Shadow Lake Vampire Society - Wendi Wilson Page 0,23
reaction she’d been hoping for, and her face fell as she mumbled an apology. I shook my head.
“It wasn’t what he said. It was how he said it.”
It’s in case of... bears.
Levi had stared into my eyes as he said that, his gray-green orbs shining with meaning as he put an intentional breath of space between the word bears and the rest of the sentence. Like he knew.
“My father was not killed by a bear,” I blurted before I lost my nerve.
“What?” True asked, her head rearing back. “But you said—”
“I know what I said,” I cut in. “And a bear attack was listed as the official cause of death. But True, it wasn’t a bear.”
My eyes burned with tears that quickly pooled and ran down my cheeks. True resumed rubbing comforting circles on my back, waiting for me to wipe my eyes and get my ragged breathing under control.
“Tell me what happened,” she said, not a trace of disbelief in her voice.
With broken words and tearful sobs, I let it all out. I told her how my father shoved me under the hidden trapdoor before I even knew what was happening. How he warned me not to come out until he told me it was safe. I described the sound of the door crashing in, my father’s terrified voice as he ordered something to go away. The growls, the screams, the blood dripping on my face.
I told True about the footsteps—heavy, clomping steps that could only be made by booted feet.
When I finished, I flinched a little, waiting for True to react the way everyone except Coco did. There would be denials and assurances, soft-spoken declarations that I must’ve been mistaken, that only a wild animal could have wreaked so much damage on a grown man.
“And they didn’t believe you?” she asked, her voice whisper-soft.
My eyes flicked up to meet hers, seeing nothing but compassion reflected back at me. I shook my head.
“No. Not the police, not my mother, not the therapist she’s forced me to visit every week for the last year. My best friend Coco is the only one who took my words at face value and never told me I was imagining things.”
“She sounds like a good friend,” True replied, her expression and tone soft.
“The best,” I agreed, then added with a watery smile, “like you.”
She smiled back and threw an arm around me. Her hand pushed my head against her shoulder before she pressed her cheek to the top of my head.
“I believe you, Piper.”
“Thank you,” I murmured. “When Levi was showing us the bunker, and told us why he led us there, he said it was to keep us safe from bears. But there was something about the way he said it and the glint in his eyes as he watched me. It felt like… he knew.”
“Knew what? About your dad’s death?”
“And my claim that it wasn’t an animal,” I replied, nodding.
“But… how could he possibly know that?”
I shrugged, lifting my head from her shoulder so I could look at her. “I don’t know. He’s close with Dean Purty. Maybe he saw my file?”
True cocked her head. “Why would Dean Purty have a file about your father’s death? That seems too personal for a job application, doesn’t it?”
“I never filled out an application. My mom and Dr. Whitley got me the position here.”
“Your therapist?”
“Yeah,” I answered with a short nod. “She and my mom thought it would be good for me. I’ve been a little… closed off since that night.”
“Understandably,” she huffed.
“Thanks, True,” I said softly. “You’re the best.”
“Of course, I am,” she shot back with a smirk. Then her smirk fell, and her expression turned serious. “If it wasn’t an animal, who killed your father?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know if I’ll ever know.”
True nodded, her eyes glinting with emotion. She lost both of her parents at once in a fatal car accident, so she knew better than most what I was going through. I, at least, still had my mom. True lived with some weird, alcoholic uncle that shipped her off to summer camp just to get rid of her for a couple of months.
We were both searching for that elusive answer to the ultimate question—why? Why did we have to lose the ones we loved so suddenly and in such a dramatic fashion? Why did our lives take such drastic turns for the worse? Why?
“We’re soul sisters, you and me,” she said, a soft smile lighting up her face.