The Body Swap (Werewolf High Book 3)

by Anita Oh

  But apparently he had no intention of torturing her. He stopped in the middle of the room, in front of where Hannah was sitting, but when he spoke, it wasn't to her.

  "What would you do with her?" he asked me. "How would you make her reverse the spell on you?"

  I shrugged. "I'd find her father. That's the only reason she's doing any of this. She misses him."

  He gave me a shrewd look, but I glared back at him. I was talking about Hannah, not me.

  "You think it's that simple? That she has no darker motive?"

  I shook my head. Even though Hannah had done bad things, she wasn't evil. Well, some of the fake Facebook updates she'd made were borderline, but nobody had died. She hadn't really hurt anyone, and she could've.

  My father sighed. "I can force you to reverse the spell," he said to Hannah. "It will be painful for you and will damage your magic forever. This is your final chance to do the right thing on your own."

  Hannah flinched away from his voice but didn't reply.

  "Give us a minute, will you?" I told him.

  He joined the others, who were still sitting in the corner. Nikolai was napping, or at least pretending. Althea and Tennyson were talking quietly. Sam watched me sadly.

  "Hey," I said to Hannah, then started unwinding the iron chains from her arms. They gave off a faint sizzle, but her skin was unmarked underneath them. "Look, if anyone can find your dad, it's my dad."

  She raised her eyebrows. "Are you seriously playing good cop/bad cop with me?" Her voice sounded faint and weak, but there was steel behind it. "You know what he is, don't you? He would never help me do anything, and I wouldn't want him to. And what are you? I knew there was something about you, Lucy O'Connor, something odd, but I never expected this." Her face twisted into a smirk. "Oh, well. It probably doesn't matter now, not if you're going to be Tennyson Wilde anyway."

  I shook my head. "Don't do this," I told her. "You're only going to hurt yourself. Not me, not Tennyson. We were friends, don't you remember? We had fun together."

  "It was just part of the plan," she said, but it sounded like a lie, and in that moment I knew I could win her over.

  "It's just like when Ron wore the horcrux for too long," I told her. "Maybe he had valid reasons for feeling how he did, but he'd never have deserted Harry and Hermione if he'd been in his right mind, right?"

  She narrowed her eyes at me. "Are you saying I'm Ron Weasley?" she said. "Because you're the one who's poor and redheaded."

  I smiled at her, because if she was calling me Ron Weasley, then things were looking up. "It's our choices that show whether we're evil and should be left to the devices of my jerkface torture-happy dad," I said, finally remembering something Dumbledorey to say to her.

  "That's not how it goes," she said, but I could tell by the look on her face that she was about to reverse the spell.

  "Dad?" I called, not taking my eyes off Hannah as I motioned for him to bring over the ball of blue power.

  He got to his feet, and Hannah lifted a hand. The ball crackled and spun in the air, gaining in speed and size as it moved toward Hannah.

  But before it could reach her, the entire room was filled with a bright white light, and I could hear a noise — the same noise that had haunted my dreams for years. The sound of screaming, exactly as I had heard it coming from Sam's house the night he had vanished.

  I wanted to move, to run — whether away from it, or toward it, to fight, to protect my people, I couldn't tell. But it didn't matter. I couldn't move. I had no form, no weight. Nothing existed inside that white light except for the screaming.

  It seemed to last both an eternity and only an instant.

  Then it was gone.

  I was sprawled on the floor, and I immediately realized I wasn't in the same place as when the light had appeared. I was in the corner with the others. And I was back in my own body. It felt both right and strange.

  I got to my feet and looked around, wanting to see Tennyson's face, just to be sure. He was staring at me with the same look of wonder, standing in the exact spot where I had been standing just a moment before. In front of Hannah's chair.

  But the chair was now empty.

  Hannah had been taken.

  Chapter 19

  "Where is she?" I yelled, rushing forward.

  My father grabbed me by the arm and spun me to face him. "Lucy?" he said, staring deep into my eyes.

  I didn't say anything, but he must have recognized something in my face that was full of Lucyness, because he pulled me into a strong bear hug, which I was fairly sure he wouldn't have done if he had thought I was still Tennyson Wilde. I was still angry at him; I'd probably never really forgive him, but he was my father, and something deep inside of me identified him as a symbol of refuge and safety. I was so terrified about what had just happened — residual fear left over from what had happened to Sam's family, and actual fear from someone breaking into our secure space, from them taking Hannah away — that I welcomed the relief of that safety, as false as it was. Just for a second, I let myself be fooled by the comfort of that hug. Then I pushed him away.

  "Where is she?" I repeated, looking up into his face. "What happened?"

  "It was the Others," said Sam.

  His voice sounded remote, far away, as if he were speaking from all those years ago, when he had been taken. His face was ashen, and I wondered, not for the first time, how much he remembered from when the Others had him.

  "We have to get her back," I said.

  I had no idea what they would do with her, but from the look on Sam's face and everything I'd heard, it would be nothing good. I had no idea where to even start looking, but I knew we couldn't abandon her. We needed to move, to go now, before we lost all traces of her, all the evidence. I looked around, but there was no sign that the Others had even been there. Everything was as it had been, except for Hannah.

  "No, we don't," said Tennyson. "She was a criminal. Time and time again she cursed us, tried to hurt us and get us to hurt others. Why should we risk innocent lives for her?"

  "She was about to reverse the spell!" I yelled at him. "She was sorry! She just wanted her father back!"

  I could understand that. I'd wanted my own father back, too, until I got him and I realized he was a jerk. Even after everything Hannah had done, we had to find her. If she was going to be punished, it should at least be fair.

  "He's right, Lucy," said my father. "There's nothing we can do for her now. Once the Others decide to get involved, it's all over."

  I couldn't accept that. "What about Sam? He escaped from them. There must be a way." I looked to Sam for support, but he still seemed miles away. "Tell them, Sam. Tell them we have to save her."

  Sam looked at me vaguely, shaking his head. He would be no help to me at all. I looked to Althea, to Nikolai, but they both just seemed shocked.

  "Let it go, Lucy," said my father. "She's as good as dead."

  He was wrong. They were all wrong. They had to be. Sure, Hannah had made some bad judgment calls, but that didn't mean she deserved to be left to die. Everyone made mistakes; that didn't mean they should be abandoned. I pushed away from my father, from them all, and ran out. Out of the room, out of the house, away from them all. I heard someone calling after me, but I ignored them.

  I stumbled as I ran, not yet adjusted to being back in my own body, to the frail humanity of it. I wasn't sure where I was running to until I got to the Red House. Of course. That was where I belonged, not at the Golden House. I was just a girl, a human girl with no money or super powers or anything remarkable. I couldn't rely on being Tennyson Wilde to get me through anything anymore.

  I ran all the way to my room. I was sure Hannah would be there, waiting for me, laughing at how she had tricked us all. It wasn't impossible. She had gotten her power back, after all, so surely it would be nothing to pull a stunt like that. I didn't mind; I'd forgive her for it, for that and everything else, just so long as she would be sitting there waiting for me. We could put on
our pajamas and watch some TV and eat snacks and talk about what a funny, silly time we'd all had.

  But the room was dark and empty.

  Hannah was gone, and she wasn't coming back.

  I crossed the room and lay down on her bed, curling up in a little ball.

  I didn't know what to do. I couldn't find the Others on my own, and nobody would help me. I didn't know what they were, let alone where to start looking for them.

  Milo had told me months ago, back when I'd first gotten to Amaris, that Tennyson Wilde could make people disappear. I hadn't believed him. I hadn't thought that anyone could really disappear, that they could vanish without a trace and nobody would question it. But I knew this wasn't Tennyson's fault. It wasn't really anyone's fault, probably. Maybe it wasn't even Hannah's fault. There was nothing to say that the Others had taken her because of what she'd done. Sam hadn't done anything wrong, and they'd taken him. It seemed like they just took anyone with powers who wasn't protected.

  I shivered. I didn't have powers. I was human; my father had said as much. Even with this weird gene, as long as it wasn't triggered, I was just a normal girl. The Others didn't need me for anything. If only Hannah had been so lucky.

  I don't know how long I lay there, pretending the whole world didn't exist and that everything was fine. Eventually, the door creaked open and someone came in. I thought it would be my dad, or maybe Sam, and I hoped it was because I could yell at them, blame them for everything that had happened, make myself feel better by making them feel bad. They deserved it.

  But it wasn't either of them. It was Tennyson Wilde.

  Neither of us spoke for the longest time. Maybe it was because I'd shared his body and his mind, but I couldn't summon up the same outrage at his very existence that I used to. I couldn't yell at him or blame him. He didn't deserve that from me. It felt strange for his presence to be a comfort, but it was nice for someone to be there, not expecting anything from me. When he didn't speak, he wasn't such a bad guy, I supposed.

  He lay down on the bed opposite me, on my bed, though it didn't feel like mine so much anymore. He held out his hand to me, and I reached across until our fingertips touched. He couldn't share my feelings like he had when we were cursed. He couldn't take away my pain, but it didn't feel all that different.

  "Your father has gone," he told me eventually. "He wanted to speak with you, but I told him to give you some time."

  I nodded, surprised but pleased that he'd known exactly what I wanted.

  "I suppose it's the wrong time tell you that I was right about you not being human."

  He was trying to cheer me up by antagonizing me, and that more than his actual words made me smile.

  "But you were wrong about me being to blame for any of it."

  He shrugged and shuffled a little closer, so that he could link our fingers. "I can't be blamed for being unaware that someone existed with such terrible luck." He smiled at me. He looked like a completely different person when he smiled. "Things will be different for you now."

  I nodded. "For us both."

  We stared at each other in silence until we both fell asleep.

  Chapter 20

  The last week of school was strange. I was back in my old room, back in my own body, but it felt lonely not sharing either of those things with someone else.

  I sat in English class, barely listening as Mr. Porter read aloud to us. It was something long and rhymey, and his reading voice was soothing, so I just let it wash over me.

  Hardly anyone else had bothered to come to class. It was the last week, and exams were done. I knew that most of the Green House had already packed up and gone home, though I didn't know if that was part of their school package or if they just didn't care. I didn't mind either way. It was nice to have such empty classrooms and halls, nobody tripping me or throwing spitballs at me.

  There was a vague feeling niggling at the edge of my consciousness. I didn't want to poke at it because I suspected what it was, but like a sore tooth, I couldn't leave it alone. It was Tennyson Wilde. I could sense him, just faintly. If I concentrated, I could pick up his emotions. Annoyance, mostly, and a little bit of relief. I knew that he'd spoken to his mother and that she was pleased with how the situation had been resolved, so he was probably relieved about that. I didn't know that from sensing it; Althea had told me. She seemed worried about me and kept popping up unexpectedly to check on me. I suspected that part of her just missed having another girl around, and I couldn't blame her, living with those jerks.

  I'd hoped to avoid Sam until I left, but he was waiting for me after class.

  "Don't run away again," he said, falling into stride with me as I walked across the courtyard. "I just want to talk."

  I snorted. "Oh, now you want to talk? Seems like the time for that passed by months ago."

  "Lucy, please." He made a movement as if to catch me by the arm, but thought better of it.

  I couldn't resist him when he turned those big eyes on me, and he knew it. Even though I was still filled with righteous fury, my belly still gave the most pathetic flip-flop. I'd thought that feeling had evaporated with all the body-jumping, but traces of it were still there, though whether it was the dying embers or a lingering smolder, I couldn't tell. He was Sam, and no matter how angry I got with him, I'd always care about him, whether I was in love with him or not.

  We sat down by the fountain, and for the longest time neither of us spoke. I hoped he'd move it along before dinnertime, at least.

  "It was your father who saved me," he said eventually, his voice so quiet I had to strain to hear him. "He was there that night."

  He'd been staring at his feet. Then his gaze flickered up to me, but I didn't say anything. It was my father's jerk move if he'd been at the house next door and hadn't bothered to pop in.

  "He tried to stop the Others from taking me, but there was nothing he could do. They're so strong. He's the one who took me to the duchess, to live with the Wildes. He knew I'd be safe there. He's still looking for the rest of my family. He believes they're alive. That's how I knew how to contact him. He checks in with me to update me on his search. He made me promise not to tell you. He said you wouldn't believe me anyway, but then when you found out about us, I really wanted to. He said if you knew, you'd be in danger, that because of the zero gene, the Others would want you if they knew. And I couldn't let that happen." His voice broke a little, and I took him by the hand. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't lose you too."

  I didn't know what to say to him. I had a thousand questions, but it wasn't the right time.

  "I don't expect you to forgive me," he said. "I know I should've told you as much as I could."

  I didn't tell him it was okay, or that I forgave him, because I didn't know if it was true. I understood his reasoning, but I couldn't trust him. The one thing I'd learned over the entire school year was that the more you trusted someone, the more it hurt when they betrayed you. And everyone, eventually, would betray you. I'd learned that from Mr. Porter, from Hannah, from Sam and my father.

  I had to be more careful in the future, to protect myself and not give anyone the chance to betray me again. I'd been such a stupid little girl when I'd arrived at Amaris, my head clouded up with dreams of what my life would be like, of what a golden future I'd have there, but it hadn't been like that at all. The future was dark and full of monsters, and I had to learn how to fight against them.

  I left Sam sitting there by the fountain. The sun was setting behind him, reflecting off the water of the fountain so that he was almost lost in the red and gold glow of it.

  I turned away from him and headed back toward the path.

  Lucy and the pack will return late 2016 in Werewolf High, Sophomore Year #1: The Soul Bond

  For updates, bonus content and special offers, join the Werewolf High mailing list!

  Acknowledgements

  Thank you to Kathryn for sharing your wealth of knowledge with me.

  Thanks to Carol Davis.

 
; Deranged Doctor Designs, my cover is awesome.

  Hannah, Liam and Morgan, thank you for letting me steal your names. I hope your fictional counterparts can live up to the real thing. Sorry to Hannah and Morgan for making you evil and torturing you a bit, it doesn’t reflect my real life feelings at all!

  Sandy and Laurie, thank you for all your help, support and advice.

  About the Author

  Anita likes dogs, naps, food, and Japanese idol group Arashi. Everything else can be improved when combined with these four things.

  After several years in the warm, comforting cocoon of fandom, Anita has decided to see what’s up with this real world she’s heard about. Judgment is reserved until more information can be gathered.

  Anita lives with a grumpy beagle who bosses her around terribly, and won’t even snuggle.

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  Werewolf High, Sophomore Year #1: The Soul Bond

  Even with all these strange new powers, something is not right. It’s more than being a werewolf, it’s like having a hangover from being stuck in Tennyson Wilde’s body. I’m feeling all these weird feelings and I do not want them! Things only get worse when some of my father’s cronies show up and start making a fuss. It looks like being a sophomore will be no easier than being a freshman!

  Werewolf High, Sophomore Year #1: The Soul Bond is out late 2016 – click here to join the Werewolf High mailing list for news, bonus content and special offers!