by R A Watt
“Teavan wanted to say hi to Rachel, that’s all,” Sybil answered, and her body stiffened. I could tell there was more to the scene than I was aware of.
“Sybil, I told you. I do not want that boy near her,” she hissed.
Sybil shook her head. “I know, I’m sorry, but he really had nothing to do with this, I told you.”
“Whether he did or didn’t, he’s trouble, and I want nothing to do with him.”
Trouble? Me? That was the first time I’d ever been accused of being trouble. The worst thing I’d ever done was stealing a gummy bear from the corner store back in New York. Maybe a detention or two from passing notes. Possibly some harmless hacker fun.
“Mrs. Denning, please,” I said. “I just wanted to see her, but I’ll go; I don’t want to cause any trouble.”
She stood and pointed away. “Then go.”
Sybil looked at me. “Sorry,” she whispered. “Wait for me outside?”
I nodded and left the room.
Fifteen minutes later Sybil came out, and her eyes were red. “Sorry about that, my aunt is still a little upset.”
“Not your fault.”
“I know, but, sucks when you know the truth and can’t tell it.”
We headed in the direction of the school. I’d eaten my lunch on the steps while waiting for Sybil.
“So, I’ve been thinking all morning,” Sybil said as we walked side by side. “Are you still meeting with Mrs. Leclair after school? At the diner?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Well, I’d like to join you, I want to talk to her as well. I agree now, Bruno has to be stopped. And I’ve decided I’m going to do it.”
My mouth went dry, the blood draining from my face. “What?”
She looked at me; her cheeks were red and her gaze serious. “I know all that I need to know. He needs to be stopped, and I still have the three bullets.”
“You want to shoot him? Are you crazy?” I said, though I knew she was right.
“Yes, and no. What stops him now from coming after me? Or Jermaine? Or Kevin? He knows who it was last night. I think we are better off striking first, or we end up in the hospital. Or worse.”
Once again, my heart was beating through my chest. I had considered something similar all morning as well, but Sybil doing it?
“You have a better idea?” she asked.
I shook my head. “Not really. It’s just that . . . despite what he did, who he is. It’s murder, Sybil. You can’t do that.”
She scoffed, “Not if I’m defending myself.”
“You just wanna walk up and shoot him. And that’s not murder?”
She rolled her eyes. “No, idiot. He needs to change first and come for me. Then I shoot him. It’s self-defense . . . and I’d feel much better about shooting an attacking beast than a ninth grader. I couldn’t do that.”
We shuffled quietly down the sidewalk. It would never work; he wouldn’t even need to change to beat her, to kill her with his bare hands. And he had enough control that he could stay human.
“It won’t work,” I said. “He won’t change unless you wait until another full moon, which isn’t for a month. And any other time, he can hold back, not change. It will only make things worse; he’ll know the plan if you are standing there with a gun.”
Sybil was quiet as she digested that. “You have a better plan, Wolfie?”
“Wolfie? Again? Seriously?” I asked.
For once, Sybil smiled and let out a small laugh. “Sorry, but I did arrive early enough last night to hear you . . . howling.”
My face went red at the thought of all of them listening outside the door. “Please don’t call me that.”
“Okay. Do you have a better plan, Dingo?”
I ignored the jab this time. “You need help; I’ll do it. And maybe the guys and Suzanne?”
She shook her head. “I don’t want them knowing I’m gonna kill Bruno. They already think I’m nuts.”
“Well, you can’t do it alone. Not even you and me; too much can go wrong. And . . . they saw what you saw, they know what we know. We are all in this together.”
Chapter 33
Afternoon class was painfully slow, but the bell finally rang at three dismissing everyone for the weekend. Jermaine, Kevin, and I met Sybil outside her locker.
“We need to talk,” I said, looking at the boys.
They nodded, but Jermaine replied, “I can’t right now. I promised my mom I’d come straight home after class today since I had a sleepover and all last night. And speaking of sleep, I need some.”
“When then?” I asked as we walked out toward the bike racks.
“I dunno, I guess I can’t even text you. When you gonna get a new phone?”
I shrugged. “Who knows. My dad told me to get a job and stop playing online games when I told him it broke.”
They groaned.
“I like how he thinks you’re just a gamer,” Kevin said. “Not that I understand that crypto stuff, either.”
Few people understood that ‘crypto stuff’, but I wasn’t going to cash in my investment for a new phone.
“Why don’t I send Suzanne a text?” Jermaine asked.
At that moment my pulse quickened when I saw a group of kids out front, gathered around Jed McGregor and Mike Thompson. They sat on the bike racks casually, smirks on their faces as we came into view.
“Dang,” Kevin muttered. “Should we go back in the school?”
Across the street, Bruno sat on the grass beside the sidewalk and smiled when our eyes met. There was a weird unspoken threat in his look.
Shaking my head, I said, “There’s no point. They’ll just wait for us.” I didn’t mention that the sight of Jed and Mike actually got me a little excited.
I walked in front of our little foursome as we made our way over to the bike rack, the kids there making way for us. Expecting us.
“Well, well,” said Mike. “If it isn’t the four biggest losers at Redwood.”
My blood started to boil, and the hair on my neck bristled. I walked closer to Mike, looking him straight in the eye. “Didn’t you learn your lesson last time, Mikey?”
His face turned red and he hopped onto the ground in front of me. Instead of looking up a few inches to him as I had a few weeks ago, he was just a tad shorter than me now. I brought my face close to his.
“You sucker-punched me last time, Laurent,” he said, our faces just inches apart.
Jed jumped down off the bike rack and held his hands between us. “Now, now, ladies. First things first,” he said, looking at me then Sybil. “Whose is this?” he asked, holding up a grubby, white, rubber phone case.
Grabbing it, I turned it over in my hand. “I don’t know,” I said, genuinely unsure.
Sybil shrugged as well.
Jed pointed at Kevin. “What about you, Jap boy?”
Kevin’s face went crimson. “I’m Chinese, not Japanese, you redneck.”
“Redneck? Why don’t you come closer and say that?” he growled, puffing his chest out.
Kevin backed down. “No thanks, Jed. I know you’d like nothing more than to use your tae kwon do on my head like a practice bag.”
Jed smiled at the perceived compliment, then turned to Jermaine. “How ‘bout you, dipstick?”
The circle around us closed in as everyone waited for something, and Jermaine’s fists and teeth clenched. “What did you say, you inbred hillbilly?”
This time the crowd hummed at Jermaine’s insult, and Jed turned red.
“Listen, boy, you call me Mister Jed. Never address me by anything else,” he said with a smirk.
Jed was trying to get a rise out of one of us, but now it was my turn. “Jed, why does Bruno keep sending his henchmen here to do his dirty work? His simpletons?”
He spun around to look at me. “I ain’t nobody’s henchman, Laurent. He just wants to know whose phone case this is. Someone was at his house last night and dropped it. We just want to return it, and the phone, to the r
ightful owner.”
It was Sybil’s phone case. Hopefully she had a passcode on the phone.
“Well,” I said, getting out the key to open my bike lock. “You can just let your boss know it doesn’t belong to any of us and be on your way.”
Jed scowled that no one was taking the bait. “Well, that’s just fine then. Maybe I’ll slip into Rachel’s hospital room and see if she knows who it belongs to?”
In an instant, Sybil snapped and lunged at Jed. She tackled him backward into the bike rack, and they tumbled over onto the ground as she screamed at him. He did his best to shield his face from her blows, and was able to flip her under him and pin her down. “You dare hit me, you mental redhead?” he spat down in her face, spittle flying in her eyes. She gritted her teeth and struggled, but he was too heavy.
I dropped my backpack and grabbed Jed by the neck, dragging him off her. The crowd was going wild as they made the circle bigger.
With extreme self-control, I forced myself to let him go and then pointed across the street. “Just leave!” Bruno was standing now on the sidewalk with his arms folded on his chest. He was clearly enjoying this but was forcing himself to stay put for whatever reason.
Jed’s feet thrust up in the air, and then he flipped them down and stood up in one smooth move. He cracked his knuckles and rolled his neck around to stretch it. Everyone was watching.
Inside, I needed to remain calm and breathe. I couldn’t lose my temper, since I was not sure of what could or would happen if I did.
Jed ran over and I held up my fists, ready for him; only he jumped and spun in the air. His outstretched leg and foot cracked me in the jaw before I even saw it coming.
The unexpected blow sent me spinning to the ground, though it didn’t hurt nearly as much as it should have. I rolled and got onto all fours, but he charged and kicked again, right in the stomach. The strength of his kick lifted me off the ground and knocked the air out of my chest and I gasped.
“Get up, boy!” he yelled.
I realized that I may have been stronger than I used to be, but I still had no idea how to fight. As I looked over, I could see him bouncing around with his fists up, like a professional boxer. Everyone behind him stared at me on the ground. Jermaine came running over, telling me to stop, but I blocked out his voice and glared at Jed with venom in my eyes. I spat out a mouthful of blood. “I’m ready this time.”
He smiled and came in lightning fast, his long leg kicked up to my head. Only I was ready now, and I held my arms out and blocked him, focusing on his moves. The miss angered him, and he attempted another roundhouse.
I caught his leg in mid-air and twisted it hard. Jed squealed in pain and flopped to the dirt, writhing in agony while holding his the leg that I may or may not have broken. I tightened my fists and prepared to jump on him to finish it.
But once again, Sybil saved me from myself and stood between us, her face inches from mine as she grabbed my shoulders and hissed under her breath. “Teavan, stop! We need to go. Now.”
At that moment, I wanted to toss her aside and finish what Jed had started. I wanted him to bleed, to beg for mercy. And I wanted Bruno to come to his rescue. To try and stop me. Everything was red; my ears were ringing. But Sybil held me tight. “Teavan . . .”
I was breathing heavily through my nose, but then slowly the redness of the scene began to evaporate as I met her eyes. “Calm down,” she whispered.
Trying to look past her, I could see Jed squirming in the dirt with Mike kneeling beside him.
“But, but, he needs to pay!” I hissed, trying to take a deep breath.
She looked me straight in the eye, trying to keep my attention. “He has paid, Teavan. Look at him. We need to go; just listen to me, okay?”
I nodded, some calmness finally settling in. Kevin tapped me from behind. “Bro, let's roll.” He held my bike and backpack out.
I grabbed the bag and reluctantly got on my bike, with Sybil continuously keeping herself between me and Jed. We rode off with the crowd making a wide berth for us to leave, excitedly talking amongst themselves. Mrs. Patello, the physics teacher, was running over to the crowd as we left.
Jermaine looked back at her, then whistled. “That was close. I gotta split, you guys. Where you off to?”
Sybil looked at me, still uncertain about my next move. “We’re going to meet Mrs. Leclair at the Galaxy Diner. Kevin, can you come with us? We’ll drop Teavan off at home after, make sure he’s . . . safe?”
He nodded.
Was she worried about my safety? Or that I’d go back?
As we pulled out of the school parking lot, Bruno just stood there, seemingly unconcerned about his injured friend. He watched me with his beady eyes and gave me an evil grin. I gave him the finger, but he only smiled bigger.
Jermaine waved to us as he pulled off a few blocks later and yelled, “I’ll call you guys in a bit!”
We rode fast to the east side of town and pulled up to the Galaxy Diner.
Inside, Mrs. Leclair had a booth to herself in the far corner of the casual restaurant. We sat down and updated her on what happened after school. She gave me a disappointed look for snapping so easily.
“You need to control yourself. Don’t you see? He’s baiting you. You have to walk away, even though it’s frustrating,” she said.
Not as easy in the heat of the moment.
Kevin was on his phone, then looked up. “Okay, your sister and Jermaine are on their way. Maybe twenty minutes. Jermaine lucked out and his mom isn’t home.”
We shared our thoughts with Mrs. Leclair on what needed to be done, and of course she agreed enthusiastically. Eliminating Bruno had always been her only option.
“Just remember, dear, we have only three silver bullets. And I’m afraid I have no idea how to make more. That was something Luc did,” Mrs. Leclair said.
Three chances.
It seemed easy enough, especially if we could get him in mid- or late-stage transformation as he twisted about on the ground.
“It won’t be easy in the chaos of the moment,” she added. Kevin was quiet through our chatter; he wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic.
I looked at him. “You okay with this?”
He shrugged. “Not really. But I don’t see what else to do, other than leaving the country. I . . . I can’t be the one to pull the trigger, though. Just so you know . . .”
Sybil squinted. “That’s okay, Kevin. I’m happy to take the lead.”
The waitress kept interrupting, asking if we wanted food, and I was happy when Mrs. Leclair ordered some wings and sodas for everyone.
Suzanne and Jermaine arrived, and we shared the tentative plan with them. They both had the same reservations but agreed it seemed to be our only option.
We needed to get Bruno alone, without Jed and Mike. As much as we hated them, they didn’t deserve death and certainly couldn’t witness it
“But how do we get him to change?” asked Suzanne, looking at Mrs. Leclair.
“Without a full moon, he needs to either want to or to lose control,” she answered.
Kevin smiled. “Maybe we all attack him at once, beat him to a pulp? That oughta get him angry.”
Jermaine returned the smile. “True. But he might beat all of us to a pulp first. And Sybil needs to be ready with the gun, so she can’t help.”
The group remained quiet, and I thought of myself and keeping control and how I’d nearly lost it again today. Anger. Hatred. But how did we get him to lose it? What would make him snap?
A light flickered on in my brain and I shared the idea. It was the best we had. Sybil had an idea for getting him alone. Saturday night. Tomorrow. We couldn’t afford to wait or drag this out.
We ate quietly and agreed to meet at Mrs. Leclair's the next day, rally together, and make our way to Bruno for the final stand.
Chapter 34
“You’ve been quiet; what are you thinking?” I asked Suzanne, pushing my bike beside her as we walked home from Mrs. Leclair’
s. Mrs. Leclair had volunteered to drive us to her place with my bike in the back of her truck. The sun was setting; the sky was a fiery red and orange in the west.
“What am I thinking? What am I not thinking is more like it,” she said, shaking her head in disbelief. “I just keep pinching myself, hoping I’ll wake up from this bizarre dream. And I’ve had some nasty dreams lately, but this one takes the cake. Can you wake me up?”
Leaning over, I yanked on her hair.
“Ouch! What was that for?” she barked, swatting my hand away.
“Just seeing if you are asleep,” I said with a smirk.
Suzanne tried to suppress a smile but it snuck out. “Good try,” she said with a laugh. “I just keep thinking of the chain of events that led us to this point. Why the heck did Dad have to drag us across the country to live here? Did he really think he could become an accomplished writer by living in the country? Isn’t New York the literary capital?”
I shrugged. “So they say.”
“And Grandpa. Why did he have to have us living here as a condition of his will? Why would he want us to be in this environment? Did the thing between him and Dad involve us, too? Why would he do this to us?”
The same questions I’d had. “Maybe he knew I was going to change and thought it would be better here than in the city.”
She looked over to me. “And you. What are you going to do? About . . . this thing? Even without Bruno around, your situation is messed up.”
I stopped pushing the bike as we rounded the bend. “Honestly? I have no idea, Suze. Thinking about the future has not been at the top of my list this week. I’m just trying to get through each day, doing my best to come to terms with what is happening. And like you, pinching myself every so often, hoping to wake up. I mean, I have a trig test on Tuesday. I can’t even remotely think about school, let alone studying for a test. Will we even be in school next week? Will we be alive?”
Suzanne pulled her curly hair back out of her face. “I hope so, Teavan. I hope so.”
Neither of us spoke the rest of the walk, and we arrived home just in time for some overcooked pork chops with mushroom soup. For once, however, I thoroughly enjoyed Dad’s chatter about his novel, since it had nothing to do with my current life predicament. And despite being a little bland and overcooked, there were no leftovers. My appetite was still enormous.
