The Rift by Katharine Sadler

get caught in my room. My door opened without the
pretense of a knock and Angelica stuck her head in, beaming.
“Jeremiah and Wraith are here,” she said, practically bouncing.
“They want to take us hiking.”
    I wanted to lay back down on the bed and tell
her to go away, but I wasn’t about to let Angelica miss a chance to
spend the day with Bruce. “I’m have a session with Doctor Veronica
and—”
    “She said you can skip it, as long as you see
her this evening.”
    My eyes widened at that. Weren’t my sessions
with Doctor Veronica the whole point of my being in that house? I
didn’t really want another round of her therapeutic brand of
torture, though, so I just nodded. “Okay, let me get a quick shower
and I’ll be ready.”
    “Jed made pancakes. You should eat, too,
before we go,” she said, before disappearing down the hall.
    I dragged myself out of bed, pulled out a
clean, but baggy tank top, long sleeved t-shirt, and cargo pants,
and headed for the shower. The whole house smelled like pancakes,
and my stomach rumbled with hunger.
     
    I heard Angelica’s laugh before I opened the
front door and stepped out onto the porch. She was sitting in a
rocking chair between Wraith and Jeremiah and she was bouncing in
her seat, looking like the happy, easy-going girl I’d met in
Briarton. Jed sat on the porch steps staring out at the trees, his
mouth turned down in a deep frown, his brow wrinkled. “Hey,” I
said. “I’m ready, but I don’t have any gear for hiking. I don’t
even have a water bottle.”
    Wraith walked over to me, and Jed handed me a
full camel back, just like the one on his own back. Wraith placed a
hand on my back and gave me a gentle nudge toward the stairs. I
bristled at the unnecessary guidance and reminded myself again that
I was doing it for Angelica.
    “Hey, man,” Wraith said, as Jed started down
the stairs. “You’ll have to drive your own vehicle. I don’t have
enough room for you in mine.” Judging by the size of the black SUV
parked in the driveway, Wraith was lying. I turned to look at him,
my eyebrows raised. Who the hell did he think he was?
    Henry bounced out the front door and let it
fall shut with a loud bang. “I call shot gun,” he said, sounding
way too cheery.
    Wraith turned to him, and I saw an emotion
flash in his eyes that made my heart stop for a minute. I was not
getting a good vibe from the guy, at all. “I don’t recall inviting
you,” Wraith said. “And there’s not enough room in my vehicle for
all of us.”
    I wrapped my arms around Henry’s neck and
gave him a long, full kiss. He laughed into my mouth and pulled me
closer. “I’m sorry about last night,” I whispered in his ear as I
nuzzled his neck.
    “It’s forgotten,” he whispered back. Then he
looked at someone over my shoulder and his whole body tensed.
“There are two guys glaring at me like they want to kill me right
now, Kelsey,” he whispered. “I’m not sure that kiss was a good
idea.”
    I ignored the implications of what he was
telling me. I’d kissed him to get Wraith to back off, and I’d
accept the consequences. “I’ll protect you,” I whispered back,
lingering over his ear like I was kissing it. Jed cleared his
throat and I slowly stepped away from Henry, keeping an arm around
his waist. “If there’s not enough room in your vehicle, Angelica
and I will ride with Henry and Jed.”
    Angelica huffed in frustration, and I glared
at her. She rolled her eyes, but she didn’t argue.
    “Fine,” Wraith said, apparently unwilling to
change his mind about the seating capacity of his SUV. “Follow us
there.”
    Jeremiah gave Angelica a quick peck on the
cheek and leapt down the steps to join his friend. The four of us
got into Jed’s rental car and followed them in silence. I sat next
to Henry in the back, his hand gripped in mine. I had a bad
feeling. Going into the woods with strange werewolves seemed like a
catastrophically bad idea, and my heart raced like it