by W.J. May
Chapter 6
Rocking slightly side to side, I now hesitated outside the house. Maybe the reason my body didn’t want to go in had to do with the horrible memory of the beast. If we went inside and talked about it, I’d be admitting it was real.
Michael reached for my hand and squeezed it, giving me the courage to cross the threshold. Little currents of hot and cold raced across my skin.
Does Michael have them too? I blinked, trying focus on the task ahead. This was serious. I really didn’t want to be some monster’s dinner.
In the middle of the living room, Michael stopped. Grace and Sarah relaxed on the couch and a man sat at the desk Sarah had occupied yesterday. My heart stuttered.
Caleb.
He was older than I thought he’d be. Maybe late fifties or sixties. The tightness in his face and posture made him appear ready to pounce. Or overreact? The kind of guy who shot first and asked questions later.
Where everyone looked tanned, Caleb was pale like me but even more so. Almost pasty white against the dark, expensive clothes he wore. He had the same intense blue eyes as the others, but with years of knowledge behind them, like he’d been through the wars. He was handsome, in a strange way, with strong facial lines. He sat almost regal.
When he glanced at me, his eyes darted from my feet to my head to my feet again, a harrumph escaping his lips.
I wanted to disappear.
“’Tis a pleasure to meet you.” He spoke with an English accent – very proper – and polite. However, his words sounded automatic—years of being taught what to say.
“Hello, Mr....” I paused. I didn’t know their last name and it seemed wrong to call him Caleb without permission.
“Knightly.”
“Hell-Hello.” Should I curtsey or kneel?
He leaned back in his chair, fingers clasped tightly together, resting on top of the desk. “It seems you had an altercation last night with a grollic.”
Wow. Straight to the point. “Michael’s been trying to explain.” I played with a loose strand of hair which had escaped my ponytail. “He seems to think there’s a…a grollic after me.”
He tutted. “Possibly, but not confirmed. That’s the first sighting of one in a very long time. We assumed they’d become extinct in this area. It seems they may have just burrowed underground.” He twirled a large ring on his right hand. “Do you have the slightest inclination why one would fancy you, of all people?”
I shrugged, suddenly conscious of the book lying in Michael’s car. I shook my head. It made no sense the two were related. “I just moved into town. I haven’t done anything since I got here. Met Michael and Grace, got a job…normal stuff. Last night, I stepped into the trees on an off-chance. It wasn’t something planned.”
“Maybe you caught it off guard. Maybe it was curious about the noise from the kids,” Sarah said.
Good point. Maybe I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“Perhaps…” Caleb rubbed his chin, his eyebrows drawn close together. He stood. He was a lot taller than I originally thought, at least half a foot taller than Michael. “We must remain aware of our surroundings and be cognisant of any possible threats. Grace and Michael will keep an eye on you, and we shall see if this grollic has any other intentions. Perhaps it was hungry.”
The way Caleb looked at me—or through me—I felt like some carnivore’s dinner, nothing more. I gasped and took a step back. He strode by me, without a second glance, to his office, the antique door closing with a cold click from the brass doorknob made me jerk.
“It’s just some freak of nature, some kind of wild animal. Caleb talks as if the thing can think and plan an attack. Animals can’t do that.” I spoke to no one in particular. Who’re you trying to convince? Them or yourself?
Michael slipped an arm around my shoulders. “Nothing happened last night and nothing’s going to happen to you. I promise.”
“It was definitely a one-off.” I loved it that I believed him. He made me feel…safe.
Thank goodness school started without a hitch. No monsters came knocking at my door. I did joke with Grace, with me practically sleeping at her place all the time, a grollic could’ve come but bolted when it got to my neighborhood.
It sucked but I barely saw Michael. Caleb apparently had him travelling for work.
Simon made it his priority to introduce me to everyone at school. While the weather stayed warm, a group of us sat in the courtyard every lunch break.
One Friday, near the end of October, the guys, being their usual rowdy selves, started a game.
“Rouge,” Simon said. “Are you going to come with me to the Halloween Masquerade?”
Before I could think of an excuse not to go, Damon dragged Simon to a desk chair he’d set in the middle of the courtyard.
“Help me set this up. Then let’s jump over it.” Damon pointed at us gals sitting together. “You ladies keep score.” All the guys scrambled over to join them, each one easily clearing the chair. Soon two, then three chairs were lined up. When a few guys knocked out, Damon dragged a picnic table to replace the chairs. He scraped his foot in the grass to make a line ten feet away. He declared they had to stand behind the muddy line. The remaining three cleared the table sideways. They turned the table long. After Damon and Simon barely cleared it, they pulled two together.
I leaned toward Grace. “Maybe they should fill their pants with rolls of toilet paper.”
“What’s that Red?” Damon paused in his work and grinned at his nickname for me. “Chumming up to your little pal?” He glared at Grace. “It’s obvious Red’s you’re new little Barbie doll. Poor new-gal didn’t stand a chance once you sunk your claws in her.”
How old was this guy, nine? “I have a brain, thank-you. I’m a Barbie. Maybe you’re just jealous she wouldn’t let you be her Ken?”
He stepped forward and leaned down, his face inches from mine, hot breath hitting my cheeks. “What’d you just say?”
My courage flew out the window. I dropped my gaze. His eyes were red, nostrils flared, lips curled in a nasty smile. I locked on his neck where a birthmark, which also looked angry, peeked out from the edge of his polo shirt near the buttons.
Simon pulled Damon back. “Leave her alone. You’re scaring the poor girl.”
I gasped for air, not realizing I’d held it. With a shaky hand, I covered my mouth, not sure what else to do.
Damon blinked and jerked his arm out of Simon’s grip. “Whatever. Sorry, Red.”
“You’re such a jerk, Damon.” Grace grabbed my arm and led me inside by the elbow. “You okay?”
Leaning against the cool, cement bricked wall, I tried to calm my nerves. “Bit insecure, isn’t he?”
Grace laughed. “I usually just try to ignore him.”
“How do you ignore someone so big?”
“And ugly?”
I grinned, feeling better. “You so missed your chance when you turned him down.”
“I guess he never got over it.” She pretended to clutch her heart. “It started the first week I was here, but he was just so big—”
“An’ ugly.”
“An’ smelly. It turned me off.”
“I don’t blame you.”
The bell rang. I had chemistry and she had art on the other side of school.
“See you after classes. Try not to pick anymore fights.” She laughed and disappeared down the hall.
Afternoon classes flew by. At the end of the day, I made my way out to the parking lot to Grace’s car. My heart skipped a beat when a dark blue Mustang sat parked beside the Smartcar.
Michael stood waiting between the two cars, leaning against his door.
“Hi.” I hadn’t seen him for two weeks and he looked awesome. I made tight fists, warning my fingers not to reach up to his blond hair begging to be tamed. His blue eyes piercing with their intensity, his lips and slight stubble – all of it made my blood rush.
He nodded a hello, but his face remained serious. “Grac
e told me what happened. I thought I might have a word with this Damon boy.”
Boy? Damon was like a year younger than him. I waved my hand. “It’s nothing. Damon probably took too many steroids and had some reaction.” Bummer. I had been hoping for: I missed you.
Michael’s head shot up and his body tensed. I turned around to where he looked.
Damon pushed through the school front doors, strutting across the grass with Simon in tow. They headed to the other side of the parking lot. He kept glancing our way with an irritating, cocky smile, but he continued to his car. He gassed the engine and sped out of the parking lot.
“Michael!” Grace’s singsong voice made both of us turn. “What a surprise.” Her cheeks and most of her face burned slightly red.
“Really? You contacted –” Michael stopped mid-sentence.
Something passed between the two of them, but I couldn’t figure out what. It might take a bit of patience, but I intended to find out. Why would Grace call Michael and tell him about lunch? It was no big deal. Then it dawned on me. “It seems your old flame’s still holding a bit of a nasty grudge.”
Grace shrugged. “You win some and, in his case, you lose again. The guy’s a meat-head.”
“Maybe it was good I wasn’t here.” Michael turned and smiled at me. “Well, if my knight-in-shiny-armor services aren’t needed; is there anything else I can help you with?”
“Well…” I said. “There is this Halloween Masquerade. We are actually required to go for drama class. I could really use a date.”