the Fallen Star (ABANDONED)

CHAPTER 17 - OLD FRIENDS

***Audrey’s POV***

“Hurry up! We’ll be late!” I yelled down the empty hall.

“For what?!” a voice shrieked back. “We’re walking!”

I smiled, Darcy could be such a pain sometimes, though she had a point. We were walking. Not sure where we were heading yet, we had decided to just start walking through the forest and then see where we ended up, partly because we didn’t know where to start and mostly because that would slow down the American bastards that were trying to recruit us.

I picked up the harness that lay on the bed and slung it over my shoulder. I had decided with Darcy that I would spend most of the time as a wolf for extra security, not that we needed it, but just in case. In the forest I would change and Darcy would put on the harness so I could carry my own stuff.

Looking around the room, I felt memories come up, but pushed them down. I wasn’t in the mood for crying. The gold walls held memories, the silver flames history. I touched the spot where I had drawn my first ‘I heart . . .’, held the painting of a wolf at full moon on the sea shore in my hand and decided to hide it form my parents.

I knelt beside my bed and crawled under it, slicing open my mattress with the pocket knife I had. I heaved with my knife and pulled the painting out of its frame, folding it and placing it in the mattress. I crawled out from underneath and hung the empty frame back where it belonged.

“You ready?”

Darcy’s head popped around the corner, quickly followed by the rest of her body. She was wearing jeans and a top, her backpack slung over one shoulder. Her hair was up in a ponytail and running shoes covered her feet.

“Yeah,” I sighed in reply.

“You’re not actually going to miss this place, are you?” she asked, reading my eyes.

“Not the room, just the people.”

“Mom and Dad?” she asked in disgust. “They tried to sell us, well dad did, but still.”

“I meant Evan.”

“Oh.”

She started giggling. “He sounded so sad and rejected when I said no to him.”

“Well, I still don’t really get him.”

“He’s a boy!” she exclaimed.

“Well, that explains a lot.”

“I know, right.”

“Left.”

“Stop doing that! It’s annoying!” she growled at me.

I laughed and followed her down the stairs. She suddenly froze mid-step, one of her feet dangling in the air as a thought went through her mind. 

“Wait here!” she hissed before she disappeared to dad’s study.

I went outside on the porch and sat down on the grass. The moon was nothing more than a sickle, but there were no clouds so the forest looked kind of creepy in the halfhearted light. Owls hooted in the distance and I heard mice coming out of their holes to scurry for food.

Darcy joined me quickly, in her hand one of dad’s credit cards.

“I checked his accounts. This one has the most money.”

She waved it in front of my nose and then stuck it in my harness.

“In case I get caught, I won't be punished for thievery.”

I nodded once and then got up. I started towards the forest when Darcy stopped me.

“Wait.”

“What?”