When I opened my eyes again, it was growing dark outside. I knew that didn’t necessarily mean it was the middle of the night and I’d completely lost track of time since it tended to get dark so early these days, but my stomach was rumbling, and I needed to get back home not only to scrounch something up to eat but also because I was worried about Sam. The argument that had been going on between Sam and Starla when I left the house a couple of hours ago was fresh in my mind, despite the mediation I’d done and the fact that I’d spent most of my time thinking about how I could get Fionna on my side, rather than what to do about the warring non-newlyweds occupying one of my upstairs bedrooms.
The kitchen was abandoned when I walked in, which was surprising to me. Normally, you can always find at least one shifter in the kitchen at any given time. I stayed quiet for a moment to try and d
I had just finished eating my dinner when I heard Sam’s heavy footsteps coming down the stairs. I braced myself for more of the ridiculousness I’d just gone through, but when I tossed the plastic container in the bin and turned to look at him, I could tell he was upset, not angry.“Sam?” I took a few steps closer to him. He slouched against the door jamb, half in the kitchen, half in the hallway. “What’s the matter?”“I don’t know.” I’ve never seen him so despondent. “I don’t know what to do, Harlow.”I couldn’t help but feel sympathetic to his situation, even though the last thing I wanted was to talk to him about Starla. “I’m sorry, Sam.” I meant it. I hated seeing him like this. When Sam is happy, his laugh
I couldn’t let Sam’s irritation that I’d created a new house for him and his lovely girlfriend bother me because I had more important things to worry about--like Fionna. After I’d eaten, I decided to go upstairs and try to do some homework, but I was really hoping Ben would come in and talk to me. We hadn’t gotten much of a chance to talk about the situation with Miss Flamingo because as soon as we’d gotten home, we’d encountered the screaming conflict, and all of us had taken off in various directions. I hadn’t seen him since.I heard his familiar steps in the hallway leading to our room while I was staring at my history book, not able to process any of the words I was looking at. When he walked into the room, I stopped pretending to study and put the book aside. “Hi,” I said, the scent of his wolf filling the room. It was obvious he’d spen
The next morning, I walked into school on stiff legs, not sure what to expect. Ben had my hand, but it wasn’t doing much to comfort me or calm the butterflies flying around in my stomach that seemed to be having some sort of war.I had no idea what time Mrs. Flamingo had agreed to come in and meet with Mr. Short, or if she’d even agreed to meet with him for that matter, so I tried to go about my day as usual, hanging out with my pack before the first bell rang. But I was distracted. My eyes constantly searched the crowd around me, looking for Fionna or even Mr. Short. I didn’t know if he would find me before the meeting to let me know what time the Flamingos were coming or if it would just be a surprise.All through first period, I was on the edge of my seat, constantly looking at the door, waiting for my summons to the office. The bell rang,
It was odd, holding hands with another girl as I walked to the classroom door. Especially one that isn’t necessarily my friend. Especially one who is so… odd. But when Fionna Flamingo reached for my hand, I gave it to her.Why would I do such a thing? Normally, I wouldn’t. But the words the forest whispered in my ear were weighing on my mind as we walked to art class together. If I was going to win Fionna over and recruit her, the way the forest told me to, I couldn’t jerk my hand away from hers, no matter how odd or uncomfortable it might be to have her cold fingers wrapped around my wrist.It didn’t take us long to reach the art room. I pulled the door open with my free hand, hoping she’d let go of me as we entered, but she didn’t. I tried not to meet anyone’s eyes as we entered the room, but I couldn’t h
Mr. Short’s hands were shaking as he sat down behind his desk and gestured for me to sit across from him. I knew the drill by now. I’d been here enough times by now to know the drill by heart and didn’t really need for him to point to the other chair for me, but he is one of those people who likes to be official, so I gave him the opportunity to brandish his arm and show me where to sit as if I’d never been here before.He was still sweaty as he sat down across from me, but he seemed to be gathering himself together a little bit more than he had been before. I knew, though, as soon as he started talking about what had happened in the meeting, he would start sweating profusely and probably shake even more. He was definitely intimidated by Francis Flamingo, and apparently scared out of his wits at her odd daughter.“Thanks for coming
The scene near the classroom where I’d left Fionna was chaotic, to say the least. Students were running past me down the hall, going as fast as they possibly could, looking for the nearest exit. When I got right to the classroom, door, the kids running past me weren’t just scared anymore. No, the ones fleeing the scene of the incident had more pressing issues, other than fear--many of them were on fire.My eyes bulged from my head as I stared at them, coughing myself from the smoke. I needed them to stop, to slow down, so that I could help them, but none of them were capable of thinking clearly at the time. It was clear to me that no one had ever taught these kids, “Stop, drop, and roll,” like I’d learned as a little kid.“Hey, wait!” I shouted to a few who burst past me, their shirts on fire, one of them with her hair
A soft, rhythmic beeping sound, like a lullaby, soothed me as I began to come back around. I was aware that I was lying someplace comfortable, soft, and warm. I couldn’t open my eyes at first, as they seemed so heavy, but my other senses were coming back to me more quickly. The sense of touch--the soft bed I was lying in, the warm blankets over me; the sense of sound--the melodic beeping of a machine to my right, labored breathing of someone standing near me; the sense of smell--medicinal, clinical, very clean. Wherever I was, it had been cleaned with some pretty strong chemicals recently. My mouth was dry, my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth, which tasted a little acrid and a bit like glue. I wondered if I’d even be able to speak once I came fully to consciousness or if my tongue would be stuck to the roof of my mouth.The more my thoughts came back to me, the more I realized
“No one knows where Fionna is?” I repeated to an empty hospital room. My family had left to go get my friends, and even though my mom insisted she would come back in with whichever two of my friends came to see me first, she had stepped out into the waiting area with Max and Gray.I wondered what had happened to the girl. I was furious at her, of course, but at the same time, I thought about how small and helpless she had seemed earlier in the day, when she’d insisted on holding my hand to walk to class. She was like a little lost child, out there in the big world on her own. What if she got lost? Or more importantly, what if some unexpecting human came across her and ended up getting hurt? I shuddered at the thought of what might happen.When the door opened again, it wasn’t my mom as I’d expected. Rather, it was a nurse, dressed