petrichor [rosalie hale]

xvii. country lines

"Really?"

"Yeah, remember that kid... Riley? He used to hang around here a lot? He's been missing for a few months now."

Billy nodded, racking his brains for why that name rang a bell. His eyes furrowed for a second before remembering a few summers prior. He almost rolled his eyes at the irony of it, knowing that it always seemed trouble followed his children.

"Kiara and him had a... summer fling," Billy replied, the father's disgust rolling off his tongue. Charlie snorted, having been very aware of how much Billy had hated the summer that Kiara learned about boys. "Well, shit, I hope he comes back soon."

"Me too, Billy. Me too."

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TWO WEEKS LATER

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"You ready to go home yet?"

Leah threw herself down onto the sand beside the girl, her russet eyes casting a quick look sideways to where Paul was standing with the waves crashing against his ankles. His cropped cargo shorts were dirty, and his hair had grown a little more rugged. She hadn't ever seen the man with stubble before, but it seemed their two-week adventure had interrupted his shave schedule.

"I think so," Kiara muttered, her knees pulled to her chest as she watched the sunset. Paul paused from where he had been skimming stones, hearing the words fall from his friends mouth. Every day for the past two weeks the answer had been silence or an instant decline. 

They had chased her across the Canadian border before Kiara had finally gotten tired. It had taken hours for Leah and Paul to calm down, let alone teach the girl how to shift back. They'd planned on bringing her home straight away, but it seemed that Kiara was still harbouring too many emotions to even consider returning back to her family.

The first week was the worst. They'd been able to take it in turns to stay with Kiara (as she refused to go near any civilisation, believing she was a monster and a killer), while the other would venture into the nearest town for basic supplies. Since Kiara refusing to be near any other humans had scrapped the option of a hotel from their possibilities, Paul had bought a four man tent for the three to share.

Kiara hated camping. Leah and Paul had grown up with it their whole lives, but even as children Kiara had always refused to go to tribe camp trips that the elders arranged for them all. She almost snorted at the thought now as she realised that everyone who went was basically in the pack already. Almost as if they had been preparing them for it their whole lives.

That's how Leah and Paul knew she was serious about not wanting to go back. Kiara Black hadn't complained once about camping, hadn't complained once about cooking their own food using a gas camping stove Paul had picked up from the store. She was sure her father must have sent the boy money but she was too scared to ask about any of their lives back home.

She'd even convinced Paul and Leah to shift before her, to check that they were too far away for the pack to fully hear their thoughts. Things occasionally came through, but it was like broken static. The occasional flash of a thought or memory. Sam had told Paul over the phone that he assumed it was the distance and how overwhelmed Kiara was that was causing the temporary block with their pack mind link.

They'd spent the past two weeks teaching Kiara how to use her senses and work on her control. The first time they'd take her back into public she'd gotten so panicked that she had almost shifted in the middle of a diner, but they'd managed to coax her down and show her that she was alright - that she wasn't going to hurt anyone.