Logan didn’t seem the least bit bothered that he was making Mr. Myers so frazzled. Katey wondered who her teacher could have been talking to. Mr. Keith, perhaps? Or maybe Mr. Dubose. Or, on the off chance that none of these strange happenings meant anything at all, it was another math teacher or a friend of Mr. Myers calling about something completely unrelated to Logan or Katey.
When the bell rang, Logan stood from his desk and Katey noticed something peculiar in the way he walked. It wasn’t a limp that threw off his step, but a languidness that might have hinted to the fact he was tired or fatigued.
Mr. Myers noticed it too and as Logan was dragging his feet out the door, he picked up the phone receiver and began dialing. Katey hadn’t the time to stick around and eavesdrop on the conversation. She had to hurry across the bus ramp to check in for her fifth period internship class and meet Lily for lunch.
Concern for Logan drove her to scan the packed hallway for any sign of him, but he was nowhere to be seen in the crowd. Pulling out her half opened granola bar, Katey bit into it and scurried on her way, weaving through the throngs of students. And for the first time all day, she hoped that she did find Logan along the way. If nothing else, she wanted to make sure he was all right.
***
“I never wanted to move out of this town so bad,” Katey told Lily, scanning the hallways for any sign of Logan. She had just finished telling her all about how Logan stopped by the bookstore Saturday evening and about the startling coincidence that he had four classes with her so far.
Katey left out all the phone calls and little furtive looks she witnessed, knowing that Lily would think her insane for drawing up such paranoid conclusions about a link between Logan and her teachers.
“Come on, you can’t mean that,” Lily said as they came to the lunchroom doors.
“I do!” Katey cried. “He’s creeping me out. It would make more sense if he at least made an effort to talk to me, but he’s acting so casual about it, like it’s nothing.”
When the two girls arrived to lunch, Katey checked around for Logan. She stiffened when she saw him sitting at a table in the far corner of the cafeteria.
“How did he find out your class schedule anyway?” Lily asked, leading her towards their usual spot in the midst of the student body.
“I don’t know… But he’s sitting right over there,” Katey replied and pointed in his direction.
Katey was engrossed as she watched him over the hundreds of teenage heads between them. Alone with no food in front of him, Katey grew even more concerned.
His elbows were propped up onto the table, resting his forehead in his palms as if he had a headache. This blatant display of weakness was heart wrenching.
“He doesn’t look too good,” Katey remarked, unknowingly interrupting Lily’s story about something amusing that happened in her third period class.
Lily looked up and followed Katey’s stare. She watched him for a moment too and nodded in agreement. “You’re right. He looks sick.”
Forgetting all of her anxiety and fears pertaining to Logan and the notion he was stalking her, Katey said, “I’m going to go over there for a second. I’ll be right back.”
But, as soon as she put her hands on the table to push herself up, Katey saw Mr. Keith walk into the lunchroom. The teacher’s eyes quickly skimmed over the students and then locked onto Logan. He bounded towards him with a fierce and determined look.
Katey paused and watched as Keith stood next to Logan, with his hand on Logan’s shoulder. They were whispering something, and then Logan shook his head. Keith grabbed his arm and escorted him towards the door. Logan had just enough time to snatch up his bag before being carted out into the hallway.
Logan’s head was hanging down and his eyes were squeezed shut like he was in pain. Her own face twisted with empathy and worry consumed her. She sat herself back down and began twirling her hair nervously between her fingers, watching the doors to see if Logan would ever come back into the lunchroom. He never did.
***
During her fifth period internship class with Mr. Keith, Katey tried to take her mind off of Logan by pouring herself into the task of grading papers. After a while, even the droning of Mr. Keith’s lecture to the freshmen students couldn’t distract her.
Even when the students were given their assignments and Mr. Keith walked towards her, Katey hardly noticed. It was when he placed a heavy hand on her shoulder that she was thrown back into her problems again.
“Are you ok?” he whispered, his face unbearably close to hers.
Katey had to admit that she had been doing a poor job of hiding how she really felt today. The mask she normally wore had gone missing and she didn’t have enough time to construct a new one.
“I’m just a little tired and my stomach doesn’t feel too good,” she replied. Katey hadn’t eaten anything substantial for lunch and the granola bar that she scarfed down over an hour ago wasn’t enough to settle this new insatiable hunger.
Mr. Keith nodded and walked over to his little blue refrigerator hidden in the far corner underneath the counter next to a tall filing cabinet. He retrieved a can of orange soda and brought it to her.
“Do you think this would make you feel better?”
How could she resist a free soda? She nodded, popped the lid and began to guzzle it down a little faster than she should have. Mr. Keith only smiled and returned to his desk.
Now would have been an ideal time to ask him about Logan. How did they know each other? Was Logan okay? Was he sick or in trouble? The way that Mr. Keith practically dragged him out of the cafeteria, anyone would have thought he was in trouble. Perhaps Logan’s parents were in the front office and needed to see him about something. Lily’s parents often came to the school to bring her little gifts or even have lunch with her in private.
Katey turned and opened her mouth to speak, but the bell rang to announce that it was time to head to sixth period. Her lips dipped into a deep frown, knowing that she would not get the answers she so desired just yet. There was always tomorrow.
***
After school, Katey busily packed away her binders and textbooks into her locker. Lily had asked her to study this evening at her house, but Katey turned her down, remembering that she had a filthy house to clean.
The traffic of students behind her began to thin out as the buses began to line up outside and the normal din of chatter, laughter and general jocularity lessened to a few shuffling feet and slamming locker doors.
Katey stood up and turned, but was caught off guard when she came face to face with someone she didn’t expect to see until tomorrow.
Logan’s bright and eager eyes met hers and she squeaked in surprise, tripping over her own feet and falling back against the wall of lockers to give herself some room to breathe.
“Whoa, you okay?” he asked, reaching out to steady her. Katey shrugged his hands away and grabbed her bag, suddenly flustered and agitated. Mostly though, she was embarrassed for revealing her clumsiness.
“No, I’m not okay!” Katey placed a hand over her racing heart and tried to catch her breath, much to his amusement. “I thought you went home or something.”
Logan’s eyes narrowed into slits as amusement turned to confusion. “Why would I have gone home?”
Katey felt a cold sweat creep up her back as she remembered that he probably had no clue she had been keeping a close eye on him during lunch that day. “Everyone else is headed home, so I figured you would have too.”
He seemed to buy her quick fib and nodded. Neither of them moved or said a word. Katey tried in vain not to meet his stare, but succumbed to the urge. A soft, pleasant smile was plastered on his handsome face and a glimmer in his eye told her that he must have been thinking about something just as pleasant.
“Why are you staring at me like that?” she asked.
Logan gave her a wicked half smile, shaking his head. “I don’t know.”
His face portrayed the inclination that he knew
something Katey didn’t know. She hated him looking at her like this. She was using all her strength to not burst out laughing, though. Such a handsome face staring at her like that was just impossible.
“Well, stop it,” she retorted, then turned to hurry away, biting down on her lips to keep them from curling into a grin.
“Hey, wait. I had a question to ask.” Logan took a few bounding steps forward to catch up.
“What?” she asked, as he matched her step for step down the hall.
“Well, there’s this really nice, big, private cemetery on the other side of town.”
Katey stopped and looked at him with the sassiest glare she could muster at the time. “And your question is?”
“If you would accompany me there and we can sit by a stranger’s grave and talk.”
The eager grin on his face broke her resolve and Katey smiled like a fool. All she could think about was that Logan, the guy that had swept her off her feet with one look of those gorgeous blue eyes, wanted to spend time with her. Yes, it was his fault for the weird day Katey had, but she couldn’t deny that he made her feel alive and warm inside.
Forgetting her fears that this was all some crazy plot and her duties to the chaos waiting for her at home, she asked, “Your car or mine?”
Chapter 7
Katey pulled up next to Logan’s slick black motorcycle in the cemetery’s parking lot, turned off her ignition and waited in her car. They had driven an hour and a half to the north, over the Florida-Alabama state line, to come to this place she didn’t even know existed.
The cemetery was just outside a town slightly smaller than Crestucky, but much older judging by the turn of the century houses and abandoned railway line. She failed to catch the name of the town. The only way to the cemetery was a lonely dirt road that winded through an endless forest of tall pines.
After checking her phone, she realized how utterly lost she felt. No service. Not even a single bar of signal way out in the middle of nowhere. Katey hoped and prayed that this wouldn’t turn out like a badly made horror flick.
There was a big white sign over the stone wall, but it was too vandalized in graffiti and faded with age to make out what the black letters underneath said. The graveyard was shady with many trees and rusty iron benches. Katey could estimate it was about an acre long and half an acre wide of rich green grass.
In comparison to the cemetery they were at on Friday, this one was smaller and only a handful of gravesites were scattered across the landscape. Some were marked by traditional tombstones and shined like new pennies. Other resting places were merely marked by a stone or plaque dug into the dirt. Katey assumed this was one of the first graveyards for the town they had passed through on their way here. There wasn’t even a shed on the piece of property to store yard equipment, yet, the place looked trim and neat, like it had been recently mowed and weeded.
“Are you coming?” Logan called out to her as he began walking towards the cemetery gates.
Katey nodded and quickly joined him outside the crumbling brick walls. She didn’t bother to bring her phone with her this time since there was no service anyway.
There was a worn path that curved in and out amongst the graves, up and down rows and even in circles around the benches. They began walking on it, the sound of their footsteps softened by the soil and sand they treaded on.
The overcast sky of that morning was a distant memory as the sun made a glorious reappearance, alighting the pale blue sky above them. Birdsongs drifted on the chilly late afternoon winds. Katey was glad for the breeze as it cooled her flushed skin. Despite her efforts to appear calm, she was anxious.
Once again, she was alone with Logan, far away from civilization and with nothing to do but talk and stroll past the graves of those who had lived and died before them. Now would have been her chance to win him over and show him that she was worth the long drive. But, at the same time, she didn’t want to put on pretenses for him. She wanted to let him into the dark recesses of her soul, a place she had denied access to everyone else in her life.
She had thought it over on the drive over here and decided that if Logan really wanted to spend time with her in this way, she shouldn’t be so keen to run away. Not yet. She wanted answers first.
“So really, how was your day?” Logan asked, his thumbs hooked through his belt loops.
Katey hesitated, picking out her words as carefully as she could so as not to see to brash. “It’s been a little weird.”
“How so?”
“A lot has changed since Friday.”
“Like what?”
Katey smiled, knowing that was a loaded question in itself. Plenty had happened since Friday. She met Logan and somehow with only his company to aid her, she broke through the storm cloud that had been hanging over her head for the better part of the year. But for starters, she asked, “How did you find out where I worked?”
Logan blew air out of his lips like he really didn’t want to answer that question. “That was a complete accident. I happened to be in there looking for a book and noticed the employee of the month certificate on the wall was yours, so I knew you worked there. I happen to still have that piece of paper in my pocket, so it worked out perfectly.”
His story seemed logical enough and Katey accepted it with a grain of salt. If he had been looking for a book, why didn’t he ask either herself or Beth for help in finding it?
“Well, how come you’re in all my classes?”
“That was mere coincidence.”
Katey laughed and shook her head. “I don’t believe you.”
Logan shrugged. “Well, maybe not all coincidences.”
Katey grinned and pointed an accusing finger at him. “Ha! I was right! You were trying to get classes with me!”
Logan glanced to her and wagged his head contestably. “Not exactly. I wanted classes with three of those teachers in particular and those were the only classes that happened to have openings.”
Katey’s smile faded and she peered at him quizzically. “Which teachers?”
“Darren, Dustin and Ben.”
“Who?” Katey folded her arms over her chest, feeling a little lost about what to do with her idle hands while talking to him.
Logan laughed, seeing his error. “I’m sorry. Darren Dubose, Dustin Keith and Ben Myers.”
Katey raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re on a first name basis with them?”
“Yes,” he replied.
“But how?”
Their pace was slow and steady around the cemetery.
“They were good friends of my parents,” he explained. “I’ve known them for a very long time. You could probably say that they almost raised me themselves.”
Katey paused to reflect what it would have been like to grow up knowing those three. Mr. Dubose she could see being a very good role model for any young boy. Mr. Keith, not so much. She wasn’t as sure about Mr. Myers’ character to tell.
“But, I’ve never seen you around school before and you just showed up today out of nowhere.”
“I’ve been home schooled for most of my life and I decided a few months ago that I wanted to try out a public school. It took quite a bit of convincing on my family’s part to let me enroll. I was already scheduled to enroll today before I met you,” he said as he stopped at a small grave.
It was old and not very well maintained like the rest. The name of the man that was laid to rest here was Robert Croxen. There wasn’t a birth date engraved in the stone, but the death year was in the later half of the nineteenth century. The last name sounded vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t place where from. Below the death year was the inscription “A loving father and valiant leader”.
Logan stared at the tombstone with a sad, but solemn look in his eyes.
“Did you know him?” Katey inquired.
He shook his head, almost regretfully. “No. He’s just usually the one I sit next to if I come here.”
“Why?”
Logan took a d
eep breath and began to walk on. “No reason.”
Katey was not convinced. The way he revered that grave was like Logan had known of the man that lay six feet below their feet. However, she knew that pressing the subject wasn’t wise.
“How did you know this place was here?” she asked.
“I actually used to live in that town we passed on the way here.”
“Really?”
“Yes. But it was a long time ago and we didn’t live there long.”
“By ‘we’, I’m assuming you mean you and your parents?”
Logan opened his mouth to answer, but it came out slow like he had to really remember. “Yes. My family. We lived there for a few months.”
“Why not longer?”
Logan shrugged in response. Katey filled in the blank that perhaps he was too young to remember the reasons why.
“What are your parents like?” Katey asked, slightly shifting the conversation topic.
She looked up at him and he seemed to grimace at the question. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.” Katey knew what that was like. For years, new people she met would ask about her parents and she had to tell them the awful sob story of her life. But no matter how mechanically she told the story, it always began with that same grimace because she never wanted to tell it.
Logan instantly brightened up to reassure her. “Oh, no. It’s fine. They’re okay I guess. We just don’t get along that well. My dad is not the best person to be around, but my mother is a very kind woman. She’s the kindest I’ve ever met anyway…”
Katey found it strange and yet oddly refreshing to hear someone speak so highly of their parents, especially their mother. She didn’t know a single teenager that was not going through that phase of adolescence where they hated their parents and thought they were idiots.
“What about yours?” he asked, looking back Katey with a more gentle smile.
Katey looked to the ground and took a deep breath. “They’re dead,” she stated flatly.
The Enigma (The Loup-Garou Series Book 1) Page 9