Like Tera said, she was signed out early. When I got to the parking lot her bike was gone. Kai was still spooked by the wolf he had saw the other night and was more quiet than usual, even with Sage and Terry yapping in his ear.
I told him that it was nothing to worry about. There were bear sightings in these parts, and the way he described it, I tried to convince him by the color in the dark that it might've been a bear that had a strange looking muzzle as a face. He didn't disagree, but he didn't accept that as the case either.
I walked the way home, Sage beside me. He was happy and cheerful as always, and I usually respond more, but that walk was silence for me. When sage said something, I either nodded or just didn't respond.
He noticed, and lightly smacked my arm. "What's on your mind? You haven't said a word this entire time."
I shook my head. "It's nothing." I lied.
He laughed. "I've known you for the past 12 years. I know when you're lying, James." He put an arm over my shoulder. "Tell your best friend what's the matter."
I couldn't help but smile, but it quickly left. "Tera's ex boyfriend came looking for her."
"Damn." He turned to look at me. "That sucks."
"Yeah." I agreed, exhaling. I looked over back at him. "I think something is going to happen with him here."
Sage raised an eyebrow. "Want me to kick his ass?"
I laughed, not in humor but in fear. Sage would be foolish enough to actually try something like that. He even threatened to kick Zane's ass if he kept on bullying me the way he did when we were younger. Zane hasn't done much to me since then, but it still wasn't pleasant.
Sage against a werewolf. Sage had some muscle on him. He was lean but had some strength and speed. But he wasn't a match for a werewolf. Tera had m easily overpowered before, and her speed and agility are incredible. I'm assuming the other werewolves have the same capabilities.
I shook my head. "Nothing I can't handle." I told him.
Sage cocked his head. "That's strange. Usually you would avoid a situation like this, but instead you're going head first."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, ever since Tera came around, you've changed."
"In a bad way?" I didn't want to change, not if it was bad.
He shook his head and smiled. "You're being more confident. More eager and perseverant." He looked me in the eyes. "In other words, you're getting more ballsy. You're finally standing on your own two feet."
I thought about that for a minute. I have noticed it lately. My will to go on and deal with things head on. My mind is improving more and more. I'M improving more and more.
Sage looked ahead of us, his arm still over my shoulder. His grip tightened, and a smile was stuck on his face. "I remember the quiet kid you were." He said.
I smiled and looked ahead too. "We were five years old when we met."
"Yeah, I remember it like it was yesterday." He shook his head. "I was crying like a little baby."
I chuckled myself. "You were being stupid and fell and skinned your knee."
He protested. "Hey, that frog was mine!"
"Yeah, and so was that fall." I exhaled and remembered it. He was sitting there holding his knee on the playground, tears running down his knee. I saw and walked over to give him a band aid I always had kept with me in case I needed one. "Here, take my band aid." I mimicked in my best five year old voice.
He laughed again. "That was the beginning of our friendship. We were inseparable from there on." He sighed and looked down. "You even stuck with me when I came out."
"I remember." Sage came out as gay the year before we came to high school. A lot of the kids shunned him. Mostly the guys shunned him. The girls were supportive and looked at him as a human being, kinda like I did. "You were so depressed at the reactions."
"Yeah." He agreed, his voice trembling a bit. I saw the smile on his face gone. There was nothing but pure emotion. "I just wanted to be like everyone else. And for that time, I thought I couldn't. I lost all my friends, and that tore away at me."
I looked down with a smile. "But you didn't. Instead, you kept one and gained more friends." Kai, Terry, Tera, and a few more where that came from. He found people who could accept him.
Me, I just liked Sage. He had always been there for me during my darkest times. I had to be there for his. He was my friend. My family.
He wiped his eyes for moment and the smile returned. "Yeah. I got you twats now. A witch and a dumbass." He chuckled. "And a lion finally learning to hunt."
I raised an eyebrow. "Never have been referred to as a lion, Sage."
He laughed a little, but his face got serious again. He stared into my eyes, my soul. "I'm proud to see you this way, James. I'm finally able to see the real you growing. All because of her."
We got to his house and we separated from the embrace we walked with. He looked at me with the same smile he kept. "Wanna come in and hang out? We could play some video games or something."
I shook my head. "Sorry dude. Gotta get some things done and figured out. You know how it is."
He nodded with understanding. "Remember, call me if you need backup." He smirked. "I can handle a jealous ex for ya in no time."
I laughed and turned to leave. I made my way down the sidewalk the way I took home. I needed to drop my stuff off before I went to Tera's. Just as I turned the corner, Sarah's old blue Chevy passed by me. She was driving and Lindsey was beside her in the passenger side.
Lindsey suddenly lifted herself out the window and her body was facing towards opposite where they were going. "Stupid bitch!" She yelled. I was confused at who she was talking to until I suddenly realized who's street I was on.
Brooke stood in her yard staring, her eyes baggy from what looked like she was crying. If I had friends like them, I'd cry too. Lindsey and Sarah weren't the best of friends towards Brooke. Brooke was different from them, but she wanted to just be accepted.
She looked like a mess. She looked so depressed and sleep deprived. I noticed she's been getting worse ever since she and my brother broke up. I'm guessing Lindsey and Sarah finally broke her.
I kept walking where I was going. I passed her yard where she was standing motionless, unresponsive. She was staring but not really looking. She seemed unusual. Broken.
I started to pass where the sidewalk led towards her door, but I stopped. I felt her pain. I felt her need for a friend. If I hadn't been with Tera, I would've just ignored her. But Sage was right, she was changing me.
"Hey." I said to her. I looked at her, watching her still staring at nothing. "You can hang with us if you want."
She looked at me then, and she looked confused. I nodded and smiled a little. "We need another girl in our group. Well, one that actually ACTS like a girl." Tera wasn't exactly the cute little damsel in our group.
I smiled one last time before continuing back home. When I finally hit my street and made it to the yard, I caught Flower watering the plants she had near our porch. She liked planting them here since she spends most of her time here during the day and can tend to them better.
She saw me but kept on working. We made eye contact when she looked but that was it. I continued up the steps and into the house. I went upstairs and put my bag down on my desk. I looked at the silver bracelet on my wrist and got curious about something.
"Silver bullets kill werewolves in movies." I thought out loud. "But what if silver kills them in real life?"
"It does." Flower said, standing in the doorway of my room. "Silver can cut straight through a wolf and burn them."
"But why does it not affect her?" I held up the bracelet. "This is her's. She wears it and it doesn't burn her."
She shook her head. "Simply wearing silver doesn't hurt them. As long as there are no piercings or anything that has to do with impaling." She stared at the bracelet. "So you're choosing to go down this path?"
I put my hand back down to my side. "I would've found out eventually." I responded.
We stared at each other for a while. I knew how she was looking at me. How she looked at me, and my parents. She looked at us as if we were her children. She basically helped raise all of us, from my dad's dad hiring her to seeing my dad meet my mom, to seeing us be born. She was more than just a housekeeper. She was family.
She wasn't looking at me now, but at the little boy she knew for his entire life. She was looking at me as if I was still 6 years old and she had gotten done lecturing me about playing with a snake that could have been poisonous, but then smiling and laughing at me for being so clueless thinking it was a worm.
She sighed and reached beside the outside of the door. "Here." She said, reaching back up with what looked like a sheath. "Take this for protection."
It was the dagger she used last night. The one she threatened Charles with. I grabbed it and pulled out the pure silver blade. The grip had carvings in them that I couldn't understand. I guess it was the language of her people.
"My great aunt gave me that blade. Her husband forged it decades ago for the reason of defending against evil beings and monsters." She put a hand on top of my head. "You're grown up, and your path is your own to make. If this is the path you choose to take, I cannot stop you, but I can give you help."
Her hand dropped and she moved to let me through. I walked downstairs with her following behind me. I turned and looked at her. "Thank you, for letting me make my own choices with your support."
She shook her head. "What's a wolf without a pack watching over it?" She asked and leaned in and kissed my cheek. "Be safe."
I left, the sheath hooked to my belt loop on my right. As I was leaving, Zane pulled into the driveway and got out. He didn't look too happy, and his eyes were trained on me as he approached.
"Hey you little cunt." He said. "Having fun with what you're doing?"
I raised an eyebrow. "Fun? With what?"
He smiled. "Oh don't play dumb now. I heard that you told Brooke that you would happily let her join some club with a few losers and a faggot."
I gritted my teeth. "Don't call him that." I said.
He heard and his face went sadistically confused. "What did you say?"
I looked up at him, my brother, and, without thinking, I slowly got up and close to him. I glared at him. "Don't call Sage that again. You're full of nothing but shit and it'll be a day of joy when somebody puts your ass down."
He looked even more confused for a second before smiling again. "You've finally grown some balls." He said. He put up his hands and backed away, still smiling. "Fine. I'll let you go wherever you're going."
I didn't say another word and continued on my way, turning my back on him. I was going on the sidewalk when he called to me.
"Hey." He called, and I turned to look at him. His expression was serious again. "I'm still pissed at you about Brooke, but I'm proud that you finally got some guts." He smiled again. "Now we're gonna see if you can walk the walk if you can talk the talk."
I turned back and started back towards on my way to Tera's. But I felt myself smile. He was proud of me. Sort of.
My attention went back to the situation at hand. Tera's ex.