Lauren was beginning to hate running, solely because of the way Aidan did it. He ran like he was in a race with the wind. Lauren , even with her heightened senses and more precise speed, could barely match up to his agility.
The wind blew her hair into her face and she shouted for Aidan to stop. But he either didn’t hear her or didn’t care: he continued to race and laugh as he did so. Lauren looked around; she recognized the tall, sparse trees. They were heading towards her cabin, within a walking distance of her pack’s lair.
Soon Aidan stopped before the cabin and waited for her to catch up. She was barely out of breath as she reached his side and frowned, folding her hands. “Next time,” she said “Give me a heads up.”
“Yes ma’am.” Aidan made a mocking bow and circled the cabin to the back. Lauren followed him, arms still folded, and stopped when he did. He was staring at the ground. Lauren copied him, eyes scanning the ground.
“What are we supposed to be staring at?” She asked.
“Wolfsbane.” He said.
“What? Really?” She gaped.
Aidan looked up at her “You really don’t know what Wolfsbane is? You’re kidding, right?”
“Well, I know they’re lethal to people like us. But I didn’t know there was a whole bush of it growing behind my cabin.” She looked at the tiny purple flowers and frowned, wondering how something like this grew in her vicinity and she had no idea.
Suddenly she stiffened and looked up. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she turned around. She had the feeling that she was being watched. She peered into the surrounding trees. She could see several kilometers around her, and if anything was there her sharp eyes would have caught it. But she couldn’t shake the feeling of being closely watched.
Aidan looked at her closely “What’s wrong?”
“Something is watching us. Or someone.” She whispered, grabbing his arm.
He turned around too, looking into the trees. “Nothing. If there was anything we would have seen it, don’t you think?”
Lauren sighed and tried to calm her nerves “Yeah. You’re right-” She stopped as something caught her eye. It was a flicker of movement, among a dense cave of trees to the left of the cabin. Aidan seemed to have caught it too as he tensed beside her. There was something unnerving about the movement; an impossible angle as a gesture caught the light, too impossible and fast to be human.
“Shhh.” Aidan hushed, then crouched low. His ears were already pointed backwards and moving every which way as they tried to catch sounds. The green of his eyes had deepened and his hands were curved into claws. Lauren mimicked his posture and looked into the woods. Her eyesight had sharpened and she could see way farther than when she was fully human. Even things moving in the corners of her vision were fully clear.
Then suddenly a figure jumped out from the bushes to their left. Lauren screamed and jumped, her eyesight returning to normal-as normal as they can get. Aidan laughed and stood straight. “It’s just a deer. A stag, actually.” He said.
The stag trotted out of the bushes and walked before them, oblivious to the two humans watching it. “Wanna chase it?” Aidan asked, then took off after the stag without waiting for a reply, morphing to his wolf form mid-run.
Lauren sighed and jogged after Aidan and the stag, her nerves too frayed for her to Morph. A lump of unease had settled in the pit of her stomach, and despite being relieved that it was only a stag in the bushes, she couldn’t let go of the feeling that some invisible eyes were following her.
☆
The new Chemistry teacher stood before them, waving his hands animatedly as he described chemical reactions. Lauren missed the old teacher, a wrinkled old man who cared more about showing them cool chemical reactions and mixtures than assignments and pop quizes. She placed her chin in her palm and sighed, her eyes drooping involuntarily. Eric sat beside her, taking notes diligently, his glasses glinting in the refractive sunlight from the open windows.
“Take notes, Sommers.” He said, head bent over his book “I won’t give you mine even if you asked nicely.”
Lauren looked at him in surprise. He hadn’t said a word to her since her runaway with Aidan, hadn’t even acknowledged her in any way, only replying to her greeting this morning with a stiff nod. And he only called her Sommers when he was really mad at her.
“You’re talking to me now?” She asked with a hint of sarcasm “I thought we were taking the vow of silence or something.”
“Just saying.” He shrugged, eyes still on his book “If you decide to, oh I don’t know, run away again with some random boy today, I won’t be giving you my notes or covering for you in any way.”
“It’s not like that and you know it!” Lauren half-whispered, half-shouted “Why are you being like this?!”
“I’m ‘being like this’ because you’re being insufferable!” Eric retorted “When will you realise that-boy, is bad news?”
“Miss Sommers, Mr McKinney, would you like to share your thoughts with the class?”
They both looked up to see the rest of the class staring at them and the Chemistry teacher giving them a condescending look.
“Mr McKinney, perhaps you’d like to share my desk with me till the end of this lesson?” The teacher said. “Come on up.”
Eric looked at her. She could see the hurt and disappointment in his deep brown eyes. He opened his mouth like he was about to say something, then shook his head and packed his books, heading to the teacher’s desk.
As the class progressed, Lauren suddenly had a deja vù moment. That feeling of being watched that she’d experienced in the forest with Aidan caome back and she tensed, goosebumps erupting on the skin of her neck. She looked around: her classmates were all focused on the teacher and the lesson. Eric behind the teacher’s desk was ignoring her, his dreadlocks falling over his book as he took notes. The teacher too was back to his spirited waving of hands. She shook her head and shifted in her seat, certain that she was imagining things.
Suddenly she stopped and sniffed. Her nose had picked up an alien, distant scent. It wasn’t the different contrasting smells of the students around her or the intoxicating chemical smell of the laboratory. No, this was foreign, something she was sure she’d never smelled before. It was a funny smell, a combination of rosewood and engine oil. Why, if she’d never smelled it before, was her brain tugging at the smell, trying to remember some distant memory? It smells like home, Lauren thought.
Home.
She turned to the window beside her, where the smell seemed to be stronger. A figure stood at the school’s parking lot, a man dressed in a black hoodie and faded black Jeans. He was staring intently at the school building, at the Chemistry laboratory window.
At-At her.
She flinched and turned to the class, certain someone else had seen the strange man. But the rest of the class was still occupied with the lesson. She tried to signal Eric but he was apparently doing a very good job at ignoring her. Shifting her feet impatiently, she turned back to the window and her heart lurched as her eyes scanned the empty parking lot. The strange man had disappeared as quickly as he’d come.