Chapter 57: Just Gone

The last two days have been very hectic. We have moved Kane and his people close to the packhouse. I think they have even built several small buildings for them to use right here at us. The children and most of the women have moved into the packhouse. Everything has been going well. They will start school with the other pack children next week. That is if everything is safe for them too. I miss school now, and things are nothing like before my birthday. I miss only worrying about getting to school on time and doing school work. We expect Barrett to be here today or tomorrow. He did not give us an exact day that he would be showing up. I wish he would hurry up so I can get some answers to what is going on. We all have been on edge trying to ensure that everyone is safe and getting everyone set up to be closer to us and safer. It makes it hard to figure out how to stay safe when you don't know what you are trying to stay safe from.

" Bitch, what are you doing." I hear my best friend say from the hall. Emma is the best friend a girl could ask for. When I need her, she always seems to show up. Right now, I need her to help take my mind off of everything and the stress of not knowing what is going to happen to us all.

"In here slut." I say and laugh when I hear her take a deep inhale. She enters my room with her hand on her chest and looks like she is in disbelief.

"How could you call me such a thing." She says with exaggeration. I start to laugh, and she laughs with me.

"You know you are crazy, right?" I ask her.

"Yes, but let's not let that secret out, ok."

"I think everyone already knows that," I tell her as we both start to laugh.

"Oh well, who cares if they know." She says, shrugging her shoulders. "Why don't we go down to the cafe for a milkshake or something. A milkshake doesn't sound half bad right now.

"Sure, just let me get my shoes on," I tell her and head to grab my shoes. We were in the car and headed to the cafe in less than five minutes. I need this time with Emma away from the stress. The radio is blasting, and Emma is driving with the windows down. I am just enjoying the breeze and calmness. Emma pulls up to the cafe then parks. We both go in, heading to a booth in the back. We are not sitting long when a short woman about our age walks up, laying menus on the table.

"What can I get you girls to drink?" She asks, and I have to give her a double-take. Girls? We are about the same age. Not like she is so much older than us.

"I want a chocolate milkshake and an order of fries," Emma tells her. So I give her my order, "I will have a vanilla milkshake and an order of fries as well."

"Ok, I will have them out in a few." She tells us as she takes the menus and walks back to the counter.

"So what happened to Grayson and Piper?" Emma asks me as she sits back and gets comfortable while waiting on our orders.

"I am not sure Bastien thinks it must have been something wrong with his pack for him to leave like that. However, he has not called Bastien yet, so we are still not sure."

"That sucks. I hope everything is ok."

"Me too. I wish we had answers for everything. All we keep getting told is we are in danger. No one tells us what or who the danger is. How do you even get ready when you have no idea what you are getting ready for." I say, and I did not even take a breath as I just spit it all out.

"Yeah, you can't even get dressed for a date without knowing where you are going," Emma says, giving me that you know you are going to laugh look. She is right, and her plan worked. I started laughing, and I could not stop.

"Here you girls go. Enjoy." The waitress says as she sets our shakes and fries on the table. We both take a big gulp of our shakes and grab our heads simultaneously.

"Got to love that brain freeze," Emma says as we both chuckle. I grab a couple of fries and shove them in my mouth, hoping the warmth works to ease the freeze. It does, and we both sit and enjoy our shake and fries without saying anything. My phone starts to vibrate in my pocket, so I take it out to see who is calling. It's Bastien, so I answer.

"Hello,"

"Where are you?" He asks, and I can tell there is a bit of panic in his voice.

"Me and Emma came to get a milkshake. Is something wrong?"

"I need you, girls, to get back to the house now. I will let you know what's going on when you get here."

"Ok, we are leaving now," I tell him as I hang up the phone.

"What is wrong?" Emma asks as soon as the phone leaves my ear.

"We have to get back now, is all I know," I tell her as I get up from the table. I toss a twenty on the table and tell the waitress to keep the change as I head for the door. Emma is right behind me. We both get in the car and are headed back.

"I wonder what happened," Emma says as we pull out of the cafe.

"I don't know, but I could tell Bastien was worried," I tell her. Neither one of us says anything else as we drive back to the pack in silence. My head starts to pound. My vision is even blurry.

"What's wrong with you, Raine?" I hear Emma say, but I feel the car jerk before I can answer her. I start to scream as the car starts spinning. Well, I think it is, or my vision is. Then the car comes to a stop fast. My head hits some part of the car, but I can't tell what. I hear Emma scream, but black starts to flood my vision.

"Wake up, baby, please." I hear from somewhere around me. I feel someone rubbing my face.

"Come on, open your eyes, baby." I hear again, and I am sure it is Levi's voice this time. I start to open my eyes, and the light seems so bright.

"That's it. Baby, look at me." Levi says again, and I start to blink, trying to clear my vision. I can finally make out his shape, but I still can't see him clearly.

"Where is Emma?" Is all I can manage to say.

"Do you remember what happened?" Levi asked me.

"We left the cafe, and I started getting dizzy and my head hurting, then I think we wreaked. But you still didn't answer me. Where is Emma?" My vision has started to clear, so I tried to look around for her. I don't see her or the car anywhere. I look back to Levi.

"We don't know she was not at the crash site. I scream out, and Levi wraps me in his arms. She can't be gone where is she?