Ryon opened his eyes and smiled as he saw her. Reaching out, he touched her face gently.
Suddenly it dissolved into a black eyed man who extended his hand and grabbed his throat.
Ryon felt himself choking, his eyes dimming. Then he felt someone wrap their arms around him and he jerked awake.
"Ryon?" Mia asked softly. "Are you alright?"
He waited for his heart to slow before answering. "Yeah. Sorry if I woke you."
She watched him carefully, "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Just a nightmare." He sat up, taking a slow breath.
"Why don't we go get something to eat?" She suggested softly.
He nodded silently, one hand unconsciously rubbing his throat.
She took his hand and led him to the kitchen.
An older woman was at the stove cooking and she looked up and smiled, "Good morning."
He looked startled for a moment, then returned the greeting.
"That's Mariana, our current clan leader," Mia informed quietly.
He bowed. "I appreciate you allowing me to stay."
"You're welcome. Any friend of Mia's is a friend of ours."
He swallowed hard, then gave her a small smile.
"Mia, you have some things to go over in the office when you get a chance.. You need to stay on top of your duties."
Mia sighed and nodded quietly.
Ryon snickered quietly.
Mariana handed them both plates full of food. Mia took hers to the table before getting them drinks from the fridge. She sighed as she sat down, "Guess I need to be responsible before we make plans.."
Ryon fought a smile, focusing on eating.
Mia ate quickly and started washing her plate. When Ryon was done, she asked, "Want to keep me company?"
"I'm all yours." His phone chimed and he checked it, rolling his eyes before stuffing it back in his jeans.
"Something wrong?"
"No." He took her hand. "So what are we doing?"
"I have to check on a few bills and update the clan's book of shadows."
"Sounds fun." He gave her a grin.
She chuckled, "Totally what I want to be spending my time doing." They entered a large office and she sat down behind the desk, "Take a seat. Hopefully this won't take long." He noticed some more pictures hanging on the walls.
"Could be worse." He sat, pulling his phone out and texting quickly.
Mia pulled out a checkbook from the desk and began writing checks for the pile of bills that had collected.
He put the phone away and simply watched her quietly with a soft smile.
She eventually finished before pulling out a big book and started copying from small pieces of paper. "I hate this.."
He gave a quiet chuckle. "Too much like studying?"
"Well, if there's good spells, I learn them but some are simply boring."
"You're lucky though. Other than shifting, I know nothing about magic. And truthfully all I do is think and it happens."
She chuckled, "I'll teach you a little bit sometime."
She closed the book and stood. "Let's go see if Hikaru has gotten any more information."
He shrugged. "Not sure I'm smart enough to learn."
"I'm sure you'll do fine." She went to the hall and knocked on a decorated door.
It opened and Hikaru waved them inside.
His room was decorated in shades of blue, a mural of the ocean and sea creatures on one wall.
Ryon stayed by the door, very obviously uncomfortable.
"You can sit, you know," Hikaru offered as he sat at his computer.
The wolf gave an embarrassed smile, sitting down beside Mia.
"Heard you had to work this morning," Hikaru smirked at Mia who rolled her eyes.
"You know her.. Though I don't know why she doesn't just do the stuff herself. She is clan leader.."
"You'll never learn to lead if you ignore your responsibilities," he answered in a mock voice.
Ryon listened, suppressing his alarm.
Mia grumbled for a moment, "Maybe when I'm in charge I'll make you do all the work, cousin."
Hikaru laughed, "Yeah right. You know I'll be too busy keeping you sane."
Ryon looked down at the floor, his mind racing.
"You okay?" Mia asked softly.
He looked up, forcing a smile. "Fine."
"Let's see what we have from our other sources." Hikaru looked at the screen, quietly reading things over, "Void clan members sighted.. stuff we already know.."
"Well, I'll go check out the places they were sighted," Mia stood and looked at the computer screen. She muttered a spell and suddenly there was a second Mia standing there.
Ryon's eyes widened.
The second Mia gave a small wave before muttering a spell and disappearing.
The other Mia closed her eyes for a moment in focus.
Ryon looked over at Hikaru to see if he was paying attention, then slipped from the room.
Mia opened her eyes and frowned, following him out the door, "Are you sure you're alright?"
"Just restless. It's nothing." He answered.
She wrapped her arms around him, "You can talk to me, you know that, right?"
He gave her a small smile. "So you're in training to lead, huh?"
She sighed and nodded, "Not that I want to, but unfortunately, yes."
"If you don't want to, why?"
"It usually gets passed down through the oldest children. But since I have no direct family left, Mariana took over until I'm ready."
"I screwed your life up." The statement was bitter.
"No, you didn't."
"You're a bad liar. Your brother was supposed to run things..but I.." He trailed off and headed for the front door.
She caught his arm, "I'm betting if my grandma was still alive, she'd still be in charge. Then it would have been my dad for a long time before it ever got to aniki. There's a lot more to it than that. Don't blame yourself, my life isn't screwed up by you."
He sighed. "I helped."
"Please stop blaming yourself. I'm not mad or upset at you over what happened, you shouldn't be either."
He gently removed her hand and went out the door.
She followed quickly, "Ryon.." She paused, holding her stomach tightly and cursing at her clone.
He shifted, racing away in a flash of white fur.
She tried to run after him but didn't get far. She soon turned and went inside, talking to Hikaru a moment before vanishing.
She appeared near where her clone had been, sneaking into the building nearby.
Hikaru focused before teleporting to Ryon's location. "You shouldn't have left."
"I shouldn't be there." Ryon stood staring out over the city. "I'm putting all of you in danger."