Night Children

15

It had been at least two days since I'd last spoken to Cal. Maybe, in retrospect, forty-eight hours wasn't that much. But considering the situation we were in—what with Ethan searching for her, going through every person she knew to try to reach her—I couldn't deny that there was a little pit of worry inside of my stomach, with Cal's name written on it. What if Ethan had already found her, and I didn't know? And if he had, what was he doing with her? I didn't know his motive, not really, but there had been something in the darkness of his eyes that told me it was far from good.

As I slammed my locker door shut, slinging my backpack over my shoulder, someone nudged me in the side. I looked over to see Reese, hair bright as ever, expression congenial. I frowned. Humans' lives were always so peaceful. Must be nice. "You riding the bus today?" I asked.

Reese shook his head. "No, I have work, so my dad's picking me up. You're on your own."

I gave a shrug, and shoved open the school's front door with my shoulder, holding it open for Reese as he brushed past me. The further the school year moved along, the more the temperatures seemed to be dropping, summer slowly ebbing away. I shivered a little as I followed after him, goosebumps rising on any skin unlucky enough to be bare.

"Speak of the devil," Reese muttered, glancing over his shoulder at me.

"What?"

"There he is," he went on, pointing to distinguish a Toyota waiting by the curbside. "You got a minute?"

I glanced at the buses in the far lot, sure they'd be there for at least another five minutes. To Reese, I said, "You're asking me to meet your dad? The one with the weird fetish?"

Reese chuckled. "There's no reason to be scared of him, Theo. Come on."

Right. Of course.

Nevertheless, I let him lead me towards the car, because I guess this was what friends did. They interacted with each other's families, no matter how odd the selection of books on their basement bookshelf was.

The surrounding trees' leaves, just now beginning to turn to autumn brown, orange, and red, reflected in the car's window as the man inside rolled it down. I caught a flash of icy eyes before Reese leaned over the passenger seat, blocking my view. "Hey, Dad? This is Theo. I've told you about him, right?"

"Oh, yes, of course!" replied his dad, with a voice that sounded friendly and warm. Even as Reese stepped aside, tugging me over, though, I had the unshakeable feeling that something was wrong.

Mr. Jardetzky was a spitting image of his son, same pale blue eyes, same fair skin spotted with freckles, same slim nose. Perhaps the most blaring difference was the hair; while Reese's was a crimson that rivaled even a firetruck, his father's was a more gentle brown. Nothing about the man, however, was gentle. He was broad-shouldered and thick-boned, with a smile that seemed to be both kind and judgmental at once. "Nice to meet you, Theo. You know, Reese really looks up to you."

I gave Reese a sideways glance, but he rolled his eyes. "That's...a surprise. I'm not anyone special."

"Oh," said Mr. Jardetzky, his grin shifting so that one side lifted higher than the other, "I doubt that. So, you and your folks always lived here?"

"Yeah. New York's always been our home."

"I see. You're in our neighborhood, aren't you?"

The uneasy feeling kept building within me. I coughed. "Yeah...not more than two houses down from yours, sir."

"If that's so, then you must have heard them too, right?" Mr. Jardetzky asked, his eyes narrowing. I didn't like the way his tone changed, went from usual small-talk tone to something darker, more serious.

Reese leaned against the car's door, suddenly looking as if he regretted this. "Dad, stop scaring him."

"No, it's fine," I said to Reese, then looked within the car to his father again. "Heard what, Mr. Jardetzky?"

"The howls," he answered, and I tried to look like every inch of comfort left within me hadn't just evaporated. Instead, I just swallowed, faking a confused expression as he went on. "You know, you hear them at night sometimes. It's weird—"

"Well, Theo has dogs," Reese cut in, and I shot him a grateful look. Even if he didn't know the true reason behind my discomfort, any effort at all to alleviate the subject was helpful.

I nodded. "Yeah, I do. If they're bothering you, I can do something."

"No, these aren't dogs' howls, I don't think. They sound more wild than that, you know?"

"Dad," said Reese with narrowed eyes, "you know as much as me that the only wolves around here are the ones in the zoo."

Mr. Jardetzky gave his son a daring look, one that almost froze me to my core, but then a smile grew on his face and he shrugged. It was such a strange transition that I fought the urge to jolt in surprise. "Well, maybe you're right. Anyway, it was nice meeting you, Theo. I've got to get Reese to work, though. See you around?"

He reached his hand out to me, and I shook it. A burning, sizzling sensation grew through my fingers, and I jerked my hand back, just then noting the ring on his finger. My eyes narrowed—silver.

Clearing my throat, I shoved my hands in my pockets, ignoring the skeptical glare Mr. Jardetzky was bending on me. I turned away. "Yeah. See you around.

As I strode over to the buses, a million questions flipped over themselves within my brain, but there were two things I was sure of:

One, that something in Mr. Jardetzky's eyes had been oddly familiar, like I'd seen them somewhere before.

And two, that he knew too much.