AEGIS ↠ EMBRY CALL [R.U]

17| ROUTES AND ROOTS

     "Have you eaten today?"

     "Reed, I woke up three hours before you," she told him as they walked out the back door and towards the woods.

     "Oh."

     "I had breakfast with Nana and Gramps."

     "That's good." He nodded as they made their way into the woods.

     "How's work?" Callas asked after they fell into a silence.

     "Long, for such a small town I didn't expect much to happen, but apparently, a lot happens."

     Callas's jaw tightened. "Like what?"

     "Oh, nothing. Just a group of drunk men getting into a fight, not that much of a big deal, nothing you need to worry about."

     She knew he was lying to her. She knew he was hiding the fact that bodies were coming up, it wouldn't be long before it was over the news and in the papers, and if it was going to end up in the papers then Silas was bound to read about it and ask Reed if he knew anything about it. But that didn't mean she was going to bring it up just yet, she didn't want him to know that she was technically spying on him when an important work call had taken place just two doors down from her own.

     As they walked further in, they could already see a faint path heading through the woods. "Wouldn't hurt to see where this leads," Reed suggested.

     "I'm sorry, have you ever watched any horror movies? No one who lives says stuff like that."

     "Okay," he replied. "How about we just walk this way anyway?"

     She went to protest but Reed had already started walking down the path. She groaned and jogged to catch up with him. The only thing that made the path less ominous was the fact that it was still sunny and the fact that the bodies didn't show up in La Push, only out in Forks. As they continued to walk, Reed had to help her over some of the fallen trees. Which was odd, considering it looked like they had been pushed over, she shook her head, not wanting to think too much into it, they were probably old and pushed over by storms.

     "There's a fork in the road," Reed spoke up as they came to a stop. "One goes up the hill a bit more, although it looks more dense and darker, we should probably save that route for another day. The other just continues ahead, and the other goes down the hill a bit more. What one do you want to go down first?"

     "Why are you asking me? You're just going to pick your choice anyway." She rolled her eyes with a light laugh.

     "You're right, down we go!" He grinned as he started to walk down the hill.

     The trees seemed to get denser the deeper they walked down, some of the tree roots began to grow over the paths. Callas had imagined that it was what the first path was going to look like, not the one they were currently on. Reed, however, seemed rather excited as he picked up the pace. She shook her head and had to widen her strides to keep up with him. Callas would have said that Reed was acting weirdly, but then again, he seemed to always act this way ever since they moved back to La Push. Maybe he was more comfortable here.

     "Can you hear that?"

     "Your loud breathing? Yeah, I can."

     Reed shook his head. "No, water."

     Callas honestly believed he was on drugs. "What are you on?"

     "Just... C'mon."

     Reed took hold of her wrist, pulling her down the path more. It was until a couple of minutes later when Callas was able to hear the faint sounds of waves crashing. Her gaze drifted over to Reed, a questioning look was plastered over her face. She had no idea how he was able to hear the water from such a far distance. In all honesty, she wasn't sure how he was able to do a lot of things. When they walked out from the tree line, a road separated them from the rock area that dropped down to the beach.