Chapter 2

Reagan:

It was never going to be me. You knew that.

I shivered, feeling as if a block of ice pressed against my face. I blamed the fact that I had a never-ending supply of tears pouring, and the wind blew against me. Nothing was kind, as it turned out.

I didn’t know how long I’d been walking, but my feet were covered in blisters. I knew when I took my shoes off, my socks would be a grim shade of pink, bright red, and brown. If I had the money to spare, I might have stopped to try and buy a new pair. I didn’t, and I had no idea if I was being followed. Stopping and going into a store—filthy, red-eyed, tear-stained, and with a jam-packed duffle bag—wouldn’t end well for me.

I tripped over a fallen tree, barely catching myself on a rock before I could tumble face first onto the ground. Another wound wouldn’t matter. But I didn’t want anything to get infected when I had no medical help.

The sun started to set and I could hardly keep my eyes open. I hadn’t slept in twenty hours. Even then, it had only been about half a night of sleep. I had to get someplace safe, and wasting time on sleep wouldn’t do that. As long as I got to where I was going, it didn’t matter how tired I was.

That way, I heard a familiar voice in my head say. I flinched every time. It sounded too much like Elena, and it hadn’t shut up in days.

I turned North. I had no idea what I would find there, but I followed the sound that made me think of someone who would have known what she was doing. Someone who could have solved everything. I would have at least felt safe with her.

I lifted my duffle bag, adjusting it on my shoulder. It started to get sore, even with me passing the bag from one side to the other. I had a lot of clothes stuffed inside, a baseball bat, Mom’s collection of cards, and some things that I’d had enough time to take before I left. Elena would have said let it go. It wasn’t important.

It was the only important thing left.

I broke through the thick of trees in these dense woods, finding a stream. I wanted to dip my hands into the water, cleaning myself as best as I could. It didn’t seem like a good idea, but I wasted a couple of minutes thinking about it anyway. As well as resting my feet as I sat down on a huge rock.

I checked the bottom of my boots, making sure the duct tape had held up. I’d wrapped them last time I’d stopped, feeling the rubber wearing down. A new pair would cost more than I wanted to pay, but I hoped these would last until I got somewhere safe.

I attempted detangling my hair with my fingers, working them through my long, dark brown curls. It did nothing, but it made me feel halfway human. I wasted too much time doing it, but I wanted to feel different. If I could have dove into the stream and washed away all the dirt and misery, I would have.

Sighing, I settled against the rock. I should have gotten up and moved again, but my body needed the rest as the last of the sunlight vanished. I was far from helpless, but the sunset wasn’t a good thing all the same. I needed a place to sleep. Hell, I needed a place to live.

North, a voice commanded me. Go North.

I rose, gathering up my things again before I followed the instinct. My stomach growled as I walked. I listened to animals scurry along in the woods. Rabbits ran by, not caring that I was broken down and on the verge of lying on the ground and letting the earth take me. Why would they care? Why would anything in the world recognize what happened to me?

I walked until I thought I would collapse, wondering still where I needed to go. That voice pointed me in a direction, as if trying to be sure when I couldn’t. I had no one to turn to. No safe place I could hide after leaving my home behind. It hadn’t been much of a home, but it had four walls and a floor to sleep on.

When I couldn’t stand the hunger anymore, I knew I would have to break and spend money I needed to save. I found my way out of the woods, walking another hour and finding a McDonalds off the highway. It was dark enough that I thought I could go unnoticed. No one wanted to get tangled up in the kind of mess a homeless teenager would have brought.

The heat of the McDonalds brought feeling back into my fingers when I stepped inside. A few employees stood around back chatting, one girl waited at the counter, and another sat at a table in the empty-ish room. I relaxed, thinking they wouldn’t give me much trouble.

“Can I get a number one, please?” I asked, a ten-dollar bill already in my hand.

The girl punched it into the register. “Any sauces?”

“Barbeque.”

She put it in, took my cash, and gave me my change. The smell of food cooking almost made me sick. Other than the last couple days, I hadn’t had fast food in nearly a decade. My stomach hated it, but I couldn’t afford anything else.

I took my food and found a seat in the corner. I wanted to soak up as much heat as I could before I would have to be outside again. I even considered finding out when this place closed and seeing about breaking in. It wasn’t right, but freezing to death would have been a slap in the face to everything my sister had done for me. I refused to let myself die.

North, I heard. Keep moving.

I ate my sandwich, doing my best not to choke with how eagerly I shoved the food into my mouth. No one stared at least. I got to eat in peace.

“Are you coming over for the party?” I heard one of the people in the back saying to a coworker. “I managed to get a keg and I can’t drink it all myself.”

“Shit, is it Saturday?”

“Yeah.”

A girl sighed. “I have a wedding to go to. My cousin. You remember Becky?”

“No.”

“She’s the werewolf. Her husband-to-be is one too, so they’re doing the whole mating thing. It’s a big deal and my mom will never forgive me if I skip out on it. Bit of a jerk move.”

I turned to look at the people talking. They hovered around the fry machine, salting them as they discussed the wedding plans. If I had more courage, I would have asked where the pack of wolves lived. I had been taught that they mostly stuck together in big clusters, and in wooded areas so they could run properly. It gave me an idea.

Would my grandfather’s pack take me in even though I wasn’t a wolf? At least I wasn’t human. That would have been dangerous, what with wolves being hot heads most of the time. I could at least protect myself. Though that might have been the exact thing that stood in my way. If I seemed like a threat to the wolves, then they wouldn’t want me around. Not everyone saw me as some useful weapon to play with. I didn’t have any other options.

Once I finished eating, I threw my trash away and approached the counter again. The chatting girls looked back at me. I froze, thinking I would get in trouble. I hadn’t done anything wrong, but it felt like I’d done everything wrong.

“Excuse me?” I asked, “do either of you know how far away Salem is?”

“Um,” one of the girls said. “I think it’s like a six hour drive up North.”

I felt colder.