Outcasts

[22]

Connor trained us regularly at all hours possible. He wasn't soft on anyone, constantly leaving scratches and gashes that would heal by sundown. The idea of defeat was abhorrent to him. According to him, he had too much to lose. While Connor focused on the battle, I couldn't help but focus on Bella. Bella had further disappeared into the sanctuary, only coming out to train. A wall surrounded her thoughts, even when we were all together in wolf form, her silence was deafening.

I couldn't help but be concerned. I tried talking to her, but all she did was respond with nods or hand gestures. She wouldn't even answer a text, much less a phone call. I came to realize how alone she felt. She was the last wolf of the last pack. The last one with reliable memories of it, or the only one who would admit to them.

Leah also seemed incredibly tense, absentmindedly rubbing her growing tummy, jumping at the slightest sound of something that remotely reminded her of wolves. She kept herself busy by cooking and gardening, still unable to reopen her cafe until she could find a new building to start with.

My father, Levi, was too busy working on his constantly rising pile of cases to be of any help. More and more people were disappearing and being found in shreds. They had yet to discover who killed the still, unnamed elderly woman that had been discovered in the old cafe. (What? It wasn't like I could tell him it was druids.) He always came home even more stressed than before, barely eating and barely talking. Even the dogs reflected their attitudes, becoming more sullen and withdrawn.

Rachel was still holed up in her house, crying over the death of her lover and the loss of Scott. The last time I saw her, she had significantly paled. Her eyes seemed to have adopted being red and puffy. Her hair had grown enough that it rested in her shoulders, but it constantly looked like she had stepped out of a wind tunnel. Though I only saw a glimpse of her through her bedroom window, it was clear she was still a mess inside and out.

Then, there was Megan, Artemis, and Jace. Megan and Artemis had stopped coming to school. I could only assume they were training for the upcoming battle as well. Megan's texts had slowly began to fade from everyday to never, with seemingly no explanation. There was no sign of her anywhere near her usual hangouts, if I didn't know any better I would've thought she had been kidnapped. Jace was much the same way, he was no longer an everyday tenant of the local pub, in fact it seemed like he had just dropped off the face of the Earth.

The only one of them with any evidence of existence was Artemis. Like her cousins, she had not been to class, and she hadn't once visited any of the many buildings in the town square. That said, since she was new to the area, no one really seemed to care. I had seen Artemis, though. She could occasionally be found skulking around the wolf sanctuary, or hiking in the wounds. Though she had yet to discover our hidden cave, it became obvious that she was tracking us, even though she was unsuccessful. Occasionally I would catch a glimpse of her blue eyes, hoping she was Megan, only to take notice of the distinct lack of bright red curls.

Even the townspeople had sunk into a sullen, depressed, and terrified attitude. People were scared for their lives, no one was out in the streets, and all of the shops had closed "indefinitely". You would think people would've started moving out, but most were more scared of starting over than dealing with the monster in the woods.

To make matters worse, the town was shrouded in a thick, unrelenting fog that clung to the ground and reached for the roofs of houses. The school had all but shut down, with the only thing continuing on in the school were the sports - the school's main revenue outside taxes as of yesterday, though the school had, in vain, been fighting to stay open. Mayor Cullen had tried assuring everyone that things were going to be getting better in time, but nobody believed her - she didn't even believe herself.