Chapter 3
“Tell me about your dislike of the Claybornes,” I asked as soon as we were out of sight of the parlor.
“Patrick is the older one… we fought a lot when we were younger… he’s nothing shy of an ass… and insanely stubborn… if he thinks he’s right, there’s no changing his mind, and he will do anything to get what he wants. His parents are really the same way, so I’d hope you’d understand why I don’t particularly like the idea of you being around any of the Claybornes, especially not a guy that’s obviously into you,” Austin quickly spat out, his words still tipped with anger, “If Jack is anything like his family, he’ll do anything to get you.”
“And if he’s not like his family? Will you stop being so obnoxious about it? I want to go to the bonfire,” I rebutted and Austin sighed, glancing over at me when he could.
“We’ll see what Dad has to say… There’s no way I’m agreeing to this whole bonfire idea unless Jason and I both go with you… what if Mark showed up? No one would know to keep him away from you,” Austin continued, trying to push the few buttons that would make me not want to go to the bonfire.
“Why would he know to look at some lake that I don’t even know where is? And I very much doubt he’d do anything to me if there were other people around…” I tried to keep my voice strong, but even I heard the slight quaver in it.
We reached the house still arguing, but our arguments were silenced when we spotted Mom’s car in the driveway. I stared in blatant shock at the BMW and Austin lost the last thread of control he had on his anger.
“Stay in the car,” he blurted while he slammed the car into park and jumped out, headed for the house. “What the hell is she doing here?!” Austin yelled, he hadn’t even made it inside, Dad had met him at the front door and Austin was gesturing towards Mom’s car.
“I couldn’t leave her alone in her house without protection when she had been indirectly threatened,” Dad reasoned, his voice and posture weary as he glanced at me in Austin’s car. “I’m putting her on a plane to her mother’s first thing in the morning… I can’t trust her to keep her mouth shut if I take her to town, Austin….”
“You can’t honestly expect Anna to stay here with a mother who believed her boyfriend over her daughter; and on top of that, told him! She’s the reason that sleazebag isn’t behind bars right now!” Austin hollered while Jason slipped out the front door, past Dad, and headed towards me in the car.
“I don’t know what to tell you, Austin… Bring Anna in through the garage… your mother will be staying in the living room,” Dad bargained as best as he could, “She won’t be going upstairs, so you kids can just stay upstairs… I’d let you stay in a hotel if it wasn’t such a bad idea.”
“Hey… how did the hospital and everything go?” Jason quietly asked, crouching on the ground beside my seat with the open door rested against his back, “Are you okay?”
“I’m all right, Jay…” I whispered and his hand shot up to take hold of mine. “Seriously,” I assured with a faint laugh, looking down into his worried blue-green eyes, “We were invited to a bonfire with a bunch of people from the high school tomorrow night.” I paused when his eyes lit up, “You, me, and Austin… but Austin’s completely against it.”
“That’s because Austin doesn’t like sharing you… he didn’t even want to let you go to prom with his group of friends…” Jason murmured before sighing, “A bonfire… seriously? I want to go!”
As if he could hear us, Austin’s gaze darted back to his car, he was still quite furious.
“We’ll come back home later tonight… I’ll go show them around the town, treat them to dinner… keep them out of the house for the most part,” Austin conceded, his gaze intent on Dad again, “More importantly… what do you know about Jack Clayborne and any of his friends?”
Dad’s eyes widened briefly, startled and he laughed. “Jack’s a good kid; he stays out of trouble. He even kept Patrick out of trouble sometimes when he got older… He hangs out with a good group of kids. The only reason any of them register on my radar is from volunteer work and awards,” Dad explained with a shrug, but he caught the look in Austin’s eyes, “That wasn’t what you wanted to hear…. Why did you ask, Austin?”
“So going to a lake bonfire with him and his friends… you think it would be okay?” Austin evasively continued and Dad nodded.
“Oh, absolutely! You mean the one tomorrow night, right? They’ve already gotten all the permits and arranged to have an officer nearby,” Dad proudly announced, but sighed and glanced over at me, “Austin… you’re going to have to let her go eventually… chances of her seeing past your being her brother, adopted or not, are slim.”
“A) No,” Austin coldly stated, “B) not ever in a million years will I let her get involved with the Claybornes.”
“Jack lives by himself, Austin… he got a job when he was fourteen, saved all of his money, petitioned the courts, and moved out when he was sixteen,” Dad commented thoughtfully, “He’s not like the other Claybornes… he’s actually the complete opposite… he’d be an ideal candidate to trust with Arianna… I certainly approve.”
Austin stared silently at Dad for a long moment before turning and heading back to the car. “Get in, Jason… I’ll show you two around town,” he directed and Jason darted to the driver’s side to slip into the backseat before Austin got into the driver’s seat.
“So we can go to the bonfire?” I asked almost immediately after we got out of the driveway and Austin sighed deeply.
“Does the fact that I love you really not mean anything to you?” he uttered and I felt a twinge of guilt, but stared down at my hands in my lap. Jason, did not take it so lightly, he was suddenly leaning up between the front seats.
“Don’t be a jerk, Austin,” Jason declared, “Anna knows how you feel, but she’s still legally our sister.”
“Legally or not… you’re my brothers,” I whispered, winding my fingers into knots, “Maybe… maybe if you hadn’t been so distant these last years… things might be different… but even then… I think I’d still see you as my brother….”
“There has to be a way I can change that…” Austin sighed, his shoulders slumping as his last bit of anger faded away, “I really do love you, Arianna….”
The car was silent as Austin drove through the winding tree-lined streets and Jason fell back into the backseat.
I was thinking, about a lot of things… staring out at the passing forests and realizing for the first time just how many trees were in this town. It was just outside of the big city, but driving through it, you’d think you were out in the middle of nowhere. And there really wasn’t a lot of traffic… I expected to see a lot more cars on the road than I did.
“This is a weird town…” I mumbled just as the tree line suddenly stopped and opened up on a gigantic parking lot with a humongous building in the middle; a building that reminded me of an old museum.
“It is a little weird,” Austin agreed, shrugging his shoulders and finding a parking space close to the building which I was scrutinizing before my eyes widened in shock at the name I finally found on it.
“This is a mall?” I gawked and Austin laughed and nodded, “This looks like a museum! It’s a mall?”
Austin reached over and grabbed my hand, pulling it closer to him while I nearly jerked it away from him before I looked to see his cell phone in his other hand. He quickly dialed the number written on my palm and then lightly let my hand fall back to my lap.
“Hello?” I could hear Jack’s curious voice over the phone and smiled faintly, but I didn’t know what in the world Austin was doing.
“Jack, it’s Austin Gray,” Austin stated, my shoulders tensing with worry.
“Oh! Hey, Austin! Did you talk to your little brother about the bonfire?”
“Yeah… we’ll be there. Can you text more information to my cell?”
“Great! And sure! All three of you?”
“All three of us,” Aust
in answered and I squealed as I jumped across the seat to hug him.
“Well great! I’m at the mall right now…” Jack was saying and Austin nearly dropped his phone he was so surprised.
“So are we…” he muttered beneath his breath.
“Alex and I are at the bookstore; could we meet up somewhere? It’d be cool to meet the youngest Gray before tomorrow,” Jack requested and Austin stared into my pleading eyes for a long moment, his hand sliding up and into my hair.
“Yeah… we’ll be at the bookstore in five…” Austin conceded before saying goodbye and hanging up. His hand slid to the back of my head and he pulled me closer, kissing my forehead. “Dad thinks really highly of this guy… that’s the only reason I’m okay with you being anywhere near him….”
I hugged him again before grabbing my purse and jumping out of the car with Jason on my heels.
“So we’re going?” Jason asked with bright eyes as Austin laughed, leading us into and through the overly crowded mall.
“Yes, we’re going,” Austin replied, shaking his head in amusement, “I think you two will end up liking it here… I just hope you don’t like it too much.”
My eyes were darting around, trying to take in all of the shops to see which ones I wanted to come back to and also, unfortunately, catching all of the gazes that kept shifting to us with whispers. My back stiffened when I caught pieces of the whispers, and Jason’s hand was suddenly in mine.
“One of these days, we’ll teach you how to ignore people,” Jason chuckled and I smiled faintly, still looking around until I felt eyes watching me and looked up to spot Jack in front of a store, staring at me.
It took me a minute to realize his lips were moving, and I pulled my gaze away long enough to spot the other guy beside him. Another, tall, slender, model-type guy with messy short deep black hair and when his eyes darted to me, I blinked back the surprise of finding them to be a strangely beautiful aqua blue.
“Austin, Arianna, this is Alex Moore,” Jack introduced when we reached them and Alex nodded his head, his eyes lingering on me, “Alex, this is Austin, Arianna, and I’m guessing you must be Jason…?”
“And you must be Jack,” Jason responded without letting go of my hand, a fact that both Jack and Alex had spotted; I’d seen their eyes linger with a twinge of wide-eyed surprise.
“Yup,” Jack laughed, “Did you guys want to go anywhere? We were just about to stop by the jewelry store.”
I tilted my head curiously and Alex repressed a laugh, but his lips curled into a smile.
“It’s my sister’s birthday Sunday,” Alex answered my unasked question, “Actually, a girl’s opinion would be very much appreciated; if you’re willing to give it, that is…?”
I smiled and nodded, “I’d be happy to look. Though we girls aren’t all alike, you know.” We started walking, and Alex fell into step on my other side while Austin and Jack talked about bonfire plans and Jason continued holding onto my hand.
“You’re right,” Alex agreed with a grin, “She’s a sophomore at Berringfield… majoring in music education; she wants to teach chorus. She wears a lot of skirts, longer, flowy skirts. But she is very much into the moon and butterflies.”
“So what are you thinking of getting her?” I questioned just as we veered into a really fancy jewelry store and the employee that spotted him darted into the backroom.
“Well, see… I had it custom-made… but a second opinion, and a first from a girl, would be really nice,” he revealed with a soft smile as the employee rushed back out of the backroom with one of those black velvet neck displays in her hands.
“Here you are, Mr. Moore,” she announced, setting the display on the counter as my eyes widened in shock.
There was a delicate silver chain holding that three-moon design, the one with two crescents on either side of a full moon, and the moons were filled with a white-blue stone, but partially covering the connections between the moons, were dainty butterflies with their wings filled with a Rainbow-hued stone.
“It’s… a very special symbol to her, the moons,” Alex started and I nearly jumped out of my shoes, I’d forgotten anyone else was there, “And they’re filled with moonstone, and the butterflies are made with fire topaz. So what do you think, Arianna?”
“It’s gorgeous,” I whispered in awe and Alex chuckled softly.
“I’m ready to take it home, then,” Alex told the employee and she was gone in the blink of an eye, busying herself to getting it properly packaged and ready to go.
Jason squeezed my hand and my eyes darted back to him curiously. “You don’t know what that is, do you?” Jason quietly asked and I shook my head as he laughed, “God, Austin’s sheltered you….”
“Hey, so have you guys had dinner yet?” Jack interjected while Alex slipped off to pay for the necklace.
“No, we haven’t; I was showing them around town,” Austin answered and Jack lifted a single perfect eyebrow.
“So you wouldn’t be interested in going to the food court? Or meeting up much of anywhere really?” Jack persisted and Austin glanced at me before sighing.
“Not the food court… I was going to take them out somewhere nice, like Meril’s,” Austin reasoned and Jack sucked a breath in through his teeth.
“I don’t know if I can afford Meril’s this month…” Jack mumbled, but Alex’s hand landed on his shoulder.
“I’ve got it tonight; don’t worry about it,” Alex assured, glancing at me before looking at Austin, “Do you mind if we join you?”
“That’s fine,” Austin conceded, “I don’t even know if we can get in….” Alex laughed and flipped out his phone before starting out of the store.
“All right… I have to ask,” Jack started as we all followed after Alex, “Why is your more-than-old-enough-for-it-to-be-weird brother holding your hand?”
I giggled and Jason lightly squeezed my hand. “Because it’s reassuring,” I admitted with a shrug, “And he’s not exactly my brother… you know that.”
“I made us reservations,” Alex announced when we all caught up to him, “We’ve got about thirty minutes to get across town.”
That, apparently, wasn’t very long, because I was suddenly being dragged, running, through the mall and back to the car. Alex and Jack had parked on the other side, so we parted ways in the middle.
“What do you know about Alex?” I asked once we were in the car started out of the parking lot, the way the car jerked, Austin obviously didn’t like my question.
“I don’t know much of anything about Alex. I know a little about his sister, Amy, and a little about their family. They’re pretty rich, like the Claybornes, so I guess Alex and Jack grew up together. All the really rich families live over on Romulus Trail….”
“Where’s Remus Road?” I giggled, but my giggles were silenced by the look Austin shot me.
“It’s Remus Way… and it’s over near Romulus Trail,” he answered, shaking his head, “There are some weird road names around here… I won’t lie. There are some weird people around here… I won’t lie about that either… but I like it here. I think you two will like it, too.”
As we drove, I watched the trees again, noticing that only here and there were there any breaks in the vast tree line, and only breaks big enough for some building with a parking lot.
“There’s an awful lot of forest around here,” I remarked thoughtfully, my heart skipping when I spotted something moving through the trees, racing fast enough to keep up with our speeding car, but before I could really see it, it darted away.
“Yeah… they say to stay out of the woods after dark… wild animals and everything, so be careful,” Austin recited distractedly, “Actually, they say not to travel alone after dark….”
He wasn’t saying something, and I looked closely at him, inspecting his face. “What is it?” I finally queried, watching his lips briefly quirk into a faint smile.
“Dad’s big case… there have been a lot of people disappearing all ov
er the state lately… even back at Mom’s… there were a lot of disappearances… so make sure you don’t go off by yourself after dark,” Austin muttered distantly, staring at the road.
He made a left onto Ainu Parkway, and I scrunched my eyes in confusion; something about all of the road names was bothering me, but I couldn’t figure out what. I didn’t have long to think about it, because we pulled into a very full parking lot outside of a beautiful old plantation-style house. Alex and Jack were standing on the front porch when we caught back up to them and a glance at the menu in the glass beside the door told me that this was way too expensive. Austin caught me gawking at the menu and laughed, grabbing hold of my wrist and pulling me after them. Despite the large crowds and the people waiting in the entryway, Alex led us to the podium and we were immediately led back to a secluded round table where I wound up in the middle, between Austin and Alex.
“What just happened?” I queried when we were sitting for a moment.
“Alex called and made reservations and we got seated,” Jack reasoned with a shrug, but I was staring at the crowded restaurant in disbelief.
“I used my family name to get us seated quicker,” Alex admitted simply, “It’s not something I do frequently.”
“It’s really not,” Jack added seriously, “He’s only done that a handful of times the entire time I’ve known him, and I’ve known him since we were toddlers.”
“Anna, you’d better order whatever you want,” Austin insisted and Alex and Jack both looked over at him and then me.
“Anna?” Alex reiterated curiously and I only nodded.
“Everybody calls me Anna.”
“But I like your full name, Arianna,” Alex continued and I shrugged.
“That’s fine, too,” I mumbled, glancing over at him, “Either is fine, really.”
I’d be lying if I said dinner wasn’t a bit awkward. I quickly got the distinct impression that Austin and Jason weren’t ridiculously fond of Alex and Jack, and after contemplating that a while, realized that Alex and Jack must like me. I hadn’t noticed, honestly, until that train of thought wound its way through my mind, then I started to notice the little flirtatious things. Jack would give me little playful looks, almost cautiously, but Alex kept turning the full power of those aqua eyes on me in an overly calm, serious way that sent a shiver down my spine more than once.
“How many people are going to be at the bonfire?” I wondered aloud out of the blue and Jack laughed.
“Pretty much all of the high schoolers, recently graduated and future underclassmen included,” he stated with a smirk, “You’re going to get to meet everyone, practically; everybody was really excited when I passed along word that the Grays would be coming after all.”
“That sounds like a lot of people,” I blurted, shocked, and a teensy bit worried.
“It is,” Alex stated at the same time as Jack said “Only about three-hundred.”
“Only about three-hundred?” I stared at him in absolute shock and he laughed and shrugged his shoulders, “I think I’ve lost interest in going.”
“It’s a really small school. Three-hundred students is nothing,” Jack continued his attempt at reasoning, but I was staring blankly at the table by then and didn’t really hear him anymore.
I jolted in my seat when Austin’s hand grazed mine, startling me out of whatever thoughts had distracted me.
“What?” My voice came out sharper than I’d meant, and my gaze that shot to him wasn’t as friendly as I’d intended.
“Do you want dessert?” he gently queried and I sighed faintly.
“Austin…” I sighed, shaking my head, “No… thank you….”
He leaned right beside my ear before he whispered ever-so-faintly, “Arianna… do you want to go home?”
I barely shook my head, his breath sending a shiver down my spine that had my eyes wide as I resumed staring at the table.
He’s my brother, my brother! I repeated the words over and over in my head, like a mantra, because the shiver I felt sent warmth through me.
“What’s the name of the lake?” I asked out loud, trying to stop my wandering thoughts and distract myself.
“Lake Fenrir,” Alex stated and my eyes widened again. That name struck the same familiar chord as the street names.
“What is with all of the road names and the lake?” I muttered moreso to myself as I tried to figure it out; they were all so familiar and I knew there was something about them.
I didn’t notice it at the time, but Alex and Jack very quickly changed the subject, or curved it.
“We do a huge bonfire out at the lake every year; it’s kind of like a send-off for our graduated seniors and a welcome for the rising freshmen. My closest friends and I do several bonfires during the summer… if you like this one, you’re welcome to join us for the others,” Jack offered, but I was still trying to make sense of the names.
Alex contributed to the subject alteration for a while, but he was watching me closely while I picked at the remnants of vegetables on my plate and swirled my straw around in my iced tea, all the while letting my mind wander.
“I bet a bonfire at the lake would be really pretty on the night of a full moon,” I mumbled quietly, “I bet anything around here… out in the middle of nowhere… would be pretty on the night of a full moon… it would probably just be pretty after dark in general….”
“You have to be really careful outside after dark around here, Arianna,” Jack warned seriously, “There’s a lot of undeveloped land and a lot of wildlife living in it. It’s dangerous to be out alone after dark, and even sometimes the group thing isn’t enough.”
“I hear you,” I distractedly replied, still swirling my straw around my glass.
“If you want to go out after dark, I’d be glad to accompany you,” Alex offered, and my straw briefly stopped, “I’d be glad to take you out to the fields for stargazing; it’s the best place in the whole town.”
“Right now tonight, you’d take me?” I queried almost silently, finally looking over at him to find his steady aqua gaze on me.
“Arianna, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Austin interrupted, but Alex didn’t look away and nodded.
“If you wish, Arianna; I would be happy to take you,” Alex answered sweetly, but my stomach clenched into a tight knot and I smiled faintly before resuming my distant stare at the table and swirling straw.
“I do appreciate it… but not tonight… sometime soon, perhaps…” I reasoned evasively. I don’t know Alex yet, and I’m certainly not feeling safe going off on my own just yet. I guess I could’ve asked Jason to go with us, but I somehow got the impression Alex meant it more as a date than anything else. The tension that had exponentially grown with my question started to dissipate again, furthering my belief that Alex had probably intended it as a date.
“Arianna,” Alex commented and I shifted only my eyes to him, “Is there any particular reason you don’t want to go tonight? It’s a lovely, clear evening tonight.”
“I just think it’s too soon after we’ve all moved…” I lied, my eyes darting over to Jason, “Unless Jay comes with us….”
“So you really just don’t want to be alone with me,” Alex decided and I felt the knot tightening, threatening to make me regret eating as much as I did.
“She’s just looking out for me,” Jason contributed and my eyes darted to him in surprise, “My mom and I really don’t get along and she’s staying at my dad’s tonight before catching a flight in the morning; it’s all complicated and stupid, but I don’t want to go straight home.”
I blinked in shock as I stared at Jason. He lied perfectly, beautifully, actually; if I didn’t know that he got along fine with Mom, or at least he did a month ago, then I would’ve believed him, and I’m his sister.
“I’d rather just take Arianna,” Alex reasoned softly, “So I suppose I’ll wait until another night.”
“Anna doesn’t date,” Austin growled beneath his breath but Alex on
ly briefly looked over at him.
“Isn’t that Arianna’s choice?” Alex calmly countered while I bit hard on my lip as I felt Austin’s anger getting worse.
“Please stop…” I whispered barely audibly, “I swear… Why do boys always have to fight for the alpha position?” And then it hit me, all of the names, were related to wolves. My eyes were wide as I stared across the room, tallying the names up in my mind. Nearly all of them I knew, but a few I felt I would have to check on, but then the school name made more sense: London High School; Jack London High School, I figured; but why? Why was everything linked to wolves?
Things calmed back down, again, and we parted ways a short while later.
“Stuff stays open really late around here,” Jason commented on the way back to the house, “It’s really cool… I mean… back where we were before, a restaurant like that would’ve closed at 8 or 9, but it’s 1am already, and they were still open.”
Weird, but very, very true.
“It’s always been like that around here,” Austin admitted with a shrug, “I don’t really know why or anything, just that it has been. You should’ve said something when we were with Jack and Alex… maybe they would’ve known.”
But they wouldn’t have answered… They totally changed the subject earlier when I was talking about going out at night, and the alpha-male remark.
“Did you get all the details for the bonfire?” I asked, catching Austin’s momentary glance at me.
“I did… When we get home, can I talk to you?”
I only nodded since he was looking at me again.
His “talk” was him worrying. Apparently, I’d still been acting weird; it’s not like I noticed, so I couldn’t really explain it to him, which only seemed to make him worry more. I didn’t see Mom at all that night, for which I was ridiculously thankful; I just didn’t have it in me to even try to play nice. I tried really hard to sleep in my room, in my bed, by myself, but around four, I went next door and knocked.
Okay, I know it’s wrong, but when Jason shuffled over and opened his door, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with his hair all disheveled, I knew how he’d gotten to be such a playboy; the faint grin he shot me didn’t help much.
“Come on,” he whispered, reaching out and lightly taking my wrist to pull me inside before he closed his door back. “You know I only have the one bed here… my stuff’s not all unpacked… but it’s a queen….”
I climbed over to the far side of the mattress, the side that was still relatively neat and obviously not the tousled side he was sleeping on, and slipped under his blanket. With a soft laugh he climbed back into his side and took hold of my hand under the covers.
“You’re developing a bad habit, Anna,” he quietly teased and, facing each other like we were, I couldn’t help but look into his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I murmured, gently squeezing his hand before he fell back asleep.