Unleashed by Nancy Holder Page B

anything about it,” Beau muttered under his breath.
    Mr. Henderson didn’t appear to have heard him. “Now, I’d like you to choose a subject within a day or two. By the end of the week at the latest.”
    The students began to murmur among themselves again. Katelyn glanced at Beau, who stared angrily down at his desk. Suddenly he looked up through his lashes, straight at her. She couldn’t read his expression, but he seemed as if he wanted to say something. Then the girl beside him nudged his shoulder, and he picked up his handout.
    “We were talking about Trick.” Cordelia prompted Katelyn in a low voice.
    “He’s my ride to school,” Katelyn explained. She didn’t want to be too quick to link herself to Trick if no one liked him. “We live out in the woods. I mean, my grandfather and I. Not Trick and I.” She gave a small smile at that.
    “Oh.” Cordelia nodded cautiously. “Well, Trick’s kind of … unpredictable,” she said. “Maybe you could find someone else.…”
    Alarmed, Katelyn raised her brows. “Unpredictable how?”
    The other girl shifted uncomfortably in her chair. “He just provokes people, sometimes. He’s so odd—”
    “How’s everybody doing?” Mr. Henderson said loudly, interrupting Cordelia.
    Cordelia’s cheeks went pink and she cleared her throat. “Be careful. Okay, Kat?”
    Katelyn nodded. It seemed like everyone in Wolf Springs was telling her to be careful. And Trick was wrong. Haley’s death was still on a lot of people’s minds. More than ever, Katelyn wished she could go home. This place was creepy. She wanted the sunshine back—and everything else she’d been forced to leave behind.
    “I don’t mean to sound, y’know, bossy ,” Cordelia said uneasily. “I’m just trying to help you out.”
    “I know,” Katelyn replied, trying to reassure her. Cordelia somehow seemed fragile. And was something really wrong with Trick? Maybe he had broken into houses.
    “It’s nice of you to show me the ropes,” Katelyn added to change the subject. She made herself smile, and Cordelia relaxed.
    “Okay. That’s settled. So,” Cordelia said, “what do you have next?”
    “P.E.,” Katelyn replied after consulting her schedule.
    “Me too.” Cordelia wrinkled her nose. “Since it’s raining, we’ll be doing indoor stuff. It might be a little on the draggy side.”
    Katelyn didn’t say anything but privately figured draggy was about all she could handle for the moment.
    “Kat,” Cordelia blurted, “if Trick’s your friend—”
    “He’s just my ride,” Katelyn said again, more firmly this time. “Really. And I’ll keep an eye on him,” she added, hoping to emphasize to Cordelia that she was interpreting her warning as friendly advice.
    Cordelia nodded, looping her hair around her ear. Everything about her was polished and put together—except for her attitude. Cordelia seemed to be very worried about offending her. Though it could be that Cordelia just didn’t know how to treat a stranger. From what Katelyn could tell, they weren’t that common.
    The rest of the class time was taken up by discussing the requirements for the project, and it ended without Katelyn and Cordelia’s settling on a topic. It was hard for Katelyn to focus, and she kept forgetting to answer to her new name. When the bell rang, she and Cordelia headed for the gym together. Guys flirted openly with Cordelia and just as blatantly checked Katelyn out. She didn’t see Trick anywhere.
    “Our school used to be a church,” Cordelia told her. “Sacred ground.”
    There was a pause, and Katelyn realized Cordelia was waiting for her response. “It’s very pretty,” Katelyn offered, glancing up at an old stained-glass window of a man with a halo. A large gray dog stood beside him. No, not a dog. A wolf.
    “And it’s haunted,” Cordelia added.
    Katelyn smiled. She couldn’t tell if Cordelia was being serious. “Why don’t we investigate the history of the school?” Katelyn