Reveal (Cryptid Tales) (10 page)

He looks at me, almost nervous about my reaction, he obviously thought I would be OK with all of this. “Everything will be explained when we arrive I promise,” he says and squeezes my hand.

I cross my arms, “fine” is all I can say. He smiles, apparently my anger is amusing to him.

We don’t speak much on the drive and I drift in and out of sleep. Occasionally I look over at him, he’s focused on his driving but I can tell his mind is somewhere else.

“
How long has it been since you’ve seen your parents?” I finally ask when the silence is starting to kill me.

“
A while,” is all he says eyes still on the road. It’s dark and he’s focused on the rear lights of the car in front of us.

“
Did you bring the frame?”

“
The what?” he asks startled out of his thoughts.

“
The frame that you got your mom for her birthday? Remember, that day in the shop?”

Realization dawns on his face, “Oh yeah, I have it. She’s going to love it.”

He turns off at an exit. We pull into a motel parking lot.

“
I’m going to check us in here, look OK to you?” he says.

I gaze out the window at the basic looking motel. The neon lights shine vacancy. It’s nothing special but it’ll do.

“
I don’t really think the hostage gets a choice in the matter, do you?” I shake my head; I am going to be in so much trouble.

“
Yeah I guess you’re right,” he says with a smile and moves towards the motel office where a neon sign informs us there are rooms available.

I sit in the truck waiting noticing how cold it’s becoming, I put on the gloves that are still in my jacket pocket and I pull out my cell. I immediately dial Liv’s number and fill her in.

As Hugh approaches the truck dangling our new room keys I finish the conversation.

“
Just call my mom and tell her I’m with you but my cell’s dead.” I tell her desperately trying to finish before Hugh gets back to me.

“
And what if she wants to talk to you?” Liv asks accusingly.

“
Tell her I’m in the bathroom or shower, that I’ll call her later.”

“
OK but you better give me all the dish when this is over. I’m dying over here.”

I laugh, she always wants the gossip. “Thanks Liv, gotta go bye!” I hang up the phone just as Hugh opens the passenger’s side door.

“
My lady,” he says as he extends his arm showing me the way.

“
Thank you sir,” I respond as I take his other hand in mine. For a moment we look at each other and I can feel that spark, but just as quickly he lets go and it dies away.

The hotel is fairly old, but renovated. When we walk into room 702 there are two queen beds, “I guess that solves that problem then,” I whisper to myself.

“
What?” Hugh asks.

“
Nothing,” I reply as I head to the bathroom to relieve myself. We stopped at a diner hours ago and I should have taken the opportunity then. I notice the bedspreads are a deep burgundy as I pass. They look comfortable enough. The bathroom matches the burgundy décor and there’s fake flowers sitting on top of the toilet. It’s not the Ritz Carlton, but it’ll do for the night.

When I walk out of the bathroom Hugh is sitting on the bed closest to the door. I peel back the sheets of the other queen and am disgusted by the sight I find.

“
Ugh! Look at these sheets! They’re so gross!” The white hotel sheets have yellow stains all over the lower part of them.

Hugh laughs, “Looks like someone got lucky in here last night.”

I throw what looks to be a clean pillow at him. “You’re sick.”

He catches it and laughs. “You wouldn’t think so if it was you who was in that bed last night.”

“
Gross, no way. I am not like that.” Wait for the right guy, Mom always reminds me.

He looks surprised. “Oh I mean, I would have thought…” Suddenly Mr. Smarty Pants is stumbling all over his words.

I shrug, “Haven’t met the right person yet I guess. You?”

“
Can you keep a secret?”

I cross my heart with my pointer finger like Liv and I used to do as kids.

He nods, “I’ve still got my V card. Probably the only freshman on campus that does though.” Red fills his dark cheeks, it’s almost unnoticeable but in the harsh hotel light I can just barely see it.

I try to make him feel better and say, “College is just a breeding ground for STDs. You’re probably better off anyway.”
Geez when did I start sounding so much like my mom?

I stand there next to the bed sheets still in hand when Hugh makes a suggestion.

“
Why don’t you sleep in this bed with me? It looks clean. They neglected to use both apparently.” He pats the empty space next to him and shuts off the TV.

I climb under the covers without even taking my jeans off. I just want to be close to him
now
. He turns off the light and snuggles in. We lay there for a moment in silence.

“
Hugh?” I ask after a few minutes to see if he’s still awake.

“
Yeah Shay?”

“
Did you always know you were a cryptid?”

“
Yeah. It’s just part of who you are when you grow up in the tribe.”

I turn over to look at him. My head magically bumps into his. He stretches his arm out so I can fit in the crook of his neck. It’s the most wonderful feeling in the world. We lay there and I can hear the clock on the bed side table tick. Minutes pass slowly and I breathe in his fresh scent.

“
Hugh?”

“
Yeah Shay?” He mumbles this time, obviously dozing off.

I take the opportunity of his only half listening to tell him the thing I’ve wanted to say since the moment we met.

I lift my head up to whisper into his ear three small words. “I love you.”

I can hear his heavy breathing but I don’t care. At least I told him, even if for now it’s only one sided.

In my dreams I see Wendy with her dad. They’re arguing about something terrible. He blames her for her mother’s death. I can’t imagine blaming a child for something so horrible. He shakes his finger in her face and she lifts her hands. He flies back against a wall in their house, which looks brand new again. It’s almost as if she can control him. I can always feel the energy coming off of her, something I have never felt from any other ghost. As I start to think about this, I hear someone calling my name.

Hugh is shaking my shoulder, “Shay c’mon, get up. We’ve gotta get going.”

“
Huh?” is all I can manage out while I open my eyes. I must have terrible bed head because one of my hands is stuck in my hair. I try to smooth it down as I sit up.

He smiles at me. He’s already showered and is in fresh clothes. He smells like Lavender. I love that smell, reminds me of spring.

He reiterates, “We’ve got to get moving. I figured you’d want to stop for breakfast then move onto my parents’ place. Reminder my mom has to call yours.”

I had forgotten about that, maybe Liv could cover for me for a few days? I doubt it but it might work.

I make my way to the bathroom and brush my teeth using the hotel amenities. There’s even a comb for me to pull through my hair.

We leave quickly thereafter. Hugh drops off the keys in the office and we hit the road. We make a quick stop at the drive-thru of McDonalds to get some coffee and egg sandwiches.

As we continue to drive I realize that Hugh mentioned his parents being friends with my Dad. “Hugh, why didn’t you just tell me where we were going? I could have planned for it better.”

His eyes shift to me, but his face remains forward. “I didn’t think you would come. I know this whole situation freaks you out and maybe you wouldn’t want to meet more people like me,” he corrects himself, “us.”

I see his point, but I have to disagree. “I would have come. It would have been nice to come on my own, not because you kidnapped me,” I point out.

He shrugs, “Sorry.”

The rest of our drive is long and when we finally get out of his beat up yellow pickup truck, I take in a breath of fresh evening air and my surroundings. The door creaks shut as my feet hit the dust.
“Wow you weren’t kidding, this really is roughin it.”

I look for teepees and other typical signs of Native Americans, but instead I just see some rough looking shacks and trailers. So this is what it looks like in rural Texas. There are few cats running around and I have to wonder if they’re Hugh’s family members.

He must see me eyeing them closely. “They’re not shifters, just regular cats.”

I nod, like I already knew that-
not
.

I hear the creaking of a door and I see a girl around my age walk out of the house. She stares us both down. Her eyes are almond shaped like Hugh’s, but she doesn’t hide the yellow like he does, she wears it like a badge of honor. Suddenly she’s taking big strides over to us. She gets so close to me I can feel her breath. She spits out the words “half breed,” and walks away. Before reentering her house she spits out chewing tobacco, her long black hair swaying and she slams the door behind her. I look at Hugh wide-eyed, “Well she’s lovely, a friend of yours?”

He smiles, “Sorry they may not all be very friendly here, but trust me, they’ll learn to like you.”

“
Great, I can’t wait to meet the rest of the family,” I say sarcastically. We start walking and it dawns on me, “By the way, what the hell did she just call me?” Suddenly I’m ridiculously angry and I don’t even know why.

“
Ahh yes, that lovely term. It’s because your mom is human. I wish she wouldn’t have called you that, it’s rude. Besides you’re a stronger cryptid than she’ll ever be.”

“
Do you know her?”

“
Yeah, that’s Emina, she was my betrothed. As you can see things didn’t really work out there.”

“
Oh, I mean why?” I try to hide my jealousy with a question. That girl was almost who I want to be, the object of Hugh’s affection.

“
Well I went away to college, something that’s not usually accepted here. Most kids stay in the village, do things for the community. Occasionally somebody becomes a teacher or a doctor to help out but mostly if you leave, you don’t return. So when I left to go to school for business, nobody thought I would come back. Our marriage was arranged by our parents. We’d been best friends since we were kids. We didn’t have real feelings for each other. Emina got married and is probably working on her first kid, not something I wanted at this point in my life. I wanted to study other things like maybe even genetics and not just by smelling.”

I stop walking when it hits me. “Wait do you mean the first time we met, you could smell what I was?” This revelation shocks me, he had known all along.

He stops walking and turns around with his eyes closed and his head hung low. Finally he looks up and says quietly, “Yeah, kinda. I mean I thought maybe you were.”

“
Oh my God! And you never said anything until now!” Anger surges through my veins.

“
Well I wasn’t sure until that night near the orphanage but I…”

I cut him off, “You, my friend, are an ass. You’re lucky I can’t catch a plane outta here because I would be gone so quick.”

He lifts his face and I can see the lines of anger etched in his skin. “Oh yeah, and go where? Nowhere in the world are people going to get you like they do here. Deal with it, so I knew, so what? We only met a couple times and I certainly couldn’t ask you in front of Olivia if you could shift into a cat or talk to ghosts, could I? I only knew for sure when I saw you with Jeremy and since then I’ve been totally honest with you.”

He had a point there and before I could argue my next point the door of the house (this one at least looked like a house) at the end of the road started to open.

“
Hugh!” a woman shrieks, “You’re here! Come down here and see your mother!” Hugh gives me one last glare and runs down the dirt road to his mom, running straight into what looks to be a splendid hug. I walk up slowly behind him as to not disturb their embrace still reeling from the last bit of news. “And who are you my child?” she asks over his shoulder before stepping back from her son. He gives her a knowing look and she smiles. “I knew I recognized that scent. You’re James’ blood. And from what I can tell, you’re as strong as he is, if not stronger. I’ve smelled you coming all day. I’m Chenoa, Hugh’s mother.” She extends her hand to shake mine, but I can’t reach for it. I just look down at my hand laying by my side. It’s because she said it, his name, the name I hadn’t heard in at least ten years. It hits me like a sandbag, the world gets fuzzy and then the lights go out.