Page 8

Selene

Another restless night of sleep chasing after my shadowed mystery man. His eyes…so familiar yet not. It’s as though my subconscious wants me to figure it out, or it just loves to torture me. Either is possible really.

My hair is in some tangled mess atop my head, my sweats are hanging loosely off of me, and my hoodie is definitely a sign that I’ve just rolled out of bed.

The window in my bedroom is cracked, I swear that it wasn’t like that when I came in last night.

A Silvery Lupine is sitting on my desk. Another flower, just like the one sitting on my porch last night when I came home.

My eyes move around my room, seeing if there’s anything else out of place or new.

Seeing nothing, I move to the window, slamming it closed and flipping the lock in place.

Peeking out as if they might still be standing outside, waiting for me to see them.

I swear I’m losing my mind between the dreams and the flowers.

I don’t know whether or not I should bring this up to my parents?

Someone clearly broke into my room last night, stood over the top of me without me knowing, and left a gift.

Between my dreams, the feeling of eyes on me when I’m walking, and now gifts being left…

I’m slightly freaking out here. I mean, whomever it is doesn’t want to hurt me, I don’t think.

Is it the same person who’s been following me?

Did they hear what I said last night and wanted me to know they heard what I said?

Part of me almost doesn’t want to say something to my parents because I don’t know what they will do about it? Would they even believe me?

My mom’s laughter rings out from the kitchen as she chats loudly with dad. It’s going to be weird when this isn’t part of my morning routine. I’ll miss the days of hearing my parents' jokes and jabs at each other as they get ready in the morning.

Swiping my bag, camera, and phone off my desk, I head down the hall to grab some breakfast before I’m late to school.

“Oh look what the cat dragged in, dear?” my mom jokes as I come around the corner.

My dad lets out a soft chuckle. “Now don’t be giving my little princess such a hard time. She had a rough night ya know.”

I give both of them a questioning look as I glance between them. What are they talking about?

“She sure did. All that talking in her sleep, sounded like she was mad at whomever was in the dream with her.”

I didn’t know I was talking in my sleep. All I know is I’m exhausted, running late, and wishing I could just go back to bed. “I’m running late guys. Love you and all that, but I don’t have time for this.” I snatch an apple from the bowl in the middle of the kitchen island.

“Wait,” my mom calls out before I make it to the front door. “Do you want me to grab you a sleep tincture while I’m at work today?”

With a glance over my shoulder, I nod. “Yeah Mom, that would be great.”

The golden light of the sun is filtering through the canopy of leaves as Odessa and I walk down the path towards downtown.

How easily I could take the way to my hidden gem.

To roll in the flower fields, snapping photos of Shadow, while the white clouds moved across the clear blue sky.

I would trade anything for that instead of being trapped inside the school all day.

Sora, my wolf, whines inside our shared mind space. She is pushing towards the direction we both seem to want to be. I can almost feel her claws raking down my insides like a signal which way she wants me to go.

“We can’t Sora. Mom and Dad will be pissed if I skip school. Plus there are too many people moving around for us to sneak off pack lands.”

She whimpers. Instead of responding, she fills our senses with longing. Her desire to roll in the flowers is overwhelming. I have to stop myself from taking the steps, instead forcing myself to turn down the main path into town.

She pushes even harder causing me to stumble a couple of steps. “Stop Sora.”

“We don’t need school. Think of how peaceful it will be in the field. Plus, I think a certain wolf will be there.”

“He might be, but I’m not dealing with the backlash for skipping. Now, we are going to be late. So chill!”

I can sense her pouting as she steps back. Jeez, I wasn’t sure I was going to win there for a second. It does sound far better than school, but not the bitch sesh after my parents find out.

I barely make it into the school with time to spare. I’ve got enough time to swing by my lockers for my books and rush to class. Odessa is leaning against my locker typing on her phone as if she is writing a paragraph. She probably is.

“Shit girl, I love you and all but you look like you were hit with a tree this morning. Did you happen to pass a mirror on the way here today?” Her eyes scan me from head to toe as if I’m a new creature to explore.

“Yeah well, I slept like shit and honestly I’d rather be anywhere but here today. So, maybe love me a little more and not point it out.”

She reaches up pulling a leaf from my ponytail as she smooths my fly aways with her other hand.

“Alright, we’re going to talk about that later.

Right now, we are late for Math and you know Mr. Arnold is a grumpy asshole if we’re late.

As much as I love getting on his nerves, it’s not on my agenda for today. ”

She loops her arm around mine and tugs me towards Math. It’s going to be a long day, is it my free period yet?

Twenty minutes into class, I’m in the middle of doodling the eyes that have been haunting me each night when I realize the room is silent. Blinking my eyes as I lift my head, I notice that everyone’s staring at me. Why?

Odessa coughs next to me as her eyes bulge, urging me to do something. What that is, I’ve got no idea. Mr. Arnold clears his throat from the front of the classroom.

“Ms. Calloway, do you plan to answer the question soon or should we wait for you to finish whatever it is you’re working on?” His arms are crossed while his dress shoe taps the floor.

I turn back to Odessa praying to the Goddess that she will be able to help me here. I’ve got no idea what he even asked, let alone what the answer could be. She must see the plea in my eyes because her hand shoots up in the air.

“Yes, Ms. Hollowell?”

“The answer you were looking for is -2.85.”

“Thank you Ms. Hollowell. Maybe you should have a talk with Ms. Calloway about paying attention during class, hmm?” Mr. Arnold gives me one more scathing look before he turns back to his white board moving along with whatever he was doing. I flip him off before looking back to Odessa.

She is staring at me with a hand over her mouth to keep her laugh from ringing out. “What has you so preoccupied,” she whispers to me.

I shake my head subtly. “I’ll tell you later.”

With one last glance between me and the paper, she turns back to her own paperwork to continue the lesson. I look down at the pair of eyes that I didn’t quite get in the drawing. I’d never claim to be an artist but I can almost feel them staring at me.

Everyone moves on with the class, while I continue to stare at those eyes.

Hours later, it’s finally time for my free period. I’m going to head to Gail’s office since I missed doing that yesterday. Hopefully, she’s there and I didn’t walk that whole way for nothing.

Her office is right next to Caelon’s, something that brings a blush to my cheeks.

I wonder if he’s in there huddled over a stack of paper.

He probably wouldn’t have zoned out during Math class like I did.

I bet he knew the answer before the teacher even finished asking the question.

I know he loves math, not just because he is our numbers guy, but I noticed one night when he came out to his porch that he was carrying a book with a bunch of math symbols on it.

Using my phone camera, I zoomed in on the cover and searched what it was on a major retailer.

This man reads math books for fun. Couldn’t be me.

Before I knock on Gail’s door, I lean over as if the closed door to his office might reveal something. All I can hear from his office is the rustling of papers, nothing that gives me an idea of what’s really happening behind the door.

My knuckles rap on Gail’s door right as she calls out for me to come in. I didn’t even fully knock before she said something. Weird.

I push the door open slowly, peeking around it as if she might jump out at me.

The smell of patchouli and mint wraps around me the second I step into her space.

Almost like a memory holding you in a warm embrace.

The cooler air of her office seems to almost gently move across my skin like a whisper of promised stories.

Her Olivine-colored walls give this soft moss green, earthy feel with wood frames capturing pressed herbs. Each surface of the space seems to hum with hidden secrets, knowledge way beyond our years, and just a hint of mischief, like something might jump out at you for a hearty laugh.

Gail is sitting behind a beautiful wooden desk with carvings of wolves running under a full moon with hands spread out on each side. It’s a beautiful version of our Goddess watching over our wolves. An antique moon mirror hangs behind her, reflecting my face full of wonder.

Gail seems to wait for me to take in each piece of her space as if it’s just as much why she invited me here as the reason she mentioned yesterday.

She is such a timeless beauty, something I hope I look like when I’m her age, whatever age that is.

Her long, silvery-white hair is braided over her shoulder flowing down past the desk.

Tiny sprigs of lavender are woven into each part of the braid as if her healer side is proudly displayed.

The white soft material of her shirt hangs loosely over her chest, showing off a beautiful moonstone wrapped in golden wire.