Unleashed (32 page)

She thought of Becky Jensen. A murder, made to look like a mauling?

Cordelia’s words echoed in her mind:
My father will kill you
.

A knock on her bedroom door interrupted her spiraling thoughts. She braced herself, expecting Cordelia, but when she opened the door, her grandfather stood there.

“Something’s up,” he said. “I could hear you pacing.”

“Boy stuff,” she said, giving him a little frown to help sell it. It seemed to be the easiest thing to say to shut him down.

He hovered on the threshold. “You know,” he said, “I used to be a boy.”

She wanted to scream, her patience gone. “Women have gotten the vote since then,” she muttered, and the strangest look crossed his features. It was a mixture of expressions—surprise, amusement, grief, and something else.… Shame? Her own shame hit her in the gut. Had she really just said something so mean?

“That sounds like something your father would say,” he said. He sighed. “You look so much like him.”

She blinked in surprise. No one had ever said that to her before. Everyone back in Santa Monica said she looked just like her mother. Of course, most of her friends had never met her father.

“You’re right,” he said softly. “I should have come for her funeral.”

“You should have,” she agreed. She wanted—needed—to talk to him about all this. But at the moment, she could barely string words together. All she wanted was to talk to Cordelia, to wring the truth out of
her
. She closed her eyes and struggled for composure, some sense of calm. Her grandfather had walked into a hornets’ nest and he didn’t deserve the attitude she was giving him. Worse, if it continued, he might suspect that there was something a lot bigger than boy trouble wrong with her.

A silence settled over them. Katelyn reached out to him and took his hand. Then she said gently, “Your friend who died. Is there going to be a service?”

His face softened and he smiled sadly. “Old men and hard earth. Tough combination.”

“I missed you, you know,” she said softly, old memories coming back to her. “I wanted to see you. I
needed
to see you.”

“I know. I needed to see you, too.” His eyes were shiny. He really meant it.

“Then why didn’t you come?” she asked in a tiny voice.

He looked away and she felt her heart sink. More secrets, more things people didn’t want to tell her. But then he shocked her by speaking.

“I had something to take care of here. Please, Katie, trust me on this.”

Katelyn was stunned. Before she could say anything, he cocked his head. “Was that the door?”

She followed him down the stairs, staring at the back of his shirt, his head of gray hair. As much as she had hoped it was Cordelia at the door, she was unspeakably grateful to have had that moment with her grandfather. It gave her hope for the future.

When Ed opened the front door, Cordelia was standing there, slightly out of breath, holding her backpack in her arms. She managed a smile at him, then shifted her attention to Katelyn. Her eyes were clear and bright. Katelyn saw fear there, but determination as well.

“So, um,” Cordelia said. “Do we have time to work on our history project before dinner?”

Katelyn nodded, eager to get her alone, but forcing herself to seem casual. “Yeah. I got some cool stuff from Sam, too. Newspaper clippings.” She motioned for Cordelia to follow her upstairs.

“I went over to her place after school. I wanted to say goodbye,” she added as she climbed.

Both girls dropped their false smiles as soon as they turned down the hallway that led to Katelyn’s bedroom, and she pulled Cordelia the last few steps into her room, then turned to face her.

But Cordelia looked around, then up at the skylight, and shook her head.

“We can’t talk here.”

Katelyn frowned. “Then, where? There really aren’t a lot of options.”

“We could take a walk,” Cordelia suggested. “I just … If he comes in and sees what I’m showing you …” She licked her lips and stood waiting.

“You’re scaring me,” Katelyn said.

“Good. You should be scared.”

Katelyn glanced up at the skylight. “It’s getting too dark. He’ll never let me go. Let’s just lock the door. He’s downstairs cooking—it’ll be fine.”

Cordelia had had ninety minutes to rehearse whatever she was going to say. Katelyn wasn’t letting her leave until she got something out of her.

Cordelia sat down on the bed and tucked her knees under her chin. “My father,” she began, her voice soft, “is losing his mind. It’s a kind of dementia, like Alzheimer’s.”

“I’m sorry,” Katelyn said, confused. It wasn’t at all what she’d been expecting.

“So he’s been behaving very oddly,” Cordelia continued, as if she hadn’t heard her. “As you’ve seen—the Fenner Family Olympics.”

“Which explains why he’ll kill me?” Katelyn pressed. It sounded as crazy out loud as it had when she’d thought it.

“Maybe,” Cordelia murmured.

“Cordelia, that makes no sense. It doesn’t explain anything.” Katelyn had to struggle to keep her voice down, keep her frustration in check.

Cordelia was silent for a long time and then she abruptly raised her head and tilted back her chin, gazing up at the skylight again. She exhaled as if she were a million years old, and then she looked at Katelyn.

“Second: I told you the truth. I’m not sure what happened to you. I don’t know who or what attacked you. And you have to believe me.”

Katelyn nodded slowly, disappointment flooding her. She’d thought this would be the moment that all the pieces would fall into place. But life wasn’t like that, was it?

“We both agree it was an animal, right?” Katelyn said.
Not a crazy person. Not a man with Alzheimer’s
.

“We do,” Cordelia said. Then added hesitantly, “Sort of.” She cleared her throat and continued in a stronger voice. “Even if you subtract my dad’s … condition, you might have noticed that my family is a little … odd.”

“A little?” Katelyn said before she could stop herself.

Cordelia didn’t smile. “Yes. And ours isn’t the only one. There are a few other families who live around here who are also
odd.
”

“I’ve been told this place is odd,” Katelyn said, leaving it open for Cordelia to explain.

The other girl reached out and gripped Katelyn’s hand tight. She leaned closer so that their foreheads were nearly touching. Then she opened her backpack and pulled out a framed color photograph. It was of a wolf—its fur a ruddy brown—with intelligent blue eyes that gazed directly at the camera. The image was eerie—as if somehow the photographer had captured its essence.

Its soul.

Katelyn went cold. What was it about wolves and this place?

Cordelia turned the frame over and pushed away the flanges that held the black velvet backing in place. She lifted it off, revealing the other side of the photograph. There was strange writing in each corner, almost like some kind of ancient runes or something you’d see on tarot cards. Wordlessly, Cordelia held the picture out to Katelyn, who squinted, trying to make out the letters.

“ ‘Cordelia, Hunter’s Moon,’ ” Cordelia translated. “And my lineage. Mother’s side, father’s side. But it’s all the same side.”

It was as if Cordelia were speaking in a foreign language. Katelyn was lost. “I’m still not following,” Katelyn said very slowly.

“But you
are
following,” Cordelia said in a low voice. “You know. You just don’t want to admit it.”

“Know what?” Katelyn asked, but her mouth went dry, and the words cracked as she said them. Her mind was working and it felt as if things were changing from hazy to focused.

Cordelia tapped the photograph. “What I am. What my family is. And what you might be now, too.”

Katelyn shook her head, suddenly feeling faint. “No. I don’t understand.”

She tried to pull away but Cordelia grasped her hand tight, crushing it. “It’s why we live in the middle of the forest, why my sisters act so weird. My cousin Jesse kisses you because that’s how … wolves … greet one another.”

Katelyn’s insides were quaking. “Are you trying to say that you—you’re …”

She tried to stand, but Cordelia held her fast with an incredibly powerful grip. Using her free hand, Cordelia pulled out more framed photographs.

Of wolves.

“Arial. Regan. My father.” The metal frames clanked against each other as Cordelia leaned in close, her breath brushing against Katelyn’s ear. “Werewolves, Kat. That’s what we are.”

“No.” Katelyn shook her head fiercely. “That’s crazy.”

“You know it’s not. You
know.
”

With a burst of adrenaline, Katelyn jerked away from Cordelia and jumped to her feet. Dizzy, she reached out and touched the wall. Katelyn fought back tears. Cordelia was crazy. She had to get away from her. Her grandfather would know what to do.

Cordelia threw her arms around her and Katelyn tried to push her away, but the other girl was too strong. “You know it’s true,” Cordelia whispered. “Wolves only have blue eyes when they’re pups. There’s no way that what you saw out in the woods and with Trick was just a regular wolf.”

“But there must be
some
wolves—”

“Only hybrids, or maybe, once in a great while, a genetic mutation. Adult wolves just don’t have blue eyes. But werewolves do. We keep the same eye color in both forms.”

“What are you saying?” Katelyn asked, shuddering.

“The sight, the heightened senses. They’re all part of it.”

And then it struck Katelyn what Cordelia was saying.
Heightened senses, like I’ve been experiencing
. Her mind screamed in horror as she went back over the past few days for confirmation.

“So now I’m a … I’m like that?” Katelyn asked hoarsely.

“I don’t know,” Cordelia said, biting her lip.

“How do you not know?” Katelyn asked, wanting to shake her.

“I told you, I don’t know what bit you!” Cordelia said. Anger laced with fear flared in her eyes. Katelyn jerked, hard, even more afraid as she tried to grasp what Cordelia was … and what she herself might be.

This can’t be happening. This can’t be real. Oh, my God
. She was shaking so hard her bones began to ache.

“Katelyn, I …,” Cordelia murmured.

“But what happened to you?” Katelyn asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Who bit you?”

Cordelia blinked. “No one. I was born a werewolf.”

Katelyn was silent as she took that in. Hope flared inside her, because she, Katelyn, had
not
been born a … thing like that … and then terror, just as intense, just as white-hot. Cordelia could change into a wolf. She could attack her.

“Werewolf parents have werewolf pups,” she said. “Katelyn, there are no humans in my family.”

There are no humans in my family
.

“Justin,” Katelyn said, her stomach turning. She’d let him kiss her.

“And Jesse, too,” Cordelia confirmed.

Trembling as a chill ran down her spine, Katelyn covered her mouth. Cordelia wasn’t human. “And if you bite someone?” Her voice broke. “If you
break the skin
?”

Cordelia let her go.

“They change,” she said finally. “But
I
didn’t bite you. I swear it. I couldn’t have. I can’t change except on the full moon. I’m not mature enough. And you weren’t bitten on a full moon.”

Katelyn went silent. She was shivering uncontrollably, from shock and disbelief. Then she forced herself to ask the next question.

“Who
have
you done this to?”

Cordelia shook her head. “Me personally? No one. But one of my pack mates
was
brought in with a bite. My brother-in-law Doug. He dated Regan all through high school. He was screened and tested and our alpha gave permission first.”

“And who is the alpha?” Katelyn asked, hearing herself speaking, and feeling as if she’d totally lost her mind. It was insane.

Cordelia exhaled slowly and bit her lower lip. “My father runs the pack. He’s served as alpha since the year before I was born.”

“And he’s … getting demented,” Katelyn said, still struggling to grasp the reality.

“Yes,” Cordelia said quietly.

“And I wasn’t screened or tested, and he didn’t give his permission.”

“No.”

Katelyn slumped down on the bed, because she didn’t know what else to do. If she ran downstairs to tell her grandfather, he’d do what? Would he even believe her? And if it was true, what would Cordelia do to him? She leaned over for a moment, putting her head down as the room seemed to tilt and whirl around her.

She felt Cordelia sit down next to her. She didn’t want to believe, but deep down she had to admit that she’d known something was very, very wrong. The way that wolf had tracked her. Her enhanced senses. Her nightmares, so vivid. The way her wound had healed practically overnight.

“You’ve known about me all along,” Katelyn said. “When I told you about my symptoms, you already knew.”

“No.” Cordelia emphatically shook her head. “My dad bit Doug the night before the full moon. So there wasn’t time to really notice any changes before it happened. Doug changed on the full moon. I mean, we all naturally change on the full moon, but older wolves can change at will.”

Katelyn hugged herself. “That means you kill everyone you attack.”

Cordelia’s face transformed in shock. “No! We
never
attack people. It’s forbidden. That’s why this doesn’t make any sense.
No one
would do this. It would be like expecting that little stuffed bear you like so much to come alive and bite you.”

Katelyn was bewildered. “But it happened. What else could it have been?”

Cordelia took a deep breath. Then she mouthed a word with two syllables, one that Katelyn could not make out. Katelyn inched in closer, and Cordelia repeated herself.

“
Hellhound
,” she whispered.

Katelyn frowned. She sat back and looked at Cordelia. “Like in the story about the mine,” Katelyn said.

Her friend’s face went stark white. She nodded.

“But Cordelia, that’s just a story,” she began, then caught herself. Because until thirty seconds earlier, werewolves had just been stories, too.