Secrets of the Sleeper: True Nature Series: Book One

by Karen Lynn Bennett

  “The vampire just lay there like he was dead. And the wolf limped slowly up to the girl, who just stood there—I would have run, wouldn’t you?” I asked.

  “Of course, and screamed, too!”

  “Well, the wolf just sniffed her up.”

  “Ew! That’s gross, Tru!”

  “No, no. Not like your stupid butt-sniffer dog, Freddy. Geez! No, it kind of smelled up her arm. The wolf was huge, remember. But it didn’t seem like it was going to hurt her. Then it licked her cheek and around to the back of her neck, and that’s when it bit her.”

  “What the crap? It did bite her? That seems really intentional. Did she die?”

  “No. The girl screamed then, and the vampire woke up all covered in leaves and pine needles and pulled himself together enough to knock the wolf away from the girl. In the process, the wolf got his face cut open and then died.”

  “What? It died? I thought the vamp was dead. Man! Was the girl dead, too?”

  “No, she didn’t pass out or anything, but she was hurting and crying. The vamp sort of healed, picked her up, and ran off. And that’s when I woke up.”

  “Oh-my-gravy!” Ruthie punctuated each word. “That is so bizarre! But what happened afterward? This is going to drive me crazy! Will you dream the next episode tonight?”

  I gave her a sidelong look. “What do I know? It’s something different all the time lately. I don’t know what’s going on! Can we get to school now?” I asked. Retelling my dream had exhausted me. I felt like I was missing something, that there was more to the dream.

  And I still hadn’t decided what I was going to do about Zander today.

  “Okay, okay.” She pulled back on to the road and had to speed to make it on time.

  Frenemy

  I was prepared to face Zander and his lying—albeit very attractive—uh, lips, however, he was a no-show that day. I had gotten nervous for nothing. I didn’t have to face him or whatever story he was going to concoct to explain the strangest day of my life. Disappointment, gratitude, and confusion swirled around me as I shut my locker and headed toward Ruthie’s. She met me halfway, questions in her eyes.

  “So, was he in class?” she asked. He wasn’t at lunch and we began to suspect he was absent today.

  “Not here,” I replied.

  “Son of a butcher,” swore Ruthie.

  Zander wasn’t the only one MIA today. Isaac and Phoebe missed class, too. When I asked Ruthie about it, she shrugged it off as normal for them. Apparently, they missed school a lot last year, too.

  Suddenly, a dark shadow rounded the corner and pounced with a “Raaahwl!” We both jumped, completely caught off guard, screaming instinctively, which in turn startled our attacker, Val, enough that he jumped back into the lockers with a loud clang.

  “That was awesome!” guffawed a deep voice from across the way. Jake was doubled over laughing.

  “You’re a jerk, jerk, JERK!” yelled Ruthie as she began slapping Val’s arm.

  “Hey! Ow! That’s my throwing arm!” wailed Val. He wrapped his arms around her to keep her from beating up on him, laughing at her struggles.

  I was still shaken and bent to pick up the books Ruthie and I had dropped. I felt like an idiot. We had definitely overreacted, more victims of our imagination than Val. The tension that had built up all day as I waited to confront Zander had reached its peak, and Val’s silly prank had been the final straw. My face was red with mortification. Our screams had attracted the attention of everyone in earshot (which probably included the whole county). Even teachers peered out of their doorways. But after seeing that we were fine and noticing Val in the midst of the trouble, they concluded that it was just a harmless joke.

  As I scrambled up, my eyes skimmed the crowds that were returning to whatever they had been doing before all the excitement. One head stood out among all the rest, wavy chestnut hair curling back and blue eyes searching my face with concern.

  Speaking of jerks, I thought. There stood the real cause of my stress, and I tacked on public humiliation because all the strange things that had been happening to me seemed to be when I was around him—a sure sign of guilt in my mind at that moment. My hostile glare took him by surprise. His eyebrows shot up and he actually took a step back. Yeah, be afraid.

  Ruthie finally wriggled free and came to my side. She followed my gaze and added her own fierce scowl.

  “They’re all jerks,” she muttered. “Come on, Tru. We’re so out of here.” She steered me toward an exit away from Val and Zander.

  Kids jeered and yelled out “Scaredy-cat” or “Help! I’m being attacked by the big bad Val!” And it wouldn’t be total humiliation without Zena and her harpies pitching in their own disdaining remarks.

  “Oh my gosh, Brianna! I think she peed her pants!” Zena quipped as we passed them, which caused everyone to stare you-know-where. I grabbed Ruthie’s arm to keep her moving forward when she would have confronted them. Ruthie settled for flipping them a finger behind her back, which gave everyone something else to look at.

  We didn’t say anything until we got in the car. Then we sighed long and deeply at the same time.

  “So Zander was at school,” stated Ruthie. “Must have been hiding from you.”

  “But why? His brother made me forget what happened—well, supposedly—so he should have been acting like nothing happened, right?”

  “Maybe he just felt guilty. Serves him right, the coward.” She started the car. “Man, I’m so breaking up with Val. That was not cool. So not cool.”

  “Well,” I said, “when you stop and think about it, it’s not that big of a deal. And it probably looked really funny to everyone else.” It seemed somewhat harsh to blame Val for our spastic reactions.

  “I know, I know,” she said, “I just feel so stupid. I was really scared for a second and, man! I screamed like a little girl!” She laid her head on the steering wheel in defeat. “I thought I was tougher than that, you know?”

  “Yeah. I feel stupid, too. But the less we make of it, the faster everyone will forget it, right? If they knew what we’ve been through, they’d be freaking out, too.”

  Ruthie turned her head toward me with a smile, but it quickly melted away. She raised her head in surprise, but in seconds covered it up with smooth indifference.

  “Uh…don’t jump or anything, but your secret boyfriend is standing right outside your window,” she whispered, while scratching her nose to cover her moving lips. I froze, my back still to the window.

  “What? Oh my gosh, what do I say?”

  A knock on the window brought me around. Zander stood looking down at me, his head tilted expectantly, wearing a sexy smile. I must have stared too long because he finally made the motions of rolling down my window. I reminded myself that I was mad at him, that he had allowed his brother to mind-whammy me, and that he was pretending to be a student here. He was up to something, and most importantly, he knew something about my mother’s death and wasn’t sharing. That final thought brought anger to the front line. I opened the door with a glare.

  Ruthie touched my arm and said, “I’ll wait right here, okay?”

  “Okay, thanks. This shouldn’t take long.” I stepped out of the car and tried to shrug off my anger. I should play along, I thought.

  “Uh,” Zander paused, “I just wanted to check on you. That was one heck of a scream back there.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Val being stupid, that’s all.” I scanned the parking lot behind him looking for his brother.

  “Where were you today?” I asked, trying not to sound accusing, but failing.

  He took a sudden interest in my sparkly Converse shoes. “My father found a place to rent, and I took the day off to help move stuff in. I just came by at the end to pick up my homework.”

  “Oh, okay.” I pursed my lips, pretty sure he was lying. But man, he was good.

  “Speaking of homework,” he continued, “can we still get together to study?”

  Still? I thought. He was fish
ing to find out what I remembered. I wanted him to squirm.

  “What more do we need to go over? You seemed to understand it really well yesterday at my place.” His eyebrows shot up. He obviously didn’t think I would remember that.

  “Oh, yeah…well, uh, I just thought the way we left it…” He stopped, giving me an opening to fill in the rest. Nope. I wasn’t having any of that. I wanted to hear how he filled it in.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  Zander ran a hand through his hair, causing some of it to stick up.

  “I was wondering if I could come by again and maybe we could think of a direction for our project?” he asked hopefully.

  Perfect, I thought. Answer a question with another question. This was really putting my weak acting skills to the test. But on the other hand, perhaps I could find out more about what he knew, too…

  “Okay. How about in an hour? I need to finish some other stuff first.”

  He smiled, and out of nowhere a football came flying toward us. I saw it, but Zander didn’t.

  I just got out a garbled “Watch—!” before it smacked into his back, knocking him off balance and into me, pushing us up against the car. My head would have smacked against the hood of Ruthie’s mini, but one of Zander’s hands cushioned it with surprising gentleness. In fact, he was wrapped around me as if he was protecting me. I was held tight against his chest, and I felt that breathtaking hum along every inch where we touched. I looked up at him and his mouth was inches away from mine, his dark blue eyes boring into me, like soft pools of water. Just then, drowning seemed like a great way to go.

  Then the car engine revved. Ruthie’s way of saying “time to go.” Zander’s eyes narrowed and he stepped away after steadying me.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  “Sure,” I said softly. “Thanks for the save.”

  He turned around, saying, “No problem. See you in an hour!” And he jogged over to the negligent football. Across the parking lot, a group of guys were laughing and pointing at us. Zander pulled back his arm and threw the football. It soared in a perfect spiral directly into the group of boys, plunging into the midsection of the one laughing the loudest. He went down and Zander took off the other way, where he hopped into his brother’s waiting truck.

  I pulled open the car door and got inside.

  “What the ham shank are you doing?” she bellowed. “Hello! Kissy face with the enemy is not good. Yes, he’s way hot, but geez! He and his brother erased your memory, girl. Enemy! Not friend!”

  I sighed. “Would you be okay with frenemy?” I asked with a weary smile. “Looks like I’ve got another study date this afternoon.”

  Feminine Wiles

  After I calmed Ruthie down, I explained my great plan to “keep my friends close and my enemies closer” or whatever that quote was. She didn’t like it, but since she didn’t have a better idea for finding out what he knew, she shrugged and we headed over to my house.

  “I know we were all about getting you a guy this year, and I know Zander is way good-looking, but maybe you should focus on one guy at a time, someone normal. Like your Homecoming date!” She gestured madly into the air. Tapping her nails on the steering wheel, she perked up suddenly.

  “Hey, we could double date—you and Isaac with Val and me.”

  I laughed. She was worried about me finding a normal guy. What a flip-turn.

  “I thought you were breaking up with Val.”

  “I might stay with him if we double ’cause that would be fun,” she said hopefully.

  “Seriously?” I stared at her in wonder. “You would date someone just so we could double?”

  “Well, yeah! And I guess I still like Val. I probably won’t break up with him.” Amusement played along Ruthie’s lips. I laughed out loud. “So, what about Isaac? What’s up with you two?” she asked softly. “He really does like you.”

  “I don’t know. Yes, he’s super cute—”

  “And the muscles! Don’t forget the muscles!” interjected Ruthie.

  I smiled. “And built like a boxer, yes. But, I don’t know. Maybe I shouldn’t have said yes to Homecoming. I can’t imagine kissing him or anything. There’s just no zing.”

  “You mean hum,” she said knowingly.

  “Whatever…moving on…”

  “All right, all right. We’ll deal with Isaac later. First things first.” Ruthie put on a serious face. “Here’s the plan. You play up to Zander and get your info, but don’t do anything stupid—hey! Is your dad going to be home?”

  “I don’t know. Probably.”

  “Well, if he isn’t, I could stay, you know, to chaperone.” She air-quoted the word “chaperone.”

  I entertained the thought for a second, but shot down the idea. There was no way Zander would really tell me what I wanted to know if Ruthie was hanging around. I didn’t know if Dad would be okay with Zander coming over to study when he wasn’t there, but I didn’t want to take the chance that he’d say no. I needed to do this. So one way or the other, Zander was staying, even if I had to lie. My stomach twisted a little. I couldn’t remember the last time I lied to my dad. Well, about something like this.

  At my house, Ruthie spent at least fifteen minutes teaching me how to play up to Zander, which translated to using my girl power to make his mind mush and get him to slip his secrets. Her words, not mine. Complete crap, had me blushing like crazy, and as far as I could predict, never going to happen. He’d laugh his head off at my “feminine wiles.” Ruthie finally left, promising to text me every thirty minutes to make sure I was okay. If I didn’t text back, she was coming over, and maybe calling the police even though I insisted she didn’t.

  I was pacing a hole in our carpet by the time Zander arrived. I had worked up to a whole new level of nervousness as I went over all the reasons why I should not be having this study “date,” much less talking to Zander. But it really came down to one thing—I needed to know what he knew about my mother.

  Her death was senseless, and I had trouble remembering the night of the accident clearly. My subconscious had blocked out a lot of it—probably a survival tactic. It was too awful to remember. No one should have to watch a parent die.

  So, my need to “know” was becoming an obsession, spurring me to go way beyond my comfort level. How was I going to pretend I didn’t remember and still ask questions? Should I tell him I remembered? Would he confide in me? Who was he really? And werewolves? What the heck?

  When the doorbell rang, I made one last look in the entry hall mirror. My hair hung in its normal sunny waves down to my waist. Nothing fancy, but I would do. My eyes seemed golden brown today. Despite my summer tan, I was still a little pale by California standards. How does one dress for this situation? Who knew? And when you don’t know, T-shirt and jeans is always the answer, or that’s what I thought. I had second thoughts about the T-shirt I chose, but went with it in the end. The words “BITE ME” across my chest summed up my attitude at this point, and it filled me with courage because it was a gift from Ruthie. Yeah, it was old and ratty now, but thinking of Ruthie and her “advice” gave me the audacity I needed.

  Zander stood on my doorstep, his backpack slung over one shoulder. His face brightened with a smile.

  “Hey…uh…” He darted glances down at my shirt. “Nice shirt.”

  My face flamed. I really was a moron. “Bite Me” could be interpreted a couple different ways. Just proved how messed up my head was right now. He probably thought I was making a move on him or something.

  “Oh. Thanks. It’s kind of stupid, I know.” I pulled on the hem of the shirt, trying to make it seem less tight, but failing. I was close to crossing my arms over my chest, but realized that it would just make my discomfort more obvious.

  “No, really,” he said. “I like the attitude. It reminds me of my best friend. He’s pretty unconventional.”

  Relieved that he got the intended meaning, I stopped slouching.

  “Actually, Ruthie gave i
t to me. Attitude is kind of her thing. Maybe we should introduce them sometime.”

  “Sounds good except that he didn’t move here with me.”

  “Oh, right!” I laughed with chagrin. “Where did you say you lived before?”

  “Actually, I didn’t say. But it’s a small town up in Washington State. You wouldn’t know it.”

  “Probably right,” I said. “I bet you miss your friend.” Going back to school without Ruthie would have killed me.

  A breeze swept through the overhead trees and across the front porch. My hair flew up unexpectedly.

  “Agh!” I shrieked, laughing as I tried to tame the long strands that swept up and all over both Zander and me. He laughed, too, as he disentangled us. His hands smoothed my hair down, one hand returning to my face. I looked into his eyes at the same moment.

  Breathing him in, I leaned closer. He gently traced one of my eyebrows, his other hand coming up to trace the other. His thumbs brushed over my lips.

  He paused as our signature hum enveloped us like an ocean wave, unbalancing, and stealing our air. For the first time, we didn’t pull away from it, and the feeling settled into a mellow vibration.

  We both gasped for air at the same time, staring at each other in astonishment. Then he lowered his lips, grazing the corner of my mouth and brushing across me experimentally. My eyes fluttered closed. His touch ignited something inside me, and then his lips took over mine as he pushed me through the doorway, pressing me up against the wall. My hands traveled around his neck, one hand in his hair.

  Suddenly, the sound of Katy Perry blared out of my pocket, and my eyes popped open. Zander was staring down at me from the front porch, his hand still on my cheek, and not even a hint of a breeze in the air.

  Wait a second! Didn’t we move into the house? Didn’t we just share an amazing kiss? What just happened?

  Katy Perry’s voice sounded again, singing about a magnetizing touch, bodies glowing, and futuristic lovers.

  Zander dropped his hand. “You better get that.” His face was pink, his eyebrows pushed together.