The Xoe Meyers Trilogy (Xoe Meyers Young Adult Fantasy/Horror Series) (32 page)

I
t was full dark by the time we reached my house, and my dad still hadn’t called. I noticed that my mom’s car had returned to its normal spot as we parked in my driveway. We walked inside my dimly lit house to the sound of Christmas music.

I stifled a groan when I realized that the dim lighting was candlelight, with our colorfully decorated artificial tree as the brightly lit centerpiece. The smell of baked goods was in the air, and I knew something was wrong right there. My mom almost never baked. The last time she had baked was the morning after the Dan incident. I had broken my arm and my mom was forced to come home from a business trip in Washington to bail me out of the hospital.

My mom emerged from the kitchen in a red and green apron with matching pot-holders, a pan of chocolate chip cookies grasped between her protected hands. “Cookies?” she offered, her smile a little too wide. It had to be overwhelming for her, being confronted by my friends and me now that she knew what we were. Well, she didn’t know what Chase was, but I’m sure she had her suspicions.

I forced myself to smile. “Um, sure.”

My mom took that as answer enough and turned to go back into the kitchen. Lucy and I followed her in while Chase and Max went to sit in the living room. My mom set the pan of cookies onto the stove, then looked startled when she turned around to see Lucy and me behind her.

My mom pulled a spatula out of the cylinder that holds our cooking utensils and began lifting the cookies onto a large red plate. “Does everyone want milk?” she asked. “I made cinnamon rolls too. Oh, and we could have coffee . . . ”

“Okay mom,” I interrupted. “Why don’t you let Lucy and me handle this? You can go talk to Max and Chase.”

She nodded. “Oh, okay.” She nodded again to herself and exited the kitchen.

Lucy’s eyes followed her out with a worried cast to them. Lucy turned her almond shaped brown eyes back to me. “Your mom is acting really weird . . . and where’s Jason?”

“She knows everything,” I began. I ignored Lucy’s gaping jaw and went on, “and Jason has a job. He had to leave town.”

“Wait, what?” Lucy stuttered. “You told her? And how could Jason leave? We need him here.” She pointed her finger dramatically at the ground.

I started shoveling the rest of the cookies onto the plate, but then paused to go to the adjacent counter and start a pot of coffee. Lucy followed right behind me, still waiting for an explanation. I gave her a tired expression as I poured beans into the coffee grinder. “He had to go. Who knows when another job will come along? He has to take what he can get.”

Lucy put a hand on her hip and looked at me skeptically. “It doesn’t sound like you really believe that.”

I shook my head. “I believe it. I know he had to go, but it doesn’t make me feel any better about it.”

“Have you called him to let him know what’s going on?” she asked.

I shook my head.

“Xoe!” she exclaimed. She cringed and lowered her voice. “You need to call him. He’s going to be furious when he finds out that you were in danger and didn’t tell him.”

“I know,” I conceded as I filled the pot with water and pressed the start button. “But I can take care of myself.”

“And you wouldn’t mind making him a little furious?” Lucy added.

I thought about it for a moment. I was pissed that he left right after my dad came into town. I had to admit, the idea of making Jason angry was rather appealing. I laughed a harsh sound that didn’t really sound like a laugh at all. “Yeah, that too.”

Lucy shook her head in exasperation, but let the subject drop. “What exactly did you tell your mom?”

I went back to shoveling cookies, and Lucy once again followed me. “Pretty much everything,” I answered. “Except for what happened with Dan.”

Lucy shooed me to the side so she could open the oven and pull out the cinnamon rolls with one of my mom’s oven mitts. She placed them onto the now empty cookie pan. I searched the cabinets until I found a large plastic platter to put them on. As Lucy lifted the cinnamon rolls off the pan, I got out mugs for everyone to have coffee or milk.

Lucy stopped me before I headed into the living room with the mugs. “Is that why she’s baking?” she whispered.

I nodded. “She likes to be occupied when she’s trying to cope with something.”

I grabbed a stack of paper plates to put under my arm, then took the mugs into the living room and handed them out, leaving the last two on the coffee table for Lucy and me. Chase and Max were on the large blue sofa, looking uncomfortable as my mom made conversation with them from her perch on the smaller green loveseat. Lucy emerged from the kitchen a moment later with the tray of cookies and a jug of milk. I handed my mom the plates, then set the tray on the coffee table for Lucy. I went back to the kitchen alone for the cinnamon rolls and coffee.

I re-entered the living room and squeezed the cinnamon rolls onto the coffee table beside the cookies, but had to settle with leaving the coffee pot on our single end table. Everyone had already filled their mugs with milk, leaving me with the entire pot of coffee to myself. I was on a bit of a coffee overload already, but hey, it helped me cope. Some people bake, some people drink coffee.

Lucy had taken the seat by my mom, so I sat next to Max on the couch. My mom smiled at all of us, some of her usual warmth creeping through. “Where’s Allison?” she asked.

I turned to Lucy. “Where
is
Allison?”

Lucy cocked her head as she reached for a cinnamon roll to put on the plate my mom had handed her. “You know what? I haven’t heard from her all day.”

“I’ll call her,” Max added, anticipating our worry. Plus, he was always willing to call Allison. I sensed a crush, but he never openly admitted it. He stood up to go to the phone and I busied myself with piling several cookies and a cinnamon roll onto my plate. Max took the phone into the kitchen.

My mom turned her attention to Lucy. “So you’re a werewolf then?”

Lucy choked on her bite of cinnamon roll, then took a big gulp of milk to wash it down. She set her plate in her lap and nervously brushed a strand of her straight dark hair behind her ear. “Um . . . yeah, yes I am.”

My mom smiled again, looking almost demented with nerves. “And Max too?”

Max came back into the room with the phone and distractedly answered my mom. “Yeah, I am too.” He turned his gaze to me. “Allison went with Lela to her job interview.”

My mom turned to me. “Lela? Is that the woman who was here before?”

I nodded in response and began to stand. My mom mirrored me, but then Chase came to the rescue and asked her about her work, forcing her to remain in the living room out of politeness. I grabbed Max and dragged him back into the kitchen.

“She never came home?” I prodded in a hoarse whisper. My heart was racing with adrenaline. I already knew the answer.

Max shook his head. “No. Her parents aren’t worried yet. They figure she’s still just hanging out with Lela. I didn’t tell them any different, but I imagine they’ll call the cops if she’s not home within the next few hours.”

I clenched back the first of my tears. “What are we going to do?” I breathed.

Max’s pale green eyes glistened with unshed tears as well. It was like Allison was already dead. Please don’t let her be dead.

“What about the coalition?” Max whispered.

“Even if they could get here in time, I don’t even know how to get a hold of them.”

“Where’s Jason?” he asked, as if just realizing what was missing from the situation. I couldn’t blame him, we hadn’t had much time to stop and think lately.

“He’s on a job,” I answered dejectedly as a cursed tear slipped out.

“Everything all right in there?” my mom called.

“Fine mom!” I yelled back.

I heard Chase’s voice rise with his next question to distract my mom again.

Max waved his hand in my face to bring my attention back to him. “Call him,” he demanded.

“It’s not going to do any good,” I argued.

“Call him,” Max intoned again, this time slapping the portable phone into my palm.

With a quivering sigh, I turned my back on Max and punched in the cell phone number I knew by heart.

He picked up on the second ring. “Xoe?”

“Yeah,” I breathed. “It’s me.”

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Something is wrong. I can hear it in your voice.”

“Lela and Allison are both missing,” I answered. “We’re pretty positive they’ve been abducted.”

“I’m coming home,” he said gravely, not missing a beat. “I’m in New York. It’s going to take me a day or so to get there.”

“It’s okay,” I answered, tears flowing freely. “We just need Abel’s number.”

“Do you have a pen?” he asked.

I peeked around the corner to the living room and grabbed a pen and paper from beside the phone cradle. I nodded, then realizing he couldn’t see it, answered, “Yeah, I’ve got one.”

He rattled off the number to me, then asked, “Where are Lucy and Max? You should all stick together.”

“They’re here,” I answered, then after a moment of hesitation added, “Chase is here too.”

There was silence on the other end of the line.

“Jason?” I questioned.

“Yes,” he mumbled. “Yes I’m still here. It’s good that he’s there. You must stay together in your home. Don’t go anywhere. Call Abel and I’ll be there as soon as possible.”

I scrunched my nose in agitation. Like I couldn’t have figured that all out on my own.

“Xoe?” Jason inquired.

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

My heart sped even faster, if that was possible. He’d never told me he loved me before. I had to clear my throat before I spoke. “I, um, I love you too.”

“I’ll see you soon,” he said. The line went dead.

I slumped back against the countertop, feeling like I had just run a marathon. Max was staring at me. “What?” I snapped.

He shook his head in exasperation. “Are you going to call Abel or what?”

I gave Max my best withering glare, though the tears probably lessened the effect. Boys can be so insensitive. I looked down at the forgotten paper in my hand. I glared back up at Max and dialed the numbers. A machine picked up after the first ring. A cultured woman’s voice flowed out of the receiver, “Please leave your name, number, and a brief message.” That was it, no explanation of whose machine I had reached. I just had to trust that I had the right number.

“Um, this is Xoe Meyers,” I mumbled into the machine. “I’m trying to get a hold of Abel. I don’t know if my dad already called, but we’re having some trouble here in Shelby, the type of trouble that I think you are technically supposed to help us with.” I gave the machine Max’s cell phone number and hung up.

I let out a loud sigh to steady myself, then looked back to Max. “What are we going to do about Allison’s parents? We’re not supposed to get the police involved in this sort of stuff.”

Max shrugged. “Maybe getting the cops involved wouldn’t be such a bad thing. They might be able to help.”

I shook my head. It
would
be much simpler if we could leave it to the cops, but we couldn’t. It was supernatural commandment number one to keep humans uninvolved. Plus, if the cops were brought in, we wouldn’t get the coalition’s help, and werewolves had a much better chance of finding Allison and Lela alive.

“We can’t,” I answered simply, too tired to explain my whole thought process.

Max frowned at my answer. “Well then what are we going to tell her parents?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration. “If we tell them anything, and we . . . ” I choked on my words, emotion bubbling up anew, “and we can’t find her,” I managed to whisper, “then the cops will be knocking at our door.”

Max looked up from where he had been gazing at the floor. “We can’t tell her parents anything,” he declared. “If they call the cops, then it’s just humans calling human cops, and I still think it can’t hurt to have them involved.”

After a moment of silence I nodded. “You’re right. Screw the rules. The coalition should have been up here trying to find the abductors as soon as that witch went missing in Bear Creek.”

That elicited a small smile from Max. He gave me a light punch on the shoulder. “Now that’s the Xoe we know and love.”

I smiled back at Max. I left the phone on the counter and went through the dining room to bypass the living room on my way to the guest bathroom. Once inside, I did a quick mirror check to dry any leftover tears, then I went back to the living room.

My mom was leaning forward from her perch on the loveseat, grilling Chase on what he knew about owls of all things. Max had resumed his seat next to Chase. I cleared my throat as I approached the seating area, drawing everyone’s attention to me.

I met Chase’s dark gray eyes. “Hey Chase,” I began, “you think I could recruit you to help me wrap some Christmas presents? I don’t want anyone to see what they got.”

Chase nodded and smiled pleasantly at my mom before standing. I picked up some wrapping supplies from where my mom had put them near the tree. With the wrapping supplies under my arm, I headed upstairs with Chase following shortly behind, leaving Max and Lucy to fend off my mom.

As soon as we were shut inside my room, I spun on Chase. “Call my dad. Allison’s missing. We can’t just keep waiting around.”

His eyes widened in surprise, but he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and punched the buttons that would connect him to my dad. Chase’s forehead scrunched in concern as my dad answered.

“Their human friend is missing,” Chase began without even a hello. He met my eyes. “I don’t think your daughter will be content with sitting around and doing nothing for much longer.”

I turned and looked out my large window while Chase listened to my dad. It took me a moment to realize that it was snowing outside. I huddled in my red sweater, even though it wasn’t cold in my room. Chase clicked the phone shut and I turned my attention back to him.

“Your dad followed the woman from the coffee shop, but she just went to a bar afterward. He saw another man watching her that he thinks isn’t human, but the man simply followed her to the bar and is now waiting across the street. Your dad thinks they’re being careful since we got away. They know we’re on to them.”