Silver (10 page)

I shook my head quickly. “No, not weird at
all.” I took a calming breath and spoke the truth. “I feel the same
way about you.” I felt exposed, vulnerable. It was the truth, but
so much of the truth I wanted to take it back and pretend like I
hadn’t said anything. I needed my walls back up.

She smiled again, but this time her eyes
sparkled too brightly. She blinked and tears caught on her
lashes.

“
Nikki, what wrong?” I
asked, alarmed.

She shook her head and leaned against my
shoulder, her head bowed on my chest. Her shoulders shook and I
realized she was crying. I put an arm around her and held her,
unsure of what else to do. An image of Mom’s tears flashed in my
mind. My heart clenched at the thought of her pain at losing Dad. I
shut my eyes tight and forbade the echoing pain in my shredded
heart to surface.

Nikki’s silent sobs stopped eventually and
she sniffed. She wiped her tears away with her hand and glanced up
at me. “You must think I’m crazy,” she said. Somehow, tear streaked
cheeks made her look even more beautiful.

I shook my head. “Not at all.” I gave a
thoughtful frown. “I was wondering what there was that could make
you so heartbroken, and who I needed to beat up to fix it.”

It worked to make her smile. She shook her
head with a breathless little laugh. “Not everything can be fixed
by fighting, you know.”

She laid back on the roof and I followed.
She scooted closer and I moved my arm back so she could rest her
head on my shoulder. We stared at the midnight sky as wisps of
clouds chased the wind and twisted around the moon. My heart
pounded at how close she was and I wondered if she could hear
it.

A few minutes later, she sighed and turned
her head away from me. “My parents are werewolf Hunters,” she said
so softly I barely heard her.

My heart slowed; ice replaced the blood in
my veins. “What did you say?” I asked carefully.

She turned to look back at the sky. “My
parents hunt werewolves. The security guard was right about them in
this area. They’re everywhere and my parents were sent here to find
them.”

I couldn’t move. The implications sent steel
into my bones. Adrenaline rushed to battle with the tiny window of
peace I had found with Nikki. I shook my head in disbelief and she
sat up.

“
You don’t believe me?” she
asked.

I stared at her, not trusting myself to
speak.

She gave a small smile. “I know, werewolves,
right? It sounds so far fetched, like make believe. But they’re
real, Jaze. You’ve got to believe me. Mr. Sathing was right when he
said the curfew was to keep people safe from them. Werewolves are
vicious killers, and my parents are trying to find them before they
can hurt anyone else.”

I sat up slowly, avoiding her eyes as my
mind raced. We lived next door to Hunters, the same blood-thirsty
group of people who had killed my dad and many of the other
werewolves I cared about. They were hunting right now, trying to
find Chet’s pack and wipe them out. Nikki was their daughter. I
looked at her in disbelief.

“
They’re real,” she
repeated, mistaking my expression. “And that’s all my parents care
about.” Tears sparkled in her eyes again, but she blinked them
away. “Werewolves killed my older brother. They keep saying they’re
avenging him, but they never stop.” She shook her head. “That’s all
they think about, the fact that the wolves killed Randy. They used
to say they were only after the one who killed him, but they never
found it, so they travel from city to city killing all that they
can.”

I fought to breathe past the knot that
tightened in my stomach.

“
I go home and that’s all
they talk about,” she rushed on as though the words had been
building up inside of her for so long she couldn’t stop them. “They
don’t care about how school’s going, about my boyfriend, or
anything that goes on in my life.”

I held very still, daring only to breathe as
I fought to regain control of my emotions. I finally forced out,
“So is that why you’re with me?”

“
What are you talking
about?” she asked softly, her eyes searching mine.

“
To get back at your
parents? Is that why you’re out here breaking the rules, hanging
out with a
rebel
?”
I hated the bitterness of my tone, but couldn’t help it. Even the
small shard of peace I had found on the roof had been stolen away
by Hunters. I clenched my fists in my lap and fought not to hit
something.

Nikki stared at me, her eyes bright with
hurt. Then the expression turned to anger. “I told you I care about
you, Jaze, and you think I'm seeking revenge on my parents or
something?” She stood up on the roof, her own fists clenched. “I
told you things nobody else knows about me. I trusted you. This
doesn’t have to be all about you. If you have your own reasons to
sneak out at night, that’s fine with me, but don’t assume you know
me.”

She walked to the edge and lowered herself
down on the far side.

“
Nikki, wait,” I said, my
heart heavy as I climbed down after her.

She turned back, her eyes sparking. “Don’t
follow me. I don’t want anything to do with you. You think you’re
so brave, that you can do whatever you want? Take your
oh-so-composed self-confidence and shove it.”

She stalked down the aisle and disappeared
from sight. I stared after her, torn in so many directions I didn’t
know what to do. But I couldn’t let her walk home in the middle of
the night by herself with werewolves running around. I climbed
slowly over the fence and waited in a dark corner near the front of
the park for her to leave, then followed her home, careful to stay
hidden. She glanced back once, and I suspected she knew I was
following, but she turned away and walked to her house without
looking again.

I leaned my forehead against her fence after
she climbed it; her flowery scent lingered on the rough wood. She
opened her back door, and then paused. “Thanks, Jaze, for ruining
the one good night I’ve had since Randy died,” she said quietly
over her shoulder, then she went in and shut the door behind
her.

The sound of her footsteps faded in the
house and my heart stuttered. I shook my head against the wood,
then turned my back to it and slid down against the fence. I bowed
my head in my hands and hated myself for what I had said to Nikki,
for the helplessness I felt in dealing with Mason, and most of all,
for not being there when Dad needed my help. I might not have been
able to save him, but he wouldn’t have had to die alone.

A howl rose in the distance. I shut my eyes
and ignored it, hoping that they would find me, that they would
tear me apart and let me die the way I should have when Dad was
killed. But then I thought of Mom finding my body the way we had
found Dad’s. I took a deep breath and pushed myself to my feet. I
tossed the skates over the fence, climbed after them, and made my
way slowly into the empty house that pretended to be a home.

Chapter 10

I couldn’t shake my bad mood when Brock and
I walked to school the next day. I went through the motion of
attending class, but didn’t hear a word the teachers said. Older,
stronger werewolves were being killed, Mason had tracked us here,
and now I had blown my friendship with Nikki because of who her
parents were. She couldn’t help what her parents did, and from what
she told me last night, it sounded like she hated it anyway. But
she didn’t even glance my way in the lunchroom.

“
So how do we tell the
werewolves about why their parents died?” Brock asked as we walked
slowly home.

I glanced at him, my train of thought
interrupted. “Huh?”

He shrugged. “I assume that’s why you
haven’t said a single word to me today. Just a lot on your
mind.”

I stopped and looked at him. He was right.
Thinking back through the day, I hadn’t spoken to him once. The
last thing I needed to do was ignore the only friend I had left in
the world. “I’m sorry, Brock. I didn’t mean to.” I sighed and shook
my head. “I’m trying to figure some things out, but I shouldn’t
take it out on you. You’ve been a good friend.”

He smiled and ducked his head in
embarrassment. “Hey, you’ve got a lot going on, and you lost your
dad. I have no idea what you’re going through right now.” He nodded
to indicate our path. “This has been nice. With you, I don’t have
to worry about being bullied by Chet’s gang on the way home.”

“
They used to bully you?” I
asked, surprised.

“
Well, more so when Mouse
came with me. I don’t think they like him very much.”

I frowned, but wasn’t surprised. Pack wolves
don’t get along too well with lone wolves. The little I had seen of
Mouse made me surprised that he had the guts to run alone. Maybe I
needed to get to know him better.

“
Why do you
think-“

I held up a hand to cut Brock off. He
dropped silent and the sirens sounded louder.

“
What is it?” he asked,
looking around nervously for danger.

“
Sirens, heading this
way.”

“
Like an ambulance?” He
frowned, unsure why it bothered me.

I couldn’t place my finger on it either, but
as the sirens grew louder I heard the squeal of tires and horns
honking. “Police sirens. You hear them?”
Brock nodded. “I do now.”

I glanced down the road in the direction of
the sirens and froze. Several elementary school age children
crossed the street three blocks away. They giggled and several ran
around the rest of the group holding someone’s jacket in a game of
keep away.

The sirens grew louder, followed by another
squeal of tires. They were definitely headed that way. I threw off
my backpack and ran down the road.

“
Jaze, where are you-“
Brock’s voice cut off.

The cars rounded the corner several blocks
from the children, bearing toward them at high speed. The children
turned, their backs to me. Several screamed and a few ran across
the road, but most of them didn’t move.

A blue Honda with a ground kit sped toward
the group. Its driver looked back at the cop cars following close
behind. He didn’t even seem to notice the kids.

“
Run,” I shouted at them,
but they couldn’t hear me over the sirens.

I pushed myself faster than I had ever run
before. The cars barreled down at us. One child hunched down in the
middle of the road crying. Two of them started to run, but they
weren't fast enough.

I dove in front of them a split second
before the car. I turned my back just as the car hit me. The force
knocked me to my knees and the car veered off into a tree on the
left side of the road. I braced for the police cars, afraid they
wouldn’t stop in time. The screeching of brakes was followed by a
crunch of metal as one of the cars in the back ran into one before
it, but the car behind me stopped inches from us.

I glanced up at the children. They stared at
me with wide eyes. The one who had crouched down looked up and his
brown eyes met mine, then filled with tears. “It’s okay,” I told
them. “You’re okay.”

I stood up slowly, wondering if I had broken
anything. The adrenaline that pumped through my veins clouded any
pain, but I knew I would feel it later. The police officers began
climbing out of their cars, surprised and confused expressions on
their faces. I needed to get out of there before they made me
explain something unexplainable. I glanced at the children to make
sure they were all alright, then started to walk back up the
road.

“
Hey you, wait!” someone
called behind me.

I started to run.

“
Hey, stop him!” the same
person yelled.

I glanced up the road to check on Brock and
was glad to see that he had disappeared. I ran down the closest
unfenced yard, jumped over the back fence, and took off down the
alley. By the time the officer jumped the fence, I was out of
sight.

Brock waited on my front porch; his eyes
widened with relief when I turned the corner. “I thought they
killed you!” He exclaimed. “You got hit, then the car glanced off
you and into a tree! How’d that happen?”

I gave him a wry smile and unlocked the
door. “Werewolves in general are a lot stronger than humans, and
Alphas are the strongest of the werewolves.”

“
So you knew you could stop
it?” he asked when I pushed open the door.

I shook my head. “No idea, but I hoped.” I
stepped aside to let him go in. He stared at me for a moment, then
shook his head and entered the house.

“
Are you sure you’re not
going to, like, die or something from the impact? That car was
going pretty fast.”

I shook my head. “I think I'm fine. The
driver was drunk; I could smell the alcohol when he hit.”

Brock shook his head again. “And you had
time to process that before the cops tried to run you over?”

I laughed. “They didn’t try to run me over.
They stopped, luckily. I don’t know if I could have handled more
than one of those.” I lifted up my shirt and twisted in an attempt
to look at my back in the living room mirror. “How bad is it?”

Brock turned to look and whistled. “Bad
enough that I’m glad I’m not you.”

Bruises already the color of blackberry
jelly covered my back from just below my shoulders down to my
pants. It probably went lower, but I wasn’t about to check in front
of Brock. I took an experimental breath and was surprised to find
only mild pain in my ribs and back.

“
Good thing werewolves heal
quickly,” I muttered under my breath. I pulled my shirt down and
threw myself on the couch, then winced and sat up gingerly. “So,” I
said, “We need to tell Chet that Mason’s the one who killed his
parents.”