Chapter 9: Old Memories Resurface

“What are you doing here?” Xavier asked.

“I should be asking you that question instead,” Sage replied.

“I came for a walk,” Xavier answered.

“Yeah, when school isn’t over.” Xavier didn’t give her a reply; instead, he kept on walking forward.

Sage pursed her lips together as she walked after him. She tried her best not to ask any questions concerning what he thought of the lunch lady’s death.

“Why did your friends check the premises?” Sage asked. She was curious about what he and his friends were into; she felt like they knew what had happened to the lunch lady, but she didn’t want to go around pointing fingers when she wasn’t sure what was happening.

Sage’s question made Xavier stop in his tracks for a moment before he continued to walk. Leo’s words rang through his head. Xia still wasn’t sure who Sage was; she might be a spy sent by the vampires to get more information from the werewolves. He wasn’t sure, but he'd put his guard up.

“Well, clearly someone has been stalking me,” Xavier said in a cocky voice.

Sage's eyes widened as she realized he might be right. Was she really stalking him? Although she was shocked, she noticed that he didn’t give a reply to her question.

“No, I wasn’t; I was only observing,” Sage quickly retorted before Xavier started getting any ideas.

“Do you know what might have been the cause of the lunch lady’s death?” Sage just couldn’t stop herself from asking; maybe his reply would feed a bit of her curiosity.

Xavier turned around sharply to look at her, but since she was busy looking at the ground below her so she didn’t step on mud, she didn’t see his sudden movement, and her face crashed into his solid chest. He looked down at her while she raised her head up to look at him. Xavier quickly looked away from her as he could feel a sensation he was not ready to entertain.

“Tell me what you think caused her death,” Xavier said.

He did it again, Sage observed. When she asked a question, he never really answered her.

Xavier still didn’t know Sage’s identity; vampire or not, she was prying for information that he shouldn’t give to an outsider.

“I will after you answer my question,” Sage said as she took a step backward away from him.

“You should go back, Sage; I don’t think it’s safe for a young girl to be out here in the woods alone.”

“But I’m not alone.” Sage wanted to ask more questions because it seemed like Xavier was hiding a lot of things; however, the look in his eyes had changed, and he looked dangerous. Without saying anything else, Sage stepped back before turning around, running back to where she had come from. Xavier watched as she left, but his focus was no longer on her, but rather the new energy that he had sensed moving through the woods. It was a vampire aura, most likely the one that Red had sensed.

Xavier had told Sage to go back because he wanted to go after the vampire, but now he was concerned since the energy was moving toward the same place Sage had run off to: the school.

****

Sage walked into the attic where she spent most of her time; she flung her bag on the bed and carefully lay on the bed with her face facing the roof. Events of the day flooded her head. She felt proud that she was able to stand up to Tasha after so many years of running and hiding. She felt butterflies in her belly as she rethought of the time she had crashed into Xavier and how he had looked down at her with a tender gaze. Sage quickly shrugged the feeling away; it wasn’t something she was used to, but she felt herself wanting to be close to Xavier again.

Sage turned on her bed, and her eyes landed on the pile of boxes that were at the side of the attic, most of them likely to be empty. Sage had tried her best to forget about her real family; she placed everything that reminded her of them in those boxes and was ready to burn it all, but it was difficult for her to let go.

Sage got up from her bed, walked towards the boxes, and began to search through them. The first box was filled with a bunch of papers with writings and symbols she couldn’t understand. The next box she searched through, she found a pair of old walkie-talkies and old memories she had tried to lock away rushed back in.

****

Flashback “There are terrorists in our country, over,” Markoy said into the walkie-talkie in his hand.

“Commence operation CAGE; I want every area searched thoroughly, over,” Sage stated into her walkie-talkie.

“Yes, Mam,” Markoy replied.

“Dad! You’re supposed to say over,” Sage whined with pouted lips that displayed her childish features.

“Is there really a need for that, Hun?” Markoy said as he got up from behind a couch that Sage had made him sit behind. He walked over to the young Sage, picked her up, and took her to her room.

“Now if I need you, I’ll call you, okay,” Markoy said as he dangled the walkie-talkie in his hands since that was their means of communication.

“Don’t forget to keep me informed, Sergeant,” Sage said while puffing her chest out and making her voice deeper to the best of her ability.

“Yes, General,” Markoy saluted as he walked out.

…

“General, your attention is needed in the slaughterhouse,” Markoy’s voice rang through little Sage's walkie-talkie.

“I’ll be right there, Sergeant,” Sage replied. “Wait! Where's the slaughterhouse?” Sage asked; her father always had a way of coming up with names for specific areas of the house, and this one was new to her.

“Ooh, I’ll be right there, Sergeant. Over and out.” Sage quickly headed for the kitchen, and there she found both her parents; her dad was putting on a cone birthday cap, while her mother had a cake in her hand. Together they both sang for her a birthday song. Overwhelmed with joy, Sage ran to hug them both.

“I love you both.”

“We love you too, Hun.” This was one of the happiest moments Sage had ever encountered, but now she couldn’t remember when she last celebrated her birthday.

The third box was filled with charms, bracelets, rings, different accessories. Sage took her time to go through it because they belonged to her mum. In the box, she found a pouch, and when she opened it, there was a crucifix necklace in it. She took it out of the pouch and placed it around her neck. She always saw this necklace around her mother’s neck; she wasn’t sure what it meant to her mother, but now it meant something different to her.

Sage had searched through practically every box that had been in the corner of her room for a very long time. Just when she was about to check out the last box, she heard Ericka call her. Quickly, Sage picked up the crucifix necklace pouch, the walkie-talkies, and put them into the last box.

Ericka stood at the end of the stairs, waiting for Sage, her niece-in-law whose safety had been entrusted to her by Erick, her husband.

“Yes, ma'am,” Sage said when she got to the stairs but stayed up, a good distance away from Ericka.

“I’m leaving, and I won’t be back till Friday,” Ericka said in a stern voice before taking a step forward. This was how she left messages before going on a long business trip, with little information, and Sage never asked any questions, always excited for Ericka to be gone forever. However, this time she did.

“Where are you going to?’’ Sage questioned Ericka before she could move away from the stairs.

“What’s that?” Sage's question surprised Ericka because it was unusual for Sage to question her like she just did.

“I mean, where will you be staying for the next three days, in case you’re not back by Friday, and I don’t get a call from you? What if something happens to you?”

“Then I’ll make sure you are held responsible for my death,” Ericka said before walking out.