Read Online The Mayfair Moon by J. A. Redmerski - Free Book Online Page B

her myself. “What does the school think of you?”
    Zia laughed. “I’m surprised you haven’t heard,” she said turning around again to face forward. “I’m a devil-worshipper and my brothers accused of being more than brothers, if you know what I mean.”
    My face scrunched up in disgust.
    “Well, I haven’t heard anything like that,” I said honestly, “and besides, rumors are just rumors anyway.”
    “Didn’t say I cared what anybody thought,” said Zia. “Well, except maybe for you. If you thought I was a freak you might not have gotten in the Jeep.”
    She made a valid point.
    “My brothers are Damien here,” she said nodding toward the driver, “and Joseph back there, who everyone calls Dwarf.” She was referring to the little one sitting behind the driver next to me.
    “And that’s Isaac, the quiet one on the other side of you. We live with him and his family—“
    “That’s enough, Zia,” Isaac jumped in.
    They were the only words he would say, but the tone said much more. Zia fell silent, though her posture seethed with irritation. I was confused and even a little put off.
    “Anyway, we’ll take you home,” Zia said, “and some advice: don’t go outside too late around here by yourself.”
    I slunk back into the seat, pulling my sleeves over my hands and crossing my arms.
    She added then, “By the way, how’s your sister doing?”
    How did she know about Alex? Why was Alex mentioned so often by people that didn’t even know me, much less her? This was so strange that I couldn’t hold back anymore. “Ok, now I’m a little freaked out,” I said. “How do you know about my sister? And those guys, they mentioned her by name.”
    “Not sure about them,” said Zia, “but I know because Isaac’s oldest brother, Nathan, works at the grocery store with Beverlee. And word spreads fast around here; small town and all. Her name is Alexa, right?”
    “No, it’s Alexandra, but she goes by Alex.”
    I had to stop being so paranoid about everything all the time. More and more every day I realized just how much ‘the incident’ in Georgia had affected me and that I wasn’t as over it as I thought I was. I thought about William and Ashe then, wondering if maybe I read too much into them. Sure, they were obvious jerks, but a part of me was so afraid of them that I actually, in a small way, feared for my life. That was ridiculous. Would every incident in my life be dictated by the incident? And with each new realization, I reminded myself about what I had seen. What I went through.
    It was in this unlikely moment, right there in the Jeep with my enigmatic company that my subconscious decided to accept the truth.
    I saw a werewolf.
    I witnessed with my own eyes a real, living, breathing, terrifying werewolf much like the ones you see in the movies and read about in books. And when a person comes to such an unbelievable realization as this, when the human in them can’t lie or make up excuses anymore, it changes that person forever.
    I changed right there. It took me weeks to believe it, but finally the truth caught up with me. I knew then too that the reason Alex was no longer the sister I once knew was because the truth caught up to her much faster.
    The cold of change washed over me in an instant. I heard Zia’s voice and occasionally the voices of Damien and Dwarf, but if they were talking to me, I didn’t know it. I absently looked at my company, one by one, and somehow I couldn’t see them the way I saw them before. What was being human exactly? It seemed everything around me was nothing but a lie and I would have to start over and relearn everything I had learned since I spoke my first words and took my first steps.
    Everything was a lie and I had been living in this lie for seventeen years.
    Something as heavy as that is a dangerous burden to carry.
    “Stop the car,” I demanded.
    “What?” said Zia.
    “Please, just stop the car. I appreciate the ride, but I can get home the