Wednesday, February 21st, 2018, 8:45am
Asher's POV
Walking into the pack house, I sigh softly at the rush of warm air. Taking off my boots but keeping my coat on, I walk with the twins into the living room, where Raiden is talking to Riley as he dusts the cabinet and fireplace mantle.
Riley's punishment is constant chores for a week, no breaks. He loves playing with the younger kids and he can't do that for the seven days. He seems to tire fairly easily too, so it pushes his stamina. And he's not enjoying the punishment, if he was then it wouldn't be a punishment.
"Asher!" Raiden says, smiling when he sees me. "Happy birthday."
I smile back, "Thanks. Riley, doing alright?"
"Yeah," he replies, pausing in dusting the cabinet shelves. "Happy birthday, Asher."
"Thank you."
Finishing the cabinet, Riley gives us a smile and little wave then heads out of the room, presumably to clean the living rooms on the other floors.
"I thought everyone would be at the end of the scavenger hunt," I say.
Raiden shrugs, "Plan changed. You pick one of us up at every stop. Read their clue, then find them at the place. Next up is Rei's."
"I would've guessed her's would be last."
"Nah. We're going in order of when we met. You met her when you met me, so she's next. Also, she doesn't want to be away from you for too long. She's my sister and you're my best friend, do you know how awkward it can get for me?."
"Well, you're her brother and Clove's her best friend. It probably gets awkward for her sometimes too."
"Good point."
Raiden holds out a piece of paper. I hold it out for Chase and Rhea, letting them try to read it.
"Where you took me, in the... sun... something... light?" Rhea mumbles, pausing when she needs a second to figure out the word.
Chase continues, "Where we something the... bond with a... bite?"
"Not bad," Raiden says as Rhea hands the note back to me. "Good job, Rhea, Chase."
The twins smile broadly, proud of their reading skills, which, for five year olds, isn't that bad.
Where you took me, in the sun's dimming light,
Where we sealed the bond with a bite.
"Where I marked her," I say softly.
"Let's go!" Chase says happily, going back to the front door to get his boots on.
Rhea, Raiden and I follow after him. Walking through the snow covered forest, I feel at peace. The way the sun reflects off the snow, the view of the bare branches of the surrounding trees covered in white. It's beautiful.
Soon enough, I see the clearing, the sun shining on the ice of the lake. Rei is standing at the edge, her hair dancing softly in the light breeze. She turns, hearing the snow crunching under our feet. Seeing us, she grins, bounding over and hugging me tightly.
"Asher!" she says, kissing me lightly. "Happy birthday."
"Is this how everyone's gonna greet me? Yelling my name and saying happy birthday?"
"Maybe. How was your sleep?"
"Fine," I reply. "There's... something we should all discuss later though." Rei looks up at me, expression concerned. "It's not too bad, Rei. Just a little important."
"Alright," she says slowly, studying me worriedly.
"Rei, I'm fine," I say. "Now, who's clue is next?"
"Scott's," she says, pulling the paper out of her coat pocket and handing it to me.
Hell on Earth.
That's it. Nothing else, just those three words.
"Wow," I say, "That's very detailed."
"We're horrible at poems, especially riddle poems," Raiden replies. "What did you expect?"
"More effort," I say bluntly. "Come on, off to the high school. Let's run."
Rei and Raiden nod, all of us shifting into wolf form, clothes disappearing because of the enchanted chain necklaces (I got mine back, the ring was just temporary). I crouch down to let Chase climb up onto my back, while Rhea climbs onto Rei. Once I'm sure Chase is ready, his fingers fisted in my fur, I start running, the two black wolves following me.
Snow kicks up behind us as we run, weaving through the trees. Chase and Rhea whoop and cheer happily as we go, enjoying the ride.
It doesn't take long to get to the high school. Being Wednesday, there is still school today, so the parking lot is full. Smelling the air, I catch Scott's scent, following it to find him at the edge of the trees, eyes fogged over, mind-linking.
Blinking, he gives us a smile. "So you found me."
"It wasn't that hard," I reply, shifting back, Chase's arms going around my neck, legs, wrapped around my waist, my arms around behind me to help support him as he clings to me like a monkey. "Why the school?"
"It's not my favourite place on earth but we have a lot of good memories here," Scott says, giving me a quick hug, patting Chase's head and ruffling his hair, making him whine.
Pulling away, Scott hands me the next clue.
"I'm guessing it's Winchester's?" I say, unfolding the slip of paper as Scott nods.
I read the words out loud for Chase and Rhea, both of them still excited and full of energy.
Children all over metal heaps,
Paths of trees, this place also keeps.
"See, that's better," I say, looking at Scott, Rei and Raiden. "He doesn't just flat out say where or make it extremely obvious."
"Yeah yeah," Raiden says, waving one hand dismissively, "We suck, now get to it."
I roll my eyes, looking back at the paper and thinking.
Metal heaps. They can't be heaps of scrap metal like what I first thought of; children wouldn't be allowed to play on them, assuming it means children are playing on them. They play on play structures and those are metal, right? And paths of trees... If it means trees lining a path, then that would be the park in town.
"It's the park," I say, looking to Scott to see if I'm right.
"What're you looking at me for?" he says, raising his hands.
"He's your mate, I'm assuming you know the answer."
"Nope," Scott says. "I only know where Changeling is and that's because he needed help and I was the closest to him. Other than that, we just decided the order, gave our papers to the right person and went to wait at our spots."
I give him a deadpan look, "Seriously?" Rei and Raiden both nod and I sigh. "Alright, to the park it is."
Nothing really exciting happens as we walk to the park, so I won't bore you or myself with the details.
There's hardly any people there. The play structure in the middle of the park has four of five children playing on it, their parents watching from benches and picnic tables nearby. The ground is covered in mostly untrodden snow, glimmering white in the sunlight. The tall maple trees lining the sides of the main path look beautiful with the snow decorating their otherwise bare branches.
"There he is!" Rhea says happily, pointing to where she sees Dean, who's sitting on one of the park benches, having brushed the snow off first.
Rhea and Chase go running over to him, Dean's face lighting up when he sees them.
"Hey guys," he says, grinning. "Feliz cumpleaños, Ceniza."
"Thanks," I reply. "And thanks for being the only one so far that wasn't really obvious with the answer if their note."
"Oh come on, Asher," Scott whines.
"Get over it," Raiden adds, whining too.
I stick my tongue out at them. "Now, out of Strange, Flash and Changeling, I met Changeling first so I'm guessing he's next?"
Dean nods, handing me the next paper then turns his attention to playing with Chase and Rhea, who are trying to sculpt a lump of snow next to the bench into something.
With Autumn, was when I saw you appear.
All I can say now is Wish That You Were Here.
"What?" I whisper, staring at the paper as if the words will suddenly shift and give me the answer. "With autumn... You don't capitalize the 'a' in autumn, do you? But if it was a name..." My eyes widen. "Reina, what was it you and Changeling were singing the first time I saw you again, in the forest?"
"Uh..." She pauses, thinking for a few seconds. "Wish That You Were Here by Florence + The Machine."
"Then that's where he is: by the old maple tree where Thunder and I found you."
Again, we'll skip the travel details.
All around in the small clearing, the snow is unsettled, kicked up and stepped on. One path of tracks is from when we ran past here earlier to find Scott. Somehow I didn't notice all the uprooted snow before.
Looking around, I don't see Zaine anywhere. However, I do spot some of the snow that seems to be piled up and packed down. It's not really hidden, just not completely obvious and waving a bright red flag in the white surroundings. Looking closer, it's in the shape of a cross, or someone with their arms straight out.
I roll my eyes. Of course he's under the snow. That's what he needed Scott's help with.
Quietly, I beckon the twins—Chase and Rhea, not Rei and Raiden—over. Pointing out Zaine to them, I get them to sneak up and jump on him. Well, not really jump but fall on him I guess.
Giggling, they do as asked. They fall on top of Zaine and lie there for a few seconds, giggling to themselves. Zaine lifts his head up, using his elbows to prop himself up, having been lying on his stomach. Snow falls off his coat hood which was covering his head. He twists his head around, trying to see the twins on his back. He manages to roll over, making the twins laugh more as they roll over him as his body moves. Zaine laughs with them, poking their stomachs and tickling them.
His head falls back to the snow, his eyes finding the rest of us. "Hey guys! How's it going?"
"Alright," I reply. "Comfy?"
"Actually, yeah. It's pretty warm under the snow too."
"Why were you buried under the snow?" Rei asks.
Zaine shrugs, getting up and shaking the snow off himself, "It's fun. And where else was I gonna hide?"
He walks over, the material of his snow pants loudly bending and twisting with his movements. Pulling one glove off to make it easier, he reaches into one pocket and pulls out the next note, handing it to me and putting his glove back on.
I read over the note, managing to recognize the handwriting as Killian's since it's the same as his short message on the first note.
I have no idea what to do because our first house is too far,
So I guess I'll just go with the place where we spar.
"Oh wow," I mumble, voice monotone. "That's original."
Rei stands next to me, looking at the note. "Where we spar...? That would be the training field."
"Ah ah ah, who's supposed to be figuring all this out?" I say, giving her a playful glare. "But yes, it's probably the training field."
Rei blinks at me, "Well, you're sassy." She turns to Raiden, "Has he always been this sassy? Or is today just special?"
Raiden shrugs, grinning. "Nah, he's usually like this. Get used to it, Reina, you're stuck with him."
"I wasn't complaining," Rei replies, latching on to one of my arms and sending her twin a grin. She kisses me softly, "Forever, Asher."
"Forever," I reply softly.
Though I'm not sure I deserve to have you.
Shut up, Jayden growls. The Moon Goddess chose her for us. We deserve her and she deserves us. End of story.
I wince mentally. I know he's right and I've been trying to avoid those negative thoughts but some still manage to appear in my mind.
"Alright gang, move out!" Zaine shouts happily, enthusiastically pointing towards the field and marching off.
We all follow him, Chase and Rhea chasing Dean and Zaine around ahead of us. Beside me, Rei and Raiden get into some sort of playful argument, while on my other side, Scott gives me a look of 'what the hell are they doing?' that I return, agreeing with him.
When we get to the field, I spot Killian among around fifteen mini snowmen that go up to about my knee, some of them made with balls of snow, others with cubes, some with what I think is supposed to be snow hats and none of them with arms. The warlock is sitting down in the middle of the snowmen, busy making another one, while I notice Stitch, the puppy Zaine convinced Rei to keep, rolling in the snow nearby and looking happy as ever.
"Flash, you do know those are gonna be destroyed later during training, right?" I ask as Zaine sits next to Killian and starts making his own tiny snowman.
"Yeah," he replies, looking up at me from where he's sitting and placing the head on top of the second small snowball. "But I was bored and there was snow, so I decided to make an army. Have you ever tried having someone throw a ball of snow up and getting a warrior to kick or punch it as it falls? Or even having Strange have them fly all over the place? It would work on timing and aim, timing by needing them to hit it right on, not striking out too soon or too late and aim by changing the size of the ball and making it a smaller target to hit."
I look to Scott, who's in charge of training.
He shrugs, "Not a bad idea."
Killian grins, "Of course not, I came up with it."
Scott goes to reply but Zaine interrupts, holding up his tiny snowman that's small enough to be held in one hand, happily shouting, "Done!"
Hearing his shout, Stitch looks up and comes running over, knocking over one of Killian's many snowmen.
"Aw, Stitchie, you killed Herman!" Killian whines to the pup, who is now sniffing and licking at Zaine's little creation. Killian looks at the snowman he just made, "This'll be Herman Jr, in memory of our fallen brother."
I roll my eyes, smiling. "Flash, where's Strange's clue?"
"Uh..." Killian looks around at his miniature armless army, "It's with Wilfred Jeffery Donovan the third."
He points to one of the snowmen, which I now notice has a slip of paper in its 'mouth.' I look up, silently mouthing, "Oh, goddess." Grabbing the paper, I look over the words.
It'll always be here, wherever we roam.
No matter what, this place is our home.
My brows furrow. "That's not really specific... The pack is home but would she mean the pack house?"
"We all picked different places," Raiden says helpfully.
"So not the pack house," I mumble, since Raiden had picked the pack house. "Was our home available to be picked as a spot?"
The six older Royals—did I mention Raiden, Scott, Dean and I are officially part of the Royals? So I'm referring to Rei, Killian, Zaine, Raiden, Scott and Dean—all look at each other, all of them unsure. I give them all a 'seriously?' look.
Rhea looks up from where she and Chase are making their own snowman together. "Strange's at home. I saw her hiding outside when we left but she said not to tell... Oh, oopsie."
Rhea gives a small bashful smile, her cheeks reddening in a blush.
"Alright, then to home we go," I say, booping her nose and making her laugh.
Killian gets up, helping Zaine up. Stitch follows them as they walk with us, then runs ahead to play and run with Chase and Rhea.
"Do you have anything planned for after?" I ask as we walk.
"Weeeeelllll," Dean says, "River made himself the party planner and basically forced the other alphas to stay, so they're setting up the pack house backyard with the pack."
"Yeah, that sounds like River," I reply. "I'm guessing he wouldn't take no for an answer about if there would be a party or not?"
Rei nods. "Yep. He's... quite the character."
"River is special," Raiden says, "But he's nice and a good person and alpha."
I nod, agreeing.
When we get home, I see Clove on the porch, levitating the fluffy snow and making it form shapes and packing it into small sculptures.
She holds up a small whale, one that looks more cartoon than realistic. Her eyes shift, seeing us and a bright smile appears on her lips.
"So you found me," she says. "Happy birthday, Asher."
I smile back. "Thanks. Now, should we head to the pack house?"
Raiden nods. "River mind-linked me and said they were done setting up."
"Great. More walking," Dean whines.
"Come on, you'll live," Scott says, nudging Dean with his shoulder gently.
"Or," Dean says happily, jumping on Scott's back, "I can have you carry me instead."
Scott rolls his eyes but uses his arms to help hold up Dean in a piggyback ride as we walk. Zaine looks at the two of them, then to Killian, who sighs softly, knowing what Zaine wants. They stop walking for a second as Zaine climbs onto Killian's back, the shapeshifter cheering happily.
"So I noticed all of the places you guys chose held some sort of meaning," I say as we walk.
Rei nods. "We tried to think of places where we shared memories with you. We also realized you don't have as many moments of just you with Strange, Flash or Changeling."
"Which isn't fair, by the way," Killian pipes up. "Why can't we have Ceniza for a day?"
"You'll have to immobilize me for a day on your own with him," Rei says.
Killian looks over his shoulder at Zaine then glances to Clove. The three share a grin before replying, "Done!"
"Good luck with that," Thatcher says in a amusement as he appears in front of us, floating an inch or two above the snow and moving backwards without walking.
"What are you doing here?" Rei growls, glaring at him.
Thatcher glances at me questioningly, his look saying 'you didn't tell them yet?' I give him a sheepish smile and shrug.
Thatcher looks back to Rei, saying, "My punishment's over for now, so I thought I'd drop in and give Cin— Asher my gift now rather than in front of the pack."
"And why should we trust you?" Scott asks lowly, eyes flashing angrily. "For all we know, whatever you have could just be meant to hurt him."
"I'm not allowed to hurt him," Thatcher says bluntly, floating through a tree and giving a barely noticeable shiver as if he got a strong chill from passing through the trunk.
The others all look sceptical until Zaine pipes up, "He really can't. Spirits aren't allowed to hurt anyone, can't use their powers to pressure someone towards what they want and can't get someone to carry on their plans. Basically all he can do is chit chat."
As Killian winces slightly at the reminder of Zaine's brief time as a spirit, Thatcher gives everyone a look that says 'see?'
"Still doesn't explain why we should trust you," Clove hisses.
"I don't need your trust," Thatcher says. He glances at the others, "I don't need trust from any of you." His gaze shifts to me, "All I really care about is yours."
I nod softly, "It's coming along." Thatcher smiles brightly at that. I look to Rei, feeling her eyes on me, "What?"
"I don't understand," she says, looking between Thatcher and I. "Why are you two acting so... casually? Did we miss something?"
Suddenly I'm pushed back, Jayden taking over as I notice his anger that I didn't pay attention to before.
"Only Thatcher slipping into Asher's dream and spewing all this bull about being sorry and wanting to be friends," Jayden spits, glaring at Thatcher.
Thatcher's gaze hardens at my wolf's words and I have to say I'm surprised that he reacts and replies angrily instead of masking his anger like I'm used to seeing him do.
"Believe what you want, wolf," Thatcher replies coldly. "The only opinion I care about is your human's, so you can shut it otherwise. You can continue ignoring the truth in my words or you can open your eyes and look at what's right in front of you."
We stop walking. The pack house is visible through the trees but none of us want to have this conversation in front of the pack.
"What's right in front of me is a sick bastard," Jayden growls, voice strained from me trying to push him back.
Stop, I say.
Why should I? Jayden replies. Asher, how can you be sure you can trust him? He could have everyone fooled, again.
He wants to change. And it's not going to happen if someone doesn't try to help.
Jayden is silent for a few seconds before he growls out, Fine, but I'll be waiting to say I told you so.
I smile and nod, and Jayden gives me control over our body again.
"Sorry about him," I say softly.
"'S'Not your fault," Thatcher replies, waving a hand dismissively. I look around at the others, seeing them watching Thatcher carefully through narrowed eyes but not saying anything. "Anyway, back to the reason I'm here in the first place."
Thatcher waves one hand through the air, as if trying to catch something attempting to fly away and a gold ring materializes in his grasp. He holds it out to me and as I reach out to take it, the ghostly appearance it has fades away, until the ring is solid and real in my palm.
Ignoring the others staring at me, I look closer at the ring, noticing small flames carved into the outside of it while the inside is engraved with the words "With ashes, the phoenix begins anew."
"It's beautiful," I say softly. "Thank you."
Thatcher gives a small awkward smile, not used to the words being told to him. "It's enchanted with a communication spell so we can talk like a mind-link, it works the same way. I can't invade his mind or anything, I see those looks, Royals. He would have to willingly let me in."
I ignore everyone's 'are you crazy?' looks as I slip the ring onto my left middle finger. In my mind I can feel a little twinge telling me a mind-link is forming.
Thatcher smiles slightly before saying, "I should be going. River's probably getting impatient."
I nod, agreeing. Thatcher lets his gaze sweep over everyone before he gives me one last smile and disappears.
Raiden immediately turns to me, shouting, "Are you insane?! Why would you trust him?!"
"I don't, not fully," I reply. "But he wants to change and I want to help him."
"Why?" Dean asks. "After what he did, why would you ever consider being nice to him?"
I shrug sheepishly. "I almost don't know myself. But I know he's telling the truth. As he said he's working on being an 'asshole with good intentions.' Now, can we talk about this later and just have fun today?"
They all eye me carefully before nodding. I start walking towards the pack house, hearing the others following me. We walk around the back, since River has set the party up out in the backyard despite it being winter.
Rounding the corner of the pack house, I look around. Snow has been swept off the back patio where tables and chairs have been set up. It looks like snacks are inside in the kitchen, while you eat out here. There are kids, teens and even some adults playing in the backyard, building forts or sculptures with the snow.
I notice Drake waving us over from one of the tables, Nick, Blake, Lily, Luke, Astrid and Heaven with him. Rei, Raiden, Scott, Clove and I go over to join them, while Dean, Killian, Zaine, Chase, Rhea and Stitch go to play in the snow.
"Took you long enough to show up," Drake says as we sit down. "Do you know how annoying River can be?"
"As a matter of fact, I do know how annoying River can be," I reply. "And we got a little held up."
"Really?" Blake asks, curious. "By what?"
"I'll tell you later," I say, knowing that if I told them it would lead to a long conversation I'd rather not have right now. "Where's River?"
With a fairly bored look, Heaven points out to where I now notice River building a snow fort with Jamie and Zero, the younger brothers of Drake and Lily. It looks like Killian, Zaine, Chase and Rhea have started building a fort close by them.
As if sensing our eyes on him, River looks up, grinning when he sees me and coming over. "Asher! What took you so long?"
"Got held up," I reply.
River tilts his head, deciding to not question it for now. "Well, you're here now. Wanna join in fort making? I think we're gonna end up having a snowball war."
"Maybe in a few minutes."
River pouts. "Alright. It's your party though, you are gonna get up and have fun."
I nod. "I will, River, I will."
"Good," River says, grinning. "Anyone else wanna join?"
"Sure," Luke says, getting up. "Nick, Drake, you wanna rematch from Christmas?"
The two alphas glance at each other before Drake smirks. "You're on."
"I call having Nick on my team," Heaven says, standing up. "And Lily, I want Lily too. Raiden, Scott, Clove, you joining in?"
"Eh, why not?" Scott says. "I've been looking to get Killian back for one of the pranks he pulled."
They all get up and head back to where the others are building, leaving just Rei and I.
"They're children," she says, smiling fondly.
"So are we," I say.
"Never said we weren't," Rei replies. She hesitates, "Are you alright? Normally you'd join in right away."
"I promise, I'm fine, Rei," I say softly as she takes my hand, leaning her head on my shoulder. "I just... Want a minute or two to mentally sort through everything going on. I mean, today is my birthday, as well as the day I stupidly rejected you and now the day I gave Thatcher another chance."
"Which I still think you're crazy for," Rei says with a soft smile. "But if anyone has the right to decide that, you do. And I thought I told you to stop letting that rejection haunt you. It was a stupid decision but it's in the past."
"I know but if I had just smartened up, then I would have been able to spend so much more time with you," I reply.
"Yeah, but then I would have never met Clove, Killian, Zaine, Chase, Rhea and Lyria," Rei says. "And though not being rejected at first would have been really nice, life without them would probably be really boring."
I chuckle softly, nodding. "I agree. They definitely keep things interesting."
Rei laughs, smiling. "I love you, Asher," she says quietly, kissing me softly. "My alpha."
"I love you too," I reply. "My Rogue Queen."