Page 1 of Runaway Wolf
Prologue
“DAD’S NOT GONNA be happy, Pen.”
“Eh, what’s new?” Penelope shrugged her shoulders, her short pixie cut held in place with a combination of gel and cute little barrettes. It was dyed black as a night without stars.
It took lady balls to wear. That and the deep magenta lipstick that matched her short, dark nails.
Their father’s mouth still tightened into a disapproving thin line when Penny entered a room.
Truth was, Caitlin wished she could be more like her sister. Balls-to-the-wall brave. But instead, her quivery little voice pointed out all the negatives they might get in trouble for. “We’re not supposed to be driving out of the city.”
“He’s not gonna know. We’ll just fill up the tank.” Her sister’s wide grin showed a flash of bright teeth. It was the only reason why she didn’t wear black lipstick. That tended to make teeth look yellow. But that dark magenta? Just as cool and teeth stayed white.
Also cool was the way Penny didn’t grip the steering wheel at ten and two o’clock, like Dad demanded. Not when it was just the two of them. Nah, now she was relaxed, one arm draped over the steering wheel in the convertible.
“Ooh, that next turnoff has a station,” Caitlin said excitedly, pointing to an exit sign on the highway.
“I didn’t even know there was a town here,” Penny said, as she swerved onto the ramp.
They followed the signs, watching as it grew darker and darker.
“Umm, creepy,” Caitlin said. The small town wasn’t like the city with streetlights on every block. There wasn’t even signal lights at the end of the ramp, just a stop sign. The end result was utter darkness, their headlights the only way to see.
Penny stayed quieter than usual as she slowed the car, taking the winding, twisty roads deeper into the mountain.
“Hey,” she said finally. “Remember when Missy Delatorre used to babysit?”
Caitlin huffed. “Yeah. She’d send us to bed early, call her boyfriend over and they’d watch horror movies in the theater downstairs. And that one time we decided to sneak in and watch?”
“Yeah.” Penny peered through the windshield at the tiny, dimly lit gas station. An old rickety rocking chair rocked on the front stoop, but no one sat in it. Could have been the wind, but it was creepy as hell. “But it was just so she and her boyfriend could make out in the recliner seats. They’d have sex, ya know.”
“They did? I don’t remember that. Of course, I probably didn’t exactly know what sex was, either.”
“How did you miss it?” Penny asked, pulling up at the pump. “She was moaning the whole time.”
“I was watching the slasher film.”
“I was watching it too,” Penny admitted. “For the most part. But I tried to focus more on Missy because the movie was creepy as hell.”
“Scared me shitless,” Caitlin murmured. “Kind of looks like this town, actually.”
“Deserted,” Penny agreed, turning off the engine. “Well, we won’t be like the idiots in the slasher film. Keeping the keys right here in my pocket.” She winked, sliding the key into the short, black miniskirt she wore with black tights.
She got out of the driver’s side, made her way to the pump, leaving Caitlin in the passenger seat.
“Shit,” Penny murmured.
“What? What is it?”
“Gas won’t pump unless we go inside. Take Dad’s credit card up to the register, will ya? Tell the clerk we want to fill up.”
Walk past the ghost?
“Nuh uh.”
“Huh?”
Caitlin looked at the still rocking chair. It hadn’t stopped swinging. “I ain’t getting out by myself. See that ghost in the chair? First rule of slasher films. Separate the victims.”
