I walked over to Jake’s house which was just by my house’s side. It’s was not an overly large apartment. If there was one thing I liked from my uncle, the Alpha, it was his simplicity. He didn’t mind living in a house almost the sane size with that of his betas.
I knocked once and opened the door. Doors were never locked in the pack. We were all together as one. Jake was eating breakfast at the table. He was alone.
“Hey.” I said to him, walking to meet him.
“Morning.” He said. Then he pushed a box of cereal to me. “Are you hungry?”
I shook my head and looked around. “Where’s your dad?” I asked.
He mumbled something inaudible and shrugged. I took that as an “I don’t know.”
“Has he spoken to you already?” I asked again.
Jake shook his head and swallowed. “He said he’d do that with the both of us. Together.”
“Oh alright.” I sat down and prepared to wait.
“Do you remember all that happened? My memory is pretty hazy.” Jake said. He got up and took his plates to the sink.
“How about you just let me do the talking? And then you just agree along and put in anything else you remember.” I suggested.
“You’ve got a deal.” He gave me a thumbs up.
I smiled. The door opened and Alpha Jamie and Jaja walked in. I stood up in respect.
“Good morning, uncle Jamie.” I greeted.
“Morning” He answered. “Did you sleep well?”
“Daad. Let’s do this quickly and get this over with. We don’t want to be late for school.” Jake said, sitting down on the seat he just got up from.
“About that… There’s no school. Atleast not physical anyway. There’s a curfew. Five boys from your class are missing.” Alpha Jamie said, he sat on a seat opposite me and Jaja said by his side.
The look on Jake’s face was so comical that if not for the seriousness of the matter, I would have laughed out. He turned to look at me and said, “You don’t seem so surprised. You knew?”
I nodded. “My brother told me about it last night.”
“Oh my… That’s… wicked!” He swore.
“So, after we’re done here,” Alpha Jamie continued. “You both will head out to Mrs. Fletcher’s House and receive some of the major classes you missed before you join the rest of your class for your online class.”
I nodded. Jake was still in shock.
“Now boys, tell us what happened.” Jaja said. He was looking at Jake, but it was me who spoke.
“It was the Fey Watchers, sir.” I said.
Uncle Jamie clenched his fist. His eyes showed a bit of red. “I heard you were supposed to have a date.”
“Um, kind of. It was not a real date.” I knew I was blushing.
“And Jake followed you…”
“Not to my knowledge. I didn’t know, I just saw him there.”
“Okay. Continue.”
“While we were waiting, the watchers appeared. They portalled us out –”
” – After making us stiff with the help of magic.” Jake interrupted. “We’d have torn their heads out.”
“I thought Jason is not a wolf.” Jaja said.
“Um, No… I mean yes. He’s not. But he’s pretty handy with his blade. You should see him use it.” Jake faltered and then kept quiet.
“They took us to the Watchtower and said they just wanted to ask us some questions.” I continued. “We answered their questions but they weren’t satisfied and wanted to enter out brains.”
“The invasion.” Alpha Jamie, growled. He seemed to be getting bigger as the anger grew in him.
I nodded and gulped. “We made a run for it.”
“Jason released himself and came for me. They had bound us with a rope laced with wolfsbane and magic. I was getting weaker. But it had no effect on him because he’s human.” Jake said.
“How did you escape?” Jaja asked.
“We jumped.” Jake said.
At that moment, Dad walked in. He winked at me and went to stand behind the Alpha.
“You jumped? Without breaking any bone?”
“Well, Jake shifted while falling. I guess I have strong bones, mixed with the adrenaline rush.”
The men nodded at me to continue.
“We ran and crashed through the gate and found ourselves in Brazil.”
The way I said it must have sound pretty funny because a smile appeared on Jaja’s face.
“We lived on squirrel and berries for some days before we came across the Red moon Pack. They took us in and treated us well till you came. The end.” Jake finished.
They nodded and waved at us to go.
We stood up and headed out, Alpha Jamie called out, “Remember. Mrs. Fletcher’s. Immediately.”
Jake groaned. And went to his room to pack his notes and textbooks.
THE BURN MARKS had disappeared completely but the skin was sore and Billy still carried the hand tenderly.
Zach was noisily sucking a drink through a straw in a juice box. Jeff had been outside, near the wolfsbane gate, trying to see anything. He had to stay at an angle though and be careful to avoid being burnt on the forehead.
“I wonder what Imelda is doing now. I hope she misses me like I miss her.” Arthur said to himself.
“Let me give you an advice.” Mart said. “She doesn’t even remember your face. That’s one thing with girls. They forget you as soon as you leave.”
“What do you know about girls?” Billy asked.
“I’ve got sisters and cousins. You see, I know a lot about the female gender that none of you can understand.”
“Is that right?” Zach asked, tossing the now empty juice box away.
Jeff came back into the cell. “Keep quiet guys. Someone who scents exactly like Sofia is here.”
THE LAST THREE hours has to be most boring and back breaking moments in my life. I and Jake pored over algebra, arithmetic, geometry and trigonometry till our eyes were red. If I closed my eyes, I could still see numbers and circles and angles floating in my mind eyes.
“Make sure you boys join in on the class this evening.” Mrs Fletcher called after us.
I didn’t bother to reply or even nod. I was too tired for that. We both walked out of her house, slouching and dragging our feet. I looked at my wrist watch. 1:07pm. The sun was scorching. Jake was squinting against the rays from the sun. But I wasn’t.
He looked at me and sighed. “Your eyes.”
“What happened to it?” I asked.
“The pupils are slitted. Like a snake. An adaptation to reduce the light rays going in.”
That’s cool, I thought to myself.
“Hey that’s Lily.” Jake said. “She’s reading over there. Under that weeping willow.” I followed his gaze and saw her. She was sitted alone. “Go and talk with her.” He urged me.
“I can’t.” I hesitated and prepared to follow another route. “I don’t know what to say. Let’s follow this way.”
“Oh no. You’re not escaping this one.” He whispered fiercely. Then he raised his voice loudly and said, “See you later Jason!”
Lily looked up from her book and stared at me.
“I’ll kill you.” I whispered back at him, but he was already walking away, whistling to himself.
I had no choice. I walked over to where she was, stumbling over some stones as her eyes never left me.
I opened my mouth to talk but my throat was dry. I cleared my throat and licked my lips before trying again. “Hey.”
“Jason.”
“Are you alone here?” I asked, looking around.
“Yes.” She closed her book, but not before marking the page where she was with a little gray feather.
“Mind if i sit with you?”
She smiled. “Ofcourse not. You can sit.”
I sit beside her and we remain quiet for a while. Each of us getting used to one another’s company. Then she said, “What have you been up to?”
I showed her my books.
She laughed. “Maths with Mrs. Fletcher.”
I nodded. “If I fall asleep right now, I’ll see numbers chasing me.”
She laughed again. “Maths is not that bad.”
A pigeon flew low and landed nearby and stares at us.
“Do you know a pigeon can see in 360 degrees?” I asked her, watching the pigeon.
“No way.”
“I’m not lying. I watched it in a documentary.”
She waved her hands to scare the pigeon away. “I know they’re rats with wings.”
“Or rats of the sky.”
“Have you spoken to the Alpha about what happened?” She asked.
I nodded. “Yes. I spoke with him this morning.”
“What did he say? How did he take it?”
“I guess he was angry. My Dad says he’s prone to waging war over any minor dispute. I’m not sure abducting his pups is a minor dispute so he will probably wage war on the Feys.”
She didn’t talk. “Will it be like the war we watch in the movies?”
I shrugged. “I have no idea. But i guess the great war that happened centuries ago was nothing like that.”
“What started the Great war? WereCats, right?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“They must have been so bad. I think everyone over reacted and that led to too much loss of lives.”
“Maybe. You don’t know WereCats.”
“You know the history of a war is written by the winners. Maybe WereCats were not actually on the bad side. Maybe they were badly treated.”
I laughed. “Do you want to become a WereCat activist?”
“Who knows? Maybe.” She shrugged and then laughed. “I really wish to meet one though. I’m curious on how they are.”
I so wanted to shift at that very moment. Maybe she’d have a different first time reaction from Jake, who felt fear. She might be filled with awe. Too bad i couldn’t shift, fear didn’t allow me. Besides, Dad had put a ban on shifting, so I just remained quiet.
“I’d better go home. No one knows I went out.” She said, getting up and dusting her jeans.
I got up after her and packed my books. “I’ll walk you home?”
“You’re a real gentleman.” She smiled and started down the road.
I followed behind her.