Ch. 37: Restless Night

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN:
*** I had probably tested my luck that night when I had opened the window. I had just needed to be closer to her, could almost feel her amplifying my power, and I got away from myself. Thankfully she hadn’t seen me. If I weren’t paying as much attention she would have caught me, a hovering bird in a dark cloud of magic slowly opening her window. I didn’t know how long I could last like this. There was no way I would be able to share her with anyone else. She needed to be mine. Just mine. I will watch over her again tonight.***

The nightmares began again. This time it was a mix between things. I was walking through a forest, following a large wolf walking ahead of me. It was leading me to a figure, a woman, far off into a field. But before we could get close enough for me to make out anything else I was covered by birds, dark birds. They started coming toward me a few at a time, then more arrived. And the wolf continued on without waiting for me. I tried to call out and all I got was a beak down my throat, piercing my tongue. It was horrific. I had never understood how the older movie “The Birds,” could be scary, but when you are attacked like that, and they are everywhere, trust me it's awful. When I thought I couldn’t take anymore I suddenly felt tired and couldn’t lift my arms to defend myself. I fell to my knees in the woods and hiccuped from crying so heavily.
I spent some time looking at the ceiling trying to glean some sort of meaning from these dreams, these nightmares. I felt like I had read a book I had forgotten about and it explained all of this. I breathed heavily and tried to slow my heart. There was something scraping on the window, like a branch, but my window wasn’t against any trees. I got up slowly and made my way to the window to look around. Nothing was there. But it was terribly windy outside and the eucalyptus trees around our apartment building did a lot of shedding. Some branch or bunch of leaves must have flown up here. I stood there for a few minutes as the wind howled through the buildings and shook the trees. The moon looked very full. Something about it comforted me. I felt warmth and put my hand to my heart for some reason, it just felt like what I should do. I went back to bed and lay on my side, falling asleep.

Jake ~
It was incredibly windy out. Evan’s wolf Xavier had wanted to go for a run, and Nick and I were waiting for him seated by the forest’s edge. We heard him howl somewhere out there and it made me laugh. Giant overgrown puppy, I swear. Fiercest fighter I knew and he still was always making time for fun. I guess we three needed that from him, Nick and I alone were probably too serious for anyone’s good.
Nick had been gathering some wood and was now starting a small fire in the firepit here. He wasn’t one for sitting still.
“And what are you doing all that for? Are you expecting him to take that much longer?” I asked him, amused.
“S’mores, Jake. S’mores. And yes, I do. I can feel his excitement on my skin, he’s not nearly done,” Nick explained.
His birthday was fast approaching and while I had never heard of other werewolves feeling as much as Nick said he did before a first-shift, I couldn’t count anything out when it came to him. I especially couldn’t believe he would make something like that up. Never.
I watched as he coaxed the fire to life and then took off running back to the packhouse. There were only a few lights on from what I could see, and Nick began to blend into the darkness. It was just me now. I took a deep breath, pulling in the pine scent of the surrounding trees. Being outside felt invigorating to wolves, sure, but to me it felt like something religious. I don’t know if anyone else feels this way.
The moon began to peak out over the tops of the trees and its presence always felt like a loved one giving you a reassuring hug. I held my hand above my heart and nodded in a tiny bow before the moon. It would never not awe me, the symbol of the moon goddess who blessed us with so much. Before I knew it I was mumbling a silent prayer to her, begging her to help me. Asking for Rachel. Acknowledging how selfish that was. Acknowledging what this would mean for my destined mate out there. Acknowledging the trouble it could start in my family, in my pack. Asking anyway.

Ally ~
A fae. The fae were real. I hadn’t been able to fall asleep all night. My mind kept spinning and dissecting everything Kyle shared with me. He was fae. I had been bouncing on my heels when my mom came home and I charged right at her to give her my news. She was just as surprised, and had many questions for me too, things I hadn’t even thought to ask Kyle earlier. We had barely had time to talk before the bus showed up. We did briefly exchange numbers but he insisted that it wasn’t safe to talk about what we were over the phone. So I would need to wait until tomorrow to find out more.
He said he was a lower fae, a dream walker. He gained power by giving dreams or experiencing the dreams of others. He had questions for me too, and I had shared that I was only part witch, which Kyle explained was what ‘witchling’ meant. A witchling is a term the fae use to describe a witch who isn't a full witch. Like a halfling. I had never known there was a special term for my mom and me. He had asked me about my 18th birthday, which wasn’t until July, after senior year. That disappointed him a bit but he said he was still excited to get to know someone like me. He explained that his 17th birthday had been a few days ago and he had been growing his abilities since then.
I had made a list of questions to ask him and I was bursting at the seams. Did other fae live locally? What other kinds of fae were there? Did he know about anyone else in the school who weren’t just human? Did he know any other witches? Witchlings? My mind continued to spin and I couldn’t calm myself. I won't be getting any sleep tonight. I threw my covers off and stood up, getting ready to study my family’s Book of Shadows again. Might as well do something with this energy until I felt sleepy.

Kyle ~
There was something going on tonight. Being new to all of this, I was having a hell of a time pinning down what it was. I felt like people I knew out there were restless. I knew one of them had to be Ally. She had been so surprised earlier, and I had been too if I was being honest. I was coming to trust my new instincts and it was so cool to find another inhuman being at Pacific. There were still people around that had me questioning their level of humanity, but Ally’s aura was as clear as day when I had stepped out of school. I had gone out the front to look for Rachel and what I found instead was Ally practically glowing while watching Rachel and Sean walk to his car.
How cool! My high school life was finally coming to feel like some season 1 O.G. ‘Charmed’ and I was so into it. Things were finally clicking together. I felt a little tired now that it was so late and no one around seemed to be in REM sleep yet. My magic felt out further to people I know but who live out further and I could feel Ally totally awake, Rachel sleeping but not very peacefully, and.. Something else. There was something keeping her from restful sleep. I opened my eyes, pushed away, and shook my head. I had never been shoved out like that. What was going on? I tried again to feel for Rachel, and while I could just grasp the fact that she was sleeping, I got shoved right out again. By something dark. This couldn’t be good. My magic shook. No, this really couldn’t be good.