by Holly Hook
“What are you getting at? Want to hurt another one of my friends?” Lowering my voice, I lean close to his ear. “Thinking of what you can make fall on her?”
Jansen tries to jerk out of my grasp, but he can't, so he settles on glaring at me. We're almost the same height, so his brown eyes bore into my own. “Hurt her? Don't tell me you think I'm the one who made the beam fall on the guy yesterday.”
“Stop playing stupid.” I wait while a few people walk past me and vanish into Ellie's classroom. And Aunt May might be correct that I'm still too nice. So I drag Jansen back with me and towards the corner. “You‘re not going near her. I know what you're doing and it's reporting to Brett.”
“Look, I don't know this Brett guy. Or what you're talking about. And why are you so strong? Are you a dude?”
I drag him back to the corner. Two girls grin at me as they pass. The halls are emptying, which gives me an advantage. The warning bell rings, signaling the last minute to run to class. “You're leaving this school. Today. And before you go, hand me your phone. From now on, if you want to report to Brett, use paper airplanes or sign language. Good luck.” I tighten my grip on his shoulder, curling my fingers around the bones. Breaking them and shattering his shoulder would be the perfect punishment. No one would ever believe a girl like me did this to Jansen. Anger pumps through me and a growl threatens to rise from my throat. His brown eyes are hard, daring me to do it. Daring me to give in to a savage, animal nature...
I let go of him and wring out my hand.
“Not so tough, are you?” he asks.
Words escape me. I eye him, not sure what to say.
“Your phone,” I demand. “Prove you're not texting Brett.” Giving in to my urges to hurt another person, a human, won't help me in this fight. If Mr. Hayde was right, they can turn me, a half Wolf to the other side. And this could be part of the manipulation. A real danger lurks on the other side.
“Unless Brett's actual name is ‘Mom' I'm not texting this guy,” Jansen says. “Now leave me alone. I know I'm the new guy, but that doesn't mean I'm plotting behind peoples' backs.”
“You said so yourself you'd be watching me.”
“That‘s because you're crazy!” Jansen backs away and hikes up his backpack. He turns away and storms down the now-empty wing towards Ellie's classroom.
“If my friend gets hurt, you'll know,” I say.
Then I smell plastic and metal.
A cell phone. It hides not in his pocket, but in a backpack compartment. I hear the case rubbing against a strap. I see the rectangular bump in his pocket.
I can take it. Checking the hall, I follow, keeping my footsteps quiet and muffled. Jansen continues to storm to the classroom, not looking back. He's disgusted with this crazy girl who keeps picking on him. Or he's trying to make me feel like I'm crazy.
With a quick movement, I reach into the compartment, undoing the strap.
Jansen does the rest. He keeps walking and his smart phone slips out of his pack, lingering in my hand. I'm left standing there, holding it in the middle of the hall with seconds before I'm late to Mrs. Connor's class.
Tucking the device into my pocket, I dart to my first class with real evidence in tow.
* * * * *
It‘s not until I sit down that I realize Jansen is no longer in my first class. He was yesterday, but now he‘s switched to another—Ellie‘s. The guy might fear me or he wants to upset me. There‘s nothing worse than knowing he‘s near my friend and I'm not.
“What happened to Jansen?" I ask Mrs. Connors.
She checks her schedule. “He switched to Mr. Lasek‘s Economics class this morning. No reason was given.”
Ellie's first hour class, in other words. That's why he followed her.
He knows I'm onto him and he's going after my friends.
It's hard to sit there without Noah and worry about her. I keep my hearing on the rest of the school. No loud noises. No large, falling objects.
Despite the phone theft, no announcement comes over the PA for me to go to the office. I keep it in my pocket. Maybe Jansen thinks he lost it or he's too humiliated to admit a girl picked on him. Either way, Remo‘s helping to crack the phone at lunch.
I meet Ellie in the cafeteria and tell her I have to sit with the Lowes today. “Remo's still upset about his girlfriend,” I say. “I have to be there for him. I know we're all upset about Noah. Try to survive Olivia today.”
Ellie forces a smile. “I will. She's getting better. And you hugged her. That's a sight I thought I'd never see.”
“Sounds like something Noah would say.”
I watch Olivia sit with Ellie as I head over to the Lowe table. After checking to see that Jansen's gone, I plop his phone on the table. “Special delivery,” I tell Remo and Everly. “We can see what Jansen has been texting to Brett. Maybe we'll see some of Brett's texts, too. And there's a small chance Brett's given Jansen clues on how to remove Cayden's curse.”
“That would be wonderful,” Everly says, “if we could crack the password and get into the phone. I've been trying to lift it from his backpack, too. He will probably notice it missing at lunchtime. I bet that's when he stalks off to talk to Brett.”
“I bet it is, too,” I say. “He might not realize it's me. You'd better take it in case I get called down to the--”
The PA beeps.
And I know what it's about before the principal speaks.
“Brie Sterling. Please meet me in the office,” he says.
Faces turn toward me, including Ellie's. Even Olivia frowns at me.
“There it is,” I say. I've relied on luck all day to keep Jansen's phone. Now it‘s run out. Jansen must not text during class. He's found his phone missing when lunch started. Now I'll be facing him.
“I'll keep the phone,” Remo says. “I bet it's hackable, but I won't risk that until I get home. The principal won't believe I have it.”
“That's because you're the perfect student,” I say, getting up and leaving my tray. “I'll let you know how it goes.”
Jansen stands in the office, waiting for me with the receptionist, Marge, and the principal, Mr. Olton. All of them glare at me in a way that makes my stomach curl, but compared to Romulus, they're nothing. I can handle them. “Is there a problem?” I ask. “I know I was a jerk in the hall today, but my friend's injury is stressing me out, you know?”
“You are accusing our new student of something very serious,” Principal Olton says. He wrinkles his jaw in that way of his when he's not happy. Fantastic.
“I sure am,” I say. “Two freak accidents happened when he showed up.”
Jansen shakes his head with disgust. “I have had nothing to do with either accident. Mr. Saffron isn't sure what made the beam fall yesterday. I know I--”
“I know you're not in the wrong,” Mr. Olton says to him. He eyes me. “Your backpack. Now. Turn out your pockets.”
“Fine. If you think I'm on drugs, you‘ll be disappointed.” My voice comes out confident. Before, I would have trembled before Mr. Olton, but now he's just some guy who has no bearing on my life. So I turn out my pockets. “See? No pot or pills or anything crazy.” I drop my backpack on the ground next. “Stress could count as a drug, though. I'm sick of stuff falling on me and my friends.”
“I understand that. We're doing more inspections of the school,” the principal explains. “We do not stand for injuries here. And we also don't stand for bullying behavior.”
I watch as the receptionist paws through my backpack and pulls out two late homework papers. She undoes the zippers and checks inside all the pockets. “What's your locker combination?” she asks.
“Are you suspecting I've got drugs in there, too?” I ask.
She glares at me. “Now is not the time for humor, young lady.”
They're upset. This could only get worse if they accused me of making the tree fall or of making the rafter fall on Noah. If that happens—
“Why did you drop out of the play yesterday
and then come back in after yesterday's accident?” Principal Olton asks.
“I felt guilty about leaving my friends,” I say. “I've been helping my aunt at her store, and I wanted to help her out more so we can keep it open, so I dropped out. But then my friend got hurt, and I felt bad about not being there for him, so I went back in. And Mr. Saffron wanted me to. He was at the hospital last night.”
“I know that,” Olton says. “Your friend was lucky.”
“You don't think I made that beam fall on him?”
He makes a face like he's not sure what to say and exchanges a look with Marge. She holds a container of my ink pens. “No. We don't. But we're exploring every possibility in these accidents. If things get out of hand, it could be terrible for this school.”
“No kidding,” I say to Jansen. He remains stoic. Now he has people in his corner and I'm just the person getting accused. Maybe he did this as revenge.
“She doesn't have my phone?” he asks when Marge turns up empty.
“We're checking her locker. In fact, she stays here while we do that right now.”
“But I haven't given you my combination,” I say.
“I can look it up if you're not cooperative," Marge says.
I tell her the numbers. “Check. Maybe you'll find old food at the bottom, but mostly, it's just me and Noah's stuff.”
Principal Olton orders me to sit. He paces in typical principal style while Jansen stands against the wall and waits.
I know you took it, he mouths.
I shrug like I don't understand him. I did, but unless his phone is clear, he's not getting it back. Remo will take care of that. And then—
Rotten wood rides on the air, leaking through the vent as the heat comes on. The intense stench fills the office, and Jansen, being unable to smell it, continues to glare at me as I sit there, holding the armrests with a death grip.
It's not Romulus, but it's almost as bad.
Matthew.
He's somewhere close, and judging from the scent coming through the vent, he might even be inside the building.
I rise from the chair. “I have to go,” I say. Why am I telling Jansen this? Matthew's here. Maybe he's working with him, too, which is stupid.
“You're not going anywhere until we search your locker,” Mr. Olton says. “Sit down.”
He's so angry he reeks of adrenaline, but it's nothing compared to the odor. My mind cranks, figuring out where the boiler or heating system must be. The basement where no one goes but the janitor. Matthew might be down there, broadcasting his scent to the pack.
He's a danger to the entire school.
Marge walks into the office and shakes her head. “There's no phone in her locker,” she says. “She doesn't have it.”
“Maybe Jansen lost it?” I ask.
“No. I had it zipped up in this pocket,” he says, patting the smallest one on the bag.
“Maybe you should try another,” Mr. Olton says with sympathy. “We've all lost things. And I want you two to get along.”
“He has something to do with the beam falling. I know it,” I say, sounding stupid.
“I've called in another inspector,” Principal Olton says. “None of this gets out. Do you both understand?”
“Shady,” I say, heading for the door. “I won't say a word.”
“Behave at rehearsal today, both of you.”
I dart out of the office, but Matt's scent vanishes. It's going through the heating system, which caters to the office first. Then I approach another vent and smell the rot again. Everly and Remo likely haven‘t picked it up yet.
I rush back into the cafeteria to find Everly and Remo still sitting at the usual table. Ellie waves and I send her a quick one back. I hate to blow her off.
“Matt's here,” I say, stopping at the table.
“He's here?” Everly snaps her hazel gaze up at me. For a moment, she looks like her brother.
Cayden should fight with us. It's only right. I listen for his voice, but he‘s absent. Does that mean we're not in too much danger yet?
“His scent was coming through the vent when the heat turned on. We need to find him before he hurts anyone.” The urge to protect everyone in the cafeteria sweeps over me. Jansen, Brett, and Matt are endangering everyone in the school and in town, too.
And he‘s violated our territory. I quake at the thought.
“Then Matt is near the heating system,” Remo says. “He probably still has some intelligence. This is a trap.”
“I know that,” I say. “We can't just run down there and worse, we're down two people. It took all of us to deal with him when he first turned. Now that Matt‘s had experience, he'll be even worse now.”
“But what if he's hurting some girl?” Everly asks.
“I smelled no one else with him,” I say.
“But that might not last long,” Everly says. She pushes in her chair, leaving her food. “Where's the boiler room?”
I lead them out of the cafeteria when the lunch ladies aren't looking and down the hall to where a basement door waits. Opening it and breaking the lock, I eye the stairwell that leads down into darkness.
Everly's right. Why wouldn't Matt want to lure us down there?
But leaving him to do his worst will be even more awful.
“I'll go first,” Remo tells me. “I'm the only one who can handle him if he shifts.”
“I smell him,” Everly whispers. “I wish we had Cayden.”
“So do I,” I mutter.
We wait. I'm in charge. “He crossed our border. We're free to attack him.”
I loosen my collar. Some good it'll do. Shifting will be hard in these clothes. I put on my tight jeans today. Removing them will cost valuable seconds. I listen for any sounds down below while Everly and Remo watch. They stand so close I can feel their breath on the back of my neck. I feel like a girl in a horror movie about to descend into the scary basement where the slasher is waiting.
The boiler hums. I can hear the steam moving around in the tank as I strain my ears. It's a disturbing sound all by itself. A mouse scurries across the floor. It runs along the wall, scraping its tail along concrete brick. Matt's smell mixes with cleaning solvents, creating a stench I won't soon forget.
And then I detect breathing.
Humanlike breathing. Wolves take faster breaths, more like pants, and I haven't realized the difference until now. Matt's in human form.
“If we're quiet,” I hiss, “we might sneak up on him.”
Everly nods. So does Remo. I stand aside to let Remo go first.
The stairs are metal and rusting around the edges, so they don't creak, but my feet create enough sound to alert Matt. He shifts foot to foot. He's behind the boiler. Waiting to ambush us. I have a lot of questions for him—and a lot of pain—if we can subdue him. Something acidic will work just as well against a Wolf as a human. I eye a shelf of dangerous cleaning supplies near the steps. Toilet bowl cleaner. Other toxic stuff. Gloves. When I reach the bottom of the large basement and I'm sure Matt's not moving yet, I grab the bottle of toilet bowl cleaner. Matt will shift to attack us. That will give me time.
Everly unbuttons the top of her shirt, ready to shift. I'd be more effective as a Wolf, but Matt expects that.
And he must know we're down here.
The boiler‘s on the other side of the dim room. He quickens his breaths as he waits. My vision adjusts to the faint yellow lights, and I make out his large, looming shadow that merges with that of the boiler's. The shadow moves and stills again.
I creep towards Matt, listening.
Why isn't he shifting while he has the chance?
He wants me closer.
Remo puts his hand on my shoulder and steps ahead of me with one stride. He removes his shirt with a faint rustling sound. He's ready to put himself between us and Matt.
“No!” Matt shouts.
And he darts out from behind the boiler, sliding down to his knees.
Chapter Ten
I jump back as Matt crosses his arms like a sacrificial victim. He wears his football jersey, but it's frayed around the edges and torn in some spots, like he's shifted in it multiple times. His jeans are dirty. Matt reeks of regular dirt and weeks in the woods. His hair stands everywhere. He hasn't seen a barber in weeks.
Matt looks like a big, muscular homeless guy.
Before, I felt a horrific urge to tear out his throat. It bubbles up inside of me again, but the thought of what I did to Mr. Hayde dispels the rage. I feel different now. Almost afraid to attack. My one awful deed couldn‘t have changed me that much.
Matt turns his eyes up to us and remains in his submissive position. I've seen nothing like it. Savage Wolves don‘t act this way. I hold the container of toilet bowl cleaner and unscrew the lid. We can't trust him.
“What are you doing here?” I ask. We can‘t be lenient.
Matt takes a breath and lowers himself onto his shins. Now he's not crouching, but sitting before us. “Help me," he says, keeping his gaze on the floor.
Everly snorts. “You crossed into our territory. Even you should know the laws.”
“Or has your ancestor Romulus not taught you the rules?” I ask. Before he turned, Matt was one of his human descendants according to Brett. “Is this a trap?” I dare to take my gaze off Matt and look around the basement, listening, but I hear no signs of anyone else. That doesn't stop my hairs from rising. The Savage King appears without warning.
“I'm not with them anymore,” Matt says. “You don‘t know what they did. I...I'm losing who I am. It's getting worse. It's getting hard to stay in human form.”
I swallow.
Romulus‘s turned descendants lose control over their werewolf state. They become pure animal because his influence is too strong. They're the Savages among the Savages.
“It serves you right,” I say. “I think you're becoming more of your natural self. Turning hasn‘t made much difference for you. Now, what are you doing here? Begging for help? Or did your master send you?”
Matt snaps his gaze up at me. “He's not my master!”
“But you were serving him,” I say. Even with his hatred on me, I still don‘t have much of an urge to attack. Maybe I'm weakening. “Oh, Matt, is Romulus bossing you around? Did he hurt your pride? Maybe the two of you are too much like each other.”