Accidental Ashes: or that time I found out I was a demon, and all my friends were vampires and werewolves (Xoe Meyers Young Adult Fantasy/Horror Series)

by Sara C. Roethle

  Lucy shook her head in exasperation, but let the subject drop. “What exactly did you tell your mom?”

  I went back to shoveling cookies, and Lucy once again followed me. “Pretty much everything,” I answered. “Except for what happened with Dan.”

  Lucy shooed me to the side so she could open the oven and pull out the cinnamon rolls with one of my mom’s oven mitts. She placed them onto the now empty cookie pan. I searched the cabinets until I found a large plastic platter to put them on. As Lucy lifted the cinnamon rolls off the pan, I got out mugs for everyone to have coffee or milk.

  Lucy stopped me before I headed into the living room with the mugs. “Is that why she’s baking?” she whispered.

  I nodded. “She likes to be occupied when she’s trying to cope with something.”

  I grabbed a stack of paper plates to put under my arm, then took the mugs into the living room and handed them out, leaving the last two on the coffee table for Lucy and me. Chase and Max were on the large blue sofa, looking uncomfortable as my mom made conversation with them from her perch on the smaller green loveseat. Lucy followed me out with the tray of cookies and a jug of milk. I handed my mom the plates, then set the tray on the coffee table for Lucy. I went back to the kitchen alone for the cinnamon rolls and coffee.

  I re-entered the living room and squeezed the cinnamon rolls onto the coffee table beside the cookies, but had to settle with leaving the coffee pot on our single end table. Everyone had already filled their mugs with milk, leaving me with the entire pot of coffee to myself. I was on a bit of a coffee overload already, but hey, it helped me cope. Some people bake, some people drink coffee.

  Lucy had taken the seat by my mom, so I sat next to Max on the couch. My mom smiled at all of us, some of her usual warmth creeping through. “Where’s Allison?” she asked.

  I turned to Lucy. “Where is Allison?”

  Lucy cocked her head as she reached for a cinnamon roll to put on the plate my mom had handed her. “You know what? I haven’t heard from her all day.”

  “I’ll call her,” Max added, anticipating our worry. Plus, he was always willing to call Allison. I sensed a crush, but he never openly admitted it. He stood up to go to the phone and I busied myself with piling several cookies and a cinnamon roll onto my plate. Max took the phone into the kitchen.

  My mom turned her attention to Lucy. “So you’re a werewolf then?”

  Lucy choked on her bite of cinnamon roll, then took a big gulp of milk to wash it down. She set her plate in her lap and nervously brushed a strand of her straight dark hair behind her ear. “Um . . . yeah, yes I am.”

  My mom smiled again, looking almost demented with nerves. “And Max too?”

  Max came back into the room with the phone and distractedly answered my mom. “Yeah, I am too.” He turned his gaze to me. “Allison went with Lela to her job interview.”

  My mom turned to me. “Lela? Is that the woman who was here before?”

  I nodded in response and began to stand. My mom mirrored me, but then Chase came to the rescue and asked her about her work, forcing her to remain in the living room out of politeness. I grabbed Max and dragged him back into the kitchen.

  “She never came home?” I prodded in a hoarse whisper. My heart was racing with adrenaline. I already knew the answer.

  Max shook his head. “No. Her parents aren’t worried yet. They figure she’s still just hanging out with Lela. I didn’t tell them any different, but I imagine they’ll call the cops if she’s not home within the next few hours.”

  I clenched back the first of my tears. “What are we going to do?” I breathed.

  Max’s pale green eyes glistened with unshed tears as well. It was like Allison was already dead. Please don’t let her be dead.

  “What about the coalition?” Max whispered.

  “Even if they could get here in time, I don’t even know how to get a hold of them.”

  “Where’s Jason?” He asked, as if just realizing what was missing from the situation. I couldn’t blame him, we hadn’t had much time to stop and think lately.

  “He’s on a job,” I answered dejectedly as a cursed tear slipped out.

  “Everything all right in there?” my mom called.

  “Fine mom!” I yelled back.

  I heard Chase’s voice rise with his next question to distract my mom again.

  Max waved his hand in my face to bring my attention back to him. “Call him,” he demanded.

  “But,” I argued. “It’s not going to do any good.”

  “Call him,” Max intoned again, this time slapping the portable phone into my palm.

  With a quivering sigh, I turned my back on Max and punched in the cell phone numbers I knew by heart.

  He picked up on the second ring. “Xoe?”

  “Yeah,” I breathed. “It’s me.”

  “What is wrong?” he asked. “Something is wrong. I can hear it in your voice.”

  “Lela and Allison are both missing,” I answered. “We’re pretty positive they’ve been abducted.”

  “I am coming home,” he said gravely, not missing a beat. “I’m in New York. It’s going to take me a day or so to get there.”

  “It’s okay,” I answered, tears flowing freely. “We just need Abel’s number.”

  “Do you have a pen?” he asked.

  I peeked around the corner to the living room and grabbed a pen and paper from beside the phone cradle. I nodded, then realizing he couldn’t see it, answered, “Yeah, I’ve got one.”

  He rattled off the number to me, then asked, “Where are Lucy and Max? You should all stick together.”

  “They’re here,” I answered, then after a moment of hesitation added, “Chase is here too.”

  There was silence on the other end of the line.

  “Jason?” I questioned.

  “Yes,” he mumbled. “Yes I’m still here. It’s good that he is there. You must stay together in your home. Don’t go anywhere. Call Abel and I will be there as soon as possible.”

  I scrunched my nose in agitation. Like I couldn’t have figured that all out on my own.

  “Xoe?” Jason inquired.

  “Yeah?”

  “I love you.”

  My heart sped even faster, if that was possible. He’d never told me he loved me before. I had to clear my throat before I spoke. “I, um, I love you too.”

  “I will see you soon,” he said. Then the line went dead.

  I slumped back against the countertop, feeling like I had just run a marathon. Max was staring at me. “What?” I snapped.

  He shook his head in exasperation. “Are you going to call Abel or what?”

  I gave Max my best withering glare, though the tears probably lessened the effect. Boys can be so insensitive. I looked down at the forgotten paper in my hand. I glared back up at Max and dialed the numbers. A machine picked up after the first ring. A cultured woman’s voice flowed out of the receiver, “Please leave your name, number, and a brief message.” That was it, no explanation of whose machine I had reached. I just had to trust that I had the right number.

  “Um, this is Xoe Meyers,” I mumbled into the machine. “I’m trying to get a hold of Abel. I don’t know if my dad already called, but we’re having some trouble here in Shelby, the type of trouble that I think you are technically supposed to help us with.” I gave the machine Max’s cell phone number and hung up.

  I let out a loud sigh to steady myself, then looked back to Max. “What are we going to do about Allison’s parents? We’re not supposed to get the police involved in this sort of stuff.”

  Max shrugged. “Maybe getting the cops involved wouldn’t be such a bad thing. They might be able to help.”

  I shook my head; it would be much simpler if we could leave it to the cops, but we couldn’t. It was supernatural commandment number one to keep humans uninvolved. Plus, if the cops were brought in we wouldn’t get the coalition’s help, and werewolves had a much better chance of finding Allison and L
ela alive.

  “We can’t,” I answered simply, too tired to explain my whole thought process.

  Max cringed at my answer. “Well then what are we going to tell her parents?”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration. “If we tell them anything, and we . . . ” I choked on my words, emotion bubbling up anew, “and we can’t find her,” I managed to whisper, “then the cops will be knocking at our door.”

  Max looked up from where he had been gazing at the floor. “We can’t tell her parents anything,” he declared. “If they call the cops, then it’s just humans calling human cops, and I still think it can’t hurt to have them involved.”

  After a moment of silence I nodded. “You’re right. Screw the rules. The coalition should have been up here trying to find the abductors as soon as that witch went missing in Bear Creek.”

  That elicited a small smile from Max. He gave me a light punch on the shoulder. “Now that’s the Xoe we know and love.”

  I smiled back at Max. I left the phone on the counter and went through the dining room to bypass the living room on my way to the guest bathroom. Once inside, I did a quick mirror check to dry any leftover tears, then I went back to the living room.

  My mom was leaning forward from her perch on the loveseat, grilling Chase about Greece of all things. Maybe I was right about where his accent was from. Max had resumed his seat next to Chase. I cleared my throat as I approached the seating area, drawing everyone’s attention to me.

  I met Chase’s dark gray eyes. “Hey Chase,” I began, “you think I could recruit you to help me wrap some Christmas presents? I don’t want anyone to see what they got.”

  Chase nodded and smiled pleasantly at my mom before standing. I picked up some wrapping supplies from where my mom had put them near the tree. With the wrapping supplies under my arm, I headed upstairs with Chase following shortly behind, leaving Max and Lucy to fend off my mom.

  As soon as we were shut inside my room, I spun on Chase. “Call my dad. Allison’s missing. We can’t just keep waiting around.”

  His eyes widened in surprise, but he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and punched the buttons that would connect him to my dad. Chase’s forehead scrunched in concern as my dad answered. “Their human friend is missing,” Chase began without even a hello. He met my eyes. “I don’t think your daughter will be content with sitting around and doing nothing for much longer.”

  I turned and looked out my large window while Chase listened to my dad. It took me a moment to realize that it was snowing outside. I huddled in my red sweater, even though it wasn’t cold in my room. Chase clicked the phone shut and I turned my attention back to him.

  “You’re dad followed the woman from the coffee shop, but she just went to a bar afterwards. He saw another man watching her that he thinks isn’t human, but the man simply followed her to the bar and is now waiting across the street. You’re dad thinks they’re being careful since we got away. They know we’re on to them.”

  I scrunched my eyebrows together in concerned confusion. “Is this good or bad?”

  Chase grimaced. “It could be good in the sense that they’re possibly scared, which means that they are perhaps not as powerful as we think. But it’s bad in the sense that their fear of exposure might cause them to rush. If Allison and Lela are alive, they may not be for much longer.”

  I dropped down onto my bed, feeling dizzy. This could not be happening, not again. When Lucy had been taken by Dan, I felt like the world was going to end, but at least then we had hope. We had Lela to lead us right to Lucy. We knew the bad guy we were dealing with.

  “We have to go,” I said numbly.

  Chase shook his head. “We can’t. We have no idea where they are.”

  “We have to get the woman,” I countered. “She’s our only lead.”

  “Kidnap the kidnapper?” Chase asked skeptically.

  I glared at him. “You got a better idea?”

  He shook his head. “We’re not going to get by your dad. We’ll have to convince him to help.”

  I smiled. “If I go after the woman, he won’t really have a choice.”

  Chase stood and offered me a hand up from the bed. I took it gratefully, not caring if he knew how badly my knees were shaking. We were going into the den of the lion after all.

  Here’s hoping we didn’t get bit.

  Chapter Eleven

  I left my room and crept as silently as I could down the stairs. My mom was still in the living room talking to Lucy and Max, so all of us just sneaking out wasn’t an option. It was almost nine, so I knew my mom wouldn’t allow us to go out that late. My only option was to have Max, and Chase “go home,” then Lucy and I could sneak out. I’d have Lucy pretend to go home too, but it made more sense to have my mom think she was spending the night at our house, then if Lucy’s parents called, we’d have a cover.

  “You wanna stay the night Lucy?” I asked as I entered the room. Chase came into the room right behind me. I hadn’t even realized that he’d been standing behind me on the stairs.

  A look of confusion crossed Lucy’s face, then she caught on. “Sure Xoe.” She turned to my mom. “If that’s okay with you.”

  “Of course!” My mom beamed. “You’re always welcome. You know you don’t have to ask.”

  Lucy smiled a little sickly. “I’ll call my mom.”

  Chase brushed past me to face my mom. “Max and I better get going,” he began. “Thanks for the cookies.”

  My mom turned her beaming smile towards Chase. She seemed to have settled back into her comfort zone, pretending we were all just a bunch of normal humans. Chase went for the door, then waited while Max said bye to my mom before heading out. My mom rejected our offers to help her clean up, so Lucy and I went up to my room.

  “What’s going on?” Lucy asked as soon as I shut my door.

  “My dad followed the woman from the coffee shop to a bar. We’re going to confront her, and quite possibly kidnap her.”

  Lucy’s jaw dropped. “What?”

  “Chase thinks that we might have spooked the abductors into acting. Whatever they’re planning to do with Allison and Lela, they’re probably going to rush into it now.”

  “So they do have Allison then?”

  I nodded somberly. “I think so.”

  “But she’s human,” Lucy argued.

  “I know,” I replied. “I don’t know why they took her too. Maybe she just got in the way.”

  “So we’re sneaking out?”

  I nodded. “As soon as my mom goes to sleep.”

  We went through the motions of getting ready for bed. I let Lucy borrow some pajamas, and by the time my mom peeked her head in to say goodnight, we were all tucked in and ready to “sleep”.

  We waited another twenty minutes to ensure that my mom was in bed, then, leaving the light off, got up and quietly changed back into our clothes. I pulled my slouchy boots back on, then added an insulated, waterproof black jacket to protect me from the cold. I tossed Lucy another winter coat and we were ready to go. Now for the tricky part.

  Max and Jason usually just hopped out my second story window to sneak out of my room, but Lucy and I hadn’t quite mastered that trick, despite the fact that we were supposed to be physically capable.

  I peeked out my bedroom door to make sure we were all clear, then quickly pulled my head back in and shut the door as silently as possible. I turned to Lucy and whispered almost noiselessly, knowing she’d be able to hear, “She’s still awake. Her door is open and her light is on.”

  Lucy grimaced. “What do we do?” she whispered back louder than I had. My hearing was good, but it was nowhere near werewolf hearing. They had me beat in the smell department too.

  I glanced at my window and raised my eyebrows in question.

  “No way,” Lucy mouthed.

  I looked at the window again, pursed my lips and nodded. We were going to do it. Ignoring Lucy’s protests, I put some pillows under my comforter in case m
y mom glanced in my room, and slowly slid open my window.

  Lucy came to stand beside me, sliding on the red winter coat I had given her. “No way, Xoe. We can’t make it.”

  I ignored her and slid my feet out of the window, and braced myself to sit on the sill. I glanced back at Lucy’s expression and held up my crossed fingers for her to see. I took a deep breath and pushed off against the side of the house. I was airborne for a brief freezing moment, then my feet hit the ground. My momentum sent me tumbling a few feet through the fresh snow to land on my side in a heap. I took a moment to survey how my body felt, and a smile crossed my face as I realized I was unharmed.

  I stood and brushed the snow off my jeans, then turned to look up at my window. Lucy was still fully inside, a look of shock on her face. I did a little ‘ta-dah’ gesture, pointed at Lucy, then pointed at the ground beside me.

  She shook her head and stepped back from the window. She raised her hands in a pushing ‘no thanks’ gesture. There was no way I had jumped out that window for nothing. I stomped my foot in frustration, and once again pointed at Lucy, then at the ground beside me.

  After several more minutes of silent arguing, Lucy finally eased her feet out the window and sat on the sill like I had. She reached behind her to slide the window closed as much as she could while still leaving room for her butt on the sill.

  Finally, she closed her eyes and I watched her face, knowing she was counting to three. Then she threw herself away from the house. She dropped straight down with her long hair flowing above her head, and landed lightly on her feet, dipping into a crouch to lessen the impact on her legs. I swore out loud, that was so not fair.

  I pouted while I waited for Lucy to come stand beside me, then we started towards the road where we would meet Max and Chase. My mind raced with what we were about to do. I wished Jason was with us despite myself.

  Chase’s old, beat-up truck was already waiting for us by the time we reached the road. I opened the passenger door to a blast of heated air, then waited for Lucy to climb in ahead of me. She chose to sit in the middle of the front seat again, rather than in the back jump-seat with Max.