If Only They Knew

Chapter 21: Reunited?

     Angel led them inside. My friends were a bit anxious with being in a house after so long. Well, a normal person's house, let's just say.
"By the way, I'm Angel if you were wondering."
      They were shocked. It was her just reading minds, but they didn't know that yet. "Also, just an addition. Let me guess." She turned towards them and pointed to each of them in turn. "You're Miranda, Dylan, Alecia, and Skylar. Did I get that right?"
     "How did you know that," growled Skylar. "Nobody just guesses our names in one try and knows who is who instantly."
     "Well, I guessed. Or maybe I got a hint from you guys..." she trailed off, leaving suspense in the air. She led them up the stairs, smirking at her little power.
     "Ugh, where is she?!" asked Miranda impatiently. Typical Miranda.
     "Give me some time. I know you want to find Sylvia. Just give me a moment."
     "We may not have time for a moment," said Alecia in the same tone as Miranda. "After what we saw on the news, we don't have much time."
     "Fair point, but the moment has passed," Angel replied. "Besides, she's right here."
     She pulled the string down to open the attic. I call it a string, but it's a string with force like a rope. A thick string is a better way to say it, I guess.
     They went up the stairs. While Angel went patiently, the group of teens behind her rushed to get up as fast as she allowed. I heard them on the second floor, now it was just noise and creaking wood. I came out with dust and a happy yet sad smile on. They ran over to me and hugged me so tight I could have exploded.
     "It's been so long," cried Miranda.
     "We were scared to death," said Alecia.
     "I wish we'd found you sooner," replied Dylan.
     "Yea, I missed you too," answered Skylar in a neutral tone. I didn't know it then, but he didn't want to cry out his feelings in front of everyone.
     "I missed you guys too. I'm sorry I let this happen. I need to be a better leader. Animal control wasn't that bad. Also, even though I was caught on camera as a-" They covered my mouth before I could say the rest of it. I pushed their hands away and said, "Guys, it's fine to say that I was a wolf. Angel knows..." I trailed off a bit, nervous of what they would think of me revealing our secret to Angel. She had seen it on the news. Same with about 2,000 more people.
     They all turned to look at Angel. Skylar was about to yell but Angel blurted out first. "I'm sorry, ok?! I saw it on the news and what was she supposed to say? Oh, that wasn't me, even though the TV just showed me changing from human to wolf and all that. I promise I didn't tell anybody, even though it's on the news. Reporters and security caught it..." she looked like she was going to cry. They all turned to me. She stopped the teary eyes in a second and winked at me. She had made it seem like I hadn't said a word and protected our pact.
     "I'm sorry I was so careless. I should have been a better leader. Angel, if you want..." I thought the rest of it to her. She nodded.
     "I can read minds, you see," she started bravely. "That's how I knew your names and who you were looking for. Surprisingly, none of the five of you seem to leak any information about other friends or powers in your minds. That's how I didn't know anything about your powers until the news came on."
     "Hold up!" yelled Miranda. "You're saying...WE WERE EXPOSED TOO?!?!" That made my other friends nervous.
     "It's true," I replied. "We watched it all, and about the entire city knows. Probably some others from other places know as well..." We were all freaking out now, even me. It wasn't the news part, it was the safety of my friends, including Angel. Just us being in her presence was a danger to her.
     "Luckily, I have a plan," she started. "Shouldn't be too hard unless there are helicopters in the skies." We knew what helicopters were. Once, Miranda was a cardinal and was playing around in a game when she flew into one. It was hilarious. Angel was about to explain the plan more when I heard footsteps. I yelled for her to be quiet and that someone is here. It wasn't someone, it was more than one person.
The police force came up, about 30 of them. They had their guns out, pointed not at Angel, but us. How do you fight 30 men with guns? With a wolf, tiger, lynx, gorilla, and lion, of course! Just avoid all the shots, and you're good. Now that I think about it, that plan didn't seem full-proof. Yep, we were screwed, again.