by C.J. Hart
“Kisses are better when stolen.”
While she’s giggling her sweet little head off, I buy four chocolate bagels and a small tub of cream cheese and jam.
“You ready to go?” I say when I return to our table.
She hops up. “Yep!” Appraises the bag. “What’s that?”
“For after.”
“Ooh.” She shrugs into her jacket.
I try to help, but she slaps my hands away.
Her brow creases. “I’m capable of doing it myself.”
Feisty, as Kat had alleged. “Never said you weren’t.”
I hold open the door and she slips out into the night, a cold breeze washing over us. She zips up her coat and hugs herself.
I drop the to-go bag in the back, opening the passenger door. “I’ll get the heat started in a sec.”
She nods, teeth chattering, and slips in. Ten seconds later, heat seeps from the vents.
She relaxes and smiles at me. “Thank God for heaters.”
***
After the concert, as we’re driving home, Cass looks at me and says, “Are you real? This date is too perfect. You are too perfect.”
How do I react to being called perfect by an angel? “I am. Real, I mean.”
Her arm extends and her finger pokes my arm. “Just checking you’re not an apparition.”
“Seen a lot of ghosts, Cass?” I tease.
She shakes her head. “Sometimes, I think I see my mother around the house. But it’s usually just light and reflections.” She breathes a sigh.
I take one hand off the steering wheel and entwine my fingers in hers. “There’s a few spirits on the rez. Ancient warriors.” I switch my foot to the brake as we come up to a set of lights. “But if you poke them, it just makes them mad.” A smile tugs at the corner of my lips.
“Really?”
“Naw, you can’t poke something unless it’s tangible.” The light changes to green. I wait for the sedan in front of me to move, and then I ease forwards.
“I object, Mr. Nat’aanii.” She lifts her chin a little.
“You do? You think physics is wrong?”
“No. But you can totally poke something incorporeal,” she says. “Doesn’t mean it’ll work.”
I guffaw. “You’re absolutely right.”
She smiles, smug, and traces her thumb over mine as she stares out of the window. Houses and trees whip by. Too soon, we’ll arrive in Aeston. Too soon, I’ll have to let her go. I want to lengthen the night somehow, stop the sun from coming up, freeze time and make her mine forever. Reluctantly, I swing into her street. A sheriff cruiser sits in her driveway.
“Stop here,” she says. “It’s my uncle.”
I pull over to the curb and retrieve the bagels.
Leaning over, she presses her lips to mine. “I had an amazing time.”
“Me too.” I return her grin.
“I’m going to the movies with Eve tomorrow night, but come over Saturday?”
“Just try to keep me away.” I smirk.
“Good night.”
I steal another kiss. “Night. Sleep well.”
She climbs out, shuts the door, and then waves. I watch until she gets inside, and then head for Liam’s.
Mrs. Adler meets me at the door. “How did it go?”
I feel my smile widen. “It was…” How to sum up the best night of my life? Or my sassy date? “Awesome.” That didn’t even begin to summarize it.
“Good!” She wanders into the kitchen.
I follow.
“Tea?” she says.
“Sure.” I sit at the table. “How was your evening?”
“Had the house to myself.” The corners of her lips drag upwards.
“And what did you do?” I have an inkling.
“Baked a nice lime cheesecake.”
Indeed she did.
“Would you like a piece?”
“Sure.”
“Ice cream?”
“Need you ask?”
She chuckles and fills the kettle with water. “Liam says the same.”
Sometimes, it’s like we’re brothers—similar—but opposite in many ways.
“Where’d you go for dinner?”
“Bagels of Glory.”
“Ooh. Was it nice?”
“‘Too many choices!’ Cass said.”
“Your father—” She stops, looking at me. “Liam’s father took me there once.”
How kind, that the lady—who took me in only a week ago—thinks of me as her son. An adoptive son, to say the least.
“I’m glad you two had a good time.” She strokes my shoulder. “It’s just been her and her dad for so long now.”
“What happened to her mom? Cass just said she’d died a long time ago.”
She glances at me, probably debating whether she should say something. “Cassie should be the one to tell you.” Turning away, she begins unloading the dishwasher.
“Please tell me,” I find myself saying. “I don’t want to upset her by asking.”
She places a mug on the counter, and then heaves a sigh. Without turning to face me, she says, “It was cancer. Ate away at her brain.” She resumes the chore. “I don’t want you to bring it up around her.”
“I won’t, I promise.” I never want to make her sad.
“Libby and I grew up together. The Adlers and the Spencers were woven tighter than a knit cap—until she…” As if distracted before, she remembers the cheesecake and tugs it out of the fridge. “Big or small slice?”
“Big.” But my mind is busy with thoughts of Cass. Had I known she was lonely, I would’ve shown myself sooner. But I guess one does not always know when another is in peril.
Eve picks me up at seven in her pink Beetle.
“Hiya!” she says.
“Hey.” I hop in and buckle my belt just in time for her to roar off. I clamp my fingers around the handle. “Try not to get us killed.”
She glares at me. “I’m a perfectly safe driver.” She brakes hard to avoid a turning SUV.
If you say so.
“I saw you last night,” she says.
My head snaps around in her direction. “You were in downtown Phoenix?”
“Nah. I saw you in a car, leaving Aeston—couldn’t see the driver, but I know it was a guy…” She smiles at me, eyes bright with curiosity.
“That was, uh, Seb.”
Her smile sags. “The freak?” She shakes her head. “Thought you knew better, Cassie.”
“He’s not what you think.” Don’t say too much!
“Sure he’s not,” she says. “Tell me then.”
“I—I can’t.”
“Aww, is it a secret?”
“Don’t be such a jerkface, Eve.” I cross my arms over my chest and stare out of the window.
“My apologies, Your Highness.” She swings into the cinema’s parking lot and chooses a slot by the door. “But seriously.” She cuts the engine and turns to face me. “You like him? He didn’t hypnotize you or anything?”
Like seems too weak a word to use. “No hypnotism required. No bribing, either.”
“Wow.” She stabs the lock button on the key fob. “I’m impressed.”
“What about you and Whitney?”
“Yeah, that took a little persuasiveness, on his part.” She hooks her arm in mine as we cross the lot.
“You weren’t so keen? How come?”
She shrugs. “I’ve known him since, like, elementary school.”
“And?”
“It’s a little weird.” She scrunches her nose. “But hey, I’m not one to knock a gift date in the mouth.”
I burst out laughing. “Good thing. There might not be a second one.”
She shoves me gently. “Shut up.”
I smile. “Never.”
Tugging open the door, she lets me pass. “What’d you wanna see?” She leads me to the candy bar, where Eve grabs a massive container of gummy worms.
I shrug and fill a medium cup with cola.
“Would you mind seeing City of Mayhem again? Miles sorta made it sound epic.”
“That’d be fine.” I suppress a fan-girl scream.
“No spoilers,” she says, heading for the ice cream freezer.
I eye the wall of candy. So much to choose from, just like last night with the bagels. As Eve returns with two chocolate-covered cones, I decide on chocolate buttons and gummy bears.
“I heard they changed a few things from the book,” she says.
We move towards the cashier.
“A lot,” I say. “Like, everything.”
“Hm.”
I grab two packets of barbeque chips. For all the times Eve and I clash, I’m glad the one thing we do agree on is potato chip flavor.
“We’ll grab dinner after, eh?” she says. “A late dinner?”
“Sure.” If I’m not overstuffed with junk food by then.
We approach the cashier. I tug out my purse.
“This one’s on me,” she says.
“You sure?”
“You can get the next one.”
“Okay, cool. Thanks.”
“You can thank me by telling me more about your date.”
I roll my eyes and tell her everything, devoid of specifics of the skinwalkers.
***
I check my cell again. No messages or missed calls. What is taking Eve so long to answer? Her usual time frame is immediate. I text Miley: Heard from Eve?
There was a missed call from Riley, Eve’s younger brother, a little while ago, but before I think of returning it, my cell chirrups. The screen flashes MILEY.
I punch the answer button. “Hey.”
She sniffles. “Guess you haven’t heard.” It sounds like she’s been crying.
“Heard about what, Miles?” I hear her blow her nose.
“Evie’s missing. Her parents say she didn’t come home last night.”
Ribbons of ice twist around my spine. Am I the last person to have seen her? The window creaking open behind me barely registers in my brain. “Oh?” I manage. My throat is stuffed with cotton balls, drying out my mouth.
Seb pads over to me. The handset trembles at my ear. Eve. Where are you?
“Yeah,” Miley says. “Her car’s in their driveway and everything.”
He bends to meet my bleak eyes. “Cass, everything okay?”
This provokes her interest. “Who’s that?” And even in the midst of a crisis, classic Miley rears her head. “He sounds hot.”
“I’ll tell you later.” Minus the my-boyfriend’s-a-wolf bit.
“Okay.” She sniffles. “So have you heard anything from her? Has Eve called?”
“Nope.”
“Did she say or do anything weird when she dropped you off?”
“No, everything was normal. We had a great time at the movies, went to dinner, and then she dropped me off around midnight.”
“Hmm. It’s just fishy, you know? Her car’s there, but she’s not.”
“Yeah. I hope they find her, and soon.”
“I’m sure your uncle is on top of it.”
“Yeah…”
In the background, I can hear her mom calling her.
“I’d better go. Marcus and the bitchface are here.”
“Okay. Take care.”
“You, too.”
I hang up and crumble into his arms.
“What’s up?” He tucks my head under his chin.
I bawl, salt water spilling over my cheeks. “My friend… is missing.”
His arms tighten. “What can I do, honeybee?”
“Stay. Right here.” My fingers seize fistfuls of his shirt.
“I can do that. As long as you need me.”
“That might be a long time.”
He touches his lips to my forehead. “I got time.” He rocks me gently. “I’ve always got time for you, Cass.”
His touch is comforting, strong. I am but a tiny child in his arms. I almost forget my worries altogether. But then they wallop my brain as they return.
Eve’s absence can’t be good. She isn’t the type to run from her problems. Or even to disappear. That’s what the cops will put it down as—teenage angst. But I know better. Her awareness of the Yee Naaldlooshii is too much of a coincidence for me to disparage.
I’ll find out who took her. And I’ll make them pay.
Whatever it takes.
***
Kat traipses through the open front door, swiftly followed by Seb with three pizza boxes.
“You sure your dad’s out?” Kat says. “Don’t wanna get a boot up my ass for trespassin’.”
“It’s fine,” I say. “He’s on night shift.”
Seb’s lips brush against mine. “How’re ya doin’?”
I shrug. “I’ve baked cupcakes—”
“Ooh, cupcakes,” interjects Kat.
“—and muffins and made enough dinners to last a month, but I still feel as if there’s something else I could be doing—something to bring Evie home.”
“What’re your theories?” Seb directs us towards the couch.
Kat steals the top box, ripping open the lid.
“I think,” I say, “that one of you kidnapped her.”
Kat freezes, eyes wide.
“Not you two.” I gesture between them. “But another one of your kind.”
Seb hands me a slice. “Why do you think that?” He isn’t skeptical, just purely intrigued by the thought.
“’Cuz we’re evil bastards,” Kat mumbles through a mouthful.
I ignore him. “Because she knows too much. She knows that you guys are blood-thirsty, evil sons of bitches.” I take Seb’s hand in mine. “They’re trying to get to you through me.”
Kat snitches two more slices. “She’s right, y’know—”
“Shut up for a sec.” Seb stares into my eyes. “Say they are trying to mess with you—why not take your dad? Why Eve?”
I shrug. “You know them better than I do. You tell me.”
The house grows quiet. The only sound we hear is Kat’s insufferable chewing.
“You could be right,” he says.
“She is right,” Kat replies around a mouthful of pizza.
“Well, then we’d better find out.”
I pick up another wedge. “Sooner rather than later, please.”
“This’s astonishingly good pizza,” Kat says. “Who makes it?”
“Coincidentally,” I say, taking a bite, “Kool Kat.”
“Huh.” He places a hand over his heart. “I feel honored to have a restaurant named after me.”
I snort. Seb guffaws.
Kat slurps the soda I set out for him. “It’s not like you guys have anything named after you.”
Someone knocks on the front door. A radio garbles a female dispatcher’s voice.
I stiffen. “Hide!” I push them up the stairs, towards my room. “It’s my uncle.”
“He’ll know we were here,” Seb says.
Confused, I whisper-yell, “What?”
“Never mind.”
The bedroom door shuts. Uncle Scott raps again.
I jog down the hall. “I’m coming!” I rip open the door.
“Hey, Cass,” he says, irises burning with sympathy.
“You know about Eve.”
His fingers squeeze my shoulder. “I’m very sorry.”
“Yeah, everyone is.”
He lets his hand fall. “I’m—”
“Don’t. Say. Sorry.”
He nods. “Fair enough.” His eyes catch something of interest over my shoulder. “Do you have company?”
I still. Surely, he can’t be speaking of Kat and Seb. Then, my eyes follow his gaze to the coffee table—three sodas, three open pizza boxes. That must be what Seb meant about him knowing they were there.
“Nope.” My lips smack together and make a popping sound on the p.
His suspicious gaze lingers on me, and I almost confess everything.
“That’s a lot of pizza for
one girl.”
Lie. “Yeah, you know, wallowing in self-pity.” Don’t make yourself sound suicidal! I mentally thunk the heel of my palm to my forehead. Why couldn’t I’ve said Miley was here?
He rocks back on his heels. “Oh, Cass. Maybe I should call your dad.”
My heartbeat kicks into overdrive. “No. Please don’t. I was kidding.” I scramble through my brain for something to add to this convoluted mess. “Miles and Xay are here.”
At the same moment, something crashes in the vicinity of my bedroom. I cringe and pray it’s not my glass desk. Lizzy purrs, tangling herself in my feet.
Perfect! I pick her up. “Lizzy scratched her. Xay’s putting ointment on her hands.”
The cat jumps from my arms. She flicks me an annoyed stare, and then ambles into the living room.
“She’s always been a spirited thing.”
I nod.
“Mind if I come in for a bit? I have some questions for you.”
“Sure.” Stepping aside, I open the door wider, and then press it shut behind me.
“So, you and Eve went to the movies last night, right?”
“Yes. And then we had a late dinner.”
“Where’d you go for dinner?”
“Black Moon, the restaurant on Cherry Street.”
“Okay.” He scribbles that down on his notepad. “And what time did she drop you off?”
“Eleven forty-five.”
As I answer more of his questions, doubt is nibbling away at me. What if they don’t find her? What if they think I have a connection to her disappearance?
A few minutes later, after Uncle Scott has exhausted me with all of his questions, he says, “I best get going.” He hugs me. “Stay strong, Cass. We’ll find Eve.” He turns and clunks down the steps.
Every time someone says her name, or mentions her absence, a little piece of me dies inside. My heart is a searing core of melancholy.
I don’t hear them return. But I feel Seb’s hands on me. See the light disappearing as Kat shuts the door.
Seb swipes tears from my cheeks. “Cass?”
“It’s too much.” Last week, I was a single gal and my only troubles were buying too many books and trying not to overdose on caffeine. My world has done a one-eighty, and my head is spinning as I try to catch up.
Kat strokes my shoulder. “Hey, you wanna hear a joke?”
I peek at him through my lashes.
“When the lady saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she’d dye.” He snickers.
My eyes brim with tears.
Seb’s arms tighten around me. “Dude, you’re not helping.”
Kat shrugs and mumbles, “Sorry.” He slumps into the couch. “Just tryin’ to lighten the mood.”
I sniffle.
“Hey, hey.” Seb’s hands move to cup my face. “Kat and I will do everything we can to find her.”
“We will?”
Seb pitches him a glare sharper than a wolf’s incisors.