Syndrome, page 1
part #2 of The Shift Chronicles Series
Syndrome
Book Two of the Shift Chronicles
S.M. Gaither
Copyright © 2015, 2020 by S.M. Gaither
Cover by Covers by Juan
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Never Miss a New Relase!
1. warning
2. reunion
3. comforting
4. new girl
5. past
6. lost
7. points
8. asleep
9. murderer
10. the only reason
11. interrogation
12. territorial
13. syndrome
14. illusions
15. prophecy
16. forgetting
17. foolish
18. heaviness
19. nothing
20. dreaming
21. observations
22. impossible
23. defiant
24. invincible
25. strings
26. control
27. the end
28. light
epilogue
Never Miss a New Relase!
Never Miss a New Relase!
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One
warning
It’s hard to keep track of time when you’re a wolf.
It’s hard to keep track of anything if you’re not careful, really. The euphoria of sounds and smells that my canine senses brought to me always shoved aside the worries that plagued my human mind. And time was usually the first thing that became irrelevant when I went from two legs to four—so it came as no surprise when I broke the cover of trees and raced to the top of a hill to find the sun already sinking below the distant mountaintops.
(It’s getting kind of late. We should probably head back.) Vanessa’s voice in my head sounded nervous, which wasn’t surprising. These were dangerous times, I knew—and I could never forget it thanks to Vanessa.
She reminded me of it every chance she got.
Although I guess her anxiety was somewhat reasonable.
Quite a few people did want me dead, after all.
But it was that bounty on my head that made me all the more hesitant to agree to head home. It might’ve been dangerously secluded up in these parts, but at least here I had the freedom to move around as my more powerful lycan self without having to worry too much. Once we headed back down the mountain, the danger of being sighted became a problem. I didn’t even want to think about what the humans around here would do if they knew giant wolves were traipsing about in the woods behind their houses. That definitely wouldn’t help the panic levels around here, which were already close to being through the roof with everything that had been going on lately.
(Alex?) Vanessa’s insistent voice in my head was accompanied by a nudge against my shoulder, and I reluctantly abandoned the sunset and turned to her. I had to lower my head to meet her deep brown eyes, because Vanessa’s legs—long and graceful as they were—still only lifted her to about a foot shorter than I stood. Her fur was normally a brilliant white, but it had rained last night, so most of the long, feathered strands were caked with clumps of dried mud that she was trying to pull out with her teeth as she waited for my reply.
(Yeah, we probably should,) I said, casting one last lamenting look at the sunset.
These trips never lasted long enough. If I had my way, I would have stayed a wolf indefinitely, would have stayed up here forever with nothing but the scenic views of the Appalachian Mountains for company.
Unfortunately, though, I had a human life to get back to.
I had a role to play, to keep people thinking everything was normal at our house.
I owed that much to my mother—even if she wasn’t really my mother.
The last couple of months had been rough on her. My dad died this past June, in what the tiny town of Dayton, North Carolina, still regarded as a drowning accident. I knew the truth, of course. It was no accident. Pretty sure my ‘mom’ knew that too, even though I’d never found the nerve to tell her what had really happened—especially not after Lora disappeared.
I hadn’t seen my little sister in over two months now. To stifle the curiosity of our neighbors—who, as small-town southerners, were born nosey and learned to gossip before they crawled— my mom and I had concocted this bogus story that Lora’d gone north and was staying with family we had in Maryland.
And I’d tried to convince myself that maybe our lie was possible. The truth, though, was that I didn’t have a clue where Lora was.
Nobody did.
That was another part of the reason I took every opportunity I could to get out of Dayton, to comb the surrounding wilderness in search of her. I’d gotten as far as the Virginia-Maryland border so far, and during the upcoming fall break from school, I planned on going farther.
That is, if I could talk Vanessa and the others into not trying to stop me.
(You know you’re probably going to get a lecture from Kael when we get back, for being out this late so close to a full moon? Especially with all the weird stuff that’s been going on around here lately.)
(You know I really don’t care?) I replied.
(I’m just saying.)
(He worries entirely too much.)
(Only about you,) Vanessa said, her lips peeling back into what resembled a very human-like grin.
(Don’t you even start that again,) I warned.
(What? I think it’s cute.)
(And just what do you mean by ‘it’?) A tiny growl slid out alongside my words. Before she could reply, I turned and bounded back down the hill. I was faster than her, and for a few minutes I took advantage of that. But the second I started to slow my pace, she was by my side again.
(Denial is an ugly thing, Alex.)
I cut my eyes sideways at her as we raced through the trees. (I am not denying anything.)
(Keep telling yourself that.) Her soft laughter echoed through my head.
I didn’t bother arguing with her after that. There wasn’t any point—we’d had this particular conversation plenty of times during the past month or so. I had yet to convince Vanessa that I didn’t have any need for a matchmaker, and I wasn’t feeling up to trying again today.
Luckily, there was plenty to be distracted by in this place, so ignoring Vanessa’s musings about me and Kael's happily ever after was easy enough.
I don’t know how I could possibly describe what it’s like to be aware of everything at once. It had taken awhile to get use to these senses, but now I was able to pick apart individual scents with amazing accuracy. I could tell you every single animal that had crossed this trail over the past few days, and where they’d gone since. And as for my hearing? Let’s just say I wouldn’t suggest trying to sneak up on me. Right now, I could hear cars on the highway—even though it was twenty-something miles away.
Of course, the enhanced senses had a downside; when you could smell and hear everything within a five-mile radius, there wasn’t a lot that went unnoticed.
Whether you wanted to notice it or not was beside the point.
We’d just waded our way across Third Creek when a scent I would have given anything to ignore wafted into my nostrils. I slowed to a stop and let my paws sink into the fresh mud along the creek bank. Vanessa stopped trying to shake the water from her fur and glanced back over her shoulder.
(Alex? What’s wrong?)
I lifted my nose and breathed in a few more snatches of air, just to be sure. (Don’t you smell that?)
Vanessa walked back to my side and followed my example, closing her eyes and lifting her long snout into the wind. She was quiet for several moments, and then: (Oh, God. Is that what I think it is?)
(It’s coming from this direction,) I said, turning to the left. The mud squelched off my feet as I lifted them onto firmer ground and started to run.
(Alex!)
(It isn’t coming from far away,) I said before Vanessa could start the protest I knew was coming.
(I know it isn’t far away—which is precisely why we should be running in the opposite direction! Whatever did it could still be hanging around!)
(There are two of us.) I finished splashing back across the creek and started to pick my way up an outcropping of rocks lining the hillside behind it. (We’ll be fine.)
(Fine? How does that make it fine? That’s terrible logic, and this is a bad idea.)
I focused only on the path in front of me, and Vanessa’s voice became background noise even though she was racing right behind me. The salty, metallic scent was getting stronger, and I was pretty sure I knew for a fact now: it was human blood.
A lot of human blood.
I pumped my legs as hard as I could, throwing up a whirlwind of leaves behind me as I darted in and out of the trees.
I was getting better, it was true, but in a lot of ways I was still a novice at best when it came to tracking. Maybe that was the reason that reaching the source of the smell seemed to take a lot longer than it should have. When we finally did reach it, I had to stop and take a second to catch my breath before I could see straight enough to fully take in the sight before me.
The man propped against the tree looked l
His shoulders were slumped, and the tan hat he wore was dipped forward and covered his eyes, as if he’d been trying to block out the sun. I watched his chest for almost a full minute.
It didn’t rise.
His hands were resting in a pool of blood in his lap.
(Well that’s incredibly creepy.) Vanessa let out a low whine as she backed away from the corpse.
I took two steps toward it, morbid curiosity getting the better of me.
(Another warning?) I wondered. That was the theory we’d come up with—the reason for all these attacks. Valkos was trying to get our attention.
My attention.
(Looks like it. It was definitely a werewolf that did this.) Most of Valkos’s army was made up of lycans who, thanks to the ancient pact my grandfather created, couldn’t harm a single hair on a human’s head. But he also had a handful of werewolves still loyal to him—and he’d been making the most of them this past month or so.
Vanessa sniffed the air. (It was a younger female. Not anyone I...) She stopped and tilted her head to the side, then closed her eyes and took a few more deep sniffs. (No. Not anyone I recognize.)
The scent struck me as vaguely familiar— not enough so that I could identify it with any sort of confidence, though. So I just nodded in agreement, taking another step toward the body. His hat was covering most of his face, but I could still see the laugh-lines etched around his mouth, and the stubble on his chin. He looked like he might’ve been in his late thirties, early forties maybe.
Probably somebody’s dad.
(Maybe I should just give Valkos what he wants?) I said miserably.
That, or let any of the dozens of neighboring packs that wanted to kill me just go ahead and do it.
Then the pact would be permanent, and maybe this would stop.
(Don’t be stupid. That would only make things worse.)
(You guys keep saying that, but what if—)
(We should go.)
I didn’t answer her one way or the other. I just kept staring at the dead man’s hat. (Why didn’t we stop this?) I asked after a minute.
(Alex, there’s no way we could have known what—)
(And why are there werewolves here anyway? I know this is technically no man’s land, but we’re close enough to the Jonas Ridge pack’s territory that they should have been keeping an eye on things here, right?)
(Maybe. But their numbers are looking pretty dismal these days, so maybe they didn’t have anyone to spare for patrol duty? So many have left the area, since...well, you know.)
(Since me?)
She didn’t answer, but we both knew I was right. The ones leaving were doing it because they didn’t want to be anywhere near Valkos’s number one target—namely, me. And who could blame them?
I wouldn’t want to deal with the fallout of any of this, either.
(Either way,) I went on, not wanting to dwell on Jonas Ridge’s dwindling numbers, (this is way too close to home for comfort.)
Vanessa took a deep breath through her nose and then dipped her head in a slow nod. (No kidding,) she said. We were silent for another minute, then she stepped in front of me, blocking my view of the dead man. (But I’m serious. We should get back and let the others know about this.)
(Yeah,) I said. But for a long while I didn’t move. I just kept staring at the man’s limp figure, guilt consuming me.
So this was the price I had to pay for not giving in?
“I’m going to fail the twelfth grade.” I slammed my Calculus book shut and flung it off my bed in disgust. It hit the ground and fell open, scattering papers everywhere.
“If this is your idea of studying, then yeah. You probably are,” Kael said as he collected the papers and shoved them back in the book.
“How in the heck am I supposed to concentrate on studying? All I can think about is that body.” My gaze turned hazy as I stared out the window. “All that blood. What I’ve caused.”
Kael sighed and sat down beside me on the bed. He opened my textbook and turned back to the page of my assigned homework. “There’s no sense in quitting now,” he said. “You’ve only got like ten problems left, and you’ll be done with the review for the test.”
“So? That doesn’t mean I’m going to pass that test,” I grumbled. I was amazed—but mostly annoyed—by his ability to stay focused on school at a time like this.
“Well tell me what you don’t understand, and maybe I can help?”
“What I don’t understand,” I said, getting to my feet and walking over to the window, “is why I have to study this crap. What good is this going to do me, anyway? And if I really need to learn it, can it not wait until after we take care of whoever’s killing all of these people right behind my house? And what about Valkos? Is knowing my way around the Mean-Value Theorem really going to help me against him? I mean, in the grand scheme of—”
“You don’t need to worry about any of that,” Kael interrupted before I could complain further.
I turned back to him with an incredulous look.
“I’m serious,” he said. “You don’t.”
“I don’t? Well why didn’t you say so? In that case, hand me that book. Now that I know that all I have to concentrate on is my studies, I’m going to ace that test for sure. And the next one after that, and after that—hell, I might even end up getting into Harvard. Thanks for the reassurance, Kael. It’s made a huge difference.”
He didn’t move from his place on the bed. “Vanessa was right,” he said, arching an eyebrow over one of his pale blue eyes. “You are in a bad mood.”
“How could I not be?” I said, leaning my forehead against the cold window. “This is the third person dead this week—that we know of. And I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but with every kill they get closer and closer to my house. To my mom. To me.”
He stood up and walked over to me. “Don’t be stupid—of course I’ve noticed that,” he said. “Why do you think I’m here?”
I felt the color start to rise in my cheeks, and I let my attention drift outside again.
“I dunno,” I mumbled. “I guess I thought you just really liked Calculus.”
“Speaking of which…”
I turned and saw him offering me the textbook. I snatched it and shoved it under my arm with a frown. “You nag worse than my mother.”
He gave me a small smile, then walked over and grabbed his jacket from its resting place over the back of my desk chair. “I’ll give it a rest for the time being,” he said. “I’m going to go check in with Will.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll be back soon though,” he added.
“You don’t have to. I mean, if you’ve got other things to do...”
He shrugged. “Your Mom invited me to dinner. Don’t want to be rude.”
I lowered my eyebrows. “Are you serious? What has gotten in to her lately?” The first day my mother met Kael, she’d threatened to call the cops on him. Her attitude toward him hadn’t improved much since. At least, not up until these past few weeks. Now all of a sudden she couldn’t seem to get enough of him. “What did you do to her?” I asked suspiciously.
“I don’t know Alex—maybe she just finds me charming?”
I choked down a laugh. “Maybe,” I said. But under my breath I added: “…my mom never was a great judge of character.” I might as well have shouted it. Kael’s hearing was just as good as mine, and we both knew it.
“That’s nice,” he said. “I’m going to go find Will now.”
“You do that.”
“Any chance you’ll be in a better mood when I get back?”
“Any chance you’ll do my homework for me when you get back?”
“No.”
“Then no.”
“Well at least I’ve been warned,” Kael said dryly, heading for the door.
