The door was thrown open, almost flying out of its hinges. Faolan was standing in the doorway, breathing heavily. He stomped his way to Caera and grabbed her shoulders with a firm grip, making her whimper.
‘What were you thinking!’ he yelled at her. Caera didn’t answer. As much as she liked to give him an honest reply, she just didn’t know what to say. She was too scared to look him in the eye. Not for the anger she might see, but for the worry she had most definitely caused him as she had caused Kyiana and Tyler.
Devlin stood up from his chair and ushered Faolan to let go by grabbing his shoulder and squeezing it lightly.
‘Calm down, wolf.’ he said with threat clearly audible in his tone of voice. ‘You’re scaring her.’
‘I’m scaring her?’ Faolan replied, slapping away the hand that was on his shoulder. ‘She scared the hell outa me!’ he turned back to Caera. ‘Couldn’t you hear me? Why didn’t you answer to me?’ his voice turned from furious to desperate.
Devlin, sensing there was more to this than he had thought, took back his seat next to Caera and put his hand on hers.
‘What happened?’ he asked concerned.
‘She f*cking jumped of the roof!’ Faolan shouted, his anger returning. ‘If it wasn’t for that lizard friend of hers, she could’ve died!’
‘He’s a chameleon!’ Caera shouted back in a reflex to defend her friend. That is, if he still wanted to be her friend. After what she had done, it had surprised her that Kyiana still spoke to her. If she knew her friend then the anger from her was yet to come.
‘Potato, patato, whatever! Are you gonna explain yourself to me?’ Faolan continued.
Caera stared at her hands, Devlin was still holding one of them. ‘I can’t.’ she whispered.
Faolan hit the table with his fist, yelling ‘Why not!’. Devlin stood up.
‘Last warning, wolf! Calm down!’
‘Or what?’
Devlin hissed and Faolan growled. Caera covered her ears with her hands and closed her eyes, trying to shut out the world.
‘They’re going to fight because of you.’ the voice said in her head again. ‘It’s all your fault.’
Caera shook her head.
It’s not my fault, it’s not. Leave me alone!
‘They will kill each other, and all because of you.’
No. No. No! It’s not my fault. Go away!
A hand placed gently on her shoulder and one on her left hand brought her back to the world she had tried to shut out. She noticed Devlin sitting next to her again, holding her hand, and Faolan standing on her other side with his hand on her shoulder.
‘It happened again.’ Faolan said, worry clearly sounding through his voice. ‘I couldn’t get through to you.’ He lowered himself so she could finally meet his eye. The warm amber soothing her. Caera burst out into tears, throwing her arms around Faolan’s neck. Not knowing what to do, Faolan just held her until she had calmed down.
‘I’m sorry.’ Caera finally said with a croaky voice, pointing at the tear stain on his shirt.
‘Don’t worry about it. Why don’t you tell us what just happened?’ he said.
Caera took a deep breath and started explaining how she had heard a voice in her head and what it had told her. Devlin and Faolan didn’t say a word during her explanation and just listened to her, which gave her the courage to tell it all. When she finished they all remained quiet for a little while.
‘Sounds like a witch to me.’ Devlin suddenly said. Faolan nodded in agreement.
‘A witch?’ Caera asked.
‘Yeah and an evil and pretty powerful one at that.’ Faolan said.
‘But why would she want me dead?’ Caera asked again.
Devlin shrugged. ‘Those bitches tend to get bored a lot and then they pick on random monsters.’
‘Maybe best if we tell the principal about this.’ Faolan suggested.
Devlin agreed and without warning both Faolan and Devlin pulled Caera up on an arm and walked towards the door.
‘I can walk on my own...’ Caera stated while rolling her eyes, but the two refused to let her go.
‘Just to be safe.’ Faolan said.
‘If a witch is manipulating you, who knows what she could make you do to us.’ Devlin added.
‘As if I could do anything to either one of you. Even if it’s one on one, you would be stronger than I am.’ Caera shrugged.
‘Definitely, but we don’t want to hurt you.’ Devlin grinned.
Caera hadn’t thought about that. ‘Can’t you at least hold me differently?’ she pleaded. ‘I feel like a prisoner being dragged to her cell.’
Faolan chuckled and Devlin swept her off her feet, carrying her bridal style and earning himself a growl from Faolan.
‘If I carry her, we’ll get there faster.’ he said to Devlin through clenched teeth.
‘Sure wolfy, see if you can keep up with me then.’ Devlin replied with a big grin.
Two enormous bat wings spread from his back and with one stroke of his wings Devlin took off with Caera in his arms. In less than a second Faolan was running beneath them in his wolf form. Devlin cursed under his breath.
‘Hang on.’ he said to Caera before speeding up. Caera clinged to him, the wind hitting her so hard it cost her everything she had to hold on to Devlin.
The two guys arrived at the door of the principals office at the exact same time, but argued about it nonetheless.
‘I got here first, wolfy.’ Devlin sneered.
‘No way, bat.’ Faolan spat out the last word. ‘I was faster than you.’
‘Caera!’ they both exclaimed. Caera sighed.
‘I don’t care who got here first or who is fastest. You’re both fast and we need to be here either way so can we just get it over with?’
‘Fine.’ Devlin mumbled before knocking at the door. No answer came. He knocked again. Still no answer.
‘Oh, they’re probably at the party.’ Faolan said. ‘It’s about time they explain what the weekend will be about.’
‘Right.’ Devlin said, turning to Caera. ‘Let’s go there then.’
Caera lifted her hands and took a few steps back.
‘No offense, but I rather travel with the wolf.’ she said.
‘In your face, bat.’ Faolan grinned.
Devlin shrugged. ‘Okay, then we’ll travel by wolf.’
‘What do you mean “we”?’ Faolan asked. ‘I’m not carrying anyone but her.’
‘You can’t hold her when in your wolf form. What if the witch manipulates her into strangling you while you’re running.’
‘The bat’s got a point, wolf.’ Caera stated.
‘Don’t call me wolf!’
‘Don’t call me bat!’ They shouted at her in unison.
‘Hey, as long as you two can’t call each other by name, neither will I.’ She answered, crossing her arms in front of her to put strenght to her words.
‘Fine, hop on.’ Faolan sighed before changing to his wolf form. Devlin lifted Caera on Faolan's back before she could say anything and took place behind her. Without a word, or growl, they took off.
