“Well, we’ll probably never know. It’s not the first bit of unsolved vandalism we’ve come across, and it probably won’t be the last.”
“Maybe.” He stretched as he stood up. “But I hope that we’ll at least figure out what the hell is hunting us.”
For some reason, the hair on the back of my neck stood up, and a chill ran down my spine. “‘Hunting us’? Don’t you think you’re being a little extreme?”
Hutch shrugged. “That’s just how it feels to me.”
I couldn’t think of anything else to say to that, so I wished Hutch good luck on the rest of his unloading, and I walked across the campsite to work on my own chores.
The tigers were restless, with Mahilā making mewling sounds. I hooked the hose up and hauled it over to their pen, hoping that a cold pool would help them relax and fight the heat.
When I walked over, Zeke was already there, leaning against the fencing and watching his tigers. His fingers hooked onto the thick metal bars, and he watched as Mahilā paced. The thick scars that marred her soft golden fur looked more pink than normal. As she turned and rubbed up hard against the fence, sending tufts of fur flying, I realized that must be why her skin looked so irritated.
Since Safēda was older and hadn’t had such an abusive past, she was usually calm, preferring to lie in the shade or splash in the pool. But today she couldn’t seem to sit still.
She’d walk across the pen, then she’d turn quickly and walk back toward Zeke and me. Safēda stopped right in front of Zeke and stared up at him with her wide blue eyes.
“What is it, Saf?” Zeke asked. He reached his hand through the bars, and she leaned in toward him, allowing him to stroke her white fur. But only for a moment. Then she turned and darted across the pen again.
“The tigers are acting strange,” Zeke told me, keeping his eyes on the big cats.
“Do you think the heat’s getting to them?” I asked. “Heat can make anyone act crazy.”
“I don’t know.” He pointed to the kiddie pool in the center of the pen. “I just filled that up a half hour ago. They drank some, but then went back to the pacing.”
“I could spray them down with the hose. It might help.”
“I don’t think so.” He finally pulled his eyes off Safēda and looked at me. “I already told Roxie this, but now I’m telling you too—I don’t want you feeding the tigers or cleaning up after them or going in the pen at all. Not until we’re out of town. Is that clear?”
“But—” I began.
“I’ll take care of everything,” Zeke interrupted me. “I’ll make sure they have enough water and food.”
I paused, trying to wrap my head around what he was saying. “Does that mean that you think the tigers had something to do with what happened to Seth?”
“It means that my tigers aren’t happy, and when they aren’t happy, people can get hurt,” Zeke growled. “I don’t want to see anything happen to Safēda, Mahilā, or anybody else here. So just stay away from them. Okay?”
“Okay.” I nodded. “I got it.”
I looked over at Mahilā, still continuing with her plaintive song, and I couldn’t help but wonder what the tigers knew that we didn’t.
25. secrets
The sun had begun its descent toward the horizon, and the sounds of the carnival played like a familiar song behind me. I waited just outside the main gates, on the edges of the gravel parking lot.
To keep my hair off my neck, I wore it in a side braid. The air had begun to cool, but only slightly, so I wore a light dress. The humidity still left a halo around the lights, making everything appear to glow more than normal.
Just when I began to worry that Gabe had changed his mind and wasn’t going to show, a cherry red Mustang pulled up in front of me.
“Ready to go for a ride?” Gabe asked, grinning at me.
“Definitely.” I hopped in the car, and he turned down the INXS that was blasting out of the tape deck.
We sped out of the parking lot. The T-top were off, so the wind blew through my hair and cooled my skin. When we hit the streets of Caudry proper, Gabe slowed a little so he could tell me about various landmarks in town—like the small local grocer, a diner that served the best crawfish in all of Louisiana, and the car dealership that Logan’s parents owned.
Then he turned, taking us away from the center toward the outskirts. We continued on a narrow road, with overgrown grass and wildflowers growing up around us, until the Mustang pulled to a stop on an old stone bridge that curved up over a river.
With the sun dipping completely below the horizon, the sky had become a dark shade of blue that shifted to purple to almost white just before it kissed the ground. Stars twinkled brightly in the dark parts of the sky, and the moon looked bright and fat hovering just above us.