Chapter 7
"Maddy, get up!" Maddy's eyes opened to Shannon and Jana shaking her furiously.
"What?" Maddy asked grouchily as she sat up. She wasn't a morning person at the best of times, but knowing that this safehouse was going to be pretty much her entire world until Segolia said otherwise had her in an especially foul mood.
"This one goes out to all the late-night fanfiction addicts out there!" Tom called in from the doorway before blasting some incredibly loud music out of his tablet. He must have selected his harshest track especially for it.
"Leave me alone!" Maddy yelled, pulling her pillow over her head.
"Your mum made breakfast about an hour ago." Jana told her. That made Maddy sit up.
"That's impossible. I would have smelled it!"
"Not in this safehouse." Shannon reminded her. "There are gel packs in the walls, floors and ceilings specifically to absorb scent and sound to counter any Wolfblood's sense of smell and hearing."
"So we're basically as blind as any intruder." Maddy sighed as she hauled herself up. "Great!" She hauled herself up and saw Shannon and Jana out before shutting the door in Tom's face and getting dressed. When she was done, she trudged downstairs and sat down at the table where a plate of bacon sandwiches was waiting for her.
"Well, it's good to see you too, Maddy." Emma said as she finished making a sandwich for herself and leaned against the counter to eat as all the seats were taken.
"What am I even doing up this early?" she muttered as she started eating.
"Well, I'm going to need your help in a bit." Emma told her. "That nail bomb gnome did a lot of damage last night. We need to tidy up out there."
"Wait... What?" Maddy looked up in confusion. "If someone's trying to kill me, is it really a good idea for us to be out there in full view?"
"Well, we have to make it look like we're living here like normal people." Emma replied. "If a bunch of Wolfbloods in suits go outside and start tidying up a place that looks just like a regular house, that's going to get noticed."
"Okay, fine." Maddy sighed. "We might as well get it done then."
"I can give you a hand." Rhydian shrugged, resting a hand across Maddy's back. Instantly she started to feel more optimistic.
"Well, we can get it done quick if we all work together." Shannon pointed out.
"The garden is quite long." Robyn said as she walked in, immaculately dressed and with not a hair out of place compared to Barry and Francis. She certainly didn't look like she'd just spent all night sitting up in a control room. "We have weapons upstairs and we wanted the best field of fire against any intruders. If you divide it up into seven pieces, you should be able to get it all. We'll stand down all the other traps remotely so you'll be safe."
"I can do that." Maurice added as he joined everyone in the kitchen.
"Okay, how do you do it?" Robyn turned on him with a ferocious glare. "You slept on the sofa last night and haven't had chance to freshen up yet, but you look totally fine. How?"
"What are you talking about? My hair is a mess." Maurice grinned as he rubbed a hand over the top of his bald head. Robyn just sighed and rolled her eyes.
Once everyone had finished eating, everyone headed into the front garden while the Segolia Wolfbloods deactivated the traps. Maddy and her pack each grabbed gardening gloves and after explaining to Jana what they were for and that the fact she was struggling to move her fingers in them was totally normal, they all got to work.
"How did it do this much damage?" Rhydian asked as he tried to tug a piece of metal from the trunk of a sapling.
"Am I the only one who can feel the red dot just about here?" Shannon asked, tapping a spot on the side of her head.
"It would have trouble showing up." Tom's joke earned him a punch to the shoulder, causing his arm to go dead for a few seconds.
"Tom, why don't you go and check the other gnome for damage?" Emma suggested. "The other gnome that's coincidentally really far away from Shannon." Tom nodded and trudged over, warily inspecting it from what he deemed to be a safe distance.
"Tom, it's been deactivated. It can't hurt you!" Rhydian sighed as he walked over and went to pick up the gnome.
"Armed." Suddenly, a jet of flame discharged from the end of the gnome's rod. Rhydian and Tom hit the deck as Rhydian instantly veined up. Emma charged over and ripped the thin plastic hose from the side of the gnome. There was one final jet of flame as it used up the last of its fuel before burning out.
"Are you okay?" Maddy asked, appearing at Rhydian's side in an instant.
"I'm okay. I wasn't hit." Rhydian replied as he sat up. Maddy threw her arms around him. Instantly, he felt himself relax in her arms, his veins receding.
"I'm fine too, thanks for asking!" Tom said as he hauled himself to his feet.
"Yeah, this isn't your moment." Shannon waved dismissively in his direction before bursting out laughing. "Oh, come here!" She wrapped Tom in a bone-crushing hug that made Tom wonder how his ribs hadn't snapped. It showed just how worried she'd been.
"Is everything alright?" Everyone looked over to see Jana curled up into a ball on the grass, shaking in fear. Beside her, a girl was crouching down making sure she was okay. She had blonde hair and was wearing a black hoodie. She had her hood up and her back to everyone. The anime backpack facing them didn't really fit with her running shorts but seemed to be aimed at practicality over anything else.
"Who are you?" Emma demanded, instantly on the alert. Even with what had just happened, she'd clearly noticed just as Maddy and Rhydian had that none of them had heard this girl coming at any point until she was right next to Jana. The Segolia Wolfbloods hadn't intervened either, which was troubling.
"We asked you a question!" Maddy snapped, standing by Emma to back her up. Rhydian also picked himself up and joined Maddy, ready for anything. The girl turned around slowly and pulled her hood down, revealing her face to them. Her features were soft yet quite adult for her age. Yet there was something about her that Maddy, Shannon and Tom couldn't help but find somewhat familiar. Maddy caught the girl's scent and realised that she was actually a Wolfblood, but there was something underlying that she'd definitely smelled before.
"Sarah?" The name had left her mouth before she could stop it. She waited for a response, praying she wasn't wrong.
"Maddy?" Recognition flashed across the girl's face. In that moment, Maddy knew she wasn't wrong and Emma had clearly reached the same conclusion.
"Sarah!" Pure rage filled Emma's voice as her eyes ignited in a blaze of yellow light.
"Wait, what?" Shannon had only just started to realise what was happening. "Sarah? Like... Sarah from when we were kids?"
"Sarah...?" Tom was visibly suffering a mental blank.
"What? Have we got an echo or something?" Emma snapped, turning on Tom and Shannon. They shut up instantly.
"You're pretty far from home, Emma." Sarah said with a smug grin. "How is it that just when I start to rebuild my life all these years after you throw me off your territory, you and yours show up again? Where's the other one? Is he around anywhere?"
"Wait, you mean Emma and Dan threw you out?" Tom piped up, looking at Emma as though she was now a complete stranger. "I always wondered what happened to you."
"Yeah, I did too." Shannon nodded.
"So you knew each other when you were all kids?" Rhydian looked to each of them in turn.
"My parents found out Sarah and her mother were Wolfbloods and kicked them off the territory." Maddy looked to the ground in humiliation, unable to meet Sarah's gaze. "But we're not on our territory right now, so you can put it away!" Maddy rounded on Emma, her own wolf coming to the surface.
"Don't you flash your eyes at me!" Emma snapped.
"Well don't flash yours at her!" Maddy countered. "She's done nothing wrong!"
"Enough!" Sarah's own wolf surged forward, her fangs bared and her nails beginning to reform into claws. "This girl is lying there traumatised and you're all just bickering and arguing!"
"She's right. We need to get Jana inside." Maddy powered her wolf down and moved to help. "If I get her feet, can you get under her arms?"
"She's not coming in!" Emma protested. "Can I remind you, Maddy, this is to keep you safe?"
"We know her, Mum!" Maddy and Sarah worked together to pick Jana up and carry her. The door automatically opened and the girls carried Jana through, setting her down on the sofa. Robyn and Carl instantly noticed the situation and raced to help.
"What happened?" Robyn asked as she crouched down next to Jana, starting to check her over.
"The gnome happened." Maddy replied, knowing Sarah wouldn't understand.
"So who are these people?" Sarah asked, gesturing to Robyn and Carl just as Francis joined them from the bathroom.
"Who's this?" Francis asked, looking Sarah up and down.
"She's a blast from the past." Maddy said quickly. "Sarah, these are Wolfbloods from Segolia. They're here to value the property." With that, she turned her attention to them. "Perhaps you'd like to take a look upstairs?" Francis and Carl nodded and headed upstairs just as Rhydian, Tom, Shannon and Emma all entered.
"So, I know Tom, Shannon, Emma and your dad whose name I forget, but who are these other two?" Sarah asked, looking between Rhydian and Jana.
"Oh yeah, I forgot." Maddy stood up from where she was crouched by Jana next to Robyn. "Sarah, meet my boyfriend, Rhydian."
"Yeah, sorry everything was so rushed out there." Rhydian grinned sheepishly.
"Let me guess: Emma tried to kick you off the territory at least once before too?" Sarah said, grinning mischievously.
"Yeah, but that's all water under the bridge." Rhydian shrugged.
"This is Jana." Maddy continued, gesturing to where Jana was huddled up on the sofa with Robyn rubbing her back. "She's a wild Wolfblood who ended up staying on our territory too. Mum and Dad were against it at first, but they came around." Just then, the back door opened and Dan walked in.
"Em, they've got some great wood in a shed out the back there. I wonder if they'd let me-" Dan walked in, stopping short as he noticed just who was standing next to Maddy. "You!"
"Surprise!" Sarah muttered looking like she'd rather be at the dentist.
"What are you doing here?" Dan asked, making his way into the living room.
"I live here." Sarah shrugged. "Well, near here anyway. I was just doing a butcher run to fill the fridge." Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. "By the way, I don't suppose I can re-chill it in your fridge before I leave, can I? It's not going to stay fresh for long with it being so hot." Emma opened her mouth to give a sharp reply.
"Sure, I'll clear you a space." Maddy said, leading her into the kitchen. She opened the fridge and started shuffling things around as Sarah took off her backpack and unzipped it. Instantly, Maddy noticed the smell and her nose wrinkled. "I think we're too late to save it."
"No, it's actually made it through." Sarah breathed a sigh of relief. "It was close, though."
"Well, I think you need to change butchers because something about that doesn't smell right." Maddy took a look in the bag and her discomfort only grew. "That looks like nothing we ever got from a butcher before. It looks badly damaged as well."
"No, they're off-cuts." Sarah told her. "I have an understanding with him. He sells me the off-cuts for about two pounds fifty a kilo and I make meat pies out of them and give him half."
"Wait, so your talent is cooking?" Maddy asked as she took the bag and shunted it into the fridge. "That's cool. I can't say I saw that one coming. I always thought it would be something like writing. You were always telling stories when we were kids."
"No, I tried that and I just couldn't find a story that I wanted to keep going with." Sarah replied. "And technically, my talent is baking rather than cooking. I can't really cook at all unless I can bake it. Actually, they taste amazing considering it's the discarded scraps and pieces no one eats otherwise. Seriously, try some. We can stomach raw meat."
"I know we can." Maddy said as she put the wrapped package in the fridge and shut it. "Honestly, I don't really like it raw though. But I'd love to try something you make with it at some point, if it's going."
"Oh, that definitely won't be a problem." Sarah nodded eagerly. "I'll be firing up the oven as soon as I get home, so I can drop some over tomorrow. I'm thinking of trying to make pasties this time."
"That would be interesting." Maddy grinned at the thought as Rhydian walked in behind her and moved to the cupboard, grabbing a glass and getting a drink.
"Just so you girls know, Tom, Shannon and Jana are all in there thinking about putting a werewolf movie on." Maddy turned to him, her grin only widening.
"That'll be a laugh!" Sarah, on the other hand, didn't look impressed.
"Wait, you watch werewolf movies?" she asked, cocking her head to one side in confusion. "What's the point of that?" Rhydian and Maddy looked at each other, exchanging a glance.
"Come join us and find out!"