Page 42 of Freak Camp
He cupped Toby’s hands between his own like they were a fragile bird, stroking the back of his knuckles, until Toby looked up at him.“I’m gonna get you out of here.I’m gonna get you out of Freak Camp if it’s the last thing I do.”
Tobias stared.He blinked a couple of times, and then shook his head, hard, like he had water in his ears.
“J-J-Jake, don’t joke about ...”Jake saw Toby’s chest rising and falling rapidly, and were those tears?“Please don’t say things—”
“I’m gonna get you out.”Toby had to believe him.Suddenly, in Jake’s fourteen years, this was the most important goal he’d ever had.He had let down a lot of people lately, but Toby had to believe that Jake would never let him down as long as there was one more breath in his body.“That’s not me fucking with you.That’s a promise.”
Tobias stared.“Jake ...you can’t.I mean, I know you’ll try, but you can’t take a monster out.And I’m just ...”
“I’m gonna do it, Toby.Just you watch.I gave you my word, didn’t I?”And you don’t deserve to be here.
“You did.I just don’t ...”Tobias shook his head again, then took a deep breath.When he looked up, he had tears in his eyes, but Jake could see no trace of doubt or the panic that had been there before.“It’s hard to believe,” he whispered.“It’s hard ...”
“You don’t have to believe,” Jake told him.“Because I’m gonna make it happen, and then it won’t be a fucking fairy tale, it’ll be real.”
Once Toby was out, Jake would make sure he was safe forever.He would make damn sure no one would ever be able to make Toby afraid again.
And everyone else could go to hell, as long as he had Toby.
Chapter Six
1995–1996
Occasionally, whenJake and Dad visited Freak Camp, they passed other hunters on their way in or out.
Sometimes they chatted, and sometimes Dad made it clear that he hated their guts.
This time the other hunter was Henry Miller, and he was sitting on one of the metal and plastic chairs in the Reception lobby.The sharp-faced, dark-haired receptionist (Deborah, Jake thought her name was) sat across from him, handing him paperwork.A shapeshifter—clearly a Freak Camp inmate by the gray clothes and the bright green tag through her arm—sat in the chair next to the hunter.She wore the shape of a young, bony blond woman and couldn’t seem to keep her head upright.Her eyes seemed unable to focus on anything, and it was so unnerving that Jake reached for his knife involuntarily.
“What excuse for a hunt dragged you up here, Miller?”Dad snapped.It had been a rough drive; he’d gotten his leg cut up a few weeks ago, and even though Jake had offered, he hadn’t wanted to let Jake drive.
If Miller gave a damn that Leon was in a bad mood, he didn’t show it.He grinned up at the Hawthornes, pausing over his paperwork.“Well, if it ain’t the father-and-son dream team.Rumor had it you were retired in Florida by now, drinking those martinis with little umbrellas.”
“Aw, Miller, we wouldn’t dream of a beach trip without you,” Jake said, mock hurt.
The shifter in the chair next to Miller moved weakly, twisting in her seat.Miller turned and hit her hard between the ribs, making her cringe and cough, pulling her knees to her chest.That was when Jake noticed the sturdy silver chain binding the monster’s collar both to the table and to Miller’s belt.
