“You killed someone for being a double agent when you yourself are the same,” Holly pointed out.
“I’m not proud of what I did,” Trevor said. “I can’t prove to you that he was a wifebeater, a drunk, and terrified the life out of his children. I can’t prove to you that what I did was the right course of action. I’m hoping that as you learn more about what’s really going on, you’ll trust me enough to know I had no other choice.”
“I hope that’s true.” Holly sighed.
“Do you still want to work together?”
“It’s either that or sit around doing nothing until we die.”
“Well, when you put it that way, how can you resist me?” Another flashy smile.
“I’ll meet you downstairs in an hour, okay?” Holly said. “I might need to take a hot bath and soak my old bones.”
“You’re twenty!” He laughed.
“I know, but soon I’ll be—” Holly paused. “Wait, what day is it?”
“The eighteenth, I think,” Trevor said. “Why?”
Holly smiled softly. “Today’s my birthday.”
CHAPTER NINE—KELLER
“I still say you’re mistaken,” Keller said from the back of the group.
In front of him, Garret, Johnny, Loch, and Elise marched through the woods. They’d driven as close to Golden Oak as they dared before getting out to go on foot the rest of the way.
“You can say it all you want,” Loch called over his shoulder. “That won’t make Golden Oak magically reappear.”
“Keller has a point,” Garret said. “An entire town vanishing doesn’t sound possible.”
“Thank you,” Keller said.
“I didn’t say I understand why it’s gone. All I know is that it’s gone. Elise saw it too, or rather, didn’t see it.”
“It’s true,” Elise said. “I’ve taken these roads and trails hundreds of times. The town is gone.”
“But what could cause that?” Keller asked.
“If we knew, we wouldn’t be out on this little field trip, would we?” Johnny said.
“All I’m saying is that I’ll believe it when I see it.”
“Correction, when you don’t see it.”
“If you’re going to spend the rest of this trek making bad jokes like that, I’m going home,” Keller muttered.
“Why are you in such a bad mood?” Johnny asked. “I know it’s a core part of your personality, but still.”
“Because towns don’t disappear.”
“We can turn into bears. My girlfriend shares a brain with an immortal being. My girlfriend also happens to be your girlfriend. And Garret’s. And Loch’s. Maybe, just maybe, a town can disappear.”
“How did Holly deal with this for so long?” Elise muttered from the front of the group. “You call her a girlfriend, but from where I’m standing, she sounds like more of a caretaker for a bunch of man-bear-children.”
“You’d know,” Loch said. “Haven’t you been Trevor’s caretaker all this time?”
“Hey!” Elise snapped.
“Best friends are supposed to be honest with each other. Don’t hate me for following the rules.”
“I’m sorry, what?” Johnny said. “Did you say best friend?”
“Yeah!” Elise said. “We’re getting matching T-shirts. You want in?”
“Hell yeah!” Johnny exclaimed.
“I’m surrounded by idiots,” Keller muttered to himself.
“You can’t talk under your breath when one of the idiots you’re muttering about is two feet away,” Garret pointed out.
“You’ve just called yourself an idiot,” Keller returned.
“Well, I feel like one. That’s not always a bad thing. A town is gone, apparently. Holly’s gone. I’m quickly realizing I know less about our world—and the world in general—than I thought I did. I feel like an idiot, but I also think admitting that is better than trying to trick everyone into thinking I know everything.”
“That’s completely true, Garret,” Elise called back to him. “You’re not a man-bear-child after all.”
Elise came to a stop and put her hands on her hips.
“I think we’re near the county line. It’s impossible to tell since the county is gone.”
“Is the whole county gone or just the town?” Keller asked.
“I have no idea. That’s what I’m hoping to figure out today.”
“And you needed all of us to do that?”
Elise fixed him with a withering glare. “I don’t get you. You’re desperate to get Holly back, yet you don’t believe us when we say Golden Oak vanished. You want to solve the dark shifter problem but get suspicious whenever someone has an idea. What’s the deal?”
Keller blinked in surprise. He wanted to argue, but everything Elise said rang true. “I don’t know,” he said at last. “I’m just stressed, I guess.”
“And a control freak,” Johnny muttered.
“And a control freak,” Keller echoed. “I’m sorry, Elise. Carry on.”
“Thank you.” She smiled. “Now, I’m going to use a revealing spell that will hopefully tell us a little more about what kind of magic was used here.”
“What can we do to help?” Keller asked.
“Not much, I’m afraid.” Elise frowned. “To answer your earlier question, you’re here in case I accidentally awaken something horrible or wear myself out.”
“I don’t want another repeat of what happened at the battle,” Garret warned her.
“That was a fluke,” Elise assured him. “And it was my own fault for using an unstable homemade spell.”
“What happened at the battle?” Keller asked. He remembered very little of that night. He wasn’t there when Holly went with Trevor; he knew that much. What he didn’t know was where he actually was. He assumed something terrible happened. Why else wouldn’t he remember?
“I forced my body to go bear,” Elise said. “It didn’t end well. It took all three of them to get me back to the house and patch me up.”
“You looked fine when I got back to the house.” Keller frowned.
“You got
