The Key Page 8

  Lying down didn’t ease the pain again rippling up and down his back. Chase rolled to his side and pulled his knees into his chest. “Dad, what’s happening to me?”

  Dad didn’t reply as he dabbed a damp cloth to Chase’s forehead. The pain intensified again and Chase clenched his teeth. Even in agony, he couldn’t miss the fear on Dad’s face, which was even scarier. His dad had deployed during the First Gulf War; he’d faced enemy missiles. He didn’t scare easily.

  Noticing his attention, Dad dropped the rag and turned away. He ran his hand through his hair and paced the workshop. “I can’t believe this. It’s unbelievable.”

  “What?”

  It was as if Dad couldn’t stay away. He prowled back across the workshop and hovered over Chase. “There are things about our family that I haven’t told you.” He blurted the words out in the same tone Maddie had used when telling of her parents’ deaths.

  The shivering increased. Chase’s flesh felt like it was on fire, like millions of tiny pokers stuck him. Inside his shoes, his feet felt as if they’d grown several inches. He kicked them off, ripped off his socks, and stretched his toes.

  They’d grown claws.

  “Yes, son, go ahead and strip down. That will make it easier.”

  Chase screamed.

  Part II

  Dances

  Chapter 9

  The next morning Maddie waited for Chase as long as she dared. When he didn’t show, she grabbed her bicycle from the shed and shoved her pack in the basket. Icy air struck her cheeks as she pedaled down the driveway. The world had chilled overnight. The sky appeared less blue, almost as if ice crystals lingered in the air, ready to fall. She wouldn’t be surprised if it snowed. Coal Creek was notorious for its unusual weather, as she had good cause to know.

  The five-mile ride to school gave her time to think. Chase was probably angry. She guessed she deserved it. He’d gone out of his way and accepted her into his home, and she hadn’t even thanked him. Instead she’d sat like a mute while he’d driven her home and allowed him to believe she was upset by his father’s questions. She owed him an apology. Big time.

  Despite the cold, perspiration gathered on her forehead as she pedaled into the school parking lot and locked her bike to the rack. She looked for Chase’s truck. No sign of it in the student lot. The bell rang and she held back tears as she ran for the door.

  Lockers slammed as students hurried to homeroom. Maddie scurried inside, holding her books tightly to her chest.

  Stephanie and Marley smirked. Stephanie said, “I told you it wouldn’t last. Even with his poor choice in vehicles, Chase is still too good for her.”

  Maddie raced to her seat and bent her head, causing her hair to drape across her reddening cheeks. Maybe Stephanie was right. Maybe Chase was too good to be her friend. Who wanted to be friends with the school dork?

  The metal desk chair creaked beneath her weight. A shadow danced across the floor and she lifted her chin. Dougal leaned across in his seat with a look of smug satisfaction.

  “Where’s your friend?”

  Maddie wanted to say “Out sick” to keep from admitting she had driven Chase away, but she couldn’t lie. So she said, “I don’t know.”

  He straightened and patted her hand. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.”

  Maddie looked out the window. Maybe Chase was just running late.

  But even though she watched the doors during all their classes together, he never came bounding through any of them, nor did he join her for lunch. Maddie went through her day much as she had before meeting Chase. Only now Dougal followed her from class to class. True to his word, he kept a close eye on her and few others attempted to approach, not even Stephanie. His behavior confused Maddie, twisting her thoughts and feelings around inside her, but she couldn’t help feeling grateful, all the same.

  The final bell rang and she slipped outside. Snow dappled the sidewalk and gathered atop the bare branches of trees. Great. What more could go wrong that day? Her teachers had loaded her up with homework, the library had been closed for fumigation, she’d let the teachers have her shelf space back in their lounge, it didn’t feel right to use Chase’s locker until she’d apologized, and so she had no choice but to bring most of her books home. Her bike tilted as she worked to yank it from the rack.

  Light flurries coated her hair and wet her collar. She shivered beneath her sweatshirt, wishing she’d brought a coat. Such unpredictable weather, one day sunny, the next snowing. Now, if she could just make it home without sliding on ice…

  Her hair stood on end as if lightning struck close by. A shiver of electric static tickled her hands. Aboard her bike, one foot on the ground to hold her upright, she twirled and searched the lot. Did someone watch her?

  There, in the student lot. Not exactly watching her, but close enough. Dougal lounged, wedged between his SUV and Stephanie. He smiled as he slipped his hands around her waist, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him with disgusting smacking noises, audible even through the noises of the last students slamming car doors and calling goodbyes to friends. For all his flirting with Maddie, he seemed to really enjoy Stephanie’s affections.

  Repulsed by their display, Maddie turned away and headed for home.

  ****

  Dougal glanced over Stephanie’s shoulder even as his lips stroked hers. The cool feel of her flesh did little to excite him. The kiss ended, and she laid her cheek against his chest and sighed. He smoothed her bangs away from her forehead like an automaton, feeling nothing.

  Maddie had shot a disgruntled expression in their direction before pedaling out of the parking lot as fast as her legs would take her. He should have pushed Stephanie away, and he knew he’d regret not doing it. Maddie would not be won through jealousy, as he’d first thought, but rather by constant, positive attention. Her shy, embarrassed facial expressions as he flirted with her told him as much. Yet having Stephanie on his side provided a way for him to stay connected with the school’s pulse, and it was hard to be in tune with the students when you were eighty years their senior.

  A pinch on his abdomen drew his attention.

  “Hey, I’m down here.”

  Dougal lifted Stephanie’s chin. If he pressed up just a little harder, he could snap her neck. It would only take a second and for a moment he let the temptation soak through him. No, that was self-defeating. He squelched the idea and covered his hardened face with a smile. “Indeed.”

  She failed to notice his anger and made swirling motions across his chest. “I was thinking… why don’t we go out? We could go see a movie, or we could find a place to park and just be alone…”

  The unspoken words trailed off and he thought about throwing her onto the ground like a used rag. The woman offered her charms too freely. They barely knew one another. In the old country she would have been shunned and branded. No decent man would have sought her affection. But this wasn’t the old country and he wasn’t a decent man. No, he was something entirely different.

  He combed a strand of hair behind her ear and contemplated his answer. “Perhaps a movie would be nice. I will meet you at the theater at 6:30.” He released his grasp, moved her back a step, and climbed inside his SUV.

  As he drove away, he glanced in the rearview mirror. Stephanie gawked after him, yearning in her stare.

  ****

  Chase’s father helped him stand. Worry etched lines in his face around his eyes and lips. “How do you feel?”

  Dad had asked the question off and on for the entire night and the following day, between bouts of pain and rare moments of lucidity. The torment would wane and Chase would sleep, only to wake in the same state. His alarm had blared and he’d slapped his phone, breaking it into a million pieces. When next he’d awakened it was afternoon, and Dad still hovered over him.

  Chase licked his rough lips. The room spun around him, wobbled, then settled into its proper place. “I don’t know. Weird?”

  “It’ll become more f
amiliar.”

  Oh, that sounded great — not. Standing at the cot’s side, he faced a mirror Dad had bolted to the wall, between a bookcase filled with the old family journals and a rack holding drill bits and screwdrivers. In the dim workshop light, his new features seemed bizarre and monstrous. How could this become more familiar? He whispered, “What am I?”

  Dad collapsed onto a stool and clasped his hands. “You’re a gryphon.”

  “A what?” Breath lodged in his throat and his heart hammered in his chest. He’d stared at his own body all night while it had changed, and he couldn’t stop shaking.

  “A gryphon. Half eagle, half lion.”

  “B-but I still have human features.” Shouldn’t a gryphon have a snout or a beak or something? His nose and mouth were only slightly larger. Chase touched the planes of his face. In the mirror, the grotesque caricature of himself did the same. This isn’t happening. It isn’t possible.

  “True.”

  Dad didn’t say more and Chase grew frustrated. How could he be so calm? Overnight his son had gone from normal teenage boy to freak of nature, and Dad had sat there and watched every moment of the transformation.

  “Why is this happening?” Chase asked. A lengthy explanation would be nice, something that included radioactive vats of chemicals or an alien invasion.

  His father studied his hands. His chin lifted. “The girl.”

  “You mean Maddie?” Chase drew his brows together.

  Dad sighed. “Yes. Since…” His voice trailed off.

  Chase coaxed. “Since…?”

  “Since it happened to me, I’ve been reading up on our family history.” He waved one hand at the journals in the bookcase.

  Under Chase’s breath, he said, “I knew it!”

  “What?”

  Explaining what he’d seen the day Maddie visited — had it only been yesterday? it felt like forever ago — probably wasn’t the best idea. What good would it do, since he was looking in the mirror at a clearer version? He wanted answers, not a reasoned discussion. “Nothing. Tell me what you’ve learned.”

  “First we should get some things clear.” Dad paused. “I know you saw me.”

  Oops. Chase lowered his eyes. His feet had grown enormously large and sprouted pale fur. Not anything he wanted to look at. He turned away, but his first step pacing clicked a claw onto the concrete floor. He froze. Not anything he wanted to hear, either, and instead Chase hunched his shoulders and waited.

  Dad nodded, as if none of Chase’s reactions surprised him. “In the gryphon state, as I found out yesterday for the first time, our hearing is better. A lot better.”

  “So last night, why didn’t you just tell me what happened to you?” Especially when you knew it might happen to me?

  “I didn’t want to alarm anyone.”

  Oh, yeah, right. Good one, Dad. “Is that why you asked Maddie all those questions at the supper table?”

  “Yes.”

  “Will you tell me now?”

  Dad paced and tapped a finger to his forehead. “In the yard, Maddie touched me. I felt a distinct tingle, and then pain. Not much later I changed, and then changed back.” He paused. “That never happened to me before, so it had to have been caused by her touch.”

  “She’s touched me lots of times. So how come I’m only changing now? And how come it took so much longer for me to complete my change?”

  “I’m not sure.” But then Dad blinked. “And what do you mean, she’s touched you lots of times?”

  The heat of embarrassment flushed his face. “Well, I mean, umm, touching in passing and stuff.”

  “Chase?”

  “Dad, it’s not like that. I’ve only known her a few days.”

  “But you still have feelings for her?”

  “Yes.” Why did the thought make him uncomfortable? He’d liked other girls.

  “I’m sensing there’s more to your feelings than her just being another pretty girl.”

  “Yeah.” Chase ran his overly large hands through the fur atop his head. He pulled them down, stared at them, and frowned. Pointed nails protruded from his fingertips. Thick pale fur covered both sides. Sighing, he said, “I can’t explain it. It’s like, the first time I met her I wanted to get to know her. She thinks we’re just friends, but…” He let the words drift away.

  His father didn’t respond and Chase continued. “Dad, you asked about her parents and her last name. Has that got anything to do with this?”

  Sagging as if defeated, Dad settled back onto his seat, hunching with his elbows on his thighs. “When I was young, my father told me wild stories about flying creatures. At the end of each story, he would tell me to beware of any female with Casey blood. I just assumed it was a scare tactic. Some kind of family rivalry, like the Hatfields and McCoys.” He paused and rubbed the spot between his brows. “I didn’t mean to upset Maddie by asking about her parents.”

  Chase sighed. His dad would never hurt or embarrass anyone on purpose. But before he could say something to break the tension, his wings brushed his legs and he groaned. “What am I going to do with these things? I don’t think they’ll be too accepting at school.” The wings would make driving difficult, not to mention sitting in the school desks, playing volleyball or running in gym, fitting through doorways… and thinking that way was stupid. He had bigger concerns, like finding some way to change back. Dad had managed it, so theoretically it was possible, as the chemistry teacher might say.

  But Dad laughed. “We’ll work on it. After a few moments I was able to transition back to normal, so I would think you’ll be able to do the same.”

  “What do we have to do? Mutter some kind of special words? An incantation? Perform a special dance?”

  “Don’t be flippant.”

  “I’ve got to inject a little humor.”

  If possible, Dad’s tone became more serious. “I think if you’re away from Maddie long enough, the effects of her presence will wear off and you’ll naturally transform. Or maybe you can will it. I don’t really know.”

  Sarcastically, Chase said, “Great.” So it was up to him. He relaxed, meditated, chanted silly words, counted backward from a hundred, anything and everything he could think of while Dad pored over the family journals, volume by volume, starting at the oldest and working his way forward through history. Pages turned in the background of Chase’s thoughts. Finally he exhaled loudly and slumped, closing his eyes.

  “I know you’re tired, but we can’t quit. Don’t worry, we’ll find a way to get you back to normal.” Another turning page. “Might miss another day of school, though.”

  “So there’s nothing in those books that mentions this?” It seemed a strange thing to leave out. Of all the things for someone to forget…

  “If there is, I haven’t found it yet. Honestly, I’m having trouble sorting out what is relevant to our experience and what is just some oldtimer trying to share a personal experience.”

  Chase moaned and tried to get comfortable. But the wings made sitting awkward. They were heavy, the feathers too thick to bend easily, and they splayed on either side of him across the cot’s rumpled blankets. Leave it to his family to have a zillion journals about their history. Granted, it seemed to have been a really weird and fascinating history, if changing into a gryphon was part of it.

  The workshop kept him cramped and he would have given anything to be outside where he could stretch his legs. And his wings… the thought tingled, like a shiver across his skin. Wings were made for flying, right? Having wings meant…

  That would be entirely too cool.

  Unable to lie still, he leaned his head back against the wall, straightened his legs before him, and closed his eyes. His wings stiffened, then sagged with him, pushing into the blankets. But before he could totally relax, a strange image flashed into his mind and he sat bolt upright.

  “What’s wrong?” Dad leaned over the workbench, another journal open beneath one hand.

  “I see something.”


  “You mean, like a vision?” Dad tensed.

  Chase squeezed his eyelids tighter. “Yes. There’s someone riding a bike on a country road and there’s a — a car behind her. It’s coming fast. Too fast. I don’t think it can stop. Oh, no! It hit her! She’s lying in the snow and not moving. The car didn’t stop!” He squinted. “She doesn’t appear to be breathing.”

  “Can you tell who it is?”

  “It’s Maddie.” Chase opened his eyes. Around him, the workshop swam back into sharp focus, as if the adrenaline brought out every detail. “What does it mean?”

  Worry lines tightened across Dad’s jaw. He shook his head. “It could mean Maddie just got hit by a car.”

  “What?” Chase pushed to the edge of the cot and squeezed the table’s end. Suddenly the wood moved beneath his enlarged fingers. When he glanced down, a dent had appeared.

  He could damage a thick slab of solid wood. That was pretty awesome, too.

  But Dad grabbed his upper arm. “Or it could be a future event. Whatever the case, she mustn’t be allowed to die.”

  “How do you know?” No, wait, what did it matter? “I’ll go to her.”

  “But how?”

  Chase stood and fanned his wings behind him, bumping shelves and knocking tools onto the concrete floor. A whole rack of carpentry tools fell with a crash and clatter. He cringed. “This is how.”

  “But you’re not ready!”

  “I don’t have a choice. I have to help her.”

  Dad hauled out his cell phone and dialed 911. But Chase pushed past him, opened the outer door, and stepped into the backyard. Hopefully he hadn’t attracted Mom’s attention with the racket. Unsure how to begin, he muttered, “Up, up and away. Abracadabra. Olé, olé, oxen freeze. Up. Go. Move.”

  Nothing worked. Now what? How was it possible to have these really cool wings and not make them work?

  Closing his eyes, he focused on his goal. A deep breath, another, then he opened his eyes and ran. Tall trees loomed before him at the yard’s far end. He spread his wings and air rushed beneath them. His feet left the ground a fraction of an inch, like a small biplane attempting to take flight. Trees and bushes closed in. Fear sent his heart into overdrive. He was going to crash. And if he did, Maddie might die.