Howl
© 2011 by Jody Morse and Jayme Morse
Howl is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents in this book are products of the author’s imaginations or have been used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons or locations is coincidental and not intended by the authors.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from Jody Morse and Jayme Morse.
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Chapter 1
****
Samara McKinley stared at the blazing bonfire, illuminated by the light of the full moon. She tugged on her sweatshirt, unsure if she was hot or cold. The late June night breeze felt cold against her cheeks, but the hot chocolate she was sipping made her feel toasty warm.
“Are you sure you don’t want any vodka in your hot cocoa, Sam?” Emma asked. “It’s really good.”
Samara shook her head (for the third time) and gave her best friend a small smile. “No thanks.”
“Okay, Miss Straight Edge,” Emma laughed, elbowing Samara in the ribs. “But you have to promise me that we will go out and get drunk for your twenty-first birthday.”
Samara giggled. “My twenty-first birthday isn’t for six more years!”
“Well, five years and eight months if you want to get technical,” Emma replied. “I have it all planned out already. We’re going to go to Miami and get completely trashed en route to Cancun where we’ll spend spring break.”
Samara smiled. Ever since she had met Emma Taylor, she’d been planning both of their futures. So far, they would be having a double wedding, spending their honeymoons during the same week in Hawaii so that they could swim with the dolphins together, and one of them would have a son and the other would have a daughter so that their kids could get married.
Glancing across the fire, Samara caught Luke Davenport’s stare just as his emerald green eyes met hers. Her heart skipped a beat. Luke was the cute new guy in school, and he had been casting looks in her direction all night. Samara had been planning to say something to him, but she needed to work her nerve up first.
In the distance, Samara heard a loud howl.
“My new neighbors have the most annoying dogs,” Emma whined from next to her. “They howl all night long. Thank gosh for headphones and the new Taylor Swift CD or I’d never be able to sleep through it.” She stood up, carrying her mug. “I need a refill. Anyone else want more hot chocolate or another drink?”
“No, I’ve got enough wine to last me the whole night,” Colby Jackson replied, holding up a bottle.
From around the circle, people snickered. “Hey Colby Jack, are you drinking red wine or white wine?” Jason Masterson asked.
“Red wine,” Colby replied cheerfully. “White wine makes me nauseous.”
Jason and a few of his friends burst into laughter. Samara heard Jason mutter “freak” under his breath.
Next to her, Ashley Everest hissed, “Has he ever even been to a party before? Seriously, who brings red wine?”
Samara shrugged and gave Colby a sympathetic smile. She knew that the rest of the kids who she went to school with thought it was hilarious to pick on Colby by nicknaming him after a type of cheese and by insinuating that he was crushing on a few of the football players, but she felt bad for the poor kid. Right now, he was wearing a confused farmer’s getup: suspenders over a red flannel shirt, a black tie, and dirt-covered work boots. He obviously had no sense of style but so what if he liked red wine? It was more than Samara drank, but no one made fun of her. That was probably because everyone knew better than to make fun of Samara. She was Emma Taylor’s best friend.
Emma was one of the most popular girls at Grandview High School, so that made Samara semi-popular by association. Samara didn’t understand why Emma tried so hard to maintain her popular girl status. Samara didn’t think that most of the people who came to Emma’s parties were friendship status-worthy, anyway. Most of them seemed like they just wanted free alcohol and a discrete place to hook up with their boyfriend or girlfriend. Still, Emma continued having the parties every time her mom and stepdad were out of town – which was pretty often lately.
Samara watched as Luke whispered something into Colby’s ear, his eyes still hovering over her. Colby was Luke’s best friend, which was the only reason he ever got invited to Emma’s parties. Oddly enough, Colby was the one person that she felt the most comfortable with at parties like these. They were both the misfits out of the group, even though no one knew that Samara didn’t feel like she fit in.
She sank back into her lawn chair, wondering if Luke was talking about her to Colby. Samara quickly shook the thought away. The boys she liked never liked her. She didn’t want to get her hopes up. Even though it had seemed like Luke had been eyeing her all night, Samara realized that she was probably just imagining it – or he really just thought she was a creep because he had noticed her staring at him because she thought he was staring at her.
“Guess what,” Emma said excitedly, as she sat back down next to Samara. “You’ll never guess who told me he thinks I’m cute.”
“Who?” Samara asked, tearing her eyes away from Luke and Colby to look over at Emma.
“Jason!” Emma squealed, her lip-glossed covered lips twisting into a big smile as she tossed her blonde hair behind her shoulders.
“That’s great,” Samara smiled, trying not to sound as unenthusiastic as she felt. She glanced at the chair where Jason had been sitting minutes ago, but it was empty.
Samara had known Jason for years because his twin brother, Josh, was her cousin Kyle’s best friend. She knew that Jason was a jerk, just by the way he treated Colby and some of the other unpopular kids at school. There was something else that she didn’t like about him, though.
When she was around Jason, he gave her a really weird feeling. The way he looked at her through his nearly-black eyes sent shivers down her spine.
Emma went through boys faster than anyone else Samara knew, though. This made Samara feel relieved because, chances were, Emma would probably move onto someone else really soon.
Glancing over at Emma, Samara realized that her best friend might break a record and move on a whole lot sooner than she had even expected her to. Right now, she was staring across the fire at someone with a starry look in her eyes.
Samara followed her gaze. There were three people who she could be staring at: Colby, Luke, or Chris Priestley, one of their friends. Samara knew for sure that she wasn’t staring at Colby, and Chris really didn’t seem like Emma’s type. Emma liked tall guys, and Chris was on the shorter side.
“I’ll be right back,” Emma whispered to Samara, setting her mug down on her seat. Hot cocoa spilled over the rim of the cup and onto the blue lawn chair. Samara groaned and grabbed a napkin from the drink table, keeping her eyes on Emma the whole time.
“Hey, cutie,” Emma said flirtatiously, as she approached Luke.
“Umm, hi,” Samara heard him reply.
“Wanna go for a walk with me?” Emma asked, sitting down on his lap and wrapping her arms around his neck.
Samara felt the anger rise to her cheeks as she watched her best friend throw herself at the guy who she thought she might be crushing on. She couldn’t really blame Emma. She probably had no idea what she was doing because she was completely wasted. Besides, Samara hadn’t told Emma that she thought she had a thing for Luke yet. She’d been planning to tell her later on after everyone went home, when she was sure that Luke wouldn’t hear her. It was probably too late, though. Even if he had been checking her out, Luke had probably already forgotten all about her now that he had a chance with Emma.
Samara watched as Luke firmly shook his head and pushed Emma away from him. Standing up, he walked away from the bonfire. Luke shot a look at Samara over his shoulder before he walked out of the backyard, and she felt her heart flutter. She hadn’t just been imagining it; Luke had definitely been staring at her.
Emma skipped back over towards Samara, a pouty look on her face. “Luke left.”
“I saw. Why did he have to leave?”
“I think he said he had to help his m-mom,” Emma slurred, grabbing Samara’s arm. “I miss him.”
Samara groaned. Pushing Emma away from her, she got up to take a walk. She wasn’t in the mood to listen to her drunken best friend talk about missing her crush. Well, technically, he was their crush now. Maybe. Samara didn’t ever think that she would secretly wish that Emma would develop a huge crush on Jason, but it wouldn’t seem like the worst thing that could happen right now.
Suddenly, Samara wasn’t feeling in the mood be at the party or sleepover at Emma’s house tonight anymore. She wanted to go home. Samara scanned the crowd for her brother, Seth. He was her only means of transportation, unless she wanted to walk home in the dark or call her mom, who would be furious that she was at a party where there was alcohol and no parents present. No, Seth was her only way to get home without getting in trouble. Besides, Samara knew that her brother could cheer her up. He always did.
When she didn’t spot Seth anywhere, Samara swore under her breath. Even her best friend Declan Kingsbury couldn’t drive her home right now because he was vacationing at the Jersey shore with his dad. Deciding that she was stuck here for the night, Samara grabbed herself a Mountain Dew from the cooler. She felt a tap on the back of her shoulder. When she turned around, Samara found herself staring into a pair of hazel eyes which were rimmed with long black eyelashes.
“Hi, Samara,” the girl said, seeming happy to see her. The girl had fair skin, chestnut brown hair, and delicate features. Samara realized that she looked familiar, but she couldn’t seem to put a name to her face.
“Hi,” Samara replied awkwardly, unsure of what else to say. She didn’t want to be rude and ask her who she was.
“I haven’t seen you in a while! You haven’t hung out at Kyle’s house in a long time,” the girl said and a light bulb went off in Samara’s head. The girl was Lilly Phillips – Josh Masterson’s girlfriend. Samara hadn’t seen her since her Aunt Rae’s wedding. Even though they’d hung out, Samara didn’t know Lilly all that well, only that she and Josh had been dating for a little over two years.
“Yeah, I’ve been really busy lately,” Samara replied, taking a sip of soda. She felt genuinely guilty about not spending too much time with Kyle’s family recently. When her uncle, James, had died, she’d vowed to make more time for that side of the family, but it hadn’t happened yet. “I’ll have to go over there sometime soon. So, how have you been? Are you still dating Josh?”
Lilly nodded, a wide smile flashing across her face. “Yeah, we’re still together. And very happy.”
“That’s great. I’m happy for you guys. He’s such a nice guy,” Samara said. She wasn’t lying, either. Josh was the total opposite of Jason; they might be twins, but they definitely didn’t share personalities. Jason’s dark stares freaked her out, but Josh’s eyes always looked like they were smiling. Actually, come to think of it, Josh and Jason didn’t look that much alike either. They looked like they were brothers, but Josh had a lighter shade of hair and had slightly softer features than Jason.
Samara heard a low growl from behind her. Figuring that Seth was in the backyard again and trying to scare her, she turned around, fully prepared to burst into giggles.
When she turned around, it wasn’t Seth. A gray wolf snarled back at her, baring its teeth.
Samara panicked, unsure of what to do.
“Run,” Lilly shouted at her. Samara watched as Lilly darted out of the backyard and around the side of the house.
Samara stood there, frozen, unsure of what to do. She knew that it was a bad idea to run from any wild animal, let alone a wolf. Just standing there and doing nothing didn’t seem like a good way to not get attacked either, though.
Slowly and cautiously, Samara took a small step backwards. When the wolf didn’t do anything, she took another step . . . and another. Once she reached the stairs that led to the porch, she hurriedly climbed up them and found herself overlooking the party.
Samara watched as the rest of the people at the party began to panic. Emma climbed onto the chair behind her and began waving her arms in the air.
“Emma, don’t wave your arms at it!” Samara shouted at her, feeling helpless. “You’re going to draw attention to yourself.”
“Don’t worry, Sam. My dad used to breed Huskies!” Emma yelled back at her. “Come here, boy,” she said, turning to the wolf. “Do you want to play fetch?”
The wolf let out a low growl and took a step forward. In the light of the fire, Samara realized how big the wolf was.
Everyone had climbed onto the porch now or had left the party, leaving Emma in the backyard on the chair all by herself.
Emma leaped off her chair and grabbed a stick from the ground. She waved it in front of the wolf before swinging it in the air. “Go fetch!”
The wolf let out another growl; this time, Samara couldn’t help but notice that the wolf seemed to glare at her.
“Go get the stick, boy!” Emma chirped excitedly.
“Is she an idiot?” someone whispered from behind Samara.
Taking a deep breath, Samara climbed down the porch steps and ran to Emma. She grabbed her arm. “Come on. Let’s go inside.”
Emma stood her ground. “No. I want to play with the doggie.”
“Emma, you’re drunk! It’s a wolf, not a dog. It’s going to attack you if you don’t leave it alone. Come on.”
Emma shook her head and sat on the ground, just feet in front of the wolf. Moments later, she fell backwards, in a fit of giggles. To Samara’s relief, the wolf backed a few steps away from Emma and sat down, curling its tail underneath its hind legs.
Samara looked up at the people on the porch, scanning the crowd for someone who could help her get Emma inside.
Before she had time to ask, Josh was hurrying down the steps, his hands in his pockets.
“Come on, puppy! Wanna come inside?” Emma drunkenly called to the wolf.
“Here, help me stand her up,” he told Samara. “I don’t think it’s going to do anything. If it was going to attack us, it would have already.”
Samara nodded in agreement and watched as he quickly swung Emma over his shoulder and began carrying her towards the house.
As they were approaching the stairs, the wolf lunged at them. Samara felt panicky, even as Josh climbed the stairs more quickly.
“Go inside everyone!” Josh shouted at a few of their friends who were blocking the doorway; the wolf seemed to pause long enough to listen to Josh yelling before it came closer to Samara.
Glancing over her shoulder, she watched as the wolf bared its shiny white teeth at her. Just as she was positive that it was going to attack, she heard another growl from behind the wolf.
The wolf turned around and growled back. Once she was up
the stairs, Samara watched as the second wolf, which was slightly
larger, pounced on the first wolf. After a moment of biting and
pawing at each other, both of the wolves ran into the woods.
Samara
breathed a sigh of relief. The wolves were gone. No one was hurt.
They were all going to be okay.
Chapter 2
****
Five
Months Later
“Excuse me, ma’am. I’m Detective Eric Scotts,” a tall guy with dirty blonde hair said, pulling out his identification and waving it in front of Edda Williams. “I’m with the Grandview County Police Department. We’re looking for a missing person. Her parents said that she was supposed to come here two days ago before she disappeared. They haven’t heard from her since. Her name’s Lilly Phillips. She’s about five foot two, one-hundred and twenty pounds.”
“You’re going to have be a bit more specific than that, Detective. I see teenagers comin’ in and out of my store all day long,” Edda replied, wiping a drop of sweat from her weathered face.
“Here’s a picture of her,” Detective Scotts said, pulling a photo out of his mahogany-colored wallet.
Samara glanced over the detective’s shoulder to examine the picture he had just pulled out and gasped. She knew the silky chestnut brown hair, delicate features, and fair skin in the yearbook photo all too well; it was Lilly Phillips, Josh Masterson’s girlfriend.
Edda’s dark brown eyes lit up with recognition, the skin around them scrunching into tiny wrinkle lines. “Why, of course! She was in here two days ago. I remember her specifically because that boyfriend of hers seemed a little bit too controllin’. I was going to say somethin’ about it, but my husband, Roy, came into the shop and gave me the you-better-not-get-involved look, so I decided that I best mind my own business.”
“Can you tell me what you mean by controlling?” Detective Scotts asked, whipping out a tiny notebook.
Edda frowned. “It’s hard to put into words, really. There was just somethin’ off about the way they acted around each other in here. He seemed really angry, almost like they had just been fightin’ before they came into the store. I remember her goin’ to grab a bag of pretzels from the rack, but he ripped them right out of her hands and put them back on the shelf.”
“Interesting. I’ll make a note of that controlling behavior, as you call it,” Detective Scotts said, scribbling in his notebook. “Can you recall what time they came in?”
“It was just after the dinner rush hour,” Edda replied slowly. “I’d say it was about seven o’clock, maybe eight.”
The detective jotted something else down in his notebook. “Do you remember what her boyfriend looked like? Hair color? Height? Weight? Tattoos? Any details about his physical appearance would be useful in identifying him.”
“He had an athletic build. He was probably about six feet tall, maybe a little shorter. His hair was dark and slicked back. Oh, and he was wearing a cross necklace,” Edda replied hastily. “Detective, do you think that maybe we could do this some other time? I’ve got customers leavin’ my store because of you.”
Samara turned around, just in time to see a lady and her son sneaking out the back door of the general store. From the window, she could see two other people climbing into their cars, disgusted looks on their faces. Normally, Samara would have followed them, but she was really curious. It wasn’t every day that someone in Grandview went missing – especially someone she knew.
Her mind went back to the description that Edda had just given the detective. It definitely sounded like Josh, but she had a hard time believing that Lilly was with him in the general store. She had never seen him act controlling or even aggressive to anyone else, let alone Lilly. Maybe they were having a fight, or maybe they had broken up and Edda was describing someone else. It wouldn’t be too unusual for Lilly to date someone who fit the same exact description of Josh if he was her type.
“I understand. My apologies,” Detective Scotts replied, droning out Samara’s thoughts. “Here’s my card. Please give me a call if you remember any details that you feel would be useful in our investigation.”
As the detective walked past Samara, she felt a gust of wind. She watched as he slipped out the side door of the general store. Moments later, she saw his black car pull out of the driveway as he pulled out of the parking lot.
Edda scoffed. “I’m real sorry about that, Samara. You can have whatever you want on the house. You’ve gotta be my most loyal customer. Lord knows I wouldn’t have waited there so patiently.”
Samara smiled, pushing a dark chocolate brown lock of hair behind her ear. “I don’t mind. It’s not like I have somewhere else that I need to be. I’ll have –”
“Your usual,” Edda interrupted. “A large iced mocha coffee and a cinnamon bagel with cream cheese.”
Samara nodded and watched as Edda smothered a thick layer of cream cheese on her bagel and tossed it into a little brown bag for her.
“How’s your mom doing?”
“Good,” Samara replied. “I’ll tell her you said hi.” Edda and her mom had known each other for years because Mrs. McKinley had worked at the general store while she was putting herself through college to become a legal secretary.
Over the sound of the noisy blender, Edda said, “Kids these days. Those teens probably just ran away from home. My own son did that, you know, and he never came back. I feel real sorry for those parents, though. It’s hard not knowin’ what happened to your child.”
When Edda handed her the bagel and coffee, Samara mumbled, “Thanks.” She bolted out of the door to the general store, determined to somehow find out what had happened to Lilly.
*
“Samara Alyce, where have you been?” Mrs. McKinley barked when Samara walked through the front door. “I’ve been trying to call you since yesterday afternoon!”
“I’m sorry, Mom,” Samara replied, shrugging her shoulders. “I told you there isn’t very good reception at Emma’s house, so you shouldn’t expect me to answer while I’m there. Besides, if you really wanted to get in contact with me, why didn’t you just drive over there?”
Her mom sat down on the love seat and crossed one thin leg over the other. “Well, I would have if your father hadn’t been in the hospital last night.”
“What? Dad was in the hospital? Is he okay?” Samara asked, feeling panicked.
Mrs. McKinley nodded, her cheeks a shade of rosy red. “They discharged him this morning. He’s doing alright, just shaken up, mostly. Your brother and he got into another argument last night. We’re lucky that his nose was the only thing that was broken.”
“Oh, no,” Samara whispered. Her brother, Seth, had become a totally different person this year. One day, he was her normally goofy brother, cracking brotherly jokes and teasing her like usual. The next day, something seemed to snap. Her brother suddenly seemed so hateful towards everyone. Samara wasn’t really sure what had changed in him, but she hoped that whatever it was would change back soon because his recent outbursts were beginning to tear their family apart. Samara was starting to hate being home because she didn’t want to be around it.
“Your father’s upstairs resting right now. Seth left last night, and he hasn’t come back since.”
“That’s just like Seth,” Samara muttered, remembering that her brother had taken off the last three times that he had gotten into a fight with one of their parents. It seemed like it was becoming a monthly occurrence. He had disappeared for a few days each time before finally coming back and apologizing. Her parents had forgiven him, but despite their best efforts to talk things out, things were never fully resolved. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here.”
“Oh, honey, don’t apologize,” Mrs. McKinley said, waving a hand in the air. “There’s nothing that you could have done to stop it even if you had been here.”
While Samara knew that her mom was right, she still felt a pang of guilt. She had spent the night before playing karaoke and beer pong at Emma’s house. She had told her mom that Emma’s mom and step dad were going to be home, even though she knew that they were spending the weekend visiting Emma’s grandma in Rhode Island. Emma had played hooky so that they would let her stay home instead of going to her grandma’s 80th birthday party.
“So, how was your night at Emma’s anyway?” Mrs. McKinley asked, as though she had read Samara’s mind.
Samara shrugged. “It was alright.”
“What did you girls do?”
“We just hung out. Ate pizza and had a Reese Witherspoon movie marathon,” Samara lied. Even though she felt bad about lying to her mom again, she didn’t want her to know that she had been dishonest in the first place – and she wasn’t about to tell her mom what they had really done the night before. Mrs. McKinley would probably have a heart attack if she found out that there were boys over, that they had all been drinking, and that Samara had gotten her first kiss. She would have been even angrier if she knew that Samara’s best guy friend, Declan, had slept over. Mrs. McKinley was probably even more against coed sleepovers than she was against Samara dating – which didn’t say much because she didn’t want that to happen until Samara turned eighteen. Sadly, she wouldn’t be eighteen for a couple of years, so she was just going to have to sneak around until then.
“Well, that sounds like fun,” Mrs. McKinley chirped. “Do you have any plans for tomorrow? It’s Sunday, so I thought that maybe we could spend the day together.”
“I’m going over to Emma’s again,” Samara chirped apologetically. Technically, she was telling her mom the truth this time. What she didn’t mention was that the only reason she was going there was so that Emma could do Samara’s hair and makeup for her date with Luke Davenport, the guy who she had gotten her first kiss from the night before.
“Oh, alright,” Mrs. McKinley replied, a saddened look crossing her face. Samara noticed tiny wrinkle lines that she hadn’t seen yesterday underneath her mom’s eyes. Although her mom’s hair was dyed jet black, there appeared to be more gray highlights peeking out where her roots were growing in than there had been before. All of the constant fighting in their household must really be taking a toll on her mom.
“Maybe we can do something next weekend,” Samara suggested, trying to make up for it.
“It’s a plan,” Mrs. McKinley replied, but the tone in her voice told Samara that she wasn’t really expecting it to happen.
*
That night, Samara lay in her twin-sized bed flicking
through the television channels when she came across the evening
news. It only caught her attention because the yearbook picture of
the missing girl that the detective had shown Edda earlier that day
was staring back at her. Samara left the station on to watch the news
feature.
“Lilly Phillips was last seen by her parents at their
home in Grandview around four o’clock Thursday afternoon,” the
newscaster said, a solemn tone in her voice. “Edda Williams, the
owner of Williams General, saw the girl in her store on Thursday
evening. Lilly’s boyfriend, Josh Masterson, is allegedly the last
person who saw her before she went missing. He claims that he drove
her home Thursday night around nine o’clock and that he has not
seen or heard from her since.”
Samara felt a weird feeling grow in the pit of her stomach. The pieces didn’t seem to fit together. Josh really had been the one who was with Lilly the day she went missing… or was he the only one? The newscaster had said that he was the last one to see her, but she also hadn’t said for sure that he was the one with her in the general store.
Samara gulped. What if Lilly had been cheating on Josh? Though she’d never known Josh to be a bad person, everyone had their moments of rage. If he had caught her with someone else…
No, Samara thought, shaking the idea away. Josh wouldn’t do that to anyone. Besides, she was just jumping to conclusions. He probably was the one who was with her in the store.
“If you have any details about Lilly Phillip’s whereabouts, please contact local authorities immediately,” the newscaster read before going on to talk about high school basketball.
Samara wondered where Lilly was. Even though Edda thought that she had probably run away, Samara had a gut feeling that it wasn’t that simple.
Something wasn’t right. Samara wasn’t sure what it was, but she could feel it.
Chapter 3
****
“So, has he told you where you guys are going yet?” Emma asked as she applied Samara’s eyeliner. Emma was an expert at doing makeup and, even though she normally recommended Samara to wear an earthy brown eyeliner to bring out the gold flecks in her eyes, she was applying a sultry shade of black for her date with Luke.
“No, he says it’s a surprise,” Samara groaned. “Hopefully it’s a good one, at least.”
“Yeah, hopefully it’s not just some restaurant or something,” Emma replied, dabbing on some bronzer with a makeup brush. “That would be a really lame surprise.”
“Yeah,” Samara agreed. “Especially if there’s not even a vegetarian menu. I don’t want to look like a ‘picky eater’ on the very first date.”
“Don’t worry, you won’t. Plenty of other girls are vegetarians. I’m sure he’s even dated one before. So, I think you should wear the red sweater. The pink one’s cute and the white one’s okay, but all of the research shows that men go crazy over red,” Emma said, turning to the three short-sleeved sweaters, which all happened to be Valentine’s Day colors even though it was the middle of October, that they had laid out as possible options for Samara to wear tonight. “It has an effect on their testosterone or something.”
“Okay, Doctor Love,” Samara joked. “Red it is.”
“You laugh now, but you’ll totally thank me for it later when Luke is all over you. Then again, what do I know? It sure didn’t work for me.”
Samara looked down at the floor. Emma had been complaining for the past two days that it wasn’t fair that Luke had asked Samara to go out on a date with him. Emma had been trying to get him to ask her out all summer, but it just hadn’t happened. Samara felt bad; even though she’d liked Luke first, Emma didn’t believe it. She thought that Samara just wanted her leftovers, as she’d called it, even though Luke had never showed any interest in Emma. Samara didn’t understand why; all of the other guys at school wanted to date Emma.
Samara glanced at the two of them in the mirror. They were polar opposites in terms of looks. Emma had pale blonde hair, ocean blue eyes, and her cheeks had freckles scattered on them - a huge contrast to Samara’s own dark chocolate brown hair, amber eyes, and skin that tanned nicely when she spent most of her time laying out by the lake behind her house during the summer.
Maybe Emma just wasn’t Luke’s type and Samara was. Still, she couldn’t help but feel like going on a date with him was like rubbing salt in Emma’s wounds.
Just as Emma finished brushing the mascara on Samara’s eyelashes, the doorbell rang. “I’ll go get it and tell him that you’re not ready yet,” Emma said, darting out of her bedroom and leaving Samara to stare at the olive green walls as the butterflies began fluttering around in her stomach.
She quickly pulled the red sweater over her lacy black camisole and examined herself in the mirror. Emma had done her hair in waves of curls that fell over her shoulders. Even though Samara was feeling all sorts of nervous about her date with Luke, she admitted that she looked good . . . really good. If he didn’t like her after tonight, at least she knew it wouldn’t be because she looked like a Plain Jane. Emma had done an awesome job with her hair and makeup.
Once Samara was sure that she was going to puke if she didn’t go into the living room and see Luke soon, she strolled out of the bedroom and down the stairs that led to the entryway.
Luke was standing in the doorway. He hovered high over Emma’s short body, but Samara thought that Luke was the perfect height for her. He wasn’t so tall that they would have a hard time kissing each other unless Samara was standing on a sidewalk, and he also wasn’t shorter than her or so close in height that she was going to have to swear off heels if they ended up having a long-term relationship.
“Hey, Samara,” Luke said, smiling at her, his light green eyes sparkling in the dim light.
“Hi,” Samara replied, unsure of what else to say. She was afraid of looking awkward in front of him, but it probably didn’t help that Emma was gawking at them. Emma’s mom was also just a room away in the kitchen, and Samara always felt weird talking to boys in front of parents – which was probably because her own parents were so against her dating.
“Well, should we get going?” Luke asked, opening the front door.
“Yes, we should,” Samara replied, grabbing her fleece jacket and hurrying out the door in front of him. She gave Emma a small wave over her shoulder. Emma held up crossed fingers to let Samara know that she was hoping that their date was going to be a success.
After they had both climbed into Luke’s smoky blue Honda Civic, Samara turned and looked at him. “So, what’s the surprise? Where are we going?”
It was nighttime, but she could see his smile through the darkness. “You’ll find out soon.”
“Okay,” Samara replied, trying not to think about the worst possible options. If he was planning to take her to Chuck E. Cheese’s or something really lame, she wasn’t sure how she was going to react. Fishing for something to talk about to lessen the tension between them, she asked, “So, how was your day?”
“It was kind of frustrating actually,” Luke replied, keeping his eyes on the road. “I went over to the Phillips’ house. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Lilly Phillips is missing.”
“Yeah, it was hard to miss. It’s been all over the news,” Samara replied, thinking about the photo of Lilly that kept popping up everywhere she looked since that day at the general store. It had been on the front page of the newspaper this morning and on the news again. Samara shivered. Something about Lilly being missing really gave her the chills. “How do you know Lilly?”
“The Phillip’s are close friends of my parents. Lilly and I have known each other since we were in diapers.”
“I wonder where she is,” Samara said.
“Me too. That’s why my day was frustrating. We spent the whole day going through her stuff, checking her email, looking for any signs that might help us figure out where she is,” Luke replied.
“So, they have no ideas at all?” Samara asked.
Luke shrugged his shoulders as he pulled onto Old Mill Road. “If she was planning to run away, she probably would have left behind a trail of evidence. There was nothing on her computer that let us know she was looking up bus station times or plane ticket prices. She didn’t mention anything that looked out of place. The police are looking at Josh Masterson as their primary suspect. Even though they haven’t found a body yet, they’re pretty sure that he, well . . . you know.”
“What? Josh is the sweetest guy ever. Why would they think he did it?” Samara asked.
“He was the last person who was seen with her and the last person who admits to seeing her,” Luke replied. “That casts a lot of suspicion on him, considering he also doesn’t have a good alibi. Usually, when these types of things happen, it’s also someone who the missing person was really close to, like a jealous boyfriend or husband. I think that the police are looking at the case from that aspect.”
Samara remembered what Edda had said about Josh the day before. She claimed that Josh had acted really controlling in the general store, but that wasn’t the same Josh who Samara knew. He had always been really sweet and outgoing. Maybe they had gotten into a fight that day, so he was angrier than she had ever seen him. Or maybe Edda, in her old age, was just used to the days when boys opened doors for girls and stuff like that. How could someone who was born in the 1930’s really be the best judge of a relationship in the twentieth century?
“They haven’t even found a body yet,” Samara began. “I know Josh totally didn’t do it. I’ve known him for years. He wouldn’t hurt a fly, let alone a person. Maybe she had another boyfriend or something that no one even knows about and he’s the one that did it.”
Luke reached over and grabbed her hand. His touch gave Samara goose bumps. “Hey, I didn’t say that I thought that Josh did anything. There’s no reason to get so defensive,” he said, his voice softening. “Let’s not talk about this, anyway. I really just want to enjoy the night with you and not worry about anything else. I’m sure that Lilly will come back when she’s ready.”
When Luke reached the end of Old Mill Road, he pulled into a dirt parking space behind a grassy field. There were no other cars around, and the place looked completely abandoned. It was dark out, and the forest that lined the road looked incredibly dark and eerie.
Samara froze. Did Luke have the wrong idea? She really liked him, but she wasn’t like most of the other high school girls who were willing to have sex on the first date. Samara was a virgin, and she planned to keep it that way until she was positive that she had found the right person. She had seen Luke around school and it was obvious from Emma’s party the other night when they kissed that they had good physical chemistry, but she didn’t know him well enough to know if he was the right one (or the wrong one) for her. If sex was what he was expecting, he was in for a world of disappointment.
Luke reached behind them and pulled a bag out from the backseat. “I have lawn chairs in the trunk,” he told Samara before stepping out of the car.
Samara opened her own door and climbed out of the car. She was glad that she had talked Emma into letting her wear the black sequined flats instead of the kitten heels that she had been insisting she wear because wherever they were seemed a bit like the wilderness. Luke might want to take a hike or something – although that didn’t explain why he was getting the chairs out of the trunk. Samara didn’t mind a date involving nature; she’d always been somewhat of a tomboy. In fact, she would rather go hiking than pretend she was cool, calm, and collected in her heels. When she was a child, her mom had always hated this about her because she wanted a girly-girl daughter who she could dress only in cutesy pink outfits and buy Barbie dolls and Easy Bake ovens for, but Samara had always preferred her denim overalls, playing with Transformers, and making mud pies.
Luke came around to the passenger’s side of the car, unfolding the chairs as he carried them. “Okay, so, the surprise is over here,” he said, leading her over into the grassy field. He stopped abruptly, planting the chairs into the grass and taking a step forward. Samara gasped as she looked around and saw that a section of the field was lit by a dozen flaming torches. He must have already been there to set it up before he picked her up for their date. The fact that he had planned their date out this much meant a lot to Samara. No one had ever done anything this romantic for her.
Luke reached for her hand and led her over to where he had laid out a blanket on the ground.
When they were standing on the blanket, Luke set up the lawn chairs and placed the cooler on the blanket. While she waited for him, she noticed that he had also set up a telescope. Samara looked at Luke questioningly.
“You mentioned the other night at Emma’s house that you love stars,” Luke explained. “So, I thought that our first date could be stargazing.”
Samara smiled up at him. “I do love stars,” she admitted. Samara glanced up at the night sky. “It’s so pretty out.”
“It is really pretty, but not as pretty as you,” Luke whispered.
Samara felt her heart skip a beat. She moved in closer to Luke. Just as she brushed her lips against his, she heard a low growling sound coming from behind her.
Turning around slowly, she found herself staring back into the icy blue eyes of a gray wolf, which was baring its teeth. Samara froze, unsure of what to do. The car was only feet away from them, but she knew that running would draw even more attention to herself and make the wolf even more ready to attack.
The wolf, which had a patch of light brown hair in the shape of a heart on its side, took a step towards Samara.
Before she had a chance to do anything, the wolf lunged at her. Samara opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out.
Chapter 4
****
Samara stared at her arm, completely mortified by the river of blood that streamed out of her wrist and dripped down the back of her hand.
“Are you okay?” Luke asked after a few moments, his voice even. Samara felt relieved that he wasn’t acting nearly as panicked as she felt. At least one of them had to remain calm.
“I - I don’t know,” she replied hastily, knowing that the shock in her voice was obvious. “I’m bleeding pretty bad. I hope the wolf didn’t have rabies or anything.”
She saw Luke nod his head in the darkness. “Yes, it was a wolf. We should probably get you to the hospital to bandage up that wound.”
Luke opened the car door for her. She climbed inside and sunk back against the leather seat. Was this a bad omen? Of all the times for her to get attacked by a wolf, it just had to ruin their first date?
“I’m really sorry this had to happen,” Luke said when he got into the car, as though he had read her mind. “I honestly didn’t know there were wolves in this area or I never would have brought you here.” Luke reached into the back seat. “Here, wrap this around your arm to stop the bleeding.”
“Thanks,” Samara replied, taking the t-shirt from him. “It’s okay. I know it’s not your fault. What’s kind of weird is that it wasn’t even really a vicious attack. I mean, yeah, it bit me, but…I don’t know, it’s hard to explain. It’s like it bit me and then it just walked away. I thought you were going to need to pry it off me. I wonder why it even bit me if it wasn’t going to attack me worse.”
Luke shrugged. “Wolves are supposed to be really territorial. It was probably just trying to put you in your place.”
“I guess,” Samara replied. As Luke drove past her street, she said, “Actually, I think I just want to go home. I’ll bandage my arm up myself and if I still think that I need to go to the hospital, I’ll have one of my parents take me. There’s no reason you should have to sit with me for hours in the emergency room.”
“If that’s what you want,” Luke shrugged. “Where’s your house?”
“We passed it already,” Samara said. Luke did a U-turn in the middle of the street and turned onto her street when she told him to.
“I didn’t realize you lived that close to Starlight Lake,” Luke said. “I went there a lot this past summer.”
“I’m surprised I’ve never seen you there then. I’m always at the lake once school’s out. It’s that house,” Samara said, pointing to the narrow driveway that led to her family’s two-story white house. The McKinley’s house wasn’t as huge as Emma’s family’s house, but it was big enough for the four of them.
“Alright,” Luke said, as he put the car into park. “I’m sorry that our date got ruined, but I was really glad to see you. I’m so happy that you agreed to go out with me. Do you want to try it again sometime soon? I think we’ll stick to something indoors this time, like dinner and a movie. Something where no wild animals can ruin it.”
Samara nodded and smiled at him. “I would love to go out with you again.”
She waited for a few seconds and, just as she was about to get out of the car, Luke leaned into her. Running his fingers through her hair, he pressed his lips lightly against hers. Samara felt her heart skip a beat.
After a few minutes, she pulled away and got out of the car. Once she was in the house, Samara went into the kitchen to grab some paper towels. She figured she was going to need them to take care of this wound.
“Samara?” Mrs. McKinley asked. “How was Emma’s house?”
Samara whirled around. She hadn’t realized that her mom had been sitting at the kitchen table in the dark. “Um, it was fine,” she replied, hiding her arm behind her back. How would she explain that she had been attacked by a wolf if she was supposed to be at Emma’s house the whole entire time? Her mom had taken her over there earlier and, even though their houses were only about two blocks away from each other, Emma’s mom always drove Samara home if she was there after dark. It wouldn’t sound believable for her to say that she had gotten attacked in their own front yard. Her mom would have heard her scream.
Samara sighed. If her wound was really that bad, she was going to just have to fess up and tell her mom the truth, but she really hoped that it wouldn’t come to that.
“What did you girls do?” Mrs. McKinley asked.
“Just makeovers,” Samara answered shortly. That, at least, explained why her hair and makeup looked different now than it had when her mom had dropped her off earlier.
“That’s nice. I hope you had fun. Seth still hasn’t come home yet,” Mrs. McKinley said, twirling around the tea bag that was resting in her mug.
“He hasn’t?” Samara asked, surprised. Her brother was known to go away for a few days at a time, but for some reason, she expected him to be back by now. If he didn’t come home by tomorrow, he would probably skip school, and Samara already knew that his attendance hadn’t been great so far this year. The last thing he needed was to get into more trouble at school.
Mrs. McKinley shook her head. “He might stay away longer this time. It’s never been so bad that your father ended up in the hospital. Seth might actually feel guilty for once.”
Samara doubted that her brother would ever feel guilty for the things he said or did to their parents. She cringed thinking about how awful her dad’s face had looked when she’d peeked in on him while he was sleeping before she left for Emma’s house today. Both of his eyes had turned black and there were bruises and cuts all over his face. It was scary to think that her brother was able to inflict that much pain on his own father.
“Mom, I think that Seth needs therapy sessions or anger management or something. He really needs to get some help or this is just going to keep on happening.”
“Oh, Samara, don’t be silly,” Mrs. McKinley replied, forcing a laugh and waving her hand in the air. “Your brother’s fine. He’s just going through a phase.”
“A phase that’s lasted for months!” Samara exclaimed, feeling her cheeks reddening. She hadn’t realized that her mom was in such deep denial about Seth’s anger issues. “Next time, someone could get killed if you keep letting him get away with it.”
“He’ll grow out of the phase that he’s in soon, Samara. Don’t worry,” Mrs. McKinley replied, yawning and running an unpolished fingernail through her black hair. “I’m going to bed. You should do the same soon, so that you’re not too tired for school. See you in the morning.”
“Goodnight,” Samara grumbled. She felt a sharp, jabbing pain in her wrist.
Once her mom left the room, Samara looked at the area
where the wolf had bitten her. The blood flow had slowed down a bit;
it wasn’t seeping through the bandage. Samara breathed a sigh of
relief. She wouldn’t have to worry about getting her parents to
take her to the hospital. Her parents would never have to find out
that she had lied to them.
Chapter 5
****
“So, you have got to tell me all of the details,” Emma said excitedly the next day at school. “What was the surprise? Did you have fun? Did you kiss?”
“The surprise was that he wanted us to stargaze, which we never actually got to,” Samara said, pulling her biology book out her locker and slamming the door shut.
“Oh, so it was that hot and steamy?” Emma replied, more of a statement than a question. “You guys moved really fast. It’s about time you lost your virginity already, though, so I can’t blame you. And, I have to say, Luke is pretty hot, so good choice.”
“No, you pervert. That’s not what happened. It would have been a lot easier if that were the case. We were going to look at the stars in the telescope that he had set up before we even got there, but before we got the chance, I was attacked by a wolf.”
“What? Oh my God!” Emma shouted, cupping her hands to her mouth. “Why didn’t you call me last night to tell me?”
Samara shrugged. “I guess I was in shock. It was really scary. The wolf just came out of nowhere and bit me.”
“That’s crazy! Where did you get bit? I don’t see any bite marks,” Emma said, scanning her body up and down.
“On my wrist,” Samara replied, pulling up the sleeve of her pale yellow sweater and peeling back her bandage to show it to Emma.
Emma raised a thin blonde eyebrow at her. “Ha, ha, very funny, Sam!”
Samara stared at her best friend questioningly. “Umm, no, it was actually really scary.”
“Okay, you sound a little nutso,” Emma replied. “You don’t have a bite mark. Obviously you weren’t attacked by a wolf. Are you okay?” she asked, pressing a palm to Samara’s forehead. “If your date with Luke just went really bad, you can tell me. We’ll have a Ben and Jerry’s night or something. You don’t have to lie to me about it.”
Samara glanced down at her wrist. Emma was right. The wound was gone. There was no evidence that she had been bitten by the wolf, except for the leftover blood that had soaked through the bandage the night before. “It did happen,” Samara insisted. “I swear to you. I don’t know what happened to the wound . . . it was there this morning! You can even ask Luke if you don’t believe me. He saw it happen. Luke wanted to take me to the hospital.”
“Fine, fine. I believe you. That just makes no sense,” Emma said unconvincingly.
“You’re telling me,” Samara muttered, trying not to blame her best friend for not believing her. Even she had to admit that it sounded pretty crazy.
“I’ve also never heard of a wolf sighting in Pennsylvania,” Emma went on. “Are you sure it was even a wolf?”
Samara nodded. “Yes, it was a wolf. You of all people should know that there are wolves in PA. One ruined one of your bonfire parties over the summer.”
The expression on Emma’s face told Samara that she was thinking back. “Oh! That wasn’t a wolf. It was a really cute Husky!”
Samara sighed. She had already explained to Emma several times after the party that it wasn’t a Husky, but she hadn’t believed her. Emma also seemed to believe that the wolf’s growling meant that it was happy and that it wasn’t ready to attack her if she had taken only one step closer to it.
“So, how did the date go otherwise?” Emma asked, casually changing the subject.
Samara smiled, thinking back to her kiss with Luke. “It went good, actually . . . really good. After the bite, we both were kind of freaked out, I think. He ended up driving me home right away. He said he wants to go out with me again, though.”
“Yay!” Emma squealed. “I knew that the two of you were going to hit it off.”
Samara stared at Emma blankly, unsure if she was genuinely happy for her or fake happy for her. When Emma didn’t meet her eyes, Samara was pretty sure that she knew the answer.
The first bell rang to let them know that class was starting in five minutes. Samara followed Emma to their homeroom class, which was biology with Mrs. Shay.
As they took their seats next to each other, Samara couldn’t help but overhear the guys sitting in front of them.
“I almost hit it with my car last night, dude,” Ethan Miller said. “I thought it was a Siberian Husky, but it was way too big.”
“I believe you, man. I saw two of them last week,” Mark Klein replied. “I didn’t even realize there were so many wolves in this area of Pennsylvania. I never saw any of them before.”
“Me either. I‘ve never heard of a sighting in Grandview before,” Ethan agreed.
“See,” Samara whispered to Emma. “They probably saw the same wolf that bit me!”
Emma shrugged. “They’re total losers. They probably didn’t see any wolf or a Husky. They were probably tripping and saw a bunny or something.”
Samara sulked. She knew that it was hard to believe that she had been bit, but there was no reason why Emma shouldn’t believe that there were wolves in Grandview. It was almost as though she didn’t want to believe her. Maybe she was still hoping that Samara’s date with Luke really had gone bad.
Mrs. Shay came into the classroom, interrupting Samara’s thoughts. She was wearing an unflattering brown maxi dress, a cropped pale yellow short-sleeved cardigan sweater, and red heels that clacked against the tiled floor. Mrs. Shay had a habit of never matching her clothes. It was like she put a blindfold over her eyes and randomly pulled clothes out of her closet to wear. Emma always talked about how she would love to give Mrs. Shay a makeover and, for once, Samara had to agree.
“Class, I’m really not here today, if you know what I mean, so I’m going to have you do a lab experiment,” Mrs. Shay said, pacing back and forth. “My niece, Lilly, is missing. Some of you probably know her. Lilly Phillips. Anyway, it’s been really hard on the family, so I’ve been a bit of a wreck.”
Mrs. Shay whipped out a bottle that contained tiny strips of paper. “Your job is to test the PH level of water and compare it to the PH level of Pepsi and lemon juice. So, one of you should come up here to fill two cups, one with lemon juice and the other with Pepsi. Your lab partner should come get a cup and fill it up with water from the back sink.”
Samara stood up and grabbed a cup. She headed towards the back of the room. She reached for the handle of the sink and immediately pulled away. The faucet had burned her skin. It reminded her of the time she had accidentally banged her arm on the oven tray when she was pulling out a batch of cookies.
“Um, is everything okay?” Mark, who was standing behind her, asked. When she turned and looked at him, she noticed the puzzled look on his face.
Samara shook her head. “The faucet . . . It burned me. It’s scorching hot.”
Mark stepped forward and turned the faucet on, running his hands under the water. “It doesn’t feel hot to me,” he replied over his shoulder, with a confused look on his face.
Samara glanced down at her hand. The feeling lingered,
but there wasn’t a burn mark.
*
As Samara was filling up her khaki green tote bag with books that she was going to need for homework at the end of the day, Luke came over to her locker. “Hey, Samara. Can we talk for a sec?”