Forgotten (17 page)

Jessica turned the mirror to a different angle – but still nothing. “I don’t see a dog.”

Katrina turned and pointed. “That dog …” Her words trailed off. She frowned.

Jessica arched her right eyebrow “As I said before, what dog?”

“There was a dog and it was watching me!”

“Dogs don’t watch people.”

Katrina started to rub her temples.

“Maybe you should go see Doctor Clairmont again?” Jessica suggested.

Tears sprang to Katrina’s eyes and rolled down her cheeks. “You think it wasn’t real? That I’m seeing things?”

“Katrina, you know—” Jessica began, but before she could finish, Katrina opened the passenger side door, jumped out, and ran toward the front door.

Jessica slammed her hands into the steering wheel. “Well, you handled that brilliantly,” she muttered to herself.

Suzanne stopped running when she realized that she was in an unrecognizable wood. Tall Redwoods and Oaks surrounded her and the woodland floor was covered with sweet smelling pine needles. The dawn sunlight dappling through the trees made the woods feel ethereal and dreamlike.

I wonder how far I’ve run
, Suzanne mused, looking in the direction that she’d come from.
Have I really been running through these woods most of the night? It seems longer.

The wood was still and silent, but something told her she was not alone. She sniffed the air and was greeted by a familiar scent.

Suzanne unconsciously licked her lips, anticipation making her mouth water. She took a step forward, then another, hunger and instincts propelling her forward.

The scent was stronger now.

An animal. Something big.

Suzanne licked her lips again. She could hear the animal’s heart beating.

She smiled and crouched to pounce.

Then it stepped out from its cover. It was an adult male deer. Suzanne prayed it hadn’t sensed her.

Suzanne edged closer, so close that she could hear its blood pumping loudly in her ears.

Another step –

A twig crunched underfoot and reverberated through the wood, causing Suzanne to curse to herself.

The deer looked up, startled, but didn’t move.

Suzanne relaxed minutely in relief before her shoulders tensed – and then she sprang.

The deer screamed in surprise and fear.

Once.

Twice.

Before the deer could make another sound, Suzanne clamped her fangs into its throat and wrestled it to the ground.

The deer thrashed its legs and head, thrust at her with its antlers, but effortlessly she avoided being hurt without letting go of her prey.

When the deer’s fighting had subsided, Suzanne eased her grip and began to drink the warm, coppery blood. Suddenly, she stopped drinking and scrambled away, trembling.

I killed a deer! I actually brought it down all by myself!
she thought, looking at its corpse. As Suzanne stared at the deer’s lifeless body, an unwanted feeling inside her stirred.

And then, like a bolt of lightning, something blossomed in her.

Fear.

Undiluted, bone-chilling fear.

Oh, God! What have I done?
Suzanne thought, horrified.
I killed this deer, but I’m still human. Emily was right: I’m out of control!

Tears burned in her eyes, rolling down her face. From her shock, Suzanne did not feel them. Her thoughts were erratic.

Why am I acting like this? Maybe I should go home. No, I left for a reason. But what was it? Oh, yes, that’s it! I was following someone!

Nausea hit her and she pivoted away – but the taste in her mouth and the overpowering smell that invaded her nostrils still assaulted her, and as hard as she tried, she couldn’t get the awful image of the deer out of her head.

I need to wash this blood off me
, Suzanne thought quickly,
and get away from this place.

Overwhelmed, she began to run again through the woods, her legs pounding over the broken branches that littered the woodland floor. When Suzanne finally stopped, she realized that cold water was surrounding her.

Water?

Suzanne shivered and found that she was standing in the middle of a narrow river.

Why the hell am I standing here?
Suzanne thought, mystified,
I’d better get out of here before I catch pneumonia.

She turned and strode out of the river – but something caught her eye. She stopped.

Her reflection.

Suzanne stared with disbelief, her body trembling in shock. She closed her eyes and tried to gather her thoughts, but when she opened them again she was confronted by the same face looking back at her: not that of an attractive sixteen-year-old girl but that of a wolf. The only thing that remained of Suzanne’s human self was the silver locket around her neck.

When did I change?
Suzanne thought in confusion.

Still in shock, Suzanne waded out of the river and sat on the bank to think.

What’s happening to me? First, I couldn’t change into a wolf when Emily needed me yesterday, and now I’m a wolf and I don’t remembering changing into one!

“Blondie!” came a menacing voice from the trees.

Suzanne looked up and scanned the area around her. There was something familiar about that voice …

“Blondie!” the voice repeated.

Narrowing her eyes, Suzanne emitted a low warning growl to the disembodied voice.

“Is that the best you can do?” the voice said with a laugh. “No wonder Katrina left you!”

Suzanne gave another warning growl. Something about the voice made her angry and she could feel her savage wolf instincts start to take over.

Suddenly Suzanne remembered who the voice belonged to.

Starr.

Even the mere thought of that girl’s name made Suzanne bare her inch-long fangs in an angry snarl.

“I see you haven’t forgotten me.” There was a smile in Starr’s voice.

“How could I forget?” Suzanne growled.

“Oh, that’s good! It’s so much simpler when the person you’re going to kill remembers you,” Starr said casually.

“Kill me?” Suzanne started laughing.

“Stop it!” Starr screamed, stepping from her hiding place. Her eyes were black.

“What’s wrong, Starr? You don’t find your own joke funny?” Suzanne said between laughing fits.

“I’m not joking!” Starr’s voice was icy and cruel.

“Okay then, if you’re not joking then I suggest that you show me just how you’re going to do it, because I’m very intrigued to see you try!” Suzanne replied, her voice equally as icy.

Starr leaned against a tree and smiled again. Putting her hand in her jeans pocket, she withdrew a silver pistol and aimed it at Suzanne. “I was thinking I’d use this but it’s not that intimate.” She paused. “Besides, I really want to see the fear in your eyes just before you die.”

For a second Suzanne considered the silver gun and the likelihood of it containing silver bullets or not – and then she started laughing again.

“What’s so funny?” Starr demanded.

“You can’t kill me with that!”

“And why not?”

“Oh, I’m really going to tell you!” Suzanne’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

“Yes!” Starr replied, arrogantly.

“And why would I do that?”

“Because I’ve got a gun pointed at your head, that’s why!”

“Have you always been stupid or is it something that’s happened since you became a werewolf?”

Starr began to shake in fury. “Who the hell do you think you are?”

“Someone with the IQ of more than, say … five.”

“I could rip your throat out before you even acknowledged what was happening to you!”

“Yeah, if you were a wolf, maybe.” Suzanne paused, eyeing the gun again. It had dropped a couple of inches. “But you’re not! You’re just a girl with an attitude problem.”

“You think I’m bluffing?”

“In a word …” Suzanne hesitated for effect. “Yes.”

“Oh, you do!” Starr smirked, raised the gun and pulled the trigger.

Suzanne felt the bullet pass her head with a soft and silent whoosh. Birds scattered from the surrounding trees, calling warnings, before leaving the world eerily silent.

“Next time I won’t miss,” Starr said, still aiming the gun at Suzanne’s head.

“There won’t be a next time.”

“And how are you going to stop me?” Starr asked.

“Like this!” Suzanne snarled, then launched herself at Starr.

Starr dropped the gun in surprise and put up her arms to block Suzanne’s ferocious attacks. Suzanne leapt at Starr again and knocked her to ground. Starr hit the woodland floor hard. Before she could clamber back up, Suzanne had pinned her, her claws ripping through Starr’s sweater.

“Should I tell you the difference between you and me?” Suzanne growled into Starr’s ear.

No reply.

“I’m no killer,” Suzanne continued regardless, “but if I hear that you have hurt my sister, I will hunt you down and tear you limb from limb!”

Suzanne backed away from Starr to let her get up and turned away to find the gun.

There was a noise. Suzanne turned and looked up; Starr was stood behind her with a thick branch in her hands and a wicked smile pasted on her lips.

Starr swung; Suzanne instinctively ducked out of the way and backed up. Starr poised to swing again and Suzanne leapt out of reach.

“I’m going to kill you!” Starr screamed, rushing toward Suzanne, her eyes filled with hate and rage.

Another swing; this one connected with Suzanne’s right shoulder, knocking her backward and to the ground with a grunt.

“Ouch.” Suzanne shook her head, dizzily.

“Aww, did I hurt you?” Starr mocked.

Suzanne got back onto her feet and felt a sharp pain shoot up her front right leg.

Oh God, I think it’s broken
, Suzanne thought.
I need to get out of here!

She began to limp away. Starr made to follow for a moment but then stopped and instead watched her go. “This isn’t the end!” she shouted behind her as she lost line of sight.

Suzanne began to cry, her head and leg hurt and, overcome with pain, she fell onto the woodland floor unconscious.

Katrina stood on the steps of Sycamore Heights High; it had been nearly a week since cheerleading try-outs and she was feeling nervous. Students pushed past her on their way to their lockers.

“Excited?” a voice asked behind Katrina.

Katrina turned around and broke out in a relieved smile. “Jess!”

“You know you’ve got to stop leaving the house so early!”

“Sorry, I don’t want to get lost on my first day.”

Jessica laughed. “You won’t get lost. It’ll just take you a few days to get used to the place. You’ll be fine.”

“I’m glad you’re here to reassure me!”

“No problem, but after a while you’ll know this place as well as I do!” Jessica looked at her wristwatch. “Jeez, we’d better find our homeroom. We don’t want to be tardy on the first day back!”

Katrina followed Jessica up the school’s steps and through the main glass doors. The corridor was filled with students opening their lockers, catching up with friends and trying to find their new homerooms.

“So where’s ours?” Katrina called to Jessica.

“Hmm. Room 161, I think. At the end of this corridor, we go up the flight of stairs and it’s the second room on the left.”

“Okay, but first can we stop off at the principal’s office?”

“Why?” Jessica asked.

“I just have to go and pick up my new schedule.”

“A new schedule?”

“Yeah. There was a mix up in a couple of my classes.”

“Oh.”

Katrina noticed the look on Jessica’s face. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Jessica paused. “Well, I mean, you didn’t mention it, and you should have.”

“I didn’t think you’d be interested!”

Jessica opened her mouth as to say something then, changing her mind, closed it again.

“What?” Katrina asked, noticing Jessica’s unease.

“You still hate me, don’t you?”

Katrina looked at Jessica in surprise. “Hate you? Why should I hate you?”

“Because of what I said about Doctor Clairmont.”

“Jess, that was nearly a week ago. In fact, I’d forgotten all about it until you just reminded me.”

“Well, keep on forgetting about it!” Jessica laughed, relieved. “Do you know where the office is?”

“Erm …” Katrina looked up and down the busy corridor and frowned.

“You want me to show you?”