“Come over here, I ain’t gonna hurt ya.” Rose smiles widely, as she spreads her arms for an hug.
“Oh…” I roll my eyes at her. “Rose?”
“Real Rose?” I stammer and she rolls her eyes at me.
“Come on, dude. It’s me, Rose. Look, we’re gonna go back to school to at least…” She shrugs her shoulders. “Maybe beg the dudes to allow us retake the exam.”
“And… and…” I stammer, standing still. “What if they do not agree?”
“Then they should go fxxk themselves.” She retorts, and moves faster to me as she hugs me tightly.
“Rose, so it’s you.” I sob, still stuck to her hug.
“Yes, it’s me, buttercup. You’re fine, ain’t you?” She frees me, looks me in the face, and asks with emotions.
“Yes, i am, Rose. Thank you for caring. I hope you are, too.”
“Yes, I am.” She shrugs. “Sure.”
“So, what’s next now? Where are we going to?”
“School.” She splutters.
“What about mom, Greg, Jude, Ben, Dylan and…”
“And what other freaks?” She rolls her eyes at me.
“Those I listed ain’t freaks.” I shrug, and she speaks up.
“Mom’s not anywhere yet.” She replies.
“Mom’s not anywhere yet.” Jude had said.
“But how’s that? Why do you keep saying that, Rose?” I howl at her.
“Hey don’t do that. It’s my first.” She rolls her eyes at me, and suddenly stops.
“Look.” She says. “That direction.” She points to the left.
“And what about that?” I retort.
“No, nothing. Let’s just keep going.” She lifts her mood, and we keep moving. I sigh thrice after probing further for a response but I got none.
“What about Greg?”
“Who’s Greg?”
“The second Alpha of the MoonTeam pack.”
“Oh, I think you clearly heard that the pack’s gone until extinction.” She blankly retorts.
“Don’t you say that again. You’re n*ts!” I bark at her and she shushs me.
“What the hell is that?” I whisper into her ears after she suddenly stops walking.
“A monster.” She says, and covers her lips.
“How do we escape?” I retort.
“Here, just let’s take this route.” She mutters, and we both creep backwards and take the back route.
We soon get into the street, and I furrow my forehead as the light intrudes into my eyes directly.
“Where is this place?” I ask Rose, and she chuckles.
“Oh, we’re back at school.” She jerks me sidewards, and I hit a guy.
“Oh, I’m sorry about that.” I say but my expression changes as I see the spot I hit change into dark furs but becomes normal almost immediately. He doesn’t reply, he just looks back, frowns at me, and hisses as he moves out of the street, crossing to the other side. Music starts to play and it soon blares this whole place.
“What music is that, Rose?” I ask her, and she shudders.
“Oh, you okay?” I ask her and she nods.
“Yes, I’m okay. I was only thinking about, mhm…” She stutters.
“What about mum? Where’s she?” I suddenly remember I’ve got no mum right here.
“So you just remembered? Well, I was thinking about your Dad’s Beta…” She gazes up at the sky.
“Oh no! Screw that. I mean, the second Beta of the MoonTeam pack.” She forces a smile. She thinks I do not know that Greg is her mate. Well, I know maybe I’ve eavesdropped or I’ve overheard or perhaps, their being too close than they’ve ever been called me into order so I just assumed and concluded.
“Oh okay.” I reply.
“Let’s go loom for mum!” I scream at her, and they guy crosses to our side again, and rolls his eyes at me. My eyes bulge at that, and I tap Rose.
“Rose?” I call her but she seems lost in thought.
“Hey, freak. I’m being mindlinked, don’t intrude.”
“Oh, I see.” I scoff at her, and bow my head a bit. Wait, let me try this. Can I listen to Rose’s mindlink? I twitch my ears and they flap immediately. I shut my eyes tight and imagine myself hearing Rose but all I see is Jude screaming my name and grinning claiming he’s going to get me soon. I do not open my eyes because of that unexpected holy crap, they remain shut still. I scan the fright imaginary scene to look for mum and dad, I haven’t forgotten about that, how could Jude kill him and he’d die and be completely forgotten just like that? No, not possible. I can’t find mum in this yelling arena where Jude and his Betas are, now. My eyes open at once, maybe after several blinks. I didn’t ask them to, they’re stupid. Oh, they’re not. If they go out of sync, then I’m done for. I can see Rose’s eyes glowing darker than ever with a pint of green glow.
“Rose, you’re not done yet?” I ask her and she returns to normal.
“Alrighty, let’s go!” She smiles.
“Go where, Rose?” I ask her, kinda bemused. Or I shouldn’t be?
“Go find mum, Dad…” she counts with her fingers. “Sister, brother, nephew, aunt..”
“Stop it already, Rose! It’s no play right now!” I yell at her, and that guy passes by us again with his weird looks.
“Let’s go.” I jerk her hands and her feet thud as we go back into the woods, the dark arena to find mum and Greg and Dylan. As we dig out feet into a slippery metal, Rose slides and hits her head on a metal and it clanks. Metals. Yes. They clank together.
Then there is illumination. Everywhere glows with various colors, both dark green, yellowish brown, and whatnot.
“Why’s the illumination?” I mutter as we take silent steps forwards and sidewards.
“I don’t know.” She whispers. “Let’s just go back out there, and wait for mum, okay?”
I nod my head in approval and we turn to go back. As we turn, Rose gasps as her breath seize on sighting a monster. I stare at the monster blankly ’cause I don’t feel any dam sh*t called fear.
“You’re numb.” She scoffs at me, still gasping for air. The monster is in his wolf form, I tell Rose that but she shakes her head telling me to run and she will follow after. I detach my hands from her silently and creep behind her. I lower my head behind her and before I escape, I whisper two statements to her right ear.
“Don’t make me regret this. Shift. Right after I leave.”
“If you don’t come quick to meet me, your clone will surely will.” She gasps as she nods her head in approval of the whispers. Not sure if the whispers was meant to disallow the monster from hearing or because she’s still scared.
Then, I take to my heels and chase after the next direction. I see Rose crunching her bones as I disappear into the jungle and back to square one.
I see myself in an area blaring with blinking electricity, sparkling at each end. I shut my eyes tight but when I can no longer hold it, I scream with all my energy.
“Hello!!!! Please, who’s here!?” I scream at the top of my vouce but sadly, no one responds.
“Hello! Can anyone hear me?” I scream again, and when I do not get any reply, I make moves forward into the jungle. Rustling sound of leaves join the gasps escaping my lips as the second sound. I skip stumps on the way, and when I skipped tiles when I was home flash through my mind and the feeling of being down follows after. I run with all my energy forwards, and hiding from all the rogues I see. Jude told me it’s his pack that we’re captured, good. Maybe I can find Jude here, at least to see someone, don’t you think so? I breathe out as I feel the touch of someone on my body. I breathe out again as my eyes squint to scan the person but the person shushes me and instructs me to go with her through another route. My memory reads Rose, but then I remember that I even reminded Rose that if she doesn’t come to meet me as early as possible, her clone surely will. I gulp down the saliva garnering together in my mouth and others join together again. Instead of gulping it down my throat, I spit it at Rose.
“Rose, is it really you?” I spit and bark at her.
“Uh-huh, buttercup but you shouldn’t have spat on me.” She hugs me tight and I try to free myself but no she doesn’t agree, she hugs me tighter, and tighter. A fang shoots out of her tongue, and she winks at the nape of my neck.
“I’m…” She mutters in her super form. “… marking you right now. You’re my mate!” She yells at me. It is truly her clone. I try to run but her fang holds my hands together and she lays me on the ground, starting to give me the bite mark.