Chapter two – Back to St Hopes

The next morning, Jack began to pack some of his possessions into a small bag, he was going back to the human world, back to St Hopes, back to MI9 to try to stop Segolia. Meinir and Aran were sorry to see him go, they didn't like him being 'contaminated' by the human world, they believed it made them weak, made them fear their wolf, but they all knew that he had to go, he was the one person who could stop Segolia. Except for Jana. Jana wanted to come back to Stoneybridge, but they all knew that she would not be welcome there after the stories that Jack had spread in order for him to be able to stay there in the first place.

It was just before mid-day when they all finally left, Alric and Jana presented the agents with a large slab of freshly cut meat for them to take home, and Rose gave Jana some jellybeans, which were Jana's favourite human sweets, but then they were off back to St Hopes. Jack would be back staying with the Vaughan's, they were told he had run away and undercover MI9 officers were on hand as police officers to confirm the story, so Stella would be the one to return him.

It was six that evening when they finally arrived back in Stoneybridge, and Stella took Jack straight to the Vaughan's, Jack felt sick as they waited for someone to knock on the door. Mrs Vaughan hugged him as soon as she opened the door, when she finally let him go, she invited him and Stella inside. "We found him wandering the streets of Cardiff, we think he was trying to find his family." Stella said, Mr and Mrs Vaughan were listening intently to Stella whilst they had sent Jack upstairs for a shower, where he accidently walked into Rhydian,

"Thought you were gone for good?" he said sourly, Jack shrugged, "I have things to do here." Jack tried to pass him but Rhydian wouldn't let him, "You told me that Ceri was dead, then how come she and dad stopped by Stoneybridge whilst they were on the move?" Jack shrugged again and tried to move, but once again he was stopped by Rhydian, Jack looked him straight in his eyes.

"Fine." He huffed, "I lied, the pack sent me to gather information on the human world so they could twist it into horror stories for the cubs, stories like the Balkar. But we're being hunted, so I had to return to stop it, MI9 are going to help. Is that enough information for you." Jack stormed down the stairs to find that Stella had gone, and Mrs Vaughan was ironing his school uniform for him, something he hadn't worn in six months. "You've missed the last four months of school, so you have some catching up to do." Mr Vaughan said as he slapped Jack on the back whilst he was passing through the kitchen. Jack forced himself to smile, he wasn't looking forward to going back to school, no doubt his classmates would have questions.

The next morning Mrs Vaughan dropped off Rhydian and Jack at the school gates where they bumped into Maddy and her mum, who was also dropping her off, Jack kept his head down to avoid conversation, he knew that Rhydian would have told Maddy by now, but there was no conversation to avoid, Maddy didn't want to talk to him, the sooner this mission was over, the better.

"Mr Tomasz, sit down, you're already four months late, do not delay your education any longer." Mr Jeffries said as Jack walked into class. Jack looked at Maddy and Rhydian, who glared at him as he took his seat at the back of the classroom. Throughout their history lesson, they didn't speak to him or even look at him, so Jack got on with his work with Carrie, who wanted more information about the wild pack, Jack knew that Maddy and Rhydian were listening in, "Subtle," he said, Carrie was confused but looked at Maddy, "Ignore them." Jack snarled and walked out of the classroom, followed shortly by Mr Jeffries.

"Jack!" he called out down the corridor, Jack turned around, "I don't know where you have been young man, or what you have been up to, but right now your main focus should be your education." Jack started walking towards the classroom, "Come back inside," Mr Jeffries said. Jack had no choice, he had to grin and bear it.

At break time, Rhydian ushered Jack into the dark room, where Maddy, Shannon and Tom were waiting for him. As he stepped into the room, Rhydian locked the door behind them;

"What's this about?" Jack asked, knowing full well what it was about. Maddy walked over to Jack, Jack stood still, not knowing what Maddy was about to do to him. To his surprise, she hugged him and as she did so Tom and Shannon set off party poppers and the streamers fell down onto him and Maddy. Jack was confused, "I don't understand."

"Look mate, I know how the pack can be, Alric tried to kill me for bringing Jana into the human world, you didn't really have a choice, we're glad you're back." Rhydian replied. Rhydian, Shannon and Tom all piled in onto the hug and they fell to the floor laughing. The bell rang signalling the end of break, Shannon and Tom left the dark room first, and as the trio of Wolfbloods walked to their next lesson, they talked about their plans for Segolia, but none of them really knew much about them,

"I'll ask my parents." Maddy said ending the conversation as they went into their science lesson.