Chapter Five

Bennie took the drawing pad from him and he flipped it open. He didn’t see anything out of the ordinary in it but his mind told him to go on. He did and he got to the part where the drawings of the burning flame wolves were. He was shocked to his bones because the drawings were too accurate, too detailed and it shouldn’t be possible because the last of the pack was dead before Alexander was born.

“That was the same reaction I had when I saw those drawings in my book, signed with my name. I don’t remember drawing it and before you ask, no. I couldn’t have possibly drawn it in my sleep because I don’t sleep with my drawing pad on my bed. I always clear them out because I am always scared that I would probably tear them while I am asleep but they are there, signed with my name, in my handwriting, I drew it. I just don’t remember drawing it. Arielle found it and kept it which was a good thing because if she didn’t take it, my mom would have taken it. So maybe, I am one of them. I just don’t know how it is possible for me to be one of them. If the last ones died before I was born, how is it possible that I exist?” Alexander asked him.

“Maybe you have to ask your mom about that. Maybe she is not even your mom to start with” Bennie said to him.

“What if she is? I mean, what if magic made me what I am? If I was adopted, there ought to me an adoption document. There ought to be something that would signify that I was adopted” he said to him.

“Do you believe that you were adopted?” Bennie asked him.

“Arielle said something about being found by my mom. I don’t know how true that is. I don’t know how reasonable that is but if that was the case then my birthday is not my birthday and the woman that I have called my mom all my life is not my mom. Does this even make any sense to you?” Alexander asked him.

“I mean, there has to be some kind of explanation for this, for all of it” Bennie said to him.

“I would just hold this off for as long as I can, at least, until I transform, until I phase out into my wolf form on my birthday. Arielle said that it would be different from the normal phasing” Alexander said to his best friend.

“How does Arielle know? Are we forgetting that she is just eleven?” Bennie asked him.

“I know that she is eleven but I also know that she is smarter than she looks. I know that her brain is way too developed for her age and I know that she is gifted too. She has abilities unlike you and I and the tendency to see the future isn't just a gift that should be dismissed. I think she saw it already and she is probably just waiting for it to play out. She also said something about today being a bad day” Alexander said to Bennie.

“I don’t know what you are talking about. Today looks like a pretty good day to me” Bennie said to him.

“Was that why you decided to pair me up with Cathy?” Alexander asked him.

“I didn’t pair you up with Cathy. She asked to sit with you. Was I supposed to say no to her? I know how you feel about her, how you have always felt about her. I know how she feels about you and you know this to so why do you keep fighting it off?” Bennie asked him.

“Because I have to. You know who her father is. You know the type of man that he is. You know what he did to Julian. I can’t forgive that and what sense does it make to hold a grudge against Carlos and then date his daughter?” Alexander asked him.

“Even Julian wouldn’t want this and you know it” Bennie said to him.

“You don’t know what Julian wants!” Alexander snapped at him and his eyes grew red, started to glow.

“Your eyes, you are doing it again” Bennie said to him.

“Damn!” he said as he got up.

“Sit the hell down, Alexander. The last thing you want to do is to draw attention to yourself” Bennie said to him.

Alex seemed to agree with him because he sat down and he looked at his best friend before shutting his eyes. He stayed that way for about three minutes when he opened his eyes and he looked into his phone. They were back to normal and he sighed. He looked at Bennie.

“It is getting worse” Alexander said to him.

“It is not getting worse. I think that your emotions have some amount of effects on the way your real form comes to light. Emotions like anger and pain can be great influences” Bennie said to him.

“Either ways, I am going to get spotted soon if I am not careful” Alexander said to him.

The bell for lunch went off and they both had to go back to class. Alexander sighed and he picked up his bag. He looked at Bennie and Bennie gave him a reassuring nod.

“I think you would be fine. Go back to sitting with Cathy and have fun with her. Let go of anything that would make you angry. We just have three more hours and then you can go back home to rest” Bennie said to him

“I guess so” Alexander said to him

He went back to the class and he met Cathy there. Her countenance had change and she wasn’t as cheerful as she when he left her. He sat beside her and she didn’t turn to look at him and he wondered why.

“What’s wrong?” Alexander asked her.

“I was eavesdropping on the conversation that you had with Bennie earlier. I couldn’t help but listen to the hate in your voice and see the anger in your eyes when you spoke. Why do you hate my dad so much?” she asked him.

“I don’t think we should be having this conversation” Alexander said as he got up to change his seat.

“No! You are going to sit down and have this conversation with me because we are mated. We are fated to be together and if you are going to be my husband, I need to know why you hate him so much!” she said to him.

“What do you mean that we are fated to be together? How long have you known?” he asked her.

“Since I turned sixteen and I have always wanted to tell you but for some reasons, you have been holding yourself back from being with me. You have been keeping this brick wall between us and now I know why. It is because of the hate that you have for my father, isn’t it?” she said to him.

“Cathy! I don’t want to talk about this! Why won’t you listen?” he said to her, snapping at her.

“Because I need to know what he did to you for you to hate him so much!” she said to him.

“He killed Julian! What the hell do you expect? Am I supposed to hug him and thank him for killing somebody that I grew up with?” Alexander asked her.

“I don’t get it. You are talking like Julian didn’t deserve to die!” She said to him.

“He didn’t. Julian did nothing wrong and he was framed for the murder of that man but Julian didn’t kill anybody and you know this! You are aware that Julian was innocent. How can you stand there and defend your father when he is obviously the bad person here?” Alexander asked her and he picked up his bag.

He headed out of the class. He needed to think, he needed to breathe. He needed to be free from Cathy’s stare. He walked to the school field and jumped the fence that divided the school field from the forest. When he was over the fence, he removed his clothes and jumped into his wolf form. He ran around the forest for a while and when he heard the school bell. He changed back to his human form and snuck back into school. He went to pick up his sister when he saw that she wasn’t in her class. He asked her teacher and she said that someone who claimed to be her dad. Alexander looked at his teacher, confused. He pulled out his phone and dialed his mom’s number. She picked up immediately.

“Hey, mom. Is dad back home?” he asked her.

“I already told you that your father wouldn’t be back in a while. If you have called him earlier, you would have known that he isn't coming back soon” she said to him.

“Hold on. I would talk to you later” he said to his mom.

“Is everything okay?” she asked him.

“Everything is fine mom. I would have to go now so I can pick up Arielle and we can head home. I would see you in an hour or two, maybe” he said to his mom before ending the call.

He looked around and saw his sister’s sweater on her chair. He picked it up and sniffed it. His first instincts was to jump into his wolf form and look for his sister but it wasn’t allowed in the school premises so he decided to seek the help of his best friend. He went back to his class and he saw that Cathy had gone. He looked around and he saw Bennie. He was talking to their classmate, Lois. She was a witch and that was probably what he needed.

“Where did you go? I was looking for you after the argument that you had with Cathy. Where have you been?” Bennie asked him.

“I just needed space. We have a problem. My sister is not in her class. I asked her teacher and she said that my dad came to pick her up” Alexander said to him.

“I don’t understand, what is the issue?” Lois asked him.

“My dad is eight hours away from here. I called my mom to ask if he drove back to town and was probably planning on surprising me but my mom said my dad is not around. He is not back. If he picked up Arielle, there is no possible way that he would let her leave the house without her sweatshirt and there is no way that he would let her leave school without it either. He wasn’t the one that picked her up. Before I left her this morning, she said that she has a bad feeling about the day. She said that something was going to go wrong today” Alexander said to them.

“I can make a locator spell with her sweatshirt if you don’t mind and it would lead us to wherever she is” Lois said to him.

Alexander nodded at her and gave her the sweatshirt. She opened her bag and she brought out some ingredients. Alexander looked at her and wondered if she carried all of this about. Was she always expecting someone to go missing? She seemed to read his mind as she answered his question.

“I always carry them about because I never know when I would need to use them. Plus, my mom always goes through my stuffs and she is human. She doesn’t think that I should be practicing magic until I am twenty and even though that is two years away, I can’t wait and watch while all my friends are practicing magic. Besides, I have been practicing magic since I was twelve. She just doesn’t know that” Lois said, looking at Alexander straight in the eyes, not blinking as she spoke.