Chapter 5
Rumors
On my way to the cafeteria, I am surprised when Zander appears beside me. I look over at him in question. “Is everything okay?”
“That’s what I wanted to find out,” he says. “Have you seen Ivy today?”
I shake my head, and bite back the desire to ask him the same question. If I pry, it will only inspire another argument. I decided last night that the only thing I can do to protect Zander is watch as carefully as I can and find out what Ivy is before anyone gets hurt.
“How are you doing with everyone else?” Zander asks, the conversation becoming more normal. Checking in on each other is a regular habit.
Grandma wanted our parents to homeschool us to limit our contact with people who elicit our hunger, but Mom and Dad knew we would need to learn to control ourselves in the real world. Outside of school, though, we tend to avoid crowds, just in case.
“Being around Ivy seems to make everyone else a little harder to deal with,” I admit, “but I’m doing okay. It helps that Evan Conners moved last week. I don’t think I could handle having three classes with him right now.”
Zander nods in agreement. “If you need me …”
I wave him off. “I’ll be fine. The only class we have together is Home Ec. Being around her when I’m cooking helps. There are lots of distractions.”
“Don’t you eat lunch together?”
“Sure, but I don’t sit right next to her or anything, and Ketchup’s there.”
The grunt that slips out of Zander’s mouth makes me look away.
“It helps to have him around,” I say quietly.
Zander shakes his head, but doesn’t argue. “Just be careful, please.”
“Yeah, you too.”
His shoulders bunch, but he doesn’t say anything else. He turns to leave, but something makes me stop walking. A sound? I pause, trying to figure out what exactly it was. My nose wrinkles as I realize it wasn’t a sound or something I saw, it was a taste. Without making it obvious I’m scoping out the hallway, I try to figure out where it’s coming from.
“Van, what’s wrong?” Zander asks looking very anxious. “Is it your hunger?”
I shake my head, still scanning. “No, it’s this weird taste. I can’t figure out …”
Turning to face my brother, the taste intensifies. Zander? Then I notice his wide eyes and tense posture. I’m about to question him, when it suddenly vanishes. I test for the taste again, but it’s gone. Maybe it was nothing. “Huh, that was weird. Has that ever happened to you?”
“What?” Zander says, flinching at the sound of his own voice. He looks away from me as if the hallway suddenly holds something more interesting than milling teenagers. “Hey, I better get to class. See you later.”
And then he takes off.
I stand there for a few minutes totally confused. That seems to be happening a lot lately. Now, I am sure I didn’t imagine the strange taste, or that it was coming from Zander. He obviously knew what I was talking about, too. Why wouldn’t he tell me? As close as Zander and I are, the idea that he might be keeping a secret from me is not only surprising, it’s frightening. Keeping secrets when lives are on the line never turns out well.
YOU ARE READING
Wicked Hunger
Teen Fiction“Save him and hurt him, don’t save him and hurt him. Pain, either way. Delicious pain. Hunger will be the only one that wins. Hunger always wins.” Vanessa and Zander Roth are good at lying. Their whole life is a giant web of deceit made in an effor...
