The Xoe Meyers Trilogy (Xoe Meyers Young Adult Fantasy/Horror Series)

by Sara C. Roethle

  He nodded, making his blond hair fall forward from behind his ears. “I will protect you.”

  “I don’t want your protection,” I replied defensively.

  “But you need it anyhow.”

  I barely heard my dad’s last statement. A horrible idea had dawned on me. “Lela’s missing.”

  My dad looked at me, obvious surprise showing on his face. “One of your wolves?”

  I nodded.

  My dad nodded somberly. “They’re here then.”

  My palms began to sweat from my nerves. I suddenly didn’t feel safe at all. “What do we do?”

  Chase put a hand on my shoulder. “No one’s going to take you.”

  I shrugged his hand off and turned to face him. “That’s not what I was asking!” I shouted. “How do we find Lela?”

  “Calm down Alexondra,” my dad said flatly. “You will stay here with Chase. I will find your wolf.”

  Before I could argue, my dad strode straight out the front door, closing it behind him. I ran to the door and flung it open, but all that was left was a wisp of smoke and a scorch mark on the gravel. Unable to argue with my dad, I slammed the door shut and stomped to the phone. I picked it up and quickly dialed Lucy’s number.

  She picked up on the first ring. “Xoe?” Lucy’s voice questioned.

  “We think Lela was taken,” I said quickly. “You and Max should come to my house.”

  “Safety in numbers?” Lucy asked.

  “Something like that,” I muttered.

  “I’ll call Max. See you soon.” She hung up.

  Feeling numb, I gently set the phone back in the cradle. Chase was watching me from across the room, still standing where I left him. “We can’t go looking for her,” he said, referring to Lela.

  I shook my head in frustration. “Who said I was going to look for her?”

  Chase raised a questioning eyebrow at me, but said nothing.

  “Okay, okay.” I raised my hands in submission. “So the thought had crossed my mind, but I have no clue where to start looking.”

  Chase sighed loudly. “Where was she seen last?”

  I smiled. “So you’ll help?”

  He grimaced, then nodded slowly. “Just don’t make me regret it.”

  My smile grew. “We have to wait for Lucy and Max. They’ll know where she was.”

  Chase nodded. “We’ll all go there together. I doubt we’ll find any clues, but in the very least Max and Lucy might find a scent.”

  I nodded, feeling relieved to at least have a semblance of a plan. “Sounds good.” Then after a horribly loud growl from my stomach, I added, “You hungry?”

  Chase finally smiled, if a little weakly. “Starved.”

  I went into the kitchen to rummage. Chase came into the kitchen as I was pawing through the few items in our fridge. I took out a cardboard carton of Chinese food and opened it to take a whiff. Satisfied, I handed the carton to Chase and reached in for the others. We zapped them all in the microwave. Then with forks in hand, went to the dining room table.

  We sat, and I grabbed the box of Mongolian beef right before Chase could snatch it for himself. He frowned, then went for the sweet-and-sour chicken. I took my first bite of food and smiled smugly at him.

  “So,” I began around a mouthful of broccoli, “do we have any idea what type of, um, creatures are behind the abductions?”

  Chase shook his head, not looking up from his food. “Obviously someone, or something pretty strong, seeing as they were able to abduct witches and werewolves.”

  “And merpeople,” I added.

  “Yeah, but merpeople aren’t any stronger that regular humans. They just swim faster.”

  I nodded. “Learn something new every day.”

  There was a knock at the door. Chase set down his box of chicken to get up and answer it. I heard the door open, then Lucy’s voice as she and Max came in.

  Lucy entered the dining room first, looking disheveled in blue plaid flannel and jeans, with her hair a staticy mess around her delicate face. She took the chair across from me that Chase had used and slumped down in the seat as if exhausted. She eyed the boxes of Chinese food skeptically, then at my arched eyebrow, started filling me in on the details. “We were all supposed to meet at Max’s house,” she began. “We knew Lela had a job interview this morning, so we didn’t worry at first when she was late. But then an hour went by, and we still hadn’t heard from her. I called her cell phone and a stranger answered. He said he had just found her phone lying in the middle of the sidewalk.”

  Chase pulled out the chair beside Lucy, while Max took the seat to my left. Max was dressed in a bright yellow sweater and his usual khaki cargo pants.

  Chase turned to Lucy. “Did he say where he was when he found it?”

  Lucy nodded. “The phone was outside of Blue Moon coffee shop. He told us he’d leave it inside with the cashier. Blue Moon is right across the street from the bank where Lela was supposed to interview.”

  I pushed away my unfinished Mongolian beef. “Well I guess that’s where we’ll start.”

  “What about that other guy?” Chase asked. “The one who was late for pizza.”

  “Nick?” Lucy responded. “We haven’t seen him since yesterday. We don’t even know how to get a hold of him.”

  I sighed. “Great, just great.”

  We all stood to leave, abandoning the leftover Chinese food on the table. I grabbed my cloth purse and shiny dark brown leather jacket as we walked out the door. Chase locked and shut the door behind us, then fished in his pocket for the truck keys, which he then tossed to me. I caught them one-handed, then noticed the box of Chinese food in his hand. It was my discarded Mongolian beef.

  Noticing my glance, he produced a fork from his back pocket. He put a bite of beef and broccoli in his mouth and chewed slowly with a pleased smile on his face. I laughed despite our dire situation. I just couldn’t help it.

  We all piled into the ancient truck, Lucy squished into the middle of the front seat between Chase and me, while Max squeezed into one of those pointless little fold-down seats that some pick-up trucks have behind the front seat.

  “Whose truck is this?” Lucy asked as we pulled out of the driveway on onto the street.

  “Chase’s,” I answered.

  Chase cleared his throat. “Technically, it’s Xoe’s dad’s truck. He bought it.”

  I turned toward him, almost swerving off the road. “So when you left, you had my dad buy you a truck?”

  Chase had the courtesy to look abashed. “No. I bought it, but I bought it with the expense account your dad allowed me while I’m watching you.”

  I didn’t argue. It seriously chaffed to have to take so much help from my dad, but I would not pout. When life hands you demons . . . well, you get the idea.

  Chase was still waiting for my reaction. I put a pleasant smile on my face. “Well, now that I know that, I know who’ll be paying for stuff from now on.”

  Chase smiled back mischievously and produced a wallet from his pocket, then picked out a blue credit card to hold up. “You’ve got yourself a deal.”

  As I exited onto the highway, I glanced at Max in the rearview mirror. A look of astonishment was plastered on his face. Lucy looked like she had eaten something sour. I realized that a lot had changed between Chase and I in the course of one day. It was nice to have a companion that didn’t ask anything of me, except that he had to stay by my side. My thoughts fluttered to Jason, wondering where he was and what he was doing. I was going to have to make a phone call and get some answers.

  We were nearing the exit that would take us to what I thought of as the pedestrian area of Shelby. The few roads that the area consisted of were populated with coffee shops, bookstores, bars, restaurants, and some random curio shops. There was one large parking lot, and the few other spots were all parallel parking, so most people parked in the lot and walked to their destination.

  I took the exit, then only had to drive another minute or so to
reach the lot. I took the first available spot next to several motorcycles. We all climbed out of the truck and began to walk the three street blocks to Blue Moon Cafe. Though it was only around 5:00 pm, it was also December in Oregon, so the sun was slowly making its descent behind the mountains. There weren’t many people out. Most of the coffee shop goers had gone home, and the bar and restaurant goers were yet to surface.

  First we visited the bank where Lela was supposed to interview, but it had just closed, so we went across the street to the coffee shop, which was open until 9:00. Blue Moon is one of the fancier coffee shops in Shelby, but they scoff at any request for a $1.50 regular coffee, so I almost never go there.

  As we entered the glass double-doors, I was instantly soothed by the warm ambiance and the scent of vanilla and coffee. The upper walls and ceiling were done in a midnight blue, with tiny pinpricks of fiber-optic light scattered everywhere, and the lower walls were an opalescent white. Blue Moon may be overpriced, but you sure have to hand it to them on the décor.

  I walked up to the dark blue countertop to order a cup of coffee and ask some questions. Lucy and Max sat at a table by the window, while Chase came to stand beside me at the counter. A tall young woman with tightly curled red hair, fair, freckled skin, and pale green eyes approached the register. She wore a black polo and a black apron with moons and stars on it that was standard issue for the Blue Moon staff. Her nametag said “Megan”. I didn’t recognize her as anyone I’d seen working there before, though like I said, I didn’t go there often.

  She smiled a little too pleasantly at me, revealing perfectly straight white teeth. “What can I get for you?” she asked in an overly perky voice.

  I couldn’t remember the name of what Chase had gotten us at the mall, so I turned to him to order. Chase looked down at me with an awkward wideness to his eyes, like he was trying to tell me something. He turned back to the woman and gave her a charming smile. “Four tall breves please.”

  “Will that be all?” the woman asked in a sing-song voice.

  “Yes it will,” I answered. “By the way, are you new here? I haven’t seen you around.”

  The woman’s smile faltered around the edges. “Yes, yes I am.”

  I was about to ask about Lela’s cell phone, but Chase kicked my foot in warning. I gave him a dirty look, but didn’t argue as he handed the woman his card to pay for our coffees. I left him at the counter to sign the receipt and joined Max and Lucy at the table.

  Chase waited at the counter while the woman made our coffees, then made two short trips to carry the to-go cups to our table before he sat beside me. After he placed the second set of coffees on the table, he leaned over to me and put his lips by my ear in a strangely intimate gesture. I started to pull away, but then realized that he was trying to tell me something.

  “She’s not human,” he breathed.

  I pulled away and giggled as if he had said something horribly amusing. If she was a werewolf, she’d overhear us if we spoke normally. I leaned toward his ear flirtatiously and whispered, “What is she?”

  He put his arm around me and pulled my ear close to him again. “I don’t know,” he whispered. “Max or Lucy might be able to tell if they’ve encountered the scent before.”

  Max and Lucy had been pretending to ignore us, but with their nearness and werewolf hearing, they had probably heard every word, even with the whispering. Max confirmed my suspicions when he stood and walked up to the cashier. He came back after a few seconds with a little shaker full of cinnamon. Max gave the barest shrug as he sat back down. He hadn’t recognized the scent, which meant she wasn’t werewolf, vampire, or demon.

  Lucy caught my eyes, then glanced back at the counter. The woman had been watching us throughout our exchange. She quickly turned around to busy herself at the espresso machine as soon as I looked at her. I glanced back to my companions, who all nodded. We stood with our coffees and left the coffee shop. As the doors swung shut behind us, I stole a final glance inside. The woman was typing something on a cell phone.

  The sky had almost darkened completely now. There was no moon, making that darkness even more ominous above the streetlights. I huddled in my jacket, suddenly feeling even colder than the weather could make me. Chase hustled us all forward.

  “We need to go,” he said quietly.

  I felt eyes on me. I glanced across the street to see a pale-skinned man with a buzz-cut, dressed in a dark colored suit. He stood watching us from a corner almost out of reach of the nearest streetlight. I suppressed a shudder.

  “You don’t have to tell me twice,” I mumbled as we cut around a street corner towards the parking lot.

  I came to a skidding halt as soon as we went around the corner, right as we came face to face with none other than my friendly neighbor Brian. I quickly managed to close my gaping jaw and recover. Then I proceeded to brush by him without giving him a single extra glance of recognition.

  “Seriously Xoe?” he called from behind us.

  I paused long enough to turn and face him. “Sorry, didn’t know if talking to you might be too weird.” I held up my arms to gesture to the streets around us. “And we’re obviously not behind closed doors.”

  Taking a great deal of satisfaction in Brian’s stunned expression, I turned back around and we continued walking as if nothing had happened. Well I acted as if nothing had happened. Lucy and Max were grinning from ear-to-ear. I wished I could smile too, but I had just caught sight of crew-cut man across the street.

  We walked un-accosted the rest of the way to the truck. I handed Chase the keys, feeling too shaken to drive. We all piled in and let out a shared breath as the truck started and we pulled out of the lot. Lucy had opted for the other pull down seat in the back rather than squeezing in the middle of the front again.

  “Do you see anyone?” Chase asked.

  We all looked out the windows as we pulled onto the street that would lead us back to the highway. The early bar crowd was beginning to pour in, but no one seemed to pay us any mind.

  “I don’t know,” I answered. “Did you notice the guy on the street corner? I think he followed us down the block.”

  Chase nodded. Lucy and Max remained silent. My shoulders eased as we merged onto the highway.

  Max popped his head up amongst us in the front seat. “I didn’t recognize the smell. She smelled like ozone and blood.”

  “Blood?” Lucy asked nervously.

  “Yeah,” Max went on, “and something else I couldn’t quite place, kinda like cinnamon or something.”

  “What do we do now?” I asked.

  Chase spared me a quick glance. “We should call your dad, at least let him know what we’ve found.”

  I nodded to myself. “Okay, we’ll let him know. But after that, what do we do?”

  We were nearing the exit to my neighborhood. Chase was silent. He glanced at the rearview mirror, then sped right past the exit.

  “Umm . . . ” I began.

  Chase sped up. “Someone’s following us.”

  I turned to look out the back windshield as Lucy and Max did the same. We were on the highway, and even though Shelby’s highway is relatively small, there were still several cars in the lanes behind us. “Which one?” I asked.

  Chase glanced in the mirror. “Dark blue minivan.”

  I turned back toward Chase. “Seriously? We’re being followed by a minivan?”

  Chase nodded, then took the exit that would lead us to the abandoned industrial district. I hated the industrial district. It was the place where Lucy had first turned into a werewolf. I hated it almost as much as I hated the graveyard . . . almost. The minivan exited right behind us.

  We reached the two-lane road of the industrial district and began to speed down the dilapidated street. I had a brief moment to wonder why of all exits Chase would pick the traffic-less industrial district, then the truck was spinning in a tight u-turn. The tires came to a screeching halt. A few seconds later the minivan sped right past us. They were go
ing so fast they would have hit us had we simply decided to brake in front of them. Before the minivan could manage to slow enough to turn around, Chase sped back down the road and onto the exit ramp, going the wrong way.

  “What are you doing!” I screamed, frantically holding on to the sides of my seat.

  Chase ignored me, his full attention focused on the road. He picked up even more speed as we approached the highway and oncoming traffic. I cursed silently to myself. We were going to die. The minivan had caught back up, and was following close behind us.

  Chase shot out onto the highway, right in front of a red sports car whose driver held down on his horn until we cleared that side of the highway. Chase eased the truck into traffic, heading back the way we had just come.

  I slowly unclenched my fingers from the seat cushion, and turned to look back at Max and Lucy. Their faces had drained of color, and both held identical, horror-stricken expressions. I turned my attention back to Chase, who was looking out the rear-view mirror with a tense squint to his eyes.

  “Are you completely insane?” I asked.

  He didn’t answer right away. I stole a quick glance behind us. The minivan was nowhere in sight. Chase nodded to himself, satisfied. “I think we lost them.”

  I snorted in disbelief. “Yeah, and we almost lost our lives too.”

  Chase ignored my comment. “My guess is that we just had a close brush with the infamous abductors.”

  “Why were they following us?” I asked.

  Chase glanced at me before taking an exit that would lead us to the larger part of Shelby where Irvine’s pizza was. “Well, they’ve abducted witches, werewolves, and merpeople, so it’s safe to say they have a way of identifying supernaturals. They’ve been picking them off one by one. Now they’ve found four of us together.”

  “Where are we going?” Lucy chimed in.

  Chase took a left turn, then sped up and took a quick right. “I want to make sure no one’s following us before we go back to Xoe’s.”

  “What do we do then?” I asked.

  Chase took another left, leading us farther away from the highway. “We call your dad.”

  “And?” I pressed.