Charlie once punched Jaseʼs door after one of the more spectacular rounds with his father.
He had knocked the trim loose, but we were able to fix it before anyone noticed. I didnʼt think I kicked as hard as Charlie punched, but apparently our doors were made out of stronger stuff than the ones in Alexʼs house. As I felt my foot go through the faux wood I said a four-letter word that had never passed my lips before.
“Feel better?”
I couldnʼt bear to look at Alex, so I just closed my eyes and leaned my head against the door frame. At least the top half was still intact.
“I told you we should have told her,” Alex was saying to Talley as a loud trilling noise made me jump.
Talley looked at her caller ID before sliding open her phone. “Hey, Jase,” she said in an upbeat tone that certainly didnʼt match the look in her eyes or dried tears on her cheeks.
“Listen...” Even from across the room I could hear the voice on the other end speaking in rapid, urgent tones. “Charlie, listen...Charlie... Charlie!” Alex moved up beside Talley and slid his hand into hers. I thought about kicking another hole in the wall. “I found her. Sheʼs okay.” Charlie said something else, causing Talley to raise her eyebrows at Alex.
“Sheʼs at Joiʼs” Talley lied smoothly, which was almost as jarring as finding out that she was a Seer. “When I wasnʼt home last night she decided to come find you guys and...” Talley rolled her eyes, which was again very out of character. I felt like I was watching a Talley Cylon. “Iʼm sure thatʼs it, Charlie,” she said dismissively before continuing. “Anyways, when the storm came up, she ran into The Farmhouse. She decided to go home with Joi after her shift ended...No, weʼre going to stay here for a little while...Because weʼre doing fun girl bonding stuff...Charlie...Iʼll have her home in two hours.” As Charlie continued to ramble on the other end of the phone, something in Talley shifted. She didnʼt even look like my friend when she said, “You are not the Pack Leader, Charles Jefferson Hagan, Jr. I, however, am a Seer. I suggest the next time you see me, you apologize for forgetting that.” Who was this person? The Talley Matthews I knew was always meek and mild mannered.
She didnʼt lie with casual ease. She didnʼt give orders. And she never slammed her phone shut on her friends.
Alex made a move to let go of Talleyʼs hand, but she held on. “I still might need you,” she said.
Talley pressed some numbers into her phone and then held it six inches from her ear. That meant she was calling Joi. Really, Joi is a fairly bright girl, she just has some issues with any sort of technology. It took her three weeks to figure out the remote when her parents bought her a new TV last year (during which QVC played in her room constantly since she couldnʼt change the station or turn it off). iPods freak her out, she cannot grasp the concept of Twitter or Facebook, and she has never understood, no matter how many times we tried to explain it, that you donʼt have to scream into a cell phone to be heard.
“Joi?”
“Talley? Oh my gosh, is that you? Thatʼs so weird! I was just thinking about you!” No need for super-senses to hear Joi on the phone.
“Can you do Scout and me a favor?” Talley looked at Alex expectantly, but he didnʼt do or say anything.
“Sure! Whatcha need?”
“If anyone asks, could you tell them that Scout spent the night with you last night? And if anyone calls to look for us in the next couple of hours, tell them weʼre too busy to come to the phone? Weʼre ummm...” She shot another look at Alex, but he stayed silent. “Weʼre working on this really huge surprise for Jase as like a graduation present. We donʼt want anyone to know about it because it would totally ruin it.”
“You donʼt think that Jase would, like, call here, do you?” Joi had a not-so-secret crush on my brother which rendered her unable to carry on a conversation when he was anywhere nearby. The last time we had a sleep-over at my house she spent the entire night staring mutely in the direction of Jaseʼs bedroom.
“Probably not, but if he does you can cover for us, right?” Poor Joi. We were probably giving her a major anxiety attack. Then again, it was noon, so she was on her second or third of the day.
“Sure. I can do that.” She might have been more convincing if her voice hadnʼt been shaking.
It took several more reassurances, but Talley was finally able to end her call with Joi, somewhat confident that she had a cover story for my whereabouts. She turned her attention to me as soon as she pocketed the phone.
“I know youʼre mad at me right now, and you have every right to be, but weʼve only got a couple of hours at best to get you clean.”
“Clean?” I may not have looked spectacular, but I had taken a shower that morning.
“Trust me, no one wants to know how Charlie would react if I brought you home smelling of Alex.”
I lifted the Spider-Man shirt to my nose. All I could smell was a citrusy fabric softener. “You smell him on me?” Was that part of a Seerʼs ability? Could they smell Shifters?
“Of course not, but to Jase and Charlie youʼll reek of wolf. You need a really long shower and some clean clothes.”
Talley Matthews, Shifter Expert.
Yep, I was still pissed. I concentrated on drawing deep breaths in through my nose and letting it out of my mouth slowly. “Fine,” I said through clenched teeth. “Letʼs go.” Alex intercepted me at the door. “Scout, wait.” I stopped, but didnʼt look up. “Youʼre not wearing shoes.”
Crap. He was right. Where were my shoes? For that matter, where were my clothes?
“Liam washed everything, but youʼll have to rewash it to cancel out the the eau de wolf.” He did the whole stare at the feet, chew on the lip thing. “Do you want to come with me to get everything?”
“Sure.” What was I supposed to do? Stand there stubbornly and demand that he bring me my freshly laundered clothes?
I followed him to the laundry room, where he closed the door and unleashed his heart melting look of sincerity on me. “Iʼm sorry.”
“My best friend is a Seer and you didnʼt tell me.”
“She begged me not to.”
“And you hugged her. And held her hand.”
“I hugged her because she was clearly upset and, in case you havenʼt noticed, Talley is a bit of a hugger.”
“And I guess you had to hold her hand because talking on the phone requires a ton of moral support?”