Page 79 of In Hiding

14.

At the front of the room, Mr. White struck a match and used it to light a Bunsen burner. The kids in the front rows sat up taller, eager to watch the experiment take place. Fearing he’d miss out, William stood and moved to the window side of the room. Outside, sunlight tried to break through the cloud cover. The rain had finally stopped though the dark clouds hinted there was more to come.

William watched as the science teacher placed a beaker of water over the burner. Sam came to stand beside him, leaning casually against the windowsill.

“Did you hear?” he said in a low voice. “There’s a new guy in town.”

William shook his head, not taking his eyes off their teacher who, so far, hadn’t noticed their side chatter. “What’s so special?”

Sam chuckled. “They’re calling him the Viking. Is he any relation of yours?”

William rolled his eyes and poked Sam in the ribs. “I’m Aussie.”

“Your stepmum’s Danish.”

“She was born here, just like her mum. Now, lay off.”

“Just saying,” Sam grumbled under his breath.

Except, it wasn’t the first William had heard of this new guy. There was talk all over school about the very tall, very muscular man who wore his hair like a Viking and ran the new car yard. In a small town like this, every newcomer was subject to rumor and innuendo, but in this case, the gossips were in overdrive and it had William curious. So much so, he planned on scoping it out for himself.

“My mum’s gonna go test drive a new car,” Sam whispered, “just to see for herself.”

William swallowed a smile. Mrs. Newman was the biggest gossip of all. Of course she was going to be nosy. She’d been nice enough to William while he went with them to their beach house, but she never stopped asking questions, wanting to know about Mama and where his father was.

She’d wanted to know all about Jake, too, and if he had a girlfriend and how long he was staying. The questions never stopped and for once in his life, grunting like a teenage boy was expected to had proved a great way to avoid her.

“We should go.” Sam nudged him with an elbow. “We could find out the truth, get the real story.”

William shrugged, hoping Sam believed he didn’t care. “Nah. What’s the point?”

Sam sighed in disappointment. “When did you become such a goodie-goodie?”

“Who said I’m a goodie-goodie?”

Sam shot him a sly grin. “Then come with me after school. We’ll go see for ourselves?”

William didn’t wait until school finished. As soon as the bell went to start lunch, he sneaked out of school and made his way through town to the new car yard. The rain had started again and he shrugged his hood up over his head to stay dry. It was no use though. By the time he saw the rows of new cars half-buried in snow, he was almost soaked through.

Shivering, he made his way around the puddles between two enormous trucks. They were so large he had to stand on tiptoes to see in through the side windows. He’d never seen anything like them around town.

Intrigued, he stopped and toed off some of the slushy mud to step up onto the side railing. Through the raindrops on the glass, he saw leather seats and a chrome knob on the gear shift. It was roomy and looked comfortable.

“Afternoon there, young fella.”

So wrapped up was he in the vehicle, he hadn’t heard the guy approach. William half-stepped, half-fell to the ground. The wet ground instantly froze his ass. He apologized as his hood slipped off his head. Rain smacked his eyes and made him blink, momentarily blurring his vision. After wiping his palms down his thighs to dry his hands, he rubbed away the water and tried to focus on the man who stood under an umbrella.

William felt his heart race as he stared up into a face he hadn’t seen in years. Six years, to be exact. Though his hair was longer, and the sides of his head were shaved, William recognized his uncle. He stared at the tattoos curling around his ears. Had he always had them? He couldn’t remember. His throat closed over as the man’s mouth fell open in shock.

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