Oh shoot! What is happening to Jake? You ever so 'done' with a bad day you go to bed early just to start the next day already?
CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX: Jake~ My eyes open to the moon. A bigger, fuller moon than seems real. Sitting up I realize, it’s not real. Well, not in my world. “Oh Jake, we really weren’t supposed to talk again so soon,” the Moon Goddess’ voice floats over to me from her place a few paces away. I stood up to meet her halfway. “I’m here again? I remember getting news about Rachel - and then pain everywhere… Rachel!” I whirl to face the Goddess. She looks back with a look of compassion and nods sadly. “I know,” she says, her voice sincere. “She had to go through that, I’m sorry.” My eyes squinted in irritation. “What is that supposed to mean?!” I demanded. The Goddess just blinked, not taking a step. Then she exhaled. “I’m sorry Jake, like I said, you weren’t supposed to be here yet. I was going to explain this to the both of you,” she went on. “Just know it was important, otherwise things… well they wouldn’t be headed in this same direction. But then you started to shift,
CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN: Sean~ Today was the day. Last day of the semester. I couldn’t see her everyday like I had been. With the mutt out there somewhere, I needed to lock her down further. Before he tries anything. I’m expecting him to. I need to lock her down before then. Today will be the first step. The next, when she returns. “Hey there Sunshine,” I greet Rachel as she walks over to me. For being December, the area is chilly, but we’re babies out here in California compared to the winters other areas of the world have. “Let’s get going,” I rush over to the passenger side of the car and help her in. I can’t read the look on her face. Suspicion? Unsurity? I can’t pinpoint it. She’s silent as we drive, and I put on some music, keeping it low. I may just sweat so much from nerves that I’ll slide down the seat of my car. “You’re awfully quiet today,” I prod. She looks over at me, and back to the window, before breathing out and looking at me inquisitively. “I’m okay
CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT: Evan~ “Ev!” Nick yelled from around the corner. We were in the gym keeping an eye on Jake, pretending to be doing our own training. I pulled my focus away from the dark-eyed beast who was currently punching a hole through the wall and over to Nick. He showed me his phone, it was a message from Elise, the tracker from Black Mountain. At first I expected to possibly read an inappropriately flirty text but I caught the word ‘Jake’ and focused. > “Holy-” I started to say. “Jake! We’ve got a lead!” Nick bounded over to Jake who had now pounded a Kool-Aid Guy-sized hole in the wall. Nick better remember to call someone about that. I know I’ll forget. Jake threw something into the earth outside and I swear I felt the ground shake for a second as I made my way over. A few moments
CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE: Ally~ The longer Kyle stayed around us, he seemed to get both better and worse. His body looked healthier. Color was returning to his skin, his deep dark circles under his eyes were lightening. He seemed a little rested. Not nearly like the skeleton version of himself I had found stumbling outside. But while he appeared healthier that way, his mind… it seemed like it was getting worse. The first night he tried sleeping alone in our guest room, but my mom and I woke up to his cries and now we both camp out in sleeping bags on the floor of my mom’s room, since it was the biggest. It’s been hard trying to gage what to push him on and what to just let be. My mom has been on the ‘let it be’ train. She’s been filling him up with all kinds of meals and desserts. She’s encouraged him to take long baths and set up these amazing spa-level bubble baths for him. Lavender candles, fizzy stuff, bubbles all over. She wants him to relax, but she hasn’t dared ask him any qu
CHAPTER EIGHTY: Jake~ It’s the night. The last day of the semester was today, and rather than partying with the other wolves, I’m sulking. I’m trying to get to bed early. I’m so over today. Waiting. Waiting for news about my parents. Waiting for the pack to decide who would be temporary Alpha. Waiting for my first shift. Waiting for whatever the Goddess has in store. It was driving me crazy. There’s only so much destruction of our gym and surrounding forest I can do before becoming a real nuisance. I close my eyes and am about to give into the dark when I feel it. Panic, fear. It’s not my own. A growl burns in my chest and I stumble out of bed. I know my eyes are swirling. Aamon is trying to push through. Rachel is in trouble. I feel him forcing a shift again and I hold my fists at my temples, trying to hold in screams from the pain. I clutch my chest and my eyes take me somewhere else. I’m outside. No, inside. I’m in a garage. A thin evil-eyed man is coming for me. My hands
CHAPTER EIGHTY-ONE: Kyle~ Ally, her mom and I sat around the fireplace, going through everything one last time. It seems that Ally and I experienced our vision or whatever it was the same way. It was like we had been walking through everything together, hand in hand, but hadn’t been able to see each other. After consulting Ally’s grandmother, Ally was able to explain that we experienced something known as a Living Dream. The complicated thing about Living Dreams is while they show you things that relate to you and the questions you have, the timing of everything they show you - it wasn’t clear if you were experiencing the past, the present or, the future. Ally’s grandma couldn’t tell us which one we had experienced, and besides snow on the ground in our first hang out at Marina and Maxine’s family cabin, we had no clues for the time of year. “We do know Maxine looked the exact same. So it had to be either the present, the recent past, or the near future,” Ally decided. “Actual
CHAPTER 82 Rachel~ I woke up excited. I loved travel, everything about it. The anticipation, the planning, the journey. Everything. Meg looked more irritated than ever, but I didn’t mind. My mom would be driving and I would be her ‘co-pilot.’ I was in charge of music and controlling the Maps on my mom’s phone. She gets stressed out dealing with her phone while driving, so I would be the one entering in the address of our rental, and any time we needed gas or a rest stop I would be the one searching for it. I loved that too. We took our showers and my mom just finished packing up the cooler with snacks and drinks when Meg and I walked out of our room with our bags. Ready. We loaded up the car and hit the road. Meg fell back asleep pretty quickly and I let my mind get lost in the scenery passing by. I had the most invigorating dream last night, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I was in the woods again at night, running with a pack of wolves. One, a dark gray one with gold in it
CHAPTER EIGHTY-THREE: Evan~ We were on the road to Reno to meet up with Elise and the Marvis Coven. To be ready for any new findings. After a long night of heated discussion, Jake finally put his foot down - literally and figuratively - and demanded that some of us stay behind, but he was going. Nick’s parents stayed behind to care for the pack along with about half our warriors. SInce the attack on Dark Mountains, we needed to be realistic. It was likely they would strike while our guard was down too. I was about to fall asleep to Nick’s muttering as he leafed through yet another book, when Jake insisted on pulling over. “We only have about an hour left, why would we do that? Didn’t we just get gas?” Nick questioned without even looking up. “I just need to. I don’t know,” he said, his eyes glowing. I sat up straighter and that got Nick’s attention enough that he finally glanced up to see what I was seeing. Something about this area was alerting Aamon. “Alright, alright,” my fa