The Last of White Dawn

Chapter 10: Peachtree

The train station is a fair walk from the hotel. Seb seems to know the streets to these towns like he has been here a hundred times over. We trek through the main roads, sliding into more residential areas when more people start to bombard our pathways. He says it's because he doesn't want to overwhelm me with human contact but I get the sense that they have also become somewhat irritating for him. I can see the flare in his nostrils when they stare at us, sense the annoyance that floats from him to me as they pay us far too much attention.

The residential streets are much less crowded and there are far fewer people roaming the sidewalks as we make our way through. The houses are cookie-cutter perfect in this area of town, each a perfect replication of the one before it. There are children out playing in the streets with sticks and a ball that catch my attention as we go by.

"What are they playing?" I ask Seb quietly.

He looks over his shoulder casually as we pass by. "It's called street hockey. The objective is to score by getting the little orange ball in the net of the opposite team."

"They're so cute," I can't help but gush. The kids must be seven at the oldest, and the littlest one is drowning in some sort of long sweater with a number sewn across his chest.

"You like children?"

"I love children. They're so innocent," I smile and shake my head. "I miss being a kid myself sometimes."

Seb chuckles under his breath. "Don't we all?"

"I remember my mom used to tell my brother and I that we were going to grow up one day and we were going to regret not spending more time playing like the other children. We doubted her then," I smile sadly at the memory. She had been standing in the kitchen scolding us for sneaking into the older kids training practice. We both wanted to be warriors when we grew up and we thought that was the best way to advance our skills. It turned out that we both just got our asses handed to us by the bigger kids and then went home to have our mom lecture us about the importance of play. She was big on wanting us to have balance in our lives, regardless of the white-wolf-alpha's-kids thing. I loved her for that.

"My mother would always tell me to get my head out of my ass and quit fooling around," Seb laughed wholeheartedly.

"You were a playful one, were you?"

"Oh, always. My mother couldn't get me to training half the time; and the other half of the time I would sneak off with my friends or whoever I could convince to go play in the forest until it was lunchtime."

"I can see you doing that."

"Can you?"

"Yeah. I can see you getting everyone into trouble," I look up and stick my tongue out at him with a wink.

"I guess that's true. I was very bad at getting into trouble by myself. I would only make a mess if there was someone else to help me." His smile grew on his face. He reached out and took my hand in his. "So be careful little girl, I can get you into more trouble than I am worth."

"Oh, I think I can handle it," I nudged his shoulder.

"That's what they all say," he laughed and pulled me down one of the side streets to our left. At the end I could see an old train station, surrounded by a large parking lot. There were lots of cars in the little spaces; and yet, very few people hanging around outside. It looked almost abandoned until we got closer and I could see the movement of some people inside.

As we enter, there is a group of young men, maybe in their early twenties, sitting on a long blue bench across the back wall, talking and laughing. The door slams shut behind us and their eyes are pulled up from their phones. I can feel them staring at me as Seb and I make our way to the ticket stand and purchase two tickets for Peachtree from a rail-thin, sickly-looking, blonde woman. She asks Seb some questions about what class we would like to sit in and something about our baggage but I am completely focused on the fact that I can feel the boys' eyes burning holes in my back. Seb answers the lady quickly and quietly before squeezing my hand and leading me outside.