Beep.
“What’s the matter, Daniel? Too busy skanking around with Misty Sandlin to be with me? Yeah, I heard all about that. The ceremony’s starting in half an hour. You better get here, and you better have some damn good answers, or it’s over. Got it?”
Beep.
Angie had left the last message a minute ago. Daniel thought about calling her, trying to explain something, but it didn’t seem worth the trouble. He rolled onto his side, staring at the row of trophies and plaques on top of the bookshelf.
The ballroom was draped in the school colors. Matching, fresh-cut centerpieces sat on every table. Boosters and team members trickled in. Oliver Robinson talked to Coach Jacobs in the corner. Keith fiddled with the dimmer switch, fine-tuning the glow of the blown-glass chandelier.
Angie wore a satiny dress that made her seem to float. Keith watched her shove her cell phone in her purse. One of the boosters called her name. Angie’s expression snapped into a smile as she looked up, reaching out to shake his hand.
The night had unfolded like fate. Daniel had gotten Keith into the awards banquet, then asked for a favor. Instead of blurting everything to Angie the first chance he got, Keith had played it cool. He’d whispered in a few ears and trusted the rumor to diffuse across the school on its own. Daniels slipping it to that little hoodrat Misty. He’s probably already given Angie crabs by now. By the time Angie heard what people were saying, Keith’s name wasn’t even attached to it anymore.
She didn’t break up with Daniel, though, and as the banquet approached, Keith almost lost faith. Last night, he’d held the phone in his hand, wondering if he should call Jessica Orr.
He’d loved Angie since ninth grade, though. Gorgeous and funny, she was the kind of girl nobody but his cousin had a shot at. Finally, Keith calculated that one more embarrassment, going to the awards banquet alone and leaving the same way, wouldn’t make enough difference to matter. But no matter how slim the chance, one hour with Angie on his arm, one kiss, would make the night shine out from every other. Keith had dabbed on some cologne and headed out with a unsteady prayer on his lips.
Then Daniel vanished. Nobody knew where he was, but everybody suspected who he was with. “The boy’s headed to Cornell,” Spence had snickered. “Gotta chase some wild hares while he’s still got the chance.”
Now, Keith walked toward Angie. “H-hey. You look really nice.”
“Thanks.” She smiled at him, then her eyes flickered to the door as someone walked in.
“Me and Caesar fixed the sound system. Only one speaker was fuzzy, so we just unplugged it. But you’ve still got three, so it should be okay.”
“Okay. Thanks.” She glanced up again as two more boosters came in. A shadow of hurt crossed her face when she saw it wasn’t Daniel. For a moment, Keith felt bad, almost slimy. But it wasn’t his fault Daniel was cheating on her.
“Hey, if Daniel doesn’t show up. I’m not really here with anybody, and I was thinking—”
“Thanks, but I’ll be okay.”
“I know. I just didn’t want you to have to sit next to an empty seat all night.” He motioned to the dais. To present the speakers, Angie would sit up there with the coaches, Oliver Robinson, and a place reserved for her date. “I’m not much better than an empty seat, but I just wouldn’t want people to think you’d been dumped on your big night. You know how people love talking about crap they don’t know about.”
Angie gave a tired laugh. She beamed at him the way she beamed at Daniel. “You’re a pretty good guy, Keith.”
Daniel couldn’t remember if he fell asleep or not. He lay in bed, ignoring sharp hunger pangs. He was still dressed, and sand from the furnace made the sheets scratchy.
For hours, he worked to make himself believe it had been a hallucination. Misty had fed him ’shrooms. They’d screwed him up so bad, he’d thought he was a wolf.
But he’d seen the paw prints. His paw prints. Even worse, Daniel could still feel it. Lying in his letterman jacket and Core 205s, surrounded by books and trophies, with an acceptance letter from Cornell in the desk, Daniel felt the wolf beneath his skin, eager to break loose again.
After supper, his mom came up carrying chicken and broccoli. He thanked her and apologized again. The conversation was surreal in its normality. His mom talked about getting called off work, and church tomorrow. She had no inkling what lurked inside her son. After she left, Daniel ate his chicken and realized nobody else would either.
Like Misty had said, even if he told people, they’d never believe him. And Daniel couldn’t think of any reason ever to tell.
He could pretend it had never happened. Just delete Misty’s number from his cell phone and ignore her at school. In the fall, Daniel would fly up to Ithaca and lose himself in the privileges and duties of a shooting star. The bluestone towers were so far away from the furnace. Maybe, eventually, he’d convince himself it had been a hallucination after all.
He called Angie, but she wouldn’t answer, getting back at him for ignoring her calls all day. Daniel couldn’t let Angie break up with him. He checked the time. The awards ceremony was over. Angie might stick around for the afterparty, though. With a chicken slice in one hand, he scrambled around his room, changing into his Hugo Boss shirt.
His parents hadn’t said anything about Daniel’s punishment yet, but he was sure he was grounded. Buttoning up his letterman jacket and shutting off the lights, Daniel prayed for his mom not to check on him again, reminding God what he was trying to get away from.
He lowered himself out the window, thin-soled dress shoes scuffing the house’s clapboards, Daniel dropped the last few feet into the sideyard. Getting back in was trickier, but he’d done it before. Cutting across the overgrown lawn of the empty house next door, he jogged up the street toward the bus stop.
After the banquet, Angie peeled out of her dress and pantyhose, changing into an outfit the white-haired boosters wouldn’t have approved of, a little shimmery fabric and lots of honey-colored curves.
Keith had spent years trying to imagine the banquet afterparty, but it wasn’t a single party at all. Instead of a fixed group gathering at a fixed spot, bodies, music, and beer flowed through the hotel. Doors kept opening and kept opening. Keith and Angie met up with friends, lost them along the way, then found new ones. When the manager kicked everybody out of one room, they just scattered like beads of mercury.
Through the swirl of players, student reps, and gate-crashers, Angie stayed close to Keith. If anyone asked about Daniel, she gave them a half-sneering shake of her head, as if the subject wasn’t worth talking about, and touched Keith’s arm. Then a text message would send her and Keith dashing up to one of the veranda suites.
After a drink, she started dancing with him. Her body brushed his. A glimpse of Angie’s tan line had left Keith dry-mouthed and dazed before. But the stars had guided him to this frantic, free-floating party. When he pulled her close and kissed her, it was with a calm confidence that Angie and the whole night were his for the taking.
The blue line MAX trundled through the city Daniel had grown up in. It passed his old pediatrician’s office, the shop where he’d bought the tie he was wearing, and Mabel’s Beauty Shop and Chainsaw Repair. Daniel had accepted the sign at face value for years before somebody clued him in that Mabel’s was a gay biker bar.
Daniel polished his shoes with his handkerchief and refused to look out the bus’s window. He couldn’t let himself wonder how many places like the furnace the night hid, secret places where reality was worn thin.
The bus hissed to a stop across the street from the Tutwiler. Daniel ran around the hotel’s fountain and into the lobby. Three girls from school sat talking on one of the leather couches. He spotted Spence and Scotty getting into the elevator. Daniel shouted, and Spence stuck his hand out to hold the door open, shouting back, “Where have you been, man? Everybody’s—”
“Is Angie still here?”
“Yeah.” Spence glanced at Scotty, then pushed t
he button for the sixth floor. “Yeah, I saw her in Morgan’s room last. Listen, though, nobody knew where you were, so your cousin kind of stepped up. But it’s nothing, okay? So just be cool.”
Daniel nodded, betraying as little as possible. He’d assumed Keith had let the thing about Misty slip because he was an idiot. It had never occurred to Daniel that Keith might actually have been plotting against him. The idea was almost funny. Daniel never dreamed his cousin had that big a pair.
The elevator opened, and Daniel followed strains of club music down the hall. Spence’s backpack, full of the beer they’d bought from Charlie Say What, clanked as he and Scotty jogged after him.
A piece of tape kept the door from locking. Daniel pushed through the waving field of bodies, past empty plastic cups and set-aside awards, looking for Angie. She saw him first, scowling over Keith’s shoulder. As they moved in time to the music, Keith wrapped his arms around Angie and pulled her close. She kissed him, but kept her eyes fixed on Daniel.
Angie wanted to make him jealous, which meant she still wanted him. He was Daniel Morning. Everybody had known he was the shooting star since he was seven. It might mean sinking a spit-polished dress shoe into his cousin’s gut, but Angie and his real life were still his for the taking.
Daniel took a step forward, then hesitated. The wolf inside him, the wolf that was part of him, hated these preening humans. He hated Daniel for being so ready to play Angie’s stupid game.
He stood watching Angie watch him. Last night, Daniel had torn through mud and weeds. He’d eaten garbage. He’d howled. And it’d been even better than Misty had promised.
Daniel wanted more of that mad freedom. He wanted as much as he possibly could, because once he headed for Cornell, he’d never find his way back to the furnace again.
Spence had seen Angie kiss Keith. He took Daniel’s arm. “Forget about her, man. You don’t need her. Come up to Claire’s room with us. Both Jessica and Emi came with some guy, then ditched him. They’re both already lit. Probably dancing half-naked by now.”
Daniel shrugged out of Spence’s grip and decided to let Keith play the shooting star for a while. “Thanks, but I’m getting out of here.”
“What? No. Come to Claire’s room with us.”
“No, I need to go see somebody.” He slapped his friend in the chest. “Go enjoy the show. I want to hear everything Monday!” he yelled over his shoulder.
Misty had kept her phone with her all day, even setting it by the sink when she’d taken a shower, but nobody had called except Val.
“Give him some time. We were all pretty freaked out too, at first.” Val was with Eric, who was still sore about Misty bringing Daniel to begin with. In the background, Misty heard him grumble, “Better hope he doesn’t try to shoot you with a silver bullet or something now.”
Val told him to relax, then said to Misty, “Even if he doesn’t call, that means you scared the hell out of a jock with fifty pounds on you. That’s pretty cool, right?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
Misty suspected that part would be funny eventually. After hanging up with Val, she curled back up on the couch, watching Marc play video games. She wished she could go prowl. Misty wanted to strip off her human skin, all her wondering and tension with it. But Marc and Eric had church early tomorrow.
Her phone rang again. When Misty saw the number, she jumped up, took a deep breath, and pressed the talk button.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” Daniel said in a quiet voice. “I’m in your parking lot. Are you busy?”
“What? No. Just a second, okay?” Misty rushed around looking for some shoes, then gave up and headed for the door.
Her mom sat on the couch cutting coupons. “Where are you going?”
“Nowhere. I’ll be back in a minute.”
“Misty, don’t go outside in your pajamas.”
“I’ll be back in a minute.” She stepped out and saw Daniel standing under the security light in a dress shirt and tie. She dashed across the cold asphalt in her socks, her arms across her chest. Daniel didn’t move. Eric’s silver bullet joke flickered through Misty’s mind, but she pushed it aside.
“You’re all dressed up,” Misty said. It was the only thing she could think to say.
Daniel nodded. He still seemed wary of her. “Yeah. Sorry I didn’t call earlier. Had a lot to think about, you know?”
“It’s cool.”
They stood quiet, Misty dancing from one foot to the other. Then Daniel blurted, “Have you ever hurt anybody?” all as one long word.
“No. I swear. I swear. Last night, before I showed you all of this, you promised you’d remember everything you knew about me before.”
“I am. I’m trying to, at least. But you’re a werewolf.”
“Wolves aren’t evil. They’re just strong,” she said. “I wouldn’t do this if it was bad, Daniel. I swear.”
He nodded, and they slipped back into silence. Misty’s teeth started chattering. “So, all this thinking you did today. You decide anything?”
“I’ve decided … that you’re the most amazing girl I’ve ever met. And that I can figure out the rest as I go along.”
The tension in her shoulders vanished. The cold vanished. Misty felt warm blood rush to her cheeks. She wanted to climb the apartment building wall, race through traffic, maybe rob a bank, just because she could. Instead, she looked up at Daniel and nodded. “Cool.”
CHAPTER 8
Monday, Daniel moved across the government classroom to sit behind Misty. Mrs. MacKaye didn’t like people changing seats, but Daniel was the shooting star, so she let it go. In the cafeteria, Keith had taken Daniel’s chair beside Angie. She leaned close to whisper something in his ear, her hand resting on top of his. Knowing they were both watching him, Daniel sat at the wolves’ table beneath the windows.
Eric glanced up. “Where’s your jacket?”
“Not on the team anymore.”
Nodding, Eric went back to his hamburger, and Daniel was in the pack.
Saturday night, Misty had sketched out how they’d become wolves to Daniel. Now, the pack told him more stories, where they’d gone, how fast they could run, and how sharp their predator’s senses were. The whole time, Misty teased Daniel’s foot under the table, pressing her boot down on the toe of his sneaker. Daniel thought of something else.
“So do I have to get a pair of boots?”
“Stick with the Cores, man,” Marc said. “Those fuckers are high-speed, low-drag, Teflon-coated.”
“Thanks, but ….” Glancing under the table, Daniel set his foot against Misty’s. “I’ll get some boots.”
Despite grounding him until further notice, Daniel’s parents still expected him to go to his college classes. Tuesday, Daniel went with Misty to Al Army Surplus. Industrial shelving piled with survival gear and MREs rose over their heads.
Daniel bought a pair of tanker boots. He spent the evening walking around in them, feeling like a badass. Getting home, Daniel stashed them in a battered blue suitcase under his bed alongside his small stash of porn.
Thursday, the pack took Daniel on a tour of their South-side. They showed him the chain of graffiti tags steadily constricting the neighborhood. Val was proudest of the pair gazing down from the concrete apron of 1-65. She’d had to climb over the guardrail to paint them, dangling a story above the asphalt, exposed on all sides except for her pack watching over her. They’d come out perfect.
“So, there aren’t any other werewolves besides you guys, right?”
“Not that we know of.”
“So what’s the point, then? I mean, who are you marking your territory off from?”
Misty shrugged. “They’re just something to do. Running around got boring after a while. I guess they’re just for us. To know this is our territory.”
“Yeah, but nobody else knows it, so what’s the point? It’s not like they change anything. It’s not like the police are staying out of Southside because of them.”
&n
bsp; Misty squirmed. “You’re right, but… I can’t explain it to you, exactly.”
Eric spoke up from the passenger seat, telling Daniel, “You don’t get it because when you go to school, everybody’s always happy to see you. When you get home, your mom’s probably going to have a big tray of chocolate chip cookies waiting for you.” His voice had a hard edge, like he hated Daniel for that. “You don’t get it because you’ve always belonged somewhere.”
Trying to lighten the sudden tension, Daniel forced a laugh. “Not always.”
“Well, some people never have,” Misty whispered.
Daniel watched the glimmer of the passing city play across her face. He let the questions drop and squeezed her hand. Daniel realized this was more than a game to them. Given all the freedom he craved, they’d built brute versions of the family and home he wanted to escape, a pack and territory.
Misty and the others still didn’t know about Cornell. Daniel had spent the week trying to come up with the best way to tell them. Now, after Eric’s talk about belonging, he suddenly realized there wasn’t one.
• • •
Somewhere in Misty’s subconscious, A Midsummer Night’s Dream played forever, its rhythmic verse like an underground river flowing beneath the waking world. The footlights never went dark, the magic never ended, and sometimes when she slept, Misty found herself back onstage.
“Believe me, King of shadows, I mistook. Did not you tell me I should know the man by the Athenian garment he had…”
The painted forest backdrop had become real trees. Gnarled roots broke through the stage boards and wound around the lights. Misty glimpsed Daniel perched in the branches above. Grinning down at her, he waved.
Misty half waved back and tried to regain her train of thought. “… the garment he had on? And so far blameless … proves my enterprise …”
Realizing nobody else could see him, Misty kept cracking up and forgetting her lines. Finally giving up, she fluttered offstage on glittering wings and dropped into the tree beside Daniel.
Unleashed Page 10
