Strange Trails

Five

Black Lake has to be one of the biggest Packs Maisie has ever seen.

It takes them 15 minutes to drive into the heart of the city, through a condensed treeline and past farmlands and flat training grounds. Everything they pass is packed full of Shifters; friends playing together, Watchers training, families with little ones running wild on stumpy legs, mates walking hand in hand.

A pang of jealousy strikes her as they drive through the community. This is everything she's ever wanted - and will never have.

Sean's hand presses into her shoulder, "You okay?"

Lauren allowed one of the Watchers to lead her away to a Pack Healer to have her ankle tended to, but not before forcing Patrick to promise to bring them by before they left. She misses her already.

"Fine," she nods. "It's nice here."

"Aye, it is."

They continue to trundle along.

"Do you think we're safe?"

"I do," Sean replies firmly.

"So we tell them everything?"

"Patrick knows half of it already," Sean shrugs. "And those Rabids are going to catch up with us at some point. Someone needs to know what's happening."

Maisie gives him a sharp look, "No one believed us before."

"Maybe they will this time," he reaches out to pat her hand on the gear stick. "Have a little faith."

She squints at her brother, "What's up with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're so...chill. It's weird," she pulls a face at him as they slowly pull into the town square.

"I don't know," he shrugs. "It's like you said, it's nice here. I feel calm."

"You're not, like, suspicious of that?"

"No, it's," he hesitates, "it's what I remember Pack feeling like."

Maisie parks Bug up at the side of a quiet road. Patrick is already standing outside by the time they open their car doors. He juts his head towards the big Pack House in the centre of the square, nestled between a stream of small shops, bakeries and one bookstore that Maisie has to physically pull her gaze from.

Maisie's senses shift from one thing to the next, her curiosity eating away at everything she can pick out around them. Happiness rises in a cloud all around them, everywhere she looks. She inhales. There's the sharp scent of strawberry tarts from the wee bakers, the thick warm smell of musty clothes from the yellow vintage shop on the corner, the hiss and whirl of old coffee machines in the bookstore; some children cheer in the play park across the street, while two mums natter over some squash in the grocery shop and - Maisie stops. She inhales even deeper, pulling the rich smell of cedars and pine deep into her lungs.

The scent is old, but it tugs at her for a second. She wants to follow it.

"Maisie?"

She blinks, turning to face a confused Sean and a solemn Patrick. Her brother raises an eyebrow, "You okay?"

"Hm," she nods her head, forcing herself to let go of the taunting smell. She could explore later.

He wraps an arm around her shoulder, leading her into the Pack House, "It's going to be okay."