Secrets in the Dark by KD Blakely

told him, “No
way! We come together. All of us.”
    Looking at Doug’s mutinous
face, I added, “Let’s make a pact. We only come here together. No
one comes without the others!”
    “ I swear,” Faith said
quickly.
    “ I swear,” Olivia said, a
little more slowly.
    We turned to look at Doug,
who hesitated. “Don’t you think each of us should be able to come
and check things out whenever we can? There’s only a few days each
month we can get in.”
    “ I wonder if that’s true,”
Olivia said. “We took Ronny’s word that we could only get in during
the week around the full moon. Maybe we can get in other
times.”
    “ Uh, no, you can’t.” Doug
looked everywhere but at us.
    “ What do you mean?” I
asked him. I tried to keep the suspicion out of my voice but didn’t
think I’d been very successful. I’d suspected he’d been up to
something.
    “ Ronny’s mom was right. We
can only get in near the full moon.”
    “ And how do you know that,” Olivia
said. Her eyes narrowed and her brows drew together as she glared
at him. Olivia could look pretty intimidating when she wanted
to.
    “ Well, I… Um…” He took a
deep breath and the rest came out really fast. “I tried to get in
the week after we were here last time. I couldn’t get
in.”
    The three of us glared at
him now. I said, “I can’t believe you tried to come in here without
us!” Well, actually, I could believe it, I just didn’t want
to.
    “ I wouldn’t have done
anything.” His voice was almost belligerent. I knew that meant he
was feeling guilty. “I just wanted to check it out. I would’ve let
you know, but there was nothing to tell. I
couldn’t get in!”
    “ Sure,” I said, unable to
completely ignore my feeling of betrayal. It sat like a heavy lump
in the pit of my stomach. “But from now on, we only come here
together. Promise . All for one and one for all.”
    “ Just because you three
want to wait doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be able to come when I have
time.”
    “ I knew this was going to happen.” I clenched my hands into fists and glared
at him. “You’re breaking your promise already. You promised to do
what we said in here.”
    “ That was a big mistake,” Doug muttered.
Then he sighed. “Okay, fine. I won’t come in here on my
own.”
    As soon as he said it, the
dog barked and looked like he was grinning, his tongue lolling out. The cat began to
purr.
    Olivia said slowly, “I
could almost believe they’re listening and approve.”
    The dog barked again and
his whole body quivered with excitement. I bent down until my eyes
were on the same level as the cats. “Can
you understand us?”
    The cat stretched and
climbed elegantly to its feet. It made a full circle, then sat down
and meowed once.
    “ Do that again if you
meant yes,” Olivia said, excitedly.
    The cat stood again and
turned in a small circle before sitting down with a
meow.
    “ Do you belong to someone
who lives here in Chimera?” I asked quickly.
    The cat blinked but didn’t
move or make a sound.
    “ Do you belong to Kat?”
Faith asked.
    I turned to her. “That’s a
silly question.”
    Faith pointed. “Not that
silly.” I turned to watch in amazement as the cat got to its feet,
made another full circle and meowed.
    When I realized the cat had
said yes, I fell into the single chair by the table. I felt all
warm and tingly inside. “You belong to me?” How embarrassing, my
voice actually squeaked with excitement.
    The cat circled and meowed
again. We laughed when the dog barked twice, trying to get Doug’s
attention. Doug crouched down and patted the dogs head. “Are you
mine?”
    The dog gave two excited
barks and jumped up and down, his body wiggling so fast he
was almost a blur.
    Faith moved outside the
cabin, near the doorway. “You’re here for me?” she called to the
fox hiding beneath the bushes at the corner of the
cabin.
    It moved several feet
closer and bowed its head. Faith turned to us where we