“You were talking to me.”
“Yes.”
“Did… I talk back?”
All the time. “Every now and then.”
“Do you know why you saw me?”
“Because I wanted it more than anything.”
He nodded. His eyes were wet, but his cheeks were dry. He said, “It’s because I’m your tether.”
“Still. Always.”
And Gavin said, “Ghost Kelly because of tether?”
I looked at him. It was the first time he’d spoken in hours. “Yeah. Home. He reminded me of home.”
“Home,” he whispered. Then he broke the world. “I saw ghost Carter. When I was alone. Always talking. But there was no thump, thump, thump. Wasn’t real. Wasn’t there. Thomas told me about tethers. Wolves need them. Witches. Humans too. He said people forgot that. Humans need them too. Didn’t understand. Do now.”
The silence was deafening.
Kelly’s voice was choked when he said, “Gavin? Did… did our father turn you into a wolf?”
Gavin shook his head. “No. Not him. He said I couldn’t be wolf. Because of blood. Magic. I wasn’t… like that.” He sounded frustrated, like he couldn’t find the right words. “I asked him. Give me bite. Make me like him. He said no. I was mad. Made him leave. Told him never come back. He was sad. He hugged me. I didn’t hug him. But I did it. I found a wolf. Alpha. Red eyes. When I was older. Bit me. It hurt. I almost died. Alpha said I couldn’t be in pack. He said I was dark. My eyes weren’t right. Violet. Always violet.”
My hands shook. He didn’t let me go.
Gavin said, “Easier as wolf. Didn’t need anyone. Didn’t need pack.” He looked out the window. “Alone. Scared sometimes. I found other wolves. Like me. Omegas. And then the bad man tried to hurt us. To make us listen. To make us his.”
There was a buzzing in my ears. “Bad man?”
He nodded. “Richard Collins. I didn’t want to listen. I didn’t want to be with him. I tried to tell others. Tried to make them leave. But they didn’t want to. I didn’t know what to do. Brain on fire all the time. He made it worse. Bees in my head.”
Oh, how I hated the beast and all that he’d done. All that he’d taken away. “Did he know who you were?”
Gavin shrugged awkwardly. It was such a human thing. He was learning. “No. Didn’t like him.” He bared his teeth. “Bad, bad man. Tried to get in my head. I wouldn’t let him. Different now. Found it. What Thomas told me to find.”
“What was it?” Kelly asked.
And Gavin said, “Tether. I found tether. Thump. Thump. Thump. Sound never left. Never went away until I went away. Then ghost Carter there, but I didn’t hear it. Not like before. I asked him why. He said because I was crazy.” He frowned. “Don’t like ghost Carter very much.” He stiffened as if he heard what he was saying. “Don’t like real Carter very much.” But he didn’t pull his hand away from mine.
“But your eyes,” Kelly said. “You’re still… you’re still an Omega.”
“I know.” He looked back out the window. “But I’m not bad wolf. I’m good wolf. I don’t hurt people. Only those that try to hurt me. Makes me feel bad if I do. So I don’t.” He looked like he was going to say something else, his mouth opening and closing, but no sound came out. I thought he was done until he sighed. He lifted his hips and reached into the pocket of the jeans Gordo had given him. They were loose on him. He said, “Here. This. This is yours. I kept it for you.” He frowned. “Well. I kept it for me. That’s stealing. I don’t like stealing.”
And he handed me the photograph of three smiling boys.
“What is it?” Kelly asked.
I showed him. “I… had this in the truck. Took it with me.” I didn’t need to say where I’d found it after it went missing, but I thought Gavin knew already. “Kept it on the dashboard so I could see it whenever I needed it.”
Kelly took the photo from me and glanced down at it, throat bobbing up and down. He nodded and then set it on the dash. He pressed his fingers to his lips and then touched the faces of the boys.
We drove on.
AN HOUR LATER I FELT IT.