Thirty-Seven

I hear someone saying something, the sound is muffled as I try to understand what is being said until I hear a definite knock. “Falencia?” I hear my name being said a little clearer.

“Yeah?” I ask as I sit up

“Can I come in?”

I yawn and stretch as I get up from my bed to open the door to see Berik standing there with a grin on her face.

“What’s up?” I ask tiredly as I grab my book that is laying facedown on my bed and put my bookmark into the place where I left off.

“We’re stopped for the night, we can actually get off the RV and go enjoy nature!” Freyja says coming in behind Berik.

I smile at the thought of being able to go in to the trees and communing with nature. “What kind of nature?” I ask hoping for lots of trees and maybe a lake.

“Fenirick says that it’s a place he and the rest of the wolves won’t be noticed, so I’m guessing a forest?” Freyja says smiling knowing what I was hoping for.

I smile and follow them out of my room, making sure to lock the door as I take the key and put it in the front pocket of my jeans. We walk down the stairs into the dining area and come through the downstairs lounge area to the door where I see a sprawling forest laid out in front of me. I smile to myself as I take a deep breath of the calming scent of pine, dirt, and water as I look over to see a beautiful dark blue lake. I step out of the RV onto the hard dirt and head towards the mouth of the forest.

“Before you go exploring, I’d like to remind everyone to stay alert, We don’t know if there truly is a traitor in our pack or even who it would be if there is, if you see something out of the ordinary or even sense that there is something amiss, I want you to get back here as soon as possible.” Fenirick says.

I smile at Fenirick and nod as I take off running through the entrance of the wooded area, I jump gracefully over fallen over tree logs, twigs, and other debris that lines the bottom of the forest floor. I stop when I reach a small clearing, it’s definitely not the middle of the forest as I can still hear everyone who stayed at the RV, I smile to myself as I take my shoes and socks off allowing my bare feet to scrunch into the soft sand and grass. I’m sitting on the ground taking in deep breaths of the nature around me when I hear voices coming towards me, at first I panic and think that maybe someone found us, until the voices start to become clearer and I realize it’s Addam, Dafne, Nik, Cherie, Justin, and Freyja I smile to myself as I shove my shoes into a small hole inside the log and climb into the nearest big tree and look down just as they come into the clearing. I hide myself to where if they looked up, they wouldn’t see me. The group is completely oblivious to my presence that I can’t help but stifle a laugh, when they’re all settled sitting in a small circle close to where my shoes are, I can’t believe my luck. “Has anyone seen Falencia? I know that she took off running towards this direction but I haven’t seen or even heard her.” Freyja says.

I grin at my fortune as I hook my feet under a smaller branch than the one I’m currently sitting on and swing myself backwards to where I am dangling by my legs just above the group like a bat. I don’t say anything and just listen in on their conversation.

“I don’t know babe, are you worried about her?” Justin asks as he scoots her closer to him, putting her in his lap and holding onto her.

“I know she doesn’t need me to be, but yeah, with everything going on, it seems like she’s handling it very well, but I also know that even though she is good at keeping her feelings masked and under wraps she has some self-sabotage tendencies and I just want to make sure that she’s doing ok.” Freyja says as she snuggles into Justin’s chest.

“I don’t know her very well, but she seems like a genuinely sweet person.” Dafne says as Addam smiles at her pulling her closer into his side kissing the top of her head.

“She truly is, she has an absolute heart of gold, I wish there was something that we could do that would get these…” Nik pauses thinking of the best term for what to call the people who are hunting me.

I take this opportunity and unhook my feet from the branch, flipping backwards off the tree and landing on all four quietly yet effectively in the middle of the group, making everyone jump and scream in startlement, I grin at everyone as they hold their chests and try to even out their breathing.

“Really?” Freyja asks as soon as her heart is back in her chest.

I grin and nods enthusiastically. “Yep!”

“How long were you up in that tree?” Dafne asks.

I look at her and smile “not long, maybe about ten to fifteen minutes, I climbed it just as I heard your voices coming closer.”

“That was not very nice!” Cherie says as she continues to clutch onto Nik who looks like he’s just seen a ghost.

I shrug “Sorry, not sorry.”

“Why is it that you can scare the absolute shit out of everyone but anytime someone tries to get you, it’s harder than hell?” Justin asks.

I grin and shrug nonchalantly “I honestly don’t know how to answer that.”

“I wasn’t scared.” Addam says.

Everyone looks at him in disbelief. “Yeah, OK.” Nik says shoulder bumping him.

“I’ll be the first to admit that I may have kind of, shit myself when she landed in the middle of our circle.” Justin says sheepishly.

We all try to stifle our laugh as I grab my shoes from their hiding spot, when I hear someone talking in a ghostlike manner ‘We’ll have her in our clutches, I’m doing my best at blending in, but I don’t think she’s buying it.’

I look discretely around at the group trying to see if I can figure out who is talking, but I can’t pinpoint who it could be because everyone is chatting and giggling. I put it into the back of my mind for now and make a note to myself to talk to Cherie and Freyja about what I just heard. I finish putting my socks and shoes back on then lead the group back to the clearing where the RV is parked. Where we find everyone else sitting around in lawn chairs, Alaxander is standing next to a fancy looking grill, grilling up a variety of different foods.

“That smells absolutely amazing!” I say as I go to grab a hotdog from the plate.

“Not until you go wash up.” Alaxander says swatting my hand with the spatula in his hand.

“Ouch.” I whine as I pull my hand away “I just wanted one.” I stick my bottom lip out in a pout.

“And you can have one, once you’ve washed up.” Alaxander replies.

I huff and walk into the RV not noticing that Dafne is watching me closely.