Chapter 33

Sam

Meg was definitely distracted. I hoped that was a good thing—like maybe she was thinking about me. I had no idea. Trying to figure out the workings of Meg's female brain was more than I had the energy for today. I got my notebook out and tried to take notes. Meg was doodling more than usual, still jotting down things here and there with her pink pen—she color coded all her classes by ink color—but doodling little vines and hearts and scrolly loopy things. I nudged her knee under the table. She glanced up, and I winked at her. She rolled her eyes at me even as she grinned and turned back to her notes, vines momentarily forgotten.

Fifth period rolled around, and I walked with her to her next class on the way to mine. She didn't object when I loosely grabbed her hand, so I went a step further and twined our fingers. She smiled up at me shyly. So far, the not-really-but-maybe-we-are-sort-of-dating thing was going well.

Noise pressed in all around us, and the smells from the cafeteria—lingering eggs from breakfast and could-use-a-few-more-minutes-in-the-oven casserole for lunch, body spray, body odor, pencil lead, and old textbooks—were stronger than normal.

My legs rooted to the ground as one scent suddenly stood out from all the rest. My body jerked to attention, and each of my senses homed in on that smell.

"Sam?" Meg asked, and then her head whipped around, too.

It was wolf.

The same wolf I'd smelled at the theater. I didn't know this wolf. It made me uneasy. My hackles raised.

"I smell it, but it's faint. There's too much other stuff." She tugged my sleeve as I glanced around, taking in all of the surroundings and other students milling around. I didn't see anyone I didn't know on sight, and the scent wasn't completely fresh but not more than a few hours old.

Meg tugged my hand and traffic resumed where we'd been standing. We were outside her science classroom.

"Do you know them?"

"No. I don't. And that's what worries me. I don't like it. I smelled the same one at the theater when I left to go get sodas, too."

A tiny frown appeared between her eyebrows.

"It's strange for one to be coming through like this and not announce themselves, right?"

"Yes. We make a point to let residents know if we'll be in the area." I put my hand to the small of her back again, ushering her toward the classroom.

"Keep your eyes open. Wait for me after class. I'll walk you to lunch." I couldn't help that my eyes trained to her lips. "Be careful," I said quietly instead.

"I will. You, too." She squeezed my arm and went into science.

Another quick scan didn't show me anything out of the ordinary. My senses were on high alert on the way to Humanities.

****

I was hyper-aware of everything but my classes for the rest of the afternoon. Lunch passed peaceably. We sat together at our normal table, ate bland rice and chicken casserole, and I scanned the room about once a minute. I caught Cade between classes and quietly told him to keep a nose out but not to alarm anyone else yet.

I had never got a chance over the weekend to talk to Dad about the strange wolf scent at the theater, either. I had meant to fill him in but had been distracted by other things, namely Megan's lips. I resolved to tell him that evening. It was one thing to get a random whiff at the theater. It was another to find that the wolf had been to the school as well.

****

Finally, the bell rang at the end of seventh period. I had homework, thanks to my distractedness that afternoon. Meg was waiting by my locker, which brightened my mood considerably.

"Hey." She smiled.

"Hey back."

"Find out anything else?" She referenced the new wolf. "You were pretty distracted today at lunch. Are you worried?"

I shoved three textbooks into my bag and zipped it up as I replied. "Yeah. It's unusual enough in and of itself, but I don't like that whoever it is has been here at school, too. That makes it more than a coincidence. I need to make sure I tell Dad about it tonight. You ready to go?" I hitched the straps of my backpack over my biceps to my shoulders and reached for her hand.

"Yep. Rachel is planning on coming over to the cabin tonight. I forgot to mention earlier. We were hoping to get some baking and prepping done. We've got tons to do before HarvestFest is this weekend."

"Sure, that's no problem. I've got homework anyway, so I'll be out of your way."

"Sam!" someone called down the hallway as we were just leaving the doorway to the freedom of the parking lot. I glanced back where Jake was jogging down the hall.

"Go ahead," Meg said. "I'll wait by the car." She smiled. "He looks concerned and probably doesn't want me listening in."

Jake did appear concerned. His brows were furrowed, his hands clenched into fists as he closed the distance between us.

"Okay," I conceded. "Be there in a minute."

"Sounds good." She flashed another smile, and I desperately wanted to give her butt a quick squeeze as she turned around but knew that would result in my untimely death, so I shoved my hands in my pockets and turned my attention to Jake.

"Jake, what's up?" My nose wrinkled as I sniffed something…foreign on him.

Jake glanced around, his longish brown hair flipping around as he confirmed that no one else was in the immediate vicinity. A few girls chatted down the hallway and a few lockers shut further down. We were alone enough for Jake's comfort.

"Sam, we've got a serious issue."

He had my full attention.

"There's a new kid at school."

"Is that what I smell? Where's he from—I've never smelled anything like it."

"I know, sorry." Jake grimaced. It wasn't a bad scent, just something outside my range of sensory knowledge.

"It's fine. Just new. So why are we concerned about the new kid?"

"He's one of us. But not."

My eyes narrowed. "He's what?"

"He's a half-breed," Jake whispered, his voice barely audible.

My mind froze on that last phrase, but I didn't have time to process because there was a loud screech from the parking lot.

"Megan!"