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“She didn’t do it.” I pressed my palms flat on the counter, trying to force calm into my voice. “I asked her. I’d know if she were lying.” Probably.
“She’s not like other people though, is she? There’s something… different about this girl. But she didn’t appear aware of what was happening when she broke the circle.” She tapped her fingers on the table. The sound electrified my nerves. “It’s a pity. I could use some knowledge right now. I did wonder if she might have been possessed by a spirit momentarily back there. That could explain the change in eye colour.”
I whirled around. “You noticed that?”
She nodded. “I’m told my own eyes change colour when I call upon certain… elements. Perhaps there’s something in her bloodline that makes her susceptible to spirits as a kind of vessel.”
“There haven’t been any more freaky hauntings,” I said confidently. “It’s probably over.”
“I hope so.” She held my gaze. “Tell me, do you like Margo?”
“Yeah, but she’s not like us, so it’s complicated.”
“Trust me,” she said with a heavy sigh. “Falling for a pack member isn’t any easier.”
She left, and I scurried to the window to see what she had been looking at. The only thing I saw was a russet wolf about to run into the woods.
* * *
Margo wasn’t at school.I hoped we hadn’t worked her too hard at class. She had grown amusingly enthusiastic once she got past her reservations. And I had grown all too aware of how scarily breakable she was. I had to warn her—convince her—of the dangers in the world. But I was terrifiedIwould be the thing she feared in the end.
On the way home from school, Mara nudged me. “What’s up with you?’
I shrugged. “Just thinking.”
“Well, stop. You’re going to get wrinkles if you keep frowning so hard. Wanna hang out with me and Alex later?”
“Not today.”
“Chicken.” She pinched my side then increased her pace to catch up with the front of the group.
I trailed behind, so deep in my own thoughts that I barely noticed the whispers of the others as we neared home.
Mara slipped next to me again. “Something’s up, Dor.”
The anxiety in her voice made me look up. A huge number of cars were parked outside the houses, cars I recognised as belonging to settled families from other estates in the area. “Probably just a pack meeting. Maybe Byron came home early.”
All of the teens were subdued, secretly fearing it was time for some of us to leave. But it was too soon for that. Something else was happening. I sought out Nathan in the crowd of adults that gathered in the gardens.
Nathan spotted my approach and jogged over to us. “You’re home.” He sounded relieved.
“What’s happening?” Victor asked, a note of fear in his words that made my shoulders itch.
“Mara,” Nathan said. “Do you know where Alex is?”
She glanced at me, a troubled look in her eyes. It wasn’t the first time she’d been asked that question, but it had been quite some time. “She said she was taking a dog to a client this morning. We’re supposed to hang out after school.”
He leaned back on his heels, his eyes narrowing with concern. “She never showed up. Amelia’s had this feeling that something bad was coming, and now we can’t get in touch with Alex. If it was anyone else…”
We knew what he meant. Alex was different.
“Mara, do me a favour,” Nathan said. “Check her room, see if she’s taken anything with her.”
“You didn’t do that already?”
“You know me better than that,” he said. “Besides, you’d know better than anyone if anything was missing.”
She nodded then raced off toward her home.
