Turned and Taken (Packed 1 & 2) (11 page)

Chapter 11

Saki awoke to the feeling of [pba_custom slug=“Twin 2” question=“What is the name of the female protagonist’s second twin sister?”]Marnie[/pba_custom] gently rocking her shoulder. “Are you coming to school?” she said.

“I said, let her sleep,” Saki heard her mother say.

“Are you coming to school today?” [pba_custom slug=“Twin 2” question=“What is the name of the female protagonist’s second twin sister?”]Marnie[/pba_custom] asked again.

Saki opened her eyes to find her little sister leaning over her fully dressed and ready for school. Saki wanted to yell at her sister and call her Tweedledum. Another part of her wanted to rollover and never move from the couch again. The part that won out was the part that looked up into her little sister’s eyes and found more than a hint of fear as her sister stared back.

What could her sister be afraid of? Saki wondered. Why did she look at her like that? [pba_custom slug=“Twin 2” question=“What is the name of the female protagonist’s second twin sister?”]Marnie[/pba_custom]‘s eyes practically pleaded for Saki to get up and go to school. Considering how much of this had started when she had entered Saki‘s room without permission, she didn’t feel any obligation to satisfy [pba_custom slug=“Twin 2” question=“What is the name of the female protagonist’s second twin sister?”]Marnie[/pba_custom]‘s pleas.

But Saki couldn’t completely ignore it. [pba_custom slug=“Twin 2” question=“What is the name of the female protagonist’s second twin sister?”]Marnie[/pba_custom] needed Saki to get up and go to school. She wasn’t sure why, but her eyes told Saki that she did. Without a word, Saki did her best to push the nightmare into the back of her mind and drag herself back into the real world.

Stepping into the empty bathroom, Saki avoided looking in the mirror. Her reflection would again make things too real. Her hairless body was evidence enough that it hadn’t been a dream.

For now, Saki needed to believe she had made it all up. Stepping into the shower to wash away the remaining evidence, she woke up in her old life, never wanting to fall asleep again.

By the time that she had arrived at school, the second bell had already rung. The school’s policy was no one could be admitted to homeroom after that bell without a note, but she wanted to try.

Stepping into the classroom, she looked first at Mr. DeMarco, who only gave her a cursory glance. Continuing in, she peered around the classroom. No one met her gaze.

Setting her bag next to her desk, she surveyed the room. Dax wasn’t there, but all of his pack was. Where they sat was unchanged; on the other hand, Lane‘s pack was each back at his or her own desk.

From the first day of class, Torque , Scully, Ben, and the light-skinned one with the kinky black hair had always sat together. They had gathered around Lane‘s desk, forming an intimidating mass. Today they were not. They were spread out as far as they could be, avoiding each other’s eyes. Lane was the only one who eventually looked up and made eye contact with Saki before she sat. Saki turned back around, mentally retreating.

With morning announcements over, Saki gathered her stuff and headed toward her first class. Only a few feet out, she felt a strong hand cup her upper arm. Looking back, she found Lane. Giving into his gentle redirection, they headed down the sidewalk away from the quad. Secluded in between the block of classrooms and the small hill, Lane spoke.

“We have to come up with a plan to get the medallion.”

The medallion?
She asked herself before remembering the pact that they had made to kill Dax. All of it seemed crazy now. How could she have ever considered killing someone? It was like she was in a dream and couldn’t wake up.

“No!” She demanded. “I don’t want any of this. None of this is real. Do you hear me? I don’t know what she thought happened, or that you dreamed happened, but I’m not a monster like you. I’m not a monster.”

Saki pulled her arm out of Lane‘s grasp. She didn’t look back. Rushing to her locker and then her next class, she didn’t look up much. When she did, she saw her classmates looking away as she caught their eyes.

Saki was sure that they knew. They might not know everything, but they suspected. Now all of them, including the few people she had befriended, were scared of her. Once again, Saki was alone.

Chapter 12

Each of Saki‘s days after the full moon continued on like that first one. No one spoke to her at school, and no one spoke to her at home. Saki suspected that she wouldn’t have even been sad about it if it weren’t for what had happened her first night back.

Saki was watching TV when she saw her mother set three place settings. Considering there were four of them, Saki knew what that meant. She was feeling even more lost until [pba_custom slug=“Twin 2” question=“What is the name of the female protagonist’s second twin sister?”]Marnie[/pba_custom] grabbed another plate and put it at the spot that Saki usually sat.

After that, [pba_custom slug=“Twin 2” question=“What is the name of the female protagonist’s second twin sister?”]Marnie[/pba_custom] sat next to Saki on the couch and silently refused to join the others at the table until her mother called them both for dinner.

Saki didn’t understand [pba_custom slug=“Twin 2” question=“What is the name of the female protagonist’s second twin sister?”]Marnie[/pba_custom]’s gesture, but she still appreciated it. After that, Saki was expected to eat dinner with everyone else even if they ate in silence.

As the days continued on, Saki fell into a routine. When she attempted to study or do homework, her mind would race out of control. Trying to regain control, she took daily walks to the Fish Fry. She wasn’t exactly sure why she kept going. She knew she might run into Dax again, but that didn’t stop her. After a while she wondered if that was, in fact, why she was going.

When she walked, she passed The Bahamas Humane Society. She remembered they’d taken their childhood dog, Gizmo, there when he’d gotten sick. She also knew that was where they put stray dogs to sleep.

Feeling like a stray dog herself, the place held a special meaning to her now. She was drawn to it. And every time she walked by it on her way to the Fish Fry, she thought about an excuse to go in. That excuse finally came to her as she sat alone on the pier, staring out toward the empty horizon.

The next day, the Humane Society was her destination. Like everything else in her neighborhood, the place wasn’t fancy. It had weathered large trees that blocked out the sunlight, and a cement walkway that cut through islands of compact dirt. It had a few of the red-, green-, and brown-leafed bushes common on the island. At the end of the walkway next to the wooden screen door, a bottlebrush bush blossomed with a few long bristled flowers.

Saki entered the old building, and the familiar scented overwhelmed her. It reminded her of the vet’s office with its pungent smell of disinfectant. The oxidized green tile on the floor brought back memories of her trips there with Gizmo.

Saki turned to the counter. No one was there.

“Hello?” She called out, eventually getting the attention of a dark-skinned woman in her 30s.

The woman looked at Saki strangely, almost like the woman recognized her. Maybe she did because Saki found something familiar about her as well. It wasn’t so much about the way she looked, though. It was something else she couldn’t put her finger on.

“Can I help you?” The woman asked hesitantly.

“Yes. I was wondering if I could… umm… I was wondering if you guys needed volunteers.”

The woman continued to stare at Saki with a strange look on her face. After another moment of evaluation, the woman directed Saki to enter the door at the end of the hallway.

Saki thanked her and approached the door. She didn’t know why, but the closer she got to the door, the more convinced she was that she had made the correct decision. She really wanted to be there for some reason. However, she was anxious to step through the door.

Cracking the door open, she found that it led into the backyard of the building. Stretching out from the converted house was a concrete slab that held cage after cage of barking dogs. The smells here were also masked by disinfectant, and immediately, she knew why the woman had seemed familiar. Before she could acknowledge it, her eyes found the dark[/pba_custom -tanned boy who worked with his bare back to her. Her immediate thought was to run, but she froze. The boy stood up and turned around.

"[pba_custom slug=“Female Protagonist Nickname” question=“What is the female protagonist’s nickname?”]Saki?” Lane asked. “What are you doing here?”

She knew that she could still walk away. She didn’t have to be there. It wasn’t school. She could have walked home. But she didn’t. She wanted to stay. It was his scent that had drawn her to this place. Staring into his soulful brown eyes as he approached, Saki felt a little weak in the knees.

“I don’t get it, why are you here?” Lane asked again. When Saki didn’t answer, Lane corrected himself. “I mean, I’m glad that you’re here, but… Why?”

Lane‘s question was gentle. It was almost sympathetic, as if practiced.

“I… I came because I was thinking about volunteering my time. But if you’re here, then I could go somewhere else.” Saki turned to leave, bringing Lane’s gentle protest.

“No. Please, don’t leave.” Saki paused long enough to give Lane a chance to speak. “We could use your help.”

“So, do you work here?” Saki asked, not looking at him.

“Sort of, I guess.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, yes. I work here. And we can always use the help. Especially your help,” he clarified.

Saki turned and looked into Lane‘s eyes. She didn’t see the thug from school or the Lycan reflected there. They were just the eyes of a vulnerable boy who was trying to hide feelings for a girl.

“Maybe,” she said, as she retreated to the door.

“We could really use your help,” Lane squeezed out before Saki was completely gone.

Saki rushed past the woman at the counter and out the front door. Approaching the street, she didn’t know which way to turn, but she eventually found herself walking back towards home.

The next day at school, Saki had to resist looking back at Lane. In the moments where she gave in, she found him looking back. His look wasn’t scary or intimidating; in fact, he had a vulnerable smile. She had always thought he was cute. But in this new light, she found him irresistible.

When Saki took her walk that night, she knew where she was headed. As she again entered the backyard of the Humane Society, she met Lane‘s eyes, and this time, both of them had an irrepressible smile.

“So did you come to work?” Lane asked, almost teasingly.

“What else would I have come for?”

Lane‘s eyes slowly rolled away as his mouth opened and devilish thoughts worked their way to his lips.

“Don’t even!” She said with a pointed finger and a smile.

“I wasn’t going to say anything.”

“Yeah, right,” she said, sporting a grin.

“You wanna see what you can help with? You have perfect timing.”

“Okay, yeah,” Saki said, looking around at the dogs in their chain-link cages.

Lane signaled Saki to follow him. He led her to a fenced-in area with two large troughs and two water buckets. “I was just about to feed them and clean their cages. So you get to help me with that.”

“Goody!” She said with exaggerated enthusiasm.

“Oh yeah. You got the glamour job.” Lane escorted Saki around, pointing out everything that she would need. “The first thing we do is fill up these troughs with dog food. Next we let the dogs out of their cages and close them in the pen while they eat. You have to keep one eye on the dogs while you clean the cages because if they start fighting, you have to spray them with a hose.”

“Oh, that’s me. I want the hose.”

Lane looked at her with a knowing smile.

“Don’t even!” She said again with a point and a smile.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“I know what you are thinking.”

“So, I guess that means that you were thinking it, too,” Lane said, turning his attention back to the task. Saki had no reply.

“When you clean the cages, you have to take this thing out.” Lane walked behind the cages and unlatched what looked like a metal pizza flipper. “You dump this out.” Lane removed the flooring, dumping the solid waste into a garbage drum. “Then you put them over here.” Lane leaned the flooring up against the back fence. “And someone sprays that down… with the hose.” Lane looked back at Saki with a devilish smile. Saki blushed but said nothing.

“After that, you replace the flooring. and put the dogs back in the cages. Then you can spray down the trough, and you’re done. All good?”

“Yeah, I think I got it.”

The two worked together at their task finding a natural rhythm between them. Slowly opening the cages and ushering the dogs toward the food, Saki felt the time was right to ask a question.

“Is the woman who works behind the counter one of us?” Saki asked without looking at Lane.

“Yeah, she volunteers here, as well. This is kind of a sanctuary for us. A sanctuary is like place where people can go to and feel safe,” Lane explained.

“I know what a sanctuary is. The bells! The bells! Sanctuary! Sanctuary!” Saki said making grand gestures with her hands.

Lane looked at her confused.

“The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” Saki said in explanation.

Lane shook his head, still unclear.

“It was a book we had to read last year at my old school.”

“We didn’t read that.”

“Disney made a movie out of it.”

“Yeah, I didn’t see it.”

“It wasn’t very good. You didn’t miss much. Anyway, Quasimodo, this dude with a hunched back, goes to this church, Notre Dame and asks for sanctuary. Or something like that. And there are these bells on top of the church that he likes to ring. And when he does he yells sanctuary.”

“Yeah, that’s very interesting,” he said while mocking interest.

Saki laughed. “Don’t make fun of me.”

Lane smiled. “I would never make fun of you,” he said mockingly.

Blushing, Saki hit Lane on the arm.

“Watch it now. Don’t make me have to turn the hose on you.”

Saki blushed brighter. “Oh, you would like that, though, wouldn’t you?”

Lane gave her a look, playfully exaggerating his feelings for her. “Girl, you know I would.”

Saki giggled and lightly hit Lane again. “Stop it.”

Lane was about to reply when he looked over Saki’s shoulder and quieted. Seeing his shift in attention, she turned around. Walking toward them was a dark skinned-man in a white coat. He had his hands in his pockets and a gentle smile on his face. Approaching Saki, he stuck out his hand for her to shake.

“Hello. I am a Dr. Lafleur. I’m the vet here.”

“Hi, I’m Sakina.”

“Are you the new volunteer that Lane told me about?”

Saki looked back at Lane who gave a brief acknowledgment. “I guess so.”

“And are you one of Lane‘s
friends
?” The doctor asked with a knowing glance.

Saki was caught off guard. “Ahhh…”

“Yeah, she is,” Lane replied.

“Okay, good.” The doctor looked Saki up and down. “Good. Well, you know if you ever need someplace, we’re here, right?”

“Umm…,” Saki looked back at Lane not completely sure what the doctor was referring to. “Yes, thank you.”

“Good. Well, keep this one working hard. And maybe you could volunteer some time and help him with his schoolwork,” he said, turning back toward the building.

Saki looked back at Lane, who seemed a little embarrassed. Waiting for the backyard to once again become theirs, Saki asked another question. “Was that your father?”

“No, he’s my uncle.”

“Is he one of us?”

“No.”

“But he knows about us?”

“Yeah,” Lane said lowering his eyes.

“And what was he referring to when he said ‘we’re here’?”

Lane looked at her curiously. “We’re a sanctuary.” He took a step toward the cages removing the last of the flooring. “Let’s finish this up, and then I’ll show you something.”

The two finished cleaning the cages, then tossed the hose aside and headed through the gate in the back fence. Entering a wooded area, Saki followed closely behind. There was a strong smell of dog waste in the area, and the farther they traveled, the stronger the scent got.

“We try to make this area as uninviting as possible. We don’t want anyone to stumble across anything that we wouldn’t want getting out.”

Lane looked at Saki, entering her into an unspoken bond. As the two reached the highest point of the slight hill, Lane knelt down and dug up a cord. Lifting up a metal plank, he revealed descending stone steps. Following Lane down, they passed through a large metal door.

“Quickly, come in behind me. We don’t want to let that smell in.”

Saki hesitantly entered the completely dark space, taking hold of Lane‘s arm as he closed the door. They were in dark for only a second before Saki heard Lane flip a light switch. The space lit up.

The area was larger than Saki expected. It must have stretched back under the humane society’s backyard. The entire space was filled with cages. Saki took a step toward one, feeling the thick metal in her hand. She couldn’t be sure, but she suspected that it was wrought iron. The cages were all about 6 feet squared and 5 feet high.

“It’s for people to turn in,” Lane stated.

“Your uncle locks people in here?”

“Well, it’s not like that. People, like, rent the space. They pay a certain amount a month, and we maintain it for them. And then once a month, they use it in privacy and then leave. The money we get for it allows us to build more so that those who can’t afford it can come as well.”

Lane allowed Saki to absorb everything before asking, “do you have a place to turn this moon?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m good,” she said a little creeped out by what she saw.

“It’s soundproof, and it’s safe. My uncle stands guard on the night of the moon with a tranquilizer gun. So if anyone gets out, he can make sure that no one gets hurt,” Lane said trying to sell her on the idea.

“No, I’m good. Really.”

Saki continued to examine the room. The walls were made of dirt. The roots that held it together snaked in and out of sight like 1,000 little worms. Just the sight of it was making her feel claustrophobic.

“Can we get out of here now?”

“Yeah, let’s go.”