"It's not big enough for a coat button," Ashe added what he could.
"Let's take it to your house and wash it off," Sali offered.
"Dude, Mom's in bed with a headache and I didn't tell her I was coming. I'll take it home and clean it off. You can come over tomorrow and we'll look at it."
"All right. I think Mom will let me come. Mr. Winkler isn't hard to take care of."
"You gonna see Cori before school starts on Monday?" Ashe asked.
"Doubt it," Sali was kicking dirt again.
"Then I'll talk to her on Monday," Ashe sighed. "Come on, it's dark, dude. Let's go home." The boys split up after a few minutes, and Ashe waited until Sali turned back to wolf pup before retrieving his jacket. Silently he watched as his friend loped away before turning to mist and racing toward the house.
* * *
Aedan wasn't home when Ashe woke on Sunday morning, and he'd been hoping that his father might come in while he was sleeping. Adele seemed listless as she prepared bacon and eggs for breakfast. Ashe didn't like seeing his mother like this. And he wondered if she'd gotten any replies from the numerous messages left on his father's cell. Ashe cleaned up the kitchen while his mother went back to bed.
Sali rang the doorbell outside the garage two hours later. Ashe shouted to his mother that it was Sali; she told him not to make a lot of racket and left him alone. "Mom's not feeling good," Ashe muttered as he led Sali down the steps to the lower level of the house.
"Marco either, and I figure Cori isn't doing all that well." Sali shut the door to Ashe's bedroom behind him.
"Here's the button, but I've been thinking about this. People walk through the field back there all the time. It could belong to anybody." Ashe handed the button to Sali.
"But I've never seen anybody wear anything with gold buttons like this." Sali turned the gold-colored button in his fingers. It had a raised design on it.
"That's a Celtic knot; I looked it up," Ashe said.
"Who'd be wearing that?" Sali frowned at the button in his hand.
"Could be what the designer chose."
"Yeah, but I've never seen a button like this before." Sali handed it back to Ashe.
"Me either, but I don't think I've seen everything that everybody wears in Cloud Chief. Want to take it to your dad?" Ashe asked.
"No, dude. He didn't know I was out last night, and you're right, somebody just dropped this. Keep it." Sali handed it back to Ashe, who slipped it into the top drawer of his bedside table. Neither of them wanted to admit to their parents that they'd disobeyed and gone out to the pasture to look around.
"Wanna play Frisbee?" Sali asked, changing the subject. Ashe knew what that meant; Sali wanted to turn to wolf and go chasing after the neon green Frisbee he had stuffed inside his closet. It bore teeth marks from Sali doing the same thing for the past two years.
"Yeah. I'll tell Mom."
Ashe laughed as Sali leapt high in the air to catch the Frisbee, snapping the edge between his teeth and landing with a semi-graceful roll on the ground. It was a warm, early spring day, the old grass blowing in a slight breeze while new green sprouted beneath it. Ashe hoped a roadrunner or some other potential prey wouldn't pop up—Sali enjoyed the chase, although he usually lost interest if it were a roadrunner. Ashe had no desire to go running after Sali, reminding him that his mother had said to stay in the yard.
"Ashe?" Ashe turned quickly to find Cori standing ten yards behind him.
"Cori? Are you all right?" Ashe walked toward her, leaving Sali behind, the Frisbee still dangling from his mouth.
"Ashe, I have to talk to you." Cori's green eyes were worried, the ever-present Oklahoma wind blowing blonde hair into her face. Her hair was past her shoulders long and pretty when she left it down. It was down now.
"Sali, let's go to the house so you can change," Ashe turned to his werewolf friend, who’d trotted up. Ashe took the Frisbee from Sali's mouth.
"Ashe, I'd like to talk to you alone," Cori said softly as Sali raced toward the house, tongue flying from his mouth in joyful abandonment as he ran.
"I'll think of something," Ashe promised, opening the kitchen door to allow Sali to slide inside. Sali's paws and toenails always slipped and slid on Adele Evans' tiled kitchen floor and he nearly collided with a cabinet before righting himself.
"Sali, your mother called. She wants you to come home," Adele was there, the phone in her hand, staring down at Sali's half-grown wolf who flipped a paw over his nose in embarrassment. He gave a whine at Adele's words but rose and trotted obediently down the steps to get to the basement and Ashe's bedroom.
"We'll give you a few minutes to change," Ashe yelled at his retreating friend.
"Cori, honey, is there something I can get for you?" Adele sounded tired.
"No, Mrs. Evans. I just came to talk to Ashe for a little while. If that's all right with you."
"Of course it is," Adele offered Cori a weak smile.
"Mom, do you need some ibuprofen or something?" Ashe asked. He was ready to run down the steps to the bathroom and get the bottle of pain reliever for his mother.
"No, honey. I need to get up and get around. I feel sluggish for some reason."
"Sit down. I'll make coffee for you."
"That sounds good."
Ashe busied himself at the coffee pot. Once he had that going, he offered a soda to Cori, who took an orange. Sali clambered up the steps and looked expectantly at Ashe, who sent him on his way with an orange soda as well. "See you tomorrow," Ashe called as Sali went out the back door. Sali waved and disappeared, hitting the button to close the garage door behind him. As soon as Ashe poured out a cup of coffee for his mother, he and Cori went downstairs.
"What is it, Cori?" Ashe shut the bedroom door.
"Ashe, you're the only one I can trust with this, I think." Cori at sixteen was five feet, two inches tall—two inches shorter than Ashe and not likely to grow any taller. Her mother, Lavonna, was around that height as well.
"Trust with what?" Ashe sat on his bed, gazing expectantly at Cori Anderson. Choosing a corner of Ashe's bed to sit, Cori scooted next to the wall that bumped against it.
"Randy Smith didn't write that letter to Mr. Harris." Cori hugged herself tightly, her eyes cast downward.
"Cori, how do you know that?" Ashe put his back against the solid wood headboard, kicked off his shoes and drew his knees up as he stared at Cori.
"He wouldn't. He knew better." Cori met Ashe's puzzled gaze.