The Xoe Meyers Trilogy (Xoe Meyers Young Adult Fantasy/Horror Series) (7 page)

At the sight of Lucy my mom’s face erupted into a smile that reached her warm brown eyes. “Have you had breakfast yet, Lucy?” she asked. “Our weekend breakfasts usually occur around noon, but we could make it a little earlier. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you.”

“No thanks,” Lucy mumbled.

Taking in our expressions, a look of concern flashed across my mom’s face. She pressed the back of her hand against Lucy’s forehead. “Are you feeling okay, Lucy? You feel a little warm.”

Lucy looked down at the floor, muttering that she was fine.

My mom looked back and forth between us, a frown creasing her brow. She reached up and felt my forehead. “You feel warm too honey, another dream?”

“Um, yeah, we’ll talk about it later, ‘kay?” I looked pleadingly at my mom. I hadn’t told Lucy or Allison about my dreams.

She hesitated, but decided to let it go and headed back downstairs.

As soon as my mom was gone, we went into my bedroom and I shut the door. I continued into the adjoining bathroom and quickly brushed my teeth and washed my face, pulled on some jeans and a purple tank top, and went back into my bedroom barefoot to question Lucy.

“What dreams?” Lucy asked.

Sigh. Thanks a lot mom. “Um, I’ve just been having some weird dreams lately, nothing major.”

“Please Xoe, I could use the distraction,”

I let out a loud breath. “For the past few months I’ve been having these
dreams
. I’m always surrounded by fire in some way, but I’m never scared. It’s the weirdest feeling, almost peaceful.”

Lucy studied my face, not understanding the significance. “What makes them different than any other dreams? I know you’re not one to get freaked out by nightmares.”

I looked down. “I don't know. They’re just . . . different, and when I wake up I always have a fever.”

“A fever? I guess that
is
kind of weird,” Lucy conceded. “Why didn't you tell me sooner?”

“I just didn't think it was relevant,” I replied. “Plus, I’m weirded out by them enough. I don’t need to weird everyone else out too.” I was feeling embarrassed and went for a subject change. “But now back to you, I think you have the more pressing matter.”

“Yeah, yeah I guess I do,” she mumbled.

“So what are our theories?” I asked her.

“Theories?” she replied, confused.

“Yeah,” I answered, “those scratches are anything but normal, which means Dan probably isn’t so normal either. Yesterday he told me he smelled me, and I
don’t
stink. Now he's gone and scratched you, so I think there really is only one plausible theory. It’s a little far-fetched I admit, but I’ve been thinking about it all night and it was all I could come up with.”

Lucy just stared at me, a little green in the face.

“He’s thinks he's a werewolf,” I stated matter-of-factly. I decided to leave out the fact that my idea came from a movie. I didn’t want to make my theory less plausible . . . if that was even possible.

Lucy laughed in a less than convincing manner, but didn't reply.

“Do you have any better ideas?” I asked, feeling slightly offended.

Lucy shook her head. “It's not that Xoe, it's just . . . I think he actually
is
a werewolf.”

I blinked slowly at her as I tried to figure out whether or not she was joking. “Come again?”

Lucy continued unperturbed, “Just think about it Xoe, what else makes sense? What has superhuman smell and claws? I'm not imagining it. His hand was
not
a human hand.”

“I don’t know what makes sense!” I practically shouted. “But Dan being a werewolf sure doesn’t! You have been watching
too
many horror movies. Werewolves don’t exist.”

“I know what I saw!” she shouted back.

“Look,” I replied, calmly as she began to cry, “It’s pretty far out there, but maybe you're right. I know you wouldn't make it up.”

I thought about what Lucy had said. I knew she wouldn't make something like that up, but people's eyes play tricks on them all of the time. It wouldn't help for me to point that out to her though. “He does act kind of . . . dog-like,” I offered.

Lucy sat on my bed, defeated. She sat that way for several minutes.

I waited while we both processed the implications.

Lucy shook her head. “I don’t know Xoe. I understand why you don't believe me. I can hardly believe myself, but I know what I saw.”

I grabbed Lucy’s arm and gently pulled her to her feet. “Let's take a walk. We’ll try to come up with some alternative theories.”

The only problem was, that having considered the alternatives, I knew there weren’t any. I mean, the best I could come up with was that Dan
thought
he was a werewolf, could I fault Lucy for thinking that he really was one? Who was I to say that such things didn't exist? The legends had to come from somewhere.

The problem was that the only information I had came from movies, and the werewolves, according to the films, were always different. Some could only be killed by silver bullets, and others would die if you just whacked ‘em with a big stick enough times. Some just changed once a month, on the night of the full moon, others changed the whole week of the full moon, and others could change at will. We needed answers, and answers we did not have. I guess we’d find out if Lucy's crazy theory was not so crazy after all once the full moon rolled around.

I moved my grip from Lucy’s arm and took her trembling hand to lead her downstairs. The truth was what it was, even if big and growly.

I
stopped by my backdoor to slip on my hiking boots and a jean jacket on our way outside. We journeyed out across my backyard together, then headed into the woods where Lucy and I had met so many years ago. We reached a damp, narrow trail that led through the tall pine trees to the wider, more used trail that connected to a different road. Running water sounded from a stream in the distance. It sounded close, but in reality, it was about two miles away. A cool breeze was blowing, scented with the autumn leaves.

Lucy fell in step behind me, seemingly lost in thought. Usually walking out in the woods was peaceful, but I could almost taste the tension emanating from Lucy. I glanced back at her a couple of times, but waited for her to talk first. She needed time to process things. She was so quiet that if not for the sound of her footfalls, I wouldn’t have known that she was there. We walked for a good ten minutes that way, her trailing behind me, neither of us saying a word.

Lucy’s voice finally cracked the silence. “Do you think I’m going to be a werewolf now? I mean, if that’s what Dan is . . .”

So we were going with the werewolf theory then. That she took it so seriously made it seem more real to me, which I wasn’t exactly grateful for. “I don’t know,” I answered honestly over my shoulder, “but whatever happens, we’ll get through it, even if I have to lock you in a cage once a month.”

Lucy quickened her stride to walk beside me. “A cage?” she asked.

I glanced at her. “Well, maybe not a cage,” I replied, “though I don’t know what else to use. We could just lock you in a room, but seeing as neither of us knows anything about werewolves, or whether or not Dan is one, I’d say better safe than sorry.”

Lucy thought for a moment, then responded, “A cage it is then.”

“We’ll get online and do some research tonight. We of course won’t find any solid answers, but knowing all of the legends can’t hurt.”

“Xoe,” Lucy began slowly. “When I first thought of the werewolf thing, I freaked out and looked up the date of the full moon. It's tomorrow.”

My mouth went dry. “I guess we'll need to find a cage sooner rather than later?” I asked half-heartedly.

We stopped walking and sat on a felled tree on the side of the trail.

“Do you think we should tell Allison?” Lucy asked, changing the subject.

I smiled. “She might not believe us.” At Lucy's expression I corrected, “Okay, she definitely won’t believe us. Though, I guess she’d have to at least consider it if you showed her the scratches.”

“I don’t know,” Lucy countered. “She may not believe it even then. I’m still not sure I do.”

I frowned. “Even if we tried to keep it quiet, she can always tell when we’re trying to hide something from her. Remember the incident of the ruined shoes?”

Lucy gave a small smile. “How could I forget?”

I smiled back. “If she asks, we’ll tell her, and she can decide for herself whether to believe us or not.”

Lucy nodded as the smile slipped from her face.

I felt my smile slip too as I looked down at the ground. There wasn’t much more to say, so we sat in melancholy silence. I could feel the moisture from the tree trunk seeping through my jeans, making me cold. I focused on scratching a patch of lichen off of a nearby rock, rather than thinking too hard on our problem. Little green flakes fell to the damp earth as I picked away.

I needed to put on a brave face for Lucy. I had a feeling that my calmness was the last thing holding her together. If I were her, I’d be falling apart right about now. I was near to falling apart as it was.

Finally, we got up and continued walking farther into the woods. Usually I would have brought my backpack with water, first aid kit, and pepper spray if we were going any sort of distance, but I guess my mind had been too preoccupied to remember when we left my house. It was stupid of me. You never know what might happen.

We had both been watching the ground in front of us for several minutes when Lucy turned her attention to the trail ahead. She paused with instant fear at what she saw.

I
looked up to see what had stopped her. Dan was waiting expectantly farther up the trail. He was dressed in a green t-shirt, jeans, and his brown leather jacket, his hair styled to its usual perfection. He didn’t make a move toward us. He just stood there and stared.

My heart sped as I wiped sweaty palms on my jeans. “W-what do you want?” I stammered loudly, backing up.

He just stood there watching us, then began to come forward.

I shouted, “Don’t come any closer or I’ll—” I blinked and he was only a few feet away. How had he moved so fast?

“Or you’ll what?” he interrupted.

The next thing I knew he shoved me, then I was on the ground, looking at the branches above me, blue sky shining through. My vision swam, then darkness swallowed the branches whole.

––––––––

I
woke to deep blue eyes worriedly looking into my groggy green ones, and realized someone was shaking me. I scuttled backwards out of my assailant’s grasp like a demented crab to take in the stranger who had been hovering over me.

Tousled deep brown hair, and a scruffy yet handsome male face went with the dark blue eyes that had been above me. He had a narrow, sweeping nose and his eyes were lined by a dark splash of lashes. Only his strong, sharp jaw and several days worth of stubble saved his face from femininity. He was about 6’1” with a, might I say, rather nice physique; lean, yet muscled. He wore a dark green sweater, worn jeans, and dark brown hiking boots that had definitely seen better days.

He tried to hide a laugh at my frenzied scuttle, and I was too freaked to get mad. There was still the question of why I had been on the ground, unconscious in the woods with only this handsome stranger to blame. It was only when I saw Lucy standing behind the stranger unharmed, that I was able to stuff my heart back down my throat.

They both watched and waited for me to talk.

Something tickled at the edge of my memory. “Dan! Where’d he go?” I shrieked. I remembered Dan attacking us now, well, I remembered him attacking me, before I lost consciousness.

Lucy shuffled forward, pale and wide-eyed. Her jeans were dirty and her soiled jacket was torn at the elbow. “Dan pushed you down. I tried to run toward you, but suddenly he had me on the ground too. He was so fast Xoe. I tried to struggle, but he pressed me down until I couldn’t move. He said I had to come with him.He said I would be . . . dangerous.” Lucy paused as she glanced at Jason, then quickly went on, “The next thing I knew, Jason was there, tearing him off me.” Tears began to well in Lucy’s already puffy eyes.

I dizzily stumbled to my feet, then grabbed Lucy in a hug, feeling pine needles in her hair. “Where did he go?”

“I-I don’t know,” Lucy said.

I pulled away from Lucy and turned to this so-called Jason character. “Where did he go?” I asked more confidently. “I can’t believe he just gave up that easily.”

Jason studied me for a moment, as if considering which answer would upset me the least, then shrugged, apparently deciding on no answer at all.

“You were the only one vertical at the time. You had to see him leave,” I pressed.

He shrugged again. “My attention was on making sure that the two of you were unharmed. I did not see where he went.”

“So you were completely unconcerned with the stranger that you found in the woods attacking two people?”

Shrugging again, he smirked and walked up to grab my arm. “I will walk you girls home.”

I ripped my arm away from him and got in his face. “We need the truth. Something weird is going on and it is just
way
too convenient that you were there at just the right time. No offense, but Dan is bigger than you, and I don’t think he would exactly run screaming at the sight of you. Your story don’t wash pal.”

He reached out brushed back a strand of my hair that had fallen into my eyes. I jerked away, startled.

He chuckled at my reaction.

I pointed my finger a few inches away from his face. “Now, is
so
not the time to mess with me.”

He smiled. “I can see that, but we do need to get you both home. It's not safe out here.”

I grabbed Lucy and stormed back down the trail, with Jason following a short way behind us. Though Lucy had stopped crying, she was leaning heavily on me as if she’d fall without my support. We stumbled on as Jason caught up to walk on my other side. I focused on the trail, trying to hide the fact that my heart was thundering in my ears.

“I spoke the truth,” he said. “I don't know why he fled. Do you know him?”