70 | TICK...TICK...TICK...

I manage to get a decent amount of sleep after the talk with my cousins, collapsing into an exhausted heap in Blue’s arms almost as soon as I get back to his room. In the morning, even with my mind buzzing with the reminder of everything crumbling around us, I allow myself a few extra moments of peace before getting ready for school. As with the mood every morning, I’m hesitant to leave the warmth and safety of Blue’s embrace…but stay in this room for the amount of time I want isn’t going to save the world.

“Hey, I wanna visit my mom before going to school.” I tell Blue after an extended period of us quietly getting ready for the day. Blue pauses in slinging his back pack over his shoulder by the door to the bathroom, my own simple black back pack in one hand.

“Of course. Want me to come along?” He asks me with a knowing look. I offer him a soft smile as I walk over to him to pluck my bag from his grasp and brush a quick kiss against his lips.

“No, it’s okay. I just haven’t been by to see her since Sunday and want to check in with her.” I reply somberly. “She was doing okay then, but I just want to spend some time with her.” Blue nods again, a sympathetic smile pulling at the corners of his lips.

“Let her know I say ‘good morning’.” He tells me, lightly pressing his now freed hand to my cheek and looking into my eyes compassionately. “Do you want me to pick you up on the way to school?”

“Nah, a run’ll do me some good.” I shake my head lightly, not strong enough of a move to push my face out of his hand, but to convey my words.

“Alright,” Blue sighs and releases me reluctantly. I give him another, slightly warmer smile, before turning on my heel to leave before he does. There’s still a good thirty minutes left before school even starts, and the house Mom lives in is close enough to the school that the run shouldn’t take longer than five minutes. I jog on autopilot, letting the chill of the morning’s biting crispness prickle along my exposed skin. Thick puffs of vapor flow from my mouth, only clouding my vision whenever I pause, and when I slow in front of the front door.

My heart beat’s barely elevated when I knock on the door, the pace picking up slightly when there’s no immediate answer. A flare of panic ignites in my chest, squeezing a hiss of air from my lungs before the door suddenly opens.

“Wisty,” Mom’s grinning at me warmly, wearing a thick robe and what looks like bunnies on her bare feet. I feel jaw drop at the oddly domestic and too-human sight of her wearing the warming attire. With her age-streaked strawberry-blonde hair done up in a classic messy bun atop her head, and slightly ginger-and-magic scent combining with her usual cinnamony-pine, I almost don’t recognize her. “Your father insists on all this,” She gestures wryly to the robe-and-slippers-combo with a slight grimace. “I keep telling him it’s not necessary for a Wolven but-”

“It’s below freezing, Ris.” Hale suddenly appears behind Mom with a disapproving scowl. The expression makes my normally stoic-faced father look almost human in his normal teacher-get-up. “Sunshine, come inside so we can close the door, if you would. I don’t want your mother catching cold-”

“I may have cancer, Storm, but I’m not an invalid.” Mom snaps at him, but there’s not really bite to her words, just a tightness around her mouth that reminds me of someone… An expression I’ve caught in reflective surfaces.

Hale ignores Mom’s words and gestures for me to come into the house, gently guiding Mom back into the warm kitchen by the shoulders. Part of me wishes I had a camera to capture the moment of utter mundane behavior, the other part just has me starring after them with a huge grin on my face. *Is this how they are around each other all the time?*

“Scarlett,” Hale calls to me, bringing me out of my shell-shocked state and gestures a hand at the door. I blink and quickly walk in, shutting the door behind me.

“Zane let me know you would be stopping by,” Mom tells me, tapping the side of her head. I nod slowly, my eyes fixed on her hands as she washes out an empty mug. The acrid scent of magic is still thick in the air, but not strong enough to make me want to bolt. My nose wiggles and twitches ever so often, as if that will help my sense-overloaded-brain function beyond trying to dissect the scent.

“Here,” Hale passes me a mug of reddish-brown liquid, the delicious aroma of fresh coffee suddenly resetting my scrambled head. I just about leap across the counter to grab the mug, taking a long, greedy gulp of the perfectly-blood-laced beverage. The combination of the heady scent of fresh coffee along with the familiar taste, helps filter out some of the magic from my nose. “Better?” Hale asks me, leaning against the far counter to keep both Mom and I in his line of sight. I nod, relaxing into the chair I would normally occupy, back when I lived here.

Mom’s humming softly as she bustles around the kitchen, packing up what looks like freshly-made soup into a large thermos. I watch her for a minute or two, studying the slight glow of health in her tan skin, and the sure movements she makes - without the barest hints of weakness. It’s almost as if she’s perfectly healthy…but there’s an underlying smell to the air as she marches past me on her way to the bedroom. A strange smell of something like decay - but not like the sickly sweet scent of death. Something thick, but more like the beginnings of something withering or drying out.

It’s something I wouldn’t have noticed if I weren’t looking for flaws in her health to remind me that she really is sick.

“She has more energy in the mornings.” Hale tells me when Mom disappears into the bathroom. I glance at him, seeing his eyes are locked on the far wall, waiting for Mom to reappear. “Mari’s having her take twice as much of the potion.” He adds, relaxing a little as Mom breeze back into the room. She’s dressed in a light brown sweater and loose, black pants - the *Lia’s* apron slung over one arm.

“You’re taking it easy, right?” I ask Mom, frowning as I watch her pack put the thermos with that I assume is supposed to be her lunch. She adds in a few vials of what smells like the potion Mari makes for her into a thickly-padded square she zips up.

“Of course, honey.” Mom smiles at me softly, reaching over to gently pat my cheek. “Sandra and Sal are back to working in the store full-time so they make sure to help me out if I need anything.” She adds when I don’t immediately relax. I feel a little better knowing Blue’s parents are well-aware of Mom’s condition and are looking out for her while she’s at work. Some part of me wonders, on a tangent, if things between them an Mom are a little awkward now that Blue is Alpha. “Things are fine, relationship-wise, within the Pack.” She pauses, tilting her head as she rethinks-and-rephrases that. “Well, mostly fine. Of course, there are some squabbles that come up every so often, but I think they’ll all be fine.” She gives me a wary smile. “It’s nothing compared to the way the Reinier’s functioned.” I can’t help but smile back and then slump a little in my chair.

“Speaking of family,” I sigh glumly before launching into a brief explanation of what went down yesterday. Mom listens quietly, and Hale is so silent and still that I nearly forget he’s there, until Hale clears his throat and lets Mom know the time.

“They’re going to be alright, Wisty.” Mom reassures me, pulling me into a frail-but-firm hug, nuzzling the side of my face with hers. I squeeze her back gently and sigh as I release her. “Reiniers are more resilient than you know,” She adds as we come apart. She’s giving me one of those sad, nostalgic smiles that makes the squeezing in my chest start up again. I give her what I hope is a cheerful grin, one that hopefully isn’t giving away how much hearing that both gives me hope and makes old memories stir.

“We are, aren’t we?” I ask her rhetorically, my eyes automatically searching hers for a flicker of hope, but there really is none. And we both know it. My eyes begin to prickle and I find myself dragging in a slow, deep breath before turning to look to Hale. “I’ll see you in class.” Then I turn back to Mom and give her another quick hug, dropping a kiss on her cheek before dashing out of the room. “I’ll see you tomorrow!” I call over my shoulder, sprinting with my back pack still on me, all the way to Homeroom.