Chapter 6
“Laithe,” the shifter says as we walk toward the town. I am leading and Kole is directly behind me.
“What?” I bark, still angry at his selfishness. I played my part in killing the troll, but the shifter is the reason the situation escalated.
“My name is Laithe,” he says with a brooding expression. Is it really necessary for him to act so rude?
“Kudos to you for sharing your name,” I respond, displaying a fair share of attitude. I speed up my pace, but he can keep up. Domino lands on my shoulder, likely unable to keep up on her own two feet.
“I’m sorry,” he admits. “I know it was my fault back there and you saved my ass.” I huff and try to ignore his apology, but I find it difficult.
“It’s not okay,” I respond stubbornly. I halt in my tracks and turn toward Laithe. Everyone else stops behind me. I poke my finger into his chest. “You are a horrible person,” I say, trying to remain angry. He hangs his head and doesn’t say a word. Wisps of blonde hair, almost the same shade as mine, hang over his eyes, which are currently vibrant green.
He has changed aspects of his appearance throughout the mission, so the eyes that were once brown are far different now. I wonder why he hasn’t held a solid appearance.
“I think you’re hurting his feelings, Snow,” Domino says in my ear. I sigh and look at her from the corner of my eye.
“Fine,” I say, looking anywhere but in his eyes. We are almost back in town, so I try to find the end of the tree line. “What you did was really crappy and you almost got us killed,” I chastise, “but we need your help to finish this assignment. Can you promise to be more civilized?” I ask. He hasn’t so much as tried to help the team and it angers me immensely.
“Swear,” he says, raising a hand in the air.
I sigh, knowing that it will be a mistake to trust the shifter. After all, I haven’t even seen his true appearance. I don’t say another word to Laithe. Keagan leads the group and Kole stays by my side, not saying a word. Domino shifts back into her human form and follows Keagan. The tree line ends a few feet ahead. I don’t know how to react to the storm clouds blowing in from the north. Water is soothing and I have always loved storms, but it will prove to be a problem. I can stop the storm before it even begins, but it would look suspicious.
The inhabitants of the town have surely been informed of our abilities. Humans want to know about “monsters” as though we aren’t just like them. It’s a sick fascination for people who simply want us extinct. Most of them know what we are capable of doing and how to determine if one of us is in close proximity. Weather elements are surely monitored closely. If I influence the weather, they’ll know I’m here.
“Don’t worry,” Kole says from my left. “If you get wet, I will cover you.” I look over at him and smile gratefully. I can’t walk without legs, and a single drop of water will turn me into a legless mermaid.
“Why are you so keen on helping me?” I ask. He has been skulking around me protectively since I met him, and I would love to know the reason. Do we know each other?
He opens his mouth to respond, but closes it adamantly, thinking better of what he was planning to say. A strand of dark charcoal hair falls over one of his determined hazel eyes and I want to push it behind his ear. His face takes on a pensive expression and I squint my eyes in curiosity. “You saved our lives back there,” he says, but he clearly wants to say more.
I don’t want to think about the lonely troll or anything that had just happened, but I recall him saving me. “You carried me out, not the other way around,” I say for arguments sake. Honestly, we both contributed equally to the team’s survival.
“If it weren’t for your distraction, we wouldn’t have had the opportunity to get out,” he argues. I stare straight ahead, attempting to find another argument, but he is correct. I killed an innocent creature. What’s to say his life was worth less than ours? “Hey,” he says. “It’s not your fault that he died.” He wraps an arm around my shoulders comfortingly. His touch causes sparks to flow through my veins and I suck in a tendril of air.
We walk behind the rest of the group and I can’t help but overanalyze what is happening. Does Kole like me or does he feel gratitude toward my actions? His arm almost distracts me from the buildings surrounding the unpaved, gravel street. I’m temporarily distracted from the upcoming storm. When a drop of water lands mere inches from me, I concentrate on the rain and make sure it doesn’t come within inches of me. Unfortunately, the water manipulation I used on the troll weakened me, so it’s especially difficult to control the rain as it pounds the ground around me.
I release a sound best described as a groan and Kole examines my facial expression. “What’s wrong?” He asks. I know if I speak, I’ll lose my concentration. I watch a drop of water fall on his arm and he gets the hint. “Inside, now,” Kole shouts at the group. A few people veer their attention in our direction curiously, but nobody will know who we are. To them, we are merely ordinary people trying to avoid getting wet. They couldn’t be further from wrong.
We run toward an old building with an unreadable, faded sign. The only indication that it is a public area is the “We’re Open” sign inside the grime covered window. I find it odd that everything is so filthy. At Edmund’s Academy we have daily chores to keep the area tidy and livable. Don’t these people do simple responsibilities?
We walk into the old building and I am pleasantly surprised by the inside. It isn’t beautiful or luxurious by any means, but it is clean and organized. Candles light the room from each of the burgundy colored walls. I look around the shop and furrow my brow. “Hello, welcome to The Witch’s Cove. Let me know if I can help you find anything dear,” the woman at the front desk says. She looks sweet with long gray hair and a smile that lights up the room.
I smile back at the woman kindly, but I am disgusted. We’re in a shop that encourages the murder of magical creatures like me. Or maybe the Humans look at it as Monster Slaying.