Red Moon Rising

14. trappings

Chapter Song: Rapt - Karen O

XX

There's too many men coming into this diner and wanting to step outside for a chat. But I reluctantly turn away from the kitchen and follow him to the front of the diner. I know Mindy will cover for me while I'm away, but the ding of the front door fills me with a certain dread. What if Tom doesn't want me here? What if he asks me to leave before any of these good people find out just who I am?

But when we're alone, he doesn't say anything at first. He just gives me a long look and sighs. "Your dad told me what happened. You doing okay?"

Maybe it's simply that I wasn't expecting him to say something like that, but my throat is suddenly tight, and I have to take a deep breath.

"I'm okay."

"You have a place to stay? Enough to eat?"

"We're staying above the diner, and Jeana takes good care of us."

His face finally breaks into a smile and he nods. "That's good. You know she's married to my cousin?"

"Please," I whisper, faltering as an older couple walks by us on the sidewalk and enters the restaurant. "Don't say anything about—"

"I hope you don't think I would." He looks hurt, almost, and he scratches the back of his neck and sighs. "I'm sorry you kids have to run like this. I can't say I understand why it's such a bad thing that you two are together. Your dad seems pretty torn up about the whole thing."

"When did you see him?"

There's a darkness that creeps onto his face, and Tom stares at the ground. "I was out at the territory two days ago."

It would have been just after a full moon. Just after Tyler and the other young wolves caved into their animal side and lost themselves to the forest. "What happened?"

"Layla..."

"Just tell me, Tom."

"Everyone is fine, okay? But someone stepped on a trap."

"Who?"

"One of the kids, Mira. Patrick was with her and he got her back to town okay. Don't look like that right now, Layla, she's going to be okay. The trap hit far enough past her ankle that she'll be able to run again when she heals."

"You were supposed to stop this," I blurt, and suddenly the tears are threatening again. "This wasn't supposed to happen again. What about the trail cams?"

Tom doesn't look at me, and he scratches at his neck again. "That's the strange part. There were two cameras placed in clear view of where the trap was set. But there wasn't anyone out there."

"Then how did it get there?"

"Well, it could be that the cameras glitched. But your dad doesn't seem to think so. I'm having a buddy of mine review the tapes right now." He frowns at the sidewalk, and then looks at me straight, and I know he can read my own troubled expression. "I watched both tapes later, and I can see why no one caught that the trap was placed. One frame there's nothing there, and the next the trap just appears out of nowhere like a shadow. In the exact same way, from both camera angles."

"That sounds like a glitch." But I don't think it is. A glitch wouldn't explain why that trap probably didn't have a single set of footprints around it. It wouldn't explain how both cameras caught the exact same anomaly. And why, if the traps can appear from thin air, would they still be so near the boundary?

"Maybe so. We'll find out soon enough."

We stand in silence for a long moment, and when Tom looks at me I catch a certain softness in his eyes, and it reminds me of the way my dad would look at me. "Tom," I begin, and I look away. "How's he doing?"