TWENTY | DEJA VU

Blue leaves me alone the next morning, not waiting for me like he has been every day since we started trying to get ahead of the visions. He is, however, waiting for me just outside of Ms. Lewis' class. Wordlessly, he holds a hand out to me, perfectly calm and relaxed. We both seem to sense that the vision last night would be the last one for today at least.

As my cool skin meets his burning touch, the thought seems to come true. Nothing happens. Whatever kind of tension was left in my shoulders after last night drains from me. Blue casts me a quick smile - of equal parts relief and happiness - before releasing my hand and nodding his head at the opened door to our Homeroom class.

We walk in together, wordlessly finding out seats. The day plays out as it has been, nothing special coming up throughout our day. But in Choir, Ms. Jones springs a last minute rehearsal on us, including the entire choir for this afternoon. I inwardly groan, but like many of the others in the room, don't voice my displeasure aloud.

As per usual, Choir practice runs me ragged, but like any good workout, I feel better after. Centered. Calm. It's nice to finally have things calming down after the last few weeks. I offer to drive Darine home again, considering I need to take my car in to get checked anyway.

"Finally decided to get this old thing checked out, huh?" Darine grins as we park at the auto shop a block from her house. I roll my eyes at her.

"Yes, Darine-the-wise, I heard the noise, too. I spoke with one of the guys that works here and they just told me to leave the keys in the mail slot." I tell her and shut off the car. "Mind if we walk from here?"

"It's fine." Darine pulls her backpack on and waits while I lock the doors to my car and shove the key into the mail slot at the front door of the auto shop. I put my other set of keys in my pocket. We walk down the street for a while, tracing our way through the busy parts of town and to Darine's house. When we get there, I pause outside the line of the picket fence, looking at the cozy, mundane place with the smallest hope in my heart.

A hope for a life I know I can never have...or can I? After that last vision with Blue, I don't really know what to think. If you'd asked me a month ago if such a thing as happiness were in my future, I'd have laughed. Maybe even hard enough to cry. Nothing could have seemed more absurd to me at the time. Well, maybe the idea I could ever find my mate. But now that I'm settling into a life here in, I don't really know what's possible anymore.

"-Get some sleep, Scarlett." Darine nudges me, knocking me back to reality. I nod and we go our separate ways.

"Night, Darine." I call over my shoulder, waving. She waves back before disappearing into her house. I smile to myself and start down the street. It's quiet, Kiwina is a gentle kind of town. There are a few people milling around outside the theater down the street, a few cars parked outside the grocery store, even a couple pass me in the street, but there's also a sense of quiet. It's oddly peaceful.

Leaves rustle above from the canopy of drying leaves as I meander down the sidewalk. I imagine Mom here with me, walking beside me in the shadows of the night. She'd be chatting about the history of the town, because of course she'd know something about it. She would keep her head up, letting the breeze run through her hair. Maybe she would finally wear it down? It would be straight, falling to her mid-back, strawberry blonde with streaks of silver. I wonder if she's gotten any wrinkles in the months we've been separated?

She said she'd visit during the break. In a month. I chew my lower lip anxiously, wondering what she'd say about my new life here. Things may be calmer now, but I still feel like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. Maybe I'm just being paranoid? Then again, paranoia's been keeping us one step ahead of the Reinier's this whole time.

Someone grabs me, pulling me off the sidewalk and into the darkness of a side alley. I gasp, catching the scent of sea air, Wolven, and rosemary. A combination I haven't smelled in years. I'm tossed against a dumpster before I can react, my head connecting with the metal and letting out an echoing *bang*.

Strong hands grip me by the throat and squeeze - just enough that I can't gather enough air to scream.

The Wolven glowers down at me, sky-blue eyes gleaming maliciously with the classic iciness I've come to associate with my old family. His lips are twisted into a snarl, sharp teeth bared as he leans down closer to me. His strawberry-blonde hair is cropped short to his head, the beginnings of a twisting tattoo licks over his jaw. It's the mark of an enforcer of the Reinier Pack, a mark allowed only to the elite hunters. Trackers.

"Ryker," The word comes out as a rasp as I try to breathe. His painful grip on my throat tightens and my vision swims. The breath in my lungs is already starting to go stale, aching dully in my chest.

"Cousin." He spits back, venom dripping off the word. I try not to recoil from the way he says it. Like Paris, Ryker was one of my closer cousins - almost like a brother. Definitely a friend. Before the Pack turned on me.

"H-how did you find me?" I gasp out each word painfully. Already, I can feel bruising coming on from the strength of his hand - my healing ability, like with my scars, is hindered because we're still part of the same Pack. I can feel the pull of the mental connection strengthening between us, bridging the gap Mom and I worked so hard to build. I fight it, fight the natural urge to connect and share and feel whole. I reject it.

"It wasn't hard," He snarls, nails now digging into my skin. "Your stench was all over the place." Black dots begin dancing over my eyes, his voice getting farther away. "You always sucked when it came to hunting, never knew how to blend you scent." His grip loosens little when he says this, voice slightly wistful. Almost regretful. I feel the smallest trickle of sorrow through the bond. His or mine, I don't know.

"Ry," I rasp, my eyes prickling as memories of our childhood flood my memory, assaulting my senses. I can tell the same is happening to Ryker as the anger softens in his eyes, the icy-blue warming the tiniest bit. A lost look comes over his face, confusion warping his expression the smallest fraction of a bit. *What did they do to my sweet cousin?*

"Red? That you?" A familiar voice filters into my consciousness and I glance in the direction it came from. At the end of the alley stands Blue, eyes wide and angry. *Why is he here? Where did he come from?*

"Get out of here, Blue." I try warn him, even with Ryker so close, I know I have to get him to leave. *This isn't his fight.* Ryker's face hardens, his grip on my neck tightening. I let out an involuntary choking sound, the dots becoming formless splotches.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" This growl from Blue is directed at Ryker as he draws closer, jogging to get to us faster. Fury like I've never seen, mars his perfect face. *Why does he never listen to me?*

"Made friends, did we, Scarlett?" Ryker snarls at me, using my human name. Like he doesn't even want to acknowledge we're cousins. A different kind of pain spikes in my chest, deeper than the superficial feel of the lack of oxygen and so much worse. It twists so violently that my eyes start to fill with tears.

"Leave him alone, Ry-" My head makes contact with the wall closest to us, my vision swimming yet again as my skull cracks against the brick. The taste of iron and a sweet tang coat my mouth, a sharp ringing in my ears stealing my hearing for a minute. I blink rapidly, trying to clear my vision as I suck in as much air as I can. It hurts more to breathe now, ragged, wet coughs erupt from my throat as I lay there. The blood in my mouth tries to gag me, and I can't seem to find the muscles I need to sit up.

*Is this what dying feels like? Am I going to drown in my own blood?* Finally, just as the intensifying pain dies, I bolt upright and cough up the gooey wetness. Then I can hear the two Wolven scuffling a few feet away, my vision too blurry to get a solid read on the two forms clashing and bursting apart in a vicious rhythm.

"*Stop*." I manage to choke out, wincing as I try to get up. No luck.

"I'll be back, Scarlett. For you and anyone else who tries to stop us. Count on it." Ryker spits in my direction, already running out of the alley. Blue makes a move to follow him, but stops when I let out a hissing breath. Instead of chasing my cousin, Blue runs back over to me and kneels in front of me.

"Red, who the hell was that?" Blue's normally cool and calm demeanor is overrun by the near-hysteria in his voice. I bat at his hands when he tries to touch me, tries to check out the head wound I know isn't healing right and the bruising on my neck that's only now starting to swell. "Hey, talk to me." This time he manages to cup my cheeks, holding me still easily now that the threat of pain from moving my neck is there. I stare up into his gorgeous face. Yes, even if he's battered now, a little blood coating already healing scratches over his left eye and right cheekbone, he's easily the most beautiful guy I've ever met.

My mind goes blank when he leans closer, eyes intensely focused on mine. So incredibly gentle and scotching as they search mine, like he's trying to discover my deepest, darkest secrets. Like he's trying to see my soul. I become lost in them. Utterly lost and immobile. Then I feel his breath on my lips, the barest hint of his warm skin - *déjà vu*.

He seems to realize it too. We blink at each other, him pulling back and staring down at me, frowning. We stare at each other for a long minute before my injuries tear my attention away. My throat starts aching again, more intensely than before as dots start speckling my vision. I clutch at my neck, trying to get more air into my lungs, but the swelling from my body's healing is only making it worse. Blue curses under his breath, pulling something from his pocket.

"Hale, we need you-" His voice falls away as darkness claims me.