by Mia Marshall
I none too gently pushed past those standing in my way until I was only a few feet away from the boy. “James!” I called again. He slowly turned to face me, uncertainty written across his face. He had no idea who I was, but unlike the others, I at least knew his name and approached him with a small amount of confidence. I had to hope that was enough.
“Your parents will be here soon. Will and Celeste. I’ll call them. But we need to get you inside, somewhere safe and warm, okay?” I tried to use a gentle tone without sounding as if I was speaking to a small child. Sometimes, the line between comforting and condescending is annoyingly thin.
Whatever I did, it worked. He nodded once, then simply turned and entered the store behind him.
“Kids,” I announced to the throng of witnesses. “You know, with their streaking and planking and other... things. What are you gonna do?” While I babbled, I reached for the door handle and followed James inside, offering the unconvinced faces on the sidewalk one final, earnest nod.
I closed the door behind me and leaned against it for a moment, blocking anyone inclined to follow. We were in an upscale women’s clothing store, and fortunately it was still early enough on a weekday to have no shoppers. The only woman present worked there, and she hadn’t noticed my entrance. She was too busy staring at the naked eighteen-year-old standing in the middle of her shop.
“James, have a seat,” I suggested. He didn’t look at me, but he found a pink, spindly-legged chair outside a dressing room and sat quietly. I grabbed an oversized shawl from a nearby rack and, eyes averted, draped it over his lap. That was as much for my comfort as his.
“Who are...? You can’t...” The poor salesperson stuttered, uncertain of the proper etiquette for this situation.
The door banged open and Sera strode in. She was already on the phone, rattling off our address to the person on the other end. “Will?” I mouthed. She gave a curt nod. Finishing the conversation, she hung up, flipped the deadbolt on the front door, and loosened the window and door curtains, giving us as much privacy as the gauzy pink drapes allowed.
That was too much for the salesperson, who finally managed to complete a sentence. “You cannot do that,” she announced, pulling herself up to her full height. Her three inch heels helped with that.
Sera glanced at her and made no attempt to look impressed. “You’ve just closed the store for us. In return, we will buy one of everything you have in stock.” She looked around and amended her answer. “Well, one of everything that’s not pink.”
I looked at James, who appeared dazed. He displayed no interest in his surroundings, neither the place nor the people. He stared at the floor, his gaze unwavering, unconcerned that he was naked in front of three strange women. “We’ll take the shawl and the chair, too,” I offered, thinking that the woman might find a sweaty shifter butt print an unwanted improvement. We might not want to touch our trust funds for ourselves, but I felt a certain joy using our parents’ money to help the shifters.
While Sera made arrangements with the salesperson, I phoned Carmichael, ensuring that no 911 calls about a lost naked teenager would lead to law enforcement descending on the shop. I kept an eye on James, but other than the occasional blink, he never moved.
Impromptu shopping spree completed, Sera walked up to me. “She’ll be in the back for the foreseeable future. I hope you like pashminas. You now own thirty of them.”
“Well, that takes care of Christmas, at least. Did you recommend she stay back there?”
Sera nodded. “Until someone comes and gets her. She has my black AmEx and permission to use it as necessary.”
“In case a bear in a clothing store does as much damage as a bull in china shop?”
“Exactly.”
On cue, the store darkened slightly, the light streaming through the delicate curtains blocked by a very large man. I quickly unlocked the door, letting in one family member after another. Will, Celeste, Mac, and Eleanor all stepped inside.
James’s parents rushed to their son’s side. He looked up once, acknowledging their existence, then returned to staring at the floor.
“What happened?” I can’t say Celeste spoke those words. She growled them, a low and deranged sound, and I saw a desperate beast staring at me behind her eyes. I was reminded of every story I’d heard about enraged mama bears in the wild, harmless and shy until their cub was threatened. Even then, I couldn’t say she looked dangerous, exactly. Unhinged would be more accurate. I filled her and Will in quickly with the little we knew.
“He’s been like this since we found him,” I said. “He hasn’t said a word.”
Will and Celeste stood next to their son and buried their noses in his neck and hair. It was a strangely clinical movement, with none of the intimacy I’d have expected with such an action. They were simply trying to acquire information.
“I’m going to see if there’s a trail,” said Eleanor, stepping outside. Five minutes later, she returned, shaking her head. “The scent just appears two blocks from here. I’m guessing he was dropped off in a car.”
Will and Celeste stood up, having learned all they could. “He’s lost weight.” Celeste spoke in a heavy whisper. “He needs food. Does anyone have...?” Her voice drifted off, forgetting her thought halfway through the sentence. She rummaged in her purse, and a moment later she popped a small round pill into her mouth. I doubted it was aspirin.
“There’s a saleswoman in the back currently alternating between fear and greed,” I told the room. “She might have something. If she protests, tell her we’ll buy another scarf.” Mac nodded and stepped away.
He returned a moment later with a small insulated lunch bag filled with a fruit salad. He placed this before his cousin and stepped back. James glanced at the fruit, then ignored it altogether. We all watched him, uncertain what to do next.
“I thought you were mostly carnivores,” I said, unable to stand the pained silence.
Mac glanced at me, and for a fraction of a second I saw the sly smile I’d missed these past few weeks. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”
I recognized my own words from the lake thrown back at me. I made a mental note to thoroughly read the Wikipedia entry on black bears, then returned my attention to his cousin.
“Did you pick up anything?” I asked his parents.
Celeste just stared at me with glazed eyes, already retreating into her own little world. Will’s expression was a strange combination of relief and pain. James was safe, but he definitely wasn’t okay. “Listen, little water. I appreciate you finding him, more than you’ll ever know. But I don’t see any water around here, nor any clothes you can read. Unless you have something to contribute, perhaps it is time you and your friend left and let my family take care of its own.”
I was going to start a drinking game for every time Will implied he didn’t really need my help. I looked at Sera. “Can you find the thermostat? Let’s crank it up to ninety in here.” She nodded. Everyone else looked confused. “For the record, Will, someday you’re going to like me and Sera. We grow on people.”
“So do tumors,” he noted mildly.
“You’ll learn eventually, big bear. Now, what did you smell?”
Will looked uncertain, then gave in. He had nothing to lose. “There’s something odd. I don’t recognize the scent at all. It’s coming from his pores, something inside his body.” That was exactly what I wanted to hear.
Sera had found the thermostat, and the room was already heating up. James’s chair was close to one of the heating vents, and I watched him closely, waiting for my chance. “It will take another minute,” I said.
Will turned to me, and his tone was resigned and even a little apologetic. “I admit it. I’m not used to asking outsiders for help, but maybe that’s just me being stubborn. If you can help in any way, I would be... I would be grateful.” It took him two tries to get that sentence out, but when he finally managed it, the words were strong and his gaze steady.
A singl
e bead of sweat formed on James’s brow. It was time.
I walked carefully toward James, as I would to an agitated dog, giving him every opportunity to skitter away if he perceived me as a threat. He turned toward me once, observing me with quiet, dead eyes, then returned his stare to the floor, completely dismissing my threat potential. Let’s hear it for being a skinny blonde. Sometimes, being underestimated actually helped.
I moved my hand slowly toward James’s face. I remained in his field of vision at all times, not wanting to startle him. With the index finger of my right hand, I plucked that single drop of sweat and held it lightly on my fingertip.
Next, I recalled that unique sense of James I’d felt at the lake. It was fading a bit in my memory, becoming blurry around the edges, but I still remembered enough.
I stretched my magic toward that that tiny drop of sweat. It filled every molecule, eager to hear the many voices of the water. Eyes closed in concentration, I listened to every story, and from those I separated James’s essence from everything else, seeking anything unfamiliar.
The room was silent. Everyone watched me, their breath held. No one moved.
I let that all go. I tried to let the entire room disappear. I had so little to work with, just the tiniest drop of water. I paused. “I found something.” I couldn’t identify it, but it triggered an unexpected sense of familiarity. I’d known something like it before. “It might be related to the scent Will described. I’m not sure what it is, either.” I turned it over, tried to pull it into my consciousness, but it skittered away, the memory just out of reach.
Just as I began to pull the magic back into myself, I felt a hint of someone else, someone who’d pressed herself so closely against James that her very essence entered his skin. It was a familiar smell, and one I was certain Will knew. I’d been with him when he’d picked up the scent of her blood.
I looked at Will and Celeste accusingly. They were willing to accept my help, and Will might even be somewhat apologetic, but they still weren’t volunteering information I might need. My patience for the shifter’s isolationist attitude was definitely wearing thin. “He was with Pamela,” I told them in a cold voice, letting them know I knew.
There was no warning. One moment, James was sitting quietly in the chair. The next, he stood in a half-crouch between two racks of party dresses, eyes darting frantically in every direction. He held the defensive posture, looking for threats in every corner. One hand extended to the side, palm facing backwards, as if he was holding someone behind him—or protecting them.
No one moved. No one glanced away. We all watched James, afraid to even breathe.
Mac took one slow step forward, then another. James’s eyes were wild and unreasoning, prey cornered and desperate. Mac would be able to take him, but there was no telling what effect that might have on James’s delicate mental state.
Will did the same on the other side. “You think this might be why we didn’t say her name, little water?” His tone was dry, even as he closely watched his son’s movement.
About three feet from James, Mac stopped. “No one is going to hurt you,” he said in a calm, soothing voice that didn’t hold even a hint of condescension. If Mac was in need of a new job, I suspected he’d make an excellent hostage negotiator. “You’re safe now.”
James’s brows knit together as he processed the words. He looked around the room, appearing to register his family one member at a time. Awareness seeped into his eyes, and he spun in a slow circle. For the first time, I thought he might actually be seeing what was in front of him.
When James completed his study of the room, his face didn’t fall. It crumpled. His mouth went slack, and his chin pulled in and quivered once, twice. His eyelids lowered, and the muscles in his cheeks seemed to vanish, leaving a face that looked incapable of supporting itself. This only lasted for a second, maybe two, before his control reasserted itself. With one long breath, he schooled his features into a flat, expressionless mask.
“She’s not here. Pamela isn’t here.”
Mutely, Mac shook his head.
Will stepped toward his son, hands out in a calming gesture. They appeared to be trying to soothe a wild animal, which wasn’t far from the truth.
I had a bad habit of forgetting how close the beast always was to the surface, how much the animal shared space with the man. I tended to see what was in front of me and forget the rest, and this was a good reminder that I was standing mere inches from a potentially lethal bear.
I decided it was a good time to move several steps away and ended up standing behind Sera. Apparently, I had no qualms about asking my best friend to serve as a barrier between myself and potential threats. I added that to my mental list of things to never mention to the FBI.
“Where is she? She was here.” His words sounded twisted and confused, as if the sentences weren’t quite emerging the way his brain expected them to.
“Pamela hasn’t been here, James.” Mac and Will both moved a step closer. They were surrounding him, I saw, preparing to act quickly if he shifted.
It was a cautionary measure only, as James showed no sign of anger. He merely looked bewildered. “No, no, she’s never been here. It was...” His face stilled into a look of tremendous concentration. I saw his eyes move up and to the left, then quickly side to side before they stilled, unable to find the memory they sought. “I can’t remember.” Misery colored every word.
“But where were you?” Celeste asked. Even in her pill-enhanced haze, her mother’s instincts wanted an explanation for her son’s disappearance. If she knew what had occurred, she could prevent it ever happening again.
“I don’t remember,” he repeated.
“Did you run off with that girl? Did someone take you? Who were you with?” The questions fell from Celeste’s mouth, sloppy and rushed.
“I don’t remember,” he said, the dull despair from earlier giving way to anger. It wasn’t directed outward, however. James kept all his rage for himself. “I don’t remember anything. I remember getting in the car with Brandon to go to the lake, and that’s it until I found myself wandering naked through downtown Truckee. That’s all I know.”
“It’s okay, James.” Mac moved one step closer. “You don’t need to remember right away. You’re home now, and safe. That’s what matters.”
James met his eyes, and I watched him noticeably relax under the power of Mac’s reassuring words and demeanor. For someone with a penchant for destroying inanimate objects when pissed off, Mac was surprisingly good at calming others down. “I want to remember,” James said in a whisper.
Of course, every family has that member who can’t read a room, and it appeared Eleanor was this family’s version of the drunk uncle. “But what about Pamela?” She persisted. “If he can’t remember anything, how are we supposed to help her?”
James’s agitation returned instantly, and he began to shake. He looked much as Mac had the night he’d fought off an uncontrolled shift, ready to explode out of his own skin. Will and Mac sent matching death glares Eleanor’s way.
Mac looked at me, now huddled near the cash register, and I saw his concern, clear as day. He knew exactly what it might cost me to defend myself, if it came to that. “You need to leave now,” he said. “I’ll meet you at the cabin.”
I knew he was capable and strong and didn’t need my help. Even so, I was reluctant to leave him in the middle of the crisis if there was any chance I could help. James was still shaking uncontrollably, and there was no way of telling when or if he’d regain control.
Mac must have seen something of this in my face, because that look of amused exasperation he seemed to reserve just for me crossed his face. “I’m not protecting you. I know better than to try. But this is something we know how to do. Don’t distract me, okay?”
I couldn’t argue, and Sera urged me toward the back door. My last view of the shop was of Mac and Will standing on either side of James, whispering slow gentle words to a young man who looked ready
to break into a million pieces.
CHAPTER 10
We exited through the back room, leaving an address where our new clothes could be delivered and a strong suggestion that the woman avoid the front of the shop for at least another hour, maybe two. That cost us another three hundred dollars worth of accessories, but at least we wouldn’t be responsible for a mauled shop girl on that particular day.
We arrived home just as full night was settling across the mountains. Finding the brightly lit cabin waiting for us was a welcome reminder that safe places still existed in the world. Sure, safe places that were occasionally set on fire or invaded by my demented parents, but it was still my home. After the unexpected parental visit the other day, Sera and I’d decided to keep the blinds open, allowing us to view the interior of the cabin and know, in advance, who was waiting for us. If my parents showed up again, I’d be prepared. Prepared to run and hide until they went away.
At that moment, however, it was just Vivian and Simon sitting quietly in the living room. There was a chill in the air, and they’d lit a fire. Simon lay before it in feline form, belly wantonly exposed to the flames. Vivian worked next to him, casual in a pair of yoga pants and a white t-shirt that advised people to adopt a direwolf.
As I watched, she absently gave his belly a quick rub, an intimacy I’d never expected Simon to tolerate. Instead, he arched his back a little, and I could almost hear him purring from the driveway. I’d known the two of them had become close friends, and I smiled to see it, but I also felt a bit sad at what Sera and I were missing while we ran around chasing shifters that didn’t want us in their business in the first place. Looking in at their peaceful tableau, I decided a quiet evening at home was exactly what we needed.
The peaceful vibe continued when we opened the front door and were met by the strains of dreamy music carried along by delicate vocals, so different from the raucous punk favored by Sera or the country I preferred. We hadn’t had much music in the house, partly because it seemed out of place amidst the tension and uncertainty that had recently defined our lives but mostly because it was damn near impossible for me and Sera to agree on music. She might control the stereo in her car, but there was no way I was conceding the house so easily.
