Unleashed (30 page)

A horrible pain seared her leg, as if someone had placed a hot fireplace poker on it, and she woke up.

Bolting upright, she leaped out of her bed. She felt as if her bones were on fire.

She staggered into the bathroom, closed the door, and flipped on the light. She pulled up her pajama leg and looked at her wound. The sutures were coming undone, as though her skin was rejecting them. The pain was increasing, and in desperation she reached down and gave a tug, and within a few seconds, all of them had come free.

The pain instantly lessened. She grabbed her washcloth and dabbed at the bit of blood that welled to the surface. The wound looked like a nasty scratch, nothing more.

She stared at it in shock.

This is so not happening. It’s not possible to heal that fast
.

She pulled down her pajama top and stared at her shoulder. It was smooth and unblemished.

“Okay, so it wasn’t as bad as I thought,” she said. Then she gazed at her own reflection and shook her head. Who was she fooling?

I needed stitches. Something like that doesn’t go away
.

She went back to her room and sat on her bed with her hands around her knees. She kept checking, rechecking. It really was gone. She sat staring into the darkness, hearing the drums, and the wind, and her rapid heartbeat.

Eventually she fell back asleep and her dreams were filled with the drums, and the wind, and someone calling her name.

Katelyn
.

By morning, all evidence of the bite had vanished. Like on her shoulder, the skin was completely smooth, as if nothing had ever touched her. Katelyn was bewildered … and scared.

She thought of the look on Cordelia’s face when she’d described the attack and her symptoms. Cordelia had completely and totally lost it.

Because she was scared of me. She knows what’s going on
.

And Katelyn was going to make Cordelia tell her what it was.

“You’re not okay,” Trick said that morning on their way to school.

She shook her head. “No. I’m not.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

Right then, in the car, Katelyn almost confided in him. She was about to tell him everything, about the attack, the wound’s healing, everything.

Her phone pinged and she glanced down. It was a text message from Kimi.

Yo, babe. U dont call u dont text whazzup

Katelyn was taken aback. Kimi was the one who had been pulling away.

Trick turned on some music. “How Soon is Now?” by the Smiths blared as he tore through the forest like a wildfire. The moment for confidences was lost.

Better to wait and confront Cordelia, she decided. Make her explain.

She texted back.
Sorry—lots happnin
.

That was an understatement.

No excuse!
Kimi texted back.

“Are you okay now?” Trick bellowed over the music.

No. Not even
.

“Yeah,” she yelled back.

He gave her a look but said nothing.

The rain came crashing down as they pulled up to the school. They were early, and as was her habit, she headed for the library, realizing that she could make use of the reference section to see if there was anything about weird wolf bites. As she walked, Katelyn looked for Cordelia, and Sam and Beau. The rain pelted the roof. Thunder and lightning accompanied the torrents, and wind whistled down the hall. Around her, students gossiped. Waving her gold fingernails, Dondi motioned her over.

“Sam’s leaving,” Dondi informed her. “Her family’s moving to Little Rock. They’re going at the end of the week.”

“Oh?” Katelyn said, surprised. That seemed sudden.

“Yeah, it sucks,” Dondi said. “We were working on a presentation for English together. Now she’s just
bailing
. Argh.” She made a face, then saw Maria. “Hey, did you hear? Sam’s leaving,” she called to the other girl.

Katelyn’s phone chimed again and up popped Kimi’s reply—a photo of Kimi and Jane in pigtails, posing with two saws with ARKAN written on them in black marker. They were blowing kisses at the camera. It was clear that Kimi had replaced her.

I can’t confide in her
, she thought glumly.
No, I can’t confide in
anyone.

Cordelia got to class and sat down right as the bell rang. Katelyn waited for her to turn so she could get her attention, but her friend wouldn’t look at her. When class ended, Cordelia walked on ahead with Dondi. Katelyn followed, her confusion growing. When they got to P.E., they discovered that they had a last-minute substitute, who decided to hold study hall. Everyone spread out around the gym in little clusters; then the sub announced she had to “get something” and left the gym.

Katelyn got up and grabbed Cordelia’s arm and dragged her to the top of the bleachers. Cordelia sat reluctantly, rubbing her arm where Katelyn had gripped her. When Cordelia moved Katelyn’s hand, she saw that she had left red fingerprints on Cordelia’s skin.

“What’s happening to me?” she asked fiercely. She was desperate.

Cordelia’s eyes went huge. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Anger flashed through Katelyn.

“You ran away from me yesterday. You were scared of me.”

“No,” Cordelia insisted.

“Look. Look at this.” She rolled up her pants leg. Cordelia looked at the unbroken skin, and her eyes widened. “You can’t even tell I was ever bitten.”

“It’s a miracle,” Cordelia said, clearly trying to sound excited. And failing.

“I’m pretty sure it’s not. And I think you know what it is. You have to tell me.”

Cordelia crossed her arms tightly and hunched forward, her face wan, guilt clear in her expression. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Stop lying to me,” Katelyn demanded, angry and pleading at the same time. “You’re supposed to be my friend.”

“I
am
your friend,” Cordelia said, but avoided her gaze. “That’s why I’m telling you that you’re fine. Your imagination is just running away with you and you need to calm down. Take a break. You’ve obviously been through a lot. First with your mother and then the attack—”

“Don’t you dare try that on me,” Katelyn said in a low, angry voice. “This has nothing to do with my mother. And I can’t believe you would even go there. That night when we heard the screams and you refused to let me call the police, something weird was happening then, too, and you knew it, didn’t you?”

Katelyn waited for her friend to answer. She watched as scarlet crept up Cordelia’s neck and fanned out across her cheeks. “It was a cat. You said it was.”

“But we
heard
a wolf. It was when Becky was being killed, wasn’t it? We were outside when Becky was being killed, weren’t we?”

Cordelia took a deep, shuddering breath. “Even if that’s true, there was nothing we could have done.”

“
What
?” Katelyn was shocked. As much as she’d feared it, that was not the answer she had been expecting. She reached out to grab Cordelia again but the other girl flinched, and Katelyn dropped her hand back to her lap.

“I mean, I don’t know what happened to Becky.” Cordelia’s tone was steeped in misery.

“Well, what about me? You know something.”

“No, I don’t,” Cordelia said.

“You
do
. I know you do.
Please
, tell me what’s happening.”

“No,” Cordelia whispered, “I couldn’t help Becky and I can’t help you.”

“But what does that mean?” Katelyn was going crazy. She was sure now that Cordelia could tell her why things had turned so strange, but the girl wouldn’t budge.

Cordelia sat with her eyes downcast. The anger continued to build in Katelyn. Cordelia wouldn’t even make eye contact, which made it impossible to connect with her.

“Look at me,” Katelyn begged, desperate for an answer.
Any
answer.

But Cordelia didn’t move.

“Cordelia,
please.
”

There was still no response. Deep inside, Katelyn’s anger simmered, then boiled up and over; she couldn’t contain it.

“Look at me!” Katelyn shouted, shaking with rage. Cordelia jumped and lifted her eyes as Katelyn’s words echoed. People stopped talking and stared at them.

Tears welled up and ran down Cordelia’s cheeks. She took a deep, ragged breath. “I don’t know who—or what—did this to you,” she murmured.

“But you know
something
,” Katelyn said, forcing herself to speak quietly.

“Believe me, Kat, if I could tell you anything, I would. But it’s not just me.… There’s too much history, too much everything.”

“What on earth does
that
mean?”

Katelyn watched her friend flounder. Cordelia was clearly frightened, but not by her. It was like something was holding her back, controlling her. She thought of the fairy tale-like house where Cordelia lived with the Arkansas equivalent of the Addams Family. She had tried to reach out to Cordelia, be a friend … and now that she needed one, Cordelia wasn’t there for her.

“Fine, then,” Katelyn said. She stood abruptly to show that she meant business. “I’ll do what I should have done in the first place. Talk to my grandfather.”

“No! You can’t!” Cordelia cried as she leaped up and grabbed her arm, jerking her back down.

“Why not?” Katelyn pressed.

“Because.” Cordelia’s lips trembled as she stared in horror at Katelyn. “Because my father will kill you.”

Katelyn stared at Cordelia in disbelief. “Your father will
kill me
?” she asked incredulously. “As in, literally?”

Cordelia looked as horrified as when Katelyn had told her the dog that had attacked her had actually been a wolf.

“Yes.” Cordelia hung her head forward, draping her hands over her knees. “Yes. He will.”

The sub appeared in the doorway and looked up at Katelyn as she walked briskly back into the gym. “This is study hall, girls,” she called. “Do I need to separate you two?”

Katelyn shook her head. “No,” she called back.

But as soon as the sub turned her attention elsewhere, Katelyn looked back at Cordelia. She was pale and shaking, but at least she was looking Katelyn in the eyes.

“You need to talk to me,” Katelyn whispered.

Cordelia nodded. She looked utterly defeated. “I will. I promise. Just … not here. Not at school.”

Relief flooded Katelyn.
Finally
, she thought.
Some answers
. But she wasn’t going to let her friend avoid it. She wasn’t ready to give in so quickly. “Right after,” Katelyn insisted.

“I have to get something first.”

Katelyn let out her breath.
What on earth could she possibly need to get in order to talk to me?

“Don’t dodge me.” Katelyn stared straight into Cordelia’s blue eyes.

“Kat, I’m not. Please. Trust me. This is hard enough.”

Cordelia grabbed Katelyn’s hand as Katelyn opened her mouth to protest. Her grip was so strong that Katelyn’s bones felt as if they were rubbing together. She winced. Then she looked down at Cordelia’s arm, where she herself had left red fingerprints earlier. Was a bruise blooming on her skin?