The Xoe Meyers Trilogy (Xoe Meyers Young Adult Fantasy/Horror Series) (53 page)

Abel glared at me. I was getting a lot of glares lately. “Three dead werewolves appeared suddenly at the front door, along with Max.”

I opened my mouth to explain.

“No,” Abel held up a hand. “Explanations can come later, you need to get ready.”

I closed my eyes in frustration and Jason wrapped his arms around me. “Can't it wait?” he asked.

“No,” Abel replied, then walked back out of the room.

Just then I noticed that Devin was holding a garment bag. “That better not be what I think it is,” I said warily.

Devin gave me a truly evil look. “Abel is announcing his protection over you. Matchy matchy time. Werewolves do love a good show.”

“Well shit,” I replied, at a loss for words.

“Time to stand up and get ready,” Devin prompted.

Stand up? Easier said than done. A demon's life is never easy.

T
he dress was midnight blue and strapless, with glimmers of tiny crystals visible along the bodice. I'd worn more dresses in the past days than I had my entire life. I wasn't starting to like it any more. In the end Allison and Lucy had helped me hobble into the bathroom to change.

Walking was getting easier, I just hoped the ability fully came back to me by the time of the vote. I had a feeling looking weak would not be a good thing. Plus it was frustrating as heck not being able to make my limbs work properly.

My back was a colorful speckling of healing bruises from being thrown against the cavern wall by Maggie. The dress showed all of the bruises on my upper back. Screw it.

I was sitting on the bathroom sink again while Allison worked on my face. I'd struggled at first, but I couldn't exactly run away. Lucy was sitting on the closed toilet seat.

Allison finished her work and I started to slide down from the counter-top. During my descent, the hem of my dress caught on the faucet. My feet met the ground and at the same time I heard a loud rip. I'd just gone and torn my dress. It was the straw that broke the camel's back.

“Screw it!” I threw up my arms haphazardly.

I stumbled out of the bathroom, completely fed up. I went and plopped on the floor by my suitcase and started pawing through my clothes. This was just all too much. I was done with stupid dresses. I turned my back to face the room and scooted the dress down off of my chest so I could put a bra on, then pulled my new dark blue
Les Mis
shirt on.

I forced myself to stand, bracing against the wall as I regarded the room. Max and Lela had turned to give me privacy. Allison and Lucy were standing just outside the bathroom door looking at me like I had lost my mind. Chase looked worried, and Jason's eyes were full of pity. I didn't want pity, but yet I couldn't help it as the first tear slid down my face. Jason walked up and took the jeans out of my hand.

I swayed as Jason searched for the dress zipper, then started working it down over my hips. Chase came to stand in front of me and gave me his arms for balance. Someone had bandaged his new wounds while I was holed up in the bathroom. He looked at my tear streaked face with a reassuring smile. Jason managed to get the dress off, then helped me step into my jeans.

“No more dress up,” I said to Chase shakily.

He nodded. “I'm with you on that one.”

No one else said anything as Jason helped me to the bed so I could put my shoes on. I was beginning to worry that I actually had nerve damage from being thrown against the wall.

Chase voiced my concerns out loud.

Jason nodded. “I was thinking the same thing.”

“Will I be ok?” I asked, suddenly nervous.

Jason smiled. “You healed a broken bone pretty fast last year. You should be fine soon enough.”

I let out a sigh of relief, making my ribs hurt. Allison came to stand in front of me with a makeup wipe. I'd probably screwed my mascara all to hell, so she graciously just wiped it all off.

“Let's go,” I announced.

No one argued.

Jason lifted me back into his arms. “I'll put you back down when we reach the lobby,” he explained. “Then we can help you walk from there.”

He pushed his way through the door with the rest of our group following behind us.

“Thanks,” I replied.

“You're welcome,” he answered.

“And Jason?” I asked.

“Yes Xoe?” he asked, smiling down at me.

“I love you,” I answered.

“Get a room!” Max yelled from behind us, then started making loud gagging noises.

“I love you too,” Jason answered with laughter in his voice.

Something started happening to my chest, and I realized I was laughing too. Imagine that.

A
bel had gawked at my jeans and sneakers, but the vote was passed anyway. We were officially a werewolf pack. He had also announced his protection over me. There were some less than happy faces over that, but no one argued out loud.

We all made it back to Shelby in one piece. I was relieved to be home, though the looming problem of Bartimus was still on my mind. Allison was still a human, but now that we were home I knew she'd continue on her quest to become a werewolf. What she didn't know was that I'd put the kibosh on her plans.

I'd had Devin spread the word that anyone who dared try and change Allison would have to answer to me, and in effect would have to answer to Abel. I was still considering locking her in a closet though. 

I knew it wouldn't be long before Bartimus started pestering me about his release into our world, and Allison started pestering me about why the werewolves she met were unwilling to turn her, but I decided these were simply all problems for tomorrow . . . or maybe the day after. Today I would become reacquainted with my bed.

I sank into my pillows and thought about my mom. She'd hugged me when I got home, but didn't ask about the trip. She didn't ask if I was now the leader of a werewolf pack, or if we had been attacked by vampires and demons. It made me sad. I had always been able to talk to her before, and now she was too afraid to even ask what was going on in my life.

I couldn't help but be a bit angry with her too. I'd had to accept all of the things that were happening. I'd accepted that this was my life now. She was my mom, shouldn't she be accepting things too?

I was beginning to drift off, surrounded by the nest I had made out of my pillows, when a soft knock at my door startled me back into wakefulness.

My first thought was that maybe my mom wanted to talk after all. The door opened while I was still thinking about it, and Lucy and Allison came creeping into my room. I wasn't surprised to see Lucy. So we had a difference in morals with the whole killing people thing. What were a few scruples between friends?

When they saw me snuggled amongst my mass of pillows, they took one look at each other then made a running jump in unison. They ended up dog-piled on top of me until I tickled and pinched them away.

We ended up sprawled on my bed side-by-side, with me in the middle, breathing heavily and laughing.

“So how are you feeling, oh great and powerful leader?” Lucy asked.

I thought about it for a moment. “I feel ancient and tired, yet young and afraid at the same time.”

Allison turned her head to look at me. “Wow Xoe, that was pretty deep for you,” she said sarcastically.

I reached for a pillow and sat up so I could pretend to smother her. “Look away Lucy,” I commanded. “You don't need to see this.”

“Oh trust me Xoe,” Lucy replied playfully, “I've been wanting to get rid of Allison for a looooong time.”

Allison wrestled the pillow away from me and propped it under her head. “You two suck,” she chided, but was smiling while she said it.

A throat cleared in the doorway. We all glanced up to see Max standing there with three pizza boxes in his hands.

“Oh please,” he said, moving the pizzas to one hand so he could gesture with the other for us not to get up. “Don't let me interrupt the all girls pillow fight. I can wait.”

Suddenly a pillow whipped across the room to hit Max in the face with a loud thwap. He almost dropped the pizzas in surprise. I turned to give Lucy a high five as we all erupted into raucous laughter. It felt good to laugh again.

Max stomped over to the bed and plopped the pizza boxes down at our feet. “Where are Chase and Jason?” he asked as he sat on the edge of the bed.

It was a good question. Jason and Allison had both left cars at the airport. Allison had taken Lucy, Max, and Lela home, and Chase and I rode with Jason. They had dropped me off first. I knew Jason was going home to unpack, but I hadn't thought to ask Chase where he was going. He'd had a hotel room before our trip, courtesy of my dad, but I had no idea if he still had it.

I reached across Lucy to grab my phone off of the nightstand and scrolled through my recent calls to find Chase.

He answered barely after the first ring with a questioning, “Hello?”

“Where are you?” I asked, not bothering to explain my whole thought process.

“Umm . . . ” he replied.

“You don't have a hotel room anymore do you?” I asked.

“Well, I kind of checked out when we left,” he explained, “because I didn't know if I'd be coming back to Shelby. Now the hotel won't let me pay cash and I don't have a credit card.”

“Did you call my dad?” I asked.

“I tried,” he explained, “but he's down dealing with demons, trying to figure out what to do about Bart.”

“So where are you now?” I laughed.

“Well,” he answered. “I was sitting on a park bench, preparing to call you. Now I'm standing beside said park bench.”

I laughed again. “Come over loser. Max bought pizza. I'm sure my mom won't mind you staying on our couch, and if she does you can stay with Jason.”

I could practically hear him smiling on the other end of the line. “Be there in a sec,” he answered then quickly hung up.

“Taking on a new roommate?” Allison asked sarcastically.

Before I could answer, Lucy shot Max a stern look. “Girl talk, get out.”

Max feigned offense. “Oh come on, I already know that Chase is in love with Xoe.”

“Did he say something?” Lucy demanded.

Max had an expression on his face that said we were all being extremely silly. “Oh come on,” he answered, “no one had to say anything to me. It is
so
blatantly obvious.”

“Yeah,” Allison agreed, “But boys aren't supposed to be able to pick up on things like that.”

“I'll have you know, I'm extremely perceptive!” Max argued as Allison got up and shoved him out of the door.

A few seconds later the downstairs TV turned on and the sounds of a soccer game filled the silence.

“So,” Allison began, “Don't you think Jason is going to mind if Chase stays here.”

I shrugged, feeling defensive. “Well then he can stay with Jason if Jason doesn't want him here. I don't really care, he just needs a place to stay.”

Allison looked at me like I was being a difficult child. “This is
us
you're talking to Xoe, your life-long best friends. You can admit that you care . . . at least just a little.”

“Fine I care . . . just a little,” I answered. The front door opened and shut downstairs. “Now everyone shut up about it.”

We left my bedroom carrying the pizzas to find Chase watching soccer with Max. I plopped the box I was carrying down on the coffee table, then went into the kitchen to make some coffee.

I came back out with my oversized Edgar Allan Poe mug filled with coffee and lots of cream. Allison and Lucy had made Max move to the love seat with Chase so they could sit together on the couch and save me a spot between them.

I sat down and took my first sip of coffee. Feeling instantly better I asked, “Aren't you all sick of me yet?”

“Don't be silly Xoe,” Max answered. “You're our wise and omnipotent benefactor.”

I threw a pillow at him, almost spilling my coffee in the process. I had a feeling I'd be hearing jokes about me being their new leader for quite some time.

The front door opened again to reveal Jason, freshly scrubbed and dressed in a flannel shirt and jeans. I liked the flannel way better than the dress clothes.

Before he could walk in, a fire erupted momentarily behind him, quickly extinguishing to reveal my dad. Jason was unfazed by my dad's abrupt appearance. He simply walked inside then held the door for him.

My dad looked unusually disheveled. He was normally the picture of good hygiene, but now his gray dress shirt was missing a few buttons and had one sleeve torn off, and his face and clothing were covered either in ash or dirt.

“This Bartimus problem might be a bigger deal than I originally thought,” he announced.

Did I mention that a demon's life is never easy?

xx

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