by Cheree Alsop
I nodded. “The students do, and a lot of the professors. Especially lately.”
“I heard about the ghosts,” she told me. “It’s a little hard to picture without being there.”
I shot Dad a look. He answered my unspoken question with a shake of his head. He had apparently kept the appearance of my mother’s ghost to himself. I couldn’t blame him. Since nobody knew exactly what was happening with the ghosts at the Academy, it was probably the easier choice. I wouldn’t have known how to put seeing Mom into words either.
She set a pad of gauze over the middle of my hand and then proceeded to wrap it snuggly with more gauze. She then tied the gauze across the back of my hand and snipped the ends close so they wouldn’t snag on anything.
“This should hold until you have to change form again,” she said. She began to put the supplies back, then hesitated. “Should I send some of these with you?”
I shook my head. “The infirmary at the Academy has it all. Dr. Six said I can use whatever I need.”
Drake perked up. “Why is he named Doctor Six? Does he have six tentacles or maybe six hands?”
I shook my head. “I think it’s just her last name. She’s a short witch who works with crystals to heal along with the regular stuff.” At his disappointed look, I added, “But she wears a top hat and glasses with gears on them.”
“Cool,” he said, apparently satisfied that she met his requirement for a physician at such a strange school.
Dad rose from the table. “I’d like to stay, but I have class,” he said apologetically. He nudged Drake on his way past. “So do you.”
“Can I help Finn find what he’s looking for? I promise to walk straight to school afterwards,” my brother begged.
I met Dad’s gaze and lifted a shoulder. “I could probably use the help,” I said, gesturing with my hand. The truth was that I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to everyone yet. A little more time with my brother was more than welcome.
Dad must have read my expression because he gave in. “Very well.” He speared Drake with a stern look. “But head to school right after.”
“I promise,” Drake said.
“I need to head to work, too,” Julianne told us. She kissed my cheek. “If I’d known you were coming, I would have taken the morning off instead of the afternoon.”
“It’s alright,” I told her. “I didn’t give you guys a head’s up. I’ll let you know next time.”
“I’m just hoping it’s soon,” she said, giving me a hug and then Dad and Drake. “It’s nice having you home.”
Dad nodded. “Definitely. We’ve missed you around here.” His voice grew solemn and he said, “We’ll figure things out, Finn. You don’t have to hide your whole life, I promise.”
I gave him a hug. “I know. It’ll work out.”
I crossed to the table and held out my hand to Sparrow who still sat on Dad’s napkin watching us. The dragon crawled onto my hand and curled around my wrist.
“Is that where she sleeps?” Dad asked.
I nodded. “She’s just a baby, so she spends a lot of time sleeping. This is the most I’ve seen her awake since she hatched.”
“She hatched. That’s cool,” Drake said.
I rolled my eyes. “Let’s go start looking.”
Dad and Julianne headed for the door. “Be careful where you put your feet up there. You don’t want to fall through the sheetrock,” Dad reminded us.
“Will do,” I promised.
Chapter Eight
Drake and I dug through the boxes in the attic until we reached the one in the very back. My heart skipped a beat when I saw the demon sigil drawn on the front in black permanent marker.
“What’s that?” Drake asked.
“The sign I was looking for,” I replied. I didn’t want to tell him about Chutka the Shambler or the other terrors that might arise from the demon’s presence.
“Open it,” Drake urged.
I paused with my hands on the box. My hesitation came from the way the box had been closed. The other boxes had their top flaps folded together in the customary way so that the last flap was forced under the first to close it. This one, however, had been sealed with so much tape even the edges were covered in it. I looked around for something to use, but the attic was severely lacking in sharp, pointed objects.
“Let’s take it downstairs,” I suggested.
Drake followed me down the steps. The fifteen-year-old had regarded me differently since I had phased into a wolf. There was a quietness to his demeanor as if he was thinking over everything we had gone through. Several times while we searched the attic I had held up a box only to find him watching me and studying me instead of what I was doing.
When I set the box on the table, I turned to find the same expression on his face.
“What?” I asked, keeping my tone light.
Drake blinked. “What?” he replied.
I kept my voice patient when I said, “You keep looking at me. What are you thinking?”
Drake looked at the box, the table, the floor, and then at me again. When he saw that I wasn’t going to move until he gave me an answer, he sighed. “I just keep wondering.”
“What do you wonder?”
He cringed when he said, “I wonder which part of you is the wolf part.”
I lifted an eyebrow.
He quickly rushed forward to say, “You’re really a wolf, you know? When I think back to that night, the memory is all blurry and I don’t really know what I saw. But here, in the kitchen, you were really a wolf, all fur and teeth and pointed ears and everything. I just…I just wonder where it all goes when it’s not you.”
I let out a breath. “It’s still inside me. I can feel it.”
I sat down at the table.
“You can feel it?” Drake prompted.
I nodded. I wasn’t sure how much to tell him, but since Mom hadn’t shared anything from that life with us, I felt like whatever I could tell him might help him be prepared in case in happened to him someday.
“I feel it if I get mad, or if the moonlight is bright. Sometimes when danger is near I feel this tremor as if my instincts are warning me about it.” It was hard to put how I felt into words. I tried anyway. “Sometimes it’s like if I don’t maintain perfect control, I’m going to lose it and the wolf will take over.” I debated if that was enough to tell them, but I couldn’t stop myself from saying, “The Headmistress at Haunted High says I’m an Alpha. That’s some sort of werewolf leader.”
Drake grinned. “Cool.”
I lifted a shoulder. “Sometimes it is, but I find myself arguing with my professors—”
“You?” Drake said incredulously.
I nodded. “I can’t help it. And if someone is in trouble, I feel like I have to protect them, even if it’s the last thing I do.”
Drake’s voice was quiet when he said, “Like with the demon?”
I followed his gaze to my wrapped hand. “Yeah, like with the demon.”
Silence filled the room for a moment before Drake broke it to say, “I was mad about that.”
His words surprised me. “About the demon?”
He nodded. “You could have been killed. Even though you didn’t say it, I saw it on your face when you told Juli and Dad about it. You saved that student, but you could have been killed.” He ran a hand across the worn tabletop and concluded without meeting my gaze, “You should have thought of us.”
I wanted to argue with him that I had acted in the heat of the moment or that the Alpha side of me spurred me forward, but it wasn’t the answer he needed to hear. I had left my younger brother to go to a school that he now knew was full of monsters and danger in a life where hunters tracked us down and tried to kill us.
I gave the answer he needed to hear. “Drake, I promise I will think about you, Dad, Julianne, and the baby before I do anything dangerous like that again.”
“You promise?” he asked, holding my guess with hope on his face.
I nodded.<
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To my surprise, my younger brother jumped up and gave me a hug. It wasn’t that we weren’t a hugging family. My dad, mom, and Julianne never spared their hugs or kisses as we grew up. Yet the older we got, the fewer signs of affection my brother and I shared. It took me a second to collect myself and return the hug.
“Alright, enough of this mushy stuff,” I said to lighten the mood.
Drake laughed and stepped back. “Let’s open this box,” he declared.
We used Julianne’s scissors to cut the tape. I took a steeling breath and pulled the flaps apart. Our anticipation faded at the sight of the single wooden box sitting in the bottom. I couldn’t explain why it hadn’t rattled around when I was carrying the carboard box, but it sat in the dead center. I picked it up and looked it over. The box was made of some sort of stained dark wood. The joints were roughly joined together and didn’t meet up well. A keyhole showed on one side; other than that, there were no other marks, not even the mark of Chutka.
“That’s a letdown,” Drake said, eyeing the box with disappointment on his face.
“Yeah, really,” I replied. I tried to pry it open, but quickly gave up. If the lid did yield, I preferred it to be at the Academy where people were prepared to deal with what we found. Hopefully.
“You should probably head to school,” I told Drake. “I’ll text you to let you know I made it back safe.”
“Alright, I—”
My cellphone rang and I jumped. I couldn’t remember ever hearing it ring before. I pulled it out of my pocket and smiled at Julianne’s name.
“Hi, Juli,” I said.
“Hey, Finn, guess what?” Before I could guess, she rushed on to say, “I got someone to cover my shift so I can take you back to the Academy! That way you don’t have to ride the bus. It’ll be easier and your dad’s all for it.”
“Really?” I replied, touched by the effort she had taken. “That would be great. Thanks!”
“See you in five,” she said before hanging up.
Drake headed for the door.
“Keep an eye out for Grayson,” I reminded him.
“Don’t worry,” he replied, pausing with his hand on the doorknob. “We’ll be careful. Just promise me you’ll do the same.”
I nodded and he grinned before he shut the door behind him.
The drive back to the Academy was in a far more comfortable vehicle than the bus. I had been dreading the risk of taking the bus again only to find the same bus driver driving. I had no idea how I would answer his questions about what had happened when he dropped me off in the middle of nowhere at night and how I had made it to Cleary. Julianne had saved me without knowing it.
However, I was in another uncomfortable situation that may have been worse depending on how I looked at it. Juli always meant well. She was perhaps the nicest person in the entire world. I had seen her bend over backwards cooking until midnight to finish items for a bake sale when one of the mothers at school didn’t get enough volunteers. But because of that, she was also reluctant to tell anyone something negative. I had a feeling I knew why she had volunteered to drive me.
I listened to Julianne sing to the radio. Her voice may not have been on par or even close to those on the air, but she didn’t care. Sometimes the lyrics she sang didn’t match the real words of the songs, but I always enjoyed her carefree way of singing that usually made the entire family join in. After about an hour of listening, I cleared my throat.
“Um, Juli?”
She glanced at me. “Yes, Finn?”
I looked out the window for a moment as I debated how to say what I needed to. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, then went with, “I really can stay at the Academy.”
My thoughts went to Dara and how hard it must have been on her to see all of the students with their families on parent night while she had no one.
“What are you talking about?” Julianne asked with a concerned expression.
I lifted a shoulder and said, “I completely understand if having me around makes it too dangerous for you, Dad, Drake, and the new baby.” I gestured toward her stomach that barely fit beneath the steering wheel. “I wouldn’t want me around.” The words came out tighter than I intended. I hadn’t expected my throat to close as I said them. I cleared my throat again and looked away from her searching gaze.
“Finn, darling, I don’t want you to stay away from home,” she began, alternating between looking at me and the road.
“Isn’t that why you offered to drive me?” I asked. “So you could talk to me in private?” At her horrified expression, I rushed on to say, “Not that I blame you. I really don’t. I don’t think the baby is safe around me, and if Drake doesn’t turn out to be a werewolf, you can raise the baby without worry that someone like Grayson is going to pop up armed and with a vendetta against monsters.”
Julianne had turned the radio down when I started to talk; I found myself wishing she would turn it back up to drown out the silence that pounded relentlessly against my ears.
“You’re our boy, Finn,” Julianne started slowly. Her gaze was on the road, but I could see her eyes crease at the corners as she thought aloud. “There is nothing that would keep you from coming home to us, not some monster hunter society, not you turning into an animal,” she glanced at me, “Not even if you were stuck as a wolf and couldn’t turn back.”
A shiver ran down my spine at the thought.
She went on, oblivious to how her words had set me on edge, “You are this baby’s big brother, and he or she needs you in his or her life. You’ll be there even if I have to pick you up at that school and drag you home.”
The thought made me chuckle and broke the tension. “You’re sure?” I asked, glancing at her sideways.
“Of course I’m sure!” she replied. “This family isn’t a family without you.”
Her words meant the world to me. I couldn’t smother the smile that stayed on my face as I watched the hilly country turn slowly into the busy city. Eventually, Julianne turned the radio back up. It was a song we both loved. I looked at her and found her watching me with an expectant expression. I laughed and belted out the chorus at the top of my lungs. She joined me opera-style and together we proceeded to shame any stray yowling alley cat who happened to hear us drive past.
When she dropped me off at school, I walked up to the gate alone. Before I could press the button on the box at the side to state my name, the gate swung slowly open. I gave it a searching glance when I passed, but couldn’t see the reason for the welcome, even if it was slightly foreboding given the late hour. I waved at Julianne and watched her drive away before I headed inside.
Instead of going to my room and falling into bed like I probably should have, I made sure nobody was in sight, then ducked behind the unicorn photograph at the end of the corridor. With the box in hand, I hurried down the stairs to the basement.
Nobody was there, but they must have just left if the fire burning low in the fireplace was any indication. Knives sat along the far end of the table, revealing that Mercer had begun weapons’ practice with the vampires. I set the box in the middle of the table, then carried a few candles over to the fireplace to light. I set a candelabra close to the box and studied it.
By the end of another hour, I had to admit that there was no way to open it without the key. Even throwing it against the wall or trying to burn it in a desperate attempt to figure out what was inside left the box eerily unscathed. I attempted one last time to pry it open with my werewolf strength, then finally gave up, my heart thundering and my fingers aching from the effort. I set the box on the table again and studied my hand.
The bandages had pulled back from my palm with the exertion and the wound didn’t look any better than it had at home. The fact that demon fire had damaged me to such an extent made me nervous. I knew such nerves could be the death of me and my team. If I was afraid to face a demon because of demon fire, there was no way I could save Amryn and no way to protect my team against further threat. I ha
d to face my fears.
For lack of a better option, I approached Mercer’s box in the far corner. I carried it to the table, then, using the same care he had demonstrated, I took out the black candlestick holder the man had used when he first revealed the flame. I then opened the smaller box inside the big one. The green flame of the imitation demon fire sprang to life the moment the candle met the air. Using the tongs set inside the box for that reason, I gently lifted the candle and set it on top of the dark wood. The green light reached eagerly into the air far higher than a normal flame would have. I put the box away and then stared at the fire. My mouth felt dry.
“I can beat this,” I said aloud.
I shoved my left hand into the flame, careful not to let it lap low enough to awaken Sparrow. The agony of fire touching my skin made me clench my other hand into a fist. I used the pain of my damaged palm to center myself and let out a breath. I told myself that I was in control, that the burning I felt was just an illusion. The demon fire couldn’t hurt me if I didn’t lose concentration. As long as I believed it wasn’t melting my skin, the fire had no power.
But the pain was excruciating. I felt the minute details of my skin burning through, of the marrow of my bones beginning to simmer, and of my muscles and tendons peeling back from the wound. My hand shook and I fought to keep it there as long as I could. I counted my heartbeats as I watched the flame lap through my hand the way it had done when I fought the demon. I sucked in another breath, held it for ten heartbeats, then let it out and pulled my hand back.
Relief filled me when the hole that had burned through my skin vanished and the flesh appeared intact once more. I moved my fingers to remind myself that the fire had no power over me. But it wasn’t my left hand I was worried about. If a demon attacked, I needed to be able to use both hands to defend myself. If I couldn’t, I would put every life at risk and I would have no chance of freeing Amryn.
I let out a slow breath and stuck my right hand over the flame. The green fire immediately ate through the bandages covering my hand. I bit back a cry as the pain doubled. My knees threatened to give way. I leaned against the table, determined to do better than a few seconds. Sweat beaded on my forehead as the scent of burning flesh tangled in my nostrils. My fingers shook and soon my hand and then my arm followed. It was all I could do to tell myself that the fire didn’t affect me. Tears filled my eyes and then flowed down my cheeks.