Silver Moon (28 page)

“But don’t you get it? Ethan’s not eighteen yet, which means he couldn’t have turned into a werewolf in the forest.”

“Yes, he can. I’m afraid they’ve done it for so long, they can do just about anything. With magic, it’s like anything else—the more you practice the easier it becomes. But also, the desire to learn bigger spells.”

“Even disguise spells?” A long, bone-tingling chill tiptoes up my spine.

Beth nods.

Jana takes a seat on the bar stool next to Randy, who’s been very quiet through this conversation. I’m sure he knows. Beth wouldn’t keep anything from him.

“This is too much,” Jana says, rubbing the sides of her forehead. “I mean, first of all, why would they transform into something different? We know they hate her, but why wouldn’t they show their faces?”

“They’re toying with me, invading my thoughts and dreams. Eating me from the inside out,” I say.

“But why?” Jana asks.

“Because they can,” I tell her. “Why else? Looking back, I thought I was crazy. I didn’t want to tell anybody because I was afraid of judgment, that you guys would think I’m a lunatic. But now I know.”

“We’ll catch them,” Randy says. Everyone directs their attention to him, since he hasn’t said anything this entire time.

“It’s going to get tougher now, that’s for sure,” Beth says.

Jana’s eyes hold concern. “What do you think, Candra?”

What would I tell her? That everything’s going to be okay and we’ll all make it out alive? It’d be easy to spit out a lie, thinking the world would take care of the
Conways
on its own. But anyone with common sense knows the world doesn’t work that way. So, I give her my best answer.

“I don’t know what the future holds. I don’t even know if any of us will be alive in two or three months. I
do
know that, for now, we have each other. If we can hold out until my eighteenth birthday, then I can help you guys.”

“Right now the
Conways
aren’t our only enemy—time is too,” Beth says. “Three months. That’s all we have until she turns eighteen. We have to do whatever it takes to keep her safe.” She cuts me a glance. “I hope you’re gifted with a great power that can help us all.”

“I hope so too,” I murmur. “I need some fresh air. Jana?”

Jana nods and hops down from the barstool.

Outside, I can’t help but wander toward the forest looming behind the house; it beckons me. Eventually, I’ll belong there. Fog has set in, hovering in white wisps above the ground. I can’t see anything past the first tree line. Are they in there now, watching me? If things are already this bad, how am I supposed to make it to my eighteenth birthday?

As if she can read my thoughts, Jana clutches my hand and squeezes. “We’ll get through this. Somehow. Someway. I just know it.”

I hear what she says, but my eyes never leave the vicinity of the forest. I’m mesmerized by the faint, green glow radiating from the army of trees. They used to warn me, tell me to leave. But now? Now it’s as if I can hear their voices on the tip of the wind.
Come closer,
they say.