This is by no means finished, but I would like opinions so please read this and comment or message me. Thank you

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Someone stole the Salmon of Knowledge. I know. I laughed too at first. When that panicked look sprang into Quinn’s eyes and that ridiculous claim spilled from his lips. “What?” I asked incredulously. Then the stars started blinking out. We’d been sitting under this giant oak griping about starting back to school and someone stole the salmon. I remember thinking that the stars could never really be that bright; that important. I suppose I was wrong.
So we watched.
It wasn’t very long ago when Quinn and I lay on our backs in the field, the tops of our heads just barely brushing, not saying a word; just looking. They’ve gone out now, the stars. All of them just vanished; one by one by one. Even the moon is fading sliver by sliver. Soon the night will have no light. Instead we have The Wolves.

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Chapter 1

Alabama is the epitome of nowhere. I should know. I’ve lived there all my life. I’ve moldered here in this redneck town for 18 atrocious years. My parents drug me across the country and back a couple of times for family vacations, avoiding every city on the way. So, I suppose you could call me a small town girl.
I’m a senior in a high school that has a total of 250 students almost all of whom have been stuck here just as long as I have. Everybody knows everybody. Almost.
I like to read. A lot. So it’s not surprising that the first time that we met I was reading. It was the beginning of my sophomore year, and I was sitting in the cafeteria picking at my awful school lunch reading Patrick for the third time. I sat alone on one end of the long fake wood tables on one of the attached plastic stool seats just like I always did when they sat down; six of them. I mean this is Alabama, but who has six children in high school at the same time? He sat straight across from me, three sisters on one side of him, two on the other. They all had the same flawless skin and ebony hair. They even had the same blue eyes framed with ridiculously thick lashes except his were like the blue flame of the Bunsen burner in chemistry class while theirs were like a summer sky.
“Hi,” he said.
“Ooh, isn’t she pretty,” one of the three murmured quietly to the others.
“So tiny,” one of the pair claimed.
“Can I help you?” I asked them.
“Don’t mind them, they can’t help it.” He flashed a blinding smile, the left corner of his mouth reaching higher than the right. “I’m Quinn Gallagher. These are my sisters. The trio are Mona, Nola, and Fiona. The twins are Ashlin and Caitlin.” His eyes were smiling at me. As if he knew something about me that I didn’t.
“I’m Clare. Where’d you move from?” I questioned.
“Arkansas. What are you reading?” he returned.
I lifted my book to show him the cover.
“Ah. That’s a good one. Every time I read it I always wonder if it’s true.” His sisters seemed to have thrown up a wall on both sides of us so that no one else in the room mattered.
“Me too.” He lowered his eyes as if to signal an end to the odd little conversation and began to work on his lunch. I tried to go back to my book, but curiosity kept bringing my eyes back to his face. He didn’t seem to mind today’s disgusting choice of mystery meat smothered in powder made gravy. I forced down some mashed potatoes with a chaser of lukewarm tap water (we weren’t allowed ice) to get the gritty feel out of my mouth before attempting my book again. I got through a few pages before my mind started wandering back to the people across the table from me.
Finally I just had to ask. So I put down my book and looked back up to find him watching me. I felt my face heat with embarrassment.
“What is it?” he questioned. So I forced my question out anyway. “Why here?”
“Why Falls Church?” I nodded and swallowed nervously. “You’d be surprised what your little town has to offer to people like us.” He smiled his sneaky smile and reached over the table to smooth the confused crease from between my eyebrows then stood with his tray. His sisters followed him to the trash window like little chicks flocking after a mother hen. I watched them leave the cafeteria just as the bell rang for the next wave of classes. I stood along with everyone else in the room and made my way to dispose of my tray, my mind working nonstop.
Were they criminals? Hiding from the FBI or the IRS? Murderers. A cult. A gang. My mind came up with endless possibilities.
I was making my way to the library to sign in for my block as library aide when a thought occurred to me. What if I was their next victim? What other reason could they have for choosing to sit across from me? There were plenty other empty seats in the lunchroom. I was stopped dead still in the hallway, the people passing me completely oblivious to my epiphany. My heart pounded in my chest as fear made my palms go damp. I wove my way through the narrow hallway, trying to hurry to the safety of the library without hurting myself. And there he was; standing just outside the double doors to the library, a serene expression on his face as he discussed something with a very angry one of his sisters. I slipped back around the corner, pressed my back against the cool tile of the wall, closed my eyes and tried to breathe deeply and calm myself.
“Just your imagination. It’s just your imagination, Claire,” I scolded myself. Then I realized that I could hear them if I listened closely. So I stopped breathing for a moment and ignored the crazy looks some of the people passing me were shooting my way and listened.
“We can’t involve her, Quinn and you know it. We don’t know what Dad got us into,” his sister said.
“I do and she might be able to help.” He replied calmly.
“Oh, Quinn. Don’t tell me that you still believe that crazy story that he told us before he left.”
“It’s true, Mona.”
“Dad’s not coming back.”
“I have to believe he is. Because if he isn’t coming back, then that means I won’t come back either.”
“Quinn…”
“To class Clare,” a voice said quietly in my ear and I jumped like I’d been shot.
“Yes Ms. Morton,” I said automatically and flashed her an apologetic smile before I rounded the corner. Mona stood there motionless with tears glistening in her eyes. Her face, previously flushed with anger was now ashen.
“Maybe you’re right. I shouldn’t involve her,” he told her. Her chin trembled then she whirled around and hurried away. “I’m sorry you had to hear that,” he murmured then he followed his sister.
I stumbled through the rest of the day trying to act normal. I attempted to immerse myself in my book, but that was harder than usual when my own life had become a work of fiction.
I slept fitfully that night, my dreams filled with ice blue eyes that stared warmly into mine as someone choked me to death. Every time I woke shudders ran down my spine as the wolves howled outside my window.
The next day he wasn’t with them. They didn’t sit near me at lunch, but I noticed that Mona’s eyes kept following me in an odd way. I tried to ignore it but she followed me into the library when I went in for my class. I went about my business, attempting to ignore her standing at the desk. I finally gave up and turned to face her.
“May I help you?” I asked.
She stood there wringing her hands for a moment, watching them move over each other as if they had an answer to my question. Then she looked back up at me, her eyes serious beyond belief. “Quinn didn’t come home last night…” she began.
“And?” I prompted.
“I don’t know why, or who from, but I thought you should know… he’s protecting you.” After that declaration she left so quickly I didn’t have time to think of a response, but the Gallagher family had effectively ruined my day again.

Nights with no Light by Sarah E. Kincade is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.