After school, we didn’t have practice since there were no practices held on Mondays. I took my usual hike to the cemetery. Lately, I have felt less and less of a pull towards it. But today I felt it. I pushed through the gates of Shadow creek Cemetery and crunched through the leaves to the bridge that leads to my family's resting place.“Jamie?” I was stopped before I made it completely across the bridge.“Hunter?” I eyed him, “Are you following me again?”“I’m not actually.” He looked uncomfortable, “I was visiting someone and when I looked up, I saw you.”“Oh…” I said, “Who are you visiting if I may ask?”“My mother.” He smiled sadly in my direction, “Today marks another year of not having her here. Kinda sappy, anyway why are you here?”“I’m visiting my family too.” I looked down at my feet, “I’m sorry about your mother. I lost mine a little over a year ago.”“Yours is fresher than mine then.” He walked onto the bridge and leaned on the opposite rail I was on, “Aiden got a tip that
We pulled up to Callie’s wide two-story house. It was surrounded by trees. The wooden house always seemed to be getting smaller and smaller every time I came back to it. Callie was waiting on the front porch swing and jumped up to meet us at the police car when Sam threw it in park.“Jamie!” Callie exclaimed, “It’s been so long!” “I know!” I fake cried as she wrapped her arms around me, “A whole three hours!” “Crazies.” Sam shook his head and popped the trunk for me to grab my bag out of it when Cal let go that is. “So will you be home when I get out of school?” I asked throwing my backpack over my shoulder, Callie reached around and grabbed my duffle bag.“I should be. Fingers crossed that nothing would come up.” Sam put an arm around me and gave me a half hug as we all walked to the door.“Sam!” Mrs. Cannon answered as the door swung open, “It’s been so long since I have seen you! How have you been?”“I’ve been great, Candice. Thank you for letting Jamie stay over.”“Oh nonsense,
The next day Sam dropped us off at school since Callie’s car was still at her house. My ribs were so sore from being punched the night before, leaning forward so much I felt like the hunchback of Notre Dame. Callie looked hungover. Together we looked like a hot mess. We went straight to first period instead of stopping at our lockers.“I feel like I got hit by a bus,” I muttered laying my head down on my desk.“I feel like I was in a paranormal activity movie.” She muttered back.“Hey ladies,” Hunter greeted us, “What party did I miss out on last night?”“One we would gladly have missed if we could,” I replied not taking my head off the desk.“What happened?” Hunter’s tone turned serious.“What does it matter?” I spoke. It was not like he could do anything about it anyway.“It matters.” He said seriously. I looked around, not wanting all the glares being thrown in my direction from Hunter leaning over my desk.“Callie’s house got broken into last night with us in it,” I replied.“What
When we got back to the apartment Callie’s mother was already there waiting outside with Leah. We got out of the car and silently followed Sam into the apartment with Mrs. Cannon and Leah trailing us. We stood in the living room staring awkwardly at each other until Leah finally blurted, “Are you going to tell us what happened out there or are we just going to stand here all night?” What was I going to tell them? Did I tell them about Hunter? Hunter was a Delazar, Sam made it pretty obvious he did not like Delazar’s very much.“We skipped school.” Callie shrugged, trying to keep her tone even.“And did what exactly?” Leah glared, folding her arms across her chest.“We had girl time and lost track of time,” Callie replied evenly. She would not tell them what was going on, I guess that was fair, they weren’t telling her anything either.“Liar.” Leah growled, “Stop wasting our time.”“Why are you even here?” I finally said.“I wanted to know what the two of you were up to, just like ever
“Get your filthy hands off her,” Sam growled from somewhere to the right of me. Hunter was thrown off me to somewhere on the other side of my room.“He’s a Delazar,” Sam swore, closing the distance between himself and Hunter.“I told you this wasn’t a good idea.” Mrs. Cannon ran into the room, “With all the commotion lately with the Delazar’s they need a bodyguard, Sam.”“What are you doing in my house?” Sam watched Hunter with a deathly glare as if one wrong move and he would break his neck.“Sam.” I ran across the room to try and put myself between him and Hunter, but he wouldn’t let me, he wrapped one arm around my waist and angled himself between me and Hunter, “What are you doing? Let him go! He was not hurting me!”“He had you engulfed in flames, Jamie.” Sam held firm to his position.“Where’s Callie?” I looked around, but she was nowhere to be seen.”“I had Leah deal with her for now.” Mrs. Cannon shrugged in the doorway, she appeared to have just gotten off a phone call and
“Your clan?” I eyed him, “Why would you be running from them?”“Many reasons.” He smiled. I eyed him and waited for him to continue.“I’m pretty sure your clan wouldn’t drug you and throw you in this cell either.”“No, you’re right.” Hunter was still looking at me, “they would do much worse.”“Alright, Delazar.” Sam’s voice came from somewhere outside the cell. He wasn’t quite to the cell yet, we heard footsteps moving fast toward the cell. Cal and I scrambled behind the rock for cover. The metal was melted off so we couldn’t hide behind it any longer, which frustrated me because I wanted to see what was happening not just hear.“I’ll ask one more time,” Sam said, “What is your business in Shadowcreek?”“Hunting,” Hunter replied, the same reason he gave him earlier.“Have you finished your mission?” I heard Sam’s heavy footsteps stop at the bars of the cage.“No,” Hunter admitted.“Who was your assignment?” Sam asked. Hunter was silent.“Tell me.” Sam slammed something hard against th
We reached the dining hall about fifteen minutes later. It was empty except for a few people behind the bar putting fresh food out. It reminded me of the lunch setup we had at my school.“Help yourselves to food,” Sam told us, pointing at the bar, “I will go find you your rooms.”“We can share a room.” Callie shrugged, “would that help your search?”“You don’t mind sharing?” This is the most relieved I have seen Sam since before he left the apartment the first time. I shook my head, and he ran off. I felt relieved to hear Cal say she wants to share a room. I would feel a whole lot more comfortable together than splitting up.“Let’s dig in.” Callie was already wandering over to get plates, “I’m starving.”“Me too.” I didn’t notice how true that was until I smelled it. Fresh pancakes stacked high, unlimited bacon, sausage, hash browns, and eggs beside that, some oatmeal, and weird-looking porridge stuff I couldn’t figure out what it was.“Haven’t you ever seen grits, my dear?” A sweet-l
I woke to a knock on my door, but Callie was the one to answer it.“Hey, beautiful ladies.” Jake's voice floated through the room.“GO away.” I buried my head in my pillow. Wait, this isn’t my pillow. I sat up and looked around the bare room. I waited as last night sunk back in. I had to get to Hunter.“We were wondering if y’all were ever going to grace us with your presence again,” Jake replied happily, in a thick southern accent. I never noticed it before.“We will come out when we come out.” I shot back.“Well dinner is being served, and since y’all missed lunch I thought you would like to at least have dinner.” He folded his arms but didn’t walk into the room, he did have common sense then.“Dinner?” Callie exclaimed, “How long have we been asleep?”“Y’all ate breakfast at five this morning and now it is… six o’clock.” He tapped his watch for confirmation. I threw the quilt off and marched out the door.“Wait for me!” Callie ran back to the bed and slipped her shoes on.“How’s Hu