Caged Moon Read online

  The world moved in slow motion as the administrator on duty ran over.

  "There will be no fighting here," he said. His voice snapped like a brittle stick covered in ice, the man's glare not any warmer.

  "We're not fighting." Liam offered the guy he punched a hand. He pulled him to his feet.

  The Jock dusted off his jeans and smiled. He didn't seem fazed or hurt in the slightest.

  "Nope," the Jock said. He gave Liam a playful punch in the shoulder. "No fighting here. Might want to check out that table over there." He cocked his head to the side as he pointed to a table full of Barbie wannabes. They glared back at him. "If you could just hear what those girls are talking about." The guy shook his head, chuckled, and sat back down next to Liam.

  The administrator's expression shot daggers, but he turned and left.

  "Sorry about the comment," the Jock said. "That truly wasn't an insult. But that is." He nudged the small younger guy that I had labeled a 'gamer' to his right.

  "What? I'm starving," he said, through his hefty bite of roast beef on rye.

  The Jock huffed. "When'd you get a sandwich?"

  "When we first came in. This is a cafeteria, stupid."

  "Give me that thing." The Jock grabbed for the sandwich, nearly shoving the poor little guy off the table.

  "No, it's mine." The boy held it as far from the Jock as possible. Sunburned twin on the end right, leaned in, and took half the sandwich off in one big chomp.

  "Not bad," he said with a laugh.

  "Hey, give me that."

  "That's it," Liam said. He reached across the Jock's lap, snatching up the sandwich from the mass of grabbing hands. "Forget about the stinking sandwich." He motioned his head in my direction. "We're not here to eat."

  Liam sat and then took the last bite of the sandwich with a smirk. He quickly chewed, then swallowed. "Charlotte, I'd like you to meet my...friends."

  I gave a weak smile, not knowing what to think.

  "This idiot here," he said, playfully punching the Jock in the shoulder, "is Byron."

  "Flynt," Sunburned right end said with a nod. The motion made the light catch a long scar tracing the bone of his cheek up to his ear, where it disappeared into his dark hairline. I wondered what happened.

  "Eldridge and Flynt," Liam said, pointing to the other guy at the opposite end of the table, "are twins. And our sandwich thief, is Steve."

  "Hey," Steve said with a small wave.

  "How come he gets saddled with the ordinary name?"

  Of all things, I ask that. I needed some serious help. I didn't even know these guys, not to mention they screamed suspicious...and obnoxious. Were these the friends Liam said had been prowling around my campsite? If so, what had they been doing in the woods at three in the morning? What did they find so interesting about me? I didn't like this.

  Byron laughed. "I like this girl, Liam."

  Liam made a motion as if he kicked Byron from under the table. Byron's expression grew serious.

  "He's the youngest," Liam answered.

  "Oh," I said, nodding. It took me a moment to realize that didn't make sense, but under the circumstances, I didn't care. More important things took my attention, like what they really wanted with me. "What are you doing here? This is the first time I've seen you at school."

  Liam leaned across the table towards me with a grin. "You were looking for me?"

  "What? No. That's not what I meant." I stumbled over my words like an idiot. My cheeks burned. Forget interrogating. I wanted to leave.

  I still had a large wad of napkins clenched in my hand and I used them as an excuse to stand up. The entire group rose with me.

  "Where're you going?" Liam asked. "I didn't mean anything by that."

  "I'm... just going to throw away my...napkins?" I showed them my handful.

  "I'll take care of that," Byron said. He nabbed the napkins from me and shoved them in his mouth. My eyes went wide; he couldn't even close his mouth all the way.

  "What do you think you're doing?" Liam asked.

  "Helping," Byron said through a grinning mouth full of paper.

  "What are you an idiot?" Liam laughed and shoved him away from the table. "Get out of here you goof. Go throw those away already."

  The others chuckled and we all sat back down. "Moron," Steve tossed. Byron walked off apparently proud of the comments. The guy was nuts, but I did have a smile on my face.

  I swiped it away when I felt Liam watching me.

  "What's the matter?" he asked.

  Did he have to talk to me? He made it very difficult to stay focused. I had to remain in control. He screamed suspicious and abnormal. I didn't trust him. Liam cocked his head to the side and my body tightened when I saw his hand slowly edge its way across the table towards mine. I couldn't breathe. My mind fought against my body, demanding for me to move my hand, but I didn't. The world shifted into slow motion. His fingers slid closer and closer, pulling on me with an invisible thread. I tried to swallow, but I couldn't even get that to work right.

  "Can I help you boys?" a man's voice said.

  Oh, thank God.

  I retracted my hand.

  The principle, Mr. Vela, loomed over us. Next to him stood the tall skinny administrator from earlier.

  "We're fine," Flynt said.

  The principal's face darkened. "Don't be fresh with me young man. This is a high school, not a public park. Move it. All of you."

  Confused, I turned to Liam. "What's he talking about?"

  Byron made an appearance, standing beside Liam with a shrug. "Probably something to do with the fact that we don't go to school here."

  "Do you ever shut up?" Liam shoved the big guy into Steve.

  "Ow." Steve whined. He pushed Byron back into Liam. The little guy's strength surprised me.

  "That's enough." Mr. Vela grabbed Byron's shoulder in an attempt to break up the squabble, when a low snarl snapped from Byron's throat. My body flushed cold. His upper lip curled over his teeth as he whipped his head towards Mr. Vela. The principle stumbled back, catching himself on the table behind him. Liam stood up and caught Byron's jaw in his hand, turning his head away from the principal. I almost fell out of my seat when I realized why. Byron's eyes blazed liquid gold.

  My throat felt strangled and goose bumps erupted across my back. I couldn't move. Had the principle seen? Had anyone else heard? I felt dizzy as if half in a dream.

  "Sorry," Byron whispered to me. His voice sounded hoarse and his entire upper torso shook.

  "Get out of here. Just leave," Mr. Vela said. A light sheen of sweat traced his brow. He looked sick and unsteady. He had seen. I wasn't crazy. The rest of the cafeteria appeared curious, but unaware.

  "It's all right," Liam said. "We're leaving."

  Flynt, Eldridge, and Steve stood up. Liam hid Byron's face from the cafeteria crowd, hugging him to his chest.

  "I'm sorry," Liam whispered back to me. "Maybe this was a bad idea." His sad gaze held mine for a moment, and then he turned and left.

  Chapter 4

  "So, are you going to tell me what happened at lunch today?" A smile spread across Ty's face and I nearly dropped the tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream on my kitchen floor. Ty and I had met up after school. Since neither of us had plans, I invited her back to my house. She giggled, making the small leaf shaped locket she wore around her neck jingle softly against the chain. "And you thought you weren't interesting." She placed two small glass bowls with sparrows etched on them down on the counter. "You are so going to spill. So come on. Who were those dark and mysterious men?"

  "They weren't that dark and mysterious." I placed the tub of ice cream down next to her and sat down on one of the hard wooden kitchen stools surrounding the island, trying to remain expressionless.

  Ty's face told me I failed. "Uh, huh," she said. "This is even more interesting than I thought."

  "I don't know what you're talking about." I decided to play dumb, filling my mouth with an oversized glop of mint ch
ocolate chip. The cold stung my forehead making me wince.

  Ty leaned across the counter. "So, which one is it?"

  "Which one is what?"

  I swallowed my bite down with a little effort.

  "Which one's got the hots for ya?"

  She didn't just say that.

  "Just because Liam's been kind of following me doesn't mean he has the 'hots' for me, Ty. In fact, I think that categorizes him more as a stalker."

  "Uh huh." She nodded with a strange expression that seemed part surprise, almost as if the name stirred some kind of recollection, and part impermeable curiosity. "So Mr. Mysterious has a name does he?"

  Oops.

  I watched her face become an unreadable slate. "Do you know him?" I asked.

  She shook her head, making her short blond curls bounce. "Nope, but I want details. This is the most intriguing thing to happen in my small town life since I won the 4-H livestock photo contest in the third grade." I didn't know what to say. "Joking, Charlotte." She laughed.

  "Aren't you going to eat your ice cream?"

  "You are so not getting out of this one, girl."

  "You're evil." I mock scowled and shook my head.

  "Fine. Look. I'm eating." Ty held up her spoon with a nod as if to say 'see', and then took a bite. "Now who's Liam?"

  My cheeks burned. "I don't know." I shifted in my seat. "He's just this guy I met at McGulliger's Campground just outside of town a few days ago. His friends were rummaging through our campsite at night and he made them leave." My brows twisted. That whole scene still didn't make sense.

  "Wow," Ty said. "Handsome, mysterious, and saves the day. No wonder you've got the hots for him."

  "What?" My spoon clanged into the tiny glass bowl. "I do not have the hots for him. I don't even know him, and who goes sneaking into people's schools and follows them around campgrounds at night anyway? The guy's got serious issues. Not to mention the fact, that if you say, 'hots' one more time I'm going to strangle you."

  Ty shook her head, laughing. "Wow, you really are smitten."

  I groaned and flopped my head down on the counter. "Okay, he's kind of cute." I couldn't look up. I could hear her giggling.

  "You act like this is a bad thing, Charlotte."

  "You don't understand. He doesn't make sense. He avoids questions, sneaks around following me, and don't even get me started on his weird eyes."

  ...and his smell.

  "Weird eyes?" Ty asked, taking a bite of her ice cream.

  I sat up and held my head in my hands. "I swear they turn different colors according to his mood, or something. I don't know. But I've seen them change twice now when he's gotten really...intense."

  Ty's laugh fizzled. "Wait. Let me get this straight. They turn different colors? You mean like how hazel sometimes looks blue and other time's green?"

  "No. I mean they are normally green and then become this really creepy gold color. They look animalistic." I shuttered and in my mind I was five again, hearing the wolves moving in the distance. I quickly pushed it away.

  "Are you sure he doesn't wear contacts or something?"

  "No." I forced myself to stay in the present. "It happened right in front of me. His friend's did too. That's why they had to leave the cafeteria. Well that, and they got found, so to speak. But Byron, his friend, looked right at me, and his did the same thing. Liam told me in the woods that the moonlight reflected off of them. That's what made them look different. But there is definitely no moonlight in the cafeteria."

  Ty chewed her bottom lip as she processed what I said. She seemed to believe me. She hadn't bolted for the nearest exit, but she did seem nervous. Her hands fiddled with her spoon. I didn't want her afraid, but it felt good to tell someone. An uncomfortable silence wafted between us, until we simultaneously took a bite of our ice cream, swallowing hard.

  "That's not it either," I said, surprising myself at my eagerness to go on. "He acts strange too. His body language is different. It's hard to explain, but when he first met me in the woods, he kept circling me and sniffing me like an animal."

  He smelled like one too.

  I shook off the thought.

  Ty's fingers found her small locket, rubbing it between her index finger and thumb. "But he didn't do anything to hurt you, right?" Ty asked. "Didn't you say he helped you?"

  "Yeah, I guess he did. More than once actually." I had to admit, it did seem like he cared. He didn't want his friend talking badly about me either. I laughed inwardly; as if that excused his cryptic behavior.

  "Really?"

  "Look Ty. Okay. I'll admit he's attractive."

  "Attractive?" Ty asked with a grin.

  I glowered. "But seriously, there's something not right about him. He's too secretive, even if he does have a knack for showing up at the right time to save the day."

  Which is a little suspicious.

  A trickle of goose bumps ran down the back of my neck and every tiny hair on my body stood. "Ty. Do you feel something?" A light sound found my ears, soft, still in the distance. "Do you hear that?"

  Ty leaned on her elbow as she tried to listen. I thought for a moment she might have, but she shook her head. "I don't hear anything. Why? What'd you hear?"

  I paused, straining my senses. It stopped, but the icy trail across my back hadn't left. "I know this sounds crazy, but I thought I heard...howling. You know, like wolves."

  Ty's left eyebrow lifted precariously. "It can't be wolves. We're too far east for wolves." It looked like she wanted to add something, but she stopped. "Wait. I do hear something."

  The howling returned, getting closer.

  "When does your dad get home?"

  I had to agree, this was getting creepy. The late afternoon sun had died down, covering my kitchen in a cascade of dull winding shadows. "Not until late. He's on call at the hospital tonight."

  Ty forced a laugh, waving her hand as if that would push her fear away. "What are we doing Charlotte?" She laughed again, this one more convincing. "We're getting ourselves all worked up over nothing. So Liam and his friends are a little different." She shrugged and turned towards the large glass doors in the back of the open kitchen-living room. The sounds continued to get closer. "It's just some stray dogs. We're in the house, Charlotte."

  Yeah, just dogs. Little did Ty know, that's what scared me. I wouldn't go back there. I wouldn't tell her about the haunting visions that followed me ever since...I stopped. They couldn't get us anyway.

  "You're right. We're just being silly," I said.

  The doorbell rang and both of us jumped. The prickling sensation on the back of my neck made me shutter and I slowly willed myself to stand up off my stool.

  "Are you expecting someone? It's after dark."

  I shook my head. "I have no idea who this could be."

  "Maybe you shouldn't get it. You know, just pretend no one's home."

  I nodded, when the doorbell rang again. "You know, I don't hear the dogs anymore. Maybe I'll just take a peek. I won't open it."

  Ty gave me a face that clearly said I'd gone insane. I agreed with her, yet I found myself cautiously walking to the front door. Every floor board seemed to creep under my feet and my pulse slammed in my ears. Reaching up on my toes, I strained my neck to peer through the small peek hole high up in the large wooden door.

  When my vision focused, my entire body went numb. I gasped, dropping my gaze. I couldn't believe it.

  "Who is it?" Ty shout whispered from the kitchen. Apparently she was too afraid to move from the protection of her stool.

  I couldn't find the breath I needed to say it. I had to be hallucinating. Maybe the milk in the ice cream had gone bad.

  "Charlotte?" a voice said through the door.

  My nerves went haywire.

  "Who is it? What's wrong?" Ty whispered, still unmoving from her safety zone.

  I swallowed hard and forced it out. "It's Liam."

  Ty's features fell, reflecting the horrified shock I felt inside. She scrambled to
my side, looking a little pale. "What?" She pointed to the door. "Are you sure?"

  I nodded. "What should I do?"

  Liam chuckled on the other side of the door. I quickly shook off the thought. No one could have heard us whispering through several inches of thick oak. Could they?

  "I don't know," Ty whispered back. "Get the door."

  "Have you lost it? How does he even know that I live here? I told you, total stalker."

  "You didn't give him your address?"

  "No."

  "Well, you've got to do something. He's at the door."

  "I know!"

  It felt like I couldn't breathe. My mind blurred.

  "Charlotte," Liam's said. "We know you guys are in there. We just want to talk, you know, about today. We feel really bad."

  "How does he know we're in here?" I looked to Ty who appeared just as surprised to hear him calling through the door as I did. She shrugged, her face showing up blank.

  "Maybe he saw us come in?"

  "That was over an hour ago." I paused for a moment, realizing something else. "Did he say we?"

  "I think so."

  I stood up on my toes and braved another look through the peek hole, but Liam looked right back at me with that infuriating smile. I shot back down.

  "What it is?" Ty asked.

  "Nothing." I placed my head in my hands. "Do you think I should get the door?"

  Ty shrugged with a look of resolve. "You have to now. He knows we're here."

  I took a deep breath, exhaling slowly, and turned back to the door. With my face a twisted mass of lines, I fastened the chain, and unlocked the main part of door. It opened with a whine and snagged against the metal fastener. I tried not to look at Liam, but I failed miserably.

  "Hi Charlotte," he said with a crooked grin. His green eyes danced down at me from under his ashen hair. My heart quickened and I furiously fought with my body temperature. I prayed he didn't notice, but from the look on his face, he knew exactly what he was doing.

  Dark shapes moved behind him on the dimly lit lawn only illuminated by the singular low volt bulb Dad installed on the front porch. I strained to see them. Byron waved. I could guess the others.

  Fantastic.