Chapter 25: Breakout

Clark had pulled Sage as far away as he could from the school. He wasn’t scared of what Venzy would do, seeing they were in a public place filled with a lot of people.

As he pulled Sage, she began to narrate an event that happened to her, but he wasn’t really paying attention to the details. He was just focused on being as far away from Venzy as possible. Suddenly, Clark turned to face Sage and placed his hands on her shoulders. Sage noticed how his hands were shaking, but she didn’t know if it was from exhaustion or from fear.

“Sage, you need to stop talking and listen to me. You’re in trouble.”

“What are you talking about?” Sage questioned. “Of course I’m in trouble, and so are you.”

“What! You know?”

“Duh, we both just left the school without permission,” Clark looked around them. He was unaware that he had taken them out of the school area and they had walked into the woods. Leaving the school without permission was the least of his problems right now. It didn’t even count as one of his problems.

“Not that kind of trouble, Sage. You’re going to die and so am I. You see that lady, she’s going to kill us.”

“Clark, we’re not too far from school. The highest punishment we could get is detention. No one is going to die, and that lady isn’t going to kill us.” Sage spoke slowly, trying to get some words into Clark’s head because it seemed that he wasn't paying attention.

“You don’t get it,” Clark yelled as he jerked Sage by the shoulder. She wasn’t listening to him, or maybe she didn’t understand the gravity of what he was saying. “She’s going to kill us; she’s going to kill everyone. She killed my parents, Sage.” Clark said as he burst out in tears.

“Clark, can you just stop it? This isn’t funny.” Sage took a step away from him. He was starting to irk her with the way he was acting. “Did you watch some scary movie or what? When you get yourself together, you know where to find me.” Sage said before walking back towards the school.

“No, don’t go. We have to run as far as we can. We have to leave, please,” Clark pleaded with tears, but Sage had turned a deaf ear to his cries. She also had her problems that she wanted to share with him, but he had made everything about him.

‘Is this one of his annual pranks? Did his parents really die?’ Sage wondered because she knew Clark would never joke about his parents in that way. A lot of questions filled her head, and the only way to get the answers was if she was to go back to him. He was acting nuts, and Sage would so hate it if she went back to him and it turned out to be a prank. Sage walked back to the school without turning back, leaving Clark on his own.

****

Ericka watched how the witches went back and forth on how to find the hybrid. They debated about needing more witches to join them in the search, believing it would be much easier with greater numbers.

“Join us, Ericka,” Nilla suggested. She and Ericka might not be on good terms, but they were once friends, and Nilla knew how strong of a witch Ericka was.

Ericka looked at Nilla with her cold eyes, but she softened as she finally let everything she had been holding since the meeting began. The laughter mixed with anger and hatred echoed on the walls of the coven they were in.

It was funny to Ericka how Nilla would choose to ask her specifically for help, as if she had not already made it clear that she wasn’t on their side and never would be. What was even funnier to her was how firm their loyalty was to a man who had killed their family, lied, and deceived them.

“What’s so funny?” Kashina asked, noticing Ericka's amused expression.

“Everything, my dear friend,” Ericka responded as she rose from her seat. “If you don’t mind, this meeting has dragged on too long, and I have a family to take care of.” With that, she walked away from the meeting table, out of the coven. Her last statement was meant to spite the witches who were under Soren’s control. They all knew the truth of how he had taken the lives of their family with no just reason and still they chose to serve him.

****

“Who do you seek?” asked a broad-looking man who stood at the entrance of the alpha's house. He had seen a young figure approach and stood over the door to block her path.

“Who do you seek?” Valarie intimidated the broad man at the door while also making her voice somewhat as deep as his. “I seek Mitchell.”

“She’s not in,” replied the man.

“Ian?” he also isn’t in.”

“I’m over here,” Ian called from behind Valarie.

“Oh hey. I wanted to see your mom about something I noticed from last night.”

“Really? What is it?”

“Did Xavier in any way tell you about his mate?” Ian paused for a moment before he answered Valarie. She had a way of meddling in people’s lives with her ability. And he wasn’t sure why she would want to know about Xavier’s mate, but she seemed to know something, and Ian himself was curious to know what it was.

“Yes, he did,” Ian responded. “Although he didn’t say much about her except that she was a human.”

“A human, huh?” Valarie muttered to herself. “Isn’t it odd that Xavier, of all people, would be given a human mate?”

“It is, but these kinds of things happen. And I’m sure he hasn’t told anyone about this because he still has something going on with Red. So if you wouldn’t mind keeping your findings to yourself,” Ian warned as he was about to walk past her. Valarie had nothing but gossip, and it was good that he told her to keep quiet about it.

However, Valarie had already accidentally dropped a hint, and someone very attentive had caught it.

“You know the girl from last night,” Valarie said, stopping Ian from going into his house. Ian wasn’t sure if she was asking a question or trying to tell him he knew her.

“What about her?”

“I saw her ruined clothes last night. They had blood and tears in them; however, there wasn’t any form of wound on her,” Valarie said.

Ian also noticed this and had discussed it with his mother. Mitchell also knew there was something Sage wasn’t telling her, but she didn’t pry too much to know.

“Are you suggesting she isn’t human or what?”

“Maybe,” Valarie shrugged.

“Well, don’t say anything until you have the whole truth, okay,” Ian warned again. He knew the kind of person Valarie was; she could start a rumor, and everyone would believe it because of the type of talent she had.

Ian walked to the door where the guard stood and dismissed him. But as he was about to step in, Valarie said something that he couldn’t overlook.

“I also tried looking into her life last night,” Valarie turned to look at Ian who was now coming down the steps. “Hold on before you start your lecture on privacy and all, listen to me.”

“You better have a good reason for your actions, Valarie. You know it isn’t right,” Ian stated.

“I know,” Valarie rolled her eyes; she knew he was going to say things like this. “For a human, her normal life wouldn’t thrill me, but I found out she was Xavier’s mate, and I just couldn’t resist.”

“Oh my god, Valarie!”

“But that’s not what I wanted to tell you though. When I tried, I couldn’t see anything; it was almost as if she blocked me from doing so, and Ian, no human can do that,” Valarie was trying to make Ian see the reasons why Sage was suspicious to her. “When I tried harder, that was when she dug my wrist with her nails,” Valarie confessed.

“Wow, what a confession,” Ian stated. Valarie would have gotten angry at Ian because, after everything she had said, he only picked the part where she tried to look into Sage’s memory. But she knew Ian well, and she knew he got every piece of what she was trying to communicate to him.

“Be serious, Ian. I want you to ask Xavier if he knows more about her.”

Ian hesitated a bit. Valarie’s request was not something he could accept; Xavier was his brother, and he wouldn’t keep any secret from him except if it was necessary.

“Your silence says it all; you won’t help. I hope you don’t regret it when she turns out to be a vampire working for Soren,” Valarie said with a tone of warning.

Ian was about to say something, but Xavier came out from the corner of their house, walking toward him and Valarie.

“Ian, I need help. Red wouldn’t stop asking who my mate is,” Xavier frowned at Valarie as he approached them.

“Why? How did she find out?” Ian asked.

“Someone who loves to pry into others' lives couldn’t keep shut,” Xavier snapped at a quiet Valarie. She had just added more stress to his head without even realizing it.