by Holly Hook
"It's true I wanted to get you away from your father, but that's because he pricked himself picking a rose from that bush." He speaks quickly as if scared the ground will fall out from under us.
"That's it?" I ask, until I remember Tyler's story about how—
He swallows. "I had to get you away from him because he became cursed, and he refused to stay in Tower to keep everyone else safe. If he wasn't going to care about your safety, then I was going to.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Silence falls over the surrounding woods, and no one speaks. I look over my shoulder for any of the dangers that could come up behind us at any moment. There are more than I ever imagined. Then I look to the rose bush, to the now-sagging form under the tarp that Dad must have found. Maybe, just maybe, he wandered here and thought he could pick a bloom for Mom while they were separated. Then he just might have pushed his flesh into a thorn, just as Tyler did when he was eleven—
"He couldn't have!" I shout, unable to stop myself.
"I found him here, passed out, with the thorn still lodged in his finger," Tyler says. "I was hoping you and your family wouldn't have to deal with this horror, that we could resolve this without any more stress. That's the whole truth. Yes, I did have to convince him to send you here. I did tell him my family is rich, because your father didn't want to just give you to someone he blamed for cursing him. And yes, I proved to him that the curse was real, right before your mother got back here and found us both. But he refused to stay here in Tower to isolate himself. He was going to go back out into the world and be a danger to everyone around him."
I swallow down needles and razor blades. The whole world vanishes except for me and Tyler. "Did my mother know?"
"No. Not at first. I tried to tell her about the curse, too, but she didn't believe it even after I went behind a tree and shifted back to human form.”
Every horrible piece of this puzzle crashes together at once. Dad's insistence that I go to Tower. His words about me having to fix the family. Mom fighting for me to stay in New York at first, and then joining me here. Dad's strange, horrible behavior that's even worse than normal.
He sent me here to save himself, and then tried to keep Mom with him, knowing it would be dangerous for her. Without being near this rose bush, Dad's humanity would have—
"Why didn't you tell me?" I ask, but Tyler has already given me the explanation. My heart races and I feel like I might pass out. My body won't be able to handle much more stress, and had I known this right away, I might have gotten sick from the terror like Darlene. I sink to my knees under the mountain on my shoulders, and Tyler sinks beside me.
"How could I do that to you? It changes nothing, but you had a right to know. That's my last secret. I'm still the reason you're here. You can be as angry with me as you want."
I look to Tyler, taking a breath. I need something to hold onto.
It isn't Tyler's fault that I'm here even though he thinks that it is.
It's Dad's, even if he didn't mean to curse himself. Tyler knew that, if I stayed in New York with him, that I would never be safe, and neither would my mother. He did the best he could in a shitty situation.
The truth is horrible, but also freeing.
Tyler never meant to imprison me here. To trap me or manipulate me.
He only wanted to protect me.
"Tyler," I say. "I forg—"
My phone rings, breaking the silent trance of the forest. Tyler and I jump, separating, and I pull my phone from my pocket again. When did I put it away? Why did I take my focus off Mom being in danger for even one second?
It's Gia this time.
I gulp and answer.
"Hey?" I ask.
"Stay away from the cabin. I'm sorry to tell you this, Beckah, but your father showed up, and he was pissed. Said he wanted to see you and your mother, and well, we slipped out the back door and ran. He wasn't normal. He started tearing apart the cabin behind us—"
I scream inside as Tyler presses close to me, listening. Cammie and Valerie do the same, forming a small huddle of warmth.
"J...just stay away from him. Both of you," I say, barely able to speak. "Where are you going to go? Keep your voices down, wherever you are. And go to the Tower Market. Buy some perfume. Spray it all over yourselves." Mom and Gia have to hide their scents.
"Perfume? Why?" Then Gia goes silent and I'm glad she knows about the wolves. “Oh.”
"Just do it. Cover your trail," I say, filling my voice with meaning. I wish Gia had a car, and that she and Mom could drive out of Tower and go stay in some hotel.
Gia makes a sound like gagging as she must understand. "We will do that. I can take your mother to my mother's old cabin. It's still empty and I have a spare key, even though it belongs to the Roses. And your father doesn't know where it is."
I breathe out, grateful that she—and maybe we—have a place to go. I end the call so they can protect themselves. Moisture fills my eyes, turning the world into a blurry mess.
"How did this all get so bad?"
Tyler helps me to stand. "We know how it got bad. Beckah, what's your plan for driving my DNA donors out of town?" He looks at the woods, sensing, and his gaze lands on the spot where Alan stood moments before. Once again, he's vanished, unable to hold onto his human nature for long.
Dad will be even worse than Alan, having been thousands of miles from his humanity for months on end. It's amazing he's held on the way he has for this long. But I can only imagine the sort of husband he's been, the sort of boss. It's no wonder his company is failing.
"I'll explain on the way to Sarah's old house," I say. "We need to cover our scents, too." I've got to focus on the plan, the dangerous idea that I don't want to have to employ. The redness still hangs in Tyler's eyes, waiting to come forth and eat. His confession alone hasn't stopped the curse. We need to do more. We need to go through with this.
"Stay with me," Tyler says. "Your father isn't technically part of the pack since none of us bit him, so we don't know what he'll do.”
* * * * *
The walk to Sarah's cabin seems to take forever. No one in the Rose Pack shifts, but everyone keeps their senses super alert, including me. We take a long way around Gia's cabin, staying miles from it, and walking through woods and over hills that scream rugged wilderness. But Tyler insists my father hasn't been out here, in any form, and probably won't check these steep hills and boulders for two fleeing women. Or three.
"Where do you think he is?" I ask, but deep down, I know the answer.
Tyler gulps. "He has placed all the responsibility for this on you, Beckah. And that's wrong."
Rage fills me and makes my heart race. Yes. He has, from the start. And since he's still cursed, he came here to deal with me. In what way, I don't know yet, but at the very best he's here to make sure Tyler and I get together, whether I want that or not. And at worst, he's lost his temper and wants revenge.
On me.
Even with the best case scenario, and even with his proximity to the rose bush, Dad won't have the best control. His domineering personality will only help along the new beast inside.
"Your father is waiting at the cabin. I'm catching a whiff of him," Tyler says.
"Is that the cologne smell?" Chaz asks. It's clear he hasn't met my father before. Only Tyler has.
"Yes," he says. "I think he's asleep there."
"He expects me to show up after Mom and Gia left with their cell phones," I say. "Does he really think I'm still that afraid to defy him?"
"His logic must have gone out the window fast," Tyler tells me as he helps me over a large, icy boulder. Ahead of us, more hills and rock fields wait, and my legs are getting sore. I've got to believe that Sarah's cabin is just a few miles off, just over those hills, and that it's as isolated as Gia always said. "He was cursed the moment he pricked his finger, like me. And he's safe. Everyone native to Tower will be terrified of him."
"For now," I say, thinking of the hunters out there. I can't
let them kill my father, even if he has been nothing but a jerk. Some of that wasn't his fault.
We walk the rest of the way in silence, slowly making out way down the rock field, with Tyler holding me as he hops effortlessly from boulder to boulder. At last, we spot a tiny bit of smoke rising from the snow-covered trees, and my near frostbitten toes wiggle with happiness as we enter the forest cover and find a long cabin happily puffing out smoke from its chimney. Sarah's old place is almost charming, with chicken coops in a neat row near the edge of the woods.
Mom opens the front door for us, and spreads her arms out for a hug.
"Beckah. You're safe. I wanted to look for you, but Gia was insistent that we stay put."
Mom doesn't know about the wolves, then, or doesn't want to accept what's wrong with Dad. She can blame severe mental illness all she wants. Maybe it's better that way. She smells of cheap perfume that threatens to give me a headache, but she's alive and unhurt. Gia stands behind her, waving us inside. She gets it.
We all go inside and gather around the big, iron stove that Sarah must have used to heat her cabin. There's a dirty fireplace, too, and I can see the dust gathering on all the bookshelves. Sarah has collected lots of books, and if I didn't know about the anger that consumed her, I would have guessed she was a peaceful middle-aged woman living off the land. Gia goes to work cleaning out the fireplace in silence. I help her, trying to calm my thoughts, and the Rose Pack gathers in the kitchen and starts to straighten things out. We're going to be staying here for a while.
I flop down on Sarah's couch, wondering if her angry spirit is still here, but this place feels safe. Gia has done some work cleaning it up already. The long cabin has three bedrooms, but I understand why Gia has never taken any of them even though it would mean living more cheaply. All three have neatly made beds and dressers.
"This isn't a bad place to hide," Tyler says. "We really need a couple of days to work out this plan of yours. It can go wrong on so many levels."
I face him after checking to make sure Mom is out of earshot. She's still reeling from her spot on the couch. I wonder how Gia convinced her that cheap perfume would protect them.
Has the redness in his eyes eased? Maybe Tyler's confession has helped after all. "I know we do. There are too many moving pieces. And we need Marion and Gavin to help us, too. Especially Gavin. And Marion can be our tactician."
He gulps. Neither of us like this plan, but it's the only one we have. At least we have shelter and since the Roses haven't seemed to figure out that I'm involved in their coming overthrow, we should be safe here at Sarah's former house, even if it does technically belong to them. To the Roses, what's one more person dead from stress, or fled from the town never to return? Well, lost money, but they're so loaded that they won't care unless everyone moves out.
I call Marion, having to step outside thanks to the bad reception out here. It takes forever for me to get through, because the signal keeps dropping, and for Gavin it's even more difficult.
"How's your grandma doing?" I start with that, hating that I'm not inside with Mom.
"She's resting. But still worried," Marion says. "We might have to move out and find someone we can share housing with pretty soon. She doesn't think she can handle the rent anymore. Grandma's on a fixed income and could never save all her life."
I gulp, even more determined to go through with this crazy plan. "We need you over here at Sarah's cabin. Do not go to Gia's. And tell Gavin to avoid it, too."
Marion doesn't say a word for a moment. I let the silence drag out because I don't want to tell her that Dad wound up cursed, and now he's lost control of himself and is coming after me, thinking it's all my fault that he's not fixed. I'm used to things being considered my fault, but this is a whole new level.
This could get me killed, and Dad won't be able to help it.
I gulp. "The place was ransacked, and my mom and Gia had to leave. We're at Gia's mother's house because my cousin still had a spare key to the place. You and Gavin need to get here."
Marion doesn't question that. I'm technically not lying because I imagine Dad going through my room, tearing everything apart, looking for something that can magically fix him. Then I give her a brief rundown of the plan for taking down Rose Ranch because focusing on that is less terrifying than on parents who have turned against me and Tyler.
"Shit, Beckah. That's dangerous," Marion says with an audible gulp. "I don't know if we can—"
"It's the only way to get rid of the Roses for good. We can't just kill them. Tyler would end up on the hook for that. The authorities will blame him, and if we do that, I have a feeling the guilt will consume Tyler and the curse will take over completely. He'll go dark."
"I suppose you're right," Marion says. "I'll get Gavin. We're going to need him for this, because I can't fill the role he's going to need to do."
I hate bringing the two of them in, but I thank Marion and end the call, determined to get back in the cabin with Mom, Gia, and Tyler. I go inside to find Tyler sitting beside Mom, and she's seated on Sarah's couch between Gia and him. The rest of the Rose Pack has taken to the kitchen, and I hear the gas range going as someone is attempting to cook. The old stove is going as well, burning with a happy crackling sound that would lift my mood if things weren't so dire.
"Mom, do you have any idea what's wrong with Dad?" I ask as she looks up at me. I know that while I've been outside, she's been crying. Her eyes are red. At least Tyler has been stable enough to stay inside with her.
This is the heartbreak Tyler and I will suffer if we don't remove the curse. It's hurting everyone in my life, and as Mom and I look at each other, Tyler frowns like he's debating on telling Mom the truth.
"Something is very wrong," she says. "Your father has always been...rough around the edges. He's always been the man to get his way. But something is very off and I don't understand what it is."
"Has he been vanishing for long periods of time?" I ask.
Mom nods.
I gulp.
She deserves the truth.
If I were her, I would want it, no matter how difficult.
"We can tell her," Tyler says.
Mom looks to him, eyes widening. "You can't know what's wrong. I've done plenty of research because your father refused to get help. I can't even find what personality disorder he's developed."
"It's not a personality disorder," I say. "Dad was infected by a curse. When he picked that rose, he pricked his finger."
Mom straightens, pulling away from Gia's hand on her back. "What does that have to do with anything?"
Gia gulps. We'll have to prove to Mom that this curse is real, once again, and we'll have to do it in a direct, traumatic manner. Tyler lifts an eyebrow at me, and though his eyes still have a trace of that redness, I sense he has just enough control to do this and not attack anyone.
"Will you be okay with this?" I ask, my voice hoarse from the horror of the day.
He nods. "I have to be."
I turn to Mom. I've got to prepare her for this, one dose at a time. No one can handle all of this at once and stay sane.
“What are you talking about?” she asks.
"Tyler was cursed when he was eleven, by that same rose bush," I say. "He was cursed to be a werewolf, and now, so has Dad. That's why he's acting the way he is."
Mom shoots off the couch, eyes widening. "Tyler? He's not like your father. He doesn't come in here and start tearing things apart in a rage. There's no way you can believe Tyler's stories. He's just good with words."
"The curse intensifies the farther someone gets from Tower," Tyler explains. "That's why Beckah's father lost control so quickly. He's dangerous right now, but once we get this curse taken off me, it'll come off of him as well, since it's the same curse.”
Mom shakes her head. "I refuse to believe this." But doubt lingers between her words. Instead of storming out of the room, or shaking her head again and sitting back down, or even laughing, she just waits. As if she's dar
ing Tyler and the Rose Gang to blow her skepticism out of the water.
Tyler removes his shirt, and turns away from Mom as he loosens his jeans.
"What is going on?" Mom asks, gripping the couch. “Is this appropriate?” She manages a nervous laugh.
I swallow, hating that I'm shattering her world. "We're not in Kansas anymore." Yeah, that lame line is all I can think of. “Tyler won't hurt you.”
I lean down, holding Tyler's hand as his bare skin begins to ripple. Fur sprouts, and Tyler bites in cries of pain as his hand begins to pop and change shape under my grasp. I let go as claws begin to slide along my palm and fingers, and pull back as a scream of shock comes from Mom. Even Gia does the same, having not seen a shift so close before. And by the time the dark wolf staggers out of his jeans, leaving them to fall to the floor, Mom's pale and looks ready to faint. Shaking, she reaches out for Gia's support.
I feel the same way because I'm about to have to explain this all.
Tyler, the curse, and our plan to take down Rose Ranch.
"Tyler is cursed to shift into a wolf and slowly lose his humanity," I say. "And now Dad is, too."
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Mom is a trooper, it turns out. I don't know what all she's dealt with staying with Dad in New York, where he was thousands of miles from where his humanity is stored, but it must have toughened her up. Or she's just naturally strong. Mom laughs as she absorbs the news, the way I do when I get super nervous, and slowly sits back down despite Tyler still standing there in wolf form.
I keep my hand on Tyler's back, keeping him calm, digging my fingers into his lush fur. Mom doesn't protest when I do that, either.
"Care to explain?" Mom asks, voice steady now that she's somewhat recovered from her shock. "I can make us some coffee while you do."
Yeah. Now I know where I get that trait, that urge to busy myself with something mundane while the world is falling apart.
"We will once Tyler shifts back. He's got control right now, but sometimes he has to get away from people and run into the woods. I help him maintain control since we get along so well." And since the curse is ready to jump to me, I think. I've got days. Can I tell Mom that?