Six Moon Summer (17 page)

“Okay.” He pushed the window open again. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to you sooner.”

Seth departed, leaving Rylie to sit alone and think about the full moon.

The bonfire announcements weren’t considered a “fun” activity, so Rylie was allowed to attend. She gave Katie the slip amongst the gathering crowd and sought out Cassidy, who had already found a seat on one of the highest benches.

“I’m surprised you’re here,” Cassidy said as Rylie sat beside her. “I hear you’re confined to your cabin.”

“The rumors are true,” she said grimly.

“Everyone be quiet!” the director called, holding up both hands to silence the campers.

Most of the talking died off, but Rylie leaned close to Cassidy’s ear. She could see Katie looking for her near the fire, so there wasn’t much time. “I need to sneak out of camp tomorrow night,” she whispered.

Cassidy’s eyes lit up. “Really? Why?”

“I’m meeting a guy, but I’m under constant surveillance. I need someone to…” Rylie fell silent as another counselor passed, waiting to continue until she was gone. “I need someone to distract the counselor on duty so I can sneak out after curfew and get back in at dawn. You’re not far from me. Do you think…?”

“That sounds like fun,” Cassidy said, grinning. “Who’s this guy you’re sneaking out to meet?”

Rylie pushed a pebble around with the toe of her hiking boots. “His name is Seth. He’s from Golden Lake.”

“Is he cute?”

She thought of his muscular shoulders and slanted smile, and her cheeks got hot. “Oh yeah. Really cute.”

“Be careful,” Cassidy warned. “Is this guy worth the trouble?”

“Definitely.”

She shrugged. “Your choice. I’ll totally help.”

The activity director’s voice caught Rylie’s ear. “There’s going to be a cross-camp social event in a week. Everyone from our side and the boys’ side will attend,” the director said. “It used to be a yearly tradition, but we stopped about seven years ago after things got a little out of hand.” Rylie felt a little thrill. The boys from Camp Golden Lake included Seth. “There will be music, dancing, and food. It’s a great time to meet our brothers from the other camp.”

“And hook up with hotties you’ve been sneaking out to bang,” Cassidy whispered, nudging her elbow in Rylie’s side.

Her cheeks heated. “Sure, if I’m allowed to go.”

“Wear your nicest hiking boots!” joked the director. Everyone laughed.

Katie caught up with Rylie when everyone stood to go to dinner. She didn’t bother chastising Rylie for sneaking off, but she hovered behind her as they walked to the mess like a body guard. “Hey Katie,” Rylie said. “I was thinking… since I’m going to be off cabin restriction by then… will I get to go to the dance?”

Her eyes narrowed. “No, I don’t think so. I’ll stay back at camp with you.”

“Please? I can’t miss the dance!”

“You got caught trying to meet a boy over there. It’s not a punishment if we let you meet him. Okay? I don’t want to hear about it.”

“But that’s not fair!” Rylie complained. She never got to see Seth unless something was wrong. She wanted one chance to have fun before the summer ended. Her chin quivered as she tried not to cry. “Everyone else gets to go!”

“I told you, I don’t want to hear it. Go eat dinner.”

Cassidy and Rylie agreed on how she could sneak out while roasting marshmallows after dinner. Their plans were simple enough, but Rylie spent the next couple of days worrying anyway. Katie was sharp. If Cassidy didn’t keep her promise, there was no way Rylie could escape.

After curfew on the full moon, Rylie lay nervously in bed with her window open and her hiking boots laced. She listened to the breeze outside and her roommates’ snoring.

Her stomach was heavy with all the meat she had eaten in the hopes the wolf would be satiated enough not to attack another deer. She had also taken deep sniffs of her books again to get the werewolf’s scent fresh in her nose. Rylie could even detect it on the air as a human.

The minutes crawled by. Rylie waited, skin crawling, for Cassidy to arrive.

Fortunately, she was as good as her word. Shortly after the wall clock clicked over to ten, she heard Katie speak outside. “Hey! You there! What are you doing out of bed?”

That was her cue. Rylie clambered out the window and peered around the cabin. Katie had been seated so she could watch Rylie’s door, but now her back was turned. She was calling to Cassidy in the trees.

“Oh no, I must have gotten lost,” Cassidy said, sounding so innocent that it had to be obvious she was up to something. She was in her pajamas and scrubbing at her face sleepily. “I’m with Group D and I was looking for the bathrooms. Which camp is this?”

Katie walked over to talk to her, and Rylie darted across the clearing, hanging low to the ground. Her heart pounded. She was sure Katie would spot her at any moment, but she made it to the trail without being followed.

“Thank you, Cassidy,” Rylie whispered. She couldn’t wait to see how her friend distracted the counselor first thing in the morning. The bathroom excuse couldn’t work twice.

Rylie and Seth met at their usual spot. He didn’t have his bag of tricks this time. The only thing Seth brought was a belt knife as long as his forearm. He looked ready to move fast, but Rylie wondered if that would be enough to keep up with her on the loose.

“Let’s hike as far as we can before you change,” Seth suggested. “Wherever the werewolf made its den, it must be a long way from camp.”

They walked through the forest, straying off the trail when they approached the place Rylie had been attacked. “There’s going to be a camp social between the girl’s side of the lake and the boy’s side,” she said, pretending to be concentrating on climbing a pile of boulders. It was actually so easy now she could have done it upside down and backwards. “Have you heard about it?”

“We haven’t had announcements this week yet.”

“It sounds like all the girls are going to get bused over to Golden Lake. I guess there’s going to be dancing and stuff.” She tried to sound casual. “It kind of sounds like fun.”

Seth made a face. “I don’t dance.”

“Oh.”

“But I might dance with you,” he said. His shoulder bumped hers.

Her cheeks got hot. There was nothing romantic about sneaking into the forest so she could safely become a half-monster, but she almost forgot about it in that moment. “So you’re going to go?”

“Maybe, if you’re coming.”

“I want to. I don’t know. The stupid counselor they have watching me doesn’t think I should get to have any fun.”

“Go over her head,” he suggested. “Ask the director.”

“That might not help. Everyone’s still pretty mad at me,” Rylie said.

Seth gave her his slanted smile, and her heart beat a little faster. “I hope you can go.”

She didn’t have time to get excited. The moon began to call as it rose higher in the sky. After her last several transformations, she could recognize the creeping feeling that meant she was running out of time as a human. It was happening earlier than ever before. “I think I’m going to change.”

Seth stopped. The forest was thick and secluded, so it was as good a place as any.

“Okay. You should get ready,” he said.

“Get ready?”

“You’re going to be almost entirely wolf this time. You probably won’t be able to fit into your clothes anymore.”

Rylie blushed. “Right.”

“I’ll go over there while you change.” Seth pointed to a ridge not far above them. “I won’t look, I promise. Once you pick up the werewolf’s smell, I’ll follow.”

“I don’t think I can make myself wait for you to catch up with me,” Rylie warned.

He laughed. “Don’t worry. I can keep up.”

“Okay. I’ll see you on the other side.”

Seth dissolved into the trees, and Rylie went about the business of getting undressed and stashing her clothes behind a bush. She should have felt weird getting naked in such an open area. Rylie was modest—she didn’t even wear bikinis to the beach. But it felt completely normal to be bare-fleshed in the forest.

She could hear Seth climbing the ridge. Even if she felt normal being naked, she was still blushing. She felt like she might blush for the rest of her life.

The moon called to her, drawing the beast out. She tried to focus on staying human as long as she could. She visualized her human fingers and toes, her face, her blonde hair. But there was no fighting it. The curse was too powerful.

She changed fast this time, as though her body was beginning to remember the form. Rylie cried out as her face stretched. Her spine elongated into a tail, and her skin burned as fur grew. The only difference this time was that her knees snapped and reversed, forcing her onto all four legs.

The wolf didn’t care about the pain. Rylie was grateful when it took over for her.

She focused on the smell of the werewolf when her sharpened senses came to life. Although she couldn’t remember why she recognized the smell, she knew she needed to follow it. Locating the other beast was the only way she could secure her territory.

Nose to the air, she tracked the smell across the trail and higher into the mountain. She didn’t notice the human trying to follow her.

The wolf paused by a tree and smelled it. Tufts of fur were stuck to the rough bark, giving her a fresh whiff of the werewolf’s smell. It was recent. He was near.

Twigs cracked behind her. She turned and saw nothing.

Quickening her pace, she grew more excited as the scent became fresher. It was still at least an hour’s run ahead, but she was gaining on it.

The wind shifted, blowing the smell of a human in her direction. This time, when she looked behind her, she saw him struggling to keep up with her. In the back of her mind, Rylie worried for Seth. The wolf was only impressed that he managed to follow her for so long.

But she also didn’t want anything tracking her. She began to run, leaping from rock to rock.

“Rylie!” yelled the human.

She paid him no mind. There was no way he could keep up with her as she approached the steeper places on the mountain. For half an hour, she ran, tracking the passage of night by the moon’s march across the sky.

When the moon reached its apex, she looked behind her again. There was no sign of the human. She had lost him. Rylie gave a small, inward cry of disappointment.

The wolf’s pulse sped. The scent she was tracking grew stronger, and she hurried to catch up with it. She crossed the river, jumping over a natural bridge created by a toppled tree. At long last, the trees disappeared entirely, replaced by rough rock worn smooth by the wind.

The smell had vanished.

She stopped, looking around in confusion. She was certain she hadn’t left the territory, so the werewolf should have been nearby.

Proceeding with her nose to the ground, she searched for the smell once more. The wolf had almost reached the very top of Gray Mountain. All the other mountains fell away beneath her as she climbed.