Chapter 7: Strange Group - Day 2

At midnight, a group of people gathered by a stream. The moon's faint light didn't bother them, for they weren't exactly humans.

While everyone wore a somber expression, a certain individual, Xavier, furrowed his brows. Those standing beside him grew concerned.

Xavier had calmed down a few hours ago when Ian spoke to him. However, the thought of burying his father without a body reignited his anger.

A boat, tied to a pole erected by the stream, floated nearby. On land, werewolves in human form, even from other packs, paid their respects. Inside the boat lay a framed photo of Clint Harvey, Xavier and Ian's father. Though they typically didn't use a photo during a burial, especially for someone as esteemed as Clint Harvey, his body remained unrecovered, necessitating an alternative. The boat was set ablaze and untied from the pole.

Everyone watched as it floated, waiting until the fire subsided, and the boat sank into the stream.

****

Today, Sage had woken up earlier than her normal time because yesterday Ericka had surprised her by waking up much earlier, so she wouldn't find herself in the same situation as yesterday.

She had already set breakfast for Ericka by the time Ericka woke up and got ready for school so the twins wouldn't have the opportunity to leave her again. The twins came down just immediately after Ericka left for work. When they came down from the stairs, Clara accidentally stepped on Bruno's tail; the poor dog scrambled to its feet and fled while whimpering.

"Stupid dog," Clara remarked. Clara's words had not come as a surprise to Sage. The dog belonged to the twins; they received it as a present on their fourteenth birthday. However, since turning sixteen, they had treated the dog like trash.

Sage rolled her eyes at Clara before leaving the room to check up on Bruno. Before she would return, the twins had gotten into their vehicle and were driving away.

"See you later, witch, ha-ha," Clara laughed as she zoomed off. Sage couldn't believe it; after all her preparations, the twins had still left her behind.

She could decide to stay home, but the thought of staying alone, just watching the hours go by, made her change her mind. She would rather drive in the dirty old car and bear with her nemesis, Tasha, than sit at home not entertained.

At school, Sage was eating lunch with Clark when Tasha approached their table.

"Sage, how are you doing, and how is your boyfriend?" Tasha asked in a very nice voice, which was odd. Tasha had never talked to her in such a way; anyway, Sage ignored Tasha like she was unaware Tasha was talking to her.

"Sage, who is she talking about?" Clark asked, and Sage threw him daggers with her eyes for spoiling her act, but anyway, she continued.

"Who?" Sage asked before looking to her side. "Oh, Tasha! How long have you been standing there?" she asked, still putting on an act.

"Not long, Sage. saw you talking to the new guy, so I'm assuming he asked you out."

Although Tasha was acting nice, her eyes were filled with jealousy. Tasha felt like the prettiest girl in school and expected every guy to crush on her, so it had come as a surprise to her when she saw the new guy talking to Sage.

"Are you referring to Xavier?" Sage questioned, reading the expression on Tasha's face.

"Oh, so you know his name," Tasha said as she realized that her assumptions might be true.

"Why wouldn't I? After all, you thought he was my boyfriend," Sage chuckled as she saw the solemn look on Tasha's face. "But don't you have anything better to do other than not minding your business?"

Everyone in the cafeteria was now listening in on their conversation. Surprisingly, Sage felt okay with this and she was sure Tasha was too; after all, she liked attention. Tasha was humiliated. How could Sage have the nerve to say such words to her, and also in front of everyone there? She had a frown on her but she had come up with a plan to humiliate Sage even more.

Tasha hit the tray of food that belonged to Sage, and it fell onto Sage's lap. The contents of the tray spilled all over Sage's clothing. Sage, who was normally a cool-headed person, felt an unknown energy rising within her. She was furious and she was about to unleash all that anger on Tasha.

"Have you gone nuts, Tasha?" Sage yelled; the veins on her head were visible and looked like they were about to pop out. All Sage wanted to do was punch Tasha in the face, but she knew that wouldn't benefit her, so she controlled herself to the best level she could.

"Oh, you stole the words right out of my mouth, Sage," Tasha said, pointing her fingers at Sage. "Have you forgotten who I am?"

"Who the hell do you think you are, huh?" Sage questioned as she now stood up from her seat. "A freaking goddess?"

"Sage, you have to calm down," Clark worried. He had noticed Sage's unusual attitude and he was shocked. He knew Tasha was in the wrong, but he had never seen Sage react in such a way; he had to calm Sage down before the issue escalated.

There was a loud scream, and everyone turned their attention away from Sage and Tasha. Tasha left Sage's table too, but not before flipping her straight blond hair against Sage's face. She was about to pull Tasha back by her hair; luckily for Tasha, Clark pulled Sage back into her seat.

There was a scream, and everyone rushed over to where the voice had been heard. Sage and Clark were behind the crowd of students, so they didn't know what was going on.

"Do you have any idea what is going on?" Sage asked Clark, who didn't reply. He was too busy trying to look over the heads of other students that blocked his view.

When Sage didn't get a reply from Clark, she proceeded to push her way to the front. The woman who had screamed was one of the cooks; she had her back against a wall and was sobbing really hard. Sage looked at the floor where the cook was, and there was another cook there who looked lifeless. She was pale like there was no blood in her body, and there were two red marks on her neck like she had been bitten by a snake.

"When did this happen?" Sage was surrounded by a lot of students murmuring and asking questions, but this question had come from someone closer to her; she could even feel his masculine breath graze her hair.

Sage turned to look at who the question had come from. Xavier had a strange look in his eyes; if Sage thought that he was having a bad day yesterday when he first stepped into class, today was probably worse. His stare was dark and cold.

Although he didn't seem as friendly as he was when they talked yesterday, Sage still felt a shiver run down her spine.

"Does it matter when it happened? What matters is what did that," a student from the crowd replied. Xavier took his gaze away from the lifeless cook to search the crowd of students. While he was searching, Sage followed his eye movements.

Xavier had noticed the marks on the lifeless cook's neck; they looked like bites from an animal, but he knew well that it wasn't an animal bite. He was sure this death was caused by a certain creature. What Xavier wasn't certain about was why the cook? He needed to find out who was responsible for this. It could be one of the students or maybe a staff.

Xavier searched the room with his eyes; as soon as he found who it was that he was searching for, he nodded his head in her direction. The girl had wide eyes with a bob-styled hair that was blond in color. Anyone who glanced at her at first would be surprised at the blond bob because it wasn't a popular style, but they'll later admit that the style did look cute on the strange girl.

Sage had her eyes on Xavier, and she noticed the signal he had given to the girl behind the group of students that gathered. She might have been imagining things, but the girl had nodded back before she walked towards a small group of people that had stayed behind, unconcerned that someone had died in their school. The group the blond bobbed girl had walked towards followed her out of the cafeteria. Even if things felt strange to Sage, she shook the feeling off.