“Ms. Lowell,” Mr. Everett begins, staring down at some papers on his desk, “might I remind you that there’s no talking in class and that I expect you to pay attention? Isn’t that why you’re here in the first place—because you were in trouble back home?”
“I don’t think it’s any of your business what happened to her prior to arriving here,” Ben tells Mr. Everett.
I wish I had a camera, because the look on Mr. Everett’s face is priceless. Instead of sending Ben to the principal’s office or giving him an extra assignment, they have a showdown with their eyes.
Ben wins.
Mr. Everett clears his throat and pretends to shuffle a few papers around on his desk. “You’re right. It’s none of my business.” He turns around to the board.
“How’d you do that?” I whisper.
Ben cuts me a sideways glance and the corner of his lips slightly curves. “I’m just good like that, I guess.”
“Huh.” It comes out as more of a huff, but I’m sure he heard me. I fall back against my seat, paying attention to Mr. Everett this time. After all, he’s right. I’m here to stay out of trouble, and to keep my grades from slipping. The bad part? Now that I have new friends and Ben, I don’t miss home as much. Pathetic, I know.
The bell rings and Ben stands, saying, “See you after school.”
Sitting with Jana and Blake at lunch is the worst part of the day. Both avoid any eye contact, and neither say one word to me, like I’m invisible. It’s not like I have anyone else to sit with either. Ben has a totally different lunch schedule than me. It’d be much easier to carry on a conversation with him right now.
At the end of the day, I stand at my usual spot near the building, and away from the curb. My eyes stretch, searching for his BMW.
“Please don’t tell me you’re riding home with him again.” Jana’s voice startles me.
“Uh, actually I am. Why?”
“This is wrong. So very, very wrong. You have no idea what you’re getting into, Candra. Please don’t do this.” The expression on her face grabs hold of my stomach and twists it into a pretzel. She’s pained, concerned. Is Ben really that bad?
“He’s not like them,” I say. This is getting out of hand. How many times do I have to tell someone that it doesn’t matter what our families think, as long as we have fun together?
But then I wonder if that’s the same as living a lie.
Jana throws her arms around my neck in a sudden hug. “Just be careful, okay?”
I nod, still unsure of what the big deal is. So his brothers want to bully me, and we’re both stuck in the middle of this stupid family feud. Who cares? If we choose to live a different life, then so be it.
Ben pulls his car next to the curb. I run over and open the door.
“Miss me?” he jokes. His head lowers, so he glances at me through his long, black lashes.
“Ugh. I never thought today would end,” I groan, getting in his car. Immediately his earthy cologne fills my nostrils; it’s musky and thick and I could inhale it all day.
“Why’s that?” He moves the gears into drive. One hand clutches the steering wheel, the other rests on top of the shifter. We creep through the ocean of students in the parking lot.
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I get to see you.” My chest feels like an elephant’s sitting on it. Why’s it so hard to tell him?
Ben gives me a quick glance, and the corner of his mouth twists. He doesn’t say much on the way home, adjusting the radio so it plays some mellow rock music. As we pull into my driveway, he slows to a stop.
I shoot him a confused look. “What’s wrong?”
“You know we’re just friends, right?” he asks.
I know what those words mean. He doesn’t want anything further with me. It’s okay to date Lily, the bottled-blonde ditz who worries about shopping and her looks more than life itself.
But, to play along in what might be the sorriest excuse known to man, I say, “Oh, yeah, of course. You didn’t think…I mean, because of what I said…” What did I say again? I fake a laugh.
He smiles, rubbing his fingers along the two-day old whiskers surfacing on his chin. “I just wanted to be clear.” But his face drops, like it bothers him to tell me that we’re mere friends. He pushes the gas, and we coast down the driveway, pulling up directly outside the front to let me out.
“See ya later,” I say, opening the door.
“Candra, wait.” He grabs my arm before I have time to get out. “There’s this stupid festival going on this weekend.”
I assess what he says. Two minutes ago he informs me we’re friends, and now he’s asking me to a festival?
“What about it?” I ask.
“I wondered if you might be interested in going with me.”
My head barely shakes. “I’ll think about it. Thanks for the ride.” I manage a smile, but as soon as my back is turned, it fades away.
Chapter Fourteen
As soon as I step foot in the house, the phone rings. Odd, I think, since nobody calls unless Randy and Beth are home. I decide to answer it anyway.
“Hello?”
“Oh my God. Is it really you? Hey, stranger.”
It’s Layla.
Joy doesn’t describe how many butterflies flap their wings inside my stomach right now. “What… How…” I pull up a chair and sit by the kitchen counter.
“Oh, I got this number from your mom. Ran into her at the grocery store. She said you’re making a name for yourself up there.”
You have no idea.
“Yeah, things are…different here. That’s for sure. But tell me what’s going on back home. I have to know everything.”
“Well, Casey Birmingham totally got a boob job. And, let’s see, oh! Joe Palicki totally got caught jerkin’ off in the locker room. It’s all over school.” If there’s one thing I could tell anyone about Layla, it’s that she loves gossip.
“What about you and Sean? How are you guys?”
“Oh, pssh! Don’t worry about us. We’re the same old Layla and Sean, ya know? Sean got a job at Judd’s Meat Market over on Sansaren Highway. Remember that place?” She makes a gagging noise.
“How could I forget? You can smell it if you’re in a three mile radius of the place.”
“I know, right? I told Sean to stay away from me until he’s had a shower.”
I laugh at the thought of Sean wearing an apron covered in meat scraps, and rubbing them all over Layla.
She clears her throat. “Listen, I can’t stay on here for long. Mom’s already yelling at me.”
“Still upset about the trespassing crap?”
“Yeah, that and we spent the night in a barred cell.” She giggles. “Maybe Sean and I can come up and visit sometime.”
“I’d love that! When do you think you two could get up here?”
“Don’t know. I’d have to ask Mom. But check with your aunt and uncle first. I’m sure we could come up there soon.”
On my end, I’m totally jumping up and down in the kitchen. I’m glad no one can see me right now. I restrain a squeal and put my head on straight.
“Dude, this is going to be awesome. I can’t wait.”
“Me neither. Call ya later?”
“Sounds good.”
“’Kay. See ya.”
“Bye.”
As soon as I place the phone on its charger, I hear the front door creak. Stepping into the hallway, I see Beth pulling her keys out of the lock.
“You’re home early,” I say. “Hey, I need to talk to you. Just got off the phone with a friend from back home. Turns out—”
She interjects, “Since when do you hang out with Benjamin Conway?”
Uh-oh.
“I told you he’s nice to me. He’s taken me to and from school two days in a row now.”
Beth points at me. “Under my roof, you are forbidden to see him.”
The color drains from my face. It’s like she made a fist and punched me in the gut.
“I mean it,” she continues. “I’ve told you they’re nothing but trouble.”
“But he hasn’t—”
“Done anything? No, not yet, I imagine. He’s using you. There’s something you have that he wants, and he won’t stop until he has it.” She spaces out, somewhere I can’t see, like she’s in deep thought.
My chin quivers, and no matter how hard I try to stop it from shaking, it won’t quit. I feel like I’m in one of my weird ass dreams, and the world kind of swirls around me, making me light-headed.
“I hate doing this to you. I feel like the bad guy, instead of them,” she say, the corner of her eyes droop down in a sad expression.
I can’t say anything. My mind’s numb, along with the rest of my body. I can’t even move. Everything’s been going so well. For once I think I’m doing something right, for it to feel this good.
But I’m wrong. All of it’s wrong. We were born enemies, and we might as well die as enemies. Nothing will change that.
Beth’s at my side within a fraction of a second, cocooning me in her arms.
“I’m so sorry. I know you care about him—I can see it in your eyes.” She props her chin on my head and lets out a sigh. “There are many things that happen in life that we can’t explain. Some good, some bad. But of one thing I’m certain—in the end, it all works out.”
I barely nod, still having absolutely no idea what she means. I’ve never been one to follow any rules. That’s what caused me to be sent here in the first place. What’s stopping me now?
“Here,” she begins, steering me into my bedroom, “lay down, and I’ll bring you up some dinner.”
“I’m not hungry,” I whisper, trying to hold back the tears pooling in the corners of my eyes.
Beth doesn’t say anything. She grabs a blanket from the end of my bed and throws it over me, tucking me in. I’m too busy drifting off into la-la land.
I stand in the middle of an open field—much like the one beside the house. The man stands ahead, his looming presence even worse in the fog. I can hardly see anything. I turn and run, but end up in a corn field. The stalks are at least ten feet high. There’s no way out.
I don’t know how he can run so quickly, but he catches up. His breath is hot against my neck. He doesn’t stop me, though. He lets me run.
Wind whistles through the tips of the corn stalks, all of them pointing in the same direction. I can feel him right behind me; it’s the same feeling as knowing something’s in the room with you, though you can’t see it. The hair on the back of your neck stands on end.
Kicking up more dirt, I run harder, faster. My legs blaze. My lungs strain for air that doesn’t come. The stalks bend more, and I think they’re pointing me toward an exit. I follow without reason.
Stupid corn.
Stupid trees.
Nobody ever points to the way out, just more silly ways to get me hunted by this crazed stalker. But right now, I don’t have much of a choice. There’s no way of knowing what he might do if he catches me.
I sneak a glance over my shoulder.
He’s gone. I don’t hear his rhythmic breathing anymore, either.
“This way,” some low, guttural voice lures up ahead. I definitely don’t want to follow, but I can’t stop my body. I’m being forced.
Besides, it’s not the same voice I’ve heard before. This one’s deeper, more menacing—a complete one-eighty from the last. An icy chill barrels down my spine.
Trees howl in the distance. Their voices drift upward, carried by the wind.
Then I realize it’s not the trees howling…
I wake up and stagger to my window. The eyes aren’t there, though. Sighing with relief and frustration, I flip the latch and open the pane for fresh air. As much as I hate the cold, tonight is different. It’s a stark reminder that I’m alive, even if I do have haunting dreams. Nature has its own way of telling me my nightmares are fictitious, as if the words it’s just a dream are riding on the edge of the breeze.
The damp atmosphere sends a draft into my room, and I close my eyes. I have no idea what these dreams mean, but for the first time in awhile, I know they’re not just coincidence.
I have to do something. Let someone know. I can’t keep running from my problems. The longer I wait, the harder it’ll be.
Fleetingly, I wonder if Jana’s up. With all this commotion about staying away from Ben, and her and Blake judging me, there must be something I’m missing.
“Hello?” She answers on the second ring.
I walk in circles in the middle of my room. The cordless phone is fixed between my ear and my shoulder. “Hey, it’s Candra.”
“Oh, hi,” she says, not sounding the least bit thrilled.
I blow excess air out of my mouth, hoping it’ll relieve some butterflies. “I need to ask you something.”
She hesitates, then says, “Go for it.”
“That night, at the movies, you said something about Ben marking me.” I pause, tilting my head toward the ceiling, trying to gain a little bit of courage. “I know I asked you about it the next day, but you never clarified. Actually, you kind of blew me off by saying it was just a joke, which I totally didn’t believe for a second.”
Jana remains silent.
I continue. “What did you mean?”
She nervously laughs. “I didn’t mean anything by it, just that you were marked as his or something. I don’t know. Sounds stupid, right?”
She’s lying. I’d place money on it. “Right. So, that’s why you and Blake left me high and dry? That’s why both of you gave me evil glares? Doesn’t make sense, Jana.” Okay, the more I think about it, the angrier I get.
Seconds roll by before she asks, “How much do you know, exactly?”
I frown. “Know what?”
“I’m afraid if I tell you, I’ll say too much. So, let’s start with the basics. How much has your family told you about this town, about you?”
She doesn’t have to ask me again; I know what she’s hinting at. This town is full of surprises, especially the one about werewolves being alive and well. I’m sure not everyone knows, but those who do have chosen their side.
“I know too much, I think. Things…aren’t what they seem around here,” I say with uncertainty. How much would be too much when explaining things to her?
“So, you know. It’s not an everyday occurrence to hear about werewolves around here, Candra, as crazy as that sounds. Not everyone knows.” She forces a sigh out. “When I said that, I didn’t think you’d take it literally. Ben’s kind, but they’re not the nicest people. I only wanted to look out for you. You have to believe me.”
I huff, “Yeah, seems like everyone is telling me to stay away from him.”
“Well, you should listen to us. We’ve lived here longer than you. We know how they are. I know about the sides, too. Basically, Blake and I aren’t among the Conway Followers. We try to avoid them at all costs. You can’t. You were born into this war, Candra,” she says.
“So I’ve been told…”
“And when I mentioned you being marked, well, it could mean a couple of things. Either he does want to be with you, or he wants something from you. I don’t know which one.”
For once, I want to trust someone. I want to push their ideas and theories into the core of my soul and flush them through my body, believe everything they’ve told me. I don’t want to be in the center of this battle. Not once did I ask for this.
“I believe you,” is all I tell her before hanging up the phone.
Chapter Fifteen
If my parents knew about this battle, why’d they send me here? I can’t picture them throwing their only child into the middle of a battle without weapons or an army behind her.
There are only two people who can answer this question for me—Randy and Beth. One happens to be home now.
“Beth?” I call, bounding down the stairs.
“In here!” she yells from the living room. I find her sitting on the couch with a worn
book in hand.
I tilt my head to read the spine. Gold flecks once made up letters, words. Now there’s nothing left.
“What are you reading?” I ask.
“Shakespeare. He’s one of my favorites. It took me decades to understand the meaning of his lines, but once I learned, I couldn’t put him down.” Her eyes twinkle under the light of her reading lamp. She gently closes the book, as if it might crumble with any extra stress, and lays it on her lap.
“I need to ask you something.” I suddenly feel stupid for wanting to know why I can’t see Ben. But, instead of asking about him, I blurt, “Why did my parents send me here, if they knew about the battle between our families?”
Beth places her book on the end table. She sits up, hands in her lap, and says, “Because they don’t know the extent of it, how bad it’s gotten.”
I fall into the recliner. “How can they not know?”
She inhales sharply. “Well, because I’ve never told them. I never thought they needed to know. It began many years ago, but the Conways kept their distance. They weren’t as much of a threat…until you arrived.”
My gaze lowers to my hands, which are doing absolutely nothing in my lap. “I’m the one who stirred up old dust.”
I don’t get it. Sure, they want me gone. Does it have to be like this? What if I can change it? I know what I have to do, and it involves speaking to Ben. I’m not sure he’ll even listen to me, though. He is, after all, a Conway.
“Technically, yes. But is it your fault? No. We’ve known for a very long time it would come to this. Not only do they want your power, but they want to get rid of you. They just can’t figure out how. You’re protected by others, and you don’t even know it.” Her lips curve.
“Like who?” I press.
“I’m afraid I can’t tell you.”
“Oh, c’mon. This town is full of surprises and secrets. You could at least tell me who these people are. I’d like to meet them,” I say, crossing my legs. This just got interesting.
“You can’t.”
“Why not?”
“You’d know who they are. They’re called Watchers, ghosts to you. They have specific orders to relay anything that happens to you to me and Randy. If you’re in danger, they’re there to help.” Her expression changes from day to night—total seriousness to being worried.
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