December's Moon

14| LUCA

| LUCA |

Luca felt like a zombie the next morning. He picked at the eggs and bacon on his plate, unable to stomach them. He reached into the pocket of his jacket, running his thumb over the small vile of poison his father had given him last night.

At the next table over, December sat between Nate and Zane. He rested his head in one hand as his other held his fork, pushing food around his plate. He looked about as tired as Luca felt, and seemingly didn't have an appetite either.

How easy would it be to slip something into his meal one day? Not right now with Nate and Zane sitting there, but one day, Luca could just sit next to him at breakfast or dinner. When no one was looking . . .

Luca shook himself. What was he thinking? He wasn't actually considering poisoning December, was he? He felt sick to his stomach as he thought about his conversation with his father last night. Avi Wakelin had already tried to kill December once. If Luca didn't do this, his father would kill him anyway. Did it even matter if Luca was the one to do it or not? At least if he did the job himself, he might regain a bit of respect from his father. Show him he had some semblance of a backbone.

Another thought rolled around in the back of Luca's mind. Who was that woman his father had met in the woods? She'd stood off beyond the ridge, so they'd only been able to hear her voice. She didn't show herself, only instructing from afar as to where Avi should leave the "package."

The entire thing creeped him out, from the haunting sound of her voice to the way his father almost seemed possessed as he followed her instructions. His face glazed over as he climbed down toward the edge of the ridge, placing the small box beneath a thorny bush. Something wasn't right about it. Why didn't Alpha Rowan know about it if it was official business of the Pack?

Unless it wasn't. Could it be some sort of extortion or black market dealing? But what did that have to do with Malcom's disappearance? It was all connected—it had to be. Luca just didn't know how.

Luca swallowed the lump in his throat, thinking about everything he'd learned about his father last night. He was a murderer. The word didn't sit right. Luca had always been intimidated by Avi Wakelin, but he didn't think he would actually go to those sorts of measures. And now, Avi wanted Luca to be a murderer, too.

Luca rose to his feet, leaving his food mostly untouched. His hands shook just thinking about the idea of killing someone. He didn't know if he could do it. It was all too much information to process at once. He needed to think about everything, and in order to do that, he needed coffee.

He headed to the back of the dining room where they kept the caffeinated toxic sludge and began pouring some into a mug that said "Running with the Wolves Annual 5k, 1995" in faded blue text. Where in the world did they find these mugs? A garage sale?

Next to the coffee station, a group of three juniors sat at the back table, hunched over and leaning in close to each other. Luca couldn't help but overhear their conversation.

"Are you planning to go tomorrow night?" Nyx, a girl with long, nearly black hair, asked in a whisper.

"What if we get caught?" Jacob, a boy who was still dressed in his pajamas for some reason, said. Luca knew the Juniors didn't have a nine am class on Thursdays, but still, who showed up to breakfast in their pajamas?

"The warning the other day seemed pretty serious," Jacob continued.

"They can't expel us all," Samantha, the other girl sitting at the table said. She plucked a piece of bacon from Jacob's plate and tossed it in her mouth. "Then they'd have no students."