Cascades of Moonlight (The Parker Harris Series: Book #1)

by Amy McClung

  It’s Monday morning. The weekend went by way too fast. As I walk down the hallway at school, I noticed Will standing at a locker, filling it with books. Jackie walked up and began a conversation with him. If Will was going to stick around that would blow my story. How will I explain that? I made my way over to them as they were both laughing at something. “Hey guys! Will, what are you doing here?” I asked.

  “I’m going to start going to school here. Quinn likes it so I figure I will give it a shot too. I’m going to stay with him until I find my own place.”

  Whew! He's going along with the story I made up, that helps. I'll have to catch him after school to get the real scoop from him.

  “So, speaking of Quinn, where is he this morning?” Will just shrugged and said he had to go to class and walked away which seemed weird. Well, I guess I really don’t know him well enough to know if it’s weird, but it looked like he was dodging my question. I had a few minutes before class so I searched through my purse for my phone and dialed Quinn’s number. No answer. Maybe he slept in, or maybe he's in a class already and his phone is off. I needed to get to class and I’m sure he will be there waiting for me. I quickly grabbed my books from my locker and made a mad dash down the hall. I swung the door open and quickly perused the room; No sign of Quinn. I suppose that I will try again after class.

  Before I know it, lunchtime rolls around and I still haven’t been able to get in touch with Quinn. I'm beginning to get worried that he left town or something, but that would be ridiculous. I mean, we didn’t fight or anything. We even left things on a really good note. Maybe I’m worried for nothing, maybe he just needs a day to himself. People need those once in a while, right? I'm so stressed about this that I couldn’t even eat my sandwich today because I was freaking out inside. I scanned the lunchroom repeatedly searching for a sign of Quinn. Jackie and Mitchell were at a table together. He looked a bit weird today, but Jackie doesn’t seem to notice. They hadn’t spent a lot of time together lately with him tutoring Quinn; I wanted to leave them alone at lunch. Wonder why he isn’t eating? Does he know something about Quinn?

  Oh geez, what is wrong with me? I'm going to eat my sandwich and stop acting like a stalker girlfriend…err…friend, whatever the heck we are. I jump when my phone dings; it’s a text from Quinn.

  Quinn: Sorry, I missed your calls, see you tonight. Everything is fine; I’ll explain my absence later.

  With a great sigh of relief, I think Thank goodness he's okay.

  It was a wasted day at school. I barely learned anything due to the anxiety to find out what it was that he needed to explain. Who would've thought I could be one of those girls that needed to see her guy all the time? Not that he is my guy, but…Ugh…I feel incomplete without him around. That sounds so cheesy I know, but there is no better way to describe it. Someone called my name as I headed out the door. I turned around and spotted Will walking my way with a smile. “Hey, I’m kind of in a hurry. On my way to see Quinn, can we talk later?”

  With a look of uncertainty, he said, "Sure. Can I walk with you?"

  "Fine," I said, a little harsher than I meant to.

  During our walk, I got the impression he wanted to tell me something, but couldn’t. Could be that I'm being paranoid again, or not. Will began by saying, “I think there's something you should know about…”

  Before he could finish, I jumped his case, “Look you don’t even know Quinn and for that matter you barely know me. So, before you try to tell me what a horrible guy he is, just keep it to yourself because I don’t want to hear it.”

  And he continued with little hesitation, “As I was saying, there is something you should know about…Mitchell.”

  I stopped and glared at him, “What are you talking about? He is dating my best friend. From what I can tell he is a good guy and I have known him for years. You just met him. What could you know about him that I don’t?”

  His face was somber, “Why are you getting so mad at me? I'm trying to talk to you and you keep jumping down my throat. What's wrong?”

  Taking in a deep breath, I calmly said, “Nothing, I’m just a little on edge right now. Please go inside and send Quinn out and I will talk to you tomorrow at school. Right now, I need to see Quinn.” He threw his arms up in the air in defeat and walked into the house. A few minutes later, Quinn came out.

  He barely stepped off his porch before I threw my arms around him, causing him to almost lose his balance. He laughed, "That's the best greeting I've gotten from you. I told you everything was fine,” he said as he patted my hair and I clung to him as tight as I could. “Are you okay, sweetheart?” Sigh. He called me sweetheart, I'm melting again.

  I pulled back from him and glanced up at the worried expression on his face. “I’m fine, I was worried about you. Why weren’t you in school today? What happened? And why is Will telling me I should know something about Mitchell? Is he bad news for Jackie? Did he cheat on her? What?” The questions poured out of my mouth before I could stop to think or give him time to answer.

  He put his hands on my shoulders, “Calm down, take a deep breath and let’s go for a walk.” He took my hand and led me away from the house. Will stood at the door watching us, which was a little creepy.

  Quinn held my hand as we walked. Things were beginning to feel normal for me; I'm just an average teenage girl with a cute boyfriend-ish…person. Forget it; I'm going to consider him my boyfriend based on the fact that we have kissed more than once. That seemed like a reasonable enough assumption. For the moment, let’s forget that we both have alternate personalities. Life seemed so good right now; it almost made me forget that I had questions that needed answers. Almost.

  We stopped, about two blocks from his house, and sat down on the curb. “How was school today?”

  I cocked my eyebrow at him and said, “Really…small talk? Come on now. Something is up, just tell me.” I placed my hand on top of his and squeezed for support.

  “I didn’t come to school today because I knew I was going to have to tell you the truth, especially after Will found out last night. Mitchell isn’t tutoring me. I guess you could say that I'm tutoring him.”

  Confused, I said. “Huh?” Apparently that was pretty funny because he started laughing nervously and a bit hysterically. “Um…ok. You're acting kind of weird,” I said to him.

  He stopped laughing, “It’s because I don’t want you to hate me. I’m a nervous wreck telling you this. We seem to be at a good place right now and I don’t want to ruin it. I like you a lot, Parker. I don’t want to start this relationship with secrets between us either.”

  Rubbing his back, I said, "I like you too. I couldn't imagine anything that would make me hate you."

  He replied, “I wanted to wait for the right time, but Will knows now and, well, I couldn’t wait anymore. Remember I told you how vampires have to feed to live and they can either turn someone or kill them? Well, when I first came to town it was hard for me. I'd never lived in a small town so I could always find food without an issue; sometimes I even bought blood from a butcher or stole it from a hospital when I was desperate."

  "I was hunting in the woods one day and I smelled a human nearby. I was already in my hunger phase and I couldn’t control myself. My body instantly turned towards the smell. I tracked the human and I bit him. I was able to stop myself in time to turn him. I felt horrible about it, so I took him in and started to teach him what he needed to know. That guy was…”

  Images ran through my mind of Mitchell wearing sunglasses all the time, the fact that his appetite has changed recently and he hardly eats lunch, inviting him into my home the same time I invited Quinn. My eyes felt like they were going to pop out of their sockets, I was so shocked…”Mitchell?!” I exclaimed. He nodded in affirmation. I stood up immediately and took off running toward Jackie’s house that was a few blocks away.

  Quinn grabbed me in a fl
ash and lifted me in the air, “Please stop, please just let me explain…listen to me,” he begged. I punched him repeatedly telling him to let me go and eventually he gave in and set me down.

  Jackie’s house was a few blocks from where I left Quinn standing. I began banging on the door when Mrs. Martin flung it open and I burst through yelling Jackie’s name. “What in God’s name is wrong with you, Parker?” her mom yelled.

  “Where's Jackie??” I screamed.

  Just then, Jackie came out of her bedroom, white as a ghost, and said my name. I ran and hugged her tightly. “Are you okay, Parker?” Jackie asked. “Why are you freaking out? Have you gone completely mental?” Now it was my turn to laugh wildly. “Ok, you're freaking me out now, Parker! What's up?” Jackie asked exasperated.

  “Where's Mitchell?” I demanded.

  “At his house, why?” asked Jackie. “Come on, let’s go to my room. Mom, Parker said she is sorry she scared you,” yelled Jackie.

  We went to her room and she shut the door, turned around, and glared at me. “What's going on Parker? You're acting really weird. Mitchell has been behaving differently too and I don’t know how much more I can take. You guys are the two most important people in my life and I feel like I don’t know either of you lately.”

  Wondering if she already knew something I had to ask her to elaborate. “What do you mean he’s been acting weird? How?”

  She sat down on the bed and started fidgeting, “He’s been pulling away from me, Park. He barely touches me lately. The only conclusion I can come to is he's cheating on me.”

  I took a seat next to her, wrapping my arm around her shoulder. “Mitchell's not cheating on you. I promise. There are a few things you should know about Mitchell and about me as well.” She appeared anxious and I realized my words made it sound like I could be leading to a different outcome. I needed to make her understand before she jumped to crazy conclusions.

  I began by telling her the truth about me; that should be easier for her to handle. The story of how I became a werewolf was pretty easy to relay, considering how much I've stressed over it. First, she laughed uncontrollably and then she repeatedly smacked my arm, telling me to stop lying to her and tell her what's really going on. I wasn’t laughing. In fact, I was shaking and she finally noticed. She grew serious, slowly sat back down on the bed, and her mouth dropped open in shock.

  I stood up and started to leave. “Wait, Parker don’t go,” Jackie said at last.

  “But aren’t you scared of me? Don’t you want to call your parents and turn me in or something?”

  Jackie was a bit astonished, “Why would I want to do that? You're my best friend, my sister. I mean it isn’t your fault that this happened to you."

  "Funny thing is, I had already considered it as the reason you left each month. I was watching a movie about werewolves and the full moon and the days of shifting. I put the pieces together when I looked over the calendar and realized that you were always gone during the full moon. I had to keep track of the dates in case something came up later about it. I laughed at myself for believing something so crazy and decided to wait until you were ready to share with me. So, basically, I suspected you were a werewolf all along, it’s just a little different hearing it confirmed.”

  This was better than I could've ever dreamed. She took the news so readily that I smiled and jumped on top of her, hugging her and laughing. “I wasted two years being terrified of telling you this and it was so easy!” So, we spent the afternoon with her asking me all kinds of questions about what it’s like, what I eat, who all knows my secret, etc. Yep, when it got to the question of who knows, I knew I would have to tell her why Quinn knew before she did.

  “Jackie, Mitchell isn’t cheating on you, he’s a vampire. He has been pulling away from you so that he doesn’t rip your throat out and drink your blood.” Ok, even saying that in my mind sounds totally crazy and terrifying. “Quinn is a vampire, I’m in love with him and he turned your boyfriend into one too, isn’t that awesome? Now, if I turn you into a werewolf, we can all be together and happy!” Whoa, I’m in love with Quinn? Weird how that is the part of the conversation, in my head of course, that sticks out to me. I had over two years to figure out how to tell Jackie I was a werewolf, but only a few minutes to figure out how to tell her that the boy she has loved since she was five was now a vampire.

  “Jackie, there's something you need to know. You thought werewolves were a myth, well; there is another myth that is actually true as well. Vampires exist.” This time I spoke it out loud. “Besides the fact they exist, both Quinn and Mitchell are vampires. Quinn turned Mitchell a few weeks ago. It wasn't his fault. It takes you over and you can’t control yourself when the hunger is so intense. But, not all vampires are evil.”

  Jackie didn’t look shocked, at all. It was weird how quiet she was and I started to believe that maybe she had already figured it out somehow, “Um, did you already know this too?” I asked. Then I realized, I said too much, she didn’t look shocked, she was in shock. Shaking her wasn’t working and I decided to keep talking and explaining what happened, what vampires were about, and how Quinn was a great guy and obviously Mitchell is too. She still sat quietly, staring at the wall. I grew worried when her cell phone rang and she didn’t flinch. “Hello…Hey, can you please come over here? Jackie needs you…like now, thanks.” I said and hung up. I sat and put my arms around Jackie trying to comfort her and bring her back to reality.

  Mitchell burst in the room seconds later. He stopped when he saw the catatonic Jackie and the panicked look on my face as I held her and begged her to come back to me. “What the hell is wrong with her?”

  "She knows everything," I said. Those three words caused Mitchell to become distraught.

  He sat down beside Jackie and as soon as he put his hand on her she whipped around, saw his face, and screamed. Mrs. Martin is going to have a heart attack thanks to me.

  I ran out of the room to calm Jackie’s mom and found a note that she had gone to the store. Thank goodness for small miracles. Mitchell was still in the same place when I got back to the room, but Jackie was crouched in the corner blubbering. I went to her and tried to calm her in the best way I could. “Jackie, honey, Mitchell is still the same guy nothing has changed. Look at him. He still loves you. He's still the boy you fell in love with so many years ago. Please don’t be scared, it’s okay sweetie.” I took her face in my hands and looked her in the eyes, “Would I lie to you?” Stupid question, Parker since you've been lying to her for years. I could only hope she didn't think too hard at this moment.

  Jackie started to calm down and looked over at Mitchell. “Mishy, why didn’t you tell me?” she cried out. Mishy? Wonder if I will ever have an odd term of endearment for Quinn, like Q-Q or Quinny-bear, QuinnQuinn. Oh barf, those are all too weird to even think about anymore. Besides, I left Quinn standing in the middle of the street after he trusted me with a secret that I'm sure was difficult to admit to. In fact, that would be the second time he confided in me and I ran off on him. There may be no terms of endearment in our future. One thing I've found I am good at, running off from Quinn each time he trusts me with a deep dark secret. That's an excellent way to be in a relationship.

  Back to Jackie and…Mishy. Eww. Mitchell went slowly to Jackie and knelt in front of her. He took her hand from me and started to rub it with his and then kissed it. She didn’t pull back, so that’s a positive sign. She looked at him and a sad half smile came over her face. He leaned down and kissed her, “I love you Jackie, I was scared of losing you and that's why I hadn’t told you, but I would never hurt you, I promise you that.“ They hugged and I felt a wave of relief, I was afraid I destroyed my best friends life today.

  Chapter Eight