Wingspan(Paranormal, Young Adult) MAJOR EDITING**

ninety six

...swiftly closing it behind me that way if grandma just so happened to pass by the hallway on her way to check up on me 'in the bathroom' she could clearly see her closed door.

i knew that wesley could only keep my grandma busy for so long. my heart pounded sending a good wallop to my ears. ok yeah i could do this.

adrenaline pumped my heart faster just thinking about being found out going through her stuff. i shook my head. i couldn't think about that now. i had a job to do.

i walk very fast by the foot of grandmas bed to push open a set of double mirror twin doors. -i didn't have luxury of time on my side. 

grandma would get suspicious if i was gone for too long. 

I looked around and saw most of her things were clearly organized and labeled. unlike me grandma was ocd about her things and how they should be.

however there were two trunk boxes that stuck out in my eyes. i only looked in the outworn boxes because they didnt match with the rest of her decor.

really it was plain luck. i found what i was looking for inside a timeworn box that was stuffed all the way towards the far back of her closet as if she just threw it there. after making sure there were no clothes up on hangers that fell down in my hurried pursuit to 'get it done' i pull her closet door shut.

taking a look around i manage a quick double-check just to make certain that everything i touched was back in its rightful place just like grandma always had it. it was easier than imagined. somehow that fact did not ease my concerns.

i figured that i spent enough time rearranging any mess i'd made during my scavenger hunt.

quietly i make an exit from grandmas room and walk past the open restroom on my way beyond the hall where i found wesley pleasantly sitting in the kitchen charmingly sweet talking my grandmother while she made tea for the three of us.

i smile at her when i enter.

no matter what it took i needed to ensure her safety. Wesley knew of a way to keep non-humans from accessing entrance to her cottage as they passed on by heading to the next town over.

i didn't need tobys permission for what i was about to do.

after our mugs were empty of tea and the pot ended up in the kitchen sink Wesley and i had said our warmest goodbyes and promptly took the safest route back to campus. The piece of paper grams gave to me in my pocket. 

according to Wesley it was not ideal to go by car since it made a lot of noise thus it didn't allow us to remain hidden from plain sight and move stealthily; all essential things which helped in being sneaky without anyone knowing.

we never traveled the same way twice.

nevertheless i trusted Wesley in getting us back. i didn't mind the walk since it allowed me to digest what part i had in all of this. i copied wesleys movements as he pushed on through a set of branches and side-stepped pools of ice.

i push my sleeve up and take out my birthday present that i casually hid so grandma wouldn't question me about the item. judging by the layered film of dust on my fingers grams didn't take my dads bottle out to see a ray of light ever since moving day.

in fact i hadn't seen it since that fateful day. it was the very last time i'd seen dad. it was his princesses birthday and you'd think he would have been happy to be there but he seemed irritated and warn out. the whole event dad never broke out a smile or kissed me on the cheek because he was proud that i was another year older.

grandma lied. she told mom that everything that belonged to dad was destroyed in fire. that dark red bottle was the only thing i had of him. i cant believe she kept it.

"i got it." i tell him. why keep such a mundane garden variety glass vial for? could grandma have secretly known what it could do? not possible.

we both walk under the streetlamps at the same time and i see a glossy trademark on the bottle. it was dads emblem only more stretched out.

Wesley grabs it for safe keeping. "will she notice it's missing?" he asks ignorant of what it meant to me.

i didnt know what to do with my hands so i nudged them into my jacket pocket. my fingers traced the outline of paper that grams told me to read once i was by myself.   

will grandma notice of course not. but i didn't say i found it in the very back of her closet concealed by years of new memories and other junk she'd collected. it was most likely she hadn't seen it in over a decade let alone could remember where it was.

feeling remorseful about lying to my grandma that i was indeed okay i shake my head answering wesleys question. "no. so what happens next?" i didn't want to look at it anymore. there was only so much i could take.

wesley puts the bottle in his pocket. "keep going about your day as usual. this stays between us. i don't know who else is involved with the uprising."

i look at wesley. "what are you going to do?" i still didn't know what the heck he needed my dads bottle for.

wesley pushes a branch aside by stretching it backwards until it couldn't bend.

gentleman-like wesley grabs my elbow to help me pass through a thick patch of trees. there was a sense of urgency with each move that we made. like if we didn't get to stark house soon something evil was going to pop up and grab us.

"for now i'll be working behind the scenes. i wont be able to do whats necessary if people are constantly stopping me to give me their condolences just to tell me how nice and lovely mason was. i cant afford distractions like that when i need to stop rider at his own game." wesley tells me.

that sense of urgency doubled when i could see Stark House. wesley didn't follow me beyond the first gate.

whatever he was up to i just hoped that he was alright.