Beast, Blood, & Soul

* 25 *

As I'm stuffing my backpack with water and granola bars my phone rings. Seeing who is calling, I smile. "Hi, Mom."

"Hey baby girl, how are you doing?"

"I'm doing good. How was the trip?"

"Exhausting. I swear you're grandmother is wilder than a teenager. She wouldn't stop flirting with all the young men working the island."

I start to laugh. My grandmother had been widowed for five years now and she was taking it upon herself to have a second childhood. "Mom, what did you expect to happen when you took her to Hawaii?"

"I expected warm sand, relaxing naps, and beautiful views. Instead, I got a front-row seat while my mother flirted like a horny teenager. She wants to go to Greece next. " I could practically hear the eye roll over the phone. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Taking Grandma to the Mediterranean might be a blunder. With our luck, she'll find some handsome fisherman and run away with him on his boat." I love my grandmother but she was far more adventurous than my mother ever had been. I wonder what Grandma would say about my current love life?

"If only we were so lucky," My mother teased and we both laugh. "So how is working at the Center? You said last time that you might have met someone?"

"Uh, yeah. I have met someone. We're exploring if a relationship will work or not." I could practically hear a pout on the other side of the phone.

"When can I meet this mysterious person?"

Um, never. I laugh to myself thinking Mom would flip if she knew there were seven of them. Not to mention they all looked like sexy vampires.

"Well, things are a little crazy here at the Center. We had a cliff collapse and currently have a truck hanging off the side. So we're quite busy right now. And I'm just not sure if I'm going to get serious with this person." Please let my mom buy that outrageous lie.

Her gasp could be for either the truck or the relationship, I can't tell. "Life is all sorts of exciting for you. I hope nobody was hurt when the cliff collapsed."

"Nobody was seriously hurt. The team was shaken up, but they are all safe and on leave until we get the truck moved."

"Bangtan Group has always taken very good care of its people. That's why your dad and I were thrilled when you got the job."

"So was I." I had no idea what I was in for when I agreed to work here.

"As long as you do a good job, you should be great. Your dad and I always want the best for you. You've been crazy about that forest ever since you were little so it's great that the job is working out." That made me think of all the dreams I've been having since getting here. Is there a connection?

"Mom, I have a question?" my tone drops a little as I get serious.

"What is it, honey?"

"When did I become crazy about the forest?"

"Hmmmm, let's see... It was your first field trip to the Center. You came home dirty as pig, clothes all torn and muddy, and talking about the magic in the forest." What?

"Magic? There was magic in the forest?" I'm more than a little startled that I was talking magic back then. What did I experience? And why can't I remember it?

"Don't you remember?" She seems surprised.

"Nope, I just remember getting lost on the trip and being scolded that I was outside and not with the group." What did little me know that I don't know now?