Innocent Bystander

Chapter Nine: Arming The City (Also, Birthday Teim, Yee Yee)

AN: TW (just in case): Mentions of weaponry.

I THINK it was there was a party at Scott's house the night Gabe shot it up... Was it?

Edit: Turns out it was a pack meeting of some sort. Thanks for pointing this out in the comments!

At 11:59 PM that night, one minute prior to my fourteenth birthday, Katie and I sat on my bed, ready to see what words my soulmate would have for me. We both watched my alarm clock, eagerly awaiting what was to come.

Not telling Katie what happened between Nolan and I earlier that day without implying he was planning something ate me up inside. She was my best friend, so not being able to tell her everything like best friends are supposed to do was excruciatingly difficult. Other than that, however, My first sleepover with Katie (and in general) was going pretty smoothly thus far. She let slip by accident that Gabe had told her about what happened at Scott's house, assuming I didn't know, so at least I could open up about that. She said she was upset, but not furious, so to speak. Gabe had shot up the house to keep a friend alive.

"You excited!?" She exclaimed ecstatically.

"You know it!" I squealed with excitement.

"Okay, ready?" Katie started counting down. "Three... Two... One..." With that, she pointed at my alarm clock, as if to queue midnight into existence. It still said 11:59 PM. She counted down again and again until the clock eventually read 12:00 AM.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" She exclaimed and hugged me tightly.

"Thanks!" I said happily.

"What are you waiting for?" Katie urged, "Look at your wrist!"

I rolled up the sleeve of my pyjama shirt despacito (that's "slowly" in Spanish according to my Spanish teacher and totally not the title of a pop song that would come out three-and-a-half years later) to reveal what my new magical wrist tattoo would say.

Please be Nolan, please be Nolan, I thought to myself as I looked down at my wrist.

I noticed the colour right away; Blue. This meant I had already met the person who I was supposed to spend the rest of my life with.

"Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh, Katie - Katie it's blue. IT'S BLUE!" I blurted out.

"AH-!" Katie exclaimed, "What does it say though!?"

I peered down at the writing on my arm and froze. I had a funny feeling I knew who said this to me.

"It says 'Hey, are you okay?'" I read aloud. Suddenly, it hit me;

The day Liam got beat up, Nolan came over to me and comforted me. His first words to me were "Hey, are you okay?" After I asked him why Liam was getting beaten up, he briefly looked down at his wrist. I noticed the ink had kind of changed colour from black to blue, but I thought I'd been seeing things due to my panicked state and didn't think much of it. There was too much evidence to deny it. I knew who my soulmate was, and I wouldn't have wanted it to be anyone else.

"Nolan," I announced, "Nolan's my soulmate."

"Oh my gosh, your crush is your soulma-"

"Shh, Don't tell Gabe!" I giggled as we both celebrated like best friends do when a boy comes into play. So what if that's yet another secret I have to keep? at least it's my secret and no one else's.

***

The following Sunday evening, I was helping Charlie beat a difficult level on his New Super Mario Bros. game (It was the DS version I played all the time when I was little, since Charlie was - and still is - a firm believer in "NSMBDS Supremacy" - and to be honest, who isn't?), when I could hear worried chatter coming from the garage. Being as paranoid as I was, I clued up the level, handed Charlie back his 3DS and quietly snuck to the door that connected the front porch of my house to the garage. I slowly and quietly opened the door a crack and peeked through.

In the garage, I saw Mom, worried sick, talking to Dad. Dad was standing by a large, stick-like object. As I pushed my glasses further up the bridge of my nose so I could see it better, I could tell it was no ordinary large, stick-like object: It was a gun. The only possible explanation for this was that someone must have recruited Dad to be a hunter. I assumed this meant he'd found out about Gabe's involvement with Monroe and the hunters.

"You shouldn't have taken that on," Mom hissed, "Think of the kids, Brad!"

"I'm doing what's best for the family, Susan," Dad reassured her, "And besides, Gabe struck a deal with Miss Monroe that this gun will only be used for self-defence. If anything comes anywhere near our family, I'll use it, but other than that-"

"Other than that, it stays locked up in this garage."

"Yes, of course."

So it was confirmed; Monroe had recruited Dad - well, sort of anyway. I was fuming with rage at that point. First my cousin and my soulmate, now my Dad? Who was getting recruited next? Charlie?

"I still can't believe she recruited Gabe to be a hunter," Mom said on the verge of tears, "He's just a kid!"

"Nolan told me she tried to recruit Alice too, but Gabe shut that down real quick," Dad replied.

"Gabe's friend Nolan?"

"Yeah. He told me he's getting out of the hunting business as soon as it's safe to do so... Also, I know this is completely off-topic, but Nolan said he's ninety-nine percent sure Alice is his soulmate."

"Does he have the ink to prove it?"

"Yes. Her first words to him were 'Why's he getting beaten up?', and his words are blue. With everything Alice has told us about her first day of school, he must be telling the truth."

Then, despite the seriousness of Dad bringing home a whole hunting rifle, I lit up. I was already ninety-nine percent sure that Nolan was my soulmate, but hearing from Dad that Nolan thinks so too erased that one percent of doubt I had.

"He's a good kid," Dad told Mom, "He's got a lot going for him."

"From what Gabe's been saying about him, it's clear Nolan's perfect for her."

"That's exactly what I was thinking."

After a moment of silence, the topic of conversation shifted back to the gun.

"So, it wasn't just you who got a gun?" Mom inquired.

"No," Dad answered, "In fact, most of the town was armed. Even Jonathan - and he can't aim to save his life!"

"Does Jonathan know his son's a hunter?"

"Yes. Gabe's lucky the whole town wants to wipe out the supernaturals, otherwise, Jonathan would have dragged him out of there so fast-"

"It could get him killed."

"That's why Nolan wants to back out."

At that point, I'd heard enough. I ran back to the living room and sat next to Charlie as if nothing happened. All I got out of Mom and Dad's conversation was that Nolan was, one hundred percent, my soulmate and that Dad had a gun, and was not afraid to use it.