Get Bent!

by Rick Gualtieri

  “He didn’t!”

  “Yeah. Turns out he was right to be paranoid. We pretty much missed the entire thing. Lucky for us, too. We got home to find the house trashed. Looks like they rode up onto our lawn and kicked the front door down.”

  “You don’t say.” I narrowed my eyes, hoping she was putting on an act, but fearing my mother had made good on her promise to blank the town. “Anything else weird go on?”

  “Anything else? Like that wasn’t weird enough?”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  “You wiped her mind,” I said once Riva had left.

  Mom shrugged as if it were no big deal. “I should have done it a month ago.”

  “But she’s...”

  “Normal. That’s what she is. And she’s happier that way. Trust me. Most people are. Very few can handle the truth for long, and even fewer can keep their mouths shut about it.” She sat and put an arm around me. “Believe me, dear, I love Riva almost as if she were my own daughter, but this is for the best.”

  “So she doesn’t remember any of it?”

  “No. We can’t afford it. Same with the rest of the town. Fortunately, Chief Johnson was good enough to collect as many people as he could down at Saint Matthews. That made things a great deal easier.”

  “Yeah, how exactly did you find out about that? And speaking of knowing the truth, the chief seemed...”

  “It’s not important,” she interrupted. “We have our ways. And as for your friend, just know that I gave very specific instructions for her. All remembrance of werewolves, witches, any of that, were to be replaced with happy memories. As far as she’s concerned, you two had a great time chasing boys down at Swallowtail Lake this summer. Oh, and while we’re on the subject...”

  “What about it?”

  “Sorry, sweetie, but we also blanked that boy Gary. He doesn’t remember dating you.”

  I opened my mouth to protest, but then remembered the night before. “It’s okay. He...”

  “Already had a long-term girlfriend?” She must’ve seen the look on my face because she added, “Of course I knew. You thought I wouldn’t scry him, too? Don’t worry, honey. His new memories mostly involve a lot of itching and a nasty rash that just wouldn’t go away.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh which, of course, caused my stomach to clench in protest. Ugh! In the end, he’d been a cute fling, but the attraction had been mostly physical. I was still pretty peeved, but I’d get over it. “Guess it’s better than me tearing off his car door and beating him senseless with it.”

  “True,” Mom replied with a raised eyebrow. “But about that...”

  “Yeah?” I had a feeling I knew what was coming.

  “You do realize you need to start taking your meds again, right?”

  I looked away.

  “It’s for your own good. This town is a powder keg. I hope the last month ... last night ... proved that much. It’s bad enough the lycanthropes know about you now.”

  “Exactly. I need to protect myself.”

  “No. Your father is taking care of that.”

  “Like he took care of it last night?” I asked, a healthy dollop of bitterness flavoring my words.

  “As I said, he simply acted his part.”

  “Yeah, what exactly did you mean by that?”

  “Please, Tamara. You didn’t think my arrival was a wee bit fortuitous?”

  “I thought ... the gnomes told you.”

  Mom’s face grew blank. “The gnomes?”

  “Yeah, the garden gnomes. I figured with your magic they were ... um, alive or something.”

  She actually looked at me for a moment like I was crazy. “Are you being serious? They’re just garden gnomes. I bought them off of Amazon.”

  What? “But I saw...”

  “I arrived exactly when I was supposed to,” she continued, ignoring my interruption. “As I said, we both realized you’d probably do something rash. I’ve raised you since you were born. I know how you think, Tamara. You don’t take ultimatums well. We knew something would happen. We just didn’t know what that would be.”

  “So you pretty much assumed I’d set Craig off, but didn’t do anything to stop it?”

  “It’s not that simple,” she explained. “I already told you my people couldn’t get involved. That much is true. We also weren’t entirely certain that Craig was serious. Your father, bless his heart, thought your uncle was bluffing. I told him he wasn’t, but Craig’s his baby brother, and your father has always had a soft spot for family. He didn’t want to challenge your uncle unless he had cause to, and by the time he realized what was happening, it was too late. The pack was riled up and all he could do was damage control to keep the casualties to a minimum.”

  “A lot of people still died, Mom.”

  She put a hand on my shoulder. “Believe me, I know. And we all have to live with that. But trust me when I say it wasn’t nearly as many as it could have been. Your father purposely goaded your uncle to lead the pack to our house, and I made sure ahead of time that the block would be mostly empty.”

  “So Craig could try to kill me?”

  “Yes, try,” she replied. “And fail, as I knew he would.”

  “He almost...”

  Mom waved me off. “Almost is a garbage concept, Tamara. Our entire lives are lived via a series of almosts. Every day people almost get hit by a car, almost board a plane that ends up crashing, almost eat shellfish despite being allergic to it. We are constantly in a state of almost dying. But you didn’t. You won. And if you hadn’t...”

  “I’d be dead.”

  “No, your father would have stepped in sooner.”

  Again that bitterness reared its ugly head. “To try to kill me, too?”

  Mom stood up and put her hands on her hips. “Don’t act stupid. We raised you better than that. Think about it. Your father had to put on a good show for the pack. They wouldn’t have accepted less and they definitely wouldn’t have accepted you as their leader, no matter what you might have been thinking.”

  “But he...”

  “No, he really didn’t.” When I didn’t say anything, she continued. “I’ll admit, I don’t think either of us has the full picture of what you can truly do, but we’re smart enough to have an idea of what you can handle. Your father didn’t dish out anything you couldn’t take. The truth of the matter is, he was the one in greater peril because he couldn’t exactly communicate that to you without being overheard.”

  I took in what she was saying, replaying the fight in my mind. Yeah, Dad had knocked me around pretty good, but now that I thought about it, there had been a couple of opportunities for him to finish me off, yet he hadn’t ... opting for glancing blows instead of claws and teeth. I hadn’t seen it at the time but, looking back, her words sorta made sense. “So I was never in any real danger?”

  Mom let out a sigh. “Of course you were. You were in loads of danger, just not from your father.”

  “Oh.”

  “And you still are, Tamara.” She sat back down next to me. “The Draíodóir are suspicious. They know something set off the pack last night. They just don’t know what. I’d prefer to keep it that way, because otherwise, we’re going to find ourselves in an even worse situation because they won’t waste time on threats. They will rain fire down upon you wherever you step and there will be little I can do to stop them, assuming they don’t turn on me first.”

  “Would they?”

  “For birthing you by our sworn enemy? For lying to them these past twenty years? For doing everything in my power to protect you if they found out? Don’t think they wouldn’t. I may be their queen, but queens can be deposed.”

  I thought about what she said. I’d already lived through what I considered to be a worst-case scenario, but I was looking at things through a tunnel. What Mom was telling me could have a much farther reach, especially now that Dad had declared me a member of his pack. The fragile peace, already pushed to the breaking point by my actions, could shatter with
the slightest provocation. And the people of High Moon would be caught right in the middle once again.

  “Tell me what you need me to do.”

  EPILOGUE

  In the days following the near destruction of High Moon, Aunt Carly and several other relatives on Mom’s side had popped by to see how I was doing. I dutifully played along, as if I didn’t remember a damned thing. The deception was further helped by the fact that I was healing at a natural, infuriatingly slow, pace.

  Mom had called and pulled a few strings at my school, arranging it so that I could go back early this year. We both decided it would be best if perhaps I high-tailed it out of High Moon while various mystical eyes were still focused here.

  Once Riva found out, she offered to drive me. I happily accepted. It had been a long time since we’d taken a road trip and would offer us a little extra time together before she headed back to her respective campus. Left unspoken was that it would also get her out of the cleanup work still going on, so she could help her poor convalescing friend.

  I gave Chris a hug as I waited out on the porch for my ride. “Stay out of my room and try to get a life.”

  “Okay. Stay out of jail and try not to get herpes.” He turned and ran inside before I could deck him.

  Mom watched him go, rolled her eyes, then stepped in for a hug. “I worry about that one.”

  “You probably should.”

  “I worry about you, too,” she added.

  “Don’t,” I said. “After this summer, college should be a breeze.”

  “So you say.” Mom stepped back. “But be warned, I’ll be watching your grades.”

  “Just as long as you’re not watching my love life, too.”

  She smiled. “No promises.”

  Before I could form a proper retort, we heard the sound of an engine in the driveway. I turned, thinking it was Riva, but was surprised instead to see Dad returning home from his “business trip.”

  I’d been hoping to see him before I left but dreading it, too. The truth was, I wasn’t sure how our little reunion would go.

  Almost as if reading my mind, Mom said, “Go on. Talk to your father. He won’t bite.”

  I glanced at her with one eyebrow raised.

  “Not in broad daylight anyway.”

  I grabbed my bags and walked down the front steps, hearing the door close behind me as I headed toward the driveway.

  “Hey,” Dad called, stepping out of his minivan.

  “Right back at you.”

  “How are you feeling?”

  “Been better,” I said. “But definitely have been worse. Can’t say I’m too happy to be back on my meds again.”

  “It’s...”

  “Necessary,” I finished for him. “I know. So ... Mom tells me you’ve been busy setting up shop as leader of the pack.”

  “That I have. Been a long couple of days.” He approached, then stopped and we both stared at each other, neither of us quite sure what would happen next.

  I glanced past him. “You’d think getting a promotion would entail them giving you a cooler car.”

  “Hell no. Minivans are cool.”

  “You are ... so old,” I said, giving him a big smile.

  The ice broken, Dad stepped forward and gave me a big hug. “I’m so sorry, sweetie.”

  I’ll admit, I might have been a bit too choked up in that moment to say much of anything, but I finally managed to squeak out, “It’s okay. Mom told me.”

  When he pulled back, I noticed his eyes were as glassy as mine. “You have to know, I would never do anything to hurt you.”

  I chuckled. “So you say now, but you definitely sold it for the crowd. I’m pretty sure a few of my teeth are still loose.”

  “They’ll heal,” he said. “Everything will. There won’t even be any scars.” Then he lightened up and returned my smile. “Which is a good thing, too, because you damn near broke my jaw. I didn’t realize you could hit that hard.”

  I playfully punched him in the arm. “Just so you know, I may have been holding back ... a bit.”

  “I don’t doubt it for a moment.”

  I stepped in to hug him again, wanting to make sure he knew we were all right. After several seconds, though, I again stepped away as I remembered something from the night of our fight. “Just one question. Right before you left, you told me not to look. Why? Was there some secret werewolf handshake thing going on?”

  For a moment, Dad looked confused, but then he started to laugh.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Oh, that? When I changed back to address the pack, I was kind of ... not wearing anything. Figured you really didn’t need to see that.”

  “Good call.”

  “Yeah, I thought so, too.”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  “I’m turning this off.”

  “Why?” Riva asked from the driver’s seat.

  “Because it sucks.”

  “Ballad hater.”

  “That’s not a ballad.” I switched off the radio. “It’s some guy whining because he’s too big a pussy to ask a girl out.”

  “He’s pining for his lost love.”

  “It can’t be lost if it was never there to begin with. Trust me, I know all about that.”

  Riva made a sound of disgust, then abruptly changed topics. “You want to grab a late breakfast?”

  “I’m not really that hungry.”

  “Okay. I can last until lunch if you can.”

  Her reminder of the time jogged my memory – a memory that, not too long ago, I’d been hopeful to never jog again. I grabbed a bottle of water from the center console, then reached into my purse for my pills.

  “Time to get high?”

  “I wish,” I replied, sounding more sullen than I meant to.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Me? Yeah, I’m cool. Just looking forward to putting the last week behind me.”

  Riva nodded. “I know what you mean. How’s your family holding up?”

  “They’re fine.”

  “How about your Dad?”

  “He’s good. Got home right before you showed up.”

  “Are you and he ... cool?”

  “Why wouldn’t we be?”

  “You mean he’s not upset that you had to off his brother?”

  My head spun so fast I’m surprised I didn’t break my own neck. Had I a mouthful of water, I’d have certainly sprayed it out all over her dashboard. “What?!”

  “Well, I mean, I didn’t see it happen since you forced me to lock myself up at the Crendels’ place with their creep of a son. I swear, Bent, next time werewolves attack High Moon, you’d better let me stick by your side or I’m...”

  “Wait, you remember all of that?”

  She glanced my way and threw me a wry grin. “Once we got out of the shelter it was pretty easy to put two and two together, especially with all the weird new people in town. Anyway, I remembered that your mom threatened to erase my brain, so every time someone came up and questioned me as to what went on, I played stupid and pretended that I’d already been wiped.”

  “You did?” I had to admit, that was pretty darn clever of her. “And it worked?”

  “Believe me, I didn’t think it would. Figured they’d scan my thoughts with magic or something, but I was all ‘gee, I hope the police find the mean old baddies who did this.’ I think they were so busy with the mess that they just assumed someone else got to me first.”

  “So you remember us going to the hollows, all of it?”

  “Yeah.”

  A thought hit me, a weird memory from the night of the blood moon. “Does that include showing up just as Craig was about to knock my head off in front of his werewolf buddies?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You know, you sound kind of creepy when you appear out of thin air like you’re possessed.”

  She turned and raised an eyebrow. “You sure he didn’t just try to knock your head off?”

  I’d assu
med I had hallucinated that part but figured it didn’t hurt to double-check. After all, High Moon had become a seriously weird place this summer. “Never mind. Just testing you.”

  “Trust me. It’s all there. The hollows, you kicking ass, the look on my parents’ faces when those wolves attacked us. Oh, and the fact that you were never sick.”

  It took a few moments for that last statement to register. I was just so happy to have someone to talk to again, and even better that it was her. “You can’t let Mom know you remember.”

  “Duh! If I wanted to kill my brain cells I’d go to more parties. At least that way would be more fun.”

  “True.”

  “But back to the part about you not being sick.” She gestured at the pill bottle in my hand. “Why the hell are you taking those damned things again?”

  I lifted the bottle and looked at it. All at once my good mood evaporated. “It’s safer this way.”

  “Safer?” she replied with a laugh. “This coming from the girl who insisted on joining a men’s wrestling team and then kicking all their asses?”

  “That’s different. Nobody dies in a match.”

  “It’s a sport. People get hurt.”

  “It’s not the same thing as an army of werewolves invading our town.”

  “That wasn’t your fault.”

  “Yes it was. I made a choice.”

  Riva glanced at me again, narrowing her eyes before turning back toward the road. “That’s bullshit and you know it. What kind of choice was that? To marry some wart-covered dickhead and be their slave?”

  “To not let people die.”

  “And you succeeded. You saved us and stopped that asshole.” Before I could say anything in response, she continued. “It’s your life, not your mom or dad’s, and it certainly doesn’t belong to a pack of monsters.”

  “But I caused it all.”

  “How? By being born? Excuse me, but fuck that. This is the twenty-first century. Do you really think anyone should be faulted for how they’re born?”

  I smiled back. She had a point and what she was saying made me feel a little better. But even so, I’d caused a lot of chaos in very little time. Outside of the circumstances around my birth, that had all been my doing. I popped the top on my meds.