Chapter One
WHEN THE DIRT ROAD twisted to the west, the brilliant orange sun lit up Caitlin Montgomery’s windshield.
Oh, the shocking brightness wasn’t consistently blinding her—fortunately, the soaring trees blocked most of the rapidly sinking sun.
But every now and then, the reddish hues would light her up as the rays popped through the spaces between the trees.
Her hands were white-knuckled on the steering wheel at ten and two.
She cursed. The towering trees casting shadows had made her take her sunglasses off, but now the sunrays pelting between the branches burst through the car.
She was going to kill Penny, the selfish twat, for making her drag herself clear out here to find out what the hell was going on with her selfish sister.
Penny had made a brief appearance, had a screaming match in their father’s office, and had stormed out of the house. Of all the days to pull her shenanigans, Penny picked the worst day on the calendar. The most difficult one for their parents.
The day of mass shifter protests.
Her gas gauge was sneaking up on E. Good God, would she ever get there?
She should have stopped for gas in the main strip of town, but gah. It was so ancient… deserted.
An old man had sat in a rickety folding chair at the gas station like he actually pumped the gas for customers. Who does that?
Mountain men with control issues, probably.
Even though she told herself she was being ridiculous, she peeled right out of the station.
She told herself she could probably make it deeper into the mountain on the tank of gas she had, could keep going without stopping for more without actually acknowledging the fear she had—the one she carried since she was a kid.
That one movie she’d watched with Penny. They were both under ten, way too young for rated R, but the babysitter had it on and they’d snuck downstairs to the home theater.
It was an old horror film, nothing really scary by today’s standards…
except for the concept. Creepy old, half-deserted town.
Curtains that would part when a car would drive by.
Freaky mountain people with two teeth. Serial killers who preserved visitors in wax for their own tourist attraction.
Everyone ranted and raved about how realistic the wax people were, not realizing it was because they were real people dying underneath that rapidly hardening wax.
Chills at the childhood memories made a shiver curl up her spine. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, after all. What possessed Penny to move to a backwoods mountain town? Should she turn back?
But then there was a tiny dot on the horizon—the cabin, maybe. She released a breath. That had to be the place.
The car pulled up on a cloud of dust and at the last moment, she turned the wheels to park on the side of the cabin instead of the front. If Penny looked out the window and saw the car, she might not answer.
And now, the sunset was bright over the horizon, but sinking fast, casting an odd shadow in spots as she strode up to the front porch.
She pounded on the door.
She was about to pound again when it was flung open and Penny’s elated expression dropped. Instead, her sister stood there with her mouth catching flies. Obviously, she’d been expecting someone else.
“Caitlin? What are you doing here? Wait, how did you find me?”
She had the nerve to look all judgy and suspicious.
And Caitlin could tell her but why would she give away the secret to how she found her? Penny would know what to avoid next time she pulled a disappearing act. Why would Caitlin make it that much harder on herself to find Penny the next time she ran?
She blasted her. “I came to find out what’s going on. You left—after coming home just to scream at Dad on the day when he had such an important press release to make. Did you choose that moment on purpose?”
And from the guilt and her sister’s eyes she knew the answer.
Penny crossed her arms over her chest, and leaned against the door frame. “I guess you’re gonna find out anyway. I’m not coming back, Caitlin. I’m never coming back.”
Caitlin rolled her eyes. Oh, she knew what this was about. “Let me guess. You have a wonderful new boyfriend and he’s better than any boyfriend you’ve ever had before.”
Her sister’s lips tightened. “I’m not a kid anymore.”
Caitlin hadn’t meant to make her feel like that. She softened her tone. “I know that, Penny. But I also recognize the signs. You breeze in right at this crucial point in Dad’s career and I’m supposed to think that’s a coincidence?”
“It wasn’t a coincidence,” Penny acknowledged.
“Aha!” Caitlin said, her eyes narrowed.
“It’s not what you think—”
But she was on a roll. “What I think? Let me tell you what I think, Pen. No matter how old we get, you still act like a selfish brat, thinking of no one but yourself. I know Mom and Dad aren’t easy—”
“Not easy?” Penny’s eyes were huge. “They’re controlling, and that’s the mildest thing I can say.”
“Shifters are a controversial topic. It’s Dad’s job to enact laws to protect the public—”
“Protect? Are you kidding me? What protects the shifters from us?”
It was ludicrous to think that the stronger species might need protection. “Shifters are vicious, instinctual. More animal than man. Built-in weapons like jaws and claws, and super strength. Lack of social manners—”
“You think they don’t have manners? Fucking human manners?
” Her sister’s voice was incredulous. “We’ve already forced them to register—all their personal information splayed out for the world to see.
Their full names, their matings, their children…
even their home address is public! We can see which children go to community schools so they can be segregated like animals just by a school official checking the registry. ”
“I was just making a point that they’re not like us. Manners was the last fact. The dangers should be acknowledged first.”
“They’re people, Caitlin. People. Do you understand that? They’re mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles. They have babies. They have manners but their ways are different than ours. So what if their ways and rules don’t match ours?”
Caitlin rolled her eyes. “I’m sure they do. And I’m sure their ways suit them fine. But to live among us, they need to adapt to our way of thinking to live peacefully with humans. And we definitely can’t forget those dangers. We need to control their numbers or they’ll take over the planet—”
“You’re so goddamned brainwashed, Caitlin.
Just like Mom and Dad. But I shouldn’t be surprised that you have their same shitty mindset toward shifters.
You’ve always been on their side. I can’t even deal with you right now.
You think I deliberately stopped by when Dad was preparing for the press release?
Here’s something you don’t know. He called me. ”
Caitlin could feel her brows knit at the obvious lie. Dad would never… unless he wanted something. But what could he possibly want from Penny? On that vital day, no less?
“So get off my porch. You need to leave. Go to your hotel room—wherever your staying—and maybe tomorrow we can talk. But if not, then you need to go back to Mom and Dad if that’s what makes you happy. And get the hell out of my life because I don’t need your brainwashed judgement.”
Before Caitlin could even open her mouth to speak, Penny stepped aside and slammed the door in her face. The thud of the lock clicked in place.
“Penelope! Open this door.” She pounded the heavy wooden door so hard her palm stung. “I don’t have a motel tonight.”
No answer.
“Open up!”
Still no response.
It was dark now, the air more chilled than it had been with the sun out.
Caitlin briskly rubbed her arms as she slowly turned around, wishing she’d have just stopped at that damn gas station earlier.
She probably would have been fine. Or, if the creepy old mountain man had killed her, Penny would have to carry the trauma of her murder for the rest of her life.
Penny really wasn’t opening the door. She really expected her to leave. Just like that? Nothing made sense.
God, her sister thought she had the same mindset as their parents? How had things come to this? She knew her parents were extreme; she mostly wanted to smooth things over between Penny and them. Not align with their theories.
Maybe that was why she and Penny had grown apart.
She took a step down off the porch, but then sat down on the top of the porch to think.
Her father called Penny to his office? Surely that wasn’t what happened. But why would Penny lie?
Caitlin couldn’t leave. Not like this. Besides, where would she go? The damn main town of this creepy, House-of-Wax frontier, with the tiny, one-floor, No-Tell motel? The doors looked made of cardboard. Anyone could break one down, probably even her. And it probably had bugs the size of her fists.
What the hell had possessed Penny to move here?
She didn’t know how long she sat but the sun sank down in the horizon. A slight chill hit the air; it probably wafted up from some water somewhere. A creek or a lake—a mountain stream even.
She still sat for the longest time after that.
At least a half hour of listening to odd things; creatures chirping in the woods, insects buzzing, leaves rustling.
For once in her life, she wasn’t jumpy, wondering what had to be done next.
Instead, she was strangely calm. Surely Penny would calm down and open the door.