Mary Snug was shaking as she leaned against the front door which she had just slammed. Her muscles ached with tension and a headache thumped behind her eyes. She could tell her blood pressure was through the roof, and that damn kid was to blame. The phone rang and she jumped.
She crossed the house to the kitchen in the back of the house and answered the old wall phone. She had kept the phone line and the phone number for years, hoping one day, Maxwell would call. “Hello?” She asked wearily.
“Mom?”
For an instant, she felt the voice was a cruel prank—yet another in a long stream of cruelties life had handed her since the death of her husband seven years earlier. Her mind told her that this call was related to the young man that had just visited and that the intrusion was continuing. “Who is this?”
“It’s me, Maxwell.”
The voice—yes! Certainly she knew the voice and it was her son. “Maxwell?” Her voice broke with relief and anguish and despair. “Is it really you?”
“Yes, yes, Momma, it’s me,” Maxwell said. He looked up from the phone to the officers surrounding him and Haley. “Mom, last night someone attacked us. Me and my friend, Haley.”
Friend! The word was music in her ears. “Are you okay?” She felt her chest tighten. “Where are you?”
“Chicago. We’re okay.” Maxwell lowered his voice. “Mom, I think they may come after you too. I think it’s the ones I told you about. The ones I could see all along. The bad men. With green eyes like mine.”
Mary’s hand trembled on the phone, and she saw the young man who stood on her doorstep earlier. His eyes a familiar green that her anger had forced her mind not to notice, but now—yes!—she saw it. And his mouth had been a snake pit of lies. “Don’t you worry about me. I’m fine.” She forced her hands to stop shaking, knowing that Maxwell would hear it in her voice. “Can I help you? Please, please I want to see you.”
“It’s not safe.” The line was quiet for a moment. “I love you, Mom. Goodbye.” He hung up.
Mary Snug felt her heart lurch in her chest. Tears flowed across her cheeks. He’s alive! Her soul sang. He’s alive!
* * * *
“Well, I struck out,” Alec said as he slid into the booth with Lucy and Jared. He grabbed a slice of pizza and took a bite. “This is good.”
“What happened?” Lucy asked.
Alec looked around and, after swallowing, lowered his voice to a conspiratorial decibel. “Apparently Maxwell ran away at some point. Sounds like the townsfolk practically ran him off.”
“What?” Lucy said a little too loud and emphatically. She lowered her eyes as customers turned their gaze on them.
Alec recounted his meeting with Mary Snug, ending it with, “So what do we do now?”
They stared at each other in silence for a few moments. Jared eventually said, “Eat pizza.”
* * * *
On Saturday morning, Collin sat on the edge of his bed, his knee bouncing anxiously as he looked at the clock. Saturdays were visitation day, and Collin couldn’t wait to see his mom. His visitation slot was 10 o’clock in the morning until 10:30. He had just a few minutes until he was called down to the cafeteria for his visit. Last night, he helped set up tables for the Saturday visits.
A guard knocked at his door and escorted Collin down for his visit. Visitors sat on one side of the table and students sat on the opposite. Green-eyed guards searched every visitor and closely monitored the visits. Proctor Roth stressed that the school was not a prison, but Collin wondered whom he was trying to convince. Monitored visits felt like prison.
When he sat, his mom, Pat, was already waiting. She stretched across the table and hugged him fiercely. “Oh, I’ve missed you so much,” she grunted as she squeezed him.
“I miss you too, Ma,” Collin said, returning the hug.
“How’s it in here? Looks better than jail. How’s your classes goin’?” She looked nervously at the guard seated nearby.
“The classes are good. They’re hard, but I’m doing okay.” He grabbed his mom’s hand. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I got put in here.”
She frowned and waved her hand dismissively. “Just learn your lesson. You can do something with your life. That’s all I want.”
Collin nodded. “I will. I promise.”
She started to cry, and it made Collin want to cry, so he said, “The food’s terrible. I don’t think they serve us real beef. I think it’s horse.”
“You always say things. Wild things.”
“It’s true.” Collin lowered his voice. “When you leave, look at all the guards. They all have green eyes.”
“What?” She asked, her voice shaking with nervous laughter.
“Just look.”
She averted his gaze. “Collin, honey, please don’t do this. I’m begging you. Don’t mess this up. Don’t let your mind run away and make you think things and then do things. Just, be cool. Play it cool.” A tear rolled down her cheek, and she smacked it away angrily.
“Sure thing, Ma,” Collin said, slamming his back into his chair. “I won’t mess this up. I’ll eat horse meat and ignore what I see.”
Pat shook her head. “You have so much anger. I blame your dad.”
“I’m not angry about Dad. I’m angry because I—don’t know—because life is shit, I guess.”
“Life is shit, okay. But it don’t have to be if you don’t screw it up. Don’t go back to jail. Don’t knock nobody up. And don’t run your mouth off and get in trouble.” She jabbed her finger into the table as she spoke. “You do those things, and you’ll get ahead of your dad and I.”
“How is he?”
“How should I know?” She huffed.
“When’s the last time you saw him?”
“Last time he was sober for more than two days straight.”
“When was that?”
“About a week ago.”
“I’ll get out of here.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
“And no wild stories?”
“None.”
The guard next to them stood and announced, “Visitation is over.”
“See you next week?” Collin asked.
She shook her head. “I work next Saturday. But I’ll be here the week after that.” Pat felt her heart tug at the crestfallen look on his face, and tears formed in her eyes. She grabbed him across the table and hugged him again with all her strength, whispering, “I love you,” in his ear. As she left, she glanced up into the eyes of the guard, and they were green. As she exited, she looked into both guards’ eyes, and they were the same startling green. On the way to her car, she passed a female teacher, and her eyes, too, were a green like a spring pond. Starting her car, Pat felt a gnawing sense of dread.
As Collin walked back to his room, Proctor Roth stopped him in the hall by sticking his arm across a doorway. “Collin, a word,” he said.
Collin stopped abruptly. “Sure.” He drew the word out a bit but tried to hide his dismay.
“You know we monitor every visit?” His eyes narrowed in anger.
Collin felt his stomach lurch. “Yeah. And?”
“We listen in and record every conversation.” Proctor Roth lowered his arm and stepped toward Collin, glowering down on him. “If you can’t handle the privilege of visitation, it can be revoked.”
“Yes, sir,” Collin obliged.
Proctor Roth suddenly smiled. “So your mother says you have quite the imagination?” Collin nodded, feeling coldness radiating off Proctor Roth like a frozen river in spring. “Imaginations can be useful. Now, hurry to your room.”
* * * *
Alec, Jared, and Lucy spent the afternoon trying to decide what to do next. They sat in the pizza parlor for as long as they felt they could without drawing suspicion. In the afternoon, they drove out of town, following signs for a historic mill. When they arrived, the mill was closed for the season. They parked by a small waterfall, the edges of the water sparkling with ice.
/> Driving back into town, Lucy said, “Let’s just stop by her house again. We have to try. Maybe Jared can get a scent to see where Maxwell is.”
“If I could get my hands on something of his, it might work.”
“Well, she can’t see me,” Alec said. “I don’t want buckshot in my ass.”
“Insert joke here,” Lucy snickered. Alec and Jared simultaneously rolled their eyes. “So it’s up to us,” she continued to Jared. “What’s our ruse?”
“We know the school chum thing won’t work. What about social services?”
“We have no credentials.”
“Parents of a missing child asking for advice.”
“That seems cruel.”
“Werewolves trying to stop the slaughter of humanity.”
“That sounds insane.”
“Why not be honest?” Alec blurted. “Well sort of. Why not say, ‘Your son Maxwell took part in a study on people with green eyes?’—or something like that—and you’re trying to follow up with him, and this is the address he gave. Just try to get inside.”
“So, we’re university researchers. That might work,” Jared agreed.
“We both have green eyes,” Lucy pointed out.
“That’s why we’re so interested,” Jared said.
Jared drove the car past the town toward Mary’s house. The sky turned a deep, aquatic blue as the sun fell beyond the horizon, and the trees and houses formed black silhouettes against the sky. In the distance, the horizon cut a thin orange and yellow line across the land as dusk descended. Alec ducked down in the front seat as they pulled into Mary’s driveway. Lamplight from inside the house diffused through the sheers over the picture window. They could see the silhouette of a woman moving about inside the house.
Jared and Lucy knocked on the door, prepared for a similar reaction to what Alec received. They looked at each other with a here-we-go shrug as they waited for Mary to answer. The porch light flicked on above them, and they could see Mary’s silhouette as she looked through the window on the side of the door. She inched the door open. “Can I help you?”
“Hi,” they both began. They looked at each other briefly. Jared began again, “Hello. Is this the Snug residence?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Jared, and this is my colleague, Lucy. We’re—”
“Where did you say you’re from?”
“We’re from the university,” Lucy said.
“Which university?”
“University of Chicago,” Jared said quickly.
“What is this about?”
“We’re looking for Maxwell Snug. He took part in a study we’re conducting, and he gave us this address.”
“You came here all the way from Chicago? Without calling?” The door waivered in her hand.
“We’ve been trying to locate Maxwell for a follow-up. It’s really important,” Lucy said.
“In fact, our careers count on it. See, Maxwell took part in our study, and we need to complete it to write our dissertations. Is he here?”
Mary smiled. “What’s the study?”
“On green eyes.”
Mary nodded. “Don’t stand out here in the cold. Come in.” She opened the door, and Jared and Lucy filed in. Lucy flashed Jared a relieved look.
Until she saw the gun in Mary’s hand. “Ms. Snug?”
“Maxwell warned me that you’d be coming,” Mary said, her hand shaking on the gun, which made Jared feel considerably more nervous. He would have felt better if she seemed more confident with it. “Do you think I didn’t notice your green eyes right away? Get over to the couch!” She motioned with the gun, but her eyes never left them.
Jared and Lucy inched toward the couch and sat. Jared looked at Lucy and faked a smile, but she could see the fear in his eyes.
“So what do you really want with my son?”
“What did he tell you?” Jared asked with a cool that belied his shaking knees. Lucy looked at him out of the corner of her eyes. She silently prayed for Alec to come to the door or look through the window.
Mary’s face pulled back in an angry grimace. “He said the bad men with the green eyes were coming. One of you attacked him last night.” Her voice shook. “That’s why I haven’t had my boy with me for the last three years. He fled to protect me.” The gun shook with her fury. “From you.”
“Your son was right to run,” Lucy said softly. “My parents nearly died. My brother did, and so did my grandmother and my boyfriend.”
Mary stared hard at Lucy, her lips pulling up in an incredulous snarl. “What are you talking about?”
“I lost my parents and my two little sisters,” Jared said. “That’s why we’re here. We thought, maybe, we could help, could save Maxwell, but we couldn’t even find him.” He gave a short, self-effacing snort.
“My brother—the one that’s still alive—stopped by earlier today.”
Mary’s face flashed recognition, but her posture did not waiver. “And I chased him off.”
“People are looking for Maxwell. Bad people. That’s probably who found him in Chicago.” Jared strained to keep his voice level. “They’re the same people who came after all of us.”
“Why?”
Lucy and Jared turned their heads to look at each other and then turned back to Mary. “They experimented on us,” Jared said. He added softly, “and Maxwell.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I wish we could explain it better, but—” Jared shook his head at a loss.
“I am about two seconds from calling the cops. After I put a bullet in you both.”
“Go ahead,” Lucy said. “It won’t stop us, but I think you already know that.” Her voice remained level, not betraying the fear that shook within her, like a branch in the wind. “And you knew, all along, that Maxwell was different, didn’t you? He’s like us. And only we can help him.”
Mary’s brow furrowed as she stared at Lucy. “What are you talking about?”
“You know what I’m talking about.” Lucy paused just a moment and then took a leap of faith. “That’s why he left, not only just to protect you, but because everyone here could tell he was different too.”
Mary stumbled back, the gun lowering slightly. “It was after the accident,” Mary whispered.
“Tell us,” Lucy said.
“My husband, Ricky, and Maxwell were in the stands, at the state fair, watching monster trucks. It was the year of the accident. The year the truck jumped into the stands and killed six people. Ricky was one of them. And Maxwell should’ve been. But he knew. Before that truck flew into the bleachers, he knew.” Mary’s lips quivered, and she lowered the gun to her side. “I was so relieved that Maxwell survived. But, then, someone noticed in the video footage. Someone caught it on tape. Maxwell was pulling on his dad’s arm, and you can’t hear what he’s saying, but he’s pointing toward the arena, toward the trucks. Ricky shook him off, and Maxwell ran. My husband turned to follow him, and right then and there the truck jumped into the stands and killed him.
“Maxwell was only twelve and this town made him Frankenstein. Like he was a witch or something, because they could tell he knew, and that he was trying to save his dad.” Mary leaned against the wall, and laid the gun on a shelf next to her. Her chest rose and fell with silent crying.
“Alec, who was here today, has a similar gift,” Jared said.
Mary’s face twisted. “It’s not a gift.”
“It is,” Jared said. “It took me a long time to realize it. But what we have are gifts. Just because some people want to misuse them doesn’t mean they aren’t gifts.”
“How do they want to use them?”
“We’re not sure,” Lucy said. “But we’re trying to find out.”
“Can you trust us?” Jared asked.
Mary nodded. “What do you want from me?”
“Can I get something of your son’s? Anything will do.”
Mary hesitated. “Why?”
“With that, I c
an use my gift. It’s—finding—people.”
“Are you guys even human? Is my son human?” Mary could see the pain she caused them with her words, imagined the pain that would have shot through Maxwell had he heard her.
“More human than you think,” Jared said, his voice trembling.
“I’m sorry—I don’t know why I said that.”
“It’s a lot to process,” Lucy said. “We understand.”
Mary looked at Jared. “What do you need?”
“Anything that smells like him.”
Mary turned her head, her hand clutched to her mouth. “I find the things that still smell like him hard to part with.”
“I can smell better than you,” Jared said softly. “It doesn’t still have to smell like him to you.”
“Wait here,” Mary said. She receded into the shadows in the back of the house, as Lucy and Jared sat in silence. A few minutes later, Mary returned with a shirt in her hands. She handed it to Jared. “I used to breathe in his scent, when the missing got too strong to bear. But this doesn’t smell like him anymore. Not to me, anyway.”
Jared took the shirt and lifted it to his nose. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Images flashed through his mind: a busy city street. Chicago, of course, he thought. He took a deeper whiff and tried to scan the image for a recognizable landmark. He opened his eyes. “This will work. May I take it?”
Mary nodded.
Jared stood. “Thank you.”
Lucy stood, too, smiling. “We’ll let you know when we find him, if it will make you feel better.”
“It would.” Mary followed them to the door. As they walked toward the car, Mary called, “Please, help him.”
Lucy nodded. “We’ll try.”
Mary shut the door. Her silhouette appeared behind the shears in the picture window, and the shears parted as she watched them climb in the car. As they shut the doors, Alec crawled out of his hiding spot in the passenger seat. “I see you’re not running from buckshot.”
The Wolf in His Arms (The Runes Trilogy) Page 10
