Hidden Moon

by K. R. Thompson

  I laughed, imagining the hiker staring dumbfounded at a tie-die colored wolf. A loud clap of thunder made me look up at the sky. The clouds rumbled over us. It was getting darker.

  We’d better try going a little faster, he said, picking up speed.

  I gripped his fur tighter as the trees flew past us. I leaned forward and buried my face in his neck, trying not to look down at the ground that passed beneath me in a blur. I breathed in the earthy, wooded smell of him and closed my eyes. His muscles worked beneath me in strong fluid motions. We were slowing down, I realized, as I turned my head to look and saw the trees with their outstretched limbs that seemed to move out of our way as if by magic. I saw my house up ahead as Adam stopped and waited for me to get off. I slid off him, and came around to wrap my arms around his furry neck in a big hug. I felt him lift me off the ground as he shifted, then his arms came around my waist to hold me close to him. The air sparked around us as a clap of lightening streaked across the sky.

  “You need to go now before you get wet,” he said as he set me back down.

  I leaned back and looked up into his eyes. He brushed my hair back and kissed my forehead, then turned toward the forest. I grabbed his arm and turned him back to me. I kissed him hard, and watched as his eyes widened, then closed. He kissed me back, holding my face between his hands.

  “Goodnight, Nikki,” he whispered as he shifted back into the black wolf, and then turned to disappear in the trees.

  “Goodnight,” I whispered to the empty spot where he had been.

  A giant splat landed on my head, forcing me to turn and make a mad dash toward the house before the torrent of rain soaked me. I reached the front step a second before it poured.

  NINE

  GOOGLE WAS AN unstoppable force. There were over 800,000 links that promised information on werewolves, but nothing on the Wighcomocos legend. I sat there for hours in my room, trying to find the right source for information. It was exasperating. Everything I saw wanted me to watch this movie, or read that horror book. All the pictures were of horrific creatures that promised certain doom with beady eyes, sharp, blood-covered fangs and long claws. The only chance for my survival? A silver bullet.

  It was all wrong. I sat, disgusted, and stared at the monitor where a grotesque figure with long, scary claws stood on its back feet and glared back at me. Adam wasn’t this monster at all. As a human, he was a gorgeous guy. But as his wolf, he was graceful, powerful, sleek and astounding. He was beautiful, plain and simple, as a guy and as a wolf.

  I clicked on another link that informed me of the saving power of silver ammunition. I wondered if even that would slow Adam down. I wound one blonde curl around my finger as I looked at the screen. If he could tangle with a bear and come out untouched, a bullet wouldn’t stop him either. As long as he was a Keeper, he had to be safe. I hoped he would always be safe.

  “Nikki, phone.”

  I ran down the stairs and caught the phone as Mom tossed it to me from the kitchen.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey. It’s me,” an unidentified girl gushed on the other end of the line. “You’re never going to believe this.”

  “Ronnie?” I asked, perplexed, as I curled up on the sofa and tucked my legs under me.

  “Oh, yeah, sorry. It’s me. Listen, you know how Bernie and Beth were at cheer practice the other day? Well, guess what?”

  “I…” one word was all that made it out.

  “Never mind, you’ll never guess. Who would? I mean, it’s like, just amazing that’s all.” She sounded giddy.

  “Ok, Ronnie. What on earth are you talking about?”

  “I just talked to Beth. You’re the main story for the school paper tomorrow. Bernie took lots of shots of the pyramids at cheerleading practice last week. He took tons of close-ups, and they just developed them today. They saw where Tiffany’s leg was moved when you fell.” She sounded like a chipmunk chattering away.

  “I’m the main story for the paper,” I groaned. Just great, as if I didn’t have enough going on in my life right now.

  “Didn’t you hear me?” she asked, “It means that the crazy Barbie doll may have to answer for what she did. They could kick her off the squad. It’s proof in black and white. We could get a new captain. Maybe we could vote you in. You are better than she is, anyway.”

  “No,” I bellowed into the receiver in alarm.

  “Oh.” She sounded as if her feelings were hurt. I took a deep breath and made a mental note to grab aspirin for the migraine that had started to throb in my temple.

  “Sorry, Ronnie,” I sighed. “What I meant was that I don’t think I could handle being captain, but thanks for the vote of confidence. Please don’t vote me in. I’m not cut out to be a leader, and there are other girls with way more experience than I have. We need someone who has been in the squad awhile that would know how to help the new girls. I think you would be the one that would be perfect as captain.” I needed that aspirin. I got up and made my way up the steps towards the bathroom.

  “You think so?” she asked.

  “Absolutely. In fact, if they ask for suggestions, I’m going to tell them you should do it,” I spoke with as much conviction as I could muster. My head felt as if it were going to explode. Small pulses of pain throbbed and my vision was starting to blur.

  “I wouldn’t be against it. Listen, I need to make a couple more phone calls. Do you want me to call you back?”

  “No, no, that’s ok,” I said, secretly rejoicing as I found the little bottle and popped the cap open. “I’ll see you at school.”

  “Okay. Bye, Nikki.” The phone clicked and she was gone.

  I had just swallowed two of the little white pills when it rang again. So much for a quiet evening. I snatched up the phone again.

  “I’ll talk to you tomorrow at school.” I couldn’t keep the anger from seeping into the words.

  “I hope so,” Brian said, laughing in my ear. “Or even on the way to school would be nice, too.”

  “Sorry, I thought you were someone else,” I said, embarrassed.

  “It’s okay. Beth just called me a little while ago, so I know what’s going on and how news travels. I was just calling to check on you,” his voice softened, “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, I just don’t like being the center of attention. Maybe I shouldn’t go to school tomorrow,” I mumbled as I went into my bedroom and sat in my chair. I watched the rain come down, making tiny rivulets that ran down the window.

  “You know it won’t help if you skip tomorrow. The whole school is going to be up in the air about it for awhile. You’re going to have to face it.”

  “I know, but I still don’t want to go.”

  “If it helps any, Tiffany will be getting way more attention than you will,” he pointed out the obvious in an attempt to help me.

  “I know,” I said, “so how were your grandparents? Did you have fun in Roanoke? Was it a good weekend?”

  “Yeah, change the subject, won’t you? But to answer you, they were fine and I didn’t have as much fun as I used to have going up there, but it was still okay. It would have been a better weekend if I could have spent it here. Did you get your berries?”

  “Yes.” And a whole lot more, I thought. I hated lying to him, but what was I going to say? Well, I found out that I’m some kind of telepath/empath that can hear the thoughts of werewolves. Nothing major, just your usual weekend. Yeah, right. No way was I telling him this stuff, he wouldn’t understand. “Just berry picking and you missed the rain.”

  “I didn’t miss the rain. I think we got home just in time for it. I wish I could have gone with you. Next time you go if you’ll let me know, I’ll come and help. Four hands are better than two.”

  “Deal,” I said, glad not to have been questioned anymore on the state of events of the last two days. “Am I picking you up tomorrow?”

  “If you’d like. I shall be honored to ride in your rag-topped chariot.”

  “You should be. I don’t
do that for just anyone.”

  “Okay, so I’ll see you in the morning. Bye, Nikki.”

  “Bye, Brian,” I listened to the faint click as he broke the connection.

  Adam and the guys must have gotten a heads up about the paper. The next morning, they surrounded us as if they were secret service agents. As soon as I parked, Adam opened my door and waited for me to get out. Brian looked past me and gave him some kind of drop dead look that I had never seen on his face before. Adam ignored him and stood holding the door like a seasoned, professional doorman. I just stared from one to the other, wondering what I was supposed to do. It kind of felt like one of those western movies my dad used to watch, where the two guys come out of the saloon and challenge each other to a duel. I was stuck in the middle and I was wondering who was going to draw first. I picked my books up and held them in front of me, ready to smack the first hand that reached across.

  Brian snorted and rolled his eyes. “Well, Nikki, the cavalry has shown up. I don’t think you have as much to worry about as you thought or maybe you have more, I don’t know. Either way, I’ll see you in class.” He got out of the car and shut the door a little harder than I approved of, then headed toward the school.

  I looked at Adam, who still held the door. “Hi, what’s up?”

  His solemn façade broke and he grinned at me, his amber eyes sparkling. “Power in numbers. Everyone leaves us alone, so now they’ll leave you alone, too, since you’re with us. We would have protected Brian, too, if he hung around,” he joked as he held out his hand for me.

  “Yeah, I don’t see that happening—ever. I’ve never seen that look on his face before. He’s mad at you.” I took the offered hand and got out of the car.

  “Yeah, I encroached on his territory. Or so he thinks. If you want to get technical about it, he’s on mine. It doesn’t matter, he’ll get over it,” he shrugged as if Brian was the last thing he was worried about.

  I felt my cheeks burn hot with anger, causing the air to spark and sizzle around us. I jerked my hand free of his. “He is my friend, my best friend actually, and I don’t like the way you’re treating him.”

  “That’s not the way he thinks of you. He wants a lot more than just friendship,” Adam replied in a steely voice.

  “As if you can read his mind.” I glared at him and turned to jerk my books from the dash of the truck.

  “I don’t have to. It’s obvious what he wants. He wants you—and not just as a friend.”. He crossed his arms over his chest and scowled.

  Erik cleared his throat beside us. We both turned and shouted, “What!” Causing him to flinch and take a cautious step back.

  “Um, I hate to interrupt you. But in like two minutes, we’re all going to be late for class, and then everyone’s going to notice us more than before.” He pointed at the empty steps. Everyone was already inside the school.

  “You’re right, let’s go,” Adam said, waiting as the four boys took off in front of us. He turned back to me. “I’m sorry, it’s just that I don’t like sharing. I’ll try to take his feelings into consideration, for your sake.”

  “Thank you, I’m sorry, too. My nerves are on edge today, I shouldn’t have snapped at you.” I managed a half-smile and reached over to take his hand as we walked behind the human shield of the four guys in front of us.

  At the door, he leaned over and kissed me. “Ed and Erik are in most of your classes. If you need them, let them know. I was going to ask if you wanted me to walk you to classes, but I’ll let Brian do it. It may help calm him down if he thinks he’s protecting you and I back off a little. I’ll see you in English.”

  The entire day consisted of people asking me if I knew that Tiffany made me fall. It was a dumb question, but I still shrugged and said that I hadn’t been looking down at the time, which wasn’t a lie. I had felt her move, but I hadn’t seen it. No need to add fuel to the fire, by the way I figured it. She was going to be answering a lot of her own questions, so I didn’t say much to anyone. I tried to look as boring and uninteresting as I could. I doodled on papers, stared off into space and even tried pretending to be asleep in one class, although that didn’t last long. The last thing I needed were teachers getting angry with me.

  In English class, no one bothered me as Adam stayed close, guarding me as if I were the Queen of England. By lunch, my plan had worked, and everyone decided that I was pretty dull and not very forthcoming, so instead of pestering me, they settled for Ronnie, since she had been my escort to the nurse’s station. The fact that she loved to talk was a bonus and they had flocked to her, bombarding her with questions. All the while, she smiled and talked some more. I looked at our little table that was packed with people. Ronnie was surrounded, and was chattering nonstop. Brian was immersed in some conversation with some other boy. His dark hair fell down to his eyes as he shook his head in answer to some question he had been asked. He looked up as if he felt me watching him, took a quick look around the table and lifted one shoulder in a small, helpless shrug.

  Come sit with us, a voice suggested and I looked over to see Adam watching me.

  He pulled out the chair beside him in invitation. I sat my tray down on the table and slid in next to him. I stared down at my food, which was looking less appetizing by the second. I looked over at Michael who seemed to be shoveling more food down than the others. His plate emptied in seconds, and I pushed mine, still untouched, over in front of him.

  “Are you sure?” he asked, politely. His fork was poised above the plate in midair.

  “Yeah, have at it,” I replied, a second before he dug in.

  “Thanks,” he murmured through a mouthful.

  I looked over at Adam. “What have you been doing to him that he’s eating so much more than the rest of you?”

  “We’ve been splitting up shifts at night, keeping an eye on everything. Michael was the last wolf out. He didn’t have time for breakfast this morning. So, he’s hungrier,” he shrugged, tossing a cookie that was leftover on his plate at Michael’s bent head.

  Michael’s eyes snapped up as if he had heard the movement and he snagged the cookie a millisecond before it whacked him in the head. In two bites, it was gone, and the rest of my plate was cleared. He sighed, contented. “Thanks. I feel better.”

  “So if everything is okay and the trail killer has been caught, why are you still patrolling at night so much?”

  “They’ve arrested Mr. Walters, but we aren’t so convinced he’s the trail killer,” Ed replied.

  “Yeah, something just doesn’t feel right about that. Have you seen Mr. Walters?” Erik chimed in. “He doesn’t look like the serial killer type, if you know what I mean. He’s all sweaters and loafers. He works in the library.” The frown on his face suggested that one would never find a killer in such a setting.

  “Yeah, but those are the types that are the serial killers. They are always the ones you least suspect,” I said, thinking of some of the forensic shows I had watched.

  “Still, something just doesn’t feel right. It’s not anything we can explain. It’s a gut feeling. We walk through the forest and something just feels wrong, as if there is evil just lurking there, just waiting,” Ed said in a hushed voice.

  “Speaking of evil lurking,” Tommy lifted his chin, pointing towards the far corner of the room, where Tiffany sat alone, glaring at me as if I were Satan himself.

  I bit my lip and looked down at the table. Her eyes were boring holes into me. Adam’s hand came under the table to squeeze mine. I heard movement and snuck a peek in her direction. She slid back from the table, her chair scraped against the floor. The entire room went quiet as she stood up, threw me some more I could kill you glances, and stalked out of the room. Her Ugg boots made padded thumps against the tile floor as she stomped out, her long blonde ponytail bouncing back and forth on her back as if it were as angry as she was.

  I took a big gulp from my bottled water with my free hand, and plopped it back down on the table. My hand shook just the tiniest
bit. I thought it was barely noticeable. I was wrong. Adam’s hand squeezed mine tighter and automatically I was bombarded.

  Are you okay, Nikki? Nothing to worry about, she’s scum. We’re here for you; we won’t let anything bad happen. Did you see the way she walked out of here? Everything’s gonna be just fine, you’ll see. Anger, protectiveness, worry, and a faint bit of panic coursed through my brain all at once.

  “Whoa,” I yelped. “Everybody, stop.”

  Most of the heads in the room that had seconds before been watching Tiffany’s retreating back, were now turned and watching me curiously. I cringed. Great, just what I needed. More attention.

  “Would everyone please stop thinking so loudly? I’m fine,” I hissed through my clenched teeth.

  Several apologies were whispered to me from across the table. After a rather uncomfortable moment, everyone else turned back around and stopped staring at us. I breathed a sigh of relief and managed a halfhearted smile at the worried faces that sat with me.

  “Do you need me to sit in the bleachers and watch out for you at practice?” Adam asked. “With the way she’s looking at you, I wouldn’t put anything past her.”

  “No, you have class too. They’re not going to let you skip just so you can ogle the girls’ cheerleading team. I appreciate the concern, though.”

  “I can get out of it. I think I may have pulled a muscle. You can’t work out if you’re hurt.” He managed a fake, unconvincing grimace and rubbed his shoulder.

  I stifled the spastic giggle. Adam hurt? Yeah, right. He was the picture of health with all his taut, lean muscles. He looked like the kind of guy that would be on the posters for milk advertisements. The guy radiated strength and power as if it were all ordinary for him. Even if they didn’t know about Adam’s healing capabilities, no teacher in his right mind was going to just let him skip class. He looked too healthy.

  He skipped class.

  He sat in the lower bleachers, nearer the guy’s basketball team than to us, watching us as we came in and walked over to our side of the gym. I looked over at him and raised an eyebrow. In return, he lifted one shoulder and gave me a sheepish grin. It seemed he was a better actor than I realized. I smiled to myself and turned back, making sure that I stayed somewhat close to Ronnie and as far as I could get from Tiffany while we stretched and waited for Ms. Perkins to arrive.