The Real Ram

Chapter 23

 "Guess who I ran into last night," Shawn says as he sits down for breakfast. 

"Who?" Trish asks half awake. She had a late night working on new water techniques in the training room. She sneaked in our room around two o'clock in the morning.

"Mole."

Beast and Trish straighten, "No way," Beast remarks.

"I swear, really. I saw him hanging out with Flame and McConnell while I was walking into the cafeteria."

"Why would he be here?" Trish asks. I notice how awake she is now. 

"Whatever the reason, it's not good," Beast responds.

"Who's Mole?"

Their heads whip to me in disbelief, "You don't know who Mole is?"

"I don't think I've been here long enough to know," I reply.

"Oh right," Trish says, "I always forget that you've only just recently joined the Omegas. Anyways, Mole is a former member."

"More than that, he was the leader of the missions branch. He mostly spent his time assigning groups. When something serious happened, he was the one in charge to fix it," Beast continues.

"So if he's here, then that means something serious is happening?"

Beast looks at me, "Seems like it."

"Where is he?"

Shawn points to the trainer's table, "He's on the far left, sitting beside Flame."

I turn my eyes to zoom in and I recognize him. I can't remember from where, but I know I've seen him before. He has dark brown hair and broad shoulders. He may be sitting, but I can tell he's at least five or six inches taller than Flame. He's buff, stronger looking than Flame. I can see his blue eyes and a smile I know I've seen before.

"Got a good enough look, Zoe?"

"What?" I turn my eyes to normal and find all three staring at me. "Yeah, sorry. I just feel like I've seen him before."

Beast laughs lightly, "He's got that face."

The bell rings and like trained animals all the students get up from their tables. We follow Beast out through the crowd and manage to make it to the hallways in one line. The crowd thins as we leave through the hallways. We make it to our training room and find the lights on and the door cracked for us. Beast opens it and we walk in.

I hear this bellowing laugh that I know I've heard before. It causes and ache in my head, something I get when I remember memories. Last time I felt it was two days ago, the day of my mother's anniversary.

"Flame?" Beast says. We see Flame standing with Mole beside him.

"Beast! My man!" Mole comes striding to us and gives Beast a big bear hug.

"Hi, Mole," I can hear the awkwardness in Beast's voice. "How have you been?"

"Mighty fine, my friend. Mighty fine," he lets go and Beast backs up immediately. Mole turns to Trish and Shawn, "Look at you all. So grown up! I remember when you three were just little children when you came here. You've come so far!" He laughs with a giant smile spread across his face. I feel my head ache start again. I know I've seen him before, but from where?

His eyes fall to me, and his smile fades enough for me to notice. "You're new."

"Hello."

"Who are you?" The way he asks, it makes me freeze up. His expression, the tone of his voice, his demeanor. Who is he?