Destiny's Dark Fantasy Boxed Set (Eight Book Bundle)

by Tamara Rose Blodgett

  The South Den was a coffee shop in an alley behind a condemned bank. They rented out the old money vault, and the only way inside was to take a road underneath the building and pass through metal doors. Rylie had to wait outside for Tyler, since she didn’t have passes, and the bouncer watched her with one eye while he screened other entrants.

  Black Death was too popular for such a small venue. The street was packed with fans hoping to catch a glimpse of them, pressing to get closer to the door.

  She spotted her friend above the crowd and waved her arms over her head.

  Tyler bounded toward her with a wide grin, impervious to the press of the crowd. His front teeth were separated by a big gap and his hands were too big for his body. “Rylie! How’s it hanging?”

  “Good,” she said cautiously, bracing herself for the questions: Why were her eyes a different color? How had her hair grown so long? And why did she look so weird?

  But Tyler gave her one of his tickets without batting an eye. “Let’s get in, huh? It’s cold out here!”

  Of course he didn’t notice. Tyler never noticed anything. She almost laughed with the relief of not having to deal with her problem for once.

  The South Den was already packed in anticipation of the show. Roadies assembled the drums on stage. The limited number of tickets meant it wasn’t as crowded as usual, so Rylie easily found an empty table in a dark corner. She wrinkled her nose at the stench of body odor and cigarette smoke.

  Tyler jumped on the bar stool across from her. “How’s your summer going?” she asked.

  “It’s been wild. You’ll never guess what happened. Remember Teri?”

  It took her a few seconds to bring a face to mind. “You mean Teri Haynes? That girl you stalked since spring break hoping she would notice you?”

  Tyler’s grin widened. “She finally noticed me.”

  “No way.”

  “We’ve been dating for two weeks. She’s my girlfriend now! Nuts, huh?”

  Her smile grew fixed. “Yeah. Nuts. Teri and Tyler. That’s… cute.”

  Tyler checked his phone. “I’m going to meet Teri outside. I’ll be right back. With my girlfriend.” Rylie gave a weak laugh and watched him go.

  Girlfriend: the dirtiest of dirty words. Girlfriends interfered with friend-time and turned her guy friends stupid. Rylie hated it every time one of the boys she hung out with got a new girl because it meant their fun was over until the relationship ended.

  No matter how much she liked the band, Rylie never would have come if she knew it meant tolerating a girlfriend.

  He returned with Teri in tow.

  “Hi!” she sang in a too-bright voice. “I’m Teri!”

  “I know,” Rylie said dully. “We had chemistry together.”

  “Oh yeah! Are you taking AP chem next year?”

  She stared at Teri. Rylie didn’t want to make friendly conversation. She had seen Tyler date a half dozen girls, and none of them had lasted long. Teri wilted under her gaze.

  “I’m going to get coffee,” Tyler said, oblivious (as always) to the change in mood.

  “I’ll come with,” Teri said, shooting a cold look at Rylie.

  Rylie didn’t understand why most other girls didn’t like her. She suspected her blonde hair and skinny physique was a contributing factor. A lot of her friends’ past girlfriends had hated her for it.

  The singer took the microphone and the band started to play. She barely listened. Rylie didn’t want to be at The South Den with Tyler and Teri, or anybody else, for that matter. She wished she could be with Seth instead. It scared her to think of him alone at camp with the werewolf. She wondered if Seth had friends that hated his girlfriends, too.

  Tyler returned balancing several cups of coffee in his arms. He set one in front of Rylie and took a seat. Teri draped herself over him like a hungry octopus, and it was all Rylie could do to keep from rolling her eyes.

  “It’s a mocha cappuccino,” he said. “Your favorite, right?”

  She took a long drink. Her sense of taste had improved with her smell and she could make out all the subtle flavors of the coffee bean. They had roasted it an hour ago at most. Rylie let out a happy sigh. “This is amazing. I haven’t had any coffee all summer at camp.”

  “You’ve been at camp, huh? Is it over already?” Tyler asked. She shook her head. “What are you doing back?”

  “My dad died.”

  His eyes widened. Teri’s hands flew over her mouth. “I’m so sorry!” she cried. “Are you okay? Maybe you should—”

  She cut Teri off. “I’m fine.” Tyler looked incredulous, so Rylie repeated, “I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.” She wasn’t lying, not exactly. “Fine” may not have been the right word for how she felt, but Rylie didn’t know how else to describe the emptiness between her ribs.

  Teri finished off the last half of her drink in one gulp. “Let’s get more,” she said, giving Tyler a significant look.

  Mentioning dead family members was the perfect way to kill the mood for the rest of the night. Rylie tried to bring up some of her favorite movies that Tyler also enjoyed, but he was too distracted by Teri’s attempts to suck his face off to converse.

  She tried to enjoy the music instead. Rylie liked Black Death, and they were even better performing a small venue. But she just couldn’t get comfortable. The walls of the coffee shop were too close. The ceiling was too low. The music was too loud. Why had Rylie gone to such a place?

  Rylie gave up after three more songs. The wolf couldn’t stand it anymore.

  “You know what? I’m going for a walk,” Rylie said, interrupting Teri and Tyler in the middle of their make-out session.

  “I’m bored here. We’ll come too,” he said, grabbing Teri’s hand and pulling her along.

  Rylie knew he wasn’t bored. He was worried about her. Tyler had always been way too sympathetic.

  The crowd mobbed them as they left. Hands grabbed for their jackets and tickets, hoping to get into their empty spots. The bouncer pushed everyone back long enough so Rylie could squeeze through, and she ducked further down the underground street.

  “Aren’t we going up to the surface?” Teri asked, clinging to Tyler’s arm.

  “I thought I’d walk to the subway station from here,” Rylie said. The road underneath the bank building ran a few blocks and emerged right next to the train.

  “I don’t think it’s safe.”

  “It’ll be fine!” Tyler said. “You can just hold me if you’re scared, babe.” He winked at Rylie and pulled Teri closer with his arm around her waist.

  “Tyler, please,” Teri complained.

  Rylie groaned. This was even worse than sitting at home with Jessica.

  Tyler and Teri followed her down the tunnel. It was marked by yellow lights near the roof every few yards, leaving large swaths of the road in darkness. Their footsteps echoed against the concrete walls. The further they got from The South Den, the louder every little movement became.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Tyler muttered to Rylie when Teri released him for a moment to stare anxiously around the tunnel.

  Rylie responded by staring at him. What was she supposed to say? He didn’t look at her longer than a half second at a time, and she wondered if he had finally noticed her eyes.

  “I don’t want to scare you guys, but I think we’re being followed,” Teri whispered. Rylie glanced over her shoulder. Three formless men in bulky jackets were down near the curve in the tunnel. Their hoods were pulled over their heads. They could have been anyone.

  When Rylie sped up, their followers sped up too. There was no mistaking their intentions. The men were trying to catch up like the werewolf had on the night she was attacked. Rylie, Teri, and Tyler were being hunted.

  “They must have come from The South Den,” Rylie said. She surprised herself with how detached she sounded.

  “They probably want to buy our tickets to the Black Death gig,” Tyler said.

  Everyone knew that wasn’t tru
e, but nobody had to say it. The word muggers hung unspoken in the air around them. Teri clung harder to Tyler’s arm.

  They ducked down a side tunnel. It wouldn’t take them to the train station, but Rylie thought it might get them to the surface faster. The men rounded the turn not long after they did, speeding their pace.

  The thrill of the hunt ran through Rylie, and she had to close her eyes to keep from falling over. She was suddenly so hungry.

  “There’s a police station three blocks down,” Tyler whispered. “If we hurry…” Hurry? Ridiculous. Rylie wasn’t going to run. She wasn’t prey.

  “You’re following us!” she called, turning to face them. “Why? What do you want?”

  “Stop it,” hissed Tyler. Teri clung to his arm. “What are you doing? Are you trying to get us killed?”

  Rylie saw a flash of silver and smelled the tang of gunpowder. One of them was armed. His words smelled like ammonia to her sensitive nose. “Give us your wallets and jewelry. Everything.”

  The wolf grew still within her.

  “Oh my God, oh my God,” Teri whimpered, starting to empty her pockets. Rylie didn’t move.

  “Did you hear me? Money! Jewelry! Now!” he snapped. His friends flanked him. She didn’t smell any other weapons, so she knew they were only meant to be intimidating. The three had one firearm between them.

  “Rylie,” Tyler said urgently while he set his cell phone on the ground.

  The man with the gun moved forward to pick up what Teri and Tyler had dropped. The gun wavered.

  “You too, blondie,” rasped the man on the right. He was trembling. The wolf smelled sickness on them, the kind of weakness and disease that came from drug abuse.

  Rylie flared her nostrils and sniffed. The gun had been fired recently, but she didn’t smell fresh gunpowder. It wasn’t loaded. They were being mugged by a gun without bullets. Her lips pulled back to bare her teeth in what must have looked like an uncomfortable smile.

  He shoved the gun against her forehead. “You want to die, kid?”

  Teri wailed.

  Rylie’s hand lashed out and her fingers raked down his gun arm. He shouted, dropping the gun.

  Everyone was too shocked by her reaction to move. Rylie rammed her shoulder into his gut, shoving the mugger against the wall, and his head cracked against the concrete.

  She jerked him back and flung him to the ground. The wolf pounced, pinning him beneath her knees. “Hungry,” Rylie murmured, and his eyes went wide.

  Her fingers tightened on his throat. Meat. Fresh and hot. She could already imagine it spilling across the asphalt and steaming in the cool night air. She could imagine the tang of blood, the satisfying tear between her teeth.

  Like the fawn.

  She wavered above him, lip sliding down over her teeth.

  “You’re crazy, bitch!” one of the other men shrieked. Their feet pounded as they fled.

  The wolf registered the odor of feces—the man she pounced had soiled himself—but Rylie wasn’t listening to it anymore. What had she done? She attacked a man with a gun. She could have been shot.

  He shoved her, and Rylie didn’t fight back. She sat down hard on the asphalt. The mugger scrambled to his feet and fled in the same direction as his friends.

  “Are you guys okay?” Rylie asked, but Teri was pulling on Tyler’s arm.

  “Let’s get out of here!” Teri urged.

  Rylie turned to Tyler, hoping to find some kind of sympathy or gratefulness, but he looked just as pale and terrified as his new girlfriend. “What’s wrong? I saved you two from those guys. Why are you—?”

  “Jesus Christ, what is wrong with you?” Tyler asked.

  “She’s a freak! Tyler, please—hurry!” There it was again: freak. The word made Rylie’s hair stand on end.

  They ran too, leaving her alone in the tunnel. She drew her knees to her chest and hugged them, burying her face against her legs.

  Her shoulders began shaking, and before Rylie could stop herself, tears poured down her cheeks. Her entire body shuddered. All the stress and pressure of the summer flooded out of her at once. “Oh God,” she whispered into her arms.

  Rylie was truly alone.

  The grief struck her a moment later. She had been trying to block it out ever since Louise told her what happened to her dad, but it finally crashed into her.

  He was dead. Rylie’s dad was really dead.

  She wept. Her cries echoed down the tunnel and bounced back to her magnified a thousand times over, like the howl of wind through trees on the peak of the mountain.

  Rylie sat in the tunnel until her tears turned into dry sobs and then into silent trembling.

  There was nothing left in her an hour later.

  Rylie took the train home, leaving Teri and Tyler’s valuables in the tunnel. Jessica was still awake when she entered the condo.

  “Did you have fun?” she asked when Rylie passed her.

  “Yes,” Rylie lied.

  She locked the door to her bedroom and didn’t come out for a long time.

  ***

  The funeral service wasn’t for three more days.

  Earlier in the summer, Rylie would have leaped at the chance to come back to the city. She had missed the art galleries, the theaters, and the parks. Now she didn’t even want to leave her room.

  Rylie hated to admit it, but she missed Gray Mountain. The big city park wasn’t the same. The trees were too far apart. The bushes were too manicured. The brook really was a brook instead of a broad river. It babbled over smooth, colorful rocks instead of roaring over cliffs and crashing into boulders.

  The wolf in her didn’t think much of the park, either. Rylie couldn’t keep herself from growling at a pigeon when it landed near her. A mother with a stroller hurried past, shooting her looks out of the corner of her eye.

  Freak. She could almost hear Teri spitting the word at her.

  Her room was like a cage, but it was better than the city.

  Rylie avoided Jessica until the morning of the service. They had to ride to the cemetery together. They met at the car, and Jessica gave her a brief appraisal before getting in. “You look good,” she said.

  “Thanks,” Rylie said, staring pointedly out the window.

  “Has something changed? Are you wearing contacts now?”

  “No.”

  Her mom dropped the subject, and they went to the cemetery in silence.

  The day was too sunny and windy to be properly mournful. Rylie stood by the grave while the pastor read his eulogy. He said that Rylie’s dad had been a wonderful influence in the community, and a loving family man, and something about ashes and dust and God. Rylie wondered what kind of terrible God would curse her and kill her dad in the same summer.

  There weren’t many people at the service: Rylie and Jessica, Uncle Jack and his family, and a handful of employees. Rylie’s dad always had a big heart, but few friends.

  She dropped a flower on his coffin as they lowered it into the ground. “Miss you,” she whispered. The wind rose a little higher and tore the scarf from her neck, sending it dancing through the air across the graveyard. Rylie didn’t bother chasing it.

  “I’m so sorry for your loss,” said his executive assistant, Tracy, at the church after the service.

  “Thanks,” Rylie said.

  “I’m sorry for your loss,” mumbled another employee as he passed.

  She wanted to crawl under the carpet and disappear. How many people were sorry for her loss? And how many of them really cared?

  Everyone left the church. Rylie and her mom sat in one of the back pews. She toyed with a cracker off one of the platters the church bought for the reception. Rylie snapped off a corner and let the crumbs hit the church’s floor.

  “He left you everything,” Jessica murmured. She dabbed at her eyes with the same tissue she had used for the last half hour. “At the final divorce hearing, he told me that he revised his will. Everything’s yours. His house. His belongings. His investments. Eve
n his business, if you want it. It’s all going to be held until you turn eighteen.”

  Jessica’s fist tightened on the tissue. The fact that Rylie’s dad had won the family business in the divorce—and then gone on to will it to his daughter, rather than the ex-wife who used to run it—must have stung.

  “Who’s going to manage it until then?” she asked.

  “Richard. He was in charge while your father and I went through the divorce anyway. Tracy can help him with whatever he doesn’t know,” Jessica said.

  “Great.”

  Even though Rylie’s mother had all but told her she was now very rich, she didn’t feel excited. How could she, when the price was so high?

  “You don’t have to return to camp. I know you never wanted to go. I’m sorry we made you… made you leave. It was wrong.” Jessica tried to sound upbeat. “You can stay with me in my condo. There’s a great high school in the neighborhood.”

  “No.” Rylie gazed at the cross at the front of the church. “I want to go back as soon as possible. Tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow? Are you sure?”

  “Yes.”

  Her mom left her in the church. There was nothing more to say. Rylie didn’t want to live in Jessica’s condo, and she didn’t want to meet any of her boyfriends.

  She sat alone for a long time. Rylie hadn’t cried at the funeral, but her eyes began to sting. Two wet circles plopped on the Bible in front of her. Once she started to cry, it was hard to stop.

  Sniffling and wiping her eyes on the back of her wrist, Rylie knelt at the prayer stool by the altar. She had brought her old rosary from communion, and wrapped it around her hands before clasping them together. She stared at the pulpit and gathered her thoughts.

  Rylie wondered what she could say and what pleas she could make. If there was one question she needed to have answered, what would it be?

  “Why me?” she finally whispered to the cross.

  Nobody responded.

  The Fourth Moon

  Jessica didn’t linger when she dropped off Rylie. “I’ll see you in August,” she said without looking at her daughter. It was the only time they spoke on the entire ride over. Rylie took her bag out of the back seat and gave a small wave before hiking back to Camp Silver Brook.