The Enigma (The Loup-Garou Series Book 1)

by Sheritta Bitikofer

  “Wait! Come back!” Katey cried, leaping through the cabin’s front door and into an endless white void that seemed to engulf the scene. The woman in white walked slowly, but Katey never seemed to be able to catch up.

  “Follow me!” the woman called back to her. Her voice echoed in Katey’s ears, as melodious as a trickling stream or shimmering wind chimes. Katey ran faster. She had to catch her. She just had to!

  Tears stung at the corners of Katey’s eyes as the image of the woman began to fade from her view, disappearing into the white void.

  Katey’s alarm clock radio interrupted her dream. She quickly sat up, her face damp with perspiration and her lungs convulsing for air. She shot a glance to the clock and saw that it was time for her to get up. She cursed under her breath, desperately wishing her dream had continued just a few minutes longer. Maybe then, she would have been able to catch the woman in her dream.

  It was always the same dream with the same beginning, and regretfully the same end. The first came when she was little, a mere child in her first foster home. Katey remembered waking up crying when she couldn’t catch up with the woman in white.

  The dreams came more frequently in the following years, becoming more vivid and urgent with each passing week. She had them at least every few days now. Katey tried to think of what they meant, but the explanation always eluded her. Such a detailed dream that made no sense at all.

  She reluctantly rolled out of bed, slipped on her glasses, and turned on her computer music at a low volume before stumbling into the living room. She had almost forgotten that Logan had stayed the night. Her mind was too occupied by the memory of the woman in her dream to remember anything else.

  When she flipped on the lights, Katey wondered if she was in the same house she had fallen asleep in.

  Logan was nowhere to be found. The pillows and blankets were still on the couch, but they were stacked and folded neatly over one of the armrests. But what struck her the hardest was the fact that the house was spotless. No trash, no clutter, the carpet looked freshly vacuumed and the tile floors and countertops gleamed brightly under the florescent lights and morning rays slanting through the windows.

  Katey wandered with trepidation into the kitchen as she inspected this phenomenon. The sink was free of dirty dishes and the bottom sparkled. Even the drain was clean. Skipping to the laundry room, she saw her clothes neatly folded and piled inside baskets, and they smelt faintly of lavender.

  Coming back to the kitchen, she turned and was met with an even stranger sight when she looked upon the dining table covered in breakfast foods.

  She gazed at the feast in amazement. There were waffles, toast, cereal, pancakes, bacon, eggs, a glass of orange juice and milk, biscuits, grits, oatmeal and everything one could imagine that could be eaten for breakfast. She didn’t even know they had these ingredients in the house.

  Under the single empty plate, there was a note addressed to Katey.

  Katey,

  I didn’t know what you liked to eat for breakfast, so I just made everything. I apologize if I woke you up last night. I tried to be quiet. I went home early this morning so you will have time to eat by yourself. Don’t worry if you can’t eat it all. My feelings won’t get hurt. Enjoy and I’ll see you at school in Darren’s classroom.

  Logan

  His penmanship was phenomenal, but Katey wondered how she was supposed to eat all of this by herself. Did he think she had four stomachs? There wouldn’t be enough time to eat all of this, even if she could.

  Katey hurriedly readied herself for school, eating the breakfast bit by bit as she went. Half way through the bowl of grits, she discovered she was far too full to continue. After packing the breakfast away in left-over containers, she grabbed her bag and rushed out the door, eager to see Logan again and ask him where he learned to cook such an amazing breakfast.

  ***

  Katey was relieved to see that the hallway where her locker was located was nearly vacant. There would be no one to push and shove her into the walls or cold metal of the other lockers.

  But her relief turned to irritation as her locker jammed again. As Katey jiggled the handle of her locker, banging her fist on the frame just above the door and then trying to reenter the combination, she saw Logan approach her.

  For the moment, Katey completely forgot about her locker and turned to watch him swagger over.

  He wasn’t wearing a jacket today, instead he was wearing a black short sleeve t-shirt and faded jeans. Katey couldn’t help but acknowledge to herself that the look on his face was so adorable. It was like a mix of fascination and puzzlement as he stood by her side and glanced between her and her locker.

  “Is it stuck?” he asked.

  Katey opened her mouth to reply, but the words died upon her lips as she stared up at him, standing near her so casually. He looked down to her, raised his eyebrow and gave her an amused half smile.

  “So, is it stuck or are you just mad at it for existing?”

  Katey pulled herself out of her stupor and jiggled the handle again without looking away from him.

  “No, it’s stuck,” Katey replied. She tried the combination once more to open it, but to no avail.

  “Do you need some help?” he asked, kneeling down next to her, examining the dial.

  “Sure.” Katey sat back to let him have a try. “The combination is 8...24...”

  But Logan wasn’t listening. He stood up and gently pushed her body to the side with one of his powerful legs. He turned his back on the locker kicked the door like a mule might. Katey jumped at the loud crash it made. Even more surprising was that no one else in the hall seemed to be startled by it.

  The door popped open instantly. Katey looked up to Logan with wide eyes, but he was already walking down the hallway, which was slowly filling up with students.

  Slightly nonplussed by his quick escape, Katey grabbed what she needed out of her locker and walked to her first period class. Absolutely no one was there yet. She would figure that at least one student, Logan, would be there. Only his backpack sat in his chair next to hers. It was so tempting to take a peek inside his bag, but Katey resisted as she heard Darren walk in behind her.

  “Good morning, Mr. Dubose,” she greeted, smiling a bit when she remembered how she now knew most of her teachers by their first names.

  She noticed he was walking a little slower than usual. He didn’t even look like he was walking, just dragging his feet. “Are you ok?” she asked.

  He walked up to his desk and shook his head. “I feel a little under the weather today. We’re probably not going to do much this morning,” he mumbled as he sat in front of his laptop and held his head in his hands, squinting at the screen as if the brightness hurt his eyes.

  Katey pitied him. She remembered overhearing yesterday when Dustin, Mr. Keith, was on the phone with him, that Darren’s leg was banged up or something of that nature.

  “Is it your leg that’s bothering you?” Katey asked.

  Darren gave her the most confused and befuddled look she had ever seen painted upon his face. He shook his head slowly.

  “No… Why would you ask that?”

  Katey bit her lip nervously and turned her eyes away, embarrassed that she has asked at all. “No reason,” she muttered with a shrug.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a tall dark body sit down next to her and she didn’t bother to look over, knowing it must be Logan. His irresistible scent wafted around her to confirm her guess.

  Katey looked up once more to Darren and saw an even stranger expression on his face than before. It was something she had never really seen before. Darren was annoyed and his glare was fixed right on Logan.

  Her eyes shifted from one to the other, but she couldn’t possibly understand what was silently taking place between them. Logan had said that their teachers were good friends with his family. Perhaps they all heard about how Logan didn’t come home the night before.

  However, Logan didn’t seem bothered
by Darren’s sour look at all. In fact, he wasn’t even paying attention. By now, he had pulled out that same black book he was reading from the day before and was intently focused on the pages.

  Darren resumed his peering at the laptop as more students made their way into the classroom. Beth was one of the last ones in and shut the door behind her upon Darren’s request. Katey turned in her seat to ask Logan what it was all about, but Darren cut in.

  “Ok, I’m not feeling well today so you’re going to watch a movie on predators. You don’t have to take notes, but don’t be sleeping or I’ll send you out to the discipline office,” Mr. Dubose mumbled with a scratchy throat, his eyelids drooping a bit.

  Katey slipped her binders back into her bag and set it up onto the table so she could rest her head while watching the movie. Logan sat back in his chair and folded his arms over his chest with a sigh after unwillingly tucking away his book.

  Halfway through the movie, Katey received a poke in her ribs. She looked over towards Logan and saw he was holding out a little piece of folded paper and a pen. He still appeared to be watching the movie as she took the note and unfolded it quietly under her desk.

  LK: Did you enjoy your breakfast?

  Katey wondered what the “K” for his last name stood for. Katey took the pen and wrote out her reply.

  KM: Yeah, it was really good. Thank you. And thank you for cleaning the house. You really didn’t have to, but I appreciate it.

  As Katey was scrawling out the last few words, the movie shifted from talking about cougars to the subject of wolves.

  She looked at Logan and his eyes seemed to widen a little. Katey looked to Darren and he was staring at the TV along with Logan, but with an even more regretful expression.

  Katey watched them closely as the movie talked about the last wolf spotted in Alaska or some other northern country. She didn’t really see what was so special about it until they showed an old black and white video clip taken from a small plane. It showed the backside of a lone wolf running in the snow. There was a gunshot and the wolf fell into the snow. It didn’t rise again before the clip faded out.

  Logan and Darren’s face contorted with a look of repressed pain. Katey peered curiously at the two of them, wondering why they seemed so empathetic to the wolf in the video.

  Katey added, “Are you ok?” into the note and passed it back to Logan along with the pen. The movie took a turn and began talking about grizzly bears and Logan passed back the note.

  LK: You’re welcome. I’m glad you liked it. I’m fine. This video is so boring. I’ve seen it several times.

  Katey kept the note for a while and tried to think of something to say. It was nearly ten minutes until the bell rang and she figured if he wanted to keep talking to her, then he would in second period. Katey slipped the note into her back pocket and watched the last segment in the movie about sea predators.

  When the bell rang, Darren looked even more exhausted than before. Logan walked up to his desk and leaned his elbows on the tabletop. They exchanged some hushed words, and then Logan walked out the door without a single glance her way.

  Katey found it so odd how Logan seemed so attentive the day before, but now he brushed off her company like it didn’t faze him at all. She wanted to be offended, but Katey reasoned they must have been a logical explanation.

  As Katey was making her way out the door, Beth was by her side.

  “I saw Logan passed you a note. What did he want?” Beth asked.

  “Nothing. Just asking how my morning was. What did you think of the movie?” Katey replied as they walked out into the bustling hallway.

  “Boring, as usual.”

  “Did you see the way that Mr. Dubose looked when they were talking about wolves in the video?” Katey asked, almost in a whisper.

  Beth glanced to her and shook her head. “No. Why?”

  Katey paused before replying, wondering if she should tell Beth what she saw. Beth was a good friend, but just like Lily, she had a tendency to believe that Katey thought too much into things that should only be taken at face value. She shook her head. “No reason. He just seemed to be feeling pretty cruddy. I hope he gets better soon.”

  “Yeah, me too. Kind of miss his teasing. I’ll see you later.” Beth walked away and Katey walked to second period.

  Logan was there in the desk behind hers, looking slightly more eager than he had a few minutes ago when they leave first period. She took her seat, but wouldn’t make the assumption that Logan was ready to be talkative now.

  Mrs. Kimbrough announced that they would have a vocabulary test that day, but she allowed the students a little time to study in groups for ten minutes first.

  Everyone began getting up and switching around desks. Lily immediately moved to the desk in front of Katey’s, bringing her list of words and definitions. It was never a question if they would be study partners.

  Katey felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to meet Logan’s pale blue eyes.

  “Would you mind if I studied with you two?” he requested.

  Katey hesitated, glancing from Logan to Lily. Her mind reeled with all the ways this could go wrong. Lily could act like a mother hen and barrage Logan with question after question as if he were in an interview for the privilege of dating Katey. Or even worse, Logan could be asking to join their study group so as to meet Lily, not to spend time with Katey.

  Before she could answer, Lily grinned brightly and cried, “Of course you can!”

  Logan smiled and he knelt down beside Katey’s desk, just inches from Katey, making her palms sweat nervously.

  “I’m Lily, what’s your name?” Lily asked, a huge grin on her face and obviously acting dumb because Katey had already told her his name on Saturday at the studio.

  “More like ‘Social Butterfly’,” Katey witted playfully.

  Logan gave a soft laugh before replying, “My name’s Logan.”

  “Oh, Katey’s told me a lot about you,” she said.

  Logan glanced in her direction. “All good things, I hope.”

  Katey suddenly felt flirtatious and shook her head with a smile. “None at all.”

  Logan chuckled again and Katey blushed at how melodious it sounded.

  “Ok, let’s get to studying,” Lily said with a giggle.

  The ten minute allotment for studying passed far too quickly and the students all returned to their desks for the quiz. Yet, each moment was painless and lacking the awkwardness that Katey had originally expected when Logan joined her and Lily.

  Once she completed her test, Katey had time to kill and pulled out her book of Sudoku puzzles.

  She was almost done filling up one particular row on her puzzle when she felt hot breath on the side of her neck. She slowly leaned away from it and when she finished filling in a box, she turned around to see Logan’s cheek just inches from her nose, staring at her book.

  Katey froze and felt a few beads of sweat drip down her back. Her stomach twisted and she felt the very air in her throat hold itself there, refusing to release. Logan then nodded, reached over, grabbed her book and put it onto his desk.

  It took Katey a moment for her brain to register what he had just done and when it did, she blinked and turned around to see what he was doing. He was furiously scanning around the puzzle on the opposite page and scribbling down numbers as he went.

  Katey watched in amazement as he completed an advanced level Sudoku puzzle in less than a minute.

  He finished the puzzle, gave his signature at the bottom, closed the book and handed it back to Katey with a pleased look on his face. She hesitantly took it back and turned around in her desk, a little shell shocked by what she just witnessed.

  How could he do that so fast? Was it even right?

  She opened the book and checked it herself and it all matched up perfectly.

  When the bell rang, Logan was up and out of the classroom before Katey even realized it. She could feel Lily’s curious look sear into her.

  �
�What?” Katey asked as she shouldered her bag.

  “Ask him out!” she shrieked with a huge smile. Katey shushed her when other students turned to look at them as they exited the classroom.

  “No!” Katey fiercely whispered before she stormed out. She didn’t have the time, nor the patience to explain to Lily that they had already been on a date. That conversation would be saved for lunchtime.

  When Katey stepped out into the hall, she saw that Logan wasn’t in her spot anymore. Instead, he was leaning on the other side of the door, against the wall, reading the same black book from yesterday.

  Katey took a deep breath and gathered up her courage to speak. “So, what are you reading?”

  Logan glanced up to her with a smile and turned the book around to show her the pages. She peered at the text, but it wasn’t in English. It didn’t even appear to be using the common alphabet. She furrowed her brows together. “What language is that?” she asked.

  “A dead one. I learned it a long time ago.” Logan turned the book back around and continued reading, his eyes skimming over the paragraphs with ease.

  Katey wanted to ask a million more things. Mostly about why he cleaned the house, made her breakfast, and how he slept the night before. She knew the couch wasn’t the most comfortable place to sleep.

  Before she could even get another conversation rolling, Dustin Keith came up to the door, giving his regular greeting to Katey and Logan, unlocking the door.

  Logan did not lead the procession into the classroom. Instead, he let Katey take precedence and then followed after her with the rest of the students who were waiting in the hall.

  Dustin prepared his laptop and projector for another lecture. The class wasn’t in session for five minutes when the intercom on the wall crackled to life.

  “Pardon the interruption, but we are now under a condition Code W. I repeat, we are under a condition Code W,” the principal announced.