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Chapter 12

Kaileen

When I woke up in the morning, my back was cold because of Kyle's absence. I looked at the clock on the wall. It was lunchtime. I stared at it for a few minutes, because something felt wrong with the clock. Aha! I thought, triumphant. The clock isn't holographic! Then, I looked for the dressing platform that was supposed to be in the corner of the room. But it wasn't there. Instead there was a plain wooden closet where usually the dressing platform would have been. When I opened it, all the clothes that I had been carrying in my backpack were neatly placed on the shelves, along with some clothes that weren't mine but looked to be able to fit me. I put on a comfortable t-shirt with some baggy gray sweatpants that still smelled like home. Someone knocked on my door. "Come in," I called. A pretty girl with coppery curls and slight freckles peeked in. She looked just a bit taller than me, and her dancing gray-blue eyes seemed to project outwards to whoever was near her.

"I'm Claire," she smiled. "You're Kaileen, yeah?"

"Yes." I nodded, then mumbled, "Kaileen Tessa Windsworth, Daughter of Thalience, Pack 247." My brain was still used to the formal introductions that we used back at home. Claire giggled softly.

"Oops, sorry. I forgot about the city's way of introducing ourselves. Well, I'm Claire Angela Stanefield, Daughter of Zerron, Pack 244. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too. Is that what this place is called? Zerron?" I asked, intrigued.

"Yeah. So since the five of you just got here, Lucas and I will be training you for life in Zerron."

"Wait, what do you mean, the five of us? And who's Lucas?" I turned to her. She looked surprised.

"You didn't know? There's you, Kyle, the two blonde girls and the black-haired boy." Claire only addressed my first question, I noticed. Then I almost screamed in relief as what she said sank in. Elia was here, and she was safe.

"So who's the other trainer?" I asked again. We were walking out of my room just then, and a voice in the shadows answered my question.

"Me." he was leaning against the wall next to the door, and as he straightened himself up and walked out into the light, I had to pinch myself to check if I was dreaming. I blinked, and he was still standing there. It was the blue-eyed boy.

"Lucas William Edelmann, Son of Zerron, Pack 245." he smirked, clearly enjoying my reaction. So he was two years older than me, was the only thought my brain had time to process before a flying mass of body weight rammed into my body and crushed the living daylights out of me.

"Elia!" I squealed, hugging her back as tightly as I could. Behind her, I could see Kyle, Eria and Jax walking slowly up to us. Lucas spoke.

"The boys will be training with Claire over here, and the girls will be with me." he said, lowering his voice at the last part while looking at me.

"Why?" Kyle argued. Claire shrugged.

"It's a tradition thing."

"But why do we have to train, anyway? Can't we just all go back home?" that was Eria. Lucas shook his head.

"Check your wrists, everyone. Your identification tattoos are gone. To let you into headquarters required their removal. Now you see, you can't go back to the city. They will know that you have been here, and they will hunt you down." I glanced down at where my barcode tattoo used to be. It was true. My skin there was smooth and blank. I remembered telling Eria that this would be an irreversible choice, that day so long ago. I had never known that it would come true this literally. When I looked up, Lucas and Kyle were in the middle of a death glare match. Had I missed something? Why were they trying to tear each other apart? "What, you worried that I'll do something to her?" Lucas curled his lip, gesturing to me with his chin. What? Do what to me? Thankfully, Claire intervened.

"Enough, you two. Boys, come with me." They left the corridor with Claire in lead and at the very end, Kyle who kept looking back at me as they walked farther and farther away until they turned a corner. Lucas clapped his hands.

"Now, what shall I do with you people?"