Marked (The Pack) (22 page)

“Is it good to have a gift?”

Louise stared at me. “It can be, if you use it correctly.”

“Could you hear me in your head?”

“No, but it doesn’t mean you won’t be able to do it later.”

I nodded. “That’s cool.”

“It’s not cool. It’s a huge responsibility, something you have to appreciate. It’s a power… It’s…” Louise stopped and shook her head. “I guess at this point it does just seem cool.”

Swirling the syrup that had pooled at the edges of my pancakes, I frowned. “Aunt Louise, I promise, if I learn how to do it, I’ll call you so you can tell me what’s next.” Then I smiled slowly. “And I promise to use it only for good and not evil.”

“Oh, please.” Louise threw a dish cloth me as we both laughed. “Eat, Alexis, or we’ll be late.”

I cut into the stack of pancakes again. So, this werewolf thing was either real or else they’d brainwashed me and used some pretty impressive acts to do it. Maybe there were werewolves and maybe I was one. What if I didn’t want to be? Could I get a priest and have an exorcism to have it removed? I’d have to check into that. In the meantime, I couldn’t go around telling the world. Louise had made that very clear. Not that I’d ever want to tell anyone I was some kind of freak.

And what about Eric? Now, more than ever, I felt a wall between us. Channing had said she wasn’t interested in Eric anymore. Lately, I cared less and less about being friends with her. I guess it didn’t really matter what Channing thought because I couldn’t imagine what would happen if I suddenly lost control and burst into my wolf form in front of Eric. I would be careful now around Eric and even Channing. I had to.

***

“So they finally came clean with you.” Brynna laughed.

“It was about time.” Myles popped the top of a soda can and took a drink. “Brynna and I kept telling Louise you needed to know, but she said your mom wanted to wait. Not sure why.”

I couldn’t believe the three of us were sitting on a picnic table discussing my new life as a werewolf. “Who else around here is part of this? Are Channing, Celina and Jana werewolves, too?”

Brynna glanced at Myles and he shrugged. “We don’t know everyone right away. It takes time unless you know them personally and know that they’re werewolves.”

Brynna nodded. “She hangs around a lot of people that we know are werewolves. Also, the fact that food and drinks get laced with drugs at her parties could mean she is. We don’t know for sure that she’s been infected.”

Dropping the potato chip I’d pulled from the bag, I waved my hand frantically. “Whoa, right there. Infected with what? My aunt didn’t mention anything about being infected.”

“Your aunt didn’t mention much at all, did she?” Brynna frowned.

“Not really. She said you couldn’t learn a people’s history in one morning. It would take time. Then we had to come here.”

Myles watched as another teen worker walked past, then he leaned toward me. “It’s like this. You’re not infected. You have a gene that makes you a werewolf. We’re Lycernian, so we don’t make other people werewolves. But years ago, the Fenryrians, that’s a different pack, infected themselves with a virus. They can bite humans and the virus will make those people werewolves. Not exactly like us. They’re not as strong and don’t have the powers that we do.”

“Wait, I’ve got powers?”

“Oh my God.” Brynna got to her feet. “You know next to nothing. Your aunt is right. You’ll take a long time to learn all this. Maybe she should just tell you what you have to know to get by. In a few weeks you’ll go home to Chicago and none of this will even matter. All you’ll need to worry about is controlling yourself so no one catches you in an alley eating rats or stray cats and tries to take you to the pound.”

I watched Brynna walk away, then eyed Myles. “What did I do? I can’t help it that I don’t know or that I have questions.” To my horror I felt a knot in my throat and wondered if I would cry.

He put a hand on my shoulder. “Brynna doesn’t have much patience with people, especially if they’re not one of us.”

“But I thought I was one of you, Lycernian.”

“You are, but I meant part of our smaller pack, our group that travels and home schools together. Well, there’s a little more to it than that.”

I leaned forward. “How much more?”

“A lot. Our school moves around and we have people who are always working on the viral problem.”

“What viral problem?”

“Let’s take one thing at a time. I’ll tell you about the school right now. We learn to hone our special skills, like mine is strength. I’m stronger than most everyone I know. I learn to use that power in my wolf and human form. Besides, all the normal school stuff I’d need to know.”

“Is that why you play Bodinwa?”

He grinned. “It’s a way we train ourselves to fight.”

“Fight who?”

“The Fenryrians, they’re infecting humans so they’ll become werewolves, like Brynna told you earlier.” He stopped and saw his group of kids coming out of the activity room where they’d been having a music lesson. “Time to get back to work.”

“But what about the virus and all the other stuff I don’t know?”

“It’ll come, just don’t do anything stupid without asking.”

I watched him go, then got to my feet to find my own group of kids. How was I supposed to know what would be stupid if I didn’t know anything in the first place?

***

The last child had been picked up by the time I finished mopping the dining room floor. I went to the porch outside and tossed out the dirty water.

“You know, if you hang around me more, you might not have to do that kind of stuff.”

I spun around to find Channing sitting on a bench next to the wall.

“Hey, I haven’t seen you today.”

“I didn’t get here until late, so I helped with some of the arts and crafts.”

“Yeah, my group had music instead of that today.”

Channing nodded and watched me closely. “You left the party early the other night.”

“I got sick. I think…” My voice stopped as I noticed the blue stone necklace hanging around the other girl’s neck.

“You think what?” She asked grinning.

“I think I ate something bad.”

Channing laughed. “You probably did.”

“I better go put this up.” I wiggled the mop and bucket in front of her then rushed back inside.

In the utility room where the cleaning supplies were stored, I held on to the edge of the large sink for a few seconds before beginning to automatically rinse the bucket and the mop. How had I missed that? I remembered seeing Channing wear the necklace before, but it had never crossed my mind that it might be the same thing I saw around the neck of the wolf that came to the house. I dropped the bucket in the sink. It was also the same wolf that had attacked me on the path home from Myles’ house that day. Why had the she done that? Did she even know? Maybe she was like I had been at first, doing things but not remembering them. I shoved the mop and the bucket into the closet and went to find Louise.

She was in the activity room putting tambourines and all sorts of other noise makers into a box.

“Channing’s a werewolf, too.”

She handed me an armful of little drums and bent to get the last of the mariachis. “What makes you say that?”

“Because she had on the necklace today that I’ve been seeing around the neck of the wolf at your house.”

Louise walked to the box and put the things she held inside. She turned slowly and crossed her arms. “I didn’t know that. What else aren’t you telling me?”

I dropped the drums in and closed the storage container. “That’s the same wolf that attacked me on my way home from Myles’ house that night.”

“Why do you think Channing would want to hurt you?”

“She’d seen me with a guy she likes that afternoon. She’d even ran into me on the jet ski and knocked me off into the water.”

“In human form?”

“Duh, Aunt Louise, can we drive a jet ski in wolf form?”

Louise flushed slightly. “Of course not, but why didn’t you tell me that had happened? She could have hurt you.”

“It was between me and Channing. I didn’t need you to jump in and take up for me.”

She stared at me briefly. “You’re right, I guess. That sounds like reason enough for someone like Channing to try and hurt another person. You should be careful around her. She’s not Lycernian, which means she could hurt you.”

“Are you saying I can’t be friends with her anymore or go to her parties? Do you mean the different werewolves don’t get near each other?”

“I’m saying it would be better if you backed off from that situation. There’s too much you don’t understand right now. I can’t believe you’d even want to be around her now that you realize she was part of an attack on you.”

“I know it sounds strange, but I understand that she was mad at me about this guy. I think we’re past that now. I don’t see why I can’t keep my friends.”

Louise frowned. “Don’t discuss being a werewolf with her. Act like you don’t know what she’s talking about if she brings it up. I’m very serious about this, Alexis.”

“Fine, I won’t talk to her about it. But, I think the whole thing is ridiculous. She’s the first person who tried to be my friend when I came here.”

Louise watched me a bit longer before finally sighing and shaking her head. “I’ve got to go by the store on my way home. We’re going to eat at the Branton’s tonight.”

“But it’s not Friday.”

Louise laughed. “Sometimes we get together on other days too. Be cautious around Channing. I don’t know what’s going on with her, but I wouldn’t want you to get hurt.”

“What makes you say that?”

“The other pack doesn’t worry about controlling their baser urges, like the one to hunt and kill.” She walked to the camp office next to the activity room and I followed.

“That sounds kind of scary.”

Louise picked up her purse and started digging for her keys. “It is. Why do you think I’ve been so strict and watching you so closely this summer?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. I haven’t seen any silver bullets lying around her house. But then, I guess she wouldn’t have them if she’s a werewolf too, right?”

Louise closed her eyes and shook her head. “Silver bullets, huh? You really do have so much to learn. Now get going, and when you get home you can start making a pie crust like I showed you last week.”

I nodded and hurried outside to the ATV. I was beginning to wonder how boring life would be back in Chicago now that my summer here had turned into… well, whatever this was.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Water lapped at the edge of the Branton’s pier. The light wind threatened rain with a thick moisture that rested heavily against my skin. Rubbing a hand along the back of my neck, damp tendrils stuck to my palm.

“Hot, isn’t it?”

I glanced at Brynna and nodded at the understatement.

“Looks like a storm coming, over that way.” She pointed to the sky on the opposite side of the lake. “Here’s Myles, maybe our food is ready.”

“You guys owe me. I walked all the way up to the house to see if they were ready to eat and we’ve got to wait.”

“How long.”

“An unspecified amount of time. And I’m quoting that.”

Brynna pulled her feet from the water and wiped at the droplets running down her leg.

“What’s up? I know they’re not still cooking the food.”

Myles dropped to sit on the wooden planks beside them. “They’re waiting on Dr. Unger.”

The mention of Dr. Vincent Unger got my attention.

”Is he a… I mean is he like one of us, you know?”

“Is he a werewolf?”

“Yeah, is he?”

Brynna smiled. “He’s
the
werewolf. He’s sits on the council for the entire Lycernian pack. There are only five members on the council. Eventually, he’ll be head of the council. That’s like president of our pack.”

“How many werewolves are in the main pack?”

Myles shook his head at me. “I don’t know. We’re scattered all over the world.”

I stopped swishing my feet in the water. “You mean there are werewolves in other countries too?”

Brynna snorted. “Did you think they were only in the states?”

“I don’t know. I guess I thought there wouldn’t be so many.”

The familiar dark grey Mercedes pulling in front of Myles’ house stopped the snide comment I knew Brynna was about to blast me with.

“I guess we can eat now.” I started to my feet.

“Don’t get in any hurry. You didn’t let me finish. They’re having a meeting with Dr. Unger, before we eat.”

I watched Brynna’s eyes narrow. Myles shrugged at her unasked question.

“What is it? Why are you two looking like that?”

Brynna stuck her legs back in the water. “We could be here awhile. Dr. Unger is also one of the leaders who oversees the development of the vaccine for mutating viruses.”