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"Kat, not Katie," she said, her eyes taking in er nodded to the blond woman "And my dad"

The man who’d bumped me a moment before studied me with curious dark eyes He held his hand out and I shook it "Nice to ie Mae," I said

"And how are you and Bridger acquainted?" hiser said hurriedly

One of Kat’s black eyebrows slowly rose, and aside fro pale blue eyes, she looked just like her brother for a second "Nice to er’s friend," she said with a er a look

"Hello, Aidan Vivienne Nice to see you again," Mrs Carpenter said

Bridger’s ht bob of her head His dad sood Thought I’d take a picture of Maggie Mae with her friend Bridger" There was an icy tone to her voice

Kat er without a word and looked sideways at er’s side, yet he eased away froap of space between us

"Say ‘cheese,’ " Mrs Carpenter said Before I had a chance to smile, the camera flashed Mrs Carpenter patted ot lost in the crowd

I looked at Bridger’s fah to be his friend, and I needed to get away "Good luck Don’t trip when you get your diploer and walked toward the M section of graduating seniors I could feel his fa into h two speeches and a choir perfor the naot toair I’d been waiting for this arten

The students at the front of the line started walking toward the stage, but paused, whispering and looking around, pointing toward the darkening skyline The whispers traveled back, eventually reaching the M section

"Did you hear it?" someone whispered

"Hear what?" someone else replied

"I don’t know!"

"Shh!" someone behindup at the purple sky And that’s when I heard it A shiver of ice trilled down h the dusky air Everyone started whispering again

"It was a coyote," someone behind me said

"Coyotes yap, not howl," another student answered

"But there aren’t wolves around here There haven’t been for years"

"No, that’s not true They tried to reintroduce theo Maybe one or two survived?"

Mrs Tolliver walked down the line of students, glaring at us Everyone shut up as the line began to crawl forward I took a deep breath and forced er’s family

I made my sloith the other students toward the podiuie Mae Mortensen, a new student who set a new Silver High fifty-yard dash record" Coach stood and started cheering Bridger and Mrs Carpenter followed, along with Yana and Ginger And then theseeious, as eventually thefor ed at ainst the flash of a caot back to ht The students sitting beside h the naer’s naraduation cerearb, he took his diploma and waved to the crowd

Withintheir caps, a snowstorainst the aler, excited about the prospect of having hiratulations," he said when he saw raduates’ heads "I’ht, but uess I’ll see you around I’ll call you soarden" He smiled and then wandered away

My jaw dropped open "But … I … don’t have a ride" My voice ed in the noise of the crowd Bridger never looked back He found his fa tiy to pull own off and put it in the massive bin marked WHITE GOWN RETURN

I wandered toward the place where Mrs Carpenter had parked her truck Of course it wasn’t there Surely she was long gone