Ch. 91: Back to School

CHAPTER NINETY-ONE:
Nick~
We have the smartest, most amazing mate, Asher said in my mind after I finally hung up my call with Ally.
We really do, I said back.
And I meant it. Her abilities were out of this world. Her emotional intelligence when she was coaxing Jake into letting Rachel go - just all of her. Absolutely amazing.
I couldn’t just sit there gushing about her forever and driving myself nuts by not running over to her house this instant - I need to get everyone up to speed.
I linked my dad, Jake, Evan, and his dad to meet me in the Alpha’s office.

About an hour later I had caught everyone up on everything from earlier today and all the things Ally was able to tell me. And as much as I wanted to proudly scream from the mountaintop that my beautiful, amazing mate is the Witchling we were getting all this intel from, one look at my dad and Evan’s dad set me straight. Our parents would lose it if we started telling them about mates across species.
I set aside Asher’s sadness at this until I could mull over it more later. I couldn’t derail what we were doing. I couldn;t throw Jake under the bus with his mate situation either. Why the parents thought we were including a human in the story, they never voiced. And I wasn’t about to volunteer that sort of information.
My dad reported that our trackers couldn’t make heads or tails of the trail that the female had left (or should I say, not left) behind. Jake pointed out she was likely a demon of some kind that we were unfamiliar with. We were all inclined to agree.
My phone vibrated and I looked down to see a call coming in from Elise.
“Take it,” Jake said from his seat. “We could use a break.”
I nodded and answered her call while walking back out to the hallway.
“Hey,” I said in greeting.
We hadn’t spoken since finding Jake’s parents. I had thought of her as attractive then, but now with my mate in my life, that last time looking at her before we left - it just felt like a different lifetime.
“Hi Nick, I’m headed back home and was wondering if it would be alright to make a rest stop at West Woods. My timing didn’t work out this morning and I need to place to crash. Do you think Alpha Jake would be alright with that? Could you ask him for me? I’d ask myself but I know he’s likely still… from - you know,” Elise said.
As fierce as she is, Elise is not much for emotions or anything to do with them. She’s a fighter, an amazing tracker - but if it’s not about actions, Elise really didn’t know how to navigate it.
“Yes, that’s more than okay. Actually - when you get here, there’s something we could use your help with, if you’re okay with helping out?” I asked, thinking about Vance’s female accomplice we couldn’t trace. “That is, how much do you know about tracking demons?”
I could hear Elise chuckle before saying, “You would be surprised how much I’ve learned in the past few weeks.” Then, like I had challenged her, she added, “You’re on.”

Rachel~
I had a really difficult night trying to sleep last night. My head throbbed from lack of rest, but with my alarm blaring, I had no choice but to get up.
Somehow I trudged through my morning routine and made it all glassy eyed to the bus stop. The wind was brutal this morning and I pulled up my hood to help keep me warm. I saw the bus a few blocks off and stuffed my hands in my pockets, as the crowd of people started making their blobby line.
I wait near the end of the line and look around to find - nothing. Looking through all the faces, I felt like I was searching for… something - for someone. I shook the feeling from my mind - everyone who took the bus normally all seemed to be here.
The bus pulled up and as people started to board, I moved forward.
Something caught my eyes and I refocused on a bird. It looked right at me, or seemed to, and then bowed really low. It didn’t seem real. Wait- was it? Sean? Its head raised back up, and after too long staring at me, it took off.
“Hello, hello!” the bus driver yelled, hand waving.
I looked around and realized I was the only one left standing there.
“Sorry!” I yelled back and rushed to the steps.
I got on and apologized again before quickly looking for an open seat. Thinking I saw one far back I rushed over there just to hit the floor of the bus.
“Ow!” I exclaimed.
My palms stung with the impact, they had automatically come out to protect me. Too bad they couldn’t totally do that. When I lifted my head I saw everyone looking at me.
“Sweetie, are you alright?” the bus driver called, rushing down the bus to help me up.
I took her offered hand and as I slowly stood I came face-to face with Sophie’s sneering grin. She wiggled her foot in the aisle in exaggeration.
That - she tripped me! I glared at her and held on to the back of someone’s seat, while thanking our bus driver for her help. I assured her I was fine and after sitting down in an empty seat, we pulled off from the curb.
I rubbed my knees a bit and exhaled, getting my bearings. I can’t believe Sophie. What a brat. She clearly tripped me. What in the world was she still so mad about? I squinted and tried to remember how this all even began. I know that she was mad I didn’t tell her I was leaving Piso High, but there was something else. A figure came to mind. I couldn't remember who it was supposed to be. My head started to pound and I blocked out some light with my hand.
Ugh. Not now… I reached my left hand out for him to grab. But he wasn’t here.
Wait. I looked down at the open spot next to me. Who was ‘he’?

Leter, I got off the bus, being careful about Sophie and the location of her feet, and made it into the school safely. The morning started off pretty typically. I sat with June and them, then moved to the library where I sat with Ally. But rather than talk about normal stuff, I just spent time asking Ally about the magical world. She laughed and smiled through most of my fascination every time she answered something or volunteered information.
Kyle was still staying out of school, and I didn’t blame him for a second. I can’t imagine going through what he had.
Class went by pretty quickly and soon it was break. I walked out to the courtyard after glancing down at my phone to see another text from Sean. I put it away, not wanting to reply.
Scanning the crowds, I headed towards our group’s usual spot. I got to the bench right as Marsha and Ally arrived.
“Hey! How was your break?” I asked Marsha.
But she didn’t seem to hear me. So I asked again after a few seconds, “Marsha?”
She looked at me, doing a double-take, “Huh- what?”
“Marsha, are you alright?” I asked, noticing how out-of-sorts she appeared.
“Uh, yeah,” she said, barely looking at me. “I’m going to the bathroom,” she added after a second and then rushed off.
“Alright. That was odd, right?” I asked Ally.
I looked at her and saw she was looking back and forth between where Marsha had been standing, and where she was going.
“You too?” I asked her, waving a hand in front of her face.
“Is there something I should know about?” I asked her after she waved my hand away.
“I’m not sure…” she said, trailing off in thought.
At that moment Sean found us. He came strutting over with a smile that looked a little strained.
“Hey Sunshine,” he said, wrapping an arm around my waist. “Why weren’t you replying to my messages?” he hissed in my ear, tightening his grip for a moment.
Fear flickered through me for a second and I felt my hand open up for-
No one.
Sean let go a bit and tugged on my arm to seat me between him and Ally, when Simon came over to join us. They started their own conversation, and then Sean squeezed my arm again.
“Sunshine, am I going to get an answer?” he asked in a playful tone.
I swear I saw anger in his eyes for a second and I felt like scooting away before -
Calm. I felt calm.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I must have had my phone on silent. I’ll do better next time,” I found myself saying.
“Great,” he smiled broadly. “So tell me more about Tahoe. Do anything fun? Or did you just sit around all day reading?” he teased.
“Reading IS fun, first of all, but yeah. I-” something hurt my head for a moment, “I made s’mores and walked around in the snow. Easy stuff like that, it was nice.”
“S’mores huh? Eh, I just can’t get marshmallows. It’s the consistency,” he said looking back out at the people walking by.
I briefly felt happiness radiating from my memory eating s’mores. There had been warmth and laughter.
Sean talked about his break for a bit and included some magical bits, making sure no one else was listening. I opened my mouth once, almost telling him about the other magical things I had learned. But... Something kept me from doing it.
Oh well, I guess I could tell him later.