Chapter 6

"What took you so long, he could've killed me."
"How tragic," he said casually. He knew me so well. "Come." He waved as he turned the corner.
Isabell silently followed him down the narrow hallway to his bedroom.
"Stop right there," he warned, pointing a threatening finger at her. Isabella froze in the doorway.
Her mother lay on her stomach on the bed, her long brown legs crossed in the air, her eyes fixed on the computer screen: Twitter. It was all she'd ever used a laptop for.
"Here, let me cut you a piece."
Isabella nodded.
The piece he cut off Isabella was no bigger than a bar of soap. Isabella devoured it in one gulp and stared longingly at her mother's piece. She ignored Isabella as if she couldn't see her.
"Lee," Isabella whispered, licking her lips.
"What about him?" her father's patience was wearing thin.
Isabella took a step into the room.
"No!" The horror on her mother's face was plain to see. She jumped up and stretched out her arms to stop me: The laptop dropped and the screen shattered as it went blank. She cursed. Dad had Isabella in an iron grip and stopped her.
"Oh no, you don't," he hissed.
Isabella bristled against him.
"Inez, don't let her in here."
Her father's grip tightened. "Okay." He took a deep breath. "I'll deal with him later."
Isabella smiled. She knew it would get him to cooperate. It works beautifully every time. They don't want Isabella in their bedroom, because as he quotes her. 'You're a disaster waiting to happen.' Obviously, they don't trust Isabella not to ruin everything she touches, or in this case, encounters.
The last time she was here, she doused her father's brand new laptop with whiskey. It was an accident, she swears. And besides, it wasn't her fault. It was Lee's. But she took the blame, she always did.
She remembered there was a peaceful silence in the house, and the next moment music blasted from the speakers, making the house vibrate: She was sitting in a chair by the window, trying to read one of Lee's novels (she says "trying" because she never got past the first page).
She panicked, threw the book out the window - by mistake, of course - and ran to her father, thinking a tornado had hit.
Dad was sipping a whiskey and working on a research project for a charity he runs in town when she bumped into him. The glass fell out of his hand, and the laptop burst into flames, beyond repair. He didn't speak to Isabella for weeks.
Before that, Mom had asked Isabella to help her unzip her dress: a beautiful nude mermaid dress. When she went to look at her reflection, it ripped - she accidentally stood on his tail. She'd to cancel her dinner date with Dad and never got over it.
The worst was when she almost set the house on fire. Mom was playing with a lighter and accidentally burned her hand. The lighter fell on the ceiling and caught fire. Luckily, she was in the kitchen getting a glass of water when she heard her mother's cries for help. As she tried to extinguish the fire with water, it flared up, spread, the flames grew fiercer, and her mother and she threw things at the fire at random, hoping to put it out, and only managed to make it grow enough to set off a fire alarm, which attracted the attention of the neighbor - Mr. Haynes - who saved the day.
But her mother blamed her, telling Isabellathat she should know better than to pour water on the fire. Shouldn't she know better than to play with fire? And she hoped she'd understand. After all, she didn't get her catastrophic skills from her father.
"Get her out of here." She said just as her thoughts returned to the present, "My laptop. It's broken."
"Err ..." Isabella backed away. "Yes," she said awkwardly. She ran to her room. At least things there seemed immune to her 'special ability'.
She worked on her essay, and when she was done, she went down to the kitchen to get a pitcher of water and a glass. She turned off the light and went back to her room. She was so bored. She knocked on Callie's door. She didn't go in when Isabella told her to. She didn't want to break anything. The last time she was in her room: she ruined her limited edition makeup set. Don't ask Isabella how. She's embarrassed. But it's safe to say she checked off a career as a makeup artist.
Isabella knocked again.
"Come in."
Isabella didn't.
She opened the door and eyed Isabella skeptically.
"I'm not here to stay."
She heaved a sigh of relief.
"I need to borrow your IPod."
"Um..."
"Please."
"I don't know."
"Please, I won't hurt him, I promise." Isabella shrugged her shoulders. "...Unless you want me to come in?"
"I'll get it for you."
Isabella smiled.
"Bring it back."
"Sure."
"In one piece," she warned with a scowl.
Isabella nodded. "I see."
Isabella went back to her room and closed the door behind her. A breeze blew through the room, she tossed the IPod toward the bed. DROOP." She shrugged as she closed the window and then the curtains. she turned and stopped. There, on the bottom of the jug, was Callie's IPod.
"Oh no," she cried, burying her face in her hands. "No, no." but it was too late. When she pulled it out, it wasn't working.
She told Isabella to bring it back in one piece, but she didn't say anything about it working, did she?
A few hours later, Isabella was getting ready for the pack meeting. she put on an ankle-length skirt and a tank top. she ate breakfast and locked herself in her bedroom. she didn't want to run into Callie.
When Dad told Isabella it was time to go, she got out the window and waited in the driveway for the car.
"Morning."
Mom and Dad murmured a "hello" in unison.
Amazingly, she'd managed to avoid her pack for a record-breaking seven hours. Isabella didn't consider herself lucky; a lot of that had to do with the mating ceremony later that evening. Unmated wolves were busy getting ready and doing their best, mated pairs were planning something special for the night, the elders were preparing to welcome and bond two humans together. The alpha was preparing his speech, fathers were preparing to say goodbye to their daughters, others were preparing to welcome their daughters, and she was thinking about how she could avoid being there...
Isabella felt out of place, like an intruder. They were in a clearing almost on the border of their pack. The sky was misty-black, the rain pouring down in waves.
She laughed bitterly when she saw all the wolves trying to find a dry place to hide. She was safely under a tree watching everyone move into the center of the clearing when the Alpha and his elders arrived. They were all in wolf form, a tradition she didn't understand.
He spoke the familiar words, his sly eyes devious. "We all know why we're here tonight; I'll not waste time with you." More like 'I can't stand the rain anymore'.
"When the clock strikes midnight, I want everyone who's found their mates since our last ceremony to report to the elders and then to the parents." He paused and looked up at the sky with a long, ghastly sigh. "Have fun with your mating hunt, the nearby territories are open for us until dawn."
Logan could be called handsome, all things considered, but his demanding nature didn't justify him.
"The rest of you can go to the pack house for barbecue and steaks." He licked his lips, probably thinking of Elder Jackson's grilled steak. Isabella knew she wasn't the only one looking forward to it. "I also want to talk about the growing concern that there's a Wendigo on the loose. There are strategies I'd like to look at, and hopefully..." He glanced at the waiting, unmated wolves clustered at the border of our territory. Isabella pictured them with wagging tails, tongues sticking out, and heavy, enthusiastic breathing, "They'll be joining us soon with good news."