Willow

by Amy Richie

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Sleepover

  Company turned out to be Carlie, and although I should have been able to guess, I was still surprised when she flung her skinny arms around my neck. "Willow," she squealed, "I missed you at school."

  "What are you doing here?"

  "Now, don't get mad at them," she jerked her chin in the direction of the five boys huddled close to the front of the car, "I made them bring me."

  "Why?"

  "I wanted to see you."

  "You wanted to make sure I was still here?"

  She smiled sheepishly. "That and … I wanted to talk to Gage."

  "Huh?" I couldn't have heard her correctly. Gage, who was standing just behind me, fidgeted slightly.

  She leaned over my shoulder to ask him directly. "Will you walk with me?"

  I turned quickly to look back at him. His eyes narrowed so severely that they almost looked closed but finally, after a few tense moments, he nodded curtly and shifted to allow her past when she walked purposefully towards the tree cover. He sighed deeply and followed.

  As soon as the duo disappeared from view I rounded on Rueben with a hundred questions blazing in my eyes but all my words dried up at the look of wide-eyed terror on his face. "She just wants to talk to him," I croaked.

  "About what?"

  "I'm sure she just wants to … um … plead her case some more and tell him how much I need a friend in my life. You know," I shrugged unconvincingly, "the usual stuff."

  The two of them didn't reappear quickly, though, as I had thought they would. Rueben kept up a steady, crazy pacing within the small space in front of his car. Every so often he would blurt out things like: "Where the hell are they?" and "Why is it taking so long?" and "What are they talking about in there?" mixed in with empty threats about going in after them.

  The rest of us were content to sit and stare at the tree line. I was fairly confident that Gage would not hurt Carlie but as the minutes ticked by I began to wonder if the same could be said for her. Unbidden, disturbing thoughts began to form.

  What if she was leading him to a trap? Her dad was a Knight; could he have called others to the area after Carlie found out that there was indeed a pack living in Grover? Could she have ratted us out? Yes. The answer echoed over and over again along the wind until it was inside my chest, vibrating with an awfulness I had never felt before.

  "Should we go in there and make sure everything is ok?" Jed asked nervously.

  Before I could answer either way, Rueben gasped. I automatically turned my head to see if they were coming and was rewarded with the sight of Carlie beaming at us and Gage sulking behind her. Shock, or maybe something else, rooted us to the spot until Carlie rejoined all of us by the car. She stopped beside me but I kept my eyes on Gage.

  "Well?" I whispered nervously.

  "We just talked," he replied without even a hint of a grin.

  "Just talked?"

  "Yep," Carlie's reply was a bit happier. "And Gage says it would be all right for me to stay over tonight." For the first time I looked over at her and she was grinning widely. "If you want me to that is."

  "A … a sleepover?"

  "Yeah." She jumped a little off the ground and disappeared in Rueben's embrace.

  Gage came close enough to put one hand on my waist. "Is this ok?" I asked, searching his face for distress.

  "Yeah."

  Obviously something was bothering him.

  "We talked and she made some valid points."

  And he wasn't going to tell me what they were.

  "Besides, you were right, too," he forced a smile, "you need a friend."

  Clearly whatever was bothering Gage had nothing to do with Carlie staying at the cabin over night.

  "Gage?"

  "Oh," he jutted his chin behind me, "someone wants to talk to you."

  Carlie, still grinning, was waiting for me to look at her and pounced as soon as I did. "I have to grab some clothes and let dad know where I'm staying. Will you come with me?"

  I glanced back at Gage, who was already nodding. "Sure." Rueben grinned almost as widely as Carlie.

  

  Like the first time I had met him, Carlie's dad seemed lost when she told him her plans for the night. "Oh, yes, that's fine, dear," he murmured distractedly.

  "So," I perched on the edge of her bed as she pulled out her overnight bag, "what did you and Gage talk about?" It's better to just come right out and ask, I thought, rather than try to beat around the bush.

  Carlie didn't appear taken aback in the slightest. She didn't even pause in her movements. "I told him that it was unfair that you couldn't have a friend. You've always lived with Bella, who isn't exactly mother of the year." She frowned at two bottles of pink paint. "Which one?" she held them both up.

  "Um … " They looked exactly the same to me so I just pointed to the one in her left hand, "that one."

  "Good choice. This one is my favorite too." She shoved the bottle into an already bulging small pink bag and forced the zipper closed then put that bag into her overnight bag. "And then I told him," my brain rushed to catch up with her quick topic change, "that I already knew everything anyways so what harm would it do; especially because you guys are moving soon."

  "And he agreed?"

  "After a while." She shrugged one thin shoulder.

  I almost laughed but it only came out as a smile. "We should get back soon," I stood up quickly, "he may sound agreeing now but he'll come looking for me sooner or later."

  "Probably sooner," she arched her eyebrow.

  We made our way back to the car without seeing her dad again and were driving back to the cabin within a half hour of leaving it.

  The boys were all still standing or sitting just outside the front door, but Gage was nowhere to be seen. "Hey," I called weakly in response to their lit up faces.

  "Hi guys," Carlie greeted them much louder.

  "Ladies." Rueben swept in to briefly brush my cheek with his lips before twining his strong arms around Carlie's waist.

  I turned to face Jed, mostly to avoid watching Carlie and Rueben's over enthusiastic greetings. "Where's Gage?"

  "I don't know." He glanced around as if just realizing Gage wasn't with them.

  "He was just here," Colby commented, without looking up from the knife he was holding between his large thumbs.

  I clicked my tongue loudly. He was always disappearing. "I'm sure he'll be back soon," Carlie said, resurfacing.

  "I'm sure." In quick, jerky movements I stalked to the front steps to plop down by Colby.

  "He probably just needed some time to think," she said.

  "About what?" I was still sulking.

  "Whatever normal boys think about."

  "He's far from a normal boy."

  "Oh I know." Something in her tone made me look up at her but she didn't give anything away if she did know what Gage was upset about, which I was starting to suspect she did.

  

  As the afternoon wore into evening Gage still didn't come back. I wasn't surprised, though. Disappointed maybe, but not surprised. I figured he would probably stay scarce until after Carlie went home. He was probably off spying on her dad.

  The boys surprised me by standing up to leave before I made them. We had all been sitting outside laughing and behaving almost normally. The boys easily accepted Carlie into our group, it was as though she were an honorary member of the pack only she didn't have to morph, and they were completely uninhibited around her.

  She was properly impressed when Tyson showed her how fast he could morph; clapping her hands wildly so that Tyson rejoined us red-faced and beaming. She even listened indulgently when they recounted the embarrassing details of Gage and my relationship.

  "It's nothing really," I insisted with burning ears, "we just … you know … "

  "Kiss," Rodney supplied.

  "A lot," Rueben added.

  "Oh shut up," I pushed Rueben, but only because he was closer. Carl
ie caught him before he fell off the step and then they were both laughing like idiots. I rolled my eyes but my smile may have been just as wide as theirs.

  "Are you going to school tomorrow?" Rueben asked. He lingered behind when the other boys disappeared behind the cabin.

  "Probably not," I shrugged. There were a few awkward moments before I realized that they were waiting for me to go inside and leave them alone.

  I made a beeline for my room but stopped halfway there. Carlie was staying and she'd never been inside the cabin. I ran my hand along the back of the couch, not really seeing the ugly brown fabric.

  My thoughts flickered past where Gage might be and rested instead on Ivy. My little sister was almost of age. It had been the plan from the beginning that she would take over the pack but now I wasn't so sure. I tried to imagine my life without the pack. Where would I go? What would I do?

  Only an aching emptiness came to me. All I could see was a long, dark tunnel. I couldn't give the boys up. Once the thought formed it began to instantly take root. Maybe Bella had known that would happen and that was why she disappeared without telling me anything.

  Gage was right. It wasn't a good idea to find Ivy. But then I remembered my dream and all the reasons I had wanted to find her in the first place.

  "What has you looking so disturbed?" Carlie's voice rang loud in the silent room. Her eyes were too bright and her face was flushed; but concern was written plainly on her face.

  "Nothing, I was just thinking."

  "About Gage?" She came to stop right in front of me.

  "No."

  "Then?"

  "About Ivy." I didn't really decide to tell Carlie the truth, it just sort of came out. She nodded but didn't say anything. "I had a dream about her."

  Before I realized what was going on, we were both sitting on my bedroom floor and I was telling her all about my dream and what I thought it meant. She listened intently, changing her facial expressions appropriately. "I think I need to find her," I finished in a deep breath.

  "And since you don't want Gage to know, the council is out." I nodded miserably. "Hmm."

  She reached into her overnight bag and rummaged through it until she triumphantly pulled out the small bottle of pink nail polish. She wagged it in my direction, her expression completely serious. "Foot."

  I obediently pulled off my socks and gave her my bare foot so she could paint my toenails. After all we had talked about it was ludicrous that she was now painting my nails but I didn't stop her.

  "I think the only option you have," she began without looking at me, "is the Knights."

  "The Knights?" I almost pulled my foot back but she held tight.

  "Unless you have some secret … sisterly … way of finding her?" She raised her eyebrows at me in question. I shook my head so she continued. "The Knights could find her."

  "They would kill her."

  "They wouldn't," she denied. "I could talk to my dad."

  "You … " I sputtered, "you said you weren't going to tell your dad about us."

  "I'm not," she held her hand up, "just breathe."

  "The Knights can't know … "

  "I know what Gage thinks of them," she cut off my panicked rant, "but it's not like that."

  "They don't hunt down wolves?"

  "My dad's friends are just people who have been affected by werewolves. Someone they know has been changed or killed. It's like an … AA meeting … but not."

  "So it's like WA instead," I half smirked.

  "My uncle is with them and they would never hurt him. As far as I know, they've never hurt anyone."

  "But they hunt wolves down for what - to look at them?"

  "I think so." I was being sarcastic but she seemed completely serious. "I think they just want to learn all they can," she went on hastily.

  "Gage said … "

  "I'm not saying he's wrong. I'm sure there are others out there." She twisted the cap back on the nail polish now that all ten of my toes were sparkling pink. "Just know this - not everyone is out to kill you."