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Babe nodded. “I’ll do the same.”
I looked at my watch. It was just past eleven a.m. I felt chilled to the bone as I thought about how quickly they could skin Jo Jo alive. I’d seen one of the killers work with deft efficiency, and I could only hope they would wait. “We have to find him.” I rubbed my arms. “We have to.”
* * *
The aroma of pine,peat moss, dirt, and lake water barely made a dent against the stench of my fear. I hadn’t thought I would have such a visceral reaction to being back in these woods. Obviously, I’d thought wrong. The temperature was nearing the high nineties, and the humidity had sweat rolling down the crack of my ass.
“We should change. It will increase our ability to find Jo Jo,” Billy Bob said.
I knew he was right. Most of our group, Ruth and Ed, their boys Tyler and Taylor, Brady Corman, Willy Boden, Chance Lowry, Kyle Avery, and several others had already dropped their clothes and shifted. I was surprised to see Chance had shifted into coyote form. His father Jacob was a beaver. I wondered if he knew what kind of danger being hybrid put him in. Though, why had they taken me? I was pretty sure no one knew that I’d been able to turn into a wolf. Maybe my theory about hybrid-breeds being the target for these killers was wrong.
Whatever their motivation, I wasn’t sure I could bring my coyote to the surface, not as easily as the wolf, and I wasn’t ready for people aka Babe to know yet that I had another animal form.I’m so petty, I thought. While it wasn’t a certainty, I knew in my heart Jo Jo was in extreme danger. I needed to get over myself.
“Okay,” I said, my heart thumping in my throat. I rubbed my clammy, wet palms together and braced my courage. I could do this. Finding Jo Jo was the only thing that mattered. I took my clothes off and passed them to Billy Bob. He took his clothes off, and his woody was looking log-ish.
“I can’t help it,” he muttered, staring uncomfortably straight ahead. “It happens every time I’m around you.”
“Flatteringly inappropriate,” I said.
“Tell me about it.” He shook his head, his silver hair sticking like rivulets of ore to his heat-damp shoulders. Within seconds, the fur on his body sprouted then laid down as his body morphed into a large gray wolf. I sighed. He made it look so easy.
God, it should be easy. It was a part of me. A part of me I’d wanted to embrace. Otherwise, why even move to Peculiar? I thought about my coyote. I imagined her looking much like Babel and Judah. Reddish-brown fur, thinner, less blocky nose than the wolf, a bushy brown tail with a variety of red, white, and black hair mixed in. I felt myself changing, shifting down. In this form, I could feel the pull of the thunder moon. Its lunar energy called to my beast. Unable to stop myself, I leaned my head back and howled.
Billy Bob’s gray wolf joined in. Soon, howls and other creature noises joined in with mine as we all skirted the eighty acres with one thought in mind.Find Jo Jo.
Five hours of searching yielded nothing. Billy Bob and I trotted back to his truck. Both of us shifting, him getting wood again, and me giving him the eye. We quickly dressed to avoid any further conversation. I checked my phone. I had three text messages from Sunny.
First text message said:Just checking in. Keep me informed.
The second message said:Do you know someone with a white pick-up truck?
My stomach squeezed.
The third message said:I have ur friend. Find a way to come to her cabin alone or her blood will be on ur hands.
Oh my God, oh my God. I wanted to scream my horror.Keep it together, Chav. You can’t let Sunny down. You can’t.
You should tell the gray one.
“Shut up,” I said through gritted teeth.
“What?” Billy Bob asked. “I didn’t say anything. Any news?” He glanced at the phone clutched in my hands.
“No,” I said, trying hard to keep my voice normal. I knew he’d be able to hear my racing heart and my quicker breaths, so I really focused on slowing it all down.Her blood will be on your hands. No. I wouldn’t fail Sunny.
“Sunny is out of diapers, and she needs them for Jude. Is it okay if I take your truck?” I swallowed at the lie. “I’ll bring it back as soon as possible.”
“I’ll go with you,” he said.
“No.” I shook my head. “Jo Jo needs everyone searching for him, and you’re his best bet, Doc.” I pointed to my nose. “You’ve got the most developed sense of smell. I’d never forgive myself if we didn’t get to him in time. Please stay.”
He furrowed his brow at me, holding his stare on my face until he finally gave me a quick nod. He handed me the keys. “Hurry back.”
As a desperate act of a dying woman, I threw myself into his arms, and I kissed him with every bit of passion, anger, grief, and love I could muster. If this would be the last time I could touch him, I wanted to remember every second of how he tasted on my lips. When we stopped kissing after several long seconds, Billy Bob said, “What was that about?’
“I’m just going to miss you, is all.” I gave him a quick peck and jingled the keys. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Promise?”
“Cross my heart,” I told him.
“I love you, Chavvah.”
“I know,” I said, the emotion choking my words. I couldn’t say it back. I was betraying him by leaving and putting myself into the hands of a killer, and I hated myself for it. But this was Sunny… Eventually, I hoped, he would forgive me.
