The Rejected Elemental

[16]

A/N:

Please make sure you've read Part 15 before this...I initially posted it as an Author's note, but then posted Part 15 in place of that because I didn't want to delete those comments :)

I'M SO SORRY FOR POSTING THAT NOTE I DONT KNOW WHAT CAME OVER ME GUYS

Anyways, this chapter is dedicated to xxxbeachgirlxxx, dinounicornrainbow, and elephant44! Your comments made my day :) <3

~S xx

"Done!" I smiled, standing up and showing Jason my masterpiece. He whistled slowly, examining the tiny ice model I had made of the pack territory. "Look, there's the castle; see the turrets? And that's the Academy...here's the back gate and the underground cellars; yeah, the interconnected ones-"

"What are you two idiots up to?" came a sing-song voice from behind as Nina sashayed towards us, her flaming hair today held back with a bandana. "Ooh, this is lovely." She gingerly touched the model.

"I think I'll show this to Cyril," Jason finally nodded, standing up. "More guards on the outer north wing, you say?"

"Yeah," I agreed. "See this tiny passage here? It could be exploited. Granted, you'd have to dig through to get to it, but it's a risk."

"Sure." Jason tipped me a two-fingered salute and walked away. Nina lingered behind, now examining the delicate underground tunnels with great interest. "I wish I had powers like these," she sighed, straightening up. "Anyways..."

She took my arm as we walked to the tiny coffee shop outside pack territory to get a latte each. Sipping the warm liquid, we took a casual stroll along the borders, chatting mindlessly. After all, she had just finished her night shift, Hayley was still asleep even though it was seven in the morning, and Jamie had disappeared somewhere with Cyril. The cool morning air was relaxing as I watched the early birds above, tittering noisily above our heads.

"Dude, where you even listening?" Nina pouted as I turned back to her.

"Yeah, yeah... weren't you talking about how we need to go shopping sometime?"

"That was like fifteen minutes ago!"

"Damn."

She shook her head at me. I grinned sheepishly, "Hey, can you blame me? I was up till twelve, working on the blueprints of the new wing that's coming up in the Academy. And I got up at the crack of dawn to explain possible security breaches to Jason. He's still hung up on the attack by Moon Stone last week."

"Oh yeah," Nina nodded fervently, scowling slightly. "Alpha Francis, yeah? Thanks for saving me that day, actually."

"No thanks between friends," I raised an eyebrow at her.

"You're the best."

"I know."

"Speaking of your duties, aren't you, like, really involved in work right now?"

"Yeah," I kept my face blank. "Work helps take my mind off... things."

Nina stared at me for a while, realizing that I was referring to that awful encounter with Cole that day. "Haven't you spoken to him yet?!" she shrieked suddenly.