Blood on the Moon Read online

  What a psycho.

  Disgusted, I tore my eyes away, but I could only resist the temptation to look back up for so long. Was he still staring at me? I risked a look at Courtney and saw that her kiss-fest was over. I watched as the gigantic boy lifted a book from the roof of his car and strode away down the walkway. Afraid that he’d lock eyes with me again, I tried not to gawk at him as he disappeared behind the cover of the bright yellow elm trees sprawling across campus. But he never looked back at me, leaving me thinking that the whole encounter had been in my head. Who stares at other people while they’re making out? It was absurd.

  Courtney danced up to me, beaming.

  “New guy?” I asked. I was mad at myself for caring, but I had to know who he was after that unnerving incident.

  “Yeah,” she said, sitting down next to me. “Isn’t he just the hottest thing you ever saw?” She leaned in like she was telling me a secret and said, “You know, I hear he’s like, loaded. Richer than the Queen of England or something. He’s got this castle off in Scotland or Ireland or someplace, filled to the ceiling with jewels. How cool is that?”

  “Cool,” I said, though I didn’t believe her. I was pretty sure either Courtney or her freakjob boyfriend was lying about that. “What’s his name?”

  “Lucas something or other.” She waved her hand flippantly. “Who cares, you should see his abs!”

  I laughed a little and said, “No, thanks. I’ll leave that to you.”

  She grinned devilishly, eyes alight. “Wish I could, but he won’t even spend the night! So weird.”

  “Weird,” I agreed. Staring at other girls while he was kissing his girlfriend and not wanting to have sex? There was definitely something strange going on with that guy.

  As I watched Courtney cake on some blush, I suddenly had a wonderful, terrible idea. Maybe if Courtney came with Derek and me on Saturday, I could keep him at bay without totally crushing his soul. Before I could talk myself out of it, I asked, “Hey, do you have anything planned this weekend?”

  “Nope. I was just going to go out to a club or something. Why?”

  “Well, on Saturday me and my friend Derek are going to the river. La . . . La . . . I forget the name, but it’s supposed to be fun. Maybe you and our roommates can come and we’ll make it a thing.”

  “Oh, that sounds like a dream! I’ll ask Lukie if he wants to go.”

  I almost snorted with laughter. That guy was so not a Lukie. I only held it together because I so loathed the idea of Lucas coming along. After what I just witnessed, I was convinced that he was some sort of psychopath and I didn’t exactly relish being out in the woods with him. But I couldn’t think of a reason to deny Courtney. “Yeah,” I said reluctantly. “Ask Lukie and I’ll ask Ashley.”

  “Super. He’s on his way to class now, so I’ll catch him after.” Her phone rang and she slapped it to her ear. She began to laugh loudly, which made people turn to glare at us like we were the rudest people on campus.

  “I have to go,” I said urgently. “Humanities is next and it’s halfway across campus.”

  Courtney nodded and waved, still laughing like a nut job.

  I was late again, and this time the professor had already started class. I tried to sneak in through the back, which at first I thought might work since this class was in another darkened auditorium, but then I got the death stare from the professor. I dropped into the first seat I could find and pulled out my things, readying myself for another dull hour.

  But the next hour was far from dull, because sitting right next to me was none other than Courtney’s new boyfriend, Lucas.

  2

  GOSSIP

  I was stunned. And in a grand show of coordination and feminine grace, I promptly knocked my books onto the floor with a loud smack. I picked them up quickly and tried to act like it had never happened, but I felt my face redden as several people glanced back at me, snickering. Lucas wasn’t looking at me, which was the only thing that saved me from total humiliation.

  We were at the back of the classroom, high above the professor. The lights were out to make the screen more visible, so all I could see of Lucas was his profile. I tried not to look at him, but it was hard. There was this peculiar vibe coming off of him.

  I’d always been good at reading people. Kind people. Bad people. Boring, angry, loving people ... there are a thousand types out there and they all give off a distinct vibe. Maybe it was nothing more than just acute observation skills, but I could usually tell what a person was like as soon as I met them.

  Lucas had a vibe rolling off of him like nothing I’d felt before. It was like every inch of his skin was trembling with pure unveiled anger. But he just sat back in his chair looking bored.

  I stole a glance at him, and I was surprised to see that his eyes were closed. I tried to be discreet as I leaned forward in my desk to get a better look at him. His face was like polished stone—smooth and utterly emotionless—except for his slanted black brows, which were knitted together just slightly. It was such a stark contrast to what I was sensing that I was instantly fascinated. How could someone so agitated look so calm?

  I continued to stare at him until his eyes snapped open. The lights flicked on at the exact same time and I jumped back as though I’d been burned. He looked dead at me.

  His eyes were wild—like an animal’s. Intense and angular, they were so light they were almost silver. It freaked me out for a second, but then he blinked and they returned to the black I had seen while he was kissing Courtney.

  Then I was really freaked. No way had that just happened! His eyes could not have just changed color.... It must have been the lighting. I tried to be calm and rationalize. Don’t pupils dilate in the dark? Yes . . . that must be it.

  Lucas’s eyes left mine and fell to the front of the room. I, too, returned my gaze to the professor and struggled to pay attention.

  “So,” said Professor Polk, “Next thing on the agenda is the group project, which is explained in detail on page three of your syllabus. You’ll all need to pick a partner. Go ahead and take a minute to choose someone.”

  I was still reeling from Lucas’s eyes so I looked around halfheartedly. Unfortunately, I was sitting at the end of the last row and the girl in front of me had already chosen her partner. Oh great . . . I knew what that meant: Lucas. I stared at my papers, avoiding looking up at him. Maybe he’d gotten someone else and I’d be able to find a partner next class.

  “Hey,” I heard a voice say. I turned and realized Lucas was speaking to me. Or, at least I thought he was. He was as motionless as a statue. Part of me wondered if I had imagined him speaking. But he was looking at me, his eyes, not black as I’d first thought, but dark brown, like molasses. “You want to partner?” He had a deep grating voice that was oddly pleasant. It suited him.

  I searched for an excuse. My bird died and I’m dropping out of school? I’m planning on taking a trip around the world? I’m going to go back to my room to turn into one of those crazy old ladies with twenty-five cats?

  Lucas’s eyes collapsed into a frown. “Hello?” He sounded irritated beyond belief.

  I glanced around one last time searching for some way out of this, but seeing none I said, “Sure, I guess so.”

  “Good.” He turned away from me and reclosed his eyes.

  “So . . .” I tried to make my brain work normally. “What’s the project on?”

  “It’s on the syllabus,” he said. His eyes remained closed.

  “I—I didn’t get one.” I looked around for a stack of them, which should have been somewhere at the front of the room, but wasn’t.

  “That’s because you were late.” He opened his eyes and picked up his syllabus. He handed it to me. “Keep it.”

  “Thanks.” I frowned and looked away.

  I spent the remainder of the class alternating among shooting nervous glances at Lucas, wondering why he was so mad, telling myself to stop obsessing over Courtney’s boyfriend, and trying not to do anything
stupid like drop my pen on his white sneaker and get blue ink all over it. Which, I did. Twice.

  Finally, mercifully, the professor released us and I gathered up my things. Lucas stood in one swift movement and looked down at me. I gaped up at him.

  Lord, he’s tall.

  “When do you want to do this thing?” he asked.

  “Huh?”

  Lucas rolled his eyes.

  “The project?” he said, enunciating every syllable like he was reading to a three-year-old.

  “Oh! I’ll meet you in the library so we can work out who’s doing what.”

  “Fine,” he said. “I can’t do it this week. I got plans.”

  “That’s okay,” I said. “How’s next Monday at three?”

  “Busy.”

  “Tuesday then?”

  “Make it the week after next.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Can I have your number?”

  His eyes flashed down at me.

  “In case I need to reschedule,” I said quickly.

  He just glared at me, looking right past my eyes and focusing somewhere around my ear.

  “Maybe just an e-mail?” I tried.

  He bent, snatched up my pen, and scrawled something on my notebook. He shoved it at me and then straightened.

  “Thanks,” I said, feeling my face flush from his nearness.

  He nodded curtly and walked away.

  I wrinkled my nose after him. What a grouch.

  I looked down at what he’d written on my notebook and saw a blob of scrunched up numbers, none of which resembled a phone number or e-mail address in any way.

  Awesome.

  I headed off to my next and final class for the day. It was another long hour of the professor explaining the syllabus, so I passed the time by texting Derek to tell him about my weird encounter with Lucas. He was just as upset by it as I was, which made me feel slightly better about the whole thing. At least I knew it wasn’t in my head.

  When six o’clock rolled around, I practically flew down the walkway toward the Union, where Spoons was located, eager to see Derek. I hurried to the restaurant and found that I was there before him. Odd. Derek was always on time.

  But within five minutes, he arrived and I discovered the reason for his tardiness. He was being followed by his two roommates, Mark and Pete. Mark was a short, stocky guy with heaps of thick muscles from his years of playing lacrosse. Pete, on the other hand, was tall and gangly with bright orange hair and no eyebrows. When I’d first met them, I remembered feeling their vibes envelope me and knowing that they were opposite in more than just looks. While Pete had a quirky, kind vibe, Mark’s was laced with a sour smugness that made me dislike him before I’d even heard him speak.

  As they came closer, I noticed that there was also a girl with blond hair and freckles attached to Pete, whom I assumed was his girlfriend.

  “Hey, guys,” I said when they strolled up.

  Derek stepped up and hug/kissed me. “Sorry we’re late,” he said, glaring at his roomies.

  “Yo, Faith,” Pete said. “Meet Heather.” He gestured to the girl standing next to him.

  “Hey, what’s up?” I waved at her.

  The girl smiled and said “hi” so softly I could hardly hear her over the noise in the hall. Her sweet, gentleness washed over me like a desert breeze, and I could immediately imagine myself being friends with her.

  “Let’s grab a table,” Derek said as he put his hand on my back and led me inside. I felt his fingers zap my skin, which made me jump. Stupid static electricity.

  I leaned over to him. “I didn’t know you were bringing Mark and Pete.”

  “They wouldn’t take the hint. Sorry, I know I said it’d just be us.” His eyes softened into mine.

  Uh-oh.

  “No,” I said waving him away. “It’s cool. This’ll be better; I can get to know them some more.”

  Derek looked put out, but he didn’t say anything.

  The hostess seated us in a corner booth at the back of the restaurant, and I slid in between Derek and Heather. We ordered drinks and everyone stared at the menus for a moment. Then Mark piped up.

  “Anybody hear about that murder in Denver?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “My suitemate said something about it in class today.”

  Derek’s eyes shot to mine. “What murder?”

  Suddenly I was uncomfortable. Four pairs of eyes were staring at me expectantly.

  “Ah . . . I don’t know,” I hedged. “She just said it happened last night.”

  “It’s the fifth one since June,” Mark said. “Totally random. All girls in their twenties.”

  “That’s sick,” Pete said.

  “Nah,” Mark continued. “That’s not even the sick part, man.” He seemed all too excited about this, but I was repulsed. “When they found the corpses,” Mark said. “They were exsanguinated. Like dried up old prunes.”

  I let out a noise of disgust and Derek put his hand on mine. I was so grossed out that I didn’t even try to remove it.

  “What’s . . . exsanguinated?” Pete asked.

  Mark rolled his light brown eyes. “Means they didn’t have any blood in their bodies, idiot.”

  “Well, ’scuse me, Mr. Vocabulary.”

  Mark guffawed and said, “Hell, yeah! I got a 2100 on my SATs.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Pete challenged. “I got a 2250, and 99th percentile on the math portion.”

  I glanced at Derek; he was concentrating very hard on his drink. Derek had done pretty badly on his SATs last year. He had to take it four times to get a decent score. If it hadn’t been for his athletic scholarship, he probably wouldn’t have gone to college at all. It was a sensitive subject for him. But before I could say anything, Heather cut in.

  “Who says that test is any measure of intelligence anyway?” she said softly. “Pete got a high score and he thought Nebraska was a city in Arkansas.”

  Everybody laughed and I smiled up at Derek, liking Heather more and more each minute.

  The waiter came by and took our orders and then Pete said, “So did they say who killed those girls?”

  Ugh, back to this. It was such a nasty topic for dinner.

  “Jeez, Pete,” I said. “Morbid much?”

  “Nah, just curious. We never had much of this in Missouri. It’s kinda exciting, you know?”

  “It’s exciting that five innocent girls are dead?” I asked skeptically.

  Pete looked down at his plate. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “You know what I think?” Mark said grimly. “I think it’s got something to do with that Whelan clan. Those guys are freaks.”

  “Never heard of them,” Derek said, looking like he couldn’t care less.

  “They’re this huge family that lives out in the Rockies,” Mark said. “Smack in the middle of nowhere. The town’s got some creepy name ... ghoul or something.”

  “Gould,” Heather supplied.

  “Whatever,” Mark said, waving her off. “They’ve been there forever, but up until recently, hardly anybody knew about them. Got this whole ... community thing going. I think it’s a cult, personally, but what do I know?” He started tearing up little bits of his bread as he spoke. “Once a month they have these gigantic parties, real loud and raucous. I dunno . . . there’s just something weird about them.”

  I resented that. Just because people were different, it didn’t make them killers. I knew lots of people who were labeled weirdos because of the way they looked, but were actually really nice people. Usually nicer than the normal people, who most of the time, were mean and heartless. “So,” I said. “Just because they happen to have parties once a month, they’re automatically suspects for murder? Maybe they’re just family-oriented.”

  Mark sniffed and his thick nostrils flared. Something superior played in his eyes, which only incited me further. “Maybe you have to be from here to understand,” he said. “People from big cities usually don’t get stuff like this. They’re jaded.”
r />   I gave him a cold stare. “Maybe there’s nothing wrong with the Whelans and it’s just people from small towns inventing cruel gossip to make their boring lives more interesting.”

  Mark pursed his lips and glared at me.

  “Chill, Faith,” Derek said in my ear.

  “Why?” I said, refusing to back down. “Just because someone is different, doesn’t make them weird or strange. It just means they’re different. It’s those kinds of small-town ideas that perpetuate the evil in this world, and it makes me sick.”

  “Yeah, well,” Mark said. “If you knew what the Whelans were up to in the mountains, you’d think differently.”

  “Oh, really?” I said, dripping sarcasm. “Do you know what’s going on up there or are you just spreading gossip?”

  Mark leaned back in his seat, a smug smile on his lips. “Yeah, I know what goes on up there. I used to date one of the Whelan chicks senior year of high school ... Beth or whatever.” He shrugged. “She took me up there once to meet her folks, and let me tell you, it was weird.” He glanced at me and said quickly, “Not weird like, different. Weird like ... scary. Everyone there looks alike, same shaped eyes, same noses, same hair.... I think it’s inbreeding, personally. They have like, fifty kids living up there but hardly any of them go to school ... all homeschooled, I guess.” He looked at Heather, who nodded like she agreed. “And when I met her parents,” Mark continued, “they started yelling at her saying she wasn’t supposed to bring me there—that it wasn’t safe.” He shuddered a little. “I don’t know. I didn’t stay much longer after that.”

  Everyone fell silent and I couldn’t find any more ammunition to argue back. I had to admit, that did sound freaky. But maybe Mark was reading too much into it. “Maybe you just had some preconceived notions when you went up there, so everything just seemed strange when it really wasn’t.”

  Mark sniffed haughtily. “Yeah, well how’s this for strange? Two of the Whelan boys came to our high school in my junior year—first time anyone had ever even heard of the Whelans, let alone seem one of ’em. Just showed up out of the blue, like they’d been going to school with us all their lives. One day, somewhere in January, one of them fell off the roof of the gym.”