Phase

by E. C. Newman

  “Uh…I have no idea.”

  Jules shrugged. “Girl stuff.”

  Nick grinned wickedly. I rolled my eyes.

  “You should go to the creek, while it’s still warm, maybe with the boys.” Meredith looked at Micah, Gil, and Nick. “Are you staying the night?”

  “They smell.” Naomi laughed. “We really don’t need more boys here.”

  Ezra tossed a piece of bread at her. “Hush up, whelp.”

  She caught it, still grinning. I’d never before seen Naomi smile, and it was for her big brother.

  “We’re probably going for a run later,” Ezra said to his mother.

  Micah shot him a look. There was silence across the table. I glanced at Jules, who just shrugged again.

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” Meredith’s eyes darted once to me.

  “I heard a wolf howl on my way home the other night,” I told them, then encountered several sets of suspicious eyes on me. Why suspicious? “Just saying after what happened in town, probably not safe.”

  More silence. Awkward. Gil quickly glanced at his brother before noticing I’d seen him. He shoveled a forkful of spaghetti into his mouth.

  “Puppy, eat with your mouth closed,” Naomi snapped.

  Poor Gil, stuck with a nickname like that. Even from Naomi. Even as I thought that I realized that the silence had continued to stretch even longer and everyone was looking at each other. Jules made eye contact with me and gave a small shrug.

  “Sophie’s right. Not tonight.” Meredith eyed her husband.

  He didn’t seem terribly happy. “Not tonight. Not with…guests,” he said, sounding annoyed.

  Had I missed something?

  * * *

  After brushing my teeth, I found Jules at her desk, writing. She shut the book, looking guilty.

  “What?” I asked, smiling. “You keep a diary?”

  “Yeah, kinda.” She looked embarrassed. “Do you?”

  I snorted and sat on the sleeping bag Meredith had brought out for me. “I have like five at home. Maybe three entries in each. I’m consistently inconsistent.”

  She laughed and stuck the journal in the top drawer of her desk. “I’ve been journaling since I was ten.”

  “Impressive.”

  “I guess. Some people have imaginary friends. I had a diary.” She tapped her pen on her knee. “It’s full of everything.”

  “Like who you’re crushing on?”

  “Or how weird tonight’s dinner was?” She raised one eyebrow.

  I stopped smiling. “Yeah, that seemed weird.”

  “That’s not the only time. I swear they talk in code. What’s in the woods that they need to go out there and come back looking like hobos?” She shook her head.

  “So you write about hobos?”

  “I write about the families. All the families.” Her eyes strayed off somewhere I couldn’t follow. “The decent people and the jerks. The food. What I remember before.” She met my eyes, appearing almost startled that I was there. “All of it fits into a bunch of notebooks.” She snorted derisively.

  “You know you can do an online journal,” I said, not really sure why I did. Probably because I would have loved to know what went on in Jules’s head.

  Her eyes widened. “No. I wouldn’t want anyone to know. Ever. It’s private. Just for me.” She got up, grabbed her pajamas from the bed, and left to change in the bathroom.

  I stared at the desk drawer that held her journal. What secrets about Jules did it hold? Her past and her thoughts. All the things I really, really wanted to know about her, but was afraid to ask. Afraid she’d hate me.

  She’d just warned me, I got that. But that she would think I would ever invade her privacy like that, hurt. We were polar opposites. I trusted people first before they gave me reason not to. She didn’t trust until it was earned.

  I slept on Jules’s bedroom floor. She folded her comforter and put the sleeping bag on top. When I protested that she would get cold, she told me to shut up.

  With a smile.

  * * *

  I slept pretty well. I only woke once in the middle of the night with that fear of not knowing where I was. I saw the round window and remembered. Then I realized what had awakened me.

  Whimpering.

  I sat up, looking at Jules under the covers in her bed.

  She was moving. Sort of jolting in her sleep. And making the whimpering noise. It reminded me of when Slightly had a dream and started barking at whatever she was dreaming about.

  I thought about waking Jules up, assuming that the whimpering meant a nightmare. But then I remembered the one time I’d woken up my mom when I was a kid, standing right over her, saying her name. Mom had screamed. Didn’t really want a repeat of that.

  I lay back down, closing my eyes and listening to her rustling and whimpers until I fell asleep again.

  I awakened in the morning to voices downstairs. Somebody was up. I rubbed my eyes, looked at my watch, and saw it was before eight o’clock. The sun was shining through the window right on me. The warmth was nice, but the light not so much.

  I stayed there for a few minutes, then decided my oily face needed washing. I grabbed clean clothes and a towel, and stumbled to the bathroom. I could never walk straight when I first woke up.

  After a quick shower, I towel-dried my hair and dressed in the bathroom. At my house, I could prance around in a towel when Dad wasn’t around. But here, that was a terrifying thought.

  I opened the door and choked back a shriek.

  Ezra leaned against the wall across from the bathroom door wearing only pajama bottoms. “You done?” he asked, not even attempting to smile. Maybe he just wasn’t a morning person.

  “Yeah, sure.” I got out of his way, really self-conscious at him being right there. Did he hear me sing in the shower? Was I looking at his chest? Don’t look at his chest. Why was he half-naked when there’s a guest in the house? Why couldn’t my eyes look elsewhere?

  He moved to get in and then stopped. “You smell different.”

  I paused, eyeing him. And his chest. “What?”

  “You…smell…different.” Like it was a crime.

  “I just showered?”

  He sighed, exasperated. “Do you usually wear perfume or something?”

  Without a doubt, the weirdest conversation ever.

  “Yeah.” I loved perfume. I changed scents daily.

  “Huh.” He turned to go into the bathroom.

  “So? Do I smell bad or something?” Really should not talk sometimes.

  He stuck his head out of the door and met my eyes. “No, you just… You don’t need perfume.” And he shut the door.

  I returned to Jules’s bedroom, bewildered.

  Jules was brushing her hair at her desk. She took me in and asked, “What?”

  “Do I smell different?” I asked her, approaching.

  Her eyes widened. “Why?” The way she said it made me think she’d noticed too.

  “Ezra said… Never mind. Boys are just weird.”

  “Especially the ones here.”

  I found my bottle of jasmine body spray in my overnight bag. I popped off the cap and almost pressed my finger down, but stopped. I glanced at Jules, who was still brushing her hair, not paying attention.

  I put the cap back on and tossed the bottle back into my bag. I told myself it wasn’t because Ezra had said something. I just didn’t feel like smelling like jasmine that day.

  Sure.

  * * *

  Jules tugged up her socks. “I cannot do homework anymore today. Let’s go exploring.”

  “Exploring?” I looked up from my history book. We’d had breakfast. Jules had been right about them always eating meat—the meal had been eggs with both sausage and bacon—and gone to hit the books since studying was easier with a partner. I’d never realized before how little time I spent with people other than my parents. Until Jules.

  “The woods. It’s really nice out. Want to?” Doubt flic
kered across her gaze.

  “Yeah. Sounds good.” I closed my book. “My brain is slowing down anyway.”

  She smiled fully, got up, and offered her hand to me. I took it, and she hauled me off the floor.

  “Let’s go. I’ll race you outside.” She tore out of the room before I could even get all she said through my brain. And she was fast. I jogged down the stairs as I heard the back door open and close. I got to the bottom of the stairs, turning to head the same way when I ran into him. My impact jostled the mug he held, and the brown liquid streamed onto his T-shirt. The mug hit the floor with a loud clatter. Didn’t break, thank goodness.

  “Damn, watch where you’re going!” Ezra glared at me, green eyes angry.

  I sniffed. Coffee. “Did it burn you?” I asked, mortified.

  “No, it was cold.” He glanced back up at me, still furious.

  “I’m sorry, really, I was racing Jules and—”

  “Whatever.” He bent and grabbed the mug off the floor. He breezed past me, not sparing me another look.

  I heard a knock on the glass sliding door that led to the deck. Jules stood on the other side, waving. Her eyes questioned, but I just smiled and hurried to her. I opened the door.

  “Come on.” She clasped my hand and led the way.

  The trees were just beginning to turn. October would be perfect out here. Most of my energy was focused on not tripping on the roots and rocks. I’d never noticed how graceful Jules was.

  We heard voices. “It’s the guys. Told you that they were always out here.” She paused, listening. “Wanna go spy on them?” She grinned.

  I smiled back, but shook my head. If it was animal sacrifices, I really didn’t want to know. “Maybe when I get better at walking in the woods.”

  She nodded. “Good point.”

  We continued, and the voices faded away. The woods were quiet, just the leaves sounding like applause when the wind blew through. Jules’s eyes took in everything.

  “So, you like the woods?” I asked.

  She glanced at me with a sheepish grin on her face. “Obvious, huh?”

  “A little.” I gestured with my thumb and index finger, pinching the air to emphasize “little.”

  “Did you grow up playing outside?” I asked it without really thinking. I kept forgetting to be careful when asking questions about her past.

  Her smile faltered, and she watched me for a long time before answering. It was impressive how she didn’t trip or run into anything while looking at me. “Not really. Dad and I moved a lot.” She touched a tree we passed, her fingers running along the grooves on the trunk. “I think it was all motel rooms and apartments. We didn’t see a lot of trees and grass. Most of the families I stayed with lived in the inner city. I don’t think I knew how much I liked trees until I moved here.” She stopped and gazed up into a large tree’s canopy.

  “You like it here?”

  She swung around to face me, her arm wrapped around the trunk. “Yes.”

  “And the Vardens?”

  She cocked her head to the side. “I’ve had worse. Meredith is pretty nice. Jonas too. Like I said, Ezra treats me better than most guys I’ve known. Naomi’s a brat. But she’s just talk.” She rested her head on the tree. “It’s better here. I haven’t been here even a month, but it’s definitely better here.”

  “Good.”

  She smiled at me. “Were you an outdoors kid?”

  I shook my head. “Not enough to suit my dad. I was more of a ‘stay inside, play with my dolls or read a book’ kind of kid.” We started walking again. “I did climb a few trees in my day. And wanted my own tree house. Still do.” I smiled a big cheesy grin.

  She rolled her eyes good-naturedly. We hiked a bit further, not really talking. Just enjoying the quiet.

  Jules stopped dead in her tracks.

  “What?” I asked, alarmed.

  “Look.” She pointed.

  I followed with my eyes. There, through the trees, was a building. “Is it abandoned?” I asked softly.

  “Let’s go find out.” She grabbed my hand and started leading me toward it. As we got closer, I saw two buildings. One looked like a small house out of a Western where the hired hands would sleep. One floor with a porch as long as the building. The roof had huge holes in it.

  But the other building was really something.

  It was shaped like a tower. Probably six stories high, with a metal staircase wrapped around its outside. Both buildings were made out of cement with dark shingled roofs.

  “Wow.”

  I looked over at Jules, her head tipped back, looking up at the tower. She moved closer to it, then froze.

  “What is it?” I whispered. I gripped her arm, nervous for some reason.

  “I think there’s something near.”

  Vague, like when someone tries to scare you when nothing’s there. But she sounded sure.

  “What?”

  She took another step, and a twig broke beneath her foot.

  I heard a growl.

  Chapter Four

  From behind the shorter building, a wolf appeared. Its coat was golden. Its very white teeth were bared.

  “Oh my gosh,” I breathed and tried to run.

  Jules held me in place. “Don’t move,” she muttered.

  I didn’t, but was holding onto her arm so tightly I knew I’d leave bruises.

  The wolf stalked toward us. Jules stood her ground. The wolf stared at her, and Jules stared back into its green eyes. Like she had with Slightly.

  Neither moved a muscle.

  The wolf bared its teeth again and growled. I saw my life flash before my eyes. I thought about the dead wolf I’d seen on the news. I’d been so sad for it, but face-to-face with one, I was terrified.

  “Jules…” I pleaded. I could see us running and it following and ripping off my leg and… Stop thinking.

  Jules showed her teeth to the wolf and growled back. For a human, she looked really scary. So much that I started to edge away, but she held me securely.

  The wolf’s fur lay flat, no longer on end. It let its tongue hang out and its lips stretched, almost like it smiled at us. Next to me, I felt Jules relax.

  The wolf cocked its head to the side, apparently curious, and approached me.

  “Back off,” Jules snapped, a snarl in her voice.

  The wolf jolted and looked at her. It dropped its head, like she’d reprimanded it, which I guess she had. It turned and ran behind the building. In a few seconds we watched it trot out from behind the other end and disappear into the woods.

  “Jules… I think it was holding something in its mouth.” Something red and cloth-like.

  She looked at me. “Like?”

  “Clothes. It actually looked like Ezra’s red hoodie.” A terrible thought hit me. “Do you think it ate Ezra?”

  She gave me a weird look. “Wolves rarely eat humans. It might attack one if it was scared. I think you’re imagining things.” She turned toward the tower and then stopped, I guess noticing I hadn’t loosened my grip at all. “Soph?”

  I let go, wiggling my fingers because they’d cramped. “How did you… What did you do? You growled at it.”

  She shrugged like it was no big deal. “One of my foster families had a big Doberman. I had stare-down contests with him. It always works. You show them that you’re boss. And I’ve always just gotten animals. More than people. Especially dogs.” She marched toward the tower. “Maybe I got it from Dad’s dog.”

  “I thought when you made eye contact with a dog it was a challenge.” My history of checking out books about dogs when I was younger finally paid off.

  “Yeah. And I’m stronger, I guess.” She grinned brilliantly and tested the rusty outside stairs. “These seem safe. Come on.”

  “Couldn’t there be more wolves?”

  She shook her head. “Nah. He was just out for a run.”

  “He?”

  She climbed a few of the stairs. “Definitely a guy. I think a female would ha
ve attacked me.”

  I had no idea how she knew all this. She spoke with complete confidence. And I only had Slightly as dog influence in my life.

  Just more mystery to surround Juliet Ellery. Or maybe she just watched Animal Planet a lot.

  “Why did it come toward me?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe he thought you were something to play with.” She laughed. “Come on, scaredy-cat.”

  I followed her up the stairs to a gap…a doorway, with Juliet testing each and every step. We had to skip one or two.

  She stopped at a doorway and walked in. “They’re apartments,” she said.

  I poked my head in. True enough, they were one-room apartments, one on each floor. Abandoned with bits of dry wall and plaster littering the floors. Vines were creeping around the door and through the unglassed windows. The place was a mess, dusty and dirty. And dark.

  “This is awesome.” Jules explored, testing the floor as she went. “You wanted a tree house. We got even better.” Her whole face lit up when she looked at me for confirmation.

  I laughed and nodded. “Huge mess though.”

  “We’ll clean it out. We could come out here to study or talk. Just be away from everyone.” She stuck her head into a room that was partitioned from the rest. “Toilet got stolen.”

  I chuckled. “That might make things a bit more difficult. But it’s awesome.”

  “Let’s get started then.”

  We spent most of the afternoon gathering all the pieces of wall and other junk on the floor. We piled everything outside for the time being. I was sweaty and dirty by the time my stomach growled.

  Jules snickered at me. “Hungry?”

  “You think?” I asked, wiping my forehead. “I am so gross right now.”

  “You’re such a girl.” She tossed one last piece of plaster on the pile.

  “I don’t think I can argue that fact,” I replied, surveying. “We did good though.”

  “Yeah. I wonder if the Vardens have any old furniture.”

  “You plan to carry stuff out here?”

  “Whatever would fit into your car. Park it as close as we can get it.” Though sweaty, her eyes were still shining. “It’s like a hideout.”