CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX Rachel~ I was in the cafeteria with Angela, June and Melody. They were talking about weekend plans. Melody’s boyfriend had some friend they were trying to set up with Angela. Even though she was against the whole thing. “I can get my own man, Mel!” she yelled at her in laughter. “Well, I’ve certainly never seen that…” June commented wryly. “Hey!” Angela yelled back. Melody just smiled and looked at her phone. “Oh, you guys are too cute, it sickens me,” Angela said, waving her hand at Melody. I got a text from Ally and departed the table after saying a quick ‘see ya.’ I rushed to the library door. “Morning ladies,” Mr. Waller said as he opened the door for us. “Morning,” we greeted him. We walked into the library and back to our favorite table. “Any progress with Kyle?” I immediately asked her. “Not just yet, our plans will hopefully work out tonight,” she said, looking out the window. “Tonight?” I asked again to clarify. Ally just nodded. “Are
CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN Ally~ It was five minutes until the full moon was at its highest. And I was already in pain. I was wearing the orange pendant, like my grandmother told me. But unlike anything I imagined in my mind growing up, rather than being whisked off in air like Princess Fiona in Shrek making a transformation, this was painful. My mom felt terrible. She had told me about hers, but from what she remembered it was no more painful than some period cramps. We knew mine would be different with my level of power being higher according to grandma, but yikes. “Oh Al-,” my mom said sadly at my side, “I feel so helpless, I’m sorry. Keep breathing through it, you’re nearly there. I’m going to bake you the most giant bundt cake when this is over.” I laughed and winced. Mom handed me a pillow and I squeezed into it as the next wave built. “I’m taking you up on that,” I said quickly, out of breath from biting back a scream. Two minutes to the full moon full height and the penda
CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT Rachel~ I sat up in a sweat just after 3am. Flashes of a nightmare still etched into my eyelids. A large dark crow swallowed me whole. I fought and fought, but down its beak I went. I slithered down its throat and even though I tried to crawl back out but couldn’t make any progress. At last I was running out of air. That’s what forced me to wake up. The feeling that I wasn’t getting any air and was dying. I sat for a bit before trying to lay back down, turning towards the window this time. I looked out at the reflection of the moonlight on the water far down below. And I wished for an end to these nightmares. Every time I thought they were going away they came back. I stared at the ceiling for some
CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE Rachel~ Friday morning I thought Sophie was going to kill me. Seriously. The cold look in her eyes and the obvious sh*t-talking she was doing about me to her friends, I thought today had to be the day she would punch me. I was on the bus and listening to my music to try to clear that all from my mind. It was almost the weekend, I would be okay. Yes, Monday loomed ahead as the day Vance would return but my friends had a plan to help me and I hoped he would be gone early next week. Then after Winter Break I wouldn’t have him in my life. I hoped. Classes went by pretty uneventfully. I read more of the wolf book and found myself really
CHAPTER SEVENTY: Rachel~“Rachel!” Ally yelled up above as I tumbled and tumbled.My arms covered my head on instinct and after a minute I stopped rolling down. Everything hurts. My side, my arms, my forehead.“Rachel! Don’t move! I’m coming!” Ally yelled, her voice getting closer.I tried to sit up when her hand pushed me down again.“Stay still!” she yelled again.“Hello - Yes, I’m calling from the student parking lot. My friend just fell down some stairs. She’s really hurt,” she said, likely to someone on the phone. “Yes I’ll
CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE Rachel~ The weekend should be a time of rest. But with my non-stop nightmares and the pain in my wrist flaring up, I hadn’t gotten much of that. They seemed to be getting worse. Like they were weeks ago. I wish I could remember what helped me the last time. I think I remembered taking a nap on the couch during some funny movie. Maybe that was it? I had been able to distract myself and that had helped me? Somehow that felt close but not quite right. Monday morning got here faster than I was prepared for. I would be seeing Vance today. Yes, we had a plan. But I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. Part of me worried that I wouldn’t have the same strength I had had last week. The bus arrived at Pacific and when I got up I accidentally made eye contact with the tall latino guy from the movie theater. He looked at me with such - worry? June made a sound next to me, grounding me back to reality, and I remembered to move. Poor guy, wonder what he was so sad abo
CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO: Nick~ Days. And nothing, no trace of the Alpha and Luna. I had been doing my job, my parents’ job really, but they were helping Jake with Alpha/Luna things. So I guess I was more… managing a special task force. I fielded calls and helped keep track of where we were on alternative leads. Weekend nights for regular teens meant parties, weekend nights for us meant research and business, communications with trackers and spy networks. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t stop thinking about how the missing Alpha and Luna could be my own parents. And yes, Jake’s parents were always more distant than mine, they were always more into themselves than him, but still. I knew I wasn’t the only one losing sleep around the packhouse. Pretty much everyone was. Even Sophie, trying to hide behind makeup, looked awful. Our whole pack, and surrounding packs really, were still shaken from what had happened. I looked down at my phone to see more disappointing news. Elise, the tracker
CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE: Ally~ Vance was officially expelled. Sean was suspended. So, good news all around I guess? I guess. Something still sat in the pit of my stomach, but there was no way of knowing what it was exactly. At least not yet, not at my ability level. I still knew I needed to find Kyle. Back at home after school, I tried to focus on school work until my mom came home. She insisted on being here when I tried this. My grandma and I decided I should try a different strategy - guided dreaming. With any luck I could reach Kyle or at least feel where he was. Since he hadn’t been coming to me in my dreams, I worried about why that could be. My grandma wasn’t sure, but there was plenty out there that she hadn’t been familiar with in life. She had been moderately gifted in a small coven that had disbanded after a few years, so what she was able to share now was more what she guessed at during her later stages in life. Once I knew what she knew I would need to go looking for so