"If you find Randy Smith's, let me know," Ashe sorted quickly through his pile.
"Not here," Sali had gone through his stack—twice.
"Not here, either," Ashe said, confused. "Here are the other two winners, and a receipt from the post office," Ashe held up copies of the second and third-place essays. The winning essays were clipped together, with copies of two delivery receipts. Ashe pulled those off and stared at them. "Dang," he said nervously.
"What? What is it?"
"What's the Grand Master's name?" Ashe showed Sali one of the receipts.
"Oh." Sali was shocked. "They send the winners to the Grand Master?"
"And to the Vampire Council, I think. This is an address in London," Ashe flipped the other one down so Sali could see. "I don't know who Charles Hoffman is, but I'll bet it's an alias for the Head of the Council or something. I don't know why these essays would go to London for any other reason."
"Dude, that's scary. Those guys are reading our essays?" Sali stared at Ashe.
"Only the winners, but still. And why isn't Randy Smith's essay here?" Ashe flipped through the clipped papers, just to make sure he hadn't missed anything. "Nope, not here," he confirmed. "Where is it?"
"Man, this is weird," Sali said, lifting Marco's essay to read.
"Sali, we have to take this back to Principal Billings' attic. Read that quick and we'll take it back. We sure as heck don't want to get caught using somebody else's ideas if the Grand Master and the Head of the Council are going to read them."
"All right," Sali grumped. Half an hour later, Ashe and Sali dumped the box inside Principal Billings' attic and zoomed back to Ashe's home.
"Sali, it's time to go," Denise DeLuca called out shortly after they returned.
"Be there in a minute," Sali yelled. "Gotta go, dude. Let me know how it goes tomorrow and I'll get your homework assignments," Sali said as both boys walked out of Ashe's bedroom.
* * *
"I'll be writing on my essay for a while, call if you need help with dinner later," Ashe said the following afternoon. He'd helped do laundry and clean the house before lunch. Now he was heading toward his bedroom to prepare for the trip into Cordell with Marco.
"All right, honey. I may nap for a while," Adele said. Ashe knew she still wasn't feeling as well as she should, but was afraid to say anything. More than anything, Ashe wanted to find the one or ones who'd done this and hand them straight to his father and Radomir. His father had once been an Enforcer and Radomir still worked for the Council. They'd know what to do with someone like that.
"Okay, Mom." Ashe walked inside his bedroom and shut the door. Just in case, he dressed a little better before misting to Marco's bedroom inside the DeLuca home. Marco was dressed nicely and ready to go when Ashe arrived, his dark hair combed neatly and face freshly shaven.
"Are you ready for this?" Ashe asked.
"Yeah," Marco blew out a sigh. "Let's go." Ashe turned to mist, gathered Marco up and flew toward Cordell.
The Prairie Harvest Baptist Church in Cordell was a sturdy brick building located just off Main Street. Once he was inside, Ashe looked around for a suitable place where he might set Marco down. Marco shouldn’t have to remain mist, but he couldn’t be seen. A small balcony stretched across the back wall, high enough so they'd be out of sight for the duration of the service. Currently the balcony was filled with paint cans, tools and other items; parts of the church were undergoing renovation.
This is perfect; Ashe sent the message to Marco, setting him down behind the balcony railing. If Marco sat down on a small step stool left there by workmen, then he could remain hidden during the service. Unfortunately, the stool was the only place available to sit; the remaining space was cluttered with supplies.
Marco sat and looked about him, contemplating Ashe's dilemma. "What are you going to do?" he hissed at the air around him.
Don't freak, Ashe mentally told Marco before turning to the bumblebee bat. Ashe's clothing dropped, covering a stack of paint cans. The tiny bat flapped in front of Marco's nose, causing Marco to stare in shock before clapping a hand over his mouth to cover a snicker.
It's not that funny, Ashe grumped.
"Ashe, this is so you," Marco whispered, still struggling not to laugh. "Think about it—your dad's a vampire. Why wouldn't you be a bat?"
Could have been a bigger bat, was all Ashe would say before settling onto Marco's shirt. Clinging tightly to the top of Marco's shirt pocket, Ashe folded his tiny wings and made himself as comfortable as possible while they waited for the service to begin. Ashe pretended not to notice when Marco wiped a tear away. All of Megan's classmates and half the town had shown up for the funeral.
Ready to go? Ashe asked silently as the service ended.
"Yeah," Marco said softly.
Will you grab my clothes?
"Only for you, dude." Marco picked up Ashe's clothing; Ashe turned from bat to mist and hauled Marco toward Cloud Chief.
"Thanks, Ashe," Marco said when Ashe dropped Sali's older brother inside his bedroom later. "I won't forget this." Ashe had remained mist, choosing not to materialize naked inside Marco's bedroom.
You're welcome, Ashe replied. Marco held out Ashe's clothes, Ashe turned them to mist and zoomed away.
Once he was inside his bedroom and dressed again, Ashe spent another hour fretting over an essay he hadn't started. Finally giving up the effort, Ashe clumped upstairs to the kitchen. "We're having stew?" he asked. The scent of it filled the kitchen.
"Yes. I thought you might like some, and we haven't had any for ages," his mother smiled at him. Ashe liked stew, because his mother made cornbread to go with it.
"Thanks, Mom."
"I called down the stairs earlier, didn't you hear me?" Adele said as Ashe settled on a chair at the table.
Working to keep his breathing even, Ashe apologized. "Sorry, mom. I fell asleep for a while." He hated lying to his mother, but he also had no desire to be caught or to let his parents find out he'd been hiding things from them.
"That's all right, hon. I know you were still in the house," Adele said. Ashe hugged himself and stared at the wall.
* * *
"I always buy my supplies from Adele. When will she be back?" A customer asked Jason. Trace, standing nearby, watched the exchange covertly. Neither he nor Jason liked the way the man smelled. He didn't look anything other than human, but the scent was off, in Trace's estimation. The man looked to be in his early thirties, with fair skin, blond hair worn to his shoulders and pale-green eyes.
"Don't rightly know," Jason drawled. "She's been sick, so I can't really say. Maybe in a week or two."
"I'll check back, then," the customer said, turning to leave.
"Anything we can get for you today?" Jason asked.
"No." The stranger replied curtly and walked out of the store. Jason exchanged a look with Trace, who walked straight to the back and pulled out his cell to call Winkler.
* * *
"Ever seen this one before?" Winkler brought the recorded images from the security DVR he'd installed inside Cordell Feed and Seed. Adele, Aedan, Radomir and Marcus watched the recorded image of the blond man who'd walked into Adele's store.
"No." Adele shook her head. "I've never seen him before."
"He knows your name," Winkler said. The machine also recorded sound—Winkler had installed a state-of-the-art system and they could see and hear the man perfectly. Aedan had an arm wrapped around Adele as they watched the images on the television inside the Evans' media room; Adele was shivering as she watched a perfect stranger ask about her by name, inquiring when she'd be back to work.
"Adele, you're not to go back there until we have this sorted out," Aedan insisted, his eyes going red.
"I'm inclined to agree with Aedan," Winkler said. "This is becoming stranger as time goes by."
Ashe hovered over their heads. He was supposed to be in his room—Aedan had asked him to stay there. He hadn't. Ashe might never see freedom again if his
father knew how many times he'd disobeyed lately. Ashe couldn't leave it alone, though. He had to know.
* * *
"We will not fight vampires." The statement was flat and brooked no argument.
"You've said that before. I grow weary of hearing it." Wolf wasn't about to turn his back on these two—he could die easily at their hands, alone as he was.
"Then we shouldn't have to keep repeating it, don't you think?"
"We may have to find a way around this aversion you have with those creatures," Wolf pointed out.
"Creatures they may be in your opinion, but they are among the few that can kill us. We will not fight them unless our lives are at stake."
"You helped with the old one."
"You made it easy. I don't think we might be so lucky with any of the others. Those most certainly will be more dangerous. We cannot force them to our will as we did the female werewolf. And she was not in our original agreement."
"But necessary, to draw attention away, don't you think?"
"Faugh. You worry too much."
"But you have your own method of escape. I don't have that luxury." Wolf had watched them disappear more than once, and that ability baffled him. He was more than curious over how that might be accomplished.
"How unfortunate for you. Get us what we want and soon, or you will very much regret it."
* * *
"Ashe!" Cori shocked him by giving him a hug when he walked toward Transformational Arts on Thursday morning. April the twenty-second had dawned stormy and didn't look to let up. Ashe could hear thunder rumbling while Cori hugged him.
"Good to see you, too," Ashe was blushing when Cori let him go.
"Billings is coming," Wynn whispered as she passed Cori and Ashe in the narrow tiled hallway of Cloud Chief Combined.
"I'll talk to you at lunch," Cori promised, giving Ashe a small smile and walking toward her first class. "Your eye looks awful, by the way." Cori's smile as she looked back at Ashe became a full-blown grin.
Ashe didn't need the reminder that his eye was multicolored and looked much worse than it felt. Sali informed him that Chad Daniels would be out of school for the rest of the month following his mother's death. Ashe was sorry Chad had lost his mother, and not sorry that he wouldn't have to face the young werewolf. Jeremy, however, would still be attending class. Ashe hoped to stay out of his way. That hope was very short-lived.
"Empty, was it your fault that Chad's mom died?" Jeremy stood in front of Ashe, blocking the door into Transformational Arts.
"I don't think so," Ashe stared Jeremy in the eye. Jeremy was only an inch or so taller than Ashe, now.
"That is enough." Mrs. Rocklin's voice sounded behind Ashe. "Jeremy, this is not your class. I suggest you get to English before I call the Principal."
Jeremy walked away, muttering that Principal Billings would get rid of the stupid, worthless empty real soon.
"Sounds like he needs the English class," Ashe muttered and walked into Transformational Arts.
Ashe sat at the usual table with Sali during lunch, and Cori joined them quickly, sitting beside Ashe. What surprised him almost speechless, however, was that Wynn and Dori sat down next to Cori, and then Marco, followed by Ryan Phillips, another senior werewolf, set their trays down and sat on Sali's side of the table. Sali blinked across the table at Ashe a time or two before getting back to his chicken quesadillas.
"The trackers brought Randy Smith in early this morning," Marco said.
Chapter 15
"They're holding him in Pat Roberts' old house," Marco said quietly before dipping the point of a quesadilla into a dollop of sour cream and biting into it. Ashe drew in a breath and lost his appetite. Turning to Cori, he found her staring at him. She looked so sad Ashe was afraid she might cry.
Thanks, Marco, Ashe sent. The only indication that Marco heard Ashe's mindspeech was a flaring of nostrils, nothing more. Ashe figured Principal Billings was dancing with glee somewhere, because he would get to kill Randy Smith come the full moon next Wednesday. "Sali, you want this?" Ashe pushed his tray toward Sali, who nodded. Ashe rose from the table and after only a moment, Cori got up too.
"Cori, this is awful," Ashe fretted as they walked toward the front doors of Cloud Chief Combined.
"Ashe, they can't do this. They just can't," Cori brushed away tears as she held onto Ashe. Ashe carefully steered her outside. Morning rains had drenched the prairie surrounding the school and dark clouds still hovered overhead. A few students had ventured outside, either sitting on benches or leaning against the school building to talk while the rain had let up temporarily. Mr. Harris and Mrs. Patterson were providing supervision to the students outside; none were allowed in the schoolyard unguarded. Mr. Thompson, who'd become a regular sentry at the school during lunchtimes and after classes were dismissed each day, stood nearby in buffalo form, his white coat covered in mist from the earlier rain.
"Look, we'll just put our heads together and come up with something. I hope," Ashe sighed softly, pulling Cori away from listening teachers and students. He didn't want anyone to hear them; nearly all outside were werewolves. Ashe suddenly felt surrounded and threatened by all of them. Even Sali had shrugged callously at Randy Smith's fate.
"What can we do?" Cori sobbed, gripping Ashe's hand tightly.
"The full moon isn't until next Wednesday. We have six days. Come on, stop crying and let's think about this," Ashe awkwardly attempted to console her.
"James would be so upset," Cori wiped her cheeks.
"Yeah."
"Don't leave school grounds," Mrs. Patterson called after Ashe and Cori, who'd walked past the others to keep their conversation private.
Ashe stopped abruptly at Mrs. Patterson's warning, causing Cori to bump into him. "Come on, Cori. Let's go back inside." Steering Cori around gently, Ashe guided her toward the school doors. Marco waited for them, just inside.
"I'll get her to class, Ashe," Marco took Cori's hand and led her down the hall. Ashe watched as they walked away together, his mind whirling with possibilities and consequences.
Sali was unusually silent during the afternoon classes and on the ride home as well. Adele had picked up both boys in her old truck, saying that she'd called Denise and offered to pick Sali up. Ashe had watched Cori climb into Marco's car after school, accepting a ride home with him instead of Wynn's mother, who'd picked up Wynn and Dori. Shaking his head, Ashe hunched down in the front seat as his mother drove toward Sali's home.
"Dude, I'll talk to you later," Sali slid off the old Ford's front seat and gave a half wave to Ashe before closing the door.
"Yeah," Ashe said, scooting over and leaning back against the worn upholstery.
"You heard, didn't you?" Adele put the truck in gear and crunched over gravel as she drove away from the DeLuca's yard.
"I did." Ashe stared out the passenger-side window on the way home.
"It's Pack business," Adele gave a sigh.
"And nobody messes with that. I know," Ashe muttered angrily.
"I have Dawn Smith to thank for you, Ashe," Adele said after a while. "She was the first one to go to a fertility clinic. She wanted another baby with Terry, but they weren't having any luck. A doctor offered her a donated egg. That's how Randy was born, Ashe. He was a miracle, just like you."
"And we all know how well that's turning out," Ashe snapped sarcastically. "Sorry, Mom. It's not your fault."
"Nor yours," his mother pointed out gently. "Your father has made arrangements with a car dealership in Oklahoma City. The salesman is staying late, so we're driving in tonight to pick up his new SUV. I thought about offering to take Sali, too, but after everything else that's happened today, I decided against it. Radomir will be coming with us instead."
"Does Dawn Smith know they have Randy?"
"I don't know, hon. And she didn't call Mr. Winkler. I'm pretty sure of that."
"Mom, what would you do if that was me instead of Randy Smith?"
"Ashe, it's not you."
"But what if it were? There's a story going around that Randy got framed. What if that's true? What if somebody set me up exactly the same way, because they didn't like me for some reason? What would you do?"
"Honey, your father saw the letter Randy Smith wrote. It's in his handwriting and everything. There are still some samples of his writing floating around, you know, so it would be easy to tell."
"When did Dad see it? Where's the letter now?"
"He saw it a few days after Mr. Harris got it—said the envelope was postmarked in Santa Fe and everything. Everything checked out, Ashe. That letter came from Randy Smith."
"Yeah? Did it smell like him?"
"Ashe, stop. Mail gets handled by so many people you can't even tell about things like that once they arrive."
"Fine." The fields of Cloud Chief blurred past Ashe's window as his mother drove, slowing down eventually to turn into their driveway. "I'll go do homework," Ashe said, slouching into the kitchen and leaving his mother to close the door and set the alarm behind them.
* * *
"Aedan, he's really upset over this Randy Smith thing," Adele had gone down to her husband's bunker when he woke. "Somehow, he's convinced that Randy Smith didn't write that letter."
"The evidence points to the contrary. We might have placed compulsion to ask if we'd found him, but he was already gone by the time we arrived in Santa Fe," Aedan pulled a shirt on. "No doubt Dawn got the warning and sent him away. That didn't keep the Grand Master's trackers from finding him."
"They had more time. You only had two days, Aedan, and no leads."
"Marcus won't allow anyone near the boy now," Aedan grumbled. "I'll arrange to have someone take Ashe away during the full moon next week if you think it will be better for him."
"It won't make any difference. That boy will still be just as dead, and Ashe knows that. It won't matter if Ashe is here or five hundred miles from here."
"I can place compulsion. But I don't want to."
"Ashe will never trust us again if we do that." Adele rubbed her forehead, attempting to ease the accumulating tension.
"I know. Come, love. We must be in Oklahoma City in an hour."
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