Chapter Two:

Derek : Back at Home

June 28th wasn't the worst day of my life.

But honestly, when the girl you love leaves without a trace, everything else pales in comparison.

Flashback

I drag my feet up to the doorstep, exhausted from Dad and I's trip in search of Rae. Our efforts were in vain though, not that it surprised me. She didn't want to be found. Period. Hand raised to knock on the door, my heightened hearing caught sounds of... sobbing? Sniffling? I twisted the handle and threw open the door, but nothing could have prepared me for the scene I came home to.

Dr. Fellows was on the floor crying, muttering how she's failed, how she never was a good replacement mother, rambling how she drove her niece away. Her words confused me, and the creeping feeling of unease settled in my stomach. I needed to know what was going on, but I knew Lauren couldn't provide the answers I needed in her hysterical, dishelved state. Where was Simon? What was wrong? I thundered up the stairs of our rented house, tearing apart the upstairs with my eyes, but Simon was not in our room. Chloe could explain this... right? I knocked on the door to her and Tori's split room.

Silence.

I knocked again. "Chloe?"

Silence.

I opened the door and quietly peeked was perched at the edge of her bed, staring at the other side of the room. Chloe' s side. A side very much lacking looked from me, to her water glass, then to her still pajama-clothed self.

"She's gone." She states simply, but her eyes look confused.

"What do you mean 'she's gone'?" I growl. "How could you let this happen?" My knuckles are turning white, and I unclench my fists.

"I. Was. Drugged." She snaps, punctuating her sentence with a stab towards the glass of water by her bedside, white powder settling to the bottom.

Her words hit like a slap to the face. Chloe couldn't do that; gentle, shy Chloe wouldn't drug her friends and leave in the night. Would she?

End of Flashback

"What do we do now?" Simon asks, clearly as frustrated as the rest of us. "Your dream spell didn't do anything for us, Tori, and now she'll just be more guarded."

"I don't recall you making any suggestions," Tori fires back, "and my spell would have worked if Derek had been more persuasive with her." Her vicious gaze shifts to me. "You can chew her out when she's back, but now our whole plan is fu-"

"That's enough." Dad is standing in the corner of the room, arms crossed, lips forming a disapproving line. "We don't have time to point fingers. Chloe could be anywhere right now, and if you can't put your differences aside, she's as good as dead." His voice is even, but his outburst shocks Tori and Simon into silence. I turn my head away, sinking into the shame I feel. I should have given Chloe a chance to explain; I shouldn't have stalked off and given up... but God, sometimes I just lose it. And now Chloe is truly gone.

Chloe.

Her name cuts my heart. I can see her strawberry blonde hair, her sparkling blue eyes, her small, bird-like frame. I see the girl who was always there for me when I Changed, never afraid, even as I morphed into the monster that I am. Where are you? Why did you leave us, why did you leave me? I feel empty, withdrawn deeper into the layers of myself. Even now I can't deny the pull I feel, connected to her by invisible strings, and I know I won't feel whole again until she is by my side. "Um... guys... what if she just doesn't want to be found? We're kinda missing a lot of the story here..." Simon tries to break the uncomfortable silence. The fact that he's already suggested to throw in the towel only makes my foul mood worse.

"You guys just don't get it, do you?" Nervous laughter bubbles out of Tori, and all heads turn to face her."In here, Chloe is special. She's a powerful necromancer, a force to be reckoned with. She can raise the dead. But out there," her hands spread out, palms faced up, "she's just another crazy girl, talking to herself, wandering the streets. She'll be eaten alive. So if you're going to sit here, piecing together the story and feeling sorry for yourself, then I'm glad she ran away, because we are really crappy friends." Her eyes burn into mine, daring me to disagree with her. "Unless you all get off your butts and decide to find her." She storms out of the room, her words still floating in the air. She's right... I jump up, snatch my jacket off the table, toss it to Simon, and head for the door.

"Where are you going?" Simon asks, trying to keep up with me.

"I have a scent to track." And with that kernel of wisdom, I run into the forest, leaving my adopted brother in the dust.

...

I'm in the clearing, lying on my stomach in the grass, willing myself to Change. Uncertain thoughts run in my head. I can't do this without Chloe...

You have to do this for Chloe, a voice in my head reminds me.

I take a long shuddering breath and focus my energy on the transformation. Almost immediately, I feel my blood begin to boil. Sweat runs down my face, down my neck, and is rolling across my back. My muscles, taut with tension, begin to spasm uncontrollably, jumping beneath my rippling skin. My bones melt and grind together, the joints popping in an out, and I can feel my whole bone structure bend and twist like putty. "Ahhhhhhhh!" I cry out as my spine shoots upward. Crrrrack! I can feel each individual vertebrae rolling and repositioning itself, and a coarse layer of hair sprouts over my body. The plates of my face meld and remesh together into a snout; my eyes water and I know they're changing shape as well. The waves of agony and pain are relentless, traveling up my body like liquid fire. Nothing left in my stomach, I can only dry heave, gasping for air like a fish out of water. I'm growing, stretching, ripping apart and stitching myself back together. My fingers retract and are replaced with massive paws, gleaming nails just underneath.

When I finally lift my head, exhausted but determined, it is through the wolf's eyes that I see the world. I look around, half forgetting I'm alone out here, and miss the small hands that would rub my back, telling me I was okay. I miss the feeling of having her curled up by my side, cool fingers in my thick coat. The stabbing pains of loneliness cut me, and raising my head to the sky, I let loose a long, mournful howl; I voice all the pain, misery, and heartbreak I've felt in the last twelve hours in one piercing note, and as I leave one thing rings true: I will find her at all costs.

My nose twitches. I smell something sweet, like strawberry shampoo and almonds, wafting in the air amongst the pine trees.

And so the search begins.

And that's chapter two guys! Please review and tell me what you thought about it :) It was originally going to be published right after chapter one, but I'm on a road trip and WiFi is a lottery :D