Page 20 of Freak Camp
“And you’re still here, so your best must be good enough.Ghosts have gotten the better of lots of hunters.”
Jake snorted.“A crack in the sidewalk can get a hunter who lets his guard down.”
Elijah’s mouth quirked.“Your mom used to say the same thing.Never had to tell her twice to do her research before going into the field.”
“You knew my mom?”Jake blurted out, and then immediately realized he was an idiot.“I mean, duh.”
Elijah had drawn back, the grimace back on his face, but he smoothed it away.“Yeah, you could say I knew her pretty darn well for the first twenty years of her life.Or nearly twenty.She tore off with your dad not long after she turned eighteen.”An awkward silence fell, and Elijah cleared his throat.“One thing I do know about her: she loved your dad a hell of a lot.I shouldn’t have argued with her about that.”
Jake didn’t know what to say.That was obvious, of course, but he understood that Elijah said it as a peace offering.Jake didn’t care so much about the peace offering as he did about the new hoard of information he’d just realized the man across from him held.
“So, uh.”He took a swallow of soda, unsure how to ask.“What was ...she like ...learning to be a hunter?”
Elijah’s face softened.“My Sally gave me as much grief as she did her share of goblins and poltergeists.She was a hell of a hunter in high school.Only problem was, she didn’t want to be.”He caught Jake’s look.“No, she hated monsters as much as you and me.She wanted them blown into dust, but she didn’t much care for the Dixon family tradition falling on her shoulders.We found ourselves at loggerheads more than a few times.When she left, your grandma told me it was my own damn fault, and I’m afraid she was right.”
Jake had a million questions, but he paused.“My grandma?”
“Ruth.”Elijah sighed.“Sally kept in touch with her when she wouldn’t take my calls, so she got to hold you when you were a baby.She was staying with you when Sally and I went to Liberty.”
Jake’s mouth nearly fell open.His grandmother had been with him when his mom died?He didn’t remember much of that time, but no one—well, Dad had never mentioned it.“So—where is she now?My grandma, I mean?Back in Pennsylvania?”
Elijah slowly shook his head.“She moved back to Maine, where her family’s from.I haven’t seen her in a long time now.We separated a couple of years after I opened this place.We had some ...disagreements ...about tactics after Liberty Wolf.After my right-hand man was killed by a witch’s curse and I imposed the rule to remove their dominant hand—she couldn’t take it.”He cleared his throat.“We all gotta make sacrifices in this war.I don’t care what names they call me for disabling any witch we catch.I’ve never been sorry for it.Frank was the best man I’ve ever known.”
“But my mom, was she—what’d she like to do?You know, when she wasn’t hunting?”
Elijah leaned back, smiling.“Sally, well.She had a hell of a record collection.We’d take her to concerts in Boston and New York, until high school when she just wanted to go with friends, of course.Never got enough of the Eagles or Fleetwood Mac.Ruth wanted her to learn piano, but Sally wheedled her way into a guitar instead.”
They were interrupted by a knock, quickly followed by the door opening.Jake turned to see Lucas Dixon in the doorway, chewing gum as he nodded at Elijah.“Yo, boss, ready for the pissing contest with those Pentagon dickheads?”
Elijah sighed.“I’ll be in the conference room in a minute.”Lucas shut the door, and Elijah caught Jake’s eye with a rueful look.“My grandnephew Jonah’s always harping about how I need to instill more discipline, but I don’t got enough days left to teach this family of stubborn hunters new tricks.”
Jake jumped off the chair, setting his empty can down on the desk.“It was, uh—nice talking to you.”
“Maybe we can do it again next time you find yourself ’round these parts?”
Jake hesitated.He knew what his dad would say if he found out.“Maybe.”
Elijah gave him another crooked smile, then nodded.“Keep making your mama proud.”
***
Jake found Tobias standingin the shadow of the Administration building.He had expected to have to search for him, like he had a couple of times before, but this time it seemed like Tobias had been waiting for him.
When Tobias saw Jake walking toward him, relief filled his face.Jake was always glad Tobias was happy to see him, but it wasn’t quite that kind of expression.
“Hey, Tobias,” Jake said, ignoring the looks that the guards were giving them.Jake didn’t know if it was because he was talking to a monster or because he had just been talking to the Dir—toElijah, but he wished they would all butt out.
“Jake.”Tobias still looked anxious.He glanced toward Administration, at the guards, and then at his own feet.“Are you okay?”he whispered.
Jake stopped farther away from Tobias than he usually did.Something was off about the question, something he didn’t understand.He didn’t want to deal with any more weird shit right now.Meeting his grandfather had been weird enough.
“Yeah, I’m fine, Toby,” he said.“Why wouldn’t I be?”
Tobias hunched his shoulders and looked anywhere but at Jake.No, that wasn’t completely true.He glanced at Jake with quick, furtive movements that took in every part of him, reminding Jake of a hunter’s evaluation, but he didn’t raise his eyes to meet Jake’s.“I saw your da—Hunter Hawthorne come in, and I figured you weren’t ...I’m not ...”He shrugged, seeming to think that finished his sentence, even though Jake was still confused.“Butthen...”Tobias stopped again and swallowed, and Jake felt his heart jump.“Then the guards said you were seeing the D-Director, and that the D-D-Dixons sent you to Administration, and I j-just want to know if you’re all right.”
Tobias looked so worried.Jake wasn’t quite sure why—sure, Dixons had tried to nab him before, but that had only been once and he hadn’t even told Tobias about that—but he could see that Tobias hadreallybeen upset.Which must mean that he cared.
And in so many ways, that was much less complicated than whatever had just happened between him and Elijah.
