The Wanderers Beginning: The Wanderers, Reborn, & Unforgiven Read online

  “She closed the distance between us in one swift movement, exposing her razor sharp teeth, leaning down to sink them into my neck. I shoved her away fast, not wanting to get bitten. I reached for the splinter of wood I spotted sticking out of a trash can. I grabbed it and staked her in the heart. She cringed at the impact and exploded into dust at my feet.”

  “A vampire? Really Dean?” Josie said interrupting his lame story.

  “True story… I swear.” The only people who seemed to believe him were Marissa, her clan, and the two girls Dean brought along.

  “You really expect me to believe you escaped being devoured by a vampire?”

  “You don’t believe in vampires?” he asked credulously.

  “No. I have a harder time believing you didn’t piss your pants when she attacked you,” I said doubtful. Xander laughed out loud and Dean narrowed his eyes at him.

  “Sorry Dean, but Xander’s story was way better,” said Josie.

  “Well, I had enough of these children’s stories. Come on Jasa, let’s go to bed.” Xander and Jasa said goodnight and headed inside to retreat for the night.

  “You were so brave to face that vampire,” said one of Dean’s girlfriends. I tried hard not to choke on my hot chocolate.

  “I believe in vampires,” said the one girl. She stared dreamily off into the night sky. “I leave my window open every night waiting for Robert Pattinson to fly in and bite me.”

  “You know, he’s not a real vampire. He just plays one in the movies,” I said pretending like I was talking to a five year old.

  “I know,” she said snidely. “But I’d still like him to bite me.”

  “Mmm…I’ll bite you.” Dean leaned in and nibbled on her neck. She giggled and playfully pushed him away saying, “stop,” even though she didn’t mean it. You could tell she was the type of girl who played innocent, but was really a slut.

  God, where does Dean find these girls?

  “Well, now that the squares went to bed, let’s have some real fun,” Dean said with a devilish smile. He got up, went into his tent, and pulled out a bottle of vodka. Then he started to pour everyone a cup, stopping at me.

  “What, you think I can’t handle it?” I asked, annoyed.

  He just smiled and poured some into my hot chocolate. “You are a McCallister. I have no doubt you can handle your liquor.”

  We were all enjoying our spiked drinks when Dean suggested we go swimming. “It’s freezing,” said one of the girls.

  “I’ll keep you warm,” Dean cooed and she giggled. Again I had to fight the urge to gag.

  “Sounds like fun. I’m in,” Marissa said and her followers nodded in unison like little bobble heads. Marissa stood up and put her hand out for Kevin. He reluctantly followed and we all headed down to the lake.

  “Wait, what about bathing suits?” I asked.

  “Oh li’l sis, you need to live a little,” Dean said as he stripped down to his boxers. His girlfriends took the cue and stripped down to their bra and underwear.

  As did everyone else.

  “You comin’ Ella?” Josie asked while taking off her shirt and pants.

  “Maybe later,” I said. Josie shrugged her shoulders and joined Kevin’s friends, Trevor and Mark, who were already in the water.

  “Kevin?” Marissa looked at him wondering while he still had his clothes on.

  “I’m gonna hang here with Ella for a bit,” he said. Marissa didn’t give it a second thought and jumped in the water gasping, letting us know how cold it was.

  “You don’t have to do that. Go ahead. Don’t let me stop you from having fun. I’ll be fine,” I said to Kevin.

  “It’s okay, I don’t mind. Besides, by the looks of it that water is pretty cold,” he laughed while we watched everyone shriek as they got in the freezing water.

  Kevin began shifting uncomfortably. “I want to talk to you about last night.”

  “Talk about what?” I asked, playing dumb. But I had a pretty good idea what he was referring to.

  “The kiss. You have to know I’m truly sorry about that. I would never…”

  “Kevin…really, don’t worry about it. It’s ancient history; already forgotten.”

  After I made it clear that it was no big deal, he seemed to loosen up a little and offered me a sip from his flask.

  Marissa waved frantically from the water at Kevin. “You coming in or not?”

  “I guess I should go in before she throws a hissy fit.” Kevin sighed and started to take off his clothes as Marissa cheered. “You sure you don’t want to come in?”

  I took another swig of his flask. “What the hell? Why not? You only live once.”

  Kevin waited for me to strip down to my underwear and then walked down with me to the water. He stuck his foot in and quickly jumped back. “That cold?” I asked, nervously.

  “C’mon you big babies!” Marissa shouted.

  “How about on the count of three we just go for it. Jump in and get it over with,” Kevin suggested. I bit my fingers knowing that probably wouldn’t make it any better.

  Kevin watched me, waiting for my answer. “The count of three?” I raised my eyebrows.

  Kevin smiled and took my hand. “One…two…three!”

  We sprinted into the freezing cold water. The shock of it took my breath away. My entire skin was covered head to toe in goose bumps. Even though my toes were semi-numb, it felt exhilarating. I loved every minute of it. Kevin grabbed me and picked me up, laughing. “You did it.”

  I looked down into his eyes and for a moment I thought I saw Kyle. Kevin saw the shocked look on my face and asked what was wrong. “Nothing…it’s nothing, sorry.”

  He put me down and Marissa joined us, putting her arms around his waist. “It’s about time you guys joined us,” Marissa said, pulling Kevin away to a dark spot over by the trees—probably to make out with him.

  Josie swam over to me bringing Trevor and Mark with her. I noticed Mark was checking me out all night and even more now – probably because I was in my underwear. “Hey,” Mark said.

  “C’mon Trevor, let’s let these two talk,” Josie smiled while tugging on his arm. I shook my head at Josie. I didn’t want to be left alone with Mark. I wasn’t ready yet, but I knew this was Josie’s way of pushing me to move forward. No matter how many times I argued with her she insisted I needed to at least try. Josie pulled me to the side. “Ella look. I know you think you’re not ready and I get that, but don’t you agree that Kyle would want you to move on?”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  “It’s not like I’m saying jump in the sack with the guy. All I’m suggesting is to have a little fun. No harm in that, right?” Mark was cute and a nice guy, but I still wasn’t sure. I also knew part of me would never really be ready if I didn’t give myself a push to try.

  Josie gave me a shove in his direction then grabbed Trevor’s hand and started to pull him away. “Where are we going?” Trevor asked.

  Josie shook her head. “We’re going to find a quieter spot to hang.”

  “Why can’t we hang here?” Josie looked at Trevor like, “is this kid really that stupid?”

  “Cause we're not actually going to be talking,” she said, trying to give him a hint.

  “Huh? Ooh! Gotcha,” Trevor said finally catching on. He picked her up and carried her to a more private place. “Hey Ella, watch out for those one eyed snakes in the water,” Trevor laughed. Josie dunked him in the water and they wrestled playfully until Josie attacked him with her lips.

  “You’ll have to excuse my friend. He had too many blows to his head playing football this season.”

  “What was his excuse before he played football?”

  Mark laughed. “You’re funny. That’s one of the things I like about you.”

  “One of the things?” I smiled bashfully.

  “Yeah, I kinda used to have a crush on you.”

  “Used too?”

  “Well, okay, still,” he blushed.

  “Why
didn’t you ever tell me?”

  “Cause, you know, you were dating Kyle.”

  “Oh,” was all I could say remembering how Kyle and I were inseparable. If Mark really did have a crush on me then, I would have never noticed.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up…”

  “It’s okay, it’s bound to happen,” I said, grazing his arm accidentally. A seductive smile played across his lips and before I knew it he was kissing me. Surprised at his abruptness, I pulled back.

  “Sorry I just, um,” he said looking down.

  “It’s okay. You just kind of took me by surprise.” I put my hand on his shoulder bringing his attention back to my eyes and away from my chest. “How about we try this again?”

  He smiled and slowly this time, brought his lips to mine. The kiss was nice, different. Mark was only the second boy I ever kissed. The first was Kyle. In a way I felt like I was cheating on Kyle, but I knew that wasn’t true. I felt myself pulling away and chastised myself for being silly. I put the past back where it belongs and allowed myself to enjoy the kiss a little more.

  All too soon the kiss turned aggressive. I guess he thought me kissing him back was an invitation to move further. Mark slid his hand over my butt and squeezed. Then his hand slid up my side and cupped my breast. He pulled me into him pressing himself harder against me, slipping his hand under my bra.

  Okay, this was more than I wanted. He was getting way to touchy feely.

  I pushed him away trying to catch my breath. “Okay you need to slow down there,” I said, keeping my hand on his chest.

  “Sorry, I tend to get carried away sometimes. Why don’t we head back to shore and dry off?”

  I agreed.

  We gathered our clothes and made our way back to the fire.

  Mark wrapped blankets around us and rubbed my arms furiously to try and warm me up. I heard a girl giggling from one of the tents. Then I heard Dean’s voice say, “It’s okay girls. No need to be shy.”

  “Uh, gross,” I commented and Mark chuckled.

  Before long, everyone else started making their way back to the fire. “I am fucking freezing,” Marissa whined. Kevin wrapped a blanket around her and held her tight to help warm her up.

  “Save me a seat. I’m going to check on my little brother quick,” Josie told Trevor. She popped her head in Jake’s tent. “Hey Ella, this is the tent Xander put Jake in right?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Then where is he?”

  “What?”

  Josie frantically threw blankets around inside the tent. “He’s not here!”

  “Okay, relax, maybe he got cold and went inside. You check the other tents and I’ll check inside. I’m sure he’s here somewhere.”

  Josie let out a breath and started searching the other tents. I searched every bedroom, spare room, bathroom, and found nothing. Now my adrenaline was pumping. I headed back outside to see if Jake turned up.

  “Anything?” Josie asked panicked and I knew now she had no luck outside. I shook my head no. “Where could he be?”

  “Do you want me to wake my parents?”

  Josie bit her nails nervously while she thought it over. “Yes.”

  I went back inside and knocked on their bedroom door. “Mom…Dad?”

  “What is it honey?” my mom asked.

  “We can’t find Jake.”

  “What do you mean you can’t find him,” my dad said sitting up.

  “He fell asleep and we put him in one of the tents, but now he’s not there.”

  “Well he couldn’t have gone far. I’ll call the McNaughton’s.”

  “No!”

  “No?” my mom asked confused.

  “There’s no reason to worry them yet if we don’t have to.”

  “True, alright, wake up Xander and Jasa and gather everyone. We’ll find him.”

  I left my parents room while they got dressed and woke up Xander. He was out of bed in seconds.

  My parents, Xander, and Jasa double checked the house calling out Jake’s name and coming up empty. Then we all gathered outside. We handed out flashlights and lanterns to everyone and started to scour the woods for Josie’s little brother.

  We kept close to each other making sure we didn’t miss one spot. We called out his name hoping we’d get a response. “Anything yet?” Josie asked in hopes of finding at least some trace of her brother.

  “No, nothing,” Kevin called from over the left side.

  We had been searching for over an hour and still nothing. No footprints, no signs of a struggle or injury. “Don’t worry Josie, we’ll find him.” I tried comforting her, but even I was starting to feel skeptical.

  We had reached near the end of the woods and found nothing. “Alright everyone, let’s start heading back,” my dad said.

  “What! No! We can’t! We haven’t found him yet,” Josie cried.

  “Josie, I think it’s time we called your parents and notified the police.”

  As we retraced our steps back to the house. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and I ran over to check it out. “Ella?” Dean called following me.

  I carefully searched the area and when I came upon a ditch by a large oak tree, I found Jake curled up into a ball. I jumped down and touched him gently. “Jake?”

  He flinched and whimpered. “Jake…it’s okay…it’s me, Ella.” He leapt into my arms and squeezed me so tight I could barely breathe. “I found him!” I yelled.

  Everyone came running over. Josie tore him out of my arms. “Jakey, thank god! Are you hurt?” She pulled him back and looked him over, checking for scrapes and bruises. There wasn’t a scratch on him.

  “Alright, let’s get him back to the house,” my dad said.

  Everyone was relieved Jake was found unharmed and thought it best to call it a night. Josie and Jake stayed in my room. We decided sleeping outside was no longer a good idea.

  When we got back to the house we gave Jake a clean pair of pajamas and put him to bed. “Jake, what were you doing in the woods?” Josie asked him.

  “I heard something and I thought I’d prove how brave I was and check it out. I followed the noise too far and got lost. Then I saw it and got scared and tried to hide.”

  “Saw what, Jake?”

  “The man…the man with the glowing eyes.” Josie looked at me, I shrugged.

  “What man Jake?”

  “His eyes glowed yellow…they scared me JoJo.” JoJo was his nickname for Josie.

  “It’s okay Jake. There’s no reason to be scared anymore.” She gave Jake a giant hug and tucked him in. “And were going to keep this between us right? No need to tell mom and dad about your little venture in the woods, okay? It will be our little secret?”

  Jake nodded and closed his eyes. Josie and I left the bedroom and headed downstairs to watch some TV before we fell asleep. I thought about what Jake had said, ‘the man with the glowing eyes’. Maybe I wasn’t crazy, but then again, this was a six year old and fear can make your mind play tricks on you. I brushed off the thought, thinking maybe he overheard Dean’s lame story. It must be nothing more than coincidence.

  Sometime in the middle of the night Josie had gone upstairs and crawled into bed with Jake. I stayed on the couch. When I woke up in the morning I went upstairs to my room to change. Then I remembered the story Dean said about our uncle Bobby. Curious, I thought I’d ask my dad about it. So instead of going to my room I went straight to the den knowing my dad would already be up working. “Good morning dad.”

  “Good morning sweetheart. How’s Jake doing?”

  “He seems fine.”

  “That’s good. Gave us quite a scare, that little one.”

  “No kidding,” I said more to myself. “Hey dad, can I ask you something?”

  “Sure sweetie, anything.”

  “Who’s Uncle Bobby?”

  My father looked taken back a second. “Just…an old family friend,” he said awkwardly.

  “Yeah that’s what Dean said. How
come I never heard of him?”

  “We don’t talk much.” I could tell my dad was hiding something and that this was a subject he did not want to discuss. “Anything else?"

  “No,” I lied. I had a million more questions, but wasn’t sure my dad was willing to answer them.

  “Can you do me a favor and tell Dean I’d like to speak with him please.” His voice was restrained and calculating.

  “No problem.”

  Crap.

  I had a feeling I just got Dean in trouble, but for what I didn’t know. Regardless, I would deal with the wrath of Dean for opening my mouth later. “Hey, dad wants to talk to you,” I told Dean and headed to my room, well pretended to. I was curious and wanted to know why my dad seemed upset.

  After Dean stepped into the den, I tiptoed down the hall. “Close the door Dean.” I heard my father say. I pressed my ear to the door so I could hear them better. “What exactly did you tell Ella about Uncle Bobby?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Don’t lie to me!” my Dad yelled.

  “I didn’t really tell her anything. I just told a story how we got blitzed one night, that’s all.”

  “That’s all…that’s all! Just her knowing he exists is more than she should know!”

  “She’s gonna find out eventually. What’s the big deal?”

  “You have no idea what you have done! And she better never find out!”

  “You can’t stop it.”

  “Yes I can and I will!” My dad was furious and I didn’t understand why.

  “No you can’t! It’s gonna happen whether you want it to or not!” Now Dean was yelling. “You know it, too! Better she find out now than later.”

  “Ella!” Xander yelled and I jumped at being caught eavesdropping.

  “Shh!” I whispered and ran up to Xander.

  “Ella, how many times did I tell you it’s not polite to spy,” he scolded.

  “Whatever, don’t act like you never did it.”

  “Yeah, but I was never dumb enough to get caught.”

  I scoffed. “Whatever.”

  Dean walked out of the den looking defeated, as if my dad had smacked him. He didn’t even look at us. He just went to his room and slammed the door.