What He Heard

Chapter 13

            Willow had barely opened her locker, her backpack still on, when Rune appeared beside her. She smiled a welcome until she saw his frown and the set of his eyebrows. “What’s up?” she asked, closing her locker without taking out her books.

            “I need to talk to you. Privately. Now,” he said, jerking his head towards the back stairway.

            She nodded, not liking with how even Rune’s movements were tense, like all his energy was coiled up inside him and ready to explode. She followed him, studying him carefully, as he led the way down the stairs and outside, to the trees that were clustered together at the far side of the student parking lot. He didn’t stop until they were both under the shade of the yellowing leaves, the cars of the people still arriving far enough away that no one could hear them, while close enough that the noise of their engines and shouts partially covered their conversation.

            Rune turned to face her, his face still locked in the same expression she’d seen upstairs, his grey eyes boring their way into hers. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

            For a second, he said nothing, just shifted his weight from foot to foot, his hands twitching open and closed. When he did finally speak, his voice was low and intense, lacking any hint of his usual humour. “You need to warn your family. There are sasquatch hunters in the forest.”

            Willow felt her stomach drop and her ears roar as his words registered with her, for a second, she let herself hope he was kidding, but the serious expression on his face told her the truth. Her skin prickled as the hair on her arms rose, nothing to do with the cool breeze that blew around them. Feeling her pulse thrum in her neck, she fought to take a deep breath instead of breathing shallowly as her panic was trying to force her to do. “What?” She managed to choke out.

            Rune didn’t look away, his face pale. “There are sasquatch hunters in the forest. There are at least four of them. They’re camping near the waterfall and searching the woods. You need to tell you family, get them to stay away until they leave.”

            “But…but why? Why are they here? How did they find us?”

            He shook his head. “I don’t know. All I know is they got some kind of report of a sasquatch in the area and are now out here looking for evidence. I don’t know…can your family lead them away or something?”

            Willow’s lips worked for a few seconds before she could get the words out. “I…we can do something. I’ll tell Uncle Allistair. This is the kind of thing he deals with. He ought to have a plan or two in place already. How did you find out about them?”

            Rune went completely still, not even his chest moving for a moment, before he inhaled deeply, his eyes dropping to his hands. “I heard about it.”

            “Where? We need all the information we can get if these people really are sasquatch hunters.”

            “Just…around. I’ll tell you anything else I find out, I promise.”

            Willow frowned, eyeing Rune and the way he wasn’t quite looking at her. “This is serious. If the hunters find us, my whole family’s screwed. I need to know where you found this out. I get as a wannabe-journalist you want to protect your source, but we really need all the info we can get if we’re going to get through this.”

            “It’s…It’s a secret. Private. Not something I can just say,” he said, finally looking her in the eye.

            She glared. “You came to me because of sasquatch hunters, which would only bother you because you know my family’s biggest secret, and you’re saying you can’t tell me? I thought we were friends!”

            Rune leaned back, as if to avoid her words. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “It’s complicated. It’s something I haven’t ever told anyone, not even my mom, so it’s not like I’m not telling you because I don’t like you.”

            Willow stared him down, not letting him weasel his way out of this. “If this were a normal issue, I wouldn’t care and tell you to take your time, but we’re talking about my family’s safety here. Will you please tell me or am I going to have to beat it out of you?”

            He sighed again, his shoulders slumping, but he nodded. “I know you wouldn’t, but…Well, I guess it’ll be fine. I’ve been thinking about telling you for a while now, it’s just not something I ever thought I’d tell anyone. And then I didn’t know how I’d do it. I mean, I’ve never been sure whether it was real or not. Half the time I was sure I was crazy, that it was all in my head.”

            She frowned, edging closer so they were only a few inches apart. “I don’t understand. What does your source have to do with you thinking you’re crazy?”

            Rune’s gaze was steady as he looked at her, even if his hands kept opening and closing, like he didn’t know what to do with them. “You’re not going to believe me when I tell you.”

            Willow made a face. “I turn into a half bear creature. I’m pretty open to believing a lot of crazy things. Now spit it out.”

            Taking another deep breath, Rune said, “I hear the wind.”