I shivered. “I still don’t believe it. I don’t believe any of this.”
“Yeah, that’s not an option anymore,” Cooper said, leading me to the gates. The glow of sunset fell across his face, highlighting his strong jaw, his high cheekbones and his lips, set in a look that hovered between concern and resignation. “I need to stay out of it, let wolves be my father’s burden to bear, not mine. I’ve been shot at plenty of times, in Afghanistan. I don’t need to be target practice here.” Cooper rested a hand on the iron gates.
“I thought you said that’s what your ancestors signed up for. You obviously care about this town and its history. Why else would you have those so-called records?”
“Being interested and getting involved are not the same thing. Look, I’ll talk to my father, see what he says. I’m sure he’s already working on something.”
“Okay,” I said, humoring him. I wasn’t convinced that any of this was true, but if Cooper wanted to follow up on fighting imaginary werewolves, I’d let him. “Sounds great.”
Cooper shrugged. “Haven’t talked to my dad in a couple of weeks, so he’ll be glad for the call, anyway. What about you? Can you and your sisters keep a low profile? You don’t want to attract that pack’s attention.”
“That’s not gonna be easy. We’re super visible in the town right now with my dad missing. Plus Rose and Fawn have a birthday coming up.”
“Let me guess. They’re turning sixteen? That’s their first moon. Make sure they get those lupine stones on their necks or they’ll turn.”
I felt bad telling him, but I guessed he should know if this was all part of the legend or whatever. “Their stones are gone. They’re not in the boxes where Dad kept them.”
“This keeps getting worse. You’re serious that he never told you about this wolf stuff?” he said, his voice softening a bit.
I shook my head. “Not a thing.”
“Well, I’m sorry he thought lying was better preparation than the truth. I guess, just try to lay low. Locate those stones. Stay away from all wolves. And be on the watch for hunters.”
“Right. So easy. I’ll go and do all of that and find my dad,” I said. “Piece of cake.”
Cooper’s expression was grim as I said good-bye. I was pretty sure he truly believed a wolf apocalypse was about to go down. I wasn’t sure what to believe, but Cooper seemed to think he was making a strong case for our supernatural heritage.
“So, yeah... werewolves,” I muttered aloud as I got into the truck. As I drove to the Carters’ house, I remembered all the times I’d thought my life in Pioneer Falls was boring. How I’d give anything for that to be true.
***
“You’re late,” Lewis said, answering the door at the big house on Heron Circle Drive a few minutes later. It was one of the fancy places that rested above town in a newer development where all the streets are named for indigenous plants and wildlife. The funny thing is, the perfect lawns are all sod and have automatic watering systems. Nothing indigenous about that landscaping.
Lewis shoved his hands in the pockets of his school sweatshirt. “My mom’s like, really upset.”
My stomach rumbled at the scent of garlic and tomato sauce perfuming the air. “Sorry, I thought Fawn would’ve told you I texted I’d be late,” I said. “Something came up.”
“It’s okay, I’m kidding. We went ahead and started without you.” Lewis smiled and took my coat to hang in the foyer closet. “My mom was worried about the lasagna drying out in the oven.”
“Lasagna drying out—is that a thing?”
Lewis gave me a sideways glance. “To her it is.”
Laughing, I followed him down a long hallway lined with family portraits and framed watercolors of birds. Inside the dining room, Fawn and Rose were seated at the table, along with Lewis’s eight-year-old brother Cole and their parents. Crystal glasses and white china plates rimmed with gold made up each place setting. The Carters were using all the good stuff. It was a far cry from our simple kitchen table and the mismatched plates from Target.
“Well, get yourself in here!” Mrs. Carter exclaimed, jumping up to give me a hug. I was used to seeing her in her scrubs from the hospital. Tonight she wore a purple peasant tunic with a chunky beaded necklace, which was more her style. Her light brown hair was freshly highlighted with blond streaks. “I’m glad you could make it.”
“I’m sorry it took me longer to get here than I expected.” I lowered myself onto one of the upholstered dining room chairs.
Mrs. Carter handed me a plate of lasagna and garlic bread. “Enjoy!”
Her husband, seated at the other end of the table, passed me the bowl of broccoli.
I heaped some onto my plate. “Thanks, this is awful nice of you guys.” I took a bite of lasagna. Plenty of melted mozzarella oozed amid the soft layers of pasta and ricotta cheese.
“So good, right?” Fawn said, dabbing at her lips with her napkin.
I nodded. “I haven’t had lasagna this yummy in a while.”
Mrs. Carter beamed. “Why, thank you, girls. I ought to have you over every night.”
Cole crunched into a piece of garlic bread, sending crumbs down over his peewee league football jersey. He glanced at his watchful mom, who frowned at the mess. Carefully, he picked the debris from his chest, settling a little pile onto the side of his plate.
“And I do mean that,” Mrs. Carter continued, lifting her glass of wine toward us. “Fawn has been like a daughter to me since she and Lewis started dating last year. Getting to know Rose has been wonderful, too. Just like family.”
I couldn’t quite put my finger on why, but I felt a little frisson of dread travel up my spine. “Thank you for being so kind.”
“Could you pass the broccoli?” Lewis asked. I handed him the bowl.
Fawn smiled. “I always feel welcome here. Thank you for having us over, Mrs. Carter.” I frowned at the formality of Fawn’s reply. She really was putting on manners for the Carter family. Little did they know what a tornado Fawn was at home.
“Excuse me, Dad,” Cole said, setting his napkin down on this plate. “I’m through.”
Mr. Carter gave him a nod and the kid skipped off to the kitchen with his empty plate.
I chewed another bite of lasagna.
Done with her dinner, Fawn slipped her hand over Lewis’s.
Mr. Carter mopped sauce from his plate with a piece of garlic bread, and then inspected his tie for splatters of sauce. I guess he hadn’t changed out of his work clothes. “So…any developments in the case?”
“The sheriff says they’re doing all they can. Mostly, that means putting up flyers around town, and we’re doing that at the game tonight, too. Rose set up a social media page so people can share tips. I wrote a short piece I sent to the county newspaper. I’m going out searching tomorrow. Sunday there’ll be a search party.”
“That’s really good, Lily. Happy to put some flyers up at the mill,” Mr. Carter said. “Hopefully one of those efforts is going to produce a lead.”
Across the table, Rose moved a piece of broccoli around with her fork. It didn’t look like she’d eaten much.
“It’s such a horrible situation, and I know you girls are doing your best to manage everything,” Mrs. Carter said, taking a sip from her wine glass and then sharing a look with her husband.
Mr. Carter cleared his throat. “Joanie and I have a little announcement. We want to do something special for the twins. It just seems right that we pitch in.”
Mrs. Carter smiled. “I never had daughters, and it’s not as fun with boys. Sorry, Lewis.”
Lewis shrugged and took a sip of his soda.
I blinked at the Carters. “I’m sorry, what’re you trying to tell us?”
“We’re offering to take over the party your father was planning. It’ll be the best sweet sixteen Pioneer Falls has ever seen.” Mrs. Carter saluted us with her glass.
“Isn’t that amazing?” Fawn said, with a grin that told me this wasn’t the first
time she’d heard this news. “It’s literally the only thing making me happy right now.”
I swallowed the bite of lasagna in my mouth and managed a grateful smile. “That’s, um…very nice of you.”
“I can see you have some reservations about the idea,” Mrs. Carter said. “But this is a once in a lifetime celebration for the twins. Your dad put a lot into making it happen.”
I rubbed a hand across my forehead. I felt sick at the thought of celebrating without the one person who meant the most to us. And what about the missing pendants? From what I’d just heard from Cooper, there was truth in what Dad had written. No pendants meant big trouble at the full moon.
“Dad would want us to be happy on our birthday,” Fawn pleaded. “Even for a few hours.”
“I don’t know…”
“But if we find Dad in time, he’ll be glad we saw it through,” Rose added.
Lewis helped himself to another piece of garlic bread and bit into it noisily. Fawn elbowed him in the side.
Mrs. Carter’s tone softened. “I know if it were me, I’d want it to go on as planned. I’d only want the best for my daughters.”
Tears began to roll down Rose’s cheeks.
“It’s okay.” I put an arm around her. “Listen, could we postpone the party?”
“The thing about postponing is…” Mrs. Carter began, her smile faltering. “It’s already September and if we wait more than a few weeks then we’re into October and Halloween and then it’s the holidays. Really bad timing.”
“Yeah, but—”
“And there’s the non-refundable deposits your father put down. He’d spent quite a lot on this already and I know money’s tight,” she added.
I finished my dinner calmly, trying not to freak out about the Carters’ offer. Fawn sneaked looks at me as we all finished our slices of cheesecake.
“Thanks so much for dinner,” I said as I placed my napkin on my plate.
Mrs. Carter smiled. “So it’s a go, then?”
“It’s super nice of you, but we need to talk about this. C’mon, guys, we should get to the football game. I have a big stack of flyers.”
Rose got to her feet, looking unsure, as if she didn’t know if she should follow me or stick with Fawn.
Mr. Carter nodded at her. “We’ll see you in the stands.”
Fawn glanced between me and the Carters, seemingly torn. Finally, she rounded the table, giving the family hugs, and then stalked out the door after me.
“I don’t know what the big deal is,” Fawn said, climbing into the truck next to Rose, who was stuck in the middle seat. “They just want us to be happy.”
“I get that it’s nice of them. It just doesn’t feel right to celebrate with Dad gone.” I buckled my seat belt and inserted the key in the ignition.
“But maybe he would want us to go through with it,” Rose said.
Fawn slammed the passenger door shut. “Seriously, Lily. Do you think this is easy for us? It’s not like he vanished right before your birthday.”
My hands tensed on the steering wheel. “I know you’re upset—”
“Can’t you see if he doesn’t come back, then this is all over?” Fawn said, her voice raw. “We’re all over. There’s no sticking together without him. So what’s the harm in one last blast to celebrate together before we’re torn apart?”
“I’m not gonna let anyone tear us apart,” I said in a calm voice.
“But you’re temporary. I heard the Carters talking about you having to file for custody and everything. It’s going to wreck your life! We’re going to wreck your life,” Fawn said, tears welling in her eyes.
“No, no, no. You could never wreck my life.” I reached across Rose and grabbed Fawn’s hand. “I’ve got this handled. Seriously.”
Fawn nodded, but didn’t look like she believed me. No too unusual. It was probably easier for her to keep her defenses up than to admit she was scared. The fact she’d even cried a little in front of us was surprising.
“Please don’t fall apart on me,” I whispered, letting go. “Either of you.”
“We’re not going to fall apart,” Rose said, putting a hand around Fawn’s shoulders. “But Fawn has a point. What’s going to happen to us?”
“Nothing,” I said, starting up the truck.
“You don’t know that for sure,” Rose said. “He may never come back. It could be just us. And we have two years of school left. You haven’t got your acceptance letter yet, but you know you’ll get in at the University of Washington. What are we going to do, pick up and move to Seattle with no money?”
“We’d stay here,” I replied, trying to sound matter-of-fact, when the idea had much bigger implications, and we all knew it.
Leave it to Rose to bring up some of the challenges that we’d face if it were just the three of us against the world. I’d been thinking of those scenarios, too—even if I hadn’t shared them with the twins. Things would be derailed, plans would be changed. Everything was going to be different.
I swallowed, realizing my sisters were staring at me, waiting for me to say something. “I know you’re both scared. I am too,” I said. “We’ll keep looking for him. That’s the only thing we can do.”
***
“Please call the hotline if you have any information,” I repeated, handing another flyer to a fan headed to the stands.
The parking lot overflowed with pickups and SUVs. Two logging trucks, still bearing their payload, rested at the far end where gravel met the woods. I positioned myself near the football field’s entrance. No one missed a game in a small town like Pioneer Falls, so maybe we’d get a good lead.
Promising to help hand out flyers later, Fawn joined the other cheerleaders on the field to run through their pre-game cheers. Normally, she would have added sparkles to her hair and painted the school letters on her cheeks in green and gold like the other girls, but not tonight. She’d been so worked up after dinner at Lewis’s house. I’d been surprised by Fawn’s outburst, but it seemed like she and Rose finally understood what might happen if Dad weren’t found. The other stuff that Cooper had told me, the werewolf stuff, was nagging at the back on my mind.
“Why don’t you give me a few?” Mrs. Yamada, our neighbor on Wallace Street, stopped and gave me a quick hug. “I can put these up at the real estate office.”
“Thanks.” I cast a glance toward Rose, who was working the other entrance where the Granite Hills fans were headed to the away team’s stands. I wasn’t surprised when Alex strolled over and took part of my sister’s stack to go hit up people in line at the concession booth. Rose noticed me watching and gave a little wave.
“Call the tip line if you have any information,” I called, handing out another flyer to a passing group of fans. Sheriff Polson, wearing school colors instead of her uniform, smiled at me as she passed. I held up my flyers and gave her a nod.
A little while later, the crowd thinned outside as whistles sounded from the field. A few people still milled around the concession stand, but everyone else had gone to watch the kickoff. I leaned against a concrete post, counting what was left of the stack of flyers. I probably should get a few more from the truck to pass out at halftime in case I’d missed anyone.
As I walked toward the pickup, a dark shadow traveled between the logging rigs. My skin prickled with warning. I had the sense of being watched again. Someone, or something, was out there.
I went to signal Rose, but she wasn’t in her spot at the other entrance any longer. She hadn’t told me she was heading in and I hadn’t seen her walk off. I hurried to the stands in a panic. When I spotted Rose sitting next to Alex, I breathed a sigh of relief.
Returning to my post, I caught a few more stragglers on their way into the game. “Any information at all would help,” I said, handing them flyers.
A streetlight above the parking lot flickered. I saw something swoop past, a bat, or maybe a bird, heading toward the woods behind the high school. Though the stands behind me were packed,
I had a sudden feeling of being completely alone, exposed.
Maybe I should try to watch the game for a while in the crowd. Standing there alone didn’t seem like such a good idea.
Just as I’d decided to leave, an old man walked toward the entrance where I was standing, his white hair tamed by a cowboy hat, a plaid coat loose on his skinny frame, and his work boots caked with mud.
“Have you taken a flyer yet?” I asked, falling back into the rhythm of my pitch.
“No, I don’t believe I have.”
I caught the scent of cedar trees and machine oil on his clothes as I handed him one of the missing person notices, the smell lingering from a day spent logging. “There’s a tip line you can call if you know anything.”
He squinted down at the photograph on the paper. “That man’s your father,” he said, lifting his gaze to my face.
I tried my best not to wilt under his beady-eyed stare. The man’s eyes were small, dark like shale stones from the river. “Yes, sir. That’s my dad, George Turner. He’s missing.”
“I see the family resemblance,” he said, his lips curving into a semblance of a smile.
“Yeah.” Though I hardly felt like smiling back, I forced it. You never knew if someone could have a tip, after all. “We have the same chin.”
The man cocked his head to the side, considering my features. “So you do.”
I shook off my creeped-out feeling. “Are you here for the other team? I mean, I don’t think I’ve seen you in town.”
He nodded. “Rare I get to enjoy a night like this.”
“Well, thanks for spreading the word,” I said, hoping that the man would go off and join the Granite Hills spectators now. “Enjoy the game.”
“I believe I will.” He folded the flyer into a precise, small square and then tucked it into his pocket. He whistled as he walked toward the stands.
I shivered, watching him go, and then turned my attention back to the parking lot. Maybe I was just being paranoid, but it still felt as if someone was out there. I stuck the last of the flyers under my arm and joined the hometown crowd to watch the first quarter of the game.
A Curse So Dark (Pioneer Falls Book 1) Page 7
