The Ambrose Clique - now published on Amazon

20 - Conducting the Wolf

- updated -

"So Cal's ran away after being scolded, what's new?" Aurel inspected a piece of lint on her jeans. Her tone reflected the uncaring expressions of the other girls, even Daisy seemed unaffected by the news.

"No, you don't understand," Jaspar said through gritted teeth. "I compelled him to stay in the room. Whatever the reason for leaving, it wasn't his choice. Shadow's in the room, Cal would take him with him if he'd left."

"So what do we do?" Daisy started to worry.

"We find him."

"But the meeting-"

"Is later tonight," he cut Skye off. "If we go now, Thea doesn't know about it. We don't need to drag adults into it. Get him before the meeting and she'll be none the wiser."

Aurel nodded. "Let's go." Her eyes lit up as she grinned at me; I could hardly refuse to help them. I was impartial, I saw no need to find Cal after he'd attacked us but I also saw he was a valued member of the clique. I could hardly shut him out.

So I met her eyes and nodded reluctantly. I knew she was excited for the thrill, not for actually helping Cal.

"Where's he gonna be, then?" Skye didn't sound happy about this, but she couldn't do anything else.

"We need to think about our options," Jaspar replied. The couple locked gazes for a tense moment.

"Our father." That was the obvious answer, and to Aurel, the only one.

"No. He likes Cal, and I can't see him taking a vampire."

"Evelyn?" Skye suggested.

"She wants me to forgive them both, I can't see her just doing this."

"Evelyn?" Jaspar spluttered.

"In all of this excitement, you missed the best news!" Aurel clapped sarcastically. "Evelyn's teaching here and she's gonna be at the meeting tonight!"

"But why?"

"Father wants to make amends with us, and Evelyn's always wanted the perfect family. He probably wants to do it before the feast so we forgive him quicker."

"But by then, reconciliation will be out of the question. If Skye's right-"

"When am I wrong?"

"Hardly ever." He shot her a warm smile. They rarely displayed affection, but the way they looked at each other in that moment told me more about their relationship than any words could. Felix and I may have behaved like a couple, but we didn't have that love in our eyes. But with Aurel...

I wasn't too happy with Jaspar's confidence in Skye's visions. She needed to be wrong, so I could live.

"Anyway," Daisy interrupted. "Where could Cal be?" Daisy was twisting her hands as she stared at the door, like she hoped Cal would just walk through it. I glanced at Aurel, to see she was watching her concernedly too.

"The witches?"

"Nope. They wouldn't break the rules." Skye's answer was definite.

"The rules?" I whispered to Aurel as the others discussed the possibility of it. She tilted her head closer to mine and I shuffled closer.

"The Ambrosius created a treaty, or a set of rules. They're like our government, although they're not around at the moment. But they decided that no species of the Courts is to torture, kidnap or kill anyone from another Court. That's why the majority of us belong to a Court, because we're guaranteed safety. The Realm of the Faerie partially abides by this rule. They don't harm other species, like vampires or wolves. But they don't always apply this rule to the other Faerie Courts."