Wednesday with Henry was definitely something Callas needed. Surprisingly, Henry's dad knew exactly where they were, he even offered to drop Callas off, despite her claiming that she could bike home. Mr Blanchard just laughed to himself and shook his head, taking the key for the lock from her, unchaining her bike before he placed it on the back of his car. He even asked how Reed was doing—more than likely becoming some sort of friend to her older brother. Callas had to lie straight through her teeth, making up some excuse as to where he was and why he wasn't answering the phone. Henry sat in the back with her, although she said he didn't have to, he insisted. When Mr Blanchard pulled up outside of her house, he quickly took her bike from the back, handing it over when she got out of the car. She thanked him for the ride and made her way around the side of the house, balancing her bike up against the wall of the house, waving goodbye to Henry and his dad as she unlocked the side door, stepping into the empty house.
Almost immediately, her phone buzzed. Without hesitation, she pulled her phone out of her pocket, expecting either Anya or Henry to have sent her a text. She had pretty much given up on the boys and Reed at that point. Zeus had bounded his way down the stairs, jumping up as he greeted her before she had time to check the message on her phone. She petted his head before he jumped down, sniffing around her. He followed her up the stairs and to her bedroom. Callas quickly got dressed into her pyjama's, almost forgetting that she took her phone out for a reason. She sat down on her bed, with Zeus laying behind her panting heavily. Her phone buzzed again as she unlocked it, another text coming through. She clicked on the first message, it was Henry. He was talking about how his dad was impressed with the condition of the old truck, that was parked next to Reed's Jeep, underneath the shelter, next to the house where she had left her bike. She shook her head with a smile before she opened the other text, her screen jumped with a small glitch—which wasn't normal—before the unknown message popped up:
Unknown:
Well, isn't this something? Our poor little Callas is left all alone in the big, empty house. Now, I would, under better circumstances, or just a generally different circumstance, quote the three little pigs with the huffing and the puffing and the blowing of the house down. But now it just seems ill fitting. Which is odd, because I don't care about any of that. You know, I'm getting off track. Are you okay? I saw you almost plummet off the side of the cliff... If you haven't already guessed it, I don't entirely care about your well-being as such. Well, I do, in a way. You're important to me, in some odd defying way, but other than that, as long as you aren't dead, then you're fine. Well, relatively. I don't exactly like sending messages this way, you can't tell if I'm sarcastic or not, and that's my charm. Anywho, you should get some sleep, you have a big event coming up on Friday. You're still going with the mutt, aren't you? I'm sure you are. Maybe not. You can't see me but I shrugged... Next time I'll see you in person. Sweet dreams, Callas.
She turned the screen off immediately, turning around to face the window. Whoever it was—whoever or whatever the Wight was—it must have been watching her. The curtains were closed and she couldn't see anything outside, which most likely meant that whatever was outside couldn't see her either. Callas put her phone on charge, getting up slowly. She walked over to her desk, unlocking the draw with the police file. Her hands skimmed over the folder before she picked it up and closed the draw. After turning around to face the bathroom, making sure nothing weird or supernatural was possibly lurking behind the door—although she wouldn't mind if she found Castiel back there, maybe he'd vanquish the Wight—she turned to walk out of her room. It was a better time than any to put the file back in Reed's room. Zeus had got up and followed her, obviously not liking the fact that Silas wasn't around anymore, or anyone else for that matter, so he enjoyed the company. Reed's door was closed, the police file was pulled against Callas's chest as she hugged it tighter, her forehead was pressed against the wood of his door.
Callas placed her hand on the door handle, at a largo pace she turned the cold brass until the door slowly pushed into the room. It was dark. She placed her hand on the wall inside and flicked on the light switch, she squinted as she turned to look in the room. It was neater than she expected. Bluer as well. The curtains were dark blue, which blended in with the walls. Reed's bed was pushed underneath the window, that was facing the front of the house, his work duffle bag was left at the end of the bed on the floor. She walked in looking around. His desk, opposite his bed, was slightly messy, the corkboard, that hung above it, had pins pressed in with different snippets of paper, some articles, and photos. Reed's dresser, that was pressed against the wall of the door, had various photo frames, mostly filled with pictures of Callas and himself, some of their parents, and one of him and their parents at the hospital with their mum holding Callas. She placed the file down on the dresser, slowly picking up one of the photos. She hadn't seen over half of the photos Reed had hanging up.
"Please, come home," she whispered quietly, moving to sit down on his bed.
Zeus jumped up next to her, settling down when he saw her lay her head down on the pillow as well. Callas placed the photo frame on the side table by her head, laying on her back to stare up at the ceiling. She knew it was too early to go to bed, it was barely half past seven when Mr Blanchard had dropped her back home. What had felt unsettling was the fact that the Wight had been watching her, he had watched her fall from her bike and walk into her house. She sat up abruptly, turning her head to the door. Callas pushed her legs off the side, standing up, stumbling as she stood up too quickly. Zeus lifted his head up as Callas patted her leg, he got up and followed her, she turned the light off in his room and closed the door behind her, turning her attention to the stairs. She forgot to lock the door. She pointed towards her bedroom, Zeus walked in and she closed the door behind him, not wanting him to follow her down the stairs.
"Everything is going to be fine," she mumbled as she walked down the stairs, cursing when she realised that she didn't have anything to protect her.
When she stepped off the bottom step into the cold wooden floor she looked to the side door, it was wide open and swinging slightly, she looked around quickly, only seeing Reed's old metal baseball bat, next to the draws on the floor, from when he used to play for his college before he took online classes during their father's death. Gripping it tightly, she held it up, breathing in deeply as she made her way to the side door. Slowly, she tried to close it without making it creak or slam shut with the wind. Callas breathed out when the door closed silently, only letting out a small click when she turned the lock. Either that was a smart move or she just locked herself in the house with someone or something. She winced, closing her eyes tightly, cursing herself for what she was about to do next.
"Hello?" She called out before she covered her mouth and ducked behind the sofa as if it would protect her. It was stupid to think that anyone would respond. Until she heard it. The wooden floorboard creaked quietly as it came closer and closer to her.
There were footsteps walking around from where Silas and Anya's bedroom was, on the other side of the house, her heart began to pound and she could feel her pulse at the tips of her fingers, rather painfully. She regretted calling out until she heard a familiar voice call back to her, "Callas?"
"Embry?" She questioned as she stood up from behind the sofa.
He blinked, surprised to see her pop up, pointing to the sofa with a confused look on his face. "What are you—?"
"No!" She pointed the metal baseball bat at him, with a glare, while walking around the sofas.
He raised his hands up in the air. "What?"
"You broke in, you don't get to question my motives." She glared as she placed the metal baseball bat back by the wall.
"Were you going to hit me with that?"
"If you were going to attack me. Yes." She nodded.
"Good thing I'm not here to attack you."
"Why are you here?"
"What?"
"Why are you here?"
"You texted me to come over, you said it was an emergency."
Callas looked at him dumbfounded, she definitely did not do that. She shook her head before looking up to the ceiling. Lowering her gaze, she looked back to Embry before quickly making her way up the stairs. Embry huffed before following her, calling out her name. She pushed open her bedroom door. Zeus looked up from where he was laying on the bed, his ears pricked up and his tail began to wag as she walked in with Embry behind her. Embry walked in, placing his hand on the door as it began to close after being forced open violently, looking at her as she searched around her side table, opening up the draws before she patted around under the bed, then under her pillow. She stood up straighter, looking around before she moved over to her desk, opening up some of the draws until she noticed the key was laying on the ground. Embry walked over to her slowly, still not sure of what she was doing. Carefully, she unlocked the draw and pulled it out.
"You locked your phone away?"
"No." She shook her head, taking the phone out. "I definitely didn't do that." She eyed her phone before looking in the draw where the file once was. "Crap," she muttered, throwing her phone on the bed by Zeus before she ran out of her room and towards Reed's door.
"Callas? What is going on?"
She pushed open the door, turning on the light, everything was where it was how she had left it. Her gaze shifted to the dresser, the file was still there. She picked it up, breathing out deeply, closing her eyes, silently muttering a 'thank God' under her breath as Embry leaned against the doorframe, watching her closely. Callas picked up the duffle bag from the floor, placing it on the bed, she unzipped it and opened it up, there were some spare clothes, a half drunken water bottle with protein powder in a separate tub. She shoved the file in, her hand pressed against something cold. Callas paused. She, steadily, moved the file and opened the bag up more, Reed's police belt was inside, there was a spare magazine with bullets, the gun was more than likely still in the Jeep, the metal was cool against her skin. With a gulp she shook her head, zipping the bag back up, placing it back down on the ground before she rubbed her forehead.
"Callas? What is going on?" Embry repeated.
"I don't know." She turned around to face him. "I don't know what's wrong with me."
"Why did you send me that text?"
"I didn't." She shook her head. "I got home, went upstairs, checked my messages in case you or any of your idiot friends had decided to take their heads out of their asses and answer me for once about my brother," she started, glaring at him. "But it was just Henry. I put my phone on charge and came in here."
"Look, Callas, I'm—"
"I thought you were different."
"Callas—"
"But I guess Sam has more power over you than I thought. Whatever it is that he has over you and the others, find a way around it."
Embry sighed. "I'm trying."
"Try,"—she pressed her finger to his chest harshly—"harder."
"He misses you." Embry looked down.
"Then why hasn't Sam let him come back home to me?" Callas didn't step away, continuing to keep her advance on Embry as strong as she hoped it was.
Embry wanted to look down in shame but his eyes would only be met with Callas's dark brown eyes peering up at him with a look of anger and pain, so he looked to the side. "It's more complicated than that."
"Do you know if he's okay?" She tried keeping her voice levelled, but talking about Reed was a difficult subject nowadays.
"He's getting better."
"Can I see him?"
"I don't know..."
"Embry, you know how much I need this, after everything I've been through, please let me see Reed. Please let me see my brother."
"I'll see what I can do, but I don't know when—"
"Saturday, without fail," she ordered. Embry looked at her.
"Callas," he started.
"No, Call, you're going to bring me to Reed on Saturday, that's not negotiable. None of this ever will be when my family is involved. He's my brother, not yours, not Sam's. So, you are going to tell that jacked up, buddy friend of yours that I'm coming down for a visit, whether he likes it or not. Now, he can try to stop me. You can all try to stop me. But in order to stop a Quinn, you're going to need to put a bullet between my eyes or else I'm going down in a blaze of hell fire, and I'll take everything in my path down with me if I have to. I can promise you that it won't be pretty for anyone who dares get in my way. Is that clear? Because I won't say it again."
Embry's eyes glazed over for a few moments and Callas tilted her head, unsure of what was happening. "Fine," he spoke after a few seconds of silence. "But Sam won't be happy about it."
"Boo hoo." Callas scoffed quietly, stepping back from Embry.
"I still don't understand."
"What?"
"If you didn't send me the message, then who did?"
Truth be told, Callas had an idea on who sent it, but she wasn't going to suggest it out loud. She reached behind him, turning the light off before she stepped out, Embry did the same, standing in front of her in the hallway. Callas reached for Reed's door handle and closed it, letting out a sigh before she made her way to her room. When she reached her room, she sat down on the bed, picking up her phone, unlocking it to see what the message actually said. Embry walked in and sat down in front of her, placing his hand on Zeus's head as he watched her look at her phone. There was nothing. After checking to make sure a few times, now sitting cross-legged in front of Embry, she gave up, shrugging her shoulders, opening her mouth a few times, unsure of how she could explain it.
"Okay, well now I don't understand, there was no message sent."
Embry sat up, taking her phone and turning it towards himself. "Well, it definitely came from your number." He turned his own phone screen to her.
Callas raised an eyebrow at her name on his phone. "Calvin?"
"My phone doesn't like your name, remember?"
"How could I forget? You called me two boys names before an element."
"You knew what I meant."
"I'm sure Calvin and Calum knew, perhaps we should turn to the twentieth element on the periodic table, calcium, to see if it sent you a message as well."
"Why are you being sarcastic?"
"It's how I deal with being freaked out."
Embry sighed. "I'm sure you sent it by accident and then deleted it and then forgot or something."
"But I never sent you a message. I stopped sending you messages after I realised you weren't going to talk to me about my own brother that your 'leader' kidnapped from me."
"Sam didn't kidnap him."
"The crime of unlawfully seizing and carrying away a person by force or fraud, or seizing and detaining a person against his or her will with an intent to carry that person away at a later time."
"H-How do you even know the exact definition of it?"
"Reed works with the police!" She yelled. "Which, you know, is a job he hasn't be attending for almost an entire week. Has someone called to tell them that? Or shall I expect officers to knock at my door asking about where he is?"
"They would have done that by now. He works with the law, they would have started looking for him the first day he didn't show up."
Callas twitched an eye. "Embry."
"Sorry, that wasn't helpful."
"No kidding."
"Sam already called Charlie."
"Is Charlie buddies with Sam as well? Who in this town hasn't he brainwashed into joining his cult?"
"It's not a cult, Callas."
"Oh really," she breathed out.
"Please don't—"
"A cult is a system of religious veneration and devotion directed towards a particular figure or object, or a person or thing that is popular or fashionable among a particular group or selection of society."
"Veneration?"
"Great respect, or reverence."
"Do you memorise these things? Like for fun?"
"I've had a lot of spare time recently considering I'm all alone." Embry groaned, leaning back on her bed, placing the phones on his chest as he rubbed his face with both hands. "No," she told him, slapping his leg. "You don't get to relax right now, Call."
"Please don't call me by my last name, it makes me feel like our friendship is going backward instead of forwards." Embry sat up, letting the phone drop to his lap.
"It's not." She shook her head.
"Then please just call me by my name."
Callas stood up from the bed, placing her hands behind her head. "Go home, Embry."
"But—"
"Just—" She started. "I'm tired, it's been a long day."
"I can tell, I was going to ask earlier, but we seemed to take a tour around this floor of the house. What happened to you?"
"I lived, that's all that matters."
"That doesn't make me feel relaxed, Cal."
"It wasn't my intention to make you relaxed. I'm just stating facts."
"What really happened to you?"
"I had a realisation that I need to work on my bike riding skills."
"So, you're not going to tell me?"
"Goodbye, Embry." Callas grabbed his arm, pulling him up from the bed, which was difficult considering how he wasn't complying with her demands, he seemed rather content to just allow her to try and heave him up from the bed. "Let try this again," she spoke, looking at him as she paused. "Goodbye, Embry." She pulled at his arm again.
Embry, seemingly giving up with watching her struggle, chuckled and stood up, throwing her phone back on the bed, placing his in his pocket. "Goodnight, Callas."
"I'll see you tomorrow." She patted his back, watching him leave her room and down the stairs. Until she heard the front door close, she stood by her door. When the door closing sounded around the house she let out a sigh, closing her own door before dropping face first on her bed. "Bud," she spoke with a muffled voice into the blankets. "Why is this happening to me?" She lifted her head up, scrunching her face up as Zeus licked her. "Wrong answer."