“Y-yeah,” Carly answered, thankful for the distraction. “Sure, that sounds cool.”
“Cool,” Esther agreed, looking to Gabe. “You guys okay?”
“We’re fine,” Gabe said, fidgeting with the paperback in his hands.
“All right then. You two should come to my house for lunch today. My mom made lasagna last night, and there are plenty of leftovers.”
“Thanks,” Carly told her. “That sounds great.”
* * *
“Sorry, I didn’t know my brother was going to follow us home,” Esther apologized as Gabe parked in front of her house early that afternoon.
Carly looked out the back window just as Abel pulled into the driveway. He had some redheaded kid with him, although Carly had no idea who he was. She left her bag in the car and followed Esther and Gabe to the front door.
“Hey, guys,” Abel said as he met them in the entryway. “Carly, it’s nice to see you again. Did you come over for some of my mom’s famous lasagna?”
“You know it,” Carly replied, only meeting his gaze for a moment.
“Abel, Jeremy, what are you guys doing here?” Esther asked.
“Same thing you are,” Abel said. “Lunch.”
“Whatever. Come on, Carly. The kitchen’s this way.”
Carly followed her into the kitchen and leaned up against the counter by Gabe while Esther pulled a rectangular glass pan from the fridge. “Do both of your parents work, Esther?”
“Yeah, they own and manage the resort in McCabe, just north of here,” Esther told her. “They’re not around much because of it.”
“That sucks. I mean, unless you like not having them around.”
“We find plenty of ways to occupy our time,” Abel noted as his sister grabbed a stack of plates from the cupboard. “Have you been out to the caves yet, Carly?”
“No,” Esther answered for her. “But she lives right by them.”
“I know where she lives, duh.”
“No,” Carly told him, hoping to end his interrogation. “I haven’t been to the caves yet. Why?”
Abel shrugged. “Because they’re haunted, and you seem like the kind of girl who’d find that interesting.”
“They’re not haunted,” Gabe insisted, looking to Carly. “Really, it’s just a stupid legend.”
Carly did find it interesting, but directed her next question to Gabe instead of Abel. “What kind of legend?”
“The kind that involves a murder-suicide,” Jeremy piped up.
Carly eyed him for a moment, noticing the muscles hidden beneath his thin t-shirt. Her gaze flashed to Abel, then Gabe. Jeez, they were all buff. “Is that true?”
“Some people think so,” Gabe provided. “Supposedly, two hundred years ago, Sterling was terrorized by monsters.”
“Monsters, really?” she mused. “What kind of monsters?”
Gabe exchanged a weary glance with Abel. Why were they always looking at each other like they hated each other? Why were they hanging out at all?
“I’m not sure,” Gabe answered. “Anyway, this pastor and his congregation of thirty people or so were determined to go after the monsters, to hunt them down, to make them pay for what they’d done to the community. They tracked them to the caves and went after them with guns and torches. But the monsters tricked them and trapped the congregation inside the caves instead.”
“Trapped them?” Carly questioned. “How?”
“No one’s really sure about that,” Abel said. “Legend has it they were trapped down there for days with very little food and water, but they weren’t left alone. The monsters terrorized them—drove them mad. Finally the pastor lost it and killed everyone and then himself. But before he took his own life, he made a vow to God that he would come back and make the monsters pay for what they’d done.”
A chill raced up Carly’s spine. She didn’t believe in ghosts, or anything supernatural for that matter, but it sure made for one hell of a story. “If the pastor made the vow right before he killed himself, how would anyone else know about it?”
“I don’t know, that’s why it’s a legend.”
“Is it true?” Carly asked. “I mean, do you believe it’s true?”
Abel winked. “Let me show you the caves this weekend, and you can find out for yourself.”
“We’re already going to see the caves on Saturday,” Gabe informed him. “Thanks for the invite, though.”
Abel rolled his eyes. “I’m assuming you know about the Homecoming dance a week from Saturday, Carly? Are you going with anyone?”
“No, I didn’t know about it,” Carly answered. “And I’m not into school dances, if that’s an invitation.”
“I never said it was.”
Esther shot her brother a dirty look as she pulled a plate from the microwave. “Here, Carly, you can have the first piece. We’d better hurry up if we’re going to get back in time for class.”
Carly took the plate. She didn’t know what to make of a stupid Homecoming dance, but she was pretty excited to get a look at those caves. She’d always been intrigued by a good ghost story.
* * *
Carly had the dream again that night—running through snow-covered trees, the stream, and the mysterious white fox. But this time there was something else, something she hadn’t seen before—a large, gray and white wolf with pale blue eyes. The palest hue of blue she’d ever seen.
“Carly, can’t you hear your alarm?” Howard called out as he trudged up the stairs to her bedroom. “Honey, wake up. We only have twenty minutes until we have to leave for school.”
Carly grumbled as she switched off her alarm. “I’d have more than twenty minutes if I had my own car.”
“Get dressed. I made muffins. You can eat one on the way.”
Carly threw on a t-shirt and a pair of cords, grabbed her messenger bag, and headed downstairs for a cup of coffee. “It doesn’t have to be a nice car,” she told her father as he packed his briefcase. “Or an expensive car. Just something that gets me from point A to point B.”
“We’ll talk about it more this weekend,” Howard conceded. “But right now, we need to leave.”
Carly dumped her coffee into a Thermos and grabbed one of the muffins on her way to the door. She decided to put the car pitch on hold as she settled into the Taurus with her dad. “Do you know anything about the haunted caves nearby?”
Howard put the key in the ignition and turned over the engine. “They’re not haunted, but there are some caves about a half mile from here. They used to give tours back in the nineties, but they shut them down after someone disappeared.”
“Someone disappeared?” Carly gasped as Howard pulled out of the circular drive. Now she had to see them.
“There are all kinds of stories about those caves, but it’s very true that someone disappeared down there. I don’t want you going anywhere near there, okay? It’s simply not safe.”
“But—”
“I mean it, Carly.”
She sighed as she looked out her window. “Fine, I won’t go to the caves.”
“I’m happy to hear that. How are things going at school? It seems like you’re making quite a few friends.”
“People sure are fascinated by the fact that I’m not from around here,” Carly said. “But Gabe and Esther are cool. I mean, I really like hanging out with them.”
“That’s good. I’m glad you’re fitting in okay.”
“It would be a little bit easier to fit in if I had my own transportation.”
“I said we’ll talk about it this weekend,” Howard reminded her. “Ross called the house for you last night, but you’d already gone to bed and I didn’t want to wake you. He said he and Jasmine would like to come visit sometime.”
Jasmine had been Carly’s best friend since the sixth grade, so of course Carly would love to see her again, but Ross… “Yeah, that sounds cool.”
“It’s quite a drive for them from the city. They’re welcome, but it might be easier for you to
meet in Duluth.”
“And just how am I going to get to Duluth without a car?”
Howard rolled his eyes, and Carly laughed.
She’d finished off her breakfast by the time they reached the school, but longed for another cup of coffee as she headed inside. Where she found Gabe pacing the lobby. “Why do you always get here so early?”
“I should ask you the same thing,” he teased, meeting her gaze.
His eyes… Carly stumbled backwards, catching herself against the wall before she could make a complete fool of herself. She looked into Gabe’s pale blue eyes once more and confirmed it—they were the exact same pair of eyes from her dream. But that didn’t make any sense. The eyes in her dream had belonged to a wolf, but Gabe was…
“Carly?” he asked, concern flooding his face as he took a step toward her.
“I-it’s just, your eyes,” she stammered, unabashedly staring back at him. The color was so light it was nearly washed out, but for a rim of ocean blue around the pupils. She’d never seen anything like them before, except in her dream. “I…”
Gabe cracked a smile. “Girls usually like them.”
“They’re so…”
“Well, if that’s a compliment, then thank you.”
“Unique,” Carly determined.
“I got them from my mother,” Gabe told her. “They’re my favorite thing about her.”
“Well, I’d love to meet her sometime.”
His gaze fell. “Carly, my… My mom passed away when I was two.”
She rested her fingers on Gabe’s arm, and was greeted with a shimmering shock. Carly pulled her hand back, tucking it in her jeans pocket. “I’m so sorry, Gabe. I had no idea.”
“Well, I said the same stupid thing, so don’t worry about it.”
“Why didn’t you say something sooner, about your mom?” she pried. “If anyone’s going to understand, I’m going to understand.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know, I… I just figured you wouldn’t want to talk about something like that, something deep. I mean, it seems like you want to keep our friendship pretty surface, so I just assumed—”
“I never said that,” Carly interjected.
“You said there’s no point in getting attached to people,” Gabe reminded her.
“There’s not, but—”
“Then what is friendship if you don’t get attached?”
“Look, Gabe,” she sighed. “I apparently have a lot of issues, okay?”
He let out a laugh. “Yeah, and I don’t care.”
“I take it back then. If there’s major stuff like that that’s happened in your life, I want to know about it from now on.”
“Then you will from now on,” Gabe assured her.
“How did your mom…? I mean, you were so young.”
“She just disappeared, I guess. No one knows what happened to her—not even my dad.”
Carly’s mouth fell open as the dots connected among her thoughts. “That was your mom? The one who disappeared in the caves? My dad told me someone disappeared down there, but he didn’t give me a name. Gabe, I’m so sorry.”
“It was all over the news,” he explained, drumming out a rhythm through his fingers on his thigh. “Dozens of people went looking for her, but, I mean, they never found her or anything.”
“Then why did you offer to take me to the caves?” Carly questioned. “Is it hard for you to go down there? Does it remind you of her?”
“I want to go, Carly, really. I’ve spent my whole life in and out of those caves, trying to figure out where the hell she could have gone… Look, it’s in the past, and it sucks, but it is. Losing my mom, growing up without her, has been the hardest thing I’ve ever had to deal with. I guess I know what you’re going through. It’s not easy, but you still have to have a life of your own.”
Carly tried to swallow down the lump in her throat. “Yeah, I guess.”
“Look, we’ve got more than fifteen minutes before class starts,” Gabe pointed out. “Can I buy you a cup of gas station coffee? Please?”
She conceded with a smile. “I’d love a cup of gas station coffee. It’s like you read my mind.”
four
“How many kids are going to be there?” Howard asked Carly as he followed her around her bedroom early Friday evening.
Carly slipped on a black bangle bracelet, examining it on her wrist before she took it off. “Gabe didn’t say.”
“And when do you expect to be home?”
Carly had never had a curfew before and didn’t want one now. “When do you want me to be home?”
“I don’t know. It’s a new town, and these are new friends, and I just want you to be safe.”
“Dad, I thought you liked Gabe.”
“I do like Gabe. I thought you said he was just a friend.”
“He is just a friend,” Carly insisted. “He said the whole reason he’s having people over is so I can get to know everyone. I didn’t think this would be a big deal.”
Howard crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s not a big deal. Would you like to borrow the car?”
“No, Gabe’s picking me up.”
“And he’s going to give you a ride home, too?” Howard asked.
She fondled a pair of black heart earrings before popping them in her earlobes. “Yes, and I promise not to be out too late, and to call if I need anything.”
“And?”
“No alcohol, no drugs. I know the drill.”
Howard bent down to kiss her forehead. “That’s my girl. What time are you leaving?”
“Gabe should be here any second,” she answered. “If he shows up, can you tell him I’m almost ready?”
The doorbell rang, and Howard headed for the stairs. “I’ll let him know.”
Carly picked up the bangle bracelet again and slid it back on her wrist. She walked over to her full-length mirror to examine her reflection: White Stripes t-shirt, black skinny jeans, red Converse shoes. She thought she looked cute, and that was all that mattered.
Carly grabbed a tube of strawberry lip balm along with her olive messenger bag, stopping to put on some of the Calvin Klein perfume her mother had given her last Christmas. She made her way downstairs and found Gabe in the foyer, chatting with her father.
“Hey, Carly. You ready to go?” Gabe asked, his gaze sweeping over her.
“Yeah, I’m just going to grab a Coke,” she replied. “Do you want one?”
“I actually have one for you in the car. I’ve noticed you’ve got quite a thing for caffeine.”
“Thanks,” Carly said, meeting him at the door. “See you later, Dad.”
“Don’t you need a jacket?” Howard asked.
Carly flung open the door, shaking her head. “Don’t have too much fun without me. Night!” She followed Gabe to his Jetta, eyeing him when he opened the door for her. She wasn’t used to boys being so accommodating. She slid inside the car, fastened her seatbelt, and grabbed the bottle of Coke from the passenger seat cup holder.
“What time do you have to be home?” Gabe asked as he fell into the driver’s seat, turning over the engine.
Carly took a sip of Coke. “Whenever.”
“You don’t have a curfew?”
“Nope, never. Hey, thanks for the Coke.”
“No problem,” Gabe said as he drove away from the house.
“Who all’s coming over to your place?” she asked.
“Esther, of course, Jeremy, Abel—”
“Abel?” Carly interrupted. “I thought you two weren’t friends?”
“It’s… complicated,” Gabe explained.
“Complicated how? If you hate the guy, don’t hang out with him. It doesn’t seem that complicated to me.”
“Our parents are friends, so we end up hanging out a lot. Besides, he’s Esther’s brother.”
“Yeah, I guess. So, you and Esther…”
“Me and Esther what?” Gabe asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Come on, Gabe, you can
’t expect me to believe that you two are just friends. I see the way she looks at you.”
“We are just friends.”
“But you hang out all the time.”
“So?” he snickered. “You and I are hanging out—that doesn’t seem to mean anything.”
Carly wasn’t sure how to interpret that. “Esther’s really cute. I just thought…”
“Esther is really cute, and nice, and fun, but she’s not… I mean, we just wouldn’t work. As a couple or whatever.”
Carly squirmed in her seat. Crap, she didn’t like where this was going. She didn’t want Gabe to like her like that. She didn’t want anyone to like her like that.
Carly cleared her throat and attempted to change the subject. “Who else will be there? Tonight, at your party?”
“Crystal, Sharla, and Kyle.”
“That’s it? I thought you’d invited the whole junior and senior classes.”
Legacy: Bloodline Book 1 Page 3
