The Savage Grace: A Dark Divine Novel (4 page)

I scowled. “What the heck is he doing here?”

“Good evening to you, too, kid,” he said, and tipped his baseball cap to me and then winked at April.

My hands balled into fists. I’m pretty sure I’d warned him what I’d do the next time he called me “kid.”

“I come bearing gifts, at least,” he said, and indicated the bowl of rocks. “Those boys out there looked like they were about to fall over. I sent most of them home. Marcos and I are sharing rock duty for a while.”

By
home
I assumed he meant Maryanne Duke’s old house, where the boys had been crashing for the time being—until Dad and I can figure out what the heck to do with five homeless teenage werewolves.

“But that still doesn’t explain
why
you came here in the first place,” I said. “I told you to stay away from me.”

“I asked Talbot to take the night shift with Jude,” Gabriel said. “I need to get some rest since I’ll have to deal with a couple hundred high school students tomorrow.” He stifled a yawn that must have been brought on by the very prospect of it. I still found it hard to believe that Dad had hired an eight-hundred-some-year-old werewolf to teach religion at the Christian private school I attended. But I found it even harder to understand why Dad and Gabriel would trust Talbot—like he’d had
nothing
to do with Caleb.

“You’ve got him babysitting Jude now?”

Not that I didn’t agree that Jude needed someone to keep an eye on him while he … adjusted to being back in Rose Crest. I just didn’t think that person should be Talbot. I know it’d been revealed that Talbot was Gabriel’s great-great-add-in-a-few-dozen-more-greats nephew, but I hoped the sudden familial obligation Gabriel felt toward Talbot didn’t come back to bite him.

“Thank you, Talbot,” Dad said, ignoring my comment. “I’ll take you up on the offer to accompany me to the warehouse.” He picked up a couple of books and stuffed them in his briefcase. “So it’s settled. Grace, have April take you home so you can get some sleep before school tomorrow. I have to do some visits at the nursing home in the morning, and then Talbot and I will head over to the warehouse around lunch. I want to make sure we get out of there before nightfall.”

“Sounds good,” Talbot said.

“But—” I tried to protest.

“I said it was settled.” Dad snapped his briefcase shut and gave me a look that said that if I pushed one more time,
nobody
would be going to the warehouse. Then his eyes softened. “Let me do this for you, Grace. Let me be your father and protect you when I still can. Let’s make sure Daniel has a future to come back to.”

“Okay,” I said softly. “Marcos is still outside, isn’t he?”

Talbot nodded.

“Ask him if he’ll go with you, too.” I didn’t want to say it out loud, but I didn’t want my dad going anywhere alone with Talbot.

“Okay,” Dad said.

I grabbed my jacket.

“Maybe you should go visit your brother on the way out,” Dad said. “I think he’d appreciate seeing you.”

“Not tonight,” I said softly; then I sidestepped around Talbot and went out the office door.

April gathered up her things and followed me out into the foyer. She stopped when I passed the stairwell that led to the basement of the parish where Jude was holed up—locked up—for observation.

“I’m going to drop off some dinner for Jude.” April held up the paper sack from the Rose Crest Café. “Do you want to come down with me? Your dad is right. I think Jude would like to see you.”

I shook my head and leaned against the wall. “I’ll wait.”

“You’ve been practically living at the parish for the last few days, and you haven’t been down there to see him once. After everything you went through to get him back … it just doesn’t seem like you to ignore him like this.”

“I know.” It wasn’t very
grace-like
at all. It’s just that there had been something in my brother’s eyes the last time I looked him in the face—back in the warehouse when I found out he’d asked to come home—that’d scared me. They didn’t look like
his
eyes at all. Like my brother wasn’t
my brother
anymore. I didn’t know if it was just a flash of emotion I’d seen—guilt, anger, remorse—or if his eyes were telling me we’d brought a monster back with us instead of Jude.

I wasn’t ready to go see him yet because I was afraid of what I might find if I looked him in the eyes again.

What if I didn’t see my brother there at all?

April gave me a sad smile and then headed for the stairs.

“Be careful,” I said. “We still don’t know why Jude asked to come back home. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
emotionally or physically.

April nodded, and I felt a pang of guilt as I let her go down the stairs without me.

“Grace?”

I sighed heavily and turned away from Talbot. He’d followed us out into the hall—I should have known that I wouldn’t get by him so easily. I pursed my lips, determined not to talk to him.

“What you said in there, about Daniel not being able to—”

“Stop,” I said. I’d never been very good at holding my tongue. “You don’t have the right to ask me anything about
him.
”

“Then can I ask when you’re going to give me another chance? When are you going to trust me?”

“I trusted you before, Talbot. I trusted you when I thought you were the only person on my side. You were supposed to be my mentor. I thought you were my
friend
. But you were working for Caleb all along. You were the enemy.”
You’re one of the people responsible for what happened to Daniel.

“You seem to be forgetting the part where I turned on Caleb and tried to help you escape. And then I used my powers to help heal you. Do you know how difficult that all was? But I did it because I care about you. Because we
are
friends. I’m on your side now.” He sighed. “So what more do I have to do to prove to you that I’m a changed man?”

I was quiet until I heard April’s footsteps coming back up the stairs from the basement. “Keep my father safe tomorrow,” I said, and stepped outside through the exit doors without looking back.

MONDAY, AT SCHOOL

If Dad had thought a day at school would be good for my sanity, he couldn’t have been more wrong.

Part of the “home and hospital” arrangement for Daniel was that I was supposed to gather his missed assignments from his teachers through the day. Which meant I was hit over and over again in the gut each time I was asked how he was doing, and had to lie through my teeth about how his doctor thought it should only be a few more days, and how appreciative he was that they were willing to let him make up his assignments. I swear my neck must have looked like it was on fire considering how many fibs I had to tell.

To add insult to injury, Daniel’s homework pile was so heavy I had to use some of my superstrength just to heft my backpack around. He’d missed almost a whole week of school before the midterm break, and since the policy for sick leave was that he still needed to turn in his assignments by the end of this month—it meant that
I
was going to have a lot to do in the next few weeks if I wanted to keep Daniel from flunking out of high school.

As if I didn’t already have enough on my plate.

But things only got worse in fourth period when Mr. Barlow handed me two thin manila envelopes in addition to a stack of drawing exercises for Daniel. “I think you’ll be needing these,” he said. “I’m sure Daniel has been asking about it. Thought I’d put his mind at ease so he can rest and get better.”

My expression must have said something like,
Huh?
because Barlow tapped the envelopes on top the pile and said, “They’re your and Daniel’s letters for Trenton.”

“Letters for Trenton?”

“Don’t tell me Daniel’s forgotten about the application due date? If so, we’d better get a whole team of doctors in there to look him over. Might have fever-induced amnesia or something.”

Oh no!
I almost dropped the whole stack of papers.
How could I have forgotten about our Trenton applications?
If there was one thing Daniel wanted (other than to regain his human form, I suppose), it was admission into the Amelia Trenton Art Institute. It had one of the best industrial design departments in the country—and was pretty much everything Daniel had staked his future on.

“No,” I said. “Of course not. He’s just been a little slow at getting things together. Being … sick and all.” I bit my lip. “Is there any chance they’d accept a late application?”

“I’m afraid not.” Barlow stroked his jowls. “It’s a competitive school. All their slots and the waiting list will fill up just from the applications that are turned in on time. Both you and Daniel will need to get your applications, essays, letters of recommendation, and your portfolios turned in by Friday of this week, or neither of you stands a chance—no matter how good your work is.” Barlow put his hand on my shoulder. “I wish there was something more I could do.”

“No.” I indicated the letters. “These are enough.” I left Barlow’s office and headed for my desk. My hands were shaking, and I wanted to put all those papers down before I lost them all over the floor.

“You okay?” Katie Summers asked as she slipped into the empty seat that should have been occupied by Daniel. I wanted to tell her to move, but instead I gave a slight smile and said, “Yeah. I’m just worried about Daniel, you know.”

“I bought him a little present to help him feel better.” She smiled sweetly, but I couldn’t help noticing that the regulation khakis and polo shirt required by HTA’s conservative dress code looked down right salacious the way she wore them. Katie was one of those girls who could make anything seem sexy. “I was thinking I’d stop by his place this afternoon to drop it off.”

“No!” I practically shouted. “I mean, he’s like super-freaking-contagious. You don’t want to go over there.” The last thing I needed was for Katie to show up at Daniel’s place to find not only that he was missing, but also that a pack of teenage were-boys lived there—especially looking like she did.

“Oh, okay,” she said, scrunching her nose. “Will you give it to him for me then?”

She pulled a small package from her knapsack. It was wrapped in paper decorated with an exquisite, intricately hand-drawn design I didn’t doubt she’d done herself. A lot of work on her part for a present to
my
boyfriend
.

“Yeah, sure.” I know Daniel had sworn that nothing had ever happened between him and Katie—but I couldn’t help getting the feeling that she
wanted
something to.

I glanced from the present to Daniel’s Trenton letter sitting on my table. An old sneaking thought trickled into my mind—in between everything else I had to worry about—what if Daniel and Katie were the ones who got acceptances to Trenton, and not me?

The two of them headed off to college together.…

Gah. None of this was good for my sanity. I took the present from Katie and shoved it into my backpack with all of Daniel’s and my assignments.

What else could this day possibly throw at me?

LATER

The ring of the lunch bell couldn’t have come soon enough.

“I’m gonna go to Day’s to get Jude some lunch,” April said, with the keys to her car in her hand. It’s a good thing she was around, or my brother would probably starve, considering everything else I had on my mind.

“I’ll hitch a ride with you,” I said. I needed to get away from the school for a while.

She gave me a hopeful smile. I’m sure she was thinking I’d changed my mind about visiting Jude. I hoped she wouldn’t be too disappointed that I was only planning on going with her to the grocery store.

I know I shouldn’t have been surprised by the fact that Ryan, Slade, Brent, and Zach were waiting outside the school when April and I headed out to the parking lot. You’d think they’d be able to figure out what to do with themselves other than wait around for me all day.

Then again, I was glad they weren’t left to their own devices.…

I let them ride over to Day’s with us, but Brent was in one of his more sarcastic moods—driving both Ryan and Slade to the brink of punching him in the nose—so I insisted they wait outside while April and I went into the store.

April headed over to the deli to order a couple of sandwiches. I wandered down one of the aisles until I found a stash of PowerBars. Just what I needed to get through this day. I picked up three that sounded the least disgusting and grabbed a bottled iced tea from the refrigerated section.

Brunch of champions
, I thought as I got in line at the cash registers with the realization that I’d forgotten to eat this morning. The emptiness in my stomach was so distracting I didn’t pay much attention to anything, until I heard Mr. Day ask the customer in front of me what he planned on doing about all that howling last night.

My head snapped up, and I realized that I was standing behind none other than Deputy Marsh. Pretty much my least-favorite person in town—and the last person I wanted
doing
something about Daniel’s howling.

“Few of the guys from the lodge are itching to get a hunting party together,” Marsh said as he handed a pastrami sandwich and a prepackaged protein shake over to Mr. Day to ring up. “That howling can’t mean anything good coming our way, not with this town’s history. And it looks like we already have a victim on our hands.”

“Who?” Mr. Day asked, with no incredulity evident in his voice. I could tell by the look on his face that he was thinking about his granddaughter Jessica, who had supposedly been a victim of one of this town’s infamous wild-dog attacks almost a year ago.

“Just got word that the doctors over at City Hospital are saying that Pete Bradshaw kid was attacked by an animal rather than a person, like we first thought. There are bite marks to prove it. The kid’s still unconscious, but he’s stable. I’m eager to find out what he knows.”

Part of me had wanted to sigh audibly after hearing that Daniel would no longer be a suspect in the Pete Bradshaw case—Deputy Marsh had jumped to the assumption that Daniel was gunning to take down Pete for what he did to me last December—but I almost dropped my grocery basket because of what Mr. Day did next.

“If you get a hunting party together, I’ll supply the ammunition,” Mr. Day said, and pulled a small box out from under the counter and set it in front of Marsh. I squinted at the writing on the box. Most of it looked like words written in a foreign language, but there was one line in English that said: handcrafted silver bullets
.
“Special ordered these from a guy in Romania.”

Deputy Marsh chuckled uneasily as he picked up the package. “Silver bullets? What kind of wolf do you think we’d be hunting?”

“You can never be too careful,” Mr. Day said, his tone dead serious. He’d been a believer in the Markham Street Monster ever since his granddaughter’s body had been discovered, mauled and mutilated, in the Dumpster behind his store. I should have known it wouldn’t take long for someone like him to put two and two together and realize that the monster had to be a werewolf.

“You’re a crazy old coot, Day, but I won’t go passing up an offer for free amo.”

I was about to protest when Michelle Evans, who was buying a five-pound bag of dog food from Stacey Canova at the next register, spoke up before me. “You can’t just go shooting wolves.” She gave Deputy Marsh the evil eye. “They may have been removed from the endangered species list, but you still need to apply for a permit.”

“We did, ma’am.” Deputy Marsh tipped his hat to her. “One more attack and Fish and Wildlife Services will expedite a permit—and then I’m going hunting.”

I watched with horror as Deputy Marsh tucked the box of silver bullets into his jacket pocket and sauntered away. It took Mr. Day asking three times before I realized I was next in line. “How’s Daniel feeling?” he asked as I stepped up to the counter.

“Still the same,” I mumbled. If only Mr. Day knew his favorite employee was the one he was endangering with those silver bullets. But Deputy Marsh had always hated Daniel, so the truth would probably put Daniel even more at risk.

“We sure do miss him around here.”

“Me, too,” I said.

April was still waiting at the deli counter, so I paid for my stuff and went out in front of the store before anyone could notice just how badly my hands shook.

Silver bullets
. Hunters after Daniel was bad enough, but ones equipped with weapons that could actually kill him…

The boys were gathered near a tree at the far end of the parking lot. Ryan and Brent were engaged in some sort of wrestling match, with Zach egging them on. Slade held a cigarette to his lips and took a deep drag. I watched as Deputy Marsh veered from heading to his patrol truck and started to make a beeline toward them. No doubt thinking he was going to bust a gang of truant kids from the public school in Oak Park. “No loitering,” he shouted.

“They’re my cousins,” I said as I passed him. “Visiting from … Michigan. They’re on fall break. I’ll tell them to go somewhere else.”

Marsh looked at me with narrowed eyes. “Whatever. I’m on my lunch break,” he said, and headed back toward his car.

“Put it out,” I said to Slade as I came up to the guys. Brent dropped his sleeper hold on Ryan when he saw me.

Slade gave me a snide look.

“I said put it out!”

I grabbed the cigarette from his lips and flung it to the ground, then stomped it out with my foot. Slade growled as if he wanted to lunge at me, but the other three boys stepped in between us.

“We’ve got more important things to do than for you guys to be hanging around getting hassled by the police. That very deputy is looking to get a wolf-hunting party together—with silver bullets! That means all of you are in danger, and Daniel, too. Which means I need all of you to head over to the warehouse to help my dad look for a moonstone. Now!” I should have told Dad to take all of them in the first place, not just Marcos. But if they went quickly, they’d get there in time to help out. Dad said he and Talbot wouldn’t be able to go out there until lunchtime.

Slade gave me an indignant sneer, but Zach and Ryan bowed their heads to acknowledge the order. Brent grabbed my arm.

“The Shadow Kings’ warehouse? We can’t go back there!” he said, his voice sounding more urgent than I’d ever heard it. Not a hint of humor.

“Why?”

“Caleb’s backup plan. He always has a backup. There’s a fail-safe in case he had to abandon the building.”

“What do you mean? Is the place being watched? Are the SKs back there?”

“No. They wouldn’t go back there. Nobody should.

That building is wired to explode!”

“What?” I dropped my grocery bag. The bottle of iced tea shattered when it hit the concrete. “How do you know?”

Brent’s face went absolutely white. “Because I built the explosives myself.”