Wolf Girl (Book 2)

Chapter 2: Rhydian

Rhydian's POV

Jana and Carys are finally coming back to Stoneybridge tomorrow. I'm supposed to be excited, and I am, but I'm so nervous about this whole Ava thing. I just can't believe mum kept another sibling from me. Maybe she's embarrassed by her, or maybe she's just ashamed that she willingly gave her up. I'm trying not to judge her for it, but if I was in that situation I honestly don't know how I'd react. I can't imagine giving my cub away, but I'm not ready to be a parent.

Ava turned up at school yesterday and made a huge scene. She's tame but she was acting like Alric did when he came to the school looking for me. Everyone was staring at us. Jimi was shouting stupid things, and the K's were judging her clothes or hair or something. I had to drag her into the darkroom to get her out of sight. I didn't mean to but I told her about Carys being in the wild, and she went running off to find her. I wanted to go after her so I could be there for mum, but Maddy convinced me that she could handle this. She should have just stayed and waited, but I think a little part of her wanted to see mum too. No matter how much she had 'betrayed' her.

I hear something hit my window. I get out of my bed and look outside. I see Maddy standing there throwing rocks.

"That's a little cliche don't you think? It's 3 am, what are you doing?" I whisper-shout to her from my window.

"Ava's turned up at my house," she yawns. "I've got her waiting outside, so she doesn't wake mam and dad, you need to deal with her."

I roll my eyes. Of course, this would happen. Ava wouldn't have wanted to stay with mum, and dad wouldn't want her there. Carys was probably freaked out too.

"Well, she can't stay here!"

"Rhydian, come on!" She raises her voice a little bit, and I know better than to go against Maddy when she's tired and angry.

"Alright," I sigh, "I'll be down in a second," I quickly throw on some jeans and a hoodie and jump out of the window down to Maddy and we run back to her house.

I've had a bad feeling all day, I just thought it was because of her showing up the first time but now I'm thinking it probably didn't go well with mum and Carys. I find myself getting really worried about them. Ava's standing outside waiting for us.

"It's the middle of the night, what are you doing here?" I ask, "Are they okay?"

"Yes, they're fine. I have no money on me, I spent it on the train ride back to the city and then I had to run the rest of the way. I don't have anywhere to stay tonight. You said your foster parents are human, so I came here instead." She can't just show up like this, it's becoming a habit. "Carys told me she'll be here tomorrow with that strange wild girl, so we can talk. I just need somewhere to stay for the night."

"That girl is my best friend, and she's Carys' girlfriend. You don't talk about her that way," I hissed, "And you can't keep turning up like this."

"I'm sorry," she hangs her head, "I didn't know what else to do."

I turn to Maddy, who's yawning again, "Look, I'm too tired for this, we all need to get some sleep. You can stay in the cellar, but if my parents see you, you're explaining this to them."

"Thank you," Ava says.

"You sure Mads?" I ask.

"What choice of we got? You can stay too, just make sure you leave in the morning before they wake up," Maddy trails off into her house, rubbing her eyes.

Ava gives me a smile and follows her. I sigh and go inside too.

I go into Carys' room because I know if Mr and Mrs Smith found me in Maddy's bed, they'd be furious. It happened once back in Canada, and they made me shovel the snow from the driveway and the whole backyard even though they had hired a plough truck. There's no snow here but it's a risk I'm not taking again.

I can't get to sleep for the life of me, I just keep thinking about tomorrow. I end up walking aimlessly around Carys' room. All of her stuff is still in here apart from some of her clothes. She couldn't take everything to the wild. I look at all of her books and knick-knacks. She has a lot of fantasy books, lined up in colour order on her shelves. There's a little statue of three wolves that's being used as a bookend. And hung up by the door is one of my old drawings of Maddy and me in wolf form. I must have left it behind when I lived here. Her personality shines through in the room.

Carys is a good person and I feel even worse for the way I treated her when everything with Kincaid went down. Hopefully, when she comes back, I can apologize again. Now that we share a sister, we're not just a pack, we're family too.

Her phone is still there on her bedside table, she knew that the pack would hate her if she brought it with her. Out of curiosity I switch it on, immediately it blows up with missed calls and texts from someone called 'Anwen', I think Jana mentioned that that's what her ex is called. But it's none of my business.

I leave the phone alone and decide to go for a quick run in the woods to tire myself out, no one will be out there at this time of night, and I can easily get in and out without making a sound.

If it wasn't for Ava standing in the kitchen.

"Can't sleep?" She says, holding a glass of water.

"I was just gonna go for a quick run, to tire me out."

"I'll join you," she smiles.

Great.

I try to run ahead of her, but she just thinks it's a game and to be honest, it's a nice distraction. We stop at the clearing to take a break. I want to ask her stuff, to find out about her, but at the same time, I sort of wish she didn't exist.

"So, you grew up in the city?" I ask her.

"Yeah, I went to a boarding school, my foster parents' parents own it and we all sort of lived there while I was growing up."

"Do they know about you being a Wolfblood? Your parents?"

She doesn't answer me, "I bet the full moons are amazing here," she changes the subject.

"Yeah, they are. Well, Maddy's parents make us stay in the cellar. They say it's safer, I suppose they're right, but I hate being locked up. What about you? Where do you run on a full moon?"

"I work for Segolia, they fly us out to Norway every month. You've heard of them, right?"

"Yeah, I've heard of them. My friend Shannon works there after school and on weekends. They're going to put her through uni. Did you go?"

"Nah, it never really appealed to me. I've worked with Segolia since I was 16, there wasn't really any point in going to uni when I already had a job," she changes the subject again, "I'll race you back?"

She doesn't give me a chance to answer before she sprints off. I manage to beat her there, even though she had the head start.