Covet (Clann)

time with the beat.
    After ten minutes, Ron slowed the car then turned onto a black top road that quickly changed to dirt.
    The headlights flashed on a familiar green Ford F150 parked at the side of the road ahead.
    “That looks like—” I began.
    “Yeah, Anne’s truck. But what the heck is she doing here?” He didn’t sound thrilled.
    “You two didn’t plan this?”
    He shook his head as he parked a few yards behind her. He didn’t shut off the headlights, though.
    Anne slid out of the driver’s side of the truck, her face set in a scowl. She moved to the back end and dropped the tailgate with a loud clang that made me jump.
    Ron and I got out of the car. He was projecting every bit as much confusion as I was feeling.
    “Anne, what are you—” he muttered.
    “Hog hunting, of course,” she said. “Brought my bow and everything. Uncle Danny couldn’t come with me this time, though, so I thought I’d just go out on my own for a few hours.”
    Ron glared at her. “Alone? You were going to hunt alone ? Are you crazy ? You could get killed!”
    Eyebrows raised, she gave her best innocent face. “Well, sure. Why not? You do it all the time. And besides, everyone knows the wild hog population’s getting out of control around here. Halloween’s tomorrow. All those trick-or-treaters are going to be in danger if we don’t cull the hog population as much as possible before then.”
    “No.” He took a step toward her. “Absolutely not. There’s no way I’m gonna let you go out there alone—”
    Her mouth twisted into a dark smirk. “Oh please. Give it a rest, Neanderthal. I was just joking. I’d never actually be that stupid. I only came because you said you’d be bringing Savannah here for the talk.”
    He rocked back on his heels, and she barked out a short, humorless laugh. “You really thought I’d let you just drop a bomb on my best friend without me here for emotional support? I don’t think so.” She hopped up to sit on the tailgate then patted the metal beside her. “Come on, Sav. Better get comfy for storytelling time. Ron tends to ramble.”
    I had no idea what was going on and wasn’t sure I wanted to dip into their thoughts for clarity. Even though we were outside, the air between them was way too heavy.
    Still, for the sake of keeping what little peace remained, I sat beside her then waited for Ron.
    He sighed, rubbed the back of his neck, and stared at the dirt lit up by his car’s headlights. After a hesitation, he began. “Okay, Savannah, do you remember the day we talked about that library book I was reading? The one about the East Texas myths and legends?”
    I nodded.
    “And do you remember what I told you about the black panthers that the Irish settlers brought over with them?”
    “Sure,” I said. “They helped protect their owners’ castles in the old country and their homesteads here in America until their owners set them loose in the wild.”
    He winced. “Well, first off, the settlers weren’t their owners. Secondly, those big ‘cats’ are actually the Keepers, and they were once allies with the Irish settlers until their help was no longer needed. And third, those settlers weren’t just any Irish immigrants. They were the Clann.”
    Why did it always have to come back to the Clann? “So that’s why you thought I’d already know about the Keepers. Because my family used to be in the Clann.”
    He nodded. “But there’s another crucial detail to this story that I had to leave out before since you didn’t already know about the Keepers and I wasn’t sure my parents would let me tell you. The Clann actually created the Keepers.”
    “You mean they bred the cats?”
    Anne snickered. Ron frowned at her, and she raised her hands in surrender. He looked at me again. “No, they didn’t breed them. They created them using one of the biggest group spells the Clann has probably ever done. They cast that spell, though some prefer to call it a curse, on a select few human families. In return, those families promised their aid anytime the Clann needed it.”
    Whoa. No wonder some people called it a curse. I couldn’t even imagine how miserable I’d be if a bunch of witches turned me into a cat.
    “Okay, so there are a bunch of humans running around out here ticked off at the Clann because they were turned into giant cats then abandoned,” I said. “And…what, you want me to change them back? Because regardless of what Anne might have told you, I’m