“Lay back down,” he cooed, “and give up. Because we both know that’s not true.”
“Shut up,” I whispered as I closed my eyes. Sleep time was on its way. I could feel it.
“Fine, but…” There was a pause. “…I’ll see you in your dreams.”
Somehow, bickering with the blonde boy always gave me a sense of peace. I was definitely glad to be back in my own world with my own friends.
I was drawing a pretty picture of a rainbow when my mother said, “Finish up, honey. It’s way past your bedtime and if your father catches you up this late—” She smiled knowingly.
“—he won’t be very happy about it.”
I gasped and rushed to crawl into my tiny, princess bed. Using the dad card was a surefire way to get me to listen.
I watched my mom laugh gently. She tucked her long, brown hair behind her ear and made her way to my side. “Goodnight, Kassie.” She tucked the blankets around me. “I love you.” My mom bent down and laid a soft kiss on my forehead.
“Love you,” I murmured as my eyes closed and my mouth yawned. My princess bed felt really cozy. In seconds I heard the door close quietly. I didn’t want to go to sleep, but my sheets were soft and fluffy. I knew it was only a matter of time before I was asleep.
Just when I thought I was about to fall asleep, my bedroom door creaked open and a thin line of light fell on my face. I was too tired to open my eyes. It was probably Dad, checking to make sure I was in bed. The noise of dressy shoes on my pink carpet entered my ears as I listened to him kneel down and pick up the picture I finished only minutes ago.
“What a beautiful rainbow,” a male’s voice disrupted the silence. “I wonder who made this…surely not my sleeping daughter—”
“I did!” I yelled as I buried myself in layers of covers, giggling. I was too proud of that picture to keep quiet.
“Oh, did you?” It sounded like he was smiling.
“Mhmm.” I kept my eyes closed as he yanked the sheets off of my head.
“It’s perfect, Kassie. I’ve got to say, you do have your mother’s artistic talent. You’re already a better drawer than me.” He laughed quietly as I smiled a small, tired smile. “Sweetie, you know that your mom’s leaving tomorrow, right?”
My eyes stayed closed as I nodded. That’s what they’ve been telling me forever.
“And you know that you can’t go with her.”
“I know,” I rudely interrupted him.
He laughed softly and re-tucked the covers around me. “Okay. It seems like my princess is tired, so I’ll let you get right back to it. Be sure to tell me if you meet any handsome princes in your dreams. Goodnight.” His slightly scruffy face scratched my forehead when he kissed it.
I heard his shoes walk to the door and, before he was gone, whispered, “Love you, Daddy.”
“And I love you, too.”
Chapter Two – Kass
I bolted upright as the thought hit me. I had a dad.
Well, I knew I had to have a dad (otherwise I wouldn’t be possible), just…not one who I ever knew. As I glanced to my alarm clock, I wondered a few things. One: that dream was so real it was scary. Almost like a memory that was recorded and stored for all these years in the back of my head. Two: where did my mother have to go? That could quite possibly be the final time I’d seen her. And three: if it was real, a memory, and I did have a father…why did I forget all about him? His face was a blur to me.
The only reason I knew what my mother looked like was because she often visited me in visions and told me that I was destined to die, soon. As if I couldn’t guess that myself, taking into account how my life’s been as of late.
My alarm clock intruded on my thoughts, giving its two cents with some old-fashioned song. For a while, I simply stared at it, unblinking until my eyes started to water and I finally had to blink. Such a slow, dull melody. What kind of radio station would play this song? Did I somehow switch it to an oldies station while I slept? Either way…weird. Weird because of the choice of song, and the fact that it sounded so familiar.
Too bad I couldn’t place it.
I hit the power button and rushed to the closed bathroom door, yelling, “Gabriel, did you change my station?” Tapping my foot anxiously, I waited for Gabriel’s answer. I didn’t know why I secretly hoped that he was the culprit. Actually, scratch that. I did. If he was the one who changed it, it was just a coincidence. It didn’t mean anything. I could forget all about it.
If he wasn’t the one who changed the station…I didn’t want to think about it.
His deep voice rose above the shower’s noise, “No.”
My back thumped against the wall as I thought, great.
“Maybe you did,” Gabriel added as he opened the door, letting loose ten minutes of hot steam and appearing before me practically naked. At least the most private parts were covered by a white towel. “Maybe you sleepwalked, only you didn’t walk…you just switched the station.” He smiled as he rubbed his wet hair with a smaller towel. “You…slept-switched.” The thin, intricate tattoos that lined his whole body were visible, circling the Celtic cross on his pectoral. After drying himself, he’d slip into some clothes and use cover-up to hide the strange markings that neither of us could explain.
Of course, it never occurred to us to ask.
An unbelieving laugh came from me. “That’s not a thing, Gabriel.”
“Okay, well the only other thing I can think of is that you have another psycho out for you,” he paused, “which sucks for you, because you already have, like, two too many.”
My mouth dropped. I was shocked speechless. Why would he make a joke like that, especially considering everything that’s been going on recently? I spun on my heel, saying, “You’re lucky I just woke up and am too groggy to kick you in the nuts.” I ignored him as he made an ouch sound.
John and Crixis. Those were the two people he meant. One was because Osiris’s evil spirit went into him instead of me. He saved me, but then he terrorized the town, killed our school’s principal and secretary. I still didn’t believe that we should’ve let them go. The other was because…well, just because. Crixis had no reason, except that I barely escaped him three years ago and somehow managed to do it since. He wanted to kill me for sport. Such a nice psycho.
Too bad that staking a Daywalker through the heart didn’t purify it. If that were the case, I’d be in the clear. For both of them.
I made it about three steps from Gabriel before his strong hand grabbed my arm and pulled me back. “Kass.” His blue eyes were completely serious, along with his voice. Weird and unusual. I didn’t like it one bit. A little too much like the Gabriel from the other world. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
I sighed and looked away. “It’s fine. I’m a big girl, I promise. Still, I’d rather not think about how everyone wants to kill me once in a while. Consider it wishful thinking on my part.”
He touched my chin and forced me to meet eyes. “Never knew you were that much of a dreamer.” His words were touched with sarcasm.
Glaring at him, I hissed, “It’s a dream now to want to have no one out to kill you? Alert the news stations, because that’s breaking—”
A soft laugh came from him as he said, “Don’t worry, raccoon, I will always protect you.”
I jerked my arm and face out of his hands, insulted even more than I was before. I did not need to be protected. I wasn’t some stupid, helpless civilian girl. I was an occasionally rash, extremely capable Purifier. There were some differences there, differences Gabriel should already know too well.
“Let me get this straight.” My eyes shot daggers at Gabriel, also known as my famous death glare. “You think I need protecting?”
His eyebrows creased as he straightened himself out and crossed his muscled arms across his bare chest, which covered the cross. “Yes.”
Whatever I expected him to say, it wasn’t that. “What?” I took an aggressive stance. It wasn’t even eight in the
morning and he already pissed me off.
“I said yes, Kass. I think you need protecting,” the blonde boy clarified.
“I heard you. Tell me why you think I need protection. I can handle myself. And before you say anything else, remember all those time I broke your nose,” I growled out the threat.
“That threat might have worked five years ago,” he said as his neck bent, his face was inches from mine, “but after I grew two feet and gained all these manly muscles, it doesn’t work so well now. I could take you anytime, anywhere.” His intense stare was piercing to the point of physical pain. “And you know it.”
“That is…” I stopped when I realized it was true. Gabriel could take me anytime, anywhere, and I did know it. When did this happen? I had somehow, during the last few years, lost the advantage puberty gave me early. How I relished those training sessions where I’d easily beat him, when my muscles were double that of his, my height towering over him. When did those days disappear?
A gigantic smile spread across his face.
I ignored my urge to tackle him just to show him I could still put up a fight and said, “Just get ready for school, you jerk.” I should have known better than to say that. Immediately I was filled with regret. Who knew what Gabriel would do now.
The enormous smile got even bigger and whiter as he said “As you wish, my dear raccoon” and whipped his towel off.
Crossing my arms, I kept my eyes up and glaring. The moment I looked down was the moment he won. And he was not going to win. Never mind the fact that, with my perfect peripheral vision, I still saw more than I wanted to see. “Are you done?”
His eyes fell and slowly made their way back up, probably taking in every detail of my defiant stance. His shoulders rose and fell with a heavy sigh. “Yes, for now.” Gabriel kicked the fallen towel to his hands and walked back in the bathroom, not bothering to put it back on.
As the door closed, I smirked and turned to head down the stairs.
And I didn’t look down…not while he was looking me, anyways. Gabriel did have a really nice butt, didn’t he?
The moment that thought disappeared, I saw Michael standing on the stairwell, looking dazed and holding his morning paper and steaming tea. His small-rimmed glasses were on the verge of falling off his nose.
I tilted my head as he followed me down the stairs. “What’d you see?” I asked, throwing the question out there. Our Guardian knew the both of us too well. I was certain he’d seen it all, but I hoped for the best.
Michael was silent for a few moments. It was a long, quiet trip down the stairwell. He sat down at the kitchen table, set the newspaper down and folded it. Taking a huge sip of his tea, he mumbled, “More than I ever bloody wanted to. I wonder if there’s anywhere in this sodding town that does therapy.”
That poor, poor Englishman.
“Sorry you had to see…what you saw,” I apologized for Gabriel, who I knew wouldn’t. In the whole time I’d known him, he’d only apologized once. Twice, if you counted the scene that just transpired. “I don’t know what got into him.”
He ran a hand through his dark hair and pushed up his glasses. “I do. You and Gabriel may have an atypical extracurricular life, but you both are still teenagers. Sometimes I do feel as though Gabriel is going to remain a teenager for his entire life.”
I laughed at Michael’s seriousness but soon stopped. There was a question ringing in my head. “Michael, do you know anything about my real mother?” That wasn’t the question, but it was leading up to it.
He momentarily choked on his tea. When he recovered himself, he asked, “What makes you ask?” It’d been years since I waded into such territories.
I shrugged it off, as if it wasn’t very important, although in truth, it was the very opposite. “I was just curious, that’s all.”
Cracking his fingers, he said, “I only know that she was…that she left.”
“She left?” I echoed, not believing it. She left could mean a lot of things.
“Yes.” Michael abruptly stood, grabbing his tea and newspaper. He walked into the living room, leaving me all alone. In seconds he poked his head in, saying, “Oh. And she was very pretty. Looked a lot like you.”
I jumped out of the wooden chair and followed him, sitting down on the couch so I could stare at him as he sat in his usual chair. “What about my father? Do you know anything about him?”
“I…do not. I’m very sorry.” Michael’s eyes stayed glued to this morning’s headlines, something about a pack of wolves. I’d probably end up investigating that. No wolf packs were natural. Not this far east.
I quickly noticed the way he shifted his feet and bit his lip. Something wasn’t right here. Michael knew something more than he let on. Why did he keep things from me? I was going to ask, but he cut through my thoughts.
“I think you should get ready for school.”
“But,” I began to protest. I wasn’t done with this conversation yet, but it seemed like Michael was.
“Koath and Max will be here soon. Do not make everyone late because you are simply curious of things you don’t need to know.” For the first time ever, his English accent was harsh, brutal and mean.
“Fine,” I spoke through clenched teeth and stood up. As I stormed up the stairs, I clenched and unclenched my fists. I was only curious. Michael didn’t need to take that tone with me. I wasn’t a child. I deserved to know about them if I wanted to, didn’t I? I was a Purifier, but I was still human, and I clung to the hope that knowing about my parents would make me semi-normal.
Chapter Three – Michael
From behind my glasses, I watched her stand and leave. She was angry with me. It did not take a master of perception to see it. Kass’s rage was something she scarcely could contain. I supposed I should be thankful that she didn’t threaten to toss my tea in my face. What I told her wasn’t right, I knew it. But there wasn’t anything else I could tell her.
Kass did deserve to know what happened, but I couldn’t. I was forbidden against it, by a direct Council order. Such things Guardians never could go against if they wished to keep their job. I had to keep the identity of her mother and father quiet, for all of their sakes.
Sometimes it was best to leave the truth buried and the wounds forgotten. I wasn’t sure if this was one of those instances, however.
Why was she suddenly curious, anyways? What brought this on?
For years she hadn’t asked any of those questions. She’d grown too old for them. She was old enough to know that who her parents are, or were, didn’t matter. She was a Purifier now; nothing could change that.
Kass needed to remember that Gabriel and I were her only family. If she started to believe something different, or remembered what truly happened, bad things could happen.
I shook the thoughts off and turned my attention back to the paper. Taking a small sip of my tea, I harrumphed as I realized I was on the back page of the paper. That would be why it was all advertisements.
After I set my cup down on my lap, I flipped it over and read the headline: Wolves in Greenville? My interest was instantaneously peaked, so I read the first part of the article.
When you think of Greenville, our average city, your first thought is probably how pleasant it is. The people, the places, the animals. When you look out of your kitchen window, you expect to see a few things: the color green, bugs, and trees.
I moved to this wonderful city fifteen years ago and have not regretted it since. However, yesterday night, when I was busy making dinner for my family, I admit that I had a very different thought as I glanced out of the window at a wolf who was staring straight back at me.
The wolf itself must have been at least five feet tall, the purest white. Its dark eyes looked intelligent as we continued our staring contest for the next five minutes. My wife came in the kitchen, asking what was taking me so long with the pasta, and I broke eye contact with the wolf to look at my wife.
“There’s a wolf outside,” I told her as s
he stood beside me.
By the time she finally looked outside, the lone white wolf was gone, and I was left to explain what I saw.
As it turns out, other people in Greenville have lately been reporting the same thing: a large, white wolf with black eyes. In the past month alone, over twenty-five people have called the police, wanting them to take care of it.
The wolf itself has never been seen by any law enforcement, only the witnesses who called in. There are no existing authentic pictures of it, either.
Many dispute whether this wolf is real or faked for attention. But local headlines of wolves don’t make for good national news. I’ve dug up a statement released not too long ago that details the recent numbers of dead deer and animals of such size. There has been no change, wolf or no wolf.
The all-too recent victims found in the woods were said to be slain by a wolf…if so, if the reports were true, and this wolf is real, and we, the twenty-six who saw it, all describe it in the same way, then why didn’t it attack us? Some witnesses saw it while they were walking through the park, where the wolf could have easily attacked.
With the sightings piling up, why does our local law enforcement feel it is unnecessary to investigate? What is it living on if it’s not gorging itself on the bountiful deer of this city? (cont. page 3)
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I closed my eyes. What was this, besides utterly disturbing? There was not a doubt in my mind that the white wolf did indeed exist. That begged the question: what was it?
Chapter Four – Kass
“Good morning,” Koath greeted us with a smiling face as Gabriel and I entered the car.
We both mumbled something back and proceeded to gaze out the window on opposite sides of the car. Gabriel was in a mood. Or it was me. Possibly both of us. It really didn’t matter who was in the mood, because when one of us was pissed, both of us were pissed.
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