She wanted to reply. She really did. But the lump that formed in her throat was slowly choking her. Reed had tried to catch her attention once more, unwrapping his arm from around her shoulder. But it was no use, her eyes were still on the face of the Wight. Reed shook her shoulder once more, his voice rising. Callas opened her mouth, but the words didn't fall out like she wanted them to. He followed her stony glance and his jaw clenched, a low rumble came from his chest as he stood up. He could see him. Reed could see the Wight. All that time, Callas had thought that he was a figment of her imagination. Everyone around them paused, turning their attention to Reed before they looked in the direction that Reed was. Before Callas could stop him, Reed took off running, the Wight tilted his head before he backed away into the darkness. Sam huffed in frustration, glancing to the boys before he took off after Reed.
Some of the boys followed—mainly Jared, Paul, and Quil, although Quil lagged behind a bit waiting for the others—leaving Callas and only a few of the older people behind. Zeus began barking loudly from the Jeep, growling before another wave of barks sounded from the Jeep. Callas glanced back at the Jeep before she turned to face the circle again. Everything was happening too quickly and it made her feel sick. She pushed herself up from the log and managed to grab hold of Embry's arm before he was able to disappear as well. He tried to pull his hand away from her but her grip tightened as she forced him to look at her, he gulped when his eyes met hers, he looked like he wanted to say something, but he remained silent, which wasn't comforting.
"Embry, what's going on?"
"Uh," Embry hesitated, continuously glancing back to the tree line. "I have to go."
"No, Embry, tell me."
"Callas, please," he begged, gently removing his arm from her grip.
"Embry, let's go." Quil motioned his head. Jacob looked at Callas for a moment before he took off with Quil.
Seth pulled Embry away. "I'm sorry, Callas, we have to do this." Seth frowned at her.
The woman with the scars on her face, who was with Sam—who Callas could only assume to be Emily—stood up quickly when Callas tried to follow them. Callas was determined to find Reed, she didn't want him to encounter the Wight, but she also didn't want to be left alone without him. Emily placed her hands on Callas's shoulders pushing her back. A look in her eyes warned Callas not to follow, but she wasn't going to listen to someone she didn't know. Once again, Callas went to try and follow them again, wanting to know why Reed and the others had just left, and if Reed was alright. Emily kept muttering no, continuously pushing Callas back—who was now beginning to lose her patience as she glared at Emily, pushing her hands away violently.
"Callas," Emily started.
"I'm going after my brother," she rushed out, not bothering to look Emily in the eyes as she continued to stare into the darkness that covered the tree line and beyond.
Emily shook her head. "You need to stay here."
"The hell I do!" Callas yelled.
"Please, it's safer if you stay."
"Safer? If I stay?" She hissed. "No one here can protect us! Reed can! I'm going to find my brother, and you're not going to stop me."
"You're not going in there, it's too dangerous." Emily placed her hands gently on Callas's upper arms, her voice was soft, trying to calm her down.
"If you touch me one more time," Callas threatened as she pushed Emily's arms off her again.
"That's enough," Billy ordered. Callas stepped back, breathing heavily as she turned to face Billy. "You need to calm down."
"I need to make sure Reed is okay."
"Never mind Reed. Sam and the others can deal with it." He shook his head, but she wasn't sure what that meant exactly, she wasn't sure if she wanted to know what it meant. Billy must have noticed the distraught look on her face. "He'll be fine."
She opened her mouth. "C-Could you see it?"
"See what?"
Callas forced a laugh, of course, she was going insane. "Never mind."
"What did you see?" Billy moved closer to Callas, around the fire. "Callas, what did you see?"
"You won't believe me," she whispered quietly. "I'm losing my mind." She sighed, sitting down on the log, putting her head in her hands. "I'm just losing my mind."
"I doubt that," he told her as he rested his hands on his lap, looking down at her.
"I've just been seeing things. Things that I can't explain." She looked at him, rubbing her forehead stressfully.
"That doesn't mean you're losing your mind."
"Well, I don't see any other explanation."
"It's going to be alright."
She scoffed. "How would you know?"
"You're not the only one who has seen things that they can't explain. Many of us, many of our ancestors have seen things that are not easily explained."
"I don't want to hear another legend, Billy. I want Reed."
"I know." He offered her a sad smile.
Callas didn't say anything after that. Billy left her alone, moving back over to Sue and Old Quil. Emily sighed to herself as she sat down near Callas. "I didn't mean it," Callas mumbled.
"Mean what?" Emily asked softly.
"What I said to you. I didn't mean to say that to you." She looked over to Emily, frowning. "I'm just scared."
"Soon—" Emily stopped talking, turning her head to the trees, quickly standing up.
"What?" Callas asked quickly as she got up as well, turning around to look.
Reed wasn't among those that had returned. Tears welled up in her eyes as she only saw Paul and Embry return, panting heavily as they made their way back towards the bonfire. One thing that confused Callas was why they didn't have shirts on like they did when they left, but she wasn't going to be the one to point it out if no one else was going to. Her heart raced, thinking of the worst when Embry walked over slowly, his eyes not meeting hers. Paul couldn't look at her either, he crossed his arms over his chest and looked down, Emily went over to talk to him quietly. She stepped back, wrapping her arms around herself as Embry opened his mouth but closed it when he had nothing to say. He shook his head and pulled her towards him, wrapping his arms around her tightly, resting his head on hers.
"Where's Reed?" Her voice trembled.
"Let me drive you home." He ignored her. His tone was light, almost like air, as he pulled back slightly, resting his forehead on hers.
"Is he okay? Is he hurt?"
Embry let out a sigh before he stepped back, holding his hands out for the keys. With a shaky hand, Callas reluctantly pulled the keys out from her pocket, placing the cold metal of the keys in the palm of his hand. Embry walked around her and towards the Jeep. She pulled the material of Reed's jumper closer to her body as she forced herself to turn around slowly, no one spoke a word as her feet dragged across the ground. Her eyes stayed glued to the ground and she slowly opened the passenger side of the Jeep, settling in as she closed the door. Her head rested against the window while Embry started the engine.
"Can you put your seatbelt on?" Embry asked.
Callas shook her head. He let out a sigh, nodding to himself as he pulled the Jeep out, away from Jacobs house, slowly driving along the road, being careful not to make any sudden turns as Callas wasn't strapped in. She had no idea what was happening to Reed. Or if he was even alive still. The looks on Paul and Embry's faces when they returned didn't look very good. Neither did the fact that no one else had returned. Callas shivered to herself and she closed her eyes, wanting to think of something else rather than the possibilities of what could have happened to Reed. Embry looked over to her and frowned.
"Do you want me to put the heating on?"
She shook her head.
"Do you want the radio on?"
She shook her head.
"Do you—?"
Before he could ask she shook her head.
"Callas, please tell me what I can do to make you feel better."
Embry sounded pained as he looked at her to the road multiple times, his hand was twitching, wanting to just pull her close to him and hold her. But he couldn't do that, not now at least. Her response was another shake of her head. Embry continued to drive in silence before he turned down the small road, making his way to her house. Instead of parking just in front of Silas's old truck, he drove the Jeep around the side of the house, turning the engine off. He stayed seated, looking out the front window, unsure of what he was meant to say. Callas turned her head to look up at the house, staring at Reed's bedroom window.
"I don't want to be alone," she spoke barely above a whisper.
"I can stay if you want me to?" He offered.
She nodded her head opening the passenger side door. Once she was out, she pulled back the chair and let Zeus out, closing the window in the Jeep. Embry walked around the Jeep and to Callas. The house keys were on Reed's set of keys, which meant that they didn't have to wake Silas or Anya up as he unlocked the front door and let Callas and Zeus in before he followed, closing the door quietly behind him. Zeus padded to the kitchen, laying down in his bed behind the table. Embry grabbed hold of Callas's hand before she began to walk up the stairs. She couldn't even will herself to look at Reed's door. When she pushed open her bedroom door she didn't bother turning on the lights, she kicked off her shoes and crawled onto the bed. He closed the door and set the keys on the small bedside table.
She wanted to cry. She wanted to let all of her emotions out but there was nothing. It was as if she was empty, all because Reed's fate was unknown to her. Embry took off his own shoes and pulled back the covers on her bed, sliding in next to her. Immediately, she turned to face him, laying her head on his chest. His arms wrapped around her, and he whispered, "Things will make sense soon enough." Desperately, she wanted to know what he had meant by that, but she was too tired to ask. As Callas began to fall asleep, Embry pressed a kiss to her forehead, running his hand up and down her back soothingly as he stared at the ceiling.