by Tara Brown
“No.” I was close to tears. “You were frozen. I touched you. It was like a seizure.”
“A seizure?” He edged away from the door and went to the windows and closed all the blinds. “I don't have seizures.”
“What made you come here when you realized I was gone? Why didn't you go to the party?”
“I don't know.” He gave me a puzzled scowl. “I just knew you were here and I had a bad feeling, like I needed to get here right away. Like you needed me.” He climbed onto the couch and took his cell phone out of his pocket. He pressed a number and held it up to his ear. “Dad, there's a huge wolf outside Ophelia’s house. Ophelia. You know, Dr. Peters. Peters. Yeah.” He rubbed his forehead, never taking his eyes from the front door. “It was the size of a horse, Dad. It was huge. It jumped at us and tried to get us.”
We both watched the door, waiting for it to burst open.
“No, we’re safe at Ophelia’s, but you need to call the police and the forest rangers.”
He pulled the phone away. “I’m staying here with you, okay?” he whispered.
“Yeah.” I didn’t know if that made me feel better, but it didn’t feel worse. So long as he didn't freeze again.
“I’m staying at her house. Yup.” He ended the call and started to fiddle with his phone.
“I’m going to text everyone at the party and let them know. They should go home. This is nuts.” His hands flew across the surface of his iPhone. I couldn’t help but notice how graceful they were for being so large. “You okay?” he asked as he finished the group text.
I parted my lips to say no, but the words didn’t make it out of my throat.
“That was bizarre. Why couldn’t it get in the house?” He changed the subject.
“I don’t know.”
“Did it follow you home?”
“Yeah. It was in the alley, behind Lawt’s Hardware. It attacked me then, but—I got away.” I didn’t want to tell him about the six ghosts that looked exactly like me. I didn’t know what to say about any of it.
“That’s so messed up.” He frowned, making his dark-blue eyes almost black. “We’re safe now though, okay?” He pulled me into his chest and kissed the top of my head.
I hadn’t thought he could be weak or tender. I definitely never saw him as vulnerable. But I also never imagined a massive wolf would be chasing me around town or that my house would somehow keep it out. I didn’t even want to think about the ghosts in the alley, or the fact that Jake had been frozen in the car. The broken windows at school suddenly seemed a lot less serious.
“I am sorry for kissing you when you were saying no. It was like I couldn’t stop. I wanted to stop but my—I don't know. It was weird.”
“It’s okay.” I closed my eyes. “This has been a creepy night.”
The front door opened suddenly, making us both jump and cry out.
“What?” Abbey lifted an eyebrow. “Seriously, you two? You didn’t even make it to the party? Did you even leave the yard or just wait for Mom and Dad to leave?”
Jake shouted, “CLOSE THE DOOR, ABBEY!”
“Don’t yell at me in my house, Jake. I can't believe you never came to the party.”
“We did but a huge wolf chased me, and Jake had, like, a seizure. Close the door.”
“What?” Abbey peered back, poking her head out the door. “I don’t see anything. Did you guys get high?”
“CLOSE THE DOOR!” Jake jumped up and slammed the door.
“Asshole! You don’t have to shout.” She turned and stormed out of the room and up the stairs.
“Wait,” Jake tried to call to her but she ignored us. “Abbey, it was just there. We don’t want it to get you.”
Her angry footsteps on the stairs drowned out his voice.
He shrugged. “I didn't mean to yell—”
“No. Better she's pissed at us than eaten by that friggin’ thing.”
I climbed off the couch and took his hand and dragged him from the front room. I walked up the stairs to my bedroom. Being on the second floor felt safer anyway.
Chapter 4
Roses and thorns
“You sure you want me in your bedroom?” Jake blushed and paused in the doorway, hauling my arm. “I mean, I did try to make out with you while you were shouting no.” He cringed, appearing disgusted with himself.
“I trust you.” It was true. I knew he hadn’t meant to kiss me like that. He was fumbling his words and embarrassed. “And I think being on the second floor might be a better idea. I need to text my parents and tell them about the wolf. And I don't even know.” I lowered my head, confused and worried that I was going crazy. But at least Jake was going with me, so I wouldn't be alone.
“Hey, it’s going to be okay. I won’t let anything happen to you.” He reached for my face, pausing midway, maybe scared to touch me.
I leaned into the touch, closing my eyes and letting his hand rest there on my cheek.
Our bodies buzzed like an energy waited to be spent. I wanted to kiss him, and I suspected he wanted to kiss me, but we didn't. Maybe we were both scared of even a small kiss.
I dragged him into my room and closed the door.
My room seemed different.
There’d never been a boy in my room before. He was the boy I had wished for all my life and now here he was.
We walked to my bed, sitting far enough apart that we didn't touch.
His eyes flickered to mine and for a moment, hinting that he might kiss me again. I wanted it.
“What time will your parents be home?”
“I don't know.”
Jake glanced at the window. His eyes narrowed as someone tapped on it and he jumped up, diving toward it.
He jerked open the window with rage on his face. “What the hell? Who are you? Why are you doing this?” He grabbed at some dude.
“Easy, kid.” The guy laughed. “I’m here to help. Has a wolf been by here?” His eyes darted to mine.
I nodded, terrified.
“How the hell did you get up here? What do you want?” Jake shook the guy.
A single thought crossed my mind, and I accidentally blurted it before really thinking about the question, “Are you the wolf?”
“No.” The guy almost laughed. “I’m complicated. What’s your name?” he asked me, ignoring Jake.
I frowned at him. “Who are you?” This had to be the pinnacle of doom for the evening. There was no way it could get weirder.
“If you come with me, I can protect you. That wolf won’t be the only thing that comes after you. I can keep you safe, I promise.”
“This is like the Terminator?” That made me smile. I almost laughed, half crazed and completely lost.
“Exactly.” The guy chuckled. Something about him was off and yet on, very on. I wanted to trust him, for no reason at all. I wanted to touch him. I forgot Jake was in the room. Jake who? The dark-eyed weirdo on the roof had me mesmerized.
Jake stepped back, staring at me and then the guy. “We need to call the cops. This is nuts, O.”
“You have to come outside, O. I can’t come in. The guards won’t let me.” He smiled, oozing charm and something I couldn't place.
“What guards?”
The black, soulless eyes of the mysterious guy on my window ledge made a hum inside mind when I stared at him. He was ridiculously good looking. He made Jake seem plain. I couldn’t focus. He was unnerving to be around, and his smell reminded me of something I couldn't place. It was like sex and seduction but also food and happiness. His lips—I broke the stare and took a breath.
“Who are you?” I muttered again.
He didn't answer. He just grinned.
Jake walked to me and gripped my arm. “We need to call the cops and your parents. Where are they?”
I blinked at him, unable to process what he had said.
He repeated himself, “Where are your parents?”
“They went to the movies,” I answered in a trancelike tone.
Wei
rd thoughts poured into my mind as if they had found their way to me through Jake’s touch.
I shuddered from the heat of his hand on me.
He was frightened.
He liked me a lot.
He wanted to punch the beautiful stranger with the black eyes.
Someone screamed in the back of my mind, but I couldn't hear where it came from.
I snapped out of the haze and pulled away from him.
“Your sister.” Jake’s words were a whisper.
My feet couldn’t move quickly enough on the bare hardwood floor as I threw open the door and ran. I skidded down the hall and flung her door open. Abbey's dark room sat empty. The only movement came from the huge picture window where the long, silky white curtains billowed into the black room. The open window looked different.
I shivered, walking forward.
My sister wasn’t there.
Her bed was empty.
The covers were pulled back.
The cool breeze that played with the curtains found its way to me as I prickled with fear and confusion.
I stopped, one foot short of the window. The screen was missing.
Abbey was obsessive about bug screens. She was allergic to mosquito bites.
I leaned forward to see the torn screen lying on the grass below.
“Abbey?” I breathed and glanced back at Jake who filled the doorway. “She’s gone.”
“We need to call the police, O. And your parents.”
“Okay, but I’m scared, Jake.” My head finally started to clear. “That wolf didn’t look like any wolf I’ve seen before—and the man on my window ledge? How did he get there? Where did Abbey go? Did the wolf lure her away?”
“I don't know.” Jake pulled his cell from his pocket and pressed in a number. I brushed past him and went back to my room. The dark-eyed guy was still perched in the window.
“She’s gone. My sister. Her window—the screen.” I was dizzy, trying desperately to process it. “Did you take her?” Was this real? Was I dreaming? It felt more like drowning.
“No, I didn't realize there was someone else in the house. You need to come with us.”
“I have to wait for the police. Jake’s calling them. I have to get my sister back. I have to help her.”
“The police won’t find her. And if you come with me, I can help you get her back.” He held out a hand. “Trust me. That spell on the house that protects you also means you can never leave. The things wanting to hurt you will wait out here. They will come for you the moment you leave this house.”
“The only person who’s come for me is you and now my sister’s gone.” He confused me. I wanted to believe him and go with him, but I was terrified. My emotions seemed unreachable. I couldn't find the right amount of fear.
“But I have no intention of harming you. They do.”
“I don’t know you. I just want you to go away. I want my sister back.” I closed my eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath.
“I called the sheriff. He’s coming directly.” Jake’s tone was bold as if to tell the dark-eyed stranger to leave, or else.
I spun. “Jake, what are we going to tell him? I smashed out the windows at school by being pissed off, some random dude showed up with a moving snow globe, I kissed you and you froze, and then some wolf chased us? And now the huge wolf snuck in my sister’s window and stole her, and this guy flew up here?” I turned back toward the guy in the window. “Will you even be here if the cops come?”
“No.”
“Exactly. We have no story that makes any sense.”
“In fact, you’ll look guilty of hurting your sister.” The dark-eyed guy shrugged. “You have a far-fetched tale of wolves and flying guys and now your sister’s missing. You and Skip here will be the first people they look at for suspects.” He pointed at Jake.
“Oh my God,” I groaned.
Jake’s face flushed with anger. “Someone is screwing with us. This joker climbed. He didn’t fly. The wolf was probably trained to distract us so they could kidnap your sister. They’re holding her ransom until you go with them.”
That made more sense than the explanation I was processing. I couldn’t shake my lack of feelings, or the fact I wasn’t afraid of the guy in the window. The wolf didn’t seem trained; it was savage.
The guy was gone from the window and the wind blew in the open frame. I frowned at the empty space and slumped onto the floor. “Oh great. Well, at least he’s gone.”
Jake went to the window and closed it and the blinds. “Sheriff’s here.” He ran out of the room and down the stairs. I sat on the floor alone, waiting for something to make sense.
Ophelia, you need to get out of here. They know. They know you’re alive. Go with the Roses, they’ll keep you safe. The weird ghost voices floated in the air around me.
They were becoming the least strange aspect of my life.
Frustrated, I got up and walked down the stairs after Jake.
“Sheriff, I saw it,” he protested.
“You did, did ya?” Sheriff Walker stood in my doorway, not crossing the threshold either. He grinned when he saw me. “Honey, are you okay?”
“No,” I muttered, focusing on the way he stood at the line of my doorway. His feet never budged past the doorstep.
“Sheriff, come—”
“NO!” I shouted and leapt at Jake, clamping his mouth with my hands and whispering, “Look at his feet. It’s like the wolf.”
Jake’s eyes dropped to the feet staying right outside house but as close as they could get.
“Ophelia, why don’t you come to my car and we’ll see about writing the report about your sister?” He stepped back and held a hand out.
“No, my parents just got home. They’re upstairs. They said she’s at a friend’s. She isn’t missing.”
The sheriff I had known my entire life watched me silently. His smile turned to a sickly sweet grin. “Invite me in.”
“My parents are upstairs.” I didn't know what else to say.
His grin hardened on his face. “Invite me in. We need to make a report about the wolf.”
“I lied about the wolf.” I stepped back, taking Jake with me. He removed my hands from his mouth but he watched in silence.
Jake gripped my fingers with both hands and we trembled into the grip. “Sheriff, why can’t you just step into the house?”
The sheriff laughed. “Oh, you silly girl. Now, just ASK ME IN THE DAMNED HOUSE!” His face erupted in anger. His skin paled against the porch lights. Fangs shot from his front teeth.
“I’m here to help you, you stupid girl! You’re in danger. Bad people are coming for you!” His eyes glowed bright yellow. His face started to shiver. I screamed and lunged at the door, slamming it shut.
“What’s happening? It’s like a horror movie,” Jake mouthed as he stood completely still, his lower lip quivering slightly.
“I don’t know.”
“We need to get out of here. Leave town. Run.”
“I know.” I sensed that too. I had to hide. “We need that guy.” I glanced back upstairs. “I don’t know why, but I trust him, Jake. We need to go with him.”
Jake’s face turned dark. “You don't trust him; you just think he’s hot.”
“What?”
He inched closer. “He’s a bad guy, O. A very bad guy. I can feel it.”
“Jake, I don’t—why are you saying this?”
His eyes raged for a second and then as if a storm had passed, he blinked. “I don’t know. I feel like I’m not in control.” He blinked again and rubbed his eyes. “I think it’s too much.”
I sighed and took the step toward him again. “It’s late and you’re tired. I’m exhausted. Let’s just go back to my room.” I put a hand out for him. He took it. I wondered why I felt so safe in there.
He squeezed my hand. “Maybe it’s all a dream, a bad dream.” He pulled me to him. “Except the part where we finally are together. I hope this is the only part that’s real.” H
e drew me into his embrace. His warm arms circled me and crushed me to him.
“Me too.”
He rested my head against his chest and kissed the top of it. The way we stood reminded me of the fantasy of Jake I’d built up in my mind. I had always believed we would finally get together at senior prom, not in a moment like this one.
Not something horrible or hellish like this.
No.
I closed my eyes and let the fantasy take flight, the way I’d always imagined it. We were at prom and he finally noticed me. He asked me to dance and we did. And he confessed he liked me, he’d always liked me. I was in my dress and he was in a tux. The night was filled with magical lights and music.
And the best part of that fantasy was that none of this weird stuff had happened. No ghostly girls or exploding windows or wolf. Just me and Jake and the rest of senior class.
The song “Yellow” by Coldplay blasted around us. I didn't know if it was the ghosts who had turned it on or the wolf, but I didn't care. Jake was holding me and we were swaying to the song, like floating. I pretended everything was normal for a moment.
Someone speaking caught my attention and horror filled me as I glanced up from the chest of the boy embracing me.
“H-how did we—?” I trailed off as I gazed around at the party we were at.
Teenagers—students filled the gymnasium, dancing and laughing. Everyone wore a prom dress or tuxedo.
A guy dancing next to us spoke to his partner, obviously baffled, “I seriously thought prom was next week. I don’t even remember changing into my tux.”
The girl he danced with muttered with a blank stare, “I know. I swear I didn't get dressed.”
“Jake?” I whispered, pulling back from him.
“Oh shit.” He whispered back, scanning the gym. “Is this prom?”
“I don't know. Is it real?” Before I could scream in panic and run away, the guy with the dark eyes crossed the dance floor with a redhead next to him.
Jake’s hand squeezed mine as they got closer.
The redhead grabbed my arm roughly. “I’m an old friend of your dad's. It's lovely to meet you. Now send all these kids back to bed. You don’t want me to do it for you. I’m not as gentle as I appear.”