The Mouse and The Wolf - Chapter 42: Chapter 42

-Oliver-
I could only stare at Mrs. Bundt. My head wasn't working at all. All this new information... Everything that had just happened with Jack and his... his shadows... And now there was a spirit in the room with us. With me and three werewolves. And a... a Spirit Walker. And apparently, I wasn't human either! My head felt like it was about to explode. I had a bad headache and it seemed to be getting worse by the second.
And then there was Cedric... The imaginary friend I always had by my side, until... Until that one night...
I stood up from the couch, feeling like I was suffocating. Now I couldn't stay calm anymore. This was way too much, and on top of everything, I couldn't feel Jaden anymore... I felt more alone than ever. His Echo had left a cold, black void inside me when Mrs. Bundt took it. I wanted it back, even though I knew I couldn't protect it.
"Ollie?" Mrs. Bundt spoke my name quietly. "There's nothing to worry about. My friends and I will solve this thing and force the Shadow Walker out of our lands."
"Can I then have my Echo back?" I asked quietly, feeling a tiny bit of hope inside of me. I wasn't ready to focus on anything else right now.
"That is up to Jaden," she said tenderly, looking at him. "It's his spirit, after all."
"That shouldn't take long," Tilly spoke suddenly with a wink. Jaden turned to glare at her, so she looked away, pressing her lips together.
"Even I can't stop Echoes, except for my own, because they're not technically spirits," Mrs. Bundt said. "I can ask the actual spirit to call them all back, but that doesn't mean they won't return to where they belong as soon as they can."
"Then why did you make them come back to him if they just return?" I asked.
"Because right now we need all the time we can get," Mrs. Bundt said. "And we need to know exactly where the Echoes are so we can protect them. Now we can track them while they return."
I nodded slowly, trying to understand her words. "So, it will take some time before I can have mine back?"
"It's probably already sneaking back to you," Mrs. Bundt smiled. "They usually do when they are close to the place they belong to."
I peered at Jaden. He wasn't looking at me, and he had no emotions on his face. I wanted to ask him if he even wanted his Echo to come back to me, but I didn't have the guts to do so. I turned around and walked to the front door and back, feeling restless and anxious. There was still so much I didn't understand...
"What about Cedric?" I finally asked, feeling horrible for him. "What does it mean that he's locked inside me?"
Mrs. Bundt took a deep breath, and sat down on the chair. "I don't know where to begin..."
"From the start," I said shortly. "I still don't understand anything... Why didn't you tell me about this sooner? Why did you wait until it was almost too late? Jack could've had Jaden's spirit and I would probably be dead!"
"That's what I've been wondering as well," Jaden suddenly spoke and stood up. "Arch knew immediately that Oliver had a shadow in him, so you must have known about it from the moment he was infected. Why didn't you tell him? You just let him think he's crazy! You didn't even tell him he's in danger!"
"Oliver was well-protected," Mrs. Bundt said calmly. "I do admit I wasn't aware of how dire the situation was, but I did everything I could to protect him. Annabelle was with him the entire time, making sure he couldn't be infected by new shadows. She's a strong guardian, and with the help of Cedric and your Echo, she was strong enough to keep Jack away from him. Besides, he couldn't kill Oliver because the Echo would've disappeared for good."
"You still should have told him!" Jaden said angrily. "You had no right to keep the truth from him!"
We all stared at her while she took a deep breath. "I think I should start from the beginning, yes. There are things you need to understand first."
She gestured at us to sit back down, so we did – Jaden was too stubborn to do it right away though – and once all four of us were somewhat comfortable on the couch, she looked at me.
"There's something else that I haven't told you, and I think I need to start with that," she said, and her smile turned sad. "Do you remember that I used to work as a teacher in your school before I applied to the group home?"
I nodded – I had a vague memory of that. "You started around five years ago."
"Yes," she nodded. "Back then, there were still other Spirit Walkers living in here. One day one of our friends mentioned that they saw this Walker kid at a store, talking with a young spirit. I was surprised because there weren't supposed to be any kids around here, but then I figured you were probably just passing through or visiting the place since this town is sacred ground to us."
"It is?" Arch asked.
"Yes. It was built by our ancestors, who were looking for a nice, quiet place to live far away from humans. A lot of historical figures are buried here, as well as old buildings and statues," Mrs. Bundt explained. "So, we didn't start poking around until we found out you were actually living right here in the group home."
She fell silent for a moment, taking a deep breath. "I tried to find out what happened to your parents, but I found nothing. No one had ever heard of you before. I went as far as to contact my friends around the state, but no one had a clue about where you came from. It was like you appeared out of nowhere."
I listened quietly while she spoke, trying not to get too lost in my own memories. I thought about my mom, and I wondered if she was the same as me. A Spirit Walker.
"My husband and I both knew we couldn't just leave it at that. We realized you had no one to explain our world. We knew you would get in trouble if you kept using your powers without understanding what you are. People would lock you up as a madman if no one taught you about the hidden world." She paused for a moment, before she added, "So... we wanted to give you a home with us."
I had to look away when she said that. If I had known... I took a moment to recollect myself. I needed to stay focused on the story, no matter how hard it was to suddenly hear about such a thing. "What happened?" I whispered.
"We were declined," she spoke quietly, looking like it was getting hard for her to stay calm and composed as well. "We used to have a small hardware store, but the business was slow... We had too much debt and eventually we lost it. My husband fell seriously ill, and since this house is too small for a growing kid... They didn't even give us a chance. Someone else was able to give you a better home, so they chose them instead. I thought it was good that you at least had a home, but you were soon back at the group home. We applied again, and again, we were declined..."
She sniffed and looked up for a moment, before she continued. "After that, I applied for a job at the group home. My husband was getting better and found a new job, so we started to get our finances back in order. We even put this house on sale and started looking for rental apartments, and when I got the job at the group home, I thought that this time they would choose us for sure. I mean, I was working for them and we had plans set and everything... They had to see that we were serious about giving you a home... But we couldn't sell the house... In this dying town no one wants to buy a home... And then you were fostered again... For the last time."
I knew exactly which home she was talking about. I could almost see the dark figures around me. The ones I saw at that foster home.
"They were shadows," I whispered when I realized it.
"Yes. Cedric told me what happened with them," Mrs. Bundt said with tears in her eyes. "They were infected with shadows and when they attacked you... I believe it was the first time you saw shadows in their true, horrible form... I heard about what happened the next day, and came to see you right away. You were so afraid of everything. You didn't want anyone to come close to you..."
"I don't remember much about being there," I muttered. "I don't really want to remember to be honest..."
"I know," she said quietly. "You were always so trusting towards new people, and those people betrayed that trust. They hurt you and the shadows attacked you and there was no one to stop them... You changed so much after that... I tried telling you about what happened. I tried to explain what you saw, but you were too afraid to listen... Whenever I tried to talk about spirits and shadows you would scream until I stopped. Then you wouldn't even let me in your room anymore... I stopped trying. I thought that if I waited until you were better, I could try again, but it took months before you started trusting me again, and I couldn't ruin it... I just couldn't bring it up anymore..."
I was already crying silently at this point. "I can't remember that... I just remember that you came to see me a lot..."
She nodded and wiped away her own tears. "After that day, they decided that you couldn't be fostered. You stopped talking to the spirits and locked Cedric away out of fear. As months went by, I was afraid that you had given up your powers for good, but then you started phasing again."
"What does that mean?" I asked, trying hard to stay focused.
"It means moving between realms. We can travel into the spirit world whenever we want," she explained, taking deep breaths while recollecting herself. "Young ones do that by accident, especially if they don't know how to use their powers, and don't know how to tell the worlds apart."
I nodded, and took a deep breath as well, trying to rearrange my thoughts. "I didn't know you cared about me that much," I said silently.
"We all do," she said tenderly. "I wanted to tell you about our plans, but I also wanted it to be a surprise... And then it was too late..."
I nodded again slowly, and placed my hand over my chest. "What about Cedric?" I asked, because I didn't want to think of how my life would be now if it were the Bundts who had fostered me.
"I'm sure you'll let him out soon, now that you know what's going on," Mrs. Bundt said quietly. "It's the fear that kept you from letting him out. I can't tell you how happy I was when I noticed you were making friends with Blue Moon werewolves. I saw you were getting used to the supernatural part of the world with their help."
"How long have you known about them?" I asked.
"Werewolf spirits are quite different from humans, so it wasn't hard to notice Jaden," Mrs. Bundt said. "At first, I was worried that he had bad intentions, but then I spotted the Echo in you and I knew I could trust him. His Echo is very protective over you and helped Annabelle containing the spy shadow."
I peered at Jaden, but it was his friends that stole my attention. They were both smirking at him. Jaden himself had a light blush on his face. Even without his Echo, I knew he was uncomfortable, so I hurried to change the subject.
"That spy shadow... Is it really gone?" I asked, and both Mrs. Bundt and Annabelle nodded. "He... Jack... He wanted to..." I trailed off to see if the darkness would surround me, but it didn't. "He asked me to find Jaden's hideout."
"What?" the werewolves asked in unison.
"He made me follow you guys and find out where it is, but I didn't... He got really mad at me and kept asking why I wasn't obeying him. Then, one day, he just... He left me alone. He said something about me being a complete waste of time," I said, feeling relieved that I could finally speak of it. "It was really weird..."
"That really is weird," Tilly spoke.
"Unless he already knew you're a Spirit Walker," Mrs. Bundt said. "We can phase into spirit realm and follow people's spirits around without getting noticed. Heck, we can walk straight into the White House and sit down to listen to their conversations without anyone noticing."
"So Shadow Walkers can't do that?" I asked.
"They can't enter the spirit realm, and the shadow realm is different. Everyone has a spirit, but not everyone has a shadow," Mrs. Bundt explained and was quiet for a moment. "Well, they have real shadows, but not the bad shadows... Anyway, he couldn't follow them himself because they didn't have shadows to follow, if you understand what I mean."
"Oh, I see. But what are we going to do now?" I asked. "About Jack?"
"You four do nothing – I will contact Alpha Rayleigh and let him know what's going on, and then me and my friends will deal with that Shadow Walker," she said sternly. "He will soon find out that he wandered into the wrong neighborhood."
"But what could he want?" Tilly asked. "If he wants to infect our pack, he could use anyone of us. Why is he so fixed on Jaden?"
Mrs. Bundt stood up from her seat, and peered out of the window again. "I have an idea. But don't you worry about anything – we'll take care of it."
"What idea?" I asked, dying to know what was going on.
She turned to give me an apologetic smile. "I'm afraid it's not my secret to spill. I made a promise and I intend to keep it."
"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Jaden said and stood up as well. "You, my father, our Beta..."
"My father mentioned a promise as well," Arch said, frowning.
"I'm sorry," she said quietly, "but since you are the next Alpha, I'm sure your father will... tell you..." She suddenly trailed off with a frown.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Alpha... You said Jack is the Alpha's son," she said, looking at Jaden. "His father is a werewolf?"
"Yes. What the hell is going on?" Jaden said in frustration.
"Jack is a born werewolf?" she said, stepping closer to Jaden.
"As far as I'm aware of, yes," Jaden said, crossing his arms over his chest.
"He is," Arch nodded. "Why does it matter?"
Mrs. Bundt turned to look at Annabelle.
'That's not good,' the spirit said ominously.