“Well, who else knows about this? This changing?”
“No one. I’d be turned into some sort of top secret medical experiment if anyone did. Unless, of course, I was lucky enough to be locked away in an insane asylum for the rest of my pitiful life,” I snapped. “Your son already thinks I’m crazy without that little tidbit added to my mental shortcomings.”
Mrs. Carpenter nodded, her face thoughtful. “I see. Now, tonight you looked just like Shash. I couldn’t tell the two of you apart. Why’s that, do you think?”
I shrugged again. “Ever since I started changing, I always looked like Mrs. Montgomery’s big orange tabby, my foster mother’s pet. Maybe I turn into whatever animal I’m closest to.” A smile tugged the side of my mouth. “It’s a good thing you don’t own a cow.”
“Well, at least you weren’t a wolf. Or a grizzly bear,” Mrs. Carpenter said with a shiver. “I would have shot you without hesitating if that had been the case.” She looked at me with a frown. “Tell me about how all this started.”
“I changed for the first time one month after my sixteenth birthday. I was fostering with the Montgomery family and had gone to a party with some kids from school. They were totally bad kids, but I was desperate to fit in. There was alcohol at the party and I wanted them to like me. So I tried alcohol for the first time—tequila.” Mrs. Carpenter’s eyebrows shot up. “Don’t worry. It was the biggest mistake of my life.
“I got wasted and passed out. When I woke up, it was the middle of the night. I had been dumped in someone’s front yard and all I wanted to do was catch rats. I didn’t even realize I wasn’t human at first—just slunk into the night, dragging my shirt with me. I killed and gorged on rats till dawn.” My stomach turned as I remembered the taste of rat fur, blood, organs, and bones.
“When I changed back to myself, I was standing in some slummy alley between two buildings, naked, and vomiting up undigested chunks of rat mixed with tequila. I couldn’t remember how I got there, thought maybe I was lying in bed having a really horrid nightmare. Until a dirty homeless man tried to attack me. I kicked him in the crotch, ran out into the road, and was almost hit by a police car. That was the first time I was picked up for indecent exposure.” I looked at Mrs. Carpenter. She was leaning toward me, eager to hear more.
“I thought it was the alcohol that made me change. I haven’t touched it since, but when the moon’s full, I still change. And I can’t control when I change back.
“That’s why I have a police record, why I am found naked in the streets. I don’t mean to change, don’t even want to. But it is as unavoidable as my period, and when I change, I can’t take my clothes with me. I leave them behind, if I don’t accidentally drag them away.”
Mrs. Carpenter looked positively smug. “Well, I knew you weren’t up to no good when they found you naked in the streets. My gut told me you were a decent girl, and my gut has never been wrong. And Ollie thinks you’re a prostitute!” She began laughing, a full-bodied chuckle. “You, a prostitute!”
I smiled. I’d never even been kissed.
“So, can you only change when the moon is full, or any time you want?”
“Only at the full moon,” I said, but then remembered the day in track when I’d tripped on the hurdle. My vision had sharpened and my nails had grown into claws. “Honestly, I’ve never tried to change. I try to avoid it.”
“Well, mercy, Maggie Mae. You’ve been dealt a hard lot in life. I hope you make sense of it one day, because I sure can’t. I don’t know what to do with you now.” She looked at me with haunted eyes. “Aside from calling animal control about that pack of wild dogs, I suppose there is nothing to do, is there? Unless you want me to lock you in the barn on the night of the next full moon?” She shuddered. “You’re a good girl. I’ll just keep reminding myself of that.”
She looked rather dazed as she took my empty bowl to the kitchen. When she came back, she said, “Let’s not move you out to the barn just yet. Not until animal control has taken care of the dog problem.”
I sighed. I might have been brave when it came to taking a punch, but I was relieved at the thought of staying in the house. Taking a deep breath, I asked the question that had been troubling me since she’d found me in the barn. “What’s a Skinwalker?”
Her lips thinned and she wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Forget I said that name. Speaking of them draws them near.”
11
The bus pulled into the school parking lot. I stared at the tan brick school through the rain-streaked window and wished I could shrink down into my seat and disappear. When all the students had filed off, I dragged myself to the exit and stepped into the rain. My feet refused to take another step.
The parking lot was awhirl with students. They hurried past me so intent on themselves that I was invisible again.
By the time I mustered up enough courage to make my feet start walking, I was soaked clean through. My bra was visible beneath my thin, sopping wet black T-shirt and my drenched hair looked blacker than black despite that it wasn’t black anymore. I hugged my sodden jacket closed over my shirt and trudged forward.
As I pushed the school door open, the tardy bell rang and students evacuated the halls. My shoes squeaked and squelched on the linoleum. I turned a corner toward the gym and my feet screeched to a stop before the rest of my body. Hands clamped down on my shoulders and held me in place. I took a step back and glared up at Bridger.
“Can I talk to you?” he asked.
“Nope.”
“I need to talk to you. I tried calling your house yesterday, but Mrs. Carpenter said you were grounded from the phone.”
“Yeah, I was grounded. Leave me alone.” It was easier not getting attached to someone. Because that way, I couldn’t get hurt. I turned toward the locker room, but his long arm came up, hand resting on the wall, barring my way.
“Something really important came up,” he said.
“Something so important you didn’t have the decency to give me a freaking ride home? What came up?”
“I can’t talk about it.”
“Whatever. Just leave me alone, Bridger. As far as I’m concerned, we never met.” I shoved his arm away and strode into the girls’ locker room.
The locker room was empty. I wiggled out of my drenched jeans and jacket, then pulled the soaked T-shirt over my head. From my locker I got dry running clothes and yanked them on, shoving my jacket and backpack inside.
Instead of stuffing my jeans and T-shirt into the locker, I laid them out over the bench to dry.
I stood tall, wiped the smeared mascara from under my eyes, and walked into the gym.
It was hard, but I did not let my eyes wander, did not allow myself to scan the gathered students for any sign of Bridger.
“We’ll hold class indoors today because of the rain,” Coach bellowed as he entered the gym. “All girls, line up for sprints. Boys, stretch.”
I followed Ginger to the far end of the gym. We were the only girls in track that day.
“Hi,” Ginger said as we lined up.
“Hey.”
“All right, ladies, to the other side and back twenty times. And hustle,” Coach said and blew his whistle. As I sped past the bleachers where the boys stretched, I couldn’t help but search for black hair. He was there, as studiously avoiding my eyes as I had been avoiding his. All the other guys, though, stared at me. I looked straight ahead again and ran.
The whole class passed that way, with me straining to avoid any type of contact with Bridger, even eye contact. A wall of tension loomed between us. The students must have sensed it. No one spoke. No one smiled, even at each other. And everyone seemed to be glaring at me. Except Ginger. And Bridger, who acted like I was nonexistent.
When Coach excused us to shower and change, I practically ran from the tension.
“Maggie Mae,” someone called when I was only a step from the freedom of the girls’ locker room. My heart thudded in my chest as I turned to see what Coach wanted. My track mates pushed past me a little too roughly, jostling me with their shoulders. Bridger was last in line. As he brushed by, his eyes flickered to mine and he paused.
“I think something might be up,” he whispered, glancing toward the boys’ locker room. “Be careful.” His fingers touched mine and I had to fight the urge to jerk my hand away. Then he was gone.
“Maggie Mae?”
I blinked.
“I need to speak with you,” Coach explained. “I’ll give you a late pass for second period.”
I followed him to his office, a small room next to the locker rooms, decorated with trophies and ribbons of years past.
“Have a seat,” he said, motioning to a metal folding chair squeezed into the corner. I sat. “You’re the best sprinter I’ve ever had,” he said as he sat behind the desk. His chocolate eyes, with their thick caterpillar brows, studied me. “I’d hate to lose you.”
“What do you mean, ‘lose me’?” I asked, though I pretty much knew what he was going to say.
“We can’t be a team if two of our members are trying to kill each other.” I raised my eyebrows, wondering if he was referring to Bridger and me, or Danni and me. “It would be a darn shame if I had to kick you and Danni off the team for fighting. This is the only warning I’ll give you.”
So he meant Danni.
He stared at me for a long time. Could he tell that I didn’t care if I was on the team or not? Running track had never been an ambition of mine.
“Do you realize that with your fifty-yard dash time, you could get a track scholarship to any major university?” he asked. “You are planning on going to college, right?”
“Not really.” Everyone seemed to make such a big deal about college, like if I didn’t go, I’d be a complete failure.
As if to convince me of the importance of gaining a higher education, Coach told me all sorts of stories about when he ran track at Arizona State. It wasn’t until the dismissal bell for second period rang that we realized how much time had passed. He scribbled an excusal note for me to give to the attendance office and I hurried out of his office.