Asphalt Moon

Chapter 8: The Hallway

The basement door swung open.

I stepped into a hallway. Concrete floor. Fluorescent lights buzzing overhead. White walls that looked like they'd been painted last week.

And Greta.

She stood twenty feet away. Arms crossed. That same leather vest. That same smile.

"Well, well," she said. "The little wolf came inside."

Damon raised his gun. "Move and I drop you."

"You won't. Silver's loud. Brings everyone running." Greta tilted her head. "But go ahead. Prove me wrong."

Damon didn't fire.

I stepped around him. "Where's Hale?"

"Upstairs. Waiting." Greta looked me up and down. "You don't look like much. Skinny. Scared. Your mother was tougher."

"Don't talk about my mom."

"Why not? She was fun. Right up until she wasn't."

My hands curled into fists.

Cade grabbed my arm. "She's baiting you."

"I know."

"Then don't bite."

Greta laughed. "Listen to the human. He's smart. For a dead man."

She turned and walked down the hallway. Didn't look back.

"It's a trap," Damon said.

"I know."

"We should go another way."

"There is no other way." I started walking. "Stay behind me."

Cade stayed on my right. Damon on my left. The hallway stretched ahead. Doors on both sides. Closed. Silent.

Greta disappeared around a corner.

I followed.

The corner opened into a larger room. A living room. Couches. A fireplace. A rug that probably cost more than my dad's garage.

And in the center, sitting in a high-backed chair, was the Elder.

Hale.

He looked smaller than I remembered. Thin. Old. His glasses caught the light.

"Lena," he said. "So glad you came."

"You threatened my friend."

"I threatened a lot of people. You'll have to be more specific."

Cade stepped forward. "Where's Nellie?"

"Your purple-haired friend? She's fine. Watching the pipe. Haven't touched her." Hale smiled. "I keep my word. Sometimes."

Damon raised his gun again. "Where's my mother's journal?"

"Safe. Like everything else." Hale stood up. Slow. Careful. His knees cracked. "You children think you're the first to come for me. You're not. You won't be the last."

"I don't care about last," I said. "I care about now."

Hale looked at me. Really looked. His eyes were pale. Watery.

"You have her fire," he said. "Your mother. She stood in this room once. Demanded answers. Just like you."

"What did you tell her?"

"The truth. She didn't like it." He walked toward me. Slow. "Your mother was a wolf. A strong one. But she fell in love with a human. Had a baby. Thought she could walk away."

"Dad's not human. He was a wolf."

"Was. Past tense. He gave it up. For her. For you." Hale stopped a few feet away. "Love makes people stupid."

"Maybe. But hate makes people ugly."

Hale's smile faded.

Greta appeared behind him. Two other wolves flanked her. The wiry man from the bridge. And a woman I didn't recognize. Tall. Bald. Tattoos on her scalp.

"You're outnumbered," Hale said.

"I've been outnumbered before."

"Not like this."

Damon raised his gun again. "Let us walk out. Give me the journal. We forget this happened."

"No." Hale sat back down. "You came to my house. You threatened me. Now you pay the price."

Greta shifted.

One second she was a woman. The next, a gray wolf. Fur matted. Teeth bared. She was faster this time. I barely saw her move.

She lunged at Cade.

I stepped between them.

The wolf hit me square in the chest.

We crashed to the floor. Her weight pinned me down. Her jaws snapped inches from my face. Her breath was hot. It smelled like blood and rot.

"LENA!" Cade yelled.

I heard him. But I couldn't move. The wolf's paws were on my shoulders. Her teeth were getting closer.

Something cracked inside my chest again.

The same c***k from the field. The same deep pop.

My vision blurred.

Greta's eyes went wide. She backed off. Just for a second.

I didn't think. I grabbed the tire iron from my belt. Swung.

It hit her snout.

She yelped. Backed up. Shook her head.

Cade pulled me to my feet. "Run!"

"No."

"Lena…."

"I said no."

I turned to face Greta. She was bleeding from the nose. Her eyes were yellow. Hungry.

"Do it again," I said. "See what happens."

She growled. Crouched. Ready to spring.

Then a gunshot cracked the air.

Greta yelped again. A wound opened on her flank. Blood poured down her leg.

Damon stood behind her. Gun smoking.

"One more," he said. "And I aim for the head."

Greta looked at Hale. He nodded.

She shifted back. Human. Naked. Bleeding. She didn't seem to care.

"Next time," she said to me. "I eat your face."

Then she limped out of the room.

The other wolves followed.

Hale sat in his chair. Calm. Unmoved.

"You got lucky," he said.

"Wasn't luck."

"No. It wasn't." He folded his hands. "You felt it, didn't you? The wolf. Trying to break free."

I didn't answer.

"It's close, Lena. The first shift. Usually happens under a full moon. Tonight's the night." He smiled. "I almost want to be there to see it."

"You won't be. You're going to jail."

"Maybe. But the moon always comes back."

He pressed a button on the arm of his chair.

Sirens blared.

Damon grabbed me. "We need to go. NOW."

"The journal…"

"Forget the journal!"

Cade was already pulling me toward the hallway. I ran.

Behind us, Hale laughed. Soft. Dry.

"See you soon, Lena!"

We hit the basement running.

Damon dove into the drainage pipe first. Then me. Then Cade.

The water was colder than before. My boots slipped on the mud. I crawled faster. My knees screamed.

Behind me, I heard shouts. Greta's wolves. Coming.

I burst out of the pipe.

Nellie was there. Tire iron raised. "Took you long enough!"

"GO!"

She ran for the bikes. I followed.

Damon's Triumph roared to life. Cade's Harley followed. I swung onto the back. Wrapped my arms around Cade's waist.

"DRIVE!"

The bike shot forward.

Behind us, wolves howled.

We didn't look back.

We rode until the gas tank was empty.

Same gas station. Same abandoned pumps. Same dark sky.

Nellie was shaking. I was shaking. Cade had blood on his shirt. Not his.

Damon paced by his bike. His jaw was tight.

"We didn't get the journal," he said.

"We didn't get Hale," I said.

"We got out alive. That's something."

I sat on the curb. Put my head in my hands.

My chest still ached. That c***k. That deep pop.

Greta backed off when she felt it. Why?

"Lena." Cade knelt in front of me. "You okay?"

"I don't know."

"You were brave in there."

"I was stupid. I almost got killed."

"But you didn't." He took my hands. "You fought back."

"I hit her with a tire iron."

"That's more than most people would do."

Damon walked over. "She felt it. The wolf. It tried to come out."

"Did it?" Nellie asked. "Because I didn't see any fur."

"It was there. Under the surface." Damon looked at me. "Tonight. Full moon. You'll shift."

I looked up at the sky. The moon was almost full. A sliver away from perfect.

"I don't feel any different."

"You will."

Cade stood up. "So what now?"

"Now we rest," Damon said. "And tonight, we try again."

"Try what?"

Damon looked at me. "Not dying."

He walked to his bike. Pulled out a sleeping bag. Rolled it out behind the gas station.

Nellie followed. "I call the car."

"There's no car."

"The floor. I call the floor."

Cade sat next to me on the curb. His hand found mine.

"You really think you'll shift tonight?"

"I don't know what to think anymore."

"Then don't think." He squeezed my fingers. "Just breathe."

I breathed.

The moon climbed higher.

And somewhere in the distance, a wolf howled.