Chapter 8

Having this many people on Sewee was a strange experience. In front of where I sat Shelton, Hi and Oliver's group resembled a can of sardines. When it was just the four of us we were able to sit on the boat pretty comfortably, but with 5 extra people everyone sat shoulder to shoulder.

Shelton, who would get claustrophobic on the best of days, looked ready to pitch himself overboard and swim home.

"This is how you guys travel around all the time?" Gabrielle called out. The wind and spray plastered her curls to her face and a laugh escaped her lips. "This is the best feeling ever!"

"Speak for yourself," Aiden grumbled. His skin sported the same shade of green that Hi's shirt did. He gripped the side of the boat and tried his best to not look at the water flying by us.

Coop panted at my feet. I knew he sensed where we were going. The only place that any of the Virals felt safe to talk about our powers. The only place where we knew no one would bother us. Loggerhead Island.

I nearly shook with excitement.

This was my first time getting back to Loggerhead after my return to reality. It felt like coming home.

My excitement didn't last. As the trees came into view, as if rising from the depths of the ocean, my mind took me to the last time I was here.

When my pack with their newly acquired powers dashed through the woods as an unknown figure hunted us through the trees. The moment when a bullet met the back of my knee.

No. Not here. Not now.

I forced the memories away. Locked them up tight.

This wasn't the time to lose my cool.

I hadn't realized I'd had my eyes shut until I opened them to see Ben watching me. I knew the look. Wondering if I was all right. It's a look I had been getting from him a lot recently.

Ben raised an eyebrow at me. I nodded slowly. Our wordless conversation ended and Ben refocused on navigating sandbars.

At the bow of Sewee I caught Oliver's eyes. Neither of us blinked as we stared at each other. I wasn't sure how, but I could tell he knew what had happened to me. I wondered how many times he had to lock away the nightmares. If he had flashbacks to events that were never real. If he still had to remind himself what was reality. And what wasn't.

"Welcome to Loggerhead Island." Ben's voice made me break eye contact.

We had arrived.

Ben had docked us at Dead Cat. We were as far from the complex as we could be.

Once Coop's paws hit sand, he took off running for the woods.

"Is he supposed to run around like that?" Rachel asked.

"Only other things around these parts are the Rhesus monkeys. And those demons are more a threat to Cooper than the other way around." Ever since the incident with Y-7 all that time ago, Hi had a strong disdain for the monkeys that called this island home.

"He's probably looking for his mom. They haven't seen each other in a while."

Rachel's olive eyes sparkled. "His mom? There are other dogs on this island?"

"Not exactly. Whisper is a wolf."

"A real wolf? Here in South Carolina?" I couldn't tell if she was excited or shocked. I settled on both. Very few people outside of LIRI staff knew Whisper and her pack lived here. It was a secret I was glad was well kept.

If other people knew that Whisper lived out there, the city might get up in arms about it and take her away. I couldn't let that happen to Cooper. While he was part of my pack I knew there was still loyalty to his family. That kind of instinct runs deep.

"There are three of them out here. Whisper, Cooper's mother. There's also a Golden Shepard I call Polo, who is Coop's dad. There's another wolfdog, too. His name's Buster.

I thought Rachel's eyes would pop out of her head. The girl was obviously a dog lover. I get that.

Dogs are man's best friend after all.

"Tory! Let's go!" Ben hollered to me from the edge of the woods. Everyone else was there as well.

I nodded and Rachel and I jogged up to the path that would take us deeper into the island. We wanted to be as far from sight as possible.

A clearing in the trees wasn't too far from where we docked. We'd be able to hike up there in no time, and then not have to worry about any prying eyes.

But if Thimba already knew so much about us; it was likely he knew about this island.

Was there anywhere we were completely safe anymore?

Ben led the way. Charlie and Aiden close behind. Gabrielle and Rachel were hounding Hi and Shelton with questions about the island. Both of them looked extremely uncomfortable. Not that I blamed them. I was the only girl either of them regularly talked to.

From my peripheral vision I saw Oliver fall in step beside me.

Neither of us attempted to speak. We didn't even look at each other.

Another thing to add to ever growing list of awkward moments.

After a painfully long silence I heard a soft voice. "Do you have nightmare about it?"

A pause.

Oliver was the first person outside of my pack that I even considered talking to about it. The boys knew so much, but they didn't really understand. Oliver knew what it was like. Had experienced it. Had to deal with the aftermath all alone.

Just like me.

"Nightmares. Daymares. Mental breakdowns. You name it."

"Sometimes when I wake up I still think I'm in there. Thimba's plaything. Like a prop in some sick dollhouse." Oliver's voice shook with anger. I could feel the hatred and disgust rolling off of him.

His arm lashed out. Struck a nearby tree. The calm demeanor I had seen before in the park was gone.

This boy was out for revenge.

He turned back to me. Oliver's eyes were wild behind his glasses. He glared furiously. With clenched fists, he stood frozen in his spot.

He took a step in my direction. Then another. I wasn't sure if he even knew where he was anymore. There was no hint of recognition in his eyes.

In that moment I felt a rush of panic. I took a step back.

Before anything could happen Aiden and Rachel were on either side of him. Each of them put a restraining hand on his shoulders.

"Oliver, no. It's not here," Rachel cried. "You're all right."

Enraged, Oliver tried to break from their grip.

My pack joined me. Hi and Shelton flanked my sides. Ben stood in front, putting himself between me and Oliver.

Charlie and Gabrielle hung away from the group. They watched with nervous eyes.

Rachel was still talking to Oliver, trying to calm him down.

I watched as his pupils shrunk to diminutive circles. His iris blazed amber. Beneath each eye, white semicircles blossomed from nowhere.

My head swam. It was the same feeling I had been experiencing for days. This time though, my flare didn't come out.

"Anthony! No!" Rachel yelled. If he heard her, he didn't act like it.

Aiden let go of Oliver and jumped in his path, his own eyes shimmering with amber.

"Let it go, dude. He's not here, and Tory didn't do anything to you. Calm down."

Rachel relaxed her grip on Oliver's shoulder and gently grabbed his arm. "You're OK, Oliver. He won't get you here."

Finally Rachel's words broke through.

Oliver stopped fighting. He simply stood unmoving in his spot. He blinked three times and his eyes were normal.

I let out a sigh. The whole incident took only a minute, but it seemed like I had been holding my breath forever.

Oliver sank to the ground. His hands clenched his head. I could softly hear him mumbling to himself. Finally he looked up. And met my eyes.

"I'm sorry."

He stood and without another word walked down the forest path. Rachel walked with him, her arm wrapped around his own.

Aiden, who had stopped flaring as well, came over to us. He glanced back at Oliver one more time and watched him walk away.

"It doesn't happen often. Him losing control like that. But when he thinks about Thimba too much, and how badly he wants to find him he tends to snap."

"And what would've happened if you hadn't been there to stop him?!" Ben was livid. "He looked ready to rip Tory's head off!"

"Look, man, it isn't a common thing. OK? He's getting better at controlling it."

I could see tension rising. The last thing we needed was another confrontation.

Especially with someone who was supposedly trying to help us.

"Ben. Yelling at Aiden won't solve anything. Let's just keep heading to the clearing."

Charlie came and stood by her brother. "Aiden, you need to calm down too. Tory's right. Fighting won't solve this problem and it won't fix Oliver."

Aiden huffed but backed down. Ben did the same.

No matter how hard I try, I will never understand boys and their testosterone matches.

"TB, I don't know how you do it," Hi commented as we started walking.

"Do what?"

"Piss people off to such extreme proportions without even saying a word."

Ben smacked him in the back of the head.

"Hey, what was that for?"

"For pissing me off with your stupidity." Hi muttered under his breath about domestic abuse.

"That was really intense. Are we making the right decision?" Shelton asked.

"Even if it isn't, what choice do we have? This lot knows more than we do about Thimba. And if we want to put an end to this, then we need their help. And they need ours."

I understood Shelton's concern. After this incident I was wondering if I made a mistake in taking them here. But it was too late now. We were this far in, we might as well run with it.

"The kid is dangerous. I don't want any of us alone with him. Especially you, Tory."

"Excuse you, Mr. Blue, but I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

I knew he was being protective. Somewhere deep, deep inside my inner damsel in distress was comforted by this thought. The rest of me, however, was simply annoyed.

How many times had I stood my own against dangerous threats? More than I'd like to admit.

"It's not too late to bail. We were doing just fine on our own."

"And do what, Shelton? Wait for Thimba to show up at our doors?" I glanced up at the other group, who were waiting for us to join them some 30 yards up the path.

Shelton looked down at his shoes. We both knew I was right.

"I don't like it any more than you guys do. We've never let outsides in before, but right now it's our only option it seems. We have to trust them for now. But the pack comes first. No questions asked."

Putting so much faith in outsiders was a dangerous move. And I wasn't positive that it was even the best move for us. But it was a rock and a hard place situation.

We all ran to rejoin the others. It wasn't much father to the clearing.

As I walked past Oliver I snuck a glance at him. The faraway look in his eyes was gone. I think that meant we were in the clear.

For the time being at least.

It only took 5 more minutes to reach our destination.

Monkeys screamed at us as we intruded on their territories. I could see them leaping from tree to tree as they scampered to get away from us.

"Just try to throw something at me! I dare you!" Hi shook his fist at the now empty trees.

"You tell 'em, buddy." Shelton slapped Hi on the back. "Those monkeys are halfway to New Zealand by now.

Ben and I snickered at the inside joke.

Now that the monkeys were gone, we had the clearing to ourselves.

"Let's cut to the chase," I said, severing the lighthearted mood in the group. "We have a major problem and we need to know how to solve it."

"If there was a way to solve it, don't you think we would have done something by now?" Aiden asked.

I glared. The snark in this boy was starting to get on my nerves.

"Then why come here? You say you want to warm us. To help us. But when it comes down to getting something done, you just sit back and watch?"

"What do you propose we do, exactly? This man is smarter beyond understanding. And he has resources that we could never dream of having."

"We have something that he doesn't." I looked back at my pack.

To us this was challenge like any other. We had gone up against all kinds of madmen in the past. Thimba was no different.

"What's that?" Gabrielle asked.

"Flare power. Thimba can have all the technology he wants, but we have the instinct and ability to handle anything he throws our way. We've gotten out of tough scrapes before and we can do it again. Together."

"You mean use your powers?" Charlie eyed me as if I was a completely bonkers.

"What good are having them if we don't use them?" Hi remarked.

"If you want to risk life and limb to go after Thimba, then we can't stop you." Oliver's voice was adamant. "But I'm not risking the safety of my pride."

"What kind of Virals are you? You have these gifts, these amazing gifts, and you have an opportunity to do something about this. But instead you choose to hide with your tails between your legs!" I was shouting by this point. "Like cowards. If you aren't going to do anything, then you should all just go home now. And hope that one day you don't look over your shoulder and see Thimba standing there. Because that's what you'll spend the rest of your lives doing."

My entire body shook. I had never been so enraged by something like this before.

"If the situation was reversed, would you help us?" Gabrielle spoke quickly. "Would you risk the safety of you and your friends to help us?"

I swung my head to look at the boys. I knew what we had done. I knew what we were capable of. And I knew they would follow to the ends of the earth if it was something I believed in strongly enough.

"Absolutely."


It is with a very heavy heart that I write this now. But, I feel that it is the best thing for me to do. This story is officially discontinued. I will not be updating it anymore. I have one final one shot (for a different category) that I have been working on, and that is going to be my final story before I go into writing retirement. This is not a spur of the moment decision. Finding the motivation to write a fanfiction story to completion has been a struggle for me for a year now. My previous one-shot that I posted (again in another category) took me over 6 months to write. Writing was a great hobby of mine all through high school and college, and now it's time for me to move on. i simply no longer have the time to devote hours to writing. And when I do find the time, I just don't enjoy it as much as I used to. If anyone wants to finish this story, I give you permission. (9/25/16 edit: Probably should make this clear. If you want to finish the story, I give you permission, but do not try to claim anything up until where I left off as your own. Because while I may not have the time to finish the story, I did put in hours and hours of work into these first 8 chapters. I would also like credit for the original idea, as it is mine. Everything that takes place after chapter 8 is all yours. Give credit where credit is due, and you can have it.) All I ask is that you treat it with the respect it deserves. Its predecessor, Race, is something I work very hard on and I want to know this story will be taken care of. I hope you all understand. Thanks for everything. I love you all.

Peace out,

~Wolfie