Chapter Nine
That night, the floor creaking startled Gwen awake, and she opened her eyes to find it was a little after midnight. She rubbed her eyes and yawned, but by the time she sat up and looked around, Ginny’s bed was empty and the window was wide open. Ginny was crouching on the window sill with her back to Gwen, her hair blowing in the night breeze. Before Gwen could ask what the hell Ginny was doing, she shoved off from the window sill, falling out the window.
Gwen gasped and rushed to the window, knocking over a stack of books that clattered to the floor. She leaned out the window and saw Ginny on the ground, having landed in a perfect crouch. She straightened, and without a last glance at the open window, she took off towards the woods at a breakneck pace, full out sprinting for the tree line. She was shedding her clothes as she went, throwing off her night shirt and underwear until she was naked. That was the last glimpse of Ginny she got as she disappeared into the dark of the night.
She rushed to get dressed in the dark, trying to be as quiet as possible to avoid waking everyone. She wasn’t sure what had gotten into Ginny to make her act that way, but she doubted her cousin would want her parents to find her naked and wild in the woods. Shaking her head, she snuck out the bedroom door, bumping into Gabe. He was lurking in the hallway, fully dressed and with a scowl on his face. “Where do you think you’re going at this time of night?” he asked, glaring at her in that protective older brother way she had always hated.
“It’s Ginny,” she whispered, making her way around him to the stairs. “She jumped out the fucking window and took off towards the woods. Oh, and she’s naked for some reason!” She took the stairs one at a time, trying to step on the outside edges of them so they didn’t creak as loudly. She was unsurprised to find Gabe right behind her, following in her path to avoid waking the rest of the house.
He waited until they were out on the front porch and the door was closed firmly behind them before he said anything. “Naked? Is she out of her mind! I know it’s hot out but—”
“Gabe, don’t joke,” Gwen said, running across the yard in the general direction Ginny had gone. She stopped only to pick up Ginny’s shirt and underwear, balling them up and tucking them under her arm for safekeeping. “She’s seriously disturbed and obviously needs our help. Maybe the police are right and she is on drugs. I don’t see her streaking through the woods at midnight without some kind of crazy mind altering shit.”
Gabe overtook her, leading the way through the dark woods. “This way. She can’t have gone too far, not without any shoes on. Her feet are going to be torn up again. What the hell is she thinking?” he asked, his voice irritated. “She should be in bed healing and moving on, not out running through the woods. You and Tiffany spent the day with her, did she seem at all strange to you?”
“Yeah,” Gwen admitted. “She would go from smiling and laughing about something stupid like she used to, to all serious and heartfelt. She offered to buy all of our things at the mall. She said she wanted to thank us for not giving up on her, but I got the feeling there was something else. She told us we could go back and pick anything we wanted and she’d get it. I know she’s saved up from her part-time job, but she was getting way carried away. That and her speech at dinner the night before.” Gwen hesitated, not sure if she should say what she was thinking.
“What is it?” Gabe asked. He’d stopped and looked back at her, catching the worried look on her face. “Gwen, spit it out.”
“I wonder if she was planning on hurting herself,” she said quietly, still not wanting to say it out loud. “I didn’t wanna believe it, but that’s something people do when they start to plan something like that. They tell their friends and family how much they love them, and they give away all of their possessions and stuff. I didn’t even think about that until we got home later and she closed herself off again. I really hope she’s not planning to hurt herself out here.”
Gabe shook his head. “We have to find her, and fast. There’s no telling what she could do while out here. Come on. We have to keep moving forward.”
They moved through the trees, careful not to hurt themselves. The moon was bright in the sky, but it did little to light their way. They stumbled through the woods, trying to catch up to Ginny, but unsure of which way she had gone. It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack, and Gwen had a feeling that Ginny was long gone and they were just out there wasting their time. She would either come home on her own time, or she wouldn’t, and that would be it. They could only offer her so much help if Ginny wasn’t willing to open up to them. Whatever Ginny was going through, it was obviously something she thought nobody else would be able to understand.
The rustling of leaves caught Gwen’s attention, and she spun, looking through the darkness. Low to the ground, a pair of dark blue eyes stared back at her through the trees. She tapped Gabe’s shoulder, and he turned just as the small gray wolf approached them. Her tail was between her legs and she whined pitifully, lowering her body to the ground until she was a small ball of shivering fur.
Immediately, Gwen took a step back, bumping into Gabe’s chest. He put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer, putting himself between her and the wolf. His eyes never left the creature’s, and he even took a tiny step forward, puffing out his chest and squaring his shoulders. He had never been a large guy, but he was still bigger than the animal in front of them, and hopefully that would be enough to intimidate it into leaving. Gwen peeked around his arm and she tried to swallow past the lump caught in the back of her throat.
That’s the wolf from the day we found Ginny’s shoe, she realized. I’m sure of it. What does it want with me?
Before Gwen or Gabe could move, another wolf burst through the trees, this one twice the size and a dull brown color. The smaller gray wolf cowered even lower to the ground when it snarled, its sharp fangs bared in a vicious show of aggression. Gabe stepped back, his eyes going wide as his shoulders slumped and he caved in on himself. He didn’t turn his head, but Gwen heard his voice carry easily to her. “Gwen, run. Back up to the house.”
She was shaking in her boots, too scared to even think of moving. She clutched the back of Gabe’s shirt, her fingers hooked into the fabric to anchor her in place. Her mouth had gone drier than a desert, and it took everything in her to keep her legs from buckling beneath her and hitting the ground. She was so close to the wolf she could make out the silver hair around his muzzle, even in the near total darkness. Gwen’s heart raced in her chest, and she knew she and Gabe were most likely going to die tonight, alone in the woods with no warning.
The brown wolf advanced on them, stiff-legged and hackles raised. She could feel Gabe trembling, but he kept her firmly behind him, putting himself between her and the angry wolf. Dark brown eyes looked away from him, locking on her. He circled around them, slinking gracefully closer and closer. He finally stopped, and his body tensed, the muscles in his legs bunching up as he prepared to attack. Before Gwen could even scream, the brown wolf was in the air, sailing towards them.
The smaller gray wolf collided with him in mid air, knocking him off course and driving him to the ground. He rolled away, crashing into a nearby tree with a yelp. As he scrambled to get back on his feet, the gray wolf attacked, leaping onto his back. Her fangs sank through the fur and skin of his shoulder, laying it open down to the bone. With a snarl, he turned and snapped his fangs, forcing her to back away. She turned and fled through the trees with the brown wolf right on her tail.
It had all happened so fast. One second Gwen was sure they were going to die, and the next, they were alone and the woods were quiet. Gabe collapsed to the ground, dragging Gwen down with him. He put his head in his hands, his shoulders heaving as he sobbed. When Gwen put her arms around his shoulder and pressed her face into his neck, he pulled her closer. Seeing his reaction made Gwen realize just how close they really had come to dying, and it had to have made him feel helpless.
She held onto him for dear life, crying int
o his shirt. Right now, she was so thankful to have Gabe in her life. Even though they fought occasionally and didn’t always see eye to eye like most siblings she knew, the fact that he had put himself in harm’s way to protect her was incredible to her. He had been willing to do whatever he could to protect her, including sacrificing himself. She knew he loved her—they were family after all—but still. She had never expected him to act so selflessly. He had grown into such a brave man when she wasn’t looking, one that she was immensely proud of.
Slowly, their nerves began to settle. Her heart slowed until it was almost back to normal, her hands had nearly stopped shaking, and she had stopped crying. Gabe was the first to fully recover, and he got to his feet, dusting himself off like nothing had happened. When he extended his hand to her, she took it, grateful for his support. As she brushed the dirt and leaves from her butt, she heard an inhuman scream that had her frozen to the spot.
It was full of pain and fear, and she had no doubt in her mind that the brown wolf had caught up to the smaller gray one. It had caught him by surprise, but it was obvious the smaller wolf was at a disadvantage and wouldn’t have lasted long without help. Even though Gwen was terrified of wolves and what they were capable of, she felt a twinge of regret that the pitiful creature was probably dead or dying at that very moment. After all, it had saved her and Gabe’s lives, even if it hadn’t understood.
The scream echoed in her head and shook her to her core. She couldn’t get it out of her mind as she and Gabe quickly made their way back to the house. She stayed out on the porch for a minute, staring at the woods behind her. Ginny was somewhere out there, along with a dangerous wolf that had just tried to kill them. There was no telling what might happen. I hope she’s okay…
She went inside, letting the door slam shut behind her. She went to the bottom of the stairs, dragging her feet. She didn’t want to wake everyone up because she didn’t know what to say. How did you tell your aunt and uncle that their daughter was missing again? She wasn’t sure how they were going to cope, but she was about to find out. When she called out to them, Geoffrey was at the top of the stairs in a heartbeat, wearing a pair of silk pajama bottoms that Ginny had picked out for him for father’s day years ago. Her heart squeezed painfully at the sight of them, but she forced herself to get it over with.
“Ginny’s gone,” she said quietly, her voice still carrying through the silent house. “She took off out the window and headed for the woods. We tried to go after her, but she had too much of a head start. We lost her.”
Grant came down the stairs, his eyes zeroing in on his children, looking them up and down as if with a magnifying glass. “You’re both filthy.” His eyes narrowed a little, as if realizing something. “And you’ve both been crying. What happened?”
“There were these two wolves in the woods—”
Grant rushed forward, grabbing Gabe by the arms. His eyes were suddenly wide and feverish, and Geoffrey moved closer as well. “Were you bitten?” he asked, checking Gabe’s arms and neck.
“What?”
“Were you bitten?” Grant shouted, nearly shaking Gabe where he stood. “Either of you?” he asked, leaving Gabe to check on her. He rolled up her sleeves and quickly ran a hand down her bare legs, even moving her hair back to check her neck as if they were dealing with vampires.
“No, we weren’t bitten,” Gwen said, her voice sounding small and scared in her father’s presence. “There was a smaller gray wolf that attacked the brown one that wanted to hurt us. She ran away and he took off after her, but I don’t think she made it,” Gwen said sadly, looking down at the floor. “While we were out there after, we heard this screaming, like an animal dying. It was probably her.”
Grant and Geoffrey both froze, and Grant’s arms dropped to his sides. He fell back and landed on the couch, his eyes unfocused. He put his head in his hands, moaning incoherently, completely ignoring Gabe and Gwen. She felt a little annoyed that he could go from being so worried about their safety to seemingly not caring the next moment, but she was more confused by his reaction than anything. Why would news of a wolf being killed affect him so badly? She knew her father had always been disapproving of her fear of wolves, but to go so far as to clearly mourn for the death of one when your children had almost just been killed by another?
She looked at Geoffrey and was shocked to find that he had tears in his eyes. What the hell is going on? Before she could ask what was wrong, Geoffrey rushed for the door, not bothering to go find a shirt or even his shoes. Before the door could slam closed, Grant was on his feet and out it as well, right on his brother’s heels. The two of them took off at a run for the woods, surprisingly united in their efforts. She could hear them coordinating with one another as they disappeared into the trees, and she almost smiled.
Looks like Ginny really is the only thing that can get them to work together. I hope they find her…
Karen and Sandra had been hovering by the stairs, completely unnoticed by either Gabe or Gwen. When she saw the look on her aunt’s face, she got a sinking feeling in her gut, one that she was growing accustomed to the longer she remained in Brighton. She looked like she’d just lost all hope of ever seeing Ginny alive again, like all the light had gone out of her world. Gwen shifted nervously at the bottom of the stairs, wondering what was going on that was once again being kept from them.
She wondered silently to herself. Do I dare ask?
Apparently Gabe had no qualms about coming right out and asking. “What’s going on?” he asked, joining their mother at the bottom of the stairs. “You guys look like you just watched your dog get run over. Is there something we should know?”
Karen shook her head at Gabe, her eyes silently warning him to be silent and not push things. But she knew Gabe was near the end of his rope when it came to being kept in the dark, just like her. Ignoring their mother, he looked at Sandra, gently reaching out to comfort her. “Aunt Sandra? What’s wrong?”
Sandra covered her mouth as she began to sob, and Karen was quick to escort her to the living room couch. The two sat down together, and Karen pulled her sister-in-law into a hug, letting her cry on her shoulder. Gabe and Gwen traded quick glances—his angry and hers more resigned—before heading up the stairs to the bedroom she shared with Ginny. It was obvious they still weren’t going to get any answers out of their family, even now. Ginny was gone once again, and they were still being jerked around.
She and Gabe sat together on her bed, staring at Ginny’s empty one while they waited impatiently for Grant and Geoffrey to return. Neither of them said anything as the minutes passed by in an agonizing crawl. Gwen sat on the edge of her bed, bouncing her restless legs. She had to sit on her hands to keep them from fidgeting as much as the rest of her, and it looked like Gabe was having the same issues as her. He kept glancing out the still open window, his eyes unreadable and expressionless.
As the hour passed, Gwen felt herself finally begin to wind down a little. She had stopped fidgeting, and her heart had stopped pounding in her chest. She watched Gabe as he paced back and forth from one end of the room to the other, occasionally stopping to glance out the window again, as if Ginny would appear with their parents at any moment. But it was beginning to look more and more hopeless. After an hour, there was no telling where Ginny might have ended up. She could have been long gone.
Gabe caught her watching him once and stopped his pacing, his eyes softening. “You okay?” he asked, walking over to the edge of the bed. He sat beside her, bumping her shoulder with his. “It’s been a pretty strange night, hasn’t it? About par for our stay so far.”
Gwen tried to smile, but it was a feeble and sad excuse for one. “It’s hard to know what to make of it all,” she admitted. “We’re only getting half of the story—if that—and everyone is fighting to keep us in the dark. I don’t like this feeling, Gabe. Like we can’t trust even our own family. We’ve always been close with Ginny, and they have to know that all of this uncertainty is eating us alive. W
hy are they shutting us out at a time like this? We should be coming together to support one another, but the only support I’m getting is from you.” She looked at him, tears in her eyes again. “Thank you, by the way. At least someone is by my side through this.”
He reached over, and like she knew he would, ruffled her hair in that way she hated. “Don’t mention it. It’s what brothers do.”
“Not Dad and Uncle Geoffrey,” she said quietly. “Tonight is about the only time I can ever remember them not being at each other’s throats. Not that we’ve seen them with one another a whole lot over the years.” Her shoulders drooped, but she smiled sadly when she looked at Gabe. “I can’t imagine ever hating you so much. There’s literally nothing you could ever do to make me feel that way.”
She wasn’t the only one with tears in her eyes now. Gabe gave her a grateful smile, pulling her close. She buried her face in his shoulder and her smile grew. “The feeling is mutual. I don’t know what happened between them, but I’d say they’re both being babies about it if they’ve let it destroy their relationship for so long.” He pulled away, keeping his hand on her shoulder. “I was hoping this whole nightmare would push them closer together and help mend whatever old wounds they’re nursing, but it doesn’t look like that’s gonna happen anytime soon.”
She sighed. “I know. I was hoping for the same thing. But I doubt it’ll ever happen. They’re too old and too stuck in their ways. They’ll probably die hating one another.” The thought saddened her greatly, and she felt her hope slip further and further away with each passing day. She wanted to have a normal family, a family that was whole and happy and supportive.
She wanted what she would never have.
Grant and Geoffrey returned over two hours after Ginny’s second disappearance. They all had a very hushed conversation downstairs that Gwen and Gabe tried to listen in on, but they couldn’t make anything out. The only thing they heard was Sandra when she began crying. Gwen didn’t know what was being said, but it obviously wasn’t good. When they all trudged upstairs to go back to bed, Karen hugged them tightly, tears in her eyes as she told them to go back to bed and try to get some sleep.
Why were they acting like Ginny was never coming back?