She Smells the Dead (10 page)

My jealous worries disappeared the moment Calvin introduced me. He put his arm around me with obvious pride and affection and the open smiling faces were so welcoming that I felt like a heel for my earlier reaction.

“Hey Yuki, you want to play?” one of the girls asked.

I suddenly really, really wanted to. “Sure! But um, do you ever play in a hack circle?” I asked. I wasn’t sure how to do the synchronized form of the game. I had never even seen it before coming here.
Probably a wolf thing
.

In answer the girl ran up and hugged me then stepped back and exclaimed, “Sure thing.”

It was all a little overwhelming. Was I accepted as part of the group, or rather part of the pack, that simply? If so, this wolf stuff was pretty awesome. With a huge silly grin on my face I looked over to see if Calvin was going to play too.

He pulled his t-shirt up over his head and tossed it to the ground. “Game on,” Calvin announced with his toothy grin.

Oh yeah, he was the alpha. Every kid in the area, even the ones who had previously been working sedately on art projects, raced over to us and formed a circle. Not worried anymore about fitting in, I tied the loose edges of my skirt up so they wouldn’t trip me or catch on the hack.
Right, game on
.

I was a bit sad to leave the others since they had all been so friendly, but we promised to hang with all of them tomorrow. We set off for the other side of camp towards a medium sized tent set apart from the others. I was about to meet Cal’s wolf spirit guru and my sense of ease was evaporating to be replaced by nervous anticipation. What kind of guy would Calvin have for a teacher? I realized that there was so much about Cal’s other life that I just didn’t know about yet.

Chapter 29

Simon was fascinating. He had sapphire blue eyes with smile lines at the creases, ruddy skin, dark stubble, and dark hair that always looked like he had just run his fingers though it leaving it sticking up in all directions. He was in a word, hot.
Well, for an older guy
. Simon also had a dramatic distinguishing feature, a pale scar that bisected his right ear and ran down his otherwise tan cheek terminating at the corner of his lip.

Noticing the direction of my gaze Simon quipped, “Makes me devastatingly handsome to the ladies.”

I met his eyes and blushed.

“They say it gives me a roguish appeal,” he said in his deep gravelly voice.

Calvin rolled his eyes and I could tell from his expression that he had heard this line many times before.

“We better go on in before Simon starts drooling over himself,” Calvin teased. He held the flap of Simon’s tent open for me and I ducked my head to enter.

Once inside, the tent was large and roomy with plenty of room to stand. Calvin followed me in with Simon entering last. Before Simon closed the tent flap he said something to someone outside who then moved to sit by the opening.

“We won’t be disturbed now,” Simon said with a wink.

I looked over at Cal but he just shrugged. Simon was behaving like the biggest flirt on the planet, but if it didn’t bother Calvin then I wouldn’t let it trouble me either.

Cal and I sat lotus style with our legs crossed, though it admittedly wasn’t the most comfortable position in my boots. Simon readied a few things around the tent then sat across from us. He closed his eyes and when he looked at us again it was as though a completely different person sat across from us.
Now that’s not creepy or anything
. I shivered involuntarily and Cal gripped my hand with a reassuring squeeze. Simon cocked his head to the side as though listening for something, all the while looking at me intently, and then he sniffed the air around me.
He was sniffing me
? Apparently satisfied with what he sensed, Simon then closed his eyes. When he opened them again a moment later he was back to his annoyingly charming self.

“Simon is very in tune with his wolf spirit,” Calvin said, filling me in on the strange behavior. “He can let his wolf come to the surface, and yet retain his own form and sense of self, even now so far from the full moon.” I realized that Cal’s voice held a touch of awe.

“Aye love, my wolf came out to play,” Simon said smiling his lopsided grin, “He says hello by the way.” Simon said the last with another wink.

This was all too weird. Here I was sitting with Calvin and his playboy mentor and I was getting more confused by the second. I was wishing I had stayed outside with the kids my own age.

“You can lay off the theatrics Simon,” Calvin said somewhat protectively.

He obviously respected his teacher but Simon’s manner towards me was beginning to cross a line and I so did not want to be around to watch these two fight it out.

“So uh, how did you learn to do that?” I asked hoping to avoid any death and destruction on this camping trip.

It was the right thing to ask. Simon suddenly seemed to mellow and Cal relaxed.

“That’s why you’re here little scarab,” Simon said. “I have been teaching Calvin how to communicate with his wolf and now I will try to help you as well.”

Simon was much easier to deal with in teacher mode. I wondered how he could have so much wisdom, since he wasn’t really all that old. He looked like he was probably in his late thirties or early forties.

As though reading my thoughts, Cal said, “Simon is unusual among our kind. He was born with full awareness of his wolf spirit. Because of this he learned to communicate with his wolf at a very young age and carries more wisdom than most of our elders.”

It did explain a lot. There was something slightly off about Simon. It was hard to put a finger on, but being born possessed by a wolf spirit could make anyone a bit unhinged.

Simon smiled his lopsided grin and slapped Cal on the leg. “Don’t go giving all my secrets away to the ladies. I need to hold something back to impress them with later.” Wait for it. Simon winked at me,
again
.

I was hoping that we would get on with the teaching because my patience was running out. If Simon wasn’t going to share his knowledge, then I was leaving and he could go pretend to be some other poor girl’s dream beast. I was about to leave when Simon laughed.

“This one needs to learn patience,” he said looking over at Calvin, “or the spirits of the dead will consume her. If she rushes into things, she might as well run into the light now and get it over with.”

I wasn’t sure if Simon was attempting to goad Calvin or reprimand me. He was doing a good job of both. Cal let a low growl rumble in the back of his throat but he didn’t move. I settled back on the ground and tried to use my yoga breathing to calm down.
Think happy thoughts, think happy thoughts, think happy thoughts
. Maybe Simon was right. I was acting reckless and my calming attempts weren’t really working.
I still wanted to slap him
. It was then that it occurred to me that he may have planned this from the start. Was this all an act to provoke me into losing my cool?
You won’t break me that easily old man
.

Chapter 30

The rest of Wolf Camp was a blur of mental exercises with Simon, physical exercise with the other wolf kids, art therapy to help recapture elusive dream messages, and rare moments alone with Cal. I was learning so much information that my head was spinning, though that may also have been from lack of food. These people didn’t seem to eat vegetables and I hadn’t thought to bring my own provisions. After the first day of eating ketchup and mustard on otherwise empty burger buns, I decided to go on a fasting diet. Simon had mentioned that sometimes fasting would help to clear the mind and open oneself to communing with spirit. After half a day of drinking only water, I was beginning to think it was another one of his ways to torture me into losing my temper. I suspected that the only communing with spirit that actually took place was inside someone’s food deprived hallucination.

I was beginning to consider making a break for it when Calvin came up behind me with an armload of fruit. He had apples, a pear, and a few green bananas, but to me he might as well have been carrying bars of gold.

“You’re a god!” I exclaimed as he tossed me one of the apples.

“Thought you might like something other than bread and condiments,” he chuckled.

“Hey, don’t knock the condiments,” I said and laughed. “Where did you score all of this?” I asked wondering if there was some secret hidden supermarket in the woods.

“I scavenged it off some of the older folks,” Calvin replied. Then he laughed. “I traded them for some steaks I brought with me,” Cal said. “Sorry, I didn’t think to bring all this myself.”

I was too busy eating my second apple to reply, so I nodded instead.
All is forgiven
.

“We’ll be heading back late tonight, so I told Simon he could have you for a few more hours.” Looking at my sudden frown Cal added, “Sorry.”

I knew Simon was trying to teach me how to control my powers, and how to call on Cal’s wolf spirit for protection, but his teaching style left a lot to be desired.

“I know Simon can be a huge pain, but he’s actually worried about you,” Calvin said.

Worried about me?
Since when
? This was news to me and I stopped crunching on my apple so I wouldn’t miss anything.

“Simon and I were working on my attempts to talk to my wolf spirit again, but I’m still having trouble. It’s so alien, you know?” Cal said.

Yeah, I did know. It was hard too.
Really, really hard
.

“Well, Simon got really frustrated because he said that one of us needs to learn this quick before Samhain,” Cal said looking scared.

Samhain? Did he mean Halloween?

“Simon said that we need to try harder or we won’t be prepared,” Calvin was looking really distressed now. “He said that since your powers awakened you have only had to deal with one, maybe two, ghosts haunting you at a time. But on certain nights of the year the world is flooded with ghosts,” Cal said.

He wasn’t the only one becoming freaked out. I knew that I had a lot to learn about spirits, and my power to sense them, but I had never considered having to face multiple ghosts at once. It was a terrifying thought. I set my apple down no longer feeling hungry.

“Cal, this sounds bad. Really, really bad,” I said.

“Yeah, Simon is insistent that you focus on your training. He says that the next time the veil between worlds thins will be on Samhain,” Calvin said, “which only gives us a little over a month to prepare.”

It wasn’t enough time. How could we possibly be ready in one month?

“Can the others help?” I asked. I tried to picture all the people in the camp lending their wolf spirits to fight off the spirits of the dead. It might work.

“No,” Cal choked out, “They aren’t bonded to you like I am. The only one with enough control to lend his wolf to the fight is Simon.”

Great, I was going to be protected by a wolf spirit that neither Calvin nor I could yet speak to and the wolf spirit of a flirty psycho dude.
I was so dead
.

“You’re panicking aren’t you?” Cal asked.

“What? Me panic?” I asked trying for levity, “No way, not me.” I didn’t sound convincing.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t sure if I should tell you or not,” Cal said. “I was afraid that telling you would make you worry, but that not telling you would mean you’d be unprepared.”

I was standing here on a road with no roadmap. Or maybe it was with a map and no road. Either way I felt lost.

“I won’t let anything bad happen to you,” Calvin said, “We’re in this together.”

Together
. The word gave me strength and as Cal reached out and held me in his arms I held out hope that we could keep each other safe.
Go team
.

Chapter 31

Agreeing to give up my weekends to train with Calvin and Simon was easy, but getting my parent’s consent was another thing. I couldn’t exactly explain that thousands of ghosts, hungry for a haunting, were going to come drive me insane next month. There was no way that I could just casually drop the bomb at the dinner table saying, “Hey Mom and Dad, I smell dead people.” I was so not ready for the big reveal. With my luck my parents would have me locked away in a psych ward, where the spirits of the dead could come terrorize me in a locked room. No. I couldn’t tell my parents the truth, so we had to come up with a believable lie.

We created a new identity for Simon that would garner my parent’s trust and a reason for us to be hanging out with him. Calvin claimed that Simon was his uncle who was staying at his parent’s house temporarily. We fibbed that Simon was fixing up his camp, but that it needed to be winterized before he could move in. I added that Simon was having marital troubles, which was why he had moved here out of the blue. It was worth adding that tidbit to see the look of horror on Simon’s face. He covered it well, but I don’t think he’ll ever forgive me for telling my parents that he had been married.
Oh the horror
.

In the end they finally agreed. I think Calvin was the deciding factor. My mom adored him and didn’t seem to think him capable of a lie. Simon was also very believable as a sudden bachelor on the ropes. His five o’clock shadow at all hours of the day and night and his roguish personality lent credence to our story.

“That poor woman,” my mom said one day, “I can’t imagine anyone being married to that man.”

I had to bite my lip to stifle a laugh.

Chapter 32

Returning to school also held its challenges. Emma wanted to know all about my weekend with Cal, but I had to censor everything relating to his wolf spirit which made conversation difficult. I could tell that Emma thought I was holding back. Hopefully she just thought I was shy about sharing details about me and Calvin.

“So did you two get cozy while camping?” Emma asked trying again for details.

It was the end of the school day and I had managed to avoid most of her questions at lunch by pointing out the new flyers for the homecoming dance. So much for keeping her distracted.

“Did you two share a tent?” Emma asked eagerly.