"What can I get you?"
I gave her our order.
"You're up awfully early," she commented.
I shrugged. "Early bird gets the werewolf," I said.
"What?"
"Never mind." While Flo made the drinks, I went over to the jukebox, dropped in a quarter, and selected a Springsteen song. I felt a little silly, but I leaned closer and whispered into the jukebox's shiny surface, "Where's my sister?"
To my disappointment, my actual selection came on. Obviously, I wasn't going to get any help there. One of the guys at the counter grumbled something under his breath about my music choice. Who doesn't like the Boss?
I went back to the counter and paid for my drinks. I went to leave but hesitated when the jukebox cut out and started a new song a second later.
I braced myself for some horrid doom-and-gloom warning, but instead "Good Times" by INXS came on. Was Lil trying to tell me that everything was going to be okay?
As if the jukebox heard my thoughts, "Good Time" cut off and "Walking with a Ghost " by Tegan and Sara came on. Definitely a message for Poppy this time.
Flo stared at me. "You want something else?"
"No," I said. "You haven't happened to see Rose in here, have you? Or Nicholas Bone?"
"Her boyfriend, right?"
I nodded.
Flo thought for a minute. "Her boyfriend, maybe around six last night. Right before my shift ended."
"Thanks," I said. As I walked out the door, the strains of "Monsters of Man" by the Living Things came on the jukebox.
I got into the car and handed Poppy her soda. She slurped as we drove the short distance to Mort's.
"Park in the back, "I said. "That's where Nicholas usually parks."
"I know," Poppy snapped as she pulled into a spot near the back door. Nicholas's gray Mercedes was parked in the next space.
" They're here!" Poppy said.
We went to the door, but it was locked.
"What are we going to do now?" Rose could be inside, hurt—or worse.
Poppy dug in her purse. "Wait a minute," she said. A minute later, she triumphantly held up a key. "Gage gave it to me so I could come visit anytime I want."
I hesitated. "Maybe we should call Chief Mendez."
"He'll tell Mom," she objected. "Besides, we're already here. It'll take him at least ten minutes to get here. And Gage will help us if we get into a jam." Poppy put the key in the lock and opened the door. The back entrance took us down a hallway. It was dark and quiet, and I didn't dare to breathe.
What always struck me about the funeral home was the deep, unending silence. Nothing moved, but I always felt like someone, or something, was waiting for me.
Poppy found a light switch and flipped it on. Everything looked normal until I saw the pool of blood in the hallway. That's when Poppy started screaming.
Chapter Eight
At the sound of Poppy's scream, Gage came tearing out of the Tranquility Room as a dark cloud. He saw Poppy and materialized into the shadow of a very handsome young man. He ignored me and focused on Poppy. Gage put his ghostly arms around her, or at least he tried to, but they went right through her.
"Shh! It's okay," he said. He stroked her hair. There was something tender about the way he tried and failed to touch her.
Finally, Poppy's sobs trailed off into little whimpers. I tried not to look at the blood, but its sharp metallic smell hung in the air.
"Did you see what happened here?" I asked Gage.
"The Were was here," he said. "With the girl who looks like you."
"Rose?" I tried to keep the panic out of my voice.
"Someone was waiting. Another Were. There was a struggle. It hurt. So much blood." Gage's voice sounded far-off, and I wondered if he was reliving his own death. He didn't seem to be focused on the here and now, but instead was clearly in a dark place. He screamed and faded in and out for a minute.
"Gage, what's wrong?" Poppy's voice seemed to snap him out of it. He shuddered and resumed his normal ghostly shape.
"It's nothing," he said. "Just a bad memory."
"What should we do?" Poppy said. "Call the hospital?"
"They wouldn't take Nicholas to the hospital," I said. "How would they explain his furry state?"
"Rose wouldn't just let him bleed to death," Poppy replied. "Where would she take him?"
None of us seemed to have the answer, but a moment later, the door opened and Rose entered the hallway. Her face was white and drawn and there was a smudge of what looked like blood across her cheek. She carried a bucket, rags, and cleaning supplies.
I was relieved to see her, but I couldn't help but wonder how hard it was to get Were blood out of carpeting.
We rushed up to her. "Are you all right?"
Poppy grabbed her and held her tight.
"I'm fine," she said. Then gently, "Poppy, honey, if you don't stop squeezing me, I won't be able to breathe."
Poppy loosened her grasp and stepped back to stare at Rose. "What happened?" She demanded.
Rose dropped to her knees and dabbed at the blood. She avoided looking at any of us, especially me. "I want to get this stain out before it sets."
"Is Nicholas okay? Where is he?" Poppy flooded her with questions, but I didn't say anything. I watched Rose closely, though. Something was wrong. She was hiding something.
"He's fine," she said. "Just a couple of stitches. I took him to a doctor in town, a Were. She stitched him up, and Nicholas is home in bed, resting."
"How did he get hurt?"
"It was nothing. Just an accident." That didn't sound like my sister, brushing off her boyfriend's injury. There was definitely something she wasn't telling us.
For the first time, I deliberately tried to read Rose's mind. I got a quick glimpse of Nicholas being attacked by a younger, lanky Were before Rose slammed down her defenses and kicked me out.
She glared at me and sent me a message. Do that again and you will regret it. I could tell she meant it.
Sorry, I sent back. I wouldn't do it again, of course, but I was fascinated by what I'd learned.
There was a teenaged Were in Nightshade? I had seen a few Weres when Ryan and I were spying on the Nightshade City Council one time, but they had all been older looking. Who was the other Were? And why had he and Nicholas been fighting?
These were the questions running through my mind as I spent the rest of the morning helping my sisters scrub the blood out of the carpet at Mort's.
Chapter Nine
My cell phone rang several times over the weekend. It was always Ryan's number flashing on the screen, but I ignored it. He probably had a good explanation for skipping our date, but I wasn't in the mood to hear it.
By Monday morning I still hadn't returned his calls. There was no sign of him, but the halls were fairly humming with innuendo and speculation. In the heart of it all stood Penny Edwards, surrounded by a twittering crowd of girls. I went over to join them.
"Did you hear, Daisy? Another one of Duke's predictions came true," she said, teary eyed. "Mr. Davis is dead."
"What happened? When?" Although he wasn't my favorite teacher at Nightshade, I was freaked out by the news.
"Over the weekend. No one knows the details yet," Sam replied.
"But we heard he might have been murdered," Jordan Kelley said. "They found his body by the fountain in the park."
An image of all that blood soaking into the carpet at Mort's flashed in my mind. Was Rose telling me the truth about what had happened there?
"But it's just like Duke predicted," Penny insisted. "What do you have to say about that?"
"Duke predicted that something would happen to Mr. Davis?"
"Well, not exactly." Penny tossed her head. "He predicted that there was danger in the trees."
I frowned. The trees? Everyone knew that Mr. Davis went for a run in the park every night. There were lots of trees there.
"I heard he was out jogging," Samantha said. "The guy was more worried about
getting middle-aged spread than anybody I knew. "There was a disgusted look on her face, but I wasn't sure if it was because of the gossip or because Penny was getting all the attention.
"I heard he had a heart attack and no one found him until morning," Rachel said.
The gossip was flying. Who knew what the truth was.
Penny continued to chirp like an annoying little sparrow. "And just think, Duke predicted the whole thing."
I could feel the expression on my face turning skeptical. You'd think I, of all people, would believe in Duke's abilities, wouldn't you? But I'd seen enough fake psychics in my life to have my doubts. After my dad disappeared, the vultures descended on my mom. In her quest to find out what had happened to him, my mom seemed to forget everything she'd learned about the difference between a true psychic and a scam artist. Even worse, her own gift had suffered. She eventually regained most of her sanity and her ability, but not before she'd been taken advantage of, both emotionally and financially.
Just then, Principal Amador's voice broke in over the loudspeaker. "All students, please report to the auditorium for a special assembly."
"What's going on?" I asked Rachel as we gathered up our backpacks and merged into the stream of students headed for the auditorium.
"I dunno," she said. "But I heard there were police everywhere this morning."
"Including Ryan's dad," Penny piped in from behind us. "Didn't he mention it?"
I quickened my pace. Trust Penny to get in a cheap shot. I'm sure she already knew Ryan and I weren't exactly communicating these days.
In the auditorium, several teachers and students were crying. Mr. Davis had been popular. Still no sign of Ryan. But his dad, Chief Mendez, was sitting in a folding chair on stage, next to the podium where Principal Amador stood.
"Good morning," the principal said. "As you have all heard, Dexter Davis was found dead in Nightshade City Park early Saturday morning. The cause of death is unknown, but an autopsy is being performed. He was a great teacher and an important part of the Nightshade community, and he will be greatly missed. This is an upsetting time for all of us. If you wish to speak to a counselor, they will be available all week in Nurse Phillips's office. Now Chief Mendez would like to have a few words with you."
The chief stood at the podium and cleared his throat. "If any of you have any information that will help us catch Mr. Davis's killer, please speak to me or one of my officers after the assembly."
After a short silence, someone called out to Chief Mendez from the audience. It was Christy Hannigan. "Chief Mendez, I heard Mr. Davis was attacked by a wild animal. Is that true?"
The chief looked slightly flustered. "Where did you hear that?"
"My mother was one of the first paramedics on the scene," Christy continued. "She said there were claw marks all over Mr. Davis's face!"
Panic swept through the audience. I digested the news. Christy wasn't usually given to exaggeration.
"Now, let's just keep calm," Chief Mendez said coolly. "It's true that the circumstances of this death are suspicious. Rest assured that the authorities are looking into it and that everything is under control. The residents of Nightshade have nothing to fear."
Nothing to fear but a murderer on the loose. I wondered if Chief Mendez was just acting nonchalant to keep people from panicking or if he was covering up something. I knew that the chief sometimes consulted the Nightshade City Council on crimes where something supernatural was involved. After all, the council made all the decisions for Nightshade's paranormal community. Could the chief be protecting a werewolf?
After the assembly I decided to talk to him. He was conversing quietly with Bane Paxton, who looked shell-shocked. I thought I overheard them say something about "the scourge." They looked up, alarmed, when I approached. Bane quickly excused himself.
"Hanging in there, Daisy?" Chief Mendez asked.
I nodded. "Chief, is Ryan coming to school today?"
"He's out sick today," he said. "I thought he had told you."
Sick again?
"Nope." I sighed. Ryan hadn't been telling me much lately, but I wouldn't burden his dad with that grievance. "Thanks for letting me know."
"Daisy," the chief said as I turned to walk away, "don't give up on Ryan. He's just going through some hard times right now. He'll get over it."
Hearing that from Chief Mendez made me feel a little better—but only a little. Who knew what Ryan was hiding from his dad. They hadn't been on the best of terms lately. I smiled weakly.
"Do you really think you'll catch Mr. Davis's killer?" I couldn't resist asking.
The chief became all business. "I'm sure of it, Daisy. Don't you worry about anything. With the police department and your mom on the case, we'll solve this in no time."
"My mom is on the case?" I asked. She hadn't mentioned anything about it to me all weekend.
"I called her first thing this morning," Chief Mendez said. "We're meeting up in a bit so I can fill her in on the details."
My heart sunk, knowing that this meant my mom probably wouldn't be getting home from work early again anytime soon. I shrugged and said, "I guess you can use all the help you can get with this one, huh?"
The chief gave me a suspicious look.
I caught a random thought from him: Don't get involved. Solving mysteries ran in my blood. I was anxious to take on this case, but apparently, he didn't think it was a good idea.
All day long, Mr. Davis's death was the subject of every conversation.
Poppy and Rose were in the living room watching a movie when I got home. I could tell by their faces that they'd already heard the news.
"Can you believe it?"
Poppy lowered her voice. "You want to know something? I was hanging out with Gage at Mort's after school today and I heard Nicholas's dad talking about it. They think Mr. Davis's death is City Council business."
I gulped. That confirmed my theory.
"I got the impression they think something furry is involved."
"Did Nicholas mention anything to you about Mr. Davis?" I asked Rose.
"No, why would he?" Rose replied, but her voice was high and strained. She was an unconvincing liar.
Did Rose know something? And if so, why was she keeping it from us? I tried to probe her thoughts, but she was shut down. She gave me a cut-it-out look, and I withdrew guiltily. I'd always hated it when Rose wandered into my mind unintentionally. There was no excuse for my deliberate invasion of her privacy.
Sorry, I mouthed. I decided we needed to be up front with Rose. "I heard it was a werewolf attack."
"What?" she gasped. "There's no way it was Nicholas."
"We know that," I reassured her. "We didn't think for a minute that it was. But what about the other werewolves in town?"
"Like who?" Rose asked, eyeing me suspiciously.
It's true that I didn't know exactly who the other Weres in Nightshade were. But I could take a wild guess. "Well ... how about Mr. Bone? Do you know where he was the night it happened?"
"Mr. Bone?" she said. Then she seemed to get the drift of my thoughts. "Daisy, didn't you know? Nicholas is adopted."
"So?" Poppy said.
"So," I said, slowly understanding what Rose was trying to say. "Mr. Bone isn't a werewolf. But the City Council always meets at Mort's Mortuary. I just assumed that Mr. Bone was on the council."
"He is," Rose admitted. "Think about it. Mr. Bone."
"Mr. Bone is Skull," I said. We'd run into a walking, talking skeleton, whom I nicknamed Skull, when Ryan and I had snuck into a Council meeting. "The leader of the Nightshade City Council," I added for Poppy's benefit. Even I had a hard time believing it. Mr. Bone was a round little man, perpetually sunburnt from spending all his free time playing golf. He did not look like the leader of a paranormal secret society.
"There was a full moon the night Mr. Davis died," I pointed out. "And Gage told us that he saw another Were attack Nicholas. Maybe that Were killed its next victim."
"
I think you're jumping to conclusions," Rose protested. "It could have been someone or something other than a werewolf that murdered Mr. Davis."
But I was still hung up on my Were theory. There were only two new people in town, as far as I knew: Elise Wilder and Duke Sherrad. Maybe it was one of them. Was Penny right about Duke? Was he just a charming fortune-teller? Or was Duke the mysterious new werewolf in town?
Chapter Ten
Two nights later, the Giordano family went to Mort's, along with what seemed like everyone else in Nightshade, for Mr. Davis's memorial service. It was rare that Mom got out of work so early, and I was a little sad that we couldn't spend the evening doing something fun together instead of hanging out at a funeral home. But I hoped I'd be able to pick up some clues at the service about Mr. Davis's mysterious death.
The Eternal Rest Room was packed. I drifted over to where Samantha was standing with a gaggle of weepy cheerleaders. I craned my neck to get a look at the casket over the crowd standing around it. It was closed. It seemed I wouldn't get a look at Mr. Davis's body after all.
A tiny woman wearing a lace veil stood in front of the casket, greeting mourners.
"Who's that?" I whispered to Sam.
"Mrs. Wilder. Matriarch of the Wilder clan. I met her when I booked the Wilder mansion for prom. Strange lady. Sweet, though."
I was confused. "Wilder?" I said. "Was she related to Mr. Davis?"
"Didn't you know?" Sam said. "Mr. Davis was Mrs. Wilder's grandson."
"That makes Elise and Mr. Davis cousins," I said.
"Duh, Daisy," hissed Penny, who was obviously listening in on our conversation. "Everybody knows that."
Sure enough, there was Elise at the front of the room, looking gorgeous even with red-rimmed eyes. I felt a little less sympathetic when I saw who she was talking to. Ryan.
"Excuse me," I mumbled, and pushed my way out into the hall. I could see Penny's gloating smile out of the corner of my eye.
I leaned against the wall and sighed deeply. Evidently there were others who needed a break from the service, too. There was a commotion in a little sitting room across the hall, but nobody else seemed to notice. It was Bane Paxton's parents, their youngest son, Wolfgang, and a beautiful woman I didn't recognize. She had shiny midnight black hair that hung long and straight, past her waist. She was petite but muscular-looking. I was drawn to the feeling of immense power she gave off in waves.