The Haven High Book Series (Wattys2017)

Chapter 45

Lauren lay in her bed at the end of what felt like the longest day she had ever had. They had sat around after the ritual in uncomfortable silence. Many of them had cried for the retched boy that was her brother. Travis had insisted that S'more and hotdogs would make them feel better, and you know it had somewhat.

The wolf had returned by then and had decided to recline at Brenna's feet. They fed him hotdogs and it had sat with them like it was a family pet. Even stranger than that, when they went to leave he followed them out to the parking lot. And when Brenna opened her car door he jumped inside. Brenna asked Marley to interpret for her and ask what was going on. The wolf had apparently said in his picture stories. Wolves hunt with Ravens, Raven in your pack, So wolf hunt with your pack. No one could fault the logic and Brenna who seemed to have bonded with him decided to take him home, but before leaving everyone had promised that they would do everything in their power to help her find her brother and bring him home. Lauren felt blessed because, what she lacked in family, she more than made up for in friends.

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In the early hours of the morning Lauren rolled over on her side exhausted, but sleep would not come. Where was her brother? He was broken. She could be sure of that. Where would a broken boy go after his return, possibly Seattle? She would start there. Just before crashing she had left a message on the deep web. It was a magical message board for the Enlightened community asking if anyone knew her brother's whereabouts to please contact her. Now she could only hope that someone knew something.

It took a long time for sleep to come, but eventually she slept and the nightmares came. She fought for her life in the dark realm beside her uncle, but her brother was the jabberwocky that stalked them in the dead of night. It terrorized their every moment. Finally her beloved uncle was taken by the fiend and she was left to face the malevolent creature on her own. The beast mocked her in the inky black forest, saying, "I'm going to catch you; this time you can't get away," and suddenly she was back on her bike going round and round uselessly, and he was just a hairsbreadth from her. Lauren woke in a pool of sweat, the covers twisted tightly around her, with a stalled scream on her lips, and a sense of foreboding so great that it nearly suffocated her.

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Lauren went through the motions at school for the first part of the week. She tried to pay attention in class but failed miserably. She joked with the gang at lunch, and she tried not to incur the wrath of le Fay in the afternoon. Quinn and she were becoming closer every day while Zach had grown even more distant. Every day after training she rushed home to check her computer to see if there was a reply.

Oh why oh why did she have to go to a school with magical creatures that interrupted cell signals and disrupted technology. Then she could check when she was at school, but no she had to wait until she got home. Every night she put another message up on the board including new information she had thought of during the day, but still there were no replies, until Wednesday afternoon she came home to find this response on the board.

I have information regarding your brother, but I will only share it with you in person.

Madly she typed:

Why not just DM me?

Because . . . I don't know you from Adam and you might be one of them.

One of who?

I won't discuss it further unless we meet.

Okay where would you like to do it?

Do you know the Halfblood club downtown?

Club NYX?

Yeah that one. Meet me there @ midnight on Friday.