Werewolf Dreams (3 page)

She finished drying off and handed the shirt to her father who was holding his hand out for it. Harry walked over to Cyrus and handed the shirt back to him and then propelled him towards the path that led back to the jeep. Ava kept as far back as she could, not
wanting her dad to pick up on anything else she was thinking inadvertently.

When they reached the j
eep ten minutes later, her clothes were almost completely dry and Cyrus had put his shirt back on.
What a shame
, she thought with a grin.

“So where did you park?” Harry asked Cyrus as he stowed their backpacks in the jeep.

Cyrus laughed. “I didn’t
drive
Harry. Where’s the fun in that?” he asked with a quick grin to Ava.

Harry looked at Cyrus quickly, frowning and then glanced at Ava. “Ava, why don’t you sit in the jeep? I need to talk to Cyrus in private for a moment,” her father said and then opened the door to the jeep for her so she had no choice but to get in. She frowned in frustration. She was getting a little tired of all the mystery and being told what to do. She and her dad were going to have to have a little talk soon. The jeep felt like an oven and so she kept the door open to let some of the heated air out. Her hearing wasn’t as good as her dad’s, but she could almost make out what Harry was saying to Cyrus.

“She has no idea about her ancestry. She doesn’t know about our people. No more innuendos. Got it? I owe your dad, so I’m here, but I insist that my daughter be left alone. I don’t want her to find out by some offhand comment. When the time’s right,
I’ll
tell her myself,” he said talking quietly.

Ava glanced over her shoulder and through the window, her mouth falling open in surprise. Cyrus looked just as surprised as
she felt. “
Are you serious?
How can she
not
know? How could you keep something so important from her?” he asked, his hands fisted at his side.

Ava’s eyebrows shot up in shock. No one
ever
talked to her father like that. She watched closely as her father moved in and got right in Cyrus’s face. She couldn’t hear what he said next but she saw Cyrus’s expression. He shut his eyes and shook his head but held up his hands.

“Fine Harry.
Have it your way, but you might not have a choice about waiting and you know it,” he said and then walked around her father and toward the jeep.

Ava turned back around in her seat and closed her eyes as she swallowed a ball of fear. Something was seriously wrong. Her father had been hinting around for the last year about telling her something important but he’d always stepped back from it at the last second. And now, finally he promises to tell her during their summer together and this guy Cyrus already knows the big secret. Tonight, she was going to force her father to come clean. Enough was enough.

Cyrus climbed in the back seat followed by her father and they headed back to the small two lane highway. No one said a word for the next fifteen minutes, but she could feel Cyrus staring at her. It was a powerful pull as if he were urging her to turn around and look at him. She fought the urge and stubbornly stared out the window at the beautiful mountain scenery. She was used to mountains coming from Washington State, but here in Canada, the mountains surrounded her so completely she felt almost claustrophobic as if they were getting ready to swallow her up.

Her father took a right onto a small one lane road that led through a canyon and she stared curiously at the signs giving direction to the village where her father had grown up. She blinked in surprise. According to the sign, the village was called
Paskell.

“Dad?
Why is our last name the same as your village?” she asked quietly, turning to study her father’s face. He looked cold and withdrawn but he turned and smiled at her.

“Ava, the village was named after my family because my great, great, great grandfather was the
man who settled here first when a large group of our,
uh
, people, migrated from France.”

Ava’s
eye lit up with curiosity and she turned to stare at the post card prettiness of the canyon they were driving through. She couldn’t wait to find out more about her father’s family. He’d always been so secretive about them. She shook her head at the waterfall flowing picturesquely down the side of the canyon wall and pushed her hair over her ear. “Why did you ever leave? It’s so beautiful here,” she whispered.

Harry grimaced and sped up as if he could out run her question. “Looks can be deceiving Ava. Remember that. I had a very important reason for leaving. But this is part of your heritage and it’s time you were made aware of it. Tonight you’ll be meeting your grandfather and your aunt Simone and a couple cousins.”

Ava frowned and stared at her clenched hands in her lap. “Why am I just now meeting these people? What was so bad that I couldn’t meet them before?” she demanded, looking at her father with a frown.

Harry’s face flinched as if he were in pain before he answered. “Just remember that everything I did was to keep you safe and to give you a choice. If I had raised you here, you would have only had one path. Remember that you always have a choice Ava. You don’t have to be anything you don’t want to be as long as you can control your body and your emotions,” he said softly as if he were remembering something painful.

Ava closed her eyes and looked away, confused more than ever before. She leaned her head against the glass window and sighed. She felt a small pressure on her shoulder and jumped. She realized Cyrus, who was sitting behind her, was trying to comfort her. He removed his hand a moment later, but strangely, she missed the warmth.

Her father slowed down and turned down a paved road and moments later they were driving past houses.
Some large, some small, some with big yards, and some with large fenced areas with horses and cows and sheep. It looked like a typical farming community. For some reason, she had assumed the town would resemble the little tourist town Banff she had been to years before. But Paskell had a completely different feel. Whereas Banff was quaint and had a distinct European feel to it, Paskell was more rough and rustic. She swallowed as she realized that every house they passed had a dead animals head above the door. Some were Elk heads, or bear, but some were mountain lions. What was up with this town? Were they all obsessed with hunting here? As they passed the few people she could see either out in their yards, or standing by their homes, each one would turn and stare at their jeep. The men glared suspiciously and the women turned their faces away as if they didn’t want anyone to look at them. She felt a tingle of apprehension and felt like shrinking down in her seat.

Her father passed a few roads and then came to what must be Main Street.
She turned in her seat to stare at the old fashioned shops. No Starbucks? Not one fast food chain. She’d never been anywhere where there wasn’t a McDonalds. There was a place that looked like a European Pub named Connor’s. There were a few more shops and a small grocery store and a pharmacy. She blinked in surprise when she saw a movie theater but she shook her head with a frown. The movie posted on the Marquis had come out more than a year ago. It was all so strange. It was as if this town was completely removed from the real world.

“Dad,
it feels like I’m in a time warp,” she said trying not to blink in case she missed anything.

Harry snorted but didn’t answer. She stared at the people sh
e saw walking down the streets and noticed that they frowned at their jeep too.
What was wrong with these people?
Were they not used to visitors coming to their town? There were couples with children and a few people her age too. They were dressed in jeans and t-shirts and looked normal enough, but still. Ava breathed in deeply and experienced a rush of Déjà vu.

“You’ll find that we’re just like you Ava,” Cyrus said quietly, making her dad glare at him in the rearview mirror.

Ava ignored him and sighed in relief as her father came to a stop in front of the biggest house she had seen yet in town.
Finally
. She wanted a shower, a nap and some real food. The house was adjacent to what must be the town park. She turned and stared at the park at all the people milling around, throwing Frisbees and laying in the sun before looking back at the large imposing structure. It looked to be Victorian in style, but with modern touches. Kind of like the town itself.

“Home sweet home,” Cyrus said with a smile in his voice.

Harry sighed as if he wished he were anywhere but here and got out of the jeep. Ava hopped out and then flipped her hair back and forth, trying to finger comb some of the damp tangles out. When she stood up, Cyrus was standing in front of her, smiling down into her face.

“You’re
so pretty,” he said softly, reaching out to touch a strand of golden hair.

She stepped back and tried to smile. She was used to boys flirting with her, but this was different. She could put a boy in his place with just a look usually, but she had a strange feeling she was way out of her league with Cyrus.

“
Um
, thanks
,” she said and moved to step around him to help her father unpack the jeep.

Cyrus reached out and grabbed her arm, sending a warm shiver down her spine. “You’re going to
meet a lot of people tonight. If you need help or you just want to escape, come find me,” he said and then let her go.

Ava shook her head as she stared up at the house with a feeling of dread. The cottages were looking better and better every second.

“Dad, is it too late to change my mind about coming?” she asked softly, grabbing her backpack and duffel bag.

Harry glanced at the house and frowned. “Ava, if I feel like you’re in danger, all bets
are off and we’ll leave. I came back as a favor to Tobias. I never would have returned if he hadn’t asked me though. He’s the one who helped me leave when I was your age. The people here need my help Ava and like I said, it’s time you knew about your heritage,” he said quietly, shouldering the bags easily.

Ava nodded her head. She trusted her dad. He wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her. She followed Cyrus and her father up the large elaborate stone walkway and up the steps to the front door. Cyrus pushed through unceremoniously and walked into the large entrance way.

“Why don’t you have a seat,” he said motioning to a small parlor to his left. “I’ll go find my father. He’ll be excited to know you’re here,” he said and turned and disappeared down the hallway.

Harry walked into the parlor and surprised her by smiling. “I spent most of my boyhood in this house. Tobias and I were closer than brothers. His parents were more parents to me than my own were, that’s for sure. You’ll lik
e Tobias, Ava. He’s a character but he’s a good man,” he said walking over to stare at family photos on the wall.

Ava sighed and hugged her arms as she
walked over to stand next to her father. “So this is Cyrus’s family then?”

Her father nodded absently and then laughed, grabbing her hand and pointing with the other to a small silver framed photo.

“Ava, there I am with Tobias. Look at your old man when he was your age,” he said with a grin.

Ava leaned forward and smiled at the picture. It was a picture of two teenage boys on canoes at a lake. Probably the same one she had just left. They were smiling and waving at the camera. “It looks like you were happy,” she said softly, touching the frame with her finger.

Harry was silent for a moment before answering. “I was for a while. But then things happened that made me realize that I wanted a different life. I felt like I had to leave or I’d die inside.”

Ava glanced up at her father and saw an awful sadness on his face and touched his arm. He covered her hand with his and smiled at her.

“Harry! My old friend,” boomed a voice behind them.

Harry turned around quickly and was immediately enveloped in a bone crunching hug that would have sent a lesser man to the hospital. Harry didn’t seem to mind though as he thumped on the back of his friend with his fists, grinning in delight.

“Tobias, it’s so good to see you!”

Ava grinned and stepped back, watching the
reunion and waiting for her introduction. Tobias and her father talked for a few more minutes before her father remembered her and looked over his shoulder.

“Come here Ava. Tobias, meet the most beautiful, smart and talented girl in the world,” he said proudly.

Ava blushed and walked forward, smiling as she held her hand out to the large man who looked very similar to Cyrus with his golden brown hair and pale eyes. Where his son was tall and powerful, Tobias was just massive.

“Harry always did find the prettiest girls. You look just like Harry described you,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.

Harry blinked in surprise and then shook his head with a laugh. “Tobias . . .,” he said, but was cut off by his friend who held up a hand.

“No Harry, it’s true. You were a ladies man from day one and I just about died of jealousy the way all the girls followed you around. I don’t think I would have ever gotten married if you hadn’t left town,” he said with a booming laugh.