Chapter Seven

I may not have grown up with a lot to talk about, but I've never been quiet for this long. It had been three days since we'd escaped the prison, my home, and I still hadn't said a single word. The whole ride, as they drove to whatever place we were currently staying at, I'd stayed within Simon's arms, crying. When we'd arrived, at some run-down motel, he'd led me to one of the rooms and held my hand as some lady he knew patched up my shoulder. I hadn't even thanked her for it.

Later, he'd brought me some food, but all I'd managed to get down was the too sweet lemonade he'd bought from the motel's diner. He'd spoken to me then, but I hadn't even looked at him. Just sipped from the glass, staring blankly at nothing as I thought about Karl.

For three days I sat in that room, on that bed, thinking about Karl. Not even once did I crawl under the covers. I only moved from the spot when I needed to use the bathroom, and the only time I stopped staring at a cracked spot on the wallpaper was when Simon would bring me food, forcing me to at least eat something off the plate, even if it was only a little bit.

For three days I saw his face in front of me. I dreamed about him, about how I'd killed him, about what he'd said. What he'd done. Karl had helped me escape, and how had I thanked him for it? I'd shot him with his own gun.

For three days I sat on that bed hating myself.

For three days … And then it was time to stop.

When I woke up the next morning, I stared at the ceiling for a few minutes. I raised my arm, watching my own fingernails. I'd bitten them down, and they looked horrible. Sitting up, I ran my fingers through my hair, grimacing at the feeling. I really needed a shower.

I swung my legs off the bed, carefully lowering my toes to the wooden floor. It was cold, and felt weird under against my soles. I was walking upon this floor a changed girl today. I wasn't just going to the bathroom today. I was going to get up. For real.

I glanced out the window on my way to the open bathroom door. It was sunny, almost too bright for my morning vision, and I squinted and looked away.

The shower felt amazing. I must've been under the running water for over an hour, and when I finally emerged, my fingers looked awfully pruny, making my bitten down fingernails seem even more horrid.

I used the motel's hair dryer to dry my hair, and then put on some fresh clothes that Simon had left on top of the drawer the first night here. Just some grey sweats and a black t-shirt and hoodie. He'd told me that we could go shopping for something else when I felt like it, but I didn't think that would be anytime soon.

As I sat on the end of the bed, tying the laces of the white sneakers Simon had left along with the clothes, the door to my room opened. I looked up to see Simon enter, his back to me as he used his shoulder to push the door open, tray in hand. I was putting my hair into a high ponytail when he turned around and saw me.

"Oh," he said, startled. "You're up."

He walked across the floor, gently placing the tray down on the dresser before coming to sit beside me on the bed. He touched my arm.

"How are you?"

I smiled at him. A small one, but still a smile.

"Not great," I said. "But better. I think."

Simon exhaled, saying, "I'm glad."

I stood up, walking over to the dresser. I took a small carton of orange juice off the tray, pushed the straw through the small silvery circle, and sucked some of the liquid out. I swallowed, and the repeated the process.

"You can eat breakfast with the rest of us if you want," Simon said, standing up from the bed. "The weather's great today."

I eyed him for a moment, emptying the carton and placing it back on the tray. Wiping my mouth against the back of my hand, I said, "I'd like that."

Simon smiled. "Great!"

I only recognized Chloe and the lady who'd fixed my shoulder as Simon showed me to the table. They were all sitting at the large wooden platform attached to the diner, everyone rocking the sunglasses. I looked at the large guy beside Chloe. They were wearing matching Aviators, and his arm was casually slung around the back of her chair as he peered down into a magazine she held in her hands. As Simon pulled out a chair and gestured for me to sit down, Chloe looked up from the magazine and smiled at me.

"Hi, Leah," she said, her voice kind, sweet. "I'm glad to see you're up."

I smiled back at her.

"Hi, Chloe," I said, my gaze landing on the large guy. Chloe noticed me looking.

"Oh. In case you can't see the resemblance," she said, her voice light, joking. She cocked her thumb toward the guy, not looking at him. "This is Derek. I believe he was a little bit hairier the last time you saw him?"

I laughed, but my heart wasn't in it. Derek gave a small nod of acknowledgement.

Simon sat down in the chair next to me, laying his hand on my arm. "Besides Chloe and Derek," he said, gesturing to the older man by the table, "we have my and Derek's dad, Christopher, but he goes by Kit." Kit smile at me, making a curt motion with his fingers, almost as a peace sign, but not really. Simon gestured to the woman beside him, the one who'd bandaged me three days ago. "And this is Lauren. She's Chloe's aunt. And she's kind of …" he stopped, as if thinking it over, before continuing, "well, she's kind of on her way to becoming my stepmom, and Derek's, even though he's kind of with Chloe …" he cleared this throat, moving on to the last person at the table, a dark-haired girl who looked like she was still asleep in some ways, slumped back in her chair, her mouth slightly open. "And this is Tori. Remember what I told you, she's my sister? Well, half sister that is. Mine and Derek's. Though he's not actually related to us, Derek, I mean, we're all still–"

"For the love of God, Simon!" Tori suddenly slumped forward, her elbows hitting the table. She lazily rested her chin on one hand while using the other to grab an apple from a woven basket. She took a bite, then, with her mouth full, said, "Our family's totally confusing, she gets it! Now can you please shut up? I'm not even awake yet and you're already making me want to shoot myself."

My breath caught in my throat, and for a moment, I couldn't breathe.

"Tori!" Simon snapped, his grip tightening on my arm, but only in a reassuring way. But I didn't feel reassured at all. I felt like I was going to throw up.

"What?" Tori asked, lifting her sunglasses from her eyes. "What did I do now? I mean, sometimes …"

She stopped, her eyes travelling from Simon's face, to mine. Tori's mouth created a perfect circle as she breathed, "Ohhh. That's right. You shot that guy."

"Victoria!"

This time, it was Kit that snapped at her. I could feel Simon's gaze on me, but I didn't look at him. Pushing his hand away from me I stood up, the chair scraping along the wood as I did. I heard Simon call after me, and Chloe telling him to let me be. Still, when I'd reached my room and placed my hand on the doorknob, I heard his voice.

"Leah, I'm so sorry about Tori. She can be a real–"

"Don't," I said, interrupting. I looked him right in the eyes, and repeated the word. "Just don't. I want to be alone right now, okay?"

"But–"

"Please, Simon," I said, my voice stern. "Just leave me for a while?"

"But I've left alone for three days, Leah. I'm worried."

I smiled a weak smile. "Then you can put up with a few hours more of worrying." And with that I opened the door, slid in, and made sure to lock myself inside. I could hear him on the other side for a long moment, before he walked away. Not bothering with undressing, I threw myself on the bed.

I'd wanted sleep, but instead I just ended up with a lot of crying. By the time I managed to stop, I realized the sun was almost set when I peered out the window. The beginning of some woods towered a few meter from the glass, and a sudden pang of homesickness filled my stomach. It wasn't for my father, or for rolling the cart up and down the corridors. No, it was for my own room, my own bed, my own things. I missed the tire swing out back at my house, the one Ron had put up for me when I was five. I missed sitting in my living room playing videogames.

But most of all I missed the forest.

I got off the bed and started toward the door, but stopped. Simon would probably know if I left the room. For all I knew he was standing right outside just waiting to comfort me. Broken, little, tiny, Leah. The kid. I wasn't ready for that yet.

Instead I made my way over to the window. It was easy transporting to the other side, and I even landed several meters from the motel, leaving only around one meter to reach the woods. I'd been walking for maybe ten minutes, when I heard movement behind me. At first I decided to ignore it, thinking that Simon had seen me leave after all and decided to follow me. But as another minute past, this nagging thought started to form in my head.

What if it wasn't Simon? What if it was my dad, or someone he'd sent for me? No, for them, I corrected myself. He wouldn't send anyone for me. He's send someone for them. The special ones.

I quickened my pace, causing my breathing to deepen and my footsteps to crackle across the dead leaves and fallen branches. I wanted to be quiet, but I also wanted to get away from whoever was following me, so I kept my pace, reaching out to fling a tree branch out of my face and … I stopped.

I stared at the sight in front of me. It was like the most beautiful place ever, the pond lowered several meters down into the ground, the cliffs creating a glittering wall around it. Not to mention the enormous waterfall right across the large gap, droplets of water hitting me even as I stood farthest away from it.

"Tori wanted to swim in it," a voice spoke behind me, "but she never managed a levitation spell that would allow her to get back up."

I turned around, expecting to find Simon there, but instead my eyes landed on the large guy from earlier. Derek. The werewolf.

It wasn't like I meant to make the noise … but it still came out. A suffocated yelp from somewhere deep in my throat as my eyes scanned the mountain of muscle in front of me. My first instinct was to turn the heck around and run for it, get away from him, but I knew that I didn't have to. Derek would never hurt me, Simon had promised me that.

But still … he was mighty scary to look at.

Derek reached up, rubbing a hand against his face and sighing. "I told them this would happen," he mumbled, lowering his hand and showing it into his pocket. His eyes met mine. "Look, kid," he started, but noticing the look on my face, starting over with, "Look, Leah. It's kind of insulting that you're scared of me."

I stared at him. O-kay … Had not seen that one coming.

"I'm not scared of you," I said, trying for my best 'No, promise, I'm not!'-look. Derek raised his eyebrows at me, but didn't really comment further, just shaking his head, murmuring, "Right. Whatever," before glancing past me at the waterfall.

"Simon told you to follow me."

It wasn't a question. Derek nodded.

"He worries about you, but didn't want to bother you. He knew he'd give himself up the second he stepped into the woods, so he asked me. I'm a little better at keeping the noise to a minimum."

"I still heard you," I said.

"Yeah," Derek breathed. "I noticed. And I'm sorry, for scaring you."

"I wasn't–"

"Everyone's scared sometime, Leah," he interrupted, coming to stand beside me. "You're the youngest now, and we've all been your age at one time. You can't blame us for seeing a child when we look at you. I think even some of us need you around. It gives a good excuse to be the grown up ones, not the kids."

He didn't say who he meant by that, but I didn't push for it either. Instead I turned my gaze back to the water.

"Have you ever killed someone?"

I hadn't meant for the question to actually leave my head, but still it rang past my lips. Derek was silent for a moment.

"I have," he said.

I dared a glance at his face. I couldn't see any emotion.

"Did you mean it?" I asked.

"No, I didn't."

"And Chloe? My dad said she shot–"

Derek spun on me so fast I stumbled back, and for a second I thought I was going to fall off the edge, down toward the water. But Derek grabbed my arm and steadied me.

"She did what she had to!" he snapped, letting me go. "She didn't want it. None of us ever wanted any of this. But we got it anyway, and we have to protect ourselves, and if it sometimes happen to lead to someone's death, than that's how it's got to be. Rather them than us. It doesn't mean that we mean to do it. We don't want that. I … don't want that."

His eyes stayed locked on mine for a few seconds, before he turned away, gazing out over the waterfall. I bit my lip, trying to read his face, bur failing. Finally, I just slumped my head down, staring at my new sneakers, now covered with mud and pine needles.

"I didn't want it either," I whispered, my voice breaking as the tears threatened to appear again. But I forced them back. I didn't want to cry in front of him. Not when he'd already told me how they saw me as nothing but a kid. "I didn't mean to … I thought it would be … Not Karl, I would never–"

Derek placed a hand on my shoulder, giving the tiniest of squeezes. He didn't say anything, but the gesture was enough to calm me down. I sniffled, and swallowed hard.

"Come on," he said, his hand sliding away as he began walking back to the motel. "I'm hungry."

I followed him, trying not to smile at the sullen tone he'd used. Like it was my fault he was hungry. I walked a few yards behind him the whole way, trying to imagine how it would feel to transform into an animal. I even considered asking him, but decided that that might not have been the best of ideas. When we reached the end of the woods, Derek led me back to the diner. Everyone was by the table again, this time rocking coats and jackets instead of sunglasses.

"Late dinner," Chloe said, appearing beside me. She exchanged a look with Derek, a mixture of adoration and something else, and led me over to an empty chair. When she sat down beside me, I could've sworn I saw one of the empty chairs move by itself, but when it stayed still, I deduced it to be my own tired mind playing tricks on me.

"What'd you say," Chloe began, "that you, me, and Tori spend the day at the mall tomorrow? Get you some new clothes, some books, maybe we'll rent a movie. Just us girls. How'd that sound?"

I stared at her, my mouth open.

"I've never been to a mall before," I managed to say after a second of idiotic staring. Chloe laughed, saying, "Then you really have to go with us. It'll be a blast. I promise. What'd you say?"

I glanced over at Tori sitting across from us at the table. She smiled at me, nodding her head. I turned back to Chloe.

"Yeah," I said. "I guess I can give it a shot."

Chloe beamed at me, and Tori said, "Told ya, no fourteen-year-old can say no to the mall."