“You can’t have a grown-up conversation. You’re not grown-ups.”
“Angel—”
“I’ll let you play my X-Box,” Jase said, bringing her to an abrupt stop.
“Can I play a shooting game?”
“Yes,” he answered right over the top of my “no.” Angel raced up the stairs, only hearing the answer she wanted.
And then there was complete and utter silence as Jase, Charlie, and Talley all looked at me expectantly. I cleared my throat and searched for something profound to say. Nothing came.
“So, what now?” I asked, sounding exactly like the strong, all-knowing leader I was.
“First,” Jase said, pointing across the table at Talley, “she goes and pledges herself back to the Hagan Pack. With any luck, she’ll get there when Toby is in a forgiving mood.”
“You don’t give orders, Jase.” Talley’s voice was even and calm, but I could see her fingernails digging into her palms. “I’m staying here. End of story.”
“No, you’re going back to where you belong.”
“I belong with the Pack Leader I swore allegiance to.”
Jase half-rose, his arms braced on the table in front of him. “You don’t get that choice. Now go home before it’s too late.” The cords on his neck stood at attention, threatening to break through the skin. I was more than a little afraid for Talley’s well-being.
“Jase, sit. Now.” He scowled, but obeyed. “Now, explain,” I said, certain I was missing some very important piece of information.
Jase and Talley were too busy glaring at each other to respond, so I forced my eyes to the one place I’d been training them not to look all morning.
“How much do you know about Seers?” Charlie asked, barely looking up from his fifth cup of coffee.
I shrugged. “The basics, I guess. Girls with special gifts, passed from mother to daughter. They work with Shifter Packs…” Something occurred to me. “Hey, you’re like my Vice President,” I said to my best friend.
“Exactly.” The death-glare she leveled on Jase turned into a smirk. “And I say I’m staying.”
At that Jase really did explode. He was around the table and in Talley’s face before his chair smacked the tiled floor with a deafening thwack. “What the hell is your problem? Do you want them to drag you back to that backwoods mountain and force you to squeeze out a litter of pups? Is that what you want? Do you want to go back there?” Jase’s body was literally vibrating with anger.
“Sit!” I commanded, moving between my brother and a now sobbing Talley. “You.” I pointed at Charlie. “Explain. Now.”
“Seers are bound to the Pack their born into. Usually, it’s not a big deal. It’s where they grew up, where they belong.” He gave Talley a small, sad smile and I began to see where this was going. “Talley, however, was born into the Matthews Pack, but grew up with the Hagan Pack. She was originally supposed to go back to the Matthews Pack on her fifteenth birthday, but —”
“But her powers hadn’t developed yet.” I handed Talley a paper towel, unable to locate a tissue.
“Yeah. They still wanted her, but since she wasn’t able to See, they didn’t fight too hard when Toby petitioned to keep her. In the end, they accepted a monetary compensation for their loss.”
“You bought her?”
“The Hagan Pack bought her,” Jase answered, still fuming. “And it was a conditional purchase. She was to stay in the Hagan Pack. Now that she’s left, they’ll see the contract as null and void—”
“And they’ll want her back, Super-Seer skills and all.”
Jase’s smile wasn’t pleasant. “You always were the smart one.”
I looked down at Talley, who was finally pulling herself together. “Are they exaggerating?”
She shook her head, eyes downcast.
In all the years Talley and I’ve known each other, I’ve met her father exactly once. There were about three years where Mr. Matthews decided he wanted his daughter to spend six weeks of the summer with him in addition to the week she spent in Eastern Kentucky every Christmas. At the age of eleven, six weeks seemed like a lifetime, and I was convinced I would shrivel up and perish while she was away. My parents, being the kind of loving folks who don’t want to see their child die from loneliness, arranged a family vacation touring the eastern half of the state with a special stop in Frenchburg to visit with Talley.
Angel was a baby, so Mom stayed in the motel room that smelled like rotten eggs while Dad drove Jase and I out to the Matthews’ compound. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before. The whole family lived in a cluster of houses at the end of a road that wound between two mountains. Talley said they called it Matthews Holler, and I wondered if it was because all you had to do was holler out your door to talk to any of your family members.