Chapter 18: Fang

I caught up with them in the grove behind the teaching building, where the path forks under the oaks.

It had started to rain.

Caleb was walking fast with his collar up, and Asher was jogging after him with the shoebox under his arm.

"Not now," Caleb said.

"Yes, now."

"Whatever it is, Asher, I've had a long month."

"Nineteen years ago," Asher said. "A gas station in Dunmore."

Caleb stopped walking.

He didn't turn around.

I stayed behind the last oak, because I knew I should leave and I could not.

"Who told you that?" Caleb asked.

"Nobody. I was there."

Caleb turned, slowly, with the rain on his face.

"You were in Ohio."

"I lived in Dunmore until I was ten, and I was eight that summer."

He took a breath.

"There was a man, and you, and a lot of silence."

"It was a girl."

"It was a yellow raincoat," Asher said. "It was my sister's, and it came down to my knees."

He held out his hands.

"I'm sorry, Caleb. I'm the girl."

Caleb stared at him.

"No," he said. "What did the man's watch look like?"

"Gold. Too big. It scratched my teeth."

Caleb flinched.

He had never told anyone about the watch. I could see it on his face.

"I bit his left wrist," Asher said, "and I held on."

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