Dead Is So Last Year

by Marlene Perez

  "Remember, doppelgangers retain memories of the original. Besides, there are always family photos, school yearbook, a million possibilities."

  "Stop it, Daisy. I'm beginning to think you don't want him to be Dad. That you don't want him to come home. Well, I do."

  So did I, more than anything. But I couldn't bear the disappointment if he turned out to be a phony.

  I sighed. "We've got to prove this once and for all," I said. "I'm going to invite him over for dinner."

  Poppy brightened. "That's a great idea, Daisy!"

  I lowered my voice. "And then when he shows up, we're going to have Chief Mendez come over and take him away for testing."

  Poppy's face fell. "You can't, Daisy!" she said. "You can't let them put our father in a cage like they did to Miss McBennett at the council meeting."

  "That wasn't Miss McBennett. That was her doppelganger," I gently reminded her. "And if this guy is a doppelganger, this will just prove it. If not, no harm done."

  "You promise that they won't hurt him?" Poppy said.

  "Chief Mendez gave me his word," I said.

  Finally, Poppy agreed that it was the only solution. She returned to work and I strode back to DoppelDad.

  "Hey, Dad, would you like to come over for dinner?" I asked, with my best fake smile on.

  He looked a little taken aback. "Uh, sure," he said. "When?"

  "How's tomorrow night?"

  "No good. I have other plans."

  My anger started boiling up but I kept it under control. "Okay, the next night, then," I said sweetly. "We can even make the meal together, just like we used to do."

  DoppelDad accepted the invitation, then made a hasty exit when he spotted an ice cream truck approaching.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  On Saturday night, Ryan was at my house, helping me make cookies. Well, he was helping me eat them, anyway.

  "Do you mind if we hang out with Samantha and Sean tonight?" I asked. "I invited them over. I haven't seen much of either of them lately." I was hoping a little quality time together would help Sean and Ryan drop whatever beef they had.

  "Sure, that would be great," Ryan said. But I could tell by his expression that something was bothering him. I gave him an inquiring look.

  "Things haven't been so great between Sean and me lately, ever since he started hanging out with Wolfgang. He barely even talks to me at practice anymore."

  "He's your best friend," I said.

  "He was my best friend," Ryan replied. "But I'm not sure he still is."

  "Of course he is!" I said, truly alarmed now.

  "I hope tonight will help," Ryan said. "He acts like he's mad at me."

  "About what?"

  "That's just it. He won't tell me. Whenever I ask him about it, he just says nothing is wrong."

  "Samantha says he hasn't been acting like himself to her, either. Do you know what's going on with him? He's as moody as you were when you were going through your ... change."

  "But Sean's not a Were," Ryan pointed out reasonably.

  "Not that we know of," I muttered.

  "What do you mean?"

  "It's just that Nicholas mentioned that werewolves could be made," I said.

  Ryan looked horrified. "Yes, but no one in their right mind would do something like that."

  "Wolfie might," I said. "Maybe Sean's just going along with it."

  "Why?" Ryan sounded skeptical. "That doesn't sound like Sean at all. He's a good guy."

  I shrugged. I didn't know, but I intended to find out.

  About an hour later, Sam and Sean were on my doorstep. I invited them in and gave Sam a big hug. "I feel like I haven't seen you all summer," I said.

  "I know,"she said. "But we've both been busy with our new jobs and the guys have been busy with football."

  "How is football going?" I asked Sean casually.

  "Okay," Sean muttered. I noticed that he didn't make eye contact with Ryan. Something was definitely wrong. I looked at Sam, but she just shrugged.

  I changed the subject." Are you guys hungry? I made cookies."

  Sean looked at his hand. "I already ate."

  Samantha elbowed him sharply. "I mean, thank you, but I've already eaten," Sean said.

  "How about a game of Scrabble?" Ryan suggested.

  I winced. Sean was notoriously bad at spelling, but to my surprise, he brightened. "That's a good idea."

  We sat on the rug in the living room and set up the game. But the evening deteriorated quickly when the first word Sean spelled out was liar. He glared at Ryan as the points were tallied, but Ryan was doing his best to ignore it.

  Sean's next word was either furry or fury, but I didn't have a chance to verify it before Ryan knocked the tiles off the board.

  "What's your problem?" he said to Sean. The tendons in his neck stood out. "You've been acting like an ass all summer."

  "You're the one with the problem," Sean replied. "You wanna take this outside?"

  Ryan nodded. "If that's what you want. Are you going to get your little pal Wolfie to help you?" he said mockingly.

  "At least Wolfie is honest," Sean shot back.

  "Guys," Sam said. "Knock it off. You're friends."

  "That's what I thought," Sean said. "I thought we were best friends, but evidently, we're not. Best friends tell each other everything."

  "What haven't I told you?" Ryan demanded.

  Sean stared at him and got to his feet. "Did it slip your mind that you turn furry and howl at the moon once a month? A little information you might have shared with your best friend." With that, he turned and left the house.

  There was silence in the room for a minute, then Ryan said, "I can't believe I didn't tell him."

  "Well, someone did," Samantha said. "Wolfgang."

  Frankly, I couldn't believe it, either, but now was not the time to tell my boyfriend that. "Go after him," I urged. "Just explain it."

  "Good idea," Ryan said. "At least I can try."

  After they both were gone, Samantha and I looked at each other for a minute.

  "Boys," she said, after the long silence. "They're so moody." And then shrugged, and grabbed a cookie.

  We spent an hour playing Scrabble, but neither of the guys came back. Finally, Samantha and I called it a night.

  "Do you think they made up?" she said before she left.

  "They had to have," I said. "They're best friends, aren't they?"

  "I don't know," she said. "They were both really angry, and Sean does some stupid things when he's mad."

  It wasn't long before we found out exactly how stupid Sean could be.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  For the big night of our "family" dinner with Dad, my sisters and I had decided on barbecued chicken, homemade potato salad, and watermelon, with chocolate cake for dessert. Grandma insisted on giving us money for groceries, so Poppy and I headed to the grocery store to buy the ingredients.

  We were in the meat section when she nudged me. "Isn't that Wolfgang Paxton?" she said in a whisper. "What is he doing? Harassing the butcher?"

  I laughed, but sobered quickly. I wouldn't put it past him.

  He was standing at the meat counter, where the butcher handed him several large items wrapped in white paper. His cart was piled high.

  "Evidently, buying enough raw meat to feed an army," I replied.

  There was quite a line, so Poppy and I patiently waited our turn. Wolfgang was still loading up his cart when I noticed Sean approaching him.

  Poppy noticed, too. "I've never seen Sean look so angry," she said.

  He and Wolfie had engaged in a low-voiced conversation, and it was clear from the expressions on their faces and their body language that they were arguing. I strained to hear, but it was too noisy in the store and they were speaking much too quietly.

  Wolfgang openly smirked at Sean and then gave him a little shove. It took some nerve to get physical with Sean, who was a big guy. Of course, Wolfgang was a werewolf, which gave him an advantage, but my m
oney was still on Sean.

  The guy was completely out of control.

  I was startled when Sean jabbed his finger into Wolfie's chest for emphasis and then strode away. Wolfgang didn't even flinch, but I saw him gazing after Sean with a look of hatred. He looked up and caught me staring. His lip curled back into a nasty smile and I looked away. When I looked up again, he was gone.

  I gave the butcher our order, then Poppy and I went to the next aisle to finish the shopping, but my mind was busy. I looked down and realized that I'd managed to float a couple of bars of chocolate into the cart without even realizing.

  I looked up at Poppy. "Hey, did you pick those up?"

  She giggled. "No, you did. And I think you almost gave Mr. Hanson a heart attack when he saw those chocolates float by."

  "Oops, I'd better pay better attention," I said. I didn't want everyone in Nightshade to know I had telekinetic powers.

  What were Wolfgang and Sean talking about? It had looked like they were arguing. Was Sean somehow involved in the rogue pack?

  I had put the questions out of my mind by the time Poppy and I got home. We were already behind schedule, so I put the chicken in marinade and started the chocolate cake.

  Rose and Poppy decided to hang out in the backyard with me while I cooked the chicken. I didn't have much experience using our barbecue, but I'd learned a lot from Slim, so I had confidence that I wouldn't burn the chicken.

  I managed to get dinner ready in time. Despite the fact that our DoppelDad was a no-show, I was pleased to see that Grandma was enjoying herself. She had been glum ever since he had left the house. I didn't want to think about how she was going to react when she found out that he wasn't her son.

  Grandma said, "Daisy, that was delicious. Thank you."

  Everyone commented on how good the potato salad was and I glowed with pride.

  "Slim gave me the recipe," I admitted. "But he said I can't reveal the secret ingredient."

  Rose laughed. "As long as it's not magical, I don't care. Just keep making it!"

  It was a close, humid night, and although it was getting dark by the time we'd finished our meal, no one felt like going inside yet. Poppy and Rose and I took the dirty plates into the kitchen and then I sliced up the chocolate cake and brought it back outside on a tray.

  "I forgot the pitcher of milk," I said.

  "Sit down," Rose commanded. "I'll get it."

  I took a seat in my favorite Adirondack chair and leaned back contentedly. It felt like we were in for a summer storm, but there was a slight breeze blowing.

  Rose appeared with the pitcher of cold milk. A second later, I heard a growl and a large animal bounded out of the shrubbery and went flying toward her. She screamed but kept a death grip on the pitcher.

  It was a shaggy gray wolf. His fangs were bared and he moved so quickly, I could barely breathe, let alone think. Poppy saved the day. With a quick look, she sent the glass pitcher flying. It hit the wolf squarely on the head and knocked it out. Milk ran down its motionless face.

  We were frozen in shock for a few minutes.

  "Why the sudden interest from the werewolf community?" I wondered aloud when I finally found my voice again.

  Poppy asked, "Is it dead?"

  "I don't think so," Rose said. "Just unconscious."

  "Go get some rope from the garage. And hurry," Grandma said to Poppy.

  "Rose, sit down," I said. "You look like you're going to faint." She did as I told her. Her face was as white as the milk.

  Poppy came back with the rope. The animal hadn't stirred, but I was still surprised when Grandma grabbed the rope.

  "Be careful!" I said.

  "Don't worry," she said. "When I'm done, this wolf won't be able to move. Poppy, call Nicholas and tell him to come over. We have a problem."

  A big hairy problem.

  While Poppy dialed Nicholas, I stared up at the sky. There was no sign of a full moon, which convinced me that this was a young wolf, maybe even one of the pack we'd seen before. But why did they keep coming back to our house?

  "Obviously, someone has it out for the Giordano family." I hadn't realized that I said it aloud, until Poppy gave me a dirty look.

  I clapped a hand over my mouth. We had tried to protect Grandma from as much of Nightshade's weirdness as possible, but by the calm, efficient way she was trussing up the werewolf, our protective behavior might not have been necessary. She evidently wasn't fazed by much, including a visit from someone from the supernatural community.

  Nicholas must have broken a few traffic laws, because we barely had the wolf tied up before he arrived.

  "Rose, are you okay?" he said. She stood up shakily and he took her into his arms.

  "I'm fine. Poppy saved me with a pitcher of milk. Good thing Daisy doesn't like plastic," she joked weakly.

  Nicholas looked over at the werewolf. Grandma had him tied up as neatly as she wrapped our Christmas presents.

  "What should we do with him?" Rose said.

  "I'll take him to the garage," Nicholas said. "I have a feeling that the wolf will be shifting back to its human form soon and then we'll know who is behind this bad behavior."

  Nicholas grabbed the werewolf and lifted it easily. His super strength came in handy.

  It occurred to me that that kind of strength could come in handy for football, and I wondered again if this Were was someone on the team.

  The rest of us trooped to the garage after Nicholas, although I noticed Poppy managed to scoop up a slice of chocolate cake before she exited.

  Nicholas found a couple of old towels and draped them over the creature for modesty's sake. I wasn't sure whose modesty he was trying to protect, ours or the wolf's, but either way, when the creature reregained its human form, now it wouldn't do so naked.

  About an hour later, the transformation began. I thought I'd see Wolfgang Paxton. But I was as surprised as everyone else when I saw who it was.

  "Sean?" I said.

  Wait until Ryan heard about this.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  "Sean?" I said again. I was having trouble processing the information.

  We untied him and he sat up and put a hand to his head, wincing. I caught him looking down, and noted the relief on his face when he realized he was covered by a blanket.

  "Where am I?" he said.

  "At our house," Poppy said.

  He looked blank.

  Poppy continued, "But the real question is, why are you here?"

  Nicholas grabbed his cell phone and started to dial. "I have to call my father. The council needs to know there's a new werewolf in town."

  "The council?" Sean paled. "What will they do to me? I wasn't trying to hurt anyone ... I just smelled the meat on the barbecue and lost control."

  "Then why did you try to attack Rose?" Nicholas replied. "The council frowns on that kind of behavior."

  Rose put her hand on Nicholas's arm. "Let's hear what he has to say first."

  Nicholas said, "Okay, start talking."

  Sean still looked shaken, but he'd lost some of his bravado.

  He pulled himself together.

  "I think it was the experiments."

  "What kind of experiments?" Poppy asked. He kept mute.

  "Sean, it's important that you tell us the truth. We might be able to help you."

  He wouldn't meet my eyes, but at least he started talking. "Experimenting with 'roids."

  "Steroids?" Rose shot me a horrified look.

  Sean nodded gravely.

  "Are you a complete idiot?" Poppy blurted. "That stuff is dangerous."

  He coughed and a little ball of hair, probably from the pelt of a rabbit, came out of his mouth and landed on the floor. He stared at it, appalled at his social gaffe.

  "I'll get you a glass of water, and some ice for your head," Grandma said as she left the garage.

  She hurried back a few minutes later with an ice pack and a drink for our guest. As she handed it to him, she asked quickly, "Did I miss anythin
g?"

  I shook my head. Sean had been mute, staring at the rabbit fur on the floor the whole time she was gone.

  Now he emptied the glass in one gulp, then sighed. "Thank you. At first I just used regular steroids. But it wasn't working. I wasn't big enough to..."

  "Compete with the Weres on the football team," I guessed. "Go on," I prompted him.

  "But pretty soon, it wasn't just traditional steroids," he continued. "It was something much worse."

  "Worse? How much worse?" Poppy said.

  "I started using what he called a hairball. A hairball is a mixture of traditional steroids and..."

  "And what?" Nicholas prompted him again.

  "Were blood," Sean replied. He hung his head.

  Rose gasped. "That's terrible. Why did you do it?"

  "I just wanted to see what it was like. If my best friend could be a werewolf, why couldn't I? But pretty soon I was shifting almost every night, not just when the moon was full."

  "Where'd you get the hairballs?" I asked.

  Sean shook his head. "I can't say."

  But I'd already guessed. "Wolfie has been a very naughty boy," I said.

  Nicholas picked up his phone. "Definitely council business," he said. "I'll call Dad. He needs to know about this."

  "Excuse us for a moment," Poppy said to Sean. He simply nodded and repositioned the ice pack that was against his head. The rest of us followed her to a spot in the garage, out of his earshot.

  "What are they going to do with Wolfgang?" I asked Rose.

  "I don't care. You heard what he said. That creep is injecting people to turn them into werewolves. Sean's just a victim." Sean was our next-door neighbor, so she had watched him grow up.I knew she had a soft spot for him. But the truth is, he wasn't just a victim. He'd made the decision to go along with Wolfgang, and the damage might be permanent.

  Poppy groaned. "I just can't believe Sean would do steroids. Or hairballs. Whatever."

  Nicholas finished his conversation with his father and hung up. "Dad and Chief Mendez are going to the Paxtons' in a few minutes. I'll take Sean there to meet them."

  "I've got to tell Samantha," I said.

  "What can we do to help?" Rose asked.

  "Hope that the council is able to find a cure for this. I don't think Sean knew what he was getting into. But I do know there's a whole pack of teen werewolves running around, and after what we learned tonight, I'm pretty sure they are on the football team."