Cascades of Moonlight (The Parker Harris Series: Book #1)

by Amy McClung

  School was the last place I wanted to be, but I had to make an effort to appear normal. The hardest part about that was that everything was wrong because nothing was how it should be anymore. My stomach churned with worry for Quinn and Mitchell; it was hard to focus on anything else but them. When I stepped into my next class, Jackie and Will had their heads together looking serious.

  Will saw me and they broke apart quickly. He tried to look like nothing was up when he motioned to me to sit next to him. He leaned over and I turned just in time for his kiss to hit my cheek. Class was underway, so it saved me from having to talk to him or explain why I just did that.

  Lunchtime came and I went to the cafeteria and again Jackie and Will were sitting together talking. Why does that seem so strange to me? They never seemed that close before when he was around. Guess I have to put on a happy face and try and act normal. I walked over to the table and sat my tray down offering up a friendly grin.

  Jackie spoke first, “What’s up chickie? You haven’t been around much lately. I hope you aren’t mad at me about that call the other day. I was in a bad mood and didn’t feel like talking about the whole “Wolf” thing, ya know.”

  Well, that was a relief, she remembered that I'm a wolf and I didn’t dream that she's one too. “So, is that why you were sick? Being a wolf can play hell with your insides,” I said.

  Jackie looked down and mixed her food as she replied, “Yeah, I'm not used to this whole thing yet. I'm not sure how you deal with it all the time. I feel so stupid for going out into woods all alone after that fight with Mitchell. He feels so bad about the fact I was attacked because of him.”

  “Wait, what? I thought you were taking the trash out when it happened?” I asked.

  Jackie shook her head and looked like she was about to cry. “No, I found out Mitchell cheated on me, so I ran out of the house and straight into the woods where I came upon a wolf. I tried to back away, but it was too late; it jumped at me and bit me on the shoulder, then took off like something scared it. That’s why Mitchell left town with his parents. They went to visit some of his family for Thanksgiving, but I told him I needed time apart. He said he'd give me as much time as needed. He swears he still loves me, but I don’t know what to believe anymore,” she finished.

  Will looked uncomfortable, maybe it was the girl talk or the mention of cheating, which he thinks I did to him. I’m beginning to get a migraine. I have no idea what is going on or why history is changing around me all of sudden. Mitchell would never cheat on Jackie or hurt her in any way. I didn’t want to ask any more questions, I had enough spinning around in my head to confuse me thoroughly and could not take much more.

  Placing my hand on my head, I said, “I gotta go. I need to stop by my locker and get some ibuprofen, I have a killer headache coming on.” I stood up and grabbed my tray of food. “See you guys later.” My head really was pounding, but I also wanted to get as far away from those two twilight zone freaks as I could. Yes, they are two of my best friends and I love them dearly, but right now they're so screwed up in the head because someone is using them as puppets and filling their heads with lies.

  Obviously, I didn’t get away fast enough because Will caught up with me after school and Jackie was right behind him. “I thought it would be fun if the three of us went and saw a movie,” Will blurted out.

  I sighed and said, “I’m not sure I really feel up to it. I’m kind of tired and still have a twinge of a headache.”

  Will pulled me to the side and whispered in my ear, “I think it would be good for Jackie to be around friends right now.”

  My shoulders slumped as I gave in, stupid douche bag puppet plays dirty by pulling the depressed friend card. The three of us headed to the theater. It seemed to make Jackie happy because she didn’t stop talking the whole walk there.

  They wanted to see the newest paranormal romance, but I wasn’t really in the mood for a vampire movie. I wanted to take my mind off vampires right now. But, that was the best choice out there so I decided to just go with it. I didn’t really see much of the movie because I thinking about what could have happened to Quinn.

  The dream from last night kept repeating in my head. He had such fear in his voice when he left me. He doesn’t even know that I'm alive.

  Tears rolled down my face and it must've been at a good time in the movie, because Will chuckled, kissed my head. He said softly, “You're so tenderhearted. That’s one of the things I love most about you.”

  I wish he didn’t have to be such a sweet, yet stupid douche bag puppet, I hated leading him on like this.

  We went to grab a pizza after the movie and I stepped away for a minute to go to the restroom. I had to get away from them for a moment. Even though they were two of my closest friends, they felt more like complete strangers lately, or pod people would be more accurate. I took my phone with me and dialed Quinn’s number while I was in there, it still gave me a message that it was an invalid number. I dialed Mitchell’s phone next, but it went to voicemail, I didn’t leave a message.

  As I opened the bathroom door to leave, I stopped and pulled it back to where it was only a small crack that I could see through. I had a clear view of and Jackie and Will, who were looking serious again. Will put his hand on Jackie’s face, she leaned against it and smiled at him. He moved forward and they kissed.

  My mouth fell open in shock. What the hell? He's supposed to be dating me! So was Jackie’s version of events correct or did Mitchell find out she cheated on him and that's why he left? Oh Geez, I'm starting to believe the madness!

  Snip. Snip. Taking two fingers I made a motion of scissors over each shoulder as though I was cutting the puppet strings. No one is going to screw my head up. Quinn was real and I knew Mitchell hadn’t left town because his stuff was still there at his house. Wherever Quinn was, I'm sure Mitchell was there too. Jackie and Will pulled apart and looked around to make sure no one saw them, but they didn’t see me. When they mouthed, “I love you,” to each other, I knew it was the perfect out for me.

  Taking a deep breath, I channeled Meryl Streep and stormed out of the bathroom, walked over to the table, smacked Will dramatically and threw my drink in Jackie’s face. “You can have each other! I saw everything! How dare you make me feel bad when you've been cheating on me this whole time and in love with her!” I shouted as I pointed at Jackie.

  They both looked shocked at my reaction. I stormed out and started my way home. I couldn’t help, but giggle at my acting abilities. Thank goodness that charade was over, now I could focus on finding Quinn. I'm still in shock that Jackie would cheat on Mitchell, but it had to be the brainwashing, there was no other excuse that made sense.

  Going to Quinn’s house was the first step in my plan. It was still boarded up. As I stepped inside I noticed that, for a place that was supposed to look deserted, there wasn't much dust accumulated. I brushed at the cobwebs and realized it was that fake webbing they sell at Halloween.

  Someone went to a lot of trouble to make it seem that Quinn didn’t exist. I went into the bedroom, and there were no clothes, nothing. What did they do with all his stuff? The cave…Why didn’t I think of that before? I need to go back to the original cave, the one where we thought Will had been buried. Whoever brainwashed Will and Jackie must have been the one who pulled him out of there.

  Running to my car, I sped off as fast as I could to the cave where I was hoping I would find Quinn, or at least a lead. As I was driving, I got a weird feeling like I was being watched or followed. I kept glancing in the rearview and didn’t see any other cars though. I made it to the spot where I first met Will and pulled my car over. Running into the woods, I had to stop repeatedly to look around because that eerie feeling was still there, but I still didn’t see anyone. This feeling of unease creeped me out. The cave was straight ahead and it was closed again.

  Falling to my knees, in fron
t of where the opening would be, I started to pray that Quinn was just on the other side of that wall and that he was okay. It was more difficult than I expected, to pull out the rocks, they were put in there very tightly and were heavy. It took a couple of hours for me to move four or five of them, but finally, I could see a little into the cave.

  “Quinn! Quinn, are you in there? Please answer me!” I screamed over and over hoping for an answer. It didn’t matter that there wasn’t one, I kept digging.

  Another hour went by, I moved a few more rocks and made a hole big enough to crawl through. Sliding my leg inside, I panicked thinking about how I was locked in that cave under the waterfall and I pulled my leg out. My chest heaved and this terrible wave of fright took over, just like when I am up high and my acrophobia, fear of heights, kicks in. Then I remembered that Quinn could be hurt and I made my way back in. If I was going to die, at least I will be with him when I do.

  I put my feet in first and slid into the opening until I felt my feet touch the ground, then I slowly slithered in careful to not scrape my face. My whole body trembled, not like it does when I am on the verge of a shift, but out of total fear instead. I did not want to get stuck in a cave again, those two days were torturous enough. I was all the way in, but it was dark. I felt around the walls trying to make my way to the center where I spent so many nights. Though my eyes were still unfocused, I could see a figure against the rocks and I heard a moan.

  My breathing sped up as I tried to make my way to the sound. I don’t know why I didn’t bring a flashlight. “Quinn?” I said into the darkness. My call was answered by another moan that sounded muffled as though the person’s mouth was covered. My foot hit something and I fell forward. It was a person, I grabbed their shoulders and felt their face finding a gag on their mouth. I pulled it off and heard a grunt. “It’s Parker. Is that you, Quinn?” I asked as I felt the contours of his face.

  A hoarse voice sounded, “No, Parker, it’s me, Mitchell. Quinn isn’t here…my hands are cuffed.” He cleared his throat, “The key is on top of a rock, I heard it placed there when I was left here. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to get to it for days. Get it to me and get out of here, before I get loose.“ He demanded rather harshly.

  “I'm going to help you out of here, we'll leave together,” I replied.

  “Parker, I haven’t had anything to eat in days and I'm very thirsty and even though I'm in a weakened state, I could probably still kill you in the blink of an eye. You smell delicious to me right now.”

  The word delicious told me I was like a cheeseburger to a starving man, “I'm not sure what my actions will be once I'm free. Hand me the key and then run…as fast as you can. I'll hunt in the woods and find my way to your car. Please, just wait for me at the road. I don't want to take a chance of hurting you,” he pleaded.

  Reaching around on top of the rocks, my hand came across a metal object that felt like a key. I took it and sat it beside him a little out of reach.

  “I'm going to go now; I made it a little difficult to reach because it's going to take me a minute to get out of here. As soon as you feed, meet me at my car where we always parked it. Good Luck, Mitchell.”

  I backed out the way as fast as I could go. As soon as my feet hit the ground I took off running to the car without looking back.

  Immediately I opened my car and jumped in, I locked the doors and waited for Mitchell. I hoped he would find something to feed on quickly because he should be able to tell me what happened to Quinn. It seemed like hours went by and the sun was starting to set when I finally saw Mitchell stumble out of the woods. He looked terrible and was now covered in blood. I popped the trunk for him. He took the hint and cleaned off with the blanket back there and came to the passenger’s side of the car.

  To be safe, I cracked the windows and asked, “Do you feel full?”

  He leaned down and smiled showing me that his fangs were gone. I unlocked the door so he could get in.

  “You have no idea how glad I am to see you're okay. How did you get out of the cave you were locked in?” he asked me.

  “Will found me,” I said and his head spun around quickly to look at me.

  “What? Will's dead, we buried him…didn’t we?” he said shocked.

  “I thought so too, but he's the one who found me in the cave. He said the bullet wasn’t silver and that it took him a while to heal so he stayed away to do that. However, I think the real truth is that the vampire woman got to him and brainwashed him because he doesn’t remember Quinn and he thinks that I'm his girlfriend.”

  When I finished, he looked as confused as I had felt these past few days. “But there are more important questions to be answered. How did I end up locked in that cave? What happened to you and where is Quinn?”

  “The night you were bitten by that other wolf, we were taking you back to the cave to heal and we were attacked by someone. All I know is that I was knocked out and, as I was coming to, I heard the key drop and could make out a shape leaving. I was locked up and gagged and left in that cave in the dark with a stake in my chest. It wasn’t plunged into my heart so it didn’t kill me, but it did drain enough blood from my body to make me weak enough to not be able to get loose once I regained consciousness. The cuffs they used were silver so I couldn’t break them if I tried, they were searing my skin off with the amount of contact they had with my wrists already.”

  He held his hands up and his wrists were covered in scars of mangled skin that was beginning to heal. Carefully I reached out and touched the skin and then cringed at the thought of how much pain he must have been in.

  “Once I freed myself I pulled out the stake, which is why it took me a while to get back to you. I was still quite weak.”

  He lifted his shirt to show me the hole that was still healing from the stake, I gasped at the size of it.

  “The last thing I remember about Quinn is that he saw someone behind me and said to them, 'it’s you', and then I was hit and that’s the end of my story. I'm not sure how many days I was in there, it was always dark and I had nothing to tell time on, my phone was gone and my hands were bound. I thought I was going to rot in there forever which would've been a horrible way to spend eternity."

  "What do you remember since you were bitten?” he asked as he finished his story.

  I told him my side of the story, from my new claustrophobic tendencies to Quinn’s house being boarded up and everything about Jackie and Will both being brainwashed. I left out the story about their kiss, I was going to let him take in a little at a time.

  “So neither of them remember Quinn? Seems strange don’t you think?” he asked.

  Shrugging my shoulders, I said, “Someone went to a lot of trouble to make it seem like he never existed. I figure they brainwashed Will and Jackie and that they left me in that cave figuring I would die from my wound. And I probably would have if Will hadn’t found me. I'm still not sure how it healed so quickly once I got out, when it seemed to be getting worse.”

  Another question came to mind, “Where was Jackie when all this was going down?”

  He shrugged, “After you had fought with that wolf she took off after it and we didn’t see her again. I wanted to go after her, but I knew she could take care of herself and…” His voice lowered as he finished by saying, “…I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  Well, I hope he doesn’t tell Jackie that he chose me over her, that was really weird, but all I could figure was that it was because I was hurt and we have become closer friends. It was really sweet though, I only hoped Quinn was wrong about him having more than friendly feelings for me. Mitchell seemed to be lost in thought for a few minutes and finally spoke.

  “So, Jackie told you that we broke up because I cheated on her and I left town with my parents?” I nodded and he continued, “I think we need to keep my return a secret, if Jackie and Will have been brainwashed, we can’t assume th
ey can be trusted.”

  We were driving by the diner in town at that moment and, as I looked over, Will and Jackie were outside and he had her pressed against the car in a heavy make-out session. I tried to distract Mitchell, but I was unsuccessful.

  “What the hell?” he shouted. He was angry which is not what my car needed, I sped up and put my hand on his leg.

  “Look, just remember she's not in her right mind, we can’t hold that against her. I should've told you they have a thing going, I’m sorry.”

  Mitchell was fuming and it scared me a bit. He was a vampire after all and I didn’t know what would happen if he lost control.

  His fists were clenched and he had a scary look on his face, I pulled the car over and turned to him, “Get out.” As I said it he looked at me a bit bewildered and I clarified myself, “Get out and release your anger, for your own good.”

  Mitchell stormed into the woods. Limbs, bushes, even trees themselves began flying around. A roar came from the woods that sounded like an angry bear yelling Jackie’s name. Well, guess I don’t have to worry that he has fallen out of love with Jackie; it is obvious his rage is because of unadulterated heartache.

  After a few minutes, he walked back to the car and seemed a little calmer. When he got in, I let out a choking sound that turned into a guffaw of laughter. He was covered in leaves and dirt. He looked at me with anger at first, then I pulled the mirror down so he could see how ridiculous he looked and he broke into laughter. We both sat there laughing hysterically and it felt great because it had been too long since I experienced a feeling like this.

  Mitchell and I decided he would stay at Quinn’s place. Since it was boarded up, we decided it would be the best hiding place for him. We stopped at a convenience store and picked up some necessities for him and stopped by his house and grabbed a suitcase of clothes. When we arrived at Quinn’s, I helped him inside with the stuff and turned to leave.

  As I turned toward the door, he said my name. I turned back to face him. Before I could blink, his arms encased me and he squeezed me against him. It caught me off guard. I stood there with my arms dangling at my sides until he finally spoke, “I'm so glad to see you alive. I had to tell you that. I was worried sick about the three of you and knowing that at least you and Jackie are okay, helps so much.”

  My arms went around him and I rubbed his back. “I'm glad you're okay too, Mitch and glad someone else remembers life the way I do so I don’t have to feel crazy.”

  He stayed to get settled in, I went to get us some dinner. When I came back, he had cleaned the place up nicely.

  I held up the bags of take-out, “Burgers and fries, the food of champions…I know you don’t have to eat, but I didn’t want to eat alone,” I said as I sat out the food.

  “Actually, I've gotten used to eating food to keep up the appearance of being human and being locked in that cave made me miss it. A burger and fries sound excellent right now,” Mitchell said as he was drowning his burger in ketchup and mustard.

  We ate and discussed strategies on how we would find Quinn. Mitchell would patrol while I'm at school and at night we'll go out together and look. I hated the fact that I had to go to school, but I had to keep up facade so people weren’t suspicious. We spent hours that evening making up plans and trying to figure out different scenarios of what might have happened. We tried to avoid the topic of Jackie and Will as much as we could.

  Inevitably, the topic led to Jackie and when it did, Mitchell’s face dropped and he looked as though his world was shattered. I tried to comfort him, but it didn’t seem to be helping.

  “It’s just hard. Quinn has been my best guy friend and I don’t know what happened to him and seeing Will with his hands all over Jackie…that hurt…a lot. I've been missing for days and could've been dead and she didn’t even care. She just moved on to someone else,” he said as he held my hand tightly.

  Teardrops fell from my eyes as he spoke. He looked up at me and wiped them with his hand. “I'm so sorry, Parker. I'm being selfish. I know you're terrified to death over Quinn and I'm just rambling on about my problems…I'm so sorry,” he grabbed a napkin to clean my face. I took it from him and used it to blot my eyes. “It’s not your fault, I'm just glad I have someone I can talk to about this. No one else even remembers that Quinn exists. I miss him so much and all I can do is hope that he's still alive,” I said through gasping breaths of emotion. He embraced me and when I lay my head on his chest, he smelled like Quinn, which made me miss him even more.

  The next thing I remembered was waking up against a cold, muscular chest. At first I thought it was Quinn and I snuggled up closer to him, then I heard him groan and mutter Jackie’s name. I sat up quickly, realizing it was Mitchell. He startled awake when I shook his shoulders.

  He was adorable with his hair was all messy and sticking up in different places. He rubbed his eyes with his fists like a child would do; I was mesmerized by the innocence of his motions.

  “It’s morning, I need to get to school, but I wanted to make sure you were up before I left,” I said as I gathered my things to go.

  Mitchell grabbed my arm as I was leaving. “Thanks for last night, it really helped to have a friend to talk to.”

  “It meant a lot to me too, so no thanks needed.”

  He leaned over and kissed my cheek softly, causing me to blush a little. I walked out the front door and waved with a smile as I headed to the car.

  Driving to school felt like the most ridiculous waste of time. I knew I should be out looking for Quinn instead of putting on this facade. After I had locked the car, I saw Will walking toward me. Great, this is just what I needed. I started toward the front of the school and heard him calling my name. I ignored him. Finally, I just turned around and screamed, “What?!”

  It startled Will for a second but not enough to make him leave me alone. “Geez, Parker, you're always so angry lately. I wanted to apologize for the way you found out about me and Jackie. I didn’t mean for it to happen that way. We just kind of fell in love, we didn’t do it to hurt anyone. Mitchell wasn’t paying attention to her and she felt alone when she was bitten…so…”

  I stopped him before he could go any further, “I don’t want to hear anymore. You and Jackie can have each other. I don’t want anything to do with either of you. And I believe I have plenty of reasons to be upset based on current events.”

  I wanted to get away from school right now, I didn’t really care that Will and Jackie were together except for the fact that they hurt Mitchell. Instead of going to school today, I'm going to get back in the car and help Mitchell patrol. I called my mom and told her I had a migraine and wanted to stay in bed so she called the school for me.

  At Quinn’s place, I ran up the walkway and flung open the door. I screamed and shut the door quickly. I stood outside for a minute with my back against the door. A few minutes later I fell inside the house when the door was opened behind me. Mitchell was above me with jeans and no shirt on and he put his hand out toward me as he laughed at my situation.

  I took his hand and made my way back to a standing position. “I'm sorry. I didn’t know you would be nak…um…undressed…I would've knocked…” I said, stumbling over my words as he continued to laugh at me.

  He grabbed a t-shirt from the couch and slid it over his very defined chest. Wow, I never realized how hot he was. It was like watching one of those TV ads for t-shirts where the guy is slowly pulling the shirt down over each ab individually.

  His voice brought me out of my spell, “So what are you doing back here, what happened to school?” he asked me.

  I turned away, sure that I had drooled. I manage to stutter out, “I…uh…I ran into Will as I was headed into the building and suddenly felt ill. I had my mom call in for me. So I'm going to help you patrol.”

  When I turned back sheepishly, his grin widened and he said, “Good, I couldn’t ask for b
etter company.” He grabbed my hand and took my keys from me. He even opened the car door for me; he's such a gentleman.

  We drove as far as out we could, then Mitchell and I headed out on foot to the woods, we decided to start in a different area than we usually patrol.

  “So, did you see Jackie at school?” He asked. What he really meant was did I see Jackie with Will at school.

  “No, I didn’t even make it inside. Will stopped me in the parking lot and we got into it so I left. Well it was more like he was trying to explain things, translation lie more, and I snapped at him that I was tired of hearing his crap.”

  He nodded. “Look this isn’t working,” he said out of the blue and I stopped, a bit staggered. “We need to split up…we can cover more ground that way.”

  With relief, I said, “Oh, yeah, of course.” His forehead scrunched with confused at my reaction. He seemed to shake it off and he went left and I went right, agreeing to meet up in four hours back at this place.

  Walking through the woods, I wasn’t sure what I was looking for so I started calling Quinn’s name out loud, hoping for a response. Searching for any sign of life, a struggle, something out of place, but there was nothing. I grew tired of walking and sat down against a tree and shut my eyes for a minute.

  The sound of someone calling my name made me open my eyes and see Quinn running towards me. I stood up and ran to meet him. We collided and he grabbed me up swinging me around. “Parker, I thought you were dead,” he said as he breathed in my scent. “I've never been so happy to see someone in my life.”

  He put me down, placed his hands on either side of my face, and kissed me passionately. I was speechless, to say the least, and in shock that he was here.

  “Where have you been…what happened to you…I missed you so much…” I rambled on and on without giving him a chance to answer.

  He chuckled and said, “Your rambling is what I missed the most I think.” We were both laughing now and hugging as tightly as we could.

  I nestled my head against his chest just taking in the moment. “Please don’t leave me again, please” I begged him.

  He ran his fingers through my hair and whispered, "It will be OK." He repeated my name over and over. “Parker…Parker…”

  I opened my eyes and Mitchell stood above me shaking me awake saying my name over and over again. Startled I realized it was just a dream, Quinn was never here.

  Jumping to my feet, I yelled out, “NO…No…where is he?…he was just here.” I ran in circles confused and I stopped as I saw Mitchell’s face and I started to collapse as I said, “It felt so real!”

  Mitchell pulled me against him, he patted my hair trying to soothe me. I struggled against him and fought him with all the strength I had, but his strength doubled mine.

  Finally, I collapsed in his arms in exhaustion and we both fell to the ground together.

  “I'm going to take you back to Quinn’s house. You're not ready for patrolling. You're too emotional for this right now. Quinn would never forgive me if he found you an emotional basket case.”

  I looked up at him and asked, “You believe he's alive, don’t you?”

  He shook his head. “Of course I do, and the thought of you is probably keeping him alive. I know that the thought of Jackie did that for me.” A sad look came across his face.

  He stood up and stuck his hand out to me. We started back to the car and he reached out and took my hand. It felt nice to connect with someone like this right now. My best friend stole what she thought was my boyfriend, my real boyfriend is missing, my other close friend thought he was my boyfriend and he cheated on me with my best friend, is anyone else’s life this complicated and screwed up?

  Mitchell started toward Quinn’s and then veered off in another direction. “Um…where are we going?” I asked timidly.

  He reached over and patted my leg, “We're going to go do something fun. We both need to relax and I know a great place not too far out of town where we can just let loose for a bit. Do you trust me?”

  He wiggled his eyebrows at me and I suppressed a giggle. “Of course.” Once he pulled the car over I looked at the sign of the business we were in front of. “Oh my gosh…are you serious?” I asked. “Laser Tag? I love this, I used to play as a kid with Jackie. Did she tell you?”

  He chuckled, “Of course, she said it was the best way you ever found to relieve stress. She said you brought her here when her mom was sick.”

  At first that brought back some memories that I had to push back out of my mind. I missed Jackie so much and right now if I think about how much I miss her, and Quinn, I will break and I can’t afford to do that. Instead, I am going to focus on how amazing my friend is to want to cheer me up.

  This was awesome; it had been years since I played. This is something everyone should try at some time in life and it doesn’t matter if you're a kid or an adult.

  Mitchell came over and helped me out of the car and he paid for both of us too. We went inside and got all geared up. We put on our vests with targets. Then we were handed a laser gun to shoot people for points while running around a maze in a room full of black lights and neon wall décor.

  He acted goofy by holding a gun and doing lines from Arnold Schwarzenegger movies. The buzzer went off and we took off in separate directions. We were competing against each other in this game and he didn’t know it, but I was going to kick his butt.

  You can pick fun nicknames so we chose for each other and for me he picked Lupita, which was Spanish for little wolf, and I came up with Fangs for him. There were only ten minutes on the clock, but you can get a real workout in that time.

  We took off running and I hit Mitchell first. When you're hit, your vest goes down for ten seconds. So, I took off running to hide before he could retaliate. He got me once his gun functioned again and I screeched and cowered in the corner to plan on how to exact my revenge. When the buzzer sounded to let us, know there were 30 seconds left I went for the big kill. I ran into the center of the room. He must have been hiding to the left because he came running out, shot me, and then tackled me. We rolled around on the ground laughing and trying to catch our breath. The game was over. He helped me up and we turned in our gear. We actually ended up being tied at ten hits each.

  I put one arm around Mitchell’s waist as we walked out. “Whew, Fangs, that was the most fun I've had in a really long time. Thank you,” I said as I stood on my tiptoes and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

  “Me too, Lupita. That was a blast. You're a lot of fun. I could get used to having a gal pal like you.” Mitchell said with a wink as we were getting in the car.

  “I love that name, Lupita, it sounds so cute,” I said as I was buckling. He looked at me and said, “It fits for you because you’re so cute.” He squeezed my cheek like an annoying Aunt would. I cringed and he laughed wholeheartedly.

  Halfway home, he pulled over and ran into a convenience store saying he had to get something for the house. When he came out he had a mixed cherry and cola ICEE in his hand and he brought it to my side of the car.

  “You're freaking awesome! How did you…dang…Jackie and I really are a lot alike aren’t we?”

  His head made a very slight nod and he jumped back in the car, “So, did this help your day end on a better note?”

  Without taking my mouth off the straw, I nodded and grabbed at my head, “Brain freeze!”

  He let out a loud chuckle as we drove off. It’s not hard to see what Jackie sees in him. Mitchell is so very thoughtful and attentive, any girl would be lucky to have him. Unfortunately, the one he wants, doesn’t deserve him right now.

  I dropped Mitchell off at Quinn’s house and headed to my own. My parents would be home soon and I couldn’t let them notice that I didn’t stay home with a headache like I said I had. Luckily, they don’t check on me much at night unless they hear noises, so they had no clue I didn’t sleep at
home.

  Running up to my room I changed quickly into my pajamas and got all comfy in my bed. Hugging my pillow, I fell asleep and dreamed of Quinn again, good dreams.

  My dad woke me up, he wanted to check on me and make sure my head was feeling better. I hated lying to them, but there was nothing else I could do right now. He kissed my head and told me he loved me and shut the door quietly as he headed back downstairs. My phone rang, I looked at the caller ID and it was an unknown number, at first I was going to ignore it, but decided against it.

  “Hello?” I said, no response so I repeated, “Hello? Who is this?” Someone started whispering and I couldn’t understand them. “I can’t hear you, can you speak up?”

  “Parker, I'm so thankful you're alive, it’s me. I need help…please…go to the waterfall…our spot…I love you” and the call ended, I dropped the phone. It was Quinn and he's alive. I jumped up, threw on some jeans, grabbed my jacket and keys and headed downstairs.

  My parents were watching TV in the living room. “Where are you going young lady?” my mom asked.

  “Jackie called me. We've been fighting lately and she wants to see me, so I'm going to go talk with her and get things right again…is that ok?” I asked politely and my parents agreed it was fine and didn’t argue further. I ran to my car, but first I dialed Mitchell to tell him what was going on. He would meet me halfway there. He showed up on the side of the road along the way to the waterfall and I stopped and let him in. Before we took off again, he noticed I was shaking. He opened the door and walked around the car where he made me get out of the driver seat and ride along instead.

  At the waterfall, I got out of the car and ran toward the cave. Mitchell was right behind me. At the entrance of the cave I stopped, scared of what I would find inside. Slowly, I start my way in. When I came to an open room, I saw something lying in the floor. There was a pile of clothes, the ones that Quinn had been wearing that day, the last day I saw him, and they had blood on them…my blood it seemed. I grabbed up his clothes and held them to me.

  Mitchell walked in the cave and I turned to him. “These are Quinn’s…Where is he? Why are his clothes here?” I asked, but Mitchell was as confused as I was and stood there with a blank look on his face.

  We took the clothes with us and headed back to the car. “He should be here, Mitchell. I know that was his voice on the phone. Where is he? Why did he want me to come here and find this?” I asked, with panic in my voice.

  My phone rang again, it was an unknown number. “Hello, Quinn…baby, is that you?” All that came from the other end was laughter, a woman laughing.

  “Are you missing your Quinn baby? Aww…that is so sweet. Oh honey, I'm taking such good care of him for you, believe me. You know, he shouldn’t have called you before. I had to punish him for that…Of course, I kind of enjoyed it so I was glad he was a bad boy.”

  I was angry and scared now. “Who the hell is this and where is Quinn? You better not have hurt him or I'll hunt you down and kill you!”

  She laughed again, “That's so cute that you think you could do anything to even hurt me, let alone kill me. You know who this is if you think about it, and you know that there is no contest between us.”

  My heart raced and my chest was tight. I started to scream into the phone, but Mitchell grabbed it from me and calmly tried to talk to the woman while I walked away to compose myself. My body quivered all over; my hands twisted and my bones cracked. I bit down on my tongue and could taste the blood in my mouth. I filled my head with good memories, happy ones to subdue my anger so I wouldn’t shift. My mind went back to earlier today when we were playing the game and how free I felt, how happy I was during that time.

  Standing there, staring at the waterfall, I began thinking about the first time Quinn brought me here. We made love thinking it may be the last time we ever saw each other. We weren’t sure how the full moon would go whether I would attack him in my wolf form or not. I thought about the story of the blood moon and how he promised we would come back here for another day like that one. Thank goodness things went well that full moon cycle and we were given more chances to be together. Now we were in danger of having that taken away again and this time we couldn’t prepare for it. My phone appeared in front of me; it was in Mitchell’s hand and he was giving it back to me. The call had ended and my chest tightened, scared of what he was going to tell me.

  I stared at the phone at first and finally reached out and took it from him. “What did she say? Where's Quinn and how do I get him back?”

  Mitchell looked distraught, “She wouldn’t tell me where he is, she just kept talking about how she had so many plans for him and that we should stay tuned and wait for what was to come next. She also said her name is Elizabeth…”

  I gasped, “What? As in Lizzy? His best friend, didn’t he tell you about her?”

  Mitchell shook his head. “Not a whole lot about her. I knew his best friend's the one who changed him, but didn’t know her name. Do you think she would really hurt him? I mean, it sounds like they cared about each other so maybe…”

  I cut him off, panic filling my voice. “She blames him for her being changed into a vampire and she told him once that she wanted him to suffer the way she does. She could kill him Mitchell. She may have already done it to punish him for calling me.”

  Mitchell grabbed my shoulders and made eye contact with me. “He's not dead; she let me speak to him for a minute…He's ok and he wanted you to know he loves you so much.”

  I threw my arms around him in elation of that news.

  Chapter Seventeen