The Peregrine Passage

Chapter Eleven: Adam

Hazel's been acting super weird all day at school. She hasn't said anything, but something is definitely up. I offer to meet up at the diner after school and she accepts but with a far-off look in her eye.

After twenty minutes of waiting at The Boxcar, I begin to wonder if she forgot about our plans. Finally, I hear the jingle of the doorbell (they tie jingle bells to the handle during the holiday season) and see her come in. She's wearing a green plaid coat with brown leather mittens paired with dark denim jeans and Bean Boots. When I see little flecks of ice on her shoulders, I peek outside and see that a light snow has started to fall.

"Hey! I got us a couple of peppermint hot chocolates. Are you excited about the snow?" I gesture to the two red mugs on the table, but she jumps straight into another topic.

"Adam, I have to tell you something." She has a serious look on her face as she takes off her mittens. Could it be about the kiss on the cheek at Thanksgiving? Probably not. Does she have feelings for me? Also probably not. Do I have feelings for her? Shit, I'm not ready for this.

"What's up?" I say in a super cool and casual, laid-back manner. My voice only rises about one octave, so I'll take it.

"Promise you won't be mad at me." Uh oh. She definitely looks concerned. I'm guessing she's not about to ask me out.

"Sure. What did you do?"

"I talked to Ms. Merriam."

"Okay..."

"About the Order." I groan.

"Hazel! I thought we agreed to keep things to ourselves."

"In my defense, I was curious, and I told you that we wouldn't talk to her. I never said that I wouldn't. Besides, I found quite a bit." She trails off at the end of her sentence and her face loses some color.

"Hazel? Are you okay?" She snaps back to reality, and I wonder what exactly she discovered.

"Yeah, sorry. It was just an intense night."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Well, you were right about the Order being dangerous. I think there's a lot about Ms. Merriam and my dad that we don't know."

"Your dad?" A puzzled frown crosses my face.

"Yeah, he was a member, too. I found the symbol on the cover of his journal and Audrey confirmed it yesterday." She gets quiet and I'm not sure how to respond.

"How are you feeling about it?" I think that was the right question to ask because her expression softens.

"I thought that I knew my dad so well, you know? But apparently, he's from Concord, not Maple Ridge, for starters, which was so embarrassing for me to not know. I'm also pretty sure that he and Audrey were a thing before he met my mom. She told me they never dated, but I doubt that's true," Her tone turns a little caustic, but she continues.

"I just feel like he had this whole secret life that he never told me about. I don't think my mom knows either. According to Audrey, the Order takes the whole secrecy thing pretty seriously."

"They should really implant a no-tattoo policy, then." She laughs.

"I guess. I don't think it's such a big deal that people know about the actual society, it's more important that people don't know what they're doing." She looks around to make sure nobody else is listening and lowers her voice again.

"Adam, I think they're selling drugs." I stare at her, shocked.

"Are you sure?"

"I saw Ms. Merriam smuggling some on her way out of Sweet Tooth last night. I think that's why the police have been so hellbent on discovering drug usage in the town. I have a feeling they're onto the Order, but I just can't prove it," She hesitates for a minute.