Chapter 69: Bullies

EJ got his Bible yesterday and found the part I had mentioned. He also saw the part where the king didn’t listen and God said his enemies would always be a pain in his side. EJ said he would have done exactly as told, if only to end the whole thing.

It had been two days since the council sent out scouts. EJ said they should be returning today. I wondered if they found anything.

EJ went to his council meeting while Lucas and I went to school. I wished this stuff didn’t happen so much. EJ misses a lot of school because of it and I worry his grades will slip too much.

I collected EJ’s assignments from all of his teachers as I usually did when he missed school. This was becoming a habit I didn’t want to keep. I missed him when he wasn’t here. The bullies didn’t bother us any more but we didn’t get to play Magic the Gathering at lunch when he wasn’t here. It’s not as much fun with just two players. What’s that saying, two’s company, three’s a party. It definitely was when EJ was around.

*****EJ’s perspective*****

The rumors were true. I had dreaded hearing those words. Lucas and Ethan seemed to regret telling me the story of David, but I thought it was a good idea. Take them all out and no one is left to continue. Plus if anyone else thinks of doing it, they will hopefully decide not to, knowing that death is what awaits them if they do. I discussed this all with the council. I had even brought my Bible with me to show them what I had found. Not everyone on the council agreed. But that was probably because we found out that witches were involved this time as well. So Samiya wasn’t happy with the plan. She didn’t think we needed to wipe them all out. I told her that if we didn’t, then we would keep having this problem. I eventually persuaded her to see things from my side and she agreed it had to be done. Savannah, Rose and Phoenix didn’t take much convincing. The five of us discussed how we would carry out this plan. We had a coven to deal with and at least one lycan pack.

We decided we needed more information about them. And I decided I would go with the scouts to gather it. We needed to know who all was involved and where they were taking the children. They were taking infants to age seven, that much we knew.

We would leave at first light.

*****Layla’s perspective*****

Things at home were getting stressful. Strix and Shawn were worried about EJ. He had left on a scouting mission a week ago. No one but the council has heard from him and the council was ordered not to discuss anything. We knew he was alive, that was all. Strix was the typical worried mother. She worried he wasn’t eating right or getting enough sleep. Shawn was worried about him coming into new powers and not knowing how to use them properly. Lucas, Ethan, and I worried he might not come home.

School wasn’t much different. Lucas and Ethan were getting bullied again. I tried to step in and help them but it didn’t work this time. I asked Steve, Ryan, Jeremy, and Patrick to look out for Ethan and Lucas. Those guys needed some more friends. Both groups. Steve, Ryan, Jeremy, and Patrick were doing really well. You almost couldn’t tell they were once rogues.

*****Ethan’s perspective*****

Jimmy shoved me in my locker again. I really hate those jocks. The first bell rang. As I was waiting for Lucas to walk by, my locker suddenly opened. I climbed out to see a guy twice my size holding it open.

“I’m Jeremy. You’re Ethan, right?”

“Yeah, how did you know?”

“Layla pointed you out earlier. She said you and your friend have been having some problems with the jocks.”

“Understatement of the year.” I huffed. “Yeah, they are making up for all the times they couldn’t bully us because EJ was here.”

“That sucks. They tried to bully me and my friends when we first got here. But Layla stopped them. Apparently, they are not afraid of her any more or they just really don’t like you guys.”

“I think it is the second one. You haven’t seen Layla when she’s mad. It doesn’t happen often, but watch out when it does.”

“You and your pal Lucas should sit with us at lunch. I hear you guys play cards or something with EJ usually, maybe we can play with you guys.” The second bell rang.

“That would be great. We’ll find you at lunch.” I saw Lucas running for class and I joined him. Jeremy went in the opposite direction to his class, we were all late.

After class I asked Lucas why he was late.

“Jimmy shoved me in my locker, but why were you late?” I asked.

“Noah and Sean were trying to give me a swirly. Steve and Patrick stopped them. They invited us to sit with them at lunch.” Lucas said.

“Jeremy rescued me from my locker. He said the same thing. I think Layla put them up to it. But if they help with the jocks, I’m all for it.”

“They have really gotten big since they have been here, haven’t they?”

“What do you mean?”

“Remember when they first got here, they were scrawny little kids like us. Now look at them, they are twice our size.”

“Wait, those are the guys that just joined our pack. They did get big, holy crap.”

“You are very observant, Ethan.” Lucas laughed as we headed into our next class, English.

We were reading Catcher in the Rye. It was a fantastic book. I could really relate to Holden Caulfield. Our book reports were due on Friday and we would have a test as well. Since we got the books, I had already read it twice. I was done with my report and was confident I would do well on the test.

After English, we went to lunch. Jeremy and his friends found us in the hall on the way. They walked with us. It was weird hanging out with them. They were seniors and not EJ. I hope he is back soon.

In the cafeteria, Jimmy, Sean, Noah, and DJ gave us nasty looks. Lucas and I quickly ate our lunch. It was habit.

“Hey, slow down, you might choke.” Patrick said.

“Sorry, we usually have to find a good hiding place until our next class.” I said.

“Yeah, those guys will kill us if we don’t,” Lucas said.

“Well don’t worry about them. We have your back now.” Ryan said.

“So what is this card game you guys play?” Jeremy asked.

“It’s called Magic the Gathering.” I said. I then continued to explain the rules. Lucas got the cards out and we set up to play a quick game. We had decks that we premade a while back for such occasions.

When the bell rang, we cleaned up and put the cards away. A few more minutes and we would have had a winner. Lucas would have won. We headed to our classes.

After school, we saw the warriors getting ready to leave. EJ must be home. Lucas and I headed for the packhouse. Alpha was giving orders to the warriors but looked at us and shook his head. EJ was not home. He must have called for reinforcements. After all, he had only gone to scout. He must need the warriors for something. With EJ not there, Lucas and I went to my house.

*****EJ’s perspective*****

I had been scouting for a week. We managed to stop a few kidnappings but not all. We followed the kidnappers back to the Frost Moon Pack. After watching them for a while, we discovered that it was the Viridis Elit coven that was helping them. They weren’t really living up to their name now. With the witches’ presence verified, I called for reinforcements.