Bearly Enough (12 page)

Lucky for her, he didn’t protest.

She looked wildly around, and was happy to see a large
window. It would require her to climb on the toilet to get out.

Without thinking, she turned on the water to add some noise.
Then she put the toilet seat down, balanced on top and slid the window open.

Grinning to herself, she called out to Torin. “I’m going to
be a few minutes. My stomach isn’t feeling great.”

She heard Torin groan and mutter something about stale
crackers.

The air outside was cool, and she hoisted one leg out the
window, taking care not to make any noise, or worse, fall. The ground wasn’t
far because she was on the first level. She balanced her backside on the sill
and swung her other leg around so she could drop to the ground.

It took a few seconds of careful maneuvering, and her
muscles were cramping, but she managed to get both legs out. Silently she
dropped to the ground. She wasn’t able to reach the window to close it, but she
figured that didn’t matter. They would figure out what she had done whether or
not the window was closed.

She looked around quickly, and didn’t know if she could make
it to the woods without being seen; Stone’s back wall was made up entirely of
windows.

She would have to take her chances.

She quickly decided to run to the left corner, figuring that
would obscure her from view for the longest amount of time, and perhaps Stone
wouldn’t be looking out at all. Once she reached the tree line, she could duck
into the woods and run like hell.

There was no time for her to waste, so she took off, running
as fast and hard as she possibly could. She didn’t stop to look behind her or
to check to see if she was being followed. She only focused directly on the
path ahead, and how fast her feet could carry her there.

She pressed forward, the air in her lungs screaming and her
muscles ready to give out. She reached the trees and quickly ran around a tall
oak, stopping to catch her breath.

Holy shit.

She had done it.

She stayed still behind the oak, her chest burning, and she
clutched the rough bark taking long, deep breaths as she tried to steady herself.
Her heart was hammering in her chest, and she was afraid to even look back at
Stone’s house. Taking a deep breath, she peered around the edge of the tree.

Everything looked the same.

There was no movement outside his house, no Torin or Stone
running frantically around.

What was she doing?

She needed to keep moving.

Immediately.

Without thinking any more, she fled into the woods, hearing
branches crack under her feet.

“Shit!” she whispered.

She tried to make her way around the brush, roots and trees
without tripping or cutting herself.

“Lucy!” Stone bellowed from somewhere behind her.

Panicked, she stumbled forward.

Should she try to hide? Or keep moving? If only she knew how
to find her way back to Gabby’s house. It was somewhere on the other side of
these trees.

Tears pricked at her eyes, and she propelled herself
forward. She could hear shouts and yells behind her now; Torin and Stone had
obviously figured out her plan.

She heard a loud branch snap, and she looked back just in
time to catch a flash of the orange shirt Torin was wearing.

“Gabby!” she screamed wildly.

She didn’t know why she was calling her sister, but it just
made sense. It had been Gabby’s wedding yesterday, it had been these same
woods.

“Gabby!” she cried again, “Zane!”

If Gabby couldn’t hear her, maybe Zane could.

“Lucy!” Stone yelled again, this time from much closer.

NO
, her mind screamed, and she fell as she tried to
run harder. She cried out with pain, but scrambled back up to her feet. She
could feel that her hair had come out and it was wild around her face and
catching in the tree branches.

How much further could it be?

She was an idiot.

It could be miles, for all she knew.

She had been so disoriented when Stone had taken her.

“Gabby! Zane! Help!” she cried, flinging herself forward.

Stone was behind her now and just as she was about to give
up, she saw a flash of something in the distance.

Zane!

“Lucy!” he yelled, though he wasn’t moving forward. “Hurry!”
he cried to her, “A little farther!”

Why wouldn’t he come closer? What was going on?

“Zane!” she pushed herself forward, but then she felt Stone
behind her.

“No!” he cried and he grabbed her, pulling her protectively
against his chest as he fell to the ground.

Zane let out an angry yell that almost sounded like a growl.

“Let me go!” she screamed, as Stone braced their fall,
keeping her from getting hurt.

“I can’t,” he whispered. “Please. Trust me.”

“No! No!” she cried, fighting and kicking as Torin
approached. Zane was still a good thirty yards away.

“Why?” she cried out to Zane, as Stone helped her up. “Why
didn’t you come closer?”

She couldn’t quite make out Zane’ face.

“I’m sorry!” he called, the pain unmistakable. “I’m sorry.”

“Lucy! Lucy!” she heard Gabby’s frantic cries as she
appeared next to Zane.

She looked disheveled, from what Lucy could see, and then
she heard her sister’s sobs. “Let my sister go. She did nothing. Whatever you
want, tell us. This has nothing to do with Lucy.”

“I’m sorry,” Stone apologized, calling out to them. “I can’t.
You know we can’t.”

“We don’t know anything!” Zane snapped, “What is this
about?”

“Gabby belonged to
us
,” Torin lashed out. “You had no
right!”

“I had every right!” Gabby cried. “I had a choice! Just like
Lucy does! She doesn’t even know! There’s nothing different about her. It’s
only my blood!”

Lucy’s mind was spinning. So much of what Gabby said didn’t
make any sense.

What choice did Gabby have? What choice did
Lucy
have?

What didn’t she know? Why did Gabby know, whatever it was?

What was different about Gabby?

And her
blood?
What could that mean?

There was no time now; Lucy needed Zane and Gabby to help
her.

“Gabby!” she cried. “Please! What’s going on?” She fought
against Stone, and she felt his muscles twitch.

“I’m sorry,” Gabby sobbed, “I’m sorry, I should have told
you.”

Lucy was lost and confused.

And deep down a part of her was pissed off. What had she
been excluded from? Why hadn’t Gabby trusted her enough to tell her whatever it
was?

“Come on, we need to go,” Stone muttered, pulling Lucy away.

“I don’t understand!” Lucy screamed at Gabby. “What is
happening?”

“The bears,” Gabby sobbed, “I didn’t know. It was Daddy and
I didn’t know because I was the oldest.” Her voice broke off.

Huh?

“We’ll come for you!” Gabby cried out, her voice determined
now.

How did Gabby know about the bears?

Lucy couldn’t wrap her head around any of it, and Stone was
already pulling her away.

She was tired, confused, and mentally exhausted.

“Gabby,” she cried, but her voice was muffled as Stone
pulled her against his chest and began running through the woods. She wanted to
fight, but then she felt a small prick in the side of her arm.

A needle.

She didn’t even try to fight this time.

She let her eyes close as she welcomed the darkness.

Lucy was running through the forest, and even though it
was night, she could see everything clearly.

How was that?

She glanced up and saw a full moon.

She looked back at the earth, and everything was bathed
in moonlight.

She had never been to the woods at night.

The forest was a frightening place; her father had warned
her sister about bears.

Lucy had never been warned because she hadn’t known her
father.

Her feet were bare, yet there was no dirt on them.

She kept running.

She knew she should be tired, but she felt no exhaustion,
just the steady feeling of using her muscles in the way that they were
intended. Her skin was an eerie white in the moonlight, and she wondered if
everyone’s skin looked like this beneath the moon.

She came to a stop and wasn’t sure why. She spun around
and saw a man before her.

Though she had never laid eyes on him before, she knew
exactly who he was.

“Daddy?” she whispered.

“My sweet Lucy.” His voice was warm, and rich, the tone
loving and comforting.

Tears pricked at her eyes.

Her father held his arms out to her, and she didn’t think
twice before running to him.

His arms were strong and muscular, the feeling vaguely
familiar, and he pulled her into his chest and buried his head in her hair.

“My sweet girl. I am so sorry.”

“For what, Daddy?” She looked up at him.

“For what I have done to you. For what I have done to
Gabby.”

Lucy didn’t understand.

“I thought, perhaps, Gabby. But never you. Never you. It
wasn’t supposed to be this way.”

Lucy looked at him with confusion and he waved his hand
toward the forest. The trees melted away and new scenery unfolded before them.
It was a barren and frozen land, and though Lucy could not feel the cold, she
shivered just from the snow and ice that she could see. She watched as a tribe
of bears emerged, and she gripped her father’s hand in fear.

The bears moved across the barren land of ice and then
across water that had been frozen over. The snow began to melt away, and soon
the land gave way to tall trees and green grass.

The bears continued to move until the scenery changed
into the forest before them. The bears slowly began to disappear, until nothing
was left except a few brown specks, twinkling in the night.

“There was a dynasty,” her father whispered. “A few
settled here. They were royalty. I was royalty.”

Lucy’s head snapped up. What?

“I descended from an ancient bear dynasty, the last of its
kind. I was a bear king and I despised it.” His face twisted with disgust. “I
hated everything about being a bear. I did not lead my people. I did not tell
my wife. I did not tell my daughters.”

No.

It wasn’t possible.

 She let go of her father’s hand and backed up. She
watched in horror as her father turned into a huge black bear. His body doubled
in size, expanding and flowing outward as his bear emerged. His eyes became
dark and beady as fur covered his body.

The bear opened his mouth to speak.

“I love you, Lucy. Embrace this. Do not be afraid.”

Lucy screamed.

And screamed.

And screamed.

And screamed.

“Hey, hey, hey,” suddenly someone was beside her, but
everything was all wrong. She wasn’t in her bed and the room wasn’t her own.

She kept screaming as she pictured her father turning into a
bear.

“Hey.”

Stone. Stone was comforting her, and holding her, which made
her shriek louder.

He jumped up and pulled open the blinds, bright morning
sunlight spilled into the room, and the stunning view of trees and blue skies
shut her up.

“You had a bad dream,” he said softly, hesitantly moving
toward her.

Lucy was wearing a grey t-shirt now and nothing else.

She yanked the t-shirt over her legs.

“Bears,” she said shakily, as everything came flooding
back—her dream, her failed escape, Gabby’s wedding.

“Everyone is a bear. You are all bears.” She sounded like a
lunatic, and her teeth were chattering as if she were cold.

She was acting like a damn mental patient.

Stone nodded slowly. “Yes. We are all bears here.”

“Was—was my father a bear?” she asked in a quiet voice. “Do
you know?”

Stone’s eyes clouded over. He sighed and sat back on the
bed.

Lucy didn’t move.

“I’m sorry your family didn’t explain it to you, but I think
they had their reasons.”

“And—and Gabby? Is she a bear? Will I be a bear?”

Stone frowned at her. “I don’t think Gabby can turn into a
bear. And I don’t believe that you can either.” He paused. “I’m probably not
the best person to explain this to you. I don’t know enough. Jeremy is better.”

“Jeremy’s an asshole,” she said flatly.

Stone nodded. “Yes.”

Oh. Well, that was unexpected.

“I’ll see what I can do. You should hear it from the right
people.” He frowned. “You should hear it from your sister.”

Lucy stared at him. “What does my sister know?”

Stone gave her a meaningful look. “More than you.”