Chapter 54
John and I must have talked for longer than I had planned. It was already starting to get dark out, which meant dinner was over already. It was too risky for me to miss a meal with the way my body was acting. I debated turning around and buying a muffin for myself, but quickly decided it would be better to head home and eat a filling dinner. Besides I didn't think I'd have enough money.
Was John right? I know that I sure as hell didn't want Jace around me now. I was happy without him. But I knew I was still in love with him, which hurt a hundred times more. It hurt to know I was in love with the man who had deceived and used me as a way to gain power. Most days I pretended as if these feeling didn't even exist, and whatever that I couldn't ignore I turned into anger. I guess you could call that moving on, right?
But deep down I knew John was right. I would die if I didn't get back together with Jace. It wasn't worth it to die over a stupid mate. I wanted to scream at whoever decided I should have a mate, and made my life instantly more complicated by matching me up with Jace.
I could be as angry as I wanted to be with Jace, but it was a ridiculous reason to let myself die over something as stupid as this. This meant I would have to call him. I shivered instantly at the thought, and felt the hard cold lump return to my throat.
I entered the house, and was welcomed by the screams of little girls running away from the volunteers, who were trying to put them to bed. Mia was among the herd of small children running down the stairs, emanating high pitched screeching. I cringed, as I closed the door with a loud snap. The girls looked up at me, and suddenly the hoard hurtled towards me. Crap! I was knocked off balance when Mia came jumping up into my already weakened arms. I fell onto The Mountain, which wasn't exactly the best cushioning considering one of Jenna's heels was stabbing into my side. My breath was knocked out of me, and for a frightening moment I couldn't catch it again.
All thoughts of calling Jace flew out my mind.
"Where were you?" Mia asked, squirming up out of my arms.
Once she was off of me, I was able to catch a steady breath. I took my time to answer her so I could breath, by slowly getting up from The Mountain.
"I had to meet up with a friend," I replied.
The other girls had run into the living room. Mia moved to go chase after them, but I quickly caught her arm.
"No you don't," I scolded. "Come on, lets go off to bed."
"But-" She started to protest, but I cut her off by pulling her up the steps with me.
Mia was already dressed in her over sized white t-shirt, that served as pajamas for her. She was clutching a pair of pajama shorts, which meant that the volunteer had been in the middle of dressing her when she and the others ran off.
When we reached the top of the steps I had to pause. The walk, although refreshening, had drained what little bit of energy I had left. Walking up the steps didn't help the situation at all. It left me feeling light headed, my breathing shallow, and my limbs shook even harder.
Mia yanked on my hand to pull me along to her room, with surprising strength. I followed her into the empty room with five beds. The occupants of the beds were still running amok around the house.
Mia leaped gingerly onto her bed, knocking off her pillow.
"Come here," I called, as I sat at the foot of her bed.
Mia came over, and allowed me to put on her flowered shorts.
"Did you brush your teeth?" I asked.
Mia nodded, and jumped over to where her pillow sat sadly on the floor. She placed it on the head of her bed, and curled up under the covers.
"Can you tell me a story?" She asked.
"Uh..." I glanced around the room for a book. The room was bare of such things.
"I can go get a story from downstairs."
"No! I want you to make one up," Mia said, sitting up.
"Um... Ok?"
Mia pulled me over to where she sat. I lay down next to her on top of her covers. She lay down on my chest, arms loops around my waist. I played with her long dark hair.
"What type of story do you want?" I asked, since I couldn't think of a story.
"A story about magic," She said.
Well I had a real life story for her about magic. I glanced down at Mia, and decided it wouldn't hurt to tell this story to her.
"Ok, but it's not the type of magic you would think of. Its a different type, more like a fantasy type of story. Once upon a time there was a human girl that lived with a family that really cared for her. But there was something weird about that family. They weren't human. Whenever they would get angry they would start to shake, their eyes would become black, they would make animalistic noises... uh thats noises that sound like animals, and they would quickly run outside so the human girl wouldn't see what happens to them." I felt Mia stiffen against me.
"It took a while for the girl to figure out what her family was. When she found out what they were, at first she didn't believe them. How could people turn into giant wolves. Do you know what people like that are called?" I asked Mia. She sat up, and watched me closely before answering.
"Werewolves," she whispered so softly that I almost didn't hear it.
I patted the pillow, motioning for Mia to lay back down. She shook her head stubbornly. I shrugged, and continued on with my story.
"But these aren't the type of werewolves that change every full moon, or eat humans. These types of werewolves are very nice, and can change whenever they want. They can turn into wolves after they are 16. Now these werewolves can also have something called mates. Do you know what soul mates are?" Mia nodded her head. "Well mates are just like soul mates.
"Anyways, the girl was very happy with her family. But there were many other werewolves that wanted to hurt this girl, because her family were in charge of a group of werewolves. But her family fought very hard to protect her. One day the girl met a boy. Now this boy was also a werewolf. He was her mate. At first the boy didn't want the girl because she was human. The boy's father wanted to hurt this girl, so when he didnt want her. It became harder for her family to protect her. It was too dangerous for the human girl to live with her family, so they sent her to a safer place. The girl was very sad, because she was away from her family, and her mate didn't want her. But then he realized he needed his mate..." I trailed off.
Jace's laughing face as he carried me out into the lake flashed before my eyes. The smile he gave me when he handed over the right flavored blizzard. Sitting on the swings in the park. Making out after an intense self- defense lesson in the woods. It felt like someone was hacking into my chest as the images lingered in my mind.
"They were both very happy. They fell in love with each other. He would make her laugh and smile whenever they were together. He would comfort her when she needed it. One day the boy told the human girl the truth, of why he was with her. She was angry at him, because he had lied and pretended to love her. The girl was hurt for a long time. She was very sad, because people are supposed to love their mates. Slowly she started to feel happy again without her mate."
"You skipped a part," Mia pointed out.
"What part did I skip?" I asked earnestly.
Mia looked up at me with wide knowing eyes. The lamp at the corner of the room threw dark shadows over her face, concealing part of it.
"The human girl met a werewolf girl in the safe place she was sent to by her family. The werewolf girl didn't have a family anymore, but the human girl was a sister to the werewolf girl. The human girl helped the werewolf girl in the safe place."
I looked puzzled at Mia, not understanding what she meant. She didn't meet my eyes. There was no way Mia could have known this story, considering it was a child friendly version of my life. I wasn't even aware a part like that existed in my life.
Mia gently reached out, and touched my bite mark scar on my shoulder.
"This was caused by a werewolf, wasn't it?" She asked.
I stared in shock at her. How did she know? I thought about what Mia had just told me.
I had skipped a part of my story. The human girl was a sister to the werewolf girl who had lost her family... It couldn't be.
But it all made sense. Her unnatural love for the forest that brought comfort to her, that was even more unnatural than my own love for it. Her agility, speed, and strength. The way the tiny five year old had managed to pin an eight year old to the ground while whispering threats into her ear.
Thinking back to what Emily had told me of Mia's past. The story of what had happen to her family all added up to what Mia was telling me now. Her family was attacked by animals. Emily had never said what type of animal, but I would bet anything it was a wolf. She had never seen a doctor before, probably because of her fast healing. Her family was obviously hiding out in the woods with fake documents, something that many... I couldn't think the words.
I glanced over at the small five year old with caramel colored skin, long thick dark hair that brushed her elbows, and wide dark eyes that stared up at me in curiosity. The same eyes I had known for nearly two months now. Ones that I thought I knew so well, yet all along had held a secret so dark and mysterious I had never guessed it.
She was a werewolf.