Page 13 of Wish You Were Her

In Lake Pristine, everyone seemed to know each other so well and age was not a factor.

Simon’s mother was one of the group, as was Jonah’s.

They were both chatting to Skye’s older brother, introduced earlier to Allegra as Carrick.

The slightly surly but handsome cinema manager Arthur was there, too, with some of his friends.

They were talking by the makeshift bar. One was a girl with lots of piercings, and she was holding hands with Hera, the woman who ran the arcade.

A card was handed to Allegra and she covertly checked it.

Werewolf.

“ Keep your cards hidden, ” Simon instructed, moving over to the dimmer switches on the wall once again. “Werewolf or Werewolves, be ready to choose your first kill of the night. Everyone else. Close your eyes.”

The room fell into near darkness. “Werewolf and werewolf only, open your eyes.”

Allegra did. She found herself staring into Jonah’s eyes, as he was the only other person in the room whose head was not bowed. They glared at one another as the realization hit; they would need to work together.

“Werewolf, choose your victim,” Simon instructed, as Allegra and Jonah continued to regard each other from their opposite sides of the spacious room.

Jonah pointed to Skye but Allegra quickly shook her head.

That would be far too obvious, and her siblings would extract revenge on her behalf.

She pointed to Grace’s brother. Jonah considered Arthur Lancaster and then nodded, albeit a little begrudgingly.

Simon silently pointed to Arthur, too, to confirm their choice.

“Lights up! Wake up, townsfolk.”

Allegra used her best skills to pretend she was also opening her eyes with all of the others. She avoided looking at either Jonah or Arthur Lancaster, their oblivious victim.

“Townsfolk, something dreadful happened in the night,” Simon declared and people smirked, enjoying his melodramatic narration. “An esteemed member of our community was brutally slain by the werewolf (or werewolves) at large.”

Allegra watched Simon hold court. She certainly found his charm attractive.

She enjoyed spending time with him. She loved his emails.

Now that she had been in Lake Pristine for almost a week, the online exchanges had become more and more frequent, and she was loving the adorable book cameos.

They had discussed books, movies and music, all without Allegra giving too much away.

She still had an air of mystery, something he regularly teased her about.

He would also end every email now with the words “wish you were here” and whenever Allegra responded, she was tempted to say that she already was.

The emails were a side of Simon she struggled to see in person.

But his good-natured leading of the Werewolf game was promising—and that made Allegra hopeful, because the emails had become some of her favorite things to read.

She had to get to know their author better, no matter how selfish or immature he might sometimes seem.

“Who was brutally attacked?” Hera, the arcade manager, asked gamely, in pantomime voice, drawing Allegra back into the game and away from thoughts of secret emails.

“While everyone was asleep in their beds, one of you got up to go for a midnight stroll. You made your way through the square, down Main Street and ended up at the bandstand, where you closed your eyes. You were waiting to meet someone. Someone who was late.”

Allegra grinned, along with most of the room. Only Skye, her sister Star and Jonah remained stoic. Arthur, the unknowing werewolf victim, Allegra noticed, kept glancing toward the basement door.

“While this person was waiting on the bandstand, they were hunted. Then caught. Perhaps the werewolf was jealous.” Simon did a full spin of the room, his arm outstretched.

“The first bite was to wound, but the second hit him square in the heart. I’m so, so very sorry.

” Simon’s finger landed on the bemused cinema manager.

“The werewolf got you, clean, Lancaster. Right in the heart.”

“Oh, no,” Arthur said, in a flat, deadpan voice that made Allegra stifle a laugh.

“Villagers,” Simon said. “While the victim leaves the game, time for a town meeting! Who could have done this? Who are the secret werewolves among us?”

This signaled the start of a discussion, Allegra realized, as people leaped into speaking.

“I vote Grace,” Skye’s sister, Star, said frankly.

“No chance,” Allegra heard herself retort. “She wouldn’t do in her big brother.”

“Don’t let her angel face fool you,” Arthur said, laughing.

Arthur dutifully left the game and stepped to the back of the room as the accusations continued to fly.

Skye nominated Allegra but no one took her seriously.

Most people ended up focusing in on Grace, who didn’t seem to mind the suspicion.

She took great, theatrical joy in proving everyone wrong by revealing her civilian card and people cursed their own assuredness.

And the lights went off once more.