Full Moon Hike by Julie Steimle (ebook e reader TXT) 📕

Grinning, Rick looked to his father. “Can we?”

His dad smiled, giving him a nod. “Yes. It sounds like fun.”

The canyon really was something. Staring down at that sheer drop, even I felt a mite of vertigo. The colors were lovely. Oranges, yellows, and browns…. I breathed in the air feeling a sense of freedom as I stood on the precipice. No one got as close as I, but then I didn’t expect anyone else to.

We took photographs all over. First under the pine trees in the shade, posing together with the family using my father’s tripod. Then near the canyon, choosing the best scenic backdrop for us. We wore the matching clothing our mother had selected for us so that we looked like the perfect unified family—even me fitting in with all those blond heads. Then we took photos with Rick and Mr. Deacon, including their bodyguards. My brothers borrowed their sunglasses to pose like super spies. I even got one of them to laugh.

When we finished with all the photography, I took a short walk back near the canyon edge, peering down into it.

Rick followed me, though he did not go so near to the drop off. “Are you sure you don’t want to go back east with me? I’d be willing to return to Gulinger High with you if it will make you feel more comfortable.”

I turned and blinked at him. “You aren’t going to that school anymore?”

He shrugged. “No. My father and I returned to our hometown this last year. That’s when I found out about the Seven and my pal Abey being one of them. I really just wanted to hang out with them for once. Not that I don’t miss my Gulinger friends. You’d like them. They’re really cool.”

I realized then that Rick had to move a lot because he was a werewolf. His hometown had to be a special place if it felt safer than at a private school for monsters in New York. I had a hard time imagining monster hunters in New York City for some reason.

“So, you really are turning us down?” he asked, searching my face for an answer.

Grinning with a shrug, I said, “For now. There’s no good surf in New York.”

He laughed. “I get it.”

I walked away from the edge to head back to the car. It was time to go home.

Rick grabbed my wrist. “Eve, wait.”

I stopped and turned to look at him.

“Email me, ok?” He stared into my orange eyes, searching for something else in them.

Smiling I nodded. “You can count on it.”

The mayor, along with two bodyguards, was standing on our front walk when we arrived home. I could tell he was not happy. His heart pounded in his chest as he stared at our car.

My father parked. My mother was the first to get out. The rest of us climbed out after, watching him shift from one foot to the other.

“What’s going on?” my father asked him, already concerned.

The mayor took a deep breath and walked right up to him, taking my dad aside. They whispered. And though I tried to listen in, his imps were petulant, all glaring at me because there was no fun for them in whatever was happening. I took that as a good sign.

When our father returned to us on the curb, his expression was lighter than it had been in several months. However the mayor stalked off with a dejected glower, his guards following right after him.

“Good news,” my father said, looking straight at me first and then at the rest of the family. “Our new friend called his lawyer. And his extremely well-paid lawyer called the mayor. Apparently Mr. Deacon’s lawyer is threatening a discrimination lawsuit against them for trying to drive us out of this neighborhood.”

“Discrimination?” I blinked at him. “But Dad, it’s not like they can say in court that I’m some other race. Most people won’t believe it.”

“No dear, but you are registered with a disability,” he said. His smile grew wider. “Eve, when we first adopted you and found out you couldn’t be in the sun at all, we visited lots of doctors. You are a documented rare case of albinism. Remember? You’re in the medical journals.”

I blinked then nodded. It was funny. I had ‘known’ I was an unusual albino case for years. Funny how half a year of weirdness had made me forget a detail that had been so prominent in my life for the past fourteen years.

“And what about all the freaky stuff?” I asked him. “I mean, I’m still going to make them nervous. What about flying at night?”

My dad smiled. “You just be a good girl. Don’t let them see you go flying, don’t walk through walls, and be careful of hunters.”

That was easy to agree to. “Ok. Though do you really think hunters might come to town after me?”

He glanced down the street to where the mayor had gone, drew in a breath and sighed.

“I don’t know. But after speaking with Mr. Deacon, he said we ought to be more careful. Which means…” He plucked my sunglasses from my shirt pocket and opened them up, sticking them on my face, “…you have to keep wearing these in public places. And we all need to keep all of Eve’s extra quirks a secret.”

My brothers and sister nodded in earnest agreement. Mom smiled at me and put an arm around my shoulder.

“Now, let’s unload the car and unpack!” Dad immediately walked to the trunk and stuck his key into the lock. Every one of us followed him to get our things.

I looked to the house, drew in a breath and smiled. We were home.

Publication Date: 11-15-2020

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