Chapter Forty-Five

  "We're being tricked?" I said. "How?"

  He shook his head. "I don't know. A spell of a sort, maybe. It doesn't matter. Now we just need to figure out how to get home. If this is all magic, then there is still a way for us to get out."

  The house rumbled beneath us and I almost fell to the ground. I stared at Jayden, terrified.

  "It's like the house is freakin' alive."

  "Fits well with the thudding we always hear, I guess," he said and leaned out the window again to touch the blubbery mass, poking his finger into it, causing it to move.

  "It seems to go all the way down," he said. "Enveloping the entire house."

  "Can we break through it?" I asked.

  Jayden poked his finger into it and made it move. "Maybe if we poke hard enough?" he said.

  "Or maybe we just need more force?" I said.

  I went to the window and closed my eyes to not accidentally look down at the ground several hundred feet below us, or so it seemed, then stuck my hand into the blubber. It moved forward as I pressed it, but I couldn't poke through it.

  I pulled back inside and stared out at it for a little while, an idea shaping in my mind.

  "I know that look," he said. "It usually doesn't end well for any of us."

  "It will this time. It has to," I said, determined. I had to get back before my mom discovered I was gone. If Melanie was in this house, then we weren't going to find her as long as this strange spell kept us from moving around freely. We had to get out of there, no matter the cost. The clock was ticking.

  "Step aside," I said.

  "Why?" he asked.

  "Watch me," I said and walked back to the end of the room, then started to run. As fast as I could, I stormed across the wooden floors, then leaped out of the window, arms first, closing my eyes and keeping them closed as I slung through the air, the ground lingering hundreds of feet below us. I plunged into the blubbery mass, fingers first. It felt like diving into Jell-O and, seconds later, I was through it, tumbling onto the grass in the lush backyard of the old house. I landed on my stomach and hurt myself, but nothing bad. I opened my eyes and looked up, only to realize we had been on the second floor all the time. A second later, Jayden plunged toward me like he was falling from the sky, and landed next to me with a loud thud.

  "Jayden, are you all right?" I asked.

  He laughed and rolled onto his back, then approached me, grabbed me by the waist, and planted a kiss on my lips.

  I was taken completely by surprise, but I let it happen, closing my eyes and tasting him, finally receiving the kiss I had longed for all this time. He grabbed my face between his hands and laughed again.

  "You're crazy. Do you know that?"

  I chuckled and nodded. "Yes."

  He grabbed my hand in his and, as he helped me up, I turned around and spotted Amy and Jazmine standing in the yard, looking at us. My heart dropped as I laid my eyes on Jazmine.

  Did she see us? Did she see the kiss?

  "This house is crazy," Amy almost screamed. "We got completely lost in there. It is haunted. I tell ya' this place is haunted! If Melanie is in there, then she is lost…forever. The only reason we made it out is because somehow Jazmine found a way out by following a roach. Yes, you heard me right, a freakin’ roach showed us the way out."

  Jayden pulled my hand and I was surprised that he didn't even try to hide anything from Jazmine or try to make her feel better.

  "We need to get Robyn home," he said. "Let's get out of here."

  "You don't have to say that twice," Amy said and turned to walk. We all followed her into the street.

  We went to grab my phone by the lake, and I said my goodbyes to all of them, making sure I came home alone, jogging.

  "Wait," Jayden said before I left.

  I stopped. He reached into the lake, and got his hand wet, then approached me. He came up close to me, then reached his hand up and wet my forehead with water, gently rubbing his hand against my skin.

  "There," he said. "Now you look like you’ve been running."

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Adrian was sitting in the kitchen when I came home, my heart still throbbing in my throat. He grinned when he saw me.

  "So, you're jogging now?"

  My mom was standing by the sink cutting up beets. She turned and looked at me. I gave her a smile and tried to seem exhausted. On her apron, it read, GOT BLOOD?

  She smiled back. "Don't tease your little sister. I think it’s great that she wants to stay in shape." She walked closer and wiped water off my forehead with her finger, then looked at it in the light. "Seems like it was quite the workout there, honey."

  "Well, I did my best. I'm just gonna…grab a shower."

  "Wait," my brother said as I was almost out of the kitchen. I swallowed, then turned.

  "What?"

  He stared at me like he was examining me, then asked: "Your friend Jazmine…" He stopped, then seemed to be debating within himself whether to continue or not.

  "What about her?" I asked.

  "Is she… is she seeing anyone?"

  I almost dropped both my eyes and my jaw. "And why do you want to know?"

  He shrugged. "I just do."

  "Well, for your information, yes. She is dating Jayden," I said, feeling my heart drop as I said the words. My mom looked at me suspiciously. She could sense that I still liked him. It was kind of hard to hide, given what had just happened. But I couldn't really tell them about that.

  My mom was holding the half-cut beet in her hand, the knife smeared in red beet juice in the other.

  "They've been an item for quite some time now," I said, to make sure she didn't start asking how I knew since I hadn't been in school. I looked at my mom. "I already told you that."

  She sighed and nodded. "Yes, you did. But how do you know they're still together?"

  I shrugged. "I just assumed. Besides, I’ve seen them from my window, remember? Last night?" Boy, I was thinking fast, completely surprising myself.

  My mom nodded. "True."

  Adrian looked disappointed and hid behind his bangs. I stared at him, wondering where the sudden interest in Jazmine came from.

  "Why?" I asked again.

  "Why what?"

  "Why do you want to know?"

  He grabbed an apple from the bowl in front of him and threw it at me. "What's it to you, little midget?"

  I ducked, and the apple hit the cabinets behind me, then fell to the floor. Our mom let out a groan.

  "Will you two stop it, please?"

  I stared at my older brother, wondering if he was asking because he wanted to date Jazmine. Was that what this was all about? Not that I thought he stood a chance against Jayden. I mean, come on, it was Jayden.

  "I'm taking a shower," I said and turned my back on them, then rushed up the stairs, contemplating if it was possible to take a shower without washing your lips. I wanted to keep the taste of Jayden's kiss for as long as possible.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Jayden felt strange. At night, when lying in his bed, he couldn't stop thinking about Robyn and the kiss. He was excited that he had finally dared to act on his desires, to finally just do what he had dreamt of for so long, but at the same time, he feared he might have frightened her. He didn't know if she felt the same way about him as he did about her. Her kiss had told him that she did, but her reaction afterward had made him doubt it. Why had she pulled away? Hadn't she liked it?

  And then came all the thoughts about what to do next. They had kissed, yes, but that didn't change the facts. Their parents didn't want them to be anywhere near one another. So, even if she did have feelings for him, even if she did like the kiss, they were still facing the big obstacle: their parents. How would they ever overcome that?

  Jayden looked at his phone. It was eleven at night and he still wasn't sleepy. He sat up and looked out the window when he heard the front door slam shut and saw his older brother run into the night. The moon was shining brightly outside and lit up the entire park behind the houses. He thought about Melanie and where she was, where the grown-ups could be hiding her if she wasn't in the abandoned house.

  Maybe she was? Maybe you just didn't find her because of the strange spell that lingered over it?

  Would she turn into a wolf again tonight? Would she be able to protect herself against their parents? Would they hurt her?

  He cursed himself for not being able to save her. What would happen to her now?

  Jayden shook the thought. He didn't want to know. He didn't want to think about it. He felt thirsty and went downstairs to the kitchen to get something to drink, when he heard a strange sound. It sounded like someone…someone growling?

  "What in the…?" he asked and stepped closer to the stairs leading to their basement where the sound was coming from.

  Jayden drank his water while listening, but the sound seemed to have died out, and he returned to the kitchen with his glass when he heard it again, this time louder. He grabbed the baseball bat from the cabinet by the front door, then approached the stairs again and walked down, taking cautious steps, the growling growing louder with each step he took.

  "Hello?" he asked. "Is someone down here?"

  He wondered if it could be his brother pulling some trick or prank on him, but the way the growling sounded, it seemed an awful lot like…like an animal.

  "Who's here?"

  He took the last step down into the basement, then followed the sound till he reached a door. He put his hand on the handle, then turned it carefully and pushed the door open, holding the bat up in the air, ready to swing it if necessary.

  Behind the door, he found an animal all right. But it wasn't quite an animal yet. It was on its way to becoming one and the part of it that wasn't yet a wolf still belonged to a girl that he knew very well.

  "Melanie?"

  She was chained to the wall, growling and groaning, trying to pull the chains off. Jayden stared at her, the bat sunk to the ground, then he found his phone and used Snapchat to contact the others.

  COME QUICK

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  I snuck out. It was only a little past eleven-thirty, and I knew my parents were going to meet with the other parents at midnight, so I still had time to go to Jayden's and help him out, then come back. He had sent me a Snapchat picture of Melanie, in chains, and I knew it was urgent. I used the back door by the kitchen to sneak out, while my parents were in the living room watching The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

  I rushed across the street and met Jazmine and Amy on my way. We didn't say anything but hurried to Jayden's house, to the back door, as he had instructed us in the chat. He was waiting there, baseball bat in his hand, wearing nothing but boxers.

  I did my best to not stare at his abs and concentrated on why we were there. Melanie.

  "Come and see," he said and signaled for us to come inside. He closed the door carefully after us.

  We walked into the basement and, as soon as we did, we could hear the growling and groaning coming from the back.

  "They must have kept her here all this time," Jayden said, leading the way. "Right under my nose."

  He opened the door and we saw her. Half wolf, half Melanie. Her eyes looked humiliated, defeated as she tried to pull off the chains, but had no luck in getting loose.

  I felt so bad for her at that moment. To be trapped like that, to be chained down like some…well, animal, had to be devastating to her.

  "Oh, dear God," I said. "Are you all right, Melanie?"

  She shook her head.

  "They shot me," Melanie said, her speech slurred. "In the leg. With a tranquilizer. I woke up down here. I’m not strong enough to break these chains with the tranquilizer still in my blood."

  "Well, what are you waiting for?" Amy asked addressed to Jayden while she approached Melanie. "Get her loose."

  Jayden shook his head. "I’ve tried. I can't."

  "What do you mean you can't?" Amy asked. She grabbed the chain and found the lock. "Ah. I see," she said.

  "Then what do we do?" I asked. "I heard my mom say they were going to meet at midnight, that they should bring Melanie there and then take care of her." All eyes were suddenly on me. "Don't look at me like that. I’m just telling you what she said. Those were her words, not mine."

  It was hard for me not to feel guilty about who and what my parents were, but I had to get past it. It wasn't my responsibility. It wasn't my fault. All I could do was make better choices myself than what they had. And one of those would be to never become like them.

  "Use the baseball bat," I said. "It's metal."

  "It's not strong enough," Jayden said and showed me the baseball bat. The entire side of it was dented and it was crooked.

  "Oh."

  "Let me try." Amy suddenly stepped forward, her nostrils flaring as she grabbed the chain with both hands and pulled it, her face turning red with effort. With her bare hands, she pulled the chain apart, shattering it to pieces.

  We all stared at her, eyes wide.

  "What?" she said. "I'm strong. You'd be surprised at how much of a workout cooking can be. Now, let's get her out of here. She can go back to my basement. My parents are out of town…I know…what else is new, right?"

  We all rushed out of the room and through the basement, reaching the stairs to the back door, when we heard footsteps on the stairs leading up to the house. While Jazmine and Amy didn't notice, both Jayden and I stopped. We were staring in the direction of the stairs, our hands shaking, when we spotted Jayden's dad, Ben, through the darkness.

  "Jayden?" he said.

  We all froze. Melanie, standing behind us, growled. I could tell Jayden was scared. As his dad approached us, we could tell that his fangs were growing out, and his hands had claws. It was almost midnight. It was also the first time any of us had seen either of Jayden's parents in their supernatural shape. It shocked all of us, especially Jayden, who, up until now, had only assumed his parents were vampires. Ben's blue eyes shone like small lanterns in the darkness.

  "Jayden?" he asked and came closer. "Robyn? Amy? Jazmine? What's going on here?"

  He saw Melanie and stopped. We all stared at him and he at us for at least a minute, and we could tell he was debating within himself what to do. His eyes locked with Jayden’s and, standing close to Jayden, I could feel his entire body shaking.

  Then, much to our surprise, his dad simply nodded, turned around on his heel, and went back up. As we rushed out the back door, getting Melanie out of there, we could hear him yelling inside the house.

  "She escaped. The wolf escaped!"

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  We took her to the park since we couldn't risk her being seen by our parents crossing the cul-de-sac to get to Amy's house. We could hear them yelling in the distance as we ran toward the lake, Melanie turning more and more into a wolf with every step. Soon, she was running faster than any of us and hid among the trees.

  We waited while we could hear our parents searching for her in the area, but then as midnight approached, it all became very quiet. Until we heard the flock of bats above us and looked up to see them pass us above the trees. Some of them were as big as humans and I wondered if it was my family.

  Then we heard a wolf howl. The sound made all of us turn to look at Melanie with a gasp. We knew Melanie wasn't completely aware of what she did when she was a wolf and wondered if the sound of another wolf would make her run off. She did seem to listen carefully to the howl and suddenly seemed very restless. I wondered if she would take off to the mountains once again. Did she need to go? To go running and maybe hunting? Was that her nature? I also wondered about the other wolf. It had to be the one that had killed Natalie Jamieson and Blake Fisher, and made Melanie what she was. Who was this other wolf?

  "I think we should be getting back now," Jayden said. "You saw the bats. My guess is that's our parents going out…hunting or whatever they do." He seemed very sad when saying the words. I knew how he felt. Finding out that your parents were bloodsucking vampires wasn't exactly a thrilling discovery.

  "Jayden is right," I said. "They're out, maybe looking for Melanie, hopefully trying to find her in the mountains like last time. This is our chance. We could get back now and get Melanie to safety while they're gone."

  Jazmine's eyes glowed a strange purple in the darkness, and I noticed her nails were the same color.

  "I think my parents are asleep," she said.

  Barely had she said that sentence before someone poked his head through the bushes and startled all of them.

  "Adrian!"

  I stared at my brother or whatever he was. He was snarling, blood dripping from his fangs from what I hoped was an animal that he had sucked blood from. He looked at all of us like we were potential prey.

  "Adrian!" I said again. But he didn't seem like he heard me. Or he didn't care. The craving for our blood was way too big for him to be able to control himself. It was devastating to see your own brother like that. He approached me, snapping his teeth at me, then moved quickly toward me, so fast I couldn't react, and grabbed me by the hair and pulled my head down, his teeth approaching my neck.

  "Adrian, no!" I yelled.

  Just as he was about to sink his teeth into my neck, he stopped and let go of me. I fell to the ground with a thud, panting and shaking, when I saw what had made him stop. In front of him stood Jazmine, her glowing eyes staring at him, her hand reached out and some sort of strange orange light flowed from her hand, enveloping him, lifting him into the air, paralyzing him.

  "Go," she yelled to the rest of us. "Hurry!"

  Chapter Fifty

  What the heck was that?" I asked as we returned to the cul-de-sac. We had left Jazmine behind with my vampire brother, but somehow, I wasn't too concerned about her.

  Amy shrugged and helped Melanie back into her house by grabbing a steak from the fridge and luring her inside. Melanie attacked the steak and Amy found another one to put inside the shelter, and soon Melanie was back inside, safe and sound with the door locked, only to be opened again the next morning when she was back to being herself.