Secrets of the Sleeper: True Nature Series: Book One

by Karen Lynn Bennett

  “Yeah. The one that licked my arm looked like the one we saw that morning.”

  “What? It licked your arm?” She was in my face the second I turned around. “You didn’t tell me that part!” Her voice was getting kind of loud. And I was feeling anxious being outside. It was getting darker, due to the fog rolling in. A long howl ripped through the night. It came from the woods. Ruthie and I started backing toward the house quickly.

  “Come on. Let’s go back in,” I said, holding her arm. We turned and raced back to the house. Just as we got to the door, something slammed into the back fence. We heard some rustling and a very low growl. We weren’t waiting around to investigate. With shaking hands, we locked ourselves in the house again. Ruthie stood a few feet from the door, her eyes wide as saucers.

  Her voice wobbled as she said, “Was that what I think it was?”

  I was shaking, too, and moved toward the sink to wash the knife.

  “Yeah, I think so,” I mumbled. I finished up and put the blade away. “Do you think I’m going insane?” I wasn’t a fool. What I had told her could put me in the mental institute for real.

  “Are you kidding?” she gasped. “If you are, then get me a matching straitjacket!”

  Moments later, we sat cross-legged on my queen-size bed. I ran my hand over the patchwork quilt that my mom made for me when I was twelve. It was soft from so many washings. My parents upgraded my bed on my twelfth birthday so I would have room for Ruthie to sleep over. It had made me feel so much older. But right now I felt really young. Of all the crazy memories in this room, lots of giggles, lots of tears, lots of secrets—this topped them all. I could feel my life shifting in a irreversible way, but toward what exactly I didn’t know.

  Despite her lunch table revelation regarding my incredible health, I knew I could trust Ruthie with my biggest secrets, like my night vision. As children we explained it away as a secret superpower. As we got older, we decided it was just a fluke gift of nature and we should keep it to ourselves in case scientists decided to experiment on me—well, you never know.

  I looked at Ruthie. She had calmed down since we came in the house. She’d always been so strong, dramatic, but never one for depression dives. She’d never deserted me when I lost it, and I knew that once she had it organized in her head, she would be back to her own awesomeness. She was deep-thinking, tapping her fingers on her knee and staring at my quilt.

  “Okay,” she said, pulling out of her trance. “So, your arm healed when the wolf licked you, huh?”

  “Yeah, I guess so.”

  “Magical spit. That’s awesome.”

  I laughed at her conclusion.

  “Well,” she said, “what else could it be?”

  “Maybe it can heal stuff,” I contended.

  “Then why lick you? Come on, Tru! We’ve just passed into the Twilight Zone. Then there’s Zander’s brother, the freak of nature, who did some mumbo-jumbo mind thingie on you.”

  “Yeah, “ I said, drawing it out because I wasn’t sure how to explain it.

  “Well, what’s with that, anyway? I think we need to start over. There must be more that you aren’t telling me.”

  I made a face again.

  “Yeah, but it’s even weirder.” I hesitated.

  “Weirder than wolves, magic healing, and psychic brothers?” she scoffed. She looked intensely at me for a second. My eyes started to tear up.

  “Tru, what’s going on?” she whispered and took my hand, squeezing it. I knew I had to tell her everything. Saying it out loud might help me not feel delusional. Besides, no one else would believe me. I squeezed her hand back.

  I started with the first time I met Zander, at our lunch table. I told her about our “connection.” I told her it had happened several times. And then I described how my hands had healed in class.

  “Wait, stop right there,” demanded Ruthie. “You feel a vibration when you touch him?” Of course she would focus on that, not the magical healing. “That is a seriously epic reaction, you know, right?”

  We had both scooted up against my wall at the head of the bed.

  “I know, right?” I mumbled. “I thought it was really cool, too, but now everything is so crazy. I mean, geez, he and his brother are some—uh—top secret agents, or something, chasing—uh—supernatural criminals, or whatever.”

  “They seem a little whacked to me, no offense,” she offered, perhaps to cheer me up, because, really there didn’t seem to be a happy ending to it.

  I looked up at the ceiling, exasperated. “I know! But then, what if they aren’t. Ruthie, those wolves were not ordinary. That one I told you about—I don’t know—I could swear its eyes were human, like it knew me or liked me or, geez, I don’t know! This is so weird! I feel like I’m in some kind of strange sci-fi movie or nightmare!”

  “Here! I’ll pinch you,” she offered.

  “Too late,” I sighed. “I already tried it—”

  I sat up quickly. “Wait! I totally forgot about the dreams!”

  Ruthie grabbed my arm excitedly. “No way! You dreamed about him before he came, didn’t you! Good Gravy, that’s so romantic!”

  “No, not him. I saw the wolf! Remember the first day of school and I said I’d dreamed about a wolf?”

  “Oh yeah! Oooh, that’s so weird!”

  “Well, I’ve been having weird dreams since before the accident.”

  “What? Tru, I never knew! Like what?”

  “If you recall, I was borderline psychotic last year, and Dad’s been threatening to make me see a doctor.”

  “No way! A shrink?” She recoiled, her eyes bugging.

  I slid off the bed to pace the room. “That’s what I thought you’d say, and that’s why I never told you, and everyone else would think even worse!”

  She had the grace to look ashamed. “Sorry, Tru, just a reflex, that’s all. You know I have an uncle in the mental hospital, and I’m seriously creeped out when Mom makes us visit him at Christmas.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Well, talking to a psychiatrist is not the same as being committed to a mental hospital! Even so, my dad thinks I’m having nightmares about the accident.”

  “Nobody would be surprised if you did. So, what are they about then?” she asked.

  I pulled out my desk chair and straddled it backward.

  “It’s all really weird. Sometimes it’s about this man killing his brother and the dead brother’s wife finding him—and they’re dressed in animal skins like, I don’t know, cave people wore. Sometimes I’m in this smoky forest and I can hear someone calling my name, but it’s not my name, yet I know it’s me, and I can hear this kid crying her eyes out. Then this dog comes up to me and I’m so happy, but when it gets really close with its big teeth, I realize it’s a wolf and I wake up—”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” interjected Ruthie. “Did you say wolf?”

  “Yeah, that’s the dream I had the night before school started.”

  “Okay, I’m so freaking out here.” Ruthie was on her knees on the bed. Then she took a couple of deep breaths and sat back down. She gave me a nod to continue.

  “So what else are you dreaming about?” she asked.

  I heaved a big sigh and scrunched up my forehead in concentration.

  “Well, I had a couple new ones last night. It really weirded me out because this time they were finally about my mom.”

  “Okay,” prompted Ruthie.

  “When I’m having these dreams, sometimes I know more than I see, if that makes sense.”

  “Huh?”

  “For instance, this time I dreamed about Mom and Dad and Uncle Ira. My uncle was introducing a little girl to my parents.”

  “That doesn’t seem very strange.”

  “The little girl was me,” I stated pointedly.

  “Oh, yeah, that’s weird,” she agreed. “Well, what happened in the dream?”

  “It was like my parents were just meeting me for the first time, and Mom was saying how much I looked like her.”
r />   Ruthie kept interjecting, to urge me on as I paused now and then.

  “My parents were looking at me like I was their favorite candy, you know, and Mom was saying something about Caroline, um, like she wondered what she had done. Like it had something to do with me.”

  “Who’s Caroline?” asked Ruthie. By now she was on the edge of the bed across from me.

  “I’m not sure, but I know Mom had a sister named Caroline. She died before I was born—at least that’s what she always said.”

  “This is better than Court of Palms, I swear!”

  “Unfortunately, this is my life!” I shot her a glare.

  “Okay, okay. Sorry. It’s just so gripping! Oscar-winning, I swear! What did your uncle do?”

  “Oh yeah. Um. That was really weird—well, even weirder, I guess. He said that Caroline always wished we could meet—meaning Mom and me. How cracked is that?”

  “Shank steak! It’s so screwed up! No, give me a minute. I watch all sorts of screwed-up shows. I can put this together.” Now she scooted off the bed to pace.

  Suddenly her cell phone rang. We both jumped and screamed, but just a little. Then we laughed hysterically even though we weren’t feeling humorous. Nerves.

  “It’s my mom. What time is it? Oh my gravy, it’s 9:00!” She quickly answered her phone.

  “Sorry, Mom. I wasn’t watching the time. Yeah, I’m heading home right now.” Pause. “Yes, I’m walking out the door.” Pause. “Okay, okay. See you in a few!” She hung up.

  “I know,” I said. “You’ve got to go.”

  “Where’s your dad, Tru?”

  “He had to work late, I guess, but he should be home any minute. Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. For some reason, I don’t feel like I have to worry about those wolves or whatever they were.” I hugged her. “You are such a great friend, Ruthie!”

  “I didn’t get to analyze your dreams yet!” she complained.

  I laughed, some of the tension leaving me. “Another day, another session, Doctor!” She laughed with me.

  Suddenly we both heard the garage door opening. I peeked out my bedroom window to see my dad’s truck pulling in.

  “Shoot!” I said. “Dad’s home. You better go fast!” Now we were giggling like old times.

  “I’m out of here.” Ruthie was through the front door before Dad made it into the house. Even though I’d told Ruthie I was fine with her leaving, I felt relieved that Dad was finally home.

  Somehow, talking it all over with Ruthie made everything seem like it wasn’t happening to me, like it was some show we had seen together. I was able to greet Dad like I’d had a completely normal day. Was it so bad that I was hiding it all from him?

  Vampires and Werewolves

  The next morning, I was so nervous, I got clumsy, and Dad was giving me odd looks over breakfast. I deflected most of his questions by asking about his work—he loved to talk about the latest techno-gadget. But it wasn’t working as well as normal. He knew something was up, so I hurried through my Cheerios and dashed back to brush my teeth before Ruthie showed up.

  I dropped a perfunctory kiss on Dad’s cheek and ran out the door just as she was pulling up.

  “Hey there,” Ruthie said. “I see you survived the night. Anything else happen?” She looked at me expectantly.

  I eyed her carefully. She looked hopped up on caffeine. “Are you okay?” I asked.

  “Yeah, yeah. I didn’t sleep so well, maybe. Just going over everything in my mind. Had a hard time waking up, so I downed some of my dad’s emergency energy drinks.”

  “As in plural?” Oh man.

  “Yeah, yeah.” She waved away my concern. “So what else happened?”

  “Well, not much, not really. No unexpected visitors, if that’s what you mean.” I looked more closely at her. Her skin looked a little pale, her eyes big and wide. “Why? Anything happen to you?” Perhaps I shouldn’t have told her about last night. Now she was scared, too, and dipping into Red Bull.

  “I don’t know. It was just weird. The whole time I drove home, I felt strange, like someone was watching me. I think I was just paranoid. And I could have sworn I saw a wolf along the side of the road on my way here this morning.” She gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white.

  “Oh Ruthie. I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have gotten you involved.” My stomach clenched in regret. But she just shrugged and pulled away from my house.

  “Nah! Don’t worry. I’m glad you told me. It’s good for my character bank, you know? Now I know how a paranoid person feels.” She laughed shortly. Ruthie was in the Drama Club and was always talking about new characters to sock away in the bank so she could use them for new roles. When she’d first shown an interest in drama, I had tagged along with her and tried out or helped wherever. We quickly realized acting was not one of my talents, and so I had gracefully bowed out. We considered ourselves even since Ruthie had tried basketball for me but dropped out because she had a tendency to help the other team more than ours. We settled for attending each other’s events.

  “Any new dreams?” Ruthie asked.

  After keeping my dreams a secret for so long, it was a relief to be sharing this side of me with her, strange, but nice at the same time.

  “Actually, yes.” There was only one dream, and I couldn’t make heads or tails of it. “But it’s even weirder than the last ones.”

  “Well, out with it.”

  “Okay. It’s about vampires and werewolves.”

  “Better than cavemen—at least from my point of view.” She smiled. “Wait! Werewolves. Wolves in your backyard. Ham shanks! Are we talking about the same thing?”

  “Well, maybe. One of the wolves from my backyard looked a lot like the one in my dream…”

  “Actually, it’s not a big surprise you dreamed about it. I didn’t sleep so well myself. It must have scared the meat loaf out of you. Did you wake up your dad?”

  “No, thank goodness. The strange thing was that it wasn’t as scary as it was sad. Maybe I’ve seen too many movies, I don’t know. I’ve grown up on this stuff, you know? Anyway, again, I’m watching everything, but not really there. This blonde girl and this big guy, who’s pretty hunky, you know, in a Euro-hot way, well, except for the glowing red eyes.”

  Ruthie interrupted me. “Oh please! Red eyes? Really. I’ve seen that movie!”

  “I know, right! See why it didn’t seem so scary? I kind of knew what was going on.”

  “What about the girl? Was she a vampire, too?”

  “No, they were making out on this beach blanket—”

  “That’s more my style,” Ruthie interjected.

  “—And the beach was short, with lots of trees above it. It looked like the edge of a forest—maybe in Canada or something.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I don’t, it just looked like those TV shows that film all over the world, you know, showing nature and stuff.”

  “Never seen them,” Ruthie said dismissively.

  “Well, anyway, this is when it gets twisted. He suddenly gets a whiff of something that freaks him out, and he twists around hissing with his fangs out just as a wolf streaks out of the trees and leaps down in front of them.”

  “Been there, seen that! The movie already left the theaters.”

  “Anyway, it stopped in front of the man and woman and sort of growled and sniffed and stuff. And the vampire guy growled back and hissed at him with his pointy fangs. The girl was looking all scared and hiding behind him.”

  “Yeah,” urged Ruthie.

  “Well, the wolf attacked all of a sudden. It was insane! And the vamp and wolf were going at it while the girl screamed.”

  “Oh my gosh! What happened?” demanded Ruthie.

  I could see it clearly in my mind. The man was blonde and pale, his hair long and wavy down to his shoulders, with longer than normal sideburns. His red eyes were like rubies, and they glittered with hatred as he hissed. He was dressed in loose jeans and a long leather jacket.
The girl wore her straight blond hair long down her back. She wore jeans and a black leather jacket.

  At first, they had been playful, laughing and kissing. And then the guy became serious when he said he needed to eat something because she smelled too good. The girl seemed like all those idiots in the movies who think the vampire is so romantic and stuff, but still, she really seemed to love him. She looked like maybe in her twenties. And the guy not much older, but like your typical GQ vampire model.

  All of a sudden, the vampire had frozen and looked off toward the forest, his nostrils flaring. He had flipped around at an impossible speed, putting himself between the girl and the wolf who was sticking his head out of the trees sniffing like he was tracking something. When he saw them, he growled and then pounced down upon them. They growled and hissed at each other before attacking. The poor girl had been left with her arms reaching toward the guy, her mouth framing the word “No!”

  “Tru! What happened!” Ruthie slapped my knee to pull me back into the present.

  “Oh, it was so sad.” And it was. The two creatures just about ripped each other apart. And the girl had watched, terrified.

  “Um,” I continued, “they were all bloody and torn up. It looked like the wolf was winning, too. The wolf had a hold of his shoulder and was just shaking him back and forth really hard. That’s when the girl surprised him. I guess she had a pocketknife or something. She snuck up on the wolf and jammed it into his side and jumped back.”

  “Oh my gosh!”

  I suddenly realized we were pulled over to the side of the road, near the area we had seen the wolf before. My eyes scanned the trees.

  “Ruthie, we should probably keep going to school.”

  “I’ve got to hear this out, girl! I can’t drive straight listening to this!”

  “Okay. But we better not be late!” I continued the dream. “The wolf dropped the vampire in a pile of dead leaves and turned on the girl, but it didn’t seem angry, which is weird because, well, she stabbed it, right?”

  “Yeah. But what did the vamp do?”