I pretended not to hear them. Luna had warned me about the cheerleaders here. They thought because they were popular, it gave them first dibs on everything—even guys. She said she’d once dated a boy for two years, and one night she caught him with a cheerleader at the bonfire. The worst part was the girl had been her best friend since the first grade.
What did I care anyway? He was way too beautiful for someone as plain as me. There was something about him, though, that I couldn’t shake. He was like a drug … and I was quickly becoming addicted.
Chapter 4
At lunch I sat with Luna and her friends, again. They were all hyped up about the upcoming bonfire. Truthfully, I wasn’t paying attention to anything they were saying. Instead, I was lost in the crowded lunchroom hoping that I might catch a glimpse of William. I even turned sideways in my seat to get a better view of the kids behind me, but I sensed William wasn’t there even before I looked.
I must have looked like a little lost puppy because Luna put her arm around my shoulders and nudged me.
“Who are you looking for?” she asked, but her smile lead me to believe she already knew the answer.
“No one.” I sighed. “Just looking.” When I glanced to my left, I spotted the cheerleader from earlier. “Hey, Luna. Who’s that girl right there?” I whispered, but I’m not sure why. With the dome-like roof, and the metal walls, it was like one giant echo that never stopped.
Luna’s normally open face closed up a bit. “That’s Elise Decker. Super cheer-whore,” she said through gritted teeth while glaring at the girl.
“Is she … the one?” I asked reluctantly. Luna’s eyes started to fill with tears, which told me she was. “I had trouble with her this morning after we left English class.”
“Yeah. She’s the one. Why…what did she do?” Luna asked, but kept her eyes trained on Elise. I glanced down after Luna had moved her arm and her hands were balled into tight fists. I thought Luna might jump up from the table any minute and punch her.
“Oh, it was nothing. I’ll tell you later.” I didn’t want to add to the already volatile situation, instead I tried changing the subject. “So … tell me, what goes on at the ‘bonfire’?” I did air quotes for bonfire. “I mean, why does everybody get so psyched about going?”
Luna opened her mouth to answer until Elise decided to grace us with her presence. That was her first—and last—mistake.
“Wuz up, Goonie Lunie? Who’s your pasty friend?” Elise asked sarcastically, while twirling a piece of her over-processed hair. Luna turned her head away from Elise, and I got the feeling she was scared of her for some reason. “Yeah. That’s what I thought. You talk a big game when I’m not around, but I don’t see you talking now.”
I gave Luna a sidelong glance and saw a tear about to spill over onto her cheek. “Leave her alone. She hasn’t done anything to you,” I said looking up at her from my chair.
Elise turned her attention to me by reaching out and flicking one of my curls.“What? You think I’m scared of you?” she asked, and let out a fake giggle.
Adrenaline raced through my veins and my hands began to shake. I had no patience for stuck up girls, especially those who thought they were better than everyone else.
I promptly stood and my chair flipped backwards. I don’t exactly remember what happened, but the next thing I knew Elise and I were being lead out of the lunchroom by two teachers and Elise’s face was bleeding. I heard the crowd in the lunchroom screaming, “Go, Gen!”
While I waited inside the counselor’s office, I overheard a teacher saying that I’d had a wild look about me when they pulled us apart. Pulled us apart? I don’t remember touching her. Suddenly, the back of my neck started itching again and when I rubbed across it, I could feel a raised line. I pulled my compact out of my backpack and used the mirror over the tiny hand sink in her office to get a look at it. Although it was red and irritated, nothing was there. I quickly sat back down when I heard voices drawing near.
Miss Baylor, the counselor, came in and closed the door behind her. She quietly walked around her desk and sat down across from me. She was a young woman, probably mid-twenties. I noticed her jet black hair wrapped up in a knot with two pencils holding it in place. She had on a Haven High School sweatshirt and, like so many of the teachers, she wore blue jeans.
She placed her elbows on her desk and folded her hands. “Well, Genevieve, this is not the way I had intended for us to meet.” She pulled off her glasses and looked at me severely. “Would you mind telling me what happened?”
I didn’t know what to say. She was expecting an explanation, and I couldn’t give her one. “I-I-I don’t exactly know.”
A puzzled expression flitted across her face, and then she smiled. “How do you like it here at H-H-S?”
“It’s okay, I guess. I mean, it’s hard to know for sure after only a week. But I guess as far as school goes, it’s fine.” I sat with my hands tucked under my legs, swinging my feet back and forth nervously. If she called my aunt, it would be reason enough for her to take me out of school and then I’d be a prisoner at home again. “Miss Baylor, please don’t tell my aunt. After my mom died and I came here to live, she wanted me to home school. I guess that’s her idea of protecting me. I had to beg her to let me come to school in the first place.
“I swear Luna and I were minding our own business when Elise came over and started picking on Luna. At first, I wasn’t going to say anything, but she put her hands on me. I was only defending myself.”
Miss Baylor picked up her phone and pressed a button. “Mr. Long, I won’t be calling Genevieve’s aunt after all.” She glanced in my direction and winked, said something else to the principal, and hung up the phone.
“You’re not?” I asked earnestly. She smiled and shook her head. I was stoked. “Thanks, Miss Baylor. I really appreciate it.”
“We’ve all made mistakes.” She paused for a minute and stared off somewhere. “I see so much of myself in you.”
“How?” I furrowed my brow.
“It’s not important right now.” She halfway grinned. “I want you to promise me that you will do everything in your power to conduct yourself as a young lady.”
“Yeah … I promise,” I said, dropping my head down. As soon as she finished talking, I thanked her again for not calling my aunt, and quickly left her office.
Luna was waiting for me down the hall by the girls bathroom. “Gen, oh-my-gah.” She hugged my neck. “You slapped Elise like, so hard, she turned a complete circle and I swear her eyes rolled back in her head.” She followed me into the bathroom.
“It should have never happened. I lost control.” I paused and walked to the sink. “I just feel like I’m losing my mind.”
“Did Mr. Long call your aunt?”
“No. For some reason Miss Baylor told him not to call.” I couldn’t help but grin when Luna’s jaw dropped.
Chapter 5
Friday was the longest day of my life, but as soon as that annoying buzzer signaled the end of the school week, a smile stretched across my face. I couldn’t wait to go to the bonfire. Luna told me how much fun we were sure to have. Finally, some time away from home with a bunch of kids my own age. I only had one obstacle standing between me and freedom … Aunt Bev.
When I pushed through the double metal doors of the school, spring brought the sweet smell of fir trees into the air. The brisk wind blew my hoodie back, but I didn’t care. I was on a mission. Somehow, during the ride home, I had to figure out a how I was going to convince Aunt Bev into letting me go to the bonfire.
Luna was standing next to my Jeep with a large group of kids. I wrinkled my brow and slowed my pace, not sure of what was going on. I heard Luna announce my presence, and everyone promptly stopped talking and turned to face me. I searched their emotionless faces for a sign of what they wanted from me.
All at once, everyone started cheering. There were people I swear I had never seen before patting me on the back. They were all congratulating me
for putting Elise in her place. I smiled even though I knew I had handled the situation wrong. They actually made me feel pretty good.
My heart started fluttering when out of nowhere William stepped up next to Luna. I thought I was going to pass out when he spoke to me.
“How come you haven’t called me?” he asked. The corners of his mouth curved up, revealing a sexy smile.
My face suddenly felt hot, and I smiled sheepishly. “I, uh, wasn’t sure you really wanted me to call. I thought maybe my aunt had gotten you to pity me.” I quickly looked down at the ground, too embarrassed to look at him.
“Pity you?”
“Yeah. You know … after I passed out at your feet in my kitchen.”
“Nah. I’m used to it. Girls fall at my feet all the time.” He laughed and I giggled, slapping him across the arm.
Luna walked up and looped her arm through mine. “So … William, are you coming to the bonfire tonight? Gen is coming,” she said, and nudged me at the same time.
He smiled and I knew his answer. Now all I had to do was convince Aunt Bev to let me go. I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be an easy task.
During the drive home, I went over in my mind all the different reasons I would use if my aunt said no, and I was ninety-nine point nine percent sure her answer was definitely going to be no.
My pulse rate continued to rise with each step I took toward the garage door. I stopped, took a deep breath and sighed before entering the house. When I went inside, I didn’t see Aunt Bev and was just about to call out to her when I heard her speaking to someone.
As I eased into the den her voice grew clearer; she was on the phone. Evidently she hadn’t heard me come in. I knew this because I heard mention of my name and something about it not being time yet. Time for what? I continued listening. My aunt became increasingly angry. I heard her say, “I won’t let you have it your way.” Even though it was wrong to eavesdrop I was compelled to listen.
“You’ll have to kill me first,” Aunt Bev said in a hushed, angry tone, and it frightened me.
I took a step and kicked an umbrella leaned against the wall. My heart all but jumped out of my chest when the umbrella slid down the wall making a scraping noise. Aunt Bev grew quiet, and I hurried back through the kitchen, opening and shutting the door leading in from the garage as if I had just come home.
“Aunt Bev?” I called out, trying unsuccessfully to hide the nervous tone in my voice.
“Hi, sweetheart.” She forced a smile through a pained expression when I walked into the room.
I tried not to stare at her. Her face had been washed of all color, looking as though she had seen a ghost. “Is something wrong? You don’t look so good,” I asked trying to sound innocent, even though I knew it had something to do with whoever she’d been arguing with on the phone.
“I have a nagging headache.” She rubbed her forehead. “But I’ll be fine.”
I was making a roast beef sandwich and didn’t even realize how high I’d piled it with meat until she said something.
“Hungry?”
“Not really. I just have this sudden taste for meat.” I put some of the meat back into the package, and then, when she wasn’t looking, grabbed half of it back out, rolled it up and downed it in two bites. “Maybe I was a little hungrier than I thought.” We laughed simultaneously.
She leaned against the counter with her arms crossed loosely over her chest and watched me practically inhale the sandwich. The whole time I was eating I kept going over in my mind all the different arguments I would use if she said no to the bonfire.
Finally, I just blurted it out. “There’s a bonfire tonight up at Wolf Point by the caves. Luna, her three brothers, and all the kids I’ve met at school are going. Can I please-please-please go?”
“All right,” she said, smiling.
I was so sure she’d say no I didn’t hear her say yes. “Why not? I really want to go. You’re not being—”
“Gen. I said yes.”
A warm feeling washed over me. “Really?”
“Yes, really. I’ve got some errands to run later anyway. I don’t want you out late though.”
I jumped up from my chair, and wrapped her in a hug, squeezing her tightly.
“Gen,” she stammered. “I can’t breathe.”
I quickly let her go and saw her face was blood red. “Sorry, Aunt Bev,” I uttered. “I didn’t think I was squeezing that hard.”
After I showered, I went into my room and my cell phone was chiming like crazy. It was text messages from Luna. There were two within three minutes of each other.
Are you coming tonight? was the first message she sent.
Gen. Why aren’t you answering? she texted, like, fifteen seconds later.
Chill Luna. I was in the shower. Yeah. I’m coming. I’ll text message you when I leave. You still want to ride with me?
She must have been staring at her phone, because as soon as I pressed send, one came right back. Yeah. Hurry. We need to leave in an hour. You won’t want to miss a thing.
I laid my phone down and looked in the mirror; panic immediately set in. I hadn’t even begun to get ready yet. I was going to have to hurry if I expected to leave in an hour. I rushed to my closet and grabbed a pair of black ski pants, matching white and black top, and my new Ugg sheepskin boots.
Forty-five minutes later I dabbed on a little perfume, scooped up my jacket, and hurried down the stairs, taking two steps at a time. I’d almost made it to the door when I heard my aunt.
“Gen,” she called out for the gazillionth-and-one time.
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah,” I moaned, stopping just inside the kitchen door.
“I just wanted to tell you to treat that Jeep like it was yours … because it is.” When she hugged me I think I detected a tear in her eye. I smiled, thanking her and slipped out the door.
Chapter 6
I didn’t say much during the ride to Wolf Point. I wanted so much for William to be there, but at the same time I hoped he wouldn’t show up. Luna, on the other hand, had taken control of the stereo and was happily singing at the top of her lungs to a new Smashing Pumpkins’ song I was hearing for the first time. I kept giving her sidelong glances.
“What?” she tried shouting over the music while looking at me questioningly. Her whole face lit up with the prettiest smile. Her smooth complexion reminded me of melted caramel. She was such a free spirit. Nothing seemed to phase her, except … Elise. But, that was totally understandable. I didn’t even know the girl and she managed to push me over the edge within like five seconds of opening her mouth. I can’t remember ever getting that angry before.
Actually, since moving to Alaska, I’d been noticing things about me that were changing. Luna and I hadn’t really talked about what happened per se, except when half of the senior class congratulated me in the parking lot.
“Nothing,” I shouted back, shaking my head. “Just—” I was still shouting when Luna quickly turned down the stereo. “Nervous.”
“Why are you screaming?” she asked, and we both laughed in unison.
Luna guided me off the road and down a long gravel path. It suddenly grew into a darkened abyss. Thick masses of trees so tall I couldn’t see past the tops overlapping each other on both sides, blocking out the sky somewhere beyond.
We drove at least a mile or two before the trees finally parted to reveal a huge opening in front of a cave. There must have been fifty or sixty vehicles parked in no certain order. Kids were scattered all over the place in small groups. Some hung out on truck tailgates, some had already paired up and were busy fogging up car windows, and others, more serious about the art of the bonfire, gathered firewood, placing it atop an already impressive stack.
Jack, I was told his name by Luna, was the unofficial DJ. Dressed totally in black, with guy liner to match, he had the trunk open on his brand new red Audi A8, showing off a mobile sound system with two massive bass thumpers and a dozen other smaller speakers. “Radioactive” by
Kings of Leon blared from his stereo and echoed through the trees and into the cave. I must say, I did like his taste in music.
I was moving around slowly, taking it all in, when Luna pulled me toward the cave. “Come on, Gen. You’ve got to see this.”
We stepped around a group of kids that had been blocking my view of the cave. I recognized them from one of the lunch room tables we had eaten at.
“Gen, you remember Nathan, Darcy, Samuel, and Katy, right?”
“Oh, yeah. Hi.” I waved and then realized I so must have looked like a dork. After we brushed past them, the cave opened up into this humongous room with a high ceiling. The light from the flames danced off small crystals embedded in the walls, which gave the whole room a glowing sparkle. It was so mesmerizing and beautiful I could hardly take my eyes off of it.
Several other kids from school sat around a small fire talking and laughing with someone a bit older than everyone else. She was dressed in Eskimo garb. When we got closer, I was shocked to find it was Miss Baylor.
“Hello, girls,” she said, smiling at us. “Are you going to be around later for the telling of the ‘Legend of the Adlet Royalty and the Blood Moon’?”
I shot Luna a puzzled look and shrugged my shoulders. Luna quickly spoke up and told her we would be there.
“What was that all about?” I whispered as we walked to the opposite side of the cave.
“She’s training to be our first female shaman.” Luna spoke as if it was something we talked about all the time.
“And? What is that supposed to mean?” I felt like I had to pry the words from her.
“She believes in the supernatural. The legend tells about the coming of a wolf princess, and how she will unite all the people.”
“All what people?” I wanted to say but didn’t. I was just as confused as I was when I saw Miss Baylor. “Let’s go back outside.” I nudged her back toward the opening.
Ties to the Blood Moon 2nd Edition Page 3
