Next to the pile of papers are my boxes of Slim Jims and beef jerky.
Exhibit A and Exhibit B.
But there’s no Exhibit C. No wooden sword. Where is my athame?
Behind the desk are some diplomas in gothic script and a flute. It’s silver and shiny, and he has it affixed to the wall.
Mr. Piper smiles at us every day out in the halls. But he isn’t smiling now.
“Take a seat.”
I sit down.
He stands up, walks over to the door and shuts it. This isn’t a good sign. Principals almost always have their doors open.
“You’re one very hungry guy, aren’t you, Stanley?”
I nod. “I’ve been having weird cravings.”
Mr. Piper seems to find this quite amusing. He chortles a little. “You’re thin as a rail, Stanley. You expect me to believe these are all for you? You know you aren’t allowed to sell food in school, unless it’s a fundraiser. Or keep food overnight in your locker. Can you explain this?”
“How come you searched my locker?”
“We received a note. Anonymously. Tell me, Stanley, what’s all this about?”
I shake my head. “I’ve been very hungry.”
“We’ll just have to get something for you, then, won’t we, Stanley? Can’t have you starving here in my office.”
Just as he says this, the smell hits me. Food, rapidly approaching. It smells like the cafeteria, but stronger.
There’s a knock on the door.
“Come in,” Mr. Piper says, loud and firm. The door opens.
Ms. Jensen walks in carrying a cafeteria tray. It’s all I can do to keep from growling and jumping at the plate.
“Here’s the steak you ordered, Mr. Piper. I’m sorry it’s so rare.”
“That’ll be fine, won’t it, Stanley?”
I nod, my fists unclenching, reaching out for the tray, but Mr. Piper is faster. Out of his chair before I can react, he grabs the tray and lets Ms. Jensen out, thanking her.
“Still hungry, Stanley?” he asks me, holding the tray.
I nod, stand up to take it from him, but he keeps it out of reach, puts it down behind him on his desk. The smell is so strong I can taste it. I try to stand up but he pushes me down with one hand. He’s surprisingly strong.
“Just a moment, Stanley. You’re going to have to earn your meal.”
“What do you want?”
There’s something about Mr. Piper that isn’t quite right. Like if I look at him sideways, he kind of glows a little. Like the flute. What’s going on here? I just want to eat.
Another cramp doubles me over.
“It hurts, doesn’t it? I understand better than most people what you must be going through. I know you aren’t dealing in meat snacks. The whole thing is ridiculous.”
I look up, hopeful.
“But the teachers are crying for blood, you know that? They’re finding wrappers all over their classrooms. Now I realize it’s not just you. A lot of children seem to be having meat cravings these days. But not everybody has two whole boxes of meat snacks in their lockers. You see how we’re in kind of a sticky situation?”
God, the meat looks good on that tray.
“What do you want?”
If his hand wasn’t still pressed against my chest, I would jump past him and dive at the tray. I’ll tell him anything he wants if he’ll just let me eat.
“I’d like to vouch for your character to the teachers, but I don’t know you well enough. I’d like to give you a free meal right now, too, but these two things, you have to earn them, you see? And you’re going to have to owe me a favor, too. And I take favors very seriously.”
“Tell me what you want,” I say. “Please.”
“What I want is a reason not to call your mother. Does your mother know about your meat, Stanley? About the three solid pounds of meat snacks we found in your locker?”
I shake my head.
“Is your mother encouraging you to deal in meat snacks?” he asks me.
I shake my head again, my face growing warm.
He shakes his head, smiling. “No, she doesn’t like meat, does she, your mother?”
I shake my head.
“Okay, listen. You owe me a favor.”
I nod my head.
“You promise to repay the favor when you’re asked.”
Piper has let go of me and is back in his seat. The flute, strangely, is in his hands. Stranger still is the fact that I can’t remember him taking it down off the wall or putting it to his lips. And yet it seems so natural there, like a pencil in his hand.
“I’m not sure,” I say.
He plays a little tune. Just a few notes, but I find myself nodding.
“Of course. I owe you a favor. I’ll repay the favor when asked.”
His smile is as big as my confusion, but I forget everything else as he hands me the still-steaming tray.
Biting in, I taste the juices that I’ve been smelling for what seems like hours. It’s all I can do to keep myself from ripping it apart with my bare hands.
“So, Stanley. Let’s cut to the chase. Have you been taking the supplements?”
I stare at him, my mouth open. What if they’re illegal?
“Just nod or shake your head.”
I close my mouth.
“I said just nod or shake your head, Stanley.”
Why can’t I just shake my head?
“You can’t tell me, can you?”
“I don’t know. I want to talk, but—”
“How much do you know?”
“I don’t know anything.”
“Whatever anyone tells you, they’re not vitamins, Stanley. And they’re not organic or biodynamic, either.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“All I can tell you is they aren’t what they seem. They aren’t for you. They aren’t for people at all.”
Aren’t for people? Were they made for animals or what?
“Stanley, I’m going to talk to you man to man. Can you tell me what really happened in that locker room?”
I shrug. “I don’t think so. I’d like to, but—I mean, I didn’t do anything to him. I just went in there to clean up. And then...”
Mr. Piper waits for me for a moment to finish my sentence. “And then?”
I just sit there.
“Just tell me this. You’re leaving a whole lot out, aren’t you?”
I nod. “Don’t want to say anything crazy, do I?”
“Like about turning into some kind of animal?”
Mr. Piper stares at me for a while, waiting for an answer. That’s when I notice something strange about a book on his desk. When I look at it directly, I notice that it’s a yearbook from ten years ago. But when I look at it from the side, it’s a lot older. Something’s fishy here. That’s not a yearbook. Yearbooks don’t have weird gold lettering that shimmers.
I look back at Piper. “Do you think I turned into an animal?”
“The world is a strange place,” Mr. Piper says. “All I can say is that you’ve got to be careful what you wish for. Everything carries its price.”
“I’ll keep it in mind,” I say.
“Good,” he says, nodding. “Now off to class with you. I’ve got other fish to fry.”
Outside his office I see Carolina, sitting in a chair, waiting. She’s in my English class, but I don’t know her very well. All I know is she’s new and she hangs out with Meredith, who I used to hang out with in elementary school. Carolina and I have never talked before, but now she looks up at me from her chair. We lock eyes for a moment, and she winks at me, like we’re sharing a secret.
But if so, what’s the secret?
I want to talk to her, but I need to get to class, and she’s already being called into Mr. Piper’s office.
Chapter 13: I’M FAMOUS
In the halls I catch people looking at me. Old friends from cross-country start talking about me when I pass by. But they get quiet when I look at them.
Meredith is tall; her hair is long and straight and black, pulled back into a pony tail. Her eyes are huge and brown, her lips are red and full, and I think I’m staring at them just as she nudges me under the table.
I’ve known Meredith since elementary school. I think she even came to my birthday party in fifth grade. I’ve had a crush on her for years, since we were little. But she hasn’t talked to me for just as long, as I became weirder and she became more popular.
Carolina though just moved from Salem with her parents. It’s just like an hour and a half from Lansfeld, but I’ve never been there. Which is weird, I guess, since my mother is a witch.
That’s not all that’s weird about Carolina, though. I catch her look around quickly and then take a bite out of something. Swallow. I don’t have to see it clearly to know what it is. I can smell it. It’s meat. Beef jerky. Carolina catches me sniffing, or looking, and for the second time today our eyes meet. For a moment I feel her hunger, feel the moon, the call of the forest. I want to get out of this building and run out into the trees behind the school.
I want to hunt.
Pull yourself together, Stanley. I shake my head to clear it. Meredith nudges me again, and I look at her blankly.
“Stanley!”
“Huh?”
I think I need to get some kind of Small Talk for Dummies book.
“How’s it going?” Meredith says.
Carolina giggles, and I look at her again. What is there about her eyes? Why is she sneaking Slim Jims?
“Fine,” I say.
Carolina giggles again. “We’ve got to invite you to my Halloween party.”
Meredith pumps her fist. “Yes! That would be so cool. It’s going to be really scary. Carolina lives over by the cemetery.”
I nod. “Okay...”
“But tell us how you scared Gary like that,” Carolina says.
I don’t look at her this time. I look at Meredith instead as I screw up my face and hold my hands up above my head like claws. They stare at me in shock, but I crack up, and then everyone at our table is laughing.
Meredith sticks out her tongue at me.
I thought I could only be like this with Jonathan and Enrique, but maybe not. Maybe if I relax, I can make pretty much anyone laugh, or at least smile.
If only I could get Karen out of my head. I finger the friendship bracelet on my wrist.
And if that wasn’t enough, track tryouts are coming up. If Lauren gives me the okay. She can’t hold off much longer, I figure. All the scans show no scarring. I feel fit as a fiddle, but if so, why are my hands shaking?
Just as we are about to be released from class, Carolina is called away to the office for a second time. She looks confused, surprised. She even looks at me for a moment, like I could clue her in, but I just shrug.
Unless ... unless she’s been hiding meat snacks in her locker, too.
What have I gotten myself into?
Chapter 14: MY BIRTHDAY POTLUCK
Walking home from the bus, I smell something in the wind. It’s sweet, tangy. The smell of blood. I follow it into the woods by my house. First there is just the smell, faint in the air. Then there’s a raccoon. Or what was left of one. It’s torn apart. All I can really recognize is the tail.
Something tore apart a raccoon as a snack. Why isn’t my stomach turning?
When I get home my mother tilts her head to the side, squints at me as I walk through the door. She sniffs the air.
“What’s the matter now, Mom?”
She shrugs, still squinting at me. “I know you don’t like to hear about it, but there’s a lot of weird talk in my coven.”
My mom’s Unitarian church has these special interest groups that meet once a week. My mom is a member of two. One is for Earth based Judaism, or Jewitchery. Another is for Wicca. The second one is her “coven.” It’s like a dozen middle-aged to elderly ladies who leap around burning sage, hitting each other with aromatic herbs and chanting things. That’s as much as I can figure out. There may be more to it than that.
“And that makes you sniff at people?” I ask her.
“I know,” she says. “It’s a strange way to greet you on your birthday. But Morgaine says dangerous things are happening to teenagers. And that they’re taking some weird new drug.”
“Weird new drug?”
She nods. “And we’ve found a few animal kills.”
“Animal kills?” I ask, my mouth dry.
She nods. “Rabbits. Squirrels. Raccoons. Is there something you haven’t been telling me, Stanley?”
All of a sudden I wish I could answer that question. But I can’t bring her into it. Just mentioning the Slim Jims would destroy her. She may think she’s some kind of witch, but to me she’s just the hippy artist with a flower in her hair, listening to the Cocteau Twins while cooking a big pot of organic kosher vegetarian chili.
So I don’t say anything. I don’t want to lie to her.
She shrugs and sniffs the air once more. “You do smell strange. You even look strange. Were you playing with a dog or something? Teasing Max again?”
“Max won’t come near me.”
“I’m sorry to be so suspicious, Stanley. I’m just scared.”
“Mom, we live in Lansfeld. Nothing ever happens here.”
She shakes her head, biting her lip. “I’ve told you more than I was supposed to. And we’re having a birthday party here.”
I am suddenly exhausted. “It’s not a party, Mom. It’s just a little get-together.”
“Your friends are still coming over, right?”
“I think so. But Karen can’t come. At least not until full dark. Her skin.”
My mother’s eyes narrow.
“She’s got a skin problem. It gets worse in the sun, Mom. It doesn’t mean anything. It’s not like she chose to have an allergy or something.”
She just chose to take a pill. And after that, her choice was taken away.
“Sorry, honey. I’m just nervous.”
“Can I go take a shower?”
She nods, giving me one last searching look that I do my best to avoid. Really, she doesn’t want to see the secrets hidden in my eyes.
I almost make it to my room when I double over. Josh stares at me.
“You okay, Stanley?”
I nod. He’s got Max in his arms and I try to smile. But Max jumps down with a little hiss and runs off into Josh’s room.
“Sorry,” I say, straightening up.
“It’s okay,” says Josh. “He gets nervous sometimes. He’s been like this a lot lately.”
“Not just with me?”
Josh shakes his head. “Not just with you.”
“You coming to my party?” I ask him.
“Am I invited?”
I can’t help smiling over the pangs in my stomach. I nod my head.
“Then I’ll make you a present,” my brother says, and goes back into his room.
As soon as I have my own door shut behind me, I pull out the beef jerky from under my bed. My fingers throb and want to change; my palms itch, and I want to growl and howl as I tear into the dried meat. It’s tough and too salty compared to what I ate in Mr. Piper’s office. But for me, right now, it’s heaven.
But then I look down. A black glass bottle is clenched in my shaking hand. How did it get there? What if my mom and Karen and Mr. Piper, what if they all were right to warn me?
Too late now. I dry swallow one bitter pill.
One pill, one hot shower, three pieces of beef jerky and one extra long Slim Jim, and I’m a new man with steady hands. Dressed in black jeans and an old tattered t-shirt, I’m ready for my little birthday get-together.
Which is good, becau
se the doorbell is ringing. “Stanley?” my mom calls. “Can you get the door?”
It’s Enrique. He’s brought a tray covered in aluminum foil. I sniff the air eagerly, but smell beans. Still, there’s something that makes me sniff again. Something hidden under the rest of the tacos. My mother reaches out her hands to take the tray, then hesitates. She looks at Enrique.
“What’s the matter?” Enrique asks, looking at me.
My mother shakes her head. “Nothing’s the matter. These are vegetarian, right?”
“Vegetarian?” he says.
“No meat,” my mom says.
He shakes his head. “No meat.”
“They smell delicious,” my mother says. “But you... Have you been playing with a cat?”
“Cats hate me,” Enrique says.
My mother shrugs and takes the tray.
“What’s up with your mother?” Enrique asks.
I shrug. “I don’t know where to start.”
Enrique has burned me a CD for my birthday, so we head for my room to listen to it. It’s this weird mix of Mexican rap, rock en español, and a bunch of alternative things I don’t even know what to call. But maybe it’s just what I need right now. We shut the door, and as soon as it shuts, I can’t help it—I pull out another Slim Jim from under the bed.
Enrique looks at me. “Does your mom know? Is that why she’s so weird?”
I shake my head way too energetically. “No way does she know what happened. Mr. Piper didn’t call home.”
“He let you off, just like that? After Frumberg? After they searched your locker?”
I can’t meet his eyes. “Well, I think we agreed to something. It’s kind of hazy now.”
“What did you agree to, Stanley?”
“I think I owe him a favor.”
“A favor?” Enrique says. “I don’t know if I like the sound of that...”
But downstairs the doorbell is ringing again. Jonathan is here.
He smiles at me in the light of his porch light; his dark black skin contrasting with his bright white teeth. He’s brought sushi. I’m not a big fish fan, but it’s the only meat-like thing my mother lets in the house, so I can’t help smiling. Meanwhile Josh is going crazy, jumping around the kitchen. The boy would eat raw fish for breakfast, lunch and dinner if we let him. My mom gives him a piece now. But that just seems to make him hungrier. Max hovers in the background, and Josh turns to him. “You interested, Max?”
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