Riot Girls: Seven Books With Girls Who Don't Need A Hero Read online

  I was relieved to have someone that at least knew something of what was going on. I knew I should have a million questions for him, but besides the question of how he knew about werewolves, I was at a loss. I gripped the chains of the swing, squeezing hard enough to make oval indents in my palms, trying to remain steady. I just had to hold on until the night was through. After that I could fall apart.

  Our conversation had ebbed, then Jason asked suddenly, “If you were so suspicious about Dan, why did you go out with him on Saturday?”

  I gave him an ‘isn’t it obvious’ look. “Lucy and Al were set on going. I couldn’t let them go alone.”

  “But what good did you hope to accomplish by going with? How did you intend to protect them?”

  I paused in consternation. How did I intend to protect them? Truthfully, I hadn’t though about it. I just knew that I had to go with them. At least that way, I’d know that I had tried. I answered, frustrated with my inability to explain, “I just had to go, even if I couldn’t do any good, I couldn’t let them go alone.”

  “You’re a good friend,” he stated simply.

  “Exactly.” I smiled at him, happy with his ability to sum up my situation.

  With that, he rose from his swing and I followed suit. We started walking back towards the school. I amused myself by watching my sneakers as they squashed down the blades of moist green grass. We’d run out of werewolf conversation, so we walked in silence. Surprisingly, the silence wasn’t awkward.

  I stumbled on a loose rock at one point and slipped backwards on the grass. I had closed my eyes, waiting for my butt to hit the ground, when I realized that Jason had caught me with his hands under my upper arms, right before I hit. One moment he had been beside me, and the next he was in position to catch me, too fast for me to follow. My heart fluttered, please don’t let him be another werewolf. He hoisted me back up and smiled at my mumbled thank you. I walked a little ahead of him after that, trying to hide my bright red embarrassed face as well as my cautious eyes.

  We walked up to the school parking lot just as Lucy and Allison arrived. Jason nodded to Lucy and left, saying he would meet us at my house. I watched him walk to what was apparently his car. Now I don’t know cars, but this one looked expensive . . . and fast. The paint was a glossy charcoal gray that would be mistaken for black in the night. Nice.

  Allison broke me out of my daydream of getting into that car with Jason. “So that’s where you were.”

  I gave her a quizzical look.

  “During geometry. Not that I condone ditching, but he looks like a pretty good reason.”

  “That was Jason, the guy we met in the woods, I’ll explain on the way to my house,” I answered.

  We piled into Allison’s car for the short ride to my house. Lucy in front and me in the back for a change.

  As soon as we pulled out of the parking lot, Lucy turned to look at me in the backseat. “I thought we didn’t trust him,” she said, referring to Jason.

  I met her eyes. “I’m not sure that we do, but he admitted to knowing more about Dan than he let on. Dan is in fact a werewolf, or so I’m told, and Jason seems to know quite a bit about werewolves, so we need his help, trust or no trust.”

  Lucy looked down for a moment, then met my eyes steadily. “Did he say how likely it is that I’m . . . infected?”

  I patted her shoulder, trying to be comforting and failing. I answered honestly, “He said it’s a good possibility.”

  Lucy turned back around to stare out her window.

  I went on, speaking to the back of Lucy’s head, “Let’s just try and not worry too much until we actually know what’s going on.”

  Lucy gave the barest of nods, but stayed staring out at the passing trees.

  “So . . . same plan still?” Allison asked hesitantly.

  “We’re gonna tweak it just a little,” I replied, then went on to detail my conversation with Jason.

  By the time we arrived at my house we had agreed on the rough plan. Jason would get restraints for Lucy, we would restrain her, and then we would wait. So not the most elaborate plan, but better than nothing.

  We went inside and Lucy and I journeyed to the kitchen to scrounge for food, our stomachs growling for having missed lunch. I love my bright, sunny kitchen, with walls painted a yellow so light it’s almost white. Maple cabinets, white tile countertops, and plenty of plants in multicolored ceramic pots complete the cottage-like feel.

  My mom was standing by the coffee pot, drinking a freshly made cup. My mom and I are different in a lot of ways, but we both run on the same fuel—coffee. We had actually recently agreed to try and cut back. It wasn’t going too well.

  All we could find to eat was a box of macaroni and cheese of indeterminate age and some rice cakes. Mac and cheese it was. I set about making it while my mom quizzed us about our day at school, receiving only vague and generic answers. Once the mac and cheese was done I divided it into blue ceramic bowls. I grabbed a cup of coffee, standing by my conviction that coffee goes with everything, and Lucy and I went into the dining room to sit and eat at the pale wood table.

  I watched Lucy out of the corner of my eye as we ate. She rubbed her arm, with a nervous strain to her face. Allison had stayed in the kitchen to talk to my mom. I eavesdropped until Allison mentioned a sale at a local boutique, then quickly tuned them out. I focused on making myself swallow the macaroni. Yeah, I was beginning to get an idea of its age.

  As we finished eating, my mom came into the dining room and grabbed our bowls to stack in the dishwasher. Lucy and I headed upstairs to my room. Allison said a quick goodbye to my mom, then followed us up. We sat on my plush beige carpeting pow-wow style.

  “So tell me more about Jason,” Allison began.

  Rolling my eyes, I answered, “We don’t know much, just what we told you about what happened in the woods.”

  Allison pouted at the lack of details on the new cute boy.

  “So he knows about werewolves?” Lucy interjected.

  “Um, apparently so,” I replied. “I asked him how he knew, but he said he’d explain it later.”

  “I’m not sure how I feel about him being involved,” Lucy said. “We know even less about him than we do about Dan. Why wouldn’t he tell you how he knew about all of this werewolf stuff? For all we know he could be working with Dan.”

  I shrugged. I didn’t want to tell her that I was simply acting on my gut instinct in trusting him. “What choice do we have?”

  Lucy’s face screwed up in thought. “Good point.”

  “Plus,” Allison added. “You must admit, the boy is not bad to look at.” I rolled my eyes at her and she went on, “C’mon Xoe, don’t act like you didn’t notice, I saw you making moon-eyes at him as he went to his car, and don’t get me started on the car.” She smiled with a sigh and looked away, as if imaging the car in her mind.

  “Okay,” I conceded. “I admit that he is not bad to look at, but there are much more pressing issues at hand.”

  Allison dismissed me with a wave of her hand. “When is he supposed to come?”

  “I dunno . . . ” I began to reply when I was interrupted by a knock on my bedroom door.

  My mom waited for me to open the door, then gave me her best scrutinizing look.

  “What?” I asked, confused.

  She placed her hands on her hips. “Did you forget to tell me something?”

  I gave her a blank stare.

  She continued, “Care to explain why two young men are waiting downstairs?”

  Two? “Oh, er, um, just friends coming over to study mom, geez,” I replied as nonchalantly as possible.

  She walked away with a look of motherly knowing and I followed her downstairs.

  The second boy in question was Max. The very Max that had been sitting with Dan the dreadful day that Allison dragged him to our lunch table. Max was short for a guy, about 5’4”. He had shaggy, sandy blond hair and the kind of complexion that would freckle like crazy if Shelby ever got
any measure of sun. His pale green eyes were staring intently at the floor while his hands nervously straightened his striped polo shirt and khaki cargo pants.

  I raised an eyebrow at Jason, wanting an explanation for Max’s presence. He was still dressed in his flannel and jeans. He glanced toward the ceiling and gave his head a slight nod, signaling that we should go upstairs. Sighing, I invited Max and Jason to my room where Lucy and Allison waited and they followed me up the stairs. We entered my room and I shut the door so that the questioning could begin.

  The second the latch clicked, I whirled on Jason. “What is he doing here?” I spat, pointing my finger at Max. “He’s in league with Dan, I saw them sitting together.”

  “Hey!” Max interrupted. “I’m not in league with him. I could tell he was a wolf, so I tried to talk to the guy, then I realized that he’s completely nuts.” He crossed his arms, looking like a grumpy elf.

  Wait, a wolf? “Don’t tell me you’re one too,” I groaned.

  “Well yeah,” Max answered, holding his head high, “but I’m not a bad one, I’m here to help.” His head remained high, proud to not be a “bad one.”

  I turned back to Jason as he started pulling things out of a dark blue backpack to show to us: a length of shiny silver chain, two sets of handcuffs, and a medical case. Lucy looked ready to pass out.

  “What’s in the case?” I asked.

  “Tranquilizers,” Jason answered, shifting his focus from his “supplies” to acknowledge me. Taking in my shocked expression, he elaborated. “First we’ll chain her up; the chains and cuffs are solid silver. Then if she starts to change, we tranquilize her. It won’t stop the change, but it will slow it down and stop her from hurting herself.” He opened the medical case and showed us several syringes and vials of clear liquid.

  Lucy had now gone from pale to green. Allison noticed and sat Lucy down on my bed. Jason looked questioningly at Lucy, deep blue eyes pinched with concern.

  I didn’t feel too hot myself. I do not like needles. Even thinking about getting a shot makes me queasy, and getting blood drawn, forget about it. I can’t even watch people get shots on TV. There is a very justified reason why my ears aren’t pierced.

  “Well it’s only 5:00 right now,” Allison announced. “What time is she supposed to change at?”

  “Full dark,” Max responded. “Around 8:00. We shouldn’t do it here though. Jason found a place.”

  We all looked at Jason still squatting on the floor beside his backpack. He stared back.

  “Lead on,” I said in a booming voice, dramatically thrusting my arm towards the door.

  Jason chuckled. He was the only one. At least someone found me amusing.

  Jason gathered the supplies and shoved them back into his backpack. We all trooped out of my room and downstairs single file. I told my mom we were staying at Lucy’s. Luckily I hadn’t mentioned to my mom that Lucy’s parents weren’t in town, and of course the boys were going home by nine, and out we went into the crisp evening air.

  Jason’s nifty car was waiting out front for us. Apparently my wish for a ride was about to be fulfilled, if not in the same fashion I had imagined. Jason got in the driver’s seat, unlocking the doors, and I snagged the front passenger seat, leaving everyone else to pile into the back. Lucy was squished in the middle between Allison and Max. Jason started the ignition and the David Bowie CD that was in his player started to play. A man after my own heart. Away we went, into the unknown.

  Chapter Ten

  WE DROVE AWAY from town to the mostly abandoned industrial district. We passed by empty lots and dilapidated buildings. The slowly eroding buildings were all a depressing gray that caused them to blend in with the sky. The district has the feel of a ghost town. Only transients and other seedy characters dwell there these days. I glanced at the door to make sure it was locked.

  I looked at Lucy’s face in the rear view mirror. She had her eyes pinched shut like she was trying to pretend that nothing was happening. I couldn’t imagine how she felt. I was scared enough just being involved in the situation. Lucy had to face the fact that she might become a werewolf in a world where we would have never imagined that such things existed.

  The crunch of gravel on asphalt along with the slowing of the car brought my attention back to our surroundings. Jason had pulled into the back lot of an empty, cavernous warehouse and was driving into an already opened bay. Once inside, he parked and we all got out to survey our surroundings. Jason walked back to shut the bay door behind us while Max took several electric camping lanterns out of the trunk of Jason’s car.

  Max turned on each lantern as he placed them around the expansive, creepy, dusty room. I looked up and everything was black, there was no telling how high the ceiling was. I felt the darkness pressing down on me, inciting panic, like reverse claustrophobia. I took slow breaths, in and out, hoping no one noticed. I drew my hand over the beads of cold sweat that had formed on my brow.

  As Max’s lanterns began to fill the warehouse with a dull glow, I took more of a look around. Trash and what appeared to be old clothes littered the floor, giving off an unpleasant mildewy smell. The area where Max was setting up the lanterns had been swept clean of debris. I tried to distract myself by attempting to make out some of the graffiti that covered the walls. Max walked back towards us.

  “You ready?” Max asked Lucy, who was huddling next to me looking terrified.

  “B-but, it’s not even close to 8:00,” Lucy stammered.

  Max shrugged. “Better safe than sorry.”

  I put my arm around Lucy’s shoulders, acting calmer than I felt, and walked her to a metal-framed folding chair that Max had placed in the center of the lanterns. Jason approached with the chains and cuffs.

  Jason faced Lucy. “Go ahead and sit down,” he told her.

  Lucy slowly sat on the black canvas seat of the rickety metal chair, then looked up at Jason with huge, terrified eyes. “What next?”

  “Hold out your hands.” Jason set the chains and cuffs on the cement floor and demonstrated by holding his hands in front of him, wrists side by side. Lucy slowly complied, but was trembling so badly that she could barely hold her wrists together. Jason picked up one set of cuffs and knelt by Lucy. He gingerly cuffed her hands together, running the cuff on her right hand through a link of the chain before locking the cuff down. He then put the second pair of cuffs around her ankles and attached the other end of the chain, kind of hog-tying her. Then, using a big padlock, he attached the loose ends of chain to a metal loop coming out of the concrete ground. Finished, he backed away to survey his handiwork.

  “Is that it?” I asked. “It doesn’t seem very . . . restraining.”

  Jason turned his attention to me. “It will be when she’s in wolf form. She’ll be a lot bigger than she is now. We don’t want the chains to hurt her when she changes.”

  Oh, well that made sense . . . I guess.

  Lucy watched us with big, terrified eyes. I went and sat on the bare concrete beside her, taking her hand in mine. The cold from the ground seeped into my body. Everybody else sat in a semicircle in front of us.

  “How did you know Dan was crazy?” I asked, turning to Max.

  He gave me a confused look.

  I elaborated, “In my room, you said you tried to get to know Dan and you realized he was crazy. How’d you know?”

  Max hesitated. “Um, you know, just by the kind of things he talked about . . . ”

  I fixed him with a stubborn stare, crossed my arms, and raised my eyebrows, urging him on.

  “He told me to stay away from Lucy, because she was his. He told me I could have Allison if I wanted.” Max paused at an ‘as if’ noise from Allison.

  “What about me?” I interjected.

  That confused look crossed Max’s face again.

  “What?” I asked snarkily. “You said that Dan claimed Lucy and you could have Allison. What am I, chopped liver?”

  Jason chimed in with a smirk on his face, “You are ma
d that no one claimed you as property?”

  I gave him a petulant look. “It’s the principle of the thing.” I turned back towards Max. “Well?”

  “He didn’t include you because you can’t be turned,” Max replied.

  Now it was my turn for the confused expression.

  Max went on, “Only humans can be turned.”

  Jason gave Max a sharp look. I looked back and forth between Max and Jason, trying to understand the warning look on Jason’s face and the confused one on Max’s.

  “She doesn’t know,” Jason said softly.

  “Oh,” Max murmured. “Sorry.”

  “Ok, someone needs to tell me what’s going on here,” I interrupted.

  “I do not think you want to know,” Jason said softly.

  “Try me.”

  Jason turned to me, looking resigned, he explained, “Supernatural beings are usually equipped with a way to tell their own. To a werewolf, humans have a certain smell, and anything not human will smell different. They may not be able to decipher what type of being you are, but they can tell if you are not human. You do not smell human.”

  I gave him a smug look, despite my sudden loss of breath. I managed to suck in enough air to reply, “Of course I’m human, my mom’s human, and as far as I know I’ve never been bitten by any sort of supernatural beastie.”

  “You never knew your dad,” Allison countered slowly. “Your mom’s human, but you have no idea what your dad could’ve been.”

  “For someone who was still skeptical about the werewolf thing, you seem all too ready to believe that my dad was some sort of . . . non-human,” I shot back.

  Allison frowned. “Just think about it Xoe.”

  The superior look faded from my face. “But . . . I’m sure my mom would have known if my dad had been less than human, and if she knew, she would have told me.” It sounded a weak defense, even to me.

  “Would you have ever guessed that Max wasn’t human?” Allison asked quietly.