Chapter 9
"Is anybody home?" I called out as I walked in through the front door. Thunder echoed outside, warning be of an upcoming storm.
I had dropped Kathleen off at her house already. I slammed the door shut. I let my backpack slide off my back and clatter onto the floor. I walked into the kitchen to find something to eat, more along the lines of a pudding. I found a note on the fridge. Eliana- got rid of all the puddings. Love mom! Gee, thanks a lot mom. I stomped over to the cupboard and found some popcorn. I stuck it in the microwave. I pulled down a bowl to put the popcorn in when it was ready.
The small popping sound coming from the microwave kept my mind busy from becoming popping popcorn itself. A thought would start to appear but then I would quickly shoo it away, occupying my mind with the rhythm of the popcorn. When the buzzer went off I jumped a foot in the air. I was as jumpy right now as Athena used to be before she died of old age. The picture of my pet mouse started to form but I quickly changed it to Dylan.
Where was my family? I was really getting worried, and that added with nerves is not a good combination. The entire drive home my mind had vanished from Jace and started to go to Dylan's words. Every car that sped past was a Steffans coming to get me.
I poured the popcorn into the bowl, and sat down in front of the TV turning it up loud enough to fill in the silence around the house. I slouched down on the couch with my feet sitting on a pillow and my popcorn on my stomach. I was trying to enjoy the episode of Friends that was on, but my mind was wondering back to whether would come after me. Stupid douches to try and chase after me. But yet with every minute I was getting jumpier. I was finally starting to get into the story line. My brain was practically clear of any of my previous thoughts.
The door slammed open. I screamed and jumped in my seat knocking half the popcorn on the couch.
"Who's there?" I called out trying to clean up the half spilled popcorn. The bowl toppled out of my hands and landed upside down on the floor. "I give up."
I walked over to the front door to find it wide open. A loud clap of thunder sent me jumping again, then the rain started pouring down. I closed the door keeping out the wind and rain. I heard a rustling sound coming from the kitchen. Slowly and cautiously I walked into the kitchen. When I opened the door I found Philly rummaging through the fridge. I sighed out a breath of releif. He still hadn't heard me. I grinned and grabbed a wooden spoon. I ran over to Philly and hit him in the shoulder with all the power I could muster. He fell to the ground cursing me.
"What the hell Eliana?" He growled, holding his arm.
I shrugged and walked away from him and sat up on the counter. "I thought you were a bugler."
He glared at me and continued rubbing his shoulder.
"Why did you leave the door open?" I asked.
"I didn't," He said confused.
"I swear to god Philly, if you are trying to scare me I will hit you again," I said raising the wooden spoon ready to swing.
He flinched away from me. He shook his head, and started walking slowly towards the door. He motioned for me to follow him. His nostrils were flaring indicating that he was trying to sniff out someone. He wrinkled his nose and started walking towards me. He stopped a foot in front of me sniffing the air. He stared at me confused.
"Who have you been with?" He asked.
"Kathleen," I said worry lingering in my voice.
He glared at me. He then turned around and started walking towards living room. I was frozen in my spot trying to figure out what just happened. A clap of thunder sent me running after him.
"What the hell happened in here?" Philly asked.
I ran in to see my popcorn mess all over the place. I started laughing at the expression of Philly's face. He shot me a glare.
"What? You scared me when you slammed the door open. I seriously thought it was someone from the Stef-" I stopped when I saw the look on Philly's face. He was looking worried that I was this scared. There must have been something that had tipped him off of my fear.
"Look the wind probably just blew the door open. I don't smell anybody else here, and I don't hear anyone else here." He wrapped me in his arms.
We sat down on the popcorn covered couch, him holding my in his arms and me leaning my head against his chest as I tried to relax the shaking in my body.
"I'm going to go get the vacuum to clean this up." He walked away leaving me to the TV's company. A clap of thunder sent shivers down my spine. I jumped up to go find Philly so he could keep me company.
An hour later the rest of my family arrived, to find me asleep on Philly's lap. When I woke up they all started joking that Philly had poisoned me to get me to fall asleep. I glared at them all. Now that the house was full of life I wasn't quite so scared. Philly didn't give me away so I also kept quite. The rain slowed to a stop, and the just rising moon appeared.
I said goodnight to everyone, and went to go take a shower and go to bed. I was terrified of what could happen tonight if I am a werewolf. The pain I heard when my brothers went through this was too much for me to even think about. I slowly drifted to sleep leaving my worries behind.
I woke up to find my room lit up by the morning sun streaming in through my windows. I laid in bed crying silent tears. I hadn't turned into a werewolf at midnight. I was just another normal human being. I started crying again. All my nerve from last night were fried. Leaving me hollow and empty feeling. By the time one of my brothers came to wake me up I was all cried out, but I knew my eyes were all puffy and red.
"Bad dream?" Mitch asked.
I nodded my head, not wanting him to now why I was really crying. He left me alone to get ready. I trudged into the bathroom to wash off my face and hope any dried tears would go away. I tried to cover up my baggy eyes and the redness with makeup. I was actually pretty impressed with myself for how well I had done. I got dressed in some cute new off the shoulder top Kathleen had convinced me to buy. I walked downstairs with a new energy.
"Howdy crazy brothers," I hollered before I reached the kitchen.
I heard lot of laughter followed by a get lost. When I came into the kitchen I found all of them siting around the island counter thing eating their breakfast. I put a pop tart in the toaster and went to go discover what happened to my bag over the night. I found it laying in the corner where I had left it.
I went back into the kitchen and nibbled on my pop tart. I looked around to find my trusty wooden spoon lying on the counter where I had left it.
"Hey Philly, remember this?" I asked smiling so widely.
He glared at me and muttered a yes. I put the wooden spoon inside my bag cause it truly was an awesome weapon.
"What are you doing?" Dylan asked really confused.
"Taking the spoon to school."
"Why?"
"Because its an awesome weapon. Isn't that right Philly?" I asked teasing him.
He glared over at me. Mitch and Dylan both started cracking up. "Is that what that big bruise on your shoulder is from?"
"Yep," I was grinning widely.
"Little Eliana did that to your shoulder."
They were both bursting out laughing as Dylan lifted Philly's sleeve revealing a big black bruise about the size of an apple. I started bursting out laughing. I punched Philly in the same spot as where his bruise was. He winced in pain, growling at me.
Philly dumped his cereal in the sink and walked out of the kitchen. We heard the front door slam shut confirming he was going to school.
"How is he supposed to get to school without a car?" I asked.
They all started laughing again. We heard the front door slam again. We were all trying to hold in the laughter.
"Are you idiots coming?" Philly growled. I started laughing shaking my head and put on my shoes to go to school.
"Come on you guys, we are going to be late anyways," I pleaded.
I walked out to my motorcycle and started it. I headed off to school with my headphones in my ears, music blasting, wind blowing in my face. This was a small distraction from this mornings thoughts, but it worked better than anything else.