Chapter 28

Amaris did not like the fact that he was touching her so casually. She did not know Adam that well. She also did not want to insult him by simply shaking off his arm. As Amaris was about to remove his arm, some of the people that were staying there walked into the kitchen. They were laughing. When they saw Amaris and Adam, the laughing stopped. The young woman that was in the front stepped forward “Sorry, we forgot the chocolate bars.” She reached out and grabbed the chocolate bars that were sitting on the small table in front of Amaris and the group turned and left. Among them was Blethyn. She looked back at her with questioning eyes, and then followed the rest of the group out the door.

Amaris walked forward out from under Adam’s arm and turned to face him as she leaned on the table. “What was it that Lyle needed to talk to me about?”

“Not much, he just needed to explain to you what the plan is from here on out.” Adam walked towards here again, this time he was face to face with her and very close. Amaris could not back up as she was leaning on the table behind her and the chair was to her right so she was unable to move away from him. Amaris ducked her head as she tried to look for a way past him. Adam bent close to her reached a hand and lifted her chin as if he was going to kiss her.

The kitchen door opened again. This time it was Anna and her parents. Amaris sighed with relief as Adam stepped back. He gave everyone a smile and tried to take Amaris’ hand. At this point she had enough of his overly touchy behavior and pulled her hand back, and pushed past him. Adam’s expression changed from one of triumph to one of anger. Just as quickly, he wiped the expression off his face and put a smile back on. Anna saw his momentary change and left to follow Amaris out the kitchen door.

Amaris did not go back upstairs this time. She went out the front door, needing to be outside. What was going on with Adam. She hardly knew him and yet she was sure that he was going to try to kiss her back there. All that touchy stuff was too much for her. She was not sure she wanted to be left alone in a room with him again any time soon.

Anna followed behind her, she quickly walked past Amaris and turned in front of her. “Are you okay? What was that? Did he try something with you?” Anna put her hands on Amaris’ shoulders and squatted down and looked into her turned down face.

“I think if you had not come in when you did, I think he was going to try to kiss me. He was creeping me out. If he was not Lyle’s brother I would have hit him.” Anna looked like she was ready to hit him herself. She brushed a lock of hair out of Amaris’ face and then put an arm around her shoulders and said “Come on lets go get some chocolate. It is your birthday after all!”

The two girls walked around the house to where the bonfire was roaring. It was a big fire pit with stumps for seats all the way around. Someone had made a stone mosaic and built a fire pit in the middle of it capable of seating 30 or 40 people easily. Amaris was amazed. She had no idea this was back here. The last time she was here it was night time and she had not seen the back of the house. There was a folding table set up with all the fixings for S’mores. Each girl took a long stick from the pile at the end of the table and stuck a few marshmallows on it. They set up some grahams on a plate and placed chocolate squares on each and walked toward the fire. As they placed their plates down on the stumps nearby, they saw that there were about 6 other kids that were their age at the fire with them. Amaris had expected to see the little kids out here, but there were none to be seen.

Anna and Amaris began to toast their marshmallows. Amaris was just staring into the fire, while Anna was watching her.

“Mari, What did Adam want anyway?” Anna asked as she turned her stick.

“To ask me if I had seen Lyle in the last 24 hours. He said that Lyle told him that he needed to talk with me.” Amaris felt like everyone in the last few days had been talking in riddles.

“That was it? Did he say what Lyle needed to tell you? Hey yours is on fire. I hope you like burned marshmallows.” Anna said sarcastically. She knew that Amaris did not like them burned at all. When they were little the two of them used to have contests to see who could make the most perfectly toasted marshmallow without burning it. It was always a tie because they would eat them all before they could decide.

The two girls were standing on the opposite side of the fire from the other kids that were out there with them. The fire was large enough as to create the illusion of separation. “Mari, I don’t know what all this is about, but I do know that there are some things that you need to know. Honestly, I am kind of mad that no one has told you yet. I even tried to talk to my parents just now to ask if they would talk to you about it. They said that it was not their place.” Amaris, who had been blowing out her flaming marshmallows, dropped the stick to the ground and turned to look at Anna.

“Do you know more about what is going on here?” Amaris felt betrayed. She had spent the last few days with Anna and her family and they clearly knew more and did not tell her. She should have guessed when they knew the people in the village.

“Okay. Spill. I am getting really tired of not knowing what is going on or why. Do you know who has Gran?” Amaris felt like she had heard absolutely nothing about her. All she knew was that Lyle was supposed to be out looking for her.

“I don’t know who it is that has her, or where she is. As far as you being attacked I don’t know much more than you do honestly. “ Anna sat down on the nearest stump. She licked some melted chocolate off her fingers and then place her stick and the plate on the stump on the other side of her. She turned to face Amaris.

“Mari, please don’t be angry with me. I was asked to not say anything until Gran and Grover had told you. I did not know that Mr. Bruce was in on it, all though I did know that he was from one of the villages up on the mountain. I just did not know it was the same one that my mom and dad were from originally. I did not know that he had been sent to protect you, but I did know that my parents were also sent long ago to look out for you too.” Amaris pulled back from Anna. “Is that why you have been friends with me all these years. Were you spying on me too?” Amaris was hurt. Everyone she cared about appeared to only be there to guard her and watch her, and they were not really there because they cared about her.

“No! Mari that is not it!! I did not know until I came of age. Remember last April when I had my birthday and got sick a few days later? That was when they told me.”

“Told you what exactly?” Amaris had really had enough. How was her best friend in on this, even if it was for a few months and Anna had not said a word.

“Mari, do you remember when you said that you would owe Lyle’s neighbor’s dog a steak for alerting you guys to the people that were hunting you?” Anna looked around them in either direction as she spoke. Amaris nodded her head. She was afraid to speak. She felt if she did she may not get her answers.

“Well, those were actually the guys that were after you. They gave themselves away.” Amaris thought back to the night at the hotel also. She had heard growling and howling that night too. They must be using dogs for tracking, she thought. “So they use dogs to track people? Luckily they did not use them when they came after me for the first time at the school. So how was it that they did not track me down out in the woods the night that they found us at the hotel?”

Anna looked like she wanted to laugh. “Because we had our own dogs.” Anna chuckled. Amaris was confused. As far as she knew Anna and her family had never owned a dog.

Anna grabbed Amaris’ arm and led her away from the fire while looking back at the group on the other side of the flames. They had stopped what they were doing and they were looking at the two girls now.

Anna walked Amaris toward the wood pile at the corner of the house. The cloudy sky was dark and you could see neither cloud nor moon. The wood pile was shrouded in shadow and hard to see. Anna stopped when she thought that she was no longer in earshot. She turned to face Amaris and grabbed both her arms, swinging Amaris to face her too.

“Sweetie, I don’t know how else to tell you this and the adults would kill me if they knew I told you, but you are going to find out anyway when we go into that meeting that is starting in a few minutes.” It was at that moment that Amaris noticed that the number of cars in the front of the house had more than doubled. From this distance she could see that there were people that were walking into the house from where the cars and trucks were parked. There were even several 4 wheelers in front of the cars.

“Why don’t the adults want me to know what is going on?” Amaris looked back at Anna.

“Mari, we are a people of secrets. We have been hunted all our lives. We have existed for centuries on this mountain without outside interference. Many people fear what will happen if people who were not brought up in our way of life are brought in on our secrets. You are someone who has not grown up knowing about us. You do not understand our ways and customs. You don’t know our rules or the people in power, and from the sound of it they may fear you more because you are the heir to the leadership here and you are an outsider. That scares them even more, I think.” Anna’s kind caring eyes looked into Amaris’. Trying to convey the love and concern for her best friend. “Mari, we are werewolves.”