Pack Bound

by Holly Hook

  And I smell nothing of Cayden.

  Makeup, however, flows through the air. Olivia's home and I pick up no other scents. She seems to be alone, which is unusual on a Friday night.

  I dump my grocery bag of clothes near my jacket. I could run back to my house as a wolf, but there's the chance Aunt May or worse, Cayden, could smell me since I must run around the outside of town to get back. So the worst happens here.

  Climbing the fence proves hard, but not impossible. The rails are smooth, designed to allow no foothold, and my bare feet freeze as I curl my toes around them. But my arms pull up my body weight without a problem, and if I tried in gym class, I'd be able to do a hundred pull-ups without an issue. In just thirty seconds, I find myself at the top of the fence, balancing between two spikes with my hands on both. Jumping to the ground, I land with a soft thud.

  A single light is on inside Olivia's house: one on the second floor. Her bedroom. I walk over across the back yard and past the pool, which is drained and covered. The area reeks of algae and moss. It hasn't opened this summer and maybe not once for the past several years.

  If I knock on the front door without requesting the gate opened first, Olivia will suspect the worst. She'll call the police and say someone climbed the fence, and she'll be right. So instead, I vault over the fence separating the pool area from the rest of the property and grab the handle of the back door. With a tug, I break the lock and pull it open. It's not as sturdy as the doors in the hospital.

  I step into a back hallway and pass a small, dark bathroom. The house is quiet except for the humming of a fridge in the kitchen and the impatient ticking of a clock.

  Upstairs, Olivia talks.

  I freeze.

  "I'm not going with Matt," she says. "He canceled it, not me. Stop blaming me, okay?"

  Silence.

  Then she speaks again. "Look, the selfies won't happen. If you're so crazy about it, you go out with him."

  She's talking on her phone upstairs. Alesha or Tiffany. They're fighting. Olivia has dared to break the mold. It might be the reason she's not out with them tonight.

  But I smell no Cayden or anyone else. If he were here, he would have detected me already.

  "Yeah. I know. Matt's being weird," Olivia says. "But I have someone to go with now. And yes, it's him."

  My chest hurts and another lump forms in my throat. I suppress the urge to run up there and confront Olivia. But I can't until she's off the phone.

  "Matt's what?"

  I don't care about Matt. The farther I stay from him, the better.

  "Great. But I think it'll be fine. No, Alesha can't tell people yet." She sighs. "I've got to go. And no, Matt won't harass my date."

  A pause.

  "Yes, my mom's gone like she always is, and no, I'm not having anyone over tonight." A beep follows. Olivia has ended the call.

  I stalk across the kitchen and up the stairs. The closer I get to Olivia, the more the tug to transform vanishes. The instinct shrivels at the thought of walking up to Olivia and showing her the worst. I'll take her phone and force her to listen to me.

  The carpet in the upstairs hallway keeps my footsteps silent. Olivia's door waits at the end of the hall, and I pause and listen. She sighs as her finger scrapes the glass of her phone. My old enemy has no clue there's an intruder outside her door. I adjust my sweatshirt and workout pants before I pull the door open and step into a room I haven't seen since junior high.

  Olivia's space is purple, and I glimpse a poster for Cats as I stride across the room to her canopy bed. Olivia's sitting against her headboard and she smells faintly of Cayden. She looks up at me, and her jaw starts dropping as I snatch her phone from her hand, open the drawer to her neat computer desk, and shove it inside.

  "B...Brie?" she asks.

  I know what she must be thinking. I'm the jealous ex here to hurt her. "You might not believe me, but I'm not here to hurt you," I say.

  "How did you get in?" she asks. Then her eyes widen. "Is this a joke you and Cayden are playing on me? Did he let you in when he left?"

  My breath catches. Cayden was here. Then I realize what she's asking. She suspects Cayden's faking her out. And as I study her neck, I see it's bare. Olivia hasn't given in yet. And she's right to be suspicious, which will only force Cayden to up his act.

  My heart races. "The silver pendant is from me."

  Olivia grabs her pillow and scowls. She throws it at me, and I let it hit me in the face. "It's a setup. I should have known. I thought it looked familiar." She picks her casted leg up with her hands and scoots it to the end of the bed. Adrenaline fills the room. "I was right to kick you out of my yard. My family has money and we're going to make sure you pay for this." Her voice goes hollow with the last line. She's in doubt.

  "No, you don't. Olivia, listen to me. I'm not trying to hurt you. I gave your mom the pendant to give to you because you're going to need it in a couple of days and probably for the rest of your life. Cayden's only trying to get you to put it on by saying it's from him. We're trying to help you and I'm sorry it's happening in such a crappy manner." Even Olivia doesn't deserve to have her hopes raised and dashed.

  Like me.

  "Help me? With what?" She pulls her leg over again. Noah's name is on the heel of her cast, written in a large, boxy print with a blue marker. Olivia eyes her crutch leaning against her closet door. She wants to hit me with it and I don't blame her. I broke into her house and it's her right.

  "Don't move," I say, reaching for the animal within. I won't want to kill her yet, right? She's not a Savage Wolf and doesn't smell like one. "Let me explain. Those wolves who attacked you were werewolves."

  Olivia pauses, hand in midair. Her fingers point at her crutch. "Excuse me? Werewolves?"

  "There are good werewolves and bad ones," I say. "And one of the bad ones might have infected you. The full moon is Sunday. The pendant I gave you is silver and it can stop you from turning so that's why we're trying to get you to put it on. Just wear it, Olivia, and never take it off again. You'll stay normal for the rest of your life so long as you don't take it off. It's pure silver and can save you."

  Olivia's jaw falls again. "What?" She looks at me as if I'm a freak. "Do I need to call the mental hospital on you? My mother can give you a good reference. And the police will want to know about you breaking into my house."

  "You held onto the pendant," I say.

  "I thought maybe it was from—never mind," Olivia says. "I don't know what to think anymore. Get out of my house and leave me alone!"

  "Not until you agree to put on the necklace and keep it on. We can't have you turning and attacking people. The bad werewolves want to infect more people in Breck and ruin this town and they're doing it by making new werewolves. They even stole your medical records from the hospital to see if you're infected."

  Olivia pales. Even her purple lipstick seems to lose a shade. "How do you know about that? And werewolves aren't real."

  I grip the computer desk. She's leaving me no choice but to prove her otherwise.

  I reach for the tug, and I search and search, but there's nothing but a scared, embarrassed Brie within. So I grit my teeth, tensing, as Olivia scoots back against her headboard.

  The animal inside stirs.

  I grab on and pull.

  Pain explodes through my limbs as my muscles seize, going into spasm as Olivia's room spins, tilts, and grows. The cracking and popping of my bones eats everything, leaving agony for the eternal two seconds. My sweater falls over my face and blocks my view, but scents intensify and I wiggle out of the baggy clothes, now in full wolf form, and face Olivia.

  Her eyes widen.

  And then she emits a high-pitched, terrified scream. A wave of metallic terror enters my lungs, choking out even the makeup.

  Olivia screams again and again.

  And then she chokes and manages two hoarse words: "Get out!"

  I turn and run, leaving her with the truth.

  Bolting down the sta
irs, my nails click across the kitchen floor as I dart for the open back door and into the night. Bounding across the yard, I wonder if Olivia's watching me go.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  "You can be a lot more menacing than that."

  Mr. Saffron shuffles through the gymnasium the next day, during "rehearsal." He stops in front of Cayden's table and locks gazes with him. I watch as Cayden shrinks back, test tube in hand.

  He has no clue what I did to Olivia.

  We haven't spoken since our argument.

  I man the table across from Cayden. It turns out Mr. Saffron and the dance crew expect us not only to patrol around the parking lot, but to serve refreshments, too. We hadn't known about that part.

  And Cayden and I stand across from each other. He's the mad scientist and I'm the witch.

  Cayden adjusts his lab coat. "Sorry," he mutters, keeping his gaze off me.

  I want to tell him he doesn't have to worry about Olivia anymore and that he can find happiness again. But the dance crew—mostly the Key Club and volunteers from the nerdier side of the spectrum—mill around and hang decorations from the walls of the gym. Two janitors push the bleachers out of the way while the guys who manned the lighting crew for the play mess with wires. The gym's a flurry of activity. The dance happens in just twenty-four hours.

  Cayden's feet away and we can't even talk.

  But if I tell him I shifted in front of a human—

  Olivia's infected. That might not count. She deserves the truth.

  But if I tell Cayden, not only might he get angry, but he'll feel worse about himself and my situation.

  "A crazy accent would help," Mr. Saffron says, checking his watch. "And while you pour that punch from one vial to the other."

  I eye the cookies under plastic wrap on my table, in the shape of cats, ghosts, and...wolves. A paper sign will tell everyone they're made from brains or something. My costume itches in the back and I pull at the big black dress which hides my form. It's as if the dance crew wants no one to find the volunteers attractive.

  Cayden lifts a vial of kool-aid. We're not rehearsing with the actual punch. "And I need volunteers! This concoction might only result in a minor loss of internal organs..."

  I can't tell him that Noah will ask me to dance.

  But I also can't refuse my best friend the only comfort he'll have during this event.

  Mr. Saffron turns, tapping his foot. "I need a good, witchy line from you."

  He wants to get out of here and enjoy his Saturday.

  My brain's not working. I keep drifting back to Olivia and her screams.

  "A witchy line," Mr. Saffron repeats.

  He brings me back to reality. "And would you children like to try these brain cookies? They're only three weeks old. The best age!"

  "Wonderful," he says without enthusiasm before moving on to the DJ platform. He drills the guy, a college dude, who will work the playlist. As if fearing all the girls will gravitate towards him, the school's making him wear a full-body gorilla costume. He stands there, sweating with the head piece under his arm.

  "Cayden," I ask. "Have you seen Olivia?"

  He snaps his gaze to me. "No," he says, all business. "She didn't meet me at Teeyah's for coffee."

  He means his words just to communicate information, but they stab me in the chest. I ball my fists, wanting to throw the stupid cookies at him. But I also have an urge to jump over the table, embrace Cayden, and kiss him. To beg him to come back. I should, but with all these people around here, he'll push me away, fearing Olivia will find out.

  I can stop it all with a few sentences.

  Or make things worse.

  Footsteps echo in the hall where the ticket tables are getting draped in Halloween colors. A whiff of clay makeup follows. Olivia's here.

  Cayden raises his eyebrow at me. "Brie, please stay away until she's gone." His eyes fill with pain. But he hardens his gaze, masking it with business. Cayden will still take care of this and I'm not to interfere. I'm here to stand aside and watch.

  Olivia lifts the lid to a trash can. I hear the bag crinkle. "They took it out," she says.

  "Why are you bothering?" Tiffany.

  "I need it," Olivia says. "Stupid Matthew."

  I grip the table.

  Cayden nods. "I need to check that out." He frowns. I'll be able to hear everything he says to her in the hall and there's no stopping it, unless he takes Olivia far from here.

  After checking for Mr. Saffron, Cayden pushes the gym doors open.

  He leaves me with the trays of plastic-wrapped cookies. Mr. Saffron's still talking to the lighting guys and the DJ while Ellie and Sarah hang ragged ghosts from the wall. A photographer wheels in a castle background through the parking lot doors. For now, I'm on my own.

  So I follow Cayden, stopping at the doors.

  "Cayden," Olivia breathes.

  "Hey," he says. "Why are you digging through the trash?"

  Tiffany sighs.

  "It's nothing," Olivia blurts.

  "Did you lose your purse? Money?" Cayden asks.

  "I'm looking for my phone," Olivia says. "Matt got mad at me after I said I didn't want to date him, so he took my phone and then I heard he threw it in one of the trash cans. I'm trying to find it, but I think I'll be okay."

  "Oh. Maybe I can help," Cayden says. I don't like the tone of his voice. He's worried.

  Olivia shifts, making the linoleum squeak. She's standing at the corner of the hallway, but I can hear every move she makes. "I'm good. Thanks, Cayden. I know you have to rehearse for your part. I bet you make a great mad scientist." She wants Cayden to leave.

  Olivia suspects the truth about him, too, and she knows all about me.

  "I'll see you tomorrow," Cayden says. "I have to spend time making punch with my mad science, but Mr. Saffron says I'll have time to dance. After the first half hour I'm pretty free."

  "That's fine."

  Cayden stalks back down the hall. His feet drag as if he's weighed down.

  I don't back away from the door. He already knows I'm here. When he pushes the door open, he faces me and shakes his head before going back to his table.

  "What happened?" I ask.

  His look tells me Olivia's problem is more than a lost phone. "She's not wearing her pendant."

  "But didn't you tell her it was from you?" I ask.

  "I did. She said she'd wear it to the dance," Cayden says, walking past me. He still can't bear to look at me.

  "And you think she lost it."

  Cayden sweeps past me, white coat flapping. "Yes. She's lying about it being her phone. Don't worry about it, Brie."

  "I'll be here tomorrow and my friends are coming, too. I have every right to worry about it."

  "Cayden," Ellie shouts, struggling with the ghost garland. "We need someone tall over here!"

  "Coming," he says, turning his back. He shoots me one last look, and I feel the power in it even though it lasts only a second. I'm to stand down and not worry.

  Though he'll figure it out, I leave the gym and enter the hallway where Olivia stood moments before.

  She and Tiffany have moved on, turning the corner to look in more trash cans. "We can check the Dumpster," Olivia says from around the corner.

  "I am not going through garbage," Tiffany says. "You're on your own for that."

  I follow, keeping my footsteps quiet as my heart races.

  "But if I'm not wearing it tomorrow, it'll send the wrong message," Olivia says. "People...Cayden will think the worst about me. Who knows what will happen? This is important."

  "It's just a necklace."

  "But it was a pure silver necklace. Rare," she says. "I need it back by tomorrow night or Cayden might think I'm some kind of, well, slut. Can you carry my purse for me while I go through this next can?"

  "The janitors changed them all already."

  "I can't let Cayden know I lost it. He says it was expensive. I didn't know it was from him when you had me ask Matthew to the d
ance. I thought maybe you and Alesha had told him to get it for me."

  "Maybe Matthew has it," Tiffany says.

  "Well, he took it, and I never saw him throw it away," Olivia says.

  The air smells of adrenaline.

  Olivia's scared.

  And so am I.

  Tomorrow, Cayden will have to deal with her the traditional way.

  He won't have to go out with her, but messing with me, Noah, and everyone else connected to this will put him over the edge. It's in his eyes. He can't even do the thing he promised me he'd do. And it'll break him.

  I blew my cover to Olivia for no reason. I made things worse.

  And tomorrow, I might lose Cayden forever.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  I spend the rest of the rehearsal sifting through garbage in the Dumpster, most of which is papers and cafeteria food.

  Nothing.

  I climb out of the metal box and put the witch dress back on over my regular clothes. Retrieving the hat, I go back inside the school and meet Mr. Saffron, who's tapping his feet by my table. I get back behind it, glad I have enough grace to avoid a garbage smell all over me, though some lingers on my shoes.

  Saying a few more witchy lines about brain cookies and worm soup, I get him to nod and leave me alone. Music blasts as the lighting crew sets up near the photo shoot in the corner.

  "You can go, unless you want to help with the dead trees," Ellie says.

  I jump. Lost in thought, I didn't hear her come up behind me. "I should leave. Aunt May needs my help at the store."

  And Cayden's already gone, out to solve the missing pendant issue. I know he realizes what's wrong, and he's slipped out, without telling me what he plans, to solve the problem. I hope he can find the pendant.

  But I suspect where it is, and that's with Matthew. He'll hold on to it and give it to some other girl, saying he bought it himself.

  So I slip off the witch dress, take it to the props room, and hang it before leaving the school without telling Ellie goodbye.