Hidden Realms

by Dean Murray

  Turning my attention away from Max, I asked Jason, “Anything to report?”

  He shook his head. “Not much, we caught Dan’s scent in a few places around the yard, so he’s been here recently, but nothing looked out of place.”

  I nodded. There was a knock at the door. I quickly hustled the boys into the closet, then yelled, “Come in!”

  My mom peeked her head in to see that we were all accounted for and told us goodnight. She closed the door softly, oblivious to our nervous smiles and murmured goodnights.

  Since most of us were going on little to no sleep, we decided to sleep in shifts. Allison, Lucy, and I all changed into pajamas, while the boys chose to remain in the clothes they had worn during the day. I chose to wear a dark purple cami with matching purple plaid pajama pants, as opposed to my usual t-shirt and boxers. I refused to admit to myself that I did it because Jason was there.

  Allison and Jason had first watch. Lucy and I took the bed, snuggling under my fluffy green comforter. Max was left with an orange sleeping bag on the floor. Jason turned on my desk lamp, then turned off the overhead light. I shut my eyes with a silent wish for normal dreams void of fire, and I was out.

  Chapter Thirteen

  I woke up to loud ringing. My alarm clock. That meant it was 6:00 am. When blindly smacking it didn’t seem to quell the alarm’s desire to annoy me, I ripped the cord out of the wall. I sat up, rubbing my eyes and looked blearily around my room. What were all of these people doing in here? My eyes landed on Jason, who had his hand over his mouth, trying not to laugh at me. Oh yeah, Jason, Max, werewolves, vampires . . . I remembered now. Jason managed to cover his smile, but his eyes still shone with humor.

  “Glad to be amusing,” I mumbled at him.

  I looked around to the other people in my room. Lucy and Allison had managed to ignore my alarm, and were still snuggled in bed with me. Max wasn’t so lucky. He struggled out of his sleeping bag and stumbled into the bathroom, shutting the door noisily. I looked back to Jason.

  “I’ll drive you all to school today,” he said.

  I nodded sleepily, and got out of bed to find something to wear. Jason watched me as I shuffled through the shirts hanging in my closet, finally settling on a plain, dark gray tee shirt with a faded Star Wars logo on the front. I was searching for a clean pair of jeans when Max came back out of the bathroom. He walked toward the window, unlatched it, pushed it open, then hopped, and I mean hopped, out of my second-story window. Yeah, I wasn’t getting used to this supernatural stuff anytime soon.

  Jason spared me a final smile then followed Max’s lead. I walked to the window and looked out at the ground. Max and Jason were already out of sight. Too weird.

  I returned to the bed and shook Allison and Lucy awake, much to their chagrin. We all took speed-showers and got dressed. A cold gust of wind from the still open window reminded me to throw on my forest-green hoodie, then I watched Allison while she was putting on her make-up. She was dressed in a sea foam green blouse that was kind of draped in the front, I’ve never known what those types of blouses are called, and a beige mini-skirt with knee high, dark brown leather boots. I asked her if Jason had been the one to keep watch all night.

  “Vampires don’t sleep,” was her reply. Ask a silly question.

  We went downstairs into the kitchen, heading straight for the coffee maker. My mom had left me half of a pot. I filled my travel mug with as much as it would hold, then went to the pantry to find something for us to eat on the way to school. Looked like it was granola bars for breakfast again. I handed one each to Lucy and Allison and stuffed my own into the front pocket of my hoodie.

  We went out the front door to find Jason’s car waiting to take us to school. I snagged the front seat without protest from Lucy and Allison. I could feel them watching and waiting to see how I would interact with Jason. I wanted to stare ga-ga-eyed at him, but wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. Girlfriends . . . can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em. At the moment I was leaning toward without. I contented myself with watching him out of the corner of my eye. He was still in his clothes from the day before, but the t-shirt looked so good on him, that I didn’t really mind. I placed my travel mug into one of the cup-holders and slowly began to unwrap my granola bar, refusing to be the first one to make conversation. Jason put the car in drive, and away we went.

  The short drive was spent mostly in silence. I fiddled with the radio, just for something to do, scanning through the few radio stations that come in clearly in Shelby. As soon as we pulled up to the school, Allison and Lucy practically leapt from the car, leaving me alone with Jason. It seemed a planned move, and probably was. Sigh.

  “What’s the plan for today?” I asked him.

  He turned his attention to me. “I am going to wait around the school and make sure Dan doesn't get to Lucy without me or Max there. I'll pick you all up when you get out.”

  “You aren’t coming to class?”

  Jason smiled and shook his head. “I am not exactly a student.”

  That reminded me of another question I had for him. “How did you manage to register and get into my English class anyways?”

  “I mustn’t reveal all my secrets,” he answered, wiggling his eyebrows at me.

  I gave him a good-natured smirk, then got out of the car with a smile that I simply could not help.

  I went to my first class, and the day went by slowly from there. By lunchtime there was still no sign of Dan. I met up with Allison and Lucy and we sat at our usual table. “Anything to report?” I asked them.

  They both gave me mischievous smiles. “We were going to ask you the same question,” said Allison.

  I gave them wide eyes.

  “What did you and Jason talk about?” Lucy interjected, smiling from ear to ear.

  “We simply discussed the matter at hand, nothing more,” I answered with my nose up. My denial did nothing to dampen their knowing smiles. Time for a subject change.

  I looked at Lucy. “How are you feeling today? Do you feel any . . . different?”

  Lucy thought in silence for a moment, unconsciously straightening her pale purple sweater, then answered, “I don’t know. I keep looking for changes, but I feel pretty much the same. Max said that my senses would increase, but I haven’t noticed. I guess it just takes time. What about you? Have you come up with any ideas about your ‘mysterious origin’?”

  I sighed. “Let’s not even go there. I haven’t had any time to think about it. Even if I did, I don’t see how I’d be able to figure anything out on my own.”

  Allison and Lucy both looked down at the table.

  Allison turned her eyes back up to me. “You could always ask your mom. Maybe tell her you want to track down you dad, just to meet him. All you need is his name. We can track him down and ask him ourselves.”

  I sighed again. “I guess we can try, I doubt my mom will give me his name. She likes to pretend that he never existed. If I would believe it, she’d probably try and tell me that I was a test-tube baby or something. Plus, I’m not really sure I’d want to meet him, even if it was just to get answers.”

  It was my turn to look down at the off-white table. I tried to distract myself by reading the various things that people had carved into the tabletop over the years. I traced my finger over a star that was carved deeply into the wood. Our school was either too cheap to buy new tables, or else they were smart enough to know that the new ones would be carved up within weeks. Curse that teenage angst.

  “So what’s the plan after school today? Another slumber party?” Allison asked, regaining my attention.

  Allison can stay over whenever she feels like it. Her parents don’t really place many rules and restrictions on her. She pretty much does whatever she wants.

  Glad to have the subject off of me again, I answered, “All I know is that Jason is picking us up after school. He said that he was going to try to find out what Dan is up to, so I guess that will govern what our plan will be.”
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  Lucy looked worried. “I don’t think my parents will let me stay away another night, and it’s doubtful they will let anyone stay over either.”

  Hmm, quandary. “I don't know,” I said. “We’ll figure something out.”

  The bell rang. It was time for gym, the one bright spot, besides lunchtime, in my day. Allison and I said goodbye to Lucy then headed to the gymnasium.

  According to Mitch the plan for gym today was a free day. Free day? What the heck was a free day? Mitch’s gym teacher license should have been revoked long ago. Allison was all smiles after Mitch announced that we could do whatever we wanted with our gym period, as long as it was P.E. Related, of course. Allison and I went into the locker room and changed into our gym clothes.

  As we left the locker room we were joined by a suspicious looking Brian. He looked down at me with squinted eyes, “You care to elaborate Ma’m?” he asked me as he crossed his arms, looking very detective-like.

  I answered snarkily, “What are you talking about Brian?”

  He continued, “You know what I mean. What were those guys doing at your house yesterday? Did you suddenly decide to expand your circle of friends?”

  I nodded, smiling sweetly.

  He continued, “No, doubtful, very doubtful. Hmmm, let me guess again. You’re involved in a random conspiracy concerning aliens, and that Jason character is a rogue FBI agent out to reveal the truth to the public. Yep, that sounds a lot more likely than Alexondra Meyers trying to make new friends.”

  Ok, so he obviously was not going to let it go. With a resigned sigh, I explained, “We’ve been having some trouble with that new guy, Dan, and Jason and Max have been hanging around to make sure that he doesn’t bother us, that’s all.”

  Brian looked hurt. “Why didn’t you ask me? I do live right next door, and I should hope that you trust me more than some guy you’ve hardly ever spoken to and some guy you just met.”

  I hadn’t considered that when I fabricated my lie. In an effort to soothe his hurt feelings, I lied some more. “Lucy’s dating Max, so Max volunteered to watch out for us. Max brought Jason along to help out.”

  Allison gave me an ‘are you crazy?’ look. Yeah, so I’m not the greatest liar around. Shouldn’t that be a good thing? I just had to hope that Lucy wouldn’t find out, or I’d be in for a major lecture.

  Brian was not so easily sated, he continued, “Jason seemed awful possessive of you to be just a random friend that Max brought with him. He was practically guarding your heels the whole time I was there.”

  I was out of lies, so I feigned ignorance instead, “Oh, um, I hadn’t noticed.”

  Brian didn’t look like he believed me, but he let it go. I had a feeling that the subject had only been dropped temporarily. Brian grabbed a basketball and looked at me, then nodded toward the unoccupied hoop. Brian and I went to play one-on-one while Allison watched.

  The rest of the day went by too quickly for my taste. I never thought I’d see the day when I would be reluctant to go home from school. The end of the school day meant that our focus had to go back to werewolf matters.

  Allison and I left our last class and headed toward the school entrance to find Lucy waiting just inside the doors, rather than outside like she usually did. I was glad to see that she was being cautious. I linked my arm with hers and the three of us headed to the parking lot to meet our fate.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Jason was waiting in the lot for us, sitting casually on the hood of his fancy-schmancy car. He was dressed in black pants, a charcoal colored wool coat, and a dark blue, button up shirt that brought out the deep blue of his eyes. His hair was in tousled disarray, as usual, contrasting with his clean-cut clothes.

  Jason smiled a crooked smile as we approached. He hopped to his feet to unlock the driver’s side door . . . or so I thought. Instead he walked around to the front passenger side and held the door open, looking at me expectantly.

  Huh? “What, am I driving or something?” I asked.

  “No, I am.” He just stood there smiling.

  I stared at him dumbly. Jason sighed and gestured with his hand to still empty passenger seat. I walked slowly toward the car and stood to face him, still not understanding . . . okay, so maybe I’m a little slow at times. He stepped back from the door and continued to smile at me, though there was a hint of nervous impatience in it now. I turned my back to him and slid into the car tentatively. He gently shut the door behind me and went back around to the driver’s side.

  Lucy and Allison had both slid into the back seat during the exchange. I looked at them to find wicked grins plastered across their faces. I would never hear the end of this. Never.

  Jason slid into the driver’s seat and shut his door behind him. He looked quite pleased with himself, the nerves gone. I wasn’t sure if the act of chivalry was sincere or if it was a joke. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

  Jason started the car and pulled out. We drove in silence in the direction of my house. Playing my usual role of awkward silence-breaker, I asked Jason, “Did you find anything out today?”

  He spared a quick glance away from the road for me, then turning back, answered, “I couldn't detect any sign of Dan. His scent is all over town, but it doesn't lead anywhere away from Shelby. My guess is that he either drove out of town, or is hiding somewhere. I'm leaning toward the latter. He does not intend to leave without Lucy.”

  Allison leaned her head between Jason and me, honey blonde hair hanging forward over her shoulders. “So what? We just have to wait for him to come get us?”

  Jason kept his eyes on the road while he answered, “Max is out trying to pinpoint Dan’s hiding place. I will be staying with the three of you in case he tries to come for Lucy.”

  I crossed my arms and pouted. “Why do you get to be the one to stay with us, while Max has to traipse all over town?” So maybe I was a little grumpy about the stunt Jason had pulled with the door. Can you blame me? I still wasn’t sure whether or not he was playing a joke on me.

  He gave me a slightly offended look. “Max has a much better sense of smell than I do, and I have a much better chance of protecting you against Dan than Max does.”

  Couldn’t argue with that logic, though I wanted to.

  We pulled into my driveway and got out of the car.

  “Where’s your mom?” Lucy asked me.

  “I forgot that she’s off doing some study on birds in Washington today, luckily, so we don’t have to worry about coming up with another excuse to have everybody over.”

  I walked to unlock the door and Jason came to stand next to me, first in line to go inside. He insisted on going in ahead of us in case Dan was waiting in ambush. He walked in and started checking all of the rooms for any sign of foul play.

  I walked into the kitchen, leaving Allison and Lucy in the living room to watch TV. My mom had left money for pizza on the kitchen counter with a note that said as much. The note also specifically stated that I was not to have boys over while she was gone. Too late on that one. Ah well, as the cliché goes, what she doesn’t know, can’t hurt her. The list of things that I had to hide from my mom seemed to be growing exponentially of late. I felt a little sad about that. I was used to sharing almost everything with her.

  I grabbed the portable phone out of its cradle on the wall and called Irvine’s to order two extra large pizzas: one pepperoni, and one mushroom. Jason walked into the kitchen behind me as I was hanging up the phone. I looked away from him and noticed that the potted African violet in the window looked a little dry. I grabbed it off the sill and put it under the faucet to give it some water, ignoring Jason’s presence.

  “All clear?” I asked, not looking up. I saw him nod out of the corner of my eye, watching me with his arms crossed. “What?” I asked grumpily, setting down the plant and looking directly at him.

  “Did I do something wrong? You seem . . . hostile.”

  Sighing, I asked, “What was that stunt with the door about? Did you do it just to em
barrass me?”

  Jason looked taken aback. He stared at me wide-eyed for a moment before answering, “Isn’t that what a guy’s supposed to do, when, you know, he’s trying to woo a girl?”

  Woo? He was trying to woo me? I was too amused to remain angry. I tried to contain my laughter and failed. “Um, not that I’ve ever been wooed, but I’m perfectly capable of opening my own doors. Who gave you permission to woo me anyhow?”

  He looked at me with a stubborn set to his jaw. “Well I am sorry that you have never been wooed, but it has been a very long time since I have done the wooing. I cannot be expected to get it right on my first try.”

  I started laughing again, there was just no holding it in. Jason crossed his arms and tried to stare me down with a petulant look on his face. I kept laughing. When he began to realize the ridiculousness of the situation, he let that crooked smile of his slowly appear on his face, then he began to laugh along with me. Soon we were both laughing so hard we couldn’t breathe.

  “What is going on here?” Allison interrupted. She had walked into the kitchen to stand in front of Jason and me with her arms crossed, tapping her foot on the tile floor like an angry parent.

  “Woo!” I exclaimed, tears streaming down my face, doubling Jason’s and my laughter. Allison made a noise of exasperation and walked back into the living room with her hands in the air. Our laughter began to slowly die down, and we were left grinning at each other.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “It was a very nice attempt at wooing.”

  “Oh, no,” Jason replied sarcastically, “there is no salvaging it now.” He turned and walked out of the kitchen toward the living room, still grinning.

  I stayed in the kitchen a minute longer, trying to control the smile on my face. Mustn’t get feelings for the vampire. Yeah Xoe, keep telling yourself that.

  I looked out the window and caught sight of Brian, clothed in gray sweats, getting home from football practice. He had to walk home just like us other unfortunates without cars. He paused in his driveway, noticing Jason’s car parked in my driveway. He gave the car a less than friendly look and went into his house.