Wolf Sirens: Forbidden: Discover The Legend Page 7

  We walked in silence down the hallway to the nearest door.

  Cresida stopped then and stared like a stunned animal, not gazing but listening, or so it seemed. She snapped out of her trance quickly though and sniffed the air like a deer. Her oily hair caught in the breeze.

  She sniffed.“I’ve missed two to save you, keep you safe. I can’t keep it up,” she said walking on out into the daylight, seemingly not caring if I understood.

  “ Two what?” I enquired.

  “Angie and Shelly Bealy.”

  I backtracked, trying to ignore her strange behaviour. “Missed them?” I asked staring at her pale elfin features. I knew I could understand if she gave me a chance.

  She stretched, arching her back to the sun, arms out she looked decidedly more feminine. She was taller than me.

  “It’s safe,” she assured me and I wondered, safe from what, exactly?

  I thought, What have they done to get this fear from you?

  “Ha, do you think I’m afraid? That I am afraid of them?” she said snickering madly. (Only later would I think back and realize the humour it must have tickled in her). “I don’t think it should be my job anymore, they are using you as a distraction.” Her eyes didn’t look at me when she spoke.

  I ignored her gibberish. “Why are you warning me away?” With force I remembered, shuddering. I hoped she didn’t see the goose bumps on my arms as I tensed my body. I swallowed.

  “I showed you why.”

  I knew she meant the footage. “Are they really wol…wolves, Cresida?” My throat was dry. I waited, genuinely interested to know what she would say.

  Her answer was a question. “Do you think they are? Do you think I am?” She stared wide-eyed at me.

  I shifted under the intensity. “What?” I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t going to say it.

  I tried to tell myself to stick to the plan, keep her talking then get to the office as soon as it opened, with or without raiding her bag, which contained the incriminating USB footage. I did not like the idea of fighting her for it.

  “Tell me why you’re not friends with them anymore.”

  “Let’s just say I’m one of them, but not friends with them, or you.” She looked me up and down. “And you don’t have a clue what you are.”

  I wondered what she thought that was.“Okay, Cresida. Let’s say they are wolves acting like humans, okay? What interest do they have in me?”

  “Lunch,” she suggested quickly, as though the idea had just struck her.

  “Where did you get that footage?” I was curious. “I follow them closely.”

  “You spy on them?”

  “Yes, it’s my job –was,”she corrected with disdain. “What did they do to you?”

  She looked away then. I’d struck a raw nerve. I knew sadly that it couldn’t be her ‘job’ to watch these kids and that she was delusional, she hadn’t filmed it. She had been given it or taken the video from someone. I was fearful for myself then. I began to believe she was schizophrenic, I’d seen kids like her on Documentary Television. I wondered if she was violent and remembered the knife in my pocket and, suddenly feeling clumsy next to her, I knew at once I wouldn’t be able to use it.

  I thought of something to say. “Did they pay, or tell Tealy,Monica and Angie to not show me around?”

  “Very perceptive.”

  The words sounded hollow, she wasn’t impressed.

  “Just as well, Angie is taken.” She shrugged. Her eyes were clear and steady. “This has taken a few twists and turns but they want you in their group

  -I want you to infiltrate. I can’t fight it, it’s inevitable.” She sounded sad, surrendering even. “Sky, Reid and I will watch you, it’s safer, then I can watch the town, keep it safe from the other pack, until you figure it out.” She sighed. I wondered what it was she wasn’t saying.

  “But, I’ll be watching, now they have all decided to have you join them.”

  She sounded broken. I knew she needed help.

  “Did they haze you?” I asked sympathetically.

  “No.”

  This was more than the first time a bullying theory had been shut down, first by Giny then by Tealy. If it wasn’t teasing or hazing, what was it that was going on?

  “You will take them down from the inside, it’s perfect-” She seemed inspired, adding -“when you figure it out.” She seemed to be thinking intently in the silence after she spoke. “I’ll protect you, remember?” She looked into my eyes, maybe searching for confirmation.

  I blurted, “Cresida, are you nuts?” I realized my comment might anger her.

  She glanced at the angel tattoo on my wrist.

  “Think about it, think about who you are.” She waited for an answer. In the short silence she concluded, “I’ll be watching.” With that she took off. I didn’t try to chase her for more answers; she didn’t make any sense, nothing she said had. She was living in another world. It was nearly office opening hours. I headed back into the school, down the hall. If I couldn’t convince Principal Crealy of anything else, apart from Cresida’s need for physiological help, then that is what I would do. The only thing that really bothered me was whether or not they had caused her to go nuts. Would the school send her away? I thought. Was the clique taking advantage of her mental behaviour? If they were, this situation was possibly worse than I had contemplated.

  I guessed my future wasn’t here in Shade Public High, I doubted I could integrate, and I didn’t want to. Maybe mum could send me to boarding school. I thought maybe dad could pay. I knew they would be livid whether I was doing the right thing or not. A ringing sound jolted me then, but it wasn’t the school bell. The fire alarm had gone off as I walked back into the office. I turned around again and strolled back down the hall and out the front of the building. Everyone had to evacuate.

  “This is not a drill,” boomed the loud speaker. “Please evacuate calmly.”

  As a small panic ensued, kids spread out the front and drew together in groups. An interested crowd was gathering. I walked past the bus stop and towards home. Students running up the path who passed me on the way to school were in an excited flurry saying things like: “-the sprinklers are going to come on!” - “Hey, a drill!”, “was there a break in?”

  “Oh, my God, I hope my project doesn’t get burnt!”screeched an agitated junior girl to her friends. “Is it a real fire?” replied her friend. I knew Principal Crealy would be busy this morning, too busy for the crazed accusations of a non-existent hazing, from the new girl, who had promised to avoid trouble here.

  Rigidly I walked away from the gathering crowd and further than was necessary. I stopped at a corner store a few streets from the school. A fire truck screamed past towards the high school and I watched from inside the store as it as it sped past the shop window, lights flashing.

  I picked out a snack.

  “You don’t happen to know the high school kids around here?” I asked. The lady behind the counter pushed buttons on a keyboard and glared back at me.

  “That’ll be four-eighty,” she said, then sighed. “Which ones?” Her tone made me think she’d seen a few.

  “Sam, and Giny?” I enquired “And their boyfriends…Sky and Reid.” This wasn’t accurate but I doubted she cared. I didn’t know or recall their last names, and then I remembered “Harton, Davies… Sam Thompson’s friends?”

  She seemed to relax. She bent down and grabbed something out from under the counter. A book was plunked in front of me on the counter top.

  “Is there anything else you want?” she asked, opening it. I could see it was a tab as she wrote $4.80 in print on the page, and the date. She then looked at me. “What’s your name?” I thought hard if this could work to my benefit. I couldn’t say anyone else’s name, could I? She knew their faces, I had to assume, and I didn’t want to say my own name.

  “Um, I’m new,” I mumbled, “so, I’ll just, pay cash.” I fumbled in my wallet, flustered.The store attendant scribbled the line out and shut th
e book with a thud. I saw written at the top: ‘Sam Thompson’s account’.

  She gave me change and I rushed out before I had to try to explain anything.

  Sam or her parents were well enough off to pay for all of her gang’s food supplies and it seemed all you had to do was mention you were one and you could rack up a tab, no questions asked.

  I sat at the nearest stop then and chewed my snack, pondering the whole situation. My appetite was on hiatus; I couldn’t taste the nutty mass in my mouth. Cresida was a disturbed individual and perhaps I had indulged her. The only thing on my mind was the clique and Cresida. There was no doubt in my mind that she was the one who set off the fire alarm, though I couldn’t imagine how so quickly, unless she had an accomplice with perfect timing.

  I thought only about her, trying to put the pieces together. She was smart, strong for a girl, especially one still in high school - or anyone, for that matter. What was her deal? Was she crazed? Had no one cared to notice? It seemed to me that the school system had failed to notice her. After more long thought I grabbed the next bus. It wasn’t filled with students returning home, to my surprise. The alarm must have been verified as false; everyone was probably already repopulating the building. Before I could even contemplate whether to return I was interrupted. My phone rang. I answered it. It was my new best friend, I thought sarcastically – Sam.

  “Hey you, where are you?”

  I supposed this was where I was meant to offer a plausible excuse for my absence from practice.

  I cleared my dry throat. “Why are you guys so interested in me?” I questioned. I felt hostile.

  “You’re new! Come on, don’t be all shy on us - we thought we’d ditch and go to the creek. We’ll pick you up at your place? And Reid thinks you’re hot.”

  I blushed.I decided it was just paranoia; Cresida’s craziness was rubbing off on me. I had a million thoughts in my head, Cresida warned me to stay away and then said I should ‘infiltrate’. Why? I had a tendency of not doing what I was asked to, it went against the grain. But I couldn’t stay away. My silence was broken by Sam’s voice.

  “Are you doing something else?” she inquired.

  “I’m on the bus.” It seemed now that Cresida had tried to keep me from them and then seemingly given up and pushed me toward them.

  No, I wasn’t doing anything else, but if I was going to be roped into this, I wanted insurance. “Can I tell my mum first?”

  Her reaction was surprised. “Won’t she wonder why you’re not in school?”

  “I’ll tell her it’s closed the whole day.” However I had guessed it wasn’t and that in a small town this information would reach her soon, especially at work.

  “Okay,” Sam agreed, “we’ll pick you up at your house.”

  “Okay,” I replied, feigning a smile even though she couldn’t see me.

  “Good, see you soon.” She hung up before I could tell her where I lived. Giny must have been with her. I wondered if maybe I had agreed to meet them because I needed to get out of my head. I slipped the knife from my jumper pocket to my backpack. I didn’t need more time to think about what had happened to me. What did she mean Reid thought I was hot?

  Sure enough, as my bus arrived at the main road nearest my house, there was the black car on the adjacent street, the clique was smiling, leaning against the black car and my heart thudded in my chest. I said “Bye” to my mum whom I had called and shut the phone. My pulse raced. The boys were there too, leaning against a blue pickup. Reid and Sky and another boy I didn’t immediately recognize. He looked strong, too, and maybe he was the boy doing tricks at lunch? As I departed the bus I could see that he was in fact the guy doing handstands and acrobatics on the lawn the day before, for entertainment. The guys jumped into the sturdy blue pickup and waved as I approached.

  Sam waved at me too. “Jump in!” she called from the sedan. Lily looked unimpressed, her arms folded. She got in the car slamming the door. Giny bounded over and gave me a hug. It felt uncomfortable, though it was meant to put me at ease. She was cooler than the others in temperature, normal to cold, I guessed because she was so thin. I imagined them as beasts, the way they were in the video. I felt her bones as we embraced awkwardly. If they were werewolves, Giny couldn’t be, but she had to know they were, if Cresida did? I was being silly letting her get to me; it was probably what they wanted. I felt assured that while Giny was there, alive and well, so would I be. Cresida had said she was tired of protecting me from them - that it was fate. I didn’t know what would happen but I couldn’t just go home. And besides, Cresida James was unhinged, I reminded myself.

  “I wasn’t sure you’d show,” Sam said. I blushed recalling how I had ditched practice. Her voice wasn’t spiteful however and she eyed the blue truck as it swung around and drove past us.

  “Woohoo!” screamed a booming male voice out the window as they drove too fast by the car. Giny giggled. I jumped at the sudden noise. I thought how it would have been far safer to see them in school than out in the middle of nowhere. Against all my instincts I followed Giny, jumping in the back of the black sedan.

  “What did your mum say?” Sam asked. She was doing most of the talking. Lily was giving me the cold shoulder, I couldn’t understand why. I wondered if it was because I missed the practice.

  “Um, not much.” I shrugged shaking my head.

  “Jeez, I wish my olds were like that.”Giny laughed beside me.

  “Yeah,” said Bianca from the front. “I would have had the Spanish inquisition.”

  “Mine think I am in Home Ec. right now,” said Giny.

  The chorus of words came then and flowed, the type that came from excitement of anticipation. We were headed for the river. When there was a moment I asked, “Why does Cresida James hate you guys?” I did my best to sound innocent. There was a sudden silence.

  Giny spoke. “She used to be friends with us, but she fell in with a bad crowd and started going to raves and drinking and now she’s like a drug addict or something,” she said quickly.

  “Giny, that’s not nice,” Sam intervened. “She had a really long depression after she and Sky broke up and, well, I don’t want to gossip but her parents aren’t exactly present.” She trailed off. The subject was quickly changed. Where were her parents? For that matter, where were Sam’s? Too rich to care, I assumed. It seemed Cresida’s had abandoned her. I wondered why.

  I saw Sam glance at me in the rear vision mirror as she drove and maybe I felt a little bad for bringing her up.

  “Who wants pizza?” she called, pulling a little too fast into the pizzeria parking lot. Giny leant over and flicked on the radio and some dance music with heavy base thumped in our ears as we waited. I scoffed when I saw the pile of pizzas. Obviously these girls didn’t care about their weight.

  “Some are for the boys,” Lily said flatly, leaning over to turn down the radio, the first words she’d spoken since I’d joined them.

  I hoped I wasn’t on the menu for desert.

  “Where exactly are we going? I told my mum I’d be back by 3.30,” I lied, because the only thing Sophie cared about was that I was happy and with some friends, not getting into trouble. She was good like that. I felt surprisingly comfortable in the back of the car surrounded by four menacing girls.

  We drove out to a secluded area just off the main road covered in thick velvet green grass outside of town. I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I should have been. The air was warm and there was a contagious atmosphere of wistfulness in the car. It was a Friday, we had escaped school and I felt almost as if I was with old friends. I wanted to let loose and it seemed they did to. The dirt road blazed with winter sun as we rolled in. We were headed to the creek. Large pine trees rimmed it. I knew only that this was the site of Cresida’s downfall according to Tealy and Monica’s observations at lunch yesterday. Despite what Sam tried to spin me on, I was starting to think Cresida was more coherent than everyone wanted to believe. I thought about what they had said in the car as we go
t out, about how Cresida’s parents were ‘not present’ but I didn’t dare bring her up again and shatter the mood. The blue truck was there, parked on the pine needles. My pulse beat again. I was nervous around boys, whether they were interested in me or not - especially if they were. Reid was the big darkhaired one. I hoped Sam was just teasing when she had called me this morning.

  I flipped my phone open and called mum, while the others walked down across the grass through the trees to the sand at the edge of a river. It was better they didn’t pay attention to me. It went to voice mail.

  “Hi, mum, I’m at the creek with Sam and the girls, okay?” I didn’t worry that she wouldn’t know where this was. I just needed to know that she had a rough idea, just in case. So the police would know where to find me if this went bad.Though it wouldn’t save me…I shuddered. Part of me hoped Cresida was watching. But I knew she was possibly suffering from some disorder, some mental illness. I felt silly I’d let her rattle me, but the kidnap was still too real and violent to ignore and I needed to tell someone other than Cresida, who wasn’t exactly sympathetic.

  8. The River

  As I approached the dry sand creek perimeter, which framed a stream edged by scattered granite boulders, I heard a plane fly overhead in the receding overcast clouds. I could see the remnants of fires that had burnt there, marked by charred circles in the grainy white sand. Sky was visible through the pine trees as he strolled over the bed of pine needles in our direction. I gazed, thinking he was even more attractive from a short distance as he approached. His features weren’t perfect but something about him drew my eyes. His face was tanned which made his eyes pop like sparkling sapphires above his cheekbones. He was dressed in the same casual clothes he wore at school, in a blue striped T-shirt and jeans. He was tall and as he moved towards the pile of pizzas Giny and Sam balanced in their arms. I noticed how broad his shoulders were and how tall he really was. He looked like a Giant next to Giny in comparison. Sam was taller, her head came to his shoulders; I noticed this as she hugged him and he patted one loose arm around her back. The pizzas were placed down onto the sand as there were too many to balance on the makeshift logs that everyone used as seats and there weren’t enough logs for everyone, so I sat on the gravelly sand. It was dry and not as uncomfortable as I’d expected.