CHAPTER NINE
Shannon was texting me on the way home, apparently we had left a wake of destruction behind us. Jimi had seen Kay air kiss Rhydian and was not at all happy. There had been a lot of playground speculation over the last few months on whether or not they were a couple, they had never actually got around to going out but there was clearly a bit of 'will they/won't they' going on. I suspect that Jimi's father would have frowned on him having a girlfriend before finishing his exams and besides Jimi was so arrogant he would assume that Kay would wait around for him to ask her out. After this afternoon's little flirtations display I doubt that relationship would even get off the ground.
"I can't believe that you did that!" I exclaimed to Rhydian, stopping again to look at my phone as another message came through.
We had been running again and it felt great! Rhydian's shoulder was healing and he wanted to stretch his legs. We weren't really pushing it, just jogging for us but probably Olympic marathon runner pace for most humans. I could run like this all day.
"What?! Kissed you?" Rhydian questioned.
"No! Turned up at school! Do you realise what this will mean? You left your foster parents without a trace, the police were involved. It won't take long before someone in authority starts to ask questions about where you have been for over a year."
"Ah." I knew that look. Guilty. Puppy dog eyes glanced at me though his long lashes as he scuffed his foot on the woodland floor. "Didn't think about that..."
"You never do!" I accused. "Just typical, you never think things through. Mam and Dad will go mad if you bring down the police and social services sniffing around the place."
"Don't be angry, I just wanted to see you."
"I know." All the fight had gone out of me, "I missed you too. Aghh" I groaned "you know that we are now one of those soppy coupley kissy couples. Blughh"
Rhydian laughed. "Maddion!"
"Ewweew" I grimaced "and I've got to go back in there tomorrow."
"Maybe 'Rhydiline' would be more appropriate."
"Oh no, not even going there, that sounds like a migraine tablet!"
"If your Mum and Dad aren't happy then I recon we'll both be locked in the cellar tomorrow so nothing to worry about" he shrugged.
"Great!"
I ran a bit hard this time to run off some of the tension and Rhydian still managed to keep up, his shoulder was bothering him less and less, though I doubted he would still be able to transform.
We arrived home to find that Gran was in the kitchen making chocolate brownies and Dad was in the work shop. We both sat down and looked sheepish.
Gran knew that something was up straight away.
"Oh blimy, I wouldn't like to be in your shoes when Emma gets back" was her response when we told her that Rhydian had been at the school.
To say that Mam went ballistic was an understatement. She had been coping with Rhydian's presence quite well up until that point but I think that the last few days had taken all her patience and this was just too much. She let Rhydian have it full barrel. Even Dad could hear her from the work shop.
There was nothing we could do to defend ourselves, Gran had already warned us that it wasn't worth getting into a slanging match with Mam, we just had to let her rant and rave at us for an hour or so until she calmed down.
In the end it was decided that we would wait and see if anyone showed up and if they did, we would say that Rhydian was a distant cousin; Gran had brought him back to Britain when she had been on her travels and hope that Gran's passport would be enough. If they asked to see Rhydian's then we were stuffed.
Fortunately, apart from one phone call from the Vaughn's, Rhydian's old foster parents, no one came knocking that night. Dad spoke to the Vaughn's and he said that they weren't sure what to make of the reasons that he gave them for Rhydian's disappearance or indeed his re-appearance. But, there wasn't much they could do about it, Rhydian was over 16 now and legally able to leave the care system so long as he was able to support himself (we had googled it to make sure). The Vaughn's had to be satisfied that we were looking after him.
"It's only a matter of time before we have the authorities round though" confirmed Dad as he came off the phone.
"May be I should move on" asked Rhydian "I can't stay here forever anyway. We were talking with Shannon and Tom yesterday about our plans for the future and the truth is that I just don't have any."
"Well Madeline is going back to school in September to do her A-Levels so don't get any ideas about running off dragging my daughter around the countryside living wild. She has plans you know, wants to make something of herself." Mam was off on one again.
"Mam" I interrupted her full flow. I'd let her go on about the fact that Rhydian had been seen by everyone before but this time I stood up to her. "Mam, of course I'm going back to school, so are Shannon and Tom. We talked about it last night." I was more worried that Rhydian would follow through on his idea to go wild again, he had hinted at it last night.
"Oh" That had deflated her.
"Still doesn't explain what we are going to do with this one though does it?" said Gran, gesturing towards Rhydian.
Rhydian looked at his hands with a resigned shrug. "I don't know what to do" he muttered. "I don't want to leave Maddy" he added quietly.
"No, we didn't think you would love" Gran smiled. "I've been thinking that I might settle down for a bit until all this blows over. I've been asking round the village and there is a cottage for rent just off Northumberland Road. Three bedrooms, just renovated, comes furnished. I think Rhydian could come and stay with me until we see what happens with the Wilds."
Rhydian seemed to visibly relax "Really Ellie, you'd have me come to stay with you?"
"I could do with a man about the house!" said Gran with a theatrical wink!
"Thanks" smiled Rhydian. "Only I couldn't pay my way, I haven't got any money".
"I've been think about that too" Dad piped up. "I really like your design ideas for the new seating area at Stoneybridge Primary, I think I could show them to the head teacher and I might get the commission. I've always been great with the woodwork side of things but rubbish at presenting my design ideas, how do you fancy coming to work for me? It would only be a bit of work but I recon you could make a bit more by selling your pictures. That one you did the other day of the sunrise is amazing. What do you think?"
"You've been drawing?" I questioned Rhydian.
"Keeping myself busy while you were at school."
Dad stood and walked to the side table picking up a pile of papers on the side.
"Just sketches really" mused Rhydian. "I heard the head of the primary school talking to Dan so I nipped over to have a look at what she was taking about and came back and did some designs."
I was flicking through the pictures in front of me. There were designs of a small open summer house, perfect for children to work in outside. The first few were pictures, then more were plans, giving sizes and measurements.
"I just don't quite get how it all fits together" shrugged Rhydian.
"That's where I come in" said Dad, "that is the bit that I get, I just can't put my ideas down on paper. This will need a bit of a tweak if it to stand up to the weather but the idea is perfect."
I continued to look at the pictures. Rhydian had done a couple of sketches of the house and the garden and then I came across one that was more detailed that the others. I looked up at Rhydian, he was smiling at me.
The picture was of the sunrise, it was stunning, subtle, done in coloured pencils, the detail was amazing. It was drawn as though sitting on the bench at the bottom of the garden where we had first kissed.
I looked up at Rhydian again. He gave me the smallest of nods. The picture was for me.
Dad had found a frame to put Rhydian's drawing in, the frame was old fashioned and heavy and didn't suit the picture at all but I was so thrilled to have it on my wall that the frame really didn't matter. Rhydian had presented it to me saying it was a belated birthday present. I lay back in my bed and I couldn't stop looking at it.
Gran was in the spare room and Rhydian was sleeping on the sofa, well, more like across the sitting room, he took up so much space, is legs dangled off the end! He seemed comfortable enough though and his shoulder was healing really well. He said that he wanted to try and transform tomorrow but I know what that would mean, he would go and try and find Ceri and Bryn and the others in his mothers pack. The thought made my stomach tie in knots again.
We only had a couple more exams to go and the butterflies inside had nothing to do with nerves the next day – I was worried about Rhydian going to find his Mum.
When we arrived at school day I was relieved to find that Rhydian and I were old news. Apparently it had all kicked off between Jimi and Kay, a full on slanging match that had attracted quite an audience until Miss Fitzgerald had come out to send everyone home.
We were all sitting in Miss Blunts room upstairs having a last minute revision lesson for a PHSE exam that afternoon. Most people were just mucking about, we all thought the subject was a waste of time, but it had been made compulsory two years ago. Shannon was furious, she would rather have done an academic subject but the rest of us just saw it as a breeze.
Shannon and Tom were chatting something Tom had read in Shannon's 'research' file he had read the night before but I had zoned out, my body might have been in the classroom but my mind was elsewhere. A tiny part of me was wishing I was brave enough to use Eolas to see what Rhydian was doing but instead I was speculating in my head. I could picture him having a cup of tea and munching his way through most of the enormous plate of Brownies Gran had baked the previous evening.
I was gazing out of the window day dreaming when something in the shadow across the school yard caught my eye, the tiniest of movements against the wall. I couldn't even be sure I had really seen something but suddenly my senses were on high alert. My ears pricked and I inhaled a deep breath through my nose. Unfortunately all the windows were closed, all I could smell was the classroom, floor cleaner and dry wipe marker.
There it was again, a definite movement; there was someone or something hiding in the shadows to the side of the Maths block across the yard. My back straitened and shoulder's lifted. Shannon and Tom stopped their conversation and followed my gaze.
"Maddy?" questioned Shannon, "What can you see?" she whispered.
I couldn't take my eyes off the spot, I frowned trying to focus more clearly, my sight was better than anyone in the room but I still couldn't make out who was down there.
Swiftly someone moved between the shadows, crossing a gap between the classrooms.
It was a female and it was a wild wolfblood.