MATE AND HIS LOVER 2

#10 Title

I'm sitting in my mom's office, looking outside the window. I can see the administrative building from here. In front of it, Nara and Jenny are talking to Luther.

Luther is an old man. He sells herbs, as you can tell from his tri-wheel cart that's brimming with small brown paper parcels of dried herbs. He has been doing this since long before I was born, maybe even before my mother was born.

"Cassandra," mom says, trying to get my attention back to her.

She has been filling me in on her plan of action regarding Philip. She has redirected the witches sent to the wolf packs to look for him and is going to later consult with other elders to figure out what else can be done.

"Did you hear me?" she says.

I nod. "Sounds like a good plan. What about me though?"

"What about you?"

"What do I do?"

"For now, you're staying here with me. We can–"

"Mom," I say, cutting her off. "I need to be out there looking for him. We need to find him before the werewolves do. They won't let him live."

My mother shakes her head. "You're not going anywhere near him."

"He is my brother!" I tell her, angrily.

It's one thing for my mother to worry about others regarding my brother, but I am his sister. There's no way in the world he would hurt me.

"He's not the brother you once knew, Cassandra. He's not that boy anymore."

I look back out the window, resisting the urge to disagree with her. It's a conversation we've had a million times before.

When my brother left, I was angry at my mother. In spite of hearing all the things he did that made my mom kick him out, all I could remember was how good he was to me.

He was my best friend. He played with me. He protected me. He taught me spells. And then one day, he was gone. Just like that.

However, growing up, I realized my mother did the right thing under the circumstances. He was hurting everyone, and he was going to do worse.

But it seems my mother's solution wasn't as effective as we thought it would be. I have a feeling my brother will end his exile soon.

I get up and walk towards the door. Ignoring my mother's call to sit back down, I leave her office. I don't want to fight her.

Outside, I go to where Nara, Jenny and Luther are.

Luther shouts, "Cassandra! Been long since I last saw you."

He's one of the few people in my coven who calls me by my first name. Usually, I go by Ms. Winston or Zara'fu.

Zara'fu means next in line in the old language of witches. The word is used to address the next chief of the coven. The current chief of the coven is addressed as Zara'ye.

Except for a few witches and wizards, mostly elders, nobody knows the old language. It's obsolete. But some words survived the times.

"I know," I say. "Was out of town. But I'm back now. Did you hear about Philip?"

Luther nods. "I know he's your brother, Cassandra, but I'm still going to say this: That boy has always been bad news."

I agree with him, understandingly. "I need your help finding him."

"Anything I can do."

"Can you tell me the names of all the canibaliscilis suppliers in the country?"