Shadow [The Wanted - Nathan Sykes]

Part 4: Safe and Sound

I was awaken the morning The Wanted were supposed to arrive in London, by an unfamiliar, helpless yelping noise. I opened my eyes and saw Shadow was looking right at my face with his huge eyes.

"What is it, boy?" I said sleepily. Please, the only way you'll know is if you follow him as he leads you on a crazy chase. But he looked too upset to move. I had never seen Shadow like that.

The next idea that came to me - and I don't know why it did - was to ask him questions, and determining the issue by his responses. Here goes nothing.

"Are you sick, little fella?" He just blinked at me.

"Hungry?" Another blink.

"Wanna go for a walk?" The same.

"What is wrong with you?" I sighed. I sat up and pushed my hair back into a ponytail.

As I thought about other possible reasons, Shadow looked over to my phone that was resting on my bedside table.

"What, you want me to get a new cell phone?" I said, thinking how ridiculous it must've sounded to Gen if she was in my room with me. I gave up and left my room. For once Shadow didn't follow me. He just stayed in my room where my phone was, as if he was a teenage girl waiting for her crush to text her.

"My dog's gone crazy." I said to Genevieve.

"You're just realizing that now?"

"He seems really upset. Almost... Lonely," I sympathized.

"He could just be sick."

"I know," I sighed. "I hope not, though. He hates going to the vet."

I went back up my to my room later that afternoon, and grabbed my phone. I expected Shadow to follow where my phone went since his eyes were glued to it the whole time, but he didn't move. I got a mini-heart attack until I saw him blink. That's when I realized that he was actually looking at a framed photo of me and Gen with The Wanted from a few months back.

"You think something's happened to him?" I asked and he yelped in response.

"Ohhh, no," I said, rushing onto the Twitter app on my phone.

"NathanTheWanted: Getting on the flight back to London now!!" Was his latest tweet from the previous day.

Right, so Nath said they were taking the tour van to LA from Vegas so that's a.... 4-hour drive and an 11-hour flight from LA to London.... They should be here by now... I thought.

I checked the rest of the boys' Twitters and all their last tweets were about flying off to London. Except Jay, who tweeted: "Yeeeaah, back in the UK!" less than an hour earlier.

So why was Shadow acting all weird, looking at my photo with the boys? Maybe he just wants you to see Nath? No, he'd be barking at the door, eager for a walk so he could lead you to him.

That's it. I thought and pressed the green call button when I scrolled onto Nathan's number.

"Eleanor?" I heard someone else voice.

"Seev? Is Nath there?"

"Er, yeah. But he can't talk right now. What is it you need?" He sounded nervous. Still calm as Siva would be, but he sounded like he had some anxieties.

"Um, Shadow's acting weird, staring at my photo with you boys, sounding hopeless and lonely. Has anything happened to you boys?"

"We got an a little... Accident."

"What?!" I was too shocked. "How little, exactly?"

"Nath was the most injured. But just needs his hands bandaged up and uhh..."

"And...?" I said. I had already showered earlier that day and was getting something random to wear.

"He hasn't woken up; the crash somehow knocked him out. Doctor said he'll be okay though."

"Can I go over there?"

"I honestly don't see why not," Siva said and I told him I'd be there as soon as possible. I told Gen everything and she offered to drive me to the hospital. Shadow was barking like mad again, so I had no choice but to bring him.

"We were expecting you," Jay said dramatically, but with the intentions of lightening the mood.

"Were you expecting the dog?" I chuckled as we walked into the hospital.

"I'm sorry, no pets allowed." The nurse told me before I walked into the ward Jay brought us to.

"If we bring him in, I swear he'll be quiet. But if you don't let him see Nathan, he will not shut up. And trust me, you do not want to deal with that dog without Eleanor." Genevieve said fiercely. The nurse looked too scared of Gen to disagree.

"Shadow, no!" I said but I reacted too slow. My grip of his leash had somehow loosened and he jumped onto Nathan, licking his face. He had only done that to me and no one else.

"Wh--" Nathan said, waking up. I reckoned from the looks on everyone else's faces that it was the first time he'd woken up since the accident.

"Hey, Shadow," Nathan laughed. "Hey, Elle," he smiled.

"Your eyes never fail to light up when you smile." I muttered. Did I just say that out loud??

"I'll take that as a compliment, thank you."

"Shadow brought you here, didn't he?" Nathan guessed.

"Sorta. He seemed to feel so lonely and he wouldn't take his eyes off our group photo and that's when I called your phone and Seev answered."

"Well, seems like this little fella will always help us find each other."

I loved the look in Nathan's eyes. A longing look in those beautiful green eyes. I shifted my gaze to Shadow who was just staring at me as if to say a sarcastic 'You're welcome'.