Chapter 1
“It’s Girls’ Night Out!” Molly Shannon yelled and slammed her foot down on the gas pedal, spraying up acres of dirt, dust and gravel in a wave as she peeled out of the Cunningham’s driveway. She skidded around the corner and hit the road gunning for town.
Aurora Cunningham waved to her father through the passenger window. “Catch ya later, Pop!”
Old Kaiser Cunningham lifted his hand from his rocking chair arm rest, but when he finally got it high enough to wave back, the girls were already gone.
Once clear of Cunningham Homestead, Molly settled down to her usual sensible driving speed. Aurora’s bare arm hung out the window to scoop the breeze up her shirt. “Free at last!”
Molly grinned at her. “It’s about time you got out of that house. You’ve been cooped up at that Homestead for months – maybe even years.”
“I’ve been out,” Aurora argued. “I’ve been over to the Farrells’ to visit my sister and her family, and I’ve been to a few family gatherings around the Peak. I just haven’t been to town.”
“You mean they keep you locked up and won’t let you to associate with anyone outside your circle,” Molly replied darkly. “What’s the matter? Are the folks in Iron Bark not good enough for you or something? Why won’t your parents let you spend time with me anymore?”
Aurora shrugged. “It’s complicated,” she said quietly while looking at her hands.
“Let me guess. You go along with it, don’t you? If I know anything about you, I’ll bet you don’t even argue with them about it.”
“I agree with them about it most of the time. You’re one of my best friends, but it’s still a good idea to stick to our own people. Going out with you for a night on the town is one thing, but the rules are there for a reason.”
“And you won’t tell me what that reason is. No one will,” Molly exasperatedly vented.
“It wouldn’t do any good to argue with them, anyway. That’s just the way it’s got to be. If I argued and fought and tried to change it, I would just make my life, and the lives of everyone I love, miserable. Plus, I wouldn’t change anything.”
“I can see this isn’t getting us anywhere, so let’s talk about something else,” Molly stated, almost completely irritated with her friend.
“See what I mean?”
“So what do you want to do tonight? This is the first time you’ve been out in ages, and who knows when you’ll get another chance. Let’s really tie one on and paint the town red.”
Aurora laughed. “I’m sure you have lots of wild ideas about how to deflower me tonight, so you decide where we go and what we do. What did you have in mind when you suggested this carnival?”
“I’m glad you asked, because as it happens, I do have lots of ideas. I thought first we could go to a movie, since you people hardly go to them ever.”
“Never,” Aurora agreed.
“Right: by the time that’s finished, it will be dark, so we could go to a bar and pick up guys.” Molly grinned.
“Pick up guys! Are you out of your mind? No, wait, don’t answer that. You’re doing this on purpose, so you can be certain I’ll never be allowed off Bruins’ Peak ever again,” responded a panicked Aurora, her voice an octave higher.
“Aw, come on, Aurora. It is one night out of your life. No one on Bruins’ Peak has to know, and it’s not like you’re gonna shack up with someone you met at a bar. If you get really lucky, you might have a wild fling in the alley behind the movie theater, but you’ll be going home to your tame little life in a few hours. You can marry another Bruin and have a bunch of screaming kids and pretend it never happened,” Molly stated persuasively.
“As if.”
“Which part? The part about getting married?”
“Of course not, witch: the part about hooking up with some guy in the alley behind the movie theater. That’s exactly why they don’t want to let me go out with you. Besides, I would never do anything like that,” Aurora responded tartly.
“No, you’re much too goody-two-shoes for that. Everyone on Bruins’ Peak is so squeaky clean it strains a body’s nerves. I swear I think you don’t get dirty when you work in the mud. That’s what makes that rule about associating with outsiders so stupid. None of you would ever hook up with a guy from Iron Bark, no matter how drunk and horny you were on a Saturday night. That’s why they should let you go out whenever you want.”
“You said you didn’t want to talk about it anymore.”
“Fine: be that way. So what do you think of my program? Movie and a few drinks at the bar?”
“I’ll go along with whatever you want to do, as long as it doesn’t involve boinking some sleazy guy in the alley.”
“Right: scratch out the guy in the alley.”
“Perfect. You’re a true friend,” Aurora replied gratefully.
Molly swerved onto the pavement and rumbled down the highway toward town.
“So what have you been up to lately? Still keeping busy at Social Services?”
“It’s slammed these days. Since Harmony McGillis left, I’m the only investigator on the staff,” Molly answered, allowing a little of her weariness to come through.
“That’s too bad.”
“The weirdest thing is we don’t even know what happened to her. She just up and disappeared one day. No one in town has seen her since. She never went back to her old apartment, and the police can’t find any trace of her. She hasn’t used her ATM card or her driver’s license since she disappeared. I wonder where she is. Sometimes I lie awake at night and worry about whether she’s all right. She could be dead somewhere,” Molly finished sadly.
Aurora gazed out the window at the first houses and building of the town springing up along the highway. The place always gave her a shiver. Bruins definitely didn’t belong in this town. “I’m sure she’s fine.”
“Her disappearance really set the town talking. She disappeared while investigating the families on Bruins’ Peak. Some people think they did something to her, or maybe threatened her and drove her out of town,” Molly continued.
“You know there’s no basis to those rumors.”
“I know that the same as you do. It just gives them something to talk about, but it makes the Peak look bad. The hunters are all out in force telling everyone the Bruins killed Harmony and fed her body to their hounds.”
“That’s rich coming from the hunters. If anyone hurt Harmony, it’s them and they’re using this to smear the Bruins more than they already have,” yelled Aurora protectively.
Molly lowered her voice. “You don’t have to get defensive. I’m the best friend the Bruins have in town.”
Aurora passed her hand over her forehead. “I know you’ve been a good friend ever since you cleared us of those child abuse accusations. Don’t think we don’t appreciate it, either. That’s the only reason my family lets me out of the house with you. If it was anybody else, I wouldn’t even be allowed to talk to you.”
“Thanks so much for the vote of confidence.”
“Hey, what are friends for?”
“You should hear some of Bain Campbell's wild stories about stuff he’s seen up on the mountain,” said Molly, going back to the original subject.
“I don’t want to hear any wild stories Bain Campbell has come out with about stuff he’s seen up on the mountain. You should know better than to repeat them,” Aurora responded between gritted teeth.
“Where’s your sense of humor? He’s a joke around the town ever since he came back with those scars on his face. No one could believe the stories he tells about where he got them.”
“I’m sure wherever he got them was on private property.”
“No one takes him seriously. You and your family shouldn’t, either.”
“I’m sure his hunter friends take him seriously. I’m sure they believe every word he says.”
“That’s the hunters. Just ignore them. They’re harmless.”
“Tell that to the bears and mountain lions and wolves they kill. The hunters aren’t harmless to them.” Aurora frowned, feeling angry, frustrated, and helpless due to the hunters.
“They’re harmless to people, I mean.”
“They aren’t harmless to Bruins. They sit around scheming about hunting us, too. They tell anyone who will listen that we should be hunted down and exterminated. That’s not exactly what I call harmless, and Bain has sicced the cops on us more than once. It’s the hunters who originally reported us to Social Services and got us investigated. You know that as well as I do, so don’t give me that song and dance about the hunters being harmless.”
Molly patted her arm. “Okay, okay, calm down. You won’t be making out with Bain Campbell tonight, so you have nothing to worry about.”
“I won’t be making out with anyone. You can put that idea right out of your mind, Miss Potty Mouth.”
Molly bumped the car into the movie theater parking lot. “Here we are. What do you want to watch? There’s Planet of the Werebears, or Deliverance.”
Aurora groaned. “I’m not watching either of those. Can’t we have a nice, sappy romantic comedy without any blood or horror?”
“Are you kidding? The only romantic comedy is ‘Married to My Grandfather’, and I’m not watching that.”
“Then it sounds like we’re not watching a movie.”
“I know; how about Sweet Seventeen at Haven High School?”
“Sounds disgusting,” was Aurora’s reply.
“You wanted sappy, and you know there won’t be any blood or horror. There probably won’t even be any sex.”
“If we have to watch a movie, let’s watch that one. It might be good for a laugh.”
Molly got out of the car. “I only go to movies for the snacks, anyway. If we’re alone in the theater, which it looks like we might be, we can make rude jokes about the plot. We can put words in the characters’ mouths and shout obscene instructions to them about what they should be doing.”
Aurora kicked her door open. “Well, alright. Let’s go.”