This is a classic length chapter so longer than the previous ones. Longer chapters will have warnings to help you plan your time. 

To my horror, Luc also had biology just after lunch period. In the lecture classroom, he was seated in the back, whispering to a boy with jaw-dropping biceps.

They both saw me come in after Jen and... ahh...Why did he still look at me?

We settled at the front. I was determined to forget that mocking little gleam in his eyes but it also made me want to retract my neck.

The teacher identified me straight off. He came to my desk, warning me that he'd split a team of three to accommodate me in the lab.

"Maybe someone told you already, but at the start of each lecture, I allow a ten-minute presentation for any student that wishes to talk about something biology-related," he explained. "It's not graded. It's entirely voluntary. Kids have taken the habit of presenting an animal they didn't realize was weirder than we think. You're welcome to pitch in anytime, Riley."

"Oh, that sounds actually fun," I told Jen after he walked back to his desk. I had ideas on what to present.

"Totally. There's never a period without a presentation, so you have to schedule yours with Mr. Santos ahead of time," she informed.

A student was already taking the front to plug his flash drive into the computer. He was of an athletic build, with thick black hair and gym clothes. I assumed they were clean since nothing smelled funky.

The room quieted down and all it took was Mr. Santos' raised arm.

The first slide on the projector was...

Some blurry creature in the night with creepy glowing eyes, titled Land of the Cryptids.

I sought the teacher's reaction, but he was also staring in disbelief and kids were laughing behind me. The boy at the front clapped.

"The Mountain State is one of the states with the most unexplained sightings! To welcome our new girl, I changed my presentation during lunch. I promise there will be an animal we all know at the end!"

He pointed at me, all showman-like.

"Oh God," Jen giggled. "How thoughtful of him. That's Colt, by the way."

The teacher tapped on his desk to control the noise. He turned to the boy. "This is not what we use presentations for. I don't want you kids to start making spectacles. Did you ask our new student for permission?"

Of course not, but I wanted to hear what Colt had prepared even though I couldn't tell if I was embarrassed or amused. His mouth hung open at Mr. Santos' remarks.

I raised my hand. "He did, sir. I said it was okay."

It took a second, and then Colt gave me the biggest toothy smile as he stood by the canvas. I imagined he might be uncomfortable with the man's comments, and I'd have wished him good luck, but he didn't seem to need it.

Mr. Santos cringed once more at the slide. "Don't make me regret this, Colt."

People started giggling again when the second slide showed the weirdest bipedal sheep with horns I've ever seen.

A sheep-squatch. Some massive creature I might encounter since we were in the southern region. Colt said I should run if I smelled sulfur in the area. I shook my head at him, but those antics were hard to resist.

One couple claimed to have encountered one on a highway in the dark. He included a picture of deep claw marks left on the passenger door.

I'll admit that was troubling.

Colt carried on, pacing and motioning like he'd done this a million times.

"West Virginians love lore, and you won't find more enthusiasm than in Point Pleasant," he said, bright-eyed as the class cheered for that one. "The Mothman is a large, furry and winged creature with glowing red eyes, usually spotted around an abandoned TNT plant. His appearance often came with electrical disturbances. Not one, but two couples reported being chased after it in their cars in 1966. That same night, there were three other sightings in the area. So be sure to visit Point Pleasant, they have their annual Mothman festival this month. I'm going."

He winked.

"His most famous appearance was over the Silver Bridge moments before it collapsed in '67, killing forty-six people." The slide shifted to a picture taken while it was perched on top. "We think the Mothman is some bad omen because similar reports exist worldwide, always before a tragedy."

The next slide said But What About Oakwood? With the brutal wildlife contact from a few days ago in my mind, I got uneasy.

"Every county has its own stories and spottings," he went on. "Oakwood has very large forests surrounding it, providing the perfect habitat for undiscovered and rare species. For years, we've had sporadic attacks and were never able to determine what it is. Elderly locals associate many disappearances with the animal, like my 91-year-old grandma."

"Reports don't match with the sasquatch or sheepsquatch that are known to be shy. This is something that comes down from the mountains at times, greedily stealing dogs and cats... and humans."

"Colt," Mr. Santos threatened.

"It's not actually isolated to our town. Rural folks talk about seeing a hairless, emaciated humanoid on the highway or in their backyard. It's very fast and hard to catch on camera. In cultures such as Ojibwe, Eastern Cree and Innu, this could be a Wendigo. A human flesh-eater that was once also human, but became cursed after resorting to cannibalism, greed, or gluttony. It keeps coming back because it is never satiated."

Jen leaned into me. "This is the part where you learn that Colt almost never passes a drug test and believes anything."

Everyone else was listening with one ear, as I was sure they were familiar with the tale. A Wendigo had sharp claws and missing lips and toes which wasn't what I saw in the darkness.

"As most of you remember, my buddies and I went looking for it in 2015, hoping to catch it before trick-or-treating night," Colt revealed, now smiling at me enigmatically. "We didn't get close, but I did get a recording!"

A moment later, he pressed play on a video. It was utter chaos in some murky clearing with a fire in the middle. People were scrambling to pack their belongings.

He zoomed in on pale faces. I straightened in my chair, recognizing Sam... then Adam... then Jen and Emma in the background.

I stared at my table neighbor, and she rolled her eyes. "They made me do it. I was terrified."

Lauren's down by the truck, forget it! someone hollered in the footage.

Lauren... that same girl on the missing poster?

An older boy lurked along the edge of the meadow, rifle in his arms. The thing's high-pitch, furious scream wrapped around the mountain. My blood ran cold.

John! Leave it!

He abandoned his post after all, while the animal's unmistakable sound tore through the little group. It was near. And it was spot on with whatever chased me.

I looked around the silent classroom. Was this a prank? Because it wasn't funny.

Colt paused it, brows furrowed.

"I took this to wildlife specialists but we couldn't identify with certainty what we dealt with that night... and what might be roaming the outskirts of town. So you should be careful with the outdoors here. It's not like in the Golden State. Anyway!" he rushed out when he noticed the teacher's expression. "Here's our official animal—the black bear. They're cute, especially the cubs, but this is not a dog you want to pet and they're increasingly living within five miles of a major city."

He moved on to a GIF of a black bear using a tree to scratch its butt.

"Remember the rule : if it's black, fight back."

I forced a smile when it was over, but the lunch I just ate rolled heavy in my stomach. Mr. Santos hesitated yet called on questions anyway. Someone in the back raised their hand.

"Get a life, dude," Luc hollered.

Kids burst out in chatter, and Colt shot right back at him some unintelligible words. I glanced over my shoulder. He was smiling like one would smile at a nutcase, arms folded across his chest.

Jen nodded. "All this time and he chose to spend it on scaring you. He's full of shit."

I didn't want to believe him either.

▲▲▲

Some kids invited me to hang out at the park after hours. The sun and wind was good, so I accepted. At the picnic tables, I had to endure people's impersonation of the average Californian.

One expected me to say cowabunga or gnarly anytime.

When the food duty kids returned with fresh hot dogs, everyone watched me. Felt like I was in a minefield. I reached for the ketchup—

"I win!" Colt howled, and I shrank on the spot.

"What?"

"Ten bucks says you'd reach for the ketchup," he said as his buddy slapped a bill in his hand. "That's not how you eat a hot dog here, girl."

Even the three friends I met today were approving his words.

"There's a hillbilly way to eat it?"

The small crowd hit the roof. Adam was grinning up to his ears while making them calm down.

That was just fair game.

Emma took the slaw and chili bowl and generously stacked them on my hot dog. Topped off with mustard and a sprinkle of onions, she passed the sloppy oddity to me.

"This is the way. Even the toddlers know."

My first bite was heavily monitored again. But... well, it was tasty! Everyone released a round of laughs and table drums.

"Pretty different from your gluten-free fat-free salads, huh?"

"I don't know why you think we all eat like that."

My presence attracted locals—babysitters and parents—to the point there was a tiny party to greet me as I finished my food. I've never been so validated in my hatred of being the center of attention. After some back and forth, we reconciled over this thing they call a pepperoni roll dipped in sauce. Impossible to keep my fingers clean.

Jen gave me a ride home.

I climbed the stairs to my room and crashed into bed. The public visibility sucked the energy out of me. And I refused to examine what the hell was Colt's recording. But all my new friends were there that night with him.

My brain was on overload.

Dad gently pushed open my door, sweeping my room with a glance.

"Hey, kiddo. How'd you survive your first day?"

I opened my eyes and let it all out.

I thought of all those missing teens again and their pictures taped on the front doors. I straightened up. "Did you know how many kids disappeared around here? It's insane."

A shadow darkened his face. Dad crossed the doorway and sat at the edge of my bed.

"Yes, I recently became aware of that. I can't imagine what those families are going through." His brows furrowed until he noticed my phone on the nightstand. "Uh oh. Is this dark magic?"

Oh shit, um...

"I thought I lost it outdoors but... it turns out I dropped it in the hall closet. When I was putting on my shoes."

"That's convenient," he said, and I was scared he saw right through me for a second. "We don't need to buy a new one."

I didn't have the energy nor the will to mention who found my phone and how.

"Did you make friends? How were the classes?"

"Yes. They're fun people..." I told him about Emma, Sam and Jen instead. "They actually invited me to a soccer game tonight, but I figured I'd had enough socializing for now. I don't know them that well."

He laid a hand over my sock. "Riles, as your father, I feel like you should go. We promised ourselves we'd try new experiences here."

What he said was true, at least the part about promising to try new things.

"Then come with me. We can go see the game together."

He sighed, and I knew what was coming. "I wish I could, Riles. Tonight, I have to wait for this phone call from my co-worker and sort out a few things at the lab. It's not something I can take on a soccer field. I'm sorry."

"There's a Mothman festival next weekend. It's one hour away."

"Oh no," he laughed. "You want to check that out?"

"We could," I said. "You've heard of the Mothman?"

"Of course, when I was younger. It was all the rage. Lots of cryptid nerds flock to that place for a photo with their statue."

Something about the slight jeer when he said nerd. Things like this made me imagine how he was at my age. He didn't talk much about his teenage years.

He let go of my foot. "Now, that doesn't mean you can't go to the game without me. On the contrary, it'll be good for you if I'm not there. I wouldn't want to embarrass you in front of your new friends."

He'd faster embarrass all my friends rather than me if he wasn't careful. Though nothing would top the day he dropped in with the work helicopter.

"I gave some more thought to the other day," he brought up. "With what you saw and the people going missing, I thought why don't we build you a stun gun?"

Well, I had a few questions.

"I can't just buy one?" I bet they had cute ones on the internet. Dad's designs were military style. Meh.

He waved an idle hand. "No, the ones on the market are weaksauce. I can give you more milliamps and volts, a solid frame machined at work..."

"That sounds like something I'm not allowed to carry,"

"Keep it in your period bag. No one will be the wiser. Besides, you'd look really goofy with a pink rhinestone miniature hooked to your house keys."

I sighed. So there was no talking him down from this new project.

"Fine... What's the catch?" He wasn't just going to bestow it like a gift from the sky.

Dad grinned as he rubbed his chin. "I'm going to have you write on which parts you'd use to build a stun gun and why. Where you'd source your materials... what makes a stun gun powerful and how you'd want to control it."

"Light homework, I see."

"Don't worry about perfection. If you don't know something, I'll tell you all about it." He leaned down to kiss my temple.

I dwelled on it for a second after he left the room, until a ringing frenzied my phone on the nightstand. I snapped the book shut and waddled to it, seeing Mom's profile picture filling up the whole screen. My fingers immediately flicked upward.

"Hey, baby!" came the quick, excited response. The background was a cream-white wall with a single flowery wallpaper band across the middle. Her jet-black head leaned on the back of a couch. Must be their room.

I smiled for her, waving to the camera. Mom and I left each other at the airport when I was departing for West Virginia, and she headed her own way. "How late is it there?"

"About 9 p.m. and we just finished eating some bagel bites. I wanted to show you something. Ready?"

"Uh, sure." As I finished, Suzan's blond hair swept the square before she butted in. She greeted me. Mom got up and switched to front-facing. She walked through a simple yet crafty, sculpted living room area.

Not many adornments around the room, but it had numerous windows and was made of solid wood. She arrived at a back door that reminded me of ours at home, the one with the view of the ocean.

"You're going to love it," she roused. Her long-boned hand clenched around the handle and it swung on a dim balcony and to the music of whitecap waves that almost stung my eyes.

Moonlight glinted off a steady onslaught of ridges in the distant water.

I yearned to reach through the screen and feel the coolness. My breath just kind of... slipped away. "Oh my God... it's so pretty."

"You shouldn't have had to give up surfing, bunny. It's your one true love."

"I mean, you sold our house to those investors." I paced my words, because I wasn't trying to sound petty or annoyed. The guys in suits and ties showed up with a buttload of much-needed cash. "We all had to go somewhere after that."

The camera switched back to Mom's oblong face. In the pale light reflecting off the beach, it seemed smoother than I remembered.

With the split, I was caught between my parents at times.

I'd stayed at the beach house with her to continue my homeschooling. Dad lived in an apartment complex nearby but was too busy with military stuff to stick around.

His absence wasn't worth the promised two Christmases and the two birthdays. I asked for him a lot, not always in the most polite way when I was upset.

After what I pulled, she never looked at me the same, even though she said everything was fine.

Many things happened at once as the investors arrived like a whirlwind. Suzan was a work friend who offered Mom a getaway as her own fresh start. Dad was heading home and retiring for real. Huge money was offered.

"And far you went," Mom murmured, her eyes a shimmering pool. She shook her head. "I can't believe Harris took you this far. I just don't understand. You guys could have stayed in Cali. You could have found another beach and gone to a school there. God, what's the name again?"

"Oakwood. It's close to the Ohio border." This position was the best paying one for his skill level. I accepted it. It sounded crazy just thinking about it, abandoning surfing and my hometown, but I'd been without him for so long.

Home wasn't great ever since my parents split.

And while I could tell it was important for Mom to reorganize her personal life, I wasn't ready to stay with the parent that planned to date. Maybe it was a home-schooled thing, but adapting to new people was a bunch of uninvited stress, let alone a new person in the house, potentially twenty-four-seven.

"Oakwood," Mom repeated slowly. Her chin swung up.

I waited for her to ask about my first day in school, and my heart sank a little when I realized she had forgotten to. I gathered my courage.

"I went to school today and met some kids." A set of startling green eyes popped into my mind and I fought to push it into a remote corner. "They have a book club and even a pool."

The door closed in the background and she strode further out on the balcony. She smiled. "Oh! I just know you're going to out-swim your classmates and impress everyone. How were the kids?"

I rolled on my back, my smile turned genuine. "They're nice. Very curious and talkative, and they take food seriously." I described each one from the group at the hotdog event. More could be said about Emma who I followed around all day. By the time I'd finished, Mom's expression relaxed.

"I'm glad it's going well for you, though I wish you didn't have to be so far from where I'll have to come back." Two scarlet circles appeared on her cheeks. "I'm going to have to discuss visits with your father. This isn't what I agreed to."

I winced as she brought it up. Either we wouldn't see each other often or I'd have some rocky school year full of back-and-forths across the states. "It's Dad's job. You know what it's like. And we're fine. I'm really having a good time."

Unlike Dad, I could not tell her about that awful encounter in the woods without a total freak-out. She would blame it on him and hold grudges. Besides, I wasn't lying.

She sulked a little in the background. "I'm sure you are, now." The camera stopped inches from her face and suddenly she was grinning. "You mentioned a soccer game tonight? You should go, see those new friends."

"I..."

"Riley."

Yeah, yeah, got it. I wasn't going to let her say it. Be brave, bunny. "Fine. But I'm going to be late."

"Don't let that stop you. I gotta go, too." A big, wet smooch smothered the camera. "I love you."

"Love you, too."

✩