Page 19 of Freak Camp
“Keep your mouth off my dad.”Jake wasn’t used to his voice coming out like that, a hard and sharp growl.He hadn’t often felt this smooth, easy, adrenaline-producing rage either, but he thought that maybe he could get used to it.The room felt brighter, and he felt sharper with that anger humming under his skin.
Tina looked interested.“Or you’ll what?”
“I’ll gut you,” Jake said.He didn’t even sound angry.This was how Dad sounded when he talked about the monsters that had killed Mom.When he told some jerk he’d just met that he could stuff it, that Hawthornes needed nothing from nobody.
Tina blinked, as though that wasn’t the response she had expected.Looking a little impressed, she nodded thoughtfully.“You might even have it in you.Maybe there’s more of Auntie Sally in you than I thought.”
She could think whatever she liked.She hadn’t actually known Jake’s mom.That was just the usual Dixon bluff and arrogance.
“So,” she said, putting a hand on her hip.“You gonna see him?He really does want to see you.And he’s not ...well, he’s old, you know?”She shrugged.In that moment, she almost looked like a normal teenage girl, not a Dixon.
“My dad will know if you grab me.He’ll burn this place down around your ears.”Dad would too.Dad would do anything to get Jake back.
Tina rolled her eyes.“We’re not gonna nab you.I don’t know why we’d want you.Elijah just wants to talk.At least, that’s what Matthew told me.”Jake could hear the irritation in her voice:And he could have told you himself, if it really mattered.
“Why’d he make you do it?”he asked.
Tina scowled.“My feminine charm.”
Jake snorted, and Tina’s mouth quirked.Their eyes met, and for that moment, Jake felt like they might be on the same side.They both understood how stupid that idea was.Tina Dixon, like all Dixons and Hawthornes, fought and killed freaks and witches and monsters, and while charm was useful, charm wasn’t everything.When charm failed, as it so often did, you fell back to silver blades, shotguns, and gasoline.
That felt disturbingly likefamily.
“Yeah, I’ll come,” Jake said.
Tina nodded.“Good.That’ll get Matthew off my back.And, you know, make Elijah happy.”
Jake didn’t know if he wanted to do anything to make Elijah Dixon happy, but when Tina turned to lead him into Administration, Jake followed.
***
Tina led him into asterile stairwell where their footsteps echoed, up to the second floor of Administration.She used her hip to bang open the door into the hallway, and he followed her down the carpeted hall, past dark brown doors without names or markings, to a large pair of doors set at the end.She rapped on it twice and didn’t wait for an answer before twisting the doorknob and leaning inside.
“I found him!”she announced, and Jake glanced back toward the stairs.He had one last chance to make a run for it.“It’s the real Jake Hawthorne, or so he says,” Tina said, and pushed open the door wide.
Jake Hawthorne did not run unless he knew damn well he ought to, and that wasn’t the first impression he wanted to make with Elijah Dixon.
He stepped into the large office with a worn wooden desk that looked more like a tool bench set in the back.It looked a little funny in the glossy, imposing office.
Elijah Dixon sat behind the desk.To Jake’s surprise, he looked old and kinda shrunken.He’d seen Elijah’s picture in books and newspapers over the years, and he always looked as tough and untouchable as Dad.
But Elijah stood with a quickness that suggested he wasn’t too slow to be caught off guard yet.Jake tensed, but Elijah didn’t move from behind the desk.He smiled and waved at the high-backed chair before the desk.“Jake, come in.Please.”
Jake slowly walked forward as Tina closed the door, leaving them both alone.Elijah nodded at a soda can at the end of the desk.“Care to have a can of pop with an old man?”
Jake moved to the desk and inspected the lid of the soda can.It didn’t look like it’d been tampered with, but you never could tell.
Elijah gave a harsh laugh that ended in a cough, and he offered his own can toward Jake.“Wanna trade?”
Feeling defensive and a little silly, Jake picked up his can and popped it open, sitting down.“No thanks.”
Elijah smiled and sat back, opening his own can.“Jake.It’s ...good to see you again.”
Jake eyed him.When had they last seen each other?It might’ve been around the time Mom died, but he didn’t remember.Still, he knew enough manners to use them when it counted.“Good to meet you too, sir.”
Elijah’s smile became more like a grimace, but he said with approval, “I hear you’re already a hunter.And looking to be a damn fine one.”
Jake straightened, his chest puffing out even as he tried not to give away how cool it was that Elijah Dixon already knew about him as a hunter.“Only some salt-and-burns.I do my best.”
