Authors: Tammy Blackwell
“
She’s a girl, genius,”
White Boy said.
“
She’s not crying,” I
countered.
Diaz laughed. “She’s got you there, Fists.”
He stood up, which meant I got to see how he wasn’t even as tall as
I was. His muscles might have had muscles, but he was kind of a
shrimp. Liam completely dwarfed him as Diaz walked over and stuck
out a hand. “Welcome to the family.”
“
We’re glad to be here,”
Liam answered for the both of us.
***
“
Here” ended up being a
tiny ancient camper. Once Diaz and Trina, the iPhone girl, left, we
tried to make ourselves at home. Liam claimed the bed that ran
along the back wall, which meant I was left to sleep on the one
that folded out of the wall above the kitchen area. The microwave
didn’t work, but the miniature fridge did. The bathroom was small
and disgusting, but sadly that was the sort of thing I had grown
accustomed to during our tour of the nation's crappiest
motels.
“
Not to alarm you or
anything, but I think you just made a deal with a Mexican gang.”
I’ve read Simone Elkeles’s books. I know how this whole garage as a
front thing works.
“
Don’t worry about it. Just
keep your head down and your mouth shut from now on.” I thought
about suggesting he get that tattooed somewhere on his body, but
decided he might think it was a better idea to tattoo it on me
instead.
“
So, what’s the plan?” I
asked as I sat down at the table not really big enough for
two.
Liam grabbed my bag and tossed it onto the
table. “First we unpack, and then I expect to see you on your
knees.”
After the exchange with Diaz my brain
automatically went somewhere very, very bad.
“
W-w-what?” I could feel
the blush stretching over every inch of my body. Seriously, I think
my feet were even embarrassed and angry. “I’m not… I
won’t…”
I knew the moment Liam realized what I was
thinking because his face also shot up in flames.
“
No! Not…
That.
” He looked as
though he was having some sort of episode, like maybe an aneurysm.
“You were supposed to get down on your knees and beg me for
forgiveness because you were wrong about the pizza guy. I don’t
want… I mean, I wasn’t asking you to--”
I held up a hand. “Please don’t say it. I
think we’ve both been traumatized enough.”
He gave a quick jerk of the head in
agreement before quickly turning away. This would normally be the
point where I disappeared into another room and not show my face
again until the awkwardness had passed. Unfortunately, we were
stuck in a space about half the size of my bedroom back home.
“
I was actually talking
about more of a long term plan,” I said because the silence just
wasn’t doing it for me. “How long are we staying? A couple of
weeks? Months? As long as we can?”
Liam tossed a handful of individually
wrapped toothbrushes in one of the drawers in the bathroom. “Six
weeks, max.”
“
And then?”
“
And then I’ll tell you
what you need to know.”
“
Or you could tell me now,”
I said, leaving off the “
instead of being
an arrogant bossy control freak.”
Did he
appreciate the gesture? Of course not. He actually pretended I
hadn’t spoken at all. “Come on,” I said nearly five minutes later.
“What is it going to hurt? Maybe I could be helpful if I was
actually in on the plan instead of bouncing around like an
uninformed idiot.” Which is exactly what I had been doing for the
past year. I didn’t know about Shifters until I saw Alex in his
wolf form. I hadn’t known Jase and Charlie turned into coyotes
during the full moon or my best friend could See people’s thought
and emotions just by touching them until I discovered it on my own
by accident. Once I became a Shifter myself, I was still kept in
the dark. I didn’t know the traditions and customs, yet I was
expected to abide by them. I didn’t know what a Thaumaturgic was,
yet I was put on trial for being one. And no one ever cared to
inform me of the Free Scout plan, which may have worked a bit
better if I had been clued in.
I was sick and tired of being kept in the
dark.
“
It’s need to know
information, and you don’t need to know.”
“
Why the Hades not? It is
my life we’re talking about here, right?”
I’ve developed an immunity for most of
Liam’s looks, but the one he shot me made my gut clench. He wasn’t
angry or annoyed or even exasperated. He was disgusted. “You think
this is all about you?” He balanced his hands on the table and
leaned in until we were face to face. “This is so far beyond you
that you couldn’t see it with a telescope. It’s about time you
stopped with the princess routine and realized you’re nothing more
than a pawn.”
Chapter 6
Whatever progress Liam and I had made was
immediately undone. Thankfully, we saw each other very little
during our tenure as part of the Diaz family. My babysitting gig
turned out to be an on-call twenty-four hours a day thing. Trina
and Diaz, who were married, had three kids. Sophie was the baby,
Eddie was three, and Lili was four. I was also expected to watch
Diaz’s nephew, Xavier, who was seven, the same age as my little
sister. I spent almost all of my waking hours with the four of
them. Babysitting isn’t really one of my strong suits, especially
not when there are diapers involved, but after a few weeks I
started getting the hang of it. At least, that’s when I stopped
feeling like I was going to burst into tears at least once every
hour.
Liam worked just as many hours as I did,
usually stumbling back to our tin can living quarters in the wee
hours of the morning. I had been half joking when I told him I
thought the garage was a front for a Mexican gang, but I realized I
might have been right. Sure, Liam worked in the garage on cars, but
most of those cars came in looking a lot better than when they
left. I’m not exactly sure what a Chop Shop is, but I think Diaz
runs one.
My salvation from the monotony and
loneliness finally came the night before the full moon.
“
It’s you.” My grin was so
big my cheeks hurt. “You’re back.”
“
In the flesh.” Alex bowed.
“Or not, as the case may be.”
I launched myself at him, and he caught me
in his arms as Nicole, the wolf pup, danced around our feet. They
certainly felt like flesh - well, flesh and fur - but I knew it was
impossible. I still wasn’t completely convinced these dreams were
real, that he was somehow reaching out to me beyond the grave, but
I was opening myself to the possibility.
“
Where have you been? I’ve
missed you.” Nicole yelped. “Both of you,” I amended, reaching down
to scratch the top of her adorable little head.
The last time I saw Alex was the night
before my trial with the Alphas. I had been convinced they would
find me guilty and impose a death sentence that very night. Alex
was convinced I would live, that it was my destiny to keep going.
In the end we were both basically right.
Alex shrugged, a wry grin on his face.
“Turns out dying doesn’t prevent you from getting grounded. My
spirit guide status was yanked after I broke a few rules the last
time.”
“
Don’t tell me they,”
whoever “
they”
might be, “were mad because you finally told me something
about Thaumaturgy. Because really, it wasn’t all that
helpful.”
“
No, I think they took
issue with my parting words.”
“
This is real, and I
didn’t leave you alone. I have always loved you, and I will always
love you until the end of time. Now, wake up and live.”
Not that I had it memorized and recited it
to myself on a regular basis or anything.
“
Which part did they take
exception to?”
He raised his eyebrows and batted his
lashes. “I’m sorry, but I must answer that in the vaguest and most
obtuse manner possible so you continue to question the validity of
these dreams you’re having. Because they are just dreams.” He
leaned in, a smile spread across his face. “Or are they?”
“
You are so going to get
grounded again.”
Alex threw both hands over his heart. “Who?
Me? But I’m an angel.”
I knew he was just teasing, but my curiosity
was piqued. “Are you really?”
“
Am I really
what?”
“
An angel.”
Alex craned his neck over one shoulder and
then the other. “I don’t see any wings…”
I kicked some rocks in his general
direction. “Don’t be a smarty pants.” I felt a little stupid for
asking. After all, when I was here, he just felt like Alex. The
idea of him hanging out on white fluffy clouds, wearing hippie
sandals, and playing a harp was beyond stupid. But what were the
other options? He’s dead. Really, truly dead. There may have been
some doubt in my mind in the beginning, especially when I thought
the wolf stalking me was Alex instead of Liam, but even then I
think a part of me knew he was really gone. So, when a dead boy is
still having conversations with living folks he’s either an angel
or a ghost, right? “I just don’t understand how this can happen.
Are you in heaven now? Is this heaven? Or is it like some in
between place where the living and dead can coexist?”
Alex plopped down on the ground. “You ask
too many questions.”
I sat down beside him, although in a
slightly more dignified fashion. “You don’t answer nearly enough.”
It must be a genetics thing. He and Liam were certainly two peas in
a pod when it came to telling me stuff.
Since he couldn’t really argue the point, he
just smiled and plated a tiny kiss on my temple. We sat there, side
by side, for a long time, not saying anything as we watched Nicole
chase butterflies.
“
How have you been?” he
asked after a while.
I lifted my face up to the sun whose warmth
I shouldn’t have been able to feel. “What? You don’t get to spy
down on me from your lofty perch? No crystal balls wherever it is
you go when you’re not here?”
“
You know how sometimes
your parents will ground you from your phone, and sometimes they
ground you from going out with your friends, and sometimes you’re
so grounded you’re not allowed to even think about leaving your
bedroom?”
“
Never happened to me, but
I remember those things happening to Jase.”
“
I was so grounded I
couldn’t even think about thinking about leaving my bedroom. No
contact with anyone. No one told me what was going on. They let me
know you survived the Alphas, but that was it. I don’t know where
you’ve been or what’s happened since the last time I saw
you.”
“
I’ve been spending a lot
of time with your brother.” I picked up a pebble and rolled it
through my fingers. “Remember when you told me that if we got to
know each other we would end up being friends?”
“
I remember saying
something to that effect.”
I let the pebble fall back to the ground.
“You were so remarkably wrong it’s not even funny.”
Alex’s eyebrows knitted together. “What
happened?”
I ended up telling him all of it. I told him
about the trial, and the one-two punch of having both Mrs. Matthews
and Jase turn on me. I told him about the epic battle to get me
free. I even tried to outline our entire road trip, though I
couldn’t quite remember everywhere we went or the order in which we
got there. “And now we’re part of the Latino Bloods or Mexican
Crypts or whatever gang Diaz is running.” I took a deep breath and
looked out over the lake, keeping Alex’s face in my peripheral
view. “Liam is carrying on the Cole tradition and won’t tell me
what is going on. He told me it’s none of my business, that I’m
just a pawn.”
“
You are not a pawn.” When
I kept my focus on the lake where the sun was both rising and
setting, Alex took my chin in his fingers and turned my face to
his. “You’re not a pawn, Scout. Yes, this is something big. It’s
bigger than you or me or Liam, but that doesn’t mean you’re not
important. You’re hugely important, and not just for the part
you’re supposed to play. To me, Talley, Charlie, your family, and
tons of other people, Liam included, you’re important because
you’re Scout. We care about you and believe in you. We’re putting
our faith and the future in your hands.”
I looked down at the hands in question. Half
my nails were broken and there were stains from making the kids
Jell-O. “I’m pretty sure you screwed up there.”
His smile was radiant. “Not possible.”
“
Your devotion borders on
insanity. You know that, right?”
He just kept smiling. “Give Liam a chance,
okay? He carries the weight of the world on his shoulders and has
some trust issues. It’ll take time.”
It would take a miracle. “I’ll try.”
“
That’s all anyone can do.”
He squinted at the sun. The day had already turned into morning,
something only possible in this crazy place. “You’re going to wake
up soon.”
“
I know.”
“
But I’ll be
back.”
It was my turn to smile and surrender to
faith. “I know.”
***
When I woke up, I felt light and happy. I
smiled throughout the day, even when the baby’s diaper exploded all
over her clothes. Okay, maybe I didn’t exactly smile during that
horrific experience, but I didn’t scream or panic, so there was a
definite improvement.
As the full moon started approaching again,
I found myself drifting back towards Liam. I was still frustrated,
angry, and confused, but Wolf Scout missed her friend. I think the
same must have held true for Wolf Liam, because in the days leading
up to the full moon he began showing something that could’ve been
mistaken for kindness. By the time we were in a borrowed car
driving out to find a place to run, I could actually stand to be
around him for more than five minute at a time.