The Xoe Meyers Trilogy (Xoe Meyers Young Adult Fantasy/Horror Series) Page B

elaborated, “In my room, you said you tried to get to know Dan and you realized he was crazy. How’d you know?”
    Max hesitated. “Um, you know, just by the kind of things he talked about . . . ”
    I fixed him with a stubborn stare, crossed my arms, and raised my eyebrows, urging him on.
    “He told me to stay away from Lucy, because she was his. He told me I could have Allison if I wanted.” Max paused at an ‘as if’ noise from Allison.
    “What about me?” I interjected.
    That confused look crossed Max’s face again.
    “What?” I asked snarkily. “You said that Dan claimed Lucy and you could have Allison, what am I, chopped liver?”
    Jason chimed in with a smirk on his face, “You're mad that no one claimed you as property?”
    I gave him a petulant look. “It’s the principle of the thing.” I turned back toward Max. “Well?”
    “He didn’t include you because you can’t be turned,” Max replied.
    Now it was my turn for the confused expression.
    Max went on, “Only humans can be turned.”
    Jason gave Max a sharp look. I looked back and forth between Max and Jason, trying to understand the warning look on Jason’s face and the confused one on Max’s.
    “She doesn’t know,” Jason said softly.
    “Oh,” Max murmured. “Sorry.”
    “Ok, someone needs to tell me what’s going on here,” I interrupted.
    “I don't think you want to know,” Jason said softly.
    “Try me.”
    Jason turned to me, looking resigned, he explained, “Supernatural beings are usually equipped with a way to tell their own. To a werewolf, humans have a certain smell, and anything not human will smell different. They may not be able to decipher what type of being you are, but they can tell if you aren’t human. You don't smell human.”
    I gave him a smug look, despite my sudden loss of breath. I managed to suck in enough air to reply, “Of course I’m human, my mom’s human, and as far as I know I’ve never been bitten by any sort of supernatural beastie.”
    “You never knew your dad,” Allison countered, catching on to what was being implied. “Your mom’s human, but you have no idea what your dad could’ve been.”
    “For someone who was still skeptical about the werewolf thing, you seem all too ready to believe that my dad was some sort of . . . non-human,” I shot back.
    Allison frowned. “Just think about it, Xoe.”
    The superior look faded from my face. “But . . . I’m sure my mom would have known if my dad had been less than human, and if she knew, she would have told me.” It sounded a weak defense, even to me.
    “Would you have ever guessed that Max wasn’t human?” Allison asked quietly.
    A stab of fear entered my heart. “No, but I don’t really know Max.My mom knew my dad. He had to have been human,” I said in a last ditch effort to prove them wrong.
    Jason wouldn’t meet my eyes. “I am sorry Xoe, but . . . your smell begs to differ.”
    “Well, then . . . what am I?” I asked no one in particular.
    Max shrugged. “Not sure, it’s not a smell I know.”
    We all sat in silence. If my mind wasn’t already spinning, it sure was now. I had just begun to accept the idea that supernatural beings existed. Now I was supposed to believe that I was one?
    “So that’s it?” I asked, frustrated. “You tell me that I’m not human and have no explanation other than that I smell funny?”
    Jason shifted to sit in a more comfortable position. “Has anything strange ever happened to you, or have you ever been able to do something you should not have been able to do?”
    “Not that I know of,” I answered hesitantly.
    “Then there is no way to tell,” Jason stated. “You may simply go on like a regular human.”
    “Is there any reason why I wouldn’t?” I asked. “I mean, if I was going to exhibit any non-human traits, wouldn’t I have done so by now?”
    “Not necessarily,” Jason answered. “Mixing human bloodlines with supernatural is a roll-of-the-dice process. There