Verity (17 page)

I wished he would kiss me.

He slipped both arms around me, and this time I moved closer, relishing how it felt to lean against his chest, but the song ended, and we puled apart slowly, reluctantly.

“I wish it was always like this with us,” I blurted out. His eyes widened with alarm, and he took a step backward. A step away from me—again.

It hit me then how close we had been. I couldn’t stand the look in his eyes without trembling. It was too much, only for him to blow cold again. I struggled to catch my breath. The sudden realization that the whole room was focused solely on us unleashed the wave of panic that had been building up within al evening.

“I need to go now,” I said. “I don’t need you to walk with me, I just have to get out of here.”

He nodded and folowed me anyway. So many pairs of eyes were on us; my first instinct had always been to run. Al of a sudden everything Nathan said or did seemed like something private and intimate, but it was al one-sided because he didn’t feel the same way. I pushed blindly past everyone, avoiding their eyes, desperate to get outside.

I made it to the door, but Joey got in my way.

“Where are you going?” He held out his hands to stop me.

“Home.”

“Wel, wait a second, we’l walk with you,” he said. Tammie made an impatient noise beside him.

“It’s fine, stay. I have to go,” I said.

“I’m not letting you go alone,” Joey said. “If you get attacked by that imaginary wild dog everyone’s going hysterical over, your Dad wil kil me.”

“Oh, just leave her Joey.” Tammie sounded impatient, but he frowned at her.

“I’l take her home,” Nathan volunteered.

Joey glanced at me. “I don’t think that’s the best idea.”

While they were arguing, Abbi ran over to me and surprised me with a quick hug.

“I’m so glad you came,” she gushed.

“Erm, okay, thanks.”

“No, realy. I used to think you were realy stuck up, but you’re just shy, right? Anyway, Nathan was
so
happy you turned up ‘cos everyone told him you wouldn’t.” She gave me another hug before wandering off to embrace some other random person. I turned my attention back to Nathan who was teling Joey and Tammie to stay and enjoy themselves and that he would probably be back in a while. Tammie whispered something into Joey’s ear making him more agreeable to it.

“We’l see you tomorrow,” Tammie said, but I was already walking away.

I needed fresh air. Lots of it. Outside, Aaron made a grab at me. This time he puled me close to him and didn’t let go. I could smel rubbish body spray and rancid sweat al over him. I tried to back away, but he held tight, a stupid drunken grin on his face. Some of his friends cheered.

“Leave it out.” Gavin, one of the footbal players, tried his best to calm things down.

I pushed at Aaron until he let go of my arm. I tried to get away, but I walked straight into Nathan. His jaw twitched with anger, and his pupils were dilating rapidly; I couldn’t stop staring. Nobody else seemed to notice but, to me, he looked dangerous.

“What are you playing at?” he said to Aaron who laughed.

“It’s later, man.”

“Leave her alone.” He spoke through clenched teeth.

Nathan pushed me behind him as Aaron lurched toward us. He squared up to Nathan who didn’t flinch. That infuriated Aaron. He pushed hard, but Nathan didn’t budge. Aaron must have been drunker than I thought. Gavin puled Aaron backward, just in time because he was about to throw a punch. Things were getting out of hand for no apparent reason. Whatever bothered Aaron about Nathan was boiling over because he was drunk and stupid. Reacting to it was even worse. I wasn’t interested in seeing it. Especialy when I felt so rejected.

“Screw this, I’m going home,” I said, pushing past the boys in my hurry to get out of there. Nathan folowed me, so I sped up, but he caught up with me easily.

“You alright?”

“I just don’t like... any of that.” I didn’t know how to deal with any of the feelings that had rushed to the surface.

Nathan rubbed his temples. “I’m sorry about tonight. I thought things would be different.”

I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.” I realy wanted to go back to how it had been when we danced together, before he went cold on me. That wasn’t right either—I knew there was something there, I saw it in his eyes.

“Why is everything always so intense between us?” I asked him.

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t tel me you didn’t feel anything back there.” I stopped walking and stood in front of him.

His eyes softened. “Of course I felt... something.”

“But there’s
always
something, and you
always
back off! Then there are the dreams. In the art room that day, you were acting like you have
my
kind of dreams, like it means something. What does it mean, Nathan?” I knew there was something, I felt it, I just couldn’t get a firm hold on what it could be. I was determined to find out.

He shook his head. “Nothing important.”

I glared up at him, but he was just as freaked out as me; I could see it in his face. I wasn’t sure how to continue the conversation, so I chickened out and fel silent instead. I didn’t know how to ask him questions without sounding crazy, even though I was sure he understood exactly what I meant.

“I’m sorry everything is so messed up. I thought tonight would be fun for both of us.” He said. “I want... I’m sorry.”

“You can’t keep stepping away at the last second,” I said. He looked me right in the eye and nodded, like I was right. That gave me a spark of hope that I wasn’t going mad, and there realy was something I didn’t know yet.

“Can’t we just... forget the bad stuff and remember we had a good time for a while?” His voice sounded smal and vulnerable.

“What do you want from me?” I said, braver than usual.

“Everything,” he whispered. “But I can’t take it. I can’t do that to you.”

I fought the sudden lump in my throat. “I don’t know what that means.”

“Trust me, you’re better off,” he said, his voice catching. I was appaled by the look on his face, like everything in his life was broken somehow. He bowed his head, unable to look me in the eye.

“Nathan, are you okay?” I didn’t think, I just stepped toward him and held on, my forehead touching his. I gasped as his pain roled over me. “Oh my God,” I whispered as it kept coming at me, over and over, a sea of misery.

“I’m sorry,” he said, pushing me away. “I forgot you feel it too.”

For a split second, I gaped at him, trying to understand what he was saying, how I was feeling and how he knew. Or how I knew for that matter.

“What is that?” I said, confused and a little scared. “What’s happening to me?”

“I swear to you, it’s for your own good—and mine—if we walk away right now and forget about this,” he said, but every word just pushed a new wave of sadness over me. I laughed a little, feeling like I had won something, because now I knew at least one thing for sure.

“You don’t mean that,” I said, hearing the incredulity in my own voice because the certainty I had couldn’t be possible. He shook his head at me, panic etched on his face. I got in his way before he had a chance to run off.

“Talk to me,” I said, my palms on his chest. An imaginary fire burned through my skin, so I pushed harder and felt it run right through me. He panted like he had been sprinting. I slipped a hand to his cheek and felt the heat again. His eyes were dazed as he mumbled my name, the misery drifted away.

I hesitated, then thought screw it, I have to know and gripped his shirt, lifting myself onto my tippy toes to reach his lips. I kissed him softly and moved away, but he held on and looked into my eyes. Then he kissed me. My fingers wound in his hair, and the kiss became fierce, passionate, never-ending. He whispered my name against my lips and held me like he was never going to let go.

Until a low, rumbling growl separated us.

One second I was in the middle of the best kiss of all time, the next I was behind Nathan. An enormous grey dog stood in the middle of the road, growling and baring its teeth. Impossibly large and stocky, it snapped its jaws until I grabbed the back of Nathan’s shirt in alarm.

“That’s a little like the dog that was outside my house.” I tried to keep my voice steady—I wasn’t afraid of dogs, but this one was larger than the wolfhounds and ten times as intimidating.

“Run, Perdita,” Nathan whispered, staring at the dog.

“Why?” I said, but I hadn’t stopped trembling since I laid eyes on the animal.

“It’s not a dog.” His voice was different, gruffer or something. He was right, it looked more like a timber wolf than a dog. That made no sense. I inched backward, seeing the animal joined by a smaller version that looked just as vicious—except this one had the colouring of a Golden Labrador. Maybe someone was breeding dogs with wolves?

Nathan swore, startling me. He whirled around and grabbed my hand.

“Run. Now.” His eyes flashed black, they had dilated so much. He ran, pulling me along. I raced after him, trying to keep up, not even sure where we were going. I heard a howl in the distance, but when I glanced behind me, it was clear it hadn’t come from either animal.

They ran after us, the grey in front, snarling and snapping ferociously. Nathan pushed me ahead of him before they caught up.

“Keep running until you get to my house,” he panted. “I’m right behind you. Just trust me!” He shouted the last few words, seeing me open my mouth in protest.

I felt his fear and ran. A hot burst of adrenalin, and the idea the animals were snapping at my heels spurred me on. Minutes away from Nathan’s front door, I didn’t stop running, not even when Cúchulain sprinted past me, barking like crazy.

Byron raced out of the front door, pulling his shirt open. I heard the rip as I turned around to point toward Nathan. I looked back at Byron, trying to explain, but he was gone. A huge black furry creature sped past me, almost knocking me over as it kicked out its back legs to rid itself of some shredded denim.

Baffled, I stumbled backward, internally freaking out while some wolfhounds and what looked like a smaller, whiter version of the original wolf-dog raced by me. My legs buckled beneath me, something in my head was shouting at me to understand, but logic battened down and wouldn’t let me process the thought properly.

“It’s okay,” a voice murmured as a pair of strong hands lifted me up. More howling rose up, louder than before, and dog barking. Lots and lots of dog barking. I looked up, speechless, into the dark brown eyes of Lia Evans—an elderly grandmother who had just lifted me from the ground with ease.

“What... what’s happening?” I said, but I couldn’t hear myself.

“We have to get inside,” she said, her arms around me, trying to lead me inside.

“Nathan,” I said, suddenly panicked. I ran off, I left him. “The dogs. Or whatever. They were right behind us. He... he told me to run here, for help. I have... to go back. They were big. Really big.” She shushed me. “It’s okay, Byron and Jakob are with him. They’ll take care of it. You have to get inside now, okay? I’ll help you. But please don’t scream, I don’t want Amelia to hear you.” Jakob?

My mind and body wouldn’t connect. I knew I had to move, but my legs wouldn’t obey. The barking died down. Lia half carried me into her house, speaking to me all the time in a language I couldn’t understand. I didn’t realise I was shaking until she put a blanket around my shoulders and handed me a cup of hot coffee.

“It’s not possible,” I said as my mind went over what had happened outside. Byron had been running toward me one second, I looked away, and he was gone, replaced by a huge dog. Not a dog. Nathan said it himself. A wolf? Wolves? In Ireland?

My face scrunched up. Lia sat next to me, waiting patiently. I opened my mouth to ask her a question, but Nathan rushed into the room, closely followed by Cúchulain. The dog ran straight over to me.

Nathan’s cheeks were flushed and his eyes excited; he didn’t look scared at all so I felt stupid. Shaking over a couple of dogs.

“You okay?” he asked me.

I nodded and looked him over. No injuries. Nathan and his grandmother exchanged glances.

“What just happened?” I said, gathering myself together.

Nathan hesitated. “Just some strays. Cú chased them off.”

Lia laughed. “I think the time for that is over, Nathan.”

He scowled at her but didn’t speak. Jakob and Byron came into the room, the same excitement in Jakob’s eyes. Byron was as cold as ever, his steely gaze fixed on me.

“You changed clothes,” I said, half to myself, as a part of my awareness found a tidbit in my memory that I needed to focus upon. When I first saw him, he was wearing jeans and a shirt, now he had on a loose tracksuit—like he was about to go jogging. He had ripped open his shirt, I knew it didn’t make sense at the time, but I was too worried about Nathan to quite grasp what he was doing. I looked around, and he was gone. Not gone. Not exactly.

“
You
... changed.”

I said the words; I couldn’t take them back, no matter how much my brain wanted me to. Byron was the black creature. He had turned into the black creature. Not a dog.

“Wolf?” I whispered, looking at Nathan. He looked like he might vomit.

The atmosphere in the room tightened. “Wolf.” I said again, more sure of myself. Nathan wouldn’t look at me. Nobody denied it or said I was crazy. Nobody laughed. They should have laughed. It made no sense. I sounded insane.

“It had to be done sometime,” Lia said. “It’s true then, they’re here?” She looked at her husband.

Jakob sat next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him, sighing heavily.

“They ran,” Byron said. “No danger. Coincidence even.”

“What’s happening here?” I said. “Where’s Amelia? Somebody tell me... something. Something that makes sense.” Lia took my hand and patted it, but it wasn’t until Nathan moved closer to me that I felt better.

“Opa,” he said. “I can’t....”

Byron paced the room and then halted, looked right at me. “She saw. It’s done. Perdita, yes, I changed into a wolf. I’m known as a werewolf, I suppose.” I laughed, close to hysterical. A buzzing in my head kept getting louder and louder. I had to raise my voice just to hear myself. “Werewolves. Amelia’s bracelet. All this time, she’s been hinting, and I thought she was off her head. Where is she?”