Jack scowled as Isaac kicked a stick out of the way of his egotistical path through the forest. He hadn't stopped complaining about the trek for the past couple of hours, his friend Oliver agreeing with every stupid thing he said.
She didn't understand why Andrew had grouped them specifically all together. Yes, they were all searching for Lily, but did she have to listen to Isaac moan and groan about his ruined shoes? Jack was losing her mind.
When they'd realised Lily had gone, her scent apparently disappearing by the lake at the back of the packhouse, Andrew had rallied up everyone to begin the search. If she was missing, then Poppy's chance of being saved went down the drain. If she'd gone to take Poppy's place, which Jack knew she would, then the defeat of the rogues was imminent. He'd divided everyone up into groups, the teachers at Nova High even getting involved with the other students, anything to save one of their own...even though they'd kicked Lily out yesterday.
Andrew hung up his phone, shoving it back in his pocket. "That was the pack house - Poppy just came home."
"What?" Laura snapped her head to him. "Is she okay?"
"She's fine." Andrew breathed a sigh of relief. "She's just exhausted. She's not talking much, traumatised by whatever she saw, but she said she ran south until she found the house."
Ryan stepped forward. "Was Lily with her?"
Andrew placed a hand on his shoulder. "Poppy said she traded places. She's been running for hours."
Ryan clenched his jaw and kept on walking. "Then we head north to find her."
Claire and Karen walked up on either side of Jack as they followed him north, the group begrudgingly moving as one even though they disliked the company. "Do you think Lily's okay?" Karen whispered to Jack. "She's in this Yuric's clutches, he doesn't sound nice at all."
Jack looked to her kind-hearted friend. "I know you always see the good in people Karen, or try to, but Yuric isn't good. He killed Andrew's dad and now he has Lily."
"But he let Poppy go? He has to be good in some way if he let her go?" Karen tried to find something for her to cling to; if he had a semblance of kindness then she could have hope that nothing bad would happen to her newly found friend.
Jack didn't respond to that, dropping back to think for a moment. She couldn't handle Karen's hope, and she was glad she stepped away because Laura soon came over to Claire and asked about the formal.
"Hey Claire, Jack was saying that you have some spare formal dresses?" Laura asked.
"Oh yes! Did you need some?" Claire asked, eyes lighting up at the positive topic.
"How many do you have spare?"
"Well, I have the pink one, Karen's got the purple, I'm giving Jack the green-"
"Wait what?" Jack blurted out.
"-and then Lily's having the blue." Claire ignored her feisty friend. "I have three others; a white one, and then a red and a gold one that are the same besides the colour."
Laura beamed. "Can I have the white one? Tricia and Renee won't mind having the same dress, if that's okay too?"
"That's fine!" Claire grinned.
"Thank you so much, this will be a massive load off my shoulders." Laura sighed. "Hang on, is Lily going to the formal now? I thought she wasn't going."
"Well, I heard she said she didn't want to go, but I thought maybe if she had a dress she might?" Claire wondered. "I know she doesn't have her mother to shop with her. I hope she changes her mind, it'll be awesome to see her there."
"A blue dress?"
"Yeah, it'll go so nicely with her red hair and her pale skin, you know? Some nude heels, a little sparkly pair of earrings, she'll look stunning." Claire had everyone's outfits planned in her head, even Jack's, despite knowing she'd hate it and complain the whole time.
Laura locked eyes with Ryan, who'd overheard their conversation with little difficulty thanks to Claire's loud voice, and he only nodded to her. Their little plan, it seemed, might work after all.
Jack shook her head at Claire's passion. She never understood fashion, all clothes looked the same. But if it meant something for her to go, she'd go, and she'd deal with the dress and the glitz for a few hours at least, enough to take advantage of the free food.
She let the three walk on ahead, Ryan and Andrew leading the way. Jack was far enough back that she could hear Isaac and Oliver mumbling to themselves. She wasn't paying much attention until Oliver suddenly perked up.
"Oh!" Oliver remembered. "When can I play on your new PlayStation?"
"Shh!" Isaac glared at him.
"What's the secrecy for? Are you worried people will steal it? No one here would. Girls don't play games and the wolves can't, so it's just us." Oliver scoffed, knowing that wolf eyes were too sensitive for prolonged time in front of a screen.
"I've only had it for a day dude." Isaac grumbled.
"Come on, you have to let us play! What games do you have? Do you have four controllers?"
Isaac's eyes lit up. "I have Dark Souls, Skyrim and Assassin's Creed now."
Oliver's jaw dropped. "You have Dark Souls?! No, dude, I only have MarioKart and you already beat me at that, I have no chance of winning against you in any of those!"
"Maybe you and the guys can come round and I can beat you all again and again."
"Yeah, we get it, you're the best." Oliver rolled his eyes. Isaac shoved him, Oliver shoving back, and soon they were tackling each other in the mud, leaves sticking to their backs as they tried to get the other in a headlock.
"Hey!" Andrew shouted, halting the play-fight. "There's no time for this! We're after the rogues, be prepared for anything!"
Isaac ground his teeth together, desperate to snap back and have a fight with the egotistical alpha, but he wanted the fight to be in a bigger crowd than these dumb girls and Croft. He helped Oliver back to his feet, both angrily brushing the dirt off themselves, giving up on trying to keep their prestigious shoes clean.
Jack rolled her eyes at their antics and kept walking. The others had already walked on ahead, the girls chatting about the jewellery they'd wear and what corsages they were receiving. She couldn't hear Ryan or Andrew from where she was, but she'd guess Ryan was telling his alpha all about Lily and how desperate he was to save her and whatever disgustingly cheesy things he could think of.
"Hey, how was the ice cream parlour yesterday?" Oliver whispered to Isaac, who glared at him again. Jack's head snapped up.
"It was fine - their caramel fudge's good." Isaac whispered back, eyeing up the people in front. Ryan and Andrew were out of earshot, and three of the girls were chatting so loudly that Jack probably couldn't hear them anyway, especially with her normal hearing.
"Oh I hate caramel." Oliver scrunched up his nose. "What did your secret girl eat?"
Isaac rolled his eyes. "She's not my secret girl - and she had strawberries and white chocolate."
"She so is dude. You haven't told any of us her name, and you only said you were going on a date with her yesterday!"
"Yeah well, I got a pep talk from someone." Isaac said. "Told me about the parlour, and I knew she liked me, so I went for it. It was worth it."
Oliver wiggled his eyebrows. "Oh, was it?"
"I didn't take her home, you idiot." Isaac punched him on the arm. "I meant the ice cream!"
Oliver didn't believe him, teasing him more, but Jack had heard enough. She stopped moving, turned around, and with a wave of her hand the strangler vines cutting off the trees next to her unravelled themselves and whipped around Isaac, grabbing his wrists and ankles.
"Hey!" Isaac yelled as he was pinned him place, Oliver quickly being bound next to him. "What do you think you're doing, you crazy bitch!"
Jack narrowed her glowing eyes. "You were Poppy's secret date?!" She shouted back, the others stopping and running back to stand with her, Karen placing a hand on her arm to try and stop her from hurting anyone. "You were her crush?!"
Isaac forced a laugh as Andrew's eyes widened. "No! No, you misheard! I wouldn't go to an ice cream parlour, I'm not a girl."
Jack twisted her hand, the vines tightening. "I just heard you admit that you went to the ice cream parlour yesterday! Don't lie to me!"
Oliver struggled against his vines. "Hey! Leave him alone!"
Andrew stepped forward. "Did you sell out my pack member?" He growled. Ryan trembled next to him and saw the fear flash in Isaac's eyes.
"You did, didn't you?" Ryan snarled, and Laura growled too, both their wolves surfacing with feral gold eyes. "You sold her out. You forced Lily to give herself over to Yuric."
"I didn't know that they were going to anything to Morgan!"
Jack's lips curled up. Karen gasped next to her, Claire hugged her tightly as the vampire shed a tear. Jack wasn't upset, she was livid. "What happened Isaac? What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything!" Isaac ripped a hand out of the vines. "I was just told to bring a werewolf to the parlour. I knew Poppy liked me, so we had ice cream, and I was just told to not drive her home and leave her waiting for her lift, that's it! He said he'd handle the rest!"
"You left her alone!?" Laura yelled, launching herself at him, but Ryan quickly held her back. "You idiot!"
"I didn't do anything! I just had ice cream!" Isaac defended. He'd actually had a good time with Poppy, they'd clicked somehow. A vampire and a werewolf getting along? He didn't expect to enjoy himself, but Poppy made him laugh, and he'd walked away smiling - not even remembering the deal he struck with Kristofer until he saw the PlayStation on his doorstep waiting for him.
"Who told you?" Andrew said, grabbing Isaac's shirt. "Who told you? What did he want, you snitch!"
Isaac clenched his jaw at being manhandled, but knew he wasn't in a position to fight back. "He said his name was Kristofer. Tall wolf, blonde, asked about Lily and then asked me to just take a wolf to the parlour, and he'd get revenge on Lily for me."
"Revenge?!" Jack snapped. "She's done nothing to you! You taunted her for years!"
"Yeah? And no one did a thing about it until she suddenly got too big for her boots! She saved a little alpha and everyone's kissing her feet! She gets all this attention, she gets put in all my classes, and she has the audacity to tell me I'm the toxic one? That I'm the bully?" Isaac spat at their feet. "She's a worse influence than I am!"
Oliver had gone pale. "Dude... Don't tell me it was all for a PlayStation."
"Shut up!" Isaac hissed. "Don't look at me like that, you would have done the same!"
"No." Oliver shook his head. "I wouldn't have."
"Come on, she hurt your sister! I haven't hurt anyone!"
"Except Lily did that by accident, and she apologised to Thalia." Oliver couldn't look him in the eye. "She doesn't deserve being handed to the rogues like that."
Isaac frowned at his friend. He thought he, of all his friends, would understand why he did what he did. Jack looked between them and let Oliver go from the vines. Oliver nodded his head in thanks but Jack turned to Isaac.
"You sold out my friend to a murderer for a PlayStation." Jack said coldly. Her eyes were glowing brightly, magic coiling around her fingers like string. "All because she bruised your ego?"
Isaac yanked his ankle out of the vines. "She had it coming!"
"You threw her to a psychopath!" Jack yelled, the two remaining vines around Isaac tightening as her anger lashed out like a whip. "How stupid are you?!"
"Hey! That hurts!" Isaac clawed at the bindings around his wrist. Jack didn't waver as the vines tightened, watching him struggle. This idiot handed her friend over to what they all knew was her death, everyone was too scared to voice the truth, but not her.
"She'll die in his hands!" Jack's fists shook. "She's dead because of you!"
"I just ate ice cream, that's it!" Isaac yelled back. "It's not a crime to eat ice cream!"
Claire and Karen quickly jumped in front of Jack when they realised she wasn't going to let up. "Jack, Jack listen to me." Claire said, resting her hands on her shoulders. "Let him go, stop hurting him, okay? This is for Andrew, for Poppy, don't do anything rash."
Jack stared at her fairy friend, and slowly let her fists relax. The vines snapped off of Isaac's limbs and no one caught him as he collapsed to the ground. Laura marched forward and grabbed him, hauling him up.
"I'll take him back to the pack house." Laura said, and walked away with him when Andrew nodded to her. Oliver went with his old friend, only because he was too ashamed to stand with the rest of them. He couldn't believe what Isaac had done.
Claire ran her hands through her tangled blonde ringlets, relieved Jack let him go. She knew her friend had a temper and was fiercely protective of those she cared about, but Jack was never the type to lash out and injure someone. She was all bark and no bite, and sometimes people had to remind her of that, instead of letting her magic rule her head.
Karen held Jack's hand, unafraid of the magic still lightly weaving between her rings, and grabbed Claire's too, gently stroking a thumb over the back of her hand. "We're going to get Lily back." She said. "We're getting her back."
Claire smiled at her, how her dark doe eyes were so full of hope for their lost friend. Jack sighed - even if she didn't have hope, Karen had enough for all of them.
"Come on," Ryan said, waving them all together. "Let's go get Lily back."
Claire nodded. "Yes. We have a formal to get to."
Jack laughed. "Please tell me there's more to our lives than attending a formal."
"Of course!" Claire blinked. "There's also the after party."
Karen laughed with her as they all began walking north again. Andrew and Ryan lead the way as the five of them traipsed through the cold forest, ducking under skeletal trees and dodging loose rocks under their feet. They were climbing up a hill, reaching the apex, when lighting forked in the clouds above them, thunder shaking their bones.
"Where'd that come from?" Andrew frowned. Karen hugged Claire tightly, terrified of being out in the open during a thunderstorm. Jack stood her ground in front of Andrew and Ryan. They looked down upon a distant clearing, and miles of forest beyond.
"This is going to take too long," Jack said, wishing she could track Lily like she did in the school lockdown - that was easy, it was a building she knew already and had suspicions on where Lily was, but a whole forest? There wasn't enough time, and her magic could easily be spotted by rogues. "There has to be a quicker way to find her, we're going to be here for hours."
Ryan clenched his jaw. "We'll find her soon."
"How'd you know that?" Jack glared at him. "She's not going to light up the Bat Signal and show us where she is."
Ryan sighed at her pop culture references, he hadn't seen any Batman films or shows. "We have to, okay? Can't you just trust us to find her?"
Jack scowled at him, about to retort when more lightning began forking across the sky, thunder rattling their hearts. "Wait," Jack threw her hands out to steady herself as the storm got worse. Rain slammed into them from nowhere, soaking them in seconds, and the sky lit up the forest so much they glimpsed a shining beam in the distant clearing - an old telephone pole.
"This isn't right!" Jack yelled over the thunder, her magic wrapping around her forearms ready for use. "This isn't normal!"
"What?" Andrew yelled as more thunder deafened his sensitive ears.
"Follow the storm!" Claire suddenly shouted. "If it's not normal, then it might be Lily!"
Ryan paled a little, wiping the rain from his eyes. "Since when can Lily control storms?!"
"Who knows what she can do!" Jack yelled back. "Claire's right, we need to follow this!"
"Are you crazy?" Andrew practically screamed over the thunder, now louder than ever.
Jack narrowed her eyes at the term. She hated being called crazy, but he annoyingly had a point. "Let's go!" She waved them on and they hurdled down the hill after her, swatting aside the tree branches stretched across their path.
If Lily was at the centre of this storm, Jack just hoped that she was alive and okay - and giving those rogues hell.
~
How would you punish Isaac for letting Poppy be kidnapped and handing Lily over to the rogues?
What's your go to ice cream flavour? I love cookies and cream :)