The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett(32)

“Edward believed the three suns in the sky represented the three sons of York.”

“Wow. Mom must have been captivated.”

My dad laughed. “She said thanks for the history lesson, but she was more interested in what she could learn from the living.”

“Do you blame her?”

“I suppose I don’t.”

It wasn’t a very cute “how we met” story. But that’s how things go in real life. And it worked out OK for them, because twentysomething years later, they still acted like they were in love.

“Speaking of college,” my dad said, though we hadn’t really been, “have you looked through the catalog at all?”

I looked out the window to avoid his gaze. “What catalog?”

“The one I put on your desk.”

“I didn’t see it,” I said, though what I meant was that I had seen it, then stuffed it into a drawer where I could pretend it didn’t exist.

“I’m not trying to pressure you,” my dad said.

But that was exactly what he was doing.

The problem was, I had no clue what I wanted to study in college. It was unfair that you had to decide how to spend your life before you’d been out in the world and seen what the options were. Not to mention my dreams weren’t exactly viable. I doubted college offered courses on how to be an adventurer.

Even if I choose a path that seemed interesting and exciting, what if college turned out to be the same as high school, only with slightly more interesting classes? Then I’d graduate, start my career, and it would turn out to be a disappointment, just like everything else. Nothing is ever as exciting as you imagine it’s going to be.

If I reached that point, and I was disappointed with just about everything, then what could I look forward to anymore? And if I had nothing to look forward to, what was the point of living at all?

“There’s no need to get upset,” my dad said.

“I’m not upset.”

“Then why won’t you talk about this?”

I figured I owed him some honesty. It wasn’t his fault I dreaded the upcoming years. “I guess I’m afraid of making the wrong choice.”

“I understand how scary that can be. But you can’t let it stop you from making any choice.”

Sure I could.

I watched out the window as members of the caravan assembled for their morning prayer circle or whatever it was. I wondered if they really believed all the stuff they talked about. I wondered if they were happy.

Then I told myself to stop wondering and stop stressing about the future. Wasn’t my mom the one always saying to live in the now?

Now I had more important things to think about than college courses and how much I’d hate my eventual job. I had a werewolf to find.

The future could wait.

“We can talk more later, OK?” I said, standing up. “I have to be somewhere.”

“Where?” my dad asked, like he couldn’t fathom anything more pressing than our conversation.

“I’m going hiking.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Alone?”

“With a friend,” I said.

“Emily hikes?”

And mess up her penny loafers? Yeah, right.

Instead of answering, I hugged my dad and told him good-bye. I was out the door before he could ask any more questions.

? ? ?

I got to Wolf Creek earlier than Enzo. I guess it wasn’t surprising since I drove and he took the bus, which was probably late and maybe even broken down somewhere since that’s what all the buses in our area seemed to do.

I walked around the campsite, looking for signs that Lizzie had visited in the last few days. There were no paw prints or tufts of fur or whatever else a wolf might leave behind.

For a second, I freaked out that the police would show up and want to know what I was doing at the site of Lizzie Lovett’s disappearance. I, of course, would get all weird and mumble something incoherent, because I was too embarrassed to tell them I was looking for evidence that she was a werewolf, and that would make them think I was suspicious and had maybe, probably, murdered her, so then I’d get locked up in jail.

To shake off my worries, I sat down on the flat rock and pulled The Howling out of my bag. I tried to concentrate on the words on the page, but the woods were too quiet. Being there alone made me uncomfortable. What if wolf-Lizzie was in the trees watching me, waiting for the right opportunity to pounce?

“What are you reading?”

I startled.

Enzo wore a beat-up leather jacket to protect him from the chill in the air. It was finally starting to feel like fall.

“Research,” I said, holding out the book so he could see the cover.

“I saw that movie when I was a kid. Didn’t even know it was a book.”

“They’re kind of drastically different.”

Enzo sat down on the rock next to me and started rolling a cigarette. “So, what’s the plan?”

“I guess just walk through the woods and see if we spot anything.”

“Do you know how many people have been through these woods recently?”

“They were looking for a girl, not a wolf. They could have missed the signs. I picked out the areas where we’ll probably have the best luck.”

I pulled out a map, and Enzo examined the sections I’d highlighted. A breeze rustled the leaves on the trees. Birds and bugs gave us their own soundtrack. It felt like I was in the place I was meant to be, doing exactly what I was meant to do. Enzo and I were on the edge of an important discovery.