The Gathering

THIRTY-THREE

RAFE DIDN’T SHOW UP that morning. With every passing minute the questions weighed heavier, until by the time the break bell went, I was so distracted, I didn’t hear it, just sat there, pretending to listen to a lesson long over.

Fingers tentatively touched my shoulder. I looked up to see Nicole. The classroom was almost empty. Daniel stood at the door, as if he’d just realized I hadn’t left my seat. Nicole mouthed, “I’ve got it,” and waved him on.

“Daydreaming, I guess.” I stood.

She cleared her throat. “I know I’m not the person you want to talk to about this. About Rafe. That’s why you didn’t call last night. I’m not Serena.”

“No, that’s not—”

“It is. I get that. You guys were best friends. Except, well, there are things you can’t talk to Daniel about, right? He didn’t like Rafe, so he’s happy you guys broke up. If you’re not happy about it, you can’t talk to him.”

She was right.

“You like Rafe.” She led me from the classroom, voice lowered as we walked into the crowded hall. “I don’t need to be Serena to see that. I’ve watched you with other guys, summer boys. That’s just for fun. This is different.”

Right again.

“Is it because of the party?” she asked. “You think maybe he did drug you? Because I’m sure it was Hayley. If you want, we could try to prove it—break into her place, look for the dope.”

I stared at Nicole.

Her cheeks colored. “What can I say—I’m a closet rebel. But if it’s not the party thing, is it because he came on strong when you were drugged? I could help with that, too. You guys arrange a date and I’ll be close by, so there’s someone you can call if things get out of hand.”

“You’ll be my secret bodyguard?” I grinned at her. “You really are a rebel.”

She flushed more. “Hardly. I just think you guys are good for each other.”

I looked at Nicole. I’d misjudged her. Just like I’d misjudged Sam. And maybe Hayley. And Rafe? I didn’t even want to think about that one.

I’d always considered myself such a good judge of character. The last few days, it seemed I was finding out I didn’t know anyone except Daniel.

“Do you want to come over this weekend?” I asked. “Mom’s taking the animals to the refuge in Victoria today, and I plan to go on the weekend to see the fledglings get their first flying lesson.”

Her eyes lit up. “Seriously? I’d love that. I’ve always wanted to go there.”

“I’d have invited you before, but I didn’t think you were much of an animal person.”

“I am. Smaller animals anyway. You can keep your cougars. But, well, animals were your thing, yours and Serena’s. And yours and Daniel’s. I didn’t want to intrude.”

“We’ll go together, just you and me.”

She smiled and we headed off to our next class.

When we broke for lunch, I caught up with Daniel outside the classroom. Corey and Brendan took off, saying they’d meet up with us at our table.

“What’s wrong?” Daniel said.

“Noth—”

“If those guys can tell something’s wrong, then it is, Maya.”

I led him to a corner and waved to Nicole that I’d catch up with her later.

Daniel and I stepped out the side door into the empty yard. I caught the faint smell of smoke on the wind and turned, frowning. I was about to mention it but decided not to. If I hinted the fires were getting closer, he’d never let me do what I was about to ask.

“I need a huge favor,” I said. “And you know I wouldn’t ask this if it wasn’t important.”

“Okay.”

“Can I borrow your truck?”

He lifted one brow. “That’s a huge favor? You can borrow it anytime. You drive just fine.”

“I need it to go see Rafe. Now. Over lunch.”

“Oh.” His gaze shuttered.

“No, I’m not asking for your truck because I want to get back together with him. I’m worried about him and his sister being out there with the fire threat. They should be in town.”

He relaxed. “Good idea.”

“Under normal circumstances, I’d run there, and try to make it back by the end of lunch period but—”

“Not when we might have a man-killing cat roaming around. Come on. I’ll drive you.”

He started toward the lot.

I jogged up beside him. “You don’t have to do that. Go eat your lunch.”

“I’ve got some energy bars in the glove box.”

I jostled him. “What, you don’t trust me to drive your baby? Go on. I can handle it.”

“It’s not that. She’s been acting up lately, remember? I don’t want you stranded and walking back through the forest.”

Getting a lift from Daniel was going to make it a whole lot tougher to ask Rafe about skin-walkers. But I’d have to work with it. The important thing was checking on him and Annie.

It took nearly as long to drive there as it did to walk. We had to travel out of town on the main road, then find the rutted lane Mr. Skylark had used for his truck. It was clear enough for Daniel’s pickup to make it through, but it wasn’t a trip he’d want to do daily.

When we got to the cabin, it was dark inside. I told myself they were just careful about using the generator—fuel costs money. Daniel parked twenty feet away and said he’d wait there for me, maybe get out and stretch his legs.

I knocked, then opened the door and my breath hitched. It wasn’t just empty, it was empty. The crates that stored their clothes and food now held only an item or two.

I knew Rafe might leave when I couldn’t provide answers, but I never thought he’d just … go. As upset and hurt as I’d been, I’d held onto the scrap of hope that he really did care about me, that he wasn’t just trying to make nice to secure my help. Wrong again. The moment he realized I didn’t have any information that would help his sister, he’d left.

I was backing out of the cabin when I noticed a piece of folded paper on the floor weighted down by a rock. I nudged the rock with my foot and saw my name.

When I picked up the note, something fell out, and dropped beside the rock. I ignored it and took the note to the window to read it.

Left this AM. We’ll come back when I have answers.

There was another line, so scratched out I couldn’t decipher a word. I stared at the note for a second, then remembered the fallen object. I squinted at the floor but saw only the pale rock. I patted around until I found something, then rose, lifting it to the light.

It was the rawhide band with the cat’s-eye stone, Rafe’s bracelet, the one his mother gave him.

I clutched it in my hand. My breath hitched again, heart pounding.

Don’t read anything into it, Maya. You know you can’t read anything into it.

I opened the note again. Just those two lines. Cool and emotionless. Left. Will return.

I held the page up to the window, trying to see what he’d crossed out.

Okay, now you’re just being pathetic. Get a grip, Maya. The guy is gone.

I looked down at the bracelet in my hand.

“No sign of them?” Daniel said from the doorway.

I jumped and stuffed the bracelet into my pocket.

“Sorry. I know I said I’d stay outside, but I didn’t hear you talking to anyone.” He stepped inside. “I don’t want to freak you out, Maya. I’m sure they’re just out in the woods, but there are signs of a cougar all over the place. I know your dad’s busy with this fire threat. We need to get him over here, though, just in case—”

“They’re fine.” I lifted the note. “They left.”

“Left?”

“Back to the States or whatever.”

He didn’t look convinced. “I still think we should call your dad. There are prints, scat, clawed trees. Even fur. A cougar has been here and been here a lot, and that’s—”

“Small tracks?” I said. “Like a young female?”

“I guess so …”

I need to tell you something.

I wanted to say that. God, I wanted to say it. Here was the perfect segue. But the words wouldn’t come. Instead I said, “Okay, we should go, then. We need to get back to school.”

“Actually, I thought maybe we’d head into Nanaimo,” he said as we walked out. “There’s something I need to look up. And, apparently, I can’t do it here.”

He reached into his pocket and handed me a piece of paper. “I found that in the Braun cottage. I was going to show it to you, but then with Sam turning up and the stuff about my mom … I decided it could wait. I wanted to find out what it meant before I brought it to you. I tried this morning, but my laptop wouldn’t let me search for it.”

“What?”

“The nanny software kicked in. No idea why.”

I unfolded the sheet to find four words written on it. The top one we’d already seen. Benandanti.

“That’s the word—” I began.

“From that book. So Mina didn’t just pick a random page for her note after all. But the word below it, isn’t that the one the old woman used? Navajo for skin-walker?”

It was. So Mina was here investigating me? Was that what this meant? So why send us to that book about the benandanti?

I need to tell you something, Daniel.

I clutched the note and took a deep breath as we walked out of the cabin. “There’s something I—”

As we stepped out, the smell hit me like a slap on the face, knocking every other thought out of my head.

Daniel stopped in his tracks. “Is that …?”

“Fire,” I said.

He swore and prodded me toward the truck.

I dug in my heels and shook my head. “It’s just someone burning trash. The forest fires wouldn’t have reached this far this fast. My dad would have called me.”

I took out my cell phone and opened it.

“No service?” Daniel said.

I looked over to see him staring down at his.

“In the truck,” he said. “Now.”

I was hurrying around it when a crashing in the undergrowth made me spin. A stag barreled into the clearing. Spotting us, it froze, and I didn’t need to see its rolling eyes or flaring nostrils—I could feel its fear, a stark terror that made the hair on my neck rise.

It thundered off, crashing through the trees in blind panic. Fire was coming.