Page 24 of Raised By Wolves

That’s the answer that really surprises Chester.Huh, he thinks.Who knew?

Of course, they could be lying. They could be lying about everything. But if they are, they’re very good at it.

After half an hour or so, the agents come into the kitchen, where Lacey and Chester are sitting at the table picking at their cold toast.

“Thanks for your time,” Agent Rollins says. He tips an imaginary hat.

“Sorry to come by on your day off,” Agent Dunham says insincerely.

“What’d you need to talk to those poor kids about?” Lacey demands. Her dark eyes flash.

Chester expects them to brush her off. But Dunham says, “The FBI never forgets a missing child, Mrs. Greene, no matter how long they’ve been missing.”

“Hernandez,” Lacey says icily. “My last name is Hernandez.”

Chester says, “These kids justgothere. What are you trying to say?”

But Dunham and Rollins are walking away before he even finishes asking the question.

CHAPTER 19

“TODAY’S A SPECIAL day,” Lacey chirps as she hands us our new backpacks.

I sling the bright-blue pack over my shoulder. “Not so special for us.”

“I think Miss Lacey meant to say ‘scary,’” my brother whispers.

We’d rather face a pack of rabid coyotes than go to Kokanee Creek High School. We’re not ready. We’re not properlytrained.

But the chief keeps telling us that we’ll figure it out just fine. And Lacey insists we’re going to love it.

“Say cheese,” she says, waggling her camera at us.

“Why?” Holo asks. “Do you have some?”

Lacey laughs because she thinks he’s joking. He’s not.

“No cheese,” I tell him.

“Really?” he asks. “But that’s confusing.”

I put my arm around my brother. “It’s okay,” I say. “We’ll get you cheese soon.”

“On aburger,” he says.

“Sure thing.”

We pose on the porch steps, wearing hand-me-down clothes and fake smiles. Holo keeps messing with his hair. Last night Lacey took a pair of kitchen shears to it. It’s shorter than it’s been in ten years.

After Lacey takes about a million pictures, we climb into the chief’s truck. He’s quiet as he drives into town. He looks tired. I wonder if the wolf chorus kept him up last night.

I wonder if he knows they were calling for us.

Or maybe the chief’s quiet because he’s more worried about sending us to school than he wants to admit. When he drops us off, he shakes our hands, which is weird, and he says, “Good luck, you two.”

He must know how badly we need it.

There’s a crowd of Kokanee kids hanging out in front near the flagpole, but Holo and I keep our distance. We don’t want to be seen yet. We’re nervous.

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