Chapter 8

Our screams brought a surge of people into the living room. My father along with Sam and Emily Uley bolted from the kitchen, their faces emanating parental concern. From the other side of the living room came Kelsey and Sammi barreling out of the bedrooms like they expected someone to be dying on the carpet. Sarah was waving and frantically pointing in the direction to the retreating wolf when I noticed that Josh was nowhere to be seen. Confused and worried for his safety I leapt from the couch, racing up the stairs to his room. Once inside and still unable to find him, I panicked, overturning the mattress on his bed in hope that he might be there. He wasn't. So then I ran for the dresser, ripping the drawers out and dumping them on the floor. I only got through two of the four before I felt my father's arms around me, preventing me from reaching the others no matter how hard I strained. "Sadie, calm down."

"What if he gets eaten?!"

"No one's going to get eaten."

"You don't know that!"

He then picked me up, throwing me over his shoulder and carrying me down the stairs as if I was still five years old before placing me on the couch next to Sarah who looked a great deal calmer than she previous had. "Listen, Sam and I are gonna go take care of this. Sarah, Kelsey, Sammi, help Emily make sure that Sadie doesn't destroy anything in our absence."

I instantly tried to spring to my feet to protest when i felt two pair of hands grab my arms and hold me down. Seconds later Sarah's hand flew over my mouth to muffle any verbal objection I might have had. She then giggled as if this were fun for her and with her free hands gave my dad a thumbs-up, "Got it covered, Uncle Jake."

Dad nodded and headed for the door where Sam was already waiting. My dad exited first with Sam shutting the door behind them. For the briefest moment the thought of escape flashed through my head, but even I wasn't stupid enough to think I could escape all three of these and the ever watchful eye of Emily Uley. I swear, that woman knew exactly what was happening at all times. In fact, I would have bet money that she knew precisely where Josh was at this moment and simply wasn't telling. I sighed, sinking back into the soft fabric of the couch resigning myself to having to wait. The minute I did so Sarah's hand flew from my mouth as she launched into a conversation about how much she liked Sammi's dress. Of course Sammi was flattered as people always were when someone like Sarah started dishing out the compliments. Soon Kelsey joined in and they were all chatting about all this girly stuff that really held no appeal for me. What kind of cruel and unusual form of torture was this? Eventually they all got so wrapped up in the conversation that no one was even making any attempts to hold me back but by then I'd lost all willpower to do anything but bang my head against the soft blue fabric of the couch. Perhaps I should have let the wolf eat me last night after all.

Just as I was contemplating how that would be infinitely better than this, the front door swung open and Josh Uley stepped into the house. Seeing as how I was free of my human handcuffs I shot up from the couch and charged towards him, hands planted firmly on my hips as I blocked the path up to his room. "Joshua Uley, where have you been?"

He smiled down at me, a smile that stopped my breath. I never could actually remember him smiling before that moment, but I knew that he probably had a trillion times in his lifetime. He had to have, the way it came so easy. As he smiled a soft chuckle escaped his lips as he continued to gaze down upon me. More than likely there was probably some incredibly amusing look of utter shock plastered across my face. Attempting to put back on my stern look, I only failed miserably, when he beat me to the talking. "Sadie Black, I never pictured you as a worrier, but now I'm beginning to think you could give my mother a run for her money."

He stepped around me, his arm brushing against mine for a fraction of a second, distracting me from whatever I'd been about to say. Before I knew it he was half-way up the stairs and I was scrambling desperately for something intelligible to say. "I wasn't worrying!" I shouted after him, "Actually I'm completely relaxed!"

He paused on the stairs, glancing over his shoulder at me and cocking an eyebrow. "I am!" I tried my best to sound like I really was but sounded more like a four year old child on the verge of a hissy fit. He didn't say anything more but continued on his way probably busy with the mess that I'd made in his room. As I turned I saw Emily peering out of the kitchen with the most knowing look on her face. What it was that she thought she knew I hadn't a clue. But for whatever reason the way she kept looking at me infuriated me. Maybe it was because she seemed to know what was going on here and I didn't. And whatever it was that she knew she seemed happy about it. Grumbling under my breath I heard the door creak open once more and Sam announced that they had returned. Turning I grabbed a hold of my father's arm, growling, "We're leaving!"

He seemed confused, but let me drag him to the car. I climbed into the backseat not even realizing what I was doing as Sarah came rushing out of the house waving goodbye to the Uley girls and hopped into the car with a smile on her face. I kicked her seat. Hard.

Author's Note: So here it is, the next chapter. I feel like this story's been kind of slow so hopefully I can speed it up a little. However I don't know when the next time I'll update will be. My cat passed away today (very unexpectedly, she was only nine years old and had never had any health problems besides being overweight) my muse really doesn't want to do much. But hopefully you enjoy this chapter and let's hope I can manage another chapter fairly soon.