SCARY STORIES
While I tried to concentrate on the third act of Macbeth, I was listening for my truck. I would have thought I'd hear the engine's roar even over the pounding rain. But when I went to look out the window again, it was suddenly there.
I wasn't super excited to get up on Friday, and it more than lived up to my negative expectations. Of course there were all the fainting comments. Peter especially seemed to get a kick out of that story. He laughed till he choked when Logan pretended to swoon at the lunch table. Luckily,
McKayla had kept her mouth shut, and no one seemed to know about Sirius' involvement. Peter did have a lot of questions about yesterday's lunch, though.
"What did Sirius Black want?" he'd asked in Trig.
"Not sure." It was the truth. "He never really got to the point."
"He looked kind of mad."
I'd shrugged. "Did he?"
"I've never seen him sit with anyone but his family before. That was weird."
"Yeah, weird," I'd agreed.
He'd seemed kind of irritated that I didn't have better answers.
The worst part about Friday was that, even though I knew he wasn't going to be there, I still hoped. When I walked into the cafeteria with Peter and McKayla, I couldn't keep from looking at his table, where Bellatrix, Andromeda, and Narcissa sat, talking with their heads close together.
I wondered if Andromeda had been the one to drive my truck home last night, and what she thought about the chore.
At my normal table, everyone was full of our plans for the next day. McKayla was animated again, putting a lot more trust in the local weatherman than I thought he deserved. I'd have to see his promised sun before I believed it. At least it was warmer today-almost sixty, though it was still wet. Maybe the trip wouldn't be totally miserable.
I caught a few unfriendly glances from Logan during lunch, which I didn't really understand. Just like everyone else, I'd laughed along with his fainting stunt. But I got some clarification as we walked out of the room. I guess he didn't realize how close I was behind him.
He ran a hand over his slicked-back, silver-blond hair. "I don't know why Remus"-he said my name with a sneer-"doesn't just sit with the Blacks now," I heard him mutter to McKayla. I'd never noticed before what a nasal voice he had, and I was surprised now by the malice in it. I really didn't know him well, not well enough for him to dislike me-or so I would have thought.
"He's my friend; he sits with us," McKayla snapped back. Loyal, but also territorial. I paused to let Peter and Alice pass. I didn't want to hear any more.
Later, at dinner, Lyall seemed excited about my trip to La Push in the morning. I guessed he felt guilty for leaving me home alone on the weekends, but he'd spent too many years building his habits to break them now. And I never minded the alone time.
Of course he knew the names of all the kids going, and their parents, and their great-grandparents, too, probably. He obviously approved. I wondered if he would approve of my plan to ride to Seattle with Sirius. He seemed to like the Blacks a lot. But there was no reason to tell him about it.
"Dad, do you know a place called Goat Rocks or something like that? I think it's south of Mount Rainier."
"Yeah, why?"
I shrugged. "Some kids were talking about camping there."
"It's not a very good place for camping." He sounded surprised. "Too many bears. Most people go there during hunting season."
"Huh. Maybe I got it wrong."
I meant to sleep in, but the light woke me. Instead of the same gloomy half-light I'd gotten up to for the past two months, there was a bright, clear yellow streaming through my window. I couldn't believe it, but there it was-finally-the sun. It was in the wrong place, too low and not as close as it should be, but it was definitely the sun. Clouds still ringed the horizon, but a wide blue patch took up most of the sky. I threw on my clothes quickly, afraid the blue would disappear as soon as I turned my back.
Newton's Olympic Outfitters was just north of town. I'd seen the store but never stopped there-not having much desire for the supplies needed to intentionally stay outdoors over an extended period of time. In the parking lot I saw McKayla's Suburban and Taylor's Sentra. As I pulled up next to their vehicles, I saw the kids standing around in front of the Suburban. Mary was there, and two other kids I knew from class; I was pretty sure their names were Frank and Marlene. Peter was there, flanked by Alice and Logan. Three other guys stood with them, including one I remembered falling over in Gym on Friday. That one gave me a dirty look as I climbed out of the truck, and then said something to Logan. They laughed loudly, and Logan pretended he was passing out. The other guy caught him at first, then let him fall. They both busted up again, Logan just lying there on the pavement with his hands behind his head.
So it was going to be like that.
At least McKayla was happy to see me.
"You came!" she called, sounding thrilled. "And I promised it would be sunny, didn't I?"
"I told you I was coming."
"We're just waiting for Dorcas and Sean... unless you invited someone," she added.
"Nope, it's just me," I lied lightly, hoping I wouldn't get caught. But then again, it would be worth getting caught out if it meant I could spend the day with Sirius.
McKayla smiled. "Do you want to ride with me? It's either that or Dorcas' mom's minivan."
"Sure."
Her smile was huge. It was so easy to make her happy.
"You can have shotgun," she promised, and I saw Peter look up at us and then scowl. Not so easy to make McKayla and Peter happy at the same time.
The numbers worked out, though. Dorcas brought two extra people, so every space was necessary. I made Peter climb in before me so that he was wedged between McKayla and me in the front seat of the Suburban. McKayla could have been more gracious about it, but as least Peter seemed appeased.
It was only fifteen miles to La Push from Forks, with thick green forests edging the road most of the way and the wide Quillayute River snaking beneath it twice. I was glad I had the window seat. We'd rolled the windows down-the Suburban was claustrophobic with nine people in it- and I tried to absorb as much sunlight as possible.
I'd been to the beaches around La Push lots of times during my Forks summers with Lyall, so the mile-long crescent of First Beach was familiar. Still breathtaking, though. The water was dark gray, even in the sunlight, white-capped and heaving onto the rocky shore. Islands rose out of the steel harbor waters with sheer cliff sides, each with a spiky crown of black firs. The beach had only a thin border of actual sand at the water's edge; after that it was a million smooth rocks that looked uniformly gray from a distance, but close up were every color a stone could be. The tide line was piled with huge driftwood trees, bleached white by the salty waves-some piled together against the forest's edge, and some lying alone just out of reach of the waves.
There was a strong breeze coming off the waves, cool and briny. Pelicans floated on the swells while seagulls and a lone eagle circled above them. The clouds still crowded the edges of the sky, but for now the sun shone warmly in its backdrop of blue.
We trudged through the thick sand down to the beach, McKayla leading the way to a circle of driftwood logs that had clearly been used for parties before. There was a fire ring already in place, filled with black ashes. Mary and the boy I thought was named Frank gathered broken branches of driftwood from the driest piles against the forest edge, and soon had a teepee-shaped construction built atop the old cinders.
"Have you ever seen a driftwood fire?" McKayla asked me. I was sitting on one of the bleached benches; Peter and Alice sat on either side of me, but most of the other guys sat across the circle from us. McKayla knelt by the fire, holding a cigarette lighter to one of the smaller pieces of kindling.
"No," I said as she placed the blazing twig carefully against the teepee.
"You'll like this, then-watch the colors." She lit another small branch and laid it alongside the first. The flames started to lick quickly up the dry wood.
"It's blue," I said in surprise.
"The salt does it. Cool, isn't it?" She lit one more piece, placed it where the fire hadn't yet caught, and then came to sit by me. Luckily, Peter was on her other side. He turned to McKayla and started asking her questions about the plan for the day. I watched the strange blue and green flames crackle upward.
After a half hour of talk, some of the girls wanted to hike to the nearby tide pools, but most of the guys wanted to head up to the one shop in the village for food.
I wasn't sure which side to join. I wasn't hungry, and I loved the tide pools-I'd loved them since I was just a kid; they were one of the only things I ever looked forward to when I had to come to Forks. On the other hand, I'd also fallen into them a lot. Not a big deal when you're seven and with your dad. It reminded me suddenly of Sirius-not that he wasn't always somewhere in my thoughts-and how he'd told me not to fall into the ocean.
Logan was the one who made my decision for me. He was the loudest voice in the argument, and he wanted food. The group splintered into three pieces-food, hiking, and staying put-with most people following Logan. I waited until Taylor and Mary had committed to going with him before I got up quietly to join the pro-hiking group. McKayla smiled wide when she saw that I was coming.
The hike was short, but I hated to lose the sun in the trees. The green light of the forest was a strange setting for the teenage laughter, too murky and menacing to be in harmony with the joking around me. I had to concentrate on my feet and head, avoiding roots below and branches above, and I fell behind. When I broke through the dark edge of the forest and found the rocky shore again, I was the last one. It was low tide, and a tidal river flowed past us on its way to the sea. Along its rocky banks, shallow pools that never completely drained were filled with tiny sea creatures.
I was cautious not to lean too far over the little ocean ponds. The others were reckless, leaping over the rocks, perching precariously on the edges. I found a stable-looking rock on the fringe of one of the largest pools and sat there, totally entertained by the natural aquarium below me. The bouquets of anemones rippled in the invisible current, hermit crabs scurried around the edges in their spiraled shells, starfish stuck motionless to the rocks and each other, and one small black eel with white racing stripes wove through the bright green weeds, waiting for the sea to return. Watching took most of my attention, except for the small part of my mind that was wondering what Sirius was doing now, and trying to imagine what he would be saying if he were here instead.
Suddenly everyone was hungry, and I got up stiffly to follow them back. I tried to keep up better this time through the woods, so naturally I tripped. I got some shallow scrapes on my palms, but they didn't bleed much.
When we got back to First Beach, the group we'd left behind had multiplied. As we got closer I could see the shining, straight black hair and copper skin of the new arrivals, teenagers from the reservation come to socialize. Food was already being passed around, and the hikers hurried to claim a share. Mary introduced us to the new kids as we each entered the driftwood circle. Alice and I were the last to arrive, and, as Mary said our names, I noticed a younger boy sitting on the ground near the fire look up at me with interest. I sat down next to Alice, and McKayla joined us with sandwiches and sodas. The guy who looked to be the oldest of the visitors rattled off the names of the seven others with him. All I caught was that one of the boys was also named Peter, and the one who noticed me was named James.
It was relaxing to sit next to Alice; she was an easy person to be around -she didn't feel the need to fill every silence with talk, leaving me free to think while we ate. And what I thought about was how strangely time seemed to flow in Forks, passing in a blur at times, with single images standing out more clearly than others. And then, at other times, every second was significant, etched into my mind. I knew exactly what caused the difference, and it was troubling.
During lunch the clouds started to move in, darting in front of the sun momentarily, casting long shadows across the beach, and blackening the waves. As they finished eating, people started to drift away in twos and threes. Some walked down to the edge of the waves, trying to skip rocks across the choppy surface. Others were gathering a second expedition to the tide pools. McKayla-with Peter shadowing her-headed up to the little store. Some of the local kids went with them; others went along on the hike. By the time they all had scattered, I was sitting alone on my driftwood log, with Logan and Taylor talking by the CD player someone had brought, and three teenagers from the reservation, including the one named James and the oldest boy, who had acted as spokesperson.
A few minutes after Alice left with the hikers, James came over to take his place by my side. He looked fourteen, maybe fifteen, and had messy dark hair going everywhere.
"You're Remus Lupin, aren't you?"
It was like the first day of school all over again.
"Yeah" I sighed.
"I'm James Potter." he held out his hand. "You bought my dad's truck."
"Oh," I said, relieved, shaking his warm hand. "Fleamont's your dad. I probably should remember you."
"Nah, it's okay. So how do you like the truck?" he asked.
"I love it. It runs great."
"Yeah, but it's really slow," he laughed. "I was so relieved when Lyall bought it. My dad wouldn't let me work on building another car when we had a perfectly good vehicle right there."
"It's not that slow," I objected.
"Have you tried to go over sixty?" "No," I admitted.
"Good. Don't." he grinned.
I couldn't help grinning back.
"It does great in a collision," I offered in my truck's defense.
"I don't think a tank could take out that old monster," he agreed with another laugh.
"So you build cars?" I asked, impressed.
"When I have free time, and parts. You wouldn't happen to know where I could get my hands on a master cylinder for a 1986 Volkswagen Rabbit?" he added jokingly.
"Sorry," I laughed, "I haven't seen any lately, but I'll keep my eyes open for you." As if I knew what that was. He was very easy to talk with.
He flashed a brilliant smile.
"You know Remus, James?" Logan asked.
"Remus and I have sort of known each other since I was born," James simply said.
"How nice for you," Logan said. I hadn't noticed before how fishy his pale green eyes were.
James raised his eyebrows at his tone. "Yes, isn't it wonderful?"
His sarcasm seemed to throw Logan off, but he wasn't done with me yet. "Remus, Taylor and I were just saying that it was too bad none of the Blacks could come out today. Didn't anyone think to ask them?"
He looked at me like he knew I'd asked Sirius to come, and thought it was hilarious that he'd turned me down. Only, it hadn't felt like a rejection in the moment-it'd felt like he'd wanted to come with me, but couldn't. Had I read him wrong?
My worries were interrupted by a strong, clear voice.
"You mean Dr. Orion Black's family?"
It was the older boy who had first introduced the local kids. He was even older than I'd thought, now that I looked at him closer. Not really a boy at all, but a man. Unlike James's, his hair was really short. He was standing now, and I saw that he was almost taller than me.
Logan glared at him, glared up because he was shorter than he was, irritated because he'd spoken before I could respond. "Yes, do you know them?" he asked in a patronizing tone, only half-turned toward him.
"The Blacks don't come here," he said, and in his clear, forceful voice, it sounded less like an observation and more like... a command. He had ignored his question, but clearly the conversation was over.
Taylor, trying to win back Logan's attention, asked his opinion of the CD she held. He was distracted.
I stared at the man-he stood with a confident, straight posture, looking away toward the dark forest. He'd said that the Blacks didn't come here, but his tone had implied something more-that they weren't allowed to come, that they were prohibited from coming here. His manner left a strange impression with me that I couldn't shake.
James interrupted my meditation.
"So, is Forks driving you insane yet?"
I frowned. Possibly, I was literally insane at this point.
"I'd say that's an understatement."
He grinned sympathetically.
I was still turning over the man's brief comment on the Blacks, and piecing it together with what I'd read from Sirius' reactions the other day. I looked at James, speculating.
"What?" he asked.
"You want to take a walk down the beach with me?"
"Yeah, sure."
As we walked north toward the driftwood seawall, the clouds finally won. The sun disappeared, the sea turned black, and the temperature started to drop. I shoved my hands deep in the pockets of my jacket.
While we walked, I thought about the way Sirius could always get me to talk, how he would look at me from under his thick eyelashes and the gold of his eyes would burn and I would forget everything-my own name, how to breathe, everything but him. I eyed the boy walking alongside me now. James just had on a long-sleeved t-shirt, but he swung his arms as he walked, not bothered by the cold. The wind whipped his hair into twists. Even if I knew how to do that burning thing that Sirius did, this kid would probably just laugh at me.
"Nice friends," he commented when we were far enough from the fire that the clattering of the stones beneath our feet was more than enough to drown out our voices.
"Not mine."
He laughed. "I could tell."
"Were those other kids your friends? That one seemed kind of... older."
"That's Sam. He's nineteen, I think. I don't hang out with him. One of my friends was there before-Quil. I think he went up to the store."
"I don't remember which one he was."
He shrugged. "I didn't catch many names, either. I only remember yours because you used to beat me up."
"I did? I'm so sorry!"
He laughed. "Your face. No-I was lying. But I totally could have convinced you that you were guilty."
I frowned.
"Guess so. Hey, can I ask you something?"
"Shoot."
"What did Sam mean about the doctor's family?"
James made a face and then looked away, toward the ocean. He didn't say anything.
Which had to mean that I was right. There was something more to what Sam had said. And James knew what it was.
He was still looking at the ocean.
"Hey, um, I didn't mean to be rude or anything."
James turned back with another smile, kind of apologetic. "No worries.It's just... I'm not really supposed to talk about that."
"Is it a secret?"
He pursed his curved lips. "Sort of."
I held my hands up. "Forget I asked."
"Already blew it, though, didn't I?"
"I wouldn't say you did-Sam was a little... intense."
He laughed. "Cool. Sam's fault, then."
I laughed, too. "Not really, though. I'm totally confused."
He looked up at me.
"Can I trust you?"
"Of course."
"You won't go running to spill to your blond friend?"
"Logan? Oh yeah, I can't keep anything from that guy. We're like brothers."
He chuckled, and then his voice dropped a little lower. "Do you like scary stories, Remus?"
For one second, I could hear Sirius' voice clearly in my head. Do you think I could be scary?
"How scary are we talking here?"
"You'll never sleep again," he promised.
"Well, now I have to hear it."
He chuckled again and looked down, a smile playing around the edges of his lips. I could tell he would try to make this good.
We were near one of the beached logs now, a huge white skeleton with the upended roots all tangled out like a hundred spider legs. James climbed up to sit on one of the thicker roots while I sat beneath him on the body of the tree. I tried to seem only interested as I looked at hum, not like I was taking any of this seriously.
"I'm ready to be terrified."
"Do you know any of our old stories, about where we come from-the Quileutes, I mean?" he began.
"Not really," I admitted.
"There are lots of legends, some of them claiming to date back to the Great Flood-supposedly, the ancient Quileutes tied their canoes to the tops of the tallest trees on the mountain to survive like Noah and the ark." he smiled, to show me he wasn't taking this seriously, either. "Another legend claims that we descended from wolves-and that the wolves are our sisters still. It's against tribal law to kill them. Then there are the stories about the cold ones." His voice dropped even lower.
"The cold ones?" I asked. Did I look too interested now? Could he guess that the word cold would mean something to me?
"Yes. There are stories of the cold ones as old as the wolf legends, and some much more recent. According to legend, my own great-grandfather knew some of them. He was the one who made the treaty that kept them off our land." he rolled his eyes.
"Your great-grandfather?" I encouraged.
"He was a tribal elder, like my father. You see, the cold ones are the natural enemies of the wolf-well, not the wolf, really, but the wolves that turn into women, like our ancestors. You could call them werewolves, I guess."
"Werewolves have enemies?"
"Only one."
I stared at him, too eager, trying to disguise my impatience as entertainment.
"So you see," James continued, "the cold ones are traditionally our enemies. But this pack that came to our territory during my great-grandfather's time was different. They didn't hunt the way others of their kind did-they weren't supposed to be dangerous to the tribe. So my great-grandfather made a truce with them. If they would promise to stay off our lands, we wouldn't expose them to the pale-faces." he winked at me.
"If they weren't dangerous, then why...?"
"There's always a risk for humans to be around the cold ones, even if they're civilized like this clan alleged they were. You never know when they might get too hungry to resist." He deliberately worked a thick edge of menace into his tone.
"What do you mean, 'civilized'?"
"They claimed that they didn't hunt humans. They supposedly were somehow able to prey on animals instead."
I tried to keep my voice casual, but I was pretty sure I failed. "So how does it fit in with the Blacks? Are they like the cold ones your great-grandfather met?"
"No...." He paused dramatically. "They are the same ones."
He must have thought the expression on my face meant only that I was engrossed in his story. He smiled, pleased, and continued.
"There are more of them now, a new female and a new male, but the rest are the same. In my great-grandfather's time they already knew of the leader, Orion. He'd been here and gone before your people had even arrived." he was fighting another smile, trying to keep the tone serious.
"And what are they?" I finally asked. "What are the cold ones?"
"Blood drinkers," he replied in a chilling voice. "Your people call them vampires."
I stared out at the rough surf after he answered, not sure what my face was giving away. Do you think I could be scary? Sirius' voice repeated in my head.
"You have goose bumps on your neck," James laughed.
"You're a good storyteller," I told him, still staring into the waves.
"Thanks, but you're just cold. It's crazy stuff, isn't it? No wonder my dad doesn't want us to talk about it to anyone."
I couldn't control my expression enough to look at him yet. "Don't worry, I won't give you away."
"I guess I just violated the treaty." he threw his head back and laughed.
"I'll take it to the grave," I promised, and then a shiver ran down my spine.
"Seriously, though, don't say anything to Lyall. He was pretty mad at my dad when he heard that some of us weren't going to the hospital since Dr. Black started working there."
"I won't say anything to Lyall of course not."
"So, do you think we're a bunch of superstitious natives or what?" he asked in a playful tone, but with a hint of worry. I still hadn't looked away from the ocean.
So I turned and smiled at him as normally as I could.
"No. I think you're very good at telling scary stories, though. I still have goose bumps, see?" I yanked back the sleeve of my jacket to show him.
"Cool." he grinned.
And then we both heard the sound of the beach rocks clattering against each other. Our heads snapped up at the same time to see McKayla and Peter about fifty yards away, walking toward us.
"There you are, Remus," McKayla called in relief, waving her arm over her head.
"Is that your girlfriend?" James asked, picking up the edge in McKayla's voice. I was surprised it was so obvious.
"No, why does everyone think that?"
James snorted. "Maybe because she wants them to."
I sighed.
"You ever need a break from these friends of yours, let me know."
"That sounds cool," I said, and I meant it. I didn't know if it was because we'd known each other longer, if not well, or if it was because James was so easygoing, but I already felt more comfortable with him than I did with any of the kids I'd be riding home with.
McKayla had reached us now, with Peter a few paces back, struggling to keep up. McKayla looked James up and down once, then turned to me in a move that was strangely dismissive of James. James snorted quietly again.
"Where have you been?" McKayla asked, though the answer was right in front of her.
"James here was just giving me the guided tour of First Beach."
"Well, we're packing up. Looks like it's going to rain."
We all glanced up-the clouds were thick and black and very wetlooking.
"Okay," I said. "I'm coming."
"It was nice to see you again," James said.
"It really was. Next time Lyall comes down to see Fleamont, I'll come with."
His grin stretched across his entire face, showing his straight white teeth. "That would be cool."
"And thanks," I added in a low voice, not quite casual enough.
He winked at me.
I pulled up my hood as we trudged across the rocks toward the parking lot. A few drops were beginning to fall, making black spots on the stones where they landed. When we got to the Suburban the others were already loading everything back in. I crawled into the backseat by Alice and Taylor, announcing that I'd already had my turn in the shotgun position. Alice just stared out the window at the building storm, and Logan twisted around in the middle seat to occupy Taylor's attention, so I was free to lay my head back over the seat, close my eyes, and try very hard not to think.