The Better to Bite (Howl #1)(39)

I cleared my throat and slammed my locker shut. “My dad found her. I was with him but…he found her.”

Same story, different place.

“She was in her nightgown.” Jenny’s voice was hushed like Cassidy’s had been, and she’d apparently gotten distracted from the whole Rafe-biting-me thing.

Good.

I rolled my shoulders and wondered how Jenny knew so much info.

“My dad thinks she went out to meet someone,” Jenny admitted. Ah, that was right. Her dad was a reporter for the Haven Gazette. He seemed to like gossip as much as she did. “And that guy either left her to die…or never showed up.”

Either way, Sissy hadn’t made it back home.

The bell rang.

I grabbed Cassidy’s hand before she could leave. “I need to talk to your grandmother,” I told her. Yeah, I had twenty dollars in my pocket, and I was getting that next reading. “Something’s happened, and I…I need to talk to her.”

Cassidy frowned, but nodded. “After school?”

Good. “Perfect.” Because it was time that I got some answers about this town.

***

PE was hell. As usual. Like running two miles was supposed to be fun for me. How could it be fun for anyone? I huffed and puffed and felt like my side would burst open.

Then, when I went back to my gym locker to change, I noticed my necklace was gone.

Hell.

I’d taken the necklace off—Coach Bartlett’s rule, no jewelry—and left it in my locker.

Now it was gone.

My fingers curled around the cold metal of my locker door.

“Hurry up, ladies!” Coach Bartlett’s twanged voice blasted. “Two minutes and you’re out of here!”

But I wasn’t moving. Lost. I pictured the necklace in my mind. My necklace, it was—

“Move now!” Bartlett barked like a good drill sergeant.

I started changing even as rage heated my blood. I knew exactly where my necklace was, and I knew who’d taken it.

After all, I’d seen it in my mind. It was tucked away in her locker.

Bitch.

***

At lunch, I wasted no time in storming right up to Valerie. She was laughing and talking, and I shoved my way through the pack around her. “Give it back,” I snapped.

That stopped her. She glanced at me, blonde brows raised haughtily. “Excuse me?”

She knew exactly what I was talking about. I could see it in her eyes. With an effort, I managed to unclench my teeth and I said, “Look, maybe you do your little klepto routine for fun, but you’re not taking my necklace. It belonged to my mom, and I want it back.”

She laughed again, a taunting laugh that grated in my ears. “I don’t even know that you’re talking about.”

Troy stood to her right. I noticed that he frowned at her suspiciously. Ah, so she’d swiped things before.

“You want to play it this way?” I asked and bared my teeth. “Fine, but I gave you the chance to willingly hand it back over.”

I turned around and stalked toward the main school building.

“Anna!” Brent smiled at me as he approached, flashing those killer dimples. “Hey, I was looking for you—”

I tried to smile back at him, but right then, I was too angry at Valerie—why’d she swipe my necklace?—and…too guilty to meet his warm stare. I’d made out with Rafe while Brent and I were—

What were we?

“Tell your little trampy new girlfriend to stop harassing me!” Valerie called out, her voice way too loud. The better for everyone to hear her.

Brent’s eyes narrowed and lifted to Valerie. They didn’t look quite so warm anymore.

“I’m not the one who took something that belonged to someone else!” Valerie yelled.

Oh, wait. That crazy chick was talking about me and Brent. Seriously? She was sliding into the land of psycho ex. I whirled around and saw that Valerie had closed in on me. What the—

I stared at her tense face and everything clicked. Psycho cheerleading ex. “You took my necklace in order to get back at me because Brent broke up with you? Are you insane?”

She glared at me, and when she was angry, her face turned splotchy red and got really…well, not ugly, but definitely less pretty. “I didn’t take anything of yours and you can just—”

Whatever. I was done. I spun back around and headed for the main building. She followed me, her screeching voice getting higher and higher as I headed down the hallway—and to her locker.

We, ah, brought a crowd with us.

And, of course, that attracted the principal.

“Ladies, what is the meaning of this?” Mr. Knoxley demanded as he hurried down the hall with slaps of his faded loafers. “You should be at lunch, not—”

“Valerie stole my necklace,” I interrupted, my whole body vibrating with anger. That necklace was the only thing of my mom’s that I had. Dad had gotten rid of everything else. Tried to erase her like she was a bad memory. Only I didn’t want her erased. No matter what she’d done or how much it hurt, I didn’t want to pretend that she’d never existed.

If she didn’t exist, then I didn’t, either.

“I did no such thing, Mr. Knoxley!” Valerie defended instantly as she put a dramatic hand over her heart. “This girl is crazy, she’s—”