Chapter 3

"Away from the weather, we have some disturbing news of another missing person. Tessa was last seen at the Choc-It bar last night. Friends and family are concerned about her. Anyone with any information whatsoever should report to the police..."

       I woke up to the sound of metal on metal, the sound of people yelling greetings at each other, the smell of freshly baked bread or pie or whatever that aroma was wafting through the open window, and mom's radio with the news report spewing from it.

 It was all strange and new and so was the bed on which I was laying. My back ached. The bed pressed into my spine and made me uncomfortable. I had a hard time getting some sleep yesterday night and when I finally drifted off I only managed to get a few hours of sleep before opening my eyes to the white-painted ceiling above me.

After laying there for some minutes staring at the ceiling I got up and swung my legs to the floor, searched for my slides, and slipped my feet into them. Heading for the bathroom a loud masculine voice came from downstairs halting me right in my tracks. There was a loud boom of laughter and a smaller voice I recognized to be mom's joined in. I hurried to the bathroom across the hall quickly, cleaned up, put on a fresh pair of cords and a brown sweater and went downstairs with water still dripping from my hair in fat drops. It was more curiosity than forgetfulness that had me hurrying down the steps without bothering to brush the wetness from my hair to see who mom was laughing with. 

Mom was standing by the stove stirring something in a pan but she wasn't alone. She was talking with the hulk of a man sitting on the captain table we ate dinner on yesterday. He complimented her pie and when mom turned to chide him softly there was color on her cheeks. She saw me standing at the foot of the stairs and the color deepened as if she was embarrassed that I caught her blushing.

"Shawn", she said softly.

The man turned on his seat to look at me. I took a good look at him. His sandy brown hair was all over the place, his brown eyes had a humorous light in them, an after effect of his laughter. His body was a mass of muscles built not as a result of spending time at the gym but real, serious manual labor. His shoulders were almost bursting through the shirt he wore, he would definitely have trouble getting into any sweater of mine. Mom moved to drop a bowl on the table and that movement tore my gaze away from the stranger.

"Morning, mom," I said.

"Did you enjoy your sleep? You slept for a long time." She glanced at the clock on one side of the wall which read 11 am. I didn't realize I slept that long. My night felt like a series of waking up and tossing on the hard bed.

"Come and have something to eat."

I complied and drew out the chair beside the brown-haired stranger.

"Logan this is Shawn, Shawn meet Logan," mom said.

I started nodding politely towards the stranger but he grabbed my hand and squeezed it in a tight, painful grip that he probably thought was a friendly pump.

"Lily couldn't stop talking about you, pleased to finally meet you," he said in a very deep voice that had me thinking of a boom box. What surprised me was his politeness and it left me a little speechless. I don't know what I had expected maybe something like, "So this is the Hunter?" or "You are welcome but I don't think you will last long here."

Mom saw me struggling for the right words to say and graciously helped me out. "Logan fixed the door for me some time ago and he helped to fix the slides on the window."

Logan groaned "You don't have to tell him that, the door is not that nice. Besides, I was only doing my duties as a good neighbor to a damsel in distress."

Mom's eyes darted towards me and back to Logan, the color on her face before reappeared. It doesn't take a wizard to know mom likes Logan and he returned the feeling. They obviously have a little something going on, the fact that Logan made it obvious in the presence of her 18-year-old son who is bound to be protective over her though scored him a point in my book.

As mom dropped a plate of eggs and toast in front of me. Logan stood up and pushed his chair back, making a loud scrape sound on the floor. "I have to go now, duty calls." he took my hand again and pumped hard.

"Nice to meet you once again. Am I allowed to visit?" he laughed. It was weird that he asked but he was easy to like.

Mom went back to cooking but I knew she was waiting for my answer so I gave it quickly.

"Of course, Logan, anytime you want," I replied Logan grinned and pumped my hand again then left the kitchen. Soon I heard the sound of the front door closing with a heavy thud. The big guy made big noises.

Mom turned down the heat of the stove and came to join me at the table "You enjoyed your sleep?" she asked again.

"Not much. My back aches". At the look of worry in her eyes, I quickly added, "But it's not that bad."

She nodded and picked a piece of the pie Logan had been eating from. It was at the tip of my tongue to ask about Logan but I decided to leave that for now and let mom do the talking on that if she ever wanted to. 

There were more pressing issues to talk about. Like school. Dad tried to use that as an excuse to stop me from leaving. He told me the school term was not over and if I wanted to leave I could wait till the holidays before leaving but with Camilla sitting there at the table with the both of us, watching me as if trying to remind me that running away would do nothing to hide our sins I refused to see the sense in what he said. I told him the term wasn't over and wouldn't be over when I got to WhiSare. He had tried to change my mind with various other reasons all of which I answered with my already prepared answers. Camilla knew better than to try to convince me to stay, she made no comments and soon excused herself when dad asked for her opinion. 

"Jackson wants you to attend a private school," mom scoffed. "There are none of those around here unless you want to go to a boarding school and that's outside WhiSare."

"I don't want a private school," I told her. She raised her brow in question. "I told you I'm not leaving you again. If the best of private schools would take me away from here then I will go to wherever WhiSare has to offer."

"Even if it's below Jackson's standard of a school." It wasn't a question but I answered

"Even then."

She sighed in relief and brought out a white envelope from under her sweater "I guess that's good to hear since I went out of my way to get the form for the East WhiSare School" she pushed the envelope into my hand. 

I laughed "I think I must have gotten some of your cunning."

She pushed her nose up "That's a little of mine and Jackson's. Must have been the only thing we shared."

I studied the white envelope that had the seal of the school on it. I turned it this way and that then opened it and pulled out the papers inside.

"You don't have to fill it today, you have all the time you want but if you do want to get it done and over with Cara Evan would help you out."

"Cara Evan?" I asked her. She nodded "You will meet her tonight at the park. There's a bonfire party which might hold if the weather allows it"

"Is that something new?" I ask referring to the bonfire party.

"We do that here during winter. It's nice and there's a fire to keep you warm. It's just a ritual to maintain peace around here."

"And Logan is going to be there?" I asked. I couldn't help it but the idea of mom falling in love with someone created this urge to tease her about it. She tried to fight her smile as she tried a weak attempt to hit my hand but failed and ended up grinning.

"Nothing serious is going on between me and Logan, he's a friend. A very good one". 

"Yes yes mom I believe you," I rolled my eyes.

She tried to smack my hand again but ended up laughing. "Let's not talk about Logan let's talk about you. Why did you leave SanFrease? Why the sudden move?"

Hoping she didn't see the look of alarm on my face at the sudden change in topic I went to drop my plate in the sink, schooled my expression, and turned back to face her "I guess I got sick of staying, I needed a change maybe."

"I heard he has a new woman in his life and it seems to be a steady relationship." There was nothing like bitterness in her voice or face just a kind of pity that I suspected was directed at dad's unconventional way of life. But I wasn't happy she brought up the discussion because it involved the blonde bitch called Camilla Angero. 

I shrugged half-heartedly. "That should be Camilla Angero. I doubt she would last for a long time, though, she's just there to stay for a while like the others."

Mom studied my face carefully, the way she was staring at me made me a little uncomfortable, like she could see all my sins on my face. She sighed deeply when she satisfied herself with whatever she was looking for and shook her head.

"I hate to know what you've been through there and from what I heard Jackson never keeps his affairs secret. He was never secretive about things, not even when he had an affair in our marriage." mom laughed "I'm surprised no one knew about our divorce until months later." She stood up and came to join me at the sink. "Those times I did everything within my power to make sure I had you in my care but Jackson had the money to take you away and he did. I don't want you to turn out like him, Shawn, no matter how much you have seen and what you know about the kind of life he lived. You have a girlfriend?"

I shook my head wondering where the conversation was heading. There had always been the need for a date for social events, all the girls at SanFrease we kind of my type. They were rich, beautiful, and skinny. And majorly blonde. They were all the same. Slashing people with their tongues, creating squads and making the snidest remarks. But they were charming to the boys, obviously, rich hoes in the making, and why mom was interested in whether or not I had one of them for a girlfriend was a mystery. But she nodded and looked a bit satisfied with my answer then took over the sink and began to rinse the plates. I knew she was searching through the thoughts in her head for another topic to talk about, something to end the talk of dad and my life with him so I helped her out. It was not difficult to find a topic when 4 pies were cooling on a rack on the counter.

"Those are not for us, are they?" I ask.

She turned to look like she is just seeing them for the first time "No, it's for tonight. People cook and share the food they cook, there's always more than enough for anyone to eat."

For me I would rather sleep the night out than spend it with a couple of people dancing around a fire, hugging each other and throwing kisses at each other.

But it was another big step for me. Joining them tonight was merging with them, being a part of them, identifying myself as one of them and if that's what it took to get accepted then I will go for it.

      In the meantime, I'm trying to get used to my new environment. From my window upstairs I noticed the flow of people on the road. Everywhere buzzed with activities but it was nothing like San Frease. The kids riding to school on boards or with bikes would have been slick black cars in San Frease , like the one waiting to be used on mom's drive. It would have been loud music blaring from the cars and no one had the right to ask any questions. The women hurrying along to work or their houses would have been bags of bones in silk and shawl looking down their noses as they bent their stiff long necks to climb into waiting cars with chauffeurs. Everyone wanted to belong at San Frease but here everyone belonged without trying, it was a sense of feeling I hoped to have tonight. Anyone would call me crazy and may laugh out loud in my face but I will go through anything to hide a sin and put certain things behind me.

When the night came, I shrugged my jacket on and donned an extra pair of socks. Mom's silent footsteps brought her to the door of my room which was open.

"Hurry up," she said softly. In her right hand was the basket of pies and drinks and once I pulled my boots over my feet and secured them with the laces I took the basket from her and together we went downstairs and joined the traffic and people and cars going to the central park. The road wasn't as slick as it had been yesterday and snow wasn't falling either. It was cold, dry air blowing harshly, enough to make the skin raw.