"It wasn't easy," I murmured, my voice so quiet that I wasn't sure if I'd actually spoken.
"What?"
"It wasn't easy," I repeated, louder, "you forget that I've seen what's inside your head, Tucker Joy, and I know you. You've killed people, yes. You've done terrible things to protect your family, that's true. But it has never been easy for you."
"Lou, according to the stories, the gods gifted your ancestors with their abilities. The ancient Greeks worshipped daemons and the way the could help people. In the stories, werewolves, however, were-"
I interrupted him. "Frankly, I don't give two fucks about the 'stories,' Tucker. I believe what I know. And I know that there are four boys who wouldn't be happy- not to mention alive- if it weren't for you."
Tucker was silent at that. He looked as if he wanted to speak, but the words wouldn't come out. His eyes held the look of someone who had seen too much- a dark shadow on an otherwise lovely face. At that moment, I was struck by the beauty of him. But I'd always thought tragic things were beautiful.
The silence continued and he sat back down next to me. After a long moment, he finally spoke.
"I'm sorry I tried to tell you what to do," he murmured.
"I'm sorry I called you 'Dog Boy.'"
Tucker Joy laughed.
***
I wish I could say that my life was dramatically different in the weeks to come, but they weren't. I still went to school (much to my chagrin). Tucker was busy training with the people we'd talked to. Megan and Jacob seemed to be over every day following the challenge. They appeared to be his two biggest supporters.
The three of them trained nonstop when we were there. Part of me wished I could train alongside them. I wanted to know why I couldn't reach Owein through the ley lines. I wished I could do the same things as him like practicing my powers, but there was no one to train me. Gray even said that there were no daemons that lived in West Acres anymore. Perhaps, they were all smarter than I was and knew to get the hell out.
Tucker's training, while beneficial, still cast a dark shadow above the Joy home. We all knew what he was training for. The younger Joy boys even seemed to sense the darkness in the house. Ben was still recovering from his overdose and was frequenting a rehabilitation center to speak with counselors. Elias was silent most days. His quietness was one of my primary concerns.
Harry and I were still living at Owein's as screwed up as it was. The very thought of my mother alone with her fiance made me feel sick to my stomach.
Sitting through chemistry class while my mother was at home with a psychotic killer who may or may not be working with my long-lost father seemed a little ridiculous. Tucker swore to me he would keep a close watch on my mother while Harry and I were away at school, but it wasn't good enough. I wanted to be there.
"Lou, c'mon snap out of it," Harry's voice shocked me out of my trance.
"I can't help it," I muttered, looking around the cafeteria. "I can't stand being here while mom is at home."
Harry sighed, and I was thankful I could talk to him about these things now. He was a part of me and hiding things from him was like lying to myself. My head, however, told me it wasn't safe for him.
"He won't hurt her."
I gave Harry a dumbfounded look, wondering if my brother had gotten dumber in the last thirty minutes. He rolled his eyes at my reaction and pushed around the mush on his tray. Ben and Tilly were silent as they watched my reaction unfold.
"Why the hell not? He killed Tommy Joy AND Delia Joy- his own sister! You think he won't kill mom just to get back at me or Tucker?"
Harry reflected on my words and sighed a little as if he knew what he was about to say next would make me angry. He was right.
"He loves her."
My mouth went slack at Harry's response. There was no way he could be dense enough to think Owein was capable of human emotion. I wanted to laugh at the very idea. Instead, I saw the sincerity in my brother's gray eyes. Those eyes so often reflected my own thoughts- but not today.
"You're wrong."
I pushed my tray away and stood abruptly from the table. I started walking. I had no destination in mind. I just couldn't be at school anymore. The front doors were so close and I couldn't wait to breathe in the fresh air. I was reaching for the door handles but stopped.
Someone's hand pulled me back. Elias was looking at me when I turned. My eyes narrowed in surprise.
"It's not safe. Don't go home."
Those were the only six words he spoke to me before he released my arm. He didn't question me as I nodded and I walked out of the doors- free at last and wanting to hit something.
When I got on my bike, I considered just driving around for hours on end. Then I remembered a warning somebody had given me once, and I knew exactly where to go.
It took me only minutes to ride over to the field across from the school. The grass was yellower than when we'd last played football on it. The blades seemed to crunch under my feet as I walked toward the tree line.
My body seemed to remember the walk as if I'd physically done it before. My feet seemed to be on a predetermined path. Everything around me was familiar and foreign at the same time- I was getting used to the feeling.
When I felt as though I'd hit a wall, I stopped. I was in the middle of a large clearing surrounded by a thicket of trees. The breeze whispered on my neck making my hair stand on end- but maybe that was the crackling of power I felt in the clearing. There was a dull hum in my ear sounding like a bug buzzing.
Leaning my head down, I realized the humming was louder toward the ground. I knelt down, and the humming grew stronger and I wondered how the ground wasn't shaking. It wasn't until I put my hand on the forest floor that the vision took over me.
It was dark, at first. There was no source of light from anywhere. I could barely see my hands in front of my face. My feet were moving it seemed. I was walking toward something- a big something- and my feet knew exactly where to go. It felt as if a string had hooked itself in my belly button and I was shuffling along as it pulled me closer.
When I looked down, there was a string. It was glowing. My gaze followed the line to where I was being pulled and when I looked up, there was the tree. The wide oak was a looming presence in the darkness but there was a smaller figure next to it. A human figure.
"Hello?" I called out toward the figure. Then, when it turned, I wished I'd said nothing.
Looking back at me was a man with pits for eyes, dark black pits that didn't even end in bone. They didn't end. The expanse of those eyes seemed to suggest infinite darkness. The mouth opened to show horrible decayed, rotten teeth, and it was whispering something I couldn't hear. Meanwhile, my golden rope was pulling me toward the tree and the figure. I tried to resist, but it was no use.
As I drew closer to the tree, I realized it was the creature pulling me forward with long, clawed fingers that seemed to desiccate with every pull- putrid skin peeling off near its fingertips. My lips parted in an empty scream and the creature's foul lips chanted the same word over and over.
It wasn't until the creature was inches away and I felt his sickly breath on my ear when I heard the words.
"Balance. There must be a balance."
I woke gasping and gripping the dirt with both fists. Terror gripped my insides, and I groaned loudly, happy that I was alone in these creepy-ass woods. In hindsight, wandering into the woods was not my best idea, but every time I had a vision I felt like I was getting closer to something. An answer, maybe?
What kind of balance was the creature talking about? What needed balance?
It seemed, however, the closer I got to a possible answer I found ten more questions that I had. Nothing in West Acres would ever be easy, but at least I wasn't ignorant of who and what I was anymore.
"Well, if it isn't the little psychic bitch," the voice was unfamiliar, but the words didn't exactly suggest friendliness.
I turned and the face I saw was unexpected. Rose's sister, Alice, stood across from me in the clearing. Two other men flanked her and they were all three carrying weapons of various sizes and similar destructiveness.
Fuck.
"Well, if it isn't the sociopathic child murderer."
My mouth, I swear, was going to get me killed. Which wasn't even an exaggeration as it seriously could get me killed at this very moment. One of the men raised his rifle and pointed it at me.
I had never had a gun pointed at me before and suddenly I was almost positive that my abilities wouldn't work to heal me if I was dead. They weren't supernatural and I couldn't feel any connection to the pulsing lines of energy I knew ran beneath my feet. I was alone, and I was powerless.
"You call it murder, I call it cleansing," the man spat toward me.
I tried to take a casual step back. The school was right across the street- I was fast. Alice Galloway noticed and stepped forward too. The distance between us in the clearing was nothing compared to a bullet.
"I'm pretty sure the law also considers it murder so..." I shrugged, wondering if I sounded as nervous as I felt.
The two men looked at each other and scoffed. Alice, however, kept her eyes fixed on me. There was virtually no plan forming in my head other than to keep them talking and figure out what they wanted from me- and hopefully avoid my imminent death.
"You, little psychic bitch, are one of the most useless assignments. I'm honestly a little bored. I thought there'd be more action. Aren't you dating like seven werewolves?" Alice asked, grinning and slinging her gun over her shoulder. Her smug smile snapped something in me.
"What, like your sister?" I asked innocently, "or was it just the one?"
Alice Galloway cocked her gun and pointed at me, crossing the distance between us quickly. My plan for running quickly faltered as she was suddenly close enough to press the cold barrel to my forehead. It was at that moment that I realized I wasn't afraid to die. I'd seen and heard enough to know that death wasn't the end.
The hunter and I fixed our eyes on each other as a self-satisfied smile crossed her face. The two men trained their guns on me, but they needn't have. Alice's look alone rooted me to the spot. She fiddled with her weapon and then pinned me with her confident gaze. The green eyes piercing through my jacket.
"He said we had to bring you alive. He said nothing about injured."
And I dropped like a ton of lead, the darkness encompassing me.
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