'Thanks, Dad.'
As soon as the door shut behind me, I flopped down on my bed, and screamed into my pillow. Conflicting emotions welled in me; the gun, Liam, the photographs, the vision of his canine teeth readying to impale that man's throat. I whimpered into the sheets.
When I woke, it was light outside. The clock on my bed stand read quarter to six. I groaned at my bad luck at waking so early. I knew I wouldn't fall back asleep. Adrenaline pumped in my veins at the memory of the past afternoon. I twitched and turned, then got up. Still wearing the same clothes I had on yesterday, I headed into the bathroom, and slipped them off. I needed a shower, something to clear my thoughts.
What had Liam meant by it being too dangerous for me to know about him? For some reason, that is what stuck in my mind. 'There are worse ways to die', he had said. I shivered despite the hot water, and turned it off. I needed to call Ty.
Returning to my room, I sat down on the edge of my bed, and grabbed my cell. 'Come on, answer the phone,' I said.
It rang until a groggy voice answered. 'Hello?'
'Ty, can you keep a secret?'
'Huh? What? Charlotte, is that you?'
'Yes, it's me. Look, I need to know if you can keep a secret.'
'Do you know what time it is?'
Looking at the clock, I winced. 'Sorry.' I forgot.
I heard a breathy sigh. 'I can keep a secret. What is it?'
'They're werewolves.'
'What?' she asked. 'Who is? What are you talking about, Charlotte?'
'I can't explain right now. Can I pick you up in about thirty minutes? I need your help with something.' I lowered my voice and glanced around the room.
'Charlotte, you're kind of scaring me. Are you okay?'
I nodded even though she couldn't see me. 'Yeah, I'm fine. I know this sounds crazy, but I'll explain in the car.'
She groaned. 'Where are we going? You know it's Saturday?'
'The library.'
I slipped my shoes on, grabbed a light jean jacket, and started for the door.
Ty stood outside waiting for me as I pulled the CRV into her driveway. She gave a quick wave and ran up to join me.
'Okay, this better be good. I should still be sleeping,' she said, climbing inside.
I shifted the car into reverse and headed out onto the road. 'Okay, look,' I said. 'Liam and the others are werewolves.' I paused for a moment, letting that sink in. She didn't say anything, but she looked at me as if I had grown two heads. 'I know what you're thinking, but I swear it's true. He told me. I also saw him change.'
'He turned into a wolf?' she asked.
'Well, not entirely, but, yeah.'
Ty remained speechless as I replayed the entire afternoon for her. She seemed to be growing paler by the moment.
'You okay?' I asked.
'Yeah,' she said, her voice an octave higher than usual. 'I...I just have no words. I mean this is surreal.'
'I know.'
We pulled into the library parking lot and I turned off the car.
'So, why the library? What are we looking for?' she asked.
I unbuckled my seatbelt and turned to her. 'Evidence, or hopefully the lack of,' I said. 'I saw some pretty disturbing stuff at Liam's house and I need to make sure he wasn't involved in it. If I'm going to be with him, I need to know everything about him, and whether that affects me. I'm hoping to find some records in the papers about a local wolf attack.'
'Wait, you're with Liam?' Ty asked. 'I thought you were mad at him?'
'Ty,' I said with a groan, 'more important matters here.'
'Right. Sorry.'
We easily found our way to the media center. The place was empty, considering the early hour, and it worked to our advantage. We had the entire section of computer terminals to ourselves. I scanned my card, and found a listing of last year's newspapers.
My fingers spun over the mouse, flipping through page after page. Nothing, even when I entered 'wolf' into the search terms. Not a single mention of anything in regards to an animal attack in the last year. It didn't make sense. Something tragic enough to take a man's life would have been reported in the town's papers.
'I don't get it,' I said, staring at the computer screen. 'I saw the photograph.'
'Charlotte?' Ty asked.
'Hm?'
She nudged me in the side and I looked over. She had logged in herself and had a headline at the top of her page.
'I decided to take the date out of the search options. I know this is crazy, but look,' she said, pointing.
My body went numb. 'Ty, I don't think they're teenagers.'
Chapter 11
'Teenagers?' Ty asked.
If the article truly related to Liam, it meant he had not only been alive back in 1912, but had been seventeen back in 1912. My equilibrium felt off and I turned to Ty. 'What?'
'Age? Their age is what you're concerned about?'
Personally, I thought the idea that my boyfriend was really over a hundred held credence to a little wow.
'Did you read the part about the deaths and this wolf creature that magically disappeared?'
Oh, yeah, that part.
'Do you realize what this means? That murderous creature may still be out there, especially if they don't die of old age.' The way her index finger jabbed at the monitor made me believe she might topple it over. I had never seen her so animated.
'Ty, we don't know that,' I said, trying to be the voice of reason. 'The article clearly states that the creature was killed. There were witnesses.'
Ty scowled. Seeing her so serious, seemed foreign. 'Then why did the body just disappear, Charlotte? It doesn't make sense. It also doesn't state anywhere over the next few months or even years that anyone ever found any signs of that creature's body again.'
