by Бри Деспейн
Dad pushed me back. "Get away, Gracie." "But--"
"Go to your room!"
And suddenly I was being pushed up the stairs. I couldn't see anything beyond my mother's body and her shoving hands.
"Room, now. Stay there."
I ran to my bedroom and pushed up the blinds. I couldn't see the porch or anything that was going on with Jude. But something else caught my eye. It was something white yet shadowed in the full moon's glow, crouching under the walnut tree, watching what I couldn't see on the porch. I squinted, trying to make out what it was, but it receded into the shadows and vanished.
"I'm sorry," the darkness whispered, cutting off the forgotten memory in my head. It was one of those phantom voices from so long ago. It was too far away and I tried to reach for it, but something bound me tight--I couldn't remember what.
"I'm sorry, Don," the phantom said.
The voice was followed by a thump, a metallic clink, and half a gasp. The bands that held me fell away, and I felt the rushing of wind, then hardness under my back, and warmth pressing over my lips.
Sweet air filled my mouth, my lungs. The misty darkness retreated from my brain. My eyelids felt heavy as I forced them open.
Daniel stared back at me, his eyes black with anger.
"You didn't stay home," he growled.
I coughed and tried to push myself up off of what felt like a table. But my head was as big as a semi truck, so I rolled on my side instead to look at him. He seemed more afraid than angry.
"You didn't tell me you bit my brother," I replied.
A FEW MINUTES LATER
"Is Don okay?" I rubbed the sides of my sore jaw as I lay on an art-room table. The pulsing of the music from the gym mingled with the pounding inside my head.
Daniel paced in front of the window behind Barlow's desk. He hadn't looked at me since I'd asked about my brother. "I only knocked him out. He'll be fine soon."
"Only knocked him out?" I said. "And what about Pete? Did he look dead to you?"
"Pete?" Daniel looked back at me. "Pete wasn't there."
"Oh. That's good, I guess." Pete may have run off and left me to fend for myself, but I was still glad he wasn't dead. I fingered the broken strap of my dress. Bruises formed under my skin. "Pete attacked me... He did this to me."
Daniel's hands locked into fists. "I thought I could smell him all over you." His eyes went blacker than before. "Good thing he wasn't there, I would have--"
"Don beat you to it. Stabbed him in the side with his silver knife. He thought Pete was the monster and kind of lost it when he realized what he'd done."
Daniel nodded like the scene he'd come upon finally clicked. "I sensed more anguish in him than malice."
I sat up. Little flashes of light swam in front of my eyes. "Why didn't you tell me my brother is the monster?"
Daniel turned to the window. "Because I wasn't sure myself. I don't remember biting him. I tried to deny that I could have done anything like that until the day James went missing. That was Jude's blood on the porch--but it didn't smell normal, his scent was confused."
"Because he's a werewolf?"
Daniel gazed out the window at the full moon hanging over the parish next door. He brushed his moonstone pendant. "He's not a werewolf. Not yet anyway."
"But he hurt those people. That was him, wasn't it? Wouldn't that turn him into a full-blown werewolf? A predatory act?"
"Not if they were already dead when he found them. Maryanne froze to death. Jessica must have died from something else--overdose, maybe. He must have mutilated their bodies somehow, making it look like a wolf attack. Violence against common animals doesn't count. That cat that turned up dead was just for show. And he didn't intend to kill James. He just wanted to scare people."
"But how could he do those things? How could he take Baby James? Didn't he know James could have gotten hurt or worse? James would have died if it weren't for you."
"It was the wolf, Grace. The wolf hasn't taken him completely over yet, but it has enough control to influence his actions. It feeds off his emotions. The stronger the emotion, the more hold it has. Each time he did something was after we were together. ..."
"He knew that you fixed my car on Markham," I said. "And somehow he knew I was at that party at your place. He knew that Jess was there, too. Do you think he followed me, followed my scent?" I rubbed my eyes--they still didn't want to focus quite right.
"Jess was so wasted," I went on. "Maybe he found her. Maybe the wolf made him do something to her body and then he planted it somewhere, but no one found it." My stomach churned when I pictured my brother with her mutilated corpse. "And he was at the market today. He must have seen us together, and with all those rumors Lynn was spreading ... Pete said it took Jude three hours to pick up the corsages." My throat closed in an involuntary gag. "Do you think he went to the city to retrieve the body--to plant it where you work?"
Daniel nodded. "Here's the crazy thing, Grace. He probably doesn't remember doing any of those things. He's probably only aware that he's been losing minutes, even hours of his life. But he doesn't know what he's done. He really believes I'm. the monster."
"And he thinks he has to stop you."
Daniel stiffened. He stared far out the window. After a moment, I heard it, too: police sirens blaring toward the school.
"Jude wants to kill you," I said.
Daniel backed away from the window. "Then the police are the last of our worries."
"We have to find Jude." I swung my legs over the side of the table. "He's here looking for you. We need to go find him first." I felt stronger now so I tried to stand.
Daniel pushed me down. "We aren't going anywhere. You are staying here while I go look for Jude."
"Like hell I am." I got right back up. "Stop telling me what to do."
"Grace, this isn't a game. Just stay here."
"But what if he finds me first?" I asked, trying a new tactic, "What if he goes home? Charity's babysitting James. They have no idea what's happening to Jude. What if he tries to hurt them, too?"
Daniel rubbed his hand across his face. "So what do you think we should do?"
"Take me with you. We have to find Jude. We have to get him away from all these people. If he sees us together, then we can lead him away from here." Then what, I had no idea. "Maybe I can calm him down. If only we had another moonstone." I looked at his pendant. "Could you ... ?"
"No, Grace. Not tonight. Not under the full moon. I don't know if I could control it--not with you even in the same county." He gripped the pendant between his fingers. "I might destroy everyone."
"Then there has to be another way."
Multiple sirens blared into the parking lot. There was more than the sheriff and deputy on their way. The city police from the crime scene must be coming, too.
"We need a plan," Daniel said.
Car doors slammed outside the window.
"There's no time." I grabbed his hand, and we ran out of the room.
The echoes of our footsteps were lost in the music as we got closer to the gym. The dance seemed like the most logical place to start looking for Jude. I didn't know who had called the police--Pete? Don?--or who exactly they'd be looking for; all I knew is once they entered the dance, we'd lose our chance to get Jude away from everyone else.
Daniel pushed open the gym doors. Red and green streamers reached across the room in a zigzag pattern. Balloons hobbled in the air. A strobe light bounced off the dancers, who twirled and swayed to the music--- completely oblivious to what was going on. How we'd be able to pick out one person in this din seemed impossible.
We slipped inside the gym, and T hugged Daniel to me, linking my arms around his neck so it looked like we were dancing, quite intimately.
Daniel stared down at me. He raised one eyebrow.
"My dress is a mess."
Daniel, clad in jeans and a white shirt, stood out enough in a room full of suits and slacks, but we definitely wouldn't be able to search for my bro
ther incognito if anyone noticed my bruises or Pete's blood smeared across my white dress.
Daniel wrapped his arms around my waist. And for a fleeting moment, I felt safe to be in his strong embrace-- like it was a promise that everything would turn out the way it should.
Daniel rested his chin on my shoulder. I heard him inhale deeply, holding the breath in the back of his throat, mulling it for tastes. The room wafted with so much sweat and perfume, could he really pick out one person's scent? Daniel lifted me off my feet and twirled us toward the center of the crowd. His movements were lithe and graceful, navigating us through the other dancers without disturbing anyone. For a second I forgot to breathe--forgot why we were even here.
"There," Daniel whispered into my ear.
I followed his gaze. I could see the top of a dark, disheveled head moving beyond the wall of dancers, following Daniel and me as we glided across the room toward the locker-room doors.
"We just need to keep him following us," Daniel said. "Get him out of here before--"
The music stopped and the lights flipped on. We halted as the crowd came to a standstill.
"May I have your attention?" Principle Conway said from a microphone near the DJ. "Please, stay where you are. Stay calm. There's been a crime near the school. The police are locking us down until they have the situation under control. No one will be allowed to leave..."
Cries of concern went up in the crowd as uniformed officers moved toward all the exits. Someone shouted and stumbled, as if she'd been knocked aside. Her cry was followed by the clanking of one of the metal exit doors as it swung open and shut. Three officers ran to the door, shouting. The dark head that had been following us was no longer in the crowd.
Daniel cursed. "That was an outside exit."
He looked at the door to the men's locker room. The guard there was distracted by the commotion. Daniel swept me up in his arms. He flew at the door and knocked the officer flat before he even knew we were there. Daniel whipped the door open and lunged into the locker room.
"Stop!" someone shouted behind us. "Freeze!"
Daniel jumped on top of a bench. He grabbed an open locker door, used it to launch us up on top of the row of lockers, slid across, and landed on a bench on the other side. He bolted down its length, and jumped to an exit that led us into a long corridor. He ran, holding me to his chest. Shouts filled the corridor behind us, and then ahead of us around the corner. I heard the buzzing of police radio static. Daniel skidded into a stairwell entrance and lunged up the stairs. Up and up we went until we made it to a heavy-looking door marked roof access . Daniel kicked it, the lock crunched, and we burst through the doorway into night.
Daniel took in a deep breath. The air had chilled since I was last outside. Clouds smothered the moonlight. A storm was coming.
Voices echoed way down in the stairwell. Daniel hitched me up in his arms.
"What are we going to do?"
"Hang on!" He squeezed me tight and sprinted toward the edge of the roof--running at his full speed toward open air. Before I could cry out, he jumped off the edge, sailed over the alley where Don had stabbed Pete, and landed with a thud on the parish roof. Daniel wrapped his arms around me, protecting me as we rolled on impact across the sloping roof. He scrambled to his feet and pulled me with him up and over the apex of the roof. We crouched behind the steeple. I started to speak.
Daniel held up his hand. He waited, listening. "They think we doubled back," he whispered. "You can hear them?"
Daniel gave me a duh kind of look. He listened for another moment. "They've lost Jude, too. Someone saw him running toward Day's. They're sending a squad car back there."
"Or is he heading home?" My heart pounded so hard I thought it might burst. "We have to find a phone. We have to call them. My dad calmed Jude before ... maybe ...
I don't even know if Dad's home yet. I haven't seen him all day."
"He's not home." Daniel ducked back, pulling me with him. A second later, an officer walked through the alley below us. "He's probably somewhere over Pennsylvania by now," he whispered.
I stared at Daniel.
"Your father is on an airplane." Daniel stood when the officer was out of sight. "You were right. We do need another moonstone. Your father is trying to get one."
"From where?"
"From Gabriel. Your father tried to contact him after Thanksgiving, but the colony doesn't exactly welcome intrusions from the outside world. They don't own cell phones or anything like that."
"Welcome to the club," I mumbled.
"Your dad sent several letters, but there was no reply. When he got those blood-test results, he took the first flight he could get."
"So my father knows about Jude?" That made sense. "Why didn't he tell me? Why didn't he tell Jude?"
"He wanted to wait until we had another moonstone. He thought if Jude knew what was happening, he would only change faster. Your father came to see me before my shift ended at the market. He asked me to keep an eye on things while he was gone." Daniel bowed his head. "That was a mistake. I should have been the one to leave."
I grabbed his hand. Here was exactly where I needed him to be. "Jude might be headed home. Charity and James are in danger, and if Dad's not here, then I don't know what--"
"We can run there."
"No. If I'm wrong, we could lead him right to them." I slumped my shoulders. "I don't know what the right thing to do is. I don't know where we go from here."
"Jude's scent is in the air. It's more confused, though. I can't tell where he is. I don't know if he's just been here or if he's nearby." He squeezed my hand. "There's a phone in your dad's office. We can call Charity. Tell her to get to a neighbor's house or something. Maybe we can call the airport, too. Leave a message for your father as soon as he lands."
The clouds parted slightly, and a sliver of moonlight shone down on us. Daniel inspected the scrapes across my knuckles. I was scraped all over from tumbling across the wood roof shingles. His eyes glinted too bright as he kissed my wounded hand.
He shuddered and backed away against the base of the steeple. He held his moonstone against the hollow of his neck. "Just give me a minute," he said softly, and closed his shimmering eyes. "It'll be okay."
"That's what you think," a voice snarled behind me.
Chapter Twenty-seven fall from grace
SECONDS LATER
"I knew you were here." Jude teetered on the apex of the roof. He walked across it like it was a balance beam, closing the distance between us. "I don't know how. I just did." His eyes seemed so black yet bright in the dim moonlight. "Kind of a fortuitous place to end this, don't you think? It's like God led me here."
"God isn't what led you here," Daniel said. "Think about it, Jude. Think about what you taste and smell. Think about what you feel writhing inside of you."
Jude laughed. "God led me to this, too." He pulled something from behind him. It was Don's knife, still stained with blood. "It was just lying in the alley, waiting for me."
He turned it in his hand and watched the moon glint off its tip. "Do you know what this is made of? It's silver. It's what can kill you."
"Jude, please." I moved in front of Daniel, balancing myself with the base of the steeple. "Please stop."
Jude looked at me, stumbled, and almost fell. He took in the sight of my bruises, my torn and bloody dress, and his hard expression crumpled into a look of concern.
"Gracie, what happened?" His voice was soft and childlike. He took a step toward me, his hand held out. "Gracie, what's going on?" He sounded so frightened, so confused.
"Jude?" I reached for him.
Daniel grabbed my shoulder. "Don't."
My fingertips brushed Jude's. "I'm here," I said, and took his hand.
Jude's eyes shot with silver light. He wrenched me out of his way and flew at Daniel.
I fell against the shingles. I steadied myself and looked up just as Jude grabbed the front of Daniel's shirt.
"What did you do to m
y sister?!" Jude roared into Daniel's face.
Daniel bowed his head.
"Nothing," I said. "Daniel did nothing."
"Don't lie for him." Jude's body heaved with heavy breaths, but he kept the knife at his side like he was afraid to lift it.
"Pete did this to me ... because you told him to do whatever it takes."
"What?" Jude turned slightly. "No ... that's a lie. He's confusing you. He's getting you to lie for him even though he hurts you. The Bible warns about people like him--ungodly men who feast on your charity and turn grace into lust. That's what he's done to you, and I'm the only one who can see it. He's a monster."
"No," I said. "You're not a saint, Jude. You're the monster here."
Jude shook his head. "How can you defend him? How can you love him? You know what he did." He shifted closer to Daniel. "You left me," he said to him. "You were my best friend. You were my brother--and you left me there to die!"
Daniel's head bowed lower, resigned.
"No, he didn't," I said. "I saw him."
Daniel glanced up. The moon was bright in his eyes, and it illuminated his pale skin. I imagined it setting off his once white-blond hair like it did when he crouched under the walnut tree in my memory of three years ago.
"I saw you that night," I said to Daniel. "You brought Jude home."
Daniel opened his mouth a bit. He closed his eyes and breathed out a tiny sigh. "I did?" "Yes."
Daniel looked up at the night sky. "Oh, God," he whispered, like it was a prayer of thanks.
Jude stepped back. He loosened his grip on the knife.
"Jude," I said. "It's okay. Daniel helped you get home--"
"No!" Jude clenched the dagger. "No more lies! He's a monster, not my savior. He hurt Maryanne. He killed that girl. He tried to steal James. He's defiled you. I have to stop him before he destroys our entire family." He lifted the knife.
"You hurt those people," Daniel said. "You did it. And if you don't stop right now, then you'll turn into the wolf just like me."
"Shut up!" Jude smacked him across the face with the butt of the knife, leaving a long, burnlike welt on Daniel's cheek.
Daniel grunted. "I will not fight you."