He turned to face her. “Do you really want to know?”
“Yes. Yes, of course I do.”
This was it. There was no going back after he told her. He
She looked confused. “What sort of affliction?”
He left her at the window and paced across the room. “It’s genetic,” he said. “A simple mutation. But it’s particularly strong in my family. My grandfather had it. My uncle had it. My father has it.” He paused. “I have it.”
“Have what?”
He took a deep breath. “We call it The Glowing.”
Emily stared at him, still not understanding.
“Our skin gives off light at night,” he explained, and it was amazing, actually saying that to someone outside his family. It was as liberating as he thought it would be. It was even better. The words were out and he couldn’t take them back. He waited for Emily to say something. But she said nothing. “That’s what you feel,” he said eagerly, walking back to her and putting his hands on either side of her face, almost, but not quite, touching her.
She met his eyes. “You want me to believe that you glow in the dark,” she said in a monotone.
Win dropped his hands. “You’ll believe I’m a werewolf, but not this?”
“I never believed you were a werewolf.”
He stepped back, trying not to feel defeated. He had to go on. “It goes back generations. My ancestors left the old country to avoid persecution, because people assumed their affliction was the work of evil. They traveled by sea, and history is riddled with sightings of their ship, said to be a portent of doom. When they came to America, Native Americans called them Spirits of the Moon. They settled here when it was nothing but farmland, far away from everyone, but slowly the town grew around them. No one knew their secret, and they realized they liked it, liked not being so isolated. But the stories of persecution were always handed down, scaring us into secrecy, even in the modern world. That all changed the night your mother tricked my uncle into coming out at night. He stood on the bandstand that summer night, in front of the entire town, and for the first time, everyone saw what we could do.”
“That’s a very elaborate story,” she said.
“Emily, you’ve even seen me. In your backyard at night.”
That gave her a start. “
“Yes.”
He could tell her mind was working, trying to sort it all out. “Then why have you stopped coming around?”
“I come every night. But your grandfather sits on the kitchen porch below your balcony and tells me to go away before you can see that I’m there.”
“My grandfather knows?” Her voice was pitching higher.
“Yes.”
“Prove it.” She looked around and saw the closet door. She walked over to it and opened it. There was nothing inside but a rain jacket and a single water ski. “Here, come here.”
He walked over to her and she herded him into the closet and followed, closing the door behind them. It was a tight fit. She waited a few moments in the pitch black before she said, “Ha! I don’t see you glowing.”
“That’s because it takes moonlight,” he said patiently.
She snorted. “Well, that’s convenient.”
“Actually, no, it’s not.”
“This is ridiculous,” she said, and he felt her fumbling to find the doorknob.
“Wait,” he said, and reached out to stop her. His hand landed on her hip and she suddenly stilled. “Meet me tonight at the bandstand. At midnight. I’ll show you.”
“Why are you doing this?” she asked in a whisper. “Is this some elaborate plan?”
She caught him off guard with that. If she knew he was manipulating her, why was she letting him? “Plan?”
“For getting back at my mother for what she did.”
“No,” he said. “I told you before, I don’t blame you for what she did.”
“But you’re re-creating that night with my mother and your uncle.”
“It has nice symmetry, doesn’t it?”
“Okay,” she said unhappily. “I’ll be there.”
He almost laughed. “You don’t have to sound so enthusiastic.”
“This would be easier if I didn’t like you so much.”
“You like me?” He felt both elated and ashamed. She didn’t answer. “How much?” he asked quietly, the air filling with tension.
“Enough to meet you tonight, even though I’m pretty sure you have something else planned other than glowing in the dark.”
“That isn’t enough?” He could sense her holding her breath when she realized how close his face was to hers. “I’m knotted up with you,” he said. “Don’t you feel it? From the moment we met. I was meant to show you.”
“I need to go.” She opened the door, and a blinding burst of light hit them. She was gone in seconds.
He caught up with her on the deck as she was putting on her shoes. “Don’t go through the woods tonight. Come into the park from the street.”
She stood and stared at him for a long time. He started to reach out his hand to touch her, to reassure her as much as himself, but she gave him a brief nod before turning and quickly making her way down the steps to the beach.
He watched her walk away, then he put his hands in his pockets and walked slowly, thoughtfully, back into the house.
He stopped when he entered the living room.
His father was sitting in the big black leather chair by the couch, his legs crossed.
Win was so astonished he couldn’t speak for a moment. He could usually feel when his father was looking for him. Finally he said, “When did you get here?”
“Just now. I called earlier to ask you not to block your mother’s car when you come home, because she’s leaving early tomorrow with Kylie to go to Raleigh to shop for school clothes. Penny said you were on the beach. I asked with whom. She said a girl. I asked her to describe the girl, and it sounded like Emily Benedict. But I thought, No, Win knows better than that.”
That must have been the phone call Penny had answered earlier. Win had to give her credit for doing what she could. She’d told his father he was on the beach with Emily, not that he was in the house alone with her. “So you came out to see for yourself,” Win concluded. He took a deep breath and said, “I like her.”
“I liked a girl once, when I was your age,” Morgan said, steepling his fingers. “Her name was Veronica. She was new to Mullaby, too. All I wanted to do was spend all day staring at her. I asked her to a matinee, and your grandfather found out. He slapped me, then locked me in my room. When I didn’t show up at the movie theater, Veronica came to the house to ask if I was all right. Your grandfather was horrible to her. He told her that my asking her out was just a joke. She hated me after that. But he made his point.”
“What point?”
“That we weren’t made for normal lives.”
“Did your father treat your brother the same way?” Win asked as he took a seat on the couch.
“The rules weren’t any different for Logan.”
Win had never known that his grandfather hit his father. Win remembered the old man vaguely. He was very quiet when Win knew him. People used to say he was never the same after his youngest son, Logan, committed suicide. It made sense now that Logan and Dulcie Shelby had to sneak around. Win’s grandfather obviously would have slapped Logan and locked him in his room if he’d found out. It all seemed so ridiculous now. The extreme measures. The furtive prowling. The secret was out and it couldn’t be taken back.
“It’s different now,” Win said.
“You say that as if different is better,” Morgan said. “If we wait long enough, people will forget what they saw, and things can go back to the way they were. It’s just a matter of time. Sometimes I even hope your mother has
