(1) Puppet (Preview)

Eight: Confessions

The air was humid. I could feel balls of sweat rolling down the sides of my face. It was nearing nighttime; however, the air was warm and uncomfortable. With each step I took, I could feel the disconcerted anger radiating off of my friends.

"Why were you with Zeke?" Carter demanded to know. There was a certain look in his eye, one I'd never seen him direct at me before. Accusation. Betrayal.

Crystals' shock was evident; it was strange seeing her without the usual knowing grin plastered on her face. "You were with Zeke? Why the hell were you with him?"

I eyed each of them warily. The words played at the tips of my tongue; words which would tell them that I was very aware of what Zeke was. He hadn't said it in words, although I could tell. I had a strong feeling that told me Zeke was a werewolf and Carter, Crystal, and Donovan all knew that very fact.

"Something tells me none of you are fans?" Inwardly proud with how nonchalant I sounded, I added a casual smirk. Answering my question was a look of disgust from both Crystal and Carter. Donovan, on the other hand, merely stared at me with narrowed eyes. Kat seemed just as puzzled as I had expected her to be. "He wasn't so bad," I insisted.

Carter's jaw ticked. "Did he say anything?"

I smirked at him, one that said I could see through all of his lies. "Oh, he said plenty. Nothing you'd be interested in." The sky had already shifted towards a chilling darkness; many stars had shown themselves in the rampant atmosphere. Rolling my shoulders back, I pushed through the tight line they formed and began walking toward the festival. "Come on, guys. Let's pick a good spot for the fireworks."

I was glad they didn't press further and followed alongside me. There was a local band playing on the stage and many people were dancing in front. I was partly feeling disappointed that I missed so much.

As we walked to a good spot for sitting, I felt a familiar short girl trot up beside me. The others were a few paces ahead of us, giving Kat the opportunity to lower her voice and remain unheard.

"Ella," she started worriedly. "Are you not freaking out about what just happened?"

I shook my head in a lie. "No. Should I?"

"Yes. You were kidnapped... Who knows what could have happened? I..." She trailed off. "Ella, if anything happened to you..."

I gently placed my hand on her shoulder. "Nothing happened. I'm fine. Stop worrying so much."

"It's just." She shut her eyes. "With everything that's been happening lately... I can't help but feel paranoid. None of this.... None of this makes sense. I'm scared, Ella."

"Kat... I'm serious, don't worry about it. Everything turned out alright. Let's just have fun tonight, okay?"

She glanced up at me suspiciously. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"One-hundred and ten percent sure."

"Promise?"

"Yes."

Kat finally broke into a smile. "Okay." If anything, I didn't want Kat to worry. She was the type that would take the smallest of calamities and blow it out of proportion. Kat was all about routine smoothness. If anything were to go wrong, she'd turn into a mess. If she knew that werewolves were infesting the town and one of them just drugged me for a reason I still didn't quite understand, she would have probably fallen comatose from the shock.

The five of us chose a spot in the field that was near the pathway and a dozen rows of pattern-like trees. Crystal had brought a blanket for all of us to sit on. Before I had the chance to plop down, Carter lightly grabbed my arm and leaned in close.