Hooked [Complete]

3. Imbolc

Author's Note:

Song for this Chapter: Promentory  Trevor Jones (Last of the Mohicans Soundtrack)

https://open.spotify.com/track/0l4seNH8AyE2kvjxFfpWi1?si=JsLOUloWRGaN9x-IlvU-TA

Dru, Lana, and Sean walked along the trail to Wolfe Lake. The lake was more of a pond actually, nestled about a half mile into the woods, no more than a leisurely fifteen minute walk from the girls' dorm. They joked easily along the way. All their speculation and indignation about the bizarre change in their schedule had expired hours ago. None of them were really the type to dwell in the negative. Dru had spent more time dressing warmly than she had in complaint about attending class at midnight.

They all had a different mood as they filed down the trail. Lana was amped from a day full of fun and hell-bent on midnight drama. Sean actually seemed...relieved, Dru thought—like he had been waiting for something bizarre to happen and now that it had, he was just ready to get it over with. Dru was a little apprehensive, but also curious. Maybe it was just Lana's enthusiasm she was catching, but the air seemed charged with potential. At the very least, this midnight pagan studies class would be more interesting that the frat party they were missing.

Long before the trail opened up, they saw the bonfire burning through the trees. When they entered the small clearing between the trail and the pond, they could see other students had already arrived, but the group was small. Three girls and two guys stood around the bonfire, their breath billowing in the cold. Two more girls were coming up the trail behind them.

Dru knew two of the girls standing before the fire from their first semester classes: Reese, a petite friendly brunette that she'd had English with, and Reese's friend Isabella,a mixed girl with doe eyes and caramel hair piled high on her head. Like Dru, they had both donned boots, pea-coats and scarves for this wintry endeavor. From outside appearances, Dru had more in common with Reese and Isabella than any others in the group, but appearances could be deceiving.

The two girls that had come up the trail behind them were Grace and Susan. Grace had short bobbed hair and Susan had a sleek dirty blond ponytail. Grace wore a corduroy jacket and Susan a green army surplus. Beneath her jacket, Dru knew that Grace wore a white T-shirt, because she always wore a white T-shirt. She let her ink make her fashion statements. Dru had no tattoos but she admired the artistry of Grace's sleeve of magical creatures. Susan's skin was less decorated, but her wardrobe was a little more varied, consisting of three dozen brewery and local band t-shirts. Grace and Susan were chattering nervously with Steven Kim, who lived across the hall from Sean in one of the North dorms. Steven was probably talking knowledgeably about breweries, or bands, or the history of Groundhog's day, or any other topic that was introduced. Dru liked him, and she knew Sean did, too.

Dru grinned around at the group. This was part of the reason she liked Sabit. It was a very eclectic school. Some people might think it was a tribe of misfits, but it was a place where, for the first time in a long time, she felt accepted. No one judged her for her conservative, cautious approach, and no one knew about the circumstances she'd left behind in Florida, where she had been anything but cautious.

A couple of the kids were unfamiliar to Dru.

Lana said the other girl was named Tandie. She wore a floor length duster over a tights and fringed skirt, and heavy homemade jewelry. She hugged herself and stood next to a brooding boy named Leander, who still carried his backpack, covered in patches. The patches were all symbols—celtic crosses and pentagrams and horns.

Lana stopped to talk to Tandie and Leander, but Sean moved around to the far side of the fire, and Dru drifted with him. As he passed, Sean spoke to Leander with a guardedness she had seen him use with a number of people around campus.