I found thatthe more I thought about him, the less I could blame Kael forbeing angry with me. I mean, maybe a lecture or two was

being angry with me. I mean, maybe a lecture or two wasthe price I had to pay for him saving my life.

He’d saved my life.

It was a strange feeling, to owe that much to someone—especially someone I’d just met. And I didn’t particularly likethat feeling. Still, I suppose being in debt was infinitelypreferable to being dead. My eyes glazed over as Icontinued to stare out the door. I decided I should probablytalk to him about it, and apologize too. I was thinking aboutjust what I should say, when I suddenly realized I wasn’teven sure I’d thanked him for saving my life, for putting hisown life in danger to protect mine. What kind of persondoesn’t say thank you for something like that?

Well, Kael would probably be here any minute. I could thankhim then, and apologize—whatever it took to put us backon good terms. There was no sense in worrying over it justyet. I leaned against the door’s cool glass, gazingexpectantly toward the edge of the yard. I only had to waitabout five minutes before somebody stepped out of thewoods. I slid the door open quietly and stepped out,squinting to get a better look. It didn’t take me long torecognize who it was and, when I did, my heart sankhorribly.

Kael obviously was mad at me—so mad he’d decided notto come get me after all. Instead, it was Vanessa makingher way toward me. Her face lit up with a wide smile as sheapproached, and I tried to return it as enthusiastically aspossible.

“Hey Alex,” she said.

“Hey…”

“Are you doing okay?” she asked. “You don’t lookparticularly happy,” she added, her smile wavering slightly.

“I’m fine. I just thought…wasn’t Kael coming to get me?”

“Ah…are you disappointed to see me?” Vanessa asked,making a face.

“No,” I said, managing a small smile. “I’m just…” I trailed off,shrugging.

“Worried about him?” she finished, the beginnings of amischievous smile tugging at her lips.

I could almost feel the color draining out of my face. Was Ireally that easy to read? The thought annoyed me—until Iremembered something. She didn’t have to read my bodylanguage. She could hear my thoughts. I really, reallyneeded to learn how to keep them from doing that.

“I can teach you,” Vanessa said sheepishly. “But until then,I’ll try not to listen in. I didn’t actually mean to do it then. It justsort of happens sometimes...like when you’re aroundsomeone who’s feeling particularly emotional, and you’renot consciously blocking it out—sometimes thoughts justend up in your head, whether you want them to or not,” sheexplained. “But anyway, I’m out of your head now—promise. So talk—why are you so worried?

I didn’t really feel up to talking, but it wasn’t like I could keepher out of my head even if I wanted to. But if I talked, maybeshe really would keep out of my head and I could actuallyhave a little control over the conversation. “…I feel like he’smad at me,” I said. “That’s why I was hoping he wascoming. I wanted to talk to him.”

“Mad?” Vanessa repeated airily. “No, I don’t think so. He’sjust not feeling well—that’s why I came instead.”

“He’s sick?”

“He went to bed as soon as we got home, and hasn’t comeout of his room since.”

“Oh…” I said, frowning. “Do you think it has anything to dowith what happened this afternoon…?” Vanessa lookedconfused, so I continued: “I mean, he fought, and was hurt…

confused, so I continued: “I mean, he fought, and was hurt…he said he was fine, but he was bleeding an awful lot…”Saying those words out loud somehow made the gravity ofthe situation even more unbearable. “Ugh…I didn’t eventhank him.”

“You were a bit distracted,” Vanessa said tenderly. “It’sbeen a difficult past few days for you…don’t be too hard onyourself.”

“But…”

“No buts. Now c’mon—if you’re really that upset about it,why don’t we hurry up and get back? Then you guys can talkand sort things out.”

“…Okay.” I still wasn’t convinced that setting this right wasgoing to be that easy, but I stepped forward anyway.

“Good,” Vanessa said with an approving nod. “So…Kaeltold me you were fast. But can you keep up with me, Iwonder?” She turned and bolted across the yard.

I wasn’t really in the mood to race, but I wasn’t about to turndown what sounded like a challenge, either. Much to myown surprise—and apparently to hers as well, judging bythe look on her face—I managed to catch up with her in notime. Being able to move this fast…it was unreal. And sobizarre it was almost terrifying. What exactly washappening to my body, anyway?

We reached the cabin as quickly as if our destination hadbeen the house just down the street rather than one adifficult, thirty-something mile hike away. We burst throughthe front door, still giggling from the invigorating run, andheaded down the hall and into the kitchen.

Will and Eli sat on barstools around an island in thekitchen’s center. They looked up at us as we walked in, andI got the feeling we’d interrupted them somehow.

“Hey girls,” Will said. “Have a seat.” He gestured to the

empty barstools across from them.

“Are you hungry, Alex?” Eli asked.

“Not especially,” I said.

“How is Kael?” Vanessa asked. Wow. She didn’t wasteanytime, did she?

“About the same,” Will replied with a shrug. “He came downto get something to eat a few minutes ago, though.”

“So he’s awake?”

“I guess…Why?”

Instead of answering Will, Vanessa turned to me. “Youshould go talk to him. His room is up the stairs at the end ofthe hall…it’s the first door on the right.”

“Um…” “Go on,” Vanessa insisted, putting an arm aroundme and steering back toward the door. “While it’s still early—you’ll be too...busy…to deal with it later.”

“I guess that’s a good point.” My stomach gave anunpleasant lurch. I’d been so busy worrying abouteverything with Kael, I’d almost forgotten why I was here inthe first place. Somehow, I’d forgotten what was going tohappen after the sun went down tonight.

So maybe this thing with Kael was weighing a little moreheavily on my mind than I would’ve liked to admit. So thatsettled it—I was going to have to take care of it. I couldn’tstop myself from giving Vanessa one last nervous glance,but then I set off down the hall without looking back.

I made it to the top of the stairs and stopped. Kael’s doorwas cracked open, and a faint light spilled out from it andinto the dark hallway. I took a few more steps, but mycourage failed again just outside his door. There, I lingeredfor at least a full minute before I finally managed to wrap myfingers around the cold metal doorknob. I pushed the door

fingers around the cold metal doorknob. I pushed the dooropen and stepped inside as quietly as I could manage.Kael was lying on a bed in the corner with one arm acrosshis face. It was covering his eyes, making it impossible totell whether he was awake or not.

Maybe I should just come back later, I thought, taking a half-step backward. If he was sleeping, I didn’t want to wakehim up—especially if he wasn’t feeling good. I’d retreatedalmost entirely back into the hallway, when he movedsuddenly. I froze.

“What are you doing in here?” he asked. He kept his armover his face as he spoke.

“I was just…I just wanted to come check on you,” I said,taking a wobbly step forward. “Vanessa told me youweren’t feeling too good.”

“I’m fine.”

“Oh…That’s good.” I fidgeted with the sleeve of my jacket.

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Kael asked.

I frowned at the abruptness of his tone. “Not right thissecond,” I said.

“Well can’t you go find someone else to bother?” he asked,rolling over on his side so that his back was to me. “I’mtrying to sleep, in case you didn’t notice.”

I could feel the color burning in my cheeks. “Why are youbeing so rude?”

“Me? You’re the one who invited yourself into my room.”

“I was coming to check on you!”

“Well I’m fine,” he said.

“Fine!”

“Okay.”

“Good!”

“Alright then.”

Balling my hands into angry fists, I turned and stompedtoward the door. I’d made it about half way there when Isuddenly remembered the reason I’d come up here in thefirst place. I really didn’t want to turn around and thank himafter he’d just been so incredibly rude to me—but I hadalready walked all the way up here…

“Thank you, by the way,” I said briskly, turning back aroundto face him.

“For what?” he asked, rolling half-way back over andglaring at me.

“For saving me earlier,” I spat, turning and resuming mystomp toward the door.

“If I’d realized then what a pain you were going to be…”

“What? You would’ve let Sera kill me?” I asked.

“I’m just saying I would’ve thought twice about gettinginvolved. It was really your problem, anyway—you brought iton yourself.”

I spun around, glaring incredulously at him.

“I told you it was dangerous to go off alone,” he said, sittingup and looking directly at me for the first time since I’dentered the room.

“You didn’t actually think I was going to spend the rest of mylife locked in my house, did you?”

“The rest of your life?” he repeated with a hollow laugh.“Like we could expect that out of you. But even if we did,

“Like we could expect that out of you. But even if we did,what would it matter? We would’ve been wasting our time.You couldn’t even last one day.”

“So I—“

“You were too selfish for that, weren’t you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Too selfish and too stubborn to let anybody tell you what todo—even when those people were trying to save your life.”

His words stunned me into silence. I stared blankly, mymouth dry and hanging halfway open in bewilderment. Washe really that upset with me for not listening to him? When Ifinally managed to unstick my tongue from where it hadlodged in the back of my throat, I could think of only onething to say:

“You’re a jerk.”

“Ouch,” he said, lifting a hand to his heart. “That reallyhurts.”

“This isn’t why I came in here,” I said, shaking my head.

“Well the door’s over there,” he said, pointing. “Feel free toleave at any time.”

“I was just on my way out, actually,” I said through clenchedteeth. I left without another word, and made sure to slam thedoor as hard as I could behind me. The pictures on the wallwere still rattling from the slam when I reached the stairs. Icould feel the sting of tears in my eyes. They didn’t fall, justformed a wall of water that blurred my vision and madewalking down the winding stairwell kind of difficult.

I was angry. More angry than I’d ever been in my life. Itwasn’t just because of Kael, either. His hateful wordstriggered it, but the anger had been there—boiling beneaththe surface, waiting for this opportunity to erupt.

I couldn’t take this anymore. I missed my father. I missedmy normal, boring life. I wanted to go back, back to beforeI’d ever known anything about this horrible fantasy. Back tobefore I’d accepted this all as real, and decided I’dembrace it. Back to before I’d accepted the crazy idea thatbecoming a monster was my fate.

That was only this morning. I could still take it back, right?Sure I could. I could go and tell Eli and the others right now.Tell them I wanted out. Tell them I wanted to stay human—and they could take care of whatever threatened me andmy family.

I heard their voices now, and I followed them to the room atend of the hallway. On the wall to my right, their shadowsdanced about in the light of a fire that I could hear crackling.I paused, watching and wondering if it was too late todecide this.

Probably.

I should still go ask them, I told myself as I wiped away afew tears clinging to my eyelashes. But I didn’t move. I juststood there, alone, in the middle of the hallway.

“Alex?” Vanessa called. I heard her footsteps movingtoward the hall, and I considered running and hidingsomewhere. I didn’t want anyone to see me like this. I onlyhad a split-second to decide; there was a door to my left soI sidestepped quickly and threw it open—to reveal a closetcrammed full of coats.

“Alex?” Vanessa’s voice was followed promptly by herappearance as she peered around the closet door I wasstill holding open. “What are you doing?”

“…Nothing,” I said quickly. “I mean, I was just checking outthis closet.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. It’s… nice.”

Vanessa gave me a look that was half-concerned and half-amused. “Do you want to talk?” she asked, gently prying myhand from the door handle and closing the door.

I wanted to say ‘no’, but for the second time that night mytongue seemed to be stuck. Before I could free it, Vanessahad one hand on my back and was guiding me down thehall and eventually into a room on the right, just before wereached the stairs. The room, which looked like a smallstudy, was dimly lit by a lamp sitting on a corner table.Vanessa walked over to another lamp on the opposite sideof the room and turned it on. But even with the light of bothlamps, the room still seemed unnaturally dark.

“Alex?” she said uncertainly, turning to face me. “What’swrong?”

“Nothing,” I said, attempting a reassuring smile.

“You’re a terrible liar,” she said, raising an eyebrow.

I sighed, and let my forced smile slide back into a frown. “Iknow.”

“Did you go see Kael?” she asked. Her eyes held aknowing look, and I wondered if she was reading mythoughts.

I squirmed a bit, uncomfortable at the thought of having anaudience for this embarrassing mental breakdown I washaving.

“…Yeah,” I said.

“I take it the visit didn’t go very well?”

“That may be the understatement of the year.” Vanessalooked at me expectantly, and I reluctantly elaborated: “Wedidn’t talk long. He seemed very…agitated.”

Vanessa nodded, looking unsurprised. “He doesn’t meananything by it,” she said.

I gave her a skeptical look.

“I’m serious,” she insisted. When my doubtful gaze didn’twaver, she let out a good-natured sigh, shaking her head.“It’s just… the way he is. He’s got a bit of a temper to beginwith, and he’s sick…” She hesitated, then added: “and notto mention worried.”

“Worried?” I repeated.

Vanessa didn’t reply right away. Her eyes darted around,as if she was searching for eavesdroppers, then sheleaned forward and spoke in a voice barely above awhisper:

“Look—don’t you dare tell him I told you this. He’d kill me ifyou did.” Her wide brown eyes were centimeters from mygreen ones. “Promise you won’t say anything?” shepressed.

“…I’m not going to,” I said.

Her eyes lit up at this, and all of a sudden I felt like I wasback in junior high swapping secrets with my best friend.

“Do you want me to pinky-promise?” I mused.

Vanessa smiled and shook her head. “I don’t think that’ll benecessary,” she said. “Just swear you won’t say anything tohim?”

“I won’t,” I agreed again. “Just tell me.”

“He wouldn’t want you to know, and he wouldn’t admit it ifyou called him out on it—but he’s been really worried aboutyou.” She said all of this within a single breath, inhalingsharply once she finished—as if she’d been waiting all dayfor a chance to say it to someone.

for a chance to say it to someone.

“…Well doesn’t he have good reason to be?” I asked,confused as to how this was supposed to be a big secret.Vanessa looked disappointed that I wasn’t nearly asexcited about her revelation as she was, so I continued: “Imean, haven’t we already established that my family and Iare basically walking targets?”

“Well yes, and of course we’re all worried about you,” shesaid, somewhat impatiently. “But it’s been different withKael. First of all, he’s Kael—and he’s actually concernedabout someone other than himself. You have no idea whata big deal this is. And he’s been so concerned about youthat he’s kept within a half-mile radius of you sinceeverything that happened at the lake Saturday.” She foldedher arms across her chest and nodded, as if that settled thematter. I was hardly convinced though—after all, he didn’tseem to want me within a half-mile radius tonight.

“He’s just in a bad mood tonight,” Vanessa said, as if I’dvoiced my thoughts aloud.

“What about last night?” I asked. For some reason, I wassuddenly determined to prove her wrong. “After he walkedme home...he didn’t seem to want to stick around then, andhe said he was coming straight back here.”

“What Kael says and what Kael does are usually twocompletely unrelated things,” Vanessa said. “He didn’tcome back last night. And this morning? He followed you toBoone. He was right behind you—and I think that may bepart of why he’s so upset…” Vanessa said, her tonegrowing excited with realization. “Because things got soclose with you and Sera, even though he was there…Yes! Ibet that’s it. And I bet—”

“Okay, so he doesn’t actually hate me or want me dead. Igot it.”

It’s not that I didn’t appreciate her trying to reassure me. Ijust had a lot of other things on my mind at the moment. And

despite what Vanessa claimed, thinking about Kael rightnow still made me angry. He’d been obnoxious—whetheror not he had a legit excuse to be was kind of beside thequestion.

“Just thought you should know,” Vanessa said with a shrug.

“Thanks,” I said, flashing her a quick smile before walkingover to the door. I nodded down the hall, toward the roomI’d heard Eli and Will’s voices coming from earlier. “Whatare Will and Eli doing?” I asked, trying to redirect theconversation.

“Probably waiting for us,” Vanessa said. “Or for you, rather.”

“For me?”

“Yeah. Sun’s almost set,” she explained, looking at meuncertainly.

“Oh yeah…” And my argument with Kael slipped a littlefurther from my mind. My time as a human was runningshort. I needed to tell Vanessa I’d changed my mind. Now.

“Are you sure you want to go through with this?” Vanessaasked, placing her hand on my shoulder. I looked down ather hand, but didn’t speak. What the heck was I waiting for?

I think what upset me most about everything Kael said wasthat I knew he was right. He’d known me for less than threedays, and he’d already figured me out. I was stubborn—probably way too stubborn for my own good. Yeah, I couldadmit that.

But he’d called me selfish too. That one was harder toswallow, because all along I’d been telling myself I wasdoing this for my family— because I wanted to protectthem. Well that was one reason for sure. But it wasn’t theonly one. For better or for worse, I knew there was no way Icould step back and trust my life—or Lora’s, or Mom’s— toanybody but myself. I’d never been one to rely on others,and I wasn’t about to start now.

and I wasn’t about to start now.

“Alex?” Vanessa said again, giving my shoulder a littlesqueeze. “Now would probably be the time to tell me ifyou’re not sure about this,” she said, looking at meanxiously.

As she spoke, I stared out one of the low windows lining thehallway. I could see shadows of the distant mountains, andpink and orange ribbons stretched across the dark blue sky— remnants of what had probably been a prettyspectacular sunset. A flood of warmth swept over me,followed immediately by a tingling sensation that started atthe base of my neck and ran down my spine and alongeach of my arms. It was the same pins-and-needles feelingthat had been bugging me earlier this afternoon, exceptnow it didn’t seem nearly as unpleasant.

I looked back and met Vanessa’s concerned eyes. Then Itook a deep breath and nodded. “I’m sure.”

CHAPTER 11: gone

“How do you feel?” Eli asked.

We were sitting in the same room I’d met him in last night.Each of us had claimed one of the squishy leatherarmchairs arranged in front of the fireplace, which wasglowing faintly.

“The best I’ve felt all day, actually,” I said. And it was true—my headache from earlier was completely gone, and thenumbness was finally giving it a rest too. In fact, I feltperfectly normal.

I mean, despite the fact that I was about to turn into awerewolf.

That minor detail aside, I felt great. Judging by everyoneelse’s faces, though, it didn’t look like I could say the samefor them. I might’ve been smiling at the fact that I no longerfelt like my head was going to split in two, but the secondthey heard my response the three of them exchangedanxious glances.

“…That’s interesting,” Will said after a minute. Vanessaand Eli nodded in timid agreement.

“That’s… very interesting,” Eli seconded.

“Interesting? Why is it interesting?”

“It is not…entirely unheard of…” Eli began in a voice devoidof its usual intellectual authority. “It is just strange that youdo not seem to be suffering from any of the ill-effects thatusually accompany one’s first shift.”

“But I have been. I’ve been sick all day,” I pointed out.

“Yes, but it is strange that now, this late in the evening of afull-moon, for you to not be experiencing any negative side-effects at all. They should be at their height right now.”

“You mean I should be in more pain now?”

“…The initial transformation is often painful, yes.”

I grimaced automatically, but Eli just smiled. “Your body iscompletely rearranging itself, after all,” he said. “It isfascinating how it happens, really… If you would like, I canexplain the details—” Behind his glasses, Eli’s eyes shonewith excitement. I looked away, not wanting him to see thefear in my own.

“Maybe we’ll save that for another time?” Vanessainterjected, eying me with a worried look on her face. “Idon’t think she needs to hear those gruesome details rightnow…”

“It is not gruesome— it is science…” I heard Eli mutter as Igave Vanessa a grateful look.

“You know what else is weird?” Will said, getting out of hischair and stepping between Eli and Vanessa, who werenow throwing dirty looks at each another. “Has anybodylooked at the time recently?” he asked, his own eyesdarting toward the clock that hung above the fireplace. Ifollowed his gaze, and saw that it was after ten ‘o’ clock.

“Wow—when did it get so late?” Vanessa asked. All threeof them turned and looked at me.

“You don’t feel…weird at all?” Will asked after severalseconds of awkward silence.

I shook my head, confused. “I told you—I feel perfectly fine.”

“Huh…” Will continued to watch me, looking skeptical. Elididn’t seem to be able to take his eyes off of me, either. I

shuffled uncomfortably in my seat and drug my fingersalong the armrest, trying to think of something to say thatwould direct the conversation toward anything but me. Butbefore I came up with anything, Eli spoke:

“At the lake… you both saw Sera attack her, correct?”

Will and Vanessa both nodded.

“And the wound? Kael told me it healed almostimmediately… Did either of you actually see it before ithealed?” Eli’s voice was calm, but his eyes had a funnygleam in them. It looked a little like desperation.

“I pulled her away from Sera myself,” Will said. “When shecame up out of the water, I saw it.”

“And we are sure it was deep enough for the toxin to haveentered her bloodstream?”

“Deep enough?” Will said with a short, humorless laugh.“Her arm was barely in one piece.”

“And you saw the mark last night, Eli…” Vanessa saidquietly. “We all did.”

“I know,” Eli said. He seemed frustrated, and uncomfortablesilence fell over us again. Determined not to let it set in, Idecided maybe this was a good time to retry theconversation I’d started with Kael earlier.

“Speaking of Sera,” I began. “Can I ask you guyssomething?”

“Of course,” Vanessa said, looking at me curiously.

“How much do you guys know about her? I mean… it’s justbeen bugging me since I found out—you guys knew it washer that day at the lake, right?”

“Yes…” Will said slowly. “We knew.”

“So why didn’t Kael just tell me who she really was?”

A look of unmistakable surprise spread across all three oftheir faces.

“…He was probably—” Will began.

“He told me he did,” Vanessa interrupted furiously.

“He told me to stay away from her,” I said, turning to her witha shrug. “He didn’t say why, though. And I asked him, aftereverything that happened earlier… but he didn’t seem towant to explain. I mean—I probably would’ve been morelikely to listen to him if he’d told me that Sera was the onewho’d tried to kill me.”

“No kidding,” Vanessa said, her jaw clenching.

“Why would he lie about something like that?” I asked,frowning..

“Probably because he—“

“This is not really something we need to talk about rightnow,” Eli interrupted. “We have more important things toworry about…” He gave Vanessa a stern look—or at leasta stern a look as someone with his boyish face could give—and then he turned to me. “How are you feeling, Alex?” heasked.

“I’m feeling just as good as I did the last time you asked me—you know, two minutes ago?” I answered.

“That’s good,” he replied, seemingly indifferent to mysarcasm.

(We’ll talk later,) I heard Vanessa think.

I met Vanessa’s eyes briefly and gave her a discreet nod. Idon’t think it went unnoticed, though, because a secondlater Eli was frowning at both of us, shaking his head.

I almost wished I hadn’t brought up Sera, because for somereason everyone seemed on edge after that. Most of theevening, we’d been talking, laughing—we’d even playedcards earlier. Now everyone was off in a world of their own,intent on not letting anyone else interrupt it. The silencemade every second the clock counted off all the morepainful, and after about fifteen minutes of it I found myselfsorely wishing I’d just kept my mouth shut.

Still, I was looking forward to talking with Vanessa about itlater. Because for some reason beyond my knowledge andcontrol, I cared about Kael’s motives all of a sudden. Icouldn’t help it—which was really annoying, since the lastthing I wanted to think about right now was him. I shouldn’thave been thinking about him. I shouldn’t have cared whyhe did the things he did, why he acted the way he did. I’dmeant it when I called him a jerk earlier. That’s exactly whathe was—and a lying jerk, at that.

So why was I still thinking about him?

“Alex?” Vanessa’s voice made me jump.

“Huh?”

“I asked if you’d like a blanket and pillow? It’s getting late,and as long as nothing’s happening you might as well rest.”

“Um… sure,” I said.

Vanessa’s face was more somber than I’d ever seen it asshe leapt to her feet and hurried toward the door.

“What if something happens during the night?” I askednervously as Vanessa disappeared into the hallway.

“We aren’t going to leave you, Alex,” Will said, giving me areassuring smile.

“Aren’t you guys tired, though?” I asked, feeling a yawncoming over myself.

coming over myself.

Eli gave a small chuckle. “We can go days withoutsleeping, if need be. We will be fine,” he said.

I was thinking about how awesome it would be to not haveto sleep for a week, and was about to ask Eli if werewolveswere just as tireless when Vanessa came back. She had apillow tucked under one arm and a blanket draped over theother.

“Here you go, Alex,” she said, attempting a smile. Aworried frown took its place pretty quickly. Will’s comfortingsmile had faded, too, and Eli was massaging his templebetween his fingers, his frustration from earlier obviouslyenduring.

And so for what seemed like the hundredth time that week, Ididn’t know what was going on. Obviously, the fact that Iwasn’t transforming despite the full moon was a problem—but I had no idea why, or what it might possibly mean. Iwanted to ask, but the frustration on Eli’s face and theanxiety on the other’s told me they probably didn’t have anyanswers to give me. Not tonight, anyway. So I left my chair,took the pillow and blanket Vanessa had given me andstretched out on the couch closest to the fireplace instead.

***

I didn’t remember falling asleep, but the next thing I knewmy eyes were opening—only to be blasted by brightsunlight. I rolled over on my side and folded the pillow overmy face, partly to shield my eyes, and partly to drown outthe sound of footsteps coming down the hall.

“Alex?” Will’s voice said a second later.

“What?” I mumbled.

“You still asleep?”

“I was,” I said grumpily, my voice muffled by the pillow.

“Oh.”

“What d’you want?”

“I was just wondering…Are you planning on sleeping allday? Because it’s going on eleven ‘o’ clock right now.”

“Eleven…?” I sat up, opening my eyes slowly to give themtime to adjust to the brightness of the room. I lifted myhands in front of me, turning them back and forth, over andover again. Then I lifted one hand to my face and felt it over.Two eyes, a nose, a mouth—everything was there.Everything was normal.

“Yeah…you’re looking particularly human this morning,” Willcommented.

“Nothing…happened then?”

“You fell asleep around midnight last night, and slept fine asfar as we could tell,” he said with a shrug. “And, as you cansee, it’s morning now and you’re still about as human as itgets.”

“But…why? I mean, is this…normal?”

Will shook his head. “We’ve never seen anything like it. Elilocked himself in his library this morning and told us hewasn’t coming out until he found out what was going on,” hesaid. “And hopefully his books will have an explanation—that kid gets grumpy when he doesn’t have all the answers.”

I gave Will a half-hearted smile, thinking about how grumpy Iwas going to be if we couldn’t find out what was going on.

“Are you hungry?” Will asked, offering me a hand.

“Starving,” I said as I grabbed it and pulled myself up.

“Good—because Vanessa’s an excellent cook.”

The kitchen was all the way on the other side of the house,but as soon as we stepped into the hallway my nose wasassaulted with dozens of delicious smells. Bacon was themost obvious scent, but I could smell pancakes, blueberriesand even orange juice too—all with amazing clarity.

Vanessa smiled at us when we entered the kitchen a fewminutes later, and then went back to flipping something inthe frying pan she was hovering over. In the far corner of thekitchen was a large round table basking in the sunlightshining through a tall bay window. Will pulled out a chair forme at this table and we both had a seat. He talked toVanessa as she cooked, but I let my attention to drift out thewindow and across the peaceful mountain scenery, where itstayed for several minutes.

Peaceful. What I wouldn’t give to have a peaceful life again.I should’ve appreciated that moment while at lasted,because a second later that peace was shattered.

“Morning sunshine,” Will said as Kael entered the kitchen.

“Shut-up,” Kael replied shortly, taking a seat at the table asfar away from me as he could possibly get. He didn’t lookmy direction, or even acknowledge my presence in anyway.

Not that I cared.

“I see you finally decided to get up,” Vanessa said brisklyas she walked over and set a plate of biscuits in the centerof the table. “Did you sleep well?” There was somethingdangerous about Vanessa’s tone, and the apprehensivelook on Kael’s face told me I wasn’t the only one whonoticed it.

“…I’ve slept better,” Kael said, yawning. For some reason,Will seemed to find his answer amusing. I rolled my eyes asthe two of them laughed quietly over what must’ve been aninside joke.

Their laughter came to an abrupt halt as Vanessa slammeda jar of strawberry jam onto the table with such force that allthree of us jerked our heads toward her. She was glaring atKael, gripping the glass jar so tightly I was surprised itdidn’t shatter.

“I’m sensing a bit of tension…” Will said, smiling a crookedsmile. He leaned back into his seat, like he was in a theatregetting ready for the movie to start.

“I think someone owes Alex an apology for last night,”Vanessa said, plunking herself down in the chair acrossfrom Kael and folding her arms across her chest.

I couldn’t help but groan—I didn’t need Vanessa to fight mybattles for me. And besides, I didn’t really care if heapologized or not. I didn’t care what he did. Or at least Ididn’t, until he laughed that smug little laugh of his again,lifting his eyes to Vanessa and shaking his head. Then Isuddenly found myself fighting the urge to chuck my coffeemug at his head.

“You wouldn’t,” he said, eying the mug with a mockingsmile.

“Keep annoying me and we’ll see what I will and won’t do,” Isaid. I turned to Vanessa and gave her an insistent look.“You told me you were going to teach me how to blockpeople out, remember? So that I can keep idiots like this—” I jerked my thumb towards Kael “—from listening to mythoughts.”

Vanessa hesitated, not taking her eyes off Kael.

“It’s not hard to do. It just takes some practice, and a bit ofconscious effort at first,” she said.

“So you can teach me then?”

Still, she didn’t answer. But after a minute she pulled hereyes slowly, reluctantly, away from Kael.

“Please?” I pressed.

“…Okay,” Vanessa finally agreed, throwing Kael one lasthaughty look before placing her full attention on me. Herbrow wrinkled thoughtfully for a moment, and then shecontinued: “So, I think the best way is to learn how to directthem first. It’s really easy,” she assured me. “Just picture theperson you want to hear your thoughts—and then, think.Since you’re new at this, you should probably try to picturethe person while you think too—your thoughts will be lesslikely to stray if you do. Understand?”

I nodded. It sounded simple enough.

“Okay, then close your eyes—it’s easier that way—andpicture me.” I obeyed, although I felt a little foolish doing so.

“Alright—are you picturing my lovely face?” Vanessaasked.

“Yeah,” I said with a nervous laugh.

“Good, now think something that you only want me to hear.”

“Okay…” I considered it for a second, then settled on athought from earlier.

(Kael is a jerk.) I opened my eyes as Vanessa erupted intoa fit of giggles. Will looked confused, but amused byVanessa’s reaction at the same time.

“It’s not really that funny,” Kael said in a dry voice, eyingVanessa as he took a sip from his coffee mug.

“What’s not funny?” Will asked.

“She thinks I’m a jerk,” Kael said in a dull tone.

I felt the slightest tinge of red ignite my cheeks.

“Wait—you heard her?” Vanessa said, straightening up

and turning to Kael.

“Obviously.”

“And you?” Vanessa asked, looking at Will. He shook hishead, and she turned back to me. “Well, it was a good firsttry,” she said. For a fraction of a second, Vanessa lookeddiscouraged. But in the next instant she appeared to haveshaken it off, and was smiling again.

“Well… let’s see if you can keep your thoughts to yourself—some people find that easier. I’m not one of them, mindyou, but…” She shrugged. “Okay, so instead of focusing onothers, just picture yourself, and only yourself. It can behard, especially if the thoughts you’re thinking are aboutsomeone else. I’ve heard of some people who picture anactual wall as they think, maybe to remind themselves thatwhat they’re thinking is not to leave their head. Never hadmuch luck with that strategy myself, though. Really, it justtakes lots of practice—you’ll learn. Eventually it’ll besecond-nature to you.” “…If you say so,” I said, feeling a bitdoubtful after my last failed attempt.

“Well try it—think about something, anything, and try makingan effort to block us out, and we’ll make an effort to listenin,” Vanessa said, giving me an encouraging smile.

“… Okay.”

I turned away from them and looked out the window, tryingto focus on a single thought. It wasn’t long before I sawLora’s face, and then Mom’s. They must’ve been reallyworried about me. And I was worried about them too—howcould I be sure they were safe?

“Jack and Emily were both keeping watch last night,” Kaelsaid quietly. “I’m sure they’re fine.”

His words both reassured and frustrated me at the sametime.

“What are you talking about?” Will asked. Vanessa, too,

“What are you talking about?” Will asked. Vanessa, too,gave Kael a quizzical look.

“Her mom, and her sister,” Kael replied, looking just asconfused as Vanessa. “She’s worried about them…Didn’tyou hear her…?”

My eyes lit up hopefully.

“…No,” Vanessa and Will said together.

“Huh.”

Will gave me an approving nod. “Two out of three this time—not bad,” he said with a smile. Vanessa, however, didn’tseem particularly thrilled about my success. In fact, shelooked upset all of a sudden.

“Vanessa?”

“Good job,” she said quietly.

“Uh… thanks,” I said.

“Are you guys done eating?” she asked, standing up andcollecting her own dishes, even though none of us hadtaken a single bite of food. “I want to start—” Vanessastopped, her face becoming deathly pale as she closed hereyes. “…Did you guys hear that?” she whispered a fewseconds later, looking back and forth between Kael andWill.

“She’s breaking in and out,” Will said, standing up so fasthis chair toppled backward. “It sounds like she’s having ahard time concentrating.”

Even as he spoke, Will was already heading for the door,and Vanessa and Kael weren’t far behind. They moved soquickly I didn’t even have time to question what was goingon, so I just hurried to keep up as they raced down thehallway and out the front door.

Outside, we bolted toward the woods. As we got closer tothe trees, the air started growing thick with a sickeningsmell. It was familiar, but entirely new at the same time—anoverwhelming combination of salt and something metallicthat made my stomach do somersaults as I ran. Holding mybreath, I sped up until I reached Vanessa’s side. I wasabout to ask her what that god-awful scent was when shecame to an abrupt stop. She was staring straight ahead,face frozen in a horrified expression. I followed her gazeand let out a gasp as I realized the answer to my ownunasked question.

“Emily!” Vanessa cried, rushing over to a creature lying in apitiful heap on the ground a few yards away.

At the sound of Vanessa’s voice, Emily lifted her head. Thegolden fur around her neck was stained deep red, andblood—the source of that awful smell—was dripping off herneck and forming a small puddle on the ground. AsVanessa reached her, Emily attempted to stand, but herlegs buckled under her weight, and she collapsed back tothe ground with a horrible thud. Vanessa crouched downbeside her and lifted what little part of Emily’s massivehead that she could fit into her lap.

“Ems… what happened?” Vanessa asked in a shaky voiceas she stroked the fur between Emily’s ears—the one partof her head that wasn’t soaked with blood.

I watched anxiously as Emily gave her head a hard shake,squinting her eyes in a human-like gesture of concentration.

(We…we were outnumbered…) The voice in my head wasa faint echo. (The girl’s family…)

“What?” I said automatically, fear gripping me. “What aboutmy family…? Emily! Emily talk to me—are they okay?”

But Emily strength seemed to have failed her completely.With a soft whimper, her head rolled from Vanessa’s lapand hit the ground, where it lay perfectly still, along with therest of her body.

rest of her body.

“We need to get her back to the house…quick,” Vanessasaid, standing up with a dazed look on her face.

“You and Alex take her back,” Kael said. “We’ll go onahead and find out what’s going on.”

“No,” I said quietly. “No—I’m going…my family needsme…”

I knew they would all disagree with me. But I was alreadywalking away, my pace quickening with every step. I wasabout to break into a run when a rough hand latched on tomy arm. I jerked my head around and came face to facewith Kael.

“What are you going to do, Alex?” he said in a cold voice.“Didn’t you see Emily? This isn’t a battle you can fight.”

I stared hard, unblinking, into his eyes. My breathing washeavy, but even. To the right of me, out of the corner of myeye, I could see Vanessa trying to help Emily to her feet. Tomy left was Will, who was watching me with a worried lookon his face. I yanked my arm from Kael’s grasp.

And then I did something reckless.

I moved so quickly that, even before I realized what I wasdoing, I’d put considerable distance between my self andthe others. I was running so fast that the trees I racedthrough were nothing but blurs of green and brown. Soon Icouldn’t even tell the colors apart.

But somehow the path stayed obvious, and I dodged everyboulder, every fallen limb, every patch of briars—and justgot faster and faster, until even my recently-acquiredendurance skills couldn’t keep up with me; my lungs burnedin protest, and I could feel the muscles in my legs growingstiff. I did my best to ignore my body’s screams of objectionfor as long as I could, but eventually the world around mebegan to slow.

I felt like I was crawling now—but I was still going too fast tostop when someone jumped suddenly in front of me. Andcolliding with Kael, it turned out, was a lot like hitting a brickwall. Disoriented from our collision, I shoved off of him andstaggered backward, cursing.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Stopping you from doing something incredibly stupid, thatwhat.”

“I’m not being stupid,” I snapped. “I just want to make suremy family is okay!”

“Yeah, and you’re not going to be able to do that veryeffectively if you’re dead, now are you?”

“I’d rather be dead then be hanging out here forever,wondering about whether or not they’re dead!”

To my surprise, he didn’t argue back. Instead, his eyes metmine and stared into them for a long time before he spokeagain.

“You’re serious, aren’t you?” he finally said, shaking hishead.

“…Of course I am,” I said. He seemed to consider myanswer for a second.

“Okay,” he sighed. “Let’s go.”

I’d been ready to keep arguing, and I couldn’t help but givehim a skeptical look even as he turned and started towardsmy house.

“What?”

“We’re still a few minutes from your house,” he said, as ifthat answered my question. “We need to hurry.”

Unsure what to make of what just happened, I hurried afterhim, and caught up a few seconds later. Within minutes wereached the edge of my yard, where Kael stoppedsuddenly. He kept quiet, a pensive look on his face.

“What are we doing?” I asked impatiently.

“We’re waiting for Will,” he explained. “He should be hereany second.”

Sure enough, almost as soon as he’d uttered those wordsthe sound of hurried footsteps reached my ears.

“I can’t find Jack anywhere,” Will said as he ran up to us. Hepaused and bent over, supporting his weight on his kneesand breathing heavily. “It’s weird—the whole place seemsclear.”

“I know,” Kael said. “I don’t sense anyone else either—although they were definitely here.”

“Yeah…” Will nodded, looking worried. “The scent of bloodis all over this place.”

“Definitely lycan blood,” Kael said, glancing over at me.

I think he meant his words to be reassuring. But the thoughtof blood-spilling, whether it was my family’s or otherwise,still made me shudder.

“We’re going to go check the house,” Kael said, turning toWill. “Keep an eye out, will you?”

“Sure,” Will agreed.

“Come on, Alex,” Kael said, abandoning the cover of thewoods and starting across the yard.

I followed closely, casting nervous glances around us as wewalked. “Where do you think they went? The onesresponsible for the…the blood, I mean?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Just stay close to me, okay?” headded as we approached the back porch.

I was just about to nod in agreement when a sudden brightlight blinded me. I squinted, searching for the source, whichI found almost instantly. The hairs on the back of my neckrose at the sight of the sliding glass door. It was laying inseveral pieces on the ground, the sharp edges glistening inthe sunlight.

“Watch your step,” Kael muttered as he picked his wayacross the glass-strewn porch. I grabbed on to his arm aswe stepped inside the house. If the back door was anyindication, I really didn’t want to see the rest of the house.

To my surprise, though, we walked in to find it just as I’d lastseen it—perfectly clean and in order, just like my momalways kept it. But despite how it looked, something stillseemed off. Something was wrong. The eerie silence thatfilled the house wasn’t helping the situation—though it wasinfinitely preferable to the noise that shattered it.

It started as a soft whimper, which was interrupted by acough, and then finally it became obvious that someone,somewhere nearby, was sobbing. A chill ran up my spineas I hurried into the living room. There, doubled over andresting on her knees at the foot of the stairs, was the lastperson I expected to see crying. My mom never cried.

Something was really wrong.

“Mom!” I flew to her side and crouched down, wrapping myarm around her. “Mom…what happened?”

As I spoke I felt her body tense, the body-rocking sobsstopping as she lifted her head and stared vacantly in mydirection.

“You,” she whispered quietly. “What are you doing here?”

I was so startled by her question that I had to tighten my grip

I was so startled by her question that I had to tighten my griparound her to steady my self.

“I…I live here Mom,” I said. “It’s me…Alex. You know, yourdaughter?”

She sat up straight then, throwing my arm off of her andshaking her head with a horrible, frantic laugh.

“You’re not my daughter,” she said.

At first I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t say anything. I juststared at my mom as she rocked back and forth like somemental patient who’d spent way too much time in solitaryconfinement. Just as that rocking started to becomeunbearable, I finally managed to whisper:

“Wh-what?”

“You’re not my daughter,” she replied in a calm voice asshe got to her feet, her balance teetering dangerously asshe did so.

“Mom… are you okay?” I asked, standing up with her andlooking frantically around the room for the peopleresponsible for this horrible, horrible joke.

“Get out of my house!”

My mom took a threatening step toward me then, and Istumbled backwards. The room started to spin. I’m prettysure I would’ve lost my balance and collapsed to the floorright then and there if it hadn’t been for a strong arm thatwrapped around me.

“What happened here?” Kael said quietly, steadying myweight against him.

“Like you don’t know!” My mom wailed, thrusting anaccusing finger toward him. “I knew you were bad newsfrom the start! I told you to stay away from us! Just like I toldmy husband to stay away from all of your kind. We could

have lived normal lives, if he would have just listened. Butdoes anybody listen to me? No! And now look…just look!”

“What does Dad have to do with any of this?” I asked.

My mom glared coldly at me. “It was the both of you! You’rejust like he was, I knew you were…Oh, I should have gotout… Why didn’t I leave while I still could? I should havetaken Lora and ran the second I found out about him…about you.”

“Mom, what are you talking—”

“STOP CALLING ME MOM!”

“Okay, okay!” I gasped, my voice growing slightly hysterical.“Please…please just tell us what happened!”

“She’s gone. That’s what happened. And it’s all your fault.They wanted you…I know they did… but you were off doingGod only knows what, so they took her instead.”

Her words were almost impossible to decipher amidst hersteady sobbing, but it didn’t matter. I still realized, in thatinstant, what had happened.

“Who’s gone Mom…who…” I whispered.

I wasn’t actually asking her. I didn’t need to hear the answerI already knew. But I don’t think I would have let myselfbelieve what was happening if my mother hadn’t lifted herhead then, looking me straight in the eyes for the first timesince I’d entered the room, and said in a desperate, emptyvoice:

“She’s gone… Lora’s gone.”

CHAPTER 12: reckless

If Kael hadn’t picked me up and half-carried, half-draggedme out of the house, I don’t think I ever would’ve gotten upoff our living room floor.

It wasn’t fair. It was too much—what had I done to deservethis? More importantly—what had Lora done? Why Lora…God, why couldn’t it have been anybody but Lora? Ishould’ve been there. They should’ve taken me instead.

“We don’t have time to be asking why right now, Alex,” Kaelsaid, setting me back on my feet after yet another one ofmy attempts to crash to the ground. “We’ve got company.”He didn’t look at me as he spoke, but his voice was gentlerthan I’d ever heard it.

“Company…?” I repeated. He nodded to the right, and Iturned to see two figures making their way across the yard.The one in front I recognized as Sera, and behind herwalked a familiar-looking blonde.

“That’s the guy from the mall,” I commented tonelessly, myeyes following him as they moved closer.

“His name’s Markus,” Kael said. “He’s Sera’s right-handman, more or less.”

I could sense the tension in Kael’s voice. I stood up straightand tried to present what I hoped would pass as aformidable face. But I was still shaking miserably.

“Alex!” Sera called once they were about twenty feet away.“There you are… we were wondering where you’d run off to.We figured you wouldn’t be long, after we gave Emily timeto get back.” Her voice was casual, like she was greetingan old friend. My fists clenched. She was smiling at me.

Both of them were. After a second I had to look away—thesight of them was making me sick to my stomach.

“You look upset, Alex,” Sera said.

I jerked my head up, unable to look away after that. “Iwonder why,” I said, my voice quivering.

Sera shrugged. “You know, it’s your fault that it came tothis,” she said.

My face grew hot. I tried to take deep, calming breaths, butall I could think about was how badly I wanted to slap thatarrogant little grin off her face. I took a step forward, handout and ready, but Kael grabbed my shoulder, gently, buttightly enough to stop me.

“Now isn’t the time for revenge,” he said quietly.

I glared up at him, but resisted the urge to argue. Kael wasright; assuming Markus was half as good a fighter as Sera,the odds definitely weren’t in our favor.

“What’s wrong with right now?” Markus said, soundingdisappointed. “C’mon—let her go. We’ll go easy on her.”

“Shut-up, idiot,” Kael growled. Markus looked disgruntled,but didn’t have a chance to say anything else before Kaelturned away. As Kael shifted his attention from Markus toSera, I jerked my shoulder away from his hand. He let mego with little protest, but kept watching me out of the cornerof his eye. And he had good reason to keep an eye on me,too—because even though now I was pretty sure he wouldjust stop me every time, the idea of introducing my fist toSera’s smiling face wasn’t any less tempting.

“Where did they take her sister?” Kael asked.

“Where?” Sera tilted her head sideways and rested herchin on her hand. “Where…let’s see…You know, I think theytold me, but I’m afraid it’s slipped my mind.” Kael narrowed

his eyes, but Sera just laughed. “You know how I am, Kael,”Sera said. Then her eyes suddenly hardened, and hervoice grew cold. “I can’t remember a thing,” she said.

“This is low, even for you,” Kael said quietly.

“Well thank you,” Sera said, bowing her head. Then hereyes left him and stared directly at me instead.

“You know, Alex—I told you to be mindful of whose side youwere on,” she said, shaking her head. “You don’t listen verywell, you know that?” She sighed. “And now poor little sisterhas to pay the price.”

Something snapped.

I didn’t even pause to think—I just launched my self at Sera,fists drawn back and ready to swing. I had to side-step toavoid Kael as he tried to intercept me, but I managed to hitmy target—the right side of her face—and next thing I knewI was watching a surprised-looking Sera stumblebackward. The look of surprise didn’t last long, however,before it changed to rage. Out of the corner of my eye, Isaw the exact same look cross Markus’ face, and hemoved a lot quicker than Sera. I saw him lunge, and Iinstinctively jumped aside and out of his path.

I could’ve just stayed put, though, because Markus nevermade it to me—he collided with Kael instead. Kael threwhim backward and Markus stumbled, caught off-guard. Thetwo stood facing each other, their bodies tense. But whathappened next, I didn’t see, because at the moment I felttwo arms lock around me—one around my waist and arms,and the other around my neck.

“A word of advice Alex,” Sera hissed into my ear, tighteningthe grip she had on my neck so much nearly gagged. “Youprobably shouldn’t turn your back on someone you justpunched in the face.”

I struggled against her, cursing with every breath I managedto take as she crushed her arm against my windpipe. Her

to take as she crushed her arm against my windpipe. Hergrip only tightened every time I tried to jerk free. Her left armwas wrapped around my waist, and was effectively pinningmy arms to my side. My hands and wrists, though, werehanging relatively freely, so I tried twisting my right hand upand digging my nails into her. But my fingers weren’t longenough; I could just barely graze the surface of her skin withtheir tips.

Only seconds had passed, but it felt like I’d gone minuteswithout oxygen. Every time I didn’t think Sera’s hold aroundmy neck could possibly get any tighter, it would. I wasstarting to feel lightheaded, which brought back vividmemories of my near-drowning experience. Not exactly themost calming thoughts that could be filling my head rightnow.

But then something strange began to happen.

The burning sensation started around my elbow and spreaddown through my fingertips. It didn’t hurt, but it was intenseenough to shock me back into the moment. A sudden surgeof strength coursed through my arm. I could see themuscles pulsing underneath my skin, and I suddenly felt likeI probably could’ve picked Sera up and thrown her acrossthe yard. I didn’t though—I just settled for trying to breakfree again. And this time, I was met with some success; Imanaged to get my right hand completely free, and toshove part of my shoulder between her arm and my neck,which let me get a decent breath of air. Then, curious aboutthe burning sensation in my fingertips, I held up my righthand to get a better look.

What I saw caused me to jump back, and the back of myhead collided with Sera’s jaw. As Sera cursed my name,my own jaw dropped open and I turned my hand over andover, examining what should’ve been my fingers. But,though they bent and flexed like fingers, they definitelydidn’t look like fingers—at least, not entirely. The bottomhalf of each finger retained its pinkish human flesh, but thetips were grey, and, as I watched, a small patch of reddishcolored fur appeared on the back of my hand and began to

spread up my arm. At the same time, my nails turned blackand began to grow and bend, until they’d shaped into fivewickedly curved claws.

This all happened within a matter of seconds, and it tookme less than the span of another second to decide what todo next. I flexed my new fingers, while trying not to thinkabout how freakish they looked, and with one fluid motion Istruck. The feeling of claws—of my claws—sinking into theflesh of Sera’s arm was unsettling, but strangely gratifyingat the same time. I heard Sera gasp in pain, and I jerkedmy hand back. A second later my face hit the ground asshe shoved me away, and I scrambled several feet awaybefore I dared to turn back.

Sera was clutching her arm, but the hand covering herwound wasn’t stopping all the blood flowing from it. Thinribbons of red streamed out from underneath her hand anddripped to the ground.

I climbed to my feet, returning the glare she was giving me—even though all I really wanted to do was turn and run asfar away from there as possible. My eyes held hers forseveral seconds before flickering back to her arm, to thedamage I’d done. An unnerving feeling came over me, and Iglanced down at my hand. It was completely human again.

What the heck?

“Okay, now you’re starting to piss me off,” Sera growled. Ilooked up from my hand and saw her walking toward me.Blood continued to seep from her arm, but with every stepshe took she seemed more and more indifferent to it.

I cast a frantic look back down at my hands. They were stillhuman— blunt, harmless nails and all. And no matter howhard I willed it to happen, they stayed that way. In thedistance, I could hear snarling and snapping, but I didn’tdare look away again to see how Kael was faring againstMarkus—even when a sharp yelp of pain echoed acrossthe yard a second later, followed by silence.

“I wonder if you can repeat that little trick?” Sera said,stopping a few feet in front of me. “Might make this fight alittle more fair,” she added with a small laugh. As shespoke, she lifted her own hands out in front of her face, andthey began to change. Her fingers grew longer, and just asmy hands had started to sprout patches of reddish fur,Sera’s began to disappear under a blanket of thick blackfur. And then came the claws, black as her fur, curved anddeadly.

“Not that I’m really concerned with fairness—after all, youthrew the first punch,” she said with a shrug. The black furthat had started on her hands was making its way up herarms now, and her limbs lengthened and her musclesexpanded and contracted with such ferocity that theylooked like they might break through the skin. Withinseconds, Sera towered over me.

“It was a cheap shot,” she said with an evil grin thatexposed her freshly grown fangs.

She fell forward and, now on four legs, our eyes were on thesame level again. I took an involuntary step backward. Iglanced over my shoulder, but not with any amount of hope.I might’ve been fast—but she had four legs now and I stillonly had two. I looked back. Her transformation was nearlycomplete, and she was already crouched and ready tospring. I was running out of time.

I’d almost made up my mind to make a run for it, when all ofa sudden Sera started to shrink away from me. Before Icould even begin to guess the reason behind her suddenloss of courage, a blur of silver flew past me and collidedwith her.

For a split second Sera’s body lay still in the grass, astrange, misshapen creature—mostly wolf but in places stillhuman. But then she climbed to her feet, tossing her headangrily. It only took seconds for her fur to fade back into herhuman skin and clothes. In another instant she wasstanding up straight, back to her human size. Her eyes—

which were now focused on the wolf that stood between us— still held a menacing look, but her smile was eerilyplacid.

“Really, Kael? Is that any way to treat an old friend?” For abrief moment, her face reflected the hurt in her voice, but itwas difficult to tell whether that hurt was genuine or not.Kael stood up on his hind legs then, and by the time he hadstraightened to his full height he was human once more.

At that moment, Markus stumbled back into sight. My eyesonly lingered on him for a few seconds, but it was longenough see that almost the entire right side of his face wasnow a dark shade of red. He was holding his shoulder andglaring at Kael. Sera glanced over at Markus as heapproached, and her expression instantly becamemurderous.

“You…” Sera started, turning back to Kael. But she didn’tseem to be able to finish her sentence. She tore her eyesaway and focused on the ground, her fists clenching. Anedgy silence lingered for several moments, and then Kaelfinally spoke.

“Things are different.” Kael’s voice was quiet, and helooked straight ahead as he spoke. I was confused by hiswords, but the finality of Kael’s tone told me he probablywasn’t going to elaborate, even if I asked him to. But thatdidn’t stop Markus from voicing my thoughts for me.

“What the hell is he talking about?” Markus growled atSera.

But Sera ignored him, her eyes fixed on Kael.

“There are two of us, and one of him,” Markus continued.“As far as I’m concerned, he’s a traitor. So can we just—”

“We’re leaving,” Sera interrupted. She’d already turned andstarted to walk away.

“What?” Markus said. “You can’t be serious—the girl is

“What?” Markus said. “You can’t be serious—the girl ispractically alone, it’s more than we could’ve even hopedfor! If we go back empty-handed, with these odds…”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sera said, slowingto a stop but keeping her back to Markus. “We’re clearlyoutnumbered.”

Markus hesitated for a second, but then a look ofunderstanding crossed his face. “And you’d tell Him that?You would lie to The Creator?”

Sera said nothing to this accusation, she just resumed hersteady walk. Markus followed reluctantly. I watched themdisappear into the distance, until I suddenly felt a handclose over my wrist.

Kael jerked me around to face him. My eyes narrowed, thefire that had fueled my attack against Sera still far fromextinguished. Kael’s mouth twitched, and he looked at meuncertainly for a minute before slowly relaxing his fingers. Ijerked my arm away, just as he threw it away— thecombined result of which nearly threw my arm out of itssocket.

“You…” he said, shaking his head. “Have got to be one ofthe most reckless people I’ve ever met. Do you have somekind of death wish, punching her in the face like that?”

“She provoked me,” I reminded him savagely.

“That’s beside the point. You’re lucky Markus is such aninexperienced fighter, or else you would’ve been facingSera alone. This is getting old, fast. You need to learn tothink before you do things like that, or you’re going to endup getting both of us killed.”

“I never asked you to die for me! Go ahead— stop savingme! Hell, you could’ve just let Sera kill me just then—Iwouldn’t have cared.” My own words surprised me, andKael, too, looked taken-aback.

“Shut-up,” he said, after a long moment of silence. “Don’tsay things like that.” Most of the hostility had faded from hisvoice, but I wasn’t done fighting just yet.

“And what was all that about, anyway? What did you mean—things are different? What is it between Sera and you?”

“There isn’t anything between Sera and me,” he said, someof the anger in his voice resurfacing. “As much as she’d likethat. And that doesn’t matter right now, anyway. Don’t youthink you have more important things to worry about?” Hiswords caused my thoughts to do an abrupt about-face.

Lora.

My mouth had already been open, ready to keep arguing,but now it just hung there, unsure of what to say. I glancedback over my shoulder, at the place I’d called home for thepast ten years.

From where I stood, it looked just like it always had. Theshattered back-porch door was out of sight. It was a niceday, so the blinds were pulled up in the windows along theside of the house, letting sunlight flood into our living-room.The lawn needed cutting, which meant it was probablyLora’s turn to do it; she hated mowing the lawn, and it wasalways the last thing she did on her list of weekly chores. Iwondered how long it was going to be before it got cutagain.

Roses, hydrangeas, and some yellow flower I didn’t knowthe name of were blooming in the fenced garden runningalongside the house. I’d helped my mom plant that gardenwhen I was younger and, up until the last few years, I’dhelped her keep it up. But things had changed. I’d gottencaught up in my own life. I had school, and a car, andfriends to worry about. I didn’t have time for gardeninganymore.

Even without my help though, the garden stayed beautiful.I’d always been amazed at my mom’s ability to keep itlooking so good, in between her demanding shifts at the

looking so good, in between her demanding shifts at thehospital and everything else she had to do. But over thesepast few weeks, weeds had started to claim the territory,and several of the rose bushes in the back of the gardenwere withering. Still, nobody driving by would notice. Fromthe distance, everything looked normal at the Laytonhousehold.

But I was sure of it now. Things were never going to benormal again.

“They may come back,” Kael said, his voice bordering ongentle again. “We shouldn’t stay here.”

I nodded. I didn’t need telling twice. I’d never wanted to getaway from a place as badly as I did right then.

***

Kael didn’t say much of anything to me on the way back,which was just fine with me. When I was this close tovomiting, opening my mouth for any reason seemed like areally bad idea.

I ran as fast as I possibly could, so my mind had to befocused on where I was going to avoid running into things.That was the only thing that kept me going. I knew if Istopped and let my self think about everything that hadhappened, I would’ve broken down. So I kept running.

We ran into Will when we were about half-way back to thehouse. Apparently, he’d been busy elsewhere—intercepting two other werewolves who’d been on their wayto aid Sera and Markus. There was an unmistakable dark-red stain covering the right side of his shirt, the bottom ofwhich was in tatters. I tried not to look at it. He winced alittle with every step. But despite his obvious pain, Will’sgood nature prevailed; the rest of the way back to thehouse he spent recounting the story of his heroic battle,complete with play-by-play details of near misses and hiseventual death-defying victory.

We reached the house in record time. As we approachedthe front porch I saw Vanessa standing at the top of thesteps, talking to a man I didn’t recognize. Will walkedstraight on and disappeared into the house, but seeingVanessa made me hesitate. I really didn’t want to talk toanybody right now.

“We can go around to the side door,” Kael said, placing ahand on my back and steering me off to the right. I wasabout to breath a sigh of relief when I heard Vanessa’svoice.

“Alex!” I barely had time to look up before she pulled meinto a full-arm embrace, and I spent the next few secondsgasping for air as she crushed me against her. When shefinally pulled away, I saw she was close to tears. “Wherehave you been?” she asked. “I’ve been so worried aboutyou!”

“I’m fine,” I said numbly. I tried to shove past her, but herhands gripped my shoulders and held me in place.

“Alex? You don’t look fine.” Her tone made it clear I wasn’tfooling her, but I still said nothing, and I tried my best tofocus on blocking my thoughts from her. I must’ve beensuccessful, too, because Vanessa continued to watch mewith a confused look on her face. She eventually turned toKael, her lips forming a worried frown. “What happened?”she asked.

I held my breath, hoping he wouldn’t say. I really, reallydidn’t want to have this conversation right now.

“…We can talk about it later,” Kael said pointedly.

Vanessa slowly relaxed the pressure she was putting on myshoulders, but didn’t move from the path in front of me.“That gives us a lot to talk about, then,” she said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Eli wanted to talk to you too— as soon as possible.

“Eli wanted to talk to you too— as soon as possible.

“About what?”

“He’s come to some conclusions about things.”

“Things?”

“I guess about everything that’s happening to you and yourfamily, what else?” she shrugged. “He wouldn’t tell mespecifics,” Vanessa said. “Nobody seems to be telling meanything lately…” she added under her breath. “Anyway, hewas on his way to see Emily, if you want to go talk to him.”

“How is Emily?” I felt a stab of guilt for not having askedabout her earlier.

“…She’s going to be okay,” Vanessa said, her voicetrembling a little. “She’s resting now.”

“That’s good.”

“Do you want to go talk to Eli?” Kael asked.

I hesitated. Honestly? What I wanted more than anythingwas to go crawl in a corner somewhere, curl up, and maybecry myself to sleep. And then I wanted to sleep for days—orweeks, or years—however long it took to make this all goaway.

But that wasn’t going to bring Lora back. I needed to hearwhat Eli had to say. I needed information, I needed to knowwhat was going on with me, and who or what I was upagainst. Eli might not be able to tell me everything, but atthis point anything he could tell me would be helpful. So Inodded.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

“Emily’s in the spare bedroom next to the library,” Vanessasaid, turning toward the house.

I turned to follow—and ended up practically colliding withthe man Vanessa had been talking to earlier.

“I’m sorry,” he said, looking slightly amused. “I didn’t meanto startle you.”

“It’s fine,” I said, catching my breath as I looked him over.

He was muscular and tall—at least a foot taller than me.Tattoos of some sort of tribal design disappearedunderneath both sleeves of the white t-shirt he was wearing,and another ran up the side of his neck. Rough sideburnsand stubble on his chin framed his face, and his hair, thesame shade of light brown as his facial hair, was pulledback into a low ponytail. His eyes, which were such a darkblue they might as well have been black, met mine curiouslyand I jerked my gaze away, embarrassed for staring aslong as I had.

“Alex, this is Shane Madoc,” Vanessa said. “He’s the alphaof the Laurel Cove pack.”

“Laurel Cove?”

“Emily’s pack. He came to check on her.”

“Oh?” I tried to sound interested, but I wasn’t exactly in ameeting people sort of mood at the moment.

Shane either couldn’t tell this, or he didn’t care, because heseemed plenty enthusiastic about meeting me; before Icould protest he grabbed my hand and squeezed it tightly.

“A pleasure to meet you, Alex,” he said. His voice had asoft lilt to it, and a genuine smile brightened his face as hespoke.

“Um… you too,” I said as I diverted my gaze again. Hecontinued to hold my hand in his for several seconds, evenafter I cleared my throat uncomfortably. I was beginning towonder if he was ever going to let go when, thankfully, Kaelwalked over and rescued my hand from Shane’s grasp.

walked over and rescued my hand from Shane’s grasp.

“We shouldn’t keep Eli waiting,” he said, giving me aknowing look and pulling me away.

“I see you’re still hanging around,” Shane said.

Kael stopped, dropped my hand and glanced back over hisshoulder. “I see you’re as observant as ever, Madoc,” hesaid shortly.

“Nice to see you, as always,” Shane said, shaking hishead.

“I wish I could say the same about you,” Kael said.

I cleared my throat purposely. “We were just about to gotalk to Eli,” I said to Shane, turning and resuming myinterrupted path to the front door.

“Oh? I’ll go with you then,” he replied. “I want to check onEmily.”

“Okay,” I said offhand, already closing in on the front door.

We walked in awkward silence into the house. Vanessa ledthe way, and Kael trailed behind us. Shane insisted onwalking beside me.

“So…I’m sorry about Emily,” I said as we walked towardsher room.

“It’s not your fault,” Shane said, waving a dismissive hand.

“No—it is. She got hurt protecting my family,” I said.Protecting them in vain, as it turned out.

“Emily’s tough,” he assured me. “She’s been in worsescrapes than this.”

I couldn’t help but doubt that, and I knew he was probablyjust trying to reassure me. Or maybe he just hadn’t seen

Emily yet.

We reached her room, and we were just about to stepinside when the door opened and Eli stepped out. “She issleeping,” he said, glancing at us as he shut the door. “Jackis in there with her… I don’t think she needs anymorecompany at the moment.” He turned to me as he spoke.“Alex, I know it has already been a difficult day for you,but…” His voice trailed off, reluctantly. He didn’t look at meas he spoke. Dark circles had formed underneath his eyessince the last time I’d seen him, and maybe it was just thedim light of the hallway we were standing in, but Elisuddenly didn’t look like a kid anymore. His face wasgaunt, with every bone clearly outlined beneath his paleskin. His eyes had a weight about them—like someonewho’s witnessed something traumatic and had it burnedinto his memory. He looked old. Older than me—maybeolder than anyone standing there.

“But…?” I encouraged.

He looked up abruptly, like he’d forgotten we’d been in themiddle of a conversation. “I have been doing a lot ofresearch. I have learned some things, and Shane and Ihave been talking about things…Things I think you need tohear.”

I nodded. “I know—I mean yeah, that’s why I’m here.Vanessa told me you’d come to some conclusions.”

“Conclusions?” He started to shake his head, but stoppedmidway and just shrugged. “Yes. Yes, I suppose you couldcall them that… although that word suggests certainty,something my thoughts have been lacking lately...” Hesighed. “Anyway, let’s get away from here so Emily canhave some peace, shall we?”

He turned and headed off down the hall without waiting for areply, and I followed slowly, feeling like an innocent criminalwalking in to hear my death sentence. And that hallwaystretched endlessly on before me.

CHAPTER 13: descendant

Despite Eli’s suggestion, Shane stayed behind with Emilyand Jack. So it was just the five of us in the kitchen now;Will had rejoined us, after cleaning up and changing intoclothes that weren’t covered in blood. Now he, Eli,Vanessa, and I sat around the kitchen table, while Kaelleaned against the doorway. Vanessa had pulled some sortof casserole from the refrigerator, heated it up, set it in frontof me, and commanded I eat, since—according to her— Ilooked like I was going to pass out. I didn’t bother telling herthat had nothing to do with the fact that I hadn’t eaten allday. I didn’t want Vanessa to worry though, so I tried tostomach it. I managed an impressive two bites. Well, thesecond one was more like a half-bite.

Eli was insistent. He wanted to know what had happened atmy house—every last detail of it. And I tried to tell him. I’mglad Kael was there to help, though, because I’m prettysure nothing I was saying was making any sense at thispoint.

After Kael and me finally managed to get the whole storystraight for them, Eli took a deep breath and leaned back inhis chair, folding his hands together on the table in front ofhim.

“Do you remember the pact I told you about?” he askedquietly. “The one that prevents lycans from harminghumans?”

“…I remember you mentioning it,” I said with a slow nod.

“I think you should know how it first came into being,” hesaid. Then he paused again, looking thoughtful, and finallynodded a few seconds later. “It’s kind of a long story, so I’lltry to give you the condensed version.”

Oh good. A history lesson. Condensed or not, given thatevery second was one more second Lora was in danger, Iwasn’t exactly thrilled at the idea. But Eli’s face was sodeathly serious that I was couldn’t bring my self to object.So I nodded and sunk down in my chair, trying to muster upas much patience as I could, and waited for him to talk.

“The pact has been around for several centuries now, sincethe beginning of the sixteenth century,” he said. “As manybooks of folklore from this time period suggest, during thistime there was a disturbing spike in the number of sightingsand attacks by creatures which humans christened‘werewolves’. Up until then, these monstrous creatures hadbeen little more than legend. With the increasing attacks,however, people started barricading their doors at night,starting to believe that maybe there was more to these so-called legendary creatures after all. The attacks began inand spread from the southern parts of Ireland, which is alsothe location commonly accepted as the first placewerewolves were created.”

“Created…? By lycans you mean? So… lycans can createwerewolves by biting people too?” I asked. I was mostly justtrying to sort my thoughts by saying them out loud. But Elishook his head, giving me a stern look.

“We are not the same.”

I got the feeling I’d offended him somehow. “I know,” Istarted to explain. “But—”

“Our bite brings nothing but death to humans,” heinterrupted. There was a definite edge in his voice thathadn’t been there before. “And most of us had no desire todo that—let alone to create bloodthirsty monsters to do itfor us.”

“So… how were the first werewolves created then, if not bylycans?” I asked, somewhat timidly.

“That is not what I said.” His tone was patient again, andmost of the bitterness had slipped out. “It was a lycan, infact. His name is Joseph Valkos, and he is ancient,perhaps one of the first of our kind.” Eli’s head droppedshamefully.

For some reason, the name struck me as familiar. And itwas dumb, because I knew it was just a name—but thesound of it sent a tiny shiver down my spine

“How did this man—this lycan— create them, then?” Iasked.

“Different accounts will tell you different things—althoughmost agree on one thing: there was powerful black magicinvolved. Most of our kind shun the use of magic of any sort,but it was common knowledge that Valkos reveled in it thedarkest of it. Some say the first werewolves were actualwolves, and that he used his dark powers to breathe humanspirits into them. According to this version of the story, themethod of biting humans, or otherwise injecting them withwerewolf toxin, did not come about until some time later—perhaps after those originally born of wolves proved toofierce to control.”

I couldn’t help but raise a skeptical eyebrow. Eli continuedas though he hadn’t seen, even though he was sitting rightacross the table from—and looking straight at—me. Whenhe spoke again, though, his voice was blunt.

“Regardless of how he actually did it, in the short span of afew years Valkos created an alarming number ofwerewolves. He was rumored to have been building anarmy, one he planned to unleash on the human race.”

“What did he have against humans?”

“The human population was growing too,” Kael said,proving he was actually listening to our conversation for thefirst time. “And humans are greedy—they thought the landwas theirs for the taking, even though the lycans had beenthere way before any of them.” Kael spat out the words, like

there way before any of them.” Kael spat out the words, likehe was trying to rid his mouth of a bad taste. “And when thelycans refused to get out of the way, the humans turned towhat they know best—violence.” He looked like he could’vecontinued on that particular subject indefinitely, but at thatmoment Eli cleared his throat.

“Yes…that was likely a large component of Valkos’ motive.But we are getting off track—do you want the condensedversion or not?” he asked, looking at me.

I nodded.

“Good. We can fill in the details later,” he promised. “Sowhere were we?”

“What did Valkoss do after he’d made this army?” Iprompted.

“It was more what he tried to do.” Eli paused and adjustedhis glasses, his eyes shining with anticipation as thoughwe’d finally reached the part he most wanted to discuss.“But he was met with opposition. Around this time, asavage underground war began. On one side, there werethe lycans—like my parents— who wished to keep peacefulrelations with the humans at all costs. On the other wasValkos, the handful of lycans he recruited that supported hiscause, and their created army of werewolves— who, bywhatever means, were growing in strength and numbers bythe day.

“At first, Valkos’ operation had gone largely unchallenged,given that—even though they did not necessarily supporthis war efforts— most lycans were less than willing to jumpto the aid of the same humans who were encroaching ontheir territory. As time went by the attacks against humansbecome more numerous, and more brutal. More and morelycans began to see the power Valkos was gaining, andmany joined him. Out of fear, perhaps, or with hopes ofgaining some power of their own. Who knows? Forwhatever reason, his army was growing, surely andsteadily, out of control.

“At this point, the lycans who wanted peace with thehumans were forced to take a more active role in the waragainst Valkos—before it was too late. At first, it seemedas though they had some advantage, since most of Valkos’army was made up of werewolves which, while certainly noeasy foe, were all newborns. As such, they wereinexperienced, unpredictable, and there was little orderamongst them. Those things all made them easy targets formost of our kind, many of whom had already been aroundfor centuries and seen more than their fair share of battles.

“But it was still difficult, because for every werewolf theymanaged to kill off, Valkos, or one of the lycans loyal to him,simply created ten more out of innocent humans. Needlessto say, it wasn’t long before the tables started to turn. Andthat’s when some started to consider taking drasticmeasures.”

“Drastic measures…?” I repeated.

Eli nodded. “Some suggested fighting fire with fire—that is,countering Valkos’ black magic with magic of their own. Itcertainly was not the ideal tactic, but things were gettingdesperate. And so a young lycan by the name of CyrusAurick stepped forward.

“I cannot begin to explain to you the ancient magic Cyruscommanded all those centuries ago—because I do not fullyunderstand it myself. As I told you, magic is something of ataboo subject in our culture and most artifacts describing orotherwise providing instruction in the art have beendestroyed. The common legend, however, tells us thatCyrus performed a dangerous ritual, spilling his own bloodin order to create an involuntary pact amongst all whoshared his ancestry—that is, all lycans.

“With this pact, Cyrus made it so that any lycan—Valkosincluded— who inflicted even a scratch on any humanwould suffer an instant, painful death themselves. As youcan probably guess, this evened out the oddsconsiderably.”

considerably.”

“But… aren’t werewolves capable of creating morewerewolves, too?” I asked. That was getting reallyconfusing.

“Not as newborns,” Eli explained. “It takes several years fortheir toxin to grow potent enough to infect a human.”

“So Valkos couldn’t create any more soldiers for his army,then?”

“Exactly. And it wasn’t long before most of the werewolfpopulation was destroyed.” Eli fell silent for a few minutesthen, as if allowing time for this new information to sink in.That, however, would probably have taken weeks. So I wentahead and broke the silence with a question that had beeneating away at me ever since I’d heard Valkos’ name.

“What about now? Where is Valkos now?”

“Hiding, for the better part of the last few years. Though hemakes his presence known every now and then— whetherby a murder here, or a string of kidnappings there.” Eli’svoice was chillingly casual. “He has lost much of his supportfrom his own kind, but most werewolves still in existencetoday have sworn allegiance to him. They refer to him as“The Creator”, and obey him as such. There are some whohave theorized that their obedience is even, to some extent,outside of their control. I think the term they have coined is“Alpha-Syndrome”. An interesting idea if—”

“If we had the time to discuss it, maybe,” Will interrupted.After having listened to Eli for so long, Will’s sudden voicemade me jump. “I’m still waiting to hear what any of this hasto do with Alex,” he said.

“Of course….” Eli paused and cleared his throat, looking alittle disgruntled. “Cyrus is no longer with us, but hisbloodline still keeps the pact alive, and now his descendantis the only one who can break it. Cyrus himself died over acentury ago—but not before he had a son. A son by the

name of Benjamin.” Eli’s voice grew quiet as he spoke and,once he had finished, he looked at me expectantly.

And it was a long moment before I realized why—probablybecause I didn’t want to make the connection Eli washinting at. I didn’t want to think about what his words meant.But, like an unstoppable train, the realization hit me anyway.It was several long moments before I could speak calmly.

“…My father’s name was Benjamin.”

“Yes.”

Silence. I froze. What was I supposed to say about this?

Vanessa seemed to notice my discomfort, and laid a handon my shoulder. “You realize that pretty much everything youjust said is only a legend, right Eli?” she asked with a frown.

“That does not mean there is no truth to it,” he said,returning her frown. “But I am happy to hear your theories,”he added quietly.

“So…” I began uncertainly. “So you’re saying that I’m not ahuman or a werewolf? I’m…a lycan?”

“Exactly,” Eli said, looking pleased with himself.

“And that guy… what’s his face?”

“Cyrus?” Eli offered.

“Right. So, assuming I am this… descendant of this, Cyrusperson… That’s why they’re trying to kill me then? Todestroy his bloodline and end the pact?”

“Actually…that’s the part I can’t figure out,” Eli said. “Sinceaccording to every version of the legend I have ever heard,eliminating the bloodline of Cyrus would do nothing exceptmake the pact permanent—the last thing I would thinkValkos wants. The only way to sever the ties of the pact isfor the descendant to willingly do so.”

for the descendant to willingly do so.”

“That doesn’t make sense. If that’s true, then why did Seratry and kill me that day at the lake? How am I supposed towillingly break a pact if I’m dead?”

“You see the problem with my theory, then,” Eli mumbled.“My only guess would be that killing you was not really herintention.”

“She could’ve fooled me,” I said with a tense laugh.

“It makes some sense,” Kael interjected, leaving his post bythe door and joining us at the table. “Sera’s not exactlyknown for her self-restraint—or for her ability to followorders.”

“How do you know what—” I started to ask, but Eliinterrupted me.

“You have a good point,” he said to Kael. “But back to thematter at hand…” He paused, and turned back to me. “If weoverlook the incident with Sera, and assume that you are, infact, Cyrus’ descendant... then the situation is even moredifficult than we originally thought. The attacks on yourfamily were far from random. If I had to guess, I would sayValkos himself has been in charge of this particularoperation.”

“You can’t be serious,” I groaned, burying my face in myhands. “I don’t want anything to do with this guy. I don’t careabout this stupid pact, I’m not trying to get in his way oranything— I just want my sister back.”

“Don’t you understand?” Kael said quietly. “This is why hetook your sister. He knows who you are, and he needed away to get you to do what he wanted.”

I froze, my eyes going wide as I wondered why I hadn’tthought of that. “Well how do I do it then?” I asked quickly.“How do I destroy the pact?” A reluctant look crossedKael’s face, and he turned away. So I looked to Eli instead.

He didn’t look particularly enthusiastic to say anything,either, but after several seconds of my glaring he finallyspoke:

“…Different versions of the legend say different things…”He paused, and gave me a hard look. “But it does notmatter—you can not do that.”

“If that’s what it takes to save my sister then I—”

“That’s a very bad idea,” Will interjected. “That pact is theonly thing that’s prevented all-out war these past fewcenturies. Listen—most lycans don’t live peacefully amonghumans because they want to. Especially not anymore.”

Eli nodded in agreement. “We are of a select few… butthese days more and more of our kind are of the opinionthat the race of man has more than warn out its welcome.”

“Valkos knows that,” Kael said. “I’d be willing to bet he’sbanking on that. And I bet you anything his plan is to get youout of the way—once he’s used you to sever the pact, ofcourse—and then make sure everyone knows he did it sothey’ll follow him to whatever end. Trust me—you and yoursister are going to be a lot worse off if all of the lycansaround here turn on the human race. It’ll be like the middleages all over again…”

“How did you even figure all this out?” I asked Eli. My wordscame out a lot more harshly than I’d meant for them to, but Icouldn’t help it. I felt trapped, like a dog backed into acorner and provoked until it snapped. Deep down I knewbeing spiteful wasn’t going to make Eli take backeverything he’d said. And even if he took it back it didn’tmean it wasn’t true. But the anger growing inside me had togo somewhere— and so I suddenly became determined topoke any holes I could into Eli’s theories.

“The circumstances surrounding your father’s death, andthose surrounding your attack, were very unusual,” Elibegan in a careful voice. He was watching me closely,probably wondering if he could continue without worrying

probably wondering if he could continue without worryingabout me freaking out and turning the table over on him. Myfingers curled around the edge of the smooth oak. It was atempting thought, I had to admit.

“For Sera to have attacked you in broad daylight, days fromthe full moon— regardless of her motive— it seemed like arisky move, or maybe a desperate one. I was curious, so Ihave spent the past few days gathering as muchinformation as I could about you and your family, hoping Icould uncover some answers.”

“My family…” I interrupted. “Speaking of my family— yousaid I was the last of my bloodline,” I reminded him. “Butwhat about my mom… and what about Lora?” I asked.

“I do not think the one you know as “Mom” is your actualmom,” he said.

Wow. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any better.

My heart sank even further as Eli continued: “If the records Iconsulted are correct, your actual mom died a long timeago.” He bit his lip before adding in a hurried voice:“Although, according to those same records, so did you—so they could be wrong.”

“Records? What records?”

“The government keeps tabs on us,” Vanessa explained.“Although they’re terribly inaccurate for the most part. Andincomplete, too, since a lot of our kind aren’t especiallycooperative.”

“Wait… so there are humans who know about you guys?”

“Very few,” Eli said. “It is highly classified information, ofcourse—and not very believable information at that. A smalldepartment of the government is responsible, and I wouldsay half the people who work in that department do noteven believe we exist.” He shrugged. “Anyway, my parentsuse to work pretty closely with a higher up in this

department, a man by the name of Joel Geist, and I wasable to get a hold of him. He pulled a few files for me,including one on a family of three that went missing almostsixteen years ago. According to his information, all three ofthem were officially reported dead a few years back.”

“Dead?” I repeated. Something about that word made medizzy.

“I am not sure exactly how your father did it, but somehowhe managed to fly under the radar all these years. He evenmarried a human, and adopted a human daughter, and youhave a human birth certificate and even a social-securitycard—although both of them are forged, it would seem.”

“Okay. Maybe we could’ve fooled other people—I’ll buythat. But how could I not have noticed something like this?I’ve been living as a human for sixteen years and thensuddenly I’m not human anymore?”

“Never were, Alex,” he gently corrected me. “And I have atheory about that as well—though it may be more than that ifmy suspicions about you are correct. You see, some of ourkind have been trying for decades to come up with amethod to turn themselves human.”

“Why?” I asked.

Eli just shrugged, but Vanessa spoke up: “They think it’seasier that way,” she said. “After all, every since Valkoscame along we haven’t had any real peace among us. Andthe human population keeps growing, which makes itharder and harder for us to hide. So some keep on trying.”She paused, and gave Eli a confused look. “I’ve neverheard of a successful attempt, though?”

“…Nor have I,” he said. But there was a hesitant uncertaintyin his voice.

“Not even one?” I asked.

“The thing is, actual attempts are far and few between,

“The thing is, actual attempts are far and few between,because most of the procedures invented thus far arerisky,” Eli said. “And the benefits don’t outweigh thoserisks, for most. Though in your case…”

“In my case…?

“If your father was trying to hide you then it would have beena logical decision to attempt suppression.”

“Assuming it can actually be done,” Will said impatiently.“But really, how likely are we thinking that is? I mean, I’lladmit I’m impressed by all your theories here Eli, but yousaid yourself that no lycan’s ever been able to successfullybecome human.”

Vanessa nodded in agreement. “And that still doesn’t reallyanswer Alex’s question,” she pointed out. “Why now? Evenif they were successful in suppressing Alex’s true nature,then why has she started having symptoms all of asudden?”

“I am getting to that,” Eli said, somewhat crossly. “You haveto understand—this is far from exact science. Now, I thinkthat when Sera attacked her, the toxin she released musthave reacted somehow with the existing lycan blood, and ithas ‘activated’ it, so to speak. It is only suppression, afterall—the lycan blood was, and is, still a part of Alex.”

Silence fell over us again. I tried my best to come up withmore questions, more ways to tear apart his theories. Thiscouldn’t all be true.

“This is…” I started, standing up and backing away from thetable. As I staggered backwards though, I realized I didn’teven know how to finish that sentence. Crazy?Unbelievable? I definitely could’ve used either of thosewords. But this was something more. My anger from earlierwas starting to fade. I don’t know why. I should’ve beenangry—because this wasn’t fair. Why was this happening tome? What the hell had I done?

Yeah, I had a moment or two of self-pity.

But then came—of all things—relief, which sounds crazy;but I found it incredibly relieving that everything happeningto me wasn’t just a series of horrible coincidences. Don’tget me wrong—the fact that I actually was being targetedwasn’t much more reassuring. Still, it was something that,for the first time in what seemed like forever, I didn’t feellike I was just a subject of fate. I wasn’t a puppet. And I wasback in control.

Eli was still talking as these thoughts fought it out in myhead. But his words were mostly background noise until,out of the corner of my eye, I saw him get up out of his chair.Then he walked over and placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Alex?” he said, in a surprisingly stern voice.

“Yeah?”

“Up until that day, they must have been suppressing yourlycan blood somehow,” Eli said. “It is the only thing thatmakes sense. I need you to think, Alex: did your father evergive you any sort of medicine even though you were notsick? Do you take a daily vitamin? Or maybe he gave it toyou in the form of a shot? I have heard of it beingadministered both ways.” He looked at me hopefully, but Ihad to shake my head.

“No. I don’t take vitamins and I’m terrified of needles,” I saidin a dazed voice. I shrugged his hand off my shoulder. ThenI stood up and stumbled toward the door.

“Alex?” Vanessa said uncertainly.

“Where are you going?” Eli asked. “We should—”

“I just need…” I interrupted, placing a hand against the backof Will’s chair to steady my self. “…To get some fresh air.”

I walked the rest of the way out of the kitchen, and nobodyargued against it.

argued against it.

***

It was getting late. The sun had gone down nearly an hourago but, even as the warmth of its rays became a distantmemory, I didn’t move. It was getting cold too, but I’d beensitting on the front porch steps and staring blankly into thedistance pretty much all evening, and I didn’t plan on gettingup anytime soon. Not for the first time since I’d been sittingout there, I lifted my right hand and examined it. How had Idone it? Not on purpose, that was for sure. I tried, half-heartedly, to make it transform now. It didn’t sprout so muchas a single piece of fur.

Still, despite my body’s insistence on staying human, I wasbeginning to entertain the idea that maybe I was a lycan.The more I thought about everything Eli had said, the less Icould deny that it made sense. And once I’d made up mymind about that, there was only one way it could progressfrom there:

Now I could fight.

I could learn to shift. I could— I really could— fight back. Itseemed inevitable now. That was what I had to do. But howquickly could I learn? It couldn’t be easy to go from humanto wolf as fluidly as I’d seen both Kael and Sera do it. No, itwouldn’t be easy. But I could still do it. I had to do it—therewas no time for arguing otherwise.

I heard a door shut. I reluctantly abandoned my thoughtsand turned toward the noise. Kael was walking toward me.He stopped a few feet away, leaned over the porch rail andjust stood there quietly, staring off into the distance. He washolding something in his right hand, but I couldn’t tell what itwas.

“What do you want?” I said grumpily after a few minutes ofsilence.

He cut his eyes sideways at me. “A simple ‘hello’ would

have sufficed,” he said. “Maybe a ‘how are you thisevening?’”

“You didn’t say hello to me either. And I don’t actually carehow you are this evening.”

“It’s called small talk, Alex. Nobody really cares how otherpeople are—it’s just polite to ask.”

“Do you really think you’re qualified to give me a lesson inmanners?” I said, raising an eyebrow.

“Whether it’s from me or not—you definitely need one,” hesaid under his breath.

“Well I’m sorry,” I grumbled. “I’m kind of stressed out rightnow, so maybe I’m a little bit irritable.”

“Do you want me to leave?” he asked. I lifted my gaze to histhen, and tried to read his expression. His eyes revealed nohint of whether he wanted to be there or not. I knew what Iwanted, though—even though I wasn’t about to admit it outloud.

“Then I’ll stay,” he said suddenly.

“What?”

“You don’t want me to go.”

“I didn’t say that!”

“But you were thinking it,” he said, a tiny smirk tugging atthe corners of his lips.

“I…! You…you really need to stop doing that,” I said. “Ithought I was getting better at keeping my thoughts tomyself…” I added with a groan.

“You are. You kept them from Vanessa earlier, remember?”

“Yeah… but why can’t I keep them from you?”

“Yeah… but why can’t I keep them from you?”

He shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe it’s because I have amazingmind-reading abilities?”

I glanced over at him, half-believingly. I mean, aftereverything Eli just told me—superpowers really wouldn’thave been that much of a stretch.

“You look cold,” he said, sitting down beside me.

“I’m fine,” I mumbled.

“Stop acting tough,” he said, his voice muffled by hishooded sweatshirt as he pulled it over his head.

“I’m not acting,” I said, just as the gray fleece hit me in theface. If it hadn’t been so cold, I’d like to think I would’vethrown it right back at him. But truthfully, I was cold. So I slidit over my own head—while looking disgruntled of course.

“Oh yeah—before I forget,” he said as I wrapped my frozenhands into the sweatshirt’s extra-long sleeves. “The wholereason I came out here was to bring you something to eat,”he said, offering me what he’d been carrying in his handearlier. It was a wrapped sub sandwich, and my noseautomatically wrinkled at the sight of it.

“I’m not hungry,” I said quietly.

“Will you just eat it so that Vanessa will stop freaking out?She’s reminded everybody about ten dozen times thisevening that you haven’t been eating properly. I’m kind oftired of hearing about it.”

“Sorry. You can tell her I ate it—I’ll back you up.”

He sighed. “…You really should eat, though.”

“I might later,” I said. “Stomach’s a little weak right now….”

He didn’t respond, but the look on his face told me he

understood.

We sat in silence for at least five minutes after that. ThenKael let out a quiet sigh, stretched and laid back, restinghis head on his hands and closing his eyes. He looked sopeaceful that, after a minute or so, I was almost sure he’dfallen asleep.

“You know… I never actually met my real mother,” Kaelsaid, his sudden voice startling me. “Never really cared to,either—since obviously she didn’t care to know me.” Heshrugged. “I mean, I guess I must’ve seen her when I wasborn… but I don’t remember anything about her.”

“I guess we have something in common now,” I said dryly.

He nodded. “More than that—because for me too, therewas another… She wasn’t my biological mother, but a momin every other sense of the word.”

“…You said was. Where is she now…?”

“She died a long time ago.”

“I’m sorry.”

“…Life goes on,” he said with a shrug.

“It doesn’t always feel like it will,” I said quietly. “But it does,”he insisted, rocking himself back into a sitting position.

“Maybe,” I said, not feeling up to arguing for once. “Whatabout the rest of your family?” I asked.

“I’ve got an older brother, too,” he said. “But I haven’t seenor heard from him in a couple of years now.

“What about your dad? Is he still around?”

Kael looked suddenly hesitant, and I got the feeling I’dstruck a touchy issue. “…Yes. He’s around,” he said,frowning.

frowning.

“Is that a bad thing?” I asked without thinking. “Sorry forbeing so nosey,” I added quickly.

“It’s okay,” Kael said. “It’s just that my father and I don’t talkmuch these days. We don’t always see eye to eye onthings.”

I gave him a knowing look, thinking about all the argumentsI’d had with the woman I’d called “Mom” for the past sixteenyears. “That’s pretty common though, right? I mean, I feellike most people don’t agree with their parents on a lot ofthings,” I said.

He just laughed. “Trust me—our relationship is veryuncommon. And very… complicated.” He turned and metmy eyes, and for a second it looked like he wanted to tellme more. But when I lifted my eyes expectantly he justlooked away.

“My mom—I mean, not my mom but…you know what Imean. Anyway, her and I…we never really got along,” I saidafter a few seconds of silence from him told me he wasn’tsaying anything else about his parents. “Maybe it’s betterthis way,” I added quietly.

“You don’t mean that,” he said.

“…Maybe, maybe not,” I said, taken aback by thechallenge. I stared at the ground as I continued. “Butanyway, let’s not talk about her anymore right now.”

“Fine by me,” he agreed abruptly, sitting up and getting tohis feet.

“I didn’t say you had to leave,” I said hurriedly. “We can talkabout something else.”

“I know. But I should go—I was just coming to check on you.As much as I’d love to hang out here all night…” There wasa subtle hint of sarcasm in his voice. “I have things to take

care of.”

“Things?”

“Yes.”

“What kind of things?”

“Things that don’t concern you?” He shrugged. “I’ll be backafter awhile.”

“Where are you going?”

“Must you know everything?”

“Yes?” I replied hopefully.

“Well, I’m afraid you’re out of luck tonight.”

“But…”

“I’ll see you later,” he said, turning his back to me. He’dmade it half-way across the yard before I called after him, asudden idea popping into my head.

“Hey Kael?”

“What?” he said, turning back to me with a dubious look onhis face.

The words rushed out before I could stop them: “Will youteach me how to shift?”

He turned back toward the woods, and for a second Ithought he was just going to walk away. But then heglanced back over his shoulder. The moonlight caught inhis eyes and gave them that surreal glow that made meshrink back automatically.

“…We’ll see,” he finally said, and without another word hewas gone.

I stared at the spot where he’d disappeared into the woodsuntil my eyes burned in protest, but no matter how hard Istared, he didn’t come back. And so I was alone again.

CHAPTER 14: shift

The next morning I had a hard time getting up. It wasn’t justbecause I was beyond exhausted, either; somehow, I’dmanaged to make my way from the porch into what wasquite possibly the most comfortable bed in existence. Andif I’d had my way, I never would’ve gotten out of it again.Unfortunately for me though, as content as I was to bury myhead under the mountains of fluffy pillows surrounding me,the world insisted on continuing whether I was ready to getup and face it or not.

The sound of steady knocking penetrated the pillow I’dburrowed under. I groaned, and tried to ignore it. I wassuccessful at first, and for a moment the silence of sleeppersisted, and I assumed that whoever was knockingmust’ve given up. A triumphant grin was about to spreadacross my face when the sound of creaking hinges,followed by heavy footsteps, filled the room. With anirritable sigh, I lifted my head up away from the pillow andturned toward the door. Instead of lingering on the door,however, my gaze circled around the room. The room thatseemed really familiar all of a sudden.

I jumped out of that bed so fast that I got tangled in thesheets, nearly face-planting the hardwood floor as a result.

“Well that was incredibly graceful,” Kael said in an amusedvoice.

“Shut-up!” I said, hastily working to free my self from theknotted sheets. I could feel the red burning in my cheeks.“What are you doing in here?”

“This is kind of my room.”

“I know it is. How did I get here? And why…” My mouth

suddenly felt dry, and I had to swallow before I couldcontinue. “Kael why…am I in your bed?” I finally managed toget out. “You didn’t…” I looked up at him, horrified.

“Don’t flatter yourself, Alex,” he said, rolling his eyes. “I sleptin the living room.”

“How did I…”

“You were asleep on the porch when I got back last night,”he said in a droll voice. “You didn’t look particularlycomfortable, so I carried you in here. I just thought you couldprobably use a decent night’s sleep—so stop looking at melike that.” He frowned at me as I got to my feet and startedto straighten up the bed.

“Oh.” My face reddened even more as I focused intently ongetting every crease out of the sheets. “Well…thank you,then.”

“Don’t mention it,” he said. “And you’ll have your own bedtonight, so don’t worry. Vanessa’s been working all morningto clean up one of the guest rooms for you. We can go getyour stuff later if you—”

“I’m not living here,” I said, surprised by the abruptness inmy own tone. I stopped pulling the sheets up and just stood,wadding up the cloth in my fist. It didn’t make a whole lot ofsense, I guess. Yesterday, I’d only been too eager to getaway from my house. But now, presented with analternative, I suddenly found myself fiercely reluctantly to letgo of 138 Bryant Street.

“This isn’t my home,” I said quietly.

Kael opened his mouth, as if to reply, but said nothing. Afew seconds later, however, he nodded. “Right,” he said.“Anyway—I came up here to tell you to hurry up and getready.”

“Ready for what?” I asked, arranging the last of the pillows

at the head of the bed.

“Last night you asked me if I would teach you how to shift.”

My head jerked up. “Does this mean you’re going to…?”

“Will’s going to help,” he said, his calm voice a starkcontrast to my excited kid-in-a-candy-store one. “We’ll beoutside.”

“Okay.” I nodded, and did my best not to look too excited.Kael left the room, shaking his head, and I grabbed thethrow blanket that was lying on the floor, folded it up andlaid it across the foot of the bed.

I straightened the pillows one last time, and was about toleave when I realized I was still wearing Kael’s sweatshirt. Istarted to pull it off, but stopped as it got caught on myponytail. Maybe I should hold on to it? Kael hadn’t asked forit back, and besides—what if I got cold again? My eyesflickered toward the window, where rays of bright sunlightwere streaming in and spreading across the floor. Okay.So, I probably wouldn’t need it outside right now. But nightscould get cold here in the mountains.

Yeah, that was the excuse I’d go with.

I left the room, but didn’t head outside right away. Instead, Itracked down Vanessa. I found her in ‘my’ new room, in theprocess of arranging throw pillows on a couch sitting infront of a tall window that offered spectacular views of themountain valley below. I lingered for a few minutes, covertlychecking out the room while I made small talk withVanessa.

The walls were a pale green—my favorite color—and gavethe room a calm atmosphere. Sheer, cream-colored, floor-length curtains billowed in the breeze slipping in through thehalf-opened window. The room was modestly but expertlydecorated, with a handful of minimalist paintings and blackand white photography lining the walls. Honestly, it was abeautiful room—it looked like the end result of one of those

beautiful room—it looked like the end result of one of thoserenovation shows you see on the Home and GardenNetwork.

But it wasn’t home.

Vanessa offered me a clean set of her clothes. I took themand changed quickly. The less time I had to spend in thatroom the better. I folded up Kael’s sweatshirt, put it on thebed, and left without so much as a hasty backward glance.

I wasn’t ready to think about moving. Not that I had time tobe thinking about that, anyway. There were bigger thingsthat needed my attention right now. As I approached thefront door, my brisk pace slowed a bit as the realization ofwhat I was walking toward settled over me. By the time Imade it to the front door, my stomach had successfully tieditself into several knots. The excitement from earlier had allbut faded now, leaving behind an empty nervousness—anda nagging question— in its place.

What if I couldn’t shift?

It seemed like such an obvious question—I couldn’t believeI hadn’t asked it already. Was shifting something I wouldinstinctively know how to do, or was this going to be a long,difficult process? I was hoping for the former on that one.Time wasn’t exactly in my favor at the moment.

My hand lingered for a long while on the brass door handle.A tall, skinny window flanked the door on either side, andthrough the one on the right I could see Will and Kaelleaning against the porch railing, obviously waiting for me. Itook a deep breath, gripped the doorknob with my sweatypalm, and turned it.

“Hey,” I said. Was that really my voice that sounded sopathetically weak? I took a deep breath.

“Hey Alex,” Will said. I’d never been more grateful for hischeerful, disarming smile than I was in that moment. It wasimpossible not to smile back at Will, and when I did I felt a

little better. At least until he spoke again. “You ready forthis?” he asked.

“Of course,” I lied. Will’s smile grew even wider, but behindhim Kael was frowning—probably because he could hearthe doubt in my mind. I tried to put on a determined face.“When do we start?” I asked, looking at Will and Will alone.

“Well, we were just talking about where we’re going to dothis.”

“What’s wrong with right here?”

Will hesitated, and glanced back at Kael. But Kael’s jawwas set, and he just looked at Will expectantly.

“Um…” Will began. He was still smiling at me— but it was asheepish, please-don’t-freak-out-on-me kind of smile.“Well, there’s a small chance you might go a little crazy onus—”

“What do you mean, crazy?” I asked.

Will again turned to Kael, who gave a reluctant sigh andthen fixed me with a serious look. “You might not be able tocontrol your wolf instincts at first, and we don’t want yourunning off on us,” he said. “This is a pretty secluded spot,but there is a small residential area a couple of miles southof here. So we were thinking of hiking up the mountain tosee if we couldn’t find someplace a little safer.”

“Safer? So, what— I’m going to be some kind of ragingmonster then?”

“Probably,” Kael said with a shrug.

“I doubt it,” Will said quickly. He must’ve seen the fleetinglook of horror that crossed my face. “I told you, there’s onlya small chance you’ll be dangerous. Shifting’s an innatething for lycans, so you should feel right at home in eitherform. The only reason we’re concerned is because yourfirst shift is coming so late in your life. The thing is, most

first shift is coming so late in your life. The thing is, mostlycans spend a lot of their childhood in both forms, and theirhuman and wolf brains develop at equal rates. But in yourcase… Well, in your case we’re not sure what’s going tohappen.”

“Awesome.”

“Isn’t it?” Kael said with a sardonic smile. He looked a littletoo pleased by my obvious uncertainty as he left his postagainst the porch railing and headed down the steps. “Andsince we’re going to be hiking, we should probably getgoing,” he said.

Will followed him, still wearing that sheepish smile. The twoof them had almost reached the woods before I managedto step of the porch myself.

“Come on Alex,” I said through gritted teeth as I took slowsteps towards the trees. “One foot in front of the other, onefoot in front of the other...”

***

“The most important thing is to stay calm and focused. Andfollow through—you have to keep willing it to happen. Youdon’t want to change your mind half-way. Not when you’rethis inexperienced, anyway.”

It had taken us about half an hour, but we’d finally found aspot everyone agreed on. According to Will, we were abouttwenty miles from the house—though we’d taken so manytwists and turns that I couldn’t see how he could possiblyknow for sure. We were in a small clearing, surroundedmostly by steep, craggy rock faces and the occasionalevergreen tree that jutted out from the rocks at an oddangle. The ground was rough and uneven.

“What happens if I lose my focus?” I asked, dragging mytoe through the loose, rocky dust covering the ground.

“Your minds might get confused,” Will said.

“Minds?” I repeated, looking up.

“Once you’ve finished the shift you’ll only have one brain todeal with, and it’ll be a combination of the human and wolfbrain. But until the transformation is complete, you’ll stillhave your full human mind, and the wolf one will be formingtoo. So if you hesitate for too long in-between, your humanside and your wolf side may end up fighting for control—which could get ugly.”

“…How ugly are we talking here?” I asked, a small lumpforming in my throat.

“You could get stuck,” Kael said. “Your human mind wouldbe telling you to go backward and the wolf one would beurging you forward.”

“And what do I do if that happens…?”

Neither of them said a word, but the looks on their faceswere explanation enough.

“I stay stuck. Right. Okay.”

Will gave a single nod.

I took a deep breath. “So—focus. I got it. What’s next?”

“Okay, so once you’re in a calm mindset there’s reallynothing to it except to make it happen.” He shrugged. Whenhe didn’t elaborate, I managed an anxious laugh.

“…Wow, those are pretty much the least helpful instructionsever,” I said. “Thanks so much.”

Will laughed too, and gave me a crooked smile. “I guess Ishould’ve thought about how to explain this a little better…The thing is, shifting is really different for every person.Personally? I focus on transforming one part at a time.” Heheld his arm out in front of him and it began to change. Histan skin became tan-colored fur, and his fingers shortened

tan skin became tan-colored fur, and his fingers shortenedand grew thicker as his nails simultaneously grew longerand thinner. “Limbs have always been easiest for me, forsome reason,” he continued. “Maybe because they seemkind of detached from the rest of my body, so it seems lessweird.”

“It seemed plenty weird yesterday,” I muttered.

“Yesterday?”

“Oh yeah… I guess I left that part out when I was telling youguys about what happened,” I said. I didn’t really want to tellthis story right now, but the expectant looks on their facestold me I wasn’t going to be able to back out now. “When Iwas fighting with Sera, my hand started to transform. I didn’thave anything to do with it though—it just sort of happened.But it stopped and transformed back on its own… andwhen I tried to make it change again, nothing happened.”

Will and Kael exchanged a glance. “That’s…weird,” Kaelsaid.

“But good, right?” I asked hopefully. “Since I mean,obviously I am capable of transforming, right? Even if I can’tcontrol it yet?”

Kael looked uncertain, but Will nodded enthusiastically.“Yeah,” he agreed. “Actually, the fact that you did it withouteven thinking about it is pretty impressive,” he said.

I felt a small surge of confidence. “Well, since I alreadyknow that at least my arm is capable of transforming,maybe I should start there?” I suggested quickly, before thatconfidence could evaporate.

“Good idea,” Will said. “We’re ready when you are.”

I nodded, and held up a shaky arm. A cold sweat sweptover me. Nothing to it except to make it happen. Could itreally that simple?

“Are you sure about this, Alex?” Kael asked quietly.

“Of course I am,” I lied quickly. But if he kept secondguessing me like that I wouldn’t be.

“We don’t have to do this right now… If you’re not confident,then you’re probably not going to be able to focus and—”

“If I don’t do this now, when am I supposed to do it? I don’thave time to waste.” I tried, rather unsuccessfully, to keepmy voice calm. They just didn’t understand. Dad was dead.My mom had gone crazy on me. Lora was the only person Ihad left. I had to get her back, and if this weak human bodycouldn’t do the job, then it would just have to go.

I was use to the tingling sensation by now, so when itstarted to spread up my hands and arms, prickling the skinas it went, it wasn’t too unsettling. What was unsettling weremy arms doubling their length right before my eyes, whichhappened next. The muscles in my freakishly long armsbegan to pulsate. I had to look away as patches of silky furin varying shades of red began to cover my now grosslymuscular arms.

This was just too weird to be real.

But it was real. My legs started to shift, which madebalancing difficult, and I had to crouch to keep myself fromfalling over. As I moved closer to the ground, it suddenlyoccurred to me that I would feel more comfortable in a four-legged position.

Yeah, four-legs made much more sense than two. Why hadI ever bothered standing upright, anyway? I stretched mynew legs as my eyes fell on the humans in front of me. Theywere so awkward, and so weak, looking. I bet they wereincredibly slow, too. Had I really been like that once? No, Ican’t have been.

The humans kept watching me. It was starting to make meangry, and a snarl of disgust tore its way out of my throatbefore I could stop it. What were they staring at? I tried to

before I could stop it. What were they staring at? I tried tolook away, but no matter how hard I stared elsewhere, Icould still feel their eyes on me. I tossed my head angrilyback towards them. There were two of them, each onemaybe half my size. I could take them out easy enough. Ilowered my head and bared my teeth—that was their fairwarning.

But neither of them backed down. In fact, the one with thelight blue eyes actually took a step forward. I wanted tomake him regret that step. But when I tried to take a step ofmy own forward, I found that I couldn’t even lift my paw offthe ground.

(Your muscles aren’t finished forming yet. You should keepstill.)

I didn’t know where the voice was coming from, or who itbelonged to. But the words made no sense, whichfrustrated me. I gave another angry growl.

(Look at me, Alex.) It was that voice again. I snarled andsnapped at the thin air, like the voice was a fly or something—something I could eliminate if only I could get it betweenmy jaws.

(Look at me.)

My head jerked up—I was ready to kill. And I might have,too; my legs could bend relatively easily now, and I wasabout to crouch, about to spring, when I met the blue-eyedhuman’s gaze.

Something happened. I’m not sure what. But my angercame to an abrupt halt, and my growl became a low whine. Ijust stared, unmoving and unsure. And as I stared, anotherperson materialized beside the blue-eyed man. Her greeneyes were watching me curiously. She didn’t blink. Istumbled backward; my muscles weren’t as strong as I’dthought. There was something about her—something Ididn’t like. She was familiar in a strange, unsettling way.The longer we stared at each other, the more I began to

feel like I really did know who this girl was—or at least I had,at some point.

The realization hit me so hard I was literally knocked off myfeet. I collapsed to the ground, panting, still staring in horrorat the girl. I looked frantically back and forth. What wasgoing on here? This was wrong. I was supposed to be likethat girl…not like this. What was I doing on all fours likesome kind of animal? I had to stop. I had to go back.

(You can’t stop now.)

A sharp pain ripped through my head. My eyesight startedto dim.

(Focus.)

I think I knew that voice.

(Alright—you’re going to have to change back. Focus onyour human side, your human life…you’ve been a human forsixteen years now. I know you remember what it’s like. Justthink about it—anything about it.)

I couldn’t see anymore. I pretty sure my eyes were open, butI might as well have been searching for light in a black hole,for all I saw.

(Damn it Alex…I know you’re stronger than this. Wake up!)

After that the voice started to fade. I didn’t want it to go. Ididn’t want to be alone in this dark place. But I couldn’t callout to it, to tell it to stay. I was too tired. Tired of the pain.Tired of the confusion. But most of all, I was tired of fighting.

***

Even before I found the strength to open my eyes, I knew I’dfailed. Horribly. There were voices, saying things I couldn’tmake out—but I could understand their tones enough toknow that whatever had happened hadn’t been good. Myhead felt like someone had jammed an ax into it. I almost

head felt like someone had jammed an ax into it. I almostlifted a hand to see how far the handle was still sticking out.After several minutes of lying there, I decided to open myeyes. I lifted my head a few inches off the ground and sawthat the sun had all but disappeared behind the trees. Howlong had I been out for?

“What happened?” I managed to cough. The sound of quickfootsteps was the only reply I got. I tried to sit up, but onlymade it about halfway before my strength left me and Icrashed back to the ground. The clouds above started tospin, and I shut my eyes tightly to try and relieve mystomach, which was churning right along with them. When Iopened them again, Kael and Will were both crouchedbeside me, their faces completely devoid of color.

“Are you okay?” Will asked. There was nothing about hisexpression that even suggested the huge smile he normallywore.

“I’ve been better,” I mumbled. “I don’t understand whathappened.” I tried to sit up again, and this time I faired alittle better and managed to prop myself up on the palms ofmy shaking hands. “I thought I had it. But then I saw myself,my human self…and I just lost it. It was strange.”

“It was dangerous, that’s what it was,” Kael said angrily.“There’s got to be a better way to do this.” He looked at Willexpectantly.

Will shook his head. “Look man—I never claimed I was anexpert at this. I mean, I told you it isn’t really something youcan teach. Most young lycans figure it out on their own…but they do so over time, you know? Al’s only known whatshe is for twenty-four hours, we should never have expectedher to instantly—”

“I don’t have time to waste,” I reminded him. “I’ll just have totry harder.”

“It’s not just about how hard you’re trying—it takes practice,Al. Lots of it.”

I shook my head dismissively at Will, and started to get tomy feet. My legs felt like I’d just gotten done running amarathon or something. They shook unsteadily as Istraightened up.

“I still have time to practice a few more times before—”

“I think you’ve practiced enough for one day,” Kaelinterrupted quietly.

I gave him an incredulous look. “I haven’t evenaccomplished anything.”

“You accomplished nearly getting yourself stuck in apermanently disfigured, comatose state.”

I made a face. “Thanks for reminding me. That’s helpful.”

“I’m just saying—if you try again now, the same thing isprobably going to happen. You’re tired. We should gohome. Eat. Sleep. You can try again tomorrow.”

“I don’t know if you’ve forgotten—but I can’t go home. I don’thave a home to go to. And tomorrow? What happens iftomorrow is one day too late for Lora?”

“I don’t think your sister would want you to put your own lifeat risk to—”

“How do you know what my sister would want?” I asked,throwing my hands up in frustration. “You’ve never even mether.”

“That’s kind of beside the point,” Will said.

“No Will,” I snapped, turning on him. “That is the point. Thepoint is that neither of you could possibly know what I’mgoing through right now.”

“I never claimed to know,” Will said, his voice remarkablycalm despite the growing frustration in mine. But his even

calm despite the growing frustration in mine. But his eventone only made me that much angrier.

How could everyone around me be so calm? It didn’t makesense. I turned and started to walk away. I wasn’t even surewhy. It just seemed like the right thing to do at the moment.

“Where are you going?” Will’s asked.

“Away.”

“Alex…” Kael voice sounded annoyed, but I didn’t care. Ijust walked faster, determined to put as much distancebetween myself and them as possible.

***

Of course, putting distance between my self and the guysmeant going back into the woods. Alone. Which was fine atfirst. But soon my anger subsided, leaving room for theuneasiness to come creeping in. To make matters worse, Ihadn’t wandered through the trees for long before all ofthem started to look the same. The sun seemed to beworking against me too; it was like it had switched intooverdrive. It was rapidly setting, so now only a patheticamount of light was actually penetrating the canopy oftreetops—and it was only a matter of time before even thatdisappeared completely. On the plus side, though, I couldstill see pretty clearly even after the sunlight was gone.

Yeah, these new senses were going to come in handy forsure.

With that in mind, it occurred to me that I might be able tofind my way out of this place after all. I tried my best to honemy senses—and I did notice a lot of new sounds andsmells. As it turned out though, the smells were prettyuseless. I smelled what I thought might have been the trailwe’d made coming up here—but every time I tried to followit I just ended up losing it in the billions of other smellsaround me.

So being able to smell my way home was looking unlikely. Istill had my hearing though. I stopped walking and closedmy eyes, thinking maybe I could pick up the sounds of Willand Kael heading home. Then I could follow them at adistance, and show up at the house before they—orVanessa—had too much time to worry about me. I listenedfor a few minutes, to the sound of the wind and the leaves itrustled, to the trickling of a nearby creek, to birds flutteringin the trees above.

I was starting to get restless, when all of a sudden I heard avoice. And then another. I was about to breath a sigh ofrelief—Kael and Will were nearby after all—when I heardanother voice, one clearly distinct from the first two. Andnow that I really listened, those first two didn’t really soundlike the guys.

I slunk back against a nearby tree, and tried to quiet mybreathing and listen. My heartbeat was impossible tosilence, though, and it was beating so loudly that anyonewithin a ten-mile radius could probably have heard it. Thevoices were getting closer—or maybe just louder, it washard to tell. I tried to convince myself it was no big deal. Sothere were people walking around in the woods—so what?That didn’t mean they knew, or cared, I was there too.

After several deep breaths I managed to leave the securityof the tree behind. But the voices were still there, no matterhow many shaky steps I took. I walked for at least anotherfive minutes. I tried to focus on each individual step, until mymind became oblivious to anything else, and the voicesseemed distant, trivial. But then there was another sound.One I couldn’t ignore.

“Will? Kael?”

There was no response other than the crunch of quickfootsteps, getting louder every second. I slowed to a stopand turned circles where I stood, searching the darkness.“This isn’t funny you guys,” I said. A twig snapped nearby.“Look! I’m sorry for running off like that, okay? You guysdon’t have to—oomph!”

don’t have to—oomph!”

My stomach absorbed most of the blow, and I had a hardtime catching my breath for several seconds. I was thrownbackward and shoved up against a nearby tree. As myback slammed against the bark, a hand clamped over mymouth and muffled my automatic scream-response. Mybreath caught in my throat, almost choking me as my eyesmet my attacker’s.

CHAPTER 15: hostages

Kael took a deep, wary breath and shook his head.

“Shut. Up.” Beads of sweat dotted his forehead, and hisface was flushed a brilliant shade of red. He must’vesprinted the entire distance from the clearing to where westood. His gaze was fierce, and he was alternatingbetween glancing at me and the distant forest. It was a fewminutes before he spoke again. “If I take my hand off yourmouth, are you going to start screaming again?” he hissed.

I glared at him, and jerked my mouth away from his hand.He didn’t try to put it back; instead, he placed it against thetree beside me, mirroring the position of his other arm andeffectively pinning me between him and the giant oak.

“I was only screaming because I couldn’t find you guys!” Ishot back in as quiet a voice as I could manage.

“You couldn’t find us? You’re the one who ran away fromus!”

“Whatever,” I said. “You scared the crap out of me, runningat me like that. Do you always have to be so violent?”

“Do you always have to be so reckless?”

I managed, somehow, to bite my tongue on that note. “Didyou hear those voices?” I asked.

“Of course I heard them.” His eyes returned to the forestagain. “That’s the only reason I bothered coming after you,”he whispered. “And it’s a good thing I did...yelling like that— you’re lucky I found you first. Did it never occur to youthat shouting at the top of your lungs in the middle of forest,miles from the house, and miles from me…" His words

came out in a quiet, angry rush. “…my God Alex, didn’t youlisten to anything Eli said? Valkos is—” He fell abruptlysilent, and I didn’t have to ask why.

Because I heard it too.

Both of our heads snapped toward the direction of thevoices. They were louder than ever now and, though I stillcouldn’t understand exactly what they were saying, it wasclear now that there were several different speakers. Icounted at least five, and they all seemed to be talking atonce. They sounded like they were in good spirits, talkingloudly and every now and then breaking up the conversationwith loud peals of laughter.

"There are ten of them, maybe more," Kael whispered.

I gasped at my own miscalculation. "Who are they?"

"Eight lycans, two werewolves. Other than that, I don’t know— I don’t recognize any of them by their scent alone."

"What are they doing here?"

"That's a good question." Kael looked worried as he turnedback to me. "But at least they seem pretty absorbed in theirown conversation. I don’t think they’ve noticed us..." He'dbarely uttered that last syllable when the forest suddenly felleerily quiet.

I closed my eyes and tried to listen, but there was nothing tohear. The shuffling of footsteps had stopped, and thevoices with it. For what must have been several minutes,Kael and I waited on bated breath, holding our place like anawkward statue that had sprung out of the tree trunk.

Then, as quickly as they had gone, the voices came back.They were hushed now, and closer still— close enough thatI could make out some of what was being said.

"Are you sure you know where we're going?" asked a

woman's voice.

"Not much further now," came the quiet reply of another."And yes I’m sure. Besides, why don’t you use your ownsenses? The others obviously passed this way not longago."

"I suppose they're already there, then?” asked the firstwoman. Her tone was sulky. "Having fun without us, nodoubt... I bet they'll already have everything taken care of bythe time we get there."

"If you spent half as much energy walking as you do talking,we could have been there a long time ago." The third voice—a male's—made me jump, because it sounded so closethat the man speaking might as well have been standingright next to me.

Kael closed what little space was between us and broughthis mouth up beside my ear. "Calm down," he said in avoice that was barely a whisper. "Don’t forget how goodyour hearing is now—they aren’t as close as you think." Inodded slowly as he continued. "But they are close enoughto hear you, if they decide to listen for it," he added. "Soyou need to stop breathing so hard."

"I can’t help it," I whispered back. But even as I spoke I triedto take deeper, less-raspy breaths. It wasn’t easy though.And Kael wasn’t exactly helping, being so close like that. Iclosed my eyes and tried to focus on being anywhere butthere.

"Their pace just quickened," Kael said a minute later."They're moving away from us."

"Thank God," I said with a relieved sigh.

"Shhh!"

"You said they were leaving!"

Kael only shook his head in response, and brought a finger

Kael only shook his head in response, and brought a fingerto his lips and shushed me one more time. I rolled my eyesbut kept quiet after that. It was at least a full minute beforehe spoke again.

"I don't hear them anymore," he said. His voice was still justa whisper.

“Does that mean I can talk now?”

“Do what you want,” he muttered, taking a step back anddropping one of his arms back to his side. His other armstayed braced against the tree, his hand less than an inchfrom my head—and the rest of him was practically as close.Not the most comfortable position I’d ever been in.

“Hey Kael?”

He didn’t answer, and he didn’t move. His eyes werestaring blankly—straight at me but through me at the sametime. His lips were stretched into a tight frown.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

He blinked. He still didn’t say anything right away, but atleast now he was actually looking at me. When he finally didspeak, he sounded dazed.

“What?”

“I asked what was wrong?”

“Nothing,” he said. “I was just…thinking about something.”

“Oh.” His gaze held mine, and for some reason I couldn’tthink of anything else to say for a long time. My face startedto get hot. I squirmed uncomfortably beneath him, my backscraping against the rough tree bark. I forced my gazeaway from his and stared instead at a knot on a nearbytree. “We should probably head back to the house,” I saidafter a minute.

“You’re probably right,” he said, his breath warm against mycheek. But he didn’t move. In fact, I’m pretty sure he movedcloser.

I looked back at him, and our noses bumped. My palmswere sweating by this point. This was too close. I was toovulnerable. I had to—

“Let’s go,” Kael said suddenly. He shoved off of the treeand turned away from me.

Now it was me who didn’t move. Kael didn’t wait for me; hislong-legged pace carried him further and further away whileI just stared.

What the heck had almost happened there? I couldn’t evenanswer that question, but I could already feel regretgripping me as I stepped away from the tree. I wonder whathe was thinking now? I would’ve given anything to know… Ieven thought about trying to break my way into his thoughts.I might’ve tried, too. But part of me was undeniably scaredof what I might hear.

“Are you coming?” Kael called. He sounded pissed. Great.

Why did everything have to be so damn complicated?

***

Kael didn't speak to me again until we reached the edge ofthe yard. And even once we were there, all he said was:

"Something's wrong.”

"What?" I'd been too busy worrying about what hadhappened in the woods to pay much attention to what wasgoing on here. "What is it?" I was already starting to feelanxious. It was so quiet…and that scent in the air—was itwhat I thought it was?

“Is that…blood I smell?”

“Is that…blood I smell?”

Kael nodded in response. He didn’t say anything else,though, and then all of a sudden he turned and lookedexpectantly back toward the woods. A second later Irealized why.

"Someone's coming?"

“Madoc's coming,” Kael said, frowning.

I turned toward the sound of the approaching footsteps justin time to see Kael duck to avoid Shane s swinging fist.

Shane was thrown off-balance by his faulty swing, but it onlytook him a split second to regain his center and turn backto face us. I couldn’t help but take a step back when I sawthe mad gleam in his eye. Sweat dripped from his foreheadand slid down his face, which got a little redder with everyheavy breath he took. With slow steps he started toward us,and I automatically moved closer to Kael.

"What the hell's wrong with you Madoc?" Kael's asked,sounding uneasy.

Shane replied only by launching himself so fast at Kael thathe left a cloud of dust where he’d been standing. Kaelshoved me out of the way and managed to dodge, thoughbarely. In a flurry of motion Shane had already turnedaround and leapt again at Kael.

"Okay, now I’m getting annoyed," Kael said, catching oneof Shane's fists and stopping it centimeters from his face. “Iswear to God if you don’t—"

"Why did they take her?" Shane interrupted. "They wentstraight for her. What did you tell them to do with her?"

"I didn't tell anyone anything, you idiot," Kael said throughclenched teeth, shoving him away. "I don't even know whoyou’re talking about!"

Shane's eyes narrowed. He looked dangerously annoyed."Emily!" he bellowed. And this time Kael couldn’t move fastenough to dodge; the side of the porch was several feetaway, but Shane hit him so hard that Kael covered thedistance easily. And he wasn't done. As Kael tried to getback on his feet, Shane flew at him again. An outstretchedhand wrapped around Kael s throat, slammed him backagainst the porch and held him there. "And don’t act likeyou don't know,” Shane said. “Because I know you hadsomething to do with it."

"What the hell are you talk—" Kael’s words wereinterrupted by a gag as Shane tightened his grip.

"Stop it!"

"You’re not really in a position to be lying to me," Shanesaid to Kael, ignoring me completely.

"Let go of me." Kael’s voice was low and surprisinglysteady considering Shane was still crushing his windpipe.But soon his steady breathing became irregular gasps forair. He didn't fight back, though— he just stared at Shanewith an eerily hollow look in his eyes.

"Shane!" I cried, running toward him. I had no idea whatKael was waiting for. I just knew if he wasn't going to stopShane, then I would— preferably before Kael passed outfrom lack of oxygen. "Stop it! You're going to kill him!" I wasinches from his face, practically screaming right into hisear, but Shane didn’t so much as flinch.

"I wish it was that easy," Shane said darkly. "But I’m nottrying to kill him, anyway. Not this time. And I'll stop when heagrees to answer my question," he said.

Kael's face looked as resolute as ever, and he still madeno move to fight back.

"This is so stupid!" I said, grabbing one of Shane’s arms inboth my hands and attempting to pull it away.

"Knock it off," Shane said. "This doesn't have anything todo with you."

"That's beside the point," I said, gritting my teeth as I dugmy nails into his skin. At first, Shane seemed indifferent toany pain I might’ve been causing him. Frustrated, I stared atmy fingers, silently hoping and praying for a bit of help.

And to my surprise— it came.

This time, the transformation was almost instantaneous.Black claws extended from the tips of my fingers and duginto Shane's arm. He jerked, either from pain or surprise—hard to tell which since his expression didn’t change—and Imanaged to wrench his arm away from Kael’s neck. Littlepools of blood were welling up where my claws had duginto his flesh, but I didn’t let go just yet. Shane looked fromme, to his arm, and back to me again, rage lighting up hisfeatures.

"I said knock it off."

I had to let go of Shane’s arm as he flung it backward,throwing me back with it. I hit the ground with a thud and satup angrily, claws stretched and fully ready to get even.

But Kael beat me to it.

I’d seen Kael looked pissed off plenty of times before, butnothing compared to the look on his face now. He got to hisfeet in a flash, grabbed Shane by the shirt collar and liftedhim several inches off the ground.

“You don’t touch her. Ever. Got that?” Kael said quietly.After he’d said this, his mouth kept moving—only now nowords were actually coming out. At least, none that I couldhere; Shane must’ve heard something though, because hiseyes went wide all of a sudden.

A blinding slash of orange light lit up Shane’s face for theblink of an eye. After it flashed, it was several seconds

before I could see clearly again; when the scene cameback into focus, the side of Shane’s face was singed adark shade of gray, and several streams of what lookedlike blood were dripping down it.

Kael released his grip and Shane stumbled back, lookingshocked and angry. I took several steps back too, and myhand flew to my mouth as Shane dropped to his knees,holding the side of his head. I was still staring at Shane—not sure whether I should be amazed, or appalled, orterrified—when I heard Kael’s voice behind me.

“Are you okay?”

I didn’t take my eyes off Shane, who was still clutching hishead in silent pain. “What did you do just now?” I askedquietly

“What are you talking about?”

My head jerked around to face him. The second my eyesmet him I felt weak. Terrified, I think. “Are you serious? Youbarely moved…and you…look at him…”

“He’s fine,” Kael said in a cold voice.

At that moment, almost as if to prove Kael’s point, Shanegot to his feet. I breathed a small sigh of relief as he turnedto face us.

“What was that weird light a second ago?” I asked, turningback to Kael. This time, I didn’t meet his eyes all the way.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said again.

“I know what I saw,” I said, starting to get angry. “And itdefinitely wasn’t normal.”

“I never claimed I was normal,” Kael said flatly.

I was about to reply when Shane’s laughter suddenlyinterrupted. “Why don’t you tell her the truth, Kael?” he said.

interrupted. “Why don’t you tell her the truth, Kael?” he said.

"Why don't you shut up, Madoc?" Kael replied. "Unlessyou're going to be useful for once and tell us what's goingon here?"

“Why the hell would I tell you anything? Especially after thatlittle demonstration.”

“What was that even a demonstration of?” I’d officially lostmy temper now. “Would someone care to fill me in?”

Shane looked at me curiously for a second, then his lipsparted into a half-smile. “Still a human more or less, huh?” Icouldn’t tell whether he meant it as an insult or not.“Shouldn’t expect you to recognize black magic when yousee it, I guess.”

“Black magic?”

“Yeah. Pyromancy if you want to get specific. Keep hangingaround him, and I’m sure you’ll get to see a lot more of it.”

I looked at Kael, a small shiver running down my spine. Hedidn’t look at me. I tried not to think about what this littledevelopment meant. Even before now, I’d still had myreserves about Kael, sure. I had my reserves about all ofthem. But I’d been starting to think that, if I could havetrusted any of them, it would’ve been Kael. Right nowthough? Right now I didn’t just not trust him—I was scaredof him.

“Why do you know black magic?” I asked quietly.

“This conversation doesn’t need to happen right now,” hesaid under his breath, still not looking at me.

“Nonsense,” Shane said, looking eager all of a sudden. “It’sall relevant, I think. Don’t you think you owe her the truth?”

Kael glared at him, but didn’t answer one way or the other.

Shane raised an eyebrow. “Keep quiet then,” he said. “As ifmy suspicions about you needed reinforcing,” he addedunder his breath.

Kael laughed bitterly. “Suspect me all you want. You can’tprove anything.”

“You’re probably right,” Shane said. He cracked hisknuckles and took a step toward us.

"This guy just doesn’t know when to quit," Kael muttered.

"No, he doesn't," I agreed offhand. "But..."

"But what?" he asked, turning to me with a furious look."Please tell me you aren't taking him seriously—the guy's araving idiot, in case you haven’t noticed.”

"Maybe. But Eli said—"

"Forget what Eli said! You don’t understand—this isn’t thesame.”

I bit my lip, and was almost thankful to see Shane nowrunning at us. Because as Shane’s fist drew back and gotready to swing Kael had no choice but to stop glaring atme. I stepped back, out of the way, but Kael stoodmotionless until the last possible second and then sprangaside. Shane’s fist hit nothing but dirt.

Shane bounced off the ground and threw himself towardKael again. And again and again Kael dodged, until asingle misstep gave Shane his chance. His fist slammedinto Kael’s jaw, sending him stumbling. Kael dropped toone knee and looked up, wiping the blood away from hismouth.

Shane dove at him again, but Kael slid out of the way andhis fist caught Shane right in the gut. Now Shane wasstumbling, holding his gut and gasping for air. Kaelstraightened up and took one last glance at Shane, whodidn’t look like he was in a hurry to get up.

didn’t look like he was in a hurry to get up.

Kael walked back to me. “We should try and find theothers,” he said without looking at me.

I nodded uncertainly. “Yeah.”

He started toward the house. I followed after a minute,keeping a good distance between us. But neither of usmade it very far before Shane’s voice called:

“You think you’re leaving? Just like that?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I heard Kael say. I closed thedistance between us before turning back. Shane was onhis feet again, still looking every bit the role of a madman.

“I’m going to kill him,” Kael said.

“Yeah, please don’t do that,” I said. “Witnessing a murder’sdefinitely not on my list of things of things to do before I die.”

Kael glanced at me, and I think he almost smiled. But anyhumor in his face drained instantly as Shane started asprint toward us. I didn’t move this time. In fact, I mirroredKael’s stance, bracing for what looked like an inevitablefight.

Nobody got to throw a single punch though, because just asShane got close a blur of gray and white soared by me andcollided with him. The blur materialized into a snarling wolfthat took several threatening steps toward Shane. Asecond later a wolf with whitish gold fur padded up besideme and nudged my arm with its nose.

(Are you okay, Alex?) Vanessa asked.

I looked at Kael, unsure of how to answer. Vanessa nudgedme again and let out a low whine. My automatic responsewas to do what I would’ve done with my dog, and Iscratched her between her ears—each of which was a bigas my hand. I was still stroking the silky fur when I turned

back to Shane and the gray wolf, who was in the middle ofshifting. It turned out to be Eli, and within seconds he hadreturned to his human form. I gave a disgusted sigh. Hemade it look so easy.

"I know you're upset Shane." Eli’s authoritative voice neverceased to amaze me. It just didn’t fit with his appearance.He was about half Shane’s size, and had to look up to meethis eyes. "...But I would like for you to kindly rememberwhose territory you are on," Eli finished. Shane didn't replyright away. He looked back and forth between Eli and Kaela couple of times—you could almost see the wheels turningin his head.

"Forgive me, Eli," he finally said. Shane's voice soundedgenuine, but there was a hint of mockery in his smile. "I wasjust trying to do your family a favor by ridding it of some badblood that seems be running through it."

"How thoughtful of you,” Eli said with a small scowl. "But,regardless of your opinion on the matter, Kael is—and willremain—a part of this family, so long as he chooses to."

Shane regarded those words with a look of unmistakabledisgust.

Eli continued, his voice level as ever. "Now I think we canboth agree that we are wasting precious time, so I wouldsuggest setting these differences aside for the time being."

For a second, I was half-afraid Shane was going to flip outon Eli next. But then he gave a single curt nod.

Eli turned back to face us for the first time. There was ablood-stained rag tied diagonally across his face, coveringhis left eye and disappearing underneath his hair.

"What happened?" I asked, my legs automatically carryingme toward him as I eyed the makeshift-bandage.

"Hm? Oh this...” He lightly touched the bandage with hisfingers and shrugged. “It is only a scratch. But Vanessa is

fingers and shrugged. “It is only a scratch. But Vanessa ismaking me wear this ridiculous bandage."

"So that it doesn't get infected!" came Vanessa's insistentcry. "Do you want to go blind?"

"No, I suppose not," Eli said sheepishly, suddenly seeminga lot less like an authoritative young man and a lot more likea child being scolded by his mother.

"That's what I thought." Now back to her human form,Vanessa marched herself over to his side. "Now, let melook at it and make sure it hasn’t gotten dirty."

"But I mean... how did that happen?” I asked.

"You guys missed all the excitement," Eli said, flinching asVanessa’s hand reached for the bandage.

I felt nauseous all of a sudden. "What excitement?"

"We had a few visitors while you were gone," Vanessa saidas she loosened Eli bandage and inspected his eye.

"Who?" Kael asked.

Vanessa shrugged. "We didn't recognize any of them,” shereplied. “Which is bad news in itself.” I gave her a confusedlook.

"It means Valkos’ forces are growing, perhaps faster thanwe originally thought," Eli clarified. "There were seven ofthem at first, all of which were new faces. We managed totake care of all but two of them, but then reinforcementsshowed up. And there were at least ten of them. At least tenmore we didn’t recognize."

"The ones that passed us in the woods, I bet," I said quietly,glancing sideways at Kael. I felt even sicker. We should’veknown they were coming here. We should’ve been here.Beside me, Kael shook his head but didn’t say anything.

"I don’t understand," I said. “I'm assuming they were afterme, right? But we passed right by them in the woods. Weheard them. They must not have been looking too hard if—""Apparently, he’s not just after you," Shane interrupted.

"What?"

“They took your sister, didn’t they?” Shane said.

“Yeah but—”

"He’s collecting hostages."

"What?" I shook my head numbly, staring into Shane’s cold,dark eyes. "They already have my sister…isn’t that enoughfor them?" Shane didn’t reply.

“Valkos doesn’t like to take chances,” Kael said quietly.“Having more than one hostage gives him more room towork with." His factual tone annoyed me.

"How about you don’t talk about my little sister like she’sjust some pawn for this guy to work with?”

“That’s exactly what she is to him,” he said impatiently. “Herand Emily both—and anyone else he can get his hands on.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to—”

"Guys!" Vanessa interjected quietly, beating out Kael justas he opened his mouth to interrupt me. "We're wastingtime here.” She gave me and Kael a stern look, and weboth fell grudgingly silent. Vanessa cleared her throat andcontinued. "Back to what happened,” she said. “They wentafter Emily first. They could probably tell how weak she was— made her an easy target. We tried to stop them ofcourse, but we were way past outnumbered by that point. Ahandful of them carried her off...” Her voice broke a little,and she had to take a deep breath before continuing. “Willand Jack followed them… and…”

"And we haven’t heard anything from them in a while now,"

"And we haven’t heard anything from them in a while now,"Shane finished for her in a quiet, seething voice.

"But it’s possible they are purposely not responding, forfear their thoughts might be intercepted," Eli said, lookingpointedly at Vanessa with his one good eye as she finishedretying the bandage over his other.

"That's what we're hoping for," Vanessa said, her voicealmost steady again. She turned to me and attempted asmile. "Anyway, not all of them left with Emily…there wereat least half a dozen left for us to deal with."

"That's how this happened," Eli said, pointing to his eye.

"This is all my fault." It was all I could think to say.

"Please do not worry yourself about it, Alex," Eli said. "Weall knew when we took you into our home that it would onlybe a matter of time before Valkos found out, even with allthe precautions we took. None of us expected it to comethis soon, perhaps, but we knew it would come,nonetheless."

"So you knew there were risks. Doesn’t change the fact thatI brought this on all of you."

"We can debate that later, if you insist," Eli said. "Rightnow, we should be thinking about our course of action."

"Isn't it obvious?" Shane said before anyone else even hada chance to think about speaking. "What else is there todo? They struck first— and I say if they want a fight, we givethem a fight. Besides, as soon as I tell my pack membersabout Emily, they’ll be ready to tear Valkos’ throat out."

"Or die trying," Kael said.

"My lycans aren't afraid of death," Shane shot back.

"Oh good,” Kael said. “Because that’s exactly what you’ll beleading them to if you try and launch an attack with that sort

of mentality."

Shane gave a dismissive snort. "I wouldn't expect awerewolf to understand the concept of dying with honor—or the concept of honor period, for that matter."

If it hadn't been for the way Shane had said it— like it wassome sort of disgusting swearword— I probably wouldn’thave given a second thought to the word ‘werewolf’. Icouldn’t help but notice though, how tense the air hadgotten all of a sudden. And it was obvious the word hadn’tslipped by Eli and Vanessa unnoticed. Because for all thattalk about Kael being part of the family, they both suddenlyseemed to have lost interest in the conversation.

To me, it was just one more word in the jumbled mess ofeverything the past week had thrown at me. The silencenow lingering over us reinforced at least one thing I’dlearned about the two races, though: clearly, Eli hadn’t beenkidding when he said werewolves and lycans didn’t usuallymix—in conversation or otherwise. Shane and Kael lookedready to kill, and I was almost positive they were both fullycapable of it. So I spoke up quickly, before either of themhad a chance to snap.

“I was kind of hoping nobody would have to die— with orwithout honor,” I said. For a second, I thought the two ofthem were actually so focused on hating each other thatthey were oblivious to anything I was saying. But thenShane turned his head slowly to look at me.

“Clearly, you have no idea who we’re dealing with. Peopleare going to die.”

“Well thank you for that bright little ray of sunshine,” I saidscornfully. “But yes—clearly I have no idea. But you guys do,so it would be really great if you could stop trying to kill eachother for a few minutes so we could figure out where the hellto go from here.”

Shane gave Kael one last glare and the turned his attentionfully to me, his posture relaxing slightly. “I told you,” he said,

fully to me, his posture relaxing slightly. “I told you,” he said,shaking his head. “There’s nothing to figure out. Not for me,anyway. You guys can sit here and debate and formulateyour little plans as long as you want—but I’ve wastedenough time. So if you guys will excuse me…”

And then he turned and actually started to walk away.

“Wait a second!” I called before I could stop myself.

Shane halted in mid-step and looked back over hisshoulder at me. “What?”

“Are you serious? You’re just going to go? Just like that?”

“Yeah. Why?”

I bit my lip, hesitating. I knew what I wanted to say. And Iknew exactly the reaction my words would get. “Well… thenI’m going with you,” I said anyway.

“No you aren’t.”

“Like hell you are.”

“That is a really bad idea, Alex.”

Eli was closest to me, so I turned and replied to him first.“Maybe it is a bad idea. And I’m definitely open to anyothers—but I don’t hear anybody else suggesting any so…”I swallowed hard before continuing. “I’m with Shane on thisone.” I almost choked a little bit when I said that last part. Ididn’t really know Shane, but after witnessing his violentdisplay of temper and obvious prejudice, I wasn’t sure how Ifelt about being on the same page with this guy.

Shane was studying me, looking curious and maybe a littlepleased. “Of course you’re with me,” he said in carefulvoice. “You want to save your sister, right?” His questionsounded more like a statement. “I bet standing around likethis is killing you.”

And that was all it took. Somebody understood me. Finally.And—if only for that moment—I was prepared to followShane anywhere. I stared at Shane, at a momentary lossfor words. I was about to agree, but Kael spoke before Imanaged to.

“Don’t act like you have her interests at heart,” he said.

I spun around to face him, feeling a sudden surge of angerthat I couldn’t have justified if I’d tried. I met his eyes briefly,and then looked away just as quickly. My heart sank. Whydid he have to be the voice of reason, anyway? I knew Icouldn’t argue that Shane was truly trying to help me. I justwanted to think someone was on my side for once.

“What are you suggesting?” Shane asked, lowering hiseyebrows.

“Having the one thing Valkos wants would be reallyconvenient for you, wouldn’t it? Maybe none of your packwill have to die after all, huh?”

“I hope you’re not trying to say I would—”

“He’s trying to use you, Alex,” Kael said bluntly.

“Kael…” Eli began.

“I’m getting kind of tired of your lies,” Shane said, his lipscurling into a snarl. “Besides, even if we left here andmarched straight up to Valkos’ front door step, Alex wouldstill be safer going with me than staying here with you.”

“It doesn’t matter one way or the other—there’s no way inhell she’s going with you.”

“You can’t stop me from—” The defeated look on Kael’sface brought my argument to an abrupt halt.

“Not just with you,” he said. “If she goes, I’m going too.”

I wanted to run and throw my arms around him. And if part

I wanted to run and throw my arms around him. And if partof me didn’t suspect that Kael had only said that becausehe liked pissing Shane off, I probably would have. I tried notto dwell on Kael’s motives, though. I was just glad he wascoming with me.

“There are five of us,” Eli said suddenly. “One of whom cannot even shift.” He said it in his usual, factual tone—it wasn’tcondescending at all.

But I still felt like I was being called out, and it still stung.

“I know I can’t yet—but it could take weeks for me to learn,” Isaid. “We don’t have weeks.”

“This is a really bad idea,” he said, unmoved.

“She brings up a good point though,” Vanessa said quietly.“Right now, or this time next week—what does it matter?We don’t really even have a clear idea of what we’re facing,anyway. All the time in the world might not be enough toprepare us, one way or the other.”

“A couple of days could make a big difference though,”Kael said. “It would give us time to—”

“You’ve already agreed to come with me!” I interruptedimpatiently.

“…Not because I agree with you,” he said, frowning at me.“Eli’s right—this is a horrible idea. We should at least hangback long enough to form some sort of plan.”

“I already have a plan,” Shane growled. “It’s simple, and itstarts with not standing around doing nothing while Valkoskills off two of my pack members, along with the girl’ssister, and not to mention Will. Some family you guys havehere—I’ll be sure to let Will know just how you feel abouthim. After I rescue him, I guess.”

“Shut-up.” The low, threatening voice didn’t sound likeVanessa at all, but it was her fingers that dug into Shane’s

shoulder a second later. She jerked him around to face her,her gaze livid. “I like you Shane,” she said in a steady voice.“But if you ever suggest that I would abandon Will, or Emily,or any of them again…I swear to God I will rearrange thatpretty face of yours in the most painful way possible.” Sheflashed him a charming smile and shoved him away. Therewas silence again. I just stared while Eli shook his head,and Kael looked like he’d gotten everything he wanted forChristmas.

“Alex.” I flinched as Vanessa turned to me, even though herexpression had already gone soft again. “I’m with you, if youwant to go.”

I nodded, and Vanessa walked over to my side. Kael andEli exchanged glances but didn’t move, and Shane clearedhis throat.

“Right,” he said, eying Vanessa warily. “I’m leaving. Youguys do what you want.” He was almost out of sight before Igot my feet to start moving after him. Vanessa caught upwith me a second later. Neither of us said anything.

We just walked.

CHAPTER 16: love

“Yeah, this is definitely a problem,” Shane muttered. “Whatnow?” I asked. I didn’t know if I could handle anymore badnews at the moment. “Their scents are practically on top ofone another here,” he said.

“Which means…?”

“It means Will and Jack caught up with our new friends afterall,” Kael said, his tone impatient and borderlinecondescending. The few words he’d said to me since we’dleft the house had all been in that same tone, and it wasstarting to get really annoying. I assumed his bad moodtoward me probably had something to do with the fact thatI’d sided with Shane. But I had no intentions of apologizingfor that, so I was just going to have to weather it.

“So where are they now?” I wondered aloud, making a pointof avoiding eye contact with Kael as I spoke. “Bad newsthere, I’m afraid,” came Vanessa’s voice. She and Eli hadbeen scouting ahead of us, but now the two of themreemerged from the trees and into the clearing we’dstopped in. They both wore identical worried looks. “Thereare two paths that lead away from this clearing,” Eli said.“One group appears to have taken Emily one way, whileanother group went in the complete opposite direction—with Will and Jack.” Shane let out a string of curse words.“Why would they split up?” he asked. “My guess would bethey’re trying to separate us, too,” Vanessa said. “Or slowus down, at the very least.” “So they know we’re followingthem?” I hypothesized.

Eli nodded. “So it would seem.” “So which way are wesupposed to go now?”

“Ever heard of divide and conquer?” Shane interjectedwithout missing a beat. “There are five of us—three go one

way, two go the other. The group of three should probably—” “So you’re suggesting we do exactly what they want usto do?” Kael interrupted. “Brilliant. They’ll never see itcoming.”

I sighed, anticipating the oncoming argument.

“We’re not even sure how many we’re up against,” Kaelwent on. “All five of us might not even be enough to take onhalf of them. If we separate, the chance of us rescuinganybody is slim to none.” “All right then—we stick together,”Shane said through clenched teeth. “Now are you going tobe the one who decides which way we go? Are you goingto decide whose lives we save? No? I didn’t think so.”

Kael fixed him with a ruthless stare. “We’d have a betterchance for success going after Will and Jack,” he said.Shane turned to him, his expression furious. But Kaelwasn’t done. “There are two of them and—as far as weknow—they’re both still healthy. They could aid in their ownescape.”

“This is not a gambling opportunity,” Shane snapped. “Justbecause there’s a better chance of—” “For the love of allthings holy—will you guys give it a rest?” Vanessa shouted,causing everyone to jump. “The bickering is not helping,”she added as everyone turned to stare at her. I mouthed asilent ‘thank you’ to Vanessa as Eli nodded in agreementwith her words. “Vanessa’s right. Shane, Kael—I think youboth make valid points.” Kael and Shane both gave Eli adisgruntled look. Clearly, a shared victory wasn’t whateither had in mind. I don’t think Eli cared. “I do not think weshould separate,” he continued. “But I do not think weshould follow one group over the other, either.” “And theother option is…?”

“I think we can be pretty sure that—whatever route they taketo get there— they are all heading for the same place,right?” No one disagreed. “Shane, you mentioned the restof your pack earlier. How soon can they reach us?”“Probably a couple of hours,” Shane said, paying full

attention to Eli for the first time. “Maybe sooner. I haven’tbeen in contact with them for a while now, since we’vegotten so far away—it would be too easy for ourconversation to get intercepted.” “I assumed as much.” “ButI can be within a safe range in no time at all, if I hurry,”Shane continued in a rush. “We could be back by sunset,no problem.” “That would give us time to plan our nextmove…” “Which is what?” Kael interjected savagely. “A full-on assault? Eli, I expect this kind of thing from this idiot” —he jerked his thumb toward Shane—“but from you?”

Eli looked like he’d been slapped across the face. I couldn’thelp but wonder how often he’d been accused of beingwrong—it wasn’t something that had ever occurred to me,to be honest. He always seemed so sure of himself, soconfident and full of authority. Now he was quiet, and didn’tseem to want to take his eyes off the ground; if he’d been inwolf form I think his tail would’ve been drooped between hislegs. It was several moments before he managed to lookup and meet Kael’s intimidating glare.

“If nothing else, Shane should still go,” Eli said as Vanessaplaced a hand on his shoulder. “No matter what,reinforcements are a good idea. I do not think the five of usare going to be able to do much of anything alone. And Iknow that I, for one, am exhausted. We could rest while wewait for Shane to get back.”

Nobody it seemed—not even Kael—could argue tooenthusiastically against the suggestion of rest. So Shaneleft, and we stayed and set up camp in the clearing.

The guys had ragged on Vanessa for taking the time topack plenty of food, but I was definitely thankful for it.Because while Eli and Kael were perfectly content withhunting their supper, I wasn’t planning on leaving my humantaste buds behind anytime soon. I got the impression thatVanessa would’ve liked to join them on their huntingexpedition, but she insisted that wasn’t the case. So thetwo of us held down the fort while eating our way throughthe bag full of food she’d brought and waiting for them to

the bag full of food she’d brought and waiting for them toget back.

Once I’d eaten as much as my stomach could possiblyhold, I stretched out and laid back in the rough grass,clasping my hands together behind my head.

“Hey Vanessa?” I said after a few minutes of stargazing.

“Hm?”

I hesitated, even though I was the one who had interruptedthe silence.

“Do you think it’s true? All that stuff about the pact? I mean—do you really think I’m the descendant of that guy?”

Vanessa frowned. “It’s the only thing that makes sense,”she said with a shrug. “I can’t think of any other reasonValkos would risk openly attacking you and your family likethat. It was definitely a dangerous move for him—one I don’tthink he would’ve made if he didn’t have a lot to gain fromit.”

I considered her words for a second. “This Valkos guy…justhow big of a threat are we talking, anyway?” I asked, sittingup.

Vanessa fixed her eyes on the small campfire we’d built,grabbed a stick lying at her feet and started breaking it intosmaller pieces and tossing them into the fire. For a second,I didn’t think she was going to talk. But then she turned tome, shaking her head. “We’re talking…” she began slowly.“About a creature who raided villages, slipping into housesin the middle of the night and stealing sleeping children sohe could infect them. Because the younger they were—”she paused, and flung what was left of the stick into theflames, “—the easier they were to control once theybecame werewolves, which made them perfect candidatesfor his army.”

I stared blankly, trying to digest that sickening little factoid.

But Vanessa had more to say.

“He’s smart. Manipulative. All he used in the beginning—allhe needed— were words. A lot of us thought this guy knewwhat he was talking about. And I’m not talking about badlycans, either. I’m talking normal, smart, well-respectedlycans—lycans who you’d never think would hurt a soul—started raising their own war-cry against the humans thanksto him.”

Her voice trailed off towards the end. A wall of water hadformed over her eyes, and they shimmered in the light ofthe flames. The unshed tears might’ve just been because ofthe smoke stinging her eyes. But something told me thatwasn’t the case.

“You knew some of those people?” I guessed quietly.

She gave one, barely-noticeable nod. “He tore apart a lot offamilies,” she said without looking up.

Vanessa didn’t seem like she wanted to go on. After wewere silent for several minutes I started to feel a little badfor even bringing it up, so I tried find something to changethe subject with. I had one topic in mind that I was almostsure Vanessa would be up to talking about. But I reallydidn’t want to talk about Kael right now. There was toomuch uncertainty there now. Too many questions, questionsI wanted to talk to him—and only him— about.

Of course, there was no guaranteeing he would actually bewilling to talk to me about them. I lifted my head and lookedat Vanessa, who was staring miserably into the fire.

“Hey …you know the other night, when we were talkingabout Sera?” I ventured. “You said we’d talk later, aboutwhy Kael didn’t want me to know who she was…” I let thetopic hang in the air.

Vanessa looked up and nodded, but didn’t say anything.Figuring she needed a little more persuasion, I went aheadand divulged—probably against my better judgment—what

and divulged—probably against my better judgment—whathad almost happened earlier between me and Kael in thewoods. I don’t know why I brought it up—there were somany other ways this conversation could have gone.Besides, I’d been planning on keeping this particularincident to myself, and also on pretending it had neveractually happened.

As it turned out, though, it was just the distraction Vanessaneeded.

“I knew it,” she said once I’d finished talking.

“Knew what?” I asked. Oh God. What had I done?

“You and him. Him and you. You know, I never would’veseen this coming but…” she looked thoughtful for a second,then she bobbed her head up and down and brought hergaze—her suddenly very serious gaze—back down tomine. “But man—it’s so obvious!”

“What’s so obvious?”

“That he’s in—”

I held up a hand, cutting her off. “Whoa. Whoa now.” Herlips had been forming the “L-word” and, as determined as Imight’ve been to distract her, we were so not going there.Or at least I wasn’t.

Vanessa, on the other hand, was already there. “Thatexplains why he didn’t want you to know who Sera was,”she said.

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m pretty sure there’s something between Kael and Sera—or at least, there used to be. I’ve tried to get him to tell mejust what that something is, but he’s not real big on talkingabout his past.” She shrugged. “But it’s kind of obvious,right? You saw yourself that first day at the lake, how he justlet her go? I’ve fought beside Kael enough to know that he

definitely holds back whenever Sera’s concerned. He’sprotecting her.” Her hands clapped suddenly together andshe nodded excitedly. “There are still lingering feelingsthere.” She said it as if she was presenting a fact.

“And that has what to do with me…?”

“Don’t you see? He doesn’t want you to know that he stillcares about Sera. Might ruin his chances with you.” Shefolded her arms across her chest and nodded solemnly.

“Wow.” It was all I could manage to say. A bemused smilespread across my face. “That’s…not logical at all.”

“There’s nothing logical about love, Alex.”

“Don’t use that word,” I warned her.

She looked undettered. “What? I call ‘em like I see ‘em.”

“You’re crazy.”

“You’re crazy if you don’t jump on this golden opportunity,”she said simply.

“Golden opportunity?” I repeated, stifling a laugh.

“Oh, don’t act like you don’t think he’s hot.”

I coughed so hard I nearly choked. “I never said he wasn’t,” Imuttered. For a second it felt like the flames of our fire hadjumped to my cheeks. I heard movement, somewhere in thedistance—probably just a squirrel or something, but it senta panicky realization through me just the same. “Look,considering he’s got supersonic hearing and all, how aboutwe drop this particular conversation for the time being?And by ‘for the time being’ I actually mean forever.”

“He’s been way out of hearing range for a while now.”

“How can you tell?”

“Because my sense of smell is better than my hearing, and Ilost track of his scent some time ago,” she replied. “Eli, onthe other hand, is close.”

Sure enough, less than a minute after the words left hermouth a gray wolf trotted its way into the clearing. Hisappearance was a welcome interruption to ourconversation, but I shuddered at the thought of how much ofthat conversation he’d heard.

I tried to ignore the splotches of red covering Eli’s face andneck—I didn’t want to think about the poor little woodlandcreature that had become his dinner. It didn’t help that Icould still smell the alkaline scent of the blood, either. As heapproached us, I had to stop my hand from automaticallycovering my mouth in disgust. I swallowed hard. How was Igoing to get use to this stuff? “Where’s Kael?” I asked,trying not to think about how weird it was to be talking to awolf—a wolf who, for that matter, lifted his head toward meas I spoke and whose blue-gray eyes were glowing withobvious understanding. I ignored the smug look Vanessashot me.

(He offered to take the first watch, while the rest of ussleep.) I nodded to let him know I’d heard him. He turned toVanessa next. (Are you going to sleep like that?) I heardhim ask. She shook her head silently, looking at me. “I don’tmean to make you the lone human, but it’s much safer forus to sleep like that,” she said, nodding toward Eli.“Heightened senses… and better equipped to fight shouldsomething happen, you know?” “I understand,” I told her,turning away. I didn’t want her to see my frown andmisunderstand it. I knew why she didn’t want to stay human.I didn’t want to stay this way, either. I’d never really thoughtof myself as weak, but staring at Eli, and the clear outline ofhis muscles beneath his fur, I couldn’t help but feel a littlepathetic. A little useless. My fists clenched at the thought ofmy failed attempt to shift earlier today. “You should restwhile you can,” Vanessa said. I knew she was probablyright, but the thought of using this downtime to work onshifting was tempting. It wasn’t especially reassuring

knowing that they’d all agreed to stop and rest mostlybecause they knew I needed to. And I was almost sure thatwas the case—because despite stopping being hissuggestion, I remembered Eli saying they could go for dayswithout sleeping. I wondered when I’d get to that point. If myheavy eyelids and aching muscles were any indication, Iwas in for a long wait.

Exhaustion eventually won out, and I decided shiftingpractice probably wouldn’t be successful right now anyway.So instead, I settled for marveling at Vanessa’stransformation as I did my best to make myself comfortableon the forest floor. Her shift was graceful—there was noother word for it. It was fitting, then, that the creature shebecame was elegant, with a build that was muscular, yetstreamlined. Her form reminded me more of the greyhoundmy friend Chelsea use to own than of a wolf. If Chelsea hadgiven said greyhound steroids on a pretty regular basis,maybe.

Eli too, now that I really looked at him, was easilydistinguishable from the creature Kael became—thoughperhaps not to the extent that Vanessa was. Both Eli andVanessa were taller, mostly thanks to legs that seemedalmost too long for their bodies. Their heads were narrowertoo, with longer snouts and eyes that were smaller andmore cat-like than dog-like. They were almost elegant-looking, with long, flowing fur that feathered out along theirlegs, ears and tails.

As the last of the silky white fur spread across Vanessa’sback, I reached into my bag, grabbed Kael’s hoodie—which I had no intentions of giving back, even if he waspissed at me—and folded it into a makeshift pillow. I wascomatose before my head even hit it.

***

Ever since I was little, I’d never been able to remember anydreams I had. But from about the time I was five onward, Iused to wake up in the middle of the night screaming a lot,and I eventually I came to understand the concept of

and I eventually I came to understand the concept ofnightmares, thanks to my parent’s explanations and thethings my friends told me. No matter how much I learnedthough, when I woke up whatever I’d been dreaming about—nightmarish or otherwise—was always long gone frommy mind. But not tonight. Tonight I woke up covered in acold sweat, vivid images still flashing in my mind. My eyesfell on Eli and Vanessa, who were both still sleeping. In atremendous effort not to wake them, I managed to swallowthe scream that had built in my throat. I rocked back andforth where I sat, trying to chase the images away. I didn’tdare shut my eyes again. But even as I stared unblinkinglyahead, the horror movie in my head continued to play, theimages as clear as if they were being projected against thebackdrop of trees. I was watching my little sister. She wassmiling and waving at me, and she looked perfectly solid—as real as Eli or Vanessa. I almost got to my feet andwalked over to her. But a voice stopped me. It only said hername, but that was all it took to make me cringe to a stop,posed half-way between sitting and standing. After thevoice said its one word, there was silence for severalseconds. As the silence stretched on, the smile slowlyslipped away from Lora’s face. Her expression twisted, andshe dropped to her knees and doubled over. When I ran toher side, though, she pushed me away. She didn’t want myhelp. For what seemed like hours, she just stared up at me,her breathing giving way to dry heaves as drops of sweatslid down her face. Then, almost as quickly as it had come,the painful look fell from her eyes. At first, a blank, hollowexpression replaced the agonizing one. But as I watchedher smile became crooked, and twisted into somethingunlike anything I’d ever seen cross her face. Her eyes grewdark, shadows sinking over them and making it look likeshe hadn’t slept in days. I tried to say her name, but nowords came out.

She rocked back on her heels and jumped to her feet, andwith a single stride she’d closed the space between us. Inone swift motion her hand shot out and struck my chestdirectly above my heart. When I looked down, though, Irealized it wasn’t her hand that had hit me, but what lookedlike a broken shard of glass. It was sticking half-way out of

my chest, an unnatural amount of blood gurgling up where ithad pierced my skin.

I’d woken up just before my knees hit the ground. It wasstrangely comforting watching Vanessa and Eli sleep, theirsides rising steadily up and down and their ears and tailstwitching every few seconds. I reached a shaky hand outand let it rest in the soft fur between Vanessa’s ears. Whenshe seemed oblivious to my touch, I moved closer, huddlingagainst her side and trying to focus on the rhythmicthumping of her heartbeat. I tried steadying my breathing intime with hers, but that proved all but impossible. I wasstaring into the starless sky, my vision slowly blurring out offocus, when Kael’s voice disrupted the still night air. “Alex?”

I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. I didn’t want to talk tohim. I didn’t want him to see me like this, upset over somestupid dream.

“Alex?” he said again. God he was annoying. “What?” Ifinally whispered back, reluctantly moving away fromVanessa. I didn’t want to leave the comfort of her side, but Ididn’t want to wake her up, either. I didn’t turn to face Kael.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

My lips had formed the word ‘yes’ before he’d even finishedasking the question. But something stopped me fromsaying it out loud.

“I just had a nightmare,” I said instead. “I’m sorry if I wokeyou up.”

“I wasn’t asleep. I’ve just been for a walk—couldn’t sleepmyself, actually.” “Is everything okay?” I asked robotically.“Don’t worry about me,” he said. “What about you?” “I’ll beokay. It was just a dream.” “If you want to talk about it…” Hiswords snapped me briefly out of my daze. I raised aneyebrow. So he was being nice to me again? “You seemlike you’re in a better mood,” I said. “Shane’s gone.” I rolledmy eyes. Of course. I reluctantly drug my fingers out ofVanessa’s fur and crawled away from her. “Such a mature

Vanessa’s fur and crawled away from her. “Such a maturerelationship the two of you share,” I said, my voice still awhisper. “How old are you guys, anyway?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I’m four-hundred and six. I don’t actuallyknow how old Shane is, nor do I care.” “Four-hundred andsix?”

I couldn’t help but stare. He didn’t look a day over nineteen.“That’s what I said,” he replied. My disbelief must’ve beenobvious on my face, because he continued: “I’ve figured outthe math before, and it takes about twenty-five human yearsfor us to look like we’ve aged one year, give or take. So,I’m a little over four-hundred years old, but I think that’s onlyequal to about sixteen human years.” He paused, his fingermoving through the air as if using an invisible calculator. “Ofcourse, I wasn’t turned until I was three, and my first shiftdidn’t happen for a few months after that, so I guesstechnically I’m about nineteen or twenty in human years.”

I shook my self out of my astonished stupor. “So in otherwords—you’re more than a little too old to be bickering withShane constantly.”

His jaw clenched as I spoke. Apparently I’d struck a nerve. Iwasn’t about to take it back, though—he deserved it. I’dbeen dealing with his bad mood all day. The fact thatarguing with Kael let me focus on something other than thatnightmare was just an added bonus.

“Bickering?” he said. “I’m afraid it’s a little morecomplicated than that.” “What, you mean it’s about thewhole race thing?” I shook my head. “Yeah.” He fixed mewith a hard stare, as if daring me to finish my thought. Heshould’ve known by now that I wasn’t the type to turn down adare. “That’s stupid, by the way,” I said, matter-of-factly. “Icouldn’t even tell you were any different from the others. Idon’t understand what the big deal is.”

His eyes closed for a second, as if he was deep in thought.Not really the explosive reaction I’d been expecting. Ormaybe hoping for. “Maybe you shouldn’t talk about things

you don’t understand,” he said in a monotone voice. “It’sbeen this way for centuries. You’ve been around what,fifteen years?” “…Sixteen,” I corrected him quietly.“Whatever. You’re too young to understand.” I wincedslightly at the word ‘young’, even though now I knew that,compared to him, it was an understatement. “But you’lllearn soon enough that there are a lot like Shane out there,”he said. “Bunch of elitist bastards… I do my best to ignoreit, but after four-hundred years it gets kind of annoying. Soyeah, every now and then maybe I stoop to their level.”“Sorry,” I mumbled stupidly. “I didn’t mean to—” “Forget it.”“I was just upset about that nightmare. I didn’t mean to takeit—” “I know.” “If you know then why are you—” I froze as heshot me a look. “Sorry.” “Stop apologizing.” “Sor— …Okay.” Silence.

I coughed blatantly after a few minutes of it, and Kael shotme an impatient look. “You can’t even go two minuteswithout talking, can you?” “No,” I responded honestly. I wasabout to continue when Eli gave a particularly violent twitchin his sleep. My mouth hung open in mid-sentence as weboth watched him anxiously. But after a few seconds heseemed to settle back into his peaceful slumber, and Kaelturned to me with a quiet sigh. “If we aren’t going to sleep,we should at least let them,” he said pointedly. “Yeah.Okay.” I got uncertainly to my feet as he did the same. Heheaded for the trees, while I continued to hover over Eli andVanessa. “Are you coming or what?” Kael called once he'dreached the edge of the clearing. I hesitated, thinking aboutme and Vanessa’s conversation from earlier. I almostcalled back to him, to ask where we were going.

The truth, though, was that I really didn’t care. I wasn’t goingto be able to fall back asleep, and the alternative would besitting there, alone, staring off into space while my thoughtstraveled down roads I didn’t want them anywhere near. Ineeded a distraction, and as far as distractions went…well,maybe Kael wasn’t half-bad.

I took one last look at Eli and Vanessa’s sleeping forms,then I headed for the woods.

***

We left our argument at the campsite. Kael acted like ithadn’t happened, and was actually kind of nice to me—orat least as nice as I think he knew how to be.

There wasn’t a lot of moonlight out. My developing lycaneyes meant I could still see, but it was a different kind ofsight then when the world was illuminated with light. I sawthings as shadows in my path, and the range of colors Icould see had been reduced to a field of black and grey. Itwas like I’d stumbled across some parallel alien world. Myimagination had just started to run wild, wondering aboutwhat sort of monsters might inhabit this world, whensomething jumped out of a nearby bush and darted off intothe woods. I managed not to squeal, but I couldn’t keepmyself from scrambling the distance from where I stood toKael.

“A little on edge, huh?” he asked, looking down at me.

I shot him a dirty look, relaxing the grip I had claimed on hisarm—though not completely. “Must’ve been the dozen near-death experiences I’ve had this past week,” I said flatly.“For some reason I can’t help but be a little paranoid thesedays.” Out of the corner of my eye I watched a smilespreading across his face.

“Better paranoid than dead, I suppose,” he said. “…Exactly,” I said, eying his smile suspiciously. “I mean, I knowthat bunny ran away from you this time— but you might notbe so lucky next time.” “I hate you.” “Then why are youpractically embracing me?” I let go of his arm abruptly.“How was I supposed to know it was a bunny, anyway?" Igrumbled, shoving him into a tree we were passing. It hadonly been a playful, half-hearted shove, but I was surprisedat the force with which he hit the tree. Guess I didn’t reallyknow my own strength these days. Not that it even fazedhim in the slightest—he simply pushed off of the tree andsauntered back over to me, still laughing. “I’m glad you findme entertaining,” I said. I tried to frown, and look otherwise

disapproving, but his laughter ended up being contagious.

“Stop laughing at me…” I said, trying to fight the smilethreatening to spread across my face. Even as I said it,though, I knew I didn’t really mean it. Because I vastlypreferred this smiling, joking Kael to the scowling, moodyone I’d been getting use to these past few days—even if hislaughter was at my expense.

“You should smile more,” I thought aloud.

He scoffed. “Right. I’ll be sure to jot that down in my ‘ways-to-impress-Alex’ notebook. Oh wait— I just remembered: Idon’t actually have one of those. Damn.”

“Do you have a smart comment for everything everyonesays to you?”

He shook his head. “Mostly just for you.”

“Awesome.” He laughed quietly at my reply, and we walkedon for several minutes before he spoke again.

“But seriously? There’s no need to be so paranoid. Thereisn’t really anything in these woods you need to be afraidof.”

“Says who?”

“You’re with me, aren’t you?”

“Right.” It was too easy—I couldn’t help but roll my eyes athis comment. “My hero…how could I forget?”

“Who’s being smart now?” he said wryly. “But even if youforget about me—you’re not exactly defenseless.”

“I might as well be. Or maybe you’re forgetting: I can’t shift.”

“No, but you can throw me into a tree hard enough to leavean outline of my body in the trunk.”

Wow, had it really been that hard?

“...I guess so.” I hesitated, then added: “Sorry about that, bythe way.”

This time, it was Kael rolling his eyes. “No you’re not.”

I had to admit—Kael knew me pretty well considering we’donly met a few days ago.

“It felt pretty good, actually.”

“You should probably work on your temper.”

“You should probably work on not being so annoying. Thenmaybe I wouldn’t feel the need to throw you into trees.”

“…Fair enough.”

We exchanged a smile, and I had to fight a sudden urge tolaugh. I must not have fought it off as completely as I thoughtI did, because a second later he gave me a dubious look.

“What’s so funny?”

I hesitated, but his gaze was unrelenting. “This is—us beinghere like this, I mean.”

“…You have an odd sense of humor,” he said. I shook myhead.

“It wasn’t really an amused laugh—it was more like a “what-the-heck-is-going-on-here” kind of laugh.” He still lookedconfused, so I elaborated: “It’s just that…I’ve spent most oftoday worrying about whether or not you hated me. Andabout what happened with Shane.”

“Forget about that. And forget about what he said—there’snot going to be a lot more where that came from. There’snot going to be any more.”

I frowned. “Doesn’t change what I saw.”

“No. I guess not.” There was painful look in his eyes as heturned away.

“I want to trust you, though,” I said hurriedly. “I don’t knowwhy. I don’t want to. I know almost nothing about you. And tobe honest? I’m kind of terrified of you. And trustingsomebody— anybody— is not even something I usually do,but with you I just…”

He looked back at me then. His gaze took mine and for asecond I forgot what I was saying.

“…with you I just can’t seem to help it,” I finally managed towhisper. “So I followed you in here. And now here we aretalking and laughing like we’re—I dunno. I don’t get you.”

He turned back to the path in front of us. “You don’t need toget me,” he said. “But one thing?”

“…What’s that?”

“You don’t need to be afraid of me.”

I nodded silently. Not because I agreed, but because of thehurt in his voice.

We walked quietly for a few minutes after that, until Kaelsaid, “You said you were worried about whether or not Ihate you?”

I shrugged. “You act like I annoy you, sometimes.”

He glanced over and gave me a small smile. “You do annoyme,” he said.

“Wow. You know there’s this thing called tact…”

“But I don’t hate you,” he said quietly, his smile fading.“Actually, I…” he hesitated. Before he could continue, thesound of rustling leaves and snapping twigs interrupted.

sound of rustling leaves and snapping twigs interrupted.

I lifted my head and closed my eyes, breathing in deeplythrough my nose. Against the backdrop of typical forestsmells I was getting used to, there were several others that Ididn’t recognize—and one I sort of did. I exhaled.

“It sounds—and smells—like there are people heading thisway,” I said quietly.

“Lots of people,” Kael said. He looked upset, but his voicewas strangely calm.

“I think I recognize one of them,” I said, giving Kael aworried look.

“It’s Sera.”

It was so obvious, now that he said it. “Why are you socalm?” I asked. “It doesn’t sound like she’s alone…weshould…”

Kael turned toward the sound of the footsteps, but stillstayed perfectly cool and collected.

“I’m going back to warn the others,” I said, turning away. Butbefore I’d even taken a single step a hand closed over mywrist. I looked back and found myself staring Kael in theeyes. I tried to pull away, but he grabbed my other arm soroughly that I froze, unable to do anything but stare as hespoke.

“This isn’t how I wanted things to go,” he said.

“I don’t understand. Why are you—”

“I have to do this.”

“You don’t have—”

“Hello hello…” I whipped my gaze from Kael to see Serasmiling at me as she stepped into the clearing. On either

side of her were a half-dozen others who looked like they’dnever smiled a day in their lives. I turned back to Kael,desperate for an explanation.

He wouldn’t even look at me.

“Fancy meeting you guys here,” Sera said.

Kael pulled as far away from me as he could without lettinggo of my arms, his gaze focused on Sera.

“I’m surprised you’re on time,” he said.

“Oh, I wouldn’t be late for this,” Sera said.

Kael nodded, and a second later he smiled—but it wasn’tlike the smile he’d shared with me earlier. It was cold,almost mocking. “Think you brought enough people withyou?” he asked in an amused voice.

“I’d be lying if I said you didn’t have me worried for a whilethere, Kael,” Sera replied with a sly smile. “I just wanted tomake sure there was no room for failure this time—even ifyou failed to do your part.” His part? He continued to ignoremy confused looks—it was like he only had eyes for Seraall of a sudden. “You’re too impatient, Sera. You should’veknown it would only be a matter of time until I accomplishedwhat I set out to do,” he said. “I always do.” He let go of myarms then, throwing them away like he was disgusted bythe touch—even though he’d been the one holding meback. Then he stepped away from me and walked towardSera. I guess I should’ve used the opportunity to run. But myknees suddenly felt weak, and in that moment all I wanted todo was collapse. I was too proud for that, though. I wouldstay on my feet. No matter that I felt completely exposed.Naked.

“I suppose that’s true,” Sera said, her eyes flittering overKael. “You’ve done what you said you’d do, and here I am,like I said I’d be.” As she said this, Sera kept throwingglances my direction—in what I took to be the equivalent ofher rubbing this in my face. Or maybe she was just making

her rubbing this in my face. Or maybe she was just makingsure I knew Kael had planned this—that he’d beenexpecting her. As if I needed anyone to spell it out for me.The fact that he couldn’t look me in the eyes told meeverything I needed to know.

And it all made perfect sense now. Earlier, when he saidhe’d been out for a walk, he must’ve been out here with her—the other night, too, when he’d left me alone on the porch.He’d gone to see her. No wonder he’d agreed to take thefirst watch. And when he’d suggested we go for a walk, andI’d followed him… God, how could I have been so stupid?“We aren’t done yet, are we?” Sera was talking again. Icould distinguish words—but they didn’t mean anything.“You’ve left me in the dark for too long, Kael. I’m not sureeven I know what’s going on in that head of yours now.”Even though I couldn’t put any meaning behind the wordsthemselves, her tone was unmistakably coy. With everyword she spoke she inched a little bit closer to him. Nothingbetween them, huh? Yeah. Right. I knew I shouldn’t havecared—especially not now—but the way she was hangingall over him… it just made me that much angrier.

“It can stay that way, for now,” Kael said to her. For somereason, Kael’s words made more sense than anything Serawas saying. Maybe because I was still clinging to them,hoping I would hear something—anything—that would hintthis wasn’t for real. “I’ll tell you everything later—right nowwe need to get going before the others we were withrealize we’re missing.” “We could just take care of them,”Sera said with a nasty grin.

I inhaled sharply. But Kael shook his head. “There’s noneed for that. It wouldn’t do anything except cause us moretrouble.” Petty as it might have been, I still rejoiced inwardlyat Kael’s rejection of her. “Maybe,” Sera said, obviouslydisappointed. “But never mind, then. I assume you have aplan for what happens next?”

Kael nodded. “I think my father will be happy to see us.”

A confused look spread across Sera’s face. “I’ve no doubt

about that,” she said slowly. “But doesn’t that go againsteverything—” “I told you, we can discuss that later,” Kaelsaid sharply. Sera looked hurt by the harsh tone of hisvoice. And again I celebrated. At least I wasn’t the only onehe was keeping things from. But my celebration was short-lived, because a second later Kael turned to two of the menstanding closest to me, his eyes passing over where Istood. “Grab the girl, and let’s go.” I felt my jaw drop. Hadhe really just referred to me as ‘the girl’? If this was a joke,he’d definitely just rammed the punch line into the ground.The two men he’d addressed, however, definitely didn’tthink he was joking. Two pairs of rough hands grabbedobediently onto either of my arms.

“Let me go!” I struggled, but their grips just crushed myarms even more tightly every time I tried to jerk free. I stillhad relatively free use of my legs, though, so I drew one ofthem back and kicked as hard as I could. I felt the guy onmy right buckle as my foot hit him. “You little—” I flinched ashe raised one of his hands. But just as he got ready to hitme, Kael appeared behind him, grabbed the hand andjerked it back down. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you tonot hit girls?” he asked with a frown. The man yanked hishand away with a disgruntled look on his face.

Kael turned to me. “Look,” he said. “We can do this theeasy way or the hard way—it’s your choice.” If my handshad been free, I would’ve slapped him without a second’shesitation. But the men holding me back were gripping myarms more tightly then ever now, so I just glared straight intoKael’s eyes instead. Then I jerked my head back and spitdirectly into his face. “You jerk,” I said, my voice shaking somuch I could barely get the words out. “I trusted you.”

For a minute, Kael looked even more furious than I felt ashe wiped his face clean. But then his face split into acrooked grin and he shook his head. He was laughing ashe turned and walked away from me.

CHAPTER 17: trust

And this was why I didn’t like getting close to people. If Ithought I could’ve managed it given my currently restrainedcondition, I would’ve kicked my self.

I’m not sure how I made my feet move, but somehow Imanaged to trudge along. It was either that, after all, or letthose guys drag me. And I sure as hell wasn’t doing that. Icould still walk just fine all by myself, thank you very much.So I did. Even as the minutes stretched into hours, whichthen became several hours, and even once my feet startingcramping and I could feel the beginnings of blisters formingon the back of both my heels.

I desperately wanted to know where we were going. Kaelwas walking several feet in front of me, side-by-side withSera, and once or twice I almost called out to him. But inthe end I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t want to risk the pain ofbeing ignored on top of everything else.

We hadn’t been walking long before my thoughts strayed toVanessa and Eli. And to Shane too—he was probablyback at the campsite by now. They’d probably bewondering about me. Shane would jump to the worstpossible conclusion, and would waste no time in blamingKael. And he’d be right too.

He’d been right all along.

Anger swelled inside me, and with it came guilt—becausenow the others had me to worry about, too. I could onlyhope they would still go after Emily and the others first. I’dgotten myself into this mess all by myself, after all—so I’dbe the one to get myself out of it.

Unfortunately, that looked like it was going to be easier

said than done. Not counting Kael and Sera, there were atleast twenty others, including the guys on either side of me.I’d threatened those two enough times that they’d takentheir hands off me, either because they were tired oflistening to me, or because they were really frightenedabout what I might do. I’m going to go ahead and claim itwas the latter. Of course, either way it didn’t matter much—they were still close. Close enough to grab me if I tried tomake a run for it. And even if I managed to get past them,there were still a half-dozen others behind me to deal with.

I may have been fast, but the odds were definitely againstme.

There was one thing working in my favor, though: we weregoing up. And ‘up’ meant more rock than forest, rock that insome places jutted up at steep angles and created narrowpassageways that called for a bit of rock-climbing. We’dhad to climb through a few already, and a short distanceahead was another one that those at the front of our groupwere having to slowly single-file their way through.

I threw a quick glance over my shoulder. I’d counted right.There were only six behind me. My eyes darted back to thepassageway. It was barely big enough for one person to fitinto, and after about twenty feet or so it took a sharp bend—which meant the people at the very front couldn’t see usanymore. It was lined with a loose outcropping of rocks thatlooked terribly unstable, and would make turning aroundeven more difficult. Or at least that’s what I was hoping for.

One last flicker of doubt crossed my mind, but I forcedmyself to shrug it off. I didn’t have time for doubt right now;for all I knew, wherever we were going could be just aroundthat bend, and if I didn’t act soon I was going to miss mychance.

We reached the passage, and the man on my left steppedforward and placed a hand against the wall of rock, testinghis footing on a large, makeshift-step of stone. And then,before I could even think about what I was doing, I stopped.

I had to duck to avoid the hand that snatched out at me. Istayed low, searching the ground for something I could armmyself with.

“What are you doing?” demanded the man beside me.

“Nothing…I…I just dropped something.”

“Get up,” he growled, kicking me hard in the side.

“Alright, alright!” I said, just as my hand folded over a rockwith a particularly sharp edge. I hesitated for anothersecond, and he tried to kick me again. I managed to roll outof the way this time, and then I jumped to my feet andswung up as hard as I could; the rock caught him justunderneath the chin and he fell back, clutching his throat. Idropped the rock abruptly. For a second all I could do wasstare at the damage. Within seconds, though, the peoplebehind us rushed forward. One of them tried to grab me. Ijerked aside, but they still managed to get a hold of mysleeve; their grip on it was loose, though, and I managed topull free pretty easily.

And then I ran harder than I’ve ever run in my life. I had tocircle wide to avoid the rest of the ones who had beenbehind us, which meant abandoning the well-beaten path.Which meant scaling lots of rocks, which meant lots offalling. Footsteps and the scraping and sliding of rocksechoed behind me. I tried not to think about how close theywere. I just ran, until all I could feel of my footsteps was avague burning sensation that shot up into my calves withevery step. I bounced from rock to rock, slid down thepebble-strewn hills, and leapt the smaller crevices withoutstopping to think. I couldn’t think about what I was doing. Icouldn’t think about what it would mean if the footstepscaught up with me. All I could think about was the line oftrees rising in the distance, and I pumped my aching legstoward it.

Thirty feet away.

If I could just reach the cover of the forest...

If I could just reach the cover of the forest...

Twenty feet away.

I can make it...

Ten feet away.

I’m going to make it.

There was a sudden noise—like the whoosh of wind—and Icouldn’t stop myself from looking back. A blur of black washurtling towards me. The last thing I remember seeing werethe claws, outstretched and aiming straight for my face.

***

“This isn’t real. This isn’t happening. I’ve just beendreaming...”

You know that isn’t true.

“…a very long dream…”

Open your eyes, and see for yourself it isn’t true.

“If I open them, I’ll just see my room. And Lora will be inhers, just down the hall…”

Open them.

“…ugh…” The side of my head was throbbing. I tried to lift afinger to feel for the gash I was sure would be there. But myhands were tied together behind my back. The rope was sotight I couldn’t even pull my wrists apart.

“No...This can’t be for real.”

My eyes opened. I was in a small, dark room that smelled abit musty. It was sparsely furnished, with a few shelves inone corner and a twin bed against the wall directly behindme. The walls were blank, and there were no windows. It

looked like a guest bedroom of someone who didn’t carefor guests.

I tried to sit up, but rope was binding my ankles, too, so Iended up toppling forward and getting a face full of thestone floor instead. I rolled over on my side, an inescapablefeeling of defeat rising in my chest. My eyes fell on a closeddoor on the far side of the room. Bright light spilled inunderneath. I stared at it for a long time, trying to find thestrength to move.

It was at least ten minutes before I found it. And even then, itonly came when a faint shadow moved across therectangle of light spreading out from under the door. Theshadow disappeared briefly, then came back and stoodstill for a few seconds. I lifted my head. My eyes widened,refocused, and I tried sitting up again with more successthis time. I managed to get my knees under me, and I wasworking on trying to keep my balance when I heard thesound of a key being forced in and the click as it unlockedthe door. I instinctively tried to scramble back, anticipatingthe worst. Of course, I didn’t manage to move far beforelosing my balance. I fought my way upright again and froze.

The door swung open, and Sera stood in the doorwaylooking pale and ghostly in the bright light outside of theroom. She stepped into the room without a word andclosed the door enough so that only a thin sliver of lightshone in. She started toward me, still not making a sound.

I tried to pull my hands free, but all I managed to do was digthe rope further into my skin. I kept struggling as Sera kneltdown beside me.

She frowned. “Calm down, Alex,” she said. Then shecocked her head sideways and reached a thin finger outand touched it to the side of my head.

I drew back, letting out painful hiss, and nearly lost mybalance again.

Sera grinned. “Guess it still stings, huh?”

Sera grinned. “Guess it still stings, huh?”

“Obviously,” I said through clenched teeth.

“If you would calm down, like I suggested, your body wouldbe able to heal itself a lot better.”

“Did you just come in here just to rub this in my face?” Idemanded, still struggling against the binding ropes.

“You’ve got a bit of a temper, you know that?”

I snorted. “You have no idea.”

“Well, I think it’s one of your more admirable qualities,”Sera said with a smirk. “Actually, I think that spunk of yoursis pretty much your only admirable quality…”

“That’s nice,” I said impatiently. “But back to why you’rehere?”

She raised an eyebrow. Then she shoved a hand into thepocket of her jacket and retrieved something long and thin,which glistened even in the dull light of the room.

“Is that a knife?”

“Mm-hmm,” she said distractedly as she side-stepped herway behind me.

“What are you doing?” I tried to twist myself around to faceher, but she placed a firm hand on my shoulder.

“I’d hold still if I were you,” she said. “Unless you want this tohurt.”

“If you’re going to kill me, the least you could do is face mewhile you’re doing it. Or maybe you—” My breath caught inmy throat as the blade brushed against my arm. I felt asharp jerk on my wrists, followed by a shove. Next thing Iknew, I was face first on the floor again. Only somethingwas different this time. I lifted my hands off my back and felt

the rope slide away.

“Kill you?” Sera repeated airily, shaking her head. “No. Notnow, not like this.”

I sat up, and drug myself several feet away from her beforefocusing on the knot binding my ankles. For a few minutes Itried—unsuccessfully—to untie the knot without looking at it.It didn’t take long for that to get frustrating though, and I wasabout to chance taking my eyes off Sera for a second whenshe suddenly held up her hands. Her right hand unclenched,dropping the knife she was holding to the ground. Then sheshoved it close enough for me to reach. Her expressionwas stony. There was none of her usual malice, but therewasn’t anything there to trust, either.

I didn’t touch the knife. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?” she asked. “I’m helpingyou.”

“But why? You’ve been trying to kill me since the day wemet.”

“People change, Alex.”

“You expect me to believe that?”

“What other choice do you have but to trust me?” sheasked. And now her face split into a rather nasty grin.“You’re not going to get out of here without my help.”

I didn’t have an answer for that, and the sinking feeling inmy gut told me she was probably right. I picked up the knifewith tentative fingers and sawed the rope away.

“So you’re going to get me out of here?” I asked.

“I’m going to do my part,” she said. “I already got rid of theguards outside your door for you. And I’ll tell you where togo from here.”

“But you’re not going with me?” I asked, growing moreskeptical by the minute.

“You think I want to be seen helping you escape?” shesnapped. “I’ve got my own reputation to protect—and I’msticking my neck out enough for you as it is.”

I was so overwhelmed with confusion at this point that Icouldn’t help but ask again: “Why? Why are you doing thisfor me?”

The stony expression settled back over her features. “Whosaid I was doing this for you?” she asked in a dead voice.“Don’t misunderstand…I”—she pointed to her chest foremphasis—“…want you dead. And don’t you ever forget it.”

I gave her a blank stare. “Oh…I get it now,” I said slowly.“See, before I only thought you were crazy. But now I knowfor a fact that you are absolutely insane—and that explainseverything.”

“Spare me the cute commentary,” she growled. Then shegrabbed my arm and yanked me roughly to me feet.

“Um, ow?” I jerked my arm away.

“We need to hurry up,” she said. “Kael’s waiting for you.”

“What?” I’d started following her as she headed toward thedoor, but those words stopped me cold.

“I said—”

“I heard what you said. But…no. He can keep waiting. Inever want to see that jerk again.”

Sera turned to me with an exasperated sigh. “I don’t reallycare what you want right now. All I know is that—for reasonsI still don’t fully understand myself— I promised Kael I’d getyou safely to him. And that’s exactly what I’m going to do.So come on, let’s move.”

But I didn’t move. “So that’s who you’re doing this for.”

There was the tiniest movement in the corner of her lip—barely noticeable. I think it might’ve been the beginning of asnarl.

“What is it between you and him?” I asked.

“That’s really none of your business.”

“Why are you doing him favors?” I needed to know. I don’tknow why—but something was driving me to keep prying,even though the tone in her voice told me I’d probably besafer poking a rattlesnake with a stick.

“Do you want me to kill you?” Sera asked.

“It’s not a hard question. And why did you come instead ofhim, anyway?”

She glared at me. “Because he had other things to takecare of.”

“Like what?”

I could tell she was trying really hard to stay calm. When shespoke again her lips were pursed, her fists clenched sohard her knuckles were turning red.

“Okay, you know what? I’m done with you. You want to stayhere and rot, you do that.” She started back toward thedoor, and I almost just let her go. I didn’t want help from her,or Kael, or anybody else for that matter. I never had.

And yet I couldn’t ignore the fact that Sera had helped me,and now I couldn’t help but think—what would I have done ifshe hadn’t come along? Another couple of glances aroundthe room confirmed it: this was a pretty desperate situationI’d found myself in. And while I wanted to think I could’vegotten myself out eventually, the truth was that a small,reluctant part of me was starting to think that maybe that

reluctant part of me was starting to think that maybe thatwasn’t the case. I just wished the person I’d found myselfrelying on could’ve been anybody but Sera.

“Wait,” I said quietly.

She stopped just as she reached the door and turnedslowly back to me.

I swallowed hard, and when I spoke I tried to sound humble,tried to hide the uncertainty in my voice. “Tell me where Ineed to go.”

***

To the left, down the hallway. Up the stairs and to the right.Sera’s directions rang clearly in my head, but I was startingto doubt them. For one thing, this had to have been thelongest hallway I’d ever seen. And I’d yet to find any stairs. Iwas about to just start checking all these random roomsalong the hall—I had a feeling that would be about asproductive as following Sera’s directions.

With a frustrated sigh I slowed to a stop. I knew it. Ishould’ve just let Sera leave and tried to find my way out ofhere myself. This was probably her idea of a good time—giving me directions that got me nowhere. She wasprobably sitting somewhere, laughing her head off at thethought of me wandering around this place. And Kael wasprobably sitting with her.

I was staring at the ceiling, wondering why in the world I’dever trusted Sera and thinking about how hard I was goingto hit Kael if I ever saw him again, when footsteps started toecho through the hall. I looked down to see a shadow of afigure in front of me. He was still a good ways off, butclosing the distance in a hurry. At first I didn’t move,desperately hoping he hadn’t seen me. That was stupidthough—of course he’d seen me, unless he was blind; hewas staring straight at me. And if there were still any doubtsabout the matter, they all vanished a second later when hebroke into a sprint, running directly at me.

My first instinct was to stand and fight, but I tried to talkmyself out of it just as quickly; I had a feeling reinforcementsweren’t going to be far behind him—I’d be better off tryingto make a run for it. To my right was a door, and I lunged forthe handle and tried to turn it. Locked.

Of course it was.

I gave the door a swift kick and let out a string of words Iwas glad my mom wasn’t there to hear. Then I looked backand saw the figure—Markus, it turned out— was less thanten feet away.

“Hey!” he called. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Somehow I didn’t think he’d believe me if I told him I wasjust out for a stroll. So I did the only other thing I could thinkof: I turned and ran as hard as I could back the way I’dcame. Markus’ footsteps pounded behind me, a lot closerthan I would’ve liked; apparently there were others just asfast as me.

“There’s only so far you can run, you know!” he said. Hisvoice sounded so close he might as well have beenwhispering into my ear. And I knew what he said was true. Itried not to think about it, but after a minute it got kind ofhard not to —because soon a dead end was loomingstraight ahead of me. There were doors on either side ofthe hallway’s end, but my guess was they were both locked.Because that’s just how my luck worked. Not that I would’vehad time to try and open the doors anyway; Markus was soclose that the second I stopped he was going to be right ontop of me.

The irony, of course, was that—for once— I really didn’twant to fight. Yeah, I could be reckless. But I wasn’t stupid. Iknew this fight was probably not going to end well. But all ofa sudden I’d reached the end of the hall, and now there wasnothing to do but turn and face Markus head on.

He was a lot bigger than I’d realized—that was the first

He was a lot bigger than I’d realized—that was the firstthing I noticed when I turned around. His smile wastriumphant as he closed the space left between us withconfident strides. I braced myself and lifted my gaze to his.

“What are you running for?” he asked with a smirk. “Notquite as brave as you were the other day, huh?”

I didn’t say anything.

“You gave Sera a nasty black eye, you know that? Onlylasted a couple of hours, but still… I don’t think it should gounpunished.”

His hand shot towards me, but I managed to move fastenough to catch his fist. He overpowered me easy enoughthough, and got a grip on my wrist and twisted it hard, until itmade a sick sort of popping noise. That couldn’t be good.

I managed to fight my way out of his grasp, but it didn’t dome much good; he’d backed me up against the wall, andhe was so close to me I could barely move—which is why,when his hand shot at me again, there wasn’t much I coulddo to avoid it.

He went for my throat this time. His fingers wrapped aroundmy neck and tightened so much I could barely gag, andthen he lifted me up and slammed me against the wall. Icouldn’t speak, I couldn’t breathe. My head was pounding. Iwas hanging there, vaguely thinking that this had to be themost painful way anybody could possibly die, when theclaws came out. I felt them slide into the side of my neck,cutting right through the skin like it was made of air. I triedto scream, but I could barely even get a weak cough out.

My vision started to dim. I heard what sounded like agunshot. At first I thought I’d lost too much oxygen, that Imust’ve been imagining it. But then Markus’ grip on mythroat relaxed and his body slumped against me and slid tothe floor. My hands braced against the wall behind me as Iwatched him fall. I took several deep, painful breaths beforeI found the nerve to look up again.

Kael was walking quickly toward me, the lowered gun at hisside. He didn’t say anything as he approached, just bentdown and grabbed Markus by the arm and drug him towardthe nearest door, leaving a trail of bloody streaks in hiswake. The door turned out to be unlocked after all.

Figures.

He threw Markus inside the room, then turned back andgrabbed me, too. I was still shaking too hard to put up muchof a fight. Kael shut the door quietly behind us and turned tome. He reached out a hand and ran it across my neck, justbelow where Markus’ claws had dug in. Kael’s touch wasgentle, but I couldn’t keep myself from flinching.

“It’s not that deep, at least,” he said quietly, more to himselfthan me. Then he looked straight into my eyes. And again Iflinched. “You should calm down,” he said. “So it can healfaster.”

“You…you shot him.” That was all I kept thinking, all I couldmanage to say.

“Yeah,” Kael said, looking away. “He’s not dead though, if itmakes you feel any better,” he muttered.

I stared at Markus’ lifeless figure. “He looks…looks likehe…”

“It was just one bullet. I don’t have a whole lot to spare. Andit wasn’t pure silver. He’ll be unconscious for a while, andhave one hell of a headache when he wakes up, but otherthan that…” He trailed off with a shrug.

I don’t know what made me do it, but I dropped to my kneesbeside Markus and placed two fingers over his neck,checking for a pulse. It was faint. But it was there.

“…He tried to kill you,” Kael reminded me.

“I know,” I said, climbing back to my feet. I stumbled a bit,

“I know,” I said, climbing back to my feet. I stumbled a bit,still feeling a little shaky, but Kael caught me before I couldfall.

“Are you going to be okay?” he asked.

I straightened up again, and managed to keep my balancethis time. “That depends,” I said, massaging my hurt wrist. Itfelt like it was starting to swell.

“On…?”

“On what the heck is going on here?”

“I had a feeling you were going to ask that,” Kael said,stepping back over to the door. He cracked it just enoughso he could look out.

“What are you doing? And what was Sera doing? Why didshe help me?”

“…Because I asked her to.”

“But why? You’re the one that brought me into this place—only so you could help me escape? That doesn’t make anysense.”

“If I hadn’t brought you here, you would’ve ended up hereanyway. I just worked it out so the circumstances were alittle more in our favor.”

I fixed him with a hard stare. I didn’t know what to believeanymore. “Where is ‘here’, anyway?” I said.

“Haven’t you figured it out yet?” he said, closing the dooragain and looking back at me. “This is where Emily and theothers were taken. This is where your sister was taken.”

It took a minute for the full meaning behind his words to sinkin. “If this is…then that means…He’s here? Valkos I mean.Here.”

Kael nodded.

“Where?” I started toward the door. “And why are we stillstanding here? Where is he?”

“He’s probably looking for me,” Kael said. He grabbed myarm and drug me back away from the door. “I think he mightbe starting to get suspicious.” The pain in my wrist might’vebeen making me delusional, but I’m pretty sure Kaelsounded amused. Myself? I didn’t see anything funny aboutthe situation.

“Suspicious? Why?” I stopped trying to fight my way back tothe door and looked up at him. “Just who exactly are you,anyway?” Kael stared into my eyes for a second, butinstead of answering my question he nodded toward a dooron the other side of the room.

“That gunshot’s probably not going to go unnoticed,” hesaid. “We’ve got places to be, and it doesn’t look like we’regoing to be able to go back the way we came. I think theroom this one connects to has a door to the basement. Orat least I’m hoping it does.”

He started across the room.

I stayed where I was, shaking my head. “You expect me tojust follow you? Just like that?”

He stopped and turned half-way around. “Yeah. And if youcould speed it up, that would be great—because I don’treally want to be here when they find him,” he said, pointingthe barrel of his gun toward Markus.

“Yeah, well I don’t really want to end up like him,” I said,pointing at Markus myself.

“What are you talking about?”

“Why should I trust you?”

“Maybe,” he started, taking an angry step back toward me.

“Maybe,” he started, taking an angry step back toward me.“Because I saved your life just now? And maybe becauseit’s not the first time I’ve done it? Look—I don’t have time toexplain what’s going on. And it’s too dangerous for you toknow, anyway.”

“Too dangerous? That’s the best you can come up with?”

He walked back to my side and cast an anxious looktowards the hallway. When he spoke again, it was in animpatient voice just louder than a whisper.

“You need me to spell it out for you?” he snapped. “Fine.We both know you still can’t keep your thoughts to yourself,so if you know what’s going on then so does the enemy.Got it? So you’re just going to have to follow my lead anddo what I say, and just trust me on this, alright?”

I folded my arms across my chest, still not willing to budge—though I had to admit Kael did the pleading looksurprisingly well.

“I know you think you can do everything yourself,” he said.Some of the anger faded from his eyes. “But you can’t. Notthis. If you can’t trust anybody else, ever, just please…justtrust me this once.”

I don’t know what I would’ve said to that, but I didn’t get thechance to say it anyway. Because at that moment I heardvoices, voices so loud they had to have been just outsidethe door.

Kael and I exchanged a quick glance. “Look—I’ll fill you inon what I can on the way,” he said.

That familiar feeling came back, urging me to trust him. ButI couldn’t. Not this time. It didn’t matter though, because hewas right—it wasn’t like I could turn and go back the way Icame. Whether he was telling the truth or not was besidethe point; following him still seemed like a much better ideathan facing whoever was coming down the hall. So whenKael turned and started across the room again, I followed.

“Are Emily and the others okay?” I asked, jogging a fewsteps to catch up with him.

Kael waited until we’d reached the next room to answer.“Yeah,” he said, heading for the far corner of the room. “Imade sure they got out before I came looking for you. Theywent back to tell the others what’s going on, and tohopefully bring some help.”

“But how did you get them out?”

We reached the corner and he dropped to his knees andfelt along the stone floor, until his hand fell on what Isuddenly realized was a handle, almost perfectlycamouflaged against the grey and white rock. He gripped itand shoved until it slid open, revealing a long staircasefashioned crudely out of rock. I thought about making alame joke about heading “to the batcave, Robin!”. But Imanaged to contain myself.

“I know my around this place better than just about anyone,”Kael said. He stepped down into the darkness and offeredme his hand. I didn’t take it. “When the war was still goingon, it was used as a fortress, and its structure’s prettycomplicated—lots of stuff like hidden doors, and paths, andtunnels like this one underneath it all.”

“Good thing I’m not claustrophobic,” I muttered as I duckedto avoid hitting my head on the low ceiling.

“The path opens up a little more ahead,” he said.

“Why exactly do you know so much about this place?” I hadtheories, of course. But I didn’t really want any of them to betrue.

Kael didn’t answer at right away. The stairs finally came toan end a few minutes later, and after walking for a little biton the leveled ground we came, as Kael had promised, toan area that was a lot roomier.

“Well?” I pressed. “Why?”

“Because,” he finally said. “I was the one in charge ofbuilding it. It was a hell of a job too—most of it’sunderground and cut straight out of the mountainside. It wasa serious pain in the—”

“You mean you built it for Valkos?” I interrupted.

“…Yeah.”

“So you fought for him.”

He threw me an irritated glance. “I was the best general hehad in that whole damn army,” he said under his breath ashe shoved past me. We’d come to a fork in the tunnel, andhe studied both sides for a second before nodding to theright. “This way,” he said.

“The ones in the woods,” I said suddenly, hurrying after him.“They all listened to you. And you brought me here…how…”My eyes widened as the realization hit me. “You…you’restill fighting for him, aren’t you?”

He cut his eyes sideways at me. “Hopefully they all still thinkthat, too,” he said smugly. “But like I said earlier, I thinkValkos is starting to catch on. Some of the others too—likeMarkus. Not that we have to worry about him anymore.”

“But you live with Eli, and Will, and Vanessa…how didyou…”

“That was supposedly an undercover operation.”

“So you’ve been lying to them. To everybody.”

“I did what I had to do, Alex. And I promise it will all makesense—when I get the chance to explain. But storytime’sgoing to have to wait, because right now we’ve got otherthings to worry about.” He stopped and felt along the wallfor a minute, until his hand fell on what looked like a metal

ladder. “This is our stop,” he said.

I stared uncertainly at the ladder and didn’t move.

“I’m on your side,” he said quietly.

“How do I know that isn’t just another one of your lies?”

“Up this ladder is an empty storage room. And just downthe hall from it is the room where they’re keeping yoursister.”

My stomach gave a funny little lurch. I stared at him, mouthopen slightly in disbelief. “I swear to God…if you’re lying tome right now… I swear I’ll…” I couldn’t even think of astrong enough threat.

“There’s only one way to find out,” he muttered, glancing upthe ladder.

My eyes narrowed. “Fine,” I said, stepping toward theladder. I placed a hand on either side of it and started tohoist myself up. But the second I put pressure on my wrist asharp pain shot up my arm, and I stumbled and fell backagainst Kael, who looked down at me with a worried look.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I grumbled. “It’s just my wrist. It’s not a big deal.” Istarted to reach for the ladder again, but Kael stopped me.He stepped in front of me and lifted both of my wrists so hecould compare them side by side.

“It’s not that bad,” I said impatiently.

“The one on the left is about twice the size of the other one.I’m no doctor, but I’m pretty sure that’s not okay.”

“I’ll tough it out,” I said, vainly attempting to shove my wayaround him.

“Did Markus do that to you?” he asked.

“Did Markus do that to you?” he asked.

I shrugged. “It could’ve been worse.”

“I should’ve put a few more bullets in him,” Kael said,looking back like he was thinking about going and doing it.

“Yeah, well maybe you can do that later,” I muttered, finallymanaging to slip around him.

“Hang on,” Kael said, putting a hand on my shoulder andstopping me again just as my foot hit the bottom rung. “It’s along way to the top.” Before I could argue back, he suddenlygrabbed me and literally threw me over his shoulder.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m carrying you. Deal with it.”

“You know, I would say this is heroic of you, but for somereason it just strikes me as more barbaric than anythingelse. Only you forgot to club me over the head first.”

“Keep it up and I might just do that.”

“You would.”

“Just shut up and hold on.”

I obeyed, but only because he shot up that ladder so quick Ididn’t even have a chance to think about doing anythingelse. It might’ve been a long way to the top, but we scaled itin no time at all. Once we reached the top, Kael placed apalm on the solid looking ceiling and shoved. The stonemoved and light flooded in, blinding me for a second. Kaelpushed the door the rest of the way over and we climbed upand into the empty room. I jumped off his back as quick as Icould and followed him to the door.

He glanced up and down the hallway a few times, and thenmotioned for me to follow. We moved quietly until wereached an adjacent hall, where Kael stopped and turned

back to me.

“Your sister’s at the end of this hall,” he said, reaching intohis pocket and pulling out a handful of silver bullets. Myhands flew to my ears, trying to block out the buzzing as Iwatched him mess with the gun. “These aren’t just coated—they’re pure silver,” he said.

“Does that not give you a headache?” I asked.

“You get used to it after a couple centuries,” he said with ahalf-smile, rolling the now loaded chamber shut andhanding the gun to me. “Here. Just in case.”

I took it with shaking hands. “What am I supposed to dowith this?” I asked.

“Aim it? Fire it? That’s what I would do—considering it’s agun, you know?”

“I know what it is, smart ass—”

“But you don’t have a lot of bullets, so don’t get too crazy.”

“I’ve never fired a gun in my life,” I told him.

“Well in that case, make sure you don’t aim at anythingclose to me,” he said offhand, glancing around the corneras he spoke. Then he turned back and fixed me with aserious stare. “Okay. I’ll be right back. You stay right hereand don’t—”

“What? No way…I’m coming with you!”

“Could you be any louder?” he asked, looking anxiouslyaround the corner again. “And no, you’re not coming withme,” he added in a strangled whisper. “Your sister’s notalone in there, and I’m going to have a hard enough timeconvincing whoever’s standing guard to let me take her. Ifyou’re with me it’s obviously going to look a lot moresuspicious.”

“But I—”

“Hopefully this won’t take long. There’s a tunnel that leadsoutside in the last room on the right down there,” he pointedtowards the end of the hall. “If I’m not back in ten minutes, orif it sounds like things are going badly, you take it and don’tlook back. Got it?”

“Kael, I’m not going to—”

“Actually, maybe you should just wait for me near thattunnel?”

“I won’t know what’s going on. I won’t—”

“If you do stay here, don’t talk to anybody, and don’t gowandering off. If you need to hide, I think most of the roomsalong this wing are unlocked, and if you—”

“Okay. I get it,” I finally snapped, throwing up my hands infrustration. He obviously wasn’t paying attention to anythingI was saying, and we were wasting time here. “Will you justhurry up and go and get back already?”

He nodded but didn’t move.

“What is it?” I asked.

His eyes were boring into mine, a torn look on his face.“Just…I’m serious about what I said. If you need to get out—get out.”

“I know.”

“I probably shouldn’t have brought you in here—” “It’s okay.”

“—but if I hadn’t, then—”

“Kael?” My voice was a little louder than I meant for it to be.Both of us took a second to check the hallways nervously,then I bent closer and spoke in a harsh whisper: “Why are

you still standing here? If you don’t go get my sister, I’mgoing to.”

“Right.” He started to turn away, but hesitated one last time.“Just…please don’t do anything reckless,” he said.

Before I could help myself, I gave him a small smile. “Youknow I can’t promise that,” I said.

He frowned, but didn’t say anything else, and in anotherminute he was gone.

CHAPTER 18: willing

Save for me, the hall was completely empty now that Kaelwas gone. Which was good, I guess, but it was also makingme uneasy—because it didn’t make sense for it to be likethis. If Valkos’ forces really were growing, then where wereall the people who should’ve been standing in our way?Surely he had a few extra guards to spare for Lora? HadKael put bullet holes in them, and stashed them in randomrooms too? My eyes fell on a nearby door.

I wasn’t about to open it and check.

I paced up and down the hall for a few minutes, jumping atevery little noise—and at some I’m pretty sure I imagined.Every now and then my gaze wandered down the hall,towards the room Kael had disappeared into. I tried not tolet it, but a cynical thought was already creeping its way intomy mind, growing stronger and stronger with every secondKael stayed out of sight: what if he didn’t know what he wasdoing? The empty halls hadn’t seemed to bother him, but tome it just felt weird, like something too good to be true.

Like it was a trap.

My pacing finally came to a stop at the base of a one ofseveral paintings hanging along the hall. It was so big thatthe frame almost grazed the ceiling. I wiped my sweatypalms off on the sleeves of my sweatshirt and gazed up intothe face of a woman painted with expert brushstrokes. Herhauntingly blue eyes were staring straight ahead, and akind smile graced her pale pink lips. Her waist-lengthblonde hair fell in loose ringlets that rested in the folds of asimple blue dress the same color as her eyes. Impossiblygreen fields flowed out behind her and gave the painting anotherworldly quality about it. The whole thing wasmesmerizing—but it was her eyes that were holding myattention when, after at least a minute a gazing, I heard a

sudden voice behind me.

“Beautiful, wasn’t she?”

I spun around and quickly flashed a fake smile. The old manbehind me looked harmless enough, and my finger—whichhad found the trigger of my gun quickly—relaxed a little.

“Yes…yes she was.” I did my best to sound normal. But I’mpretty sure my breathing—rapid and shallow—was alreadygiving me away. I swallowed hard. “You knew her?” I asked.

“She was my wife,” the old man said.

I have to admit—it was hard to imagine him with someoneso beautiful. For one thing, he had to have been severalfeet shorter than her; he was only an inch or two taller thanme. I guess back then he probably had a full head of hair,unlike now when he had nothing but a beard, still mostlybrown but flecked with bits of grey in places. His facemight’ve been a handsome one when he was younger too,but now wrinkles had started creeping underneath his eyesand were spreading their way across his forehead, andwhile one of his eyes was a brilliant shade of blue, the otherwas a milky white.

He stepped to my side, his blue eye looking up and downthe portrait of his wife while the white eye stayed eerily still.He reached his right hand up and laid it gently across thepainted version of his wife’s. His left arm stayed at his side,and it had a slight tremor. The only reason I noticed it, Ithink, was that my grandpa had suffered from the samething.

For a long time we stood, he silently revering the paintingwhile I tried to decide whether or not I should make a run forit. It was true—he did look harmless. If he tried to make amove, I probably could’ve tripped him and he would’vefallen and broken both his hips. But I was so paranoid atthis point that even lonely little old men were starting to looklike assassins in disguise.

“Are you lost?” he asked.

“Lost?” I repeated, startled by the sudden question. “No…Ijust…”

Did I look that lost? Did I look that obviously out of place?

“Why do you ask?”

He didn’t take his eyes off the painting as he spoke. “I wasjust wondering if maybe you got separated from the others,”he said quietly.

“Others?” Without thinking, my finger started itching for thetrigger again.

He finally looked away from the painting then, and his gazepaused briefly on my gun before he looked up, staringdirectly into my eyes for the first time. He nodded, thecorners of his mouth curling into a sinister smile.

“I didn’t expect you to be alone.”

I took a step back, panic gripping me.

“Don’t run,” he said. He spoke in a near-whisper, butsomehow his words still seemed to echo loudly through thehall. “You don’t want to make things hard on this old man,do you?”

“Who are you?” I demanded. “And why were you expectingme at all?”

“You know who I am. And I know more about you than youdo yourself, so why don’t we just skip the introductions fornow? I’ve been waiting for this moment for a very long time—so I’d rather we just cut to the chase, if it’s all the same toyou.”

He started to close the distance between us, but I lifted thegun with shaky hands until the barrel of it bumped against

gun with shaky hands until the barrel of it bumped againsthis chest. He stopped then, glancing down at it with anamused look.

“You know, they say you shouldn’t aim a gun at anything youdon’t intend to kill.”

“How do you know I don’t intend to kill you?”

“For one thing, I know you’ve never shot a gun before inyour life—at something living, or otherwise. You can’t pullthe trigger, because you can’t stop thinking about howyou’re not a killer. And even if you were, you know betterthan to shoot me.”

My hands were shaking so hard, and they were so coveredin sweat by this point that it was a miracle I managed to notdrop the gun. “What are you talking about?” I asked in asingle, panicky breath. But he knew what he was talkingabout. We both did—because I couldn’t focus. I couldn’teven try to block my thoughts from him.

“I’ve got something you want. You and I both know that.” Ishook my head, mouthing a silent ‘no’, but he continued: “Ifyou did shoot me, then what would become of your dearlittle sister?”

He grabbed the gun and pushed it aside, and I couldn’tbring myself to point it at him again.

“That’s better,” he said. “Now maybe we can talk likecivilized adults?”

“Where is she?” I asked, the gun hanging limply at my side.

“I thought you might like to see her.” As he spoke henodded towards whatever was behind me; at first I couldn’tbring myself to turn and see what. But then I heard a voice,half-way between a cry and a squeak, say my name. I knewthat voice. But I still didn’t want to turn around, terrified ofwhat I might see. When she said my name again though, Icouldn’t help myself.

“Lora…” I whispered.

She was alive. In one piece. I couldn’t help but breathe asigh of relief—even though this wasn’t exactly the tearful,joyous reunion I’d been hoping for. There were two men Ididn’t recognize, one on either side of Lora, holding her up,holding her in place. Her posture was slumped, herexpression lifeless. She looked like she might’ve beendrugged. If those men weren’t holding her up, I had a feelingshe would’ve collapsed to the floor by now. I wanted to runto her, to throw my arms around her and tell her everythingwas going to be okay now. It was a lie. But I wanted to say itanyway.

“Ah…and there you are, Kael. I had a feeling I’d find youhere. And as you can see—Alexandra is already here aswell. It’s a fortunate coincidence, wouldn’t you say?”

I jumped when Valkos said Kael’s name. I wish he hadn’tsaid it. Because now I had to look. I had to see the onlything that could’ve made this moment any worse than italready was.

There were two people on either side of Kael, too; but therewas also a third person, and he was holding a gun to Kael’shead. Kael’s expression was just as stoic as ever. Minewas not.

“You look upset, Alexandra.”

I turned back to Valkos. He was smiling again. I opened mymouth, but no words came out.

“I thought you would be happy to see them? I’m sorry Icouldn’t reunite you with your other friends—I’m afraid theyleft before you got here.” His lips rolled back into a smallsnarl. “You have Kael to thank for that.”

A gunshot. I jerked around. Kael was on his knees, hisbreathing heavy and obvious, his eyes closed. I started torun towards him, but I’d only made it a few strides before

run towards him, but I’d only made it a few strides beforeValkos seemed to materialize out of nowhere. I collidedwith him and stumbled back. Before I even regained mybalance completely I’d drawn my gun and pointed it at histhroat.

“Let them go,” I managed to choke out.

“I can’t do that just yet,” he said, his eyes focused intently onthe gun. At first, his concentration on it was reassuring. Ithought I had him worried. But then I felt a sharp, burningpain in my wrist, and soon it shot all the way up my arms,which started to shake so violently I dropped the gun. It hitthe ground with a clang! that reverberated through the halls.I couldn’t bend to pick it up. My arms felt like they were onfire.

“I need you to do me a favor first,” Valkos said, crouchingdown and picking up my gun. He turned it around in hishands, looking it over as he continued: “You see,Alexandra, a long time ago your Grandfather Cyrus—anotherwise brilliant lycan—had a small lapse in judgment,and he created a certain pact. You might have heard of it?”He looked up at me expectantly, and the pain in my armsstarted to fade.

I managed a nod.

“And I assume you also know of your role—as the only onewho can dissolve it.”

“I might have heard about it.”

“So you know, then, that quite an opportunity lies beforeyou. You could be the one to erase the bonds that havebeen holding our kind down for centuries.”

I shook my head. “Not our kind. Your kind,” I said quietly.“I’m not like you.”

“Maybe not. I can already tell you’re a lot like Cyrus, though.He wouldn’t have wanted our race to suffer like it has. If he

were here today—”

“He’s not here,” I interrupted.

“No, no I suppose he’s not.” Valkos smiled patiently. “Solet’s forget about Cyrus for a minute then, and let me put itto you in terms you might understand a little better: eitheryou cooperate, or these two—and everyone else you careabout—will pay the consequences.”

“Don’t listen to him, Alex,” Kael interrupted suddenly.

“Shut-up, boy.” In one fluid motion Valkos abandoned meand had the gun cocked and pointed at Kael. “I’m startingto lose my patience with you.”

“If you kill him I’m not doing you any favors,” I said quickly,throwing an anxious look at the gun. Valkos’ arm dropped afew inches.

“Oh?” He glanced back over his shoulder at me. “Not evenif there’s still your sister left to save?” His arm swungsideways, so that his aim was redirected to Lora.

Without thinking, I threw myself on his arm, knocking usboth off-balance. My hands grabbed the gun. He didn’t putup much of a fight, and I managed to wrestle it from hisgrasp easily enough. I staggered backwards, cursing undermy breath.

“Look,” I said, positioning myself between him and Lora. Ihad the gun back, but my heart kept right on pounding.Something told me he didn’t really need that gun, anyway.“I’ll do whatever you want,” I said. “But only if you let them go—both of them.”

“Don’t be stupid, Alex!” Kael said.

I ignored him.

“I have every intention of doing so,” Valkos said pleasantly.“The second you willingly—”

“The second you willingly—”

“No,” I said, surprised by my own audacity. My voicetrembled only slightly as I continued: “No—you let them gofirst. Then I’ll do whatever you want. But not before.”

The corner of Valkos’ one good eye gave a small twitch.“And what reason have I to believe that you’ll keep yourword?” he asked.

“…You don’t have a choice,” I said flatly. “Either I watchthem walk away, or I’m not willingly doing anything for you.”

A look of concentration passed over his face. He wasprobably trying to read my thoughts, I decided. Hopefully, itwouldn’t do him any good—considering I didn’t understand,or even know, what was going through my head myself rightnow. He studied me for a minute or so longer, then his lipsparted into a small smile. “Okay. They walk. But you staywith me.”

“Alex!” Lora’s voice cracked before she even got my wholename out. “You can’t!”

I didn’t turn and look at her. I couldn’t—I knew that seeingher pleading eyes would’ve been all it took to change mymind. And there was no way I could turn back now. I couldn’tstare at Valkos either, though; his pressing stare made theweight on my chest unbearable. So instead I stared throughhim, so that my gaze focused on the painting of his wife thatwas behind him. Her eyes were so kind, and even in theirstillness they were lifelike and reassuring. They remindedme of my mom’s.

Mom. I had to make sure Lora got back to her. I had tomake sure those two had each other. So I met Valkos’gaze briefly, and I nodded.

“I stay.”

“No!”

Another gunshot. I turned, fearing the worst, but it wasn’tKael on the ground this time. Instead, the man who’d beenpointing the gun at Kael was lying on his back, the gunpointing at the ceiling. There was a small hole in the ceiling,and dust was pouring out of it while chips of sheetrockscattered to the floor. The man lying on the ground didn’tmove, and now that Kael didn’t have the gun to worry aboutit only took him another second to throw off the other twoholding him back.

Valkos didn’t seem too concerned, though, even when Kaelstarted toward us. Maybe because he didn’t have anyreason to be concerned. Because almost as if the gunshothad cued them, there were now several dozen beasts oneither side of us, making their way down the hall to wherewe stood. A handful of them sprinted ahead of the rest ofthe pack and surrounded Kael before he could reach us.

“What are they doing here?” I demanded as the sound oflow growls started filling the hall.

“Just a precaution, my dear Alexandra. They’ll be escortingthem out.”

“I want to see them to the door,” I said, drawing back as agrey werewolf approached us and crouched submissivelyby Valkos’ side. The creature’s yellow eyes were watchingme. Its teeth were bared, and a thin layer of drool hung fromthem.

Valkos gave a single, slow nod, and placed a hand on thewerewolf’s head to calm it. “Of course. We’ll lead the way,”he said. Then he turned to the two who had been holdingKael back. “Grab him,” he called. “And try to hold on to himthis time,” he added crossly. The two obeyed, somewhattimidly. I’m not sure what they were worried about—considering they now had the back up of no less than sixsnarling, snapping lycans who formed an almost completecircle around them, effectively blocking any escape routeKael might’ve had.

We were an odd procession, me and Valkos and the grey

We were an odd procession, me and Valkos and the greywerewolf leading the way to the front door. We didn’t havefar to go, which was a good thing—because I was having ahard time walking straight and not running into things. Myhead was swimming. This was all really happening. I had tokeep telling myself that so I could keep moving forward. Wereached the door, which Valkos opened for me. I steppedoutside. The grey werewolf followed closely at my heels, aconstant growl rumbling from its throat.

The burst of cool mountain air was refreshing, and thesounds of life coming from the forest—the birds calling, thewind blowing through the rocks—lifted my spirits for afraction of a second. But then Kael walked by me. He mayhave been walking toward his freedom, but he looked likehe was headed for the gallows. Our eyes met in passing.He shook his head angrily and turned away.

“You’re doing the right thing,” Valkos said. I cringed as heplaced a hand on my shoulder, but I didn’t dare shrug it off.Kael and Lora were almost safe. I just needed to keepcooperating for a little bit longer.

Directly in front of us was a steep hill, and I watched as bothKael and Lora were marched toward it. They were onlyabout ten feet away, though, when Kael suddenly stopped.The lycans around him erupted into a chorus of threateninggrowls, but Kael seemed indifferent as he struggled with hisrestrainers until he was able get himself turned to where hecould look back toward us.

“Do I at least get to say goodbye?” he called.

Valkos’ grip on my shoulder tightened. I could hardly evenbreathe as I glared at Kael. What the heck did he think hewas doing? Why was he screwing this up?

“Just because you didn’t get to,” Kael continued in an evenvoice. “Doesn’t mean I shouldn’t.”

My gaze fell back to Valkos then, and the look on his facemade it pretty obvious that something painful was going

through his mind. I have no idea what it might’ve been, butthe next thing I knew his grip on my shoulder relaxed, andthen he pulled his hand away completely.

“Stay close to him,” Valkos said. At his words the lycanssurrounding Kael stepped far enough aside to open a pathback towards me. When he started to walk, though, theirfangs were never far from his heels.

It was mostly anger that carried me forward. By the time Ireached Kael, I was still torn between a strong desire toslap him and to throw my arms around him; I ended updoing the later—God only knows why. When I started to pullaway after a minute though, all sure as hell wasn’t forgiven.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I whispered angrily.

He didn’t say anything, he just stared into my eyes for asecond and then wrapped his arms more tightly around me.It was kind of weird.

“Now’s really not a good time to be getting all sentimentalon me,” I said, resting my head against his chest. “Youneed to take Lora and get away from here,” I said. Therewas a funny feeling forming in the pit of my stomach. I triedto pull away again, before it could get any stronger, butKael’s embrace was unyielding.

“I’m not leaving you,” he said quietly.

“Kael, you don’t—”

He was unbelievably quick. Before I could even gasp, bothof my arms were twisted and pinned behind my back, heldin place by one of his own. The gun I’d almost forgot I washolding was suddenly wrenched from my hand, and asecond later I felt the cold metal press against the side ofmy head.

“What are you doing?” Valkos’ voice was quiet, deadly.

“Let her sister go first,” Kael demanded. “Then we’ll talk.”

“Let her sister go first,” Kael demanded. “Then we’ll talk.”

“I’m not sure what you think you’re accomplishing…I wasplanning on letting her go,” Valkos said, taking a steptowards us. “But now I have to ask: why should I? The dealwas that Alexandra stays with me, and her sister walks.”

“Forget that. You’re dealing with me now,” Kael said. “Andwe both know this girl’s no good to you dead.”

“That’s true. And I’d be worried… if I thought you actuallyhad the nerve to pull the trigger.”

Kael’s grip on my arms suddenly tightened. “Well then Iguess it’s a good thing you know absolutely nothing aboutme,” he said.

A wall of sweat had formed on my forehead. The dropletstrickled down and stung my eyes. I heard the click of thegun’s safety being released, and for the first time Valkoslooked uncomfortable. He took another step forward, hiseyes narrowing.

“Impertinent child… I’ve let you live this long as a favor toyour mother, God rest her soul. But you’ve defied me onetoo many times. If you value your pathetic excuse for a life,you’ll get away from her. Now.”

“If you kill me, I’m taking her with me.”

“Pull the trigger then.”

I shut my eyes tightly, partly because they were burning fromthe sweat, but mostly because I was beginning to think Kaelmight actually shoot me. I kept seeing Markus. The gunshot.His lifeless body slumping to the floor. The more times thescene played itself over in my head, the more vivid it got, soI was glad when a familiar voice suddenly distracted me.

“He was willing to kill her before, and my guess is that he’swilling to kill her now.” Sera was standing in the doorway,holding something in her hand; I couldn’t tell what from this

angle. She crossed the yard to Valkos’ side and bowed herhead respectfully. She kept her back to me, so that evenwhen she offered Valkos whatever it was in her hand, I stillcouldn’t see it.

“Sir, I think you should see this,” she said. “I don’t know thatyou needed more evidence of it, but your son is every bitthe traitor you thought him to be.”

“Son…?” I repeated in a whisper.

“Not my choice,” Kael said softly.

“His intention has always been to kill the descendant,” Seracontinued, glancing back over her shoulder. Her eyes metmine, and a triumphant smile crossed her face before sheturned back to Valkos. “Sir, he meant to stop you, bywhatever means necessary. He still means to.”

I felt lightheaded. What had Sera shown him? No…it didn’tmatter. Because it wasn’t true. It couldn’t be true. If Kaelreally wanted to kill me, he would’ve done it a long timeago, right? Right.

Except Kael didn’t bother to call Sera out on her lie, and thelook on Valkos’ face told me he didn’t think Sera was lyingat all.

“Let her sister go,” Valkos commanded.

I breathed for the first time in almost a minute. At least Lorawas going to get away, at least she—

“Alex!” The sound of footsteps to my left. I cast my gazesideways as best I could without turning my head. Lora washalf-running, half-tripping her way towards me. Dammit.What was wrong with these people? Why couldn’t they justrun away when they were told?

“Lora!” I snapped in the most commanding, big-sisterlyvoice I could manage at the moment. “Get away from me!Go home!”

Go home!”

“Alex, I—”

“I’m serious! Go!”

She stumbled to a stop a few feet away, tears glistening inher big brown eyes.

“Lora,” I said. “You have to go.”

She didn’t budge.

“Vanessa’s waiting for her,” Kael interjected quietly. Heturned, pulling me with him, so that we could see the whitewolf now perched on top of the hill. The sight of Vanessawas almost calming, and I tried to force a reassuring smileas I turned back to Lora.

“That’s my friend Vanessa,” I said. “I really, really need youto go with her.” I swallowed, trying to combat the dryness inmy throat. “We’ll catch up with you guys soon.”

Lora wasn’t stupid. She had to have known that last partwas a lie. For a minute she just stood, shaking her head insilence. Then she stepped forward, closing the distancebetween us, leaned in and pressed her forehead againstmine. She was wearing my silver necklace again, the onewith the tear-drop shaped diamond. The faint humming itwas giving off didn’t really bother me anymore. The scent ofhoneysuckles clung to her, and I couldn’t help but smile.She might’ve spent the last few days a hostage, but she stillsmelled nice, and every hair was still in place. Still my Lora.

“Promise I’ll see you again?” she whispered.

“I’d pinky-promise and everything, but my hands are a littletied up at the moment,” I said.

She pulled away and I gave her a meek smile, which shedidn’t return. For a minute I still didn’t think she was going toleave my side. It made me angry, but I tried to hold it in. I

couldn’t yell at her anymore. So I was enormously relievedwhen a look of understanding finally crossed her face, andshe nodded and started to back slowly away from me andKael. Her eyes still didn’t leave me as she walked, and ittook every bit of strength I had to keep that smile on myface, to keep the tears from filling my eyes, to keepnodding her forward, away from all this. Away from me.

Maybe for the last time.

CHAPTER 19: persistence

As I watched Vanessa disappear with my little sister, Icouldn’t help but feel a little betrayed. Not just by Kael, butby all of them. I couldn’t help but think: had this been theirplan all along? It made sense, now that I thought about it.When I’d suggested severing the pact, hadn’t they all gottenupset? Worried? Maybe they’d seen me as the threat thatneeded eliminating? And maybe, this whole time, they’dbeen planning to sacrifice me right in front of Valkos’ face,in some crazy anti-war demonstration. And now that mysister was out of the way, Kael could pull the trigger.

He could’ve. But he didn’t. Not just yet, anyway.

“What are you going to do now, boy?” Valkos asked.

I wanted to hear the answer to that question myself. I tried tolook up, tried to look into Kael’s eyes hoping they wouldgive me some sort of clue as to what the hell was goingthrough his head right now. But his head was turned, awayfrom me, away from Valkos; I twisted my own head as faras I could, trying to see what he was looking at.

Vanessa was gone, but out of the corner of my eye I couldsee another lycan standing on the hill. He stood completelystill, but after a second he lifted his head and gave a single,low howl.

“It’s about damn time,” Kael said under his breath.

“Who is that?” I asked.

“It’s Shane.” Kael’s grip on my arms started to relax a little.

“Sera.” Valkos’ sudden, stern voice made me jump. I turnedback and saw Sera hurry to his side again. “Take care ofhim,” Valkos told her.

Sera nodded, and lifted a hand. At least a dozen of thelycans standing behind Valkos rushed to her side, and afterSera’s own quick, effortless transformation, the group ofthem shot off toward the hill. There was no hesitation in theircharge. Valkos’ voice had been confident. The lycansclosest to me and Kael gave a few anxious whines, butother than that, Shane’s appearance really didn’t make mefeel that much better about the situation I was facing.

As it turned out, though, he wasn’t alone.

Sera and her group had gotten about twenty feet fromShane when for some reason they started to slow down.They were almost completely stopped when the first lycancame barreling over the hill top, followed by no less than tenmore in the span of about five seconds. And they just keptcoming.

“He just had to make a dramatic entrance, didn’t he?” Kaelmuttered. I smiled at the comment, but honestly—Shanecould be as dramatic as he wanted to, for all I cared. I wasjust glad he was here. It was starting to look like we mightwalk away from this after all.

“It’s not over yet,” Kael said, effectively bursting the hopefulbubble that had started to inflate in my chest. He let go ofmy arms and shoved the gun into my hand. I saw a flash ofmetal as he pulled what must’ve been another gun fromsomewhere, just as Valkos’ voice rang out over the snarlsand yelps of the commencing battle.

“I want the girl alive,” he said. “But be sure you kill him.”

Kael spun around and pressed his back against mine. Asecond later two shots rang out, followed by two high-pitched whines and the thud of bodies dropping to theground. I tried to lift and aim my own gun, but my handswere trembling too badly.

“Alex! Either start shooting or give me that gun!”

I was about to yell back at him, to tell him to stop being sodamn pushy, but at that moment the lycan closest to mecrouched and sprang. Another shot rang out, and if the gunhadn’t kicked back so hard I probably wouldn’t have evenrealized it was mine. My hurt wrist was throbbing from thepain of being jerked back, but I tried to ignore it, just like Itried to ignore the still body of the lycan whose life I’d justended. I lifted the gun and fired again. Another body fell.Another shot. Another body. I didn’t know the person pullingthe trigger. But I wanted them to stop. Three bullets laterand they did.

I had to stop—I was out of bullets. I threw the gun aside.Even if I had more bullets, I don’t think I would’ve reloadedit. Because of me and Kael there were six bodies. Some ofthem were completely still, some of them still twitched alittle as they took their last, desperate gasps of air.

More were closing in on us, but they were met by whomust’ve been members of Shane’s pack; I couldn’t tell thedifference between the good guys and the bad guysanymore, and I don’t know how they could tell each otherapart, either. But they all seemed to know their targetsomehow. I’m glad somebody knew what was going on.

“Come on,” Kael said, grabbing my arm and dragging meaway from the chaos. I followed, my legs getting a littlenumber with every step.

We were almost to the base of the hill when I saw him:about fifteen feet away stood a white beast. I actually frozein place when I saw him, because he was huge—even for alycan. He didn’t move with the same grace as Vanessa andthe others did; his footsteps were heavy and his shoulderssquared with every step. For a minute his head stayed lowto the ground as he walked, but then he lifted his nose tothe air and opened his mouth a little. After a few seconds ofthis he dropped his head and turned his one good eye onus. His lips pulled back, but not as if in a snarl. It was morelike a smile. Then he turned and bolted off into the woods.

“Where the hell is he going?” I was already sprinting up thehill, the numbness in my legs suddenly disappearing.Valkos had taken the exact same path into the woods thatVanessa and Lora had.

“I don’t know,” Kael said as he ran up beside me. “But whatdo you think you’re going to do about it?”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw his hand reach for me, butI managed to dodge it. I sped up enough so that I was justout of his reach.

“This is crazy, Alex,” he called angrily. “You can’t fight himlike this. And besides, Lora has Vanessa, and Will— plentyof protection. She doesn’t need you to die for her!”

“Valkos can’t kill me!” I yelled back. “He needs me.”

Kael dove at me then and managed to catch me. Hismomentum sent us both stumbling

“Get off of me!” I struggled, but Kael’s grip on my arms wasrelentless.

“Even if he can’t kill you,” he said. “There are worse thingsthan death, trust me. And he knows all about them.” Hefinally relaxed his grip and I jerked my arms away.

I glared at him for a minute. Then I nodded slowly.

“Yeah.”

“Good. I’m glad you—”

“Yeah, you’re right: I can’t fight him like this.”

“Alex? What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Kael might’ve been right beside me, but his voice was littlemore than background noise. The same was suddenly truefor everything surrounding me. The sounds of the forest, the

battle in the distance—soon all those noises becamenothing but static. Then, finally, there was complete silence,and I had the brief, eerie sensation that I was living in asilent film. Individual sounds came back to me first—mybreathing, the snarls and yelps in the distance, Kael’scursing at me—with a degree of clarity unlike anything I’dever heard.

My balance suddenly seemed off. Worried I might fall, Istarted to kneel forward, and to my surprise found I didn’thave to go far before my hands hit the ground. A secondlater the familiar tingling erupted over my entire body. Ididn’t open my eyes, because I was afraid that actuallywatching what was happening might make harder toremain calm. I could still feel it though. And it felt weird.

I remained crouched on hands and knees. My armslengthened first, and I felt myself grow taller, as though theground below me had suddenly decided to give a violentupheaval. My back legs formed more quickly, bending andlifting me off of my knees, onto my feet and into a four-legged position that felt surprisingly natural. In fact, it allseemed natural now. Why couldn’t I do this sooner?

Suddenly everything made sense again. The world aroundme started to slow, even as my mind raced with euphoricenergy. My fear was gone. Sights, sounds, colors—everything seemed so different, so strange and exciting.And enticing. Part of me would’ve given anything to havehad the chance to just walk around and take in this newworld. But my human mind was still with me, and a quietvoice surfaced in my mind, reminding me that I had thingsto take care of.

And then I was running. As a human I thought I’d been fast.But compared to now? It was like I’d been standing still mywhole life. I ran, and I didn’t even have to think about where Iwas going. Somehow I just knew. Somehow I knew wherenot to step, somehow I knew every path through the trees.And somehow I knew where Valkos had gone.

He turned around just in time to see me launch myself at

He turned around just in time to see me launch myself athim—but not in time to dodge. I managed to sink my teethinto the ruff of fur surrounding his neck. My grip wasn’tstrong enough, though, and with a toss of his head he sentme flying into a nearby tree. I stumbled to my feet,disoriented, and looked up to see Valkos stepping towardme.

(You are persistent—I will grant you that. To the point thatit’s gotten a bit annoying.)

I only snarled in response, and suddenly cold laughter filledmy head.

(I am glad to see you’ve abandoned your human form—atleast maybe you’ll be able to put up a little bit of a fight now.Should make things more interesting.)

I was amazed at how quickly, how fluidly, I was able tomove my new body—and of how easily I’d adjusted to thefact that it was mine. If I’d had time to think about it, I guessit would’ve seemed really bizarre. Luckily though, I didn’thave time. So I didn’t think about how strange it was tohave four legs instead of two. I just appreciated how fastthey could throw me at Valkos.

It was almost scary how satisfying it was to sink my teethinto him. Not that it lasted long. The second after my teethbrushed his skin, he shook me loose and countered with anattack of his own, raking his claws across my side andturning streaks of my fur a darker shade of red. An intense,burning pain followed, and a particularly sharp pang causedme to stumble just as I lunged toward him again. Hedodged, and I landed clumsily.

My balance left me completely for a moment, and Valkoswasted no time in taking advantage of my vulnerable state.Even if I had been on steady legs, he was still faster thanme—it didn’t take me long to realize that. I barely had timeto even think about evading him before he was on meagain. I managed to roll out of the way, but my escape wasso close that I’m pretty sure Valkos pulled away with a

clump of my fur between his teeth.

The longer we fought, the more I began to think that firstattack I’d managed to land had just been a stroke ofbeginner’s luck. Now I was forced to concentrate all of myenergy on just avoiding him, and it wasn’t long before thatgrew frustrating. There was little else I could do about it,though, so I kept dodging, waiting for a chance to attack. Itdidn’t take much of that before I started to get tired, and theclose-calls grew closer and more frequent. My exhaustionmust’ve been more obvious than I would’ve liked to admit,too, because after a few minutes I heard Valkos’ amusedvoice:

(I wonder how much longer you’ll be able to keep this up?You know, you’re only postponing the inevitable.)

(I could keep this up all day,) I snapped back, hoping myvoice didn’t reflect how tired I actually felt.

His hollow laughter filled my head again. (Well I’m gettingkind of bored myself. How about we go ahead and endthis?)

I didn’t have time to reply one way or the other before heslammed into my side and sent me skidding wildly acrossthe forest floor. Before I’d even rolled to a complete stop hewas on top of me, his jaws opened wide.

His fangs came down on my neck. The pain wasunbearable—like a hundred bee stings for each of thefangs that sank into my flesh. I tried to jerk away, but thatonly made the pain a million times worse. I lay still after oneattempt at that, and was silent save for the occasionalinvoluntary whimper.

Death would’ve been okay now. Anything to make the painstop. Maybe death was the best thing now, anyway. I’ddone all I could. At least I’d slowed him down—hopefullylong enough to be sure that Lora got to safety. What wasleft to do? It was over. I could accept that, right?

But it was far from over. His fangs withdrew from my neckand settled between my shoulder blades instead, and I feltmy self being lifted—smoothly, effortlessly—and the nextthing I knew I was hurtling through the air. I collided with anearby tree. I slid down, my back breaking my fall againstthe base, and pain shot through my spine. For a long time Ilay there, staring up at the sky and trying to get a decentbreath

(Not quite the fight I was hoping for.) His voice soundedairy, like I was in some kind of daydream. (You do showsome potential though. Once this pact business is allsettled, I may be able to find a place for you in my ranks.)

A low growl rumbled in my throat.

(I will never fight for you.) With tremendous effort I managedto roll myself over to face him. I tried to climb to my feet, butmy legs shook violently, and before I could even straightento half of my full height they crumpled beneath me. Thevibrant shades that had colored my world were dulling, andbouts of pain throbbed between my eyes. I started to shutthem. Everything around me was starting to blur.

A silver creature stepped between Valkos and me. I staredat it for what seemed like a long time, trying to make senseof it. I thought I was hallucinating. Valkos must’ve seen ittoo, though, because he lifted his head and took two stepsback, and a second later I heard his voice in my head.

(And here you are again. Such a disappointment,) he said.

(I’m beginning to think I should take that as a compliment,)came Kael’s quiet reply.

Valkos tossed his head back with a laugh. Then he lunged.

And call me a coward, but I did shut my eyes then. Tightly. Ididn’t want to see what was happening. I did my best todrown out the sounds of what was going on too. That washarder, though; there were so many snarls, and yelps, and

whines…and they seemed to be multiplying, too—like I wasback at the bottom of that hill, reliving the whole battle allover and over again in my mind. And for a long time Icouldn’t seem to make it stop.

There was a sharp, painful howl. I jumped, but I still didn’topen my eyes. I didn’t want to know who it had been. Andall of a sudden I was past exhaustion. My mind began tohaze over, and everything started to feel strangely peaceful.I might’ve completely blanked out if not for a small voiceinside my head that didn’t seem to think sleeping was agood idea right now.

I opened my eyes and tried to lift my head, to shake off thissudden sleepiness, but my head seemed to weigh a ton. Ilet it drop back down to the ground instead. The dirt was sorefreshing and cool, after all. A nice distraction from thebattle raging around me.

Watching it made me sick. So why were my eyes open? Itdidn’t make since—I could close them, no big deal. MaybeI’d even drift off to sleep, and if death came, so what? Iwouldn’t even know it. I wondered if my dad’s death hadbeen this peaceful. Probably not. I should’ve been thankful,maybe…

(Alex?)

The voice was familiar, and it filled me with warmth. But thatwarmth just made everything that much more peaceful. Ikept my eyes shut tightly.

(Let’s go, Alex.)

I felt a growl rise in my throat. I wanted to sleep, didn’t heunderstand that?

(Get up!)

(No.)

But even as my mind said the words, my body was moving.

But even as my mind said the words, my body was moving.My eyes opened. The voice said my name again. And thenmy legs moved, lifting me to me feet like they wereattached to strings being controlled by an invisiblepuppeteer. My thoughts were racing, making no sense. Iwas moving, but how or why I didn’t know. But somehow,my body seemed to know where it was going. Eventually, Igave up trying to understand and just let my feet carry meaway.

CHAPTER 20: left

“Alex?”

There was that voice again. And like before, warmth flowedthrough me. But my eyes still didn’t want to open.

“Where’s Lora?” I heard myself mumble.

“She’s here. She’s fine.”

“…Good.”

Someone’s hand rested against my forehead. Fingertipsbrushed down and off my cheek, returning a second laterwith a damp cloth that they laid across my brow. For somereason, the cool relief of the cloth made me sleepy, andbefore I realized it, I’d drifted off again.

***

When I finally opened my eyes, I found myself in a dark, butfamiliar, room. I didn’t sit up right away. Something movedoff to my right. I lifted my head from the pillow, and sawsomeone sitting in a chair beside the bed, his headslumped over onto the mattress and resting on his foldedarms. He looked terribly uncomfortable.

I started to sit the rest of the way up, but froze as Kaeljerked abruptly upright. He stared silently at me for asecond before taking a deep breath.

“You’re finally awake,” he said.

I smiled sheepishly. “Yeah…and you too now—sorry aboutthat. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

He relaxed and leaned forward, shaking his head. “I wasn’t

asleep. Just resting my eyes.”

“How long have you been there?” I asked, eying the darkcircles underneath his eyes.

He shrugged. “You’ve been asleep for a couple of days.”

“Days?” I repeated. He nodded, and I fell back against mypile of pillows, bringing a hand up to massage my temples.“That’s crazy. I…I’m still tired. Exhausted.”

“That’s not surprising. Not after what happened. Shifting’shard enough on the body as it is. Add the fact that it wastechnically your first time, and what you did…” He trailed off,as if he didn’t want to elaborate on just what I’d done. I don’tknow that I really wanted to remember all the details myself.What was frustrating, though, was that—now that I tried tothink about it— I couldn’t really remember anything.

“Alex?”

I lifted my head a few inches from the pillow and lookedtoward the door. Vanessa was peering around the corner,and as soon as our eyes met she practically sprintedacross the room to my side.

“You’re awake!”

“Yeah.” I smiled weakly at her as she threw her arms aroundme.

“How are you feeling, Alex?” Eli’s voice was tired, but hesmiled at me as he walked in the room. Beside him walkedWill, and they both made their way over to my bedside.

“How’s it going, Al?” Will asked, picking up one of myhands and giving it a little squeeze.

“I’m okay. What about you, though?” I asked. “Are youokay?”

“Never better.”

“And the others? Jack, and Emily?”

“They’re good.”

I closed my eyes for a second and breathed out a deepsigh of relief. I took another deep breath and opened myeyes. “And Lora, what about Lora?” I asked quietly. “Shegot away too, right?”

Nobody said anything. Kael was the only one who didn’tlook away, so my pleading, needy eyes locked onto his. Heswallowed and tilted his head forward in what didn’t quitelook like a nod, but his lips formed the word ‘yes’. Theweight on my chest lifted a little. It didn’t go far though—because although the word made it to his lips, that waswhere it stayed.

I needed to hear it out loud.

“Yes?” I answered for him.

He swallowed again. “Yeah. She did,” he said quietly. “Wemanaged to drive Valkos away, and we got Lora heresafely.”

I wanted to let out the breath I was holding, but I couldn’t.Something was wrong. Kael’s face wasn’t as difficult toread as normal—in fact, the anguish on it was painfullyobvious.

“So then what is it? Why do you all look so…so…” I couldbarely choke the words out. I leaned back against theheadboard, rubbing folds of the blanket through mytrembling fingers.

“Your sister is gone, Alex.” Eli’s words were like a bucket ofice water being dumped over me, leaving me drenchedand shaking.

“Gone?” I repeated, drawing the blanket up around my self.

“Gone?” I repeated, drawing the blanket up around my self.“Wha-what do you mean…? She can’t be gone. She wasgone before, but I went…I saw her…if she got back herethen why…I don’t understand…”

“She left.”

The word was unexpected, and for a long time I was silent,confused. Then I relaxed my grip on the blanket and let it falloff my shoulders as I sat up to meet Eli’s gaze.

“Left? When? Where did she go?” I asked.

“Sometime last night. Your sister’s health has been aconcern to us since she arrived—though she seemed to berecovering well enough. Anyway, the doctor we sent for wassitting up with her last night, and when Vanessa went tocheck on him this morning…” He trailed off and looked toVanessa, whose face had suddenly gone even paler thanusual.

“It was a pretty gruesome sight,” she said in a tiny voice.“The doctor…he’s doing better now but it was…not good.”

I stared at her for a minute, trying to make sense of whatshe was saying.

“And Lora was gone?” I said.

Vanessa nodded.

“But who…how could someone have taken her from here?”

“Alex…she wasn’t taken.”

“What? Then the doctor…the doctor must’ve…”

“The doctor tried to stop her,” Kael said. “And he ended upwith a bloody nose because of it.”

I shook my head angrily at him. “No. No—that can’t be right.Lora would never hurt anybody. She can’t have…”

“Your sister has been under a lot of stress,” Eli said.“Perhaps too much.”

“Have you looked for her at all?” I asked, not really lookingat Eli.

He started to answer anyway. “Of course we—”

“Home,” I interrupted, sitting up and sliding out from underthe covers. My feet were on the floor in instant later, myeyes focused on the door. But what started as a sprintacross the room to it ended with me stumbling and Kaelcatching me just before I hit the floor. I rested my headagainst his chest while I waited for the room to stopspinning.

“I bet she went home,” I said. “I bet she went to see Mom.”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Eli shake his head. “Wehave already—”

“We can go see,” Kael said, cutting him off. “Come on.We’ll take my car.”

***

I don’t remember how I got there, but ten minutes later I wasin the passenger seat of Kael’s Jeep, and we were makingour way down the mountain. The dirt track we were onbarely passed for a road. I was leaning my foreheadagainst the window, and every now and then a particularlynasty bump or hole in the road would shake the car andsend my head crashing against the glass. But it was okay,because I was more or less oblivious to pain at this point.

“I’m sorry,” Kael said after about ten minutes of silence.

“For what?” I said, not lifting my head away from thewindow.

“For what happened with your sister. For what I did.”

“For what happened with your sister. For what I did.”

“You did what you had to do,” I said quietly. His wordsconfused me, and I didn’t want to try and make sense ofthem right now. Actually, I wasn’t up for discussing anythingright now. And for a second I thought Kael was going todrop it. But after a few minutes he spoke again. “You knowfor the past seven years no one’s known the truth about me.I’ve had to lie—constantly—and I’m tired of it. I wantsomeone to know the truth. I need you to.”

After the past week, you would think nothing could’vesurprised me by now. But this new, suddenly vulnerableKael was quite possibly the strangest thing I’d seen yet. Ididn’t know what to say, what to do. I was glad when hekept talking a few seconds later.

“It was true, you know,” he said. “What Sera said to myfather. I’d planned on killing you. And if I could’ve mademyself do it…”

I looked at him then, shaking my head. “Why are you tellingme this?”

“Because you deserve to know,” he said, gripping thesteering wheel tightly and staring straight ahead. “And I’mtired of all the uncertainty between us.”

I moved away from the window and settled back against myseat with a sigh. “You were going to kill me. And Sera wasgoing to help you do it, I guess?” If he insisted on talking, Iwas at least going to get some answers.

“It started out as a partnership. I don’t think she was ever init for the same reasons as me but…yeah. She agreed tohelp me.”

“And that day at the lake? She attacked me on yourorders?”

He shook his head. “I saved you that day. That wasn’t anact. By then Sera had lost her patience with me, and was

back to working on Valkos’ orders—and I almost didn’trealize it until it was too late. You weren’t supposed to bebitten. I didn’t want that to happen, I didn’t want you to bedragged into all this—that’s why I tried to talk you into takingthe antidote.”

“But I wouldn’t listen…” I said quietly, staring at my hands.

Kael nodded. “Sera got a little carried away, but she reallywas out to infect you. I guess by that point Valkos knew thatif he showed you the truth about your past, about what reallyhappened with your father, then you’d eventually come afterhim yourself.

“And I would’ve,” I said. I felt incredibly disgusted withmyself all of a sudden. “I would’ve played right into hisplans…” Kael didn’t say anything to that, so after a minuteof silent self-loathing I continued. “But how did he know somuch about me? How did he know what I would do?”

“I was a different person a couple of years ago.”

“What?”

“When this all started, I didn’t know how it was going to endup. All I knew was that I couldn’t risk blowing my cover until Ifigured out what I was going to do. I had to keep relayinghim information about you, about the operation I wassupposedly undergoing to further his cause. Some of what Itold him was true. I told him about possible strategies I’dcome up with—none of which I planned to carry out.”

My fingers dug into the leather upholstery. “But he got itfrom you then?” I had to fight to keep my voice level. “Yougave him everything he needed to hurt me?”

“Alex, I—”

“What about Lora? Did you tell him how close we were?Was taking her one of the genius plans you gave him?”

Was taking her one of the genius plans you gave him?”

He gave me a sharp look. “Of course not. And I nevermeant to hurt you, either.”

I almost laughed. “You were planning on killing me.”

“Only so I could stop another war. I don’t know how to makeyou understand…if you were alive during the last war, thenmaybe you would. I didn’t want to kill you, but getting rid ofthe descendant seemed like the only way to stop my father.I just felt like it was the lesser of two evils.”

I stared at him as he spoke, but he never took his eyes offthe road. “Why didn’t you?” I asked quietly.

“I’m not sure. All I know is that from the first day I saw youI've been fighting this. One part of me kept telling me killingyou was the only way, and that the answer was obvious: itwas one person's life over the hundreds of thousands thatmight be lost in another war. But the other part of me knew Icould never hurt you. Not then, and not now.”

We rode in silence for a long time after that. I wanted tostay mad at Kael, but I found that I couldn’t. What he’d donewas terrible. Misguided. But I was beginning to thinkeveryone was misguided. I know I was. I didn’t know what Iwas doing any more, much less why I was doing it. And Isure as hell didn’t know what I was supposed to do now.

“Lora’s not at the house, is she?” The question came out ofnowhere. I didn’t look at Kael as I spoke. I just started intothe rearview mirror and watched the mountains in thedistance get smaller and smaller.

“That’s the first place we looked,” he said quietly. “Therewas no sign she’d even been there.”

A week ago I might have insisted we go look again. Iwould’ve wanted to see it for myself, to make sure theyhadn’t missed anything. And I would probably still do thateventually. But there was somewhere else I wanted to go

first.

Ten minutes later Kael pulled up to the gate. He cut theengine as I stepped into the brilliant sunlight. The weatherhad fallen back into its old habit of mocking me with itswarm rays of sunshine, obviously oblivious—or indifferent—to everything that was happening to me. This was the firsttime I’d been here since the funeral, and it took me a littlewhile to navigate my way through the rows of headstones.After about five minutes, though, I finally found it.

Dad’s grave was simple, just a smooth, square slab ofgranite with only his name on it. He would’ve like it that way—he never cared for complications. I guess that’s why henever told me the truth about who we were.

“If only you knew how complicated things were now,” I saidquietly, kneeling down beside the stone.

It was weird—and a little creepy—but strangely comfortingthere beside his grave. After a few minutes Kael came andsat down beside me. I laid my head against his shoulder,and we sat silently for ten minutes, twenty minutes—I don’tknow. Time seemed kind of irrelevant now. I could’ve satthere forever. I would’ve, too, if a ray of sunlight hadn’tbroken through the trees just then, shining down on mydad’s grave and reflecting off something lying beside theheadstone.

“What is that?” Kael asked.

I leaned forward and pushed aside the blades of grass thathad been hiding it. I lifted it by the chain and placed thependant of it in my hand. It burned a little, and the familiarhumming filled my ears as I drew it close to me.

“Alex?” Kael said uncertainly.

I looked down at the diamond. Its silver backing wasstarting to cause a tear-drop shaped blister to form on myhand, but I ignored the pain and closed my fingers tightlyover it.

over it.

“She was here,” I said. “Lora’s been here.”

End of Book One of The Shift Chronicles