Chapter Seven
Located on an expensive piece of real estate on the better side of Beaumont, Mrs. Nohart lived in an old, Antebellum-styled monument to how Beaumont had once been before modern times. Pip thought the house was pretty…in an old-world kind of way.
He crossed the property, noticing that the flower beds were freshly dug and the grass neatly mowed. That was odd, considering he’d arrived today to do the job. Maybe one of Mrs. Nohart’s children had stopped by to help out. With a property as large as hers, there was always plenty to do.
Beneath the shade of the covered porch, he found a temporary reprieve from the sun; it was going to be hard working outdoors under the scorching sun. Pip rang the bell. The heat that baked the shoulders of his t-shirt began to lift. He stood a little straighter as the door unlock. Mrs. Nohart opened the door and looked out at him, confused. “Pip?”
“Hello, Mrs. Nohart,” Pip said. “I’m here to start work on your yard. Where would you like me to begin?”
“Oh. Oh dear.” Mrs. Nohart sighed. “I asked Sally to call you, but I guess she didn’t.”
She must’ve meant Sally Nohart, Mrs. Nohart’s granddaughter, a sophomore at the high school. Pip only knew her by sight, not as a friend.
“Sally came around to ask if I had any work for her this summer, and so I gave the job to her. I’m sorry, Pip. I’d asked her to make sure she got in touch with you. The next time she’s over, she’ll get an earful. It isn’t right to make you walk all this way for nothing.”
A constriction formed in Pip’s throat. He avoided speaking and simply nodded. He’d been counting on this job.
He needed funds to leave Beaumont and go to college, and there were very few opportunities for a teenager with little by way of experience or qualifications. There were a few shops around town where he could inquire, but he doubted anyone would be interested in an introvert who didn’t want to deal with the public. Pip especially didn’t want to go back to the grocery store now that Oli knew he’d worked there once. Pip had a feeling Oli would be lurking the aisles, looking to cause trouble, as soon as he’d recovered from his injuries.
“Do you want some lemonade?” Mrs. Nohart asked. “It’s the least I can do, since you came out all this way.”
“No, thank you.” Pip swallowed and coughed to clear his throat, but when he spoke, his voice still sounded strained. “But thank you for the offer. I should go.”
“I’m sorry, dear,” Mrs. Nohart said. “If I hear anyone else is looking for a hand, I’ll call you and let you know.”
“Thank you.”
“You take care now. Goodbye.”
The door closed. Pip stared at it for a second, suppressing his crippling disappointment, then turned and headed back across the property. It looked like this summer was suddenly blown wide open.
Disappointment and shock turned to anger as he reached the road and headed back toward town. Mrs. Nohart had to know what giving away his job would do to him. Pip understood she wanted to look out for her own family, but he also knew she could have reached out to him with the bad news just as easily as her granddaughter could have. She had no right to expect Sally to deliver the crushing news, anyhow. It wasn’t right. The old lady had strung him along until the last moment, and then yanked the rug out from under him.
Now that high school was over, most likely his classmates had already filled all the summer positions and part-time jobs in the area. Pip could go home and print out resumes to apply for job vacancies that didn't exist, or he could do something productive with his time.
He owed Alex an explanation as to why he never showed up the other night; Pip still hadn’t sent more than the vaguest of text messages. It would be good to see his friend, celebrate their future freedom, and tell him about what happened after graduation. Pip could imagine telling Alex about the Hunter, and it would be good to talk to someone.
Or, first, he could try to discover more about the Hunter so he’d have something more to tell.
Changing his course, Pip cut across town to head for the high school, navigating the streets he’d come to know over the last four years. From the football field, he headed into the woods, following an approximation of the path Oli and his gang had taken. It seemed the easiest way to find the thick, dark section of the woods with the old, gnarled trees and the swirling fog.
He kept his eye on the sun and stayed more or less on a straight path. He knew Oli hadn’t veered much—it should’ve been a direct line from the edge of the woods to the place where Pip had been tied up. But as minutes turned into hours, he came up short.
Pip couldn’t find anything like where he’d been tied or where he’d awoken. The woods lacked ancient gnarled trees and swirling mist. There wasn’t a hint of rope anywhere. The hut had disappeared, too. Pip couldn’t even find the tree stump he’d woken up next to.
It seemed as if that part of the forest had disappeared.
Discouraged, he dropped down and leaned against a young tree, folding his knees against his chest. So what? So the Hunter could track him down all he wanted and leave Pip gifts, but Pip couldn’t find a trace of him when he wanted to talk?
Or had the Hunter decided that they were done now he’d had his fun, and he wasn’t interested in Pip anymore?
The thought distressed Pip far more than it should have. The stranger meant next to nothing to him, but the kiss they’d shared haunted Pip’s memory, and the way the Hunter had made him feel whole for the first time in his life ate at him like an addiction.
Hypersensitive and reading too much into everything, Pip realized he was on what people might describe as an emotional rollercoaster. The peaks and troughs were coming together fast.
Why couldn’t they meet where and when he wanted?
Did it have to be on the Hunter’s whim, and not his own, that they met?
Pip sank his heel into the dirt and grimaced. Was the summer ahead going to be just this? What about his entire life? Promising paths that led to disappointments? False starts?
He groaned out loud and let his head fall back against the tree. It looked like he had no option but to head back into town, cope with his disappointment, and get his resumes printed. He didn't doubt the soul-sucking potential of working for minimum wage at the fast food joint downtown, but it was better than being penniless all summer.
If he wanted to get out of here, he’d need to grin and bear it, whatever job turned up. At least he had meeting up with Alex to look forward to.
He’d been crazy to prioritize the Hunter over finding work. It wasn’t like the Hunter could offer him a high-paying executive job, or pay for his bus ticket to anywhere-but-here.
Maybe Pip should sign up for treatment for his Hunter addiction.
“Pull yourself together and get over yourself,” Pip commanded, deciding it was time to give himself a stern talking to. “He’s not here, you shouldn’t expect him to be here, and really, you shouldn’t be here, either. You had a plan. Why aren’t you sticking to it?”
Pip sighed and ran his hands through his hair, pulling it back from his forehead. Up until yesterday, the future had been clear-cut and crisp. Now it was muddied and confused. All for what—a kiss? A feeling? Even the best feeling in the world didn’t excuse the fact that he was an adult now, not a kid, and he needed to start acting like it. He needed to take responsibility for himself, his finances, and his actions.
Just because he liked a man didn’t mean he could throw everything else by the wayside. Life didn’t work like that.
And the Hunter wasn’t even a man, as far as Pip could tell. He looked manish. Whatever he was, Pip didn’t know. Someone magical and not of this world. It seemed credible enough at the time, but crazy in daylight.
Pip groaned. He had to be losing his mind. Seeing things that couldn’t exist, assuming random objects were gifts from a supernatural being, casting aside his life for a fantasy…
Yep. Insanity. He’d made it to the end of high school just a little too late. What Oli did to him the night before last must’ve broken him.
Great.
About to pick himself up and work his way out of the forest, Pip stopped instead, remaining still and quiet. He’d heard a noise, delicate and high-pitched and from an animal. The noise happened again, this time accompanied by the crunch of dried leaves. Pip blinked, stood, and made his way toward the sound.
Behind a mostly dead bush, no more than six feet away, he found a puppy.
White and gray fur, still downy from youth, puffed out around the young creature and added the appearance of mass where Pip guessed no mass would actually be. Its small, triangular ears were perky, and its long tail was straight and puffy. It laid among the dried leaves behind the bush and looked up at him, small, black eyes boring into Pip’s. Around its pupils, a ring of green radiated outward, matching Pip’s heterochromatic eye.
The creature rolled over to show off his belly—it was definitely a him—curling its paws. Pip sucked in a breath and dropped to his knees, instantly smitten.
“Oh my god,” Pip murmured. He stroked the soft fur of the pup’s stomach, heart in his throat. Around the dog’s neck was a leather collar; it matched the pouch at his side, secured with a hauntingly familiar wood button. “You’re from the Hunter, aren’t you? You’re the same breed as his dogs.”
The pup squirmed his hips and kicked with his back feet. His sharp back claws met Pip’s wrist, but instead of tearing, the animal stopped and lowered his feet. Enchanted, Pip lifted up the tiny creature and held it in his arms.
“Hi,” Pip murmured. “Aren’t you sociable?”
The pup nosed his jaw and began to lick his face. It tickled. Pip giggled and held him farther away.
The young animal had to have been placed there recently. With the way it squirmed and moved, Pip knew he would have heard it before. Pip looked up, searching the surrounding area for the Hunter.
The Hunter had been there, mere feet away from him, not making a sound and not revealing himself. He always moved silently. He left gifts for Pip, yet he hadn’t shown himself. Why couldn’t Pip see him?
“Hello?” Pip called out, starting to feel spooked. If the Hunter was so close, why didn’t he show himself? Why would he give Pip gifts, only to run away? “Please answer? Hunter?”
There was no reply.
The puppy flipped over in Pip’s arms and planted its massive paws on Pip’s shoulder to nip at his ear. The little love bites didn’t hurt, but they tickled something fierce. Pip’s anxiety vanished, and he dissolved into laughter and dropped to the forest floor as the pup pinned him.
Judging by his paws, one day he’d be just as big as any of the Hunter’s wolf-dogs. For now, he was tiny, lovable, and perfect, which was good, because Pip couldn’t imagine being pinned and nipped at by anything like a full-sized wolf.
“Hey, hey,” he scolded gently. He grabbed the pup and lifted it from his chest. It kicked its paws like it was swimming through the air, and Pip chuckled. “You’re silly, aren’t you? You’re not big and bad at all.”
The pup made a noise somewhere between a yip and a growl. Pip snorted. Holding it in the air, he used his core muscles to sit up, then tucked it close to his chest once more. Aunt Lauren was decidedly not a dog person, and Pip knew she would never let him keep a dog, much less one that looked like a wolf, but he couldn’t leave the young dog alone without its mother in sight.
Maybe Alex would know what to do.
Using his free hand, he pulled out his phone. Thankfully, there was plenty of charge. He typed out a message to Alex:
B over 2 c u soon. Summer job canceled :)
Damn. Charge yes, but no signal. Pip would have to wait a while to send it.
With the puppy in his arms, Pip rose to his feet. Alex had lived in Beaumont all his life; his family had lived there for generations. If anyone knew where he could harbor a wolf-like baby pet, it would be him.
And maybe, just maybe, Alex would know what the hell went on in these woods.