The Mouse and The Wolf | Gay BxB |

39. Flash

I let out a deep breath when I finally accepted what it meant. He asked me about Echoes. Without that fact I probably wouldn't have connected the dots. Everything made sense because of it. I just... it wasn't easy to sink in. The truth about Oliver.

"Okay guys – I need to give you code names," Oliver spoke suddenly, interrupting me in my thoughts. "And since none of you can stop me now..." he trailed off with a smirk. "Jaden is Wolfie."

Oh, Jaden was enjoying this. We had given him such a hard time about his nicknames, and we all knew Oliver wouldn't give us better names.

Oliver turned to look at me, rubbing his chin like he was thinking really hard. "How about Brownie? Since your fur is brown," he finally said.

I let out a deep sigh, pinning my ears back. Brownie. How was Brownie any better than Muffins!? I knew Jaden would've laughed if wolves could do that.

Ugh...

Before Oliver turned to even look at Tilly, she was already trying to sneak behind a big tree, her tail between her legs and ears pointing back, like it could somehow protect her from getting her new name.

"And for you..." Oliver trailed off when he turned to look for her. "Aw come on! I can't use your real names in case someone hears us!"

Tilly peered at him behind the tree, keeping her head down.

"Fluffy," Oliver said after a moment. Tilly growled at him. "But your fur is so soft!" Oliver said, holding back his laugh.

This kid was having too much fun at our expense.

We stayed in the forest for an hour, just walking around or playing in the snow. Oliver seemed really happy to have company. He was laughing a lot, but I believed it was obvious for us all that he was carrying a lot of sadness in him. It was visible in his eyes when he thought no one was looking. I believed it was the kind of sadness that couldn't be easily erased.

At some point, Tilly and Jaden were wrestling in the snow, and Oliver watched them with a small smile on his face, but he looked sad. I walked to him, ignoring the nauseous feeling that grew stronger, and touched his hand with my nose, making him jump lightly.

"You scared me," he chuckled and ruffled my fur gently. "So, you're the quiet type, huh?"

Compared to Jade and Tilly, yes.

"How's it going?" he asked. I wagged my tail as a reply. "That's good to hear," he smiled, scratching me behind my ears.

He really was a sweet kid. He didn't deserve the life he'd been living. I wanted to tell him that he had nothing to worry about anymore. Tilly was right, he was one of us now. Even Jaden had finally stopped being such a drama queen about it. Oliver had won him over already.

I wanted to tell him that we would find out who was tormenting him. I wanted to be absolutely sure about my theory before telling anyone about it, but I knew I was right about him, and what was going on with him.

The one who was scaring him shitless wasn't Nick, and it wasn't a spell that prevented him from talking about whatever he needed to tell us. It was something much worse.

And it was what made me so nauseous around him.

*****

Later that night, when I was reading a book about Echoes in my room, I heard my father coming home. I hid the book under a pile of homework I couldn't focus on, and went to greet him. I saw my parents talking about the day in cheery tones, moving into the living room.