I didn’t try to apologize again, though I thought about it when the bell rang. I got up from my seat and waited for a second, hoping that she would look up at me, but she didn’t. So I left.
Today was the school field trip and I had to head back to the Res to get things in order. I would see her again soon, I told myself as I drove back home. There was still plenty of time to make things right.
I spotted Nikki standing in front of the bus as Mrs. Graham began giving her lecture on the history of my people. I winced as my ears picked up her birdlike voice.
Too bad she can’t use her regular voice, I thought, watching her pace from one end of the row of students to the other.
The school librarian was a Spriteblood, and one of the most magical people in all of Bland. Her real voice was musical and reminded me of raindrops falling through the leaves in the forest and her magic rivaled the Keepers’ in its strength. Lucky for us, she wasn’t a creature that we had to keep a very close eye on. She was more than capable of taking care of herself.
I ducked into a nearby hut and checked in on my brothers. Every year, the school planned a field trip to the Res and we loved it. The field trip and the pow wow happening later in the year were two of the things my people always looked forward to. They were our chance to share our heritage with others and explain the old ways of our people in hopes to teach future generations.
They were also a lot of fun.
Erik, Ed, Michael, and Tommy were in the process of blackening their faces for our “war party.” Each one was being creative. Ed was busily applying his bear grease in a sideways effect that crossed his face from one side to the other. Michael and Tommy had opted to blacken their entire faces, and Erik had simply put his hand in the grease and squished it across his face. When he had finished, it looked like a sasquatch had smacked him, leaving its huge handprint over his whole face. I had done mine earlier and covered my eyes, nose, and mouth.
I glanced out of the flap on the hut, watching the group move from one demonstration to the next. They were with Hannah now at the hide hut and I could hear her voice as she explained which hides belonged to which animal and explained the various ways of tanning a hide and what they were used for.
Our time would be coming up soon. Each year, we tried to do something different, but it nearly always ended up being the same—with us “hunting” our visitors.
“Let’s head out the back and circle around,” Erik suggested. “They’ll see us coming if we go out the front.”
I nodded my agreement. “Penny is coming to translate for us. We need to wait until she gets over there before we head out.”
“She’s on her way,” Erik said, a faraway look in his eyes, as if he was mentally following her steps.
“Hannah has sent everyone under the tree to wait.” I didn’t’ have to look out the door to know that, because just as Erik knew Penny was nearly to the right place, I already knew Nikki was under that tree. “It’s time to go,” I said, and we all sneaked out of the hut.
It wasn’t hard to know which students knew our routine and which didn’t. Those accustomed to this part of our demonstration either had climbed up the tree and were sitting in the branches, or were close to the tree’s trunk, leaving the unsuspecting, new students out in the open.
Now! I sent my silent message to my pack and the air filled with war cries as we descended upon the new kids at the edge of the crowd, tomahawks and knives poised high in the air. There were several screams as we advanced. We’d clearly gotten the jump on a few of them.
Once they quieted, we advanced on them, circling, pressing the whole group up tight against the tree.
“A-da-wi u-la-gu. Ni-ga-da da-na-da-s-ka-gi. Tsu-sa-sai,” I said gravely.
I heard Penny speak up from behind me. “He says he is U-la-gu, leader of his people. You have invaded this land. You are not friend, but stranger, and therefore enemy. The blood of his people cries for revenge—so now you must die.”
Take that, English class.
I stalked closer to the girl in charge of the school paper. Beth was backing up into her photographer, who was busily snapping pictures.
I grinned. “Any questions?”
My brothers hooted with laughter and the mood broke as the group around the tree loosened up, now brave enough to approach us.
I spotted Nikki at the base of the trunk, Brian sitting on a limb above her. He’d obviously wanted her to get the full effect of our demonstration and had left her on the ground to fend for herself.
“I thought about grabbing you and taking you up with me, since they sometimes like to demonstrate how they would kidnap women and children, but since you’ve never seen this before…” I heard him tell her as he jumped down from his perch.
Beth began peppering me with questions, but when she realized that my attention was elsewhere, she scooted over and began asking Ed the same ones. That didn’t stop another student from taking her place though, and soon I was busy answering questions on various weapons that would have been used to hunt.
It took quite a while before everyone’s curiosity was satisfied and the crowd dispersed. Brian had run off to the restroom, leaving Nikki at the back of the group to wander toward the gift shop and the buses.
“What did you think?” I asked, falling into step with her.
She didn’t say anything for a second and it worried me.
“You didn’t like it?”
“Y-yes,” she finally said. Then she somehow tripped and fell onto me. Automatically my hands came out to steady her as they had done before and the air warmed and swirled around us. I was nearly lost in the moment, when I noticed we were being watched.
“Are you okay?” I asked, turning her loose and taking a step back.
“Yes, thank you.”
Wynter, I thought, catching a glimpse of opal white skin and long blue hair. My wolf pushed toward the surface, curious as to what would make a Spriteblood drop her cover and show her true nature in a place filled with people who had no magic.
“Who was it?” Nikki asked, following my gaze.
“No one’s there,” I whispered, wanting to protect her. I took her arm and began walking toward the bus.
“No, you saw something too,” she argued, knowing that I had lied to her. I could hear the fury in her voice, and I didn’t blame her.
“Is there a problem here?”
Too late. I stopped walking and turned to face the pinched features of the school librarian. “No, ma’am. Not at all,” I said, giving her what I hoped was a warm smile.
At least she’s back in her costume and is looking normal again, I thought.
She returned my smile, which looked strange, as she typically never smiled in her guise as Mrs. Graham, and then she turned her attention to Nikki. “On the bus, girl,” she barked.
Best not make her mad. She’s not someone you want to mess with, I thought, silently urging Nikki to do as she was told. Because although I’m not sure what you are, I definitely know what she is and I know the power she holds.
Without a word, Nikki got on the bus and I heaved an inward sigh of relief, being careful not to let any emotion show on my face as Mrs. Graham turned back to me.
Students filed past us, loading up to go back to the school.
“The ones you have been searching for,” she said in her own low, musical voice, so quiet that no one without magic would hear her.
“Yes?” I asked, knowing immediately that she was speaking of the missing hikers.
“I had nothing to do with them.” Her eyes changed for a second, transforming into the solid, never ending blue of the Spriteblood before switching back to the dull brown eyes of the librarian.
So that’s why you dropped your guise earlier. If I had anything to bet, I would have wagered that my grandfather had cornered Wynter and demanded to know if she’d had any part in their disappearance. And, being as I was the leader of the Keepers, she wanted to make sure that I knew she didn’t, because even though
my grandfather was chief, I was the leader of my brothers.
I nodded. “Understood.”
Seemingly happy enough, her voice changed back to the birdlike chirps of Mrs. Graham and she thanked me for making the field trip a wonderful experience for the school, then turned and hopped on the bus with the others.
As it rolled by, I saw Nikki sitting in the back. She pressed her hand to the glass.
Goodbye, I said silently, watching until the bus was out of sight.
Chapter 7
“There’s another hiker missing,” my dad said, his voice grave. “And your grandfather is convinced the Spriteblood has something to do with it.”
He said this in the presence of my grandfather, who glared at him, but stayed silent.
“I don’t think it was Wynter,” I told them. “She made sure to stop and tell me she had nothing to do with any of the disappearances.”
At this, my grandpa couldn’t stay silent. “Spritebloods are not to be trusted. This one may not have done anything, but that doesn’t mean that the others of her kind have not. There is more than one Spriteblood on the earth, and she would know if it is another who is responsible.”
“Dad, she’s a citizen of the town and you can’t badger her,” my father berated him. “Especially when the school groups are here. If she knew anything, she would have surely told us.”
“Hmph.” My grandpa crossed his arms over his chest and said not another word.
My dad sighed, and then looked at me. “Regardless, there is another one missing. I need you and your pack, Adam. I’ve already cleared it with the principal. You’re excused from school until we figure out what in the world is happening on those trails.”
We searched for the next week, spending every daylight hour searching the forest. Unlike the girl whose gear we had found, this hiker hadn’t left any clues for us. His family lived abroad and hadn’t sent us anything helpful, only a sketchy photograph showing a man in his early twenties with dark hair. There wasn’t anything with a scent to follow, and, unlike Meghan, this hiker preferred the solitude the trail offered and hadn’t checked in with anyone in weeks.
He could be anywhere from here to Georgia, Erik grumbled, as we came back into the Res at dusk.
“I doubt he made it that far south,” I replied, once we all shifted back from our wolves. “We’ll find him. It’s just going to take a little more time.”
“It would help if there weren’t so many Deadlands,” Ed said, rubbing the back of his hand over his face. “That’s what is slowing us down so much.”
He was right. Within the forest there were patches of “dead” land, where there weren’t any living creatures. The problem with searching a Deadland was that our wolves’ keen sense of smell was completely useless there. We had to rely on sight alone and walk slowly through each one we came to.
“We’ll get farther tomorrow,” I told them.
“At least we won’t have to worry about crossing paths with the kids from school tomorrow. We’ve already searched that bit of trail. There’s no way they’ll make it deep enough into the woods to bother us,” Tommy said, attempting to be positive.
I hadn’t forgotten about Nikki asking me to go on the hike with her. I had hoped by now to have found the missing hikers so that I could be with her. But it wasn’t going to happen.
That didn’t mean I couldn’t send her some protection though.
I looked at the two youngest members of my pack. They would do well as bodyguards.
“Tommy, I’ve got a bad feeling,” Michael whispered. “Adam’s looking at us funny.”
I grinned. “You two get to go and keep an eye on everyone on that hike tomorrow.”
“You’re sending us to babysit the school kids?” Tommy asked, feigning shock, his hand over his heart, then he laughed. “Yeah, okay. We’ll keep an eye on her for you.”
I hadn’t even had to say who I’d wanted them to watch out for. Thoughts of Nikki had run through my mind for days and they all knew it.
“Just keep her safe,” I told them.
The cousins saluted and then turned and ran to their houses, leaving me with Ed and Erik.
“I’ll meet you guys here in the morning and we’ll pick up where we stopped,” I said.
Wordless, they both nodded and left. I stood and watched until each of them was out of sight, the alpha in me wanting to make sure my pack was safe before turning to head inside. The basketball goal caught my eye as I walked past it. This had been the first Friday night that no one had suggested we play and I caught myself wondering how many more would pass before we figured out what was happening within the shadows of the forest.
I’ve often heard that things can change in the matter of simply minutes. One moment everything is going along perfectly well, and then suddenly, it falls apart, leaving you to pick up the pieces and wonder how exactly things changed so drastically in such a short amount of time.
The same is also true the other way around.
For all of the days and weeks my pack and I spent searching, everything just suddenly fell into place.
A bit too convenient, I thought.
Michael and Tommy left early to meet up with the hiking party while Ed, Erik, and I took off for the deeper parts of the forest. We spent the better part of the day working our way through some of the larger Deadlands and the surrounding woods, slowly working our way back toward the Res.
It was late in the afternoon when we picked up the scent of blood.
We followed it, weaving our way along the trail, when it suddenly veered off and headed down the hill. Now there were other signs to follow besides the scent. A few light flecks of blood painted the leaves, leading us directly to the edge of town and the small house that sat just on the edge of the forest.
Something doesn’t feel right here, Erik wrote out his message, echoing my own thoughts.
The scent was recognizable. We all knew it belonged to the missing girl whom we had searched for earlier. Meghan. But we’d been all over this patch of forest and hadn’t found anything before. And even more worrisome was the fact that the blood smelled old and stale—as if it had not come from any living thing.
My wolf snorted, wishing to rid himself of the scent now that we were so close to finding out where the girl was.
We had managed to stay hidden in the shadows to this point and were easily within sight of the back door of the rental house when we heard the creaking sound of a garage door opening. A moment later, a dark sedan backed out onto the street and drove away.
Now, I told Erik and Ed, sending them the message to follow me as I ran to the back of the house, shifting back to human the instant I left the protection of the trees.
“Mr. Walters lives here,” Erik hissed into my ear. “Why on earth is there a blood trail leading us straight to Mr. Walters’ house?” The tone in his voice was demanding, as if he thought I knew the answer, but I knew that wasn’t what he meant.
The man who lived in this house was a quiet, simple person and one of the few in town who had no magic. Out of everyone who possibly could be a murderer, none of us would have thought to put the town’s shy, somewhat backward librarian at the head of the list.
“We don’t know anything yet, so just be quiet and stay close to me,” I ordered.
Erik frowned, then muttered, “No problem with me staying close to you, bro. I’m going to be glued to your back.”
“Quiet!” I hissed, giving him a dark look that immediately made him shut his mouth.
We edged slowly around the side of the house and I noticed that the flecks of blood were gone, but I could still smell it, faint and coppery.
The garage door had been left open and I carefully took a peek around the corner of the house to make sure no one else was around.
There wasn’t a soul in sight.
“Stay here,” I told the others. “I’m going in to look.”
“I realize you are U-la-gu, but I feel that I need to object to this. You can fight me l
ater over insubordination,” Ed whispered. “But we should go back and call the sheriff and let him handle it.”
I nodded, knowing he was right. The blood was old—too old for us to be able to help save anyone. “Let’s head back,” I said quietly, waving them back.
As they retreated toward the trees, I took one last look around the corner at the open garage—and then I saw it.
Something lay in the center of the garage floor, sparkling like gold in the evening sun.
Ignoring the fact that only seconds before I had decided to let my father be the one to go inside, I walked into the garage and knelt down beside of the small bit of metal that had caught my attention.
It was a small, delicate bracelet with a wide band, the name Meghan engraved in its center.
Even though I’d known whose scent we had been following, seeing her name made my blood run cold. My heart sped in my chest and my wolf pushed to the surface, willing to protect us from the unknown.
I took a deep breath to calm down, and my nose picked up her scent again. I retraced my steps, following the trail out of the garage and back again. Then I slowly walked around the garage, concentration on the different scents around me. Oil, grease, and lingering bits of exhaust fumes—but not blood.
I ran out of the garage and back to the forest, shifting the instant my feet touched the forest’s floor.
The police arrested Mr. Walters and took him in for questioning. They didn’t find anything of the missing girl, other than the golden bracelet, which seemed to have been left there for them to find.
But not everything had turned out horribly. The second we finished telling my father about the scent and the blood we had followed to Mr. Walters’ house, the phone rang and a different mystery was solved.
The hiker we had been searching for had been located, alive and well.
“Seems he decided to leave the trail and hitchhike his way to the coast,” my dad told us as he hung up the phone. “He just forgot to tell anyone else that he was going to do that.”
The Keeper Saga: Wynter's War, Charmed, and The One (The Boxed Set Book 2) Page 27