I looked down at my hand. It was … wrong. Misshapen. My fingers were thick, my nails almost like claws. There was hair on the back of my hand. Thick tawny hairs. As I stared at it, my hip started to throb again.
I looked over at my other hand, the one Daniel was holding. It was the same way. He squeezed it again and leaned toward me, whispering, “It’s okay.”
I wrenched away and ran.
FOURTEEN
I RACED PAST THE others, who stared at me like I was a sideshow freak. Kenjii tore after me. Daniel did too, calling my name. I stumbled into the forest, branches scraping me from all sides. I didn’t look for a clear path, just barreled through the dense trees until I tripped over a log and went flying. Then I lay there, facedown. Kenjii caught up, licked my face and nudged me.
“Maya?”
I pushed up and scrambled into a patch of dead brush, burrowing into it, Kenjii tunneling after me. When I was sure I was hidden, I stopped and pressed my rough palms to my eyes, heaving deep breaths as my heart thudded.
I stretched my hands out. Were they going back to normal? I touched my face, running my fingers along the familiar planes and contours. They felt … off. Not completely different, just off, like the lines had shifted, cheekbones lower, chin less sharp, nose flattening.
I rubbed my face hard.
“Maya?”
Kenjii lifted her head from my lap. When I still didn’t answer Daniel, she whined as if to say Are we hiding on Daniel? It’s been a long time since we played this game.
“Maya?”
“I—I’ll be out in a minute.”
I heard him come closer. He didn’t try to peer at me, just grunted as he lowered himself to the ground.
“How about we back up?” he said.
“What?”
“Back up to before we went in the cabin. I was going to tell you what I thought was going on. With you. It starts with that old woman at the tattoo studio. The one who said you were a skin-walker.”
“I—”
“Not yet. This is my chance to look brilliant. So she said you’re a skin-walker. You’ve always had a way with animals. Especially cougars. Lately they won’t leave you alone. We looked up skin-walkers, and saw that they change shape and have healing powers. Now, we could’ve made the leap and said that proves she was right, but we didn’t, because that would be crazy.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Like getting sent to a book about Italian witch-hunters—when I’m Italian and I’m good at fighting—and deciding that’s what I must be. Crazy. But then I found that note at Mina Lee’s place. A list of four terms, including skin-walker and benandanti. That made me think some more about your healing powers and the big cats and the visions and the old woman at the tattoo place and your birthmark. I thought about me, too, the weird vibes, how they keep getting stronger, and about what my dad says, and dreams I’ve been having, and some other stuff—just small stuff, but it’s been bugging me. At that point, it was starting to look a little more odd, but it was still too big a leap.”
“So when did you make it?”
“I came close to a conclusion when I sent that helicopter pilot flying, but I wasn’t really ready to commit until Sam’s story sank in. With you? I wasn’t sure until that Moreno guy mentioned Annie. Rafe’s sister. I remembered the signs of a cougar around their cabin. I was worried. You brushed it off. Then Rafe freaked out about her going missing, and you two were whispering. When Moreno mentioned her, I flashed back to the cougar who appeared at your party. The young female with a mark on her flank. Annie’s a skin-walker, isn’t she? She changes into a cougar.”
“Yes.”
“That’s what the mark means. Her mark and yours.”
“Yes.”
I told him the story. About Annie. About Rafe. About why Rafe came to Salmon Creek. About what he found there: me. What he told me about us, about my mother, about the experiment.
Then, slowly, I crawled out of the dead brush until I could see him sitting there, arms wrapped around his knees, listening. Just listening.
“So that’s why Rafe came to Salmon Creek,” I said. “He was looking for the skin-walker. That’s why he was going through the girls. That’s why he focused on me. He figured it out.”
Daniel shifted over until he was kneeling, his face a foot from mine.
“He did like you,” he said softly. “That wasn’t an act. I’m sure of it.”
And I’d liked him. Really liked him. I realized that now. Too late, I realized that.
When I’d first felt an attraction to Rafe, I told myself it was just that. Attraction. Then I discovered we were both skin-walkers and that seemed to explain it. I’d probably have felt the same for any skin-walker guy who showed up, and he’d have felt the same for any skin-walker girl.
That made it easier. Easier than admitting I’d fallen for a guy who’d conned me. For a guy who might not really like me back. But now I realized how wrong I’d been.
When I thought of Rafe, I did remember his touch, his kiss. But what I thought about most of all was him. Just him. His laugh. His eyes. His serious side. His fears for his sister. His worries for her, for himself, for me. His honesty that night on the roof, when he’d opened up. Wanting me to get to know him better.
Now I never would get to know him better, and that’s what really hurt. Too much pride. Too few opportunities.
I rubbed my face.
“It’s back to normal,” Daniel said.
“What?” I peered at him through my fingers.
“Your face. It looks normal, so you can stop rubbing. It wasn’t bad before anyway. Just a little … different.”
He reached to pull one hand from my face. “I know you’re worried about what happened to Annie and whether it will happen to you. You’re probably worried about the whole ‘changing into a cat’ part, too. But it’s going to be okay. We’ll figure this out and we’ll find help and it’ll be okay. I promise.”
I nodded.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“About what?”
“Yesterday. I made that bone-headed comment about werewolves, and you decided not to tell me yet.”
“No, that’s not—”
“Liar. It was a dumb thing to say.”
“Um, no, I’m pretty sure that changing into an animal does qualify as a crazy idea.”
“Sure, but in a crazy cool way. I’m jealous. What do I get? Some kind of sonic boom shout? As superpowers go, very lame.” He settled in beside me. “So tell me everything else. Have you ever started changing like that before?”
I smiled. “Later. Let’s start with you. You mentioned dreams and other things. Tell me what’s been happening.”
He leaned back. I looked over at him, his face turned up to catch a few rays of sun streaming through the treetops.
“The dreams started a few months ago,” he said. “Dreams of fields. Fields of grapes and olives, which is weird enough. I’m not even sure if I knew how olives grow, but in the dream, I knew that’s what they were. I—”
“Daniel?” Sam’s voice.
We could hear all three of them tramping through the bushes. Kenjii got up, growling.
“You tell them, girl,” Daniel muttered. “No rest for the weary.”
“No,” I said. “No rest for the endangered. We have to—” I stopped. “Nicole. Oh my God, I forgot about Nicole.”
“What about Nicole?” Sam asked as they came into view.
They were still eyeing me warily, but I ignored it. Explanations later. Right now, I had to tell them what Moreno had said about Nicole. And, admittedly, I was happy for the diversion.
“So Nicole’s alive,” Sam said after I finished talking.
“Somewhere.” Daniel’s look said he knew exactly where this was headed. “They won’t be holding her around here.”
“Why not?” I said. “She’s their best source of information about us. And she’d be the perfect lure.”
“Which is exactly why we can’t
try to rescue her. It’s a setup.”
As Daniel and I argued, the others were quiet, still assimilating the news.
Corey spoke first. “Okay, it’s freaking amazing that Nic is alive. I have no idea whether we should look for her or not, but I’m pretty sure we need to discuss a few other things. Like what the hell happened to Maya back there.”
“She’s a shape-shifter,” Daniel said. “Eventually she’s going to be able to turn into a cougar. Sam and I? We’re demon-hunters.”
Corey studied Daniel’s face, then mine.
“This is going to be a long talk, isn’t it?” he said at last.
“Yep. Better sit down.” Daniel pointed at the bag in Corey’s hand. “And break out the granola bars and drink boxes.”
FIFTEEN
WE TOLD THEM EVERYTHING—WELL, almost everything. I was saving the stuff I’d found out at the cabin. This was enough for now. Too much actually. Despite having seen our powers in action—my near-transformation and Daniel knocking out the pilot—Corey and Hayley couldn’t seem to process it.
Corey kept saying, “Are you sure?” tentatively, as if he didn’t want to insult our intelligence, but he couldn’t help thinking there had to be a logical explanation. Hayley just stared at me.
When I finally stopped talking, she said, “Are you crazy?”
“Hey!” Sam said.
“No, seriously. You think you’re going to change into a cougar? Maybe in thirty years you’ll start thinking college boys are kinda hot, but that’s the only sort of cougar you can turn into, Maya. Anything else is nuts.”
“Right,” Sam said. “So you weren’t here an hour ago? When her face started changing?”
“Yes, something did happen to her face. I don’t know what it was, but I’ll bet it has to do with those vitamins and drugs they were feeding us back in Salmon Creek. That’s what all this is about. They were doing medical experiments on us. It explains what Daniel did on the helicopter and what happened with Maya’s face.”
“And Rafe?” Sam said. “Does medical research explain why Rafe thought he was a skin-walker, too, when he’d never even been to the clinic?”
“I … I don’t know.” Hayley squared her shoulders. “No one ever saw Rafe do anything magical. He just thought he was one of these skin-walkers. That’s from your religion or whatever, right?”
“My religion?” I said.
“The stuff you people believe in.”
“You people?” Corey said. “Holy hell, Hayley. Did you really just say that?”
She went beet red. “I—I didn’t mean—”
“We know exactly what you meant,” Sam said. “Got a racist streak there, huh? Surprise, surprise.”
“I—I didn’t mean it like that,” Hayley stammered. “I just meant their, you know, heritage. Indian. Um, Native. Or—or—”
“It’s okay,” I said. “I’m sure you didn’t mean it like that. Yes, I’m Navajo. Mostly anyway. Rafe’s mother was Hopi. Both have skin-walkers as part of their belief systems, but I hadn’t even heard the word until a few days ago. My mom—my adopted one—is Haida. That’s what I know. No skin-walkers there.”
I tried to keep my tone even. Explaining, not lecturing. Whatever problems I’d had with Hayley in the past, she’d never showed any prejudice. It still pissed me off, though.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m really sorry. I’m just… I’m going to take a walk, okay?”
“You can’t wander off,” Sam said. “We’re being chased by—”
“She’s fine,” Daniel said. “I think we should all take a walk. Were you done looking at the ATV, Corey?”
Corey hesitated. “Um, no. You want me to see if I can get it running?”
Daniel nodded.
“What?” Sam said. “We don’t have time—”
“Yes, we do.” Daniel’s voice took on that low, soothing tone. “We’re going to walk back to the ATV. Hayley’s going to follow us. Corey’s going to try to fix the machine. And we’ll all relax. Just take twenty minutes to relax. If he can’t get it going, we’ll set out again.”
I suspected Daniel’s skill wouldn’t work on a fellow benandanti, but Sam would do as he said anyway. And it did calm Hayley and Corey. They nodded, and we made our way back to the ATV.
The ATV still sat there, keys in the ignition. Sam stalked off to sit on a fallen log and glower at us. Hayley murmured that she was going to walk a bit and promised to stay close. Daniel and I stood watch, leaving Corey to the ATV. He was good mechanically—without him, Daniel’s truck would have been relegated to a scrap heap long ago. Right now, it gave him some time to think. Same with Hayley and her quiet moment in the woods.
We couldn’t force them to accept that we had supernatural powers. Maybe they’d decide that these people were after us for another reason. Either way they’d keep running and that was all that mattered.
After a while, Corey turned on his haunches and said, “Too much damage. I’d need tools and even then I doubt I’d get her started.”
“It was worth a shot,” Daniel said. “Thanks.”
Corey nodded and wiped a spot of grease from the red ATV’s paint. “I don’t have the same symptoms as you guys,” he finally said. “But I know you think I’m something, too. Something supernatural.”
“There were two other terms on that list,” Daniel said. “Xana and sileni.”
“Which are…?”
“I have no idea. I tried a Web search on all the terms. I couldn’t get results for any, including benandanti and skin-walkers, which makes no sense, because we know they’re part of folklore.”
“We think the St. Clouds were blocking those terms,” I said. “In case something like this happened and we tried looking them up. If we want clues, we need to look at the extracurricular activities they pushed at us. Clearly, with Daniel and me, they were trying to boost our natural talents: fighting for him and running for me. Serena, Hayley, and Nicole were all in the choir and on the swim team. Plus they’re all blonde and pretty.”
“Um, thanks,” Hayley said as she came over. “But what…” Her brow furrowed. “You think we’re mermaids?”
“Isn’t that sirens?” Corey said. “Those chicks we studied in Greek mythology. Lured guys to their deaths by singing.”
Hayley glared at him. “I thought you liked my singing.”
“Yeah, because apparently it’s magical. That’s how you seduce guys.”
“Seduce them? Or kill them?”
“Same thing, kind of, if you think about it. Like that other guy in mythology. The one who got his hair cut and lost all his power. Mr. Parks said it symbolized men losing their power by falling for women.”
“No,” I said. “Mr. Parks said it symbolizes men’s irrational fear of losing their power to women. And unless I’m remembering it wrong, mermaids don’t sing and sirens don’t swim.”
“Ariel sang in The Little Mermaid,” Corey said.
Sam came over to join us. “Do I even want to know why you remember her name?”
“Mermaids and sirens weren’t on the list,” Daniel said. “Maya’s point is that Hayley, Nicole, and Serena shared common characteristics, which probably means they’re the same type, and it has something to do with singing and swimming.”
“And being pretty,” Hayley said.
“That’s not a superpower,” Sam muttered.
Hayley turned to her. “No? How many times have you gotten into movies for free because you’re a tough warrior chick?”
“What about me?” Corey said. “What’s my superpower?”
Silence fell.
“Oh, come on. I’m good at a lot of stuff. Right?”
More silence.
“You’re cute,” Hayley said. “Well, cute enough.”
“Fun to be around,” I offered.
“So I’m … a clown?”
“At least you’re a cute clown,” Hayley said. “Not a scary one.”
“You’re a good fighter,” Daniel said.
“And you’re a good drinker,” Hayley added. “You can hold your liquor better than anyone I know.”
“Uh-huh,” Corey said. “So Maya will grow up to be an amazing healer who can change into a killer cat. Daniel and Sam will roam the country hunting criminals and demons. Hayley and Nicole will divide their time between recording platinum albums and winning gold medals in swimming. And me? I’ll be the cute, funny guy sitting at the bar, hoping for a good brawl to break out.”
“In other words, exactly where you were already headed,” Hayley said.
We all laughed at that, even Corey. We had to. For now, this was the best way to deal with it. Tease. Poke fun. As if we were comparing Halloween costumes. Look, I’m a superhero. Yeah? Well, so am I.
“I’m sure you have powers,” I said. “You’re just a late bloomer.”
“Thanks… I think.”
“Your headaches might be related to it,” Daniel said. “They began a year ago, right?”
“And Dr. Inglis was very interested in them,” I said. “She started looking after you personally and giving you special medicine.”
Corey nodded. “She asked about them a lot, too. Whether anything was happening when I got them.”
“Happening?”
“Like whether I was seeing things or hearing things. I thought she meant like my dad, who always smelled burned toast before he had a seizure. I figured she thought it was a sign I was getting epilepsy.”
“More like a sign you’re getting your powers,” I said.
“And the headaches went away with the pills, right?” Sam said.
Corey nodded.
“That was the point,” I said. “Suppress whatever was happening to you until they were ready to tell us all the truth.”
“Or suppress it because it’s dangerous,” Sam said.
“We don’t know it is,” I said.
“And we don’t know it isn’t.”
“Ultimately, it doesn’t matter,” Daniel cut in. “Because we’re doing our damnedest to get to safety before anyone needs to worry about a superpower meltdown.”
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