Rook was about to eat his morning meal when he saw something odd on his MagiCam feed. He almost spat out his coffee in shock, before pulling it up.
"Cater's missing?" he said in disbelief.
"One of your friends?" said his mother.
"Oui, Maman. Cater is a close friend of mine, who shares a similar passion for hunting...among other things," said Rook cheerfully. He scrolled down in the feed to find that Cater's older sisters had filed the missing person's report, which he found rather strange.
Cater rarely spoke of his family, and when he did it was clear he wasn't close to them at all for reasons Rook felt was too uncouth to pry. Yet they had filed a missing person's report less than three days since the start of vacation.
"Maman, where are the applications for those who want to overnight in the sanctuary for more than a week?" asked Rook.
He would need to verify if Cater was indeed in the sanctuary and get to the bottom of this before it became a big mess for them. It took him twenty minutes to find Cater's name and the fact he paid for the special card that Rook had suggested was his best option.
Cater had paid for a full week's stay in the sanctuary with limited hunting rights and permission to sleep outside the designated campgrounds for those who liked to pretend they were being 'outdoorsy'.
Rook didn't mind such people, but he found it annoying to deal with them as they seemed to think themselves wise in how to hunt when they were barely tolerable idiots.
"Shall we go look for your little friend?" asked his mother.
Rook shook his head. Cater had been curious about his signature spell, so he had allowed Rook to place a marker on him. It should still be active, considering Rook had planned to stalk Cater before his vacation ended.
This simply sped up his original plan to prank the other boy.
With Cater...
To say his vacation was enjoyable was an understatement. It had taken him a day or two to drop his usual mask, and now he was thoroughly having fun. He had gotten so many excellent pics that he knew he'd have fun sorting through them later. The sunrise and sunset were especially breathtaking. It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows though.
He looked down at the sleeping pup beside him.
The poor thing had stumbled on his camp three days in, looking like hell and clearly terrified. It had only begun to trust him when he caught a rabbit and let the little one eat it. The pup was clearly starving.
Cater had been slowly but surely making his way to the pup's original den. He could only hope he still had a chance to reunite the pup with it's parent, because he really couldn't afford to feed a puppy. Even one as friendly as this. He wiped his forehead, almost dislodging the hat Rook had given him before he went through the mirror once his travel plans were set.
It was a nice gesture, and he was rather glad since it meant he wouldn't have to waste money on a hat.
The pup whimpered as they got closer to the den. Cater winced as he clearly smelled blood. The scent was rather distinct.
Cater froze the second he heard the menacing growl. He didn't bother to turn, as the sound came from behind him. The pup barked happily as it ran behind him, only to whine as it smelled the blood of it's parent.
Very slowly, a great menacing figure walked from behind him.
It was a massive wolf with fur as black as night, two magnificent horns adorning it's forehead and a star-shaped patch of lighter fur where the horns were. It had a fiercely intelligent gaze, and Cater knew this was not a dumb animal...not that he would have ever dared to treat it as such.
However he eyes were drawn to the nasty wound on it's right front leg. Initial inspection made him almost think it was an animal who had caused it, but upon closer look (not that he dared to move) it was clearly from a human-made trap. And that pissed him off.
The greed of humans never failed to annoy him, not after it had screwed him over the last time.
The wolf sniffed it's pup, before continuing to glare at Cater.
He stayed perfectly still as the wolf collected the pup before limping slightly back into the den. Once he was sure it wouldn't chase him down, he sighed. That was way too close.
For the next two days, Cater stayed within range of the den. Mostly because he wanted to find who the hell set that awful trap that hurt the wolf. He wouldn't admit it, but he was slightly attached to the pup and didn't want to see him hurt by those things.
It took him almost a day and a half to find the traps and set them off safely so the wolves wouldn't be hurt. It would have taken longer without his clones helping him.
Though he wished three of them hadn't fallen prey to the damn things.
Cater knew he was being watched...likely by the adult wolf. A few times he would swear he saw the pup around, but he made sure to keep his distance. The parent wouldn't like it if he tried to befriend the little one.
Since he was only allowed to hunt a few rabbits at a time, he made a point to let the pup find the offerings and bring it back to the parent. After all, it was unlikely the older wolf could hunt effectively when it was injured.
On the sixth day was when he ran into the poachers...and they were pissed.
Rook was beginning to get concerned, as he knew perfectly well who's territory Cater had unwittingly wandered into. Perhaps he should have tracked the other boy down much sooner, but he had been distracted trying to explain to his parents what little he knew of Cater's home life and why he hadn't informed his sisters (who were responsible for the missing person report) of his plans.
So you could imagine the alarm he had on his face when he saw Cater stumbling from the bushes, looking worse for wear.
"Cater! What in the name of the Seven happened to you?" said Rook in open concern.
"Poachers. They snuck up behind me...if that wolf hadn't jumped in when it did..." said Cater. It was clear he was in a lot of pain. There was a whine originating from his bag, which concerned Rook more.
Rook didn't hesitate, and immediately called his family. It would take little over ten minutes for them to reach him. Rook observed his fellow student, who looked like crap. The fact he had what was clearly a wild pup in his bag concerned him more.
When his family reached him, they put Cater and the pup into the back of the car. Rook stayed with him, as Cater was exhausted. Even more concerning was the fact his pen was steadily getting darker, which was a sign he was using magic for some reason.
What in the name of the Seven had Cater been up to?
Near the den...
Cater's clone kept up the barrier, as he couldn't be sure if the poachers were all gone. The wolf was not happy, but it had been too badly injured to deal with them all at once. It was telling enough she had tossed the pup towards the original Cater, who bolted as fast as he could from the scene, protecting it.
The clone could hear human voices, and tensed. He was mostly covering the opening of the den, but it wasn't wide enough to fit the entire opening so air could still get through.
Seeing people, he prepared to blast anyone stupid enough to come too close.
Or he would have, had the wolf not subconsciously relaxed. It didn't tolerate humans, but there were a small few who had earned it's respect. Humans it knew to be trustworthy.
Cater only relaxed the barrier when he saw the medic bag in the hands of one of the people at the back. He poofed out of existence, taking the barrier with him. He had been out of sight enough that they wouldn't have gotten a decent look at him.
Back at the clinic
"Rook...your friend is either very brave, or very stupid," said his mother.
Rook hadn't left Cater's side, and neither had the pup, amusingly enough. The little one had clearly attached itself to his friend, and the vet had confirmed there was a familiar bond between them. A relatively new one that had naturally formed, rather than forced.
Cater was slowly coming too, as he was mostly just tired and lethargic after giving his limited kills to the pup and his parent.
"Where am I?" asked Cater tiredly.
"I wouldn't get up if I were you, Roi du Camera," said Rook with some amusement. "You were dangerously close to magical exhaustion when we found you, on top of the fact you weren't eating properly again."
Rook's mother raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean again?" she demanded, motherly concern in her voice.
Rook had some unexplained mirth in his eyes as he cheerfully explained his friend's bad habits. His mother could be a force of nature when she put her mind to it, and she had clearly already decided that she would treat Cater like one of her own after what he had pulled. The fact Rook was openly fond of him spoke volumes.
Cater looked rather bewildered at the fact Rook's mother showed more concern for him than his own ever had.
"What about the pup?" he asked.
"Your familiar is fine," said Rook's mother. "He's being checked over by the vets and you just need to sign some paperwork before you can take him back to Night Raven with you. It's not many who can obtain the respect of a Tempest Star Wolf, much less earn the privilege of making a star wolf pup their familiar."
Bonding with Cater had caused the pup to evolve more quickly than most, but that wasn't a bad thing.
Cater looked even more bewildered hearing that. Which is when Rook decided to drop yet another bomb on him.
"By the way, why didn't you tell your family about your vacation plans? They were upset enough that there's a missing person's report filed about you in the Queendom of Roses," said Rook.
"Wait...how did a missing person report reach the Sunset Savanna?" said Cater.
"It was on your MagiCam feed. The only reason I noticed it is because you made it clear you would have your phone turned off during your vacation, so I was curious as to what you were posting," said Rook.
Cater rolled his eyes.
"Right. I bet it was my dad who posted it, because there's no way she cared enough to notice I was gone," said Cater.
"Actually the account was from a younger woman, a Prudence Diamond?" said Rook.
"Wait...Prue noticed I hadn't come back?" said Cater in surprise. He was surprised one of his sister's had cared enough to bother filing the report. "I bet Cadence noticed and convinced Prue to help her."
"You should probably call them to let them know you're alright," said Rook's mother.
There was an implied tone that suggested she would accept nothing less and that she would not be amused by any excuse to do otherwise.
It was a rather awkward conversation to say the least, as Cater had to borrow Rook's phone to call. His own battery was pretty much dead at this point, since he had grabbed the wrong charger cord and his digital camera used a different one from his phone.
Rook was entirely too amused at the situation Cater had found himself in. After what he had done, the Hunt family had all but adopted him as one of their own.
Anyone who would dismantle a poaching operation and respect the rules of real hunting, not the sport most people made of it was practically family anyway.
Rook's mother had taken it upon herself to fatten the ginger up as much as possible, since he was still recovering from his ordeal. His new familiar, the wolf pup he had named Umbra, certainly wasn't complaining.
"So how did your sister's react to your call?" asked Rook.
Cater looked exhausted by the memory of it.
"Cadence was pissed I hadn't said anything, and Prue gave me one hell of a lecture for not at least giving them a head's up," said Cater. "Though they agreed it was rather pointless for me to come home right now since it'll take another week for Umbra's paperwork to clear and the familiar license to arrive."
"What about your parents?" asked Rook.
"Dad probably didn't notice. He works too much, and the only reason she would have bothered filing is to save her own face rather than out of concern," said Cater dismissively.
Rook was beginning to suspect Cater's attitude towards his family was mainly caused by his mother. It would explain the tone anyway.
The real question was how deep did the hurt go, and how much work Rook would have to put into reminding Cater he was worth loving.
