Sometimes By Moonlight

by Heather Davis

  “Mrs. Lemmon,” I said, “I am worried about my stepmother. You know, with her being on bed rest for the baby. Do you think you might allow me a quick video call? I know it’s not the normal time…”

  Mrs. Lemmon set down her knitting needles and consulted her watch. “It’s against rules, Locke.”

  I gave her my best puppy eyes. “Please, I’ll be quick.”

  “Well, considering what you’ve been through this week, maybe it’d be a good idea,” she said, getting up from the chair. “There’s no one else about. Let me go get the computer from Madame’s office.”

  A few short minutes later, I was sitting in front of a laptop screen, looking at a sleepy Honeybun. Mrs. Lemmon, giving me some privacy, retreated to the hallway door and picked up her knitting again.

  “Your father’s still sleeping,” Honeybun said, yawning. “I’ve been online for hours looking at cribs. There’s so much to do.”

  “Yeah,” I said.

  “Everything okay there? Do you want me to wake your father?”

  “No, I just wanted to talk to you this time,” I said.

  She smiled at me, and I almost felt guilty, seeing how bright and wide her grin was, like she was genuinely happy we were chatting. That I wanted to talk to her alone. “So, what’s up, sweetheart?”

  I groaned inwardly at the word “sweetheart” but forged ahead. “So, what I’ve been wondering, because you know, there are lot of girls from lots of different places here at the school, is how did you find out about this place? I mean, why am I here?”

  Honeybun’s smile faded into disappointment. “Oh. I thought you wanted to have some kind of a girl chat. You know, about… girl stuff.”

  I heard in her hesitation the wish that we were talking about mother-daughter stuff, not just girl stuff. I felt a little punch in the gut. Was Honeybun actually wanting to get along? To be a real parent? It was a little too late for that.

  “Well, you know, there’re no boys here, so there’s no girl stuff to talk about, really,” I said.

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Honeybun replied. “I should have told you before, but that friend of yours from camp, Austin, he tried to reach you here at the house after you left. Very charming. You father told him where he could write you. I hope he’s been in touch.”

  I shrugged. Talking with her about Austin seemed pointless and maybe, with everything going on, dangerous. “Listen, I want to know how you found out about Steinfelder.”

  Honeybun tried to frown at my changing the subject. She rubbed at her creaseless forehead as if the effort hurt her. “I don’t see why that’s important.”

  “Did you get the brochure from Red Canyon Ranch? From Camp Crescent? From a shrink you know?”

  She let out a deep yawn. “Shelby, I still can’t understand why you need to know.”

  “Just tell me!”

  Mrs. Lemmon poked her head around the corner, a finger to her lips.

  “Sorry. I don’t mean to yell. It’s just that things are getting weird here—”

  “Oh no, what did you do?”

  What did I do? Nothing yet, I wanted to say. But I held my tongue. “I’d just like to know where you got the brochure.”

  Honeybun cast her gaze to the enormous rock on her wedding finger. “We got a special invitation in the mail.”

  “An invitation?”

  “Yes. It was invitation from the school, with your name on it, saying you’d been handpicked to attend. It was super fancy, like they’d taken the time to research you, to make sure you were their kind of girl. I’m not sure how we got on the school’s mailing list or who recommended you, but when I read about the tradition and the history, it sounded really great. I thought you might soak up some European culture. California can be so, you know, California.”

  “Was there a signature on the invitation? A return address?”

  “Well, just the school information, I suppose. It wasn’t signed by anyone.”

  “Oh.” I felt my shoulders slump. “Okay, great.”

  Honeybun’s eyes took on a dreamy look. “You know, I always wanted to see Europe. Back when I was in high school in the Valley, I dreamed of seeing those capitals. I thought maybe you’d get a chance to do the things I never had the chance to do,” she said, her voice softening.

  “Really? You weren’t just sending me far, far away?”

  Honeybun chewed her lower, plumped up lip. “Shelby—”

  “It’s okay,” I said. “I know it hasn’t been easy.”

  “For either one of us,” she said with a nod.

  “Okay, well, if you find that invitation, save it for me,” I told her. And then we clicked off, neither one of us saying goodbye.

  Mrs. Lemmon came back into the room with her knitting bag. “Well? How did it go?”

  “It’s never quite what you expect,” I said.

  “Now that’s the truth right there,” she replied. “It never is, indeed.”

  ***

  I chewed my gummy worm slowly. It was a red one, my favorite, but actually any flavor tastes good when you haven’t had a gummy in months. I checked my watch again—ten minutes to eleven. I dressed quickly, retrieving the snow clothes and boots I’d left in the bathroom’s linen closet after dinner. It seemed quieter and quicker to dress in the girls’ loo then in our room, especially since Marie-Rose had been my shadow again, all night. I zipped up my jacket, fully prepared to head out into the snow, and crept down the back staircase to the kitchen, where the exit closest to the path to the old carriage house was located.

  As I was about to open the kitchen’s back door, I heard the staccato sound of heels on wooden floors. I slid into the pantry to wait until the noise passed. Peeking out, I saw the reflection of candlelight flickering on the glass windows above the sink, and I heard a cough. I ducked back inside my hiding place as the back door opened and whoever it was went out onto the porch. A second later, I smelled tobacco burning. Someone was outside for a forbidden late night smoke, blocking my exit in the process.

  Since I was in the pantry already, I grabbed a couple of gingersnaps and put them in my coat pocket. Then, I got down low and made my way out into the kitchen. I snuck a glance out the window. Miss Kovac was smoking and whispering in a foreign language into her cell phone

  I was about to make my move out of the kitchen when she suddenly clicked the phone shut and stubbed out her cigarette. There was no time to go anywhere, so I climbed underneath one of the metal worktables and held my breath. She closed the back door behind her as she entered the kitchen. Then she stopped, candlestick holder in her hand, and sniffed the air. As she circled the table I was under, I was sure she could hear my heart beating. I willed myself to be still, not to move a millimeter in my noisy snow pants.

  Miss Kovac raised her nose to the air again and then walked quickly over to the pantry. A second later she emerged with three cookies in her hands and hustled out the kitchen door. So, I wasn’t the only one raiding the cook’s secret stash.

  I exhaled with relief as I unfolded myself from under the table. Then, realizing it was after eleven and I was late, I zipped out the back door. I ran as fast as I could while keeping to the shadows of the neglected garden. When I reached the carriage house, I slid along the side wall, searching for the door. It was heavy and creaky, but I got it open and stepped into the inky darkness.

  “Austin?” I called.

  A flashlight switched on over in the corner. I half expected to see my shadow, Marie-Rose, or some other unwelcome figure step out of the gloom, but it was just your average werewolf hottie. “Good evening,” he said, jumping over a rusted out car with ease. “I’d about given up.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t.”

  Austin set the flashlight on a wooden crate and gave me a half smile, the little dimples at the side of his face creasing. Seeing Austin’s silvery Lycan eyes, I felt a familiar rush of fear, but now it was tempered by the knowledge that my own eyes had that same quality, or at least the beginning
of it.

  “I missed you.” Austin wrapped me in his arms, and it suddenly didn’t matter that it was freezing in the carriage house or that things were crappy, or that I was going furry. It only mattered that he was here with me. “It’s so hard to be away from you,” he added, making my heart flip in my chest.

  I fell deeper into his embrace. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

  “Did anyone follow you?” Austin whispered as he stroked my hair.

  “I don’t think so.”

  He gazed into my eyes, and then he lowered his lips to mine, until we almost touched. He hovered there for a few seconds, in the place where I could feel the heat from his lips, his soft breath. I wanted him to close the distance so badly.

  And when he finally kissed me, I forgot about Steinfelder. I forgot about my Lycan woes. I forgot everything. When people say that you can lose yourself in a kiss, they aren’t lying. And for that moment, I was completely, happily lost.

  It’s just a shame you can’t stay lost. You can’t stay outside reality forever. No matter how hard you might try.

  Chapter Nine

  I checked my watch again. Eleven-twenty. Most of the last few minutes we’d spent kissing, which is never a bad thing, but I felt the urgency to return to my room.

  “Love, I know we’ve got to get you back,” Austin said, like he was reading my mind. “It was hard enough for me to plant the candy last night. Even without locks, that place is formidable.” He dipped his head to kiss me again.

  “Well, there is an armed guard.”

  “Very true,” he said, planting another kiss on me. “So, now on to business.”

  I covered my tingly mouth and giggled. “This wasn’t business?”

  He smiled broadly, his teeth white and sparkling. “If we had time, I’d hold you in my arms all night. You know that.”

  My insides warmed again. “Yeah.”

  “I have to tell you a few things,” he said. “Number one, there’s someone on the inside. My father’s people set it up. For security reasons they won’t tell me who it is, but someone is definitely watching over you.”

  “Watching over me?” I suddenly thought of Marie-Rose—had I misjudged her?

  Austin nodded. “And about this place—”

  “They invited me special,” I said, and then I filled him in on what I’d learned from Honeybun that afternoon.

  “That makes sense. This Duke Steinfelder—”

  “He’s a bad dude,” I said. “I read all about him. That’s what I wanted to tell you. That’s why I risked sending you the e-mail.”

  Austin nodded. “I’ve been looking into it too, and so has my dad. He’s long suspected that descendants of Steinfelder’s group, The Seven Horsemen, might try to take root here, where their hatred began.”

  “But why do they hate werewolves?”

  His eyes darkened. “To them we’re aberrations. Mutants. They hate anything different, especially what they don’t understand.”

  “So that’s what you meant about the forces that seek to destroy our kind,” I said, repeating what he’d told me the other day. “The Seven Horsemen.”

  “Precisely. And about that,” he said with a deep pause. “About your being our kind…”

  “It’s not true? I’m not going to go furry?” I clapped my hands together.

  “We don’t know that yet.”

  “Well, maybe the serum can stop the change if I take it now. Did you bring some with you? I mean, I’m having some symptoms,” I said, my face heating as I told him all about the midnight meat run.

  Austin’s eyes were downcast as he said, “Love, I have some bad news.”

  “Uh-oh.”

  “Our chemist says you can’t take the serum until you’ve had the change completely one time. You can’t do it until it’s confirmed you’re Lycan. There are tests we can run back at the castle, but it’s too risky to let you take any serum now. If we’re wrong and you’re not—”

  “I just told you I was eating raw steaks in my sleep!”

  Austin reached out his hands, grasping on to my shoulders. “You’ll die if we’re wrong. The serum will kill you.”

  “Oh.” I blinked at him in the near dark. “Well, that sucks.”

  “Yes. I can’t let that happen. I’m not going to risk losing you.”

  “So what do we do now?” I said.

  “We wait until we see an opening, and then we spring you from this place.”

  “Wait? You just expect me to hang around school like everything’s hunky-dory and then turn into a wolf and maybe attack people?”

  Austin looked like I’d punched him in the face. “Is that what you still think of me—of us? That we attack?”

  “No, I mean, well, I don’t know. How do we know what my wolf will do?” I reached out for him but he’d taken a step back. My heart constricted in my chest. The last thing I wanted to do was to put Austin down, but I really was concerned about the attack factor. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”

  Austin’s jaw was set in a firm line. “I’m aware of all the messages you’ve heard about wolves, about werewolves, but they’re not true. I thought I convinced you last summer. I thought you understood. We’re a very evolved species.”

  I felt tears welling in the corners of my eyes. “I’m not trying to hurt your feelings. I’m just trying to understand what I’m about to become. I’m scared.”

  “I’ve never known you to be scared of anything,” Austin said, his voice a low whisper. “You’re one of the bravest people I know. Come here.” He looped his arms around me again and pulled me to his chest. “I never meant for any of this to happen. You have to know I wouldn’t wish becoming what I am on my worst enemy. You know how much I hate this. I’ve always loathed what I am.”

  “It’s not your fault,” I said, still feeling like crying. “You didn’t mean to do it. Your wolf part didn’t, I mean.”

  I let him hug me, and I pressed my lips against his neck, feeling the rush of his blood, hearing his heartbeat.

  “Shelby,” Austin said, in a low voice. “I may not have meant to do it, but it happened. And when you turn for the first time our bond will grow even stronger. Do you understand what I’m telling you? You’re my… mate. We will be together forever.”

  “Really?” Tears rushed to my eyes. “But, wait—you said you didn’t mean to do it—”

  “I’m not saying that I wouldn’t have done it later, if you’d asked me,” he said. “I just didn’t see how you ever could want something so terrible. And now, you have no choice, love.”

  “Together forever,” I repeated. Because of the bite, I was going to belong to Austin, whether I wanted to or not. But the truth was, I did want to belong. I wanted us to be family for each other, the family I would no longer have once this all came out. Beverly Hills and Lycanthropes just didn’t go together. And now that Dad would have a new kid, there was even less of a chance he would want a wolf girl like me around, anyway.

  Austin looked me in the eyes again. “I know this is hard,” he said. “All I ask is that you stay strong. I promise it won’t be much longer until you’re out of here for good.”

  “But what am I supposed to do in the meantime? Sit here and wait for you to rescue me? Couldn’t we both jump the fence tonight?”

  Austin sighed. “Well, first of all, there’s the matter of your parents—you can’t simply run away and cause an international incident. There’d be a massive Shelby hunt, which would only make things worse. Secondly, we need to figure out a way no one will know you’re with us.”

  “Right,” I said bitterly, “we can’t have the trail lead to you. We just let old Shelby rot here until she goes furry. And save the Bridges dynasty.”

  Austin’s eyes flashed a warning. “Don’t take this lightly, Shelby. Taking out either one of us here at Steinfelder would be easy compared to snapping you up in the middle of Beverly Hills or picking one of my family off in the London streets. I never thought I’d be thankful for the papara
zzi, but without them, we are much easier targets.”

  “Targets? We’re actually targets?”

  He nodded grimly. “You remember the so-called hunting accident my mother had when I was a boy? A few weeks after it happened, my father got a postcard in the mail, a plain white card with a medieval shield of arms on one side—the insignia of the Seven Horsemen. They had something to do with Mum’s death. Dad could never prove it, but he’s always been sure.”

  A chill rippled through me. “So they could be watching us right now, waiting for a moment to kill you. What are you even doing here?” I hit him on the shoulder.