AS HAD HAPPENED BEFORE, after I’d passed out, I’d seemed to sleep-undress, which was handy. So my clothing was where I’d left it, still intact.
When I stepped out from my hiding spot, Daniel rose and came over to me. “You didn’t get bitten or anything, did you?”
I shook my head.
He exhaled. “Good. I was worried. I don’t know if that’s how you really do become a werewolf.” He paused. “It could be kind of cool, though. A werewolf and skin-walker hybrid. Time to shift? You pick your form.”
He grinned and I managed a soft laugh. “My luck, it’d be a mix of the two. A shaggy, brown monster with retractable claws and an irresistible urge to chase sticks.”
“As long as it’s not an irresistible urge to hump legs and sniff crotches.”
I laughed again, a real one now. “This is why I’ll stick with feline, thank you.”
“I’m glad you’re okay. Seeing you facing off with that monster was scary enough. I can’t imagine what it was like to be the one facing off with him.” He shook his head. “We need to have a little chat with your brother about werewolves before he decides to challenge one.”
“Nah. I say we let him try. Take his ego down a notch or two.”
We both laughed and I looked at him, and I felt . . . okay. I looked at his expression and listened to his laugh and I saw nothing more than I’d always seen. My friend. My best friend.
“Everything all right?” Daniel asked.
I smiled up at him. “We should hurry back and talk to them, and hope the others stay sleeping for a while.”
“Rafe’s looking after that.”
I looked up.
“I saw him while you were shifting back. We talked. He agreed to make sure the others stay put if they wake up. You and I will handle this first encounter. He seemed cool with that.”
No, he probably wasn’t cool with it at all. I didn’t care. Well, yes, I did, but I didn’t want to. Even if Rafe hadn’t ruined my friendship with Daniel, he’d sure as hell tried. He was supposed to care about me. That wasn’t something you did to someone you cared about.
“You guys had a fight?” Daniel asked.
I nodded. “Lousy timing, I know. Sorry.”
“I’m sure the timing has a lot to do with it. Everyone’s on edge. Whatever it was, he seemed sorry.”
“He always is,” I muttered before I could stop myself. I shook my head. “We’ll deal with it. At a much more suitable time.”
“He really does like you, Maya. He fell from a helicopter for you.” His voice dropped, his tone almost . . . wistful. I looked up to see his expression, then quickly yanked my gaze away. Don’t analyze. Do not analyze. I won’t do this. Damn you, Rafe.
“We’d better go,” I said. “Before they get tired of waiting.”
I instinctively knew where we’d left Chloe and Derek. When we drew close, I could hear Chloe talking just above a whisper.
“How many?” she asked.
She paused, as if waiting for a reply. I didn’t hear Derek’s response, but then she said, “And they’re all teens? No adults?”
Still no answer, but again she responded as if there’d been one. We stepped past a clump of bushes and I saw them ahead, sitting at the foot of a huge oak. Chloe had her knees pulled up, one arm wrapped around them. Her other hand was entwined with Derek’s. He leaned back against the tree. Slumping, as if it was holding him up. His face glowed with sweat and his eyes were closed.
When I’d seen Derek in wolf form, I figured werewolves grew when they shifted, like the ones in movies. They didn’t. He was really that big. Even slumped, he was more than a head taller than Chloe. A huge football player of a guy.
Beside me, Daniel whispered, “I was going to tell him off for bullying you. But I’m having second thoughts.”
I smiled at him. “I don’t blame you.”
Despite his size, Derek was obviously no older than us. His cheeks were dotted with mild acne and I could see the ghosts of fading pocks, as if it had been much worse not too long ago. Dark hair tumbled into his eyes as he rested with his head bent forward.
“Anything else?” Chloe whispered.
I realized she wasn’t talking to Derek. She was looking up. But there was no one there.
“Ghost,” Daniel murmured.
I tried not to shiver. I cleared my throat so we wouldn’t surprise them. Chloe still jumped a little, but Derek’s head only lifted, eyes snapping open, hand tightening around Chloe’s. He got to his feet, inadvertently tugging her up with him. She murmured something and he let go of her hand but stepped in front of her. She sighed, pushed him aside, and came forward with her hand extended. When she saw me step into the moonlit clearing, she hesitated, but found her smile quickly and reached for my hand.
“Maya, is it?” she said.
I shook it. “It is. And this is Daniel.”
Daniel shook her hand. Derek just stood there, until Chloe prodded him and he shook our hands—not without a grumble, though, a low one, almost like a growl.
“I’m sorry I startled you,” I said. The startling had definitely gone both ways, but from the look on Derek’s face, I figured the apology was a good idea. “Like Daniel said, we went to the house earlier, and when you weren’t there, we decided to wait out here until morning.”
“It’s not just you two,” Derek said. “There are others. We know that.”
“A ghost told Chloe, right?” I said.
She hesitated, then nodded. “A friend of ours. Liz.”
“Liz?” Cold fingers touched the back of my neck, as if I was feeling the ghost herself. “Elizabeth Delaney?” Derek stiffened and I hurried on. “I saw her name in some papers the Edison Group had. I noticed because we have the same last name. I’m Maya Delaney.”
Chloe looked sharply to the side, as if the ghost was still there and had said something.
“There’s no relation,” I said. “I’m adopted, for one thing, and it seemed to just be a coincidence, but I noticed the name and they said she was dead, so . . .”
I trailed off. Chloe was still looking to the side. Looking at her friend. Her dead friend. The Edison Group had murdered this girl and now I was going to suggest everyone just try to get along? Negotiate with the Cabals? My gut sank.
Daniel took over. “There are four more of us. We’re all Project Phoenix subjects. They’re in a clearing over there.” He pointed. “Three of them are sleeping and don’t know what’s going on, but the fourth—Rafe—is standing guard to make sure they don’t interrupt while we’re talking. Is that okay?”
Chloe seemed ready to say it was fine, but Derek cut in, “What are their powers?”
“A lot of skin-walkers,” Daniel said. “Maya’s brother is one and so is Rafe. Neither has shifted yet. Corey’s a seleni. Hayley’s a xana. I’m a benandanti.”
Derek shook his head. “None of that means anything to me.”
“Not surprising, considering we’re resurrected extinct supernatural types. That’s what Project Phoenix is. But if you’re uncomfortable talking here, we could go inside, where you guys have the advantage of numbers.”
Derek bristled, as if Daniel had just announced plans for an invasion. “No. We talk here. Chloe—”
“Don’t even suggest I go inside,” she said, lowering herself to the ground. “Everyone sit. Let’s talk.”
We told them about Salmon Creek and how we’d been raised. Then I explained about Serena and how that led to the whole cover-up unraveling.
“But they didn’t kill her,” I said. “I know that happened in your experiment, but it didn’t in ours.”
“Yet,” Derek said. “Just wait until things start going wrong.”
“They have gone wrong. But I think whatever happened to you guys was different. Different people were involved, for one thing.”
Derek snorted—he wasn’t buying that—but I was relieved to see that Chloe seemed to be considering it.
“Do you know who the Nasts are?” I asked.
“It’s a Cabal,” Chloe said. “Like the St. Clouds, only bigger. And, well, nastier.” A small smile at the play on words.
“They kidnapped my dad,” Derek said. “Held him captive for months, leaving my brother and me on our own, which is how our problems started.”
So they hated the Nasts. With very good reason. Great.
I continued with our story—the fire, the kidnapping, the long trip home, our “deaths.” The more I talked, the more I really understood how ridiculous our solution was going to seem. Negotiate with the people who’d done all this to us? How could we even consider it? Yet given the alternative, how could we not consider it?
When I faltered, Daniel would reach over and squeeze my hand. Just a reassuring gesture. But Chloe and Derek noticed and it was as if I could hear them mentally processing the information, drawing the same conclusion that Ash had, that Daniel was my boyfriend. Did it really look that way?
I mentally cursed Rafe some more before pushing on with my story.
“So my biological father helped us escape and sent us here, to you guys,” I said as I concluded.
Derek peered at me, brow furrowed. “How the hell did he know we were here?”
“That’s what we came to warn you about. He got the information from someone who works for the St. Clouds. They know exactly where you are.”
Derek scrambled up so fast his legs tangled and he nearly went down again. “What?”
Chloe was on her feet, too, eyes bright with alarm. “They know?”
We rose and Daniel put out his hands. “It’s okay. Well, not really okay, obviously, but it’s nothing new. They’ve known for a few months.”
“And you sat there, chatting away, without saying anything?” Derek stepped toward Daniel, looming over him.
Daniel stood his ground. “Like I said, it’s not an emergency. If you run in the middle of the night, it might be . . . considering they’ve got a tracking device on your van.”
Derek didn’t seem to hear him, just peered into the forest, braced for attack.
“Where are your friends?” he said.
“Over—” Daniel began, pointing.
“Take us to them. Now.”
We ran to the others—it was clear Derek wasn’t accepting a leisurely stroll. I took the lead so this huge guy wouldn’t come barreling down on them. That wasn’t the way anyone needed to wake up. It was still chaos. Derek barked orders. Chloe tried to calm him. When he didn’t listen, I snapped that he wasn’t helping matters. He snapped back. Ash jumped to my defense, snarling like an alley cat. Daniel intervened to mediate. Derek turned on him. Corey rushed to Daniel’s side, fists ready. Rafe braced to join in if a fight broke out.
It was fun.
Eventually Chloe, Daniel, and I got everyone calmed down enough to grab our stuff and head to the house.