"Let's take it to your house and wash it off," Sali offered.
"Dude, Mom's in bed with a headache and I didn't tell her I was coming. I'll take it home and clean it off. You can come over tomorrow and we'll look at it."
"All right. I think Mom will let me come. Mr. Winkler isn't hard to take care of."
"You gonna see Cori before school starts on Monday?" Ashe asked.
"Doubt it," Sali was kicking dirt again.
"Then I'll talk to her on Monday," Ashe sighed. "Come on, it's dark, dude. Let's go home." The boys split up after a few minutes, and Ashe waited until Sali turned back to wolf pup before retrieving his jacket. Silently he watched as his friend loped away before turning to mist and racing toward the house.
* * *
Aedan wasn't home when Ashe woke on Sunday morning, and he'd been hoping that his father might come in while he was sleeping. Adele seemed listless as she prepared bacon and eggs for breakfast. Ashe didn't like seeing his mother like this. And he wondered if she'd gotten any replies from the numerous messages left on his father's cell. Ashe cleaned up the kitchen while his mother went back to bed.
Sali rang the doorbell outside the garage two hours later. Ashe shouted to his mother that it was Sali; she told him not to make a lot of racket and left him alone. "Mom's not feeling good," Ashe muttered as he led Sali down the steps to the lower level of the house.
"Marco either, and I figure Cori isn't doing all that well." Sali shut the door to Ashe's bedroom behind him.
"Here's the button, but I've been thinking about this. People walk through the field back there all the time. It could belong to anybody." Ashe handed the button to Sali.
"But I've never seen anybody wear anything with gold buttons like this." Sali turned the gold-colored button in his fingers. It had a raised design on it.
"That's a Celtic knot; I looked it up," Ashe said.
"Who'd be wearing that?" Sali frowned at the button in his hand.
"Could be what the designer chose."
"Yeah, but I've never seen a button like this before." Sali handed it back to Ashe.
"Me either, but I don't think I've seen everything that everybody wears in Cloud Chief. Want to take it to your dad?" Ashe asked.
"No, dude. He didn't know I was out last night, and you're right, somebody just dropped this. Keep it." Sali handed it back to Ashe, who slipped it into the top drawer of his bedside table. Neither of them wanted to admit to their parents that they'd disobeyed and gone out to the pasture to look around.
"Wanna play Frisbee?" Sali asked, changing the subject. Ashe knew what that meant; Sali wanted to turn to wolf and go chasing after the neon green Frisbee he had stuffed inside his closet. It bore teeth marks from Sali doing the same thing for the past two years.
"Yeah. I'll tell Mom."
Ashe laughed as Sali leapt high in the air to catch the Frisbee, snapping the edge between his teeth and landing with a semi-graceful roll on the ground. It was a warm, early spring day, the old grass blowing in a slight breeze while new green sprouted beneath it. Ashe hoped a roadrunner or some other potential prey wouldn't pop up—Sali enjoyed the chase, although he usually lost interest if it were a roadrunner. Ashe had no desire to go running after Sali, reminding him that his mother had said to stay in the yard.
"Ashe?" Ashe turned quickly to find Cori standing ten yards behind him.
"Cori? Are you all right?" Ashe walked toward her, leaving Sali behind, the Frisbee still dangling from his mouth.
"Ashe, I have to talk to you." Cori's green eyes were worried, the ever-present Oklahoma wind blowing blonde hair into her face. Her hair was past her shoulders long and pretty when she left it down. It was down now.
"Sali, let's go to the house so you can change," Ashe turned to his werewolf friend, who’d trotted up. Ashe took the Frisbee from Sali's mouth.
"Ashe, I'd like to talk to you alone," Cori said softly as Sali raced toward the house, tongue flying from his mouth in joyful abandonment as he ran.
"I'll think of something," Ashe promised, opening the kitchen door to allow Sali to slide inside. Sali's paws and toenails always slipped and slid on Adele Evans' tiled kitchen floor and he nearly collided with a cabinet before righting himself.
"Sali, your mother called. She wants you to come home," Adele was there, the phone in her hand, staring down at Sali's half-grown wolf who flipped a paw over his nose in embarrassment. He gave a whine at Adele's words but rose and trotted obediently down the steps to get to the basement and Ashe's bedroom.
"We'll give you a few minutes to change," Ashe yelled at his retreating friend.
"Cori, honey, is there something I can get for you?" Adele sounded tired.
"No, Mrs. Evans. I just came to talk to Ashe for a little while. If that's all right with you."
"Of course it is," Adele offered Cori a weak smile.
"Mom, do you need some ibuprofen or something?" Ashe asked. He was ready to run down the steps to the bathroom and get the bottle of pain reliever for his mother.
"No, honey. I need to get up and get around. I feel sluggish for some reason."
"Sit down. I'll make coffee for you."
"That sounds good."
Ashe busied himself at the coffee pot. Once he had that going, he offered a soda to Cori, who took an orange. Sali clambered up the steps and looked expectantly at Ashe, who sent him on his way with an orange soda as well. "See you tomorrow," Ashe called as Sali went out the back door. Sali waved and disappeared, hitting the button to close the garage door behind him. As soon as Ashe poured out a cup of coffee for his mother, he and Cori went downstairs.
"What is it, Cori?" Ashe shut the bedroom door.
"Ashe, you're the only one I can trust with this, I think." Cori at sixteen was five feet, two inches tall—two inches shorter than Ashe and not likely to grow any taller. Her mother, Lavonna, was around that height as well.
"Trust with what?" Ashe sat on his bed, gazing expectantly at Cori Anderson. Choosing a corner of Ashe's bed to sit, Cori scooted next to the wall that bumped against it.
"Randy Smith didn't write that letter to Mr. Harris." Cori hugged herself tightly, her eyes cast downward.
"Cori, how do you know that?" Ashe put his back against the solid wood headboard, kicked off his shoes and drew his knees up as he stared at Cori.
"He wouldn't. He knew better." Cori met Ashe's puzzled gaze.
"How can we know that for sure? Nobody has been in contact with him or his family for seven years." Ashe shook his head.
Cori heaved a ragged sigh. "I know for sure," she said. "You didn't know Randy because you hadn't started school yet. But I did. And James did, too."
"But it's been seven years," Ashe was still trying to make his point.
"Ashe, Randy doesn't write letters. He makes phone calls. Or did. To James. And James made calls to him. They were best friends, before. James never stopped calling Randy, Ashe. They just had to find a way to do it. Why do you think I asked you to hack Billings' computer? James wanted to know what was going on and if he and Randy were in trouble. When I told James what you said, he called Randy and told him. Randy worried that somebody would come for him and he'd be killed by the Cloud Chief Pack. But that's not all, Ashe. Randy never said anything to anybody about any of us. Not intentionally, anyway. James knew but he wouldn't talk about it. All he'd say was that Randy was framed, somehow. I think this is tied up with Pack business and we could get into the worst kind of trouble if we tried to get in the middle of it."
"Cori, what do you think I can do about any of this?" Ashe chewed his lower lip and wished he were older. Perhaps he could deal with it better, that way. Now it all seemed a muddled mess and he was helpless against it.
"I'm telling you this in case something happens to me. What evidence do they have that the letter came from Randy? Do you know? Where was it mailed? Was it in his handwriting or typed on a computer? Were his fingerprints on it? Or his scent? Somebody has the answers to these questions and i
f they're sharing, it's only with the Pack. I don't like it when they set themselves up as judge, jury and executioner and the rest of us have no say whatsoever." Cori angrily brushed a tear away. "What are we going to do?"
"I don't know." Ashe was afraid to tell Cori what he knew; that Randy Smith was scheduled for execution during the next full moon. And what if Cori was right? What if Randy was framed? The wolves would execute an innocent. Who would do this? Who? "Cori, why would somebody do something like that to Randy? He was thirteen at the time."
"I don't know. James refused to tell me anything, and now he's dead."
"This is so messed up," Ashe muttered.
"Yeah." Cori wiped another tear away.
"Who has the letter now?" Ashe thought to ask. "The one Randy Smith supposedly sent to Mr. Harris?"
"James asked Marco. He said his dad didn't have it now, but Packmaster DeLuca saw it after it came in. Mr. Harris turned it over to Principal Billings, and Billings called Mr. DeLuca."
"You think Billings has it?" that hadn't been on the Principal's computer—it only said it was authenticated by Marcus DeLuca, not what happened to it afterward.
"He might, but I don't think he'd keep it at the school."
"Why not?"
"I wasn't thinking when I asked you to go into Principal Billings' office, both times. He can scent you, you know."
Fear washed over Ashe and he muttered a word his mother would ground him for saying. "Cori, I believed you when you said he wouldn't know," Ashe's hiss threatened to become a full-blown shout.
"Ashe, I'm sorry. I said I wasn't thinking."
"No wonder he was smiling when he handed me the note to give to my parents." Ashe was so frightened and angry he thought he might explode.
"What note?" Cori's confusion showed on her face.
"He can't wait to ship me off to Cordell Junior High because I can't turn," Ashe snapped. "He had a file on me, just like the one on Randy Smith. Mom and Dad haven't told me everything in the note because they don't want me to feel bad. But the whole thing was right there on Billings' computer. He's known since the first time that I hacked his system. Now, he's going to punish me in the worst way he knows." Ashe shifted angrily on the bed. He wanted to punch something. Wanted to shout as many obscenities as he knew, and with Sali's help over the years, he knew quite a few.
"I didn't know. I wasn't thinking. James knew you did it the first time—I told him. James convinced me to get you to do it a second time."
"Did you intend to get me killed too? Did you?" Ashe slipped off the bed and tugged wildly at his hair.
"I never meant to hurt you. Ever. I was stupid. James and I both were stupid."
"And now James is dead." Ashe didn't mean for his words to be accusing. Cori began to sob.
"Don't cry," Ashe pleaded. "I don't know what to do about it."
"I know. And I deserve every bit of the blame in this," she wept. "I asked James to meet me in the grove behind the DeLucas' house. Only he never came."
"Cori, somebody else killed James. You didn't. Stop blaming yourself for that."
"Then find somebody to blame for it. Find the guilty one, Ashe. You're smart."
"I don't know if the best detective ever can solve this mess. I mean, your dad and the others went out and checked the area where James was found. They didn't find anything. What do you think I might do?"
"I was hoping you'd have some ideas about all this. I didn't mean to upset you by dumping it in your lap. Besides, you're the objective one. You even call Sali out when he's wrong or teases Dori too much. I don't know," Cori tossed a hand up in a helpless gesture. "Somebody needs to save us, Ashe." Cori slid off the bed. "I'll go home, now. Mom will be frantic, and I sure don't want to be out after dark. Ever again."
"I'll walk you up," Ashe sighed. "I want to check on Mom anyway. She's not doing too good since Dad's been gone."
"When is he coming home? My dad said he went to run an errand."
"Don't know," Ashe shrugged.
"Cori, I told your mother I'd drive you home," Adele said when Ashe and Cori walked into the kitchen. "She called and said she was worried."
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Evans. Thank you for offering." Ashe and Cori loaded into the old Ford for the drive to the Andersons' home. Cori didn't say a word on the way, giving a half wave after she closed the passenger-side door and turned to walk toward the house. Adele waited until Cori was safely inside.
"She's afraid something will happen to her, now," Ashe confided softly to his mother.
"I know," was all Adele said.
Chapter 7
Two things happened before dawn on Monday, April fifth. Aedan came home with Radomir and Ashe decided not to reveal the tiny bat in class. Perhaps he'd play that card later, but for now, he'd pretend it didn't exist. His father slipped into Ashe's room a few minutes past five that morning, waking Ashe. Ashe's arms were wrapped around his father immediately, hugging him as tightly as possible.
"I need to get back to your mother," Aedan pulled Ashe's hands away. "She's not doing very well right now."
"I know," Ashe mumbled.
"Go back to sleep if you can; I just wanted to see you before daybreak."
"Goodnight, Dad."
"Goodnight, son." Aedan left Ashe's bedroom, closing the door noiselessly behind him.
* * *
The April morning was frosty and chill bumps stood out on his arms as Ashe walked toward Cloud Chief Combined. It was the first day of class following spring break and his mother offered to drive him to school. Ashe preferred to walk and think, so he'd turned down her offer. Adele looked as if she wanted to say something, but didn't. She'd have gone to the store late just to drive him and Ashe didn't want to be the reason the store didn't open on time.
Silence greeted Ashe as he shuffled into the Transformational Arts classroom and took his seat. His classmates stared at him, too—several with open mouths. Ashe reasoned it out quickly. Cori had told Dori, Dori had told Wynn and now everybody knew Principal Billings wanted him out. And James was still dead. Ashe wondered how many of his classmates were truly upset over that. James and Marco often teased the younger ones mercilessly. Was that what some of those around him would do when they grew older? Ashe sighed at the thought.
"Class, we won't be transforming today," Mrs. Rocklin walked in and sat at her desk. "Instead, we'll talk about loss."
Ashe felt Principal Billings' gaze on his back as he followed Sali to the lunchroom at noon. The Principal's arms were crossed over his chest and he'd smiled a contented smile as Ashe walked past. Ashe hoped his scent had faded since his visit to Billings' office nearly a week and a half earlier, but figured that the first visit to check Cori's grades was still fresh in Billings' mind. And Cori? She couldn't wait to tell her sister what Ashe had told her, yet there he was, keeping Cori and James's secrets.
"Know why everybody was staring at me in Transformational Arts this morning?" Ashe asked sullenly as Cori set her lunch tray on Ashe and Sali's table. Sali was busy vacuuming up the last of his spaghetti and meatballs, slurping noisily on an extra-long spaghetti noodle and ignoring Ashe's conversation with Cori.
"I'm sorry." Cori turned her head away.
"Me, too," Ashe said, lifting his tray and walking toward the drop-off. He hadn't eaten half his food and he'd been hungry when Cori sat down. Ashe didn't know what to do. He'd trusted Cori and he should have known better. He wondered if she knew that Radomir would be questioning her after darkness fell. Shrugging off that worry, Ashe walked toward the History classroom to sit and mope.
"Here." Sali sat down at the desk next to Ashe's, passing over a folded note. "And I didn't even read it."
"You can read?" Ashe grumped, taking the note.
"Sporadically," Sali grinned.
"Wow. Another five-syllable word. I think you need a brain scan, dude. They may find something yet." Ashe began to open the many-times folded note.
Ashe, the note began, Mom asked me what we talked about. I mad
e it sound like you were the one who needed help. I had to tell her so she wouldn't ask questions. Ashe read the note twice before stuffing it in his book bag.
"Getting lurve notes?" Sali teased.
"Sali, Cori liked James. She just wanted to talk about that with somebody who might be objective over the whole thing."
"So, Cordell Junior High, huh?" Sali said what he wanted to say.
"Sali, the year's not over yet. I have until the start of the fall semester."
"Dude, we'll work on it this summer. You can't fraternize with humans."
"Sali, my dad was human once. He just didn't stay that way."
"Didn't mean to bite your paws, man."
"Is that werewolf humor?"
"You know it."
Ashe and Sali were loaded down with homework at the end of class. In the fall, they'd start geography and algebra. Ashe was looking forward to it. Just for a moment, he wanted to tell Sali not to worry; Ashe had no plans to attend Cordell Junior High. Sali was fretting over the whole thing, Ashe could tell.
"Dude, tell me we're gonna use stem-and-leaf plots in real life," Sali hefted his backpack over a shoulder for the walk home after school.
"I like the geometry lessons better," Ashe admitted.
"You would." Sali walked in silence for a while before speaking again. "Dude, if Marco wasn't in such a funk, he'd drive us to your Mom's store."
"Sali, Mom's not doing that well either, right now. Probably not a good idea."
"Some doctor is supposed to fly in today; Mom had to drive to Oklahoma City to pick him up," Sali grumbled. "So it'll be me and Marco until Mom and Dad get home."
"Where's Mr. Winkler?"
"He said he had errands to run and he'd be back tonight, too. He lives in Dallas—he could have gone home for all I know."
"Yeah, I guess that's true," Ashe agreed. He wondered if the doctor would wait until the following evening to start the autopsy on James's body, since Radomir was supposed to question Cori that evening. Cori's betrayal still stung. She'd done it to protect herself, leaving Ashe vulnerable to the entire school. Now they all thought him a failure, destined to spend his life among humans. Not that humans were bad, but the others were essentially tossing him aside, as if he had no business living in Cloud Chief among them. Ashe knew exactly how Randy Smith must have felt.
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