Infiltrating G.A.T.O.

The Disappearance

As Isadora placed Sebastian in the basket of her bike, she glanced at the window to see Dobey watching them. The poor thing was like a bull in a china shop whenever she had tried to take him with her. Her father had quickly banned him.

The basket on the bike made her feel like she was either a prepubescent child or an old lady, but until she got a car, she needed some mode of transportation that could hold Sebastian. Thanks to Sebastian's help, she'd managed to make a suitable potion. It wasn't great, but it was progress. Apparently the thistle served as some kind of stabilizing agent. At least that's all she could figure.

Isadora glanced around as she rode down the street. Children played in their yards and the breeze rattled the leaves in the trees that lined the road. The scent of freshly cut grass tickled her nose and she sneezed.

"Meow." Sebastian turned around to inspect her.

After a couple of minutes, he seemed content to go back to staring at the stretch of pavement in front of them. Knowing that silly cat he probably wanted to ensure she wasn't getting sick or something else equally silly. Sometimes she thought the cat spent more time taking care of her than she did him. Probably had something to do with him being her familiar, but she couldn't be sure.

A part of her believed her mother's theory about Sebastian being her familiar, but the more logical part of her knew that no actual records indicated they even existed. For now she was content believing her cat was insanely intelligent.

As her mother's shop came into sight, she groaned. Why did he have to show up here? Caleb stood with his hands in his pockets leaning against the window next to the door. The guy tried way too hard to have the 'bad boy' appearance.

Sebastian shook his head and made a scoffing cough sound. She couldn't help but giggle at Sebastian's reaction to Caleb.

"He really is a douche, isn't he?"

The vigorous nodding of Sebastian's head had her bursting with laughter. She barely managed to control her bike long enough to pull up to the bike rack in front of the store. After she secured the bike lock, she took a deep breath and turned to face Caleb.

"What are you doing here?" She stormed up to him and put both fists on her hips.

"I came to see you." Caleb raised his eyes to hers. He reached up to brush his bangs away from his blue eyes. "You turned off your phone last night."

She couldn't deny that Caleb was a good looking guy because he was. His blue eyes, shaggy brown hair, chiseled features and lean muscular body had helped him seduce half the girls in her school. The difference between Isadora and those girls was that she had standards.

"I thought that would have been enough of a hint for you." Isadora rolled her eyes and went to move past him, but he blocked her path.

The hiss and growl from by her legs had Caleb taking a step back. She wondered how many scars Caleb had on his legs from Sebastian's claws. Hopefully it was a lot. With her arms crossed, she tapped her foot and cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Look." Caleb sighed and gave her a pleading look. If she didn't know better, she would have fallen for it. "We're going to be married soon. We need to start working on our relationship now. Don't you think? I mean you won't even talk to me. How can we be married when you refuse to speak to me?"

"Let me think." Isadora tapped her chin and Sebastian growled from his position curled around her legs. "The easiest solution would be for us not to get married. There. Problem solved!"

She clapped her hands at the end and pasted a big smile on her face. Although, the smile wasn't completely fake. The idea of not marrying him made her happy; very happy, actually. The responding scowl told her it wouldn't be that easy getting away from him. She had hoped, but knew it was a feeble attempt.