The Awakening

by H. D. Gordon

  Sighing, I watched some clouds move over the face of the moon, the tree beneath which we were passing casting shadows upon the ground. “Why did you even come if you hate him so much?”

  “Because I love you, dumbass. And I don’t trust Samuel Prescott or his stupid groupies.”

  I paused, looking over at my little sister. “You don’t think he actually likes me. You think this is some kind of a trick.”

  Roo raised a dark brow at me, her lack of a response an answer in itself.

  I growled and continued to weave around the gravestones. “Is it really so hard to believe that someone like him likes me? Do you really think so little of me?”

  The anger in my voice hid the hurt; she’d voiced a thought I’d had myself.

  Roo took my arm, pulling me to a stop. Though she was shorter than me by a few inches, she’d always been physically stronger, built like an athlete.

  “You’re wrong,” she said, meeting my gaze. “I think so highly of you, which is why I’m suspicious. Average ass losers like Sam Prescott don’t usually recognize the value of people like you, and if they do, it makes them cruel because they know deep inside they can’t handle it.”

  It was among the nicest things she’d ever said to me, and I knew that she meant it. My anger dissipated in an instant. All I could manage was a nod, and we continued onward.

  A couple hundred feet deeper into the tombstones, and we heard the sound of music and laughter. Roo and I exchanged glances before approaching, and though she annoyed the crap out of me sometimes, I was suddenly very glad to have her with me. As much as I was crushing on Samuel, I was not eager to hang out with his friends.

  We rounded a bend in the path and caught sight of the group, sitting around an old fountain that broke up the monotony of the gravestones. The laughter died down as the group spotted us, and my stomach tightened. Sam grinned from ear to ear as he jogged over and placed a quick kiss on my cheek before swinging his arm around my shoulders.

  His familiarity was surprising, but I didn’t push him away.

  “You came,” he said. “I was worried you wouldn’t show.”

  I cast a quick, triumphant glance at Roo, who rolled her eyes. Sam leaned around me and offered her his charming smile. “Hey, you’re Rey’s little sister, right? Roonie?” he asked.

  Roo nodded, clearly surprised that he knew her name.

  “Cool jacket,” he said.

  Roo glanced down at her faded black leather bomber. “Thanks,” she replied.

  I tried not to think too hard about the fact that Samuel Prescott’s arm was still draped over my shoulders, and any joy I felt was short lived, anyway. Apparently, Sam was the only one of the group who’d been looking forward to our arrival.

  Roo had been right about Sam’s friend-group being douches. If ever there were people who’d earned that title, these were them.

  Sheryl Simpson, Rocky Scanlon, Troy Bennett, and Carrie Newhart. Sheryl and Carrie were cheerleaders, and Rocky and Troy were their meathead boyfriends. The twists of their lips as we approached made it clear that the lack of admiration was mutual.

  Now it was Roo’s turn to flash me a triumphant look.

  “Who’re your friends, Sammy?” Carrie asked, doing a head-to-toe assessment of Roo and me.

  Just like with everyone else in Peculiar, we’d gone to school with Carrie since kindergarten. The floozy knew darn well who we were.

  If Sam caught this, he didn’t let on. “This is Rey and Roo Twitch,” he said, and then added, “they’ve only gone to school with us for, like, ever.”

  Okay, so he did notice. I bit the inside of my cheek to suppress a smile.

  “You know them, Care,” Sheryl said, nodding toward my sister. “Roonie Twitch the Witch. Remember?”

  I was normally pretty chill, but there was one thing that was sure to boil my blood in an instant, and that was messing with Roo. Though we rarely agreed on anything, Roo was the most important person in the world to me, and on the rare occasions I’d gotten into fights over the years, she had always been the thing I’d been fighting for.

  “You guys are real creative geniuses,” I said, smiling sweetly at them.

  This earned a laugh from Rocky and Troy and a smirk from Sam.

  “My girl’s too smart for you two,” Sam joked, and I tried to halt the blush that rose to my cheeks at his words.

  Sheryl snorted while Carrie glowered, but this seemed to shut them up for a while. Sam claimed a seat on a blanket they’d laid out and tugged me down beside him. Roo reluctantly took a seat on my other side, giving me a look when Troy leaned forward and offered me a bottle wrapped in a brown paper sack.

  “I don’t drink,” I said, shaking my head.

  This made Sheryl and Carrie snort again, but I ignored them.

  When Troy shrugged and offered it to Roo, she took the bottle and drew a deep swig. I had to pick my jaw up, reminding myself that though sometimes I felt like it, I was not her mother.

  After the bottle made its way around to her for a third time, however, I felt compelled to intervene.

  “That’s enough,” I whispered.

  Roo’s eyes narrowed, and I noted that they were a touch glassy, reminding me of our father. “You’re the one who made me come,” she snapped back.

  Okay, as much as I was enjoying the sweet things Sam kept whispering in my ear, I thought it was time to call it a night. I needed to get my sister home before she was passed that bottle again, and sneak her past our father before he could get a good look at her. Pa may be one hell of a drinker himself, but I doubted he’d appreciate his sixteen-year-old daughter coming home hammered.

  I stood and held a hand out to Roo. “Come on,” I said. “It’s time to go.”

  Roo huffed a sigh but didn’t argue, swaying as she found her feet.

  “Stay a little longer,” Sam said, looking up at me with big blue eyes.

  “What’s going on here?” said a voice behind us. I stiffened at the sinister quality of the tone. From the looks on the others’ faces, I wasn’t the only one.

  Turning on my heel, I wished I’d taken my leave just a few minutes sooner, because the two grown men approaching our little group now were trouble in capital letters.

  Grimy and grinning, with hairy arms as large as tree trunks and teeth missing in the front, the Kane brothers were known throughout town as troublemakers. Now I was not the only one on my feet.

  “We were just leaving,” Sam said, stepping in front of Roo and me.

  The taller of the two stepped forward, head tilting in a predatory manner. “So soon?” he asked, and his eyes slid to Roo and me, then Sheryl and Carrie. His tongue ran out over his lips. “What’s the hurry?”

  I took my sister’s hand. If we just ran right now, would they be able to catch us?

  We were about to find out.

  Maybe it made me a jerk, but Roo was the priority. Roo was always the priority, and I did not like the way the Kane brothers were looking at us. I cut Roo a glance, hoping to convey my plan with my eyes. She gave a nearly imperceptible nod in return, but as she did so, she swayed a little on her feet, reminding me that she’d been drinking, and likely wouldn’t be able to run fast.

  A curse flashed through my head. If we couldn’t run, then keeping the brothers calm would be key.

  What I didn’t account for was Rocky, and his big, stupid mouth.

  “Why don’t you two mouth-breathers move it along?” Rocky said.

  The taller Kane brother nudged the other, and the grins on their faces grew wider. “Would you listen to the boy, Ned? Got a pair on him, don’t he?”

  “Sure does, Leroy,” Ned replied.

  The clouds passed overhead, revealing the full moon. Under its pale glow, I got a better look at the Kane brothers…and every hair on the back of my neck stood at attention.

  Something was wrong.

  Very, very wrong.

  “Tell you what,” Leroy said. “I’m in a good mood, so I’m gonna give you ki
ds a ten second head start.”

  Our group exchanged glances, the fear on their faces surely reflected on mine.

  “Ten,” Leroy began. “Nine… Eight…”

  3

  Leroy reached the count of six when his chin snapped down to his chest, his back arching in an unnatural way.

  The seven of us stared in stupefied horror as the Kane brothers dropped to all fours, their ugly faces twisted in agony.

  While it may seem like the obvious thing to do would be to run, the sight of whatever was happening was enrapturing. My first thought was that the brothers were having some kind of heart attacks or fits, but as the process continued, it became clear that whatever we were witnessing could not be explained by science.

  Behind me, Carrie gasped while Troy gagged. I couldn’t blame either of them. Leroy’s and Ned’s faces became something out of nightmares, mouths elongating into fanged muzzles, dark, thick fur sprouting where there should only have been skin. Their eyes bulged, bones rearranging until they were quadrupeds, claws appearing where just a moment ago hands and feet had been.

  All of this took place in a matter of seconds, the process both quick and terrifying. By the time we came to our senses and realized that we should be hightailing it, two veritable, drooling beasts stood before us.

  My stupor dissipated. I grabbed Roo’s hand and yanked her in the opposite direction. If we could reach the black iron gate and slip through, perhaps that would slow the beasts down. In the moment, there was no time to think about the oddity of the situation, about the impossibility of it.

  We ran as the beasts growled and snarled behind us, the rest of our group keeping pace at our sides. Roo was moving slower than usual, her face as pale as the moon overhead, as though she was bound to lose the contents of her stomach at any moment.

  That made two of us.

  The headstones and markers blurred together as we sprinted, my lungs aching and arms pumping.

  “Hurry,” I rasped to Roo as I dared a look over my shoulder. I half expected to see nothing at all, to see that there were not two hairy, fanged beasts on our tails, or to wake up in my bed at any moment, the whole thing having been a nightmare.

  But, no, the Kane brothers—or the creatures that they had become—were as real as the terror spiraling through me.

  And they were gaining on us.

  Fast.

  Troy and Rocky were at the head of the group, having utterly abandoned Carrie and Sheryl, despite all the kissing and groping they’d been engaging in all night. They ran like the athletes they were, the girls following on their heels, glancing back over their shoulders at intervals with eyes wide as saucers.

  To his credit, Sam was staying close to Roo and me, urging us to keep up. While Roo would likely be able to outrun most of us on her best day, the booze had done its work, and she was stumbling along at a pace that made me look like an Olympian .

  “Come on!” I managed, dragging her along, fingers digging into the soft flesh of her arms.

  A loud snap followed by a deep growl made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I heard the fabric on the back of my shirt rip, hot breath brushing the skin there. Shoving Roo ahead, I didn’t dare look behind me now, because I knew the beasts were inches away.

  Finally, the black iron gate loomed ahead. Troy and Rocky reached it first, pulling it open where it was chained closed just enough to squeeze through. Sheryl and Carrie closed in behind them, Sam on their heels.

  We were so close. So close.

  And then Roo went and pulled a dumb-girl-in-a-horror-movie move.

  She tripped and went sprawling.

  It happened in a blink and yet felt almost as if in slow motion. Her boot got caught in a dip in the path and her body pitched forward, arms pin-wheeling. I made an attempt to catch her before she could go down fully, but the attempt was moot.

  Instinct took over. Had I time to think about my actions, things would have likely turned out very different. As it was, all I knew was that Roo would be badly hurt—or worse—if I didn’t do something.

  Spinning on my heels, I braced myself between the oncoming beasts and my little sister, who was still scrambling to find her feet.

  At the gate, the others were yelling at us to run, screaming for us to hurry up, but the entire world faded away as I stared into the faces of the monsters.

  Their furry bodies bulged with muscles, elongated snouts boasting fangs longer than my pinky finger.

  I threw my hands up, all my focus locked on the creatures, teeth gritted against the terror that was trying to render me immobile. There was a space of time that spanned a heartbeat. Then the larger of the two beasts leapt, maw yawning wide, as if it intended to swallow me whole.

  A burst of energy rocked through me, starting at my core and spreading outward like electricity in my veins. I felt the energy channel to my fingertips, where my hands were still raised before me as though I could halt the beasts with just my thin arms, bones, and flesh. Light exploded from my hands, so bright that it was nearly blinding, a swirling orb of multiple colors.

  The orb flew at the nearest beast, striking it in right in the open mouth, eliciting a yelp that reminded me of a canine in agony. It flew backwards, smoke rising from it’s still-wide mouth. The other beast looked confused for a heartbeat before charging forward, rage evident in its approach.

  Another swirling, glowing orb shot out of my fingertips, this time striking the second beast in the chest, sending it sprawling back several paces.

  There was no time to wonder at whatever had just taken place. I turned and found Roo on her feet, her jaw hanging open, hazel eyes as wide as the full moon above us. We raced for the gate, where only Sam was left standing, mouth similarly agape, and slipped through the space Sam held open for us.

  When we looked back, we saw that the creatures were finding their feet—or claws—again, shaking their massive heads, ropes of drool swinging to and fro.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Sam said, staring at me as if seeing me for the first time.

  He didn’t have to tell us twice.

  We stood at the edge of the cornfield that abutted the rear of our home, panting despite the fact that we’d stopped running half a mile ago.

  Sam, Roo, and I didn’t speak a word the whole way, only kept glancing over our shoulders to ensure that the beasts had not followed us. Sweat trickled down my back, making the fabric of my t-shirt stick to my skin, and I could hear my heart beating in my ears as the mind between them tried to make sense of what had just happened.

  Apparently, I wasn’t the only one.

  “What the hell were those things?” Sam asked.

  Roo shivered. “They looked like…”

  Silence held for a tick, and I knew which word she was having trouble speaking.

  “Werewolves,” I finished for her.

  A pause, and then the three of us erupted into laughter. We laughed until our eyes watered, the kind of crazed hilarity that follows an event too shocking to cope with otherwise.

  When we sobered up, we blinked at each other and shook our heads. It was absolutely absurd, and if they weren’t standing right here with me, confirming what we’d seen, I wouldn’t believe my own eyes.

  “And you…” Sam began, turning to me. “What was that you did? With your hands and the balls of light?”

  My throat seized up. I was hoping he’d forgotten about that part. Heck, I wished I could forget about that part. “I…I don’t know,” I said. “It just happened.”

  “It was…” Roo began.

  “Friggin’ awesome!” Sam finished for her.

  My cheeks heated as Roo and I shared a look.

  Roo turned to Sam, her expression suddenly as serious as the dead. “The others—Troy and Rocky and Sheryl and Carrie—did they see what Rey did, too?”

  Sam’s brow furrowed. “I don’t think so. They took off almost as soon as they got through the gate.” He snorted and shook his head. “Cowards.”

  Roo stepped
forward now until she was all up in Sam’s personal bubble, raising her chin so that she could look into his eyes. “Good,” she said. “And you’re not going to tell anyone, either. You’re not going to tell a single person what you think you saw Rey do. Do you understand?”

  I blinked at my little sister, her tone one I’d never heard her use before, utterly unyielding. Even though she was a full foot shorter than Sam, I could see that her delivery of the command intimidated him as much as it surprised me.

  “Um…yeah, sure, whatever,” Sam said, taking a step back from her. “I won’t tell anyone.”

  “You better not, Samuel Prescott,” Roo added.

  Sam held his hands up, palms out. “I won’t.”

  I shot Roo a look. She was being a total weirdo. But at the same time, maybe she was right. I may not know what exactly had happened back at the cemetery, but I knew that it was probably wise to keep it under wraps, at least until I figured it out.

  And, besides, Roo knew way more about strange occurrences than I did.

  “What about the Kane brothers?” Sam asked, clearly eager to change the subject. “Shouldn’t we tell someone about that?”

  “You’re welcome to go to the police and say you saw Ned and Leroy Kane change into werewolves under the full moon in the Peculiar Cemetery,” Roo said. “Just do us a favor and leave us out of it. Pretty sure they’d think we were playing some kind of joke, and not take kindly to the fact that we weren’t supposed to be at the Cemetery after hours in the first place.”

  Sam opened his mouth to reply, but his cellphone started ringing. Digging into his jeans pocket, he pulled it out and looked up at us. “It’s Troy,” he said.

  “Answer it, genius,” Roo said.

  Sam did as he was told. “Hey, bro,” he said into the phone. “Where’d you guys go?”

  Though I couldn’t make out the words, Troy’s voice sounded frantic on the other end. Roo and I stood watching as he told Troy to calm down, to go home and get some rest, that they would meet tomorrow and talk things over.