Chapter 1
Remus didn’t know where he was.
That wasn’t quite true, actually. As his eyes flicked around, his surroundings quickly became evident: he was in the back of a bus. A pretty shitty bus, he thought, noting the raggedy seats and squeaking wheels. It was filled with kids who looked about his age— what was his age? Fifteen? Sixteen? His stomach dropped. He didn’t know his own age.
Another thing worth noting was the girl sitting next to him— not that there was anything wrong with her. She was beautiful, some voice in the back of his mind noted. It was true, she was shockingly pretty, but the notable part wasn’t her thick dark curls or bright black eyes. The strange part was that she was holding his hand.
Not that he was complaining, but… he’d never seen this girl before in his life.
“Where am I?” He croaks, the sound of his own voice a foreign noise.
The dark-haired girl holding his hand looks over at him with a smile. “Did you fall asleep again?”
Did he? “I don’t think so,” he mumbles. A pit was opening up in his stomach, and he fought to get his next words out. “Do- do I know you?”
The girl furrows her brow. “Remus,” she says, a twinkle of a laugh in her voice. “You must have had a really strange dream.”
“No, no,” he protests. “I swear. I— I’ve never seen you before in my life.”
A hand from behind him claps his shoulder and he jumps. He wheels around to find the owner of the hand sitting in the seat behind them: a tall boy with dark waves down to his shoulders, clad in a leather jacket. “Is this revenge for the shaving cream on the Jell-O?” He queries. “Because Mary had nothing to do with that. That was all me.”
“M-Mary?” Remus chokes.
The girl next to him gives him a concerned look. “You don’t… you don’t know me?”
He digs the nails of his free hand into the seat of the bus, searching for a response. The dark haired boy cuts in. “He does. He’s playing a prank. Right, Remus?”
“I’m not, I swear,” he tries to say but it comes out as a mere whisper.
The boy leans in. “What was that?”
“I said I’m not.” He could no longer hide the edge of fear his voice had. He snatches his hand away from the girl— Mary— and clenches his hands together, his knee bouncing up and down anxiously. “Please, just tell me where I am.”
Now the boy looks concerned, and Remus sees him exchange a look with Mary. “Did you hit your head?” she asks.
“No, I don’t-” he stops. “I don’t remember.”
Mary chews on her lip. “What do you remember?”
He tries to stop his knee from bouncing, but fails. “My name. Remus.”
“What else?”
He looks at her, opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. He shakes his head helplessly.
Her eyes search him for a moment, maybe hoping for him to say something else. When he doesn’t, she turns to the boy. “We need to tell someone.”
“Are you kidding?” He’s incredulous. “Best case scenario, they don’t believe him. Worst case scenario, they send him to some hospital or asylum— and trust me, they won’t be sending him back.”
“So what, you just want to keep him here? He doesn’t even remember who we are!”
“That’s probably for the better,” he scoffs. “That lucky bastard doesn’t have to remember this shithole. Give him a week. He’ll be way happier than the rest of us.”
“Don’t say that.” Mary narrows her eyes. “That’s our friend. That’s my boyfriend.”
“Boyfriend?” Remus asks, and Mary winces and looks away. The boy in the leather jacket lets out a laugh. “Shit,” he crows. “He really remembers nothing!” He leans in again, his face inches away. “So you remember nothing about Mary. What about me?”
All Remus managed was a dull croak.
“Right.” The sparkle in his gray eyes was unreadable. “Well, I’m Sirius. Your best friend.” He sits back and crosses his arms. “Alright, quick crash course: We’re all at Wilderness Therapy School. In case you don’t know that either, it’s a school for bad kids.” An off-putting smile stretches across his face.
“Bad kids,” Remus repeats dumbly. “So I’m-”
“That’s not true,” Mary cuts in, shooting Sirius a look.
“Right, my bad,” he says loftily. “I didn’t run away seven times. You didn’t steal a car-”
“I didn’t!”
“And Remus didn’t get kicked out of school three times. No, you’re right. We’re all practically angels.” He turns back to Remus. “We’ve been friends for seven months now. You and Mary got together three months ago— courtesy of me, by the way— and we’re currently on our way to the Grand Canyon for a fun little class field trip!”
Remus doesn’t know what to say. He wants to scream, fight, anything— but he just sits there.
An angry screech comes from the front of the bus, and Remus jumps. So do all the kids around him. They look up to see a short, hairy man holding a megaphone. He taps it aggressively and it squeaks again.
“Listen up, cupcakes!” The man says at top volume over the megaphone. Remus looks at Mary and Sirius. “Who-”
“Coach Hedge,” Mary says, not taking her eyes off of the megaphone-wielding… coach? He pushes his confusion aside.
“We’ve arrived at the Grand Canyon,” Hedge barks. “You’re all going to exit the bus, silently, in a single file line. You have one hour. You are to stick with one or two buddies at all times. Any student seen alone will be sent back to the bus for the remainder of the trip. Any questions?” He glared at the students in a way that did not encourage any questions.
“Alright. Let’s go.”
They all stand up and start filing out of the bus.
“Hey, Macdonald!” Shouts a boy. It takes Remus a moment to realize he’s addressing Mary. “Wanna be my buddy? I’ll hold your hand the entire time.” This elicits a few laughs from the boys sitting around him, and a vulgar gesture from Mary. “That’s Dylan.” She mumbles, taking Remus by the wrist and dragging him down the aisle. “Biggest fucking douchebag this place has ever seen. Except maybe Sirius.”
“Why is he-”
“I dunno. Probably beat some poor kid up.” she grumbles. He doesn’t press any further.
“Don’t say a word to Coach Hedge,” Sirius tells him as they approach the bus exit. “Just… keep your head down.” Remus doesn’t have time to answer as he stumbles down the steps of the bus, his legs not having quite recovered from the bus ride. He feels Hedge’s eyes on him, and he holds his breath— he knows. He knows. He knows I don’t belong here.
But he doesn’t say a word.
Remus practically choked on his relief as the hot Arizona air hit him. But it only lasts a second.
There was something deeply wrong. And he needed to figure out what it was.