Falling into the White (The Ancients Series)

by Christine M. Butler

  I picked up a pine cone and threw it at him, hard.

  “Ouch.” He dropped my shoes off by my feet, then flopped down on the blanket with me. The basket was opened, and he was emptying out the contents methodically, while I just sat there and watched. I was also willing my heart to slow itself down a bit. Then I really looked at what he was unpacking. He had little sandwiches, crackers, cheeses, and a big bowl of fresh fruit. Then there was the sparkling grape juice.

  “What is that?” I pointed to the juice.

  “I wasn’t sure you were ready to drink with me, so I opted for juice, instead of the real thing. I’ll let you know when you graduate up from the kid table!” I huffed indignantly, which only triggered more laughter from him.

  “You think you’re very charming, don’t you?”

  “Well, I’m not the one who brought it up, so I guess the real question is, do you find me charming?”

  “NO!” I spouted out. Inside, my answer was a little different. I wasn’t about to admit that to him though.

  “Keep telling yourself that, sweetheart!” He grabbed one of the sandwich slices and offered it up to me. “Hungry?” There was a bit of a growl behind the natural gruffness in his voice. That word held a lot more meaning than it was supposed to. I was definitely going to keep telling myself that. I still took it and started eating, because I was actually starving.

  We sat there, eating in a comfortable silence for a while. I was just taking a sip of my drink when I felt a tingling sensation. It wasn’t quite what I felt when another wolf of power was around, but something similar. I scanned the tree line, and thought I saw a shadow of movement across the pool of water behind me. Mikael must have tuned into my brimming anxiety, because he was on his feet in seconds.

  “What’s going on, Jess?”

  “Did you feel that too?”

  “No, I saw you scanning, and you looked a little panicked just now.”

  “I felt something, kind of like when we can feel each other’s power signature, but a little different. I thought I saw something move over there.”

  He was packing everything up before I turned back around. When I did look at him though, he was on high alert watchful as he tended to the cleanup. I started helping him, but he shook his head. “Socks and shoes, Jess. I’ll get this.”

  I stopped and put my socks on, then went to put the shoes on my feet too when I felt that burst of tingly power wash over me again. This time, I was on my socked feet, crouched for an attack in a split second.

  “Jesus!” Mikael hissed out, caught off guard by my response.

  “There’s something out there,” I whispered.

  “I’m not feeling it, Jess, but I believe you. Get your shoes on. I have your back while you do.” He tossed the last of our lunch into the basket, on guard as I slipped the shoes over my feet and tied them tight. I stood and grabbed the blanket up off the ground.

  “Let’s just get out of here. I don’t like that feeling I keep getting.” I was busy scanning the forest for threats as I said it, and thankfully Mikael didn’t question me for a moment. He just lead the way back to the trail. Instead of the twenty minute leisurely hike it took us to get there, we were back in the parking area within 15 minutes. I stood over by the motorcycle, waiting for him to deposit the basket back inside the ranger station.

  “Oh no, I’m not leaving you out here alone. Come on.” He grabbed my free hand, and tugged until I was following him on my own. As I stood inside the doors, waiting for him to talk to the ranger, I saw a woman’s figure ghost out of the shadows of the trees. She was standing at the trailhead that we had just vacated. A smile was on her face, and she simply waved at me, and then she was gone. I was questioning my sanity by the time Mikael was done. “Jess?”

  “I think I’m going crazy.”

  “You’re not going crazy, Jess. It’s best to trust your instincts.” His gaze lifted from me, out to the parking lot. “Did you see something out there?”

  I shook my head, and wasn’t going to tell him at first. “She just waved and then disappeared right in front of me.”

  “Was it another wolf? Did someone shift out there, in the open?”

  “No, I mean there was a woman standing at the trailhead. She waved. Then she just became mist and was gone.”

  “Shit.”

  “What?”

  “Sounds like a witch.”

  “A witch? What the hell would a witch be doing out here?”

  “Let’s not stick around to find out, all right?”

  “Yeah.”

  And just like that, we were getting back on the motorcycle, and headed back to town. My paranoia on the return trip kept me from enjoying it the way I had earlier. The sun was setting off in the west as we pulled up at Ashley’s place. Mikael walked me to the door, and was about to say something, when I paused with my hand on the doorknob. I could hear sounds from behind the door that had to be pissing Ashley’s neighbors off. Either that or it was getting them really hot and bothered.

  “Damn! I guess Asi’s home.” I turned to go to my Jeep, and remembered I left my keys inside Ashley’s apartment earlier. “Of course I left my keys inside earlier!” I let the sarcasm drip from my words.

  “Come on,” Mikael laughed. “I have a ton of movies at my place, and I promise to be a complete gentleman until it’s safe for you to come back and get your keys. Besides, I’d feel better if I could keep an eye on you, since you saw a witch earlier anyway. When they play hide and seek with people, it never bodes well.”

  “Yeah, ok.” I walked with him, back to the bike. “So, what kind of movies do you have?”

  “I guess you’ll have to see for yourself in a few minutes.”

  In another shocker, Mikael didn’t live in town like I thought he did. I always figured he’d want to be closer to the action and the city. I thought of him as more like Evan in that respect, but that wasn’t the case. Instead, he was living in an old country house on the outskirts of town. It looked like one of those smaller versions of a plantation house, with the big wrap-around porch. The kind of house where you can imagine sitting on a porch swing, drinking sweet-tea, and watching the lightning bugs on a hot summer night.

  “This is your place?” I questioned after we both got our helmets off.

  “Now, I’m curious about what you were imagining.” His dimples were out again as he smiled easily. “Dungeon, maybe?”

  “No, not a dungeon, but maybe something closer to town. An apartment or something like…” I stopped myself before I said Evan’s name, but the dimples in his cheeks disappeared along with his smile.

  “I think you’ll find my brother and I don’t have that much in common, aside from the family obligations.”

  “Yeah, I’m getting that.”

  “Come on,” he offered his hand to me, even though I kept fumbling over the awkward parts of our being on a date. “Let’s get you set up with a movie. No judging. The place is still pretty sparse. I haven’t had a lot of time to get things together yet. I’ve been more concerned with what’s been going down with the rescue than what’s going on here.”

  “I still live at home with my parents, so who am I to judge?”

  Walking into Mikael’s house was an altogether different kind of experience. It was totally not what I expected. Everything was so down-home-country comfortable. The furniture, which was sparse, was all done in subtle earth tones. The electronics were the only thing that screamed, ‘a guy lives here.’ I realized Mikael was watching as I was taking it all in, and the smile was back on his face. “I like it.”

  “I could tell. You’re actually smiling!”

  “It’s not like I walk around every minute of the day with a frown on my face.”

  “Well, let’s just say, I’ve grown used to the scowl when you’re in my presence.”

  “Seriously?” I thought about it for a minute. “Well, I’ll have to work on that. “How about this?” I made a goofy face, and stuck my tongue out at him. He picked a pillo
w up from the couch, and tossed it at my head.

  “Why don’t you pick a movie out,” he nodded his head to the one book shelf that was filled with DVDs and Blu-rays instead of books. “I’ll go grab drinks.”

  I just had to get my ‘idea’ of what Mikael was like out of my head, because I clearly had no clue. I expected to walk over to the movies and see all action adventure stuff, maybe some westerns. I was surprised, yet again. He had a very wide variety, including some serious chick flicks. The titles that shocked me the most was the part of the collection that had The Never Ending Story, The Goonies, and The Princess Bride to name a few. They were all favorites of mine. I ended up going with a safe bet and picked out The Avengers though. It had enough eye candy for the both of us, and we’d be able to enjoy the action. I put it on and got everything ready, taking a seat on his very comfortable, soft, inviting couch. I snuggled down into the corner, the suede cushions hugging my body, as Mikael’s scent billowed up around me. I closed my eyes for a minute, just letting myself relax while the previews played.

  I knew when Mikael entered the room again, because I could feel him lingering just off to the side. Then, I felt a blanket being spread over me before I looked up, questioning him.

  “Oh, sorry. I thought you fell asleep on me. You looked entirely too peaceful lying there with your eyes closed like that.”

  “You’re couch is comfy! I was just relaxing.” I noticed his empty hands, and asked, “drinks?”

  He pointed to the coffee table in front of me. “I set them down when I grabbed the blanket. The drinks he pointed to were a couple of Sam Adams bottles. “Sorry, I didn’t really have plans for us to come back here, so there’s not a lot of choices in the house right now.”

  “No worries. I like Sam just fine!” I patted the couch beside me when he just continued to stand there. “Take a load off! I don’t bite.”

  “Now, that’s a damn shame!” He mumbled under his breath. I heard him anyway. I wasn’t going to acknowledge it though. Instead, we sat there, drinking our beers, and watching Loki taunting everyone. Secretly, I was rooting for Loki, even though I knew he wouldn’t win this round.

  WITCHES ON THE QUAD

  The sun was warm on my face, making me want to cuddle down deeper into the blanket that I was wrapped in, and simultaneously making me want to get up, because the light was growing brighter. Then the bold aroma of coffee taunted my nose, and I was done for. It was definitely time to get up and ready for school. It was time to get up. That meant I had been sleeping, and I didn’t remember getting home. Panic flooded in as I peeked out from between my eyelids. There was Mikael’s entertainment center. I sat up quickly, looked down at myself. I was still dressed, under a blanket, on his couch. “Shit!” I jumped up and tossed my shoes on my feet. “Shit! Shit! Shit!” I tried to tie as I stumbled my way from the couch to the kitchen.

  “Hey, do you want…” Mikael was standing in the middle of the kitchen doorway watching as I tried one last time to tie my shoe while I was moving. It didn’t work out for me, and I fell over onto my ass.

  “Shit!” I yelped again, and just stayed there with my butt planted on his hardwood floor while I finished tying. “Why did you let me stay here all night?”

  “Oh, Jess, I wouldn’t have missed that show for the world.” He was laughing, and worse, he wasn’t even trying to hide the fact that he was laughing at me.

  “Damn you! It’s not funny. I’m going to miss my classes.”

  “Calm down, Jess. It’s still early, and I’ve got you covered. I called Ashley to find out when class starts. See,” he held out a mug full of steaming coffee. “I was just coming to get you, and give you a caffeine boost before I drive you into town.”

  I looked up at him cautiously then, “what time is it?”

  “It’s only a little after seven. Ashley said your first class wasn’t until nine. You have time.” He turned to head back into the kitchen. “Do you need sugar, milk, or creamer?”

  “Yes,” I called back to him as I got up and started that way myself.

  “Yes to which one?”

  “All of the above.”

  “Seriously?” Mikael asked as he turned to look back at me. I nodded. “Okay, here.” He handed the cup to me, “I’m going to let you handle that then.”

  “So, you talked to Ashley?”

  “Yes. She wouldn’t stop texting your phone last night. I guess she was worried. I texted her back last night, and let her know that you fell asleep. She said she’d get all the dirty details from you today.” I spit the coffee out that I had just sipped. Mikael laughed again, and handed me a napkin.

  “Damn it,” I was full on blushing now. “Ashley always says that. She wasn’t being serious.”

  “Oh, she was quite serious. She tried to ask me for the details, like whether or not you fell asleep in my bed from sheer exhaustion or what?”

  “Oh God! I’m going to kill her.” Then I looked up at him, “wait, what did you tell her?”

  “I told her I didn’t kiss and tell. She said she’d ask you later then.”

  “Well, the drive to school should be pleasant this morning.”

  “Um,” He didn’t look comfortable anymore as he added the next statement. “She wasn’t the only one trying to get a hold of you last night.”

  “What do you mean?” I winced, “my parents were worried, huh? I thought I had told them I was going to be staying at Ashley’s for a few days anyway...”

  I had been thinking out loud, but Mikael cut me off. “No, Jess. It wasn’t your parents.”

  “Oh?” Suddenly it clicked in. “Oh!” Now I was blushing for an entirely different reason. For a few minutes I hadn’t even thought about Evan. I felt, well hell, I was feeling downright guilty now. “He’s probably going to give me hell.” I mumbled.

  “I know you like my brother, but you don’t have to take his attitude.”

  “Believe me when I say, I don’t.”

  “Okay, well, I’m going to leave that conversation right there. I’m not really comfortable with…” he sighed, a very big sigh. “You know, talking about my brother, since he’s…” Mikael groaned, then walked over to the sink and slung the rest of his coffee into it. “Let me know when you’re ready. I’ll get you back to Ashley’s so you can get changed and grab your stuff.”

  “I’m good to go. I just need to grab my jacket.” He walked out ahead of me, into the living room. When I got there, he had my jacket held out for me to put on. He was apparently bound and determined to show me he was not the asshole I met all those months ago. “Thanks.” He walked me out to the bike, and handed me the helmet again. I paused before I put it on. “Mikael?”

  “Yeah?” He stopped and looked at me then.

  “I, um… well, thank you. Yesterday was a lot of fun. So, thanks for everything.”

  His eyes lit up, mouth turned into full, dimple bearing, eye crinkling smile that melted me somewhere deep down inside. “You’re welcome. I had a good time too, right up until you started drooling all over my shirt. I’m not sure that’s going to come out. It was a little purple, maybe from the sparkling grape juice we had earlier. Next time, we’ll go with white grape.”

  I smacked his shoulder playfully. “I take it all back. You’re an ass!”

  He threw his denim clad leg over the bike, and patted the seat, “hop on, Princess. Let’s get you home before you turn into a pumpkin or something.”

  “I think it’s already too late for that. Sun’s up.” I squeezed up tight to Mikael, and got as close to his ear as our helmets would allow. “Go really fast for me, I want to fly this morning!”

  He pulled my arms tighter around his waist, and then took off. The ride back was amazing, he definitely didn’t disappoint me.

  When we pulled up at Ashley’s I took my helmet off and looked for a place to strap it onto the bike or something so that Mikael could take it with him. “Keep it with you, that way you’ll have it next time.” He said to me. “I have to run and go d
eal with contractors this morning. You be safe, and call if you need anything.”

  “Thanks…” I wasn’t sure what else to say, and luckily Ashley stuck her head out the door at just that moment.

  “Jess, hurry up, I want to stop off at Java Joe’s on the way.”

  Mikael revved the bike, and winked at me. I just waved and walked over to Ashley’s door. She yanked me inside and shut it. “So, you need to get dressed, like now! And then you are going to spill everything.”

  I walked towards the bag I had left by Ashley’s couch the day before, and grabbed it to head to the bathroom, where I promptly ran into a fresh-out-of-the-shower Asriel, who thankfully, at least still had a towel wrapped around his lower half. His sandy brown hair looked darker when it was wet, but it still hung from his head in long waves that fell just below his chin. I focused on the hair, so I wouldn’t end up drooling over the abs of my best friend’s man. “Asi, I didn’t realize you were still here.”

  “I didn’t realize you ever knew I was here, since you didn’t come back last night.” He snickered as he said it.

  “Oh, I came back last night all right, to the audio version of a sock on the door. When it was clear I would be interrupting, Mikael took me back to his place.”

  “Shit!” Ashley yelped. “You could hear that from outside?” Ashley’s cheeks were apple red now. Asi wasn’t the least bit embarrassed.

  “Did he now?” Asriel queried quietly, his dark eyes flashed a bit of menace my way before he checked himself. I understood, kind of.

  I turned from him to Ash. “Ashley, I’m sure your neighbors are frustrated, sexually or otherwise, this morning. You might want to seriously think about moving somewhere with a bit of space between you and your neighbors.” I turned back to Asi then. “And you… just stop. I get enough shit from Evan himself, I don’t need to get a dose of guilt by proxy from you too! Besides, you guys were the only ones getting lucky last night. I fell asleep during The Avengers, and woke up drooling on Mikael’s couch. Now, slide out of the way, so I can get dressed in something other than yesterday’s clothes.”