The Waking (The Upturned Hourglass), page 14
“A moth,” Valie murmured, refusing to meet her eyes. She stared out the window again as she tried to come to terms with what she was hearing. It felt like she was getting bombarded from the home front when Luci, her best friend, was supporting Jack’s ideas.
“Right. A moth. I mean, that would explain a lot, don’t you think? My whole obsession with every supernatural thing I hear about. Why I find otherworldly reasons for everything. Even our friendship would…” She cut herself off.
“…Would actually make sense if I was part werewolf.” It was Valie’s turn to finish the difficult sentences.
Luci looked away. “Yes…Is it really that horrible to imagine?” she began to plead. “Why are you acting like it would be the end of the world? You’re still the same person! It’s not like you’ve changed. And hey! Maybe you could even learn some things about yourself. It’s an opportunity, Valie, not a death sentence. And if the rest of what they’re telling you is true, then maybe it’s in your best interest to believe them!”
“So you just want me to accept this?” Valie asked, incredulous. “You want me to accept werewolves and Vampyres and moths and whatever other crazies might be out there? You want me to accept that my own father is one of them? That I’m one of them? Why? Why should I believe all of that?”
Luci remained calm as Valie’s anxiety heightened. It was what made their bond so strong; they balanced each other. “You might not have a choice, Valie. And it would be better to walk down a path than get dragged down it.”
Valie shook her head. “You know I love you and I appreciate you not calling me insane or anything for all of this, but I can’t give up my reality that easily, Luc. I just can’t.”
“You can. You just won’t,” she muttered, finally frustrated. This was the kind of scenario she’d always dreamed about and yet Valie was the one having her life turned upside down.
Valie sighed and leaned back against one of the tall, white posts of Luci’s bed. “Fine. I’ll admit that I really do believe them, but what about the stuff about my dad? What if he really does want to kill me?”
Luci’s excitement over the topic waned. “I think that you should go out on a limb to find out as much as you can without making any huge decisions.”
“That simple, huh?” Valie said sarcastically. She doubted anything was going to seem simple for a long, long time.
Luci smiled. “No. Probably not. But it is a once in a lifetime shot. I wouldn’t want you to regret passing it up.”
“Translation—You’re intrigued and want to know more.”
Luci laughed into the pillow she was holding and pushed her glasses back into place. “Yeah, pretty much. But I am thinking of you, too. If your dad is really as dangerous as Jack, Shane and Noah seem to believe, then I think you have to learn all you can.”
“Yeah…right.”
“While you’re at it can you ask about my moth-hood?”
“Moth-hood? Really?”
She ignored Valie’s cynicism.
“Please?” Luci begged.
“We’ll see.”
The girl sighed and looked at her with sad, puppy-dog eyes that quickly made Valie relent. “Fine! Fine. I’ll ask, okay?”
“Thank you!” She leaned across the bed and hugged Valie around the neck. “You realize I love you no matter what, right? If you’re human or werewolf or both or whatever.”
“I don’t really think that’s the issue, Luc, but thanks,” Valie laughed.
That wasn’t the issue at all. Valie needed answers to her questions—questions she wished would just cease to exist—and unfortunately Jack and the others seemed to be the only ones that could help her.
She looked out the window and caught another glimpse of a big wolf-dog across the street. Instead of fueling her frustration, a sense of expectation washed over the girl. Tomorrow would be the first day of a new life, a new reality. And, little did she know at the time, the conversation of that night would be the last real heart to heart she would have with her best friend for a very long time.
Valie couldn’t sleep that night; she was back to her usual topsy-turvy sleep schedule. What a night to lose the ability to sleep like a normal human being. Oh wait. That was right. She might not be a normal human being.
Valie tossed and turned on Luci’s floor in her heavy sleeping bag until, eventually, she gave up. In an effort to follow her instincts as Luci had suggested, she walked down the staircase in nothing but her pajamas and a heavy overcoat. Her instincts told her that she would not be satisfied enough to go to bed until she had spoken to Jack.
Valie opened the heavy front door to the townhouse, closing it deftly behind her. Barefoot, she made her way down the damp, rain-washed steps onto the sidewalk and, almost immediately, a wolf trotted up from across the street. This wolf looked like the lean husky-like wolf that Valie had seen in the park and she wasn’t surprised to find gray eyes encased in the canine skull.
“Hey, Noah,” Valie greeted uncertainly, as she clutched her coat around her. She was getting cold. “I don’t suppose you can…you know…talk?”
The wolf gave an almost frustrated grumble before it ran away across the street behind a tall row of oleander lining the wall of a large house. A minute or so later, a lithe Noah sauntered across the street, pulling a dark t-shirt over his head. The kid was as skinny as Valie thought him to be, but he was muscular, too. She wondered if that was part of the werewolf persona, the trim bodies with practically zero body fat.
She shivered as Noah approached. He saw the minute reaction and slowed, stopping a few feet away.
“You’re up late,” he observed in his eternally calm voice.
“I don’t usually sleep at night.”
“Ah.”
The two watched each other for a time as Valie shifted from foot to foot, willing them not to freeze.
“You’re cold. You should go inside.”
Valie ignored his concern. She was still trying to disregard that feeling of trust beneath her fear that came with their presence.
“Why are you here, Noah?”
“To guard you.”
“Right. Of course,” Valie said without an ounce of conviction. She still couldn’t believe their entire story, though the werewolf part was becoming difficult to deny.
“Why did you come out here?” he inquired.
“I couldn’t sleep, so I followed a friend’s advice and followed my instinct.”
“Interesting.”
“Not really,” Valie laughed. She still felt insane, but more comfortably so.
“You should probably try to get some sleep,” Noah suggested.
“One question and then I’ll go.”
Noah smiled more naturally. “Alright, then.”
“When I asked why you guys think Luci is a moth, Jack pointed at you as an explanation. What was that all about?”
Noah seemed to find this question easy. “Before I was bitten, I was a moth, like your friend. Once I became a werewolf, that ability to sense the supernatural, that draw, heightened. I can sense and identify any of the Occult.”
“And you…sensed Luci?”
Noah nodded.
“I see.”
Noah cocked his head to the side, appearing very dog-like for a moment in time. It was interesting to Valie how their mannerisms seemed to changeover from one form to another. “Do you really see?”
“No,” Valie said with an honest smile. “But I do have more of an idea.”
An upstairs light turned on in Luci’s townhouse. It was coming from her parents’ room.
“I have to go!”
“Good night,” Noah said seeming in no rush himself.
“G’night!” Valie whispered loudly as she ran up the front stairs on her numbing feet. She tried to dry them before entering the house, but there wasn’t much time. She padded into the foyer and up the stairs after relocking the front door. Luckily neither of Luci’s parents came out of their bedroom as Valie wandered back to Luci’s room. One of them must have gotten up to use the bathroom.
Once inside the room, Valie quickly stepped to the window and looked out on the street. Noah was still standing where she left him, but now he was talking on a cell phone raised to his ear.
“She’s fine,” he said firmly as if he’d said it a million times. Valie’s heart fluttered as her mind went to Jack. “No.” Pause. “I don’t know why, but she doesn’t.” Doesn’t what? Valie thought. “Because she came out here.” Pause. “Yes.” Deep sigh. Long pause. “Fine…It’s alright…I know…See you.”
He closed the phone with a snap that echoed on the damp streets. He glanced up at the window unexpectedly and Valie quickly pulled away out of sight. Without looking out, Valie heard some rustling of the bushes and a moment later the click, click of dog nails tapping on the sidewalk.
After settling back down, she fell into a fitful sleep for the next few hours with only dreams of werewolves and dark blue eyes to comfort her.
The next morning, after Mr. and Mrs. Whitworth had left for their respective jobs and Luci and her brother, Jimmy, had reluctantly left for school, Valie was left to stare at the canopy of Luci’s bed as she lay comfortably on the mattress. Valie had dressed, intending to go to school with Luci, but when it came time to leave, she couldn’t make herself go. In the face of so many trials, it all seemed so trivial, now—school, classes, Candace, parties. None of it mattered, because…well, the werewolves would be waiting for her.
What she didn’t expect, however, was that when she came down the stairs to find something to eat, they would be waiting for her inside the house.
“What are you doing in here?” Valie demanded, wide-eyed and incredulous as she gawked at Jack and Shane who sat, relaxed, on the Whitworth’s leather couch. “Don’t you know breaking and entering is a crime?”
Jack rose from the couch and clasped his hands behind his back. It was a formal posture that oddly fitted him.
“Human law doesn’t really concern us,” he stated simply. When Valie didn’t reply—or even move—he went on. “You’re up.”
Valie rolled her eyes. “Brilliant deduction. I’ll ask again. What are you doing in here?”
“Time is short. Isaac--“
“My father who wants to kill me,” Valie interjected the epithet with resentment.
The boy scowled at the stubborn girl in front of him. “Yes,” he growled. “Your father will most likely return in twenty-four hours and we need to be gone long before that.”
“I can’t run from a man I’ve never met! A man who might not even be my father! Maybe it’s just some huge mix-up! Maybe if we just talked to him….”
“No,” Jack growled. “Talking would be the worst possible course of action. Talking will get us killed.”
“You just want me to pack up and leave? With you two?” Valie descended the final stair and drew herself closer to Jack to squarely face him. She was resolved to learn all she could as Luci had counseled, but she didn’t know exactly how far she was willing to go for that kind of information.
“Three,” said Noah as he exited from the kitchen. He was newly dressed, but something about him still looked tired.
Valie smiled at the boy in greeting. He didn’t smile back, but something about him softened.
“Sweets,” Jack said in earnest drawing Valie’s attention back to him. “We need to—” Jack’s cell phone buzzed, cutting him off. He glanced wearily from the unpromising scene in front of him to the electronic screen.
It was Isaac.
He motioned for everyone to be quiet as he answered. By the look on Jack’s face, even a confused and wary Valie obeyed the command.
“Hello, Isaac.”
Valie’s ears pricked. On the other end of that phone call, her father might be speaking at this very minute. The rational side of her brain rejected such a senseless notion, but she found hope alive inside of her nonetheless.
“Yes,” Jack responded, clenching his jaw in response to something the other speaker had said. “All right . . . fine. We’ll be there. . . .Yes, Shane can watch her.” He looked at Valie. “No. I won’t take my eyes off her until then . . . . See you later.” And he snapped the phone shut.
“What was that about?” Shane asked apprehensively.
“He wants me to meet him at the lake just north of the city. You’re to watch the Mark—I mean, Valie.” Jack nodded in Valie’s direction.
Valie interrupted, “You’re going to go see my father?”
Jack frowned. “Yes.”
“What for?” Shane persisted. “I thought he was supposed to be gone for another day at least….”
“I’m not sure what’s going on, which has me worried that he might be moving up his schedule.”
“His schedule to kill me,” Valie stated skeptically, voicing what had been left unsaid. Jack could tell she didn’t want to believe him.
“What can we do to help you come to terms with this? What will make you trust us?”
Valie thought for only a moment.
“Take me with you. Take me to see Isaac.”
THE ROADS TWINE
“I am going with you,” Valie asserted, crossing her arms in determination.
Jack glared back at the stubborn teenager. “For once in your sure to be short life, could you please just follow my instructions? Stay with Shane until I call.”
Valie glared right back at him.
“If you don’t take me, I will find someone who will.”
“Well, now you are catching on. That’s Shane’s real job—to guard you from yourself.” Jack seemed extraordinarily pleased with his response, which made Valie fume even more.
“Not. A. Chance. Wolf-boy. Werewolf or not, Shane is far from infallible. No offense, Shane,” she offered to the irritated blonde. “I will find a way to the lake. Now do you want me there with or without your knowledge?”
Jack’s momentary smugness vanished. He stood over her with anger and frustration written all over his face.
Between clenched teeth, he managed to reply, “You could hardly escape my knowledge and, therefore, you could never escape Isaac’s. It’s too dangerous, Valentine. Don’t you get that? We are werewolves! Far be it from me to try and save your life.” The bitter sarcasm in Jack’s words stung, but Valie’s will was strong. It may have been foolish, but her decision was also a point of pride and she would not back down.
“He’s my father. I have a right to see him.”
Jack clenched his teeth so hard his jaw ached. “No,” he growled and moved menacingly toward her.
Valie stood toe to toe with him and never let her eyes waver.
“I’m coming,” Valie declared as if there were no question about the outcome of this argument.
Jack glowered at the fiery girl in front of him. He could not understand why she so desperately had to fight everything.
The boy sighed in exasperation and turned away sharply.
“Noah. Meet us somewhere near the lake. I’ll scent you whenever we’re close,” Jack ordered the others. “Shane, you’ll have to stay here. Isaac will be expecting one of us to stay with Valentine at all times. It will only raise suspicion if we left Noah, so I’m afraid you’re sitting this one out. Keep your phone on you and wait for my call.”
“But, Jack, you aren’t going to take her, are you?” Shane protested in a panic.
He snarled back at her, “Just go!”
Shane closed her mouth, but for almost a full minute stood there facing him with an icy stare. Jack knew exactly what she was thinking. This could get them all killed. He wouldn’t blame her if she refused to help. Finally, she pushed past him and strode out of the front door without another word.
Noah wasn’t happy with the scheme either. “Jack, you know. . . .” the boy began, but Jack cut him off.
“Go to the lake and keep a lookout. Let me know if anything and I mean anything happens. Scout the area. I want to know the ins and outs of the location.”
The boy nodded, but he, too, hesitated before running the same way Shane had exited.
“When do we leave?” Valie asked in a spitefully good-natured tone. She even threw in a smile.
Jack growled so loud it exploded from him as a small roar. “Now,” he rumbled, then stalked away in long, impatient strides. Valie had to almost run out the door to keep up with his pace. “But we have to stop to get something first,” he snapped.
“What? Why?” Valie asked, though she was pleased to hear the term ‘we’.
“Aconite. It’s an herb. And we need it because someone suicidally intends to get as close as possible to werewolves who want her dead.”
Valie tried to ignore his sarcasm and asked, “How will the herb help?”
“It’s repugnant to our kind—the worst thing you’ve ever smelled. It should mask your scent well enough when mixed with a bit of the surrounding flora. Hopefully, it will save your life.”
“Oh.”
“Oh,” he repeated mockingly. “How does your brilliant plan sound now?”
Valie didn’t answer. She knew that she deserved his anger, but a part of her really didn’t care. She was going to see her father. That was what mattered to her—mattered more than anything had for a long time. She would deal with the consequences later.
Valie had assumed Jack drove a car, now figuring that was where they were headed. She began to dread the conversation about her claustrophobia which she inevitably had to explain whenever she road in anyone’s automobile—why she had to have the windows rolled down despite the weather or temperature, why it was wise to keep a paper bag with her at all times. Luckily—and to her horror—Jack did not drive a car. He drove a motorcycle—a big, flashy, bright yellow motorcycle with black trim and two matching helmets strapped to the seat.
“Wow,” Valie gasped, having stopped dead in her tracks. Her throat began to close up with anticipatory anxiety. She’d never really thought about riding a motorcycle before—she didn’t drive and barely knew how to ride a bicycle—but the realization that she was terrified of getting on one hit hard.
Jack read her reaction and smirked.
“You’ll be fine, I swear,” he assured her brusquely, but the fear in her eyes remained. Jack sighed, while squaring up in front of her. “It’s perfectly safe,” he began impatiently, “But, if you really don’t want to go, I can call Shane. . . .”
