Hemlock (19 page)

He shot me a piercing gaze and I felt guilty for asking. After al, I hated it when people asked me questions about Hank. “You just never realy say much about them,” I stammered. “I didn’t even know you had any family until you left for your aunt’s funeral last April.”

Ben shrugged. “It’s complicated. I remind them of what they lost and they remind me of al the memories I’ve spent years trying to walk away from.”

I wondered if it would be that way with me and Jason and Kyle.

Maybe someday, instead of needing one another, we’d just see each other as painful reminders. I thought about the tattoo on Jason’s neck and a dul ache spread through my chest. Maybe we’d somehow already reached that point.

Ben was watching me. “Are you okay?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I’ve just been thinking about Amy a lot lately.”

His cel phone rang and he slipped it from his back pocket.

“Tess,” he said, glancing at the display. His thumb hovered over the talk button. “Are you realy okay?” he asked.

I nodded again and grabbed a book from the stack next to my bed. “Yup. Tel her I’m staying in and doing homework.”

Ben flashed me a smal, slightly sad smile and answered the cal.

“Hey, Tess. No, Mac’s fine. She’s just studying . . .”

I waited until I heard the front door close behind him, and then I gave him an extra two minutes to get down to the second floor.

Once I was sure he was gone, I got up, walked across the apartment, and turned the dead bolt.

apartment, and turned the dead bolt.

No more interruptions.

Back in my room, I puled Amy’s police file out of its hiding place. I finished the page I had been reading and flipped to the next.

Jason’s statement.

I skimmed—after al, I knew most of it—until I reached the fourth paragraph.

We broke up and Amy got out of the car. I didn’t think
she’d go far. I was just trying to give her a few minutes to
calm down. I was going to go after her and drive her home.

But I couldn’t find her. It was like she disappeared.

I read the paragraph a second time. Then a third.

I struggled to make sense of the words.

I’d spent the past five months thinking Jason felt guilty for being late picking Amy up on the night she died; instead, he was the reason she’d been out there on her own.

My stomach roled and my vision blurred. For an instant, I thought I was going to throw up again. Then the moment passed and I wiped my eyes with the back of my sleeve.

How could Jason have lied to me about something this big?

How could things have been so bad between him and Amy—bad enough for them to break up—without me having the slightest clue?

Anger and confusion washed over me as I flipped through the rest of the file, looking for any more bombshels.

A sticky note fel onto my lap.
Bishop removed from case
June 8th
. It wasn’t anything official-looking, just a three-by-three-June 8th. It wasn’t anything official-looking, just a three-by-three-inch scrap of yelow paper.

I set the report down on the bed. I rubbed the wrist Jason had gripped so tightly, and I remembered what he had said:
I figured,
since you already seemed to hate me, you might as well have a
decent reason.

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

.....................................................................

JASON’S PHONE WENT STRAIGHT TO VOICE MAIL. JUST like the other fourteen times I’d caled.

I glanced up as Kyle rounded the corner. “Anything?”

He shook his head. “His car’s not in the lot and he wasn’t in bio.

He could just be too hungover to bother showing up.” He crossed his arms and leaned against the locker next to mine. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”

My stomach twisted. I needed to find Jason. I needed him to explain the things in that report and the tattoo on his neck and . . .

explain the things in that report and the tattoo on his neck and . . .

everything. I just needed him to explain everything.

“You didn’t see him last night, Kyle. He’s hanging out with losers like Alexis Perry. He let the Trackers brand him like he was a piece of cattle. And—” I immediately stopped talking as two muscular men wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the Tracker crest strode down the hal, their arms weighed down with boxes.

One of them paused. “Which way to the main office?”

“Straight to the end of the hal and then a right folowed by a left,” said Kyle. My heart thundered in my chest, but he didn’t even look nervous.

The Trackers moved on.

“Now what?” I mutter-asked, knowing Kyle didn’t have an answer any more than I did.

I gathered up the threads of what I had been saying. “Jason gave me the report knowing that I’d find out about the breakup.

Why would he do that after keeping it secret al summer? Even by Jason standards, that’s self-destructive and messed up.”

Kyle frowned. “I could drive over to his place. He might not let me in, but I could try.” He didn’t look too enthusiastic about the idea.

I shook my head. “And if a bunch of Trackers are over there?

No way.” I slammed my locker door. “I just don’t understand how he could have lied al summer. Why didn’t he just tel us the truth?”

“Maybe he didn’t know how. Or maybe,” Kyle said, voice oddly detached, “he was worried he’d lose you if he told you the truth.”

I wondered, suddenly, how much it had scared Kyle to tel me I wondered, suddenly, how much it had scared Kyle to tel me he was infected.

“Wouldn’t have happened,” I whispered, and I wasn’t just talking about Jason. “You guys are both stuck with me.”

I picked up my backpack and slung it over my shoulder. “You didn’t know Jason was thinking about breaking up with Amy, did you?” Kyle and Jason had been best friends forever, but I was sure he would have told me if he had known.

“I knew they were having problems.” He shrugged and looked away, watching the crowd miling in the hal. “I didn’t know it was serious.”

The bel rang, signaling the end of the morning break. Kyle pressed a quick kiss to my lips. “I’l catch up with you after class, okay?”

I watched him head for the stairs, and then, on a whim, I turned and headed away from English, toward the south entrance. Kyle had checked the parking lot, but sometimes Jason parked on the street—despite the fact that the entire block in front of the school was a no-parking zone.

Sheffields never got parking tickets.

I suddenly thought of my father. Hank used to say that the smartest crook could be brought down by a single ticket. He always fed the meter plenty of change, and the only time he drove above the speed limit was when he was trying to outrun something.

Or someone.

“Skipping class?”

I whirled at the familiar, musical voice.

“I’m surprised Kyle lets you wander around by yourself. You

“I’m surprised Kyle lets you wander around by yourself. You know, since he’s so protective.” Heather brushed a nonexistent speck of dust from her skirt. She looked up and the hatred in her gaze hit me like a blast of wind.

I glanced up and down the halway. Except for the two of us, it was completely deserted.

She stalked forward and I backed up. I tried to keep my voice steady. “What do you want, Heather?”

She titled her head and sniffed the air. “You don’t sound scared, but I can hear your heartbeat and smel the sweat leaking out of your pores. You kind of reek.”

“Yeah, wel, you’re a werewolf.” I trailed my hand along the wal as I backed up, not taking my eyes off her. There was a short halway a few feet behind me that led to the gym. There wasn’t a class in there this period, but there was a door that led to the cafeteria.

If I could make it to the cafeteria—to other people—she might leave me alone. I let my backpack slide to the ground. If I had to run, it would only slow me down.

Heather grinned and it reminded me of Derby. Completely feral.

“I’m not going to fight you over Kyle.” I struggled to keep my heart from leaping out of my chest as a trickle of sweat ran down the side of my face.

Heather laughed. “Please, like you could.” The muscles in her torso started to widen, and a button popped off her shirt as the fabric strained over bulk that hadn’t been there a moment ago. “I would have torn you to pieces Sunday night if he hadn’t stopped would have torn you to pieces Sunday night if he hadn’t stopped me.” She smiled and her teeth were suddenly sharp and pointed.

“That’s why he’s making me leave town, you know. He’s worried about poor, fragile Mackenzie Dobson.”

Kyle was
making
her leave?

Before I could process the information, Heather’s back twisted and she doubled over. “You messed up everything,” she panted.

“Kyle belongs with me. He’s the same as me.” She lost control and shifted completely.

I ran.

I heard the wolf behind me as I yanked open the gym door and threw myself inside.

Racing for the other end of the dark, cavernous room, I tripped over a discarded basebal bat and went sprawling. I felt Heather sail over me as I hit the ground.

She colided with the bleachers, the force of the impact enough to wrench a smal, high-pitched whine out of her.

If I hadn’t tripped, she would have torn out my throat. I remembered the pictures of Amy from the police file and was flooded with panic. That’s what Heather wanted to do to me.

That’s what she
would
do to me.

Shaking, I grabbed the bat and scrambled to my feet.

Heather paced in front of the cafeteria door. She looked like Kyle when he transformed; she had the same color fur and was just a little smaler.

There was no way out. I couldn’t get past her, and she’d overtake me before I could make it back the way I had come in. I was completely trapped. The realization roared through my head, was completely trapped. The realization roared through my head, obliterating every other thought.

An announcement about yearbook photos came over the loudspeaker and Heather glanced up toward the rafters, barring her teeth like the noise hurt her ears.

And that’s when I noticed the equipment closet.

Taking advantage of Heather’s distraction, praying I’d be fast enough, I raced for the door. I pushed myself harder than I had ever pushed myself before—harder, even, than the night Jimmy had chased me.

I hurtled inside and slammed the door shut a nanosecond before she hit it from the other side.

Lock? Where was the lock? With a sinking feeling, I remembered that the lock was on the outside.

I could hear Heather growling through the door. How long would it take her to realize that al she had to do was shift back and open it with her hand? She colided with the wood again, and the hinges groaned.

Light filtered into the smal room through a dirty window high on the wal, but there were bars over the glass. There was no way out.

Heart hammering, I dropped the bat and pushed the wooden horse they used for gymnastics against the door.

It wasn’t enough.

She was going to get in.

The muscles in my chest ached as I sucked in panicked breaths.

I didn’t want to end up like Amy in those photos. I couldn’t end up like Amy in those photos.
Please, God, don’t let me end up like
Amy in those photos
. I bit my lip to cut off a strangled cry.

Amy in those photos
. I bit my lip to cut off a strangled cry.

Help. I had to get help.

I reached into my pocket and hauled out my phone. I didn’t think, I just dialed. I wasn’t even sure what keys I was pressing.

Jason picked up on the first ring.

I yelped as Heather colided with the door again, so hard that the wood splintered around the hinges.

“Mac?”

“I’m in the gym.” My throat didn’t want to work, and I had to force the words out. On the other side of the door, Heather’s growling had gotten louder. “In the equipment closet. Heather Yoshida is outside the door and—”

THUD!

The top hinge gave way.

“Heather’s infected and she’s breaking down the door, and oh, God, Jason, she’s going to get in.”

“Hang on.” Jason’s voice was rough and desperate. “I’m puling up to the school now.” I heard the slam of a car door folowed by the sound of Jason’s labored breathing as he raced for the building.

“Cal Derby!” he yeled to someone. “There’s a wolf inside the gym!”

The second hinge went flying and the door started to topple. “It doesn’t matter,” I said, my voice a whisper-sob. “It’s too late.

She’s in.”

I retrieved the basebal bat and I heard Jason yel my name as I shoved the phone into my pocket and backed up to the far wal.

The wolf leaped over the wooden gymnastics horse and landed on a huge stack of gym mats, the ones that were too ratty to use in class but never seemed to get thrown out.

She stared down at me, hackles raised and teeth bared. I tried not to think about the way Jimmy had screamed in the aley as I moved along the wal, holding the bat out in front of me.

Sharp pain sliced through my arm and I glanced down. I had gouged myself on the edge of a battered set of metal shelves.

Heather leaped at me and I threw myself forward, hitting the stack of gym mats with enough force that they fel to the ground—

fel on top of me—in a heap.

The wolf plowed her way through them, teeth snapping for any part of me she could reach. I tried to cram my basebal bat down her throat.

She yelped and shook her head, then dove at me again, twice as determined.

I was going to die. Icy certainty filed me.

Suddenly, Heather let out a high-pitched whine and fel, twitching, to the ground.

Hands dug through the mats, tossing them aside, and then Jason was there, puling me to my feet, saying something that I couldn’t hear over the pounding of my pulse.

He half carried me out of the closet and to the bleachers, even though I tried to tel him I could walk.

The overhead lights flickered to life and I blinked. There were shouts from the equipment closet and I stiffened.