Animal

.:20:.

When we entered the building, I was surprised to see Jada standing by a large fireplace, hands jerked towards the flames.

"Jada!" I wasn't going to resist running over to my friend. She turned and grinned, opening her arms for me as I ran to her and hugged her. "You're okay!"

"And you're a mutant," she said, making me pull back from her. "How–"

She smiled and jerked her thumb to a round table that was only feet from me. The people around the table were staring at me and Jada with kind, but serious expressions.

"They told you?"

She shrugged. "Yeah. They couldn't get me to leave in secrecy. I told them I was staying as your epic sidekick."

"God I missed you."

"You have separation issues, then, obviously," Jada said playfully, her perfect eyebrows sculpting as she smirked. "It's only been a day." I gave her a look and she laughed, hugging me again. "I'm joking. I missed you too."

We pulled back and I crossed my arms, finally taking in my surroundings. The people around the table were looking at us again, and this time one of the men cleared his throat softly and said, "How are you dealing so far, McKenzie?"

I glanced at him and took a second to intake his features. He was older, my guess being he was around 45 or fifty years old at the most, his forehead was creased with years' worth of frown lines, and crows' feet surrounded the corners of his soft brown eyes. His hair was short, kept slicked back nicely.

I searched his face for any sign of hostility, but could only spot gentle kindness and a soft firmness to his eyes. He smiled gently again and I felt a little warm, calmer, but something about him made me restless and almost uneasy. It was like the calm before a storm, the sky was dark and ominous, but the atmosphere outside was calm and damp, promising fresh rain for the life around it.

"I'm dealing," I answered him in a quiet voice, my excitement of seeing Jada dimming to a bubbling caution. "It's all really confusing and hard to take in, but I guess I'm better than I thought I would be."

A couple of murmurs around the table sounded, and I looked to see who the whispers were coming from. My eyes landed on a woman who couldn't be older than thirty years old. Her blonde hair was pulled up in a high ponytail, held up by a dark magenta scrunchy.

Who the hell wears scrunchies anymore? I thought as I stared at the weird combination before moving on to the rest of her. She had startling blue eyes that had been mixed with an even creepier dark green, creating a chilling mix. Her face was sharp, her chin jutting downwards and meeting up with a hard, nicely built jawline.

She saw me staring and smirked, her eyes locking with mine. Forcing down the unease, I lifted my chin for a brief second to show that she didn't intimidate me. Even though she did, but she didn't need to be aware of that fact.

"It's rude to stare," she said, drawling out the statement with amusement and, to my frustration, smug satisfaction.

Shark and I both had one thing in common, and that thing was that we hated being talked down to and challenged, especially in front of other people.

I let my eyebrows raise at her, keeping my gaze firmly locked on hers. I refused to submit to her, and she refused to submit to me. She's a council member, which means her power was strong, but I was not a submissive creature. I won't be put to my knees willingly, not now and not ever.

"Funny," I responded, cocking my head at her and smiling sweetly but hiding a cold warning behind it, like a mental choke hold. "Because it's also rude to talk about someone in front of them, instead of saying what they desire to them." I showed my teeth in a grin. "So don't talk about me when I'm here. Haven't you ever heard of manners?"