Reveal

A Cryptid Tales Novel


By Brina Courtney






Reveal
Published By Brina Courtney
Copyright © 2011 Brina Courtney
Smashwords Edition
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places or events are entirely the work of the author. Any resemblance to actual persons, events, or places is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. Please purchase only authorized editions and do not participate in piracy of copyrighted materials.

Cover art by SMReine, Trevor Scheitrum
Model Allison Braucher
Editor Amber Halsted





For everyone who ever thought they were different.


Cryptids
The human cell is something to be admired.  It adapts to survive in the most unusual circumstances.  Splicing occurs when you mix animal cells with human cells, which results in what some scientists call a parahuman, a type of cryptid.  A cryptid can be described as a paranormal being with some animal-like traits.  This is the story of one of those creatures.





Chapter 1

“Shay,” my mom calls to me from downstairs and from her tone, I know I’m late.  I take one last look in the curved iron mirror that hangs on my bedroom wall.  My jet black hair falls in my eyes as I check my red lipstick that makes my thin lips look full and plump.  
“Looks good,” I say aloud, to no one in particular.  I pick up my book bag and practically fly down the stairs, grab a bagel from the kitchen and run to the door.
With my hand on the doorknob I realize that my mom is yelling something about coming home right after practice.  I turn back to pop my head into the living room to see her sitting in our black armchair reading the Marksville Gazette, our local newspaper.  I can smell the coffee she must have in her hand hidden behind the paper.  
“No problem.”  I say with a quick smile, she lowers her newspaper and smiles back.  
“Have a good day, darling.”
I know she’s worried about me.  I know that because it’s not normal for an eighteen year old senior to be hanging out in graveyards.  And it’s certainly not normal for this same girl to be talking to ghosts.  Obviously my mom doesn’t know about the second part, the whole talking to ghosts part, she’d probably have me committed if she knew.  
My mom does the single parent thing fairly well and it’s not my business to shake that up.  I’m well fed and clothed; I live in a beautiful house close to the lake and I’ve never wanted for much, except a father - which is not something she can order out of one of her fancy catalogs. 
God bless her, Mom has tried to date.  There was the dentist.  He was nice.  He had a comb over and lived in a huge house, dentist’s salary and all that.  They dated for a while… until he asked Mom to drive him home after dinner one night.  Turns out he used his gas machine on himself at his office the day before and got himself a DUI on his way home.  Really sweet guy, huh? 
And then there was the ex-football player.  My brother Chad adored him.  Too bad his IQ was in the toilet, along with his career.  My mom is a college professor so that really didn’t add up.
Lastly there was the firefighter.  He was hot, no pun intended.  But when my mom found out he was in a firefighter calendar called Hold the Hose, she stopped taking his calls.  I, on the other hand, purchased the calendar immediately.  Mr. October is still hiding under my mattress.       Yum, yum.
Sometimes I miss my dad and I know my mom does too.  Some nights I sit on one of the Adirondack chairs on the wraparound porch with my coffee and look at the stars.  When she joins me, I know we’re both thinking the same thing, where is he?
My dad disappeared when I was six.  Chad was just a toddler at the time so he doesn’t remember anything.  To be honest, I don’t remember much either, just my dad not coming home from work one summer night.  I remember it was summer because I had been swimming all day, without floaties, and Mom said I could wait up to tell Dad about it.  That’s the night I started talking to ghosts and I have ever since.
When my dad didn’t come home and Mom forced me to go to bed, I started wondering out loud as six year olds usually do, where is he, why did he leave?  All normal questions a scared daughter would ask when her dad goes missing.  Even then I don’t think I ever expected a response.
But a response was what I got and it was a crappy one: “I don’t know,” came a small voice from a dark corner of my bedroom.
I looked up from my tear stained pillow to see a small boy, about my age, staring at me.
“I don’t know,” he said again, as if I hadn’t heard him the first time.
I sat up in bed and let my anger surge through me. “Boys are not allowed in girls’ rooms!” I yelled, in the same annoying tone my grandmother used.  “Get out!”
“Stop yelling,” he said in a hushed whisper, “your mama will hear you.”
“Well she should.  You’re a boy and I don’t know you and you’re in MY ROOM!”
With that, my mom threw open my bedroom door and as the light flooded in, I proceeded to explain my six year old’s tale of the little boy in my room.  My mom said I was just having a bad dream and wanted to know if I wanted to sleep with her that night.  I told her that was for babies and I was in first grade, so no thank you, I would be fine, again sounding just like Grandmother Rose. 
The minute she left, the boy reappeared much closer to my bed this time, and reminded me, “I knew your mama wouldn’t believe you.  I told you to be quiet.” All that I could do was look at him and take in his scrawny appearance. 
Jeremy was also six years old then, the same age he was when he died over seventy years ago.  Jeremy had been left in Marksville, Virginia when his parents couldn’t afford to keep him.  The Great Depression had been hard on the family and when they decided to move out West to be part of the Work Project Administration, they knew Jeremy wouldn’t survive the trip.  They would be walking and riding the railroad most of the way to the job site and it was not a place for a three year old boy.  So Jeremy had been dropped off at the local Marksville Home for Children, one of the largest orphanages in rural eastern Virginia.  That same orphanage burned down only three years after Jeremy had been sent there to live.  Nobody really knows the origin of the fire or much about what happened that night, only that no one survived.  Thirteen children and their caregiver perished that summer night in 1942.
Jeremy and I were thick as thieves.  He was the only one that understood my gift, my talent, my curse, my… whatever it is.  We spent every day together playing and laughing.   Mostly, though, Jeremy scared other ghosts away.
It wasn’t that these other ghosts didn’t try to visit me and a couple times even make contact, but whenever Jeremy was around, they seemed to keep their distance.  When the ghosts did visit it was never for long and they never asked me for anything.  They would ask questions:  What year was it?  Who was I?  Why could I see them?
It was the same story each time one approached me.  I got used to it.
The only ones I couldn’t deal with were the children.  They just make me feel so sad.  Jeremy said children stayed ghosts because they had jobs to do here on earth.  He wouldn’t tell me what those jobs were and it always worried me.  Was someone looking out for them, keeping them safe and away from the evils of our world?
The children never approached me.  Sometimes they’d smile from afar and then beckon Jeremy over to chat with him, always out of earshot.  I sometimes think children are the smartest ghosts. 
Throughout the years Jeremy grew up with me.  Ghosts can change their appearances, so as I turned seven and then eight, so did Jeremy.  At thirteen, when I got pimples, his face remained beautifully smooth but aged nonetheless.
It was when I was fifteen that Jeremy stopped visiting me.  And it was because I’d pushed him too far.
It was a bitterly cold winter day.  I was sitting on my bright purple bedspread. Jeremy was standing, watching TV in the front of my bedroom.  We had since gotten past the “No Boys Allowed” rule.  Since Jeremy’s life began and ended before television had arrived to change the world, he was fascinated by it.  Jeremy always had me turn the TV on for him; he really liked The History Channel.  It was important to him to know what was going on in the world and what had transpired since his demise years earlier.  
Jeremy had been traveling before he met me.  He never told me why or what he had done, just that he had “tasks.”  Nor did he ever tell me who had assigned him his chores.
I would often lie in bed at night wondering what his tasks might be.  He would occasionally leave me for weeks at a time to go on these trips and when he abruptly returned, he would pick up with our friendship just where we had left off.  He had just returned from one of his excursions (missing my winter formal and my perfect sparkly blue dress) on that wintry day.
It was the first time I had seen him in about two weeks.  He was wearing trendy clothes for our time, jeans with a striped button up shirt.  
The argument started the way it always did, “Jeremy, can you do something for me?” 
“No.”
“Oh come on, just this once?”
I had pleaded with Jeremy at least once a month since I was about thirteen to look for my father, but he wouldn’t even consider it.  I got the same answer each time, a simple no.  He couldn’t.  But I knew the real answer -- he wouldn’t.
Jeremy was scared.  He had told me this, but this was all he had told me.  Maybe he was scared of what he would find.  Maybe of what he wouldn’t.
I pleaded with him.  “If my father is dead I think I have the right to know.”
Another simple answer from Jeremy.  “Then you would.”
I started to get annoyed.  I was already mad he missed my formal and now this.  I didn’t want to argue anymore.  I just wanted him to say yes.
“Don’t you ever go looking for your parents?”  I asked, knowing I might be digging a hole that I couldn’t get out of and really didn’t want to, but I continued.  “They’ve got to be dead by now.  Don’t you ever go searching for them, or are you just mad they left you here?”
I knew the sore spot I’d created was now getting bigger – time to shut up, Shay.  Shut up.
He still didn’t react, which downright pissed me off.  I shouted at the top of my lungs, “At least my father wanted me!”
I knew this was the final blow.  I shouldn’t have said it then and even today it hurts me to think about it.  He looked at me, wounded, and for the first time in years I had known him, I saw in his eyes the scared little six year old boy from my bedroom corner who told me not to tell my mama about him.
“They did love me and they did want me.  That’s why they left me!  You forget I’ve had more than seventy years to think about this.  You don’t know what it was like back then.  No food, no shelter.  You live in this huge house with everything you could ask for, so you can’t know what I went through.  I don’t go looking for them because there’s nothing to find.  They had no unfinished business here on earth. They went where they were supposed to go and it’s not my job to find them or anyone else!”
He stood, fuming, breathing in and out the heavy air of anger, and staring me down.  The six year old gone and a much older anger inhabiting his eyes.
Instead of backing off, as I should have, I let my emotions get the best of me.  ”Well then, you go.  You obviously have more important things to do then to sit around here listening to me moan about my missing dad.”
Jeremy moved forward to apologize but I turned away, yet another stupid move on my part.  “I don’t want you here anymore, so LEAVE!”
With that, he’d gone.  He just vanished into thin air.  I stood there thinking how I wanted him to come back, but it was too late, he was gone.  
For months I didn’t even say his name, too angry that he left, too ashamed that I’d turned him away, too hurt to admit to myself that he was my best friend and I missed him.  
If I had only known then, what I know now, I never would have let him go.





Chapter 2

I arrive to school just in time, slamming the door on my red Honda Civic as I race to calculus.  My boot heels make a clicking noise that echoes off the white walls as I run to class.  I slide into my cold hard seat just as the bell rings.
We don’t have homeroom at Marksville High.  Our first class is our homeroom, part of that teaching bell to bell thing I’ve heard about on the news.
 I only take four classes now, so I don’t really mind not having the social time.  Besides, I only have a few friends here, mainly my best friend Olivia McEwyen.  
Liv is one of those pretty girls who don’t know they’re pretty.  She has the most beautiful green eyes and curly red hair.  Her dad is Irish so that’s where she gets her looks.  Her parents own a cute little antique shop in town.  It’s where I spend most of my time, partly because of Olivia, partly because I work there.
As I sit in calculus I think about some of the neatest things I’ve found in that shop and things that have happened to me there.  Once somebody brought in a coffin to sell, which was surrounded by countless ghosts.  I convinced the McEwyens not to buy it, gave them some crap about bad mojo, but the truth was that all the ghost talk surrounding it was giving me a headache.  Can’t say I wasn’t happy to see that thing go back into the truck it came out of and drive away with all of its previous owners.
However, other things in the shop are breathtaking and beautiful.  The locket I wear daily was a Christmas gift from my employers.  I’d been eyeing it for weeks and they knew on the money I made there that I couldn’t afford it.  Besides, I was saving up for new running sneakers for track.  So on Christmas Eve, when I closed the store, they had left the locket in with my paycheck and said it was a “Christmas Bonus.”
 I was so glad to get it I didn’t even argue.  Usually I wouldn’t take such a lavish gift, but this was special.  Ever since Jeremy left I wanted something to remember him by and this locket was found in the old burned down orphanage.  I felt like I finally had a piece of him.
A group of arson specialists had done research in the orphanage studying how the fire had been started.  They wanted to use the place for a museum and the people of Marksville wanted to know if it would ever be a safe structure to use.  They were the ones who found it.  I’m surprised they found anything  -- vandals and other idiots would have picked over anything even slightly valuable years ago.   Somehow they had missed the locket, this beautifully delicate silver locket with two angel wings engraved into it.  The locket that was twisting between my fingers as Mrs. Snickle called on me.
“Shay, do you know the answer to number three?  Shay?” 
“Ummm… yeah it’s, hold on I have it here… somewhere.”  I rifle through my papers at lightning speed but that isn’t enough for Mrs. Snickle.  Not today, at least.  
“Miss Tafford I hate to remind you that being prepared for class, or not, is considered in your grade.  Please consider yourself warned.”
She turned back to the board and began writing the answer to number three in her favorite shade of whiteboard marker, purple.
Bitch, I thought.  I’m always prepared for class, usually giving most of the answers.  I’m allowed to have an off day now and again.  To be honest since I found out I’d be going to James Madison in the fall, I’ve had more off days than on.  But I’m a senior, I take all honors classes, and it is spring.  What do you want me to do?  Senioritis had kicked in the second I got that acceptance letter.  Snickle should be glad I even show up and with my homework, thank you very much.
When the bell rings I grab my things and pull out my phone.  I have to conceal it from Snickle, she likes to take phones and keep them in her desk.  Sometimes you can even hear them ringing.
There’s a message from Olivia  -crash campus after fourth?  I quickly type back- def. 
My mom teaches at the local college. So Liv and I make her workplace our regular stop after school, before we go to track practice.  We make a run to the coffee shop and either sit there or if it’s nice enough we claim a bench near our favorite tree in the Quad.
Mostly we pretend to be students and scope out boys because, let’s be honest, they’re way hotter than high school guys.  A lot of the guys we see are reading or listening to music or trying to look mature and studious.
Over the past few weeks every time we’ve gone to the coffee shop there’s a boy I’ve been watching.  He’s tall and tan, really dark especially for this time of year.  He has black hair like mine, but short and messy, whereas mine is stick straight and hangs long.  He has beautiful brown eyes, though I swear the last time I saw him they were green, but since it was from a distance, I could have been wrong.  I’m sure it was just my eyes playing tricks on me; I mean staring at him for any length of time will do something to your head.   He’s got this rugged look about him, but in a subtly beautiful way.
Yes I just said a guy was beautiful, one whom I’ve never even talked to.
We walk through the glass doors of the coffee shop and I see him almost immediately, sitting in the corner reading the New York Post.  Oh my God -- he reads the New York Post!  Could he be any more awesome?
Olivia snaps her fingers in front of my eyes “Helloooo.  What do you want to drink?”  She thumb hooks to motion over her shoulder at the girl behind the counter.  The girl looks impatient and begins to drum her fingers on the counter.
“Oops,” I say.  “Sorry.  Coffee, black.”
“Yuck, really?” says Olivia.  “Since when do you drink black coffee?”   She notices where my eyes are focused.  “Oh, since you want to be dark like hot guy’s soul?”  She laughs.
“Whatever.”  I shrug her off, knowing her well enough that she won’t stop if I don’t end it.
“Let’s just pay and go sit in the Quad,” I tell her, hoping she’ll back off.
“You don’t want to stay and ogle Tall, Dark and Handsome?” she whispers.  
“Who?” I ask lazily.
She vaguely points in his direction and, honestly, of course I do!  But instead I say “Oh no, let’s just get out of here.”
We walk out onto the Quad, even though it’s cold.  I can feel the sun warming me up even though I still have my pea coat on.  
Olivia sits down on our bench near the old oak and we slowly sip our drinks.  Neither of us says anything for a while.  A few very bundled-up students walk quickly past us and Olivia and I watch with unfocused eyes.
“Shay,” she starts, without looking up from her steaming drink, “listen I’m sorry about the kid in there.  I didn’t realize you were really crushing on him.  I thought he was just eye candy like all the others.”
She looks up when I turn to her.  “Liv, it’s no big deal, really.  I don’t even know him.  I mean, I would like to, it’s just that I don’t.  So don’t even worry about it.”
She smiles at me and looks past my face and over my shoulder.  “Well, not to further your unrequited love, but here he comes.”  
I turn my head and sure enough here he comes, looking slightly frantic.
I look back to Liv who looks smug, but I hope she won’t try anything.  Instead of getting up to greet him as he approaches our bench and risk looking ridiculous, she magically whips out a book from some invisible location and starts reading.
“What are you doing?  He’s walking over this way!  Please pretend like you’re talking to me.  Please!”  She doesn’t respond, just continues to pretend to read.
Tall, Dark and Handsome walks right up to me and says (take a deep breath, Shay) “Did you see an iPhone lying around here?”
“A what?” I ask.  Stupid, I know, but I’m failing for words here.
“An iPhone, ya know?  I think I left mine here when I was studying before.  I had it before I went to get a drink.”  He lifts his reusable mug as if to prove he actually bought something there.
He begins muttering to himself and looking around the bench.  I get up to help.  “I really don’t see it.  Liv, did you see a cell when we sat down?” I ask, imploring her to help.
“Nope, sorry.  That really sucks,” she says without looking up from her novel.
“It’s whatever, I guess,” responds Tall, Dark and Handsome. “Well I gotta get to class.  I’ll see ya around I guess.”
“Yeah, us too,” I say as I pull Olivia to her feet, she still has one hand wrapped around her book.  “Bye.”
He turns and leaves, heading towards the math building and though I hate to see him leave, I do love to watch him walk away.
“Well I would deem that a successful first meeting,” Liv says as she puts her book back in her purse.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen her with a book before, I still can’t believe she just did that to me!
“Yeah, thanks so much for all your help back there.” I snarl back.
“Oh, whatever.  You didn’t need a wingman or wingwoman, or whatever.  You did just fine for yourself,” she says like a proud mama.  Puh-leez!
“We’d better get a move on.  Coach will kill us if we’re late.  And it’s way too cold to do suicides today.” I say and hurry Her Highness along.





Chapter 3

Practice today is bundle up and run through the woods.  I’ve got gloves on and long pants, so much for early spring.  As we start out I’m keeping a pretty good pace with some of our better long distance runners.
I love track and I run the relay, but Coach is constantly trying to get me to go out for cross country.  She says it would be good for me since I always seem to do better on these outdoor wood runs than I do on the track.  Since it’s my senior year she’s now on me to try out for the college team, meaning I would need to run all summer.  I don’t think I’m the type to get up at seven a.m. and sweat my ass off during my free time this summer.  Sleep seems like a better option.
As we continue through the woods I catch something out of the corner of my eye, something floating in the wind and I know immediately what’s there.  So as not to alarm anyone else, I pull a fake cramp.
Olivia stops to check on me.  “You OK?” she asks through labored breaths.  Long distance has never been her thing.
“Yeah fine,” I respond.  “Just my hammy, I’ll catch up.  You go on ahead.”  She nods and keeps going.
I pretend to sit down and stretch.  It only takes a few minutes for all the runners to pass us. And by us, I mean me and whoever the ghost is that’s been running beside the team. 
After I’m sure the runners are out of earshot I ask, “Can I help you?”  A little girl of about ten walks through the leaves toward me, though there isn’t any crunching sound to accompany her arrival.  She’s small and wears what looks to be a white dress, it could possibly be a very old bathing suit.  Her hair is long and dark.  
From the looks of her clothes I’m guessing she’s been around a while.  I stay sitting on the ground, hoping to not scare her off.  She’s approaching me and since she’s a child ghost, something is definitely off here.
She looks at me with her big blue eyes, a little scared and a little curious.  “You can see me?” she finally whispers.
“Yes, don’t be afraid.  Are you OK?  Are you lost?” I ask her.  She certainly looks lost and a little like she needs a bath.  I never knew Jeremy to look this disheveled.
“I can’t find my way home.  Can you take me?” Her voice is so soft it’s hard to understand her, but she extends a hand to me, so I stand up and take it.
“Sure Sweetie, where do you live?  Do you know where you live?”  
“Yes, I think so.  It’s a big blue house on the hill.  It overlooks the water.  My father has a boat there.”
“OK then, to the lake we go.  But first I have to stop and tell my friends, so they don’t worry, alright?”
“Will you leave me?” she asks, looking like she will cry if I don’t give her the answer she’s looking for.
”No, you just stand behind me.  They won’t even know you’re there.”  We walk up to the start of the course and I nurse my fake injury.
Coach comes jogging over to me in her matching blue Marksville Knights sweat suit.  She has her hair cut short this season and it makes her facial features so much more defined. “Tafford?  You OK?”
“It’s just the cold, Coach.  Not enough stretch time today, I guess.  I’m just gonna head home, warm up in the shower.  I’m sure I’ll be fine tomorrow.”
She seems to believe me and reminds me to rub some Icy Hot on my leg before letting me head out.
We walk slowly up to my car. “Can you come in the car with me?  I can drive you to your house.” 
“I’m not sure.  I’ve never been in a car before.”
“OK well let’s try this, go around the car and sit down on the seat.  I guess you don’t really need a seatbelt.  What’s your name?”  I open the door and sit down.  She simply floats through the passenger’s side door and sits down.
“Wendy, and yours is Shay, right?”
“Yeah, it is.  How’d you know that?”
“I know a lot of things,” she says as her blue eyes staring right at me.
With that, the car starts without me turning the key.





Chapter 4

“Whoa, you gonna drive this thing too?” I say grabbing the wheel as we fly out of the parking spot.  She laughs a young girlish giggle. 
“No silly,” she says, “I can only start it, something with the electricity, I can control it.”  With that she puts her thumb and forefinger together and produces a small blue spark. 
“Umm, that’s not normal.” I say staring at the spot where the energy was just made. 
“You can hardly discuss normal Shay, look who you’re talking to- a ghost, that’s not normal,” she says as a smile plays on her lips. 
Valid point.  I look at her closely, “Yeah but I can’t do anything like that, that’s a little excessive don’t you think?  And doesn’t it drain you?”  I don’t ever remember Jeremy messing with the electricity. 
She looks at me and says honestly, “Not when I’m feeding off of your energy and you’re young so you have lots of it.” 
OK creepy dead child who’s feeding off my energy.  I give her a hard look; children have never attempted to contact me before, why is she coming to me now?  “Wendy, how long have you been lost?” 
The girlish voice returns and suddenly she’s all sweetness again. “I don’t know, a long time I guess.  My daddy will be looking for me.  He’ll be happy I’m home.” 
I don’t tell her I’m fairly positive “Daddy” is also dead and I’m not sure what we’ll find at the top of the hill overlooking the water, but I do know the blue house she’s talking about.  It’s close to where the orphanage burned down, to where Jeremy and I used to play when I was a kid.  I give her a side glance and I wonder… “Wendy, do you know a little boy?  His name is Jeremy, he was my friend.  We kind of had this fight and I haven’t seen him in a long time.  Do you ever see other children like you?” 
She looks back at me.  “You mean dead kids?  Oh yeah, all the time.  There are all those kids who hang around the old orphanage.  I play with them sometimes.  But they’re scared, they hide from The Darkness.  I’m brave and I don’t hide.  It’s just a story from their mistress so they stay inside when it’s dark.”  
I focus on this turn in the conversation I didn’t expect.  “The Darkness?  What do they say this darkness is?”  
She sighs and returns her eyes to the window.  “A really bad man, he tries to destroy all the good in the world.  And he doesn’t like people, ghosts, or cats very much.  Mostly he doesn’t like the cats because they can see him.  I don’t know, it all sounds pretty fishy to me.  I’ve heard her talk about it a couple times, but I don’t believe it.” 
Interesting, well at least she doesn’t seem to be afraid of this thing. 
Suddenly she points, “Turn off up there.”  I turn right onto a dirt road; the Civic is not going to like this.  There are branches coming at the Civic from all sides like fingers trying to grab at us.  As I press the gas pedal I remember that she hasn’t answered my question about Jeremy.  
“So do you know a Jeremy?” 
“Oh yes, sorry I forgot about that.  That’s how I knew about you.”  She looks down and gives me a shy sideways glance like she shouldn’t have said anything. 
“You know him?  He talks about me?”  There’s hope in my voice, I know she can hear it.
“Yes he misses you, he’s sad you banished him.”  
I hit the brakes and we come to a screeching halt.  As dust settles around us I turn to her and yell, “I did what?  What are you talking about?” 
She sighs quietly and looks at me. “You banished him.  When you tell a ghost to leave they must abandon you, unless they’re haunting you of course.  Then they don’t have to leave, it’s the rules.” 
“There are rules?”  This is news to me, Jeremy never mentioned them before. 
“Oh yes, and since Jeremy was there to be your friend, when you told him you no longer wanted him, he left, as he should have.  I mean he should have never been that close with you to begin with.” 
I’m stunned.  I never knew there were rules in the ghost business, why wouldn’t Jeremy have told me all of this?  “Well what if I want to see him again?” 
She smiles smugly, “I’ll show you how, once we find my daddy.”  She holds out a small cold white hand and I shake it to seal the deal.  We’ll find her daddy alright and I’ll see my Jeremy again.  Two can play at this game.





Chapter 5

I put the car in drive again and we creep along silently for a while.  The light is just beginning to die away and as much as I want to see Jeremy again, this whole situation is a bit much for me.  So here I am with a dead girl in my car, in a super creepy forest, stalking a potentially dead father…yeah, not one of my brightest moments.  After we’ve been driving for about twenty minutes in the lush forest, I begin to feel an electrical buzz.  I look over to Wendy who, if it’s possible, is jumping up and down in her seat.  The electricity feels like it’s rolling off of her nonexistent skin.  It’s amazing, unlike anything I’ve ever felt before.  She notices me staring and says, “Oh sorry, it’s just were getting close. I can feel it.”  Sure enough only a minute or two later we arrive in a clearing.  A huge house stands before us.  I shut the car off and get out slowly admiring the mansion.  Wendy silently moves away.  
In its heyday this place must have been immaculate; I can just barely make out the remnants of the sky blue paint that used to cover the exterior.  A wide wraparound porch takes up much of what would have been the yard and the way the fence was built, there must have been a substantial garden.  What now remains is a sad state of an old home.  Broken shutters and windows litter the ground.  I dodge them like bombs, giving them a wide berth, almost as if I disturb anything it will awaken more spirits.  And one is enough for right now, thank you very much.  I walk around to the side of the house and see that the French doors are missing.  Near the empty doorway a white porch swing is still hanging, looking seemingly untouched compared to the rest of the home.  Swinging back and forth on it is the little girl I brought here to look for her father.
“Wendy?  Are you OK?”  I ask as I join her on the swing, it creaks in response to my weight, showing its age.  Her head hangs low and in the fading sunlight I can almost see through her.  
“I thought he’d still be here,” she says in a whisper.  “This is where I left him.” 
I squint at her slightly, “Where you left him?  What do you mean?” 
“When I died, he was still here.  His grave is still here.”  She points across the grass towards the water.  She continues, “I thought if we came here, he would be here too.  And we could be together.” 
I feel her pain, I sometimes drive by my dad’s old job hoping he’ll walk out the front door of the lab, but he never does.  “Tell me something Wendy, where is your mom?” 
She looks right through me as if she’s back in another time, her time.  “Mama died when I was born.  She held me for two whole minutes before she slipped away.  From then on it was just me and Daddy.”  She looks back at the ground and she wraps her arms around herself as if she remembers the feeling of being held by her mother.  It makes my chest hurt.  
We sit on the swing for a while in the fading light.  It’s not late but the early spring air becomes crisp and it stings my cheeks.  Within minutes the sun is completely gone and I’m freezing.  “Wendy,” I say as my teeth begin to chatter, “I need to get home.  My mom’s going to wonder where I am.” 
“Oh yeah, OK.”  She says, still not looking at me, instead she looks off into the woods.  “I know where I am, I’ll be fine here.”  
As much as I hate to leave the little girl alone, somehow I know she can handle herself. 
“Bye now.”  I say as I touch her shoulder and I get up and walk to the car.  I know if she wants to she can find me.  I hope she does.  I still want to see Jeremy, but I guess it’s not going to be tonight.  She needs time to figure all of this out.  I feel bad for the poor kid.  
I start the car and immediately turn the heat to full blast.  As I turn on the headlights I look up to the swing where I was just sitting to see it still swinging, but the little girl is gone, encased in the night.





Chapter 6

When I arrive home my mom is sitting in the Adirondack chair with a blanket and a cup of hot coffee.  I can see the steam rising from her mug and as I step out of the car the sweet smell fills my nostrils. “Got any more of that?” I ask her as I walk up to the house with my blue track bag slung over my shoulder. 
“Yep, fresh pot on the counter,” she says as she cups her hands around her own mug.  I walk in the house and drop my bag by the door.  I head right to the kitchen and see that Mom already has a mug set out for me on the counter.  I smile as I fill it up and head back out to the porch.  
“Think you can share a little of that blanket?  Sure is chilly tonight.” 
She looks up at me, “So you’re stealing my coffee and now my blanket?” 
“Yeah, pretty much.”  I laugh.
She smiles a big toothy grin, “Of course I will share.  Tell me about your day.”  
I sit and take a sip of my hot drink to give myself some time.  What do I tell her?  I don’t want her to worry more about me.  Last week when I skipped out on a class to visit Jeremy’s grave, the school called her and she came looking for me.  
The historical society put up gravestones for all of the fire victims when I was about ten.  I remember Jeremy feeling weird about it, but he also said it was nice, that he would always have a place to go back to.  Kind of like a home, he described it, a special place just for him.  
She found me in the small graveyard near the orphanage taking pictures.  I was trying to see some orbs in the digital viewfinder.  Maybe one would be Jeremy.  She said my “obsession” with the orphanage and the children’s death is unhealthy and suggested I see a therapist.  Usually she just listens to my brother’s and my problems without psycho-analyzing everything, but apparently this one had crossed the line.  She thinks as we get older we’re going to have more questions about Dad and she worries. 
“Olivia and I went to the coffee shop before practice.” I start in; I mean I could tell her about part of my day at least. “I saw this guy,” Mom shifts in her seat to focus her full attention on me.  “He’s the real dark and mysterious type.”  I smile with one side of my mouth as I think about him. 
My mom notices, “Did you catch his name?” 
“No.” I reply sternly, still annoyed that Olivia didn’t help me out in that department. 
“Well maybe next time,” she offers.  That’s something I admire about my mom, she is the eternal optimist.  With her bright blonde hair and tan skin she practically glows sunshine.  I always wonder how I’m not adopted.  My skin is almost as pale as some of the ghosts I’ve met and my hair is so dark that people constantly ask me if it’s dyed.  My brother resembles my mom and possibly a little bit of my dad with his football player stature.  
My dad was a big guy and he gave the best hugs.  He would call them his teddy bear hugs.  He’d put on this huge brown coat and wrap us both in it when he would hug me if I was upset or angry.  It always made me smile; it still does when I think about it.  I sometimes wonder if Chad would wear that coat if his hugs would feel the same.  I doubt it, but it might be nice to try one day.  I know it’s kept in the back of the coat closet.  I see it every year when I get out the Christmas ornaments, it’s nice to know my mom kept it, even after all these years.  To me, it’s further proof that she still holds out hope that we’ll find him.  Thinking about my dad makes me feel low and a single salty tear rolls down my cheek and onto my lips.  Lucky for me Mom doesn’t notice, she’s turned her thoughts elsewhere and is looking into the night.  
“Mom?” I ask, “You OK?” 
She startles out of her thoughts, “What me?  Oh, I’m fine,” she says before taking another long drink from her mug.  I nod and finish my drink loving every last drop as it fills my body with warmth.  
“Well I’ve got a little homework, so I’ll see you tomorrow,” I say as I stand and place my half of the blanket on her lap. 
“Right, OK.  I’ll be in soon, goodnight darling,” she says as I lean in to kiss her on the cheek. 
“Night Mom, love you.” 
As I start to walk away she gives a delayed response, “You too hon, goodnight.”





Chapter 7

School starts as usual with morning announcements and attendance.  Mostly before Calculus starts I just doodle on a notebook or finish homework from another class.  I don’t really have anyone to talk to in this class and Mrs. Snickle would love to confiscate a cell phone or two so I keep mine hidden in the front pocket of my book bag.  I decide I’m going to make up for yesterday and prove Mrs. Snickle wrong (and annoy her) by raising my hand for every single question she asks today.  Answer to number fourteen?   Got it.  Who can identify pi?  Me. Wearing pink underwear?  Right here lady!  Come and get me you old bag, I’m going to be your worst nightmare. 
After Calculus, and thus exhausting Mrs. Snickle, I make a quick stop at the bathroom to check my makeup.  I went with purple lipstick today and Chad told me in the car that I was embarrassing and looked like a goth.  I mean I’m wearing a purple short sleeved shirt and jeans, it’s not like I’ve become a princess of the apocalypse or anything.  But now that I’m looking in the mirror I begin to wonder if it is a bit too much and grab a towel to wipe it off.  As I’m removing what’s left of the dark purple lipstick I notice my eyes are a golden brown.  “That’s so weird,” I say aloud, as my eyes have always been dark brown.  I pull my eyelid up to examine them further.  Maybe it’s the bright lights of the school restroom, I mean they can’t be changing colors after eighteen years of being boring brown, can they?  Just as I start to question this further and try to examine the lights above the mirror, the bell rings and I have to run to get to English.
I slide into my seat as the last bell sounds and poke Olivia in the back with my pencil.  The class is still settling in and I take the opportunity to ask her, “Do my eyes look different to you?” 
“What?”she asks, turning around to look at me like I’ve got three heads.  
“Why, did you do your makeup differently?  Did your mom finally buy you that MAC eye liner?”  Her eyes light up, Olivia loves expensive things.  Her obsession with Coach and MAC would close her parents shop if her mother hadn’t come from old Southern money and with those funds, old Southern traditions.  
“No, I mean my actual eyes.  Do they look funny to you?” I ask her impatiently. 
“Nah, I mean I don’t think so.  A little lighter maybe?”  She shrugs it off as she turns around to focus on Eddie, our student English teacher, when he begins his lesson.  
Olivia loves Eddie, she says she’s going to convince him to marry her after graduation, which I highly doubt he’s going to go for.  He’s a senior in college, but he’s some sort of brainiac so he’s actually only two years older than us.  I decide to ignore my odd eye color change and focus on the velvety sound of his voice as he reads from Canterbury Tales.  I have no idea why he decided to go to college for secondary education when he’s supposedly a genius.  I mean this is an AP English Literature class, but still, shouldn’t he be finding a cure for AIDS or something?  Olivia says he wanted to help America’s youth find a love for reading, which I think is total crap.  She has these in depth conversations with him in our school’s book club, which is obviously heavy on the ladies, as he’s the only guy.  Olivia appears to be winning his attention though.  She’s quite excellent at batting her eyelashes and wearing a push-up bra while sounding witty and intelligent.  If something ever comes of it though he’ll have to become the epitome of a Southern gentleman, holding doors open and all.  I can’t imagine Olivia with any other type of guy.
Olivia’s mother grew up in the South.  I’ve only met Olivia’s grandmother a few times, but I get the distinct impression she was born to be a southern belle.  She wears huge jewelry and talks about the times when maids raised your children and doesn’t seem to think anything of it.  Luckily that means Liv’s mother is an excellent cook, she makes the best sweet potato pie. Olivia’s dad is Irish, however he grew up in New York and has only a hint of an Irish accent.  He is a stately man who worships both Olivia and her mother for what they are; beautiful, poised, intelligent women.  It’s his personality that I’ve always admired, both as his employee and a family friend.  Olivia’s parent’s mix of traditions will have boys shaking in their space boots, but I say good luck Eddie, if he’s the one, because Olivia sure is worth it.
After school I head to the McEwyen’s to work.  We don’t have practice today because Coach is sick.  Olivia rides over with me while her car is in the shop.  She’s babbling on and on about track and how she’s totally going to states this year.  Liv is damn fast at sprints, hopefully she does make it to states and it would really give her some extra scholarship opportunities.  Not that she needs it, but I’m sure her parents would appreciate it anyway.  I know my mom would, but hey I’m not an only child, things are a lot different in Liv’s household.  Chad and I can go to Eastern Virginia University for free since Mom’s a professor there.  I think Chad will go, but I had the grades for James Madison and I couldn’t turn down that kind of offer.
We get to the antique store and Liv’s mom’s car is there, meaning I’ll probably be working by myself.  That’s fine with me anyway.  I have a book to read if we’re not busy.
“Hey Mom!” she yells in a cheery voice as we walk in.  
“Hi Liv, Shay with you?” she answers from the storage room.
“Yep, hi Mrs. McEwyen!” I call.  She walks out of the room carrying two boxes balanced on top of one another.  “Can I help you with that?”
“Ahh thank you Shay!  Can you catalog these vases and dishes?  I just bought them at a sale today.”  She gives me both boxes, they’re heavy but I can handle them.
I smile, I love when she goes shopping, we always get great stuff in.  “No problem Mrs. McEwyen.”
She turns to her daughter, “Liv you have piano practice tonight.”
“No way!  I was supposed to work with Shay, since practice got cancelled.  Can’t I hang out here?” Olivia whines.  She even stomps her foot, sometimes she’s a bit immature, single child syndrome and all that.
“Olivia McEwyen, you have a piano lesson.  To the car, now.”  Her mother uses her authoritative tone, it always gets Liv moving.
“Sorry Shay, I’ll see ya later.  I have a piano lesson.”  She spits out the last word like it’s poison as she walks toward the door glaring at her mom.
Mrs. McEwyen stops at the register before leaving.  She rubs her eyes with her hands and sighs.
“Shay, please count the money before closing up, you can leave it in the safe in the storage room.”  She takes a look at the money made today before heading out.  It sits in the antique cash register.  We only use it on the floor, all of the real financial records are done on a laptop in the storage room.
“No problem.” I say with a smile trying to cheer her up.  She looks stressed today, her little tiff with Olivia really seems to have drained her.  But it could be more than that.
The economy sucks right now.  As well off as the McEwyens are, I wonder if the shop is making any money at all.  I really hope they don’t let me go, I don’t really have any other way to make the extra income. 
I tried babysitting once, a little boy named Henry.  All was going well until we were playing hide and go seek and Henry fell asleep in a closet.  I searched for him frantically for an hour.  It was an awkward moment when his parents arrived home and put their coats in the hallway closet and found their son sleeping in there… oops.  They paid me half and didn’t call me again.  There’s not much else available in our little town, so here I am.
It’s not that Mom wouldn’t give me money if I needed it, but I like to have my own money.  With both Chad and I being teenagers I know we spend my mom’s cash as fast as she can make it.  There was a job available at the library at the college.  I might need to look into that.
I sit down to read my book as the door chimes, meaning Liv and her mom are definitely gone for the evening.  Mrs. McEywen never minds me reading on the job.  She always says she wishes Olivia would take after me and my love of reading some more.  After I read a few chapters and it starts to get dark, I inventory the new glassware.  I’m putting it on some of the shelves against the back wall when I hear the door chime again.
“Be right there!” I say as I place the last few vases strategically on the shelf right above my head.
“No problem,” I hear a male voice respond.  He sounds young, around my age.  I make sure to shake my hair out before I turn the corner and see him standing there.  
It’s the boy from the Quad.  Oh my freaking God.
“Hi, I’m looking for a picture frame.  For my mom’s birthday.  Got anything that would work for that?”
Brain, turn on, now please! “Uhhh what?” is all I can manage to get out… super.
He raises his eyebrows at me as he smiles, “A picture frame, for my mom.”
Things begin to click into place, “Oh yeah, ummm there’s some up on the table in front of the counter, let me show you.”  I extend my hand as I walk over to the display.  I use my Vanna White skills to present the frames.  There are a couple of really unique ones here.
He picks up a brass frame with ornate edges and turns it over to see the price.  “It’s twenty three dollars,” I say, “I priced that one myself.”
“Mmmhmm,” he responds not even looking at me still admiring the frame.  I stare at him and realize it looks like he calculating in his head.  I walk behind the counter while looking out the window.  The only other car in the parking lot is a beat up yellow pickup truck.  Twenty three bucks might be a lot for a birthday gift for Mom.
“You know,” I say apprehensively, “I know my boss will take twenty for that one.  It’s been sitting on the shelf a while.”
“Really?  Well then I’ll take it,” he says excitedly.  He approaches the counter and places the frame on it.  “I don’t get paid till the end of the week and this is already going to be a few days late.” 
He pauses, “You know, I remember you from the college.  I did find my phone that day.”  He whips it out of his pocket as if to prove its existence.  Not knowing what else to do I just stand there and smile.
He also pulls out his wallet.  As he’s getting his credit card out I ask, “Would you like me to gift wrap it for you?”
He puts his card on the counter and says, “Sure that would be great.  I suck at wrapping.”
“No problem,” I smile at him while I swipe his card and I wrap the frame.  He looks past me at the clock on the wall, it’s almost seven.  I try to keep my eyes on his beautiful face while pulling a bag and extra tissue paper from beneath the counter.
His eyes widen, “Is that really the time?”
“I believe so, why?”  I start to rush my wrapping he looks like he’s about to run out of here.
He puts his wallet away quickly and says, “I have a study group to get to at the library on campus.  Freshman year is killing me.”
“Oh yeah?  Is there a specific class that’s really hurting you?”
“Calculus.  They didn’t offer it at my high school.  It’s rough and I’m going to miss my study session by the time I get back to campus.”  He runs his hand anxiously through his shaggy hair.
“I hang out there occasionally, on campus I mean.  My mom’s a psychology professor.”  I hand him the bag, I did a nice job if I do say so myself.
“Thanks,” he says as he lifts the bag.  He smiles at me.  “Looks nice.”
“You know, I do pretty well in my Calc class.  I could help you out.”
He looks at me earnestly, “You mean it?”
“Yeah, why not?  I mean I don’t have anything else to do tonight and I’m here another two hours.”
“That’d be great!”  He looks down at his shoes, his dark bangs falling in his face.  “I don’t have any money to pay you though.”  
I can see his cheeks becoming red.
“It’s no problem.  I’d just like to hang out with you.”  I’m shocked at my own honesty.  “I mean someone.  It’d just be nice to not be alone tonight.”  Now I’m the one looking at my shoes, hoping he’s ignored my slip up.
“You’re awesome.”  He extends his free hand, “I’m Hugh by the way.”
I shake it and immediately feel a spark between us.  I can’t believe I’m actually touching him.  I introduce myself with just one word, “Shay.”
He smiles back at me.  His eyes are definitely green.  After a minute passes Hugh removes his hand from mine.
“I’ll be right back,” he says and goes to get what I assume is a book out of his car.  I walk to the storage room to grab another stool for him to sit on.  I can’t believe he’s staying here with me alone, all evening.
When he enters the store again he has his book bag.  He drops it on the counter with a thud.
“Whoa, how many books do you have in there?” I ask pointing to the brown leather bag.
“Well I’m taking six classes.  I’m on a scholarship specifically for Native American kids, but it’s only for three years.  So I have to finish my degree by then.”
“Oh cool, what are you going for?”  I want to know as much about him as possible.
“Business Management, but I really like Psychology.  What classes did you say your mom taught?”
“A lot of them, pretty much all the introductory classes.  Plus a few higher ones for some of the seniors.”
“What’s her name?”
“Dr. Tafford, both my parents hold doctorates, just not the medical kind.”  I don’t know what is making me tell him everything about my life, I just feel like he’s so safe, there’s something so trusting about those amazing eyes.
“Oh yeah, I have her for Psych 102.  She’s pretty cool.  Gives us extensions and stuff all the time.”
I laugh, “Yeah she’s known for that.  Which means I won’t see her for about three days at the end of the semester when everybody turns all their stuff in.”
He smirks, “I guess I never thought about it like that.  So about my Calculus…”
We work on problems for the next two hours.  He basically has the concept by the time we finish.  It’s past nine and I close blinds and count the money in the drawer.  We really aren’t doing very well.  Hopefully the profits we earned at Christmas this past year will hold us over until the summer sales.
Hugh is reading over the notes I wrote for him to help him with the more advanced formulas.
He closes his notebook and says, “You know you’re a pretty good teacher.  Maybe we could do this again sometime.”  He winks at me.  It’s cheesy, but cute.  He shoves his book and notebook back in the bag.
He comes around the counter with his bag slung over his shoulder.  He takes my hand and writes his number on it with a blue pen.
“For my beautiful teacher, thanks for your help.  Call me.”  He kisses me on the cheek before he walks out.
I stand there blankly staring at his back.  He is so gorgeous and it appears he actually likes me.  I’m dumbfounded.
“Yeah, see ya,” I say waving lazily as the bell chimes one last time.  I can never wash this hand again.  I just stare at his number, thinking of the possibilities between us.





Chapter 8

I spend the next few weeks on campus looking for Tall, Dark and Handsome, but to no avail.  We’ve texted back and forth but it’s been totally platonic, no mention of the kiss on the cheek which practically made me melt.  I’ve been neglecting Liv and she’s starting to notice.  It’s Monday morning and in English she confronts me about not texting her back last night.
“I talked to Eddie about getting together and you didn’t even respond!  I made a total fool of myself.  Where have you been?”
She has a right to be upset.  I’ve been so absent lately.  I sit in the library on campus most of the time, waiting for a glimpse at Hugh, neglecting my phone because it has to be on silent in there.  On the plus side my grades are better than ever before if that’s even possible.  Maybe it’s just given me time to refocus.
“I’m so sorry Liv, what happened?” I ask.  
“He said he took an internship in Washington state and doesn’t want me to tarnish his reputation.  Can you imagine?”  I kind of thought this might happen but of course I agree with her.
“How rude, I am so sorry Liv.  Is he done?  I see he’s not here.”  Did she really scare him away?
She sighs, “His time here ended last week.  I asked you to come to his going away party after school, but you never showed.  Whatever I’m so over it.”
“What an asshole.  Sorry about not texting you.”  
“I get it.  I just hate one way conversations, ya know?” she says, starting to relax.
“I do.  I’m sorry.”
My mind is still focused on fixing my relationship with Liv when Mr. Thomas returns to Beowolf.  I immediately tune him out as usual.
The rest of the day goes by blandly as many of my high school days usually do.  Olivia decides she’d rather stay on campus today then go to the college because it’s miserable outside.  We’re in the library watching the rain come down in sheets when the announcement comes on that all sports practices are cancelled for the day.  I decide to head home while Olivia says she’s going to stay and finish her chemistry lab.  I invite her over for a movie on Thursday, saying she can sleepover too.  She agrees whole heartedly and I think our friendship is back on track.  Chad gets a ride home with his friends anyway, so I’m free to go home and curl up with some coffee and a good book.  I wave goodbye to Liv and head for the car.  Luckily I brought a hoodie today.  I put it on, pull the hood up around my face and run through the rain to my car.  It seems I was somewhat successful at staying dry when I get in the car, though the parts of my long dark hair that were hanging out have quickly become soaked.  I pull the mass of hair behind my head in a knot and drive home.  This is one nasty storm.  The lightning makes me think I should have stayed at school to ride it out.
Driving is a nightmare and I’m not even going twenty- five.  I can hardly see through the rain, but as my windshield wipers move as fast as they can, I catch some movement in my view.  There is something in the middle of the road.  Or rather, someone.  I hit the brakes because in this rain I can’t see the edges of the figure moving.  I can’t see that she’s only energy, pure energy.  As I screech to a halt my car slides and suddenly I’m sideways on a deserted road.  When I get out to see if she’s OK or needs help, I realize she’s gone.  I sit back down in the car, now totally drenched and shake my head, are my eyes playing tricks on me?  And then I feel it, the same energy I felt a few weeks ago in my little Honda Civic.   I turn my head to the right to see the blue eyed little girl sitting in the passenger’s seat staring right at me.
The air comes out of my lungs in a single whoosh.  After taking a couple deep breaths I say, “You know, you really shouldn’t creep up on people like that Wendy.”  
She smiles a toothy grin at me, “Sorry Shay.  I didn’t mean to scare you.  I just really needed to talk to you.  I think I know how to find my father.”





Chapter 9

I’m still driving at a crawling pace, but not to home, we’re headed back to the blue house. 
“So what exactly did this guy tell you again?” I ask her, I want to review this situation one more time. 
She sighs, “Shay, we’ve been over this at least three times.” 
“Yes, but this all sounds a bit off to me.” 
“Ugh fine.  The ghost, a dark haired man, he said I could get my dad back and that he is probably looking for me right now.  We just have to get some other ghosts to help me to look for him.  That’s where you come in; you’re like a ghost magnet.  If you think about him enough he might come to us, or at least other ghosts who know him will come to you and then we can get information about him from them.” 
“And you’re sure all I have to do is think about him?”  We’re almost to the house now.  I can see where we broke through the trees last time.  The ground cover hasn’t had time to grow back yet.  Mud is splashing up on my tires; my car is going to need a serious bath after this little adventure.  
“Well there is one more thing.”  
Uh-oh, what I feel coming can’t be good.  I knew it was important to have her repeat the instructions.  
“And that is…” I prompt her, we’re at the house now and I put the car in park but leave it running because I’m still damp and freezing.  I appreciate the heat blowing on me, warming me slowly. “You have to drop a little blood on his grave.” 
“I have to do WHAT?!?” Suddenly the air blowing on me feels too hot.  I need to get out of this car, I go to open the door when I realize it’s still pouring outside and I really don’t want to get soaked again.  I close the door and instead I close my eyes and lean my forehead against the cold window.  I turn off the heat immediately using the dial.  “Take deep breaths,” I tell myself aloud.  “Try not to pass out.”
When I was three I broke my leg in a sledding accident.  It was just Dad and I; we were at this huge hill by his work.  Well huge for a three year old.  We had one of those discs that go super fast when you don’t weigh a lot.  My dad gave me a push, never realizing I would move as fast as I did.  I was so happy screaming and laughing as I went down that hill.  I never saw that fence coming and when I ran into it, I didn’t feel a thing.  I just remember hearing the screaming, it was my own voice, but I didn’t feel like it was coming out of my body.  I opened my eyes briefly to see my left leg totally gnarled up next to my body.  My dark red blood soaking the freshly laid snow that had silenced my footsteps just seconds before. The rust taste filled my mouth and as I panicked, I saw my dad’s horrified face.  I see his face every time I see or hear about blood now.  It makes me feel like my whole body is about to cave into itself.  The pain from my broken leg was nothing compared to the look on his face; that look has haunted me ever since.  It impacts me every time.  I once passed out in elementary school when Olivia scraped her knee.  I actually cried last time I got a paper cut and I’m eighteen freaking years old, an adult, I mean really? 
I turn back to Wendy, she’s looking at her hands laying in her lap.  
She mumbles, “Shay, please help me.” Then she slowly turns to look at me with those big blue eyes.  
What can I do?  I have to suck it up and help this little ghost; why else would I have this ability?
 I sigh and as I suck a deep breath back in I make a decision, “OK Wendy, let’s do this.”  I’m surprised at how confident I sound. 
We get out of the car and I run to the house to try to stay semi-dry while Wendy floats around looking for her father’s grave.  She thinks it’s near the lake so she’s headed that way, though I can hardly make out her semi-translucent figure through this rain.  I walk through the front door of the blue house and decide I might as well look around.  I enter in a hallway with a seating area to the right and a dining room to the left.  It appears as though a chandelier fell through the floor in the dining room at some point so I avoid the dark open space left behind.  It looks as though it could suck me into it.  Instead I walk to the back of the house and find myself in a huge kitchen.  It goes the entire length of the back of the house.  The pantry alone is as big as my bathroom at home.  Come to think of it, this house is at least twice the size of mine.  I start exploring the cupboards, who knows what I’ll find in them or what I am looking for, but the opening and shutting of the doors is calming me.  I find some old vintage tins when Wendy shows up.  She has an apprehensive smile on her face, “found it” is all she says and I know it’s time to go to work.
We walk out of the back door of the house or what’s left of it.  A screen door blocks most of the doorway and I have to give it a good shove to get it open.  Wendy hardly notices it as she floats right through the screen.  I notice the rain has lightened up significantly as I put up my hood.  It’s more of a drizzle now, which I really appreciate.  Wendy moves in front of me, leading me to her father’s burial site.  We move toward the lake across the wet, slippery grass.  I notice a half sunk wooden rowboat tied to a fairly stable looking dock.  
“We used to fish off that dock, you know.  I caught a big bass in that pond the year before, well before I left.”  Wendy looks nostalgic.  
“Hey Wendy, can I ask you something?” 
She snaps back to our current reality.  “Sure.” 
I pause, rethinking my question but decide to go for it anyway, “How did you, you know, die?”  
“Well that’s easy Shay,” she says with a sad look in her eyes, “I killed myself.”





Chapter 10

She turns to look out over the churning black water.  It’s been disturbed from the rain and as it drizzles the water continues to move.  I put my hands in my front sweatshirt pocket to keep them warm.
I can see her slipping into her past.  She seems to get a dazed look whenever she’s back in her time.  She continues to look out over the lake and takes a deep breath to begin.
“It was summer and I liked to swim.  I thought I could reach the bottom of the lake if I tried hard enough.  I filled my lungs with air and swam hard to the bottom.  I brushed the silt floor with the tips of my fingers.  When I approached the surface I saw my daddy paddling around in our dingy.”  She gestures to a half submerged dock.  “He said I was in too deep and I should work my way back to shore.  I was angry with him.  I knew I could do it and I could go longer holding my breath, I was a fantastic swimmer.  Daddy used to say I swam like a fish since I grew up in this lake.  So I dove back toward the bottom.  But I had moved too far in the lake.  It was too deep.  He was right; I would never reach the bottom.  The water swirled around me as I struggled to breathe.  I couldn’t get back to the surface to take a breath.  I remember it getting dark and feeling weightless.”
She looks down at her hands, “I had drowned and I had done it to myself.  He tried to warn me and I wouldn’t listen, it was my own fault.  I watched him as he dragged my body out of the water and tried to revive me on the shore, but it was no use.  I was already gone.  He cried for days after he buried me in the backyard.”  If ghosts could cry, this is where she would have done it.  She was sniffling, but no tears were shed.  Ghosts don’t have any fluids like live people do, so essentially they don’t cry, but they also don’t need to eat or sleep or any of our other daily activities.
Wendy continues her depressing tale, “I watched him for years, but eventually he left our home and moved away.  He never remarried and I just stayed in this house while it rotted away.  I’m tied to the home, not him, so I can’t leave Marksville.  Only adult ghosts travel with people tied to them by experience.  Kids stay near landmarks because their experiences are mostly based in their environment.  It’s rare we attach to a single person, so as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t follow him.  But eventually he returned… in a coffin.  It was in his will that he wanted to be buried with me and Mama.  I guess he kept the property just for that.”
Finally she looks back to me, “I miss him, Shay.  I just want a chance to see him again.  I thought by having you bring me here I would be able to.”
I get that she’s done telling her story and it’s time for some action.  “Alright where do we start?”  A rock floats by my head.  I nearly jump out of my skin; she is a freaky little girl.  “Do you have to do things like that?”  
“Sorry.  It’s just, well the blood thing… I need you to cut yourself, remember?”  
How could I forget?  Ugh, gross.  I grab the rock out of the air and push it into my left palm.  A small tear in my skin develops right near my age line, the line that extends from my wrist to the middle of my palm.  My mom used to be into palm reading, wait until she sees that I cut my life line right in half, super, she’ll be thrilled.  After the blood begins to pool in my hand and I’m starting to sway Wendy reminds me why we’re here.  
“Alright now, drop your blood over here on this patch of grass.”  She points and I see a small crooked stone standing out of the ground.  
“OK.” I walk over without looking at my hand.  I crouch down and rub my bloody left hand in the wet grass, the coolness of the ground feels good on my fresh wound. 
“Now,” Wendy says floating behind me, “think really hard about me and my dad.  Think of how you want him to return to this place.  You’re performing a summoning, only really strong paranormals can do this, and I know you can.”  
I break my concentration for a minute to look at her, “A paranormal?”  
“Shay focus!  It just means you can see and speak to ghosts.”  
Right, just my normal life.  
She whines, “Shay, focus.”  
OK, OK.  Think, dead father, you were here, come back to your little girl. I’m thinking about Wendy, the water, I’m freezing… thinking, thinking.  I take a deep breath and the rust taste fills my mouth, I try not to focus on it.  
Then it happens, that electric current I feel off of Wendy is suddenly at my feet, or maybe it’s in my feet?  I take another deep breath and attempt to focus as the electric current settles in my feet.  It’s climbing up my legs, weird.  The current fills me up making me feel warm until it touches my fingertips.  Then like lightning it shoots out of my fingers, I open my eyes and I can actually see it.  Little tiny blue lightning bolts come out of my fingers, this is absolutely insane.  And then I see him, just a shimmer at first, but then he’s there.  A tall light haired man, dressed in clothes from the early 1900’s.  I know it worked, this is Wendy’s dad and I brought him to us.
Relief floods me, but so does sudden exhaustion.  I fall to my knees, feeling the squish of the wet ground against my jeans.  I can hardly keep my eyes open as I see Wendy’s reaction to seeing her dad for the first time in all these years.  She’s overjoyed, jumping up to hug him tightly.  
I hear a man’s voice say, “Thank you.  This is all I’ve ever wanted.  I have missed her so much.”
I nod at him.  I just manage to get out, “You’re welcome.” 
I am so tired and cold, so cold.  Maybe, if I just sleep, for a minute, yeah that will work, just a little nap.  I close my eyes not realizing there’s no one really there who can wake me up.





Chapter 11

My fingers curl around the cool side of my pillow and I breathe in the scent of Tide, mmmm home.  I sit up so quickly it makes my head spin.  Wait, home?  How did this happen?  The last thing I remember was being at the old blue house with Wendy and her dad.  Did I actually do that?  Did I bring him back to our world?  And if I did, where was he to begin with?  Oh snap, what kind of trouble am I in now?
I race to the window and pull back the light lavender curtains to see my car sitting in the driveway under the maple tree where I usually park it.  But how?  I mean could I have driven myself home and went to bed without even remembering it?  I guess I could have, I was really tired.  My head hurts and since it’s Saturday and I don’t have to work till two this afternoon I decide a couple more hours of sleep couldn’t hurt.  Maybe things will become clearer then.  I climb back under the covers and wrap the sheets around me.  I drift off easily into a dreamless sleep.
When I open my eyes I can smell the coffee brewing downstairs.  I feel groggy but better, not as drained.  My legs fall over the side of the bed as I rub my eyes.  Yesterday seems like a dream, but then I see him and I know what I did was real.
“Jeremy?” I say as I look at the small boy in my bedroom.  “Is that you?”  He smiles that happy smile I grew up loving.  He’s back in his six year old form, with his tan wrinkled pants and white top.  
My eyebrows must crinkle together because he walks over to me and says, “Oh Shay please don’t cry.  I’m here, it’s alright.”  
He holds my hand in his, his little fingers attempting to intertwine with my own.  I’ve rehearsed what I would say to him if he ever came back a million times but suddenly my mind is totally blank.   I sit there paralyzed by disbelief.
“Jeremy, I’ve missed you so much.  I am so sorry I sent you away.  I never meant to…” my words start to sound more like sobs and I realize I’m crying.  
“Shay look at me,” Jeremy says, “I understand what you did, and you don’t, so give me a chance to explain.”  I take a deep breath and nod my head while wiping away my tears with the sleeve of my hoodie, I realize the material still smells a bit like rain.  I watch him like a hawk, I don’t want to look away and have him disappear again.  
“Shay, when you told me to leave you banished my spirit from having contact with you.  That didn’t mean I couldn’t see you, but it did mean that you couldn’t see or contact me.  While I was banished, I was doing tasks for other ghosts and that’s how I met Wendy.  She wanted to bring back her father and she knew that I had previously had contact with a person who may be able to do that.  That person is you.  We both agreed if you used your power to bring him back it would break the banishment because of the deal you made with Wendy.  The deal that said she would connect you with me, if you helped her.  Luckily our suspicions were correct.”  
It shocks me to hear such sophisticated talk from a six year old.  It will take me some time to remember he’s been on this earth for over seventy years.
I am astonished that this whole thing was a plan all along. 
“You knew I could do this?  You really thought I could bring him back?”  
He frowns, “Well I knew you could bring him to this plane, but only if he was stuck on another.  If he had crossed over then you wouldn’t have been able to, but since he was so depressed when he passed, we guessed he was lost on another plane.”  
I try to wrap my head around all of this, “You mean to tell me there are other planes?”  
He smiles at me sweetly, almost like he’s explaining all of this to a small child, instead of an adult like myself.  
“Yes Shay, many, but the main two are the living and non living.  Our planes are parallel, so we constantly live a similar life on one of the planes.”  
“Is that where you were when I banished you?”  
He shakes his little head.  It always amazes me how his bangs never fall in his face, although he can change his appearance by choice, it never changes naturally like mine does.  
“No I was still on this plane.  You’re strong, but not that strong.  You can’t banish someone from a plane, but apparently you can summon them back.”  He smiles a coy smile, like he knew all along that I could make this happen.  Suddenly something clicks in my head, “Wait is this why you wouldn’t go looking for my father?  Because you wanted me to summon him on my own?”  Excitement floods me; I will be able to see my dad again.  I already start to focus on him in my mind.  Almost dreaming of the way he smelled and felt when I notice Jeremy pursing his lips. 
“No, I’m afraid not.  I wouldn’t go looking for your father because I have no idea where he is.  I’m sorry Shay, but when I said I wouldn’t help you find him it’s because I can’t.  I can’t track any people or spirits, just places.  It’s the disadvantage of passing away when I was a child.  So if you had moved away, it would be extremely difficult, if not totally impossible to find you.  You would have had to summon me, which until yesterday you didn’t know how to do.”  
I still feel like I’m behind on the conversation.  “What did I even really do?  I mean I just thought about what he might be like.  It was just this idea of a person that came into my head and then it happened.  He was there, at least I think he was.  What if I accidentally summoned someone else?”
“You won’t, your instinct will tell you if who’s coming is the right spirit or not.  You’ll just have to focus harder next time.  You did great for your first time.  We can talk about all of this later, but for now I have to go.  I need to check on Madame and the children.”  He looks over his shoulder, ever since this conversation started I’ve been feeling like Jeremy is a little jumpy and rushed.
Jeremy has always worried about his ghost family, constantly going back to the woods near the orphanage to check on them.
“But wait, when will I see you again?  And how did I get back here?  Did you do this?”  I gesture to my bed and my clothes, finally putting together that it’s the same outfit I wore yesterday.
“All of this will be explained in due time.  Can you come to me this time?  I want to stay near my family tonight.  I’m worried about them.  Rebecca has been saying she’s seen the man in the black coat.”  He suddenly looks chilled.
Jeremy’s death wasn’t just caused by just any fire; it was a fire set by a cold blooded killer.  He watched the children burn in the house and Jeremy says he can remember hearing him laugh, a cold harsh sound that he can’t forget.  Ghosts don’t sleep, but if they did this man would fill his nightmares.  When he’s worried about his family it’s usually because the man in the black coat has shown up again.  Apparently he likes to revisit his work.  It’s totally disgusting and I wish they would just catch the bastard who did it.
“How about tonight?  12:30?  There’s a bench by an old pine tree.  There’s a crack in the tree near the base.  Let’s meet there,” I suggest.  I need to know more, now.
“Sounds fine, see you tonight.”  He takes his hands out of mine, smiles, and vanishes.





Chapter 12

I go to get dressed for the day, my jeans and hoodie from yesterday won’t do.  And note that I need a shower.  I walk into my attached bathroom, also done in my favorite color, purple.  I turn on the shower and slowly climb in.  As the water warms my body I think about all the pieces of information given to me over the past couple days.  Ever since Wendy showed up things in my life have been moving at a much quicker pace than ever before.  I am used to seeing ghosts but besides that I live a very normal boring life.  I go to school, work, and track.  I don’t have a lot of friends so I’m not invited to the high school drunk fests their parents call sleepovers or parties.
But here I am, suddenly thrown into a whole new world of summoning and bringing ghosts to our plane.  Our plane?  I’m still trying to work out how there can be more than one plane.  Is this what a wormhole is?  Note to self, Google that later.  
And best of all about these new developments is Jeremy is back and from his reaction I can tell we’ll pick back up where we left off.  Though his changed appearance will be something I need to get used to.  I do miss the piercing eyes of the fifteen year old Jeremy, but I can certainly get used to him being a child again.  I have to guess that he changed his appearance to match me and resorted back to the form he’s most comfortable with once I wasn’t around anymore.  The same body he had when he died.
As I get out of the shower and dry off I notice my eyes in the mirror.  They’re almost a yellow color now.  Something is off here.  Maybe me using my summoning power is causing my eyes to change?  But I hadn’t even known I could do these things when my eyes started to lighten last month.  So weird.
I walk downstairs and notice Chad in his normal spot.
“Hi Chad.”  He barely nods and over the couch I can see he’s playing Madden again.  God, isn’t playing the game six days a week for real enough?  Chad plays football all year with various teams.  Mom hopes it’ll help get him into a good school.
“Are you doing anything today?  I have to go to work soon; I could drop you off at the mall or something.”  
My mom says I have to make an effort with Chad.  She thinks my father’s disappearance has affected him more than me.  That’s the psychiatrist in her.  She has office hours at the college today, so I’m trying to help out.  He doesn’t respond; I doubt he’s even heard me. 
“Yo!  Do you wanna go into town or not?”  I yell, hoping for a small response, even if it’s a no.
“Promise not to drop me off too close?”  He squints at me over the couch as he pauses his game.
“Sure, whatever.”  I know he tries to act all big and bad but I also know he appreciates the ride.   He’s too young for a license and I think Mom has some issues getting him a car for when he is.  She’s weird about that with him.  I’m not sure if it’s because he’s the baby or because he’s irresponsible.  Either way, I don’t think I would help him get his own wheels either.
After I finish my cereal at noon (I know, lazy), we get into the car and drive to the Marksville Mall.  It’s pretty nice; it has Macy’s and Sears and a couple of outlet stores.  I drop him off in front of Barnes and Nobles, his friends will be nowhere near here.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen Chad pick up a book, unless it has naked anime girls in it.
“You good?” I say as he gets out of the car.  
He bends down to look in, “Yeah Tim said his brother would pick us up later and bring me home.” 
“OK, see ya, and Chad?”  He looks at me and raises his eyebrows.  “Be good, alright?  Don’t go and do anything dumb.”
He says, “Thanks Mom,” sarcastically and shuts the door.  He might seem tough but I can see the smile playing on his face as I drive away.
I speed into work and park behind the old building on the town square.  There’s an iron statue in the middle of the square of two brothers, a Confederate and Union solider shaking hands.  I always look at it and wonder what it must have been like back then.  I also think about what their mother must have felt, her two sons going to war, against each other.
I’ve never told Chad about my gift.  Actually I’ve never told anyone.  But I don’t think Chad can do what I can, so that puts us on opposite sides of a line.  Like the two brothers in the statue, I think we would have different views.  Mine would be that ghosts are special and we’re lucky to help them, his would be that I am totally bananas.
The back door chimes as I come in the shop.  Olivia is behind the counter talking on the phone.  Sounds like she’s making a deal for consignment.
“Well if you can have it in by Wednesday we can work something out, but if not then we’ll have to fill the space with someone else.”  She sounds impatient; this must have been a long conversation.
“OK that sounds fine.  We’ll see you Tuesday afternoon.  As always, thank you for calling McEwyen’s Antiques.”  She hangs up the phone and looks at me.  
“Hey!  Cute sweater.”  I look down at my outfit, a long brown sweater with leggings and boots.  I’m a firm believer that boots should be worn all year, they’re too comfortable not to.
“Thanks,” I say smiling.  “Busy today?”
She turns toward the register, “I wish.  I am sooo bored.  Mom and Dad are away so I have to man the shop all weekend.  I’m stoked you’re working today.  I had a great time at your place the other night; maybe we can have a repeat tonight?  I have the whole place to myself.”
We did have a good time on Thursday but I have plans tonight.  “I’m watching Chad, sorry.  Mom’s busy so I’m in charge.  You know that means no sleepovers.  My mom is so strict.”  It’s a harmless lie.
She nods looks bummed but she suddenly grabs her bag.  “Well then we’ll have to look at my surprise now!”  She holds up a Teen Vogue, the prom edition.  She continues, “We can look at dresses for Senior Shuffle.  I can’t believe it’s coming up so soon!  We’ll be graduates!”  
“I know!  I’m so glad they ditched prom and made this party just for seniors, it feels so much more, I don’t know, exclusive or something,” I say as I hop up on one of the stools behind the counter.  I’m looking for any reason to not think about my life right now or the shambles it’s in.  Besides, I can hardly contain how excited I am to see Jeremy tonight and I certainly can’t discuss any of that with Liv.  She’s my best friend, but I’ve never told her about my gift.
When I was younger I was afraid of what I could do.  Jeremy always tried to make me feel better about it, but deep down, I was just plain scared.  What if someone learned of my secret?  How would they treat me?  Would my mom put me in the loony bin?  I’ve asked myself these questions a million times.  Now that I’m older, I just want to fit in, have a normal life.  And although having a missing dad makes it so you’re never quite normal, I still felt like I was on the right track.  But ever since Wendy showed up my life has snowballed into a crazy mess.  The worst part is I can’t tell Olivia any of this, I can’t tell anyone any of this.  I feel kind of alone.
I focus on the magazine and gaze at the glossy pictures.  The beautiful girls with their matching jewelry and shoes stand out to me.  Hair piled high on their heads and huge smiles plastered on their faces.  I want to be just like them, hell, I want to be them.  I look at Liv who’s scanning her cell for other pictures of dresses she can’t wait to try on.  She is one of these girls and she doesn’t even know it.
I point to a dark haired brunette in a blue gown, “Olivia,” I start, she looks up, “do you think I could pull this off?”
She squints at the picture, “Oh yeah, why not?  Though honestly, I think you’d look super hot in black.”  She pages through quickly to a page she has dog-eared.  “This one,” she announces and points to a short black dress with feathers on the bottom.
“Are you serious?  I could never pull that off!”  I’m shocked at the dress she picked.  I’m decent looking I guess, but I don’t have a body like that girl!
Liv smiles hugely, “You would look rockin in that!  And I know just where we can find it.”
I crinkle my eyebrows, “Where?”  I think about our small town’s mall, nothing this sexy could ever be sold there.
She shows me what she’s been looking at on her phone.  “Ebay.”  She says with a smile.  There it is, the dress, on sale for just under one hundred dollars.  “We have to bid on it!  It’s perfect for you.”  
I shake my head.  “I don’t even have a date.”
“If all else fails, I’ll be your date.  But I’m sure we’ll find someone, maybe even Tall, Dark and Handsome.”  She winks at me.
“Uh huh, sure as if I’ll ever see him again.”  I’m bummed, I want to see him again, but who knows when I will, or if I will.  “We’re texting occasionally,” I tell her.  “But it’s nothing to write home about.  He hasn’t asked me to meet up again, just Calc questions mostly.”  Quick to change the subject I add, “Got any inventory that needs marking?”   I don’t want to think about how much I treasure that night we spent at the store together.  Or the fact that we haven’t gotten together since.  It breaks my heart to not be with him.  It’s weird, like I feel more alive when he’s close.  He’s almost like this power that takes hold of me and I’m totally addicted to it.
Liv snaps me back into my reality, the one where Hugh doesn’t walk through the door on my command.  Because if we were in that world, he would be here right now.  
“Yea, a bunch of doorknobs came in this morning.  The box is still by the door.”
I walk over with the tagger and start marking them.  Olivia comes over to help me and the afternoon passes quickly.  She tells me all about her date last night with a guy from a neighboring high school.  Apparently all thoughts of Eddie have left Oliva’s mind thank goodness.  She even says she’s thinking of leaving the book club.  Their latest story is “not really her thing,” (AKA she’s done since he’s left for his new internship and also since he left her and his precious book club).  Things with Eddie would have been weird anyway.  I mean he would never have been able to take her to Senior Shuffle or anything; it would have been awkward.  All the seniors at the after graduation party with a student teacher hanging around?  Totally bizarre.  Liv also asks about my Friday night.  I lie and tell her I just stayed in, watched movies with my mom.  I just hope she doesn’t ask Mom what we watched.  She’s pretty close with her and they always strike up conversation when she’s over.  Luckily she ignores my lies and continues on about her date.  His name is Luke and he’s on the track team.  Liv gushes about what she wore, what he said and so much more, but all I’m thinking about is what Jeremy has to say to me tonight and Hugh and his piercing green eyes.





Chapter 13

I drive out to the spot where I told Jeremy to meet me.  Let’s see how good a six year old ghost is at remembering directions.  It’s really dark tonight so I’m glad I remembered my flashlight.  When I arrive near the orphanage I zipper up my coat and pull my scarf around my neck.   I always feel like it’s cold when it’s this dark no matter what time of year.  I get out and walk holding my flashlight out in front of me.  I can hear voices up ahead.  There are more voices than there should be.  There’s a distinct difference between live voices and dead ones.  People who have passed lack control of their final consonants, meaning there’s almost always a wispiness to the end of their words.  In the conversation up ahead I hear both live and dead voices.  I shine my light in their direction and two things surprise me.  One, there’s about ten or so ghosts here, all children, not in the plan, Jeremy.  Two, there is a guy here, a guy I know and that I’m practically in love with.
“Excuse me,” I say loudly, knowing he’s already seen me, “do you know this is private property?” 
“Yes, I do, and I also happen to know you’re trespassing.”  I get a better look at him now that I’m closer.  Shit, he has a security uniform on.  How am I going to talk my way out of this one?  He looks me up and down, sizing me up, I’m not sure if he is thinking about tazeing me or sleeping with me, but either way I’m slightly worried. 
“I didn’t know they had security out here.  I was just taking a walk and I heard voices, thought I’d come check it out.” 
“Shay, that’s dangerous and besides you were taking a walk? At 12:30 at night?” 
“Yep.” 
“That’s highly unusual.” 
“If you talk to my mom she’ll tell you that I am highly unusual and you certainly know what she’s like.  Anyway, about those voices…” and with that I spot him, Jeremy is at the front of the crowd looking right at me a huge smile plastered on his face. 
“Yeah I don’t know what you’re talking about, but it’s time to move along.  Maybe I should give you a ride home.” 
“No it’s OK, I’ll just walk from here.”  Before I get the chance to pretend to walk away Jeremy comes running toward me and I see it in Hugh’s eyes, for just a second, that he sees the little boy too.  I feel the cold on my body as I always do when Jeremy touches me, but this time he has his arms around me in an all out hug.  I can’t help but smile, and when I do Tall, Dark and Handsome’s eyes go right to the place where Jeremy’s little hands are. 
“Who are you?” Hugh says to me clear as day, no more hiding I guess. 
“Shay Tafford, we’ve met before, remember?  I’m Calculus girl and apparently that’s all I’m good for.  You said we’d hang out, but we haven’t.  I think the real question here is who are you?”  
He shakes his head.  “I know who you are, but how do you know all these kids?”
I pause.  Can I trust him?  His trustworthy golden eyes tell me I can, but if he can see them too, this is all a little much.  And why are his eyes golden tonight?  What happened to the mysterious green?  I look him up and down one final time.  Decision, I need to trust him.  We can all run or levitate away if he turns out to be dangerous, though I pray he’s not.  I really want things to work out between Hugh and me.
“Well that’s not what you asked.  And I know only one, but I bet I can figure out who the rest are, why?” 
Hugh starts in on a rant I never expected.  “Because they’re out of bed and it’s late!  And Madame will wonder where they’ve gone!  Are you crazy having them out here without her, what are you thinking?”  He’s flipping out, not about the fact that the kids are dead, he’s upset at the fact they’re out of bed this late at night. Weirdo. 
“You need to calm down,” I tell him.  Jeremy is now standing to the right of me holding my hand.  His cold fingers interlace with mine, but he still has a goofy grin on his face.
“Do you know this man?” I ask Jeremy quietly bending down to his now short level.  
Jeremy looks up at me with those big brown eyes I’ve missed so much.  “Oh yes, he’s the protector.”  He’s the what? 
Hugh chimes in loudly “I’m also his great nephew.” 
OK now really… What. The. Hell.





Chapter 14

Hugh walks over to Jeremy and I and extends his beautifully tanned hand to the little boy. 
“Why don’t you take the kids back?  Shay and I have a lot to talk about,” he says in a whisper.  Jeremy smiles and waves goodbye as he skips back to the group of children waiting near the trees.  Before he leaves, he looks back at me and smiles widely and with that they all disappear.  I look at Hugh, still shocked by this revelation.  He motions to the bench nearby and we take a seat, my eyes never straying from his beautiful face.  I can smell the pine tree.  It reminds me of my childhood.  I climbed it a million times.  I close my eyes and take a deep breath to refocus myself.  When I open them I realize how close we are.  It comforts me.
“I don’t really know where to begin,” Hugh starts and then sighs. 
“I guess the beginning would be a good place,” I respond coolly. 
“Sure, OK,” he says.  
“When you were six and your father disappeared,” he begins.  My mind reels, what does he mean, how could he know about my dad?  
Anger fills me and I stand as I interrupt him, “How do you know about that!?!  You can’t possibly know my dad, or what happened to him!  We’ve only just met this past month.”  
He sighs again, looking away for a moment, then looks back directly into my eyes. 
“Are you going to let me talk or not?  I know a lot more than you think, if you would only let me explain.” 
“Fine,” I say as I cross my arms over my chest and sit back down.  I’ll let him talk but I don’t have to be happy about it. 
“As I was saying, when you were six and your dad disappeared, he passed something down to you.  Something he rarely used.  His gift to speak to the dead. It seems as though you already had your own gift.  Most can’t see them and speak to them, let alone touch them and feel them.  Your father knew that Jeremy and the other children would keep you safe.”  
It should come as a shock that my dad also had my gift and yet he never told me, but I guess it wouldn’t be the easiest thing to explain to a six year old.  Also it makes me feel better to know I’m not the only one.  As he takes a breath, I ask my first question, which would lead to so many others. 
“Safe from what?” 
Hugh looks off into the night, “Other spirits, ones who might want to harm you.  Your dad thought if you could communicate with them it’d be easier for you to hide.  I don’t think he knew that giving you his gift would awaken one you already had.  He thought you’d only be able to hear ghosts like Jeremy not see or feel them.  But you are a much more powerful cryptid than any of us realized.” 
“I’m sorry, what did you just call me?”  I don’t know whether to be offended or flattered. 
“A cryptid, it’s a creature based on the genetics of the human race.  It can be most anything really.  Most people think the Mothman was a hoax when really he was a genetic mutation, a mixing of sorts.  Our race of cryptid happens to also have a supernatural power, to understand and relate to ghosts.” 
“Our race?  What do you mean our race?  Are you like me?  I mean I know you can talk to and see ghosts, but how else are we alike?”  
I’m a different race?  Like an alien?  I don’t know if I want to hear any more of what he has to say.  
As if on cue he begins talking again. “Yes, we are the same type of cryptid, animal mixed with human genes.  Some people in our race just have the lasting effects of insight while others have physical mutations.  You have the insight, the supernatural ability and from the looks of it if that hair of yours is natural just a touch of the physical abnormality.  No human has naturally black hair.  But cats do.” 
My game of twenty questions continues.  “Cats?  Are you saying I’m part cat?” 
Panic starts to spread through me.  What else don’t I know about myself?  I take a lock of hair as if to examine it.  It is sleeker than most of my friends’ hair and it has always been the darkest shade of black even though my mom is blonde. 
“I’m saying that we both have genetic similarities to a cat, yes.  We’re parahumans, human genes mixed with animal.  My eyes usually give me away which is why I wear colored contacts.  I have yellow eyes, not normal in your average twenty year old guy.  I also have an abnormal obsession with sushi.”  Weird, I thought, me too.  
“How well did you know my dad?  I mean you were only, what, like eight when he disappeared? Or do we have nine lives too?” Wouldn’t that be cool?  
“No, my dad and yours were really close.  They both talked to Jeremy and found each other through him.  They knew that they each had the ability to communicate with spirits so they had to trust each other.  My dad was just teaching me how to channel spirit energy when your dad went missing.  It really shook my dad up.  He really hasn’t been the same since.  I can only really see them.  It’s only muffled whispers I hear, not full conversations.  He stopped teaching me and as hard as my mom tried she really didn’t have the insight.  She has most of the physical gifts.” 
“Such as…” now that I have him talking I don’t want him to stop.  Partly because this was my history, the reason I am the way that I am and partly because his husky voice makes my skin tingle.  
“My mom, like many people in my tribe is a shape shifter.  She can turn into a black house cat.” Whoa, and I thought I was weird. 
“We’re part of a small tribe in Texas called Mosi, meaning cat.  Our type of cryptid goes by the same name.  There’s only about twelve people left in the tribe.  Most have the gift of shape shifting.  My dad couldn’t shift, so they knew he had a different gift.  When he was little he had a lot of imaginary friends, who weren’t so imaginary.  His family quickly realized he was a spirit-talker.  We always knew our heritage was of the cryptids, but until our fathers met, we didn’t know there were others out there.” 
I still had unanswered questions so I pushed on, “But how did all this start?  I mean this all sounds totally crazy.” 
“I know,” he says “but that is the way of our people.  A hundred years ago a man from our tribe named Alloman lost his wife to disease.  He was grief stricken and went to the tribe shaman for advice.  The shaman suggested he drink the blood of a black cat in order to speak with his wife to get closure.  But Alloman was greedy, he drank the blood of three cats, hoping he would see his wife again and keep her from the spirit world.  After he drank the blood he was able to talk to her for a brief time.  She told him to move on with his life and remarry.  He married a woman, Chemoset and they had children.  But he continued to drink the blood of black cats hoping to see his first wife again.  Alloman and Chemoset’s children were all spirit-talkers and later down the family tree some could shift into the cats Alloman drank from.  Hence all of us becoming cryptids.” 
The way he told the story made it easy to believe him, but then something clicked. “Wait, does this mean we’re related?” 
“Probably not.”  
YES!  Thank you baby Jesus!  
“That shaman was part of an inner circle that all had ulterior motives.  They wanted to make more cryptids.  They probably suggested drinking black cat’s blood to hundreds of people, making them all cryptids like us, all over the country.  Your dad did some research that suggested he was a descendant from a tribe nowhere near us, making it practically impossible for us to be related.  Plus the bloodline has been so diluted throughout the years with cryptids marrying humans… my tribe is the only one of its kind left.”
“What do you mean?”
“My tribe is the only one that we know of that is made up of entirely cryptids.  Pretty much everyone who lives in the village is from an entirely pure bloodline.  This also makes us an extremely small tribe.”
After Hugh finishes talking I‘m still confused about some of our discussion, not to mention I think I’m slightly offended he’s telling me I’m part animal.  Also how could he and Jeremy be related?  I mean Jeremy’s family just left him here.  But then it dawns on me that Jeremy hadn't really mentioned a sibling, but that didn't mean he didn't have one.  If she (or he) was younger than him that would explain how Hugh was related.  I still had to ask.  
"How are you related Jeremy?"  
He looks deep into my eyes, "Like I said before he’s my great uncle." 
I shake my head from side to side, "I understood that part but I still need a better explanation." 
"It’s complicated, and it’s late.  We’ll talk about this more later.”  He was starting to get agitated and I needed to stop pushing.  
I resign to just a nod to show my understanding. 
Now that I know what he is, what we are, I can’t lose him.  There is this cord tying us together now, one I will never sever.  And to be honest, I only want to make it stronger. 





Chapter 15

We walk through the night, my flashlight showing us the way through the darkness.  The only things we hear as we arrive at the road are the sounds of animals and crunching dead leaves.  I now see the beat up pickup truck parked in the trees; I don’t know how I missed it before.  
“So are you really a security guard?” I ask, still trying to feel out who Hugh is.
“Yeah, I got the job as something to do on the weekends.  My parents live too far away to visit a lot and the extra money is nice, not to mention the company.”
I laugh as I say, “Yeah I guess your friends are pretty cool.”
He smiles and says, “Our friends.”
“Well I guess I’ll see you around.”  As I reach for the handle of my door he says, “When?”
“Huh?” I say quickly spinning around.
“When will I see you again?”
“Oh, I dunno.”  I blush.  He’s standing so close to me I can feel the heat coming off of his body.  I try to keep my knees locked so I don’t fall over.
“How about later today?”
“Later, today, like today, today?”
“Yeah, I mean unless you want to wait until tomorrow, but then you have school and I…”
I interrupt him.  “Today is great!”  Well that sounded overly enthusiastic, but he is the one who suggested today.
“I’ll text you.  And this time I promise, we’ll get together.  Goodnight Shay.”  He reaches around me to open my door and I get in.
“Bye Hugh.”  I smile as I start the engine.  He closes the door and walks away from me in the glow of my headlights as I begin to reverse.  I stay until I can’t see his shadow outlined against the trees anymore.
As I’m driving I realize I am totally ridiculously in love with a boy who is part cat.  I am surprised I can even drive I am so freaking excited.  I should be freezing in this weather, but I’m practically sweating because my skin feels like it’s on fire.  I turn on the radio to keep me company on the fairly short ride home.  Ke$ha’s Your Love Is My Drug is on and I’m singing at the top of my lungs when I turn onto my street.  I look down at the clock and see that it’s almost four a.m.  Whoa, Mom would freak out if she knew I was out this late.  I quickly turn off the music and headlights.  I enter my driveway at a super slow pace and park as quietly as I can.  I close the door silently and head to the back of the house.  I left the window in the living room open so I could get back in.  After I climb over the windowsill I close the window and tiptoe up the stairs past my mom’s room.  I can hear her snoring so I know I’m safe.  I get to my room, silently close the door, and slip into bed.  I hug my pillow and close my eyes to dream of the tall, dark and handsome boy, Hugh, my Hugh.
I see the sun and hear a voice as I groggily open my eyes.  “Shay, Shaaaaay. Shay!”
I rub the sleepiness out of my eyes.  “Huh?”
“Yo, get the hell up.  Mom is gonna beat your ass.”  Chad is looking down at me.  He’s already dressed in his usual sports t-shirt and jeans, looks like the Yankees today.
I sit up, “What about Mom?”
“She’s been trying to wake you up for almost an hour.  There’s some college guy downstairs.  He says he knows you.”
“WHAT?!?”  I shoot out of bed and run past him out of my door and down the hall.  I screech to a halt at the top of the stairs as I see him sitting at the breakfast bar with my mom discussing her latest lecture.  I sprint back to my bedroom to see Chad sitting on my exposed bed; my purple bedspread is lying on the floor.  
“How long has he been here?”
“I dunno, half hour I guess.”
“Oh geez, you have got to get out! I have to change!”  I push his laughing self out the door and fling open my dresser to look for a clean pair of jeans and a low cut top.  A girl’s gotta give it her best shot, right?  I change quickly and head to the bathroom to throw on some make up and brush my teeth.  I check my hair, as always it’s hanging perfectly straight.  I pull a brush through it as fast as I can and grab a pair of metallic flats on my way out of my bedroom.  I stumble to put them on as I go down the stairs and miss the last step successfully falling on my butt, right in front of Hugh.  Oh my God, how absolutely embarrassing.  I shut my eyes and hope that I’ll wake up in my bed and this morning never happened, but then I hear the laughing.  I look up and see Hugh’s hand extended to help me up.  I take a deep breath, “Thanks.”
“No problem.  Graceful fall by the way, you didn’t hurt yourself did you?”  He smiles at me and I roll my eyes at him.  
“No I’m good, thanks.”  As I tear my eyes away from his chiseled tan face, I can see my mom standing behind him beaming.  She’s giving me those knowing eyes, like she likes this boy, and I’m lucky she hasn’t killed me yet.  Mom’s super into karma so she probably thinks me falling on my ass in front of Hugh is because she tried to wake me up and I wouldn’t move.  Nice one universe.
I stand up slowly noticing my butt hurts and I still have a shoe in my hand.  I remove my hand from Hugh’s and I slip the flat on my foot while leaning on the railing.  “So I see you’ve been talking to my mom.”  
Mom chimes in, “Well since you didn’t get up the ten times I called you, I figured you just wanted us to hang out.  Hugh is in my freshman Psych class.  We were just discussing the Order of the Solar Temple and the impacts that mass suicides have on our society.”  Mom had that gleam in her eye, the one that says she could talk about the crazies all day.  
“Well that’s super interesting, but Hugh and I really should get going.”
Mom raises an eyebrow, “And where is it exactly that you’re going?”
“I, uh, well…” I stammer.  To be honest, I have absolutely no idea where we’re going.  I don’t even know how Hugh knew where I lived.
Luckily for me Hugh saves the day, yet again.  “We’re going out to lunch at the coffee shop on campus.  I thought it would be good to sit outside since it’s actually kinda warm out today.”
“Yep, the coffee shop.”  I add though I’m disappointed, at least we have a destination.
Mom sighs, “Well have fun.  Do you have any homework Shay?”
“Nah Mom, I finished it yesterday at work.”  
I hear a noise upstairs, “But I know that Chad does!”  I hear a lot more shuffling in the upstairs hallway and laugh to myself, serves him right for listening in.
“Ah, well yes then.  Have fun you two!  It appears I have some parenting to do.”  She grabs her coffee mug and makes her way up the stairs.  As Hugh walks over to the door, she winks at me over her shoulder.  I smile and shake my head as I grab my jacket and walk through the front door that Hugh is holding open for me.
As we get into his yellow pickup I finally notice what he’s wearing.  My seat creaks as I sit down and I observe his boot cut jeans and a black sweater that makes him look like he’s in his mid twenties, and hot, very, very hot.  
We begin the short drive to the college.  Hugh drives slowly; putting down his window slightly by hand crank to breathe in what is finally fresh spring air.
“It’s nice today isn’t it?” I offer, hoping to start up conversation.
“Yeah, it’s beautiful outside.  Makes me miss home though.  I’m going back there next week for spring break.”
“Oh to Texas?” 
“Yeah, it’s going to be great, home cooked meals, I don’t have to do my wash, and best part is no classes.”  He quickly adds, “I really like your mom’s though, so don’t tell her I said that OK?”
“No problem, you’re almost done with freshmen year, I can bet you’re getting burned out.  Did you understand the solution to the last problem you texted me?”  We’re speaking so fluidly like nothing even happened last night.  For now I’m happy to ignore it.
Hugh looks lost in thought.  “Oh yeah, the problem, it was easy once you explained it.  Thanks for that.”
We pull into a metered spot in front of the old brick building the coffee shop sits in.  He turns off the truck and as I go to get out he grabs my arm.
“Shay, wait.  I need to tell you something.”
Oh great probably that we have to watch out for dogs or something equally ridiculous.
But instead all he says is, “I’m sorry.” 
“Sorry for what?”  Now I’m even more confused.
“For springing everything on you last night.  I wanted to get together again after that night at the store, but I didn’t know how to start the subject with you.  And Jeremy told me how you would be coming to find him soon so I just waited.  I only hear his whispers so it’s hard for me to understand him sometimes.  I had to see if for myself to believe that you really are one of us.  I’m sorry I couldn’t trust you before.  I really am.  I get it if you’re angry with me.”
He looks at me with those puppy dog eyes and I can hardly stand it.  I totally trust him, everything about him screams loyal and honest.  He is easily the best person I have ever met.
“Hugh, I’m not angry.  If anything I’m relieved.  At least I know I’m not alone anymore, which is all I’ve ever really wanted.”
I smile at him and he squeezes my hand, we’re in this together now, I can feel it.
We spend the next several hours chatting at the cafe.  I love hearing about Texas and how Hugh grew up on a reservation.  He talks about another group in Kentucky that they visit often, but besides them, they really don’t know any other tribes.  They shy away from other clans to maintain their secret.  
When he notices it’s getting dark Hugh says we should head back to my house.  He wants to make a good impression on my mom, it’s cute.
Mom greets us on the porch claiming that she’s out due to the nice weather, but I know she’s just out here waiting for us.
When Hugh leaves he shakes her hand, I can tell she’s really going to like him by the relaxed expression on her face.  
“I’ll call you later Shay.  Good night.”  He gives me a quick kiss on the cheek before walking away.  When I turn towards Mom I’m practically bouncing with excitement.
Mom grins, “Looks like you’ve got yourself a boyfriend.”
My lips can hardly contain my teeth I’m smiling so wide and I say, “I think I do.”





Chapter 16

Days pass and for the most part I spend them with Hugh.  We hang out at his apartment or go for runs together.  His apartment is small, just a two bedroom with a living room and kitchen.  There’s not a lot of furniture and nothing hangs on the walls, but it’s in a great old building with exposed brick walls so it stills feels cozy.  
Hugh even visits me at work and does homework.  It’s just nice to have a companion, someone to be with.  I feel like this is what I’ve been waiting for, for as long as I can remember. 
On Sunday morning he picks me up super early.
“So I thought we’d take a road trip.”  He says smiling at me.
“A road trip?  But I thought we were going to the college.”  I am so confused, is this some sort of test?
Now he looks uncertain.  “Shay, did you check your texts this morning?”
“No, sorry I guess I left my phone in my wristlet last night.”  I open the wristlet and check my cell.  I have two unread texts.  
Get ready for an adventure- Hugh  Hmm.. Save!  
I know you’re not scheduled to work today but what are you doing tonight?- Liv   I’ll have to text her back later today.  
“Well I’ve seen it now, so what’s the plan?”
He smiles while keeping his eyes the road.  “We’re going to see my parents.”
Well this is moving fast, meeting the parents so soon, I’m suddenly regretting wearing my favorite band t-shirt.  “Oh, nice, they’re in town?”
“No.”
“Well then where are we meeting them?”
He pauses at first, almost for effect, and then he says one simple word. “Texas.”
“WHAT?!?”  I can’t believe this, I feel like I’m being kidnapped.  Super hot captor, but I’m his hostage nonetheless.
“Shay,” Hugh says calmly, “you have off this week for Spring Break right?”
“Yeah I guess I do, but what about my mom and Chad?  I have to tell them!  And I didn’t even pack anything.”
He points to a black bag behind his seat.  “Has everything we need in it.”
“Doubt it, and you still didn’t answer the question about my mom.”  I say almost accusingly.  
“We’ll call her when we get there.  Trust me, she’ll be cool with it.”
“Oh and you know this because, what, you’ve taken her class?”  He knows nothing about her; she’s going to flip out.
“Not because I know her, because my parents do.”
“Hugh, what are you talking about?”  I don’t understand any of this and I’m getting tired of all the mystery.
He looks at me, almost nervous about my reaction, he obviously thought I would be OK with all of this.  “Everything will be explained when we arrive I promise,” he says and squeezes my hand.
I cross my arms, “fine” is all I can say.  He smiles, apparently my anger is amusing to him.
We don’t speak much on the drive and I drift in and out of sleep.  Occasionally I look over at him, he’s focused on his driving but I can tell his mind is somewhere else.
“How long has it been since you’ve seen your parents?”  I finally ask when the silence is starting to kill me.
“A while,” is all he says eyes still on the road.  It’s dark and he’s focused on the rear lights of the car in front of us.
“Did you bring the frame?”
“The what?” he asks startled out of his thoughts.
“The frame that you got your mom for her birthday?  Remember, that day in the shop?”
Realization dawns on his face, “Oh yeah, I have it.  She’s going to love it.”
He turns off at an exit.  We pull into a motel parking lot.
“I’m going to check us in here, look OK to you?” he says.
I gaze out the window at the basic looking motel.  The neon lights shine vacancy.  It’s nothing special but it’ll do.
“I don’t really think the hostage gets a choice in the matter, do you?”  I shake my head; I am going to be in so much trouble.
“Yeah I guess you’re right,” he says with a smile and moves towards the motel office where a neon sign informs us there are rooms available.
I sit in the truck waiting noticing how cold it’s becoming, I put on the gloves that are still in my jacket pocket and I pull out my cell.  I immediately dial Liv’s number and fill her in.
As Hugh approaches the truck dangling our new room keys I finish the conversation.
“Just call my mom and tell her I’m with you but my cell’s dead.”  I tell her desperately trying to finish before Hugh gets back to me.
“And what if she wants to talk to you?” Liv asks accusingly.
“Tell her I’m in the bathroom or shower, that I’ll call her later.”
“OK but you better give me all the dish when this is over.  I’m dying over here.”
I laugh, she always wants the gossip.  “Thanks Liv, gotta go bye!”  I hang up the phone just as Hugh opens the passenger’s side door.
“My lady,” he says as he extends his arm showing me the way.
“Thank you sir,” I respond as I take his other hand in mine.  For a moment we look at each other and I can feel that spark, but just as quickly he lets go and it dies away.
The hotel is fairly old, but renovated.  When we walk into room 702 there are two queen beds, “I guess that solves that problem then,” I whisper to myself.
“What?” Hugh asks.
“Nothing,” I reply as I head to the bathroom to relieve myself.  We stopped at a diner hours ago and I should have taken the opportunity then.  I notice the bedspreads are a deep burgundy as I pass.  They look comfortable enough.  The bathroom matches the burgundy décor and there’s fake flowers sitting on top of the toilet.  It’s not the Ritz Carlton, but it’ll do for the night.
When I walk out of the bathroom Hugh is sitting on the bed closest to the door.  I peel back the sheets of the other queen and am disgusted by the sight I find.
“Ugh!  Look at these sheets!  They’re so gross!”  The white hotel sheets have yellow stains all over the lower part of them.
Hugh laughs, “Looks like someone got lucky in here last night.”
I throw what looks to be a clean pillow at him.  “You’re sick.”
He catches it and laughs.  “You wouldn’t think so if it was you who was in that bed last night.”  
“Gross, no way.  I am not like that.”  Wait for the right guy, Mom always reminds me.
He looks surprised.  “Oh I mean, I would have thought…”  Suddenly Mr. Smarty Pants is stumbling all over his words.
I shrug, “Haven’t met the right person yet I guess.  You?”
“Can you keep a secret?”
I cross my heart with my pointer finger like Liv and I used to do as kids.
He nods, “I’ve still got my V card.  Probably the only freshman on campus that does though.”  Red fills his dark cheeks, it’s almost unnoticeable but in the harsh hotel light I can just barely see it.
I try to make him feel better and say, “College is just a breeding ground for STDs.  You’re probably better off anyway.”  Geez when did I start sounding so much like my mom?
I stand there next to the bed sheets still in hand when Hugh makes a suggestion. 
“Why don’t you sleep in this bed with me?  It looks clean.  They neglected to use both apparently.”  He pats the empty space next to him and shuts off the TV.
I climb under the covers without even taking my jeans off.  I just want to be close to him now.  He turns off the light and snuggles in.  We lay there for a moment in silence.
“Hugh?” I ask after a few minutes to see if he’s still awake.
“Yeah Shay?”
“Did you always know you were a cryptid?”
“Yeah.  It’s just part of who you are when you grow up in the tribe.”
I turn over to look at him.  My head magically bumps into his.  He stretches his arm out so I can fit in the crook of his neck.  It’s the most wonderful feeling in the world.  We lay there and I can hear the clock on the bed side table tick.  Minutes pass slowly and I breathe in his fresh scent.
“Hugh?”
“Yeah Shay?”  He mumbles this time, obviously dozing off.
I take the opportunity of his only half listening to tell him the thing I’ve wanted to say since the moment we met.
I lift my head up to whisper into his ear three small words.  “I love you.”
I can hear his heavy breathing but I don’t care.  At least I told him, even if for now it’s only one sided.
In my dreams I see Wendy with her dad.  They’re arguing about something terrible.  He blames her for her mother’s death.  I can’t imagine blaming a child for something so horrible.  He shakes his finger in her face and she lifts her hands.  He flies back against a wall in their house, which looks brand new again.  It’s almost as if she can control him.  I can always feel the energy coming off of her, something I have never felt from any other ghost.  As I start to think about this, I hear someone calling my name.
Hugh is shaking my shoulder, “Shay c’mon, get up.  We’ve gotta get going.”
“Huh?” is all I can manage out while I open my eyes.  I must have terrible bed head because one of my hands is stuck in my hair.  I try to smooth it down as I sit up.
He smiles at me.  He’s already showered and is in fresh clothes.  He smells like Lavender.  I love that smell, reminds me of spring.
He reiterates, “We’ve got to get moving.  I figured you’d want to stop for breakfast then move onto my parents’ place.  Reminder my mom has to call yours.”
I had forgotten about that, maybe Liv could cover for me for a few days?  I doubt it but it might work.
I make my way to the bathroom and brush my teeth using the hotel amenities.  There’s even a comb for me to pull through my hair.
We leave quickly thereafter.  Hugh drops off the keys in the office and we hit the road.  We make a quick stop at the drive-thru of McDonalds to get some coffee and egg sandwiches. 
As we continue to drive I realize that Hugh mentioned his parents being friends with my parents.  “Hugh, why didn’t you just tell me where we were going?  I could have planned for it better.”
His eyes shift to me, but his face remains forward.  “I didn’t think you would come.  I know this whole situation freaks you out and maybe you wouldn’t want to meet more people like me,” he corrects himself, “us.”
I see his point, but I have to disagree.  “I would have come.  It would have been nice to come on my own, not because you kidnapped me,” I point out.
He shrugs, “Sorry.”
The rest of our drive is long and when we finally get out of his beat up yellow pickup truck, I take in a breath of fresh evening air and my surroundings.  The door creaks shut as my feet hit the dust. 
“Wow you weren’t kidding, this really is roughin it.” 
I look for teepees and other typical signs of Native Americans, but instead I just see some rough looking shacks and trailers.  So this is what it looks like in rural Texas.  There are a few cats running around and I have to wonder if they’re Hugh’s family members.  
He must see me eyeing them closely. “They’re not shifters, just regular cats.” 
I nod, like I already knew that- not.  
I hear the creaking of a door and I see a girl around my age walk out of the house.  She stares us both down.  Her eyes are almond shaped like Hugh’s, but she doesn’t hide the yellow like he does, she wears it like a badge of honor.  Suddenly she’s taking big strides over to us.  She gets so close to me I can feel her breath.  She spits out the words “half breed,” and walks away.  Before reentering her house she spits out chewing tobacco, her long black hair swaying and she slams the door behind her.  I look at Hugh wide-eyed, “Well she’s lovely, a friend of yours?” 
He smiles, “Sorry they may not all be very friendly here, but trust me, they’ll learn to like you.” 
“Great, I can’t wait to meet the rest of the family,” I say sarcastically. We start walking and it dawns on me, “By the way, what the hell did she just call me?” Suddenly I’m ridiculously angry and I don’t even know why. 
“Ahh yes, that lovely term. It’s because your mom is human.  I wish she wouldn’t have called you that, it’s rude.  Besides you’re a stronger cryptid than she’ll ever be.” 
“Do you know her?” 
“Yeah, that’s Emina, she was my betrothed.  As you can see things didn’t really work out there.” 
“Oh, I mean why?” I try to hide my jealousy with a question.  That girl was almost who I want to be, the object of Hugh’s affection.
“Well I went away to college, something that’s not usually accepted here.  Most kids stay in the village, do things for the community.  Occasionally somebody becomes a teacher or a doctor to help out but mostly if you leave, you don’t return.  So when I left to go to school for business, nobody thought I would come back.  Our marriage was arranged by our parents.  We’d been best friends since we were kids.  We didn’t have real feelings for each other.  Emina got married and is probably working on her first kid, not something I wanted at this point in my life.  I wanted to study other things like maybe even genetics and not just by smelling.” 
I stop walking when it hits me.  “Wait do you mean the first time we met, you could smell what I was?”  This revelation shocks me, he had known all along. 
He stops walking and turns around with his eyes closed and his head hung low.  Finally he looks up and says quietly, “Yeah, kinda. I mean I thought maybe you were.” 
“Oh my God!  And you never said anything until now!”  Anger surges through my veins.
“Well I wasn’t sure until that night near the orphanage but I…” 
I cut him off, “You, my friend, are an ass.  You’re lucky I can’t catch a plane outta here because I would be gone so quick.” 
He lifts his face and I can see the lines of anger etched in his skin.  “Oh yeah, and go where?  Nowhere in the world are people going to get you like they do here.  Deal with it, so I knew, so what?  We only met a couple times and I certainly couldn’t ask you in front of Olivia if you could shift into a cat or talk to ghosts, could I?  I only knew for sure when I saw you with Jeremy and since then I’ve been totally honest with you.” 
He had a point there and before I could argue my next point the door of the house (this one at least looked like a house) at the end of the road started to open. 
“Hugh!” a woman shrieks, “You’re here!  Come down here and see your mother!”  Hugh gives me one last glare and runs down the dirt road to his mom, running straight into what looks to be a splendid hug.  I walk up slowly behind him as to not disturb their embrace still reeling from the last bit of news.  “And who are you my child?” she asks over his shoulder before stepping back from her son.   He gives her a knowing look and she smiles.  “I knew I recognized that scent.  You’re James’ blood.  And from what I can tell, you’re as strong as he is, if not stronger.  I’ve smelled you coming all day.  I’m Chenoa, Hugh’s mother.”  She extends her hand to shake mine, but I can’t reach for it.  I just look down at my hand laying by my side.  It’s because she said it, his name, the name I hadn’t heard in at least ten years.  It hits me like a sandbag, the world gets fuzzy and then the lights go out.





Chapter 17

“She’s waking up, give her some space. How are you feeling honey?”  I see her face come into focus.  She’s absolutely beautiful with long flowing black hair and those almond shaped yellow eyes that I’m beginning to love. 
“I’m OK, thanks” 
“Hugh, honey, go get her some water.  You know where the glasses are.” 
“Thanks,” I say again, still admiring her beauty, her eyes are mesmerizing.  I then remember what put me in this state.  Hugh attempts to give me the glass of water and I push him away. “Wait, you know my dad?!?”  
Chenoa says gently, “Drink first, then I will tell you about James.”
I take the glass in my shaky hands and take a big gulp. I pass it back.  “Tell me everything you know.”  I sit up and pull my knees to my chin so that she can sit down on the ragged brown couch with me. 
“Well,” she starts in after a sigh, “I met him many years ago, before you were even born.  Your father was a brilliant doctor and geneticist.  He knew that his gift of speaking with the dead was most unusual and he began to do research as to how it was possible to do such a thing.  He discovered our tribe after years of research.  He heard of Alloman and his wife and the tales of our people and knew it was believable due to his condition, being able to communicate with ghosts.  Once he came here and met my husband and I, he realized that we were the real thing, and that he wasn’t alone.  My husband is a spirit talker and he and your dad learned a lot from each other.  But your father, well, he wanted more.  He wanted to know where he was from, who he was.  And we didn’t have the answers.  After he left our community he met your mom and had you.  We stayed in touch and wondered if you or your brother would have the gift.  But our friendship was mostly a secret. I think your mom knows who we are, but not how we knew each other or why.  We didn’t understand why your father never told your mom about his gift.  I honestly think he thought it was safer that way.” 
Hugh interjects, “About that… Mom, you have to call Professor Tafford, she doesn’t know where Shay is.”
“You’re kidding me.  You expect me to call her after all these years and explain to her that you brought her daughter to our family!  Hugh, you know better.  Meg needs to trust us so that Shay will learn how to use her gifts properly.  This is not how you build trust!”  She shakes her head and puts her hands to the sky.  She’s mumbling something in a language I don’t understand.  Hugh looks sheepish, so whatever she’s saying can’t be good.
I take the opportunity to bring her back to the conversation.  “What do you mean safe?  What about my gift isn’t safe?”  I’d never seen any creepy ghosts, like the ones in the movies.  No ghosts with shriveled up skin or white eyes, and definitely no scary old ladies haunting me.  
“Some people know about our gifts and want to exploit them.  They’re not usually dangerous.  However once in a while some crazy person shows up wanting us to find their dead husband who forgot to write a will or something equally ridiculous and now they’re sad and penniless.  But there’s a much darker force out there, one that we think knew about your father and all of his research.” 
I shudder, I don’t like where she’s going with this.  I ask the question I’ve asked a hundred times before, but I know for some reason this time is different.  The response would not be the same, this time I would know the truth.  
“Is my dad alive?” I ask quietly almost hoping she won’t hear me.  She searches my eyes and then looks to Hugh.  He nods and leaves the room. 
“If you’re going to tell me he’s dead, I would actually rather Hugh be here.”  She takes my hands in hers. 
“I sent him to retrieve his father.  I shouldn’t be the one to have this conversation with you.  I didn’t know James like Alo did.” 
I notice the way she says “didn’t” and my mind starts to wander, I should block this out I tell myself, self preservation and all that.  I like how I hope that he’s alive, it’s a special bond my mom and I share, our hope for him to come home.  Wait a second.  I squint as I look at Chenoa, “Hold on,” I say as I shake my head, “did you just say you told him?  I never heard either of you speak.”
 Chenoa blushes slightly, “When you are a cryptid you have a unique bond with your children.  We can speak telepathically.  It only works when we’re close and looking at one another.” 
“Oh,” I say, trying to sound like this doesn’t shock me.  Just as I look down to avoid further conversation Alo walks in.  His size is what takes me by surprise at first.  When looking at Hugh you see a somewhat skinny tall beautifully tanned kid. Looking at Alo you see a gigantic man with long black braided hair and rough skin marred from years spent outdoors.  Wearing a cowboy hat, jeans and a flannel top he looks like your typical southern desert man, at least what I envision in my head.  He strides over to me, his presence is almost overwhelming. 
 “You look so much like him.” He says in a deep voice while letting out one simple breath. 
“I do?” I ask.  No one has ever said that to me before. 
“It’s your eyes,” he says, “they’re very light brown like his, almost gold.  And your skin, it has the same light in it his did.” 
I blush and my face softens, Hugh looks at me and smiles.  Apparently I glow, and maybe he notices it, and maybe, if I’m lucky, he likes it.  Alo makes his way over to sit in a rocking chair with a blanket set over the back.  The wooden rocker creaks as he lowers himself onto the seat.
“So I believe you want to know about your father.” 
“Yes,” I respond, “anything you can tell me.”





Chapter 18

He rocks in the chair for a minute folding his gigantic hands in his lap and then he begins.  “James was born many miles from here.  He was not part of our tribe, but he shared in our gifts, he was a Mosi cryptid.  He was a brilliant man and knew that his genes were mutated as ours are.  When he was younger he met a young ghost named Jeremy. I believe you also have been in contact with this same ghost.” He eyes me suspiciously and I decide honesty is the best policy. 
“Yes I have, he came to me the night my father didn’t come home.  We were best friends for a long time, but when I was fifteen we got into a ridiculous argument over my father and I banished him.  Accidently, of course, but nonetheless he was gone.  I only recently reconnected with him.” 
He frowns slightly, “Where did you learn how to banish a ghost? That’s a fairly advanced gift.  One your father did not possess.” 
I cock my head to the side, “I’m confused.  Wendy made it seem like anybody with my skills could do it.” 
Now Alo bends his head to the side, “Who is Wendy?” 
I sigh, “Wendy is a ghost I met earlier this year.  She was a child ghost who thinks she drowned herself while swimming.  Listening to her, she was just so sad.  I thought she could lead me back to Jeremy.  Eventually she did, but at a price.  She wanted to find her home and her father and I wanted to help her so bad.”  I hang my head low.  “Mostly, I thought if I helped her it would make me feel better about my own father’s disappearance.” 
Alo’s face softens, “And did it?” 
“No,” I reply solemnly.  “Honestly, I don’t really even know what happened.  I brought him to our plane, that’s what Jeremy told me, but I don’t know how it happened.”  I start to think back about that day.  It seems so long ago already.
Alo sighs and sinks further into the wooden rocker.  “Child ghosts can block out their feelings about things, horrible things they’ve done in their past.  If she believes she killed herself she probably blames herself for her father’s death.  Not all are good and kind like Jeremy, which brings me back to your father.  He found Jeremy and began to question him, wanting to know if there were more like him.  Jeremy told him about our tribe, his family and how they could still see him and speak with him.  Jeremy had a younger sister, one I think he fails to mention.  Which makes sense since he never met her during his life.” 
He looks down at his weathered hands before continuing.  “Our family never made it to California. They found jobs here in Texas and had Jeremy’s sister, my mother, who later married into the tribe when she grew older.  My father was the tribe’s shaman and had a lot of power in the village.  We were an entirely pure society.  It was because of his power in the tribe that he could even marry a human woman, especially because she would dilute the cryptid bloodline.  But he said the spirits told him we would continue to be cyptids even with her joining the family.  I am now the leader of the tribe so obviously the spirits were right.  But there are still some who disagree with blending the human and cryptid bloodlines.  I feel that you’ve met Emina.”
“Uh yeah,” surprised I have to provide an answer after getting comfortable just listening.  
“She and her family still believe in the old ways of mating only within the tribe.  Her family believes members have left to live away from the village in the human’s lifestyle with their human partners.  With our numbers dwindling I see their concerns but I have to say I disagree.  I think reaching out and finding others like yourself will only rebuild our numbers.”
I squint at him.  “What do you mean, like me?”
“Shay, I know that you’re confused about all of this right now, but what you really need to know is that you’re a very strong cryptid.  You come from a powerful bloodline and should you and Hugh have children, they will continue our race.”
I am totally taken aback by the new development in the conversation.
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to offend you, but don’t you think you’re jumping the gun a bit?  I mean Hugh and I just met.”  I can see Hugh blushing out of the corner of my eye.  He’s looking at the floor but I can see he’s not as surprised by the bomb his dad just dropped as I am.
“Your father and I discussed this, it all has to do with the experiment I think.  Jeremy knows even more about your father’s work than I do.  We’ll have to consult him on it eventually, but for now what you need to know is that your dad and I had hopes that you and Hugh would find each other.  We promised one another that if you were a cryptid we would attempt to fulfill the prophecy.”
“Prophecy?” 
“In the cryptid culture there is an age old prophecy that dictates who will destroy our enemies.  It is a mating pair of cryptids.  Young people from different tribes who will further our race.  Their love will overcome all evil.”
“So my dad agreed that I would be part of this?  I mean you must have been pretty close for him to practically marry me off to your son.”  I can’t believe my dad was part of this whole other world and our family never knew.  How could he not tell me?
“Your father set out to find us after Jeremy told him about our family and when he did we became fast friends. It’s easy to be friends when a six year old introduces you. He stayed with us for a while learning everything he could about our tribe and our culture. There were more of us then, maybe thirty, and he got everyone to trust him and tell him their story.  He was amazing at that.” 
I smile, I like thinking my father was a trustworthy man. 
“But your father, he was so smart, too smart.  He wanted to find more like us, and use our gifts more freely, to help people.  And that’s when he started learning about The Darkness.” 
“The Darkness?” I sit up straighter. “I know that name, Wendy talked about it.  She said it wasn’t real.” 
Alo looks at me sternly, “I’m sorry to say your friend Wendy was very wrong.  Native Americans have their own version of how the world was made.  Our ancestors tell us that after Tabaldak created humans he used dust from our earth to form his twin sons, Gluskab and Malsumis.  Gluskab takes care of our world and makes it good and beautiful while his brother seeks to destroy us.  Malsumis hates humans but he despises cryptids more.  He thinks that we are closer to gods than humans and he refuses to allow anyone but he and his brother to be considered divine.  We tell stories to our children about him and refer to him and his followers as ‘The Darkness’ to keep them safe.”
“Is that who the prophecy says we’ll defeat?”  If I’m going to buy into this I need as much information as possible.
Alo looks at me seriously, “Yes, he and his hundreds of followers.”





Chapter 19

“Hundreds?”  I say dumbfounded.  Has he seen me?  I would lose a fight with a ten year old and he wants me to become half of a crime fighting cryptid team?  “You can’t be serious.”  This guy has lost his mind.  “I think I need a minute.”
I get up to leave the room and realize I have no idea where I am, or where I’m going.  I turn around and look directly at Chenoa, I need a little girl help here.  “Where’s the bathroom?”  
“It’s the first door on the right, hon.”  She points to a hallway.  I walk down and see pictures of Hugh as a child.  There’s one of him holding a fish on his fishing pole.  Even then he had that dazzling smile of his.  There’s genetics for ya.  I walk into the neutral colored bathroom and close the door.  I need to think.  Do I really believe all of this?  Can I?  I splash some cold water on my face and look into the mirror for clarity.  That’s when I see them, my eyes are the same yellow-gold as Hugh’s.  The same eye color of his parents, of every cryptid I’ve met thus far.  And as I examine them further, it hits me, I have my father’s eyes.
The feeling of hurt comes crashing down on me in waves.  I turn on the sink’s faucet so the water is as loud as possible to drown out my sobs.  None of this seems fair.  I didn’t do anything to deserve any of this!  Suddenly I am bitter and angry at someone I never thought I would be, my dad.  He got me into this mess and now I have to get myself out.  I take a deep breath and wipe my face on a towel.  I turn the water off and escape from the bathroom, hoping no one heard my mental breakdown.
I walk out of the bathroom deciding to stay and learn what I can when I hear Chenoa on the phone.  “Meg, she’s fine, she’s with us.  I know you’re worried.  I wish Hugh had told you too.  Trust me when I say he’s in trouble.”  
She pauses, obviously listening to my mom, who is probably freaking out at this point.  How could she not?  Her only daughter crossed state lines with a boy she hardly knows.  
“Meg, she wants to know about James.  You know how close he and Alo were.  She can learn from him, from us.  Please let her stay for a few days.  I promise she’ll come home in one piece.”  This tactic would actually work with Mom.  She really believes I need closure about my dad’s disappearance.  Maybe she’ll think staying here will help me.  I listen as Chenoa sighs, “Thank you Meg, I promise we’ll do what we can for her.”  The phone clicks as she hangs up and I breathe a sigh of relief.  Let’s hope with a few days she’ll cool off and things won’t be so ugly when I get home.
I walk out of the hallway to see the entire family sitting at the kitchen table.  They all stare at me as I enter.
Chenoa smiles, “You’ll be staying with us for a few days.  Hopefully we can teach you more about yourself.  About who you really are.”
I say with a strong confidence, “I hope you can because right now I have no idea who I really am.”
It’s late and Chenoa shows me to my room when I realize I have no pajamas to wear.  “Chenoa?”  I say poking my head out of their guest room.  She comes around the corner; their house being one story is coming in handy.  You can hear everything everyone else is doing in their respective spaces.
“What can I do for ya?”  She’s so earnest, so sweet, she really does mean well.  I feel kinda bad about how rude I was earlier, not to mention passing out on her porch.
“Umm, this is kind of embarrassing but I need something to sleep in.”  I gesture to my outfit, as if to further prove why it’s not sleepwear, not to mention that I wore it to bed last night and it’s starting to smell. 
She looks almost startled.  “Did my son tell you anything before coming here?  I mean really.”  She marches down the hall in a huff and bangs on Hugh’s door.  “Hugh Raven, did you really not even bring this girl clothes?”
He opens the door wearing long striped pajama pants and no shirt.  His upper body is just as sculpted as I imagined.  Hugh’s tanned skin practically glows and he has just a bit of chest hair right between his clearly defined pecs.  God why does he have to look that good?  I mean that is just not normal.  “I did, I told her everything was in the bag I packed.”
His mom shoots a look over his shoulder and points around him.  “You mean that black bag?  The one in your room that she has no access to?”  She shakes her head.  It’s nice to have a girl on my side.  He grabs the bag quickly and gives it to his mom.  “Sorry Mom.”
She looks at him hard; I can tell she’s using their connection to give him a message.  “Sorry Shay.”  He adds quickly.  
“That’s better,” she says aloud this time.
“It’s OK.  Thanks.”  I take the bag from Chenoa and she walks away.  Hugh stands in his doorway looking me over.  I open the bag and pull out a nightie, the one Liv bought me as a joke for my birthday last year.  It’s baby blue with thin straps and a practically see through bottom with matching ruffled underwear.  My cheeks turn bright pink as I raise my eyes to meet his.  
“Where did you get this?”  Anger is suddenly overtaking the embarrassment.  “Were you in my room?  Did you really believe you were going to get this lucky this quickly?”  I shake the nightie in his face.
He looks down, “Well you were sleeping, and I didn’t want to disturb you.” 
I start rummaging through the rest of the bag at the speed of light, “Underwear!  You went in my underwear drawer too?”  I had hid the nightie underneath my jeans, so he had to go through multiple drawers to find all these items.
“Well I packed everything you would need for a couple days here.”  
“But when?  I mean, you were in my room while I was sleeping?”
“Well, how do you think you got home after everything that happened at Wendy’s house?”
Suddenly I understand, “You got me home?  You made sure I was ok.  You knew I would go to see Jeremy.  You planned everything.”  I feel like I’ve been duped.  It’s not fair for him to play with my life like this.  I’m over it.  He looks at the ground and doesn’t respond.  
“Whatever, I’m going to bed.  Don’t wake me up tomorrow; I’ll get up when I feel like it.  And P.S. I kind of hate your guts right now.”
I turn around and slam the door.  I throw the bag down like it has scabies and fall onto the twin bed.  The cold pillow feels good against the warm skin of my cheek.  I close my eyes and just try to clear my mind.





Chapter 20

When I wake up the next morning I realize where I am and what it is I’m doing here.  I stand and look into the mirror on top of the dresser next to the bed.  The bed looks mostly untouched, I didn’t even pull back the blanket to sleep, just laid there on the comforter.  What I see is not unexpected, mascara stuck running down my face, my eyes are puffy and swollen from hours of crying.  My eyes that are now gold.  Just like Hugh’s and the rest of his family’s.  Just like Emina.  Just like my father.  And that is because I am a cryptid.  It’s time to accept it.  To accept it and move on.  I need to learn as much as I can.  I mean if I’m going to defeat this Malsumis then I better get my shit together.
I look at the bag I dropped on the floor last night.  Well let’s see what else Hugh decided I should bring.  Lucky for me he’s not the best dresser and there’s a hoodie and a pair of yoga pants in there.  I grab them and change.  I keep make up remover pads in my purse so I clean up my face and apply a fresh coat of paint.  It even makes my eyes look slightly better after all the crying I did last night.  I rub the locket around my neck between by thumb and pointer finger.  Jeremy, give me some strength.
When I open the door there’s a surprise at my feet.  Breakfast of bacon and eggs is set on one of those things you see in Bed and Breakfasts, a tray on legs for your bed.  I love breakfast, because sitting next to the food is my favorite thing, a steaming cup of coffee.  I take the tray and walk back over the bed and get under the covers.  A few more minutes to myself couldn’t hurt.
As I’m finishing my delicious breakfast, I notice a small cat enter my room.  “Hi there pretty kitty.  Come on over and let me pet you.”  It walks towards the window with its sleek black coat shining in the morning sun.  
It has its back toward me and I hear the voice before I notice the change.  “I’d rather not.”
The small cat in front of me is now morphing into a beautiful young woman.  Her legs develop first and as her hair lengthens her arms appear.  The last thing she does is turn her head to look at me.  Standing in front of me is Emina, the young woman who despises me, just for being me.  She’s wearing a light brown dress that makes her yellow eyes stand out with leggings and boots, my kind of outfit when I’m not totally screwed up like today.
I’m astounded at her transformation.  “You can talk?  I mean when you’re a cat?”
“Sure can, why wouldn’t I be able to?  I’m a shifter, not your regular housecat variety.”
She sits down on the side of my bed looking at my shocked face and grabs my last piece of bacon.  “So I heard you and lover boy had a fight.”
“Uhh yeah, I guess.  But what’s it to you?”  Just yesterday this girl practically called me a curse word and today she’s sitting in my room.  What the hell is going on here?
She chews on her bacon thoughtfully, it’s a little gross.  She looks at me, “Listen, I think you being here is weird, but lucky for you, Chenoa is practically my mom.  And whatever she says goes.  So today you’re going to get some girl time and I promise not to kick your ass.”
Super, this ought to be awesome.
“And what does this girl time entail?”  I ask hoping no guns or chewing tobacco is involved because I have a feeling that is what she does for a good time.
She winks at me while finishing her bacon.  “Well halfy, I’m going to teach you how to shift.”





Chapter 21

I don’t even know if I can trust this girl, but just then Chenoa walks in.  
“I see you’ve gotten comfortable Emina.”  There’s a smile on her face but I can tell she demands Emina’s attention.
“Yeah, I mean we were just talking about shifting.”  I’m nervous about it.  Is this even something I want to try doing?
Chenoa nods, “Perfect.  Emina is an excellent shifter, she’ll be a great teacher.  Won’t you dear?”
Emina nods slightly while her eyes are on the floor.  I’m wondering how much trouble she got in for her comment yesterday.
Chenoa turns her attention back to me.  “I hope that you and Hugh can rekindle your friendship, but for today he’s gone with his father into town.  Won’t be back until later tonight I’m afraid.”  She gives me a coy smile.  Well played Chenoa.
“Thanks for telling me.”  I really appreciate what a great mom she is; she’s giving me a break that I desperately need.
“I just wanted you to be uninterrupted in your training.  And you both should get started.  I’ll take this.”  She walks over and takes the bed tray.  I grab the coffee mug so I can savor the last few sips.
“Thanks for breakfast Chenoa, it was great.”
She nods as she walks out the door, “Well I’ll leave you girls to it.”
Emina looks me over, I’m still under the covers.  “Well let’s do this then.” 
She gets up and makes her way to the door.  She stops with her hand on the knob.  “I don’t really hate you ya know.  I mean you’re a halfy and that’s weird, but whatever.  If Hugh and Chenoa like you, I’m in.  I mean I kinda have to be.”
It feels awkward but I must admit I appreciate her honesty.  I get out of the bed slowly, “Is what I’m wearing OK?”
She nods, “Yeah but you’re gonna want some sneaks, we’ll be moving a lot.  And you won’t be so used to the type of land we’ll be walking on.  You’re not in Virginia anymore.”
We leave the house and walk for maybe fifteen minutes.  Emina lights a thin home rolled cigarette as we walk.  I hate the way it smells, but I’m not going to say anything.  She takes long puffs, probably so she won’t have to talk to me on our walk which is fine by me.
It’s a warm day, much warmer than it is in Virginia right now I bet.  The dirt crunches under my feet, they must not have had the rain here that we’ve been having back home.  As we walk I get to see more of their village.  It’s a trailer park really.  Most of the trailers are in bad shape, some even falling down or abandoned.  There’s only one other building in town.  It hasn’t any lettering on the front so I ask Emina what it is.  
“Community Building,” she says, “we use it for everything really, school, hospital, we used it for town meetings a lot when I was younger.  My parents talk about meeting with the elders there or the heads of other tribes.  I don’t remember any of that.  I don’t think I’ve seen anyone from other tribes in years.”  She shakes her head as if disappointed with the progress of her people.  I almost feel sorry for her.
After we pass the Community Building and a couple more trailers, I realize I have no idea what we’re really going to be doing.  Finally she stops walking.  “This is the end of our property,” she says while pointing her finger to an imaginary line.  “Don’t cross this line and shift, we need to stay on our land.  It keeps us safe from them.  You won’t be safe to shift out there until you’ve mastered the skills required.  If you’re out there you need to know how to shift quickly and that won’t be for a while.”
“No problem.”  There’s no way I want any part of them, I’ll stay wherever she tells me to.
She turns around and walks about twenty feet back the way we came.  “Are you ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.  You just tell me what to do Yoda.”
She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes.  “It feels a little like I would expect flying to.”
“What, you mean you can’t fly?”  I laugh at my own joke, but she doesn’t get it, she just scowls at me.  “Sorry, I joke when I’m nervous.”
She looks at me, “Whatever.  Now focus.”
“There’s a light wind blowing through your hair.  Your skin feels like your hair is all over your body.  Concentrate on what it would feel like to be small.  To be agile.  Cats can move like we can’t, so stretch your limbs, roll your neck.  Relax and focus on being an animal.  Focus on the instincts of a cat.  What do you feel?”
She opens her eyes and looks at me, her yellow eyes are practically glowing.  I can tell she’s trying to stop the change from happening to her.  She keeps wiggling her fingers and stretching her neck, almost like she’s trying to release energy caged inside her body.
How do I tell her I feel nothing?  No rush of electricity like when I summoned Wendy’s dad, no animal movements or instincts.
“Emina,” I say shyly, she is not going to like this, “I don’t feel anything like that.”
She growls and suddenly I’m looking down at a black house cat.  “Sorry Emina, I really did try I promise.”
She sits down, her black fur glistening in the sunlight.  “Well, try again.  You’re going to keep trying until you get it.”  She starts into her speech again and I try, really I do, but no dice.
We go on like this for hours with no more luck than before.  Finally I decide I need to throw in the towel.  I’m exhausted and my brain hurts from all this focusing, it’s like there’s pins coming at it from all sides.  
I take deep cleansing breaths and say, “Emina, didn’t Hugh say some cryptids couldn’t shift?  I see ghosts.  Doesn’t that mean I’m not a shifter?”
“Alo told me you’re the strongest cryptid he’s ever met.  He thought you’d be able to do both, but whatever, he could be wrong.”  She licks the top of her right paw almost as if she’s bored with our conversation.  I can’t believe a cat is actually speaking to me.  Her small feline body begins to walk back toward the village.
I follow her swaying cat-self and begin to wonder.  “Emina, are you married?”
“Yep, what’s it to ya?”  She looks up at me over her shiny black shoulder.
“Do you mind if we have this conversation with you being, ya know, human?”  Talking to a cat is really freaking me out.
“Have it your way, but you started this.”  She shifts back into a person with ease.  She’s so quick.  I wish I had her talent.  
“By the way, I’m not human, not completely anyway.  And neither are you, and the minute you accept that, the better off you’ll be.”  She continues to walk with her back to me, but at least she’s on two legs again.
She’s right, I know she is, and it’s important to hear it from someone besides Hugh.  When she says it I almost believe her, but I brush it off and return to my original question.  “Hugh said he was your betrothed and that you got married when he left.”
She snorts, “He probably said I was pregnant too, right?  He thinks we’re nothing but a bunch of hicks out here.  It’s why he left.  And to find you.  Yes, I am happily married to a man who takes care of me.  And in case you’re wondering, no I am not pregnant.”
That’s a relief, I’m not sure the world is ready for little Eminas to be running around.  I latch onto something she said, “What do you mean about Hugh coming to find me?  Oh well yeah I mean because I’m my dad’s daughter.  You know since his parents were so close with my dad and…”
She does an about face and I stop short, almost walking right into her.  She would have loved that I bet.
“Are you really that stupid?”
“Excuse me?  You did not just call me stupid.”  OK I may not be some badass shifter, but I will punch this girl in the face if she does not shut her mouth.
“I call it like I see it,” she seethes.  “I should have known with you being a half-breed and all.”  She’s already in a fight stance, legs slightly apart and her hands that are at her side quickly turn into fists.
I stand up as tall as I possibly can and stare her down.  “Will you just tell me what the hell is going on?”
Her shoulders relax slightly, but she’s still ready to brawl if needed.
“Shay, he left to find you because he wants to fulfill the prophecy.  It says it will tie two tribes together.  We made a mutual decision that it wouldn’t be us.  I was in love with another man and he wanted to do bigger things.  Though I remember him saying they were bigger, better things.”  
She continues, “It hurt at the time, to watch him leave, we were best friends.  But now, I get it.  He had to leave to find you to fulfill the prophecy.  You’re an idiot but you worked your ass off today.  Most people quit after one try.  Even Alo didn’t try for as long as you did.  You’re tougher than you give yourself credit for, not as tough as me, but you know...”  She pauses and takes a deep breath.  
“He loves you Shay, just admit it to yourself and embrace it.  Embrace who you are.”
I’m surprised at her compliments, even though she gave them in an ass backwards kind of way, I can tell she meant what she said.  She really believes he loves me.  She believes in the prophecy and that he and I are whom it’s about.  Do I believe it too?
We walk in silence as I have more to process and Emina is obviously annoyed with me as a person in general.  She drops me off at the door of Chenoa and Alo’s home.  She doesn’t even wave as she retreats to her trailer a few hundred feet down the dirt road.  Can’t say I blame her though, she thinks I practically failed at being a cryptid, not to mention I’m denying feelings for a guy she used to be best friends with.
I walk past Chenoa and give her a simple wave.  I feel her eyes following me as I go, but I don’t want to stop for a chat right now, I feel like I just ran a marathon.  I go straight to the guest room and fall into bed, back under the covers.
Chenoa knocks lightly on the door.  “I have something for you.  Can I come in?”
I sigh but say sure.  I sit up, mostly while leaving my legs outstretched.  Chenoa walks in holding the most adorable little gray kitten.
“Umm, is that?”  Please God, don’t give me a local resident as a gift, it’s weird and super creepy.
She laughs, “No it’s a real kitten.  One of the strays had a litter recently and I thought you could use a friend.  Hugh mentioned you didn’t have any pets.  I hope your mom’s not allergic or anything.”
“No not at all,” I say gladly as she gives me the little gray fluff ball.  She’s the sweetest thing, giving me a big yawn and shows me her bright blue eyes.  “Thanks Chenoa, she’s beautiful.”  Petting the baby makes me calmer, almost relaxed.
Chenoa sits on the bed and puts her hand on my leg.  “Shay, I know all this is a lot.  But it will work out, I promise.”  She gives me a warm smile and it makes me think that she’s right, but I still don’t know.  
I’m having this internal struggle questioning if this is really the life I want.  Most of my life I would have given anything to be normal, but now there’s no going back to that.  I am not normal.
I look at Chenoa, sitting on my bed with her beautiful long hair and golden eyes.  “Are you happy, Chenoa?”
“What?  Me?  Yes, why wouldn’t I be?”  She looks flabbergasted as to why I would ask such a silly question.
“I don’t know, just having to worry all the time.  I mean we’re kind of at war with The Darkness and his followers right?  And we’re different.  Aren’t you scared of what people would do to us if they knew?”  Suddenly I realize this is very much an “us and them” situation, and I have put myself in the “us” category.
She sighs, “Shay you can’t live your life in fear.  If you do there’s just no point in living.  I am happy with my life.  I have a beautiful family, I grew up in this village and I have never wanted for anything more.  This is my home, my life.”  She brings her hand to her chest to emphasize my.
The bed creaks under me as I bring my knees to my chin.  I move the kitten to the right side of my body.  “But is it mine?”
She looks out the window across from the bed and then straight into my eyes.  “That’s for you to decide.”





Chapter 22

“You look tired,” Chenoa says, “why don’t you and that baby get some rest?”  She points to my new friend, who is already asleep lying next to me.  I’ve been absent-mindedly petting her the whole time we’ve been talking.
I smile, “Thanks Chenoa.”
She stands and walks to the door and then stops.  “No problem,” she pauses, “and honey, take a break tonight, it’s just you and me.  The boys are staying at a friend’s place in town tonight.  Turns out they won’t be back until tomorrow.  And there’s some stew out in the kitchen, I know ya haven’t eaten since breakfast and it’s almost six.”
“Why aren’t they coming home?”
She sighs, “Turns out that truck of Hugh’s is not reliable as it used to be.  The engine’s gone to hell, they’re stuck at the shop.”
I nod, “Oh ok, thanks.”
After I hear her close the door, I stretch my legs back out and turn on my side so that my body cradles the small new life next to me.  I have to think of a name for her.  Lily?  Smokey?  Finally I settle on Mosi, just like the tribe she came from, her people, my people.  She shouldn’t lose her heritage just because she’s going to move away.  Just like Hugh.  Oh Hugh.  I haven’t thought about him all day, but now my feelings come running back to me.  I’m glad I have the evening to really think about us, if there even is an us.  But before I have the chance, I’m out like a light.  
In the morning I wake up to a strong smell in my bed.  Mosi has left a little present for me, lovely.  I look around for the little love bug but she’s nowhere to be found.  I get up on the other side of the bed and walk out to the kitchen to get some cleaner.  Chenoa has her back to me making breakfast at the stove.
“Morning,” I mumble as I walk toward the sink.  My mom always keeps our cleaning products under the sink.  “Do you have any cleaner?  Mosi decided to have an accident in my bed.”
Chenoa turns to me.  “Who?”  She wipes her hands on a towel.  I see hash browns in the pan behind her.
“My kitten, I named her Mosi.  She pooped on your sheets, sorry.”
She laughs, “Oh my, that’s something to wake up to!  All the cleaning products are in the hall closet with the washer and dryer.  Just put the stuff in the garbage and your sheets in the washer.  Don’t worry about it, these things happen.  I’ll call the boys and ask them to bring home some extra kitty supplies, a litter box will be a big help.  They should be home later this afternoon.”
“Sounds good,” I say as I grab the paper towels.
After I drop my sheets in the washer, I hit the bathroom and take a shower.  I check my eyes in the mirror again as I apply my makeup, they’re still yellow.  From here on out, they’ll most likely always be this yellow, I might even have to talk to Hugh about colored contacts.
I emerge from the bathroom and go towards the kitchen to dive into the potatoes Chenoa was making this morning.  She has a mug set out for me with a matching plate for breakfast.  It reminds me of home and makes me miss my own mom.  Chenoa is sitting at the table and reading the newspaper.
I take some potatoes and fill my mug with the homemade coffee that’s on the stove.  Once I sit at the table I decide to ask a favor.  
“Hey Chenoa, can I use the phone today?  My cell died, one thing Hugh forgot to pack, my cord.”
She lowers her paper and looks at me with a smile.  “Sure, calling anybody I know?”
I put some hash browns in my mouth before answering so my speech is purposely garbled.  “My mom.”
“Phone’s in the hallway, use it whenever you like.  By the way, found your little friend in Hugh’s room.  I decided to leave her in there, Hugh could use a little gift don’t you think?”
I laugh.  “Yeah maybe he could,” I say as I finish eating.
After breakfast I walk out to the hallway and dial my home number, Chad answers the phone.
“Hi, Tafford residence.”  He sounds so formal, I’m impressed.
“Chad, it’s me, Shay, how are you?”
“Dude!  You jumped ship, Mom was so pissed!  What the hell were you thinking?”
“Honestly, I wasn’t, but listen I’m learning a lot.  Chad these people knew Dad.  Like when he was young and stuff.  Has Mom calmed down at all?  Can I talk to her?”
“She’s at her office, doesn’t have off this week like us remember?” 
“Damn, no.”  Disappointed that I can’t fix the situation with Mom I decide talking to Chad will do.  “Well what are you doing with your time off?”
His attitude changes.  “I’m practically on lock down thanks to you.  Dave’s here though, we’re playing…”
“Madden,” I say as I finish his sentence.  “Sorry about Mom, I’ll make it up to ya, I promise.”
“Yeah whatever, just be safe OK?”
“Yeah, thanks Chad, see ya.”
“Bye,” he says and then I hear the phone click.
I spend the rest of the morning playing with Mosi in my room, after I made sure she relieved herself.  In Hugh’s room of course, oops.  She’s so sweet and she likes to play with the tassels on my boots.  Chenoa says she’s about three months old and she still naps a lot.  As she’s napping I sneak back into Hugh’s room to grab a book.  He has loads of stuff on cryptids, but nothing on our race in particular.  I guess that’s because technically we don’t exist.  My father was the first one outside of this compound to figure it out and that was only with Jeremy’s help.  No other tribe would think to approach another tribe and ask them if they were part cat due to a genetic experiment gone wrong hundreds of years ago.  
I pull one off the shelf about cryptids that scientists thought weren’t real but turned out they were.  The Okapi was thought to be a mythical creature for centuries.  Even though the Egyptians depicted the okapi, a half zebra, half giraffe animal, in their writings it wasn’t officially discovered until 1901 and until then was a cryptid.  I think about this, how long until we’re discovered, how long will we be cryptids for?  If we are discovered, what would they call us then?  Did my dad want to publish his research and that’s why he’s missing?  Did someone not want the world to know about us?  I was hoping this book would give me answers, instead I just have more questions.
I eat some leftover stew from yesterday for lunch.  Chenoa has left me to my own resources for the most part, just checking on me to make sure I have everything I need.  When Alo and Hugh arrive home I’m reading another cryptid book in my room.
“Looks like you have your dad’s love of research,” Hugh says as he walks into my room with a litter box and cat food in hand.
I just look at him, still refusing to discuss any of this with him.  It’s not fair he expects this much of me.
Hugh shrugs, “Where do you want me to put this stuff?”  He holds up the items in his hand, I notice there’s also a pink collar, cute touch.
“Anywhere, just not on my bed please.”  I look back to my book pretending not to care he’s here, pretending to feel like I don’t want him to be close to me, hold me and to apologize for all the hurt he’s caused.
He sets the box down on a chair in the front corner of the room.  He walks over to the door and looks like he’s about to leave but thinks better of it.  He closes the door instead and grabs the collar off the chair.  He approaches me and sits on the floor across from where I’m reading and Mosi is sleeping.
He lays the pink collar on the floor, “It has a bell, so you always know where she is,” he says.
I pick it up and turn it over in my hands.  “Thanks, Hugh.”  I smile in spite of myself.
He puts his hand over mine and leans in.  I want to say no, that I’m angry with him, but I can’t.  The truth is I am head over heels for him.  I want him to kiss me, to touch me, to make feel whole.
He sits back and says “I’m sorry Shay.  I know this is a lot to take in and it’s my fault.   I should have given you more time, more space.  But you had a right to know.”
I sit back staring at him, not knowing what to say.  
He takes my momentary brain lapse to make his move.  He leans in and lightly presses his lips against my own.  It’s a delicate kiss, almost forbidden.
Then he sits back smiling.  I just stay leaned in, dumfounded by what just happened.  I was hoping it would be more, I don’t know, movie like?  He didn’t run his hands through my hair, I mean hell, he didn’t even touch my face!  
I sit here on the floor thinking about all the romantic comedies I’ve watched hoping my life would be like them when Hugh takes my chin and lifts it up so that I can look at him.  
“Shay, say something.”
And that’s when it happens, the moment.  The kiss is slow at first then it becomes more passionate.  Suddenly I’m grabbing the back of his head and pulling him closer.  I want more of him.  I want all of him.  All the emotions that have been running through me the past few days suddenly seem like they’re coming to the surface and I’m about to burst.  Our lips are mashing together in the best of ways.  I lay back on the floor and he’s lying on top of me, fitting together like puzzle pieces.
Minutes go by and we finally separate to get some air.  I’m breathing heavily and I don’t want this amazing feeling to end.  He looks at me and moves his hands to my hips.  “Shay, I’ve wanted to be with you since the minute we met.  I’m sorry I went about it in such the wrong way.  It’s just, our situation is unique and I didn’t want to scare you away.  I obviously suck because you’re still worried.  I get that, but please give me a chance.  I really want to make this work.”
As much as he makes me crazy, he’s right.  We’re meant for each other.  Instead of giving him a verbal response I just smile and move his hands so they’re wrapped around me.  I look into his eyes and reach up my face to lay one on him.  It makes him melt.  I can feel it in his body, he just totally relaxes letting me know he understands I agree.  We’re connected he and I, and we’re in this whole mess together.





Chapter 23

We spend the next couple days working on my shifting.  Emina says something’s changed, I’m more relaxed and focused but I still can’t seem to get the hang of it.  At one point I think I’m close, “I can feel it, Emina, it’s like I’m flying.  Is my hair growing?  I can feel it moving.”
She laughs, “Sorry Shay, it’s just breezy today, you’re not changing.  And why do you have your arms out like that, this isn’t a remake of Jesus Christ Superstar.”
I open my eyes just a crack to see her standing there in human form eyeing my arms up.  I put them down at my sides and shake my head.
“I am never going to be able to do this.” I sigh.
“You might not, it might not be part of your genetics, but it’s your last day here so I thought we’d give it one more try.  I can’t see ghosts but I can feel a presence when they’re near me.  So you might not be able to fully shift, but you have definitely retained some of the skills of a cat.”
She was talking about my agility again, this was the second time today she’d mentioned it, finally impressed by something I could do.  Yesterday she and Hugh took turns throwing tennis balls at me.  Luckily I love my own face enough that I sprang into action, surprising myself at how fast I could move.  I realized that even though I may not be able to fight I can run like hell.  They helped me learn about balance and by that I mean they pushed me out of a second story window at the Community Building.  I got onto the roof below the window and they told me walk on the roof.  I, of course, rolled directly off the shingles, due to my absolute clumsiness.  Turned out this Mosi really does land on her feet.
I take a deep breath and try one more time.  I focus on my hands becoming paws, my hair lengthening covering my whole body.  My feline figure is emerging in my mind, but still nothing.
 Emina stands leaning against a tree with her hands in her pockets.  “Let’s go, you’ve had enough and I’m sure you’re ready to get back home by now.  Enough adventure for one week.”
She starts walking back towards the house.  We’re only about three hundred feet from the house, in what is kind of their backyard.  Mostly small dry trees and dirt surround the trailers and homes here, so their yards all kind of meld into one large area.  It’s almost like living in a park.
Right before we land on the back porch Emina reaches back into her pocket.  
“I have something for you,” she says.
“For me?”  I’m shocked, why would she have something for me?
“We all have one, and since you’re one of us now, I figured you should have one too.”  She pulls a small yellow power bracelet out of her jeans.  “I know they’re not popular anymore, but that wasn’t ever really the point of them.  The gems they’re made out of are called cat eyes.”
She places the small yellow stone bracelet in my hand.  On each of the golden stones there’s a dark band that reflects in the sunlight.
“The gems ward against evil spirits, that’s why many of us keep them around.  It keeps The Darkness and his followers at bay.  It brings strength and bravery and it will help you to defeat your enemies.  Go ahead, put it on, it will make you feel better.”
I slip it on my left wrist.  Immediately I feel stronger and my vision seems almost clearer, objects appear brighter.  I rub my eyes feeling like something is off.
“I see it affects you as it should.  It directs energy at your Mosi genes, it will make them stronger.  Wear it always, don’t ever take it off.”
I smile, “Thanks Emina, this means a lot to me.”
“No problem, like I said we all have them.”  She tries to appear cool but I can tell she really does care about me.  “Shay?”
“Yeah?”
“Kick his ass OK?  He deserves whatever you can dish out.”
I smile, “Consider it done.”
She gives me a high five and turns and walks away.  I wave even though she doesn’t look back.  Walking back into the house to get my things I have to think I have at least one new friend out of this situation.
After I shove the clothes Hugh packed for me into the black bag we brought with us, I go into the living room where Hugh is sitting with his parents.
“Ready to head back I see.”  Alo says while he drinks a mug of tea.  I can smell the strong herbs.
“Well I think I have the answers I came for.”
Alo sighs, “Except the biggest.  I’m sorry that I don’t know if your father is alive.  I’d like to think he is Shay, but I just can’t be sure.  I’m sorry.”
I look away.  I’ve decided to retain my hope; it’s the only thing I have left of him.
I take a bead from the bracelet and rub it between my pointer finger and thumb.  Touching it seems to refocus me and bring me back to reality.  Back to the living room of my possibly future in-laws, who are looking at me rather suspiciously.
“I guess that’s true, but I think for once in my life I’m OK with that.  I’d rather have hope that I’ll see him again rather than you telling me he’s gone forever.  For what little time I had with him, I loved my father and that love is what continues my search for him.  You gave me no information that would cause me to lose my faith.”
Alo nods, “You are wiser than you think Shay Tafford.  I’m proud to know you.”
I grin, I appreciate this new part of my family.  I am delighted to have met their approval.
Chenoa looks slightly weepy.  “You’ll come back and visit, right Shay?  And Hugh, you know you’ll be in big trouble if you’re not back in time for the Green Corn Dance Festival.”
He rolls his eyes as he goes to hug her.  “You know I’ll be here.  Love you Mom.”
Alo stands to hug Hugh as well while Chenoa comes to me.
“Take care of him will you?  He’s picked a good one, I can tell.”  She winks at me as she holds my hands in hers.
“Promise.”  I agree with a smile.
Alo walks with Hugh to the door talking in hushed whispers.  He pats him on the back as they walk through the open screen door.
I follow after I pick up Mosi, Hugh has already put all our things in the truck.  
After I’m settled with Mosi on my lap, I wave as we drive down the dirt road back towards the town and on to the highway.





Chapter 24

We leave early because Hugh decided we’re not going to stop on the way back.  Hugh’s just going to drive today, I’m going to drive tonight and then he will again tomorrow.  Straight shot, it’s a long drive but we only stop twice to stretch our legs and use the bathroom.  I sleep as much as possible when it’s not my turn to drive.  Chenoa packed us snacks and sandwiches so we wouldn’t have to stop to eat.
When Hugh drops me off at home it’s dark and he insists on coming in to help deal with my mom, but I convince him I need to handle this one on my own.  After he puts Mosi, who traveled back here in a box once I started driving, on the porch he gets back in the truck.
He yells out the window, “Text me later OK?  I want to make sure this all works out for you.” 
I just smile at him over my shoulder, hoping I’ll have my phone later.  It’s one of my mom’s favorite things to take away as punishment.
I walk into the house and the lights are still on.  Chenoa must have called my mom to let her know I was coming home because she’s still up.  She’s looking over case files on the couch.
“Hi Mom,” I say as I enter the room.  Her eyes lift above the file she’s currently working on to take me in.  I can tell she’s judging, I don’t know how this is going to go for me.
“Hello Shay,” is all she says, lowering her file.  Oh boy, this is not going to go well.
“So about my little trip,” I start when she cuts me off.
“Yes, let’s discuss your little spring vacation.  Like how you were supposed to go on a date and ended up in another state.  With a boy you hardly know, a boy I don’t know at all!  And then Chenoa, who I haven’t heard from since your dad went missing, calls me and says you’re at her house?  You have a lot of explaining to do Miss.”
She stands and puts her hands on her hips.  I can’t stand the disappointment oozing out of her.  It cuts through me like a knife.  She did nothing to deserve the worry I’ve caused her.
I do the only thing I know how to do in this situation, I cry.  I cry like a ridiculous baby.
“Mom, I am so sorry.  Hugh said his family knew Dad and all I wanted to do was know more about him.  I miss him so much!  I am so sorry!  Please forgive me.”  I rush at her and fall into her arms sobbing.  I can feel her body relax and finally she hugs me.
She pets my hair with her hand.  “I know Shay, it’ll be alright, I understand.  Why don’t you go to sleep?  We’ll discuss this in the morning.”
“Thanks Mom,” I say as I dry my eyes with the back of my sleeve.  “But before we go to bed there’s one more thing you should know.”
She eyes me, “And that is?”
I run back out to the porch and grab the box holding my new little friend.  I take the box slowly to Mom.  She looks at it concerned for a moment and then she hears Mosi’s sweet little meow.
“Shay, is there a kitten in this box?”
I grimace, “Yes.”
She opens the flaps and removes the baby inside, “Well at least you’re not pregnant or something and she is very cute.”
“Mom!” I whine.  She smiles at me already petting and snuggling up with Mosi.
“What’s her name?” she coos.
“Mosi,” I say.
She slowly puts her back in the box, “Well I’ve always wanted a kitten.  Your dad never wanted cats around, I don’t know why.  You got lucky this time Shay, now get to bed.”
She climbs the stairs and I follow her and go straight to my room.  I set up Mosi’s bed and then I text Hugh.
hey it went OK-me
can I see you tomorrow?- H
I doubt it, Mom is freaked out, maybe once school starts again- me
that is three days away!- H
I’ve got to do damage control, give me some time at least she didn’t take my phone- me
OK call me when you can- H
got it, night <3- me
night <3- H
I have another dream about Wendy.  She’s in the house alone playing with a doll.  I’m standing outside looking through a window.  She holds the doll still and stabs a dinner knife through its chest.  And then she looks out the window, directly at me and smiles.
I get up the next morning and shower.  I relive the kiss Hugh gave me right before I got out of the car.  It was sweeter than the last, delicate yet passionate, earnest in a way.  He wanted me to know that it will be OK.  At least now I know who I am or at least what I am.  My father was trying to help people when he went missing and that’s worth knowing.
I get out of the shower and dress ready for whatever my mom has to hand to me today.  It’s Friday and I have to work, so at least I won’t be able to listen to her rant for long.  After I go down the stairs I see Chad sitting on the couch with his bio notebook open, chewing on the end of his pencil.  Apparently this is a trait my dad passed on to him.  My mom always says Chad looks like Dad when he does that.
“Hey you,” I say as I flop down on the couch next to him.  “Miss me?”
“Yo!  You’re back!  How was Texas?”  He beams as he talks, maybe he really did miss me.
“It was good, I learned a lot.”
“Uh huh, and who’s this guy who abducted you?  Mom almost blew a gasket when she found out where you were.”
I sigh, “I know, his name is Hugh.  His parents were friends with Dad when they were young.  He kept in touch with them even when we were kids.”
He looks confused, “I don’t remember them.”
“That’s because Mom and Dad never talked about them.  Falling out I guess.”  I know that’s not the whole truth, but I can’t tell him too much.  Chad is most likely a cryptid too, but he doesn’t need to know that right now.  In due time, all will be revealed.  Right now I need to protect him, the truth could get him in some serious trouble.
“So about Mom, where is she?  Office hours again?”  It’s weird for her to be on campus this much in one week.
“Nah, she’s at the gym and then had some errands to do.  She said she’d talk to you afterwards.”  He emphasizes the word you, enough for me to know I’m still in pretty big trouble.
“Why did she have so many office hours earlier this week?  I feel like every time I called she wasn’t home.  Or was she just avoiding me?”  I shrink into the couch a bit.   I hope it’s not the last option.
“No she’s been doing some new research.  I don’t know about what, but she keeps taking all these old notebooks to work and then not coming home until super late.  It’s weird.”  He shrugs and looks back to his notebook.  “Know anything about cell biology?”
“Not really, but you do know Dad was a geneticist, right?”  I’m hoping maybe he’ll think we inherited some of my father’s intelligence in the category and be able to fend for himself.
“Well he’s not here is he?  So if you help me that would be great.”  He narrows his eyes as he talks.
I take a deep breath, sometimes I need to remember Chad doesn’t take my dad’s disappearance as well as I do.  Especially when Chad doesn’t know what I do about Dad.  “Well what exactly are you working on?”
He continues looking at his notebook, “Chromosomes.”
I’m surprised, “Wow, that’s some pretty advanced stuff for freshman biology isn’t it?”
He starts paging through his textbook lying on the coffee table.  “I’m in honors.”
“You are?  That’s awesome.”  I can’t believe I didn’t know this about my own brother.  And to think I just thought he played video games all day long.
He’s still focused on his notes.  He just nods.
“We’re talking about molecular genealogy.  There’s this online project my teacher wants us to submit our DNA to, it will help us find out who are ancestors are.”
“No!” I blurt out.  “You can’t do that!”
Chad looks at me taken aback, he almost drops his notebook I scared him so much.  “Why not?”
Why not?  That’s an excellent question.  How do I tell him it’s because someone might find out what he is, what we are, about our ancestors, who just happen to be cats.
Instead I think of an excellent lie.  “I read somewhere online that websites like those are using people’s DNA and selling it on the black market to people who want to have those designer babies.  For example, they’d take me for my black hair.”
“Nobody would want your black hair Shay.  It’s so dark and well, it’s not normal.”  He says it seriously but I can see the smile in his eyes.
“Harsh, and OK bad example.  But still, isn’t it weird to think about little Chad look alikes running around?”
“No, I think it’d be awesome.  The world could use more of me.”  He laughs, “You’re totally overreacting Shay.  Just chill out for once, will ya?  Anyway I have to determine the Autosomal DNA in this example to get access to the trial online.  It costs money and Mr. Spelling is only going to send those in who can complete the problem.”
Ahhh Mr. Spelling, the super dweeby biology teacher who spends a majority of his time online, hacking into people’s facebook accounts.  He’s a total creep.
“What’s Autosomal DNA?” I ask, trying to sound interested.
“The stuff that explains why you have certain physical characteristics.  Both guys and girls have it.  Unlike Y- DNA which only guys have, and mtDNA which guys and girls have, but only girls can pass it along.  Autosomal is inherited from both parents.”
So Autosomal DNA would tell Chad that he has cat DNA inside him.  This is not good, I have to stop him.
“Would this website be able to tell you your Autosomal DNA?”
“No it mostly looks at the Y-DNA, what Dad gave me.”
This is getting worse by the minute.
“Well look at the problem again, but only look for the physical characteristics.  And talk to Mom about sending your DNA, you’re only fourteen, so I’m sure she has to sign a release or something.”
“Fine, I will, but let me talk to her first, OK?  I want to try this, it could be so cool.  Oh I want to meet our new family member.  Mom told me all about her.”
“Sure I’ll bring Mosi down later.”  
I stand and walk away nonchalantly.  The minute I’m out of his sight I run up the stairs and text Hugh.
we need to talk  NOW
After Hugh calls me we agree to meet by the orphanage.  He says we may need the help of someone who knows more about DNA than we do.  I’m shocked to see him talking to Jeremy as I arrive.
Hugh approaches me and gives me a quick peck on the cheek and takes my hand to lead me to the bench.  I sit on the sun warmed metal.  Jeremy stands silently by with a huge smile on his face.
“Shay,” Hugh begins, “I asked Jeremy here because he knows more about genetics and our DNA than both of us combined.”
I look back and forth between them.  How could a six year old know more about this than us?  I mean he’s not even a cryptid.
Without me saying a word Hugh explains.  “Jeremy watched and worked with your dad for years.  He knows all about his research and his experiments.  He might be able to help us so that if your brother sends his DNA away we can all stay out of some serious trouble.”
I look at Jeremy, who’s not smiling anymore.  “What experiments?  Jeremy?  What’s he talking about?”
Jeremy takes a deep breath, “Well Shay technically he’s talking about you.”
I squint at him, “Me?”
He nods, “You are your father’s greatest experiment, but let me start at the beginning.”
“A very long time ago, before either of you were born, I was summoned to Kentucky where I met my family.  That’s when I learned the truth about my parents never making it out West and that I had a sister.  She was there, but she was sick, and frail.  Her name was Gloria, and she married Alo’s father.  It was unprecedented in the community at the time.  Gloria became a member of the tribe and when she had Alo her husband immediately recognized him as a true Mosi, a cryptid.  As Gloria grew older and became ill she wanted to find me.  She never expected to be looking for a ghost.  She started to do research and found out that I was dead.  Gloria never told our aging parents, she wanted them to think that I led a long happy life.  I’m glad she didn’t tell them.  After speaking with her I know that it would have broken their hearts.”
He looks off for a moment, caught in his own thoughts.
Hugh chimes in, almost as if to help move the conversation along, “My grandmother, Gloria, had cancer.  It was really bad too.  Her parents were dying in a nursing home and she was going to be put in hospice.  She really wanted to meet Jeremy.  She thought it would give her something to hold onto as she left our plane.”
Ugh that’s sad.
Jeremy nods, “Once she discovered how I died, she convinced Alo and his father that they should perform a summoning, I was their family after all.  They went to another tribe in Kentucky to perform the summoning.  There is a large Cherokee group there who had experience with summoning.  An old spirit-talker from Alo’s tribe suggested it.  They were obviously quite successful and I was able to meet my sister.  Once they summoned me they explained the ghost rules to me.  Rules told to them by their ancestors.  Since some Mosis can see ghosts they are our protectors.  They help keep us safe from The Darkness and humans wishing to find us and use us as their play things.  Also, as protectors they set our laws and they see to it that we abide by them.  They also use us to help other ghosts they have come across, souls who want to cross over but have unfinished business on Earth.”
I interrupt him, “As fascinating as all this is Jeremy, what does my dad have to do with it?”  
Hugh lays a hand on my lap, “Let him finish.  You have to hear it all to understand.  I don’t think he’s done yet, though I can’t hear it all.”
I watch as Jeremy nods at Hugh so he would know his assumption is correct.
“When I returned to the children in Marksville we started traveling back and forth between the planes.  It was valuable to us to help those who needed it.  I was just about to go through a portal to our plane one evening when your father heard me.  Over there.”  He points to the steps right in front of the burnt down orphanage.
“He didn’t have your gift of sight, but he heard me singing to myself.  I had to trust him; it was rare that a human could actually hear me, and those who could usually only heard tidbits.  This made me think he was a cryptid like my family.  When I mentioned the word to him in passing he ate it up and started doing research.  I had no idea how brilliant your father was.  He began to do testing on himself and discovered he was part cat, a Mosi cryptid.  I went to Alo to tell him of the discovery.”
“Your dad was desperate to meet others like him.  As you know, his parents died long before he knew about who he was and with no siblings, he had no one else to talk to.  With Alo’s permission I told him how to find Alo’s tribe.  They became very close.  But Alo warned your father not to dive too deep into genetics, to maintain human relationships and to appear human for fear of retaliation by The Darkness.  Your father thought this was all a rouse and dismissed the tale, until it was too late.”  Jeremy sighs before continuing, I can tell this is taking a toll on him.
“He began to isolate the genes that make you a cryptid.  He had chromosomal evidence that proved what you are.  Alo tried to warn him, but he didn’t listen.  He thought he could cure diseases this way.  Help people.  If he could isolate genes, he could stop people from aging or getting cancer.  But The Darkness didn’t want that.  He loves to watch people suffer.  Your dad started to feel like someone was watching him.  Some of his notebooks started to go missing and vials were empty when he would return to his lab.  James knew something was going on, so he attempted his most difficult experiment.  Giving his cryptid genes to you.”
“By extracting his own genes and putting them in you it would make your gifts stronger.  It would awaken and cause your genes to regenerate.  The night before he went missing, you got a shot didn’t you?”
I think back to that day, I had forgotten it until now.  I guess I had blocked it all out.  
Dad took me to his office and said I needed a booster shot.  He promised me a lollipop when I was done, just like at the doctors.  But he said I couldn’t tell Mom.  It was a special shot for special people.  I was six and didn’t think anything of it at the time, but now…
“Yes I did, at Dad’s office.”  I rub my back where the needle entered my skin.  “I still have a mark.”  I lift my jacket and shirt for Hugh to see.
“In your back?”  Hugh looks at me concerned.
Jeremy responds, “Yes, directly into her spine.  It would be the fastest way to alter her genes.  And clearly it worked.  You saw and spoke to me the very next night.  James didn’t expect the change to happen so quickly.  Genes usually take years and generations to see a change, but since yours were already altered, he hoped it would only take a few months.  We had no idea your genes would change so quickly.”
Hugh pushes on, “But why didn’t Chad get one?”
I answer the question that concerns Hugh so much.  “He was too little.  And he didn’t show any signs of abilities.  My dad didn’t want him to become a cryptid.  He just wanted me to be a stronger one.  I think he already knew I had the gift.”  It’s the first time I’ve put all this together and the first time I’ve called what I can do a gift and really mean it.  
Jeremy nods in agreement as I look to him, “My dad knew they were going to take him, didn’t he?  He gave me his genes to protect me?”
He simply nods.  “And to protect himself.  By using his own genes, he destroyed the evidence that he could manipulate genetics.  If his research had fallen into the wrong hands…”
“Like Malsumis?” I prompt.
“Yes, if The Darkness had obtained this information he could alter people’s genes so that they would get all the horrible things in the world possible.  Cancer, AIDS, ALS, would just be the beginning.  No one would survive.  He would basically commit chromosomal genocide.”  
Hugh even looks shocked at this revelation.
“Well then,” I say stretching out my hands in front of me, subsequently cracking my knuckles, “we’ll just have to get him before he gets everybody else.”
Let’s do this, I’m ready for war.





Chapter 25

As Hugh walks me back to my car, we rehash our plan.  We’re going to send another person’s DNA to the website project, its genius and fairly simple.
“I can’t believe you want me to take some guy’s hair from his room.  Do you know what guy’s keep in their rooms?  This is going to be so gross.”  I stick out my tongue at him.  Hugh wants me to steal the hair from his old roommate who now lives in a frat on campus.  One thing I know for sure about college before being a student, frats are disgusting but are a great place for beer.
Hugh laughs, “Actually I do.  You forget I am a guy.  You might be surprised to find what I keep in my room.”
A devilish smile plays across his face and with that he grabs me around the waist and leans in for a kiss.  His lips feel hot against my mouth.  Hugh’s left hand slips down around the curves of the lower part of my back and he squeezes gently pulling me even closer.  He slides his tongue in my mouth.  I love kissing him.  He tastes like coffee all the time, probably because he drinks it just about as much as me.
When we part I take a deep breath and kiss him gently on the cheek.
He smiles, “OK so all you have to do is grab a piece of Lance’s hair and trade it with the one Chad puts in the vial.  Should be pretty easy.”
I respond, “Yeah, it should.”  But honestly I’m not so sure.
“You better pray I don’t get an STD from this.  Because let me tell you, herpes would suck right now.”  
“You’re disgusting, there’s no way you’re getting an STD from a hair.”  He says as he smacks me on the shoulder.  I race him to the car and as usual I win.
We spend the rest of the day at the antique shop.  I’m working alone so it’s not a big deal Hugh’s here.  He actually helps me count the money in the drawer.  It looks like they are still having some money troubles.  I explain to Hugh how I’m looking at possibly working at the library at the college for some extra cash.  He says that if I get the job he will try to get one there too so we can spend more time together.  It makes me happy to have the opportunity to spend more time with Hugh.  I would spend every waking moment with him if I could.  And to get paid for it?  Winning!
Again that night I have a dream about Wendy.  She’s still in the house and her father isn’t there.  There’s a woman this time.  When I try to get a good look at her the whole picture gets foggy and black.  I hear Wendy say the name Erika.  I wake up coughing and wheezing.  Something is not right with that girl and who the hell is Erika?
Several days later I arrive home after practice to see a certificate sitting on the kitchen island with Chad’s name on it.  Seems he figured out the Autosomal DNA on the problem Mr. Spelling assigned.
Mom is sitting in the living room.  She’s barely been home since I came back from Texas.  I never even got punished for my mini vacation or hostage situation, depending on who you ask.  
“Hey Mom, how are ya?”  I flop down on the couch.  I realize pretty quickly I need a shower, rough day at practice, bleh.
She turns her attention away from the TV, “Good hon, you?”
“I’m tired, rough day at practice.  Sprints, you know how I hate them.”  I rub my legs to get the feeling back in them, they’re definitely sore.
“I always remind you to stretch.  You really need to listen to me one of these times.”
She sounds serious, but she’s smiling.
“I know, I know.  Hey I saw that Chad gets to do that DNA thing.  Are you really going to let him?  I mean isn’t it a little weird?”  If I can convince her to not let him do it, then I don’t have to steal hair from some guy I’ve never met and that would be a plus.
She frowns, “It is a little weird, but I’m surprised at you Shay, you’re practically the queen of weird.”
“Wow, thanks Mom, super vote of confidence there.”
She laughs, “I didn’t say it was a bad thing, just who you are.”
If she only knew who, or what, I really am.
“Anyway, I think it’s creepy and I wouldn’t let him do it if I were you.”  I huff back at her.
“Well lucky for Chad, you’re not me.  He sends his vial out tomorrow, should be a very unique experience for him.”
My jaw hits the floor.  “Tomorrow!?!”
Mom looks at me confused, “Yes, tomorrow.  Shay, why are you being so irrational about this?  Your attitude leaves something to be desired young lady.”
“Whatever Mom, I gotta go.  Hanging out with Hugh, OK?”
She shrugs, “Just be home before nine, you’ve got homework.”
“No problem,” I yell as I run out the door.
I drive as fast as I can to Hugh’s apartment.  We’ve been working on honing my skills there since we came back from Texas.  Last week I spent almost two hours doing yoga.  It mostly just felt like sitting and thinking about my body.  The way it moves and works.  Hugh said it would help me focus in times of stress.  I think about my breathing now, but it’s not working.
I buzz up to his apartment while bouncing on my toes.  Then I realize I’m still in my practice clothes and I still smell like I just came from practice, super.  He uses the intercom to tell me to come up.  I walk through the door and go down the hallway to the stairs.  I climb them quickly, I need to get to Hugh.  We need to find his friend now.
He’s already standing at the door when I get to the third floor.
“Shay, slow down.  What’s wrong?”
I’m able to speak right away, thank God for track, I’m not even winded.  “Chad is sending his vial in tomorrow!”
His eyes go wide, “Tomorrow?  But classes just started again.  How did this happen so quickly?  Come in, we’ve got to find a replacement hair.”
Hugh starts looking around the small living room.  It’s meager with just a small couch and a coffee table.  There’s no TV, Hugh can’t afford the cable bill.  He just watches movies from the internet on his laptop.  He’s close enough to the campus to use the college’s wifi.
Hugh finds a small address book near the couch on a small end table.
“That’s new,” I say pointing to the little wood table.  
Hugh blushes when I realize the place is cleaner than last time too.  There are curtains on the window.  He’s trying to impress me, how much cuter could he be?
“My parents sent me a little money to help me out.  The security job really doesn’t pay that much.”  He looks down at his feet.  I feel terrible that I’ve embarrassed him. 
“Oh Hugh, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to, I mean… the place looks nice.”
“Thanks,” he mumbles as he pages through the book.
“What are you looking for?”  I ask trying to look over his shoulder.
He smiles, “Not what, but who, Shay.  And I’ve found them.”  He taps the page he’s on.
“Who?”
“That friend of mine I think we can get what we need from.  Let’s go.”  He moves towards the still open door.  “I’ll explain on the way.”
We forego the car because Hugh says where we’re going there’s no parking in front of the frat.  He tells me to turn my hoodie inside out so that my high school name won’t be seen.  I feel like I’m on a covert mission.
“Lance is having a poker game tonight.  I’ve never been to his new place before so I had to get the address.”  I notice he takes out his wallet while we walk.
I’m dumbfounded.  “Poker?  But I don’t know how to play.”
“You don’t need to, I do.” He counts the money in his hand I see he has two twenties and a ten.
He puts the money is one pocket wallet in the other, “This will get us in, and I’ll be able to play a few hands.  It should only take you a couple minutes to get what we need.”
“And that is…” I prompt him.
“A hair from Lance.  You’re going to use the bathroom.  While in there he should have a comb of some sort.”  He pulls a baggie from his jacket and hands it to me.  “Just put whatever you find in there.”
I look down at the bag and put it in my sweatpant pocket.  “Got it.”
We arrive at a house that’s not far from Hugh’s apartment.  It only took us five minutes to walk  here.  Hugh winks at me as we walk inside.  No knock on the door needed as it’s already open.
We go through the living room and go to what looks to be a closet door.  There’s no one on the floor and when we get to the grimy looking door, I realize we’re going to the basement.  We walk down the dark stairs to find five guys sitting around a poker table.  They look pretty serious but when Lance stands to greet Hugh, he gives him a fist bump and beams at me before sitting back down.
Before Hugh is even dealt in, I ask to use the bathroom.  Lance says sure, girls are apparently princesses here and have full access to anywhere and anything in the house.  He tells me I’ll have to go to the second floor to use the guys’ group bathroom.  Lance suggests I announce myself before going in.  I smile coyly at him before going back upstairs.  A little flirting can’t hurt to help me get my way.  As soon as I’m out of sight I practically run to the second floor.  After taking the stairs two at a time I stop abruptly at the bathroom door.  I am about to enter an entirely boys’ bathroom.  This is going to be awkward.  
“Girl!” I yell as I enter.  The bathroom is big and surprisingly clean, not exactly what I envisioned when I thought about a frat.  Though if these boys have a cleaning service, that would explain it.  I look around, luckily for me, there’s no one in here.  There’s about four stalls, and a couple places for showers.  I move toward the sinks and start looking for the boys’ personal belonging.  Along the wall on a shelf there are baskets for each guy.  I try to look through baskets of the guys’ stuff as fast as possible.  They definitely have a maid or an organizer.  This is a nice frat.  I have to find Lance’s basket because he has the same colored hair as my brother.  Chad’s hair is lighter than mine, but still thick.  If Chad sees the vial he still has to think it’s his hair.  We can’t let him get suspicious.
I look through about three baskets finding everything from deodorant to condoms when I realize I’m not going to find a brush or comb in any of these baskets.  The guys must finish their beauty regimes in their own rooms.  I peek out the door before bolting out to find Lance’s room.  At the end of the hall there’s a door open.  I look both ways to make sure no one has seen me.  The bathroom is clearly labeled, I’m not going to able to say I got lost up here.
I tiptoe down the hall to the open door.  I look around the corner of the door to see if the room is empty.  Once I see that the coast is clear, I go in and make sure to close the door silently behind me.
When I hear the click that tells me the door is closed I turn to look around for evidence that this is Lance’s room.  There’s a photo by the bed and sure enough it’s Lance with a group of girls, probably from some wild frat party that was held at the house not too long ago.  They’re all wearing togas, it looks like one of the girls is about to lose the top of hers.  Charming.
The room is also cleaner than I expected.  It’s simple with a white, red, and blue Calvin Klein bedspread and matching curtains.  I’m guessing his mom picked it out.  There’s another picture of Lance, this time with his family on their yacht, by the computer.  A nice size flat screen sits near the door and there’s a window seat with some clothes on it.  But no hair products.  At least not laying out.  I start going through his desk and dresser, but no dice.
I can hear guys talking in the hall I have to hurry, what if one of them comes in looking for Lance?   Do they know he’s downstairs gambling all of his mommy and daddy’s money away?  The last place I look is the bedside table.  There’s some lotion in here and a couple magazines, apparently Lance isn’t getting enough.
In the very back of the drawer I finally find a comb and hair gel.  He better not mix up the gel and the lotion.  That would lead to some very interesting questions from his brothers.  He would never live it down!  I pick up the comb, the voices are getting louder, and see a single medium brown strand.  I grab it and stuff it into the baggie as fast as I can.  Just as I put the baggie in my pocket a guy walks into Lance’s room.  
I spin around to see who is standing there.
Thank God, it’s Hugh.  I breathe out in relief; I didn’t even realize I was holding my breath.
“Shay, where have you been?  I ran out of money like five minutes ago.  We have got to go!  I can’t stay if I can’t play, house rules.”
“Well I got what we came for,” I whisper.
He winks at me and we walk nonchalantly down to the door as to not attract attention to ourselves.  We high-five after making it safely to the street.
As we walk back to Hugh’s apartment, I remind him of my plan.
“So I just have to switch the hair in the vial after Chad goes to sleep tonight.  Should be fairly easy.  I’m sure he’ll put it in his backpack so he won’t forget it tomorrow.”
Hugh gives me a quick peck and squeeze of the hand.  “You can do this, good luck.”
I smile, “Thanks,” and get in the car to go home and complete the mission.
While I’m driving I crank up the music and jam out to Dynamite, I got lucky back there and I need to take a moment to let loose before I finish this task at home.
Just as the song is ending and I turn onto my street, I see her.  The little girl from my dreams is standing in the middle of my driveway.
I stay in the car and turn off the ignition, staring at her translucent little frame.
“Shay, come out here,” she says, “we need to talk.”  The last word comes out all sing songy, but she doesn’t look happy.
I sit there, my chest heaving as left over adrenaline pumps through my veins.  She’s just a little ghost, nothing I can’t handle.
I get out of the car making sure to slam the door extra loud.  It’s like I’m claiming my territory or something, Discovery Channel here I come.
“What do you want Wendy?”
“You’ve been watching me, haven’t you Shay?  Interested in what’s going on in the blue house on the hill?”
“Watching you?  No.  I see you sometimes, dream of you, but no, you’re not the highlight of my life right now.  Sorry to disappoint you.”
She continues to roll out the fake sweetness.  “No, you’re right, that would be Hugh, lovey dovey Hugh.  Your mate.”  Her eyes narrow.
“So what if he is?  What happened to Daddy, Wendy?  Where is he?”
“Daddy’s gone, he didn’t want to play by the rules.”
“By who’s rules Wendy?”  And then it dawns on me, the dark overlay in my last dream.  Of course, it all makes sense now.  The woman in black, Erika she called her.  I collect my thoughts and say, “Malsumis?”  It was Malsumis who told her how to bring her dad back, he wanted to control her.  Somehow Erika has a handle on her.
Her eyes widen for just a moment and then she relaxes again.  “You’re quite observant, aren’t you Shay?”
“Wendy, I brought your dad here for you, not for him.  Where is your father Wendy?  Come on, it doesn’t have to be like this.”  I try to plead with her.  It’s obvious she’s changed and probably not by her choice.
She suddenly rushes at me in full force.  The breeze makes my wisps of hair move around my head.  She stops just short of touching me.  Suddenly she looks like the Wendy I once knew.
“Shay he made me do it.  He’s coming for you, you need to hide.”
I search her eyes, “What did he make you do?  Wendy, we can get Jeremy, he can help.”
“I banished him Shay, my own father.  Malsumis is so strong, you’ll never win.”
I try to take a second to think, but I can’t breathe.  My eyes widen as the fear sets in.  There’s a dark mist settling around us.  I can hardly see my hand in front of me already.  It’s so dark and coming in fast.  I know I have to leave her.  I don’t want to, but I can’t stay.  I sprint to the house just as the black fog brushes the ground.  I grab the doorknob and luckily it’s unlocked.  I slam the door behind me.  The mist pushes against my door, making my whole body move with it, but once I shut and lock it, Malsumis can’t come in.  I take a deep breath and lay my forehead on the hard wood.  I need a minute to relax before anyone sees me.  This is the first time in my life I felt like I could die, but I have a terrible foreboding feeling it won’t be the last.
Hugh told me on our way home from Texas that when our fathers were close friends Alo’s father came to my house and put protections on it.  I don’t know what those are but Malsumis can’t get to us once we’re locked inside.  However, if the door is left open, or even a window, it’s an open invitation for the deity and his followers.
I look around my house to see who all is home.  It’s only seven, so I’m still early.  Mom is sitting at her desk in the study going over thesis papers.  It’s April, so most of the students are getting ready to finish up with classes and handing in their biggest papers.
“Hi Mom!” I fake cheeriness as I pop my head into the office.  It’s lined with books so it makes it a little darker than the rest of the house.
“Hey there,” she says almost looking relieved for a break.
“How goes the grading?  Kids doing any good?”  I nod to her pile of papers about fifty pages high.
“They’re doing alright I guess.  I’m concerned they’re not grasping the schizophrenia case we studied, but perhaps that’s my fault for choosing such a difficult file.”  Her shoulders are slumped forward.  She turns and looks out the singular small window in the room.  She had it built so there would only be one.  Fewer distractions that way she had said.  “Weird weather, came on so quickly and such a dark fog too.  I hope you didn’t get caught driving in it.”
I shake my head, “Nah, it came on just as I walked in the door.”  Ain’t that the truth.
“And I heard a noise when you walked in, everything OK?”
“I just dropped my bag, same as every day.”
She squints at me, “Your practice bag?  I didn’t realize you took it to Hugh’s with you.”  She eyes my empty hands as if they’ll tell her the truth.
“Well since it’s nice out I thought maybe we would go for a run, but he wasn’t into it.”
“I can tell what he was into,” she eyes my hoodie turned inside out suspiciously.  It’s better if I just go along with it, embarrassing, but better.
“Mom!  Shut up!  Nothing happened!”  I let my voice go higher than normal, she laughs and plays along.
“Of course it didn’t.”  She looks back to her papers, but I can still see her smiling.
“There are steaks in the fridge, help yourself.  Chad’s at Tim’s and I already ate.”
“Mmmm,” I say as I turn away now having an excuse to leave.  Now just to find the backpack.  I start with the obviously location, the kitchen where Chad spends all of his time when he’s not playing video games.  He’s gotta eat.  I take out a steak and put it on a plate with a hearty scoop of mashed potatoes before popping it in the microwave.
I take a look at Chad’s usual spot on the high stool near the fridge but there’s no book bag.  While the microwave beeps, I go upstairs to a place I haven’t been in years, Chad’s disgusting bedroom.  I open the door which pushes aside some dirty clothes that are lying on the floor.  There are piles of garbage and clothes, magazines and books everywhere.  His bed isn’t made, and I see some dirty dishes on his computer desk.  It smells like sweaty socks in here, I pray to God this isn’t how I smelled earlier, Hugh may never want to see me again if it is.
After looking over the dishes, I see his backpack hanging on the computer chair.  Jackpot!  I immediately cross the room and start rummaging through the bag.  There’s a baggie marked with his name with a small vial in it.  It already has a hair.  I pop off the plastic top and shake out the hair onto the floor.  I take Lance’s hair out of the baggie from my pocket and place it into the vial.  I stand there for a minute thinking about how this means Chad won’t know who he really is.  But this isn’t the time.  He needs to grow up and learn all of this on his own.  Not from some website that could expose us all and cause us more problems than we ever could have imagined.  Malsumis has already found me, it’s only a matter of time until he makes my life a living hell and I kick his ass.  Chad doesn’t need any of that right now.  I want to let him continue to be young and naive, at least for now.
I put the vial back in the bag and creep back downstairs to eat my dinner.  I send a text to Hugh.  
mission complete- me
He responds only a minute later.  It’s just a smiley face but I know he’s thinking exactly what I am.  We dodged a bullet on this one.





Chapter 26

For the next few weeks I focus on school and work.  Wendy drifts in and out of my mind, but there hasn’t been another sighting of her.  I asked Jeremy if he might have seen her but no luck there either.  Somehow we have to get her out of whatever trouble she’s in, but I don’t know how yet.
Once school lets out on Tuesday, Olivia and I go for a trip to the college.  I feel like we haven’t been here in weeks.  Mostly because when I’m done with school lately I’ve been going over to see Hugh between his classes.  Then I go right to practice and to work.  The past couple times I’ve been at work Olivia hasn’t been there, between piano lessons and now tennis starting, she’s really busy.  So today is a nice break for us to just catch up.
We sit in the coffee shop and she starts talking about her new tennis instructor, “He seems like he’ll actually teach me some new skills.  It’ll be good for college ya know?  Track and tennis, there’s gotta be a scholarship out there somewhere.  I need to get the upper hand from somewhere.”
“Any new acceptance letters?” I ask her, trying to sound interested, even though all I can think about is Wendy’s situation and how close I came to being taken by The Darkness the other week.  It’s all I’ve been thinking about lately, what if I was just a second slower?  What would have happened to me?  I didn’t tell Hugh about my run in with Wendy, I don’t want him to worry about me.  He’ll just tell me to stay away from her, but I know I really need to help her.
Olivia brings me back to reality.  “So how are things with Hugh?”  She bats her eyelashes as she talks.
I blush and look at my shoes, “Really good, I think we’re ya know…”
She raises her eyebrows as her eyes widen, “You think?”
“Yeah I mean, I love him Liv.  I really think this is it.  He could be The One.”
She looks impressed, “The One?  Wow!  Good for you girl, I mean he’s a hottie!”
Laughing I say, “I know right?”
She high fives me and gives a word of advice.  “Just be careful OK?  Make sure you’re safe and all that.”
It’s times like these that it’s important to have a great best friend like mine.  “I will Liv, thanks.”
After practice that day I’m hanging out at Hugh’s reading a mystery book I’ve been trying to finish for over a month.  I take a break from reading to finish the PB and J sandwich Hugh made me for dinner.  Mostly he eats using his meal plan on campus so he doesn’t have a lot of food in the apartment.  It’s nice he offers to make me anything at all.  When I finish my dinner, I decide to ask Hugh a question that’s been plaguing my mind for weeks.
“Hugh, can I ask you something?”
He looks away from homework he’s working on.  “Sure, what’s up?”
“Why are my eyes yellow?  I mean they never were before, why are they now?”
He sets down his notebook, “Because you met me.  Cryptids have this ability to bring out features of other cryptids, it’s so other tribes can’t hide from us.  It’s more of a safety precaution; I’m probably the first one outside your family you’ve met.”
I nod as I think on this and go back to reading my book.  I guess he’s right, they were just boring brown until we actually talked.  I wonder what else meeting him has triggered within me.  I continue to read for a while and then as Hugh finishes his homework I decide to ask another question.
“Hugh?” I ask apprehensively.  I put down the book and I’m suddenly overly interested in the nail polish that I’ve been steadily chipping off for the past two days.
“Yeah?”  He looks back at me with a confused look.  
I sigh “I was just wondering, with the whole telepathy thing, it’s all about the genetics right?”
“Yes, it has to do with genetic inheritance.  You inherit your parents genes and with that the possibility to speak to them in your mind.  It’s a really unique ability.  My parents and I can do it, but only when were close and looking at one another.  Really strong cryptids, like yourself, can do it over long spaces.”  
He looks down, “That was another part of your dad’s study.  He wanted to see how far he could still speak to his father.”  
My eyes light up, I sit up so straight that I almost drop the plate on my lap.  “My grandfather died before I was born, does that mean…” my voice trails off as my hope builds.  
Hugh sighs heavily, “I’m sorry Shay, but once a cryptid dies their ability to communicate with their family dies with them.  They can’t connect with the living unless they’re a ghost, but I’ve never heard of a ghost who can get into your head.”  
I turn away, I think I already knew that answer, but the stinging behind my eyes says I didn’t want to believe it.  I rub my eyes in an effort not to cry.  I may never hear my father’s voice again.  I suddenly feel as though I wish I had more home movies or that I had listened to him better as a child.  Do I even know what he sounded like at all?  The tears stream down my face as I shake into an all out sob.  Hugh cradles me in his arms.  His compassion envelops me.  I can feel how much it hurts him to see me like this.  It comes out of him in waves, each time I choke out a stronger sob, he pulls me closer into him.  
I feel like my dad has disappeared all over again.  I really thought I would find him, I thought that Alo and Chenoa would have all the answers.  But instead I feel like they believe my worst fears, he’s gone and he’s never coming back.
Hugh puts his hands through my hair and looks at me straight in the eyes.  “I love you Shay Tafford.  I knew the minute I met you I was going to be with you for the rest of my life.  We will make it through this, I promise you.”
I choke back the tears and nod at him, “I love you too.”
I lean in to kiss him, slowly at first and then more passionate.  My emotions surge through me and what I’ve been feeling for Hugh over these past couple months rise to the surface of my skin.  I feel like I’m on fire as he runs his fingers down my face and wipes away my tears.  His hands move to my neck, tracing the lines of my collar bone following down to my chest.  He unexpectedly puts his hands underneath me and lifts me up.  Hugh carries me to the bedroom and lays me down on the bed.
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” he asks softly as he sits down next to me.
“Yes.”  I whisper, and for the first time since I’ve met Hugh, this is something I’m absolutely sure of.





Chapter 27

The soft sheets feel cool against my skin.  I pull them tightly around me as we sleep for a little while, just enjoying each other’s company.  Lying in Hugh’s arms I feel like there’s nothing in the world that I can’t handle.  When he stirs in his sleep I subconsciously move too.  It’s almost like there’s a magnetic force that pulls me whenever he moves.  I watch him closely and I decide to test out my theory while his eyes are still shut.  I move my hand up to his bare chest running my fingers over the grooves that shape his chest muscles.  He instantly turns so that more of his body is closer to me.  We really are tied together, I just must not have noticed it before.
When Hugh wakes up he looks at me with his beautiful yellow eyes.  No contacts tonight.  No need to hide when it’s just he and I.  He takes his hands and brushes the hair out of my face.  He settles his hand on my cheek for just a moment and it feels electric.  Like there’s a real spark between us.
He smiles, he must feel it too.  “I love you Shay.”
I close my eyes and push my face against his hand, “I love you too.”
After we lay there a while, just enjoying the bliss of being together I notice how late it is.
“I hate to do this, but I’ve got to get going.  School tomorrow.”  
He laughs, “Yeah not all of us get to sleep in till 11am.”
I hit him with the pillow and I move to get up.  He sits up in the bed wrapping the sheet around his waist as he pushes his back against the pillow.
“You sure you have to go?  I mean can’t Liv cover for you or something?”
I pull my jeans on, “No she can’t.  She got into a big mess when she lied about me staying at her place over our little trip.”
“Oh yeah,” he looks sheepish, “I forgot about that.”
“Yeah, way to go.” I smirk at him.
He reaches for me after my top is back on.  Hugh stands and runs his fingers through my long hair.  “You are so beautiful, do you know that?” he whispers in my ear.
I look over my shoulder to smile at him.  “Only when you tell me.”  I pause as he nestles his face in the thick dark strands.  “I’ll call you when I get home.”
“Night Shay,” is all he says as I make my way to the door.  I take one last look at him wrapped in his white sheet standing in his bedroom when I turn the knob and wave goodbye.
The next day at school I feel like it’s written all over my face.  I don’t want to tell the whole world, but I do want to tell one person, Olivia. 
I pull her into the senior lounge before school starts.  She’s texting and hardly sees me when I grab her by the coat sleeve.  Even though it’s getting warmer out you can always find Liv in the latest fashion trend.  Currently it’s canvas jackets and skinny jeans with matching boots.
She spins around on me in a second “Yo! What are you… Shay?  What’s going on?  You’re never here this early.”
“Valid point, however today I had to see you before school.”
She beams at me and turns her head slightly, “Why?”
“Because,” I look around afraid another senior will hear us, “because I, well see, Hugh and I we…”
Liv looks at me and winks.  “Come on, let’s go talk somewhere more private.”  She moves toward the door, making sure to give a flirtatious smile to some of the football players.  One gives her a fist bump as we pass.  She always did make friends easier than I could.
As soon as we’re out into the empty hallway she starts to gush, “Oh my God, oh my God, I want to hear all about, details now!”  She starts bouncing, I love to see her this excited.  We go to the girls’ bathroom where I hash out every single move, all the way to the calming spooning afterward.  She stands listening, smiling the whole time.  I love that about Liv, she never judges or asks inappropriate questions.
Just then my phone buzzes.  I already have it on vibrate to be ready for school.  It’s Hugh.
I need to see you NOW-H
Another one comes in just a second later.
Shay I need you, please meet me at the orphanage.-H
My jaw drops and my hand starts to shake.  Hugh never sends me texts like this, actually he hardly texts me while I’m at school.  He knows how strict our teachers are.
“Shay, what’s wrong, who is it?” Olivia asks concerned.
“It’s Hugh, he needs me.  I have to go.”  I turn away from her and start running down the hall.  The bell is close to ringing so I’m running straight into a crowd trying to walk the other way.  I bump into people as I rush through.
She yells after me, “I’ll cover for you, don’t worry.  Hope everything’s OK!”
I get to my car and speed to the orphanage.  I try calling Hugh over and over again but he doesn’t respond, it just keeps going to voicemail.  On the fifth time I slam my phone on the wheel.  Damn it Hugh, why aren’t you answering?
It only takes me ten minutes to get to the orphanage.  I see Hugh’s truck parked near the front of what’s left of the house.  I turn the car off but leave the keys in the ignition.  I run inside to the first floor yelling Hugh’s name the whole time.
“Hugh where the hell are you?”  I’m getting annoyed.  He knows I don’t like games.
Finally I hear a noise in the dining room at the back of the house.  It’s a construction zone in here.  I guess they finally decided to make it a museum after all.  I step around a couple of wooden horses with a two by four lying on top of them.
I get to the dining room to see a figure sitting at the head of a table with their back to me.  I’m surprised to see they’re already filling the place with furniture since they’re still doing construction.
“Hugh why are you dressed so weird?  A black hoodie?  I mean it’s not even that cold.”  I reach him and pull down his hood.  Hugh is taped to the chair with duct tape across his mouth.  His eyes bulge as he sees me.
“Hugh!  What happened to you?”  I rip the tape off of his mouth as I speak.
He whispers as soon as I remove the tape, “Shay get out of here, it’s a trap!”
“Why yes it is,” another voice says.
I spin around to see a dark man standing at the other end of the table.  He’s tall, he stands as straight as possible in order to make himself appear even bigger than he already is.  He has black hair like mine, but kept short and neat.  A man and a woman both dressed in black flank his shoulders, though slightly behind him.  I recognize the woman immediately, she’s the one from my dream about Wendy, Erika is her name.  The man is new to me.  He’s young, not much older than myself, he’s features aren’t like ours, he looks like he may be of Asian descent.  Looking at him I notice they have something wrong with their eyes.  They’re all a misty black.  It takes my breath away just looking at them.
“Hello Shay,” the man in the middle says with a disgusting smile.  His teeth appear to be rotted and blackened.
I stand next to Hugh, who’s still taped to the chair and I try to think of what to do.
I muster up as much confidence as I can, “Malsumis, so good to finally meet you.  I don’t really get why we’re here though.  You have my father and now you want my boyfriend?”  I pause and then continue, “Obsessed much?”  I hope that by sounding tough he’ll think I am tough.
He growls and his manly form shifts slightly at the edges.  Well that’s going to be fun to fight.  He stretches his neck and says, “Had.  I had your father, I no longer do.”  
He looks at me his eyes completely black but clouded gray with age.  “Trust me dear, I have no interest in these simple men.  Just you.  So yes I guess you could say I am slightly obsessed.”  He moves closer to me with speed I never expected.  He takes a chunk of my hair between his two fingers and runs them down the end, just missing the side of my chest.  “Can you blame me?” he whispers in my ear.  I can feel his hot breath on my cheek as he speaks.  I stand totally still, my fear has paralyzed me.
 I don’t even have time to block his first strike.  Malsumis backhands me across the face.  It stings terribly but I don’t fall.  I won’t break that easily.  Hugh yells for him to stop and tries to break free from the chair.  He fails and is forced to watch me stand beside him trying not to cry.
Malsumis and his followers laugh, it’s a sickening cackle that sets my teeth on edge.  
“Is that all you’ve got half breed?  I thought the prophecy couple was supposed to be the strongest cryptids alive.”
“WE ARE!” I yell as I stomp on his foot and grab him by the throat with both of my hands.  Unfortunately I’m just not fast enough.  The woman, Erika, pulls me off of him and grabs me around the waist.  I try to fight her off but the Asian man is too swift, he punches me hard in the chest.  I hear a snap before the pain comes.  It’s agonizing and I fall to the floor as soon as she lets me go.  
Malsumis comes over to his people specifically speaking to the Asian man, “Now, now, Timothy, I told you, I want the pleasure of killing her.”
The man, Timothy bows his head to Malsumis, “Yes Master.”
I look up from my place on the ground to see two small shadows in the corner.  But Malsumis only sees one.  “Ahh Wendy my dear.  Thank you for your help in getting the girl here.  Your information regarding their encounter last night fortified the truth that these are the two we’ve been looking for.”
Wendy looks shaken up.  “Can I have my daddy back now?” she says quietly, but hopeful.
“What, you didn’t like how I made you feel when we made him leave?  He told you that you killed your mother!  You should hate him for that.”  He gets very close to her face, but he still doesn’t notice Jeremy standing right beside her.  I’m guessing he can only see ghosts he controls.  Jeremy silently moves over to Hugh and while The Darkness and his groupies are focused on Wendy, he silently rips apart the tape keeping Hugh still.
Wendy is trembling, “I don’t hate him.  He didn’t mean it, you made him say it.  And then you made me push him.  But I didn’t want to!”
“Erika!” Malsumis yells at the woman, “Why is she remembering?  You told me your control was permanent!”
I watch from the floor as the woman steps back with her head bowed, “I thought it was Master, I don’t know what could have broken the control I had over her.”
He takes another step closer to her, she backs away slowly.  “Well you better get it back, shouldn’t you?”
She nods, “Yes Master of course.”  But before she can convince Wendy to come to her, the little ghost speaks again.
“I’m going to Alo, he will help me find him.  And you can be sure I’ll tell him you have his son.”  She stands there exuding authority with her words slicing through the morning air like a knife.  “Try and stop me.”  Just as quickly as she had arrived, Wendy totally disappeared.  
Malsumis and Timothy both turn to Erika, eyes full of hate. 
“Well go find her!” Malsumis shouts at her.
Erika turns on the spot and also vanishes into the air.
He turns to Timothy.  “I knew she wasn’t worth anything.  I told Erika to find one of those little brats I killed in the fire here at the orphanage.  They would be more powerful at the place where their blood was spilled.  Blood magick is by far the strongest.”  
I can’t believe it, he killed Jeremy, he’s the man in the black coat I’ve always heard about.  As my mom would say, life really does come full circle.
He sighs, “I guess it doesn’t matter though because by the time Alo and Chenoa come to find their beloved son, he’ll be dead, along with his mate.”
Timothy stands with his back to where Hugh is sitting, or maybe I should say was sitting.
“Doubt it.”  Hugh says standing behind Timothy.  Before the man has the chance to turn around to defend himself, Hugh takes a knife he was concealing near his ankle and jabs it into the side of Timothy’s throat.  Blood flows freely out of the open wound as Hugh removes the knife.  The man grabs his throat but falls to the ground.  He hardly stirs as he dies.  I try to stay focused even as the rust taste fills my mouth.  The blood covers the floor boards where he lays.  It pools around him and his head is directed towards me.  His face is turned towards me.  For the first time I see his eyes are completely black.  I feel like I can see the life die in his eyes. Once he passes his eyes turn a dull brown color.
I look for Jeremy, but he’s moved away and I can’t see him anymore.  I hope he’s gone to Alo though.  We’re going to need all the help we can get.
I stand up to help Hugh with Malsumis.   He’ll be a lot harder to handle than the other weaker opponent.  Hugh runs at him with the blade forward, but The Darkness is rapid in his movements and turns quickly into his favorite weapon, mist.  The black mist chokes us.  I struggle to breath and out of nowhere I feel the hit.
The final blow is to my head and it hurts, terribly, way more than the broken rib.  Suddenly I’m back on the floor and I can feel the blood seeping out of my head and sticking to my hair.  My eyes close, the pain is excruciating.  I simply can’t stay awake.
When I come to I keep my eyes shut.  I need a second to think.  I don’t know how long I’ve been out, it seems like an hour but I can only guess that mere minutes have passed.  The cold wood floor feels good against my skin and I focus on the relaxing feeling it’s giving me.  I need to think and fast, how am I going to get us out of here?  And that’s when I hear Hugh’s voice.  He’s pleading with him, telling him to let me go.  
“Take me!”  He says.  “Take me and leave her alone.  The prophecy is wrong; I’m the one you want.  I’m the stronger cryptid.”  
Wait, this all still has to do with the prophecy?  I bide my time while I listen.  
Malsumis’s voice is sickening.  “No, the prophecy has always been correct.  It’s the girl I need.  She is the key.  If I rid the world of her, the Mosi race will fall.  And you will fall with it.  A consolation prize if you will.”  
He laughs, it’s cold and dark.  
“I knew it was the two of you I needed to destroy when Wendy told me you consummated your relationship.  Never before has it gone so far between two cryptids from such different tribes.  No, it’s the girl I need, she will finish you all.”
So that’s what ties this all together?  The fact that I’m not a virgin anymore?  I need to think, I try to take deep breaths without being noticed.
I start to think about everything Hugh, Emina, Alo, and Chenoa told me about the Mosi.  I remember Emina explaining to me how to shift.  I wonder if Malsumis knows that some of us can shift.  I don’t even think I can change my appearance.  I tried so hard in Kentucky with no luck, but I think it’s our only shot out of here.  The element of surprise could be our only chance.  I hear him hit Hugh.  
Hugh doesn’t respond, but I know the sound of flesh hitting flesh.  I shudder at the thought of him being hurt, especially to save me.  I need to focus, I see myself in my head as a cat.  I think about the feeling of flying, even though I never felt it when Emina described it I can almost feel it now.  I center my mind on a small domestic black cat.  My head hurts but I push through the pain.  I breathe in through my nose and out of my mouth, just like Hugh taught me during yoga.  Today it seems to work, I feel more open.  I begin to think about becoming a cat again.  I’m a Mosi, I can do this.  I focus on the feeling of flying, the breeze in my hair.  I need to help Hugh; we must get out of here.  I touch my bracelet as I concentrate.
Suddenly, my whole body tingles.  I feel my hair shorten and my body change.  I continue to think about being a cat, retaining my thoughts and being able to control my actions.  When I open my eyes I feel stronger, more powerful, and suddenly like a natural born hunter.  My vision is clearer and the smell of the leftover blood is almost appealing to me.  I look down at my paws with amazement and I realize I’m no ordinary cat, I’m a big black cat, maybe even a jaguar.  This worked out to my benefit, especially when I see a second large cat in the room, it’s Hugh.  My change must have triggered his as well.  And the plan has seems to have worked.  Malsumis stands there shocked facing two enormous angry cats.





Chapter 28

“B… but how?” he stammers and for the first time he looks truly scared.  He tries to back away but he hits a wall.  There’s nowhere for him to go.  Hugh takes a swipe at him and catches him across the stomach.  Malsumis doesn’t become the fog and I can’t understand why.  Until I see the children, all twelve of Jeremy’s friends are surrounding the room holding hands.  I can hear them speaking, but it sounds like a different language.  I don’t know what they’re saying; all I know is it’s stopping Malsumis from escaping, for now.  Hugh nods at me; his big cat eyes glowing with hatred for the man with the cut stomach.
I nod back and pounce, directly over the table and crash on top of Malsumis.  He screams in agony as I bite down on his arm.  I want this to hurt.  My head is still pounding, but I focus all of my energy on killing him.  I take his arm totally in my mouth and I rip it off.  Blood runs down the floorboards and the ghosts disappear.  I can feel the current I used to feel with Wendy vanish.  As the feeling goes away, I watch Malsumis focus all his energy on me.  
He only says one thing, “You won’t find him, you know.”  
Instantly, he’s gone.  There’s just black fog under me as my bloodied paws land on the floor.
I look to Hugh, he growls at me and I know it’s over, for now.  He turns back into a person with ease, but it takes me time to think about being Shay again.  Shay with dark hair and blood running down my forehead.  Shay who has ten fingers and toes.  Shay who stands up on two legs, not four.  Finally I succeed in looking like my old self, but I’m exhausted and I need to lie down.  Hugh moves to steady me but now that I’m human the blood no longer appeals to me and I immediately get sick on the spot where Malsumis just laid.
Jeremy returns as Hugh holds me.  We’re sitting on a chaise lounge in the parlor now.  I needed to get away from the smell of blood.  His caretaker is with him.
Jeremy comes over to me and holds my hand.  “Shay,” he says earnestly, “you’re going to be alright.  Madame is going to help you alright?”
The older woman nods and comes over to me.  “Child, you tried to save us all.  Your kind keep us safe from The Darkness.  We owe you our souls.”  She takes her two old frail hands and touches my head.  A cold tingling ripples through my body.  I snuggle closer to Hugh for warmth and I rub my bracelet.  I take deep cleansing breaths before I open my eyes and then I feel better.  Not healed totally, but definitely better.  I sit up on my own.
“Wow, thank you!”  I rub my head and the wound is gone.  There’s still blood on my hands and face though.  My rib is also mended.  I lift my shirt to see remnants of a bruise, but it’s only light green and it looks like it will totally fade in just a couple days.
Jeremy looks at me, “You’ll have to rest for a few days, but after that you should heal totally.”
Hugh says thank you to Jeremy as we stand to leave the house.  I need to get away from this place, too many horrors here.  Jeremy’s death was just the beginning.  
I turn to Jeremy as we hit the last stone step.  “Did you know?”
“Know what?  That Madame could heal?  Well yes, some ghosts have special gifts.  If you have some abilities in life they become stronger in death.  But…”
I cut him off, “No, I mean did you know that Malsumis was the man in the black coat?  The one who set the fire?”
His face hardens, “Not until tonight.  We used as much energy as we could to help you, but some of the younger ones got scared when they saw the blood.  When they broke the circle, the control we had over him went as well.  Alo has taught us some magick to protect ourselves, only when we come together fully does it help others.  I’m sorry we couldn’t help you kill him.  I certainly don’t want to see him live for another fight.”
“We understand and we thank you for your help.”  Hugh nods as he throws my arm over his shoulder and practically carries me to my car.  He puts me on the ground only momentarily to open the passenger’s side door, before placing me inside.  He even buckles my seatbelt, I must look really bad.
After we’re both in the trusty Civic, Hugh rolls down the window.  
“Jeremy,” he says, “go tell my father we’re safe, for now.  Malsumis will have to heal before he can come after us again.”
Jeremy turns on the spot and he and Madame depart.
Hugh drives us to his apartment to get cleaned up.  I call my mom and tell her I got sick at school, but didn’t want to disturb her during finals.  I explain that Hugh came to pick me up.  She says she understands and that as soon as I’m feeling up to it to drive home and go to bed.
I text Olivia, so she knows to go by a similar story.  I tell her to not worry, Hugh is fine.  He’s just super sick with the flu and needed me to take him to the health center on campus.  She buys my story and tells me she’ll get my homework and drop it off later.
When we arrive at his place I immediately strip and go stand in the shower.  I feel like I need to wash this whole day away and I let the water crash down on me for almost an hour.  The heat makes my muscles feel at ease, but I’m just so sore.  It feels like I just ran a marathon.  Finally Hugh comes in and says he should take me home.
I dress in clothes I left here about a week ago.  Just some sweats and a hoodie, perfect for being pretend sick.  But with how I feel right now, I could have a really horrendous bug.  My whole body aches and my head is still pounding even though the massive cut is closed.  I examine it in the mirror, hardly even a shadow of a scar, she does good work.
I fight with Hugh but he still carries me up to my bedroom and puts me to bed.  He stays until my mom gets home and apologizes again for not calling her sooner.  He charms her as usual and she thanks him for taking care of me.
I sleep for two days.  I hardly think or eat.  I just want my eyes to be closed, I feel so much better when they are.  Both Hugh and Olivia come visit multiple times, they take shifts with my mom watching over me.  It’s really sweet.  Hugh explains to her he must have given me the bug he had.  She believes it easily knowing how much we’re together.  
Even Chad hangs out with me for a while.  He explains how he won’t get his DNA results back for about four more months and I breathe a sigh of relief.  I can’t put him in danger.  No one can know Chad might be a cryptid too.  
Once I’m finally feeling better and back to normal I go to school and life falls into a routine again.  Hugh says that Malsumis won’t strike for a while and that Alo is helping Wendy get her father back to our plane.  Everything feels calm for the first time in months.  I relax and focus on my last two months of high school.
The dress for Senior Shuffle comes in a few weeks later.  I had totally forgotten about it until it arrived on my doorstep.  I immediately call Olivia to gush about how absolutely perfect it is.  We make plans to go to a party at her house after the dance.  It’s going to be awesome.
Weeks go by and all I do is spend time with Hugh.  I didn’t return to track after my “illness” because I was too sore.  My mom said she understood and I got a job at the library to fill my time.  Hugh quit his security job and works at the library now too.  He thinks they’ll keep him on all summer.  Hugh visits home while I have finals and his mom sends back a beautiful painting of Mosi for me.
“I had no idea she was an artist!” I squeal as I hang the picture above my bed, where the little gray furball is currently napping.  She meows at me as I disturb her sleep.
Hugh laughs, “She only paints for certain people.  It’s her way of saying thanks, for what happened that day, how you saved us.”  He looks down to the floor.
We haven’t spoken about that day since it happened.  I finally feel like I can ask a question I’ve been dying to know.
“Hugh, why did you turn into a jaguar with me?”
He blushes, “Ever since we spent that night together there’s a connection between us.  A force if you will, we’re permanently tied together now, we’re a mating pair.  When the stronger Mosi of a mating pair feels imminent danger and they shift, so does their mate.  You have the ability, when you really want to, to turn into a jaguar.  I asked my parents about it and they even consulted the elders, we have no idea why you can do that.  Or why I could.  They think perhaps your tribe was from a land where jaguars run free and were used in the sacrifice, but no one knows.  And the only explanation they have as to why I turned into one is because we fulfill the prophecy.  The one that says our pairing will be like no other that has come before it.”
All I can do is nod my head.   There is still a lot to learn, but now I feel like I have the time to learn it.





Chapter 29

Graduation goes by without a hitch, except for the kid who mooned half the stadium, but I guess he wouldn’t call it a hitch since he planned to display his ass to the world.  The valedictorian, who beat me out by one measly tenth of a point, reads our names and our principal, Mr. Victor, hands us our diplomas and shakes our hands.  I don’t feel much of anything really.  I’ve been waiting for this day to come for almost two years and I can hardly contain how bored this whole process makes me.  But in the crowd there are people who love me; Chad, though looking like he might be sleeping, my mom, tearing up I’m sure, and Hugh, already dressed for tonight and thus, has about five married women staring at him.  It feels good to know I have a family, a real one that loves me no matter what happens in my life.  
We throw our caps into the air as Greenday’s I Hope You Had The Time Of Your Life is blaring through the speakers.  I meet my family on the football field for pictures, posing with Hugh and Olivia, smiling bigger each minute.  I can’t help but think it’s almost time to party.
Hugh drives me to my house to get changed for the dance.  I hate his old pickup truck, but I know he’s proud of it so I don’t say anything.  He actually washed it for tonight and everything.  Besides we left my car at Liv’s so we could drive home separate tomorrow.  Hugh has to go to work and luckily I get to sleep in at Olivia’s.
Hugh looks dashing in his black suit with matching thin black tie.  He has his hair slicked to one side which highlights his chiseled face.  I notice he’s wearing green contacts tonight, my favorite color on him.  The gold beneath makes them appear a light green, different than anyone else.  We are different from everyone else.  
I run upstairs to change quickly; we only have an hour to get ready before Senior Shuffle starts.  I reach into the closet and pull out the black short feather dress Olivia and I picked out in early spring.  It has huge stones on the top and ostrich feathers all through the bottom, leading eyes to my nicely defined runner’s legs.  Even though I left track, my awesome legs remain.  
I heat up a curling iron as I do my makeup.  Purple compliments my semi-gold eyes well, so I pull the color straight across my eyes.  I start to attempt to curl my hair, but the Mosi straightness returns after mere minutes so instead I decide to pull it on top of my head and to the side and go with a spikier look.  Chad is definitely going to say I look like apocalypse princess tonight.  I grab the huge heels Olivia let me borrow and sit on the floor to put them on.  
Mom yells up the stairs, “Shay, it’s time to go!”  I take one last look in the mirror and practically fall over.  There is no way I’m getting down carpeted steps in these things!  I quickly take them off and grab some flip flops; I’ll put them back on in the car.
I head down the stairs and my mom snaps about a hundred pictures before she realizes I’m carrying my shoes.  “Shay Tafford, is that any way to greet a gentleman?”  She puts a hand on her hip, the other still holding the camera.  
Hugh smiles at me, “I don’t see any gentleman here Mrs. Tafford.”  She eyes him suspiciously and so he continues with, “All that I see is the most beautiful girl in the world.”  He’s won her over again and she smiles as she nods and pushes us together for pictures.  
Chad casually leans on the door frame to the living room, he whispers to me as I pass, “You look awesome Shay.  Dad would’ve been proud.”  
I look at him briefly taking a deep breath, “Bye guys,” is all I say as we get back into the truck and head to the dance.
The drive back to the school isn’t awkward, no time with Hugh is anymore.  We talk about summer plans and who we think will show up with whom.  I remind him he’s coming with me next week to pick out colors for my new dorm room.  “I don’t see why I have to go, you and your mom have excellent taste.”  
“Flattery won’t get you outta this one buddy, but nice try.”  
He laughs, “It was, wasn’t it?  How is she taking the switch by the way?”
I told Mom last night that I wouldn’t be going to James Madison in the fall.  Instead I’ll be going to Eastern Virginia University to be with Hugh.  I thought she’d be disappointed, but instead I think she was a little relieved.  I think she’s just glad to see me staying close to home, not to mention free schooling as long as I keep up my grades.
“She did better than I thought.  She’s happy I’m staying in the dorm for the first semester, I won’t spring on her that I’m moving in with you until Christmas.  It’ll help her process.”
He laughs, “Ah yes, it’s all about the process with her isn’t it?”
We arrive to the school just in time, about fifteen minutes late.  Walking in it looks just as I imagined, crappy.  Crepe paper draped off the basketball hoops and a disco ball hanging in the center of the gym.  The music is already blaring and I can see Olivia dancing close with the football captain, Josh Cole.  He’s a cute guy, blonde hair with deep green eyes.  He’s wearing a suit, I’m sure at Olivia’s request, but he should be glad he listened to her, he looks hot.  
Hugh sees where my eyes are focused and he leans in to whisper in my ear “He’s just OK.   Should we show them how it’s really done?” 
I half smile at him, he knows I love to dance.  I have rhythm in my blood.  I guess I know where my flexibility comes from now.  I raise an eyebrow as he leads me to the dance floor.  His feet and hips start to move with the change in tempo as Party Rock Anthem blasts through the speakers.  I don’t even realize I’m moving as I fall into the beat.  I wave to Olivia and Josh as I really start to move, my hips shaking as I break into a shimmy.  Hugh looks suddenly impressed, a hunger in his eyes I’ve learned can produce some pretty strong feelings for later on in the night.  He brings me close and as we dance his hands wrap expertly around my body.  He touches me in ways that feel like we’re the only two in the room.  I close my eyes and just feel the music and his breath in my ear. 
“Did I tell you how absolutely gorgeous you look tonight?” 
I respond, “Only about a million times.” 
“Well, that’s not enough, so how about a million and one?” 
I laugh as he spins me around.  We rock out to the song and then it changes into a slower tune. We dance close, but he raises my hand and I think we start to waltz.  I am not a waltz type of girl, so I don’t even know if that’s what it is, but it makes me feel classy.  A guy who makes me feel like a classy gal, how did I get this lucky?  I see Olivia giving me a thumbs-up out of the corner of my eye.  I smile broadly; this is exactly what I’ve always wanted.  
When I first met Hugh on that bench in the Quad I knew something was happening but I didn’t realize I had met my soul mate or my cryptid mate, someone I would be with forever.  It’s so weird that just a few months ago I knew I was different, but I never realized how different, or as Hugh would say how special, I am.  Now I have a whole race depending on me.  I feel like I’m having that dreamy moment that I thought was stolen from me the night my dad disappeared.  I know that the fight is not yet over, but as I enter college this fall, I know I’ll have Hugh by my side.  We’ll conquer our new adventures together and I feel strong knowing that.  As Hugh looks into my eyes he suddenly spins me out and then close to him.  He looks to me and says “I love you Shay.”  As I go to respond, I hear a voice in my head, a voice I never thought I would hear again. 
“Shay. Run. They are coming. Shay! Go now!”  
My face must go white because Hugh looks at me so concerned that his mouth is open.  He brings me closer to him and we become still.  
“We have to go, NOW!”  I start panicking looking around wondering if they’re already here, coming for us.  
“Shay, how do you know?  What are you talking about?”  Hugh searches my eyes desperately while he holds my hands in his.  
“My dad just told me.”  His eyes grow wide and with that, the lights go out and the screaming begins.
About the Author
Brina Courtney is a young adult author obsessed with chocolate, crime shows, and fantasy movies.  She lives in a small town in Pennsylvania with her husband and two very loud, small dogs.


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