Page 6

6. Appa-where?

Kerry

“How fast can you get a team together, boy?”

“Huh?”

I wiped the sleep from my eyes with one hand while I held the front door open with the other. I blinked a couple of times, but Clem’s wrinkled old self was still standing on my front porch at the butt crack of dawn.

Guess I ain’t having a nightmare.

“I need a team to kill something in the Appalachians,” he shot out. “You’re going to lead it. I already cleared it with Hank. Grab your go bag, get a team together ASAP, and meet me at the bus stop by the library. We leave in twenty.”

“Wait. What?” I yawned, scratching the center of my chest. “Appa-where?”

“Appalachian Mountains. Well, the Longfellows in Maine, to be precise.” He started to walk away. “Now get moving.”

“What’s a go bag?” I called after him.

He spun around, glared at me, and stomped back.

“What’s Hank been teaching you all this time?” He came in and headed toward my room.

“Well, we started with how to pee in the pot.” I rubbed a hand over my stubbly jaw and followed him. “Then we moved on to how to shower and shave.”

He stopped so quick, I almost walked into him.

“Sorry, son. I sometimes forget what you’re dealing with.”

“Just show me what a go bag is.”

Anyone can tell you I am not a morning person, but adrenaline kicked in, and I was suddenly wide awake.

“Call your team and get them in motion while we pack.” He gave me a wolf-like grin. “Unless you’re as chicken as everyone right now and don’t want to step foot in the Real World.”

I drew my shoulders back, pride stiffening my spine.

“I fear one thing, old man, and it ain’t the Real World. How many can I bring?”

“I don’t care. A dozen is probably too many. And I’m curious now. What’s the one thing?”

“I don’t even know a dozen people,” I scoffed. “And the one thing ain’t none of your business.”

“Then as many as you do know and want to come along. Not Kyo Yumi, though. He’s too young.” He shook his head. “I hope you’re ready for this.”

“Ready to do something, anyway.” I yawned again, stretched, and flattened my palms on the ceiling. “ ’M tired of just going to class. ’S boring! I ain’t used to so much down time.”

“I understand that. And Hank and I think you’d better disappear for a while after that incident with the Fanishell kid.”

“That was not my fault.” Just hearing his name made me mad, and my skin glittered blue.

“I know. Calm down. I know it wasn’t. But as I’m sure Hank told you, several wardens on the Council see you as too dangerous to be at the Sanctuary, let alone go to school. We want to get you out of sight for a while until you’re out of their minds.”

“You and Hank can play politics all you want.” I shrugged. “I just wanna hunt something down and kill it.”

“Well, then, get on the horn to your friends.”

“Horn? What horn?”

“Never mind! Just call them!” His voice sounded strangled. “And tell them to pack for hiking in snow.”

I shook my head, grabbed my phone from the nightstand, and did as I was told. Meanwhile, he found a duffel bag in my closet and stuffed it with clothes.

“Leave room for snacks,” I said as I waited for Gemma to answer.

“Snacks? This is a mission . We don’t worry about snacks on a mission .”

“Um, yeah, we do. I get cranky when I get hungry.”

“Cranky?” He squinted up at me.

“Yep. You know what? I can use my backpack for snacks, so never mind.”

Gemma answered then, so I focused on her and ignored Clem as he muttered about how spoiled kids were these days.

#

Gemma

“We’re taking the bus on a mission?” Jax raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“Only to the airport,” Clem snarked back.

After Kerry had called, I’d flown around my room like a whirlwind, hopping with excitement. The first thing I had packed was the night light he’d drawn for me, sliding it into the front pocket of my backpack. I remember how I had originally thought it was just a lovely sketch of a candle. When I’d mentioned something about it weeks after he’d given it to me, he had sighed in exasperation.

“Touch it with your power, dummy. The flame will light up.”

Now, standing with the others outside the library, I was glad I hadn’t been so distracted by the memory that I forgot to bring along plenty of sweaters and thick socks. It was slightly above freezing in the weak morning sun, and the weather report for our destination was snow, snow, and more snow, even though it was technically spring now.

“Did you pack Sir Martin?” Kerry asked me.

“No. Why?”

“Gigi,” he turned to her, “can you go get—”

“Shh!” I hissed as my face flamed. “ No!”

“What?”

“I don’t want to look like a baby!” I squeezed his hand hard.

He frowned, but John broke in before he could say anything.

“Tara brought The Lump.” He pointed to her backpack, which had a misshapen stuffed animal strapped to the side of it.

“It’s Miss Kitty, as you well know.” Tara arched an eyebrow at John before turning to me with a grin. “She’s as old as me and full of patches, but I can’t sleep without her.”

So Gigi fetched Sir Martin and, when she handed him over, I had to admit I was happier.

“Kerry, you said we’re headed for the mountains.” Tara leaned against John’s arm. “If we’re hiking, we’ll need gear. I don’t know about anyone else, but I don’t have anything like that.”

“My scout will kit us out when we get there.” Clem stomped his heavy boots. “It’s too much weight to lug around before then.”

“What is the mission?” Maddy asked.

She stood next to Travis, but her arms were crossed and her body turned away from him. Travis’ eyes were narrowed and his mouth tight as if they’d just had cross words, but I hadn’t heard him say anything other than hello to anyone since he’d joined us.

Hmm. Something’s wrong between them.

I’d thought the same thing a few times in the past week or so, but I hadn’t asked either of them if things were okay. I wasn’t as close to Maddy as Tara was, and surely she would have spoken to Tara before me. As for Travis, I knew he still felt guilty for the role he’d played in Reilly’s scheme last fall, even though I’d told him not to be. It made things awkward between us.

Well, I’ll catch up with them while we’re traveling, I promised myself. I’ll get them each on their own and check in with them.

“Locals have reported seeing a beast rampaging up and down the Appalachians,” Clem answered Maddy. “At first, rangers marked them up as bear sightings. Then, they started finding too much damage to write off as bears. Now, the Bigfoot believers are saying it’s him.”

“Poor old Squatch.” Jax laughed. “He gets blamed for a lot of nephilim activity.”

“I sent a scout out a few weeks ago, and he finally reported in last night.” Clem sounded cross about the delay. “He said it’s something Diabolical for sure, and it’s holed up in the Longfellows of Maine. He thinks there may be more than one because there’s been too much activity in different places at the same time.”

“It took him a few weeks to report?” Kerry asked.

“Lots of backcountry in those huge forests,” Maddy explained. “Takes days to even reach it, let alone explore it, and communications are iffy.”

I watched him, waiting to see if he was going to— Yep. He was leaning down, his lips centimeters from my ear.

“What’s backcountry?” he whispered.

After I explained, he stood straight with his shoulders back and head up - and my heart ached for him.

I wanted to reassure him that none of our friends would judge him, that he could ask any of us when he wanted to know something, but I also knew he would be too humiliated to do so. He saw it as a weakness, and that was something he’d never expose to anyone.

Except me. All of his walls come down with me.

We’d known each other for only seven months, and had been dating for the last four. Our first meeting had nearly killed me - and I mean that literally - and hardly a day went by that we didn’t struggle through one of his issues or mine, but I could not imagine what my life would be like without him. I woke up every morning eager to see him and went to bed every night reliving our day together.

He had my whole heart.

I couldn’t tell him that, though. It would only be a burden to him. Decades from now, he might be unscrambled enough to bear the weight of that confession. Or so I hoped. For now, I kept the words buried like a warm and lovely secret.

He glanced down at me, and I met his eyes, even though I knew mine were showing too much.

“Everything okay?” He looped an arm around my shoulders and tucked me close to his side.

“Of course, Lab Rat.”

When he choked in surprise, I laughed.

“Lab Rat again.” Jax’s eyes lit up. “I really wish you’d tell us about these secret experiments you two have been conducting.”

“Keep your nose out of it, Ajax, ” he sneered.

“How come you don’t let any of us call you Lab Rat?” John’s deadpan voice could make anyone laugh, and Tara and Maddy did.

“You can if you wanna catch my fists,” Kerry growled, then barked at me, “Look what you started!”

“Children, children.” Clem shook his head and held up his hands. “Play nicely.”

Kerry didn’t understand that the more he blustered, the more we would kid him about it. I wondered how far this could go before he became dangerous.

Good time to find out .

“Hey, you said even Lab Rat was better than—”

His cold hand was over my mouth before I could finish and I grinned against his palm. Realization filled his eyes.

“You’re teasing me?” He slowly lowered his hand.

“Only a little, and not to hurt you.” I laid my head on his chest. “It’s just playing.”

“I don’t know how to play,” he bent to whisper in my ear.

“I’m aware.” I hid my smile. “And it’s okay. I’ll teach you.”