ATLAST WE SAW somewhere familiar. I heard Jake gave a huge breath of relief.
“I was starting to fear we had gotten lost again.” I said.
He gave a nervous short laugh. “Yeah. Me too.”
We had been walking for close to 45 minutes. We had long finished our drinks, finished some ice lollipops we bought and the sun had started getting hotter. There was mild film of sweat on my forehead. Jakes upper lip and nose was dotted with sweat.
We had thought of boarding the bus, but we realised that we didn’t know our stop. With the thought that we’d just get more lost, we decided to trek the whole way and hoped we’d see a familiar place and we did.
We turned into the street and walked down, the scent of werewolf territory hit me so hard I almost staggered. Jake must have heard my sharp intake of breath because he looked at me and asked what was wrong.
“That smell… its so strong.”
“You’ve never perceived it before?” He asked.
I shook my head.
“So how come you did now?”
“It’s supposed to be undetectable by humans…”
“It is. But you’re not human now, are you?” He looked at me. “Look at your reflection in that window.”
I stared at the glass window and sure enough green eyes looked back at me. My eyes had changed from its normal black colour to jade colour green and it looked good on me too.
We walked into the compound with relief. The mansion loomed in the idle of the yard. I wanted to count how many storeys it had but the combination of the white paint and the bright sun made it dazzling to look at and it hurt my eyes.
We walked through the door and into the extra large sitting room. It looked like a very big multipurpose hall just furnished with sofas and cushions to make it kind of cosy and homely. There were people sitting at random at different parts of room, doing different things. An old woman was knitting. A man sat at the table with a laptop in his front, maybe he was working remotely or online. Some women were doing the cleaning.
We had not been in this part of the mansion before but Jake bee lined his way to the refrigerator at one corner and brought out two cold yogurts. I sat on a two seater sofa.
“Jake?” a voice said behind me.
I turned to see a small man looking down at me.
I got up and turned to face him.
“Are you Jake?” He asked again.
“No.” I shook my head. “He is over there.” I jerked my thumb to the direction Jake had gone. “I’m his cousin, Jason.”
He nodded. “Get your cousin and come with me.”
But Jake had seen the man talking with me and he must have heard his name being mentioned, so he sauntered back to us.
He looked at the man with a look that was close to disdain.
“You’re Jake?”
He nodded.
“Alpha Andrés wants to see the both of you. Follow me.”
Jake looked at me like I knew what it was all about. I raised my eyebrows and shrugged at him.
The man turned and walked away. We followed him through a dark passage way. Jake kept looking at me and blinking rapidly. I looked at the chrome design on the wallpaper and saw my vague silhouette reflection.
Two green eyes shone in the darkness. The chrome caught the light from my eyes and spread its reflection. The man turned to look at us sharply. I bent down and pretended to lace up my shoes, while shutting my eyes tight.
“What was that?” He asked.
“Nothing.” Jake said, patting my back casually.
The man faced forward and continued walking. Jake gave me two sharp pats and I opened my eyes.
I got up and looked at Jake. He shook his head.
“We should use the elevator, sir. My cousin isn’t feeling too well.” Jake said.
“No need for elevators. We’re almost there.”
I opened my eyes only slightly as we went through another door into a brighter and wider hallway. The one we followed the last time we came to see the Alpha.
We walked and stopped at the impressive door. The man knocked and the Alpha’s voice boomed out. “Let them in, Pedro.”
Pedro, our guide, stepped aside. As I opened the door, I saw my eyes reflection on the shiny door. The eyes slowly faded from green to the normal black.
I looked at Jake who breathed out heavily. I saw dots of sweat on his upper lip again.
Alpha Andrés was standing near the window, he held a glass of wine in his hand.
“Buenos dias, Alpha Andrés.” Jake said. His Spanish had an English tilt to it, which made the Alpha smile warmly.
He nodded at us to sit then he said, “Alpha Jamie called while you boys were away.”
“Is there any problem?” Jake asked nervously.
“No. None that he told me, anyway. He wants you to call him.”
“When?”
“Anytime. Now, if you like.”
We both nodded. I hoped I would be able to speak with mom.
“I’ve told Pedro to give you a phone anytime you’re ready to make the call. He’s just outside.”
We nodded again.
“That’s all for now. We may leave.” He said, sitting down at his leather chair.
As we both got up, he said as an afterthought, “Don’t forget to feel free here. It’s as much as out home as I is yours. We are all related. You hear me?”
“Yes sir.” Jake said. I nodded.
He waved us out.
“You never told me you could speak Spanish.” I whispered to Jake as we left the office.
“I just learnt that one word this morning.” He whispered back.
“You didn’t get the accent though.”
Pedro led us into a room and gave us a phone to make the call.
The room was small but comfortable. Now that I think of it, how many small but comfortable room is in this mansion?
Jake dialled his Dad’s number and waited as we heard the dialling tone.
Jamie walked up to meet Claude. He collected the glass from Claude and dropped it on the table. “You don’t drink during midday, Claude.” He said.
“I needed a pick-me-up.” Jamie said, tiredly.
“What’s the news?”
“The news is that,” Jaja said getting up from a sofa on the far end of the room. “Rosetta is going to kill Jake and Jason as soon as she finds them.”
“She said so?”
“She told you so. In the meeting last week.”
“I didn’t think she meant it.”
“She did. Rosetta means everything she says as long as it contains killings and blood.”
Jamie sat down on the couch beside Claude. “We need those boys by our side where we can watch them.”
“Yes.” Claude said. His voice, hoarse with emotion.
“Or we can leave them there in Brazil. Nobody will think to search for them in South America.” Jaja pointed out.
“Claude, Where’s that drink?” Jaja asked.
“Enough drinking for today!” Charlotte snapped. She walked into the room balancing three bottles of water and some glass cups on a tray.
Jamie groaned.
“So what are you going to do?” Jaja asked Jamie.
“What should I do, Claude?”
Claude remained silent for a while. Then he said, “In as much as we want to see our sons, their safety should be our top priority. They should remain in Brazil.”
Jamie nodded thoughtfully. But before he could answer, his phone rang.