22. Daphne

CHAPTER 22

DAPHNE

T he second time I woke up, I was able to gather my bearings a little better.

It still took a while for me to open my eyes, but in the interim, I managed to discern the fact that I was definitely in the back of a moving vehicle. There was an itchy carpet underneath me, and a bump in the surface caused my body to lay at an odd angle. I figured I had been tossed on the floor of the backseat with little care. There was a pain in my side, and my right shoulder and my temples were pulsating like I’d been hit in the head. All I could really hear at the moment was the sound of my own blood rushing through my body.

My hands were tied behind my back, and there was a disgusting metallic taste in my mouth. I had a piece of duct tape holding my lips together but no blindfold. Apparently, whoever took me cared less about me looking around than they did about me screaming for help.

I suppose that makes sense…

By the time I finally managed to peel my eyes open, I was met with only more darkness. I deduced that it was either still nighttime or whoever had taken me put something over the windows to block out the light. The car was moving, but nobody spoke. The radio hummed at a low volume, and I knew if I moved around too much, they would realize I was awake. I had to be still and quiet if I was going to glean any more information.

It was actually pretty easy doing nothing, seeing as I was bound and had most likely been drugged, making me dizzy and unable to move much anyway. I closed my eyes again, hoping that would help with the raging headache, but it didn’t. I felt worse than the night I went out drinking with Dorothy in Guatemala. The alcohol was cheap, and we were inexperienced drinkers, so we blacked out and woke up hours later on the floor of our friend’s kitchen. The hangover was so bad we were both sick in bed for days afterward and had to lie to our mom, saying we caught the flu.

Right now, the feeling in my head and body was at least ten times as bad.

Some amount of time passed, but I couldn’t say how much. To me, it felt like hours, but that was probably just the drugs talking. Either way, eventually, someone in the front seat started talking. It was a man’s voice—one that I didn’t recognize in the slightest.

“You’re sure this is legit?” the man said. “Because if we get this girl all the way up to Virginia and she’s not actually what you think she is, we’re fucked. And by fucked, I mean killed. That’s how these motherfuckers do business.”

“It’s going to be fine,” said the woman in the front seat. She was sitting right above me, and I nearly gasped when I heard her speak.

It was Missy—Al’s girlfriend.

“You don’t know these guys like I do,” the man continued. “You’ve dealt in exotic animals and other underground trades, but nothing like this.”

“Alright, then tell me about them,” said Missy. “I’m all ears.”

“That’s the thing, nobody knows very much about them. They’re really good at keeping a low profile, which is why they’ve been in the game for so long. There’s pretty much just one family that operates the entire fucking market, and they’ve been trading cryptids and other similar creatures since the Chicago World’s Fair.”

“That’s why I’m not scared,” Missy said. “Because these people know a good thing when they see it. I’m sure they have ways to confirm that the creatures they have been brought are authentic. Which she is. I heard her say so herself.”

All of a sudden, the man slammed on the brakes. My body rolled forward, and my lower back slammed into the middle console with a sharp blow to my spine. I bit down on my lip as best I could behind the tape and just barely kept from yelping.

“Wait a fucking second,” he said. “You told me you saw her turn into a wolf. Now you’re saying you just heard her say that she’s a werewolf? Which is it, Melissa, because that’s a very important distinction.”

Melissa didn’t say anything.

“Goddammit! You lied to me!”

“I didn’t lie!” she argued. “I just didn’t tell you the full story.”

“That’s it, we’re taking her back. I knew I never should’ve trusted you with something this big. You should’ve stuck to the original plan, taken that old man for all he was worth, and been done with it. You know your strengths, Missy, and this kind of high-scale trading isn’t one of them.”

“Oh, fuck you,” Missy said. “I’m sick of romancing boring old men and stealing their pitiful savings. I could do so much more if you let me. And I’m telling you, this girl is a werewolf. I overheard her talking to her boyfriend about it, and you could feel the raw emotions coming off her. She wasn’t making it up.”

“People make up crazier shit all the time!”

“You had to be there,” she said. “Plus, the girl is shady and secretive. I knew she was hiding something from day one. At first, I thought she was trying to move in on my mark, but now I know she was just trying to make sure nobody in town learned what kind of monster she was. All the clues were there, I put them together, and now we’re going to make a shit load of money, so would you stop being such a fucking coward?”

The disdain was audible in Missy’s voice when she called me a ‘monster,’ not that she had any room to talk. I might turn into a bloodthirsty wolf once a month, but I’d never drugged and kidnapped someone or tried to sell someone on the black market.

“We need to wait,” he said. “At least until the next full moon.”

“How would we even pull that off? If we take her back to the apartment now, she’s going to wake up with inexplicable bruises and drugs in her system. She’ll call the cops, and we’ll be made.”

“Alright, then we can keep her stashed away for the next couple of weeks, confirm that she’s a werewolf, and then take her to Virginia. It’s better that way.”

“Not for me!” Missy hissed. “I need to get paid now.”

“Why?”

“Why do you think? I owe a few people money, but one sale like this will cover all my debts. I’ll have a clean slate, and then I’ll get to take on whatever kind of jobs I want. I won’t have to take orders from annoying kids like you anymore.”

“I’m telling you, Melissa, this is a bad idea. You’re going to get yourself killed if you’re not careful.”

“I know what I’m doing.”

“You know what? Fine. If you’re so confident, then I don’t see why you even need me.”

I heard a clicking sound, then a door opening.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going back home,” said the man. “I’ll call my friend to come pick me up.”

“So you’re just bailing on me?”

“Yup,” he said. “If you want to take this girl up north without confirming that she’s a cryptid first, be my fucking guest, but I’m not putting my own neck on the chopping block.”

“If you leave now, I won’t split the money with you.”

“There isn’t going to be any money!”

The car door slammed shut, and all was quiet for a second. After a short while, I listened as Missy exited the passenger side and walked around to the driver’s seat. She sat down but didn’t put the car in drive right away. She sighed heavily.

“What a fucking idiot. He has no idea what the fuck he just walked away from. This deal is going to turn my whole life around, and he’s still going to be begging for low-paying jobs like the pathetic worm he is. We’re better off without him, isn’t that right, darlin’?”

I felt a hand pat me on the shoulder.

“You’re going to make me a lot of money, my friend,” she said. “And I heard those underground human zoos aren’t as bad as everything thinks they are. At least you’ll have free room and board. A lot of people your age would kill for that kind of setup.”

Did she say human zoo?

I felt like I was going to be sick. I squeezed my eyes shut as tightly as I could and held back the nausea. My heart was pounding so hard against my ribcage that I was worried the vibrations would tip Missy off that I was awake. I’d never been so fucking scared in my life, and the worst part was that there was nothing I could do but just lay there and wait, hoping that someone would notice I was gone and come find me soon.

Please… Rory… You have to find me.