Chapter 4
Wolves. They were everywhere. Running through the town, walking through the buildings like nothing more than well-behaved dogs. I stood in the middle of them and looked around in awe. One approached me, its eyes holding an intelligence no animal should have. I blinked, and they were all gone.
I only partly woke up in the morning, muttering, and snuggled deeper into my body pillow before my eyes sped open to find the speckled gray pattern of Jason’s t-shirt in front of my face. Crap… We were curled up in the middle of the bed and he was holding me close to him; it was the best I’d slept in a long time, but it was a really bad idea. When I tried to wiggle carefully out of his arms, they tightened around me.
“Don’t go,” he mumbled, softly kissing my forehead, “Please, don’t go….”
“Jay…” I whispered, but the door suddenly slammed and I jumped away from him as he groaned.
“Go away, Austin,” Jason hissed, reaching out to grab my hand at the same time that I spotted Austin standing in front of the closed door.
“This is not okay,” Austin stated coldly, “If Dad saw you he’d totally freak out! How could he trust you two to not do something if he catches you sleeping together in Jason’s bed?”
“Sleeping,” Jason grumbled the word, “Exactly what we were doing until we were so rudely awakened. There’s nothing wrong with sleeping in the same bed.”
“There would be nothing wrong with sleeping in the same bed if you were actually brother and sister, but you’re not and Jason, you don’t at all look at Arianna as your sister anymore. What you’re doing is completely inappropriate,” Austin continued his scolding while I scooted to the edge of the bed, but Jason’s fingers twined in mine tightened further.
“I don’t think of her as my sister, but if she’s having trouble sleeping, I’m not going to force her to sleep by herself,” Jason reasoned, staring up into my eyes, “Really, Austin… if it had been your door she knocked on, would you have turned her away?”
“But it wasn’t my door; and to avoid this, I insist we get all of our rooms unpacked and set up so that you have other places to sleep if she needs company again tonight. Of course, Mom’s gone already, so we can crash in the living room again.”
“After the bonfire,” I included and Austin sighed while he nodded, “You don’t seem to like them very much….”
Austin just rolled his eyes. “We have rooms to unpack.” He held the door open, staring pointedly at me until Jason sighed and let go of my hand and I rushed out into the hallway. “I’m making Dad aware of your feelings tonight… if you don’t take care of it yourself before then,” Austin added, staring at Jason as he rolled over on the bed to face his big brother with a glare in his eyes.
“It’s none of his business,” Jason growled, slowly sitting up, “I’m not going to do anything to Anna; there’s no reason to tell anyone.”
“You tell him, or I do,” Austin finalized, nearly slamming the door when he closed it and I quickly ducked into my room, having been peeking out the door while they were still arguing. Austin sighed before going back into his own room, but he left his door wide open as he started unpacking his things.
It was over an hour later before Jason walked into my room and sat down, cross-legged, beside me, staring at me with his blue-green eyes completely intent. When I glanced at him, I couldn’t help but realize his normally spiked hair was still hanging down shaggily into his eyes.
“Arianna,” he started and I flinched. It was weird for Austin to use my full name, but it was even weirder when Jason did it; it instantly made me worry about what extremely serious thing he was about to say, especially with the events of the morning.
“Jay, I know you wouldn’t ever do anything, there’s no need to worry about it… just tell Dad to make Austin happy…” I commented, trying to circumvent whatever bad thing he was about to say while I resumed unpacking my things and staring into the box.
“Arianna… I want to go on a date with you,” he stated and I froze completely, dropping one of my favorite snow globes which, thankfully, he caught with his lightning quick reflexes. “I know I’m younger than you… but please, think about it at least.”
“You’re my brother,” I blurted almost silently, it was the only coherent thought I could latch onto.
“You know I’m really not…” he mumbled, sighing. “I won’t be upset if you say no… just don’t be upset when I ask again after a while… and I don’t want things to change. You can trust me, and you can rely on me; I will take care of you.”
“Jason, I…” I faltered, making the mistake of looking at those adorable blue-green eyes and the way they were watching me. “You’re my brother….”
He sighed and let his eyes close, taking a deep breath before beaming that bright smile at me. “All right, for now I’ll accept that,” he decided, his lips curling into a grin, “But this is definitely not the last you’ll hear from me. I saw the way you looked at me just then… and last night when I let you in my room….”
The memory of my very attractive-looking, disheveled adoptive brother made my heart skip.
“You’re twelve,” I added seriously, not only to him, but to me, “You’re way too young, Jay. Even though you may act… and sometimes look… older than you are, doesn’t change the fact that you’re twelve and that would just be wrong.”
“Almost thirteen,” he defended with that grin still playing across his face, “It won’t seem like as big of a difference once school starts and we’re on campus together every day.”
“Then we’ll be around people who know you’re my little brother,” I argued seriously, easily snitching the snow globe out of his hands and leaning up to put it on my bookcase. “Is Austin making breakfast or do I need to go fix something?”
“I’ll make breakfast,” Jason offered. He waited until I sat back down to lean up and kiss my cheek and then he darted out of my room and down the hallway. “What do you want to eat, Austin?” I heard him ask, but my wide-eyes were staring into the remaining items in my box as my hand fluttered up to my cheek.
“I can’t even think about this…” I murmured, resuming my unpacking until Austin knocked on my open door.
“What did he do?” he quietly asked when I looked over my shoulder at him, “He was too excited to have not done something.”
“Nothing,” I lied, sighing and turning back to my work, “What could he do that would compare to you stealing my first kiss?”
He had started into the room, but his feet scuffed to a stop at my words. “You’re saying I messed up… and I understand that…” he whispered, kneeling down beside me, “I’m sorry… for messing up… forgive me…?” I just kept staring into my box and heard him sigh. “Do you want to talk about this?”
“You’re my brother…” I murmured, “You’re both my brothers… you always have been, and you always will be, and it’s a little different with Jay, but….”
“You’ve only just found out you were adopted… maybe over time you’ll change your mind,” he cautiously suggested and I sighed, shaking my head.
“I need space,” I mumbled and with a sigh he was gone, closing my door behind him. I did something then that I hadn’t done in a long time; I dug through the only box I hadn’t started on yet, and pulled out my journal.
May 19, 2008
There are some things I have to think out, and this is the best way to do it. On the one hand, I have just found out I’m adopted. This should be more of a shock to me than it is, and I suppose if I had grown up with the stereotypical home life with a mom and dad that were there all the time and involved in my life, it might affect me more. As is, I barely notice a difference. I never connected with Mom, now I can’t stand her; and Dad was never around. My problem that I’m having, the one thing that’s changed, is my adoptive brothers. We were inseparable when we were younger, Austin grew distant, but Jason and I were still attached until......... recently.......... But now they’re both… they both like me and more than
as their sister… and… Jason… Jason breaks my heart, but he’s TWELVE. Austin is… Austin. He’s gorgeous, of course… he’s the perfect guy, but the distance that he put between us… But the thing is… if I looked at either of them in an honest, open, light and didn’t consider them my brothers, I would have to move away or something… and I can’t imagine being away from them… but with things the way they are right now, I can’t imagine being here with them every day.
“I don’t know what to do,” I groaned, dropping my pen and journal on the floor as my hands slid up into my hair, nearly pulling it out from its roots, “And Jason really is about to be thirteen… four days… but I’ll be seventeen in two months… that’s four years… which, really… I know it’s not that much of an age difference… but….” I screamed, out loud, and bit my lip hard when I heard feet running up the stairs. “I’m fine!” I yelled, but they still pushed the door open and looked inside anyway and I rushed to scrub the tears out of my eyes. “I said I’m fine….”
“Yeah, tear-streaked faces… especially yours… really emit a sense of ‘fine,’” Austin uttered, running his hand over his head through his hair, “Arianna… forget what I said… I want you here, with us… forget what I’ve said and let things go back to normal….”
“You’ll go back to ignoring me, then?” I whispered and he laughed distantly, shaking his head as he looked up at me.
“Not that normal… Just back to brother and sister and nothing else,” he explained softly, “Just know… should you ever change your mind… all you have to do is tell me.”
I barely nodded and Jason sighed. “Me too… I don’t want you upset like this because of us, Anna,” he added and I glanced up at those distant blue-green eyes and felt my heart wrench in my chest and the tears sting my eyes again. “Anna….” He sounded as torn as I felt and I forced a smile and shook my head.
“I’ll be down to breakfast soon, it had better be good,” I managed, though my voice sounded ragged from my scream and Jason sighed again before running downstairs.
“Anna, do you need help with your boxes?” Austin offered, but the tone of his voice had changed and I glanced at him only to see something in his blue eyes that I didn’t truly recognize.
“I’m almost finished,” I answered, smiling again, “So why don’t you like Jack and Alex?”
“There’s a whole slew of things around here that are all connected that I don’t very much like,” Austin commented evasively, “But I’ve got no real idea how they’re actually connected… so if you ever figure it out… let me know….”
“They’re part of this group of things you don’t like?” I wondered, putting away the remaining things from my opened box.
“They are… deeply involved, actually…” Austin replied quietly, “I don’t trust them with you….” His voice was closer and I darted my gaze up to him as he knelt down beside me. “He’s four years younger than you, Anna… when he’s eighteen and you’re twenty-two, it won’t be as big of a deal… but right now… right now you’re extremely different… he’s so young… he’s immature….”
“I wish I could agree with you… but he’s not, Austin… and I know he’s younger… and I know you would be upset if I even considered it… but I’m not considering it,” I stated, tears welling up in my eyes again, “We need to go eat….”
Austin only nodded and helped me to my feet as we both went downstairs and into the kitchen where Jason had prepared omelets. I honestly hadn’t known he could cook anything at all, much less omelets.
Breakfast, which when I glanced at the clock had really become brunch, was awkward and I could only hope things would settle back out to some kind of normalcy.
We worked together through the afternoon to get our rooms set up and throw out the boxes. I didn’t realize until I was in the shower, that I wasn’t the one to put up my journal, but it had definitely been up on my desk when I’d last seen it.
“Crap, crap, crap,” I muttered while I was wrapping up in the towel, “Which one of them read it…? Either way is bad.”
I was really glad to realize that Dad had done renovations since I’d been to his house as a kid. He’d added another bathroom right next to my room, which Austin automatically deemed mine and that Austin and Jason would share the original guest bathroom. It was nice to have my own bathroom, for the first time in my life, and Dad had sparsely decorated it with a note that we’d go shopping and I could get whatever I wanted to for it. It was really a comfort that I hadn’t expected, but when I stepped into the hallway, wrapped in my towel, at the same time that Jason stepped out of their bathroom with his towel around his waist, we both froze.
“Y… your cheek’s doing better,” he stammered, but my face flushed red before I darted into my room and closed the door behind me.
“You were just staring at a twelve-year-old,” I scolded myself beneath my breath, leaning hard against my door, “My god he looks way older….”
I took several deep breaths before I went to my closet and pulled out a pair of dark wash jeans and one of my favorite burgundy silk halter tops. I slipped my feet into wedge sandals, not knowing what kind of ground we’d be out on next to a lake, and fixed my hair into soft curls and did a quick covering of light makeup.
So by the time Austin knocked on my door to announce that we were leaving, I was completely ready and stepped into the hall to find him in jeans and a button-up blue top and Jason just down the hallway in cargo shorts and a brown tank with a button-up deep teal shirt thrown on, unbuttoned, over it.
“You are not going dressed like that,” Austin blurted but I laughed and grabbed his arm.
“Are you going to drive, or do I have to get us lost along the way?” I asked, grabbing Jason’s arm when we passed him and pulling them both down to the garage.
“You’re seriously going to go dressed like that…?” Austin reiterated and I only answered by looking from his car to mine. He sighed and let us into his new sports car where I climbed into the backseat, much to Jason’s confusion. “Get in, Jay. Front seat,” Austin instructed and Jason climbed inside and buckled in before turning in the seat to face me.
“What are you doing?” he questioned and I shrugged, only briefly looking into those suspicious blue-green eyes. “Why won’t you look at me?”
“Leave her alone, Jay,” Austin insisted, glancing at me in the rearview mirror, “She’s got to sort through some things… leave her alone.”
And I realized then, that Jason definitely hadn’t seen my journal, if anyone had, it was Austin. I smiled up at him in the mirror and he faintly laughed, shaking his head.
He was racing through the streets and I gripped the seat until my knuckles turned white. “Austin, slow down,” I insisted, staring out the window and swearing I saw something running in the tree line again.
“Quit looking out the window, it makes it seem like I’m going faster than I am,” Austin argued, but the trees stopped passing quite so quickly before I stared down at my hands in my lap. A howl reached my ears and had my gaze darting back out the window in shock.
“Did you hear that?” I gasped, it was so loud, even inside of the car going as fast as we were.
“Coyotes,” Austin dismissed, “It’s really not safe outside after dark. The cops are keeping under wraps just how many people have gone missing… but I know Dad… someone else disappeared yesterday… So any of these bonfires you want to go to, you make sure Dad knows about them.”
“Coyotes… yeah…” I mumbled, the car slowing drastically when we pulled off onto a dirt road. The sun had started setting before we’d left the house, and by the time I started to see flames flickering in the distance, it was completely dark and my nerves suddenly set on edge.
“Holy crap,” Jason muttered beneath his breath and my gaze darted out the front windshield to the crowds of people and lines of parked cars, but even more to the humongous bonfire that stretched up above the trees.
“Welcome to the bonfire, guys… A
nna, stay where at least one of us can see you at all times… we still don’t know where Mark went… and I’m not risking your safety for some stupid party,” Austin instructed, following the people waving him over to park at the end of the line.
When we got out of the car and headed towards the crowd, there was a hush that followed us and worsened my nerves. A hush that seemed to grow worse until Jack jogged over with a smile covering his face.
“The Grays! So glad you found us,” Jack greeted cheerfully and the hush grew louder, “Come on, come meet everyone.”
“Everyone?” I whispered and Jack laughed, his smile softening when he looked at me.
“Everyone being my closest friends,” he reasoned with a faint chuckle, “You don’t like crowds, do you?”
“I’m not used to them,” I admitted with a shrug and his emerald eyes briefly darted to Austin, but he suddenly spun around and all I saw was a blur of shaggy blonde hair.
My eyes scrunched in confusion, he’d acted like he’d been called, but there was too much noise and I hadn’t heard anyone. When I spotted Alex off in the distance walking toward us with the prettiest girl beside him and realized that it was Alex that Jack was looking at, my confusion grew worse. With how far away Alex still was, there was no way Jack could’ve heard him even if he’d yelled. My attention was pulled to the girl beside Alex; young woman, I decided, who twirled in circles randomly to the music that pulsed in the air. Her long, flowing light gray skirt swirling around her ankles revealed her bare feet, and her white top was ruffled and fell off the shoulders, like something straight out of the eighties. Her long deep black hair fell in soft waves past her shoulders as she laughed, but the split second when she met my gaze, I gasped; she had a slightly lighter shade of Alex’s strangely aqua eyes and had to be his sister. I let my gaze shift to Alex to find him staring at me with an amused smile on his face and my heart skipped. It was strange, the way everyone just seemed to clear out of their way, the way they moved with such confidence; all of it struck a chord of oddness in my mind.
“Arianna,” Alex acknowledged, slightly bowing his head when he and his sister reached us, “This is my sister, Amy; Amy, this is Arianna, Jason, and Austin Gray.”
“Hi, Arianna,” Amy greeted with a bright smile and a sweet, melodic voice, “Alex, you didn’t do her justice. And Jason,” she smiled at him before turning to Austin, “I believe we’ve met before, Austin Gray.”
“We have,” Austin answered with a chuckle and I glanced at him to find the coy, flirty smile on his face that he so rarely used despite its power.
“That’s something you don’t see every day,” Jason remarked almost silently at my ear and I shook my head in shock.
“I was going to go introduce them to everyone,” Jack stated just before I darted my attention back over to find Alex right in front of me.
“I saw you watching my sister… and I saw when you realized she was my sister,” Alex commented, his deep aqua eyes staring intently at me as I sucked in a deep breath to try to calm my racing heart. “When you saw her eyes… is when you realized who she was; am I right?”
I felt my hand twitch, ready to reach back and grab Jason’s hand and had to curl it into a fist at my side.
I can’t rely on him, I can’t. I can’t keep relying on Jason; I’m giving him the wrong impression.
“Anna, are you okay?” Jason whispered at my ear, his fingers brushing against mine and I gave up and grabbed hold of his hand, feeling my heart instantly slow.
“I’m fine, Jay,” I whispered back, looking up to find Alex with his head tilted to the side, watching me curiously. “I’m sorry… you asked me a question….”
“It wasn’t that important,” Alex dismissed, glancing at Jack, “Is it only me that makes you nervous, Arianna?”
“I…it’s the crowd… I don’t… don’t do well with crowds,” I reasoned, and he curled a sly smile as he laughed.
“If you say so, Arianna,” Alex decided, “So you wouldn’t be interested in meeting the rest of mine and Jack’s friends?”
“Alex,” Jack sighed, shaking his head, “Quit giving her such a hard time….”
“What hard time?” Alex sarcastically chuckled, but he hadn’t looked away from me again and I squeezed Jason’s hand tighter, “May I speak with Jason, Arianna?”
“What’s up?” Jason asked, stepping directly up beside me.
“Alone,” Alex added and I bit the inside of my cheek when Jason squeezed my hand before letting go and followed Alex a little bit away.
“Don’t let him get to you,” Jack remarked, leaning against a tree, his right foot planted flat against the tree’s trunk beside his left knee and his hands tucked into the pockets of his designer jeans.
“What do you mean?” I questioned and he shifted those playful emerald eyes over to me, a grin on his face.
“He’s trying to figure out your buttons. He does that when he likes someone… especially when he has an instant connection with someone that he doesn’t really understand. He’s trying to figure out why he likes you,” Jack explained and I stared back at him in shock, “He’s right though… you get nervous around him… it’s not the crowd, Arianna. You didn’t grab Jason’s hand until Alex approached you.”
“Okay… so maybe he makes me more nervous…” I faintly admitted, my gaze falling to the dirt at my feet, “If I asked you something… would you answer me honestly?”
“I guess it would depend on the question,” Jack replied as I walked over to stand in front of him, inspecting his emerald eyes.
“What’s going on here… with you and Alex and Amy and the weird, wolf-related names everywhere…?” I asked it quietly, but felt an instant tension in the air and caught the split-second flash of fear in Jack’s eyes.
“What are you talking about?” Jack countered nonchalantly, and if I hadn’t seen his initial reaction and felt the tension around us, I would’ve completely believed him. “You said something about wolf-related names…? Like what?”
“Romulus and Remus, Fenrir, London High School, Ainu, Asena… I’m sure there are others… I’ve always had a bit of a fascination with folklore and mythology though…” I listed thoughtfully and again spotted that blink-of-an-eye first reaction of panic in his eyes.
“Well, we figure our ancestors were into mythology because we also have Ceres, Demeter, Flora, Pomona, and a bunch of other mythological names around,” he rationalized and I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from continuing the conversation as I shrugged my shoulders.
“I guess,” I dismissed. It was obvious I wasn’t going to get complete truths out of Jack, and it was also obvious that he wasn’t the only one who knew something. The tension did lessen, which I was thankful for; but all I could think was that sure, those were other mythological names, but they were all goddesses of plant-life, which there was also an abundance of around town.
“So what made you decide to move here?” Jack inquired and I had to fight to keep myself from jumping mid-air since I’d completely forgotten he was there while I was thinking about things.
“One thing just led to another and here I am,” I evasively responded. That time he didn’t try to hide the emotion that flashed across his eyes because he was amused by my answer. “Is there a… um… bathroom…?” I faltered across the words and his eyes widened as he pushed off of the tree.
“Yeah, sorry! I totally forgot this is your first time here… you just kinda fit in…” he trailed off before turning and pointing towards a building just a few yards away, “Right there; it’s unlocked and everything. One of the many perks of going through the right sources to have a bonfire, they leave the bathrooms open.”
“Thanks,” I faintly laughed, glancing to find Austin talking to Amy, well really, it looked like he was flirting with her and I felt just the slightest pang of jealousy, and Jason was with Alex. They were both within sight of the bathroom so I pushed my way through the crowd and over to it.
When I pushed the doo
r open, I found a rather pretty girl with long blonde curls touching up her makeup in the mirror. Her golden eyes looked up at me in the reflection before she turned to face me with a smile.
“Arianna Gray, right?” she asked and I nodded.
“Anna’s fine… everyone called me Anna at my old school, and my family, too,” I stated and her brows pulled down in thought.
“Really? Alex said it was Arianna… I’d think he would’ve told us if you went by something else…” she considered and I shrugged.
“He said he liked my full name better,” I revealed which made her giggle and nod.
“I’ll tell everyone it’s Anna,” she decided, setting her makeup down and holding her hand out to me, “I’m Elisabeth Davies.” I shook her hand and felt a smile creeping onto my lips, “Lissa, or just Lis is fine, so’s Elisabeth.” One of the stalls opened and the girl that stepped over to the sink to wash her hands had straight fiery red hair to her shoulders and bright green eyes, “That’s Samantha Arnold, or Sam.”
“Hi, Anna,” she greeted with what I felt was not a genuine smile up at the mirror and I nodded.
“Hi,” I sheepishly replied.
“I imagine she didn’t just wander in here to talk to you, Lis,” Samantha hinted and Elisabeth dropped my hand suddenly, her face absolutely shocked.
“I’m so sorry,” she apologized, “We’ll see you back outside.”
“Yeah, sure,” I answered calmly, a smile back on my face before I ducked into one of the stalls and waited self-consciously until I heard them leave.
I nearly screamed when I walked out of the bathroom building and Alex appeared at my side. All that I really did was stumble a few steps which caused Alex to reach out and lightly grab my forearm to steady me.
“Let’s try this again… am I the only one that makes you nervous?” he queried with a glint in his deep aqua eyes as I bit the inside of my cheek again.
“You’re the only one, so far, that makes me more nervous than this crowd alone,” I whispered, my arm trembling until he let his hand fall back to his side.
“Was that so difficult?” he softly pressed and I shook my head, still chewing on the inside of my cheek, “Do you want to go meet my friends?”
“What did you talk to Jason about?” I evaded, heading back towards my brothers as Alex fell into step beside me. I realized only a second later that the struggle I had gone through to make my way through all of the people on the way to the bathroom wasn’t happening on the way back. Though nobody was really turning to pay us any attention, and no one stopped their conversations, they still moved out of the way as Alex and I passed them.
It’s Alex… he’s the leader… that’s why everyone moves out of his way… why he’s so sure of himself… why he stood up to Austin like he did.... But leader of what, exactly?
“I was asking him about you,” Alex stated and I darted my eyes to him, “You rely on Jason a lot, but he doesn’t mind. I like the littlest Gray’s way of thinking. I respect him.” My eyes widened in shock and he laughed softly. “What brought you here, Arianna?”
“I don’t know what you mean…” I murmured, looking away to spot Jack leaning against the tree again with Jason talking to him, his young eyes keeping track of my every move.
“I mean Jason’s watching you like a bodyguard watches his charge; Austin was yesterday, but my sister has distracted him tonight,” Alex reasoned and I chanced a look over to find Austin shamelessly flirting with Amy then, but I also noticed he shot split-second glances in my direction more than once.
“They worry,” I evaded, but Alex lightly grabbed my arm and pulled me over towards the bonfire and away from my brothers.
“It’s more than that… you can trust me, Arianna,” Alex pressed, but I started chewing on the inside of my cheek again.
“I don’t know you, Alex…” I muttered, refusing to look at him even though I felt him staring at me, “And this place is weird… I don’t trust anything about it yet….”
“Weird how?” he questioned and I froze, despite his hold on my arm. The tone in his voice sent a chill running down my spine and made goosebumps on my arms.
“Nothing,” I lied, looking over my shoulder to find Jason following us and Jack behind him trying to slow him down.
“Are you really going to choose lying to me?” His tone was even worse and my nerves were shot.
“Nothing’s weird… Jack explained it perfectly logically,” I elucidated but I could swear Alex’s hand started to get really hot just before Jason slipped his hand into mine and leaned up next to my ear.
“Are you sure you’re okay? You seem really tense…” he worried and I clung to his hand tightly, “I think you’re safe with Alex, Anna….”
“What makes you think that?” I countered with a faint laugh, wanting to pull my arm out of Alex’s grip which had settled into a more than natural heat, but afraid to do such a thing. So instead, I found myself pulled past the bonfire and over to the bank of the lake with Jason trailing beside me.
“Alex seems like a nice guy,” Jason reasoned with a shrug.
Appearances can be deceiving… “I only feel safe with you and Austin, Jay,” I countered quietly and Jason lightly squeezed my hand but the heat on my arm intensified as Alex led me over to a bench swing and pulled me to sit down on it beside him and Jason squished into the tiny space on my other side.
“Jason, could I please speak to your sister alone? You don’t have to go very far,” Alex requested, but Jason’s blue-green eyes stared intently at me. “Arianna, please. I promise I’m not going to hurt you or anything stupid,” he turned his pleas on me but my eyes darted down to his hand on my arm which he seemed startled to discover there. He also seemed to realize that his hand was ridiculously hot, because it suddenly cooled before he pulled his hand into his own lap. “Please.”
“It’s okay, Jay,” I recited and Jason squeezed my hand again before he stood up and walked only a little ways down the bank where I could still easily see him. Immediately after he was gone, I scooted to the other side of the swing while Alex lightly took hold of my arm, and I darted my gaze back to him worriedly, but he was inspecting the faint red mark that his hand had left.
“I’m sorry…” he whispered, his eyes furrowed but I just stared at him.
“Then you admit… you did it…?” I murmured, his aqua eyes darting up to me were briefly startled, “I know you did it… I just don’t get how… it’s not… not humanly possible.”
“Openly express your thoughts to me and I will tell you what I can,” he bargained while Elisabeth walked over with two canned drinks and held them out to us.
“Since you haven’t introduced us to Anna yet, I figured she hadn’t made it to the drinks yet,” Elisabeth commented as I took the can to discover it was my favorite soda, looking up at her in shock. “I introduced myself to your brothers earlier. Jason told me that was your favorite.”
“Thank you, Lissa. I’ll bring her over in a few minutes,” Alex remarked and Elisabeth barely nodded her head before she disappeared again and Alex took his unopened can and pressed it against my arm. The cold was such a shock in comparison that I flinched, but the can was almost instantly not so cold.
“My thoughts… really?” I mumbled and he nodded, “The names… the road names and the lake name… they’re wolf-related, mythological… Jack said there were other mythological names… but the ones he told me… they were all goddesses of plant life, of which there is a strange abundance around here…” I was staring down at my soda while I spoke, despite the fact that Alex was watching me, “Twice… when we’ve been driving, I swear I’ve seen something running, keeping up with the car, just within the tree line… and Jack… when we got here tonight, reacting like he’d heard someone call him when he looked at you… but you were too far away… and you…” I paused, gripping the can tighter, “You are the leader… of something… And the whole, no going off alone after dark… and you and Jack changed the topic when I ment
ioned the full moon… and did it again when I said something about alpha males… but you offered to take me outside after dark… so if the danger at night is wild animals, like everyone says… how would I be safe with you…?” And I had a weird dream about wolves last night, roaming around like they were human. I decided not to tack that part onto the end and make myself sound completely insane, not that I didn’t sound crazy enough already.
The silence stretched on for so long that my nerves went completely haywire again, but he kept alternating between pressing the cool can and rubbing his hand across the red ring on my arm.
“You’re a very observant girl, aren’t you?” Alex finally questioned and I glanced over at him, “I am the leader… you are safe with me… As much as you won’t want to hear it… I’m not going to tell you much more than that.”
“Why…” I faltered, trying to think through my nerves which were on edge yet again from meeting his aqua gaze, “What is the leader’s interest in me?”
“You’re different,” he whispered, staring into my eyes, “I like how different you are from everyone else I’ve known my whole life….”
“I’m only different because you’ve known them your whole life.”
He chuckled and shook his head, “No… it’s more than that.” He sighed when he looked down at my arm again, “I am terribly sorry about that… you should’ve said something….”
“You wanted me to draw Jay’s attention to it? Because I got the distinct impression that whatever is going on around here is some big, huge, gigantic secret….”
“If he wasn’t constantly following you around… you wouldn’t have had to make him aware…” he grumbled, looking up at me again, “Won’t you tell me why you’re really here?”
“No, Alex… I won’t… I came here to escape the past… even if it was just yesterday, or the day before… the past is staying in the past,” I uttered and he quirked the corner of his lip up.
“If that were entirely true, you wouldn’t be worrying about mythological names and what Jack and I did at dinner last night,” Alex coyly added and I sighed, shaking my head, “You can be vague… did it involve another person? Did someone hurt you? I want to keep you safe, Arianna… If it was a person, which is what I’m leaning towards with how Jason is acting, then your brothers are worried that this person has followed you here. If I knew what to look out for, I’d keep the person away from you.”
It sounded tempting, honestly, because he had admitted he was the leader, of whatever, so I thought in the back of my mind that he really might be able to do something. But if I admitted it was a person, if I admitted it was who it was… it would be easy enough to draw the right conclusion on what had happened.
“As tempting as that sounds… I have to say no.” My voice barely came out, I was shocked he had even heard me with… Why is it so quiet over here…? We’re close enough to the crowd and the music and the bonfire; it shouldn’t be so quiet over here. Is this something else Alex has done?
“I can protect you, Arianna, just let me,” he whispered gently, brushing the back of his fingers across my left cheek and I froze.
“Don’t,” Jason hissed, jerking Alex’s hand away from my face before he spun to face me, “Anna, you’re okay.” He gently rested his palm flat against my right cheek and stared down at me until I looked up into his eyes. “You’re okay.”
I gasped when I felt heat on my arm and darted my eyes over to Alex to find his aqua eyes literally swirling with silver and absolutely furious. But a breath later and he looked normal again, his burning hand once more gone from my arm.
“I’m okay, Jay,” I insisted despite the slight tremble in my voice, “I’m okay. I’m sorry I worried you.”
“Jason Gray, will you tell me who you’re protecting your sister from?” Alex calmly asked and Jason stared down at me as I saw the thought running around in his head. My gray eyes widened with worry, upon later thought, probably the only thing that set his mind.
“I’m sorry, but our father doesn’t want anyone to know, and Anna really doesn’t want anyone to know…” Jason reasoned aloud, shaking his head, “Personally, I’m tempted to tell you… for whatever reason… I think you could probably help… but it’s not my choice to make.”
Alex sighed, “Come meet mine and Jack’s friends.” He stood up without touching me and I followed mainly out of curiosity with Jason beside me and discovered that Jack joined up with us before we reached a group of seven teenagers.
I already knew Elisabeth and Samantha. I was introduced to the other guys: Caiden who had dirty blonde hair just past his ears and deep brown eyes, Rayne who had pale blonde hair that looked almost white falling to his chin and bright hazel eyes, and Tobias who had dark brown hair down to his shoulders and honey brown eyes. Also were the other girls: Michaela who had straight medium brown hair down to her waist and sky blue eyes, and Sage who had her strawberry blonde hair cut into a bob and chestnut brown eyes.
They were all really nice, and calming in an odd way; something I hadn’t expected from friends of Alex. They asked general questions, and gave answers to the same, like what Jason and I did with our free time and what sports and clubs we had been part of at our old school. When they found out Jason was only twelve, the girls looked shocked and the guys passed looks to each other.
“You play football or basketball?” Tobias asked and Jason shrugged.
“Not really. I played with my friends some, but never on any teams,” Jason answered shyly, “And Anna’s exaggerating because I’ll be thirteen on the 23rd.”
“Well, it’s past midnight, so you only have three more days,” Caiden remarked with a grin, “We should throw you a party. Would you let us?” Jason shrugged again.
“Sure, if you really want to; that would be cool,” he decided and I couldn’t help but smile.
Before I explain this next part, I really have to explain some background… I had always gotten feelings about things, particularly people close to me. It seemed to freak people out when I started to tell them things before they could let me know about it. Like the time we were all at school and Jason got really sick and I was packing up my things in my classroom when the principal came to pull me out of class. I remembered him looking at me with the strangest look when I walked up to the door with my backpack on and when we stepped into the hallway I just looked up at him.
“What is Jason sick with? Is he going to be okay?” I had asked.
The principal had just stared at me for a long time before leading me to the infirmary to wait with a very pale and sickly Jason while Dad raced over in his cruiser to pick us up.
A lot of things like that had happened before I realized how much it bothered people, so I completely locked away the ability and forgot about it. That is, I forgot about it until the incident with Mark happened and I realized I had seen the warning signs and if I’d just been paying attention with that sense, I would’ve known his intentions before he’d ever had a chance to do anything. After that day, I’d started working on opening myself back up to my feelings, but hadn’t felt anything… Except, while at the bonfire, a sudden tremor ran down my spine and I had ten pairs of eyes on me which really freaked me out more than the tremor.
“Anna?” Jason’s entire demeanor had changed when he spun to face me and he leaned next to my ear, away from everyone. “What’s wrong?”
“Bad feeling,” I muttered beneath my breath and heard him suck in a deep breath.
“One of those bad feelings?” he queried and I only nodded, “Okay… do we need to leave?”
“I… don’t know,” I faltered, hating feeling like my skin was crawling, but that is essentially what happened whenever I got bad feelings like that.
“Okay… which is safer… staying here…” he paused, “Or going back to Dad’s house?” Another tremor and he moved enough to look into my eyes. “I’m getting Austin… do you feel safe staying with them?” There was only a twinge of negativity towards the group around me
so I nodded and Jason darted off into the crowd. I watched after him for a long moment before looking back at the group, but Caiden, Rayne, Tobias, and Jack were all gone.
“Where… how…? Where did they go and how did they disappear so quickly?” I wondered wide-eyed.
“Shouldn’t we be asking you what just happened?” Samantha inquired in a snarky tone with a single lifted eyebrow as I bit the inside of my cheek. I didn’t have a chance to say anything else because Jason came rushing back over with Austin on his heels.
“Arianna, is Dad safe?” Austin instantly asked and I stared at him wide-eyed and he seemed to catch on before he asked, “Is it him?” I flinched and he looked over at Alex who was watching us with only mild curiosity on his face and his arms crossed over his chest.
“Care to explain?” Alex queried, but Austin only shook his head.
“Family secret. I need to go home… if I’m not back before this whole thing stops, would it be too much to ask for someone to get Anna and Jay home?” Austin requested and Alex lifted his eyebrows.
“If you’re rushing home because of this him because your father isn’t safe which you gathered all of from Arianna’s bad feeling… how is it wise to take Arianna and Jason there, especially if you don’t get back before this is over?” Alex reasoned and Austin hesitated. That hesitation was enough for Alex. “Perhaps you should inform the police? We do have two officers here tonight.”
“Oh,” I gasped in shock and had all eyes on me again, but I looked at Austin, “Dad’s fine… I don’t know what just happened… but… Dad’s fine… Do what Alex said… tell the officers that are here….”
Austin only nodded and disappeared off into the crowd with Amy leading him over to the officers and I distantly wondered how he would explain things to them.
The faintest whoosh noise had me spinning back around to see that Jack, Caiden, Rayne, and Tobias were back and I scrunched my eyes in confusion at them.
“Where did you go?” I asked, looking each one in the eye for a long moment, but Rayne refused to more than flicker his suddenly dark hazel eyes at me. I stared at him longer, partly because he wouldn’t hold my gaze, and partly because when he did glance at me, my heart skipped.
No one even bothered to answer me. I guessed they chose not to bother with the pretense since Jason wasn’t paying attention, he was watching Austin. So I took that time to further investigate Rayne, since he seemed to play such havoc on my nerves and he’d hardly spoken a word the whole night. He was tall, probably as tall as Austin, if not maybe an inch or so taller. I realized with a start that I was thinking how comforting his lean, muscular arms looked. I also realized I was picturing him in a tighter fit shirt that better showed off muscles I couldn’t really see, but his jeans fit him perfectly, in my opinion; they weren’t too tight and weren’t falling off of him either.
I like Rayne. It was a simple thought, but my eyes widened briefly. I don’t even know the guy! How can I be developing a crush on a guy I don’t know?? No, that’s not right… How can I have a crush on a guy I don’t even know?!
He finally let his hazel eyes meet mine for more than a second, but the worry that was plainly visible in them and aimed at me made me finally look away as my face shaded pink. I glanced one more time at the other three that had disappeared and even though they weren’t looking at me anymore, they all still had the same worry in their eyes. The knot that formed in my stomach worsened when I realized Alex had it, too.
They know something… somehow… I don’t know how… but they know something.
“They’ve got a team that’s going to swing by the house and check on things,” Austin reported as he and Amy returned to the group. I regarded the fact that they seemed attached at the hip so quickly with curious fascination.
“How did you get them to do that?” I had to ask, I was far too curious about it.
“I told them I thought I’d seen… a car… earlier, on our way here, and it was just really bothering me…” he answered vaguely, due to our surrounding company, but the knot in my stomach was definitely telling me that the surrounding company knew what he was talking about. Somehow.
Jack steadily met my gaze for a long moment, before breaking the strange silence. “I’m hungry; are you guys hungry?”
A strangled giggle escaped my lips and he quirked up the corner of his smile into an adorable grin. “Yes,” I answered and even though the worry didn’t disappear, his eyes finally smiled again too.
“Let’s eat then,” Caiden added, grabbing Michaela’s hand and tugging her off towards a table in the distance. Tobias headed off after them with an arm through each of Elisabeth’s and Samantha’s arms as they walked on either side of him. Amy dragged Austin away after he made sure I was okay and Sage headed off alone leaving me with Jason, Alex, Jack, and Rayne.
“Well, come on,” Jack goaded and I glanced over at Jason before lightly pushing his arm.
“Go ahead. I want to talk to Alex for a minute,” I reasoned and Jason smiled before following after Jack, leaving Rayne hesitating where he had been.
“Go, Rayne,” Alex ordered and Rayne still hesitated but shot me a half-hearted smile before shoving his hands in his jeans’ pockets and walking away. “What is it, Arianna?”
“You’ve stopped trying to find out what happened…” I started softly, staring down at the ground until his feet broke into my line of sight and I looked up at him, catching my breath in my throat as I choked back the tears that stung my eyes. “Just please… tell me how you know…? I can tell you know… I can see it in your eyes and… the other guys too… so how did you find out?”
He stared at me for a long moment before shifting his eyes over my shoulder.
“Detective Gaines, is everything all right?” Alex queried and sure enough, Detective Gaines stepped up beside me, looking from me to Alex and back to me.
“I need to speak with Miss Gray alone, please,” she replied and Alex barely nodded his head.
“I’ll wait for you by the buffet table, Arianna,” Alex concluded and headed off after the others.
“I have good news,” she began as soon as he was gone and I darted my eyes up to her, “Your father, is absolutely fine. Mark Owens is in custody, though right now he’s at the hospital. He’s stable, but in ICU.”
“Wh… why?” I stammered, unable to stop the well of hope that started in my chest.
“We had a nearby team swing by your house, and they found his car about two blocks away. When they set out on foot, they heard moaning and found Mark off the side of the road in the woods between his car and your house. Some animal had attacked him, or maybe a group of animals…” she trailed off in thought for a moment before shrugging, “That’s why we tell people not to go outside after dark alone. He was in pretty bad shape, but it’s rather obvious where he was headed and we’ll just be thankful he was stupid enough to wander past the woods alone at night.”
“He’s really… you really caught him…?” I faltered and she finally smiled, a smile that lit up her whole face.
“He’s really in custody, there are two officers guarding his room at the hospital at all times until we transfer him to the jail. We’d just gotten the warrant from the judge to arrest him, because the tests from the sheets came back with positive matches. We’ve got more than enough to put him behind bars, Miss Gray.”
She reached out and caught my arm just in time because I almost fell over I felt so relieved. I didn’t realize what a toll it was taking on me that he was still free and that he could’ve followed me until that moment.
“Anna,” Jason was back at my side suddenly, and took my arm away from her, “Anna, are you okay?”
“Detective Gaines, this is Jason Gray,” I introduced faintly as she let her arm fall back to her side and smiled softly.
“Hello, Jason Gray,” she greeted before relaying her news to him. By the time she had finished, Jason had grabbed me into a tight hug.
“Thank you, Detective,” Jason rem
embered to say before she smiled and walked off and he hugged me tighter. “You’re safe now, Anna.”
“Now you can go get a girlfriend and stop worrying about me so much,” I insisted, feeling his arms flinch, “If Austin can… you can….”
“I think I love you a lot more than he ever dreamed of loving you,” Jason whispered beside my ear, “Because I couldn’t ever imagine being away from you… even if it was supposedly better for us… even if you really were my sister.”
“Jay, you’re too…”
“Young,” he sighed, stepping back from me, “I know… I know you think that… but I’m not, Anna… Come eat something… you have to be hungry.”
I only nodded and followed him over to the crowd of people scattered around the buffet. After getting a plate full of food, with Jason constantly beside me, Alex met my gaze and looked down at the empty seat beside him on the picnic bench. I faltered; he had completely avoided actually answering my question earlier, but that could have been because of Detective Gaines. Somehow, I doubted that was his reason, but as I stood there considering my options, Rayne sat across the table from the empty seat and I found myself headed towards it. I bit the inside of my cheek when I realized what I had just done as I sat on the empty seat and Jason pulled a chair up to the end of the table.
“I can’t answer your question,” Alex calmly told me a moment later and I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, “But I am inclined to inquire as to your staring at Rayne… and the reasoning behind it?”
“I can’t… answer your question,” I retorted bashfully and even though he looked rather amused, there was a hint of anger in his eyes.
“You’re a smart girl, Arianna… you’ve already proven that to me… you’re tough… that’s true, too… but liking Rayne, isn’t smart,” he quietly stated, staring into my eyes, “Besides it not being smart, I won’t allow it.”
“Won’t allow…? How can you control my decisions…?”
“I don’t control your decisions, Arianna.”
“You control Rayne’s…” I realized feeling Rayne’s eyes on me, “I really wish I knew what was going on around here….”
“Be careful what you wish for, Arianna,” Alex whispered next to my ear, but nothing could bring down my good mood, not even the nagging in the back of my mind about how they knew what had happened.
We made our way home around three a.m. and found Dad sleeping on the couch with the t.v. on. It was pretty obvious he’d been waiting up but just couldn’t stay awake that long. When we closed the door though, he jolted up and looked back at us.
“I take it word reached you,” he commented in his groggy voice and I nodded, “I’m going to bed. I’m glad things are settling down now. I’ll talk to you guys in the morning.” He groaned as he pushed himself off of the sofa and hugged each of us before he went upstairs to his room.
“Are you okay to sleep in your room alone now?” Austin asked and I started to nod, but ended up shaking my head. “We’ll all crash down here, then; right, Jay?”
“Sounds good to me,” Jason decided, sprinting up the stairs two at a time.
“So… Amy Moore, huh?” I pressed while Austin and I started upstairs to change and grab pillows and blankets.
“She’s different,” he replied with a faint smile on his lips.
“What does that mean really?”
“I like her,” he chuckled softly, “I do like her, but she isn’t you… I’m trying to give you your space, since you see me as a brother… If I don’t get my attention elsewhere, I’ll end up doing something that I’d regret.”
“Oh… well… she seems nice enough,” I reasoned quietly, “She’s pretty.”
“So… you and Alex?”
I giggled and rolled my eyes. “He thinks I’m different,” I laughed, glancing at Austin, “So, if your guy speak is universal, I guess he likes me.”
“And you…?”
“I don’t know… I barely know him.”
“That didn’t stop you from staring at Rayne Hathaway,” Jason commented from his doorway in his pajama pants while he pulled a tank top over his head. The second I realized I was staring at him, I darted my eyes to the floor.
“Rayne? Really, Anna? He actually seemed pretty nice the little I got to talk to him,” Austin included and I shrugged, “He seems different from the rest of that group… Anyway, I’ll see you back downstairs in a few.” He slipped into his room while Jason walked over to my door with me and leaned against the doorframe.
“You may not like Alex, but Alex likes you, a lot. And the attention he was giving you, did not go unnoticed. I know you were a little preoccupied, but there were almost three-hundred other people there that noticed us… A lot of them wanted to come say something… A lot of the girls got pissy because Alex was paying you so much attention… You know why no one came up to us?” Jason queried, and I turned back to face him after piling my pillow and blanket up on my bed, “You got sucked into the group that runs the high school, Anna. They’re the ‘in crowd’ that everyone’s just dying to be part of and hoping one of them will notice them.”
“Sucked in is an accurate statement… I’m not surprised though…” I whispered, “I’ll see you downstairs Jay… I have to get changed.” He took a step away from the door and I closed it before changing into a pair of shorts and a tank top. When I’d gathered up my stuff and started out the door, I jumped to find Jason there, taking my pillow and blanket from me and heading back down to the living room before I could argue with him.