Page 18 of Freak Camp
Chapter Three
Winter 1990–1991
Two weeks before Christmas, Leon and Jake turned the Eldorado again toward Freak Camp.Jake couldn’t tell if Dad was on to a bigger clue than before or if something about Freak Camp kept drawing them back, but either way, getting to see Tobias again was fine with him.
As Dad signed in, Jake caught sight of an argument between his distant cousins (like Dad and Jake, Mom had been an only child).
Tina Dixon, who was about fifteen, threw up her hands in frustration, and Matthew Dixon glanced over with a tight, angry, but satisfied smile.He met Jake’s eyes.After the first startled second, Matthew stopped looking surprised and held his gaze.Jake wondered if this was how it felt to be caught by the eyes of a basilisk.
Matthew was a couple of years older than Tina and already a hunter and a sometimes-guard at Freak Camp.Jake was pretty sure that Matthew was on the fast track to be a regional hunt leader someday.
If Jake had been raised differently, if he hadn’t already wanted to be Dad, Matthew might have been everything that he wanted to be.But Jake knew that Dad was a thousand times better than any Dixon anywhere (except Mom, and she didn’t really count as a Dixon), and they could all screw each other for all he cared.
Jake looked away first, and Matthew moved to join Dad as he opened the security door into the yard, offering to join him in Special Research while Dad scowled at him.Tina approached Jake, her friendly smile obviously fake.“Hey, Jake.”
Jake eyed her warily.He wondered where Matthew was really taking Dad.They wouldn’t try to grab him again, would they?Last time ...well, Jake had been a lot younger, and he hadn’t really known what was going on, and he hadn’t fought back nearly enough.
But there were other hunters around that time,he thought.You wouldn’t have gotten away if not for them, and they’re not here now.
A few years ago, the Dixons had tried to take him away from Dad at the Crossroads Inn.Jake had been just a little kid, but he had known that these strangers, the cold-eyed hunters thatclaimedto be family, were just trying to steal him away from Dad.Jake had reacted instinctively by pulling out his knife, assuming that they were some kind of monster trying to separate him from Dad to make them easier prey.Hawthornes were always stronger together.
That was the first time he’d met Roger, who had stepped in before Jake could do more than take a swipe at the Dixons.That night Jake had realized what Dad meant when he told Jake to be careful and not trust anyone.EspeciallyDixons.
He gave her a curt nod.“Tina.”
She held the smile for another second—it looked uncomfortable—and then dropped it.“Elijah wants to see you.”
Jake stared at her, and she scowled.“You know who Elijah is, don’t you?”Her tone said that she had always suspected that he was an idiot, but it was still irritating to deal with.
“Elijah Dixon,” he snapped back.“He’s the Director of Freak Camp and the ASC.”He didn’t think he had to mention some of the other things Dad said about Elijah Dixon.Scary son of a bitchandbootlicking government assholewere some of the milder descriptions.
“Yeah.”Tina drawled out the word.“You could say that.You could also say he’s your grandfather.”
Jake froze.He knew that.It was a fact.But he had never let himself think of the Director of the ASC as ...family.Not even in the same thought as Mom.Elijah had always been his and Dad’s enemy—especially since he and the other Dixons had tried to take him away.
“Yeah,” he said.“I guess.”
“Yeah, well ...”Tina’s tone indicated that she didn’t really give a shit about Jake being family, but talking to him was a duty she would fulfill.He wondered what Matthew had said to get her to start the conversation.“Anyway, he wants you.So are you gonna come, or are you gonna be a pissy bastard like your dad?”
