I stopped crying when I heard the noise of footsteps.
But they weren't ordinary footsteps.
They were mouse footsteps.
I was lucky enough to have good hearing, thanks to my werewolf abilities which were all but gone.
I looked up to see the mouse I'd handled before sitting in front of me, staring at me with its little black eyes.
It gave a squeak and tore across the room, stopping at the box. Then it looked up and once again gave a squeak.
I became suddenly curious as to why the mouse was acting this way.
Deciding to follow my curiosity, I became a mouse too and scuttled over to where the other mouse was sitting. As I arrived, the mouse gave a squeak and squeezed itself behind the box. I followed.
There, behind the large box, was a hole. A dark little mouse hole.
The mouse had already squeezed itself in and I heard a squeak from inside.
I followed, sending a 'wish me luck' message to conscience, who still hadn't shown herself.
The tunnel was small and dark and for a very long time, I felt a déjà vu from the night in the forest, following the crow in the dark of the night.
I gave a squeak, looking for reassurance. For a seconds was scared that I had been fooled again, but a reassuring squeak came from a little way down the tunnel.
It was about this time that the first door came into view. It was more off hole really, but on closer inspection, I realized it led into a room. The room was empty and much like Isabelle's. It held a few boxes of junk and a broken stone fireplace. It surprised me very much that this tunnel made by a mouse led to another room.
Trying my luck, I continued down the tunnel and to another hole. The holes were off to the right side of me and the tunnel had to be inside the wall itself.
The next hole had a small girl with feathery white wings. She had to be at least 7 years old. She was fast asleep, her face covered in dirt, as well as her hair. She was curled up in the corner of the room, much like Isabelle had been. There wasn't a bed to be seen in this room either. I felt a strong surge of pity for all the people locked up in this old hotel.
A squeak coming from the tunnel reminded me that I had to keep going. So, after one last look at the poor little girl, I set off once again down the tunnel.
After three more empty rooms, I finally found an occupied one. It had Isabelle.
She was pacing back and forth in the room, now and then she would kick the door. I was surprised she wasn't asleep, i mean it was about 2am.
I scuttled into the dim room.
She turned and looked at me in disgust.
"another mouse?" she groaned "I thought I got rid of you?"
I shifted into my human form.
"well I'm back again" I grinned at her.
It took her a second to realize.
"JESS" she squealed, wrapping me in a hug.
"SSSH" I said hastily "they're still guarding downstairs!"
"they went to sleep long ago" she giggled "I've been checking. Every time I kick the door, someone will yell at me. Nobody has yelled for a while now".
I grinned
"that's pretty smart' I admitted.
"so what are you doing here?" she asked "have you thought up a way of escaping?".
"not yet" I admitted "but I'm working on it".
"how did you get in?" She walked over to where I'd appeared "can you teleport now or something?"
"no" I couldn't help giggling "a little mouse showed me the way here, there's a mouse hole with a tunnel to every room!"
I suddenly had a brainwave.
"you could shift into a mouse too!" I exclaimed "we could escape together!".
Isabelle got excited.
"I could" she grinned "where's the little mouse? I'll try right now!"
Suddenly there was yelling from downstairs.
"oh no" gasped Isabelle "we were too loud! Quick! Back into the hole! Go back to your room!".
She hurried me out.
I watched as she took her place in a corner, pretending to sleep.
I saw her wink at me as I scuttle back towards my room.
***
The next few nights I visited Isabelle around the same time.
I was constantly listening to Scarlett's side of the phone calls.
This 'Richard' bloke had delayed an extra week. Something came up he needed to attend.
Scarlett was pretty disappointed about this.
The next few days, nobody had come in to take my blood, which I was extremely grateful for.
Then one day, I was lying on my bed when the phone downstairs rang.
"hello?" Scarlett's velvety voice answered the phone.
There was silence for a moment.
"Felix! So great to hear from you! What's going on?...........oh no!... Not Jess from school?!..... Oh that's terrible! ...... No I can't come, mother will get angry....... She's very busy with City business..... Won't tell me what it is, sorry........... I see...... That's awful! I'm sorry to hear that!.....I hope you find her soon!..... Called Jess? No I haven't tried..... Alright...... There's no way I can sneak out.... No I'm too busy..... Seriously! ....... Alright.... Bye!"
Felix
Felix had called..
He'd been looking for me..
***
It was late afternoon (I think) when Scarlett came upstairs.
She entered my room, the door hitting the wall with a loud BANG.
"your boyfriend called" she waved her phone in the air "looking for you".
"He's not my boyfriend" I muttered.
"oh really?" she giggled "he seemed quite set on looking for you! And my scouts tell me you locked lips a few times"
"once" I hissed "jealous?"
"hardly" she sniggered
"oh right" I slapped my forehead "you've got your precious little Richard! The one who delays seeing you all the time! Couldn't imagine why". My words might as well of had sarcasm dripping off them. This angered Scarlett quite a bit.
She slammed the door without another word.
I smiled.
Jess: 1
Scarlett: 0
***
Night fell over West Field, I could tell because it was darker than usual. It didn't look like there was much of a moon tonight, and it seemed that the West Fielders were celebrating the darkness. There was loud, horrible music blaring out of large speakers and echoing throughout the town.
Spike was out wrestling again. His shirt was off and all his muscles covered in glistening sweat. A man with similar muscles and patchy hair was fighting him, which was probably a pretty stupid thing to do considering I'd never seen Spike lose.
I watched as Spike got the man on the ground and began punching his face hard.
"He's the Beta, you know" a voice came from behind me.
Alex.
He was wearing the same clothes, only they looked cleaner.
"long time no see" I raised an eyebrow "and I you've cleaned up"
" i see you haven't" he winked at me "enjoying the festivities, are we?"
He barely waited for a reply.
"yes, Spike is a natural. I don't think he loses the often" Alex watched too. I slowly inched away from him.
"he's only lost one. Brutal fight it was, too. Someone from East Pack" Alex walked away from the window "Now, there is a celebration going on, nothing much, just a bit of fun"
I raised my eyebrow at the word 'fun' but Alex ignored it.
"there will be quite a few drunks tonight and Scarlett wants extra protection on your room" Alex continued.
A black ball glided into the room and landed on Alex's shoulder.
"Estelle?" I raised both my eyebrows at this "she's guarding my room?".
Alex chuckled "no silly girl"
We sat in silence.
Alex looked at me expectantly.
"am I supposed to guess?" I raised my eyebrow at him.
"it's more fun than me just telling you" Alex gave me another wink.
"uh.... You?" fear shot through my body. If Alex guarded my room, there was no way I would be able to visit Alex.
Alex gave a loud laugh.
"why would I want to guard YOU? That's boring!".
Relief flooded through me.
"can't you just tell me?" I asked irritably.
Alex opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Spike entering the room.
"heard I'm playing guard" Spike raised an eyebrow.
Alex groaned
"you weren't supposed to tell her!".
Spike folded his arms and raised his eyebrows.
"no offense, Alex, but I don't think she's in the mood for games". He gave a glance at me.
For a second, I thought he may of cared, but from the look he have me it probably resembled him looking at a bit of dirt.
Alex mumbled something under his breath and left the room, Estelle fluttering over to Spikes shoulder.
She whispered something in his ear.
He nodded.
"Estelle will be watching at night, so I can sleep" Spike explained "just because she's a bird, doesn't mean she can't stop you from escaping. So don't try anything".
He left the room, but Estelle fluttered over to my crappy bed.
The door slammed behind her.
I said nothing, just turned back to the window.
There was tension in the air, making it obvious that Estelle wanted to say something.
"what" I didn't look at her.
"I know what you've been up to" she whispered "your little mouse event. Are you enjoying it?"
"why does everyone keep asking if I'm ENJOYING this? Am I ENJOYING being cut and having my blood stolen? Am I ENJOYING watching people attack each other on the streets? Am I ENJOYING being a prisoner? Tell me something Estelle, would YOU enjoy it?" I guess my anger and frustration had hit overload.
Estelle flinched.
"I-I'm sorry, I was only trying to help" she whispered.
"if you want to help" I hissed "get me out of here".
"I can talk to animals" she blurted out "I sent that mouse over to you!"
I turned around and stared at her.
"y-you can talk to animals?" I whispered.
"sure" she seemed delighted "mice, rats, wolves, bugs.. Even other birds! It's the perks of being a witch!".
I nodded silently.
"any animal?" I asked.
"I guess so.." she looked suspicious of what I was getting at.
"Estelle" I smiled "I think I have a plan"