Shadow of the Day (Wolf Moon Sequel)

Chapter 53: Packing

Ivy POV

I didn't want to go to school today, not after everything with Lila had gone so terribly wrong but Joe insisted. He didn't want to give Lila or anyone else anymore ammunition that my living with him was bad because I was skipping school, that Lila would escalate things by calling the cops or something. Instead, he told me to ignore everyone and if anyone gave me trouble to give him a call and he would take care of it.

I could see the logic behind it, but it didn't terrify me any less. Especially as I had promised to come by the house to pick up my stuff to stay with Joe, which meant I was no doubt going to see Lila today no matter what. Seeing her fighting Joe in the hall like that, the way he was limping all morning from her having hurt him, knowing she had hunted me down and broke into the house just to get to me...

It was just so much it was hard to believe it wasn't all a bad dream. Things had spiraled so quickly out of control and Lila was only growing more and more unrecognizable to me by the day. How had I never realized before all the things she was capable of? She was an even better liar than I thought and it only terrified me more to wonder what other things had she done that I hadn't heard about yet.

Joe drove me into school, dropping me off as close to the start of class as possible so I wouldn't be there too long to be bothered by anyone. I made it as far hanging up my jacket in my locker before my fragile peace was broken.

Only not by Lila.

"Matt," I said, heart soaring at the sight of him until this mornings revelation came back to me and I stepped back. Had he known? He must have. He'd been lying to me too, always on Lila side. 

"Hey," he said, leaning against the locker next to mine, concern clouding his face. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I said, struggling to take my books out even though my hands were shaking. Was he one of them? Was he a killer too?  A monster? How could he act like everything was normal? How could any of them, especially Lila, act like this was all so perfectly okay when there were so many dead bodies involved?

"I heard you're staying with your bio dad. That's a pretty big deal. Why the sudden change? I thought things with him were kind of weird?"

Was he spying on me? Had Lila ordered him to be nice to me and pretend to be my friend just to get information out of me? Keep an eye on me when she couldn't? Why had I been so stupid as to think he might have liked me for me? I never should have fallen for his nice act and cute face. He was Lila's ex and her friend and nothing to me.

"Not as weird as things with Lila," I said coldly. "But I'm sure you know all about that."

Lila had probably told him every detail the second Joe threw her out of the house this morning.

He sighed, long and slow. What did he have to be annoyed about? It wasn't his life that was being ruined, it wasn't everyone he knew and trusted lying and backstabbing him.

"Ivy, I know Lila has made some mistakes but she's your sister and she's a good person. You've known Joe two seconds whereas you've known Lila your whole life. Are you really going to take his word over hers?"

I slammed my locker door shut, pivoting to face him. "How can I trust her word when she refuses to talk to me and when she does it's all lies?"

And when it's not a lie, it's terrifying truth.

"It's not all lies, the situation is just complicated. She was scared of your reaction."

"Seriously? You sound just like her and now your defending her too. She ki--" I bit my words off, lowering my voice. We were at school, in a crowded hall where plenty of people had gone missing and turned up dead. I couldn't talk about this here, have people think I was a part of this or something. "Joe at least had the decency to tell me the truth, Lila only admitted it because I called her on it. How can I trust someone like that? How can I trust someone like you? For all I know, Lila is the one who killed Claire. Or maybe Wyatt did and she covered it up. Even Wyatt was acting weird and awful for a while there and they were fighting so maybe Lila was mad at first then finally decided to forgive him and pretend it never happened or something."