Hidden in Sheridan (Tainted Series: Book 1)

Moon : WAXING GIBBOUS

Levi - Dawn broke and I roll to my back to see the sun shining through the low bows of the evergreens. My back wet from laying for who knows how long in the snow. A slight chill across my wet skin, which doesn’t cause me to be cold but I know it is cold.

Startled, I sit up quickly and hit my head against one of the low branches the pine needles. It catches in my curls and I yelp in shock. Pulling my head free I stumble to my feet and rub the sting from my scalp. Only now I manage to do an inspection.

Boots on. Pants on. Shirt on. Snow and water tucked into cuffs and wet fabric sticking to my body. But yes, I am dressed. If I were in a TV show, I’d be waking up naked in the forest, and not alone.

Not alone?

I spin around looking in all directions. A body? An animal? Had I hurt anyone? Did I eat anything? Why is it all a blur? My stomach growls hungrily and relief floods my body.

“Nope. Didn’t eat anything.” I mutter rubbing my stomach. “How did I get out here? Hello?”

I call out but I know no one is there. I can feel it, smell it, hear nothing not even a bird from above … there is only one place on these mountains that sounds like that, and it’s nowhere near the Wolfe family home.

I turn and examine the sky and the trees it’s obvious. I venture through a familiar patch of trees and brush, pushing through until I come to the back side of the Tree House.

“How did I get all the way up here?”

“That’s what I was wondering.” The voice came from the top floor, a wild head of hair poked out of the single window from the enclosed room but he wore an expression of relief to see me.

Insisting Sterling stay where he was, I climb higher into the treehouse than I had before. The door opens to a clean room. The floor had been painted blue with a brown and gray rug across the middle, and two large blocky chests along the back wall, one with a cushion, doubling it as a bench.

I close the door and note the small open cupboard tucked behind it, containing a broom and many cleaning supplies. Which may explain why there is no sign of a single spiderweb in the whole room.

“Why are you up here?” I ask.

“We’ve been looking for you all night. Ity suggested I chance it here. Looks like she was right.”

I look around but Ity is no where to be seen, “What happened?”

Sterlings face lit up with excitement, “You ripped the cage door off its hinges. That’s something none of us have ever been able to do! Probably because it’s something a human would do, not a wolf.”

“I … ripped it off its hinges?” I rub my shoulder, my whole body had aches and pains all through it. “How did I get out of the cellar? You said if anyone got out of the cage no one could get through the wall.”

Sterling took a long breath through his teeth before answering, “It’s worse than that. You caught a full grown LYCANTHROPE by surprise. Hank is not very happy you got the upper hand.”

“I beat up Hank?”

Sterling snapped his fingers, “No. I said you got the upper hand and managed to get passed him. So technically you didn’t beat him up. We all chased you; Me, Dad, Hank and Rory, but you somehow out smarted us all. Dad assumed you went somewhere to die.”

“But Ity knew I’d be here?”

He shrugs, “She seemed to think a part of you was still conscious inside the wolf and if so, you’d be headed here.”

I press my back into the wall and slid down into sitting position. It was nice that Ity has such confidence in me, but I don’t even remember thinking about the Treehouse. I don’t remember anything -

Frustrated I rub my eyes. “It’s so foggy! The Cage, lots of pain, Hank and your dad in human form. The smell of snow and bark. I think I - Was I in a tree at one point?”

Sterlings face floods with a realization as he sat on the dry wood floor nearby, “That actually makes sense. You were still part man, so climbing a tree is very possible, but we were searching for a wolf.”

“So I wasn’t a wolf?”

“It was the same form you had when we saved Trinity. Not a wolf, not a man but a mutated version of the two. When you were awake you acted like a wolf right up until you fell asleep.”

I sat taller, shocked I’d fallen asleep. That’s when Sterling takes a deep breath and scoots closer. “You’ve actually been asleep in the cage for a whole day, man. That’s why you caught Hank off guard. You suddenly woke up, and your escape happened so fast, we couldn’t react.”

“A whole day?” I was really hating how much time I was missing out on. Twice I’d blacked out and completely forgotten about my mother. I buried my face in my hands. It’s been days since I’ve seen her and my cell phone was clearly not on me. “I have to go home today.”

“Yeah, your mom is not happy with us right now. But! She was called to run a search party for another missing boy. So, she calmed down and trusted my parents when they said we are looking out for you.”

My muffled voice comes from behind my hands, “She’s not home right now?”

“No.” His hand grips my shoulder trying to comfort me. After rubbing my face I lift it from my hands. “What about Ity? Is she okay, did she Shift?”

He shook his head, “Sorry man. You must be unique.”

“Or she is …”

“She is one of a kind.” Sterling mused and my brow tightened,

“Did your heart just flutter?” I snarl.

“No.” Sterling changes the subject. “I did find something though … okay Ity found something.” He pulls loose pages from his pocket. He’d changed his clothes since I last saw him. The long sleeve shirt, vest and sneakers were all new, however the pants were still the same ones he’d run through the woods in yesterday … no, two days ago.

Sterling forces the pages into my hands. They were written in English but the penmanship was in cursive. I manage to make out the T’s and L’s but the rest look like squiggles. I look at him with my most charming confused expression.

“Yeah, I couldn’t read it either.” Sterling sheepishly laughs, “Ity said, ’our generation is going to lose our history because we can’t read what was left behind’, or something like that.” Sterling shrugs and takes the pages back, “But from what she explained, It’s not the wolf whose bite is changing you. It’s something he has, that gives him the ability.”

“Like Gamma radiation?” I say only slightly sarcastically.

Sterling shakes his head, “No, and she didn’t like my Hulk reference either. She says it’s more like a battery. It draws out of his imagination what he wants the bite to do, but it’s very unstable.”

“This is all in those pages?” I ask.

Sterling shook his head and ran through them as he spoke, “This is a letter written by a Tracker in New York City, back in the early 1800s? But we googled his history. He was known to talk about the balance between humanity and the demon world and if the balance gets thrown off, all sorts of madness could start happening. End of the world stuff that makes him sound crazy.”

“Not so crazy?” I take the pages back from Sterling and feel the paper in my hands. It’s rough and old, but not old enough to have been from the founding of New York. Most likely copies of copies.

“The idea is, if everything is linked to the balance then the fact it’s just his bite and not everyone else’s means you’re linked to him specifically. And mom thinks destroying that link might bring you back to normal.” Still trying to read the cursive I don’t respond. So Sterling snaps his fingers to be sure he has my full attention. “Are you following? We might be able to change you back.”

“Yes, by killing the wolf that bit me. I’m guessing before the end of the full moon too?” I say sarcastically, because it all sounds familiar. In fact, I roll up the pages and hit Sterling over the head with them. “That’s vampire lore, you moron!”

“It could be werewolves too.” Sterling shrugs. “I don’t know! We stopped thinking about the how and just decided that with the full moon starting in a few hours we might want hail-marry the hell out of the situation and just try to save your life.”

Absorbing his frustration I reopen the pages in my hand and shift to the last page where a small drawing in the corner caught my eye. Small enough to be a doodle.

“I’ve seen that.” I say unable to pinpoint why it looks familiar. It’s the size ping-pong ball but jagged in spots, not entirely smooth. I’d seen it at school, around town, and a week ago I saw Rhydian rolling it in his fingers at the Rodeo arena. I hold up the pages looking earnestly at Sterling, “Where did you find these?”

“Rhydian’s bedroom.”

I’m on my feet much faster than should be possible, anger swelled in my veins, “RHYDIAN BIT ME!?”

Sterling jumped to his feet but the voice I hear next isn’t his. She was so light on her feet the fact she was standing there, made both our hearts jump.

“Roku-de-na-shi [ろくでなし], Thomas Rhydian, who coincidentally went missing.”

Ity had changed her clothes. She wore a fitted pair of washed blue jeans, no holes and were tucked into her mid-calf snow boots lined with white fuzz. Her shirt was long cream hanging below a brand new red hooded sweatshirt that had thumb holes in each sleeve. The hoodie smelled of strawberries and pine. It covered up her own smell, which was a faint smell of decay.

“Wait, missing?” I look between Sterling and Ity. “He’s the missing boy?” Sterling looks down at his feet, “As in the one my mother is out there searching for?” Sterling scratches the back of his head, “She can’t find him!”

Sterling grabs my arm to keep me from running, “He won’t attack her.” He insists.

“He bit me, he bit Ity, what makes you think he won’t attack my mother when she has him cornered.”

“You seem confident in your mothers tracking skills, keep in mind she’s never found us.”

I slap his hand away and with the same hand, grab him by the neck. “If he hurts my mom …”

“His Alpha won’t let him.” Sterling chokes, my fingers pause before digging deeper into his neck. “Let go!” I let him go and Sterling coughs before continuing. “You saw his Alpha. Rhydian is clearly not planning this himself. The Alpha will not risk being caught by law enforcement and Rhydian will do whatever his Alpha orders him to do. He can’t help it.”

My pulse didn’t slow but I believed him enough not to physically attack him again. “Like you, right?” Sterling’s head caulks in question. “You’d kill me if your Alpha ordered you too, because you can’t help it. Right?”

Sterling’s hand drops from rubbing his neck, “Yes. But luckily my Alpha is also my dad. He won’t do that to me. He’s a scary, rough man but he won’t have me kill my best friend. Which you still are, in case you’ve forgotten.”

I wet my dry lips and step back, avoiding eye contact. I had forgotten. Sterling has always been by my side, and though his family was taking care of me in order to figure out what was going wrong, Sterling had still been here, as a loyal friend.

“Do you have to kiss and make up or is this pretty much settled?” Ity asks her arms still folded across her chest as she impatiently waits near the door. Sterling and I look at each other, both our faces flush red.

“We’re good,” We say simultaneously.

“Then might I suggest, with the police looking for a human, we go hunt for a wolf?”

CHAPTER END