The Mouse and The Wolf - Chapter 55: Chapter 55

-Oliver-
Jaden kissed me again...
I let out a deep sigh as I sat down into the bathtub, enjoying the warm water on my skin. The basement was quite chilly, although the dozens of candles were heating up the place pretty well. I rested my head back, trying to clear out my head from all thoughts.
It wasn't working, obviously.
I pressed my hand on my lips and peered towards the door which had a small crack on it. I could see Jaden sitting right behind it, but only a small part of his cheek and back was visible for me. The feisty-red color of his hair had started to fade, but it still suited him.
I... I felt bad for not being able to feel utter joy from being kissed by him. I wanted to, but I had a million other things to wrap my head around, and I barely even knew the guy. The werewolf.
Honestly, I was expecting to wake up from all of this and realize it was all just a wild dream. Part of me wished it was just a dream... I knew I would've been much more scared if it wasn't for Jaden, and his calming spirit.
I lowered my hand on my chest, calling Jaden's Echo inside my head, and the tiny thing jumped out of me, landing on my hand.
I stared at the golden sparkles around the light-blue ball of light as it kept growing on my hand. Two days ago, I didn't know I could do that. Two days ago, I didn't know who my father was. Two days ago, I didn't know Mrs. Bundt had wanted to foster me. Two days ago, I didn't know I wasn't exactly a human. Two days ago, I didn't know I had an actual enemy, and that I was a part of a big secret.
I closed my eyes for a moment and tried to stay calm when it all hit me at once. I had no idea what to think. Where to even start thinking?
"So... you holding up?" Jaden asked, and I figured he could feel me getting anxious.
"Not really," I said truthfully – there was no point in lying when the guy knew exactly what was going on.
"I don't blame you," he said quietly, and the sound of his soothing voice helped me stay focused. "I'd probably be hiding under the bed freaking out if I were you..."
I chuckled lightly, watching as his Echo jumped off my hand and started dashing across the water without leaving any ripples behind.
"I think I'm so overwhelmed that I can't even freak out. I'm in a complete mental lock-down..." I muttered.
"I'm sorry about everything," Jaden said and sighed. "I wish we had more time to introduce you to our world... I know it's a lot to take in."
I couldn't agree more. "I'm trying to decide what I should focus on first," I told him. "What part should I let sink in first?"
"Well... How about we start with the whole supernatural thing?" he asked.
"That is way too big to think about," I laughed. "Are vampires real?"
"Yeah."
"Aliens?"
"... you and your aliens..."
"Are they?"
"I don't think so, but then again, I'm a werewolf, so..."
"Fairies? Mermaids? Goblins?"
"Yes, yes, and yes."
"Christ... I don't think I can deal with that right now," I said, rubbing my temples.
"What about... me?" he asked carefully.
"You sure like talking about yourself," I said.
He didn't reply to me for a while, but then, he cleared his throat. "I'm sorry I let you down. I should've trusted my goddess' judgement right there in the beginning. Maybe if I had accepted it, things would be different now. You would've had more time to learn more about our world before learning about yourself... and your father..."
"Maybe," I said slowly. "We'll never know, but you shouldn't be so hard on yourself. It was a big change for you as well."
His Echo returned to me, and climbed up my shoulder, making a few rounds around my neck, before settling down on top of my scar. I smiled at the tiny light, before focusing on the scar.
"At least I understand what happened now, and why I was never fostered again," I said quietly.
"I don't know if I should ask this, but... what happened exactly? In the last foster home?" Jaden's voice was hesitant and careful when he spoke. I didn't want to talk about it, but then again, if I kept pushing it down, trying to pretend it never happened... Wasn't that exactly why I ended up in a mental hospital and refused to listen to Natalie when she tried to explain what I was, and what I saw?
"They seemed like a nice family," I started, feeling ugly shivers inside me, but the Echo on my shoulder snuggled closer to my neck, sending warmth throughout my body. "I was a wild child, always causing a lot of trouble with my imagination... Well, I guess it wasn't imagination if they were all actual spirits?"
"That's what Natalie said," Jaden spoke.
"I feel bad for them. The spirits... Some of them were really young," I muttered. "I... I didn't realize they were kids who had died..."
There were so many of them. They didn't stay longer than a day or two, before they vanished. Did they find their way into the spirit realm? But new ones came, some couldn't have been older than two or three years. Some were older, and I even remembered seeing adults, but the kids were the ones who came up to me. Their stories were wild, and it was easy to get lost in their reality... I had no family, and my mother's words were still engraved deep into my soul. The words I wanted to forget.
I didn't even want you.
"Things were pretty all right at first in that house. They tried to help me and provide the care I needed, but just like the previous families, I could see they were getting exhausted with me and my imagination. I was hardly there in the real world. It must've been hard to even try talking with me, since I wouldn't listen."
I remembered that one time, when the lady of the house, Carol or Karen, kept yelling my name and shaking me in hopes of gaining my attention, but I refused to even look at her. That happened often, but I didn't care how frustrated it made them all. All I wanted was to play with my spirit friends.
"And then... one night... I was playing with... with a spirit, who wanted to climb on top of a mountain. Cedric was there, too, trying to talk me out of it," I said, trying not to get scared of thinking about that night. "The spirit wanted me to climb with him, so... we did. There was this big, big bookcase in the living room, so we sneaked out of my room in the middle of the night and started climbing."
I had to stop to take a deep breath. It was getting harder to speak. I could almost see the darkness that surrounded that house that night.
"The topmost shelf broke when I clung onto it, and there was this vase... It was round and pure white, and I think it was made of glass... It fell with me and shattered onto the ground. They woke up and came down to see what was going on. They... When they saw me... Everything turned black. The room around me... I couldn't see anything... except for them."
It was the first time when I really let the images of that night surface in front of me. I'd had nightmares about shadowy figures, screaming at me with hateful voices, but I never let myself remember...
"They looked like black skeletons, wrapped in thin, dark vails... When they moved, they left trails of smoke behind them... It was like they drained all the light from that room... But they were still also humans... just normal humans... Like two images on top of each other, I could see both of them..." I trailed off and forced those pictures out of my head so I wouldn't start panicking.
"Shadows," Jaden muttered.
"There was more..." I whispered. "Maggots... or something like that... when the skeletons started to fade away, I could see black, maggot-like something... Dozens of them... crawling partly out of their skin, but they didn't leave any holes..."
"Shadow leeches," Jaden explained. "That's what happens when someone gets infested..."
"Shadow leeches..." I repeated his words quietly, shivering from the thought of them. We were silent for a moment while I tried not to vomit. I felt like something was crawling under my skin. "I was so scared that I tried to run away, but before I could even turn around one of them grabbed what was left of the vase, and threw it at me," I spoke, pressing my hand over the scars. "There was so much blood..."
"What happened next?" Jaden asked with partly worried and partly angry voice.
"I saw a flash of blue light," I whispered. "I forgot that happened... The... shadows... my foster parents... they backed away and I ran outside..."
"Your guardian spirit," Jaden said. "Cedric."
"Yes," I breathed out, pressing my hand on my chest again. "That was the last time I saw him..."
"You locked him away out of fear," Jaden nodded. "I'm sorry it all happened to you."
I took a deep breath, and another one. It all made sense now.
"It doesn't make it any less scary," I said. "But... At least I know what I saw."
"Yeah," he said.
His Echo started moving again, slowly spiraling down onto the water again, and made a couple of twirls around in front of me. I had the feeling it was trying to cheer me up. I smiled and touched it gently. Or at least I tried. My fingers went straight through it, but it felt like I had put my fingers in warm jelly.
"Your Echo is being adorable," I told him.
"Bad Echo... We're not adorable," Jaden scoffed, but I could tell he was just trying to be cute.
"I think you're adorable. That time just before you came to talk to me... when you were spying on me at the library–"
"I wasn't spying on you!"
"Sure," I chuckled. "Creep."
"I was only trying to figure out what you wanted from me," he spoke with a fake high-and-mighty voice.
"I think that was adorable – whatever you were doing," I continued. "I never thought a guy like you would be so... skittish."
"A guy like me?" he repeated.
"Yeah – you know... I thought you were in some kind of gang or something... I'd heard a lot of rumors what happened to people who crossed your path... Did people really go missing because of you guys?"
"No," Jaden snorted. "Well... Define missing..." he added with a mutter.
"Like, dead," I said carefully.
"No... Not exactly missing..." he sighed. "If someone really went missing because of us, the reason is that they were turned into werewolves. And not all missing people are our fault, but people sure love to give us the blame."
"Ohh, I get it," I nodded. "What about all the rumors of breaking the law and beating people up? I mean, people are afraid of you guys. Even the cops were reluctant to do anything about you guys."
"Ehh, we all do some stupid shit every now and then," Jaden said dismissively. "And the reason why the cops don't want to deal with us is... well... we may have friends in their ranks."
"Ohh, I see," I chuckled. "They're just looking through the fingers."
"We're not that bad – people exaggerate a lot, especially since they know so little about us. And Thorns have been starting new rumors just to mess with us even more."
"Of course," I chuckled, and watched his Echo for a moment, until a thought popped in my head. "Do you think we're in danger? Like, is it possible they can invade your territory and get into the catacombs?"
Jaden was silent for a moment. "I don't know... I haven't met a Shadow Walker before – not that I know of – so I don't know how dangerous they are, but... my father isn't taking any chances with them, and he's not the kind of person to spook easily."
"If werewolves are hard to possess... doesn't it mean that Jack is helping them?" I asked quietly, shivering from the memory of his darkness. "He has a bad shadow in him..."
Jaden let out a deep sigh, before he spoke, "I don't know... If the shadow is strong enough, it is possible... and it's easier if the soul is already broken. I know his mom died in the hands of rogues, and that most of his pack was slaughtered in front of his eyes, so... But their Alpha is a hateful man. I have met him only twice, but you could feel his hate across the field..."
I could almost see Jack in front of me. I had never felt so much hate after leaving the foster home. The rage in his eyes... I shivered when I thought of it.
"What will they do if they get the Blue Moon?" I asked.
"Not anything good, that's for sure," Jaden muttered. "I can't believe we have an old world here in our territory..."
"And you and I are the keys to that place..." I sighed, feeling a bit dizzy.
"I'd say I'll die before opening that door to any of them, but... if I'm dead, it only gets easier for them to use my blood," Jaden said.
"Wouldn't it be better if we left this place?" I asked, feeling anxious again. "I mean, it's right there in the forest."
"We wouldn't be able to protect ourselves," Jaden sighed. "I'm sure my dad will think of something."
"I hope so..."
I let my thoughts run free for a moment. My legacy was to protect that place... My father gave his life to keep it safe, and it was my turn now. That was all he left for me...
"Attwood," I spoke the name out loud. My name. "I didn't know I had a last name."
"Do you... remember anything about your family?" Jaden asked.
"I... I remember my mom," I spoke slowly. "I never told anyone about her though..."
"Why not?"
"I wanted to forget all about her," I said truthfully. "But I can't... I just... She..."
"She abandoned you," Jaden guessed, and I felt something sharp in my heart.
"Yeah..." I whispered. "The last thing she ever said to me was that she never even wanted me."
The door was opened so fast that I jumped, and when I looked up, Jaden was kneeling down next to the tub, and he pulled me into a tight hug, splashing water all over the place.
"You are wanted here," he spoke in my ear. "This is your place. You are the guardian of the Blue Moon. You're the fourth ace. There's a couple who even tried to sell their home to foster you, and if my father says Kevin would've wanted to be a good father to you, I know it must be true. My father is not a liar."
I couldn't stop myself from crying. I hugged him tight, hiding my face on his shoulder, and I cried. I wasn't even sure why.
"And I want you. My spirit is at ease next to you. Ever since I found out you are my mate, I was drawn to you, and you didn't even have to lift a finger to make me want to come to you. I still only want to come to you."
I sniffed and nodded against his shoulder. I could feel something warm come up my shoulder, and when I turned to look, I saw his Echo. It stopped right next to my cheek and stayed there, like wanting to comfort me. I smiled. Even through my tears, I smiled.
"You are wanted, Ollie," Jaden whispered, holding me tightly against his chest.