Secrets and Shadows (28 page)
My eyebrows would not come down. “Where exactly?”
“Basement.”
My heart resumed its regular rhythm. “Good. Then just accept your status as guarded, like I guess I’m supposed to do. Docilely.”
“Not that I’m complaining…”
“But.”
“But why is Max al over you and Pietr’s obviously coping with watching me? Shouldn’t they switch assignments?”
“I don’t know what’s going on between Pietr and me. But I intend to find out.”
Amy held the door open. “Wel , you may just get your chance. It seems ours isn’t the only social shakeup. Derek’s keeping Sarah pretty close, too. Maybe she’s done with Pietr?”
“Doubtful.” I considered things. “I want some answers.”
“Not me,” Amy said. “I’ve seen enough crap in my life already to know sometimes it real y
is
better not to know too much—you’l only be disappointed by what you find.”
I reached out and gave her a hug. “It’l get better,” I assured. “So. Wanna help
me
get the answers
I’m
looking for?”
“Anything for you,” Amy said, and we stepped back into the restroom to plot some subterfuge of our own.
* * *
So when Amy shamelessly suggested Max walk her to classes and Pietr deal with troublesome me, Max’s eyes nearly fel out of his head.
Pietr was less impressed.
I tried getting Pietr to tel me why I was the bal in some game of monkey-in-the-middle, but he didn’t have great answers, either. So I shot Amy
the look
and she twisted her ankle. Sometimes the classics worked. Cute redhead writhing on the floor and the werewolves raced over like monsters in the movies.
I’d decided my best shot at answers was with Derek. He could tel me why I had no memories from our date or … wel , I didn’t know. But I was on the lam. I should’ve guessed I wouldn’t get far with Pietr on my trail.
He caught my elbow, shoving me against the cinder block wal , his powerful arms braced on either side of my shoulders as he peered down at me, a wild gleam lighting his eyes. “Don’t make me hunt you,” he snarled, his breath a desert breeze across my cheeks.
The late bel rang and he rol ed his eyes. “How can I pass math if I’m
never
there?” His forehead resting against the wal beside me, he took a deep breath and jumped back like he’d been stung, eyes blaring red. Rubbing his nose frantical y he squeezed his eyes shut. I heard a
pop
.
“Crap!” I yelped, eyes wide in realization.
And then I heard something else. Just around the corner. Counselor Harnek.
“I know what’s going on, Derek. And I expect better from you.”
Another pop as Pietr battled the wolf within. Crap! Why now? I thrust him back against the wal —not an easy task this time—and warned, “Get ahold of yourself.”
In the next hal way Derek sputtered. “You expect
better
from me?”
“You’ve been reckless and selfish. The stunt you pul ed at Homecoming, getting the crowd riled up when you pretended to be hurt, getting buzzed from that was one thing. But the way you’re handling Jessie …
you need to back off.”
“I doubt you ful y understand my part in al this.”
“I understand you’ve screwed things up royal y,” Harnek stated. “The Rusakovas are on alert.
Remember what happened with Sophia when you got sloppy?”
“I didn’t know any better,” he snapped. “I didn’t mean to trigger her. Things have changed. I doubt the company’s let you in far enough to real y understand my assigned role.”
“You think I’m out of the loop with the company?”
I leaned back against the cinder-block wal , sliding closer to the corner to catch their words as Harnek’s voice dropped. Pietr’s fingers touched mine in warning.
“I was the company’s first contact in Junction. With my degree and my location, they came here offering help for our students through
me
first. Your job is simple, Derek: be an extra set of eyes so we can better protect the students.”
“I’ve done that.”
“Yes, and you’ve done a fair job. You’re amazingly gifted. But I think you’re using your knowledge and influence in dangerous ways.”
“Why shouldn’t I get a little something back, considering everything I do?”
“That’s just it,” Harnek soothed. “We protect people. Unselfishly. I don’t expect to gain anything doing my part.”
“That’s exactly why you aren’t on the company’s fast track anymore.” The sneer marring his face was obvious in his tone. “I don’t think you real y grasp their objective.”
“
A stronger, better youth to light the future’s path
? I don’t grasp that?”
“You real y don’t know, do you?” There was wonder in his voice. “Daaamn. I don’t think you’re al owed to talk to me like you’re my superior anymore. This conversation? This thing of preaching to me about what I should and shouldn’t do? Over.”
Footsteps faded farther down the other hal . One of them walked away.
I let out a deep breath and looked at Pietr, his eyes once again clear and blue, breathing steadied.
What the heck was real y going on in Junction?
“You need to take the hint,” Pietr insisted, pushing through the stairwel doors at Golden Oaks, kitten in hand. “Don’t push me, Jess. Even she’s told you,
beware the boy
,” he said, opening Feldman’s door. “I
am
the boy.”
“Bul and shit,” Feldman snapped. “Close that door.”
Cowed, I obeyed.
“Are you so egotistical you believe everything is about you, Pietr?” she asked. “Just because cards are pul ed or produced in your presence does not mean…” She puffed out an exasperated breath. “If you are so fascinated by yourself, perhaps I should stroke your ego and tel you more, hmm?” The cards zipped and buzzed like angry bees as she shuffled them furiously. “Touch nothing,” she commanded when he reached to draw. “I wil pul your heart out and display it here. Now.”
She tossed the cards in a seemingly random spread and bent over her lap to examine them. “Oh,” she whispered, looking up.
I grabbed Pietr’s arm and his eyes flashed red at me, bright as fireworks.
Feldman gasped. “Oh, no. I did not…” She scooted back as far as the wal al owed. “I didn’t realize what you are … I didn’t guess you would find me here—I have
tried
,” she swore.
“What the…,” Pietr muttered, blinking his eyes clear.
“Mrs. Feldman, what are you talking about?” I set Tag on the floor at her bedside. The amber heart slipped free of my neckline, swaying between us. Mesmerized, Mrs. Feldman’s mouth opened and closed like that of a fish out of water.
“Oh, no wonder you are with him … You’ve opened the
matryoshka
.”
My knees felt fil ed with rubber.
Pietr crouched beside her.
She gasped. “I swear I’ve t-t-tried,” she stuttered, “but I haven’t found the way to cure you … not yet.
Please,
please
don’t hurt me.”
“Mrs. Feldman, no one wil hurt you.” I patted her hand and tried to make my legs support me. “What do you know about the
matryoshka
?”
“That”—she jabbed a bony finger at my pendant—“was inside. I prescribed its design at my father’s bidding.” She held her head and rocked back and forth, muttering incoherently.
“Hazel Feldman,” I scolded. “No one here is going to hurt you. Stop this nonsense and talk to us.”
The rocking stopped. Her eyes slid warily to Pietr and back to me. “He is
oborot,
” she confided. “A werewolf.”
werewolf.”
“Yes. And they have very good ears,” I added. My mind raced. If she hadn’t known Pietr was a werewolf earlier—what secret did she see in his first reading? “Who are you? CIA?”
“No.” Her eyes grew round. “The CIA’s involved?”
“Never mind,” Pietr said, his voice as rich as cream. “You’ve been working on a cure? What do you know about al this?”
“What don’t I know should be the question,” she insisted. “My father was your creator.… The lead scientist on Project Oboroht. He was deemed a failure when the first generation wasn’t markedly different, but then, only seventeen years after the project was closed, he heard tales of strange children, horrible murders … suicides and monsters.” She shivered. “He realized his project was not completely a failure, but ran along a canine chronology. He tried to gather your—
people
—back up, find them, and redeem himself, but … you die so young.…”
Pietr looked away.
“He became a changed man. He could not return to the USSR knowing his research had led to such a tragic circumstance. To create such things and set a genetic timebomb … He came here to better track the offspring of Oborot, to study and find a cure. But I wanted none of it. I”—she pointed to the cards—“chose a different path. Then I believed science and magic were mutual y exclusive. If one existed, the other could not.”
She looked at Pietr again, studying his face. “You are different than I expected. He is handsome, isn’t he?”
I blushed. “Yes,” I agreed. “Amazingly handsome.”
“And you know and yet…” Emboldened once more, she asked, “You wil not hurt me?”
“
Nyet
, I wil not,” he agreed, solemn.
“Let us test that theory. She has seen you—ahhh—” Her eyes sparkled. “On your birthday, yes?”
“
Da
.”
“She knows the truth of who you are.”
“He only shared the truth with me because of this,” I tapped the pendant.
“That is not true.” He rose to his feet.
“You thought it was a sign because of the rabbit netsuke.”
“The rabbit netsuke,” Hazel mumbled, smacking her forehead like it was al so obvious now. “Your
mother?
I gave her the rabbit in Brighton Beach.”
“What? I need to sit down.” I landed in a nearby chair gracelessly. “Alexi’s mother was the Coney Island con woman—How do they connect?”
“Alexi’s mother—oh.” She paused. Took a deep breath. “They are—
I am
—one and the same,” she said. “Perhaps you should brush up on your geography, child. Brighton Beach and Coney Island are not so very far apart.”
“Why did you give Jess’s mother the rabbit?” Pietr pressed.
“It was foretold.” She shrugged.
“No. Things are foretold? Our destiny’s already written in the stars? No. That’s too Shakespearean.
Too tragic,” I gulped, thinking about
Romeo and Juliet
. “You mean to tel me I have no choice in life Too tragic,” I gulped, thinking about
Romeo and Juliet
. “You mean to tel me I have no choice in life
—there’s some almighty plan I don’t have a chance to change?”
“Shhh,” Feldman soothed. “Just because something’s written in the stars does not mean our destinies are fixed. The stars may not
seem
to move, but they are moving as our universe starts the return from its Big Bang. Fixed is not what we once thought it was. We have choice. But some things come
highly
recommended.” She smiled. “I expect it is highly recommended I cal the nurse to fetch my lockbox.”
Pietr’s eyebrows rose.
“Proof that though I was the prodigal daughter, I did not abandon my father’s search for a cure.” She pressed the button by her bed and a nurse appeared. “Bring me box HF169, please.” The nurse disappeared. “While we wait, perhaps you can answer my questions. The boy your parents adopted—”
“Alexi,” Pietr said.
“Ah. Is he wel ?”
“
Da
.”
“Good, good. What is he—what is my son like?”
“He is smart, and strong and handsome,” I answered, adding that last one even though I didn’t see Alexi that way.
“Good, good. And … the night of your birthday … Jessie accepted what you are?”
Pietr nodded, slowly, as if he was stil unsure.
“Did you imprint?”
I straightened at the question.
“
Nyet
,” he conceded.
“Interesting.” She glanced at the cards stil spread on her bed. “Not an easy task to accept one who isn’t sure if he is man or monster,” she credited me.
“It’s not difficult if you care for him,” I stated.
She nodded. “So why? Why are you trying to stay away from her now? Have you imprinted with someone else?”
“
Nyet
.” He flexed his fingers, cracking his knuckles. “I am trying to protect her.”
“By not being with her? Interesting. And is she safer now you maintain your distance?”
“
Da
.”
“
Nyet
!” I countered. “There were mafiosos at the Golden Jumper. I threw the competition just to get us out of there.”
“What? Why didn’t you tel me—?”
“When, Pietr? When you were making out with Sarah? When you refused my phone cal s? When you locked yourself away at my birthday party?” I stormed through the list, my face heating with rage. “You’ve forgotten that there was no time you gave me … I was hurt worse fal ing off my horse than taking that punch from the guy in the church.”
Pietr was before me, gripping my arms, his eyes red as rubies. “
You’ve
forgotten I am the boy you’re being warned against.”
“Mrs. Feldman?” The nurse pushed open the door. “Is everything al right in here?”
“Yes, yes,” she waved her hand. “Merely a demonstration of teen drama.”
“Oh,” the nurse set a numbered box on her bed with a key. “
Romeo and Juliet
?”
“I certainly hope not,” Feldman scoffed as the nurse bobbed her head and exited. “Close the door,” she reminded her.