Two Sides of The Moon - Chapter 6: Chapter 6

-Oliver-
That first night back in my old bed, in our cold room, with the other kids who mumbled in their sleep... I had never felt so lonely in my entire life. I couldn't sleep. I had two blankets on, but I was still cold. It wasn't the same than having three wolves in the bed with me. The noises the kids made were almost unfamiliar, unnatural.
I probably would've lost my mind trying to fall asleep, if it weren't for the tiny ball of light that kept me company, rolling all over my pillow, climbing up my shoulder and jumping off my head. Jaden, too, was restless – I could feel it in my soul. Even his Echo couldn't stop moving even for a second.
Finally, in the early hours of the morning, I fell asleep watching that light, but too soon, I was woken up when the caretakers came in to wake up the kids.
"I'm sorry, Ollie," Miss Washington smiled apologetically when she spotted me awake. "We'll just grab the kids so you can go back to sleep."
I figured I wasn't going to fall asleep anytime soon, but I knew that going downstairs with the freshly awoken kids would only give me a headache, so I nodded and decided to stay under the covers instead.
"Is Natalie here?" I asked.
"She left an hour ago to run some errands," Miss Washington said. "But she'll be back before noon."
"Okay."
I watched her and her co-worker usher the grumpy kids out of the room, and when they closed the door, and silence fell, my ears continued to ring for a good moment. Kids were noisy.
I missed my wolves...
With a sigh, I dug myself deeper under the covers, and turned to look out the window. It was still dark, but I could still see the first hint of sun on the horizon. Jaden's spirit was calm now, so he must've fallen asleep at some point. I wished I could go back to sleep as well, but I was right about not being able to anymore, so I just watched the sunrise.
The day was uneventful, thankfully. I was really tired the entire day, and mainly just watched after the kids in the living room. Of course, I tried to call Jaden a few times during the day, but our calls always ended up being just him running around his territory to find good service. Or at least some kind of service. At least I got to hear his voice, proof that he was still alive and well, and his territory was safe.
Natalie spent the entire day with us even though she was supposed to have a day off. That was great. Even though we couldn't talk freely with all the kids around, it was still comforting to have her around. I probably would've started doubting how real my life actually was if it wasn't for her.
I mean, I still hadn't ruled out the brain tumor...
A harbinger of Hades... The harbinger of Hades. I had part of his infected soul in me, I fought alongside the goddess Selene and my boyfriend was a werewolf. There were evil shadow monsters after my life, a supernatural cop prowling about, and I could talk with my dead father face-to-face whenever I wanted.
And I was supposed to go to school the next day so my grades wouldn't fall too low, because the harbinger of Hades wasn't good enough trait in job applications in the future.
Though, I had never been as eager to go to school as I was the next morning, even though I hadn't slept any better during the night. Natalie refused to let me walk there alone, so I had to wait until she was ready to give me a ride. Which took an awfully long time, but eventually, we were good to go.
"There's going to be a lot of people watching over you," Natalie spoke while starting the car. "Myself included."
"You know, taken the circumstances, we could just skip school," I suggested. "I wouldn't mind skipping it for good..."
"You are not skipping school. We are now prepared, you are surrounded by powerful protections and strong fighters, so there really isn't need for you guys to stop living the teenage lives you are supposed to live," Natalie said sternly. "You are still kids, not soldiers, and we want you guys go back to normal and let us deal with the enemy."
"Yeah, yeah..." I breathed out. "Just don't expect perfect grades..."
"Oliver."
"I'll do my best," I chuckled when she frowned at me. "All I'm saying that we may be a little distracted."
She sighed. "I know... Just, try not to worry too much, okay? We are doing everything we can to keep you safe."
"I know."
Shortly after, we arrived at school. When Natalie parked the car, I noticed a nervous shift in her spirit, so I turned to look at her again.
"Are you sure you want to let me go?" I joked.
"Of course!"
"Something made you nervous just now," I pointed out.
She stared at me for a second with her lips pursed shut. "This was so much easier when you couldn't read spirits."
"Sorry," I smirked, grabbing my bag.
"Ollie..." She stopped me before I could open the door.
"Yeah?"
"Never mind... Just, try to stay out of trouble, okay?" she said gently.
"Me? I never get into trouble!" I told her.
"Uh-huh," she snorted, but then smiled. "Have a fun day at school. I'll be hovering around until the end, so meet me here as soon as you're dismissed."
"Sure," I said, and told her goodbye before exiting the car.
I was already feeling so much more energetic as I made my way to the entrance. I could feel Jaden closer and closer, so it couldn't take them long to arrive as well. I stopped by the door and peered around, but I assumed it would take another five or more minutes before they were here, so I stepped inside to get away from the cold.
I found a good spot in the corner, right next to the entrance. The cold didn't quite reach me there, and I could keep an eye on the door. As if I needed to see him to know where he was. I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes, just waiting as patiently as I could.
It wasn't a long wait. It was only minutes later when I could feel him so incredibly close that I had to step back outside. I was just in time to see Tilly's Jeep passing by the gates on its way to the parking lot, followed by Beta Ryder's older Subaru.
I felt how annoyed the trio was about having their Beta following them so closely. It looked like I wasn't the only one with a babysitter. Mine was loitering somewhere close by, unseen, but I could still feel her presence. It was almost a miracle I could sense her with the thousand other spirits flying around.
Another brief moment later, Jaden, Tilly and Arch walked around the corner, and they all waved at me cheerfully and hurried their steps. I couldn't stay still, so I took a couple of steps towards them, and ended up getting caught in a big hug when Jaden was close enough to reach me.
It felt so good... Feeling the presence of his spirit wasn't the same as feeling his warm arms and scent around me.
"I hate being away from you," he whispered in my ear.
"I learned that so do I," I said truthfully, looking up at him with a smile on my face. "How are you?"
"Better now," he replied.
"Aww, you two are such cuties," Tilly cooed, and Jaden turned to glare at her as the two of them passed us by.
"Piss off," he mumbled with red cheeks, but didn't let go of me.
"And there used to be a time when you ran every time you spotted him," Arch continued teasing, but his words were lacking his usual laid-back attitude.
Maybe because he was experiencing the same thing with Jack.
"Let's get inside. I'm getting cold out here," I suggested.
It really was nice and warm inside, even though Jaden had to let go of me. He was still walking so close to me that our hands touched, so I didn't really mind. For a short second, I believed we could go back to normal, like Natalie wanted.
But shortly after, it became very clear that our new normal was anything but normal. For one, I could see them. I could see the people I had known for years as their true selves. I was shocked at how many of them were not humans at all. Their spirits were not human, and I couldn't even imagine what they really were. The several werewolves were easy to spot, but most of the rest had souls I had never seen. Different colors, different shapes, different substances from cloudy to liquid... Some had none, some had several, I spotted two that kept changing and one that looked like someone had locked up a thunderstorm inside a body.
And two, while being busy staring at every person we encountered, I hadn't even noticed most of them staring back at us. Not until we were approaching a group of soulless kids. Their stare was so intense I slowed down my pace, feeling uncomfortable. When I turned my head away, I saw another two kids turning around to stare at us after we passed them by.
"Why is everyone looking at us?" I whispered.
"Not us – you," Jaden chuckled. "They know what you are now. Your kind is extremely rare."
"Well, I don't like it," I mumbled.
Before any of us could say another word, a familiar face suddenly jumped in front of me.
Nick.
My first instinct was to make a run for it, but my second instinct was to read his spirit, and I stopped.
"I'm so sorry," Nick sputtered hastily. "I'm so, so, so, sorry! I didn't mean to...! I didn't know...! Please! Don't take my soul!"
Before I could even react, Jaden pushed him harshly away from me, giving him a warning growl. A growl. In the middle of all these... people?
"Not so funny when they bite back, huh?" Tilly asked with a harsh voice, taking a threatening step towards him.
"Stop it," I said quietly.
Tilly did stop, but she let out a displeased grunt.
"We're good," I told Nick, and continued walking past him.
"T-Thank you!" he stammered back, and I could hear him hurrying away.
"We're good?" Jaden repeated when he followed me.
"He was a carrier," I said quietly. "Just like Jack."
Nick's infestation wasn't nearly as bad as Jack's was, but his spirit was badly injured, nonetheless.
"Doesn't mean shit," Jaden muttered, so I sprung around to give him a stern glare.
"It does. We don't know what he's been through," I told him. "I don't even care what he did. It was a lifetime ago."
"Well, I do..."
I took a deep breath and let go of my negative emotions as I was taught to. Jaden hated bullies with a burning passion, they all did, and I had to understand that. Besides, I was his mate. I peered at him and couldn't hide my smile. He'd always want to protect me, I knew that already, and it warmed me better than the air around me.
But I was in for a cold reality when the classes started. We were forced to go our different ways, and I was left alone once again. Everyone kept peering at me in the classroom, making me want to phase out of this realm. The minutes passed by extremely slowly, and honestly, I couldn't care less what we were supposed to be studying, and this was supposed to be my favorite subject: history.
How were we supposed to go back to normal? A week ago, we had fought for our lives, and now... I was sitting in the dusty classroom with a bunch of people who either had no idea what had even happened or knew exactly what happened and were now looking at me more than they paid attention to the teacher. Studying something I'd probably never need in the future.
If I had a future...
To distract myself from that thought, I paid attention to the people around me. Was it just me, or did the room seem... emptier than usually? I could've sworn there were more people absent than normally. Now that I thought of it, the parking lot had been emptier, and so were the hallways on my way here.
How many people did die in the war...?
I let out a deep sigh and looked at my book. This was not going to be normal. This was far from normal...
After a decade, the class finally ended. I waited for most of the others to leave the room before I followed them out and turned left, following my instincts to find Jaden, who was already coming my way.
This bond was awfully handy. I stepped around a corner a short moment later, and found him leaning against the wall just behind it, acting all cool and hot in his a-bit-too-small clothes. I smiled and stopped to take in his looks. His appearance had always pleased my eye – should've realized ages ago I was into guys – but now I didn't want to stop looking at him.
"So? Did you have fun in class?" I asked.
He only growled as a reply.
"I see," I chuckled, but then sighed. "I have no idea how we're supposed to go back to normal..."
"Me neither. It's like a mantra my parents kept repeating, but this isn't going to happen," he spoke quietly, gently taking my hand in his.
"I'm even more bored now," Tilly stepped in with a sigh, crossing arms over her chest as her eyes scanned our surroundings. "Still treated like kids, even though our true spirits woke up. Fun."
"I can destroy a whole army of shadows with a snap of my fingers, and I still have a babysitter," I chuckled at her, trying to spot Natalie's presence in the hallway – she was somewhere further down the corridor.
"This sucks... I hate this place." Tilly just sighed.
I had to agree.
The next class started too soon, and I had to go through another boring period being stared at. The seconds seemed even longer this time... I really wanted to just phase out, but thankfully, the lunch break finally came around, and I had more time to spend with my wolves.
I got there first, so after getting my food I went to find an empty table at the back. I was getting pretty anxious about all the staring, so I wanted to get as far away from everyone else as possible. The rest arrived only a minute later with their trays.
The topic was pretty much the same: being back in school was annoying. I was fine with that because I sure loved complaining about it, even though I much rather had a peaceful, normal life instead of having to fight and fear we'd lose our loved ones. This just wasn't normal right now. The enemy was still out there, and so was the fear.
But we got something else to think about. Something normal finally happened.
A guy approached Tilly.
"I see you're back," the guy said with a wide smile, stopping right next to our table and gluing his eyes on Tilly.
Tilly turned to look at him slowly, and the rest of us watched them both in complete silence.
"I'm sorry, I seem to have forgotten your name. It was George, right?" Tilly spoke with an unusually polite, almost uncaring voice.
But their spirits were all but uncaring. I tried my best to not smile at the sight.
"You are a funny girl, Molly," the guy smirked.
Tilly, too, had to smother a smile before she lifted her nose up. "That's not my name, Colin."
"That's not my name either," the guy said oh-so-smoothly. "Gertrude."
"It's Matilda Ackley to you," Tilly said, and suddenly reached for her bag and took a piece of paper and a pen from it. "Fine – what is it? I'll write it down so I don't forget it."
She held the pen ready and gave the guy an expecting look. The guy's smile grew more mischievous as he raised his eyebrow in amusement.
"If you insist, Miss Ackley," he said. "My name is Benicio Antonio del Fernández-Martínez y Lopez-González."
We all stared at him, not just Tilly. I was almost suffocating from trying to not start laughing, and so did Jaden and Arch. But Tilly recovered quickly.
"So, Ben," she said, and scribbled the three letters onto her paper.
"That's me," Ben smirked.
"I think I'll remember that," Tilly smiled at him, putting the paper away.
"I sure hope so, Miss Ackley," Ben said politely, taking a step away from us. "See you around," he said, and left, leaving Tilly watch after him for quite some time.
"So..." Arch grinned at her. "Being back to school sucks, right?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Tilly chirped. "I think it's refreshing to be back here."
"But you said you hate being here?" Jaden frowned.
"How are you the Alpha?" Arch breathed out in defeat.
"What?" Jaden frowned at him as well.
I let out a short sigh and patted his arm. "At least you're handsome."
"What?"