Silver (7 page)

We edged along the last row of sheds and
peered out.

A group of about twenty high schoolers flew
by on roller skates chasing a green puck.

“
What the-” Nikki grabbed
my shirt and pulled me back when they came racing back in the other
direction.

“
Street hockey?” she asked,
the surprise on her face identical to mine.

“
Why not, I guess?” I said.
I stepped back around the corner and she followed close behind with
a hesitant hand on my arm.

A group of skaters shoved a member of the
other team into a stack of garbage cans. He floundered for a moment
through the trash, then rose with the puck in hand and a triumphant
grin on his face. Someone hit it out of his grasp, he yelled back,
and they raced off again.

“
No picking up the puck!” a
kid shouted, skating by.

“
It was in the garbage
can,” the first boy protested, following close behind. They argued
as they made a mad dash toward the other side where they barely
missed a football flying through the air.

Several students ran after the football and
a brawl ensued when they reached it. Two older students stood on
the sidelines arguing about whose ball it was. They didn't seem at
all phased when another student kicked a soccer ball in their
direction. They threw it back and the student hit it with his knee
to two students waiting at the far end.

I was surprised at how many students watched
the games from the sides, jumping clear when any ball or the puck
came at them. Girls and boys lounged on benches that had been
pulled out at the other end of the clearing. Several students sat
in a circle around a manhole cover and tossed cards onto a pile.
Nikki caught up to me as I walked through the crowd. Both of us
tried to act like we fit in. I didn’t catch a single whiff of
werewolf and began to relax.

“
So this is what a bunch of
oppressed high school students do during curfew,” I said to
her.

Her eyes were wide. “I guess so; I never
knew!”

The skaters rushed by again; we dodged them
and made our way to the benches. “I know one thing,” I told
her.

“
What’s that?”

“
I’ve gotta unpack my
skates.”

She stared at me. “You’re going to play with
them?”

She made it sound like I wanted to take on a
whole S.W.A.T. team by myself.

“
Why not?”

“
You could get killed!” she
replied.

I gave a grim smile. “Oh, and that would be
any different from my life right now?”

She was silent for a few minutes, then
surprised me when she said, “Well, if you’re going to play, I am
too.”

It was my turn to stare. “You, out
there?”

We both turned to look just as the entire
north team crashed into the goalie of the south team and flattened
him against a park bench that had been flipped on its side to serve
as a goal. They helped each other up, one picked up the puck and
threw it, and they were off again.

“
It could be fun.” She
grinned. “Besides, there are girls out there. And girls can be more
aggressive than boys.”

“
Oh really.”

“
Yes, really.”

I laughed and shrugged. “Fine, if you want
to play, meet me behind the fence tomorrow night with some
skates.”

A boy tapped my shoulder. “You guys wanna
drink?” He held out a selection of sodas.

“
Thanks.” I took a
Pepsi.

Nikki took a Sprite. “Who do we pay?” she
asked.

The boy shrugged. “No one; it’s covered by
the school, right Bode?” he shouted over his shoulder.

A husky guy who looked like he could take on
a bull single-handedly raised a can in salute. The coolers he
leaned against looked overloaded with cans.

“
That’s the quarterback of
the high school football team,” Nikki whispered to me in surprise.
We raised our sodas back and he gave us a thumbs-up.

“
So, what do they do if the
cops show up?” Nikki asked the boy who gave us the
drinks.

He pointed to two students I hadn’t noticed
perched on top of the back buildings. I saw two more at the other
two corners of the square. “We take turns acting as sentries for a
night. If the cops show up, we’re outta here before they know
anything’s up.”

He left and I turned back to Nikki. “The
things you would’ve missed if I hadn’t shown up next door.”

“
Hey, it’s the brawler!”
someone shouted.

I shook my head, but several students came
over anyway. “You took on like twenty guys by yourself,” one boy
said.

“
Yeah, and you didn’t even
bleed!” another crowed.

Embarrassed, I shrugged. “They got me, but
I’ll live.”

“
Show us,” an overzealous
girl with red streaks in her hair demanded.

“
You got hurt?” Nikki asked
quietly next to me.

“
It’s nothing, really,” I
protested. I lifted up my shirt so that they could see my side,
forgetting that the wound had opened again when I punched the bag.
Dried blood caked it, making it look worse than it was.

Several students gasped and whistled. Nikki
touched my arm. “You should have that looked at,” she said.

I shook my head and lowered my shirt. “I’m
fine; it's really not that bad.”

“
And you gave them worse
than that!” a skinny redhead from the group said.

A student with short black dreadlocks
grinned. “Dude, those guys have beaten up practically every kid in
school; it’s good to see someone get the best of them for
once.”

“
Yeah,” other students
agreed.

I shrugged. “Hey, I’m just glad to find a
place to escape this curfew.”

Several students laughed. The dreadlocked
guy held out his fist. “You’re more than welcome.”

I bumped his knuckles with my own.
“Thanks.”

Nikki grabbed my arm after they drifted
away. “Chet’s gang normally doesn’t fight with knives. He’s not
that way.” Her eyes were serious, pleading for me to believe
her.

I shrugged. “Maybe someone dropped it and I
rolled on it.” I swallowed my sarcastic tone at the worried look in
her eyes. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to get them in trouble or
anything. Besides, the Principal seems to think there’s something
funny about them anyway.”

This time, her eyes tightened at the corners
and she looked away. “They can be dangerous, Jaze. You need to stay
away from them.”

“
Why? What’s so dangerous
about them?” She stared at me, and I thought for a minute that she
was going to confess, but then someone yelled, ‘head’s up’, and we
both ducked to avoid the puck that flew past.

After the mad scramble of hockey players
passed, Nikki looked down at her watch. “I’ve got to get home
before my parents miss me.”

“
Your parents miss you?” I
asked.

She slapped my shoulder and pulled me to my
feet. “Come on,” she said.

I shook my head, shoving my hands in my
pockets. “Fine, I wouldn’t want your parents thinking you’d been
kidnapped or whatever the curfew is supposed to prevent.”

She grinned at me and walked past the
tables. We said goodbye to a few of the students and promised to
return the next evening. My heart slowed when one of them mentioned
that they would be there every night but on a full moon.

The walk home was quiet and uneventful.
There was no sign of the security guard when we crossed the parking
lot. The stars lit our path and gave a friendly hue to the midnight
shadows. Nikki and I climbed our fences and said quiet
goodbyes.

I entered my empty house and sat on the
couch, thinking about Chet and his gang. There was something there,
something that wasn’t quite right, but I couldn’t put a finger on
it. I finally gave up and went to bed, leaving on a few lights for
Mom.

Chapter 8

“
I need your help with
something,” I told Brock on the way to school the next
morning.

His face lit up. “Anything, man. Just name
it!”

A car passed us slowly, its windows tinted
too dark to see through. I watched until it turned the corner ahead
of us and drove out of sight. “I need to see some of the student
files.”

Brock glanced at me, his expression curious.
“Sure. The Administrators have a meeting right after school and I
told them I’d watch the front desk. That’d be a good time.”

“
Perfect,” I replied
distractedly. My attention was on the car again. It had circled the
block and then pulled to a stop at the curb on our side of the
street not far ahead.

“
They leave me the keys and
it’ll be no problem. . .” he noticed I wasn’t paying attention and
followed my gaze. “Jaze, what’s up?”

“
That car.” The passenger
side door opened and a man of medium build wearing a faded jean
jacket and a black baseball hat got out. My heart slowed. “Brock,
we’ve got to find another way to school.”

I looked around, wondering if it was too
late for Brock to hide. Maybe he could go ahead and pretend he
wasn’t with me. I discarded the idea as quickly as it came. It was
too dangerous if they had already linked us together. The other
occupants stayed in the car, but I could see silhouettes of the
driver and two more men in the back seat. I fought to keep my
breathing even.

The man in the baseball hat turned. We were
close enough to see the smile he gave that showed too many teeth. A
breeze brushed past him to us and I fought down the urge to
growl.

“
Jaze, how fortunate to
meet you here!” he said. His tone was casual, but his eyes studied
me intently.

“
Uncle Mason, what are you
doing here?” I forced the words out lightly despite the knot in my
throat. It was all I could do to keep my face expressionless, let
alone look happy to see him.

“
I just thought I’d check
to make sure you and your mother got moved in okay.” I had to fight
to keep my fists unclenched when he mentioned her, but he didn’t
seem to notice. “I heard you were here and figured you might need a
hand.” He gave a shrug. “It’s the least I can do, after what
happened to my brother.”

I ground my teeth so hard at the mention of
Dad I was surprised they didn’t break. I stopped a few feet from
him so I wouldn’t give in to the impulse to throw him through the
windshield of his car. “We’re doing fine, thank you. Brock and I
are late for school, so we’ve gotta go.”

“
Oh, I understand.” He
turned his sickly sweet smile on my friend. “Brock, is it?” I
kicked myself mentally for giving Mason his name. When Brock
nodded, his eyes alternating between Mason and me, Mason smiled
again. “A pleasure to meet you, my boy.”

Brock glanced at me. “Thanks.” It sounded
more like a question than a response.

I grabbed Brock’s arm. “Come on, we’re going
to be late.”

Brock followed close behind; I passed the
car facing it until I practically walked backwards. “Thanks for
stopping by, Uncle Mason. I’ll be sure to tell Mom you send your
regards.”

He nodded. “You do that. I went by the
house, but she must still be at work. Let her know I hope she’s
settled in comfortably at the office.”

Cold fire ran through my veins, but I forced
myself to turn and continued to school. We passed through the doors
just as the first bell rang. I threw my plated silver bracelet into
a cup, stepped through the metal detector, and put it back on in a
blur, angry and more frustrated than I could think. My feet took me
toward my classroom and it wasn’t until Brock called my name the
third time that it registered.

“
Jaze!” His face was red
and he fought to catch his breath as he put on the last few pieces
of silver jewelry he had taken off for the metal
detectors.

I waited for him. “Sorry. I was
distracted.”

“
Tell me about it!” At the
look on my face, Brock slowed down. “Was that who I think it
was?”

I nodded.

“
What’s he doing here? I
mean, I assume you guys moved to get away from him or something if
he’s the one you told me about that-“

I held up a hand to cut him off. “Don’t say
it. I can’t handle it right now.”

Brock nodded quickly. “Okay, no prob. But
what do we do?”

We had reached my classroom. I glanced
inside, wanting more than anything to go check on Mom and not sit
inside a brick room all day listening to lectures that wouldn’t
sink in past the tornado of thoughts in my head anyway. “I don’t
know.” I took a deep breath to slow my pounding heart. “But until I
figure it out, we’ve got to go on as normal.”

Brock nodded, his eyes wide.

I gestured to the classroom. “I’ve gotta go.
See you at lunch.”

I slid into an empty seat just before the
second bell rang. Two more students ran in late and received a
reprimand from the teacher. Mason wasn’t supposed to know we were
here. We had justified using my real name because we needed my
school records for the transfer, but I didn’t think he would track
us so quickly. He obvious had more pull than I realized. But to
take a trip so far east just to check on us? He either worried I
suspected something or was here on business of his own.

I wondered if I had given anything away. We
had never had a close relationship anyway, so I hoped the
standoffish encounter didn’t give him any reason to suspect I knew
anything. I forced myself to stay seated, rationalizing that Mom
would be safest at work surrounded by her coworkers and customers.
Something was definitely wrong and I had to get to the bottom of it
soon for all our sakes.