Whispers at Moonrise

the prejudices?
    “Do you want to go to the cabin and try out a few spells?”
    “Oh, hell no! I don’t want to goof anything up.”
    “You won’t,” Miranda said. “I’ll be with you. I won’t let you mess up.”
    Right, like you’ve never messed up. The words shot from Kylie’s brain and landed on the tip of her tongue, but she managed to swallow them. Just because she was hurting didn’t give her the right to hurt others.
    “You’re just nervous. You gotta trust me.” Miranda’s bright smile widened even more. “We witches have to stick together.”
    “Sorry,” Kylie said. “I’ve already managed to zap Burnett in the balls with a paperweight. I’m taking the day off.”
    “Seriously? You did that?” Miranda snorted with laughter, causing frowns from the group of weres walking past.
    Kylie spotted Will and called out. “Will?”
    The dark-haired, brown-eyed teen turned around and appeared annoyed. Was it rude to call a were’s name? Or was his expression due to more personal reasons? Were all of Lucas’s pack members going to start giving her the cold shoulder?
    “Yes?” His tone matched his expression.
    Kylie moved a few feet away from Miranda. Standing in front of Will, she tried not to let his discontent intimidate her. “Lucas wasn’t at breakfast. I was wondering if you know where he is.”
    Will glanced at the woods, as if stalling. While Kylie couldn’t read minds, it was almost as if he were trying to come up with a lie. Why?
    “Is something wrong?” she asked.
    He motioned the other weres to go ahead. Then he waited for them to get out of hearing range before he spoke.
    That had to mean something was wrong, didn’t it?
    “Lucas was summoned by the Council,” Will finally said.
    “Is that a bad thing? Is he in trouble?”
    “I … don’t know. That’s between him and the Council.”
    Concern pricked at Kylie’s mind. “Do you know when he’ll be back?”
    “No.” He shuffled his feet against the rocky path, then glanced off at the woods again before facing her. “I’m sorry,” he added, and something about the tone in which he offered the apology, even the sincerity in his eyes, told Kylie he meant it—but why? For what was he apologizing?
    “What are you not telling me?” she asked. “Please just tell me.”
    “If you have questions, you should ask Lucas, not me.”
    “So something is going on?” She stepped closer, feeling her heart beating against her ribs. Without warning, her gaze shifted to the woods, and she felt it again. As if the trees were calling her name. But with her heart stuck on her concern for Lucas, she focused on the problem at hand, and on Will. “Is it about me?”
    Will’s discontent grew more noticeable in his frowning expression. “I don’t know. I have to go.” He walked away. She watched him leave, silently, and got a nagging feeling that something was brewing.
    Will disappeared down the path. Kylie’s heart remained on Lucas, but her gaze shifted back to the woods where the trees slowly stirred in the gentle breeze. It was the oddest feeling, like being really thirsty and seeing a glass of water. This feeling, the calling, was even stronger than the call to the falls.
    What the hell was going on?
    Miranda cleared her throat, and Kylie glanced back at her roommate. “Are you okay?” Miranda asked, and moved closer.
    Kylie rolled her eyes. “Why does everyone ask that question when it’s obvious that I’m not?”
    “Probably wishful thinking,” Miranda answered, bumping Kylie with her shoulder, and smiling in sympathy. “Don’t worry. If Lucas likes you enough, things will work out. It did for Perry and me.”
    Kylie breathed in. Then she breathed out. She started walking again, consciously fighting the temptation to take a flying leap into the woods—to figure out who it was and why they wanted her attention so desperately.
    They walked another five minutes without talking. Kylie concentrated on the rhythmic sound of her own footsteps, which created a sense of calm. But the scream, a cry of sheer panic, pretty much shot that calm all to hell.
    Kylie stopped so fast she nearly tripped and grabbed Miranda’s elbow to steady herself. The sound came from the very place she felt lured—the woods. Deep in the woods.
    “What is it?” Miranda asked.
    Kylie looked at her. “You don’t hear that?”
    Miranda tilted her head. “Hear what?”
    Kylie stepped a foot or two closer to the woods and tried to identify